'firewall'

x -You can tell its a thriller because of the pace of the editing.


x -There was a good shot which the depth of feild had all charactors in view at a slight angle the further back they were.This shows the interaction of the charactors in the situation.


x -Star vehicle - a film made around the star.


x -The extra features of the director talking about the film helped to make it clear the studeos do hastle the director to get the best out of the film,afterall it is there money and they dont want it wasted.


x -That makes you wonder whos film it is really? If the director has a star telling him to do things,then the studeo throwing around demands,maybe even the writor if they have any involvment;who is making the decisions in the end,and is the person who makes the most become the maker or owner of the film (person who gets the credid).


x -The fight scene is crutual to the bank thriller kind of genre,it has to be good because the audience just expect it to be.


x -The director spoke about CGI and how too mush takes away the realism of the film and non can make the film boring.

Response To Group Work

The Dark Knight (USA)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers : (WGA):Jonathan Nolan (screenplay) and Christopher Nolan (screenplay)
Release Date: 24 July 2008 (UK)
Star Actors: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman)-also in 'Equilibrium' in 2005.
Heath Ledger ( The Joker)-also in 'Brokeback Mounain' in 2005.

CashBack (UK)
Director:Sean Ellis
Writer:Sean Ellis (writer)
Release Date:9 May 2008 (UK)
Star Actors: Sean Biggerstaff (Ben Willis)-Also In 'Harry Potter' in 2001/2.

The amount of information we found for our american film was considerably more than our english film 'cashback'.the main reason behind this is money.most english films dont have the hollywood backup that americanm films do,tyherefore their films are often low budget and not as successful.although 'cashback' did well for a low budget film and has an actor in a more popular film,when we compared notes the american film has like three times the amount of companys putting money into the film.

'American beauty' sam mendes,USA

x-heavy beat to pick up pace.
x-lightening in background,dark on the parents compared to the cheerleaders to symbolise their sad role in the film.puts more attention on the cheerleaders.
x-the camera zooms in on the middle girl,portrays shes center of attention ( instead of his daughter) in his perspective.
x-mirrored shot ( shot reverse shot) of him looking at her with lust and it seems shes looking back at him.
x-spot light on the main cheerleader to show his narrowing attention on her blocking out everyone else slowly.
x-non diagetic sound as it seems hes on his own with her, to show how he wants her all to himself and noone else matters.motion slows down to make her dancing seems longer as if hes trying to hold her there for as long as possible.
x-the spot light is firmly on both of them now, like theri own little world.
x-rose petals symbolise fertility/lust because they are red.the wifes also likes roses wich links both the femals.
x-American beauty is a type of reose.
x-cheerleaders dress colours are green which is symbolic of envy to portray his envy of other people for being close to her.and also white which symbolises innocence.
x-everyone cheers but hes just awing at the girl.

short analysis of 'Psycho' -Alfred Hichcock,1960,USA

x-opening scene of panning around high above a city.wide shot.
x-the camera tilts before it zooms into the window (crane shot) doesnt cut and just comes in the room as if we actually snuck in.
x-once the cameras in the romm it stops moving,it stays still and follows the charactors movements.
x-we only get a side view of the two charactors to begin with because the director doesnt want to give away who the storys about, likes to keep the spectator guessing.
x-camera follows from spectators view, to the womans view of an envilope to enthisis its importance.
x-the cameras constantly above everything as if we are just floating above them.
x-we get an interesting shot reverse shot later in the fil where the charactorts in her car and we see the road ahead through the window from her p.o.v,then switches to looking at her face with the dimly lit light accross it making her seem quite ferce.

'Fargo'- Joel Coen,1996,USA

x-Music compliments the serenity of the clear blue sky and single bird.a good clear opening shot.
x-Tensions built as a car approches with music building up too.It also makes the spectator wonder as you cant see much due to the heavy mist over the scene.makes you feel all the more isolated and alone.
x-The sign gives an indication to what type of place it is as its been vandalised.
x-Clothing throughout the film helps you to identify types of people.these people have heavy,warm coats whereas the little man approaching (Jerry Lundergaard) them is in a suit.it gives us the inkling that hes not really from around there and a little bit out of his league.
x-The rooms dark so gives a hard immpression.
x-The use of language is important,Jerry is jumpy and seems to pass the blame to other people whilst stuttering portraying how scaired he really is dispite his attempt to act hard and stand his ground against the two men.
x-The two tuff men talk but makes the spectator suspicious when they dont finnish their sentence and leave us hanging, its as if wer're out of a secret that they dont want to share.
x-I noticed a contrast between the lives of the men seperetly as well as the men against the women.The women on a whole dont seem that involved,they just seem to cook ( amans world).
x-P.O.V-When the camera is at a slight low angle when we approch the city the buildings look so big and immpressive as well as the men making a point of mentioning it.
x-The small guy talks about the other guy being quiet and not talking,makes a feble attempt to make him change his mind and talk,which shows his dependency on others.he needs to talk because he's that bored.
x-High shot of the black car against the white snow and the man slowly walking accross-contrasting colours.
x-We see that the small guy (driver) doesnt seem as naturaly aggressive as his big companion who later kills a copper without a second thought.We get a proper insight to his thrill of the chase so to speak when he follows the car which saw the dead cop and killed them as soon as he cought them.he just looked like he was enjoying himself.
x-A woman answers the phone casualy as an arm is drapped around her.she seems so unbothered .Shes a strange charactor because when she gets to the crime scene she doesnt seem to really react making you think she must see this so much its a normal thing for her.her frind cop just seems to ask her questions and not actually do the work himself which gives her a stronger role as a woman than anyother woman in the film.
x-Contrasting scene again as you see a few men in suits siiting by a big widde window with pasing cars driving down the motorway behind.They just seems so out of place.
x-Back to jerry we can tell hes not exactly a good dad as his lack of comunication is shown through his attempt to talk to his sun,but givving it up he leaves the room pretty sharpish.
x-Cross paths of two cars as the camera follows one car and hiches on the the second as they pass eachother.
x-Later on when the small guys hiding the money we get a point of view shot from the charactor from left to right of the long snowy fence portraying again how isolated and far they are.
x-Right at the end after the bad guys cought the police woman talks about the moral of the film and what the guy did,killing all those people.she said 'theres more to life than money'.then as the camera is faced forward you see the police arriving in slow motion which kind of reminded me of how the film started with the slow approching car.
x-A good point to the film is to show how spending a long time together you can become more like them.For example the small guy becam more like the tuff guy,jerry became more like the little guy and even the police woman seemed very similer to her husband in her cozy simple life.
x-Throughout the film the scenery was big wide and open land which symbolisis their lonliness.
x-The character Jerry was slowly reavled during the daration of the film as we got to know his ways like when his put under pressure he figgits and ruffles his hands together.then at the point hes taken down hes portrayed in his pj's wheres as before he was suited up which shows how he hid behind his suit but now hes vulnerable.
x-Colour throughout the film was mainly muted,dull but the constant present of red symbolising blood/death sets the thriller setting/atmosper.

'Atonment',Jo Wright,2007.

x-Slow motion scene to enthisis on motion (chain of events).
x-Symbolic use of colour-red=blood.
x-The guy walking over the flowers portrays how his love life is crusehed (repitition).
x-Links-the film in the cinema is connected to the actual film.
x-Clothing-shows the charactors personalitys/class.
x-Blue-sad colour,portrays the womans lonliness.
x-Use of light,dark to show lonliness and isolation,creates tension.
x-Diagetic sounds when its in slow motion to portray it in a slightly unrealistic way.
x-Props show that its a hospital very clean,not a lot of light.represents hope,kind of like the light at the end of the tunnel kind of thing.the nurses are also in white which symbolises purity and cleansing.

'Shrek'-Andrew Adamsoan + vicky Jenson, 2001, USA

x-Starts with a beam of light leading to the book, this tells you straight away that this is a fairy tale because of the style of book and non diagetic sound which is associated with fairt tales. (crane shot down to the book).
x-Has both non diagetic and diagetic sounds through out the film.Like when Shrek comes out of the lav at the begining you hear the music and the crash of the door being pushed open.
x-The director surprise you then by introducing Shrek as he grabs the page out of the book right in front of you, although all the spectators can see are his big and very green hands.
x-The first proper shot of Shrek we see from a low angle making his seem ever bigger and uglier than before.
x-We then get a contrast with this charactor and his home which is softly lit giving it an air of mystery and doesnt at all match the image we get from the ogre.You would assume he lives in a dank little hole but no the director decided to show that he may look tuff but hes quite laid back.This suggests his charactor isnt good with others and prefers to give a tuff guy look and keep himself to himself.
x-We get a reaction shot of Shreks face and you can see teh appreciation his has of his home.
x-Switching shots of him giving you an idea of how he lives.The things you see him do portrays his charactor to the spectator, as lazy, odd, and someone who hasnt got good hygene because of the way he farts and kills the fish then proceeds to take it home to cook and eat!
x-When the villigers come out with pich forks and draw a map in the ground,you can kind of guess by the dark lighting and props that they are up to somehting not at all nice and to do with Shrek.The villigers allways seem to be in the dim lit areas maybe to show how they are scared of Shrek and try to keep away but also that since they dont understand him they are kind of in the dark about what his charactor is really like.
x-p.o.v (point of view)-he sees the villagers comming.