After getting audience feedback on anamatic, it was hard for the class to understand what was happening. So we decided to change our opening so that instead of being found in the house, he is hung in the woods.
This works better for creating verisimiltude of a person hanging, with use of branches and trees, and different camera angles. It also creates a better twist at the end of the story, as he attacks someone in the woods, but lets the person go, who then calls the police. As the police pulls up in their cars, he hangs himself in a tree, in hope that they will see him in time to cut him down before he is strangled, therefore breaking free from his final fate of death.
The woods makes a more creative location & mysterious atmosphere. Being filmed in the time around sunset, hopefully there is a location in which the sun can be seen setting which can create some good cinematography. To make sure there is enough light, car headlights could light the ground from the policemens cars, and search torches to light the body and trees.
Also with the character being older, the flashbacks we originally thought of suited a younger central protagonist, but needed changing to suit the older audience and character.
Here are our new flashback ideas :
Burnt toast (to foreshadow the bad events about to happen)
Mothers wake (funeral would be harder to film, with location and extras, so instead the wake in the family house, in which the centeral protagonist is flicking through an old photo album, and girlfriend comes in to comfort him)
Gets fired (shots of him packing up all his items in his office into a box)
Car stolen/vandalised (shot through window? of someone breaking into his car)
Evicted from his flat (Shot of him coming down a flat stairs with suitcases)
- Expostion will be used through non digetic sound of answer machine messages, played over the top of the cuts of the body hanging, audio bridging over into the scene in which something related happens.
Messages will be from :
Boss calling -threatening to fire him if he doesn't come to work
For one of our scenes in our media production, we want to have someone breaking into a car.
To create verisimilitude we researched into how to make sugar glass, which breaks easily without any harm. Indy Mogul is a website which has video tutorials on how to make special effects, and this is where we found out how to make it.
We vodcasted our making of our own sugar glass to include in our blog.
List of ingredients:
3 1/2 cups of sugar
2 cups of water
1 cup of 'corn syrup' - golden syrup
1/4 tspn of cream of tartar
There was a slight issue of not having a thermometer available, so we had to guess when it would be ready. This might have effect on the final product, but if it fails first time, we will try again, and possibly purchase a thermometer as well. - it is a low budget production for a reason.
For the title of the film we want it to be related to the theme of recurring dreams, hanging, or general fate and destiny.
Here is what we came up with:
The Snared. –noun
1.
a device, often consisting of a noose, for capturing small game.
2.
anything serving to entrap or entangle unawares; trap.
Phantasmagoria –noun
1.
a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination.
2.
a changing scene made up of many elements.
Premonition noun
1.
a feeling of anticipation of or anxiety over a future event; presentiment: He had a vague premonition of danger.
2.
a forewarning.
Blue Funk n.a state of depression. : You've got to get out of your blue funk and get back to work.
Denouement –noun
1.
the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel.
2.
the place in the plot at which this occurs.
3.
the outcome or resolution of a doubtful series of occurrences.
For a film to be seen, it has to be distributed.
This selling of the production can be done through Cinema, Television and DVD. However its not just the showing of the film that is done through distribution, but also marketing.
A huge impact on British Cinema is Hollywood, and making a production appeal to the American audience, which is also important within distribution. If a film is produced for the american audience, but the distribution within America fails, then its success will also fail.
Marketing includes promotional posters, dvd sleeves, interactive marketing, interviews and reviews.
Often with posters and dvd covers, there will be different versions for America and UK. This is due to wanting to appeal to the American audience, which in some cases is very different in the way it appeals to the UK audience. An example of this is Bridget Jones Diary, a British film, which was made for the american audience.
On the UK DVD cover there is just the central protagonist, Renee Zellweger, and the names of the other actors, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant rather than the images, as the UK audience would recognise the names and not necessarily need the images of the actors to be attracted to the film. On the other hand, the American DVD cover features all 3 main characters and the names to signify who is who. This suggests that the cast is less well known in America, even though Renee is an A list American actress, it is not enough to pull in a huge crowd.
Box Office
So in distribution it is important to attract the right audience, which in psychological thriller is quite undefined, as the box office figures have little that comes from a psychological thriller.
The latest psychological thriller that has been released was Shutter Island, which directed by Martin Scorsese and staring Leonardo DiCaprio advertised itself with those two people enough to make it more popular than other psychological thrillers. In its opening weekend in the UK Shutter Islands box office figure was £2,250,178, and $41,062,440 in the USA. In contrast to other opening weekend figures on the previous weekend, the rom-com Valentine's Day got $56,260,707. This suggests that the genre is not as popular, and does not have such a wide audience, even if it is directed by a famous director and stars A-list actors.
With a genre such as psychological thriller, a successful film might not get high figures in its opening weekend box office, however over a period of time of being shown in cinemas, and through word of mouth, a film has the ability to generate high box office figures, regardless of how successful the opening weekend was. An example of this is Silence of the Lambs, with in its opening weekend in February it got $13,766,814, yet by October 1991 it had earned $130,742,922
With psychological thrillers stereotypically consisting of a complex plot line and mature characters, which naturally would attract an older audience, 25+, they can also attract a younger audience, of 15+, who like films which explore aspects of mental issues being shown differently to other genres of films. The themes of the psychological thriller can mean the BBFC rating doesn't have to be 18, as the issues which surround the plot line are mainly focused on the mind, there is less of a high volume of sexual scenes or extreme violence which could mean the rating has to be at 18, only viewable to an older audience. Therefore the rating can be a 15, increasing the range of audience of the film.
In America, there is a different system, MPAA, which is as follows
From the psychological thrillers that I have watched, these are the ratings that they have, and a brief description into the content.
Memento : BBFC 15. MPAA R.
Includes aspects of sex & nudity, violence and gore, profanity, alcohol/drugs/smoking, frightening/intense scenes. Further details are given on the IMDB page
Don't Look Now : BBFC 15. MPAA R.
Includes mild aspects of sex & nudity, violence and gore, profanity, alcohol/drugs/smoking, frightening/intense scenes. Even though there is limited offensive material within this film, the rating could be related to the age that the film targets at as opposed to being based on how offensive it is.
Further details are given on the IMDB page
88 Minutes : BBFC 15. MPAA R.
Includes aspects of sex & nudity, violence and gore, profanity, alcohol/drugs/smoking, frightening/intense scenes. The violence and gore is quite strong, as the film is based on the story of a murderer hanging women, therefore the film has included quite graphic scenes.
Further details are given on the IMDB page
The Prestige : BBFC 12A. MPAA PG-13.
Total explicit content estimation 20/50.
Includes a vary of levels of sex & nudity, violence and gore, profanity, alcohol/drugs/smoking, frightening/intense scenes. The reason given for the 12A rating is the aspects of violence and disturbing images. Further details given on the IMDB page
Mr Brooks : BBFC 18. MPAA R.
Includes some strong levels of sex & nudity, violence and gore, profanity, frightening/intense scenes. But there is no details under the aspects of alcohol/drugs/smoking.
Rated R for strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, nudity and language
Further details given on the IMDB page
The Machinist : BBFC 15. MPAA R.
Includes some mild levels of sex & nudity, violence and gore, profanity, alcohol/drugs/smoking, frightening/intense scenes. Was rated R for violence and disturbing images, sexuality and language.
Further details given on the IMDB page
In terms of our own production, after seeing the ratings for similar films, I think a BBFC rating of 15 would be best for our film. I have come to this conclusion due to there being little images of sex & nudity, violence and gore, there could be some profanity throughout the main film, but nothing in the opening sequence. Use of alcohol/drugs/smoking may be seen, but no extreme levels. The main aspect would be within frightening/intense scenes, of which a man is hanging. The narrative would also suggest this audience with the plot following a psychological thriller, but understandable for an audience of 15+.
Ethnicity:
Although there is no non-Caucasian characters in the opening scene, it does not suggest that it is strictly Caucasian audience. No representation of non-Caucasian is present, positive or negative. Representation of the Caucasian characters does not really follow any stereotypes, and the characters themselves are based around the story rather than creating a representation of ethnicity.
Gender:
Targeted to a mainly male audience through the:
Genre
Male protagonist
However there is a lack of male gaze, as any female characters aren't the stereotypical busty blonde.
There is also an attraction to the female audience through:
Storyline -> sympathy
No excessive offensive material
Class:
The preferred class would C1, an upper middle class, where a plot following complex mind issues could easily followed by an ABC1 audience as opposed to a C2DE audience, which would prefer a film containing more action than dialogue. However the boarderline of C1/C2 is hard to distinguish and this film could target either audience. Within targeting an older audience, there is the thought of whether ABC1 would spend their time watching movies, as they could prefer to go to the theater or to a play, therefore the targeting of C2 would come in to attract the older audience who do watch films in their spare time.
Nationality/Region:
Little aspects suggest the region of the film, as each scene could be anywhere in the UK, and does not follow any particular stereotypes of the Yorkshire Region.
Nationality accents are northern, but not as too strong that could cause confusion to audience of different regions and allowing them not to be able to follow the story.
Sexuality:
The theme/genre of our production doesn't really portray sexuality as such. The central protagonist is in a relationship, which could show representation of a hetrosexual male, but there is no particular positive or negative representation of sexuality on the whole, nor targeting one particular audience.
Characters: Central protagonist : Male, around 26 years old, has an average job in which he works in an office, lives alone in a flat, has a girlfriend, and drives quite an old car - which signfies he isn't particually well off. He has reaccuring nightmares, in which he sees the future and things that are going to happen to him and his family. The film follows him trying to battle with his fate in which he sees in his dreams, showing a mental struggle to cope with the things that happen to him and trying to escape his destiny.
Possible people to act would be Jamie.
Jamie was our original choice, since he knew the ideas to the film so he will be able to act the way in which we want without any struggle of promting etc. But this faced problems which I would be the only one being able to use the camera and film.
We would also have to use alot of make-up and costume to make him look older.
Another alternative is to use my brother, who is 19, and would be more suitable to fit the older character look, as he can easily grow a beard and look more aged.
The only problem with using my brother is that he doesn't come back from University until the 19th, so filming would have to all be done in the second week of filming time. This could be over come by filming the scenes in which he isn't in in the first week, such as the burnt toast, and using someone else in the scene in which he is packing all his things into a box at his office, in which we already decided not to have his face in the scene, instead the shot is focused on the box and objects going into it.
In conclusion, we have decided to use my brother for the central protagonist, allowing both Jamie and I free to use cameras. The verisimiltude of the characters age would be more believable. The issue of my brother being avaliable to film can be over come with splitting the filming of scenes with him in and without him over the two weeks.
Other characters:
The landlord/lady.
-this person would be around the age of 50. They would only be in the scene where the central protagonist is coming down the stairs with their bags. With their clothing being quite dressed down, like sterotypical landlord/ladies.
The landlord in The Pursuit of Happyness
Unfortunately we could not find an actor that fitted this image, so instead we have decided to just have the landlord speak on the voice message, who would be an older person, but have him not actually be seen in the scene.
The Girlfriend.
-This character will be a brunette, which can avoid any common stereotypes associated with female characters. The scene in which she will be included would be at his mothers wake where the central protagonist is looking through a photo album of his mother. Her role here is to comfort him. She will be reasonably well dressed and middle class. She is concerned about her boyfriend, but over time gets annoyed with his moodswings and distant attitude throughout the film.
Emma Thompson in Dead Again
The Muggers.
- There will be 3 youths who mug the central protagonist down an alleyway. They will be hooded and will be common stereotypes of the way in which working class youths are. Although their faces are not seen, this will add to the way in which the social group of youths are percieved.
There is a lot of choice of location for woods in the area in which we live, in this video we went to Panorama Woods in Ilkley. This is quite a good location in with it being close by and convenient. The trees are quite spaced apart for a wood, which makes it better for focusing on the tree in which the character is hanging.
With finding this tree with the structure in it, we are really happy with this location. The scenes of which the cars pull up will have to be filmed in a different location to this though, since it is on a hill where no cars can get to. But with editing we will have the first part with the police men getting out of the car and walking into the opening of the woods, then cut to them in the location with the tree.
After getting audience feedback, Jamie and I decided to make some slight changes to our initial idea. Here we talk about what, and how we intend to change it.
We much prefere this idea as it can include much better framing of shots and create more verisimilitude in the hanging of the male character.
Exposistion will be clearer through the answermachine messages of the various characters - who aren't actually seen within the opening sequence.
Lighting may be the hardest to over come, with filming at evening time, if we manage to find location in which the sun is setting, it could go wrong in creating too much glare and the subject not being seen clearly, or at night where portable lights will be needed to light up the scene.
An alternative would be to use filters and change the darkness on the camcorder, and film during the day and use these techniques may make it easier, and much more effective with visability and cinematography.
The anamatic goes very quick, which shows the fast pace of our film as the flashbacks occur. It is quite hard to understand at first, but there are a few scenes which aren't there due to location, but this is the general gist of our idea.
Audience feedback from the class included:
Mise on scene in the hanging - Kicked away chair?
Instead of having the knocking on the door and hanging separate - link together - more of each shot revealed slowly.
Films to watch -> The Knowing, Space Odyssey, Sixth Sense.
Production companies including New Market, Team Todd and Summit Entertainment, these are shown as text on black, in the same font as the following credits, which is different to other films, as it doesn't use animation for the production companys, which creates a more simple opening, with the audience not having the distractions of productions.
The opening sequence to 'Memento' I feel, is very interesting. It starts with a close up of a hand holding a polaroid photo, of a scene with blood stained walls and what looks like could be a head. As the credits are shown over the shots, and the music builds up, from slow strings, and gradually gets louder, building tension in the audience. The text is serif, which signifies a thriller genre, along with the sound creates a eerie atmosphere right at the very beginning of the film. The take is very long (about 70 seconds), and as time goes on, the hand shakes the polaroid, and the picture fades, which gives the audience the realisation that it is in reverse.
As the picture fades completely, it then goes back to the camera, he takes the photo and puts the camera away. Close ups of the males face are included to show emotion of the character. It then cuts to a shot of the blood pouring upwards, what could be on the wall as it is vertical, or it could be a vertical shot of the floor, and the blood is pouring out. A series of close ups are followed, with the bullet, a pair of glasses and the head of the man, then the gun flys through the air back to his hand. The male kneels down, the bullet moves on the floor, the glasses move through the air in a close up, then a longshot of the mans upper torso as the glasses go back to his face and the man turns, and the gun is shot. The creativity in this sequence is what I feel makes a film opening successful. With the audience already seeing the effects, but the way in which the sequence was put together keeps them on edge.
The genres for this film are mystery, thriller and film noir. These themes are shown within the opening sequence with stereotypical conventions such as mysterious music which builds making the audience feel on edge. The film noir genre was included by the director in an interview in the special features on the dvd, and it seen as this for his play with time, narritive and audience perception.
The budget for this film was $5m, and grossed aprox. $25m in USA and £1m in the UK. Which provides a clear view on how popular this film was for such a low budget film.
Don't Look Now [Nicolas Roeg] [1973]
Studio Canal animation
Opening shot with rain on a lake/river
Quick zoom and close up on the water - ripples shown from the rain
Cross dissolve to blinds? with male humming
Girl in field pushing a wheel barrow
Boy on bike riding across the grass
Girl with toy
A film commonly known not to follow the conventions of its type, instead breaking out and doing something more creative. The opening sequence is dramatic and does go on longer than 2 minutes but shows the audience the background to the rest of the story and gets them interested.
88 Minutes [Jon Avnet] [2007]
Production companies : Millennium Films, Family Room Entertainment, Equity Entertainment
Film Title animation - large numbers of 88, with text appearing on top of the film title.
Close up on newspaper - storyline of death of princess Diane - exposition into time, date and location - "Seattle Times Newspaper"
Point of view angle shots cut between scenes of the two girls and a person walking through a hallway - creates a tense atmosphere and narrative enigma into who the person is.
Lots of close ups of objects.
Fast cuts and change of shots, creates tension.
Person sleeping, loud sound is made, sleeper stirrs and moves, but does not react to the noise. The audience knows something is happening but the character doesn't.
The Prestige [Christopher Nolan] [2006] [Production Companies: Touchstone Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Newmarket Productions, Syncopy] [Distributors: Warner Bros. Pictures (Worldwide All Media - Non-USA), Buena Vista Pictures (USA Theatrical) Buena Vista Home Entertainment (USA DVD+Blu-ray) Warner Bros. (UK Theatrical) Warner Home Video (UK DVD)] [Information From IMDB]
Production companies: Warner Brothers, Touchstone Pictures, New Market Films
Opening sequence - 3 mins 12 seconds
Title on black - fade to shot of a lot of top hats -> exposition into time period. Creates curiostiy
Voice over - "are you looking closely?"
Cut to pan of birds in a cage and new voice over describes basic magic.
Cuts between a basic trick and a magic show. - Creates tension as the audience doesn't know who the characters are.
Exposition through voice over and mise en scene -> know the film is about magicians, set in the Victorian time period
Non diegetic sound - tension is created within the voice over and slow strings that gradually build up.
Diegetic sound is still used over the top to create verisimilitude
Non diegetic sound cuts out when male drops into the water tank, and then comes back stronger and more mysterious when the camera cuts back to him drowning after a jump cut to the old man and little girl.
Narrative enigma is used to make the audience want to watch on
Ending at the beginning - Explains what the story is going to result in. After this opening it cuts to the court case, then back in time to how this all happened.
Interesting way to tell the story and can set up a good twist that the audience wasn't expecting.
Not a psychological thriller - but follows a non linear opening sequence, in which the opening is the ending, or even middle of the film.
[Trainspotting] [Danny Boyle] [1996] [Production Companies: Channel Four Films, Figment Films, The Noel Gay Motion Picture Company] [Distributors: The Criterion Collection (USA Laserdisc), Channel 4 DVD (UK DVD+Blu-ray) [Information from IMDB]
5.40 mintues until the titles, but 1.40 of main opening.
0-35 seconds -> scene from later on in the film. Includes tracking of 2 characters running away, various angles used. -> mise en scene signifies running from security men - suits- because of being caught shoplifting - objects falling out of pockets.
Focused on central protagonist - gives insight to the character as a little crazy as he laughs in the camera when he is hit by the car. Exposition of the character as his name is subtitled on the screen.
Fast paced non diegetic sound - well known song of the time; signfies the kind of people and time period.
Voice over - "Choose Life" speech - starts basic then goes quite deep & bitter, then changing scene he goes on to say how he chose not to - instead choosing heroin. -> exposition into the way he lives and thinks about life.
Football scene - introduction into other characters with the way they individually act. Expostion of names with subtitle on screen.
Jump cuts to him getting high - basic story to his life. Mise en scene - run down house/flat.
[Mr Brooks] [Bruce A. Evans] [2007]
[Production Companies: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Eden Rock Media, Element Films, Relativity Media, Tig Productions]
[Distributors: MGM (USA Theatrical), Element Films (Worldwide All Media - Sales), Verve Pictures (UK Theatrical)]
Voice over - Man praying + other mans voice. - the other mans voice sounds sinister, and what he is saying is urging the character to do something.
Production Company Produces... titles.
Central protagonist by a sink - mise en scene restroom in a posh place.
Diegetic sound - speech in the background
Non diegetic sound -> pulse beat, dramatic atmosphere.
Shot through champagne glasses -> Social class and status. (Non diegetic sound cuts out)
Panning through crowd
Close ups
As speech fades. non diegetic sound builds up again
Titles of film on back drop of city night lights.
Dialogue of speech gives exposition into central protagonist, but voice over expositions something is wrong and the first bit of text signifies mental issues, and other mans voice in voiceover signifies split personality.
[The Machinist] [Brad Anderson] [2004]
[Production Companies: Filmax Group, Castelao Produciones, Canal+ Espana, Instituto De La Cinematografia y de las Artes Audiovisuales, ICF]
[Distributors: Paramount Classics (USA Theatrical), Filmax International (USA TV), Paramount Home Video (USA DVD) Palisades Tartan (UK All Media), Tartan Video (UK DVD) [Information from IMDB]
Opening shot through window - Reflection in focus (City scene - exposition into location) Inside the room out of focus -> switches focus as central protagonist comes into frame.
(As the room is out of focus, can make out a man wrapping a body in carpet - out of focus signifies a secretive nature about what's happening)
Cut to very long shot. Man driving + Parking. Carrying carpet body -> signifies murder
Facial expressions signify something has shocked the character, even though the viewers don't actually see it. Narrative Enigma.
Production logos on top of black screen - audio bridge of diegetic sound.
Titles of Actor, Writer, Director over the opening shots.
1.35 seconds until the Film Title.
Another example of a film with the end at the beginning.
[Seven Pounds] [Gabriele Muccino] [2008]
[Production companies: Columbia pictures, Relativity Media, Overbrook Entertainment, Escape Artists]
[Distributors: Columbia pictures (USA All Media), Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (USA DVD+Blueray), Sony Pictures Releasing (UK Theatrical), ] [information from IMDB]
Titles on black screen
Audio bridge -> heavy breathing and dial tone
Shot of man on the phone - Diegetic sound of the other end of the conversation - 911
0 - 10 - Production logos
Pan of street - Audio bridge of banging on the door
Close up of door - fist knocking on the door comes into frame
20 - 30 - Pan down to letter box
Open and shot through the letter box
See feet hanging across the room - Music change = Tense
30 - 40 - Zoom in through letter box
Cut to the rope + knot
40 - 50 - Pan down to head + shoulders - clearly been hung
Flash + cut to 'flashback' - burnt toast
Flash + cut to body - feet
50 - 60 - Flash + cut to match on action - mothers wake
Flash + cut to close up - back
60 - 70 - Flash + cut to empty house with him in
Flash + cut to close up - neck
70 - 80 - Flash + cut to party - key scence drugs
Flash + cut to mouth
80 - 90 - Flash + cut to dealer and protagonist
Flash + cut to side of face
90 - 100 - Flash + cut to pinned against the wall
Flash + cut to blood drips
100 - 110 - Flash + cut to black eye
Flash + cut to close up of eyes
110 - 120 - Eyes Open
Cut to sitting up in bed. - heavy breathing - signifying nightmare
Fade to film title.
As a homework task, each member of the class had to create a powerpoint on a film opening from the noughties. Without any persific genre set, this was a good chance to make notes on general codes and conventions of film openings.
Marley&Me [David Frankel] [2008]
40 second company credits - animation and white text on black background (20th cent. fox, Regency)
Voice over from centeral protagonist
Links sound and action - makes you th ink the person on screen is him.
Change in diegetic sound
Frame paused when protagonist jumps over the fence (exposition that this is the person who voice is being heard.)
Exposition through voiceover
Interesting framing - through the door
Another character introduced - mise en scene (wedding day)
Stereotypes - American married couple
Rated PG but includes adult themes
Typical rom-com but also covers social issues such as death
Napoleon Dynamite [Jared Hess] [2004]
2.40 mins of opening credits - paramount, MTV Films and other titles including actors and directors
Non diegetic music signifies comedy
Heavily stylised and creative
When it does get into the film, not much happens in further minute - exposition of centeral protagonist - geeky -> hair, glasses and clothes.
Where The Heart Is [Matt Williams] [2000]
based on a novel
Romance + drama genre - hybrid genre
Audience = American teens.
Appeals to working class
20th Cent. Fox
Audio bridge - dripping sound from car signifies important object/social status of people
Exposition through dialouge
Accent and mise en scene links to stereotypical texas characters
Goes against general convention of first onscreen character being central protagonist.
Pregnant woman - loses male gaze
Titles appear after 2 minutes.
No signifers of romance genre in opening
Hot Fuzz [Edgar Wright] [2007]
30 second production titles - Universal + Working Title + Studio Canal
First scene very long shot - Establishing shot - Police office
Quick cuts -> fast paced signifying his skills
Mise en scene -> verisimilitude
Voice over (exposition) + diegetic and non digetic sound. ('Goody Two Shoes' song from the 80's which signifies the target audience age.)
Preffered reading of genre - action with comedy twist
Quick established equilibrium - central protagonist being a hard working police man
Ending on disequilibrium - being moved location to small village.
Good representation of the police force
Binary opposition between rural and urban
Anchor Man [Adam McKay] [2004]
Company logo - Dreamworks - Apatow > text on black - documentary style
Exposition through voice over-> very vague about time and date, but specifies location - San Diego - and exposition about the character
Ron Burgundy - Central protagonist. Propps archetypes theory -> the Hero - "the balls" "legend of.."
Comedy genre
Exposition through mise en scene -> News room
Older audience -> 70's songs and time period
But also attracts younger audience with silly humour
High social class -> Scotch, ring, suits. "He wore suits that makes Sinatra look like a hobo" - inter textual references signifies older audience to get preferred reading
Donnie Darko [Richard Kelly] [2001]
Production comanies : New Market, Flower Films Productions + Pandora
Genre - Hybrid genre, Drama, Mystery, Sci-fi Thriller, Cult film
Audio bridge -> Thunderstorm over text into opening shot - signifies horror, connoting possible darkness of the film
Thunderstorm contrasts with the opening shot where there is no storm
Camera pans scenery along with non digetic sound of tense, slow music.
Protagonist turns to face screen, laughing. -> signifies a weird theme to the film
Music from the 80's could suggest time period. -> "The Killing Moon" by echo and the bunny man - connote horror film
Halloween party sign provides exposition to the date and signify a horror linked into the holiday.
Generally tracking Donnie - significance to being central protagonist
Anchorage to mysterious film with message on the fridge - "where is Donnie?"
To learn and practise Propps theory of the 7 main archetypes, we created this production with characters which represent each.
We extracted and deleted all sound, as some parts there was too much background noise. Instead we replaced with subtitles giving some exposition. However with the lower web quality, it is hard to make out what these say.
