Moodboard

Shutter Island Review

The film Shutter Island is a thriller about Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) Teddy and his partner Chuck are on the island to investigate on the where about's of a missing patient from the Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. The film is set in 1954 when Teddy believes that he is on the island to search for a missing patient from the hospital who was put in there for drowning her children (Rachel.) Teddy and Chuck begin to investigate the mystery of what could of happened to Rachel.

Teddy and Chuck begin to question other patients at the hospital to ask wether they knew anything about Rachel or how she could of escaped, the patients do not give to much information. As the time goes on Teddy becomes more and more determined to find out why Rachel had gone and where she had gone, both Chuck and Teddy go out to where some cliffs are  as earlier in the film the security of the hospital took Teddy out to see the cliffs where there was a small cave, Teddy suggests that maybe Rachel could be in there however the security says there is no way that Rachel could of got in there without having shoes on as earlier when Teddy was investigating Rachel's room he discovered that the patients are only issued two pairs of shoes and both pairs where still in the room. Teddy agrees but still does not let it go and he goes back there to investigate, he thought he had lost Chuck within the cliffs and in the cave he sees a light coming from a fire, he climbs up to the cave in hope that Chuck would be there instead he finds Rachel. Teddy and Rachel sit and speak and she says that she never killed her children and that she hadn't even been married before.

Rachel tells Teddy that there is no way off the island and that he is there for part of the hospitals scheme, she asks if he has been eating their food and drinking their drinks he says he has, then she asks if he has been having his own cigarettes he says he has not. Rachel drills it into Teddy's head that he is there for some scheme that the hospital has which leaves Teddy to loose complete faith in the real reason as to why he was there. Teddy gets back to the hospital where he seems concerned as to what the hospital are going to do with him, the head of the hospital calls Teddy into his office and begins to tell him that Teddy is really a patient at the hospital and that everything he has been doing has been part of a role play, Teddy of course distressed does not believe him, so he shows Teddy evidence that he is in fact a patient of the hospital and that it is his wife who killed his children and that Rachel was just a made up person in his head. Teddy does not understand why they would do this, the head of the hospital explains that Teddy had always been talking about how he was a detective and making up an entire life in his head, they then explain that they thought by letting Teddy play out the role it would maybe help him realise that he is making a fantasy in his head. Teddy wakes up the next day and says he knows it was his wife who killed his children and that he knows everything else was a fake and that Chuck was his psychiatrist until it is just him and Chuck alone sitting on the front steps when he says to Chuck that the hospital are trying to trick him ad that he knows everything they said are lies.

The film was rated an 8/10

Seven titles remake

I made this video to help me get used to making a title sequence as when I go to make my own I will need to know how to make it look professional and know how to do it.

Falling down remake

Flight Plan Review

The film flight plan is a thriller about Kyle Pratt who is an aviation engineer, her recently dead husband and their daughter Julia. Both the mother and daughter are flying back to New York with the husbands coffin in the hold. The mother and daughter board the plane and three hours later at 37,000 feet high Kyle wakes up the an empty seat 26A. Julia had disappeared, Kyle begins to panic and frantically searches the plane all around but none of the passengers, flight attendants or the airport have any record of her daughter Julia boarding the flight.

The film is known as a very successful thriller, the story line is a good mind teaser as to wether Julia had got on the plane. The air Marshall had no sympathy for Kyle and Gene planned to blow up the plane but the finger was pointed at Kyle. The music throughout is very dramatic and there are scenes where you can hear the racing heart beats be put into the sound along with fast deep music to emphasise the scene. The dark scenes create more of a glass half empty attitude along with a tense atmosphere and makes us question wether Julia is on the plane. Kyle is an aviation engineer so helped design the plane, so she knows where every single entrance hold is. She goes to the bathroom to get into the electrical area of the plane and then realeases oxygen masks, the lights then flicker and the plane becomes more disturbed with people worrying and getting stressed by the minute. Kyle soon becomes aware of Gene being the one who had kidnapped her daughter, Kyle then races around the plane to try and find her daughter. The race to find Julia becomes faster and faster with an energetic but a very tense soundtrack. Towards the end of the film Kyle find Julia in the nose of the plan, Julia is unconscious next to explosives. Gene races after Kyle  and ends up on the nose of the plane but without Julia. 

Kyle shuts the nose of the plane and blows it up with Gene in it. The film is very successful at being a dramatic thriller because it plays on the minds of not just the pilot and crew but also the audience. The bereavement of Kyle's husband makes us as an audience question as to wether Julia was real or a figment of imagination. I would rate the film an 8/10 as it is very dramatic and makes us as an audience ask questions throughout the entire film. 

Se7en Review

The film Se7en is made in 1995 and it takes place in an unknown city, the main story line is about two homicide detectives who need to close the case of the sadistic serial killer who kills people based on the seven deadliest sins which are - wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony. Morgan freeman who plays detective William Somerset has plans to leave the city but before he is partnered with detective David Mills who is played by Brad Pitt, for one of the biggest cases they had ever seen.

At the beginning of the film they investigate the murder of a man who was fed spaghetti until his stomach would burst and then he was kicked until his stomach would burst. Both detective Somerset and detective Mills thought this was a one off distributing murder. Another murder then takes place which has the word greed wrote in blood on the floor, then they continue to investigate and find the word gluttony behind the fridge and this makes them link the two murders. This then leads to them to discover that it is possible that there is a killer who is killing people by the seven deadliest sins. The FBI then get into contact with a library to find out who has borrowed a book which was based around the seven deadliest sins. The book leads them to a man called John Doe who is played by Kevin Spacey. John then gives himself up as he knows the case has been cracked.

He says that if he can take both of the detectives to two more bodies he will give a confession to all of the 7 murders. John leads both of the detectives to a place where a man delivers a parcel which contains the head of detectives Mills pregnant wife's head. In severe anger detective Mills releases a fire at John which then completes the seventh sin of wrath. Seven is a gripping thriller that will have you sitting on the edge of your seats, from when the first murder is shown right to the end you can feel the suspense and the dark atmosphere throughout the film. The film is set in dark and rainy places to set the mood which would then make the film more of a psychological thriller. The film does have a lot of gruesome images in it however it does only show one death and the other six deaths are the after math of what had happened and the crime scene which show the corpses. 

The film is rated a 8/10

Pulp Fiction 12 frames

I made this 12 frame analysis of pulp fiction as it helped me to find out which scenes are most important to make a thriller what a thriller is and which scenes create the most suspense which will help me when I need to make my own. 

Grown Ups Timeline

I made this timeline as part of my summer assignment, I also made it so i can see how much time each title takes as a title is not on the screen for a very long time or the audience will get bored. It helped me learn what type of things need to be put onto a title sequence and how long for.

Media- the usual suspect notes

The usual suspect-

Dark room

Little lighting

Suspicious musicFlames

Smoke

Gun shots

Rain

Boat

1. What makes this a thriller

2. Who are the characters role-identitiy?

3. What mood/atmosphere is created?

1.The sound and built of suspense make it a thriller as it makes you want to watch onwards.

2. The man with the gun is the criminal, the guy who got shot could be a victim but there could be a back ground story towards it. The man who got shot seems calm by the fact that he is going to be killed. The man in black is the bad guy i think this because black is usually associated with dark and bad. The man smoking may have known the villain as he says his name and seems as though he is trying to calm himself down. Do not get to see the villain as it creates the suspense. Anigma-mystery.

3. A suspense and tense atmosphere is created, the fire set makes a big suspense and mystery, the sound creates a mood and atmosphere as it starts off slow and get faster then goes slow again and then speeds up again. The low lighted room creates tense and a dim atmosphere which creates the suspense, there are dead bodies around the room along with the fire this could suggest that something had happened before, the dark clothing on the villain shows he is the bad guy as black suggests danger.

Notes- falling down

What does the sound tell us about the character?

How do we know this is a thriller?

What is the role of the opening of the film?



Notes whilst watching scene of falling down
-Heavy breathing
-Shouting children
-Suspense
-Horns beeping
-Loud and dramatic music
-Arguing because of the traffic
-Noise all joining together
-Loud phone call
-Buzzing of a fly
-Radio buttons being pushed
-Slow motion scream
-Variety of different sounds- horns, screaming, talking, arguing all together
-Helicopter in background gradually getting louder

1. The sounds that are being played shows us that the character is stressed/nervous the reason for this is because all the sounds blur together which shows he is not thinking straight and everything is just blurring together. There is also the sound of a beating heart and a drum, the noise of the fly continues the tension as it is buzzing whilst all the other noises are still joining together.

2. We know this is a thriller because the setting of the scene has a lot of tension, there is also diegetic sounds like the horns. The heavy breathing and the background noise creates suspense which makes it clear that it is a thriller.

3. The role of the opening of the film is to set the mood and atmosphere for the entire film, the font of the titles set what kind of a film it will be also the lighting and the sound creates the image of what kind of a film it will be.

Match On Action

This is a quick video i have made and edited showing match on action. The reason I made it is to help me get used to editing and using final cut.

Saul bass

We are looking at Saul Bass because it gives us ideas and inspiration for the thriller opening sequence we will be making by our selves.

Napoleon Dynamite Opening Scene

I made the opening sequence to napoleon dynamite to help me get an idea of what the media course will be like and to help get me kick started.