Thriller analysis.

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My thriller ‘Caesar’ was greatly inspired by the film ‘This Is England’ although not a thriller itself its gritty reality matches the context in our thriller. The characters in our thriller also link to those in ‘This Is England’ for example Caesar in our Thriller links to Milky in ‘This Is England’ Caesar also challenges the generic conventions because he is a coloured young male who is the victim of the middle aged white racist who is the villain in our thriller, our villain again links to ‘This Is England’ because our character of Brutus reflects the qualities of ‘Combo’. Our film also challenges the conventions because instead of using a claustrophobic area we used a forest which was open and different, this links to ‘Seven’ because at the end detective Somerset and Mills are in a desert which is wide open. The costumes we chose for our characters convey their personalities and ambitions, for example Caesar was dressed in a shirt and black trousers with a white over coat, he wore these because we wanted to show him to be a well presented man who is trying to do well for himself in life, the white jacket also worked well with the camera because it was easy to see. The father Brutus’s costume was more casual with a camouflage jacket, symbolising his love and commitment to the army and connoting his murderous instinct. The daughter’s costume was simple with black coat, leggings and shoes to symbolise her femme fatale characteristics, she also had a pink scarf connoting her innocence and her lack of knowledge for her fathers envy.

The mise-en-scene connotes the gritty lifestyle, for example the dark damp street, lined with council houses shows their surroundings to be a working class estate, claustrophobic surroundings. When Brutus is in the bathroom with all the memories playing over in his mind his surroundings are cramped and ordinary showing that he is a normal father who’s over protective side got the better of him. I used the reflections of the fathers face to show his regret because he looks very upset and alone, because we used a point of view shot of his reflection in the mirror it gives a sense of looking through the killers eyes making the audience feel a false sense of security. Also when Caesar is attacked by Brutus, the camera again shows a point of view shot, but this time it is from Caesar’s point of view. When I edited this scene I slowed down the camera as Caesar spins round this creates suspense for the audience, I also slowed down the attack of Brutus so that the audience got a good look at his face showing his anger which would make the audience feel uneasy.

Although my thriller shares similarities with ‘Seven’ because Detective Somerset is a black man who is on the good side just as Caesar is, our film is very different because ‘Seven’ is a more glamorous gritty thriller, this contrasts with my thriller because of the total gritty concept and lack of glamour throughout. The thriller ‘The Third Man’ uses completely different conventions to my thriller, although one of the scenes is a chase through the gritty underground of Vienna between the characters this is the only scene with any relation to my thriller because the rest is a lot more glamorous. Because ‘The Third Man’ was filmed in 1949 for example to role of women are seen to be like dolls, although the role of women is very small compared to the role of ‘Anna’ in ‘The Third Man’ our woman character isn’t as pristine and doll like. Carole Reed uses a great number of people and police in his thriller which again contrasts mine because there are only three characters with simplistic roles.

I’ve developed the thriller conventions by keeping a cliff hanger at the end of the title sequence, this keeps the audience’s attention and means they want to see the rest of the film because they want to know what happens to all the characters and they want to know if Caesar survives and gets revenge. In the opening scene to ‘Seven’ we aren’t left with much of a cliff hanger so my film contrasts this, however we do want to keep watching the rest of ‘Seven’ because we are intrigued just as the audience of my thriller should be.

Caesars costume:

- Smart white shirt

- Black shoes

- Black Trousers

-white puffy jacket.

 Caesars white smart shirt, black shoes and trousers, represent that he has higher ambitions. The audience will see his smart attire and know that he is a well educated man who cares about his appearance. Caesars costume links with the character of Detective Somerset from Seven, Somerset also wears smart white shirts and black trousers to show he is a respected detective and person. However because Caesar isn’t as old as Detective Somerset we decided to use a white puffy jacket to show his younger side, this links in with Milky from This Is England because Milky also wears shits and trousers but in a more casual way to show he is young.

Brutus’s costume:

--   -Cameo hoody

      -Blue jeans

      -Black T-shirt

      -Old white trainers

      -Cross pendant necklace 

We wanted to show that Brutus was in the army in his younger days so to do this we dressed him an a cameo hoody another signifier of his past was the knife he used to attack Caesar with which is an old army knife. The white trainers he wears show his practical lifestyle, his costume contrasts with Caesars because he doesn’t dress himself as smartly as Caesar does which represents the difference in status. We also get the idea that Brutus is a religious man because he is wearing a Cross pendant showing his faith. Brutus links to Combo from This Is England because they both dress similar, Combo believes that he is doing the right thing for his country by trying to get rid of all the foreign people, Brutus believes in the same kind of England, this shows both their religious views to be warped.

Cropping.

 

Cropping images can change the messages they are giving, for example in the image to the left the two people are not talking so they could have fallen out or not know each other, but in the image to the right the girl is alone and so she isn’t seen to be in any relation with anyone else.

I have decided to change the name of the father character in my film from David to Brutus I have done this because in the play of Julius Caesar, Brutus betrays Caesar and stabs him in the back, the character in our play who is killed by Brutus has the second name of Caesar so this links with the story and shows the betrayal, jealously and anger that is shown in my thriller.

Case study- Se7en

Case study- Se7en

The film Seven directed by David Fincher utilises many aspects of the thriller genre, for example he uses low and chiaroscuro lighting to set the mood and give the feel of a thriller, he uses plain and muted colours which take away any beauty of the location, people etc. connoting drab lifestyles. Murders, detectives, villains, victims etc are also thriller conventions and stereotypes and David Fincher includes all if these. The place in which the thriller is set shows a typical working class location often the environment where a thriller story would take course. Fincher also includes a great use of close up shots of all the characters this shows the emotions they feel which is another convention of the thriller genre.

The film is about two American detectives who try and uncover a serial killer who’s murders are based on the 7 deadly sins.

The first shot we see in the film is of detective Somerset getting ready in his home it is a mid shot from behind him. His house has very plain colours showing that there is nothing special about his life; the lighting in his house is low, like its early morning outside. Our first impressions of Somerset’s character are of a lonely man who’s job and possessions are all he has, we get this impression because no one else is seen in the shot and there is no clue’s to say anyone else lives there, he clearly takes pride in what he looks like as he lines everything up before placing it in his jacket or shirt these things also indicate what his profession is because he picks up a police badge a pen, a knife and a gun holster showing he is a cop/detective. When he goes to put his jacket on it is neatly laid out on his bed which is perfectly made and pulls off a piece of fluff or dirt from the jacket before wearing it.

The film then cuts to a body of a man lying dead on the floor in a pool of blood, the lighting is again very dim and the colours in this shot are pale and lifeless just like the victim connoting there is no love or life left in the house. The voice of an American detective is then heard telling Somerset the facts about the murder, Somerset is hen seen walking down the hall of the house o the kitchen this house is another working/lower class dwelling showing the status of the community. We can instantly tell this is a thriller when we see the body because of the dim lighting, dull colours, detectives and location. When the audience see the body they are instantly intrigued to find out the story behind the murder, pulling them in immediately.

The next scene is detective’s Somerset and Mills walking out of the house and walking down the street talking. The street they are on is clearly part of a bad neighbourhood; this is shown because the shops they walking past have bars covering there fronts connoting a prison like environment and the fear of being unsafe from locals. The people they walk past are also shown to be rude and barge past without making eye contact showing them to be untrustworthy and people who keep themselves to themselves so as not to get in any trouble. The lighting is daylight but dreary daylight because it is raining which is another thing often seen in thrillers it connotes that the street is bad, dull etc.

In the final scene before the beginning credits starts off with detective Somerset reading in his bed, the room is lit by two lamps and boxes are seen so we know that he is moving, Somerset clicks his metronome and looks on as if in deep thought about something, noises that can be heard from outside are things like people talking and shouting, dogs barking, cars driving in the rain, tyre screeches etc. this scene shows the loneliness of Somerset and the way he distances himself from the outside world.

The opening credits has lots of shots of a person who we presume is the serial killer planning something by cutting photo’s newspapers etc he also is developing photo’s and cutting off his finger prints which shows he is covering his tracks. The lighting is very dark and we never see more than the killers hands and arms. The titles are in font almost like a scribble so it seems more like the killer wrote the words. There are flashing images and overlapping etc, creating a view of the mind and a jumble of images. The opening credits are shown to look like an old movie camera reel, so like bits flash up and flicker on the screen which creates an eerie atmosphere. The person’s hands look dirty and rough which show that he has been using them to perform dirt tasks. The song in the opening credits has a spooky tone to it and at the end it refers to God which is ironic because the killer murders people using the seven deadly sins so its almost as though he is confused about Gods wishes and the point of the seven deadly sins.

User reviews;

- “Outstanding performances from everyone involved (And yes, of course, David Fincher does a wonderful job) Say no more. 5 star *****”

- "Se7en is well crafted and ingeniously clever, making it one of the greatest films of the 90's"

- “This is a very tight film. Elements within: dialogue, actions, lighting, setting, all of these tend to reinforce one another to paint a solid picture. It is a perverse logic that makes the final and seventh sin complete perfectly the circle of events begun with the first.”