For my second analysis of a student's blog, I will be analysing Emma Snow's blog which I believe is a very good example of what I would like my blog to look like by the time I have finished. There are no mistakes visible in the blog as far as I can see and Emma has used many different methods of presenting her work.
As the other blogger has done, this candidate has also used labels to make it easier for the viewer to find their way around the posts.
This candidate has also made changes to the aesthetics of the blog by introducing a different background and editing the look of the labels. Personally I do think the aesthetics are very good in this blog, but I do find the background fairly distracting which makes it slightly difficult to concentrate on the blog.
In this blog, many different formats have been used to present the candidate's work such as vlogs that have been uploaded and presentations created on websites such as Emaze and Prezi. I will attempt to use as many different formats as possible in my blog so that I have a variety of different ways of presenting my work.
The candidate created a questionnaire to gather different opinions that could help her when it comes to producing her final piece. The questionnaire has been nicely set out which makes it easy to understand and I like that the candidate has written about how the answers received affect the production for her final piece.
For my analysis of a student's blog, I will be analysing Daniel Bower's blog, who is the same candidate who's thriller opening 'Young Killer' I analysed earlier in my blog. Like his thriller opening, Dan's blog is not how I would like my blog to look in the end since it is full of spelling mistakes and the presentation very plain and it is clear that no effort has been made to rectify any of his mistakes.
The candidate has made no changes to the overall colour scheme apart from making the titles in his blog purple which I feel isn't a very good use of colour since the brightness of the font is fairly disorientating and distracting to the reader. He has created labels for the blog which makes it easy to navigate around the blog which is a good addition. I am going to use labels in my own blog so that viewers can navigate around my blog with ease, I am going to refrain from using any bright colours because I feel that the bright colours make the post difficult to read.
The size of font varies throughout the blog which in some cases has made it difficult to read due to the small size of the font. I will make sure that in my blog the font is always at a suitable size for someone to be able to read it easily.
The candidate hasn't used any variety throughout his presentation which has made it look fairly bland, he could have used different methods of presenting things such as using a prezi presentation or uploading videos of himself speaking. I will make sure that I incorporate some variety in my blog so that it is more appealing to the viewers and because the presentation can count towards extra marks.
After making our questionnaire, myself and Elliot sent it round to multiple different people of different age groups and genders. The peoples responses remained anonymous who answered the questionnaire which I believe should make them answer the questions more honestly. I was rather dissapointed to have only recieved 7 responses overall because I feel that the smaller the number of people who answered the questionnaire, the more it will hinder the amount of information I can gather from it since there is a less mixed group of people answering the questions. The results are shown below:
This question was too see if the majority of the people who answered the questionnaire were boys or girls and to see if there was a difference of opinions between boys and girls throughout the questionnaire. The results show that 57.1% of the people who answered the questionnaire are male whereas 42.9% are female.
I also asked the candidates for their age so I can get a better idea of what certain age groups prefer in a thriller movie. 57.1% of the candidates were aged between 11 and 17, 28.6% were 40-55 and 14.3% were aged between 26 and 39.
I asked people how often they watch thrillers to get a better idea of what their knowledge on thrillers is like and to find out if they're big fans of thriller movies. I found that the majority of people (71.4%) only watch thrillers monthly whereas just 14.3% watched thrillers multiple times per week and the same amount of people only watch thrillers every few months.
I also asked the candidates for a few of their favourite movies to try and get an idea of what different thriller movies are popular in the hope that I can use some of these movies as an inspiration for the plot of my own film.I found that everyone had a very mixed opinion on their favourite movie and that 'Fight Club' was the only movie to appear twice in the answers.
Aswell as asking people for their favourite thriller movies I also asked them what they expect to see in a thriller movie to see if I should introduce elements of these in my own movie. I discovered that 100% of the candidates would expect to see elements of mystery in a thriller, whereas 57.1% would also like to see some action and crime in a thriller movie. This will help me when it comes to making my final piece because I can attempt to use all 3 of these in my thriller opening scene.
I asked what type of locations people would expect a thriller to be set to give me a better idea of where I should set my own thriller movie. The results show that an urban, densely populated area is by far the most popular setting for a thriller movie, a woodland setting is the second most popular setting for a thriller movie with just 14.3% of people preferring this type of setting.
To find out what sort of costumes the characters in my final piece should wear, I asked how people would expect the protagonist and antagonist to dress. I found that most people would expect the protagonist to wear smart-casual/casual clothing whereas the antagonist would be expected to wear formal clothes, people also suggested that the antagonist should wear either smart casual clothing or loungewear.
I asked what weather people would expect to see in a thriller to find out what would be more popular for my own thriller movie. Unfortunately, I can not decide how the weather will be for my thriller since it is out of my own control but I would still like to know what types of weather would be more popular. I found that 57.1% of people would expect the weather in a thriller movie to be foggy/misty and 28.6% would want to see stormy weather, also 14.3% of people would expect to see light rain in a thriller movie.
To get a better idea of when I should film my thriller, I asked what time of day people would expect a thriller to be set and what time of year it should take place. Autumn and winter were the two most popular months whereas people would also expect thrillers to take place either late at night or in the early hours of the morning. The filming for my thriller will take place during the winter so it is good to know that 42% of people would expect to see a thriller movie take place during the winter and I now know that the filming for my thriller would be better off taking place late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
To conclude my questionnaire, I asked people which to select the movie title that they feel would suit a thriller about a kidnapping the most out of 4 different choices. This will help me massively in deciding the title of my final piece. I discovered that the titles 'Stockholm Syndrome' and 'Hidden' were the joint most popular titles, in my own opinion my favourite title of the 4 is 'Stockholm Syndrome' so I am happy that it was the joint most popular so that I know that I can use it for the title of my final piece.
This is the questionnaire that Elliot and myself have made to help us with our audience research. The responses we get will help us when it comes to making decisions in a leter stage of our production such as choosing the name of our final piece and deciding on the costumes for the characters that feature in our film.
Shutter Island is a thriller set in 1954 about an up and coming US marshal, Teddy Daniels, who is assigned to investigate the dissapearance of a patient from the isolated Shutter Island psychiatric hospital. Teddy Daniels becomes suspicious of the hospital when they deny him access to their medical records which he believes will help him solve the case. All communications from the island are then cut off after a hurricane which leads to more dangerous criminals escaping from their cells as more clues into the case begin to appear. After a while on the island, Teddy begins to question everything in his life and begins to lose his sanity. .
The movie commences with a dark black background, and the words 'BOSTON HARBOR ISLANDS 1954'. This immediately sets the period of time the movie is set in and the location of where the events take place. This gives the audience a better idea of what to expect throughout the course of the movie. The sound of water swashing is heard in the background which gives the impression that the movie begins somewhere at sea.
At 0:12, the scene cuts to a foggy/misty area. The sound of a ships horn is heard which further indicates that the opening setting is located somewhere at sea. The fog adds mystery and leaves the audience in a state of confusion since nothing is visible and you can not see what is coming next, this could be a trend throughout the movie since the theme of mystery and not knowing what is going to happen next is a common theme throughout many of Martin Scorcese's movies.
At 0:19, a ship becomes visible breaking through the fogand the sea becomes more visible. This confirms that the first scene takes place at sea and gives the audience a better idea of what is going on at the beginning of this movie.
At 0:30, a man is shown being sick in his bathroom on the ship. It is clear to the audience that he will be the main character throughout the movie since he is played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who is an extremely recognisable actor to many people. The man says to himiself in the mirror in a rather distressed manor "pull yourself together Teddy". This reveals that the mans name is Teddy and implies that he is seasick and is attempting to get himself sorted so that he doesn't look a fool to others on the ship. The low lighting in the room adds a dark atmosphere and foreshadows that the storyline to this movie is going to be a rather dark one.
In the next shot Teddy is shown stumbling out of his room, he is dressed in a formal way which gives the impression that he is some sort of detective. He looks extremely unwell which suggests that he dislikes travelling on boats and hates the sea.
At 1:16,a new character is introduced to the movie who greets Teddy with the phrase "you okay boss?". This shows that Teddy is in charge of whatever is happening and that he is a powerful person. Teddy then states that "he can't stomach the water" which confirms that he doesn't like travelling across water and is prone to becoming seasick.
The man then refers to Teddy as a "legend" from what he'd heard in Seattle. Teddy replies with "What the hell you boys been smoking", this shows that Teddy is a modest man who doesn't boast about himself but also has a very good reputation amongst others.
At 2:01, Teddy is asked by the man if he "has a girl" which triggers a flashback to a shot of Teddy and his girlfriend. Teddy reveals that she died min a fire, this makes the audience feel sympathetic towards the protagonist in this movie and makes hima more popular character. In this shot Teddy looks much healthier and younger, this could be showing that since his girlfriend passed away, his health has declined and the stress he's been under has led to him ageing at a much faster rate.
I, Robot (2004): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343818/?ref_=nv_sr_2
Director: Alex Proyas
Writer: Jeff Vintar(Screenplay) Akiva Goldsman (Screenplay) Jeff Vintar (Screenstory) Isaac Asimov (Suggested by book)
Cast: Will Smith Bridget Moynahan Alex Tudyk James Cromwell I, Robot is set in the year 2035 where humans have become heavily reliant on robots. Homicide detective Del Spooner is in charge of an investigation of the apparent suicide of robotics professor Alfred Lenning. Spooner's investigation leads to him uncovering that robots are a great threat to humanity.
The movie begins in an unkown dark location as the opening credits start to appear, The ambient noise of bubbling gives the viewer the impression that the location is somewhere underwater but there is no clear indication of whether that is true or not.
The strangely shaped objects flying past alongside the dark background and echoed bubbling give the audience a feeling of uncertainty and confusion and make them wonder whereabouts the opening scene takes place.
At 0:23, a red light starts to glow at the bottom of the screen as the movie title appears in the centre of the screen.The title is in a smooth, metallic font that fits in with the theme of the movie, robots and the red light glowing on it gives the audience the feeling that someone bad is going to happen since the colour red symbolises danger.
At 0:38, 'Law 1' appears on the screen which states that 'A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human a human being come to harm' . This shows that the robots are seen as members of society since they have their own set of laws and that they have full inteligence. The writing then dissolves into bubbles which furthermore adds to the idea that the opening scene is set underwater.
As the writing dissapears, there is a quick cut to a girl trapped in a car underwater which reveals that the location of the opening scene is underwater.
At 0:48, 'Law 2' appears on the screen in the same font as the previous law shown and states that ' a robot must obey orders given it by human beings'. The word 'it' describes a robot as an object and not a living thing which shows that they have not yet developed higher place in the social hierachy and are still under humans command in every task they carry out.
At 0:58, the scene reverts back to the woman stuck underwater in the car, in this shot, what seems to be a pair of robot legs are shown jumping over the car. A male is now shown also stuck in a car underwater adjacent to the car where the female is. The third law then appears which says that 'a robot must protect its own existence as long as it does not conflict with the first or second law'. This shows that the robots still must defend themselves as long as they don't bring any harm to a human.
At 1:14, a robot smashes through the car window and pulls the human out, this shows that the robots are used to protect humans and save them when in desperate circumstances. The opening sequence then comes to a close and never gives confirmation of what happens to the male and female in the end which leaves the audience confused and eager to see what happens to the two.
North by Northwest (1959): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writer: Ernest Lehman
Cast: Cary Grant James Mason Eva Marie Saint North by Northwest is a timeless classic about a New York advertising executive Roger Thornhill is thrown into the world of spies when he is mistaken to be a CIA agent that goes by the name of George Kaplan by a foreign spy who is hunting down the agent. George escapes from the spy but is forced to run away from the police who believe that he has committed a murder and ends up chasing George Kaplan across the United States to find him and clear his own name.
The opening titles begin with fast paced orchestral music playing in the background, this immediately sets the tempo for the film and puts the audience in the position where they are ready for a fast paced movie that gets straight into the action from the go.
At 0:17, blue lines appear horizontally and vertically across the screen which is a blank green, the lines form a grid shape which resemble a large building such as a skyscraper with many windows. This gives the audience a hint to the location since tall buildings are usually located in large metropolitan areas such as New York or London.
At 0:25, the opening credits begin which are fully intergrated with the opening scene. The opening credits appear in the following order:
Metro-Goldwyn Mayer presents
Cary Grant
Eva Marie Saint
James Mason
In Alfred Hitchcock's
North by Northwest
Co-starringJessie Royce Landis
With Leo G. Carroll
Josephine Hutchinson
Philip Ober
Martin Landau
Adam Williams Edward Platt
Robert Ellenstein Les Tremayne
Philip Coolidge Patrick McVey
Edward Binks Ken Lynch
Written by Ernest Lehman
Music by Bernard Herrmann
Director of Photography Robert Burks, A.S.C
Technicolor
Production designed by Robert Boyle
Art Directors William A. Horning
& Merrill Pye
Set decorations Henry Grace
& Frank McKelvey
Special effects A. Arnold Gillespie
& Lee LeBlanc
Titles designed by Saul Bass
In VistaVision
Film editor George Tomasini A.C.E
Color Consultant Charles K. Hagedon
Recording supervisor Franklin Milton
Hairstyles by Sydney Guilaroff
Make-up by William Tuttle
Assistant Director Robert Saunders
Associate producer Herbet Coleman
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
At 0:49, the title of the movie appears with a vertical wipe transition. It is written in a bold white font that stands out from the green/blue background and makes it easy for the audience to read. On the N at the beginning of the word 'North' there is an arrow extending from it facing in the compass direction north and an arrow extends from the T at the end of the word 'Northwest' facing in the compass direction west. This relates to the title of the movie 'North by Northwest' because it shows the direction that the title states and maybe gives the audience an impression of where the main character(s) is travelling throughout the film.
The green background fades into the side of a large building reflecting on a congested city at 0:55, which reveals that the location where this films begins is in Manhatton, New York to the audience. This isn't actually confirmed just yet but the yellow taxis that are visible in the reflection of the windows are very common on Manhatton Island and are often associated with the place.
At 1:45, the shot of the building fades out into a crowded pedestrian walkway and a block of writing appears in the centre of the screen in a white font. The paragraph reads: "The events, characters and firms depicted in this photoplay are fictitious, any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual firms, is purely coincidental". This contrasts from the usual paragraphs shown before movies that claim that the story was based on true events, it gives the audience the impression that the storylinr could be somwhat unreal or out of this world which could intrigue them further into the movie;.
There are multiple shots of people rushing through a busy metropolitan area, this could symbolise that the plot of this movie is non stop and packed full of action from beginning to end.
At 2:08, as the writing 'Directed by Alfred Hitchcock' disappears with a vertical wipe transition, a man runs across the screen in the same direction as the writing and misses his bus. The man shown in this shot is the director, Alfred Hitchcock, this cameo goes unnoticed by most but for the few who recognise the man on screen, it gives them an idea of the directors creativeness and makes them want to watch the movie through until the end to see if there are any more creative hidden features or scenes.
Fargo(1996): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116282/?ref_=nv_sr_2
Directors: Joel Coen Ethan Coen (uncredited)
Writers: Joel Coen Ethan Coen
Cast: William H. Macy Frances Mcdormand Steve Buscemi
Fargois a crime/thriller about a seemingly innocent man Jerry Lundergard who finds himself in financial problems. To solve his problems, Jerry hires two men to kidnap his wife so that his father in law who is very wealthy is forced to pay for her release and then they can equally split the ransom money. However, his plan gets disrupted by three killings happening and the work of a pregnant police chief, Marge Gunderson.
The location that this movie takes place in is revealed by the title of the film "Fargo". Fargo is the largest city in the state of North Dakota in the United States with a population of around 120,000 people.
The movie begins with a paragraph titled "THIS IS A TRUE STORY", this instantly makes the audience feel on edge. The line "Out of respect for the dead" clearly indicates that this story involves many deaths and that the plot will tell a gruesome story. The location that the movie takes place in is once again shown in this paragraph where it states: "The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987". This makes the movie more gripping for people living near the area where it took place because they will be more interested in the events that took place 9 years before the movie was published.The background music gives a calm atmosphere and gives the audience a sense of confusion since the music contrasts from the writing being shown on screen, the music starts as the writing appears which is an indicator that the movie has began
The shot of the writing then fades out into a snowy, isolated area that is all white and has no other features. The opening credits are fully integrated with the opening scene and fade into the shot at 0:46 with a rather small, black font that stands out from the white background and makes it easy to read for the audience.
The opening credits appear in the following order:
Polygram filmed entertainment presents
In association with Working Title films
Frances McDormand
William H. Macy Steve Buscemi Harve Presnell Peter Stormare Fargo
For the first 2 minutes of the movie, nothing changes and the same repetitive music continues. This long pause of nothing going on leaves the audience not ready for something to happen and leaves them confused. At 1:50, the sound of drums banging begins as a car is seen driving towards the camera, the the tempo of the drums being hit increases until the car is fully visible. This adds a sort of triumphant atmosphere almost as if to suggest a hero is coming over the hill. This long build up works as a crescendo because there is almost 2 minutes of just an isolated area and all of the sudden, the tempo of the music picks up as the first sign of any character in the movie is shown coming over the hill.
As the car gets close enough to the camera for the audience to get a clear view through the front windshield, the drivers face is not visible. This adds mystery to the storyline and makes the audience wonder who the driver is and how relevant he/she is to the storyline.
After the driver goes past, the scene cuts to a blank, snowy, white background. The title "Fargo" fades in once again in the same black font the stands out from the background. The repetition of this same shot could symbolise a cyclical lifestyle of the main character or maybe it is just to signal the end of the opening sequence and the beginning of the main part of the movie.
Conclusion of Analysis
This opening sequence builds up a confused atmosphere amongst the viewers with its small amount of information given, not a single character is introduced in the opening sequence and there aren't really any clues to what the storyline will be like apart from stating the location of the movie multiple times. The rather bland opening sequence does keep the audience intrigued to the film though because the minimal information given makes the audience even more desperate to find out more about the storyline.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102926/
Director: Jonathon Demme
Writers: Thomas Harris (Novel) Ted Tally (Screenplay)
Cast: Jodie Foster (Clarice Starling) Anthony Hopkins (Dr. Hannibal Lector) Scott Glenn (Anthony Crawford) The Silence of the Lambs is a crime/drama/thriller about a young FBI trainee (Clarice Starling) who is assigned to discover the whereabouts of a missing girl before she is killed by psychopathic serial killer, 'Buffalo Bill'. She uses imprisoned serial killer/cannibal Dr. Hannibal Lector to gain a better insight into the mind of a serial killer. However, Clarice is forced to gain Hannibal's confidence before he reveals any information and clues to her about who or where 'Buffalo Bill' is.
The Opening credits are fully integrated with the opening scene, the movie starts with a title of the Production company's (Orion) name.
The opening scene begins in a woodland setting with the location (Woods near Quantico, Va) fading into the bottom right corner at 0:26 then fading out again at 0:30 this immediately sets the location for the movie and gives the audience an idea of how this can relate to the plot of the movie. It also makes the movie more gripping and interesting to audiences watching from an area nearby or in Virginia.
The opening titles then start to fade in, they use a bold black font and capital letters that stands out from the white, snowy background to make it impossible for the audience to miss the main three actors (Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn). These three actors all appear seperately whereas the rest of the cast are shown at the same time, this emphasizes the important role that the main three actors characters will play in the rest of the film. The credits then appear in this order:
A Strong heart/Demme production
Jodie Foster
Anthony Hopkins
Scott Glenn
The Silence of the Lambs
Brooke Smith
Diane Baker
Kasi Lemmons
Charles Napier
Tracey Walter
Roger Corman
Ron Vawter
Danny Darst
Frankie Faison
Paul Lazar
Dan Butler
Chris Isaak
Casting by Howard Feuer
Music by Howard Shore
Costume designer Colleen Atwood
Production designer Kristi Zea
Director of photography Tak Fujimoto
Edited by Craig Mckay A.C.E
Based on the novel written by Thomas Harris
Executive producer Gary Goetzman
Screenplay by Ted Tally
Produced by Edward Saxon Kenneth Utt Ron Bozman
Directed by Jonathon Demme
The main character, Clarice Starling is the first character to be introduced to the audience at 0:59, this indicates to the audience that she is the main character and the films plot revolves around her. A long shot is used as she is seen climbing up the hill, this helps capture that she is by herself in an isolated environment and gives the audience the impression that she is alone throughout the majority of the movie.
As Clarice is running, the camera is behind her giving a rear view of what is happening, the camera also follows her so that she doesn't get any further away. The way that the camera follows Clarice shows that the movie follows her throughout on how she cracks the case and attempts to become an FBI agent.
At 2:45 a man comes into the scene who seems to be Clarice's trainer, he is clearly in control because when he sends Clarice to Crawford's office, Clarice replies with "thank you sir". This shows that the man is in control because Clarice thanked him for giving her an instruction, this could be to represent the stereotype that men are more powerful than women which is commonly believed in certain parts of the US.
At 3:00, a sign is shown saying "hurt, pain, agony- love it". This shows that Clarice clearly put in hard work to get too where she is and gives the audience an idea of the type of person she is- someone who works hard and doesn't give up until she is successful
As Clarice reaches the building, it becomes apparent that she is the only female training to become an agent for the FBI. There are many males visible in the shot all training as a unit whereas the only female trains by herself. This could be representing the misogynistic views that many males have towards woman and that they isolate her from the activities that they take part in together.
Once again in this shot the building is dominated by males which puts into perspective how much males control society and get the more desired jobs. This represents the sexism women face and the amount of doubt society has in them. Also the only person that Clarice says hello to is a female once again showing how isolated she is because of her gender.
Once again misogyny is shown in this shot when Clarice enters the elevator. As she enters it is crowded with men who give her a peculiar look as if to say "what is she doing here", you can see by the confusion on their faces that it is rare for a female to be in the FBI. This makes the audience feel that misogyny is going to be a common theme throughout the movie.
As Clarice exits the elevator and walks towards Crawford's office, the camera pans away towards a sign that reads "Behavioural Science Services". This suggests that maybe Clarice has a rogue personality or is mentally ill in some sort of way. It implies that she has done something wrong and tells the audience that she isn't as innocent as she looks.
Conclusion of analysis
Altogether I think that the opening sequence to the Silence of the Lambs gives a good introduction to the main character and gives the audience a slight idea to what her personality is like and it also outlines a few key themes to the movie such as misogyny. It also leaves a high amount of the information untouched which is good because it leaves the audience wondering what the plot of the movie will be like. However, the lack of information given in to what the story will be like makes it less gripping and doesn't really reel in the audience.
The candidate created a questionnaire to gather different opinions that could help her when it comes to producing her final piece. The questionnaire has been nicely set out which makes it easy to understand and I like that the candidate has written about how the answers received affect the production for her final piece.
