Poster Analysis

Psycho: Case Study

Film Inspiration

The Collector (1965) - A man kidnaps a woman and holds her hostage just for the pleasure of having her there.

Kiss The Girls (1997) - Police hunting for a serial killer are helped when a victim manages to escape for the first time

Shuttle (2008) - A late night airport shuttle ride home descends into darkness

P2 (2007) - A businesswoman is pursued by a psychopath after being locked in a parking garage on Christmas Eve.

The Betrayed (2008) - The story follows a young woman as she's put through a psychological journey under the thumb of a mysterious figure who suspects her husband of stealing millions from a crime syndicate.

An American Crime (2007) - The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.

Donkey Punch (2008) - Things go drastically wrong for a group of British holidaymakers in Spain.

Out Of The Furnace Film Trailer Analysis

Out Of The Furnace (Starring Christian Bale)

Trailer

It helps the audience to empathise with the character, he appears to have lost a brother whom is killed by a violent, unknown man. It also appears to be a tale of revenge as an old man tells Christian Bale’s character that he “only has one chance” at facing this man.

Written Text

The slogan, "For Hope, For Family, For Justice" is a clear indicator that somehow, someone will get their revenge, however, it will be justified.

Academy Award winners Christian Bale and Forest Whitaker along with Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck and Willem Dafoe are the stars of the movie. Fans of these stars will want to see the movie. Although, Christian Bale gets the whole screen to a picture of him and his name in slightly bigger writing - showing he is the biggest and main star. With the director, Scott Cooper, it references that he was the director of Crazy Heart rather than his name, which means that if you've seen or know of Crazy Heart , you'll want to watch the film, too.

It has no specific date as the it only says “this Fall" and "Coming Soon”, almost urging you to look out for posters or articles about when it ail eventually come out. With the last two pictures, the clips hint that the film is based in a small, industrial town and we know from the accents of the characters that the film is based in America, too.

There is also the credits at the end of the film, which states which members of the production team, cast and other important members of staff as well as the companies that are involved in producing and marketing the film as well as any other associated companies. 

Using social media to create a 'buzz' is becoming evermore useful as lots of different people can talk about or recommend the film, thus inadvertently advertising the film for the production company, without being paid. Out Of The Furnace uses the hash tag '#OutOfTheFurnace' so that people can search and see what other people are tweeting, posting on Facebook or Instagram-ing.

 Spoken Language

“You work too much” says Christian Bale’s on-screen wife, to him. Why? (enticing the audience to want to go to watch the movie and find out why he works too much and what his job is).

“You’ll only get one shot with this guy” says an old man to Christian bale’s character. (What happens, is he victorious or not? Again, this is another piece of filming which makes you want to watch the movie).

Moving Images

It appears to be a normal American town, something we can’t relate to, unless we’ve visited or lived in such a place, before. However, it makes you feel like you might be able to identify with the characters as it (maybe) could be applied to your town.

Sound Effects

Gun shots and punches help to tell you it’s an action movie, but may also be a thriller movie too, as it's fast-paced which helps the audience to get into the movie idea quicker. The emotive lyrics and dark colours give the audience an idea that the film will be emotional.

Music

One clear lyric is the phrase “Release Me” (from Release Me by Pearl Jam) which seems to imply that Christian Bale wants to be released on a revenge mission to avenge the death of his brother. The story is very much centred around Christian Bale's character, which shows that he is the person that will be "released", and from the trailer, we realise he will be released to avenge the death of his brother.

Additional Info.

• The tag line suggests the genre of the film as being a thriller because you want to see what is "For Hope, For Family, For Justice".

• The pictures above, suggest the film will be set in an industrial town, but somewhere normal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw0qH34cbRE

Iconic Thriller Film Directors

What Makes Each Director Different?

Alfred Hitchcock:

Hitchcock is known for a distinctive and recognisable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism.

 He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories often feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime.

Many of the mysteries, however, are used as decoys or "MacGuffins" that serve the film's themes and the psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual overtones.

Steven Spielberg:

His is films began addressing humanistic issues such as the Holocaust, the Transatlantic slave trade, war, and terrorism. Spielberg's films often deal with several recurring themes. Most of his films deal with ordinary characters searching for or coming in contact with extraordinary beings or finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances. In an AFI interview in August 2000 Spielberg commented on his interest in the possibility of extra terrestrial life and how it has influenced some of his films.

A strong consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike, even naïve, sense of wonder and faith, as attested by works such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. According to Warren Buckland, these themes are portrayed through the use of low height camera tracking shots, which have become one of Spielberg's directing trademarks.

The most persistent theme throughout his films is tension in parent-child relationships. Parents (often fathers) are reluctant, absent or ignorant. Peter Banning in Hook starts off in the beginning of the film as a reluctant married-to-his-work parent who through the course of his film regains the respect of his children.

 James Cameron:

Recurring themes include the conflicts between humanity and technology, the dangers of corporate greed, strong female characters, and a strong romance subplot. In almost all films, the main characters usually get into dramatic crisis situations with significant threats to their own life or even the threat of an impending apocalypse. While The Abyss dealt with deep sea exploration, Cameron himself became an expert in the field of deep-sea wreckage exploration, exploring the wreckage of the Titanic and the Bismarck.



Cinematic and Teaser Trailer

Side Effects (2013)

                                Teaser Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2dlPTRQoHk

Cinematic/Theatrical -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEKP3F4QHIg

The Dark Knight Film Poster Analysis (Prezi)

KIDNAPPED poster analysis

Conventions of a Thriller

Blitz Film Information

BLITZ (May 2011)
Directed By	Elliot Lester
Starring	Jason Statham Paddy Considine Aidan Gillen David Morrissey Zawe Ashton
Produced By	Steve Chassman Zygi Kamasa Samuel Hadida
Written By (novel)	Ken Bruen
Written By (screenplay)	Nathan Parker
Edited By	John Gilbert
Studio	Lionsgate Entertainment
Distributor	Lionsgate UK
Box Office Takings	£79,565 (Opening Weekend in the UK) £542,981 (UK) $15,774,948 (Total)
Plot	In London, the violent Detective Sergeant Tom Brant is in trouble with the press and his superiors request low profile attitude to him. When a cop killer called Blitz attacks police officers one by one, DS Brant is asked to help find the criminal. When found, the police have no evidence against Blitz (a.k.a. Barry Weiss), so the police let him free, but put him under surveillance, suspecting another of his attacks. Will they capture Blitz, or will his murder spree carry on?

When A Stranger Calls Trailer Analysis

Collage of Icononography Images

Key Aspects:

 

1. Bloody Knife

2. Shadows

3. Dark Lighting

4. Street Lamps

5. Confined Spaces

6. Wood Areas

 

Story boarding

Storyboards are used as a means of organising shots into the preferred sequence to allow for pre-visualisation. The process we use today was first developed by Walt Disney in the 1930s, and used to plan 'The Three Little Pigs'. 'Gone With The Wind' was one of the first films to have a fully completed storyboard for a motion picture.

They are intricate and detailed, and a crucial part of the planning and preparation before creation. 

Storyboards help plan the budget, health and safety requirements and filming schedule. Without the use of one it would be difficult to prepare for the order of shots and layouts of events. 

They are used in theatre to plan the scenes, animation uses 'animatics' for preparation, novels use then to help the authors visualisation and comics plan with storyboards. 

Storyboards for films are created in a multiple step process. They can be created by hand drawing or digitally on a computer. The main characteristics of a storyboard are:

• Visualize the storytelling
• Focus the story and the timing in several key frames
• Define the technical parameters: description of the motion, the camera, the lightening, etc.

James Bond: Skyfall

Psycho 

Narrative Planning

Research and Planning

Lights Out - A Short Horror Film and The Open Door - Short Thriller Film

As we are choosing between a horror genre and thriller genre, I have been researching different types of media texts to gain inspiration and more knowledge on which genre would be more suited for us. This short horror film has given us insight in what types of conventions and semiotics to include if we were to produce a film trailer. However, we have decided to do a thriller genre as our chosen narrative would allow us to produce a generic thriller film trailer.

Below is a short thriller film:

Genres to Explore