Thursday, December 1, 2016

Understanding sub-genres

Understanding sub-genres


Psychological Thriller

  • Is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller and Horror genres.
  • However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genres, in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre.  
Themes
  • Reality - the quality of being real. Characters often try to determine what is true and what is not within the narrative.
  • Perception -  A person’s own interpretation of the world around him through his senses. Often characters misperceive the world around them, or their perceptions are altered by outside factors within the narrative.
  • Mind - The human consciousness; the location for personality, thought, reason, memory intelligence and emotion. The mind is often used as a location for narrative conflict, where characters battle their own minds to reach a new level of understanding or perception.
  • Existence/purpose - The object for which something exists; an aim or goal humans strive towards to understand their reason for existence. Characters often try to discover this purpose is in their lives and the narrative’s conflict often is a way for the characters to discover this purpose.
  • Identity - The definition of one’s self. Characters often are confused about or doubt who they are and try to discover their true identity.
  • Death - The cessation of life. Characters either fear or have a fascination with death.
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Espionage
the practice of spying or of using spies, typically by governments to obtain political and military information.

- Example Of Espionage Movies
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Supernatural (The Conjuring 2)

Jump scare
Creepy mood
Supernatural appearance that you can't explain
Love and friendship wins the day // The evil continues to harm humanity



Technical codes:
All scenes are dark by editing, showing something bad could happen.


Symbolic codes:

Holy crosses turning upside down with “forces”, symbol of unholy existen,
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Cracking sound of the swing, showing something bad will happen.
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Things moving by itself, while speeding up, followed by fast swap of shots of chaos, create tension.




Crime Thriller
A thriller in which the central characters are involved in crime, either in its investigation, as the perpetrator or, less commonly, a victim (generally, this is just a thriller).

  • Films dealing with crime and its detection are often based on plays rather than novels
  • Common methods and themes in crime thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings.
  • An atmosphere of menace and sudden violence, such as crime and murder, characterize thrillers.
  • The tension usually arises when the character(s) is placed in a dangerous situation, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible. Life is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation
  • The objective is to deliver a story with sustained tension, surprise, and a constant sense of impending doom.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Zodiac Narrative Range

Zodiac Narrative Range


Unrestricted(Big picture) -

Audience know more than character
We knew the zodiac never gets caught
We knew about the killing

Shots - Long,  Wide and High Angle shots

Restricted(Detail) -

The audience learns information/plot same time as the character
Details of case
The suspect

Shots  - Close ups

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Why we watch scary films

Why we watch scary films


Personal Fears-

Loneliness - Iam legend

Clowns - IT

Needles - SAW

Blood - A serbian Film

Society Fears-

AI - I robot/ Terminator

Zombie apocalypse- War Z

The Youth - The children

Government control - The Purge



How fears are used for entertainment

Fears are used for entertainment

Dolf Zillman


The negative emotions gained from violent/ scary / negative imagery - intensity the positive.



Aristotle Catharsis





















We purge / cleanse our own negative / violent feeling, by watching/ consumming/ experience violent, negative.


Glen D Walters






















  • Tension - Create use of micro-elements and manipulate infromation and narrative
  • Relevance - The gear generated has to be relevant to the audience
  • Unrealism - The audience have to be aware it isnt real

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Dexter - Shape theory


Shape theory


In class we compared different shapes and what we thought about it

Circle

welcoming
fair
not harmful
repetitive
nice
cosy
cute
chubby

All these were positive


An example of character that fits this is mickey mouse

Triangle

rude
violent
angry
harmful
mean
awful

All these were negative

An example of character that firs this is the devil himself.


Square 

balance
mature
justice
protection
control

All these were positive

An example of character that fits this is the grandpa from UP

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Children of Men - Opening Analysis

Film Openings


In all film opening there are conventions (what the audience expect to see).
An example of what we watched in class: children of men