Many thrillers take place in very gritty and run-down locations. An example of this is 'This Is England' directed by Shane Meadows, released in 2006.
A second and final example of a theatrical release displaying a run-down location is 'Essex Boys' directed by Terry Winsor and released in 2000. A prime example is in the opening.
An example of media apart from film is the use of music video's to show an example of a gritty location is featured in the music video of 'When The Sun Goes Down' by The Artic Monkeys. This album was released on the 23rd of January, 2006.This video is posted below.
The reason why media posted above use locations such as these is to portray parts of contemporary Britain.
The gritty locations are used to challenge stereotypes of British life.
Our thriller is a noir thriller due to the use of noir lighting etc. An example of a noir thriller with fantastic locations is 'The Singing Detective, Episode 1'. This clip is posted below. The location/establishing shots start at 0:52.
Screen shots from this clip are posted below.
In this one picture alone there is the convention of wet streets, chiaroscuro lighting and an enigmatic shadowed figure (to the left of the frame).
Our location is contemporary yet does not challenge thriller genre. It is keeping with the modern times where gang crime is frequent and stalking crime is seen more and more.
The victim within our thriller is a women who is found shot twice on the sofa. This makes her a passive character. Although she plays a passive role this does not mean she isn't important.
This enigma effectively acts as the 'hook' to the audience. The questions being asked are;
"what/who has this boy's mother been involved with? Has she borrowed money from a loan shark and not been able to pay it back? Has the loan shark decided to 'get even'? Has she been involved with dealing/smuggling copious amounts of drugs? Does she know something she shouldn't? Has a past lover scorned finally caught up with her?
This enigma effectively acts as the 'hook' to the audience. The questions being asked are;
"what/who has this boy's mother been involved with? Has she borrowed money from a loan shark and not been able to pay it back? Has the loan shark decided to 'get even'? Has she been involved with dealing/smuggling copious amounts of drugs? Does she know something she shouldn't? Has a past lover scorned finally caught up with her?
To avoid any possible sexist accusations we could have switched the roles and/or genders e.g. we could have used the young boy as a victim. The plot of our film could develop further to see the mother avenging her dead son. She could then be likened to the bride seen in 'Kill Bill Volume 1'.
Other examples of passive female roles within thriller films are 'Eve' from Sergio Leone's 'Once Upon A Time In America', 'Nicky Henry' who plays 'Joshua Cody's' (both pictured) girlfriend in David Michod's 'Animal Kingdom' and finally 'Anna Schmidt' in Carol Reed's 'The Third Man'.
This passivity is not restricted to the world of the thriller genre. This also extends to mainstream cinema and especially action films. There are plenty of examples in particular the classic comic-book heroes who each have their 'damsell-in-distress'.
Pictured below are 'Mary-Jane Watson' from Sam Raimi's 'Spiderman' released in 2002, 'Lois Lane' from Richard Donner's 'Superman' released in 1978 and finally 'Pepper Potts' from John Favreau's 'Iron Man' released in 2008.
These three example were all created by 'Marvel Comics'. Take note that the superheroes are frequently males and more often than not the passive character is played by a female.
Our thriller is a noir thriller and we have taken inspiration from many urban located films. Here are some examples of urban set noir thrillers. One fantastic example is from Carol Reed's 'The Third Man'. The shot mentioned below is the opening aerial, establishing, long shot of Vienna. The shot below that is from 'The Matrix' released in 1999.
Our thriller is a noir thriller and we have taken inspiration from many urban located films. Here are some examples of urban set noir thrillers. One fantastic example is from Carol Reed's 'The Third Man'. The shot mentioned below is the opening aerial, establishing, long shot of Vienna. The shot below that is from 'The Matrix' released in 1999.
Our main character of 'Jonathan Cody' is a young man aged 17-18. The fact that he is thrown into this whirlwind of criminality suggests that nowadays young people are the centre of action and attention. It could be argued that our film portrays older generations as more inert. Again to avoid any possible ageist comments we could switch the roles around and have the boy as the victim.
The zeitgeist our film is attempting to portray about contemporary Britain is the lack of privacy and the implications this can have: e.g the number of people who publicise personal information on such things as social networking sites. Another factor which is hitting the demographic between 18-25 year olds is the recession. Factors contributing hugely to this widely felt pessimism are things like the general price of living e.g. gas bills, water bills, income tax and university fees combined with the brutal cuts in public spending by the coalition government.
At a glance your response is too thin, look at the link Mr Seal sent you in an email from an example sent by the Chief Examiner a couple of days ago.
ReplyDeleteShots of each of your main character and how he represents aspects of British youth with strong references to texts where white British youth play a major role. Or Josh in Animal Kingdom though an Austalian film.
Your film doesn't really challenge genre conventions because of the noir lighting. The fact you locate the action in a house makes little difference. But this point is for question 1.
Re representation of gender, your film as you indicate represents the female as a passive victim, here you could include a still of Eve in Once Upon a Time in America, reference Josh's girlfriend in Animal Kingdom, the passivity of Anna in The Third Man. Thus in common with traditional representations of gender in the thriller genre it is the male who one anticipates will play an active role in the action. For example......... and you can reference action adventure films here in order to emphasise the point about passive females and active males in main stream films.
Re representation of place, develop this point and search on YouTube at home "The Singing Detective Episode 1 Part 1". Your thriller is a noir thriller and here you can have a field day including clips and screen shots from other noir thrillers, particularly of night shots of deserted urban landscapes to include The Matrix,The Third Man etc.
At the moment Level 2 reflecting basic understanding of representation. Your reference to Once Were Warriors is a bit off the wall and too vague unless you were to embed a clip with comment from this film.
I have posted the following on Joe and Will's blogs with regard to strengthening your response to question 2.
ReplyDeleteCheck out the following film site re genre films and the femme fatale etc.
http://www.filmsite.org/femmesfatales.html
Representation of gender: You have used a traditional representation of women in thriller films in that the female is a victim and that the action will revolve around the young male character. Will you need to reference far more research to illustrate you understand the domination of male characters in film, particularly thrillers and action and scifi thrillers.
You have mentioned Once Upon a Time in America but you need to make more of Eve's brutal murder by three corrupt police officers and that the narrative focuses on strong male characters and betrayal.
You could also reference Marion Crane in Psycho in that she is deviant and murdered less than half way through the film. This was unprecedented at the time the film was made because Hitchcock marketed the film as being about a young woman on the run! Thus the focus of the film is on Norman Bates.
The Third Man - Anna is not the centre of the action - the film is mainly about Holly Martins and Harry Lime.
Animal Kingdom - the death of Josh's girlfriend and the minor role she plays in the film.
Pulp Fiction, Mia is a classy junkie but the action of the film focuses on Jules and Vince. Reservoir Dogs is all about 5 males. But Jackie Brown and the Kill Bill films break Tarantino's mould and the generic blueprint.
You say.......Another development of the middle-class stereotype is that this family seem to have a dark, mysterious background – normally middle-class families are portrayed as honest or quite peaceful....I'd loose this generalisation because it's in accurate.
You could discuss the representation of social class and the social position of the main character and that white middle class audiences will be able to identify with him as he's easily recognisable. His family house which is a well appointed Victoria terrace house indicates his family are middle class because these houses are expensive. Thus the hook in the film is "what has the boy's mother" been involved with. Has she borrowede money from loan sharks or has she been involved with dealing drugs or did she work for MI5?
Please note on www.filmsite.org
Primary Characteristics and Conventions of Film "Noir: Themes and Styles
The primary moods of classic film noir were melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia. "
You could thus discuss the representation of contemporary Britain in your film as bleak, unsafe/threatening because of the pessimism and gloom caused by the recession and the brutal cuts in public spending by the coalition and the effect this is having on the 18-25 demographic!
At present a borderline Level 1-2 reflecting mainly minimal understanding of representation.