RESEARCH: Genre

Here is a slideshow containing the information I have collected while researching:

Genre research thriller

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RESEARCH: Genre

Fatal Attraction

Released: 1987

Certificated: bbfc 18

Director: Adrian Lyne

Deconstruction of the first 2 minutes:

The establishing shot of the film
shows a dark city at night, as is pans to the left we hear all sorts of
diagetic sound such as police car sirens, traffic and barking dogs; this is
most likely synchronous diagetic sound because the sound seems loud compared to
the distance of the camera. This sound gives the shot realisation therefore
enticing the viewer more than it would if the soundtrack was silent. After the
shot stops panning a window appears in the centre of the screen, this infers that
this window is important, as the shot zooms into the window a sound bridge is
formed and we can hear the child in the window talking to her mother even
though we are still about 100 meters away, this gives the impression that the
child is one of the characters therefore the audience focus on her.
A jump cut then shows a close-up of the
mother’s face and a tracking shot follows her around a room whilst she is
speaking; the same voice responds as the child we heard talking in the window;
this suggests that the child’s mother is the women on the screen. A jump cut then shows a two shot of the child
and a man, shot-reverse shots show the child watching a comedy TV show and as
another two shot is shown we see the man playfully covering the face of the child
as if to annoy her, she giggles and tries to move her head around the hand
whilst whining ‘Daddy!’. This two shot shows the relationship between the
characters is a happy one therefore the representation of the characters is a
stereotypical happy family. A jump cut then shows the mother of the family in
the bathroom, the mother is facing the other way but we assume she is cleaning
her teeth because of the diagetic sound and her hovering over the sink.
A jump
cut then shows the father and daughter, the phone then rings and the father
picks it up, whilst on the phone parallel editing shows the two parents calling
from room to room. These shots show the mother turned around and facing the
camera, we now see she is only wearing a thin shirt through which we can see
she is quite skinny, she also has a made up face; two qualities of a
stereotypically attractive woman are to be elegant and beautiful, as this woman
is both of these she is represented as attractive to the audience. Whilst the
parents are in conversation the child enters the bathroom with her mother and
picks up her mother’s lipstick, despite her mother telling her not to she puts
it on her face; this would suggest the child is trying to attract attention,
this indicates she wants to be noticed more, this suggests that because of the
happiness of the couple they pay more attention to each other than their child.
The father asks what the mother will be wearing tonight on behalf of the woman
on the phone, this infers that they will be going out; she replies ‘my black
suit’ this suggests that they may be going somewhere higher class. As the father puts down the phone and searches
high wardrobe frowns and then calls ‘where is my blue suit’ his wife replies
behind the door, this suggests the wife is organised and has already got the
suit ready for him, therefore represented as a good wife.

RESEARCH: Genre

The Bodyguard

Released: 1992

Certificated: 15

Director: Mick Jackson

Deconstruction of the first 2 minutes:

The film begins with a black
screen and repeated gunfire, the darkness then fades into an establishing close-up
shot of a middle aged man firing a gun, the man is dressed in a suit; this shows
that his is not hiding his breach of the law because he is showing his face,
the suit also suggests that because he is professionally dressed his job might
be to use his gun. When the gunfire
stops a slow sad soundtrack begins; this suggests the receiver of the gunshots
has died. The shot then zooms out and
reveals the character holding an older characters head down, the man is also
wearing a suit may suggest high class and wealth, he then attempts to raise his
head but the middle aged character pushes him down again and says ‘stay down’
the tone of his voice is concerned but gentle this gives us the impression he
is protecting the older character instead of threatening him.
As the camera continues to zoom
out we can see the setting is in a dark garage with expensive cars, this would
infer the social class of the film is higher and there is wealth present. A third man then enters the garage, the
character holding the gun quickly turns around and shout ‘freeze!’ he then
turns back around, this would suggest he knows this man and isn’t there to
mindlessly kill but in fact to do good. At this point the camera has zoomed out enough
for the audience to see a dead man covered in blood we assume this was the
man’s target, in the background the man stays frozen; this would indicate that
he doesn’t enjoy killing and is embracing what he has done. The zooming out
shot then merges into a crane shot and lifts into the ceiling.
A piece of non-continuity editing then takes
us to an extreme close-up shot on a glass of whisky; as whisky is a beverage
drunk by the wealthy we assume as the shot zooms out we will appear in a higher
class surrounding. The shot then pans travels up the holder of the glass’
shaking arm, this may infer nervousness or because of the wrinkles on the man’s
hand possibly an old age illness. The face of the man previously being held
down then appears but this time his suit is made up and neat; the shot then
arcs and the shooter from the previous scene comes into view, the pair then
talk about the continuation of a job contract. The shooter refuses the offer
and says with a strong masculine voice that he is no good in permanent
positions. This would suggest he isn’t a very committed man, a two shot shows
the pair and whilst the shooter replies and the relationship projected looks
strong as if the two care a lot for each other, this explains the shooters (who
is now referred to as Frank) apology because he hates to let the older man
down.
A fading transition promotes
another piece of non-continuity editing which shows Frank on a roadside bending
down and picking up some suitcases; as he does this a piece of background
diagetic sound implies a car is driving off. Frank then walks towards a front
door of a dark house , as he does this a match on action shot shows his feet
kicking large clusters of post from the path; this suggest no one has been here
for a long time. Frank then opens the door with his own key; this shows that
this is his house and as no one else is there suggesting he lives alone; this
projects him as attractive as one of the qualities of a stereotypically
attractive man is to be independent.

RESEARCH: Genre

The Invasion

Released: 2007

Certificated: bbfc 15

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel

Deconstruction of the first 2 minutes:

The first footage shown in the movie is a selection of
flashing-fast moving images and short clips which show scary faces, bacteria
and drugs; this is a montage. It introduces us the film and suggests that some
key factors in the story-line could be illness and psychological challenges, a
fast machine like squeaking sound supports the footage and suggests panic
because of its tempo; this sets the mood of the first scene before we have even
witnessed it.
The
establishing shot of the film is a mid-shot showing Nicole Kidman’s character
entering a rusty white metal doorway cautiously, this indicates that the
character isn’t supposed to be there a jump cut then switches to a point of
view shot which shows the shop she is entering. From this shot we can see many
shelves scattered with pills, ripped boxes and a refrigerator filled with fizzy
pop. The surroundings would suggest the shop is chemist; in the background we can
see the official entrance to the shop boarded in metal; this tells us that the
character has not entered the shop in a way a normal member of the public
would, also her cautiousness indicates that she is not a staff member but
instead sneaking in. The scattered pills and ripped boxes suggest a break-in
has happened, as a point of view shot scans the characters surroundings a
soundtrack containing merged and murmuring voices is played, this suggests that
the character is distressed from something that has happened previously. After
this heavy breathing fades into the soundtrack this infers the character has
just been running or is faced with strong emotions such as fear this gives the
audience the impression she is scared of something.
The character then rushes into
the room and frantically searches the boxes of drugs whilst doing this her
thoughts are played on a soundtrack; confirming if they are the correct drugs,
the fact that the character knows all the drug names suggests she is well
educated in a profession to do with medicine, also the effect given by the fast
non-continuity editing jump cuts shows panic, as if she has a time limit before
something bad is going to happen. A jump cut shows the character opening the
fridge and the tempo of the soundtrack slowly speeds up whilst a match on
action shot shows the character drinking a bottle of fizzy pop, this causes
tension to build up. As this happens the character whispers ‘must stay awake’
this explains the rush to take drugs which will keep her awake.
A shaking door followed by a match on action
cut showing the rattling door handle disrupts the soundtrack and acts as the
climax to the tension created, we know there are people inside because there
are cries calling ‘open the door!’ the character looks at the door, frantic
rushing collection of thoughts begin to play and fast shots suggesting panic
begin again, but this time a point of view shot shows her looking at the clock;
this image fades to a blur; this may suggest that the character is tiring. This
worries the audience because we know that is exactly what she doesn’t want to
happen.
Non-continuity editing then jump
cuts to a rocket flying towards earth from outer space and a soundtrack is used
to project the speed at which the rocket is travelling, special effects
containing explosions is used this creates an element of realisation because
the effects make the scene look real; as the rocket explodes continuity editing
shows the debris falling from different directions. After this a news report is
shown, we know it is a news report because of the formal tone of the reporters
voice and the consecutive inserts showing headlines across the bottom of the
screen. The news report shows different stories from a range of people who
witnessed the explosion and part way through a man wearing a blue uniform
(suggests he is a police officer) says no one should touch the debris because
it may be contaminated. The next shot shows an old woman who admits to touching
the debris this would give the effect of curiosity on the audience because we
now wonder what will happen to her. This shot is followed by a girl placing
flower by a gate which infers people have died. The next scene shows a healthy-fit,
well-dressed man exiting a posh car, as he does he is in the middle of the shot
this shows that this man is important and a tracking shot follows this man on a
short walk towards a tent, the man walks confidently; this represents him as
attractive because he contains qualities such as confidence, healthiness and
muscular and these are the same qualities contained by a stereotypically
attractive man. As the man walks many camera crews and reporters surround him
calling ‘Mr Hoffman!’ because the entire crowd know his name this suggests he
is well known and maybe has answers to the contamination.

RESEARCH: Genre

Shutter Island

Released: 2010

Certificated: bbfc 15

Director: Martin Scorsese

Deconstruction of first 2 minutes:

The establishing shot of the film
shows a boat in the middle of the sea;
diagetic sound of choppy water and an insert which says ‘Boston Harbour Islands
1954’ are used in this shot because the dates shows 1954 we know the film was
set in the past therefore everything will be old fashioned. We know ‘Teddy’ the
main character is on this boat because the shot later cuts to him inside the
cabin toilet, we immediately known Teddy is feeling sea-sic because the first
shot from inside the boat shows him gagging, sweating and murmuring to himself
‘pull yourself together Teddy’. Just after this point Teddy bends down into the
sink and creates a loud gagging sound; a bus-shot from Teddy’s point of view then
cuts to a tap running; this infers that Teddy has just been sick and he is
washing away the mess. After washing his
hands Teddy tell himself ‘It’s just water’ a point of view shot then shows
Teddy looking out the small circular window and saying ‘A lot of water’ he then
leaves the toilet and a match-on-action shot shows him walking through a dirty,
gloomy room filled with dangling chains and handcuffs, a tense atmosphere is
created by the single sounds of the chains clanking this suggests that maybe
this room was used a prison.
Match-on-action shots continue to
be used as Teddy walks out on to the deck as he does so the diagetic sound of
choppy water is brought back, Teddy then stops walking and rests on the rails
of the boat whilst standing next to a new character; this character then greets
Teddy with ‘Hey Boss’ this obviously indicated that Teddy is this man’s boss,
Teddy acts slightly surprised and this suggests that this is news to him. A two
shot is then used showing the two characters resting on the boat rail as they
talk about the institution which has sent them on the journey which they are
currently on Teddy constantly twitches which suggests he still feels ill. A key
line in the conversation is the reaction Teddy has when his colleague calls his
a legend a close-up shot shows Teddy’s face light with a grin; this suggests
that maybe Teddy must be good at his job to be referred to as a legend;
therefore he is represented as a hard worker or maybe talented because of his
successfulness. The pair then shares a
cigarette and the next part of their conversation is shown using shot-reverse
shots the pair talk about Teddy’s dead wife and when a short clip of her is
shown the brightness of the shot is high and all sound is muffled out, this infers
the footage shown is a memory of Teddy’s.