Analysis of Pulp Fiction - micro elements

I looked at Pulp fiction, a crime-thriller and analysed how the micro elements used represent the genre.
Below is a link to the clip i looked at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVpwra1TJDY

The clip starts with the sound of a motor bike starting up as the definition of 'pulp' appears on a blank black screen with shite writing the contrasting simple colours immediately indicate the genre of the film, they have edited it so that the writing shakes slightly which is also very effective as it creates the mood of a thriller that the film is going to be somewhat dark.

The opening scene is of a couple discussing their plans of robbery, they appear to be a normal couple in a cafe fooling around, the sound is all diagetic in this with only the sound of speaking, background noise and cheerful music in the background being played in the cafe this works well as it contrasts with what you were expecting to happen. It follows the typical conventions of a thriller starting with a normal setting. The same Mid-shot of the couple is used for about a minute and then shot-reverse-shot, panning shots and over-shoulder shots are introduced as their conversation progresses which introduces the characters more and makes the audience aware of them being the antagonists. Suddenly the characters roles become apparent when the use of guns as props are used to threaten people in the cafe. Almost immediately as they have shouted the fast paced quirky music starts and the screen goes back to black with bright orange font appearing with the credits to the film, the title of which is animated. The music and colours used create a strong contrast to the dark and eerie effect you would normally find with a thriller but I feel it works very well to make it a little more light hearted and humorous for the audience in contrast to the previous scence of a shooting threat.

The characters in this first scene are dressed in casual wear and have normal make-up which works well in the film as they do not want attention drawn to them and wish to be under cover and discreet before they make their threat.

After the credits having finished a new scene is introduced of two new characters which are dressed smartly as gangsters in a posh car cruising down a road, background music can be heard as well as the dialogue between the two characters. A side on close-up shot is used of the two men throughout the car journey, this makes the audience focus on the conversation between the two. Shot-reverse-shot is used between the two men in their conversation but the shots are still very close-up, the genre of the film is apparent because of the dialogue between the first two characters and of course the following two men in the sceond scene, the sub-genre of crime is also very clear because of the two gansters and the immediate gun shooting threat in the first scene, which prepares the audience for what the rest of the film is going to entail.

When the two men have left the car a shot from below is used as they get their weapons from the boot of the car which indicates power on their behalf. Natural light and bright colours are used throughout the film clip which I viewed which again contrasts with your typical thriller as they normally use the opposite of this. However it works very well in this film due to the humorous side of it which is reflected in their casual conversation before going to attack people. Tracking shot is used as you watch the two men walk to the building and then a birds eye view which is a good establishing shot of the building they have entered.

The locations are all rather ironic in the opening to this film because they are not isolated and are all in a everyday situation which all viewers can relate to. The film is a twist on your typical thriller but certainly works very well doing it this way.

Unbreakable - Antagonsit and Protagonist

We looked at the ending of the film 'Unbreakable' to see how it represents the binary opposites.
We gathered that the difference between the two main characters even though it challenges the usual conventions of Antagonists and Protagonists.



This picture above shows the contradiction of a typical convention of the antagonist and protagonist in a thriller. As you can see in the picture the antagonist (Samuel L Jackson) it shows he doesn't have the usual and expected abilities of an antagonist because he's disabled therefore the protagonist who is indestructible which is ironic as it is usually him who the weaker one.

The one aspect which is a typical part of a binary opposite thriller is the audience see the antagonist in power between the two main characters as Sam L Jackson leads the protagonist.

This contrasts with our Thriller as our baddy has all the power while in this film it's the opposite way round. The antagonist's way of going against Bruce Willis is verbally rather than physically which is an unexpected way of the baddie winning. Also, Samuel L Jackson makes Bruce feel guilty and sorry for him which is an interesting way to try and defeat the protagonist.
Another unexpected part is the unusual camera angles because usually the antagonist has a high angle camera while the protagonist has the camera angle up high to make them look less powerful. therefore, it contradicts the typical way of how the angles portray a character.

From this small clip of the 30 seconds of the ending, viewers would assume that the antagonist and protagonist is the other way round as it looks like the protagonist is in power.
Furthermore, half way through the clip you see the antagonist become in more power as you can see the worry in Bruce by the camera angles because we see the camera moving by Bruce's eyes and the music helps create the mood of him panicking.

Political Thriller - Conventions

The conventions of a political thriller :

• threat is set against a back drop of political power struggle
• plots are designed to give political power to someone
• opponent characters are set up to try and prevent people receiving power
• two sets of characters - ranked in authority.

An example of a political-thriller that we looked at was "the interpreter".

The typical conventions that we recognised throughout this trailer of a political-thriller, were immediately noticed through the dialogue used where the characters where talking about the political threat of someone planning to kill the president and the protagonist who was trying to prevent this from happening. Furthermore the enigma at the beginning was the threat which again follows the typical conventions that you find in this sub-genre.

In the trailer it becomes apparent that the antagonist is the person trying to gain political power by killing the president and then taking over the country, another typical convention.

Nicole Kidman, the protagonist was the character in the film who was trying to prevent the opponent characters of receiving the power of ruling the country by informing the government of the phone call she received.

It was clearly shown the ranked authority of the two characters in the film because the government did not believe Nicole Kidman's theory of the president going to be assassinated in the future purely because she was their employee and had no importance in their eyes.

Anaylising sound in Se7en.

To begin within in Se7en the sound is diegetic with the background noises of the radio, traffic noises from the surrounding area, water running in the protagonist's flat. Further on dialogue is introduced between two characters explaining the situation so that the audience gets more of an understanding of the circumstances. Again more diegetic sounds are introduced of rain, cars, everyday street noises, after this police sirens are clearly heard which suggests what the film is going to entail. When the scene goes back into the bedroom the sound of the outside is suppressed until completely dimmed out. The sound of a metronome is now becoming the main sound being used which builds up the suspense and tension in the scene and leaves the audience in anticipation. Finally when the opening credits come on a non-diegetic soundtrack of electronic industrial sounds and the beat of the drums, which creates an eery atmosphere for the beginning of the film.

Micro elements on Se7en. - How it represents the genre.

We looked at Se7en and the four of us looked at an micro element to see how they represent the genre thriller.
Yasmin looked at Editing
Sian looked at music
Tania looked at mise-en-scene
Briarly looked at camera angles and movements

Plan for Preliminary task.

For our preliminary task, we have planned to keep the same characters and people acting from our first Preliminary task as it will be easier for us.
Yasmin and Sian will be acting and Briarly and Tania will be filming/directing.

We are using the same location as our first preliminary task as it worked well last time.



This is our storyboard for our Preliminary task.
On the board it explains what shots we will use and extra information such as who is what character, what the actors will be doing, etc.

Script:
Yasmin: You'll never guess what?
Sian: Oh for god sake, I've got so much...
Yasmin: It will only take a minute I promise!
Sian: Go on then...
Yasmin: Sally's only gone and got herself up the duff hasn't she!
Sian: No way? Who's the dad?

*Script may change while filming.

We are doing a preliminary Task because we want to Familiarise ourselves with the equipment, computer software and filming techniques.
We are re-doing it so we can put it on this blog and as we now know more about how things work hopefully this task will be better and run more smoothly.