Spotted this and thought it might be of some use... http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jun/02/lily-allen-bridget-jones-musical
Here is part one, this part is all about Title Cards and how we've utilized them to fit the thriller genre. If the video is not working etc you can read pretty much a summarized version below:
Evaluation
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
One of the conventions that we've really tried to embrace during our project, and we hope gives the production more of professional feel appeared when we were editing in some title cards. Many production companies use a title card that comes with a small and recognisable fanfare. For instance, most people would clearly regonise the Universal title card.
When looking at some case studies, we noticed that during thriller films many of these title cards from production companies had alterations. For example during the opening of I Am Legend the usual fan fares were gone and replaced by the diegetic sound of the first scene. During the opening of Vacancy the title cards which were usual colourful were changed to red and black.
We attempted to adopt this style, and as you will see in the video that we have two production company's title card. Cira Pictures and KSM Productions. When we put this into context of an actual thriller these would be maybe a largeish company and an independent company. But both would use the title cards seen at the very start of the film in front of their retrospective films.
However, we may have put in these title cards we have followed the conventions that I've previously mentioned. We have removed any sound or fan fares that would have been played over the top of these titles and turned them from their original colour to a dark black and white, hopefully in keeping with the film. This is used to build a sense of tension along with helping the audience associate with the type of film they are going to be viewing.
For some reason it's uploaded in a 4:3 scale rather than a 16:9 which it was originally filmed and edited in.
Enjoy!
"Makes Your Bones Grow Strongerer"
No, this isn't a post about Petit Filous. Nor the creepy little French girl who’s been on our screens beating stereotypical little French boys in arm wrestling fights, all in aid of returning the magical marbles to her weedy friend, for the past 6 years. Last night I went to the cinema to see a free preview screening of The Lovely Bones. It's a new sure-fire blockbusting drama/thriller film at the hands of Peter Jackson. Okay, so he's well known and loved for his adaptation of Lord of the Rings, but it doesn't take a genius to put The Lord of the Rings on screen. It just takes a shit load of money. A monkey could’ve done it. Honestly. (Well, a monkey with a tonne of money. Not just your average zoo monkey, oh no) When the trailer blurted 'Visionary Director of Lord of the Rings' across the screen, I wasn’t impressed, nor compelled to see it. It’s as if they were trying to draw the massive audiences from The Lord of the Rings - you’re quite the sleaze, Paramount Pictures. The trailer itself was pretty impressive, displaying Jackson’s need for squeezing millions of dollars worth of CGI into 80% of the film, but also showcasing some of what appeared to be interesting storytelling. I had not read the book, not even sure I’d heard of it, so the storyline itself was brand new to me. The real idea didn’t enthral me, I assumed it’d be another ‘just watchable’ flick from Jackson… but I was wrong (…for once…) it was incredible.However, if it hadn't been for my media background (and the old man who laughed like an electronic Santa that's running out of batteries during crucially gripping scenes) I'd have enjoyed the film much more. I was sat constantly pointing out to my friend Sophie, who is also on her way to a media career, that 'oooh, I liked that shot... oh that was a nice shot... hmm good symbolism!". Quite often I'd also throw in those things that make film lovers cringe - continuity errors. I have my friend Richard to thank for this. Since starting my Media course in September he’s pointed out 90% of all errors ever recorded on film, and now I’m following suit. Media A Level, you are a cruel mistress. Supposedly this film is abundant with errors due to the clumsy adaptation by Peter Jackson himself, and those over critical bastards on IMDB don’t hold back on letting loose their anger, I didn’t notice hardly any of these, was this to do with my lack of knowledge of the book? Who knows? Too busy with "That's a good shot" to notice narrative errors most likely. But one scene that really got me grouchy was where we see Mr. Harvey take off his glasses, one whole shot focused on this, before seconds later they reappeared on the face of his shadow. It continues to baffle me at why these errors are still present. Don’t they hire someone to check these things? Mostly it annoyed me because the glasses worked as some seriously interesting and intense piece of mise-en-scene. Quite possibly one of the most important in the entire film. Then they make a mistake as obvious as that? Hmmm… Peter, that was clumsy indeed*
As far as the acting was concerned, it was a total mix of unusually written and acted characters to showcasing some superb child actors. I’ll say that 70% of the cast were pretty flawless, but I’m just confused by the choice to use Mark Wahlberg, the 90s rapper*** Wahlberg made the transfer to acting… well, terribly debuting in The Substitute. Since then he’s appeared in wooden roles more times than you can count, making suspect he might get the starring role in the live action adaptation of Pinocchio next year. Perfect.
Wahlberg is really vividly contrasted with the brilliant Rachel Weisz, who was pretty incredible in her role. Her role could’ve worked much better if she wasn’t starring alongside Wahlberg where the couple relationship becomes an incredibly awkward and unbelievable aspect in the film. Actually coming to think of it a lot of the roles seemed awkward, I’m not sure why Susan Saradon’s role was in the film. It seemed a plea to lighten up the somewhat disheartening narrative of the film. But it didn’t sit well with the audience, well it didn’t sit right with me, it was seriously out of place in the film, it felt slightly like watching someone take a dump in the middle of a funeral ceremony. And actually it was, well without the dumping, or a funeral ceremony. Where was the funeral? That’d have been heart wrenching, where was that… Eh? Eh?
Let me pause right now to tell you that I do actually (kind of) like this film, I did enjoy (most of) the performances and do think it was (slightly) well written and (vaguely) interestingly shot. I’m just an (extremely) grumpy old man, in a 16 year olds body. What is the application age for Grumpy Old Men, I wonder?
This is the part where I’m supposed to compliment the child actors in the film, but my lawyer told me it sounded like I was too interested in prepubescent people, so I was asked to remove it. They were good though.
The film did however encase one the most butt-clenching scenes I've ever seen. I may be cantankerous but I’m not a tool, so I won’t tell you the details of the butt-clenching scenes. Because that could well ruin the film, though it’s seen in the trailer. Basically Susie Salmon’s sister is in Mr. Harvey’s house for [spoiler hiding] and then [spoiler hiding] no joke, that was shockingly butt-clenching. You could well come out of the cinema with glutes of steel. So much atmosphere is built up that it’s insane, that I [wait for it] appreciate it. This use of silence really throws me back to Francis Lawrence’s recent film I Am Legend. I’d be proud if I was him, clearly Jackson finds his work so interesting he steals it. Bastard.
Anyway, I think I should end this now, before I go to far and end up on some sort of Hollywood hit list (how very vain of me, who cares what a college kid thinks eh? What power do I even have (I’m also starting to feel as I continue the overuse of brackets is becoming more and more affluent)) Granted I’ve expressed my disgust for some of the films antics, and also shown that I think Peter Jackson is a good for nothing (but blockbusting films) copy-catting cad! But the film was… good if only for the presence of the legend that is Mr. Speilberg. But that’s something I’ll pick up on another day, I wouldn’t even know where to start when explaining why Speilberg’s amazing. Maybe I’d start by washing out that numbskull Danny Boyle’s mouth out “I don’t use well known actors, not like Speilberg, and that makes me a real director” yeah, and a real arrogant prick. Well that’s all next time on this blog. Hope you’ve enjoyed this cynical look at The Lovely Bones. Hope I’ve not come across too much of a dick.
*Just before one of you smart arses posts one of those comments where you feel the need to justify your own authority over my ‘terribly naive’ blog, and points out that Peter Jackson may not have been responsible and I should replace his name with the continuity director’s name, I apologise but I don’t know his name.**
**Nor, do I really give a shit!
***Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch – if you’ve not heard of these, stay away. I was left clutching my bleeding ears after my short encounter with some of their terrible music.
I thought this was so genius, I felt the need to post it... enjoy!
Also, just a little heads up that the locations document will be uploaded as soon as physically possible, having some serious blogger problems at the moment.
Also, just a little heads up that the locations document will be uploaded as soon as physically possible, having some serious blogger problems at the moment.
As promised here is the third part of my Media Case Studies, this one is a case study on The Silence of the Lambs from 1991.
Introduction & Psycho (1960)
I Am Legend (2007)
The Godfather (1972)
Introduction & Psycho (1960)
I Am Legend (2007)
The Godfather (1972)
Media Case Studies Silence Of The Lambs
View more documents from Kenny Tanner.
Here is the case study for I Am Legend (2007) as promised.
Introduction and Psycho (1960)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The Godfather (1972)
Introduction and Psycho (1960)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The Godfather (1972)
Media Case Studies I Am Legend
View more documents from Kenny Tanner.
I was recently advised by my philosophy teacher (who is also a film lover) to watch a film called Moon for it's connections into our Philosophy and Ethics lessons. Luckily enough this film tied into my media work as the film could be stated as a Psychological Thriller. It certainly gained enough of the conventions of a thriller, like the desolate setting and the many red herrings. But I just didn't enjoy the film, at all.
I was told this film was cinematic genius, and that it was brilliant. It's won several BAFTAs amongst many other awards but I felt it's thrilleryness (yes, I've reached a point where my thesaurus is exhausted and my last resort is making up words) was wasted on me. The entire film felt like an educational video on '10 Steps to Making a Thriller' rather than an actual film. With many other thrillers that I've seen, specifically take a look The Number 23 which also falls into the psychological thriller category, they take breaks from being full on thriller-y and this is what adds most suspense. I know when I saw The Lovely Bones during the scenes where it was just showing life, I knew that something was coming, an underlying thriller-y moment was about to occur. We were about to get the conventions of silence and so on. Even if we look at I Am Legend, which was one of my case studies, there is a scene where Robert Nevelle is reciting the words to Shrek. Now THAT adds something to the film, it detracts from the thriller-y part! It's like you're on a rollercoaster which is constantly rising, and you know it has to fall anytime soon... Moon was not at all like this. Moon just felt like the whole film was dropping. Arguably the film does represent the main characters state of mind in an extraordinary way, and arguably you can say that this constant use of thriller conventions is showing that this persons psychological difficulties are present constantly. But it didn't entertain, and what are films for if they don't entertain?
It's like if you're constantly in a little bit of pain, you'll get used to it, and after a while it will stop affecting you. That's really what Moon felt like to me... it just didn't work.
I was told this film was cinematic genius, and that it was brilliant. It's won several BAFTAs amongst many other awards but I felt it's thrilleryness (yes, I've reached a point where my thesaurus is exhausted and my last resort is making up words) was wasted on me. The entire film felt like an educational video on '10 Steps to Making a Thriller' rather than an actual film. With many other thrillers that I've seen, specifically take a look The Number 23 which also falls into the psychological thriller category, they take breaks from being full on thriller-y and this is what adds most suspense. I know when I saw The Lovely Bones during the scenes where it was just showing life, I knew that something was coming, an underlying thriller-y moment was about to occur. We were about to get the conventions of silence and so on. Even if we look at I Am Legend, which was one of my case studies, there is a scene where Robert Nevelle is reciting the words to Shrek. Now THAT adds something to the film, it detracts from the thriller-y part! It's like you're on a rollercoaster which is constantly rising, and you know it has to fall anytime soon... Moon was not at all like this. Moon just felt like the whole film was dropping. Arguably the film does represent the main characters state of mind in an extraordinary way, and arguably you can say that this constant use of thriller conventions is showing that this persons psychological difficulties are present constantly. But it didn't entertain, and what are films for if they don't entertain?
It's like if you're constantly in a little bit of pain, you'll get used to it, and after a while it will stop affecting you. That's really what Moon felt like to me... it just didn't work.
Here is the final part of our Pre-Production Video Discussion. The video included me, Mattis Weidmann and Sophie Campbell.
LINK TO PART ONE
LINK TO PART TWO
LINK TO PART ONE
LINK TO PART TWO
There are some documents that will be mentioned once the video has been uploaded. I believe these mainly consist of the research taken into particular audiences. So here are the documents shown in the video (and another one, Sophie decided to add some addition analysis) these were both completed by Sophie Campbell. I however will be taking an own personal interest into the audience we're looking at through some statistics on IMDB in the next few days, I will upload these in a separate post later. Also, if you would like to read more about the music choice (as briefly mentioned in the video) click here and here.
ORIGINAL SURVEY
ORIGINAL SURVEY
Survey Results
ORIGINAL SURVEY PLUS ANALYSISView more documents from Kenny Tanner.
Survey Results - Analysed
View more documents from sophiemaycampbell.
Thriller Case Studies - Introduction and Psycho
Here I've uploaded the case studies about 4 different thriller films, the introduction will explain the bulk of it. However I have had some trouble and lost my fourth case study - The Godfather - but at the weekend I shall redo it (hopefully to the same standard) and upload it. Also I am including extra parts to the case studies which is why they shall be uploaded one by one, as these extra pieces have not all been completed.
INTRODUCTION
THRILLER CASE STUDY 1 - PSYCHO (1960)
INTRODUCTION
Media Case Studies All Backup
View more documents from Kenny Tanner.
THRILLER CASE STUDY 1 - PSYCHO (1960)
Media Case Studies Psycho
View more documents from Kenny Tanner.
Here is the video of our part-completed Animatic Storyboard. It's used as almost a planning edit so we could just see how the story would flow. Everything is discussed briefly in video. Will be discussed more thoroughly and formally during the evaluation stage - we shall see if this actually helped out production stage and also what changed we have made, or did it even look anything like it?... Enjoy!
Animatic Storyboard
Edited by Kennet Tanner and illustrated by Mattis Weidmann.
"Makes Your Bones Grow Strongerer"
No, this isn't a post about Petit Filous. Last night I went to the cinema to see a free preview screening of The Lovely Bones. It's new all singing, all dancing drama/thriller film at the hands of Peter Jackson. Granted he's well known and loved for his adaptation of Lord of the Rings, but it doesn't take a genius to put Lord of the Rings on screen. It takes a shit load of money. 'Visionary Director of Lord of the Rings' just seemed a step too far on my part. So I wasn't particularly too enthusiastic that this film would wow me. But it did.
However, If it hadn't been for my Media background (and the old man who laughed like an electronic Santa that's running out of batteries during crucially gripping scenes) I'd have enjoyed the film much much more. I was sat constantly pointing out to my friend Sophie that 'oooh, I liked that shot... oh that was a nice shot... hmm good symbolism!" and quite often I'd throw in those things that make film lovers cringe - continuity errors. Apparently this film is abundant with errors due to the clumsy adaptation by Peter Jackson himself. But as I've not read the book I didn't spot these, maybe I should've... who knows. "That's a good shot". But during the scene after Susie Salmon declares the day she is about to get murdered, Mr. Harvey wore his glasses, then took them off, went to the curtains to close them. From the outside you can clearly see a shadow which INCLUDED his glasses. Hmmm... clumsy indeed.
I thought the acting was pretty flawless too, this is of course if I wanna deviate from the poorly cast Mark Wahlberg the 90s rapper turned Hollywood Actor as the devastated father during the film. His acting seemed wooden, and the character poorly written. It was strange to see him contrasted with the pretty perfect Rachel Weisz, not sure what to make of Susan Sarandon in her awkwardly written role. (Which while we're at it seemed seriously out of place, it felt slightly like watching someone take a dump in the middle of a funeral ceremony. - Maybe I should stop writing the post, while I still like the film, Media A Level you are a cruel mistress) The 'child' actors were really well acted though. I thought they were very very very good and believable. The child actor who played the little boy managed to convey the sense of incomprehensible death of his older sister.
The film did however encase one the most butt-clenching scenes I've ever seen. Without screwing you over and spoiling the film, when Susie's sister is in Mr. Harvey's house prepared to be thoroughly gripped... and thoroughly thrilled. It was interesting to look at though because the scene featured no music up until one point, and it added more to the atmosphere than if the sound would have been there (much like the use of silence in Francis Lawrence's I Am Legend) I thought this was so interesting to see, that we're going to see how it's going to work in our own thriller when we come to editing. That's basically what this post was for, to tell you that minute piece of detail in a really long way. But I hope you've enjoyed reading my somewhat cynical view on The Lovely Bones... even if I did think it was fantastic.
Today I went and found the original music that we had decided to use during the scene featuring Emily Gates walking through the streets of Norwich and Reepham (the script has yet to be posted, due to problems using blogger at College, hopefully it shall be up in the next few days) we found a track on freeplaymusic.com which we thought was suitable.
The rack is called "Rain Window" and you can find it here. and we love it because it has a sense of looking back, which where the film opens too is brilliant because the character Emily Gates would be looking back at what had previously happened. But also the underlying track feels like it's building up to something which is essentially what will be being shown on the screen. As we'll be using some dramatic irony as the audience will discover she's being followed before she does. It's a peice of music that when played against the background of the animatic storyboard (also uploaded within the next few days) it really fits the felling that Emily Gates is full of sorrow. Have a listen and see what you think
The rack is called "Rain Window" and you can find it here. and we love it because it has a sense of looking back, which where the film opens too is brilliant because the character Emily Gates would be looking back at what had previously happened. But also the underlying track feels like it's building up to something which is essentially what will be being shown on the screen. As we'll be using some dramatic irony as the audience will discover she's being followed before she does. It's a peice of music that when played against the background of the animatic storyboard (also uploaded within the next few days) it really fits the felling that Emily Gates is full of sorrow. Have a listen and see what you think
Here we have the second part of the video discussion that took place between me, Sophie Campbell and Mattis Weidmann.
There are a few documen ts shown and read out in the discussion so I shall post them here, to read at your own leisure.
Okay here we have the original Character Biographies. These were the ones that were spoken about in the video, however due to bad feedback about these biographies it prompted me to re-do these with more of an insight into the different conventions etc that we're using when thinking about the characters.
FIRST CHARACTER BIOGRAPHIES
Okay here we have the original Character Biographies. These were the ones that were spoken about in the video, however due to bad feedback about these biographies it prompted me to re-do these with more of an insight into the different conventions etc that we're using when thinking about the characters.
FIRST CHARACTER BIOGRAPHIES
Creed Characters
View more documents from Kenny Tanner.
As you can see this sort of acts more as a background to the character and doesn't give the reader any insight into why they're being used. This sort of text is more useful for actors etc to get into the role. So as preparation we gave Grace (Emily Gates) and Will (Joshua Moore) these sheets when they got the scripts. This was just another step we took to try and make the acting as authentic and realistic as possible without having it feel like a poor amateur piece of film.
SECOND CHARACTER BIOGRAPHIES
SECOND CHARACTER BIOGRAPHIES
Character Profiles(2)
View more documents from Kenny Tanner.
Here you can see the pictures of the characters Emily and Joshua these were drawn by Mattis and hopefully have helped to display just a little about the characters that they are showing. I really like the style of the drawings, which match the Animatic Storyboard. It really helps convey the grungy sense of the film we're hoping to achieve . Also, below you can see the poster used for advertising the roles of Emily Gates and Joshua Moore. We acted under the title KSM by collating all of our initials Kennet Sophie Mattis (just in case that wasn't obvious for you)
For storyboard pictures: http://rapidshare.com/files/376213768/storyboard_pictures.zip.html
For storyboard pictures: http://rapidshare.com/files/376213768/storyboard_pictures.zip.html
Music Ideas for 'Creed'
At the time of writing this post I'm awaiting a confirmation from a brilliant artist named 'Bo Bruce' for permission to use her music in the opening of our thriller film.
I'm excited, and so is our group, because she's a brilliant artist. She featured about a year ago on Orange Unsigned Act on Saturday and Sunday mornings and grabbed my attention, and since then I've had some correspondence with her and followed her every musical move imprinted on the internet.
So, when it came to choosing our music, we'd chosen some off of freeplaymusic.com (which I will post through the school network, as I cannot access my files at home) but we felt that it just felt a bit tacky doing so, none of the music sounds particularly like a real film score. We're just trying to make our opening feel as authentic as possible and when we've spoken to people about what they like in films it's good music. I've also noted this through one of the earliest uses of music in thriller films to create an atmosphere, when I wrote a case studio on Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 horror Psycho.
So we're keen on using her music as it'd add a depth to our film that I just don't think we'd get from other sources of music. Bo's voice is so beautifully haunting and the lyrics for one song of our consideration seemingly could be seen to represent our storyline;
A reasonable amount of this song could clearly represent the narrative of our story. For example the opening line will be shown while Emily Gates will be walking through the streets of Norwich late at night, these could even be slow motion shots to fit the pace of the music. The lines all seem to fit perfectly, that Joshua comes to see Emily after being missing for an entire year, due to being kidnapped by a cult 'never go back down' and 'I'll tell the world that my friend's coming home'. I also love the haunting piano and the sense of isolation the music and the lyrics are accessing. The video above shown is one of a live showing during 'Orange Unsigned Act', however this is not the version we would be using the studio version is much better suited to our needs which you can see that here under 'fightingarizonademo'.
There are of course some other songs from Bo that we could use due to the haunting sound of her music and her voice, such as Black Ice (Acoustic version would be much suited):
It has a brilliant sort of sorrow sound, which would be brilliant and again the lyrics could fit perfectly to the storyline. "Does my voice sound different?" and "I don't know why you're not here, I can't feel why, I won't cry" standing out as favorites to slotting into our scene and narrative perfectly.
However... all of this is just hoping, I'm currently waiting for a reply from Bo and hopefully we'll get a thumbs up, if not watch this space for alternatives, and if you wanna read anymore about Bo and watch her awesome cover of My Girl by Madness click here.
Kenny
I'm excited, and so is our group, because she's a brilliant artist. She featured about a year ago on Orange Unsigned Act on Saturday and Sunday mornings and grabbed my attention, and since then I've had some correspondence with her and followed her every musical move imprinted on the internet.
So, when it came to choosing our music, we'd chosen some off of freeplaymusic.com (which I will post through the school network, as I cannot access my files at home) but we felt that it just felt a bit tacky doing so, none of the music sounds particularly like a real film score. We're just trying to make our opening feel as authentic as possible and when we've spoken to people about what they like in films it's good music. I've also noted this through one of the earliest uses of music in thriller films to create an atmosphere, when I wrote a case studio on Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 horror Psycho.
So we're keen on using her music as it'd add a depth to our film that I just don't think we'd get from other sources of music. Bo's voice is so beautifully haunting and the lyrics for one song of our consideration seemingly could be seen to represent our storyline;
Fighting Arizona - Lyrics
Here's to people slowly walking by
Here's to you you're back on the inside
Fighting Arizona all alone
With just one arm
You're on your own
No dance with the dragon
You chased him away
You wrote me a letter
Here's to all you say
This is the end you can't climb farther down
It's Arizona's final round
If you make it out alive
I promise I will be there soon
I'll tell the world that my friends coming home
If you be my lost my found
Reject your dark, reject your crown
I swear you'll never go back down
Never go back down
Back to this day
We'll find you again
The shame of your number
You are still my friend
So if you make it out alive
I promise i will be there soon
I'll tell the world that my friends coming home
And if you be my lost my found
Reject your dark, reject your crown
I swear you'll never go back down
Never go back down
But this is the last i'm here
The last I'm for
The last time you'll be on your own
So if you make it out alone
I promise i will be there soon
I'll tell the world that my friends coming home
And if you be my lost my found
Reject your dark, reject your crown
I swear you'll never go back down
Never go back down
A reasonable amount of this song could clearly represent the narrative of our story. For example the opening line will be shown while Emily Gates will be walking through the streets of Norwich late at night, these could even be slow motion shots to fit the pace of the music. The lines all seem to fit perfectly, that Joshua comes to see Emily after being missing for an entire year, due to being kidnapped by a cult 'never go back down' and 'I'll tell the world that my friend's coming home'. I also love the haunting piano and the sense of isolation the music and the lyrics are accessing. The video above shown is one of a live showing during 'Orange Unsigned Act', however this is not the version we would be using the studio version is much better suited to our needs which you can see that here under 'fightingarizonademo'.
There are of course some other songs from Bo that we could use due to the haunting sound of her music and her voice, such as Black Ice (Acoustic version would be much suited):
It has a brilliant sort of sorrow sound, which would be brilliant and again the lyrics could fit perfectly to the storyline. "Does my voice sound different?" and "I don't know why you're not here, I can't feel why, I won't cry" standing out as favorites to slotting into our scene and narrative perfectly.
However... all of this is just hoping, I'm currently waiting for a reply from Bo and hopefully we'll get a thumbs up, if not watch this space for alternatives, and if you wanna read anymore about Bo and watch her awesome cover of My Girl by Madness click here.
Kenny
Sherlock Holmes - Symbolism Overkill
I've not really put too much effort into the analysis of this film, mainly cause it was just something I noticed while watching it.
Sherlock Holmes is the latest in the line of Guy Ritchie flicks, but I've personally never especially loved the guy's work. Just something about it, but Sherlock Holmes did look pretty exciting by the trailers and I think since Robert Downey Jr.'s revamped career in 2005 he's become an amazing actor. His roles in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and Iron Man particularly impressed me.
So, I decided I would see the film. I was pretty open minded throughout the film and yeah, I did enjoy it. But there was one thing that really bugged me throughout the film. The crows, or raven symbolism.
Before and after every death scene you saw a raven appear and then leave. Obviously Guy Ritchie's taken an attempt to use 'subtle' conventions of thriller films, particularly those by Alfred Hitchcock. But I'm not sure if everyone else noticed while watching but the crows seemed to be blindingly obvious! There were no surprises in the storyline cause it was shown every time someone was about to die! Okay, yeah it kinda worked, but it didn't work well, symbolism needs to be subtle!
During the film's climax I noticed a nearly subtle symbol, when a raven flew past, but no i was mistaken the next shot was a 4 second close up of the raven landing nearby, oh looks like someones about to die!
So through noticing these crucial complaints from me, a film lover. I've decided that during the open of our thriller we're going to try and keep our symbols very subtle. However, I do have doubts that I only noticed this because I've been studying these conventions recently, so I'll ask people who have seen the film if they've noticed therefore influencing our decisions in the making of our Thriller Opening.
Please post if you did or didn't notice these raven/crows!
Sherlock Holmes is the latest in the line of Guy Ritchie flicks, but I've personally never especially loved the guy's work. Just something about it, but Sherlock Holmes did look pretty exciting by the trailers and I think since Robert Downey Jr.'s revamped career in 2005 he's become an amazing actor. His roles in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and Iron Man particularly impressed me.
So, I decided I would see the film. I was pretty open minded throughout the film and yeah, I did enjoy it. But there was one thing that really bugged me throughout the film. The crows, or raven symbolism.
Before and after every death scene you saw a raven appear and then leave. Obviously Guy Ritchie's taken an attempt to use 'subtle' conventions of thriller films, particularly those by Alfred Hitchcock. But I'm not sure if everyone else noticed while watching but the crows seemed to be blindingly obvious! There were no surprises in the storyline cause it was shown every time someone was about to die! Okay, yeah it kinda worked, but it didn't work well, symbolism needs to be subtle!
During the film's climax I noticed a nearly subtle symbol, when a raven flew past, but no i was mistaken the next shot was a 4 second close up of the raven landing nearby, oh looks like someones about to die!
So through noticing these crucial complaints from me, a film lover. I've decided that during the open of our thriller we're going to try and keep our symbols very subtle. However, I do have doubts that I only noticed this because I've been studying these conventions recently, so I'll ask people who have seen the film if they've noticed therefore influencing our decisions in the making of our Thriller Opening.
Please post if you did or didn't notice these raven/crows!
Pre-Production Video Discussion - Part One
As we are nearing the end of the pre-production phase our group decided to get together and basically make a video documentation of what we've been doing so far, how well things have gone etc. We eventually ended up talking for about 30 mins, so I decided to save you from having your brain melting out of your ears by the time you were done to split it up into several smaller videos pointing at different areas. In the video we have me, Sophie Campbell and Mattis Weidmann
LINK TO PART TWO
LINK TO PART TWO
As promised here are the documents spoken about in the video. We have the Creed script, this is close to the one shown in the video, but the document was lost and had to be re-written and when I did this I made some minor changes. At time of posting we've filmed a lot of the production and I can tell you that quite a lot of things have been changed, so I will most likely write up a script after the completed video has been uploaded. I'm sure you can understand as while we were out filming we saw different problems during the filming, and as a result of this had to change some parts. One major issue was the lighting, but I shall go into more depth with that during my evaluation unit.
Creed
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Locations booklet
View more documents from Kenny Tanner.
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