Independent Research Into The Thriller Genre- Mrs B's feedback

Assessment: Rear Window by Alfred Hitchock

Alfred Hitchcock- Rear Window- Assessment

Se7en (1995) End Scene Analysis

Se7ven (1995)

Director: David Fincher

Plot: Two detectives, a rookie (Brad Pitt) and a veteran (Morgan Freeman) hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi.

The Seven Deadly Sins:

• Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.
  
  
• Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.
• Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.
  
  
• Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.
  
• Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.
• Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.
  
• Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

I am analysing the ending scene of Se7ven.

Painting the scene before the End Scene Clip:

The Scene begins with John Doe (Kevin Spacey), the serial killer in the back of the two detectives car as they drive to the prison. Even though John Doe is in handcuffs and behind a metal barrier he still manages to dissect Detective Mills with words. As the audience know, we are yet to find the victims of Wrath/Envy, and to find out the detectives are told by John Doe to drive up to a deserted field, at a specific field and wait. A FedEx box arrives, we do not know what is in the box.

→ THE ENDING SCENE CLIP

The Clip begins with Detective Somerset peering over the box. The location challenges the thriller convention. The location is in a deserted field in broad daylight, isolated from humanity with also reinforces the thriller conventions.

The shot changes to an low angle over-the-shoulder shot of John Doe as he kneels on the floor looking up at Detective Mills as he points the gun towards Doe's head.

The use of a gun is a classic signifier that it is a thriller, it is a very masculine object and dominates the whole scene, like in Thelma and

Louise where she holds a gun up towards the man's head, authorising her power.

Meanwhile Detective Somerset begins to cut open the box, a tension builds as we do not know what is in the box, this is an effective trick used by Fincher. Once he has opened the box Somerset steps back in fright at what he has seen, yet the audience nor the other detective do not know what is in there, this builds the tension again makes the audience question what is going on.

Non-diagetic music then starts to play, which is very jumpy, this fits in well with the jump cuts from Somerset to Mills to then the box. As Somerset begins to shout to Mills, 'PUT THE GUN DOWN!', the tension builds extremely which is a classic thriller convention.

John Doe then begins to explain to Detective Mills about how much he 'admires' his life and his 'pretty little wife'. Immediately as an audience we begin to wonder what any of this has to do with Mills' wife.

The shot then changes to point-of-view as Somerset runs furiously up to John Doe and Mills. We can see the vanishing point which gives the impression that this landscape is never ending.

The shot again changes to a low angle shot of John Doe as he begins to tell the story of what happened between Doe and his Mills' wife, this shows Doe's power over the two detectives and that he has the upper hand in this scene.

As Doe goes onto explain that he took Mill's wife's head. As an audience we now assume that is what is in the FedEx box which Somerset runs away from.

The shot changes from panning in and out of Mills and Doe as Mills tries to reassert himself to Somerset that it is not his wife's head in the box. This creates a huge tension amongst the audience as we begin to put ourselves in Mills' shoes. We now know that this is the seventh deadly sin, Wrath. Throughout this the low and high angles keep changing to each character which implies the power keeps changing.

Finally Mills shoots John Doe, which ultimately makes him defeated as he accepts the sin of Wrath, thus ending the cycle.

Animal Kingdom Analysis- General Notes

Animal Kingdom (2010)

Director: David Michôd

Plot: Tells the story of seventeen year-old Josh as he tries to find his way to survival amongst an explosive criminal family and the detective who thinks he can save him.

THE OFFICIAL TRAILER

The film used a lot of generic thriller conventions:

• Innocent victims
• Criminals
• Drugs
• The Police
• Dimly lit scenes
• Wide open spaces

Camera angles used:

• Close ups- Showed the characters reactions and emotions.
• Point-of-view shots: This put the audience in the characters shoes as well as helping the audience to understand the action being undertaken by the character at the time. Most of the POV shots were of Josh, because he was the main character, this helped the audience relate to Josh and the position he was in, also making you feel for Josh and the trouble/trauma he was going through at the time.
• Tracking Shots: Followed cars and the characters.
• Low Angle Tracking Shots: A low angle tracking shot was used around a corner, this added suspense to what would lie around the corner. This made the film very unpredictable.
• Over the Shoulder: This links in with POV shots because it made you relate to the character and made the audience feel as if they were there at the precise moment as a by stander.

Memorable Moments:

-The film began with Josh sitting next to his over-dosed mother as he watched an Australian popular games show. The idea that Josh does not act upset or distraught at all- gives the impression that his mother was dead to him a long time ago. This automatically made the film hard to predict what would happen as well as hard to understand Josh's character as he makes a phone call to his Grandma that he hasn't seen in ages.

-As we were introduced to his family, we were immediately aware that it is very male dominated. Hence the image of the iron lion at the beginning of the film. As well as it being predominantly male dominated, the audience are aware of their being no 'father figure' in Josh's life because of all his uncles being criminals and not on good terms with the police.

- We are aware that even the police are corrupt in this film, which gives the impression that we cannot even trust authority figures.

- Josh's character does not have a lot of dialogue which is very strange for a main character. The way in which James Frecheville demonstrated his character of Josh to the audience was through body language and emotions. His character also gave the impression that he did not fit in with this criminal family.

- The audience get the impression at the very start that the family have a hierarchy within the family and that the Mum/Grandma is queen bee. She is a matriarch. The way in which she kisses 'her boys' on the lips, suggests a sense of power over them and shows that she dominates the family home very much as well as dominating the boys lives.

- The introduction the Josh's third uncle, Pope shows that he is not a guy you want to mess around with. Throughout the film Pope gives the impression that he is mentally ill, by the way in which he looks at Josh's girlfriend in a predatory way. When he carries Josh's girlfriend to bed, the audience get the impression that he is going to try to rape her, which is very unsettling and uncomfortable to watch. Later on in the film, Pope murders the girlfriend is is very intense scene and Pope does not seem to care, as his emotions show him re-authorising his power and that he almost finds the thought of killing this innocent and naive girl thrilling.

- At the end of the film, when Josh returns to his grandma's house we get the impression that he is as bad as everyone else for returning to this mess of a family. Josh's attitude to being home was very calm, which gave the audience a feeling that something was not right. As he shoots his uncle Pope, it then implied that Josh was the same as everyone else in his family and that he had finally moved his way up from being the young, pathetic teenage nephew to now a powerful man authorising his power over his family.

- The end of the film suggests to the audience that there will be a sequel, hence him walking back into the room where his grandma is. The use of a cliffhanger at the end of the film makes the audience question what will happen to Josh and the rest of his family.

Heavenly Creatures Analysis

Heavenly Creatures (1994)

Director: Peter Jackson

Clubbed to death scene.

A classic a thriller convention that Jackson uses in Heavenly Creatures, is the use of clocks. The close ups of the clock signify that time is a serious matter within the film. Time is used in Heavenly Creatures to foreshadow what time the girls will commit their murder and the gives the audience the impression that they are up against time.

Leading up to the murder, the two girls and Pauline's mum are walking down a hill on a very small path. The path is narrow and leads down a steep slope which makes the audience realise the mother had no chance of escaping. The lighting is ambient and natural which challenges the thriller conventions. The space in which the murder is done is very open and challenges the conventions of a thriller, because the space is very open and in broad daylight- this shows the naivety of the girls.

The low angle shot of their woman's feet going down the steps shows how steady they are moving, to be careful not to trip or slip. The soundtrack in this scene is very light and dreamlike, which reflects the girl's dreamlike state and the fact that they want to be together forever. The soundtrack fits in well with the slow motion emphasising that the scene is almost a fantasy.

During the scene the girls come across a muddy part of the steep path and a close up is used of Juliet's hand holding onto a tree for support, this could indicate the 'dirty behaviour' of both of their girls for murdering their mother and could reflect Juliet's mood for trying to, 'get a grip' on the crime she is about to commit, so she does not feel guilt.

Jackson uses many close ups in this scenes, predominantly of the girl's feet and hands. This shows their 'fidgety' nature and emphasise how important hands and feet are to the human body, because they can both cause much damage on someone else, this is also foreshadowing the murder that is yet to come.

The Mother stops to look at the time on her watch, the use of this is another reference to the importance of time within this film and the time that the mother is up against (till her murder). The use of shot-reverse-shot on both of the girl's faces indicates that they are now about to commit the murder. Juliet drops a purple gem on the floor, which catches the eye of the Mother. The gem is extremely sparkly and neatly cut, which contrasts greatly to the mud that it has landed on. The gem could also represent the girls and the 'muddy' patch that they are about to land themselves in by committing this 'dirty' crime.

As Pauline reaches into her school-girl satchel to get the stocking filled with bits of brick, the audience now know that this is for definite the time for the Mother to die. As Pauline takes the first hit with the brick-filled-stocking the screams from her mum contrast greatly with the dream-like soundtrack which has now ended. The blood that gushes out of the Mother's head and her ghastly screams add tension to a sense of realism to the film.

The crime is shown also with flashbacks in black and white. The use of black and white shows that the scenes are memory and that this is a separate part to the scene that is taking place, both linking the tragedy that is taking place.

The Birds Clip Analysis

The Birds (1963)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Plot: A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people there in increasing numbers and with increasing viciousness.

Clip: Crows On the Playground

The clip begins with an establishing, long shot of the main charact

er, Melanie sitting on a bench outside the park. In the back ground we can hear diagetic sound of children singing, this already creates an enigma, why is she waiting there? Hitchcock creates suspense easily here.

As Melanie begins to reach into her bag to light a cigarette, a black crow flies down and lands on the playground's climbing frame, she is not aware. There are myths that black crows are a bringer of 'bad luck', also, it is lead to believe that they are a sign of things to come, a bad omen. The shot then changes to a medium close up of Melanie trying to find a lighter in her handbag, we can no longer see the climbing frame in the background.

The shot changes, again, to a close up of the climbing frame, there are now four black crows instead of one. The shot changes three times from Melanie smoking and back to more and more birds landing on the climbing frame in the playground. Finally, Melanie takes notice to the sky and sees a crow flying towards the playground towards her, the long shot of the black crow in the sky makes the bird stand out from the blue sky, which seems pleasant, the two contrast greatly.

Again the shot changes to shot-reverse-shot of Melanie tracking the bird to where it is going to land, to the other shot of the bird soaring down towards the playground. Hitchcock uses a natural threat hear to give the impression something is going to happen, but the audience do not know what.

As the shot tracks the bird, it finally lands on the climbing frame, where there are dozens of birds now swarming the playground. The image is very threatening and suspense builds up.

Hitchcock changes the shot to a reaction shot of Melanie, we can see she is threatened by the birds and slowly jogs off to avoid attention. The shot changes from point-of-view shot to a tracking shot of Melanie.

Hitchcock manipulates the point of view shot as we watch Melanie be oblivious to what is happening behind her. As a few birds begin to gather the tension heightens, and Hitchcock only brings in the character's (Melanie) point-of-view shot to impact on how menacing the birds look.

Analysis of Thriller Conventions used in Pyscho

Made in 1960

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

The Plot: A story about a young woman named Marion, who steals $40,000, she leaves the town and encounters a motel proprietor named Norman Bates, who seems to be dominated by his mother.

One of the first notices we get to know that it is of the thriller genre is through the sound. We hear non-diagetic sound w

hich creates a depressed feeling to the atmosphere which also builds a sympathetic view from the audience towar

ds the character, Marion. Marion is pictured sitting alone in a hotel room writing down figures and then she sighs and tears them up. The tearing of the paper could be a foreshadowing tool used by Hitchcock to tell the audience of w

hat is to come.

The room is very bland and shadowed; which mirrors her corrupt personality.

Marion then walks to the bathroom where she

puts the ripped paper down the toilet and then pulls the handle to flush, this could imply that Marion is 'flushing away' her hopes of survival away. She then closes the door to the bathroom, isolating and confining herself into a very claustrophobic space. She takes off her silk dressing gown, which shows elegance and gets into the shower, completely naked. She shuts the shower curtain which makes a loud screechy noise and we can only see the silhouette of her body as she turns on the water- we can only hear the diagetic sound of the water being turned on, which creates realism, which also allows the audience to relate to Marion. The water could suggest her trying to 'wash off' the crimes that she has committed which creates a sense of self-security by making herself feel better, however as an audience we know that she is anything but safe, she is vulnerable because is naked and stuck in a confined space with nowhere to escape but the door.

We then see various close ups of Marion's face, so the audience can depict her emotions. The worms eye shot of the shower makes the water look menacing and overpowering, which connotes danger.

As the shot changes to medium close up, almost high angle of Marion with her back to the curtain, we can see a silhouette creep towards her, getting darker and darker which means it is getting closer and closer, this creates tension and the darkness of the silhouette works well with the black and white making it seem more deathly and evil. We then, as an audience can depict that the silhouette is aggressive and meaning to cause Marion harm. As the figure draws back the curtain we see the contrast between his black silhouette and the white background (the bathroom).

The shots become quick and short, which is used to highlight the brutality of the stabbing/murder this man is committing. In the 1960's the audience watching this would have not been to see many other vicious thrillers such as Psycho so the use of diagetic sound heightens the tension within the scene. The loud, screechy, high pitched tones throughout the diagetic sound resembles that of a scream. After the stabbings, the camera slowly pans out and down to the bottom of the bath tub where the blood from Marion's body runs down into the plug, which shows the severity of his murder.

The thriller conventions used:

• Femme Fatale
• Mysterious Characters
• Crime committing
• Claustrophobic locations

Intertextuality- The Good, The Bad And The Ugly and Kill Bill Vol.2

In Kill Bill Vol.2 Tarantino uses a soundtrack which is featured in the film, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The use of intertextual references helps gives the audience a clue as to what might happen later on in the film or a warning of what’s to come. Tarantino’s use of intertextuality is to pay credit to the director, Sergio Leone, because he helped inspire Tarantino and also he is praising Leone’s music choice.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly- Music

Kill Bill Vol.2- Music

The purpose of this intertextual reference is to show the Bride in Kill Bill Vol.2 as the good who will eventually defeat the bad, Bill and then the ugly, whom is Bud. As an audience we make an assumption that the Bride will sooner or later kill Bill, hence the name of the film.

Tarantino used this reference to portray the Bride as an iconic hero. The bride is shown to have similarities with the Good from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, the link between the two is that the good is named, Blondie and the Bride in Kill Bill (Uma Thurman) has blonde hair. The Bride and Blondie are extremely cunning and determined to not be defeated, which indicates to us, as an audience that she will never give up- like Blondie.

In the finale of The Good The Bad and The Ugly, the Good kills the Bad which we can relate back to Kill Bill Vol.2 and the idea that the Bride will find Bill and hopefully kill him. Bud, who plays the ugly ends up digging in the finale of The Good The Bad and The Ugly, likewise does Bill in Kill Bill, however instead of digging for money he digs to kill the Bride.

Another intertextual reference used in Kill Bill, motivated by The Good the Bad and the Ugly is the landscaping. Both scenes are set in an isolated desert, and also briefly shows the grave yard, whereas in Kill Bill Vol. 2 the Bride is captured by Bill’s brother in a very isolated area then later buried in a grave yard.

As well as seeing the intertextuality within the two films, we can also see the change in attitudes towards woman. Traditionally the male plays the hero in an action thriller, whereas in Kill Bill we see the Bride being the ultimate hero.

Essex Boys Analysis

Essex Boys (2000)

Director:
Terry Winsor

The film is based around the murders of three drug dealers in Essex in 1995. Three drug dealers were lured to a secluded lane in Rettendon, Essex where they were murdered whilst sitting in their Range Rover.





As the credits role up at the beginning we can already see that the mood of the film is very dark and edgy. It has classic thriller conventions within the first five minutes. An establishing shot using non-ambient lighting establishes that the location is in a garage, a young man isolated. As the young man (Billy) steps into the car we hear diagetic sound of a voice over, spoken by the boy, meaning he is talking in first person. Already as an audience we can connect with this character. 


As the man clears the window screen of the car we are introduced to the main character, Mr Jason Dean. His costume is very flamboyant which implies his confident nature, like in Jackie Brown, the character, Ordell also wears very exaggerated costumes- showing his power. 


The shot then cuts to a close up on Jason's face, showing no emotion. This shows his power.


The shot then changes to a point of view shot of someone driving behind a Mercedes. Because Jason has an expensive car and a chauffeur we can show his authority over people as well as his wealth and power, a classic thriller convention. 


The grey skies and modern motorway really establish that the location is Britain. 


As the car drives into the vanishing point (the tunnel) it represents the barrel of a gun as well as showing that a tunnel is a claustrophobic space. 

The shot then cuts to the reflection of the lights on the windscreen as the Billy drives through the tunnel. The bars of light reflect jail bars, implying that Jason has been in prison or possibly a sign of what is to come, maybe Billy is going to be imprisoned later on?




The shot changes to a side profile shot of Jason as he 'prepares' to meet his old friend- his facial expression is not happy, so we can tell that he is not happy with this 'friend'. Jason then steps out of the car, leaving Billy inside. As an audience we establish that they are now in a factory, very bleak, artificial lighting shows the strain of the scene and what is to come. 


After Jason has thrown acid onto the man's face we chucks him into the van. The white van creates an enigma as we do not know where it is from, what it is for or where it is going. Although Jason has just thrown acid onto a man's face he seems more interested in the fact that he has it on his shirt; this shows his vanity and selfishness. 


Jason and Billy then take the man to the Essex marshes. The marshes are very isolated, bleak, which bides well with Jason's personality, which is unpredictable. The primeval landscape is wild, there is no sign of culture suggesting that Jason is going to become a predator in this wasteland where there are no boundaries. 


Jason then begins to beat the man up again, and then leaves the man stranded there. It then cuts to a long shot of the white van as it drives away- it exits Jason's predatory land.

The Third Man Analysis

The Third Man (1949)

Director: Carol Reed

The Third Man is a classic noir thriller. During the titles of this film the sound track plays:

Harry Lime Theme Tune

It begins with a voice over like the beguinning of Essex Boys. Close up of hands on the Black Market, this represents the time of working outside the law, selling watches.

An image of broken glass shows the fractured and defeated Vienna, then the body floating indicates the genre of the film and and that nobody cares. The sunken ship shows the distressed city.

The outfit is a classic thriller convention, the trilby hat links to Once Upon A Time In America. The whole outfit is black which symbolises darkness, which could symbolise what is to happen.

The man then walks under the ladder, which is known as an unlucky thing to do, a sign of what is to come.

The lighting is chiaroscuro, non-ambient.

It then cuts to a tilt, low angle shot which creates a sense of disorientation. As the German man begins to speak there are no subtitles on the screen which puts us as an audience in the same shoes as the main character, Holly. The high angle shows the vulnerability.

The shot then cuts to a girl, the introduction of Anna. Her is enigmatic, the audience find it hard to read which refers to the famous portrait of the, Mona Lisa.

We can see that the mysterious Harry Limes and Holly have a close friendship like Ordell and Louis in Jackie Brown. As an audience we start to paint a picture of Harry Limes' world, it is very upside down because of him being a criminal- Hell = Heaven and Heaven = Hell.

Later on we see that Anna is in fact an actress, she can put on masks and play roles which makes her even harder to read.

A tilt shot of Holly looking down a street shows the chiaroscuro and non-ambient lighting, as he stands on a wet and dark street, a classic thriller convention, like in Jackie Brown where we see Ordell drive off into the vanishing point.

Later on we see a man shouting in the street, there is panic which adds anxiety to the audience. A little boy shouts and points at Holly, then Anna pulls him away and they decide to walk off, but the child carries on following Anna and Holly, the child is almost like some sort of demon. The child of the night represents the hostility of Vienna to the allies (France, Germany, USA and England). As Holly begins to run, the city becomes a labyrinth, the buildings turn into on-lookers which refers back to earlier in the film.

Cat got your tongue scene:

A light goes on, chiaroscuro lighting, the light on Harry's face, his facial expression is very 'quizacle'. 

Once Upon a Time in America Analysis

Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Director: Sergio Leone

Straight away we establish it is a thriller by the shadows and the archetypal character, femme fatal. She wears pearls which symbolise tears and tears are a sign of superstition. As well as her pearls she wears the iconic red lipstick, red symbolises violence, blood and all things intense. 

She then turns on the light, the woman and the light are the same shade of colour, which signifies that she is the light in this thriller. The shot is almost sepian looking which refers back to the era that this thriller is set in (1930s). Because this shot is lighting her face it creates less mystery and we can see her innocence and purity.

The shot then zooms into the bed where we see 2 bullet holes, then as the woman whips the cover away from the bed we see the outline of a body. This is an iconic police signifier. The police draw around the shape of a body when someone has died, so we know a crime has been commited. Surgio Leone has used this for the irony to show what is to come.

Then as the woman is in utter shock, the shot pans round to show three men standing at the door. They're wearing trilby hars, tweed coats, suits- because they are wearing the same outfit, it shows a collective identity, meaning they work together. The costumes relate to Resevoir Dogs because they also wear the same suits but with different coloured ties- they also stand in a tight nipped group symbolising their fellowship. The shot changes to a low angle shot of the three men framed under the arch. They kill Eve and turn the light off. Eve's name is symbolic to religion, in the bible Eve is tempted by Adam; which shows that she might have done something wrong to have been killed.

This shot is shown straight after the death of Eve, this shows another murder taking place, the contrast of the neatness of Eve's death compared to this once is very dramatic. This scene shows the match on action between the bleeding character and policeman.

 

 

 

Leone has used the iconic worms eye shot of the lift going up the lift shaft. After the scene of Eve's murder and the guy being brutally beaten this adds another element of suspense. The lift is a generic location for a thriller because of its claustrophobic space and easy access to danger. The lighting is very dark, and the use of non-ambient lighting builds the enigma and makes the audience question, what is going to happen? In this shot the lift looks very intimidating, and makes the audience feel small. 

Again Leone has used this worms eye shot to make the audience question what is happening. The shot shows the character upside down, this is a point of view shot from a man on the floor- probably dead. The shot establishes the power of this man holding a gun which again is another reference to killing, violence and crime; which is a re-occuring theme in Once Upon a Time in America. The persistant use of crime in this film demonstrates 1930's America, and how corrupted it was.

In this scene we see the camera pan over dead bodies on the floor, the lighting is chiaroscuro- which is used a lot in thrillers to show bad things in reality such as nightmares or re-occuring bad experiences. In the background we can hear non-diagetic sound of a telephone ringing. As the telephone rings it really heightens the tension in the scene. The use of the phone makes the audience frustrated by the repitative noise of the phone ringing as well as making them question themselves on what is happening.

Jackie Brown Analysis

Jackie Brown (1997)
Director: Quentin Tarantino

Explain how Tarantino establishes the character of Jackie Brown through camera shots and movement.

The first introduction of the main character, Jackie Brown is a low angle, medium close up. Jackie is in the forefront of the screen shot which stands out in the film. We can see by her uniform that she is an airhostess. The angle of the shot as she walks through the aiport is a low angle which signifies her status and moral superiority, the background is blurred out which means that no-one compares to her, they are un-significant and do not need to be shown.

The shot then cuts to the introduction of Ordell and Louis as they sit on the sofa watching American women shooting guns. The low angle shot of them slouched on the sofa shows their lazy personalities and contrast between Jackie Brown who is walking tall and elegant. The title sequence to the programme that they are watching is of the Statue of Liberty shooting a gun, this shows the corruption in America.

The shooting of Beaumont Livingstone by Ordell Robbie

a) Explain how this clip reflects the thriller genre
b) What does the camera angle connote about the character of Beaumont Livingstone.

The introduction of Beaumont we see that he is not wearing much clothing, almost naked, which shows his vulnerability, whereas Ordell has a flashy, vulganity about his outfit, it is all black with gold chains and necklaces- which shows the thriller convention by his iconic dark and proud outfit. The lighting is very low and non-ambient. The low angle shot as Ordell and Beaumont stand over the boot of the car shows power, and his fairly threatening. Ordell's body language as he holds the gun is very intimidating. The boot of the car is a generic signifier of a thriller. Ordell then persuades Beaumont to get in the car with junk food, this shows the obsession with unhealthy and 'greasy' junk food that America has. This is linked to Essex Boys where Jason pushes the victim into the van.

The next shot is a medium close up of Ordell putting black leather gloves on. Black leather gloves symbolise that something menacing or bad is going to happen. You would usually put black gloves on if you didn't want your hands to get dirty.

As the shot pans out, we see Ordell driving down the road. We see a vanishing point, Ordell is going into the unknown which adds enigma. The street is wet and dark with non ambient lighting. Ordell then takes Beaumont into an industrial site which is very concealed and dingy. Ordell opens the boot and shoots Beaumont, this shows Ordell is very detached from his emotions and quite ruthless.

Dont go shopping with Robert De Niro- The shooting of Melanie by Louis Gara. What does this action in broad daylight connote about the character of Louis Gara?

Louis character in this scene is very cold and fierce, his attitude towards Melanie is very dominating, we can see his fear and his need to control her. The music is very 'light' and 'airy' it is almost sounds patronising or the sort of music that would stress you out after a while. When Louis kills Melanie in an open carpark in broad daylight it shows his sadistic personality. He is a complete loose canon, compared to Ordell who plots his murders and is pretty clever about his killings, Ordell hides his crimes by doing them in the dark.

Image Analysis- Screen shot from "Thelma and Louise" Ridley Scott (1991)

Camera Angle:

The shot is a medium close up- this allows the audience to identify what is happening in this scene quite easily. The audience get to have a close up of the expressions on the characters faces, so we can establish what emotions they are going through. The woman is over-powering the man in this shot which shows her authority power.

Lighting:
The lighting is very dark and non-ambient, this adds an enigmatic feeling about the scene. The camera is focused on the characters, meaning the background is blurry which enables the audience to focus particularly on the characters and not the background.

Characters:
The main character in this shot it a women, which challenges the thriller conventions as well as challening the iconic stereotypes in a thriller. Because she is holding a gun it contrasts greatly with the gun being a masculine symbol. The divisions between gender are great, the fact that a woman needs a 'boys toy' to survive.

The man in this shot is being dominated by the woman. You can see his fear as she controls him. It is very humiliating for a man to be dominated, you can see by his face that he is not so confident whether or not she'll actually shoot him or not.

Location:
We can see an outline of a van in the background of this shot, but it is quite hard to identify this shot as being in a carpark. The carpark is a generic thriller convention, which builds suspense because a carpark at night is very lonely and scary.

Props:
The gun is the dicatating object within this shot. Because the prop is a symbol of masculinity we can establish she is a women in power. Holding a gun to someone's head is very threatning especially when the roles are reversed. She has crossed the boundaries.

How does Ridley Scott utilise or challenge thriller conventions in the screen shot from Thelma and Louise?
Ridley Scott has challenged the iconic femme fatale character by role reversing, he has used the woman as a dominating figure whilst holding a masculine symbol. This shows the divisions between gender, and that woman can like 'boys toys' aswell. As well as Scott changing the iconic gender reversal he has challenged the generic location. Instead of using an enclosed, claustrophobic space he has used an open carpark. The fact that cars are a male signifier it links back with the women being dominating in this film. Because males are usually boastful and proud about their cars, this is not a boastful moment of a man being dominated by a woman, frozen at gun point.

Ridley Scott has firstly challenged the generic location of an enclosed space and has used an open car park instead. The cars within the car park are a male signifier, males are proud of their expensive cars, but this is not a proud moment for the man who is at gun point by a woman. He has used role reversal in this scene- the woman is playing a dominating male role, and also holding a masculine symbol. This shows the divisions between genders; it shows that women can also like cars and they can also play with ‘boy toys’ too.

Witness Murder Scene Analysis- IMPROVED

This film is about a young Amish boy who witnesses a murder in a train station, in Philadelphia. Released in 1985 and filmed in American. The film is directed by Peter Weir, nominated for 40 Oscars, and winning 2 Oscars with this film. The budget for the film was $12,000,000 and in total from the USA it grossed $65,500,00 on the box office. The name of the film is based on the first scene where the young Amish boy witnesses a murder.

  At the beginning of clip we see a little Amish boy with his mother, we establish that he is Amish by his costume, which is a suit with a hat. The hat almost looks like a halo, the shot is a medium close up at a of low angle of him looking up at the angel statue with his mouth wide opening, the angel shows his status and little importance. The shot also enables us to see the world through the boy's eyes by his reaction to this huge statue of an angel carrying a dead body. The angel is the, Angel of Resurrection. Even though the shot shows his little importance, it contrasts greatly with what is about to happen because he is about to become the most important witness in a murder investigation. The light is very dull and ambient, it is all natural light flooding into the train station at this point. 

The shot then cuts to a high angle, which is almost birds eye, the shot shows the boy looking up at this statue and we establish that the boy has very little significance and is very vulnerable. Again we see the power of this angel, and the amazement of seeing this statue for the first time. The shot then quickly cuts to the low angle, medium close up of the, Angel of Resurrection statue which quickly shows its intimidating stance on the boy. The shot significantly again changes quickly to a high angle, almost an over the shoulder shot of the angel looking down on the boy, it gives the impression that the angel knows what is to come or that the angel is looking out for the boy. The boy's mother comes to fetch him and they walk off, as they walk off the boy keeps turning around to look at the angel to get just one last glance at this amazing 'thing'. 

It then cuts to a medium close up shot with a vanishing point, the vanishing point coincidentally is the door to the toilets, in which the boy goes into next. The shot shows the boy and his mother on the bench, isolated, with no-one sitting near them. Again this shot establishes the location of the train station as well as showing their exposure to danger in this vast city full of corruption and high risk.

 People may have chosen not to sit near them because of their religion or maybe because being in the city, in a big train station, people know the dangers and want to keep themselves to themselves. The young boy then asks his mother if he can go to the toilet and she straight away says yes, with no hesitation. This shows the mothers naivety of letting her son go alone when he is in a strange place that he has never been to and is obviously not aware of anything being dangerous. As the boy walks off to the toilet, the mother calls after him because he has forgotten his hat, this shows the importance of a piece of clothing but not the importance of accompanying her son to the loo. The mother then puts the hat on the boys son and pats him on the back as if to say, "Everything is okay now". 

The shot then cuts to a medium close up of a white male at the wash basins in the toilet, on his own. This shows the isolation of the man in a claustrophobic space. The lighting is non-ambient with diagetic sound which makes it seem realistic and builds tension with the audience as we suspect something is going to happen. The white male then turns his head to the door and smiles, the shot quickly changes to again another medium close up of the little boy acknowledging the man. The little boy looks around to take in his surroundings. 

Again, the shot changes to behind the little boy, as he walks into the room whilst the male is splashing water on his face at the wash basin. This suggests that he might have done something to make him sweat, maybe manual labour or he could have committed a crime. The tension heightens as the boy chooses what toilet to go into and then. the man is alone. Weir wanted to build the tension of waiting for someone to leave the shot because then the audience knows something is going to happen. The audience question themselves, what is going to happen next? 

As the boy has walked out of the shot, it cuts to a shot through the cubicle door that the boy is in, the boy looks over his shoulder at the man still washing his face. This almost shows his worry that something might happen, or maybe to make sure that he is not left alone in this claustrophobic space. Immediately the shot changes to the man still washing his face, he looks at the door to the toilets, we hear more diagetic sound of the door opening and closing. The man then looks back his hands and then to his right where he see a guy walk past him to another wash basin. The man looks almost distressed, or recognises the guys- but not in a good way. We question ourselves, does he know these guys? Is he worrying about being found out, about something that he has done? But the man carries on washing his face, as if to tell himself that there is nothing to worry about. In the mirror reflection we see a black male walk  to use the urinals, but we do not see his face. This leaves an anonymous presence about these guys that have just walked in. It then abruptly cuts to the crack in between the cubicle door, of the little boy again, the boy turns around to face the wall- he now cannot see what is happening behind him. 

The shot cuts to a medium close up of the black male using the urinal, but then turns his head to look at the other two white males at the wash basins. We now see this mysterious black man's face and we can identify him. Because the man is in a suit we get the impression that he has some wealth and he looks important, there is always a correlation between a man in a suit and wealth, which is used a lot in thrillers. The black male then nods to the other anonymous white male at the wash basins (the one that has just walked in to wash his hands). It cuts to a long shot of the toilet showing its dull non-ambient lighting, which allows the audience to see all three men in the toilet, although we cannot see the little boy because he is in a cubicle, this shows the audience that the other two men do not know that the little boy is there. 

As the anonymous man begins to walk off he gets his jacket and pulls it over the other white male's face, so he cannot see. The shot quickly cuts to the black male's hand as he holds a knife. The shot then again quickly changes to the black male running almost into the camera giving the impression that he is in a rush to kill this male. We then see a a medium close up of the little boy peeping through the cubicle door, we can now establish his facial expressions and his reaction to the witness of this murder. This represents American culture; the negative aspect of America- it shows corruption, contrasts between Amish community and the 'big, bad' city. We are also introduced to the representation of race, how it is very stereotypical of a black person to be a murderer. It quickly diverts back to the murder of this man being strangled and then of his throat being slit, which is very disturbing to watch. Again the shot quickly changes to an extreme close up of the boys eye peering through the cubical door as he witnesses this distressing scene. The man being murdered finally falls to the ground and the shot diverts back again to the boy, as he creeps back away from the cubicle door, his facial expression shows us that he cannot believe what he has just seen as well as him trying to decide what he should do. 

The shot switches to the black male with the dagger in his right hand covered in blood and his left hand swamped in blood as he tries to dispose of the evidence. The shot again switches to the anonymous white male flicking through the murdered man's wallet, as if he was stealing his identity or trying to find something important. The camera pans up to a low angle shot of the black male washing his hands very calmly, as if nothing has happened which portrays the crime that he has just committed as casual and normal, which it is far from. A close up shot of the boy in the corner of the cubicle shows how traumatised he is by witnessing this dreadful act. The shot again adverts to the black male as he is drying his hands, he see by the reaction on his face that he has heard something. As the soundtrack plays the music builds a tension as the black male whips out a gun and starts to open the cubicles. A close up shot of the lock on the boys cubicle door adds builds even more tension with the audience because it is clearly not locked, the shot pans round to the boy as he realises he must lock the door and protect himself. The shot diverts back to the man opening all the cubicle doors and then back to an extreme close up of the boy struggling to lock the door. This is a generic signifier that Weir uses to emphasise the distress of the boy. 

The shot again changes to a tracking shot of the murderer's feet as he is opening each cubicle door. We then see him approach the cubicle in which the boy is in. This shows the danger in which the boy is submerged in. As the murderer realises the door is locked he then kicks the door down, but at the same time the boy slides under the door next to him, as he does so the boys hat falls off, symbolising his halo being ripped off of him, showing that he is not so innocent anymore after witnessing a terrible act of violence. The shot then changes to the boy standing on the toilet with his hands on either side of the cubicle walls. This signifies Jesus on the cross which again implies the boys innocence.