Cast List

Rio Huckle - Playing the homeless girl- Does drama, which enables her to act the character well.

Gary Pearce- Playing the middle aged man, this will make the character more intimidating and more beleivable because he is older and therefore can act the character well.

Shot List For Thriller

Over Shoulder- Business man walks towards girl selling The Big Issue.


Over Shoulder, Medium Close up- Business man hands money to girl.


Medium Close up- Of man's hands handing over money.


Long shot- Business man walks away.


Medium Close up- Homeless girl's face.


Long shot- Girl walks into distance.


Extreme Close up- Girls face, her eye's closed.


Extreme Close up- Girls face, her eye's opening.


Medium Close up- Man's shoes


(SHOT REVERSE SHOT)- Girl, Man's shoes, Girl


Extreme Close up- Girls face, girl blinks, tears run down her cheek.

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.