Maze Runner - Thriller Analysis Task 2.1

The film starts off with complete darkness but the sounds of machinery and clanking is getting louder. This leaves a lot of mystery straight away as you can hear that something is going on but cant see anything. After a few seconds light emerges and you can see industrial lights through a cage and them moving past, showing that this cage is going up like a lift. A male figure appears and is coughing violently and looking around. This shows he may have been harmed or someone might of done something to him to get him to go into the cage, suggesting he is in danger.

He is looking around the cage and around him showing he is completely clueless and doesnt know what is going on around him.He opens some sort of crate and something starts squealing at him making the character jump. None of this really makes sense at this point, because not even the character knows whats going on and we are not given any background information about the setting or the situation.

He starts screaming 'Help Me' because of his fear for the squealing animal who he is trapped with. He is also scared because he doesnt know what is going on, and you find out later on that he doesnt remember anything, not even his name, so he is completely confused and scared. The cage is approaching a red light which makes the boy panic even further, seeing there is an end to where the lift goes. Red connotes danger and violence, foreshadowing future events in the film. When the lift comes to a halt, the red light then turns green telling the lift to continue going upwards. The screen then flicks to being black again, showing the mystery as the audience doesn't know whats happening. The young male is panting because of him panicking but eventually he starts to breathe at a normal pace, meaning you can barely hear anything.

Suddenly, some gates open above the lift, letting in the sunlight, temporarily blinding the man. The camera is at a high angle, making the young male look vulnerable. He covers his eyes with his arm as the light is shining directly on him foreshadowing he could be the hero of the film. The next shot is a low one, from the males point of view. He is looking up through the cage and there are silhouettes of men looking down at him. This could suggest they are more dominant than him and they are looking down on him, showing more experience.

Hansel and Gretel - Horror Analysis

Hansel and Gretel

At the beginning of the film, the music consists of low, sustained notes creating the feeling of darkness and evil. Gradually a quiet beat comes into the non-diegetic music. This can show that tension in the film is building like the music is also building. Also high pitched sounds are introduced into the music which makes the music sound scary. The first clip is a shot of a dark sky and the moon in one corner. It quickly pans vertically, giving a high shot of some trees and then homing in on a house.

 Crickets can be heard which connotes it is set in countryside and could possibly be in the summer. Also crows can be heard and crows are normally associated with evil. Still panning, we follow a silhouette up the path to a house whom is holding a light source to guide his way. The shot jumps into the next and the man has now walked into a dimly lit, small house. A middle-aged woman is looking out the curtain when the man walks in, and jumps away quickly in surprise when he walks in. 

She has a very serious expression on her face which could show she isnt very happy to see him or something bad is happening. The furniture around the small house is quite worn which could suggest the owner doesnt have much money and has to do with what they can get. The next shot is a straightforward shot and its of the two peoples shadows talking to each other. This is where dialogue is first used and she uses command words such as 'take' and 'now' to the man. This could show she is the dominant character between the two as she is taking control. 

Red Dragon - Thriller Analysis

Red Dragon

At the beginning of the sequence, an orchestra is playing. This is a diegetic sound, which means that the music is part of the film and all the characters can hear it. The lighting is very bright on the orchestra showing that they are the main object of the night but it dims when you see the main character in the audience suggesting he is a dark character and that he is evil. The setting of the orchestra concert shows the audience that all of the audience, including the main character, are very wealthy and in the upper class

A close up of the main character Lecter shows that he is almost wincing at the music being played by a musician which could suggest he is a very judgemental character and isn’t very friendly. This shows his annoyance with this musician, immediately saying he doesn't like him. The scene fades in from black after the credit titles and an establishing shot can be seen to show the audience where the opening scene is set.

The pace of the camera shots is quite fast when watching the orchestra play because it matches the fast pace of the music and the movements of the orchestra. But when it zooms from in front of the conductor and behind him to a specific person in the audience the pace is very slow.

This is to emphasise the characters importance in the film and almost compares him to an animal. When an animal is hunting for its prey, its slow and steady like its waiting for the right moment. This suggests that Lecter is doing the same thing – that he is checking out what to have next and is thoughtful about how to carry out his plan.

When the scene changes to the big house, the orchestral music stops completely to show that the show has ended and you can hear Lecter talking very calmly before you see the inside of the house. This is where the dialogue starts between the characters who are all sitting around a dinner table suggesting it is in the evening.

The costumes the characters are wearing connote that the characters are wealthy and like to afford nice things.The golden lighting of the dining room also connotes wealth and royalty and the flames around and on the table could connote evil. The change of scene from the theatre to the house is very fast paced, it happens almost suddenly to show the quick change and how quickly the characters are moving on.

Lecter is shown as the dominant character as he is standing up around the dining table whereas the rest of the characters are sitting down.  The camera follows Lecter around the table while he is pouring the wine and goes over the 180 degree line to the other side while following him.

Feedback - Miss Spencer

An good prelim task Jodie, however your evaluation could do with being better organised and a little more detailed.
Can you split the writing up under headings (use the questions in the evaluation)
I would like a little more reflection on what you did well, as well as what didn't work.
Can you also give specific examples of the the new software you have learnt about. EG what functions on Adobe Premier worked well for you.

Thanks

Preliminary Task - Evaluation

In film, the 180-degree rule is an essential guideline respecting the on screen dimensional relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene.  We used this rule in our preliminary task by sticking to the one side of the character, even though it didn't matter too much as there was only one character in shot at one time. Matching on action refers to video editing styles where the editor cuts from one shot to another aspect that matches the first shots action. We used a match on action at the beginning of our preliminary task where a note is passed through the car window to the young man.

The filmmaking went very well as we got all the shots we needed and wanted to edit together to make the film. It was a bit difficult to film in college because it was a very busy and noisy but we tried to use the quietest places we could. It took us a while to grasp hold of how to use Adobe Premiere but when we learnt how to use it, we put the film together quite quickly.We added music which was very low and had sustained notes which made it sound very negative and scary. The musics tempo then built up as the young man speaks on the phone to the other young man.

If we could do this film again, we would add in some transitions between camera shots so it blends together better and we would add in titles. I think we used the 180 degree rule and the match on action shot well and the music fitted in with the genre of the short film.