The man in the film poster looks like hes on a mission to do something. This may suggest that hes being a heroic character to save the woman in the background because she looks stranded and looks like the victim within the film itself.
The woman laying upwards look ghosty and stranded therefore, may be a villian within the film and the action is surrounding her and her adventure within the movie from the beginning till the end.
There are different types of conventions within the film 'Taken'. There are different types of characters which are heroes, greed, victims and villians. These create tension within the film and makes it thriller because of the narratives used such as fighting and action. This makes the audience anxious and be on the edge of their chair because of the different themes which occurs.
This film poster 'Salt' contains many different conventions which makes this movie a thriller. This movie has a sub-genre of Action Thriller which has many different type of characters and iconography which includes essentially of high tech weapons.
Connotation:
The woman that is a portrait of the woman from shoulders upwards. This may suggest shes the main character within the movie itself. The woman may link with the label called "femme fatales". This may imply that the woman is going to be seductive yet sneaky to get her own way throughout the film. She has a straight face which may convey that she is serious about what shes going to do and what is going to occur during the movie from start to finish.
Denotations:
This movie fits into the genre 'thriller' because it has the five essential conventions to make a thriller movie. This consists of many different characters such as heroes, villians, revenge, greed and villians. This film also consists of iconography such as high tech weapons which is an important convention for an action thriller film. The film also embraces different narrative which makes the film more interesting and catches audiences eye which is also key for a thriller film. The conventions blend together satisfactorily which makes the form patterns and trends within the movie which link together from the beginning till the end of the film.
Connotation: The two men that are in the centre of the film poster are typical men. They are using one of the conventions which is iconography because both men are wearing suits, which connotes that they may be business men. Both men also has a sarcastic facial expression which may show the audience they are not serious and just want to have fun. This may be backed up with the phrase at they bottom 'Holmes for the holiday'. This can back up their facial expressions because the word 'holiday' connotes fun and enjoyable.
Denotation: The movie fits into the thriller genre because they have the five cruical conventions that makes a movie a thriller. The movie has varies of different characters which makes the audience engage and learn different things about the different characters that act in the movie. The movie also has different themes and narratives which makes the movie more entertaining and engaging with the audience. The movie also has a woman that may be seen as 'femme fatales' because she is strong and uses her body and her tone of voice to seduce men into doing stuff she wants. This fits into the thriller genre because usually in a thriller movie it is a male dominated with macho and brave men.
THREE Thriller Film Openings:
COPYCAT, 1995, Jon Amiel
Introduction:
I have chosen this movie because it fits perfectally in the thriller genre. The movie has typical characters and has the five conventions which makes the movie a thriller. I am going to analyse the movie 'Copycat'. This is because the movie uses many different camera shots and angles, editing and sound work which makes the movie more entertaining and engages with the audience more.
Narrative Context:
The movie begins by non-diagetic sound of music and children playing at the park, then the camera starts moving from right to left, then the diagetic sound of a woman talking starts coming in which creates a sound bridge of non-diagetic and diagetic sound together. Afterwards, we establish who is talking and its a woman that is looking strong and serious about what shes talking about. She is giving a lecture to college students about typical criminals. She gets all the men to stand up but then illimates most of them by telling them to sit down whlist saying ' If your black or asian sit down' She then says that typical criminals are around the age of 30. She says it so confidentally and says it like she knows what shes talking about. Then, she sees a middle-aged man in the middle of the audience which makes a non-verbal threat towards her. She feels threathened, she also stops talking for about 5seconds but ignores the threat anyways. After finishing the lecture she gets her FBI to take her to the toilet. The FBI goes in before the woman does because the FBI is looking if anything abnormal or anyone that will harm her is in there. There was one woman at the end toilet however, the FBI didnt think much of it. The woman comes in and gets ready to go to the toilet when the audience watching realises that the woman at the end toilet is really the man that made the threat towards the woman in the lecture. He then takes the high heels off then climbs over to the womans toilets subsquently hanging the woman with a rope. The FBI comes in because he wanted to see if the woman is okay however, comes in to her hanging so he takes out his gun. The man that threathened the woman escapes through the window then comes in through the front toilet door sneakly taking the weapon of the FBI, he then says 'How did you get my gun'. After, eventually he slices the FBI's throat and shoots him in the chest making sure hes dead.
Copycat uses diagetic and non-diagetic sound to make the movie more interesting to watch. The non-diagetic sound is things such as suspence music and any second hand noises which makes the audience be on the edge of their seat. The music has an effect which can connote that its scary, sinster, creepy or fantasy. This could make the audience like the movie more because of the effect it has when they watch it. The diagetic sound such as laughter, shouting, talking has an realism effect of happiness and joyful. The movie has a sound bridge which makes the movie flow whlist watching. The diagetic and non-diagetic sound such as music and talking makes engima codes and questions running through the audiences mind whlist watching it. They would wonder who it is talking and makes the audience to keep watching to answer their own engima codes.
During the beginning of the movie, there is an establishing shot which shows the audience the setting and where the movie is based upon. Afterwards, the establishing shot goes to a sound bridge of the man talking and the music in the background, subsquently goes to a dissolve to an extreme close up of the womans lips, this shws the womans femine side because she is wearing red lipstick. Red lipstick may connote seductive and lovely however, can also connote dangerous. This can engage with men more because it may be seen as a sex appeal from an mans perspective.
From an extreme close up of the womans lips it slowly zooms out showing the audience who is talking and shows the womans identity and also answers some of the engima codes that runs through your mind whlist watching the movie.
The whlist the woman is talking the producers gives us a point of view panning shot which shows the targetted audience which the woman is talking and lecturing towards. This shot answers some of our engima codes which is who is she talking too.
Subsquently,after the point of view panning shot it turns into a high angle shot looking down. The shot is like the point of view of the man because it is centered in the middle of the audience. This makes the woman look small and isolated from everyone because she is up on stage alone with nobody surrounding her. This also makes the woman look vunlarable and powerless because every eye in the room is on her.
The straight cuts and the pace of editing is specific because it has long takes of the mens face on the projector to show their idnentity and how they look.This increases the tension and makes the audience want to watch more to know what is going on during the movie.
The incidential music signifys and draws attnetion to the killer that is in the middle of the audience. The low angles can help answer some engima codes thats created in your mind while your watching the movie and trying to know and figure out whats going on during the movie. Also, the high angles shows the woman as powerless and weak. The close up shots shows her struggle and hte slow motion makes the audience feel like theres hope of success and freedom. There is dramatic irony within the scene in the toilet because the audience knows that the man is behide the FBI but the actual character in the film doesnt. This means the audience know something that the character doesnt which is a good thing because it has an effect on the audience and puts them on the edge of their seats whlist watching the movie and seeing what happens.
Rush Hour, 2007, Brett Ratner
Introduction:
I chose this movie because this movie has the five conventions which is essential for a movie to become a thriller. The movie has a lot of iconography which are things such as sharp suits and high tech weapons which makes the audience more on the edge of their seats because they dont know whats going to happened in the movie and creates engima codes in your head which is a good thing for a movie to happen. Im going to annotate the shots which were used in the opening and the editing which makes the movie flow perfectly and neatly.
Narrative Context:
As soon as the movie starts there was an over the shoulder shot of the taxi driver talking to Chris Tucker whilst they getting into the car. This is a good thing because it shows that the characters are interacting with eachother and making conversation which makes the movie flow and makes the scene more calm. However, the conversation they are having isnt a good one because the driver says ‘’I don’t drive those kinds’’ pointing at Chris Tucker meaning he may not like black people and is racist towards them. On the other hand, he replies to Jacki Chan saying he doesn’t drive Americans because they are the most violent people in the country. He seemed angry because his facial expressions and this was shown by a close up of his face and shows any flaw on his face becasue its close and may engage more with the audience. It may create engima codes like why doesn't he like them? Did he experience something personally? However, the movies storyline flows and whilst watching more of the movie the engima codes gets an answer. The producers uses eyeline match from the driver taking to Jakie Chan. This was shown by using 2 close up shots which establishes and shows the audience whats happening and what environment they are in. They also use another eye line match 3 people in the car talking and interacting.This was shown to the audience by using extreme close up of the drivers face and shows what mood he is in and shows the expressions in his face. Subsquently, another over the shoulder shot when Chris Tucker and the driver speaking and trying to get a solution out of the problem the driver made at the beginning. Afterwards Brett Ratner uses an extreme close up of chris tucker holding the gun at the drivers head and making him sing the American anthoym and making him do what he wants. This makes the audience feel like hes being out of order but punishing him for what he was saying about Americans. This is one of the conventions which is iconography because Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are both in smart sharp suits however have high tech weapons which they use for violence. Later on during the movie the producer uses an birds eye view of Chris Tucker dancing in the middle of the road then uses point of view of the roads and him in a suit doing his job whlist listening and dancing in the middle of the road. They also used jump cuts going on whlist hesdancing and the camera going behind him and jumps to close ups of him from shoulder upwards. The audience then realised that he didn’t pay attention to the roads and the traffic so resulted to 2 crashes happening at once and he is in denial of it and says it wasn’t his fault and blames the drivers. Chris tucker always ends up using violence as a solution which makes the movie more appealing to the audience and engages with the audience because of the drama and action scenes which it includes.
The diagetic sound of talking and there's no music or non-diagetic sound going on in the background so the audience focuses on what being said in the conversation in the taxi. This lets the audience know what's going on and why they are arguing in the taxi. Whilst the 3 characters are arguing there is eyeline matches going on in the scene, this helps the audience to engage and be aware on what's going on and what the character is looking or speaking to. Chris Tucker was looking forward and it was a close up of him only talking. This would trigger enigma codes with the audience because they would think who is he talking to? and why is he getting so defensive while he's talking, we later on establish that he's talking to the taxi driver. The taxi driver said something unnecessary which made him mad because in Chris Tuckers eyes and the audiences the taxi may be being racist when he said "He doesn't driver his type". While they are talking and trying to find a solution to this problem, there was Shot-reverse-shot going on and over the shoulder shots to let the audience know that Chris Tucker and the taxi driver where still arguing and not getting anything resolved.
In a typical thriller movie the villan sometimes is a black guy which is typical in Rush Hour 3 because the American man (Chris Tucker) is black and the taxi driver says that Americans are violent. However, consequently the American violent man is black. Which Brett Ratner may have done on purpose so the audience can link it up together. Black men are perceived as being violent and aggressive which is shown in the opening scene of Rush Hour 3 because Chris Tucker resulted to violence and taking out his gun to shoot the taxi driver because he simply didn't like what the taxi driver said about Americans. In thriller movies its not surprising if the black character is the villan because usually the audience always think that anyways because its typical and regular for it to turn out that way. Its also typical when the black man threatens someone which also occurs in Rush Hour because Chris Tucker had the taxi man at gun point and made him sing the American anthem. This is very visible because it was shown in a close up shot of him and the taxi man who looked scared for his life. Chris Tucker made the man sing the anthem or he gets shot which makes the taxi driver look like an idiot and intimidated because he said he doesn't like Americans however is forced to sing the anthem loudly.
In a typical thriller movie the villan sometimes is a black guy which is typical in Rush Hour 3 because the American man (Chris Tucker) is black and the taxi driver says that Americans are violent. However, consequently the American violent man is black. Which Brett Ratner may have done on purpose so the audience can link it up together. Black men are perceived as being violent and aggressive which is shown in the opening scene of Rush Hour 3 because Chris Tucker resulted to violence and taking out his gun to shoot the taxi driver because he simply didn't like what the taxi driver said about Americans. In thriller movies its not surprising if the black character is the villan because usually the audience always think that anyways because its typical and regular for it to turn out that way. Its also typical when the black man threatens someone which also occurs in Rush Hour because Chris Tucker had the taxi man at gun point and made him sing the American anthem. This is very visible because it was shown in a close up shot of him and the taxi man who looked scared for his life. Chris Tucker made the man sing the anthem or he gets shot which makes the taxi driver look like an idiot and intimidated because he said he doesn't like Americans however is forced to sing the anthem loudly.
Subsequently the scene moved on to Chris Tucker doing his job whilst listening to music. This means that there is diagetic and non-diagetic sound going on in the scene together. The diagetic sound of him singing along to his song which disturbs him from doing his job properly. This is shown with a birds eye view shot to establish and show the audience the environment he’s in and what he's doing wrong. However, this is a typical thriller movie because Chris Tucker is an FBI which all thriller movies have because there is always something illegal or something suspicious going on in every thriller movie which makes the FBI important characters in a thriller movie.
Salt, 2010, Phillip Noyce
Introduction:
I chose this movie because its unusual for a woman to be the main character for a thriller movie. Angelina Jolie in this movie is a seductive and strong minded woman which makes the movie more appealing to a wide range audience. Phillip Noyce includes femme fatale which makes the movie more dangerous and makes it different to other thriller movies. This film includes all the essential conventions and instead of macho men being the main character. Angelina Jolie is and its a change for the audience which they may like. Shes dangerous during the movie because she uses iconography such as high tech weapons which she makes the men to do what she wants for her during the movie. This movie fits into the thriller genre because it has the main five conventions that makes a movie thriller.
Narratve Context:
Firstly, name sequence appear which shows the audience who's going to be in the movie, what's it called, the producer etc. The diagetic sound in the background of a man talking and non-diagetic sound of sorrow music which may give away to the audience that its going to be a sad scene. Secondly, after the sequence it states the first scene in the bottom middle of the screen which says 'North Korea' and it happened two years ago as it states in the movie. Afterwards, the first shot is close up of Angelina Jolie all bloody and she looks like she's been kidnapped and stranded by these men which are aggressive. Then, these 2 men forces and drags her out of a jail cell type of thing. She is in a bikini however looks beaten down and helpless. Angelina tries to defend herself by saying “Please please, let me go – I'm not who you think I am” she's looks scared for her life and is afraid of what's going to happen to her. She looks like she wants to cry whilst the men are tying her down and she says “Please let me go home - I'm not a spy, I'm a business woman” Shows that all she wants is to go home and they’ve got the wrong person because she looks like she doesn’t even know what’s going on and why she’s even there. Instantly enigma codes starts coming up in the audiences mind because they may be thinking what’s going on, what did she do? Why do they want her?
The men are trying to kill the woman because the leader states that she is there to destroy their nuclear ambitions they don’t want to happen and want to get rid of her. He says this and its shown to the audience by using a close up of the leaders face. Angelina Jolie looks scared because she doesn’t know what she’s done and the audience will feel sorry for her because she’s being sabotaged by a couple of men for something she hasn’t even done. The scene fades out whilst Angelina Jolie says innocently that she’s not a spy. After a second another scene comes up with 2 guards standing there, they then open the gate for Angelina Jolie and some other guards who comes out with her. She looks like she’s beaten up because she has a swollen black eye and her lip is slightly cut which makes the men look like they are the villans because they beated up a innocent woman and had to have a couple of men to hold her down. Then, the shot changes to a long shot which shows the audience where they are going and what type of environment they are in. The man automatically says to Angelina Jolie “keep you head down and dont say anything until we make the swap” which shows that they have a plan to get them back somehow.
The typical business man is shown because Phillip Noyce shows this using iconography which is sharp suits, the man is talking to Angelina Jolie however, she has no response.
They then exchanged guards, then Angelina automatically says she doesn’t understand, this starts triggering enigma codes for the audience because they would want to know why they are doing this to her and what has she done that is so bad. She then faces the man that put her in this situation. There’s a lot of close ups on Angelina Jolie's face, which shows the audience the bruises and the damage the North Koreans had done to her face. That was the beginning of the movie to show the audience what happened before. The scene was cut down and was made to spell the title which was 'SALT'. Afterwards, it states that they are in Washington D.C on Present Day which shows a big building and displays the by using a establishing shot which shows the environment they will be in. Then it goes back to a man and Angelina Jolie in an apartment and the man is doing his work. Angelina Jolie comes around the corner and stares at him. It shows a close up of the man’s face looking towards her however she’s not in the shot which makes it a eyeline match because then it goes back to Angelina Jolie smiling at him which is a shot-reverse-shot aswell as eyeline match.
The is digetic sound in the background of a man talking at the beginning of the movie and non-diagetic sound of sorrow music which shows that the scene is going to be sad and a depressing scene and setting.
Its a typical thriller movie because there are weapons and guards from the beginning of the movie which may indicate that there is going to be action during the movie whilst your watching the movie. Phillip Noyce uses the typical iconography for the movie because the man is wearing a sharp suit which fits into the thriller type. Also, the guards have high tech weapons which also is a iconography feature which shows the audience that it is an action thriller by the objects your being shown at the start of the movie.
Characters are slightly different because the main character is a woman however is a very strong and seductive woman, this is called femme fatale. Usually the woman is the character who is stranded and helpless however in the movie its the oppisite. The woman is strong and powerful which is a change for a thriller movie because usually the main character is a man, but now its different.
There’s also a lot of close ups on Angelina Jolie's face, which shows the audience the bruises and the damage the North Koreans had done to her face.
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