Friday, 22 April 2011
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Film Analysis- 'The Dark Knight'
Release Date: 24 July 2008
Brief Synopsis:
Set within a year after the events of Batman Begins, Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new district attorney Harvey Dent successfully begin to round up the criminals that plague Gotham City until a mysterious and sadistic criminal mastermind known only as the Joker appears in Gotham, creating a new wave of chaos. Batman's struggle against the Joker becomes deeply personal, forcing him to "confront everything he believes" and improve his technology to stop him. A love triangle develops between Bruce Wayne, Dent and Rachel Dawes.
Analysis of Opening Minutes:
The opening establishing shot helps to locate the audience, we can tell from the big buildings that its set in a city. The audience can tell that it’s a big busy city, by all the cars rushing around and the screeching of brakes along with the sound of horns. There is an enigmatic feel straight away when we see a big glass window being smashed for no apparent reason, and the enigmatic feel is continued when we see a series of men all wearing clown masks; the audience can tell something isn’t quiet right. It all becomes apparent and clear to the audience when the men go charging into a big posh bank firing their guns to scare the people inside. We can tell that these men are clever by all the attention into detail they put it when planning the bank robbery. All of the men have specific jobs, which gives the opening sequence an order. The audience’s heartstrings are pulled early on as we are made to feel sorry for the poor bank manger who gets shot, when he’s only trying to defend his livelihood. The audience are introduced to one of the main characters early on; `The Joker` there’s a certain mystery around his character, which makes the audience, want to watch more.
Film Analysis- 'Sleepy Hollow'
Release Date: 7 January 2000
Genre: Mystery
Director: Tim Burton
Brief Synopsis:
In the early United States of America, young policeman Ichabod Crane is sent to from New York to the fledgling settlement of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of ghoulish murders. On his arrival, the town council informs him that the three victims were killed in open ground, and the heads had disappeared - taken by a headless ghost that is supposedly responsible. Ichabod is unconvinced of this, but learns more about the ghostly horseman - it is the ghost of a Hessian sent by the British during the revolutionary war, and he was caught by redcoats and decapitated with his own sword. When Ichabod sees the ghost kill one of the town council members, his skepticism evaporates - and he soon discovers that the horseman's ghost has an unholy connection to Balthus Van Tassel, a wealthy farmer - and whose daughter Ichabod is falling in love with.
Analysis of opening minutes:
The camera angles are all different giving us an idea on the characters and it looks up at some showing that they have authority. The focus is on this one man walking down the street blurring out the other characters in the background, giving the audience that the man in focus will be the main character in the film. We can easily tell that the film has a historical setting by the costumes worn and the style of the houses. There are major elements of a horror film shown in the opening for example the lightning clouds, the howling wolf the high pitch dark and eerie music. A tracking shot is used to follow the main character down the street; in this shot we can see people shutting their windows as a sign of anxiety and fear. This has a contrast in atmosphere from when people were out playing and laughing in the street. This gives the audience a level of suspicion and uncertainty about this character.
Film Analysis- 'Green Street'
Release Date: 9 September 2005
Brief Synopsis:
Unjustly expelled from Harvard when a stash of cocaine is found in his possession, Matt moves to London to live with his sister and her husband Steve. He is quickly introduced to Steve's chirpy, cock-sure younger brother Pete. Initially, Pete is reluctant to get acquainted with Matt and allow him to tread around the capital city with him because he may be seen by others as an 'outsider', but after a heavy drinking session with him and his mates he quickly changes his opinion of him. On the way back from a football match, Matt is viciously accosted by a gang of Birmingham City thugs, until Pete and his friends step in and save him. It is from here that Matt learns the truth about Pete and his friends- they are football hooligans, operating the GSE (Green Street Elite) 'firm.' Initially afraid of the violence, Matt soon ends up becoming as desensitized to it as his new found friends - but as events roll on, suspicion, shocking revelations and unsettled scores combine to a devastating climax where London's most fierce football rivals - Millwall and West Ham United - are set to go head to head.
Analysis of Opening Minutes:
We get an idea of the location of the film through the very first sound you hear, you hear this before you see any shots and the sound helps to locate the audience as they can hear a rush of trains, and a station announcer through the speakers. Next there is an establishing shot of a train station, and a group or `Mob Gang` and then it changes to them getting into a big fight with another gang, which links to football hooligans and there `firms` which are gangs of fans who roam around the country looking for fights. There is strong language right from the start, which sets out the idea of the film going to be coarse and hard hitting. Then we get a change in location as the focus moves to America where the audience see a lovely river with two rowers on and a beautiful building, which is a clear juxtaposition from London, then we meet one of the main characters and see how he has to move to London, which leaves the audience wondering how he will come from a very posh background, to an extremely poor and tough background in the rundown parts of London. There is match-on-match action which all links together with a seamless flow, making it easy for the audience to follow. We can see the clear contrast in personalities of the Americans and the English, as the American man is very arrogant thinking he has ultimate power and rules over everyone else, he thinks he can get them to do what they want. The narrative is mostly chanting, which links bag to the football fan background. To sum up the opening is a very strong one, which jumps straight into the fast paced action of the film, and gives the audience a very clear view of what the film will be about.
Film Analysis- 'O'
Release Date: 13 September 2002
Director: Tim Blake Nelson
Brief Synopsis:
Tough Coach Duke Goulding leaves nothing untried to lead his almost exclusively white boarding school basketball team, the Hawks, to victory after victory, but his own son Hugo feels his polyvalent technical excellence and tireless efforts -which require using stimulants- are not getting anything like the recognition he deserves, especially when coach gives the best player award to Odin James, the only black teammate, even saying he loves Odin like his own son, who in turn only calls super-rich Michael Cassio to share in the honour. So Hugo, who is liked by everyone, decides to set up the boys who stole his glory, and he knows a cocky adolescent's weak points are his pride and his girl. This Dixie Jago schemes to bring down a black Othello and his Cassius, playing into the poisonous power of jealousy, however badly this also hurts their loved ones and the whole team
Analysis of opening minutes:
The film opens with quiet calming music and an out of focus close up on white doves. Doves are a symbol of freedom and innocence so this makes the audience question what the film is going to be like. The film still being on the birds with the music a voice over starts with a boy saying ‘All my life I always wanted to fly, I wanted to live like a hawk. I know your not supposed to be jealous of anything but to take flight , to soar above everything and everyone, now that’s living.’ This tells the audience so much even though we’ve only seen white doves so far. It automatically makes the film emotional within feelings and questioning what the main character is going to be like. The words show that the character is trapped and is jealous of people with freedom but we still don’t know. From this calm and peaceful scene, as soon as the voice over finishes loud screams and cheers from a crowd start with a close up on a hawk. The hawk then flies across a crowd to an extreme close up of what we can assume is the main character. The mise en scene tells us everything we need to know which lets us in on what’s happening at this moment. We’ve seen the loud shouting crowd and the main character has beads of sweat on his face and a basket ball top on, we also hear the manager giving a team talk. This tells us that the scene is the middle or half time of a basket ball match. There is then a master shot of the manager talking to the whole of the team. We can see from this that the main character we have just been introduced to is the only character within the group who is a different race. As the audience, this makes us question if that is what the freedom the voice over was talking about. I think the opening minutes of this film are very powerful and you can tell the film is going to be very strong. I like the idea of the beginning with the voice over then to the contrast of the loud basket ball match.
Film Analysis- 'Rio Bravo'
Release Date: 20 July 1959
Director: Howard Hawks
Brief Synopsis
The sheriff of a small town in southwest Texas must keep custody of a murderer whose brother, a powerful rancher, is trying to help him escape. After a friend is killed trying to muster support for him, he and his deputies - a disgraced drunk and a cantankerous old cripple - must find a way to hold out against the rancher's hired guns until the marshal arrives. In the meantime, matters are complicated by the presence of a young gunslinger - and a mysterious beauty who just came in on the last stagecoach.
Analysis of Opening Minutes:
This film is all linked in with the American dream and we can tell this from the opening shot as it shows the deep south of America and all the mountains, which is iconic to America and civilisation all inter linking with the American dream. The credits are in a western looking format; they look as if there covered in sand and like they’re burning all linking with the genre of Western. The font of the film is rocky which helps set the scene and it matches with the backdrop. There are many objects and elements in the opening to give the audience the idea of the film being a western for example, the wagons and cowboys, the guns and holsters, there is even a difference in the cowboy hat colour which has a significance as it shows to the audience who is `good` and who is `bad`. The harmonica music is very typical of a western genre, immediately linking to the film. The first shot is a very wide landscape one, which locates the audience straight away. This is the establishing shot. The way the camera looks up at John Wayne gives him this sense of great power and importance, where as the angle looking down on Dean Martin it gives the audience the impression that he is a weak character and makes us the audience feel sorry for him.
Film Analysis- 'The Girl Next Door'
Brief Synopsis:
Boy meets girl who's already met all sorts of boys and girls in this teen-slanted comedy. Matthew Kidman is a straight-laced and highly ambitious high school student who plans to study at Georgetown University and dreams of a career in politics. While most of his classmates are in the throes of an epidemic of senioritis, Matthew is obsessed with schoolwork and has a hard time relaxing and having fun. But he finds himself a bit less focused on his future career when Danielle, a beautiful 19-year-old blonde, moves in next door. Danielle is playful, spontaneous, and doesn't always remember to draw her shades, and before long Matthew is head over heels in love. Danielle soon finds herself taken with Matthew as well, but their relationship takes an unusual turn when he discovers that, before she moved to town, Danielle had a successful career as a porn actress. Matthew is able to convince Danielle that she's cut out for better things in life than appearing in porn videos, but his advice doesn't especially please Timothy Olyphant or Hugo two porn moguls who figure Matthew owes them big-time after convincing their leading lady to drop out of the adult industry.
Boy meets girl who's already met all sorts of boys and girls in this teen-slanted comedy. Matthew Kidman is a straight-laced and highly ambitious high school student who plans to study at Georgetown University and dreams of a career in politics. While most of his classmates are in the throes of an epidemic of senioritis, Matthew is obsessed with schoolwork and has a hard time relaxing and having fun. But he finds himself a bit less focused on his future career when Danielle, a beautiful 19-year-old blonde, moves in next door. Danielle is playful, spontaneous, and doesn't always remember to draw her shades, and before long Matthew is head over heels in love. Danielle soon finds herself taken with Matthew as well, but their relationship takes an unusual turn when he discovers that, before she moved to town, Danielle had a successful career as a porn actress. Matthew is able to convince Danielle that she's cut out for better things in life than appearing in porn videos, but his advice doesn't especially please Timothy Olyphant or Hugo two porn moguls who figure Matthew owes them big-time after convincing their leading lady to drop out of the adult industry.
Analysis of opening minutes:
The film starts with a voice over of a girl saying ‘How do you want me?’ and a man replying ‘Oh yeah that’s good, just get comfortable’. As we see an extreme close up of someone putting red lipstick on. This builds the film up to be very sexy although we don’t know what is going on yet. The scenes flick between extreme close ups, the next one is of an aperture being set on a camera which really confuses the audience what is going on. The scene then changes to a small tracking shot, showing a girl having her photograph taken and her friends talking to her beside her. This lets the audience in more on what’s happening and sets the scene of a high school. Although the beginning was very deceiving with the sexual gestures, it makes the audience think that this was setting you up for the genre of the film which could be categorized as a comedy, a romance or a rom-com. There is then a voice over of the girl who’s having her photograph taken saying ‘I will always remember...’. This sets the time that they are leaving college and looking back at their best memories of high school. As we meet different characters from the school they’re all of the same age range which indicates that the target audience is young people. Having been introduced to three or four characters there is then an establishing shot going around the whole of the college showing different groups of friends. The groups are shown very stereotypically of an American college including the jockeys, the pretty girls, the geeks, the cheerleaders etc. The last character we meet is the main character, and as the song starts to end the lyrics ‘under pressure’ repeat numerous times. This makes us question if it relates to the character we just met. I think the opening minutes of this film are really good because although we don’t know the characters in detail yet we are familiar with them and we know what is going on around the high school.
The film starts with a voice over of a girl saying ‘How do you want me?’ and a man replying ‘Oh yeah that’s good, just get comfortable’. As we see an extreme close up of someone putting red lipstick on. This builds the film up to be very sexy although we don’t know what is going on yet. The scenes flick between extreme close ups, the next one is of an aperture being set on a camera which really confuses the audience what is going on. The scene then changes to a small tracking shot, showing a girl having her photograph taken and her friends talking to her beside her. This lets the audience in more on what’s happening and sets the scene of a high school. Although the beginning was very deceiving with the sexual gestures, it makes the audience think that this was setting you up for the genre of the film which could be categorized as a comedy, a romance or a rom-com. There is then a voice over of the girl who’s having her photograph taken saying ‘I will always remember...’. This sets the time that they are leaving college and looking back at their best memories of high school. As we meet different characters from the school they’re all of the same age range which indicates that the target audience is young people. Having been introduced to three or four characters there is then an establishing shot going around the whole of the college showing different groups of friends. The groups are shown very stereotypically of an American college including the jockeys, the pretty girls, the geeks, the cheerleaders etc. The last character we meet is the main character, and as the song starts to end the lyrics ‘under pressure’ repeat numerous times. This makes us question if it relates to the character we just met. I think the opening minutes of this film are really good because although we don’t know the characters in detail yet we are familiar with them and we know what is going on around the high school.
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