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

Location:
The shot is in a car park - this is a generic thriller location. The look of the car park tells us that it is set in the past, not modern day (2011). This is due to the signs in the background.

Lighting:
The lighting in this shot is non-ambient (from a light source outside the shot). The light reflects on one side of the woman with the gun's face, and combined with the expression on her face, it makes her look crazy and dangerous. This gives the feeling that she is the one in control in this shot. In addition, the light reflects off of the gun and makes it stand out in the shot. This makes it the focus of the shot, and forces people to see it and the danger it brings.

Camera Angle:
This is a medium close-up shot. The man suddenly looks vulnerable - his power has been taken away and he now looks weak and cowardly.

Representation of Gender:
The representation of gender in this shot is not stereotypical like in many other films. In this shot the roles have been reversed, and the woman is the one in power (the femme fatale, possibly). The man is the one who is restrained, cornered, and defenceless. This is interesting as seconds before this the man is asserting his power over the other woman in the shot (the one without the gun). The roles and stereotypes have been instantaneously reversed.

Intertextuality:
This shot shows the woman in power - this challenges gender stereotypes. This is like in Quentin Tarantino's films, like "Kill Bill Volume 1 + 2" as the woman is powerful and independently strong.

Essex Boys (2000, directred by Terry Winsor) Opening Analysis

At the start of Essex Boys the title sequence is turned directly into the start of the opening scene where the garage opens. This is done by using a white line of the titles and turning it into the small light from under the garage door. Outside the garage is a light - chiaroscuro lighting - which is a clear point of focus. The chiaroscuro lighting connotes illusion or nightmare - it is foreshadowing the nature of the upcoming events. The dark nature of this first shot immediately tells us that this film is a noir thriller - the dark environment and indications of threat and corruption are shown immediately. This dark feel gives the film intertextuality with the similar dark feel of "Fight Club" and "The Matrix".

The garage is a claustrophobic, enclosed space where there would be little chance of escape. In thrillers things can happen behind closed garage doors-it is a stereotypical thriller location. When the lights in the garage turn on, they reveal webs and filth in the garage. This is like the state of Essex in this film - there is hidden dirt and darkness underneath due to the crime, etc.

Shot of the garage, which is lit by a chiaroscuro light

There is a non-diegetic voiceover from Billy, but unlike Animal Kingdom (which contains a voiceover from "J"), it is from Billy's point of view. As well as this, there is also diegetic sound used for realism. When Billy looks through the windscreen (POV shot), you see Jason Locke. The shot through the windscreen immediately connotes many things about Jason. Seeing his strong figure through the windscreen shows that he is intimidating and threatening. Furthermore, the fact that you see him through a dirty, grimy windscreen (a medium close-up is used) tells us that he has had a dark, criminal history. He has a leather jacket and a "loud" shirt - like in the opening scene of "Kill Bill Volume 1", this tells us about his personality. Like "Bill", who has an expensive watchand a fancy handkerchief (with "Bill" written on it) he is obviously very vain. The lighting in this shot is also focused on him, making him stand out and making him look even more powerful.

The intimidating figure of Jason shot through the grimy windscreen

When Billy is talking, his Essex accent is a cultural signifier. Adding to the dark, grimy mood that has already been shown in the opening seconds, the landscape outside is bleak. In addition, there is an unglamorous feel to the film so far.

When the car, driven by Billy and containing Jason, is travelling through the tunnel there is a clear vanishing point. This gives the feeling that Billy is going through the tunnel and falling off a cliff into a different world or dimension - Jason's criminal world. In addition to this, the tunnel looks like the barrel of a gun, which foreshadows future events in the film and also adds to the sense of travelling into a different, dark, criminal world. Also, the POV shot through the tunnel makes it feel like a confined space where you are trapped and unable to escape from where you are going - into the criminal world. Furthermore, there is a "STOP" and "Stay in Lane" sign at the two sides of the tunnel. This is another symbol that tells you Billy should not be travelling into this new world - the signs are telling him to stop and turn back.

The shot of Billy driving with the connotive bars of light on his windscreen

The lighting on the windscreen here is very effective - there are bars of light scrossing the windscreen like prison bars (another sign of the different life he is going into). Jason's bright, "loud", attention-gaining top in this scene also adds to his vanity.

What Made Animal Kingdom a Marketing Success?

Animal Kingdom is a very low budget film - it was made with a budget of fewer than 5 million pounds as opposed to big-budget blockbuster movies like Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides which has a budget of between 150 and 250 million pounds. This means that there is more room for profit, but less room for the development of the film.

The main thing that made Animal Kingdom a marketing success was the use of social networking sites. By posting news and information about Animal Kingdom on Twitter, Facebook, etc. it allowed the makers of this film to directly target people who want to see these films.                                                                    

In addition to this, Animal Kingdom has only been screened in small, independent cinemas - and in only a small handful of them. This is not a disadvantage, however. Mostly, the people who wish to see small, independent films like Animal Kingdom choose to see them beforehand - they have the intent of going to see this film, rather than turning up, seeing that it looks good, and watching it. There will be people who come across it this way, but mostly people will make the personal decision to see the film. The result of this is that people who want to see this film (possibly because of directed marketing online, as aforementioned) will probably go out of their way to travel a further distance to an independent cinema showing the film. This attracts people from a wider area to the cinema - nullifying the possible disadvantage of less cinemas screening the film.

Another very important part of Animal Kingdom's marketing was its focus on the Sundance award it claimed. As a prestigious, famous award among the film industry, this signifies Animal Kingdom as a better film than most. When looking through a list of films, this can really make Animal Kingdom stand out. This award presents a very important marketing tool that Animal Kingdom used well to stand out from the crowd. The fact that it richly deserves the award helps as well.


Finally, the trailer for this film is an often overlooked, brilliant part of the film's marketing. It is a very stylish trailer (personally, one of the best I have ever seen) that effectively gets across the main information about the film. A great choice of music (All You Need Is Love by Air Supply) also assists greatly as it not only improves the quality and entertainment of the trailer, but it makes it memorable. It is so memorable fue to the brilliant use of the music. It comes in after the hard-hitting words "Protection, Manipulation, Morality, Survival, Loyalty" and provides an effective change of pace. The fact that the trailer is so memorable improves the widespread knowledge of the film as people watch the trailer and are interested by it.

Overall, Animal Kingdom was a marketing success because of clever, effective marketing methods that marketed the film brilliantly to the audience that would want to watch it.

The trailer for Animal Kingdom that I mentioned:

Planning for my Thriller Opening - Shot List

Shot 1: Boy is in bed with diegetic sound of birds tweeting - very high angle shot


Shot 2: Hear a loud diegetic gunshot. Boy jerks upwards in bed, birds flutter away (diegetic sound). Heavy breathing. Cuts to medium close-up of boy in bed from front. Head and shoulders shot.


Shot 3: Single static shot of boy getting out of bed and walking into upstairs hallway. Shadow quickly moves at end of hallway without boy seeing.


Shot 4: Over the shoulder shot as boy walks down hallway.


Shot 5: Boy goes into parent's room - bed covers ruffled etc. POV shot opening door etc. sound rises in tension, volume etc. as door opens.


Shot 6: Very high angle shot down stairs as boy walks down them


Shot 7: Low angle shot at bottom of stairs as boy gets to the bottom - match on action - rule of thirds - two thirds stairs, one third hallway with shadow or reflection flicking by.

Shot 8: Point Of View shot of the television buzzing, and the father’s head seemingly watching it.

Shot 9: Close up of father’s head, and boy’s hand, nudging father, reveals fatal wound

Shot 10: Extreme close-up of crest (or mark) on father’s neck

Shot 11: Medium close up of the boy running out of the house and into the street

Shot 12: Over the shoulder shot of enigmatic figure in the boy’s bedroom reloading 1 bullet into a handgun.

Shot 13: Medium close-up of the boy running down the street. He turns round a corner to see a car with it’s headlights on in his way, blinding and blocking him.

Shot 14: Over the shoulder shot of another, similar enigmatic figure in the car.

Shot 15: Another extreme close-up of the mark on the second enigmatic figure’s neck.

Cuts to black, with the title “Marked” and the mark in the background (in a similar place as to where the mark was in the previous shot).

"Witness" Murder Scene Analysis - Peter Weir, 1985

The opening murder scene from "Witness" starts with the Amish boy looking up at an angelic statue. It then cuts to an over-the-shoulder shot of the angel looking down-this gives the feeling that the angels are looking down on him, and watching over him. The costume of the Amish boy is also very important. The Amish look stands out clearly in the station, and isolates him as the minority group. Also his hat looks like a halo above his head. This supports the heavenly theme and makes him look innocent.

The shot in the station that shows only the Amish boy and his Mother (a bad, stereotypical representation of a woman - a single mother who seems quite vulnerable) is a vital shot. The angle at which it is shot makes a vanishing point. The Vanishing point, which leads to the murder location, looks like a hostile environment which should be avoided. This is emphasized by the darker lighting in that area of the shot. Having the Amish Mother and son all on their own adds to the aforementioned feeling of them being a minority group. This makes them look very vulnerable. When the boy goes off to the toilet it shows that the mother is naive - she doesn't realise the treat of sending a little boy to a public toilet as the Amish community is a trusting community that does not usually come under great threat.

When in the toilet, the different camera shots tell us a lot about the characters. There are high low angle shots of the men which makes them look important, and the size of the boy makes him seem very vulnerable. Also, the environment is dank, dark, and claustrophobic-a classic thriller location. There is ambient lighting of the toilet. When the boy goes into the toilet he does not lock the door-again, this shows how trusting he is. The narrow opening also shows us that he can see the man washing himself over the sink. This is reinforced by the point of view shot through the door which shows the man washing himself over the sink. however it also shows that he cannot see everything-he cannot see the black man. The actual murder is mainly shown from the Amish boy's point of view. All of the shots are either close up shots of the head and shoulders of the characters or simple shots e.g. of the boy's hands. The close ups show the importance of the characters and their facial expressions, and the other shots show things that are vital to the scene and it's feel.

When the toilet cubicles are being searched, the shot of the black man's feet and the cubicles banging is a very well-constructed shot. The banging of the cubicles is getting nearer and nearer to the boy, and the tension is built up brilliantly. The close up shots of the boy locking the door are simple and effective as the subtle motion of the boy continues to build up the tension.

When the boy makes his escape from the toilet cubicle, the moment where he drops his hat is very important. As the hat is like a halo, its is like he has lost his innocence because of what he has witnessed. Then, when the murderer - a black man (this is a bad representation of black men - the black man is the enemy, the villain, the bad one) enters the toilet, colour is very important. The colour of his suit is a dirty, muddy brown colour like the toilet he is in, and his red tie signifies blood and violence. Straight after this, he stands up in the toilet in a shape like a crucifix-this shows him as a Christ figure. When he stands up here it is also the first time we see him without his hat (halo)-and innocence.

There is then a great cut to the policeman outside in the station. This scene starts with Harrison Ford, the hero figure, coming out of a light blue-lit doorway. The blue lighting immediately makes us think he is the hero of the film. This is because light blue is a colour associated with good. The light blue also makes us think he is a policeman-again, this is due to the light blue colour being associated with the Police.