Pre-Production - One Hour Photo

Pre-Production - Phonebooth

Antagonist

Who is the antagonist? The antagonist in Phonebooth is known as "The Caller", he has no proper name. All we know is that he is a person is using a false voice. This creates more suspense for the audience because they want to find out who the antagonist is.

Are they typical of the genre? I believe the antagonist was typical of the Thriller genre because he uses the weakness of the protagonist against him, which is used in many thrillers.

How would you describe their character? The antagonist is very typical, he picks on an innocent man and uses his weakness to his advantage. I would describe him as psychotic, I say this because he says "you're going learn to obey me". This shows the antagonist will not hesitate to kill Stu. He is in control, I can see this because he laughs in a very evil way.

What defines them as the antagonist? The antagonist threatens to kill Stu, and also the audience do not know the identity of the antagonist.

Protagonist

Who is it? The protagonist in Phonebooth is Stu Shephard (Colin Farrell). We know that he has a wife, Kelly Shephard (Radha Mitchell), but is cheating on her with another woman, Pamela (Katie Holmes).

Are they typical of the genre? I think that the protagonist is typical of the genre because he has a weakness that is being taken advantage of. Also he is scared of getting killed and his secret that he is cheating getting out.

How would you describe their character? I would describe Stu as a very scared man who thinks he is powerful because he smokes. I think he is a character that created his weakness himself by having an affair.

What defines them as the protagonist? The fact that Stu has a weakness that can be manipulated makes him a very good protagonist. Also the fact that he gets scared by the antagonist does not help him.

Typical Thriller Conventions

Setting: Busy street, so antagonist is hard to spot.
Narrative: Very clear, a man is threatening to kill and reveal Stu's affair.
Mise-en-scene: Helps the story to move on. Phonebooth etc.
Other characters: Wife, girlfriend.
Sound: Pulsating and suspenseful

Pre-Production - The Dark Knight

Typical Conventions Of A Thriller

Flashback/forward - A fade is used to show the two differences in time. It is used in the beginnings of thrillers to show what happens at the end, where questions are raised then during the film these questions are then answered.

Foreshadowing - This is where hints are used throughout the film to tell the audience what may be coming. Music may be used to build up the atmosphere which leads to action in the narrative.

Summary

Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and Harvey Dent start to round up the criminals that are in Gotham City until the Joker appears in Gotham, creating much more 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.

Opening Sequence

The film opens showing the creators, Warner Bros. Then music is played which builds up, going louder until a window is smashed. Fast music is then played which leads up to three men breaking into a bank. They talk about a man known as "The Joker". Questions are immediately raised. Who is he? What involvement does he have in the film? Is he bad? One of the robbers standing on the roof is then shot by another robber. More questions are asked. Why did he kill him? Who are they? A man sitting at his desk then reaches for a shotgun and starts to open fire at a robber. He then says "You don't know who you're stealing from!" This makes the audience want to keep watching the film to find out who they are stealing from.

Conventions And Codes Used In The Film

Twist - This is used when The Joker is in the hospital and he walks out and then blows it up. From what The Joker has done previously in the film you would expect him to shoot Harvey Dent, or even slice his face, but he blows up the hospital.



Red herrings/McGuffins - A wrong lead is used when Lieutenant Gordon is believed to be killed, but when The Joker thinks he has killed Batman Gordon comes out and saves him.

Dramatic Irony - This is used in the film when Harvey Dent confesses to be Batman, but the audience know he is not. The audience and Rachel Dawes know that Batman is really Bruce Wayne.

Does it fit into typical thriller conventions?

There are some examples of typical thriller conventions in this film which make it more enjoyable. I think that they are used well to create the atmosphere for the audience. Although there are some hints of the antagonist at the beginning but you are uncertain until The Joker is seen in person wreaking havoc.

Chaz Analysis

Amanveer Analysis

Pre-Production - Production Log Week 2

Pre-Production - Potential Thriller Ideas

Pre-Production - Thriller Conventions

Thriller Protagonist

Scared/threatened
Ordinary person
Find the answer to something (Move on story)
Represent good vs. evil. The every man.
Middle class, big house, vulnerable.
May have personality flaws.
Assumed to be female.

Thriller Antagonist

Kill or threaten protagonist.
Usually psychotic due to past experience.
Pale skin, scary eyes, scars, or as normal as possible.
May have strong ideologies.
Usually a white man.
Isn't always obvious at the beginning.
Element of supernatural - Ghosts etc.

Typical Thriller Conventions

False ending.
Dark, isolated locations.
Black/grey/red colour palette.
Fast paced/slow and lingering.
Good use of silence.
Depending on location, sub-genre changes.
Cat and mouse endings.
Weaponry used.
May leave a signature when killing.

Pre-Production - Production Log Week 1

Pre-Production - Evaluation Of Students Work

Looking at the past students work, I can see that I need to work on the variety of shots that are used, and also making sure the mise-en-scene relates to the sequence.

Pre-Production - Preliminary Excercise

Strengths

Sound created the atmosphere for the clip and flowed well.
Good variety of shots used, for example close ups, match on action.

Weaknesses

Dialogue was unclear as sound was louder than the dialogue.
Mise-en-scene was poor as the briefcase was not in my hands at some points.
Lighting was quite dark and unable to see action properly.

Girl walked across the camera in one of the scenes.

Improvements

Use more lighting when filming as it was very dark.
Try to use sound only when appropriate, e.g not over dialogue.