The Mancharian Candidate (1962)

The Manchurian Candidate

This film is based on the book 'The Manchurian Candidate,' it was written by Richard Condon. I watched both versions of the film, (1962) and (2004).I personally found the 1962 version, of the film difficult to understand.

It is about an army who is kidnapped, and brainwashed into thinking Sergeant Raymond Shaw saved their lives, battling by himself with the enemy, while other members of the army were passed out.

When they go back to the United States, Captain Marco starts having recurring dreams of Shaw murdering two of his soldiers. He finds out another solider has had recurring dreams similar to him. Marco start to investigate on what really happened that night.

Marco finds out Shaw's mother is behind all this, and Shaw can be hypnotised by the queen of diamonds, and will do anything his mother tell him, without remembering. Raymond's mother tells him to assassinate the opposition part, as he arrives at the hall Marco tries to stop him. Raymond then shoots his mother and step-father and commits suicide, while wearing the medal of honour.

Analysis of Trailer

The music is the same throughout the trailer. There are deep notes played and a continuous ringing sound. There are non-diegetic sounds such as screaming, punching,fighting. When Janet is introduced the music decreases in volume, when the image of the Manchurian candidate appears the music continues. Deeps beats are consistent.

Words appear on the screen. There is a close up shot of a man waking up, his eyes and mouth are wide open, and his eyebrows are arched up, his facial expression shows that he has woken up from a bad dream and is scared. Words appear again then it cuts to a over the shoulder shot of a guy getting punched. There is a medium shot of him falling to the ground. Then it cuts to a close up shot of a bloody nose and a medium shot of the two men fighting. There is a high angle shot of a women dressed as queen of diamonds, this shows she is a powerful person.

There is a point of view shot of Raymond looking outside the window of his car. It cuts to the crowd, then onto a high angle shot of a person holding a gun, this shows that he is powerful. Then it cuts to images of the actors, there are graphic matches from the image to the scenes of the movie. A dutch tilt is used after Lawrence Harvey introduced. It dissolves onto him talking then onto him at the beach with a women. Finally an image of a women is zoomed up on the image it says the Manchurian candidate.

A History Of Violence (2005)

History of Violence

This film is directed by David Cronenberg, it is about a family who own a small restaurant, two men try to rob the place and the owner Tom ends up killing them both while defending himself. He becomes know as a local hero.

He is visited by a gangster who claims Tom was a gangster. Tom denies this, the gangster - Carl demands he comes back and Tom gets into a fight with him and is men and they end up dead.

Tom then admits to his wife that the accusations are true, his brother Richie tells Tom to visit him as they have to discuss issues. When he gets their he brother Richie tries to kill him, Tom defends himself and kills his brother and his men.

No Country For Old Men (2007)

No Country For Old Men

This movie is based on the book written by Cormac Mccarthy, it was published in 2005, and was made into a film 2 years later. I watched this movie in class, it is a western movie.

The story is about a drug dealing that goes wrong. A man called Moss comes across abandoned vehicles, with dead bodies everywhere. He comes across a car, it seems as if the killer is inside it or something bad is going to happen, by the slow actions of Moss - This is known as eniqma. But instead he finds a man injured and begging for water.

Then he discovers a suitcase of money. Moss sets a chain of violence, when he takes the suitcase. A hit man is hired to find the money, (there is a tracking device in the suitcase). His on a race against the hit man to save his family and himself.

The Conversation (1974)

The Conversation

This film was inspired by the 1970s watershed, vice-presidents would bug the opposition parties, in phones, or their office, so they would know what to expect from the opposition party, and then plan to do something better. It was during the parallax period-period of conspiracy.

I watched this film at home, it was directed by Francis Ford Coppolais, it is about a surveillance expert named Harry. He can easily record conversations between people, one recorded conversation led three people to die, and he has been living in guilt ever since.

The beginning of this film was intriguing, as there was a point of view shot which followed a mime artist, this made me believe he was the main character, until I saw him following a man, who seemed to be spying on a couple. My favourite part of the scene was when the couple were talking. I could hear what they were saying, there voice was mechanical, and I heard their conversation through the ear piece, of the man who was spying on them. The couple even suspected the man was following them. It seemed very suspicious.

Memento (2000)

Memento

I watched the film Memento, as my media teacher told me it is a great film. I watched the beginning of it in class and then decided to watch it at home. I found this film very different from other thriller films, as it is shown backwards.

It is directed by Christopher Nolan, the story is about a man who is on the search to find his wife's killer, and his attacker. Two men broke into his house and raped and murdered his wife. He was knocked unconscious by one of the guys. This attack gave him amnesia, the only thing he remembers about his past, is the brutal murder of his wife. It stopped his brain from storing new memories. All the evidence he finds is tattooed onto his body, and he keeps Polaroid photos, and writes notes on them so he can remember all the evidence/information he has found.

The film is in black and white an in colour, the parts that are in black and white are chronologically ordered unlike the coloured scenes which is in reverse order.

Analysis of the opening titles

As the titles are going on, there is a low angle close up shot, of a polaroid photo being held. The photo shows a wall covered in blood . The photo is shaken and appears to have faded in colour. This is repeated another 3 times until the photo turns blank.

The camera cuts to the person holding the photo, you can only see his wedding ring, beige suit and blue shirt. The camera tilts up and rewinds, on what happened before the photo was taken. There is a close up shot of the mans face, you can see dried blood near his eye. It cuts to dripping blood, a bullet, a pair of bloody glasses and a man's head surrounded with blood. Their is a high medium shot of the man in the beige suit, the camera tilts down following the character. It quickly rewinds and shows him shooting the man. Then fades to black, there is a black and white close up shot of his mouth, nose and eyes.

In Memento there is slow instrumental music, there are no beats. The music hints to the audience, that this film deals with emotionally issues. The blue coloured titles add to the emotion of sadness, (the colour blue is usually associated with sadness). The music continues until the flash of the camera, this sound is sharp and loud. When the scene replays you an hear the bullet rolling and the movement of the glasses. The gunshot is loud and you can hear the man shouting.

Cliff Hangers, Red Herrings and Eniqmas

Cliff Hangers

According to the Britannica encyclopedia this word means 'adventure presented in installments, each ending in suspense'.

It is commonly used to show a thrilling situation. Characters would have to face difficult problems, e.g. In North by North West, Eve and Thornhill are literally hanging of a cliff.

The aim of a cliff hanger is to keep the audience engaging with the film, to see if the problem resolves itself or plummets to more danger and possibly the destruction of the hero/heroine.

Red Herrings

A red herring is a false trail, which is aimed to divert the audiences attention from the truth, e.g. In the Untouchables, Eliotness is given information on a warehouse that is storing Al Capone's alcohol, leading up to this scene there is slow suspenseful music, the treasure department surround the warehouse and break in. Inside the warehouse no traces of alcohol were found. It was a false lead.

Enigmas

Enigmas are puzzles, mysteries or problems, the protagonist must solve them in order to defeat the antagonist.

http://www.britannica.com/bps/dictionary?query=Cliffhanger

Alfred Hitcocks - Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Shadow of a Doubt

On the 28th of January I watched this movie at home it is about a teenage girl who is awaiting the arrival of her uncle. Two men arrive at the door claiming to be journalists, one of them talks to her in private and tells Charlie (the teenage girl), that her uncle is a murderer, they suspect he is known as a 'Merry widow murderer', - Charlie's uncle seduces,murderers and robs wealthy widowed women.

When he comes to stay she notices his odd behaviour, one evening he even mentions how he despises rich widows. Her uncle confronts Charlie on her behaviour, (as she has distanced herself from him), and ends up telling her that he is the 'Merry widow murderer.' She promises to keep it a secret, only if he leaves soon. Shortly after, she has accidents, falling down the stairs, locked in a garage that has flames coming out a car.

Analysis of the title sequence

People are dancing in a ballroom while titles are appearing, the camera fades into a landscape of a bridge, then slowly pans to the side, where you can see a river. It fades onto an abandoned car, then onto children playing on a road. There is a high angle shot of a window, which fades into a high angle close up, of the window. It fades onto a man, lying on his bed, the camera zooms towards him. You can see him playing with his cigar. The camera pans towards a small table which has a stash of money then tilts down, revealing more money on the floor.

This immediately present a wealthy person. His facial expression shows that he is in deep thought, his eyes are closed which seems his concentrating on something.

While the titles are going on, there is non-diegetic instrumental music, it continues onto the scene of the landscape but quiets down, and stops. As it stops, new music starts immediately, this flows really well. While the camera pans round, the music gets faster and more upbeat. This makes the audience move with the landscape, it makes them feel that they are actually at the scene. When the scene fades onto the street scene, the music gets quieter and slower. You can hear diegetic sounds of children playing (laughing and talking). The music increases in volume, and gets even louder when you see the image of the window. When the man is introduced, the music decreases in volume. While the camera is zooming towards the man, there is a single music note and you can hear bells. When the camera tilts down the music continues.