Black Swan – Textual Analysis

‘Black Swan’ is a drama/thriller film with an IMDB rating of 8 out of 10.

The entire title sequence is a tracking shot of a person drawing with chalk however, the main focus is the audio used in the sequence and reveals hidden meaning and therefore has a vital role. The drawing is shown through high angles and EXU’s.

It fades in from black and immediately the audience’s attention is drawn in due to not being able to see what they are drawing, creating mystery. The sound score is very slow, relaxing and tranquil because it is a piano playing. Synchronous sound is also used. Editing creates an overlap of shots which merge to become one, creating the sense of time passing.

However, the previous slow-paced and slow drawing disappears and becomes more aggressive as the music becomes faster and louder as the person begins to scribble and even breaks the chalk illustrating their anger and frustration. This could represent that previously their life was normal and peaceful but is now disrupted and ruined causing their anger and frustration. As the titles appear there is a non-diegetic sound effect of glass smashing but it soon fades away like dust and a very well-known song is played which is associated with ballet. This all give the audience an insight into what the film may be about.

Summary:

I think that this title sequence is unique but very simple whilst drawing the audience’s attention in.

Red Riding Hood – Textual Analysis

The sequence opens with a establishing shot of woods and mountains, illustrating that where it is set is very secluded and therefore makes the characters vulnerable as they’re isolated and cannot get help. However, the sound score is very peaceful and slow-paced which juxtaposes this. Also it could suggest to the audience that the characters are unaware of the danger that may lie ahead.

A olden style boat is show, portraying the era that the film is set in.  The camera tracks the fast-flowing river and pans 360 degrees at a BEV which confuses and disorientates the audience. The cutting at the beginning matches the sound score (synchronous sound).

The title itself is bold due to being in red capitals which grabs the audience’s attention. The colour red is associated with danger, blood and warning, making the audience on edge.

The little town is then revealed and is run-down and damaged (such as the broken windmill) as well as reinforcing the era due to the houses been made from wood and straw, this also suggests poverty of the village. A young blonde girl skipping is framed in the centre illustrating her importance as well as her happiness and implies that she may be the main character of the film.  However, she stops skipping and is no longer happy when she hears the diegetic sound of a pig squealing and sees two men putting up an angry, scary face which conveys that the villagers are trying to scare something away, like a scarecrow.

Summary:

I think that this sequence is suspenseful and leaves it on a cliff hanger, making the audience curious and wanting to see more. Therefore, I would like to use a cliff hanger in my final task.

Shutter Island – Textual Analysis

Sadly, I couldn’t find an original YouTube video for the opening title sequence which didn’t have an analysis on top of the original video but it did highlight aspects that I didn’t notice originally.

The music used in the title sequence is very suspenseful and dramatic which creates mystery to the audience and draws them in. The opening shot gives away the setting immediately as it is a dark corridor which has high-security prison doors.

The next shot is a BEV spinning pan creating the illusion of a spinning staircase which results in disorientation and confusion of the audience. The EXU of the hand keeps the audience intrigued as the character isn’t revealed, which is typical of a thriller.

When the gates open the camera tracks into the well-armed prison, adding suspense as the audience don’t know what lies behind the gates and wonders what needs to be kept in such high security. The LS later on highlights how isolated the island is and therefore makes them more curious of what is in the building and how dangerous it will be for the characters.

The gun on the floor suggests that there is violence, crime and murder within this film as well as suggesting that there may be danger ahead for the main characters. Hand-cuffs and chains in the darkly lit room reinforce the setting and the violence that may be involved. It then fades to black but then a match it lighted, causing tension. Finally, the title is red and bold when then seem to fly towards the audience and then fades to black. The colour red is a sign of blood and danger.

Summary:

I love this title sequence as it is relatively fasted paced and uses lots of different camera angles and shot types. It also uses a lot of fading which makes the sequence flow well.

The Bourne Identity – Textual Analysis

The sequence opens with a pitch black screen and then a sudden flash which is thunder, resulting in the audience being engaged straight away due to creating an eerie atmosphere. There is also diegetic sounds of thunder, rain and lightning, adding to the realism of the sequence as well as soft no-diegetic music. Also, there is a WEV shot showing the silhouette of a body floating helplessly in the middle of the ocean, conveying their vulnerability. This draws in the audience immediately and makes them ask questions such as “who is that?” and “how did they get there?” which will result in them watching the rest of the film. In the next shot a sense of hope is created as it is of a small fishing boat nearby and is centralised within the frame illustrating its importance of the boat to the person floating in the ocean helplessly. It is very slow-paced at this point in the sequence.

The men in the boat all speak a foreign language, in a english-speaking film which highlights how lost the man is and makes it more mysterious. The titles are in a very bold font and is eye-catching due to being white with the rest of the shot being black, white is a symbol of innocence whilst it is juxtaposed against black which symbolises evil and darkness.

When he is pulled out of the water the straight cuts speed up and there are even jump cuts which make it much more faced paced and dramatic. The music also becomes louder and faster.

When he is on the boat there is a high angle on him making him look smaller and implying that he is vulnerable and weak. He is wearing a scuba suit which conveys how lost he is and makes the audience wonder why he was there in the first place.

Summary:

This sequence gives the audience a clear idea about what is happening and doesn’t have them asking questions apart from “how did he end up in the ocean?”. I think that a title sequence should have the audience asking more questions, for example – the ‘Seven’ title sequence.

The Shining – Textual Analysis

The sequence opens with an establishing shot of mountains, lakes and woods which automatically highlights that it is very secluded and puts the audience on edge as the dramatic music creates a sinister tone and therefore illustrates that something bad will happen to the characters as well as conveying that there isn’t anyone around to help them, and if they escape there is nowhere to escape to.

The next shot is a BEV which tracks the car throughout. It shows how isolated the setting is as there isn’t any civilisation around for miles and there is only one road, with no buildings and no other cars. The entire sequence itself is 2 minutes and 46 seconds long, during which it tracks the car throughout and only shows one single building and a few cars heading the opposite direction. Also, there are un-natural high-pitched sound effects which result  in the audience being on-edge.

Finally, the titles are extremely bold, even though the director used a common font, due to them being a bright blue colour throughout.

Summary:

I think that this title sequence is too long-winded and should have included some flash’s to what will happen later on in the film to make it more thrilling to the audience. However, I do like the audio used in the sequence as the sound score causes the audience to be put on edge and creates an eerie atmosphere.

Sweeney Todd – Textual Analysis

Immediately an eerie atmosphere is created due to the thunder, lightning and rain as well as dark lighting and the colours used. This also portrays the crime thriller genre immediately which is rated 18.

The titles are in lower case and white which makes them stand out from the dark background. However, the name of the film ‘Sweeney Todd’ is all in capitals and red which highlights its importance and grabs the audience’s attention. Moreover, because ‘Sweeney Todd’ is the name of the character in this film it suggests that he is evil and dangerous as the colour red can be seen as a warning. The title has a little tag line underneath is which reads “the demon barber of fleet street” reinforcing his callous personality.

Later on in the sequence,  fire is shown which can be symbolic of hell and be associated with “demons” reinforcing the previous tag line. The sequence throughout has very few cuts and very long shot durations which slows down the pace of the whole thing. The camera zooms in and out a lot to increase the duration of the shots (e.g. through the window). However, once the main title is shown the music speeds up immensely and makes it more dramatic and thrilling for the audience. There is a high-pitched sound effect towards the end which puts the audience on edge.

There is a diegetic hydraulic sound of the mechanics shown on-screen as blood pours through them which the camera tracks throughout the sequence. Eventually it is revealed that there is a whole – what seems to be – stream of blood which is shown through tilting and CU’s. This conveys that there could be mass murder and violence due to ‘Sweeney Todd’ who isn’t shown in the title sequence, which is typical of the thriller genre.

Summary:

This sequence is very creepy and mysterious and has a constant flow throughout as it tracks the blood which I like.

Now You See Me – Film Review

“The more you look, the less you see” – Now You See Me

‘Now you see me’ is a crime thriller released in 2013 and has an IMDB rating of 7.3 out of 10. It stars Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco as well as Morgan Freeman.

The director was Louis Leterrier who also directed the ‘Incredible Hulk’.

‘Now You See Me’ is about 4 magicians who manage to pull off a bank heist during their performances and give it to their audiences without leaving a trace, causing a FBI agent and a Interpol detective teaming up, trying to stop them.

This film is impossible to look away from as it has many amazing scenes, whether action scenes or their magic shows, and has many plot twists which no one could predict. There is CGI which makes it look realistic to the audience. It had a massive $75,000,000 estimated budget and made $117,698,894 in the USA by September 20th 2013.

My favourite scenes from the film:

The characters themselves ‘The four horsemen’ are all funny and entertaining and all have a very unique and strange – but close – relationship to each other. Therefore, I believe that each actor casted are very well suited for the role and overall make the film better.

The film drew me in immediately and kept me there throughout right until the very ending, which makes a brilliant film. It is also very unique and a once in a lifetime film.

I would definitely recommend this film to other people as it is thrilling and has many unpredictable plot twists (which I love in a film) as well as intense action scenes. Therefore, I believe that it appeals to different types of people and different genre.

There is also a sequel film due to this film being so successful.

I would rate this film 5/5 stars.

Jaws – Film Review

Jaws is an iconic thriller film released in 1975. It has a IMDB rating of 8 out of 10. Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw starred in this film however, they weren’t very well-known. It was the director, Steven Spielberg who is one of the greatest directors of all time and won many awards.

This film was very popular when it was released 42 years ago and is still is popular today and will continue to be for a very long time.

‘Jaws’ is about a great white shark which kills innocent people of Amity Island. This causes a chief of police, a marine biologist and a fisherman to team up together in order to save their community from what lurks beneath the water.

This film has suspense, action, comedy and much more which guarantees the audience’s attention and results in a large target audience. The theme tune to ‘Jaws’ has become famous world-wide, even people who haven’t seen the film know the tune. The theme tune is down below:

This is my favourite scene from the film as it is suspenseful, dramatic and keeps your eyes glued to the screen throughout:

The characters are very well casted by the producer, especially for the sailer character, Craig who was played by Ben Gardner as his character is unique, sarcastic and funny and is my favourite character.

The ending is excellent, however, I think that the shark shouldn’t have been shown as they kept the shark hidden throughout the film (by only showing its fin) which would’ve kept the tension and drama, therefore, it didn’t even need to be shown. Also, the shark itself didn’t look life-like and effected the realism of the film for the audience. This is the main critic that people have about the film.

If you haven’t seen ‘Jaws’ then I only have one question: What are you doing with your life? It is an amazing classic film which keeps the audience hooked throughout… and afraid to go swimming for a while. This film will remain very popular for years to come and will be seen as one of Steven Spielberg’s greatest films.

I would rate this film 5/5 stars as it is unique and I couldn’t look away.

Lucy – Film Review

‘Lucy’ is a 15 rated sci-fi, action thriller film released in 2014. It has an IMDB rating of 6.4 out of 10. Scarlett Johansson stars as the main character Lucy (who would have guessed). She is a popular actor who has been in many films but is most famous for being in the Marvel film ‘The Avengers’. Morgan Freeman is also in this film and he is very famous and has won many awards and honors. The popularity of the actors may contribute to the amount of people who watch the film as they like the actors.

The director was Luc Bensson who has also directed the sequel to ‘Taken’.

‘Lucy’ is about a woman who gets wrapped up and forced into a dodgy deal which therefore ends in her being kidnapped and with a bag full of a very dangerous drug in her stomach. This bag rips and causes her to mutate and use up to 100% of her brain capacity whilst humans only use 10% of it. She is running away from the people who kidnapped her, trying to figure out whats happening to her and also seeking help from a Professor (Morgan Freeman).

This film has intense action scenes as well as suspense and mystery which draws the audience in straight away and keeps them there throughout. The amazing CGI makes it seem more realistic to the audience as well as the mise-en-scene they used such as special effects make up and props. The sound score keeps the audience intrigued, for example in the chase scene the music is fast paced (along with straight cuts and jump cuts) which makes it more exciting for the audience. This is the scene which shows CGI, mystery, the mise-en-scene and has the music:

Lucy, played by Scarlett Johansson, is a very strange, creepy character and definitely needed a great actor to play her as it is a very hard role to perform. However, Johansson without a doubt managed to pull it off and this resulted in making the film much more intriguing.

The ending itself was a little disappointing for me as I expected it to be more dramatic but instead she just disappeared and left one message “I am everywhere”. Which is also very confusing. However, when she goes back in time it has amazing CGI effects and is really interesting to watch.

I would rate this film 2.5/5 stars as even though it’s a good movie with great CGI, it isn’t one that I would watch again as it isn’t the sub-genre (sci-fi thriller) that I enjoy. I would only recommend this film if you like the sci-fi genre.

Insidious – Film Review

‘Insidious’ is a 15 rated horror/thriller film released in 2010. It has a IMDB rating of 6.8 out of 10. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne star as the parents in this film.

It was directed by James Wan who is one of my favourite actors who directed other famous films such as ‘Saw’, ‘Fast and Furious 7’ and ‘The Conjuring 2’. As this movie was popular he went on to direct 2 movie films after this.

‘Insidious’ is about a desperate family whose son is in a coma for no medical reason, then they find out that in order to get him back they have to save him from evil spirits from a different realm called the “further”.

This film has many jump scares and suspenseful moments in which is why I like it so much. This keeps the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the film and has them asking questions. It has the chilling idea that an evil spirit could be right next to you in your very room right now and you have no idea. This is what adds to the psychological thrill of the film and is why it is so memorable. This is shown in the following clip as this woman has the gift to see the demons whilst everyone else has no idea that it is there:

This is my favourite scene from the film and it has a very creepy non-diegetic sound score which adds to the suspense:

I believe that the actors casted for this role were definitely good for the roles, especially the parents of the child: Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne. The mother is a very emotional and distressed which added to the seriousness of the situation.

The ending itself is amazing as it leaves it on a dramatic cliff hanger which makes me very eager to watch the next film. So if you watch this film, be warned, you will get hooked and you will want to watch the next.

I would rate this film 4/5 stars as it is memorable and chilling throughout with an amazing dramatic cliff hanger at the end. I would recommend this film due to its jump scares and the plot itself.