BBFC Ratings

After reviewing the BBFC site, we have decided to certify our movie as a 15 and over. this means that no minor younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work. We have chosen this rating as the movie contains violence and other unnacceptable behaviour which could be a bad influence on children as they may become a subject to violence and want to practice what they have witnessed on the screen. In contrast to those teenagers who are much more mature and they know clearly not to become a subject to any type of violence as they are clear of the consequences. Some scenes also contain the use of a daily used object being used as a weapon, this may give the younger children an irrational fear of that specific object.

The movie also may not be suitable for those who suffer from epilepsy as the movie consists of continuous flashes when the crosscutting of scenes occur.

Production and Distribution Companies

A production company is directly responsible for fundraising for a production or may complete this through parent companies, partners, or private investors. They handle budgeting, scheduling, scripting, the supply of talent and resources, organize staff, the production itself, post-production, distribution, and marketing. Production companies are often either owned or under contract with a film studio or entertainment company, that act as the production companies parent company, this has become known as the "studio system". Production companies can also work together in co-productions to produce a film.

Pinewood Studios

is a major British film studio, heavily involved with the production of many of the action-thriller James Bond films. They have also helped produce and distribute thriller The Da Vinci Code. The Bourne Ultimatum, a film very similar in narrative to our own, was also produced by Pinewood Studios.

Momentum Pictures

is also known as Alliance Films Uk, is one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland, releasing approximately twenty theatrical films every year. They are also owned by Paramount Pictures. Momentum's most successful cinematic thriller releases include Law Abiding Citizen, Limitless and Red Hill.

Credits/Title Analysis

The font used for a films title and subsequent credits is important as it should blend seamlessly with the theme, genre and narrative of the film. To create our own font we looked to similar media products to draw inspiration and recreate something special.

Each sin is represented by a font expressing that particular word.

The font motion is blurred and has shadows, this adds to the mystery

The strong and bold font express the films strong narrative and characters.

Emptiness inside

Hitman Film Opening Analysis

This film opening begins with short shots showing a young male getting a tattoo of a barcode on the back of his shaved head. This then follows with shots containing different stages of some kind of training facility for children. It is all in black and white and has a dream like effect, hinting that it is possibly a flashback of someone’s or even just a way of showing the past or historical piece of narrative to start the film. The film title appears and you can clearly see the guns within the title, iconography suggests that this film has murder and action in it. There is no diagetic sound, however over this sequence there is the non-diagetic music of Ave Maria, a catholic prayer, which contradicts the visuals the viewer is seeing of children being put through unethical situations. This helps to creates interest in the film, the enigma code of where are these children and why are they doing these things is present.
To help emphasize that these are memories the shots a transitioned with the heavy use of fading, shots often fading seamlessly in and out of focus. This may show that the memories are weak and not all aspects are remembered, except for the most severe parts. There is one section where it appears that two of the children are trying to escape, the presence of barbed wire and fencing add to the mise-en-scene, it portrays that the children do not want to be there. A unknown character then shoots them for trying to escape, however all we see of this person is their eye, signifying how these characters are always being watched over.
With everything being in black and white and all the characters having no hair shows that they are in a very strict setting, where they must conform. What looks like the older characters, who are telling the children what to do, are faceless, and so this conveys that the whole organization is undercover and that those responsible are not to be seen. The introduction of guns shows that this film has violence in it and raises many questions about the narrative, the presence of only males within the film opening will also help identify genre and that this is a male oriented film.

Soundtrack Analysis

In order to create a suspenseful thriller opening it is vital for us to have a soundtrack which echoes the genre of the film and mirrors the actions which are occurring on screen at the same time. This helps to support and emphasize the images being shown and add drama, helping to build tension and indicate action.

Similar films to ours would those from the Bourne Trilogy, which is about a man on the run who is confused about his past and abilities because he is suffering from amnesia. The film has many action scenes and a soundtrack to match is excellence. The music really helps to build the drama and suspense in sections leading up to an action scene. The music is very simple and fast paced, very monotonous at the start, however the drum beats builds as something important occurs on screen, this helps to emphasize its significance. 

In these scenes we are  able to see the matching visuals and the accompanying audio. As the music slowly builds it suddenly drops at a tense moment, it then continues, with each drum beat getting significantly more forceful and slightly louder. The presence of sirens override the music at points alerting the audience to the immediate danger. However the beat continues in the background ascending with each extreme attempt to escape.

Thriller Conventions

The narrative centers around a crime e.g. a theft or a murder

This is a feature of many thrillers, an example of this would be "Law Abiding Citizen" where the protagonist is an ordinary man and one day his wife and child are murdered, he then seeks revenge to kill the murderers.

Thriller Sub-Genres

Thriller Sub Genres

Genre - Purpose & Importance

Genre

Genre Film Conventions

Blade Runner

Bourne Identity

Gender Representations in the Thriller Genre - Males

Due to the ability to divert from true to life characters and plots lines, one would expect film to be a great medium to produce and portray diverse gender identities, however quite the opposite occurs and generally gender ideologies of the present time are conveyed in film. 'Masculinity' is a perception of men that is made up of more rigid stereotypes than femininity. Representations of men across all media tend to focus on the following:

Harrison Ford-Blade Runner

-Physical Strength

-Mental Stability

-Power

-Sexual Attractiveness

-Physique

-Independence

Leonardo DiCaprio-Shutter Island

Idris Elba-Obssessed

Male characters are typically represented as independent, not needing to rely on others and being a "lone hero". If they capitulate to being part of a family, this is usually part of the resolution of the narrative as opposed to being an integral part of the initial equilibrium. The male protagonist is usually white, and in his mid thirties, although as the years have gone by, this age has lowered and in modern thrillers the age range is quite varied. There also has been a rise in the afro-caribbean protagonist. They are usually an exaggeration of your average everyday man, with a weakness or "Achilles Heel".

Morgan Freeman-Se7en

Denzel Washington-Training Day

Tom Cruise-Collateral

The male antagonist is also common in film today, much as it always has been. They are also powerful and isolated and independent, however they usually appear to have a more peculiar weakness, which is their downfall. Despite being an isolated persona, they may have a group or gang, the antagonist almost always having henchmen to do his dirty work. These are more burly men with larger physical strength although the main lead villain is always able to fight themselves in the end.

Sean Connery-Thunderball

It is interesting to see how the male physique is becoming a more important factor in representing masculinity. Outward appearance is a higher priority and new and upcoming actors are praised on their defined muscles and clean shaven appearance, whereas maybe forty years ago men where seen as more masculine sporting a more care free, natural and rugged look

Matt Damon-Bourne Identity

Gender Representations in the Thriller Genre - Females

Due to the ability to divert from true to life characters and plots lines, one would expect film to be a great medium to produce and portray diverse gender identities, however quite the opposite occurs and generally gender ideologies of the present time are conveyed in film.


Female Representation
Since its beginnings, American cinema has been torn between portraying the idea of a "New Woman" and the Victorian ideology of "True Womanhood" which appointed women with four virtues; purity, piety, domesticity and submission. Some have felt that this list has dwindled down and that women in films are either "virgins, mothers or whores", however over the years women have represented a variety of roles in thriller films.


Conspiracy thriller "In the Line of fire" contains one prominent female character, Lilly Raines, whose role is merely a "love interest" and her feature in the film is not central to the narrative. In the psychological thriller "The Machinist" the lead female role is that of Stevie, who is a prostitute and has genuine affection for main character and chronic insomniac Trevor Reznik, who finds peace in her company, however he does not reciprocate her feelings and her presence is only to emphasize his isolation. These films, amongst others, convey females as not only sexual objects, but carers too, as they care for the welfare of the male in their life and seek to comfort them, however they are very much extraneous to the central plot and typically used to stretch the story emotionally.

Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Machinist

Marilyn Monroe in Niagara

 The 1953 thriller-film noir "Niagara" introduced Marilyn Monroe as a "trashy femme fatale", who is cheating on her husband whilst on her honeymoon and plots to have him murdered. In the 1992 passionate-thriller "Basic Instinct", Catherine Trammel is the leading character, she is a charming psycho-killer who is openly bisexual and engages in short-lived affairs with people, killing them when she is finished with them. This type of female role conveys women who desire sex, willing to commit adultery and murder, with seductive mannerisms to get what they want.Aside from their immediate association with wanting to kill, they are not looked at as positive models in society due to their explicit sexual desires.

Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct

There is also the leading female protagonist such as the character of Clarice Starling in the 1991 film "The Silence of the Lambs", she is a training FBI agent asked to interview an incarcerated cannibalistic serial killer to help find another killer who is not yet in custody. 2010 bought with it the action thriller "Salt", about Evelyn Salt who is accused of being a Russian sleeper agent and so goes on the run to clear her name. Unlike previous stereotypical female roles, she is not objectified and has the ability to fight and defend herself. However female characters who are uninterested in domesticity, motherhood or tending to a dominant male character are depicted as lacking something or paying a price for their success in the public sector.

Angelina Jolie in Salt

The male gaze
Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' is one of the most influential texts on the role of women in film history, she introduced the concept of the 'male gaze', whereby the audience assumes the role of a heterosexual man and imposes his objectifying gaze upon women. Mulvey asserts; "In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-look-at-ness." Mulvey's theory, inspired by Freud's psychoanalytic theory, is applicable to the classical Hollywood films of that time, as the gender identity ideologies are mirrored in film, she argues "unchallenged, mainstream film coded the erotic into the language of the dominant patriarchal order." Budd Boetticha summarizes the male gaze; "What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance."

A film of particular interest whilst studying gender representation in film would be the female characters in "Kill Bill vol 1". Although the story is prominently set around the narrative of "killing bill", this film focuses heavily on a female protagonist and the female antagonists, something highly unusual for an action-thriller or films in general. The protagonist of the film is 'The Bride' and is assumed by actress Uma Thurman.


The protagonist is seeking revenge on a group of assassins that she was once part of for attempting to kill her and killing her unborn child on her wedding day. She is naturally attractive, owning a athletic and healthy figure which is seen throughout the film in tight clothing, however it should be noted that her character does not wear makeup and her hair is never styled, showing the characters refusal of the male gaze, in no way purposely attempting to appeal to the male characters in the film or the male audience. Despite this, it can be argued that her role in the film is conforming to a feminine mother role, grieving the loss of her child. 

In Kill Bill there are no characters which fall under 'femme fatale' title, instead the female characters regardless of age or ethnicity are dominant and do not desire association with men. There is one scene in the film in which a female character seduces a man, however this is merely to kill him. Go Go Yubari is a teenage girl who seeks male gaze in order to have sadistic revenge men who are flirtatious with her. This portrays her as a no nonsense female who refuses the 'gaze' and those who sexually proposition her.

The leading antagonist is the role of O-Ren Ishii, which is assumed by Lucy Liu, she is female assassin fueled by the anger from witnessing her parents brutal murder under the order of Tokyo Yakuza boss at the tender age of 9, killing him 2 years later. She then herself become the head of the Japanese mafia, dominating all the other males. There is a scene in which she does not take kindly to being referred to as a "bitch" by another member of the Yakuza, and consequently he is beheaded in front of the rest of the mafia. This conveys how the character does not accept her gender as being a weakness or lessening her status or demand for respect.

Thriller Conventions - technical construction of a thriller

The narrative centers around a crime e.g. a theft or a murder. The protagonist is fallible and has an "Achilles Heel" that is exploited by the antagonist. The title of the thriller may relate to this weakness e.g. Vertigo or Insomnia. The protagonist will be seen in peril in one or more scenes before the resolution. The antagonist ensnares the protagonist in an increasingly complex web, until the protagonist feels isolated and helpless. The Bourne Identity. The narrative presents ordinary situations in which extraordinary things happen. Micro-elements combine in a build up of suspense. Themes of identity are common; mistaken identity, doppelgangers, amnesia. Themes of seeing, reflection and mirroring. Manipulation of perspectives and optical illusions are common. The audience of a thriller is placed in the ambiguous position of voyeur. Voyeurism can also be a theme and the objectification of female characters is common, especially in earlier thrillers. A series of/ one important enigma(s) are/is set up in the opening sequence of the film, is further complicated during the first part of the film and only resolved at the very end. Innocent witnesses. Evidence in the wrong hands. Falsely accused. Surveillance. Pursuit.

Conventions of Film Openings

The opening sequence of a film not only serves as an introduction to the film but it is also the director's chance to grab the attention of the audience and a time at which viewers can decide how they feel about the movie.

Capturing your audience

The opening sequence of many mainstream films focus on a number of key factors;

- Set the Scene; so that is is clear to the audience where the plot is taking place, it is also important to include
  when the film is set. The location of the opening sequence also helps to communicate the genre of the film.

Sin City

- Introduction of lead characters, antagonist/protagonist, this is so the audience can gain a sense of the film's typical environment.

Morgan Freeman in the beginning of Se7en ; we are shown his home, clothing, personality and job, giving the audience a sense of familiarity.

-Make the equilibrium obvious and begin to reveal how it will disrupted, this is so that the story can unfold.

8 men sit having a meal in a diner in Reservoir Dogs

-Contain Music which compliments the mood of the film. It can be used to create tension in a drama, or a light-hearted feeling in a comedy. In The Dark Knight, the music matches the on screen action perfectly to build tension and emphasize particular imagery.

Thriller

Mood Board

Importance of Genre

Genre - Typecasting

Genre is the categorization of film, a film fits into a certain genre depending on whether it hits the criteria of said genre. Similarities in films, or conventions, are what forms new genres. Therefore films of the same genre are similar in narrative, style, and contain iconography associated with the genre.

A films genre can be identified quickly if there is a iconic member of the cast who are known for repeatedly working within the same genre of film. This is known as "star association" and is very helpful in the film industry as the mere use of an actor/actress can boost revenue and many fans will go to see the film even if the plot has been done again and again.

An example of this would be actress Jennifer Aniston, she is very well known for her role in "Friends", however once this show finished she moved on to starring in films with a lot of initial success. The film genre linked to her is romantic comedies, and so each film has a predictive plot, yet fans will continue to see her film. That is a positive to being type cast, however negatives include that actors fall into the trap of not being able to leave the genre and explore other areas of work.


As mentioned before, a key part of identifying genre would be seen in the iconography used in the film, these are obvious give-aways to what category the film falls in. For example if we were to look at science-fiction iconography, there would be the expectation of being set in the future, with advanced technology, possible spaceships or aliens, odd landscapes and robots, the plot driven by some advance in science. If we look at some science-fiction films we can see many of this within one film.

Poster Analysis

Film Posters have a clear commercial purpose - to promote a film. When creating a film poster it is important that we consider how well it fulfills its purpose advertising the film to the target audience.

Conventions of a film poster displayed in this example:

Tagline- pulling the audience in. "He was the perfect weapon until he became the target"

Title- "The Bourne Identity"

Credits- Cast, crew, production companies etc.

A main duty of a film poster it to reach out to the correct audience, this is done by clearly establishing what genre the film is. Taking "The Bourne Identity" as an example, we can already tell from the poster that it is a crime thriller due to the presence of a fingerprint, which connotes criminal activity. This is en example of iconography, which is recurring symbolic images that are closely linked to specific genres. 

Due to the main feature of the poster being a male running whilst under the cross hairs of a sniper scope, audiences can also assume that this is a man-on-the-run film. 

We can deduce from the poster that the main character leads a very isolated life as he is surrounded by nothing, in the smaller images we see he is engaged in a fight, which conveys that this is also an action film. The image of him kissing a woman possibly helps reach to a further audience who might interpret a slight romance which may run through the film. This may be to show that this is a "female friendly" film as stereotypically women are more likely to be interested in seeing a film with romance, therefore couples could be a possible audience that they are reaching out to as most of the rest of the iconography denotes that this is a "guys film" with lots of action, combat and weapon use. Or conversely it may just be there to show the presence of a young attractive female actress which will also please the general male audience.

At the top of the poster there is the name of the leading actor Matt Damon who is a very respected and established actor, the presence of his name helps to sell the movie further as many fans of Damon are likely to see this and go to see the film. The film title itself speaks volumes as it coincides with Charles Derry's thriller sub-genre of "the thriller of acquired identity", although not something the average movie-goer would identify, they would still be aware of the type of movie this is. Costume of the lead character is all black, which suggests he is trying to hide, the presence of the gun in his hand supports the other hints of action within the film and perhaps his role as an antagonist. The background has a digital tone to it and so helps to convey that the film is set in the modern day. Overall this film poster is successful in explicitly showing what type of movie it is and drawing a potential audience in.

Levi-Strauss' and Barthes Narrative Devices

Claude Levi-Strauss' built upon philosopher Aristotle's statement that "all drama is conflict" with his Theory of Binary Oppositions. Strauss' said that all stories are accelerated forward by conflict which is caused by opposing characters or events.
 Opposites within a storyline are extremely important in a successful story, as drawing two different worlds or characters together inspires conflict and interesting narrative. Theorist Strauss' was fascinated with a famous Swiss linguist called Ferdinand de Saussure and so went on to develop Saussure's work on the "culturally constructed" meaning of words rather than the meaning ascribed being inherent from within the word. Cultural beliefs or dominant ideologies are built into texts and so the way we understand a word is directly reinforced by the existence of its binary opposite.
Therefore the presence of binary opposition in film is an important one, as the differences within the world of the story collide and create a disturbance for which a solution must be found. It also helps to create and distinguish between character roles, for there cannot be a hero without a villain.


Roland Barthes proposes that there are codes within film which serves to engage audiences.
The Enigma Code generates and controls what information a viewer is aware of within a narrative and holds their interest throughout the film. It introduces problems or puzzles which must be solved as well as mysteries which must be uncovered.
The Action Code refers to events which occur that the viewer immediately can identify as being significant to the development of the narrative. Resolution may be achieved through action also.

Todorov and Propp's Narrative and Character Theories

Tsvetan Todorov presents us with his theory, which is based on his study of folk tales, that implies all mainstream film follows a similar narrative structure to each other. It consists of five stages and is known as Todorov's Theory of Narrative.

Equilibrium-  the introductory setting is established, with key characters appearing and the storyline is set up. This part of the story shows the balance in the lives of the characters before stage two occurs.

Disruption- oppositional characters are introduced and the story takes a particular direction.

Recognition- of the disruption, the characters lives and the events are combined and so we are able to see the effect the events could have on the characters. This is the part where Todorov believes the tensions constantly builds and this section is the longest in the film.

Repair- or attempts to repair the damage from the disruption, the highest point of tension in the film, after which comes a change in dynamic.

New Equilibrium- where everything is restored but adapted to the new dynamic, problems are all solved and loose ends are tied.

Vladimir Propp also proposes a narrative structure which is similar to Todorov's, but slightly more detailed and complex.

Preparation- Introduction to the story

Complication- keys or clues to the direction of the story

Transference- the donor events

Struggle- dealing with the complications

Return- back to "home" however there are still issues remaining

Recognition- Loose ends are tied up

This ties in directly with Propp's Character Theory, which identifies more character roles than the previously obvious protagonist and antagonist. He states the importance of "spheres of action" for each character as opposed to rigid character types, with one character having the ability to assume more than one role. Propp identifies seven main roles:

The villain

The donor- prepares the hero or gives them a magical object

The (magical) helper- helps the hero throughout the quest

The princess- object of the heroes desire, sought for during the narrative

The princess's father- rewards the hero

The dispatcher- character to makes the lack known and sends the hero off

The Hero (victim/seeker)- reacts to the donor, weds the princess, completes the quest

The false hero, usurper or anti-hero

Narrative

Narrative: what happens or what is depicted in the film- actions, characters and events.
Narration: how the narrative is presented to the spectator- controlling how the viewer gains information.

All media texts have a narrative, whether they soap, drama, documentary series, one paragraph newspaper story or a glossy magazine photograph. Here we focus on film narrative.

There is a basic universal structure to mainstream films narrative which is composed of four stages.

Beginning/Exposition- This gives us an introduction to the story and the situation that is present.

Gotham City in Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" is presented as a city that is corrupt and overridden with crime, crooks and drugs. 

Complication- The situation presented is disrupted.

The antagonist, is revealed to be poisoning the water system of the entire city. There are also several other important factors which are threatening the city. 

Climax/Crisis- turning point in the film.

The protagonist, Batman, is seen saving the city by  defeating the antagonists and  stopping any further effects of the villains plans from occurring.

Resolution- after the crisis a new situation is established.

The protagonist is shown to team up with a member of the law force as he is a vigilante. The film ends by showing Batman continuing his fight against evil in Gotham City by going after another villain.

We can apply this structure to almost every film in the cinema today, however as film has evolved over the years it is clear that viewers are after a much more interesting and engaging viewing experience, therefore this structure can be argued to be outdated and too simple.

Therefore many writers use subversion to create a more intricate and compelling narration by having a segment of film which breaks the chronological order of the storyline. Techniques with example include:

-Flashbacks/Analepsis (Bourne Trilogy)

-Flashforward/Prolepsis  (Lost television series)

-Twists

-Parallel Storyline (Pulp Fiction)