Case Study

The Hunger Games Mockingjay-Part 1

Director: Francis Laurance
Writers: peter Craig (screen play), Danny Long (screen play), Suzane Collins (novel)
Stars: Jennifer Laurance, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth
Budget: $250,000,000 (to share with part 2)
Time: 123 minuets
Sound mix: Datasat, Dolby atmos, Auro 11.11
Rated: PG-13
Profit $123,000,000 (USA) (21 November 2014)

Francis Laurance
Films Directed: The Hunger Games Trilogy, I am Legend, Water Elephants and Consutation

Reflective Analysis On My Film

Reflective Analysis On My Film

My intention was to create a short horror/thriller clip of a film about 3 to 4 minutes long. I wanted to make the audience feel scared after they have watched the film.

My target audience is 14-20 year olds. I would certify my film at a 12A because I feel that it would scare young children without the parents because of the horrific nature of the film. I would not certify the film as a 15 because it is not that horrific like the horror films 'Saw' and those kinds of films because it does not show any violence within the film it is just your inference, but the film is quite horrific with the storyline.

The conventions of the horror that I included into my film clip is the tense music that is a convention of a horror film because they overly use the music to build up the tension of the action that is about to happen.

The Two Scenes That I Will Be Analysing

The Shining Analysis

This is the first time where we see a different side to Jack but we did get a hint that he had a different side to him as before when Danny goes into the room Jack hugs him and looks in the mirror showing that there is a different side to Jack as the camera focuses into Jack in the mirror.

This is also one of the first time that we see Jack wearing red which connotes that something is going to happen to Jack for the first time, as the colour red is a connotation  of the horror as it connotes danger or death. Before this scene both Danny and Wendy have worn red but this is the only time where we see him with some red on.

Even though there is quite a psychological horror point in the gold room we do see a lot of crosses in the window showing that it is not all bad and there is some good in the room. This also defines the evil within jack, as we see the red that he is wearing and his abnormal domineer and how he is acting, as this is the first time we see him a different light as we first thought that he was quite a normal person with the way he acts and the way he is dressed.

This scene also shows what this place has done to Jack, as just before this scene we see Jack enter the room isolated with no one in the room apart form him, and we then see him talk to someone that is in his head, like he is a regular person at this bar. The bar tender is also wearing red in this scene showing that he is also evil as the colour red connotes evil or danger just like Jack.

In this scene we see a lot of mirrors showing that this is the other side of Jack, as at first we see Jack talking to the mirrors showing the audience that he is talking to himself be we see the part in his head and that the bar tender if the evil part of Jack as Jack is talking to himself but he is talking the bar tender. This is also seen in the scene where Jack is hugging Danny in the bed room and we see jack looking in the mirror and the camera focuses on the mirror and the other side if Jack not the side that we have just been seeing.

When Wendy arrives into the scene we see Jack revert back to himself, showing that Wendy is a good person as she is wearing any white and light colours and she is not wearing any red showing that she is not in any danger. The scene before this one Danny is wearing red just like Jack and he was in danger which is now happening to Jack as he is now wearing red showing that he is now the one in danger now instead of Danny or Wendy and that it is now his turn to be possessed by the hotel.

The next scene that I will be analysing is the type writer scene. In this scene we see Wendy alone in the main hall all by herself. She is not wearing red so we know that nothing will happen to her as though out the  film the people that get attacked are the ones who are  wearing red, for example when Danny goes into room 237 and gets attacked, he is wearing red at that point and when he is riding his red trike around the halls he then sees the two twins that were murdered at the hotel. We also hear an echo form her voice which is a convention of a horror film as it shows that she is isolated. There is also an echo in the room which is also a convention of the horror genre as this also creates the sense that she is isolated and we can hear the echo form the type writer.

Before Jack comes in we see a close up on a cross on the door which they do repetitively though out the whole film, repetition is also convention of a horror film this also happens in other films like Paranormal Activity and the Purge. Just before Jack enters the room we have non-digetic sound that builds up the tention, they also do this repetitively thought out the film. When Jack comes in to the room the non-digetic sound gets louder and louder. We then have a shot reverse shot before Wendy sees Jack when wendy sees what Jack has written. This a turning point for the film as the family now know what we the audience know that Jack has gone mental. When Wendy sees Jack the non-dietic sound dies down because they starts to talk but it picks backup when Jack gets creepy. This has the audience on the edge because they don't know what is going to happen and they are quite nervouse. At this point we have a low angle shot of Jack showing him as the more dominant character at this point whilst when we get a shot of Wendy we have a high angle shot showing her as the least dominant person at this point.

When we get to the stairs we this all changes as we have a low angle shot of Wendy meaning that she is the person who is dominant whilst when we see Jack he has a high angle shot showing that he is not dominant anymore. This also shows what is coming up next as Wendy then hits jack with the baseball bat that she was holding the whole way through this scene. This part of the scene is the turning point of the film as Wendy and Danny are the dominant characters now in the film. We see Jack in this scene wearing the colours of the American flag showing that he is wearing clothes that show what America was like at that time, Wendy is wearing clothes that look like they are from the American Indian times showing that the hotel is on an American Indian burial ground or that she is showing the past of America, whilst Danny though out the film is wearing clothes that show the future of America with Disney and Space.

Columbiana Group Task 

The piece of the clip of Columbiana we chose to analyse starts with a close up on the electricity room door which straight away indicates something significant is going to happen within this room. All of the shots in the electricity room are very short which emphasises the quick pace she is working at in order to complete her plan without getting caught by the guard/police officer.

The plastic cup that she filled with water becomes an essential part of her plan from the moment she steps into the electricity room, the close up on the cup as she places it into the control cupboard builds on the significance of it, because water and electricity is known not to have a good outcome when in contact with each other. Then a close up is used when she balances the spoon that will catch the water that falls from the hole in the cup that she bit in, the water spills out onto the spoon which then causes the spoon to wobble due to the added weight which becomes too much for it to stay stable while being balanced in the electricity cupboard, which then results in the spoon falling and spilling the water onto the electric controls causing it to cut out.


The break in the electricity controls stops the fan in the ventilation system which was her end goal in this scheme as she can now sneak through the fan into the air vents allowing her to crawl through to where she needs to be; parallel editing is used at this point to show an officer in the security room with all he CCTV and her in the electricity room at the same time, this adds to the suspense of knowing if she'll make through the fan before the officer sorts it back out, the cuts between her and the officer become quicker allowing the audience to feel the time she has to make it through without getting caught by the fan.

Throughout there is low key lighting as it is set in a prison so the lighting contributes to the dark edgy feel of the prison that is just an innate feeling to all of those in the audience; the lighting gives the idea that her scheme is not one to help or will benefit anyone and only has a negative consequence as low key lighting is dark and shadow-like this scheme will only bring a dark ending.

Film Clip Analysis Task

I am doing my film analysis on the main fight scene in Hot Fuzz. In this extract we have mid shots on all of the main characters who are in the scene, including the PC Danny Butterman who is one of the police man. All of these then have a close up on their faces to show us a detailed picture of their faces, so we know who is exactly in the scene. It also shows their expression on their faces, they seemed shocked to see someone. We then have an establishing shot to show the main character Nicholas Angel, who is a police officer. He comes in on a white hours heavily armed unlike all of the other characters at the start of the scene.

We then have a mid shot of Nicholas Angel so we know who everyone is shocked about seeing. We then get a close up on an old person who takes out a shot gun and starts shooting Nicholas Angel, this is when the non-digetic sound starts emphasising the start of the fight scene. There is an establishing shot so we see where the Protagonist Nicholas Angel is hiding to protect himself. After that we have a close up on everyone who is involved in this fight scene and where they get their weapons from and what weapon it is. We get an extreme close up on the first man pulling the trigger starting the fight . Then we get another extreme close up on where our protagonist is about to shoot to take out one of the antagonists, there is then a long shot where we see the shot and we see the antagonist taken out.

There is an establishing shot where we see where the next antagonist is. This then becomes a mid shot where we see the antagonist breaking a window with a weapon, who then starts shooting at the protagonist. We then have a shot reverse shot with the antagonist and the protagonist where we see the protagonist whistle and tell some teenagers to take out the antagonist in the window.

There is an close up on another antagonist who is on a bike with two pistols out heading towards the protagonist. There is then a close up on PCF Danny Butterman which then zooms out into a long shot where we see the antagonist on the bike heading towards the protagonist and Danny then opens the door on to her and takes her out. We then get an establishing shot where Nicholas Angel throws Danny Butterman a shot gun, we then get a close up on Danny catching the shot gun, which implies that then are now allies in the fight.

 The editing throughout this scene is fast paced which makes the fight scene more interesting and better for the audience as it feels real. The non-digetic sound makes the scene seem faced paced, because the music is fast paced and builds up the tension. There is also digetic sound with the gun shots and the breaking of the class, which adds a sense of realism for the audience as they can hear everything that is going on in the scene even though it is far away from where the camera is. All if these things makes the audience feel like they are part on the fight scene and we are with the protagonist helping him fight the antagonists.

Induction Task

The Fault in Our Stars

There are many reasons why The Fault in Our Stars has become a box office success is due to many reasons, one of those reasons is that the storyline touches the hearts of many people with its storyline of two teenagers who have terminal cancer. This touches the hearts of people because they know that characters life’s are going to end abruptly because of there illness and due to the teenagers romance that gets cut short because of their illness.

Another reason why The Fault in Our Stars became a box office success is because the film was made from a book so already had an audience that was captured by the book, and who will want to go and see the film; to see if the film lives up to the book, or to see the book come to life inn a movie, so that they could picture the book that they have read. A third reason why the fault in our stars became a box office success is because that it had some famous actors and actresses from other films that will attract their fan base to come and see the film to see that specific person in that film to see how they act in other films, and to see if they took they role as well as they thought that the actor/actress would.

Another reason why The Fault in Our Stars has become a box office  success is because the film is so different to any other film at the time it was released and to any other film because of its unique story line. This would attract people to see the movie because it is an unusual film because of the storyline and because of the actors in it because they are quite young actors and they are not as well known as many other actors so will make people go and see it to see if there acting is good so they can remember them and look out for them in an up and coming film.

One other reason why The Fault in Our Stars has become a box office success is because it was a big budget blockbuster film due to the time it was released (during the summer holidays) as the company will have a lot of faith in that movie, as it is there biggest movie of the summer, so they aim to make the most amount of money of this film because if the target audience it is aimed for who are on summer holiday so will have a lot of time to go and see this movie. Due to the company putting this movie as their blockbuster the critics will look out for this movie and critic it. So the company will want the critic to be good, as they will get more people to go and see the movie, so will make sure that the movie will be good.

The last reason why The Fault in Our Stars has become a box office success is because of the up and coming director who’s this movie was his second. Due to this being his second movie he will want to make the movie one to watch so that he will want to direct more. Another reason why a new director will make the movie a box office success is because the critics will be looking on how good the film is and to keep an eye on him with any up and coming films that he has directed.

Lucy

My favorite film over the summer was Lucy.  Personally I like action and adventure film, which Lucy is, because I like to get into the film and feel like I am with them throughout the film from start to finish.

At points the film was quite strange because of the very boring story line and at the abrupt ending of the film, which I think wrecked the feel of the film throughout. I did like the cuts to CGI when the drug was being passed round her body and when the men are attached to the celling during the film when she has managed to obtain more than ten percent of her brain unlike any normal human being.

I dint like the gory parts when she reaches into her own are to take the bullet out, because she did not react at all and because I don’t real like gory parts of films. There are gory moments throughout the film, when she reaches into a dead man to get the illegal drug inside him to keep her self-alive. I did like the editing though by the director because they were very clean, and at most points throughout the film unseen, like a shot reverse shot from different countries, using gadgets and when Lucy shows what she can do when she calls the telephone with her mind and when she controls people with them having nothing to do with it.

I liked the realism of the film, how it explains that with evolution this could happen or with this drug that is created during pregnancy, which give the audience an understanding that this could actually happed if what in the film was true.

Overall I did like the film because of the action in it and the amazing editing done by the director, plus the realism of the film that this could actually happed and that it is not all science fiction, that it is the truth if we had everything that the film had.