Sunday 1 March 2015
February 2015: A Villain's Point of View
Started reading Tom Wood's Better of Dead novel. A gripping experience, the way he switches perspective from hero to villain is a compelling way of creating tension, never leaving a dull moment.
Saturday 31 January 2015
January 2015 Wasn't expecting that!
The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death 03/01/15
By Susan Hill (story), Jon Croker (screenplay) and Tom Harper (directing)
Much scarier than the first one is my verdict. So scary in fact, that the woman sat in front of us had covered her face up with multiple coats by the end of the film. But how did they create such tension, suspense and horror?
Firstly, I liked their quick and easy set-up. The London Underground, and our main character, Eve Parkins evacuates Schoolchildren to Eel Marsh House off the eerie coast of Norfolk. Edward, the mute (and in the context of a horror film, gifted) child character's parents have just been blown up in the bombings, all the information needed, and we also have empathy for one of the main characters. And we also have a reason for why they've gone to stay in such a horrible house - for supposed 'safety...'
Around ten minutes in, and we already have our first jump scare when Eve looks through the window of a deserted building to find the madman Jacob leaping out, warning her about 'her...' This is a sequel, and even if you haven't seen the first, the title is a massive giveaway concerning who 'her' is. Therefore, the whole film in fact is a guessing game as to when and how 'Her' will appear, and Hill and Croker don't fail to keep us guessing. This is the pinnacle of horror; when the audience knows what's there but doesn't know how or when it's going to inflict its terror.
Normally, the formula for your typical jump scare goes as follows;
Walks into scary room... What's behind the curtain? Tension rising towards curtain... AHHH THERES SOMETHING THERE!!!
This film however takes suspense to the next level;
Walks into scary room... What's behind the curtain? Tension rising towards curtain... Opens curtain, there's nothing there, relax... AHHHHHHH WASN'T EXPECTING THAT!!!
It also had other tricks up its sleeve, my favourite being the the girl following the red rope. You know there's something at the end of the rope, you just don't know when its going to end and what happens at the end of it is a complete surprise.
It is this fear of the unknown, of what's not there that gives the Woman in Black its power to play the audience, and sets the bar high for horror in 2015.
Into the Woods 11/01/15
By James Lapine
A really good concept, it may well be the Pulp Fiction of Fairy Tales, but the musical style didn't quite do it for me,
Like Pulp Fiction, Into the Woods takes Archetypal fairytale plots we all know and condenses them into subplots which eventually merge to together into a chaotic climax testing the power of human perseverance. What makes them archetypal and not stereotypical stories is because they represent human needs. They're like heightened, fantastical, psychological outpourings on life; Jack and the beanstalk tells us not to steal, Red Riding Hood tells kids to be wary of peadophiles, Cinderalla tells us to be true to ourselves, whilst Rapunzel tells over-obsessive mothers not to wrap their kids in cotton wool. And that's why Lapine exploits these narratives since they're so instantly identifiable.
The fact that it was a musical, however, was disappointing, as it didn't need this. The film was already stylised enough with its fantastical fairytale plot and setting, it didn't need to be made more ridiculous by singing every single line of dialogue so there weren't even any cohesive songs. When Cinderella randomly stopped time and proceeded to do a five minute solo on the stairs of the castle I started to notice the buttache by cinema seat was giving me. In contrast, during moments of bathos like the Baker's wife's gag as she explains to Cinderella; "My husband? Oh, he's just reversing a spell..." I stopped noticing the pain in my rear.
An exciting idea taking the storylines of popular fantastical, tales into one super archetype, but expressing it through the earthy realism of dialogue instead of singing would've restored the balance of fantasy and realism needed to identify with it... And for it to distract me from chronic cinema seat cramp.
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
"It would be better to gut the dolphin a little later to save the blood in the meat, he thought."
An Old Man tries to catch fish in the Sea. Such a simple premise, but one in which Hemingway's able to create so much tension. This is possibly in his stream of consciousness type style, which you can see above, and sense of anticipation as the reader calculates the uncertainty of the Old Man's future fortune as a fisherman.
A thriller doesn't have to involve gun fights, something a simple a hunting can create just as much, if not more, tension.
By Susan Hill (story), Jon Croker (screenplay) and Tom Harper (directing)
Much scarier than the first one is my verdict. So scary in fact, that the woman sat in front of us had covered her face up with multiple coats by the end of the film. But how did they create such tension, suspense and horror?
Firstly, I liked their quick and easy set-up. The London Underground, and our main character, Eve Parkins evacuates Schoolchildren to Eel Marsh House off the eerie coast of Norfolk. Edward, the mute (and in the context of a horror film, gifted) child character's parents have just been blown up in the bombings, all the information needed, and we also have empathy for one of the main characters. And we also have a reason for why they've gone to stay in such a horrible house - for supposed 'safety...'
Around ten minutes in, and we already have our first jump scare when Eve looks through the window of a deserted building to find the madman Jacob leaping out, warning her about 'her...' This is a sequel, and even if you haven't seen the first, the title is a massive giveaway concerning who 'her' is. Therefore, the whole film in fact is a guessing game as to when and how 'Her' will appear, and Hill and Croker don't fail to keep us guessing. This is the pinnacle of horror; when the audience knows what's there but doesn't know how or when it's going to inflict its terror.
Normally, the formula for your typical jump scare goes as follows;
Walks into scary room... What's behind the curtain? Tension rising towards curtain... AHHH THERES SOMETHING THERE!!!
This film however takes suspense to the next level;
Walks into scary room... What's behind the curtain? Tension rising towards curtain... Opens curtain, there's nothing there, relax... AHHHHHHH WASN'T EXPECTING THAT!!!
It also had other tricks up its sleeve, my favourite being the the girl following the red rope. You know there's something at the end of the rope, you just don't know when its going to end and what happens at the end of it is a complete surprise.
It is this fear of the unknown, of what's not there that gives the Woman in Black its power to play the audience, and sets the bar high for horror in 2015.
Into the Woods 11/01/15
By James Lapine
A really good concept, it may well be the Pulp Fiction of Fairy Tales, but the musical style didn't quite do it for me,
Like Pulp Fiction, Into the Woods takes Archetypal fairytale plots we all know and condenses them into subplots which eventually merge to together into a chaotic climax testing the power of human perseverance. What makes them archetypal and not stereotypical stories is because they represent human needs. They're like heightened, fantastical, psychological outpourings on life; Jack and the beanstalk tells us not to steal, Red Riding Hood tells kids to be wary of peadophiles, Cinderalla tells us to be true to ourselves, whilst Rapunzel tells over-obsessive mothers not to wrap their kids in cotton wool. And that's why Lapine exploits these narratives since they're so instantly identifiable.
The fact that it was a musical, however, was disappointing, as it didn't need this. The film was already stylised enough with its fantastical fairytale plot and setting, it didn't need to be made more ridiculous by singing every single line of dialogue so there weren't even any cohesive songs. When Cinderella randomly stopped time and proceeded to do a five minute solo on the stairs of the castle I started to notice the buttache by cinema seat was giving me. In contrast, during moments of bathos like the Baker's wife's gag as she explains to Cinderella; "My husband? Oh, he's just reversing a spell..." I stopped noticing the pain in my rear.
An exciting idea taking the storylines of popular fantastical, tales into one super archetype, but expressing it through the earthy realism of dialogue instead of singing would've restored the balance of fantasy and realism needed to identify with it... And for it to distract me from chronic cinema seat cramp.
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
"It would be better to gut the dolphin a little later to save the blood in the meat, he thought."
An Old Man tries to catch fish in the Sea. Such a simple premise, but one in which Hemingway's able to create so much tension. This is possibly in his stream of consciousness type style, which you can see above, and sense of anticipation as the reader calculates the uncertainty of the Old Man's future fortune as a fisherman.
A thriller doesn't have to involve gun fights, something a simple a hunting can create just as much, if not more, tension.
Thursday 1 January 2015
December 2014
Dog Food - Short Film By Brian Crano 06/12/14 shortoftheweek.com
A tale with a gruesome twist, Dog Food keeps you guessing throughout about who is Butchering who.
The first scraps of curiosity are thrown in when our protagonist/anti-hero butcher receives the first of many abusive letters in the post. This mystery escalates as he starts getting stalked by a young man and invited to dinner by a young woman, though the tone is contrastingly playful until the inciting incident - when he loses his dog.
When he is invited to dinner and the stalkerish young man is there, the audience suppose they've killed his dog, its only a matter of time; This is dramatic irony milked to its full potential in creating tension for the audience, climaxing at the point when he starts eating a dog's tail.
The ending that is dog is still alive is confusing - we can only suppose the tail came from some other dog they killed, but chilling all the same. Particularly after the flashback of him murdering the young man and woman then feeding what we can only assume are the remains to his fully alive dog. A surprising story that plays on audience expectations, not too dissimilar from Roald Dahl's Lamb to the Slaughter.
James Bond - Skyfall
This was a christmas eve must see on ITV. This time it shows Bond's human side, you can invest emotionally whilst not detracting from all the surprise explosions and highly confidential briefings in the National Gallery.
A tale with a gruesome twist, Dog Food keeps you guessing throughout about who is Butchering who.
The first scraps of curiosity are thrown in when our protagonist/anti-hero butcher receives the first of many abusive letters in the post. This mystery escalates as he starts getting stalked by a young man and invited to dinner by a young woman, though the tone is contrastingly playful until the inciting incident - when he loses his dog.
When he is invited to dinner and the stalkerish young man is there, the audience suppose they've killed his dog, its only a matter of time; This is dramatic irony milked to its full potential in creating tension for the audience, climaxing at the point when he starts eating a dog's tail.
The ending that is dog is still alive is confusing - we can only suppose the tail came from some other dog they killed, but chilling all the same. Particularly after the flashback of him murdering the young man and woman then feeding what we can only assume are the remains to his fully alive dog. A surprising story that plays on audience expectations, not too dissimilar from Roald Dahl's Lamb to the Slaughter.
James Bond - Skyfall
This was a christmas eve must see on ITV. This time it shows Bond's human side, you can invest emotionally whilst not detracting from all the surprise explosions and highly confidential briefings in the National Gallery.
Thursday 18 December 2014
Three Thrilling Gems
Dirty Harry
By Harry
Julian Fink and R.M. Fink
Premise:
Detective
Harry Callahan goes on the hunt for a vicious psychopath.
Production:
Malpaso
Productions
Inspiration:
The film
drew upon the actual case of the Zodiac Killer as the Callahan character seeks
out a similar vicious psychopath.
Inspired by
traditional 50s Cop Dramas. Eastwood takes on Humphrey Bogart’s cool as the
detective. Bogart didn’t even have to point his gun at the criminal to send him
flying, only shot it (Police tactics)
Robert
Armstrong using machine gun to enforce the law
William
Powell lecturing on ballistics
Drew upon
detectives doing things their own, personal way
Themes:
Individual
against Society
You've got
to ask yourself a question: 'do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk? Dirty Harry
provoked a critical uproar in 1971 for its fascist message about the power of
one.
Hero against the Establishment
Good vs Evil
Extremism
Injustice
Corruption
Characters:
Harry Callahan
Scorpio
Chico Gonzalez
Homicide lt.
Al Bressler
The Mayor of
San Francisco
Chief of
Police
Homicide
Inspector Frank ‘Fatso’ DiGiorgio
Jaffe
William T.
Rothko
Bank Robber
Norma
Gonzalez
Marcella
Platt (School Bus Driver)
Hot Mary
Bannerman
Reineke
Reviews/Paratexts:
Examples:
Can’t
Convict scene and Stalking sequence:
Contrast
between formal office dialogue scene, and a tense, creepy visual montage of
Harry chasing the paedophile.
Setting/Visual
Storytelling/ Tone:
-Opening
sequence:
Tells the
story visually
-List of
Police officers who’ve died in action- states the films moral bias for the
audience, foreshadows the risk Harry will be undertaking.
-Woman
swimming in pool whilst sniper is trained on her (Gripping)
-Gripping
location: Panorama perfectly introduces the city of San Francisco, it’s
complex, gridded streets making it difficult to find a killer.
-Dirty
Harry’s character, as he coolly removes his sunglasses and looks at the body
shows ‘it’s just another day on the job.’
-He searches
up the tallest building and locates the sniper’s vantage point. We know his competence
and determination without even any dialogue yet. Traits all shown visually.
-He finds
the sniper’s bullet and a letter with his name ‘Scorpio’ on it. He comment;
‘Jesus’ lends a cool, comic tone to the first line of dialogue. Before
juxtaposing stuffy mayor’s office scene afterwards.
First phone
call with Scorpio:
-Waits by
docks in the dark. Quiet, eery, boats bobbing
-Hears phone
call. He runs over to the booth, looking foolish (being manipulated) running
with his bright yellow bag of cash. Active question; will he make it to the
booth in time. He struggles to take the phone from the booth and says “Yeah.”
There is a tense pause before Scorpio’s reply:
S: You got
the yellow suitcase?
H: Yeah, got
it right with me. Hello?
He loses
connection as his assistant loses connection- Scorpio in complete control of
the situation, establishes threat- he could be anywhere, plot and direction
hangs on his word
S: Alright,
Police Officer. This is how we play…
-Establishes
the rules, like it’s a game. Manipulates Harry like a puppet to flaunt his own
power.
S: You say a
word to anyone, the girl dies.
H: Is she
ok? (showing empathy)
S: Shut up.
Next stop is forest hill station. Cop?
H: Yeah?
S: I hope
you’re not stupid. (The word ‘stupid’ is eerily young and kiddish, as though
the killer adopts the dialect and mannerisms of the children he preys on.)
-The fact
you can’t see him, only hear his voice makes it creepy.
-Harry
Follows Killer:
Unhelpful
authorities, sitting, uncaring in suits.
Paedo walks
past peace graphite in children’s playground and wear peace belt when perving
on kids. Symbol of freedom in this context ‘too much freedom.’
Harry in
sunglasses and trackies.
Scene
juxtaposition children’s playground nursery rhyme music to, raunchy sex band
for the strip club- criminal pervertion across all age demographics
Strip club:
red lighting, begins on naked woman feeling her breasts, rapist beneath, and
Harry watching him at the bar.
Plot/ Active
Questions/ Tension:
Attorney:
“How do you know [he’s going to kill again]?”
Harry:
“Because he likes it.” – Audience mind on the killer, expecting what he’s going
to do next.
Creepy
playground scene as he watches kids.. what’s he going to do? Relief- Harry’s
there to save the day, scares him off.
Strip club-
he’s going to rape someone… but wait, Harry there again, tries to act
inconspicuous.
Settings
designed to increase our hatred for the killer, the fact that he’s frequenting
these places for his own pleasure. But initially hatred for authorities in
dull, boring office room where they sit and simply dismiss cases.
Active
question: When’s Harry going to catch him?
-Bus chase
sequence:
-Harry
latches onto car. Will he fall off?
-The
crashes, Killer gets out.
-Harry and
Scorpio shoot out in building site, dust everywhere. Makes use of setting as
they hide behind machinery and tunnels.
-Boy fishing
in the lake- audience expectation that Scorpio will hold him at ransom.
-Scorpio
holds gun to boy’s head. Harry lowers his gun, audience expecting him to give
in.
-Harry lifts
his gun and uses extraordinary aim to shoot Scorpio.
-Boy runs
off and Harry aims a Scorpio again as he reaches for dropped gun with his
famous line; “Feeling lucky Punk?”
-More
audience anticipation ‘Does he feel lucky?’ Which he does, reaches for gun and
gets blasted into the water. Harry also throws his badge in the water, showing
his disillusionment with the job.
Academic
lecturer- what does he know?
Attorney-
“The girl was dead in the report.”
Smiles smugly; “how do you know?” Frustrated facial expression on Harry.
Helps us understand Harry’s frustration, creates empathy.
Fear of the
paedo, wondering what his next move is going to be, hobbles along on wounded
leg, shows his sick determination, smiling pervertedly at kids.
Harry’s
determination, following him around these different places. Continues to follow
him at the end of each scene, both day and night. Restless, won’t rest until
he’s caught, no matter what the authorities say.
24
Gordon, Surnow, Cochran
Premise:
Agent Jack Baur has to stop a terrorist attack within 24 hours.
Production: Imagine Entertainment
Themes:
Terrorism
Family
Comittments
Risk/Danger
/Impulse
Time/
Deadlines
Characters:
Jack Baur
Dominant
Attitude: ‘Ends Justify the Means’ approach, regardless of perceived morality
of his actions.
Series 5:
Chloe O’Brien
Charles Logan
Vladimir
Bierko
Curtis
Manning
Audrey
Raines
Tony Almeida
Examples:
Series 5:
Jack has the
odds stacked against him- people think he's dead, then blame him and go after
him as he tries to catch Logan for what he’s done. It becomes a race against
time as more and more pressure is piled upon him.
-Jack has to
kill his own, bomb explodes
Luther
By Neil Cross
Premise: A committed detective must prevent himself from being consumed by the darkness of the crimes with which he deals.
Production: BBC Drama Productions
Inspiration:
Inspector Columbo
Sherlock Holmes
Themes:
Mystery
Love
Emotion/Passion/Anger/Frustration
Psychology
Inverted Detective
Characters:
John Luther
Alice Morgan
Justin Ripley
Ian Reed
George Stark
Zoe Luther
Martin Schenk
Benny ‘Deadhead’ Silver
Erin Gray
Mary Day
Rose Teller
Mark North
Caroline Jones
Jenny Jones
Baba
Frank Hodge
Toby Kent
Examples:
Ep.1 Opening scene
Ep.1 John gets mad at Zoe
The first time we see John meet Zoe she tells him about the affair the audience knows about.
-Visual/setting/tone: Red door, (all red metaphors; blood love, etc.) Cosy, wealthy house compared to Luther grubby workplace and grubby job. Candle lit, sheek, ornaments everywhere, warm
Zoe all dressed up and John in his grey work suit (John: (Smiles) Nice dress…) John bashes down the door. Silent, no dialogue as he leaves and shot of Zoe, still in battered room.
-Plot:
Dramatic irony: The audience know about the affair and are wondering how initially happy John is going react- already an unpredictable character in the way he treats his work.
Close proximity, is he going to hurt her?
The aftermath of the door destroying- how is he going to deal with this rejection?
-Character:
Zoe, still uncaring in dress, doesn’t move.
John is moving, frustrated, nervous, trying the comprehend the uncomprehensive nature of love (human emotion, we’ve all been there) “Sorry? (Silence) What…. What do you mean you… met someone… who?” Stunted dialogue “What do you mean…. Sorry… when?” and all these unclear, unhelpful responses: “A long time ago” Sympathy totally in Luther’s court.
The use of pinter pauses and silence, drags out the tension for the audience… only a matter of time before he flips at the news.
He grabs the candle ornament, clutching at object like evidence, before roaring and making his explosive swing at the door. John’s explosive temper.
Simple closing, emotional dialogue: “Go home John.” “This is my home.” “No.”
Theme: Uncomprehensive Unfaithfulness, the cold, harsh truth of love
Alice and Luther - Do you Believe in Evil?
Luther: Seems kind of pitiless to shoot the dog in the first place.
Alice: (Sighing) You look exhausted…
-Like a housewife would say to her husband or close lover, and yet in the twisted context of a relationship built upon a murder investigation and characters with two polar opposing morals.
Luther: You don’t know what love is, Alice.
Luther: I’m going to get you, Alice.
Alice: Not if I get you first…
Luther’s outrageous DNA gathering technique:
Punches the killer to get his blood in plastic glove
Memorable wearing woolly hat and sunglasses, no dialogue
(Visually cool, one of those scenes that sticks in your head as the character goes rogue and takes RISKS)
Evil Ian Reed Episode
DCI Reed confesses to Luther
Luther, held at gun point, has to control his emotions.
Episode One:
Begins with action, Luther trying to get the truth from a criminal about to fall to his death whilst the police try to save the life of a girl. Neil Cross knows how to start with a good opening.
Then comes the meeting between Luther and his new companion, Reed which was totally belieavable in its awkwardness; "alright?" This is a writer who knows the nature of speech and conversation.
And of course Luther's character, detective genius and nagging dissatisfaction with the given evidence, always looking for new, exciting angles that get the audience hooked. His failing love life for one thing, but also his suspicion of Alice killing her parents is evident from his first meeting with her.
Quarter of an hour into the first episode, and we feel like we know this character better than any other we've seen on TV. Brilliant.
Something I've noticed about Cross' writing style is that he's very good at considering all the characters motivations- acknowledge that all the characters, as living creatures will always be wanting something at every moment in the narrative. He then uses the most interesting and useful character motivations to progress the story in a fresh, new direction.
Begins with action, Luther trying to get the truth from a criminal about to fall to his death whilst the police try to save the life of a girl. Neil Cross knows how to start with a good opening.
Then comes the meeting between Luther and his new companion, Reed which was totally belieavable in its awkwardness; "alright?" This is a writer who knows the nature of speech and conversation.
And of course Luther's character, detective genius and nagging dissatisfaction with the given evidence, always looking for new, exciting angles that get the audience hooked. His failing love life for one thing, but also his suspicion of Alice killing her parents is evident from his first meeting with her.
Quarter of an hour into the first episode, and we feel like we know this character better than any other we've seen on TV. Brilliant.
Something I've noticed about Cross' writing style is that he's very good at considering all the characters motivations- acknowledge that all the characters, as living creatures will always be wanting something at every moment in the narrative. He then uses the most interesting and useful character motivations to progress the story in a fresh, new direction.
The tension of the series soars and at no moment has a hint of dying out as the two stories; Luther's Love life and Luther's Investigations interweave and wrestle for domination.
Bad films you're supposed to Love
Casino
Scorcese again under the impression that a film is better the longer it is. Sit back and enjoy 3 hours of talking, looking, subtle brooding and talking to fat men in suits through car windows as they take a drag. Featuring about 1000 characters, this film will make you wonder why there isn't more focus on the completely dysfunctional central relationship, where the woman tells Robert de Niro she has no feelings for him but marries him anyway, before cheating on him with a much less attractive, chubbier guy. Instead, we have hours of shooting, arguing about money, and random racial torturing of an Irish American- Seriously, they mashed that guys head in with a vice for seemingly no reason.
Moonrise Kingdom
Pretentious, Arrogant
Formal, clinical family engrossed in their own activities, including girl looking into the outside world with binoculars.
When Sam Shakusky "flees the coop" as the scout master puts it, the audience are immediatley interested in where he might be and his evidently rebellious character. Foster Father; "He can't come back, it's just not fair on the others. He's emotionally disturbed."
Kid with patch nick named Lazy Eye.
Girl with binoculars all silent observation.
Lack of interesting camera angles (most people/objects centre-camera), and clean, uniform costumes I find irritating as they are totally unnatural and boring.
Anchorman
Arrogant, Macho, Cocky
2012
Capitalist, Unbelievable, Boring
Don't Look Now
Times: "One of the best horror films of all time..."
Really? Well if it was then what made it so terrifying was how poorly produced it was. Nothing contributed to the story, which was mostly dialogue-led anyway. How are we supposed to sympathize with these rich ponces who go to Venice and see the ghost of their dead daughter there. Why didn't they see the ghost of their dead daughter back in England rather than these constant, random location changes back and forth?
It was adapted from a Daphne Du Maurier novel- if I were her, I wouldn't be pleased with what had been done to the story.
Scorcese again under the impression that a film is better the longer it is. Sit back and enjoy 3 hours of talking, looking, subtle brooding and talking to fat men in suits through car windows as they take a drag. Featuring about 1000 characters, this film will make you wonder why there isn't more focus on the completely dysfunctional central relationship, where the woman tells Robert de Niro she has no feelings for him but marries him anyway, before cheating on him with a much less attractive, chubbier guy. Instead, we have hours of shooting, arguing about money, and random racial torturing of an Irish American- Seriously, they mashed that guys head in with a vice for seemingly no reason.
Moonrise Kingdom
Pretentious, Arrogant
Formal, clinical family engrossed in their own activities, including girl looking into the outside world with binoculars.
When Sam Shakusky "flees the coop" as the scout master puts it, the audience are immediatley interested in where he might be and his evidently rebellious character. Foster Father; "He can't come back, it's just not fair on the others. He's emotionally disturbed."
Kid with patch nick named Lazy Eye.
Girl with binoculars all silent observation.
Lack of interesting camera angles (most people/objects centre-camera), and clean, uniform costumes I find irritating as they are totally unnatural and boring.
The dialogue is always too direct and therefore nothing like the way people actually speak.
Anchorman
Arrogant, Macho, Cocky
I decided to watch this so called 'legendary' film to help make my mind up about seeing the second. I'm now not so convinced.
The story of how Ron Burgandy compromises his male-dominated career for love and letting the woman he is infatuated with, Veronica become his co-anchor appears at first to give the film a modern, feminist outlook. But in fact the core of the films humour, if it actually has any, aims to please an arrogant, masochistic view of the world: To begin with, the atmosphere of the News Room and Ron Burgandy's wealthy establishment in San Diego complements a conveniently middle/upper class atmosphere, where the highly stylised, idealised characters with a pathetic amount of depth live a very safe existence that simply wouldn't be the case for News Readers in real life. This lack of character depth relies therefore on random, slapstick gags that might appear mildly comic to a five year old, such as Weatherman Brick Tamland's pointless add-ons about how he 'loves the carpet and desk,' or field reporter and assistant Brian Fantana and Garth Holiday trying to distract Veronica during her first time on air by pulling faces. Ironically enough, the core of Anchorman's humour derives from seedy male sexual gags that could only ever appeal to masochistic capitalists harking back to a 'lost' age of boardy humour. Take the News Director's joke with his associates about watching porn, or Ron Burgandy's dream vision of returning home to Veronica as the naked housewife in an apron. No wonder the Rugby players at my old private school used to bang on about it so much...
As a matter of fact I actually enjoy Will Ferrell in most of his roles in Talladega Nights, Elf and Blades of Glory. The only moment I laughed in this film was when Ron was ushered on stage to perform his flute and he casually mentioned; "I'm not prepared for this..." as he slipped a flute out of his pocket. What I find amazing, however, is how Seth Rogan and Ben Stiller, two very funny actors, played two painfully minor characters. Meanwhile, the main characters of Brian Fontana and Garth Holiday were played by Chris Parnell and Paul Rudd, whose performances weren't funny in the least.
There were one or two mildly humorous moments, yes. You'd expect that from apparently one of the 'best films of all time.' But it seems to me that a group of wealthy people came together to create cheap humour that would create a fast buck on the big screen, and I wouldn't hazard a guess the sequel will try and do the same.
2012
Capitalist, Unbelievable, Boring
Don't Look Now
Times: "One of the best horror films of all time..."
Really? Well if it was then what made it so terrifying was how poorly produced it was. Nothing contributed to the story, which was mostly dialogue-led anyway. How are we supposed to sympathize with these rich ponces who go to Venice and see the ghost of their dead daughter there. Why didn't they see the ghost of their dead daughter back in England rather than these constant, random location changes back and forth?
It was adapted from a Daphne Du Maurier novel- if I were her, I wouldn't be pleased with what had been done to the story.
Thrilling Inspirations
Dirty Harry
By Harry Julian Fink and R.M. Fink
Premise:
Detective Harry Callahan goes on the hunt for a vicious psychopath.
Production:
Malpaso Productions
Inspiration:
The film drew upon the actual case of the Zodiac Killer as the Callahan character seeks out a similar vicious psychopath.
Inspired by traditional 50s Cop Dramas. Eastwood takes on Humphrey Bogart’s cool as the detective. Bogart didn’t even have to point his gun at the criminal to send him flying, only shot it (Police tactics)
Robert Armstrong using machine gun to enforce the law
William Powell lecturing on ballistics
Drew upon detectives doing things their own, personal way
Themes:
Individual against Society
You've got to ask yourself a question: 'do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk? Dirty Harry provoked a critical uproar in 1971 for its fascist message about the power of one.
Hero against the Establishment
Good vs Evil
Extremism
Injustice
Corruption
Characters:
Harry Callahan
Scorpio
Chico Gonzalez
Homicide lt. Al Bressler
The Mayor of San Francisco
Chief of Police
Homicide Inspector Frank ‘Fatso’ DiGiorgio
Jaffe
William T. Rothko
Bank Robber
Norma Gonzalez
Marcella Platt (School Bus Driver)
Hot Mary
Bannerman
Reineke
Reviews/Paratexts:
Examples:
Can’t Convict scene and Stalking sequence:
Contrast between formal office dialogue scene, and a tense, creepy visual montage of Harry chasing the paedophile.
Setting/Visual Storytelling/ Tone:
-Opening sequence:
Tells the story visually
-List of Police officers who’ve died in action- states the films moral bias for the audience, foreshadows the risk Harry will be undertaking.
-Woman swimming in pool whilst sniper is trained on her (Gripping)
-Gripping location: Panorama perfectly introduces the city of San Francisco, it’s complex, gridded streets making it difficult to find a killer.
-Dirty Harry’s character, as he coolly removes his sunglasses and looks at the body shows ‘it’s just another day on the job.’
-He searches up the tallest building and locates the sniper’s vantage point. We know his competence and determination without even any dialogue yet. Traits all shown visually.
-He finds the sniper’s bullet and a letter with his name ‘Scorpio’ on it. He comment; ‘Jesus’ lends a cool, comic tone to the first line of dialogue. Before juxtaposing stuffy mayor’s office scene afterwards.
First phone call with Scorpio:
-Waits by docks in the dark. Quiet, eery, boats bobbing
-Hears phone call. He runs over to the booth, looking foolish (being manipulated) running with his bright yellow bag of cash. Active question; will he make it to the booth in time. He struggles to take the phone from the booth and says “Yeah.” There is a tense pause before Scorpio’s reply:
S: You got the yellow suitcase?
H: Yeah, got it right with me. Hello?
He loses connection as his assistant loses connection- Scorpio in complete control of the situation, establishes threat- he could be anywhere, plot and direction hangs on his word
S: Alright, Police Officer. This is how we play…
-Establishes the rules, like it’s a game. Manipulates Harry like a puppet to flaunt his own power.
S: You say a word to anyone, the girl dies.
H: Is she ok? (showing empathy)
S: Shut up. Next stop is forest hill station. Cop?
H: Yeah?
S: I hope you’re not stupid. (The word ‘stupid’ is eerily young and kiddish, as though the killer adopts the dialect and mannerisms of the children he preys on.)
-The fact you can’t see him, only hear his voice makes it creepy.
-Harry Follows Killer:
Unhelpful authorities, sitting, uncaring in suits.
Paedo walks past peace graphite in children’s playground and wear peace belt when perving on kids. Symbol of freedom in this context ‘too much freedom.’
Harry in sunglasses and trackies.
Scene juxtaposition children’s playground nursery rhyme music to, raunchy sex band for the strip club- criminal pervertion across all age demographics
Strip club: red lighting, begins on naked woman feeling her breasts, rapist beneath, and Harry watching him at the bar.
Plot/ Active Questions/ Tension:
Attorney: “How do you know [he’s going to kill again]?”
Harry: “Because he likes it.” – Audience mind on the killer, expecting what he’s going to do next.
Creepy playground scene as he watches kids.. what’s he going to do? Relief- Harry’s there to save the day, scares him off.
Strip club- he’s going to rape someone… but wait, Harry there again, tries to act inconspicuous.
Settings designed to increase our hatred for the killer, the fact that he’s frequenting these places for his own pleasure. But initially hatred for authorities in dull, boring office room where they sit and simply dismiss cases.
Active question: When’s Harry going to catch him?
-Bus chase sequence:
-Harry latches onto car. Will he fall off?
-The crashes, Killer gets out.
-Harry and Scorpio shoot out in building site, dust everywhere. Makes use of setting as they hide behind machinery and tunnels.
-Boy fishing in the lake- audience expectation that Scorpio will hold him at ransom.
-Scorpio holds gun to boy’s head. Harry lowers his gun, audience expecting him to give in.
-Harry lifts his gun and uses extraordinary aim to shoot Scorpio.
-Boy runs off and Harry aims a Scorpio again as he reaches for dropped gun with his famous line; “Feeling lucky Punk?”
-More audience anticipation ‘Does he feel lucky?’ Which he does, reaches for gun and gets blasted into the water. Harry also throws his badge in the water, showing his disillusionment with the job.
Academic lecturer- what does he know?
Attorney- “The girl was dead in the report.” Smiles smugly; “how do you know?” Frustrated facial expression on Harry. Helps us understand Harry’s frustration, creates empathy.
Fear of the paedo, wondering what his next move is going to be, hobbles along on wounded leg, shows his sick determination, smiling pervertedly at kids.
Harry’s determination, following him around these different places. Continues to follow him at the end of each scene, both day and night. Restless, won’t rest until he’s caught, no matter what the authorities say.
24
Gordon, Surnow, Cochran
Premise: Agent Jack Baur has to stop a terrorist attack within 24 hours.
Production: Imagine Entertainment
Themes:
Terrorism
Family Comittments
Risk/Danger /Impulse
Time/ Deadlines
Characters:
Jack Baur
Dominant Attitude: ‘Ends Justify the Means’ approach, regardless of perceived morality of his actions.
Series 5:
Chloe O’Brien
Charles Logan
Vladimir Bierko
Curtis Manning
Audrey Raines
Tony Almeida
Examples:
Series 5:
Jack has the odds stacked against him- people think he's dead, then blame him and go after him as he tries to catch Logan for what he’s done. It becomes a race against time as more and more pressure is piled upon him.
-Jack has to kill his own, bomb explodes
Luther
By Neil Cross
Premise: A committed detective must prevent himself from being consumed by the darkness of the crimes with which he deals.
Production: BBC Drama Productions
Inspiration:
Inspector Columbo
Sherlock Holmes
Themes:
Mystery
Love
Emotion/Passion/Anger/Frustration
Psychology
Inverted Detective
Characters:
John Luther
Alice Morgan
Justin Ripley
Ian Reed
George Stark
Zoe Luther
Martin Schenk
Benny ‘Deadhead’ Silver
Erin Gray
Mary Day
Rose Teller
Mark North
Caroline Jones
Jenny Jones
Baba
Frank Hodge
Toby Kent
Examples:
Ep.1 Opening scene
Ep.1 John gets mad at Zoe
The first time we see John meet Zoe she tells him about the affair the audience knows about.
-Visual/setting/tone: Red door, (all red metaphors; blood love, etc.) Cosy, wealthy house compared to Luther grubby workplace and grubby job. Candle lit, sheek, ornaments everywhere, warm
Zoe all dressed up and John in his grey work suit (John: (Smiles) Nice dress…) John bashes down the door. Silent, no dialogue as he leaves and shot of Zoe, still in battered room.
-Plot:
Dramatic irony: The audience know about the affair and are wondering how initially happy John is going react- already an unpredictable character in the way he treats his work.
Close proximity, is he going to hurt her?
The aftermath of the door destroying- how is he going to deal with this rejection?
-Character:
Zoe, still uncaring in dress, doesn’t move.
John is moving, frustrated, nervous, trying the comprehend the uncomprehensive nature of love (human emotion, we’ve all been there) “Sorry? (Silence) What…. What do you mean you… met someone… who?” Stunted dialogue “What do you mean…. Sorry… when?” and all these unclear, unhelpful responses: “A long time ago” Sympathy totally in Luther’s court.
The use of pinter pauses and silence, drags out the tension for the audience… only a matter of time before he flips at the news.
He grabs the candle ornament, clutching at object like evidence, before roaring and making his explosive swing at the door. John’s explosive temper.
Simple closing, emotional dialogue: “Go home John.” “This is my home.” “No.”
Theme: Uncomprehensive Unfaithfulness, the cold, harsh truth of love
Alice and Luther - Do you Believe in Evil?
Luther: Seems kind of pitiless to shoot the dog in the first place.
Alice: (Sighing) You look exhausted…
-Like a housewife would say to her husband or close lover, and yet in the twisted context of a relationship built upon a murder investigation and characters with two polar opposing morals.
Luther: You don’t know what love is, Alice.
Luther: I’m going to get you, Alice.
Alice: Not if I get you first…
Luther’s outrageous DNA gathering technique:
Punches the killer to get his blood in plastic glove
Memorable wearing woolly hat and sunglasses, no dialogue
(Visually cool, one of those scenes that sticks in your head as the character goes rogue and takes RISKS)
Evil Ian Reed Episode
DCI Reed confesses to Luther
Luther, held at gun point, has to control his emotions.
Episode One:
Begins with action, Luther trying to get the truth from a criminal about to fall to his death whilst the police try to save the life of a girl. Neil Cross knows how to start with a good opening.
Then comes the meeting between Luther and his new companion, Reed which was totally belieavable in its awkwardness; "alright?" This is a writer who knows the nature of speech and conversation.
And of course Luther's character, detective genius and nagging dissatisfaction with the given evidence, always looking for new, exciting angles that get the audience hooked. His failing love life for one thing, but also his suspicion of Alice killing her parents is evident from his first meeting with her.
Quarter of an hour into the first episode, and we feel like we know this character better than any other we've seen on TV. Brilliant.
Something I've noticed about Cross' writing style is that he's very good at considering all the characters motivations- acknowledge that all the characters, as living creatures will always be wanting something at every moment in the narrative. He then uses the most interesting and useful character motivations to progress the story in a fresh, new direction.
Begins with action, Luther trying to get the truth from a criminal about to fall to his death whilst the police try to save the life of a girl. Neil Cross knows how to start with a good opening.
Then comes the meeting between Luther and his new companion, Reed which was totally belieavable in its awkwardness; "alright?" This is a writer who knows the nature of speech and conversation.
And of course Luther's character, detective genius and nagging dissatisfaction with the given evidence, always looking for new, exciting angles that get the audience hooked. His failing love life for one thing, but also his suspicion of Alice killing her parents is evident from his first meeting with her.
Quarter of an hour into the first episode, and we feel like we know this character better than any other we've seen on TV. Brilliant.
Something I've noticed about Cross' writing style is that he's very good at considering all the characters motivations- acknowledge that all the characters, as living creatures will always be wanting something at every moment in the narrative. He then uses the most interesting and useful character motivations to progress the story in a fresh, new direction.
The tension of the series soars and at no moment has a hint of dying out as the two stories; Luther's Love life and Luther's Investigations interweave and wrestle for domination.
The Calling
The Calling
Alien
Strangers on a Train
Dial M for Murder
The Wrong Man
Stage Fright
I Confess
North By Northwest
Bourne
The Old Man and the Sea
Echo Park
Les Contes D'Angoisse
Pan's Labyrinth
The Devil's Backbone
Cronos
Resevoir Dogs
Jackie Brown
Pulp Fiction
Kill Bill
Whistle and I’ll come to You
Themes: Loss, Love, Terror, Old Age,
Psychology, Isolation, Hubris
Characters: James Parkin, Alice
Parkin, Hetty the Nurse, The Hotel Proprietor
Examples:
2nd Beach sequence:
Setting: All visual and
psychological. Eerie, rattling music with howling wind, isolated setting, in
between cliff face-covers up our last view of the ghost. View of ghost is
RESTRICTED, TEASING.
Broken wooden chair on the shore adds
to ‘dead’ atmosphere.
As he walks back his figure blocks
where the ghost is blocked, so appears closer and closer each time for more
tension.
POV technique of camera closing in as
he quickens his pace.
Plot: We’ve seen it before so we’re
expecting to see it again, but this time it is more horrifying.
An escalation of tension.
Confusion when he turns at the end
and the ghost is gone. Eerie, mysterious.
Character: Completely in his
position, small identifiable actions the way we would react as humans- initial
curiosity, searching, bravery of first sight, then a change of mind, followed
by a quickening of pace. As he throws up (sickness, giving in) we feel his
dread.
Theme: Human psychological reaction
in the face of the supernatural
Psycho
Whilst watching this film I wondered why it's original audience found it so terrifying and had to leave the cinema aisles. (Perhaps it's because film was in it's early days.) But, on trying to get to sleep that night, I suddenly realised how horrifyingly creepy, not the film itself, but the idea behind it was- the fact that a hotel manager, seemingly warm and welcoming at first, pretended his dead mother was alive; had conversations with her (putting on her old woman voice), dressed up as her, and, chillingly murdered the visitors to the hotel as his mother.
Joseph Stefano, who adapted the screenplay from Robert Bloch's novel for Hitchcock's film masterfully leads us on a journey of deception, where we are lulled into a false sense of belief that the mother actually exists, and her son the hotel manager is only trying to hide her from the police because he cares about her.The film itself I didn't find the most gripping in parts, but it's afterthought, due to the extraordinary twist in the end is why this is one of the most talked about films ever made.
Hidden
French Director Michael has found an innovative way to create tension in his truly gripping film Hidden. A hidden camera lies in view across the street and the questions on our minds as we see the terror this cameraman inflicts on a middle class Parisian family are simply; Who is behind that camera (at first)? Why is this person sending this seemingly civilized family ominous pictures of a chicken having its head chopped off (secondly) and, most importantly, what is our main character, a TV presenter Georges hiding from his family?
But of course, as Hanneke explains, the reason these questions are left so ambiguous by the movie is that they are irrelevant in terms of its deeper meaning- These acts of terror towards the family which may/may not have been committed by an undesired character from the presenter's childhood looking for revenge are a catalyst. They pose as a trigger for revealing the main character's repression of a traumatic moment in his past, and how he tells his wife for the first time as a consequence of the film's horrific events.
What Hanneke excels at is the realism in, not only brilliant performances by the Couple but also the believable way in which these characters react to the events which unfold. They go to the police, who aren't particularly helpful anyway, but apart from that they try to keep the fact of these acts of terror suppressed from others; their friends, other victims such as the son of George's childhood friend who commits suicide, and, ultimately, each other.
Bullet Boy
Rarely in a Film is the concept of violence spreading like a virus demonstrated in such a tense, engaging way. Yet with this feature length Drama, Saul Dibb (Director and Co-writer with Catherine Johnson), hooks the viewer at every turning point in the story and character development.
The premise is simple yet compelling; two brothers growing up in a volatile London Neighborhood- the younger a schoolboy, the older just released from prison and trying, (if not without distraction) to atone for himself and do right by his caring, loving mother and girlfriend with whom he is deeply infatuated.
After his friend accidentally knocks the mirror of a gang's car, an escalating war of violence and revenge the audience are left on tenterhooks the further and further control over the older brother's finally stable life slips from his hands.
Meanwhile Curtis, the younger brother shrouds us in a cloud of tension on finding his brother's gun and going to the woods with his friend Rio to play with this instrument of death. As Curtis wanders through the trees, awkwardly grasping the gun which is slightly too heavy for his child-size hands, we can only but anticipate the the horrific consequences and simply feel guilt; 'Is this what we've let the infants in today's society become?'
From an interview with the director about his inspiration for the film, Dibb's response goes some way towards addressing this question;
"For me, this was a subject that hadn't really been explored in British cinema - the generation of kids growing up in areas where guns have become a fact of life, and where boys try to be men before they're even teenagers. I felt strongly that it was a story that needed to be told."
Psycho
Whilst watching this film I wondered why it's original audience found it so terrifying and had to leave the cinema aisles. (Perhaps it's because film was in it's early days.) But, on trying to get to sleep that night, I suddenly realised how horrifyingly creepy, not the film itself, but the idea behind it was- the fact that a hotel manager, seemingly warm and welcoming at first, pretended his dead mother was alive; had conversations with her (putting on her old woman voice), dressed up as her, and, chillingly murdered the visitors to the hotel as his mother.
Joseph Stefano, who adapted the screenplay from Robert Bloch's novel for Hitchcock's film masterfully leads us on a journey of deception, where we are lulled into a false sense of belief that the mother actually exists, and her son the hotel manager is only trying to hide her from the police because he cares about her.The film itself I didn't find the most gripping in parts, but it's afterthought, due to the extraordinary twist in the end is why this is one of the most talked about films ever made.Hidden
French Director Michael has found an innovative way to create tension in his truly gripping film Hidden. A hidden camera lies in view across the street and the questions on our minds as we see the terror this cameraman inflicts on a middle class Parisian family are simply; Who is behind that camera (at first)? Why is this person sending this seemingly civilized family ominous pictures of a chicken having its head chopped off (secondly) and, most importantly, what is our main character, a TV presenter Georges hiding from his family?
But of course, as Hanneke explains, the reason these questions are left so ambiguous by the movie is that they are irrelevant in terms of its deeper meaning- These acts of terror towards the family which may/may not have been committed by an undesired character from the presenter's childhood looking for revenge are a catalyst. They pose as a trigger for revealing the main character's repression of a traumatic moment in his past, and how he tells his wife for the first time as a consequence of the film's horrific events.
What Hanneke excels at is the realism in, not only brilliant performances by the Couple but also the believable way in which these characters react to the events which unfold. They go to the police, who aren't particularly helpful anyway, but apart from that they try to keep the fact of these acts of terror suppressed from others; their friends, other victims such as the son of George's childhood friend who commits suicide, and, ultimately, each other.Bullet Boy
Rarely in a Film is the concept of violence spreading like a virus demonstrated in such a tense, engaging way. Yet with this feature length Drama, Saul Dibb (Director and Co-writer with Catherine Johnson), hooks the viewer at every turning point in the story and character development.
The premise is simple yet compelling; two brothers growing up in a volatile London Neighborhood- the younger a schoolboy, the older just released from prison and trying, (if not without distraction) to atone for himself and do right by his caring, loving mother and girlfriend with whom he is deeply infatuated.
After his friend accidentally knocks the mirror of a gang's car, an escalating war of violence and revenge the audience are left on tenterhooks the further and further control over the older brother's finally stable life slips from his hands.
Meanwhile Curtis, the younger brother shrouds us in a cloud of tension on finding his brother's gun and going to the woods with his friend Rio to play with this instrument of death. As Curtis wanders through the trees, awkwardly grasping the gun which is slightly too heavy for his child-size hands, we can only but anticipate the the horrific consequences and simply feel guilt; 'Is this what we've let the infants in today's society become?'
From an interview with the director about his inspiration for the film, Dibb's response goes some way towards addressing this question;
"For me, this was a subject that hadn't really been explored in British cinema - the generation of kids growing up in areas where guns have become a fact of life, and where boys try to be men before they're even teenagers. I felt strongly that it was a story that needed to be told."
Butterfly on a Wheel
Throughout this gripping thriller, the question the audience are regularly left asking is 'why?' The film’s title is an allusion to a line of Alexander Pope’s poem "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot": “Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?” This line is usually interpreted as questioning why someone would put massive effort into achieving something minor or unimportant, or who would punish a minor offender with a disproportional punishment.
It consistently plays with audience expectations which works brilliantly as a thriller, firstly when we realize the capturer is the husband of the protagonist’s lover, and finally that the protagonist’s wife set it all up in the end and went to great lengths, (a.k.a; “Breaking a butterfly on a wheel”) as she’d known about his affair all along, simply to prove a point and make him feel the same sense of knowing about a loss/ disloyal abandonment and being able to do nothing about it. It will leave you with views on the situation and doesn’t answer any questions easily. Who was right? Who was wrong? Who deserved what? What was too much? What was out of order? It’s full of genius shocks and surprises, yet unlike a lot of modern thrillers it’s not formulaic.
Breaking Bad
-Vince Gilligan
Theme: Redemption/ Fulfillment
Conflict: Morality
Active Question: How will Walter balance family life with his side job making meth?
Story: Walt earning money for his family before he dies.
Series One:
Walter, a struggling high-school chemistry teacher diagnosed with lung cancer must turn to a life of crime with former rebellious student Pinky, cooking and selling drugs to secure his families' financial future after he dies.
Throughout the story there is always a need- an impulse on the audience's part to find out to know how Walter is going to lead double life and hide his dark secret from the family that motivated him to do the job in the first place.
Everything is a struggle, so reality is constantly taken into the equation; from cleaning up a dead body and flushing down a toilet to making sure the amount of equipment stolen from the school chemistry lab doesn't look suspicious, Walter and Pinky bring a sense of perspective to an industry made so ambiguous by images of toughness, gangsta fashion and men sat in dark rooms. (Turns out all you need is to get good grades in Chemistry.)
So the setting and situations are as ordinary and mundane as they get, but it's because we identify with them and can see ourselves in these situations that we invest in such a thrilling web series.
Series Two:
Another strong, hooking opener; an eyeball-less teddy bear floating in a swimming pool. From this point on, we want to know what happens, and won't stop wanting until the end of the episode. Gilligan isn't just aware of his audience, but trained in the art of manipulating their expectations and anticipation.
Crooked House
Theme: Redemption/ Fulfillment
Conflict: Morality
Active Question: How will Walter balance family life with his side job making meth?
Story: Walt earning money for his family before he dies.
Series One:
Walter, a struggling high-school chemistry teacher diagnosed with lung cancer must turn to a life of crime with former rebellious student Pinky, cooking and selling drugs to secure his families' financial future after he dies.
Throughout the story there is always a need- an impulse on the audience's part to find out to know how Walter is going to lead double life and hide his dark secret from the family that motivated him to do the job in the first place.
Everything is a struggle, so reality is constantly taken into the equation; from cleaning up a dead body and flushing down a toilet to making sure the amount of equipment stolen from the school chemistry lab doesn't look suspicious, Walter and Pinky bring a sense of perspective to an industry made so ambiguous by images of toughness, gangsta fashion and men sat in dark rooms. (Turns out all you need is to get good grades in Chemistry.)
So the setting and situations are as ordinary and mundane as they get, but it's because we identify with them and can see ourselves in these situations that we invest in such a thrilling web series.
Series Two:
Another strong, hooking opener; an eyeball-less teddy bear floating in a swimming pool. From this point on, we want to know what happens, and won't stop wanting until the end of the episode. Gilligan isn't just aware of his audience, but trained in the art of manipulating their expectations and anticipation.
Crooked House
BBC Christmas ghost story series
Themes: History, Revenge, Mystery,
Rotting
Characters: Ben, Joseph Bloxham,
Felix de Momery
The Woman in Black
By Susan Hill
Novel, Stage Play and Film
Novel, Stage Play and Film
Themes: Revenge, Mystery, Family
Characters: Arthur Kipps, The Woman
in Black
Escape: 3 Skeleton Key
Radio Play Premise: A team of lighthouse workers
are beset by a ghost ship that crashes on the rock below. Pouring from the ship
was millions upon millions of rats that immediately coated the lighthouse. The
show is then a slow burn on the part of the actors, as they are driven mad by
their inability to escape the terrifying noises of the rats gnawing on the
walls.
Inspiration: Part of the Escape
series, designed to transport you to another location in your mind.
Themes: Fight or Flight/Psychological
Fear, Mystery, Claustrophobia/Entrapment
Characters: Narrator, Itchoua, Le
Gleo
City of God
-Braulio Mantovani, Meirelles, Lund, based on novel by Paulo Lins
Theme: Crime
Conflict: Morality
Active Question: Will the characters survive this harsh world?
Story: Survival in the City of God.
Crime grows in a Rio Suburb, 'City of God.'
Heavy Rain
Theme: Mystery, Decisions
Original, Independent
A scarily accurate virtual experience of Crime and Mystery Solving, so personal I challenge anyone not to wince if they make the decision to cut a finger off to save another character's life.
There are so many different possible narratives in this game but they all lead to character Arc and decisions which we don't have to wait for the characters to make anymore. Through the platform of gaming, our own morality is tested.
Theme: Mystery, Decisions
Original, Independent
A scarily accurate virtual experience of Crime and Mystery Solving, so personal I challenge anyone not to wince if they make the decision to cut a finger off to save another character's life.
There are so many different possible narratives in this game but they all lead to character Arc and decisions which we don't have to wait for the characters to make anymore. Through the platform of gaming, our own morality is tested.
Ill Manors by Ben Drew
Ed is trapped in the top floor room of a pub gone up in flames with a baby. He throws the gun out first, the possession he considers most important, then onlookers gasp as he holds the baby out of the window. Will Aaron, standing with a blanket below, catch it? Luckily he does, and an onlooker takes a picture reminiscent of one taken in the London 2011 riots of someone in mid-fall. Yet Ed, Aaron's childhood friend from the home where he was raised isn't so lucky and falls to his death.
This is just one of the many arresting scenes directed by lead rapper/singer of Plan B, the movie portraying visually the multiple compelling narratives told in his album ill Manors, and how these weave together in a Pulp-Fictionesque style to paint a picture of what goes on in the darker, ignored yet disturbingly familiar underworld of "David Cameron's Broken Britain."
Despite the multiple narrative viewpoints, they all contribute to the central character arc of Aaron, a man who tries to break a cycle of violence hurtling through the stories of a youth led astray and trained to kill, a drug dealer and a mother who has escaped the grip of her deviant male aggressors.
Part of Drew's genius as a director is creating audience anticipation through dramatic irony: Whilst the characters in the pub downstairs are arguing over possession of the baby, we know the baby is upstairs with a raging fire beginning to spread. When the misled young boy is led out of his house and into his gang leader's "to talk," we know their plan is to shoot him.
He also has a knack for revealing the back stories of his characters in a way that clear all audience judgment: When the mother leaves her baby on the train with Aaron, she may be thought of a 'uncaring,' however when it revealed later on that she was trying to escape her male-aggressor, we see the all too real hell of her situation. This is down to his ability through music as well as film to lift the CHAV mask and reveal the true struggle of those living on Britain most deprived estates.
The Lakes
-Jimmy McGovern
Intriguing opening: Guy jumping off a boat into lake after a coin toss- we later learn it had something to do with the 3 children drowning in the lake but this opening asks lots of active questions towards this and is title-relevant.
I also like how, in a tarantinoesque fashion McGovern doesn't follow one central character but several. The juxtaposition of scenes between characters who beginning with completely separate knowledge of each other and whose associations are an unfolding mystery is what keeps us wanting to find out more.
La Haine
Mathieu Kassovitz
Human, Tragic
Theme: Hatred
Conflict: Morality
Active Question: Will our characters survive the escalating Hatred?
Story: The escalating hatred
Three young friends struggle to maintain a living in the banlieues of Paris.
Timewise the film is neatly containted within 19 hours in the lives of our three main characters; the Jewish Vinz, filled with rage, Hubert, Afro-French boxer, small time drug dealer and most mature of the trio who sadly contemplates the surrounding ghetto and Said, a Maghrebi occupying the middle ground between his two friends' responses to life in Les Banlieues.
Kassovitz' black and white film offers an interesting perspective on racism through the character Arcs of two of these characters:
Vinz: Discovers a gun left in the riots, vows to take vengeance on the police who murdered his friend. But when saving Hubert and Said from a savage racial beating, is forced to face the fact that he is not strong enough to actually pull the trigger on the skinhead left behind, despite Hubert's encouragement. Vinz turns the gun over to Hubert, giving up the life of violence, crime, hatred and revenge, but is found by the policeman he met earlier who shoots him in the head.
Hubert goes the opposite direction: He at first expresses the desire to leave this world of hatred and violence, but is drawn into helping his friend Vinz start trouble with the police for murdering their friend. He is caught by a group of skinheads and racially beaten and abused which sparks further hatred within him. On seeing the policeman shoot Vinz, he decides to point the gun at him and their is blackout during the gunshot sound, leaving it ambiguous as to who shot who. What Kassovitz therefroe achieves so well in this film is not siding with any societal group at all. Instead, he chooses to explore the options and decisions available to those living in such a deprived area of Paris.
Insomnia
-Hillary Seitz, Christopher Nolan
Story:
A detective, Dormer, must face the guilt of shooting a fellow cop to death during a murder investigation.
Chinatown
What entices me most about this film is how such a complex, dramatic crime plot is built around such a simple idea; LA's water supply and the consequently powerful warring owners behind it. Throughout we are kept engaged by the story's many twists and surprises so typical of the crime genre; Our main character Gittes is reluctantly drawn into the criminal plot when, searching for Hollis, the water supply owner over a minor complication he finds him drowned in a resevoir, and later when Evelyne reveals the truth about her relationship with her sister. Gittes is the character which lends Chinatown its success as a film- the story of an innocent person like you or me drawn against his will into a mentally, physically and emotionally challenging plot.Django Unchained
-Quentin Tarantino
Cool
Story:
A freed slave, Django must save his wife from a plantation owner.
What this film does better than Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave is it takes the theme of slavery and exposes the central characters' reactions to it in a way that is heightened and entertaining. It is easy to look at this as providing a positive light to such a horrific issue, but in fact it does the opposite. The persecution Django and his wife undergo are real and terrifying, whilst the stylised, Western portrayal of Django's hero's journey raises more awareness of the issue for the fact that the story is simply; 'So cool!'
There are moments of comedy, such as the gang of thieves on horseback who complain about their masks, in addition to the Sheriff trying unsuccessfully to get Django out of the Saloon in the beginning.
Yes, it's not completely believable but what memorable stories are? Tarantino tells the story of a man's fight for freedom, not in a way Slavery historians will deem accurate, but in a way that any audience member will understand and relate to. Thus is the power of cinematic entertainment in raising awareness of global issues like slavery.
Pulp Fiction
-Quentin Tarantino
Cool, Convention-Breaking
Theme:
Conflict:
Active Question:
Story:
The stories of LA mobsters, fringe player, small-time criminals and a mysterious suitcase interconnect and cross-paths in one of the most entertaining, stylised movies on crime ever made.
Completely fresh dismantling of conventional film structure.
Sorry Wrong Number
Radio Play Premise: A domestic 50s housewife tries to alert the authorities after over-hearing a conversation between two men planning a murder.
Themes:
Red-Tape/ Flawed, unreliable Systems/ Systemisation
Anticipation
Isolation
Murder/Death
Characters:
Leona Stevenson
Call Operator
The Missing Husband
Reception: http://www.whav.net/cms/?p=4016
Examples:
Shoves the phone down:
Leona: You’re stupid!
Shoves the phone down.
L: How dare she speak to me like that (Muttering to herself, anxious, sobs)
Twists the dial to phone, sense of hopelessness.
Woman: Your call, please. (Cold, emotionless)
L: I’m going to report you to your superiors (Relying on the hierarchy and system to sort everything out.)
-Overhearing the call
-Frustration of the System
-Tension as the killer approachesLord of the Rings
-Peter Jackson, based on the novels by JRR Tolkien
Epic, Emotional, Nostalgic
Frodo Baggins, a hobbit must journey to mount doom with the assistance of his companions to destroy an eternally powerful ring before it falls into the hands of the increasingly powerful Lord Sauron.
It seems these series are defined by major, stirring speeches and momentous events of courage. These are the moments in the epic story that people remember and relate to:
When Pippin says to giev up and go back to the shire, Merry's heartbreaking response: "There won't be a shire, Pippin..." Ominous, makes us wonder about the character's belief in their journey.
Another pivotal moment is where Frodo leaves Sam after Gollum poisons Sam against him: "You can't help me any more" is a cruel taste of dramatic irony. We are left totally feeling for Sam's frustration and disappointment that his closest companion has left him through Gollum's sly trickery.
Gandalf consoling Pippin before the orcs break through to the tower: "The end? Death is just another path, one that we all must take."
Sam's inspirational speech to Frodo saying "he can't go on" as he leans against a ruin and watches a dragon fly past: "It's like all the great stories, Mr Frodo, full of darkness. Sometimes you didn't even want to know the end. 'Cause how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad has happened. But in the end, it's only a passing thing. A shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it'll shine out for clearer. Those stories that stay with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances at turning back only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding onto something."
"What are we holding onto, Sam?"
"There's some good in this world, Mr Frodo. And it's worth fighting for."
Aragon's inspirational speech in before the battle of middle-earth. "I see in your eyes, the same fear that would take the heart of me... By all we hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, men of the west!"Then the moment before mount doom when Sam carries Frodo: "Do you remember the shire, Mr Frodo? It'll be spring soon. The orchards will be in blossom. And the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket. And they'll be sawing the summer barley in the lower fields. And even the first of the strawberries with cream. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?"
"I can see him, with my waking eyes..."
"Then let us be rid of it, once and for all! Come on, Mr Frodo. I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you. Come on!" He lifts up Frodo and carries him up Mount Doom.
Pan's Labyrinth
-Guillermo Del Toro
Curious, Dark, Fantastic
Ofelia must return to the mythical world of Pan to spiritually escape the oppressive Francoist regime she lives under.
Guillermo Del Toro discussing how the creatures needed to be sophisticated but not sophisticated in the sense that they were created in the mind of a little girl: "The frog has a sense of panache" with its burping and vomiting. "I needed Pan to be beautiful and threatening at the same time so you didn't really know if you wanted to trust him. The pale man is horrifying with the scary streamline silhouette but it is simplistic, the kind of thing you can easily find in a child's book.
Edward Scissorhands
-Caroline Thompson, Tim Burton
Brilliant, Funny, Intriguing
When a mad scientist meets an early death his creation must fend for himself with scissors for hands.
Scene where he's sitting on the inflatable sofa you are left anticipating when it is going to burst.
What's so alluring about this film is clearly the character of Edward and his struggles to fit in with normal society; his difficult yet poignant love affair, his bursting of the water-filled bed, trying put on a pair of trousers.
Of course the film is heightened and unbelievable- it's a Tim Burton fantasy. But the point lies in the thematic content: Most people find it difficult to fit into society from time to time.
Bram Stoker- Dracula
What makes this novel so exciting and exhilarating throughout is not only the tension created by not knowing what horror Dracula’s acts might incur next, or the subtle description of his ‘red, fiery eyes’ on the windows of the ruined at Whitby but cleverly constructed form; The fact the whole book is compiled of a series of diary extracts and memorandums provides a constant return to the present tense, as though the events are happening currently, with the characters regularly ending on a mundane comment like; ‘I must sleep’ or an enduring hope that good and ‘god’s will and protection will prevail.’ The strong religious element here seems to tie in with the forces of good persisting against evil, in, as always with classical gothic fiction, a heightened, fantastical sense. Maybe this is part of keeping the ideal of good separate from evil in the novel, but if I were to criticize the book, I would point out that the characters seem to praise and love each other almost too much, which makes them seem sort of pathetic, despite the evil that inflicts them, something I personally find lacks in believability. (True, the novel argues against rational scepticism, but you still have to be highly religious and irrational to fully believe in the idea of a vampire who can turn into a bat or a wolf.) The fact also that ‘Lord Goldaming’ rucks up his father’s inheritance and title to conveniently fund the, least to say for the Victorian age, ‘well off’ character’s pursuit of Dracula makes me lack sympathy for these well-spoken victims of the supernatural who I suspect, in part at least, seem to love each other because of their class and status over others. Maybe this comes from reading the Darren Shan saga, Frankenstein, or going to see the Phantom of the Opera, but in an odd way I occasionally sympathise with Dracula. At the same time, however, a hugely influential novel for both it’s time and now which has created one of fiction’s most well-known and, possibly even loved, characters.
-Themes: Politics (British fear of invasion from colonized areas,) The role of women (the most attractive turn out to be the deadliest)
Hinterland
Radio play By Francis Turnly
First Broadcast 6th October 2011
You know you have a good crime writer on your hands when they integrate social issues (in this case the border between Northern and Southern Ireland) into their mystery. Since crime shows the dark side of humanity, it works so well when it is rooted in society and its problems, something we can identify with, as well as the fact it lends it such an original spin.
Hinterland
Radio play By Francis Turnly
First Broadcast 6th October 2011
You know you have a good crime writer on your hands when they integrate social issues (in this case the border between Northern and Southern Ireland) into their mystery. Since crime shows the dark side of humanity, it works so well when it is rooted in society and its problems, something we can identify with, as well as the fact it lends it such an original spin.
George Orwell- 1984
What I find most fascinating about this novel is the way it recognizes no solution to the problem of power-hungry totalitarianism, with Winston’s forced conformation and love for Big Brother through torture for example. We immediately get the sense of no-escape as the leaves follow Winston through the door at the beginning, the following description of the ‘smell of rotting cabbage’ an example of Orwell’s ability to truly create a sense of place and at the same time foreshadow danger. What I find even more interesting, engaging, and even frightening however, is that this gloomy idea of no escape from power-obsessed hierarchies is true to life in that not only does it echo history in this way, but also, and almost certainly, the future of the human race.
-Notes on the Film:
An example of how using a small amount of actors to portray the universal impact of a dystopian world worked successfully through the feelings of isolation created. They created the effect that everywhere everything was deserted and barren, and I liked the way they kept returning to the green fields as they followed through Winston’s P.O.V and his dreams of his only true love for a moment in the world, Julia. I also liked the way they included some of the most pivotal quotes from Orwell’s novel, such as: “Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4. All else follows…”
-Notes on the Film:
An example of how using a small amount of actors to portray the universal impact of a dystopian world worked successfully through the feelings of isolation created. They created the effect that everywhere everything was deserted and barren, and I liked the way they kept returning to the green fields as they followed through Winston’s P.O.V and his dreams of his only true love for a moment in the world, Julia. I also liked the way they included some of the most pivotal quotes from Orwell’s novel, such as: “Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4. All else follows…”
George Orwell- Animal Farm
A reflection of the events of the communist revolution in Russia, portraying the failures of communist dictatorship, with the Pigs hording all the resources of the farm to themselves. It also displays the lying, insidious nature of communist propaganda through the chalk rules that keep getting rubbed out to point of saying the ridiculously paradoxical comment; All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. In the end, the fact that the name of animal farm is renamed back to ‘Manor farm,’ suggests clearly that the failure of the revolution lies in the fact that those who overthrew the previously aristocratic rule have become aristocrats themselves and ignored the name of ‘equality’ that communism stood for in the first place. The unstable ending of the fight between Pigs and men over something as petty as a card game, as Orwell intended, reveals that peace had not yet been settled between the East and West, and that a newer, more democratic government was needed to prevent this.
Meanwhile, the ‘green’ countryside and particular animal characteristics portrayed throughout the novella suggest Orwell’s ability as an evocative, descriptive novelist, as well as recording what he saw as the great failure of mankind- irresponsible authorities, an issue touched upon in his later novels such as 1984, making the book into something of a vital necessity as well as entertaining piece of fiction in its time.
Themes: Power- leadership and corruption or control over the intellectually inferior/ lies and deceit/ rules and order/ Foolishness and folly/ Dreams, hopes and plans/ Cunning and cleverness/ violence and pride/ religion (animals distracted form their life of labour with visions of; ‘Sugar candy mountain, a comic yet ironically true to human nature in the way religion distracts them from the workings of an evil, tyrannical power.)
The Short Walk by Jonathan Hacker and Stewart Harcourt:
Simple, Engaging
The premise is simple: A man during the Spanish Civil War, the last among a group of others in line to be shot by soldiers waits for his turn.
Throughout the film our anticipations are played on, which only goes to show how brilliantly scripted this 15 minute short was by Stewart Harcourt. Numerous things happen which give us the hope that our protagonist could escape- He nearly unties the rope from his hands, he looks behind him to see only one soldier standing there. Simple things which are there to play with audience expectations.
Origin by Danny Stack
Engaging, Human, Emotional
The best thing about Danny Stack's Supernatural Thriller, Origin is the fact that we never see the mysterious creature that bit the Woman's son. The story centres around the woman trying to keep her family together whilst her son dies from a consequential illness from the bite on his arm. The fact that this boy never speaks apart from groaning; 'Mum' as he lies dying is the element that makes this film so emotional. It also heightens the tension at the beginning, setting up the active question; 'What bit him?' The opening in the woods with the scream sound immediately draws us in, wondering where the sound of the scream came from, and this question being answered in the end as the woman's scream, lamenting the death of her son.
There is a strong sense of character, particularly in the lazy, uncaring Dad who burps loudly after his meal and complains, when returning from hospital how he had to wait "three bloody hours" before asking if his wife taped Strictly. No wonder the wife has an affair, and what conveniently, and ironically brings the woman's failing marriage together in the end her son's death.
Other Inspirations...
A Child’s Voice
The Short Walk by Jonathan Hacker and Stewart Harcourt:
Simple, Engaging
The premise is simple: A man during the Spanish Civil War, the last among a group of others in line to be shot by soldiers waits for his turn.
Throughout the film our anticipations are played on, which only goes to show how brilliantly scripted this 15 minute short was by Stewart Harcourt. Numerous things happen which give us the hope that our protagonist could escape- He nearly unties the rope from his hands, he looks behind him to see only one soldier standing there. Simple things which are there to play with audience expectations.
Origin by Danny Stack
Engaging, Human, Emotional
The best thing about Danny Stack's Supernatural Thriller, Origin is the fact that we never see the mysterious creature that bit the Woman's son. The story centres around the woman trying to keep her family together whilst her son dies from a consequential illness from the bite on his arm. The fact that this boy never speaks apart from groaning; 'Mum' as he lies dying is the element that makes this film so emotional. It also heightens the tension at the beginning, setting up the active question; 'What bit him?' The opening in the woods with the scream sound immediately draws us in, wondering where the sound of the scream came from, and this question being answered in the end as the woman's scream, lamenting the death of her son.
There is a strong sense of character, particularly in the lazy, uncaring Dad who burps loudly after his meal and complains, when returning from hospital how he had to wait "three bloody hours" before asking if his wife taped Strictly. No wonder the wife has an affair, and what conveniently, and ironically brings the woman's failing marriage together in the end her son's death.
Other Inspirations...
A Child’s Voice
The Exorcist
The Scream
The Shining
Creep
Paranormal Activity
Let the Right One In
Mama
The Devil’s Backbone
Silence of the Lambs
Echo Park
Beowulf
The City of Lost Children
Beowulf
The City of Lost Children
La Vida Loca
For a Few Dollars More
Memento
Under the Skin
Old Boy
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypto
Dial M for Murder
Vertigo
2001: A Space Odyssey
Jaws
Shadow of the Colossus
Endeavour
Criminal Justice
True Detective
The Wire
Taxi Driver
On the Waterfront
Jagged Edge
Diva
Back to the Future
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