Source Code Review

The film source code is about an ex helicopter pilot who died in combat. However a new program has been set up that will stop future disasters from taking place. The program used a dead body but a live mind. Hes mission in this case is to identify a bomber that was planning to bomb the train he was on. he job is to identify him in order to stop a second bomb from going off agian. the more time they sedn him back in the more times he believes he can save everyone on board.
  the villian is a twisted man that is against the goverment and must be mad. however when looking at the man he is the last person you would expect to be a bomber.

derek Frost. THE VILLIAN

The hero of the film is a ex helicopter who seveved for his county. He is determinnd to save the lives of everyone on the train, especially christina. The hero role was alway shared with captin goodwin, who helped run the program and was actually alive.

Captain Culoter Steven's & Captain Goodwin THE HERO's

 M REVIEW.

This film is one of my favourite thriller seen so far. This is because it always leaves you wondering what will happen. The film uses special effects well when the bomb goes off. They also use lighting well when creating a contrast between when 'stevens' is in the stimulation and when he in his mind.

Die Hard- with vengeance

synopsis- A man calling himself "Simon" begins a reign of terror in the streets of New York. Threatens to detonate bombs around the city unless Detective John McClane cooperates in a game of "Simon Says". McClane has a bad hangover and a bad attitude, and isn't in the mood for games, especially this one. The bombs are all a distraction so that 'simon' and his army can steal billions of dollars from the Federal Reserve Bank. using a bomb as a distraction. 

The villain - 'Simon Gruber is the name of the villain, who is brothers with Hans Gruber who John McClane threw of a building in the previous movie. He is back to revenge his brothers death. However as normal our hero out smarts him and saves the day, working out he's plan and stopping him. synopsis 

The hero- John McClane is the hero of this movies and although he has been suspended from the police force he is proven useful and very good at he's job, even though he his hanging on the border of becoming a full time alcoholic following his divorce.

Trailer- 

sound exercise

Psycho

This is another one of Alfred Hitchcock famous films. this one is based on a young women named marion who tries to get away with stealing $40,000. However the girl did not realise the danger she was about to come across when checking in to a motel over night. The women meets a young man who owns the motel and at first seems charming and polite, however inside is stirring something crazy. The motel owned Norman Bates is not who he appears to murders marion whilst she is taking a shower. She is murdered by Normans mothers...or was she?
Norman buries the body in the swamp in order to cover up he's mothers crime. However he was not expecting for people to come looking for her. A privet investigator is hired to track her and the stolen money down.  The investigator snoops around the house behind the motel owned by Norman, when he is attacked by his mother....
at this point the audiecne are lead to believe there is a crazy mother living in the house. however when the sister and marions boyfriend conduct there own search to find her, we find ou tfrom the sherif of the town that Normans mother has been dead for some time and i buired. later on in the film Marions sister found the mothers body in the the basment. all along Norman was dressing up as his mother, he had taken on her personality as he felt guitly for killing her when he had a neew boyfriend.
Norman was completely mad. And had always been a mummy's boy however when she got a new lover Norman killed them both in a fit of jealousy.

The film contain a MCguffin as the money that marion steal is important to her, however it has no interest to us. The film uses twist well to surprise us with the fact that he is actually the mother. The back story is very good and was carefully planned out. psycho has been one of my favourite films.

preliminary exercise

lighting exercise. 

in media elements of light are used to create different effects. the effects can be used on the face or body of an actor they can also be used for effects on the scene. lights are useful and allows the directors to hint things to the audience. for example in  suspicion - Hitchcock used lighting to make the milk stand out, suggesting that something was wrong with the milk. 

there  are different effects that can be created using lighting, the different lights create these different effects. light portray  shadows that are used in many thrillers in order to hide someones identity. 

The key light- this is the brightest and most influential light used and it is used in most film in the film.
the back light- this helps to counteract the effect of the key light. It also creates a silhouette.
The filler light- helps to soften the harsh shadows the the use soften key and back light create.
under light- this is when the main source comes from below the subject. this is mainly used in horror movies and is popular in thrillers, it is a popular effect when telling a ghost story.
Top lighting- is when the source of light comes form above, this is used when highlighting certain features especially when trying to make someone flawless and glamourous.

Low key lighting- this is created by combining two light together, the key and back light are used. It is used to make a lot of shadows
high key lighting- this is used with the key back and filler lights to make the scene appear more realistic. 

the birds

The Birds is a movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the film is about a young couple that meet in a bird shop. The couple end up spending the weekend together when strange things begin to happen in the town, all the birds in the city begin attacking the towns people, at first no one believes them and they are called liars until the birds make a massive attack on everyone.

Hitchcock showed the birds to have minds where they could think and act like real people, planning to take over and plot against the town.

At countless parts of the film, suspense is built especially during the final bird attack in the upstairs room of Mitch's house. Melanie hear’s something and decides to investigate. When opening the door she finds the birds have peaked there way through the roof and the whole room is filled with the birds. She is spotted and attacked to the point of death; Mitch hears the screams but struggles to get in as Melanie body is propped against the door now to weak to fight back. She pulls her out and runs to the car with her his mother and sister. The final scene is the car driving away. The film ends leaving the audience in suspense and wondering if they ever got away. 

The film used sound effectively especially in the school scene.  It is silent and then there’s footsteps followed by the fluttering of wings and then when the birds notice and begin to close in on there prey there it the screaming of children. 

alfred hitchcock

 
Alfred Hitchcock was one of the most famous directors of his day, he directed many thrillers that are still known today.  He was born August 13th 1899 and he dies 29th April 1980. He had always had a love for films and regularly attend the cinema to see what was new. Hitchcock was  known for switching things up he was known as different. Compared to other directors of his time Hitchcock changed things and did things he own way instead of 'by the book'. This made he's movies memorable and are still watched today. He was very lucky and he only got the chance to direct because one of the other director fell ill, he then finished to movie. The owners of the studio where so impressed that they decided to give him a chance to direct his own movie. After this he went on to direct more and more films and produce some of todays classic.
He's most recognised movies are 'The Birds' 'Psycho' and 'North By North West' these films are known because they are not like normal thrillers, many of them contain red herrings and the audience are never certain of what will happen next. Even when Hitchcock died he's films are still known and are still recognisable today.

Introduction to thrillers

A thriller is a genre there are many different types of genres including ones such as horror, comedies and science fictions. Thrillers are a genre of movie that often has an exciting plot and usually involves a crime.The genre itself is a popular genre and many people enjoy watching. In personal opinion I believe thrillers are only god if there done well.
Some of my personal favorite thrillers 'se7en' starring Brad Pitt, 'silence of the lamb' starring Jodie foster' and 'Anthony Hopkins’,’ shutter islands' starring 'Leonardo De Carpio' and 'limitless' starring 'Bradley Copper'These movies often contain cliff hangers, this leave the audience wanting to see more they also make the reader think more about the plot and the way its been presented. What is a cliffhanger? A cliffhanger is when the director builds suspense and drops it in order to encourage the viewer to watch on. Many also involve a red herring, this is when the audience is lead to think one thing and then a twist is introduced showing an unpredicted outcome. 'Shutter islands is a good example of a thriller that has a red herring.

 Narrative.

The narrative is the way events are revealed to the audience. The narrative can be shown in linear or non-linear order.  Linear is when the events are shown in order, this is the most popular form of narrative.  Non-linear is when the sequence of events is shown out of order.  ‘pulp fiction’ is a good example of a film shown in non-linear.

effects.

Thrillers use different effects such as lighting and music this allows the audience to feel the way the director wants. For example lighting can be used to create shadows this may be used to create a spooky effect: 

 

These lighting effects are used to make the audience thing that someone is there without showing them the face or any details about the person. These are used lot.

Music is also a useful effect when making a thriller, the music is usually fast pace when danger is about, also there is usually slow music when building up to danger. Different speeds of music often represent different things to the audience. 

sound exercise plan

written assignment- as media studies, first project.

in our first assignment we was asked to film a range of different shots. for example: 

• close up 
• over the shoulder 
• high angle 
• low angle 
• pan 
• tilt 
• rolling 
• tracking 

these are just a few examples of the  many you could have. we made out shots into a shot film. our film was based around a drug deal. however, due to a lost member of the group the story line ended up a bit confusing. we decided to try our best by killing of her character all together and made it so that that character had died. within our movie we tried to use all the shots although,  not all of them where involved. for example: 

• rolling cam
• tracking shot 
• extrem close up 
• steady cam
• long shot

we didn't include these shots because we couldn't think of a effective way to put it into the film. however , we did include a rolling shot but we was unable to find this scene when editing. 

we used different shot to show different things. 

low angle shot- we used this to show power that the criminal escaped for jail. this shows power. this was a successful. 

pan- we used this to show the direction in which a person was walking. this was successful because it showed us where she was going. 

tilt- we used this to get a clear view to show the audience a person in full. this gives the watcher a idea of what type of person they are by the way they look and dress. this was successful because it shows how she does look and the way she dressed described her perosnality. 

medium shot- this was used to show something happening between too people. 

close up- we used this to shows the audience exactly hows speaking at what time. 

high angle- we used this shot to show the status in a person. this was not sucsessful as it was not entirly clear who was in charge of the two. 

medium shot- we used this to show who was talking to who. this gives us an understanding of who's in controll of who and who has  a higher status.

over the shoulder- this was used to show a conversation taking place between to people.

point of view- this was used to show where the person was going and who they was heading for.

i did most of the filming in the movie. i held my shot steady by using the tripod, this made my shot clearer and less shakey. the tripod was useful as shots where clearer. some shot could have been done better as i mistakenly cut people heads off and missed them out of the shot. the high angle shot i believe could have been put in a different place in order to show a clearer understanding of status.

my favourite shot was the tilt. this because i was clear how it was used and why. the film could have made more sense and also we could of used more shots including rolling shot a and close ups. 

camera angle practice

http://youtu.be/oLLfVxd67R8

Welcome to my As level Media studies blog. Throughout the year I will blog the progress and the new things I lear.
Here is something i have already learnt.

There are different types of genre that a film may be, examples of different types of genre are- horror, musicals, thrillers and science fiction.

horror films- scream, insidious, mama and conjuring
musicals- high school musical, mama Mia, hairspray and grease.
comedies- grown ups, were the millers. hangover, knocked up.

However some movies have mixed genre, this means they may have ore than one genre for example the scary movie sequels have more the one they have a comedy element and a scary element. Mixed genre allow directors to play more with story lines with out worrying about the genre clashing. The Hunger Games is an example of a film with many different genre, it is not able to be put into one category it is a si-fi/thriller/adventure movie.