BBC Final Destination Review

http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/02/16/final_destination_2000_review.shtml

Textual analysis

I am going to analyse the fim Final Destination 1 directed by James Wong and released in 2000. the genre is a horror/thriller genre

Narrative Structure:

I am going to analyse the fim Final Destination 1 directed by James Wong and released in 2000. the genre is a horror/thriller genre.Devon Sawa who plays as Alex Browning is heading off to Paris on a school trip. This sets the equilibrium in the film. Shortly after the students aboard the plane and ‘Alex’ has a vision that the plane their on is going to crash and kill everyone. He wakes up from this vision disturbed but assumes it’s the nerves playing with his mind, until the events that occurred in his vision begin repeating themselves in real life. This sets the disruption. At this point he freaks out and tells everyone the planes going to crash and he, plus a few others get off the plane. We see the plane take off and explode shortly afterwards, this startles all of the characters leaving ‘Alex’ shocked.  This sets the new equilibrium. Throughout the film, the passengers that managed to get off the plane begin to die in bizarre ways which leads to them linking the deaths to the order in which were supposed to die, they then use this new knowledge to try to beat death.

Genre codes and conventions:

This film used various effects to match it with the genre and keep the audience entertained. Oe aspect that the film used was mise en scene. There are various shots which show the audience watching the whole background as to where the characters are situated to give every possible detail to the audience. This also allows the audience to fully integrate with the characters in the film as if they were there too.

Sound is another thing the directors take into consideration when making a horror, when a scary scene comes up and the editors of the film want the audience to feel the full effect, they add very tense and loud off screen non diegetic sound effects to create the atmosphere and scary the audience.

In this film, when ‘Adam’ is having premonitions the director of the film makes sure to keep the lighting and colour the same as when he’s not having them. This is done to not give away the fact that when he saw the plane blow up, that it wasn’t actually happening.

The editing of this film allowed the film to correctly fit together and create all the scenes and make them look as real as possible. This makes the film look realistic which would move the audience and keep them entertained towards the end of the film.

The story line of this film fits with the generic conventions as the director used various aspects of horror scenes and mystery, leaving the audience interested and curious as to how the film will end and who will survive. The story line also fits together slowly as we are given certain clues throughout the film as too what is happening and how the characters can stop it. This is another way to keep the audience entertained as they would want to find out who dies and who lives.

The themes of the film show conflict between life and death. This isn’t the general conflict that films portray in the modern society as it usually generalises around racial differences or the differences in society.

Detailed textual analysis of 2-3 minute extract.

The section of the film that I will be analysing has a large number of aspects contributing towards the genre of the movie. The clip uses various close ups to show the audience facial expressions and what’s causing the disruption in the scene. For example we get a close up of ‘Alex’s face when he realizes what’s happening to show how disturbed he’s feeling and we get close ups on the effects that the fire has on the house and the character. The clip also used panning shots to show us the trail of blood and the trail of fire both moving fast creating a match on action effect with the blood and fire.

 The extract uses lots of mise en scene to show the audience the full detail of what’s happening. For example when the female character is struggling to stay alive, the audience get shown shots of various dangerous things. Fire is shown in the series of fast paced shots which encourages the aspect that she is in danger, also the blood around her body and the fact she’s grasping onto her neck again bring by the effect of danger, adding to that the use of props such as knifes in the scene again portray danger. This shows the audience she has very little chance of survival so they at this point would be expecting a death of a character which again, fits the generic conventions of a horror.

The scene uses high key low contrast lighting when inside the house to give the audience a full effect of the flames. Also the fact that the conventions are swapped, creates a tenser atmosphere. Usually in horror films, outside is unsafe and inside is safe, in this scene, the director decided to make the inside unsafe and the outside safe which would play with the audiences mind.

The editing and special effects of this scene allows the director to end this scene with a blast ‘literally’. We see a long shot of ‘Alex’ running from inside the house from a 3^rd characters point of view and very shortly after the house explodes. This has an effect on the audience as they at this point would be mesmerised at how ‘Alex’ manages to escape death, once again.

Close up of a tea mug

Pan up to face of character

Quick cut to a mid-shot showing panic in the characters expression

Close up of mug and we see it’s from a high school which we can relate the previous deaths too

Mid-shot of character speaking to herself

Mid-shot of character looking up

Close up of drink that she gets from the freezer

Mid shot of her closing fridge and we see the red magnet sliding slightly down

Close up of ice in the mug (that was previously filled with hot water)

Close up of crack in cup and water dropping out

Mid shot of the character

Pan down to her putting drink down showing us the bottle

Close up of her picking up mug

Back to mid shot of drink (we see her pass the knife rack that is covered by a cloth

Panning shot of floor shows audience she’s walking

Pans to close up of water falling into the computer

Close up of her face

Cut into her rolling up and item in bubble wrap

Back to a close up of water falling into the computer

Pans down showing the audience is causing electrical malfunction in the computer

Mid shot of her packing

Mid shot of her seeing smoke coming out of the computer

The character moves closer in shot making the mid shot become a close up

Close up of explosion

Close up of her hands around her neck

Birds eye view shot of her blood falling to the floor

Mid shot of woman struggling

Mid shot of her tripping

Close up of music needle falling out of place

Mid shot of new characters feet and legs which pans up  to show us character

Mid shot of man clearing fire

Mid close up of character looking confused

Close up of fire flickering up

Mid close up showing us the character realizes something

Close up which pans across the fire which then leads to a mid close up of character

Panning shot of blood dripping

Mid close up of character gripping her neck

Close up of bloody hand grabbing counter

Close up of sparks

Panning shot of fire transporting across the floor

Mid close up of woman gripping her neck

Panning shot of fire

Mid close up of character gripping neck

Close up of kettle on fire

Close up of alcohol bottle showing us the fire reaching it

Close up of explosion and her falling

Wide shot of him running turning into a mid shot

Wide shot of house

Mid close up of woman on floor (the high angle shot suggests she’s out of power)

Close up of cloth (& knifes) and her hand reaching for the cloth

Close up of her hand

Mid close up of her on the floor (birds eye view)

Close up of hand grabbing cloth over knifes

Close up of action (cloth moving slowly off knifes)

Mid close up of knife falling through her chest

Close up of other character

Mid close up of him running into the house

Mid close up of him in the house

Close up of blood on floor

Pans up to a mid close up of character looking for female character

Pans back down and we see woman on floor and bloody hand prints on the table

Mid close up of character looking down, camera pans while he walks towards woman to another mid close up of her on floor and him crouching next to her

Point of view close up woman on floor

Close up of shelves falling

Wide shot of character struggling to hold up shelves

Extreme close up of explosion and chair falling onto the knife, digging it deeper into the female characters chest

Mid close up of male character getting back up

Close up of lifeless woman on the floor

Mid close up of male character standing up, holding knife

Close up of woman on floor from a point of view upper shot

Mid close up of character holding knife

Zooms into a close up

Close op of the knife dropping to the floor

Camera pans down showing us the blood on floor

Panning shot of a fourth character riding a bike outside the house

Wide shot of guy running out of the house

Mid close up of character on the bike

Extreme wide shot of house blowing up

Mid close of character jumping onto ground

Extreme wide shot of house blowing up

Mid close up of other character shocked and on the floor

Extreme wide shot of house burning

Close up of male character looking back

Mid shot of house entrance

Mid shot of him sitting up looking

Close up of him getting up which pans to him running away from the scene

Mid shot of guy on the bike looking surprised.

Run hard Review Magazine (2nd Draft)

Textual Analysis (Ninja Assassin)

Ninja Assassins

“Raizo (Rain) is one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is considered a myth. Haunted by the execution of his friend by the Clan, Raizo breaks free from them and prepares to exact his revenge.”

Released: 2009 November

Director: James Mc Teigue

Horror | Crime | Action | 

Equilibrium:

Ninja Assassins starts out with an old Asian bald man who is wearing a traditional vest coat, tattooing younger mans back. He is a contrast against the older man because he appears to be very young with spiked hair and tattoos on his body. There are men and women lounging around and walking about in a huge warehouse, playing pool, smoking and drinking. The older Asian guy accidently hurts the younger man and he exclaims, “Watch it old guy!” The older man then gives a calm subtle speech to the younger guy. He then took it as disrespect so he held a gun to the older guy’s face. Within this whole beginning we do not discover the names of the characters, they all remain anonymous.  Not knowing the characters in the opening scene, shows us that they are not important and they may die.

Disruption:

The disruption begins when one of the men that were lounging around opens the door with a sealed letter in his hand. He disrupts the younger guy from getting his tattoo done and suggests that the he should open it right away. The guy then breaks the seal and opens the letter to find pure black sand in it. He pours it out and says “It looks like black sand” The older guy gave a low soft cry and exclaiming “No!” and then dropped the needle for the tattoo to the ground, splattering with red ink. The red ink dropping to the floor and creating a splatter, was to show to the audience that something is about to happen. The fact that the ink was red and it flowed out the tattoo pen symbolises blood, pain, murder and so on. This was just a warning to the audience to show that someone is about to die and it’s going to get violent and dangerous.

New Equilibrium:

After fighting with his previous Master and being wounded badly, Raizo, the Ninja lifts Mica, his trusted friend, and walks out the burning building with her in his hands. After Mica had been tended to, Raizo is back at the wreckage, cutting a stem of a plant. He looks up to a tall wall, and then he climbed it until he reached to the top. He stood up at the edge of the wall and looked beyond into hills and mountains.

The narrative structure of this movie is not typical of an action movie. A stereo typical action movie begins with an equilibrium that continues on with the story line. Ninja Assassins began with a narrative separate from the main storyline. This was done to give meaning to some of the scenes throughout the movie. After the disruption, the old man explains what was about to happen and why he survived before. Near the end of the movie, one of the main characters, Mica, was attacked the same way as the old man did, but survived for the same reason.

The first scene of the movie was symbolic to what was about to happen in the entire movie. This was done so that the audience can understand the actions of the Ninja Assassin, and so that the rest of the movie would make sense over all. Also by doing this, the audience is not left in suspense and are at the edge of their seats from the beginning of the movie. This prepares the audience for what is about to happen throughout the film.

Black sand was used as a warning in the film. This meant that the Ninja’s were approaching and was going to kill you. They used black sand because the colour black relates to death, Night time and shadows. Whilst explaining what was about to happen to the younger men, the old guy said, “...and then he came from the shadows” The black sand symbolised the Ninja approaching and he would possibly be coming out of the shadows. Also, using sand connotes that time may be running out, because sand is used in hourglass’s which count down time. This shows that the time is up for those who receive that letter.

The new equilibrium is very typical of its genre. The Ninja, Raizo, seeks revenge on his master that killed the one person that thought him of love. He defeated every Ninja that stood in his way until he found his Master. It almost seemed as though Raizo was defeated by his Master, but rose up from his weakness and defeated his Master once and for all. The fact that it seemed as though Raizo was about to be defeated, was done to bring the audience to the edge of their seat. They wanted the audience to become anxious and raise hope for him not to be defeated. This was done also to fool the audience into thinking that the one and only good Ninja was about to die, so that the movie becomes instantly interesting, because you are left in suspense to what is about to happen. 

The main character is the ninja; he is represented as a ninja, from his costume and body language. He is dressed in all black, and his face is wrapped up hiding his identity and only revealing his eyes. He doesn’t speak at all, but speaks through his body language. He is represented in a typical way because ninja’s in past films for example, Revenge of the Ninja, always dress up in black attire and remains anonymous. His body language as well showed that he was a ninja because he moved swiftly, fast and awkwardly in different positions. He walked like different animals as if he was a tiger or a gorilla, which are some of the strongest animals in the jungle, making him seem like the strongest person in the room. This is typical to the genre because in Ninja movies you would expect for there to be Ninja’s. The Ninja in this film is represented typically, and what happens in the scene is typical for the genre because typical thrillers you expect, killing and suspense and Ninja Assassin show these features within it. 

Naomie Harris, who plays Mika a forensic researcher, is represented as an average working woman. She wears plain t-shirts and black suits, which represents her status and personality in the film. This was done to show her normality and her vulnerability. Her character has no skills and as seen throughout the movie, she is unable to defend herself properly. This is a representation of women because women are stereo typically seen to be weaker and less superior to men, when it comes to defending themselves. The man is always the hero and the woman is the victim. One example of a film that goes against this stereo type, is ‘Salt’ the woman is the hero and the male characters are the victims. Her body language in some scenes helps to show her vulnerability and to add to the representation of women. This is typical of the genre because is most Action movies the male is the hero and the female is saved by the male. For example, ‘The Clash of the Titans’

Typical mise-en-scene was used to make the film. The setting of the first scene was based in a warehouse, where there were a lot of people, playing games and drinking. Asian men were armed with guns and weapons. This showed that they were Asian gangsters because typical Asian gangsters in other movies such as; ‘Year of the dragon’, carry around with them guns and wear traditional wear. The lighting was dim at first and then became completely dark when the ninja had arrived in the scene. It added suspense to the sequence because you could not see the Ninja anywhere, yet everyone was dying one by one. The facial expressions by the younger guy, when he saw what was happening were, scared, shocked and regretful. He looked terrified for his life and had tried to bargain for his life. He kept looking up and pointing towards the ceiling with his gun, realising he was no longer in control because he could not see who or what it was, and it was higher than him. 

Sounds used in the film were intense and dramatic. Scenes where Raizo would be practicing his skills with his weapons in his apartment were enhancing to create a bigger effect on the audience. You were able to hear the blades of his swords cut through the air. This was done so that the audience could have an understanding of how sharp the swords were, So that each time someone got stabbed or hurt by the swords, the audience would understand the impact. In the fighting scene, there were non diegetic sounds in the fighting scenes with Raizo and the other Ninja’s. This was done to increase the intensity of the scene.

Camera angles are used in many ways in Ninja Assassin. There are a huge range from extreme close ups, high angles shots, long shots, two shots and a lot more. Close ups and extreme close ups were used to allow the audience to see the emotion in the characters face, and for a possibility that they might relate in some way. Long shots were used to show the body language of the characters, for example, in the fighting scene where Razio was fight against his Master, in order to see the full impact of the fighting stunts and moves, a Long shot was needed. 

Editing was used throughout the entire film. There were fades, straight cuts, and special effects in Ninja Assassin. In the last scene of the film, a fade was use to symbolise a new day, and a way to connote that time has passed and it is another day. When Raizo was practicing with his weapons, ,sound effects were added by editing the motions of the blades to match with the sound. Also, in the final fight scene between Raizo and his Master, Raizo swiftly disappeared in mid air, and ended up behind his Master. This was done using editing techniques. They are useful to the film, because it is a typical convention of action films such as this.

Ninja Assassin is about an orphaned child that was haunted by the execution of his friend at a young age. He escapes and then seeks revenge.  The theme of this movie is society vs criminal. Raizo teams up with the police in order to get help finding his arch enemy, his Master. He fought the Ninja’s off from attacking people that were with the police. This means that he is now a good guy in the film, only seeking out his revenge. 

 Analysis of 2-3 minutes when Raizo fights against his Master.

This is a low angle shot of Raizo walking to find his Master. It is a clip rein acted from his child hood, so that's why there is an emphasis on showing his feet. There were only diegetic sound in this scene of foot steps and fire burning all around him.A low key lighting was used here to create a shadow effect, making Raizo seem mysterious.

This is an over shoulder shot of Razio, approaching his Master. The low key lighting still remains to create the shadow effect, because the Ninja's are best in the shadows. The over shoulder shot allows us to view the opponents body language to see if they're scared of very confident. Very low diegetic music is used in this scene so that you can hear the both characters speaking.

This is an extreme close up of Raizo battling against his Master. This close up was used so that you can see the state his face was in. His hair is dripping of sweat down in front of his eyes, there's blood all over him, and yet he still is standing ready to fight. The close up emphasises also on the emotions Raizo may be feeling.






This long shot of both characters fighting, was do so that the audience was about to view all the actions and the fight moves. The fire in the background symbolises passion, and both characters are fighting for it, but just only one 












The prop used here is a sword and it is relevant to the film because in typical action films, the victim and the villain both have weapons. In this case it is a very sharp sword. This is a close up and a out of focus pool shot. The sword is in focus so that the audience can have an idea of how sharp the knife is. Lighting was of a low key.

A2 Textual analysis of a similar product

Title: I know what you did last summer

Date of release: October 17^th 1997

Name of director: Jim Gillespie

Genre: Horror / mystery/thriller

My textual analysis of a similar product is about a horror/mystery/thriller film called –‘I know what you did last summer’. I chose this particular movie because I thought the suspense of the horror action was very well made in this film. ‘I know what you did last summer’ has also got similar narrative to the short film I’m planning to make for my A2 production. This is as my film also consists of few teenagers getting killed of one by one by a mysterious character that has their reasons.

The narrative structure for “I know what you did last summer’

Equilibrium is 4 youngsters going home after a night of celebrating Helens win at a beauty pageant.

Disruption is when they hit and apparently kill a man with Barry’s car and decide to dump the dead body in the ocean and never talk of it again.

The new equilibrium is Julie in her second year of college receiving a letter to go to a pool party. This occurs at the end of the film.

Genre codes and conventions

“I know what you did last summer’ has a lot of typical stereotype characters in it. The lead character that is the survivor of the film is a smart, good girl called Julie, her friend is a beauty queen Helen who wears short dresses and dates the high school jock Barry who has a brand new car in which they cause an accident. Ray is Julie’s boyfriend who is a typical easygoing guy; we see this when he brakes up a fight between Barry and another guy.

The killer of the film carries the typical codes and conventions of a horror film by using the same weapon to kill, which is a hook. He is a mentally disturbed man who wears a black raincoat and we can’t see his face.

Sound is very important in horror movies and this is not an exception we hear a lot of tension raising music that builds up before the killer appears on the screen.

The lighting in this film differs from scene to scene but is mostly low-key high contrast. The scenes where the killer is seen is mostly shadow full dark places that help with increasing tension and fright to the movies audience.

Settings are mostly those that are everyday places as usual for a horror film. As that gives the effect to the viewer that this could happen in real life.

Editing at the scary parts of the film is mostly fast pace, but the editing pace varies throughout the movie corresponding to the action that we see.

There’s a lot of close ups in order to show the characters facial expressions that are full of fright in the movie, long shots are also dominant in the scarier parts of the film like the chase scenes, so we can see the running properly. Two shots and mid close ups dominate the rest of the films cinematography; they create a safe, friendlier environment.

Detailed textual analysis of 2-3minute extract

The extract is from the part when Helen comes back home and the killer enters her room unnoticed.

The first shot of the extract is a panning shot of Helen entering the kitchen and opening the fridge. Her body language and facial expression makes her look calm.

The next shot is a close up of a TV screen that shows a baseball game.

We see a man sitting down on a sofa sipping on a drink in the living room. His shot is a mid close up, but we see most of the room and in the background we see a light shadow moving bigger and bigger and then a figure of a man suddenly appears in the shadow.

 Then there’s a cut to a high angle shot from the stairs to the corridor where we also see the shadow.

Cut back to Helen with a can of cola in her hand, this is a pan from right to left of her picking up an empty glass from the table.

Fast cut to the door, where we see a tracking shot towards the killers figure and he closes the door.

Cut to a close up of the drink can that gets opened and poured into a glass.

Cut to a warm’s eye view of the killer in a black raincoat who straightens his arm and we see a very shiny big hook in his hand.

Cut to the close up of the TV screen, and then cut to the mid shot of a man on the sofa.

Cut to a low angle close up of Helen drinking a glass of cola.

Cut to the view from the door, tracking towards the light that seems to be coming from the kitchen.

Cut to a close up of Helen putting down the glass on the table and walking away.

Cut to further tracking towards the light coming from the kitchen.

Mid shot of Helen, fast cut to the tracking shot again and cut to a pan of Helen walking out of the kitchen.

We see a long shot of Helen who enters the corridor, as she walks towards the camera we crane downwards and tilt to the top of the stairs before she looks up to climb the stairs we see the killer but he enters a room when she walks up.

We see a high angle shot from the top of the stairs her walking up and taking her earrings off. Cut to her point of view going up the stairs and a cut back to the high angle of her coming up and a little pan when she turns to enter a room.

Cut to another pan (left to right) of her entering the room and putting her bag down and then panning to the left again following her and then stopping at the slightly open closet, she exits the shot. Then we zoom in to the closet and there’s a little tilt up.

Cut to her putting a shirt on, mid shot. Pan to the left her back to us. Zoom in to Helen holding a crown and we see a hand reaching for her shoulder.

 She jumps up and turns around.

Cut to a long shot of Helen and her sister. Pan to the left following Helen who puts her crown next to a mirror, we can see her sister in the mirror as well as her. Pan to the right where Helen sits down on her bed and starts brushing her hair (close up), the focus is on her sister in the background who is talking to her.  Focus moves back to Helen who replies.

 Her sister exits the room and closes the door.

Cut to the close up of an open closet.

 The mise-en-scene of this extract is very usual everyday life like, the average home; Helen is wearing casual clothing- jean shorts and a t-shirt. Helens room has ice skates hanged on the wall, flowers in a vase, the beauty pageant crown and a mirror. Helen has a typical clean girls room.

Sound is very horror movie typical that rises tension.

The cinematography of this extract, especially the use of shadows to show the entry of the killer into the house is very effective in order of frightening the audience as we don’t actually see the killer yet we know he is there.

Editing in this extract is fast and gets quicker with every shot, until the red herring of when her sister turns out to be the one who taps her shoulder.

The lightning and color is mostly high key low contrast except for the killer entry to the house shots where its low key high contrast. This is typical to a horror movie as usually when the killer is shown it is dark.

Poster analysis

Poster Analysis

Summary Of Our Short Film

On a cold autumn evening the best of friends are hanging out and having drinks in an abandoned cemetery. It’s not long until they disturb the dead and find themselves in danger. They are all unique characters and have different skills that they can use to defend themselves from the mystic cemetery guard. There is lots of tripping and slipping when the free runner tries to escape the ghost, and so not much effort is needed from the ghost to avenge the disturbed peace of the graveyard as the free runner trips to his doom. The others think they have escaped what they thought was a battle with a nocturnal being and it’s not until the next day that they realize it’s not only a being of the night neither an alcoholic dream. As they discuss the disappearance of their friend they are startled with the realization that he might have needed their help. As they split to go home one hears the scream of the other and so the fright, tension and fight for life returns to their lives. The protagonist realises that the disturbance of the cemetery must be resolved in order for her to have a chance of survival and bring peace to her life.