film openings memento,brick and zodiac

the opening to a film is often key because if people lose interest in the beginning there not going to want to watch the rest of the film.i have analysed the beginning of three films the first of witch is momento

momento is a one of a kind film in witch it tries out a structre completely different form any other movie it esentialy plays backwards we get to see the end of the movie at the begining of the film so the opening is the ending we see a man waving a poloroidwhich slowly loses focus and becomes more blurry this gives us a suspicion witch is then confermed when we see a gun from the ground rise up into his had like it was being dropped in reverse then we see a dead body rise to its kees and a bullet retract forom its head and flow back into the chamber of the gun just before the scene ends we here the scream of the man before he was obviously shot. we then cut to a black and white scene (which suggests flashbacks) of our gun man is lying on a motel bed we here him talking but it is a non - diagetic voice over descibing to us what it is like to have memory loss it then cuts to a scene of are gun manat the frount desk of the motel room where he is piked up by a friend the deadman from the first scene.this really puts the audience into unfamiliar teritory as the fist scene seemed to be being rewound thiss scene contrasts as it is playing perfectly normaly only the man is still alive him and newly named lenard drive to an abbandond building to look for clues to somthing. lenord reads a meesage on the back of a poloriod and then we see him shoot him.so we have made a full cyicle thus intising the audience wondering what will happen next? will it show us why he shot him?its all very suspenseful in a strange backwards kind of way witch is what makes the film so compelling.

the second film is zodiac a creepy cepearish crime thriller set in early 70's san fransisco about the real life investigation of the famous zodiac killer.the filmstarts with a nice mellow yet some what forboding opening piece of music we see a small statement saying that the events are baased on case files before opening to a shot of the golden gate bridge in twilight san fransiscoon the fourth of july with dozens of fire works quietly going off already establishing an eriee feel for this film.we see mid shots of a small normal suburban households from the view of a car whitch we see is being driven by a women to pick up her date. after deciding not to eat the couple head out to a small quiet spot on the top of a hill near a woods if 50's si-fi has told us anything thats a baaaaaad idea but dont worry its not the attack of the three headed thing from mars thats going to get them we all know from the get go its going to be the killer witch is what builds such tension.a bunch of teenagers drive by in a car throwing fire crackers making a false alarm or a red herring building a sense of inpending doom.the mise en scen in the scene is unsetteling the old clothes hair styles and cars bring you back to 1969 all you can see is the light around the car surrounded by darkness like their on stage and someones shining a spotlight on them.then another car which we can not see the driver of slowly pulls up and just sits there sielently as the young couple worry after a few seconds it drives off seeming like another faulse alarm but just as they begin to get comfurtable the car does a u turn, comes back, stops a tall dark figure gets out and shines a light in there faces and then proceeds to shoot both car pasengers in the face i think the scene ends briliantly as the diagetic sound of the radio which has been playing low the whole time increases in volume and basicaly becomes non-diagetic sound as we see an arial view of the two cars as we see the murderer get back into his and leave the spotlight.

the final opening im going to talk about is the film brick.brick opens at a close-up shot of flowing water witch the camara follows to a close up shot of some shoes of someone crouching down it then focuses out and then back in with an extreme close-up shot of this persons eyes we then cut to a shot of a girl lying dead in a drain with the man crouched on the other side staring at her all the while this very slow quiet and ever so slightly unsettling non-dieagetic music playing in the backround finaly the camara cuts to a close up shot of the dead girls wrist where we can see she is wearing an unsual bracletthe whole scene then changes with the use of a graphic match where we see the same bracelet on someones wrist opening a school locker.

oh and if you think im just sitting here moaning on about the openings of a few fairly intresting sounding films without showing them to you well think again!  oh and erh the momento one is in spanish for some reason                                    
  brick

momento

zodiac

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBu8BdhUnmE&feature=player_detailpage

structure and formulas of thrillers

The use of continuity editing helps the audience understand what is going on because if a film didn't run in the correct order it wouldn't make sense. The clear establishment of 'cause and effect' plotting which establishes character motivations and helps tell an interesting story which proceeds logically and steadily.

it's................................................SUSPENSE!

alot of people miss the point of thrillers they think its all about shock horror and big explosions like the average mordern day blockbuster but there is a difference between shock and what thrillers do withc is build suspence

shock: is the form of sudden action whitch is often just thrown unexpectedly at the audince and has a quick short lasting effect a good example of this is the opening to the 2006 movie "children of men" where the audience is shown a normal day in a kind of world very similar we see a news report that is being watched by a mon who the camera follows out the door we then see suddenly a very large explosion and her screaming.

altough this is an very effective opening to a thriller it does not follow the convention of build suspense rather than going for shock value.

suspense: is difined as A quality in a work of fiction that arouses excited expectation or uncertainty about what may happen.this can be built up by a series of hints and clues to whats going to happen not just in the story of the film but in the audio and the mise en scen as well this shows us that the film may be leading to somthing but often it is never clear what that is and this creates the suspense.

an example of this is in alfred hitchcock's 1948 film rope in which two wealthymen kill their friend just to see if they could get away with it,the suspense is built whenthey invite guests to a party with the body still in the room not so safely concealed in a trunk in the middle of the room, the audience knows this so they are constantly on the edge of their seats not knowing wheather or not the body will be found.

enigma?

an enigma is another technique that thrillers incorporate to confuse and disorientate the audience so they don't see the final twist coming which increases the entertainment value twice maybe even thrice fold.an enigma refers to a puzzle or something mysterious and inexplicable.this riddle is normally meant to be solved by the protagonist and normally formulated by the antagonist.this is normally resolved by the duration of the narrative but sometimes it is left open to make the audience think an example of this is inception we do not know why the wife of the main character "kob" keeps trying to attack and dismantle his dreams we find out that its because he and his wife were stuck in dream limbo and when they escaped she killed her self because she thought she was still dreaming, at the end of the film we see kobs totem a spinning top start to topple but we never see it fall so we the audience do not know whether the whole film was a dream or not. this is also a good example of a cliffhanger

red herrings or is it?

red herring is a convention of a thriller where the audience are given a false trail to follow.where they are lead to believe somthing that isn't quite true.often this will involve in a false hero that betrays our protagonist at a curtail moment it could also be a person who we believe to be dead who then turns out to be alive or even a character who you think may be the villain distracting you from the truth a good example of this is Eva Marie Saint in "north by northwest" where we are unclear on witch side this fem fatale stands

cliffhanger

films sometimes end without an ending.where the final result is unknown where the film is left open to interpretation or preparing for a sequel.this often features the main character in a precarious or seemingly inescapable situation with makes the audience hang on to the edge of their seat as they wonder how the hero or heroine will get out of this difficult dilemma.

manchurian candidate vs manchurian candidate

"two films?" you say "surely he's mad!" no I am not ever heard of a remake yes nasty, horrible little things want to poison the younger generation and destroy all that was but fear not this one is not like the others and I’m going to tell you why. The Manchurian candidate is a 1962 film that was remade in 2004 it was originally a 1959 thriller novel written by American novelist Richard Condon ha ha guess what the other kids called him at school. The original movie stars frank Sinatra

I know what you’re thinking "this guy can act? I thought he just hung out with mobsters?" yeah well apparently he can and I have know complaints I think he works well as the seriously stressed out captain Benet Marco man who is having very strange dreams about him and his troops being part of some strange experiment after his triumphant and much publicized return from the Korean war. Janet Leigh yeah remember her from psycho she’s back playing Eugenie rose Chaney who captain Marco meets on a train (as they always seem too in these old movies)and tries to help him uncover the secrets of his dreams and take down the people they believe to have brain washed him. The film also stars Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury, you know from murder she wrote and also really surprisingly the teapot from beauty and the beast who knew?
Anyway these two play the most screwed up mother and son I’ve ever seen Eleanor Shaw Iselin and Raymond Shaw now if you don’t like the sound of that last name then seriously don’t watch this film because it is repeated constantly over and over Raymond this Raymond that I mean he’s not even the main character the film focuses mainly on Marco, it's like these people will literally forget Shaw’s name if they don’t keep saying it. Raymond was part of captain Marcos Company and because he was such a stick in the mud he was not very popular however when they return home all the soldiers agree that Shaw was extremely brave and single handedly rescued the whole company from an enemy assault. What we later find out is that all the men in the company were being brainwashed by united communist forces hence the name the Manchurian candidate when Shaw arrives home his mother an overbearing manipulating women and her idiotic no-necked husband(Raymond’s step father) senator john yerkes Iselin offer Raymond a job where they can keep an eye on him but not wishing to be controlled by his mother any longer Raymond refuses we later find out that Eleanor ruined Raymond’s only true shot at happiness because she didn't approve of his choice of girlfriend and little do we know that she is not going to stop there for she is the link to America from Manchuria she is the component that will take the brainwashing to a whole new level getting her carefully molded new son to kill off certain individuals in order for her and foolish obnoxious husband into the White house. The remake is slightly different it stars Liev Schreiber as Raymond and Denzel Washington as Marco yeah notice how they change the skin color of the main character they do this with a lot of the characters I don't see why its necessary to put loads of black people into a film which had an original cast with no black people maybe it was just to bring it in to modern day society and to be politically correct. They change quite a lot of stuff in the remake not just to bring it into the modern day but to make it generally more interesting because sadly people just aren't interested in politics today. Raymond is the one being pushed into the White house by his mother as vice president and not his step father which makes for some good scenes of Marco going crazy and attacking Raymond before being restrained, the remake has Raymond still commit the same acts and murders but the playing card initiation is completely ignored by some just saying his full name, HOW STUPID IS THAT! I mean the guy is running for vice president did they not think at all that there was a possibility of someone saying his name. What about someone announcing him on a talk show or something is he just going to start killing everyone there wouldn't that liven up the one show on a Wednesday afternoon. they also change who it is controlling Raymond as I said before in the original it is the communist party from china but in this its a national weapons manufacturing corporation called Manchurian global I suppose they called it that so they could keep the name  "the Manchurian candidate" rather than big evil brainwashing conglomerate candidate although I think they did do well at sticking to the original storyline whilst showing a modern day interpretation by showing what society is fearful of now rather than something we've long since dismissed. Denzel Washington's performance is very good as you would expect but I honestly think Live Schreiber out shines him he plays the soulless robotic outer exterior of Raymond Shaw extremely well but he also makes you believe that he fells strongly for the senator's daughter and that he's fighting against this hypnotism he has been put under the film leads to a suspenseful climax where Raymond has one the vice presidential election and at the celebrations Marco is set up with a sniper also being controlled by Manchurian global to kill shows running mate the newly elected president so that Raymond will then fill his seat as president and complete Eleanor Shaw’s plan but Raymond fights against his hypnotism and moves in to the presidents mark taking his mother with him as Marco shoots he kills them both with the one shot, Marco is about to commit suicide as part of the plan before Eugenie "Rosie" Rose (yeah remember her from the original ) shoots him in the shoulder disarming him. It doesn’t tell us how it ends up for the characters but we can assume that the FBI took down Manchurian global for their nefarious misdeeds. The final scene just shows Marco finding the place where he was kidnapped and brainwashed and walks to the coast near by and throws a picture of his platoon along with his major medal in a poetic and fitting ending.

psycho! hitchcock thrillers strike back!

 Hitchcock said that a good thriller allowed the audience to dip their toe into the pool of fear and psycho is certainly no exception to the rule. This horrifying tale of brutal murder and suspense so sweet is viewed as one of the greatest movies ever made, many believe it was the first of the slasher genre because we have the POV shots out of the killers eyes as they slash their victims we have a mysterious setting the bates motel and the dusty old house on the hill muck like camp crystal lake or elm street, we actually have the slashing motion of the killings, the cliché screams ad it definitely has a body count so this could have been a start of a hole new line of scary thrilling movies and their terrible sequels and even worse remakes. Psycho itself has two sequels which I’ll talk about later and a terrible remake which I will get out of the way with one sentence. Vince Vaughn as Norman bates! Yeah enough said. Let’s talk about the original. The original psycho was made in 1960 and stars Janet Leigh as Hitchcock’s blond target for destruction this time but she excels her self to new levels in this film which far out pass her predecessors such as Eva Marrie Saint and grace Kelly even though she is killed off in the first half of the film leaving boy friend Sam (john Gavin) and sister Lila (Vera miles) to pick up the pieces she still portrays a seemingly ditsy yet overall mysterious character who at first seems to be just an average pretty faced secretary but then "oh no!" this b*!@h is crazy she goes ahead and lives out the dream of the average day person by stealing $40,000 from her boss and just hitting the road but then finds herself living out the nightmare of the average day person by stopping for the night at the bates motel. Well I wont want to spoil the film for you so that enough about the story. Let’s talk about how it was made. Psycho was made. It is slightly unconventional for a thriller it is a lot slower and dramatic and is missing the fast passed action that is the norm this is why many would call it a horror film there certainly isn’t a large body count by anyone’s account but the murders are slow and drawn out it makes it seem like more action is actually happening the most famous scene not only in the movie but in the entire world of cinema is when Janet Leigh is hacked and stabbed to death in the shower. This setting of a young girl on the run in a empty motel room naked and vulnerable in the shower washing her hair with her eyes closed completely unbenkownst to what might happen to her and as the water is gently flowing there is a very eerie build up the in no diagetic sound only the noise of the tap and silence until we hear the screeching of that violin and the shower curtain is ripped back by a siloet looming over us brandishing a carving knife. The score of the movie plays as Janet screams as she is helpless to do anything as her body is mutilated back in the 1960s this sort of brilliant film work making the film so realistic and horrifying must have had people across the globe craping themselves. Not as much praise can be said for the second murder, the one of the privet investigator Arbogast that Marion’s concerned sister Lila has hired. he is slowly walking up the stairs and we see a door at the top of the stair way slowly open as it does are yet to be identified psycho shadow jumps out we hear the violin screech again and its a real shock scene gets people jumping out of there seats. Although this is where it gets real silly are murderer clearly runs and then stabs him in the chest we can see this from a birds eye view from the top of the stairs although when it cuts to a close up of Arbogast he has a huge gash in his face which really wouldn't even be enough to kill him or even make him fall down the stairs in that ridiculous way. Falling down the stairs whilst standing vertically upright with your arms out stretched and a face like you've just had to listen to an entire Amy Whinehouse album
although lets give the guy a break he did just get slashed in the face or stabbed in the chest its not very clear well at least are darkly villain runs down to finish the job or this pretty poor scene may have tarnished the films reputation. Ok lets quickly talk rubbish sequels before I conclude there was a psycho 2 and 3 not bates revenge or pshcyo-er just psycho 2 and psycho 3 although they might as well of given it an old hash horror movie sequel name like that because these films suck harder than a Muslim vampire after fasting for Ramadan. the strap line for psycho 3 is "just when you thought it was safe to go back in the shower" yeah needless to say Hitchcock had nothing to do with these films and didn’t even live to see them get made psycho 2 came out three years after he died, it's most likely that he was fighting it until the day he died but someone must have persuaded someone to commission it because 3 years later we have this terrible movie on or hands I don’t want to ruin the fist one for you if you've not seen it and so the less said about the sequels the better although I think Alfred is probably in a perpetual state of rolling in his grave because of them.  if anyone is thinking of just watching this film for shock value then you will be shocked (no joke intended) to find out that its not just things jumping out at you the foundation of this film is a lot more firm than that, its the first of its kind the first to show innocent normal people being killed off one by one by a mad person its that whole Hitchcock idea of making you terrified every time you next take a shower or see a gathering flock of birds like I said at the beginning Hitchcock wanted people to dip their toe into the pool of fear and that’s exactly what psycho allows. It's not blood and guts and screaming, it’s the screech of the violin, it’s that dark shadowy figure, its the unknown so next time you decide to spend the night alone in a creepy old motel at the side of the road watch your back!

lets get down to business

The preliminary task is not awarded marks. However, if it is not completed the examiner will not accept my main task (Thriller opening).The preliminary task is a demonstration of continuity editing.
It must show you can successfully use:

• Match on action.
• Shot/reverse shot.
• 180 degree rule.
• Eyeline match.

Match on action is when we see a character start an action in one shot and then see them continue it in the next.
The 180 degree rule is a basic guideline that states that two characters (or other elements) in the sames scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other.
Shot reverse shot is where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.
Eyeline match is when a character is looking at something off-screen, there will then be a cut to the object or person at which he is looking. For example, a man is looking off-screen to his left, and then the film cuts to a television that he is watching.
In the sequence we should see the following unfold:

• Character A walks towards a closed door.
• Character A enters through the door and crosses a room to where character B is seated.
• Characters A and B exchange a few lines of dialogue.
• Either Character A or B exits the room.

another quote from some person

'The thriller is a very difficult genre to pin down because it covers such a wide range of films. Thrillers are films of suspense that are supported to install terror into the audience’.
 

this foxy little lad is Susan Hayward,

 Key Concepts in Film Studies.dosnt really look like she"d know much about thrillers does she but i sopose that just goes to show dont judge abook buy its colour

source code

Source code is an abysmal attempted at Sci-Fi brilliance with the growing success of the genre with films such as the matrix and rise of the planet of the apes and even sci -fi domination in TV. Such as shows like battle star galactaca, heroes, lost and of course doctor who although matt smith has signal handedly laid waste to that franchise (honestly something has to be done about this flat faced weirdo). We can only expect cheap imitations this film knows what it wants to be another modern Sci-Fi classic all the execution of this just fails. The film runs on very poor questionable logic which ultimately just confuses the audience and although allot of people are content just to sit and watch the explosions every five seconds Michael bayish style that we are all used to in this film I think all the needles explosions and violence are just to distract people from realizing the film doesn’t make any sense. Suspense is built in a strange way as the main character dies in the first 8 mins and we are not to sure what is going on. Not to ruin the entire synopsis for any potential viewers out there but the story consists of captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gylnhall(a gay cowboy)) a us soldier who’s last memory was fighting in deepest, darkest Afghanistan who is now strapped into this strange machinery in some strange metal cell somewhere you think head be grateful for the transfer to cozier circumstances I mean the living conditions have to be better surely who wants to be shooting and some poor Afghani with a hatred for capitalism when you can be sent back in time into the brain of a dead man on a train which is inevitably going to blow up..............yeah that’s seriously the storyline of this film. After he is killed on a train he is then sent back to the train time and time again each time getting a little closer to a bomb before having his nut sack blown off its a bit like watching someone play a video game really badly and just keep respawning but each time the audience is on the edge of there seat wondering if he'll do it this time or will he just assault another Arabic looking guy. If you have already given up on any hope of a good ending by all means stop reading now if not lets continue with the story. Now any real Sci-Fi fan or anyone reasonably versed in these matters will be used to time travel alternate dimensions and even body transferal into imaginary cadavers but there are something’s that just don’t make sense captain Stevens is constantly in contact with the army and the mad scientist who came up with the source code project they tell him that they can repetitively send him in the body of a man who died on a train heading to Chicago that blew up on that morning and to relive his last 8 mins of brain activity to identify the bomber and determine the next target. which would mean that captain Stevens would experience what this man did in his last 8 mins see through his eyes he wouldn’t have any control over the body because then he would be doing things differently and therefore creating memories that don’t exist well needless to say he can control the body making the only logical explanation that every time he is jumped back he is in an alternate dimension where things happened differently which would mean that this is a different version of the guy he is possessing than the one they have back in are dimension therefore he shouldn't be able to occupy his body at all because two different pieces of matter cant occupy the same space and even if its just the brainwaves there sending back its to a different dead guy than the one they have in their lab or whatever because its in a different dimension therefore he shouldn't be able to control this guys body at all

           see even this guy is confused, but if we listen to jerry Seinfeld and we ignore logic so we can enjoy the film and watch Jake Gylnhall get painfully blown up every 8 mins which is very enjoyable to say the least, there is still the fact that he’s looking for this bomb which has already gone off in are dimension to find out what the next target is to stop it and every time he wakes up from one of these jump backs he has about a 20 min conversation with Goodwin the women running the military side of the source code project. in one of the jump backs we find out who are elusive bomber is a baby faced sociopath with delusions of grandeur who kicks the crap out of Stevens and his new found love (whom he is winning over in another guys body dishonest and creepy or what) just as the bomb blows up the train he takes off in his little bomb wagon to Chicago to blow something big and important up are you telling me in all the time Stevens has been jumping back and forth, all those 8 mins, all those long conversations that this guy hasn’t reached his target yet? What traffic especially bad in are dimension? I mean yeah lets ignore logic that’s what sci-fi’s all about screw what’s possible we make are own rules, but don’t make your own rules and then break them I mean why should we care if this makes no sense at all why don’t we just fire Jake Gylnhall into the sun to prevent world war 3 if all we care about are large explosions and falsely based romance the ending is just as stupid as the rest of this film which rounds it off nicely making it obscene from start to finish. In short if your a Sci-Fi fan you will be highly disappointed if your not, then why not! What the hell is wrong with you! Go buy a lost box set for Christ sake! Oh and try and bear with this film the whole way through.

have a look at my course work

The brief for my Media Studies Coursework is to create a title and opening of a new fiction film in the thriller genre to last a maximum of two minutes. Marks are awarded for demonstrating excellence in the following criteria:

• Holding a shot steady.
• Framing a shot.
• Using a variety of shot distances.
• Shooting material appropriate to the task set.

heres the part you didnt pay to see

MacGuffin is a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction. The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are (at least initially) willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the Macguffin actually is. The specific nature of the MacGuffin nay be ambiguous, undefined, generic, left open to interpretation or otherwise completely unimportant to the plot. common example are money, victory, glory, survival, a source of power etc. The MacGuffin is common in films, especially thrillers. Commonly, though not always, the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and then declines in importance of characters play out. It may come back into play at the climax of the story, but sometimes the MacGuffin is actually forgotten by the end of the story. Multiple MacGuffins are sometimes—somewhat derisively—referred to as plot coupons. It may come back into play at the climax of the story. In TV interviews Hitchcock defined a MacGuffin as the object around which the plot resolves. Hitchcock said thrillers allow the audience to put their toe in cold water of fear to see what it's like.

conventions of thrillers and a muderous cartoon coyote

Some film makers will claim that 'there are no rules' or that 'rules are made to be broken'. However most would agree that there are certain conventions that mainstream films observe in order for them to be acceptable to the mass audience.

A man named Chuck Jones made certain rules for the road runner cartoon which he created.
These rules are:

• The road runner cannot harm or upset the coyote except by going ‘Meep Meep!’
• No outside force can harm the coyote only his own ineptitude or the failure of ACME products.
• The coyote could stop anytime if he wasn’t a fanatic.
• No dialogue used ever except ‘Meep Meep!’
• The road runner must stay on the road – otherwise, logically, he would not be called a road runner.
• All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters – the south west American desert.
• All materials, tools, equipment, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from ACME Corporation.
• When ever possible, make gravity the coyote’s greatest enemy.
• The coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.

Thriller!

no im not talking about micheal jackson im talking about the genre of movie

Some examples of thrillers are:

• North by Northwest.
• Psycho.
• V for Vendetta.
• Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum.
• Indiana Jones.
• Point Break.
• Manchurian Candidate.
• Paranormal Activity 1/2/3.
• The Shining.
• 127 Hours.
• Phonebooth.
• Seven.
• Buried.
• Saw 1-7. 

types of thrillers
Spy Thrillers - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Mission Impossible.
 Political Thrillers - Manchurian Candidate.Conspiracy Thrillers - State of Play.
Legal Thrillers - Michael Clayton.
Psychological Thrillers - Birds, Psycho

logic? who needs logic!

When you enjoy something, you must never let logic get too much in the way. Like the villans in all the James Bond movies. Whenever Bond breaks into the complex, 'Ah, Mr. Bond, welcome, come in, let me show you my entire evil plan and then put in a death machine that doesn't work' this is a quote by jerry sienfield the famous comedian who was trying to tell people not to take thriller movies so seriously because sometimes the crazier the better

Jerry Seinfeld (1993

about the man himself

Alfred Hitchcock was the master of suspense whose films came to be the benchmark for psychological thrillers. Hitchcock was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talking films, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In 1956 he became an American citizen, whilst remaining a British subject. Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker; Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone, London, England, the second son and youngest of three children of William Hitchcock a greengrocer and poulterer, and Emma Jane Hitchcock. Hitchcock said he was sent by his father to the local police station with a note asking the officer to lock him away for ten minutes as punishment for behaving badly. This idea of being harshly treated or wrongfully accused is frequently reflected in Hitchcock's films. Hitchcock's mother would often make him address her while standing at the foot of her bed, especially if he behaved badly, forcing him to stand there for hours. These experiences were later used in some of his films. E.g. Psycho. Some of Hitchcock's famous quotes were:

"The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them."
"There is no terror in the bang only in the anticipation of it."
"If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what is going on."

"Always make the audience suffer as much as possible."

"I am a typed director. If i made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach."

da Hitchcock ting

Under the strong influence of Alfred Hitchcock, thrillers often begin with a crime and the accusation of an innocent bystander. Were the accused to contact the authorities, no doubt the case coul be promptly solved, but instead the poor bystander runs from the law thus further jeopardizing life and limb.' - Rick Altman - Film/Genre. 

Some examples - 'The 39 Steps' - 1935, 'North by Northwest' - 1959.

"[In]...The thirty-nine steps... suspense films abandon both thrills and suspense. When the falsely accused character finally reaches safety." - Rick Altman (Again).

paranormal (non)activity

ooooooh cover your eyes and have someone plug your ears its time for paranormal activity the scariest boredom you will ever suffer. Paranormal activity is one of the most profitable films not just of recent times but of all movies simply because you don't need a big budget to scare idiots which is primarily the audience of this. The film was made on a budget of $15,000 which for a movie budget is minute§ and then grossed world wide over $193,000,000 yes by the time every teenager from here to far east china had, had there cheap scare the director and writer oren peli and blumhouse productions must have been laughing all the way to the bank but apart from exploiting easily excited teenagers what else does the film do? what emotions does it inspire? what does it make you want to do? The answer to these questions being boredom and suicide.the film is so extremely boring for the first half of the film i was completely nonplused as to how it was so popular and the second half i was just praying that it will be more interesting than the first half but before i start moaning about the films flaws i should probably inform you what it is about so you can decide for yourself.the plot if you can call it that revolves arround an average mordern american couple that are haunted by a ghost but dont let my picture fool you and remind you of childhood memories this film is supposed to be scary, emphasis on "supposed" yes these two are scaried ut of there wits enough to video themselves sleeping althoguh i dont think thats what main character micaha had in mind when he bought the camra this gives us the premsis of the film for the rest of this 86 mins we see the hand held POV shtot as if micas making a home movie which is good becuase we dont have to see his very iritating smug face althogh we constatly here his self-righteous sceptical comments through out this ameturish style along with most of the film being set in the day time around there house with friends dropping by makes for believability but its not just about belivebility the lack of any diagetic sound and the use of the hand held camara in the film and the night vison lighting in the bedroom scenes and the very life like dialogue between the characters brings the story to life its as if this tape was actualy made and your watching these peoples live and what they went through before this demonic presence struck them. we never see this ghost although the tension and paranioa is built in the film as nothing happens for a long time and we get to see there average day like any of are own but then at night when we see them lying in there bed vulnerable  sleeping and the minites tick by on the camera recorder tick by things slowly start to move by themselves it gives a chilling supernatural feeling that mabye you and your friends are not alone in the room. ooooooooooooooh till next time don't look under the bed

127 hours and a big inflatable scooby doo

one hundred and twenty seven hours! now don't worry thats not the duration of the film the title talks about the amount of time are young protagonist has to spend trapped in a canyon with his dearest of limbs (his right arm) quite literally stuck in between a rock and a hard place.arron ralston must survive like a clumsy Bear Grylls doing many day-to-day activities with just one hand such as making pulley systems,trying to reach knives with sticks,drinking his own urine and all the while trying to desperately escape and i know what you thinking "a guy trapped in a rock for the whole film! i like movies with a bit of excitement give me explosions and punching and catch phrases" well this film is defiantly worth watching it is a tragic struggle of man against nature and time and and also for the main character forced to confront his own inner demons when he is left with only himself a camera a knife and a choice in this dark hole in the ground.

James Franco gives a great performance as Arron in this film fans of his work will remember him as the aggressive and vengeful Harry Osborn in the sipder-man films and will be quite impressed with his range when he has to carry almost the whole movie on his shoulders as there are only about 4 other characters with less than 10 minutes screen time between them and that the role is playing a man who is quite literally going insane down a whole.

the director Danny Boyle acclaimed director of such modern classics such as transporting and slumdog millionaire uses alot of contrast in this film where at the present arrons life is screwed his arm is crushed and the out look is bleak but boyle uses flashbacks as a medium to show us a happier time in our young canyoneerer's life.arrons genrel mood also alternates between optomisum and pesamium as he thinks about happy times and then realises its his fualt no one is coming to find him, even the sound is a good use of contrast as there are long points of silence which is then shattered byloud dramatic pieces of music at important and crucial times.suspence is built in a steady way as we gradually learn that the water is running out and there simply is no way of escape other than the unthinkable we start to panic as much as the character.the use of the hand held Camara is interesting as it shows us how much time is passed,it makes it a much more realistic experience and as the battery slowly runs out this also builds suspense as it is symbolism for Arron running out of time

erh incase your reading this just for the scooby doo in the title you'r going to have to watch the movie for that to make any sense