North by North-West analysis

North By North-West

North By NorthWest is a film made in 1959 based and made in American and is also under the thriller genre. Some may say that it is a sort of 'spy' film starring Cary Grant (one of the many great actrs that played James Bond in a few films), Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. Directed by the famous Alfred Hitchcock.

The plot and story line of North by Northwest is that an innocent and wrongly accused man-called  Roger O. Thornhill (played by Carry Grant) is actually a New York advertising executive. Quickly into the movie he is accused of being a spy under the name 'George Kaplan' and he is constantly being pursued by a mysterious group of men with intentions to kill Roger, who they believe to be the 'spy'. 

^This trailer of the 1959 North by north west^


The trailer for North by Northwest has been made very well to appeal to the audience in a very good way. The way in which this will appeal to the audience is the mystery behind the trailer into whats actually going to happen in the film. This is very good because at the time it was being advertised we know that many people were eager to watch it. The exact definition a thriller is a novel, play, or film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage.  The way in which they would know this is because the trailer does a run through of the film giving little teasers of basically each scene making sure that people will be interested in the trailer which would then make the audience even more interested in watching the film.

Micro feature - Sound

AS Media Studies - Sound

During Media studies we have being looking at many different type s of techniques that make a good film. One of the things we have been learning about is sound. We learned different types sound in a film such as:

• Diegetic sounds
• Non-Diegetic sounds
• On screen sound
• Off screen sound
• Parallel
• Contrapuntal

Diegetic sounds:

The term Diegetic refers to the world of the text. Examples include: dialogue, sound effects, music with a source within the text e.g. a radio.

Non Diegetic sounds

Non Diegetic refers to everything outside the world of the text. Examples of non diegetic sounds include; voice overs, soundtracks, captions, titles and subtitles.

Birds analysis

The trailer offers aspects of a 'typical thriller' the main re-occurring themes present are suspense, tension and mystery. The trailer hints at what is to come in the film by subtly using the three themes to draw the audience in, this can be seen when the mystery behind the birds attacking is pinpointed on Tippi Hedren the main protagonist plays Melanie Daniels in The Birds, she is blamed for the birds attacking society, which makes the viewer think 'What has she done? Is she really to blame?', the viewer wants to learn more; suspense and tension are used throughout the film and especially noted in the trailer where Rod Taylor plays Mitch Brenner the second main character is trying to barricade and force the birds out from his home, in a 'life or death situation' it adds suspense and tension for the audience as they are always thinking that any moment now the deaths of the characters outnumbered and killed by birds could occur. 

No Country For Old Men analysis

No Country For Old Men
2007

No country for old men is one of the many films we have been watching and assessing during the past few weeks of media studies. It is a film  Adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s novel; the film tells the story of an ordinary man to whom chance delivers a fortune that is not his. 

The  cat-and-mouse drama see three men cross each other's paths in the desert landscape of the 1980s West Texas. The film examines the themes of circumstance and fate whilst adhering to the genre’s  plot that is villain driven.

The official trailer for this film is very effective. Most of this is because of the speed and pace of the scenes some of which are slow paced, however the tension and the action is very intense. The trailer is slow paced mostly all the way through until it gets towards the end. Towards the end of the trailer, it speeds up to match the action of the killer Chigurh (Javier Bardem) played by on the run. It really grabs the audiences attention as the trailer makes them feel on the edge. The target audience would be people who particularly enjoy thrillers, action and mystery. The trailer of the film is very intense which makes the audience wonder if the film would be just as good. The first setting of the film shown is a deserted part of the Wild West. It makes the audience suggest that this film may just be about cowboys or some sort of Western film. The setting makes the audience judge the film before it has really started. However, the setting shows the audience where the majority of this film is set and may give some ideas about what the characters might be like.

The film opens using Non-Diagetic sound spoken by the Sheriff. The Sheriff talks about how times changed in the Wild West. It makes a big impact as it gets the audience questioning how it has changed and why the Sheriff says this. 

The costumes of this film are very different bearing in mind the film is based in Texas in the 1980s. Llewelyn Moss (the protaganist) wears a cowboy hat, boots and carries a pistol, just like a cowboy in the Western films. The Sheriff wears his uniform, however they are very different compared to the ones our police officers use. He wears the uniform with the cowboy hat and sheriff badge. Anton Chigurh does not look like the typical killer. He wears all black, including his hair, Straight and short and he does not have a particular costume to make him look like a villain. Doesn't look like a villain from the Wild West and He does not wear a cowboy hat, boots or  a pistol, instead only carries a gas tank.

The characters in this film are introduced very intensely. The villain, Anton Chigurh is the first character to be introduced. He is being arrested, yet he ends up strangling the sheriff who arrested him. Llewelyn Moss is introduced by firing a gun at a deer. He then walks into a crime scene and finds himself in trouble. The characters are introduced this way to show the audience what they are capable of and to show that they both are powerful. It creates an intense atmosphere throughout the entire film. 

Mise-en-Scene

Mise-En-Scene

Mise-en-Scene is a french term basically meaning "in the scene or fame". The elements of Mise-en-scene are: 

> settings and props

> Costume, hair and make up

> Positioning of characters and objects

 

> Facial expressions and body language

> Lighting and colour 

Colour

The very first use of colour was seen in films such as in films such as Voyage a Travellers L'impossible by the pioneer Georges Melies in 1904. Here the film was painted by hand, Frame by Frame. Colour works on the subconscious mind to create mood.

 Denotation and Conotation

 

Denotation is basically the literal description of an idea, concept or object.

Conotation is what we associate with a particular idea, concept or object, colour works o the subconcious mind to create mood.