Psyco (1960)

The third film i studied in my media class was a 1960 film with a mixture of Thriller/Horror genre.  This film was massively successesful at the time it first came out due to its incredible variety of shot rotations which made this Thriller/Horror more effective, this was not common at the time, it was of a new era completely changing the way of filming.

Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Janet Leigh. The screenplay by Joseph Stefano is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch.

Storyline: The Macguffin

The Macguffin is what the audience believes at first to be the highlight of the film. It is the frame around in which the real purpose of the film is structured, this is what keeps the film going and engaging as it surprises the audience at a later stage as they release the actual important aspects in the film. This is present in Psycho as the audience believes that the character Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is believed to be the main character and the main plot of the story was how/what was going to happen to her and the money she stole from a bank, where was she going to go?, who would find out?; these where some of the main questions the audience considered to be important aspects in the film, at this early stage there was the believe that this woman character Marion Crane was who the whole film would  involve around, whereas she actaully isnt as we find out at a later stage in the film what the real purpose of the film is based upon and about.

Plot
This film is about a young woman called Marion Crane with a younger sister called Vera Miles and a boyfriend who she loved but refuses to marry her called John Gavin. Marion Crane steals $40,000 from her employer's client at her work and doesnt tell anyone about it, she then runs aways with this large amount of money with the feeling the gult and constant suspision that she is being followed/ watched in hope to not get court she even changes her car, she leaves the town and then reaches her final destiniation as she arrives at a motel which leads to the death of her as the young motel proprietor's is a physcopath influence by his mother.



As Vera Miles and John gavin discover that shes missing the stotry then becomes a murder investiavtion as they and an instector try to findout who murdered her, at this stage this then becomes the main pourpose of the film as the audinece first thinks that the killer was the young motel proprietor's mother when really it was the physopathic young man. 
 

Romance goes wrong wrong 'The production phase'

This production task was to film a conversation using a camera by capturing ' master shots' and 'cut away' shots. We then had to edit our conversation on the computer by cutting, re ordering the shots, adding effects and sounds to try and m,ake our video as realistic and effective as possible. We used parallel sounds throughout our video meaning they corresponded with the scenes, the first shots were romantic as two couples were talking in the scene, we added a slow, soft music to match this atmosphere at the begining. As the video progresses there is a tense moment in the middle of the video, the sound we added to correspond with this scene was a heart beat, this sound gradually increased as it got more tense increasing the intensity as the video continued, this helped in making it more dramatic. We then finished the scene off with an action style music consists of sounds of fast tempo as two of the characters in the video have physical conflict, this made it more thrilling and corresponded with the concept.

The use of Mise-En-Scene in the film 'Brighton rock'

Mise-En-Scene has been used successfully in the film Brigton rock. The use of Mise-En-Scene made a big impact in telling a story in the film and highlighting key elements to give ideas and expose the characters and the plot in the story.

The use of different costumes exposed the charactistics of the character and their feeling. In the film, the charater Rose always wore bright and colourful colours suchs as Pink and white, these colours suggested alot of thing about her as a character in te film. White is a plain and pure colour, this indicates that Rose was an innocent, harmfless and pure as in she doesnt sleep around and is a religous person which we later learn in the film that it is true. Pinkie wore a most wore a blue suit and on other occasions wore he would wear dark colours. The blue colour was wore by pinkie for a signifacte reason as blue corresspons which something cold, this is staight away gives the audinece the inpression that he is a bad character as 'cold' highlights chraractistists such as; self centered, alone and harmful. These charactistists are displayed throughout the film in a varitety of senarios highlighing the idea that Pinkie is a harmfull character.

The location of most of the scenes in Brighton rock was aound a beach peir. Other locations were in a church, funeral or houses. The colour of the setting were dark and grey, this suggested that the story was no going to be something to smile about, these colours set a mysterious and serious tone to the film which the audience found out to be the case throughtout the film, corresponding with the plot of the film well. Throughout the film you could also notice that the weather set was poor, there were hardly any glimpse of sunshine of some sort, this alone suggested that the film was going to be serious and mysertious which also corresponded with the film as it was.

 

The props used in this film Brightom Rock were dratcially important as they contributed in potraying the settings on the scenes and a range of aspects to the characters as well. Some of the props used in this film supported the idea that it was violent and mysertious as items such as kinfes, guns, sulfic acid were used by characters such as Pinkie who was a bad charcter explaining why he used such harmful tools.

The lighting in this film was moderately dark in most parts of the film. This dark lighting emphasized the negavitivy, mysterous and violent asributed in the film. The lighting in this film was also effectively used to hightlight important parts/characters in the film at curtain pionts. This was very effective as it drew the viewers attention to the things that the director wanted them to see as the bright lighting were displayed on something important. Furthermore the light and dark lighting in this film was also used to differentiate the good from the bad, this is eviden tual throughout the film as you the character Pinkie is evolved around darkness most of the time in the film.



As you can see in this shot of the character Rose the entire room in dark and shadowed but these a glimmer of light shining on Rose.

Recipe for a Thriller

A Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television that include numerous and often overlapping sub genres such as Drama, Action and Sci-Fi

Thrillers are characterised by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heros who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains. This is evidential in films such as; The Batman, Superman, Hulk or James Bond. This also supports the fact the other genres overlap with Thriller as the films Superman and Hulk are also classified as Action and Sci-Fi films.

Superman 

Director: 

Richard Donner

Writers: 

Jerry Siegel (creator: Superman), Joe Shuster (creator: Superman)

Stars:

 Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder and Gene Hackman

An alien orphan is sent from his dying planet to Earth, where he grows up to become his adoptive home's first and greatest super-hero.


Batman

Director: 

Tim Burton

Writers: 

Bob Kane (Batman characters), Sam Hamm(story)

Stars:

 Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Kim Basinger

The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being the clownishly homicidal Joker.

Devices such as suspense, red herring and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is a villain driven plot, whereby the present obstacles the hero must overcome. You can see this is the film Hulk

Hulk

Director: 

Ang Lee

Writers: 

Stan Lee (Marvel comic book character), Jack Kirby (Marvel comic book character),

Stars:

 Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly and Sam Elliott

Bruce Banner, a genetics researcher with a tragic past, suffers an accident that causes him to transform into a raging green monster when he gets angry.

The genre is flexible and can enable the audience through a dramatic reading of physical, social and political tension. Alfred Hitchcock said thrillers allow the audience 'To put their toe in the cold water if fear'. Alfred Hitchcock specialised in Thriller genre films, he is famous for his work and was the director of man of the worlds famous thriller films. 

North by North-West (1959)

1. Production year: 1959
2. Countries: UK, USA
3. Cert (UK): PG
4. Runtime: 136 mins
5. Directors: Alfred Hitchcock
6. Cast: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis, Leo G Carroll, Martin Landau

In my Media Studies class we watched a 1959 thriller called North by North-West which i thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend a thriller fan to watch. 

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This exciting, fast paced thriller is about an innocent New York advertising executive who was mistaken for another government agent by a group of spies. He was pursued throughout the film to varieties places in hope to survive overcoming a range of obstacles. 

The most well none obstacle in North by North-West is the famous plane chase as  Roger O. Thornhill who had been mistaken for a fake character 'George Caplan' runs for his life in hope to survive as he gets shot at. This fast pacing action is a typical element to a thriller genre film. 

Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequency action, the scene in this great thriller was the murder in the United Nation, the villains in this film murders an innocent man and the killer was mistaken to be Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant). He flees from the scene and then became a wanted murder

Resourceful hero's who must thawf the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains  You see see this in North by North-West as Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) pretends to be bad at the auction to be arrested by the police. Devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively throughout the film which is an typical aspect of a Thriller film. Red herrings is when the writer deceives the audience deliberately to make it more interesting, this is evident in North by North West as The character Eva Kendall ( Eva Marie Saint) first impress was good, as she was seems to be helping the innocent character Roger Thornhill escape from the villains, we then realize that she wasn't, she was real on the villains side and tried to set him up to get captured. The other extensive device that was used in this great thriller was cliffhangers, there was a part at the end of the film where the character Roger Thornhill was hanging off a cliff was one of the villains puts his foot down on the innocent characters hand, this literally puts the audience on the edge of there seat.

A thriller is a villain driven plot, where by the present obstacles the hero must overcome. This is present in North by North West as the character Roger Thornill is pursed to different places in hope to escape form the villians who are try to kill him.

The Macguffin is the element in the film which catches the viewers attention  It is something the characters think is important, what they think the story is all about, e.g. Lord Of The Rings; 'Have to return the ring to where it belongs'. This is also present in North by North west as he villains believe that the elimination of the character Roger Thornhill is important.

The defining aspect of a Macguffin is that the major player in the story are (at least initially  willing to do and sacrifice almost everything to obtain it regardless of what the Macgufflin actually is. In-fact the specific nature of the macgufflin isn't the main point/ interest in the film, it is just what keeps the film going.

In the majority of films this is commonly aspects such as; Money, victory,glory, survival or a source of power or even a potential threat.

This film has been a very successful thriller as is meets all the elements to make one. Hitchcock said thrillers allow the audience; 'To put their toes in the cold water of fear to see what it is like'. This is has have been achieve in north by north-west as there are aspects in the film where you don't know what happens next and keeps the audience on their toes.