Released: 1985 Director: Peter Weir Genre: Thriller, drama, romance Starring: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis and Lukas Haas
Plot: A young Amish boy by the name of Sam Lapp witnesses a murder in the toilets of a train station toilet. He, his mother Rachel and a cop named John Book must go into hiding when the killers come after them.
When looking at the user ratings on the IMDB it shows that women over 45 rated it highest. This could have been due to the lead female character and the underlying plot line of romance between her and John Book (Harrison Ford), especially as Ford could be seen as desirable to some women. Older women rated it higher than younger women, this is most probably due to the appeal of the characters, plus the film was probably not targeting younger female audiences when casting the actors.
Witness - Screenshot Analysis
Released: 1976
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Paul Schrader
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybil Shepherd
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller, Physiological Thriller
Budget: £1.3 million
When looking at the user ratings for Taxi Driver from IMDB users it is shown that the highest rating comes from males under 18. This could be because of the focused male lead or the influential nature of younger males. Overall the male audiences rated the film higher, this is most probably because it was aimed towards adult males in the first place, although high ratings were received from females too indicating that the female characters in the film were appealing to a wider audience.
Taxi Driver is about Travis Bickle, a supposed ex-marine who suffers from insomnia and possibly a psychological disability. He takes up a job as a taxi driver in New York, driving at night (due to his insomnia) and working in all areas of the city, including the most dangerous. Travis spends his days in seedy cinemas and questioning what has happened to society, with strong opinions about what is right and what is wrong.
Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs
This is a monologue from Bickle, talking about the streets of New York City and the demise of society and those who populate it. Early on this makes the audience aware of Travis' strong opinions on his fellow citizens, especially as he sees every area of the city and the "animals" that populate it. This backs the idea of Travis being a psychopath, a generic convention of some thrillers because of the unstable mental capacity of the protagonist/antagonist and the ease of which the lines between right and wrong become easily blurred, allowing events to take place that are commonly seen in this genre (such as murder etc.) These kinds of characters can be found in films such as 'Psycho', 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', 'Natural Born Killers', 'Seven' and 'Silence of the Lambs'. When Travis talks about "the rain" it could mean several things, perhaps he is referring to himself, a sense of foreboding for events to come, or perhaps he is referring to the upcoming election. It would make more sense to be talking about himself, as he literally takes action in order to "wash the scum from the streets".
John Doe in se7en, this film applies particularly to Taxi Driver because of it's neo-noir qualities
This speech also indicates how alone Travis feels amongst the rest of the people in the society as encapsulated in this scene, I think its ironic that this movie is
situated in New York, a place where you cannot go more than a few seconds
without encountering people, and yet that is where someone like Travis
feels most alone, that is where his sense of loneliness is heightened
so as to bring him to the edge of madness.
Travis descends into madness after being rejected by his love interest 'Betsy' but it could also be said that Travis really turns when Iris first gets into his cab and he is handed the $20 note, which he separates from the others suggesting that he views himself as a hero, intending to give the money back. This shows that Travis is becoming deluded when viewing himself as a hero as he loses his self-awareness which tests the audiences sympathy, therefore engaging them to the character which many thrillers aim to do in order to develop an in depth plot line.
Although the audience know that Travis was a marine in Vietnam, they don't know what actually happened in order to make Travis so fragile to the elements that surround him, thus provoking questions as to why Travis feels the way he does, another clever device that makes the audience feel connected to the character when trying to find out about his past from his actions in the present. His experiences at war must have had an impact on the way that he lives now, as they do on many men that go to war, and this perhaps helps to make Travis a much more feared character because of the way that he easily turns his anger into a ruthless soldier once more. This fear is very important to the thriller genre because it helps to keep the audience hooked and it signifies the genre. Another point of view to this is that Travis in fact never was in Vietnam, this could be derived from his limited knowledge of firearms and the way that he avoids talking about his experiences in the opening scenes. Travis could have created this back story to enable him to be the hero that he always wanted others to view him as, adding to the characters complexities.
When looking at the behaviour of Travis Bickle it would be fair to say that he is living in his own alternate reality, his own dreamscape. This can be seen by the way that Travis looks into his rear view mirror at the beginning and end of the film, most importantly during his last cab ride of the film in which he appears a changed man, implying that he is absent from reality and lost in his own thoughts. This is similar to the dreamworld created by the two girls in 'Heavenly Creatures' and is used to connote escape from the real world and the problems associated with it.
I had to make a second post as all of the photos would not fit onto the first post, this will also contain videos.
This shot demonstrates the noir/chiaroscuro lighting that can be found within the car park, especially when combined with the gleaming concrete which helps to act as a generic convention, signifying the genre.
This shot shows a view through cracked glass, looking down onto the road that enters the car park, this could be used to view the white van entering the car park. The bars across the glass connote entrapment or perhaps prison making the space seem claustrophobic and inescapable.
This was taken from the roof before the upper levels became boarded up, the view from the roof is a city skyline showing a dystopia, often used in thrillers due to the undesirable qualities. Also this photo makes use of chiaroscuro lighting, a generic convention of classic noir thrillers.
This is another possible shot that could be used to show the white van entering the car park, note the metal bars across the top again, giving a sense of prison (which relates to crime, often seen in thrillers).
When I went to the location it began to rain, providing a brilliant opportunity to capture the bleak look of Anglia Square, with the rain adding to the miserable outlook. The rain also helped to create the gleam, which is a generic convention for thrillers.
This low angle shot makes the building/lift/stairs seem intimidating and powerful. This helps to convey the danger of what could take place inside, whilst giving the audience a sense of fear by imagining what lies inside.
This shot shows the whole car park and the repetitive look of the building, this reminded me of the estate seen in 'Harry Brown' because of the way that it looks the same from pretty much any angle, completing the depressing exterior.
Heygate estate, used in the film 'Harry Brown'
This photo has a brilliant enclosed space in which the white van could be seen driving through, another generic convention is the reflection off of the gleaming road, this adds another dimension to the shot. This kind of effect is used in many films, such as 'Black Rain'.
Scene from 'Black Rain'
These are the abandoned buildings that surround the car park, adding to the atmosphere.
This video shows an idea that we had for the ending of the thriller film, the close up of the foot stopping the lift door from closing and preventing the escape of the character being chased. Unfortunately I had focused the camera wrong and as a result the foot is not in focus, it would be a much stronger shot if the foot was in focus, emphasising the power of the character stopping the lift.
This was a practice to see how effective the shot would be, making the focus go from the glass to out on the road, where the white van would be driving into the car park.
This was one of our influences for the idea of a car park. The way that the music video is shot is thriller-esque and it contains thriller conventions such as the location, lighting and camera shots.
Multi story car parks are often used for locations in thrillers due to their claustrophobic environment, they are generic conventions of the genre and clearly signify the dark nature of thrillers. When talking about locations, my group came up with the idea of Anglia Square car park as it is often empty and is also quite bleak, especially as it is surrounded by old abandoned buildings, this would work well with our ideas, especially if we decide to use a white van. Unfortunately upon arrival we discovered that the car park had been boarded off from level 3 upwards, meaning we did not have access to as many floors or the roof, but there were still interesting and reasonably empty spaces that would be perfect for filming the opening to our thriller. Another great thing about car parks is their lighting, being a good mixture of a small amount of ambient and a large amount of non-ambient light creates a very noir feel, the lights on the ceiling creating chiaroscuro effect. Along with the actual floors of the car park there are the stair cases and lifts, both of these are claustrophobic and can be utilised effectively in several scenes of our opening to the thriller film, some of which I have done practice shots with.
This is just one of the locations that we have thought about using but it is quite likely it will feature in the film because of the many generic conventions that it holds and the various different shot opportunities it possesses.
As we can see here the space is claustrophobic with not a lot of standing space, also the non-ambient fluorescent light creates the classic noir lighting.
The darkness will help to signify the genre, it also helps to establish the dark nature of the opening and provides an overall chilling feeling.
This shot is to show close up the sort of lighting in the car park, it gives of a yellow glow which helps to give enough light to film but also keeps spaces dim.
Looking out from the car park we can see the dystopian cityscape, this gives the impression that this location is undesirable and possibly dangerous.
This photo is showing the stairwell, which could be used in the opening as it is very claustrophobic and could create some very interesting shots, especially a low angle of one of the characters standing at the top.
This is what one of the lift doors look like, we have planned to include a shot involving the lift (I have uploaded a video in the second post showing a possibility)
A part of the car park has had rails put up along the parking bays, stopping any cars from parking here. This helps to make the location seem even more isolated and dangerous as it appears no one is around, also having the empty space creates more freedom for shooting scenes.
A look at one of the abandoned buildings close by, adding to the undesirableness of this location. This is reminiscent of some of the bleak city locations in 'Essex Boys' and the estate in 'Harry Brown'.
An interesting shot of the view down the flight of stairs, a possible shot of someone's hands as they are walking up may prove efficient in creating suspense.
Analysis of how Terry Windsor Develops generic conventions in the title sequence of Essex Boys
Released Date (UK): 2000
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Director: Terry Windsor
Writers: Terry Windsor & Jeff Pope
Plot: Essex Boys is loosely based on the true story of the Rettendon range rover murders that took place in Essex in 1995. A young taxi driver is offered a job to drive for a criminal who has just been released from jail to get revenge on the people who grassed him up. As the film progresses the audience begin to see just what the situation the young taxi driver has gotten himself into.
Ratings: Rotten Tomatoes gave it 17% and its users gave 26%, IMDB users gave the film a rating of 5.9 out of 10
Starring: Sean Bean, Charlie Creed-Miles and Alex Kingston
This was taken from IMDB and it shows the user ratings for Essex boys. As we can see the demographic that rated the film highest were 'Females Aged 18-29' with a rating of 6.9 out of 10, this could be because of the strong female character 'Lisa Locke' (played by Alex Kingston) who deceives everyone at the end and manages to come away fine.
Released: 1985
When looking at the user ratings on the IMDB it shows that women over 45 rated it highest. This could have been due to the lead female character and the underlying plot line of romance between her and John Book (Harrison Ford), especially as Ford could be seen as desirable to some women. Older women rated it higher than younger women, this is most probably due to the appeal of the characters, plus the film was probably not targeting younger female audiences when casting the actors.
Witness - Screenshot Analysis
