Seven, 1995.

Seven, 1995. Genre - Psychological thriller. Director - David Finch

This film was withdrawing from the moment it started. The opening of the two detectives was shown obvious straight away, letting us know that the film would be based on a crime. The opening scene was eerie and nerve wracking, with the non diegetic soundtrack of estranged sounds from guitars and other instrumentals, establishing the psychological thriller genre.


Straight away we are let in on the problem and the mis-en-scene is constructed excellently with long, beige coats, top hats, investigative behaviour and conversation, and moustaches which are unkempt, representing the detective's jobs are how it's time consuming and takes a strain upon their physical features.

There is rainy weather throughout the film, which is stereotypical of a psychological thriller, with the rain representing a misery to the people of the city. However, it is noticeable on Finch's behalf that the rainy weather finally stops when the serial killer is killed at the end.

The first killing shown is in an old, messy and gloomy house with creaking floorboards and estranged behaviour surrounding them. The gruesome behaviour throughout the film which is emphasised in the killings is intriguing and disturbing, drawing the viewer in.

The seven sins, being greed; gluttony; lust; pride; envy; sloth; and wrath, are represented in a sinister way by the director, with a great story behind it.
Typical mis-en-scene props for a psychological thriller throughout Seven; such as guns, mirrors for mental/self analysis/reflection, and suspense of music throughout the film.

Great stress on behalf of the two detectives over the case, showing passion in their work and the city they live in. A-list actors used for these detectives also; being Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, attracting a wide audience to the psychological thriller. Character's were also respectable and honourable.
The film also allows the viewer to work out the mystery alongside the characters, rather than having it solved for them and the viewer feeling less powerless whilst watching the film, giving the audience and viewer more code of enigma and thinking  power.

Overall, I felt the film was a great success in what it was trying to achieve, which I feel would be for it's audience to think morally in what's going on around them, and just how easily sins can be made. It was an upsetting ending, but the film overall had full suspense and was action packed, with a great storyline and interesting morale behind it. I am pleased with the film, but feel a little critical towards the ending, as there was no structure given to how the sins affected their lives after the serial killer had been killed, and what happened to the detectives after, with a possible cliffhanger.

Standing Out Scene



This scene stuck out throughout the film the most to me because it tells the viewers of why he killed people, and gives a heated and deep argument of his side of the story, which is something that psychological thrillers sometimes seem to ignore throughout the plot. Instead, in this film, it gives the viewer an insight on the "bad guy" opinions and views of what's going on inside his head, making the viewer maybe understand him more.

Enclosed: First drafting of first half of scripting.

Enclosed – The Trailer Script:

By Megan Sanders, Jessica Mann and Harri Evans.

FB = Flashback

P = Present Day

FB:

1: Close up of Nurse Cecilia putting medicines on a tray.

2: Walks into a patient’s room with the tray. [Only sound is the clicking of her heels as she walks down the corridor]

P:

3: Exterior of asylum, wide panning shot or zooming shot possibly?

4: Doctor [name] getting out of his car to walk into the asylum

5: Sitting down & shaking hands with the boy. Boy looks shaky and estranged

6: Doctor: “How are you feeling today, [name]?”

7: Shot reverse shot: Boy: “I’m okay.”

8: Doctors: “Where are your parents, [name]?”

9: Boy: Bluntly; “I don’t know”.

Cut to FB:

11: Resuming of Cecilia walking in with tray. POV of patient watching her from behind the door.

12: Cecilia walks to the window and looks outside, confused.

13: Close up: Patient [face unidentified] covers Cecilia’s mouth. Shock shown in Cecilia’s face.

14: Slow motion: Shot showing Cecilia dropping tray of meds, focusing on smashed glass and broken plate.

15: Camera shows the patient and Cecilia’s legs entwined, sounds effect of Cecilia screaming “No! Please!” Screaming as the camera fades out to a title [need to discuss what title]

Cut to P:

16: Doctor: Puzzled expression: So you know nothing? At all?”

17: Boy: Blunt: “No.”

Cut to FB:

18: Panning wide shot of train station

19: Cecilia handing over her baby to her father. Cecilia is dressed in all black, nunnery outfit. Her father in a smart suit?

20: Glumly: Cecilia: “Look after [name of boy]...”

21: Shot reverse shot, close ups: Father: “I will.”

Cut to P:

22: Meeting conference between Doctor and Head of Asylum [Cecilia’s father]: Doctor: He shouldn’t be in here, [name of Head]!”

23: Shot reverse shots: Head of Asylum: Grimly: “I’ve been working here as the head of this asylum for 25 years, do don’t come in here telling me which of my patients are and aren’t insane.”

24: Dr: I’ve studied many cases of schizophrenia, Sir, and this boy does not have it.

25: Head of Asylum: He does, and don’t criticise my asylum.

26: Doctor turns to leave, angrily.

27: Head of Asylum: And don’t mention the boy’s parent’s to him.

28: Worried expression across the Doctor’s face as he leaves. 

Trailer Analysis: The Shining

Trailer analysis: SE7EN

Presentation - Shutter Island Trailer Analysis

Film trailer shutter island from meg2606

Slide 1:

Shutter Island, which was released in February 2010.. Psychological thriller. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo.

Slide 2:

It’s 1954, and detective Teddy Daniels has been brought to Shutter Island which holds a psychiatric hospital, to investigate the disappearance of a patient. However, as the investigation proceeds it becomes more sinister and puzzling as more dangerous criminals escape, and Teddy starts to doubt everything, like his memory, his partner, and his own sanity.

Slide 3:

This is a comparison of the detectives from the film trailer, to real life detectives in the nineteen fifties. From the costumes in the film trailer, you can already tell that the story is not based in nowadays time. Both investigators wear long brown/beige coats, with hats, shirts and ties, and also both investigators are smoking cigarettes, which is very stereotypical of a 1950’s detective.

Slide 4:

I find that from this film trailer it is very easy for the audience to identify the genre. This is because throughout the trailer, it is clear that there is an on-going investigation for a missing patient. They have also used mis-en-scene to show that the detectives are investigating in a psychiatric prison as the patients have very pale skin, little hair, and piercing eyes, like the elderly woman who tells the detectives to “Shhh” in the trailer. There are also jumpy bits of the film trailer to show that is a psychological thriller, such as the insane patient jumping out at Teddy whilst he is locked up in his cell.

Slide 5:

Within the first ten seconds of the trailer, the audience is introduced to the main A-list actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, which would appeal to a target audience of 18-35 year old females, but I also feel the film target audience is both male and female, as the young and attractive detectives would also be seen as “heroes” which would appeal to men too. An older audience could also be attracted to the film too, as the time setting is in the 1950’s, which an older audience may relate to. However, whatever the age that could be attracted to the film trailer, they would have to enjoy psychological thrillers, as in the trailer there is use of diegetic dialogue when the detectives say “it’s a mental hospital, for the criminally insane”, and then a non-diegetic soundtrack begins with organ instruments that sound haunting and solemn, and carries on with sounds of violins and a tapping noise to represent the insanity around the detectives.

Slide six:

The film trailer lasts 2 minutes and twenty three seconds, and I accounted 131 shots roughly. I found that throughout the trailer, a regular shot used is a panning shot. I thought this shot may have been specifically shown as it could represent the insanity and suspicion around the detectives, and throughout the whole film. There were transitions used throughout the film trailer, and the main one that I noticed throughout it was a fade in and out of the shot, such as in the beginning of the film trailer when there are five of this exact same transition used one after the other. I felt this transition represented the film genre well in the film trailer as it could represent the insanity of the patients as their actions are one thing after another and they are uncontrollable. 

Slide 7

The main characters are represented throughout the whole film trailer as strong and respectable characters, as the psychiatric hospital’s staff rely on them to help them solve the mystery. The detectives also seem to have a strong relationship at the beginning of the trailer, and are shown to always be together, but then throughout the trailer they are shown to be investigating separately, or if they are together they aren’t close. Also, at one point in the trailer, it is evidential that they are having a heated discussion and are shouting at each other, showing that their relationship isn’t as trusting and strong as the audience may have thought in the beginning.

Slide 8

The trailer also uses titles to communicate with the audience. It uses a title to state Leonardo DiCaprio’s name, and then uses a medium close up that pans right to show him, which communicates with the audience to let them know of the actor’s name. There is also a title at 2:15 that says “SHUTTER ISLAND” that is in bold, capital letters so it communicates with the audience by sticking in their heads and attracting them to watch the film. 

Analysis of Survey - Random

We composed a questionnaire to a random selection of 15 people. Our first question was: Which names do you prefer for a psychological thriller, which is about a boy who's whole life had been a lie? You have multiple choice, so please pick the ones that stand out the most for you. This is the analysis of that survey.

Seeing as "Deception" was the favourite, we had to ensure there was not already a movie that contained this name. However, I found that there was a film called Deception in 2008. We then had to make sure there was not a film called "Delusion". However, this was also a film made in 1991. Our third favourite was Enclosed, which we all agreed to use, as there was not a film made of this, and it was an audience's favourite choice. Our second question was: In a psychological thriller, which one of these themes would you most expect to be in that genre of film? The answers were:

This shows that the most favourited by the random sample was Paranoia, which our psychological thriller film did contain. Discovery and betrayal was also a key theme that people thought was neccessary, which we also included. We then asked: What types of props would you expect to see in a psychological thriller film, based in an asylum? You may give more than one answer. The answers they gave were as shown:

This now gives us an idea on what we can include in our film trailer. The next question asked was: What kind of costumes would you expect to see in a psychological thriller film, based in an asylum? You may give more than one answer. The answers were:

This helps out figure out what an audience would expect to see in our film trailer, so we can meet codes and conventions. We then asked: If you like psychological thrillers, what other kinds of psychological thrillers do you like? [if you do not like them, please say No Comment]. Their answers were:

Our next question was: If you like psychological thrillers, what other genres do you enjoy watching? [if you do not enjoy psychological thrillers, please say No Comment]. The answers were:

The next question asked to our random sample was: What is your favourite film and why? [Please do not include any psychological thrillers that may be your favourite, and pick a different film. The answers were:

Our next question was: What makes a film trailer for a psychological thriller stand out most for you? The answers were:

Finally, our last question was: What type of things do you expect to see, stereotypically, in a psychological thriller trailer? The answers were:

From this survey, we have a lot of ideas we can use for props, music, locations, and what people would expect to see in psychological thrillers, so we can fit codes and conventions, and maybe even challenge some with our plot in our trailer.

Pitch Presentation

Pitch from harrevs

Ideas on Mother character's name

Ideas for the mother character’s name from meg2606

Chosen Exterior for Asylum

This is our chosen exterior for our asylum, Pencoed Castle. Pencoed Castle is a ruined Tudor mansion, largely dating from the 16th century, in the parish of Llanmartin, now within the city of Newport, South Wales.

Film title options

We all picked a selection of names that represented the film well in one word. These were the names we came up with:
  - Enclosed 
- Contained 
- Confined 
- Imprisoned
[We came up with these four because of the boy's enclosure within the asylum, and the secrets that were enclosed, contained, confined and imprisoned within this asylum]
 - Deception
 - Shunned 
 - Desolate
[These three were picked to represent the boys life of being lonely and disapproved of to put him in an asylum when he has nothing wrong with him in the beginning]
- Delusion 
- Deranged
- Lunacy
[These three were then picked to represent the insanity of the situation, the asylum, and the problems the asylum holds]. Our favorite out of all these names were Delusion, as we felt it represented the boy in a great way, by showing his whole life has been a delusion, and that the asylum itself is almost like a delusion. It also represents the father, showing that he is deluded in the way that he creates negativity all around him. However, we cannot come to a final decision until market research has been obstructed on an audience's views.