Analysing Thriller poster

The plot from IMDb-

"A brilliant plastic surgeon, haunted by past tragedies, creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession."

-The typography, the colour red and white. I personally think that the white part of the font represent skin and the red, represent blood. To match the title "The Skin I Live In", as if you cut your skin you will bleed. It would give out a chill to the audience as they would expect some science related issue within the film, that maybe cringing.


-The colour used, silver grey. The way they used this colour within this poster, makes it seem like it is a clean cut place, like completely sterilised. A hospital or a lab, is where you generally would expect a clean and sterilised place to be, in a secure location. 


-The girl, she wearing a mask which does not seem like a normal mask you would wear, even if you go to a party. It seems like a special kind of mask, like it meant to support/help her face or skin(if there is something wrong with it), though such weird mask it makes you wonder what it is about. Also the lines from neck downwards and the fact that she is bold, it is not normal for a female. It makes you wonder what is going on with her, is she a test subject or is there something wrong with her? Moreover her facial expression, it does not seem like she is relieved or anything, but more towards scared or shocked. From how her eyes looks, it seems like it is giving that message out, as her eyes stares right into your eyes. 
As for the lines on her body, it gives out several different messages, such as markings you get before you do a plastic surgery, or a scar mark  and maybe a copy of the outline of the human doll that shows how different features within the body, such as the muscles layout.


-The guy, the fact that he is leaning over the girl it shows that he is the dominant one in this picture, as he is over powering her. From his expression, his eyebrows rises up, it seems like he is aiming for something, Such as if his experiment succeeded or he is prepared for the consciences of something he has done and he does not seem harmless. More or less the clothes he is wearing, a simple nice quality silk shirt, yet he does not give out a pleasant feeling. He is wearing the type of shirts that you would expect a business person or a rich person to wear. From this it tells the audience that this guy is not someone simple, he has power. As the girl looks scared and he doesn't, it could mean that he using this girl or controlling her.  


-This will scare the audience as the title " The Skin I Live In", they would not know what to expect to see. As experimenting with skin would mean bio, biological situation could only mean gruesome or crazy science, as your are playing with nature and you don't know what will happen nor what it would cause.

-Overall this will thrill the audience as science experiments tends to be kept top secret by the government or the the military.  Who knows what will happen when it becomes public or what it can cause. 

Analysing Thriller poster

The plot according to Yahoo movies-
"Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler" is an exciting psychological thriller starring Tatsuya Fujiwara as Kaiji, man forced to enter a deadly gambling competition aboard a cruise ship, to erase a large financial debt. Based on Nobuyuki Fukumoto's hit manga series which has sold over 11 million copies, Kaiji is a 26 year-old job-hopping bum who suddenly finds himself riddled in debt after a shadowy loan company informs him that he is responsible for a loan taken by his friend (who has since gone missing) and whom he casually co-signed as a loan guarantor for!"

-The cards, if you look closely it is rock, paper, scissors. A simple harmless game, but they added a slave card which doe not look friendly or pleasant at all. It tells the audience that this simple game is taken to a whole new level. From the slave card, on how brutal it is, it tells the audience that there maybe some horrible things happen and may include death.
Also within some cards it has picture's of people, scene from the film. By the clothes the people wear it shows what class they are in, for example the bottom right hand corner, the boy is wearing simple clothing. Showing that is he is normal civilian. While at the top left card, the guy is in a suit, he is more likely a higher class person, such as a successful business man.
The way the cards falls down and the images expression within it, it gives out the feeling of tension and the fact that its all over the poster, the cards plays as the mcguffin. Especially the Slave card, since you normally don't get that within rock, paper, scissors. So the fact that the guy is holding it, it must mean something and must be important.

-The way the three people are displayed, it shows who is the most important ones and the ones you should focus on. It makes people wonder as the only person with the card is the one in the middle, the protagonist Kaiji, since he is the only one with the cards, he can either be the one playing the game or the one controlling the game. The other guy is in a business suit, is he the bad or good guy? Then on the right, it is the girl, who is she? Is she Kaiji lover or also another bad person. Creating mystery and questions within them, such as how are they linked within the story and what is their roles. As their facial expression does not seem relaxed, but more towards serious, tense, concerned and fearful of what could happen and what will happen.

-The colour used, red and dull machine like colour. Red is known as a angry colour, yet it can also mean prosperity and joy. I personally think they chosen to use red in the background, is to match the slogan "LIFE or DEATH...on the turn of a card!", the red can be represented as blood from the deaths of others or it simply can represent the victory of the survivors. The colour red also gives out the feeling of glamour or royalty. To me, the way they colour worked together and the way it is layout, it makes me think that this game event will be held within a rich glamours place. Where it will be filled with rich people, for their entertainment, and the poor civilians will be the entertainer. Something bad will happen during the event and it won't leave people happy or in peace.
The dull machine like colour used, makes me think of industrial. Such as this game event is held in a secure, out of touch location, where anything you can possibly imagine, can actually happen.

-The typography, the style and colour of it, it gives out a atmosphere that a sign like that would be seen in some club or casino. To show it is a lively glamours place to be, giving out a welcoming message. To fit in within this poster, the thriller side would be that this film is a entertainment within a place, but by the way their facial expression is, it is not a simple game and it may contain some gruesome scene's. Which is pretty much creating theatre of the mind, making the audience question on what it would be like. How a simple game of rock, paper, scissors and a extra card can do to people and how it can be taken dead serious.

-The age rating, 12. People would assume it would not be that bad and probably just a drama film. Until you see the slave card, on how horrible the picture it is. It makes the audience think, is something cringing going to be shown. With the slogan to match it, it would make the audience think twice about this film. Along it would make the audience want to see the film as they want to know what would happen and how would they die. Along how is this simple game of rock, paper and scissors be transformed into something never been seen before.

-Overall when I see this poster it gives me the feeling that this is no ordinary friendly rock, paper and scissors game. It shows that this game is important, such as if you take the risk, you pay the price with your life. Along I should prepare for some horrible scene's, as within the film, the game means serious business and it should not be taken lightly.

Anaylsing Thriller posters

The plot according to IMDb
"A ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan."

To portray this in the poster...

-Natalie Portman (the girl in the poster), if you ignore the crack, she looks elegant and innocence. From the white feathers on the side of her hair and her flower earring, it shows kindness. From that you can judge that she is playing as princess Odette.

-However, the crack on her face. The effect it gives out is like a  porcelain crack.  Porcelain are pottery that has very detail designs, showing how elegant and perfect it is. Though it is fragile.
The crack on her face shows that she is no longer portraying her kindness and innocence, her inner side is coming out. It creates mystery, like is she turning evil, seeking revenge? With the fact that it is only part of her face cracked, it shows that she already losing part of herself or the role as princess Odette. Such as if she continues to crack and turn into pieces, who knows what will happen, will something crazy like a monster unleash?

-Her eyes, every part of the poster colour is dull down, but her brownish yellow eyes with long lashes is sharp.  It can easily catches your attention. One of the reasons for making her eyes sharp could be that, to show that she is like a hawk, knows her target and is sharp or can easily attract anyone attention. Grabbing people attention so she maybe able to use them as part of her plan or for something else.

-The typography, "Black Swan" is written in Bold, in Arial Black font . I think this is done to show that this film is no ordinary ballet film. As you normally don't hear about a black swan. So making the title thick and bold, tells the audience that this story is about a BLACK swan. It creates questions for the audience, such as is anyone going to die? Is she evil? What will happen? Does it link with Swan Lake? Is it happy? What made princess Odette turn bad? Why?

-The colour, the black background to make Natalie Portman stand out more, along matching the typography. It gives out a mysterious thrilling mood.
The use of the colour white, to show she is a swan, making her looks flawless.

-Overall this poster simply looks perfect and Natalie Portman looks flawless. But with the crack, it shows she is not perfect. It makes the audience want to know what happens and why. As the atmospheric the poster gives out, does not seem pleasant, like something big is just about to happen.   

Research-thriller idea 2

Some the planning idea we have so far...

Research-thriller ideas

Working with Hannah, Sophie and Ben.

Sophie idea-

1- Where a guy gets involved with drugs when he was younger, when he gets older he gains flashback and it haunts him.

2-A game board style- where things comes out of the board and the characters are on a mission such as find out the murder for so and so it is abit like Jumanji.
             DEVELOPED-
 1-A group of people go round someone house, dress up party. A member see another person and recognise them, creating questions. Some one roles a dice light goes off and someone is found dead. But can be faking the death, the mystery.
             
2-A group of people playing with legends/myths about conspiracy.Where one member dies at a time. Silent death.

Sedtin idea-

1-One day a person gets a doll, they love it to peices for a peirod of time. Until one day they got bored of it and the doll gets forgotten, then during one night the doll comes alive and creates illusion where another member kills. At the end they manage to get rid of the doll and the doll ends up with another family.

2-A guy had a accident and end up in a coma. Within the coma he has a dream but he believes it is the real world. A seires of event goes on and if he gets hurt, such as a cut on the arm, he real body gets a cut on the arm. Such as a test within the dream and will he ever wake up again.

Ben idea-




Hannah idea-

1-A person gets given an item and it becomes a life and death issue. The person goes out and find information about the item, figuring out what it is and what it do. Like memento or abduction.

Thriller assignment Codes and Convention

The film Children Of Men is about the human race going extinct in 2027, as the female race has become infertile. The world is dying as each country is facing problems such as terrorism or the riots and immigration has become a crime (this was told in the scene where Theo was on the train heading to Jasper's house, there was a close up shot of the TV screen showing countries in crisis). However the plot is that Kee, a young pregnant woman, is the last person on earth to have a child. She is on a journey to a sanctuary at sea to the Human Project. Where scientists will use Kee's baby to save the humankind from going extinct, the baby is the only hope.

Children Of Men is a close mystery, where the audience have limited information about what is going on. Alfonso Cuaron filmed Children Of Men in the style where the audience follows Theo in his journey. Moreover the film is made personal to Theo as they have used a variety of shots such as panning, where the audience can see old photos and newspapers. Along Kee said to Theo she knows about his child Dylan that died from the flu. From there the audience would know that Theo would understand what kee is going through and how much the baby means to her from personal experience. Which turns Kee child as the McGuffin within the story, as Baby Diego was the last person to be born and he was born in 2009, 18 years ago.  His death affected everyone as his death was on the news and everyone was crying, it shows how much his age value to everyone as the may see him as a remaining hope to humanity. So the existent of Kee child is strongly valuable and it makes the child like god. Nevertheless in the film most people have not seen a baby in years, forgetting how beautiful it is, so when they saw Kee baby everyone was touched, giving them hope and a nostalgic feeling. For example when Kee and Theo leave the building, everyone stopped the shooting and the running; everyone just stopped whatever they were doing. That scene was in slow motion, exaggerating the feel of hope, making it dramatic so the audience can see how much the baby appearance affect the humankind. Nevertheless within the film they made the product “Quietus” appear few times, even has its own scene (When Theo in Jasper house, on the sofa leg on the table. Theo was out of focus and Quietus was on the right hand corner in full focus). Quietus is a suicidal kit that was advertised, as in 2027 most people was depressed or there no more meaning to live on. So Quietus comes in to their life, as they can use it as an easy way out. It was seen again in a touching moment where Jasper uses Quietus on his wife and dog, where he knew clearly he would die when Luke the antagonist trespassed into his house in searching for Theo and Kee.  

It is an interesting story as the twist and turn is it creates Theatre of the mind for the audience, for example the human project does not sound very convincing, seems like a government organization idea which may cause bad things to happen. Along whether there is hope for the human kind as at the end Kee thought they were too late but at the very last second of the film the ship came and the humankind was able to have children’s once again. Though in the story some characters played mind trick on Kee the protagonist, she is protected by a group of people who want to use her for something else. They decided to keep Kee pregnancy as a secret to the world by creating fear for Kee during that group meeting especially that fact that they are all immigrants. Yet near the end where her baby was public, she was treated like a god where her nationality did not matter. However she does not know who to trust within the story except Theo the unaware Hero. He got involved in protecting Kee by Julian his former lover (who worked as a Donor within the story), by giving him a sum of money in which he needed. Though when Julian died he generally has no reason to continue in helping Kee as he was only told to get her a pass, yet he continue to help Kee to the end which lead him to sacrifice his own life. However when Theo and Kee was in Bexhill the helper Marichka, they did not understand her nor does she really understand them yet she helped them through their remaining journey to the sea. It is quite interesting how she manage to communicate with them that Syd the false hero is actually bad considering how they cannot really understand each other.         

To make the world seem grim in 2027 they filmed the film in mainly dull colours, such as grey. To give out an atmosphere that the world is dying and there not much happiness is going around, even the costumes was mainly dull colours. To add on to the atmosphere the dialogue is also mainly spoken negatively, such as when Jasper asked Theo what he did for his birthday and he replied with he did nothing and felt like crap like usually. Also to capture the audience emotion, they made countless scene where Theo see tons of immigrant locked in cages, treated badly, calling for mercy in their native language or get shot, a wide range of age, no mercy being shown. Showing how brutal the world has become, especially the scene where Theo sat next to an old lady on the bus to Bexhill. She try to communicate with him asking for food and the old man behind did the same, from there it shows that these people was not treated well and is generally left to die. It is a depressing moment as they do not even care for the elderly no more. In away it is not much different to the way the Nazi once treated the Jews in concentration camp.  Nevertheless the music chosen for this film fits well with the scenes and moments as they choose orchestral and choir/ church music, which made the scene even more emotional. I believe church music/choir music was chosen to make it seem religious in away. Such as the fact that Jesus died on the cross as sacrifice in hoping god will forgive the humankind, showing mercy and a shine of hope. So when the sorrowful music played it would make it the audience think in Theo place that think what are people doing to the world and why, along reminding them. Such as when Kee and Theo walked out of the building with the baby and everyone froze, seeing the baby made people once again remember and on the line rethink what they are doing along feeling nostalgic. Showing that there is hope for the human kind, as the music works both ways. Such as in the end where the ship came for Kee the music play again, representing there is hope, there is future and that god is watching. As the film ended in a black out but you can hear children’s laughter, from there everybody will know that the world is in peace again and there was hope. This creates a sigh of relief and happiness at the end.    

 However Alfonso Cuaron builds up suspense in an unexpected way, which catches the audience full attention. For example the scene where Julian and Theo was playing about in the car with the ping pong ball, it made the scene emotional and happy as they were having fun. Until the sudden appearance of a car on fire came down from the hill and a rage of people rushing out from the forest, in attempt to kill them but they only managed to kill Julian. It was a sudden rushing scene, where the audience had little time to adjust to it. Making it a tense moment, where it left the audience shocked and speechless. Within the film they mainly used long shots and close up along point of view shot. I personally think they used these shots the most to show the audience the surrounding of the area on how beaten down it is and how Theo see things. Giving the audience an understanding of the current situation he is in, putting the audience in his shoes.  Such as the scene where Theo in Bexhill where he and Kee got separated, he chases after her to the building that was under attack, that scene was the longest long shot scene. That part gave out a strong feeling of life or death situation, making the audience on the edge of their seat, thinking if Theo would live to the end. Along showing to the audience in detail of how run down the area is and what people have to live through. In a way that feeling they produced is quite similar to the film Shutter Island where Teddy goes into a ward where it was dark and he had to lit up matchsticks to see. It builds up tension on whether he would die or live through it and what may happen next.

According to the BBFC Children Of Men is categorised as a 15. As generation moves on swearing and bloody violence becomes nothing, though back in the olden days the swearing would have been a huge deal. Adding bloody violence to it may have made the film to be rated as an 18 back then. Though since it is a 15 I personally think that the film is suitable for young 15 where they just turned 15. I personally think it is aimed around older 15 year olds and older, as they would be more mature around that period, where they would understand the outside world more. Such as the scene where the audience can actually see Kee giving birth, quite a graphic scene. This scene is allowed as by the age of 15 kids will have learnt about sex education and should be mature enough about it. Such as nudity, they saw Kee breast when she shows Theo that she is pregnant. It is ok as it does not reveal more than her breast or else it would be counted at pornography. Also by the age of 15 kids will be mature enough to think wisely as they will be at the stage where they choose what they want to do in life, whether going to college and what course to do or going to work.

Moreover the scene where Theo uses a brick to smash Syd face when trying to escape shows imitable behaviour. I personally think it is an 18 rated scene even if there is only one scene. As anyone can accomplish that and kids around age 15 is the year where they learn a lot about the adult world, so this scene may cause them to copy and do it themselves. Even though there is a lot of violence within this film, the audience don’t exactly see all of it, the audience will know from the situation they see and the stuff they hear such as the cry and scream.  Though the main thing the audience sees the most, are people military people with guns or normal citizens/immigrants with guns, fighting for survival (abit like the riots that happen in 2011). Which is not too bad as most action films are like that and people with common sense knows that it is not easy to gain a gun. 

 As for discrimination within this film there not much to say, as this film is about illegal immigrant living in the UK. So it does make this film is discriminating but the audience know the reason why therefore it is not offending along it is also based on the future. Therefore most people would not believe it or take it seriously.  Moreover this film would most likely to be broadcast around 9pm onwards, where most young children would be asleep. Due to the violence and storyline, it is not suitable for them to watch at all as it may scare children's and it may make them cry or affect them deeply.  

Overall Children Of Men is an dystopia thriller, where the future is only filled with negativity. Such as how they have famous artist piece of art there, for example Banksy gay police one and the statue of David. This was seen where Theo meet his cousin. It shows that the countries icon does not matter anymore to people, like it is worthless and has no meaning. Alfonso Cuaron must have got copyright for it as it is real life art and for year’s people try to protect it and preserve it for the next generation. It is quite sad how the made the art end up in Theo cousin house and slightly broken.  However the target audience would be people who generally like disaster movies and realistic films. This film came out in 2006 and back in 2005 BBC news broadcasted a news about females in the UK is turning infertile, where one out of seven women will have problems but it can rise up to one in three women. Which happens the film was also set in the UK and females became more infertile as the years goes on, Alfonso Cuaron may have based the film through this information. Which makes the film realistic and people may believe it. Such as from personal experience, I have a friend who really wants children’s so when she watched this film she burst out in tears and got ridiculously scared. Therefore I do not really recommend this film to people who want children’s a lot. As it may create fear for them and may lead them to do something stupid. 

For more information about the BBC infertility article- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4112450.stm

The BBFC information- http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2/

Notes Characters Archetypes

Protagonist-Good person
                 -They are not aware on who is on their side.

Characters archetypes-
       Both Protagonist and Antagonist can be False Hero

Handicapped Protagonist-Paul Sheldon 
                                                  -Broken legs
                                      -Bone Collector
                                      -Rear Window

You can get Physical handicapped and Mental handicapped.


Antagonist- Bad Person

Antagonist types-Manipulative
                         -False Villain
                         -False Hero
                         -Government/Agencies-Conspiracy thriller
                         -Companies-Conglomerates/Organisation  
                         -Criminal-Murderers
                                       -Kidnappers
                                       -Assassins
                          -Absent Villain
                          -Supernatural
                          -The Protagonist is the Antagonist

Handicapped-Deformed
                     -Mental
      
Picaresque Hero-Use wits and charms to escape problems.

Unaware Hero-Mistaken identity
                      -Becomes involved in the problem by mistake.

Unreliable Narrator-Tells the story in their point of view, bias.

Dramatic Irony-Where the viewers knows more than the characters.

                             
 

Notes Types of thrillers

Within thrillers their is few types of them such as (there is more!):

-Psychological thriller
-Paranoid/Conspiracy thrillers
-Supernatural thrillers
-Crime thrillers
-Political thrillers




Psychological Thrillers-
In a psychological thriller you would expect confusion for the protagonist and the audience itself, as the story plays with people minds. It does not require blood and gore to create a thrill.

Example: Memento-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/
              Inception-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/



Paranoid/Conspiracy Thrillers-
Within this type of thriller the protagonist tend to be a lack of experience investigator or a journalist, who starts off finding out about something small but somehow it leads to something big and unexpected. Which builds up to the fact that their life is in risk.

Example: The Adjustment Bureau-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1385826/
               Enemy Of The Sate-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120660/


Supernatural Thrillers-
Supernatural thriller refers to the fact that the protagonist has special powers and is in conflict with another person who does not have any special ability. Occasionally the protagonist will be in a tough situation where there is no easy way out, which creates alot of tension. Though supernatural thrillers can also show other ability or creatures such as aliens, where people can choose for themselves if they exist or not or if it can actually happen.

Example: Dorian Gray -http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235124/
              What Lies Beneath - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0161081/

Crime Thrillers-
The role of the protagonist tends to be a criminal, focusing on their life and how the problem end up happening. Crime thriller tends to have alot of suspense scene and thrill as it makes people wonder who is actually good and bad. Along the crime that is happening, tends to have other smaller crimes linked to it, like a chain of event.

Example: Se7en-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/
              Reservoir Dogs-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105236/
           
Political Thriller-
Political thrillers is the kind that has one large problem but have many small ones within it, like a network. Showing from politic struggle to how they succeed and what methods they used to gain it. Which leads to the protagonist to be the person who is there to stop some political matter or make some political matter happen.

Example:The Manchurians Candidate (2004 film)-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368008/
              The Ghost-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139328/