Paramount Pictures Studios

 http://maxm9.edu.glogster.com/paramount-pictures/

Paramount Pictures

Today, we begun our case study on the company 'Paramount Pictures', and what kind of films they produce in which are popular.

One of the main type of films that Paramount have made that is popular is psychological thrillers. Examples of these are 'Shutter Island', 'The Conversion' and 'Rosemary's Baby'. These are all popular as they have induced their audience within the films, and made them enjoyable overall. I have looked into reviews from the following websites.
Rosemary's Baby Review
Shutter Island Review
The Conversation Review
These reviews all have some things in common that they talk about. One of which is an interesting protagonist. This is done by giving them a niche feature, such as in 'The Conversation' where the protagonist is bad at their job, but is quite an important job. This is important as the protagonist has to be interesting to watch, or the audience may not enjoy the film.
It was also common to hear about an interesting plot. The plots of each are well written and, while not all original,(Rosemary's' Baby is quite similar to Psycho), it still has a reason to watch. In the case of 'Rosemary's' Baby' it was still different to 'Psycho', even if both protagonists were widows.
One complaint I saw from 'Shutter Island' was that is was too 'classy' for it's setting. This is important as the props and background had to be considered, but quite new and classy furniture was around on an isolated island full of mental people. The use of mise-en-scene is key to thrillers, and wasn't used as effectively as others.
There were also many other thrillers that I looked into as well.

The Film "Zodiac" was based on a true story that revolves around the "Zodiac Killer". The people that are more aware of the Zodiac Killer will already be more aware of the real life event and so will be a little harder to impress but for the newer audience you need to feed the story in a way that everyone would enjoy.

"The whole story is very chilling and kept you going.

The Zodiac Killer is a case that forever will remain a mystery and it was a

great idea for a film" one public reviewer stated on the IMDb website, and

the film gained an overall rating of 7.7 on the same website.

It seems as though the film was a very effective thriller and

was received very well by critics. The look of the film was largely revolved

around the real 1970's case, so it is filmed in an aspect that would be similar

to the movies seen in the 70's. This helped to create more of an atmosphere

because you were made to feel as though you were looking into the past.

The Hunt for Red October was based around the story of the

USSR captain that defied orders and headed for America.

Again the people who remember the event would be more

prepared for what the film might show but the newer audiences won't properly

understand. What happened would be more open to the story.

The film gained an overall review score of 7.6 on IMDb.

"The Hunt for Red October" is a movie filled with some superb

underwater action sequence's that were brilliantly directed by action movie

veteran John McTiernan" was one of the public reviews on the same website.

The film is mainly portrayed as an action thriller and many

people think it just that due to the finale and the build up.

Psycho (1998) is a fictional remake of a horror thriller of

the same name about a woman who is murdered in a motel and her sister, boyfriend

and a private investigator try to find her (because they don't know she was

murdered).

The film received a review score of 4.6 on IMDB and many or

the reviews question why the remake was actually made because the original

Psycho was a classic film.

"My biggest question is "Why did they re-make a

classic Hitchcock movie?" It's a "no-win" situation", one

person said.

The film did not receive very high review scores wherever you

look and thus was a very unpopular movie.

These were some of the top films on the following website.

Paramount Pictures Top films

Initial Ideas for the Main Task

We started to talk about the ideas we had for our main task.
We kind of like the idea of killing Andreas off so we stuck with that but then we thought "what if someone were to witness the murder?"
Then that kind of spun off into a plot about trying to solve which is reality and which is fiction, because the murderers all wear masks to disguise themselves, and they could just be a figment of the main character's imagination, posing the question to the audience "is he insane or not?"
We wanted to keep the film both in content and in lighting so we decided to use the evenings (which are not really late during the winter) to keep the atmosphere which is needed for an effective thriller movie.
Our age rating is aimed at being a 15+ so our content can't be too over-the-top but we weren't planning being too visually gory and contain much explicit language or any erotic content.
We did consider using the horse mask for a time but this turned out to sound more like a comedy than a thriller, and because comedy thrillers don't exist, we couldn't continue with the idea.
The masks caused a few problems in other areas as well. Because the horse mask would be too comical we decided on the mask from "V for Vendetta", but as it turns out these masks are slightly under copyright issue and because we cannot use copyrighted content in our film we were advised not to use them.
We also considered the concept of a spy/action thriller that would we would try to film in school and try to make it look a little like an official spy building but this was deemed a little too impossible seeing as the corridor walls are littered with Shakespeare and Pythagoras Theorum.
In the end our plan was just to try and expand on  our preliminary task by making it more open with more time an use the skills we tried to use before to better effect now that we have the experience with the equipment.

Se7en Textual Analysis

There is a lot of mise-en-scene in the opening of se7en. One of which is the costumes worn by the characters. Morgan Freeman (played by Morgan Freeman) dresses smartly in a suit that is shown in dark colors, colors often associated with a thriller (dark showing uneasiness and light being happy and bunnies). He appears professional, unlike Pitt, who wears a leather jacket (which could show his reckless nature) and also chews gum, which is often seen to be the sign of someone rebellious if you chew gum at serious times. It kind of shows that you don't really care about much. The comparison between the two characters can be expanded during their walk down the street when the obvious boundaries and status' between the characters are set. Pitt bumps into, and has to walk around people continuously while Morgan Freeman is just casually strolling without incident This shows that Pitt is the more danger seeking type and rule breaker, whereas Morgan Freeman tends to follow the rules more often. Pitt also appears to be smiling, suggesting he doubts Morgan Freeman's leadership and also doubts his views on how things are run. However Morgan Freeman appears to be a very serious character and can take command of Pitt very easily because of his experience in this field of work.
There is a lot of paper in the title sequence, and some of the text covered over in marker pen to appear 'erased'. This could suggest that the person in the title sequence is trying to hide information to conceal his identity, but it could also represent the fact that he is "crossing" people off of his list of victims.

Camera shots are used effectively in this opening. For instance, there is use of a tracking shot as Morgan Freeman and Pitt walk down the street. This shows that their conversation is important as it highlights who is "leader" and who is "student". It is also slightly low angle to show the characters' importance early on. However, Morgan Freeman appears closer to the audience, and looking slightly larger than Pitt, showing the dominant character in the scene, which of course is Morgan Freeman. A wide shot is used when Morgan Freeman lies in bed and this shows the room in much detail, and gives an insight into Morgan Freeman's life; for example, Morgan Freeman sleeps on one side of a double bed, which shows that he is clearly used to sharing a bed with someone, which starts to open the door into the past of Morgan Freeman.

Sound is used to a brief extent during the opening scene, however it is mainly dialogue between the two characters at the beginning. However, when Pitt tries to take over Morgan Freeman in conversation to gain more power, Morgan Freeman cuts him off, and this lets the audience and Pitt know that Morgan Freeman is always going to be the dominant character, especially in conversations. No one cuts Morgan Freeman off mid-sentence. Morgan Freeman also makes it clear that he is in charge by physically telling us that he is in charge. Other uses of sound are the sirens of the cars made in the city while Morgan Freeman and Pitt walk down the street. This could represent the fact that the city as it is now is very dysfunctional and is full of crime. Morgan Freeman does not really pay much attention to the sirens at all which suggests that crime is a constant happening in the city and that he has gotten used to all of the sounds that are associated with crime. However, Pitt shows clear annoyance at all of the noise which shows that Morgan Freeman has more experience with these matters, which can also suggest that Morgan Freeman is going to remain superior to Pitt throughout most of the movie. Another use of sound is the Metronome and its ticking. Once it began ticking, all other noise was cut out. This shows that it could be a methodical way for Morgan Freeman to get to sleep, which could suggest that he has had a troubled life, has seen many grisly things and perhaps the death of his possible wife could have been fairly recently. Lastly, there was the use of the non-diagetic music playing over the opening credits. This music was very distorted and very unsettling to the ears. This could suggest that there will be points represented by the music that will be very unclear and unsettling to listen to. It could also suggest that the mind of the victim is very abnormal, as the music could represent the thoughts of the antagonist and how he may be crazy.

Finally, the way editing was used in the title sequence could also represent the kind of movie that it is. The writing appears to be very scrawny, and could represent gash marks, suggesting that the antagonist like to cause pain to his victims. The flashing that was lightly used also distorts the man's features, shrouding him more in mystery. The text also jumps around its base point a little. This could represent the uneasy movements of the antagonist, as maybe his insanity causes him to act differently to the other characters. It could also be used to get the audience's eyes moving as there may be things happening in the background of every scene that the director could want us to try and pick up on, and the titles moving kind of gets our eyes to follow it, making us see things that we might have missed of the titles were still

Se7en stars Morgan Freeman.
Also Brad Pitt.
But no-one really cares about Brad Pitt in this movie.
So Morgan Freeman.

Conventions of a Thriller Film

There are many conventions of a Thriller.
One of these conventions is that they appear on a grand scheme.  The stories in which these films are set, (often including a 'based on a true story' at the beginning), have bigger plots buried within smaller plots, and some even have the solution to the problem within the film (such as maybe the best friend being the villain) right there before our eyes, but we wouldn't notice because the story is woven so tightly that we don't expect anything we shouldn't.
 Another convention of these types of films are the odds against the protagonist. Most thrillers have a protagonist and an antagonist, however the antagonist is shown to have a much greater variety of power, often shown by the fact the antagonist murders a whole bunch of people at once, or slowly picks off his victims; often being in control of an entire corporation or keeping the protagonist within mystery and fear where the antagonist wants them. This makes the audience want to know how the protagonist will overcome the odds in order to defeat the antagonist, and encourage them to continue watching and even recommending the film as another source of advertising.
Another convention of thrillers is a complex narrative structure. This can include red herrings, which are basically false scares, or maybe the protagonist discovers something about something or someone that the antagonist wanted them to find to make them think a certain way and be quite misleading, which can either engage the viewer even more than before, or confuse them beyond belief. This kind of technique can be used in thrillers to set the boundaries of trust between certain characters.
 Finally, a convention of thrillers are the themes of identity, mirroring and voyeurism. These themes are often used to keep something hidden, such as an identity: maybe keeping the identity of the antagonist a secret or keeping certain traits of a character in mystery for the audience to figure out.   Mirroring can be used for suspense and unease at times, and are mainly used in horror thrillers to be quite mysterious, but can also be used in thriller films to create more of an atmosphere, which is vital in thrillers to give off a certain feeling that the director wants you to feel. Voyeurism is often associated with spy thrillers as sexual content is often associated with rich spies, and sets the tone of happiness. However, in recent films like Skyfall, the woman involved in sexual content with James Bond/Daniel Craig was killed off in the very next scene, so not only was her character a write-off most didn't expect but it turns the film around a little, because a possible main character was killed off, paving the way for more plot twists and more hatred for the antagonist.

I never did like what they did to the Aston Martin in that movie...

History of Thriller Films

This is the brief history of thriller movies, it shows how the whole genre of thriller as a movie has transformed from the beginning with Alfred Hitchcock and Safety Last into the modern era of gore and intensity. I believe that this could be incredibly beneficial to our project as viewing how thrillers have progressed and what advancements have been made to make them more effective. We could use this information to create a modern film but with certain characteristics used over the last few decades. This insight could also help us to understand why thriller films are distinguished as their own genre and not just seen as a horror movie or a thought provoking or moving drama.

Evaluation of the Preliminary Task

Barthe's Narrative Codes

There was once a Frenchman who came up with multiple codes that are used in thriller's to create or conceal information from the audience, or even use objects with meaning to create an atmosphere and a basis for a storyline.

Action Code: The audience will recognise an action code in media text as it is used to indicate what is the next logical step. It advances a narrative, for example, starting a car engine means that someone could drive away, or the buckling of a gun belt in a wild west film signifies the start of a gun fight.

Mystery Code or Enigma Code: This code is used to explain the narrative by controlling what and how much information to the audience. it grabs the audience's interest and attention by setting up an enigma or problem that is resolved during the course of the narrative. For example, we don't know who this guy is because he has concealed his face. We might find out later who he is.

Semic Code: Basically this code is al  about signs and meanings in a text that tell us about its narrative and character. For example, male and female represent two different genders.

Cultural Code: This code is used in order for the narrative to make sense to a culturally and socially aware audience. For example, these men are in working clothes and are eating their lunch at their job of building a skyscraper. this implies that they are working class because they don't look rich themselves.

Code of Oppositions: This code refers to a narrative that relies on binary opposites. War and Peace are binary opposites, because war represents violence but peace represents tranquillity.