Primeval textual analysis

In the opening of this extract, gender is portrayed in two different ways. The first representation is the stereotypical archetypical role of having the man as the ‘leader’ who gives instructions to the others including women who follow. There is then a different representation of gender suggesting that females are stronger as the woman is in the JCB digging up the dirt which stereotypically would be associated with the males. When the tiger tries to attack the man he appears to be weak as he cannot escape from him. The female again comes through as the stronger gender because she then distracts the tiger in order to allow the man to escape from it. The male then is chased by the tiger and when he arrives at a spot where he is trapped and we get the impression he is going to die, the woman comes along and shoots the tiger just as it goes to kill him. This representation is the opposite from the stereotypical male being stronger than the woman, in this case she actually saves him from the tiger. When the rest of the team walk along to the ‘leader’, the woman seems just as powerful as the males as if she is one of them.

The second part of this extract sees a young, pretty woman trying to warn a man of what he is doing is wrong. Just as she goes to leave while laughing he then pulls out a gun which makes the woman vulnerable. This fits along with the stereotypical roles as the male is now more dominant than the woman. She appears very scared and just as he goes closer to her with the gun, he is caught by the other team which includes the strong female. This then turns round the roles again as the female has a gun and appears like ‘one of the boys’ and is not scared of anything. The strong female character then goes and questions the vulnerable woman if she is okay, and then the male character who was threatening her is now at risk and is the weak one.

Survey results evaluation.

The results from the thriller survey show that the target audience will be those that are aged 17-22, everyone likes thrillers and agrees that the bad thing about them is a predictable ending. Therefore from this, when making the thriller I will ensure that it contains elements that will keep the audience enticed and then there will be an unexpected ending. The results also show that thrillers are watched between 10 - 14 times a month and that one of the best elements in a thriller is a cliffhanger. From this I will include a cliffhanger when filming my thriller in order to make it interesting and successful. The most popular liked thriller genre is psychological, this is the genre of thriller I will use for my film as it appears to be most liked and therefore will make the thriller good.

Thriller survey results.

Unknown. (2011)

Unknown is a psychological thriller directed by Jaume Collet - Serra, after being involved in an accident Martin Harris wakes up from a coma and discovers that someone has stolen his identity and nobody believes him, so he sets out with the help of a woman Gina, to prove who he is. This film contains elements of a thriller which include a car chase, fast editing, good use of camera lighting and sound.

The Unknown film poster is useful itself as it has the focus on the main character played by Lee Neeson with darkness behind him showing that something is yet to be told and explained.

In the hospital scene we experience the disorientation that the character goes through, this is portrayed by the music being played which is confusing and strange noises along with the camera shake and the use of blurry images to represent the feeling the character is experiencing under the influence of the drugs.

In the car chase scene there is fast paced images which increase the tension of the chase, it also demonstrates the feelings and emotions that the character is going through which the audience can also experience.

 There is also a scene which is filmed in the club where they have hidden from one of the men Jones who is out to kill them. In this scene there is loud music played, and low key lighting with smoke used to portray the confusion and anxiety that the characters are experiencing.

Leading up to the final scene is where we are made aware that a bomb is due to go off, we are repeatedly shown the timer which is counting down from five minutes and seems to count faster and faster. This increases suspension as it makes us wonder if the bomb will go off or not.

Title Sequences.

A title sequence is used to give credit to the actors, producers and directors.

They should include:

- Title of the film

- Production company name & Ident

- Actors

- Music by

- Screenplay

- Editor

- Producer

- Director

Title sequence from 'In the cut':

- production company

- a film by..

- actors

- casting by

- music by

- costumes designed by

- editor

- producer

- cinematographer

- screenplay

- producer

- director

- title of the film.

Most films follow a similar title sequence, however they may differ.

Sabotage. (1936)

In sabotage we experience suspense as the young boy carries the bomb to london on a bus and he is running late. Repeated images of the clock are shown to increase this tension and then as we expect, the bomb goes off on the bus as he was too late to get it to the destination.

No Country For Old Men.

No country for old men has good elements of a thriller as it contains a psychopathic killer and throughout the film he appear to be approaching, of what the audience know the victim, at which this point the tension and suspense builds up as the audience are aware that he is about to strike again. This films makes it a successful thriller as it is different from other thrillers, the audience want to find out what is going to happen next, from the immediate attention it draws from them.

Rope. (1948)

Rope tells the story of two young, wealthy men, Brandon and Philip, who strangle and murder a friend of theirs just to see if they can get away with it. They then invite other close friends to their apartment for a dinner party, whilst hiding the body in a chest/box in their sitting room, just to see if they can get away with it. The suspense is created through the body in the chest/box. There is conventions of a thriller within this film, which makes it successful as it entices the audience to continue watching it as they want to find out if they get caught or not. 

Alfred Hitchcock.

Alfred Hitchcock was an English film director and producer. The specialized in producing excellent techniques to create suspense and psychological thriller genres. Many of his films contain MacGuffins which side track the audience's attention so that when something different from what they expect to happen does, they are taken more by surprise, making the thriller successful. His films also included thrilling plots which included violence, crime, murders, giving a shocking but exciting experience to the audience. He was the master of suspense whose films came to be the benchmark for 'psychological' thrillers.

'There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.'

Narrative - structure, formulas and devices.

The clear establishment of 'cause and effect' plotting which establishes character motivations and helps tell an interesting story whcih proceeds logically and steadily.

Enigmas:
This refers to a puzzle, something mysterious or inexplicable, or a riddle or difficult problem. In thrillers this is commonly something which the protagonist has to try to find out or solve before the narrative is resolved and the film finishes.

Red herrings:
A red herring is the name given to a divice which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance. Can work with other devices (enigmas) to create suspense.

Example - in saw two charaters spend time imprisoned in a room in which a third character lies dead. Throughout the film, both characters appear to be guilty of a series of murders, until it is discovered at the end that the third person in the room is not actually dead but is the killer.

Cliffhangers.

Cliffhangers are sometimes, but not always, used. Often feature a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation. This can entice the audience to keep watching in order to see how the situation resolves itself.

Maguffin.

A maguffin is a plot device that motivates the charatcters and advances the story, but has little other relevance to the story.

Alfred Hitchcock - 'We have a name in the studio, and we call it the 'MacGuffin'. It is the mechanical element that usually crops up in any story. In crook stories it is always the necklace and in spy stories it is always the papers.'