Asian Female Orientated Revenge Films

Lady Vengeance

This is a very powerful story of revenge from a female perspective and is directed by Park Chan wook (a very dark if extreme thriller director. The main 'heroine' dresses in black, but with bright red eyeliner and this has inspired me when thinking about the dress code for the herione in our film. This juxtaposition of bright make up and dark clothing, makes the heroine look feminine, but deadly.
Similarly the film is interesting with it's non-linear plot, with plenty of flashbacks playing out in the main heroine's mind. This might be something we could look into to make the beginning more interesting, by jumping straight into the plot.

Lady Snowblood



Like Lady Vengeance, in Lady Snowblood the narrative is told through various flashbacks, letting the film slowly unravel. Therefore in the beginning it jumps straight into the action, as we see her dismember a group of supposedly 'bad' samurai. I think this film could be a big inspiration, and know for a fact that Quentin Tarantino was inspired by it when making 'Kill Bill'.
Audition


This is a very dark thriller/horror, where the main female character is not the heroine, but in fact the villain.
Here's a plot summary from imdb.com:
'A lonely Japanese widower whose son is planning to move out of the house soon expresses his sadness to a friend and fellow film producer, who becomes inspired to hold an audition for a non-existent film so that the widower can select a new potential bride from the resulting audition pool. The widower ultimately becomes enamored with and fascinated by one particular young woman...but first impressions can often be horribly wrong....'

The play really plays on the power struggle between men and women, and although the widower is being 'played' by the 'actress' he in fact has had a brief affair with a co-worker, who he has now forgotten about, much to her dismay.

Vigilante Movies

Because my film idea is in essence a vigilante movie, I have researched into some past vigilante revenge thrillers that I could find some inspiration in.

Taxi Driver

Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film looks at one man's disenheartenment with his country after returning from Vietnam. The film is a character study and is driven by Robert Deniro's acting of the role of Travis Bickle as we see him first try to fit in with society and then set out to destroy it. Notable scenes includethe shootout at the end which is extremely realistic. Not only are no effects such as slow motion used to heighten the drama, but unlike most American films, when someone is shot they do not die instantly. This makes the shootout unglorified and gritty. Slow motion is used earlier on in the film when we see Betsy for the first time, and when we see a group of Pimps in the cafe. Both of these reflect Travis's contemplation.

Dead Man's Shoes

This is a really good English revenge thriller by Shane Meadows ( Director of This is England ). It focuses on Richard, a paratrooper returning from the army in order to get revenge on the small time drug dealers who tormented his brother. The fim is played out with a number of black and white flashbacks (like homevideo), while the main plot plays out. The opening is also very arresting. as the credits go up we see 'homevideo's' of the brothers growing up backed by gentle country music. This straight away sides us with Richard and his brother. As well asd this the opening line sets up the mood for the film. This line is:

'God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven. I can't live with that.'

This line not only reflects Richard's unstable state of mind, but also the guilt that he allowed his brother to be tormented and was not there for him.

The film is also interesting in the fact we are put in the place of the small time drug dealers. As a result Richard appears as an unstoppable force as he kills his way through the gang, and so appears like a slasher film villain.

The film is really worth seeing and is one of my favourite films.


Deathwish

Deathwish was one of the original vigilante films, and although not very well directed , the film is still inspirational film. This is because it was the original vigilante revenge thriller.

The film focuses on Paul Kersey as we see him struggle after the murder of his wife and rape of his daughter. After the police fail to arrest anyone, Kersey goes out to seek revenge on the gang who wronged him, while taking down numerous street urchins in the process.

Analysing 'Wanted'

I think this was one of the more interesting thrillers from last year as it uses many generic signifiers of the gangster genre. For instance the central protagonist is dressed in a black suit so automatically we assume he is a gangster. The use of greysacle also makes the opening few shots appear darker, like film noir. The setting as well in a bar is a generic haunt of criminals.

The next sequence round the table I think is well shot although I think they got the location and actors wrong. I think the actors look way too young to be accomplished mobsters and so doesn't quite work. If I was directing I would have chosen older actors, between 25-50. I also think they could have got a much better location. The room they are in looks neither seedy nor grand enough to ba a gangsters hangout. As well as this I think this would have been a key opportunity to use shadow. I would have had the light solely on the table, so only the actor's faces are highlighted and so it appears as if they have something to hide.

The next sequence I think is really interesting with the variety of coloured lights, but I still think the opening moves too slow. The soundtrack aswell I do not think reflects the genre of the action taking plce. If I had done it I would have had MUCH more aggressive music, like the opening to Dead or Alive (a very good action thriller)

Overall the opening was extremely well shot and I can learnt alot from it.

Early Ideas For A Thriller Opening And Inspiration For Them

Female Vigilante Revenge Film

Basically the film would be about a 20ish year old female student who is studying to be a surgeon. She is also taking care of her younger sister (because their parents died in the 7/7 bombing s or something along that line) who is starting to hang about in the 'wrong crowd'. With this wrong crowd, she is peer pressured into experiment in drugs and commit minor crimes and it become clear that this relationship will not end well at all. The reason why the younger sister is so susceptable to all this is because she feels disillusioned by her parent's deaths. All the while her elder sister is too busy in her own life to realise the downward spiral she is plummeting into. Then a third of the way into the film she goes to a 'party' with this crowd, but she is drugged and then raped and beaten by the main male leaders of the 'gang'. As a result she goes into a coma and her sister is left looking for answers and consumed by guilt that she was not there for her sister. After the police fail to follow up the incident, the central female protagonist goes out in search of revenge.

This plot and idea is influenced by the 'Deathwish' series of film's where in each film the central protagonist was wronged and then took the law into his own hands to put things right. This idea is part influenced by 'Dead man's shoes', a film about a paratrooper returning to his hometown to kill the small time drug dealers who tormented his brother.

The Film would open with the Directors name and the film Title both coming up on a blank screen with just the sound of dripping water in the background. The film would then flash to a scene that would be happening later on in the narrative.

The film would then open with a young man tied to a chair, blood dripping down the side of his forehead, just coming to. To show this I would have the camera start at a distorted angle and be out of focus. The camera would then turn to be at a straight angle and come into focus. The camera would then move to be the POV of the man and we would see around the dark room he is in and then focus on the door as we hear it unlock. We then go to a ECU of his frightened face as we hear the door handle turn, so that we can see how afraid he is at this point. The camera would then be at ground level as we see the door open and we see the main protagonist walk to the man, but we only see her feet at this point. I imagined at this point she'd be wearing boots and tha would be the only sound. I also wondered whether she should have an Axe dragging along the floor behind her as well, but I don't know whether the fact she is a surgeon could be used in that she could have a medicine bag full of scalpels etc in order to torture and extract information out of her victims.

From here i'm not to sure which route I want to take with this idea, but i'm going to develop it over the next week

Eastern Promises

Just saw this on Sunday, and thought it was a really good thriller as it was unusual in style. For one, this is a gangster film where a mobster isn't actually the central protagonist, a midwife is. This I think is interesting as we are kind of seeing the criminal organisation from an outside perspective.

I also think the beginning was very effective and I can learn a lot from it, when I begin to plan my own opening. The Film opened with the title and the directeor credit come up in white block font on a black screen. We then see a location shot of a busy street in London and the camera moves to focus on a adolescent running into a barber shop and pulling the blinds down. Immediately as the audience we are asking many questions. For instance why is he running inside? Is he being followed? Or is it just because of the bad weather?. Also why does he pull the blind down and put the closed sign up when there is still a customer being served inside?

We now see the Barber (the father of the adolescent) and the customer in the chair as they talk quite cheerfully about life in general. Therefore it is a shock when all of a sudden the Barber gives his son a cut throat razor and tells him to kill the person in the chair. All of a sudden we are plunged into violence and the audience is gripped due to the immediacy of this act.

Maybe for the opening of my thriller I could use similar shock tactics in order to get the interest of my audience. I also think how the audience are left asking so many questions is also really interesting. In my opening I might try to replicate the same effect of sudden acts of violence or emotion to shock the audience.

The titles I also think were really effective as they were short and so did not bore the audience. As well as this the fact they were stuck on a blank canvas, rather than actually onto any moving image also made them more prominent, and so you were more likely to remember the title and director of the film.

Studying the opening of 'Point Blank'

I'm looking at the opening of Point Blank because I believe it is a classic thriller and has had a huge influence on all gangster revenge thrillers since, with it's fractured narrative and the whole urban jungle feel of the film.

Film opens with white block text over a bright red backdrop, giving a sense of impending violence. This then fades into a MCU shot of Walker (Lee Marvin), and the camera slowly zooms out. All of a sudden we hear two shots as the title of the film comes up and we see Walker falling to the ground in what we can only presume is some kind of cell. The lighting at this point is kept to a minimum with only a small amount of nayural light. the camera then goes to a close up of Walker lays on the ground, presumably dying, and hear his dying murmurs. the camera then turns to face the corner of the cell which Walker is staring into and then reverses to look back at him, as if he is thinking. We then hear the sounds of a party and quickly cut to a drunk looking Walker. From here on in we are shown everything that that has happened up to this point in the film, from Mal and Walkers first meeting, to the robbery in the jail, and to Walker's betrayal by his wife and Mal. All through this we keep cutting back to the suppossedly dying Walker, giving the impression he is contemplating his life before his death. Once the story has gone full circle, we hear Walker narrate a line and all of a sudden the camera tilts up with Walker from the floor and the titles begin to come up on the screen, while wind instrments play in the background.

I believe this opening is extremly effective as within 5 minutes the audience is hooked and want to know how Walker will get his revenge. As well as this we have been told about half an hours worth of film time in a sixth of the time, meaning there is more time in the film for the actual revenge part of the thriller as we have witnessed the build up. When it comes to making the opening of my thriller, doing a kind of montage like this would be a really interesting thing to do. Maybe I could even make the montage a group of random images, that then have relevance later on in the film.

I would really recommend that anyone who hasn't seen this film should seek it out.

Binary Opposites in 'Harsh Times'

I saw this film last night and loved it. Its by the makers of Training Day (another great thriller) and although has a similar plot seems alot darker. It also felt like a modern day Taxi Driver due to it's themes of disheartenment after war and how war can change men. As well as this both films are very much character driven.

You can easily apply Claude Levi-Strauss’s Oppositions to this film:

The very masculine/sexist views of Jim VS Sylvia's strong feminist views

The Urban Landscape of LA VS The rural landscape of Mexico

The violent nature of Jim VS The pacifist nature of Mike

Jim's obeying and calm nature when appling for the police VS His wrecklessness in the rest of the film

Mike's consideration of consequences VS Jim's irrationality

Mike's content at settling down over a courier VS Jim's will to join the 'Fed's' over a family

Applying Sid Field's theory to Fatal Attraction/Steve Baker's Ideology

What is Syd Field's Plot Structure and applying it to Fatal Attraction?

Act 1 - The Setup: Field claims this is the most important part of the film as judging by the first ten minutes the audience will decide whether they like the film or not. The opening therefore should show the audience the main character and get across the style of the film. For instance in Fatal attraction we are shown Dan (Michael Douglas) at home with his family in a near perfect setting. Here we start to like his character as we see he is a caring family man who loves both his wife and daughter very dearly. We as the audience can also presume from these opening ten minutes that the film will not be very stylised and will therefore be played out like a typical 'Hollywood Thriller' (i.e. eventual happy ending, linear narrative structure etc).

After this and during the next 3o minutes, Field believes that the problem facing the hero/heroin should come to light. In the case of Fatal Attraction we see Dan the chemistry between Dan and Alex (Glenn Close) and them eventually having a passionate affair. This is a problem on it's own for Dan, but when Alex slits her wrists, it reaches another level. It is from this point which we realise that Alex is not stable and this also shocks the audience and makes them want to watch more.

Act 2 - The Confrontation: Field Believes this should be the longest part of the film and is where the hero confronts the enemy more and more and finds themselves helpless against them. Eventually there will be a turning point where the hero starts to get his own back but they will still have a long way to go before beating their obstacles. In Fatal Attraction this is where Alex makes numerous attempts to sabotage Dan's relationship with Beth (Anne Archer), by calling his home, making threats, boiling the pet rabbit etc. The turning point would therefore be when Dan explain's the whole situation to Beth, as Alex has lost her power over him.

Act 3 - The Resolution: Field believes in the final part of the film the hero will finally take control in the struggles with their problems (often by going to confront the enemy on their own home territory) and will finally overcome his obstacle. This in Fatal Atrraction is exactly what happens as first Dan goes to see Alex round her flat and threatens to kill her. after this she then goes to his house with the intent to kill and ends up getting shotin the chest and killed by Beth - therefore resolving the problem.

The Film's Ideology

The film overall seems to have a very anti-women theme, as it is a woman who is the problem in the film and a woman who must be eliminanted in order to gain a new equilibrium.

The main underlying message about women in the film seems to be that a woman's place is in the home with her family and not being single and driven by work. This is shown by the contrast between Alex and Beth. Even through mise en scene we can tell that they are different. Alex for example is frequently dressed in black suits as she begins to fall into insanity, whilst Beth wears white dresses. Even the relationship between the two Dan shows the difference. With Alex and Dan, their relationship is purely sexual and there is nothing else. In comparison in one scene we see Dan at his happiest just looking at his wife Beth combing her hair in the mirror, which makes Alex seem 'slutty' in comparison to pure Beth.

Coen Brothers and Film Noir

The Coen Brothers have made a number of thrillers over the last couple of decades including Blood Simple (like a modern version of a James M. Cain novel) and Fargo (about a man who pays two criminals to abduct his wife with disastrous consequences).

'The Big Lebowski' however is one of their best films and is an excellent example of a slow burnt thriller. It takes the Raymond Chandler LA tales of mystery (e.g. the big heat) and updates it to the present day.

A lot of their films are based on film noir, and thus use a lot of devices typical of the genre. For instance the films also feature stark contrast in lighting and the typical theme of people being in over their heads working on a scheme.

Kidnapping is also a theme used in their films; Jean's abduction in Fargo, Bunny's abduction in The Big Lebowski and the baby's abduction in Raising Arizona. They also use misunderstandings as a springboard for the plots of many of their films. For example misunderstanding over who killed Rug Daniels and who took his hair causes friction between different mobs in Miller's Crossing, The Big Lebowski begins with a soiled rug caused by a case of mistaken identity over the name 'Lebowski' and in Blood Simple, misunderstanding is the driving force behind the entire plot.

'The Man who wasn't There' is a complete homage to film noir, with deadpan narration, tales of murder and it is shot in black and white.

‘No Country for old men’

I saw this film last Friday and realised what an excellent thriller it is. It seems very conventional, with a typical psychopath with a unique way of killing their victims, the central plot focuses on a fugitive and of course the matter of money is at the centre of all of this. However, as a result, the film surprises the audience with its many unconventional aspects. For instance one of the main characters is killed off way before the end of the film, but the audience does not see this. Instead the audience is left with the sight of the dead body, which is a shock as in the scene before we’ve seen him walking around like everything is fine. This use of surprising an audience by going against conventions is something now in retrospect, I wish our group would’ve looked into.

Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer: Film and DVD Cover Analysis

This cover conveys the thriller/chiller genre well as well as the identity of the film. The black and red are very important in conveying this. The red connotes blood and violence and so reflects the theme of serial killers, which is prominent in the film. The black contrasts with the red (making it stand out), and adds and makes the film appear to have a dark theme.

The tagline, 'He's not Freddy. He's not Jason. He's real', shows the film's uniqueness by putting an emphasis on it's similarity to other films of the genre. It also makes the film appaer like some twisted kind of documentary because of the emphasis on 'He's Real'. As well as this the title of the film makes it sound as if it is a documentary as it is describes exactly what the film is about. This is opposed to most film titles that set to be short and catchy, such as 'Disturbia', 'Alien' and 'Outlaw'. The name itself, 'Henry' is a very common one and so it reflects how realistic the film is.

The type at the top, 'The Full Uncut Version' also adds to the film's identity, building the audience's interest in exactly why it was cut in the first place. It also plays on the exploitation factor, that people will want to watch the film in order to be shocked or scared. i think the '18' certificate also reflects this.

The image itself, of Henry looking into the mirror is a very important one in trying to understand what the film is about. Here we see Henry gazing into his reflection, as if he is contemplating and looking into himself. It is also as if the reflection represents Henry's dual personalities; the side of him that kills and the charade he presnts to the rest of the world. His face is non-expressive at this point making it even creepier, as if he doesn't feel emotion.

I think is important to note that the director's name doesn't feature prominently on the cover, as it shows that he is clearly not very known, and is so a factor that can't be used to sell thet film.

Rashomon (one of the most influential thrillers ever)

'Rashomon' is a 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa, and is really advanced for its time. It is a thriller, but is one of the first of its kind to use a non-linear plot. The film itself is set in ancient Japan, a woman is raped and her husband killed. The film gives us four viewpoints of the incident (one from the bandit, samurai's wife, the samurai and the woodcutter who saw the aftermath) each revealing a little more detail.
The film is also interesting in it's simplicity; the film only uses three locations: Rashomon gate, the woods and the courtyard. The cast itself is only made up of 8 (3 lead roles and 5 minor parts). this goes to show that an intricate plot in much more effective than flashy sets and an epic plot.

The light in the film is also an interesting aspect as it seems to symbolise evil and sin. This completely contrasts with what light naturally represents (goodness hope). the bright light in the forest scenes was acheived by using a big mirror to reflect the sunlight into the scene. Similarly to make the rain in the film stand out it was tinted with black ink as pure water didn't stand out.
The film is hugely influential and films such as 'The Usual Suspects' and 'CSI' that thrived on the idea of a story being in several pieceslike a big narrative jigsaw. Here's a trailer for the film:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SKbNfo20wzk

Asian Action Thrillers

coming soon!!!!!!!!!!!

Michael Mann (thriller director)

Michael Mann is a really good American director who has made a number of thrillers over the last twenty years, such as 'Heat', 'Collateral', 'Manhunter' and 'Thief'.

He has a number of techniques which make his films original and interesting to watch. One of my favourite techniques he uses is his use of colour to signify different emotions. For instance in 'Heat', the colour blue is used to signify lonelieness and isolation. This can most easily be seen when Neil returns back to his empty house at night and it is bathed in blue light.

On the other hand red is used to signify danger in the film. For example Hanna finds his dying daughter in a bath full of bright red blood. The most interesting use of colour is in the heist shootout. The cops when they are trapped hide behind a red truck, but use a blue bus as cover.

Grey and white on the other hand represents authority. This makes the scene in Rogeer Vans Sant's office poignant as the walls are striped white and black, showing that the character is neither good or bad and his mixed conformity.

Here's a link for the Shootout

http://youtube.com/watch?v=J7exsa3zXI8

Psycho Shower Sequence (and why its a thriller film landmark)

The main reason why I think the film is so effective as a thriller is the fact the central protagonist is killed halfway thorugh the film. It is something the audience is not expecting and thus is twice as shocking. As the Bloch (The author of Psycho) said:

'It occurred to me to do something not generally done in fiction: establish a heroine, give her a problem, amke her more or less likeable so that the reader would have some kind of empathy for her, then kill her off about one third of the way through the story. Redaers would say 'My God, now what?''.

This is again twisting the audiences expectations to make a thriller more captivating and suspenseful.

The other real success of the film in my eyes is the shower scene (http://youtube.com/watch?v=sdrDpELNbks), as not only is it extremely well shot, but it is alsoplays on the audience's fears. As Bloch said:

'I had a notion that a person is never more defenceless than when taking a shower . . . a sudden intrusion is a very shocking thing'.

The whole sequence starting from when we take Norman Bates's perspective as he watches Marion undressing, we imediately feel she is trapped and vulnerable. This shot is especially good in making the audience feel unerved. The the use of frames within frames makes the shot feel voyeuristic, while the extended shots of Marion undressing are uncomfortable to say the least as we see the film from the POV of the killer.

The killing itself is also extremely well shot as the killing is shocking even though we do not see it clearly on screen. There are very quick cuts (literally as well!), as we switch between reaction shots of the predator and his prey. The camera also doesn't linger on Marion's dead body, instead cuuting away to the blood swirling down the plughole and the curtains ripping. This leaves the killing to the audiences imagination, something which doesn't really happen in modern thrillers/horrors.

Another good thriller to see which is in a similar vein to 'Psycho' is 'Peeping Tom' (http://imdb.com/title/tt0054167/), which deals with the theme of voyeurism really well and is a classic of the genre.

Here's a trailer for it: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GzcTp28GFNk

REALLY FUNNY HITCHCOCK PARODY!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is from the film 'High Anxiety' http://imdb.com/title/tt0076141/ by Mel Brooks and it is a parody of all Hitchcock thrillers. It references to nearly all of his films from Vertigo to North By Northwest and is really silly.
After seeing psycho this particular scene is twice as funny, especially because of the final line!!!!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5wljKgVgzf4

Ed Gein the Inspiration For Psycho

Ed Gein was the original inspiration for 'Psycho' and has inspired a bunch of other thrillers/horrors as well (eg Silence of the Lambs, The Texas Chainsaw massacre,...). Heres a link for what he his actual crimes on Wikipedia so you can see the how they inspired the films http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein

These events then inspired Robert Bloch to write a novel based on this, and the rest is film history. But it clearly goes to show that one of the best places to look for inspiration for a thriller is in fact real life events and people's true fears.

Park Chan Wook (REALLY good thriller director)

Hes a south korean director, and has only been making films for like five years but his vengeance trilogy (Oldboy, Sympathy for mr vengeance, lady vengeance) is really worth seeing. All the films (obviously) have the central theme of revenge, but each film seperately incorporates other themes into the thriller genre. Sympathy for Mr Vengeance incorporates the themes of illegal oragan donors, terrorism and kidnap, while Lady Vengeance looks at redemption and child abduction.

Oldboy is probably the best example of a thriller of the three. The story has been clearly lifted from the count of monte cristo, but it has been twisted to create something much more sinister. This shows it is possible to take a cliche story and twist it to confuse the audiences expectations. Not to give the ending away but it is really diturbing as it destroys the audiences perception of the rest of the film due to the shocking twist. The film itself has the typical thriller urban setting, but it is shot beautifully with steadicam and a lot of artificial light giving a kind of kubrick clinical feel which is really contrasts with the shaky cam used in the bourne films. The film although is a thriller it sometimes borders on horror due to the extremity of some of the violence, but it never quite pushes the boundary due to the clever use of cutaways.
They are REALLY worth seeing but not for the faint hearted!!!!!!!
Heres a link for the trailer of oldboy

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YLn1y9v6yno

Welcome

Welcome to the Latymer School Thriller Video Project!!!

From the Media Team.....