Evaluation of MI2 (Melissa Kerrison work)

What is the film about?
Agent Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) has been sent on a mission to retrieve and destroy the supply of a genetically created disease called 'Chimera'. His mission is made impossible due to the fact that he is not the only person after samples of the disease. He must also contest with a gang of international terrorists headed by a turned bad former IMF agent who has already managed to steal the cure called 'Bellerophon' and now need 'Chimera' to complete their grand plan of infecting the whole world. In order to infiltrate and locate the terrorist group he relies on the help of an international thief Nyah of whom he quickly develops a love interest. Time is not only running out for Agent Hunt to find and destroy 'Chimera' before the terrorists get their hands on it, but he must also find 'Bellerophon' so as to save his love interest who has already become infected by the disease from a terrible and rapid death.


Mise En Scene
The setting when the extracts opens is a close up of the protagonist Ethan Hunt highlighting his importance within the film, in the background you can see a vast desert this could connote isolation and loneliness this is rienforces due to the fact that he is the only character we can see. Ethan then throws the message into the air and it immediately explodes we are the led onto the film titles itself which are written in the bright bold colours of orange,red and blue connoting the idea of fire and danger, this could be foreshadowing the events to come.

Sound
The diegetic soundtrack within the opening of Mission Impossible 2 is a very iconic and popular soundtrack as audiences will automatically recognise it. At the beginning of the opening we hear a voice coming from this glasses explaining what Ethan's next mission is, this is an example of non diegetic sound. As the title sequences start to roll you start to gain that sense of mystery, this creates suspension for the audience.

Editing
Ethan Hunt as the protagonist gets the most screen time, this is also because he is the only character presented to us in the opening. When Tom Cruise is in the frame the shots are slow paced but this is quickly juxtaposed when the titles are shown creating pace and a sense of urgency. The titles within the title sequences are held in the centre of the screens for around 3 seconds this is just about enough time for the audience watching to take in the actors, directors and producers.

Melissa's interpretation of Mission Impossible 2 is very detailed and crossed off the four sections we need to think about when creating our own; camera angles, mise en scene, sound, editing. I believe she has grasped the concept extremely well. From Melissa's work I have learn't that the pace of the diegetic soundtrack adds to the intesity and excitement of the film.

The Opening Of The Bourne Ultimatum

This is not my film I am using it for educational purposes
The Bourne films, are a popular series of  the genre thriller. Straight away we get the sense of tension because of the diegetic soundtrack gives the audience anticipation of whats to come foreshadowing the mystery, the music in the background almost sounds like a ticking clock this could be representative of the film as whole. The black background is very dark and reinforces that sense of mystery, when the title's start rolling they appear white and are placed in bottom right hand corner and are held for around 3 seconds this is long enough for the audience to read and take it in. We then see a document and with bold, red letters are the words 'TOP SECRET' by giving these little clues it gives the audience a little insight on what they are about the watch, keeping them interested. The use of close up shots on the document itself highlights the crime/mystery of the extract and what it will entail, the document symbolizes crime which is representative of police and agents. Then the background suddenly turns black again, the editing here is quite choppy, this could be significant of the film, when the camera is back on the document some of the writing is blurred out this could be so the audience focuses on these key clues in order to follow the film. The use of the map, signifies that they are looking for someone and with the tense music in the background gives it that sense of urgency. The title sequences are giving a series a clues just like if you were a policeman/woman yourself putting together the clues to catch the Villian giving the audience a sense of involvement. The title of the film is placed dead center highlighting the importance of it. When the title has dissapeared we are presented with a close of shot of a person walking in the snow, the noise from his shoes creates that tense atmosphere and it looks as though he trying to get away from someone, keeping the audience at the edge of their seats.
From this I have learnt that within a title sequence you can include clues and insights about what your film will entail, and by doing that you are creating the involvement between your film and the audience. The audience is very important when it comes down to creating a film as they will want those original expectations of the 'thriller genre'.

Evaluation of Jacob Smith's work

 Jacob has analysed the very famous thriller 'Taken' and has gone in to great detail about the film itself. This will be very helpful for people who have not watched it and are curious as to what it is about. Not only this but Jacob has written about the camera, mise en scene, editing and sound this will be very helpful when we are at the stage of planning and making as all of our research about film titles will give us an insight on what to do. If I was too suggest an improvement I would ask if he could put the embed code so we can all watch and maybe suggest some other key facts but other than that I believe Jacob has analysed 'Taken' very well.

Evaluation of Melissa Kerrison's work section 2

Melissa decided to analyse Mission Impossible 2. The way she has given a little summary for people who have not watched the film is very beneficial, not only this but has shown her understanding that the film is 'action thriller'. By splitting her work up into section it shows she has understanding across all of the area's we will need to consider when creating our opening.

This is the clip Melissa has provided us with, and from watching and reading her analysis I now have a better understanding of how and what to include in a title sequence, this isn't just Melissa's work but from a number of title sequences that have been analysed within the group.

Overall I believe Melissa has a great understanding of the title sequences and has covered off all the area's we need to consider. I think her work will really benefit when it comes to the planning and making.

Responses for our survey

Our group gathered up our survey results and surprisingly got quite a few responses which I was not expecting. However some people responses were not very helpful and will not be used when summarizing the answers.

In the first question we asked 'What is your gender'?

 From this we can see that 64% were female and the remaining 38% were male. I'm glad however people took the time to help us out with our research.











The second question was ' How old are you?'

 We had a number of categories for people to choose for their age and surprisingly got a quite a variety not just the norm. 5% being under 16, 49% being between the age of 16-30 this was the highest percentage out of all 5 groups. 31-45 we got 26%, 46-60 was 13% and even 13% in 61+. This was quite a success as we have a number of people different views and opinions of all different ages.






'What things do you enjoy most about thrillers?' This was our third question and it got a number of different opinions ranging from blood and violence to psychological plot twists. Suspense was put in a number of people's answers so our group would be silly not to include that. Someone said car chases and intricate plots, although I think it would be hard for us to film a car chase it was a very good opinion and intricate plot will be very helpful for us.


We got another graph for this next question, ' What is your favourite sub-genre of thriller?'

A number of suggestions were made here;
Conspiracy Thriller = 5%
Political Thriller = 18%
Erotic Thriller = 3%
Supernatural Thriller = 5%
Psychological Thriller = 26%
Crime Thriller = 26%
Action Thriller = 10%
Other = 8%

To make this question better when people stated 'other' we should have asked what their preference was but other than that I believe we got a good range of results.


Our penultimate question was 'Based on your answer for the previous question, what is it about this sub genre that you like so much?' I think this was a really good question to ask and we got all kinds of responses such as; 'I chose crime thriller because you can try and solve the mystery throughout the film and it's not usually what you expect' and 'Sci fi, I like the use of special effects and that it can be anywhere that the film is made and that anything can really happen' Of course we will take the time to read each of your responses and take them all into consideration when deciding what to make our thriller.


Finally the last question we asked was 'What do you expect from the opening of a thriller?' Unfortunately some people wrote some unhelpful things but luckily it was only one or two responses. People suggested things like ' music to be dark and the opening to start the confusion of whats to come' and 'a scene that either develops the main characters or the crime itself - enough information to get me interested' most of the responses were really helpful and our group will certainly look at each of them when considering what to include in our opening


Thankyou for helping us with our research it was really helpful.

Evaluation of Melissa Kerrison section 2

Melissa's research on age classification was really helpful as I didn't actually know the difference from an 18 and 15. Not only that but the BBFC and how it puts films into the right classification.

A film classed as a 15

 It is split into 8 categories:

Discrimination- Work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

Drugs- Drug taking may be shown but film as a whole musn't encourage drug misuse. Misuse of easily accessible drugs such as aerosols and solvents is likely to be unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror-  Allowed unless sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable Behaviour- Dangerous behaviour is not permitted eg, suicide and self harming. Easily accesible weapons should not be encouraged.

Language- Frequent use of strong language is allowed. The strongest terms for example 'cunt' is only allowed if in context. Repeating the word or using it aggresively is unlikely to be allowed.

Nudity- Allowed but without strong detail. No constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex- Again, this is allowed but without strong detail, may be strong verbal references but strongest references are unlikely to be allowed unless justified by context

Violence- Strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong, sadistic or sexualised violenced is unliely to be acceptable, reference to sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

Melissa split her work up two sections the one above are the rules for a 15 rated film. From the films I have watched you can see that some if not all are included in a 15 film and you wouldn't see it in a lower rating film. 

A film classed as an 18

Adults should be free to choose their own entertainment, although exceptions are most likely in the following areas:

-Where material is in breach of criminal law.

-Where material appears to risk harm to individuals, or to their behaviour to society- for example, violent or dangerous acts which may cause harm to public health or morals. This also may include portrayals of sexualised violence, for example, eroticise or endorce sexual assalt.

-Where there are more explicit  images of sexual activity, which cannot be justified

Again there is a big jump between a 15 and an 18, as in a 18 there aren't really any limits they are free to put whatever context in they like, however there are a few exceptions. The BBFC have to take all this into consideration when rating a film and some are deemed to be violent or overly graphic and that film would not be allowed to be shown in cinema's

Melissa has included some really useful information which our group can really consider when making our own.

Evaluation of Melissa Kerrison's work

 As I have never seen this film before, Melissa overall summary about it was very helpful and she showed great understanding of what it was about. Not only has she reviewed the film itself but has gone into to detail about camera use, mise en scene, editing and sound.
The camera use in this film is very important within the thriller, in this film se7en it is seen that they have use a wide range of camera angles, however no long shots were used like Melissa said this was done to add to the mystery and that the audience will need to watch more to get a better understanding.
The Mise En Scene gives us an insight on what the film will entail. The use of 'dark' recurs a lot when when watching Thrillers, which links into my research.
Reading Melissa's work has helped me understand 'crime thrillers' a bit better as I have not watched many. This will certainly help us when considering what thriller for us to do.