Analysis of Action movie cliches

Horror target audience profile

Horror film cliches

When we hear horror movie we automatically think blood, death, screaming, teenagers, demon's etc. there are several different categories for horror films; slasher, zombie, vampire, mainstream horror, Asian horror.

• Slasher horror is a film that involves a psychopathic killer who stalks and murders a particular victim. 
• Zombie horror is a film that involves an invasion of a town or city with zombies. Usually the zombies carry a certain infection
• Vampire horror is a film involves someone holding a secret that they are a vampire but do not want anyone to know and then all of a sudden their finding somebody that they want to bite. 
• Mainstream horror is the main cliche for a horror film. There is some sort of ghost, possessed person haunting your house or wanting to take your soul, you do everything in your power to get away from it but you simply cant, it follows you. 
• Asian horror is just where the film is filmed in an Asian country.

These genres all rely on cliches because without them they would not be horror movies. There are many cliches leading to horror movies such as small children. Small children are all either evil or have a invisible friend who are evil. For example in The Conjuring, the youngest child finds a jack in a box down by a tree, whenever she wound it up she could see a little boy standing behind her asking her to play. She found the box underneath the tree where this little boy's mother had hung herself. So you can already tell this is a major cliche when it comes to a horror film. Another cliche would be teenagers, in every horror movie there is at least one teenager. They are usually found alone in a house which leads you to question where are their parents? As soon as you see teenagers in a house on their own you know something bad is about to happen. Most horror movies also include the scene where the woman is washing her face in the in the sink and then all of sudden where she looks up there's a possessed person standing behind her waiting to attack the woman. Nuns are always to be avoided in horror films, i have never understood why they always include nuns in horror movies and why they are the main things to stay away from but that the film industry for you, always wanting you too guess what happens next and why this has happened etc. Lastly one of the main cliches is dark rooms, in horror films you are always see people going into dark rooms y themselves. You would never go into a dark room by yourself if you knew that something was haunting you, you would turn the light on an avoid going in there for as long as you could.
The more Gorey films usually contain people being capture and being tortured. When you see this you now there is no escaping it and you know how it will end.....not nice!
Horror films are mainly targeted at teens as they liked to be scared and have the feeling of 'being on the edge of your seat'. Even though some find the films so scary they will still go and pay to watch them, it must the thrill of them.
Horror films work best in rural areas, this because they have no one to scream for help for or no where to run away, there stuck there. this always makes horror movies more scary as your sitting there wanting them to get away but you just know in the end there going to end up dead.

Analysis Feedback

Well done Libby, a confident start to your blog page and some interesting comments on the effects of the opening. Having now learnt further terminology to apply to openings, can you add some comments to the post below about the use of camera and how it makes the audience think or feel?  Aim to comment on three significant moments involving camera to improve your response.  Also, aim to comment on what we find out about the story - what key questions about Dom's character and his narrative are we asking as the audience?

Taken analysis

The scene from Taken, where the daughter is kidnapped, is a really tense and original idea and this iconic moment led to the film spawning sequels.  There is some very clever dialogue as well as use of camera, editing and sound that make the scene so effective:

Sound

The scene is really tense because of use of music they have choosen. Even though the music is not very loud you know it is there. It is a very deep pro longed sound. This makes everything even more tense as you are waiting for something to happen when the music chages pitch or frequency.

Camera

As the tension increases we slowly track towards Liam Neeson.  The use of camera is very clever and another thing that I really like is how we just seee the vilans feet. This creates a sense of mystery and really relies on the daughter to give us the information. We are wanting to know what they look like and all the details about them. This creates suspense as we are really wanting to find out, this also helps us relate to Liam as we are in his shoes as we do not know what they look like either.

Editing

The pace of the cuts is really very clever.  The slow shot-reverse shot stresses their relationship whilst creating tension.  The next thing that happens is a change of pace. The pace does not change a huge amount but we can see that it picks up just a little bit. This when she is being dragged from underneath the bed and then it cuts back to her dad. The editing pace still stays quite slow as Liam is quite calm but we can also see that he is very angry.

Rush Analysis

Rush is a sports biopic about the rivalry between Nickie Lauder and James Hunt and the opening scene is very clever - it sets up the wider narrative for the viewer and creates a foreboding sense of tension.

The opening shot is a really thoughtful one - it is a long shot of a stormy sky which connotes uncertainty, danger and conflict. Storms create this kind of feeling as we do not know what they will bring, its a feeling of the unknown.

We cut to a close up of a man's eye as he survey's the sky - this is interesting because it suggests mystery and it makes us question what is he feeling and thinking. As we wonder why he looks up to the sky it cuts to a shot where we can see him looking up at the sky in a formula one car. This explains in more depth as to why he was looking up at the sky. He could have been seeing what the whether was going to be like and planning how he is going to strategically win this race. You can see the passion in his eye as it cuts to the close up.  This intensity also is conventional for drama.

A dramatic monologue begins. Some questions are asked by Lauder such as 'who would do this,' and we find out that two circuit racers are likely to die, statistically speaking, in the season. This creates more tension as you now have that thought in your head that this is as really dangerous sport and question whether they should be taking part in it or not. You can hear in his voice that this is a very important sport to him and how much time and dedication he puts into this sport.

We are shown a long shot of preparation for a formula one race in the late seventies.  We pan up from the road and this is to lend emphasis to the track because it represents how important the road is to the sport and represents danger as you see all the men checking the car is safe and getting them ready for the race.

There is long shot of Lauder and Hunt and it emphasises the difference between the two men. We see Lauder being focused and spending some time on his own to make sure he will perform at his best but then we Hunt just standing around with a bunch of girls having photos taken with not a care in the world about the race. Its almost like Hunt is just brushing it to one side because he is loving the attention he is getting from the women. This shows a clear contrast between the two main characters. We can tell from this shot that Hunt and Lauder are rivals but we only see one of the main characters, Lauder, preparing for this race properly and actually making us think that he wants to win this race more than anyone else.

Bridget Jones's Diary analysis

Throughout the trailer of Bridget Jones's Diary there are many embarrassing moments, starting off with her big knickers when she is with her boss and then the karaoke when she is drunk and then finally when she answer the phone and says something rather inappropriate and then realises she is speaking to her father.  Fathers in romantic comedys tend to be hapless figures of fun and the father in Bridget Jones is exactly that - which is why her inappropriate sexual comment he overhears is of little consequence.

The main character is relatable in many different ways, you could relate to her if you are also finding it hard to find love or if your life is just one big mess. Moving onto the love interests, during the trailer we see 2 potential boyfriends, one is inappropriate and the other one is the man she should be with. As the audience we know which one she should choose but during the film its not that simple. There is mainly always a fight that happens during a romantic comedy as two men want the same woman. This is a clear convention shown in Bridget Jones's Diary, one of the men offer a fight to the other one, hoping that at the end of the fight either one of them would end up with Bridget.
The clear stereotypes is one being the fight between the 2 men because they are both interested in Bridget and Bridget being confused about who she should pick to be with.

Bridget Jones Diary is considered to be the archetypal romantic comedy - it has all of the expected generic conventions and was so popular with its target audience that it became a franchise. The main character is conventional because she is unsuccessful in her love-life and at work.  We all feel insecure and uncertain about whether or not we are fulfilling our potential - which is a reason why Jones is so likeable - the target audience can relate to her.  We see in the trailer shots of her embarrassing herself in regrettable situations at work.

Dramatic irony plays a part in romantic comedies with the audience knowing who is right or wrong for the lead character before they do - and in the trailer we find out that Hugh Grant's character is a workaholic and a pervert, the things she does not like but is attracted to.

Notting Hill analysis

Notting Hill is a Romantic comedy, we know this because there were many clear indications during the trailer. The first convention we see is that two people who you wouldn't expect to be together are, this also ties into 'the perfect person'. It shows that they have been made for each other and belong together.

Further into the trailer we are introduced to his best friend. This is another very big convention. The best friend of the main character tend to be stupid but funny. We can tell that the best friend is funny because he thinks mayonnaise is yogurt but also implies that he is not well educated.  Best friends in romantic comedys are often an obstacle to the happiness of the lead character - and often also find love themselves, and therefore a life beyond their friend, as a subplot.


 This type of sense of humour is aimed at women as they would be the ones to find it funny. The man could be relatable to other men. This is because he thinks she is too good for him and thinks she is way out of is league.
The characters during the trailer show some clear stereotypes, for example we expect the best friend to be stupid and in sense rely on the main character for help or guidance throughout the film. The famous women has a typical stereotype from where she is famous. When think of famous people we think of cameras, looking good all the time and that everyone knows who you are, this is the typical stereotype for the woman during the trailer. There is always cameras around her or waiting for her where ever she goes, this is how we know she is famous. The man in the film is a normal working class citizen who you would not think would end up being with a celebrity. There is a clear contrast between the two main characters.

Cliched moments where characters confess their feelings to others is a generic convention and in Notting Hill there is a key moment where Julia Roberts's character tells Hugh Grant's character how she feels.  She says shes just a normal girl wanting to be loved. This appeals to the target audience because all girls feel this way. They can all relate to her character and in a sense feel sorry for her as that's all she wants, she just wants to be loved and in a happy relationship with someone that adores her.

The Mechanic analysis

In the opening scene of The Mechanic we are not given an insight into whether it is an action film or not, this is because we do not see any guns or violent behavior but as we get further into the opening the guns are shown and the violence starts to happen.
Camera
There were loads of shots used during the opening of The Mechanic. It starts off with a long shot of the male getting into his swimming pool, this creates a sense of mystery as we do not know who this man is. A few seconds afterwards we see a medium shot of him putting his goggles on ready to get into the pool, this gives an idea of what he looks like and whether he is going to be a villain or not. We then move onto a birds eye view of him doing length in the swimming pool, this gives us an idea of whats in his surroundings. Whilst he is swimming in the pool we see a shot of his face, this is a low angle shot as we are looking up at him, this is effective because we can see what expression he has on his face. We then have a camera shot of point of view, this is where we see that there is a watch on the bottom of the pool and we obviously can infer that he is going to pick it up, this is when it turns to his point of view as we see his hand reach out in front of him. This is then when he gets grabbed by someone in the pool and it cuts to a close up to show the panic on his face as he is dragged down further and is being drowned.
Sound 
There was non-diegetic sound used through out the opening. The music that was being played was very dramatic we can interpret that something bad is going to happen. When the man is being drowned all we can hear is gargling as the man is swallowing the water as he is being held under. As the villain escapes there is suspicious music being played, its like the spy music that is played when they are on a mission. The next sound we hear is when the maid sees the man floating, she screams, this creates a sense of panic as when people scream it means they are scared or need help with something. After the maid screams the suspicious music starts to begin again as the villain is escaping the house.
Editing
It is fast pace editing throughout the opening, this creates chaos because it makes the audience sit on the edge of their seat hoping everything will be okay. This also helps us understand the situation, we can infer that there is a problem that needs to be sorted and not everything is fine.
Representation
During the opening scene villains are shown as being good looking, we know this because it shows a medium shot of the villains body. They are also represented as being muscly, this is so they will be able fight and so they look the part.

Expendables analysis

In the opening scene we see a lot of fighting, this gives us a good indication that it is an action film. The opening of the film doesn't give too much away as to what the film is about, it keeps us guessing hoping that it will get us to watch the whole film to find out what happens.

Camera

At the start there was a lot of over the shoulder shots. This was used to get us to feel as though we were in their shoes. It let us see what was happening from their point of view. There was a few establishing shots, this is effective because it shows us where the scene will be taking place and give us an idea of what might happen by the look of the place it is taking place at. Long shots were also a common camera shot used, this was effective because it shows us what was happening to more than one thing at a time. Although this is a good camera shot it could also disorientate the audience as they have to focus on more than one thing at a time so may get confusing. 

Sound

During the start of the opening there was the use of non-diegetic sound. The music that was playing was very intense, we could infer from this that something bad might happen or they have some conflict with somebody, as we know it is an action film so it will include fighting. During the opening scene we also hear the sound of guns being fired. This is effective as it gives you the feeling of being there, we are able to hear the same as what the characters can hear making it more realistic. 

Editing

Throughout the opening the editing is very fast. This makes the opening more exciting as we are constantly looking at something different and switching between certain scenes in the opening. It also creates a sense of panic because you feel as though your in the film with them and you want them to complete whatever they are doing quickly so they can get out this awful situation. 

Representation 

Men are represented as being violent. This is a typical stereotype as well. When we think of fighting an guns we immediately associate them with males, this is because males come across as being the more dominant gender. In films men are mainly always the hero's, this is also because they are muscly which makes them more reliable than in woman, in the sense that they will be able to fight all the battles etc. 

Gladiator film analysis

Gladiator is a action/drama, we know this because there is lots of fighting and dramatic scenes in the opening scene.

Camera
During the opening scene the first shot is a close up of a mans hand. This creates mystery as we do not know who's hand it is and what it has to do with the film. Moving further into the opening scene there are many more close ups. It starts of with the hand and then there is a close up of the main characters face. This is effective because it shows us the characters facial expression, we are able to see that he looks worried. The camera then starts to pan around the setting. This is effective because we are able to see where the film is going to be held and get a feel for what type of film it is going to be.

Editing 
At the start of the opening the editing is very slow paced. They may have made it slow to set the scene and to get you thinking what could be going on in the rest of the film. The editing then starts to pick up, this is when they have a little conversation and when we are introduced to all the other 'gladiators'.

Sound
The music at the start of the scene is very tense. This creates a sense of worry as you are not to sure for what might happen next or what may be coming up during the film. But once we cut from the hand brushing the grass onto seeing all the gladiators it turns into heroic music. This may gives us a clue that they are going to win the battle. We are also able to hear the horse communicating with each other. This is effective as it really sets the scene as it makes you feel as you are there with them, it represents realism. Another sound that really sticks out is all the cheering before they start the battle, this may tell us that they are excited to get going. We hear the main character say 'unleash hell'. This shows us that he may have the stronger side in the battle and have a better chance of winning it.

Representation
Men are represented as violent and strong in this film. They are represented as violent because they are all carrying swords and are all very enthusiastic to start this battle. This is a typical stereotype as when we think of crime and violence many people would blame a man instead of a female. They are represented as strong as they are very muscly. This is also a typical stereotype as men always want to be the alpha male to show people that they are in charge.

Jeepers Creepers analysis

Jeepers Creepers is a horror film. From watching the opening two minutes i can tell that there will be 3 main characters and get a feel for the story line throughout the film.
Camera
During the opening scene of Jeepers Creepers there were many camera shots used. It stats off with close ups of the two teenagers in the car. This is effective because it makes the vehicle seem small and claustrophobic. They also use close ups to show the facial expressions of the teenagers. They use point of view camera shots to make us feel as if we are in their situation and get us thinking about how would we feel if that was us. The camera also starts panning as we are looking directly at the antagonist. this is effective because it disorientates the audience.
Editing
The editing pace was quite slow when it was cutting from scene to scene. this created some tension as it made us want to see what happens next quicker. There was many editing shots that cut from the point of view camera angles to the close ups in the car. this is effective because it gives us a real feel of what this scene is all about an we can see whats happening all around them.
Representation
The two teenagers that were in the car were represented as annoying and disorganized. We can tell that they are disorganized because in one part of the scene the male character ask for his mobile phone but it has no charge on it, this is irresponsible and disorganized as it had no battery on and they needed it for an emergency. We could also say the teenagers were nosy as they did not stop starring at the creepy man, this may be half the reason why they got themselves into a troubled situation.

Drag me to hell analysis

Drag me to hell is a horror film. From watching the opening 2 minutes it seems like a very jumping film. i will now be evaluating all the different sections to the film that i was able to see from the opening.

Camera

There was many camera shots/angles used to create this thrilling opening. One of the very first shots was an establishing shot of the home where the opening 2 minutes would take place. this gives us a good idea of where the next scene will be taking place. It then moves on to many close ups of the characters faces. The character that stood out the most was the women who was meant to be helping the boy. When the camera shows the woman's face, we see panic, it gives us a good indication of what she is feeling and if the situation is good or bad. It also gives a close up of the boy, we can see that the boy looks distressed. When we see the boy laying down the camera starts to pan, which disorientates the audience, this creates tension because we think that something bad is going to happen afterwards. 

Sound

There is use of a minor key. This creates sad music with a suspended note which creates a lot of tension. All the music used in the opening is full of tension it always has you feeling on edge as to what will happen next. It is very effective as it makes you want to carry on watching.

Editing

Between most of the scene it has fast pace editing. this creates a sense of chaos. This is because it makes you feel like you are in the film going on the journey of hell with them. 

The spiritualist is given prevalence as she is the character you see the most. She has longer duration shots and a lot more close ups than any other character included in the opening. This gives you the feeling that she is going to be in the film an awful lot as well as the little boy who has already been 'dragged to hell'.
Representation 
It shows us negative stereotypes of each culture. It presents the Mexicans as being poor and how their not able to look after themselves very well as they do not look very clean. It presents the gypsies as being evil and sinister. We get this impression because when they boy stole the necklace they put a curse on him which is obviously why he is hearing things and seeing things that are not real. It also gives us the impression that they can do magic as they were able to cast a spell on the little boy.

Analysis of the film Back to the future

Opening scene of Back to the future

What genre indicators are there? 
We can infer that the genre of the film is science fiction. This is because the main character is surrounded by clocks in the first scene. The clocks indicate time, this could link to something happening in the future as the clue is in the name but also the clocks are set 25 minutes late. There is also another indication that it is a science fiction because in docs house there are many contraptions that nobody has ever seen before.
What question are the audience encouraged to ask themselves about the narrative/main character?
There are many questions that the audience may be thinking such as why did the doc set the clocks 25 minutes late? who is Marty? what is Marty' relation towards the doc? We hope all these question can be answered whilst the film continues. also another question that could be asked is what are all those inventions for? what do they do?
What do we find out?
We find out that there are two main characters, Marty and Doc. At the start of the first scene we only see Marty's feet but then the camera slowly makes its way out to showing his face. We can see that Marty is a teenager and that he still goes to school, as when the Doc called he said he was going to be ate for school. Even though we do not see the Doc we can infer that he is another main character because Marty was at his house with all his invention so this must tell us that most of the film will be based around them two. We can also tell that Marty is quite mischievous as he turns on the amp and the speaker to as high as they can go, when he plays the guitar it blows the speaker up because he turned it up too high.
How is the music ambient sound used and what mood does it create? 
There was not much music or sound in the opening scene. the only things we hear are clocks ticking, the radio and the television. This does not create any sort of mood it just sounds like a load of noise all put together.
What camera shots stand out for you and what is there effect or appeal?
there were any close ups used during this scene. There were close ups of the TV, many of the clocks, Marty's feet and skateboard and some more. There was the occasional medium shot, this was when they first showed Marty, and when he played the guitar and blew the speaker up. All in all the opening scene of back to the future did not give much away and leaves you guessing with whats going to happen.

Analysis of the film Divergent

Opening scene of divergent

What genre indicators are there?

The genre of the film is a science fiction. It shows us that it is set in the future as they have a massive fence surrounding there city, so we can only infer that it is in the future as we do not have that in our time now. Also the citizens are split into groups and whichever group you are in you have to wear a special outfit. This also indicates that it is in the future because that does not happen now.

What questions are the audience encouraged to ask themselves about character/narrative?

The audience may be thinking will there be a happy ending, if you was living in that world what group would you be put in, would you be happy living there or would you hate it, is this an accurate sight into what the future may look like.

What do we find out?

We find out that the public have now been split into different groups depending on what you believe and what you are capable of doing. We also get the impression that the narrator/main character will get involve with the group that protect the city, the soldiers, as I get the feeling something will happen and they will have to save the city or fight or do something in that direction. The opening 2 minutes doesn’t really give much away, it is very hard to try and infer what is going to happen.

How is the music ambient sound used and what mood is created?

At the very start we hear very dramatic music, this creates a curious/worried mood as they do not know if something bad is going to happen right at the start or if they are going to make us wait. It carries on for a good minute or 2 and then suddenly stops, this shocks us as we don’t know why it has stopped so suddenly, but then the main character starts to narrate. She starts to tell us the basics but does not give much away so leaves us guessing what is going to happen throughout the film.

What camera shots stand out for you and what is their effect or appeal?

There are many establishing shots used in the opening scene, this is effective because it gives us a real feel of what the setting looks like and where it is. There are also some medium which show the different groups this is effective because it shows us how different they all look from each other and gives you an idea of what type of people would fit in where.

28 weeks later review

 The genre of this film is a horror, we can tell this from the first 2 minutes as there is a lot of blood, gore and screaming going on.

There are two main characters, Don and Alice, who are married to each other. We learn from the film that Don is a bit of a coward as he does not stay with his wife during the attack from the zombie like people, instead he decides to jump out of a window and run away. As he is running away he is also being chased by the infected people, he sees a boat and jumps into it and manages to avoid being bitten. Meanwhile the wife, Alice, is at home with a child that she let in after they knocked at the door, they lock themselves in a room so that hopefully the zombies do not get them. Alice may come across as a brave character as she stayed at home trying to save her and this child from being attacked. But in the end Don looks over his shoulder whilst he is running away and he sees his wife up against the window shouting his name and then the next minute she is being dragged away from the window and being infected with the disease.

 

During the opening 2 minutes of the film there was many different camera shots used.
One significant moment would be where Don runs away from the infected people and is shown in a field, as seen in a picture below,

This is a medium shot as you can see his head as well as his body from the waist up. This is effective because it shows that the character, Don, is running and is in a panic to make sure he out runs the infected humans. It also puts the audience into a state of panic because you really want him to out run the infected humans but then you also know that he shouldn't of left his wife like that, it was selfish of him.

Another significant moment is when Dons wife, Alice, looks out the window and sees him running away, as seen in the picture below,

This is a close up as you can only see her face and the upper part of her body. this is effective because it shows the real emotion that she is feeling at that stage and can make you empathise with what Alice is feeling that current moment. When we see Don running away and leaving his wife the audience must feel sorry for Alice and think what a coward, who would just leave their wife like that?

A third iconic moment would be when Don jumps into the boat and tries to escape being infected by the humans, as seen in the picture below,

This is a long shot as there are multiple people in the picture. this is effective because it shows everything that is going on around Don and how it is not focused on one thing. It shows us that Don has more than one obstacle to tackle at once and makes the audience question will he make it out alive? In this shot we see Don being brave and fighting off the infected humans so it makes us question even more whether he has made the right decision to leave his wife or not.

My Influences and Interests

My favourite film is the Conjuring 2. The reason why it is my favourite film is because its very thrilling. I like the feeling of being on the edge of my seat and not knowing what to expect next.i also enjoyed it because it was based on a true story and at the end of the film it shows pictures of the house where the events actually took place with pieces of information about the house ie where it was and what happened.



My favourite director is James Wan. He has directed many horror films such as both the conjuring films, insidious 1,2,and 3, and he has also directed the up coming film lights out which i have yet been to see. All of his films that i have seen have been very exciting but in a scary way and the way the films are put together is mind blowing, everything looks so realistic.



I do not have a favourite genre as i am torn between horror and a romantic comedy. I tend to watch horrors more than i do romantic comedy's because in my opinion there more exciting and have more of a story line to them. I also find there is more good horror movies out than there is romantic comedy's. I find that with romantic comedy's they all tend to end the same and have the same story through out as you cant really do anything else.

The film that i am anticipated to watch is called don't breath. I am intrigued to watch this film as it looks thrilling and its a horror and i enjoy horror films.



The last film that i saw was Bad Moms. I thought this was a really good film. I would class it as a comedy as through out most of the film everyone was laughing. there were some serious parts in the film but then some other parts that were there to make you laugh which i think is a good balance. If i'm honest i did not expect it to be as good as it was. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would recommend it to anybody who likes a girly comedy.