Key Cast: Jack Reynor, Fionn Walton and Patrick Gibson
Director: Lenny Abrahmson
Writer: Malcolm Campbell
Genre: Drama
Themes: Love, friendship, guilt and regret
Release: January 2013
Budget:?
Key Scenes:
The key scene within the film is towards the end when he goes to the beach house to get away from everyone in a while. In this scene, the main character Richard, has a break down and starts crying and screaming. This is an important scene because even though the audience knows that he resented Connor, he still feels regret for his actions. This is creates sympathy towards richard because the audience feels sorry for him that he is in a bad situation. the breakdown of the character shows the different side to his emotions. He is shown to be confident and popular through out the most of the film. But the breakdown scene shows a more vulnerable side to him.
Key micro features: An important micro-feature within this film is sound. There is little non-diegetic sound making the film more eerie because it creates suspense. This links with the title as it is also a mystery. The audience wants to find out the importance of Richard and the sound links up with the whole mystery of the film. Music is normally used to create the atmosphere and set the mood of the film. In this case, the lack of sound still creates the same effect as by having the silence in the film creates awkward tension.
Key Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg.
Director: Martin Scorsese.
Writer: William Monohan.
Genre: Crime Thriller.
Themes: Violence, betrayal, deceit, corruption.
Release: October 2006
Budget: $90,000,000
Key Scene: An important scene within the film is when Billy (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) realises that he is not the only undercover agent within Franks gang and when he realises that there are rats in the police force. This is important as it shows to the audience the level of police corruption. No one in this film can truly trust one another. This is important because by finding out that there are traitors on both sides adds the element of suspense. This makes the film a thriller because the audience is unaware if the characters true intentions.
Micro-Features: An important micro-feature is Performance. The whole film is based around the idea of deceit. The characters within the film have to change their performance in order to try and get the information they need. The undercover agents have to try and fit in with the surroundings so they don't blow their cover. The performance is important as it creates suspense because the audience has to try and work out what side the characters are on.
Comparables: This film could be compared to Mr and Mrs Smith (2005 Doug Liman). This is because the main protagonists are also undercover. Also in the film it is hard to decide who are the good or the bad guys. By making it unclear who the audience should trust makes it more interesting for the audience as they have to work out what could end up happening.
Key Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Jessica Alba, Samuel L Jackson.
Director: Kyle Newman.
Writer: John D'Arco
Genre: Action Comedy
Themes: Betrayal, violence, Secrecy, friendship
Release: April 2015
Budget:?
Key Scenes:
An important scene within Barely Lethal is towards the end of the the film when Megan (Hailee Steinfeld) is told that she is able to leave the agency (Prescot's) and lead a normal(ish) life.The audience from the beginning of the film were shown that Megan was not a normal spy because she wasn't able to detach from the outside world. This is important as the message through out the film is that she is not supposed to have feelings or attachments. This is important because the audience wants the her to succeed and get what she wants. The scene shows that although the agency has taught her not to feel, she never really could do that meaning that the audience felt sympathy for her as she manages to escape the life that she never wanted.
Micro-features:
Performance is important in this film because it is based around a spy trying to hide her identity. The protagonist Megan has to try and live a normal life whilst trying to get away from the spy agency. This is important as this creates suspense as the audience knows who she really is but the other characters do not, meaning that the audience are on edge as they don't want her to be found out. Because the film is an action comedy it means that performance is important because she has to be able to deliver the action elements (for example: stunts) but whilst also being a high school student with a funny/bubbly personality.
Comparables:
Barely Lethal is similar to Kingsman (Matthew Vaughn 2014). The story is slightly different being that there is a role reversal. Instead of wanting to leave a spy agency (Barely Lethal) the protagonist in Kingsman wants to join an agency. It also has very similar themes of betrayal and violence.
Key Cast: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender.
Director: Quentin Tarantino.
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: War Drama
Themes: Violence, death, revenge.
Release: August 2009
Budget: $75,000,000
Miracle at St.Anna
Key Cast:Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller
Director: Spike Lee
Writer: James McBride
Genre: War Drama
Themes: Violence, Survival, revenge.
Release: September 2008
Budget: $45,000,000
Key Scenes:
In Inglorious Basterds the opening scene is important. the opening scene introduces the character, Hans Landa. This is important as it shows the intentions of the character. Hans goes into a house where he suspects a Jewish family is hiding and he is right. He manages to get the information out of the home owner and then finds where he is hiding the family. Brutally, he orders them to be shot through the floor boards but only one escapes. This is an important scene as it shows to the audience that when they see his character later on in the film they know it is not going to be good. Straight away the film starts with a brutal killing which means the audience knows what to expect from the rest of the film.
In Miracle at St.Anna the opening is also very important to the plot of the film. the scene shows a man working behind a counter when he is approached by a man. He then pulls out a gun and shots him blank in the chest, killing him. This is an important scene because the audience is un aware of what happened in order to make him kill a seemingly innocent man. This sets up the rest of the film as the audience wants to find out why he killed him. The opening scene grabs the audiences attention.
Micro-features:
An important micro-feature in both Inglorious Basterds and Miracle at St.Anna is cinematography. In both of the films they use close ups to show the gory details in the film. For example in at the end of Inglorious Basterds, they show close ups of the soldiers getting scalped and at they end they show Hans getting the nazi symbol engraved into his head. In Miracle at St.Anna, towards the end of the film, they show close ups of the people that have been shot and killed. They show close ups of people getting shot and falling to the ground. The close up in the films are used to show the brutality and violence within the war. By using close ups the audience really feel as if they are there with the characters and experiencing everything that is going on.
Mise-en-scene is also important in both of the films. In Inglorious Basterds the film is set in France. The film focuses on the war from behind the scenes. For example instead of the the actual fighting in the war, it focused on all the secret missions to bring down Hitler. This mise-en-scene is important because it shows in the film that people still continued to try and carry a normal life, for example going to the cinema or a restaurant, even when they know that there are soldiers walking around town killing people. The film is not set in a war zone but it shows that it doesn't mean that no one is getting killed. The mise-en-scene shows the different side to the war.
In Miracle at St.Anna the location of the film is set right in the middle of a war zone. Mise-en-scene is important in this film because it shows what condition the soldiers had to face. Although the film is not always shown to be in the middle of a war zone (location: a small town), the soldiers were still in danger because they were near/in enemy lines. The mise-en-scene showed that the soldiers were not safe any where they went.
Both of the films opening scenes start of aggressive or unpredictable meaning that it attracts the audience. By starting the film with a big statement, for example a murder, sets up the whole film as the audience want to find out why this is happening. Both of the films opening scenes are pretty similar as they start of with an aggressive murder and the films have a strong theme of violence because they are war films. The differences in the two films are that one shows it from the perspective of soldiers in the war zone and the other shows soldiers trying to bring down Hitler directly. The films are very similar as they are both shown through the soldiers and that they don't have a main protagonist but instead multiple protagonists.
Key Cast: Brit Robertson and George Clooney.
Director: Brad Bird
Writer: Damon lindelof
Genre: Action Adventure
Themes:
Release: May 2015
Budget: $190,000,000
Key Scenes:
A key scene within the film is when the protagonist, Casey Newton (Brit Robertson), comes face to face with the creator of Tomorrowland. In this scene as she discovers that the world she lives in is going to end and she is told that there is nothing they can do about it. This is important because although she has been told there is nothing she can do she still wants to try and fix it. The audience knows that she will go out of her way to try and fix it because that it how she is portrayed throughout the whole film. This also shows to the audience that the creator of Tomorrowland doesn't try and fix the world. He is determined there is nothing he can do about it however Casey desperately wants to try and fix it. This shows how the two different genders react within the film. Because the creator thinks he is the smartest it leads him to his downfall, making Casey the smarter one and ultimately the one who saves the world.
Key Micro-Features:
A key micro-feature is cinematography. An important part of cinematography is the camera angles and shots. When Casey first gets the pin that takes her to Tomorrowland it uses a mixture of wide angle shots and close ups. These are used to first show the surrounding/location and then the close ups are sued to show her reactions to what she is seeing. This is important for the audience as before she has gone Tomorrowland the film has been negative as the shots have been dark or really close and enclosed. But as she goes to Tomorrowland everything opens to make it appear that everything there is so much bigger and better. The shots used throughout the film are used to show the emotions of the characters and to show what their life is like.
Comparables: A film similar to this could be 'Room' (2015 directed by Lenny Abrahamson). This is because both the protagonists of the films (Casey and Jack) both come to realise that there are things so much bigger than they imagined. They both have similar cinematography styes. They both use close and enclosed shots to create the sense that everything is much smaller. The shots begin to change and get more open as they start to discover new things about the world.
An important scene within "Room" is when 'Jack' and 'Ma' are in the hospital on the bed and 'Jack' asks if he can go back to 'Room'. This is an important scene as the audience knows that 'room' is all that 'Jack' knows. He doesn't see at as a scary and small space like 'Ma' does. because he doesn't know much about the outside world he feels scared and would much rather be back in 'room'. This shows to the audience that the room is going to be the norm and the outside world will be scary for him.
Another important scene is right at the end of the film where 'Jack' wants to visit 'room' to say goodbye. This is an important scene as the audience at this point have seen how he has struggled to cope and fit in to the real world. The audience feel as if he is never going to get used to the world. But the fact that he says goodbye to the room at the end of the film is significant because he has started to move on. Jack then says 'has room always been this small?' this shows that to him 'room' was his whole world, but now that he has been somewhere bigger he comes to realise just how little he knew about anything.
Micro-features:
Performance is important in this film especially for the character protagonist 'Ma' as she has to make sure that 'Jack' is able to live a full life by making up a pretend world for him. She has to create a world where T.V is made on the T.V planet so that Jack feels as if everything is normal and so that he doesn't question why they only live in one small room. At points in the film the audience sees that 'Ma' becomes frustrated with 'Jack' when she tries to explain to him that there is more beyond the four walls that they live in because he doesn't understand as he has been brought up to only know 'room'. The performance is important as although 'Ma' knows that he has to learn about whats happening at some point, but for now she creates a world to keep him safe.
