Jonathan Russell's films

From the very start this opening sequence we can tell it is a thriller. People often relate the thriller genre to murders and crimes so as we see the pictures of mutilated corpses and a had circling names and religious references it become obvious what sort of film we are about to see. The use of quick cuts and flashing images adds to the effect of suspense, and the text is deliberately made to scribble on and fade off and on again which is almost hard for the eye to take in something so fast, creating an uneasy feel to the piece. The extreme close ups of the fingers and the razor blade, peeling dead skin of them makes the audience uncomfortable because it places us right next to it. The non diegetic music is very disturbing and has been constructed to create an atmosphere of unease and tension, with very high noises and sudden changes in pitch as the constant technological beat remains in the background.
The use of extreme close ups also makes the audience ask questions as we do not see the person circling or holding the razor blade, because of this sense of insecurity we feel fear, and fear in this case is used as a major overruling factor of the movie as it does stray into the horror genre.

Universal All ages admitted, there is nothing unsuitable for children.

Parental Guidance General viewing, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for children under 8.

12A May be unsuitable for under 12s. Those aged under 12 are only admitted if accompanied by an adult at all times during the performance (cinema only).

12 Suitable only for those aged 12 and over.
No-one younger than 12 can rent or buy a 12 rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game.

15 Suitable only for those aged 15 and over.
Nobody younger than 15 can see a 15 film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 can rent or buy a 15 rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game.

18 Suitable only for adults.
Nobody younger than 18 may see an 18 film in a cinema.
No-one younger than 18 can rent or buy an 18 rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game.




Under these guidelines our film piece would most likely be rated a 15 as it contains violence, drug use, and gruesome images. Our target audience would mostly be for teenagers as we visualised this as something people of our age can relate to, which means the certificate we would see it under would be appropriate for our target audience aims.


Some of the previous information was provided from www.bbfc.co.uk in research.

I originally came up with the concept of our main character. I imagined the character to be more of a heroic one initially, taking inspiration from character such as Rorschach from Dave Gibbons's graphic novel 'Watchmen' and I was especially inspired by Robert Rodrieguez's comic book film adaptation of Frank Miller's 'Sin City'. I was really interested by the investigating characters and I wanted my character to be trying to solve a murder or kidnapping which introduces the thriller genre however I had to tone down the characters heroic factors, otherwise it might become to unrealistic. Another aspect of the character Rorschach, was the almost poetic language he used and how he leaves out the unnecessary words, creating characteristic with his almost growling frightening voice. I acquired this as one of the hooded figures characteristics as he has very little dialogue in the piece and speaks in short sentences and phrases. Having loved the look of Rorschach's mask I wanted to bring that into reality without making it look unrealistic, I gave my character a neck warmer or bandana to also create the secretive side or hidden personality to him, which I believed only made him more interesting to the audience.

The voiceovers really stood out in my mind as being effective and drawing the audience in. It also acts as a way of telling the story without the use of onscreen diegetic dialogue. It also allows us to understand exactly what the character is thinking and the emotions they are feeling on screen. I always linked it back to kids cartoons and television shows when the character would speak out loud and we look back on it and see how bad it looks, but with this it works because our aim of audience would be intellectually mature to understand the concept we have created. I wanted to create a character with similar characteristics, however I decided to give my character a hooded jumper to relate to the stereotype of young criminal is today's society and challenge that by making this character the determined, heroic, protagonist of the story.

Low angle shot
















High angle shot




















Bird's eye
















Worm's eye



















Eye level

Close-up


















Medium shot


















Long shot


















Extreme long shot
















Extreme close-up


















Over the shoulder shot


















Two shot

Semiotics:
Describing what the image contains in the frame. Keeps the interpretation of the picture separate from the description of the content


Denotation and Connotation:

Denotation:
describing what is in the image. e.g. horse, cart, man, fire, colours, framed, shots

Connotation:
Interpretation you put on the picture or which is suggested by the picture. e.g. love, conflict