Film

The debt

A film I would not usually bother to watch -

This is a thriller about three agents that kidnap a guy, Adolf Eichmann, and slowly kill him ensuring he dies naturally rather than it showing as a murder. However, the plot goes wrong, the man is cleverer than the agents realize and he eventually escapes. The agents make up a lie, making them seem like the heroes rather than the failures. Later the story unravels as two of the agents can’t take the guilt of the lie and the story gets out. A discovery takes place, and he is found in a hospital, and a fight occurs between him and the agent that found him. Adolf ends up dead, and the agent staggers away with stab wounds.

This was a very unusual, mind-puzzling story from the start. The story was explained at one of the agent’s daughter’s birthday, from a book, and then it unravels and the story is shown visually throughout the rest of the film. Some matching up with the book, but some key events missed out. E.g. the fact he escaped at first.

Film - The Matrix

Matrix –

Mind-bending between reality and fantasy

“It's a reality where robots rule the planet and keep humans plugged into a virtual reality matrix, living in a dream world, while their energy fuels the machines”

A Mind puzzling, sci-fi adventure, leaving you in uncertainty of what is and isn’t true and creating a ‘what if’ attitude, and curiosity for the future.

The reason I was so inspired about this film, is the way it was able to make you really think that perhaps that could be possible. The whole storyline was crafted so well, linking with computer games, and activities of today, making it seem possible. The film was clever in how it used people of today, with new technologies including ‘cyberspace’. Cyberspace is a ‘non-physical terrain created by computer systems’. The way the director used technology, was one of the key aspects that allowed the matrix to make the audience question the future.

This was helpful to me as it shows how everything I create, whether it is a trailer, short film, music video etc. that I must have a deep meaning to it in order to grab the viewer’s attention. It brought the awareness to me that every film has a deeper meaning to it or they have something that the viewers can relate too there own lives, which will automatically draw the viewers in. 

Film - Friends With Benefits

Friends with Benefits –

The finishing song ‘closing time’ is one of my favorite finishing’s of a film. It’s based in the grand central station (New York), filled with a huge mob of people dancing in time with each other and the song. Within all this hustle, Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis) are shouting across the noise to make up.

The range of camera shots used within this scene is one of the main reasons the clip is so successful. As Dylan makes his way Jamie, the ‘shot/reverse shot’ is effective, flicking from character to character. This emphasises their emotion and makes it feel as if you are part of it.  

Film - Wild Wild West

Wild Wild West

This was created in 1999 and it is a good example of how technology has moved on. In Wild Wild West it is very obvious that many of backdrops are within studio, rather than filmed in that location. As years have gone past, new technology has been introduced and more money has been put into films, which has created huge developments allowing films to be filmed in the location they wish, and to a much higher quality.

Nowadays, 2012, much less filming is likely to happen in studios. This gives much more freedom to film and music directors as they are able to use their imagination much more. The main reason for not using studios is that it can help create a much more realistic video. Recordings that are done in studios, e.g. eastenders, now have much higher quality equipment and technology, which allows it to look much more professional and real.

The new developments are a huge advantage to me, as it has made it much easier for me to film, and given me a lot more opportunities of what to do. The equipment I have available to me may not be what ‘Hollywood producers’ have, but the technology I do have and the freedom that development has given me is good enough to give me the opportunity to create a successful product for my A2 Media (without spending a fortune, or using a studio). 

A2 Course Layout / Briefs

Media Studies - A2 Course Layout by Tony Buckmaster