Source Code

                                                  Source Code

Director: Duncan Jones

Writer: Ben Ripley

Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga

Budget: $32,000,000 (estimated)

Opening weekend: $14,812,094 3rd April 2011

Gross: $54,696,902

Summary: An action thriller centred on a soldier who wakes up in a body of an unknown man and discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.




The storyline keeps you on the edge of your seat and adds in enough humour to make it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The movie contains suspense and can bring questions to the audience. There is amazing subtle chemistry between Jake and Michelle which really is the star of the film and the performances from all the actors in the movie were excellent. All together, the film delivers on romance, suspense, mystery and thrills. It has beautiful cinematography which makes Chicago proud because the makers of the film have set the scene so brilliantly. The movie has an enigmatic ending, where for the audience, it brings up more questions than answers but somehow feels right.

As well as excitement, there are tender moments in the film that relieve the tension, there is an ongoing romance and a very moving scene where Stevens phones his father. Colter Stevens is a resourceful hero, he gets out of a lot of scrapes as he challenges fellow passengers on the commuter train. The film is an example of an ordinary person, albeit a soldier, who has been dragged into a situation he does not really understand. Colter Stevens is not only against the bomber he is also against the creator of the source code who refuses to let him die and wants to use him for future missions, until the end of the film he is powerless and is driven by others.

Sound Exercise and Evaluation

For this exercise we had to film a short sequence to show examples of different sounds used in film . the different sounds that we used were:
-Non Diagetic Sound
-Off Screen Sound
-On Screen Sound
-Parallel Sound
-Pleonastic Sound (Door Slam)
-Ambient Sound (Empty Room)

We used off screen sounds by Viktorija standing behind the camera for it not to be shown: "Well look who it is" This can make the viewer be mysterious about who this person can be as they can't see them. Afterwards we used Pleonastic sound. This was where the door slam occurred off screen, which can alarm the viewers and be more interested in the film.
However, when we filmed some off screen sounds, talking and footsteps can be heard from the outside. For the voiceover, we had to use a small voice recorder and move to a different and quieter destination, as the microphone was sound sensitive, it could easily pick up surrounding sounds.
this was quite a problem for us as every time we tried to film a new sound, we had to make sure there wasn't anybody walking outside to give the footsteps effect, so it wouldn't ruin the quality of the footage.
The best part of the whole exercise was filming the off screen sound, and the non diagetic sounds, as they turned out to be best quality.

Use Of The Camera (Evaluation)

                                                       The Use Of The Camera

In this exercise, we made a short film to test out different camera techniques and movement, and in this short sequence, we only tested out some simple shots. The film was about two friends having a normal, everyday conversation, just catching up on what lessons they have or sharing interests, in the setting of their school. 

At the beginning of the film, we use a panoramic shot, to clearly show the setting of the scene of where the conversation is going to be held.

We also used an 'over the shoulder' shot, to focus on the different people that were speaking. 

Most of the shots were filmed on a tripod to make sure that the shots were still and not shaky which gives it a good effect. 

The last frame (the ending) was slightly shaky as the camera wasn't placed on the tripod, the reason for this was because the tripod wasn't tall enough to reach above the window. 

I think the best thing about making this film was choosing the right locations for the shots, and also using quite a lot of shots, to make the conversation seem more interesting with these shots added.

Psycho 1960

                                                          Psycho (1960)

The Director; Alfred Hitchcock

Writers; Joseph Stefano (Screenplay) , Robert Bloch (Novel)

Stars/Main cast; Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles

-In Psycho, the audience initially think the film is about the $40,000 and the murderer becomes a shock. This shock makes the audience apprehensive for the rest of the film where anything could happen or anyone could be killed at anytime.

Hitchcock thoughts: 
the audience know there is a murderer in the house but they don't know when s/he will strike again but to be suspenseful they could know it could happen any minute. Hitchcock stressed that as the apprehension increases there is less and less violence on screens in the movie.

                                                                                                            


Hitchcock says "thrillers are characterised by fast pacing and frequent action"
Examples of this in Psycho is the shower scene, the car scene or the staircase in the house by the motel.

Norman Bates:

Hitchcock said it is important to avoid cliche and repetition, particularly with regard to character, for example, murderers can be charming and the heroes can be flawed. 
In his films, Hitchcock often placed evil in most banal of settings.


                                                                                                           

Storywise, psycho is not extrodinary, its true brilliance lies in its construction. Hitchcock has developed the film in such a way that it consistently flouts the audience expectations. In this film there are two major surprises. the first one being the shower scene murder and the second one being the final revelation about the mother of Norman.

Devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively.
A viewer who sees the film for the first time without knowing about either will experience the full impact of what Hitchcock intended.
The greatest shock in this film was when the exit of Janet Leigh had occurred. This is doubly unexpected because, to this point, the screenplay had tricked us into accepting Marion as the main character. When she dies, the point of view shifts to Norman Bates which makes the audience puzzled.
In order to keep this crucial aspect of the film secret when Psycho opened in 1960, there were no advanced screenings and no one was admitted to a showing after the feature had started.

                                                                                                                                                                

The McGuffin

Hitchcock says that this plot device causes the action to happen in the movie. The device usually comes at the beginning of the movie and can also re-appear at the end of the movie. In his thrillers the audience don't really care about the McGuffin. In tis film the McGuffin is Marion stealing the money but the audience are more interested on what will happen to her and where she will go etc.

                                                                                                                                                                   

Whenever anyone speaks about Psycho, The first images that come to mind are those of Janet Leigh  being hacked to death in the shower, the scene is so famous that even people who haven'y seen the movie/film are also aware of the famous scene. The shower scene also stands as one of the greatest examples of execution and editing in the history of cinema. Bernard Hermann's discordant music has been used in countless other movies to denote the appearance of a "Psycho". The brilliance of the scene lies in the editing, a frame by frame analysis reveals that Hitchcock left a lot to the audience's imagination.

What we actually see in the shower scene is a knife, blood (which is actually chocolate syrup), water, a woman's nakaed body (with certain parts strategically concealed from the camera), only a brief showing of the blade penetrating the flesh. The fiull horror of the murder is only hinted at on-screen and it takes the power of the viewers's imagination to fill in the blanks.