Film opening analysis of Children of Men

The second film we watched was Children of men.

 During the opening credite of this film a 'breaking news'  report is being read out stating that the youngest person in the world, being of age 18, has been killed. This is a very dramatic and attention catching opening as you the veiwer then believes to question how and why is that the youngest person in the world at the age of 18, why has no one had a baby over the past 18 years? Also, an explosion takes place at the start of the film this also catches the veiwers eye and gets them wondering why was there an explosion, whats going on? Finally, the society seems very corrupt, there is a high pitched noise and the colour seems very dull. This makes the atmosphere seem as though it is very sad and damaged.

No Country For Old Men - Opening

No Country For Old Men is a story of an ordinary man to whom chance delivers a fortune that is not his.

The start of no country for old men is very effective in creating suspense. Quite a few people die in the first few minutes of the film, this makes you want to carry on watching as you want to find out who this character is and why he is killing all these people. Also the fact that the film is set in an isolated place causes a lot of tension and makes it seem eary as it is quiet and windy. The murderer in this film seems very sinsister and ominous as he doesn't give anything away. He acts calm when questioned by the man he pulls over at the side of the road, and just repeats for him to get out of the car. It's as if he is rehearsed, he acts as though he has no emotions, his murders are passionless.

The sound at the start of No country for old men is non-diagetic, it's as if the sheriff is speaking directly to us. This hapens a the start and the end of the film. This is effective as it is showing that he must be playing a great role in the film to be a main part at the start and end.

The opening can be broken down into;
C - costume
L - lighting
A - actors
M - make up
P - props
S - setting

Costume; Villain is wearing all dark, dull clothes. Suggests darkness and perhaps evil. Shows deffinate signs of villain
lighting; Nothing is given away about the antagonist, shadows cover his face.
Actors; Only the villain is shown in the first sequences to the thriller, others are shown but we do not know who they are.
Make up; pale make up is used on the face and dark around his eyes to emphasise that Anton Chigurh is the villain.
Props; Oxygen tank is used for the murders.
Setting; Isolated dessert, eerie as there is no one near to help in bad situations.

Analysis of Anton Chigurh;

Costume;

• dark, black clothes
• nothing is shown about the character
• suggests his emotionless and perhaps evil
• suggests his a villain, wears mysterious clothes

Speech, language and tone;

• minimal amount of speech, simplistic, calm and monotone
• uses nicities to get his way
• talks with questions, he is in control

Manerisms, actions and responses;

• not many actions
• calm but argumantative
• no remorse or compassion
• emotionless
• intimidating
• little physical contact with others
• symplistic

Representation in film;

• one dimentional character
• outcast
• doesn't have a background
• morally complex
• stands for death, evil?

The Manchurian Candidate 2004

 To begin with we watched the 1962 version, however we watched only around the first 30 minutes of this and moved on to the more updated version.

The two films instantly had visible differences, the two opening scenes had changed and there were many modernizations. Also the 'brain washing' was changed and in the 2004 version, is was held back until later on in the film. Also, the war which was being portrayed was moved from China to Iraq, changing from the 'Korean war' to the 'Gulf war'. 

The original version showed the events in order, so we as the audience knew what was happening from the beginning of the film. This differs from the remake as we follow the protagonists journey of trying to work out what has happened, we knew as little as the character. in a sense this made the updated version more interesting as it kept us waiting in suspense for longer, creating a more effective atmosphere.  


The Manchurian candidate has a range of thrillers including paranoid thriller, political thriller and greek tragedy. This refers to the oedipus complex where one of the leading males has an unnatural realationship with his mother. The relationshiop is not sexual as it was in the original greek myth but his mother does exert an unnatural degree of influence over him. This refers to the context of the film as Raymond Shaw kisses his mother. The psychoanalytic theory is named after the Greek myth of Oedipus who, unknowingly, kills his father and marries his mother. This film is different from other thrillers as it draws the audience in by confusing them and making them want to watch on to find out what is happening in the characters lives.
Finally, the remake's cinematographer, Tak Fujimoto changes the death of Senator Jordan. In the original senator Jordan was shot, whereas in the remake Senator Jordan was drowned. Fujimoto has done this in order to portray how many of the characters are being drowned.

North by NorthWest

North by Northwest is a classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller starring Carrie Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. North by Northwest is a tale of mistaken identity of an innocent man, Carrie Grant, pursued across the United States by agents of an organization who want to stop his interference with their plans to smuggle microfilm containing government secrets. 
North by Northwest is a highly exciting, Fast paced, action thriller. On many occasions Hitchcock leaves the audience on the edge of their seats by using a lot of tension and suspense, a McGuffin and many cliff hangers, not just a figure of speech in some cases as the end of the film has Eva Marie Saint literally hanging off the edge of a cliff. This final seen of the chase sequence across the faces of Mount Rushmore is an extremely tense, fast paced and exciting scene. 
Another extremeley famous scen in North by North west is the crop-duster scene;

This scene is well known for its brilliant use of tension and suspense, and is viewed as the best sequence in the film.The scene begins with a high angled, extreme wide shot, setting the scene. This tells the viewer where the action is taking place; a barren place, where only a few cars pass occassionaly making it seem very eerie. Instantly, we can sense something is not correct. 'Why would our protagonist meet someone at such a strange, deserted place?' This causes the audience to become suspicious.

Techniques used by Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock used many techniques in order to do this including macguffins, enigmas and red herrings.

A MacGuffin is a plot element that catches the viewers attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction. The major characters in the story are willing to do or sacrifice almost anything to obtain it. It usually decline in importance throughout the film and means nothing of significance to the audience. 

An Enigma referes to a mystery or puzzling occurrence. The protagonist commonly has to find out or solve this before the narrative is resolved and the film ends.

A Red herring is usually used to divert the audience from the truth or an item or significance. A red herring can often work with other devices in order to create suspense.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock  is known for his pioneering of suspense and psychological thrillers. He was often regarded as the greatest British film maker. He created elaborate storyboards and movement. A key feature of Hitchcock's work is emphasis on the audience as a voyeur.

Alfred Hitchcock was an autor and creator. Auter refers to the term of author and creator and the idea that some film directors impose a personal vision on their films. It's argued that Hitchcick stamped a number of creative features on his films including; very high angles shots, exaggerating lighting effects, precise editing and many more.

What is a thriller??

As i will be discussing thrillers throughout my project, it only seems logical to define it. 

Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres. Thrillers can be characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes.

Devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliff hangers are used extensively. A thriller is a villain driven plot, whereby obstacles are presented for the hero to overcome. Genre is flexible and can engage the audience through a dramatic rendering of horror based, action, psychological, social and political tensions. 


Thriller conventions include;

• Predictable pleasure; the audience know what they are going to get
• Justice Vs. Injustice; though sometimes blurred
• Society; corrupt
• deadlines/chases/persuits
• morally complex characters
• Sub genres; mystery, crime, political, paranoid, psychological, horror, action