Tuesday 22 January 2008

fargo - script analysis

Using the film script from Fargo or any other from link http://www.script-o-rama.com/snazzy/dircut.html (choose a Thriller film)Watch the opening sequence and look at the script along with your viewing.

Watch the sequence once, noting on the script how the scene descriptions are portrayed in the sequence. Answer in a post the following questions

1. Is it the same as the script?
The opening of the movie is pretty much the same as the script.

2. Any changes?
There is no lobby scene in the film

3. Does the script portray what you expect to see in the film?Yes the script portrays what I expect to see in the movie.

Now view the sequence again. This time looking at the dialogue. answer the following questions based on the script for each character.

1. What is their name?
Their names are
- Jerry Lundegaard
- Carl Showalter
- Gaear Grimsrud

2. What type of words describe this person?
The words used to describe Jerry will be: shy, nervous, unsure, average Joe, mysterious.

The words used to describe Carl will be: smart, clever, hard-man, confident.

The words used to describe Gaear will be: quiet, associate

3. Can you tell from this sequence the role of this character? i.e are they a protagonist/Antagonist?
You don’t really know who the protagonists are, because they are all shady mysterious characters and you need more information to find out which sides they are on. But the information we do get is we think their all antagonists.

4. How do you know this?
I know this because the pair, Gaear and Carl, seem dark and mysterious, like hitman, just doing a job to make money.

Jerry is an antagonist because he wants his wife taking out, for a lot of money as well as for personal reasons.

Tuesday 15 January 2008

Character Profile

Name: Eddie ‘From’ Hell
Age: late 20s
Nationality: American
Hometown: Connecticut – New England
Current Residence: an old abounded warehouse somewhere in Mexico
Occupation: assassin, hitman, bounty hunter…
Siblings (describe relationship): 2 brothers 1 sister
Spouse (describe relationship): 23 yr old Texan woman called Marie but got caught up in things and ended up dead so we thought...
Children (describe relationship): great chemistry - twin girls and Marie pregnant but not sure of sex and who’s the dad
Grandparents (describe relationship): died of old age
Grandchildren (describe relationship):N/A
Significant Others (describe relationship): N/A
Relationship skills: adequate
Physical Characteristics: strong, well built
Height: 5”2
Weight: 250 pounds
Race: Caucasian
Skin colour: white
Shape of Face: round
Distinguishing features: scar on his right check, stitches on lower back, always has 2 colours in his hair
How does he/she dress? Casual – shirts, jeans, long black coat, tank tops
Habits: (smoking, drinking etc.) did smoke but quit, his brother died from it, still drinks but more after what happened to his wife
Health: 50-50
Style (Elegant, shabby etc.): keeps himself to himself, doesn’t like to talk much, gets easily annoyed
Greatest flaw: sleeps loads
Best quality: if your around him, your most likely to stay alive
Which character from a thriller film is your character most likened to? Frank Castle

Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes
Educational Background: he did school, but left half way through high-school after trouble with teachers and friends
Intelligence Level: he sensible that’s all that matters
Any Mental Illnesses? No
Character's short-term goals in life: to find his wife
Character's long-term goals in life: to go back to normal and live with his wife and twins
How self-confident is the character? Very confident
What would most embarass this character? killing a good guy

How the Character is Involved in the Story
Character's role in the thriller (Protagonist/antagonist etc.): protagonist
Scene where character first appears: in bed waking up trying to think of what happened and why he is where he is
Relationships with other characters:1. Character's Name: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the film).
Marie Hell – his wife of whom he loves to bits and wish he could changes things to how they use to be
2. Character's Name: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the film).
John Twight – His boss and maybe his killer and the guy who betrayed him
3. Character's Name: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the film).
Brad Hell – his brother and his colleague, when Eddie gets stuck he always goes to Brad.

Antagonists

1) Jaws
JAWS


His role in the film is to catch people then eat them.

Can also be killed easily from a distance.

We follow the lives of people who live in a small town in the USA with an unwelcome guest who lives in the sea, who won’t stop eating.

A great white shark decides to make the small beach resort town of Amity his private feeding grounds. This greatly frustrates the town police chief who wants to close the beaches to chase the shark away. He is frustrated in his efforts by the town’s mayor who finally gives in when nothing else seems to work and the chief, a scientist, and an old fisherman with revenge on their minds take to the sea to kill the beast.




2) Mystery Men
Casanova Frankenstein

His role in the film is to eliminate any superhero that gets in his way.

His weaknesses are he’s insane

The film evolves around the superheroes and there constant battles between Casanova Frankenstein.

His plan was to use some kind of mind-bending machine to, well, do something really evil to the city and its fair citizens. It's hard to tell what his exact plans were; he was, of course, insane.


3) Friday The 13

Jason Voorhees

To kill people.

He can be killed somehow but takes a few times.

The film evolves around Jason and the way he goes to exact revenge on the people involved with his death.


POWER: Shows great strength and staying power.
VILENESS: Like his slasher film counterparts, Jason's strength is slicing, dicing, and impaling.
SWAY: Let's his mask and machete do all the talking.
PURITY: Nothing stops this guy. Dumb dudes, hot chicks, and everyone in between are all prospective victims.
PHYSICAL : The hockey mask is a horror icon, and as Jason gets rattier in every sequel, so does the face underneath.



Monday 14 January 2008

Protagonists

1) The Punisher
Frank Castle


His role in the film is to hunt down and kill all the gang members involved with the killing of his wife and children.

He is just a good guy out for revenge for the death of his loved ones.

The film mainly evolves around Frank; we follow him as he exacts revenge on those who killed his family.

The Punisher is a vigilante who considers murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence and torture to be acceptable crime fighting tactics. Driven by the deaths of his wife and children, who were killed by the mob when they witnessed a gangland execution in New York City's Central Park, Frank Castle wages a one-man war on the mob and all criminals in general by using all manner of weaponry. A war veteran, Castle is a master of spatial planning, martial arts, stealth tactics, hand to hand combat, and a wide variety of weapons.

2) Die Hard 4.0
John McClane

The film follows John McClane around USA as he tries to stop a terrorist from shutting down the whole American computer network.

It’s a normal cop, doing what he does best, kicking ass and saving lives.

The film evolves around John with a short amount of time left he has to do everything he can to stop the terrorist from shutting the network down.

John McClane works as detective lieutenant with the New York City Police Department, rank Detective Lieutenant. He was married to Holly Gennero McClane to whom he divorced later and has two Children with, John McClane, Jr. & Lucy McClane.


3) V For Vendetta
V

Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, V For Vendetta tells the story of a mild-mannered young woman named Evey who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a masked vigilante known only as "V." Incomparably charismatic and ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception, V ignites a revolution when he detonates two London landmarks and takes over the government-controlled airwaves, urging his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression. As Evey uncovers the truth about V's mysterious background, she also discovers the truth about herself - and emerges as his unlikely ally in the culmination of his plot to bring freedom and justice back to a society fraught with cruelty and corruption.

He is just doing what he thinks is right for the country and its people.


The film evolves around V and how he changing Britain for the best.

A romantic, anarchist revolutionary and classical Byronic hero, well-versed in the arts of explosives, subterfuge, computer cracking, and others; he also has a vast literary, cultural and philosophical intelligence. V is the only survivor of an experiment in which four dozen prisoners were given injections of a pituarin/pinearin compound called "Batch 5". The compound caused vast cellular anomalies that eventually killed all of the subjects except V, on whom many people believe granted him enhanced strength, reflexes, endurance, and pain tolerance.


What is a thriller?

“Thriller and suspense films are virtually identical categorizations, with similar characteristics and features.

If the genre is to be defined strictly, a genuine thriller is a film that always pursues a single-minded goal - to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the main character(s) is placed in a menacing situation or mystery, or an escape or dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible. Life itself is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspecting or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces - the menace is sometimes abstract or shadowy.

Thrillers are often hybrids - there are suspense-thrillers, action- or adventure- thrillers, sci-fi thrillers (such as Alien (1979)), crime-caper thrillers (such as The French Connection (1971)), western-thrillers (such as High Noon (1952)), film-noir thrillers (such as Double Indemnity (1944)), even romantic comedy-thrillers (such as Safety Last (1923)).

Another closely-related genre is the horror film genre (e.g., Halloween (1978)), also designed to elicit tension and suspense, taking the viewer through agony and fear. Suspense-thrillers come in all shapes and forms: there are murder mysteries, private eye tales, chase thrillers, women-in-danger films, courtroom and legal thrillers, erotic thrillers, surreal cult-film soap operas, and atmospheric, plot-twisting psychodramas. Thrillers keep the emphasis away from the gangster, crime, or the detective in the crime-related plot, focusing more on the suspense and danger that is generated.

Characters in thrillers include convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims (often on the run), prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters, duplicitious individuals, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes of thrillers frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder”

QUOTED