- Good concept, inter-cutting between two lines of action.
- Detailed planning.
- In depth research and inspirations.
- Time constraints to less then 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
Next Steps:
Make sure that we have everything planned and so we can shoot efficiently. Also to see where we could cut certain scenes to ensure we don't go over the time limit and yet still tell the story with tension and suspense.
Technical Analysis: Camera: - All the camera movements are smooth. Most of the actual camera movements are pans but there are some slides. Many shots are also locked off on a tripod. This makes it feel calm at times, but the tension is brought on by the cutting rate rather then the shakiness of the camera. This is also so, that when later the gas alights, the craziness and movement of the fire and the tank is emphasized as the subject movement and the camera movement was slow before.
- Almost all the shots are medium shots, so that a lot is visible in the frame, in order to convey exposition effectively. The shots in the panic room are a little closer on the characters as they are in a more closed space. - Many of the shots are a little low angle, so that are looking up at the characters, but I also think this is so that it shows more of the ceiling and so it feels more enclosed and makes you feel trapped, like the characters are.
- When she throws the fire blanket to the daughter, the camera pans and follows the movement of the blanket as it lands and stays so that the information is conveyed. - The camera tracks backwards when we are shown the vent, showing the increasing amount of gas being pumped in. - The camera tracks in towards the exploding gas tank as it moves frantically around and this intensifies the moment. - The close ups are used sparingly, like the fire blanket, the lighter finally getting a flame, and the gas tank. This makes each one more significant. Editing: - The pace is quite steady but then the cutting rate increases as she gets the lighter and attempts to light it in the vent multiple times. The three outside slowly understand what's going on and so the rate increases. Also more individual reaction shots are shown. - But when the gas becomes lit, the rate increases significantly but still stays on each shot long enough to see what happens. The stability of the movement helps this. - The rate varies in the second half depending on what happens, like when the tank is moving around the room, the rate is very fast. But then the shot inside the panic room, with the fire on the ceiling, the shot is slower and it doesn't cut.
- The colour grading in this clip is also very significant. The Panic room is very cool and blue while the outside is quite warm and green. This helps create contrast between the two places so you are not confused. Mis-en-scene: - The set design is quite minimalistic, as it is a unfurnished house. The lighting of the outside is quite low key and has lots of shadows. While the Panic Room is more evenly lit and little is in shadow. - The clothing of the all the characters contrast well with the pale walls as they wear relatively dark clothing. This helps create separation between the environments and create depth. - The facial expressions are used effectively to show what they are feeling, before they say anything and this makes it more tense as audiences can read facial expressions very well. Sound: - The non diagetic background score is used very well to build up tension. The underlying deep bass tone of it increases in volume as she gets closer to lighting the gas. Then when it is on fire, the score really makes the audience feel the impact of the scene. - The sound is very well mixed, in that you can hear all the little foley actions as well as the dialogue and the background score. There are no gaps in which there is no dialogue, score or foley and so it keeps the pace and tension high. The sounds of the footsteps were made louder to emphasize how worried the attacker is about the gas and so increases the tension.
In this clip from Gone Girl, tension and powerful emotions are constructed within a domestic environment, centred around the struggling marriage of a man and his mentally disturbed wife, culminating in a moment of violence that whilst lacking in intensity, is emphasised and lifted into an incredibly impactful moment through the use of film language and techniques.
Camera techniques:
In a medium close up shot, the camera is framed on a mirror, with Amy visible in the foreground from behind, but her reflection and that of her husband visible in the mirror.
A sense of cosiness and security is constructed through the medium shots that take prevalence during most of the conversation scene.
Steady cam shots track the characters as they move around the scene, staying on one side of the 180 degree line throughout.
When shot/reverse shot is used, Amy is framed in a high angle, whilst Nick is framed in a low angle, making her seem subordinate to him. Nick is also given higher frame presence in the shot of Amy's face.
A shot pans downwards as the two characters walk down the stairs, ending on a medium shot focused on Amy's emotional expression.
A medium long shot frames Nick and Amy against the door for just a moment before he attacks her.
The push only lasts a few moments but is framed in several different shots; a knee-height long shot, a high angle long shot and another high angle medium shot framed on Amy's body as she recoils from the attack.
A very low angle (almost a worms eye view) frames Nick against the light behind him, making him a threatening masculine figure, and giving him a higher status.
Editing techniques:
The whole clip is edited for continuity, constructing straightforward, chronological meaning with the placement and selection of the scenes and shots.
The clip has quite a warm, yellow and beige tinting to it, creating the sense of a cosy, close, domestic environment.
The moment Amy is pushed to the floor plays out in slight slow motion, emphasising the impact of the action. At this point also, the shots fade to black for a split second before fading in the next shot, unlike the rest of the clip where they cut normally.
Throughout the first half of the clip, Amy seems to motivate the cuts, as her movement throughout the rooms is followed by the shots. After Nick kisses her, he starts to motivate the cuts more prevalently, showing the shift in focus and power, and slowly building tension throughout the clip. When Nick pushes Amy, she motivates the cuts, causing the scene to focus completely on her character for that moment.
Regular shot/reverse shot is used during several parts of the conversation.
Mise-En-Scene techniques:
In terms of costume, both Nick and Amy are dressed in average looking contemporary clothing, intended to build verisimilitude in the clip.
The location is a modern looking, large house, pushing the idea of a domestic, classy American lifestyle.
The lighting throughout is fairly soft and dim, adding to the warmth of the scene and maintaining the upper class aesthetic of the environment.
After she is pushed, make-up is used on Amy's face to make her eyes appear reddened and tearful.
Sound techniques:
Non-diegetic sound is used subtly in the clip. The musical score is ambient and synth-infused throughout the argument, with some soft violins, all of it anchored in minor key. This creates a sense of serenity even over the loud voices and tension in an almost dissonant technique, creating a false sense of security within the seemingly safe domestic location.
Low, bassy notes anchor the moment when Amy is pushed to the floor with tension, as the violins become more scratchy and increase in volume, making Nick seem like a very threatening presence in only a few seconds of sound.
The dialogue increases in volume throughout the argument as it's delivered, peaking at Amy's line "It's not even close," before she is thrown to the ground. This is another way the scene slowly constructs its tension.
The diegetic sound of Amy smacking into the stair post and falling to the ground is selected and increased in volume, emphasising the emotional (and physical) impact and implications of the action.
Amy monologues over several parts of the clip, in a serene, almost sad tone of voice, adding more depth to her character in the scene with lines such as "The kind of woman I used to mock," in reference to the way she acts.
This culminates in the final line of the scene, "I am frightened of my own husband," which is an incredibly impactful piece of scripting, and combined with the sound mix, editing and shots used in that moment, ends the extract on a horrific and haunting note.
In our group of two, Mishaal and I shared the workload fairly equally. We carried out the location recce together, and explored the possibilities for different action moments and how we could film them, by structuring the plot around the environment we were given. Through this, we were able to each have a distinct vision in our heads of how the shots would take shape as they were edited together and created a meaningful (if simple) plot.
The main areas in which we differed was filming the shots themselves. Mishaal, who had more experience in film making than myself took the roles behind the camera, whilst I put myself in the position of our main actor, but even with our division of roles we still communicated our ideas and developed them throughout the process as an effective team.
The experience definitely helped us learn how to work together in the field. It wasn't our first time filming together, but it was our first time building a plot and filming it together, so if anything it showed us just how much quality work we can get done in such a short space of time, from arriving there and scouting locations, to finally editing the piece together in Premiere.
I was incredibly pleased with the outcome overall, but the shots that stand out to me most is the tracking shot between the trees where the camera follows the protagonist, and the final shooting scene at the end. Both of these took a lot of time and hard work to film, but in the end looked completely amazing, and really accented the outcome overall.
Our biggest challenge was probably time, and although we did carefully plan out our shooting schedule before lunch, we were quite late getting back to the rest of the group at the end of the day. Another issue we had at one point was weather, as we were unsure how intense or how long the rain was going to last, and Mishaal's camera needed to be kept dry and under cover. We were lucky however, and most of the day remained quite dry, a bit blustery and cold, although that fit the tone of our outcome very nicely.
The blackout screens just before the gunshot in the final sequence proved to not be as effective as I thought they might have been. This may have been an issue with the sound mix not matching up to our visuals, but whilst it didn't work too well, it also didn't detract too much from the atmosphere of the clip.
Overall this experience really helped both Mishaal and I to grow better used to working as a duo when it came to filming and editing together. It's definitely given us a lot of confidence towards creating our final production, and seeing the quality of both this and our Preliminary task has really helped us share an idea of what our final outcome will look like in terms of visual style, and the manner in which we will shoot it. It's also given us a lot of ambition. We want to go big or go home with this production, and with this and the Preliminary under our belts I'm confident that we're going to create something great.
We watched it simply without sound and we couldn't stop laughing at it, so we knew that we had to do it. We only had one actor as I (Mishaal) wanted to film it. We talked through the idea with James Phillips, who happened to be free at the time of shooting. We shot the exteriors and then went over the dialogue and figured out the timings. Then we shot Taran's side then proceeded to shoot James' side. Then after that, we hadn't come up with an exact ending, but just then, Jon and Elliot walked and we came up with the ending.
Then in Editing, we pieced together the clips, so make it super dramatic and somewhat cheesy. The edit was funny without any background music, but then Taran came up with adding the music from Pulp Fiction and it made it so much funnier. It was strange on how well it fit together. Then we quickly made the credits to mimic the titles of Pulp Fiction.
To start with, we had a huge number of still establishing shots to set the location of our plot, and provide exposition at some points. We had to carefully select the best clips to use in our opening montage, and Mishaal used After Effects to edit in a dead body and a blood stain in one shot, which created a sense of threat, and constructed meaning when the main protagonist was revealed with blood on his face, denoting that he had murdered someone.
Early on in the filming process I had come up with the idea of sudden blackout edits being used during the final scene in which the protagonist is shot, as they would add to the tension and visceral pleasure of the scene, and also be a stylistic feature. Although in practice this wasn't as effective as I'd have liked it to be, it still definitely had a positive effect on the scene and broke up the regularity of the edits.
The whole piece was edited in continuity, which meant we had to consider this even when shooting. Whilst the plot was basic, we attempted to present it in as much depth as we could, which meant shooting and editing to create meaning. An example of this is the gunshot sound effects we added in post production that denoted how the protagonist was being chased by a violent antagonist.
The idea of the protagonist having murdered someone also gave him the denotation of being an antihero, something conventional of thriller films.
From the start of our production process, one of our biggest inspirations was the Kill Bill series, an icon of violent revenge thrillers, and we wanted to pay homage to the opening of Volume 1 with the black and white vignette style and the high angle shot of the vulnerable, blood-stained character on the ground. (This also involved a lot of intense acting skill on my [Taran's] part.)
Mishaal took it upon himself to colour grade the footage, enhancing the colours of the woody area such as the greens and browns, but also emphasising the red of the blood to further highlight it to the audience, and connote its importance in constructing meaning.
The monochrome edit that falls over the footage after the protagonist's shooting scene was a stylistic decision on both our parts, which was intended both to be a part of our homage to Tarantino, but in the end turned out to be effective throughout that whole scene in terms of tension and giving the scene a gritty spectacle. We also discovered that the blood looked far more realistic and intense in the black and white filter.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a 2011 Swedish-American mysterythriller film based on the novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson. Order of Titles: - Columbia and MGM present - A Scott Rudin & Yellow Bird production - A David Fincher Film - Daniel Craig - Rooney Mara - THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - Christopher Plummer - Stellan Skarsgard - Steven Berkoff - Robin Wright - Yorick Van Wageningen - Joely Richardson - Geraldine James - Goran Visnjic - Donald Sumpter - Ulf Friberg - Casting by Laray Mayfield - Costume Designer - Trish Summerville - Co-Producers - Berna Levin, Eli Bush - Sound Design by Ren Klyce - Music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Editors - Kirk Baxter ACE & Angus Wall ACE - Production Designer - Donald Graham Burt - Director of Photography - Jeff Cronenweth ASC - Executive Producers - Steve Zaillian, Mikael Wallen, Anni Raurbye Fernandez - Produced by Scott Rudin, Ole Sondberg, Soren Staermose, Cean Chaffin - Based on the book by Stieg Larsson -- Originally published by Norstedts - Screenplay by Steve Zaillian - Directed by David Fincher The titles of the production and distribution studios, along with the name of the filmmaker appear first. Usually this is the director, but it has been a major producer's name before. Then there are the two main leads before the title appears. After that it is the rest of the cast, and then it works its way up from casting all the way to music, editing, DP and Director. The Director is always the last title in film opening credits. The duration of the titles are around 3 seconds each. They are all the same size and length. The only title which stays for a little longer is the name of the author of the books and the publisher, this could be to accommodate having two titles or just leaving it there to show the appreciation of the original content. The actual title of the film appears right near the beginning after the names of the two main leads. This is also when the vocals in the background song starts and so it makes it very energetic. Typography: All the titles are the same size and font, excluding the film title which is different for both. The titles are coloured white and are placed in one third of the frame, except for "A David Fincher Film" in which it is placed in the centre. Only the first two titles fade out, but all the others go off with the cut of the clip. One title may appear on more than one clip, but they never cut in the middle of a clip. This makes it very energetic and lively. You have to pay close attention as there's no indication of a title appearing. The titles are placed on the other side of the focus of the frame. This creates balance in the frame but also requires you to switch from the title to the other action in the frame. Animation wise, the titles move smoothly towards the corners of frame, connoting they are trying to escape. The serif font is animated so that they extend outwards. This connotes the feeling of something growing and developing. The font for the film title is much more blocky than the other font. The ends of the letters are pointed sharply, connoting a lethal nature. This is also more three dimensional as it is not just text placed over visuals, the text interacts with the action. This lasts for one second before it is swallowed up by the liquid. Relationship between visuals and titles: The only text that interacts with the visuals is the film title, the liquid splashes over the title and devourers it. I noticed in most films, that the most well composed and significant shot is left for last, the directors title. The other significant title relationship is the cinematographer who has usually the best composed shot in the sequence. The main leads in the film, the fewer the better, are shown in a different way near the beginning. The visuals do tell a story throughout the opening, especially with the dragon emerging from the tattoo, in parallel to the events of the film. Most of the titles don't have any relationship to the visuals. Own Production:
I liked this font as it looked very grungy and hand written. I put it in red as it contrasted well with the background. Also since the directors credit is used for a well composed shot, I decided to use my thriller still. It is placed in the centre, much like "A David Fincher Film" in TGWTDT (above).
Luther is a BBC produced psychological crime thriller drama, that began in 2010 and has been renewed for three seasons, with a fourth currently in production. It contains a lot of the conventions of crime and psychological thriller films, and relates to the iconography and visual style used in them with bleak settings and colour schemes, heavy themes and dark, morally ambiguous characters.
1 - Order of titles Idris Elba
Ruth Wilson Steven Mackintosh, Indira Varma Paul McGann, Saskia Reeves
Warren Brown Series created & written by Neil Cross Produced by Katie Swinden
Directed by Brian Kirk Luther
The titles begin with cast members, names appearing on their own denoting major actors (Elba, Wilson and Brown all play main characters in the series) whilst the names appearing in pairs denote minor roles. The three last titles are related to institutional context, denoting the creator/writer of the series, the producer and the director (in last position). The last thing to appear is the title 'Luther'. Each of the titles appear after intervals of approximately five seconds, and are on screen for around two seconds each.
2 - Typography
The typography appears in block capitals for every letter, except in some cases such as 'Paul McGann' in which the c is lower case. The font remains the same for both the titles and the series title at the end. Titles are placed in seemingly random places without any sort of sequence, but generally fit onto the rule of thirds, or directly centre frame such as with the 'Luther' title.
The typography itself is blocky, coloured flatly in white which stands out well against the dark and dimly lit backdrop images of the opening. The lettering is connotative of military or police forces, icons of the crime and psychological thriller genre.
3 - Visuals
Behind the text there is a complex and heavily layered montage of images and splash colours that shift and bleed over the screen, connoting ideas of blood splatters seeping or dropping onto a surface. The images are mainly focused on two things; The show's setting of London, and it's iconic landmarks (such as the Tube, the financial district, etc,) and iconography of crime thrillers, featuring dead bodies, fingerprints, forensic chemicals, barbed wire prison fences, lifeless eyes, motionless hands and bullet holes in windows. The images are very stylised, with a lot of contrast and dark shadows, which blend well with the silhouette of the show's titular character, which is prevalent in the opening, placed within the cityscape images.
4 - Own design
For this part of the task I was inspired by the True Detective Opening titles, in which the forms of the characters are blended transparently over images of the various locations in the show, and overall it is a very visual and artistic opening. I attempted to emulate this using photographs from my previous photography shoot. I also wanted to use a dark and saturated colour scheme that had forensic and scientific connotations.
The typography itself is sleek and slim, the title appearing in block capitals and the subtitle appearing regularly. The slim text has connotations of modern and contemporary design, reminiscent of modern urban based thriller films and settings.
The title 'Black Box' refers to the device in an aircraft that records all data and communications received by the plane, and is only retrieved in the event of the plane crashing. The idea of it containing dangerous and possibly scandalous information is thematically relevant of thriller plots, and the idea of a black box being a macguffin in the film is something interesting to me.
Opening sequence analysis: Zodiac (Fincher, 2007) Genre: The sub genre of this film is a mystery thriller. The conventions of this are that a criminal has committed multiple crimes, often murders, and they are difficult to identify and track down. Another film which starts with a crime and the mastermind behind it is not shown is The Usual Suspects (Singer, 1995). Most films of this genre often establish the main protagonist in the opening scene and the crime happens later on. The expectations of this being set in the 1960-70's is fulfilled by the title card reading the date and location. The time period can also be inferred by the houses, clothing and cars. Also since this is based on historical events, the exact date is given as well. If you just saw half of this opening scene, you couldn't tell that it was a mystery thriller, so it leads you into feeling secure, as the characters are in the scene. The mystery begins when the car pulls up and stops. The ending however clearly defines this as a mystery thriller as the shooter is not shown and the connection to the victims are only suggested. One victim survives and while this is shown, the killer calls a police station and reports the murder. So this confirms to the audience that it is a mystery of who this killer is. The expectations are challenged at the beginning and they are fulfilled in the end.
The text does conform to the characteristics of a mystery thriller as it features multiple red herrings and follows the detectives as they work on the case. But this film challenges it a little by also following a cartoonist from a newspaper who also follows the case and we are positioned with him for most of the film. The film has more stylized shots and sequences than most other films of the genre. For example, to indicate a passage of time, the screen goes black and a series of songs from the period play and transition into each other. The murder scenes are often without background music and so they create tension and suspense much better. Film language: Camera: Most of the shots are medium/long shots, and so they show a lot of the environment, I think this is so that it makes the audience feel comfortable and not claustrophobic. The focal length seems similar to the field of view of regular eyes, so it seems more natural. The camera moves very smoothly and slowly all throughout, a lot being locked off on a tripod. This puts the audience in an omniscient point of view but still centre around the main characters. The close-up is not used until near the end, where Darlene looks frightened at the sight of the car. I think this makes it more effective as all the other shots stay wide and then it intensifies the emotion of the scene by emphasizing the reaction. The camera is eye level for most of the scene, but only after the murders, is the camera positioned either at a low or a high angle. It's subtle but it helps convey the helplessness of the characters. When they are getting shot, the camera is at a low angle, which helps to denote who has the power in the scene. Then after the shooter has left, the angles are higher angles so give the point of view of the police officers arriving at the scene and looking over the bodies.
Editing: The editing is smooth and steady. The cutting rate is slower at the beginning, to convey the calmness of the situation, and then when they start getting shot, the rate increases, but not so fast that it is difficult to see what is going on. It cuts back and forth from the gun shooting to Darlene getting shot and screaming. Then right after this part, the shot lasts a little longer, when the shooter leaves the car and goes towards his car, but then realises that Michael is still alive, and then he returns. This is to create suspense for the audience as they just saw a fast paced sequence so the longer shot makes them feel safer but also get concerned as to why it hasn't cut yet when seemingly nothing is happening. It also allows the audience to take in the emotions of what just happened as it was an intense sequence.
Mis-en-scene: All the production design, costumes and props help to convey that this is the year of 1969. The cars would be the largest signifier as they are distinctly known for their shape and type for that time period. The lighting is low key and often side lit towards the end. The characters are evenly lit in the beginning, but are harshly side lit when they park. Since this is when the seemingly unknown shooter arrives and Darlene seems to know them, but is refusing to elaborate further, it helps to signify the mysterious nature of the situation. The face of the shooter is obscured only a little by the lighting, but mostly from editing, as it cuts right before they would appear. I think this was to show that the victims saw the murderer but the audience didn't.
Character: The dialogue is well written for this scene as it conveys the situation very efficiently, it describes the relationship between the two main characters and why they are doing what they are doing. We get some subtle character motivations, when Darlene mentions that she hasn't eaten in 24 hours, but then later when they can't find space, Michael says "I thought you were starving" and using body language and facial expressions, we can infer that this was a ploy in order to get him alone with her. She even gives a smile after she suggests going somewhere else.Also "starving" could also signify her desire to have intimate relations with someone. Later when Darlene, looks into the distance at the car, she appears to be very frightened but she tells Michael not to worry. This tells the audience that she wants to hide this from him and so it adds to the mystery.
Sound: The song that plays in the beginning, the first lyrics are "how can people be so heartless, how can people be so cruel". Seems very appropriate for the upcoming events in the scene. Setting the creepy and mysterious tone. It is non diegetic at first but when the car stops at the house, the sound converts from playing over top to being played on the radio at a reduced volume and so it has become diegetic. All the sounds are from the point of view of the characters, like the sounds of cars and people far away sound distant. The radio continues to play songs throughout the whole scene, but it intensifies at a few points. When they park, since they are alone, the only sounds are the ambiance, the radio and their voices. When the car arrives, and the shot lengths increase, creating tension, the radio plays as normal. The songs played are somewhat cheerful. This creates contrast to the events happening. Also it plays to make the audience feel like they should be comfortable, or it's trying to make the audience feel comfortable, it does the opposite as they can't help but feel scared by this mysterious car. When Michael gets shot, the music becomes louder and the ambience is gone. Only the bullets and screams are heard. The part in the song which plays during this time has a harsh electric guitar part which I think intensifies the moment. I'm not sure on how to describe how it makes you feel but it just makes it all the more horrifying.
Visual Techniques: When they are getting shot, the shots go into slow motion. This gives the audience a more intense experience as we see the terrified facial expressions for longer and so the effect lasts longer. The blood shown was not shot on location as the directer, David Fincher, likes to shoot many takes in order to get the best performance and the set up would be too long. So the blood was added in Post Production. This allowed him to get the look he wanted and be more precise. The final effect is truly terrifying.
Narrative:
Plot outline: Darlene and Michael are going out on the 4th of July in 1969 Vallejo, California. They originally decide to eat somewhere but then decide to drive to a roadside car park. Before anything begins, they see a car pull up behind them and stop. Then shortly after, it leaves. But only a few moments later, it returns and the driver leaves the vehicle and shines a flash light into the car and walks up to the window. He then proceeds to shoot both Michael and Darlene multiple times before getting in the car and leaving. A little while later, a bloody Michael is sitting outside the car and a voice-over plays revealing that the shooter called the police and reported the murder. Organisation: It is structured linearly in order, with only a small time skip after the shooting when the police arrive. The audience are positioned with the main two characters in the scene. Since Darlene would be killed later in the scene and play a vital part in the connection to the shooter later in the story, they had to make the audience connect to her. Michael also plays a huge part especially towards the end of the film, so we had to identify with him from the very start, feeling his pain that he survived the event. Theme: The main theme in the narrative is secrecy, as Darlene appears to look like she knows the shooter as she tells Michael to not leave the car and saying that "it's nothing" implying that she did know him and that it wasn't important. But her facial expression of fear shown when the car returns implies otherwise. Tension: is created very well towards the second half with the length of shots. It lingers on the car and the reactions of the two. The background ambience is quiet, so make the audience tense up waiting for something to happen. A common film technique that audiences are used to I think, is that whenever it goes suddenly silent, they expect a loud noise from seemingly now where. But since that doesn't happen, they wait for longer and so get more tense. The increase in intensity both sound wise and visually occurs, with the reverse shot of Michael getting shot and the blood splatters over Darlene. The sound isn't exactly so loud that the audience is scared out of their seats but rather it scares them internally with the brutality and horror of the shootings. The face of the shooter is also not shown, only as much as a silhouette is shown in the wide shot. This makes it all the more frightening and so later in the film, you suspect anyone as it could be anyone. This is a good example of the enigma code in use. We don't know who the killer is but a connection has been suggested to the victim.
Representation and Ideology: Young adults/late teens are the social group shown in this opening. They are not around 16 as one of them is married so they must be at least a little older. Darlene is the one driving, this is ideologically opposite to the men being dominant and not letting women drive. But not only does she drive, but she refuses to let Michael drive when he asks. This challenges the stereotype that women are less aggressive and can't drive. They are celebrating and possibly getting intimate relations with each other on the 4th of July, this is a common stereotype for young people in general when celebrating holidays. Media Audiences: The target audience for the film are mature teenagers and adults as it involves a crime mystery. Since there are some disturbing sequences in the film, it is not aimed for too young viewers. The audience readings of the text would be a serial killer murder mystery, following the detectives along the investigation. It's like a "whodunit" except based on real events. It might also appeal to people who read about the murders when they actually happened all those years ago. I think western audiences will enjoy the film the most as it features definitive icons of the time periods culture, such as restaurants, TV shows, newspapers and just the locations set in the USA. The image of two young adults parking alone in a car is familiar to most western audiences and so being a British Teenager doesn't change that. Although I was not born when the murders happened, the film made me want to read up on the story, similarly as if I had been there to hear about it on the news, I would have done the same (this is also the motivation of the cartoonist in the film played by Jake Gyllenhaal). Institutional context: The film was produced by Phoenix Pictures and Rebel Road and distributed by Warner Bros and Paramount.Phoenix Pictures produce mainly thrillers and comedies. Warner Bros and Paramount distribute A LOT. Although this is an industrial film as it was distributed by a big studio, the budget was low compared to other film, being onlu $65 million. The A listers featured in the film are Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. This was before Iron Man (Favreau, 2008) and The Avengers (Whedon, 2012) so Ruffalo and Downey Jr. were not as popular as they are now.
