Stage 1: Resolution Film.
Stage 2:
My chosen genre is tragedy. The conventions are death, tragedy, murder, etc.
Stage 3:
Main Characters:
Natalie Tree is twenty two year old girl. She likes to drink and party, she's doesnt like the idea of growing up. Although she's shy and insecure about herself, and doesnt like to be around people she doesn't know. Her bestfriend Josh is the only person who's stuck by her throughout her troubles, such as bullying. He is hopelessly in love with Natalie, and often gets jealous over Natalies junkie on-off boyfriend Callum. Josh is also shy but constantly happy. He grew up in a abusive household, His mother is bipolar and his dad left him and his siblings when Josh was six. Eliza is Josh's younger sister, she is eighteen, she is very confident within her looks and is described by people as "the girl who gets around". Jamie, was Elizas boyfriend, he was accidently "killed" by Natalie two years ago, he was Natalie's age and a very close friend. Police officer Jackson is the officer who investigated Natalies death and takes Eliza to jail.
Narrative:
Natalie is on her way to Callum's house. On the way she bumps into Josh, the two go to a coffee shop for a catch up as Josh has been on holiday for the past three weeks. The two are in the coffee shop for more than two hours, it starts to frustate Callum how late Natalie is. The film switches to Callum, showing him in his room, he pulls a knife from his draw and starts to cut himself, flashbacks are shown. Its revealed he regularly self harms, and has to take anti-depressants. Eliza walks into Callum's room, and its shown that Callum is having an affair with Eliza. He texts Natalie telling her not to bother coming round and that he isnt "in the mood" anyway. Natalie complains to Josh about how controlling Callum is, and Josh admits his feelings for Natalie, not caring that he could lose her as a friend. Natalie tells Josh that she loved him for a longtime, but he never got the hint and eventually she fell in love with Callum and her feelings dissapeared. Natalie leaves the coffee shop, you see her with tears in her eyes, although Josh doesn't see this. Natalie decides to go round to Callums, she knocks and Callum manages to hide Eliza in his closest before Natalie walks in his room. Natalie and Callum have a huge arguement, and it is revealed that Natalie was lying and that she is undeinable in love with Josh still, but Callum is blackmailing Eliza to be with him with something terrible that she done, which could affect the rest of her life. Its revealed that Eliza accidently killed Jamie (Elizas previous boyfriend, from two years ago), Natalie and Jamie were both drunk and while waiting for the bus, Natalie fell onto him, which resulted in him falling in the road and getting ran over. Callum only knows as he was there, and sober. He soon blackmailed Natalie into doing what he wanted. While Natalie is shouting at Callum and saying that he's cruel for getting pleasure out of her doing something she regrets, she is unaware that Eliza is in the closet. Callum tells her to shut up but by the time she decides to listen to him Eliza had already heard the whole story. Natalie storms out, and as soon as she's gone Eliza comes out of the closest she was hiding in, her and Callum have an arguement and she slaps him. She takes the knife that Callum used to self harm, and leaves his house. It then switches to Natalie, who is trying to call Josh to admit everything to him. Josh doesnt pick up his phone as his phone is on silent. She leaves him a voicemail telling him everything and that shes inlove with him. Eliza sneaks up on Natalie and stabs her in the stomach, when interviewed by Police officer Jackson Eliza says that Natalie deserved it for killing the one person she loved. Natalie is rushed to hospital, and pronouced dead an hour later. Josh finally finds the voicemail and trys to find Natalie to tell her that everything will be ok and he loves her still, He then gets a call from Police officer Jackson saying that Eliza had just murdered a young girl, and Josh would have to come straight down to the Police station as his mother couldn't be contacted and Josh was her only other local relative. He then finds out the girl she murdered was Natalie. The film ends at Natalies funeral, after the funeral Josh finds Callum and threatens him, Callum then reveals it was infact him that accidently pushed Jamie into the road, but decided to blame Natalie as she didnt remember the evening and was easily foaled. Josh holds a knife to Callum and tells him that he's going to feel what natalie went through. You never find out if Josh kills Callum or not.The film cuts to Eliza finding out that the real killer was infact Callum and that she killed Natalie for a crime she didnt do. The film ends.
Stage 4
Natalie - Ellen Page
Josh - Carter Jenkins
Callum - Nicholas Hoult
Eliza - Hayden Panettiere
Police officer Jackson - Leonardo DiCaprio
Jamie - Michael Cera (flashbacks only)
The film would be set in New York City, as its a busy place and in a city.
Stage 5:
The film would be directed by Joss Whedon. Mainly because he has cult status for creating successful television shows (Buffy the vampire slayer, Angel, Firefly) and films (Announced as director for upcoming films Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers). He also is known for using women as the more powerful character rather than men, he identifies himself as a feminist and feminist themes are common in his work.
Thursday 17 February 2011
Tuesday 8 February 2011
Textual (Mirco) Analysis
My sequence is 00:00:23 - 00:05:23
The opening scene introduces the main character David. He is in his basement painting. This shows his love for art and you quickly get to know the character. There is a close up of the painting, which could symbolise that his painting is could be related to what will happen further on during the film, as there is light/mist on his painting. The bad weather shows that something bad is about to happen, which does and as the family awake they discover a tree has crushed there house during the night. It foreshadows that the events are going to get worst throughout the film. Once the family awakes the lead character David gets annoyed at the events and swears, showing that his character can be easily annoyed, aswell as laid back. It is shown that the painting he spent working on was destroyed when the tree crashed through his basement. This could be symbolising the events which will come. David blames himself for the painting being ruined by saying "he should of taken it upstairs with him" even though he had no clue that it was going to happen. It is easily established that David is the main character, as the other character's don't have as camerawork and framing. He also has the most dialogue in the opening scene. There is a establishing shot of the lake, which is the area the family live in. There is a close-up of David's expressions when he see's the damage the tree has done to the lake. There is also a over-head shot of him holding his head with his hand when he see's the lake, which probably is out of anger or stress. There is a wide shot of a white mist coming over the lake as David and his family are looking onto the lake. David doesn't take much notice to the mist and just refers that "he has seen mist on the lake before and its probably left over from the storm", this being foreshadowed as a horror/diaster from the beginning and the title being "the mist" shows that the mist will play a key part in the rest of the film. David comes across as a reasonable person when he attempts to talk to his neighbour about the tree falling in the night, while his neighbour comes across slightly ignorant. The noise in the scene is mainly diagetic e.g the voices of the characters, thunder storms and rain (which could also come under non-diagetic). The mist automaticly grabs the audience attention when David's wife raise's her concern about the mist, claiming " that they've not had mist over the mountains" its shrugged off by David. I think the opening scene forecasts that it is a horror/diaster film as it gives hints things are going to get worst as time goes on. We learn about David's family life and the area he lives in with his wife and young son. Not a huge ammount of dialogue is used between David and his family, but it is easily recognised that he is a good man and is happy with his life. Tension is built up in the first five minutes, by the tree crashing and the mist on the lake, it makes the audience want to watch on to discover why there is mist on the lake and what will happen to the characters we've already met.
The opening scene introduces the main character David. He is in his basement painting. This shows his love for art and you quickly get to know the character. There is a close up of the painting, which could symbolise that his painting is could be related to what will happen further on during the film, as there is light/mist on his painting. The bad weather shows that something bad is about to happen, which does and as the family awake they discover a tree has crushed there house during the night. It foreshadows that the events are going to get worst throughout the film. Once the family awakes the lead character David gets annoyed at the events and swears, showing that his character can be easily annoyed, aswell as laid back. It is shown that the painting he spent working on was destroyed when the tree crashed through his basement. This could be symbolising the events which will come. David blames himself for the painting being ruined by saying "he should of taken it upstairs with him" even though he had no clue that it was going to happen. It is easily established that David is the main character, as the other character's don't have as camerawork and framing. He also has the most dialogue in the opening scene. There is a establishing shot of the lake, which is the area the family live in. There is a close-up of David's expressions when he see's the damage the tree has done to the lake. There is also a over-head shot of him holding his head with his hand when he see's the lake, which probably is out of anger or stress. There is a wide shot of a white mist coming over the lake as David and his family are looking onto the lake. David doesn't take much notice to the mist and just refers that "he has seen mist on the lake before and its probably left over from the storm", this being foreshadowed as a horror/diaster from the beginning and the title being "the mist" shows that the mist will play a key part in the rest of the film. David comes across as a reasonable person when he attempts to talk to his neighbour about the tree falling in the night, while his neighbour comes across slightly ignorant. The noise in the scene is mainly diagetic e.g the voices of the characters, thunder storms and rain (which could also come under non-diagetic). The mist automaticly grabs the audience attention when David's wife raise's her concern about the mist, claiming " that they've not had mist over the mountains" its shrugged off by David. I think the opening scene forecasts that it is a horror/diaster film as it gives hints things are going to get worst as time goes on. We learn about David's family life and the area he lives in with his wife and young son. Not a huge ammount of dialogue is used between David and his family, but it is easily recognised that he is a good man and is happy with his life. Tension is built up in the first five minutes, by the tree crashing and the mist on the lake, it makes the audience want to watch on to discover why there is mist on the lake and what will happen to the characters we've already met.
Thursday 3 February 2011
The Mist - Exhibition.
The Mist overall recieved good reviews, The Mist received a 73% approval rating, based on 139 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. Bloody Disgusting ranked the film #4 on their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade',The Mist is what a horror film should be - dark, tense, and punctuated by just enough gore to keep the viewer's flinch reflex intact. ... Finally, after a long list of failures, someone has done justice in bringing one of King's horror stories to the screen. Though definitely not the feel-good movie of the season, this is a must-see for anyone who loves the genre and doesn't demand "torture porn" from horror."
I agree with this review, many other Stephen King films have not been succesful or either Stephen King has slated them himself, whereas this film was perfected and followed the book. For anybody who are fans of horror or disaster are sure to like the film.
Negative review by Roger Ebert (extremely famous and successful film critic) -
"If you have seen ads or trailers suggesting that horrible things pounce on people, and they make you think you want to see this movie, you will be correct. It is a competently made Horrible Things Pouncing on People Movie. If you think Frank Darabont has equaled the Shawshank and Green Mile track record, you will be sadly mistaken."
I don't agree with this review. Darabont's work is always referred back to Green mile because it was such a success. Green Mile had a $60 million budget and had more commercial intrest than The Mist did. The Mist's budget was $18 million and didn't have much intrest at first.
The Mist Distribution
The film was adapted from the cult writer Stephen King novel, which intrested a variety of fans. Posters and teaser trailers were also released to gain the publics intrest.
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