Parti
This case study is on the thriller film Eastern Promises. Eastern Promises was directed by David Cronenberg and was produced by Focus Features. The film was realised in the UK on the 26th of October 2007 and was filmed in Hackney London UK. The total gross income from this film in the box office is $56,105,902.
Part ii
I believe that the intended target audience for this film is probably young adults and older, this is strongly suggested with the 18+ rating of the film. With the amount of blood and gore in the film I believe that this film is targeted at a more mature audience.
Part iii
New technology has definitely helped in the way that a target audience can be informed of this film much quicker than they could have been in the past. The internet was very useful when looking up this film, websites like Wikipedia and IMBD had all of the information on the director of the film, the cast, the production company and further information that is relevant to this case study.
Part iv
One of the most notable of all the camera shots is in the scene when ‘Nikolia’ and ‘Kirill’ (The two Russian mobsters) are looking at a corps of someone recently deceased. The camera has been put in the box that the body has been stored in and is angled up at the two mobsters, this shot really gives a sense to the viewer of what it would be like to be stored in a cramped space like that and looking up at these two men, this is almost spine chilling as it almost puts us in the shoes of this guy who has been killed. This shot is also effective as it makes the two gangsters more intimidating as before, it also makes the viewer feel as if they are looking directly at us, this makes them seem more real and leaves us believing that perhaps these two are nastier than they seem because while looking at the corpse they are almost smiling these makes them seem very evil indeed.
The location this film was filmed at was Hackney in London. Hackney is a particularly rough borough and looks so in the film, this made it a good place to film a mobster movie, because all the street corners look like there could be something more sinister than it seems behind the walls of certain building, this suits a thriller movie and certainly worked for this particular film.
There was a good variety of character types in Eastern Promises. One example of a character type was the innocent good guy character who gets caught up with the gangsters ,It was probably her own fault because trying to do the right thing ended up with her in a fair bit of trouble. This was a good character type to have in a thriller movie because it brings innocence to the film and gives the viewer some sort of connection to her and leaves the viewer hoping that nothing bad happens to her, and when the viewer thinks something bad might actually happen to her they are on the edge of their seat hoping that nothing bad will happen in the end.
Another type of character in the film is the volatile gangster who is not really that bad but can go really over the top and do things he regrets without meaning to. A thriller film needs a character as unpredictable as this because it keeps the audience guessing and wondering what will he do next, because this unpredictability puts almost every singles character at risk.
A third character type portrayed in this film is the supposed bad guy that is still lovable to the viewer. This sort of character has certain traits and a personality that makes the viewer grow to like him even though he appears to put the main characters in danger on purpose. I found that this character type was very effective in this thriller movie, as we never really could understand his motives and never guess what he was going to do until right at the end, this sort of mysteries character gives the viewer mixed feeling about them but also makes a bit of a connection between the viewer and this character and leaves the viewers on the edge of their seats wondering what will this character will end up doing.
The costumes for the characters in this film were quite effective at setting the character type. All of the mobsters were wearing smart cloths that go with their line of work. Items of clothing like Sunglasses; these might be worn by the mobsters to keep there identity hidden or to keep a low profile. Leather Gloves could have been used to show that they will commit crimes and will not want their fingerprints left at the crime scene. The mobsters were also wearing suits, I think these suits were to show that they have a businesslike approach to their jobs and will stop at nothing to complete a task. Also the majority of the mobster’s cloths were black, the colour black has been the long time colour to represent evil or bad characters in films, and was used in this film to show supposed bad guys.
While the costume for the innocent good guy. This female characters wore a knitted jumper most of the time items of clothing like this connote innocence because of the softness and approachable appeal of how it looks, this jumper made the character look like a nice person who would not deliberately try to but any one on any sort of danger. It also made her look like an easy target and makes the viewer feel more protective over her because she does not look like she deserves to be hurt.
The genre is utilized in this film in a number of ways. The most notable is the amount of violence and how graphic the violence is. Some of the fight scenes make it look like one of the main characters is not going to survive and leaves the viewer almost nervous about this characters well being. There is also a lot of moments that would leave the viewer very disturbed by the amount of gore, an example of this is how graphic and realistic it looked when someone got there neck sliced open. Also the use of sound is very good at making the viewers heart rate pounding, as the scraping sound of the knife going across someone skin or the squelch when a knife is thrust into someone body makes the viewer feel that that was not special effect, almost giving a sense of realism making the viewer think that that actually happened.
The narrative structure for this movie is Linear as it is very chronological, and there are no flash backs what so ever, this allowed the movie to flow and kept a good pace, this did not allow the viewer to second guess anything because just when something seems to have been resolved another problem occurs almost instantly, this keeps the viewer guessing and wondering what is going to happen. Another thing that was very effective was that the film had two main points of views, one point of view from our innocent good guy, and one point of view from one of the supposed bad guys. I believe this was effective because although it allows the story to have more to it than if it had only followed one of these characters it does not pose too many characters problems to make it too confusing. This gave the film a nice flow to it and managed to allow us to understand both characters so we would not immediately condemn one of their actions without understanding why they did what they did what.
Part v
The mobsters are Eastern European. Every eastern European in the film seems to be involved with the gangsters or knows of their existence this is quite stereotypical as it is suggesting that all Eastern European people are hard and are either not trust worthy or not trusting as shown by two characters. One example is the mobsters in the film who are emotionless beings who will do what it takes to get the job done. While the other Eastern European character is a old Russian who is the uncle of the innocent good guy character in the film, he drinks a lot of Vodka (this in itself is stereotypical) he says harsh things to his family and also does not trust anyone, he decides to see the worst in people, this was used to show, I believe, the hardiness of Eastern European people and trying to suggest that these characters had a tough up bringing witch means they are how they are so they can survive.
This case study is on the thriller film Eastern Promises. Eastern Promises was directed by David Cronenberg and was produced by Focus Features. The film was realised in the UK on the 26th of October 2007 and was filmed in Hackney London UK. The total gross income from this film in the box office is $56,105,902.
Part ii
I believe that the intended target audience for this film is probably young adults and older, this is strongly suggested with the 18+ rating of the film. With the amount of blood and gore in the film I believe that this film is targeted at a more mature audience.
Part iii
New technology has definitely helped in the way that a target audience can be informed of this film much quicker than they could have been in the past. The internet was very useful when looking up this film, websites like Wikipedia and IMBD had all of the information on the director of the film, the cast, the production company and further information that is relevant to this case study.
Part iv
One of the most notable of all the camera shots is in the scene when ‘Nikolia’ and ‘Kirill’ (The two Russian mobsters) are looking at a corps of someone recently deceased. The camera has been put in the box that the body has been stored in and is angled up at the two mobsters, this shot really gives a sense to the viewer of what it would be like to be stored in a cramped space like that and looking up at these two men, this is almost spine chilling as it almost puts us in the shoes of this guy who has been killed. This shot is also effective as it makes the two gangsters more intimidating as before, it also makes the viewer feel as if they are looking directly at us, this makes them seem more real and leaves us believing that perhaps these two are nastier than they seem because while looking at the corpse they are almost smiling these makes them seem very evil indeed.
The location this film was filmed at was Hackney in London. Hackney is a particularly rough borough and looks so in the film, this made it a good place to film a mobster movie, because all the street corners look like there could be something more sinister than it seems behind the walls of certain building, this suits a thriller movie and certainly worked for this particular film.
There was a good variety of character types in Eastern Promises. One example of a character type was the innocent good guy character who gets caught up with the gangsters ,It was probably her own fault because trying to do the right thing ended up with her in a fair bit of trouble. This was a good character type to have in a thriller movie because it brings innocence to the film and gives the viewer some sort of connection to her and leaves the viewer hoping that nothing bad happens to her, and when the viewer thinks something bad might actually happen to her they are on the edge of their seat hoping that nothing bad will happen in the end.
Another type of character in the film is the volatile gangster who is not really that bad but can go really over the top and do things he regrets without meaning to. A thriller film needs a character as unpredictable as this because it keeps the audience guessing and wondering what will he do next, because this unpredictability puts almost every singles character at risk.
A third character type portrayed in this film is the supposed bad guy that is still lovable to the viewer. This sort of character has certain traits and a personality that makes the viewer grow to like him even though he appears to put the main characters in danger on purpose. I found that this character type was very effective in this thriller movie, as we never really could understand his motives and never guess what he was going to do until right at the end, this sort of mysteries character gives the viewer mixed feeling about them but also makes a bit of a connection between the viewer and this character and leaves the viewers on the edge of their seats wondering what will this character will end up doing.
The costumes for the characters in this film were quite effective at setting the character type. All of the mobsters were wearing smart cloths that go with their line of work. Items of clothing like Sunglasses; these might be worn by the mobsters to keep there identity hidden or to keep a low profile. Leather Gloves could have been used to show that they will commit crimes and will not want their fingerprints left at the crime scene. The mobsters were also wearing suits, I think these suits were to show that they have a businesslike approach to their jobs and will stop at nothing to complete a task. Also the majority of the mobster’s cloths were black, the colour black has been the long time colour to represent evil or bad characters in films, and was used in this film to show supposed bad guys.
While the costume for the innocent good guy. This female characters wore a knitted jumper most of the time items of clothing like this connote innocence because of the softness and approachable appeal of how it looks, this jumper made the character look like a nice person who would not deliberately try to but any one on any sort of danger. It also made her look like an easy target and makes the viewer feel more protective over her because she does not look like she deserves to be hurt.
The genre is utilized in this film in a number of ways. The most notable is the amount of violence and how graphic the violence is. Some of the fight scenes make it look like one of the main characters is not going to survive and leaves the viewer almost nervous about this characters well being. There is also a lot of moments that would leave the viewer very disturbed by the amount of gore, an example of this is how graphic and realistic it looked when someone got there neck sliced open. Also the use of sound is very good at making the viewers heart rate pounding, as the scraping sound of the knife going across someone skin or the squelch when a knife is thrust into someone body makes the viewer feel that that was not special effect, almost giving a sense of realism making the viewer think that that actually happened.
The narrative structure for this movie is Linear as it is very chronological, and there are no flash backs what so ever, this allowed the movie to flow and kept a good pace, this did not allow the viewer to second guess anything because just when something seems to have been resolved another problem occurs almost instantly, this keeps the viewer guessing and wondering what is going to happen. Another thing that was very effective was that the film had two main points of views, one point of view from our innocent good guy, and one point of view from one of the supposed bad guys. I believe this was effective because although it allows the story to have more to it than if it had only followed one of these characters it does not pose too many characters problems to make it too confusing. This gave the film a nice flow to it and managed to allow us to understand both characters so we would not immediately condemn one of their actions without understanding why they did what they did what.
Part v
The mobsters are Eastern European. Every eastern European in the film seems to be involved with the gangsters or knows of their existence this is quite stereotypical as it is suggesting that all Eastern European people are hard and are either not trust worthy or not trusting as shown by two characters. One example is the mobsters in the film who are emotionless beings who will do what it takes to get the job done. While the other Eastern European character is a old Russian who is the uncle of the innocent good guy character in the film, he drinks a lot of Vodka (this in itself is stereotypical) he says harsh things to his family and also does not trust anyone, he decides to see the worst in people, this was used to show, I believe, the hardiness of Eastern European people and trying to suggest that these characters had a tough up bringing witch means they are how they are so they can survive.
You have put a lot of effort into these case studies Alex, and I am impressed with the range of films you have researched. Well done.
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