Case Study
Part i
The film I am doing this case study on is the thriller film Tell No One. Tell No One was directed Guillame Canet and the production company for this film was Les Productions du Trésor. In the United Kingdom it was realised on the 15th of June 2007 and it was filmed in France which added authenticity as the film was set in France. It took $17 million in its first four weeks in the French box office and t has grossed $33,385,185 since then worldwide from the box office.
Part ii
After watching this film I think that the target audience for this film is a more mature audience, this is in two way first of all I think all of the twists and turns in the movie make it so people too young to watch the film will not understand what is going on and find it very hard to enjoy the film as it will be too confusing. As well as the fact that most films are in English and this film is in French, this will put off many viewer that almost can’t be bothered to read the subtitles, this would suggest an audience of a older age, I would suggest that target audience for this film is about 17-40 year olds.
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 was relevant to this case study.
Part iv
There was a variety of different camera shots presented in the Film Tell No One. The most notable was the point of view shot. This was utilized well in one scene and really added some atmosphere for the thriller movie. IT was a mixture of sound, lighting, environment and camera movement that worked really well here. The sound was all digetic and really gave a sense of realism, because we could hear the footsteps of the person that the camera was following and then we can hear a scream, this with no non-digetic sound whatsoever really gave a quite scary environment as it allowed the viewer to fully concentrate on what was happening directly in front of them. The camera angle and movement was spectacular as it really made it look like the camera was actually the man, they did this by jogging the camera ever so slightly this really allowed a sense of actually going in the man’s footsteps. The lighting also added a thrilling type of effect to the scene as it was dark in the room with a few lights only slightly illuminating the environment they are in, this was supposedly done so the viewer would wonder who or what is hiding in the dark? The environment for this shot was also very effective as it was in a barn this with the lighting gave quite a scary environment, this was further done as the camera looked on each of the horse boxes individually this was good as it built up suspense and made the viewer anxious to find out who was going to be in the last horse box? All of these factors together gave a very effective seen that built tension for the viewer.
There is also a variety of different locations in the film it varied from the deep in the city, to far out by a lake in the countryside. This variety of what seemed to be never ending different locations was good as it kept the viewer interested as they were not stuck with just one boring location throughout the film. One of the more effective locations was the lake in the country. This was because this location seemed very quiet, but it almost seemed to quiet and when it got to night time it might have given the viewer the impression that anything could be lurking in the dark, and if one of the characters got separated it might be the last time that we see that certain character.
There was also a good variety of character types in the film. An example of one of the characters was the good guy who has been falsely accused and finds himself on the wrong side of the law. This was an effective main character for the film as he is a nice guy who has fallen on hard times in recent years and it appears a sinister plot has put him in trouble. This allowed the viewer to somewhat connect with him, as it seems at many points in the film that something bad will happen to him and the viewer goes onto the edge of their seat hoping that he will get away and his name will be cleared. This character ends up in trouble because he asks too many questions to something that he should be allowed to ask, this would probably leave the viewer feeling sorry for him as he in noi way deserves what is happening to him.
Another type of character is the lovable rouge. In this film the character has a bullish personality but his heart seems to be in the right place, this was good as the viewer was able to laugh at some of his more anger filled reactions to other characters. This character it seems is normally on the wrong side of the law, this character was effective for a thriller movie as he ended up in gun fights and ended up confronting the law numerous times, and it leaves the viewer wondering if he will survive this time around.
Another example of a character type is the main detective. This character is nearly always hot on pursuit of the main character and because of him the main character looks like he is going to be wrongly accused. Although he could be seen as the bad guy in films he is not really, because all he wants to do is find out the truth, this character is not deliberately trying to falsely accused the main character is it just all of the evidence points toward him. A character like this is good for a thriller movie as it allows the viewer to have nixed feeling about him as he is likable, but because of him the main character is in danger of being arrested for crimes he has not committed, this leaves the viewer guessing if this detective will ever find out the truth and actually eventually clear the main characters name from any crimes.
The costumes for the characters were good at helping establish character types. The best example of this is for the Bullish character that I mentioned earlier. This character wears typical cloths that you would associate with a thug. He wears items of clothing like track suit bottoms which both connotes he is laid back, and that possibly he cannot afford a better pair of trousers. He is also seen wearing a chain round his neck, this connotes that he likes to flaunt what he has got. Most importantly he is most commonly seen wearing just a vest on his top halve, this is used to show that this character likes to intimidate other people with how his body looks, because the vest top allows his arms to be fully on show. Also the colour of his tank top is black, black is normally used to show a bad character, but this is juxtaposed by is white track suit bottoms because this colour is commonly used to show a good character, this would suggest that with these two colours the viewer has to make up their own mind to whether this character is good or bad as he could be either.
The genre of this film is utilized in two main ways. The one that most endears it to being a thriller movie is the never ending twists and turn in the plot of the film. This was effective for a thriller as it really kept the viewer guessing what little tiny clues mean and what the importance of that character is, this was good as it would keep the viewer interested through the duration of the film because ultimately they want to find out what actually happened, and the twists and turns in the film do not stop until right at the end when all is revealed. This am sure kept viewers on the edge of their seats and was an effective part of this thriller movie.
Another effective part of this thriller movie was the chase scene which involved the main character getting chased by loads of police. This would have kept the viewer on edge as he has not done anything wrong to be chased.. This would give the viewer some empathy has they might feel well if I was being chased by loads of police when I have done nothing wrong I would ran away. It also is an effective way of thrilling the viewer as the viewer really does not want him to get caught, and when it looks like he may be caught the viewer might get anxious and then hope that he still gets away/
The narrative structure is not linear as it heavily depended on flash back, although all of the flashbacks were in chronological order as was the main storyline. This was used to keep the movie fast paced and intriguing. The flashbacks let the viewer really understand what happened in the past that lead up to these events, this was clever as it allowed the movie to flow but also made sure the viewer could understand what was happening, this meant to movie did not get too confusing and would keep the viewer on the edge of their seat.
Part v
As far as stereotypical characters in the film goes, i believe that the partners of the olice officers are a old stereotype, as one of the officers is head strong and always want to catch the criminal without a second thought on the situation, while the other officer thinks it through more trying to make sure they do not react too quickly and arrested the wrong person. This works in the film as it gives a kind of sub plot with how their relationship works when they both help each other out in there area of expertise and also others some rather comical moments when they talk to each other. In conclusion in this film they are almost ying and yang, complete opposites but they need the other one to complete their potential.
The film I am doing this case study on is the thriller film Tell No One. Tell No One was directed Guillame Canet and the production company for this film was Les Productions du Trésor. In the United Kingdom it was realised on the 15th of June 2007 and it was filmed in France which added authenticity as the film was set in France. It took $17 million in its first four weeks in the French box office and t has grossed $33,385,185 since then worldwide from the box office.
Part ii
After watching this film I think that the target audience for this film is a more mature audience, this is in two way first of all I think all of the twists and turns in the movie make it so people too young to watch the film will not understand what is going on and find it very hard to enjoy the film as it will be too confusing. As well as the fact that most films are in English and this film is in French, this will put off many viewer that almost can’t be bothered to read the subtitles, this would suggest an audience of a older age, I would suggest that target audience for this film is about 17-40 year olds.
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 was relevant to this case study.
Part iv
There was a variety of different camera shots presented in the Film Tell No One. The most notable was the point of view shot. This was utilized well in one scene and really added some atmosphere for the thriller movie. IT was a mixture of sound, lighting, environment and camera movement that worked really well here. The sound was all digetic and really gave a sense of realism, because we could hear the footsteps of the person that the camera was following and then we can hear a scream, this with no non-digetic sound whatsoever really gave a quite scary environment as it allowed the viewer to fully concentrate on what was happening directly in front of them. The camera angle and movement was spectacular as it really made it look like the camera was actually the man, they did this by jogging the camera ever so slightly this really allowed a sense of actually going in the man’s footsteps. The lighting also added a thrilling type of effect to the scene as it was dark in the room with a few lights only slightly illuminating the environment they are in, this was supposedly done so the viewer would wonder who or what is hiding in the dark? The environment for this shot was also very effective as it was in a barn this with the lighting gave quite a scary environment, this was further done as the camera looked on each of the horse boxes individually this was good as it built up suspense and made the viewer anxious to find out who was going to be in the last horse box? All of these factors together gave a very effective seen that built tension for the viewer.
There is also a variety of different locations in the film it varied from the deep in the city, to far out by a lake in the countryside. This variety of what seemed to be never ending different locations was good as it kept the viewer interested as they were not stuck with just one boring location throughout the film. One of the more effective locations was the lake in the country. This was because this location seemed very quiet, but it almost seemed to quiet and when it got to night time it might have given the viewer the impression that anything could be lurking in the dark, and if one of the characters got separated it might be the last time that we see that certain character.
There was also a good variety of character types in the film. An example of one of the characters was the good guy who has been falsely accused and finds himself on the wrong side of the law. This was an effective main character for the film as he is a nice guy who has fallen on hard times in recent years and it appears a sinister plot has put him in trouble. This allowed the viewer to somewhat connect with him, as it seems at many points in the film that something bad will happen to him and the viewer goes onto the edge of their seat hoping that he will get away and his name will be cleared. This character ends up in trouble because he asks too many questions to something that he should be allowed to ask, this would probably leave the viewer feeling sorry for him as he in noi way deserves what is happening to him.
Another type of character is the lovable rouge. In this film the character has a bullish personality but his heart seems to be in the right place, this was good as the viewer was able to laugh at some of his more anger filled reactions to other characters. This character it seems is normally on the wrong side of the law, this character was effective for a thriller movie as he ended up in gun fights and ended up confronting the law numerous times, and it leaves the viewer wondering if he will survive this time around.
Another example of a character type is the main detective. This character is nearly always hot on pursuit of the main character and because of him the main character looks like he is going to be wrongly accused. Although he could be seen as the bad guy in films he is not really, because all he wants to do is find out the truth, this character is not deliberately trying to falsely accused the main character is it just all of the evidence points toward him. A character like this is good for a thriller movie as it allows the viewer to have nixed feeling about him as he is likable, but because of him the main character is in danger of being arrested for crimes he has not committed, this leaves the viewer guessing if this detective will ever find out the truth and actually eventually clear the main characters name from any crimes.
The costumes for the characters were good at helping establish character types. The best example of this is for the Bullish character that I mentioned earlier. This character wears typical cloths that you would associate with a thug. He wears items of clothing like track suit bottoms which both connotes he is laid back, and that possibly he cannot afford a better pair of trousers. He is also seen wearing a chain round his neck, this connotes that he likes to flaunt what he has got. Most importantly he is most commonly seen wearing just a vest on his top halve, this is used to show that this character likes to intimidate other people with how his body looks, because the vest top allows his arms to be fully on show. Also the colour of his tank top is black, black is normally used to show a bad character, but this is juxtaposed by is white track suit bottoms because this colour is commonly used to show a good character, this would suggest that with these two colours the viewer has to make up their own mind to whether this character is good or bad as he could be either.
The genre of this film is utilized in two main ways. The one that most endears it to being a thriller movie is the never ending twists and turn in the plot of the film. This was effective for a thriller as it really kept the viewer guessing what little tiny clues mean and what the importance of that character is, this was good as it would keep the viewer interested through the duration of the film because ultimately they want to find out what actually happened, and the twists and turns in the film do not stop until right at the end when all is revealed. This am sure kept viewers on the edge of their seats and was an effective part of this thriller movie.
Another effective part of this thriller movie was the chase scene which involved the main character getting chased by loads of police. This would have kept the viewer on edge as he has not done anything wrong to be chased.. This would give the viewer some empathy has they might feel well if I was being chased by loads of police when I have done nothing wrong I would ran away. It also is an effective way of thrilling the viewer as the viewer really does not want him to get caught, and when it looks like he may be caught the viewer might get anxious and then hope that he still gets away/
The narrative structure is not linear as it heavily depended on flash back, although all of the flashbacks were in chronological order as was the main storyline. This was used to keep the movie fast paced and intriguing. The flashbacks let the viewer really understand what happened in the past that lead up to these events, this was clever as it allowed the movie to flow but also made sure the viewer could understand what was happening, this meant to movie did not get too confusing and would keep the viewer on the edge of their seat.
Part v
As far as stereotypical characters in the film goes, i believe that the partners of the olice officers are a old stereotype, as one of the officers is head strong and always want to catch the criminal without a second thought on the situation, while the other officer thinks it through more trying to make sure they do not react too quickly and arrested the wrong person. This works in the film as it gives a kind of sub plot with how their relationship works when they both help each other out in there area of expertise and also others some rather comical moments when they talk to each other. In conclusion in this film they are almost ying and yang, complete opposites but they need the other one to complete their potential.
Good comments on use of sound. Don't forget to use the correct terminology e.g. hand held camera. You could also draw comparisons between this and other similar thrillers.
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