Textual analyses As blogs

The crazies.IntroductionThe first movie I have chosen to analyse is the crazy which was released in February 2010. I have chosen this film opening because I really enjoy the context of the opening and it has a lot of key elements that I could talk about that are typical to thriller.Narrative- The film is about a town which has been completely taken over by mentally ill and dangerous humans. The population becomes sealed and people are trapped in concentration camps by the army. The sheriff, the wife and the medical assistant Sheriff based in the film try to save the population before anything more horrific erupts such as the population becoming more mentally ill and crazy. Enigma codes- Within watching the first couple of minutes within the trailer I had a few questions surrounding the context of the movie which kept me watching.Why is the guy mentally ill with a gun?Who is the girl in the work environment?What happens to the man who shot the mentally ill guy?How did the elderly guy become mentally ill?Character representations-The Sheriff-The first character we are introduced to is the police officer however the audience doesnt get a chance to see how he looks. I believe the director kept the sheriffs identity discreet because he wants to keep the audience intrigued to continue. Also the director does this because he wants the audience to get a sense of how his personality really is. The director already lets the audience know who the character is however he creates a sense of enigma because it builds tension because it gives the audience an idea of what he is going be doing within the film without seeing his You can tell from the sheriffs uniform that the audience will make quick assumptions that he is a male. Stereotypically sheriffs in rural parts such as Iowa are male and also in thriller films. Stereotypically we instantly know he is a male due to the country music being playing in the background as he as driving. The sheriff gives a lot away even without seeing his face. The sheriff lets the audience know that trouble and violence will occur just from seeing his uniform and also that he will be the stereotypical protagonist who will save everyone. The sheriff is also wearing a ring so this instantly leads to the stereotype of him being married wih kids and having a stereotypical stay at home wife.

Becca- To start off with we meet a young girl who is in a working environment. Becca comes across as a stereotypical girl when she then approaches the phone and answers it. You see her smiling yet as an audience we yet dont know what she is smiling about however we can assume that as a stereotypical girl it must be a boy. Becca is dressed in white which represents love, purity and innocence. The director lets the audience know that she is vulnerable and needs protecting as a stereotypical girl would. Becca presents herself as being very smart and educated due to her job which is a medical assistant he also lets us know that she could possibly be the victim. She comes across as being likeable and stereotypically you would think she is going to die due to her being a girl and looking vulnerable. Becca is also wearing makeup and jewellery which indicates to the audience that she cares about the way she looks like a stereotypical girl would. Also her hair is tied which represents some sort of vulnerability and pride for herself. When becca goes into her managers office she makes up an excuse to leave work early to go and see her boyfriend. She comes across as being a stereotypical girl here because stereotypically girls tend to do anything for the boyfriends such as lie to make them happy. Becca takes the risk to lie to her manager just because of her boyfriend. Becca comes across as being a supportive girlfriend since she is lying to watch her boyfriends baseball match.

Roy- The final character we meet in the opening gives the audience a big understanding of what the film is about. We see Roy walk on the baseball pitch with gun. We instantly know from this that he is danger and also the meaning of the title of the film The Crazies Roy represents danger and also keeps the audience intrigued to watch because he has come out of the blue so he could do anything unordinary. Roy comes across as looking very stereotypical because he is wearing brown and brown generally represents dirt and untidy and a stereotypical male is portrayed in that way. roys hair is very messy so this makes him look like a stereotypical mad person also his facial expression is very dull which lets the audience know that he intentionally plans to hurt someone and he has no remorse or fear on what his about to do in front of the general public. He has scars and cuts on his face which lets the audience know he is troublesome. The sheriff goes on to then field to try to calm him down and insists he should put the gun down. Roy then lifts his gun up and points it towards the sheriff which builds tension. This makes us an audience more intrigued to watch. Again the sheriff brings the trait of a stereotypical male of the hero because his sheriff and also a male. This is also part of the Bordwell and Thompson theory because the sheriff makes the key character traits very evident. The whole congregation relies on him to protect them so he cant really mess up due to all the pressure and the career path he has chosen. The sheriff then reaches for his pocket which intimidates Roy and makes him lifts the gun up at a shooting position. The sheriff finally shoots RoyLocations The location in the opening is very quiet and friendly and would not be associated with a stereotypical thriller. This is because thriller films tend to have dark fiery openings with desolate locations however this location is the complete opposite which is non-stereotypical. The first actual location we see is a burning city which indicates to the audience that this may be a happy area for now but however not for long. This lets the audience know that something fiery and outrageous will happen and keeps the audience more intrigued to watch. Red connotes danger so it lets us an audience know that danger is approaching it almost tricks us because we believe from watching that scene with the burning city that it will continue to be like this throughout the film but however it changes completely.

When the next scene appears the the atmosphere changes completely and becomes very peaceful and bright. In this screen shot we begin to see a lot of green and brightness. Green tends to represent happiness. We also associate farms with being peaceful and playful, just some where people tend to enjoy to be. This breaks the thriller convention stereotype because with thriller we instantly associate it with being dark and having a moody atmosphere however this breaks that convention because it is clearly bright.

White it is shown a lot throughout the opening. The colour white gives us a sense of peace and family life. It represents innocence and from just looking at the house we instantly about home and family. white is usually associated with the young and also love so the film gives us a little clue that they will be a little bit of romance within the film and the victims may be based on the young characters. This is very non stereotypical within the thriller genre because white is usually associated with chick flick films and romance however its used in this film so it makes us as audience think why has this colour been chosen.

Camera and editing tecniques- within the crazies there a few different shot types.

I believe the director chose to use an over the shoulder shot in this specific scene because it represents social class and society change. However in this shot we see becca looking down at her boss, which is unusual because it makes it appear that the character on the left is in a more powerful position. The boss seems like she is paying no attention at all and she is behind her desk, this makes it seem quite daunting for becca. We now realise the women on the right is the one holding the authority. In the shot we see beccas back and we get a good look on the bosses face. This makes the audience know that at this moment the boss has a much higher hierarchy than her because we got a full shot of her sitting down and also her face which represents power. If we viewed this screenshot only without watching the scene you would think becca is being told off. This scene breaks the thriller conventions because stereotypically thriller movies the male always has the higher hierarchy and is always the boss whears this movie changes it because this time a female is charge and takes that stereotypical theme away in this film. The director may have chose this point of view shot to symbolise the stereotypical friendly bond men tend to have. All of the men in this shot are about 20 and upwards. The point of view shot lets the audience feel like were behind the till socialising with the males in this scene. This also builds tension because it makes us question what will happen when the match begins and also the audience start to question and think will any of them be the victim.

The use of sound-The opening builds a lot of tension due to it starting off with a burning city. The diegetic noise which is the fire within the opening makes a very loud and dramatic noise which lets the audience know that danger is approaching. Also within the opening there are glass breaking sounds. I believe the director chose to add glass breaking noises to the opening due to glass being very sharp and clear so this lets the audience know that things will erupt in a very sharp and quick paste. Police sirens can also be heard within the opening which builds tension and suspicion because this reinforces.

When we move onto the next scene the sound is completely different the non-diegetic music is country and very soft. This breaks the thriller conventions because country music is usually never played in thriller films its usually a fast pace song or something very dark and builds tension however the music builds no sort of tension at all which stereotypically thriller films aim to do. The country music indicates to the audience it may be peaceful for now however it wont be for long so the country music reinforces that temporary peace.

When Rory begins to approach the baseball field the music becomes more dramatic and more intense. The moody completely changes from happy country music to dramatic and isolated soundtrack. This begins to build tension because we know from the soundtrack that rory is about to do something dangerous. We know from just watching the scene that Rory plans to do something dangerous due to gun in his hands however the non-diegetic music helps to build more tension because it keeps the audience more intrigued to watch because it creates a darker atmosphere which stereotypically thriller films tend to have.

TitlesThe title within the opening is very plan and has no detail at all. The font is very simple and also quite mysterious due to the slight italic writing. The colour of the writing is white which represents purity and also a lost of identity which is eventually evident within the film when all the characters begin to turn crazy.

This font builds tension and suspicion because it fades in with the fire. This lets the audience know that the town is slowly fading away and also losing its innocence from the font colour being white.

Target audience-The target audience for the crazies starts from the age of 15-25 due to the horror scenes within the film. Teenagers and young adults tend to like films that make you jump and also make you feel intrigued, the crazies has all those elements which will catch their attention. A specific scene that I think the target audience I have picked will enjoy and find interesting is the scene where Rory walks on the baseball field with the gun. This scene builds some sort of dramatic irony because we think Rory will shoot however its the opposite the sheriff shots Rory which keeps the audience intrigued to discover what else will erupt in the movie.