The Departed

The Departed is a 2006 thriller film thats produced by 8 time Oscar nominee and Oscar winning director Martin Scorsese. The stars of the film include Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Alec Baldwin and Vera Farmiga. Martin Scorsese has made many popular thriller films including Shutter Island and Hugo. He likes to use the common gangster theme as well as using the same actors to play main characters in his films, for example, Leonardo DiCaprio has been in around 5 of Scorsese's films.
The duel narrative of The Departed follows two separate people, one working for the police to get information about a gang and the other in a gang getting information about the police. The film focuses on many binary oppositions, the main one obviously being police versus the gang. Each side has a rat who is giving away information to the other side (the enemy).

The opening sequence uses many elements that Scorsese is known for, e.g. a voice-over. The voice-over and the rap music that also comes in clearly shows that the film will be based around a gangster theme.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays the undercover agent in the gang and Matt Damon plays the highly though of police officer who is actually working for the gangsters. DiCaprio wears dark clothes, even though he is the protagonist in the narrative, to fit in with the other gangsters dark clothing, where as Damon wears suits and lives in a posh apartment to show how trusted he is by the police when in actual truth he's the bad guy. The building of the police is always in high key lighting where as the buildings that the gangsters are in low key lighting to show the good and bad.
Camera shots include a variety of close ups, long shots and the occasional handheld shot to show the chaos portrayed in the film. The main gangster leader is shown from a low angle to show that he is the powerful character and everyone is intimidated by him.
Altogether, I thought that the film was brilliant and some elements could be taken forward intot he development and planning of my thriller film.

Vertigo Film Analysis

Vertigo Analysis

Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ uses synchronised sound in the opening sequence to immediately make the audience feel unsettled, linking to the action within the scenes. The variations between the high and low pitches in the soundtrack and the pace of the music gives us an insight into the films unpredictable narrative and makes us uncomfortable, linking with the graphic match of the eye with the swirl patterns. This graphic match connotes the hypnosis and hallucinations that could possibly be involved in the film, making the audience understand that the film is most likely about the psychological mind rather than physical action. The first extreme close up shot of the female’s lips makes the audience unsure of who the character is and makes them untrustworthy of them as we are unable to see her or her emotions clearly. The camera then reveals the woman’s eyes and then focuses on the one eye- the one in shadow due to the low key lighting. The connotation of the eye relates to the voyeuristic personalities that are frequently shown in Hitchcock’s films. The extreme close up of her eye makes us feel as though she is watching us which therefore makes us feel uncomfortable. The fact that the eye is in low key lighting portrays to us that what she is seeing could be dangerous and the red lighting that eventually highlights the scene emphasizes the danger in the film.

The Vertigo effect

The 'Vertigo Effect' is a camera movement that includes zooming in at the same time as pulling the camera back. It was used in this film to illustrate how the main character feels when looking down from a height; the distance seems longer than it actually is. The 'Vertigo Effect' is also called a dolly zoom but due to its iconic use in the film 'Vertigo' it is known as the 'Vertigo Effect'.

Memento Film Analysis

Memento

Summary of Memento

Memento is a psychological thriller that is about a man, named Leonard, with short term memory loss trying to avenge his wifes killer. He remembers everything up to the point of the assult that caused his condition, which is asssociated with his wifes death, and since then has been trying to piece together who the criminal is. He tattooes the important details about his search to find the criminal so that he permenantly remembers what hes gathered about the killer whenever he sees himself in the mirror. He also writes notes and takes photos to then put in his pocket so that he remembers who he's spoken to, what to do next and where he's been. He learned to cope with his condition by remembering the investigation on a man named Sammy Jenkins before the assult. Sammy Jenkins also suffered from short term memory loss and Leonard was the insurance investigator on his case. During his search to find the murderer, who he knows is named John G, he encounters two other main charcters of the plot; Natalie and Teddy. Both these characters end up using him to kill people that they want dead, making him believe that they are connected to the death of his wife.

The characters confusion is integrated into how the film is edited as we see the events of the protagonists journey in reverse, making the audience just as confused as the main character as they dont know what has just happened. The ending of the film is at the beginning but the events eventually link together at the end. This structure used for the film makes it hard for us to apply Torodovs Equilibrium and Disequilibrium model easily.

Applying Torodovs Narrative Theory to Memento

The state of equilibrium in Memento would be when Teddy is killed at the beginning of the film and then the narrative moves to the disruption of the ordered state by an event. The disruption would be when his mind and tattoos tell him he needs to find someone and avenge his wife. The empty gaps in his memory reminds him of his condition and the tatoos reveal the key details of this murderer. The recognition that a disruption has taken place would also be when he notices the tatoos but, adding to that, it would be when he realises what he has been trying to do. After that, Torodovs theory moves onto the stage which involves the protagonist attempting to repair the damage of the disruption which in Leonards case is when he kills someone he believes to be the killer of his wife. The last stage, returning to the new equilibrium, is when he continues to search for the killer because he forgets that hes killed someone that he thought was the murderer, linking us back to the beginning.

This film doesn't exactly suit Torodovs narrative theory because instead of returning to a new equilibrium, we just return to the original equilibrium agian. But if we fit Torodovs theory to another prespective of the film, it could work better. If we apply the stages in the same way but in the chronological order of the protagonists narrative, we see the events of the film evolove backwards, making more sense to the audience as it is in the right way around. The state of equilibrium is that he kills someone he believes to be his wifes murderer; the disruption is when Teddy explains to Leonard that hes killed a John G before but forgot and that Teddy has been trying to help him move on by giving him John G's to chase down but also by using him to kill of people he wants dead; the recognition is when Leonard realises that he has just been following Teddys breadcrums this whole time; the attempt to repair the damage of the disruption is when he sets himself up to have clues leading to Teddy as the murderer of his wife; and the new equilibrium is when he kills Teddy.
Although this way makes a lot more sense, it makes watching the film a completly different experience as it is not a anachronic narrative which is how the film was originally meant to be.

Applying Propp's Chracter Theory to Memento

Propps model allows us to match the character roles to the charcters in the film. The hero who seeks something would be Leonard seeking to avenge his wife. The villian would be the wifes attacker and killer as he is the one who opposes the killer. The donor who helps the hero by providing information and the false hero would be Natalie as although shes tries to help him, she ends up using him for her own benefits. However their are a few contridictions as Teddy could also be classed as the false hero. He would also be the dispatcher who sends the hero on his way and the helper (the character who gives support to the hero). The princess would've been his wife but their is no father in the film, making Propps theory not exact to this film.

Psycho Film Analysis'

Psycho