Thriller Video

Orphan

Orphan is a 15 rated film due to being full of disturbing scenes that may unsettle a younger viewer. It is a psychological thriller, with lots of mystery, horror, suspense and drama. The story line is of a couple, Kate Coleman (Vera Farmiga) and her husband John (Peter Sarsgaard) have experienced a strain in their marriage since their third child was announced as stillborn. They come to a decision to adopt a 9 year-old Estonian girl, Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), from their local orphanage, who turns out not being as sweet and innocent as she seems. Kate and John's deaf-mute daughter Max (Aryana Engineer) takes a shine to Esther almost straight away, their son Daniel (Jimmy Bennett) is a lot more conscious towards her.

The film itself is cleverly disguised to show a happy family in one light, and in another- the family from hell. The lighting has many perspectives as there are many scenes that are so similar yet so different.

As the film progresses Kate notices there may be something up with Esther, due to her having such advanced knowledge on sex for her age. After an incident in the playground where Esther seriously injures a girl that has been bullying her Kate's worry increases. It becomes worse after Esther overhears a conversation between Sister Abigail and Kate, saying that bad things always happen when Esther is around. As Sister Abigail is leaving in her car Esther pushes Max into the road, causing Sister Abigail to swerve, when she goes to see that Max is okay Esther appears behind her and brutally murders her in front of Max with a hammer. She then convinces Max to help hide the weapon and the body.

John does not believe Kate that there is something wrong with Esther, so Kate goes on a hunt to see what she can find. She stumbles across Esther's Bible, as she looks inside she discovers that it is from the Saarne Institute in Estonia, which she later finds out is a mental institute. She e-mails them a picture of Esther to see if they can dig up any information on her.

The plot unravels and each character finds out that there is something seriously wrong with Esther one by one, but it doesn't become clear exactly what it is until the end...

I would recommend this film as it is filled with twists that leave you on the edge of your seat and wanting more. I recommended this film to a member of my group and she found it helpful for ideas to our thriller opening and also a good watch for herself.

Psycho Analysis

Every angle of this scene is created to be very tense- The camerawork, editing, sound and mise-en-scene all play a major part to make the scene as thrilling as possible. There are a variety of shots used in this scene, but are mostly mid shots, by the way the camera has been angled to give a point of view shot, it gives the illusion that you are the victim/killer.

In the beginning the pace is slow and calm as she is getting into the shower, but as the scene progresses and the killer enters, the pace soon gets faster to keep in time with the quick high pitched music. Once the victim had been murdered the pace slows down to fit with the music which has become deeper to show that time is still passing.

The shower remains on throughout the whole scene to show some continuity. The sound of the knife hits hard to show how brutal the murder is, and by using a bathroom that is so pure, made up of only whites, it shows the deepness of the blood.

Shot 1

 In this scene we can see that her back is to the killer, who we can see approaching behind the shower curtain. She is oblivious to what is about to happen, which creates tension as the idea of a hidden identity adds mystery to the scene. Leaving the audience on edge and wanting to know more.






Shot 2

Here we can see the killers hand holding the knife, right in the centre of the shot. It's a close up shot so we can't see the killer, and is adding more mystery as we don't know who it is that's going to be doing the killing.









Shot 3

 This close up shot of the plug hole shows her blood draining away, with the contrast to  but also gives the feeling that her life is too.

No Country For Old Men Analysis

The first few shots are of an isolated landscape, showing how far out they are. Throughout this scene there is a narration which seems to be giving information about the past, this intrigues the audience and makes you want to watch more.






The next shot is of two figures, a sheriff and an unknown figure, this leaves mystery throughout the audience as questions are wanting to be answered as to who this mysterious character is- By the looks of it a bad guy as his hands are in cuffs.






We then see a close up of a gas canister which must have some importance to make it a shot on its own. We don't yet know the relevance of the gas canister, leaving more questions unanswered, and leaving the audience wanting to know more.





We then see a man sat in the back of a police car, he is quite a dark, mysterious character so this could be suggesting that he is one of the villains in the film. 

There is then a shot of the sheriff and a figure behind him that he is unaware of. By showing characters in different lights it is giving the impression that the good are in full lighting, and the bad are in dim lighting. This adds to the effect and eeriness of the film.

In the next shot we are shown the sheriff being strangled- This proves the theory of good guys and bad guys in different lighting. The sheriff dies very slowly which shows that the death was a struggle. 



We then see how calm the killer is and what he is prepared to go through to kill someone, it also shows that he isn't bothered if he gets hurt along the way as long as he knows he can be set free.

Se7en Analysis

My first evaluation is to the opening of Se7en. The first shot we see is of several items laid out on a table, but we see there is no logical order to them. This may also give the impression that he knows what he is doing and what order he wants to use them in. A paperweight and some papers are shown; this could suggest it is a tidy person. We then see a medium shot of the dead body, but no clues are given as to what has happened, which leaves the target audience asking questions and wanting to watch more to find out- this is typical to any thriller film. The shot switches to outside where the lighting is mainly natural. This gives an illuminated outline to the body, adding tension to the scene.

The face cannot be seen, neither can any injuries- so more questions are asked as to how he died. Another outside shot, this time mid-to-long. The lighting is very dark and the only thing that really stands out is the bright yellow police tape. This may suggest that the police are the only solution now.

The mid shot is used to show one of the two detectives that we see in the opening- it is clearly noticeable that they are in no way similar to each other at all. There is then another mid shot of the two detectives walking out of a building together and there is a clear difference between the age and clothing.

The shot of the credits shows the killers preperation techniques. There are disturbing features such as the blood- still not making it clear what is going to happen.

We see a close up of the floor in what we are assuming is one of the detectives apartments. Very dirty and bugs running around suggest it has been abandoned- this is only shown in torchlight so we can only see exactly what they can see.
A close-up of underneath the table shows us the victims hands have been tied together. Still using torchlight so background shots are minimal. This adds drama to the scene as we only know as much as the characters.

Shot list

1.  Long shot/ Establishing shots of landscapes
2. Long shot of girl walking
3. Over the shoulder shot of the phone
4. Close up of the letters on the phone and her typing
5. Long shot of girl walking (continuous)
6. Girl stops (long shot)
7. Long shot of boy running away
8. Shot of girl (from the front)
9. Close up of her face
10. Long shot of her walking around the shack
11. Close up of the clothes
12. Long shot of her walking around the shack
13. Close up of her face
14. Shot reverse shot of her walking
15. Shots of the shack
16. Girl walking around and entering the shack
17. Girl looking in the shack (long shot)
18. Close up of rubbel in the shack
19. Girl walking upto the board (mid shot)
20. Close up of the board (moving shot)
21. Close up of her face (reaction shot)
22. Girl looking over at the dead body (long shot)
23. Close up of the hand
24. Mid shot of her face
25. Long shot of her moving around the body
26. Close up of her face
27. Mid shot with eyes
28. Long shot of her reaction
29. Long shot of her running away
30. Long shot of lonely landscape