2019 dark comedy thriller film directed by bong joon ho
Follows a poor family scheme to become employed by a wealthy family and infiltrate their household by pretending to be unrelated
Premiered at 2019 cannes film festival
Grossed: over 263 million worldwide on a 15.5 million budget.
Won 4 awards at oscars
Distribution: process of making a film available for viewing by an audience.
How were digital forms of marketing and distribution utilised to attract audience
Budget: 15.5 million usd
Profit: 263 million usd
where: south korea, asia pacific, europe, north america, africa
when: 30/5/2019
Companies involved:
Academy 2, aerofilms, universal pictures home entertainment
Digital forms of marketing and distribution utilised:
Teasing trailer: Initially coming out of Cannes, Neon only had access to half of Parasite for their trailer. They turned this to their advantage by taking cues from one of the greats – Alfred Hitchcock, according to Deadline.“We looked back at how Hitchcock released his movies, and (producer) William Castle, we tapped into that to give this film its own voice.” That means working on building tension and mystery rather than going big on the shocking events of the final third of the film. Spoilers were avoided, leaving the twists to be revealed to the audiences, helping to build word of mouth.
Effective leveraging of media quotes:
Expanding the mystery of social: Parasite launched with eye-catching social materials including enticing grid takeovers on Instagram and short, sharp videos ads with interlocking storylines. YouTube assets managed over 20 million views since October 2019, with each subsequent win during awards season boosting it to more screenings and more audiences across the US.
2019 american computer animated comedy drama film produced by pixar animation studios and released by walt disney pictures.
4th instalment in Pixar's toy story series.
Grossed 1.073B worldwide → 8th highest grossing film of 2019.
Disney as a cross-media conglomerate:
Utilises different areas of its ownership to maximise the success of a product through vertical integration.
Has the ability to produce and distribute own products using subsidiary companies within conglomerate structure.
Exhibit films via online video on demand services (Disney channel, disney+).
⇒ Controls the whole production process from planning and releasing a product to the audience consuming it.
Synergy: increased efficiency and profit occurs as a result of vertical and horizontal promotion - conglomerates are formed to create synergy in order to cross-promote.
Cross-media ownership: media institution owns 2 or more companies specialise in different media sectors.
Vertical integration is the process of acquiring a company that operates either before or after the acquiring company in the production process. In Disney’s terms, they create the content, so they needed to acquire a company in order to deliver that content to their consumers.
This happened with the acquisition of Capital Cities/ ABC for $19 billion in 1995. This acquisition allowed Disney to access the cable networks of both ABC and ESPN. In essence, they could spread their brand across these networks, making it easier for consumers to receive their products.
TS4’s budget: 200 million
Profit globally: $1.073 billion
Where TS4 released globally: USA, canada, europe, latin america, middle east, asia pacific, africa
Companies involved: Walt disney, Abc, pixars,
How were digital forms of marketing and distribution utilised to attract audience:
How did disney use cross-media promotion and synergy to market toy story 4:
In a media landscape where various platforms of entertainment i.e. TV, mobile, theaters are competing for the consumer’s attention, Disney excels at raising the profile of its movies by continually pairing them with notable advertisers, thus energizing varying demos of moviegoers in ways that an online movie trailer may not. Promoting everywhere and anywhere there is daylight touching the Earth is the Disney means of winning at the theatrical box office.
This time around the studio worked with Alaska Airlines which featured a newly-themed plane featuring the Toy Story 4 lead characters on flights heading to the Disneyland Resort and to the 116 destinations that they serve from the West Coast.
McDonald’s Toy Story 4 partnership touts ten toys which customers can collect and four different types of Happy Meals which kids can use to build a carnival background or a cardboard RV. Each Happy Meal toy bag carries a ticket that can be scanned in the McDonald’s App for exclusive content.
For this particular rough cut, I've only done with the editing scenes in the restroom. There is not affect or color edit whatsoever because I've only started to put the clips together into one draft.
Rough Cut 2
This is also a rough cut of put together clips (of the later clips), so this rough cut and the one above are two different ones haven't put in together yet.
Rough Cut 3
I've combined the 2 rough cuts above together, though no effects or sound have been added, but this is draft has mostly all of the clips combined together.
This is the very first filming day, so many things didn't go as planned. Because my friends and I scheduled to film at the same time, and we were having the same friend to stare in our opening scene, so there was an overlap scheduling there, which resulted in my filming time got delayed.
Equipments:
- Camera (borrowed from Mr Vz)
- Blood stained white Vinschool uniform
- Fake blood
Actress:
- Vicky - she plays the killer.
Because there were only the 2 of us, I was the one who improvised her acting. I was also the cameraman for the scene. It was challenging to do 2 things at a time, but the shots came out not bad.
27th Feb 2023 (Hallway + Classroom scene):
The second filming day, I managed to have everybody together to film the hallway scene.
Equipments:
- Iphone
- Fake blood
- Blanket
Actor/Actresses:
- Katie
- Vivian
- Vicky
- Tommy
- Alice (just for "cameo")
The main difficulty is my friends have to take a bit of a time to get the acting that I wanted, so we had to retake many shots for multiple times, which resulted in everyone getting tired, so the quality of the shots couldn't stay consistent.
29th Mar 2023 (Hallway scene):
At first I only planned to film for 2 days, but as said above, because for some reason (distractions), so it got extended into 4 days.
Equipments:
- Iphone
Actor/Actresses:
- Katie
- Vivian
- Tommy
30th Mar 2023 (Classroom scene):
Final scene is the bullying scene. It got extended because Vicky couldn't schedule her time to be on the day before.
The toilet: where the initial scenes take place, the killer is vigorously washing the blood of to erase evidence from her previous murder of one of her bully, when she hears other students entering the building, which later on she finds out are also her bullies. One interesting thing is, for some horror movies that I've seen, the toilet plays a huge role in some scary scenes (such as in Scream 1996, It 2017, The Shining 1980). The toilet indicates the action of cleaning up something, the taps and water running also emphasize this action.
The hallway: the hallway scenes are filmed when the three students snuck into the school at night to look for their group project report, which is due the next day, and also when the students are running away from the killer. The hallway plays a vital role in notifying the audience that we're in a school environment.
The classroom: this is where most of the intense things happen. Through this, I want to signify many horrible things could happen inside classrooms (bullying), which in my opening scene had led to a murder (another horrible thing *not defending the action of killing for revenge).
Costumes/Makeup:
Vicky:
- Bloody white shirt uniform --> she just killed someone.
- Messy hair and sweats --> she is in a hurry and is stressing out.
Katie, Vivian, Tommy:
- Usual uniform.
All of these factors combined to indicate the environment, the setting of the movie: school.
And the later scenes will be revolve around school issues, conflicts built up until last straw for "the quiet kid".
Horrors and thrillers are movies that offer thrills, excitement and curiosity, which are usually the factors that attract younger people, from age 15-25 (teens to young-adult), however, for some, the age barrier could be upper 18, as for extreme violence or sexual aspects. Young adults usually seek for intense experiences that challenge them, marking huge shift from children turning into adults. It's been asserted that horror films encourage group interaction because teens talk and laugh about their responses and experiences afterward.
With that, my target audience is teens my age and the young adults. So considering the facts above, my opening scene would need to be fast-paced, including scenes that could higher the adrenaline of viewers.
Primary audience: Mr Vz and the Cambridge examiners.
Secondary audience: audience watching through YouTube.
Typography in horrors and thrillers use a variety of different fonts. However, the most commons are serif and sans serif. While serif is usually used in more classic or old-fashioned (themed) films, we can usually catch sans serif more popular in modern films.
I don't have a specific example from any movie opening scenes, so here's a brief description of the idents and fonts of my opening.
Because the setting is in the temporary world at school, I decided to choose sans serif, color white, to keep things as simple as possible.
The name of the casts and director would came of first, as the very start of the scene are the panning shots on the hallway leading to the toilet scene. The title of the movie (with the same font and caps locked) slowly fades in after all of the casts name.
I decided to choose thriller (with horror) for my movie opening scene. In order to hold the audience's attention, there should be a built of curiosity or tense. Comparing to other genres such as comedy, romance, fantasy, which could only take attention if they have a good script, horror and thriller are two much easier genres when talking about building tension and curiosity, with the help of violence, crime, blood. For my current knowledge and ability as well as experience, I don't think I'm capable of making an interested comedy or romance, so thriller and horror would be good choices.
Horror:
Thriller: A thriller is a book, drama, or motion picture with a gripping storyline. It frequently centers on suspense and anticipation with the intention of keeping the audience attentive and on the edge of their seats. The main ingredients of thriller movies are frequently suspense and exhilaration.
- Narrative/story lines: good against bad, revenge, creepy murderers, living in a haunted house.
There are 2 movies I've watched that I think are some good representatives of thriller-horror.
Scream (1996):
Scream is technically a slasher film, a film in which people, especially young women, are killed very violently with knives. The movie includes all of the conventions usually seen in horrors and thrillers. There were blood, killings (alot), mysterious phone calls (raising curiosity).
Us (2019)
Us did amazing in defying modern horror conventions. The movie uses silence to make an intense atmosphere for the viewers. While many contemporary horror movies are aware that "less is more" when it comes to blood and monsters, Us uses this dictum when it comes to the sound design in its opening sequences. The opening scene does not heavily rely on shrill string music to signal a looming jump scare or to inform viewers that they should be uneasy.
Simple events, like a frisbee landing so that it perfectly lines up with one of the enormous polka dots on Adelaide's beach blanket, help Us, generate tension. Such coincidences, says her companion Kitty, seem to be happening more frequently lately.
Scream is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven, starring David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, etc.
The movie follows highschool student Sidney Prescott, and her friend group, who become the targets of a mysterious killer in a Halloween costume known as Ghostface. The movie was inspired by a real-life case of the Gainesville Ripper. The movie was well-received and commercially successful, making $173 million globally and topping all previous slasher movies until the release of Halloween (2018).
Scream was also famous for its iconic opening scene, which is considered to be the best compared to other Scream movies in the franchise.
Here is an analysis of the opening scene of Scream 1996.
Genre: Horror/thriller
Conventions: This opening scene is a perfect example/representation of horror/thriller. It's a very fast pacing opening scene as we got right into the killing and the face the mysterious murderer right away, which helps raising the adrenaline of viewers. There were blood, knive, and very bloody scenes, the most provoking thing is the fact that the viewers don't know who this scary killer is.
Analysis:
The initial scene shows Casey reaching down to pick up a ringing phone as the camera pans up to her. The voice that has become recognizable from horror movies talks to the blonde. By depicting the girl as being alone in the large, remote home, Wes Craven sets the scene. When the camera pans outside, there is complete stillness save for the crickets' chirping, emphasizing the girl's isolation. The audience is in suspense because they don't know who is outside as the camera pans down to a swing that is empty but still moving barely.
The interior of the home is brightly lit, standing in stark contrast to the darkness outside. This contrast is similar to that between the evil outside and the good-hearted blonde girl in E.T. She becomes even more vulnerable in the gloom. Making popcorn adds to the scene by making loud popping noises that make you jump inside the home. The phone rings once more; in the past minute and ten seconds, there have been three calls. The same man's voice can be heard as Casey circles a kitchen island to take up the phone. Close-up shots of Casey are used to show how the conversation turns flirtatious as she begins chatting with the guy on the phone. This is a technique Craven employs throughout the movie, particularly later on with Sidney, the main character, to entice the viewer into becoming emotionally invested with the character through these close-up shots.
Mise-en-scene is used to hint at potentially evil events that will occur. When Casey takes a large kitchen knife out of its block and talks to the killer about the movie Halloween, Craven uses the iconography of a knife to make the viewer feel uneasy. The crowd becomes anxious as they wait for what will happen next. Another tracking shot blocks part of the view as it follows Casey from behind as she enters the living room and proceeds down a dim corridor. I've used this obstruction method in my own surveillance filming because it leaves the viewer wondering what's going on. The TV screen and the outdoor bathing pool are just two examples of the next scene's heavy use of the color blue.
Blue is typically thought to promote serenity. The disruption starts as soon as Casey enters the blue lighting, and you realize the caller has more in mind than just a simple discussion. When Casey inquires as to his motivation, he replies that he wants to know who he is staring at. Casey's worried expression abruptly comes into focus as some soft percussion music starts to play and get louder. Additionally, you can hear a canine barking outside, which leads you to believe that someone is outside. On the close-up of Casey, subdued lighting is used to emphasize the look of fear on her face.
The location and costumes are essential to the story because they establish the horror genre and add tension to the picture. Casey feels helpless because the murderer mentions that her home is kilometers from any other residence. The spectral visage A Halloween costume is also represented in the imagery because it appears repeatedly in the movie. The audience can tell that it is a scary movie by these obvious short hands. After Steve has been killed, the killer breaks into the home for the first time, and we first see him. As Casey moves toward a side entrance, a POV shot moves slowly in the opposite direction. Until the killer in a mask runs past on the other side of the building, there is no music at this time. To frighten you, a brief burst of high-pitched music is played. By making it outside, Casey gives the impression that she is secure. A distant shot of her parents' vehicle then helps the viewer understand this. At the window, a very close-up shot that clearly demonstrates the mask appears as she attempts to flee. The crowd screams in response to Casey's scream. Casey sprints in the direction of her parents' approaching vehicle. The crowd is now on the verge of yelling at the screen, hoping Casey manages to escape. She is unnoticed as a shot of her parents' vehicle passes by.
Jaws (1975)
There is a distinct sequence of events that occur one after another in Jaws' opening sequence since it is linear and chronological. The dialogue between people and the unfolding circumstances serve as the driving force behind this story. There are three distinct sections in this scene: the beginning, the middle, and the end. Both the beginning and the finish of the introduction return to equilibrium; everything is quiet and pleasant. This is effective because a major event has already happened in the first two minutes, leaving the viewer wondering what else is in store. The audience is immediately shocked and drawn in by the dramatic opening scene. In the first scene of Jaws, young people are portrayed negatively as being reckless and irresponsible due to their behavior and the environment they are in. When the shark attack occurs, the audience is left with a vague sense of shame because of their audience's quick dislike of them.
The tension-filled music, the victim being a woman, and the other character (a man) who might be able to help her not realizing anything is amiss are just a few of the classic thriller cliches present in Jaws. Due to the perspective being from the viewpoint of the shark, but never actually seeing the shark, this scene is a key part of Enigma. This incomplete vision is a typical thriller convention that contributes to the development of suspense and tension by instilling a sense of dread of the unknown. Another thriller convention is convert city, in which a safe setting is changed into a dangerous one. The beach in Jaws transforms from a scene that first seems relatively safe and welcoming into one that is quite hazardous, making the viewer more alarmed.
Mise en scene:
Underwater, the illumination is dim and the colors are chilling, which highlights the sense of danger. The entire time, the mood is the same—dark, gloomy, and neutral—suggesting that the character has no hope. The girl's action of taking off her clothes has no apparent significance, but it could be symbolic because it implies that doing so tears away her defenses, leaving her defenseless. This movie would not be as frightful if it were in broad daylight since it would be evident what would happen and hence too unrealistic. The dark atmosphere is a standard cliché of the thriller genre. The music starts and ends at equilibrium, much like the plot.
Camera:
Additionally, the use of camera angles to frighten viewers and create tension and suspense is particularly successful. In order to build tension because it is unclear who or what is in the water, a point of view shot is used in the opening sequence. Following this, a tracking shot is used to follow the actors as they race toward the beach from various perspectives. This does a good job of setting up both the characters and the audience's environment. A wide-angled long take of the water is utilized as an establishing shot once the girl starts to swim, emphasizing her isolation and inspiring terror in the audience.
Editing:
When the girl is attacked by the shark, the use of and the tempo of editing dramatically slow down, with shots staying longer rather than having several different shots. In contrast to having several distinct shots, this enables us to observe what is occurring to the girl above water and makes it more apparent. The audience is horrified by the transition from blurry eyesight to clear vision, which creates an almost terrible climax. Because of how slowly the editing is moving, it seems that a shark is going to attack, grabbing the audience's complete attention. Additionally, the editing enhances the transition between scenes. There are cuts between the man dozing on the beach and the girl who is being attacked.
