Assignment 26.1 The theory of films
The two films that I have chosen to analyse the genre, content and narrative are The Bourne Identity and The Hunt for The Wilderpeople. The Hunt for the Wilderpeople was released in 24th in June 2016 and The Bourne Identity was released on the 6th of September 2002. The hunt for the Wilderpeople is set in current day New Zealand in the countryside and forests. Oppositely, The Bourne Identity isn't set in only one place but has various locations including, Zurich, Paris, South of France, New York, Washington and Indochina. The director of The hunt for the Wilderpeople was Taika Waititi and the producer was also him, Leanne Saunders, Carthew Neal and Matt Noonan. The director of The Bourne Identity was Doug Liman and the producers was also him, Richard N. Gladstein and Patrick Crowley. The Bourne Identity has a certificate of 12A in the UK and The Hunt For The Wilderpeople has the same certificate of a 12A. I would say that the target audience for The Bourne Identity would be people that enjoy films with a lot of action and for people between the age of 25 upwards because the film is quite difficult to understand and a younger audience wouldn't be able to understand what happens in the film. The target audience for The Hunt for the Wilderpeople I thin would be for younger people and teenagers. This is because the main character is a teenager and this type of audience would be able to relate to the film. For these two films I am going to be analysing the genre, narrative and film content analysis.
The film, The Bourne Identity is about Jason Bourne who is a US government agent. He doesn't know who he is because he doesn't remember anything before two weeks ago. Bourne wakes up on a boat a the start of the film and sets out to find out who he is and why he isn't able to remember anything. Along the way he meets a woman called Marie who helps him out and he begins to like her. Towards the end of the film, Bourne finds out who he is and who he was working for, he manages to escape the people that were after him and then reunites with Marie right at the end.
The Hunt for the Wilderpeople is about a boy named Ricky who's mother abandoned him so he was taken to live on a farm with a couple, Bella and Hec. Near the beginning of the film, Bella dies meaning that ricky would have to back into care but refuses to so he fakes his death and runs away to the bush with his dog. Hec later finds Ricky in the bush and they both agree to go on the run from the authorities who want to take Ricky back. They end up being caught and then Ricky goes to live with a kind family he met whilst he was on the run and Ricky finds Hec in a care home and asks him to come with him, Hec agrees.
The genre of The Bourne Identity is action/mystery. I would say that the main genre of this film would be action and mystery would come under the sub genre of the film. The Bourne Identity is in the action genre because it uses the typical conventions of that genre. Some of these convention s that are included in this film are fight scenes, weapons, car chases fast camera cuts and movements and etc. The Bourne Identity comes under the sub genre of mystery. This is because when you are watching the film you don't really understand the storyline at the beginning and have to wait until further on in the film to know what is happening. Also, it is also a mysterious film because Jason Bourne is trying to solve the mystery about who he really is. The first fight scene in the film happens at at 11:19 when police officers begin talking and questioning Jason Bourne about what he is doing, he then begins to fight them and as he's the main character of the film he obviously ends up winning the fight.
The story of the film is essentially Jason Bourne trying to find out who he is and who is after him wanting him dead. Along the way he meets a girl called Marie and she goes with him until he tells her to leave as it is too dangerous for her. The film The Bourne Identity relates to Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposites. In the film, the binary opposites are good vs evil which is portrayed as Jason Bourne vs the man after him Alexander Conklin. At 1:43:40 flashbacks are shown when Bourne starts to remember who he is and what he used to do for living. He doesn't really act on what he remembered but wants to still find a way to stop the people that are after him. The film has various locations such as Paris and Zurich because Bourne and Marie go to different countries whilst running from the US agents and ones that are in other countries are chasing them. Having various locations make the film more interesting because it makes it more enjoyable and diverse as it shows off other countries and shows people speaking several languages. The main character and good guy in the film is Jason Bourne who is shown on screen from the start of the movie until the end. Marie is another important character in the film but she isn't shown until 20:11 in the film but is shown until the end of the film.
The audience will probably fell more attached to the character of Jason Bourne and see the film through the way that he does. The audience will want to know about who he is as much as he himself wants to. This means that the audience will also find it hard to follow the story and and will be confused towards the start of the film but as the film gets closer to the end, they will understand who Bourne is and then at the end of the film where he reunites with Marie the audience will feel happy for him. The theme of The Bourne Identity can be seen as revenge because Jason Bourne blames Alexander Conklin and the people that are after him for why he cant remember anything before two weeks. At the end of the film when Bourne finally gets his answers, he now has a burden lifted off his shoulders and meets up with Marie again and he is now happy and they will probably start a life together.
The language used in The Bourne Identity is mainly English but when there are scenes in other countries, people are heard speaking their languages such as police officers at the start if the film speaking French to Jason Bourne. Characters such as Alexander Conklin and other people in his office speak in a formal fashion which highlights that they are authoritative figures and implies that they should be respected. When I was watching The Bourne Identity, I couldn't understand when people were speaking in another language as there were no subtitles shown on the screen. During the police chase at 52:48 there is also some upbeat and fast music in the background and also fast camera cuts. This was included to highlight the intensity of the of the chase and the fast cuts show how fast all the cars were going. There is also another scene at 1:17:41 where fast paced music is used again but this time it is used to emphasise how desperate Alexander Conklin and his team were that they couldn't find Bourne. There is also a use of special effects at 1:47:07 when Bourne jumps off the stairs and used another mans body to cushion his landing, as Bourne is falling he is also shooting people at the same time. At the end of The Bourne Identity the camera zooms and pans out to show the sunny and happy location that the film ends at.
The second film that I chose to analyse was The Hunt for the Wilderpeople. I would say that the genre of The Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a drama film with the sub genres of comedy and action. The film comes under the genre of adventure because the story has Ricky and Hec escaping the police by living in the bush for several months. The Hunt for the Wilderpoeple uses a typical convention of an adventure film by using flashbacks. Near the start of the film at 3:41 flashbacks are shown of Ricky's past to show the audience what type of person he is and highlights his disobediance. Another adventure convention that the film uses is exploration, this is first shown in the film at 8:40 when Ricky runs away from the house into the bush, this scene also relates back to the sub genre of comedy because when Ricky is running away, he begins to run out of breathe and doesn't get too far away from the farm. The scene after this shows Bella find Ricky in the bush the next morning and tells him that what he tried to do was funny.
At 1:12:09, a typical convention for the sub genre of action is shown when the three hunters are on screen holding their guns. This scene was included in the film because it makes the audience know that they are the typical bad guys/enemies of the action sub genre. The use of guns makes them seem more dangerous and shows that they have a higher status than Hec and Ricky especially because there's three of them. There is also another convention of the action sub genre of a high speed chase at 1:25;07. At this scene in the film, Ricky is driving the truck with Hec as passenger and they are trying to out run the police.
The main story of The Hunt for the Wilderpeople is about Ricky and Hec surviving in the bush after the death of Hec's wife, Bella. The main reason that they decided to run away into the bush because when Bella died, the child services authority sent a letter to Hec saying that Ricky would have to go back into care. Ricky didn't want to go back to the authorities because he said that the only friend he had there was dead. As a result of this, Ricky decided to fake his death by setting fire to a dummy of himself and running into the bush. Hec later follows Ricky into the bush and they both decide to go on the run from the police. The main character of The Hunt for The Wilderpoeple is a child from a foster hom called Ricky, he is shown in the film from start to finish. The other main character in the film is Hec, he was Bella's husband and Ricky tends to call him uncle. He is basically Ricky's accomplice and they are both on the run from authorities. The setting for The Hunt for The Wilderpeople is based in New Zealand. This setting compliments the basis of the story of the film because it has a big forest or bush which is where the majority of the film is set. This type of setting compliments the genre of adventure because it is a very big area and gives the characters of Ricky and Hec a large playing field to escape the police. Similar to many other films, in The Hunt for the Wilderpeople the audiecne views the film thorugh the point of view of the main characters. In this film they see the film throught the point of view of Ricky a young boy who keeps switching homes and through Hec a man who's wife has just died, I would say that the message of this film is friendship. This is because at the start of the film Ricky and Hec do not meet eye to eye as Hec doesn't like Ricky because he finds him to be a pest and doesn't like it when Ricky calls him uncle. As the film progresses they learn more about each other and begin to like one another. Then at the end of the film Ricky finds Hec again and asks him to come and stay with him which Hec then agrees to. I think that The Hut for The Wilderpeople can be placed under Propp's theory of character roles. This can be seen because the hero in the film is Ricky, the helper is Hec and the Villain is Paula (the child services officer). You could also argue that his film could also come under Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposite, it would come under the opposites of good (Ricky) vs evil (Paula).
The language used in he film is a mixture depending on who is speaking with the film. For example the way that Ricky speaks is different to the way that Bella and Hec speak. Ricky speaks very informally and the way in which he speaks highlights how young he actually is and also shows his immaturity as he tends to swear because he thinks he's a "gangster". Bella and Hec speak more formally than Ricky and they speak with a sort of calmness about them, the way that they speak emphasises their age and also shows their wisdom and that they have seen a lot in life. The only text that is shown on screen is when it tells the audience that there is a new chapter of the film starting. This is unique because barely any films have this and it's a way for the film to help the audience understand what is happening.
The music used in The Hunt for the Wilderpeople is used effectively because it always relates and corresponds to what is happening in the film. For example, when Bella died, the music that played in the background was slow paced and sad. At Bella's funeral there was also a piano playing. This means that the fact she died has been emphasised and helps the audience further understand whats happening. This also happens during the police chase because the background music in that scene is fast paced. The special effects in The Hunt for the Wilderpeople as a percentage of the whole film wasn't a lot as there wasn't too many used. The film uses a lot of camera techniques to highlight the fact the whole film is based around Ricky. There are a lot of close up shots of Ricky's face to show the audience who he is and to express his facial expressions and feelings. One effect that was used during the car chase is when the car that Ricky and Hec were in flipped over. Adding this into the film creates suspense for the audience because for a slight period they don't know what happens to Ricky and Hec if they're injured or dead. Just before the car turns over, there is a close up shot of Hec's face. This camera technique was added to show that he was scared for his life as Ricky was driving and he had not to stop him.
From the analysis that I have done on The Bourne Identity and The Hunt for The Wilderpeople, I can say that they are two good films. From the content above you can tell these two films are different from each other and have two contrary genres. Although there are some similarities and equal narratives and techniques between the two films but not enough to make them seem alike. On the film review website of Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score for The Bourne Identity was 93%, this shows that people enjoyed the film and its contents. The critic review of The Bourne Identity was lower than the audience one at 83% meaning that the critics gave their own harsh review and didn't follow what other people said about the film. The audience score for The Hunt for The Wilderpeople was 91% and the critic score was 97%. These reviews show us that both the audience an the critics enjoyed The Hunt for the Wilderpeople more. Personally, I enjoyed both films and I would recommend both of them to anyone.
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