Comparing my film

EVALUATION TASK 1

ABSENTIS

TAKEN

THE MISSING

S.W.A.T

INTRO… I have created a Drama/Action thriller and will be comparing how it

shares similar conventions with these other thriller based Film,TV show and Game.

Taken was released: 26 September 2008

Director: Pierre Morel

Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen.

The Missing

Director: Tom Shankland, Ben Chanan

Cast: James Nesbitt, Tcheky Karyo and Frances O’Connor

S.W.A.T

Developer: Argonaut games

WHAT ARE GENRE CONVENTIONS AND WHY ARE THEY USED ?A genre convention is a generalised ‘plot’

so a thriller as a genre will typically involve suspense. So it is the key features of a film which categorises it into a genre another example would be ‘romance’ which would have the component of Love in.

HOW IS THE FILM SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT ?ABSENTIS (MINE) TAKEN

We share the same convention of kidnap.

As you may see, we also share that our abducted character is a teenage girl. It is also similar plot line wise that our detectives crack the case mainly solo. However we chose counter-typically a female character which taken did not they used the abducted girls father (Liam Neeson).

HOW IS THE FILM SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT ?

ABSENTIS (MINE)THE MISSING (TV)

A similarity of my thriller compared to The Missing (TV) is that even though they both contain action in it isn’t the main focus of the thriller as the thrillers are more of a ‘detective’ thrillers.

HOW IS THE FILM SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT ?ABSENTIS (MINE) S.W.A.T (GAME)

Although my thriller doesn’t focus on action, the bits where they do they share similar conventions as the game I have chosen to compare. Also do counter type traditional media we used a Nigerian man as a law enforcer rather than a law breaker as I think it is important to crush racial stereotypes.

From the weapons used by the SWAT members in both my thriller and the game are similar and factually correct and the appropriate hand signals and communication.

CHARACTERS: BEHAVIOUR, LOOK, COSTUMEABSENTIS (MINE) TAKEN

My character is dressed in a baggy T-Shirt and that’s it his is because it connotes poor treatment and her physical look is warn out/abused this was because she was meant to b part of a cheap sex trafficking compared to taken.

In Taken the abducted girl is sexual objectified because she was being sold to wealthy people who pay high prices so intern would want to see a high end girl so to speak.

CHARACTERS: BEHAVIOUR, LOOK, COSTUMEABSENTIS (MINE) THE MISSING (TV)

We chose for our girl who was abducted to be all in white as it connotes ‘pure’ and ‘innocents’ which adds to the further subconscious hatred towards the captive as it re-enforces the fact that she is a sweet vulnerable girl.

Similarly the girl in the missing is dressed in all white which means maybe they had used the same sort of strategy when trying to convey the innocents and injustice of what's going on and I think it also allows the audience to sympathise further with the character.

CHARACTERS: BEHAVIOUR, LOOK, COSTUMEABSENTIS (MINE) S.W.A.T (GAME)

The costume for our S.W.A.T men was rather similar to the game as we had them wear a dark boiler suit and a S.W.A.T vest and black boots.

The game has a more factually accurate costume as they are cartoons where as we had to finance our costumes and our budget couldn’t afford garments such as helmets and knee pads.

TITLE FONTABSENTIS (MINE) TAKEN

I used a clear easy to use font, as I think it looks clear and professional and easy to read.

I think for Taken they would have chose they're font to be red to portrait the love and passion to find his daughter who was…’taken’ also to foreshadow the bloodshed to take place in later parts of the film.

Editing Techniques: Shot duration, pace, transitions or effects ?ABSENTIS THE MISSING

We used similar editing techniques to The Missing.

As we used a fade for our titles appearing then disappearing. And similarly they did the same just with a shorter fad time.