SHERLOCK HOLMES

The genre of this film is historical action and adventure, it is action because Sherlock Holmes and Watson are seen fighting villains, it is also historical as it is set in Victorian England we can tell this from the props and costumes, for example the old lateen and horses and carriages, bowler hats and victorian dresses. In the opening scene you can see St.Pauls cathedral which anchors the location as London. The buildings are all very old, its all period buildings. There is definatley a sense of adventure created by the music which is a very fast pace which slowly builds up to get louder and quicker.  The lighting is very murky which is a restricted pallet of sepia gas light and black and white.

In the opening scene we see the cobbled ground and the sounds of the horses which creates some suspense and tension as you dont know where they are going. We are immersed in the action which is partly what creates the adventure as the camera is not help using a tripod, it is hand held which makes it look bumpy and makes you feel as if you are on the horse carriage and going with him. The tracking shot conveys speed and motion in the race to save a young woman and prevent her murder. There are some close up shots that are used to make sure the audience can see who the key characters are such as Sherlock, there is a very close up shot of him underground hiding behind a wall. But mostly in the part of the film we watched it was a tracking shot, a long journey on a horse and carriage.  Showing all that was around us, as if we where there. We experience dark alley ways hidden corners and very dark buildings and streets. This type of camera work is very jurky and bumpy which gives a sense of jeopardy

Theres a lot of editing in the sequence that we watched, a very good piece of editing was the slow motion used, it suggests that time is slowing down. I think there are some very unique and unusual parts of the editing which makes us able to share Holmes' thoughts and help us understand the story more.

ROBIN HOOD

You can tell that Robin Hood is an action and adventure film as shortly after the film begins there is already some fighting, they are using weapons such as crossbows arrows and swords which makes us able to tell that it is a very medieval film as these aren't the type of weapons we would use in a fighting scene today. Robin Hood is the typical hero and in the first few minutes of the film we are shown him, he is played by Russel Crowe. You can tell he is the hero as the is fighting for good and fighting for his country and he also rescues one of his friends seen hanging from a gate. You can tell that he is the type of man that is willing to risk his life for innocent people and is willing to fight for good. There are a lot of hero shots of Robin hood to help us identify that he is a hero, such as a low angle shot where there is a lot of line shining behind him which makes him seem very good and almost god like. The genre of this film would be historical as it is set in very medival times as you can tell by the weapons. 

MISSION IMPOSSILBE

During our lesson today we watched the film mission impossible.
Genre: Crime Fiction, Spy, Comedy, Action.

 Characters  Tom Cruise who plays Ethan Hunt, the first time that we meet with him we get a very heroic shot/ close up. This may be suggesting that he is the main person in the film and also the hero and will feature a lot during the film. I think he plays the typical hero in this film he has very nice fancy clothes looks like a cool hero, and as this film is based on comedy as well as spy, they make him a bit of a womenizer to make things funny.  Sounds: The theme song is a very intense beat which makes it obvious that is a spy film, it is a  rememberable and catchy theme tune which makes people always think of the film when they hear that song. When the film begins there's percussion instruments which I think suggests that Tom Cruise is a very important, strong character in the film. 

AUSTIN POWERS

In our media lesson we watched a spoof of Austin powers starring Tom Cruise, during the lesson we watched the first few minutes which showed Austin who was actually Tom Cruise flying into the scene and killing the bad guy and obviously ends up getting the girl, The charecters in ths film are extremely stereotypical, there the stereotypical villain and the hero Austin powers who wins the girl, and obviously being the hero he kills the evil villain. The heroin (Gwyneth paltro) plays a very confident women whos a single mother but very confident, which is ironic because most women play the hamsel in distress. There is a lot of weapons used as soon as it starts which suggests that as it continues there will be more fighting, theres a lot of movement throughout and especially when he comes down in a parechute and jumps into a moving car which brings a lot of suspense.