The Pact -
Director and Writer - Nicholas McCarthy
Cast - Caity Lotz, Casper Van Dien, Mark Steger
Genre - Horror, Thriller, Mystery
Distributors - Entertainment One, IFC Midnight (Theatrical) and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (DVD)
Producers - Preferred Content
Plot - Nichole Barlow comes to San Pedro with her daughter Eva to attend the funeral of her mother. She calls her estranged sister Annie to help her to resolve pending businesses, but Annie is too traumatised with the bad treatment spent by their mother and does not want to return to their childhood home. Nichole convinces her sister to come and she arrives to the funeral. However, Nichole goes missing and Eva stays with Nichole's cousin Liz. When Liz also disappears, Annie claims that supernatural events happen in the house but she becomes the prime-suspect. The open-minded detective Bill Creek assumes the investigation and realizes that there is something weird in the house. Meanwhile Annie summons the medium Stevie believing that the ghost of her mother is responsible for the vanishing of Nichole and Liz. But the woman warns Annie that there is a great danger in the house. Annie decides to go further in her investigation and discovers dark secrets from the past of her family.
Analysis -
The trailer shows this plot very well and clearly, with out giving too much away, It first shows 2 minor characters (Annie's sister and her daughter, the story line is based around her.) talking on webcam. This is a short 20 second shot and with use of captions sets the theme for this film.
These set the atmosphere for this film, with the use of a little girl asking her mom "who's that behind you?" This gives an audience sense of tension and adrenaline, and shows who the audience may of thought is the main character gets killed off almost at the start, which has been seen in other horrors and thrillers.
Then the protagonist is introduced, Annie. She is shown riding in on a motorbike which tells us she is a tough/bag girl, which is subverting the stereotype and conventions of a lot of thrillers as they are usually preppy, ditsy girls who are usually the main. She sticks to this as we see through out the trailer she is brave , confident and goes back to face whatever is in the house.
However it does follow the representation of a stereotypical thriller film by using a young woman as a victim and being the main character.
The other main cast in the film is a man, who is revealed at the end in a slight plot twist. He isn't shown in the trailer as it would give too much away in the film. However he also follows the stereotype of a male main character in a thriller or horror as being the villain.
The trailer overall use's the code and conventions you stereotypically see in thriller and horror films, For example the low key lighting creating a dark mysterious atmosphere to the film and the non diegetic sound effects like a heart beat which something scary happens or when text comes up. The background and fonts and editing on them is the same as what is used on other big thriller and horror films. Also the muse-en-scene is a big old fashioned bungalow and the protagonist is alone in the house which is in a wide open space. All the camera shot are a mixture, there a close ups, long shots, panning, zoom/reverse zoom and a lot of cuts which help show how fast things happen in the film. The editing is in continuity which shows the story line but doesn't give to much away.
Lucy -
Im looking at this film, as im interesting in sociological side to thrillers and interesting storied like Lucy.
Director and Writer - Luc Besson
Cast - Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman
Genre - Action, Sci - Fi, Thriller
Producer - Canal+
Distributor - Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures International.
Plot - It was supposed to be a simple job. All Lucy had to do was deliver a mysterious briefcase to Mr. Jang. But immediately Lucy is caught up in a nightmarish deal where she is captured and turned into a drug mule for a new and powerful synthetic drug. When the bag she is carrying inside of her stomach leaks, Lucy's body undergoes unimaginable changes that unlocks her mind's full potential 100%. With her new-found powers, Lucy turns into a merciless warrior intent on getting back at her captors. She receives invaluable help from Professor Norman, the leading authority on the human mind, and French police captain Pierre Del Rio.
This film is mainly an action film, however parts of it are in the thriller genre, and follow some of the conventions but with a twist. 'Lucy' who is the protagonist of this film is first seen as the damsel in distress, being taken by some people and being put in great danger. Showing her as vulnerable and being a victim.
It then changes to the 'final girl convention' seen in many thrillers where she becomes the confident brave one, who defends herself until the end.
The camera shots used in the trailer are mainly medium close ups of Lucy, but showing everything that is happening around her, while the editing cross cuts between her and a man and a voice over of him talking about how the human brain works, and that you can only access 10% of it, apart from Lucy. Its also edited like its in fast-forward showing the audience that a lot happens in this film. The use of non diegetic sounds also helps show this.
Even though this films isn't completely based around the stereotypical thriller the aspects of a thriller is what i want to do my film around.
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