Jurassic park

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen
Screenplay by Michael Crichton and David Koepp
Music by John Williams
Distributed by universal pictures

Jurassic Park is an American science fiction adventure, published in 1993, based on the 1990 novel be by Michael Crichton.

Titles

The now iconic Jurassic park front, runs throughout the titles; the chunky, child like font being reminiscent of a zoo like sign. This fades to a simplistic red contrasted by the black background, this evokes a more sinister tone, than the previous funky font.

 

Music

Written by the greatest film score writer of all time, Jurassic park has an outstanding soundtrack. The first thing we hear is an ambient sound of crickets, then during the indents, the track begins bridging into the opening shot. This track invokes tension, complementing the scene; wind instruments crescendo on one note over two bars, then again. 



Meanwhile subtle percussion implies a sense of danger, this increases in rate and volume yet as the viewers attention is elsewhere, it remains unnoticed. Ambient sounds accompany the piece - the of rustling leaves, and other typical woodland noises to accompany the setting.

Mise-en-scene and Cinematography 

The opening shot, is an establishing, medium close-up shot, setting the scene in a jungle/forrest. Minimalist lighting is used to place the scene at night, the unpredictability associated with a dark forest makes the viewer unsteady.


The camera is handheld, its slight movement of footage contributing to the unnerving atmosphere. The leaves sway unnervingly as ambiguous shadows move across the frame, unidentified. Trees falling in the background suggest something is approaching the men, the use of a bright light suggesting a vehicle (the lights suggesting headlights), eventually a container emerges from the forest. 

During this scene we see close-up shots of Jurassic park employees, overcast with shadow. They are apprehensive, and look nervously at the emerging truck. Costumes identify the characters as employees of Jurassic park; helmets displaying the iconic logo.

One of the employees is shown using a zoom in shot to a close upshot. The camera is slightly looking (looking angle shot) up at this character, and his face is well lit, suggesting he has some sort of authority.

The boy in the striped pyjamas

Directed by Mark Herman 

Produced by David Heyman

Screenplay by Mark  Herman
Music by James Horner

Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The boy in the stripped pyjamas was published in 2008, and based on a WW2 novel by Irish writer John Boyne.

Opening Titles 

Before the opening title a quote is displayed - "Childhood is measured by the sounds and smells and sights before the dark hour of reason grows". This sets the tone of the movie; the innocence of childhood amongst horror in society. Further titles are in white, displayed on either a black or red background, reminiscent of the Nazi flag. 

Sound 

The first thing the viewer experiences is the soundtrack. In this case, a classical piece written and performed by James Horner - Boys playing aeroplanes. A delicate piano solo, develops as strings come in, here Horner effectively portrays the childhood innocence, that will be used to contrast  war later in the story. The soundtrack acts as an audio bridge into the opening shot.

During the scene of the protagonist (Hugo) running, there is the diegetic sound a child's plane impressions, the human made sound effects echo to soundtrack in portraying Hugo's vulnerability and innocence.

Mise-en-scene 

The first shot is an extreme close up shot the striking red of a swastika flag, this widens to become an establishing shot, placing the viewer into Nazi occupied Berlin. Extras in military costume patrol in the background, because of this and the traditional German setting, verisimilitude is achieved.

Cinematography

Amongst clips of the boys running, close up and medium shots of a large furnished house are shown; including servants and fine dining utensils, suggesting the protagonist is upper class. 

As the track develops, a crane ariel shot closes in on the lead character "Bruno", as he runs through the town centre pretending to be fighter jets. The boys imagination of war foreshadows Bruno's involvement in the war later in the film.

  (Bruno outer right)

Introduction

My name is Amy Spence, and my interest in film is relatively new. I watch a variety of films, mainly fantasy, but i'm also interested in things with psychological elements, Steven King films being a good example of this.

My real passion in media is music, hence an interest in film soundtracks; often the most important part of a film. Soundtracks can evoke incredible emotion, conjuring fear, sadness, joy. The atmosphere a soundtrack is capable of creating can in no way be created with just picture alone. Obvious favourites of the trade include greats John Williams, Howard Shore, and James Horner.