Viewing journal: Media Studies A2

Date Film Comments Info

5/10

The Bounty Hunter (Teen Movie)

This is a good example of a light hearted film that modern teens would watch. The premise of a bounty hunter chasing down his ex wife is different compared to other teen films. The history of the relationship between the two main characters adds a it of romance to the film as well, creating a hybrid genre. A lot of the film is set in daylight and colours are bright. One technique I found in this movie is when a montage of a sequence is shown, a popular, upbeat track is used as a soundbridge for the montage. Darker themed scenes in this film tend to be dark in cinematography by having more shadows and low key lighting in the shot. Good examples of these scenes are the strip club and the unused storage facility (both near the end of the film.

Year: 2010 Age Rating: 12A Genre: Action, Comedy, Romance Director: Andy Tennant Plot: A bounty hunter learns that his

next target is his ex-wife, a reporter working on a murder cover-up. Soon after their reunion, the always-at-odds duo find themselves on a run-for-their-lives adventure. Characters:

- Milo Boyd, A bounty hunter - Nicole Hurley, the bounty

hunter’s ex wife Setting: Modern America Visual Style: Realistic, mostly light

coloured.

12/10 WarGames: The Dead Code

This film challenges the ethics of allowing a supercomputer to take fully control of discovering and destroying terrorism. At the beginning of the film, we as an audience are introduced to the supercomputer known as R.I.P.L.Y. and her technique into discovering terrorists (which is online gambling war games). Then we are introduced to Will, who takes part in R.I.P.L.Y.’s war games to win money and is so good at it, that the supercomputer marked him as a terrorist. This part of the film shows how computers do not always make the right judgment when it

Year: 2008 Age Rating: 12 Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller Director: Staurt Gillard Plot:The United State’s Department

of Homeland Security is led to believe an American teen hacker playing a terrorist game online is a real terrorist out to destroy the U.S. Characters:

- Will Farmer, teenager, hacker enthusiast (Protagonist).

- Annie D’Mateo, teenager, Will’s ‘sidekick’ and love interest.

- R.I.P.L.Y, a supercomputer that the homeland of security uses to tackle terrorism, but

comes ethical judgement on unknown human beings. Later on in the film, Will’s mum is arrested by Homeland Security as R.I.P.L.Y. suspected her to be involved with biological weapons, yet her day job is producing cleaning products. At this point, some members of Homeland Security are starting to question R.I.P.L.Y’s judgement. As the film progresses, we as an audience get to see the full extent of R.I.P.L.Y’s control and power over anything that is electronic (CCTV Cameras, traffic lights, powerplants etc.) which she once uses to kill a member of Homeland Security. This film however involves a computer wizz-kid named will, who is seen as the main protagonist in the film. My film would have similar character but different film premise. Which is useful as I know have a few ideas as to how I will portray this character.

soon targets Will and becomes the Anti-protagonist.

Setting: Modern day America, high school, Will’s bedroom, Homeland security department, Old Montreal Visual Style: Modern, thriller,

Cyber-world, Computing

19/10 Nova: Rise of the Hackers

This documentary explores the world of cyber-warfare between the Hackers and the members of the computing industry. At the beginning of the film, we as an audience learn how hackers can use a chain of loop-holes from different websites to hack into people’s Apple ID. It shows how clever and dangerous hackers are, and questions whether our personal online data is safe. This film was useful as it gave me a better understanding of current issues that we face due technological advancements and how we take these technological advancements

Year: 2014 Age Rating: TV-G Genre: Documentary Director: Kate Dart Plot: This documentary shows

examples of how hackers attack their targets using different techniques. Characters: Members of the

computing industry and scientists who explain the computing world. Setting: Hacker’s ‘base’, public

areas (for interviews), offices and industrial plant (for reenactment) Visual style: Documentary,

Biography, mature

for granted.

26/10 Secrets of Her Majesty’s Secret Service

This documentary has given me a true insight into the history and role of Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The things that I have learnt from this documentary would help me understand and represent the idea of spies in a more realistic way. What I found interesting about the cinematography of this documentary. Was that the reenactments were darkened in colour. This was probably done to make it look like a memory, but to also make the mise en scene to look more dark and dangerous.

Year: 2014 Age Rating: TV-G Genre: Documentary Director: Kasia Uscinska Plot: This documentary spotlights

more than 100 years of operatives and operations in the U.K.’s secret service, the world’s oldest intelligence agency. Characters: Members and ex

members of MI6 who explain the history of the secret service and their duties. Setting: London, Public places (for

reenactment), cafes and quiet places where interviews are held Visual style: Documentary,

Biography, mature