3. Narrative structure & themes
The maze runner starts with one frightened
teenage boy, sent by elevator, to the
middle of no where and there is no way
back. The opening scene is gloomy with
blue undertones and stark white florescent
tube lights to light the lift shaft, these types
of lights give the atmosphere a cold and
harsh tone. We also see this young boy on
his hands and knees suggesting a
panicked state of mind and desperate to
find answers, such as where he is? And
why he is there? Perhaps what he did to
deserve this torcher?
Secondly we still see him in the lift, but the
camera moves away from him and onto
what he sees, which is the end with red
lights. Red lights at the end of a pathway
generally are given as a way of warning
people to stop as they can go no further,
however, the lift gets closer to this brick
wall with red lights and there is no sign of
slowing down, which signals alarms in his
head that he is possibly going to die.
The lift finally screeches to a halt and we see a group of boys standing
looking down, meanwhile the leader jumps into the lift and The only way out
is through this moving concrete maze and a group of people called the
‘Glazer’s’, that are already there, have assigned ‘maze runners’ to try to find a
way out each day. The only problem is the maze closes before they come
out, crushing the runners to pieces. Even though they plan the route they will
take, as they have a miniature sculpture. (above image)
Another problem is that monsters come through the maze to where the group
are living at night, and kill who ever is in sight.
The hunger games has a similar plot as the teenagers that get stuck in this
‘game’, amusement for the posh cities people, and there is no way to get out,
there can only be one remaining person, but it is survival of the fittest as you
have to kill one another. Likewise in The Maze Runner, the people that go
though the maze, the runners, are the ones that give into peer pressure
easily, as the consequences for going in are death.
4. Characters
There are two main character in ‘The Maze Runner’, one a boy who comes in first, then the girl enters second. Both in
the same way, through the elevator. Both of whom don’t remember how they got there, nor do they remember anything
about their lives before entering the maze. The girl thinks they have been sent there for a reason as if to insinuate that
they are better then the rest of the people their and they have powers to finally relive these people from being stuck
behind this maze.
Then there is the rest of the group that has been assigned different jobs such as the ‘group leader’, the person who
maps out routes, the cook, people who build things, people who slaughter the food and a councillor to get people
through the trauma.
Both The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner have elements in the plot of a romance. In the dystopian films I have
reasearched , I have found that there is always a woman behind the man in any situation. I believe film makers do this
as it is a general and stereotypical relationship combination, where the relationship is a partnership and shows the help
one another can give each other, as with the typical nature of a dystopian film, the characters need support and words
of encouragement.
5. The Hunger games, Catness is the strong protagonist, who keeps the man, Peter, going with words of encouragement
that if they stick together, she will look after him. We see this conveyed through the way this shot is composed (above, left)
as it shows her shooting her bow and arrow, against a body formed target. She is out of focus and the body is outlined with
red and in focus. This suggests she is rootless in her attacks, and she is willing to do what is needed to stay alive.
Comparing the above to the maze runner is similar in it’s plot, the girl is rootless and proactive about wanting to get out of
the maze, however she gets penalised because of her controlling nature (above, right). She is the only woman, like in The
Hunger Games, in this maze surrounded by bold and strong men, who feel it necessary to take it upon themselves to sort
out the mess, they need to know that she will play by the rules and not on her own accord. This shows that the dominate
male is stepping up as the hero, even though it teases the audience that in actual fact, she may be the hero.
6. Camera
In the maze runner, through out the trailer, shots that where included where:
1. Panning a 180 with a mid shot transitioning into a wide angle when the
boy, Tomas, has his first glance at the maze and surrounding area. This
gives the audience an idea of what the maze camp site looks like and the
enormity of it in comparison to the boy size. The camera is set slightly lower
the Tomas's face first of all, which would normally give the illusion of him
being powerful, however in comparison to the wall it makes him look
intimidated and overwhelmed. When the transition occurs the camera moves
slightly up to his high, with reduces the fear feeling and instead enhances
where he is, in a field, with a ball as a barrier.
2. Over the shoulder shot, when one of the men are describing to Tomas
where he is. This is a typical shot for any genre to include. It is a great way
in showing conversation and emotional reactions of he characters. As they
can change the camera to the oppositee face to capture their expressions.
3. Close up, Showing the gunk on one of the tools, describing what the
monsters traces lift behind. The reasoning behind this is to describe to the
audience further what the monsters are like, enabling them to build a clearer
image of what they are like in their minds, without actually having to show a
monster.
4. Another momentous close up is when Tomas sees the maze shut on
someone’s body for the first time. Seeing this shocked face, adds emotion to
the characters and the audince can then sympathise with them as they have
seen what the character have seen.
7. Props
The weapons and method of transport in The Maze Runner are unique
and very different to anything else. Props are one of the ways in which
you can tell what genre it is. Dystopian does not have to fit into reality,
therefore has space ships and long, metal jousters, as you can see from
the below images of The Maze Runner. Whereas a crime film, for
example (images from Animal Kingdom, below, right), will have normal
guns and cars which the image clearly shows. These prop choses,
dependant on the genre type, is so that the audience feel that they can
connect to the action and the sensations of what the characters are
feeling, unlike unknown props in this dystopian film, where they will
find it hard to relate.
Location
Both in The Maze Runner and Hunger Games, there is a very similar shot
type, a wide angle, to describe the hole arena, this is a secret piece of
information to the audience as they know that the characters in the film can not
see the view they have seen. It gives the audience the ability to feel apart of
the film.
The landscape itself is very similar, in the fact that they are both blue and grey
toned, with a dark cloud shadowing over the complexes and concrete goes as
far as the eye can see, which is depressing and overwhelming. The one
difference is that in The Hunger Games image (bottom), is a break of sun,
which is a sign of hope and slight mystery. However, we later see that this is a
8. High angle for powerful characters & Low angle for innocents about the character or object. When Tomas enters and
the elevator doors open, one boy jumps down into it and he is shown to have the power as he is leaning over the top of
the new boy, Tomas. Likewise the low angle shot on Tomas when he was scared of this boy jumping on him. A similar
shot happened when the girl comes in, but on a greater scale as all of the boys are looking down on her, and she is
looking up. Another low angle shot was to show the size of the maze, the enormity of it.
Quentin Tarantino “inglorious basterds” shows this scene ( left below) where two men are standing under trees,
looking down. Wez Ball, the director of “The maze runner” has used this shot as pastiche for his own work to enhance
the power over the character who is already at the maze camp. This type of shot known as a low angle shot.
Tarantino’s use of trees in the background, it makes the characters less powerful and compensates for the over
indulgent self worth and power of the two. In comparison, with the maze runner, instead of trees, Ball uses people as
a way of creating the same effect, however the angel is higher on the characters face which him look less daunting.
9. Sound
The opening scene all you hear is the metal clunking from the elevator. It starts off still, then as it
moves it gets faster and faster, and in the black outs Tomas’s breath gets deeper and deeper. Then it
all stops then an alarm opening sound in the black happens and we know the ride is over, so that the
intensity dies down until the next panicked moment, allowing the audience to settle down, so that the
film can bring them back up into that panicked state later on.
None diegetic sound is low, one pitch beat that stops occasionally to make the audience aware and
listen to the words that are being said. Diegectic words such as ‘what’s out there’ then we hear
monster whispers with gives the audience understanding that there are creatures out there, as well as
making it a little scared of the unknown. Another example is when Tomas says ‘what happens to them
(the runners)’, then it jumps to a flashing scene of dark trees and a man running, then we hear
screaming
Throughout the whole trailer, the none diegetic music goes from slow to very fast, much like the visual
images, that are built up in this way, to build up the adrenalin and anticipation for the audience.
10. Editing
From the outset the editing in this trailer is very choppy in order to make the audience jump on
occasions. Techniques such as the below list where used:
• Fade to blacks and dissolved transitions. These types of transition, usually make a piece calm and
is used to enhance the anticipation and used when the film director wants to portray the
characters story. An example is:
- When Tomas is looking at his surroundings and they want to show the height of the maze
they dissolve 2 shots that are simiar of him slowly spinning around outside of the maze.
They when they want to move onto the next scene without it being too harsh.
• The editing was also very jaulty in places and this was done with a cut or L cut transition, an L cut
is when a diegetic sound is heard before the image is on screen and a cut is when one image
directly goes straight to the next one. Used to enhance the unexpected factor and make the
audience jump. For example:
- Flashing from an image to black when the scary scenes come. They do this to
not give everything away and to add spookiness.
11. Titles
All of the titles are made
too resemble rocks then
they transition to the
actual word as you can
see to the left.
The titles are placed all on black
backgrounds with light shinning
through
the middle of them. This gives a
dramatic
and eerie feeling about them. Like an
angry face, but that has a last minute
smile for
some unknown reason. The light is
mysterious and unknown.
12. Examples of how ‘The Maze Runner’ relates to post modern
theory through the use of a Meta narrative, hyperreality, pashtice
• Meta Narrative – the way that this film trailer challenges the conventional narratives in the
dystopian genre is that there is a female antihero and she is shown to be more fears and
stronger willed then the boy, Tomas.
• Hyperreality is conveyed though the monsters in the film as in reality they are not real. The
film uses them to make the audience aware that they are just watching a film, rather then a
movie they can get wrapped up in and really think that they are watching reality.
• Examples of pastiche in this trailer, is from the film ‘I Am Number 4’. It is like ‘The Maze
Runner’ is the film that is meant to come before, as a follow on film to ‘I Am Number 4’ as
that film is about monsters chasing after these people in the open world and it is like ‘The
Maze Runner’ people have escaped the maze. Scenes that are similar are when the main
leader is running through the woods in ‘I Am Number 4’ and through the maze in ‘The
Maze Runner’. Images shown below.
14. Narrative structure & themes
Children Of Men, is about a world where women are infertile because of a flu that has broken out
and all children die. The whole world’s civilisation is a thing of the past. People are angry and in
rage throw bombs and shooting one another. Then Theo the main character is chosen by an ex
lover to help with the first sign of hope, but must keep it a secret otherwise people apart of the hope
could all died.
The hope is a baby. A immigrant is pregnant
and is in hiding, only a selected group of
people know, including a wise old man, who
knows the mother bearer is special and a
blessing to the world, as she could restart a
hole new era.
The group try and get her on this ‘Human
Project’ boat to let her escape. But before they
get there the world find out who she is and what
she is doing. They try and catch her, bit it is a
case of too little, too late.
15. Characters
There are 3 main characters in this film:
1) Theo the anti hero, unintentionally falling into helping the pregnant woman.
2) Julian the ex lover who set out to help Kee, with Theo’s help.
3) Kee the pregnant woman, who doesn't do anything in particular in the film,
however it is biased around her so that’s why she is apart of the main
characters.
1) The rest of the people are extras acting as the rest of the world, in rage at
the news that there will be no more life after 50 years or so.
16. Camera
The majority of the trailer shows scenes that have been filmed handheld, so you get that slightly shaky
nerve wracking type of shot.
One type of shot that is not handheld, is a mid to close up moving shot.
This is used when Theo is sitting down in a train and they zoom into his face then
he looks out of the window, the audience following his eyes and then there is attention
on the men throwing bricks as the moving train window.
Other example of a different shot used is a mid pan.
This was used when the group are escaping with Zee to the boat, but the world finds out
what they are doing. You see a shot of the scared face from the group, then the camera
moves to show the people running after the group in car, again this is another way that the
camera has directed the audience where to look.
17. Sound
The music through out this trailer is a roller-coaster with happy, sad and scary sounds.
The opening scene starts with no music, then we see Theo and in his mind says ‘I don’t remember
when I last had any hope’ as he carries on the music starts when he says ‘women cant have babies’,
‘what’s left to hope for?’ to draw attention to those words, they are important and don’t want the
audience to miss it.
Then Theo's voice is interrupted with diegetic sound that is stronger and harsher then him to show
arguing of the people to show corruption then straight after the kayos, posh violin, none diegetic
sound, come in to differentiate between good and bad, the violins become quitter when somthing
needs attention (TV news, bomb) and louder when the action is not so important.
The none diegetic music changes again from posh to rowdy bass when Theo is kidnaped then Julian
says ‘how have you been’ and it turns to action music then changes again to be more sombre bass
when they talk about the love they used to have. They do this to take the audience on an emotional
journey and fall in love with the couple they see on their screens.
One of the last none diegetic change in the trailer is when the baby is shown and the music is
mysterious and sounds as if ‘bad things are going to happen’ then someone says ‘now you know what
is at stake’ and the music turns to be soft but has a sense of hope to it that it will all be okay, this is
done to get the audience excited and intrigued that there might be a way out, then the happy music is
mixed with bombs being heard and it is like the hope when everyone sees death as the future, but the
happy music persists until the end, keeping the audience on their feet in anticipation that Kee will
escape.
18. Editing
All of the transitions through out this trailer are either
• dissolved transition
• fade to black transitions
• dissolved into yellow and red colours.
both to enhance softness but add a mysterious nature. The transitions where put in when the scene
changed. when there was the same scene going on, just a different shot a simple cut was used.
Example of when this happen is:
when the police are putting people in prison, the transition colour is red to represent fierce and worrying
feelings.
other times when the dissolving transitions occur are when Zee is escaping to represent gentleness that she
will be okay, as she is the one the audience are most attached too as she is the person that could change the
whole narrative to be a happy or sad ending.
19. Titles
The titles in this trailer are simple, that
are very minimal for the majority. The
most transition that any of them have is a
‘dissolve in’ as shown above. They have
kept it simple so that the titles don’t
distract away from the flashing imagery
in the scenes.
They have also overlaid colour, which all have a flush of red to symbolise blood,
and the death of so many, in this case to go with the words. All of the titles have
words on them that say the same message as what is being said through the
characters. They are just there to force that message across to the audience.
20. Examples of how ‘Children Of Men’ relates to post modern
theory through the use of a Meta narrative, hyperreality,
pashtice
• Meta Narrative - Julian is seen to be in charge as her gang is the one that
have kidnapped Theo and have started to interrogating him, and that the
message that the film is saying is that maybe our 20th century has started to
go too far in scientific tests and one day there might just be a disease that
kills all of our young people and the world would be in devastation.
• Hyperreality – the hyperreality in this film is that there not a county nor been
a time where babies where none existent so people know that it is not real.
• Pashtice – 28 days later is a similar concept where an infection breaks out
but instead of all the young people dieing, it affects everyone and the only
hope left is one man that was left in a coma but woke up and found a small
group of people in hiding.
22. Narrative structure & themes
The Matrix’s (1999) is set in a dystopian setting. Where in reality, people believe they are living a live through a simulation
machine called ‘The Matrix’. What the community use as a source of energy and power is through their body heat and electrical
devises.
Neo a character within the film, who plays the role of a
computer programmer finds out about the world he is living in
because the leader, Morpheus, of this hyper reality is bought
to attention that Neo is questioning if he is ‘living life’ and if
‘reality is at it is meant to be’ and Morpheus ‘wake up’ Neo
from this false perception. Automatically goes against all of
the technology and tries to defeat it by giving others the same
freedom that he has, by living through oxygen, not machinery
and removing them from this ‘dream’ like state.
The film takes metanarratives by referencing philosophical and religious ideas and takes pastiche from creators such as Plato -
Allegory Of the Cave (2006). Japanese artistic films inspire the action scenes from ‘The Matrix’ and the film mentioned above,
and the choreographed movements within the fight scenes, come from Hong Kong.
23. Characters
The four main characters who drive the film forward are:
1) Neo (Keanu Reeves) who is the protagonist, and as a job is a computer programmer, who had his suspicions if he was actually
living in the ‘real’ world. He finally decides to start searching for Morpheus, the leader of this movement, to try and experience
freedom. What is interesting, is that 4 actors, including Brad Pitt, declined this role as they felt it a ‘difficult’ and ‘would have
messed it up’. Reeves took the job as he, at the time, won a role in ‘The Wachowskis’ over Johnny Depp, which implies he was
the actor of the moment, which in turn would make the film more sellable as the distributors could sell the ancillary products and
tickets for the film because of the actors they have employed, not because of its content. Image of him above left hand side.
2) Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) leader of this worldly movement of technology ‘charging’ humans up and is wanted by the
police for being a terrorist. Before, he was the leader, he too was caught up in this technological world, however he was freed
by Trinity (described below). The character was based on Morpheus in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics this is also called
taking pastiche or paying homage. The actor doubted the reality of this film being made as it was ‘very smart’. Image of him
above right hand side.
24. Characters
3) Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss). She is a crew member
on the hovercraft that charges the human bodies. Neo
sees her in a romantic light, yet she freed Morpheus
into the real world, which causes confusion with who
likes who. For this role the actress, Moss, had to
undergo a 3 hour long physical test as there are a lot of
physical demands with this character.
4) Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). The final main character. Smiths
job is to ensure that no humans escape the Matrix and destroy
the town they are in, Zion. The twist being, he wants to free
himself.
25. Camera, Editing & Sound
The most popular camera and editing scene from ‘The Matrix’ is the ‘bullet time’ (see clip HERE & skip to 0.10s and HERE is how
it was made). This is also featured in the trailer, which is unusual as traditionally all of the best long shots of the camera work and
editing is saved until the movie, with only snip-its shown in the trailer to entice an audience. This shot is where every movement is
put into slow motion in particular a bullet that is shot and where you can almost see the air splitting as the bullet races towards this
character, meanwhile the camera appears to be moving through time at a faster pace.
The sound changes throughout the trailer to heighten
certain parts to add drama or atmosphere. To transition
from the harp to to a computerised soundtrack, they use a
sound that we typically recognised as a computer
calculating data. The beginning of the disequilibrium
(middle section) deep eery music is subtly played
underneath and where the plot is unraveled through a
voice over.
When the peak of the trailer hits, the music crescendos and
drops off bluntly into a moment of slow mo, silence, but
swiftly changing the genre of film to an action. We
understand it is action as the soundtrack is intense and fast
pace, plus the characters within the shot are in a fight
scene.
Editing: at the beginning, to get a sense that a long period of time has passed in The Matrix trailer, and to inform the audience of
what has previously happened, they use fade in and outs to give us glimpses of what we have missed. Once we have an
understanding through the use of video and titles, they have edited a montage together with shocking images, this creates a sense
of needing to know more and understand why a certain situation has occurred, therefore spurring on an incentive why people need
to watch the film - they need to put their thoughts to rest.
26. Titles
The titles explain the imagery we are seeing, as I have
shown to the left. ‘You do your job’ - that title is followed
by the image I have placed below it, and so on until the
end of this sequence when it says ‘you live’ an image of
Neo in a chair, waking up harshly, than the title ‘as a
slave’ comes up. This is a clear way of explaining and
showing what has happened prior to the film continuing.
The titles are edited with a fade in and out transition, as
you can see from above, this is a fade in. It is evident that
the opacity changes as the words get clearer to read on
the screen. This is done so that the titles, flow and are
apart of the trailer, to create a more natural transition.
27. Props & Location
Over all ‘The Matrix’ was filmed in over 22 different states, predominantly in Australia on the north, south and west side
of the county. As Well as a few scenes in Tennessee and California (USA). The film is based in a bustling city. The
opening scene from the trailer is of a helicopter flying over skyscrapers (below, left) that softly transitions through the
use of a fade from the editing process and a pan camera shot.This gives us a sense of time passing and a calm
atmosphere. It also describes to the audience, that the film is based in a wealthy city and gives us an idea of what type
of people will be in it, which ultimately is posh because a city is so expensive to live in.
Props within The Matrix give mixed signals and time era because in the shot above, right, you can see a computer, which
in the 21st century, looks very dated. However
This is a typical theme in a dystopian film, the change in time difference, as you see ‘normal’ reality and props that fit into
that era, but the technology that is included in the disequilibrium part of the film that shows the futuristic time travel, is
much more modernised and machinery or actions that could happen that we could see in 2300, like making a mirror
liquidised or jelly to electrocute someone (images from The Matrix below).