Hostage Film Techniques

In my analysis I will be looking at a scene near the end of the film where Bud White and Ed Exeley take part in a shootout at the victory motel. The narrative conveys very common noir aspects here; the shootout takes place in a very dark room. The only light comes from outside. This shows the mood of the scene to be sinister and bleak. It puts the audience in a scared state as the shadows can conceal anything. It is also hard to see what White and Exeley are doing. The shadows are very menacing because they use a chiaroscuro lighting effect. This means that the rooms, people and settings are hidden from view by shadows. The blinds over the window cast strong grid shadowing over the characters showing uncertainty and anxiety. This lighting is very common in film-noir films as it shows the seediness of the settings. The

Visual imagery is often the first step to subconsciously sending the reader into a parallel state of mind as the protagonist, and letting them experience what the characters experienced throughout the story. The visuals used in the beginning of this story convince readers that they have been placed in a safe, secure environment, therefore having a positive effect on readers when they

One element of film that Julien Temple consistently reverts to throughout his film Requiem for Detroit? (Temple, 2010), is the element of motif. Both visual and aural motifs, used separately and in conjunction, are used to great effect to present and enhance the reading of the film that the director intended. Some key motifs used are fire, abandoned buildings, graffiti and many sound effects depicting destruction and

To begin with, a motif I have noticed in the book is the townspeople. This is a possible motif because in chapters 5-7, the townspeople of the town Eatonville are constantly

Motifs are repeated images or symbols that reoccur in stories to suggest a theme. In literary works, motifs are often used produce other literary aspects such as mood, theme, and foreshadowing. They are a crucial literary technique that writers use to create and convey themes. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the narrator, Nick Carraway, relives the story of his stay in the luxurious yet corrupt East, specifically New York. Various motifs and symbols can be found in the story and illustrate key themes to the reader. In the novel The Great Gatsby, the motif of being on the outside and inside works to create the theme of wealth and class throughout the novel.

To Kill A Mockingbird is a book that a reader can turn again and again, gaining new insights and knowledge into life each time. Sometimes an author uses a motif- a frequently repeated incident or idea -to get a certain theme across to the reader. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee uses motifs to clarify her messages or insights about life. Three specific motifs that Lee uses throughout the whole story are the mockingbird, courage, and walking in someone else's shoes.

A motif is a repeating symbol that takes on a figurative meaning. A motif can be an object, a color, the weather, or even an idea or a concept. Motifs are usually used to establish a certain mood or a theme, and they have a symbolic meaning. For example, in a fairy tale, some motifs would be: the handsome prince, the wicked witch, talking animals, and magic fairies. Another example would be the song “Beasts of England” in Animal Farm by George Orwell, and it is a motif that mainly serves as propaganda to the animals. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, motifs are seen all throughout the book, like the motif of blood and how it represents guilt. The motifs of blood, sleep, and birds affect the character development and relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

Film Noir, a term coined by the French to describe a style of film characterized by dark themes, storylines, and visuals, has been influencing cinematic industries since the 1940’s. With roots in German expressionistic films and Italian postwar documentaries, film noir has made its way into American film as well, particularly identified in mob and crime pictures. However, such settings are not exclusive to American film noir. One noteworthy example is Billy Wilder’s film Sunset Boulevard, which follows the foreboding tale of Joe Gillis, the desperate-for-success protagonist, who finds himself in the fatal grips of the disillusioned femme fatale Norma Desmond. Not only does the storyline’s heavy subject matter and typical character

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

The third and final term I will be examining is motif. The motif I chose was death. Death is certainly the most obvious and common motifs I believe is represented in this story. Death is literally everywhere in this book. Starting from chapter one when the civilian is incinerated by the Martian’s blaster, to the giant alien machines that crawl across planet Earth destroying any person or structure in its path. The main character visits many towns in his attempted escape from the seemingly inevitable doom that is followed by the invasion. Death has stricken almost every town he comes across. Whether it be a random body he sees, or a person from the group that travels with him, the narrator is almost always around death. The only time death can be represented as a good thing is when the narrator reaches London and sees the Martians lying dead in their defeat from disease.

Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye and Roman Polanski’s Chinatown are both good examples of neo-noir. They both carry elements of classical film noir with them, such as the “hard boiled detective” archetype, the “femme fatale” archetype, and they both deal with the gritty side of human nature. But while they both have some overlapping noir tropes that can be seen in classical noirs, these films are actually incredibly different from one another. They both act as examples for John Cawelti’s Modes of Generic Transformation. They both share one mode, but then have different modes in addition, making them noir-like in essence, but still incredibly different films.

Different forms of art are evident throughout the novel and are used as a way to help characters take their minds off of the world around them. The most apparent example of this is the

The most obvious of the themes is that of violence, brutality, and torture. Tied into this also is the idea of injustice. Many of these themes are intertwined. Constantly the reader is berated with violent images, or descriptions of violence. These must be on nearly every second page of the novel. A good

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

The scene is set at night time so all the light in the scene is artificial from the street lamps; the light is dim but harsh casting dark shadows and creating a chiaroscuro effect, this is iconic of film noir and crime movies and it signifies that evil