THE PURGEAima Begum

12A6

ABOUT THE FILM• Directed by: James DeMonaco• Produced by: Jason Blum, Sebastien K. Lemercier,

Micheal Bay, Andre Form and Bradley Fuller• Written by: James DeMonaco• Music by: Nathan Whitehead• Cinematography by: Jacques Jouffret• Edited by: Blumhouse productions, Platinum Dunes,

Media Rights Capital and Why Not Productions• Distributed by: Universal Picture• Budget: $3 Million• Box Office: $89, 328, 627

How does the film use, develop or challenge conventions?

USE:

• Celebrities (Ethan Hawke)

• Creaky doors• Loud banging

noises• A hostage• Historical

roots• A weak

woman• Darkness

DEVELOP:• The film took a traditional idea

of a villain and made him out as a good person by making it seem as if his right to purge was a good thing.

• The film used America as the country the purge was taken place in, however in most films USA is seen as a good and loving country, although in reality to the audience it is seen as a bad thing.

• This is similar to another convention they have challenged as they have taken the convention of killing people and turned it into something good.

CHALLENGE:

• The films develops conventions by taking a lovely mansion but making it the popular house to kill.

• They took an upper class group of people and rather than presenting them as civilised they were made out as the villains.

NARRATIVE - STRUCTURE• In 2022, the United States of America celebrates once a year

"The Purge", a 12-hour period when any crime is allowed including murder.

• The result is an economical growth and society free of homeless, sick and unproductive persons.

• James Sandin is a successful salesman that sells security systems for the houses. He lives with his wife Mary and his teenage son Charlie and daughter Zoey in a fancy house in the suburb.

• During the purge, James seals his house and plans to watch a movie with his family.

• However, Charlie sees a stranger fleeing from a group that is hunting him down and he disarms the security device and lets the man in.

• But the leader of the group gives an ultimatum to James: if he does not deliver the man to the group, they would kill the whole family.

• Now James has to find where the man is hidden and decide his fate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6butVVUwVrc

NARRATIVE – CONSTRUCTION OF MAIN

CHARACTERSThe main characters were:• Ethan Hawke (James Sandin, father, head of the

household, successful business man)• Lena Headey (Mary Sandin, mother, weak, housewife)• Max Burkholder (Charlie Sandin, son, brother, alone,

quiet, helpful, easily influenced, young, weak)• Adelaide Kane (Zoey Sandin, daughter, sister,

rebellious, scared, doesn’t know what’s happening, weak)

• Edwin Hodge (Bloody stranger, working class, black, mischievous, scared, brave)

• Rhys Wakefield (Polite leader, middle class, , cunning, criminal)

AUDIENCE• The film is classified to be a 15 by the BBFC as the film

doesn’t have very childish themes but doesn’t also include a lot of violence and brutal scene that would make the movie go in to an 18.

• The target audiences for this film are teenagers as the movie is not that frightening and terrifying to be classified to become an 18 as there isn’t a lot of violent behaviour. The target audience is for teenagers as it has all of the things that teenagers are mostly interested in like the thrill factor, suspense and the plot of the story and who the antagonist will be. As it has all of the things that thrill teenagers in a horror film.

• In a horror film they have a famous actor called Ethan Hawke who is a well known actor this means that people who knows him will want to watch him this mean that the movie will get an verity of different age group for this film.

• The target audience for this film is over 15 so by having an older actor as the main characters in this film it. The age of the actor will match the target audience for this film so the target audience may be able to relate to him better as the main character.

RESPONSES TO THE FILM

• The purge received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes records a rating of 37% based on 131 reviews, with a weighted average of 5.1/10 and the site's consensus stating "Half social allegory, half home-invasion thriller, The Purge attempts to use thriller formula to make an intelligent point—but ultimately only ends up sinking in numbing violence and tired clichés.“

• “It is a nasty little high-concept horror movie that is not only gratifyingly and consistently nerve-jangling but also doesn't shrink from the mordant social consciousness that drives its narrative motor”. - MSN Entertainment

PRODUCTION – MISE EN SCENE

• A feature of mise on scene that The Purge does well is it uses costume to add effect. In this case the people who are ‘purging’ are wearing a long faced ‘scary’ mask. This shows a clear distinction between the good people and the people who want to be purging and cleaning their souls alternately known as the ‘freaks’. The masks aren’t supposed to be relatively scary but creepy instead. Therefore hence why they are called the ‘freaks’.

• Also the ‘freak girls’ wear white full-length dresses. This is a contrast from acting as a murderer as white is supposed to show innocence which however in this case they are not as they are going around brutally killing innocent people

PRODUCTION - CAMERA• The Film maker in this shot has positioned Mary at the

foreground of the scene so we attach all our attention and focus on her, what she is doing and what she is about to find on her hunt around the house. However as we get more into the scene we notice one of the Purger’s making a sly entrance into the frame behind her which then brings our focus onto them. The film maker has done this because it creates a sense of thrill and anxiousness towards the audience as we are unsure whether or not this person is going to murder Mary or not.

• A long shot is used showing their house, which gives an indication of the charters and their wealth, it being a large house showing how they are wealthy.

• A pan shot is used showing the girl running, which shows the action, and makes the audience feel a part of it. The camera also slowly zooms in as the man manages to get inside the house, this could be to convey the significance of his character, as he leads to the family being in danger.

PRODUCTION - SOUND• Non diegetic sound is used, of pianos which gives a calm

effect at the start, there is also a siren sound used, which builds tension as you fear what will happen at the end of it.

• There is also some sort of music playing in the background which sounds like opera. This links to the story being set in America though assumed in the future, so perhaps trying to give the effect of being the national anthem.

• As for diegetic sounds, there is more of this as there is dialogue used, things smashing such as glass, an alarm going off, door bell, all which relates to what is happening in the scene, but also these sounds link to the genre of horror.

PRODUCTION - EDITING

• Straight cuts are mainly used. At the start they are more slow paced, conveying how they are at peace, though as the trailer progresses it is more fast paced conveying the action. Some shots also fade to black then go to the next show, though this is used quickly it still has the impact of engaging the audience and building up the tension, increasing the suspense. In some shots straight cuts are also used however, it seems to have a camera effect of cutting out, which links to how they are supposed to be videos from the news.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH973j3b8i0

ISSUES DURING THE ‘MAKING OF’

• An issue during the making up of was that the crew may have gotten injured from surroundings due to any of the glass shattering and wood broken during the violent scenes.

THE FILMS SUCCESS• There are USPs in the trailer as one

of these are the famous actor e.g. Ethan Hawks is one of the stars in the movie who as starred in “sinister” which helps attract more audience as has been in other horror films as they might liked his acting in that horror might want to watch this one too. This might attract more people, as they might like watching horror movie.