Notes about the Departed and Vacancy

right time for another blogger sesh! This time I'm writing up notes for two thriller films we watched called the Departed and Vacancy. It was amazing how we managed to find every little detail in 5 minutes of both films from miss edited camera shots in Vacancy to an impressive shout by Richard who even managed to scout out a cigar that the main character had in one scene then two seconds later in the next clip was without! I am prepared to offer a $1000 dollar reward for the safe return of that cigar!



Right, now onto the more pressing matters the notes. While I managed to find more for vacancy due to the fact that we watched the opening about four times (Mainly to correct filming errors but also of course to check out it's thriller characteristics. Ok no more fooling around below I have written my 'Vacancy' notes. I have divided them into sections, first of all about the characters we see then the Music and well I guess you'll have to read on to see the others.........




Vacancy


Characters



The first characters we see are a man and a women who appear to be travelling a long distance to be with what turns out to be a family member. They would appear to be a former couple although it is fairly obvious by the way they treat eachother (Unpleasant) that they are no longer and are probably going to their destination together because perhaps the family member they are visiting doesn't know thay have split up.



The man appears to be very on edge and short fused. This is understandable as we learn that he has been driving the car for several hours and is probably only still awake due to pep piills he claims to have taken when the couple last stopped. Apart from this wedon't really learn much else about this guy. He appears to be one of the 'good' characters in the film as we have no reason to ecuse him of being otherwise.



And now for the women! The women seems generally more sharpe and alert than the man probably due to the fact that she has slept the whole journey while the man has been driving, this means that in all the petty squabbles the pair have during the short leg of the journey are won by her (Obviously the fact that she is a women also helps her argumentative power!). She also seems much 'healthier' in apperance. The man looks very 'hot under the collar' and unhealthily orange while the women has a good level of colour to her face, although once again the contrast in the pair's faces is probably due to the level of sleep they both had.



The third character we are introduced to in the opening to the film is what would appear to be our 'Bad guy'. Typically all in black (Even his little woolly hat) and suspiciously kind for a stranger occupying his Patrol station at just past 1:30 in the morning especially seeing as the station is in such a rural location (But thats for another section!)







Music/Sounds



Sound in the opening to the film, in my opinion is to unerve the audience and also to show how desolate the area is. For example we hear cries from wild animals such as owls who don't 'twit ah woa' for any Tom, Dick or Harry and infact only tend to make noise when there are no humans around indicating that the area dosn't have that many inhabitants to save the day should things go wrong which we all know they will.







Setting



The setting is basically what looks to be an old empty mountain range that doesn't really seem to have much of anything especially people. We get a great range of camera shots, more in particular 'extreme wide shots', many of these to show the nothingness of the area.





Narratives


The story so far has basically seens a couple take the wrong direction through a seemingly uninhabitable mountain range. Although as luck would have it........ It's not unhabitated, we are infact met with a 'kind' owner of a garage who clearly benefits from a great deal of custom, so much so he can keep his garage open until a staggering 1:30am in the morning!



The Departed

Looks like a spin off to a classic Spaghetti Western, but in the middle of a Povital area in Boston. Ok and now for the notes:

Characters

The two characters I would like to focus on are our two potencial 'Heroes' of the film.

First of all our gangster. The first shot we see of him, he is walking into a Cafe. He immediately displays high levels of confidence as he strolls into a local Cafe. He is very rude to the waitress, making several sexist puns. We then find out he is obviously quiet well respected as we see the big bald cheif looking on not even battering an eyelid as this man ridicules his staff. The other word I would use to describe him is generous. There is a timid young boy leaning againest the counter (Who is the other character I would like to talk about when I get to it) who says he is living with his grandmother after being asked by our Gangster character. Our Gangster then orders two loaves of bread (And some other sumptuous products although I missed these!) to which he gives to the boy.

And for our other character. Well as I've already said he is a timid, gaunt looking character. We get the feeling that he is an inocent boy, growing up in an area of poverty and corruption ran by gangsters. We see in the end of the clip that the boy ends up joining a garage. A position he was offered whilst talking to the man.

Music/Sounds

The only influencial sounds we hear in the clip are mainly diagetic, including classic city noises like traffic. The only other noise we hear that could have some sort of inpact is the sound of Seagulls which indicates that the location is near the Sea There isn't really any other noticable noises.

Setting

The setting as I've said is in a poor area of Boston ran by Irish American Gangsters.

Narratives

The film, I would imagine is around how this big time gangster operates. The young boy we see could possibly be involved as a sidekick or an understudy possibly.