Taken

Taken

The film starts of very calm with what looks like old family videos of a child birthday, you then are looking at Bryan you see him being a gift for someone, you then find out that he is buying the gift for his daughter. When he turns up to her birthday party you find out that he is no longer with Lenore who is Kim’s mother. When he is back at home you see him looking through a scrap book filed with pictures of his daughter, they use music to make you feel sorry for Bryan and how the only thing that matters to him is his daughter.

You hear about what Bryan use to be like and there talking about old times but you never hear exactly what they did, his friends then ask Bryan to help them watch a pop singer at her concert. Then the when the concert is over you see her being taken away as there are fans getting into the backstage as someone tries to attack her but Bryan stops them, the attacker had a knife and hid in the shadows but he was still able to stop the man showing you that he knows how to fight.

The next thing that happens is Bryan is talking to his daughter and ex wife, they are talking about Kim wanting to Paris for a holiday but she had only just turned 17 so Bryan doesn’t feel comftable with just Kim and her friend going away, but he gives in and allows her to go only if she calls him when they land and when they get to the place they are staying. When they arrive at the airport you find out how protective Bryan is as he finds out that not only is Kim going to Paris but all around Europe.

Everything is still very calm and when at France the use an establishing shot so that you can see just how big the place is. When waiting for a taxi they meet a local who talks to them and asks them to share a taxi. Kim’s friend Amanda makes the mistake of telling the stranger that they will be alone and he finds out where it is they are staying, he is then on his phone talking to someone about the fact that they are alone and around the age of 18. Because Kim hasn’t called Bryan he gets worried but when she noticed that he was calling she phones back and trying to get away from the noise walks to another room where she can still see Amanda, Kim there sees two men turn up and grab Amanda. Then the music chanches to create tension and they use close ups of Kim to show her that she is worried an long shots of Amanda being kidnapped so that you see how far away she is. Kim stays on the phone to her dad the entire time as they take Amanda away, they then come back for Kim and Bryan starts to record the phone call while trying o get Kim to give him the details on how many of them there are and try’s to help her hide, he tries to keep her and he knows that they are going to take her so Bryan asks Kim to give as many details of them as she can when she sees them. when the kidnapers are heading towards the bedroom Kim is hiding in they use a shot of only the men’s shoes, this is to create tension and add to the mystery as being the audience you want to know who it is that is in the house. When Kim is hiding under the bed the music gets slower you then hear the floorboard creek as they enter then room and the mucis get a little lower than it was. Kim is still on the phone as the men leave the room but one of them stays in the room and takes Kim you only see her dragged out from under the bed then, you are then watching Bryan listen to his daughter being taken from the room as someone picks up the phone he talks to the man who has taken her and he threatens the man saying how he will find him. They use a close up of Bryan when he is on the phone still showing the emotion.

From the description of the men Kim gave Bryan was able to find out who they were and what they did. When hearing what it was theas men did Lenore Kim's mum broke down in tears, you see how much Kim means to both of them.  Bryan get to France and goes to the place where Kim and Amanda were staying an figures out exactly what happened when they were taken Bryan then finds the memory card from Kim’s phone and looks at the picture that were on it he sees a picture of Amanda and Kim and the person who took it is in a reflection, it is the person who they shared the taxi with. Bryan then finds him around the airport and follows him, he tries to get information on where Kim is but the guy runs and when he thinks he is safe gets hit by a truck, the music the use in this scene is what you would expect to here in any action film it stops when the guy is killed as it is the end of the chase and Bryan has to try and find someone else to give him information.

Soon after going to a few different places Bryan finds a building that is used for human trafking witch is what has happened to his daughter, while there he tries to find her but all he finds is a young woman with Kim’s jacket there is nearly no music while he is looking for her. Then some of the men who work there come after him and the shot start to speed up which causes slight panic then the music starts quietly, when Bryan get outside the music becomes more intense but the shots slow down a little, but only until more men turn up they once again get faster. Bryan gets into the car and starts to rive but he doesn’t see the other men get into their car, but he expects them to chase him which they do. Everything starts to seem more hectic in the car chase and it looks more out of control it leaves the audience wondering if he is going to make it our alright and if the young woman will be ok, the music stops completely when the last guy is dead and the shots slow down as well.

Bryan then goes to a small hotel and takes the girl with him, he tries to help her to get the drugs out of her system so that she can give him the information he needs, everything is calm in this scene. When the young woman wakes up she tells Bryan about how she got the jacket and where it was they were kept. Bryan then goes to this house were Kim was and talks to the men in charge of the place, trying to get them to talk when there he trick them into translating 'good luck' in Albanian when he did this he finds the man who was on the phone when Kim was taken as Bryan made sure he remembered his voice, the scene then speeds up as he attacks the men and once again the music stops when they are all dead. When searching for Kim he finds Amanda dead. He made sure to keep one of the men alive and tortured him to get information about Kim and where she was. Bryan ends up at an auction that was selling woman and the last girl shown was Kim when Bryan noticed it was her, he make one of the men buy her but when exiting the room he is knocked out and tied up but was able to get out in this scene the henchmen’s boss asked them to kill Bryan quietly so in this scene they have no music so that you hear everything Cleary, he get to the boss and finds out were his daughter was taken. when he was leaving he sees Kim being put in a car this is the start of another chase scene but they are in a car and Bryan is on foot the music gets moor intense as he tries to keep up but by the time he gets to the car she has already been put on the boat so he stals a car so that he can get ahead of the boat in this scene the shot are very fast so that the audience is kept wondering if he will make it in time or will he lose his daughter forever. When he jumped onto the boat though Bryan managed to damage himself slightly but he us still able to fight. He slowly kills all the men on board the boat as he tries to find Kim. He is even shot but it still doesn’t stop him. When Bryan is on the boat all the shots aren’t as fast as they have been but the music stays the same, until he finds Kim then it is more happy and calm. Everything then is like normal as the arrive at the airport and meet the Lenore and her husband. Through the film they use a variety of shot, they use close ups and mid shots when ever people are talking, mid shots and long shots when it comes to the fight scene and some long shots and extreme long shot to show you some of the locations

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0936501/

Target Audience

Taken is a 15 so you wouldn't really expect a lot of swearing or sex or much blood and you don't in this film even though it is suggested a lot along with drugs. As the film is a 15 according to the BBFC any amount of violence is aloud as long as it doesn't focus on inflicting a lot of pain. Sex, drugs, nudity are also all aloud as long as there is not a lot about it and if you don't see to much. Language doesn't really matter as long as it isn't constantly repeated and has a reason for it. 
This film  is for the age of 15+ as it seems suitable for any age, this film never really slown down and has a lot of violence so the target audience is probably males between the age of 15 to 30 as this is the sort of age when men like to go out and are sometimes a little more violent than females and men are more likely to watch action thrillers than females.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2/

Codes of Practice

Violence
"We should take care to ensure that individual programmes, or programmes taken together across the schedule, avoid including material that condones or glamorizes violence, dangerous or seriously anti-social behaviour"
This is just saying that any violence should have a reason for it to be shown and that it should not be made to look any nicer that it actually is but as long as it isn't to groosem for younger audiences. In Taken there is a lot of violence but you would expect that as it is an action thriller and as it is a 15 violence is aloud as long as it is not encouraging people to be more violent.

Sex
"In post-watershed content, we must be able to justify the frank and realistic portrayal of sex and the exploration of themes and issues which some people might find offensive."
This is saying that as long as it is realistic and cant be seen as offensive then sex can be shown after watershed. As this film is a 15 sex can be shown as long as not a lot of detail is shown, in the film Taken it is suggested that there is a lot of sex but you don't see it and there is no nudity

Language
"Output controllers and programmer or content producers should ensure that strong language, especially the strongest language, is subject to careful consideration and appropriate referral, to ensure it is editorially justified, before it is included in our output"
This is about how some strong language can offend people and that sometimes it cant be shown, as this is a film there is an age that the film is suitable and as it is a 15 strong language is aloud as long as there isnt to much of it and there is reason to why something is said.

 Drugs
"We must balance the need to reflect realistically the range of public attitudes and behavior with the danger of encouraging potentially damaging or illegal behavior"
This is saying that drugs and any illegal substance can be shown as long as it dose not encourage people to try it, especial younger audiences. In Taken there is only the implication of drugs, you only see needle marks in some of the women's arms and see the way there acting as it isn't a normal way to act. It show the negative side to drugs and what they can do.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/

Characters

Looking at the character i have looked at Vladimir Propp’s character types and seen which one fits into what character type.

Bryan Mills is the protagonist in Taken and is obviously the hero as he is the main character who is just trying to save his daughter after she was kidnapped, even thought he didn't have a lot of information to find them and not very long to find her. But he managed to so that is why he fits in the hero character type. Bryan could also be the dispatcher as he is the one who decides to go to France to find Kim. 
In the film Bryan is the father to Kim and has been divorced for a while and was a member of the secret service and has very quick reactions and is a trained killer, so torture and murder is nothing new to him. When he finds out that his daughter is in danger he tries to get her to hide and then gets her to tell them as many details about one of them. When he hears the mans voice he heads over to France to find her and saves her.

Kim even thought she is kidnapped she is also a donner as when she saw the men trying to take her she shouted out what it was one of them looked like so he could at least find one of the men who took her. She is a teenage girl who's parents have split up but she tries to see them both, she goes to France on holiday with her friend just after her birthday as it was a surprise, which soon would be a regret.

Sam is a friend of Bryan's and he is also a donner as he finds one of the men that took Kim using the information she gave. He also tells Bryan and Lenore what Kim had been taken for. There isnt much about him you just know that he is an old friend of Bryan and worked with him when they were in the secret service and was good at finding people.

Amanda i'm not sure what character type Amanda fits as she doesn't seem to do to much in the film and soon she dies. All you know about Amanda is that she is Kim's friend and she doesnt really think about what she is doing which is what leads to her death.

Jean-Claude Could be the false hero as he wanted to help Bryan at first as they were friends and he gives him some information so also can be a donner. But he then send the police after Bryan making him wanted in France. You don't know a lot about him you know that he is a french detective and that he knows Bryan somehow.

Lenore could be the dispatcher as she asks Bryan to get Kim back home safely. She is Kim's mother and Bryan's ex-wife, there relationship isn't to bad but they are only friendly as they have a child together.

Gang of Albanian Men they are obviously the villains in this film as they are the men who are kidnapping and trafficking women. They are the ones who took Kim and Amanda, they also try and stop Bryan from finding Kim. you don't ever know a lot about then you just know that they are the group of people trafficking young women and that they are never stationed at one place as they continue to move around the world.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0936501/

Codes and Conventions of a thriller

In a thriller you expect it to be fast paced and see a lot of quick cuts. Thrillers always use music or a complete lack of sound to create tension, they need the music to get a reaction from the audience.

The colours you would expect to see in a thriller are dark and dull colours sometimes there are light colours but that is usually in dreams or when everything is calm e.g. the beginning when nothing has happened and the end only of it is a happy ending, they can also use lighting and shadows to help create a dark and moody look.

 You don’t expect to see a lot of violence in a thriller sometimes you only see what has happened after an attack instead of seeing it. You wouldn't expect to see a lot of blood or guts in a thriller as that is something you would expect more in a horror film.

In almost all thrillers you would expect a twist at least once, usually towards the end of the film even though some films have more than one twist. There is always a protagonist and antagonist, usually the protagonist is at mercy of the antagonist.

There is a large variety of shots in the film, they use close up to create tension when the daughter is under the bed so that you cannot see anything around her until she is pulled out of shot, there are long shots used to establish the area and to make the boat that the protagonist Brian is trying to get to, it makes the viewer think that he is not going to make it on time and that is just because of the angle that they use. The shot that is used the most in the film is a mid shot so that you can see just enough of the characters to know what they are doing but you cannot see everything around them which makes you wonder what it is that is going on around them.







http://www.slideshare.net/Valvainolivi/final-codes-andconventions11