127 Hours (2010)

127 Hours is a film co-written and directed by Danny Boyle

starring James Franco. The film is based on the true story of

Aron Ralston who after a mountain climbing accident

became wedged between two pieces of stone. He stayed

trapped for roughly 5 days (or 127 hours) before eventually

cutting of his own am to escape.

Danny Boyle described the film as ‘an action movie with a

guy who can’t move’. Essentially this is what we’re aiming to

make with our filmTied. Boyle also planned for the opening

half an hour to feature no dialogue at all but this was later

dropped when writing the script. The film has received rave

reviews and as I have seen it myself I can say that yes it is

gripping and entertaining but how does it create this, surely

a film based on a character who is stuck can’t go anywhere.

Well let’s take a look at the key elements of the film:

R. Rahman was hired by Boyle to do the soundtrack. They

had previously teamed up for the film Slumdog Millionaire

where both won academy awards for best director and best

original soundtrack. Like in Slumdog, Rahman uses heavy

drum beats and indian style music to create very exciting

and tense moments in the film which certainly adds to the

entertainment value.

Another element is that of a video diary. The character

caries with him a camera which after the accident he uses to

display his feelings, regrets and in general an insight into his

perspective. With this technique we also begin to see the

character loosing his sanity.

What is also very interesting is the cinematography and the

bizarre placement of cameras, such as a small camera at the

bottom of his water bottle, showing the audience how much

water he has left but in a very stylised way. In the scene

when he cuts off his arm the camera cuts to a shot inside

the arm showing the knife puncturing the flesh in detail.

Now let’s have a look at this scene in detail.

The "amputation scene" was the handiwork of makeup

effects artist Tony Gardner and his team at Alterian, Inc. as

well as the help of medical professionals. They strove to be

medically accurate in every minute detail, as Danny Boyle

shot the entire scene in one take (with multiple cameras)

and every aspect of the scene needed to be functional as

well as realistic. This proved very effective as audience

members in the cinema have been noted for leaving at this

part of the film and even fainting.

So the key elements to incorporate: camera

angles/cinematography, music, video diaries/monologues,

and shocking events.

Buried ( 2010)

Buried is a 2010 Spanish thriller film directed by Rodrigo

Cortés and starring Ryan Reynolds. It follows Paul Conroy,

an American truck driver who has been kidnapped in Iraq

and is being held captive underground in a coffin. The

astonishing thing about this film is that it only features one

actor on screen for the entire duration of the film. Voices

are heard and conversations are had between characters

using a phone but the characters are never seen, it is

entirely through the perspective of the protagonist.

The director Cortés says that he was left with the impossible

task of filming this and somehow making it work. As he is

also a trained engineer he was able to design 7 different

coffins/boxes to be used for filming. The filming took place

over 17 days. The director says that what attracted him to

the film was not only the fact that it was dubbed as an

impossible film to make but also the strength of the script.

The lead actor Ryan Reynolds said that what people enjoyed

about the film was the thrill ride but also the idea of ‘what

would I do in this situation’. This is a key selling point of the

film.

So to recap, the key elements of this film are similar to the

key elements of 127 hours; the script, the music and the

camera angles. But I think in this case I think the key feature

was the strength of the actor and script which can also be

said about 127 hours.