Unknown

  Director : Jaume Collet-Serra
Written by: Oliver Butcher and Stephan Cornwell

The budget of the film was estimated around $30,000,000 and they made a gross profit of $130,786,397

The poster shows us a modern thriller poster, with Liam Neeson on the front- This will attract people to watch it as they now know he will be starring in it as he is a big actor. The poster is plan with a few words saying "TAKE BACK YOUR LIFE", however as Liam Neeson is on the front this will attract people to watch it and find out what it is about. Additionally, because it is plan it will attract people to watch the trailer.

Unknown is a film about a man who awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one believes him. However, with the help of a young woman he sets out to prove who he is, in the end we find out that the man he believed to be doesn't exist and he had remembered the wrong life. We discover that he is an assassin but had remembered the wrong identity, as the car crash caused it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-lDfKb2SBA - trailer

The trailer starts with showing us Liam Neeson on an aeroplane on his way to Berlin. It then jumps straight into showing us him in hospital telling us he has been in a coma for 4 days. This grabs the audience attention because the audience want to know how he got himself into the coma and what will happen next. It contains typical elements of a thriller such as, suspense which we see Liam Neeson going towards his wife and then she claims she doesn't know who he is. Followed by another man appearing and claiming to be Dr Martin Harris. It also contains tension and excitement as we see the car crash into the water. It is constructed in a way that makes the audience on edge and want to go and watch the film, as it shows us some of the key scenes, which build tension and suspense.


Key Tension Scenes

In Unknown there are essential characteristics of a good thriller, these include moments of high tension. An example of this is the hospital scene, where Liam goes to reach for the scissors leading to murder.          http://www.putlocker.tw/watch-unknown-online-free-putlocker-2011.html  - from 20 minutes.  

This scene builds tension in a numerous amount of ways. One of these ways are the use of close ups on the scissors and the murder. It gets the audience wondering whether he is going to reach for the scissors in time before the other man comes back into the room. Another way this scene builds tension is through the soundtrack. As Dr Martin Harris is escaping the sound track becomes louder and faster with the use of disorientating sounds to convey the adrenaline going through us and the characters, as does the editing become faster to show how intense the scene is. Our hearts beat faster because we want Dr Harris to escape quickly as possible, however the other man has noticed he has escaped and is after him.


The Club Scene 
http://www.putlocker.tw/watch-unknown-online-free-putlocker-2011.html - From 63 minutes

The club scene is effective with tension because it uses a loud booming soundtrack which is disorientating and threatening to the audience as we do not know what anyone else is saying and anything could happen at any time. The use of a dark screen which only shows shadows is indistinct and allows the audience to share the same confusion as the main character, as like them we also do not know who will appear at any moment or if they are still being chased or if they have lost them, as they could be lurking in the darkness.


The McGuffin 

In Unknown the mcguffin is Prince Shalla and the world food, which provides the basis of the story, however the audience are drawn away from this and they are only interested in Liam Neeson's character and finding out if he is truly Dr Martin Harris and what exactly is going on.


The Car Chase 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1401152/ - The first clip below

   This scene is effective because it starts of with fast editing speed, this gets the audience at edge as they try to keep up with what is happening in the chase The speed of the editing is also effective because it makes the audience aware that anything can happen next. As we see them heading towards the train the sound becomes more fast pacing which suites the actions in the screen, this tells the audience that they could crash into the train or something disastrous is about to happen. The lightening in this scene reminds dark throughout to portray the danger and high risk that the characters are in. This also creates a doomy mood and scary atmosphere as we cannot see too clearly. The camera angle in the scene remains at a close up in the car to show the fear in the characters and desperate they are to escape.

Thriller Conventions - Vladimir Propp

In Unknown The helper and princess is Gina who is side by side with Dr Martin Harris and helps him rediscover his identity again.


It is also a polysemic text as he discovers that he was never truly Dr. Martin Harris and is actually Henry Taylor, who is an ordinary man. However we do not know what he goes off to do with his life in the end. It can have many different meanings as he could live his life with Gina or he can go back to being ordinary and doing his own thing.