One Hour Photo

Comments on the film as a whole:


We watched the opening of One Hour Photo in class. I was so excited and intrigued by it, I got it out of blockbuster and watched it that weekend. A thriller that keeps you feeling tense and on the edge of your seat through the whole thing. You really care about the family and the little boy. I think the involvement of a child makes it that much more worrying and you have such a strong will for the child to be safe, you cant stop watching. The lead character is disturbing and yet part of me still worried and cared for him as he seemed vulnerable. He was also so terrifying as he was clearly not mentally in his right mind, he was like a ticking bomb, so calm and contained and disciplined you spend the whole film waiting for him to crack. Throughout the film he is constantly wearing the same colour as his back drop, very beige. In the opening there is a white room he blends with and just an empty red chair. There are flashes of red through the rest of the film that always catch the audiences eye. It is a very intense film, as there is not alot happening for most of it, you are just left waiting for this unstable middle-aged man to breakdown.



Comments on the trailer:


In the trailer it opens with a young boy's voice speaking with compassion and care about someone lonely. There is sounds like wind blowing etc. there is an establishing shot on the house. It almost feels like someone is there watching from outside.
Tensions build as sounds simmer along building up and getting louder, nothing of any notability seems to be happening, just looks like a lonely man. You feel sympathy and yet something is unsettling about him. Shots change in and out like photos. There is then a black screen and the word "he knows your name" came up it white, its chilling. There is a continuous sound of the tapping of a drum symbol, the same rhythm repeated again and again. Then you see the family and hear the sound of a picture being taken, then see the man looking at the picture. You see him at the house of the establishing shot where you are aware the family lives. Then there is a shot of him with a camera. The shot is then close up of the camera looking into the lense, through it you then see the credits. Music builds getting louder, shots of him in a red room breaking down, shots that look right into his eyes. In contrast to the little boys voice at the beginning you hear his voice " snap shot was originally a hunting term". Flashes of quick changing photos or snap shots of the family, ands with a jault. The music sound loud aggressive like something is hunting its prey.
In my open in this trailer it is choice of music and quickly changing fast paced camera movement, each image having practically its own frame, more like a flick book than film, made it so nerve wracking and effective.