Escape Plan

Genre
Action/Mystery/Thriller
Conventions of an action film:
Violence
Weapons- knives, guns, bombs
Missions
Futuristic cars
Explosions and crashes
Cat and mouse chase
Hi tech gadgets and machinery
Destruction
Always has a motive
Murder of loved ones
Tense
Mainly male lead
Fast paced editing




Conventions of a mystery film:
Build up of clues
Subtle hints
Solving the mystery at the end
Protagonist super-human or
super-genius
Villain leaves obvious clues
Sudden breakthrough
Location famous/familiar
place
Solving the crime and catching
the villain


Conventions of a thriller film
Good vs. Evil
Peace disturbed by event
Bad chain of events
Protagonist needs to restore peace
Protagonist is usually a strong,
brave male character who saves
peoples lives (often females)
Director often bases the film on
things that are feared most in
society




Escape Plan
Action/Mystery/Thriller
Narrative
Ray Breslin is a former prosecutor who co-owns Breslin-Clark, a Los- Angeles based
security firm specializing in testing the reliability of maximum security prisons. He
spends his life getting into prisons to study their designs and the guards' habits to find
and exploit their weaknesses. He claims his goal is to ensure that criminals sent to
prison stay inside by eliminating the weakness of every prison. He is offered a
multimillion dollar to test a top-secret prison and see if it is escape-proof. He discovers
that the prison is inside a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean, making a simple
escape impossible.

Escape Plan
Representation
Action/Mystery/Thriller
Sylvester Stallone is represented as an
intelligent, wise, strong, brave, fearless and
muscular which is usually what is expected
in an action film as the main character
must solve the case in the end and restore
the peace.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is another main
character who assists Ray in the plan to
escape which represents him as sly,
calculating, strong, brave and will do
anything for his freedom.
Escape Plan
Action/Mystery/Thriller
Audience
The film will appeal to those who enjoy films with a 1980s twist and
contains some violence and bad language throughout with shooting,
stabbing and bare knuckle fighting therefore its not seen as a family
orientated film. Its targeted more at adults, more likely males, as the
narrative focuses on the male intelligence and most of the characters are
middle aged/ older men. The action involved will appeal to young adults and
teenagers as well, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger draw in
the audience as they are huge Hollywood actors who are well known.
The target audience is most likely to be in groups ABC1.
Escape Plan
Rick Altman
Semantic elements Syntactic elements
Fights Gets offered a deal (money)
Violent nature Being captured
Police Attempting to escape
Prison Getting into trouble (fights)
Helicopter Saving people
Guns Being calculating and figuring out a plan
Glass cells Defeating the criminal (death)
Cargo ship Escaping from the location and getting away
Explosion Being rewarded and unveiling the lead up of
events
Non-Stop
Genre
Action/Mystery/Thriller
Conventions of an action film:
Violence
Weapons- knives, guns, bombs
Missions
Futuristic cars
Explosions and crashes
Cat and mouse chase
Hi tech gadgets and machinery
Destruction
Always has a motive
Murder of loved ones
Tense
Mainly male lead
Fast paced editing




Conventions of a mystery film:
Build up of clues
Subtle hints
Solving the mystery at the end
Protagonist super-human or
super-genius
Villain leaves obvious clues
Sudden breakthrough
Location famous/familiar
place
Solving the crime and catching
the villain


Conventions of a thriller film
Good vs. Evil
Peace disturbed by event
Bad chain of events
Protagonist needs to restore peace
Protagonist is usually a strong,
brave male character who saves
peoples lives (often females)
Director often bases the film on
things that are feared most in
society




Non-Stop
Action/Mystery/Thriller
Narrative
Bill Marks is an alcoholic U.S federal air marshal; he enrolled in the Air Marshal service after he
was discharged from the police force. On a non- stop flight from New York to London aboard
British Aqualantic Flight 10, midway over the Atlantic Ocean, Marks receives text messages on
his secure phone stating that someone on the plane will die every 20 minutes unless $150
million is transferred into a specific bank account. Breaking protocol, Marks consults with Jack
Hammond, the other air marshal on the flight. Hammond is revealed to be smuggling cocaine in
a briefcase and following an altercation Marks ends up killing him in a lavatory. This occurs
exactly at the 20 minute mark, resulting in the first death. As Marks attempts to stall for time
with the texter, he works with the flight crew and Jen Summers, who sits next to Marks, to
discover the texter's identity. When the time runs out again, the captain suddenly dies of
poisoning. The public becomes convinced that Marks is hijacking the plane, as the bank account
is in his name and a passenger uploads video footage of him treating passengers aggressively
with no explanation. Rice manages an emergency crash landing at an air base in Iceland after
the bomb explodes, disregarding orders from his fighter plane escort. Despite their warnings,
the fighter planes do not shoot the plane down.
Non-Stop
Representation
Action/Mystery/Thriller
Liam Neeson is the main
character who is represented as
an alcoholic however he is a air
marshal who is brave, clever,
determined, strong, fearless and
turns out to be the hero in the
end. He has to find out who is
the culprit on the plane

Julianne Moore is also another
main character who is a
passenger on the plane, she is
represented as worried but calm
and collected.
Non-Stop
Audience
Action/Mystery/Thriller
The film will appeal to those who enjoy films with violence and
mystery. Its targeted more at adults, more likely males, as the
narrative focuses on the male intelligence who acts as the hero. The
action involved will appeal to young adults and teenagers as well,
Liam Neeson is a huge Hollywood actor who will attract an audience,
and is usually involved in action packed films.
The target audience is most likely to be in groups ABC1.
Non-Stop
Rick Altman
Semantic elements Syntactic elements
Fights Undercover
Violent nature Traitor identified
Police Threatening phone messages hacking
Plane Deatth every 20 minutes
Guns Must discover texters identity
Murder
Bomb
Explosions
Genre evolution
The form finds itself

Dr. No (1962)

This is an early example of an action thriller film as it makes use of
these typical conventions of violence, weapons, fighting, deaths and
injuries before the genre was labelled specifically. The film involves a
lot of action and fast paced movement with guns and makes the
audience feel exhilarated. James Bond is a brave, strong masculine
character which is usually what is found in these types of film as he is
seen as a hero. The women are mainly seen as sex objects and
normally have to be saved or rescued as these early action thriller
films portray women as weak and vulnerable. This has changed,
modern day films represent women in a positive way and portray them
as strong and independent. The narrative throughout the James Bond
films are always similar and results in Bond defeating the villain and
getting the girl. Dr. No was followed a series of successful James Bond
films, Skyfall became a homage with 879.8 million in box office. There
are iconic conventions throughout all of the James Bond films to
establish a link, for example at the beginning, James Bond is noticeable
through the view of a gun barrel.
The classic

Die Hard (1988)
Die Hard is an example of a action thriller classic film as John
McClane, officer of the NYPD, tries to save wife Holly Gennaro
and several others, taken hostage by German terrorist Hans
Gruber during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los
Angeles. This film is also highly critical regarded with lasting
appeal as more films started using similar conventions such as
guns, explosions, helicopters, hostages and murder. This led
onto a series of films being created; Die Hard 2 (1990), Die Hard
with a Vengeance (1995), Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and A
Good Day to Die Hard (2013). Die Hard became the defining
template of later action thriller films, for example White House
Down (2013) where a Capitol policeman has to save his child
while protecting the President from a heavily armed group of
paramilitary invaders. Die Hard opened in limited release in 21
theatres on July 15, 1988, earning $601,851an average of
$28,659 per theatre.

Stretching the boundaries of the
genre
The Terminator (1984)
This is an example of an action sci-fi thriller film as it makes use
of typical conventions which are apparent in other action
thriller films with violence, weapons, fighting, deaths however
it begins to stretch the boundaries of the genre with sci-fi due
to the robots and scenes that are set in the future. But The
Terminator still has car chases, gun fights and explosions which
is what the audience expects in an action film. The villain and
hero are both time travellers from the future which is clear
evidence of the sci-fi elements. The film also has parts of horror
as the unstoppable monster wont be defeated and its mostly
set at night with a girl being chased. Therefore the film
incorporates a range of conventions from a variety of genres to
create a new but familiar narrative.
Parody

Home Alone (1990)
This is an example of an action comedy as it takes elements
from an action thriller film however it is made into a spoof
which is suitable for families to watch together. An 8-year-old
boy who is accidentally left behind while his family flies to
France for Christmas must defend his home against idiotic
burglars. The two burglars plan to break into the house
however the young boy, Kevin, sets numerous booby traps to
stop them which is amusing for the audience. The film takes a
worrying situation and turns it into a comedy which is light-
hearted. It proved to be very popular and therefore stayed in
theatres past the Christmas season, and was the number one
film at the box office for 12 weeks. There were sequels after
Home Alone which includes; Home Alone 2 Lost in New York,
Home Alone 3 and 4 and then Home Alone: The Holiday Heist.
Homage

The Bourne Identity (2002)
This is an example of an action mystery thriller homage, a man
is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and without
memory, then races to elude assassins and recover from
amnesia. It is easy to recognise distinct genre conventions and
they are represented in a purposeful fashion and the film is
therefore respected and reverential. A lot of tension and
suspense is created throughout the film which is important to
the action genre, there is hand-to-hand combat, police chase,
gun fights, assassins, hostages and agents. In its opening
weekend, The Bourne Identity took in US$27,118,640 in 2,638
theatres. It was followed by a 2004 sequel, The Bourne
Supremacy, which received a similar positive critical and public
reception. A third film, The Bourne Ultimatum, was released in
2007 and the fourth film of the Bourne franchise, The Bourne
Legacy was released in 2012.