Marathon ManMarathon 'Man' is a 1976 'psychological thriller' written by William Goldman, directed by John Schlesinger and starred Dustin Hoffman in the main protagonist role.
The Movie was distributed by one of hollywoods 'Big Six', 'Paramount Pictures'.
After watching 'Marathon Man', i have been able to think of alot of ideas that i can use in trying to create a 'non-cliche' psychological thriller with a lot of originality, and this was a great film to get inspiration from.
There are alot of 'tense' moments in this original pyscho-thriller picture which made films after it seem almost a copy and not as good. However I am going to specifically focus on one scene in particular which i think has a lot of elements that i can derive from and use for my one thriller.
The scene starts off with darkness but we can catch the character which is Hoffman's charcter (Thomas "Babe" Levy) in some sort of distress, and straight away it grabs the audience's attention. The shot then switches to a 'medium long shot' once the light turns on and the introduction of the main antagonist (Dr Christian Szell) played by Laurence Olivier. This shot now shows us the position Levy is in strapped to a chair in the middle of a 'klaustrophobic' room, he is restrained and we can see it.
We then see two 'low angle shots' of Szell's hench men who along with Szell are wearing expensive suits, looking down at Levy, who is wearing a bath robe after Szell ask's him the question "Is it safe" which the corresponds to a 'high angle shot' of Levy looking up at Szell's henchmen. These shots clearly deferentiate the 'balance of power' making Szell and his men look 'authoritive' and in 'power' whilst Levy is weak and feeble.
We the get an introductory shot of Szell. There is a close up of him washing his hands,, then a 'tilt shot' leading to his face to show his 'facial expressions', which leaves the viewer confused, why is he doing so?. We can only be led to infer than maybe he is going to treat on Levy.
What also is great about this scene is that almost all of it is shot with 'steadi-cam' to add to the 'continuity editing'. Several 'shot reverse shots' in the scene of Szell posing the question "is it safe?" leads both characters into confusion and there is a miunderstanding which is building.
The 'climax' of the scene is when there is a 'close up' of Szell unraveling his dentel apparrel which then adds up the pieces of his title and him washing his hands. He walks over to Levy and uses his apparrel to firts of all examine his teeth then as a source of 'torture'. As soon as the niddle is injected into his teeth we the audience get the climax we have been waiting for and can really 'empathise' almost with Levy, his 'pain' and the torture.
Just again to show the balance of power, Szell uses a liquid pain killer to rub in the inside of Levy's mouth to soothe the pain, just to make sure that Levy acknowledges who is in power and that he can simply inflict pain upon Levy at any given time as well as take it away, almost a god like omnipotent sense.
The Movie was distributed by one of hollywoods 'Big Six', 'Paramount Pictures'.
After watching 'Marathon Man', i have been able to think of alot of ideas that i can use in trying to create a 'non-cliche' psychological thriller with a lot of originality, and this was a great film to get inspiration from.
There are alot of 'tense' moments in this original pyscho-thriller picture which made films after it seem almost a copy and not as good. However I am going to specifically focus on one scene in particular which i think has a lot of elements that i can derive from and use for my one thriller.
The scene starts off with darkness but we can catch the character which is Hoffman's charcter (Thomas "Babe" Levy) in some sort of distress, and straight away it grabs the audience's attention. The shot then switches to a 'medium long shot' once the light turns on and the introduction of the main antagonist (Dr Christian Szell) played by Laurence Olivier. This shot now shows us the position Levy is in strapped to a chair in the middle of a 'klaustrophobic' room, he is restrained and we can see it.
We then see two 'low angle shots' of Szell's hench men who along with Szell are wearing expensive suits, looking down at Levy, who is wearing a bath robe after Szell ask's him the question "Is it safe" which the corresponds to a 'high angle shot' of Levy looking up at Szell's henchmen. These shots clearly deferentiate the 'balance of power' making Szell and his men look 'authoritive' and in 'power' whilst Levy is weak and feeble.
We the get an introductory shot of Szell. There is a close up of him washing his hands,, then a 'tilt shot' leading to his face to show his 'facial expressions', which leaves the viewer confused, why is he doing so?. We can only be led to infer than maybe he is going to treat on Levy.
What also is great about this scene is that almost all of it is shot with 'steadi-cam' to add to the 'continuity editing'. Several 'shot reverse shots' in the scene of Szell posing the question "is it safe?" leads both characters into confusion and there is a miunderstanding which is building.
The 'climax' of the scene is when there is a 'close up' of Szell unraveling his dentel apparrel which then adds up the pieces of his title and him washing his hands. He walks over to Levy and uses his apparrel to firts of all examine his teeth then as a source of 'torture'. As soon as the niddle is injected into his teeth we the audience get the climax we have been waiting for and can really 'empathise' almost with Levy, his 'pain' and the torture.
Just again to show the balance of power, Szell uses a liquid pain killer to rub in the inside of Levy's mouth to soothe the pain, just to make sure that Levy acknowledges who is in power and that he can simply inflict pain upon Levy at any given time as well as take it away, almost a god like omnipotent sense.
"For these reason's i have favoured this scene to derive
inspiration and ideas from to add to the psychological
part of my thriller as there are great elements which
include Szell repeatedly asking the question "Is it safe?"
even tho Levy has no idea what is going on. The motion
of continuity by using steadi-cam, as well as shot reverse
shots to show the different expressions of both charcters.
These subtle things could set my thriller apart from
others and i will be looking to add my one personal intake
whilst shooting with our group."
inspiration and ideas from to add to the psychological
part of my thriller as there are great elements which
include Szell repeatedly asking the question "Is it safe?"
even tho Levy has no idea what is going on. The motion
of continuity by using steadi-cam, as well as shot reverse
shots to show the different expressions of both charcters.
These subtle things could set my thriller apart from
others and i will be looking to add my one personal intake
whilst shooting with our group."
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