Survey

Click here to take survey

Macguffins and Red-herrings

Macguffins and Red-herrings

Red herrings are used rather commonly in thriller genres, It mainly consists of clues which are both misleading and distracting from the actual issue, this could be done either intentional or unintentional.
This expression is normally used to claim that the argument at which another person has brought up is entirely irrelevant to the specific question.
A good example of a red herring is "I think that we should make the academic requirements stricter for students. I recommend that you support this because we are in a budget crisis and we do not want our salaries affected."
Like i have said before, red herrings are commonly used in films. Another example which is more related to film language is...The red herring can take in form of a character, which the audience may feel that he is a killer, only to later discover that he is innocent. Or another good example could be that a red herring can take the shape of an item which could be seen as clue to a discovery by the audience, but turns out to be worthless.

Macguffins are also commonly used in films, most notably thriller genres. It consists of a plot device which is a motivator that the protagonist, or even the antagonist is willing to do and sacrafice anything to protect or control. It also often comes with little or no information as to why this particular thing is so important.

The specific nature of this device is widely left to interpretation. The most common type of macguffin is either an object or a person, however the device could also be in the form of things like money, glory, etc.

Alfred Hitchcock popularized the term macguffin and the technique most noticably in one of his early films 'The 39 steps' which the concept of a macguffin is emboddied in the film.



Alfred Hitchcock popularized the term Macguffin



Information on Alfred Hitchcock

Information on Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock born 13th August 1899 and died 29th April 1980, was a film director and producer who very much popularized techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller sub-genres. He is regarded as Englands best director. He had a largely successful career which spawned for over half a century, creating classic thrillers and other film genres in the process. Some of his most hailed work are psycho, The Birds, North By North west, Marnie. He is also regarded by some critics as the most influential film director of all time.

Sir Alfred Hitchcock

Chuck Jones and the rules

Chuck Jones and 'the rules'

Chuck Jones was born on september 21st 1912 and died february 22 2002. He was a very famous animator, cartoonist and he directed many cartoon films for companies such ass warner bros. One of the most remember shows in which he created and directed was looney tunes. He is also regarded as the creator of famous cartoon icons bugs bunny, sylvester, the roadrunner and Wile E Coyote. Most notably, the roadrunner is considered his masterpiece and are today regarded as one of the best cartoons every made.
However, unfortunately Warner bros (the company which he was working for) was shut down in early 1963. So he and his staff were eventually hired by MGM productions with  the incentive to create more Tom and Jerry episodes and theatricals. Again much to his displeasure, Tom and Jerry were discontinued  four years later in 1967. So he produced and directed the TV special 'How the Grinch stole Christmas'.

Chuck Jones is undoubtedly regarded as one of the founding fathers of animation and has frequently been hailed as a large contributing factor and influence towards the industry.

Chuck Jones and his signature creation 'bugs bunny'

In one of his most notable productions ' the roadrunner' it contains various laws and rules which are:

The roadrunner has the ability to enter the painted image of a cave while the coyote cannot.
Sometimes the coyote is allowed to hang in midair until he realizes that he is about to fall down and get hurt, known elsewhere as the Roadrunner and Coyote moment.
The coyote can overtake rocks and cannons which fall down earlier than he does and ends up being hit by them.
If a chase scene occurs on a cliff, the roadrunner is not affected by gravity while the coyote is and eventually falls down.

As you can see i have basically outlined the basic Chuck Jones rules.