Tension in the Movie, Phone Booth

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The film Phone Booth is a morality thriller directed by Joel Schumacher who is also a screenwriter and film producer. The film was scheduled to be released on the 15th November 2002 however, due to the Beltway sniper attacks it was delayed to the 4th April 2003. The key actors of the film are Collin Farrell, who plays Stu Shepard, Kiefer Sutherland, who plays the caller, Forest Whitaker, who plays Captain Ed Ramey, Radha Mitchell, who plays Kelly Shepard and Katie Holmes, who plays Pamela McFadden. The film was written by Larry Cohen. Phone Booth is in ‘real time’ which is very unusual. The whole film is based around a phone booth in which Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) is trapped in by a sniper. This makes it very hard for the film to build up any tension because it is set in just one location. Moreover, there are a limited number of characters which makes it even harder. Phone Booth is a very low budget film but Larry Cohen bid for Hollywood actors.

The opening of the film uses some very clever media techniques. There is a crash zoom right at the start of film showing a phone call being transmitted up into a satellite in space and then being sent back down to earth to another phone. This emphasizes what happens when a phone call is made and what is going on when a phone call is going on. Furthermore, it is a very interesting way to start a film so it would make the viewer intrigued and they would want to see what is going to happen. The music which is accompanying the opening is non-diegetic, however, when the phone call is sent back to earth, the music then becomes diegetic because there is a gospel choir singing that song on the street. The images introduce the idea of a mad city, where everyone is running around and on the ph...

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...still at large out there and could do absolutely anything. The values and ideology that the film Phone Booth promotes are to be honest with everybody, be loyal and most importantly be true to yourself.

Overall, I feel that the director was very successful in sustaining tension throughout the whole film because when I was watching it I was on the edge of my sit as I didn’t know what was going to happen. I also thought that the ending was done very cleverly with ‘The Caller’ coming back at the end because I wasn’t expecting that to happen. The film was released later than it was mean to be because of the Beltway sniper attacks and the director (Joel Schumacher) didn’t think it was the right time for the film to be released. I feel that the film did create the right amount of tension however, I would’ve liked the film last longer because I really enjoyed it.

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