Friday 21 December 2012

Mise En Scene

Mine en Scene is about communicating certain messages to the audience using what's in the frame. This could be using setting & props, costume, hair & make-up, character's facial expressions & body language, lighting & colour and the positing of characters within the scene.

The setting and props are important. Setting is where it all takes place, it sets the atmosphere. A lot can be communicated just from the background. For example, a desert for a western is very stereotypical. This is because typically it's looked at as a place where heroes are made and villains tend to rule, until of course the hero rises up against them. In contrast to a city scape where there could be multitude of characters, the way it's communicated would now depend on lighting what part of the city we see. However, a city scape is normally looked as the concrete jungle, it's difficult to get to the higher end of society there and so we are ofter positioned with characters that we see fighting there way up.

The props a character has can also tell us things about the character or even the area or situation they're in. For a upper-class woman, it could be an expensive handbag, using colours such as gold on the zips and things. This would discretely communicate that the character is wealthy and probably wants everyone to know, as they're showing it off with the handbag. Other props could be in the background, a character doesn't have to carry them. A good example of this is in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" in the parlour scene. Marion is sitting behind a large pitcher of milk. Though she doesn't drink any of the milk, we can relate the pitcher to herself. The pitcher is a white colour, which depicts innocence and purity, telling us about Marion's current mental state.  yet the shape is curvy and smooth which we can associate with the body shape of Marion, it's almost planting seeds for what's later to come, when we later see her exposed in the shower.

Costume, hair and make-up can tell us about the character and their personality. Depending on the costume, we can see if they're upper, lower or middle class. We can also see if they're neat or messy depending on the state of their clothes.
The hair can tell us about their mental state and personality. We can see a character decent into insanity just from their state of their hair getting progressively messier into the film. It's not always insanity that messy hair indicates in movies. In Skyfall, Bond is lost in himself and doesn't seem to be in his best state, physically and mentally. His hair is messy and his facial hair is unshaven, before he begins to fix himself and straightens up, and his hair becomes neater as he does so.
Make-up can be used in a variety of ways, from discretely making a character's face pale or light to openly using eye shadow or lipstick. The type of style the make-up is used in will tell the audience about the type of character. If red lipstick is on a female character it can show the flirtatiousness of her. Alternatively is could be luscious or even evil. Maybe all three. Make-up can be used to make a character look tired or bursting with life. Using this can be extremely useful to communicating the character's well being to the audience.

Facial expression & body language are straight forward ways of telling an audience about a character. Though it can be hard getting an actor to play the character exactly how the director wants them. The focus on the facial expressions and body language (as with everything) depends on how the director uses the camera. So emphasis can added or lessened with different angles and shots, such as a close-up.

The lighting and colour and highly important for mise en scene. This is because with different colours, different messages are communicated. E.g. Red=lust or anger, purple=wealth, mystery or frustration, black= Evil or sadness and white=innocence or purity. There are other meaning for those colours also, but those are some of the main ones.
Lighting can completely change a scene. A lot of backlight can create a silhouette, often used in noir films because it's very dark. A lot of key light and filler can create a happier atmosphere, often used in rom-coms.

The positioning of a character is crucial. It can tell the audience how close they are mentally by portraying it physically. If they're mentality far apart they might be on opposite sides of a diner table, like in American Beauty or this scene in the TV series Breaking Bad.
If a character is standing on a step or something that makes that character higher up than others, then the one on the step could be in a higher class or financial or spiritually higher state than the others.

Thursday 13 December 2012

Feedback On My Script

This time we pre-prepared drafts for our film openings so that we could give and receive feedback on each others work. These drafts used the correct spacing, font and layout.

The positive point for my draft of "SHOT" were:
-Good opening to hook viewers.
-Good characters.
-Gave a detailed image of what was happening in the scene, at points.
-Fits the genre it's supposed to.

Points to improve were:
-Lack of Mise-en-Scene.
-Need a better understanding of the relationship between the characters.

How I plan to improve:
-The mise-en-scene can be improved easily. It wasn't that I'd forgotten to include it, I had just forgotten to write about it in the script. The're multiple ideas I have concerning communicating information about the characters to the audience. An example of things I plan to have with-in frames with characters are pictures with relevant images, televisions with relevant images, clothing colour and possibly religious symbols near or on them at points.
-As for the relationship between characters, I believe that just from reading the script it was unclear of who they were in relation to each other. Hopefully, when I have produced the opening, it will be clear who they are to one another.
-Another frequent comment was 'Is there music here?" Or "Is there non-diabetic sound at this point?" Throughout I have parts which require music or non-dialectic sound. I did not include mentions of it in the script because it was a draft to get others to understand the concept.

Here is my script (The layout on my blog is not the same as the actual script layout):


"SHOT"






WRITTEN BY
BEN WOODIER



FADE IN:

EXT. FIELD - DAY - DREAM SEQUENCE

RILEY IS FACING NICHOLAS, WHO HAS HIS BACK TURNED. THEY'RE STANDING 3 METRES APART.
RILEY RAISES HIS GUN AND AIMS AT NICHOLAS.
THE CAMERA PEERS OVER NICHOLAS'S LEFT SHOULDER TO VIEW RILEY.


RILEY
I'M SORRY, NICHOLAS.

RILEY FIRES THE GUN. NICHOLAS FALLS OVER, DEAD. RILEY THEN PULLS THE GUN UPON HIMSELF, AIMING AT HIS CHIN. HE SQUINTS HIS FACE AS HE BEGINS SQUEEZING THE TRIGGER.
CUT TO:

INT. RILEY'S BEDROOM - MORNING

RILEY WAKES UP. HE HAS THE SAME FACIAL EXPRESSION AND IS BREATHING HEAVILY AND MILDLY SWEATING.
A MOBILE PHONE IS RINGING.
RILEY ANSWERS THE PHONE.
RILEY
HELLO?

EILIF(OVER PHONE)
IT HAPPENED AGAIN. DIDN'T IT RILEY.

A LOOK OF PANIC ENTERS RILEY. HE TURNS TO THE SIDE OF HIS BED AND PUTS THE PHONE DOWN, THEN SINKS HIS HEAD INTO HIS HANDS.
CAMERA PULLS BACK AS THE TITLE SEQUENCE FADES ONTO SCREEN.

CUT TO:

INT. RILEY'S LOUNGEH - MORNING
RILEY AND NICHOLAS ARE SITTING DOWN ON CHAIRS, FACING EACH OTHER.

NICHOLAS
I DON'T GET IT, MAN. THEY'RE JUST DREAMS, RIGHT? THEY DONT MEAN ANYTHING.

RILEY
THEY'RE NOT DREAMS... THEYRE... REAL.

NICHOLAS
REAL? HOW ARE THEY-

RILEY (INTERUPTING)
IT'S... WEIRD. THEY'RELIKE MEMORIES, MEMORIES FROM THE FUTURE.

NICHOLAS
FUTURE? DO YOU REALIZE HOW CRAZY THAT

RILEY (INTERUPTING)
I KNOW... I KNOW...

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT.STREET - DAY
NICHOLAS IS WALKING. HIS PHONE BEGINS TO RING AND HE ANSWERS.

NICHOLAS
HELLO?

EILIF(OVER PHONE)
NICHOLAS, IT'S EILIF. THERE'S BEEN A CHANGE OFF PLAN. YOU'RE... NO LONGER NECESSARY.

THE CAMERA PEERS OVER NICHOLAS'S LEFT SHOLDER TO VIEW A GUNMAN. A GUNSHOT IS FIRED.

Monday 10 December 2012

Script Writing- Workshop

Recently, myself and others were involved in a script writing workshop. In this workshop we began by looking at a script called "Fury". We read this script and  briefly analysed it to absorb the formatting and style which was later used to write drafts of our own scripts.

We learnt about how scripts and screenplays are used in the media business and how to format them in a professional style. The image below is an example of how a script should be formatted. It covers the basics and is informative as to how a screenplay/ script should be written.
 The formatting within screenplays that we coovered were use of scene, slug line (or scene headings, scene direction, character cue, actor direction and dialogue.

Using what I had learnt, I was able to produce a draft for my future script of my film opening "SHOT".







Wednesday 5 December 2012

Psychological Thriller

For my film opening, I have chosen to work primarily with the sub-genre of psychological-thriller (As explained in my pitch). The reason I have chosen to use this genre is because I enjoy films in that genre, for example David Fincher's Fight Club (1999).

Fight Club (1999) Trailer:


The psychological-thriller genre focuses on the unstable emotional state of characters combined with mystery and thriller. Psychological thriller often involves aspects from mystery and drama genres, but can also involve traits from horror. Too many aspects from horror though can cause the film to become a psychological-horror.
The cliche of a psychological-thriller is usually the main character having to overcome an enemy using mental strength, as opposed to physical. This enemy could be another character who's using deceptive mind games to control them, or the enemy could even be an internal conflict that they must overcome. It's seen that the character will usually be in as bad mental state at the beginning and/or middle of the film, but at the end will have concurred their problem and recovered.
A back-story is used in the genre lots to be the reason why a character is mentally unstable. The back-story is revealed at one point to deepen our understanding of the story and character. This is great for plot-twists and character development.
A first person narrative is also used frequently in this genre so we see from the character's view point and enables the audience to understand the mental state and to become involved with this character. This technique can also be pared with the technique of unreliable narrator. The reason is for plot twist that make the film more exciting, psychyological and thrilling.

Genre

What is genre? Genre is a way of classifying movies in a way that makes it easy for the population to choose the type of film they would like to see. Genre allows directors to make a film that a niche audience can relate to. Without genre, directors would find it difficult to create a film that a majority would like to watch, this is because some genre types are larger than others, as people watch certain genres more than others, though the popular genre often depends on the fashion and values of the time, relevant to Voloshinov's theory which states of judging a piece of text based upon the time it was made.

Within genres there are certain cliches that an audience would expect to see. An example of this would be an action movie where the bad guys lose and the good guys win, a romance movie where the couple end up happily married, or a detective movie where the crimes get solved. An even more basic movie cliche is that every thing's normal, something bad happens, it gets fixed, something worse happens, it gets fixed just at the last second. The reason for this is often, the audience expects to see certain cliches in movies and genres, without them the audience is likely to feel uncomfortable or threatened, the only way to abolish this is to follow the set cliches. Although if everyone did this, all movies with a shared would be near copies. The reason they're not is because of experimental directors, like Alfred Hitchcock, he killed off one of the main characters in the middle of his famous thriller film, Psycho (1960).
Genre, in the film industry, is a way that studios and distributors can market their products to standardise or differentiate their output. This means that these companies can familiarise or un-familiarise their products with their consumers. The reason a company may release an unfamiliar product could be to attract a newer audience, this could just be to change the style, make more money from the new audience or to survive as the previous audience may be losing interest.
In the same way a media company can choose to distribute different genres of films, a director can choose to direct different genre, or experiment by combining 2 genres, like rom-com or psychological-thriller. These combine genres are sub-genres. Sub-genres can either be made purposefully or accidentally, because often a film will fit into multiple genres. An example of this would be Fight Club (1999) by David Fincher, the genres that this film covers are as follows: Thriller, Cult, Airplanes & Airports, Action, Action-Adventure, Satire, Drama, Psychological-Thriller, Black Comedy. This massive list of genres that Fight Club fits into was likely to not be intentional as it's doubtful that Fincher set to cover all of those film types. Instead it's likely that the final product fit those genres by accident. Bearing that in-mind, I assume that Fincher set himself the target to fit at least one of those genres, likely psychological-thriller, action or action-adventure. As it is very rare for a director to begin filming without an idea of the genre they would like to cover.

Genres often follow rules and cliches. These rules and cliches can however be broken and changed in an attempt to create something newer or to survive. These creations are sub-genres, they follow a similar, yet unfamiliar pattern to the genres they're made from. Without this pattern of change we would never create a newer idea that others can watch and learn from. Without the idea of genre and genre evolving the movie industry would dead. It is because of genres evolving to produce new ideas that the film industry is where it is today.

Tuesday 4 December 2012

"NOVA" Ident Plans

These picture are of the planning I did to make the "NOVA" Ident. It show a few ideas that I scraped, like having a straight zoom out through the space-like particle field, instead of the spiral one which I used. The reason I chose it to spiral is because it looked better and fitted the "O" shape easier during editing.



Sunday 2 December 2012

Production Company Ident - Edit


This is an edited version of my previous ident. In this newer version, I've changed the name from "Nova Flicks" to just "Nova". This is because it sounds more serious and professional. I've also filled the background with particles that resemble stars, this is to better fit the space/super-nova theme. The "n", "v" & "a" now form from other particles/ stars, which represents the rest of an idea coming together, in the way the letters are formed from lots of small things coming together.

Film Opening Pitch

This is an idea for the opening of a film which main genre is psychological thriller.


The "basic" story is Riley has recurring dreams of himself shooting Nicholas. Nicholas is his best friend whom he has known for ages and the pair assume they know everything about each other. Nicholas works for an organisation that betrays him for getting too close to Riley who, unknown to both of them, is a brainwashed secret assassin. The organisation is controlled by a character named Eilif. The character is named this because "Eilif" means immortal and he is in a position of power where he's untouchable. This organisation is gigantic and controls near everything, having great influence on most global issues. A small but high-up segment of this organisation is the assassins, like Nicholas.  Another secret segment is the secret assassins, who're brainwashed. These secret assassins work with-in the organisation, disposing of anyone who threatens (Or appears to threaten) the secrecy of the organisation, like Nicholas.



The underlying questions the audience would ask from this film would be would be:

- "Can you trust others?" -The way Nicholas trusted Riley & Eilif.
-"Can you trust yourself?" -When Riley discovers he's been brainwashed.
-"What do you think you know?" -After Riley's mind has been opened, he questions this.
-"What do you actually know?" What Riley questions after the previous point.
-"Can you actually fully control someone/ something?" -After Riley discovers he's an assassin, Eilif wonders if he can ever fully control people or if it's just an illusion or something he can come close to but not fully achieve.
-"Can you actually achieve the goal you set or will you just accept what you've achieved?" When Riley & Nicolas find Eilif is basically untouchable in his position of power, this question becomes arises. And also this question is posed to Eilif when he realises he cannot fully control people like Riley.

Eilif could also be abbreviated to Mr. E, which sounds like "mystery". Though this could seem comical so I may not use it.

Thursday 29 November 2012

Analysis of 3 Scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" -Case Study

Shower Scene

The shower scene is by far one of the most famous and iconic scenes in all of cinema. We begin this scene by seeing Marion Crane close the shower curtain and then we view a close-up of her face as she turns the shower on. As it’s a close-up, it’s easy to see the facial expressions of Marion. We quickly see a change in her emotion as it goes from plain and bland to (as she sees the water emerge) hopeful. Then a look of satisfaction is portrayed as she cleanses herself. It’s like baptism. In the prior scene Marion is talking to Norman Bates and has a sudden epiphany when she realises that what she had done was wrong and so decided to go back and apologize for her mistakes. So this shower is like a baptism as she washes away her sins and looks for redemption. In this shot, we could also say that she is exposed, in that she’s naked but also because she’s vulnerable.
As she showers, there are frequent cuts to the showerhead, both head on and side-on. The showerhead, in a way, is watching her. It resembles an eye that is overlooking the situation. There’s even a shot which is almost a point of view from the showerhead. This appears peculiar and ominous, giving the sensation that something is not right. And so, the feeling that something is going to happen becomes potent as we await for that moment where we see the motherly figure behind the transparent but blurring shower curtain.
The second we see the shot change to the shot in which the figure enters through the door, we expect someone to walk in before anyone does. This is because Hitchcock takes advantage of the rule of thirds. The reason we are prone to the idea of another body entering is because the rule of thirds takes advantage of the spacing within the shot and if one character is in one third, there are still two thirds that need filling, thus implying that the space will be filled. When the shot progresses into a zoom, our assumptions are confirmed as the camera zooms on an opening door as a silhouette of the mother enters and the previous bliss of the once joyous scene escalates towards terror. Marion’s space is invaded by this demon figure that then tears the shower curtain open. There’s scream of terror and an extreme close-up of Marion’s mouth as she screams, capturing the shock and distress she feels at that moment.
From now on the shot speed escalates into a stabbing montage, giving us as much chaos and confusion that Marion surely feels. This is likely to be the desired effect that Hitchcock wanted to give viewers. This high speed action combined with multi-angled shots inspires shock due to the sudden increase in pace. The multi-angled shots create the feeling of disorientation. The way the montage was cut (No pun intended) really helps us believe that the actress is being stabbed, when in fact there’s only one shot where the knife pierces the skin. Therefore, the majority of violence we believe is there is actually not, yet our imagination leads us to believe there is. Hitchcock’s skillful cuts, combined with the shots of fake blood (which was actually chocolate sauce!), are taking advantage of what we expect to see.
The screeching music also adds to the terror. It’s piercing, like the knife used to kill poor Marion. This inflicts shock upon hearing it as it comes out of nowhere. Then when the “Mother” leaves and we see a close-up of Marions hand sliding down the wall, the pace changes to match the music (or vice versa) as a much lower pitch with a slightly slower tempo is heard. The lower pitch indicates that something very dark has occurred and the slower tempo, combined with slower cuts gives us time to reflect and see the consequences of what has just happened.
As we see a now dead Marion laying across the floor, the shot then pans to and zooms into a shot of the plug hole, a metaphor perhaps saying that everything has just gone into a downward spiral like the water that flows into it. A bridging shot then happen, fading from the plughole to Marion’s eyeball as the camera pulls back, revealing her face flat on the ground while we hear nothing but the sound of the still running shower.



“She Wouldn’t Even Harm a Fly”

This scene comes right at the end of the movie.It begins as we follow a police officer on his way to deliver a blanket to Norman (Who’s currently the “Mother”). We follow the officer down a hallway to a door, where the camera stops to the side of the door, before we see what’s in the room. As we assume the blanket is given, a “Thank you” in the mother’s voice is heard and see another officer making an angry or unimpressed facial expression and sighs as it happens. The impression is given that what is happening in the room is either bizarre or agitating.
Upon entering the room, a number of things can be taken as denotation. If we think of the room being like his head, to the edge of the shot there is a barred window that represents Norman being trapped in his own mind while the mother is in control. Everything in the room is empty and the focus is on Norman as the mother, indicating that the primary focus of Norman’s mind is the mother. There is also a mug on the floor that. Mugs are a typically an object associated with the home, so in this case it shows the association that Norman has with the mother and his feeling of being “at home” with her, in his safe-zone. A blanket is covering Norman. Building on the idea of a safe-zone, the blanket is like protection which is similar to the way that the “Mother-state” takes over to protect him when feeling threatened, as mentioned by the detective at the end of the film.
The camera zooms from a wide-shot to a medium-close-up of Norman while non-diegetic narration of the mother’s thoughts play. The narration is perfectly timed with the facial expressions of Norman, making the audience totally forget that these spoken thoughts are added in post-production as they fit so perfectly to the scene that’s playing. Even the cut to a point of view shot from Norman, looking at his hand with a fly crawling on it, slips in smoothly.
We then cut back to Norman’s face when he menacingly stares directly into the camera. This alienates the audience from the film and feels like Norman is talking and delivering a messages directly to them, the individual.
Finally, right as there’s a crossfade from Norman’s face to the car being pulled out of the swamp, there’s a discrete image of the mother’s skull-like face that is perfectly laid over Norman’s face, like a mask. Confirming that they’re the same person in one body, also hinting that Norman is just a face that the mother wears now as she has completely taken over. During the crossfade (If paused at the right moment), the chain that’s pulling the car out of the swamp looks to be going through Norman’s heart, as if his heart is now tethered by guilt to the people he’s killed.



“We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes”

This scene is a brilliant example of crosscutting and the 180 degree rule, during the conversation between Marion and Norman. When Norman speaks of his mother saying “I hate what she’s become”, the camera is at a lower angle which is looking up at him. This give him the appearance of dominance because he appears very big and threatening. This feeling of threat is also implemented by the stuffed owl on the left side of the shot. The owl is in a pose that portrays it swooping down on its unsuspecting prey. This is similar to the way that Norman is luring Marion in before he decides to swoop. Seen in the shot also are 2 pictures of exposed women, one trying to cover-up, the other appears being attacked by men. This is very discrete foreshadowing, showing how Marion is going to be exposed and attacked.
Another brilliant shot of Norman is when he challenges the idea of putting his mother in an institution. He leans forward, closer to the camera, like he’s entering our space, making us (and Marion) uncomfortable. We can clearly view the discomfort of Marion from her reaction shot and her surprised look. The feeling of menace arises again as more high pitched and sharp music plays, yet it’s slow which fills us with suspense, waiting for the climax. Norman finally leans back when saying he had a similar idea, which puts us at ease for a second. That ease is short lived when he leans forward and proclaims “We all go a little mad sometimes”. This is another big hint in what is to come.
The lighting and colour of clothing helps us to understand the character’s intentions and frame of mind in the scene. Marion is wearing lighter clothing and her face is reasonably well lit up. This depicts innocence and light heartedness. It’s especially shown when she politely suggests putting Norman’s mother into care to try and make his life easier. Norman appears a binary opposite. He is wearing dark clothing and half of his face is covered with shadow. The shadow shows two different sides to him, or infact revealing the other side of him which we hadn't previously seen and is coming out now. With his dark clothes come the darker side of his personality as he talks of his mother in an unstable and distressing way, at some points also seeming to be speaking from a first-person perspective, like when he talks of a “Mad House”, it’s as though he know how it feels to be in one.

Tuesday 27 November 2012

Production Company Ident

The name of my production company is Nova Flicks. I chose this name because "nova" it means a star showing a sudden large increase in brightness. It's like a growing idea in the mind that is built up and eventually see by all when it becomes a movie.  Flicks is slang for a film, so "Nova Flicks" is like growing film.
Because Nova is a star, I thought it'd be good to have a reverse zoom through a space-like area. As it zooms out you can then see the bigger picture, the company behind the film. The metaphor in this ident is similar to something big coming from something small, or something grows from nothing, like an idea.
The reason I chose for the zoom out to become a ball is not only because it fits as the "O" in "Nova" but also because the ball is like my own world that I create, like a film is something that the director creates and within that film is his world, almost like auteur theory states, it's the director's vision.

Please note: This may not be my final ident, though it may be similar.

Monday 26 November 2012

The Man with the Golden Arm- Intro Re-imagined


This into is a very short video as the basis of the exercise was to animate a shape-layer changing shape, hence the arm turning from crooked to straight. Also, I experimented using the blur and make the text look like it was being covered in blood.

Anatomy of a Murder- Intro Re-Imagined



This is my remake of Saul Bass' Intro for Anatomy of a Murder, though it is not a completely finished remake as this was just a practise to get used to working with shape layers and animating. To make this I've used shaped layers in after effects to create the body parts shown. The reason I've chosen to have spinning limbs and various other entrances of the body parts that are not like the original is because I wanted to make it in a similar style to Saul Bass but not a direct copy.

Re-creation of the Teletubbies Intro

 
My Intro
 
The Original
This is my remake of the Teletubbies intro. To make this I use Adobe After Effects. In After Effects I used shape layers and yellow solids with 50% opacity to create the sun beams. The Baby's face was cropped using the pen tool and then feathered to make it fade into the sun beams. Using key framing I'm able to animate the every thing to re-imagine this intro. The red eyes & spinning head are only there because I had the ability to put them there.

The images are taken form Zazoom.wordpress.com

Friday 23 November 2012

Production Company Idents Research

Toonami

Toonami is a part of Cartoon Network and primarily produces cartoons who's target demographic is male teenagers and young adults.
 
They have multiple idents that frequently change but are all similar. This is likely to be because as a television channel, their idents are shown frequently at regular intervals and so to keep the viewer amused, they change the idents on a regular basis.
 
The style of the idents fits with the science fiction genre, which is the genre of cartoons they show. The neon-like text used would often be described as "cool" and fits the style of most of the cartoons they screen. Even the font used is sleek and futuristic.
There seems to be a hidden story behind it too, especially with the reflection of the logo in the space helmet. This develops in to a mystery and raises question like "what?" and "why?" and gives the impression that perhaps in future idents, Toonami will reveal what is happening.
 
 

Lionsgate

 
 
The ident of Lionsgate is like a metaphor for the people in the lower parts of the company, as the cogs and mechanisms, helping to make part of the gate that reveals (and makes) the bigger picture.
 
We see a bright light as the gates open and a religious view of bringing us to a cloudy, peaceful place that resembles Heaven. The text itself is very bold and proud, like God, showing off its power. The bright light is like telling the audience that they've died and gone to heaven every time that view a production from this company.
The colours on the gate are silver and gold that depicts wealth, good fortune and power. Everything that a major production company should have.
 

Universal Pictures

 
Universal Pictures are a behemoth in the world of film, which can be seen in their ident. It's like they're taking over the world and we're all helpless.
From this, we can take that they're very powerful, very bold and very well known. The reason this is know this is due to the scale of their name against the world and the colour of the text. The scale is gigantic, showing power. The glory comes from the colour scheme (gold & silver) but also from the shininess, indicating it's well cared for. The fact that they also communicate it's the 100th anniversary demonstrates further power through that accomplishment.
 
 

Sunday 18 November 2012

A Case Study on David Fincher

1. Outline how Fincher approaches the creation of an opening title sequence for a film.

"Titles should be engaging in a character way, it has to help set the scene, and you can do that elaborately or minimally"
-David Fincher



Finches often looks to the opening as a prologue to the film. An example of one of his minimalistic title sequences would be Fight Club (1999) in which we start at the fear centre of the brain and see lots of electrical synapse activity, indicating we're viewing something which will be both thrilling and psychological. Due to the sequence being very graphically based with no characters, this leaves the rest of the film open to interpretation and raises many questions of what's later to come.
A fitting example of his elaborate title sequences is SE7EN (1995) where we see glimpses of the antagonist, though we're unaware at the time, who is preparing himself for the torturous murders he commits. Because we see lots of shots of bizarre activity and mildly disturbing images we pick up a sense of what this film is leading us into.
 


Fight Club (1999) - Title Sequence

Fincher does not always use a title sequence if he cannot find a good idea for one or it doesn't seem fitting. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) is an example of this.


2. Deconstruct the opening of Fincher's film SE7EN.



-Connotation

The needle sewing two pages together symbolizes the plan coming together.

The two images of hands side-by-side resembles the idea of good and bad, as one is dark and the other is light. The hand may mean control. This could show the conflict of the antagonist and protagonist.
Alternatively, the two main character are Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman and appear from the same body, each hand could mean they're part of the same bigger body, helping one another as there's something wrong with both of them, hence the hands seeming disjointed and broken.

The removal of the word "GOD" from the bill at the end could signify unholiness or satanism.


-Denotation
We see a razor blade that's being used to cut off skin from the tips of fingers, then later plasters on the finger tips of hands and can assume that there is one person behind this scheming.

As the hands and finger nails appear particularly dirty, the person involved seems unhygienic. This could also mean they're hard working as they obviously don't use it as an excuse to stop working.

The book and writing are representative an elaborate plan that has taken years to put together. Just as the way a book is carefully planned. If there is a plan, there must be people involved and as there are frequent images of people, some unpleasant, it's safe to assume that this plan isn't nice and is likely to involve police or another authority.


3. What kind of story world is signposted in the opening of the film SE7EN?

It carries traits of a dark psychological thriller because the images are gruesome and raise many questions. Also because the non-diagetic audio is twisted, distorted and crackly. This provides an uneasy atmosphere, giving the anticipation that something dark will happen/is happening/ has happened.
Because this dark plan seems very heavily documented, I assume the person is either mentally ill or is under pressure from a higher power (or believe they are), likely God, as the theme of religion is implemented at the end of the opening. Perhaps the theme of identity if brought in also, as the eyes of the people in the images are crossed out, though this may alternately depict guild or even that the murdered doesn't think of the victims as people.
The colours used are all dark and grainy, again setting the mood. The exception to this is the occasional cut to red, undoubtably signifying death or something satanic at least.

The opening to this movie looks like it could be a number of things, though it will indisputably be dark.

Tuesday 30 October 2012

Preliminary Task


In the task set, we were asked to produce a short scene with someone walking through a door, using match-on-action as it opens. Then we using the 180 degree rule and cross-cutting to show a conversation between the two people.

First, with the match-on-action, I tried to use a pan to the door to clearly show the audience where I wanted their attention. Unfortunately with the 2 pieces of footage (The pan and the close up of the door) I found that I had to cut the pan prematurely, otherwise the scene doesn't look like it's flowing.

With the cross-cutting, we can see the reactions of the actors when receiving or delivering information to each other. Combined with the 180 degree rule, we get a smooth scene that is easy to follow.

Analysing Saul Bass Title Sequences

Anatomy of a Murder (1959) — Art of the Title
We start of this sequence by seeing a grey screen before we hear the sound of trumpets as the director's name appears, shortly followed by dismembered body parts forming a body. The communicates to me that Bass is saying that the director it the body of the film. We then are focused on close ups of body parts with the names of the film crew labelled on them. Communicating that though the director controls the body, the parts that make the body are the film crew.

While not only representing the film crew. The opening sequence is also like analysing a dead, dismembered body, showing close-ups for better analysis. This could introduce the idea of the story, as the title suggests, looking at the anatomy of a murder and piecing it together like a puzzle. Much like in the way the pars are assembled in the sequence.

Catch Me If You Can (2002) — Art of the Title
At the beginning of this sequence we here slow, yet curios music as a slow fade introduces us to the scene of an airport with the large writing "DreamWorks Pictures presents" at the top of the screen. Because DreamWorks in a big company, the fact that it is above an air port could show that they're the base of operation, much like an airport is, but as we progress in this sequence we see that a lot of things happen in or around the airport.
We see a suspicious man who's carefully edging in from the left side of the screen. As he makes his way in, the name of the producer and director are seen. Following that, the name of the actor "Leonardo DiCaprio" appear which has a discreet arrow point at the man. We can now assume that this man we are following is played by DiCaprio. The same thing is done with Tom Hanks later.
As the scenes in the sequence change (Airport, pool, hospital, ect), the colour scheme also changes, representing the clear change of each location but keeping the same situation. At the same time as the locations change, the characters change to fit in, accordingly.

Bunny Lake is Missing (1965) — Art of the Title
The simplicity, yet brilliance, of this sequence is a fine example of the great ideas and work of Saul Bass.
There is a hand, which appears to be male, that tears out segments of dark paper that reveals a lighter backdrop on which the names of people and companies that participated in the making of the film are on. This is revealing to us what's underneath that what we initially see, which maybe a helping us to understand what later takes place in the film. It shows us things that were always there, but hidden from view.
The final shape torn out of the paper before we enter the start of the film is in the shape of a small girl. The shape is missing from the paper, we assume the shape represents Bunny Lake. The fact that the shape is torn from the paper could show how she was torn away from her family or surroundings.
When we first see the title, we can notice that the "sing" in "missing" is fading out. As one of the themes in this film is mental illness because it's questioned whether Bunny Lake actually exists, the fading could stand for mental deterioration over time. Alternatively, as the word "sing" is highlighted, singing may be a motif or theme in the story (though this is just a guess as I haven't seen the movie.)



Wednesday 17 October 2012

Foley Exercise

This is the Foley exercise. In this short piece we recorded various noises, such as the "Fart" noises and then dubbed them over the footage in time with Jacob's footsteps to give the appearance that the shoes were the source of the noise. We also used Andy as a voice-over/narrator to parody the style of the popular TV program "Dragon's Den". All of those sounds are non-diegetic, meaning they were recorded separately to the footage and then added later in editing.
There is also mostly diegetic sounds, meaning that the footage and audio were recorded at the same time on the same camera.

There was also "Match on Action" used when Jacob first opens the door and again when he appears to be dancing. "Match on Action" is when multiple angles are shot at a different time but seem to be happening at the same time. It's all edited together to appear as one smooth sequence.

Friday 5 October 2012

Shot/ Reverse Shot

With this scene we we're experimenting with cinematography, using shot/reverse shot. This technique can be used to depict a conversation between multiple people, showing the change of facial expressions of people when they hear something that causes them to react. With it we can clearly see where the Actor/Actress is looking and the changes in their expressions.
I can switch between view-points to communicate different things to the audience. For example we can clearly see the actresses' unimpressed response to the actor's comments, you can tell this is an awkward situation and that she doesn't want to be there.

In this sequence we used eye line matches. Eye line matches is when the actor is always focused on one point or the point they're looking at doesn't move (Unless the audience can seamlessly see what they're looking at is moving).
We took advantage of the 180 degree rule. The rule that the camera can only move one one side of the action, so not to cause confusion to the audience. This rule makes everything straight forward and easy to keep up with.

Unfortunately the audio quality is awful due to the wind, however this test was not focused on audio.

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Homecoming



This video, titled Homecoming, is the opening of a movie in the Thriller genre.

The opening begins in black & white because it seems to add mystery of the thriller, saying these black & white clips take place in the past. This gives the movie a destination to get to, making the audience wonder what just happened and why.

The sped up & reversed clips show the audience that we are going back to the beggining of where the story started. After those clips we begin with a tilt shot, starting with the sun & a lens flare,  droppping down to see two women walking in the direction of the camera. The colour establishes that we are in the present. The clear shot of the sun shows that it's a nice day and sets a nice mood in contrast to the darker one set previously.

I put a dreary, royalty free, audio track along with the black & white clips to set the dark, thriller mood.