Scenes to Inspire

 In class we were told to choose a clip that showed what we loved about film. For my clip I chose the film Now You See Me (2013) directed by Louis Leterrier. Below is the clip-

I chose this because it has what I love about film. Not only was this film visually spectacular, it also made me think. It made me question what was going. This is what I love about film: It's ability to make you capture your emotions. It's the same reason I like to read; the ability to take you on a journey, whether visual or in your mind. It can make you forget what's going on and just focus on the magic of film. 

In particular, with this scene, I like the on-screen tension with the actors. They really become their actors, which I find makes a film. It's the same with Heath Ledger and Christian Bale in The Dark Knight. Both actors bounce-off each other creating movie scenes that you will remember.  

 

Things that I can apply to our own opening sequence are very clean cuts and shot transitions. This makes the action run more smoothly and therefore is easier to watch.

Insidious clip

Here is our version of the Insidious clip. We tried to include every shot and movement in our clip, especially the movement at around 10 seconds. This camera movement was achieved by Katie on a wheely chair, zooming out whilst being pushed forward by Joel to create an unsettling effect. Another example of this camera movement is in Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg.                                                                      

We had some difficulties whilst filming, especially to get all the different shot right. What we found we needed to improve was our storyboarding as we had to refer to the clip, whereas we should've been able to rely on our storyboards.   

                                                                    Thanks for reading :)

Practicing Camera Work

Quite a while ago we had a task to re-create a film clip, focusing of getting the right camera shots and movement. Our group decided to re-create the ending clip from Insidious. Here's the clip-

 

We created storyboards for this scene-

 In my next post I will upload our version of the clip :)

 



Editing

Editing is a crucial part of film language. It helps to structure the narrative and link scenes/events together. Editing also helps the film to follow a logical order or time span, however some films distort this, for example flashbacks.

The most common form of editing is a cut. This is where one camera shot moves instantly to another.
Examples of some cuts are-

• Eye-line Match- This is a part of continuity editing, where we see a character look in a particular direction then the next cut gives a shot of what they see.
•  Jump Cut- This is an unusual edit pattern. It is where a few frames have been removed from a continuous action giving a jerky, unnatural feel to the action. It can be seen in BBC Three's Being Human.
• Parallel editing- This is where you run two or more sequences of action that are happening at the same time and we cross cut between them.
• Cutaway- A cut away from the main action to a scene of related action somewhere else.

Transitions between scenes other than cuts include:

• Dissolve- Where the image appears gradually to break into particles, leaving the next shot to emerge from behind.
• Crossfade- Where the current shot fades out at the same rate as the next shot fades in. An example of this is in the BBC TV show Sherlock, shown below. This is perhaps used to show that time has passed, or they are now at a new location. 

•  Fade Out- The current shot fades- usually to black.

Superimposition is where two or more pieces of film are blended so that they appear at the same time. This can be achieved by blue or green screen techniques where an actor is filmed against a background of consistent blue or green.  This colour can then be digitally extracted and the film of the person layered onto another piece of film so the person appears against a different background.

Editing is also used to determine the duration of a shot. For example a short shot duration can convey action or emergency, whereas a longer shot duration can suggest intimacy or intensity within the narrative.

Split screen is where the frame is split into sections so that the audience can see events happening at the same time. A good example of this is the American TV series 24, seen to the right. Here we can see how the split screen technique is used to show the reactions of four different people at the same time.  

Titles

As titles are very important in an opening sequence, as a group, we decided to analyse where titles occurred so that we could get an idea of where to put the titles in our opening sequence. We decided to take a look at The Conjuring (2013) as our genre for our opening sequence is psychological thriller/horror.

 Here's the link to the title sequence- http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-conjuring/

We created a timeline of where the titles appeared-

What we found interesting was that the director (James Wan) came up first which is very unusual as normally the director is shown last. As a group we liked the idea of having the name of the film last so that is stuck in the audiences mind. 

Production Pitch

Production Pitch Media

This is our group's (Katie, Joel and I) production pitch for our Main Task. 

Opening Sequence Analysis

To help create a good opening sequence for our main task, we have to look and study other opening sequences and see what makes them good. Our group (Katie, Joel and me) decided to look at the 2009 film adaptation of the book Coraline by Neil Gaimen, starring Dakota Fanning. 

Here's the opening sequence-

Our Analysis

• The music creates quite an eerie effect with the soft music and repetitive nature, making it seem quite creepy
• The focus on certain elements throughout the scene such as the buttons show that they are going to be an important aspect of the film.

• It contains titles, which is a general convention of opening sequences. 
• The treatment added the opening sequence during the post-production stage, is a green murky effect which adds to the coldness and slightly odd nature of the film.
• The mechanical hands shaping and creating the doll act as almost a god-like figure. 

Main Task Brief

Our Main Task brief is to create a fictional opening sequence for a film. This includes the pre-production stages such as scripting and storyboarding, the production stage (filming) and the post-production stages such as editing. It should be roughly 2 minutes long.
To prepare for this we decided to look at what other opening sequences include to find the general conventions of an opening sequence.

General conventions for an opening sequence are -

• Titles such as director or producer
• Some information being revealed about the film- for example perhaps see your the main character, but not too much as you want to make sure the audience still want to see it.

A good website for looking at opening sequences is Art of the Title (http://www.artofthetitle.com/).

Preliminary Task Video

Below is our preliminary task. We had some issues when filming. Unfortunately our first try at filming didn't work and I wasn't there for the second try, leaving Katie and Joel to film it by themselves. Fortunately though we were able to complete the task within in the deadline.

Here is our preliminary task-

In this we have used a variety of camera shots, including the required shot/reverse shot set in our brief, also we included some camera movement such as a pan.

Preliminary Task Brief

For our preliminary task we had to find a location, storyboard a scene of someone walking through a door, sitting down, and having a conversation and then film it. Our scene had to include shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

We decided to film it in the school cafeteria as it had a big enough space for us to film comfortably in. Instead of the usual method of drawing our storyboard, we took pictures to create our storyboard.

Here they are -

Storyboarding

Storyboarding a scene is where you create a series of rough sketches outlining the scene you want to create. They should include some basic information, such as what type of shot you want to shoot, for example a long shot or a close up, but also the duration of the shot, so you know how long to shoot the scene for. 

Storyboarding is an essential part of the pre-production planning as you can refer to it when you're out filming your scene,saving time, but also making filming much easier as you have a visual representation of the shot you want to create. 

Here's an example of a simple storyboard template-

Sound

Sound is very important in film and TV programmes. It is 50% of your film experience.

Diegetic Sound is sound whose source is visible on the screen, such as dialogue, whereas Non-Diegetic Sound is sound that comes from nothing within the field of vision and has been added on afterwards.

Other sound definitions include-

Sound Motif- A sound associated with a character or with a place, e.g humming of machinery associated with a factory. A character may have a particular musical figure that plays when they appear.

Direct Address- This is when a narrator or character speaks directly to the audience, not to characters within the scene.  This technique means the characters interacts with their audience. 

Here's an example of this taken from the popular TV show Miranda, starring Miranda Hart-

 Here Miranda directly speaks to the camera and also turns to looks at the camera, making it more comical.

Score- This is music composed, arranged and played specifically for the production.

Incidental Music- This is non-diegetic music that accompanies events or changes of scenes.

Themes- This is music that always accompanies a particular programme or even a particular character and suits its mood. 

Voice-over- This is where a voice from the outside the scene gives the audience information. Often the voice tells us the story and may be a character within the story. In TV programme Desperate Housewives, a character is the narrator even though she is not alive. 

Sound Bridge- This is where the sound, either non-diegetic or diegetic, continues across one or more transitions or cuts. 

Thanks for reading :)

Mise-en-Scene

Mise-en-scene literally means to put in scene. It refers to whatever you can see in the shot. 

CLAMPS is an easy acronym to remember when talking about mise-en-scene. C stands for costume. L stands for lighting, A is for actors, M is for movement, P for props and S stands for settings. There is also sound and editing to consider plus camera movement and shots, but for now we in class are focusing on CLAMPS. These six things are important because it gives the film or television programme realism, making it easier to watch. It can also reveal things about the characters or give a representation of topics, such as gender.
For class we were told to find a clip from a T.V. drama and analyse it for CLAMPS. I chose a clip from Grey's Anatomy starring Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl, among others.

 Here's it is -

Costume-  Meredith is wearing scrubs, which shows she's either a doctor or a nurse. Alex is in quite formal wear, suggesting maybe he was at a formal event. Izzie is wearing typical patient wear, showing she is ill, but the bandanna she's wearing suggests her hair has fallen out, which is usually associated with cancer. This can be seen in the screenshot below- 

Lighting- The lighting is very artificial, very much like the bright unnatural lights of a hospital, but it's also quite dark representing the sadness surrounding the death of George. 

Actors- Izzie is crying, showing that she was probably quite close to George. When Meredith tells the lady to go, it shows that the lady is probably not one of their friends or part of their social group, as they are not consoling her. Alex turns away in this clip, possibly representing something of his character, that maybe he runs away from situations.

Movement- The movement in this scene is quite slow, helping to show the emotion.

Props- The medical equipment helps give it authenticity. The wheelchair and the drip for Izzie, show again that she is ill. 

Setting- A hospital shown from medical equipment, and costumes such as props. 

Thanks for reading :)

Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds applies to the composition of a shot. The frame is split into 9 equal sections.

Like this -

This acts as a reference point which then acts as a guide for framing the shot. 

Points of interest should occur 1/3 or 2/3 of the way up or across the frame, not directly in the centre. This is because the eye does not automatically go to the centre of the screen, so if something is in the centre it makes it look strange to the audience.

Here's an example-

This is taken from The Vow (2012) starring Rachel McAdams (above) and Channing Tatum. In this shot we can see how the rule of thirds is used as she is not directly in the centre, making the shot feel more natural.

Semiotics

Semiotics means the study of signs. It helps us to understand images and visual signs.

All communication is possible through signs.

Key names in the history of semiotics are Charles Sanders Pierce, Ferdinand de Saussure and Roland Barthes. All three influenced the development of semiotics.  

Connotation and denotation are very important when discussing semiotics. Denotation is literally what you can see, whereas connotation is what is inferred by the image or the emotional suggestions related to the image. 

The denotation of this image= Woman, with blond hair, wearing white dress, in the style of a wedding dress. 

Connotation of this image= It's her wedding day.  She's probably happy. The white dress also suggests purity and innocence,while it's in a style that is associated with Western weddings. 

180 Degree Rule

The 180 Degree Rule is where the camera remains on one side of an imaginary line that divides the characters. If the camera crosses the line it can become confusing for the audience as it makes it look as though the characters are swapping places. If the camera does cross the imaginary line it will be for a specific purpose. 

This image gives a good representation of the 180 degree rule.  

The basic idea is that the camera should always film on one side of the line of vision so that the two characters are always on the same side of the frame, making the scene continuous. 

It is often used in car chase scenes. If the car leaves on the right side of the frame, in the next shot it should be on the left side. This all adds to the continuity of the scene.

Camera Movement

A couple of days ago, in class we looked at different type of camera movements. They range from the pan movement, which is where the camera moves horizontally from left to right, to the tilt movement, which is where you move the camera angle vertically. 

My Analysis

During this clip from Remember Me (2010) starring Robert Pattinson and Pierce Brosnan there are some different camera movements. The first is a pan right so the audience can see who is entering the door. The effect of sweeping the camera this way means that everybody's eyes are focused on Caroline (Ruby Jerins) entering the room, showing she is going to be a important part of the clip.
 At around 0.15 seconds the camera peds down. The pedestal shot is where the camera moves up or down vertically. The effect of this is that our eyes follow Tyler (Pattinson) down, so we can see how every other person in the class is starring as Caroline, telling us that an event has possibly happened between Caroline and the other girls.
At 0.45 seconds and onwards the camera crabs left to right following Tyler and his actions. This is effective as the audience really gets his swaying emotions as we are following him, also it makes it feel as though you are actually in the scene, as the eyes of one of the girls watching him.

Here's the clip-

For more information on camera movement, watch the clip below :)

Thanks for reading :)

Camera Shot Analysis

In class we were told to get into pairs and analyse a film clip's camera shots, following on from last lesson. My pair decided to analyse a clip from X-Men First Class (2011) starring Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. During this clip there are many interesting camera shots that all add to the effect of the film, so I decided to take a few examples.

    First here's the clip:

First example is a reverse shot form 0.03-0.09 seconds in the clip there is a reverse shot, which is where a character is seen looking back at another, unseen, character. This kind of shot brings the eyes in, signifying that the next thing you will see is going to be important. The effect can be very unsettling.

At 0.22 seconds we see a low angle shot, emphasising Fassbender's characters, Magneto, dominance and power, also because it's a medium close up shot we can see how his body is positioned in a very dominant stance.                                            A screen capture from that moment here- 

0.51 seconds shows a long shot being used so the audience can see the destruction that has just occurred, allowing us to learn more about the scene.

At 1.46 seconds there is a medium close up of Rose Byrne's character, Moira MacTaggert, which really emphasises the distress her characters face allowing the audience to experience what her is really feeling.

From 4.12-4.30 seconds there are many different close ups because it's is important for the audience to see what how each character has real emotion when Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) is shot. The close-up shot of Charles Xavier after he gets shot is very effective as you really see his pain and emotion.

Here's a screenshot of this moment-

Camera Shots

Last week in class we looked at different type of camera shots, ranging from extreme close ups usually when a character is showing emotion, to establishing shots, which tend show the landscape and location of the film and are usually at the opening of a film to show the audience where it is taking place.

Other types of camera shots include;

Big Close Up (BCU) - Usually used in dramatic scenes, to show emotion. 

Here's an example-

Medium Close Up (MCU)- This is a head and shoulder shot and tends to be used when an exchange between characters is happen, so usually dialogue shots

Medium Shot (MS)- Again it's used when characters are having a conversation as it keeps the audience in contact with the scene.

Medium Long Shot (MLS) - This usually places characters in the location.

Long Shot (LS)- Used in epic dramatic scenes so the audience can see more of the scene and location.

Establishing Shot (ES) - This tends to happen at the beginning of a scene and is usually of a landscape so the audience knows where it is taking place.

Here's another example-

Angle shots usually reveal certain this about the characters and their situation. For example High Angle shots often show vulnerability of the characters as we're staring down at them, whereas Low Angle shots, is where we are looking up at a character. This can show power and authority as we're are looking up at them.

For example in the picture below taken from Superman Returns (2006)  the camera is set up as a low angle shot, emphasising Superman's power as he looks on in the distance. In this shot we definitely as, an audience, get a sense of his dominance as a character.

Dutch angle shots is where the camera is tilted to offset the lines on a screen. This often gives us a sense that something is not right, making it unsettling, as does a reverse angle shot which brings the eyes in signifying the next thing you see will be important.

Here's a picture representation of some camera shots-

Thanks for reading :)

Analysis of Film Clip

My First Post :O

Earlier in the week we looked at a clip from the film Get Carter (1971) starring Michael Caine, and were asked to think about 5 different aspects, (Characters, relationships, location, genre and narrative) and see what we can find about them from the clip.

I'm choosing to focus on location as I believe it's an important area to focus on, and we can tell many things by looking closer at the film. We can tell from the clip that the film's set in an urban landscape; it's got main roads, plenty of cars and is surrounded by high rise apartments and buildings. You can also tell about the film's location by the actors accents. For example, when discussing the clip in class we originally thought the film was set in London, considering the back drop, but also from the two gentleman in the background in the opening scene of this clip, whose accents seem to have a very London-ish feel. However upon delving deeper by the looking at the gentlemen who was killed in this clip (Ian Hendry) , his accent was from somewhere more north, like Manchester, or Newcastle. This is just a few ways to find the location of a film.

Here's the clip-

:)