Student film openings

Today in class. we looked at various film openings and evaluated them using the mark scheme:

level 1: Minimum ability (0-23)
level 2: Basic ability (24-35)
level 3: Proficient (36-47)
Level 4: Excellent (48-60)

    
Gemini:

In this film opening, it describes the abusive relationship of a man and a woman. The scene suddenly begin with an important scene, this wasn't the best idea because if you think of watching this at a cinema, people would be settling into their seats and not expect such an important action. She kills him straight away and it doesn't let the audience know much about the reasons behind her reasons. However she escapes immediately after watching the news with warnings saying to stay away from her. On the other hand we didn't know this film has a twist, she has a twin sister and shes the one that gets interrogated for suspicion of murder, whilst the other girl escapes to a family friends house in hiding. what went well in this video was the different set of locations, which was effective because it made the story more exciting. However, it would be even better if the they spent more time on editing because it needs improving to hit the high standards of getting into a level 4. i would personally give this opening sequence a high level 3 because the editing needs improving and needs more camera shots involved.

                     

                         

Roses are red:

In this film opening, it tells a story of a girl waking up and getting ready in the morning. she follows her daily routine and 

Production logo: Out of your skull

Institution

Institution from sorayajane

Mise En Scene

Mise En Scene

Mise en scene-A French term meaning 'what is in the scene'. Essentially it is information in front of the camera for the audience to help them to work out what is going on. Each aspect of Mise en Scene has hidden meanings within a film and sends signals to the audience about how we are supposed to feel at a certain point.

It is made up of 5 elements:

- Settings and props:

Settings an locations play an important part in film making and are not just 'backgrounds'. Sets are either built from scratch or a great deal of time spent to find settings which already exists. Settings.Settings can manipulate an audience by building certain expectations and then taking a different turn.

- Costume, hair and make-up:

Costume, hair and make-up act as an instant indicator to us of the characters personality, status and job. It tells us immediately whether the films set in the present and what society/ or culture it will centre around. Certain costumes can signify certain individuals(e.g black cloak from a vampire, a cowboys Stetson or James Bond tuxedo)

- Facial expressions and body language:

Facial expressions provide a clear indicator of how someone is feeling. If someone is smiling broadly, we assume they are happy but we may get a different feeling if this is a accompanied by scary music. Body language may also indicate how a character feels towards another character or reflect the state of their relationship.

- Lighting and colour;
Lighting and colour can be used to achieve a variety of effects:
-to highlight important characters or objects within the frame
-to make characters look mysterious by shading sections of the face and body
-to reflect a characters mental state/hidden emotions
types of lighting:
-low key lighting (created by using only the key and back lights, produces sharp contrast of light and dark areas, deep distinct shadows)
-High key lighting (more filter lights are used, lighting is natural and realistic to eyes)

- Positioning of characters and objects within the frame:
Positioning within the frame can draw our attention to an important character/object. A film maker can use positioning to indicate relationships between people.

In this picture of Batman, you can see him facing the camera, you can probably say he's standing on a roof because you can see the buildings below him quite small so that you just focus on him. Batman is wearing his famous super hero costume and you instantly know who he is and that the film he represents is science fiction. His black outfit and serious pose, makes him look mysterious but dangerous. The photo has been taken from a low angle to make his body look bigger and stronger, which makes him have a greater status. This positioning of the frame draws your attention to him and indicates the film is obviously based around this character. The low key lighting surrounding the sides sets a terrifying mood to the scene and doesn't make the film look at all happy. The bright white light that highlights Batman has been used to make him look even more important and stand out, however the low key lighting around him could hide hidden danger or reflect the characters emotions. to summarise, the serious expression on his face gives a clear indicator of hidden hate and seeks revenge.

Representation

Representation

Definitions:

Stereotypes – Media institutions use stereotypes because the audience will instantly understand them. Think of stereotypes as a ‘visual shortcut’. They’re repeated so often that we assume they are normal or ‘true’.

Archetypes - This is the ‘ultimate’ stereotype. 

Countertype -A representation that challenges traditional stereotypical associations of groups, people or places.

Representation – the way in which people, events and ideas are presented to the audience. To break it down, the media takes something that is already there and re-presents it to us in the way that they choose.

These representations are created by the producers (anyone who makes a media text) of media texts. What they choose to present to us is controlled by Gatekeepers…

Gatekeepers-A media ‘gatekeeper’ is a person involved in a media production with the power to make a decision about something the audience are allowed to read, hear or see – and, of course, not get to see; for instance, a newspaper editor has the final say on what goes into his or her newspaper, where it goes within the pages, next to what other piece, with which pictures, strap-lines and headlines, etc.

E.g. in a newspaper the reporter would be the producer and the editor would be the gatekeeper. However the owner of the company would have the final say.

Moguls-But in the example of the newspaper editor’s decision, this will not be made freely: it will have been affected by technical issues, by the kind of person who owns the newspaper, for example (i.e. the so-called media moguls, such as Rupert Mudorch), and by many other things.

Who, What, Why, Where?

When you’re analysing representation, think about the following questions:

-          WHO or what is being representing? Who is the preferred audience for this representation?

-          WHAT are they doing? Is their activity presented as typical or atypical? Are they conforming to genre expectations or other conventions?

-          WHY are they present? What purpose do they serve? What are they communicating by their presence? What’s preferred reading?

-          WHERE are they? How are they framed? Are they represented as natural or artificial? What surrounds them? What is in the foreground and what is in the background?

Representation Theory

The Male Gaze (Laura Mulvey)

The cinema apparatus of Hollywood cinema puts the audience in a masculine subject position with the woman on the screen seen as an object of desire. Film and cinematography are structures upon ideas.

Protagonists tended to be men. Mulvey suggests two distinct modes of male gaze – “voyeuristic (women as whores) and fetishistic – women as unreachable Madonna’s”. (Also narcissistic – women watching the film see themselves reflected on the screen).

How we treat people (Richard Dyer)

Dyer argues that how we are seen determines how we are treated and how we treat other people is based on how we see them. This comes from our understanding of representation.

He believes that stereotypes come down to power. Those who have power stereotype those who don’t. 

Myths (Roland Barthes)                                                                                                    
Barthes theory looks quite closely at the idea of mythology, usually in regards to people and places. He suggested that the media often gives us mythic representation or a fairy tale like portrayal or a particular place

Narrative

Narrative: (Pixar short film

Equilibrium - The setting is on a side of a cliff on a very sunny day. By the end of the clip, the weather gets foggy.

Disruption - The disruption is that his dream if to be able to fly but he knows he cant without wings

Recognition of disruption -  Realising he cant fly without wing, he starts attaching trees to the side of the cliff so that when he finally dives down, it will look like he's flying normally.

Attempt to repair disruption - After the kiwi works his whole life preparing the trees in place, knowing he's going to die when he falls, he prepares himself to fly and accomplish his dream.

Reinstatement of equilibrium - He fulfils his dream and flies however sadly resulting in death.

Vladimir Propp stated that any story, there has to be a limited number of character types, with whom each of them have their own purpose in the film. The types of characters include the hero, the heroine/princess, the villain, the princesses father, the donor/mentor and the helper that assists the hero through his adventure. For this short film there is no hero, princess, mentor, helper or princesses father. There is only a villain and normal characters. In Disney's film Aladdin they have all of the characters.

Practicing editing

In class we started practcing to use a programe called, Adobe Premiere Pro. This programe is useful for when you are making music videos or films. As a practice, we imported lots of videos of dancing bears, james bond, and different music clips. combining the music and the clips, we created our own short music video and uploaded it to youtube. Not only did we make a music video, edited using the differnt tools. for example, we used a tool called cross dissolve to make the video fade into black at the end of the clip. this was useful becuase it made the video flow more evenly and not end sharply.

Distinct

Distinct:



Settings: its set in the present year. Its set in America as you can tell by their accents but also the scenery around them, one example being the yellow taxis.
Themes:
Icons: the yellow taxi is a main feature you would find in America.
Narrative: its based on this couple that are newly married however they accidently have a car crash and she loses all her memory. sadly she forgets all about her past so he tries to recover her memories.
Characters: they have two widely used film stars, Rachel mc Adams and channing Tatum.
Genre: Its a romantic film, you instantly find this out through the trailer when you see a very close happy couple.
What went well: In this film trailer, the music has been used very effectively because you can hear a very dramatic change from happy to sad.
Even better if: they should have shown you less of the film so that it was less predictable and more intriguing.




Settings:it's set in the future, on a ship full of monsters and powers
Themes: it's a si fi film, it has
Icons: it has aliens and a space ship, this signifies that it's a si fi
Narrative: it's a about this group of superheroes working together to save the planet
Characters: there's several main characters due to they are a team however the one that has the most screen time is
Genre: it's a si fi
What went well:
Even better if:
what the films about
when its set
props
significant object:orb
characters


A film Trailer of my choice:





Settings:
Themes:
Icons:
Narrative:
Characters:
Genre:
What went well:
Even better if:

Film Pitch

Delusion:Thriller

In class we had to go into groups of three and create a power point presentation of our movie. We got given a genre and fro that we had to come up with a understandable story line to fit in with the genre. Also we had to explain the plot, characters, and what advertising mechanisms we would use.

In my group we had the genre 'Thriller', from this we

Genre

What is genre?

Genre is a style or category of art, music, or literature, after looking at genre, Genre defines the type of film, it gives the audience a representation of hat to expect of that particular movie, before they make the decision of viewing it. For example if the genre was si-fi,immediately the audience would expect aliens, setting in outer space, powers.

In class, we then went away to make our own film posters for five different genres.(si-fi, horror,action,romance and comedy). we went into groups and only using the school grounds for resources we tried to be as creative as possible.

Horror:

This photo was taken in the year 11 girl toilets. we turned the lights off to set the mood as scary and mysterious. however even though we turned all the artificial lights off, sadly the room was still quite light. we tried to use all the features you would expect a horror movie, a creepy character, the reflection through the mirror and the dark setting. these key features will help the audience detect the genre straight away. i think our photo went reasonably well considering the lighting issues.

Rom Com:

Our Romantic Comedy, went imposingly well due to the bright natural lighting which makes the picture look vibrant and happy. the colours of the shot also make it look more relaxed and humorous as the colours create an unrealistic effect. This picture truly sums up romance due two the couple lovingly holding hands with a flower wall behind them. this typical set up, could cross styles with films such as twilight when the couple are holding hands on a field.

Action:

Action was the most intresting shoot becuase we had lots of ideas and decided that action mostly relates to cars. due to this, we went to take our photo in the car park. the way shes posing is under the car to give a mysterious action effect. with the camera solely focusing on the girl, it makes the picture look more intreging. looking at what shes wearing, it doesnt look like a normal action film you would expect.

Comedy:

We found comedy, surprisingly difficult becuase and therefore our picture was least sucsessful becuase it has no real relevence to humour. However the grin on her face makes the photo look less serious and culd lead to a funny escape from somewhere. On the other hand, the high key lighting backs up the happy expression and mood of the film. If the lighting was any dimmer, the audience would be confused with the genre and might think it was a horror.

Si-Fi:

This picture creates the idea of alien life form and imediatly strikes the audiences attention. This picture was probably the most sucsessful due to our editing skills to create this alien figure. the mishaped eye is intended to make you feel uncomfortable, however its bright lighting shows its not filled with lots of dark scenes. This creepy, eary shot went as expected becuase its easiliy recognised as a Si-Fi film.

Semiotics

Denotations:

The colour yellow makes the image happy look and gives the impression of the sun being out.

This picture makes you think of people struggling, one world is wealthy and the other is poor and suggests that the divide of status is important in this movie. 

The bold black title 'upside down' in between the two worlds is boldly showing a divide.
The black colour in the image gives the theme a more of a bold and mysterious touch onto it. 

Connotations:

The film poster shows a couple trying to hold hands, so love is the key feature to this poster. this gives you an idea of love being a struggle because they live in separate worlds. The main characters are looking into each others eyes, and the fact that they cant reach each others hands, shows a sad side to the movie.
The image shows a side view of the scene, a caption that impulses, direct attention to the different worlds and main characters. in conclusion, the image is happy due to the choice of colours however, theres a great struggle between the destined couple.

Semiotics

Semiotics

Semiotics-The study of signs, also of anything which stands for 'something else'.
When we read images and pictures in an attempt to decode them and make sense of what they mean to us.

Denotation- What we see when we look at an image (what it is)
connotation- What we understand from this image (what other meanings it has)





The opening sequence of 'Harry potter and the Philosophers stone' is very effective because it puts across the genre, setting, characters and ideology.
The film starts with a fade in shot of a street sign  with the name 'Pivet Drive' on it. This shows we already have a vague idea of the location of where this film begins. The street sign reminds me of familiar London signs.

Denotations:

The colour yellow title makes the image happy look and gives the impression of the sun being out.

This scene makes you think of a lonely, abandoned baby being stranded and finally being rescued 

The bold white glow draws your attention straight away
a lot of the colour blue has been used for a positive calm response for the opening

The darkness makes the scene very mysterious and brings a tense attention 

Connotations:

The film shows two of the main characters looking for a special baby boy, which shows he might be very important later on, so love is the key feature to this poster, because it shows them taking someone into their own care. this gives you an idea of love being a struggle because they live in separate worlds. The main characters are looking into each others eyes, with hope