Feedback - Miss Spencer

There is some excellent work here Mitchell, especially in the analysis of the two horror films. You have pointed out the conventions that are present, as well as discussing the meanings behind them, and the way the audience is likely to read the opening.

However I think you need to do a little more work on the Rom-Com analysis. You barely mention conventions, I suspect that is because you are not sure what they are? Can you do some more research into the conventions of Rom-Com and use this to add to your discussion please. For example you could talk about conventions more - e.g the cross cutting of the two main protagonists to imply that they are going to meet - and then not meeting (yet) is a typical convention of Rom-Com. It will improve your work, and your knowledge.

At the moment your work is on a level 2/3 border so does need some more detail adding.

Can you also:

Embed the film clip into the blog post.
Import stills from the film to illustrate your points.
Add a title to the post (otherwise it takes the first line of your work as the title)

Well done and keep up the hard work.

Task 2.1 Friends with Benefits opening analysis / Rom-Com

Film opening - Friends with benefits

Introductory

The introduction of the film shows that the male which is played by Justin Timberlake is a man who spills coffee down his trousers and his to change using his staff’s trousers. This connotes the clumsiness of a stereotypical man, he is also late to his date which is also connotation that he is clumsy and non-committing. The woman is dressed in a white top with heels which shows purity and innocence of the character. The audience think that both Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis are both meeting each other for a date but this is not the case as we watch the opening sequence when he is late in fact they are on two separate dates in different states of the USA. This makes the audience link connections between them already and try to work out what will happen between them next.

Props

The props used in this opening clearly show that the film is set in the modern day. We know this because we see the use of technology several times within the first few minutes of the film, examples of this would be when Dylan (Justin) use his phone when he makes a phone call with his date and even before when he uses the projector to show a presentation and uses his modern laptop o represent the film.

Another prop used in the opening is Dylan’s car which is a convertible, this represents that he is a young but very successful guy that is fun loving and knows what he wants to do with his life.

Lighting

The lighting within the opening scene in both locations of the film where we see Jamie (Mila) and Dylan in another location have both low lighting and the use of the street lights and building is used to shoot the film. This represents romance within the film opening and even though in both scenes it is a break up scene it can suggest that later on in the film it shows that there will be romance again but somewhere else with different people

Setting

In the opening sequence we are introduced to Dylan’s work place, within this building we see all different types of modern technology from a presentation board, smart phones and laptops. This shows that it is a modern setting in the film and as we carry on we get to see the employees that work with Dylan and they are all relatively young. Because of this the room that they are in represents there personality as it is quite colourful and bright and this can show that they are funny and lively people. 

Camera shots

There are many camera shots within the film opening the majority of them  being a shot reverse shot between the two break ups that are occurring. They use this shot though at the start where both Dylan and Jamie are on the phone and this makes the audience think that they are speaking to one another. Because they are discussing a date and where they are going it represents the romantic part of the film but shortly after we see Dylan with another girl that he is meeting and Jamie kisses another man, this highlights the romantic side of the film and this makes the hybrid that is a rom-com.

There is also close up shots of the characters shoulders up, this is so the audience can really catch the emotion from the expressions displayed on the characters face.

Another camera shot is again going back to Dylan’s work place where it is an over the shoulder shot from another work college which can symbolise that Dylan is superior to others around him.

Title

The titles are introduced after Dylan leaves his work place and this is shown on trees and in the windows of shops and other building and this makes the audience think that they might have been there for the whole time of the opening scene.

Music

the music used in the opening scene is very upbeat and has a fast tempo this goes back to both characters being young and joyful living their lives and being happy.  

Task 2.1 Insiduous - Analysis of a Horror Film / Horror

Film opening – Insidious

Conventions of a horror film

·         Dark colours such as red and black to represent darkness

·         Erie music to show the creepiness

·         The location of insidious is in an old house which sets the scene

·         The slow moving shots sets the scene of the horror

·         Camera shots such as zooms and extreme close ups to give us information about the film and possibly the characters.

Introduction

Insidious is a film that was produced in 2010. At the start we see a young child sleeping in their room. We see that the child is then led around the house and sees a shadow in the window, as we focus more into the shadow it turns out to be a ghostly figure of a woman. The camera shot then switches to show us more rooms around the house and each of them have this paranormal feeling. The title is coloured red in a sort of a bloody colour alongside with smoke appearing around the title to represent that it is a horror film as these fit the normal conventions that we associate with the genre. The writing at the start of the film fades away to suggest the paranormal activity such as ghosts and spirits.

Lighting

At the start if the film the lighting is very low with highlights covering only a certain area of each of the rooms. This can symbolise that there is something hidden within the house which is why parts of the rooms are also blacked out. This fits with the horror genre conventions because it is dark and very little light showing.  There is lighting on different props around the house such as the family picture. This again shows that the picture is to have some sort of importance in the film.

Props

The props within the first opening sequence are things such as the grandfather clock, and the family picture. This shows that these might play a part that we need to know about later on in the film. These both also fit in within the horror genre. These props though fit in with the horror genre because they look to be quite old and this adds to the creepy factor of the insidious film because people associate old creepy household ornaments.

Editing

After nearly every shot within the opening there is a fade out from the shot and a fade into the next one. The shots are blurry to start with and then become clear this is to resemble possibly some confusion within the house and set a mysterious thought in the viewer’s head. The shots are black and white and with a little research in this context black are associated with evil and darkness and white suggests purity and goodness. This means that there could be a clash between the both and this may be why we see the light and dark in both rooms to suggest a feud between both sides. They also edited the writing to be a red colour which again is associated with the horror genre and will resemble blood, danger and goriness etc.

Camera shot

At the start we see an establishing shot which shows the scene where the opening is shot and where the rest of the film is based upon.

There is also an aerial shot which is shot down the staircase and at the bottom of the stairs there is a faint shadow that outlines a figure of a person at least that’s what we think it is. This makes people think about what it could be and can make us possibly scared about that thought.

There is also another shot of the grandfather clock but it is tilted to the side and this gives of the image of confusion and unease which can build up the tension of the film at the start of the opening.

Sound

In the opening there is music but it is a disturbing sound like a ringing in your ear. At the start when we first see the shadow a high pitch violin sound which shows a sudden switch in the speed of the film opening.

Task 2.1 Orphan opening analysis / Horror

Film opening - Orphan

Introduction

The first thing we see in the orphan is a child’s black eye. This signifies sorrow and pain as well as sadness. This may also be associated with evil, fitting in with the horror genre of the film.

We know that the main character also known as the protagonist is a girl because she is in the opening sequence and is applying makeup to her face. This fits the connotations of being a girl because in reality we know that it is usually girls that apply makeup to themselves.

This also follows the connotations of being a horror film because we usually associate films with young female girls. They tend to use young girls as the main characters in the horror films because we usually perceive girls and young children to be sweet, innocent and harmless but this goes completely against that perception and this is why most horror films will use a young child.

This is very weird though because the young girl is applying her makeup in a way that she is trying to be older, this means that she might be self-conscious about her body and the way she looks but it doesn’t affect her that much because her face is just smudged with her makeup so we don’t know what to think about her.

Editing

The editing is shown in the sequence when it shows her makeup that she is applying to her face. It switches to a UV shot which shows the different acidic levels in the chemicals of the makeup, red is the highest acidic. As well as this because it is in a UV shot it gives of the affect that she could possibly be hiding something within the makeup and this makes the audience to be drawn into the film and what to watch the rest of the film.

The edit the text to be shown into the opening sequence and it is in a white font with a black background. This is so that the audience can see what the font sees clearly and not struggle to read it. However they keep the font small so that the viewers can keep track of what the girl is still doing in the opening sequence in the background.

They then use a second type of font which is the same font type up but they change the colour to purple, this is so they can still see the font clearly and easily but the connotation of purple is jealousy and this means that later on  the film someone could, become jealous about someone or something.

Props

A prop in the film is that there is a white rose in the opening sequence which suggests purity and innocence, however the rose starts to die or is dying throughout very slowly and this could resemble the plot of the film being that throughout the film purity is lost gradually or it could mean that the girls innocence is lost because something has changed her r took control of her.

Lighting and sound 

Throughout the sequence the lighting is at a very low level so that it hides who the person is and keeps there identity a mystery. This adds to the tension of the opening sequence and can make people think what it is leaving a mystery in their head.

The music fits in with the opening sequence very well because it is a very theatrical sound which fits the connotations of the genre. The music however stays at a similar tempo throughout until the end it builds up slightly and gradually.

All of this slowly draws the audience into the film and creates a cold and chilly atmosphere within the audience. 

Feedback - Miss Spencer

An excellent, detailed evaluation Mitchell. You have noticed what you were asked to do and show understanding of the reasons behind things like the 180 degree rule. However in order to improve I would also like you to mention things that didn't go so well. E.G. why is there a black box around your film? Have you worked out how to fix this yet for your main task?

Preliminary Task

Prelim task evaluation

What is the 180 degree rule?

·         The 180 degree rule is where the camera people do an over the shoulder shot mostly used in a conversation. This is when the cameras do not cross over a line that would mean they are in the shot. When the cameras both switch round to the other side of the conversation completely the actors switch round positions so that they are in the same places.

What is a match on action shot?

·         A match on action is where we take different shots of the same scene and you edit and cut different parts of them together so that it is from different angles and symbolizes different things such as you can take a long shot, then a medium shot and then a close up. This would mean focusing more on the character so that we can see the expression on their face and how they are feeling and feel their emotion. We used this in our film when I was on the phone we cut from seeing my whole body to an extreme close up of the phone and then just a medium shot where you could see my body language and facial expressions over the phone.

What is a match eye line shot?

·         This is where the character is looking towards the camera and is filmed from their front. In our film we tried to do this and experiment with this shot however we were unable to get a clear shot of it and it didn't seem to work with the film as we edited it in the film.

How did the film making process go in terms of filming shots from the storyboard and around the college?

·         I think that filming from the storyboard was good because it gave us clear cut instructions and let us have a bit of structure towards the film we were producing. We could easily show where the camera was meant to be and how we should place it because within the storyboard there were examples of the shot on the people which helped us a lot with positioning.

·         In terms of filming around the college it took longer than what we expected to film the shots this was because we would have people walk in front of the camera, there would be people talking when we were shooting the film and this would then ruin the audio when we cut it all together. To prevent this we would have to either retake the shots so that they were clear and how we wanted them or we would have to edit the audio to make the music in the film louder than the natural sounds like the wind and people speaking etc.

What did we learn about video editing on adobe premiere in terms of using transitions, adding sound and titles?

·         What I learned about adobe premiere was that we cut and edit different shots into the film. This was good because we took multiple shots of different scenes of the film meaning that we could switch to an extreme close up of a certain action or of my face to see facial expressions and feel the emotion. When adding sound I also learned that we could layer different sounds of top of one another and this would make one massive sound. This is good because at the same time as hearing the music we could edit in to hear the natural sound of something else which would build up tension or add more texture to the film. As well as another tool that I was able to learn how to use was the green screen tool. This is good because I was then able to add different features to the film. One green screen that me and Stuart edited into the film was the explosion at the end where the missile strikes the school. This was good because we could fit the missile into proportion with the shot, this then fitted onto the background as we cut out the green screen in the background. Another method that we both learned to use was the adding music to the film. We could layer this to set the scene so that it shows the feelings of the actor and sets the pace of the scene.