This video shows some of the video files that I've captured in my spare time in preparation to filming our groups' opening sequence using the Canon 600D provided by school that will also be available for use during the filming of the opening sequence. Some of the things learned during the production of this video was focusing the camera much better on the desired subject, as at the start I've had trouble focusing especially in dark environments. As you can tell with the opening of the video seconds 0:04 to 0:08. After that shots are fairly well focused when camera is moved at reasonable speed.
Friday, 29 November 2013
Film shots and framing
Each cinematographer and director has a slightly different definition of framing and shot sizes, but the definitions are similar enough to the following list of traditional shots:
- Wide shot (which also can work as an establishing shot)
- Medium shot
- Two shot
- Close-up
The wide shot
A wide shot reveals where the scene is taking place. Also referred to as a long shot or master shot, a wide shot helps orient the audience. A wide shot also gives the actors room to move within a shot, without the camera having to follow them. Medium shots and close-ups are often cut into a wide shot for variation.
Medium shots
A medium shot in film making is a standard shot that usually shows a character from belly button to slightly above the actor's head. A medium shot is more intimate than a wide shot, but provides more breathing space for the actor than a close-up. A medium shot in film also is used when you have an actor holding something in the frame or elaborating with his hands.
Two-shot
A two shot can either be a form of a medium shot that has two actors standing or sitting next to each other or an over-the-shoulder shot where one actor's back or profile is closer to the camera than the other actor facing the camera. A two shot can save time and money when you have a dialogue scene between two actors by having them both in the frame as they carry on their conversation. The audience diverts their attention to each actor as they speak, instead of having the camera cut to individual shots of each actor speaking. This is also effective when two characters are walking and talking side by side in a two shot.
Close-up
A film-making close-up shot is usually from above a person's chest or the nape of her neck to just slightly above the top of her head. If you get in closer, so that the actor's head fills most of the frame, you have a tight close-up. Going in even tighter, to a person's eyes or mouth, gives you an extreme close-up. Close-ups create a sense of intimacy and the feeling that you're involved in the scene. They also reveal emotion in the eyes or the hint of a smile.
It is important for us to know these shots and how to use them effectively in order to gain the maximum effect on the audience as well as being able to tell the story fluently through out our opening sequence.
Thursday, 28 November 2013
Costume and Props list
Scene 1
The first scene replicates the final scene in terms of costume and props. This is because the first scene foreshadows what is going to happen later on in the film and the opening sequence.
- Gun
- Briefcase
- School Bag
Naglis is wearing a black, mysterious looking jacket, alongside further dark attire, such as a non hooded jumper and trousers. The overall costume is similar to a spy like presentation. The protagonist, Ben is wearing casual designer clothes such as a Jack Wills jumper and super dry jeans. This shows our protagonist to be vulnerable to large brands, and presents an image of consumerism at its most graphic.
Scene 2
This scene is mainy focussed on the home lifestyle of the protagonist, and will therefore be filmed at his house within the film.
- Grey alarm clock
- Bran flakes cereal, alongside blue cereal bowl, and almost empty bottle of milk.
- Black, manual toothbrush.
- School bag
- Paper, scrunched up pieces being flung into a plastic bin.
- The protagonist will be the only character to feature in this scene, due to the focus on his lifestyle. He will be wearing nightwear initially, for example, a white t-shirt and sport shorts, alongside a black dressing gown and slippers. In the latter stage of the scene, after the toilet aspect of the scene, the protagonist will be seen walking out of a room putting on a Jack Wills jumper, alongside with the rest of the clothing indicated in the latter scene.
Scene 3
This scene goes back to the scenario shown in the initial scene, so the props are similar, the only difference in props is indicated below:
- Brown folder within briefcase.
- The costumes will be the same as shown in the initial scene.
- The costumes will be the same as shown in the initial scene.
All these props will help to create the effect of a dull, tedious, repetitive life that is no longer bearable for the protagonist in our opening sequence.
Hard Living Opening Sequence Analysis
Mise en Scene
The scene is strikingly dark and condensed which sets up an intimidating atmosphere, representing the overall genre well. The graffiti also plays a role in signifying the nature as it is often recognized in suburban and potentially threatening areas.
The mise en scene establishes the character well as it shows several shots of him before any other characters appear. The genre is also established due to the suburban nature of the setting. The genre is evidently a Crime/Drama hybrid genre. The murky, cloudy weather being signified at the beginning denotes potentially a depressing, tragic aspect to the film.
The costumes used add to the intimidating atmosphere. This is because of the dark colours, connoting danger and evil. The fact that the characters are wearing hoodies reflects society in the sequence, as hoodies are often seen as intimidating items of clothing through several sections of society. The opening sequence essentially supports stereotypes, with the costumes and several other aspects.
Sound
The music essentially goes in a circle as to how it is structured, this is due to the fact that the same soundtrack is played at the beginning and the end. This may be due to the fact that this is the way the story line is structured, as the main character is shown being killed in the opening sequence which must mean the story line is reflecting the sequence of events which lead to this incident.
The genre of the music reflects the suburban style of the setting, with its tough sound reflecting the lifestyle of the main character.
The voice over is from the main character, signifying a large part of the story as it is made evident the main character is dead, despite it being so early into the film. The voice over is played during the black and white scenes, this connotes the grim nature of the situation.
Camera
A variety of shots have been used, most notably the point of view shot from the main character towards what appears to be the nemesis is used in order to emphasize the threatening nature of the character. This contrasts with the point of view shot after the main characters death, as the scenery is shown to be more fuzzy, and in a more depressing light.
Close up shots have been used in order to signify the rough culture of the setting, this is due to the emphasis on the graffiti, which can be deemed as something you would be likely to see in a rough area. Panning shots of London landmarks give a background to the film, it shows that the criminal activities within London will be depicted.
A high angle handheld tracking shot of the main character running towards the camera contrasts with the low angle shot of the main character running towards the camera later in the scene, and the different shots are used to signify the differences of before and after death.
Editing
A subtle fade in at the very beginning as well as fast cuts of several aspects of the setting establishes the suburban scene. Transitions used between shots are primarily cuts, featuring cross fades, this suits of the UK style of establishing the London scene.
During the scene, there are several overlapping references to a character running on top of the core scene, this shows the film is likely to emphasize a threatening nature due to the constant desire to run away from certain situations.
There is a balance between fast paced shots as well as one long shot. The long shot contains several threatening looking dressed characters slowly walking towards the main character. This long shot edit contrasted with the fast paced shots produces tension. The short, fast paced scenes mainly signifies the fast nature of the area and how it is difficult for the main character to keep up with.
After the death of the main character, the many cross faded shots which consists of a lack of colours contrasts with the earlier scenes, as there is a high amount of colour emphasized, after the death, no colour is shown. This suggests that there is a lack of life in the scene, which is mainly down to the fact that the main character has died. Towards the end of the scene, a character is shown walking into the light, before the screen descending into thick black colours, this could signify the end of the characters life.
Narrative Enigma’s
Certain narrative enigmas have been included in order to intrigue the audience, this includes:
Why does the nemesis figure feel he is owed money?
Why is the main character killed so early into the film?
What is his mum’s reaction to the event? due to his reference to her.
What type of deal has occurred between the main character and the nemesis?
The scene is strikingly dark and condensed which sets up an intimidating atmosphere, representing the overall genre well. The graffiti also plays a role in signifying the nature as it is often recognized in suburban and potentially threatening areas.
The mise en scene establishes the character well as it shows several shots of him before any other characters appear. The genre is also established due to the suburban nature of the setting. The genre is evidently a Crime/Drama hybrid genre. The murky, cloudy weather being signified at the beginning denotes potentially a depressing, tragic aspect to the film.
The costumes used add to the intimidating atmosphere. This is because of the dark colours, connoting danger and evil. The fact that the characters are wearing hoodies reflects society in the sequence, as hoodies are often seen as intimidating items of clothing through several sections of society. The opening sequence essentially supports stereotypes, with the costumes and several other aspects.
Sound
The music essentially goes in a circle as to how it is structured, this is due to the fact that the same soundtrack is played at the beginning and the end. This may be due to the fact that this is the way the story line is structured, as the main character is shown being killed in the opening sequence which must mean the story line is reflecting the sequence of events which lead to this incident.
The genre of the music reflects the suburban style of the setting, with its tough sound reflecting the lifestyle of the main character.
The voice over is from the main character, signifying a large part of the story as it is made evident the main character is dead, despite it being so early into the film. The voice over is played during the black and white scenes, this connotes the grim nature of the situation.
Camera
A variety of shots have been used, most notably the point of view shot from the main character towards what appears to be the nemesis is used in order to emphasize the threatening nature of the character. This contrasts with the point of view shot after the main characters death, as the scenery is shown to be more fuzzy, and in a more depressing light.
Close up shots have been used in order to signify the rough culture of the setting, this is due to the emphasis on the graffiti, which can be deemed as something you would be likely to see in a rough area. Panning shots of London landmarks give a background to the film, it shows that the criminal activities within London will be depicted.
A high angle handheld tracking shot of the main character running towards the camera contrasts with the low angle shot of the main character running towards the camera later in the scene, and the different shots are used to signify the differences of before and after death.
Editing
A subtle fade in at the very beginning as well as fast cuts of several aspects of the setting establishes the suburban scene. Transitions used between shots are primarily cuts, featuring cross fades, this suits of the UK style of establishing the London scene.
During the scene, there are several overlapping references to a character running on top of the core scene, this shows the film is likely to emphasize a threatening nature due to the constant desire to run away from certain situations.
There is a balance between fast paced shots as well as one long shot. The long shot contains several threatening looking dressed characters slowly walking towards the main character. This long shot edit contrasted with the fast paced shots produces tension. The short, fast paced scenes mainly signifies the fast nature of the area and how it is difficult for the main character to keep up with.
After the death of the main character, the many cross faded shots which consists of a lack of colours contrasts with the earlier scenes, as there is a high amount of colour emphasized, after the death, no colour is shown. This suggests that there is a lack of life in the scene, which is mainly down to the fact that the main character has died. Towards the end of the scene, a character is shown walking into the light, before the screen descending into thick black colours, this could signify the end of the characters life.
Narrative Enigma’s
Certain narrative enigmas have been included in order to intrigue the audience, this includes:
Why does the nemesis figure feel he is owed money?
Why is the main character killed so early into the film?
What is his mum’s reaction to the event? due to his reference to her.
What type of deal has occurred between the main character and the nemesis?
Types of Lighting used in film
Lighting a scene for film is an important part of the process as If done incorrectly, viewers will not see enough of the scene or see too much and not generate the desired emotional response. When done correctly, just enough information is conveyed and the viewer can attach an emotion to the image they are seeing.
There are five basic types of lights that are commonly used to light a subject:
Key Light
This is the main light on the subject and will generally be the brightest light in the scene. Together with a fill and backlight, this will make up the basics of three-point lighting. The key light is generally placed in front of the subject and off to the side. You can vary the appearance of the key by making it a spotlight, which will create a hard key with definitive shadows, or flooding it for a soft key with less shadows.
Fill Light
The fill light is used to fill in the dark spots that the key light creates. It is placed on the opposite side of the subject as the key light and is generally a less intense light. Also, the fill should be more of a flood light for a softer light than the key.
Backlight
This light is placed in back of the subject to light it from the rear. This will provide a light ring on the edges of the subject, which will separate it from the background and add more dimension to the framing.
Background Light
A background light can be used to light the background of the subject. It is generally placed behind the subject and aimed towards the background of the scene. This type of lighting can be useful in illuminating the background of a dark scene for added depth
Practical Lights
Practical lights are lights that can be seen within the scene. Examples include lamps and other lighting decorations that will be in the shot. These lights can double as decorations as well as sources for the light in your scene. Practical lights will also inform the direction of the lighting of your scene.
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Fight Club Opening Sequence Analysis
The opening starts with a quick sound of an old classical music and after about 2 seconds the soundtrack changes into a loud, full of beat tune and it being low key creates a creepy atmosphere.
As the credits finish the pulling out of the brain fades into an extreme close up of what we discover to be a gun inside someone's mouth. At the same time there is diegetic narration that mentions the name "Tyler Duran." This establishes two characters for the audience and creates and enigma, as we are wondering what is the link between them. At the same time another enigma is created as the person who holds the gun speaks, but we can only see a close up of his arm and later backside, which creates a mystery of who he is. He mentions the time of "3 minutes" and asks if the other person has any "last words to mark the occasion." This is another confusion for the audience, as we are wondering why he is so specific with time and if the occasion is killing the man or something else. There is a slight humor to break the tension as the man attempts to talk with the gun in his mouth and when his mouth is free he says "I can't think of anything." This little moment in the opening is a huge enigma, as the film has a non-linear narrative and as it starts at the end, we have no idea what is the story behind what is going on.
The movement on the screen is fast paced in dark colours and it is supposed to reflect the inside of someone's brain. The camerawork shows very precise details and there are sort of electrical impulses running through the brain that can represent different feelings, in case of this atmosphere it is more likely to be fear and confusion. The scale is changed the whole time, so the audience are able to see close ups of different lobes and also medium shots of other brain chords, nerve connections and particles. What is also interesting to notice that as the sequence goes on the pores seem to be more and more clogged. Overall this represents and shows that the film will have a lot to do with someone's thinking, mental stability and there is going to be a lot to think about for the audience as well. The credits are going on at the same time and Brad Pitt has one of the main roles, which will attract more audience.
As the credits finish the pulling out of the brain fades into an extreme close up of what we discover to be a gun inside someone's mouth. At the same time there is diegetic narration that mentions the name "Tyler Duran." This establishes two characters for the audience and creates and enigma, as we are wondering what is the link between them. At the same time another enigma is created as the person who holds the gun speaks, but we can only see a close up of his arm and later backside, which creates a mystery of who he is. He mentions the time of "3 minutes" and asks if the other person has any "last words to mark the occasion." This is another confusion for the audience, as we are wondering why he is so specific with time and if the occasion is killing the man or something else. There is a slight humor to break the tension as the man attempts to talk with the gun in his mouth and when his mouth is free he says "I can't think of anything." This little moment in the opening is a huge enigma, as the film has a non-linear narrative and as it starts at the end, we have no idea what is the story behind what is going on.
The antagonist-potential killer and the protagonist-victim are established, as well as the mysterious persona Tyler Duran. The setting is in the dark and the atmosphere with gun is very tense and nerving, which creates a worrying mood. Just from this little clip the genre of the film can be established as a thriller and there are a lot of enigmas and puzzles created for the audience right from the start.
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
'SE7EN' - Opening Sequence Analysis
At the very beginning of the sequence you see someone that looks like they are investigating something although unclear what yet, it shows a book that someone is reading and the environment is nothing like police or detective as it has creepy and eerie darkness surrounding most objects. The middle part of the sequence shows a character writing and crossing out different text, it also displays disturbing photographs which are also being crossed out. These disturbing images suggest to the audience that this person is the bad guy or has a violent personality. The ending to the sequence shows something being completed as it is being fully filed in. The whole opening sequence doesn't give much away as it is very mysterious and looks like is just used to create atmosphere for the audience. Different rapidly flashing images and very quick transitioning shots create even more mystery as the audience still have no idea what is going on and while being presented with more and more information which just gains more questions to be answered.
The props and setting used in certain parts of the sequence makes the audience aware of the genre of the film as the they are typical for horror/thriller type films this includes the use of dark colours such as black and red which are conventional of the genre , so the audience get an insight on what the film may be about. The use of items like the razor blade is also conventional of this genre, so this type of use of props makes the genre of the film very clear from very start of the film.
Tuesday, 5 November 2013
Media Practice Shots Edit
This video shows some of the practice shots in preparation for preliminary task and the opening sequence as variety of different shots are being practiced, varying all the way from close ups to establishing shots. Another benefit from this video i produced in my spare time was that i could practice filming different from different angles and unique shots as well as editing them together to create a sense of flow.
Key terms and concepts.
Audience – viewers, listeners and readers of a media text. A lot of media studies is concerned with how audience use texts and the effects a text may have on them. Also identified in demographic socio-economic categories.
Binary Opposites – the way opposites are used to create interest in media texts, such as good/bad, coward/hero, youth/age, black/white. By Barthes and Levi-Strauss who also noticed another important feature of these ‘binary opposites’: that one side of the binary pair is always seen by a particular society or culture as more valued over the other.Censorship – Control over the content of a media text – sometimes by the government, but usually by a regulatory body like the British Board of Film censors.
Context – time, place or mindset in which we consume media products.Conventions – the widely recognized way of doing things in particular genre.Denotation – the everyday or common sense meaning of a sign. Connotation – the secondary meaning that a sign carries in addition to it’s everyday meaning.
Diegetic Sound – Sound whose source is visible on the screen Non Diegetic sound – Sound effects, music or narration which is added afterwardsEnigma – A question in a text that is not immediately answered and creates interest for the audience – a puzzle that the audience has to solve.Feminism – the struggle by women to obtain equal rights in societyGaze – the idea that the way we look at something, and the way somebody looks at you, is structured by the way we view the world. Feminist Laura Mulvey suggests that looking involves power, specifically the look of men at women, implying that men have power over women.Genre – the type or category of a media text, according to its form, style and content.
Hegemony – Traditionally this describes the predominance of one social class over another, in media terms this is how the controllers of the media may on the one hand use the media to pursue their own political interest, but on the other hand the media is a place where people who are critical of the establishment can air their views.Ideology – A set of ideas or beliefs which are held to be acceptable by the creators of the media text, maybe in line with those of the dominant ruling social groups in society, or alternative ideologies such as feminist ideology.
Image – a visual representation of something.Institutions – The organisations which produce and control media texts such as the BBC, AOL Time Warner, News International.Media product – a text that has been designed to be consumed by an audience. E.G a film, radio show, newspaper etc.Mise en Scene – literally ‘what’s in the shot’ everything that appears on the screen in a single frame and how this helps the audience to decode what’s going on.
Montage – putting together of visual images to form a sequence. Made famous by Russian film maker Eisenstein in his famous film Battleship Potemkin.
Non-verbal communication – communication between people other than by speech.
Propaganda – the way ruling classes use the mass media to control or alter the attitudes of others.
Representation – The way in which the media ‘re-presents’ the world around us in the form of signs and codes for audiences to read.
Signified – the ‘thing’ that conveys the meaning, and the meaning conveyed. EG a red rose is a signifier, the signified is love
Sound Effects – additional sounds other than dialogue or music, designed to add realism or atmosphere.
Stereotype – representation of people or groups of people by a few characteristics eg hoodies, blondes
Still – static image.
Sub-genre – a genre within a genre.
close up – a shot which provides a very close view of a character or object. Handy for showing expressions, or allowing the audience to read onscreen writing.
dolly – a device for moving a camera along on wheels. Used for tracking shots.
establishing shot – a shot shown at the the start of a scene to establish the location. This is often a wide angled shot, so as to reveal as much of the location as possible.
Binary Opposites – the way opposites are used to create interest in media texts, such as good/bad, coward/hero, youth/age, black/white. By Barthes and Levi-Strauss who also noticed another important feature of these ‘binary opposites’: that one side of the binary pair is always seen by a particular society or culture as more valued over the other.Censorship – Control over the content of a media text – sometimes by the government, but usually by a regulatory body like the British Board of Film censors.
Context – time, place or mindset in which we consume media products.Conventions – the widely recognized way of doing things in particular genre.Denotation – the everyday or common sense meaning of a sign. Connotation – the secondary meaning that a sign carries in addition to it’s everyday meaning.
Diegetic Sound – Sound whose source is visible on the screen Non Diegetic sound – Sound effects, music or narration which is added afterwardsEnigma – A question in a text that is not immediately answered and creates interest for the audience – a puzzle that the audience has to solve.Feminism – the struggle by women to obtain equal rights in societyGaze – the idea that the way we look at something, and the way somebody looks at you, is structured by the way we view the world. Feminist Laura Mulvey suggests that looking involves power, specifically the look of men at women, implying that men have power over women.Genre – the type or category of a media text, according to its form, style and content.
Hegemony – Traditionally this describes the predominance of one social class over another, in media terms this is how the controllers of the media may on the one hand use the media to pursue their own political interest, but on the other hand the media is a place where people who are critical of the establishment can air their views.Ideology – A set of ideas or beliefs which are held to be acceptable by the creators of the media text, maybe in line with those of the dominant ruling social groups in society, or alternative ideologies such as feminist ideology.
Image – a visual representation of something.Institutions – The organisations which produce and control media texts such as the BBC, AOL Time Warner, News International.Media product – a text that has been designed to be consumed by an audience. E.G a film, radio show, newspaper etc.Mise en Scene – literally ‘what’s in the shot’ everything that appears on the screen in a single frame and how this helps the audience to decode what’s going on.
Montage – putting together of visual images to form a sequence. Made famous by Russian film maker Eisenstein in his famous film Battleship Potemkin.
Non-verbal communication – communication between people other than by speech.
Propaganda – the way ruling classes use the mass media to control or alter the attitudes of others.
Representation – The way in which the media ‘re-presents’ the world around us in the form of signs and codes for audiences to read.
Signified – the ‘thing’ that conveys the meaning, and the meaning conveyed. EG a red rose is a signifier, the signified is love
Sound Effects – additional sounds other than dialogue or music, designed to add realism or atmosphere.
Stereotype – representation of people or groups of people by a few characteristics eg hoodies, blondes
Still – static image.
Sub-genre – a genre within a genre.
close up – a shot which provides a very close view of a character or object. Handy for showing expressions, or allowing the audience to read onscreen writing.
dolly – a device for moving a camera along on wheels. Used for tracking shots.
establishing shot – a shot shown at the the start of a scene to establish the location. This is often a wide angled shot, so as to reveal as much of the location as possible.
How far do you agree that the representation of Lady Gaga fits into Gauntlett and McRobbie’s view of female representation?
Useful document when thinking about the representations within the final opening sequence. what should they be? how should they be shown? Effect of representing individuals in a certain way within the opening sequence?
Binary Opposites Analysis (The Dark Knight)
This task was especially useful as we got the opportunity to study The Dark Knight which is an action/adventure/thriller genre which is the genre that i plan to use for my opening sequence later on. During this task we learned number of different conventions that this genre contains such as the overall colour scheme , props , locations, costumes and pace of events. As well as thinking about different representations shown within the Dark Knight trailer.
Preliminary Task Evaluation
How did filming go?
we worked well as a team and had an idea of what shots we wanted to include as well as having already prepared a storyboard beforehand and discussed what would be the best way to shoot them.
Having friends that agreed to help out and work as additional actors for our task proved to be useful as it meant we now had more people and could get filming done quicker.
How did editing go?
Having had practice with the software and knowing how we want the final video to look we just got on with it and were working really effectively without wasting any time. Although we did learn new things meanwhile editing preliminary task material.
Any Problems Encountered?
Some of the problems included that we didn't have any professional actors which meant we had to re-film same scenes over and over again until we had good looking shots without any people in the background as well as being happy with the quality of actor work. Another problem we encountered was the quality of audio , the dialogue between our actors sounded really washed out with a lot of background noise. We fixed this by re-recording the audio separately and then syncing the audio clip with the already filmed actors.Strengths?
Our major strengths were our teamwork which allowed us to overcome some of the problems encountered last minute and get a decent looking result fairly fast, I was also happy with most camera shots and the music choices our group has come up with.Weakness?
the main weaknesses would be our actors , having very limited amount of time which meant we had to rush some of the things and having to solve problems quickly in order to meet deadlines.Same next time?
Things to keep same next time would be the team work , nice steady and varied shots as before ,and effective editing.Different next time?
Maybe try and find more people outside our group who are good actors which will not only improve quality of our work because of better acting quality but also will allow our group members to focus on the technical side of things such as making sure that the scene is set right , no random people in the background , variety of shots , more time for editing etc.
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