Preliminary exercise: Evaluation

Brief: This exercise involves filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule. 

Planning process and pre-production: The planning consisted of firstly devising a storyboard. The storyboard acts as a graphic organizer in the form of illustrations displayed in a desired sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing the look of our clip. Next, we created a shot list based from the storyboard which consisted of a full log of all the shots we wanted to include in our clip. It was used essentially like a checklist and ensured a sense of direction whilst we were filming. Lastly, we devised the script. This helps us establish the narrative. What makes the script so crucial however is the fact that In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated. This is such a critical part of our pre-production as it enables our group to be decisive as we are now supplied elaborate detail so we are fully confident as to what our clip will consist of.

Strengths: To begin, I think that the strongest aspect of this clip is the use of humour. I felt that our clip ensured that the audience could genuinely enjoy watching the clip. Also, the use of enigma codes built tension and intrigued the audience. Along with this, the action codes created fear or humour. In addition, I felt that we successfully demonstrated all the key skills such as the 180-degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot. Finally, I felt that the clip was well put together in the sense that our use of mine-en-scene was parallel to the visuals. 

Weaknesses: However, this clip consisted of many weaknesses. For instance, I felt that it was too dependent on dialogue to explain the plot. At times, there were parts of the story missing such as how the protagonist arrived at the antagonist's house. Moreover, there is bad noise quality which is most prominent in the exterior scene at the beginning. This could have been due to the lack of use of the microphone on our persons. This same scene was filmed in the dark where lighting was not desirable, if we had filmed an hour earlier, we might have achieved a better feel. What really made our clip lack in quality was the fact that we had to use our mobile phones to film several scenes too. Additionally, I found that the editing was not fast paced enough. We could have built tension more steadily with better editing. Finally, our sound consisted primarily of non-digetic sound rather than diegetic which could have been used to add an interesting aspect to our clip.

Conclusion: To conclude, I think this clip is lacking vastly in any impressive cinematography but it manages to retain an interesting narrative. I also think we learnt a lot through all the mistakes we made, which is what ultimately makes this clip a successful attempt at the preliminary task.

Boys N The Hood Review

Boyz n the Hood is a 1991 American, Coming of age, teen hood drama film written and directed by first-time film-maker, John Singleton who grew up in the “hood.” Singleton portrays the challenging upbringing of adolescents who have to live in harsh conditions around not only their own homes but also their neighbourhood. 

To me, this film stuck me as the process of transitioning between childhood and adulthood in which we go through developing an identity and a personal philosophy. The main character and protagonist, Tre has to battle through two distinctly clashing societies, hood culture and mainstream culture and to make the right decisions regarding his future. As well as his constant struggle with trying to stay focused on achieving his education aspirations, whilst still trying to maintain friendships with other residents of the neighbourhood who do not have any intentions of getting out of the vicious cycle of violence and hood life. 

25 years on, this film, without a doubt, still retains its explosively powerful and influential insight about growing up in black Urban America. Watched now, a quarter of a century on, what remains so striking is not the explicit, immediate gore or confrontational aggression but rather the film’s extensive emotional depth into humanity, idealism, reinforced by astoundingly raw performances.

In terms of editing, the film had an almost effortless feel as everything, such as the setting and lighting looked very organic and natural. The high-key lighting that was used, to minimise harsh shadows for the majority of the film, again adding to the realism of the film. This helps the audience identify with the characters.

By the end of “Boyz N the Hood,” I recognised that I had not simply seen a thoughtful look at a young man’s coming of age, but a film of enormous significance alluding to several themes still pervasive to current day.

Preliminary Task

Shot List - Infatuation

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxWVJvePKrETc1VwbUJXOWVZblE

Storyboard

Script

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxWVJvePKrETc1VwbUJXOWVZblE

Learner Response: Film Langauage Test

Film Language Test: A- (37/48)
WWW: Excellent use of media terminology; good focus on techniques.
EBI: Write in paragraphs and avoid running out of time for the last question.

The editing in this scene is used to create drama and tension in several ways. To begin, the use of pace is significant as it is fairly slow at the beginning, which builds suspense. However, when the cigarette is dropped and the scene hits its peak in terms of chaos, the pace of the transitions increases. This may have been done to create drama and highlight the severity of what will happen. However, afterwards, the pace decreases again which is suggestive of serenity or justice being restored and therefore the culprit being caught.

Towards the end of the scene, when the gun is cocked and about to be blown, the visuals move away from what is happening. Instead, we are presented with a montage of establishing shots. This settles the audience as we are presented with tranquil images of the setting whilst we can hear a gun shot. The use of the montage may have been to give us an overall impression of the damage (as the setting is fairly worn down.)

The editing also takes the transitions into consideration too. We can see that there are several jump cuts being used to startle and engage the audience. This creates a sense of drama in the scene as we are forced to focus on the violent shots such as arson. The editing in this scene achieves the dramatic atmosphere and builds tension successfully. 

Finally, we are presented with a dissolve which transitions into the next scene, a court. The use of this dissolve suggests justice will be found.

Editing Task

 

This clip is from the television series 'Bates Motel,' a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's iconic 1960s film 'Psycho.' This entire scene uses continuity editing and is in a linear narrative to ensure the smooth transition of time to avoid disorientation of the audience as the events are already quite hard to follow. To begin, the lighting is blue toned throughout this clip which is a conventional colour used in the horror genre. The use of mood lighting here is perhaps to achieve a practical or aesthetic effect but more likely to create an ominous, eerie and menacing atmosphere. This effect is successful at the mood the director intends to create, as the colour blue typically holds connotations of sadness. Also, in Iran, blue is symbolic of mourning which is especially relevant and is foreshadowing of the events that will follow. To continue with the use of lighting, it is mainly low-key lighting but there are still many shadows which add to the ambiguity of the actions that will occur. This creates enigma. 

In terms of camera shots, this scene begins with a medium shot of the two main characters of the show; The woman, Norma who is asleep and her son, Norman who is watching over her. The camera then pans to Norman walking away from the bed. Immediately, the audience feel fearful of what his next actions will be. This is achieved by his unpromising demeanour and facial expression. Here, we can say this entire scene so far is an enigma code as we are unsure of what Norman will do or what will follow. Moreover, the lack of sound and over emphasis on the creaking, breathing and other generic, small, diegetic noises reinforces the genre of horror whilst adding tension. This, therefore helps the audience to anticipate with apprehension or fear. 

The next shot, following immediately from Norman leaving the bedroom, is to the stairs of the basement. The jump cut here is very abrupt which makes it effective as  the audience’s attention is forced to focus on Norman so they are aware that something is going to happen. This is also an example of enigma code.  The shot of Norman is an establishing shot and a long shot. This enables the audience to see the basement which gives the impression of something bad happening as well as being a fairly disconcerting setting and conventional of horror. What is most interesting about this specific shot is that it is taken at a low angle. This gives the subject of the shot an impression of dominance. This is significant as we, as the audience are given a reminder of the power he holds. This is because earlier in the show we are aware of the fact that the boiler in the basement, if turned on before being fixed, could release fatal fumes. This is an example of foreshadowing and although some viewers may not realise this, the entire show uses intertextuality. The basement is almost identical to the one in ‘Psycho,’ which not only gives the audience the pleasure of recognition but also forces the audience to realise the reality of what will inevitably happen. This scene highlights on this as the tense mood suggests the build up to this reality is perhaps soon to come. Norman walks down the stairs, towards the camera and then the camera moves to behind the shelf of lethal chemicals and faces Norman walking closer to the boiler. This is an example of an action code. During this part of the sequence, slow, sorrowful music begins to build up. This is another action code as the audience are likely to believe something tragic will happen.

 As Norman tears the caution tape off the boiler, opens and lights it, the light music becomes louder and more eerie. The camera zooms in slowly until it is directly in front of the fire and Norman’s face. This shot is a medium close up. This may have been intentionally used to focus on the character’s expression as he is quite neutral which adds to the disturbing nature of his actions. The camera tilts upwards into the boiler and a tracking shot is used. Here the pace increases significantly. The camera follows through a pipe and follows Norman as we can see the vents being closed through the pipe. The camera shots rotate between being in the pipe and to the house where we can see Norman closing the vents. This gives the audience a slightly disorientated effect. The music here is a especially interesting in the editing of this scene as it is an example of contrapuntal sound.

 The use of contrapuntal sound is generally used to evoke a reaction of shock or to emphasise the feeling of disgust or horror towards what is happening. Here, we could also argue that the use of contrapuntal sound highlights how disturbed and conflicted Norman Bates’ mind is as he is in a state of out-of-body experience. The song used here, ‘Mr Sandman,’ is very obviously a deliberate choice as it is a traditional pop song which heavily juxtaposes with the sinister actions we can see. However, the context of the song could link to the ideas or intentions the director perhaps had. Mr. Sandman was the mythological creature who threw "sand" on people to put them to sleep to give them good dreams. In Norman’s warped state of mind, it may have been likely that he felt he was doing good by putting his mother in a ‘dream’ forever. Whilst this music is playing more close up’s of Norman are shown and what strikes me as interesting is the use of the shutters of the vents shutting and covering his face. This is an example of a fade out is very clever as it serves the idea of him trying to hide and shows the demented aspect of his personality. Eventually his dark ‘side’ will overtake everything which correlates to the actions he is about to commit. Finally, he returns back to the bedroom where Norma is sleeping, lays down with her and leaves the vent open in their room. 

The pace decreases again. The camera work that follows, is notably picturesque and striking. The camera slowly pans around the rest of the house. The audience are given very delicate but eerie shots of the rest of the house until we enter the basement and return back to the boiler where we see an extreme close up of the fire. The scene ends with this shot suggesting the fate that will come next is menacing. This along with the contrapuntal music leaves the scene ending on a very sinister tone and is an example of a cliffhanger. 

Media Awards Task

To begin, I think Thrift Shop was so successful because it used several transitions. Jump-cuts are always important in any media production specifically those that are music videos. The usage of jump cuts and wipes in this music video allows the film making to be creative. The reason why it became successful was because of the cinematography shown in this video. The sound Thrift Shop was parallel sound and some used non-diegetic music over it post-production. Most areas of mise-en-scene was used well and effectively such as clothing or props. entire production a different range of costume was used from casual clothing to a lion skin cloak. 

Next, I really enjoyed La Sombra as the concept was very unique and the use of another language helped it to appeal to a wider demographic and added to the culture of the concept. This is an example of one of the few videos that took into consideration the use of contrapuntal sound. In the cab he enters, he is talking on the phone about something we assume to be upsetting yet there is a happy, upbeat song over it. This again, is an example of non-diegetic sound whereas the dialogue is diegetic.

Lastly, My City was one of my favourites because it was very well filmed and all aspects of film language were covered flawlessly. This film extract was part of the art house genre. The use of camera work was very impressive as it appears to have used GoPros which enhance the overall quality of the work whilst pleasing the audience. Moreover, the narrative of the story is very engaging and interesting as well as generating a lot of enigma code. 

Extension Task

These are examples of medium shots. The top may also be considered a medium close up. Close ups are often employed to show detail, such as characters' emotions which we can see here very clearly. It emphasises her look of discontent. A film-maker may use a close up in order to get across her emotion so the audience go through the process of identification with that character. Also, the still may intentionally of used a close up because they are used for distinguishing main characters suggesting that she may be the protagonist of the film. This is reinforced by how the shot is focused on her rather than the setting behind her. 

These are examples of extreme long shots or establishing shots - they establish the setting for the rest of the scenes that follow. There is little detail visible in either of the shots, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information. In the first still there is definitely use of a high angle because we can clearly see the camera is elevated perhaps through using a crane or drone. Higher angles are typically used to make the object(s) or subject(s) appear smaller and therefore less significant. In the second still, there is use of a birds eye shot. This could have been achieved through the use of a drone. This shows a scene from directly overhead. This shot does puts the audience in a godlike or any powerful position because they are looking down on the action. This suggests what is in the still may be insignificant or even feel unimportant.

These are examples of close ups. The bottom is an extreme close up as it focuses onto a doodle well enough so we can see the grains of the crayon on the paper. As the name suggests, extreme close ups are close ups that are more magnified than a regular close up. Often they are used to add tension and intrigue. However, here it highlights the significance of a particular object or in this case drawing. This could have been used to foreshadow what lies ahead in the narrative or suggest there is a form of symbolism behind it. 

Lolita (1962) - Stanley Kubrick

In this clip we can see Kubrick uses no sound or colour yet still evokes a sense of humour within the scene. We can see that in this time period the video editing is more simple, suggesting there was a lower budget for the film. This was more common in the 60s as film was not as advanced as it was in the 80s.

The Shining (1980) - Stanley Kubrick

I have used the same film director to emphasis the difference in the same directors work through 20 years. Here, we can see that the film is now in colour suggesting that through time, colour became more popular in the film industry. Also, the use of several camera shots and camera movement suggests a vast difference in the techniques discovered since the 60s.