Preliminary task

Our preliminary task was successful as the continuity is good and we were able to use multiple camera angles. the drawbacks to our task is that the camera shakes in a few of the shots, meaning the audience is distracted, and not concentrating on what is happening in the scene. Also in one of the shots the leaf blower is in the background, but in the next shot that sound has disappeared, therefore further distracting the audience from the scene.

If I were to do this again, I would re-do some of the shots so the audience would not get distracted by the camera work. Also I would put a soundtrack on the scene, to create an atmosphere, instead of having the sound that the camera picked up.

Doc Martin - Mise-en-scene

Hustle- Gender

Hustle uses mise en scene to show a stereo typical gay man. This is presented when the shop owner is bitchy and unkind to a middle aged woman who is clearly unable to afford the dress she wants for her daughters wedding; whereas when 'Stacey' comes in with her big diamond ring, showing she is of higher status and wealth, the shop owner shows respect and kindness. This shows the stereo typical gay, flamboyant, bitchy character that is easily related to by the audience, setting them up to want him to fail.

The gentleman's club is also used to present the stereo typical man. The use of cigars, darkness, and only male actors creates the air of a gentleman's club, this further creates the air of seriousness and where the main plot line is, as stereo typical men deal with 'business'- the long-term scam. This keeps the audience intrigued as they have separate plot lines developing at the same time.

Sound is used also to help  create the overall gender type of each character. The soundtrack makes fun of the gay store owner when Stacey pretends she has lost her ring, as it sounds similar to music played when a clown is performing. This helps reinforce to the audience that we are not meant to like him and that we want him to fall for the scam. It also shows Stacey as having the upper hand this situation as she is scamming him and succeeding, showing that she is not the stereotypical women.

Also, the diegetic sound used when Danny is introduced to the shop owner, makes him come across a rude discourteous and immoral. This is shown when he uses the phrase "bird" to  describe his new girlfriend; it then continues when he finds the ring and describes the situation as "finders keepers". This is clearly and act, to the audience, but helps them believe why the shop owner would hand over £1500 for the ring, as Danny is not giving him a choice.

The camera shot further emphasizes the shop owners priority with the close up of the ring. This shows that his bitchyness and unkindness towards the old lady is due to lack of wealth. This gives the audience another reason to dislike and resent the shop owner.

The editing also allows to make shop owner character look more like a fool when he tries to look for the ring as the cuts are fast. This makes him look frantic and out of control, making the audience laugh at him and his stupidity. Further emphasizing the gay stereo type.

Doctor Who - Gender

Representations of gender have been clearly illustrated through editing. Martha is shown to be a strong independent women when the scene cuts to the flashback of her walking through a cold marshland. The movement of Martha is put in to slow-motion to exaggerate the difficulties she went through and the isolation she had to cope with. This contradicts the stereo-typical woman, as usually the woman is being saved and the man has to experience the ordeal of being the hero, whereas in this Martha is shown to be the hero for the Doctor who is helpless.

The editing is also used to bring the Doctor back from being old and helpless, using CGI. This brings back the stereotypical hero sense of a man; this is shown as he floats across the room and kills the villain "the Master".

There are also gender stereotype methods used in the Mise-En-Scene. The 'Masters' wife is used to be a villain and is shown in this scene through her costume- a red silk dress. This shows that while many in the room have been suffering she has been wearing luxurious silk dresses, also the colour red suggest danger and the devil, suggesting she had some involvement in the 'the Masters' work. This is stereotypical as women that are associated with villains are usually weak and not able to stand up to their partner, instead they stand by and watch until they are able to escape.

Martha's sister and mother are dressed  as maids, showing that they are helpless and having to do 'a woman's job' whereas 'Captain Jack Harkness' has been performing hard labour and due to this is dirty and bruised showing him as being stereo typical man.

Camera shots are also used in this scene to show Martha as being the hero contradicting gender stereotypes. 'Point of view' shot is used for Martha when she enters to enable the audience to simulate the same experience Martha when she enters the room. It shows how her friends are in clear danger and desperate for help and that they are relying on Martha to save them. This shows that Martha has taken the stereo-typical role of the man as she has the role of the hero/saviour.

Sound is also used to create Martha's character as powerful and independent. When Martha begins to laugh and tell the Master about her travels, the soundtrack becomes uplifting and stronger- emphasising  her strength and independence over the last year. This shows further the clash with the stereotypical woman as usually this would be the man who was strong and being the saviour.

Preliminary exercise

We are doing a preliminary task in which we have to film someone waling through a door, across a space, sitting down opposite someone and and having a short conversation.
It is probably going to last for around 2 minutes and will teach us how to put camera movements and shots in to practice for example Match on action, Shot/reverse shot, The rule of thirds, and 180 degree rule.

match on action is when a character is moving and you make a cut mid movement but to enable it to flow you watch them start a move in the first shot, then cut and watch them finish the movement so it seems realistic, and it has all happened in one shot.

Shot reverse shot enables for the audience to understand what the characters are seeing. it is normally used which characters have a conversation as it allows the audience to see them speaking but also reaction and facial expressions made by the people having the conversation.

The rule of thirds is used to aim the watchers eyes to a certain part of the screen. When you watch films, the action doesn't usually take place in the center of the screen. It enables more of the scene to be in shot to allow the audience to see where the character is more easily.

The 180 degree rule is when you can't cross a certain line when making a cut and filming as it disorientating for the audience as the are used to seeing a certain side to the characters during that scene.

police crash

Moonrise Kingdom- camer movement and shots

After watching this clip of Moonrise Kingdom, it showed a different way in which camera movement are used. The abnormality of the shots made me realise how the movement of the camera can really effect the audiences viewing and impression of the film; for example it feels like your watching this on a stage, which is really long, as the camera throughout the majority of the clip just moves along the scene as the main character walks and examines different things.
It gives the film a quirky feeling and makes it more intriguing for the view to watch as it is not a stereotypical, fast moving, quick cut film.

Camera movement - gender - primeval

While Nick is in the hole and the saber tooth tiger is trying to get him, the camera moves fast to show Nicks panic and show how intense the situation is. This shows that Nick is in danger which clashes with stereotypical gender as the man is in danger, whereas what would be expected is for Abby to be the one in danger.

When Nick is going down the zip wire, the camera shoots him in a way that he is above the camera to show how high up he is, another shot shows his face and him holding on to the belt, and then the camera moves to show that he is being chased by the saber tooth tiger. This shows Nick to be heroic 'Indiana Jones' like character as the camera movement shows him to brave and adventurous as he is up above camera.

The camera movements become quick and unclear when the saber tooth tiger is about to pounce on Nick; the camera then moves quickly round to show Abby there with a gun. The movement of camera shows Nick's rescuer and jars with the normal expectation of women being weak and men saving them as this time it is the other way around.

Casino Royal

The soundtrack going throughout the scene is thrilling and dramatic and has the recognizable theme tune of James Bond, to make it adapted to this specific film.
There are also many sound effects, such as sirens, care engines, tires screeching to a halt, planes flying over etc. Also foley sounds such as footsteps in rain, body hitting the floor, and fists hitting skin are used
All these sounds added together make the scene sound realistic and authentic. This allows the audience to have an immersing experience in the film without having to question any of the sounds.

Sound- The Hobbit

Sound is able to make up 60% of whats happening on screen and the audiences understanding! Also 70% of what you hear is added afterwards.

Sound is more than just music as when all sounds are put together and made they have to create an atmosphere, and feeling: theme- happy/sad, environment- forest or the seaside, atmospheric sound- mood/ tension, diegetic or non-diegetic, dialogue, sound effects- explosions/ car screech, wind.

Sound can also be useful for transitions in films; L cut is when dialogue loudness changes to suggest that the conversation may be happening in the background, whereas J cut is when audio is playing before you actually see the scene, eg black screen but with audio of the sea and the wind, then it cuts onto a scene of the beach.

After learning about the variety of sound, we watched a video on all the sound effects used to create The Hobbit, it was very useful and interesting watching it as it allowed me to understand how important sound is and how much effort and work is needed to be put in to it in order for it to feel realistic.

What I learnt during watching this clip was:

• If they did not have the sounds they wanted then they would go and make them, for example they had to spend a few days in a cave in order to create the realistic sounds for one of the scenes
• It took them a while to create the vocals of the goblins in order for them to have the personality and sound they imagined
• The new technology allowed that sound to better than the Lord of the Rings as it was capable of creating and mixing more realistic sounds

Mise-En-Scene - Ethnicity - Hotel Babylon

Costume
Clear that the immigrants are dressed as cleaners, maids, cooks. Shows that they have been forced in to unpopular, low paid jobs.

Lighting
Dark in the corridors and cupboards where the workers have to hide, suggesting they are not treated equally compared to the guests staying in the hotel as they have bright lighting.
Also when Ibrahim is taken, he is on the hotel floor where the lighting is brighter showing that he was exposed and could not get away from immigration.

Actors
Clear ethnicity difference, to show there is a variety of immigrants working there.
White people were Police or the manager to show that that white British people had the power.

Movement
In the canteen at the end, the movement of the actors while eating showed different cultures, one table really loud, whereas another they are praying.

Props
The keys represent the secreacy of the immigrants but also that the keys make them safe as immigration cant open the door
Hoover and the headphones make it clear that Ibrahim cannot hear that immigration are there.
Ibrihams locker having little in shows that he did not own much, and any trace of him being at the hotel is got rid or easily.

Setting
The hotel, out the front being sleek, posh, and presented nicely, whereas the back being a bit scummy, hidden, and un-presentable for guests.

Sound - Ethnicity - Hotel Babylon

The first time we watched the clip, we only listened and didn't watch the visual, therefore we could understand how important sound is in creating a mood. We made notes on diegetic, and non-diegetic sounds we could hear.

Diegetic- dialogue-information, footsteps- running, kitchen- knives/frying, hoover-movement in scene, door- immigrants being safe.
Non-diegetic- fast pace, mechanical like music at the beginning- creates tension, music throughout but got quieter when dialogue happened, but kept tension high through out.
Volume of the soundtrack suggested the scene, eg music was quiet in the cupboard, but was loud on the hotel's bedroom floor.
At the end of the clip the pace changed to slower to emphasis the sadness the characters were feeling.

These sounds suggest things about the problem of Ethnicity in the clip:

• Soundtrack created tension and suspense, making the viewers anticipate something is about to happen. This help people watching relate to what the different ethnic groups are feeling while being looked for.
• The diegetic sound of footsteps and running with the characters voices talking over suggests panic. It shows that immigrants are the ones having to run and hide- inequality.
• The dull diegetic sound of Ibrahim's hoover suggest that he is working a low skilled job, therefore different ethnic groups are not able to get good jobs.
• This theme is continued when a man in the cupboard, Adam, as he is able to save the diabetic women- "I wasn't always a cleaner" this suggests that immigrants are not able to get fitting jobs.
• The non diegetic soundtrack of sad music, suggests desperation and a sadness for Ibrahim as he is going back to a country that is going to kill him.
• The digetic noises of people talking in the canteen shows the different accents and ethnic groups eg Asians, Eastern European, African.

Editing video

We got given the task to make a small clip using some of the camera shots and editing skills we had learnt in class; it had to be two people walking in to each other.  it was successful as we used multiple cuts and editing skills eg cross cutting, cutting on action etc, to get our final peice, but it was unsuccessful though as we filmed in portrait when we meant to film it in landscape as films are presented in 16:9 ratio.
https://flipagram.com/f/wVXA2xAsGy

Editing and transition.

In class we learnt about different editing types, and different transitions that  are used to give a certain affect that the audience can pick up on to allow them, for example, understand what the character is thinking.

Editing is a crucial part of film language as it structures the narrative and links scenes and events together. It follows a logical, time order to allow  the audience to understand what is going on, but can be distorted in order to hint at flashbacks.

Editing skills that can be used are: cut, cutting on action, cut away, jump cut, cross cutting, matched cut, action or composition, verbal matched cut, cutting rate, cutting rhythm, buffer. 

All  edits are used for a reason, eg, abrupt ending would be used to emphasis shock, or disturbance of a character.
We also learnt about different transitions- fade in / out dissolve, smash cut- abrubt, iris- lens is closing down, wipe, invisible cut- can't tell there has been a cut, whip pan- moving out of scene and in to another, L cut-dialogue gets quieter or louder and carries on in to the next scene, J cut- audio playing before you see the scene, and combinations.

Camera shots

Superman returns

At the beginning of the scene the camera shows superman's face and then shows what he is looking at (reverse angle shot) to show that he can see what is going on in side the house but the people inside don't know he is there.

Once in side the house there is a establishing shot, to allow the audience to understand that the family are in the kitchen/living room, and that the son will not be able to hear the future conversation as he is busy playing the piano.

During the couples conversation, at the beginning the camera uses a medium long shot to show that the husband is wanting to ask his wife something, but is quite uncomfortable about the situation. This is shown through the shots changing quickly between both characters and the dragged out dialogue before he says his point.

When he asks about the specific article "I spent the night with superman" the shot starts to zoom in to focus on her reactions to emphasis that the question is awkward and that she is unsure of the answer.

When the husband asks if she loved Superman, the shot becomes a big close up to show that she is unsure as to what to answer due to her husband being jealous. This allows the audience to know that she did love Superman, even though she tells her husband she does not.

When she says she didn't love him, it shows a long shot of the couple talking about it, then a close up of superman to show his emotions of shock and sadness due to her answer, even though it is clear to the audience that she did love him, due to the camera shots used during the scene.

Mise-en-scene: primeval

We learnt about how Costume, Lighting, Actors, Movement, Props, and Setting have a big impact on film and how it changes the experiences and impressions the audience have. 

It can craft the audience to think of characters or a situation in a certain way, perhaps before anything actually happens.

 

The men and women in primeval are read very easily due to their costumes; for example 3 men walk towards the camera, one wearing a suit, another in camel colored trouser, tshirt and unbuttoned shirt, and another in more colorful flamboyant clothing. This instantly tells the audience that the first man is more of a nerd, intellectual, and not comfortable being around danger. Whereas the second man is dressed in more of an 'Indiana Jones' manner, suggesting that he is prepared for danger and is quite brave. The last man is dressed to appear to be the clumsy, dumb one who tries to keep up with the group.

The main women is shown to be pretty, but strong and her own women. she is dressed in green khaki trousers and is in good shape, suggesting she is quite active and is prepared for when danger is there.
whereas the other woman is dressed in a dainty dress, and is not prepared for danger as she is in heels, therefore she is shown as the damsel in distress

Lesson 1: Film language

We watched american gangster, after watching it we had to analyse it talking about the characters that had appeared, the location it was set in, the relationships between the characters, and we had to interpret the context, genre and what the story line may be.

It was surprising how much you could get about the film just from the opening scene; for example, there were 4 characters in the scene, one white foreign man sitting down, being covered in petrol by another man, who comes across as unimportant, as the camera does not focus on his face. The camera then  focuses on 2 men, the one closer to the camera is dressed in casual clothing but is clearly important, due to the relationship with the man in the background (the boss) he then lights the man sitting down of fire and shoots him. While this is happening the man standing in the background, is shown to have a lot of power and wealth as his clothes are smart and he is not getting involved with the dirty work of killing this man.

Throughout the scene you also become aware of the location of the scene, as it opens with american police sirens and the street is steamy, suggesting that this is based New York.
The lighting and music suggests that this film is not going to be lighthearted and is more of a thriller/drama.

Although this scene is a minute long, it is setting the scene for the rest of the film, with small hints about relationships, the location, and their jobs.

Lesson 1: Film language

We watched american gangster, after watching it we had to analyse it talking about the characters that had appeared, the location it was set in, the relationships between the characters, and we had to interpret the context, genre and what the story line may be.

It was surprising how much you could get about the film just from the opening scene; for example, there were 4 characters in the scene, one white foreign man sitting down, being covered in petrol by another man, who comes across as unimportant, as the camera does not focus on his face. The camera then  focuses on 2 men, the one closer to the camera is dressed in casual clothing but is clearly important, due to the relationship with the man in the background (the boss) he then lights the man sitting down of fire and shoots him. While this is happening the man standing in the background, is shown to have a lot of power and wealth as his clothes are smart and he is not getting involved with the dirty work of killing this man.

Throughout the scene you also become aware of the location of the scene, as it opens with american police sirens and the street is steamy, suggesting that this is based New York.
The lighting and music suggests that this film is not going to be lighthearted and is more of a thriller/drama.

Although this scene is a minute long, it is setting the scene for the rest of the film, with small hints about relationships, the location, and their jobs.

My first media post, useful websites:

www.bfi.org.uk  

www.artofthetitle.com

www.bbfc.co.uk

vimeo

www.theguardian.com