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.