Starting Research and Analysis

In today's lesson, we had to watch the openings of four different films and analyse them within the following areas:

• Mise-en-scene
• Camera shots
• Editing
• Sound (diegetic and non-diegetic)

We had to focus on how the film highlights the genre, hint at the narrative and how it conforms to or challenges the conventions of the genre.

I felt that genres of the films were:

• The Matrix: Science fiction action
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Fantasy
• Se7en: Action thriller
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Mystery thriller

I feel like my notes regarding the films shows support towards the above points and that the narrative is slightly hinted at within the openings.

Film	Mise-en-scene	Editing	Camera shots	Sound Diegetic and non-diegetic	What is revealed in the opening two minutes?
The Matrix	- Numbers on the computer -Mainly green and black colouring -Nobody on screen for at least a minute -Police officers on raid – dark and dreary	-Making similar shapes (in this case a circle) change from one thing to another (transition)	-OTSS -Medium close up -Close up -Extreme close up -Panning shot	Diegetic: -Numbers switching -Typing -Dialogue Non-diegetic: -Phone call -Intense music -Introductory background music	A crime is going to be commited, someone is called the ‘one’ Police raid a woman’s house Related?
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone	-Very dark (night time) -Drive sign with owl on top (spooky) -Houses -Clothing is different to average wear (signalling they’re from a different place) - Motorbike -Cat	-Showing light being taken away -Light turning into motorbike -Showing cat turn into human through shadow -Making scar shine	-Low angle shot -OTSS -Two shot close up -Long shot -Close up -Tracking shot -Shot/reverse shot -Establishing shot -Medium close up	Diegetic: -When device opens -Dialogue -Motorbike -Thunder Non-diegetic: -Cats meow -Classical music -Mysterious background music	Characters names A boy being brought to a doorstep and left with a letter Boy’s name is Harry Potter Characters say ‘our world’, suggesting they live in a different world to humans
Se7en	-A book -Hands drawn on pages -All dark -Only shows hands moving things	-Non continuous between shots showing a jump cut	-Repetition	Non-diegetic: -Tech music -Music gets faster to signal more intensity	Someone is putting a book together - mysterious
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	-Black water -Fire -Wires moving to form human body -Always linking back to body in water -Two people emerge from gloop -Wings turn into fire -Black and orange theme of colour	-Changing scene with beat of music -Not continuous transitions	-Close up -Two shot	Non-diegetic: -Music with lyrics	Scary Someone trying to break free? Being beaten?

Preliminary Task - Final Cut

This is the final cut of my Preliminary Task in which I had to film and edit 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. 

It should last under 2 minutes and should demonstrate:

• Match on action
• 180 degree rule
• Shot/reverse shot

  
As can be seen in the short clip, we have demonstrated and included all of the above and have edited in transitions so that the piece flows naturally.

Starting Preliminary

In today's lesson, it was time to start filming, however half of our group were away on a trip, leaving only Jordon and I.

We were going to start planning a new project, as we were unable to film, but realised that our practice preliminary task had all of the criteria needed for our task:

• Match on Action
• 180 degree rule
• Shot/reverse shot

So, we decided to upload our previous filming to Power Director 11 and start editing it.

We needed to cut some of our shots so they made sense, for example, in our second from last shot, it showed Milly exiting the room through the door, and our last shot showed he opening the door, meaning we had to cut out her walking through it in the 2nd to last so it would make sense. We did this using magic cut.

We then started searching for ways to make our different shots flow naturally, eg. using a fade effect, but ran out of time during the lesson to complete this.

Aim for next lesson: Complete editing and analyze. 

Analysis of American Hustle

In today's lesson, we watched the first 5 minutes of American Hustle and made notes on the Four Key Concepts:

• Sound
• Editing
• Camera Shots
• Mise en Scene

Sound:

• Classy music (matches genre)
• Sounds like a band
• Music portrays the time period (1978)
• You could hear the TV in the background which gives a sense of setting the scene
• Also hear the sound of the bottle when he dips into it for his hair stuff and the sound of the hair being moved around
• The music slowly fades into other sounds, eg. one song fades into another within the first frame
• Some parts are silent, where only dialogue is heard, which is used to emphasise what is being said
• When Bradley Cooper walks in, he disrupts the music and it stops

Editing:

• The first shot is a panning shot of Christian Bale's body, from his belly to his head, which gives you a sense of establishing, as it sets the scene for the viewer (jump shots)
• The shot changes as he applies his hair piece (reflection in mirror)
• The camera follows his every movement
• There is a tracking shot as he moves between rooms
• Over the shoulder shot shows Bale's perspective
• Shot/reverse shot between characters and close ups to focus on dialogue
• While walking into the third room, the camera focuses and emphasises on the brief case

Camera Shots:

• Midshot and close up used when looking in the mirror
• Over the shoulder shot shows what Bale is seeing
• Tracking shot from one character to another showing the relationship between them
• Lots of slow motion panning and tracking to show movements
• Shot/reverse shot between characters to show relationsip
• At the end, there is an establishing shot seen through CCTV

Mise en Scene:

• Posh rooms, which all had the same decor, signalling that they were in a hotel
• Location: Plaza Hotel
• Extra room added onto bedroom with recording equipment
• Similar clothing - striped shirts and suits, which reflects a high status
• Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper both wear a chunky gold ring and chunky watches which is another suggestion of higher status
• It is daylight
• Bale uses glasses to almost disguise himself 

Aim for next lesson: Begin preliminary task.

Practising for Preliminary - Part 2

In today's lesson we were set the task of editing all of the footage we shot before, to practice for our Preliminary Task.

We were told to use the software Power Director, which I have never used before, so I needed to learn how to use it. To do this, I looked it up on YouTube in hope to find a tutorial, which I did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IGkMGTX9Nc

Unfortunately, the software wasn't working on my computer, which meant I couldn't edit anything, so instead I watched the full length of the tutorial in order to understand it once the technical problem had been sorted.

  

Aim for next lesson: Learn further how to use Power Director and edit footage.

My Summer Homework

This is my summer homework.

My task was:

• Analyse the first two minutes of any 2 films
• Record this on a voice over, with a film still.

                                  

Practising for Preliminary

In today's lesson we got set the task of beginning to experiment with different camera shots. These included:

• Close up
• Tracking shot
• Medium shot
• Footage that can be edited into a match on action shot
• Footage that can be edited into a shot/reverse shot
• Footage that can be edited to demonstrate the 180-degree rule

A close up shot, is a shot showing the face closely to show their emotions/reactions to a topic, which we demonstrated through Milly and Hannah's conversation.

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A tracking shot is when the camera appears to follow the person within the shot, which we showed when Milly started walking towards the door and the camera followed her.

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A medium shot shows the person's shoulders and up, which is also demonstrated when the girls are sitting down having a conversation.

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Match on Action is where one shot cuts to another shot, portraying the action of the subject in the first shot, which we did by showing Milly getting up and walking towards the door, and then showed her once she had walked through the door from another angle.

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Shot/reverse shot can be used in conversations between characters, which is how we used it, where it shows the character looking at (either using an over the shoulder shot or point of view shot), followed by a reverse angle shot or the character looking at it. We demonstrated this by using a point of view shot to show Milly talking to Hannah, then a shot of Hannah Speaking and then back to Milly.

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The 180-degree rule is used to show that the characters have the same left-right relationship to each other. This means drawing an imaginary axis between the two characters and once you have filmed from one side of that axis, you have to keep to that side, unless you show yourself purposefully breaking that 180-degree rule, as shown below. 

 

Aim for next lesson: Edit footage from today.

My First Blog Post

My name is Vicky Squires and this is my first AS Media blog post.

This year in Media, my Preliminary Task is:

          Film and edit 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.

          It should last under 2 minutes and should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.


This work will be carried out for my deadline which is: 26th September 2014.