Tuesday 14 October 2014

Spoiler Review: The Bodyguard


The film The Bodyguard is a love story between two completely contrasting characters who build up their relationship through protection, reassurance and trust. The romance between Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston builds constantly and realistically from the beginning until the end of the film. 


The story begins by a pop-singer Rachel Marron (Houston) receiving damaging and dangerous threats by a mysterious person. Former secret service agent Frank Farmer (Costner) is hired to protect the star at all times. Rachel has a mid-aged 'stalker' from beginning until end, who creepily keeps photos of her in his locker, follows her at all of her shows and tries his best to succeed in getting close in distance to her.


The audience strongly believes that it is Rachel's 'stalker' who is creating harm due to him being obsessed with her, but it is fact a man named Portman who was angry with her for not sleeping with him and rejecting him. He tries to scare her for revenge for not having sex with him.


The plot is revealed at the end when Rachel's bodyguard Frank is provided with information concluding it is not the stalker who is delivering threats. He comes to a realisation that Portman is the one threatening Rachel as he sees him pretending to be a camera man to disguise the gun he is holding; preparing to shoot the pop-star. 


The Bodyguard is successful in being a thriller as it constantly keeps the audience on edge due to the significant amount of tension and spooky atmosphere that flows from beginning to end. Because the film misleads the audience to thinking that Rachel’s 'stalker' was the male obsessed with her, it shows that it is important for the audience to have their own interpretation and scenario of the film. 


I would give this film 5 stars as it is one of my personal favourites and the plot is absolutely incredible because it is such an original romantic thriller, which is an unusual combination of genres.

Conventions of a Thriller


This is a mind map to show conventions of a Thriller. Thriller films are most successful by adding in effective: locations and settings, mood and atmosphere, characters and props. 
This will be helpful for me when I come to make my own thriller film in groups, this is because I can look back on this mind-map and make sure I have tried my best to succeed in adding everything from this mind-map or referencing.

Falling Down


(The sound starts from 00:38 seconds until 01:10)

For this task, we had to work in pairs (myself and Ellis Blunden) and edit a video of 'Falling Down'. We had to add the appropriate foley sounds to at least 30 seconds of the 7 minute clip. We used the programme Garage Band to complete this task. We had to add in at least 4 layers of sound to our 30 second clip. The whole point of the layers was to overlap sounds to add effect. Our sounds included: heaving breathing, children's voices, phone vibrating, radio, car horns and car door slamming.

This task enabled me to have more practice and understand how to add extra sounds and layers onto clips of films. I learnt how to adjust the volume, fade sounds in and out and also add several layers of sound. 

To improve this, I could continue to add more layers of sound and also experient with sounds and make them more unusual than the ones I have already used.

Monday 13 October 2014

Paranoia



Our task was to create a video called 'Paranoia' within group of four. My group consisted of myself, Kieran Rundle, Jack Street and Tanaka Tiriboyi. The task was to film different clips which were noted on the task brief. This included the angle of which the clip had to be shot and also what happens in the shot; e.g expressions and actions.
  • Rule of Thirds
  • Head Room
  • Leading Room
  • Framing Shots
  • Manual Controls 
  • 180 Degree Rule
This was the first filming task we had been set, and we had our first experience of using the professional cameras. We learnt how to set up the cameras manually and also how to work the cameras so we could record on them. This gave us practice of using the professional cameras and help us for future reference for filming. We had to use a variety of shots involving: Rule of thirds, Head room, Leading room, Framing shots, Manual controls and 180 degree rule.

Location Recce Video Selfie


Our task was to take a trip up to London and find a suitable location to film our own thriller films. This meant finding a location that was: in the city, an urban area, isolated, and enclosed within London. As well as this, most importantly thinking about how Mise-En-Scene can work well with our location. The whole point of this task was to get our chosen location on camera for when we come to deciding on where to film for the actual film later on in date.
I chose to film mine in this location in London, because it was right next to the Shard therefore very central within the city which is where Thriller films are set. This area was very busy with people constantly walking past and traffic not far from the location. A chase scene would be great for this setting as people are near by and also a range of buildings, used as well as abandoned which adds to the tension even more.
This location included being in an alley with scaffolding and security around the outside, which is often found appearing in Thriller films.

Here are the photos I took whilst being at the location:



Iconography of a Thriller

Dexter Remake


For this task, we put ourselves into groups of four where we had our first experience of filming in production teams. I helped shoot this film but completed the evidence by editing it myself. Jack Street, Kieran Rundle and Tanaka Tiriboyi were also included within the filming. This involved going to one persons house and using props to remake the opening sequence of Dexter. The purpose of this was to improve our camera shots as well as our camera skills. My camera work and editing has improved a lot since my Paranoia film. From filming Dexter, I have learned how a camera is used to show power and I also know how to gender a camera. This was put into practice in this film as most of the shots are masculine.

The first shot is a close up which is purposely out of focus on Jack's face so the audience concentrates more on him hitting his arm to get the 'fly' off. The second shot is an extreme close up to focus on Jack's actions as he is using a sharp object against his skin, immediately making the audience question if something bad is going to happen such as cutting himself shaving on his neck. The third shot is also an extreme close up to show the blood dripping down Jack's neck where he has cut himself shaving. The fourth shot is blood dripping onto the sink which is slightly more zoomed out to show it is dropping fro a distance from his neck. The fifth shot is also slightly more zoomed out to show all of the blood soaking into the background. The majority of all of the shots are zoomed in, similar to the actual Dexter opening sequence. In most zoomed in shots, we have blurred out the background to show the actions are the most important part that the audience should be focusing on. The final shot is a long shot as it is very zoomed out to fit Jack's whole body in and also the location he is in - but at the same time still making it visible to recognise his facial expressions.

To improve this film, I would make the sound sync more with the actions taking place and also make the edit to a higher quality by making the film sharper.
(The grey screen at the beginning is the 'Dexter' wording used in the actual opening sequence, it played smoothly with no grey screen on Final Cut Pro but when it was uploaded to Youtube, a grey screen appeared even though it was rendered).

Wednesday 8 October 2014

Evaluating Students Work

First student:


Mis-En-Scene
  • Location is filmed in a non thriller location (most are filmed in cities) 
  • Fake blood and injuries are believable and realistic
  • Costumes and clothing are also realistic 
  • Lighting is more dramatic and dark in more tense scenes 
  • Lighting is lighter in less important scenes 
Cinematography
  • Chosen angles are very suitable for each scene
  • Good choice of lighting - changing from light to dark, vice versa
  • Video quality is good at all times
  • Camera should have been placed on a tripod stand to make it less shaky when balancing
Sound
  • No dialogue is used which adds to the tension of the setting
  • Suitable sounds are used to play in the background
  • Clear ambiance 
  • Constant piano music adds to the tension
Editing
  • Great use of jump-cuts
  • Flashbacks are realistic and believable to audience and viewers
  • Sound is edited well to fit actions and scenes
  • Titles and credits are clear to read on screen
Overall Grade - A
__________________________________________________________________________

Second student:
Mi


Mis-En-Scene
  • Location is filmed in a non-thriller setting (most are based in cities)
  • Clothing is casual to show they are normal people 
  • Props are not very realistic
  • Location isn't realistic for a thriller
  • Cupboard isn't suitable for a thriller
Cinematography 
  • Too much jump-cutting, confusing for viewers
  • Took too long to get to the point
  • Irrelevant scenes used in trailer
  • Good choice of camera angles
  • Various camera angles explored
  • Lighting doesn't really change, less effect on the tension
Sound
  • Good amount of layers of sounds 
  • Music overlaps too loudly 
  • Band music doesn't fit with scenery and actions
  • Good sounds of conversations to show normality
Editing
  • Too much jump-cutting used
  • No titles used
  • No cast or production team listed
  • Follows through well, linking each scene 
Overall Grade - B

Tuesday 7 October 2014

Match on Action


Match on Action

A 'Match on Action' is when the clips within a video are used to show continuity within a scene. This is used instead of jump cutting as jump cutting can look unprofessional, 'Match on Action' makes the clip look a lot smoother and allow them to flow more, allowing the clips to link in with each other more.
This involves using the camera to video a range of shots such as long shots and close ups of the same clips and footage to make the editing look a lot smoother.
By using 'Match on Action' it allows the video to make a lot more sense to the viewer (continuity). By doing this, it means the scene is easier to understand whilst the viewer is watching it.

If I had to improve this clip, then I would of added in more video clips to lengthen the clip so I could have had more examples to look back on.

Monday 6 October 2014

'The Street' Analysis



Mise-En-Scene

The opening scene of the clip of 'The Street' involves the woman being located and stable in the house and even more stereotypically in the kitchen as that is where women are perceived to belong. The location of this suggests that she could be a housewife. The man in the clip firstly appears to be in the kitchen, then shortly after a short scene involves a switch of location where he is at work being a builder on a building site. This is also a very stereotypical job for a man because it portrays masculinity, strength and boldness.
Whilst the building clip is playing, the male character is wearing a hard hat and rather casual clothes which suggests that he is in fact the working class as if he was the middle class, he would be involved with an employment that wears business clothes such as suit and tie. The female character in the clip remains wearing the same casual clothes throughout the whole clip, she wears a plain t-shirt and jeans. Due to both of them wearing casual clothes, this suggests they are not a very rich family as they are just average within the working class. The three children all wear the same school uniform, this shows that they are all have education within primary school.
The lighting within the clip is rather relaxed as no bright lighting is used, however more dark is used than light. Due to the light being rather dark, this can relate to the negative atmosphere within the household between the male and the female and also the children's reactions due to the constant arguing and bickering.
In my opinion, I think that the three children and the man are considered to have normal behaviour, however not necessarily the woman's behaviour. Often children within homes just sit back and watch their parents argue and stay silent because they don't want to get involved with the arguing. Adding to this, men are always stereotypically viewed to be 'earning the money' by being employed in masculine jobs such as building, this is how the man's behaviour is socially normal as he is also aggressive and rude at home towards his wife. He also uses a high amount of swearing and portrays a short-tempered figure. In this clip the woman was a housewife which is stereotypically normal, however she was the character having an affair; and in media it is usually the men stereotypically being unfaithful and sleeping round.
In this clip of 'The Street' the man is the more dominating which therefore means he has the most narrative power due to having a louder tone of voice, more hand actions, more verbal abuse and also closer camera angles. The male has the most power within the household over his wife and three children, and also within conversations. The female character is much more passive in comparison to her husband which is stereotypical for a working class woman. Towards the end of the short clip, the woman expresses more emotion as she is struggling to fix the tap, because she cannot complete the task of fixing the water leak from the sink, she has to run and ask someone else for help which portrays that she is incapable of being able to fix something herself which decreases the amount of power she withholds.
Props are essential to signify gender and age, in this clip even though the woman is having an argument she is still carrying on collecting plates, glasses and cutlery. This shows she feels that the work still has to be completed as women are often located in the kitchen in media productions to convey a stereotype. Adding to this, the woman is eating cake which is a feminine object as it relates to baking and being in the kitchen. This relates to gender stereotyping with props. The male character uses tools such as a hammer to show his masculinity and to take his anger out on it. The daughter has a book in front of her which shows her parents are encouraging her with school work, this represents gender as boys are most likely to be sitting in front of a TV screen or a gadget. Adding to this, the school uniform and also the school bags portray that they are young children still being educated in primary school.

Camera

At the beginning of the clip, the camera is inter-cutting between the woman's point of view and the man's point of view about the arguing and strong language. Due to the fact that they are rarely in the shot together, this could suggest that daily life consists of arguing which is weakening their relationship and making themselves more distant from each other overall. The fact that the children are just sitting next door watching with black expressionless faces suggests that the arguing happens quite frequently and that they are used to hearing arguments and bickering between their parents. Because women are often stereotyped to be more feminine and compassionate, it could mean that the daughter whom is the youngest child is sitting nearer to the argument because she is more concerned about what events are taking place between her mum and dad. Oppositely, boy are stereotyped to be more laid back and less concerned which is why the boys are sitting further away from the argument in the other room. The camera is mainly focused on the woman later on in the clip when she is checking the pipe, this is because she is the only character in the shot and the camera is trying to show and focus on that she is unable from fixing the water leak herself.
The male children are smaller within the clip because they do not have a say and also do not say anything, this also means they have less power. The daughter has a little more power than the sons because the camera shows her point of view instead of the boys which shows she is more significantly important in the clip. She also becomes the character in the foreground. Next, the man dominates the whole family as he is the most domineering and has the bigger say out of the family. This shows that he is bigger and the centre of attention due to his speech and controlling personality towards his family.
In the opening scene, the man and woman are facing each other even though they never appear in the same shot together. This is a masculine shot because when they face each other, it is not for the purpose of love and affection - instead it contrasts as they are arguing and the male character is verbally abusing the female character. The two sons are sitting side by side on the sofa because they are both sharing the same equal opinion about not being concerned about what is going on between their parents. The girl is on a 'team' on her own as she is the only character noticing the arguments and conveying a sense of concern towards the strong argument.
The majority of the clip involves shots at eye level in order to make the characters expressions and emotions clear as it is masculinity battling femininity. Towards the end when the pipe bursts and water is spraying everywhere, high shots are used to show the woman's frustration and to convey her weak power in comparison to her husbands as she is unable to fix the broken pipe. This also makes her seem like the smaller character in the clip due to the camera being held at a high angle to minimise her height and personality.
At the beginning of the clip of the male and female characters arguing, the camera is filming between the slight open doors to show they are trying to block out their children from hearing even though the volume and language is extreme. The shots are focused around mid-body and above to focus on the expressions within the characters faces. This also expresses the tension within the room as everything is cropped out except for the chest and above to show that nothing else is as important as their aggressive conversation which gets out of hand. The first complete close up used is when the man is using a hammer to take his anger out and to also show he is hard working. The close-up is focused on his hands to represent his strength and masculinity. Afterwards a close up shot is used for the woman when she is eating a cake which suggests she has a much easier working life than the male character as she is just sitting down and enjoying herself.
The movement in the beginning of the clip is very fast when it first zooms into the street and then into the house to introduce the scene, the fast movements could suggest that things are bumpy and rough at home - especially between the parents. To continue this atmosphere, fast movements are still used to show the alternation between the different views of the male and female character to represent the constant bickering. However afterwards when she slows down her speech and the husband leaves the scene, she speaks to her children in a much calmer tone and also the movements are slowed right down to show she is calmer and more passive.

Sound

The man is portrayed to be a very aggressive, verbally abusive, rude and loud person which is the stereotypical view of a man, However, in contrast the woman is much calmer, relaxed and passive which is the stereotypical view of a woman. The woman is located in a much calmer and quieter location (the house) in comparison to the man's switch of location at the building site where he aggressively takes his anger out using the hammer on a hard surface to create a louder volume to prove his masculinity and to show he's got no competition.

Thursday 25 September 2014

Se7en Edit



Se7en is a thriller film which creates a mysterious atmosphere and makes the audience and viewers want to know more about the storyline of the film as a constant feature of mystery and suspense is used across the whole of the film. It makes the viewer want to know what is behind the music and the purpose of the music; it also keeps the viewer on edge by wanting to know more.

For this task, in pairs we had to create our own title sequence for the well known film 'Se7en'. The purpose for this was to get familiar with Final Cut Pro on the Mac computers at school. Because our main focus is thriller films, we identified main features used within thriller films: we used different effects and filters, we made the scenes look grungy and scratchy and we made the lighting of the images dark to create mystery ans suspense.
To cut out unnecessary seconds of clips that we didn't want, we cut down the length of the photos and videos using inter-cutting on Final Cut Pro. We then created the order to run narratively and near enough in chronologically.
Lastly, we used the names of the actors and the production team at the beginning of the title sequence for the same reasons professional directors use the names in the media industry; for copyright purposes.

If I had to improve this clip, I would of added in more video clips as well as the van CCTV clip so I could have had more practice of embedding in and editing the video length by trimming it and also adding effects).

This was made by myself and Kieran Rundle.

Title Sequence: Bridget Jones' Diary


For our summer assignment, we were asked to watch any film of our choice and then draw a timeline of the title sequence. 
After this, we had to copy down the order of the cast and the production team as they make up the beginning credits of the film. 
Next we had to write down the timings which each text appeared during the opening sequence of the film. I chose to use Bridget Jones' Diary...

In the film Bridget Jones’s Diary filmed in 2002, the opening film sequence plays an important role in portraying the genre of the film. Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) stars in the film sequence beginning to end, whilst Celine Dion’s ‘all by myself’ plays for two minutes, a drunken chain smoking Bridget picks up her original rolled up magazine -microphone and dramatically starts miming the words to the well-known song. Because this is a comedic opening sequence, it introduces the film to be funny and amusing to a wider audience and makes the genre clearer. Other actions such as downing half a pint of red wine and being in her pyjamas adds to the comedic effect of the opening film sequence. Because of her humorous appearance and actions, the film sequence immediately sets the scene that the film is about a drunken woman whom is amusingly struggling with situations in life; such as men, love, addictions and money. The title sequence shows that a lot of people were involved with the production and creativity of Bridget Jones’s Diary; therefore it must be a successful film. Nevertheless, the title sequence is successful as it is already making people laugh and it is only two minutes into the film, this builds up good expectations for the rest of the film. To conclude, the opening sequence for the modern 2002 film is humorous, witty and entertaining which already drags the audience in and persuades the audience to keep watching the film to find out what the plot is and what is yet to come.


9 Frame Title Sequence Design Sequence


This screenshot has the title of 'Renée Zellweger'. This is the first screenshot. This screenshot shows that Bridget Jones is a lonely and miserable character, perhaps due to love, life and work as this is a long shot to emphasise her loneliness. She is also on her own, with sad emotions portrayed.


This screenshot has the title of 'Colin Firth'. This is the second screenshot. This screenshot shows that she is upset and emotional about a certain subject due to her smoking and the depressing expression conveyed through her face. She is also lounged about on the sofa, this suggests she is lazy.


This screenshot has the title of 'Jim Broadbent'. This is the third screenshot. Due to her consecutive drinking, this suggests she is also depressed due to resulting to drinking. The camera angle (long shot) also portrays loneliness and depression.


This screenshot has the title of 'Gemma Jones'. This is the fourth screenshot. This is a closer shot, this shows that she is still drinking as it is a zoomed in shot, this emphasises the amount she is drinking.


This screenshot has no title. This is the fifth screenshot. Because she is holding a magazine and pretending to play the guitar to it, it shows it is a comedy as it adds a sense of humour to the atmosphere.


This screenshot has the title of 'Exectutive Producer Helen Fielding'. This is the sixth screenshot. The image shows she is mid-way through singing which adds a comedic mood when the scene is supposed to be sad. This attracts the audience as the genre is already exposed; a comedy.


This screenshot has the title of 'Based on the novel by Helen Fielding'. This is the seventh screenshot. Due to her mouth being open and her wide actions with her hands, it shows she is singing and the music of 'All by myself' shows that the film is a comedy as she is mimicking and miming the lyrics.


This screenshot has the title of 'Screenplay by Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies, Richard Curtis'. This is the eighth screenshot. This is a long shot to show she no longer feels depressed and lonely as her arm actions shows it is a comedy. The long shot also shows she is still singing and still crying, in a humorous way.