Sound Analysis

We were given the task to analyse the sound in a 6 minute clip, this would include;

 

• Non-Diegetic Sound : Sound deliberatley edited into the clip/video.. to create mood, atmosphere, tension and signifies change. The characters are not able to hear this.
  • Narrators commentary
  • Sound effects
  • Mood music
• Diegetic                       : Sound that the characters are able to hear, the audience can get a sense of realism, its authentic
  • Voices of characters
  • Sounds made by objects
  • Music from instruments in the story (source music)
• Foley (Non-Diegetic): Sound effects that have been put there deliberalty
  • Explosions
  • Birds chirping
• Sound Motif               : The repeating of a sound effect or music throughout the clip/video/film
• Atmospheric Sound  : Usually non-diegectic music that can increase in volume or decrease to create different moods
  • Volume increase – creates an increase in tension

George Lawrence’s Blog

Good

• Uses various ways of analysing his work e.g. Slideshow, YouTube video of him speaking about it, re-creations of certain freeze frames in movies, pictures of his written work or just generally written on his blog post in paragraphs.

 

Opening Video

Good

• Use of titles- showing the names of the actors involved in the opening video-shots change when the name does to represent a different actor
• Variety of camera shots incorporated- e.g. close up, mid close up, long shot, panning and extreme close up. Low angle shot around the middle of the opening video showing a gang of youths-The use of the shot represents them as more powerful and shows the girl as the weak one.
• Use of both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds shows variety- e.g. birds tweeting has been edited in to create a normal morning day atmosphere. Slow/happy music also contributes to the atmosphere already created.
• Muffled sounds edited in the song when the atmosphere begins to change- sense of danger instantly created
• Lighting and use of colours- Bright and colourful in order to add to the happy morning atmosphere
• Mis-en-scene:

o   Costume- Grey clothing contrasts with the bright and happy atmosphere-could foreshadow that something bad may happen later on?

 

With Sophie

Preliminary Task – New Girl

In our group, including; Nick, Harry, Sophie, Georgia, Phoebe and I, we decided for this task to base our story on someone new to the school which we set here in a classroom in the sixth-form block and then for the next day/scene in the Humanities block.
During the first lesson, we came up with a draft idea and started to film it, but unfortunately we decided that it wasn’t the great piece so for the next lesson we came up with another idea which we thought that worked much better! I think that we time wasted a lot for that first lesson as for the next two lessons, we kind of rushed it which meant that we didn’t have a lot of time to make it better than it was.
While Nick was in charge of the camera, Georgia took on the role of the new girl (main character) while the rest of us were other actors.
What worked well was that all the different clips were edited together well because of all the camera shots that we took, this is because we gave thought to how we were going to film the short piece, this would keep the audience engaged because it was a bit busy but not at the same time.

Finished Freeze Frame Task

This is the freeze frame video that we produced, in this; Susanna and Phoebe jointly put recorded and put together the final video, and all together we made the script.

Kill Bill Task – Mise en scene

For this task, we were put into groups of three and we had to recreate a freeze frame from a beginning shot of the film Kill Bill.

Firstly, we discussed what we needed to do so that we could remake the shot as accurate as possible, this included the make up – blood, cuts, dark shadows, the props, sweating face – bridal veil, location – we decided the drama studios or the theatre would be the best place, the lighting – black and white, highlighted face, facial expression – frowning, looks like she’s in pain, scared.

Roles: Florence – make up/bride

Phoebe – make up/bride

Lucy – props

When it came to actually doing it, the problem we encountered was that neither Flo nor Phoebe could be the bride, so this meant that I had to be the bride.

We planned to prepare and take the shot at Monday lunchtime, and we did so in the drama studios. I thought that Phoebe and Flo did an amazing job of putting the make up and the fake blood onto me, although it was a struggle getting it as accurate as possible. We also found that it was quite hard to get the right lighting where one side of the face was completely dark while the other side was highlighted. The solution was to put something dark by the right side of me while shining a light on the other, also to put more black makeup on one side of my face as well. I feel that I could have tried to get my facial expressions a bit more intense than I did because it would have made the picture a bit more dramatic and the mood of the scene would have come across a lot more.

But overall, I think that we learnt a lot about what goes into a film, about how much time and effort and that the directors and other people involved in the film have a lot to think about when they do make it so lots of different emotions and meanings are revealed and shown to the audience. We also communicated well so that we were able to gather up different props and ideas:

Our final piece:

We experimented with different filters to see which would look better, the top right and bottom left both give the same effect of a gloomy atmosphere, the top left makes the bride look dead, and the bottom right which is I think they best representation of the original image, shows a dark mood.

From Endings to Beginnings

In todays lesson, we were given 3 shorts phrases for endings of a film, and in pairs we had to create the rest of the plot (beginning and middle) just from this ending phrase. They were:

• “They kissed”
• “He dropped dead”
• “The car drove off”

 

Me and my partner Susanna came up with these ideas for the three endings:

• “They kissed” – Set: World War Two

Genre: Historic Romance

Plot: A soldier leaves his wife to go and fight in the Second World War, but   unfortunately he goes missing and so his family, friends and his wife are devastated, then at the end of the war he returns home and the ending shot would be that they kiss.

 

• “He dropped dead” – Set: 2048

Genre: Sci-fi

Plot: There is a radiation bomb and the main character survives but becomes immortal which means he can save those people who died when the bomb hit. But unfortunately, because of this it drains his own energy and he dies at the end.

 

• “The car drove off” – Set: Texas

 

Short film

These are the main storylines that we achieved during this lesson.

We then went into groups of four and put our ideas together so that we could film a short film. These ideas included:

“The murderer got caught” – Set: Modern day

Genre: Homicide Crime

Plot: It begins with a glimpse of a murder, not showing who the murderer is. Then a man is wrongfully convicted and his brother is the only one to believe that he is innocent, and therefore works towards freeing him by finding the real murderer. He finds a suspect and gathers evidence against him, eventually presenting a case and convicting him and therefore freeing his brother, throughout this there are transitions into the life of the wrongfully convicted brother in prison, showing his experiences. The climax of the film is the confrontation between the brother out of prison and the actual murderer, and while this is happening the imprisoned brother is experiencing a prison fight after tensions caused by accidental events.

 

After showing the class our ideas, we got opinions for what would work and what may need a slightly different approach to regarding the mise-en-scene and also the storyline.

What worked was how we were going to open the short film, it was going to be a flashback clip of the murder, this is because it makes you confused about what’s going on and then intrigued to find out why we have shown them that and so would make the audience want to carry on watching it.

However, the fact that it was just like any other ordinary crime plot, we need to come up with other ideas to make it stand out and be more interesting than the average crime film. What was suggested by class mates was to have it set in a different place other than an alley way due to this being similar to the average storyline of crime genred films.

 

Narrative Structure (3 examples)

Narrative Structure is where an entire film is based on one line written by a writer. It must be as simple as possible because then during the making of the film they can expand but it takes a lot of time, money and effort to organise a film. This is due to the writer of the director needing to get the right people and all the equipment to even start making the film.

Despicable Me 2

This is about a retired Russian bad guy called Gru who now has adopted 3 orphan girls and with the help of a new assistant, they have to find out who stole the lab and also his minions.

The Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen volunteers herself instead of her sister to go and fight in a yearly tournament between 12 districts as a punishment by The Capitol.

Avatar

Jake Sully and the rest of the decreasing human population make base on a planet called Pandora already inhabited by Na’vi (Avatars), they try to co-exist but due to greed and selfishness, they break the cooperation and a war is started.

Plan of Freeze Frames and their scripts (tv drama-soap opera)

1) 00:47 – Social and Domestic Settings – This is an example of a social and domestic setting, as it is set in a family kitchen with multiple characters which lead to unlimited story lines. It is a long shot camera angle to show the mise en scene and the domestic setting.

2) 01:35 – Strong Female Characters – This is a freeze frame of strong female characters due to the fact that she acts more dominant than the man, by enforcing her power that he cannot mess her around. It also involves shot/reverse shot so you can see both of their reactions and their perspectives.

3) 02:07 – Multiple Plots – This picture shows the multiple plots, because she reciecves a text message which leads to another storyline. It is a close up of the text message so the audience can see what the actor is reading; this helps the viewer relate to the show.

4) 02:16 – Simplified Characters – A simplified character is shown by having a basic sterotype of a child, by him colouring in the kitchen. They have used this actor becasue he is a young boy who cannot have a complex plot. He is wearing school uniform to show his age, which also represents the sterotype. The lighting is brigh and is entering from behind him, showing him as an innocent actor.

5) 03:39 – Never-Ending Story-Line – We can see the never ending storyline becasue the clip is to just about to finish, but the actors have stopped talking half way through a conversation, implying that the story will carry on in the next episode. The composition shows both actors facing the camera which conveys that something is about to happen, leading to another never ending storyline.

Media Consumption

It is important to have an understanding of the media so that you are not influenced much by different sources, newspapers, posters or journalists so that you are able to make a non boast judgement for yourself, so that our can make your own opinion. Media is also the way to get the news of the world like disasters, politics or economics so understanding how the media works is very important to get information. It can also help us to communicate with each other, to out forward our own opinions or influence others, it is a way to find out the latest news in celebrities to make their reputation increase or rapidly drop. Understanding how the media works can help for you I distinguish what you are being told is the truth, a lie or that you are not getting the entire story. Therefore, media plays a major role in our lives to help us influence or make our own opinions and decisions to small or big issues, it can also provide many people with entertainment. Things like the news, documentaries, the radio, magazines and newspapers are all seen, read or heard of by everyone at least once a day which makes it a very big part of our lives, most peoples lives are revolved around what information they get from the media to make conversation with others or as it may be their job.

Mise-en-scene notes

• Mise-en-scene means all of the things found in the frame of a shot or a scene
• Includes: Location, Sets, Casting, Make-up, Costume, Props, Lighting, Composition
• French word for ‘placing on a stage’
• The word ‘Mise-en-scene’ is used to collectively say all the design elements that go into the making of a particular film
• Different directors have completely different takes on the way they interpret mise-en-scene
• Mise-en-scene is the visual identity of a film