Feedback - Miss Spencer

You have made a decent start Antonia - using lots of media language and often discussing the meaning of the elements you have picked out. However you have described too much without then analysing (suggesting meaning) You have barely thought past camera movement/ angles and framing. You must also discuss editing, mise en scene and sound. Because of this your work is in a level 2. In order to improve you should:

    

•  Think about the questions below, ensure you are addressing all of them.
•  Embed JPEG images throughout and a video of the opening sequence in order to illustrate your analysis.

  Study the opening sequences of any film from the Thriller, Horror, and Romantic comedy genre. E.g. Seven, The Dark Knight Rises, Halloween, Notting Hill, Love Actually etc. Analyse how the sequence has been constructed through its use of: Camera angles, shots, movement, Editing, Sound, Special effects and Mise-en-scene etc.

· In terms of editing how have the separate images been put together - Think in terms of frequency of cuts, fades in/out, jump cuts, dissolves etc.

• What visual images appear on screen throughout the sequence? And what do they mean?
• · Describe what narrative (story) is being displayed in the sequence from start to finish.
• · Describe what kind of music; diegetic/non-diegetic/incidental/ambient etc. is being played over the sequence.
• · How and what titles are being displayed during the sequence and in what order.
• · What kind of characterisation is evident? - Age, gender, relationships etc. 

Textual Analysis:Knocked up

Knocked Up:Opening Scene

At the start of the film Ben Stone, Jay, Jason and Jonah (Friendship group of boys) are messing around by playing childish games at their house but all of them look very scruffy and unprofessional. The background they are in is also very scruffy as there is old tattered furniture all over the place. A wide shot is used at this point as everyone's body is shown in this part and also the background. This has been used so the audience know what the the character's personality's are like and how they live.

There is also a medium close up used when they are dancing and acting like children. This is used to show the audience again how childish they are. This has also been done to show the audience their facial expression because again it is quite an immature expression.When they are at a theme park on a roller coaster there is a Mid shot used and this is used to show their expression as they a screaming like children and also to show the audience that they are on a roller coaster. 

There is then a wide shot used but it is has been shot like the characters on the roller coaster are holding the camera. This shows the audience again that they are immature as the ride they are on is for children and children and not full grown adults.The music that is used from the start until the part where they are on the roller coaster goes very well with what is going on because the music is quite immature and chilled and that is what the boys are like at the start of the film as they are always happy and acting immature. You can also tell by their clothing that they are very childish as their clothing is very plain and baggy ... like what a child would wear! There clothing also has very immature cartoons on which also gives the audience a vibe that they are childish.

As the roller coaster starts to slow down as the ride is finishing the camera goes from them to an alarm clock and neat pot of pens. This has been shown as its gone from boys acting wild in a very untidy and scruffy home to a neat area of a bedroom. This will leave the audience very confused. The music also changed from the childish chilled music to an alarm going off. This change has happened as it will leave the audience confused as the personality has just changed from childish straight to organised and mature. 

There is then a mid shot of a woman waking up in a very neat and clean environment so It has gone from a big change of a non neat environment to a very clean environment. This will leave the audience confused as the audience will know that the film is a romance/comedy so they will be very confused towards how romance is going to match in the film.

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Mission Impossible - Thriller Analysis

Textual Analysis: Mission Impossible

At the start of the movie Tom Cruise is climbing up a mountain/rock but without any sort of harness or something to keep him safe. We can also see he is struggling a little as he sounds out of breath. The connotation for this would be that we can see something bad or unexpected is going to happen very soon. 

There is also an Ariel shot used here to show his surroundings and also a point of view show to show that something could be watching him or heading towards him. As Tom cruise carries on climbing and making his way to the top of these mountains/rocks he has to jump from one rock to another with a big gap, when he does jump he jumps in slow motion and this is done to get the audience on edge and thinking what’s going to happen next and whether he is going to make it or not.

When Tom Cruise is climbing up the mountains and rocks there is a very wide shot used as  his whole body is shown but  the scenery around him. This is to show the audience that there must be something special about Tom Cruise in this movie as a normal person wouldn't be jumping and climbing across mountains and rocks that big without wearing a harness. 

Also at the start of the movie there was a part where the camera zoomed out a lot to show the scenery behind him and to remind the audience that he is alone in some sort of desert. The con-nation for this would be to show that there is a lot of danger around him. At one point in the introduction Tom Cruise stops for a minute but in a certain position and he seems to be positioned in a religious potion. He is positioned in the way Jesus was on the cross as he has his arms and legs stretched out like Jesus did on the cross. This shows that he is special and has special features to him and any minute now something unexpected could happen. As Tom cruise is positioned in this way the camera also zooms in on his face to show how he is feeling and he looks shocked and suddenly he carries on climbing a jumping across these rocks.

Finally you can start to hear a helicopter coming in which makes the audience think what is going to happen next and who is coming. 

As the helicopter is coming in you can still hear the happy/adventurous (Non-Diegetic)  music playing from the start of the introduction but slowly the music starts to change in to spy music as the helicopter gets closer. This now gives it all away to the audience as they will know that Tom Cruise in this film is a spy or has certain powers.

When the intro finally finished it goes in to the opening credits and has lots of sparks and flames going off. There is a fuse running out of time in the opening credits which could show that the spies in the film have a limited amount of time to do their work and slowly the fuse is going to run out of time. There is also a lot of metallic looking texts in the opening credits which could indicate the strengths of the spies because of how strong metal is.

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Feedback - Miss Spencer

Can you please get your preliminary task and evaluation uploaded into the post below ASAP thanks
Miss Spencer

Prelim task and evaluation

Preliminary task evaluation

1.      The 180-degree rule is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene.

2.     Match on action is cutting on action or matching on action refers to film editing and video editing techniques where the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action.

3.     Eye line match- is a film editing technique associated with the continuity editing system. It is based on the premise that the audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing.

We incorporated these in the planning of our film on our storyboard by drawing them out and then adding them in to out storyboard but in the appropriate parts for example for the 180 degree rule could be used when two friends could be having a conversation in a film and the camera be at a 180 degree rule.

 2. Our film making process In terms of filming shots from the storyboard around college went very well as there were lots of different areas we could film in such as dark areas, light areas and we could also go indoors and outdoors. It was also good filming around college as in every area of college it would be different and better for recording different types of shots. For example when recording a wide shot it is important that the background was suitable as a lot of the background would be included in the shot.

3. I learnt a lot about video editing on adobe premiere as before media I didn't know anything about adobe premiere all I knew that adobe premiere was a video editing app. I learnt how to add transitions on videos and adding sound and how to cut out sound in certain areas, when I want to stop and start the music and also how to put sound/music in.  I have also learnt a little about green screening and how it works and how to add it in but I still need to learn a little more about it. There are many more features on adobe premiere that I have not yet learnt about but would like to learn about to make my videos better and more professional.