Preliminary Evaluation

1. The story we were trying to tell in this film is a Turkish guy and a Irish guy fighting over the money which belongs to the Turkish guy.

2. I included all of the techniques which were listed which were needed, following Match on Action, Eye line Match, Shot, Reverse Shot, Graphic Match and 180 Degree rule.

3. I will now be explaining how the video was was created using the each of the techniques.

The first technique which we used was the match on action. The way we did this is to get Billy to walk around the corner for one shot, and then moved the camera around the corner in the next shot to continue the action Billy was doing, walking round the corner.

The second technique we used was the eye line match. The way we did this is by getting me to look at something or someone in the video, yet the audience cant see what I am looking at until the next scene. First you see a close up shot of my eyes looking at someone or something and then in the next scene you see what I was looking at, which is Billy looking back at me. 

The technique we then used was the shot reverse shot. The shot revers shot was used in conversation between two characters. The way we did this was by doing over the shoulder shot so we could see the character which was speaking in the conversation at the time.

Throughout the whole of the recording of this video we kept to the 180 degree rule. The way we were able to this is by recording close to a wall. What this meant is that we cant pass the wall, which then meant passing the 180 degree rule. 

I made sure that we used all of the techniques accurately, even if it meant we had to re do a scene lots of times. 

We mad mistakes in editing the video. We could of added background music, but besides that no mistakes were made in doing all of the techniques. 

What we did well in a video is getting all the techniques into the videos, we also at the beginning added a graphic match transition. 

Where I would improve on this video is to add of screen sound and background music. 

Preliminary Task

    

In this Preliminary task we recorded a fight scene in between a Turkish person, which was me, and a Irish person, which was Billy. It was a based over the money which belongs to the Turkish person but wasn't given to by the Irish person.

We demonstrated in this Preliminary task that we included continuity editing, which included eye-line match, match on action, shot/reverse shot and to keep to the 180° rule. First I will be explaining what these what each one of them mean. 

Eye-line match is when we see a character looking at something off screen and then have cut to the next shot of what they were looking at.

Match on action is when we see a character that starts an action in one shot, and then see the character continue there action in the next shot. 

Shot/reverse shot is when one character is looking at another character then having that character looking at the the other character. This is usually used in conversations as an over the shoulder shot. 

The 180° rule is a basic guideline that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other.

We did all of the continuity in our video successfully, but what we could of done to improve our video is to add sounds in, for example diegetic and non-diegetic sounds to make the video look better, but this will help us not make the same mistake when it comes to the thriller opening that we will be recording. 

Unknown

Unknown is a modern thriller which came out in the year 2011. The film is about a man which wakes up from a coma, that he got into from a car accident, to only discover that his life, his wife, his everything has been taken by someone else that he doesn't know. No one believes him and that is including his wife, with the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who is, yet he finds out a terrible truth about himself that he forgot.

The director of this film is Jaume Collet-Serra, the writers of the film were Stephen and Oliver Butcher, which worked on the screenplay of the movie. The stars of the film are Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger and January Jones.

This film has essential characteristic which makes it a good thriller, the reason for this is because of the g moments of high tension,  A example of this would be the hospital scene when Liam Neeson is reaching for the scissors leading to the murder. Fast editing was used to show that there is a scenes of danger and a limit of time that he must get the scissors to escapes before the murder comes in.

In this image we see a screen shot of the two characters together. There is great use of mise-en-scene in this scene. The reason for this is because of the colour which has been used. The colour which has been used is red, what this inferring to them is that there in danger, but it also shows a scenes of love in between the two characters.

In the trailer we see lots of technical uses that gives the audience a thrilling feel. The main parts of the trailer I would like to speak about. We first see the start of the trailer with Liam Neeson and his wife arriving in Germany, then there has been a use of fast editing to show that there is action and that danger. There is also a scene in the trailer with a rolling shot to show the confusion between the two characters, and as the trailer progresses we see there has been more use of fast editing to show us the danger and the action, this gives a thrill to the audience.

Blog 4 Psycho

The Director of Psycho is Alfred Hitchcock. The writers were Joseph Stefano, which write the screenplay, and Robert Bloch, which write the novel. The stars of the movie were Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles. Anthony Perkins played as Norman Bates, Janet Leigh played as Marion Crane and Vera Miles played as Lila Crane.

Hitchcock made the audience think that it is all about $40,000 which was stollen. When the murder happened it was a shock to the audience because it wasn't expected. What the shock did was make the audience apprehensive for the rest of the movie. This meant anything could of happened, anyone could be killed.

The audience knew that there was a murder somewhere in the house. They just didn't know when the murder was going to strike again. But to make it more suspenseful they must know it could happen any moment.

Hitchcock stressed that the more that the apprehensiveness increased, that there is less and less violence on screen.

The scene I will be analyzing is the shower scene. The reason for this is because it shows the audience the thriller is characterized by fast pacing and frequent action.  In this scene we see the murder happen. Back in the 1960s people would say that it was the most violent and bloody scene ever, with the stabbing, and the film industry said to Hitchcock that he cant have that be shown. What Hitchcock did was make it look brutes, when in fact of the good use of fast pace editing we didn't actually see anyone getting stabbed. All we did was see the knife move with the music which was being used and also the people who then saw the movie used the imagination to fill in the gaps that wasn't shown. This is why people thought it was a very brutal scene when in fact we don't actually see any stabbing.

Red herrings were used in this, the reason for this is because as the audience we thought the film was going to be about the $40,000 which was stolen, but in fact the film was about a guy that dressed up as his dead mother and think he is the mother, then kill people.

The film was successful from Hitchcock, that other directors decided to make a part 2 and a part 3 of Psycho. In the other Psychos Norman Bates is on the front cover of all of them because he was in the first one.

Production meeting 2

This is our second production meeting, for this we drew out a story bored, this was to help create a animatic and give us an idea on how we are going to film our thrillers. We disused about locations, timings and roles that we will be taking.

First Production Meeting

This was out first production meeting in our group. We spoke about the each others ideas on how we are going to the first 2 minutes of the thriller, spoke about what we agree on as a group and where we could improve on each others ideas. What this allowed the group to do was think of different ideas which can be used in the thriller. What we then did was speak about how we were going to implement things like camera shots and mise-en-secene. This allowed me and the rest of the group to think about the setting of the opening of our thriller, the colouring, if there will be any dialogue and how we are going to implement a introduction sequence. This was our first meeting which was very interesting because we have been able to give each other ideas which will help for the next meeting we have.

The Birds

          What Alfred Hitchcock did with this thriller is give the audience a threat from nature. He made a thriller using birds as the villeins, it was unheard of using such harmless creatures as the main threat of a thriller, but Alfred Hitch Cock was able to pull it of.

          The trailer of "The Birds" is ironic, the reason for this because we see a old woman saying how birds are such beautiful creatures. "Birds are not aggressive creatures Miss. They bring beauty into the world." Then after that in the trailer we see lots of birds attacking people. This makes it even more horrific, the reason for this is because the audience can agree that birds are beautiful creatures, and that they bing beauty into the world, what the audience then see is a load of birds gathered together attacking people. The effect on the audience is a great impact of surprise and what gave this impact is when the birds are attacking the kids and one falls over and smashes her glasses. Another reason why this trailer makes the film "The Birds" look horrific is because the old woman then goes and says, the birds wont bring the end of the world. Straight after that we see a explosion happen because of the birds. What this does is get the audience thinking. Is it actually possible for the birds to bring the end of the world? 

          Often in Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers theres nowhere to actually hide. In this film he has used a small town called Bodega Bay, a place where no one has heard of or know of. This means that it doesn't matter where people are to run of to the birds will come. Even small places like Bodega Bay means there is no where to run or hide, even though we have never heard or know anything about Bodega Bay before. 

In this image we can see that after the film, Hitchcock was also able to successfully get Bodega Bay known.

          Suspense was used extensively, a example of this is where they are all in the house waiting for the next wave of birds to attack. Good use diegetic sounds were used of the birds, because we knew that when we heard birds, there was going to be a attack of some sort and that people are in danger.

Hitchcock had a great use for sound. A example is in the schoolyard scene. In the schoolyard scene we can hear the innocent children singeing. The contrast of the song is evil natured. This is ironic as we see the birds gather up for an attack in the school playground as they sing this song. 

 

Studio Idetnts

         For this blog post I will be speaking about four major studio idents. The studio idents I will be speaking about are Columbia, Universal,
Paramount and Walt Disney Pictures.

         The reason why I am doing this is because it will help give me an idea on how to create mu ident when it comes to making my opening sequence of a thriller.

Columbia Studios
       
         Columbia studios has had many idents over many years, they have kept to the theme of the woman standing. Columbia is a American film production. It is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. Sony Pictures Entertainment is a subsidiary of the Japanese, it is one of the worlds leading film studios. Columbia studios was founded in January 10th 1924 in LA. The founders were Harry Cohn, Jack Cohn and Joe Brandt.

All films have a studio ident, this is to show the studio that the movie was either funded by or make the film. All studios have there own idents to show that the film was made by that company or helped be created by a company. Companies like Columbia Studios are known, which means that it will help publitice the film which has been made by them, this helps sell the film to people to watch becuase people know that it has been made by a major company.

Rope

     

Blog 3 - "North by North West"

‘’North by North West’’ Crop Duster Scene

        "North by North West" is a film which came out in the year 1959, it is a thriller which as written by Ernest Lehman and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The stars of the film are Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The film is about a "innocent" New York advertising execurive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and os pursued across america while he looks for lots of ways to survive. 

        This scene starts of slow starts of slow and it was in the middle of nowhere, a dusty scenery and this is the mise-en-scene of the scene. What Hitchcock said was that a typical thriller scene would be at night where it’s all dark on a corner of a street, in the city, floors maid from cobble washed with water and rain, standing under a straight light, a person looks through a window, having a black cat run across a wall waiting for a limo to come kill the person waiting, but what Hitchcock also said that he wasn’t going to make his scene. He wanted it done fresh and new, ‘’Therefor, will make the same scene with nothing.’’ He wanted it to be unique and different but keeping all the effects of a thriller.  Another thing that Hitchcock said about this is scene is ‘’A man is told to go to a spot and there the audiences suspect he will be shot.’’ Another thing I want to say about the mise-en-scene is that Cary Grant is all dressed up smart in this scene, this indicates to the audience that he is about to have an important meet up, but the scenery he is in also indicates that this is building up to something much bigger.

       

         I would like to speak the camera work in this scene. In this scene what we see a lot of is a establishing shot and what the establishing shot does is to show that his alone with no buildings or shelter.We see a lot point of view shots from Roger O. Thornhill, what this is indicating to the audience that he is becoming impatient continuslly looking up the road waiting for a man called George Kaplan. We also see medium shots of Roger O. Thornhill and what this is showing the audience the impatient look on his face as he waits. There is also long shots of him which indicate a scens of fear when we see a car coming down the road, we as the audience amidently suggest that Roger O. Thornhill is going to be shot. We then see a pan shot of the car passing Roger, then goes to medium shot of Roger as the car passes by and we see Roger slightly relieved yet disappointed. What he felt relieved for that someone didn’t shot him as the car passed, what he was disappointed about was that it wasn’t Kaplan. Then we have a wide shot of the two men and what made this made the audience think was that the other man was Kaplan when it wasn’t and this mislead the audience to think it was because the audience knows that Roger O. Thornhill is waiting for this guy called George Kaplan. Once the we know on what is going on, and we know that a plane is chasing Roger O. Thornhill we see the good use of a steady cam used when Roger O. Thornhill is running away from the plane. The steady cam was used to show the audience that something big is happening.  We see that it is a tense moment and by seeing a steady cam of Roger O. Thornhll running we can see that he is trying to get out out of this situation, but at this moment his not quite sure how he is going to get out of the situation. This makes the audience feel the same danger as Roger O. Thornhill in this situation and we feel sympathetic for him, this is because we know that he has been mistaken for George Kaplan, this is the only reason why he is getting gunned down by a plane.

Mise-En-Scene

            Mise-en-scene is a French tearm for “in the scene or frame”.  There are five elements of mise-en-scene and what these five elements are setting and props, costume, hair and make-up, facial expressions and body language and positioning of characters and objects in the frame. 

            Colour in a scene can show and explain to an audience on what may be going on with them without having to use dialog. An example would be the colour red. The colour red may suggests things like love, lust, blood, danger, anger and heat. An example of this would be if the scene had a red colour it could indicate to the audience that there may be danger close.  


This picture is a scene from hunger games, and what we can tell just by looking at this scene is that there is a scenes of danger and love, this is because of the colour red which has been used in this scene. In the Hunger Games Katniss is wearing red in a red colored scene to show a scenes of danger to others tributes which are also in the Hunger Games. But there is also a scenes of love because of the colour of red in between Katniss and Peter and this is why red was used in this scene. Another thing which is in this scene is that Katnisses face expression looks worried which links back into the scenes of danger is coming. Katniss has also be made to look pretty using make up and doing up her hair because she is representing her district. Just from looking at this scene from the Hunger Games I have identified the elements of mise-en-scene because of the technical use of colour, make up, face expression and the color of where its set.

            Black and white movies indicate that it may be a fantasy or old fashioned and coloured films indicate to the audience that it is reality. This technique was reversed in the movie the Wizard Of Oz. This because the films starts of black and white which gives it an old fashion feel but also that it is reality. Once colour is introduced to the film it is indicating to us that she is in a fantasy land.
In this image we see dorothy going from the old fashioned reality scene into a coloured fantasy land.

Denotation and Connotation

            Denotation is the literal description of on idea, concept or object. Connotation is what we associate with a particular idea, concept or object. An example of this is by using colour. A colour like red could indicate danger, love or blood and this is an example of a denotation. A example of Connotation is when you see the colour red as real blood, or if there really is love or danger in the scene.

Blog 2. Media Theorists and Theories.

Blog 2. Media Theorists and Theories.

                In this blog I will be speaking about the theories that media theorists had about how movies are made. There five types of theories and these theories are traditional Hollywood narrative structure, Todorov – narrative theory, Roland Barthes – enigmas, Levi Strauss – binary opposites and Propp – character types. 

Traditional Hollywood Narrative Structure

                Traditional Hollywood narrative structure is based on a three-act format.

                The first act is based on the setup of the movie and what happens is that main characters are introduced and may hint on what may happen in the rest of the movie. The act of the movie is about 25% of the start of the start of the movie.

                The second act is where the film starts developing. This is the development of the movie. This is where there is a plot complication is added to the story of the movie. It could sometimes be false resolution to the main conflict or even the first act. This is about 50% of the movie in the center.

                The third and final act is where the film comes to a climax and is resolved. This is the resolution act. This is what they would call a “Hollywood ending”. This is the last 25% of the movie.

Todorov – narrative theory

                Todorov in 1969 had a theory which was that every film has 5 stages.

                The first stage is a state of equilibrium and this is where everything is normal like everyday life.

                The second stage is a disruption of that order an event and what this is that there is a problem and that something has happened.

                The third stage is recognition that the disorder has occurred and what this is, is recognising that there is a problem.

                The fourth stage is an attempt repair the damage and this when the problem is trying to be fixed.

                The fifth and final stage is a return or restoration of a new equilibrium and this is when everything goes back to how it was but in a new way.

Roland Barthes – Enigmas

                Enigmas codes means that problems have been introduced, this is usually in the disruption stage of the movie.

                All text are made complex and have bundles of meanings. Open text is not resolved at the end, closed text are resolved at the end and polysomic texts have lots of different meanings.

Levi Straws – Binary Opposites

                What Levi Straws said was that narratives can be organised through binary oppositions. What he meant was that two things that opposed. This is often dominant vs subordinate for example a male vs a female or hero vs a villain.

Propp – Character types

                Vladimir Propp believed that character types should be like people from traditional folk stories. In this there are 8 key character roles.

The 8 key character roles are hero, villain, helper, donor (provider), farther, dispatcher, princess, false hero. One character can perform more than one role.

In a movie you don’t need all 8 characters, you could have 3 key characters like a hero, villain and a princess that the hero saves from the villain. 

Mulvey - Male Gaze

                Laura Mulvey's theory of the Male Gaze was that the Camera was representing a man looking at a woman in a sexual and erotic way. What she said was "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema".
What she said about the  male gaze is that a woman is viewed as the objects of a male erotic desire for a movie audience, she said that men are more active than women and women tend to be passive. She also believed that woman never moved the plot forward, the audience is forced to identify with the male gaze. In cinema she believed that it was always male dominated. She also believed things like guns represented the male penis, this was a symbol of power. 
The male gaze leads to Hegemonic ideologies within our society. What hegemonic means is ruling or dominant in political or social context.
Women as the audience are left to the gaze at other woman as in the same way a male would, and this ends up objectifying other women. 
Mulvey states that the role if a woman character in a narrative has two purposes. The fist purpose is that they are seen as an erotic object for characters within the narrative to view, the second is a erotic object for the spectators within the cinema to view.   
Mulvey has also discussed the term Scopophilia. What this means is "Love of Watching". When we watch a movie, we observe the activities of people on the screen who are unaware that they are being watched. 

This image is Laura Mulveys summary. This is what she believe men gaze at, at a woman, this is the definition of the male gaze.