Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Organisation
Through the organization process I contributed towards finding the actors/actresses involved, locations of where and when we wanted to be taking the shots, the minimal costumes used and the various props involved in the filming.
Finding the actors and actresses was probably the most difficult part for me as I was after specific types and age. The main character was a flexible choice as it had to be somebody who looked 16 - 20 years of age and needed to be wearing a 'hoody' of some kind. Matthew Symons fit the part quite well. The characters playing Detectives Miller and Fry were more difficult choices. I wanted them to be of the same age (20's) and different pieces of characteristics each. Detective Miller needed to look like the older brother of a household which was shown in 2 ways. One we look strongly alike so he as the only person for the job and the sound of children in the background helped contribute to this. Detective Fry on the other hand had to look intellectual, be sat in a calm manner whilst giving bad news over the phone. Rich the actor in this role played this part in the perfect way I was going for and was a good choice in my opinion.
Finally the role of the victim. This character needed to seem like the 'mother' figure to blend in with the brother role of Detective Miller. I was thinking for a while who it could be but my choice was write in front of me the whole time. My mum was a good victim.
Finding locations had their highs and lows for selecting them. The main problem I had was finding a location for the character Rich played Detective Fry. I couldn't find anywhere at all that matched what I needed which was a desk in an intellectual looking room with a laptop on the desk. In the end for this I found a location last minute which wasn't perfect but did the part. This was a problem for the props as I had to remove them because there wasn't a desk there to put it on.
The choice of the common was a no brainer. I chose this location originally because it was a good place to get swift shots of somebody running through the woods as planned in my storyboard. The re-filming was essential to be filmed at the common again because I had a new idea. Which was to have Matt run past the wall next to the common for the effect of braking out of a prison or location. This is against the storyboard so I will have to write about this in my evaluation in detail about why I chose to do this change.
Using my house was a key decision in the location contribution. I chose to use my house for the main characters hideout and Detective Millers home. I was very careful not to overlap the shots so I used the Living room for Millers bit and outside, stairs and the bathroom for the villains bit. This was the only major problem for this location as I had to redo a lot of shots due to the stairs being in Miller's shot and the living room door being in both shots.
Costume in this production wasn't designed to be major. The only part of costume on Matt's character was to wear a hooded jumper of his choice. I thought to myself that if the jumper was a random one then it would maybe show personal wear and tear so that the character shows his own personal liking in clothing. This wasn't needed but definitely a decent idea. I don't think it went well though.
The only other characters costume which was a major thought was Detective Fry's/Rich's costume. He had to look professional so I had him wear his glasses, nice shirt and jeans, this made the professional look without having to have a suit and a tie. I believe for this thriller it would have been too formal to be wearing a suit as Detective Millers costume wasn't formal in any way. As a detective off duty he was wearing his average clothing so to be wearing a completely formal piece of clothing may clash with the off duty detective.
The first prop seen in this is the mobile phones used by the two Detectives. This was thought up to be a key prop with these characters because it has let the two Detectives communicate for when one tells the other the bad news on the prison break. I chose this to submit the communication from one another because from my research I had spotted that most danger through communication in the thriller genre is warned verbally. If I had used an email on a laptop at which the character was looking at and responding to it would have missed the codes and conventions of a thriller and maybe hit more of the horror or action side of things.
The main prop which was essential to get was the jerrycan. The final shot which is a medium shot is of Matt just before what it appears to be him pooring petrol on the victim. Of course he doesn't do it but with the jerrycan being the main part of the shot it was essential to get it positioned in the shot correctly and to have a handheld one. Luckily my brother had one that fitted exactly what was needed.
Monday, 16 March 2009
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Textual Analysis
Star Wars III : Revenge Of The Sith:
In the opening shot it opens with an extremely long shot consisting of about 45 seconds. This starts staring into the stars and tracking downwards through a ray of sunlight and after passing down to the main characters. Using mis-en-scene and good use of a long camera shot they create the effect of the main characters flying into the scene in a hurry readily anticipating the enemy ahead with great speed. This shot is a tracking shot which varies in many ways through using a variation of long and medium shots, adding the effect of speed and action. Also through using these variations of shots the effect given is telling me something really important, dangerous and fast paced is happening but I don't quite know what it is until we get towards the extreme long shots which justifies what’s going on but not why. This extreme long shot consists of a battle scene which answers the question of what is going on, but not who is where and why they are there which is what a thriller is supposed to do, keeps the audience guessing what’s going on whilst slowly informing you of the answers you desire. Something else very well used in the first 20 seconds of the film is the audio. The non-digetic sound in the background is very peaceful throughout the tracking shot motion and begins fading away the further the panning down the screen the camera gets, until the spaceships fly from close up to extreme long distance past the camera completely cutting out the music altogether and in comes a new soundtrack for the non-digetic sound spot. The music in its place is classic Star wars 'The Dark Side' theme which is used in any type of danger in these films. The music fades in swiftly and snatches the audiences’ attention to asking questions:
~ Who?
~ What?
~ Why?
These 3 thoughts go rushing through the minds of the audience through the great use of camera shot, variety, good use of lighting and digetic and non-digetic sounds.The Lighting used in all the star wars films is very important. As for this one, we began tracking through the sunlight down into the space where the main characters fly through 2 seconds later. This was used well to contrast the non-digetic music from peace and serenity towards the danger and fast paced theme. In the first 2 minutes the 2 main characters are constantly being followed by the camera viewpoint for an entire minute before any dialogue or real action is produced. This is leaving the audience in suspense for the majority of the first 2 minutes which is exactly hitting the codes and conventions of any type of thriller whether it be a sci-fi thriller like this is or a romantic one exactly where they are supposed to be. The last of the 2 minutes is basically filled with informing the audience of what it is like up in space in the war conflicting with the enemy. This is answering the audiences questions on who, what and when through swift and heroic dialogue, driving through explosions again hooking the audience to stay and watch the entire movie, and lastly ending off mid fight. This is all encouraging them to carry on watching this and keeps them entertained whilst thrilled through fast paced shots and camera changes.
Constantine:
At the beginning of the opening shot the first thing we see is text informing us as the audience that there is something important called the ''Spear of Destiny'' which had been missing since the end of World War II. My first thoughts were 'what is it?' and 'what does it do?' so this hooked me into wanting to watch on already. The next scene you see is an extreme long establishing shot of this half built building in Mexico. From this scene you find 2 people looking for something, again hitting the codes and conventions of a thriller and cause you to asking yourselves questions wondering what they are looking for. One man accidentally put his foot through some wood making a hole in the ground. As soon as this happened some suspenseful non-digetic sound was played.
Again doing this is keeping the audience wanting to know more. The non-digetic music played in the background hits precision high notes every time the character does anything which would make the audience shudder with excitement or fear for the characters well-being. When the character reaches into the hole the camera viewpoint changes to inside the hole looking out. So when the character looks inside it appears that he is looking through the camera towards something else behind it. This made me want to see behind the camera in anticipation to wanting to see what is behind it.
This was done by good use of camera shots and good use of mis-en-scene.At the point of the first 2 minutes when the character had the spear in his hands began getting higher pitched increasing anticipation yet again. But the character starts to feel frightened/the feeling of being watched and whilst holding the spear close to him he turned around swiftly to check if anybody was looking. The non-digetic audio gets even higher as this proceeds and when he turned around the camera angle is changed to a higher angle using a crane and the audio goes all together. This puts you into the state the character is in. Looking for anybody who may see him, listening for anything coming or going and whilst doing this you wonder why this spear is affecting him this much and how.Finally the character distressed, confused and clearly affected by this spear decides to walk fast into the road in an attempt to cross it as fast as possible. Whilst holding the spear a truck hits him and about 6 different match-on-action shots are used. This adds the affect of a chaotic crash obviously but also shows off one other thing which the audience would catch on about. The car hits him like hitting a lamp post. Stopped immediately. The match-on-action shot was used very well here as it shows off the fact that his was no ordinary crash and the spear must of had something to do with it ending up this way.
Shooter:
At the beginning of this action thriller all the credits and title sequence are shown in the first 30 seconds through a bird’s eye view tracking shot on a crane. For these 20 seconds I personally thought it should have been shorter as I didn't see any codes and conventions hit nor did it thrill me in anyway. The one bit I did like was the ending of it. This was because after the boring opening sequence we pan upwards to see 2 sniper scopes camouflaged under some tall grass. One central to the screen and one slightly to the left, this surprised me and reminded me this is going to be an action-thriller which involved guns. The music background in the first 30 seconds is very suspenseful until the last bit where the main character is introduced whereat this stage it takes 5 seconds to drown out. This fade out of the audio keeps the audience focussed at any following audio about to be heard from the silence. With the silence and camera shot onto the main characters it is understandable that you expect speech of some sort to follow through the silence. This hits the codes and conventions of a thriller even though the start is boring. The beginning probably is supposed to keep you in suspense from the use of the one shot and digetic and non-digetic sound but even though I never felt it doesn't mean it’s not hit the codes and conventions.There isn't much more in the opening sequence I could take from this film as it is mainly action based from what I can see. But I do know that if I use a long tracking shot I need to be cautious on music.
In the opening shot it opens with an extremely long shot consisting of about 45 seconds. This starts staring into the stars and tracking downwards through a ray of sunlight and after passing down to the main characters. Using mis-en-scene and good use of a long camera shot they create the effect of the main characters flying into the scene in a hurry readily anticipating the enemy ahead with great speed. This shot is a tracking shot which varies in many ways through using a variation of long and medium shots, adding the effect of speed and action. Also through using these variations of shots the effect given is telling me something really important, dangerous and fast paced is happening but I don't quite know what it is until we get towards the extreme long shots which justifies what’s going on but not why. This extreme long shot consists of a battle scene which answers the question of what is going on, but not who is where and why they are there which is what a thriller is supposed to do, keeps the audience guessing what’s going on whilst slowly informing you of the answers you desire. Something else very well used in the first 20 seconds of the film is the audio. The non-digetic sound in the background is very peaceful throughout the tracking shot motion and begins fading away the further the panning down the screen the camera gets, until the spaceships fly from close up to extreme long distance past the camera completely cutting out the music altogether and in comes a new soundtrack for the non-digetic sound spot. The music in its place is classic Star wars 'The Dark Side' theme which is used in any type of danger in these films. The music fades in swiftly and snatches the audiences’ attention to asking questions:
~ Who?
~ What?
~ Why?
These 3 thoughts go rushing through the minds of the audience through the great use of camera shot, variety, good use of lighting and digetic and non-digetic sounds.The Lighting used in all the star wars films is very important. As for this one, we began tracking through the sunlight down into the space where the main characters fly through 2 seconds later. This was used well to contrast the non-digetic music from peace and serenity towards the danger and fast paced theme. In the first 2 minutes the 2 main characters are constantly being followed by the camera viewpoint for an entire minute before any dialogue or real action is produced. This is leaving the audience in suspense for the majority of the first 2 minutes which is exactly hitting the codes and conventions of any type of thriller whether it be a sci-fi thriller like this is or a romantic one exactly where they are supposed to be. The last of the 2 minutes is basically filled with informing the audience of what it is like up in space in the war conflicting with the enemy. This is answering the audiences questions on who, what and when through swift and heroic dialogue, driving through explosions again hooking the audience to stay and watch the entire movie, and lastly ending off mid fight. This is all encouraging them to carry on watching this and keeps them entertained whilst thrilled through fast paced shots and camera changes.
Constantine:
At the beginning of the opening shot the first thing we see is text informing us as the audience that there is something important called the ''Spear of Destiny'' which had been missing since the end of World War II. My first thoughts were 'what is it?' and 'what does it do?' so this hooked me into wanting to watch on already. The next scene you see is an extreme long establishing shot of this half built building in Mexico. From this scene you find 2 people looking for something, again hitting the codes and conventions of a thriller and cause you to asking yourselves questions wondering what they are looking for. One man accidentally put his foot through some wood making a hole in the ground. As soon as this happened some suspenseful non-digetic sound was played.
Again doing this is keeping the audience wanting to know more. The non-digetic music played in the background hits precision high notes every time the character does anything which would make the audience shudder with excitement or fear for the characters well-being. When the character reaches into the hole the camera viewpoint changes to inside the hole looking out. So when the character looks inside it appears that he is looking through the camera towards something else behind it. This made me want to see behind the camera in anticipation to wanting to see what is behind it.
This was done by good use of camera shots and good use of mis-en-scene.At the point of the first 2 minutes when the character had the spear in his hands began getting higher pitched increasing anticipation yet again. But the character starts to feel frightened/the feeling of being watched and whilst holding the spear close to him he turned around swiftly to check if anybody was looking. The non-digetic audio gets even higher as this proceeds and when he turned around the camera angle is changed to a higher angle using a crane and the audio goes all together. This puts you into the state the character is in. Looking for anybody who may see him, listening for anything coming or going and whilst doing this you wonder why this spear is affecting him this much and how.Finally the character distressed, confused and clearly affected by this spear decides to walk fast into the road in an attempt to cross it as fast as possible. Whilst holding the spear a truck hits him and about 6 different match-on-action shots are used. This adds the affect of a chaotic crash obviously but also shows off one other thing which the audience would catch on about. The car hits him like hitting a lamp post. Stopped immediately. The match-on-action shot was used very well here as it shows off the fact that his was no ordinary crash and the spear must of had something to do with it ending up this way.
Shooter:
At the beginning of this action thriller all the credits and title sequence are shown in the first 30 seconds through a bird’s eye view tracking shot on a crane. For these 20 seconds I personally thought it should have been shorter as I didn't see any codes and conventions hit nor did it thrill me in anyway. The one bit I did like was the ending of it. This was because after the boring opening sequence we pan upwards to see 2 sniper scopes camouflaged under some tall grass. One central to the screen and one slightly to the left, this surprised me and reminded me this is going to be an action-thriller which involved guns. The music background in the first 30 seconds is very suspenseful until the last bit where the main character is introduced whereat this stage it takes 5 seconds to drown out. This fade out of the audio keeps the audience focussed at any following audio about to be heard from the silence. With the silence and camera shot onto the main characters it is understandable that you expect speech of some sort to follow through the silence. This hits the codes and conventions of a thriller even though the start is boring. The beginning probably is supposed to keep you in suspense from the use of the one shot and digetic and non-digetic sound but even though I never felt it doesn't mean it’s not hit the codes and conventions.There isn't much more in the opening sequence I could take from this film as it is mainly action based from what I can see. But I do know that if I use a long tracking shot I need to be cautious on music.
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