What camera and editing techniquees and codes did you use in your film and how do they influence the audience's understanding of the film?

We used a 180 degree rule to inform the audience where the characters were in comparison to each other. By having an imaginary 'line' between the two characters that the camera could not cross we informed the audience of the characters positions. We also used shot/reverse shot. One example is when the male character walks through the door with a shot from behind the captured female and the camera then cuts to the females face and her being awoken by the slamming door and then back to the male character from the point of view of the female character. This helps the audience see see what the characters are seeing and therefor putting the audience 'in the shoes' of the characters so they can empathise with the character. There is continuity within the film and match on action showing the actions and narrative structure of the film in a linear structure. This helps the audience understand the plot of the film and so the film does not jump around and confuse the audience.

How did you use new technologies in your construction, planning and evaluation and what skills do you have at using this technology?

We used digital cameras to film the production with the help of non-linear editing software called adobe premiere elements with the final being uploaded to youtube and then finally onto blogs. We used a variety of still shots but we did not use any motion shots. This is partly due to not being able to produce a non shaky shot. We used fades for more smooth transactions from shot to shot. We were fine with the technology and the software needing minimal help overall but with a few questions and help from our teacher.

How successfully does your final product meet the brief?

Our final product meets the brief i think even though the final product is not as professional as we would have liked it such as poor location, poor acting, need more variety in shots and type of shots. But we did use match on action, the 180 degree rule and shot/reverse shot with someone opening a door, walking across a room and having a short conversation with another character before walking out again.

Script


Jonny: Remember me!

Now then, are you ready to talk? Or will I have to bring in Big Bob to make you!

Katie: I will never talk, not to you scum.

Jonny: Well, there is a price on your head but this may just magically disappear all forgotten if! You give me or my friends some information

Katie: I will not utter a word even if it’s my last breath.

Jonny: So be it. I see a more vigilant technique is needed! I think I will bring in big bob and make your acquaintance. Then you might change your mind my dear.

Shot List for prelim task

Shot 1 Shot behind when Jonny is walking (low angle shot)

Shot 2 Jonny walking this time a shot from the front (long shot, eye level)

Shot 3 door knob opening (extreme close up)

Shot 4 cuts to behind the prisoner shot of hands tied up from behind. The camera then pans around right towards the door.

Shot 5 Mid shot of Jonny (the abductor)

Shot 6 over the shoulder shot of the abductor over the shoulder of the prisoner.

Shot 7 Reverse shots of 180 degree rule (Jonny Left/ Katie Right) Dialogue takes place here.

Shot 8 Jonny leaves the room. (Long shot)

The 180 degree rule

The 180 degree rule is used to let the audience cleary see in their mind where the characters in the shot are situated either left or right of each other. A line of 180 degrees is fictionally drawn and this line cannot be crossed by the camera so the characters positions don not appear to suddenly switch within a scene. This line can be crossed if the camera shows it being crossed i.e and over the shoulder shot that pans left/right across the shoulders, then the same rule applies but now on the opposite side.

Match on action

Is the editing technique so the whole scene is linear and chronological. This makes the scene flow smoothly.

shot reverse shot

Is the technique to show the viewers face and then what they are looking at. So a shot of the viewer and then the viewed.

Film Distribution in Norwich

Over the weekend of the 1st to the 2nd of November I collected data on film distribution in the Norwich. I collected data from the 4 local cinemas and what films they were showing. These cinemas were Vue, The Odeon, Cinema City and Hollywood Cinema all located in Norwich.

Overall there was a selection of 21 films to choose from being shown at one point over the weekend. The Odeon screened over 50% of the 21 with 13 films being shown, Vue screened 12, Cinema City screened 6 and Hollywood 7. Of all the films only 6 were British and none were of any other foreign production other than Hollywood. Only 28% of the films shown were British in comparison to the 72% Hollywood films. Of all the films shown 134 films were screened on Saturday and 130 were screened on Sunday with an overall number of 264 screenings over the weekend. The Odeon has 14 screens, Vue has 8, Hollywood Cinema has 4 and cinema city has 3.


‘The Odeon’ cinemas are the largest chain of cinema’s in Europe. Owned by ‘UCI’ who were formed from a partnership of ‘Paramount Pictures’ and ‘Universal Studios’ who are both Hollywood based production companies. Much like ‘Vue’ cinemas who are owned by ‘Warner Brothers village’ a company owned by ‘Warner Brothers’, also a large Hollywood production company. As both are funded by Hollywood production companies they both therefore show mainly Hollywood produced films as that is were there money is coming from in the first place.

This is not the same for Cinema City who are an
Cinema City over the weekend of the 1st and 2nd showed 3 unique british films were shown at the cinema out of 6 films all together. ‘Ruby Blue’, ‘Of Time And The City’ and ‘Ghosts Of Norwich’. These films were only being shown in selected cinemas over the country and cinema city was one to support these films unlike the more mainstream organizations. This shows cinema city’s support of the British film institution, their support for more art and cultural films and local films such as Ghosts of Norwich.

The Hollywood cinema is an independent chain only situated in East Anglia.

We can conclude from the above information that The Odeon and Vue having the most number of screens, funding from Hollywood itself and showing 72% Hollywood films dominates the film distribution in the Norwich. Also Hollywood cinema shows mainly Hollywood films with the only support for the British film coming from Cinema City which has very limited viewings with comparison to the 2 major multiplex’.

My Questionaire for Method 2

Age?
Occupation?
aspirations?
who do you prefer to view films with?
What is your favourite film genre?
How do you prefer to watch films?
How much TV do you watch a week?
What is your favourite TV genre?
What thriller films have you seen recently? what of the following British thrilers films have you seen? Essex Boys snatch Billy Elliot Control Brassed Off this is England Trainspotting Rock 'n' Rolla Bridget Jones’ Diary Get Carter Shaun Of the Dead
What do you think makes a good thriller film?
Who is your favourite Actor/Actress?
Have they featured in any thriller films you know of?
What is your favourite thriller film?

Who is your favourite thriller Director

from this list?

Quentin Tarantino

Michael Scorsese

Steven Spielberg

Alfred Hitchcock

What is your favourite TV Series?

Do you watch any of the following British TV Thriller series:

Life of Mars

Ashes to Ashes

Criminal Justice

Touch of Frost

Midsomer Murders

The Bill

Thriller opening treatment

Our plot for our thriller opening is a young girl around 17 has fallen into debt due a drug addiction a drug addiction that started from the bad influence of her boyfriend as a 'one of' thing of trying heroin but sadly ending up as a cold addiction. Finding it ever harder to beat the addiction a go cold turkey she splits with her boyfriend who is the one who is preventing the narcotic dealers from forcing the girl to pay the debt. So with no boyfriend to keep the heat off her she soon finds herself being threatened by the gangsters for the money she is in owes them. This ends nastily as the gangster known as tony kills the girls family ( mother and young brother) as the girl did not take the threast seriously and still found it hard to stop her addiciton.

This plot will be told between cuts of the young girl in the near future walking down a beach in black and white looking 'rough and hagard'. It will contrast to the filming of the past memories as they will be shot in colour as this connotates a vivid memory of the mentally scarring event in contrast to the present that just seems like a black and white blur and a wash of surrialism. This is the plot summary of the introduction but the introduction of the film is the end of the film as a whole cronnologically.

For our locations we have decided to use holkham Beach in North Norfolk for the wandering girl in black and white and then use my house for the flashbacks.

My Advert

This is my original image of my model. I used photoshop to extract just the models body from the background. I used the magic wand tool and also the rubber to take away the door and wall.

Next I put the image into black and white using the greyscale mode. I then had to save the image and re-open it in RGB mode so i could then add the 'lipstick'. I used the Magic wand tool again to select her lips

and highlight them and then blurred the lips using the blur tool to look more authentic. I used the clash of black and white and the green so the lipstick sticks out from the rest of the advert and also the model. I did this as my advertis aimed at individuals who are risk takers with high self-esteem who like to

stick out from the crowd. The model is also looking up towards the sky, connotation looking towards better things. also she seems above you so she is dominating and powerful due to individuality. This is evident in the whole advert as the background is black and white street with a small crowd of people but is blurred out to make the model stand out more and also then the models lips even more.







I used this picture that i found on the internet to be my background. I needed to edit it though to get the desired effect of a focus purely on the model and even more intensely on her vibrant lips.













I got this effect from using a blur effect on the whole picture so making the background out of focus in contrast to the model being in focus. Also the black and white again denotes a contrasts with her bright green lips. The connotations are of a person who stands out from the others. Literally in this advert standing out from the crowd.

i then lastly used a picture of a stick of lipstick that i edited to have a green lipstick end.


















Last of all i added my text. This is also a more colourful and unique font again connotates individuality. I named my company 'Independant Lipstick' because of the target audience. The green font is just to mimic the green lipstick. The words 'Show off your colourful Character' are to try and intise more colourful and unique people in and show that it is good to stand out and be different as big cosmetic companies are promoting the idea.

The end result of the advert denotes a crowded area blurred out of focus with an in focus girl with bright green lipstick and a small section of writing to promote individuality and the name of the lipstick and the company at the bottom. It connotates a powerful individual who is not affraid of sticking out from the crowd and taking a risk also they are pioneering for bigger things and future aspirations.

Film Study

1. ‘Fistful of Dollars’, Dir. Sergio Leon, 11th June.
2. Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg, 24th July 1998.
3. ‘Equilibrium’ Dir. Kurt Wimmer, 6th December 2002.

I chose all the above films but chose to focus on Equilibrium as it is more stereotypical of a thriller film and uses many conventions and codes of media language.

Narrative Structure

The opening to the films is a narrative explanation of the cause and effect of world war 3 and the introduction of a drug to stop human emotion to therefore stop all wars. The narrative is constructed with disastrous images of the 20th century wars and disasters. The grammaton Cleric is mentioned who’s purpose is to irradicate all trace of human emotion as this is what has led to all wars. Also it mentions the drug now being used to stop people feeling emotion. Then it cuts to an abandoned house with a ‘rebel’ dashing through a door shouting “police”. The rebels then start arming themselves with the stereotypical ak47’s. They are all surrounded by lots of famous pieces of art work which they start to try to hide before the gun fire starts. As the fighting brakes out they are easily over thrown by the grammaton cleric who proceed to go inside to this abandoned house and clear the building. Then two men proceed to enter the building played by Christian Bale and Sean Bean. they are greeted by a policeman who explains there are men in a room and the doors bolted shut Christian Bale goes on to say shoot the bolts as I run to the door and turn off the lights. There is a moment of suspense as you see all the men ready themselves. He proceeds to run towards the door and at the right moment the men shoot and he goes throught the door and there are a few shots fired and then silence and a black screen. Then the rebels talk and ask one another if they have shot him and there is a moment of suspense. This is ended as Christian bale starts to shoot and kills all of the rebels. The men are looking for something and this revealed as they pull up some floorboards to reveal the mona lisa and the equilibrium is disrupted as you see them burn the mona lisa with a flame thrower.

Character

The characters in the film are John Preston played by Christian Bale and Errol Partridge played by Sean Bean. John Preston is a gun kata fighter who searches out symbols of human emotion and destroys them. So this makes him seem very evil destroy symbols of what makes us human and what makes up everyone’s personalities. Errol Partridge is also a fighter against human emotion but he turns to the rebel side as he himself indulges in symbols of human emotion such as reading Yeats’ poems.

Sound

Starts with a very bassy and throbbing note and a high pitched note from synthesised sounds which naturally sounds alien to us and not very nice. This dies out to a cello playing a piece in a minor key so very sad sounding. This is accompanied by a English voice. The sound of gunfire through out the next few scenes fills your ears and then goes back to the alien music. As the fight stop and a search is taken out a church like choir is played and is very tranquil in comparison to the start until they find the Mona Lisa and at this point it then goes back to the strange alien music which builds as they take up the floorboards and reveal the picture.

Mise en scene

Stereotypical scenery; abandoned house
Stereotypical props; the rebels dressed in rugged clothes armed with AK47s and police in blue with M4s or Sub machine guns with protective bullet proof vests.
Inside the building is very dark. How the lighting is used gives a noir effect.

Shots

I like this shot of the abandoned house being shot at. It implies someone being shot as you see the bullets arc down around the window and there is an edit to a man at that window so you know someone’s there and you know the bullets would go through the thin walls so you get the whole picture without seeing the gory section.

I like this shot as it the first of many when the director uses a small amount of light to highlight something. The backlighting connotes how Christian Bale is strong and dominating due to the denotation of the Low angle shot and the backlighting highlighting him and producing a silhouette. This is the point when Christian bale storms through the door. After this shot there is a moment of suspense. The feeling of suspense comes from this shot and then guns are heard being fired from the rebels in the room, as the guns are firing the screen goes black. The black screen holds us in suspense as we can not see anything or hear anything so we are not sure if Christian bale is dead or the rebels, so we don’t know what is going to happen next. The guns die out and then the rebels start to talk asking if they have shot him. Then suddenly you see Christian bale light up from the light of his guns. This scene is very well filmed as you don’t see any gore or anyone actually die. All you see is the small amount of light coming from the guns and either Christian Bale shooting or the rebels falling back. I like this scene as it’s cleverly shot to imply a situation but not actually show the whole situation living it to the audience to work out.

I like this shot as is uses the effect of key light again to highlight something. In this case it’s the main characters eyes. I think Christian Bale’s eyes look sinister and dark opposed to Sean Bean’s eyes that look more welcoming and less evil. This is due to the emotions you find out Sean bean still feels later in the film whilst Christian bale is emotionless.







I think this shot is where the equilibrium is disrupted. This is the point when the Mona Lisa is burnt. This makes the audience feel horrified as it’s a symbol of human beauty, artistic nature and intelligence. And to see it destroyed in a flash makes you feel hatred towards the police force, the grammaton cleric.

This is my favourite scene of all Taratino's films. And i think samuel l does some slik acting.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Jonny and i live in Norwich. I like to play guitar and listen to music. I enjoy having fun with friends and i like to eat chese.