How does our Media product represent particular social Groups ?
Pick a key character of our opening , take a screen grab of a reasonable size image of them ... think of 1 or more characters from other films, and the simularities and differences that they share.
Find an image on the web , of that or those characters from the web , put them in photoshop together as a split screen.
Export the split screen image as a jpeg, and drop onto our blog, where we then have to write about the simularities and differences in terms of characters , appearence ,costume , role in the film ect.
First session: (Old sequence) For our first session, we all split up to do the editing, Jamie Hutton was in charge of sound. Yharnna Joseph was in charge of font, and Evie Mullahy and Louise Jarvis was in charge of editing the clips. For Evie Mullahy and Louise Jarvis, we found the editing worked alright, we first placed all the clips together, and for the flashbacks we made it clear that they were a flashback by changing the colour of the clips to sepia, the only problem we had with editing was that we wanted to have a 'flash' of light, and that was extremely hard to find as we had to try and create it. Our inspiration came from the opening sequence of Seven when the flashes of still images appear on screen. However, it was impossible to create the effect on iMovie HD.
Second Session: (New sequence) Evie Mullahy and Louise Jarvis were editing the new clips and Jamie Hutton was doing sound, however we found it extremely different as some of our extremely good shots were not long enough, so we found that we had to re-film some of the shots. However, we put all the shots in order for the sequence to make sense. However, there was not much we could do as alot of the shots were too shot to be used. Jamie Hutton was creating the diegetic and non-diegetic sound for our new opening sequence we created. the use of garage band was useful as it helped to put different sounds together. some of the diegetic sound had to be edited out which i erased as it made it sound un professional, overall the sound is excellent.
Third Session: (New sequence) Evie Mullahy and Louise Jarvis, after we have finished re-filming the new clips, we have come in to put the clips on to the computer, however the camera has not been working properly, as it is taking along time to import. So we are presently waiting for the camera to get working, so we can start putting the new clips in to the sequence and in to order and we can start doing the transitions.
Fourth session: (New sequence) Louise and Evie completed the sound for the film and moved on to creating titles for our opening sequence. As the film is psychological thriller we had to look for disturbing writing which will identify the genre of the film, we found many different ones to choose from after choosing them we chose a front called 'all over again' however we decided to put the titles at the end of the sequence and one where the first character is shown. We had some difficulty with this as the font would load but we over came this problem and the title sequence worded well with the film creating a spooky but clever effect. For our last bit of editing we had to incorporate a production company logo at the start of our opening film for it to seem professional. We done this by getting a clip off of youtube and cutting and editing it in to our clip. This became a problem however, as we didn't do this when we uploaded it before to youtube, so we had to upload the clip with the production logo in and then upload it to our blog.
(We all changed roles in the end and Evie Mullahy and Louise Jarvis were in charge of cutting the continuity editing, inputting the sound in to our sequence and the titles, Yharnna found the sound, and Yharnna and Jamie also carried on with the evaluation tasks on the blog)
First session: (Old sequence) For our first session of filming, Evie Mullahy and Louise Jarvis went to Physicals gym to film the self video of Louise (the victim) walking out of the gym, and the villian following where she went, this worked well and we done two shots of this so we can choose the best one, however our first shot we saw we left the umbrella on the floor, so we chose to use the second shot. For the next part of the sequence we wanted to get a shot of Louise walking in to an alley way so this would create an isolated setting which fits the conventions of a thriller. We tried this shot several times from different angles, and we had some complications for example there was people coming through the alleyway at one particular time. However, the weather was good for our genre as it was raining which showed a negative setting. We then thought that we recorded over the first lot of footage coming out of the gym so we had to go back and re film that, however, the lighting was correct, luckily we realised that we didn't film over it.
Second Session: (Old sequence) For our second session, Evie Mullahy and Louise Jarvis, filmed the part of the film where the villian is looking in the mirror and getting ready to capture the girl and also when he has captured the girl, and he is in the shed and toturing her. We filmed this at Evies house, Phil was our villian and we prepared by doing all the makeup for both of the characters. We found it hard to film as we had no tripod, as we used a different camera which wouldn't fit on to the tripod. Overall, the session worked quite well, and we were very pleased with all parts of mise-en-scene and the footage that we collected.
Third Session: (Old sequence) For our third session, we all worked together here, and our objective was to show that the villian had been stalking the victim for some time, we printed out about 30 pictures of Louise who was the victim and cut them out, drew on them and stuck them to a piece of wood in Evies shed. This footage was very time consuming as it took a long time to gather all of the pictures, however when we eventually filmed it, we felt it looked really effective and we achieved our objective.
Fourth Session: (New sequence) As previously explained in another post in the blog, we felt that we should re film our sequence and change the story line as there was not enough content. So for 2 hours, Evie Mullahy, Louise Jarvis and Jamie Hutton, re filmed a different sequence. Our villian was Marie Browning, it took half an hour for us to eventually start filming as we had to create the correct lighting, so we stuck black sandpaper on the walls so that we could create a midnight effect, we also had to organise the office, we made it look like the teacher was very messy and also in a very stressful position by putting papers everywhere on the desk. This filming session was pinochle as we needed to complete all filming by the end. We felt we worked really well as a group and all contributed to all decisions that we made and made sure everyone was happy so that we didn't make the same mistake again.
Fifth Session: (New sequence) This session of filming was not planned, as we thought we captured all footage, however, when we put it on to the computers to start editing we found that the shots were all just a little bit too short, so we had to re-film bits. Evie Mullahy and Louise Jarvis were the ones filming this session, and we filmed a total of 8 shots. This was hard to do as we had to make sure that every aspect of mise-en-scene was correct from when we previously filmed. However with the lighting this time it was much more beneficial as it was dark outfit which is what we wanted to achieve. It took about half an hour to film the final few scenes, and we were extremely pleased that we re-filmed again.
Louise Jarvis - camera woman Altering The camera settings, for filming.
Louise Jarvis - To the left hand
Evie Mullahy - To the right hand
This photo displays The set up of the filming in the corridor , since we needed the corridor to be dark to create the idea that it's late , the lights had to be turned off. However with the lights turned off , we were unable to film to a high quality , so we improvised , and used a lamp shade to release an effective yet suttle shade of light .The light enabled , the character to be visible in the dark , when being filmed.
Synopsis/Plot: Our opening sequence will revolve around , a teacher who is working overtime , by herself in her secluded office in which she is writing a witness statement relating to a murder incident which she had previously witnessed. The main character appears to be becoming increasingly aggitated whilst writing her statement , this can be seen through her eratic and irrational movements and fustration exerted throughout her facial expressions. The main character becomes alarmed as she hears suspicious noises outside of her office,she then walks outside to the corridor to investigate the noises she heard , as she does this the lights turn off instantly , where we see a slow shot of her face. The main character slowly turns around , where we then see a long point of view shot of the villan.
Setting : An enclosed school office , in the upper floor of Trinity House. The setting appears to be rather isolated with nobody but the main character who plays the role of a victim. An empty corridor will also feature in our opening sequence. The idea of lonliness is particularly emphasised through the use of our quiet and isolated setting.
Genre:thriller
Characters : Marie Browning (main character ) - Mrs Edwards
Atmosphere : The atmosphere is both lonesome and isolated, which helps evoke a gloomy feeling amoungst the audience , This correlates to the theme and genre of our opening sequence so therefore works very well.
Tone : There is a rather negative , and glum tone.
Sound: Slow, classical sad music to emphasise on the plot of ur opening sequence
Lighting : Medium , with dark moments to create the idea of the time being late.
Target Audience : Mature audience 15 onwards
Location : The top floor in Trinity house, a private office and a lonely corridor
After filming our opening sequence , unfortunately... once we uploaded and viewed our footage , we were far from satisfied with what we had filmed .Which therefore meant that we either had to re-consider our story line plot , as it simply didn't make logical sense to the viewer , whether or not it was edited or re-arranged. Another Issue that was brought to light was the 'lack of shot variety ' throughout the course of our opening sequence, our footage appeared to be dominated by one shot type, which was by all means nowhere near effective, and wouldnt have gained us sufficient marks. As a group , we decided that our best option , was to completely re-construct our opening sequence which in effect , meant refilming our whole project and altering the story line.
This font , master plan was the first font that I'd researched , What particularly caught my eye , and stood out , was the eroded look about this font. I think that the distorted and worn away effect works well , with the our story line , a young vulnerable girl who has experienced a distressing kidnapping. However , although I like the distorted text effects , I think that this image lacks scary and horrifying features, it's almost too casual, so therefore as a group we've decided not to choose this font as our main title font .
Following on from the previous text I'd researched , I took a deeper look into the Idea of eroded anddistorted text types as I thought it was extremely Effective , I particularly like the top font '28 days later' It carries a real sense of agony and apears like a Font type that you'd associate with our opening sequence's genre . I'm not too fond on the second text , as I don't find it has any form of impact of relates to our genre. It reminds me of some form of graffiti or texts that represents an urban lifestyle. It's not very serious looking and looks considerably childish, which is therefore inappropirate for our selected genre.
The last text 'Project Y ' I believe is also effective but yet again lacks scary features , so there fore won't evoke a creepy feel amoungst the audience.
Since our Chosen title is "Infatuation" I have researched several font types which I feel are particularly effective , and have used them in Photoshop to give a preview of what the font may look like in our actual opening sequence .
Since our opening sequence revolves around a girl , who has been Stalked by a mysterious character for some time , We've decided that it would be most appropriate to centre our title around the theme of Obsession . We believe that the theme of obsession is ideal as the mysterious character has been recollecting images and footage of the victim , which has collated to such extent , that it appears as abnormal . Although the title name ' Obsession ' is completely relevant to our opening sequence we feel that it's almost too simple in the sense that it reveals too much about our story line/plot. We were looking for a title slightly more sophisticated, a title that wouldn't reveal too much about our opening , before it was even viewed.
Title ideas , that we have collated are as follows :
Evie and Louises preparation - Louises make up (Victim) - For Louises make up we wanted her to be quite pale and disturbed, for the face we chose to not use much make up for the face however for the eyes we put mascara on the then got a cotton bud and smudged it so it would seem like she had been crying. For the blood, we didn't use any fake bloody so we improvised and used red lipstick mixed with water, we mixed some of the 'blood' in with the mascara so it looked like it had been smudged together. On the neck we wanted to make it seem like Louise has been violently hurt, so I put the red watery lipstick on my fingers and smudged it across her neck to make it seem like she had been in serious pain with a gash across the neck. Along the hairline we also put smudges of the lipstick so that again it looks like she has been beaten up.
For the hair we wanted it to just seem like Louise had had her hair up and it had been made loose from being pulled around everywhere by her psycho killer. I basically put Louise's hair in a loose bun and then messed her hair up on top and pulled some of her hair out of the bun. I felt this look worked well, as we wanted it to seem like Louises hair had not been brushed for day and I think we accomplished this look!
Phils Make Up (Villian) - For Phil's makeup we wanted him to seem tired as in our film he was going to come across as psycho. We also wanted him to have a beard so he came across as being unshaven and not taking much care of himself. For under his eyes we put a bit of black eyeliner on for him to seem like he hasn't been sleeping and that he has bags under his eyes. For his beard we put alot of a bronzer/blusher Dallas on his chin so it would be quite dark, and this look worked really well. We put smears of blood on his face for him to seem like he has had a rough background and been in fights. For Phils hair we didn't need to do anything to it as he would have been putting his hood up for a hidden identity. However, if we didn't want him to put his hood up we would of messed it up alot.
1) CU of blood on the wall 2)Flash 3) CU of dead things/ body parts in the bath 4)flash 5) CU back of killer 6)flash 7) flashback-long shit of Louise walking/ipod in 8) flashback- girl looking happy 9) medium shot of villain looking in mirror 10) medium shot of man dressing in black 11)flash 12) high angle girl being dragged-MLS 13) close up- villian tying rope to chair 14)self videoing - ECU man setting video up 15) close up of girl distressed 16)close up of weapons 17)flash of lights- MCU of collage of pictures/blood 18)CU of specific picture 19)flash 20) self video POV of villian looking at the girl 21)credits on corner while the self video is rolling 22) black screen 23) title
Goodfellas- Is a1990 American gangster film directed by Martin Scorsese.
Set in 1970, Essentially the film Goodfellas is an American based Gangster film, this becomes clearly evident to the audience within the opening sequence, which not only reveals the genre , but also presents the audience with a vivid plot outline or clear idea as to what the film will revolve around. Initially as an audience, the opening sequence alerts us, that the film will revolve around gangs gruesome violence and regular deaths.
The overall context of the whole 1970’s American Gangster theme is evoked clearly amongst the audience due to a variety of tools and devices used by the director. Firstly whilst the characters are in the car we can acknowledge that their costumes that they’re all wearing are very smart ,formal and expensive looking clothes, which consist of silk shirts and sharp suits. Fundamentally these are all stereo-typical costumes for the typical gangster genre, as similar costumes were exhibited in huge successful films like Scarface and Godfather, which all share the same, context and genre. The characters dark, jet black gelled hair also is typical of this genre along with the sheer slickness and neatness to their faces, as we can see there’s not one hair out of line. Another convention which also has helps establish the genre is the strong American accents, the characters have instantly this informs the audience that this film is set in America.The mise-en-scene of the scene enforces our image of the gangsters. The sequence is filmed at night, this connotes that they are bad guys,The dark surroundings create a frightening mood within the sequence. The four characters appear to pull over in a dark and secluded forest which makes it more or less so inevitable to the audience that something major and corrupt is going to happen. The fact that they’re driving at night also suggests that they may want to avoid the police .
Camera angles and movement effect the opening sequence immensely as they exhibit the for coming events whilst also establishing the setting and the tone to the movie. The first initial shot presented to the audience is a tracking shot of a moving car. Classically a tracking shot follows the action and eventually pulls backward from the action. However, this opening scene rejects this typical and rather predictable convention, and instead tracks onwards past the moving vehicle and onto the dark and secluded road in which the vehicle pulls over.A close up focused shot is also used to introduce the main character of the film as shown.
The opening sequence illustrates a gang brutally kill a man who was ruthlessly tied up and severely wounded with blood stains in the back of the car.The dark surroundings create a frightening mood within the sequence. The four characters appear to pull over in a dark and secluded forest which makes it more or less so inevitable to the audience that something major and corrupt is going to happen.
This vicious stabbing instantly creates a violent mood within the sequence followed by this dramatic shooting, the fact that the main character looks so emotionless as he shoots at the poor man, suggest that he’s used to this lifestyle so therefore is a typical ‘American Gangster’ As we presumed.
The opening of Forrest Gump starts with a tracking shot of a feather flying over a city, this is the establishing shot so we know where the film is set. The credits are put over the picture so you can see the directors of the film and who's staring in it. The feather then lands at Forrest's feet, this is where we meet our main character he is dressed quite smartly but his shoes are worn showing that hes come from a long way. Forrest looks at the feather and then puts it inside a book showing that is a significant object in the film.
Shallow Grave - Danny Boyle - 1994 The sequence starts off with the titles first, we are to the main character through the voiceover used from the begining, the music used is very fast paced. The main character is a stereotypical geek, we can see this through the use of mise en scene for example his costume. The boy goes to look at a place to move in to, the three other characters who already live in the place talk about the character like he isnt there, but infact he is sitting right in from of them which shocks the audience. The voiceover helps to establish the plot that it is about friendship, trust, rejection, and fitting in. By Evie Mullahy
In the opening sequence to Pirates of the Caribbean it starts off with a load of pirates lined up waiting to be hung. Then there is a cut to one of the men who works for the duke reading from a law book banning the pirates human rights. At the same time we have a shot reverse shot between the soldier and the pirates being hung. following on we have a cut to all the dead pirate's being piled up on a cart there are hundreds of pirates showing how much the duke hates them and wants to be rid of them.
In addition there is a cut in to a new line of pirates waiting to be hung. Among them is a very young boy, he is used to make the audience feel sorry for them and keeping the audience on their side. This is where the non diegetic music starts to play, its quite eerie and high pitched symbolising something is about to happen. Soon after the young boy starts to sing quietly to himself, the other pirates hear and all join in stomping their feet and jingling their chains causing a disturbance. we then have a cut away to a spooky dark back ground with the coin falling through the air and the same eerie music playing this shows the coin is significant in the film, as it hits the floor the title appears.
Seven was directed by David Fincher in 199, it is an American crime film and stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, the film is based on each of the seven deadly sins, gluttony, envy, lust, pride, sloth, greed and wrath, where a series of murders take place.
In Seven, there is two detectives, Detective Mills who is played by Brad Pitt and Detective Somerset who is played by Morgan Freeman. These two contrasts are stereotypically in contrast to one another. To start off with, we are introduced to Morgan Freeman’s character, Detective Somerset. A medium shot is used with dark lighting to show it is very early in the morning, however it also creates a negative setting. Ornaments are in the background of Somerset’s home which could identify his heritage and background as they are animal statues. The chess board that is lying on the table represents his intelligence. We can tell that Somerset’s character is a tidy and organised character as his kitchen is white and also very clean, this defeats the stereotypical view of a man that they are untidy, and messy, also his behaviour helps to indicate that he is a clean character as he is picking bits of fluff off of his suit just before he puts it on. A close up is then used to show he is preparing for work, with his tie to show he is formal and also could represent he is of importance in his job. The lighting is still dark which could help to represent his mood, and the atmosphere and situation. A close up of significant props are used which identifies to us that for the first time we see he is a policeman, and also this shows he is proud of his job, also it again identifies his organisation. A medium shot is then used, which shows the bed is made perfectly. It is a quiet atmosphere so we presume that Detective Somerset lives alone, so this could represent that he is lonely but also that he is dedicated to his job.
On the other hand, Detective Mills who is played by Brad Pitt is the complete contrast of Detective Somerset. The sequence starts off with police sirens, so we know that the film may be dangerous and also identifies the profession of Detective Mills. Detective Mills wakes up with someone this identifies that he is in a relationship; a close up shot is used of this. Mills is portrayed as an untidy character as there are boxes everywhere identifying that he has just moved in to his flat. The shirt that Mills is putting on, is creased which represents he is a scruffy character and doesn’t care for his appearance much, also we can see that Mills is very unorganised as he has a few ties hanging from a hanger in which he just chooses one and it is already done up so he doesn’t have to go to much effort. The room in which he is in is quite bland and there is dark lighting which could identify the negativity of the atmosphere. It is seen to be bright outside, this identifies that he may have gotten up late as it is lighter than when Somerset woke up identifying that it is well in to the day. The busy atmosphere that Mills is in contrasts to the atmosphere that Somerset was situated as we can hear in the background that there is car horns, and sirens. A medium shot is used with a high angle when Detective Mills picks up the phone straight away when he doesn’t want to disturb his wife, he writes down information on his hand so he doesn’t disturb his wife which represents that he is too lazy and unorganised to get a pen and paper, which again shows the contrast between the two main characters.
