Wednesday, 17 December 2008

How does the beginning scene of snatch establish character, setting and enigma?

In the beginning scene there are several key features and factors used to establish the characters, setting and enigma, this is achieved by how the camera angles, editing and sound and music are portrayed.
In the very beginning whilst the movie is playing the credits appear showing the main actors in the film. These appear on a black box and are white and this is over a silhouette this already creates this sense of enigma, as the viewers are not able to see whom this silhouette and is already faced with a mysterious character. There is a voice over which in this case is non-diagetic sound again adds to the enigma as the viewer don’t actually see the man talking. With the voice over at the same time as this shot it makes the viewer think more as they don’t know who this silhouette character is and they don’t know who the voice over is, but after watching for several minutes they are able to work it out without actually being told who these mysterious people are. And in actual fact these characters have nothing mysterious or suspicious about them so it was just to start off this enigmatic atmosphere.
There are interesting shots when the group of mysterious men enter the security-ridden building. As the camera is on CCTV cameras so as the men are moving and being watched on TV the actual camera that is filming the film are tracking the TV’s that the men appear on. As this happens there is a type of music played which then lets the audience know that these people are suppose to be Jewish as it was Jewish music that was being played. The reason they done this as the audience don’t actually have any idea what is happening as it just cut straight into all this action. So letting the audience know a little bit about the current situation means they can sort of understand what is happening as the fact it cuts straight into this action again creates enigma as things are moving so fast the audience cant keep up with it. This establishes the setting also as its in some sort of high status building, possibly a bank of some sort. With all this taking place things don’t add up but as the “bank scene” progresses it all starts to fit together and that the Jewish characters where in disguise so they were obviously hiding from someone. So it all starts to make sense after a while.
When it comes to the establishment of characters this is a very important part as it lets the audience know a little bit about each character and the beginning bit before all becomes clear. It all starts when the camera twirls into another scene this is called graphic match and is used a lot in the characters establishing scene, after each character has had an introduction graphic match is used and a compulsory object is the main focus between the shots such as the diamond. The pace of these shots is very fast and each introduction is only a short period of time. With the editing done very slickly the transitions flow much better and much faster. This could suggest that they are very energetic people and like to keep on the go and full of action. This scene has very good music to go along with this, the music is very high paced and I would say is like electro this fits well with the fast editing and seems to be linked very well. Each introduction of the characters begins with some sort of bad boy action followed by a freeze frame then followed by the continuation of the action. This suggests that these characters are very violent and break the rules, possibly in trouble with the police which could link back to the very beginning when it looked like 2 of the main characters where sat in an interviewing room. The freeze frame is very significant as it explains who the character is and gives a small insight on what their personality is like as same shots where showing very angry faces. After the introductions of the characters it went back to a close up shot of the diamond, this shows that here has been a full loop in a story and the diamond shot shows that this is the end of the characters introduction and clearly marks the end and then continues with the story from there.

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

How does the beginning scene of snatch establish character, setting and enigma?

In the beginning scene there are several key features and factors used to establish the characters, setting and enigma, this is achieved by how the camera angles, editing and sound and music are portrayed.
In the very beginning whilst the movie is playing the credits appear showing the main actors in the film. These appear on a black box and are white and this is over a silhouette this already creates this sense of enigma, as the viewers are not able to see whom this silhouette and is already faced with a mysterious character. There is a voice over which in this case is non-diagetic sound again adds to the enigma as the viewer don’t actually see the man talking. With the voice over at the same time as this shot it makes the viewer think more as they don’t know who this silhouette character is and they don’t know who the voice over is, but after watching for several minutes they are able to work it out without actually being told who these mysterious people are. And in actual fact these characters have nothing mysterious or suspicious about them so it was just to start off this enigmatic atmosphere.
There are interesting shots when the group of mysterious men enter the security-ridden building. As the camera is on CCTV cameras so as the men are moving and being watched on TV the actual camera that is filming the film are tracking the TV’s that the men appear on. As this happens there is a type of music played which then lets the audience know that these people are suppose to be Jewish as it was Jewish music that was being played. The reason they done this as the audience don’t actually have any idea what is happening as it just cut straight into all this action. So letting the audience know a little bit about the current situation means they can sort of understand what is happening as the fact it cuts straight into this action again creates enigma as things are moving so fast the audience cant keep up with it. This establishes the setting also as its in some sort of high status building, possibly a bank of some sort. With all this taking place things don’t add up but as the “bank scene” progresses it all starts to fit together and that the Jewish characters where in disguise so they were obviously hiding from someone. So it all starts to make sense after a while.
When it comes to the establishment of characters this is a very important part as it lets the audience know a little bit about each character and the beginning bit before all becomes clear. It all starts when the camera twirls into another scene this is called graphic match and is used a lot in the characters establishing scene, after each character has had an introduction graphic match is used and a compulsory object is the main focus between the shots such as the diamond. The pace of these shots is very fast and each introduction is only a short period of time. With the editing done very slickly the transitions flow much better and much faster. This could suggest that they are very energetic people and like to keep on the go and full of action. This scene has very good music to go along with this, the music is very high paced and I would say is like electro this fits well with the fast editing and seems to be linked very well. Each introduction of the characters begins with some sort of bad boy action followed by a freeze frame then followed by the continuation of the action. This suggests that these characters are very violent and break the rules, possibly in trouble with the police which could link back to the very beginning when it looked like 2 of the main characters where sat in an interviewing room. The freeze frame is very significant as it explains who the character is and gives a small insight on what their personality is like as same shots where showing very angry faces. After the introductions of the characters it went back to a close up shot of the diamond, this shows that here has been a full loop in a story and the diamond shot shows that this is the end of the characters introduction and clearly marks the end and then continues with the story from there.

Friday, 5 December 2008

production task evaluation

Production task evaluation
Well firstly we planned out the whole task, yet faced a few problems which meant having to think of a whole new idea from scratch. After creating story boards, script and planning setting and costume, we started filming. We filmed it during school time so we had to do several takes as people were in the way. it took us 45 minutes to get all our footage. We started off by taking several cuts of the girl walking through the door then several on the other side of the door, to give us more options when editing. All the filming after that was a case of standing at the right angle, recording and pausing then switching positions, such as for shot reverse shot . again we done several takes to make sure we had as many options as possible to make the editing as slick as possible.
After all the filming was done it was all down to the editing. We spent several lessons cutting our footage and splitting clips so that it all flowed better. as if we hadn't cut all the clips down and watched it through frame by frame then the transitions would not be as good and people would have been able to notice even the smallest of changes between 2 clips. With all the cutting done it was a case of putting it together and in the correct order. Near the end we found a small problem that 2 of our shots didn't blend together. So on Imovie we found a transition that mixed the 2 together and made It so much better. There was no music involved so that was ok.
There are a few improvements which could be better. this includes the time of day so that it would have been easier to do without people constantly interrupting. If our script was better as we ran out of time therefore had to plan a whole idea off the top of our heads. Possibly if it was a little bit longer in time we could have covered the 3 continuity rules not so fast. All these factors could have had a big impact on our final project if we had thought about it more and in depth. But these improvements aren't major problems therefore not affecting it greatly.

deconstruction of beginning of john tucker must die

Deconstruction of own film choice “john tucker must die”

The first thing that appears on the screen is the credits with some reasonably happy, childish music which already lets the audience know it's not a serious kind of film, even though the title sounds quite threatening. This happy, childlike comedy theme is reinforced with the style of font of the credits, they were very informal with soft, slow transitions.
the first shot is shot is of a girl, close up. This hints that the focus is on her and that the main story is going to have something to do with her. With the reinforcement of the voice over as well it makes the audience focus on her and find out more what she is about. The only enigma created is what the story is about as this point there is no relation to the title of the film it's almost like they are leading the audience astray. The setting is already set as all these follow up shots have been set in a high school which lets the audience know that that is where everything will take place.
this character is fully established as it's giving her whole life story. Already you know what the story is based on with a fast cut to an extreme close up of a heart on a note, then finding out it wasn't for her hints that she isn't very lucky when it comes to love.
There wasn't a sound motif but sort of incidental music as when the good looking male of the film was introduced the music swiftly changed to quite sexual and jazzy music. This could suggest that this character is very popular with the ladies and has a charm about him. The voice over also tells the audience that the story is about him. Which is reinforced in the title , the title gives away that this character does something wrong for the 4 girls to want to kill him. So piece for piece you could ut it together but that is just guessing the enigma comes from exactly what he done.
so all in all it all pieces together to make the story but the engima comes from what the outcome is as it builds up to that the whole way through. the setting is self explanatory and is mainly filmed in a high school. And the 3 main characters are all established with part of their past to help establish their personlity.

Friday, 17 October 2008

3 continuity rules



The first shot of this video is shot then followed by the reverse shot, this usually occurs during a conversation and showing both sides of the conversation and the reactions each person has to what the other is saying. In this case its showing the emotion of anger and fear, this is clear to see as both shot and reverse are medium close ups so it is identifiable to see how they are feeling towards each other . The pace between these two shots are very fast and switch from one to the other at quite a speed, this could be to give more tension or to show that its coming to a point where there will be a lot of drama to kind of set the audience up for this.
After the shot reverse shot the 180 rule has been put into practice quite swiftly after the shot reverse shot, these shots are similar but I would say shot reverse shot is more of the reaction and speech of them both and the 180 rule is showing eye contact and where they are looking. The film shows that they are looking at each other and its easy to note this as they are both on opposite sides and these sides are like a barrier that they are abiding by to show they are on different sides. With them on opposite sides its like there is a wall separating the two to show that they aren’t on the same side and that is why the 180 rule works well as they stay on the same side through out. Again the transitions between these two are fast and again are building up the tension to the peak of drama. Again it’s a medium close up so even though its to show where the characters are looking its clear to see that they are both still angry and that there emotions haven’t changed towards each other.
Match on action comes towards the end of the scene where its at the main part where there is the most drama and action which then makes sense to use match on action. It cuts from inside the car to the back of the car to then the side of the car. It cuts from inside the car to the back of the car to show that they are quite scared and unsure about this to the last second, then as it goes off the edge it cuts to the back of the car, this is to show what the car is actually doing and what it looks like before going on the water. It then swiftly cuts to the side of the car as its in mid air, which again is showing the movement of the car and showing the audience what its actually doing, there is a fast cut to a close up of the drivers face to show how he is feeling and that he is looking relatively calm about this, but by not showing the other character it creates this sense of mystery as the audience will be unsure about how he is feeling and if he is injured or not. It then will go back to the car which in this case could be called the master shot as it returns to this several times and the main focus is on this. With the effect of slow motion as the car is about to hit the water is prolonging the drama for as long as possible without over doing it. With the mystery of the characters and without knowing how they are it is creating more drama for the audience as they are limited to the amount of information they know. But with all these 3 continuity rules put into action it does make the scene flow better and look more varied with different shots showing these rules.

introduction

This is my blog for Mrs Muir this blog will be all the work that i will do in her lessons and will be the practical aspect of the course.