Feedback - Miss Spencer

This is a great start to your blog Ellie, you have obviously worked hard to get a variety of film analysis done and added a good deal of detail. However you do need to do a little more to get comfortably into a level 3.

To help you improve you should:

• Embed the film opening into each blog post
• Add more detail to your writing, for example you say in the Woman in Black analysis that the room looks old fashioned, but no comment as to why they have set it in this time. I would suggest that the Victorian period, and especially a children's nursery is a classic horror setting and therefore a convention of horror. Go through your work adding more comment as to WHY remembering to discuss and point out conventions. (this will help with your film opening planning too!)

Task 2.1: Horror Film Analysis: The Woman in Black

The Woman in Black Analysis



The opening scene is set in a house and what looks like a children's nursery. The room looks old fashioned suggesting that the film is set many years ago. Also the children in the scene are wearing long floral dresses and boots which also makes you think it is set a long time ago. From the objects in the room and the way the children in the scene are dressed it looks like it is set in the victorian times. The nursery and the fact its set in the victorian times are both very classic horror film settings and is therefore a horror convention.

China dolls and tea set are used in this scene as the china dolls look realistic, also they have small faces and eyes which makes them intimidating and scares the audience. The china tea set is quite old fashioned which shows the film is set many years ago.

Throughout the scene there is non-digetic, incidental music. The song is slow and high pitched creating tension and a creepy mood. It also sounds like a children's nursery rhyme which are used in horror films a lot. There is ambient sounds of smashing when the girls dropped the cups and tred on them and their dolls. Also there is an ambient sound of a scream at the end of the scene.

The story being displayed in the scene is 3 little girls playing with their dolls like normal little girls do. But then they all suddenly stop and look to the camera. They do this simultaneously which is very creepy. This gives the impression that they are looking at someone and it is like that person is holding the camera and as if the audience are looking at the girls through the persons eyes. They all then look to the window and stand up and walk towards the window, dropping their dolls and cups on their way. This is followed by the girls opening the window and climbing onto it then all jumping out. This gives the impression that the person behind the camera has possessed them or told them to jump out the window.

At the end of the scene there is a wide shot where you can see an outline of a woman's head who looks like she is wearing a black hat and veil. This tells you that the person behind the camera was her and that the story is going to be about her possessing children/making children kill themselves.

The whole scene is in slow motion which creates tension and makes the audience feel anxious and makes the audience pay close attention to the action taking place. The only type of editing in this scene is cuts. This may be because cuts are abrupt which reflects on this scene because what happens next is unexpected. There is lots of close up shots at the start, which are focusing on the dolls, cups and the girls to show that they are all important parts of the scene. Forward tracking is used on the window because it highlights the importance of it in this scene, as the girls are about to jump out of it.   There also seems to be a slight sepia effect on the clips. This is because it looks a yellow/brown colour which may be associated to oldness.

Task 2.1: Horror Film Analysis: Incidious

Incidious- opening scene analysis



The start of the scene begins with the camera on a view of a lampshade with a black background, this sets the scene and reveals the film will be dark and creepy. The camera then moves down onto a little boy in bed followed by the rest of the bedroom, down the hallway until you reach a close up shot of an old lady's face being lit up with a candle. This is all done in a continuous, point of view shot to make the audience feel like they are actually involved and are walking round themselves. After seeing the the face there is a quick cut to the titles. Cuts are very abrupt and this creates a tense atmosphere.

The music to start off with is very quiet and slow, but as the camera continues to move and you get closer and closer to the lady the tempo and the frequency increases. As the titles show up the music is at its loudest and fastest as this is a jumpy part of the scene. The music gets quieter and slower as the titles go on. The music is incidental as its scary and jumpy which reflects on the film. The music compliments the action as when it cuts to the titles quickly the music suddenly gets louder and more high pitched.

The setting of the sequence is a house. It is nighttime and therefore its dark with just a candle light and a lamp. Horror films are very often set at nighttime because it is more common for bad and spooky things to happen at night. And although there is a little boy in the scene, the house still looks like it has a feeling of isolation and abandondness. The titles are written in red which represents blood.

After the main title comes up, the names of the actors and actresses come up, all with a black and white background showing different parts of the house, including staircases, bedrooms, windows etc. Eveything looks quite old fashioned and it all looks very dark and gloomy, giving us an idea that the film will be based in the house and there will be creepy things happening in the house. Old houses are often used in horror films because the fact they are old means that people may have died in there.


An old clock has been used in an opening scene. In lots of horror films clocks are used because they bring an element of tension to the film as the sound of them ticking creates suspense. Also these sort of clocks are old so it makes you believe that the house is old and maybe abandoned.

Dissolving has been used to change from one image of a part of the house to another image as it could be associated with mysteriousness.




There are only 2 characters revealed in this opening sequence: the little boy sleeping and the old lady. The fact the little boy is asleep gives a sense of innocence, revealing that he will be the victim in the film, The old lady has what looks like a vail on and is pale faced with smudged scary makeup on, which makes you think that she will be the villain in the film.


Not much about the story is revealed in the opening sequence, but you do get the idea that the film is going to be set in the house as that is the only place shown. Also as its only the little boy and the lady who are shown it makes you think they are the main characters and the story will be based around them.

Task 2.1: Thriller Film Analysis: Mission Impossible 2

Mission Impossible 2

The scene starts by an establishing shot being used showing the location of the film which is in the Grand Canyon.  There is incidental music playing in the background. The music reflects on the action as it was upbeat which compliments the fact the man was dangerously climbing on the rocks. The tempo of the music increased when the man slipped off the rock, creating tension. 


A crane shot is used quite frequently in the opening, as the camera follows the man around as he is climbing the rocks. Also an aerial shot is used giving us a view of the Grand Canyon and showing us how high the man is.  High angle shots are used in thrillers to show dominance. Various camera angles are used in this scene so the audience can watch the action from different points of view.

At the start of the scene there is a forward track from the establishing shot to a wide shot of the man climbing. This has been sped up because it isn't really an interesting highlight of the scene but it is important to have this shot because it will tell the audience the location.

There is cuts in this scene because the music is quite upbeat and the scene has a lot of action in so having cuts adds to the action because it is jumpy which may make the audience feel tension.

The fact the man is free climbing gives us an idea that he is a dare devil and is experienced, giving us an indication that the film will have lots of action. Ambient sound is used in this scene, the sounds used are wind, breath and an eagle. The sound of the wind blowing shows us that the man is very high up, giving the film a bit of fear factor. The breathing means that he is working hard, and is living on the edge. The fact an eagle is used reflects the mans personality. Eagles are predators and tough which shows us that this man will pursue to be a tough and predator sort of person. Both the eagle and the man are both also top of the food chain. The American eagle represents freedom which might show that this man is feeling free or is fighting for freedom. 

When the man falls from the rock but manages to save himself, he holds onto the rock in a crucified position. Jesus is seen as a savior and it displays that the man will save people from threats of mankind.

The titles are written in orange which may reflect on the fact he is in the grand canyon as the rocks are a sandy/orange sort of colour. This may show that the rest of the film is mostly set in the Grand Canyon.


The main title of the film is written in bold and in orange and red colours and it looks like the background is on fire. This may indicate that fire may be present in the rest of the film. Quick cuts are used when presenting the titles. Quick cuts are used in thrillers as it makes the film look like it has lots of action going on. This quick cut used on the title may reflect that lots of action will take place.

Feedback - Miss Spencer

An decent attempt at a preliminary task Ellie. In your evaluation you have realised the mistakes you have made and intend to learn from them, which is the main point of the task.

To improve I would like you to talk about what happens if you cross the 180 degree line and what is the reason behind using a match on action.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Preliminary Task Evaluation

 
1.What is the 180 degree rule? a match on action? and eyeline match? How did you incorporate them in your film?


The 180 degree rule is when there is a conversation between 2 people, and an imaginary line (axis) which connects the characters  The camera must beon one side of this axis for the whole scene.   Object being filmed must stay in the centre while the camera is always facing the object. The purpose of the rule is to keep the audience properly oriented. If, for example, actor A on the screen is looking from left to right, and actor B is looking from right to left, they will be properly oriented as long as you stay on the same side of the 180 degree line. But, if for whatever reason, you move the camera around for another part of the dialog, and you cross that 180, then both actors will be looking from either right to left, or vice versa, as you cut back and forth. That will be off-putting to the viewer.





A match on action is cutting from a long shot to a short shot, showing the passing over of something or the holding or grabbing of something. We used this technique in the task when I was on the phone and we cut from a long shot to a short shot showing my hand holding the phone. Match on action's create a sense of continuity



An eyeline match is when you film from certain angles to show the eyelines of the two characters looking directly at each other. In the task we would use this when doing a shot reverse shot of the two characters however we did not use this in our video as we didn't have a conversation between two people in ours as some of our footage got deleted. However if we were to do the task again we would have dialogue from the other person on the other side of the phone. This would of improved our film as we could of used more shots and it would of made the video more interesting. 


2. How did the filmmaking process go in terms of filming shots from the storyboard and filming around college?

The filmmaking process went well, but it was hard to get the right angles on the camera from the storyboard and it took a long time to get the correct angles. It was also difficult filming round the college as there were other people filming at the same time as us and in the same places meaning we were getting in each others way and had to restart a few times. Also as people were in lessons we were limited on to where we could film.

3. What did you learn about video editing on adobe premiere? Think in terms of using transitions, adding sound and titles.
I learnt how to use the different editing tools for example the cutting tools. Also I learnt how to import music onto our videos and put it the right places and also add another piece of music and have them play together. During the filming process we filmed a scene where I was using the wrong hand to hold my phone so I had to learn how to flip the video round to make it look like my other hand.