match cut preliminary match cut exercise

Brief:

After making our story bored and getting our props we done a short sequence on which was about a female character opening a door, going towards a male character where we see an exchange of a piece of paper,money and dialogue.

In this exercise we had to do the following:

• a match cut
• shot reverse shot
• show understanding of the 180 degree rule

My group did not have a lot of time left after filming because on continually changed our idea, so we decided to leave the original sound.

Seven

Intro
In class, everyone studied Collateral, for their suspense film however because I didn't get to watch it I chose to watch and write about Seven instead.
The film is about two detective spies, played by well known actors Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, on some sort of investigation trail, to do with a vicious killer who chooses victims according to seven deadly sins.

Camera & Mise en Scene:
Camera: the consistence camera creates suspense by the way it moves so ridgy as if the camera was being hand-held. At the start when the camera slowly follows Freeman about it makes us feel uneasy and as if we're with him in the situation which creates suspense because the waiting becomes lengthy. Also the close up of the clock emphasises the importance of time as it adds to the wait.
Mise en Scene: the genre of the film is clearly a thriller type and we know this almost instantly because of the mise en scene. Every image somehow relates to an investigation or mystery crime story. Its seem to be set in New York as we're shown the a quite New York City type setting. Features like the gloomy eerie room and slow movement adds emphasis to whats going on.

Editing & Sound:
Editing: the editing in the short Seven clip throughout, is consistently slow, stretching out movement to lengthen and increase tension with the long wait and unsurity. also, the titles run for long which gives an extra feel of anticipation.
Sound: is rather simple but effective. the peaceful orchestral background music runs through the scene increasing towards the end creating nerve-jangling feelings. it creates many different emotions without anyone saying anything, which I like, as it makes a more mysterious tone.

Editing Tutorial

Editing
The editing tutorial was extremely helpful and interesting as I had never done anything like that before. I learnt a range of simple editing techniques such as closing a gap, cut using a blade and delete if necessary, shorten/lengthen by simply dragging the clip on the time line, and the in and out feature by pressing (I) and (O) on the keyboard, which I found really effective. I was able to practise by using a couple of short clips we all watched.

Outcome:
We was told to use the features and tools we'd learnt to make a short smooth clip, including cuts and sound and transitions, such as fade/ dissolve, which we was also taught how to use to make a sad, happy, dramatic etc addition or to emphasis something that's going on. It was fun and interesting to play around with the different tools and to finally watch some. I thought the tutorial was a great experience.

Camera Tutorial

Camera
My camera tutorial was all about learning what each part of the camera was and what its used for, also to learn how to handle it safely. At the start, we had a short talk using the projector to give us the basics about what what. Then we had a chance to ask questions or to repeat anything we was unsure about, and at last we got to make a mini opening, duplicating the Collateral exchanging bags scene.

Outcome:
I learnt all kinds of things, like how to switch the camera on and off safely, how to put our work onto the computer, and importantly to check the battery and space on memory card before going out and filming because having a dead camera, or no space on the memory card to film on would be a disaster. Keeping in mind what we'd learnt filming was really good, we used a variety of shots like close ups, extreme close up, point of view, low angle and establishing shot.

Tutorial lesson on editing.

Editing
In my tutorial lesson i learnt many techniques on how to edit a clip.
by doing this i had to watch each clip one at a time, shorten them and lenghting them depending on which part of the clip i wanted to use and dragging it down on to the time line placing it where i want this is used to cut out anything unnecessary .
Also on my timeline i can also put music over the clip to either make it sound dramatic, sad or even happy, along with different transitions which u can fade out or dissolve.
Once u add some of these tool your film is complete and ready to watch.

Art of the Title Sequence: Six Feet Under

Six Feet Under

Six Feet Under Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AjdBaDAFxU

Analysis:

The style of this title sequence is a classic and common narrative opening with the titles running throughout, which is my particular favourite. It immediately gives a cool, subtle feel and makes the audience feel calm, yet anxious. The names of the cast fade in instantly on a very steamy and mysterious sky background. Written in white in capital block letters, the names slowly and gently fade around the screen, allowing us to notice them clearly. The serif font used is quite traditional and formal, suggesting the film may be historical or professional. The use of the capital letters I believe, gives a sense of male dominance as it looks solid and strong and the first few name are men names 'Peter' 'Micheal'. The titles don't just tell us the names of cast but also of the crew. Names of music directors, the editor, production designer, producer, co-producer and director and others makes the sequence look very professional. The way the name of the film 'Six Feet Under' is shown is very interesting. The glow effect, the rectangular shape the forms around it and the change from white font to red makes it extremely striking to the eye.

The slow motion effect that runs through the whole sequence emphasises the long wait and already makes us feel quite tense, using suspense. I particularly like it when the two hands slowly separate as it implies something bad will happen and gives the audience a moment to wonder. Also the weird images like a tag on what looks like a hospital person's toe, lifeless eyeball and dying flowers suggests confusion and mystery and we want to know what going on.
The close up on these specific images allows us to see it properly and implies their importance as they're shown close up. The connections with death also creates uncertainty, which creates tension.

The slow establishing shot at the very start of the sequence, showing a grassy, misty field is very good as we get an immediate understanding of a setting.

The whole mysterious and random atmosphere appeals to me because I love not knowing whats going on. The steam and mist in the scene I also like alot as it adds to the mystery.

Photo 'Words' Activity

Future
This photo I took of the City and Islington College, I believe represents future, because its a place we come to prepare for our future. Everything we do in this building creates a image for our future. The low angle shot of the College puts more emphasis on the building and shows its importance as we look up to it. the lighting on the building seems bright and sunny representing a good, warm place of work and our future.

Confusion
I have chosen to take a photo of this pigeon to represent confusion, asthey seem to be lost creatures that just wonder about, with no aim or knowledge of where they're heading. We don't really take any notice of them however if they suddenly all disappeared I think we'd notice. The high angle shot of the pigeon shows how small it is compared
to the world and emphasises its confusion.

Art of the title sequence

Panic Room

Panic Room is a film about a women buying a house in New york with her daughter, on the tour of there house they come across a room smaller than the rest of them and to there surprise its a panic room!.
At the beginning of the movie,dramatic classic music is being played along with a close up of buildings in the busy city of New York. Throughout the beginning of the of the movie titles are beginning played throughout .

Such as:

• Director
• Producer
• Characters
• Writters
• Editor
• Film title
• The company who made the film

The titles are bold and silver so they stand out.

This film has a narrative opening, this is important because it shows there is more to come, the first five minutes are important as they keep the interested and and leads the audience to the rest of the story.Most of the shots used are close ups of the buildings and one Ariel shot of the city.This title sequence appeals to me because it doesn't give away too much and it seems like a normal film which has a twist.

The shining

The Shining
The shining is a thriller and in the first few minutes of the film there is an establishing shot of the river along with mountains. The camera begins to zoom in and the editing begins to speed up. In the background non diagetic sound is playing in the background. It sounds like trumpets and other ghostly sounds, which is suspenseful. the lighting is bright and natural as it is day time.
The shot then turns in to an areal shot of the road and a speeding car and the forests. The camera then turns into a tracking shot of the side of the car. The titles are very simple, blue and moving up the screen quite quickly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBEwYxnrv_Y

Thriller Clip Analysis

Intro:
In class we watch several thriller film trailers, eg Arlington Road and Dead Calm. I have chosen to talk about my favourite and the one that seems the most interesting, Seven.

Analysis:
In the clip, the use of camera is very rough and unstable and is probably film hand-held. We can immediatly tell it's a Spy Thriller as theres alot to do with violence, crime, detective and images like putting words together and building up and image gives us a sense of spies and policework, trying to find a criminal. The mise en scene of the clip I found quite hard to observe as the editing was so fast pace and jumpy. The location seemed to be some sort of private detective looking office/room filled with vital spy tools and equipment. The blades, dirty hands and nails, suspicious unclear note writing and strands of hair add to the confusion and already creates tension and suspense due to our uncertainty of whats going on.
The titles and text are written in red and white in a sharp and ridgy way. It doesn't stay still on the screen which I thought was interesting, instead it shakes about and looks quite distaugted.
I really liked this trailer and thought it gave an excellent sense of suspense, with no dialogue.

Seven Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4YV2_TcCoE

Thriller Sub-Genres

Intro:
Thriller is a broad genre used in film and television, which include several sub-genres. They are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes (protagonists) expected to defeat the villains (antagonists).

Sub-Genres:

Action Thrillers: usually containing actors like James Bond (protagonist) that have a lot to do with technology, fast cars, explosions, violence and quick race against the clock.

Disaster Thrillers: are one of my favourite type of thrillers as they keep me on the edge of my seat using Hitchcock's method. Films such as 2012 and I Am Legend come into this category, in fact most Will Smith movies are disaster thrillers.

Physcological Thrillers: are by far my favourite type of thrillers and inspires me at the moment because I love the way that with such little if not no sound at all can create so much tension and aggravation. They often consist of mental and emotional scenes, where we (audience) no something a character doesn't, for example a girl being followed by a murderer about to be killed. The longness and usual silence creates suspense as we're aware of what will probably happen.

Hitchcock: ¬

Suspense?

Suspense:
Suspense is a strong feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to us as the audiences' perceptions in TV dramas, and films. Suspense is usually built gradually using features such as silence or even loudness and the scene is almost always dark. In the kind of suspense described by film director Alfred Hitchcock, we experience suspense when we expect something bad to happen and yet we are powerless to intervene to prevent it from happening. I believe this is the best type of suspense.


Thriller:
Thriller is a broad genre used in film and television, characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who defeat the powerful villains. Suspense is on the main, if not the most important feature used in thrillers, and subsequently separates thrillers and horrors. Cliffhangers are also used extensively, to add to the tension. Thriller is a broad genre and umbrellas several types of sub-genres, such as:
Action, Conspiracy, Crime, Disaster, Drama, Erotic, Legal and much more.