24/09/15 Studio Lesson

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In this lesson, we learned some basic aspects of the 180 Degree Rule and filmed a couple of short sequences using the Canon 5D.

The 180 Degree rule is basically making sure that the camera always stay on one side of the shot (within 180 degrees) to prevent confusion to the audience on directions of the action and to prevent the scene from being totally random- the character that's on the right always stays on the right and the character that is on the left side stays on the left side

We filmed a couple of short sequences in our small groups. The first short sequence was just a simple sequence of a character walking into the scene, picked up the phone, checked the phone and simply walked out of the scene. We filmed this scene using many different shots such as: the wide shot, close up shot and behind the shoulder shot.

The second short sequence was a shot of a character who picked up a rose from the ground. sniffed it, tossed it in the bin and simply walked out of the scene. In this sequence, we filmed this scene using wide shot of the character walking in, close-up ground level shot of the rose being picked up, a close up shot of the character sniffing the rose, goes back to the ground level shot to see the character walking towards the bin, behind the shoulder shot of the character walking towards the bin, a close up shot of the rose being tossed in the bin and just a normal wide shot of the character walking out. This makes the sequence much more interesting and exciting than just a simple wide shot all the way through. We also used a marker to make sure that in all of the shots, the rose was in the same position therefore the shots are continuous.

Saving Private Ryan Poster Analysis

‘Saving Private Ryan’ Poster Analysis

Firstly, the main focus of the poster is a faded portraits of 4 men in military uniforms. The iconography of these characters- green soldier hats, green soldier uniform, imply that this is a movie some sort of war. The faded effects created the feelings of 'memory' which may imply that all of these soldiers are just memories- they died somewhere in the movie. The middle soldier is staring right back to the audience which makes audience feels intimidated as it implies that he could be quite a tough and strong character in the movie. The soldier on the far right though, however, stares into the ground below him which may suggest that he is quite sad or something tragic happened to him in this film or he may not be as important as the middle guy. The background of the faded portraits is a beautiful scene of an orange sunset. This suggests that the ending of the movie might be a good and peaceful ending as the sunset often refers to peacefulness and calmness. It can also suggest that these characters will have to go through a lot of bad/tragic things in order to reach this sunset/peacefulness.

Also in the middle of the sunset, right in the centre of the poster; is a little black shadow of one soldier standing by, holding his rifle. facing into the sight of the sunset. This could imply that only one of the characters above have survived as there is only one shadow standing and the fact that he's staring into nowhere could suggest that all of his friends died and he could be reliving all the moments of him and his friends inside his head. This makes the audience interested and predict which one of the four from above will survive which grabs their attention and make them want to find out. It may also suggest that they have won the war as there is a survivor left standing in the middle of the sunset(which could suggest the end of war.)

Below the shadow, were the movie title and actors’ names and the production name. All the text were in white in contrast with the black background behind it to make it standout to the audience. Tom Hank’s name were written in bigger font above the movie title while the other actors’ names are below the title. This is because Tom Hank were in many other famous films which may have created reputations for the audiences and grabs attention of all the Tom Hank's fans to be interested in this movie.

The title of the movie were written in bigger font to make it standout more to the audience. The word ‘Saving’ in the title were written in bold to signifies that the movie is about 'saving' somebody. Under it was a sentence 'the mission is a man'- this implies to the audience that there is a mission in the movie and add on to the idea of 'saving' somebody in the title by saying that the mission is acutally a 'man' which is possibly one of the guy in the portrait above. 

The production name of 'Steven Spielberg' were written in another unique font to also make it standout as there are many Steve Spielberg fans out there which might grab their attention to watch this film. The bottom centre of the poster is a release date which tells the audience when the film is releasing and that is quite an important thing to have in a movie poster.

Kill Bill Opening Sequence Analysis

Kill Bill Opening Sequence Review by Chris

The opening sequence of the movie “Kill Bill” used many interesting techniques to keep the audience excited and interested in the movie; such as the soundtracks, camera angles, effects and monologues which sets the tone of how the plot would be for the rest of the movie. 

The first few seconds, while the directors and the actors were being introduced with pure black background, the sound of a girl breathing heavily and constantly- kind of sexually was played in the background. This makes the audience curious and excited of what is actually happening behind the black screen and it grabs the audience attention because it sounded pretty erotic.

Right before the first scene was introduced, the sound of a man walking in boots, slowly stumping on the wooden floor was played. This technique is really interesting because it just shows the sound without any scene or acting along with it, which makes the audience even more curious about what is happening and want to continue watching- it also creates tension because the noise of the boots stumping on the floor often refers to mysteriousness or hinting that something is about to happen.

The movie opened with a brutal and gruesome black and white close-up scene of a women lying on the floor covered by plastic sheets covered in blood with her face painted with blood and wounds as if she was hurt and tortured really badly- which is totally opposite to what the audience’s idea of the erotic voice. The heavy breathing turned out to be the character’s struggle to breath which indicates that she was scared and in pain. This grabs even more attention from the audience as it shows some kind of a twist already so early on in the movie which makes the movie seem even more excited. The scene was also in black and white which might refers to the fact that it is in the past and the settings might be many years ago.

The shots then changed to the angle of the back of the man’s boots, which was the source of the stomping sound, walking slowly. The boots were leathery and shiny which gives the audience the idea of this character being porch and kind of rich. This creates tension and makes the audience curious about who he is and what is he about to do to the other character.

The women then sees the man walking towards her and began to be scared which indicates that he was the one that caused her all these wounds and tortured her. The man leaned towards her and started speaking in a really deep and manly voice which give the audience a feeling of power and strength. He began to wipe the blood out of her face with a napkin with the word “Bill” on it- this shows that he could be a psychopath or some kind of a maniac because he was talking nicely and trying to clean her face up after he tortured her. The word “Bill” on the napkin reveals that this man is the main character in the movie and gives an idea of what the movie is going to be about. This scene also shows that he was wearing a suit and a few jewelries in his right arm which indicates that he is rich and grown up.

The introduction ended with the sound of him slowly reloading his gun (without any actual visual gun in the scene) while the camera was focused on the girl’s face being frightened followed by a loud bang of the gunshot and the visual of blood splashing into the plastic sheets and a hole in her forehead. The fact that this whole time, the camera was focused on the girl’s face makes the audience feels really into the scene and shows how that character is feeling. It also makes the audience excited of who this man is as it never shows how he looks like or anything, only a his shoes and the suit on his arm. After he pulled the trigger and killed her, it shows the audience that this character is a murderer and the fact that he does it so calmly and casually makes it seem like he has done it many times before and this movie is based on this cold-hearted psycho serial killer- this is the reason that will make the audience interested and want to watch on because this character is really interesting and unique from other movies.

"Blitz" Thriller Opening Sequence

Biltz

The thriller opening sequence I'm analyzing is called "Blitz" and I'm reviewing how the tension were created in the opening scene.

The first few seconds directly indicates that the setting was in WWII because of Churchill's radio broadcast in the background. The first character of a little girl writing on her diary on her small bed was introduced. This creates tension to the audience as who this girl is and why is she in an ancient room with all the war atmosphere going around her- makes her seem out of place and it also makes the audience curious about what is about to happen to her.  The camera then switches slowly to show all the war posters and antiques about the war which confirms with the radio that the setting was indeed during WWII.

Around the little girl were many old stuffed dolls. This indicates that she is still innocent and may have no idea about what is going on in the war- this gives the audience the protective feelings over this character already early on in the scene which creates even more tension to the audience as what will happen to her.

Suddenly the door swung open, revealing the shadow of a man as the little girl hid herself under the her blanket. This indicates that she was frightened and scared- creates tension and curiosity to the audience as what will happen to this little girl and who that man is. The fact that she was scared of him might mean that she doesn't know him and that he could be a dangerous/scary character that is about to do something to her.

The transition of "60 Years Later" indicates that the rest of the film might be set in the present after what happened to the girl during the war. The scene then shows a man (archaeologist) who discovered the room. The whole scene was dark and the only source of light for that man was his flashlight- this builds tension of mysteriousness and spookiness as it is really dark and darkness often refers to horror. The camera then focused on an ancient scary toy which fell down on the floor and faced directly into the camera- this creates a scary atmosphere as the toy looks really old and terrifying, it makes the audience feels like they are in the scene as it makes them feel involved.

The rest of the scene was in silence which creates even more horror atmosphere. Then there is suddenly a black shadow that flew passed the screen- this generates tension to the audience as they want to know what that shadow might be and it also creates tension because the audience doesn't know what is going to happen next.

The opening sequence ended with a jump-scare of a guy in a gasmask- staring directing into the camera as the archaeologist shined his flashlight into the gas mask's face. This creates tension to the audience as well as giving them the first impression of horror which sets the tone of how the film is going to continue for the rest of the movie.