Institutional Models

There are three main "Institutional Models", these models illustrate the relationship between institutions and audience. The model is a (theoretical) set of ideas which attempts to explain events that we perceive in the real world. 

Manipulative Model

The most common theoretical idea is the manipulative model, which sees the audiences as passive whose thinks and thoughts are easily changed and manipulated by the media products that consume. The audiences is defined by there gender, class, ages and race, which powerful media groups construct there products around. This ensure that the media groups own ideas and values widely believed or accepted. This is a conscious process which the media institutions (News International Corporation) being the puppet masters and manipulating their audiences. This suggests that when media material is presented as 'news' the audience is led to believe that it is real and that the representations are truthful. The success of media institutions is down to how convincing hat can pass their  viewpoints as facts. This is how the institutions 'interests and viewpoints' are the most likely to be accepted by the audience.

Pluralist or The Market Model

Other models argue that the manipulative model does not take into account the choices which audiences have in their media consumption. The manipulative model rest upon media products concerned with articulating a very similar set of ideas. Whereas, in fact, there are many different views on offer in many different products. This way of thinking is called the pluralist model or the market model. Pluralistic theory believe different groups and interests within society are constantly competing for audiences. The most successful are ones that are able to appeal to the biggest audiences. Pluralists believe that audiences decide in a very active way which they choose and consume their media. If media institutions don't follow this model thay risk losing a large proportion of its audience unless they change in response to there readers.

Hegemonic Model

The hegemonic model rests between the above models, offering a way of thinking about institutions and audiences where both have control over each other. This model acknowledges that media are controlled relatively small group of people and there viewpoints become embedded in the products that they produce, though the promotion of these views is rarely conscious (similar to the manipulative model). Dominant views are seen as 'normal' or 'common-sense' and are given greater emphasis in order to build up a consensus or agreement among the audience. However some members will change the process and resist by making choices about their purchase and consumption of products challenging the idea of consensus (similar to the pluralist or the market model)

Re-worked Storyboard

After considering re-working our script, we feel very strongly that we needed to re-work our storyboard as that would give us a better understanding of how are opening would work. So that is what we did we want back to our script and start to visuales it and started to draw it out. 

After do this on page Mr Ford got us to cut it up and stick it on to the wall to look out our narration and think about whether we need to start it where we do, if it would be better is we started later and where the affect of doing that would be. However we feel that starting later would not work as well as it would be to abrupt and the audience would not know the context in which it was set. We also think that the photo being taken at the start is synonymous with crime thrillers, therefore the audience with automatic know the genre of out opening.

From this we can now create our animatic and get a sense of how our title sequence will work and feel. This will help you to understand the pace of our opening and the mood which is created. This has been help by the research the we did it to other title sequence and The Importance of Storyboarding. 

The Importance of Storyboarding

Today, we watched a documentary on 'The Sixth Sense' to do with the art and the importance of storyboarding. I thought that it was most enlightening as I believed that the easiest way to create our short two minutes title sequence was to create a simple storyboard with just the basic framework, film it and make the film in the editing room. However after watching the documentary I now understand that to create a good and well thought out opening we need to go back and revisit our storyboard adding more detail and gaining a clearer idea of where we want to take our opening.

Below is the documentary that we watched and my notes as well:

Notes:

- Storyboarding is used to map out the film
- Storyboarding is a visual script to the movie
- Visual supporting the story
- Takes 16 weeks to create a storyboard
- Storyboarding is also called '2D Film Making'
- Storyboarding is a plan of how to bring the audience into the film
- Storyboarding saves money and time on set
- Shot should help tell the story to for the sake of them
- The Storyboard os playing the part of the whole crew
- Storyboarding aid decided making
- A cut should be used to help the story telling (thought) process
- Storyboarding aids and assists the execution, cast and crew of a film
- The storyboard is the worst the film can be
- Even is the storyboard is change it still works better then is there was not storyboard
- Produce and editing is a way to enhance the storyboard
- The film is make at the storyboard not in the editing room


From watching this I have decided that we need to go back to our storyboard and refine to include more detail and really plan out opening title sequence, so it makes it easier and quick to film and edit together.

Re-worked Script

After our conversation with Mr Michie we decided that we have bit of more off than we can chew. So we when back to the drawing board and start to change our script take out part that we felt weren't needed and cut down the dialogue for our main female characters.

We also look at some other title sequences that we thought might help us to decide on how we will start our title sequence. We have chosen to start with and photography camera take photo of the london landmark. Starting close and then zooming out reveal the hole landmark. We have some changed our idea of having the female talking and then the male talk to now. Just having the female talking be into cut in the ambiguous shot of our male characters walking.



I think that this has help us understand and refine how our title sequence will work and focus on what is important for us. This has been helped by watch other title sequence and seeing how thay construct the opening to tell a story. I now feel that we need to re-work our storyboard, to help us visualised out opening. 

Conversation with Mr Michie

Below you can listen to me talking about the conversation that we had with Mr Michie and how it has affected us and the decisions we have now made.

Locations

Last weekend me and the group when to London to take photos of our locations that we are thinking of using. Below is a map of our locations:

We decided to uses London as out main location as is has a modern, stylised and contemporary feel about it which is what we are trying to create. We have chosen this location as they are iconic of London so the audience will know where we are straight away. See below for Picture of locations:


Buckingham Palace:

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben:

London Eye:

MI5:

Trafalgar Square:

Tower Bridge and Tower of London:

Cafe:

Alley:

We also will have a MI5 scene that will be in a dark room a look like it is in MI5, However be film is a class room at school and as this sense has the most dialog this means that if we need to reshot it this will easily be done as it is in a controlled environment.

Our choice of location has been influenced where we live being just our side of London but also by our story line and script revolving around the idea of The Tower of London. From our research Crime Thrillers do not normally start with establishing shots, so we are variating from the stereotypical Crime Thrillers to need it fresh and to engage the audience. This will help us to visual how and where the placement of the camera should be and whether the location are right for where we want to portray with our opening. 

Props, Costume, Actors and Actresses

After creating our storyboard are started to consider our props, costume, actors and actresses. We know that we wanted a man to play the part as our criminal and a woman to play the part of our MI5 agent. We also know that we need a phone and blueprint as there would be our two key item in our story. The costume how even were a little bit more changing as we know we when a stylised opening but did not want it to alienate our audience. So we decided on as smart but casual look for a male and a smart businesses dress for our female.

Below our our choices:

Tower of London

Props:

iPhone

Example of Blueprint 

We have chosen to use an iPhone as it is a stylised, modern and befits the character we have in mine. Also we have decided to create a blueprint of the "Tower of London" as that is where our story revolves around but also as we have been thinking about out title (See post about titles) and decided on creating of titles around the theme of a blueprint as it features in the opening but also has connotations of crime and theft.

Costume:

Male Black Suit

Female Suit

Male Purple Shirt

For other costume, we want both characters to be smart. The female MI5 agent more so that the male as she is in a working environment both us to create the air of authority and power. So for that reason we want her to be in a woman's suit, skirt, blazer and shirt. For out male characters we want to create a air of superiority however being suave and sophisticated at the same time. We did not want him to look like he had just come just work so we have decided that he will be dress in a grey or black shirt with a purple shirt and pocket handkerchief. As purple has connotations with royalty, elegance and sophistication.

Actors and Actresses:

Female: 

                                                    Chelsea Davison                             Sophie Mooney

When choosing our male and female leads we when to follow the stereotype for our male but break it for our female, as we feel that break the stereotype of a MI5 agent from a male to a female would put the audience on the back foot and not know what to expect from her, creating mystery and unease as the audience would want the crime to be court but with a woman, which is not normally see is film as being a MI5 agent the audience would not know if he would be. So for this reason we have chosen to go with Chelsea Davison. As she conforms to the stereotype of a blond, stylish woman with sought-after looks, putting the audience in a unusual situation as normally blond woman are the "eye candy" with a film that do not help the protagonist, as this example of the famous James Bond Dr. No with "Ursula Andress" shows.

  

Male:

                                                       Tameem Rahman                              Daniel Pirie

Form our main lead we wanted a male that fixed the stereotype criminal, however someone that the audience would be draw to and look at the end of the film. Traditionally a Black man would be the stereotypical race for a thief however our film, that portrays a criminal in a stylised way is normally a white man as this clip for "The Thomas Crown Affair" with "Pierce Brosnan" shows:

So for this reason we have chosen Daniel Pirie as our male lead. Also we have chosen both of our actors as they fit the part but moreover that we think they are reliable and that we have ask them not to change there appearance for the duration of our film as this would effect our continuity.

Our choices have been influenced our research and what actors look like in there parts of other crime films. Also we have have been influenced by our decision to change some stereotypes and conform to others, which has affect our choices of actor and Actresses. This will help us in creating the correct mood and tone for out opening titles as we now can visualise what out characters will look like and sound like. This will help our final script and storyboard.

Storyboard

So from our script we decided to create a storyboard of what we want our opening to look and feel like. We found this proses fairly easy as we all contributed idea and thought of what we consider to good shot for the element, e.g. shot type, moment, angle. There was also a lot of convocation about whether we need some sequences to other, the placement of scenes and how and where each shot should be filmed and located.

Below is our completed storyboard:

This has been influenced by our research into other films in the genre of crime, and how they use the camera and where are they shot, but also by our script and own person opinions. All three of us want to create something that pushes the boundaries of Crime while keeping the same key elements that make a good Crime film (not being stereotypical or conventional). Will will help us to create our animatic and shooting schedule but also help us to visualise what is going to happen next in our opening and how we get from one to the other.

Script

As a group we feel that before we started creating our storyboard we need to take our best ideas and turned them in to a script. The script needed to have a description of the scene and shot, along with some dialog, however it was the description that we need move than the speech. As this would help you created and visualise our sequences of event and develop or storyboard.

Below is our first draft:



This has been influenced by our research into title sequence and by the technical codes and conventions for our genre of crime. This has help us develop for opening, as now we have a clearer idea and know where we want to take our 2 minutes. However, there is still some hazy and unclear concepts (e.g. what our main protagonist will say) that will need to be thought about and decided upon.

Development of Idea

After creating a brainstorm of our ideas and researching in to the language of film and the technical codes and conventions we create another brainstorm of ideas about the plot, charters, location, filming style etc, for our opening.

This can be seen below:

We as a group has an idea of what we wanted to opening to be like, modern, stylised, something new and unconventional. Nothing that we have decide to create the idea of a master criminal how is about to steal The Crown Jewels, However the police are on to him. The location for our film is going to be set in london which givens it the stylised feeling that we wanted.  We also have decided on the filming style which is doing to be Close-up and medium shot, Tracking, panning and tilting, and establishing shot as this is what of there film are like as we have seen for there technical codes and conventions is the audience will be familiar with it.

With will help when we come to storyboard and film as we now known what type of crime thriller we are trying to make. This has been influenced my of research in to the language of film and technical codes and conventions  as that is there we are basing our filming style and plot on.

Technical Codes and Conventions

To develop our groups understand of technical codes and conventions of the crime genre are watch 4 films each, so in total 12 film, which we thought would give us a good understand of what the codes for a crime film was. Is research the codes and conventions of Pulp Fiction, Seven, Reservoir Dogs and The Usual Suspect, here our my findings. 

Pulp Fiction. 

Opening - 4:37 Before tires

Camera:

- Start with the studio logo / animation 

- Definition of the word Pulp

- Mid shot (2 people taking)

- Close-up (Low angle)

- Close-up (eye level)

- Mid shot (2 people)

- Mid shot (Over shoulders, SRS)

- Mid shot (2 people)

- Close-up (SRS)

- Mid shot

Editing 

- Slow at start

- Speed up as we got to SRS

Sound

Taking

No music

Mise-en-scene

USA diner

Casual clothes

Female and male.

Titles

-Yellow font on black

- Name of studio

- Name of film rolls on to screen

- Name of actors over name of film

- Actors name in white over name of film in yellow

- Fast

Seven

Opening - 4.11 Before tires

Camera:

- Studio Logo

- Mid long shot

- Mid shot tilt to face

- Close-up

- Mid shot

- Pan

- Title over video

- Long shot to mid close-up

- Soft Focus

- Mid shot low angle

- Tracking

Editing 

- Fade for black

- Slow

Sound

- Non-Diegetic sound from street

Mise-en-scene

- Raining

- Old detective

Titles

- All Close Up

- High-key lighting

- White text over black live action

- Cross Dissolve

- All shot mostly Black and White

- Cut into the titles

- Old Film

Reservoir Dogs

Opening - 4.40 Before tires

Camera:

- Orange titles over black

- Mid tracking

- Close up

- Over shoulders Tracking

- Mid shot eye level

Editing 

- Slow

- Cuts

Sound

- Voice Over

- Diegetic Speech

Mise-en-scene

- Play cards

- Male in suits

- Smoking

The Usual Suspect

Opening - 2.28 Before tires

Camera:

- Studio Logo

- Blue Text on the right on black

- Text over live action

- Text font old type writer

- Close up of match

- Mid shot

- Low-key lighting

- Tilt

- Mid shot

- Close-up

Editing 

- Slow up to the titles

- Cut

Sound

- Soft, Classic music

Mise-en-scene

- Fire

- Dark, unclean, on the street.

This has help me and my group work out what is not most common shot, angle, movements, editing techniques, sounds use, music, decor and costumes. We found that the title sequence did not start the when the film began but there was a little begin plot to lead into the film which we have decide to take and uses in ours. We as decided that we would use mainly medium and medium close-up shot in the opening. We have also desire on having a voice over and diegetic speech, possibly using a sound bridge. Is will help us in our planing creating out storyboard and through out our  pre-production & production fazes. 

Language of Film

I have research into title sequences to find out what the technical codes and conventions were for the crime genre that we have chosen. Before that I needed to research in depth about the different techniques and what the names where for them.

Basic Terms

Auteur:  another word (French) for the author (Director)

Diegesis: objects, events, spaces and the characters that inhabit them.

Editing: the joining together of clips

Flashback / Flashforward: a jump backwards or forwards in diegetic time.

Focus - Depth of field: shallow focus, deep fouces, racking focus.

Mise-en-scene: "put in the scene": the setting, the decor, the lighting, the costumes, the performance

Story / Plot: fabula and syuzhet, the events that are directly presented in the film, the order, duration, and setting of those events

Scene / Sequence: takes place in a single time and place

Shot: a single stream of images, uninterrupted by editing.

Mise-en-scene

Decor:  objects contained in and the setting of a scene

Three-Point Lighting: standard lighting scheme for classical narrative

High-Key lighting: produces images that are usually very bright and that feature few shadows on the principal subjects

Low-Key lighting: lighting scheme that employs very little fill light, creating strong contrasts between the brightest and darkest parts

Costume: clothes that characters wear

Deep Space: significant elements of an image are positioned both near to and distant from the camera

Frontality: elements face the camera square-on

Matte Shot: process shot in which two photographic images are combined into a single image

Offscreen Space: Space that exists in the diegesis but that is not visible in the frame.

Shallow Space: the image is staged with very little depth, opposite of deep space

Cinematography

Colour: used to create aesthetic patterns and to establish character or emotion

Contrast: the ratio of dark to light in an image

Deep Focus: significant elements occupy widely separated planes in the image

Shallow Focus: keeps only one plane in sharp focus

Depth of Field: The distance through which elements in an image are in sharp focus

Exposure: A camera lens has an aperture that controls how much light passes through the lens and onto the film

Racking Focus: changing the focus of a lens such that an element in one plane of the image goes in or out of focus

Telephoto Shot: An image shot with an extremely long lens is called a telephoto shot to compress the apparent depth of an image

Zoom Shot: change the focal length of the lens while the shot is in progress

Low Angle:  shooting at a lower position than the dominant element

High Angle:  shooting at a higher position than the dominant element

Canted Framing: frame is not level

Point of View Shot: camera placed approximately where the character's eyes would be.

Extreme Long Shot: object shown is very small (as used as establishing shots)

Long Shot: the object shown is small, taking up the hight of the screen

Medium Long Shot: is when a human is only shown from the knees up 

Medium Shots. the subject or actor and its setting occupy roughly equal areas in the frame (waist up)

Medium Close-up: the object shown is fairly large, (shoulders up)

Close-up: the object shown is relatively large, just the head is shown.

Extreme Close-up: the object shown is very large (mouth or eye)

Crane Shot: camera above the ground and moving through the air in any direction.

Handheld Camera, Steadycam: the camera operator's body as a camera support, either holding it by hand or using a gyroscopic stabiliser and a harness

Pan: camera body turning to the right or left

Tilt:  camera body swivelling upward or downward

Tracking Shot:  travels through space forward, backward, or laterally

Whip Pan: extremely fast movement of the camera from side to side to make image to blur

Editing


Cheat cut: cut which purports to show continuous time and space

Crosscutting: alternates shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places

Cut-in, Cut Away: shift from a distant framing to a closer view

Dissolve: transition between two shots during which the first image gradually disappears while the second image gradually appears

Iris: round, moving mask that can close down to end a scene

Jump Cut: elliptical cut that appears to be an interruption of a single shot

Establishing Shot: usually involving a distant framing, that shows the spatial relations among the important figures, objects, and setting in a scene

Shot / Reverse Shot: Two or more shots edited together that alternate characters, typically in a conversation situation.

Wipe: transition between shots in which a line passes across the screen, eliminating the first shot as it goes and replacing it with the next one

Eye line Match: first shot shows a person off in one direction and the second shows a nearby space containing what he or she sees

Match on Action: cut which splices two different views of the same action together at the same moment in the movement

Continuity Editing: cutting to maintain continuous and clear narrative action

Sound

Sound Bridge: sound from the previous scene carries over briefly before the sound from the new scene begins.

Sonic Flashback: one diegetic time is heard over images from a later time

Diegetic Sound: sound presented as originating from a source within the film's world

Non-Diegetic Sound: sound not originating from a source within the film's world

Offscreen Sound: simultaneous sound from a source assumed to be in the space of the scene but outside what is visible onscreen

Post Synchronization sound: The process of adding sound to images after they have been shot and assembled

Voice Over: When a voice, often that of a character in the film, is heard while we see an image of a space and time in which that character is not actually speaking

This will help me to analyse other title sequences to find out what the technical codes and conventions are but also will help me in the production and post-production fazes of our title sequences as I can uses my research to develop and improvement to to opening but also add different techniques 

aspects as well. 

Brainstorms

 After deciding of on plan of pre-production & production, we started to develop ideas for our title sequence. We when off by our selfs to create a brainstorm of our own ideas that we would bring back to the group and talk about what we felt would be the crime genre for us to create as a group and what would the plot line be about.

Below you can see my brainstorm:

After brainstorming our selves we gathered back together and read about all of our idea to each other. We created another brainstorm of the ideas that we thought would be the best one to create our title sequence around.

This again can be seen below:

Our research helped us to decide what would make a good crime thriller title sequence and how other crime thrillers when about in creating theres. Also our research helped us to decide that we want to progress the crime thrill genre as we feel that it has become to still and the audience is become board of the same old films. So this is what we are going to aim to do.

I feel that our group works really well together as we all brought some thing to the table and suggested ideas even if we did not go along with them. I feel that our group as all been given equal role and responsibility and non of us taking a back seat, if we don't like something or are unsure about it we will said. Which creates a really open atmosphere, which is good for coming up with ideas.

Representation

Representation is how social groups, different subcultures, occupations, ages, social classes -and places are portrayed in the media and how the audiences interpret these portrayals.

Below is an image that represents how representation works:

It all starts with the idea or event and then it gets mediated by producers. Then it is a cycle between the Institution, Text and Audience one influencing the other.

To understand and analysis representation we first much ask our self these questions:

- Who is presenting the images and why? (Institution)
- How do the people receiving the images, including myself, react to what they see, read and hear? (Audience)
- Over a period of time, what do the images suggest about certain groups in society? (Text)
- What points of view are neglected or ignored? (Text)

Analysis of the content of media products needs to be accompanied by analysis of how people interpret what they read, see and hear. Only by asking these questions, can we analyse media text and investigate the relationship between the media and it's audience and prove Dominic Strinati's theory, that "The mass media, for example, were once thought of as holding up a mirror to, and thereby reflecting, a wider social reality. Now that reality is only definable in terms of surface reflection of the mirror".

David Buckingham writes in his study entitled "Boys' Talk: Television and the policing of Masculinity" that young boys and probably most men fear being labelled as homosexual or effeminate. The pressure to conform to male codes is often exerted in male banter and repartee. Buckingham found that in talk about television there was much more pressure on boys than on girls to avoid being ridiculed or humiliated by peers.

However to prove that David Buckingham study is correct we need to identify the effect the media text has on people and what type of text Buckingham was analysing. For example there was a study untaken by Gillian Murphy in the affect of romantic magazines on woman. She concluded by saying that women should free themselves from romance and become 'politicised'. She also criticises romantic magazines for concentrating on romance, which is rather like criticising detective novels for concentrating on crime. " This is Bad research and analysing.

Therefore when analysing ourselves we need to removed our own opinions and study the content, affect and portrayal leading to the representations.

Plan of Pre-production & Production

We as a group decided that we need to write up a plan of how we will go about completing the pre-production task leading up to our production faze. We have decided that we need to complete our filming before the start of the holiday as that leaves up a nice period after the holiday to edit and complete the title sequence.

So here is what we decided we need to do and by when we need to do it.

- Brainstorming / ideas (to be blogged)- Monday 7th November
- Development of ideas - creating a shot list - Friday 11th November
- Scripting - Friday 18th November
- Storyboard - Friday 18th November
- Props / Costume / Locations / Actors and Actresses - Friday 25th November
- Animatic / Presentation - Friday 25th November
- Shooting Schedule - Monday 28th November

We have also decided that we need to:

- Scout locations and take picture - on the Sunday 20th November
- Filming day in location and (if time) with actors- Sunday 4th December
- Reshoot day or Backup Day- Saturday 10th December

This has been designed and influenced upon our Continuity Task and how we need more time to produce a good quality pre-production plan e.g. Storyboard with description and annotations. Also we have factored in to our plan that wee need to make and complete the task of getting actors, choosing locations and creating an animatic and shooting schedule.

We have also include a backup day to film incase the weather is back or we did not get and the forage we need. However is day will also service as a reshoot day if we don't like or thing a shot is been frame wrong and there is some shaking. Unfortunately this poses a challenge is we need to reshot how the weather or other factors are not the same as the first day filming. This is something the we will have to consider and manger as and what, if it does, happen.

Past Students Work

Room To Breathe: The grade I thought  Level 3 / 40 (Shot shakes/ Different shots/ Music cut out/ Titles did not fit.)


Given Grade: LEVEL 2 / 35 (Top)

Unrequited Love: The grade I thought Level 3 / 36 (Titles cut into the shots, SHot not shaker, Not different transitions, Music)


Given Grade: LEVEL 2 / 30

Root Cause: The grade I thought Level 3 / 47 (Title fit, Shot still, Mise-en-scenc fit with the plot)


Given Grade: LEVEL 4 / 54

Revelation: The grade I thought Level 4 / 52 (Good use transitions, Music, Titles, Shot length)


Given Grade: LEVEL 4 / 48

Final Fate: The grade I thought Level 2 / 29 (Music, Could be transitions better)


Given Grade: LEVEL 2 / 24

The Domino Effect: The grade I thought Level 3 / 47 ( good shot length, music fit well, Title are to small, The verisimilitude is low)


Given Grade: LEVEL 3 / 40

This has help me to understand what a good student make title sequence looks like but also what we should not do in terms of plot, editing, sound, mise-en-scene and camera. This has given some good ideas about plot and how we should create our sequence to make it feel professional. From this I feel that through out our proses we need to constantly need to be looking at thee mark scheme, to see if we are doing the best and that we are doing all that we need to get the best grades.

Reviewing Continuity Tasks

Our Groups Continuity Task

Evaluation and Improvements


For our continuity task I feel that we could have held the shots more steady, instead for it holding a little to from side to side, e.g. at 0:07 the camera moves shakes. This is some thing to remember when we are film our opening title sequence. Also the lighting at 0:16 is a dramatic change from the pervious shot, which is a little bit disorientating, and need consideration when filming our opening.

However we do uses a range of different shot from long shot to a close up, and this is a panning shot of our characters walking down the corridor. We also do frame our shot so that the element or characters remains which the shot. We also have edit the sequence together to create meaning which is apparent with the viewer. Also, we used music in to sequence to create and build tension and dramatic affect on the audience.

On the other hand, we have not uses a range of different transitions or put titles on to it either. This is some again that we need to remember to do and consider when creating our main title sequence.


Hannah, Nicole and Danni Continuity Task

Evaluation and Improvements

When watch the other groups continuity task, like ours they did not hold there shot steady but shakes from side to side, e.g. at point 0:22 the camera shakes violently. Also, at point 0:22 there framing of there main characters is not positioned are as they have cut her head of by it being out side of the frame. The editing and mixing sound to create continuity is lacking for me as there are points where sound it cut of half way through (0:31) and at points where audio is missing all together (0:25).

However this group does use a range of different shot distances from long shot to close up. There edit does create meaning for the audience. Also the indoor dialogue is clear and easy to understand and follow. There uses of setting, props, and figure has been well thought out and is clear to the audience.

Other the other hand, like us they have not used a range of different transitions or out title on the sequence  to convey meaning.

Continuity Task - Production and Post-production

After deciding on our idea and them story boarding and scripting it, we then got down to filming or production of our short film. For the filming I told a back set role as I was heavily involved in the pre-production faze. I thought that this was good as it allow and other team members to get involved to the proses. In the filming we had to follow the 180 degree rule, create a shot-reverse-shot and variety of appropriate camera angles as well. So to complete is we have a long shot, Mid-shot and close up; Low angle, eye level and over the shoulder shots.

After we finished filming all of the shot we need we when back to the computer and looked at all the footage we had and decided that we need to reshot 2 scene. after we did that we sat down and started editing. Is I have edited before I feel that it would be better if my team mates learn how to use the Premiere Pro. So Amy started editing. We started by piecing the shot together, focusing on getting the shot in the right older not on the time length. After getting the shot done we when about getting the right feeling to the piece cut some of the shot down in time and adding to some others. At this point we also add the title at the start and the credits at the end. we watch the sequence back and found that it would look better and that we did not need to see the weapon getting smack over the woman head. So we cut that part out but left the diegetic audio in, so the audience could hear what happened but did not see it. we also cut little bit out of the find scene to give the feel of life leaving the woman and we used fade out to black to show this. Finial We need to music to go over it all after a little consideration we decide not to uses a song the lyric but a soundtrack, we chose one of the soundtracks to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, ” Voldmort”. However to be able to hear the non-diegetic sound over the diegetic we had to fade down the Background music at certain point in the film.

Here is our finished film:

Continuity Task - Pre-production

We where lucky enough to be given a whole day to start our continuity task. This was a chance to work in our groups to learn how to come up with an idea, story board it, script it, film and edit it as well. We also developed our knowledge and technical skill of camera work, sound, editing and miss-en-sence. The film must not be more than 60 seconds long.

To complete this successfully, our technical requirements for this task are that:

• You must not break the 180 degrees rule
• You must include a shot-reverse-shot
• You must include a variety of appropriate camera angles
• You must edit so that continuity is apparent and meaning is clear
• You must include more than one location
• You must include some interaction between characters
• You must include some non-diegetic sound

So before starting filming any thing we have to come up with some ideas. here are some on the ideas we came up with: Spy, Mafia, Chase, Business Conversation and Murder. We decided on Murder as it was the most simple of all the ideas and quick to shot. Also we decided on murder and it is a thriller and as the genre we are doing is base on a thriller we thought that it would be a good idea, as we can put what we have learnt in to practice. Also because it is the genre that we know the most about, down to our research.

So after deciding that we would do a murder, we next brainstormed the ideas we have for the film itself (which can be scene below). The decision we make was that it would be about a man who find out his wife is having an affair, he finds a weapon (metal bar) and sets of to got and kill her. He finds her tell her the he know what has been going on and find hits her over the head with the weapon. We feel that this was a good idea as it was simple to shoot, easy to understand and it fulfilled the requirements.

After coming up with our idea we then decided to storyboard and script our our 60 second shot film. In this proses we known that we need to not break the 180 degrees rule have a shot-reverse-shot, a variety of angles, more then one location and a interaction between character. So we when into story boarding with this at the front of our minds.

Here is our story broad:

We now that we want music to come in at the point what our main characters see the weapon and we know what style we wanted but not what piece of music. We also known that we what to have diegetic sound through out the film.

Our script need to be short be concise, allowing our audience to understand what was doing on In a shot time. We feel that our scrip did this, here it is.

Man: I know what you have been doing. 
Woman: What? 
Man: Don’t You lie to me. You know what I am talking about. How dare you sleep with him. 
Woman: How did you find out? 
Man: John down the pub told me. How dare you? [Man lifts weapon up in the air.] 
Woman: I’m Sorry. I’m Sorry [Scream]

I feel that out script was very good as it got to the point quick and gave the audience the information they need to understand what had happened. However I think out story board could have been better, giving more information like shot angle, lengths, Sound, Diegetic or Non-Diegetic Editing, Cuts or Cross Dissolve ect. This is something to take on and think about when we make our prover story board as this will make the production and post production faster and easy, as all the chosen have been made before hand.

Title Sequences Analysis

I understand what is need for a good opening scene, however I don’t think I know what makes a really good title sequences. So i feel that I need to do some research into what makes a title sequences.

SE7EN (Seven)

In Seven the camera does very little, all the shots are extreme close up will not panning of tracking. The pace of the film is all created through cut or continuity editing which create the feeling that time is moving fasted. The fact that all the shots are extreme close up add ambiguity, mythes and unease about the whole film as the audience does not know what is really happening or where, when, how or why that are seeing what is on the screen. All of this is added to by the high key light of the shot that is in juxtaposition to the black background, making the audience feel uncomfortable with the change in lighting.

The only sound that has been used is non-diegetic music. The music has a receptive beat and sound the have been effect so that the audience can not make out what they are. This ambiguity build on the unease of the camera shot to make the title sequences uncomfortable to watch. However it is not to uncomfortable of the audience to sit through and find out when the mythes is and satisfy there inner need to know what is going to happen.

The tex is white over black, with the style been hand write as the add obscurity to what is being written. Also the text is hand written as it ties in with the fact that in the shots there is a “hand” writing in a book (diary). When the text is on the screen is moves about on the screen, little old film does. This give across the feel the something super nature is going to happen as text what should stage still is moving.

Splice

The start of Splice is extremely ambiguity. The Camera tracking across this unknown green and white skin like substance. The use of the tracking makes it feel like the audience is exploring the surface of this substance and because they don’t know what it is they become fearful of what they might find. The further uses of green adds the notion that there is some sort of alien presents or something unknown. All of the shot are extreme close up would adds different type of ambiguity as the audience does not get to see all of what is there is around so become anxious of the unknown and what is lurking in the shadow.

There is only one sound that can be hear and this is the music which is a non-diegetic sound. The music is piano with a low murmuring beat which adds the sense of unfamiliar and unease about the whole start to the film. There is also a low muffled quality as if it was underwater. This reenforce the fact that the green substance is underwater as is the shot there are bubbles around it, again this add more interest in to the film as the audience start to ask question like Why is it in water? Why is it green? What is it?

The text that has been used is mixture of typewriter text and text the has been created out of the green create. The actors names have been make out of the create and imply that there character has something to do that the create of this green animal. The crew name are in white and look like that have been type by a typewrite, this could imply that what (as the crew) had some part to play in creating this crate and that it have been write up as a report. Also the all of the text is in a green hue and imply that is some thing move to this than meets the eye.

From this I have learnt that the title sequences need to be part of the main story and need to tell the story to the audience as well. Also I have learnt that the text need to be part of the story and represents the story line.

Research into Crime / Detective plot lines

Before deciding on what is going to happen in our two min opening scene, me and my group thought that it would be a good idea to do a little bit of research into the other Crimes / Detectives plot lines. What similarities and differences do thay have? What type of characters are there? What is the main topic that the film in base around e.g. money, drags ect.?


The Dark Night

"Set within a year after the events of Batman Begins, Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new district attorney Harvey Dent successfully begin to round up the criminals that plague Gotham City until a mysterious and sadistic criminal mastermind known only as the Joker appears in Gotham, creating a new wave of chaos. Batman's struggle against the Joker becomes deeply personal, forcing him to "confront everything he believes" and improve his technology to stop him. A love triangle develops between Bruce Wayne, Dent and Rachel Dawes." Written by Leon Lombardi Provided by IMDb




Goodfellas

"This film views the mob lives of three pivotal figures in the 1960's and 70's New York. Henry Hill is a local boy turned gangster in a neighborhood full of the roughest and toughest. Tommy Devito is a pure bred gangster, who turns out to be Henry's best friend. Jimmy Conway puts the two of them together, and runs some of the biggest hijacks and burglaries the town has ever seen. After an extended jail sentence, Henry must sneak around the back of the local mob boss, Paulie Cicero, to live the life of luxury he has always dreamed of. In the end, the friends end up in a hell of a jam, and must do anything they can to save each other, and stay alive." Written by formica97@aol.com Provided by IMDb

Similarities
- Both films contain the mob and a main character working with or for them.
- There is a thin line draw in both film between good and evil, The main character breaking the law steeling money to get them self a better life and the Batman who breaks the law to do good.
- Both films show money trafficking.


Differences

-  In the Dark Knight there is a love triangle.
- The Dark Knight show the police or law enforcers combating agains the mob or law breakers.
- The Goodfellas main character all work with or for the mob.

Key Characters
- Mob or criminal group

- One character who breaks the law (Evil character)
- Another character who some times breaks the law to go good and stop the crime. (Good character)
- Police or a law enforcers 


Topics / Themes / Ideas
- Getting a better life
- Money 
- Good Vs Evil (right vs wrong)
- Conflict
- Morals


I feel that this have help me to understand what is need from a plot for a film to have a real good story line and therefore a good opening, as you need to know where the film is going to know hoe to start the film. I will take what I have learnt from this into my opening sense and develop upon this to create repetition, variation and familiarity.


If I did this again I would like to do more that 2 films and films that are close together in time. The reason I decided to do film the had a time gap was, that I thought it would show how film had developed. However what I how found is that I don't need to see how film have develop but to can I develop them from past film. So to do that i need to look at film that are close together in time be use close to today. 

Analysis of Godzilla Trailer

Camera

The establishing shot is a extrema long shot with a tilt from the sea to the New York skyline. This sets the location from the audience but also back than ask, Why an I looking at the sea? It creates an engaging trailer as it add myths and wonderment to what could be in the sea. The next shot is if the dock as a old man (our protagonist) enters. The is a low angle, pan and track shot which create the feel that someone or thing is watch and wait for him. Following on from that the audience sees the protagonist friend calling to him, this shot is a high angle and a mid shot create the feeling that that are up high and out of the way. Creating the feeling that something is waiting him is the next shot of the camera looking down on to him throw the chickening wire. The audience then watches the protagonist set him self down and get ready to fish. All of these shot are mid length and at eye level. This create a connexion between the audience and out main character with makes an engaging trailer. These shot follow on with long shots of the sea and the monster which create scale of how big the "Godzilla" is compared to protagonist. That is a bird eye view shot on the dock getting ripped up by "Godzilla". This give the audience a different angle to view the destruction from create interest in the story line and film. The audience then gets the title of the film and a Close up of the eye of the monsters. Followed by a shot in in a car with rubbish and cars flying everywhere, this can infer what happens in the rest of the film.

Editing

The film start of very slow, with cross devolves linking the New York skyline with the docks. However the film then start to become faster as the protagonist and audience move close to see the monster. The long timed shot with simple cut or continuity editing followed by fast timed shot and more cut between shot. This create pace and gives the feeling the time is moving faster with the cut.

Mise-en-Sence

The fist shot the audience sees is New York with a very foggy day this gives a very foreboding feeling to the film and tense atmosphere. The is reenforced my the back streets - slums of the dock. The rain also gives a cold and miserable feel the start of the film. The clothes the they are dress in are thick and warm clothing which implies that is it a cold day and that not much is happening as people would be indoors. The long dock that gets rip apart is used to create speed and tension as the audience does not know if the   protagonist will escape. The text at the end of the film is a green font the a yellow cloud behind over black. The use of green tell the audience that there is something mysteries going on and that the film had some sort of green skin monster in it as there is a texture to the font.

Sound

The music at the beginning of the film is mythes as it uses high sound, this is a non diegetic sound. The audience can hear the rain hitting water the tell the view that it is rain as cold, this again is non-diegetic. The sound of the rope unwinding is diegetic and tell the view that something is pulling the ropes line. When the monster is seem the music change and become tense and dark with sharpe and uneven sounds. All of these are used to create a dooming atmosphere and that something is coming.

Analysis of Donnie Darko

We have analysed with Mr Michie the opening scene and first encounter of the rabbit in the film "Donnie Darko". We have analysed the use of the camera, sound, editing and mise-en-scene with in the film. Here are me notes on the film.

Opening Scene






Camera:


- Panning / Tracking Shot
- Extreme long shot - establish location
- Far away to close (not cuts)
- Panning mid-shot
- Pan of landscape


Sound:


- Thunder (Non-diegetic)
- Sound Bridge
- Birds (Non-diegetic)
- Ominous Music - Deep Sound (replase thunder)
- Sad Music - Melancholy
- People Sing (angelic) when he stands up
- Upbeat Music at the end
- Song is call "The Killing Moon"

Editing:


- Fade in
- Slow Opening
- Fade in will fade out
- Faster (Cutting)

Mise-en-scene:


- White titles - black background
- Text hand written (old style)
- Man in mid of road
- Looks like he has fallen off of his bike
- Just wearing his PJs
- Characters looks confused
- Character starts to laugh (make us ask more questions)
- Jumps Location
- Sign setting the place, time and event
- American suburbia - Wide Streets, People running
- 'It' by Stephen King is being read.
- Frige saids "Where is Donnie" - He does this a lot.

First Encounter -"I've Been Watching You"

Camera:

- Long shot, Mid shot
- Tilts

Sound:

- Modified voice over
- Chiming of the clock (Midnight) - Time Travel
- Other worldly voice
- Non-diegetic (inside head)

Editing:

- Cross dissolve - Supper inposition
- Cuts - Remover the effect of time passing
- Continuity editing or "Cheat cut" as it cheats time
- Shot reverse shot

Mise-en-scene:

- USA Flag
- Indoors to outdoors
- He is in his PJ
- Light in room is low key
- Stairs
- Front door - camera look up at the stairs, chandelier before leaving
- Rabbit suit - Spot light

The activity has help me to develop my skills in analysis of films and refreshed my knowledge. This is something I can take and use to help me analyse other films for my thriller opening title scene task.

Title Sequences and Opening Scenes

We have decided that we are going to create the first two minutes title sequence of crime and gangster thriller.  Our reason for doing this is that we feel, and our surgery information shows, that the majority of people would like to see this genre in preference to others.  We also feel that this is the right decision as there are not many gangster films out at the moment.  This is a variation on what the industry is producing today.

I have researched three title sequences of our chosen genre to understand how the films use repetition, variation and familiarity.  I have watched The Godfather, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and The Departed.  The familiarity between all three is that the camera work is mostly at eye level with the characters that they are following, the shot choices or majority close up to mid shots and finally, the tracking and panning are some of the most used motions in the title sequence.  All of this has been used so that the audience connects with the characters.  However, there is still ambiguity and the unknown about these characters from the lack of information that the visual representation gives.

The editing in these films is all continuity edited and, except for the Godfather, are fast paced films.  The majority of transitions are cuts which give the sense of speed and time passing without having to see it second by second.  This is also known as a "cheat cut". The effects on the audience is that they are gripped and are interested immediately the film starts.

The main sound in all three is a monologue which allows the audience to connect with the characters and the plot early on in the film.  These monologues range from The Godfather being diegetic to Lock, Stock having both diegetic and non-diegetic to The Departed only having non-diegetic.  All of them have some sort of music in the title sequences the main style is Rock, giving the film a punchy edge and followed by an action sequence.

The mis-en-scene for each film is very different, not having a traditional costume, props or location for each.  However, the lighting, on the whole, is low key making them very moody, sinister and dark.  The colour of the films is also very dark, not having much colour at all.  All of this adds a feeling of unknown and mystery, as the audience can not see everything that is happening because of how dark and unlit the opening sequence is.  This also creates intrigue.

Every film that I have watched for our genre uses white text over a black background, which creates the feeling of the unknown as this aspect of white font is not usually seen as we normally read black print.

I feel that we need to take some of these key elements into our title sequence to keep the repitition and familiarity from other films.  We should keep the monologue from the main character as it creates interest for the audience.  I also feel that we should keep the low key lighting and mid to close up shots for the same reason.  However, I would like to add variation in the aspect of the text, as I feel this needs to be revitalised and refreshed.