Titles in Films : Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead uses an interesting graphic to put across clearly what the plot of the movie is.

The most obvious thing about it is the zombie hand in the letter A. The audience can then make that connection between the film and something connected to the aspect of death. Since it is white on black, the contrast really makes it pop, drawing the audiences attention. However, due to there being nothing else on the screen, it is kind of hard to miss. The graphic is also shown to be kind of worn and dirty, so we can tell this is going to be a gritty film.

Titles in Films : Rocky

The rocky film title is a simple scrolling effect right to left. The letters take up all the the screen and are white on a black background. The director obviously wanted to focus the audiences attention on the title card.

We might be able to use this effect in our film, but without it looking so obnoxious and without the cheesy music to go with it. The films after this follow the same kind of convention, with the exception of the 4th and 6th, I think.

Technical Codes In-Depth : Mise en Scéne

Mise en scéne is extremely important when representing any aspect of media. It encompasses a lot of things vital to putting across the true meaning of any piece.

The main areas in Mise en scéne are Setting, Costume, Actors and Lighting (SCAL). Setting is where it is located, costume is what the character is wearing, actors refers to the body language of the actor and lighting is how bright the scene is.

By vary in each area, you can put across a lot of different meanings. For example, if you shoot something in a dark place, the audience immediately assumes whatever is happening in the scene has some bad connotations to it.

Mise en scéne is very important in representing sexuality. Colour is used to great effect to show emotion and conventions. For example, when Maude and Sue are sleeping they are wearing white to show purity or innocence. This further proves the point that homosexuals are good and heterosexuals are bad. Colour is also used to show emotions. When Maude is painting Sue and she stops to admire her, the paint brush drips red paint. The colour red symbolises passion. the fact that it drips down could indicate emotions running wild.

Technical Codes In-Depth : Editing

Editing can be used to control the pace of the film. It can use quick jump cuts to increase the pace in an action scene or using fades to show something taking a long time, like in a romance film.

Editing can also be used to focus the audience on a single aspect of the film. It can slow down shots when the camera is trained on a certain character or prop, indicating that this is important in the scene or overall film.

The editing doesn't represent sexuality as well as the other areas do, but it still shows some aspects of either sexuality. For example, using the pace to show emotion and using fades to emphasise certain feelings. By increasing the pace of the shots, we see that Maude is getting nervous while being around both Sue and Richard. This could be because she doesn't want to alert Sue to her dislike of Richard and give her a reason to think something isn't right. By using fades the director shows a certain slowness to the piece. This would indicate that Maude is trying to sort her feelings out and that everything is moving slowly due to her sadness that she can't show her true feelings.

Film : Setting : Protagonist's House

In the film, we needed to show the protagonist as an inner city guy living in a terraced house as pictured below:

We felt that this would effectively put across the idea that the protagonist is quite simple in terms of means and that Boxing is how he gets away from the drudgery of living in the city. It also helps with building the audiences relationship with the character. They would think him a strong person since he is able to overcome obstacles and still work to achieve his dream, helping his family in the process.

Technical Codes In-Depth : Sound

Sound is extremely important in creating atmosphere and flowing the story in a film. Sound may be diagetic, where it is included in the context of the film, or non-diagetic, where it is separate from the film.

Diagetic sound is things like atmospheric noises such as birds tweeting and leaves rustling. This is used to create immersion for the audience.

Non-Diagetic sound is things like voice-overs and background music. It can also be used to create atmosphere, but it can also be used to create contrast.

In the first scene, we are shown how Maude is unable to come out to Sue and express her feelings towards her. The voice over references how 'beautiful' Sue looks and goes on to consider Maude's dilemma about Sue. the fact that there is a voice over indicates that there are things she can't say out loud due to fear of hurting herself, Sue or both of them. Another way that sound represents sexuality is when Maude and Sue are next to each other in the bed and the music becomes more sorrowful. This could be interpreted as Maude wanting to tread carefully and take things slow, but it could also be used to invoke sympathy for the character

Technical Codes In-Depth : Camera Movement

Camera work, in films, are a huge part of films in general. Depth of field and height can really emphasise the effect that a character has on the rest of the cast.

Camera work also plays a role in setting the atmosphere of a film. For example a shaky camera during a chase scene adds a sense of immersion for the audience, especially if combined with a P.O.V shot.

It can also be used to manipulate the audience into focussing on something while something else is happening in the background of the shot. 

The Camera work is used to show feeling as well as give indications of the conventional qualities of either sexuality. For example, there are a lot of close ups on Maudes face, showing that homosexuals may be more emotional than heterosexuals. the lack of close ups on Richard's face shows a lack of emotional connection, signify him as the antagonist (this could also be showing heterosexuality as a bad thing, at least in this context). Homsexuals are also shown as more sexual than heterosexuals, since we frequently see Maude looking at Sue's breasts and bare skin through an eyeline match.

Film: Music Ideas

For the music, we need multiple pieces to encompass the range of themes that appear in the film. For the more domestic scenes, we need something quiet or soft. The pace can't be too fast, since that would indicate that the scene is faster than it is supposed to be. Lyrics aren't needed, since there could be some confusion between the song's message and the film's message. Something like the first two minutes of this would be most suitable:

For the work out scene's. We need something more uplifting and catchy. Again, it doesn't need to have lyrics as most of the audiences attention will be drawn to the actual film rather than the music (the music still contributes to the feeling). In a perfect world the music would still have some seriousness to it to show that this is a big deal. I was thinking of fading out the music along with the scene and switching to the next. This will give the audience the sense that the previous scene continued for a longer time than showed. If I wanted to drop the serious aspect of the music, something like this would be good:

For the night scenes, I need something to show a more sinister nature to the film, Quite a slow pace but with a slightly deeper pitch. Human vocals but not any lyrics would suit it perfectly. I was thinking of ending the climax with a shrill ring that cuts out along with the video. Again I can't find anything at the moment on Youtube but one of the royalty free music sites might have something.

Props: Boxing Poster

The main prop in the beginning of the film is the boxing poster our protagonist is looking in the first shot. Since we need to make it authentic to keep the immersion, we can't just print off an A4 piece of paper with some pictures on it. The premise is simple. It can easily be done in photoshop, but the only problem is keeping it original but also slightly clichéd to clearly show the purpose of it. Something like this but with a more modern edge to it :

We can change the stock background and add colour to the fighters to add the modern element but the problem is the fighters themselves. Ideally, we'd have them with quite blown up colours, but I want to keep the clichéd element with black and white fighters. I think it will add that context of this being slightly casual but also with a professional edge to it. It also adds seriousness to the film if the fighters aren't too colourful. The setting and time of shooting will determine this however. 

Film: Mood Board

Technical Codes

TECHNICAL CODES includes:

Sound – diagetic and non diegetic

Any ambient noise

Voicover

Music

Shots – range of shots and why they’re used – wide shots? Close ups? High/low angle shots?

Any camera movement

Editing – the way scenes change from one to the next

The pace of the text – fast? slow? why?

Lighting

Mise en Scene – what’s in the shot.

Representation of Sexuality in Media

Sexuality in Media is a tricky theme. For some the idea of a character being homosexual or bisexual in a drama is shocking, due to the nature of the piece or the societal background they grew up with. For others, it creates a refreshing perspective for the audience, since they can see how the events that occur affect the character who isn't like the others.

It is also affected by the historical context present in the piece. If the drama is set in the past, the idea of a homosexual character or relationship will be one of the main focuses for the plot as it can run parallel to the main plot and also cut in when there is some new perspective needed. For example, they could kill off one of the partners in a homosexual relationship and show how it affected the other partner. If the writers don't want to make it a side plot, they can hide the relationship and have it develop and how it affects other characters and the participants in the relationship.

An example of historical context affecting a homosexual relationship would be this extract from the January 2012 Media Paper:

In this clip the director uses long exposure shots and editing techniques to elicit emotions from the audience regarding the woman's situation. This use of editing techniques presents longing feelings of a sexual nature, shown through the frequent focuses on the other woman's body and breasts. These shots are usually long and slowed down, signifying the woman's feelings of love and affection. the fades also work to give a feeling of loss over time, almost as if the chances of her being able to show her true feelings are slowly slipping away from her.

Homosexual relationships don't feature in our film, but there is still representation of a sexuality included in it. Our main character is a boxer, so he is seen as quite tough and a fighter in every sense of the word. he is obviously heterosexual as there is a romantic element hinted in the film.

Codes and Conventions

Codes are systems of signs, which are used to create meaning. Codes can be split into two categories; Technical and Symbolic.

Technical codes are all the ways that equipment is used to create meaning in a film/genre. An example would be camera work in a film.

Symbolic codes shows what is beneath the surface for the audience to see. For example, how a character acts to show their emotions.

Conventions are a generally accepted ways of doing certain things. There are conventions in any medium, for example, the use of interviewee quotes in a print article, but conventions are genre specific.

Codes and conventions are used together in any study of genre - it's not enough to discuss a technical code used, such as camera work, without saying how it is used conventionally.

For example, lighting in used in any genre. It is a convention of horror genres to have dark lighting to show fear or suspense - an integral part of any horror film.

Final Film Storyboard

This is our rough storyboard (it's only rough because it's unfinished). The locations are still being debated, so the shots are only experimental/ a basis. We have the order set out, but now we just need to get the parts down and find some more actors to be extras or side characters.

Similar Films: Million Dollar Baby

Million Dollar Baby is the all-rounder for what we want in our film. It's got training sequences, drama, redemption, the whole lot. It also gives another perspective on our protagonist and how the film isn't centered on them.

We get the view of the trainer in this film. By adding this perspective, we don't just have a one way view of the events in the film. It becomes extremely versatile and gave the writers more space to work with since they could just switch the viewpoints whenever they felt like.

(Also, it's got Morgan Freeman in it, which is a plus in itself.)

Similar Films: Raging Bull (1980)

Raging Bull shows the more dramatic aspects of sport/redemption film. While it doesn't necessarily show what we want from our film, it does grasp the concept of the struggle of a sporting lifestyle. 

We want to be able to put this across in our film or at least hint at it in a subtle way. This adds another dimension to the film and doesn't leave it to flounder in the expectations of this genre. 

Similar Films: Rocky

One of the scene(s) in our movie is a training montage similar to the one in the rocky films, but with less cheesy music. It's meant to show how hard the protagonist is training for this fight and to emphasise  the struggle that he has to go through after his injury.

The film is also similar as it clearly represents the cliche of the film industry when it comes to sporting films. We're going for that in the sense that there isn't really any other way for sporting films to go other than the protagonist faces impossible odds and comes out on top or with the fans sporting him/her.

Preliminary Task (Cut Short)

Movie Treatment/Synopsis

On the night before his biggest fight yet, our London-dwelling boxer, Dylan, faces his toughest challenge so far. 'Fight Night' is a gripping drama where family, friends and an unbreakable will are the only things Dylan can rely on to make it through these hard times.

In the heart of the capital, our protagonist trains as hard as he can to prepare for the fight that could make or break his career. However his hopes are seemingly dashed when he dives head first into something a lot bigger than him. For Dylan, all seems lost. But his immense resolve won't let him go that easy. he sets himself on the road to victory, determined to win his fight. But...is everything what it seems?

Preliminary Task Storyboard

This is our group's storyboard for our preliminary task. It involves four people, me as a policeman and main camera man. The other three have more major roles that involve speaking. The initial idea was hard to get, but once we got in our heads the shots came easily. Next we need to write a script.

Media Studies Preliminary Techniques Presentation

Storyboards

This lesson was centered around storyboards and match on action shots. First of all we had to draw a storyboard to outline what we were going to be filming. We didn't get a full plan out on paper but we got everything down in our heads. Once we had finished shooting, we had to go back and edited but we didn't get a chance to. Match on action is an interesting concept. Having to repeat actions can take a long time when filming,  but they can produce good results with consistent continuity.