AS Film Reflective Analysis

AS Film Reflective Analysis

We decided to create a sequence from a sci-fi drama film. It is targeted at adults, around 16-40 years old, due to its scary nature. We created a victim and an antagonist, and an atmosphere of loneliness, fear and action as the sequence developed. I took responsibility for editing.

The initial narrative began with no montage at the start, for the girl to simply shoot the mutant from a distance. We decided that this was too short, did not establish the premise of the narrative, and had limited conventions of drama due to lack of tension-building. The addition of the diegetic moaning shows conventions of classic sic fi genre films by dehumanising the figure. The shot where the mutant looks downwards as he presses the barrel to his head shows where we emphasised the dramatic side of the genre. I felt the character choice was appropriate because a young girl would typically create more sympathy in an apocalyptic situation than someone older or a boy. Audiences feeling sympathy for a character was one of the key aspects of the initial ideas and we feel we accomplished this. An improvement would have been to concentrate more on the narrative, as the narrative screen time was equal to montage.

The opening montage consisted of a variety of shots depicting the environment and the nature of the protagonist. I used ambient continuous music to illustrate the loneliness and bleakness of the situation. This relates to the title sequence of the film '28 Days Later' which shows a montage of media and events that establish the premise of the film and gentle piano music to build the tension. Initially I had the music very quiet so you could still hear the diegetic sound, but I felt that this did not illustrate the fact that it was a montage, and made the music sound unnecessarily diegetic. Previously, I had cut all view of the protagonists face until the last minute, and although it worked well to create tension and mystery, it did not conform to the genre conventions we were aiming for; drama and sci-fi; creating tension/mystery by hiding the protagonists face would have drawn attention from the dramatic aspects of the young girl who has to euthanise (here’s the sci-fi convention) mutants. I made the two characters appear completely different by manipulating the view of each one. I stabilised all shots with the girl in, and kept the sound neutral, with no effects. Whereas the mutant has a darker hue in its frames, and an ambient growl in the background as diegetic sound to represent him as chaotic. I felt that this effectively portrayed to the audience that this mutant was a threat to this girl, and evoked sympathy and worry in order to achieve more conventions of drama (surprise/tragedy/betrayal). By using the hues and greenish tint, I showed conventions of decay and death, which relate to the post-apocalyptic and sic fi genre. The main inspiration for these conventions was the intro to 'The Road'. A montage of long duration establishing shots in a wasteland, with green hues and dark tints, and light echoey piano music in the background. All of these are huge conventions of loneliness and desolation which I used in my editing.

I feel the montage was effective in setting the scene as a post-apocalyptic wasteland. I stopped the non-diegetic music, but with a slight echo on the end so as to sustain the convention of seclusion. By stopping the music it becomes clear that the narrative is beginning. Although the opening long shots were filmed at different times, I managed to trim them and edit the brightness to make them similar, using continuity editing to make them all smoothly fit together, however I should have used a clip to put between the first two shots of the narrative, so that the girl doesn’t suddenly appear on the other side of the area. The part where the mutant is running towards the girl was important to make as smooth as possible, because it had to be made obvious that it was gradually picking up the pace. To do this I cut from long shots of the girl, then close up of the mutant, until they reach each other and combined cut in/cut away to give the audience a more personal (gradually closer) experience of the mutant. I felt that making these shots short in duration increased the pace of the narrative, following this with the much longer drawn out contemplation period was effective in putting the audience in the perspective of the protagonist. By slowing down the clip of the mutant pushing the gun to his head, combines conventions of both sci-fi and drama. I used elliptical editing to not show the actual killing, as a convention of drama. This relates to 'World War Z'. In a scene where hordes of zombies are attacking people, no blood or gore is shown, and the terror is shown through cinematography. By not showing the mutant going down I allowed the viewer to become more involved, and assume the worst.

Badlands Opening Scene

Badlands

Opening scene

04:00 minutes

 The first thing we see int he shot is a large bed, and a large dog in comparison to a young girl. The disproportionate contrast suggests that she’s out of her depth, or naive in some way throughout the story  - or in what she’s saying. The monologue talks of her past, the absence of a mother, and the un-fatherly father she grew up with. this may relate to the sense that her femininity was always overshadowed, and she never fully grew out of childhood because of this. The music in this scene is childish, and sounds like a nursery rhyme which reinforces this point. The low key lighting in the room despite the window being open and the decor representing the ideal ‘American Dream’ suggests that this girls idea of the ‘American dream’ does nit fit in with her ideologies, relating to the premise of the film as a whole, how she doesn’t fit in. I feel that the pan around the room was effective in illustrating the short development of the character. As we gradually saw more of her surroundings, we learned more about her background. The fact that She speaks of her father and her leaving the past behind them and starting afresh, relates to the story also, in the conventions of the ‘Road’ genre; She leaves behind her problems and runs away somewhere else.

 There’s a jump cut from This room to a long, straight dirt road, strewn with ‘garbage’ cans. This illustrates the ‘long road’ ahead of Holly (the road trip), following her monologue. the cinematic shots show the quiet and empty suburbs they live in. The fact that theres nobody around portrays Kit as a lonely Character from the start, showing conventions of rootlessness already. The first time we see Kit he’s next to a dead dog, this contrast between Holly and her live dog and kit and the dead one not only illustrates the polar oppositions between them, but also associates them, tying them together before they even meet. We see nobody else in the neighbourhood except Kit and Holly at the beginning, suggesting that they’re in their own world, foreshadowing that they need nobody but each other.

 The fact the Kit goes through the rubbish, making comments like “This lady never pays her bills” Suggests that he regularly looks through peoples things, and that he makes judgements on people, this theme is continued throughout the film with Hollys belongings, and various people they meet on their trip. This tell us a lot about his character, that he’s intrusive and rebellious, and perhaps not fully sane. Kit is seen in an establishing shot walking along this long road from the beginning, kicking rubbish around and smoking. The first shot of his face is a mid shot/close up of him with a cigarette in his mouth. This is the first time we actually see his face properly and his expression is that of bewilderment as it’s the first time he see’s holly. She is in white and blue clothes with red hair. this is a connotation of the American theme, and associated with Kits character as white trash, which is another link between the two.

531 words

Willow Collins

Chronicle: Low Budget film

Production Company

JOHN DAVIS/ADAM SCHROEDER

Distributed by

20TH CENTURY FOX

Budget

$12 MILLION

Box Office

$130 MILLION

Release

FEB 3RD 2012

Science Fiction Thriller

Dane Dehaan - Debut

PG-13

Marketing

-Viral video of three people flying over New York

Reviews

-The guardian = 'Great twist on typical 'nerd boy gets superpowers''
-Generally 9/10  -  4 stars

Awards
-Golden trailer award
-5 nominations

Godzilla US Blockbuster Case Study

Production Company
LEGENDARY PICTURES

Distributed by
WARNER BROS.

Budget
$160 MILLION

Box Office
$525 MILLION

Release
MAY 16 2014
US



Science Fiction Monster Film
Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Ken Watanabe
12A Certificate



Marketing:
-Godzilla Movie Twitter Account: Giveaways
-Online articles using real life mysteries of the earth like the infamous burning 'Door to hell', and describing something dangerous going on within the Earth's core which is incorporated into Godzilla.
-Godzilla Movie Facebook account: Photos and giveaways.
-Reboot
-Previous Franchise
-Existing Fanbase: Comics and film
-Trailers showed very little: Not Godzilla, only his roar, to get people hyped up.
-Asian-specific trailers. More concentration on origin region.

Reviews:
-The issue when approaching Godzilla is that it's a semi-decent film with a long laundry list of problems. - The good the bad and the insulting.

Awards:
-4: 15th Golden Trailer award

"Trolljegeren" Troll Hunter Foreign Film Case Study

Production Company
FILMKEMERATENE

Distributed by
UNIVERSAL/MOMENTUM

Budget
$3.5 MILLION

Box Office
$4 MILLION ($4,159,678)

Release
29 OCTOBER 2010
NORWAY


Norway Found-Footage Monster Film
COMEDY/FANTASY/HORROR

Otto Jespersen, Hans Morten Hansen

PG-13 Certificate



Marketing:
-Guardian advertising job as troll hunter with link that directs to films Facebook page
-Trollhunter phone app, put phone over newspaper and interactive troll appears
-General posters and trailers
-Otto Jespersen is a well known comedian in Norway

Reviews:
-Mike Hale of The New York Times called it a "clever and engaging mock documentary" with "ultradry Nordic humour"

Awards:

-Best Visual Effects
-Public Choice Award
-Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking

Film Noir + Neo Noir

 The Big Combo
 The very first convention I notice is the typical jazz music in the background, accompanying a dark street with smartly dressed people entering a building highlighted with luminous spotlights. This theme of the contrast of run down streets with glamorous attributes is typical of the film-noir genre and continues with the woman running down an alleyway. The mise-en-scene shows an extremely dark alleyway, complimented by a man in a stetson hat leaning up the wall, smoking a cigarette. This kind of environment evokes mystery and danger, and is typical of the noir genre. The cinematography shows a low angle shot(suggesting secrecy due to the camera being out of sight), placed in a position that gives a perspective on the woman running - emphasising the action with her becoming larger and louder as she nears the camera. Her and the men chasing her move in and out of light as they run through shadows, another major convention of the film-noir genre, as well as the fact that her hair and dress are heavily made up, suggesting she's wealthy and glamorous, the fact that she's running from the men suggests trouble, and that she may be a femme fatale...
 The rule of thirds is showing in this mid shot with the two men on either side of the woman, suggesting that she's a captive of some sort. The mise en scene features light only on the people's faces, emphasising the focal point, while also supporting the running theme of shadows. The two men stepping into the light of the second mid shot at the same time as the jazz music returns on a minor key is one of the more sinister aspects of the noir genre, being suggestive of a menacing change of tone, while also hi-lighting the supposed good and evil characters of the film, by having half of the mens faces shadowed, and the womans face in full light, and looking toward the light. The scene ends with a typical 'private eye' character emerging from the background wearing a stetson hat and a 'hard-boiled' expression, walking through bouts of light from an extreme long shot to a close up, suggesting his sudden involvement in the previous situation.
 The setting for the next scene is your typical film-noir police station. Very open and cluttered in contrast to the supposed antagonists environment: the alleyway. This suggests that the antagonists are perhaps ahead of the detectives, and that the police department are perhaps struggling thought the film. The dialogue through this scene, especially the tape recorder - is very snappy and monotonous, conventions of noir. The speech also mentions words like 'organisations' and 'the top man'. This semantic field is suggestive of the gangster-noir genre.

The Last Seduction
 The opening visual is an establishing shot which shows a corporate building, with no focus on any people which is unusual for any noir genre. The first signs of neo noir appear with the fact that it's in colour, and the cinematography: The camera using basic shot reverse shot in snappy conversation with minimal camera movement, only to follow character. I notice Venetian blinds behind a well dressed man, talking to a woman with a quite old fashioned haircut - typical conventions of film-noir yet in a neo-noir setting. The abundance of gold/bronze decor on the mans desk, along with the fact that his face is lit from the front despite the light coming from the back contrasts with the woman, who's dressed in black with the blinds shadowing her face is remnant of the theme of fame fatale... She appears dangerous and mysterious in the presence of the man.
 Typical females of film-noir are incredible smooth talking and appear delicate - this female is very aggressive which is contrary to the noir theme, as well as the fact that they openly discuss their sexual relations which is incredibly rare for a noir film. A close up of a neon sign is typical for film-noir, as is establishes a crummy, run down environment, accompanied by jazz music to set the scene, as well as people peering through windows, which is similar to that of western-noir.
 I have established this woman as a femme fatale, as she appears manipulative and powerful, however this is conflicted with the fact that there are blinds surrounding her like a cell, suggesting she's trapped. This relates to both aspects of noir females: The dangerous femme fatale, and the captive damsel in distress. The jazz music begins again to signify a change in events. An injured man answers the phone suggesting corruption or danger, a connection is evident between the two, and the audience develop an understanding that there is a mystery or a back story that's going to be explained throughout the film.

How does mise-en-scene and cinematography create excitement in the shootout scene of 'The Taxi Driver'

The first shot follows Travis out of his car and towards a dark building, the mise-en-scene establishes the environment as a run down street at night. This kind of environment puts me on edge as stereotypically, this is a location for violence and crime. The dark, damp environment is a typical convention of the neo-noir genre. The car drives into the long shot and Travis doesn't bother parking, suggesting that he's in haste and feels some obligation as a vigilante to be beyond parking requirements. As he exits the car he walks into a mid shot showing his appearance; The mise-en-scene shows he's wearing a veteran jacket, suggesting he's an ex-soldier and proud of it; an all-American representation. He's also sporting a mohawk hairstyle, reflecting a rebellious nature, and the pop punk culture which is of course out of place here - giving me an insight into his mental state. Tracking is used to follow Travis as he moves through the street, making me feel as though he's on a mission, suggesting the events that follow are thought out and organised. He knows what he's doing, making me trust this character however I’m still unaware of what he'll do next due to the low-key lighting which emphasises the sinister atmosphere. As he makes his way towards the darker end of the street, away from the streetlights, I feel as though the situation is going to descend into a sinister tone, where events may become violent as he moves away from light/logic and into darkness/psychosis; The low-key lighting emphasising the mise-en-scene  of this sinister scene. Throughout this section, there is non-diegetic music. It's a marching drums kind of melody with a monotonous violin orchestra in the background which gives the scene a sinister feeling as well as emphasising the fact that Travis is a patriot, this made me anticipate what’s about to happen. Marching drums can also be related to a ceremonious burial or funeral - foreshadowing the deaths of the men in the building.

The long take tracking shot comes to an abrupt stop at a doorway with a man dressed in a loose blouse, grey waistcoat-vest and long maroon trousers. This aspect of mise-en-scene I feel foreshadows his opposition with Travis, as he's dressed in a similar way to a native American; rival to the American veteran stereotypically. This also relates to the 1956 film: 'The Searchers', set in 1868 which follows two American civil war veterans in their search to find an American girl taken by Native Americans, whom eventually becomes Native American herself. The girl Travis is trying to find is called Iris, suggesting she has been taken in by the prostitution/pimp culture, and that the doorman represents the Native Americans keeping her captive. This is emphasised with the bars and grates over the windows, presenting the building as a kind of prison – typical mise-en-scene in the noir genre and shown in Nocturne (1946) where a private eye is forcing a woman to answer questions about a murder; her shirt has bold black lines around her wrists and neck, much like shackles; suggesting she's trapped in the situation. Travis refers to the doorman as 'Sport' while he responds with 'My man', this dialogue conveys the relationship between the two and how they perceive each other. Here I feel Travis is a masculine, old fashioned type of person with a sense of superiority, while the doorman is presented as being much more relaxed and informal, and of a younger culture, as he is dressed in typical seventies 'peace mongering' clothing, to emphasise the narrative of the opposition. The long, two shot shows the relationship develop between the two; the transition from both of them being on the same level, to the conflict between them as Travis steps down. The two shot also shows the environment by placing them both very close together in the middle of the frame of the wide shot, with the building taking up most of the shot. The rule of thirds is presented here with bars either side of them, suggesting they're both in positions in life where they're trapped, and both in drastic situations. This cinematography suggests that there's room for action, foreshadowing that a large event (The shootout) is about to occur that they need room for. The shootout scene is a typical convention of Neo-noir, especially western-noir, featuring the protagonist's final fight, such as with Travis in the end. 

 The events here somewhat represents the relationship between the Americans and Natives in general: The doorman becomes aggressive as Travis antagonises him 'You got a gun?'. The doorman retaliates by throwing his cigarette at him which sends sparks down his jacket, and then kicking him while saying 'Get outta here'. I feel this resembles Native Americans primitive attempt at defending themselves against American machinery such as the firearm. Travis then proceeds to shoot him, changing the pace of the scene from relaxed and mysterious, to fast and tense. The dialogue before this is Travis saying the iconic: "suck on this". This builds up the shooting and heightens the significance of the event, with iconography in the form of dialogue. There's no non-diegetic music here to help the scene become more suspenseful. The fact that the take is such a long duration however, aids the suspense, and emphasises the rapid change in mood in such a short time. If the scene was filmed using multiple shots - I feel there would be less of an impact on me during the killing, as the continuous shot leads me into a false sense of security, with no dutch angles or close ups to give away what's about to happen, thus creating more excitement and shock. Travis scans the area moving closer to the camera, and then eventually moving away to another doorway, suggesting he's moving on to his next target - creating a tense atmosphere. The mysteriousness here shows aspects of horror conventions with the psychopathic killing and concept of 'victims'. The scene is laid out similarly to before; an extreme long shot, giving me the impression that theres more to consider than just Travis, the mise-en-scene in the area around him represents all the others in the city who are sinning, and surrounded by this darkness or psychosis that they're driven to. He sits on the doorstep, almost blending into the environment as if to camouflage himself rather than to run away and cause a scene only to be caught. I feel that the fact that we never get a clear view of Travis' face shows that he's been successful in assassinating the doorman with no witnesses, and remains mysterious as he continues with his plot.

 The camera rises from a low angle midshot to a long shot as travis enters the building, giving a sense of empowerment, and raising my confidence in the character, giving me the impression he is very experienced and to be feared. The loud diegetic sound of the doors in contrast to the silence that followed the gunshot picks up the pace of the scene, and restores the tense atmosphere. There's a straight cut to the next scene, emphasising the rapid movement of the narrative. The split second gunshot here is broken down into a six second event; Upon shooting the first man he sees in the hallway, theres an over-the-shoulder shot of Travis holding the gun (conventions of both Noir and Horror, due to the general theme of murder, and use of 'killers POV'), a close up of the mans hand exploding, a close up of blood splattering on Travis' face (Use of iconography with the graphic element of gore), and multiple long shots of the gun shot echoing throughout different hallways. The editing here shows straight cuts of very short duration long shots, emphasising the rapid theme and the extent to which he affects his environment by using a long, drawn out non-diegetic sound of the gun in contrast to the fast paced montage of shots throughout the building. This evokes excitement and allows for a moment of reflection on current events before the narrative suddenly continues. The camera returns to the same over-the-shoulder shot as before. I feel this shot represents a starting point, as it was the shot that engaged the shooting of the man in the hallway, and here it shows Travis taking a bullet in the neck and turning to his next victim. By making the structure of the narrative more predictable, I feel that it's creating a false sense of security so that shocks have a larger effect on me. The fast pace continues with shot-reverse-shot and parallel editing, back and forth between 'sport' and Travis shooting each other; mid shots, zooming out from Travis and in on 'Sport' (Typical convention of the Western-Noir genre). I feel this represents Travis' success in yet again striking him. There's no non-diegetic music here, so the sound of the glass crashing is the only thing other than the gunshots to provide an ambience, representing destruction. The cinematography here heightens the action, with a close up of Travis' gun falling to the floor, followed by a very fast tilt up to a midshot of his face turning to his victim portrays him as incredibly dominant in this scene. He's in control despite dropping his weapon. The long shot from the top of the stairs making the scene almost invisible from the low key lighting save for a neon lightbulb (Film noir convention), makes this scene seem sinister and secretive, and changes the mood from exciting to tense, and erases the sense of security. 

1596 Words
2:37 minutes of film