Introduction

My name is Ysabel Hudson Searle (candidate number 0331) and this is my Media Studies coursework blog, featuring my ongoing work. I am in Group 2, along with Harry Kettenis (0390), Matthew Romo (1660) and Joshua Stevens (0796). This is the link to our live facebook page: Group 2's Facebook Page.
You can use the labels down the side to navigate your way through my blog.
Thank you!

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Thursday 26 September 2013

Opening Scene Analysis of Continuity

127 HOURS 


127 hours starts off with a very interesting, artist concept of splitting the screen into three separate screens. It seems to have the use of shot order in the separate screens, i.e the screens will all show a vast crowd walking, then in another screen it will have a mid-shot and in the other a close-up. This very interesting to watch as an audience member, and in my opinion, adds to the continuity by giving you so many different angles to look at. This does however make you feel less immersed in the story, and more like a spectator.
To contrast, there are a wide range of camera movements used, for instance tracking, whip panning and tilting, and these are all always following the action, which I think really makes the audience involved. Even though you are not seeing it from the main characters (which is established in the following of his routine) point of view, and you are watching this in an abstract way, it almost is better for getting you into the pace, energy and action of the movie.
The main character is established after clips of many other crowds of people, which is done in a very contrasting way, perhaps showing him as a person who 'stands out from thee crowd' and highlighting his importance.
The different and perhaps abstract angles at which the director, or tor has chosen, for example, inside the fridge and cupboard is quite interesting and unusual. There is a point where the camera is places inside a shelf, where his phone is, and all we see is his hand, clearly it is very high up, searching for, we presume, his phone, and he gets very close but doesn't find it and gives up, and for an audience member that is quite aggravating that we can see the phone within his reach, simply he can't. In addition, with this story being very well-known, we are also annoyed because we know that one of the reasons he suffers the way he does, is because he doesn't have his phone, so seeing him so close is quite provocative.
It does tend to jump to different scenes/scenery/sets. At this pace however, I do not think it affects the continuity too prominently in my opinion. An establishment of location is not immediate, and leaves the audience curious, until finally a sign is filmed by the main character, and the main character tells us where he is.
The shots themselves didn't flow together too smoothly at first, again taking away from continuity with a sense of spectator-ship as an audience member. Although, as we see the scenes go on, the shots flow smoothly together.

Accident Video




We used a close shot of the football, with Mahalias feet stepping beside the football to open in an intriguing way. We then went on to use a master shot which pans across, establishing the whole scene and the relationships between the characters. This shot is extremely important, especially with our space being so broad in this video. Therefore there was clear continuity and this shot helps all the other shots with continuity, as that shot clarified everything about this video, i.e, Mahalia (left) is about to try and shoot a goal gaurded by a very scared Josh.
We then used a 'old west' style of juxtaposition of a close-up of each characters face, with their eyes being the main focus. The cross-cutting also emphasized the contrast in characters, and again it was continuous to the previous shot; Mahalia looking determined and Josh looking frightened.
We then used cross-cutting once more, to go from Mahalia kicking the ball, to it hitting Josh on the head. We used this not only because we weren't sure of the reality of getting a shot of the ball actually hitting Josh, but also because we wanted a clear mid-shot of his reaction, to add to the comical effect. We in fact had to take extra care with the shot, so that it was in Josh's general direction, making it believable that it could have hit him in the head.

In hindsight, we could have perhaps had our master shot in the beginning of our video, to establish everything from the start. We also should have been more careful with noises; throughout the video you can hear noises form a distant football match that was going on, which was useful and added a positive, authentic effect, although perhaps we should be careful to make sure all of the noises have continuity, and don't make the video look discontinuous, by suddenly skipping to a different noise, although I don't think that was a major problem. The noise at the end of someone speaking is in the future I would be more careful bout, luckily, it could seem fitting in this case, however next time, if there is noise, I would make sure it's relevant to the video and doesn't take away form it's continuity.

Seven Pounds Opening Analysis with Video



SEVEN POUNDS OPENING SCENE ANALYSIS

I thought that Seven Pounds' opening scene was brilliantly emotionally stimulating, and in my opinion, one of the best movie openings ever to be made.

Firstly, you see a distraugh Will Smith, looking rather distressed, calling the police to report a suicide, which he then reveals to be his own. From this moment on the audience are immediately hooked. The fact the director chose to put this at the beginning leads to a very complex emotional experience of the movie all throughout, as we are aware of him being ready to commit suicide at some point. This scene sets the genre to be a definite drama, but we are still very unsure of things. The character is established, whilst his setting is also established through speech, and so we are aware he is in some sort of motel, and not his actual home. This leads to intrigue, with the audience questioning why he is not in his home, has he been kicked out? Has he been planning something? There is also a scene later on where he checks into this motel, and instantly, as an audience we feel tense,, as we know he plans to commit suicide there. There is also a lot of times where he is in conversation with the landlord of the motel, and he jokingly hints at his planned death there, which only we as an audience understand.

Another effect in placing this at the beginning is that all throughout the move, especially when his budding relationship with co-star Rosario Dawson, makes movie so hard to watch as you see their lives join together wonderfully, when you know what the end result will be. The audience I'm sure, like me, still wanted to keep hold of that hope that maybe he'll be stopped before that, and so the audience are constantly on the edge, throughout the whole film because of this opening.

Now some may disagree with this being brilliant, feeling that it is just a spoiler and looses all the suspense about 'what's going to happen'. However I do think that it in fact makes you feel even more tense, whilst you watch his life pan out, with this terrible knowledge in your head simultaneously, and creates an even more emotional experience for the audience, especially when things are going so well for him.

The next scene in this introduction is a dynamic view from underwater of Will Smith swimming in a vast, beautiful sea, whilst he talks in a very slow and emotional voice on top of this saying that "In seven days, God created the world. And in seven seconds, I shattered mine." The use of such a beautiful scenery on top of the sad message was very contrasting, and leaves the audience intrigued, because his life seems so beautiful, yet when he speaks it tells a very different story. In addition, we as an audience wonder how he 'shattered' his life in 'seven seconds, and want to keep viewing in the hope that we will find out. Again, another setting is established, through a close up of his legs and feet, which pans out into a very wide shot of what seems to be his house/beach house.

We then see Will Smith dressing smartly in a suit, looking at himself in the mirror, with a painfully emotional look and we get a mid shot from behind of him sitting on a sofa very tensely, and as an audience we are very concerned, as we want to know what he has done to his life that is causing him this much pain.

We then see him look at a list of names, with most having been scribbled on with a pen, and the focus is on one circuled name of 'Ezre Turner'. We then see him calling up this person at his work. As the scene briefly goes on we learn the characters name, Ben Thomas, and we also see Will Smith verbally abuse this man, abusing him for his relgion and blindness, and saying cruel and horrifying things to this poor man. Will Smith constantly pushes Ezre, trying to get him to fight back, but Ezre remains calm throughout, though awfully hurt. Now, as an audience we feel disgusted at what we have just seen, and now on top of this fundamental pity and concern for Will Smith, we now feel hate, and wonder why on earth he is acting in such a foul way. Once Ezre has hung up, we see 'Ben Thomas' almost react in the same way that we do, but with himself, and this leaves us completely compelled to know this man's story, situation and why he is doing what he doing.

It is a very emotionally compelling and intriguing opening, which also leaves the audience very confused and unsure of how to feel about what they have seen, whilst still compelled to watch more.

Thursday 19 September 2013

Genre Establishing Photo


We took this in the dark room, with the red lights on, and that red colouring really establishes the genre in my eyes, and with red being immediately associated with blood, the audience will hopefully get the feeling that this film would be a bloody and grusome. It also can dipict that this character is the main murderer, along with the fact the shot is just on him, with him being in a black hoody and scary mask. He also is swinging a baseball bat towards the camera, again giving away his character. The fact the baeball bat is in movement gives it the effect that he was swinging it very fast, towards you, and is very scary. The mask also being in focus whilst you have the swinging of the bat, makes this even more terrifying, as you can see this scary mask clearly, and just the swinging bat coming in movement towards you.

I think this colouring, especially with us not being able to edit our photos, gave a great effect to establish our character and genre. I also think the costume does the same and is really successful too. An additional effect that is quite successful, that we in fact did not plan, is the pictures hanging in the background, which again set the genre and give it a creepy effect. The setting is also quite effective too, paired with the pictures in the background, it looks as if it could be some sort of dark room the killer resides in, stalking people and planning his murderous doings etc, which is often in a lot of horror and murder films.

However, this could also be a disadvantage, as I do think that there is too much of the background setting in the shot, and it does take away from the character and baseball bat, which should be our main focus and dominating our photo, so maybe it so maybe all our focus should have been on our character, and not the background. I also think perhaps we could have gotten better positioning of the bat (higher up), and we should've discovered the dark room quicker, so we could take more shots and perfect our shot (as we were rushed for time).