Monthly Archives: March 2020

Editing

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Editing is a sequence of shots in the film. It’s the order and duration of shots, visual transitions from scene to scene and visual effects.n

Glossary

Montage

Montage is editing shots together to make the sequence have the same meaning. Originally developed by Sergi Eisenstein putting unrelated clips together to form a meaning. Now used in film to show passage of time. A classic example of this is 1976 film ‘Rocky’ showing Rocky training for his fight. The montage starts with him failing then ends with him progressively getting better and better until he is a professional.

Shot reverse shot

A technique used in film and television to show characters or objects facing each other but in different shots. Usually used following the 80-degree rule and used for conversations so we could see both of the characters’ reactions.

Cross-cutting:

Cutting back and forth between shots

Kuleshov effect

Cutting shots that are otherwise unrelated to create an emotion. I will attempt to recreate this with pictures. The first picture is a random person running presumably just so they can stay fit and the second picture is a trophy. They are unrelated but when put together the connotation is that the person is training for a competition and the trophy is what is motivating them.

Can Running and Other Exercise Boost Immunity? | ACTIVEWinners Gold Trophy Cup Turin Presentation Cup Award | North East ...

Metric and Rhythm editing

Editing each frame/ shot after a certain amount of time consistently. For example; in ‘Baby Driver’ in the opening car chase scene the editing is done according to the time signature of the song. Rhythm editing is editing to create a sense of rhythm.

Tonal editing and Intellectual editing

Two images that have emotional themes that are similar. E.g a train going into a tunnel to symbolise sex. Intellectual editing is bringing a new message from shots that are meaningless on their own. It is very similar to the Kuleshov effect.

Continuity

Continuing with the shot that was happening. The order of editing.

Matching eye level

Cutting in accordance with what the character is looking at. To see from their eyes/ their point of view.

Parallel Editing

Two things happening at the same time and edited after the other. A perfect example of this is the Christopher Nolan film ‘Inception’. The film itself is edited in parallel editing throughout as it makes sense to the narrative. The first part which is them asleep in the car and then the actual ‘Inception’ world. We continuously cut back to show them still asleep so we know what’s happening in both worlds. The pictures below show that as something happens in one world especially to do with gravity, the same is repeated in the other world.

Inception movie review & film summary (2010) | Roger EbertInception slow motion ragdolls - YouTube

Sound design

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The few things that make up sound design include; dialogue, foley, diegetic, non-diegetic and internal diegetic/ subliminal.

Glossary

Internal diegetic

Thoughts/ flashback playing in a character’s head this would be recorded in a recording studio outside of the scene then played over it.

Diegetic and non- diegetic sound

Diegetic sound is the sound that is natural produced within the film for example; singing, dialogue etc. None diegetic sound is any sound that is not natural in that world e.g the score of the film or any narration.

 

 

Task 2: One shot film

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Research: Early cinema

The early cinema (1905) was just about getting the audience used to seeing moving images for the first time. The key differences between novels and film are; novels include descriptions, inner emotions/ saying exactly as it is. This is compared to film where you don’t necessarily get spoon-fed exposition, there are visual representations instead.

Evaluation

My film was inspired by silent films in early cinema where the films existed only to keep audiences in suspense and shock them. For example in ‘How it feels to be run over’ by Hepworth in 1900. I wanted to show mine as a modern-day woman getting ready for bed but to film in a way that feels as though the audience is watching me while laying down. This works effectively in capturing the audience’s attention because despite it being a mundane task, you almost expect something unexpected to happen especially by the way I walk out of the frame and come back with no cuts to show where I’ve gone. I also chose to have harsh lighting using just a small lamp pointed directly at me to create hard shadows because if this had been made in 1900 it would have been in black and white so the hard shadows would have worked to make it look more mysterious.

I did two versions, one in black and white to better suit the time where films were not in colour due to technological limitations and one that was not edited at all (With the original colour).

Reference Page

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  • Futurism (2018). Life-like CGI Movie Sets. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0mckvMGqTc [Accessed 19 Feb. 2020].
  • FERRYANTO, S. (2016). SIMAK FOTO SEBELUM-SESUDAH 8 FILM INI DIBERI EFEK CGI, KEREN!. [image] Available at: https://www.kapanlagi.com/foto/berita-foto/internasional/simak-foto-sebelum-sesudah-8-film-ini-diberi-efek-cgi-keren.html [Accessed 19 Feb. 2020].
  • Digital synopsis (2016). 46 Famous Movie Scenes Before And After Special Effects. [image] Available at: https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/movies-before-after-green-screen-cgi/ [Accessed 19 Feb. 2020].
  • Paul, J., 2016. Master The Hollywood Technique Of Parallel Editing. [online] The Beat: A Blog by PremiumBeat. Available at: <https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/parallel-editing-hollywood-way/> [Accessed 10 May 2020].

 

Blog task 4: None narrative film

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Kino- eye and none narrative film

Due to the industrial revolution, things needed to change in terms of entertainment. Art became more abstract to create a new meaning. Some of the film types include; modernist film, Avantgarde, Kino-eye and Non-narrative.

https://youtu.be/VIyk4YdPxTk

Evaluation

My film was influenced by non-narrative films. I wanted to make a short non-narrative surrealist film similar to Salvador Dali. The layering of the different videos into one made it look more unusual. I also played with colour putting some of it in black and white but keeping some in colour, I went with interesting shapes and things that don’t belong as a motif which made it look interesting and still have it make sense to a certain extent. Despite it being non-narrative, I still wanted it to look stylistically at the same and not too much like random shots combined together.

Blog task 3: Screenplay

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Narrative and characterisation in cinema

Characters in film typically have consequences due to their actions which is how we get the plot. Great characters engage the audience. Character development is shown through; description, action, dialogue, interior thought and backstory.

The narrative is broken down into; genre, the main protagonist, a goal, obstacle and what’s important (why are you making this).

This week’s task was to write a page or two of a screenplay introducing a character. We read different scripts from different directors but the one we wanted to try to imitate was Taika Waititi’s screenplay ‘Jojo rabbit’ as he adds camera angles and character descriptions into his screenplay.

My character’s name is Bethany Crow and she is a socially awkward badass teenager who lives a double life but is trying get back to normal life. She struggles a lot with her identity constantly feeling misunderstood and alone. The first two pages are attached below.

conflicted

Blog task 6 : Auteur thoery

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An auteur is a filmmaker who is almost like an author in the sense that their work uses the same camera style, character types and themes. Their body of work is so similar stylistically that audiences recognise it before reading the credits.

This was first coined as a way of reviewing films in 1954 by a French magazine called ‘Cahiers Du Cinema’. This cemented the idea that the director was the one in charge of the movie as opposed to producers. Francois Truffaut first introduced the term saying ‘there were only two ways to study film in depth; either by either the genre or the director.` (Kahwaji,2014)

(Everyman and playhouse, 2018)

I am going to be looking at the auteur Peter Jackson. Peter Jackson is a film director from New Zealand who’s film career ranges from Shock horror comedies to big-budget fantasy films.

How is Peter Jackson an auteur?

  • He has a signature style to his movies which include; shooting from many different angles because he thinks it gives the editors more to work with.
  • Humour in his film sometimes vulgar
  • Has a very specific look that he has in all his films

Bibliography

Kahwaji, A., 2014. How Is Peter Jackson Portrayed A Modern Day Auteur?. [online] prezi.com. Available at: <https://prezi.com/qmwsw7dg1_pj/how-is-peter-jackson-portrayed-a-modern-day-auteur/> [Accessed 10 April 2020].

Everyman and playhouse, 2018. The Lovely Bones. [image] Available at: <https://www.everymanplayhouse.com/whats-on/the-lovely-bones> [Accessed 10 April 2020].

The telegraph, 2019. Peter Jackson Review. [image] Available at: <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/7018208/Peter-Jackson-interview.html> [Accessed 10 April 2020].

Peter Jackson interview - Telegraph

(The telegraph, 2019)

Movie review: The lovely bones

There were high expectations from Peter Jackson to direct ‘The lovely bones’ after finding great success with ‘Lord of the rings.’ It was clear to audiences all around he was more than cable of making a film adaptation of a book. Unfortunately, the result was something less than amusing.

A 14-year-old girl is murdered and watches over her family and killer from beyond the grave in a place they call ‘the in-between’. The main conflict of the film is the decision to either get revenge on her killer who walks free or letting her family heal.

Peter Jackson shines as he brings the world of the ‘in-between’ to life with a lot of visually interesting moments. For example; when real-life elements of Susie’s life are reimagined into the in-between. We can clearly see this is where he does his best with the fantasy elements of the film. This was beautiful and fascinating to watch but felt very detached from the rest of the story. It’s obvious that this is what Peter Jackson was more attracted to and where his expertise lies. However, the portrayal of the family dynamic felt forced and awkward.

At the start of the film, we’re bombarded with exposition and scenes that exist sorely to be reincorporated later in the film. A perfect example of this is an important character trait of Susie, our main protagonist, being an aspiring photographer. We learn this is by seeing Susie constantly taking pictures even when it’s not necessary like while riding her bicycle. You can easily tell that real life was meant to be used as a break from the fantasy. A way of showing Susie starting to accept her death while her family falls apart, not ready to accept their daughter’s death. This would have been a perfect dynamic to show, leading to a satisfying conclusion when the murderer gets what he deserves, and the family heal completely from the situation. What we get is far from that. Susie’s mother leaves halfway through the film, leaving behind her grieving husband, teenage daughter, and 10-year-old son with no explanation. We never see the emotional impact this has on the family. To make everything worse, it seemed as though the actors didn’t know what their character’s motivations were leaving the performance stale.

Jackson tries to add humour into the film with the introduction of the grandma in a montage of her cleaning the house horribly, but it falls flat because it doesn’t fit the tone of the film.

The climax of the film where the antagonist is supposed to get punished is very disappointing as he is not caught by the police rather killed due by an icicle falling on his head causing him to trip.

Overall, I would rate this film a solid 4/10. There is a lot to dissect in terms of analysing the film, unfortunately, there is worse than good. Peter Jackson is no doubt an amazing director but should perhaps focus more on fantasy films.

The Lovely Bones | Everyman Liverpool

(Everyman and playhouse, 2018)

Cinematography

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Cinematography is a way to show what the character sees and also how they feel through framing and camera. It’s been rapidly changing with technology.

Glossary

Kino-eye

A film technique by Dziga Vertov which is filming/doing things different from how the human eye would see it to offer a new perspective.

Iconography

Using images/ symbols to show ideas.

 

 

Literary design

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The literary design is focused on the writing, character motivations, script and screenplay. Things such as character and story motivations. Typically, the choices a character makes drives the story so the writers usually put them under pressure by making them choose between two different choices.

When writing a screenplay, you have to have a genre in mind. This helps because each genre has certain conventions and character tropes to help the audience recognise that genre. Genre can be hard to define as most films tend to mix or jump between genres.

Glossary

Gaze

Is the portrayal of a certain gender to appeal typically in more sexual or less than in comparison to the opposite sex. The male gaze is the portrayal of women to men which typically works in film by having women dressed/ filmed over in an overly sexualised way.

Yes, there's such a thing as a 'female gaze.' But it's not what ...Margot-Robbie-Wears-Tiny-Shorts-To-Play-Harley-Quinn-In-Suicide ...Pin on Low Rise

Audience

The audience is the collective group of people who watch the film or who the film is intended for.

Breaking the fourth wall

Getting rid of the metaphorical wall between the narrative and the audience. For example; talking directly to the audience, interacting physically, showing the camera crew/ set. A modern day film that does this throughout is ‘Deadpool’ by consistently talking to the audience and using the actor’s real life name and accomplishments as part of the jokes.Deadpool' Is a Potty-Mouthed Splatterfest. A Really Funny One : NPR

Spectacle

Something you watch as opposed to a story.

Screenwriting

Writing for actors and their movement.

De-familiarisation

Get people to look at things differently.

Genre

A category that a film falls under/ ways that a film can be categorised. Different genres of films include; romance, comedy, action ect. Films often cross genres and are it becomes difficult for them to fall under one specific genre.

Denotation and Connotation

Denotation is what something is as we see it. An example of the would be a red dress on a beautiful lady. We see what she’s wearing and describe it so. On the other hand, connotation is what it represents. In the description, the connotation would be that the red dress represents romance and lure or blood which could suggest the female being a femme fetal.

Ideology

A set of ideas used to explain the world.