Continuity task evaluating to-do list.

This is the list I need to include when writing my evaluating for my continuity task:

This list will help me make sure I include everything that's relevent. Overall this evaulation will help me understand what we did wrong so when it comes down to filming my actual intro I can make sure that as a group we will not make the same mistakes as we did in this task.

Discuss the ways in which ethnicity has been represented in the extract from Hotel Babylon:

 

·         Sound

·         Mise-en-scene

·         Editing

·         Camera

In the opening extract the director uses stereotypes to represent different ethnic group. Firstly we see a long shot whilst tracking of a black man in a suit seen to be atypical. The next shot is another black man jumping out of a pool. The other black man is a stereotypical black man who is established through his braided hair and brightly coloured, Jamaican shorts. This is iconic for the Jamaican culture.  We see a contrast in both of the black men as the first man connotes to the audiences that he is atypical and has changed his life so seeing the stereotypical man is a shock which is recognised by the audience from the mid shot of his reaction. The stereotypical man uses dialogue to such as ‘Bruv’ and makes suggestions about smoking marijuana which is represents his ethnic side very stereotypical. We see a shot reverse shot and the atypical man doesn’t look please with the idea.

The scene then changes to two Eastern European maids that have been represented in a negative way. We see a mid shot of their faces which reveal that one of which is more dominant and the other is seen to be weak. The dialogue from the maids ‘Double for double’ is ambiguous to the audience however the reinforcement through the close up of the door hanger and the two red star marks symbolises danger. We then get introduced to the Old Chinese man. He is very stereotypical for his culture as he is seen to be a business man with lots of money, which is revealed with a close up, paying for prostitution. We then see an extreme close up of the man’s face establishing the desire in his face for the two maids to strip. This is shown through intercutting of the maids and the Chinese man.  Furthermore the man connotes even more of a stereotype as he is being sly to get what he wants. On the other hand the maids are also being stereotypes as they too are known for being sly. When the maids start to strip we see that their lingerie is different colours which are symbolic. The one wearing Black is very confident when stripping which is symbolic as it implies that she is very stereotypical for an Eastern European maid.  However the other girl is very white and is very fragile when taking off her clothes. She then runs off saying ‘I can’t do this’ this then makes her atypical as she can’t bring herself to be provocative. The diegetic sound of the music ‘Moulin rouge’ contrasts with her feeling as it’s symbolic for a seductive mood yet she breaks this by running out. The maid in black stays in there which then demonstrates how desperate she is as she calls another person to come and replace her; ‘Plenty more fish in the sea’.  Once again ethnic is represented through the use of stereotypes.

Furthermore we then see two white British people. They have both been represented as stereotypical English in the fact they are seen to be wealthy by their smartly dressed clothes and their business look. The scene starts off with a mid shot establishing that they are important. This is then reinforced through the long shot showing that everyone around them walking past and not interrupting them. In then cuts back to a mid shot emphasising there importance linking in the fact that they are stereotypically important. Furthermore we see more of their stereotypical ethnic side as they gossip about the chefs. The director uses shot reverse shot to establish there facial reactions which indicates how the director has portrayed them to be stereotypical British as they are gossiping. Within the shot reverse shot the man’s facial expression looks more concerned compared to the woman who looks more annoyed. She also gets more screen time which connotes to the audience that she is the most dominant between the two. This the makes the woman atypical as stereotypically the man is more dominate. The ethnic race of British people is once again seen through stereotypes.

Finally the extract concludes with the two chefs. Firstly we see that there are two chefs of different ethnicity, one wearing white one black, this instantly implies an ominous tone to the audience. The chef dressed in black is eastern European; the black signifies dirt, danger and is symbolic of evil. This is juxtaposed by the English chefs who are dressed in white who is symbolic for purity, innocent, cleanliness. Straight away we see a close up of both chefs intercutting between the two. They both have equal prevalence denoting that they are equal which contrast with first opinions. The Eastern European chef is spoken to first. We see his ethnic side how he grabs the English woman’s hand and kisses it showing his respect. Here we establish him to be stereotypically which is then reinforced by him kissing the English man on the foreheads. Although between the intercuts we see the English mans facial expression as irritated by the dialogue between the English business women and the eastern European chef. When the English leave we see both chefs become rude to one another. The Eastern European Chef insults the English chef by using dialogue ‘English Plebe’. The diegetic sound of the other chefs working adds to the tension that’s occurring. This tension is also created by a range of quick jumps cut denoting each of the chef’s facial expressions.  There is then the use of shot reverse shot to show both sides of the argument however both at eye line match and they both have the same screen time establishing that they are equal. The audience then sees a close up of Gianni grabbing a knife which suggests that his ethnic culture resolves situation like this through violence. The handle of the knife is red which is symbolic for danger emphasising the violence. This is then reinforced through the diegetic sound of the knife being pulled conveying that his anger.   

Throughout the extract we see that ethnicity is represented through the use of stereotypes which demonstrate a separation between ethnic cultures.

Continuity Task - Props

We are using this picture to show Beths obsession. The crosses on the girls faces is symbolic for her hate and the heart on Connors face emphasise how in love she is with him.

Continuity Task - Where we are

After going through both of our clips we have notice that we it doesn’t show that Beth’s the stalker in the best possible way. We have made a list of what we need to add... 

This will help us display Beth as to be the stalker through the use of longer screen time, and a bigger Varity of camera skill which will convey Beth to be the dominant.

Second cut of Continuity Task

First Cut Of Continuity Task

This is our first cut of our media continuity task. We watched it back loads of times and decided that we needed to re edit it as it wasn’t as good as it could be.

Continuity Task - Idea

For our continuity task our idea is to do unrequited love. The woman is stalking the man as she is obsessed with him however the man doesn’t know and feels uncomfortable as he sub-consciously knows someone is there. We decided to do this as it links in with our actual final idea being that the woman is once again obsessed with a man. This will help us as a group know what we have to improve on when making it clear to our audience that the women is more dominant.

Shot list - Continuity Task

This is a list of our shot list. The ones with a red tick, we have already filmed.

Storyboard for Continuity Task

For our story board we decided to do it in sections so we can take on Sophie’s advice and swap them around if we needed to. This has really helped us we had to change some of the clips around as when we were filming we realised it didn’t work how we thought it would.

Continuity Task

We have been given a small task to help us prepare for our final piece. We have to make a 60 second clip and it can be about anything. This is to help us know what we need to do more research/work on to help us come out with the best intro we can produce. We have to include the following:

·         Do not break the 180 degree rule

·         Include Shot-reverse-shot

·         Include a variety of appropriate camera angels

·         Edit so that continuity is apparent and meaning is clear

·         Include more than one location

·         Interaction between characters

·         Include some non-diegetic sound

StoryBoarding Talk

In this lesson a girl called Sophie came into our lesson to help us with our understanding of story boarding and animatic as that is her profession. Sophie gave us 3 top tips to use when storyboarding, they are:

1)      Bullet point your story board so you have an idea of what to draw.

2)      When drawing your story board don’t worry about it being in order.  You will      find you will change it around. You can put it in order at the end.

3)      Remember the rule of thirds.

Sophie helped me a lot this lesson and and has helped me have more of an understanding of the importance of story boarding and i now know the rule of thirds.

Rule of thirds: a grid split into three equal sections. If you want the character to be notices then you make sure they are in the centre. If they aren’t as important then you marginalize them

Animatic: animated storyboard timed.

_{­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­}above is the example of an animatic compared to the final piece.

Location - Connor Barbors Blog

This Blog is great! As a group we get a idea of how certain clips are going to look and it starts to make everything look real.  As a group we liked how the Females house was bigger as it symbolised her as being dominated and wealthy which links in to her being the red herring as she’s the attacker. The location of both houses are brilliant for us as they are so close to school and one of which is Hannah's which makes it even better. Easy to get to and from. Overall this blog is really good as it allows the group to see what we have to work with and how we can present certain things.

StoryBoarding

To help us with Our Storyboarding we watched a 15 minute clip of the importance of a Story Board. From this I found out that the story board helps saves money as it gives the director direction of what they want to achieve and helps prevent mistakes.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwqL5_825rI

Above is the link to the video we watched.

We then were given the task of making our own storyboard for the chase in a film called 'Terror in the Night'. I have never done this before and my pair wasn't in so i was all alone.I learnt that we had to use mention the camera angle, movement, position, how long the shot lasts and the sound, non-diegetic and diegetic. also include dialogue if there was any. 

My first attempt at Editing

In our lesson this week we had to edit a piece of work which was a final piece a few years ago. Our task was to make the clip identical to the old one using our editing skills. I was put with Connor who done creative media for GSCE so already knew how to edit films. As I have never done anything like this before Connor showed me how to do it once and then guided me through it until I got the hang of it.  Connor then left the rest to me as he wanted me to gain a good understanding to help with our own work.

Strengths: I found that editing itself was pretty easy once I understood what to do and our piece was smooth with no jumps. Adding the titles were very easy however we didn’t have enough time to finish it but if we would have had longer it would have looked great.

Weaknesses: the start of the editing went a bit wrong and for some reason cut out the first bit and I didnt know how to change it back. Also the editing of the clip was a few seconds over and not in time to the original.

Overall though I found that for my first time editing I done a good job thanks to the help of Connor. I have gained new skills that I will be able to use when editing my own intro and I will have more of an understanding of what Connor means when we disgust how we are editing and why we are doing in it in that certain way.

Evaluation of Connor Barbors Actors blogs

From the print screens you can see what type of Male actors we are looking for. I think this is a very good blog as the whole group can see he views on the two actors we have to choose from. This bit of research is great as we can compared there acting back grounds and have a group discussion on who we think as a group would be the best person for the male role.

Once again the blog on the female actors is so much help. Connor has mentioned that we want an actress who looks innocent as we want the female to be the attacker and the male to be the victim. Just the same as the Male actors we will have to discuss who we think will play the best part and pick as a group who will suit the female role the best.

Evaluation of Harriet Newmans Film Noir research

 Harriet’s work:

This is very good, easy to understand work for my group. Harriet did a good job of making it simple yet has enough information to help us when making our intro as we will know some of the key thing to add. Good work!

Shots - Narrative Development

As a group we have decided to have intercuts of the two protagonists getting ready and between intercuts of the two, have the title sequence flashing between it on a dark background.

Change

We have decided not to do Film Noir as it was hard not to make it cliché and many other groups had the same idea of doing a mafia/gangster film. We want ours to be as original as we can make it. We have thought of making a psychological thriller but instead of the female being the victim the male is.  We have decided to keep the same Planning Narrative but obviously changing it to fit.  This is our Narrative Development plan:

Beginning

·         Intercutting between the protagonist & antagonist

·         Exit the front door

·         Gets into a Car, drives off.

Middle

·         Titles over animation. Not over live footage.

·         End titles of car pulling up

End

·         Enters club

·         Walks over to stag - *Close up of eyes*

·         Ends with fade out of eyes

Brainstroms on Thriller

 T 


These images are a rough idea of what we want to use within our intro. As you can see we need to make it a lot more detailed as its just first ideas that we are beginning with.

Revision of Sound

 

When analysing sound there are many key terms. Theses terms are: Ambience, Foley, Natural, Diegetic, Non Diegetic, Parallel Sound and Contrapuntal Sound. They all have specific meanings which are used throughout media without noticing yet have a meaning. For example in the Merlin extract we watch you could hear donkeys’ hoofs which is a Foley sound. These terms mean:

Ambience Sound: Sound within a scene in the background e.g. birds

Foley: Artificial sound that is added in after filming

Natural: Real sound that the camera picks up when filming

Diegetic: Sound that is in the scene/screen

Non Diegetic: Sound that is off scene 

Parallel Sound: Sound that fits what is happening in the scene, for example if someone is shown looking sad then sad music as non diegetic sound would be parallel sound. 

Contrapuntal Sound: Sound that contrasts the action and doesn't fit in with the scene, for example a fight scene being shown with soft, peaceful music played in the background.

                          

Sound is just like lighting and camera angels as they all have their own meaning yet all can become very cliché. However their clichés show how they work.

End Shot

This is a draft of our ending shot. Personally I find this very interesting as its a close up so it will show their emotion creating suspense for the audience and it has the convention of a western.

Thoughts for Mise-en-Scene

·         Protagonist

·         Custom

·         Setting

·         Sound

·         Music

1st Draft of Shot sequence

Opposite shot ideas

The picture below is a list of the opposites between men and women. We will be using this at the beginning of our intro:

Film Noir - Research

We have decided to focus our thriller on the sub genre ‘Film Noir’. To gain more of an understanding of the sub genre I have decided to do some independent learning which will help when planning our intro. I suggest my group reads this as i believe it will help them out a lot!

Here are some screen shots off the information I have found:

Codes and Conventions:

From my research I have learnt the specific codes and conventions and where it originates from. To make our ‘Film Noir’ as traditional as we can, we will need to evaluate my research and see what is helpful and what we can  use within our intro to make is as traditional as possible. However we want to make our intro as original as we can by avoiding clichés. To do this we will have to do analyse and watch some Film Noirs. 

Hannah Vincent - History of Thriller.

Hannah has structured her post in short sentences, more like points. This is a great way as it makes her research a quick easy way to find out about the History of a thriller. I have found out that when thriller genre was first introduce there was a fine line that film makers had to restrict themselves when making a thriller. I also found interesting that the genre thriller first developed from novels. This first novel made was Little Red Riding Hood in 1697. Overall a good easy post to get facts and information from quickly.

Connor Barbors blog - 'Goodfella's'

Connors research on ‘Goodfellas’ is really helpful. From reading his post I have found that when making a mafia film you need to be accurate on your clothing and lighting. Also Connor mentioned that there weren’t many cuts, mostly long shots which is something we need to research on to see if all mafia films are like this.  Furthermore Connor mentioned how there were many low angel shots which would have made the character be portrayed as more dominating.  Something we could use.

Connors notes on ‘Goodfellas’ has helped me to understand some of the specific techniques we will have to use when making our own opening. However this is just 1 analysis of a mafia film so in order to create our own mafia film we will need to research more films to make sure we get it right.  Connors evaluation on ‘Goodfellas’ is really effected and can help anyone who is thinking about their thriller being a mafia thriller.

Planning Discussion

Discuss the way social status is represented in this extract from Merlin. Make specific reference to the following:

·         Camera

·         Editing

·         Sound

·         Mise-en-scene

The extract begins with the camera panning around the inside of the castle, straight away implying the high status of the setting. Merlin is immediately revealed to be the protagonist by being centralised with a mid shot. We see that Merlin is wearing old, ratty clothes that symbolises his lower statues making it clear that he shouldn’t be there. Merlin then starts to look around. This is made intense through the use of non-diegetic sound of whispering. This creates an ominous tone. Merlin then looks at the door emphasising that he shouldn’t be there reinforcing his low statue. There is then an intercut of the protagonist point of view of a book. This then intercuts to a long shot to a women wearing purple. The camera zooms in to the women, to a mid shot. The women’s clothing highlights her status, purple denoting royalty and wealth. The diegetic sound of footsteps creates suspense to the audience as Merlin rushes around reinforcing the fact he shouldn’t be there. The camera then pans around the room catching the women. The over shoulder shot supports her class as we see the contrast of their clothes and there dialogue how even though they are still eye level implying that they are equal she dominates him through dialogue using a patronising tone towards him. This reminds the audience that Merlin shouldn’t be there making them feel suspense.

Further more in the extract as Merlin leaves the castle; the non-diegetic music comes to an end and the bright light of the sun insinuates that the castle was bad and that Merlin is safe now. As Merlin gets into the street, the diegetic sound of people talking and the clothes they are wearing presents to the audience that Merlin is with his peers. They all display low status through their clothes and the panning around the setting demonstrating the dirty conditions they live in. The camera then watches Merlin walk away from Arthur using a long shot. Even though Merlin is further in front of Arthur they are still at eye level contact connoting that they are equal. Arthur is then shown to be in centre screen portraying him as the Antagonist. Arthur’s class is presented through his silver armour juxtaposing with Merlin’s clothing which reflects the contrast in status. Arthur’s status is then reinforced as Arthur and his knights are wearing red which symbolises his status and his importance. The red also indicates that something bad is going to happen, creating an ambiguous tone. Also preparing the audience for something bad to happen making the audience feel sympathy for Merlin as because of the difference in status implying Merlin is going to get hurt. The antagonist has the high status however the camera focuses more on the protagonist reinforcing Merlin importance. Merlin uses of dialogue illustrates that although Arthur has the better status, Merlin isn’t scared. This is shown through the dialogue ‘You can’t talk to be like that’ connoting that Arthur is shocked at what Merlin said. However Arthur and his guards are still mocking Merlin even though he has made it clear that he doesn’t care about the social status differences.

As the fight begins Arthur throws Merlin a weapon. Merlin falls to the ground and for the first time we see Merlin’s true status is shown as he falls to the ground through the use of the high angel camera emphasises his low status. The non-diegetic music then commences making the scene more intense as it’s upbeat. There is then a shot reverse shot from the fight, to an old man looking out for the window back to the fight. The man’s face looks disappointed which makes the audience curious of the man as they don’t know who he is. Arthur then goes to hit Merlin and hits a cabbage. We get an extreme close up of the weapon hitting the cabbage stressing the strength of the weapon denoting the strength of the weapon. This stresses to the audience how serious this fight is. However as Merlin falls to the fall, the high angel camera appears Merlin to be weak yet we get an extreme close up of Merlin’s eye change colour. The colour change is symbolic for magic and for danger. The non-diegetic sound is indexical for magic too. The close up of the protagonist face show him to be proud. The panning across the room from Merlin’s point of view creates an exciting tone as Merlin is secretly dominating this fight through the use of his powers.  The Protagonist moves a box and we see a close up of the antagonist stepping on it. In addition to this we the facial expression of the antagonist face  looking annoyed and in pain which is then contrasted with the smug look on the protagonist face. Merlin proves his dominance here indicating that status means nothing. Once again the camera pans across the room and Merlin moves a piece of rope causing Arthur to fall over. For the first time the audience sees Merlin from a low angel and Arthur for a high angel Making Merlin’s status look better then Arthurs. Merlin looks into the crown pleased with winning and catches eye contact with the old man who appears to be low status as he is wearing ratty clothes with dull colours such as Brown. This disappointment in his faces makes Merlin distracted. Arthur then gets up and hits Merlin with a broom. For every hit there is an non-diegetic Foley sound emphasising how hard Merlin is being hit. The antagonist puts the protagonist back in his place which is lower than him.

In addition to this after the fight Arthur sweeps the floor that Merlin is lay on which is symbolic for brushing him off. It also portrays Arthur to be arrogant. Once again Foley sound is added to reinforce how symbolic it is. Arthur’s guards grab Merlin yet Arthur tells them to ‘let him go’. The dialogue implies that Arthur has respect for Merlin as he is confident. The guards reinforce Arthurs highness is society and the difference in status between the two of them.  However they are still at eye line level showing that they are equal to one another. The shot cuts to Merlin and the old man, assumed to be his teacher, having an argument. There is a shot reverse shot showing that they are both equal to each other in society. There facial expressions imply that this fight is more meaningful.  Merlin’s dialogue ‘I’m just a nobody and I always will be’ connote that Merlin is actually affected by being so low in society and that ‘magic’ is what makes Merlin status higher. Merlin’s facial expression connotes to the audience that he is feeling guilty for unsatisfying his teacher. This is emphasised by shouting at each other and having no non-diegetic sound which makes it more serious. The ending shot is off the teacher establishing that the teacher is dominate even though that they are equal class and are both low status.

My progress so far as an A Level Student

As I didn’t take media as a GSCE I didn’t really know what to expect.  I have found I’ve had an OK start to the course however I didn’t realise how hard it would be.  I’m confident with the effect of camera angles, and lighting and how editing can change the genre of a piece. I can understand why the POV (Point Of View)  is how it is and support my point. I have the basic understanding of structuring an essay and I’m good at answering the question yet when it comes to analysing Camera, editing and Mise-en-scene even though I understand why it’s done i struggle with analysing it in a technical way. I find i answer the questions like an English essay using the wrong terminology. I need to learn the difference between the two and work on the definitions of the terminology. By doing research i have learnt the difference in age rating 15 and 18. This will help not only me, but  my group as a whole when it comes to making our intro as it will help us decide how restricted we want it too be. I feel like my strength in the group is organisation. I often write down what needs doing on a whiteboard and as a group we decide who does what. However i often forget to blog what we have done which i need to work on.

My targets: To understand the technical terminology when essay writing. This will include revising over key words and learning the full definition. Also i need to Blog more and in more detail.

Evaluation of Harriet Newmans Analysis of ‘Mementos’

What Harriet Done:

 Harriet starts off with noting how she is going to lay out her blog for her analyses of ‘Mementos’ This great as it’s easier to find specific  parts of her analyses. Harriet has laid her blog post out neatly and easier for anyone to get help/ideas from.  Also Harriet has bullet pointed what she has found out which will be an easier way to read over the notes when it comes down to making our own intro. However Harriet could of improved her blog by having a link off Mementos to help us understand more. Harriet also could off added her own ideas at the end and told us how this research has helped her.

Evaluation of "Panic Room" By Hannah Vincent

When reading Hannahs Evaulation of 'Panic Room' I found that Hannah pointed out when she could use techniques from this opening in her own work. This will help us when making our intro. Hannah commented on Sound, lighting, Cutting, Camera angels, Mise-en-scene. This is very good however Hannah could of done headings of these and evaluated them in more detail. Finally as a whole Hannah covered everything and has helped our group and others, with new ideas to what we might want to add to our opening.

Sound -

Notes From my lesson on Sound.

 

P = Protagonist

A = Antagonist