Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I think The Captive uses props appropriate to its genre, so that we can add realism. We have used realistic props, like the guns and blood, which are typical for gangsters as in every gangster film you always see them carry their guns on their body, so in this aspect the fim looked professional to the audience due to our props aswell as our creation of location. We wanted to go for the whole warehouse type look for our location, so it would have a feel of isolation from the outside world. So the characters would here no sounds indicating where they were, no light to tell them what time of day it is, nothing. We went for a more compact warehouse look, so its claustrophobic and very intense, giving the feeling of imminent death. In our location in the beginning of our film you see a woman tied up, as a hostage, this is generic for gangster films, as they kidnap people to get information out of them that will benefit them.
The hostage situation can be seen in a Tv show called Chuck, however chuck is a Tv show, its also a Spy show, though i think they are very similar, you can also see another hostage situation in Burn Notice, being a Gangster/Spy Tv show.
In The Captive our 2 male characters are in smart suits, we know this is a convention of gangster films, from the films we analysed, and all maled are always in suits, whether they are having a shoot off, running away, in a buisness meeting or off killing rival gangs. Alexis in our film is dressed up in a dress, and we know in other films the women are normally in dress to how off the wealth and to distingush between the masculinity of the males and her obvious femininity, to show shes from an upper class background not meant for the gangster world. This can also be seen in Gangster Squad, as it exhibits the same type of Mise-en -Scene as us. It can also be seen in Public Enemies.
Through lighting you create the sense of danger, in our opening we filmed in a dark container, which we hoped added to the mystery of our film, by adding snipits of light in the flashbacks, so it maked the audience question lots of things like, what's going on, who are those people, etc. This type of lights can be seen in the Godfather several times.
The same type of light can again be seen in Gangster Squad
Our music also builds tension, as it has a hertbeat in the background, we decided it symbolised the woman's life thread, so when the gun gets shown her heart rate speeds up and when the film goes black at the end the beating continues for about 4 seconds before it stops, leaving the audience wondering is she's dead or its just the end of that scene. We also have one main piece of music which has a fast beat rythm to it so it can cause suspension and momentum, so it links with the building up of fear.
Overall our final piece used the stereotypical conventions of Gangster films in terms of the costume, props, though we did slightly change the gun type, as instead of using tommy guns, we used hand guns.
Shot Types used in Opening Films
CAMERA SHOTS, ANGLES, MOVEMENTS AND POSITIONS
Establishing Shot (Could also be a Crane shot) generally tells the audience where the film is going to be set, Establishing Shots are usually Crane Shots which are dolly-shots-in-the-air.
Extreme Long Shot tells the audience where the next scene will take place, normally showing the exterior of a building or landscape.
Long Shot is used to show the images at "life size" and put real distance between the audience and cinema screen
Birds-eye View/Ariel Shot is usually taken from a helicopter in order to establish movement and setting. It shows the scene from directly overhead.
Over-the-shoulder Shot is where the camera is positioned behind one figure, revealing another figure, and part of the first figures back, head and shoulder.
Overhead/High angle Shot is where the camera is elevated above the gerenal action to give a general overview. The object or charcter becomes part of a wider picture.
Low angle Shot increases height to inspire fear or insecurity in the viewers. It also helps give a sense of confusion to a viewer.
Full Shot shows the whole shot of a character, we see the figure from head to toe. Full shots are used so we, as viewers, can establish relationships between characters.
Eye level Shot (also a Wide shot) is positioned as though a human is actually observing a scene, like the actors heads being on a level with the focus.
Mid shot contains the figure from waist up, normally used for diaglogue scenes.
Two shot contains two figures from the waist up (same with a Three shot, but any more than 3 figures, usually becomes a long shot)
Point of View Shot made from a camera position close to the eye of the performer, made as if the audience are experiencing everything the character does.
Close up shows very little background an dusually concentrates on a face or a detail of mise-en-scene. A close up takes us into the mind of the charcter, so is an intimate shot.
Extreme Close up usually magnifies beyond what the eye would experience, so an extreme close up of a face, would show only the eyes or mouth.
Canted Angle (This can also be an example of a hand-held shot) is where the camera is tilted to become the eyes of the character (a POV shot) hand hled shots are usually used for this.
Pan movement which scans a scene horizontally, to follow a moving objects which is kept in the middle of the frame.
Tilt a movement which scans a scene vertically (but basically similar to a pan)
Zoom lense doesnt move the camera, its where the camera zooms in and out of a scene very quickly.
This video show a pan, tilt and zoom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9JWgU9YVcU
Dolly Shot is where the camera is placed on a moving vehicle and moves alongside the action, following the moving figure or object. Its a goof way of portraying movement or the journey of a character.
An example of a Dolly shot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbhBJBM-E2Q
EDITING TECHNIQUES
Cross Cut is a cut from one line of action to another
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-A69UHFk4s
Matched Cut (Match on Action) is usually made on action, is used to make a scene look smooth, for example, we see a person turn towards the door, then their hand on the handle, then we see then walking through the door, from the other side of the door than the scene started.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI82hsBrq8w
Jump Cut is an abrupt switch from one scene to another which may be used to make a dramatic point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S5pTUaOwI0
Cutaway is a bridging, intercut shot between two shots of the same subject, showing secondary activitly happening at the same time as the main action
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoFto-Zhy8s
Cutting Rate is where frequent cuts are used as deliberate interruptions to shock or surprise the audience.
Cutting Rhythm can be progressivly shortened to increase tension. It may also create exciting, lyrical or staccato effect in the viewer.
Fade is a gradual transition between shots. The picture gradually appears from or dissapears to a blank screen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bup_zehvBo
Split Screen is the division of the screen into parts which can show the viewer a few images at the same time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHvD9mVDxfY
SOUND
Diegetic - When the actors can hear the music, as well as the audience (e.g a radio)
Non-Diegetic - when only the viewers can hear the music, not the characters. The music is from a different place than the on screen action.(e.g. when theres actiony music in a car chase)
Synchronous - sound that is caused by an event on screen, the sound matches the action
Asynchronous - is where the music is separate from the visuals, like a voiceover or dialogue from another scene
Sound Bridges - music that carries over to the next scene, to help the transitions be more fluid
Sound Effects - used to create a sence of realism or create some psychological impact
Ambience - id the background sounds, to create atmosphere
Selective sound - is used to emphasise key sound elements within a sequence
Sunday, 7 April 2013
Target Audience
Target Audience
Target audience is extremely important because it means you can tailor your film to a certain age range or gender, so that it gets the audiences taste.
Out target audience is probably predominatly males, as males take the prominant role, it also includes lots of action, and women are sometimes degraded, by playing damsels in distress. I believe the age should be about 16 - 30's. The main audience would be teenagers/younger adults, as they are the ones who statistically go to the cinema more, so would be more likely to come and see our film.
As i couldn't find any statistics on gangster films, I looked up action films, becuase our film could also fall into that catagory because we have lots of action going on in our film.And looking at the following results from the Bourne film, we can see it is most popular with males and over half of the audience is between the ages of 18 - 29, my statement earlier about our target audience being teenagers and younger adults is correct.
Opening Credits Order
Opening Credits Order for our Film:
Time Credits
0.00 - Studio Name: Universal
0.22 - Production Company: Out Of Sight Pictures
0.32 - Producer or Directors Name: A CDS Film
(Actors)
0.34 - Aidan Kendler-Rhodes
0.37 - Scarlett Rowley
0.40 - Chris Sharp-Paul
0.51 - Film Title 'THE CAPTIVE'
1. 01 - Casting by Erica Husain
1. 04 - Costumes Designed by Pedro Sanchez
1.08 - Music Composed by Zach Winterford
1.12 - Edited by Harvey Sayer
1.18 - Production Design by Sammy Hades
1.23 - Director of Photography Kristen Levin
1.31 - Written by Out Of Sight Pictures
1.34 - Produced by Caitlin Dear - Fitzpatrick
1.37 - Directed by Jack Casey
2.06 Opening Ends
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