Thursday, 9 October 2014
Feedback on progress
Some interesting and perceptive insight into how the director has created meaning. If Somerset's room is dark it may be that the lighting at the start of his film is purposefully low key to try and evoke the claustrophobia of the city. David Fincher uses these techniques often in his films.
I think you could be more thorough in analysis and check the work before publishing in terms of punctuation. The examiner will view these posts.
The Mission Impossible analysis is more thorough but could be checked for accuracy.
I suggets going back to your posts and adding further detail. I will advise you how to do this.
Wednesday, 8 October 2014
Seven
Seven
At the start of the film, Summerset, played by Morgan Freeman, is in a very dark room of his house. This symbolises his isolation away from everyone else and suggests that he lives alone. Somerset's room is dark it may be that the lighting at the start of his film is purposefully low key to try and evoke the claustrophobia of the city. David Fincher uses these techniques often in his films. There is a mid angled shot when he is getting dresses. From what he is wearing, we can see that he has an important job as he puts on his police identity badge.
In the next scene, we can see that a murder has happened from the body that is laying motionless on the floor showed through a high angled camera shot looking down at it. When Brad Pitt or 'Mills' arrives, we see the tinges of green light which could potentially suggest to the audience that he is a bit jealous of Summerset as he has had a lot more experience than he does and knows how to do the job best.
From the title 'Se7en' we can tell that its about the seven deadly sins which hints to us that the whole of New York city is soaked in sin and it is what the film will be about. There is rain throughout the opening scene. This shows pathetic phalacy and how everything that occurs will be sad, dangerous and glum. The quietness at the beginning emphasises the feel of danger and death and the police officers wearing white and black, gives us a hint of the good and bad that will be in the film.
When Summerset is lying in bed, the ticker gets louder and louder which also portrays a sense of danger and despair to the audience. There is a lot of mid shots when Summerset and Mills are talking to show the viewers their body language as mills keeps on fidgeting but Summerset is very calm and content as it is just an everyday thing for him to see a terrible sight of a dead body. This is also shown through the fact that Mills never stops talking and is frequently asking questions throughout the film to prove he is curious about learning what the job entails as a police officer. However, Summerset doesn't talk much so it ensures us he already knows what is going on.
In the title scene, it shows how the criminal puts everything together but also leaves things out as he wants to be caught out. The music is very weary and has a creepy feel to it to match the film and what it entails. There are close up shots of the criminal shaving off his skin on his finger to hide his finger print so that whatever he touches won't leave his trace on it. He does this as he is trying not to get found out and has a clever plan to make sure that that doesn't happen very soon.
Blue Velvet
Blue Velvet
The music at the start sounds like violins and is quite calm to begin with but then gets louder. This could represent what will happen throughout the film and how it will progress and something drastic will occur. The first show we see is a tilt shot that reveals a bright blue sky, white picket fence and red roses. It look like a scene from a Disney movie, the idea of a perfect setting is shown. The blue sky can show pathetic phalacy of how everything is perfect and foreshadows a feeling to the viewer that as the film goes on, it will change and do the opposite. The red roses are very significant as the colour red symbolises danger, death and blood and the fact that they are roses could symbolise and portray imagery of loss or a funeral that will occur.
In the next scene, it is a sunny day which again is pathetic phalacy but there is a man who is watering his garden and he has a heart attack. This is very ironic because due to the fact that it shows it as being a sunny day and he has a heart attack, you would have expected it to be raining in the picture. There is an establishing shot and a pan of the America surroundings showing how perfect it is but then that happens which shocks the audience. When the bloke falls to the ground, there is an extreme close up of the rummaging through the grass. Next, we see hundreds of cockroaches which is showing the device of animal imagery for something that will happen throughout the film.
In the rest of the opening scene, there are loads of hints of it being portrayed as a very safe town like with the markings on the road for the children going to school and the lollypop lady helping them get to the other side. There is also an old fire engine that drives past too showing irony as the man is stood right on the edge of the truck as it is driving which isn't safe so the image contradicts itself. With all of these things saying to the audience that it is a very safe town, it makes the viewer feel even more on edge watching it because they know that something bad is about to happen and the film will be full of disaster and nothing more.
Monday, 6 October 2014
Codes & Conventions
Film Noir
In film noir's they contain many codes and conventions for example:
- Sound
- Lighting
- Narrative
- Use of language
- Mise-en-Scene
- Character
- Iconography
- Use of the camera
When they use to film film noir's, they only used one light source like coming through some blinds, candles or a lamp. This is because they didn't have the technology that we have today or the money so they had to spend as little as possible on making the films. They would also use things like dry ice to create smoke too.
In the films they used props such as a trilby hat, trench coat, identity badge, cigarettes, alcohol etc... This is called iconography when they use symbols or typical things that are all in the same sort of films in other words, the genre of films.
The characters in film noir's are usually detectives, a victim and someone that helps the victim. The murderer usually plays up to be the victim normally as a femme fatal where they draw in the detective to brainwash him into thinking she is the victim kind of like a scenario with a spider and a fly - she is the spider twisting the detective around her finger to try and convince him.
Monday, 22 September 2014
Mission Impossible 2
Mission
Impossible Film Analysis
The first shot is an establishing shot to show the character’s
surroundings of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is an array of very steep
and high mountains which Tom Cruise is seen climbing. This gives the audience
an insight to his strength and capability of just how powerful he is but also
the Grand Canyon is very bare with no people to show his isolation from the
rest of the world and how this will affect him throughout the rest on the film.
The camera which could
have been used on a helicopter as it is so high up, starts to zoom in towards
the character to show him making his climb. As you can see, he is not held onto
the rock by any form of support, just his bare two hands which adds to the
danger shown in the opening scene. Next, the camera does some pan shots to
prove to the audience that he isn’t being held on by anything and to emphasise
the characters strength and how it might be used throughout the rest of the
film. Then the camera zooms out to give the audience more of a view of the
Grand Canyon and the climber showing just how high it is.
As the character carries on his climb, there is a close up of
his face which tells us that he is not
scared or in fear of what he is doing and how high he is up which makes the
viewer feel more secure that he isn’t going to fall off of the rock. A birds
eye view is made as the camera looks down and the character is looking up
towards it. In the scene, we can hear the diegetic sound of an eagle circling
around him as if he is the prey but Tom is not fazed by it at all and just
carries on. The birds eye shot that was made could be to represent how the bird
could be looking down on him.
The next shot that is made is when the character jumps from
one part of the rock to another in order to be able to climb up easier. This
shocks the audience even more as he is already risking his life let alone jump
across the rock because if he was to fall, he would die so he is making a huge
choice. When he makes the jump and gets to the other side, he falls down the
rock but luckily manages to hang on to the edge of the cliff which is
significant because no one else would have been able to get such a good grip
with just their fingertips lifting their whole body weight. Then, he hangs off
of the cliff with just one arm which would take some serious strength to which
so this emphasises to the audience just how strong and powerful he is and that
no one should cross him.
The camera pans/moves around like a bird would when flying to
show the character holding on to the rock in a position which is similar to how
Jesus was on the cross. This symbolises how Tom Cruise will be seen as the
saviour in this film and will save people that he comes into contact with
unless they are the villains. There is a zoomed in close up to his face and the
expression on his face shows that nothing fazes him and he isn’t bothered about
where he is or what he is doing proving his fearlessness. Suddenly, he swings
round back onto the rock to begin his climb again. When he gets to the top of
the mountain, there is a moving shot or 360 degree shot which is like the bird
coming to get him but it just circle round him as he watches and doesn’t harm
him. An establishing shot gives a clear view of the Grand Canyon and the overall picture so that you can see
everything in its surroundings.
Next, we see the helicopter come into view and turn round to
when the character is. Because the helicopter is black, we just assume that
something bad is going to happen because there is another character in a black
and white suit that is holding what appears to be a gun. When he fires the gun,
an object lands in the rock and then there is a close up view of Tom’s face
smiling so we know he knows the person and what the object could be so the audience
don’t feel on-edge anymore. A low shot is taken when Tom walks over towards the
object and picks it up. When he takes the lid off of the arrow shaped object,
there is a close up of the sunglasses that are inside to show what they are and
what the main focus is as they are the only things in that shot. Then there is
another close up of Tom’s face when he smiles and shakes his head because he
knows who they are from and what they are because they aren’t ordinary
sunglasses. When he puts the sunglasses on, we get a point of view shot which
is the same as if we were looking through his eyes at the information he is
being told. Furthermore, there is then a mid shot where we can see the
character with his sunglasses on and also some of the scenery of the Grand
Canyon. The shot is panned so that we can see the full view of the character
not moving as he is focused on what he has to listen to showing his mental and
physical ability to block out what is happening around him to listen to one
voice. When he takes off the sunglasses and throws them away they explode and
the film titles start up which makes it a great opening scene because it gives
the audience a mixture of things that will happen through the entirety of the
film and the explosion emphasises again the danger that will come with the job
that he does.
The music is quite calm at the start which is not what you
would expect because of his circumstances. Then it builds up bas the character
gets higher up the rock. When he jumps the music slows temporarily for a second
and the singing stops but when he is hanging onto the cliff with one hand, then
puts the second hand on, the music’s tempo builds up again getting louder and
louder and the singing is back again. The music sounds like some that you would
hear on holiday abroad but it is really ironic as he is rock climbing which you
wouldn’t normally do on holiday.
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