Thursday 8 December 2016

Sherlock beginning analysis

Sound

  • man has deep voice 
stereotypically a male thing
  • music plays when woman speaks and not when the man does
gender roles?
determines the importance of what he/she is saying
  • music- mysterious
  • impatience is shown during the videos when music isn't being played
  • sound of feet walking
quiet background noises- foot steps belong to important person - male
  • upbeat music 
causes feelings of turmoil


Mise En Scene


  • as she is talking the camera is not focused on her
  • man looks moody, allows woman to talk for him
gender roles
work partners
  • he is covered up more with clothes while woman is more revealing
  • woman looks more calm when speaking
  • he makes direct eye contact
  • while he talks woman watches him and while she spoke he didn't watch her
  • both have coffee
on the same level-knowledge of situation, and work place
  • John walking forward, camera follows
  • Sherlock hitting body, surrounded by a clear area
shows what he's doing is important


Lighting

  • dark-murky
  • blue tinge to screen
helps convey emotions being felt at that time
serious situation
  • brightens a little when man starts to speak
  • becomes lighter/ warmer toned light when john shows
connotations of a happier atmosphere
a good character
  • camera showing john and man sat on bench, lighting is murky
talking about bad memories
  • showing Sherlock and dead body-murky lighting
connotations of death/ dealing with a murder


Camera Angles and Editing

  • a space between man and women even though they are sitting next to each other
shows their relationship
different work status'
  • when woman talks the camera is far away when the man talks its closer 
  • more focus on man
  • camera moves about when woman speaks and doesn't for man
  • when text messages come through camera still on him-then focus back on him after
  • two shot
  • zooms in when man starts speaking
  • camera hand held, POV of John
  • when john was asked if he'd been shot the camera moved to show his expression towards the question
  • convo= over the shoulder shot/focus on one person talking
gives equal control over scene because they are both male
  • show POV of dead person
what they would see when Sherlock opens body bag
  • Sherlock dismissive of body bag
  • whipping dead body
shows that he has control over the situation
  • camera angle is on the same level as the dead body
makes Sherlock look bigger-more authority
giving the audience the same authority level as the dead person
  • Molly Hooper is standing outside of the room
this has denotations of less power/ less inferior (gender roles)
  • Molly in room alone with Sherlock wearing lipstick
has meanings of love and attraction
she wants to feel 'prettier'
  • Sherlock is blunt
because of his gender?
different types of male attributes












Sherlock Analysis Opening Scene


The representation of gender is shown to the audience at the beginning of the clip where the music is being played over the woman speaking and not the man, which can suggest that what she is saying is more important than what the man is going to say and so what she is talking about is represented through the music. Another side to this is that there is no music being played over the man when he speaks, which could indicate that he is a stronger character- the position of the character or the fact that he is male which would mean he is more dominant over the situation- and needs to be heard properly. The music being played and not being played can influence perceived feelings on the situation, IE the music is played on top of the woman talking which gives off emotions such as importance and tension, while no music can portray feelings such as impertinences.

The representation of gender can be portrayed through mise en scene, an example of this shown by the use of the camera. While the woman speaks the camera is never focused on her and moving around the room showing the audiences' reactions and when the man speaks the camera is constantly focused on him, this conveys the stature of the characters and that the female characters role is secondary to the mans. In this first scene the man is more covered up while the woman is wearing something more reviling, this has connotations of sex and that women are seen as objects or seductive beings to please a mans eye, this is a way of demeaning the gender of women. The man is covered up allowing him to perceived as the stereotype of a business man:smart, in control and a dominant character role. Physical objects also have a role in the ideas of gender in this scene; both male and female have a coffee cup which can symbolise that they are equals. Later in this clip Molly Hooping puts on lipstick to impress Sherlock and for her to feel more attractive. Lipstick has connotations of love and attraction, the choice of a woman wanting to wear lipstick shows that the woman is trying to impress the man which shows a representation of gender through societies eyes; a woman wants to impress the more dominant character-a man.

Lighting can also play a part in representing gender, this is shown when the lighting is tinged/darl/murky, which can symbolise the surrounding mood of what is being discussed by the woman (even though she is the one delivering the news and the man isnt) but when the man starts to speak the camera lighting/room lighting becomes warmer and brighter. This may be because he holds a different role within this scene -woman is the deliver and he answers questions-. Another example of lighting is in the next few scenes when John is shown walking in a park, warm lighting is used then, which can be a way of expressing his mood or the type of character he is. John is asked a personal question and the lighting become murkier, having a change in lighting shows the audience that something bad has happened or been brought up. The change in lighting still surrounding the same character shows that in some scenes the lighting cant define gender roles.

In this clip the representation of gender is shown by camera angles and editing, examples of this is shown in the first scene when the woman is talking the camera tended to zoom away from her and focus on the man next to her and the audience, while focusing on the man (as ive mentioned previously). Another exampe of camera angles and editing can be seen when Sherlock is whipping the dead body nearing the end of this clip, the camera is positioned at the same level as the dead body laying on the table which gives a POV of the dead body and a low angle shot up towards Sherlock. These angles show Sherlock as the more dominant character as he is looking down apon the dead person, automatically giving him a higher role, this could also reflect on Sherlocks gender, he is a male and they are known to be the more dominant gender. At this point the camera shows Molly standing outside the room, this represents gender by showing that the less dominant character, who happens to be a woman, not taking control of the situation and having to watch.

Film review and shots- Freedom Writer analysis

Freedom Writers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvTFaoxIfhw

A dedicated teacher within a racially divided Los Angeles school has a class of at-risk teenagers, who are deemed incapable of learning. Instead of giving up, she inspires her students to take an interest in their education and planning their future.
She assigns reading material that related to their lives and encourages them all to keep the journals in order to express their feelings and personal situations. The movie is also based on the DC program called City at Peace.
The film was dedicated to the memory of Armand Jones who was killed after wrapping up  the film. He was eighteen and shot to death after confrunting a robber.

The soundtracks consist of 'A Dream' produced by Will.I.Am, Tupacs song 'Keep Ya Head Up' and the instrumental section of Sia's 'Breathe Me' accompanying the trailer.
Overall the film was given 69% poitive reviews.
Freedom Writers was directed by Richard La Gravenese and based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary  by teacher Erin Grunell and her class.

At the beginning of the trailer, the first shot sets the scene and general situation of the film -what was happening in that society within that time period and place.
The different cut scenes jump from one to another, these put together create the background history of why the violence is occuring.
During the trailer there are various voice overs covering perticulare scenes, this gives the person the role of the narrator, someone who tells the situation as it is and holds no power over the different situations.


Pre Production Planning - Twilight (timeline analysis)

Twilight


For my film i have decided to base it on the idea of; boy and girl have sperate but similar lives, boy meets girl- then a plot twist. I wanted to base my film opening analysis' on films with a similar story plot, and Twilight is a similar film (more on the super natural side) to the base idea of mine.


00:16-00:20 The film begins with a blank, dark screen with and no sound being playing. This is setting the scene for the beginning of the film and what is going to happen; a blank canvas.

00:20 A voice over -done by one of the main characters- begins to speak in a dreamy tone as if she is just thinking aloud. "Ive never given it much thought to how I would die" This quote is foreshadowing the future and letting the audience know that somehow, somewhere, this character is going to die. It is also an open ended and rehtorical statement, which creates multiple questions ie, 'how does she die?' 'does she come back to life?' etc, this draws the audience in more and wants them to cary on watching to find out what the plot twist is.


00:23 The screen shows a forrest, which is the first scene of the film. The camera pans across the forrest floor to show an innocent deer drinking from a pool of water, when this is shown the voice over speaks again. This can allow the audience to compare the two characters together;both innocent. When the voice over mentions death the calm scene changes to show the deer being chased and hunted. The abrupt change comes with the drigger word of death. This short scene can be compared to the plot of the whole film, which is almost a visual interpretation of the wimple words spoken in 00:20.


00:40 The camera position changes from an over head position (shows the innocence of the deer) to a POV of the hunter. This cretaes a connection between the hunter and the audience, it allows the camera man/ film director to easly convey the feelings the hunter is feeling towards the audience because they then become 'part of the film'.  It builds up the tension within the film and can be percieved as a metaphor towards the situation the girl will face in the future.

00:48 The camera position changes between a track (the deer) and POV (of the hunter), both showing fast movements which expresses the urgency of the deer and the dire need of the hunter; despiration and want. By 1:03 the audience are shown two small clips of the hunter running across the screen and then leaping and catching the deer, this is all shown while still keeping the hunter an unknown character. By showing the life of the hunter and the animal, but clearly showing the deer (showing the audience that its innocent) and not showing the identity of the hunter allows the audience to try and picture/imagine what the hunter looks like- as humans are scared of the unkown/not knowing what they are up against.


1:04 The screen clears up by lighting up with white and changes to a clear blue sky. Having the screen light up with white can indicate the innocence or the 'pureness' of the following scene and of the characters personalities- instead of having the screen transition through a black screen into the next film sequence, which might indicate negative 'vibes'. The camera then pans down from the sky to show the main girl holding two kaktasis, and this is when her voice over starts up again. 

Having two different sceneries is showing two different lives, while with the use of a voice over, they become linked. Having the link may be foretelling a future relationship between the hunter and the girl or be showing the audience the hunter that is also going to kill her.


1:11 The camera pans onto the girls face, changing from an establishing shot to a close up. Showing the audience a close up of the characters face is one way of introducing her. By clearly showing someones identity to the audience it can help portray that characters' personality or persona, ie they are innocent and have no knowledge of bad things etc.


I'm researching Twilight because it is relevant to my genre. I wrote about all of the angles that represent emotions throughout the first few minutes of the clip because the opening of the film in more relevant for my future project.
I also chose Twilight because of the narrative it follows, its relevant to the romance film I am planning on making because if follows all of the emotional factors a romance features along with the drama and action of it featuring supernatural beings.
Twilight aims itself towards 12-30 year olds, rating itself a 12. Its made for a more female dominating audience because of the over riding decisision underlining the whole series 'Edward vs Jacob' while men might feel intimidated by girl fantasising over characters. The film was originialy aimed for students because the main characters are around the same age, this makes everything allot more relatable for the audeince who are that age.
The family roles within the film are father-daughter and mother-daughter which emphasises that the family is having problems, which is also a world wide thing happening in reality, this links with the social class that is also aimed towards everyone even for the fans.
https://www.slideshare.net/alanacoulter/target-audience-twilight

These are all factors that I am going to use in my film because the genre and audience rating is the very similar to what I'm going to aim for.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxjNDE2fMjI



Preproduction PlanningRomance film - if i stay

Preproduction PlanningRomance film - if i stay


If I Stay

I chose this film as my romance clip because I can relate to her musical side. Not only that the situation the main character is in is both realistic and fictional, and this draws in many different types of audiences.
The trailer shows how her life became so 'perfect' then suddenly changes to where she chooses between life and death, this creates a contrast and sudden change to the atmosphere of the whole film giving it a more realistic feel.

This is also a main influence towards the idea I have for my film, because it features the same cross genres as what I am aiming for within my film. It includes a car crash and the decision between life and death (influencing my idea of can my female character learn to remember her relationship before the car crash) with the building up of romance until it ends quickly.

Pre Production Planning- Mamma Mia (timeline analysis)

Mamma Mia 

For my film I have decided to base it on the idea of; boy and girl have separate but similar lives, boy meets girl- then a plot twist. I wanted to base my film opening analysis' on films with a similar story plot, and Mamma Mia is a romance film with a twist.

04:19 The main girl (Sophie) and her two friends are going through her mums old journal which has her love life written down in it-from twenty years prior- and this begins to give Sophie the idea of which of her mothers old summer lovers might be her father. The camera position shows an over the shoulder of one of the girls, with Sophie in the middle, as the main character the audience is given full view of her reactions and expressions, while the third girl is just behind Sophie. The focus is on the girls with the background showing the area the whole film is based on.

04:56 The camera shows a close up of Sophie singing which helps convey her feelings and emotions easily towards the viewers. A close up of a character allows the audience to become familiar with the person and gives them the 'spot light' of the scene and can help signify her importance within the film.

09:57 Sky (Sophies' fiance) has arrived to see her and the two girls (bridesmaids) and starts to discuss with Sophie about what there wedding would be like if he was in charge. The camera position is showing an over the shoulder shot, which indicates -in the situation- that a conversation is taking place. The 180 rule is also being used here, showing the shot reverse shot between the couple.

11:21  Shot reverse shot, 180 rule and an establishing shot are being used to show the conversation between the two women who have arrived and their friend (Sophie's mother) who came to pick them up. By using these three rules it allows the audience to understand the situation (the people and the surroundings) more and the characters personalities, the 180 rule also helps stop the audience get confused between who is where, which helps keep the conversation flowing.

18:07 The mother began to sing with her two friends and within the whole shot a fantasy world that all three of them are beginning to imagine appear, it depicts an alternative life they would all want to have if they had more money and were in a better financial position. This scene shows connotations of a young and expensive life style that the women envy or wish they could have had, it may also for-tell what the mother would like her daughter to experience in the future.


I was influenced by this film because of the plot and narrative it has. Overall it is a romance/ musical that captivates its audience with the characters and the storyline.
This film is relevant to the one I am planning because it has the general structure I am also using for mine; it starts off innocent, bad things happen or there is a twist, it gets better, worse then better again and for my overall film that that narrative is what I plan on following (allowing to influence my work).