Media Mag: Openning Scenes

Today I  logged onto the mediamagazine that we were given to look through to help us with our coursework. While I was reading through i noticed an article about how the film Kick Ass created an openning scene which was very similar to other blockbuster super hero films. The openning to kick ass starts as many super hero films do; with a super hero wearing a costume and jumping off a building with a twist as instead of the hero flying off like superman or batman would do, this superhero crashes to the ground on top of a car failing at what he is trying to do horribly. This shows that with a slight tweek to what you would expect from a film you can keep the audience on the edge of their seats and will them onto to wtaching the rest of the film. Kick Ass used this so they could create a humouress film where as we could do the same but to catch the audience off guard to make them want to watch the rest of the film... Too bad there isnt going to be one.

The Sopranos Opening Theme

The Soprano's title sequence shows only one person throughout the sequence showing that he is the main importance of the story. As the driver is on his journey you see alot of items that are linked with the stero type of what people would expect a mafia boss to have. The character shows that he has a chain round his wrist and rings on his fingers and at one point he even starts smoking his cigar. The location of which the character is driving through does not link with what people would expect of a mafia member as the driver is on a journey through New Jersey which is not seen to be involved in the mafia. This gives an idea that he may be an outsider of the big families that run the mafia, and makes the audience think about the possible outcomes of what is to happen next in the story.

The Godfather: Title Sequence

The Godfather's titles consist of just the name strips which appear over police records of the mug shots that appear onto the screan. Or the names will appear as autographes on the back of pictures as they come onto the screen. All the titles are in white upon a blackbackground, other than the autographes. These tiltes are very small and slighlty draw just as much attention to them as needed. The shots many depict some irony, by showing mug shots, which are also used by police when someone is caught offending. They also show a gang, or gang culture and crime, as they are shown one after the other. Throughout the sequence the colours remain grey and dark to show that the pictures are old and possible to show what has been shown is in the past in the storyline of the film. The lack of colour also shows there may be some sort of darker side of the men shown.

Main Task risk assessment

Action Carried Out	Risk	How this can be prevented or changed
Filming the first shot of the opening scene.	The weather being different than forecast (snow) or a reflection in the windows which shows the film crew in the background from the windows.	Check the weather consistently and if the weather was to change, we can sweep any snow away out of the shot or break and remove any ice. We also shall angle the camera away from the door so there is not a direct reflection of the camera.
Lighting up the inside of the restaurant.	Wires on the floor causing health and safety risks. The angles of the lights may be difficult to produce and also in some cases depending on what is in the restaurant	Using proper ladders and stand if needed for the lighting and tape the wires to the floor to insure that there are no hazards of people tripping and injuring themselves.
Props and Clothing	All props and clothing may not match the theme and this would ruin the atmosphere. The clothes may also make the characters had to see in the light because of the colours used.	All clothing and props must be decided on and if this problem occurs the colours must be changed.
Glass Breaking in the shooting of the gun shot	Breaking glass would be really dangerous and this would be a health and safety hazard as someone could be cut or seriously injured.	There will be no real glass used in this shot but sugar glass alternative to resemble the smashing of real glass but with no hazard to anyone who is taking part in this scene.
Shooting of a gun inside a restaurant	The public outside of the restaurant maybe able to see into the scene while the shooting is occurring and may be distressed to see  gun being shot even though it is not a real one but a look alike. This could cause problems as a member of the public may do the correct thing and call the police although they are un knowing of what is going on. This coul get our whole shot into alot of trouble	As we are in a private place we should have no problems gaining permission to use guns on set although with this issue we will need to tell the authorities of the area of the restaurant that we are going to be using a look alike firearm to insure that there are no miss under standings and that no one is forced to waste their time

Inital Ideas

Title/working title	Clear Bets         (?)
Plot/outline summary	Due to the assassins actions 3 years ago, a gang rivalry has been created, two mafia families fight each other over the money being taken 3 years ago.
Opening sequence outline/summary	Assassin receives a phone call, and is told to murder 6 rival mafia guys who owe money. He then walks into a closed restaurant through the back door, and proceeds upstairs where an illegal poker game is taking place including thousands of pounds. This money is owed and the assassin then pulls out two guns and shoots everyone there, except the waitress who hides and survives, the assassin then takes the money.
Characters (consider genre, role, image etc)	1 – Main Assassin 5/6 – Gangsters gambling 1 – Barman 1 – Waitress
Mise en scene Setting: Locations: Costumes: Props: Lighting (what mood are you trying to create? etc)	Guns, Money, Poker related things, drinks. Dark, empty, closed restaurant. Upstairs. Restaurant Dark, not to reveal much character. Shirts, waistcoats, blazers. Guns, shot glasses,money, poker. Toplighting, backlighting to create a sense of being superior. Low ambient lighting. Few lights used with mise on scene.

Lighting

Key Light

Its the most important light, its mostly the highest intensity light.

Filler Light

Used to soften the harsh shadows created by the key light and the back light. There can be more than one filler light.

Back Light

This light is set at the back of a character or an object. It makes the character or an object standout. Back light also helps to counteract the effect of key light 

Top Lighting 

Top lighting is when the light source is lighting the character or an object from above.

Under-lighting

 Under-lighting is when the main source of light is bellow the character or an object

High Key Lighting  

Hight key lighting is when most of the shot is brightly lit with few shadows.

Ambient Light
The light already present in a scene, before any additional lighting is added.

Incident Light
Light seen directly from a light source (lamp, sun, etc).

Reflected Light

Light seen after having bounced off a surface.

Spot

A controlled, narrowly-focused beam of light.

Flood

A broad beam of light, less directional and intense than a spot.

Tungsten

Light from an ordinary light bulb containing a thin coiled tungsten wire that becomes incandescent (emits light) when an electric current is passed along it. Also known as incandescent light.

Incandescent

Incandescent lamps produce heat by heating a wire filament until it glows. The glow is caused by the filament's resistance to the current and is called incandescence.

Halogen

Type of lamp in which a tungsten filament is sealed in a clear capsule filled with a halogen gas.

Fresnel

A light which has a lens with raised circular ridges on its outer surface. The fresnel lens is used to focus the light beam.

Codes and Convetions

Opening
This is the first few minutes of a film which is placed so that the audience watching the film know what the plot is, as the plot of the movie is in these first few minutes. If these few minutes are not good than these can make the audience feel confused and lost when the rest of the film is playing.


Gangster Movies
Motifs of The Gangster Genre

1. The hero is an immigrant who dislikes his low status in life and wants more.

2. Unlike the Western, this story takes place in the big city. The wide open plains have been traded in for the seedy alleyways and wharves of the urban jungle.

3. The gangster can only gain power by taking it. It is survival of the fittest, and the only law is the law of the jungle.

4. The only loyalty the gangster feels is for his own immigrant roots.

5. Success is measured in material goods - flashy cars, expensive clothes, and mansions. Women are measures of success as well.

6. The hero's antagonist is society, and the enforcers of the law. The police, the FBI, the CIA represent the enforcers of societal status quo.

7. The end justifies the means.

Juno

After been given a practise task to basicly create a SPOOF of the film JUNO which we have renamed JUDO as we replaced the girl charceter with a male. This excersise is to help us practise skills that we can use in our final mian production. The task was alot of fun but we were also faced with some challenges that has helped us think about how to over come them for our final production.

The main problem was that during the shooting of this task the weather changed twice. We managed to overcome this by showing the charcater JUDO putting up his hood when it started to try and rain which allowed him to have his hood when rain started appearing in the shot. Then later on in the day the rain stoped, and we showed this by the character taking off his hood. Luckly the weather stayed the same throughout the rest of the shooting.

Research: Back Light

The back light is sometimes called hair or shoulder light, because when lighting an actor or an actress, backlighting will cause the edges of his or her hair to glow if he or she has fuzzy hair. This gives an angelic halo type effect around the head. This is often used in order to show that the actor or actress so lit is "good" or "pure". In television this effect is often used in soap operas and has become something of a cliché of the genre. It is also sometimes called the kicker or rim light.

Backlighting helps to provide separation between the subject and its background. In the theatre it is often used to give a more three-dimensional appearance to actors or set elements, when front lighting alone would give a two-dimensional look. In chiaroscuro effects in painting, such as the candlelit paintings by Joseph Wright of Derby (illustration, left), backlighting helps separate subjects in the foreground and emphasizes depth.

Research: Key Light

The key light is the first and usually most important light that a photographer, cinematographer, or other scene composer will use in a lighting setup. The purpose of the key light is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject. The key light is not a rigid requirement; omitting the key light can result in a silhouette effect. Many key lights may be placed in a scene to illuminate a moving subject.

The key light can be "hard" (focused) or "soft" (diffused), and depending on the desired setup can be placed at different angles relative to the subject. When part of the most common setup—three-point lighting—the key light is placed at a 30–60° angle (with the camera marking 0 degrees). In addition to the horizontal angle, the key light can be placed high or low producing different effects. The most common vertical position for the key light is at a 30° degree angle (i.e. slightly above the eye line; the nose should not cast a shadow on the lips).

Research: Lighting

Today we were taught how different types of lighting are used when filming. We had a guy called scott come in with two lights and defusers. He demenstrated different types of filming and who it effects the way the audience looks at what is on screan.

the different types of lighting that are used by industries are:

Key Light
Back Light
Filler Light
Low Key Lighting

Change in group

After talking with my group we all decided to split I am now in a group with

Luis Mendes
Zygimantas Pukas
Luke Sheridan

Research: Camera Shots - Tilt Shot

the Tilt shot also known as the Dutch tilt, Dutch angle, oblique angle, German angle, canted angle, or Batman Angle are terms used for a cinematic tactic often used to portray the psychological tension in the subject being filmed. A tilt shot is achieved by tilting the camera off to the side so that the shot is composed with the horizon at an angle to the bottom of the frame. Many Dutch angles are static shots at an obscure angle, but in a moving tilt shot the camera can pivot, pan or track along the director established diagonal axis for the shot.

Research: Camera Shots - Close Shot

In film medium a close-up tightly frames a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots. Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene. Moving in to a close-up or away from a close-up is a common type of zooming.

Close-ups are used in many ways, for many reasons. Close-ups are often used as cutaways from a more distant shot to show detail, such as characters' emotions, or some intricate activity with their hands. Close cuts to characters' faces are used far more often in television than in movies; they are especially common in soap operas. For a director to deliberately avoid close-ups may create in the audience an emotional distance from the subject matter.

Close-ups are used for showing who the main characters are. Major characters are often given a close-up when they are introduced as a way of indicating their importance

Research: Camera Shots - Medium Shot

In film, a medium shot is a camera shot from a medium distance. The dividing line between "long shot" and "medium shot" is fuzzy, as is the line between "medium shot" and "close-up". In some standard texts and professional references, a full-length view of a human subject is called a medium shot; in this terminology, a shot of the person from the knees up or the waist up is a close-up shot. In other texts, these partial views are called medium shots. (For example, in Europe a medium shot is framed from the waist up). It is mainly used for a scene when you can see what kind of expressions they are using.

Medium Shots are great for showing some expression of characters and detial in the character. Alot more than the detailshown in a Long shot

Research: Camera Shots - Long Shot/ Extreme Shot

In film and video, a long shot (sometimes referred to as a full shot or a wide shot) typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings. It has been suggested that long-shot ranges usually correspond to approximately what would be the distance between the front row of the audience and the stage in live theatre. It is now common to refer to a long shot as a "wide shot" because it often requires the use of a wide-angle lens. When a long shot is used to set up a location and its participants in film and video, it is called an establishing shot.

A related notion is that of an extreme long shot. This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an exterior, eg the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, as it is meant to give a general impression rather than specific information.

Research: Camera Shots - Establishing shot

An establishing shot in film and television sets up, or establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects. It is generally a long- or extreme-long shot at the beginning of a scene indicating where, and sometimes when, the remainder of the scene takes place.

Establishing shots may use famous landmarks to indicate the city where the action is taking place or has moved to, such as Big Ben to identify London, Sydney Opera House to identify Sydney, the Eiffel Tower to identify Paris or the Las Vegas Strip to identify Las Vegas
.

Sometimes the viewer is guided in his understanding of the action. For example, an exterior shot of a building at night followed by an interior shot of people talking implies that the conversation is taking place at night inside that building - the conversation may in fact have been filmed on a studio set far from the apparent location, because of budget, permits or time limitations.

An establishing shot may also establish a concept, rather than a location. For example, opening with a martial arts drill visually establishes the theme of martial arts. A shot of rain falling could be an establishing shot, followed by more and more detailed look at the rain, culminating with individual raindrops falling. A film maker is colluding with his audience to provide a short hand learned through a common cinematic cultural background.

An establishing shot should be two or three seconds - long enough for viewers to appreciate the scene.

Research: Camera shots

There are many different shots that I need to know about to produce a good final producition, I will have to find a definition of each shot and why they are used.

The shots i need to research are
Establishing shot
Long shot
Medium Shot
Close Shot
Extreme Close shot
Tilt Shot

Research: My favorate Film - The Blindisde.

My favorate film of all time is the blind side which is based on a true story of an american footballer Micheal Oher who goes from being homeless to an NFL Star. The film stars Sandra Bullock who plays the women who welcomes micheal into her home when she finds him walking through the rain with no where to go. She soon welcomes Micheal into her family and gives him a private tutor so that he could go to college and play football.

The story shows how the family goes through some ruff times with micheal; for example when Micheal and his adopted little brother are in a car crash and they find that micheal saves CJ's life by placing his forearm infront of CJ breaking his noise yet saving his life. Through out the film Micheal and CJ become more and more attached mainly through the game of football, CJ teaches Micheal or BIG MIKE who he normally calls him some of the skills that are required in playing the game.

The most dramatic moment in the film is sandra's speach that she gives to Micheal during a training session whichu you can see in this trailor above. She shows Micheal how his team is just like his family and it is his job to protect them, this is almost the pin point moment where Micheal becomes a legendry player and an absolute BEAST on the field.

The film shows some emotional moments throughout the film mainly when Micheal defends his family against a gang he used to call his. Although in my opinon the most emotional point of the film is where the film shows the real Micheal Oher being drafted into the NFL and having his photo taken with his family, this shows that through out his life they became one unit and just how specail they are to each other.

As Media Studies premilinary exercise

this is our video for our premilinary excerise, we had a littile amount of difficulty uploading the video to youtube as we could not access this service within school so george had to take the video home on a USB memory stick so that he could upload it there. The video went up on the 28th of september.

Preliminary Excercise: Evaluation

After all of my group finishing our indivdual edits of the shots for the Preliminary, we had decided on one of the three videos... Mine of course. We looked at the final edit one more time and gave it critisim so we knew what we would have to change about the way we film and where we choose to film for when we start our main project.

Improvements that I would make on our decisions are.
Make sure you can see the character of focus in all of the shots
Make sure you can hear everything that is ment to be heard and cancel out any unnessesary background noise
Make sure the conunity rule is carried through out the whole of the scenes
Cancel out any gaps in the photoage
Take more shots than we needed.


After Evaluating my Preminiary I can know see the mistakes i made and errors that i can avoid making in future projects.

Preliminary Excercise: Filming the Excerise 1st

Yesterday we have filmed the Preliminary Excercise and it took a while to figure out what we were going to do as we consently had people walking past the windows and past the door as we were filming. This caused us to have around 20 shots that we could not use.

When filming the Excercise we had a few bloopers which happened for example me falling through the door rather than walking through the door. We also had to battle against embarrisment as at times we couldnt stop laughing at each other, but in the end we got two- three shots that could be used in the final edit.

In the final edit I managed to make my final edition with using thirteen different shots including all of the required elements (match on action, 180 degree rule and shot/reverse shot). The only problems with my final edition is that sometimes the conunity is not there because of split seconds being repeated in different shots.

Now all that is left to do is choose which of our groups final editions we will choose to represent our group.

Preliminary Exercise: 180degree rule

The 180 degree rule is used in filming all programmes. The rule is an important element of creating a scene as if the cameras cross the imaginry 180 degree line the viweiers visual awareness as if a footballer was running with the ball to the right in one cut and then to the left in the other the viewer would wounder whether the football has changed direction.



this video explains how is you cross the 180 line it can mess up the scenes and how you can pass the 180 degree line if you film passing the line.

Preliminary Exercise: Example Shot/ reverse shot

In this example shot/ reverse shot is used to show the emotions between the two fighters rather than a conversation. this works just aswell though.

Preliminary Exercise: shot reverse shot

Shot reverse shot (or shot/countershot) is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other

Preliminary Exercise:Example of Match on Action

This is an example of Match on Action from the film The Longest Yard. At the time of 1:20 the film shows a shot of the car driving and then swithces to the shot of the driver inside the car at the same pace as the previous shot. These two shot were obivsouly were not filmed at the same time yet the effect is that both shots are happening at the same time.

Preliminary Exercise: Match on Action

Match on Action is a techinque that allows the produce to cut to different shots of the same events but matches the pace of the first shot. This creates an impression of continuity although you may have filmed shots weeks apart. For example if a character begins an action shot in the first shot and completes it in the second, a visual bridge is created that disguises the cut from one to the other.

Preliminary Exercise: Example of Continuity

this clip shows at the time of 1:30 - 1:42 a jump from the prisoner walking with the guards down the green mile to another scene where he is entering the execution room. The continuity rule is applied in the two scenes by the same positioning of the guards beside the prisonner, as if the guards had moved there would be no explenation for this and would break the rule.

Preliminary Exercise: Continuity

The preliminary task requires and understanding of continuity, which is a fundamental principle of moving image production. Watching a film or TV programme tends to be a fairly easy pleasure because continuity is secured by the producers. As long continuity rules are followed, plot and stroy can unfold in such a way that the audience can assume what is going to happen in each shot or sequence. An example of this is if a character was to get on a train in one scene then jumps to another where they are sitting on the train during the subject, then again jumps to the passenger exiting the train the veiwer assums that the joruney was longer than was shown on screen time . But if the rule is broken so that the passenger moves postion and back again during different sceens the flow of sequences is disrupted.

Preliminary Exercise

Before my group and I can start our project we have to take part in a Preliminary exercise.
     The Preliminary Exercise's brief is to produce a contonutiy exercise which involoves a characetr opening a door, crossing a room and sitting in a chair opposite another character, that chararcter is then to exhchange a couple line of dialogue.
The task must demonsrate:

• Match on action
• Shot/ reverse shot
• 180 degree rule

Introduction to me and AS Media Studies

Name: Daniel Mills
Intrests: Sport
School: Ken Stimpson Comunity School
My group:

• George Griffin
• Chelsea Tufton
• and MEEEEEEEEEE

Why I chose Media Studies:

I chose Media studies for A level so that i could hopefuli have a better chance in getting into a university when im older, but also to have at least one fun lesson on my timetable, so that i wasnt stuck in a classroom for two years which i would find unbareable.

What I'm hoping to get out of Media Studies:

Im hoping to be able to link a A level in Media Studies with the Applied ICT A level that i am currently taking at the Voyager School. I also would like to maybe continue with studies in the film and media world... if i manage to pass this first. I would like to maybe go to university and carry this on to maybe make a carrer out of it.