You have noticed many of the conventions of the genres you have written about so far, in terms of all of the areas we look into, you have also embedded the opening sequence into your blog and set it out in an organised and accessible way. However I would like to see a lot more detail in your work. Use the questions in your booklet as a guide to ensure you cover all the areas that are important, but also make sure you are commenting on conventions of the genre. These are important as it will help you plan your own work.
At the moment your work is a level 2, in order to improve you should:
Add detail using the booklet as a guide.
Go through and check for minor errors (eg the title of your Mission Impossible Analysis)
Take more screen grabs to illustrate your points
Discuss whether the elements are typical conventions of the genre.
The film is about two homicide detectives' desperate hunt for a serial killer who justifies his crimes as absolution for the world's ignorance of the Seven Deadly Sins. The movie takes us from the tortured remains of one victim to the next as the sociopathic "John Doe" sermonizes to Detectives Sommerset and Mills -- one sin at a time.
The opening scene is a lot of close up shots mainly of writing on paper and other things to show what the film is about. The music has a slow beat and tempo to it and has a creepy overlay to make the audience uneasy.
The lighting is dark and has a filter over it to make it seem dark and grimey. It is to emphasize the creepiness of the opening. There is no faces in this opening - the only thing you see of the actors if when you see the person razoring his fingerprints out. The main props seem to be old technology and books with writing in. The setting is someones house - this gives a slight bit away about the character.
The editing in the film is quick cut - the do quick creepy shots with out of focus parts to make you focus on what they want you to see. The camera shots are close ups and they put the titles to cut the shots off to make you think about what they meant.
Mission Impossible 2's story is Ethan Hunt has been sent on a mission to retrieve and destroy the supply of a genetically created disease called 'Chimera'. He also has competition from a gang of international terrorists. They managed to steal the cure called 'Bellerophon' and now need 'Chimera' to complete their grand plan of infecting the whole world. He relies on the help of an international thief Nyah of whom he quickly develops a love interest. Time is not only running out for Agent Hunt to find and destroy 'Chimera' before the terrorists get their hands on it, but he must also find 'Bellerophon' so as to save his love interest who has already become infected by the disease from a terrible and rapid death. It has many of the normal thriller conventions in just the three minutes of the opening scene - quick cuts, tension music, diegetic sounds of heavy breathing to show extension or fear, a lot of montage shots and over dramatic scenes. The opening relies heavy on the mystery of why the character is in the desert, climbing alone.
The desert can also show two things - either can show the character being alone,showing loneliness or isolation,but it can also show the character is peaceful or relaxed as if he has got away from what was bothering him. He is climbing without a harness or even a backpack showing he is fearless - this is reinforced by him leaning backward. They show the next part of the scene in slow motion as he jumps from rock to rock as this gives the viewer an 'will he make it?' scare. As he swings into this position -
It replicates the scene of Jesus on the cross - perhaps showing that there is evil/bad things to come and showing he isn't aware of this yet. As he gets his orders he almost looks disappointed and resentful - like his holiday is over and he doesn't want to go to work. The Title begins with colours of red,orange and white -
making the viewer think of fire and explosions - what a thriller usually has. The editing of the scenes have been quickly cut away to show tension. As he is the only one in the shot he is percieved to be the protagonist.
The music in the scene is very different to what is happening - they are also a combination of diegetic and non diegetic sounds. The music starts off quiet,it then begins a fast paced Spanish song to help the viewer understand where the character is and to possible give some background. You can also hear the character make noises of exertion he climbs. This ties in with other ambient sounds like the wind and the sound of the rock scraping.The music stops as the helicopter appears to make the audience think something bad is going to happen,this also creates excitement for the audience.
The title then begins with a theme tunes - the same one that appears in the other Mission Impossible films.The opening for MI2 there were establishing shots showing the setting of the desert and giving away key things about the character before we even see him.
They then show an aerial shot and zoom into the character to help also show the character. Most of the camera shots are either long shots or mid shots of him climbing before a close up on his face - showing his feelings towards his surroundings and to create tension. The slow motion used is to create tension and to give the impression he won't make it
It keeps audience on the edge of their seats - its a typical thing thrillers do. The editing also reflects that - they use a lot of cut edits to make it fast paced and exciting for the audience.
The titles begin within a few seconds - they start in the bottom left and they're coloured in orange to draw attention to them. Then,as the camera shot changes they change the titles to the other side to make sure your attention is on the character. They then switch is back to the bottom left - they keep in line with the camera shots to make sure that they dont get in the way of the character.
His costume and makeup tell us a lot about his character. His laid back clothing style show that he does things in his own time and style - it is also shows that he is not afraid to get dirty.
The lighting and setting in this scene relate to each other - they don't change and stay the same. The spotlight is on him because the lightening shows he is clearly the only one in the scene.
A film that plays on the audiences fears - sometimes imitating a nightmare.
Focuses on making an atmosphere to make the audience uneasy and uncomfortable.
Jump scares
Stereo-typically involves supernatural elements,haunted place and/or a lot of gore.
Includes many sub-genres as horror is a wide genre and can include many stores.
The most common codes and conventions include screaming, blood, death, violence, specific victims, and isolated settings, chase sequences.
Horror movie sub-genres:
Comedy Horror (Combination of comedy and horror)
Action Horror (Combination of Action and horror, typically the eerie settings, and characters of horror films with tense and frantic chases of action films)
Psychological horror (Based upon characters fears, focusing on psychological dread)
Science fiction horror. (Combination of Sci-Fi and Horror)
Body Horror (focuses on graphic destruction or mutilation of body parts e.g disease causes body to completely decay whilst living)
Gothic Horror (Psychological terror in historically romantic settings e.g. castles)
Supernatural horror (paranormal, zombie ect)
Japanese Horror (It is similar to supernatural horror, however focuses on unique and innovative story lines, often based upon old folks-tales with a modernised twist)
Slasher (Graphic violence, commonly with knife/chainsaw ect)
Dark Fantasy (Fantasy elements with a twist of horror, e.g. horror in a fantasy setting)
Thriller-Horror (based upon real life events e.g serial killers ect)
We choose Supernatural Horror for our piece as we felt we could do a lot with it.
What is the 180 degree rule?
The 180 degree film in film making is a basic guideline regarding the relationship between a character or an object within a scene. The 'axis' (imagine a line going through the characters) connect the characters and the film makers mostly keep the camera on one side of the axis as it makes it easier for them to film it. If you cross the line it is called jumping the line or crossing the line.
In our film we didn't put this into our film as we didn't have a scene where this was incorporated. To improve our film I would redo it and put a scene in where we use the rule.
What is a match on match action?
Cutting on action or matching on action is an editing technique - continuity editing where one shot cuts to another shot.
We have an example of this when I am typing on my phone - it starts off with a long shot,medium and then close up of me typing into my phone. We edited the film in premiere pro and edited the shots into a 'match on match' action. What is an eyeline match?
An eyeline match is a film editing technique associated with the continuity editing system. It is based on the premise that the audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing. We didn't incorporate this into our film as we didn't get a chance to film the scene. How did the film making go?
I think the filming went well but it went slowly because we had no idea how to film,hence us not being able to get much footage. We tested different shots - long shots,medium shots and close ups. We also tried to do a pan but the results were unsuccessful. We filmed at Landau Sixth Form Academy and there were some problems with editing - we had some students next to us filming and you could hear me and Zoe talking. We put some music over the top to help cancel this out. What did I learn about editing on Premiere Pro?
I learnt on Premiere Pro how to cut down pieces of footage and edit them to transition into each other. I also learnt how to layer the music on top. I also learnt to how to arrange the shots so that they flow into each through a match on match shot.
