Above I have posted the opening sequence for Boyz n the hood. In the first section of the clip the word 'nigger' is used multiple times, even before any of the actors are shown. This word is used to show the bad treatment towards black people at the time in which the film was set. As well as this there are statistics shown on the screen on top of a black screen which are about the negative treatment towards black people. This as well as the word 'nigger' being used causes tension before the film has even properly started.
The shots which are shown in the first scene mainly long shots of the children, medium long shots and mid shots. This is used to get detail of the characters in the first scene.
The background is in a talking class, in the background sound you can hear creepy sounds such as squeaks and sirens, as though there is trouble in the area where they are. As well as this the amount of swearing in which the young boys say increases the amount of trouble which the area looks as though it has. While the telephone is occurring between the teacher and the Mum there is aggressive behavior occurring which is a fight. This explains why the young boy might be so aggressive himself because of what he is seeing around him. This could majorly affect how the boy behaves.
Above is my institution powerpoint which I compared the difference between low budget films and high budget films. As well as comparing the difference in the institution they are in. The two films which I decided to compare were Paranormal Activity against The Amazing Spider-Man.
I have posted below the video in which I edited and put together. I used different clips and different music to put together this video, to practice how to edit. The application which I used was Adobe Premier.
Below are the notes on institution which I made in class:
The audience of films is between the ages of sixteen and twenty four years.
Arguably, the most important people involved in film are the distributors, this is because they are the people who actually end up getting the films in the cinema. They will go round to individual cinemas and ask for the films to get displayed which they are with. Although the cinema will not get much money from the film, cinemas will mainly choose to pick large films to be played in the cinemas and use up the most amount of screens. This is because cinemas make their money from popcorn and they know that the more popular the film is, the more people will buy popcorn, and therefore the more money they will make. This is why it is really hard for an independent film-maker to get their film to be displayed in the cinema, compared to a mainstream maker, because it will be less popular in the cinema if it is by an unheard independent film company, compared to a large popular one.
September is a bad month for films, this is because it is just after Summer and just before Christmas, therefore not many film companies come out with big films around this time. From October to February is when the critically acclaimed films are out. Around Christmas time is when the big blockbuster films come out, for example; Spectre, Star Wars and the new Hunger Games are coming out this Christmas.
There are six big companies which are film makers, these are called THE BIG SIX and they include:
Sony- The walk, Pixels, Fury, The Amazing Spiderman 2, 22 jumpstreet.
Warner Bros - Magic Mike XXL, Get Hard, Gravity.
20th Century Fox - Fantastic Four, Taken 3, Gone Girl, Night at the Museum.
Paramount - Turtles, Area 51, Mission Impossible.
Disney - Inside Out, Avengers.
Universal - Ted 2, Straight Outta Compton.
As well as The Big Six, there are also other companies which are big, but not quite as big as those six, these are called MINI MAJORS and these include:
Lionsgate - Hunger Games, Saw.
MGM - Robocop, as well as corporation with Big Hero 6.
This is the Nike advert, the England flag is represented on his body, this is shown by blood which is drawn in a flag on his body. This makes Nike seem patriotic and shows that England runs in the blood of the famous football player Wayne Rooney.
However, although it is good and sending an England message across to sporting fans so that they will buy Nike wear. It makes Wayne Rooney look aggressive and actually makes him look insane and as though he is struggling. This could put people off from buying the Nike clothing. This is because he looks very angry and his clenching fists make him seem as though he is putting in all his force or as though the blood is hurting him. The blood can also put across the message of 'no pain, no game' however, this is not always a good message because it can be negative.
Although it is for Nike it does not have 'Nike' on the advert, this is because it does not need to seeing as Nike is such a famous company. The logo and the label 'Just Do It' is known all over the world and most people would look at it and straight away be able to identify that it is Nike.
The audience for this advert would be football fans that like Wayne Rooney and would be excited to see that he is on the advert. As well as this any patriotic, strong England fans would appreciate this poster.
This photo above was a cover of a magazine for the Cosmopolitan, in this cover it addresses women in a very giving way. It represents them as seeing as though everything they do is for men, to keep them happy. For example '10 things guys crave in bed' makes it seem as though the women is there just to please their man and that is all they are for. As well as this it reads 'Tight Abs' and it has a page which shows how to get a better body. This makes it seem that women are expected to have nice bodies to impress their man and if they do not then there is a way to improve it.
It also talks about being 'Bitchy' this is being negative about women and shows the stereotypes which some men expect about women to be true. As well as this the model which is displayed at the front of the page is wearing a very revealing dress and has what is seemed as a 'perfect body'. The cover designer has tried to put her chest right in eye sight to draw attention to it. This can make women feel bad about themselves and make them feel like they have to be as good as the model who is displayed. I think that this cover is very negative about women and almost makes them seem as though they are slaves to their men.
This is what we did in lesson, it shows representation and how there are stereotypes and archetypes in films to make sure the watcher understands who the character is meant to be. I drew the two pictures at the top of the page of my idea of what I think in my head what a stereotypical French man and Inner-city youth would look like. Although this is not always and not usually how these people would look it is a good way in films to make sure people know that they are French or a youth. As well as this there are countertypes which are not the same as stereotypes and differ to what you would think of when you think of that character.
This is the work which we did in lesson today, we learnt about the different film language which is used in films. We looked at the three headings of; camera, mise en scene, editing and sound.
Barthes code - for The Prestige Enigma: Why did the man drown? What went wrong? Was that meant to happened/was it planned? Who is the man speaking in relationship to the people in the magic trick?
Symbolic: The birds. Magician. Young girl.
Actions: Clapping. Shouting. Closing cage. Pushing against wall.
Setting: Dark, dim lighting, as well as the scene being in black and white at the beginning, this makes the place seem cold and quite scary. When watching the beginning of the clip I assumed that the time was night, however after they exited the estate, where they were I was soon to realize that it was actually day time, from the bright lighting.
Characters: The characters are a group of young boys which act as though they are in a rough group and seem to behave in a chav like manor.
Camera: The camera looks as though is it ammature filming and looks as though it was filmed by one of the characters in the film. It also does not look as though it is the best quality shown in the first clip of the film. The senses are really increased, for example all of the sounds are brought up really high, this makes the watcher feel as though they are actually there in the scene, this can also make the watcher feel as though he is also on drugs themselves.
Icons: Drugs, guns, and graffiti are all featured to show they look as though they are 'gangsters'.
Narrative: The opening group show a group of boys who are clearly rough. They are drug abusers and hold drugs, they are drive around on their motorbikes, intimidating a woman, with a child, who they make contact with in a public park. They circle round her on the bikes and shoot her with her gun. After this they try to escape and one of the boys gets hit down by a lorry. The group of chavs seem to find the whole situation very funny, from their laughing.
Genre: Hoody horror/drama
Guardians of the Galaxy
Setting: In a cave type place, but it is sci-film themed. There are things in the cave which include dinosaurs. The scene and way he is acting seems very futuristic. The music which is playing is 70's upbeat, the character in the scene is dancing along to the music, this makes it seem as though it could also be a comedy.
Icons: He is wearing hover boots so that he can fly around and he is holding some sort of bright light.
Camera: The camera doesn't focus much on his face, or any other details and is quite zoomed out. As well as this the lighting is very dark and makes it look pretty spooky and cold.
Genre: Sci-fi/comedy.
Character: There is only one character which appears in the first scene and this is a young man who seems to be pretty happy from his dancing and jolly behaviour.
What Lies Beneath
Setting: The setting of the film is in the woman's house, who I assume to be the main character. The music in the scene builds up and makes you feel nervous, therefore when something jumps out it makes you feel more scared because of the music.
Icons: There is writing on the mirror, which reads 'You Know', this makes you think of many questions about what is happening from just the opening scene. The bath is full up with water and a website is brought up on the computer by itself.
Camera: The camera is pretty zoomed in, a lot of the time the camera looks as though it is seen through the woman's eyes, but in others the full scene and area is filmed. The colours which are used in the scene are all pale and are mainly white, this makes the scene feel cold and ghostly. As well as this however, it also makes the woman look pure.
Character: There is only one character which is shown in the opening scene, this is a young woman, she looks nervous about the strange activities which are occurring, however, she does not seem to shocked and therefore acts as if this is not the first time something like this has happened.
Genre: The genre of this film seems to be a horror from what I can tell from all of the jumpy scenes and weird things that occur.
The Woman in Black
Setting: The setting of the film is in an attic type place, it looks quite creepy because of the old things which are in the room. The objects which are in the room look like antiques, the dolls which the children are playing with add a creepy feel to the scene before the horror actually occurs.
Narrative: The girls pour out fake tea and give to the dolls to drink. They then do the dolls hair and dress them. They then look towards the camera and then to the window and begin to walk to the window, dropping the items in their hands. After this they open the window and jump out to their deaths, you can hear a woman screaming and shouting 'my babies' after they fall.
Camera: The camera is quite zoomed out, after the girls play with the dolls they look straight towards the camera and then straight towards the window. The camera then focuses on the windows as if it is from the children's eyes.
Icons: Dolls, teacups, windows.
Genre: The genre seems to be a drama aswell as a horror, because it seems as though the children are possessed by something.
Characters: The characters shown in the opening scene are three young girls who seem as though they are not themselves and are being controlled in some way.
This is the film poster of The Breakfast Club. I use semiotics to study the signs which are in the picture.
A denotation that I can see is that the boy on the far left is wearing a much more casual outfit than the other four characters shown in the picture. From this I use connotation to make me understand things about the picture. I can understand that the boy on the left seems to be some sort of rule breaker and doesn't seem to have much care, from his laid back outfit, as well as this he has grown his hair out long, making it seem as though he has not put much effort into how it looks. The colour red can represent negativity, and he is the only one which is wearing this colour. He is also showing an unhappy emotions on his face, making it also seem as though he is not happy and once again showing that he is negative.
The second person in from the left is a girl who is sitting on the floor. The girl is sitting in a hunched up position making herself look nervous and shy. She also has her hood up, as though this will help to hide and cover her face so that she is not noticed. Seeing as she is sitting down it makes it seem as though she is not as important as the other characters, who are physically higher up than her, and makes them seem as though they are more superior. Her clothing is dark and dull and often includes black, this makes her look quite gothic and almost quite scary, or different compared to the other characters which are wearing bright colours.
The middle character is in blue, this is a calm colour, this shows that he is quite a chilled character. The way in which he is standing makes him look as though he thinks he is more superior than the other characters that stand beside him. This is because he is standing with his arms crossed and is right in the middle of everybody. He also has a sporting type jacket on which shows that he might have some sort of authority in the school and be respected by others.
The girl who is standing two in from the right is wearing a pink top, this seems as though it is quite an innocent colour, this therefore makes her look quite pure and makes her seem as if she is quite well behaved. She is definitely the most well dressed out of all the characters and seems as though she is posing for the picture. This could mean that she has a lot of money and she clearly thinks that she is better and more superior to the others by the way she is standing in the picture.
The boy on the far right is wearing a green top, this can represent freshness, this makes him seem as though he is a well behaved boy. He is the only one out of the group of five which actually looks reasonably happy, and is actually making an effort to smile for the picture. He seems as though he is not trying to make an effort to stand out among the others next to him, unlike the other characters. This is because he is standing upright, with his hands behind his back and is not trying to draw much attention to himself.
It also seems as though the boy and girl in the middle of the photo are in some kind of relationship as they are very close together in the picture.
The task was trying to show five different genres in a group of four, and showing the genre through only still photographs. Our genres which we were given in our group were - Teen, Family, Drama, Comedy and Seasonal.
Family - The genre of this picture was family, in this picture we tried to portray the genre of family by having younger people around me and Olly who were meant to be part of our family. We showed that we were attempting to share the umbrella with all of the 'family' around us, to show care, within the 'family'.
Comedy - This genre was comedy, we showed that it was comedy by using an old traditional scene of somebody slipping and falling over from a banana on the floor. We used this idea from some old comedies where people would slip on bananas and would be seen as funny.
Seasonal - This was the topic of seasonal, we tried to show the season of Christmas. This was done by me and Olly putting decorations onto the Christmas tree. I am meant to be portrayed as a young child, and I have shown this by having a teddy bear in my arms, showing that I am at the age to really appreciate Christmas.
Drama - In this picture Rory showed the expression on his face to represent that he was deep in thought about something most probably very important or meaningful. This sort of thing would usually occur in the genre of drama.
Teen - The genre of this photo is teen, we tried to show a typical situation which seems to happen in team movies. This is two boys wanting her and the two boys fighting over her, in some sort of love triangle. The girl is stuck in the middle, we have represented this by the two boys pulling and arm each and making horrible looks at each other.
