Discuss the way ethnicity is represented

Hotel Babylon 

At the beginning of the extract of Hotel Babylon ethnicity is portrayed through an atypical representation of a Black African male protagonist. I understand he is atypical, because the mise-en-scene conveys he is wearing the costume of a suit which connotes he is a business man as usually black men wear hoodies and aren’t usually well educated to be a business man. His well groomed manner could also be interpreted as being homosexual because the combination of his costume (ears are pierced) and body language (brushing down his suit) could be symbolic signs of homosexuality which is against the black ethnic stereotype. However another way this combination could be interpreted is pride for his job as his facial expression of a smile. Then I realised he works in a hotel because the long shot of him walking along side a swimming pool is an iconic feature of hotels. His sexuality is reinforced through the diegetic dialogue “I better get back to the desk” as it is a stereotype that male concierge can be homosexual. However, this is atypical for a black African because they are usually Catholic as this religion is against homosexuality so Benjamin try’s to hide his sexuality through facial expressions of not making eye contact. When the atypical character sees the Jamaican stereotypical male antagonist the male protagonists the mood changes which is communicated through his body language and facial expressions again, which becomes uncomfortable. This is expressed when he takes a step back, while looking to make sure no one sees them together. I acknowledged that the Jamaican is stereotypical because the two characters juxtapose each other through costume; the Jamaican man is wearing swimming trunks which are viewed through shot reverse shot at an over the shoulder angle. So the audience can compare the two characters from behind and front so we could see how different they are from one and other. Moreover this was done to show the reaction of the characters as well. Natural Diagetic dialogue also puts emphasis on the contrast of the characters as the first male Benjamin has a Standard English accent whereas the male antagonist Taw has an informal dialect for example “bro” and “Ganja”. This colloquial natural language reinforces his stereotype because ganja means marijuana in slang terms and black people are known for taking drugs. Conversely, the shot reverse shot of the male shows his hesitated reaction and the facial expression of an awkward grin. This means they are diametric but Benjamin doesn’t want to show his new and improved personality, that doesn’t take drugs anymore, which is communicated in the eye line match because they have the same background. It is reinforced that Benjamin is the male protagonist as he has more screen time than the male antagonist which proves he is more important and has more prevalence especially as he is also the last person shot in the scene which makes the audience sympathize with Benjamin as more diegetic dialogue “that’s the old Benjamin I know!” as he hesitates connoting two interpretations. On one hand he could be regretting his past - not wanting to be like the old Benjamin. On the other hand he is homosexual and the fact that girls will be at the party makes him hesitate. Either way the audience empathize with Benjamin.

The following communication of ethnicity is the stereotypical eastern European cleaners and a stereotypical old Chinese business man. These characters are stereotypical because firstly the maids have manual job of a cleaning. I understand that they are cleaners because the uniform symbol of this. The occupation has small celery so some go into prostitution which is proven by the diegetic dialogue “He pays Double for Double” with a kind of eastern European accent reinforcing their ethnic background. The natural diegetic music called Lady Marmalade is turned on by the Chinese businessman with a close up of the CD-player but is probably edited with foley a non-diegetic sound-track to emphasis. It is a stereotype that oriental people are sneaky. They are also known for being quite intelligent which is conveyed through the close up of the money on the table, which he has acquired from being well educated and qualified to make his own business. The older cleaner is more stuck in her own ways as she is used to it, whereas the shot reverse shot shows the younger girl’s reaction getting increasingly more uncomfortable through her body language and facial expression conveying anxiety, until she runs out of the room. The stereotype is emphasized even more when the older cleaner stops the Chinese business man form turning the music off and phones someone creating the diegetic dialogue “I’ll call for reinforcements” through a medium shot. This connotes that there are even more eastern European cleaners that do prostitution.

Then next portrayal of ethnicity is stereotypical oriental manager. She is stereotypical because they are usually intelligent and hard working this has been conveyed when she uses the diegetic dialogue “the third time this week” that the cleaners haven’t put toilet paper in the rest room connoting that the cleaners aren’t working hard enough as she is of higher importance which is also connoted through the symbol of her suit – mise-en-scene- costume. This then intercuts to the managers scene through to the chefs scene and back to the oriental manager outside of the Chinese businessman’s room. This builds up the tension, suspense and anticipation for the audience as they hear the non-diegetic score of sting instruments. The stereotype that oriental people are sneaky is reinforced with a close up of the oriental female protagonist of this scene. The audience acknowledges that she is the female protagonist because she has prevalence in the two scenes she’s in. Also she is the final person shot in the whole extract which means she has the most attention from the audience and will be the main focus of the next extract.

The final part of the extract ethnicity is conveyed by stereotypical English managers, English Chef and eastern European chef. first of all, the English managers are both dressed in suites with Standard English accents they are both the same ethnicity which is conveyed through the eye line match as their conversation is viewed through a tracking shot where there is low key lighting which connotes they are talking about something bad and secretive which is reinforced through the diegetic dialogue “you worry too much” in a hushed tone as they are talking about someone and don’t want anyone to hear. The tracking show is then followed into the kitchen where the lighting turns to high key. Physically, the two chefs are facing away from each other at different sides of the setting which symbolises they have different views socially. On one hand the eastern European chef kissed the English chef this signified love, but on the other hand the English chef’s facial expression of annoyance and anger juxtaposes this. This is reinforced when the eastern European makes diegetic dialogue “you British sloth, you English plebe” which expresses racism after the English managers left. The audience understands that they are stereotypical because of their accents, the eastern European is probably Italian and the English chef is loud and cockney for example when yet more diegetic dialogue - “ Deserving pallet, deserving pallet you wouldn’t know what deserving pallet was if it came up and slapped you between your piggy little eyes” . The tension increase with the volume of the non-diegetic sound until the foley sound of the knife is exaggerated the threat of the weapon or kitchen utensil to shock the audience even more as the knife. This prop then motivates the music to enhance the non-diegetic score to even more of an anticipation builder. As the volume raises even more with the rapid pace of the editing through a shot reverse shot, while the diegetic dialogue “you want to make something out of this” is spoken, the beating sound track turn to an electrical remix which eventually goes back to Lady Marmalade to the oriental female protagonist’s scene.

In my opinion, there are many atypical and stereotypical representations of ethnicity in this extract from hotel Babylon. However there are more stereotypical as it adds a comical element to the series for the audience, because it has what everyone assumes hotels are like.

The Continuity Task and Next

To practice editing filming and using premier pro again so that later we can compare our final piece with this while evaluating.



I think this was good because we had a variety of clear shots that flowed as it was edited well. However I feel that the continuity is not fluent when Louise comes into the building as she has different clothes on after she comes out of the changing rooms so it doesn't make sense.

This is our next to do list!

Planning the Continuity Task!

So we can practise story boarding editing and filming we decided to create a 90 second clip that doesn't break the 180 degree rule and has at least one shot revers shot in it to make it realistic. for this task we won't be using anamatics because it takes quite a long time. However this is the plt it is quite cheesie and cliche but at this point we dont want to think too much about plot we are just going to focus on camera techneques - angles movement and trasitions and using the premier program we practises a few lessons ago.

Scene 1
Girl 1 and 2 in changing room
Girl 1 searches into her bag for a missing object
Looks up, says to Girl 2 "have you seen my necklace?"
Girl 2 replies "no sorry"
Shot of Girl 1's face

CUT

Scene 2
Girl 1 walks downstairs and through a door
Girl 1 walks towards a classroom
Shot of Girl 3's pocket with a necklace hanging out then zooms out to reveal her face
Girl 1 enters room
Shot reverse shot of Girl 1 and Girl 3
Girl 1 "is that my necklace?!"
Girl 3 replies nervously "err no..."
Girl 1 walks towards Girl 3 and slaps Girl 3
Girl 3's face turns away
Girl 1 "dont lie to me"

Shot List
1) Mid shot of 2 girls in changing room
cut to a close up of Girl 1 showing her bag and her hand searching in it
cut to close up of Girl 1's face - "have you seen my necklace?"
cut to Girl 2's face - "no sorry"
cut to Girl 1's face   (shot reverse shot)

2) Cut to a long shot of girl walking down stairs and pan across as she walks towards the door (Girl 1)
cut to girls hand on door handle (close up)
cut to a medium shot of Girl 1 walking in classroom zoom in on her face
cut to a mid shot of Girl 3 zoom in on her pocket
cut to Girl 1's face close up - "is that my necklace?!"
cut to close up of Girl 3's face - "err no..."
cut to medium shot of Girl 1 walking foward - tracking- close up of Girl 3's face - *Slaps face*
Girl 3's face turns away from the camera to a close up of Girl 1's face = "dont lie to me"

Scott Wrote this up as an outline of the shots cuts and  scenes

Story boarding!

At first I thought story boarding would have a written account of the shots and transitions so my group started the first photo attached. Soon we realized that we had to draw pictures of what the camera does through angle frame and movement. As we researched I wrote notes. I also found a video of how they story boarded the famous film Sixth Sense which is on the same photo of notes.

notes on story boarding

first we thought this was story boarding

We also spent another lesson looking at story boards:

This is a story baord for the famous cartoon Wallace and Gromat

Next we practiced making a story board for a form of media titled "Terror in the night" with a chase scene this is the storyboard our group came up with:

The next photo is of the storyboard of the two minute thriller opening but we need to rearrange the structure of it so it is the best it can be. however we have now realised how long each shot is going to be (3 seconds) which is a worry as we have a lot of shots and not enough time. An example of changing the structure would be moving the credits from the end to intercutting the titles between shots. We have now also realised that we haven't got enough shots to move on and create the animatic. Also in the photo the image of the storyboard isn't very clear but our animatic should make out ideas more understandable.

An animatic is a programme that puts all the shots from a story board together so it is nearly identical to the real television or cinima shown narrative. For example

First editing Practice!

In this lesson we learnt how to use adobe premier pro on the mac laptops recreating a short extract we watched from its raw files. I found this very interesting and quite fun as it has some of the same techniques used in photoshop. However it was quite difficult at times as I haven't used macs before it took a little time for me to get used to especially right clicking instead you have to press shift on the keyboard and then click on the one buttoned mouse. Nevertheless practice makes perfect so our end result is above, and apparently all high end film making industries and directors use apple as it is the most well known technical company. After that we analysed our editing skills which is shown on the photo attached.

On the photo attached is also a diagram of the 180 degree rule which basically makes the continuity (realism/verisimilitude) of films better. This is because the audience feels more secure while seeing the same space in the shot reverse shot. the following video shows how it works in more detail:

This photo is of my notes I took as we learnt how to use the program so when we need to edit our own thriller opening I will be able to look back at my notes which will help me remember.

Decisions Made from Research

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Our confusion combined with the limited time we have for filming has made my group to come to a final decision, to change the structure, as we feel that the opening sequence could be too long with the credits. The credits are going to 30 seconds at the longest. So we only have one and a half minutes of filming  as our opening has to be two minutes long at the most. This would mean that we wouldn't give too much of the plot away as we also feel that in thrillers we've spectated  never give the whole story at the beginning sequence.  This is now our idea at this stage of our planning:
1c) man wakes up in shed or garage tied to a table has been drugged edited muffled noises flashing lights blurred blinking - faints black out
2b)close up of eyes opening sharply in his bed edited to flicker back to the same guy in shed flash backing
3c) next flash back of a struggle with injection masked man flicks back to man tied up drugged flash backs of his messed up memory
4b) close up of injection going into neck then photo of girl "Remember Me!" written in red it, flicks back flashing lights are less blurred red and blue conventions of crime thriller (we now know that our thriller is definitely going to be a hybrid of a crime psychological thriller through the indexical link between the police red and blue lights flashing)
5b) Black out credits red blood splatters
I don't know now whether we are going to have the flash backs in black and white any more probably - hopefully because I think it will look good and emphasis the fact that his memory is slightly blurred as it happened in the past tense.
Therefore, we think that the flashback of the guy standing over the girls body gives too much of the plot away so we have gotten rid of that section.

Evaluation of Groups added Research

Research on silent movies

A silent film is a film with no synchronised recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, mime and title cards. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronised dialogue was only made practical in the late 1920s.

Acting techniques
Silent film actors emphasised body language and facial expression so that the audience could better understand what an actor was feeling and portraying on screen.

For the first twenty years of motion picture history most silent films were short--only a few minutes in length. At first a novelty, and then increasingly an art form and literary form, silent films reached greater complexity and length in the early 1910's. The films on the list above represent the greatest achievements of the silent era, which ended--after years of experimentation--in 1929 when a means of recording sound that would be synchronous with the recorded image was discovered. Few silent films were made in the 1930s, with the exception of Charlie Chaplin, whose character of the Tramp perfected expressive physical moves in many short films in the 1910's and 1920s. When the silent era ended, Chaplin refused to go along with sound; instead, he maintained the melodramatic Tramp as his mainstay in City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936). The trademarks of Chaplin's Tramp were his ill-fitting suit, floppy over-sized shoes and a bowler hat, and his ever-present cane. A memorable image is Chaplin's Tramp shuffling off, penguin-like, into the sunset and spinning his cane whimsically as he exits. He represented the "little guy," the underdog, someone who used wit and whimsy to defeat his adversaries.

Films from the Silent EraYEAR FILM DIRECTOR COUNTRY
1915 Birth of a Nation D. W. Griffith USA
1919 Broken Blossoms D. W. Griffith USA
1919 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Robert Wiene Germany
1922 Nosferatu F. W. Murnau Germany
1922 Nanook of the North Robert J. Flaherty USA
1924 The Last Laugh F. W. Murnau Germany
1925 Strike Sergei Eisenstein Russian
1925 Potemkin Sergei Eisenstein Russian
1925 The Gold Rush Charlie Chaplin USA
1925 The Street of Sorrow G. W. Pabst Germany
1926 Metropolis Fritz Lang Germany
1927 Sunrise F. W. Murnau Germany
1929 The Blue Angel Josef Von Sternberg Germany
1930 All Quiet on the Western Front Lewis Milestone Germany
1931 M Fritz Lang Germany
1931 City Lights Charlie Chaplin USA
1936 Modern Times Charlie Chaplin USA

Above is Loua's research I think it is very detailed and has lots of examples of silent movies which is also well defined. Spelling and grammar is also all correct. However it would of been better if she Anlyised one her self and researched a few things about film noir as we had a detailed discussion about the possibility of doing a modern film noir that would be more contemporary and less cliche. also I think it would be better if she changed it into her own words especally the second paragraph.

Added Research for Planning

On order to know how to make a film noir thriller we Have to understand the generic conventions involved in them. Therefore I am going to analyse one to get a sense of what repartition is allowed, but not so much it is seen as cliché. The Maltese Falcon (1941) is one of the most popular and classic detective mysteries ever made, and many film historians consider it the first in the dark film noir genre in Hollywood.



Therefore I have chosen to review an extract from the film it may not be at the beginning because I couldn't find it on YouTube  However it still shows generic conventions and signs of film noir, which will help us understand how to make one more clearly.

Most camera angles are still as they do not move with one pan left in the whole scene as it is a low budget. There was mainly close ups to show the emotion between the characters and mid shots to introduce the characters into the scene. the shot reverse shots also helped convey their reactions to the audience. There are a few high to low angled shots to exaggerate the importance of each character and who is of higher status.

Sound before I watched this I thought film noir was silent and just had non diegetic score whereas this film film has a lot of diegetic dialogue and no non diegetic sound at all which I was surprised about. However, I think it will still be better that

Mise-en-scene has 1940''s costume of suites worn by the man and a kind of collared stripy dress worn by the woman this connotes the era as it was more common for men to wear suites as this is the stereotype combined with the woman wearing a dress as this is what it was like in the 1940's. the decor also shows the era with the props of the lamp curtains tables and fire-place. Moreover the black and white film conveys a low key lighting making it even more mysterious which is the effect we want to create.

Editing
the only editing in this extract is cuts, cut aways and eye line match through shot reverse shot.
Evaluation
I think that before I watched this I thought that a film noir had to be silent.
I have found that we want a film noir has more exaggerated non diegetic sounds as it will make the audience feel anticipation I think in order for the audience to understand the story we will need flash backs as the dialogue won't be there to help. I think we want to make a modern film noir because that way it won't seem cliche but contemporary. However, we will still repeat the setting of a house to convey it is still the same kind of genre. therefore the props and costume will be more modern but it will still be in black and white to make it more mysterious. Therefore, in the flashbacks we will edit them to make it black and white connoting to the audience that it is in the past and is a slightly blurred memory.

We thought about doing a silent movie so I analysed Last of the Mohicans to find the basic conventions of silent movie.


Camera Angles
every shot is still and doesn't move in any direction. I didn't realise before but the dialogue is actually written on the screen sometimes it can be a summary of either the shot previously or after it which helps the audience understand the series of events this could be classed as editing. a mixture of medium long shots, long shots and medium.

Sound
The non diegetic score over the credits is a drum beat with some kind of flute which connotes it is a mysterious thriller that isn't set in England but probably set in a foreign place. next are the foley horse shows galloping on the road. next non diegetic score is classical connoting the era of the 1920s as it was classical. this music is jolly and happy and stops when someone enters the door I think this would be the end of the beginning

Mise-En-Scene:
It is revealed that there are Indian characters in the film which reinforces the foreign mysteriousness of it. I know that they are India because of the text on the screen and because of the costumes, the english people are wearing smart long waist coats, trousers and boots for the men and women wore long old fashioned dresses which once again conveys the era. whereas the indians were all men and so were wearing no tops but a fur thing over his shoulder and shorts on the bottum with sandeled shoes.

Evaluation
I thought silent movies would just be over exaggerated miming with a lot on non diegetic score in the background with foley sounds to exaggerate the characters emotions even more, which there was but without the words on the screen as I thought that the miming in the mise en sene would explain everything to the spectators but it doesn't. this confused my group a bid, because we didn't know if we wanted a silent movie any more as this would make it quite boring for the audience now as the traditional silent movie has evolved into the films we have today to make them more interesting for us, this has also been reinforced our audience from the survey said that they would prefere colour and sound  rather than black and white and silent.therefore we will have sound but there won't be much dialogue there will proabably be some heavy breathing connoting that the character is panicing.

Discuss the way status is represented

In the extract from the series of Merlin status is represented through class in the first long establishing shot of Merlin, as the mise-en-scene conveys the setting of a castle. This is signified from the props of stained glass windows, and pillars. This shot also shows that Merlin is the male protagonist, because he is the first character introduced so it is form his point of view. Therefore the audience understands he is of higher status and is more important than the rest of the characters as he leads the plot forward. The next significant shot of Merlin is in Gwen a female protagonist’s room; by using a close up of him looking back at the door, it confirms that he isn't supposed to be there, because it conveys the detail of his facial expression of scared as he is snooping around and finds the props of a voodoo doll and a spell book which are iconic items for black magic, so builds up the tension for the audience, as the non-diegetic sound reinforces the tension of sharp, eerie sinister violins and whispers the combination these things and the low key lighting connotes that the male protagonist thinks the female antagonist is more powerful than him. Therefore, the tension is further increased through editing when the camera cuts to a long establishing shot of Gwen, wearing purple symbolising wealth connoting that she is royalty (upper class); coming through the same corridor Merlin was just in. This indexically connotes she is going into the room he is snooping around which increases the suspense even further. However, the eye line match of the two characters, communicates to the audience that they are of equal power, importance and status; which completely juxtaposes Merlin’s thoughts, despite his diegetic stuttering. The next significant shot is a medium shot of the female antagonist’s edited reflection, which is old. This can be interpreted in two different ways; on one hand this could symbolise that she is weak and fragile, because of the thin grey hair and lack of beauty, but on the other hand this could symbolise that she is wise and should be respected as she is elderly. However, I believe it is the first reason the director wanted to portray, because of the sharp non-diegetic roar of a flame or inhaling sound as the camera cuts to the mirror. This adds a sinister atmosphere and draws the audience in.

The change of scene to a working-class market stops the sharp non-diegetic violins and changes the low key lighting to high, because he is with people of his own status. Therefore, with a wide medium shot of the male protagonist walking toward the camera positioned in the middle of the screen which connotes he is of higher status compared with Arthur the male antagonist who is walking behind him with Arthur’s guards, marginalised, walking behind him for back up as though they are bullying Merlin through their facial expressions of mockingly happy at his misfortune of being teased. Arthur is wearing armour and leather gloves which connotes wealth as he can afford these items, the camera is still at an eye line match, which again connotes they are of equal status. Even though, Arthur is a king and Merlin is of working class. The audience acknowledges that Merlin is of this class, because he is wearing brown and grey clothing and no gloves which symbolises dirt and uncleanness as he works. When Merlin takes of his jacket it symbolises that he is up for a fight, as his body language in the medium shot connotes aggression. However, the fact that, Merlin drops the prop of a medieval weapon ball and chain when Arthur throws it at him connotes that Merlin doesn’t know how to use the tool and the diegetic sound made is emphasised to reinforce this as it make Merlin look less powerful, because his knowledge is at a disadvantage. Through the shot reverse shot the male antagonists creates the diegetic dialogue “you cannot address me like that” and the male protagonist replies “sorry, how long have you been training to be a prat, my lord” conveys sarcasm as the facial expression of smugness is illustrated through an over the shoulder mid shot as though Merlin is mocking Arthur back. Furthermore it communicates each characters reaction to the speech.

Nevertheless, in the first part of the fight scene, Merlin’s lack of power is reinforced with a high to low shot of Merlin backing away from Arthur changes the status Arthur has more screen time than Merlin. While the non-diegetic adventurous music begins so does the violence as Arthur swings at Merlin and misses conveying the brutal damage the weapon could really do to Merlin by presenting an example of power on the cabbages. The fight then cuts to a medium shot of an old man looking out the window to the fight the old man is in fact Merlin’s teacher, the audience understands this, because of the mise en scene of the shot; it had a prop of a book in it. As the extract continues Merlin falls to the ground through a high to low shot, at this point of the extract Arthur is of more important status.

However, this all changes again when the male protagonist starts using magic, the audience knows it is him, because of the extra close up of his eye changing colour. Therefore, there is an indexical link between his eye changing colour combined with the sharp non-diegetic sound and magic. Moreover, the colour of the eye turns orange the colour of flames; this could signify that the magic is dangerous. This is reinforced with the sharp non-diegetic sound that happens as the eye changes colour also the eye line match of the chains, box and rope moving. Therefore the male protagonist wins back his place of the more powerful as next the male antagonist falls to the floor through high to low shot, so Merlin celebrates with the crowd who are making natural diegetic cheers he expresses his happiness through a facial expression of smiling, until he sees the old man, his teacher. This shot reverse shot presents Merlin’s reaction to the teacher’s presence and facial expression of disappointment, as Merlin’s joy of gaining more power over Arthur turns to guilt. While Merlin is distracted by his teacher Arthur puts merlin back in his place as he uses a broom to strike him down, this is exaggerated through a Foley sound that was in the exact timing of the non-diegetic triumphant sound track. As Arthur sweeps around Merlin it connotes that the male antagonist thinks he is of a more importance than the male protagonist mocking him jokingly. However, Arthur restores his respect for Merlin through an eye line shot as he creates diegetic dialogue “there something about you Merlin; I just can’t quite put my finger on it” and lets the guards let the male protagonist go.

The last scene is parallel to the one before it as it is a wide medium shot of Merlin is in the foreground walking towards the camera with his teacher in the back-ground. There is also still an eye line match even though the teacher is supposed to be portrayed as old and wise they are still of equal status and importance. The diegetic dialogue “I’m just a nobody and I always will be” spoken by the male protagonist explains how he feels, which is reinforced through his facial expressions of sadness and disgust, because he has the power to send himself up the status hierarchy, but his teacher won’t let him use it. The fact there is no non-diegetic sounds emphasises the seriousness, and therefore juxtaposes the scene before as it was more of a teasing joke.

Mind Map - plan

So our first discussion in our groups was our own thriller opening; we brainstormed. what would be better a hybrid or sub genre? we made a joint decision of creating the sub-genre a crime thriller. We also knew that we wanted the structure of the film to start at the end and then show the audience the chain of events created this ending. We were trying to come up with of the best setting but it also had to be possible, because we thought about the first scene being set on top of a building. However, this is quite difficult to do because we may not be able to find the correct roof top we are imagining and it would be too expensive to get a green screen. So thought about it being set in a forest but then abandoned the idea, as we thought it may be difficult to tell the difference between a horror or a thriller. Next we though of the possibility of down an alley way but then thought it was to cliché . Therefore the best idea we have is on top of a building, as we thought a basement or attic could be confused with the sub-genre of psychological thriller, so its whether we can find the right building and whether we can film there.

Further discussions led to the idea of the victim was unsure about his whereabouts when he has been abducted, as we had a lot of deliberation over the setting as most ideas came across as too cliché - I feel that its still cliché starting it off in the mans house but my group has made a decision, but thinking about it I agree with them, as it gives the audience a false sense of security.
Later discussions found that it was too difficult to create a film at the end and then go back to the beginning.
We have now also changed the sub-genre/hybrid as we are now doing the hybrid a modern film noir mystery thriller which will add more suspense through more non diegetic sound and low key lighting, also there will be no diegetic dialogue creating even more of a mysterious character of the abductor as the audience won't even know what his voice sounds like.

We brainstormed all of our discussion points - this is our mind map above.

This is my mind map - we decided that we should go away and think about what we had discussed and create a brain-storm of what our own ideas were, so that when we come back as a group we can share our ideas and bring them together as one.

My group have now come up with a plot using the brainstorm above but narrowing it down more, so the following chain of events may be in the thriller opening: (we have two ideas and we trying to decide which one is least cliche as our group is divided though the decision)
1a) a man is sleeping in his bed and suddenly hears something down stairs - close up of eyes opening sharply
b)a man in his study looking through a scrap book of people he has killed hears something and
2a)goes to the hall to find a window has been blown open by the wind
2b) the man walks down stairs to find it was only a pet making the noise - medium shot of man to wide long shot from the corridor through to the kitchen foreground has cat knocked sigh of relief over photo frame
3a) he picks it up and realises that there is a picture of one of the dead girls he's killed in it
3b) has a flash back of him standing over a girls body the same one in the photo
4a) then close up of injection going into mans neck - black out (certain)
5a) man wakes up strapped to a table
6a) diegetic dialogue between the unknown abductor (because he is in low key lighting)and cereal killer
6b) no dialogue edited like the cereal killer is
6c) with each look at the photos of the girls on the walls abducted guy has a flashback of a memory of him standing over each girls body with a murdering instrument in his hand - knife, gun ect
7a) knock at the door stops the unknown abductor from killing cereal killer.
7b) flashing light -red and blue indexical to police therefore a crime thriller
8) credits red blood splattered text over it

Research and planning

Today we discussed what we had left to do and what we have learnt from our research. I feel I have learnt a large amount of information about camera angles, as the main shot used in thrillers is high to low angle, because it shows status and also the tracking angle, because it conveys a fast pace. Moreover, at the very beginning of the course I had no idea what mise en scene was at all, now I can name types of it and understand what they symbolism for example a purple costume can symbolize wealth, as it refers to royalty. Furthermore, I learnt editing keywords like cross cutting, but feel I need to look over this and add main techniques to my research. However, I have learnt a lot about lighting and sound as well. Therefore, we can use this research to plan our own thriller opening for example we could use a low key red gel to connote danger through the lighting as this is a convention of thriller genre; this is yet another fact our group found while researching.

To do list!

These are our dead lines for the project.

However now we have chosen to do the thriller hybrid film noir mystery, so will have to go back on our research evaluate a film noir. Therefore I have decided it would be good to add to my research, so I am going to evaluate and research a film noir thriller opening to understand them better as we haven't done any of this in our previous research.

Merlin note taking

This lesson we were told that this term we are going to analyse films non stop, to get quicker at writing notes in exams, because, as the saying goes "practice makes perfect". Therefore, the photos show my evaluation of the first two sections of the clip we watched, as we only watched the clip three times this lesson and the in the first viewing we cannot write notes. However evaluating this lesson I think I find it incredibly difficult to decide the film into sections, finding editing and giving reasons for the techniques used, as i feel i am going at a slower pace than the rest of the class. Nevertheless this should all come with more practice.

Sexuality Represented through Sound

In this lesson I learnt, more about sound with some key words and phrases  to explain the back-ground music and the music on screen in more detail in our essay, to once again, gain more marks on technical language. We also looked upon sexuality and how the director represented this in the series.

My Progress

What Have I Learnt in the First Half-Term in Media?
I learnt many things in media examples include the following:
team work
understanding more vocabulary by making notes in lessons and researching words I wasn't sure about in a book called "Media Studies - Applied"
My Strengths Through the Course!
I was organised and managed my time wisely with my other subject, as I got all the work done by the deadlines, by making To Do lists
I am punctual to lessons and my attendance level is high, I have only missed one lesson as I went on a geography trip, but I caught up with the work, which also shows my maturity, because even though I wasn't in for three days, I still stayed on top of the work load.
My Weaknesses Through the Course!
Punctuation, is a big problem throughout my essays and posts on the blog.
I struggle to understand the following concepts - Indexical, Symbolic and Iconic, so I will ask my teacher to recap over them, as I've already asked my group, but they don't know either. Therefore once I am confiedent about the meanings of the words I will tell them.
Targets to improve
I need to start proof reading my work aloud, so I can able the reader to breath in sentences by using commas and not writing capital letters in the middle of my sentances.
to revise over words that I struggle with by asking a teacher as my group doesn't understand.
Overall progress!
I think I have made a good start to the course over the past six weeks, and I hope the efficencey of my progress contines for the rest of my A-levels

Scince I wrote the above I asked; Mr Ford about the words I didn't understand and so he explained the words to me again. I found that I understood what they meant but just got a bit mixed up. I have now acknowledged that indexical is what we associate things with for example a saber-tooths roar is indexical as the audience understands that a tiger like animal is coming. Also symbolic is something that has a sign like a colour picture or letter therefore a collection of signs signify something for example a skull and cross bone - this could be interpreted differently according to the viewers cultural background as some people could think it would mean toxic and others pirates. Lastly iconic is something or someone that is referred to a genre e.g. a prop setting or actor.

Doctor Who - Editing



In this lesson I learnt about editing, but in more detail, because I learnt that we can get more marks talking about editing than camera angles, as it is more interesting. We reviewed a scene from doctor who and analysed the connotations from the edited aspects of the clip.

We got into groups and wrote a paragraph on the camera shot we were given and told to link it to the representation of gender. we then moved around the room evaluating other peoples paragraphs with the post-it notes.

Firstly we individuality wrote notes about the editing and sound from the Dr who extract above.

We were then put into groups to make up a paragraphs about how the sound and editing used in the extract we watched and how it represented gender. This helped us see other peoples writing skills and; and then add to our own ideas.

Next we evaluated the other groups paragraphs as sir put a photo of them on the projector the following criticisms came up:

Ensure that you open paragraphs with a clear point, referring back to the area of representation that you have been asked to write about 

Avoid run on sentences - clear grammar and punctuation adds to the clarity of your analysis 

Avoid description; ensure that there is evidence of technical analysis in every sentence 

Use key terms frequently and accurately 

Make sure you know the difference between 'dentotation' and 'connotation' 

Try to make links between the different technical features. This demonstrates a deeper level of understanding. 

Notes Evaluation on Jane Eyre

In this lesson we watched the opening of Jane Eyre and I learnt a large amount of information about connotations of camera angles, editing, and mise-en-scene. For example, the director edited the film through cross cutting;  I learnt that a diegsis is a dream of fantasy of a character in this case Jane Eyre as it is from her point of view. Also he uses rapid cuts to quicken the pace and build tension. 

I then learnt about sound and the positioning of the characters on the screen though the camera. I learnt that usually the protagonist has the most screen time.

Main Task

The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes. All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

This is a link to the mark sceme for our thriller opening we will be making this is what the reasearch is for~:

http://learning.chalfonts.bucks.sch.uk/file.php?file=%2F278%2FAS_Portfolio_Mark_Scheme.pdf

Therefore, this is what the my group have been doing; research which will be used for directing our own thriller opening, for  our course-work. However,our exam will be based on reviewing a clip of a film or series.

In this lesson we learned what words are best to use and those that shouldn't to make our essays the best that they could be. For example it is better to use words like connote or denote, instead of suggests, because we will pick up 10 marks in the exam if we use technical language correctly, in the relevant context.

Groups Research

Below is what parts of research the group assigned each other:
Connor- Survey
Scott- Certificates 15 and 18
Victoria - Louise- Thriller itself and Sub-genres
Loua-Thriller Genres and Hybrids
Evaluation

Loua's research is really good, as it is very detailed. However, the detail shown is mostly about sub genres which isn't what her task is,  so she may have missed the point a bit, as she was supposed to write more about Hybrids, but the part about genres was great. Also, the spelling and gamma was used correctly.

In my opinion, Scott's research is very detailed for the certificate of 15 but could elaborate for the certificate 18 section. Spelling and grammar is all correct, it is all to the point and easy to understand. Overall, good effort.

Survey

I think that there are a variety of questions in Connors questionnaire however they are to specific and could sometimes refer to put an "other" box to tick with a dotted line so the person has the choice to show something that suits them better.

Also I think in the survey there should be a question about what thriller sub-genre they prefer so we get an idea of our target market.

Some questions may not be relevant for example "who do you watch thriller films with?"
People probably think that thrillers are both slow paced and fast paced as the anticipation is built through long pauses and then quick cuts, fight scenes and chasing scenes create anti-climaxes.

These are the results for the survey, that say our target audience is 16 plus, they prefer 18 rated films, but don't see that many films a month which means our results could be slightly unreliable, as they aren't as experienced at watching films of this rating certificate. However, Connors research is great as it looks like he has done a lot of work and spent a load of time over it.

Connor's Thriller Reviews

Evaluation!

This is what I learnt from Connors research I may have changed a few things because my opinion is slightly different also I have changed the spellings as there were a few mistakes. Also he kept to putting lighting under camera angles instead of mise-en-scene.

Fight Club
Camera Angles ~ Minimal long shots coveys the director wanted to show importance and detail by using mainly close ups and pans e.g. the film starts by zooming out of the barrel of a gun which is positioned in the narrators/protagonists mouth. The camera follows the bullet to show that it is from the shooters point of view who creates tension, as the viewer never realizes who the shooter is because the camera doesn't reveal his face as he or she is above frame which also builds suspense. Once the scene transition back in time, the viewer acknowledges that the male protagonist is of lower status as he is positioned in a lower frame than the other characters therefore he is of less importance.

The editing conveys that the structure of the film starts at the end because scene one ends and we go back in time to the beginning for the narrative. There is a good pace between cuts so the audience can absorb the information the film is giving them.

Mise-en-Scene~ the lighting is quite dark which builds suspense and creates tension as it connotes isolation which is how the male protagonist is probably feeling; isolated  The gun is a prop which connotes power because a gun is a weapon sand so is indexical to war because war refers to politics. The two scenes juxtapose each other because after the flash-back it confuses the audience as he was running quite a normal life in the setting of an office and it intrigues the audience to how he ended up where he was at the end of the film.

Sound~ The non diegetic background sound was an electric which had a face pace connoting lots of action and suspense building and a hollow that reinforces the tension because of the isolation  There is limited diegetic sounds at the very beginning, but then in the office phones ringing and faxes beeping.

The Prestige

Mise-en-scene ~ The lighting in the clip is quite bright which reinforces the reaction of the the two characters of happiness as their facial expressions convey them smiling which is juxtaposed considering they were just arguing. They were wearing top hats and suits connoting that the film has been set in the 1900's, this is reinforced through props of the lanterns and no cars.

Print Screen of Connors blog

Camera Angles~ A low angle shot establishes a character of a magician connotes that he is an important high status. The audience can see the male protagonist at eye level. There is a range of close ups so that the audience can gain detail of the facial expressions of the people having an argument. Next there is a zoom in camera movement of a huge apparatus as it zooms into the machine tension is built because the size connotes fear. The shot reverse shot of the to people shows their reaction to the machine.

Sound - There is a diegetic sound of birds twittering which makes the pace quite slow because of the low volume and unhurried speed which is quite heart warming. However this is juxtaposed by the unnerving non diegetic violin which is very high pitched creates suspense  which is reinforced as the volume of the diegetic electric brace progressively increases.

No Country for Old Man 
The first shot was a minute and a half of an establishing long shot of the sunrise in a desert so the audience could acknowledge the setting was most probably rural Texas. Then there is a close up of the front of a police care connoting that this is probably a crime thriller. Next there is a long shot of a desert road emphasis how big the journey ahead is and how alone and isolated he is which ids reinforced as there is a slow paced pan at eye level, mid shot of a police officer,leading to the next camera angle of a high-shot as the policeman being strangled by the isolated man, who is facing the camera which conveys who the villain is and who is in control; of a higher status through strength guy looking because he looks bigger and stronger, to the audience from this position of the camera. A range of close ups for example the villain washing his hands in a sink, while the hand cuffs dig into the villains skin and makes his wrists bleed it unnerved the viewer’s because he does this at a slow pace his reaction calm and relaxed – Juxtaposing situation and reaction

Mise-en-Scene:
Prop police car, connotes enforcement of law
Policeman taking a man to the back of the car and putting him in, signifies a bad guy
The gas canister which the policeman talked about to another officer on the phone.
Uniform of the law enforcement, looks like rural Texas.

Shoe marks from where the officer has been struggling to break free from the bad guy.
Hands cuffs on the villain, develops idea captivity but is juxtaposed by the fact he can strangle the police officer freely without emotion; as facial expression strangled man scrunched up, is juxtaposed by the villain blank face on, just the expression of strength being used
Limited variation of lighting, because the only time low-key was used, was in the police car when the bad guy was in, as the camera looked into the car, the back of the car was very low key, to emphasis evil from the villain.

Diegetic sounds include:
Wind blowing iconic to the beginning of thriller films
Bang of gas canister as that connotes its importance in the film.
Rusty old door opening and closing reinforces the iconic sound of thrillers
Footsteps running as he panics and tries to escape it increases to pace
Out of breath as the villain and the man wrestle it reinforces the pace
An exhale from the man connotes he’s dead

Evaluation of Scott's thriller openings

Introduction
I learnt many things in Scott’s thriller reviews and below is what I have learnt, while interpreting my own opinion into it:

Se7en
There are a large amount of extreme close-ups of camera angles, in the beginning of the film Se7en to convey detail of the twisted clips. The shot also shows viewer a hidden mysterious character that remains unidentified, but body parts of this figure are seen captivating the audience. The extreme close up of the word ‘God’ is shown to the viewer being cut out of a dollar bill connotes that the character is religious because god is indexical to the Christian faith. This is then reinforced throughout the film the use of the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ as punishment and in the antagonist’s judgement of his victims.
The editing at the beginning of the film has a very rapid pace, because it has several dissolve transitions to connote an atmosphere of confusion. The director uses a special texture effect which gives the entire sequence a washed-out sepia-like tone. The general colour used connotes lack of emotions and feelings giving the connotations of a feel of apprehension, for the narratives dark subject matter. The credits flicked in and out unsettling the audience.

The non-diegetic background music used is a remix of Nine Inch Nails ‘Closer’. Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project which is associated with dark and gruesome imagery, because it reinforces the fast pace and, The music used is gritty and reflects the overall disturbing tone of the film. The non diegetic sound is very scratchy almost as the sound of a pen scratching against paper. This adds to the effect of unsettling feel.
Mise-en-scene- Also flashes of red appear which connotes danger as it is indexical to blood reinforcing the connotations in the opening sequence of se7en, lots of quick paced unsettling images are shown as each shot reveals dark icons and movements. This reinforces the unnerving emotions Props - The amount of pages of notes and a scruffy hand writing in ink connotes the male protagonist is a hard worker and his obsession in research. Film roll and scissors connotes the setting -man is in laboratory or basement which has connotations of a thriller doing work, this could give the impression that the character is dodgy and mysterious. Thread and needle- This emphasizes the precision and commitment this character has also the needle is shown in an extreme close up to emphasis pain and torture so the audience cannot see anything else. Notebooks and newspapers- This connotes that the character could be investigating crime scenes or is just fascinated by them, either way he is presented to be sinister.

The non-diegetic background music used is a remix of Nine Inch Nails ‘Closer’. Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project which is associated with dark and gruesome imagery, because it reinforces the fast pace and, The music used is gritty and reflects the overall disturbing tone of the film. The non diegetic sound is very scratchy almost as the sound of a pen scratching against paper. This adds to the effect of unsettling feel.
Mise-en-scene- Also flashes of red appear which connotes danger as it is indexical to blood reinforcing the connotations in the opening sequence of se7en, lots of quick paced unsettling images are shown as each shot reveals dark icons and movements. This reinforces the unnerving emotions Props - The amount of pages of notes and a scruffy hand writing in ink connotes the male protagonist is a hard worker and his obsession in research. Film roll and scissors connotes the setting -man is in laboratory or basement which has connotations of a thriller doing work, this could give the impression that the character is dodgy and mysterious. Thread and needle- This emphasizes the precision and commitment this character has also the needle is shown in an extreme close up to emphasis pain and torture so the audience cannot see anything else. Notebooks and newspapers- This connotes that the character could be investigating crime scenes or is just fascinated by them, either way he is presented to be sinister.

Memento

Mise-en-scene

One of the main props throughout the beginning is the Polaroid photo because by concentrating on the image for that amount of time it denotes that the picture and its contents of the dead man is very significant to the rest of the film. The image relates to the title of 'Memento' as photos are normally mementos of things that have happened to remember. The dead man is obviously one of the main characters in the film which is narrated, as well as the holder of the picture. The glasses (another key prop) are owned by the man who is dead, stands-out against the blood splattered tiles, in the setting of the photo, as this connotes intelligence and a naive innocence as well because it appears that the man was an innocent victim because he couldn't see without his glasses, when he was killed. This is juxtaposed with the young looking murderer, Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) who looks exceptionally sad, suggesting that looks can be misleading.

Editing

The really distinguishing section of editing used in the beginning of the movie is that the structure is reversed as the director tells the viewers what happens at the end. Even though the beginning is rather short, the opening scene gives imperative information for the people watching. The beginning shows that Polaroid pictures are really significant to the rest of the film. It also makes the spectators pay attention when they next see another Polaroid further on in the movie. In addition, each cut is fast to give off a tense atmosphere; this could connote importance on the violence of the beginning with short, sharp and quick cuts.
Camera
Most of the beginning of Memento the camera angle is at extreme close up of a hand with a Polaroid picture of a man lying on the ground dead which is quite gruesome because of the blood covering the walls, the bullet, the glasses and the dead man’s head. This forms an intense closeness with the picture and the viewers as it controls the outlook of anything else making the audience’s attention completely on the photograph and the image in it. The reason the director used this shot was to show the stillness as it is extremely unsettling because of the detail of blood and a dead man. Therefore the audience can truly understand the murder because of the clarity and detail as extreme close up shots is used.

Sound

In the first scene the spectators are intrigued with a non-diegetic high pitched string tone that stops after the camera flashes. This tone builds up as more instruments join in, which produces a sense of anticipation throughout the beginning, this is an iconic sign of a thriller. The strings form an extreme melancholy atmosphere to the movie, which produces an unnerving comparison to the intense imagery seen in the scene. This could connote that the killer feels remorseful and guilty because of what he has done. The strings also get progressively high pitched increasing the feel of expectancy and accelerate the emotion as well. Diegetic sounds include the Polaroid being shaken, the camera noises, the bullet rattling across the floor, the grabbing of the gun and the man shouting “What?!”. These sounds are used collectively to generate a disturbing feel because of the growing climax during the opening. All of these diegetic sound stands-outs as the background music are contrasting. This makes the sounds clearer to the audience building tension. The constant sound of the Polaroid being moved is very frightening because it is so continuous. The scratching of the bullet is intimidating because of the high pitched screech produced as it goes across the floor. Lastly, the unexpected loud gun shot is shocking, because of the quiet background music at that time, it makes the audience jump, which is expected in thrillers.

Twelve Monkeys
Mise-en-scene:
The structure of the film is that it starts at the end. Setting in an airport which could connote panic and urgency rushing to travel. the gun in man’s hand connote danger fear and power because it is indexical to war because it’s a weapon and war is to do with politics. The costume could connote that the couple were going on a exotic warm holiday as were wearing Hawaiian themed clothing. The shot has a bright lighting which could connotes that the scene is a dream or diegesis. The mise-en-scene increases the sympathy and emotion as the man dying man puts his bloody hand on the woman’s face as she holds onto it. The boy had a different facial expression, as on one hand, before the boy seemed shocked and scared whereas in the final shot of the opening scene his face connoted he felt the same pain the woman did and looked at them with a slight give the impression of being confusion.

Camera- The director uses an extreme close up of a little boy’s face which only shows his eyes. Nolan does this to confirm the detail of the boy’s emotion in the eyes of fear and shock to the observers as if he has seen something dreadful. The boy’s eyes move around the location trying to understand the situation for a bit. This then fades white then into a slow motion clip of a man being shot in an air port trying to run away, this is a Point of View shot from the little boy’s perspective. Still in slow motion, the man falls to his knees dramatically this is in medium camera angle. The female protagonist emerges on screen which is also in slow motion running up to the man who is dying and sobs in grief the audience sympathies with her as it connotes that the female protagonist is the man’s partner. The slow motion is edited on afterwards and conveys the melancholy and emotion in the atmosphere. The camera then continues to shows the man fall to his knees slowly, making the audience empathizes with the character. This also makes the audience pay attention straight away because there is so much action at the very beginning. After that the angle of the camera moves back to a close up of the boy being held back gently with a hand on his shoulder, this signifies the innocence of the little boy. Next the camera returns to the point of view shot of the boy watching the woman grieve over the shot man. The camera slowly zooms into a close up shot of the woman’s face seeming distraught. Finally, the camera switches back to the boy with a close up of his face so the audience can see his reaction of sadness in detail.

Sound:
Opens with the diegetic sounds of a gun being fired shock to the viewer a woman screaming “No” dramatically. Most sounds fade out until the viewer can clearly hear the non-diegetic sound of a plane boarding time being called out on speakers re-enforcing that they are in an airport. here is also a non-diagetic sound of slow violin music playing over the top with no diegetic sounds despite the constant airport announcement playing in the background. This reinforces the level of emotion the director is trying to communicate in this opening shot.

Conclusion
I think that Scott's analysis is great because of the in depth detail!Also, there are no spelling mistakes as it was all correct. However it could be more to the point in some aspects e.g camera angles, and for the sound he needed to use more technical language e.g. Diegetic/nondiegetic, but great work and this will most definitely help our group create a thriller opening.