Feedback - Miss Spencer

You have started making progress with your blog and the work you have done is proficient. You have especially discussed elements like iconography which shows sophistication. I would put it at a borderline 2/3. In order to improve the work and get a more secure level 3 you should:


Use technical language for sound(diegetic and non-diegetic sound etc) 

Mention the single POV shot throughout the opening of Halloween - it was and still is unusual. What is the effect? Can you think of other films in the genre that do the same? 

When thinking about titles, also discuss the font, does it send a particular message (e.g. superhero films often have metallic looking font to show power etc) 

You haven't touched on characterisation or editing in any depth. Go back over the work and add this in.

Thanks
Miss Spencer

Task 2.1 - A Nightmare On Elm Street Analysis

 At the start of the film, we don't really know what's happening, some sort of man is welding some metal into certain shapes. The director has chosen to do this because it makes it more of a mystery to not know what's happening. There is no dialogue at the start, just heavy breathing and the sound of hammering and rusty metal pieces. This puts the audience in a scene where they feel afraid.

The location of the first scene is a old, dark, rusty looking place, the director has chosen this location to make the audience feel like they don't want to be there. After we see the building being done, we see the man put on a glove with blades attached to it, from this point we know that the film is going to contain a lot of death and hatred, which are both conventions of horror.


In the next scene we see a girl running away from someone or something, again we don't really know what's happening yet. The director has chosen for the film to start straight away with blades, a girl running and potential death because it makes the audience want to see what's happening within the film. At the end of that corridor there is light, the fact that the girl is running away from the light shows that she is running into trouble.


After we see the girl running, she sees the man and screams, when she screams the director has put sound effects of babies crying. Babies crying is also a convention of horror, therefore making it so that the audience know that the film is going to be scary. As soon as the sound stops, the man jumps out from behind her, then she wakes up. By her waking up means that the audience will feel like everything is going to be fine because it was just a dream, however we know that the rest of the film will consist of death and hatred.

Task 2.1 - The Ring Analysis

In the opening scene of the ring,it shows a girl getting a drink from a jug, as she walks away, she notices the T.V turn on in the other room. The next camera shot is a close up shot of the girls face. The director has chosen to do this because it makes her look very frightened, therefore from the start we know that the film is going to be scary.

The next shot is a point of view shot of the girl looking around the corner of the door to see who turned the T.V on. The director has chosen to use a point of view shot here to try and put the audience in the girls shoes, and make them feel scared. By the T.V not working, it symbolises the fact that things are not going well for this girl, foreboding danger for the future in the film. As soon as the reflection in the T.V shows, a soft wisp of air is used as a sound effect. The director has done this to make the audience feel like someone is actually there.



This is shot is a long shot, it's using the term of iconography, as it feel like someone is watching her. The director has chosen The location of this scene to be inside the girls house, to show that its more scary as she is supposed to feel safe being in her own house.



When the girl opens the door, the camera zooms straight towards the T.V and then straight towards the girls face, showing shock, like she has just been possessed. The sound effect that the director has chosen to use is people screaming at a very high pitched noise. He has done this because it's a convention of horror and it makes the audience feel more scared.

Task 2.1 - Halloween Analysis

In the opening scene of Halloween, it starts as a point of view shot looking at a house, the director has chose to do the start of the film in a point of view shot to show that the audience don't know who the killer is until the end of that scene, which makes he scene have tension. The director has chose this location because a house, late at night is a scary location. There is no music until the boy looks at the window in the picture to the left and the lights turn off and music starts to play. The music is very screechy and has a scary effect to it, the director has done this because it builds up tension towards the first scene.

The arm going to get the knife is like a dolls arm, or like a clown, this is also iconography as a clown is an icon of horror. The director has chosen to do this because it makes it look more scary, as dolls are a convention of horror. This makes the audience feel even more scared, as they think that this boy isn't a real person. The knife is also a convention of horror, as it shows that the boy is going to kill someone, making the audience even more scared.

 When the boy goes up stairs he puts on a mask, when the mask goes on his face, it looks like the picture to the right. This also brings in the conventions of horror, as a clowns mask is know to be scary and is in a lot of horror films. It also makes the audience feel scared for the girl, as the boy has a knife and is heading to the girls room. The director did this to build up tension.

The titles of the film Halloween is set with a black background and a pumpkin to the left hand side all the way through. The pumpkin is there because it is a convention of horror and as the film is called 'Halloween', the pumpkin fits in well with the film. The actual titles role through the middle of the screen and is in the colours red and orange, this is because they are both colours that are used in scary films. Red represents the colour of blood and as the film is called Halloween, the colour orange is like a pumpkin, which is a convention of horror.

Task 2.1 - Mission Impossible 2 Analysis

In the opening scene of Mission Impossible 2, it starts in a desert/canyon with a man hanging off the edge of a cliff, the director has chosen this location to show that this man is a dangerous man and that he's fearless. The scene starts off with a fast tracking towards the man climbing the cliff, this is using the term of iconography because it is symbolising the fact that the tracking is like an eagle flying through the sky. The director also uses diegetic eagle sounds throughout the opening scene, he does this to show that this man is a bald man and has a lot of freedom, just like an eagle.

This camera shot is a close up on the mans hand, this builds up tension and makes the audience feel scared for the man, because they feel like he is going to fall. When the man's hand is on the ledge, the director uses the sound effects of the man breathing deeply to show that his life is near death.

When the man is climbing, he jumps from one rock to another. The director has chosen to edit that jump and make it so its in slow motion. He has done this to create tension and to make the audience feel exited to see what happens next. When the man is jumping in slow motion the director has chosen to stop the music so the focus is all on the jump, this also brings tension towards the opening of the film.

When the man lands the jump, he then falls and is hanging on the edge of the cliff. The music continues when he gets back up and climbs to the top of the mountain to show that everything is fine and he is alive. The music being played is very happy, cheerful music so when the man reaches the top, it shows that he is happy to be alive.


The titles are being played gradually throughout the opening scene, there is about a five second gap between each of the titles to space them out. This means at the end of the opening scene, all the titles have been shown. The titles are in the colour orange, this is to show that the man is in a desert or canyon.

Feedback - Miss Spencer

A good prelim task Ollie, your evaluation is detailed in your research onto the elements like 180 degree rule. However I would like you to add how you used each of them, and what you learnt from the task. What didn't go so well that you can learn from for your final tasks?

Preliminary Task Evaluation

The 180 degree rule is when the camera man keeps the camera on only one side of the action, and is only allowed on one side of the axis (the green). An example of this would be in a car chase scene, when the car travels from the left side to the right, the next shot must also be shot from the same side, meaning that the car has to enter from left to right again. The rule must never be broken, if it is then it will be confusing to the audience, especially in scenes like chase, conversation or sport.

Match on match action is when the camera man is for example filming someone pulling a phone out of their pocket, dialing a number and putting the phone to their ear. However, instead of the camera man filming the whole thing in one shot, he will skip to a shot where the man gets the phone out of his pocket and then will skip to another shot of a close up shot of the phone where the person is dialing the number, then the shot will return to its original shot.

The eye line match is when two people in a shot both make eye contact but their eye contact must match up to one another's, the characters eyes should match up to the other persons eyes that they're looking at off camera. This also applies if one character is higher than the other one, or smaller. They will either have to look down or look up.


Our film making process went well, we used shots such as extreme close up shots, close up shots, medium shots and match on match shots. Our experience of filming around the college went well, we used clear walls to use as a background and we used some of the schools's features such as the stairs, the side of the school and the front of the school in our shots.

I learned a lot about editing on adobe premiere, i learned how to do the simple stuff like how to move clips from one place to another, but also the more advanced things like how to add a green screen of an explosion onto my work and how to then get rid of the green, so its just an explosion. I also learned how to, upload my clips, shorten them, delete the bits i didn't need and to add music.