Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Friday, 8 April 2011
harry potter poster analysis
This is an advertising poster for harry potter and the goblet of fire. It has a very distinctive but strict colour scheme, which consists mainly of dark blues and blacks. black usually is associated with death while the dark blues give an element of mystery to the poster. The dark grey clouds looming over the rest of the picture at the top, give a sense of evil and darkness which goes hand in hand with the harry potter films. Theirs a plain black area about three quarters of the way up the page which is placed just behind the main characters head to draw the audiences attention to the actors faces.
Possibly the main focus of the poster is the characters standing in order of importance, most importantly is harry potter. You can tell this by looking at the positions their standing in, with harry in front of the rest, ron and hermione either side of him behind him. behind them are the some other not as important characters. Also, harry is the only character looking right at the audience whereas the others are looking somewhere in the distance, which clarifies his importance as he is trying t connect with the audience.
The fact that the harry potter franchise uses the same lettering to represent the name of the film every time, makes the audience distinctively recognize that this is part of the harry potter franchise. This immediately attracts attention to the poster from their usual fan base. at the top of the screen, they've added saying at the top of the screen to set the scene for the audience by giving them a quick snippet telling them about the film. It says 'Everything is about to change, insinuating that this film may be different than the previous in the series. Below the harry potter title are some of the credits and below that it says 'The adventure continues november 16' which is telling us the release date while keeping to the harry potter film language suitable for their target audience; families.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Evaluation
Our media product pretty much fits in with the typical conventions of real media products as it uses titles and opening credits like a real opening would, presented over some establishing shots, followed by the title of the film. Also we have music over the begining of the opening, which sets the scene and aslo fits in to the codes and conventions of popular openings. After a few establishing shots the audience is introduced to the two protaginists. The fact that one of the characters is stroking a weapon and the gritty rough look of the establishing shots connote the genre of our film which is crime.
Our media product mainly represents the teenagers of today. This is made apparent by the age of the ators, as it is immediately obviouse that the actors are in their teens. However I think our film negativly represents them, as the story line of our film is riddled with drugs and crime; which we thought was an issue with some of todays teenagers. It also gives a slight insight into the lives of some teenagers, although it may be a little over dramatised. I think it also represents the working class in a way as the story is based in an estate and the actors in it were not dressed and did not speek like an upper class person would.
The type of media institution which would distribute our product would be a low budget, not particlary known company. For example 'Outsider films' or 'vertigo films' would be the type of company which would distribute a low budget film like ours; made soley for a UK audience. This is because of the films budget would not be big enough for major ditribution companies, whereas films such as harry potter would be able to be distributed to a lot of media outlets by Warner Brothers because their budget is so large.
Our target audience for our media product would mainly be for working class people roughly around the age groups of 15 - 25. This is because, like i mentioned before, the film consist mainly of young actors and a plot based around drugs and is set within a rough looking estate. This type of film would attract this type of audience; although a minority of other categorized audiences may be interested, this particular audience type would relate to to our film a lot more than other types of audience.We attracted our target audience by clearly demonstrating the different aspects of our film within the first two minutes which would relate to them such as the setting, actors (accent, clothes ect) and the mise en scene used. Also by using unknown, new actors which would bring an element of surprise and originality. We wanted to draw the audience in quite quickly, therefore we did so by introducing many establishing shots to immediately set the scene, music that we thought would work well with the genre of our film and the scenes we had created, and most importantly the fact that there is a sequence of the two characters walking somewhere creating a sense of mystery and intrigue all leading up to a killing within the first two minutes. We aimed to build up tension within this opening scene by following the two characters. We wanted the killing to be quite shocking to the audience almost as if they were not expecting it. Also we aimed to give a sense of mystery as to her motive, and leave some unanswered questions, giving the audience an urge to watch the rest of the film.
I have got more familiar with the program imovie during the production of our media production. For example i have learnt how to import and export files from a camera to imovie, how to cut and edit scenes, how to add effects to each scene, how to add music to imovie, and how to import a film from imovie onto youtube. I have also learnt how to use a basic film camera although I was mainly acting in the film i filmed a couple establishing shots, where I learnt how to configure the camera.
Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel i've learnt how to edit more efficiently to make the movie run more smoothly. also i feel i've progressed in my understanding of film terminologies and how they work, such as the 180 degree rule where the cameras used in the scene stay strictly on one side of the characters, otherwise it would cause confusion for the audience as it would seem as if the characters are changing positions to the audience. I have also learnt how to put together a much longer film than the preliminary task.
My role within the film making included being one of the two actors, and giving some good input into the group regarding camera shots and possible angles we could use. I helped with the editing of the film, for instance the part where he gets stabbed, it was hard to put together as we had to put two shots of me wearing different clothes together, but make it look acceptable at the same time. we had know time to re- film the shots so we had to work with what we had and that is why i am wearing a different coat when i get stabbed. I also filmed two of the establishing shots at the beginning of the film, including the one looking over the pathway high up, down at the gritty looking estate.
The art of the title: 300
-The first still shows silhouettes of a battle. It is presented in a kind of comic style. There's an orange, black and grey colour scheme apart from the red blood shown where the arrow has gone through the man on the horse. Immediately there's a sense of chaos and death, and this being at the beginning of the film sets the scene and tone of the film immediately.
-The next still has the same colour scheme. There's a black silhouette of something with some opening credits shown in red symbolizing blood, and the shot has red 'blood' splattered over it insinuating that the film is very gory and immediately giving the audience a glipse of what sort of film it is and what the audience has in store.
-Yet another silhouette dominates the next still, this time of a soldier holding a shield and spear standing in front of the moon, yet again with the screen covered in splattered blood further confirming the blood and gore still to come in the film. The way the mans posed in front of the moon showing only his silhouette and just enough of him clearly to see he's wearing a distinctive spartan helmet; in a way heroically idolising them.
-The next still is a title shot. It has a very simple colour scheme with a black background and red gory letters spelling "300" giving off a very sinister effect. The very simple title, colour scheme and layout of this shot magnefies the effect given off by it, and creates a very simple effect pleasing to the eye.
-The next still is of a vague silhouette of soldiers shooting bow and arrows, one arrow with a strange looking design, which along with the vague silhouettes creates a kind of abstract feel to the still and makes the audience think at first as to what it could be. their shooting into a bright yellow background which yet again portrays a sense of mystery to the audience. In the bottom left hand corner, are some small credits yet again following the text colour scheme of red to further connote blood and gore. It is very small and should be hard to notice and not the focus of the still, but it being on top of the black background of the silhouette, makes the red from the credits stand out just enough to attract the audiences attention. The colour scheme consists mainly of black and yellow with dark grey patches in the background, and although the still may look complicated, the colour scheme makes it simple enough to appear easy to the eye.
-The next still is the silhouettes of battles, and as the audience probably can guess at this stage, it includes a lot of blood and gore with blood splattering out of the shadows of battle, which further connotes the bloody nature of the film. The background has changed from the previous still with the yellow background to a half orange and half grey one. Yet again it is a very abstract background challenging the audience as to what it could be. The silhouettes include bodies flying and spears thrust into the air which clarifies what type of film this is going to be. Like the previous still, there are some red credits in the same bloody font in the bottom left hand corner of the still which has a black background from the shadows.
-The seventh still is a clear silhouette of a spartan soldier holding a sword and shield. You can distinguish the mans helmet similar to the one in the third still, as a spartan. He's standing in front of a yellow tinted with orange background, keeping to the distinctive colour scheme as in the previous stills. Yet again red credits written in a bloody font are presented on top of the silhouette of the soldier making it stand out and look important to the audience despite their small size.
-The next still is dominated by drops of red blood on the screen all the while keeping to the kind of comic effect of the still. The still is also riddled with spears pointing everywhere and vague silhouettes of the soldiers fighting, a little to vague to distinguish what is going on but enough information from the blood and the spears to know that a battle is going on. As it is the second from last still, they show no actual credits as I think they try to make the ending look more epic than the previous stills as they want to raise tension and excitement before they end the opening credits.
-The last still has just a plain black background with red text on it written in the bloody font which has been used. As it is the last still they've calmed the feel of the opening down in preparation for the start of the film, although they still have some blood splattered onto the plain background to keep the gory feel of the film alive.
The colour scheme used mainly consists of black, red and yellowy orange. This helps set the scene for the film, as red commonly connotes blood, gore and violence; black commonly connotes death and the yellowy orange used for the background of the shots is a plain colour close to red which helps set the scene. The credits are written in very small red text however is very noticeable and demands attention as they are always presented in front of a black background. These stills are full of killing and blood which gives a glimpse, and confirms the bloody nature of the film to come.
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Rome - how is rank/status represented in the opening TV series rome?
The scene starts of with a close up of an officer who looks over to his left. The camera follows the direction of where he's looking and comes across Titus and zooms in on him. This immediately highlights the two main characters in this scene. The officer is wearing a different helmet to the rest of the soldiers surrounding him which makes him stand out; his helmet has red frills which is seen as an important colour and usually symbolizes blood and royalty, which immediately suggests that he is of higher authority than the other soldiers.
Shortly after there's then a close up of the officer blowing a whistle, giving orders to his soldiers. This furthermore incinuates that he is of much higher authority than his other soldiers. This is followed by a very quick edit lasting about two seconds, of the soldiers front line getting into formation and then another very quick edit lasting lasting for only one second, of the enemy barbarians running towards the roman soldiers.
A mid shot is next used of Titus and it zooms into a close up of him, which focuses the audiences attention on only him. The fact that Titus is in a standard roman soldiers outfit means that he is of no higher authority than any of the other soldiers however the continuous camera shots between him and the officer, suggest that they are the main characters in this scene.
The next few shots are fighting scenes, yet again the camera cutting between very quick shots of Titus and the officer. These shots include a mid shot looking up at Titus stabbing a barbarian soldier, a long shot of the action taking place, and yet again another shot of the officer blowing a whistle telling his men to switch formation, exercising his authority furthermore. A birds eye view shot is then used to show the soldiers changing formation, showing that they are responding to the officers orders. There are a few mid shots shots of Titus fighting showing him breaking formation. There's a mid shot of the officer shouting at him to get back in formation followed by a mid shot of Titus carrying on fighting oblivious to his orders. when the officer goes to get Titus there's an over the shoulder shot looking at Titus punching the officer in the face which shows complete defiance and lack of care for the officers higher authority. However the punch seems like it doesn't effect the officer, which gives him a high sense of power parallel to his rank. This is followed by a mid shot of two soldiers carrying Titus away for the officer showing their lower rank and lower authority. There is then a close up of the officer ordering his soldiers to 'reform' while he blows a whistle.
The next scene is a shot strafing left as it views the camp and eventually focuses on Titus getting whipped as a punishment. It is set in the roman camp as we can tell from the soldiers as they are all wearing the roman costumes. Yet again this shot shows the officer exorcising his authority by preaching to his soldiers of lower rank. There's a quick close up of a soldier looking upset, which suggests that the soldiers of lower rank are maybe not as hardy as the ones of higher rank. There's a mid shot of a man standing between two soldiers with a smirk on his face. It is obvious that this man is of much higher authority as he is guarded by two soldiers standing either side of him while he eats an apple smiling at Titus getting whipped. He is also wearing a very different costume to everyone else; he's not wearing a helmet and is wearing a red cape which symbolizes royalty. Two soldiers eventually untie Titus and he replies with "Is that it, i was just about to enjoy myself", which shows even after he's been punished he still defies the authority of the higher ranking officers.
The last scene is also set inside the roman camp. The first shot is a long shot showing many soldiers gathered around Caesar on his higher stage than everyone else, which shows how he flaunts his power and rank. There are many shots cutting between Caesar and the barbarian kind who is made to kneel on the floor, showing how he is stripped from his rank. The shots are always looking up at Caesar with the camera below him, and always looking down at the barbarian king with the camera above him. This gives the audience an insight into the two characters as it gives a first person view of them looking at each other from their point of view. The barbarian gets stripped of all his clothes which shows the romans disrespect for him. Although he has the highest authority with his people, here he is subjected to mockery. There is a long shot of Caesars servant come forward and lower Caesars standard for him to kiss it and show his complete surrender. Once he does, the same officer from earlier draws his sword and shouts "Caesar" which is shortly followed by the rest of the soldiers. This shows that he demands respect which comes with his rank.
I think rank/status is represented as a very segregated system, as very few are high ranked. I think it's also represented by Titus to be a force to be defied as we see when he shows his lack of respect and doesn't follow his orders; and by Caesar a force to be respected and followed as we see when flaunts his power and he feels he is of such high authority he doesn't need to even speak.
Shortly after there's then a close up of the officer blowing a whistle, giving orders to his soldiers. This furthermore incinuates that he is of much higher authority than his other soldiers. This is followed by a very quick edit lasting about two seconds, of the soldiers front line getting into formation and then another very quick edit lasting lasting for only one second, of the enemy barbarians running towards the roman soldiers.
A mid shot is next used of Titus and it zooms into a close up of him, which focuses the audiences attention on only him. The fact that Titus is in a standard roman soldiers outfit means that he is of no higher authority than any of the other soldiers however the continuous camera shots between him and the officer, suggest that they are the main characters in this scene.
The next few shots are fighting scenes, yet again the camera cutting between very quick shots of Titus and the officer. These shots include a mid shot looking up at Titus stabbing a barbarian soldier, a long shot of the action taking place, and yet again another shot of the officer blowing a whistle telling his men to switch formation, exercising his authority furthermore. A birds eye view shot is then used to show the soldiers changing formation, showing that they are responding to the officers orders. There are a few mid shots shots of Titus fighting showing him breaking formation. There's a mid shot of the officer shouting at him to get back in formation followed by a mid shot of Titus carrying on fighting oblivious to his orders. when the officer goes to get Titus there's an over the shoulder shot looking at Titus punching the officer in the face which shows complete defiance and lack of care for the officers higher authority. However the punch seems like it doesn't effect the officer, which gives him a high sense of power parallel to his rank. This is followed by a mid shot of two soldiers carrying Titus away for the officer showing their lower rank and lower authority. There is then a close up of the officer ordering his soldiers to 'reform' while he blows a whistle.
The next scene is a shot strafing left as it views the camp and eventually focuses on Titus getting whipped as a punishment. It is set in the roman camp as we can tell from the soldiers as they are all wearing the roman costumes. Yet again this shot shows the officer exorcising his authority by preaching to his soldiers of lower rank. There's a quick close up of a soldier looking upset, which suggests that the soldiers of lower rank are maybe not as hardy as the ones of higher rank. There's a mid shot of a man standing between two soldiers with a smirk on his face. It is obvious that this man is of much higher authority as he is guarded by two soldiers standing either side of him while he eats an apple smiling at Titus getting whipped. He is also wearing a very different costume to everyone else; he's not wearing a helmet and is wearing a red cape which symbolizes royalty. Two soldiers eventually untie Titus and he replies with "Is that it, i was just about to enjoy myself", which shows even after he's been punished he still defies the authority of the higher ranking officers.
The last scene is also set inside the roman camp. The first shot is a long shot showing many soldiers gathered around Caesar on his higher stage than everyone else, which shows how he flaunts his power and rank. There are many shots cutting between Caesar and the barbarian kind who is made to kneel on the floor, showing how he is stripped from his rank. The shots are always looking up at Caesar with the camera below him, and always looking down at the barbarian king with the camera above him. This gives the audience an insight into the two characters as it gives a first person view of them looking at each other from their point of view. The barbarian gets stripped of all his clothes which shows the romans disrespect for him. Although he has the highest authority with his people, here he is subjected to mockery. There is a long shot of Caesars servant come forward and lower Caesars standard for him to kiss it and show his complete surrender. Once he does, the same officer from earlier draws his sword and shouts "Caesar" which is shortly followed by the rest of the soldiers. This shows that he demands respect which comes with his rank.
I think rank/status is represented as a very segregated system, as very few are high ranked. I think it's also represented by Titus to be a force to be defied as we see when he shows his lack of respect and doesn't follow his orders; and by Caesar a force to be respected and followed as we see when flaunts his power and he feels he is of such high authority he doesn't need to even speak.
Saturday, 1 January 2011
lock stock analysis
In the opening scene of lock stock and two smoking barrels, character X is selling stolen goods accompanied by his friend, on a street corner in a run down community, untill inturupted by two policemen and a chase begins leading into the end of the sequence im studying.
The first shot in this scene is of text with white lettering reading 'summit entertainment' in an old typewriter font, accompanied by a black background. This immediatley gives the audience a glimpse of its genre-crime.The second shot is a medium shot of character X selling his stolen goods to potential buyers gathering around. The camera is zooming towards character X while he is speaking, giving the audience the impression that he is one of the main characters in this scene. The metal shutter shown behind character X indicates that this area is run down and the thick over coat he is wearing gives the impression that it is cold.
It then cuts to a close up of character X speaking about some products he's trying to sell to the crowd, which is followed by another shot of white lettering in type writer font with a black background saying 'the steve tisch company' this furthermore clarifies the genre of the film - crime. It then cuts back to the close up of character X and a shot zooming out from him which takes the attention away from him gradually while the camera is still focused on him.
The next shot is yet another shot of white text in a type writer font with a plain black background, this time reading 'ska films' followed by yet another close up of character X, this time holding a long gold chain trying to persuade people to buy his stolen goods. The same type writer font with the black background is then used again this time saying 'presents', which hooks the audiences attention as it doesn't give any information away as it builds up towards the title.
Shot reverse shot is then used in when it cuts to a mid shot of character X talking about the stolen product he's holding, and then a mid shot of his friend coming forward from the crowd and accepting his offer, although the audience does not know they know each other at this time; followed by a close up of character X again.
Yet again the white type writer font with the black background is used next, this time saying 'a matthew vaughn production'. This is followed by a mid-shot of character X with some of the crowd in the shot; character X is quickly bagging his products and selling them. This is followed by a mid shot of his friend looking at something off screen to the left and then a close up of character X again talking to his customers. The next shot is another shot of introducing credits using the same font this time reading 'a guy ritchie film' immediately accompanied by the start of a jumpy high energy song which conotates to the audience that something exiting is about to happen. This then leads into another shot of character X bagging up his products and selling them.
The next shot is a medium close up of his friend followed by a medium close of him, yet again showing that there is some sort of relationship between them although they are trying to cover it up. In the next shot the camera is to the right of character X strafing further to the right with one of the crowds head in the way, while character X puts a product in a plastic bag. While the song picks up the pase a medium close up shot of character X's friend comes forward again this time shouting at him in panic incinuating that police are coming, the fact that he uses character X's name/nickname 'Bacon' shows that they know each other.
The following shot is of character X packing his stuff away in a hurry followed by a close up of the products getting thrown quickly into a suitcase. The next shot is a mid shot of character X and his friend running off camera to the left, with two policemen appearing from the right hand side of the screen running after them and disappearing off to the left as well. This is all in one shot. The policemen are wearing traditional london police costumes which further confirms the setting and clearly differs them from the rest of the characters.
For the next shot the camera is already around the corner looking at the friend followed by character X running around it and towards the camera. As they run towards the camera it tracks backwards and follows them running past the cameras right hand side. It follows them as they hop a fence and run off but stays there as the policemen do the same.
The first shot in this scene is of text with white lettering reading 'summit entertainment' in an old typewriter font, accompanied by a black background. This immediatley gives the audience a glimpse of its genre-crime.The second shot is a medium shot of character X selling his stolen goods to potential buyers gathering around. The camera is zooming towards character X while he is speaking, giving the audience the impression that he is one of the main characters in this scene. The metal shutter shown behind character X indicates that this area is run down and the thick over coat he is wearing gives the impression that it is cold.
It then cuts to a close up of character X speaking about some products he's trying to sell to the crowd, which is followed by another shot of white lettering in type writer font with a black background saying 'the steve tisch company' this furthermore clarifies the genre of the film - crime. It then cuts back to the close up of character X and a shot zooming out from him which takes the attention away from him gradually while the camera is still focused on him.
The next shot is yet another shot of white text in a type writer font with a plain black background, this time reading 'ska films' followed by yet another close up of character X, this time holding a long gold chain trying to persuade people to buy his stolen goods. The same type writer font with the black background is then used again this time saying 'presents', which hooks the audiences attention as it doesn't give any information away as it builds up towards the title.
Shot reverse shot is then used in when it cuts to a mid shot of character X talking about the stolen product he's holding, and then a mid shot of his friend coming forward from the crowd and accepting his offer, although the audience does not know they know each other at this time; followed by a close up of character X again.
Yet again the white type writer font with the black background is used next, this time saying 'a matthew vaughn production'. This is followed by a mid-shot of character X with some of the crowd in the shot; character X is quickly bagging his products and selling them. This is followed by a mid shot of his friend looking at something off screen to the left and then a close up of character X again talking to his customers. The next shot is another shot of introducing credits using the same font this time reading 'a guy ritchie film' immediately accompanied by the start of a jumpy high energy song which conotates to the audience that something exiting is about to happen. This then leads into another shot of character X bagging up his products and selling them.
The next shot is a medium close up of his friend followed by a medium close of him, yet again showing that there is some sort of relationship between them although they are trying to cover it up. In the next shot the camera is to the right of character X strafing further to the right with one of the crowds head in the way, while character X puts a product in a plastic bag. While the song picks up the pase a medium close up shot of character X's friend comes forward again this time shouting at him in panic incinuating that police are coming, the fact that he uses character X's name/nickname 'Bacon' shows that they know each other.
The following shot is of character X packing his stuff away in a hurry followed by a close up of the products getting thrown quickly into a suitcase. The next shot is a mid shot of character X and his friend running off camera to the left, with two policemen appearing from the right hand side of the screen running after them and disappearing off to the left as well. This is all in one shot. The policemen are wearing traditional london police costumes which further confirms the setting and clearly differs them from the rest of the characters.
For the next shot the camera is already around the corner looking at the friend followed by character X running around it and towards the camera. As they run towards the camera it tracks backwards and follows them running past the cameras right hand side. It follows them as they hop a fence and run off but stays there as the policemen do the same.
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