Editing techniques

Editing in a film is the process of cutting and assembling film footage to produce a finished product.

Transitions

This is an example of a fade to black transition. It is an example of how a transition mixes into black.

This is a good example of a dissolve transition. The preceding shot merges into the following shot, resulting in the two shots being superimposed. The longer the dissolve the more noticeable the superimposition becomes.

Here there are many examples of wipe transitions. A wipe transition helps to switch the scene quickly.

 

 

Eyeline Match

An eyeline match is when the camera cuts to what the character is seeing. It is a common technique to establish continuity.

 Match on Action

This example shows a Match on action, in this example we see someone walking towards someone and then in the next shot they are completing the action.

Shot/reverse shot

This shows shot/reverse shot, this is when the camera cuts from one subject to another back and forth to follow a flow of dialogue or interaction.

Montage

A montage shows a rapid succession of shots to convey a rapid succession of time, panic or frenzy. Sometimes used to break continuity.

Crosscutting

Crosscutting is used to show that two or more events are happening simultaneously. This involves cutting back and forth between different locations.

Split screen 

A Split Screen is where the frame splits into sections so that the viewer can see different events occurring at the same time. 

Camera Techniques (with stills)

Shot Type

• This is a medium shot as we can see most of the characters but also their facial expressions 

• This is a long shot, this establishes the scene as the background is prominent over the facial expressions 

• This is close up and unlike a long shot the background isn't prominent, instead the characters facial expression is the focus

Camera Angle

• This shows a low angle which emphasises the importance of the character, also the pyramid is of importance

• This is a Dutch angle (canted angle) because the character is intimidating, dangerous and insane

• This is a high angle as the body is still on the floor and is powerless, it gives a sense of vulnerability

Focus

Soft Focus

• Soft focus makes the foreground prominent and the background is unintelligible. The effect short focus has in this still is that the background is quite plain, the focus is on the character on the forefront

Deep Focus

• Deep focus would be used to establish a scene as all can clearly be seen. This is a deep focus image because both the foreground and the background are in focus and are clearly shown, there is no prominence in the still

400 word treatment of film

Set in London, Lawrence a 17 year old boy who is living with his parents is walking back from school when he is approached by a man. He takes Lawrence into his van and drives him to his house. Two crackheads, (Ed and Cam) are on the other side of the road. Ed witnesses the kidnap however he is unable to resemble what he saw. Ed wakes up from a dream of a little boy getting kidnapped Later on that day Ed tells Cam that he thought he saw something, Cam tells him that he was high at the time and that he saw nothing two days after a couple of policeman go to their house after a search commences for Lawrence After the police leave Ed grows increasingly sure that he saw something and recognised one of the faces of the detective Weeks after Ed begins to remember what he saw on that day and he goes to the police station and tells the detective (who visited them earlier) he is beginning to remember. The detective however is the one who kidnapped Lawrence and is beginning to get worried Ed eventually realises that one of the detectives is the kidnapper, but doesn't know what to say or do Ed looks for help in Cam, however Cam refuses to believe him Lawrence's parents seek for help, Ed decides to tell them what he saw The parents go to the detectives and tell them that Ed told them the whereabouts of Lawrence. At this point Lawrence temporarily manages to escape but Jerry re captures him.The detective (the bad one) begins to worry about the situation. The other detective (Caroline) begins to become suspicious because she finds pictures of Lawrence on Jerry's phone. This then leads to Caroline to look for Jerry who for some reason has disappeared Jerry then goes to find Ed and kills him and he then tries to kill Cam who gets chased, but gets away and finds Caroline. Caroline then tracks Jerry down to where Lawrence is kept and has a face off, Jerry loses and Caroline saves Lawrence.

The Conjuring and Vantage Point analysis

THE CONJURING - Title Sequence from Nathaniel Costa on Vimeo.

Mise-En-Scene

Lighting is used in the opening sequence, the dark colours create a sense of mystery and eeriness and also the time it is based in, the props used indicate the devil, old age and death with the use of the star and the gravestones. The setting seems to be in a country house and seems to be based in 19th/20th century England, the costume of the characters is traditional English clothing at the time it was set in. 

Camera

However, the POV angle of the person viewing the slides makes us question the time as to which it is set, it is also at a high angle. 

Written Codes

The font type is almost like a newspaper, as the title sequence is showing newspaper articles. Some of the slides show main headlines which anchor the meaning of the film or the origins of the story that the film is re exploring.

Vantage Point

Mise- En- Scene

The colour is sepia and this creates a sense of darkness, blood and tension. The setting seems to be a protest against America, the sequence shows guns which may indicate a conflict against america. The red light that goes across the words relates to the laser aimers on the guns which re enforces the violent and military theme of the film. Also, the music gives a stealthy feel to the film and the prop of the sniper backs this. 

Camera

There are many camera angles used in this title sequence, the beginning shows a long shot, high angle of the location, however, the sides are left in black which creates mystery and the sudden changes in shots signify surveillance. The close ups on banners and the USA sign show it may be based in the Middle East which creates an anti American feel and a political or military thriller.

Written Codes

The font is straight forward and classic.

Shutter Island analysis

The film has a linear structure, it runs smoothly and in a straight line and it is not broken up despite there being flashbacks the structure remains linear. The film is shown from the Di Caprio's point of view - we follow him through every scene and, because he is unaware of his real identity so is the audience. This works towards a twist ending. Shutter Island follows the classic Hollywood narrative structure as explored by theorist Pam Cook. She believes the standard Hollywood narrative structure should have; linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution with a high degree of narrative closure (a resolution). Furthermore, the film meets Todorov's theory, it has clear plot points. The equilibrium is when the detective is asked to investigate the disappearance of a patient in the prison. The significant event is when the detective realises there is a twisted plot by the hospital doctors and the disequilibrium is when he investigates. The climax is when he solves the enigma and he discovers reality, the new equilibrium is he begins his road to full recovery. Barthes' theory also relates to Shutter Island, as the the enigma is developed with the increase in tension which results in a resolution to the plot with a linear narrative. Furthermore, Propp believes that regardless of differences in the plot, characters and settings share common structural features. The hero in Shutter Island is Leonardo Di Caprio, the villian is the institution, the escaped prisoner and Di Caprio himself, the donor is the main doctor and therapist. There is a dramatic twist at the end of the film where the detective finds out he was being role played the whole time he was thinking he was the investigator, and his partner was in fact his therapist. Di Caprio realises reality at the end, but we are left to two possible endings:

• Teddy asks Chuck whether it's better to live as a monster or die a good man. He stands up willingly and goes with the orderlies, as he would rather choose to continue his fantasy than accept the horrors of his reality

• Alternatively, he has accepted his reality, but still cannot live with the horrors of it. So now at the end of the film he is acting out the fantasy, rather than living   Effectively, he is cured. However, he still can't live with his memories so he knowingly forces the doctors to take the decision for physical intervention. He wants to end his life as a good man 

Shutter Island meets the common attributes associated with the thriller genre, the film is set around an enigma which is only solved by the hero, it is based in an establishment with a strong theme of violence, the hero is dragged into something deeper than what he intended.

Legal Deception

Word Treatment 

• Set in London, Lawrence a 17 year old vulnerable boy who is living with his parents is walking back from school when he is approached by a man.
• He takes Lawrence into his van and drives him to a warehouse in Kensal Rise
• Two crackheads, (Ed and Cam) are on the other side of the road. Ed witnesses the kidnap however he is unable to resemble what he saw.
• Ed wakes up from a dream of a little boy getting kidnapped 
• Later on that day Ed tells Cam that he thought he saw something, Cam tells him that he was high at the time and that he saw nothing 
• Two days after a couple of policeman go to their house after a search commences for Lawrence 
• After the police leave Ed grows increasingly sure that he saw something and recognised one of the faces of the detective 
• Weeks after Ed begins to remember what he saw on that day and he goes to the police station and tells the detective (who visited them earlier) he is beginning to remember
• The detective however is the one who kidnapped Lawrence and is beginning to get worried 
• Ed eventually realises that one of the detectives is the kidnapper, but doesn't know what to say or do 
• Ed looks for help in Cam, however Cam refuses to believe him 
• Lawrence's parents seek for help, Ed decides to tell them what he saw 
• The parents go to the detectives and tell them that Ed told them the whereabouts of Lawrence 
• The detective (the bad one) begins to worry about the situation 
• The bad detective, tries to find Ed to kidnap him to make sure that he shuts up 
• The other detective (Caroline) begins to become suspicious because she finds pictures of Lawrence on Jerry's phone. 
• This then leads to Caroline looks for Jerry who for some reason has disappeared 
• Jerry then goes to find Ed and kidnaps him as well 
• Cam sees it and tells Caroline 
• Caroline then tracks jerry down and has a face off 
• Jerry loses and saves the droooooopy Lawrence and Ed
• They all live happy, except for Jerry who is in a high security prison  

Thriller Trailer Iconography

The Da Vinci Code

Conventions of The Da Vinci Code trailer 

• This trailer creates suspense when the body is found and a series of messages are found around the body
• The setting is in a city which matches the general consensus of a thriller genre
• The narrative clearly revolves around the investigation of a puzzle or enigma
• The hero is clearly involved in the investigation to solve the solve the puzzle/enigma 
• The hero's knowledge of the enigma puts him in danger which creates suspense
• The enigma/puzzle is a rational explanation which is made to look supernatural 
• The film is also action packed, full of car chases and murders  

Shutter Island 

• In this film the enigma is the island itself 
• The detective is made a hero as soon as he is dragged into something deeper than what he intended 
• The puzzle is the disappearance of a prisoner 
• The use of the writing on the walls and on the notepad creates suspense which is the main aim for a thriller 
• This thriller is shown in an institution run by the authorities 
• As the hero becomes ever closer to solving the enigma the film becomes more violent 

Conventions of a Thriller genre

The Thriller genre includes a wide range of films, however, there are some common attributes:

• The main aim for a thriller is to create excitement and suspense for the audience 
• A thriller is usually set in the city 
• The narrative in a thriller usually revolves around an enigma or investigation 
• The hero is the only one who can reveal the mystery 
• By the end of a thriller the enigma will be solved 
• There will be a rational explanation to the puzzle
• Thrillers centre on injustices in society but rights these wrongs
• It often shows the workings of establishments, for example; the army, the police
• Violent crime is paramount to a thriller
• The hero is usually moral, however, he is usually an outsider while being isolated and secretive
• The villain shares some of the hero's characteristics despite being on opposing sides   

Preliminary Mise-En Analysis

300

This film is set in Ancient Greece and the film is based around 300 Spartan soldiers defending their lands. The setting in the photo is just before a battle, the setting meets what the audience was expecting. Props are very prominent is this image, the spear takes up most of the image which emphasises the impact and meaning the spear has in the film which is its aim to kill. The bright lighting on the soldier heightens the importance of him, the shadow on his eyes allows the focus to be on his eyes as they are clearly focused on the enemy. Also, the stern expression makes it clear the character does not like the person they are looking at, he seems focused and angry. With this image being solely focused on this character we assume that he has a high status in the film.

Insidious

This still shows sharp contrasts of light and dark areas, this creates a distinct difference between good and bad. The evil character is shaded and the good character is more full of light. Additionally, the darkness in between the two characters allows the emphasis to be on the evil characters tongue. The tongue is set in the middle of the image, this enables the audience to focus the attention on the tongue. Furthermore, the shading on the attacker makes him look mysterious especially with the shading on one side of his face. The make-up of the attacker presents the idea that the film is set in the future or in a different world. The girls costume and make up differs completely from the attackers which gives the indication that the film is set in a different world. Moreover, the facial expression of the girl provides a clear indication that she is terrified and in danger, while the facial expression of the evil character shows he is aggressive and intimidating.  

Application of Narrative Theory

Todorov

Todorov was a Bulgarian structural linguist, his worl was focused and interested in the way language is ordered to infer particular definitions and has greatly influenced the field of narrative theory. Todorov's narrative structure consisted of five stages.

Equilibrium

A point at which everything is satisfied calm and normal

Significant Event

The stable environment is disrupted by some kind of force which creates a state of disequilibrium

Disequilibrium

This is where there is recognition that a disruption has taken place

Climax

It is seen that the only possible way to re-create equilibrium is through action directed against the disruption

New Equilibrium

There is restoration and a new state of equilibrium is introduced to the world of the narrative. This new state of equilibrium can sometimes differ but be an improvement of the initial state of equilibrium.

Todorov's theory links to our story because we have applied his theory to the structure of our story and plots.

Propp

Propp was a Russian theorist who studied the narrative structure of Russian folk tales. Propp concluded that regardless of the individual differesnces in terms of plot, characters, and settings such narratives will share common structural features.

He also concluded that all the characters could be resolved into only seven character types.

The Hero

The hero weds the princess

The Princess

The princess gives the task to the hero and marries him.

The Villian

The Villian struggles against the hero.

The Helper

Helps the hero in the quest.

We can apply Propps theories to our story by assigning the character titles to the characters in our film.

Levi Strauss

Levi Strausses ideas about narrative amount to the fact that he believed all stories operated to certain clear binary opposites.

The importance of these ideas is the eessentially a complicated world is reduced to a simple either/or structure where things are either right or wrong, good or bad, there is no in between.

This structure has ideological implications if for example you want to show that the hero was not wholly correst in what they did and the villains were not bad.

We can apply Strausses theory to our story because the villain in our film assists the hero to get back on his feet.

Preliminary Poster Analysis

This is a main poster. The name of the main actor is clearly shown at the top of the poster a long with his character shown with contrasting colours which may indicate that the film is evil and dangerous. This is an indirect mode of address as the character is focused on the action in the film as in this shot he may be in danger. The motto at the bottom gives an indication as to what the film is about, however, its placement is at the bottom so the viewer reads everything before, it is also in bold unlike the main title which may mean the motto is significant. The image of the of the '6' looks mystical with a figure coming out of it the strong colour makes it seem scary and also very powerful. This poster also makes it clear who the star is by making the stars name at the top of the poster with them also being the image.

This is a main film poster for Orphan. The caption at the top strongly relates to the image and it is made in bold capitals so it straight away catches the eye. The character in the image is given low lighting especially around her eyes which are darkened and seem to have the same black colour which may represent evil in the girl, her eyes are looking straight out of the poster and this makes the onlooker feel what its like to be in the presence of this girl. Also her expression makes her seem emotionless and powerful, her lack of emotions makes her seem more intimidating as usually a child would be full of emotion which would allow people to relate to this in real life. Furthermore, her clothes strongly relate to the title of the film, she is wearing stereotypical clothes associated with orphans this adds more effect to the title. The title itself is written in an unusual font and this may relate to the girl being unusual, the poster also shows no characters only the orphan, this makes her the centre of attention and the main attraction of the film. Additionally, the red bold writing is made directly to the viewer of the poster and it makes them feel part of the film and more directly in contact with the girl.

Semiotics

Recently I have learnt about semiotics. The first thing we learned was that a sign equals a signified (concept) and that in turn creates a signifier (symbol/icon), for example, S.H.A.R.K when we think of a shark we see this

After we moved on the the meaning of a sign or image. I learnt the terms Denotation and Connotation. Denotation means the literal meaning of the signified or concept, the term connotation means when a sign refers to the meanings associated with the signified or concept. So for the shark the denotative meaning would be, predator, fish. On connotative level the shark means, killer, aggressive, powerful, etc. 

Iconic, Symbolic and Indexical

Iconic, Symbolic and Indexical signs take how we look at images further. An iconic sign is where the signifier looks like the signified, an symbolic sign is where the link between the signifier and signified is culturally learned and indexical is where the signifier is evidence of the symbol.

An example of an iconic image is: 

Here the image looks like the concept so it is iconic of a ball.

An example of a symbolic sign is:

This sign has had to have been learned in order to understand its meaning, the signifier and signified must be learned.

An example of an indexical sign is:

This image is not arbitrary but it is directly connected in some way to the signified, this link can be observed or inferred, for example in this image there are natural signs of footprints in the sand.

Polysemy and Anchorage

Furthermore, Polysemy means many possible meanings, an image shown can create numerous views and different opinions on a given image.  

This image can be given various views and opinions, for example, is this image showing police brutality, is the protester forcing the violence or are the police trying to restrain the protesters.

Finally, Anchorage restricts the possible meanings, for example an image could have a caption which restricts the viewer to a dominant or preferred reading. So in this image if a caption said 'protester violence' the reader or viewer will have a restricted reading. 

Trailers first impressions

I liked the looked of this movie from the trailer as it gave a strong sense of mystery a long with drama. Throughout the trailer there is a strong sense of suspense as there is a race against time to find the children, the crime aspect is interesting as the policeman is under pressure as the main suspect was released as no evidence could be found. As a result, the father of one of the children takes it upon himself to find the children adding a dramatic twist there is also a strong sense of morality in the trailer as both the suspect and the father have to see whether what they are doing is right. The race against time makes this trailer full of action.

The trailer for American Psycho showed the character (Patrick Bateman) to be a very unusual man, he is shown to be an intelligent well presented person but he is also a psychotic killer who rapes and murders acquaintances and strangers. Despite this his character seems very like-able, his laid back approach and comedic approach to his killing and general life makes it good to watch. The trailer also shows him to be very unemotional which adds to the comedic value of the film, his various character traits make this film chilling and exciting.

Media AS Introduction

Hi, my name is Alex and I am currently studying at Collingham. I am currently studying English Literature, History and Media. This year for media coursework I will be working on an opening sequence to a thriller.