Opening sequences

The Shining
In the whole opening sequence we are seeing a car, which is driving along different roads. Through the elliptical editing and the different landscapes, the audience gets the expression of a long journey. The extreme wide shots show us how far the car is away from any civilization and that it's driving further into the nowhere.  That feeling gets also reinforced by the fact, that the car is passing just one other car at all. The non-diegetic and sinister music creates the frighting atmosphere and also introduces the horror genre. It's a quiet common opening, in which the protagonists do a journey to the actual setting of the film. And although we haven't met them yet we know that they are in this car.    

Sexy Beast
The pool, the villa and the high position of it gives the man a rich and high standard. The fact that this guy is about fifty years old, that he wears a golden chain, his to big trunks and that he stays cool when he nearly gets stricken dead by a boulder gives him a something criminal and threatening. The low shots an the high position of his property give him power. He also lives secluded from the other houses further down. He doesn't want to be seen by other people. The music is not serious it's nearly happy, which creates a little contrapuntal meaning, because the man radiate something dangerous. The title "Sexy Beast" in front of a not very sexy picture is quiet ironic and could give us a idea that the movie is quiet ironic and black humored, too.
The cross-cutting to the woman in the car lets us know that there is a connection between them. But we don't know whether he is going to meet him or whether she is responsible for the rock or maybe both.  

Dead Man's Shoes

The use of elliptical editing and a lot of different settings in mise-en-scene creates a the feeling that the two men are doing a long journey. This is a very common opening sequence, in which our protagonists are travelling to the actual setting of the movie.

The bad image quality (granular) of the baby videos tells us that this happens in the past. The editing, in which we see the both babies and the two men, tells us that they're the two brothers from the baby clips.

The use of costume in form of a green bag and boots give us the feeling that the one brother is a soldier.

The use of non-diegetic sound create the feeling that the brothers are thinking about all the memories, they are sharing, it also tells us together with the use of no diegetic dialogue that they have a strong connection.

The opening sequence gives us the strong feeling of a drama.

Evaluation of Prelim shoot - Shooting my first Scene

We hadn't the time to build a setting, so we just used what already has been there: The room, we were supposed to work in, two chairs and a desk with a computer. We opened a window in the computer, which looked like a typical hacker/matrix window to create a little thriller atmosphere. 
We built up the tripod, did the bubbling and put the camera on the tripod. Than we set the white balance with a piece of paper.
The first shoot we did was a short shot of a piece of paper with our names written on, to be able to find our shots later.     
The sequences, we shot, were the shots, which were set by the task.
We started to film the scene a few times in wide shots from different perspectives. Than we slowly went closer with middle and over the shoulder shots to film the duologue between the two persons. After that we did the close shots of faces.
During this shots the actors (Flora and me) did the acting as well as we thought how to position camera and tripod with the other two members of the group (Vinnie and Liv).
After we finished the shots, we had to film, we started to add creative shots like a close up of the computers screen and the "matrix code", other close ups and middle shots of the actors from different perspectives during the duologue and different shots of me running up and down the steps in the staircase.
During these sequences not every actor had to be on screen and so the actors also worked as camera-man/woman.
Although we all thought and discussed together how to film the sequences, everybody also had his tight job:
Liv was the director, Vinnie was the camera-man and Flora and I were the actors. 
We hadn't any big problems during the shooting, but one thing was quiet annoying. And that was the tripod. We couldn't position the tripod close to the chairs or to the banister of the staircase, because its legs were in the way. 
I think we worked good as a group, because everybody brought ideas in and thought about how to shoot this scene. Everybody had his job and we hadn't had any problems between each other. Every idea were tried out. There are two things we should do better next time:
First:
Vinnie and I did the most, because we wanted to work with the camera and try different angles and shots, but we didn't include the girls enough. We, and specially me, need to do that next time.
And second:
We didn't work with a good plan. We just jumped from shot to shot without thinking about the hole product we want to produce. Next time we should work with a better planning.
But it was , all in all, a very good first shooting experience and I'm really looking forward to get more of this experience to improve my filming and team-work skills.

Work with the "Sony NX 5" - Introduction

The following points explain the basic knowledge to get ready for shooting a sequence:

1. Build up the tripod:
The tripod controls the height of the camera. The height, on which you set the tripod, depends on the sequence you want to shoot.
2. Bubbling:
The "Bubble" is very important, because she takes care about the balance of the camera and the shot, you take. To set the right balance you have to loosen the cog at the bottom of the tripod and put the bubble in the middle of the circle. After that you tight the cog.
3. Put the camera on the tripod:
You can put the camera on the tripod by pushing two button separately. Make sure that you have at least one hand holding the camera until you finished attaching it.
4. Battery:
Before you can start the camera you have to put the battery in it. Slide it in, with the arrow pointing down, until you hear the click.
5. Power ON:
Switch the Power Button from OFF to ON.
6. White Balance:
Zoom into something white with the second wheel(from your point of view). Focus the white object with the third wheel(from your point of view). Press the small white balance button at the left-hand side of the camera (WHT BAL).
7. Exposure (brightness):
You can set the exposure by the first wheel (from your point of view)as well as by the settings at the side of the camera. It controls the light balance, the brightness and also the different filters, with which you want to shoot your scene.
8.Focus:
Before you start to shoot a sequence you have to zoom into the object you want to film and focus. Now you are ready to shoot your sequence.

Shots

There are many different types of shots. Follow the link to get a nice overview of some of them:

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/

When you shoot a sequence you always shoot the widest shots first and the nearest shot last.

On Set Language

The are special commands are used on set:

"Stand by":

Said by the director and gets confirmed by everyone trough a "standing by". Means that everyone is ready.

"Roll in":

Said by the director to the camera man. Camera starts recording and, after that, confirms with a "rolling in".

"Action":

Said by the director. Scene starts.

"Cut":

Said by the director. Stops everything.

Rules:
There are special rules you must mind:

180 degree rule (crossing the line):

The Children of Men - Poster Analyze

The date 2027 tells us very clearly that, this movie is a sci-fi film. That feeling gets reinforced by the ice-blue, grey hue. The sub-headings let us that the age of the humans is nearly over and that this is going to be a pre-apocalyptic film. The broken glass and the kind of graffiti letters signify crime, violence and anarchy. Also important are the colors of the letters: red, which stands for anger and violence, and white, which signifies innocence and weakness. So we will have an innocent figure, which gets threatened by something.

The broken glass stands for the broken order and the broken society. We also can’t see through the turbid glass, which signifies the confusion of the people in the film. Nobody really knows what’s going on, except of the man, who’s looking through the hole and sees everything clear.

The slightly low angle underlines the man’s power and knowledge. He is our hero, hope and he is the guy, who defends the white innocence against the red anger. But his look isn’t the look Bruce Willis has on a poster of Die Hard 5. He has an intensive, worried, suffering and little bit sad look. He doesn’t want to be the hero, but he has to, because he is the only one, who can save the human race. - “He is not the hero we want, but he is the hero we need.” –

The red sign of the eye with the embryo in the centre tells use three things. First: There is a pregnant woman with a unborn baby, which is our innocent thing. Second: The unborn baby stays in the focus and attention of the red anger. And third: The blood drop means that this Embryo as well as its mother is in threat (are bleeding).

So in conclusion:

We have a futuristic, pre apocalyptic and anarchistic scenario. There is our innocent and weak piece of hope, the unborn baby, and his unintentional protector and our hero, chased and threatened by something raging and violent.

A Sci-Fi thriller with dramatic elements.

Shutter Island - Poster analyze

The island on the poster tells us where this movie is set. The cold and blue hue and the lights in the window, which signifies night and darkness, make this place cold and empty as well as mysterious and unknown, . The island also is surrounded by darkness, which reinforces the expression of the unknown. The man is the only person on the poster and also gets a low angle. That tells us that he is our main character and hero. The burning match he is holding signifies the light he tries to bring into the darkness and the unknown. (He tries to unravel the mystery of the island). The red-orange colour of the fire signifies also the warmth and the live, which is coming into this cold, empty and death place.

But the match also lights his face, which could imply that he is going to find out something about himself.

The letters of the headings and sub-headings are designed in the style of a typewriter (, which gives us an idea of the time this movie is designed in the style of a typewriter, which gives us an idea of the time this movie is playing.

We also have, like in the poster of Children of the men, the red and the white coloured letters. The meaning of the red colour is similar to Children of men. It stands for danger, but it doesn’t stand for a particular thing, which is dangerous. It just tells us that there is something unknown and dangerous on this island.

The white colour has a light blue shade, which reinforces the cold and empty feeling.

The ‘Shutter’ in Shutter Island and the meaning of the sub-heading tell us that the man is captured on the island and can’t escape.

This is an mystery thriller with dramatic elements, because there is the mystery of the island, which has to be unravelled, but there is also the mystery of the man, which  will  be unravelled and which will shock us as well as the man.

Analyze A Hurtwood House Thriller

I’ve chosen the AS thriller PARAGON

At the beginning you didn’t really realize that this short film is a thriller. The setting looks like a normal office. And the woman and the man look like normal people working in an office. The dark and blue lightning creates an evening atmosphere. The sound of that clock and the scratching pen makes this silent time of the day in an office. All the work is done and no one is really busy anymore. The phone ringing we know that this people are in an office.

Nothing indicates that something terrible will happen. You might be thinking that this man is not really nice, but when you watch the film the first time you don’t this guy is a psychopathic serial killer. When the woman walked to his desk and the volumes of the clock noise increases, it seemed to me that man tried to concentrate on this clock noise, on this silent. The clock became still when the woman brooked the silent. You first realize that something is wrong with that guy, when get the imagination of killing the woman. You really get shocked you when you watch this clip for the first time, because you didn’t except it. The fast increasing, non-diegetic synth string sound makes this shocking effect much more powerful, because you haven’t got any non-diegetic sound until then and suddenly there is so much and so loud sound. This sequence remembered me a little bit of the movies “Analyze That” and “American Psycho”, which used short (or long) imagination sequences, either.

After that you know that this guy is a psych and that the woman will probably die. When the man got interested in her ear and asked her for eating something, the word cannibal came into my mind immediately. I thought that he might want to eat her ears. When I watched the clip the second and third and fourth time, I noticed that the woman is a typical victim of horror movies. Young, blond, red lipstick and a white top.

 First I thought that guy might be a cannibal, but then I stopped the video in the moment when his little book was on screen. If you strained yourself a little bit you could read a little part of something like a diary. On this page he had written down how he saw a girl at the bus station. He hated nearly everything what she looked like. He also thought about making her more beautiful.

In my opinion this guy is psychopathic serial killer, who kill women he thinks are ugly. He also tries to make them more beautiful. So he is not a cannibal. He sees himself as a cosmetic surgeon.

All in all: We have a psychopathic serial killer and typical female victim. That’s a shocking psycho-thriller.

Hanna: Escaping scene

The diegetic white and mechanic noise in the background makes you feel being in a container. Hanna wears an orange overall, which reminded me to the American prison uniform and so makes clear that she is a prisoner of them and can’t just go away, when she wants to go. This impression gets reinforced by the massive looking walls and the very bright lightning. The open hair makes her look wild and a little bit cats like. The absence of the white noise when you are behind the glass wall, in the room with the female agent makes the mentioned agent special and more powerful. You know that’s the boss. But it’s also makes her empty and cold and you are automatically on the girl’s side.

This non-diegetic, increasing sound, which starts when Hanna hugs the agent and gets to his loudest state when the wheel of the door stops to twist, makes you know that some-thing will happen. You know that she is going to escape.

 Everybody hates needles, because they signify pain and make you feel uncomfortable. And so the needle in the hand of the soldier makes us being on Hanna side much more.

The non-diegetic, threatening, technically, muddled up and hit by hit like music sounding during Hanna is killing all this people pictures Hanna like a machine. She is killing hit by hit and with a cold and mechanical precision. This alienated her a little bit from the audience, which is shocked about her. This to and fro running sound also projects a picture of a crashing computer, which tries to restart, in my head. It shows how surprised and overrun they are by Hanna’s actions.

The non-diegetic, video-game like sound is still hectic, but it’s not that chaotic anymore. The “system”, which hunts Hanna, now restarts. It reminded me to the video-game Pac-Man and so reinforces the image of labyrinth of tunnels Hanna has to cross. The white and changing lighting as well as the camera twisting in one sequence reinforces this impression. The voices of the soldiers looking for Hanna help creating the atmosphere of an escape. The music only plays when Hanna is in the scene, which makes her the heroic. Hanna’s breathing noise (diegetic) makes her more human, vulnerable and sympathy.

Just before Hanna reaches the hatch to get outside the music increases for a last time, which tells the audience that she nearly has done it.The loud, diegetic sound of the opening hatch and the very bright light reinforces the feeling of passing a gate to a new place/world and leaving this one. When Hanna is outside, the non-diegetic music stops. She escaped from the FBI-Camp and the labyrinth. But because there is no new music theme, this absolutely silent creates a feeling of being in the middle of nowhere. The setting, a desert, confirms that feeling and you feel lost.

My First Post On My First Blog

Hi,
my name is Sebastian, but everybody just call me Seb. I'm 15 years old. 
I'm very interested in Film and Stage, so I've chosen the subjects Media and Theatre Studies. I love music so I chase Music Technology, as well. But I had to drop it, because I need a GCSE in Maths. Because reading is a big hobby of mine, I'm also joining English Literature. 

Favourite movies:

Road to Perdition   

The Perks Of Being A  Wallflower



                      Pet actor/actress:     

Tom Hanks
Christoph Waltz  
Gary Oldman
Johnny Depp
Sean Penn
Jennifer Lawrence
Audrey Hepburn
Kate Winslet
Meryl Streep

My favorite directors are Quentin Tarantino and Lasse Hallstrom.

My favourite TV-series are Castle, Hannibal and How I Met Your Mother.

Musicians:
- Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
- Eminem
- John Williams
- The Beatles
- Queen 
- Fisher Z
- Sting and The Police 
- Kate Bush
- Supertramp