Opening sequence analysis 3 - Dead Man's Shoes.

The third and final opening sequence we analysed was 'Dead Man's Shoes'.

This opening sequence showcases two brothers on some sort of journey, walking through various fields and roads, which shows that they know where they are going. Throughout this journey, there are flashbacks of the two boys in their youth, as children and babies. One shot in particular shows the older child/brother to be caressing the younger child, symbolising his protection of his little brother, which is also shown as they walk on their journey, as the older brother is leading the way.

The older brother in the front is wearing a green jacket and holding a large green bag, which makes me think that he is/was in the army. On the other hand, the younger brother is in a tracksuit, this shows his age to some extent as he is younger and teenagers are often seen as rebellious/lazy.

Another assumption I make from this opening sequence is that the two brothers are going somewhere because something bad has happened, to elaborate, i feel like the younger brother has done something wrong and is relying on the older brother to fix it for him, as the lyrics in the soundtrack (which is slow and slightly depressing) are 'I can't be held responsible'. These lyrics are repeated and could be explaining that the older brother cannot be held responsible for the actions of the younger brother, as they journey back to fix their problem.

Opening sequence analysis 2 - Sexy Beast.

The second opening sequence we analysed was sexy beast starring Sir Ben Kingsley.

The scene depicts a man lying in the sun in an expensive looking holiday home, with a large pool and a pool boy to clean it. He comes across as someone who has made their money in an un-honest way as he seems arrogant and doesn't act like the average rich man by the way he talks and acts.

The music played is upbeat and gives a sense of humour to the scene as it is ironic that the title is sexy beast and the music links to this title but however, the man in the scene does not fit the image. There is also a shot of a woman driving to what i assume is his house, which makes him seem to be a rich man who is a womaniser, although this could be his wife, but that conclusion doesn't fit him very well given the way he is presented.

The way that he talks to the pool boy also makes him come across as arrogant, and the way he lies down and relaxes while this young boy does all of his work for him. Finally, the that boulder rolls down the hill and almost hits him, can bee seen as a way of saying he is a bad person as it almost strikes him but it just misses him, which could be saying that he is always in trouble but manages to get out of it, which furthers the fact that he probably made his money working in a dodgy line of work.

Opening Sequence analysis 1 - The Shining.

In class, We watched the opening sequence to Stanley Kubrick's 'the shining'. 

The sequence consists of a compilation of different wide-angle shots following a car as it drives up a mountain on its way to what looks like a hotel of some sort. 

The way that the camera never actually enters the car makes it feel like there is a disconnection between the audience and the driver, as we do not get to see him. This makes the driver seem mysterious and also makes it seem like something isn't quite right. 

Also, the music starts of slow, low and creepy, but eventually picks up and begins to get very high pitched and tinny which evokes an even creepier vibe as it is very unsettling and makes for a strange, atmosphere.

The fact that the car is driving into a place that looks disconnected from society and seems to be 'in the middle of nowhere' also further promotes the unsettling atmosphere present in the scene.

Editing our Prelim!

For our lesson on Thursday 27/09, it was time for us to edit our prelim footage!Adam our media teacher gave us a lesson on how to use final cut pro, so that we could pick and choose the bits of footage that we wanted to put into our final piece. and we were told that Final Cut Pro used to edit the film True grit, as it is quick and efficient.

Carla, Archie, Katy and myself then used the skills we were taught to begin editing. We were shown how to create a new 'bin' which is basically the media term for 'file'. We named this 'Rush Bin' and this basically contained all of our raw unedited footage. Another 'bin' we made was the 'Log bin' which is where we put all of the clips that we wanted to use. 

Once we had selected all of our clips, we watched them and decided which parts of the clips we wanted to put into the film. to do this, we pressed command I (in) for where we wanted the clip to start, and then command O (out)for where we wanted the clip to end, we then dragged it down into the video half of the editing section at the bottom.

We all had turns at doing this so that we could become familiar with it. 

A useful tip we were given which we used in our editing was picking one clip and cutting it, and then Transition into the next clip at the same point in time so that the two clips flowed together and made it look as if the two angles were shot at the same time. For example if you have a shot of someone opening the door, in the next shot from a different angle it needs to have a sense of continuity and have the door open as if the door was closed in the following shot it would not make sense and confuse the audience. 

I think that now i have a good basic understanding of Final Cut Pro and It will now be easier to continue to edit our Prelims in our next lesson with adam.

Homework Task - Analysing a sequence.

Media presentation from hurtwoodhousemedia5

Third practical lesson - Filming my prelim.

We had our third practical lesson on 19/06/13. For this lesson we were told to read through an ambiguous script of dialogue shot from different camera angles.The script (shown below) Basically said things like "go on, do it!" which allowed us to do basically whatever we wanted with it because this could be interpreted in various different ways. We had to re-create this script by coming up with our own idea using the script's dialogue and camera shots as a basis. Our chosen idea, was to use the script to showcase a story of someone with bad breath being pressured into eating a piece of gum. Although the idea is ridiculous it worked with the ambiguous script and gave it a bit of a comical element.

We shot from different angles using different shots such as wides, close ups, over the shoulders etc. We also added in some extra shots at the end such as a close up of the gum being slammed on the table.

One thing that we had to change from our original idea was eating the actual gum, as we only had two pieces of gum and it would be difficult as if we got the shot wrong, and we had to re-shoot but did not have another piece of gum... that would be an issue as we would loose our sense of continuity.

Throughout the shoot Carla and Archie remained the actors, but we alternated roles such as the camera man and director. I was the director for the majority as this was my preferred role. 

Filming this prelim was a good learning curve because it allowed us to experience following a script with dialogue and shooting it from different angles. We also learnt helpful things, such as shooting all of the shots that needed to be shot from the same angle at once so that you didn't have to keep on moving the camera around as frequently. This was very useful and saved us a lot of time. For example we shot all of the wide shots first, instead of shooting a wide, then a close up and then another wide as this would require moving the camera back and forth too frequently and it would become impractical and overly time consuming.

Below is a the script we were given.

Prelim storyboard 1

Prelim storyboard 2

Second practical lesson - shooting sequences

We had our second practical lesson on Thursday 12/09/13. The aim of the lesson was to learn how to shoot sequences, which is basically filming different types of shots (e.g wide, close-up etc.) and string them together to create a scene shot from different angles etc.

At the begging we set up our cameras (as we were taught to do last lesson) and began to film a sequence that we made up on the spot. I was the actor, whilst Lauren given the role of the director And Carla - camera man. 

We were taught the words that we had to say to arrange the shot which were at the beginning of the shot, the director will say 'stand by', to this everyone on set would reply with the same 'stand by'.  The director then goes on to say 'roll camera', the camera man then begins to record and says 'camera rolling'. After this, the camera man will say 'action!' Which means the actors walk up to their mark, do their bit and when they finish, the director shouts, 'Cut!' And then the camera man stops recording and we do the same thing until we have all the footage we need. 

Our scene was a short sequence of me entering the room down the stairs using shots like close ups and low angle shots. We used all of the basic shots but as a group we came up with other ideas for shots such as a close up of the broom sweeping the floor. So that i knew how far to sweep to, I placed a mark on the floor which showed me how far to walk so that i would be in the shot. This was particularly useful for the close up shot of the broom sweeping as the camera had to be placed on the floor.

We also learnt new things that are necessary for the filming such as making sure there was no one in the background that wasn't supposed to be there or objects that weren't supposed to be there. An example of this was that in one shot someone else was standing in the background of the shot so we had to re-shoot it.

What we learnt this lesson will be essential in making our thrillers look realistic and professional. 

Introduction to media - using a camera

For my first practical lesson, on 05/09/13, we were taught how to use a professional video camera.The camera we used was a 'sony NX5'. We were taught the basics of the camera which included turning it on, zooming in and out... all the fairly easy stuff. We were also shown how to set up a tripod for the camera, which makes it much easier to shoot. We were shown how to adjust the height and luck the cameras position into place and also of course how to attach the actual camera onto the tripod! 

After covering the basics, we went on to learn some of the more 'complicated' functions of the camera for example white balance - which was a long process involving zooming in on something white, pressing the white balance button and then zooming out which made the colours in the shot look much more natural and vibrant instead of cold and blue-ish, also we learned how to use the 'ND filters' which are like putting sunglasses over the lens to make it a shade darker or removing one to make it lighter.

When we understood how to use these settings, we put them to practice by testing them on shots of trees outside and on a herring mannequin. We also used lots of additional lighting to light up shots etc. 

By the end of the lesson we were pretty clued up on how to use the camera, and all of its little functions, also how to adjust the environment to help improve the shot (lighting)... to conclude, heres a picture of the camera we used! (sony NX5)

Intro

My names Brandon and I'm originally from south Africa. When I was about seven years old I moved to England and I have a strong passion for film and art. I love comedy and horror films and I'm really into Hip hop music. I also do hip hop and breakdance and about two years ago when I was 14 I entered a dance competition for Disney channel and made it to the finals, which was exciting because I got to be on the actual Disney TV channel which was great.

Due to my interest in Film and art, I was given the opportunity to do work experience at Warner bros. last Summer in the creative department where I worked with a creative director who I worked with lots of fun projects on including a Promo for the TV show 'The Vampire Diaries' and various other interesting projects - It has been arranged for me to go back in October to do some more work.

I love comedy films but I also enjoy most other film genres. My favourite actors include James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jessica Lange,Johnny Depp, Will Smith etc. My favourite films are The Help, 127 Hours, This is the end, 21 jump street, the heat etc.

I think my love of film is one of the Main reasons that I chose media studies as one of my A level subjects, I also do art, photography and business so I really enjoy the creative side of film.