Preliminary Sequence

We were asked to create a short sequence and edit it on Final Cut Express. This was mainly to get us used to using cameras and using editing. We included many different shot types, as we figured we would need practice anyway.

First and Last Day of Filming

We decided to film at my house, and then drive to the location, taking shots on the way so we could kill two stones with one bird.

I woke up at 7 so I could prepare for the shoot. I moved furniture around and cleaned up obsessively so that the character would look obsessive. I also found my costume, which was just going to be a white shirt and jeans, but I decided to add a burgundy tie, which would foreshadow blood later on in the movie.
By 9.00 the team was on location and we started filming. We got the first series of shots done by 12, then we left for the location. By 4.00 we had all the footage we set out to get.
Georgia was fantastic at acting, she made it believable that she was actually under threat, but maybe we can blame her conditions for that, considering that she was tied up in my car boot for the hour it took to get the shot.
We went back to mine, where we reviewed every shot by plugging my camcorder into the TV, and noted which ones were good enough to use, or outtakes.

We managed to get every shot. I converted all the files which took two days, then we were ready to edit.

The Shining- Analysis of Horror Techniques

The shining is my all time favourite film, by my favourite Director. I thought it would be good to research why its scary, so that when we make our film we can incorporate some of the techniques, or at least have a more thorough understanding of horror.

The Shining is a Gothic horror masterpiece by Stanley Kubrick. In the film, the beautiful cinematography, and stunning landscapes distance the film from the violence and gore in most modern horror films.

The shining creates unforgeable fear of the paranormal, as its the perfect sett for a haunted house, a big, empty old hotel, isolated from the outside world. The scenes were filmed in bright daylight or very heavily lit scenes, which add a normality of an daily setting to the film. The soundtrack is rather abstract and creepy, the audience feel uncomfortable listening to it as they don't know what forebodes the music.

Kubrick uses stills of the past, appearing unexpectedly for only a second, which has a direct effect on the audience. It frightens them, and secondly the image sticks in their mind and they associate it with the film afterwards. 

The theme of duality runs throughout the film.

The evil characters appear in mirrors many times, but we don't always notice them. For instance, at the start of the film we are introduced to Danny's imaginary friend through his reflection in a mirror. Jack Torrance appears in many mirrors throughout the film, including some trick shots zooming out from his reflection and panning towards the actual shot.

When the Grady twins taunt Danny, we get a unsettling feeling. Stanley Kubrick asked the casting office NOT to cast twins, which turned out to be a brilliant decision, as the children were forced to look like each other, even though the actor's at 8 and 10 were two years apart. I feel that forced symmetry is more disconcerting than a natural one.

There are lots of hidden meanings in the film. The most reoccurring  are Indians and Indian culture. Although we never see any Indians in the film, there is a reference in every single frame. For example, in the food locker scene, Kubrick placed two cans of calumet baking powder in the floor locker, (calumet is a peace pipe used by Indians) It also has a Indian chief logo on the front of the can.

The hidden message that I find most interesting, is that at the end of the film, the camera pans into a 1920'a photo, and the soundtrack ends. The people at the cinema would of talked among themselves and applauded, which is the sound of moviegoers moving from one state of consciousness to another. The audience don't know it, but they are involved in the movie, as they are part of the soundtrack at the end, which reflects their unawareness of themselves being part of the movie, and highlights what people like them have done to the American Indian culture and others, and how they're completely oblivious to it.

Sources www.Wikipedia.com 

Saving Private Ryan opening sequence

The first thing we hear is non-digetic, French horns. This sets the militant theme already, because of the brass band playing. The credits read, "Saving Private Ryan". The credits fade out and a american flag blowing in the wind fade in, with digetic sound of the flag moving. Its a very patriotic symbol. the first thing we see is a tracking shot, as it pans up from the mans feet to his back as he walks along a path. We then see the behind him, which reveals that he's being followed by a group of people, which look like a family. The clothes are 90's clothes, very pastel colors and high jeans. Theres a high angle shot that goes into a medium shot of the main character as he sees the american flag. He looks very emotional, and overwhelmed by it. The next shot reveals the French flag, this might seem confusing for most people as they're watching the film, but it becomes apparent where they are with a beautiful tracking shot across the white gravestones as the main character walks towards them. They are in Avranches, visiting the american graves from D-Day. This is a cemetery dedicated to the people who lost their lives during world WW2. It has 9000 american graves in its own private section. I was fortunate enough to visit these graves a few years ago, the whole place looks exactly like it does in the film.
The soundtrack swells to a climax. This happens as theres an overhead jib shot, showing the vast quantity of gravestones. This is where the mains character breaks down. There is then a slow zoom, that goes into a extream close up of the main character, where a match on action occurs. The match on action goes from the old character his younger version, of him in the war. In essence, the story begins at the end, and flash's back.

Stereotypical Filming techniques in horror movies

Reverse Zoom:

A reverse zoom gives the effect of the background or foreground melting or stretching away from the object. Its works well to convey tension.

This is used many times in the film “The Shining” which creates an unsettled anxious feeling when used with appropriate sound effects.

Close up zoom with background distortion:

A good effect would be to zoom into and focus on the characters face, and blur the background with the scary thing, so it gives the impression that something is creeping up to the character. This creates a high tension effect.

This is used hundreds of times in the film “The Others” as well as “Disturbia” This is highly unsettling as the character/characters doesn't know that their in immediate danger, however we do. 

Sound effects:

Sometimes what we hear can be scarier to what we see. It’s a good idea to just have a scary sound effect at one point, without visual scares, so that the reader is left to imagine what’s going on. This can be quite a scary effect.

“The Shining” and “Jaws” use sound effects for tension, and in my opinion its what make them scary. If we do a horror film, then i'll defiantly use this technique 

Unexpected shocks:

Shocking the viewer when they are least expecting it is a great, and highly effective way to scare them.

Stanley Kubrick in “the shining” uses still images, appearing for only a second. This is effective, however i'll be using "Slugs" which are black frames in-between empty spaces on the edit, this will be ideal for running credits

Uncomfortable setting:

Using an uncomfortable setting takes the viewer away from their safe zone, and creates tension. 

In all the “Saw” films, an uncomfortable setting is used to create tension. I'll be using a backroad in an industrial estate to do this.

Jaws, analysis of dramatic tension on the second shark attack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2Ecwm7Alrc

Embedding is disabled, but you can watch with that link

Research on how to create tension.

 The scene begins at 13.03 minutes into the film. Jaws is widely acknowledged as one of the most successful films ever made, costing only 12 million to produce, Jaws has accumulated over 470 million dollars from cinema recites alone. Before it hit the silver screen, Jaws started out as a best-selling novel by Peter Benchly, which was inspired by the Jersey Shore shark attacks or 1916.Jaws stunned audiences with its unique cinematography and prophetic. This essay will explain how Stephen Spielberg raises the tension in the second shark attack scene through the use of sound, red herrings, colour, cinematography and stage directions, which make this scene possibly the most memorable of the film, and in my opinion, the best.

The scene begins at 13 minutes and 3 seconds into the film, the first shot is a medium shot, the camera pans with a fat lady who is wearing a striped swimsuit, and is approaching the water. This lady is very important to the way this scene unfolds, Stephen Spielberg has chosen this fat lady as he wants the audience to think that she’s the largest person in the water at the time the shark attacks, so evidently we presume that the shark would instinctively go for her, when in reality it goes for Alex, as he is lying on a lilo, and his surface area is greater than that of the fat lady. The clothing Spielberg has chosen for the fat lady increases the appearance of size, as fat people should not wear stripes, it makes them look fatter.
The colours employed in this scene send subliminal thoughts to the viewer, Alex is wearing read swimming trunks, the colour red represents blood, danger, sin, anger, and death. Spielberg uses the colour yellow to symbolise loss, Alex mum is wearing yellow, as is the man who loses his dog. Alex’s lilo is also yellow, and you could argue that the lilo has lost its owner, and is the only thing that washes up on the beech at the end of the scene.
Brody’s son is wearing white; he is only a toddler and sings the muffin man nursery rhyme while making a sandcastle. This at a glance is cute; however, Spielberg is trying to show the audience how brodys son is oblivious to life’s problems, and is perfectly innocent.
Alex comes out of the sea to ask his mum if he can stay in there a while longer, not only does this show that Alex is a good obedient child, and shares a fantastic relationship with his mum, it also shows that ale’s mum loves her son, she demonstrates a caring attitude, complaining that Alex’s fingers are beginning to prune, then lets him go out for 10 more minutes. If his mum had made him stay with her, Alex would not have died in the water, which ultimately makes the audience recall this shot, and wonder, “what if?”

Brody is concentrating on the fat lady, who is floating in the sea, a series of wipe transitions cut back and forth to the lady and brody, when a black round object slowly approaches the fat lady, you see brody with a look of panic, Spielberg raises the tension with fast transitions showing what’s happening and close ups of brodys reaction. Spielberg immediately lowers the tension when Harry pops up from the water, this is called a red herring, when the director makes you think something’s going to happen, but something different happens instead, in this case we expect the shark shaped object to consume the fat lady, but it turns out to be Harry, an old man. Spielberg lowers the tension using humour, as Harry has a funny expression on his face when he emerges; he looks rather like a child eating a lemon, which is understandable because of the salty water in the sea, which adds realism to the film, as great white sharks only swim in salt water. 

An annoying man comes to talk to brody, he seems to have some sort or problem with his driveway, its not important and you can see that brodys not at all interested, and we see from his point of view, he is looking over his shoulder at the sea, when he hears screaming and a girl disappears under the water. Brody stands up to get a better view, looking tense, the other people on the beech don’t seem to take any notice; the tension is lowered when it is revealed that her boyfriend is just playing with her. Spielberg lowers the sound of the mans speech and heightens the sound of the screaming, to add drama and tension.

Harry comes to talk to brody, the camera is looking over brodys shoulder you can see Alex floating in the distance, and he is faraway from the other children and can’t be helped. Spielberg uses Harry to lower the tension, as the audience find his man boobs amusing. Immediately after Harry leaves, the music volume increases and brodys wife gives brody a massage, which psychologically gives the audience a massage, and the tension decreases to its lowest in this scene.
Spielberg uses fast cuts to increase the tension
Spielberg raises the tension yet again, to its highest level so far by using fast cuts of children screaming and splashing in the sea, which the audience think is drawing attention to the shark. This contrasts to the mood of the last shot, which was extremely calm, compared to the fast paced shots that follow, and contrast with each other.

The shark’s point of view is the highest point of tension in this scene; Spielberg mainly uses sound to convey this. The camera is supposedly seeing from the point of view of a shark, the audience don’t see the shark which adds tension. The music crescendo’s and the tempo quickens as Jaws gets closer to its pray. The tension builds and builds until the shark attacks. Dramatic irony is also used in this shot, the characters are oblivious to the shark right by their feet, and however, the audience know there is going to be an attack. The shot used is a underwater shot, following the movement of the shark, you could call it a tracking shot, and is effectively a zoom, as the camera moves closer to the subject until a close up of Alex’s legs, the point in which the shark attacks.

While Alex is being attacked, Spielberg uses a special effect called a reverse zoom, the only special effect used in the film. Its done by zooming into the subject as the camera tracks away, its extremely effective to show characters emotions, which usually when this type of shot it used is fear or panic. The background appears to stretch away from the subject, who appears to stay the same length away from the camera continuously. This shot is used on brody to show his reaction of what has just happened. It adds to the drama and tension of the scene.

The scene ends with low tension, in preparation for the next scene. Alex’s lilo washes up on the beach, in a way its peaceful, and Spielberg lowers the tension by focusing only on the sound of the waves, which is relaxing.

Spielberg has used these devices in this scene in order to raise and lower the tension, he lowers the tension by raising the sound of music, and also by using slow shots, and raises it by making fast cuts and heightens the sound of screaming/ panic, and the dramatic music used. This is what makes this scene one of the most memorable in the film, and one of the most successful.

Secrets and Lies; Analysis of Mise en Scene (collaborative)

Secrets and lies presentation

View more presentations from Westhatchmediastudies

An analysis of editing and Mise en Scene







The beginning of this scene establishes the setting. From just this image, we establish that its going to be set in a photography shop, as the shop is in the centre of the shot. The black cab also establishes that its set in London. Its shot in natural light.
Like all the other shots we will see in this presentation, the film is shot from the point of view of a photography camera. We know this because of the people posing in front of it, and they’re looking directly in the eye of the camera.
The costumes reflect the characters. The father is in a suit, the son is wearing his regular clothes, wife is wearing a nice white dress, and the grandmother is wearing an old fashioned purple gown. Everyone looks like they’ve dressed for a photo, (besides the son)
The backdrop is a standard photography backdrop.
The lighting consists of a key light on the subjects, and filler lights to soften the shadows against the backdrop.
Everything in this photo is made to look like a photographers studio.






We decided to work on this one, as it’s the most different from the other clips.

The backdrop this time is plain white, if you look closely you can see a spotlight behind her head, which gives her a “Halo” effect. The light in this picture is meant to look like a diffused effect, the key lights are on the mother and her baby. The filler lights eliminate shadows, and creates a glow around the mother.

Every material in this clip is white, which symbolizes purity, as the new born baby is innocent, and pure.
The flash effect imitates a photograph, its their so it reminds us that it is a photograph, but I doubt a flash would need to be used





The key lights are on the girls here, but there is two spotlights behind them on the backdrop, like a “show” style effect. Which suites the theme of dancing.

The backdrop used is the same in most of the secrets and lies clips, but its shot from a different angle, so show that the children have “power”. However, all their eyes are still in the eye level part of the frame.
The costumes are dancing costumes, to show that the children are dancers.





The key light is on the boxer, with filler lights focused towards the backdrop to soften shadows.

His boxer clothes show he is a boxer, and his beat shows that he’s recently won a competition. He’s in the centre of the shot, striking various aggressive photo’s for his boxing photo’s.






We can see from this still frame that he is a beloved son and from the dress sense we can see he is well respected by the family he’s from. The prop (the chair) looks as if it would be quite expensive and very prestigious, the child looks very posh, however in the scene we see him picking his nose. This shows that he is very innocent and oblivious to his status.

However the lighting and background is very neutral, this shows that he may well be respected, he is also treated as the others and treated.






The centre of attention in this shot is the dog, he’s centre shot, and the key light focuses on him. The dig is placed red cloth, it looks like a rich material, and the dog seems well treated. We also see this in how groomed he is, as the owner keeps brushing his fur until she’s satisfied the dog looks good. The woman is also dressed in red, but its not anything to do with the dog and the table. All her other clothes were in the wash.

Her clothes symbolize her attachment to the dog, it’s the same colour as the table, showing that even though she isn’t in the picture, she still wants to be a part of the theme.

Even with the astonishing treatment, the dog doesn’t care, and still has a mind of its own.
The filler lights are focused on the backdrop to soften shadows.

The dog seems very obedient, proving that the owner is very controlling and takes good care of the dog. This shows a true high status of the family as the owner likes to keep everyone under control, including the dog.