Opening Titles: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

LINK HERE

Info:
Actors:
Tim Curry - as Dr Frank-N-Furter
Susan Sarandon - as Janet Weiss
Barry Bostick - as Brad Majors
Richard O'Brien -  as Riff Raff
Patricia Quinn - as Magenta
Little Nell - as Columbia
Jonathan Adams - as Dr Everett V.Scott
Peter Hinwood - Rocky Horror
(starring) Meatloaf - Eddie
(and) Charles Gray - The Criminologist

Original musical play, music + lyrics:
Richard O'Brien

Screenplay:
Jim Sharman
Richard O'Brien

Musical Direction + arrangements:
Richard Hartley

Director of Photography:
Peter Suschitzky

Film + Music Editor:
Graeme Clifford

Design:
Brian Thomson

Costume:
Sue Blaine

+ all credits that would normally be seen at the end of a film (make-up, hair etc)

Action
From this opening there is not a lot visually happening, other than the lips moving in time to the song. So therefore we don't see any characters physically shown. Having said this they do make a point of saying which actors plays which character.
In addition to this, they also add a little characteristic underneath each name - this allows the audience to get a slight insight into the characters without actually seeing them.

Characteristics:
Dr Frank-N-Furter - (A Scientist)
Janet Weiss - (A Heroine)
Brad Majors - (A Hero)
Riff Raff - (A Handyman)
Magenta - (A Domestic)
Columbia - (A Groupie)
Dr Everett V. Scott - (A Rival Scientist)
Rocky Horror - (A Creation)
Eddie - ( Ex Delivery Boy)
The Criminologist - (An Expert)

Opening Titles: Bridget Jones's Diary

LINK HERE

Info:
Actors:
Renée Zellweger
Colin Firth
(and) Hugh Grant
Jim Broadbent
Gemma Jones

The actors in bold are the most important, we know this because the font size was larger when their names were on the screen and their names lingered on screen for longer than the other two.

Casting by:
Michelle Guish

Line Producer:
Peter McAleese

Music Supervisor:
Nick Angel

Co-Producer:
Debra Hayward
Lisa Chasin

Original Score:
Patrick Doyle

Costume by:
Rachael Fleming

Production Design:
Gemma Jackson

Editor:
Martin Walsh

Director of Photography:
Stuart Dryburgh

Executive Producer:
Helen Fielding

Novel by:
Helen Fielding

Screenplay by:
Helen Fielding
Andrew Davis
Richard Curtis

Producers:
Tim Bevah
Eric Fellner
Jonathan Cavendish

Director:
Sharon Maguire

Action
We are introduced to the lead girl, who is clearly in a bad state. She is either depressed or upset about something we don't know yet. We can assume, seeing as it's a chick-flick, that it will have something to do with relationships.
There isn't much in the way of geographical hints in the opening, but the phone tone does speak with a British accent. Therefore we assume that the film is going to be British and be set in the UK somewhere (if we didn't know that beforehand).
She is clearly drinking quite a lot of alcohol, which could foreshadow her abuse of the substance throughout the film, or could be a recurring symbol used throughout.
The room is reasonably messy which could be due to her 'depression', this is a stereotypical atmosphere for someone going through something major. 

Opening Titles: The Notebook

LINK HERE

Info:
Actors:
Ryan Gosling
Rachel McAdams
James Garner
Gena Rowlands
James Marsden
Kevin Connolly
David Thornton
Jamie Anne Brown
Heather Wahlquist
(with) Sam Shepard
(and) Joan Allen

Actors in bold hold more importance. The first four come before the actual title 'The Notebook'. The bottom two have the additional (with, and) before their names, this shows that they are well known.

Casting by:
Matthew Barry C.S.A
Nancy Green-Keyes C.S.A

Costume Design:
Karyn Wagner

Music Composed by:
Aaron Zigman

Edited by:
Alan Heim A.C.E

Production Design:
Sarah Knowles

Director of Photography:
Robert Fraisse AFC

Executive Producer:
Toby Emmerich
Avram Butch Kaplan

Based on novel by:
Nicholas Sparks

Screenplay by:
Jeremy Leven

Adaption by:
Jan Sardi

Action
It is set by the water and this lakes hold enough importance to having the whole opening title sequence based on around it.
There is a man rowing, he could possibly be an important character in this film. We don't see his face so we don't know who he is yet.
It is clearly set in the countryside in the USA, but we are not clear on the time period in which it is set.
There is a large white house that is shown multiple times throughout the sequence, this could show that this white house holds some importance.
There is an old lady who we see a close up of, we are unsure to who she is at the time of the sequence but we can tell she is of importance or she wouldnt be shown in so much detail right at the beginning.

Sound Lesson

In this lesson we aimed to focus all our analysis on sound. The lesson beforehand we had been focusing on the sound in Kill Bill, but we took it further in this lesson. We were played a clip from the movie ‘Saving Private Ryan’, but we weren’t shown the picture.

This is the clip we listened to:

We were asked to note down what we think we could hear, this is what I noted down (it was actually quite wrong, in the end):

-Waves

-Ferry

-Shipwreck

-Ship hitting rocks

-Whistles

-Arrows shooting

-Guns

-Chains

-Tom Hanks

Everyone instantly recognized Tom Hanks’ voice, which then lead us to work out what movie it was from. The other sounds and effects were similar but not exact. We still managed to get the gist of the scene and what was happening without seeing the picture. 

This lead us onto the topic that SOUND IS POWERFUL. It engages a distinct sense, your hearing. It enables synchronization of senses. It can direct attention within an image, for example: there is a woman sitting in a chair and the door behind her creeks as it opens. Our attention is drawn to that door at the back. Sound can clarify or contradict events, or can sometimes leave them ambiguous. Sound can also create expectations. For example: the door is creaking open. As an audience member we expect something scary to happen. Having said that it can also cheat or redirect expectations. Using the door example: it creeks open and a cat runs through. This is most likely not what the audience is thinking was going to happen. We also learned that silence hold great value in film. Thinking back to the scene from Kill Bill, silence was written into the script and it made the experience that much more tense.

Language learned:

Diegetic: Music/Sound happening in the sequence. The character can hear these noises.

Non-Diegetic: ONLY the audience can hear. (e.g. music added during the editing process)

Lesson on Semiotics

In this lesson we learned some basic terminology that will be used throughout our media studies life. This list consists of:

Signifier: An object or colour that conveys something. (For example: a red rose)

Signified: This is what the object or colour conveys. (For example: a red rose conveys love)

Denotation: What we see. (For example: a kitchen knife)

Connotation: What we associate it with. (For example: a kitchen knife means someone is going to die)

Due to all the films and tv shows we have watched over the years we have created an understanding that a kitchen knife means death, when in actuality a kitchen knife should be something that is used in the kitchen, to cook.  

Mr & Mrs Smith Scene Analysis

Prelim Task - The Filming

We were split into to groups to film our prelim task, my group consisted of myself, Charlie, Seb and William. I was the director, Charlie was cinematographer and Seb and William were actors. We used about forty-five minutes to film our task in its entirety. We had to follow a specific storyboard and follow the shots and lines exactly. The storyboard looked like this:

For our set we used the editing suite and had the large plasma and a computer screensaver as background props. The idea was that Darth Vader walks into the room and puts a light saber in front of a storm trooper. The light saber was our lead object that gave the film its context. The costume emphasized the context.

We shot the whole scene in wide; this enabled us to cover about four frames and also aided our continuity. This prevented any stop-start editing.  We tried to move the camera as little as possible; this was for a few reasons. The first was to make it easier for Charlie, so she didn’t have to lug the tripod and camera around the set. The second reason was to aid continuity, had we moved the camera every time we needed a new shot the likeliness that the continuity would be smooth is low.   

We then filmed an over the shoulder shot, this is a device used by filmmakers to let the audience feel like they’re in the scene and closer with the characters.  From the same camera position we filmed the close up, this was to capture the emotion of the character. We then swapped over to the second character for an over the shoulder, and then again from here we took a close up shot. 

Other close ups we took we of our object (the light saber) being placed on the table, this was to add detail to the film. We had to do this carefully for continuity purposes. We also did a low angle close up looking up Darth Vader’s cape. To do this we took the camera of the tripod and Charlie lay on the floor and angled the camera up whilst Darth swished his cape over it. 

The experience of shooting this scene was quite a frustrating one. This prepared me a little for what filming my main task would be like. I now know that if I want to direct I have to be strong and not feel bad for ordering actors around the set. Obviously, there are limits but you do need to be determined to get things done, especially with a time frame.

Kill Bill - Sound Analysis

The film I will be analyzing the sound of is Kill Bill Vol 2, the scene where Beatrix is buried alive.  

At this point we can hear hammering. The hammering is much louder than it would be in reality, but this is so that as an audience member it is the sound we are primarily listening to. The non-diegetic sound is a piece of western style music. The long notes create a sense of calmness which juxtaposes with the hammering and the heavy breathing going on in this scene. It creates a slight discomfort for the audience with the contrasting sounds.

At this moment, the hammering slows down which suggests that it is nearly finished. There is one final hammer and then the screen goes black, this tells us that the coffin has been properly sealed. The final hammer is extra loud and has a certain weight about it which suggests that the man using the hammer puts a lot of effort into the final blow.

After the final blow, the screen goes black. At this point we can hear a few things. The music that plays throughout the whole thing continues.  Beatrix's breaths are heavy and deep. Having a plain black screen makes the audience focus on her breaths. The heaviness of them suggest that she is having a hard time getting oxygen, which is expected if you were trapped in a coffin alive. Then over the top of her breaths, you can hear shoveling. It is much louder than her breaths, which create the idea that her breaths are insignificant. The shoveling sounds are muffled, this is because it’s what she is hearing from inside the coffin. The crunching noise suggests that the shovel has a pointed edge and is heavy as it ploughs through the mud.

The sound of the mud then being dropped on top of the coffin is strong and identifiable yet muffled. The fact that it’s strong implies that there is a lot of it being shoveled on and that it’s quite thick and dense. The muffled sounds suggest that the wood of the coffin is quite thick hence the thud of the mud is muted slightly. Also, it is what Beatrix would here, this makes the audience feel that they are in the coffin with her.

At this point, the shoveling is still going on but she tries to scream. Her screams are so quite in comparison to the shoveling sounds, to signify that no one can hear her outside of the coffin. Her screams are full of distress and frustration, not sadness. This suggests she is more angry about the situation than she is sad.

Camera Lesson Three: Different Shots

In this lesson we looked at different shots and the feeling or emotion they can convey. Through clever camera work, the editor can create expectations that the audience can buy into and then quickly change them with an establishing shot.

The shots we learned about in this lesson were:

Wide Shot: This is an establishing shot. It establishes the location and is often used at the beginning of a scene to clarify to the audience where the scene is taking place. It sets up an atmosphere that the audience can use to understand the scene.

Point of View (POV): This enables the audience to see the perspective one of the characters is seeing. This can make the audience feel closer to the characters as they feel they are being spoken to, or taking the route of the characters.

Over the Shoulder (O/S): Helps create some dynamic and space between the character and their surroundings. It is frequently used in horror and thriller films to imply that someone is being followed or watched by someone the audience cannot see.

Close Up: This is a shot that captures the characters head and shoulders. It can reveal the emotion the character is feeling, it  is much more personal and intimate than a shot taken from further away. It is useful in dramatic moments to see the emotion on the character's face.

High Angle: This is shot from above looking down. It can indicate low status or a vunerable character. It can also make a character look smaller than they are in reality.

Low Angle: This is shot from below looking up. Can indicate a higher status, power and intimidation. It can also be used to make someone look bigger or taller. (E.g Tom Cruise is shorter than a lot of actors, he may need to be made to look taller to make his character seem more powerful.)

We had a look at a scene from Pleasantville. It would appear that a boy and a girl are having a conversation. By having the boy situated on the right of the screen and the girl on the left, it made it seem like they were talking. Only close ups were used so we couldn't see where they were in comparison to each other. It then switches to a wide shot and we see that he is actually talking to himself and the girl is talking to her boyfriend, over the other side of the grounds.

Camera Lesson Two: Sequences

In this lesson, we used our knowledge from the previous lesson and put it into practice. We set up our cameras and tripods and from here we went on to learn about sequences.
A sequence is a series of shots edited together to look like one fluid movement. When the brain takes in more than two shots it gets confused and thinks of it as one. So as sneaky cameramen and editors we can fool the human brain!
In groups of four we shot a series of frames to create a very simple sequence. My group's consisted of having a girl reading a magazine, her phone rings, she picks it up and exits. Very easy - but took a while.
During this lesson we also managed to lock down some film set lingo.

'Standby' - this is called out by the assistant director (director in our case) to get everyone quiet and ready for shooting. This is then called back so it is clear everyone is ready and in position.

'Turn camera over'/'Roll camera' - this is called by the assistant director again to the cinematographer who then presses the 'record' button. When this is done he/she calls back 'Rolling'

'Action' - this is called out again by the director and this tells the actors that they should begin their scene. 'Action' is called only once the camera has properly started rolling. You leave this space to allow editing leeway.

'Cut' - this is called once the scene has ended, again you must leave space between the end of the action and calling it to give editing leeway.

This was quite a fun lesson as it was our first experience actually shooting on the cameras.

Camera Lesson One: Introduction To The Camera

In this lesson we had a camera introduction with Matt, the media technician. We were introduced to a Sony NX5, a low-level professional camera and a tripod.

We were taught how to set up the tripod and attach the camera. This was all reasonably simple, like Matt said - it's like building lego! Next we were taught about what all the different icons on the screen mean. Matt explained how natural and man made lights have a different tint, and so you have to white balance it if you want the shot to look 'natural'. We played around with focus and zoom.

We were then instructed to strike our camera equipment and put it away carefully. This was overall a very easy, straight-forward lesson.

A chance for you to be nosy...

My name is Olivia Darcey Hawthorne (Liv for short) and I am 16 years old. I am an outgoing, fashion obssessed, theatre geek. I would love to say I am part italian, part spanish and part English but that would be straying slightly  from the truth, actually a lot from the truth. I am full English - like the breakfast. Having said that I did live in Hong Kong for the first 5 years of my teenage life, which I'm sure sculpted the person I am today.

I chose Media A-Level, because who doesn't like watching films? Knowing more about what goes on behind the screen definitely interests me although I would prefer to be infront of the screen later on in life.

I'm not going to lie, I spend my life and a half on the internet. Mostly on the usual suspects - facebook, youtube, twitter. But nothing pleases me more than having a nice snoop through online shops like ASOS, topshop and Misguided. Can really brighten my day!

This blog is here to showcase my A-Level Media life and how I have (hopefully) improved. ENJOY!