The Art of the Title

1. A title sequence is basically an introduction to a film, and is always played at the start of the film as the introduction.

2. A title sequence has many functions, such as displaying the main cast and crew on the screen at the start, and just simply introducing the film. It sets the films tone, theme and genre.

3. Three films are: Intolerance, Casino Royale and Donnie Brasco.

4. King Kong
Use of typography elements: The eight massive size, bold and metallic letters are used to represent King Kong as a being. The thick letters and imposing and definitely catch your eye and again represent the magnitue of Kong. The colour is in black and white, yet the colour of the text still stands out massively and the imposing contrast surprises the viewer, much like Kong would.

Use of visual imagery: There is no sound that is available in the video, but the massive letters moving towards the viewer make them feel like something is actually coming for them, and to take them aback.

Mood/Feeling: The opening scene sets a chaotic/destructive mood which in turn would make the viewer feel somewhat scared and feel like they are in danger. It keeps the viewer on their toes and not relaxed.

5. Regarding the theme and content, the title sequence suggest something dangerous and imposing, and is most likely a thriller film judging solely from the title.

6. ALIEN
Use of typography elements: The spacious, white text set against a space background contrast eachother really well and definitely set the tone for the rest of the film. The small white letters represent the isolation of where the film is set and how the characters should be perceived when watching the film - isolated and small.

Use of visual imagery: The background again represents isolation and that the audience should feel like they are alone in the middle of nowhere when watching the film.

Mood/Feeling: It creates a dark aura of mystery and danger, and the unknown alien planet in the background represents the fear of the unknown.

7. Regarding the theme and content, the title sequence presents that the audience will be taken into the unknown and face their fears. The genre of the film is most likely horror.

8. Richard Morrison looks for a nuance that gives his films a lot of flavour so that the viewer is intrigued and wants to watch the rest of the film.

 

Sweeny Todd

Use of Typography Elements (text): The title sequence uses white text that medium sized and mostly  placed to the left or right of the screen to depict the roles of the cast members. All of the text is white apart from the name of the film, which is big and red to show the importance.

Use of visual imagery/sound elements: The music gives a creepy aura and definitely depicts the genre of the film, which is horror and thriller. Regarding the visual imagery, the blood flow is prevalent as that symbolises death. 

Mood/feeling: The mood is extremely darkening and utilises the enigma code, it raises many questions such as why the blood and who's is it?

9. The title sequence presents that death will play a huge part in the film and that the house will be setting, therefore death will occur in the house. It also demonstrates a horror theme.

10. Batman

Use of typographic elements: The yellow stands out on the black and it contrasts it extremely well. All of the important cast and crew members are in capitals, symbolizing their importance.

Use of visual imagery/sound effects: The music builds up as the sequence goes on making the audience feel like something significant is going to happen. The cobblestone street which the imagery represents also brings up a darkening atmosphere, as if it needs to be saved.

Mood/Feeling: It definitely gives of a darkening mood, as if something rather bad is going to happen. The soundtrack however somewhat negates it as it's quite heroic.

11. The sequence gives off a mysterious theme as the soundtrack contrasts with the dark atmosphere and low key lighting.

12.

"This industry is very specific and if you do a good job then you tend to be remembered by directors and producers." - Sweeny Todd - Implies Success

"The Batman 1989 environment was not that homogenized. In fact, there weren’t many people on the same platform and we were all very individual." - Batman - Success

Prelim Task / Prelim Task Evaluation - "Cheater"

This was our prelim task. It was a rom-com, with the name of "Cheater". My group members were myself, Richard Jarrold and Emma Buck. I felt it went pretty well but obviously there is room for improvements. A more detailed evaluation plus all the details can be found on the prezi powerpoint and the youtube link above.

Student evaluations

Vindictive Ground (marking)

I would give this sequence around a 53/60, due to a variety of reasons. It absolutely nails the mise en scene and gives a truly immersive experience and left me wanting more. Firstly, the acting is superp and makes it actually believable which only adds to the immesersion. The lightning is also brilliant, especially in the flashbacks as it reflects the the aspects of the situation. Dark, almost black and white, how something of that nature should be lit. The costumes are also phenominal as they reflect the times they live in, the modern and the past. It adds to the believability of the production. Regarding the shots, there were some amasing ones such as some bird's eyes shots in the beginning which must have been extremely difficult to pull off and gives an good viewing of the setting. The editing is also very good, with brilliant transitions between the present and the flashback. The only bad thing about it were the props, with a modern butter knife being used in the pasted it was an anachronism. There was also no background sound, which definitely increased the quality of all the dialogue. Overall, this was an exceptionally good opening scene and definitely deserved an A grade.

Horror Movie Trailer (no name)



Textual analysis - Opening sequences

The Warriors (1979)

Mise En Scene
The film has very clear mise en scene, the costumes especially. Each group the scene depicts wear different styles of clothing and are very extravagant. This give the impression that it's somewhat futuristic and each group has a distinct style. The main focus of the scene is the New York subway stations, showing all of the different gangs travelling to a specific location. The setting is somewhat grim as it's dark and showing it basically being terrorised. This leads into the actors, as they is a huge variety as the scene shows a lot of different gangs with different ethnicities which obviously means a large variety of different actors. There is no distinct make up which is surprising, as the costumes are so extravagant.  As mentioned before, the lighting is very dark which adds to the already dangerous atmosphere surrounding the gangs. Finally, the only major props are parts of the extravagant costumes the actors a wearing, such as very large hats or a teatowel.

Sound and editing
All through the opening scene, a somewhat futuristic melody is playing which gives the impression that the film is set in the future. The dialogue is very powerful as it shows the leader of the main gang briefing the other members of what they are about to do, and all of it on screen so you get an idea about all of the different characters and their roles. Editing wise, the main bulk of the title sequence is the the different gangs talking and walking. However it shows the cast and crew within shots of the train moving which separate out the different gang scenes.

Camera shots
Almost all of the camera shots are either tracking shots or 180 dialogue shots. The tracking shots are extrememly memorable because it shows the huge variety of gang present in the city, with how they dress and act etc. The dialogue shots are also very good as they allow you to easily identify the characters and be able to refer to them later on in the film.



Superbad (2007

Mise en Scene
Costume wise, it's pretty standard and modern. Nothing really special about it, just what the normal mordern would wear. Lighting is also pretty standard, it's daytime and clearly morning with no filtering or anything of the sort. This scene also introduces the two major characters that are present for the entire film and already begins to definite both their characters. Make up wise, everybody looks rather natural apart from perhaps the mother who is clearly wearing a little. Regarding the props, the major one is a mobile phone in which both the actors are speaking to eachother on, which is the main basis for this scene. The car is also a major one, as well as Evan's cereal bowl. Finally, the settings a contemporary suburban American street, with nothing that special about it.

Sound and editing
The sound is pretty varied, as it shows two back to back scenes of the characters talking. Seth's scenes have a background track playing from the car which obviously adds music, while Evan's dialogue scenes are just him talking. It adds a very good contrast to the scene. With editing, it's done very well as it shows two back to back scenes of people talking and constantly flicks between them, making it easy to understand and follow. The dialogue is also very entertaining, which adds to the basis that it's a comedy.

Camera shots
There is one tracking shot of Seth's car going towards Evan's house, implying that he's going to pick him up. Also the close up shots during the dialogue sequences gives the characters facial expressions during the conversation, adding to their character development right off the bat. Apart from that, there's nothing else truly memorable about the scene shot-wise.




End of Watch (2011)

Mise en Scene
The costumes present in the scene are police uniform and "ghetto" clothing worn my gangsters, leading people to believe it's a police form as those costumes are most prevalent. Lightning is pretty standard as well, as it's daytime on a sunny day with again no major filters. The major actors in scene are the two police officers, with one of them giving the monologue, this again implies that it's a police film. No distinct make up whatsoever as there's proper shots on the actor's face.  Prop-wise, the the few major props are police car and the police officer's service weapon, and the gangster's gun. Finally, the setting ties in all these aspects as the setting is South Central Los Angeles, which is a place where all these things are prevalent.

Sound and editing
The main piece of sound in this scene is the monologue done by the potential main character, about the role and status of the police office in LA. There is nothing else about the sound really the monologue is the main focus. Editing wise there isn't much there either, just a few different transitions to different parts of the chase with no effects. This is down to the fact that it's on a police dash cam, which again further enforces the police film aspect.

Camera shots
There is only one type of shot in this scene, and it's unique because it's filmed from a police cruiser dahs cam, which are designed to film chases and a cruiser's daily activity. It's very profound and essentially confirms that it's a police film, and nothing else. Most of the scene is filming a chase a long the streets of LA, but also shows a small shootout at the end to give the film some action.

Representation

 

This magazine represents a notorious stereotype of women that has been present for years. Most of the headings on the cover are fully about sex which only implies one thing, the fact that women are only sex objects for men. It's focused on pleasing the man like it's their only role in society and that nothing else is more important. It also imbues fear in women because the main focus is an extremely attractive women and potentially makes them feel inadequate, therefore convincing them to buy the magazine. The colour of the title, which is red is also a good representation of what the magazine is about. Red is often definited a somewhat sexy and vibrant colour, which is exactly what the magazine tries to be. It also represents danger, which implies that it's a danger to women if they don't know about sex in a lot of detail.

 

It also stereotypes men as fully sex obsessed due to all the expectations the magazine says that men have. It's also very cliché in terms of the typical women's magazine. Only focusing in on one thing, which is sex with every tagline. Overall, the main representation of the magazine is that women are subservient to men and that their only thought is sex and how to make it better.

Narrative theory - Goodfellas opening scene

This is an analysis of the opening scene from the film Goodfellas - using Barthe's five codes.

The Enigma Code
The opening scene presents a massive variety of questions, including:

• Why are they driving down a rural stretch of road at that time of night?
• How come they're confused about the bumping coming from the boot?
• When they open the boot up, why do they instantly kill the man inside?
• Why is the man inside already injured?
• Why is Tommy carrying aroind a butcher's knife?
• What has the man down to provoke the three men?
• Why are they surprised that he's still alive?
• How is the New York, 1970 setting relevant?
• Why did Henry always want to be a gangster, and how did they all get involved with eachother?

The Action Code
The scene also provides a quite a few actions for an opening scene, including:

• The three of them driving down the road at night.
• The banging on the trunk.
• The stopping of the car in the middle of a forest to check the boot.
• Tommy stabbing the man inside of the trunk.
• Jimmy shooting him after the stabbing.
• Henry slamming the trunk after the man being shot.

Key Themes
Some of the general themes presented in the scene are:

• Violence - presented by the brutal murder of the injured man in the boot.
• Organised Crime/Mob - the setting, the way they dress and their dialect.

Cultural themes

• The scene is full of references to culture, including:
• The urban setting in the vibrant city of New York, contemporary America.
• It's set in 1970, which is close to historical but it's more moder overall.
• The clothes that the characters are wearing, very smart which represents the mob/gangster aspect.
• The car that they are driving, a classic mobster car.

Characters
There are four characters in the clip, three being set up to be main characters. They represent:

• Henry - Automatically the main character due to the focus and narration by him at the end of the scene, he's presented as a member of the mob in this scene, with no indication of his status. I.E whether he's just muscle or perhaps a Lieutenant in hierachy.
• Tommy - Presented a somewhat crazy/psycho character due to the immediate violent stabbing of the victim in the car. Again to indication of rank, although he is sitting in the back which could be interpreted both ways, he could be a very high rank and being escorted or sitting in the back as he's of lower status. It could even just be random.
• Jimmy - Presented as a less crazy character, as he doesn't immediately stab the victim but instead only shoots him after he's clearly on the brink of death. Sitting in the passenger seat, which could represent a higher status than Tommy or Henry.
• The injured man in the boot - Very short screen time, main example of violence and death in the scene due to the fact that's he brutally executed.

Evaluation

Planning

Construction

LAP charts

Preliminary Task

Institutions in films

Film Pitch - A Tale of Two Cows

This was my film pitch for "A Tale of Two Cows", which I presented to the class. The feedback I received was generally positive, but I was criticised on things such as my presentation of the enigma code and my marketing. Also I was criticised on my originality, as films like mine had been done before such as "Chicken Run" and "Madagascar".

On average I got:

Title - 7/10
Characters and cast - 8/10
Enigma codes - 5/10
Narrative suitable for audience - 8/10
Genre conventions - 7/10
Film being different - 6/10
Marketing - 6/10

Overall grade - 47/70

TV show poster analysis - Semiotics

This is a promotional poster for the television show "Dexter". It's uses vivid imagery to represent the premesis and story for the show. At face value, it's simply a man with a baby on his shoulders, most likely his son. The son is carrying a cup of juice as well, which is common for a baby. However looking closer and taking into account the tagline "World's Most Killer Dad", it definitely makes one wonder if something is not as it seems. The juice has drops on the father's face, possibly representing blood which in turn represents danger or death. Expanding on that, the colour red for the baby is juice, which boils down to innocence. While the red on the father is blood which as I mentioned earlier, represents danger and death. With coupled with the blue background creates a contrast between the two colours, safety and danger. Blue is also a male dominated colour, and there's no females in the picture which is something that the viewers might note, increasing interest. This is a use of juxtaposition in the poster.

The baby on the father's shoulders at face value simply represents a father caring about his child, but looking deeper the blood on the father's face definitely represents unease and something out of the ordinary. This also backed up by the father's facial expression which doesn't look especially friendly, and is also amplified by the blood on his face. It looks somewhat mischeavous and again could represent that the father is not so ordinary. The baby's face however is a common and well known face, which could mean that the baby has nothing out of the ordinary about it yet.

Genre analysis - Opening of a film

This is the opening scene from The Godfather: Part 2. Genre wise it doesn't give that much insight as to what the film is actually about in the long run (however the viewers most likely would know the genre due to them most likely watching the first one,) but it's a very powerful scene as we, the viewers, get an insight into the traumatic early life of one of the film's main protagonists. It's use of editing instead of a voiceover of narrative is also very powerful because it adds in "He was nine year old" right at end which has the potential to be a massive shock to the viewers. The text also gives the era in which the film begins, which also gives the The main focus of the scene is that it depicts the death of Paolo (Vito's brother) after we've just got an insight about him from the text. This reveals the grimness of the life that Vito lived and gives his character so much more depth.

Moving on, the fact that a relatively calm funeral turns into an assasination attempt right at the beginning of the film definitely sets the tone for the rest of the film, and includes elements such as unpredictability which is also present throughout the rest of the film. Many of the underlying theme of the films are also set up here, such as the danger of the life the characters live. Setting wise, it's in Sicily, which is a iconic place in the film because its where most of the characters originated from. It's also significant because the scene depicts the horrific acts of violence that occured there, and therefore gives reasons as to why Vito had to leave there in the first place, and thus begin the saga. Expanding on this, Vito is the only major character in this scene, but that doesn't detract from the quality.