jueves, 28 de abril de 2011

Big blind rough test

Realist movies

Style


Realism is a style of film. It tries to show things in a logical, realistic manner. Realists try to preserve the illusion that their film world is unmanipulated, an objective mirror of the actual world.”  Lighting in realism is used depending on the setting of the scene. It is usually of regular brightness. Outdoors: it is warm during the daytime and cold at night. Indoors: it can be either one unless there is one more suitable to the scene. Realist film makers will always try to make the set as believable as possible. It should reflect reality, so they try to film in actual places instead of sets. Colour is used moderately (E.g.: like 9 Lives, not The Wizard of Oz.) Realism tries to keep camera angles at around the height of the actors eyes to simulate that you are actually there. Regular angles, not to high nor low, as someone would ordinarily witness it. Great use of deep focus, to keep cuts as minimum as possible and to simulate the way the human eye works. Slow pace of action. Because it has less cuts, the viewer has to wait for the action to actually happen. Good for creating suspense.

Steady chronology. Few jump cuts forwards of backwards in time. This makes up the majority of sound in realist films. Diagetic sound in conventional realistic films is composed by dialogue, and (if needed) sound effects and background noise. Realistic films have very little non-diagetic sound.
This is because there is no non-diagetic sound in real life. If non-diagetic sound is present, it is usually subtle and for dramatic purposes (E.g creating an atmosphere, increasing the tension).

Amelie, a psycological thriller

Amelie is one of the greatest mastermind in france. Her power is so great that just with her emotions she is able to control the weather, when she is angry its windy, when she is sad its rainy. Her father keeps her isolated for the good of everyone else. Wherever she goes the contrast of the scenery becomes so high that that Zack Snider inspired his movies from it. She even has her own narrator for christ sake!

jueves, 14 de abril de 2011

Film Masterclass

Barney Elliot (AKA the most interesting man in the world), came up to our school. He was also film director. He told us how he got inspired by his frustraitions from his own life experience. It was very interesting to listen how he came up with his ideas (Shopping, meeting a friend) and how he was able to convert them into a movie. Also I found it quite intriguing how, out of the blue, one day decided he was going to be a film directo. However, it was quite hard to listen to him since his screensaver was hypnotizing. We watched two films, True colors and Ultimo Recurso, I personally liked most True colors.

True colors

I liked this one so much I feel bad for the poor judgment that everyone gives to the man, and it shows us how people tend to judge others just from first impresions without knowing any context of the situation and making their own conclusions, I had an epiphany. I also liked alot the mise-en-scene, i mean, the car, the shop, the atmosphere had its own sad tone.

I give it 9.27 out 10


Ultimo Recurso

What I liked on this one is that it shows us to what extent someone can be evil. And it also raises the question: is the man really evil or if he really needs the money?. The name of the film, "last resort" has a double meaning too, Armed robery is the man`s last resort to get money, but he is also the last resort the woman has for her to be saved since he accidentally took her cellphone (from my understanding). I know its an open ending and its up to us and etc, but I think that the ending could have been more interesting, instead of him realising he was going the wrong way.

I give it 3.68 out of 5

miércoles, 6 de abril de 2011

INTERMISSION TO THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE

RKO radio pictures!

Mise - en - Shot

Mise en shot

  • Camera movement
  • Short scale, depth of field, deep focus
  • Length of take
  • Pace editing

Long take

  • Anything significally longer than the norm
  • In 1940’s, anything over 9 seconds long is considered a long take.
  • Examples: Rope, Nine lives

Deep focus – keep several planes of shot in focus at the same time.

  • You can see the background, foreground and the middle ground.
  • It is used in scenes that have a big space, it allows several actions to be filmed at the same time, used in combination with long take, so decreasing the need of editing.
  • What are the positives and negative of using this in mise en shot
Positive
Negative
  • Positives: Its not as confusing as using so many cuts to focus on two different things.

  • Establishing shot and action shot, all in one

  • No need of editing and very little and camera movement.

  • You focus attention.

  • Verisimilitude, looks as it is real.

  • Actors are allowed to act and develop their characters and display their virtuosity.

  • Audience feels not manipulated, cuts can feel opposite of verisimilitude.

  • Increases tention.
  • Sense of no escape, audience can’t get out of the scene, almost suffocating.
  • Lack of action, too slow, could be tedious and boring
  • It is a bit monotonous
  • Can make the audience not feel involved
  • It can feel as it one long establishing shot.

Movie showdown: Little Caesar vs Wizard of oz

Little Caesar – 1932
Directed by  Mervyn Leroy.
Studio: Warner brothers

Film noir: Black and white, mafia, gangsters, crime, murder

Start of a quote @ fall all they take the sword shall perish”, there is a car arriving at a gas stations, I hear gunshots, the lights go down, the car leaves. The scenes fade always.

Establishing shot outside a casino with a neon light billboard, Caesar goes in and talks to the boss, he seems like to be asking something to the boss, and is represented like a little boy by the he stands since he has his hat infront of him. The boss looks high class since he has a handkerchief and whine.

The lightning in this scene is done in a way so that you can see lots of shadows and verticals. The shadowing kind of cover a little bit Caesars face, also, the fact that there is a shadow at one corner makes it easier to see a flickering light outside, so it tells you that you are in the same building.

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Wizard of oz, 1939

Directed – Victor Fleming

Studio: MGM

Scene where they follow the yellow big road, it’s in bright colour, quite spectacular in those times. Loads of midgets (children) used.

Mise en scene

 Lots of sets used, very expensive. The big difference from both of these scenes is the mise-en-scene, part of film aesthetics. It means putting on stage. Comes from the theatre world, it is basically everything that is there before the camera starts rolling, just to make it look like reality. That means images, character movement, and lightning, set designs, motifs. It tells us a lot about te socio historical and institutional content of the scene.

Mise en shot

Means, the way the filmed events are filmed, it literary means “putting into shot”


Little Caesar
Wizard of oz
Lightning, the lightning is very very dark, and it focuses partially on the gangsters so that you have a closer look.

Set design – Naturalistic, simplistic, just a typical old fusion office. Just
It is super bright and brilliant colours, just to illustrate how happy the world is.






Little Caesar
Wizard of oz
Lightning, the lightning is very very dark, and it focuses partially on the gangsters so that you have a closer look.

Set design – Naturalistic, simplistic, just a typical old fusion office. Just

Costume – Very classy and elegant costumes used in those days, notice that the bosses costume (specially the handkerchief in his pocket) symbolizes that he has money. Also, little Caesars has a long robe, like the one of a detective.

Images, motifs – hats, desk, gas station, cars
It is super bright and brilliant colours, just to illustrate how happy the world is.


Set design, a huge set with large paintings to give an illusion of depth, like hills.

Costume – Fantasy costumes (used by the munchking), they are colourful and exaggerated. The girl’s costume is quite ordinary however, making a big contrast between her and the munchkins.



Images – ruby slippers, munchkins, yellow brick road.

Movie showdown: 9 lives Vs Jurassic park



9 lives (Rodrigo Garcia) 2005
Jurassic park (steven Spielberg) 1993
Camera position
Starts with an establishing shot of the corridor, just one camera for the whole thing. It is sort of shoulder height.
The Mise en scene is pretty rich so they position the camera from quite far apart so that you can see everything.
Camera movement
No cuts, the camera follow Rosanna using a dolly.
Almost static in every shot because they cut every time they want to change a position.
Shot scale
Low scale, you can’t see much really.
Regular at times when they want to show the whole place and how chaotic it is since there are lots of people, or extremely short at another times to show the facial expressions of the actors.
Length of shot
Very little since it is indoors, you don’t see much apart of the character.
Not very deep since they want you to focus un almost everything that is going on.
The place of editing
Almost no space, no cuts.  Just a constant shot.
Very constant, 43 different shots to be exact, this is mainly to give an adrenaline spike.


9 lives

The mise-en- shot

The camera almost doesn’t change at all, just of one point of view the entire time, from Rosanna’s point of view. The whole place looks very depressing by amount of contrast there is, it may be very bright but it’s still depressing. The camera focuses in the facial expression of the girl a lot, and highlights the stress she is having. We also get a feeling that the place is very confined and claustrophobic.

Mise – en – shot

  • Camera position
  • Camera movement
  • Shot scale
  • Length of shot
  • The pace of editing

jueves, 17 de marzo de 2011

Analysing a scene of Jurassic Park

Descriptive stage – Jurassic park – directed by Steven Spielberg

Establishing shot, two cars entering the scene outside in a sort of plane with very big and nice trees, in a sunny day. The lack of leaves in the trees tells us that there have been some dinosaurs here before. The cars have the Jurassic park logo in the side. The car stops, and they see one big dinosaur outside. They get out getting a closer look. The dinosaur is feeding off a tree. The people are very surprised that they have seen a dinosaur.

Analytical stage

Camera angle: Camera moves in when the actor notices the dinosaur, this builds up tention since it focuses mainly on the actor's facial expression (of amazement). Also, when the dinosaur finally apears, the camera has a low angle and points up, mainly to highlight the amazing size of the dinosaur.

Lightning: Colour of the cars give better contrast, red cars and red scarf can represent danger. This scene in particulary doesent need so much lightning attention since it happens outdoors.

Sound: Non diagetic sounds, Song when the scene starts, the song that is used at the start gets you on an adventure mood. When the dinosaur appears, we listen to jurassic park's OST (the one that goes like du du du doo doo, du du du doo doo) , just to give us a feeling of amazement and recognition.

Composition: Most of the composition consists in reflecting the nature and the remoteness of the place. Also, the shot that starts zooming on the actors facial expression, it looks like the car is framing the character. When the Protagonist takes off both his hat and his glasses, we know that this is serious buisness. Also, when he puts his hand on the doctor's hair and moves her head towards so that she can see the dinosaurs, we are conveyed that there is confidence between them. At the end of the scene, when we hear the Lawyer saying "we are going to get a fortune out of this" It forces you to loose sympathy of him because he only cares about the money. No wonder why he is the first one to get eaten.
Close up vs. long shot, It starts and ends witch a long shot to set an establishing shot, we only get close ups when we see the characters react to the appearance, this is mainly to focus in their acting of amazement.

Editing: Chronology, it skips the time so that you don’t have to wait for the cars to come. It also waits for the exitement to build up between the shots. Also, when they mention the T-REX at the end, it tells you that there is yet alot more to see in this island.

viernes, 4 de marzo de 2011

  1. How would you define a good film?
A good film is a movie that immerses you into its universe and plays with you emotions. It is the kind of film that is both entretaining and smart, and gives you something to think of

  1. If you like a film, do other people have the right to tell you you’re wrong?
Not at all, it is a personal opinion of a film is good or bad. And someone doesent have the right to change your opinion.

  1. How should people behave in the cinema?
They should behave as they want as long as they dont disturb the audience. It also depends in what movie you are watching, if you are watching a comedy, it is okay to laugh.

  1. Is film an art form? Explain your answer.
Indeed, i consider films to be a mixture of many kinds of art, like music, paintings, fotography and literature.

  1. Who should get the final credit for a film, why?
Everyone deserves credit for the film, but the people who get the most of it should be both the Director and the Editor since the director is the responsible for the film's characteristics, and the editor makes the film happen.

  1. How many different roles can you think of in the making of a film?
I dont want to list them, but at least 10

  1. Is there a function of film?
Yes, A film can have many functions like to entretain, to teach, as a form of expressing thoughts and to share experiences.

  1. Why do people make films?
Mostly to express their feelings... and to have fun.

  1. Do film makers have a moral responsibility to their audiences?
No, its not the Directors fault if somebody gets offended by one of their films even though they were warned. Its the Directors job to tell a stoy.