12 Years a Slave Opening Scene Analysis

The first shot in the sequence shows the rich white males hight up on the horse and cart. The black males are low working on the ground. This suggests the difference in power at this time.
The sound in the shot is minimal but effective. The diegetic singing from the black males, gives the aspect of sadness, and bordem. This also gives the viewer something to think about and it adds to the aspect of reality and what it would have been like to be a slave in the 1930s. There is a shallow depth of field therefore everything being in focus. This makes shure that the viewer looks at the whole picture, not just focsing on one individual thing.

The shot then cuts to a closeup shot of the central protagonist. The angle of the camera is looking down on the character, which suggests roles of power in the situation. In this part of the extract the diegetic sound turns gets quiter and becomes muffled, fading to non-diegetic instumental music. This give the aspect of the central protagonist is switching offf from what he is doing and thinking about other things. This also helps to keep a time scale and to pass through this part quickly. The non-diegetic music has a very slow temp therefore connoting sadness or loss, therfore denoting the whole sistuation of slavery.

Whilst the music is playing, the shot cuts to the other charcaters who hold the wealth, the angle of the camera gives the perspective of the black male slaves, therefore looking up, therefore the slavesless powerful. The clothing on the charcater also shows wealth compated to the clothing of the slaves. The whole film has a very old, warm tinge to it. Although the film shows and represents a very cold, racist time in the past, using old filters helps to give the film an old look to it.

This closeup of the food has a very blue colour to it. This connotes sadness. Thes non-diegetic sound track playing behind also adds to the whole picture. With both the visuals and sound added together, it creates this whole picture of sadness. The food on the plate is very minimal which suggests that most of the food given to the slaves is simple, and mainly wild. This shows the where the wealth is going in this part of the film.


Later in the film opening, it cut to the title of the film, By using old fonts and colours it gives the effect of the setting and the past. By using fancy fonts helps to show the era and display extra meaning for the film, if the viewer has not guessed the time already. By lighting up a bit of the paper, (the background) helps to present the era. Also the creases in the paper helps to show that it is not well looked after, like the slaves in the film. This can signify and foreshadow the conciquences and actions from the white given to the black. Therefore giving the viewer a realistic representation of what actually happened. Because the filmed was based on the book, which was based on a true story, making things more realistic for the viewer helps to represent how bad things were in the those times, making sure that it would not happen again.

Saving Private Ryan Opening Scene Analysis

The first shot consists of a manipulated ident. By manipulating and giving the ident a unique look for the film, helps the viewer to connote that the fonts are related to war. Using this font and colour helps to relate to the genre of the film therefore giving it extra meaning for the viewer. The font style is fancy and has an old aspect to it. Therefore denoting the past, and connoting the wars in the past. The backgrounds is plain black, therefore it is simple, and relates to the film.

The shot then leads onto a protagonist and his family going to see the graves, in remembrance of their loved ones, in the present moment. This angle of shot helps to tell the viewer and emphasise the fact that lots of people died in the war. The Cinematographer/DOP wants us to see this therefore releasing a certain emotion when the viewer is show this. By organising the graves in a ordered formation, recreates the organised formation of the soldiers when they were at war. Also because the graves all look the same, a white cross, this can also recreate the soldiers because they all looked the same they all wore the same uninform/clothing. This creates extra meaning for the viewer therefore they can connote that they are war graves dues to the amount, formation and look of them.

Later in the film the protagonist gets close to one of the graves of his friend in the war. The camera then pans and zooms into the eyes of the character showing lots of emotion, and to simulate the fact of what he is thinking. The next cut then leads into a flashback of his experience, therefore zooming into the eyes of a past soldier is relevant.

After the cut of the central protagonist the film leads onto a flashback of his experience. By slightly titling the camera helps to suggest that something is wrong, or something is about to go wrong. By adding a date to the screen help to keep the viewer informed of the timescale but also to give it that war film representation. (what we expect from a war film)

The environment around is also very blue therefore showing coldness which portrays the whole film connoting sadness.

This close up shot of the other soldiers helps to give the viewer a first person view from the central protagonists point of view. The filming is quite unstable, shaky and a little blurred. This helps to give the aspect of their point of view giving the viewer a real interpretation of the war. Using a close up of the soldiers helps to show how cramped the boat is showing what it was like in the real war.

Later in the opening the camera switches to the other side of the battle, showing the muzzle flash, guns etc. Because the shot is looking down at the vulnerable soldiers scrambling onto the beach, it suggests who holds the power in the scene. The powerful Germans with their machine guns, high up on the cliff side. This shows the viewer who is in control at this moment in the film. The shot also has a bit of blur to it. This gives another effect of the machine gun firing which helps to simulate the power of the gun. The sound in this part of the film is mainly gunfire, the diegetic sound of machine guns helps to add to the whole picture. Using this sound with the visuals is effective as it shows the viewer what the battle would have really been like.

When the camera switches to the other side, back to the first person shots, the camera looks up at the German soldiers in their base which gives the effect that they are defenceless, powerless, etc.

Because it is meant to be a first person shot, as the other soldiers jump into the water the camera follows giving the viewer a realistic interpretation of the war. As the camera plunges into the water, the diegetic sound of distorted gunfire and drowning really give the film a realistic feel and shows the viewer how grim the war actually was.

This next shot shows the soldiers swimming towards the shore, by tilting the camera to one side, suggests that something is not right and suggests vulnerability. Because the environment is overcast, this connotes sadness, coldness, etc. Also the colouring of the shot is blue which also connotes these same qualities.

Spectre Opening Scene Analysis

In the first few seconds into the film there is a title sequence, The words 'the dead' fade in first and are then left on screen for a few seconds. then the words 'are alive' then fade into the shot to give the effect and meaning. The choice of fonts and colour are appropriate for the type and genre of film. Using the words 'the dead are alive' has a contrast therefore adding a signifier and questions the audience about what they mean. The title sequence then cuts into a shot of a skeleton which is appropriate and related to the

titles. Because there is a festival with lots of people dressed as skeletons, this is related to being alive. The camera then pans around the skeleton to show all of the festival, which turns into an establishing shot. As the shot shows the viewer the surroundings and the setting, there are titles telling the viewer where they are. The camera then pans closer to the people in the festival. when the camera is about to pass, it follows a character who is dressed in all white. He then walks past Bond which then shows him looking at him, when this character walks past him. This tells the viewer that he will encounter his presence later in the film which is foreshadowing hints for the viewer. The viewer does not know this yet but his enemy, the one dressed in all white, contrasts bonds colour which is all black, causing instability, which also adds a hint for the viewer, that the enemy is up to something. When bond and his girlfriend start walking to wards the hotel, the camera pans and creates a close up of the two characters still running the same shot. When the characters get towards the entrance of the hotel, the camera focuses on a poster on the wall. Without the viewer realising, there is a wipe to cut between the two shots simulating that nothing has been cut. But if you look closely technically there is a cut that the cinematographer does not want us to know about. By keeping the shot 'running' for a long time helps to build the suspense up for when Bond starts to find the enemy. Also it shows that thins are quite calm in the world at this moment of time.

This next shot shows the two characters walk up the stairs into the hotel. Because all of the others apart from the central protagonist and his girlfriend are leaving, walking down the stairs, it contrasts them between the others. This happens earlier in the sequence when they are about to enter the hotel, where all the other people are walking down the street whereas only the central protagonist and his girlfriend are walking in the opposite direction. Also the dresses of the other women are dressed in white also contrasting her dark purple dress. Because this is 'supposedly' the same shot as the one from outside, things are still calm in the world at this moment of time.

When the two characters get out of the lift and start to walk into their room, there is another secret cut when one of the people walk past and in front of the camera. I can assume that it is cut and filmed in an entirely different location, on a set with a replica of the same room.

After the two do there thing, and bond starts to leave out of the window there is another secret cut using the pillar from the window to start filming the next part of this long sequence. The camera then pans around Bond as he walks across the roof showing all of the surrounding area and then pans past Bond as he sets himself up and aims at his target.

Blog Feedback 11th October 2016

Main Points to complete:

Film opening analysis is good use of terminology, but in future opening analysis'  maybe do a voice over whilst playing the opening behind and make the analysis shorter.

Add a blog post on using final cut pro, DSLR's etc for the prelim task.

AS Film Review

In the first part of the opening, there are idents. Although this is appropriate, I thought that they could have been improved to look more professional.

The first shot in the opening is a establishing shot to give the viewer some background information. This is effective and relevant for opening. 

The shot then cuts into a shot supposedly inside of a bed. As the character gets up the composition and framing is a little bit off as part of his head is cropped out of the frame not giving any space around the edge of the frame. 

The choice of music is appropriate for the mood and situation in the opening. 

After the shots inside the house, the plot then leads to outside showing the central protagonist crossing a bridge. As this part of the film was shot in the rain it sets the mood of the film which is appropriate for the narrative. The character walks into the shot with the camera facing at their back. This is effective as it shows where the character is going and connotes the mood of the plot. When the shoot is being taken in winter where the weather is misty and cold. This then connotes coldness and sadness therefore appropriate for the narrative.

The opening then cuts to a sped up train which shows time passing.

It then cuts to a completely different character with completely different lifestyle. The characters both share this sadness and cold feeling but they both are completely different people. There is another establishing shot of another cheaper house this contrasts back to the original house at the start of the opening. When the opening cuts to inside the house, it shows some trace drug which matches and is stereotypically paired with the type of character he is and the house he supposedly lives in.

Cutting back to the other character, there is a shot that shows the river passing which suggest more time passing. This is where both the contrasted characters meet for the first time. When the older character starts to climb over the bridge, the younger character stops him. This is the first bit of dialogue in the opening. Although the diolougue is minimal it is effective as the music and cinematography is really well done so the viewer can relates in the opening.

Markscheme

All three aspects are assessed as one of:

 

Mark out of:    60        20

MINIMAL      0-23     0-7

BASIC                        24-35   8-11

PROFICIENT 36-47   12-15

EXCELLENT 48-60   16-20

 

To hit ‘excellent’(16-20 marks) for RESEARCH AND PLANNING requires the following:

•Planning and research evidence will be complete and detailed;

•There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience;

•There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props;

•There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding;

•There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning;

•Time management is excellent.

 

To hit ‘excellent’(48-60 marks) for PRODUCTION requires meeting the following:

There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

•material appropriate for the target audience and task;

•using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;

•using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;

•shooting material appropriate to the task set;, including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scène;

•using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

 

To hit ‘excellent’(16-20 marks) for EVALUATION requires meeting the following:

•Excellent skill in the use of appropriate digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.

•Excellent understanding of issues around audience, institution, technology, representation, forms and conventions in relation to production.

•Excellent ability to refer to the choices made and outcomes.

•Excellent understanding of their development from preliminary to full task.

•Excellent ability to communicate.

The Brief

Preliminary exercise:

 

Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

 

Main task:

 

The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes. All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

 

BASIC MARKS BREAKDOWN:

RESEARCH & PLANNING 20%

PRODUCTION                                  60%

EVALUATION                                 20%

Prelim Filming, Editing

In the prelim task we used a DSLR to create the shots in the film sequence. Considering the following factors: white balance, ISO, appiture, composition I could setup the shot ready to be filmed.

Camera, Lighting, Composition, Sound
In the sequence I mainly used over the shoulder shots (OTS). To setup the composition I made sure that a you could clearly see the face of the person talking and kept to back of the other person in the shot.
We filmed a second take of the a similar conversation but reversed the shot to show the face of the other character and the back of the person.

One issue with sound I encountered is that, because of the positioning of the camera and the direction the microphone in one of the shots, when I was editing one shot is has more background noise than the other one. Therefore you can clearly hear an increase in background noise when the two shots switch between each other.

When filming the composition did not look correct, therefore I added extra tables to the background to fill the empty space in the room as it looked odd otherwise.

Considering lighting I made sure that we were not shooting into a light source (a window) therefore reducing over exposure and the face of the characters being completely dark.
Taking white balance into account, depending on the majority of which type of light available, I altered it. If the source of light was sunlight I made sure that the white balance was set to a subtitle setting reducing the blue colour and keeping the shot as close to natural as possible. If the majority of light was artificial is set the white balance to a more blue setting keeping the shot also as close to realistic as possible.
Because the filming location was light I could set the ISO to a lower value therefore reduing how much light the sensor in the camera would pick up and then a result of a better quality image with minimal grain and distortion.

When I set up the DSLR I set the appiture to a large f-stop value therefore impacting the depth of field, as most of the image (foreground and backgrond) is in focus.

Editing

In Final Cut Pro I dropped in the footage that we recorded into the project. Editing the clips together, I watched back both of the cuts and made a conversation out of both of the shots. I reused the same shots over and over again switching between the two depending on which character was talking to show the facial expressions of the character. Because the conversations were different from the two separate scenes I made up my own conversation using the shots I had and cut the two shots to make a scene that could make sense. Therefore the final opening contained shots that were not in order when filming.