How does Editing represent Disability in "The Street"?

In the extract from "The Street", editing is used to create a negative representation of disability.

At the start of the scene, the use of shot reverse shot during the exchange between the disabled character and his former co-workers allows for focus on the expressions of the other men when they look at the man's face and answer his questions. The other men seem surprised and shocked that the man will get his job back, and the disabled man is hence represented as inadequate. A focus pull is used at the end of this section to show the man through a barbed wire fence, signifying the physical barriers he must overcome amongst other members of society. In the section where he approaches the woman who has dropped her shopping, a long shot is used to show the man's change in pace as he goes to her aid, contrasting stereotypical negative representations of disability. However the woman's reaction is shown negatively, by using eyeline match alongside an over the shoulder shot. Shot reverse shot is used when they are walking away when he tells her to "stop digging", and a sound bridge builds to represent his anger at the views society has towards his disability when he is trying to assist the public. The editing pace increases for the street segment alongside the diegetic soundtrack to enhance the notion of him being alone in society, and ellipsis between each of the 4 sections creates a representation of the man being an exile and outcast in each one of the four sections, matching the stereotyped representation of disabled persons being a burden and a victim. In the final section, the 180 degree rule of continuity is broken, so the man is shown to be looking in two different directions during the conversation - this is used as a technique for representation as it shows the "two sides" to the man's appearance and character - one side of his face is disfigured, and covered by the shadows in the scene, which connotes a representation of having a split personality. This exchange also shows an angry side to his character, as opposed to the positive side shown in the section with the woman. Eyeline match is also used here to show the reactions of the Sergeant towards the man, and hence the main negative representation in the scene is the views of society towards disabled people.

Why is British TV Drama popular?

British TV Drama continues to attract large viewing audiences- many of which watch programmes as a one-off at peak-time broadcasts: this provides evidence that we are not consuming all of our media, and that we are instead turning to YouTube or other online services for all of our media.
British Dramas such as Coronation Street and Lewis attracted audiences in excess of 12 Million viewers, with programmes such as Call the Midwife attrracting 8.71 Million viewers. Call the Midwife is a BBC period drama set in East London that has been shown from 2012 to the present. A medical drama in a series of episodes, the programme is one of the most popular nationwide.
I think TV Drama is popular for a number of reasons- firstly, people may be able to relate to certain incidents recreated in the programmes, although they are often over-dramaticsed, or just find them exciting or entertaining. The programmes may form some kind of distraction from other activities and become part of a daily routine for many people nationwide.

Approaching the Evaluation - Methods of Presentation

In today's lesson we started looking at the Evaluation process and how to approach each of the Evaluation questions. There are seven questions to be answered in total, and I intend to answer each of them through a different media. The questions are:

- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

At first I considered doing a podcast or commentary to do this question, but I feel a form of media such as Padlet would be effective to build a "Wall" on all the different aspects this question involves, such as the impact of research, and how different parts of my thriller adhere to different conventions, i.e. location, costumes, narrative and so on.

- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For this question I feel a visual method such as Prezi would be suitable, as here I could separate individual groups, Young Adults and Young Girls in the instance of my thriller and discuss stereotypes used, costumes, and why I chose that with reference to other thriller films. Alternatively I could use SlideShare to produce a presentation on this.

- What kind of media institutions might distribute my media product and why?
This question is relatively short compared to the others with a lack of extensive material to discuss - who distributes thrillers, who I would like to distribute thrillers, where it could be distributed, and why - for this reason I thought a suitable medium would be Gliffy or similar software to create a flowchart to show how decisions influence another and so on to explain my choices.

- Who is my Audience for my Thriller?

For this question I need to focus on who my audience is with reference to my previously conducted Audience Research during the planning phase - the age range, their interests, why it relates to thrillers, and so on. I could discuss this question in a directors commentary or use another simple method of presentation to create a poster on who my audience is. I feel this would be more suitable as there would be more to discuss in the next question, how I attracted my audience.

- How did I attract my audience?

In this question I would discuss with reference to my thriller and research examples of things I included from my research in my thriller. I feel the best method to present this would be an edited video or commentary, where I can make a point and then back it up with screenshots from existing thrillers and my own thriller. 

- What have I learnt about technologies from the process of Constructing the Thriller?

This question will entail me focusing on different softwares and equipment that I have used in the production of the thriller - I can discuss Final Cut, Audacity, the equipment itself in the filming process and so on, and how I learned to use these technologies.  One way of presenting this answer could be through a podcast or voiceover, of myself discussing the advances I have made and the influence of technology on producing media products, yet I could use screenshots or other images to show myself working on the software itself, such as in Audacity and Final Cut. Alternatively therefore I could use a presentation software such as AuthorStream or EverNote.

- Looking back at the Pre-liminary task, what progression have I made to end up producing my Thriller?

In this question I will answer how I avoided making similar mistakes to in my pre-liminary task, with anything including continuity, soundtrack, characters and so on, as well as editing and the improvements made to my knowledge of the techniques. As with the previous question I could do a podcast or commentary to highlight my use of better planning, storyboarding, decision making, creativity, and production, or use software such as Word It Out / Wordle to produce a concept map highlight each area of progression.

Preliminary Task - Observing the rules of Continuity

Observing the rules of Continuity in Film Production - Preliminary Task

"Fed-Wars"



This was a preliminary group task to shoot and edit a short piece to demonstrate continuity, through match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degrees rule.
Embedded is the piece we made, and is subject to some continuity errors. We were forced to shoot the footage on two separate days after a fire alarm went off and we did not have enough time to finish shooting all of the required footage. Fortunately the weather was not too dissimilar and the footage we needed to be shot outside was all managed on the same day. However, the main character in the balaclava is wearing a slightly different t-shirt at the end of the film. Also, when he originally entered the building, he was carrying the box underneath his left arm (1:00) so to correct this we inverted the shot during editing, without it appearing abnormal - then during the rest of the scene, it is held under his right arm, and there is continuity. We also observe continuity through use of match on action, with the masked character reaching for the door at 1:04 and then opening it from a different camera angle in the next shot. We also show match on action through cutting from one scene to the next, so the audience assumes what happens in-between and makes the scene flow, such as the last scene where the suited man knocks the masked man to the ground, then in the next shot it cuts to the suited man killing the masked man from a low angle perspective (to signify power and strength). Then at 1:33, we show continuity through a shot reverse shot, used in conversation, where there is an over the shoulder shot followed by another over the shoulder shot from the opposite characters point of view. We also acknowledge the 180 degree rule here. The 180 degree rule is where the camera is kept on the same side of the action in the scene to not confuse the audience, i.e. if this wasn't observed the characters would appear to face the same way, when they are not in the scene itself.

Opening Titles Timeline - "Red Lights"

Opening Titles of "Red Lights"

"Red Lights" Opening Titles in 9 Frames, from the Art of the Title

This is a timeline of the Title Sequence for "Red Lights"

The above chart is a timeline for the title sequence of the thriller "Red Lights", and details at what points different titles appear and in what order. The chart shows that three actors names are displayed before the director and title of the film, indicating their importance to the film. Next, the rest of the cast is listed, and then the main roles in the making of the film, such as music, casting, production designer and so on. The last titles to be displayed are the executive producers and the writer/director before the sequence ends and the opening scene commences. Similarly to the actors being displayed first, this signifies importance and creates a sense of closure to the title sequence. Most of the titles are displayed for a similar amount of time, about 4 to 5 seconds, with some appearing for longer if there is more to read on the screen. A soundtrack accompanies the title sequence then fades out when the opening scene begins.

Thriller Music - Experimenting With Garage Band

Analysis of Sound: "Goodfellas" Opening Scene

 

In the opening scene of "Goodfellas", diegetic and non-diegetic sound plays an important role in setting the scene and building tension. In the opening credits, we hear a non-diegetic sound that sounds like a car engine undergoing the Doppler effect as it drives past (the frequency of the sound changes) and this corresponds to the text moving on the screen. Although no image has appeared on the screen yet, the noise of the car makes the audience think that cars will be involved. As the actors names scroll past a strange, low frequency non-diegetic sound begins to build in timbre, around 0:19, then fade away until the text reads, "This film was based on a true story." Here, the sound fades for a brief moment, to enhance the effect of the text on the audience, then the car engine noise resumes as a car appears in the frame. We hear nothing but the noise of the car for several seconds, building tension, especially when the frame changes to show the men in the car, the silence over the noise of the engine creates a very tense atmosphere.

As the men start talking and conferring with one another, a muffled thumping sound can be heard over the speech - although the speech indicates that this sound is in the scene, we don't know where it is coming from ("Did I hit something?", "Is it a flat?.. No.."). We then very clearly hear the sound of the car doors closing as the men walk out, and the faint noise of crickets and other bugs are very typical of a scene at night, and help emphasise how quiet it is elsewhere. The muffled noise continued, but this time it is diegetic as the camera focuses on the car boot when we can hear it [1:18]. No words are spoken, and the lack of noise further builds the tension in this scene - the noise is eventually broken by the man brandishing a large knife and the sound of the keys to unlock the boot moving against each other. Every small noise is emphasised due to the complete silence to create tension and build suspense to what will happen when the boot is opened. When it is eventually opened, we see a very bloody man mumbling hard to distinguish phrases, it sounds like he says "no.." repeatedly. Then we hear the noise of the man as he thrusts the knife into the man in the boot, and then the silence is pierced by the sound of several gunshots, that we can clearly associate with the action in the scene. We then hear the sound of another car driving past, but we do not see it, and the characters do not seem to react to this so we assume that it is not important, but that there was a risk of the characters being seen.

Finally we hear the a monologue; the character does not talk in the scene but the camera focuses on him so we assume it is his voice, and as he reaches the end of his sentence ("..gangster"), as "Rags To Riches" by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross fades in for the title sequence. This Jazz-like song helps to set portray the culture of era in which the film was set, which was already mentioned to be 1970.

LABELS

Camera Shots & Angles

Top 5 Thiller Opening Scenes

Here's a pick of some of my favourite opening scenes from thriller films.

Terminology Defintions

These are some key terms that I have not yet covered/didn't previously know of relating to camera shots, angles, editing and sound.

• Master Shot - This is often a long shot and is filmed from such an angle that all characters are in view.
• Aerial Shot - This is where either a crane or camera attached to a special helicopter to view large landscapes from above.
• Canted Angle - This is where the camera is tilted to one side, often to give a sense of psychological  anxiety or instability.
• Deep Focus - A camera technique that has a great depth of field, which keeps both close and distant planes in focus at the same time.
• Shallow Focus - The opposite of deep focus, this is where the camera has a small depth of field and only one plane of the image is in focus and the rest is out of focus. It is typically used to emphasise one part of an image over another.
• Focus Pulls - A filming technique where the focal point is drawn towards the viewer.
• Steadicam - A way of mounting the camera so that it remains steady when filming.
• Continuity Systems - This is the process of smoothing different clips out to make them run smoother.
• Eyeline Match - this is where the audience wants to see what the character on screen can see. This is done by the character observing something off screen followed by a cut to this object/character etc.
• Graphic Match - this is an editing device in which a dominant shape or line in one shot provides a visual transition to a similar shape or line in the next shot.
• Jump Cut - this is an abrupt transition from one scene to another.
• Cross-cutting - this is a technique in which shots of two or more separate, usually concurring scenes are combined.
• Parallel Editing - this is a technique that involves going between two scenes that are happening simultaneously but in different locations.
• Superimposition - This is where one image is placed over another, perhaps to highlight importance.
• Long Take - a shot in a film that is uninterrupted for a long period of time and breaks from the pace of the film, usually lasting several minutes.
• Short Take - the opposite to long take, this is where a shot appears for a very brief duration, usually less than 3 seconds or so.
• Expansion of Time - this is where time is expanded; the duration of the film sequence lasts longer than in real time.
• Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sound - Diegetic sound is where a sound is actually visible on screen, so the we can see what caused the sound, whereas non-diegetic sound is where he we hear something but we cannot see where it is coming from, such as a narrative or sound effect, or it is not implied by the action on screen.
• Synchronous and asynchronous sound - Synchronous sound is where a sound appears to be matched to certain movements occurring in the scene, such as footsteps corresponding to walking, whereas asynchronous sound is coming from the action but not precisely in sync with it.
• Ambient sound - the background noise present in a scene.
• Mode of Address - the way in which media texts talk to an audience, or the relations between the addresser and the audience are constructed in a text.
• Incidental music - this is music used in a scene to create or enhance a specific atmosphere, to accompany the action or drama or fill intervals.
• Sound perspective - this is the sense of a sound's position in space due to several factors such as timbre and pitch.

Shot Types and Camera Angles & Movements

Shot Types

• Extreme Long Shot / Establishing Shot - often an exterior shot to establish time and location, and any characters in the scene are often only just visible. This shot provides the audience with information about the setting for the storyline (establishes the scene)
• Long Shot - this could follow up the establishing shot- this shot involves seeing the character from head to toe. The shot can help build a relationship between the character and their environment.
• Mid Shot - A shot of the character from the waist up. This shot enables the audience to become more familiar with the character as we can see their expressions and body langauge in more detial.
• Two Shot - This shot involves having two characters in the frame to show the relationship between the chracters and their interactions. Typically this is seen in TV shows, for example. Variations inlcude a Three Shot, Four Shot or Group Shot.
• Close-up - This shows the characters head and shoulders, with very little background space. The shot focuses the attention on the characters expression but could also be used to focus on objects of significance.
• Point of View - This puts the audience in the place of the character and let's them see what the character can see. It is used to engage the audience with the character's motives.
• Extreme Close-Up - This "unnatural" shot often focuses on characters eyes, and helps the audience feel the emotion that the character is feeling. Similarly to a close-up, it can be used to focus on objects of significance.

Camera Angles & Movements

As well as the aforementioned High Angle and Low Angle shots detailed in a previous post, there is also the "Over The Shoulder" shot, where the audience views the action or object of significance over the shoulder of the character. It is often used in scenes with dialogue/conversation, such as in TV soaps, and can show the interaction between characters. If the shot then alternates so it is over the shoulder of the other character, it is known as a "Shot Reverse Shot".

Movements:

• Tracking Shot - a backwards/forwards way of capturing the action using a dolly or track and dolly. If the shot moves in it can signal the start of the action, and vice versa if it moves out it can signal the end of action.
• Sideways Tracking Shot - otherwise known as a "Crab Shot", this shot follow the movement of a character or object horizontally.
• Tilt Shot - The simple movement of a camera up and down. Like with a Low Angle shot, a tilt up creates height and power with point of view.
• Zoom - an alternative to tracking, this is where the focal lenght of the camera is adjusted to move into or away from the character.
• Arc Shot - A full circle or semi-circle shot around a character or object.
• Crane Shot - the camera is attached to a crane to follow the action in a vertical direction.
• Panning Shot - this is where the camera moves from left to right or vice versa on a tripod. It could be used with point of view when a character is, say, searching a room.

Thriller Film Scene Analysis

An analysis of the opening scene (to around 4 minutes in) of "Olympus Has Fallen", detailing setting, themes, character, props, narrative and style.
 

Olympus Has Fallen Opening Scene from jwestonf0wj

Analysis of a Thriller Movie Poster: World War Z



 First research and analytical task:

World War Z - Film Poster Annotation from jwestonf0wj

Semiotics, Denotations and Connotations

"Semeiotikos" is greek for "an interpreter of signs" and Semiotics is quite simply the study of signs. It is used to analyse visual codes in various types of media and incorporates anything used as human communication.

A denotation is the actual meaning of a word whereas a connotation is something associated with a word, either a feeling or idea etc. coupled with its literal meaning.

Semiotics are also present in moving images (and in still image analysis too!):

• Tilting the camera up (low-angle shot) infers power and authority.
• Tilting the camera down (high-angle shot) makes a character appear small and vulnerable.
• Close-up shots, varying from standard to big to extreme can show emotion, expressions, insight, intimacy etc.
• Long shots are taken from afar and are used to give context, scope and to establish a scene.
• Fade in/fade out transitions can indicate the start/beginning/opening or close/ending/conclusion.

Codes and Conventions

Every Genre is governed by a set of codes and conventions.

• Code - a code in media is a firm rule that is almost never broken. The rules apply to all easpects of a film, such as plot, character, culture and many more.
• Convention - a convention is a habit or a long accepted way of doing things that can change and develop along with a genres development.