Analysing Films - James Bond 'Quantum of Solace'

I have chose to analyse this great james bond action films as its opening scene is everything you could wish for in an action movie. Straight away we start with an establishing shot it shows a nice and peaceful oplace almost in the middle of nowhere. The music at the start builds suspense and tension as we see quick flicking shots of cars and their wheels revealing slightly what we can expect. Showing quick images of fast cars, bullets and guns automatically sets us up for an action movie as they are all recognisable symbols and stereotypical propers you may see in an action movie. The camera is moving fast and feel as if you are takling part in this car cahse as you close down onto it. The tense music then comes to a sudden hault and suddenley we hear the loud noises of teh cars engines, we enter the fast car chase. The quick camera shots make us feel like we are agaiun part of the chase and gives us a sense of rush and an on-edge feeling, something action movies want to try to achieve, making you part of it. The loud sounds of crash and guns being fired over power an action movie trait. We then can decide for ourselves who we think is good and the bad guys with simplesemiotics, the guys at the back are shooting and have black cars are dressed in black and have sunglasses on, this is all usually the stereotypical imagery we associate with bad things or people in films. As for Mr Bond he is in a nice grey car and is not shooting. We get to see the character and actor straight on so we quickly establish his major role in the film as the focus is circulated around him. As we have now discovered all of this the music comes back on and is fast paced and tense as we see the car chase quickly. Cars getting damaged and people getting hurt, fear and adrenline is all part of the act to play up to the genre. The police getting involved is an important image for the genre as they always play a role in an action movie and are always a sign of criminality, and include weaponary.After the chase we get softer and calmer but mysterious music, the settings change to a more quite and homley place and he reveals a man in the boot leaving us on edge. The title sequence is very gadget and inspector like, playing a spy themed music and using computer imagery we know it is going to be an action film.

Prilimenary Excerise

This is a video of our priliminary excercise, this consists of basic storyline, we were told it should be someone wlaking into a room talking and then leaving. It was to practice and analyse our camera skills and what we could improve and develop when it comes to our actual production. We used many different camera angles and different shots, for example; match on action, establishing, close ups, panning shot and over the shoulder shots. We feel we did a good piece and will help us when we go to film. we uploaded this to youtube to recieve feedback and constructive critiscm from the public.

Analysing Films - Paranormal Activity

I have decided to analyse a very successful horror movie Paranormal Activity.
The camera angles and the idea of the self filming puts a great eerie, unexpected feel on the viewer. You dont quite feel safe as it feels like you're actually there behind the camera experiencing it. This constantly puts you on edge addign to the horror effect. The lighting is mostly filmed in the dark and that is where all of the scary bits occur. This is because the dark is a connotation for scary, bad or evil etc. Also they have film it in a cinema to show other peoples reactiosn to it and to make you feel as if you are sat there experiencing it with them building up the whole atmosphere. Also it involves nightmares and a bed which is where nightmares occur. Also the sound plays a big part of setting the genre  because of its fast paced loud deep bangs and beats makes it very scary and anticipating.

Analysing Films - The Godfather

 The genre I am analysing is Crime/Drama, a classic example for this is 'The Godfather'. The genre is given away by the codes and conventions in the opening scene of this film, because of many techniques used. The dark lighting of the room with the dim lighting revealing his disgusted face gives a sinister effect which makes it seem rather mysterious and eerie. They then talk about the police and it seems very suspicious to the viewer which gives away the genre of crime and drama. The techinical caterogry in the codesand conventions used are theclose ups on teh godfathers fast to show is the most important character and a powerful one. The symbolic methods used are the costumes used such as the godfathers tuxido, as he is the only one wearing a tuxido you can tell he is the important character and shwos his wealth and power. The colours that are used are very dull and only have light on the charcaters faces so you recognise them and see what they look like and establish which ones are the important ones. When its dark and dull, it allows the viewer to think there is something bad happening and its a connotation for bad and unhappy. This gives you the idea some sort of criminal act is taking place as that is usually linked with bad things. The low key lighting provides anxiety in the atmosphere for tension. This keeps the audience on edge and expecting soemthing. Another method is written, this is how they talk, teh man who speaks first who is visitng the Godfather seems to be quite angry and worked up and nervous like when speaking as he seems to speaking to someone in charge. The godfather seems quite suttle and calm but a mysterious voice.

Codes and Conventions of a film opening

In movie openings you will always have the
production logos and distribution logos
Of the main companies that work on the
movie. Depending on the budget of the film/hype created for the film these logos will be edited in a form related to the movie, such as in 300 the Warner Bros logo is made to look like a shield and is worn away and dirty. This is to reflect the story line of the
film.

The first 2 minutes of a film are very crucial part of the film, and although an audiance may not realise, it is where they find out alot about the plot and the characters. If the first two mintues are not too good quality, and do not ever signify characteristics or give off narative enigmas then they have failed to do what they have set out to do.

At the start of every film there is a title sequence this will tell you the key information about who produced and directed the film and the main star actors in the film and so on. Generally the opening shot of a film will be either an establishing shot or a blank screen with titles on. These titles can also be a way of building up suspense to teh audience or giving away a type of genre. Depending  on how the film starts at this bit you get a strong feeling of what type of genre the film is going to be by the light, the colours used and the music played in the background. For example if it is very darka nd there is slow mysterious music in the background with red colours used you get the slight impression it may be a horror type of film. Some films may use the entrance and opening to introduce main characters and star acttors so you recognise them befor ethe film begins,  this intises the viewer and gets them interested on learning more about these characters. Also this helps you to establish each stereo type in the film for example; 'the arrogant male', 'the busty blonde'.

Codes and Conventions

Codes and Conventions are techniques used by someone creating a video, song or a written piece.They are used to show someone exactly what you are trying to put across, and get them thinking hgow you want it to be shown.
The codes and conventions in media can be separated into 3 distinct groups -
- Technical (camera techniques & shots),
- Symbolic (ie clothing, colours)
- Written and audio (music etc).
These give the text meaning and determine the response of the viewer. They can be used as a basis for simple text analysis. So in order to compose any work related to media you should condier these carefully.

The video to the right explains the examples of action/thriller and horror in terms of its codes and conventions.

Continuity

In fiction, continuity (also called time-scheme) is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer over some period of time. It is of relevance to several media. Contuinuity is where you show whats happened over a period of time but you only show the bits in which the viewer needs to see to make sense to them but not the whole entire clip. Also its how things run smoothly so everything seems to be the same. This video is a great and simple example of continuity, we see her doing things in an order and a sequence which will make sense to us even though they cut out some bits in between by not jumping to far ahead with the next shot we can then assume and understand what is happening and what happened.