Representation of Sexuality

In class we looked at the clip above from the British TV show Torchwood and was asked to analyse the clip. Just from look at the first clip there is allot you can deconstruct, without thinking about sound or editing.

Starting off there is intertextuality to "Silence of the Lambs" with the glass wall, which for movie fans is a sort of Easter egg in the fact that if you don't watch movies it will seem as a coincidence.
This shot is a medium close up which is unusual for the opening because in movies they use extreme long shots to clearly identify the location and sometimes the time period. This medium close up creates a narrative enigma because the audience don't know where she is. They slightly follow the stereotype of a woman in the facts that she has long hair, and some make up. If this was a full stereotype she would be blond with red lip stick and have heavy make-up, but it doesn't challenge any conventions so it's not counter hegemonic, instead its normative because we assume that this is what a girl should look like (with long hair and make-up) because that's what the media has told us.

As the clip continuous you see that she is the central protagonist, this is anchored by the shot reverse shot flowing the 180 degree rule. Even though the action is happening in the cell the camera focuses on the protagonist so the audience can see what the protagonist is feeling. As the shot goes on it uses continuity editing to have a smooth feel to it.

When the victim is on the floor they use a countertype because it's a female that helps her in need to a handsome man. A "male gaze" is connoted as the girls start kissing, when this happens the non-diegetic music starts playing this clearly signifies a relationship. Then it cuts to a typical male stereotype in a chair watching. The stereotype is anchored by his body language.

They also use a false scare when she leans in to one of the cells, the non-diegetic and diegetic sound goes quite so when the monster screams it startles the audience, the editing pace also increases slightly to get more action and engage the audience.

Ident #2 2 (Construction)

This is a screen shot of what the finished final edit looked like on Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2014. In the bottom left you can see the footage I filmed using the green screen as well as the non-diegetic sound, the background I used and the title text. The effect I used for the first time were Ultra Key and Eight-Point Garbage Matte.

To the left you see a zoomed in version of what the Ultra Key and Eight-Point Garbage Matte.
The Ultra Key is the effect used when changing the green screen to a solid colour or an image. The E-PGM is used to "clean up" green screen if the green screen is moving. It works by removing the parts where there is a green screen and placing them with the image the green screen is using. I used it because when the wind blow  the green screen moved and some parts turned darker in the editing software. After using the green screen I have expanded my practical media knowledge and for the first time I am very happy with the out come.

Opening title sequence draft #1

This title sequence is very close to my final idea. The thing I need to change for my final one is the font and maybe color of the titles. I used allot of different sound to make it feel real and professional, I got most the non-diegetic sounds from different sources but the crunching snow I recorded my self. I did not add a filter this time as I would like to get feed back and know what I need to change, as well as change the titles/fonts to one I like and will use for my final cut.

Opening 10 (my genre) Resident Evil

Information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120804/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWUT4CXWcwQ

Ratings: 6.7/10 IMDB 33% Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/resident_evil/

Release Date: 15 March 2002 (USA)

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Horror

Age Rating: R

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Writers: Paul W.S. Anderson

Stars: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Ryan McCluskey

Budget: $33,000,000

Gross: $102,441,078

Synopsis: A special military unit fights a powerful, out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of scientists who have mutated into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident.

Opening Length: 1:15

Idents:

Screen Gems – Normal

Text: In order

SCREEN GEMS PRESENT – White text, black background, Left and centred.

CONSTANTIN FILM PRESENT – White text, black background, Centred and centred.

DAVIS FILMS PRESENT – White text, black background, Right and centred.

RESIDENT EVIL – Futuristic font, grey text, Red background., Fades away to black screen.

Sound:

After the Ident mysterious sounding music starts playing. After the First text the intro starts with a lot of sci-fi sounds as text pops up on the screen, the text is read through a VO telling the narrative of the movie. The mysterious music keeps playing until the title comes up then the music changes to more sci-fi. All the sounds used are non-diegetic.

Editing:

The text fades in and out in the start, the text used in the VO sequence looks like its being typed to fit with the sci-fi looking background and Fantasy genre.

Opening 6 (my genre) World War Z

World War Z

Information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EC7P5WdUko

Rotten Tomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/world-war-z/
Rating: 7/10 IMDB 67% Rotten Tomatoes

Behind the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2w29aHYueM

Release Date: 21 June 2013

Genre: Action, Adventure, Horror

Age Rating: PG-13

Director: Marc Forster

Writers: Matthew Micheal Carnahan, Drew Goddard, Damon Lindelof, J.Micheal Stracynski

Stars: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz

Budget: $190,000,000

Gross: $540,007,876

Production Co: Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions, Hemisphere Media Capital, GK Films, Plan B Entertainment, 2DUX2, Apparatus Productions, Latina Pictures

Synopsis: United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to destroy humanity itself.

Length of title sequence: 3:20

Idents:

Paramount – darker than usual, heartbeat sound.

Plan B – Black background white bold font. Heartbeat.

SkyDance – darker than usual, heartbeat.

Hemisphere – heartbeat.

GK films – heartbeat.

Text: In order (all the texts seem to be Tahoma font)

PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND SKYDANCE PRODUCTION PRESENTS – white bold font black background, centered, 3sec

IN ASSOCIATION WITH HEMISPHERE MEDIA CAPITAL AND GK FILMS – white bold font black background, centered, 3sec

A PLAN B ENTERTAINMENT/ 2Dux² PRODUCTION– white bold font, black background, centered, 3sec

A MARC FORSTER FILM - white bold font, black background (left) birds flying (right), to the left, 2sec

BRAD PITT – White bold font, black background (right) quite neighborhood (left), 2sec

MIREILLE ENOS – White bold font, black background (right) nice houses (left) 2sec

DANIELLA KERTESZ – White bold font, black background (left) crowed walking (right) 2sec

JAMES BADGE DALE – white bold font, black background (right) People walking down stairs (left) 2sec

DAVID MORSE – White bold font, black background (left) crowd walking (right) 2sec

FANA MOKOENA DAVID ANDREWS – Whit bold font, black background (left) plain flying (right) 2sec

STERLING JERINS ABIGAIL HARGROVE – White bold font, black background (left) ants (right) 2sec

PETER CAPALDI PIERFRANCESCO FAVINO – White bold font, black background (left) police office (right) 2sec

LUDI BOEKEN GREGORY FITOUSSI – White bold font, black background (left) filled streets (right) 2sec

CASTING BY KATE DOWN – White bold font, black background (left/centered) sea (both sides mostly right) 2sec

VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR SCOTT FARRAR – White bold font, black background (left) waves crashing (right) 2sec

MUSIC BY MARCO BELTRAMI – White bold font, black background (right) Piers morgen (left), 2sec

ADDITIONAL MUSIC BY MATTHEW BELLAMY PERFORMED BY MUSE – White bold font, black background (left) waves (right), 3sec

COSTUME DESIGNER MAYES C. RUBEO – White bold font, black background (left) traffic jam (right) 2sec

EDITED BY ROGER BARTON MATT CHESSE – White bold font, black background (right) full bus (right) 2sec

PRODUCTION DESIGNER NIGEL PHELPS – White bold font, black background (left) socks (right) 2sec

DIECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHUY BEN SERESIN, ASC, BSC – White bold font, black background (top left) people walking (right), 2sec

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS MARC FORSTER BRAD SIMPSON – White bold font, black background (left) people walking (right), 3sec

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS DAVID ELLISON DANA GOLDBERG PAUL SCHWAKE – White bold font, black background (centre) concert crowd (left, right) 3sec

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS GRAHAM KING TIM HEADINGTON – White bold font, black background (left) man talking (right) 3sec

PRODUCED BY BRAD PITT DEDE GARDNER JEREMY KLEINER – White bold font, black background (left) man taking a picture (right) 3sec

PRODUCED BY IAN BRYCE – White bold font, black background (left) crowd walking (right) 2sec

BASED ON THE NOVEL BY MAX BROOKS – White bold font, black background (left) man working (right) 2sec

SCREEN STORY BY MATTHEW MICHEAL CARNAHAN AND J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI – White bold font, black background (right) business man (left) 3sec

SCREENPLAY BY MATTHE MICHEAL CARNAHAN AND DRE GODDARD & DAMON LINDELOF – Whit bold font, Black background (left) rotting beetle (right) 3sec

DIRECTED BY MARC FORSTER – Whit bold font, black background (left) hive of ants (right) 2sec

WORLD WAR Z – Big Bold, transparent text, flashing images in text, Black background, fades to forest

Editing:

There are only cuts used in the title sequence, the pace of editing isn’t too fast except at the very end when you see the world war z title the editing becomes very fast passed so images are flashing on screen. There is a clip in between each text that pops up.

Mise-en-scene:

The clips they use are very smart as it starts of really peacefully and shows peoples everyday life as well as natural life such as animals. As it goes on the clips get more violent such as aggressive animals and talk about the end of the world. There are news clips of politicians talking about how the world is dying. At the end there is a clip of wolves ripping apart another animal.

Sound:

There is a faint sound of a heartbeat as the idents are popping up. When the text first appears you here music start playing. The music is kind of fantasy sci-fi and is something you would expect to hear in a zombie genre like Resident evil. At around 1:43 non-diegetic sound starts with a lot of news/radio reports saying “good Morning”. As the clips go on you hear the weather reports. You can hear a news reporter talk about a virus. There are clips of reality and talk shows in the middle of clips of violent acts like dolphins dying.

Evaluation:

This is a very smart intro as it explains the genre. It starts of very peaceful and rapidly gets more intense as there is talk of the end of the world and images of animals dying. The editing picks up pace as the clips get more intense. The inrto is telling us about how we are destroying the world with CO2 and other world problems. The Text is very dull but is very effective.

Opening 5 Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget Jones’s Diary

Information: Imdb  Box Office Mojo

Trailer: 

Rotten Tomatoes:  Rotten Tomatoes
Behind the Scenes

Release Date: 13 April 2001 (USA)

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Ratings: R

Director: Sharon Maguire

Writers:Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies, Richard Curtis 

Stars: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant

Budget: $25,000,000

Gross: $281,929,795

Production Co: Miramax, Universal Pictures, StudioCanal, Working Title, Little Bird

Synopsis: A British woman is determined to improve herself while she looks for love in a year in which she keeps a personal diary.

Bridget Jones’s Diary is the first Bridget Jones Movie, it came out in 2001 but after its huge success Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason came out in 2004. The movie was just as successful and therefor the 3^rd Bridget Jones film is being made. Bridget Jones’s Baby 

Sound

 The non-diegetic Christmas music starts as the working title screen is up, It continuous on as the voice over starts. Just by listening to the music and hearing what the voice over is saying you can tell the genre. When the mother opens the door a non-diegetic Christmas jingle starts playing, you also hear the first diegetic on screen conversation. As they great the voice over talks about her live, like reading a diary. When she changes clothes the music changes again to a more romantic song, the lyrics are parallel. When she talks to her uncle you can hear in her voice she is uncomfortable. You can hear diegetic off-screen chatter in the background as well as glasses clanging. When the slow motion starts classic romantic music starts playing. The second the slow motion stops the music goes back to normal. When she hears what he says about her the music changes to “All by myself”. The Music starts of as non-diegetic but ends up being diegetic.

Editing

There are mostly only cuts used throughout the hole into. At one point there is a freeze frame that then dissolves to another location and time. There are also some dissolves when she is in her room which indicates the passing of time.

Mise-en-scene

The setting sets the mood straight of with the heavy snow and winter dressed people. This tells the audience straight away that its winter and along with the Christmas sounds. The couples walking in the background gives away the genre which is romance.  The mother is wearing old fashion clothes which is backed up with the old props in the background, and wallpaper, telling the audience she is old fashioned.  You can see on Bridget’s facial expression she doesn’t want to talk to her mother. When she changes clothes you can see by her facial expression and posture she feels uncomfortable. By looking at her she feels uncomfortable around Uncle Geoffrey. When she is around her father she seems much more comfortable as does her father. Her father is holding a bottle of wine as well as smoking; these props indicate that he doesn’t want to be there. The reindeer jumper that he has on is a red flag for Bridget ruining her hopes of liking him. She looks annoyingly at her mother as her mother embarrasses her. When they are alone they both look very uncomfortable, him more than her. When she walks past them after they talk behind her back, you can see she is trying to hold it together as she is very hurt. The snowed over party hat tells the audience that the party is over. When she watches Frasier it tells the audience she is alone and has nothing better to do. As time goes on her ashtray fills up and her wine bottle empties. She is in her Christmas pajamas drinking wine again is a sign of her being alone. She starts dancing and singing for all by myself telling the audience she is drunk, also the fact that she chugs a glass of wine.

Cinematography

The movie starts off with a long to medium shot to establish the time of year, as well as the English taxi tells the audience she is in the UK. There is a tracking shot as she gets out of the car and walks to the house. When the mother opens the door it’s an over the shoulder shot. The next shot is a high canted angle. When the mother is talking to her friend the camera shot is a medium two shot. They use medium to close up shots when they are having a conversation. There is another two shot when her mother looks at what she’s wearing. There is a dolly shot zoom out to show what she is wearing. The camera moves down to a close up of her butt as her “uncle” grabs it. It cuts to a medium close up of her face to see that see feels uncomfortable. There is an over the shoulder as you see her uncle dancing. There is a medium close up of her and her father where the audience sees her facial expression and know she has a good relationship with her father. There is a hand held POV shot as the camera looks at the man. There is a POV dolly shot as the camera in slow motion moves towards the man, then it cuts to a close up of his face. There is another POV as she looks down at his jumper. There is a two medium to close up shot as they uncomfortable talk. There is a freeze frame so the target audience can see her face. There is a wide long shot as she is in the sofa smoking. There is then a POV as she watches Frasier. They us a medium shot as she starts singing so the TA can see her hand movements and tell that she is drunk. The last shot is a wide long shot as she points at the title.

Opening 4 John Wick

John Wick Opening

Information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2911666/

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AUmvWm5ZDQ

Rotten Tomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/john_wick/

Behind the Scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hN-IG4Epk8

Release Date: 24 October 2014 (USA)

Genre: Action Thriller

Rating: R

Director: Chad Stahelski, Devid Leitch

Writers: Derek Kolstad

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Willem Defoe, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen

Budget: $20,000,000

Gross: $78,739,897

Production Co: Thunder Road Pictures, 87Eleven, MJW Films, DefyNite Films, Company Films, Heayi Brothers Media, Poquito Productions, Rocket Science VFX, Unbelievable Entertainment

Synopsis: An ex-hitman comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him.

John Wick is the first John wick movie, it more or less came out of the blue as there wasn’t a lot of marketing for it. It is very well made action movie from my point of view. It made a profit of over $50,000,000 and because of its positive feedback John Wick 2 is in production. The only information so far is that Keanu Reaves will be in it (Info from IMDb)

Opening (Length 2:06Min)

Summit Entertainment Intro

Thunder Road Intro

0:34 Summit Entertainment Presents, in big bold letters and grey colour to fit with the action genre. Non-diegetic helicopter sound

0:37 Thunder Road Pictures Present, same font and colour as Summit entertainment.  Non-Diegetic helicopter sound continue. Radio broadcaster starts talking non-Diegetic.

0:42 87Eleven Productions same font. Non- diegetic Helicopter sound getting louder. Radio broadcaster talking about the weather to be specific “Thunder and rain last night”

0:45 Definite films same font. Non- diegetic helicopter sounds like it fly’s by.

0:52 fade in to an establishing wide shot of a used old warehouse. It is dark and poorly lit, in the background you can see a big city lit up. The Non-diegetic radio broadcaster is still talking about the weather. You can hear a faint car sound.

 0:58 the camera slowly zooms in as a car drives in to shot and crashes. As the car drives into shot you can hear the diegetic car engin as well as the raido broudcast still on. As the car crashes you can hear the metal crunsh and the tiers squick. Non-diegetic soft slow music starts to play.

1:04 – 1:14 the camera cuts to a low angle medium shot of a man falling out of the car. There is a diegetic sound of the car door opening. The camera tilts down to the man falling down to his knees. His face has cuts and bruises. He is wearing a black suit which fits with the black SUV. He grunts when he tries to stand up and you can hear his feet shuffle as he tries to stand up. He is holding his stomach and has a bloody hand. His facial expression tells the audience he is in pain. The Non-Diegetic music gets a bit more intense but is still soft.

1:17 there is a cut to a close up of his hand. His whole left hand is bloody but you can make out that he his wearing a wedding ring. His other hand is holding on to his stomach. The bloody hand backs up the genre which is action, thriller. There is diegetic sound of his suit scraping along the concrete as he struggles trying to stand. There is the faint noise of the non-diegetic radio broadcaster. Talking about what a good day its going to be.

 1:20 It cuts to a long shot of the man falling over. The non-diegetic sound of the radio is still playing, you can her the diegetic sound of him grunting and his suit against the concrete.

1:25 there is another close up of both his hands resting against his stomach. Both his hands are bloody along with his suit. The radio broadcast can not be hear any more.

1:27 It cuts to another close up where you see his face. He is breathing heavily and looks as if he is in pain. You can see the cut he has on his nose and side of his face.

1:29 there is another cut to a close up of him taking out his phone.

1:31 it cuts to a medium shot of him looking down at his phone.

1:33 There is a close up of his phone as he presses play on a video. His iPhone screen is bloody from him pressing play. The video is of a peaceful view of the ocean and a woman. The Diegetic sound of the waves are heard. There is a continuity shot back to his face and the phone. You can hear the woman talking in the video and calling the man John. The Audience now know the injured man is John Wick. The video is peaceful but his phone is bloody and he is dying.

1:49 There is a medium shot of John slowly laying down on the ground. He closes his eyes and sighs. The sound is still playing from the video. He drops his phone and releases his breath, making the audience think he is dying, again linking back to the genre.

2:00 There is a cut to an establishing shot where you can see the crashed car and John lying dead on the floor not to far away from the car. The cars emergence lights are flickering as the camera zooms out the non-diegetic music gets more intense until the cut at 2:06.

There are clear signs that connote John Wick being an action genre. The blood anchors the action genre and the video clip signifies that the movie takes place in America, it does this through the accent. 

Opening 3 Love Actually

Love Actually Opening

Information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314331/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eCb8w8SRAk

Rotten Tomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/love_actually/

Release Date: 14 November 2003 (USA)

Rating: R

Director: Richard Curtis

Writers: Richard Curtis

Stars: Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon, Liam Neeson

Budget: $45,000,000

Gross: $246,942,017

Production Co: Universal Pictures, StudionCanal, Working Title, DNA Films

Synopsis: Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.

The movie starts off with the Universal intro, then studio canal and finally working title.

It fades in to a tracking shot of a woman walking towards a man. There is non-diegetic music that starts to play. The woman is wearing a large backpack indicating she’s been away for a while. When they meet he hugs her and you can see relief in his face as he strokes her hair and kisses her. It is a medium close up and they are the only thing that’s in focus.

It then cuts to the camera zooming in and out to kids running and hugging a woman. It is in slow motion so the audience can see the emotion. The camera stops zooming when the little girls face is in focus. You can see real happiness as the girl smiles when hugging.

There is another cut to two old people hugging and kissing it is also in slow-motion and a medium close up so the audience can see the happiness and relief in the people’s faces.

It cuts again to a mother picking her daughter up and kissing her. The Non-diegetic slow music is still playing. A voice over is heard of a man talking. The VO tells the audience that the footage is from Heathrow airport.

As the voice over and music play the camera cuts again to medium shot of a mother and daughter hugging. It cuts again to more people hugging. As the voice over talks about how love is all around, that love can be mothers and daughters, father and sons, friends, etc. A video of those couples hugging appear.  After a bunch of clips at the Heathrow airport at 1:53 the VO says “Love Actually Is all around” the words come up on screen and the words fade except Love actually. The word love turns red.

The video fades to black and all you see is Love Actually. The non-Diegetic music stops as well as the VO. The words fade as a medium close up of a man is shown dancing to Diegetic of screen music. He then starts singing wet wet wets “Love is all around”. It cuts to a long shot of the chorus singing as well as the man singing. The audience know they are in a studio by looking at the props used. This is when all the music becomes Diegetic.

It cuts again to a long medium shot of the producer, and other people working at the studio. There is a continuity edit of the singer and the producer. When it cuts back to the producer it’s a medium shot and you can see he is disappointed. The continuity shot continuous as they talk about the origin wet wet wet song. Whenever the music is playing you see the actors names pop up with one letter being red witch fits with the Christmas and love genre.

You can see the producers face is filled with joy when the singer sings the write word for the third time. It cuts to the singer signing as the camera slowly moves away from the singer to a long high angle shot of the singer and chorus. The continuity shots continue as the song goes on and everyone is dancing. It the cuts at 4:02. 

The music signifies the genre and the voice over anchors the rom-com genre when he says the name of the movie. The accent anchors where the movie is set, and the airport is an iconic sign of Britain.