Wednesday 21st September
Scene Analysis: Stranger Things
In class we analysed the opening scene from Stranger Things. We looked at the Meise-en-scène this is everything you see on the screen, the types of mise-en-scène within the opening scene are:
- Costume – The scientist is where a scientists uniform, and everyone else you see, the kids, the sister, the mum and dad are where normal cloths you would wear in the 80’s.
- Music – Soundtrack 80’s this is to birng nostelga to the views.
- Lighting – At the start in the lab the lighting is very dark with the flickering lights to suggest that something bad is about to happen, it then cuts to the boys playing a game inside which is a much brighter scene to put the viewers at ease, then when Dustin and Will cycle away it’s all dark because they are outside, the link with darkness and bad things happens again when Will sees the monster. (INT – Interior (insidee) EXT, Exterior (outside)
- Actors – The characters you see in the first scene are: The scientist (middle aged man), Dustin, Will, Mike, Lucas (all male children) Nancy (teenage girl) Karen (middle aged woman) and Ted (middle aged male) – Audience who does it apeal to? teenagers and adults
- Make Up – There isn’t any visible make up on the characters part from the scientist who is very sweaty due to him running away from the monster.
- Props – Bikes, Board Game, Gun and Bullets, Pizza.
- Setting – Scientific lab, a house with a basement and a hut.
Cinematography is a big part of production, this is all the different types of shots used to film the production. Here are the shots used in the the scene I have chosen:
- Panning – When the scientist is running through the lab, when Will is running through the house into the hut, slow pan when it starts looking at the stars down to the lab and slow pan inside the lab.
- Over the Shoulder – When the boys are playing their game and their talking to each other and when Mike is talking to his mum.
- M/S – When the monster is in the middle of the road, Will is riding his bike and when Will is going through the house.
- C/U – Lab door, Scientist when he’s outside the elevator, sprinkler, when the boys are playing their game, when Will is looking out the window to see if the monster is there, when Will picks up the phone, the door window when you see a figure of the monster, the door lock slide, Will loading the gun and a close up of Will’s face with the gun to show he’s terrified.
- L/S – Seeing the lab for the first time, when you see the outside of Mike’s house, when Mike is talking to his dad, the boys when there outside about to leave, when the monster is outside the window in the distance.
- L/A – Mum on the stairs to show she has power over Mike.
As well as the footage for a project, sound is just as important. Here are all the sound you can hear within the scene, I can see and hear where foli sounds has been added on top of the visual. There are two types of sounds digetic or non-digetic. Digetic is sound that is natural sound and non-digetic is sounds that someone will create to make a certain sound.
- Crickets
- Door bursting open
- Sirens going off
- Wind howling
- Synth music in the background
- Rapidly pressing there button to the elevator
- Dog barking
- Foot steps
- Monster growing
- Lift bell
- Heavy breathing
- Sprinkler
- Talking
- When Mike slams on the table
- Sound effect as Mike puts the demogorgon down
- Mum doing the dishes
- Dad hitting the TV
- Boys turning the lights on their bikes
- Lights flickering outside
- Sound effect as Will sees the monster
- Will falling into leaves
- Will picking up the phone and dialling numbers
- The door lock screeching
- Bullets rattling
- Gun being loaded
- Big static sound as the light bulb glows
The transitions between each frame within this scene are just cutting into one another there isn’t any fades or any other transition, when Dustin, Lucas and Will shout at each other on what move Will should do the camera cut to a different character every time they shout something, this is known as cutting it the beat.
Director
The director of Stranger Things are two brothers, Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer. The Biggest production they’ve produced is Stranger Things but they have released two other productions. The two other productions where a post apocalyptic horror movie called Hidden and they produced a FOX TV show called Wayward Pines. The films/programmes which Matt has been involved in are:
- Stranger Things
- Hidden
- Wayward Pines
- Vessel
- Road To Moloch
- Abraham’s Boy
- Eater
- We All Fall Down
The visual style of the Duffer Brothers go for, are using refrences within other films to use to make the production more intresting to watch. examples of these are within Stangers Things as its set in the 80’s they used movies set in the 80’s to bring nostelga to the viewers. Directors such as Steven Speilberg, Stephan King and John Carpenter influence the Duffer Brothers. Both twin brothers were born in 1984 and grew up in North Carolina and began making films in third grade. they both moved to California to study at Chapmen University
The programme has been given a lot of good reviews from the critics and members of the public, but has yet not won an award but the cast came to this year emmys. Within the reveiws critics have said that season 1 of Stranger Things is exciting, heartbreaking, and sometimes scary. They have also said that it captivates a generation. You can read the whole interview here: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/stranger_things/s01/
The programme has been given a certificate rating of a 15, this is beacuse the programme contains strong threat, violence and horror. Within the scene we watched I would say it would be a 12 due to moderate language and horror. As this programme is rated a 15 so this would be shown from 9pm onwards. This is called ‘water shed’ this means that there has to be a certain time where something has to be shown, it’s useally 9pm onwards as most children are in bed by then. A company called ‘Ofcom’ have a part in this as they make the certificating legal and they promise that people who watch TV, listen to the radio are protected by harmful or offensive material. Ofcom give the production the yes or no depending on any harmful material such as, swearing, violence and any offencive content.
Scene Analysis: Breaking Bad
The programme I have chosen to analyse is a scene from Breaking Bad. This Scene is about the death of Gustavo Fring. This scene has a lot of Mise-en-scène, which is everything you see on the screen. The types of mise-en-scene are:
- Costume – Gustavo is wearing a suit which shows he has power as no one else is wearing one. Hector is just wearing everyday casual clothes. The extra person who is Gustavo’s helper is dressed up smart wearing a leather jacket. At the end of the scene when the nurses come along to see what has happened they are dressed in the uniform they need to wear.
- Lighting – The lighting within the scene is bright as it’s in day.
- Actors – The actors are all male within this scene.
- Make Up – The make up when the characters are talking to each other isn’t very visible, but at the end of the scene when the bomb goes off the make up is very realistic as they needed to create a bomb wound.
- Setting – The location of this scene is at a hospital. USA, Cars, look of buildings.
Cinematography is a big part of production, this is all the different types of shots used to film the production. Here are the shots used in the the scene I have chosen:
- M/S – Which shows Gustavo, Hector and the extra.
- Pans around in free hand to give more of an impact.
- Over the shoulder shot as Gustavo is talking to Hector.
- L/A – showing Hector and the extra.
- C/U – shot of the extra’s hands holding the syringe.
- C/U – shot of Gustavo showing his facial expressions.
- C/U – shot of Hector showing his emotions.
- W/A – shot showing everyone in the room.
- C/U – again of Hector.
- L/A shot showing what Hector is doing.
- Pans down to reveal the bomb under Hector.
- M/S – Medium shot showing the explosion from outside the room.
- Slowly zooms in on Gustavo and pans around him to show his blown up face.
As well as the footage for a project, sound is just as important. Here are all the sound you can hear within the scene, I can see and hear where foli sounds has been added on top of the visual.Digetic is sound that is natural sound and non-digetic is sounds that someone will create to make a certain sound.
- Heartbeat and ticking in the background.
- Wheelchair spinning around and foot steps.
- Talking
- A chair being dragged across the floor.
- Heavy breathing
- Hector’s bell ringing.
- Massive explosion.
- Alarms going off.
- Rubble flying across the room.
- People screaming
- Gustavo’s body collapsing.
- All through the scene there is no background sounds which adds a lot of suspense to the scene.
With the editing side of this scene the transitions between each frame are all cutting into each other, they don’t fade into one another. Some editing movements within this scene is the 180 degree rule, this is shown when Gustavo is talking to Hector the camera cuts to there faces on a 180 degree angle.
Director
The director of Breaking Bad is a man called Vince Gilligan, his main breakthrough was when he joined Fox TV and sent a script in for the X-Files and became the co-producer of the show. From this he then created his hit TV drama Breaking Bad in 2008, he created this show with a vision of the hero of the story turns into the villain. Vince was born in 1967 in Richmond Virginia. Originally Vince went to laboratory school but his love for film making came when his friends mum and his mum would lend him their camera to play about with, his younger brother and him would go about making science fiction films.
Vince has been a part of these movies/programmes:
- X – Files – science fiction
- Harsh Realm – science fiction
- The Lone Gunman – science fiction x- files spin off
- A.M.P.E.D – sci-fi
- Breaking Bad – crime drama
- Better Call Saul – crime drama
- Battle Creek – comedy drama
The style which Vince has is he is mainly into science fiction, this is probably as he studied at a science school.
For example this screenshot of a scene from breaking bad is an exteior shot meaning it’s shot outside, the shot is a wide shot so it’s showing everyone in frame. The lighting is quite light but as the time of day is dusk it has a dark element to it. The shots has the sun behind all of the people to cast a shadow to maybe portray fear into the character. All of the characters are mostly wearing suits to show they are more upper class or that they have more power of the two charters. The shot is mainly showing all of the people in the frame but there is a box of the table which is at the front of the shot, this shows that this is a key part of this scene. The Props which you can see in this scene are, a wooden box which is on a glass table, sun loungers, a big umbrella, chairs and pillows. The main colour of this scene would be a light brown due to the peoples costumes and the time of day.
within this screenshot from the program the X-Files it’s an interior shot meaning the shot is inside and the lighting is very dark to maybe show that something is about happen. The shot type is a mid shot as it show the characters from the waist up. Both characters are both wearing smart outfits so that shows that they have a high status within this program. Within this scene you can’t see any props.
Overall Vince is very versatile depending on what the scenario is and what he’s filming.
Breaking Bad had movies which were influenced by other movies which Vince enjoyed and wanted to use them as an inspiration, these are, The Godfather, Seconds, The Public Enemy, Once Upon A Time In The West, Blood Simple, Heat and Bigger Than Life.
The list of awards that Breaking Bad has won:
- Prime time Emmy for outstanding drama
- Prime time Emmy for outstanding lead actor
- Prime time Emmy for outstanding support actor
- Prime time Emmy for outstanding supporting actress
- Prime time Emmy for outstanding writing
- Prime time Emmy for Outstanding editing
- Peabody Award
- Golden Globe best TV series
- Screen Actors award for outstanding performance
- Writers Guild of America Award for dramatic series
- Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by a male actor
- Satellite award for best supporting Actor
- Satellite award for best TV series
- Satellite award for best actor
- TCA award for individual achievement in drama
- TCA award for program of the year
- TCA award for outstanding achievement in drama
- Directors Guild of America award for outstanding Directing
- Saturn award for best syndicated/cable TV series
A company called the ‘BBFC’ decide what certificate the production should be, this depends on the language used, the amount of violence, refrences towards sex and any horror or threat. the ratings go in the order of , U (suitable for all), PG (parental guidence), 12 (have to be 12 years or over to watch in the cinema), 15 (have to be 15 years or over to watch in a cinema), 18 (suitable only for adults) and R18 ( adult works for licenced premises).Breaking Bad has been given a certificate of an 18 due to, frequent hard drug use and refrences, strong bloody violence, injury detail and sex. The Scene I have chosen I would say it’s 15 due to there is no stong language, drug refrences, sex, but there is stong bloody violence and injury detail. As this programme is rated a 15 so this would be shown from 9pm onwards. This is called ‘water shed’ this means that there has to be a certain time where something has to be shown, it’s useally 9pm onwards as most children are in bed by then. A company called ‘Ofcom’ have a part in this as they make the certificating legal and they promise that people who watch TV, listen to the radio are protected by harmful or offensive material. Ofcom give the production the yes or no depending on any harmful material such as, swearing, violence and any offencive content.
Tuesday 27th September
Our Recreation: Shaun of The Dead
Task:
Within this project we got given was to re-create a scene from a famous movie or TV series. The way we started to begin this project was to think as a group what scene would be realistacy possable to do. we listed off our favourite movies/TV series and which ever one standed out we discussed further. the scene we all agreed to do was Shaun of The Dead where Shaun and Ed thrown random objects at the two zombies in their back garden.
Pre-Production:
These are all the peices of pre-production we need for this production these involve:
- Story Boards
- Cast List
- Crew List
- Location Recce
- Location Realese
- Production Scedule
- Contributor Consent Forms
- Risk Assessment
Production:
We decided to do all the filming at my house as its in a garden with a shed and I was the only one who owns a shed. When we planned to do Shaun of The Dead I said that my friend could do the make up as she is currently doing a degree in specal effects make up so she was going to come over later that day. We firast went throgh the scen again to refresh our minds what we’ve got to do, then we filmed all the scenes which don’t invlove the zombies first.
Sounds:
When we were planning the scene we said that we would record the diolgue within the scene and just dub over the sound effects as they would be hard to re-create. when it came down to the filming and recording we ended up not recording any sounds not even the diologue (no idea why), so when we started to edit it we had no diologue, so we re-recorded the diologue from the scene so we can place it in with the speaking parts. If we did record the diologue we would have used the shotgun mic becuse we know its the best for that kind of thing friom past experince.
Filming:
We looked at the Storyboards to see what shots we needed to flim:
m/s-Zombies at the window until shaun (Callum) whistles then the zombies turn around
zooms into a c/u – zombies facing the camera
m/s- Shaun and Ed (Finlay) holding a basket of items to throw at the zombies.
c/u- basket containing the items and Ed and Shaun’s hands going in
c/u – Shuan and Ed saying ‘Aim for the head’
o.t.s free hand- Shaun and Ed throwing items at the zombies
c/u- basket where shaun and ed get more stuff
c/u- Shaun and Ed throwing more items
c/u-zombies being hit by items and some hit their head
c/u basket where Shaun and Ed pick up more items
c/u- girl zombie getting hit on the head by a cup
c/u- basket ball bouncing off the male zombie’s head
m/s- cup smashing by the zombies
c/u- empty basket
c/u- Shaun picking up the basket and throwing it
m/s- the two zombies walking and the baskte going over their heads
m/s side on view- Shaun and Ed talking with the zombies in the background
m/s- inside of the shed
c/u- Shaun’s face whiles he’s in the shed
o.t.s- Shuan and Ed hold up their weapons whilst the zombies are walking towards them.
l/s Shaun and Ed walking towards the camera
c/u- Shaun and Ed switching sides and ready to hit the zombies
c/u- Shuan and Ed raising the weapons ovwer their heads and hiting them
c/u- Shaun and Ed on the sofa, shuan drinking tea lokkining terrified and Ed eating an ice cream as if nothings happend
Camera Shots:
within the scene the majourity of the camera shots were close ups but we did include long shots, over the sholder shots and a side shot.
Lighting:
we didn’t use any extra lighting, this is becuase all of the shots were outside and were lit well, there wqas one shot within the shed which was the darkest of shots but it still was lit well.
Good Things:
The make up was realistic which added to the footage
the shots had good lighting
Bad Things:
we didnt reacord any audio
Our Presenation:
30th september 2016
We as a class did a short analysis of a scene from the movie Taxi Driver. These were the things which we wrote down,
c/u-gun
m/s- showing man, exterior, the shot was a reflection of himself in a mirror
pan across, man talking to himself
c/u- man talking
c/u-chest
c/u-head
we also let Dean watch our video and he gave us feed back and a few things we need to add on or next time we do a production things to work on, these are:
- Title of the scene and what film it’s from
- Record the sound/audio on the scene
- Lighting use polystyrene to reflect the light around the location
- When the characters are hit the zombies with their weapons spray more blood to make it obvious what’s going on.
- Credits
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