Thursday, November 14, 2019

TITLES Scream main titles

SOUNDS: 

  • Female screaming
  • A heart beating at fast pace and speeding up
  • Phone ringing
  • Gun shot
  • Wolf howling 
  • Screeching violin (strings (Psycho))
  • Knife slashing 
  • Audio bridging
IDENT:
  • Blue tint which intertexualizes the Halloween opening which the whole film heavily intertextualizes.

THEORY post modern deconstructionism intertextuality and simulacra






POSTMODERNISM
Postmodernism argues that all the 'isms', eg capitalism, communism, are now meaningless / the meta-narratives no longer have the power to explain the world or reality. It is of course self- contradictory: postmodernism is an 'ism'!
Strinati argues there is a collapse in the high/popular culture divide - all are now equally valid.
Such notations lead to playfulness.

DECONSTRUCTIONISM
The ironic use of existing conventions in a knowing way, the audience is assumed to be in on the irony EG in Scream the Matthew Lillard character cries out dramatically "I'll be right back". an old horror trope being that this denotes a character will be killed. The other teens at the party respond with that in mind, in a scene where they are sat watching Halloween.Craven is poking fun at the very genre that he helped to create with 1972's The Last House on the Left.

 

This occurs across all media - this Depeche Mode video is a classic example, deconstructing the band's poor, tawdry image and the male gaze.





INTERTEXTUALITY
A simple but profound concept originating with Kristeva - the preferred reading (Stuart Hall!) of two texts are linked; the viewer needs knowledge of the earlier text to be able to follow the preferred reading of the newer text. TV shows like The Simpsons are built on this, and there is a strong vein of this running through the slasher genre to help generate cheap publicity for his 1978 proto-slasher Halloween, director John In Scream, the characters are watching Halloween.

SIMULACRA
Scary Movie exemplifies the ideas above - it takes intertextuality to a new level: Scream had the working title of Scary Movie, and this film is a satirical remake, quite literally signposting the conventions (eg the Carmen Electra scream queen sees a sign giving the options of either death or safety... and runs up the stairs where the death sign points to, as the dumb scream queens tend to).
These movies have been much analysed, not least for gender representations. Baudrillard might argue that this leads nowhere as there is no ultimate meaning behind an endless sea of signifiers; Scary Movie is an expression of many existing ideas or signifiers, which cannot be tracked back to any concrete 'true reality' or meaning.
Ideas like encourage playfulness as seen in these two films.








Monday, October 21, 2019

FILM OPENING EG Pretty in Pink

1. One company ident at the beginning.
2. We have to look very carefully at titles and a range of examples.


Titles in order

PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESENTS
Sans serif font denotes a serious genre and perhaps social realist, a polysemic title.

A JOHN HUGHES PRODUCTION
Auteur theory. We would expect to see 'A JOHN HUGHES FILM' instead of 'A JOHN HUGHES PRODUCTION'. So this is unusual.

Narrative enigma in opening scene where main character isn't shown. Some degree of context is placed as overgrowth is shown, poor housing is shown as well as poorly maintained street and old, rusty cars.

Narrative theme on 'born from the wrong side of the tracks' meaning that you are from the wrong area.





Friday, October 18, 2019

WARP VS WORKING TITLE CROSSWORD






  1. 2. An unexpected hit in the UK, making back its budget, this Warp ‘jihadi comedy’ was too controversial for the US and made just $300k there.
  2. 5. Typical white, middle-class, southern English characters in this biopic/romantic drama, with a smart release strategy seeing it open on New Year’s Day, and picking up Oscar nominations.
  3. 6. Proving digitization has made very low budget production possible, this £48k Warp X production is part-named after director Martin Scorsese
  4. 8. Distributed by Rogue Pictures in the US, this is a triple hybrid: a zom-rom-com successfully appealing to male and female audiences
  5. 10. Making use of its IP (intellectual property) or franchise and an A-list cast, this film made x11 its budget, and the OST (soundtrack) also sold well.
  6. 12. Warp’s Welsh romcom had no stars and limited US appeal, making $0.5m there; the accent made it a hard sell
  7. 13. A star vehicle for Matt Damon, this is Working Title’s 1st tentpole production, with a $100m budget
  8. 14. A mid-budget $15m Working Title film that made just $2m in the US, reflecting its working class characters and real life gangsters not well known beyond the UK, reversing the Gant Rule!


  1. 1. Working Title’s 2nd huge romcom hit cast the biggest female star on the planet, an American, back when Polygram was still its distributor
  2. 3. The Gant Rule argues that a US hit will take x10 the UK box office, but this 2nd romcom franchise sequel took just half the UK total despite the US lead
  3. 4. Yann …, director of ’71, a Warp action thriller that might have had more box office success if it wasn’t set in Northern Ireland; UK and international audiences are more used to the southern English, middle class accent
  4. 7. Proving that even Indies seek franchises where possible, this 2006 Warp film has now had 3 sequel TV series
  5. 9. featuring the leads of the ‘Cornetto trilogy’ (Shaun… etc) but adding a US A-lister, this sci-fi/comedy hybrid had limited success
  6. 11. A typically non-commercial (unlikely to make money!) Warp X film, this is about an illegal Asian immigrant in Britain!

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Semiotics Rap

Semiotics are the words we use
To describe the techniques (pronounced use)
Binary Opposition is what we use to show the differences between characters
Protagonists are the main ones of those, who we focus on, they’re not anarchists



The further we go down the spectrum

there’s things that you wouldn’t expect hmm
We got Narrative Enigma to create mystery
You almost always see it on your t.v.

Convergence, a quite important thing
It’s where the lines of media blur
Subliminal messaging
Used in a lot of texts to get a point across

There’s the connotations, that we see
That make it easier to understand
The type of things that are on screen
The things we see that’s what they be

I can’t read, but that’s preferred,
It’s oppositional to me, cuz it’s for nerds
Binary opposites, they’re people on screen
They’re not at all the same which is quite interesting

To follow Stuart Halls preferred reading,
Common cultural knowledge is what we’re needing,
90 years old really don’t relate,
To all the kids who seem to congregate
A couple of kids might not like Notting Hill,
To other kids though, might appeal Kill Bill.
A 50-year-old might not like Paul,

But that’s because it’s not made for them at all.

Friday, October 11, 2019

SEMIOTICS applied to Warp Film posters

DEAD MAN'S SHOES


Image result for dead mans shoes poster
  • The silhouette of the man is a signifier and it signifies a theme of mystery and darkness. This is anchored by the written reviews on the poster.
  • The axe being held by the silhouette of the man is a denotation, this connotes the perhaps evil intentions of the man. This is anchored by the use of the colours red and black which can connote a horror-like atmosphere.
  • The low angle signifies a dangerous character. Names are smaller than the reviews.








TYRANNOSAUR




  • Rule of thirds, centrally framed connoting this man as the protagonist.
  • Wrinkles, older man older audience. And serif font signifies drama genre.
  • High key lighting on only one side- reflects his two different personalities.
  • 'A film by Paddy Considine' denotes auteur theory.
  • High angle - surprising for antagonist. He is contemplating and seems filled with regret according to facial expression.






THIS IS ENGLAND

Related image

  • This is England immediately signifies that its is a social realist production based on and in England. This is anchored by the title being comprised of colours of the union jack.
  • Two buildings are in frame on either side, signifying working class characters. This is then anchored by costume and urban decay such as that on the fence.
  • 'A film by Shane Meadows denotes the auteur film theory.
  • The film is based in the 1980's but there is nothing to obviously signify it, so it is polysemic.

  • Wide long shot denotes ensemble cast, not a star vehicle and it also signifies a community.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

SEMIOTICS applied to Working Title posters

LEGEND



    Image result for LEGEND movie poster
  • In the poster for LEGEND a signifier is the black and white behind each character. The black signifies a villainous character whereas the white signifies a more heroic character. 



  • There is use of Binary Opposition in the poster, however the 'heroic' character is slightly passing the line between the two which signifies an anti-hero element to his character. 



  • The weapon is being held in the black side which is a denotation and would connote that the heroic character does something villainous with the gun.
Legend on IMDb




BRIDGET JONES'S BABY

    Image result for bridget jones baby movie poster
  • In the poster for BRIDGET JONES'S BABY, the signifier is that there are two male characters looking a single female character which signifies a love triangle. 



  • We can denote the female being in the middle which connotes that she is the main character, according to the rule of thirds.



  • We can also denote the appearance of the males on each side, one having a stubble which can connote a more villainous person whereas the male on the left is clean shaven, which connotes a nicer character, more innocent character.
BRIDGET JONES'S BABY on IMDb





SHAUN OF THE DEAD

Image result for shaun of the dead movie poster

  • In the poster for SHAUN OF THE DEAD, a signifier is the flowers and cricket bat which are being held by the centre character (rule of thirds), this signifies the genre of the movie which is a zombie romcom.

  • We can denote the male holding the flowers and there being a female by his side which connotes and anchors a theme of romance in the zombie film.

  • The 'com' is anchored by the use of bizarre weapons that do not seem to be an effective way of battling hordes of zombies. These consist of a cricket bat, a shovel, a chain and flowers.













Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Prelim PRACTICE1

FINAL CUT
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INSTALLING AND USING FONTS
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To download fonts you need to do the following:

  • Find a website where there are fonts available for download.
  • Select a font.
  • Click download and make sure that the file it a True Type Font (ttf).
  • Double click on the file and click 'install font'.
  • Make sure Final Cut Pro is closed when doing this otherwise you will have to restart FCP.
  • Open Final Cut Pro.
  • Select a title and drag it in.
  • Finally, select the font that you have downloaded.
ADDING SOUND EFFECTS
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To add sound effects you need to:

  • Find a sound on YouTube.
  • Copy the URL of the video.
  • Use a website to convert the video to MP3.
  • Now, import the sound to Final Cut Pro and use it.
USING GREEN SCREEN
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To put a green screen video into your project:

  • First, find a green screen video that you wish to use on Youtube (or you can film something of your own using a green screen available to you.)
  • Copy the URL of the video.
  • Download the video.
  • Import the downloaded video to Final Cut Pro.
  • Drag 'Effect Keyer' onto green screen clip.
VOICE RECORDING
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To input your own voice recording within Final Cut Pro:

  • Navigate to the top of your screen and click window.
  • Click record voice over.
  • And place the voice recording where you want it.


Friday, September 13, 2019

THEORY The auteur theory


  • The auteur theory is a movie theory that has a distinctive style (such as Quentin Tarantino)
  • They tackle social issues
  • All credit for the film goes to the director and not the editor, writer etc.
RICHARD CURTIS A COUNTER EXAMPLE?


Richard Curtis has a distinctive style, although he does not appear to be tackling social issues such as racism, poverty, equality etc. but he also arguably hides these social issues. This means that he cannot be considered an auteur. He mainly works within rom-com which can be used as an argument against him being an auteur. 
The genre of rom-com are usually viewed and critiqued as trashy and he does not receive critique in the vast majority of his films. With the exception of Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).

Filmography




SHANE MEADOWS


  • Easily fits the auteur definition
  • Two film examples are Dead Mans Shoes and This Is England which both have a working-class protagonist
  • He tackles social issues 
  • Warp minimal box office
  • Low budget
  • Genre of social realism
  • Hybrid (mixing two or more genres)(dead mans shoes is psychological thriller and social realism)