Juno Opening Scene

By producing this video, I learnt a lot more about Adobe Premiere and how to film with a handheld camera. I learnt how to use more transitions and effects. I really enjoyed filming and editing our Juno opening. By using premiere I found out some useful effects. I found out how to make the picture have a cartoon look and how to dissolve an image over the top of another. The things that went well when we were editing were the transitions across from one clip to another and also we could get the timings correct. There was a few improvements to be made. We need to over shoot a little more so we have more footage to edit and also we could have used something to put the camera on as in some points it was a little shaky.

Learning to use Adobe Premiere

 

Here is my music video that I made on Premiere to learn how to use the software and how to export and upload to YouTube. We were given the task to make a music video with some videos and soundtracks already given to us.

Presentation of Young Women

Here I will be looking at Barthes theory. His theory was that some pictures are 'romanticised'. This means that things are seen a lot nicer, prettier, and more romantic than they actually are. In the opening to Legally blonde everything is pink and girly. This shows the genre of the film straight away and shows that it will probably be about a girl trying to get a boyfriend. It also shows that the film might be romantic. Nothing seems to be going wrong in the video so this is also romanticised as everything is going perfectly.

Hall's Theory of Oppositional Readings

Here I have chosen the film poster of iRobot. Hall's theory of oppositional ready was that when you look at a poster sometimes it cannot be very clear what the film is actually about. In class we looked at the movie poster of Platoon and we saw that he could be celebrating a victory of a war where as the poster is actually set in the middle of the war and he had been shot in the back. The movie poster of iRobot you see Will Smith in the foreground with an army of robots in the background. Usually this would represent Will Smith to be the leader of the robots when actually he has to destoy them before they take over the world.

My Logo for my Film Company

Here I have created a logo for my film company for my coursework. I chose a black background and blue text as the two colours look good together and you can read the text clearly. I got the image off of Google images and put text over the top in fireworks. I like how the tiger is made up of lights and it is not just a standard picture. I chose a tiger as they are a competitor to lions. I would want my film industry to compete with Metro Goldwyn Mayer and make more than them.

Institutions PowerPoint

Here I have made a powerpoint about institutions. I have compared Paramount to Sony Pictures. I looked at a high budget film that made a good profit at the box office and a low budget film that also made a good profit at box office. I have chosen Quantum of Solace for my high budget film and i have chosen Paranormal Activity as a low budget film.

Narrative Question

1. Identify the key actions within the opening - what kinds of actions are included and how is the narrative moved forward?

The main actions within the opening on James Bond Quantum of Solace is a car chase in Italy. There are guns and ramming in the cars. The chase then moves into a building sites with lots of hazards. The chase comes on instantly which gives you no idea why its happening. The cars separate and James Bond shoots the driver and the car falls off the edge of a cliff.

2. Identify the enigma codes within the opening - what kinds of questions are posed and how is the audience meant to read these codes?

The questions i asked myself during the film opening were:
Why is James being chased?
Who are the people chasing him?
What do they want from him?
Why is James running away?
Who is the man in the boot of the car?

3. Identify key characters and think about what they represent in the opening

The key characters in the opening of Quantum of Solace are:
James Bond
The Police in the Car
The Gunman
The man in the boot of the car

4. Interpret the cultural codes in the opening. What kind of knowledge is being drawn on? social/historical/political/art and culture etc. Highlight the 3 most important references in the opening that help with audience understanding.

James Bond is based in more than one country. It tends to be classy and posh. He rides a Aston Martin which is an expensive car and he just crashes it and rams it into other cars and buildings. The audience wonder why the two cars are chasing and driving recklessly around Italy. As the opening sequence starts you see a man in the boot of James car which makes you assume thats why they were chasing James.

5. Identify key themes and analyse how they are presented visually/technically.

The film starts with an action car chase with guns which shows that the film is going to be action packed. The film is also tense as you do not know what will happen in the chase. The way the camera moves influences the speed of the cars and the danger that could happen if one move goes wrong. This brings fear to us as we don't want James to die.

Photo Analysis

In class we were set a task to go out and take four photos that would capture and image and relate to a genre and a target audience. We chose bits of paper out of a cup and we pulled out the genre horror and we needed to make it for a cinema loving audience. We went out into the playground and took photos which related to the genre and the target audience. Out of the four photos we took we decided that this photo best describes the horror genre. The picture shows a man being pinned up to a fence by an attacker with a knife to his throat. His right hand is gripping on to the fence with fear but his left hand is trying to release the pressure from the attacker. The photo shows suspense and leaves the audience intrigued as you cannot see the attackers face which makes the audience have questions rolling over in their head like, 'who is he?' and 'why is he being attacked?'. By looking at the facial expressions of the victim you can see the fear in his face as he is being pressed up against the metal fence. His eyes and closed tightly which gives the feeling that he is scared.

Grown Ups Poster Analysis

Here is my poster analysis of my favourite film Grown Ups. This is a comedy staring Adam Sandler and Kevin James. The film is about five friends who reunite at their old basketball teams coaches funeral. They decide to go on a weekend holiday away with their family's. The film poster shows the five characters going down a water slide. The main colour in the poster is blue. The sky is clear and bight which shows that its going to be sunny and not dark and gloomy horror film. The characters are going down a water slide which represents a happy and fun film. The slogan and the bottom of the poster says 'Boys will be boys... some longer than others.' This represents that the characters are acting like children and they just want to have fun. The font size is big and bold which would contrast with a film about adults for an adult target audience. The five characters are laughing and screaming as they go down the flume which implies that you will laugh with them throughout the film.

One Week to Live

This is the PowerPoint I used to pitch my film idea. We were given a genre and a target audience. We were told to make a thriller film specifically aimed at women. We found this a very hard target audience to pitch to as it was hard to relate our film to a girls situation. When we pitched our film to the class we were scored on different areas for our pitch. We were marked on how good the title of our film was, was the cast appropriate, was interest created, will our film attract customers, does our film fit the genre, is our film different, was there good ideas for advertising and the final question was would you buy the film rights? I received ten feedback sheets with scores on them. The first question received good scores. People said our title sounded good and fitted the genre. We received average scores between 7-9 out of ten. Our cast had mixed reviews. Although our scores were fairly high some people thought that Jennifer Anniston did not fit the genre as it would be her first thriller. Our average score for the cast was 7. The next question was about enigma codes. A number of people said it was good as it drew you in and the disaster happened early on which was good where as others who scored poorly did not have any comments. The forth question asked if you think that the film would attract the target audience. Just over half of the results said that it would attract people to watch but others said that women may not like thrillers which is down to personal preference. The fifth question asked if our film fitted the genre. 90% of the people said that I did but one person said that it did not seem very 'thrillerish'. We scored around 7-9 on this. We also had one 10 and a 4. The next question asked if our film was different to any other films and most people replied with yes as there is no thrillers aimed at specifically women. The penultimate question asked if our marketing ideas were good enough. Everyone said that it was good as it fitted well with the target audience and most people would see it advertised. The last question asked if they would buy the film rights to our film. 80% of the classed said they would buy the rights to make our film. Overall I think our film looks very successful. It has a few ways that it could be improved but I am happy with the results I have received.

Indiana Jones Raiders Of The Lost Ark Opening

The beginning of this film is set in 1936 in an underground temple where Indiana Jones attempts to steal the golden object with a partner. He attempts to swap the golden object for a bag of sand which he hopes weighs the same amount. Unfortunately the bag of sand was not the same and released a giant bolder rolling towards Indiana and his accomplice. Although the companion is killed by one of the traps, Indiana makes it out of the temple alive and with the golden object. The main theme of this film is adventure but it could also be classed as an action film. Just by looking at the freeze frame you can see the reflection off of the golden object which draws your eyes into the middle to of the screen. You can also see the bag of sand he is holding in his hand which he uses to replace the golden object with. His hat is also a very significant item as it is a semiotic as when you see the picture of it you automatically think of Indiana Jones. The story is told with an action packed tone. When he pulls the bag out and swaps the objects he has a smug look on his face and he moves his hat on his head and walks away looking cocky but the bag of sand was not correct. He then has to run through firing arrows and at the end of each test he thinks hes out of the temple. There is also a betrail when his friends takes the golden object and runs off with it. Then when he beleives he's over the worst a huge boulder comes running after him and chases him out of the cave. This film is set for young adults onwards. It can be for either gender. The camera angles tend to be really close as the temple is really small and tight and it feels like the walls are closing in on the characters. The music is loud and sounds like its building up to something. It builds up tension and in your mind you are screaming for him to run faster and to make it out alive.