UNIT 4- Theory

Genre

Genre is any form or type of communication in any mode with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time.

Generic Conventions- Generic Conventions are the features shown by texts that allow them to be put into a specific genre.

Iconography- Symbolic images in films that have specific meanings attached to them and can be identified by its appearance.

Genre Hybrids- When two genres combine

Narrative

The way the story is told

Linear- The story starts from beginning to the very end.

Non Linear- The story that doesn't follow its the simple path, its starts from the Middle, then goes to the start then the middle and then it finishes.

Single stranded- The story is based and told around 1 person which usually is the Protagonist.

Multi stranded- Where the story is told from many different perspective.

Open Narrative- Where the producer lets you guess what happens at the end.

Closed Narrative- Where the producer tells you the story to the very end.

Realist- The story has potential to occur in real life.

Anti Realist- A story where is it not possible to recreate in real life.

Wasp (no date) IMDb. IMDb.com. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388534/ (Accessed: March 23, 2023).

A film about a poor family, a mother, 1 son and 3 daughters.

Wasp is the realist tale of a young modern woman, mired in poverty, who desperately wants something for herself aside from the oppressive limitatons of being a single-mother of four. Despite the responsibility she bears, when an old crush unexpectedly resurfaces she takes the opportunity to go out on a date, behaving agonizingly irresponsibly. Do not be scared off by its long runtime, it is a short film that is truly phenomenal in story, subject and technique.

Wasp (no date) Le Cinéma Club. Available at: https://www.lecinemaclub.com/archives/wasp/ (Accessed: March 23, 2023).

Analysis of simon ellis' short film - soft (2016) Analysis of Simon Ellis' Short Film - Soft. Available at: http://conordeamertvblog.blogspot.com/2016/09/analysis-of-simon-ellis-short-film-soft.html (Accessed: March 23, 2023).

Soft - Simmon Ellis

A film about a father and son being targeted by a group of teenagers, the son gets beat up, and the father also gets hit when he goes out to get a pint of milk. The father gets followed to his home. The teenagers see where he lives and he and start vandelising his car. The father is scared to do anything about the teenagers, so the son decides to take a action and get revenge on the bully of the town. The son hit the bully with a cricket bat.

Sondhi, J. (no date) Soft by Simon Ellis: Live-action short film, Short of the Week. Available at: https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2008/11/03/soft/ (Accessed: March 23, 2023).

The Black Hole (2008) IMDb. IMDb.com. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1430144/ (Accessed: March 23, 2023).

The Black hole - Philip Sansom

This movie is about a black hole on a piece of paper which makes you be able to go through solid walls, the worker in the movie seems all alone in the Office, he by accident finds out that the black hole has magical power. He then uses the paper to his advantage, by trying it out on a vending machine, and its succeeds in his favour. He then uses it to a room where he isn't allowed. In that room there is a safe. He uses the black hole on the safe and starts to take out a bunch of money. The worker then gets really greedy and completely climbs in the safe. Unlucky him the paper fall of the safe on the ground. He got stuck, knocking for someone to help.

Alayón, D. (2018) The Black Hole (short film), Medium. Future Today. Available at: https://medium.com/future-today/the-black-hole-short-film-c3fa9e921220 (Accessed: March 23, 2023).

Signs (2008) IMDb. IMDb.com. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1377575/ (Accessed: March 23, 2023).

Signs - Patrick Hughes

Signs is a short story that shows that the spoken word isn't always necessary to understand each other. Words on pieces of paper can lead to a romantic encounter too. In this short shot the audience is introduced to the protagonist Jason. He leads a fairly lonely life in a big city.

Signs - Patrick Hughes (no date) Short Shot. Available at: http://blog.goshort.nl/signs-patrick-hughes/ (Accessed: March 23, 2023).

Proposal

At the moment the idea is not fully finished, we are still planning everything, we want to make sure our idea works, and that there wont be any obstacles in our way. So the idea is like a squid game but its football, a guy is peacefully playing football, the way he is kicking the ball means he is frustrated about something. While he is kicking the ball some guy in a suit come up to him and asked if he'd like to participate in a little challenge of his. The footballer agrees and they start to play the paper flip games, if the footballer wins he gets £1000, if he has to join his Sunday Team. He takes the risk and he wins. The guy looks in

With the character development it is important to do it in your own way, to make the character you have to give it part of your personality. and just give the character a type of emotion. Creating a character like this makes the character feel alive, he has the emotion, he isn't just some drawn on character with no emotion and no physical behavior. The character needs depth into his personality. The best way to create characters is to speak to people ask them question, see how different people act. Using real peoples personalities give you the opportunity to create a great character. As long as the audience has a specific feeling to the character you could say that the Character is somewhat complete.

Mise-en-Scene can be divided into these headings

>SETTING- Location Reece, Mood / Atmosphere, Genre

>DÉCOR- Decoration / objects within a room also provide meaning within a film.

Décor can also be a useful way of identifying a film’s genre or an insight to specific characters.

>LIGHTING- Very important in creating mood / atmosphere within a film.

A director will use lighting techniques to create different effects

>BODY LANGUAGE- A director will use this to show a characters feelings without the need for speech

>PROPS- The physical objects within a scene – deliberately chosen by the director to create effect.

Objects used can also determine genre ..

Bows / arrows / guns / stetson hats = Western Genre

What props would we expect to see in:

Science fiction?

Horror?

>COSTUME & MAKE-UP- These are both important in creating meaning for the cinema audience

Useful for:

recreating a historical time

giving information about character

setting a scene – ie a fantasy film

*Costume changes can also show changes in situation /

characters feelings

Task 1:

Rule of thirds:

Spiderman- Homecoming

I feel like this shot is very good, as it shows the setting of the scene, it shows that Spiderman is in a dangerous position, so they make the scene look more intimidating.

Balance and symmetry:

The Shining

This shot is perfect for a balanced and symmetrical look, this makes people look at the scenes and think 'something is about to happen' or 'I'm not liking the feeling of this'. This makes the movie more interesting and makes people want to know what will happen next.

Task 2: Explain Terms below with examples.

Hue: Hue is just colour, whatever colour you are about to use

Value: Value is something that makes the colour more bright.

Saturation: Saturation is the colour just being more vibrant, or if you choose to have no colour.

Complimentary Colour: This is colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel, this makes it a complimentary colour as they suit very well together.

Analogous colour: This is usually a combinantion of about 3 colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel.

Monochromatic colour: Is just 1 singular colour that is used in a lot of films, and also work very well in scenes.

Equilateral

Essay: Discovering Film

For this Essay I have chosen to analyse the Film Sinister, I have chosen this Film as I have never watched it. I found this film very well made. The film is a horror, the Film is 1hour and 50minutes. The Sinister has been made in 2012, It was released on the 5th of October.

As me, someone who has seen many horror movies the Sinister was a very good movie, it was a little predictable. The plot was very good of a Boogie man that Records killing his victims and then saving the tape. Whoever finds these tapes the Boogie man will chase to kill. It's inescapable. The Boogie man kills families of 4-5. As he needs someone to record for him. The Sinister has a couple of jump scares and the jump scares aren't too predictable. When someone records the killings for the Boogie Man, the Boogie man is always in the tapes. You cant see him that easily but if you look into it you can see him in every single one.

There is a scene where the main character has acknowledged the Boogie man, he has reviewed the tapes many times and has slowed down and paused the tapes to analyse them. He then goes to look at the difference while he does that he gets vision of the Boogie Man. There is a very intense sound that plays through when the Boogie Man appears. This is the first sight of The Boogie Man.

All of the shot scenes in the Film were good. The story is well told, it has shown all of the character personalities. The actors in the film have played their rolls very well and the Main Character was perfect, the monster was one of a kind. Instead of doing the killing he makes others do it but he is there all the time.

I feel like the creator has thought very well about this film, and the story to it. It shows that there was a lot of research on how the monster could be different and unique. I don't think there is any more monsters like that use someone else for the killing, and just watches in the distance.

The sound design of Sinister is also excellent. The movie's score, composed by Christopher Young, is haunting and atmospheric, featuring a mix of orchestral and electronic elements. The sound effects are similarly effective, with the creaks and groans of the house adding to the sense of foreboding. The use of sound to heighten tension is particularly effective in the movie's jump scares, which are expertly timed and genuinely terrifying.

Another strength of Sinister is its use of found footage. The movie incorporates the old home movies that Oswalt discovers into its narrative, using them to reveal key information about the murders and the supernatural force behind them. The use of found footage adds a layer of realism to the movie and makes it feel more like a true-crime story than a typical horror movie. The home movies themselves are also disturbing, featuring gruesome murders and eerie imagery that sticks with the viewer long after the movie is over.

Ethan Hawke's performance as Ellison Oswalt is another highlight of the movie. Hawke brings a level of depth and complexity to the character that elevates the film beyond the typical horror fare. Oswalt is a flawed protagonist, a man driven by his own ambition and ego, and Hawke portrays him with a sense of vulnerability that makes him relatable despite his flaws. The supporting cast is also strong, particularly Juliet Rylance as Oswalt's wife Tracy and James Ransone as the bumbling deputy who assists Oswalt in his investigation.

The movie's pacing is also effective. Sinister builds slowly, gradually ramping up the tension until it reaches a fever pitch in the third act. The movie takes its time to establish the characters and their relationships, which makes the horror that much more impactful when it finally arrives. The film's climax is particularly intense, with Oswalt and his family facing off against the supernatural force that has been haunting them throughout the movie.

One of the most interesting themes in Sinister is the idea of the past coming back to haunt the present. The home movies that Oswalt discovers are a literal representation of this concept, as they depict the murders of families who lived in the same house as Oswalt and his family. But the theme extends beyond the supernatural elements of the movie. Oswalt's own past, particularly his strained relationship with his son, plays a key role in the film's narrative. The idea that our past actions and decisions can have a lasting impact on our present and future is a thought-provoking one that adds depth to the movie.

One of the most effective elements of Sinister is its atmosphere. From the opening scenes, the movie creates an unsettling mood that permeates every frame. The opening credits sequence, which features a slow-motion montage of home movies that gradually grows more disturbing, sets the tone perfectly. The film's use of lighting and color is also noteworthy. Many scenes take place in near-darkness, with only the faint glow of a laptop or the flicker of a candle to illuminate the action. This creates a sense of claustrophobia and intensifies the feeling of impending doom.

The switch

I will most likely take the inspiration from this Short film, as it has all the technical stuff which we would love to use but we aren't that advanced in editing, but what we can use is all of the shots in the Short Film, camera movement, and some ideas on football movement. I feel this short film will help us loads with our short film to give us more ideas and improve on all shots.

This short film is really similar to 'The Switch'. It's called 'Winner Stays' is has the same setup, they both use greenscreen for pitches and also very advanced AFX. We would to make something like this, but its very difficult. So we will try to improvise and use a Football pitch, instead of a stadium.

Paris je t'aime

Telling Lies

Paris je t'aime is a movie about finding love, we watched one scene from this movie and it was a scene of a tourist in a train tunnel, he reads his manual about Paris. While reading he comes across a sentence of 'do not meet eye contact, which he does almost immediately, he makes eye contact with 2 lovers, which made their relationship a bit chaotic. They argued and then stopped while a train went passed... Well we thought it stopped, the women was next to the tourist and decides to kiss him to anger her Partner more, this caused more problems where the partner started a fight with the tourist, he knocked him down and threw his thing on the tourist, when he finished he looked at his partner and then and walked of like nothing happend.

In this short film its just text no scenes, just words and thoughts... The short film starts with a phone calling, its the mother of the main character. While he speaks the subtitles are different from time to time. The subtitles are colour coordinated, one are the one that he speaks, and the other is the other peoples thoughts.

While the story goes along there are about 4 phone calls, the mother, the girlfriend, the one night stand and the best friend that might have cheated during his affair.

Location Reece:

Editing Proof:

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