Research:The Lion King

This is the link to The Lion King opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCeyHKcSLTg

The Lion King is a 1994 American animated movie created by Walt Disney Pictures which has a genre for children due to the bright colours and the landscape which is full of life. This film doesn't give me much information to work out the genre however due to the landscape of an African location and the different species of animals I would say it links to the idea of adventure and exploring. The non-diegetic music is an African tribal song "Circle of life" instantly informing the audience that the movie is based in the location of Africa. The introduction of Simba to the rest of the kingdom shows a positive and happy atmosphere as the kingdom cheer and welcome him to the world. The title at the start has a black background with clear red bold writing this is easy for children to read and isn't to busy. The colour red is calming and links an icon of safe.

The fade in effect of the black screen fading into a bright orange and red sunset instantly links to the icon of beauty and beginnings which tells the audiences that the storyline is beginning. The panning shots of the animals looking over creates a mystery and instantly makes the audience want to discover what is happening. The aerial shot of the birds flying below and the location shows the audience the location and to have a clear idea of where they are. The worms eye view of some of the bigger animals such as the Giraffe show there power and how they are pehaps respected more in the kingdom because of their size. A panning shot is shown of the other helds of animals suggesting they are all linked and heading the same way. The tracking shot of the bird flying over the Lion shows the whole location and all the kingdom below looking up at the lion suggesting he is powerful and important within the Kingdom.The median shot of the baby lion shows a clear image of the baby and its beauty and his mother stereotypically caring for him and cleaning him.

The shot when Simba is held up my the monkey the sound gets louder and quicker to show something important and to link with the audience to show a meaning and a message of power.

In my final film I'm considering adding a message and a meaning behind the narrative. I love how this film really links to the genre of children and happiness through the colors as bright links to children. I want to be able to include certain colors and links to follow the genre I will have chosen.

Research:Titanic

Titanic is a love story set against real historical events: the sinking of the great ocean liner amongst the ice packs of the North Atlantic in 1912. This film was released in 1997 and funded by Paramount Pictures and 20th century fox. The film made $343.6 million worldwide, a budget of $200 million. The film  In the beginning of the opening scene, there is real footage taken in 1912 which makes the film more realistic. Cameron, the director shot this footage to act as a historical reference, reflecting back to the time. Considering that the footage was filmed over a hundred years ago, the Titanic is still portrayed impressively. In the opening sequence, the main characters are not featured, allowing the viewer to focus on the ship this giving the story a strong context. The location is based in the harbour of Southampton in England which shows the departure of the ship “Titanic”. Throughout the sequence, there is non-diegetic sounds of the opening sequence. Soundtrack conducted by James Horner. This music plays throughout the scene, until it gradually becomes louder when featuring the dark waves of the ocean. The music is used to create a strong and powerful atmosphere, suggesting an unknown element. The sequence has a sephia theme throughout, drawing more attention to the action rather than the colours. The sephia theme created by a certain filter which emphasises the fact that the film features real footage from the time before colour was possible in film, therefore making it more realistic. The beginning of the opening sequence, a worm’s eye view, a low angle point of view shot is used to make the ship look superior and draw attention to the size and magnificence of it.

These screen shots have a sephia filter to create an old and historical atmosphere.

After the scene of the harbour and the ship itself, the scene fades into a shot of waves in a moonlit lighting setting. The title “Titanic” is boldly featured, drawing attention to the name of the ship and movie. After this shot, the scene quickly changes to the dark blue sea which surrounds the camera’s view, and then a light in the background appears. The title is used then to divide a transition between the past and the present. Several small submarines are introduced, featured moving in the darkness and the light shines upon a “ghost ship coming out of the darkness.” Non-Diegetic sounds are introduced when the submarines are under the sea making the scene more realistic. The scene comes to an end, when there is a zoom out shot of the submarines, fading into the darkness.

This movie helps me to discover the different type of filters in a camera in order to create different moods and atmosphere. I'm considering using the idea filter to create a stronger connection with the audience and to show the historical importance.

Research:The Vow

(Only up to 3:06 min)
This romantic movie is a perfect for the camera angle and shots used. The start begins with indent clearly stating what company produced and distributed the movie. This is what I'm considering including in my final movie to address the audience who produce the movie. The movie starts with a fade in effect where the camera tracks a bright pink light isolated with femininity and romance, instantly informing the audience that this is a movie about love. The non-diegetic sound is slow and sets a mood of happy and calm. The tilt camera angle and panning shot of the location's sign tells the audience where the scene is set and the bright lights on the sign is associated with the stereotype of America and the stereotype of a typical america cinema, suggesting this film is set in America . The bird's eye view shows the location of a cinema which is stereotyped as being the classic place for a 'date' known as romantic, This tells the audience about the sort of characters suggesting they are traditional and romantic. The worm eye view, median closeup shows the characters in the mise en scent of hats and scarf suggesting they are practical for the winter which archetypes a masculine trait and subverts the feminine trait suggest they are comfortable just being themselves with one other inppling they have known each other for a long time. The fade in white title is clear and bold the read also is a very calming colour instead of a bright yellow.

The lighting create a calming atmosphere and creates a romantic setting as the main focus is the characters faces as the camera flicks to shot reverse shot to show the reaction between characters. The romantic and looks like forever lasting couple turns to a crisis when the slow motion cut and tracking shot of the female smashes through the car window screen as the van hits the back of their car. This shows the audience the big impact and what affect it has on the characters life.

The idea of using different sounds and camera shots to create an atmosphere makes me consider including theses aspects in my movie. I love the idea of the fade in and out effect in order to make the film flow better. I have learnt that most romantic and rom-con movies use calm and slow non-diegetic sound to show the audience the type of mood to feel which is important in order to link with the characters emotions too.

Research:The Woman In Black

Background and brief plot-

The Woman in Black is a 1983 horror by Susan Hill, written in the style of a traditional Gothic novel. The plot concerns a mysterious spectre that haunts a small English town, heralding the death of children. A the main character, a lawyer played by Daniel Radcliffe visits the English town to sell a haunted and abandoned house where he soon discovers a mystery. A television film based on the story, also called The Woman in Black, was produced in 1989, with a screenplay by Nigel Kneale. In 2012, a film adaptation of the same name was released, starring Daniel Radcliffe which this is the opening for. The movie was directed by James Watkins and written by Jane Goldman. It was produced by Hammer Films Production and distributed by Momentum Pictures(uk), CBS Films(US), Alliance Films(Canada).The movie was released in the US and Canada on the 3rd february 2012 with lots of positive reviews and then in the UK on the 10 february 2012. The movie had a budget of $15 million and made box office profits of $127,730,736. The movie won and were nominated for many awards for best horror movie e.g Empire Awards UK and Awards for best Sound Editing by Golden Trailer.

Representation from the clip-
At the start of the opening scene there is an extreme close up of a little pretending to tip tea into a cup and then a switch to another extreme close up of the girl giving it to the doll. They are using saucers and tea cups it instantly informs the audience that theses icons represents the location of England as this country is stereotyped to be 'posh'and are linked to theses items. This tells the audience that the film maybe set in England.

We can also workout that the film is showing the time period through the Mise en scent of'; the old fashion dolls the girls are playing with and the clothes. This makes the audience go back to the 1930s instantly. Dolls are known to be antiques and they use them as toys so 1930s to 1920s is the sort of time period the producers wanted to show the audience.

The non-diegetic sound as the film takes a close-up shot of the teapot sounds dark and funeral like because of the bells, instantly telling the audience this maybe a story about death. So we can establish this is a movie based on the horror genre. We also get a mid-shot of three girl starring at nothing which instantly shows the audience there maybe some type of paranormal ghost activity in this movie. As they need turn around and walk towards the window whilst crushing their dolls this tells the audience this is a negative aspect warns the audience the paranormal features maybe negative and dangerous instead of good which instantly shows the stereotype of a classic horror movie due to the sense of danger and a negative atmosphere.
As the girls star at nothing looking at a ghost, they jump out the window, falling to their deaths which instantly makes the audience feel sorry for the girls and go against the ghost acting like the enemy of the narrative.

Connections with my own ideas-
The idea of linking the time period and location in a movie is what I might consider including in my film through mise en scent. The idea of a mystery ghost or a paranormal activity to create tension and an atmosphere towards the audience.

Timeline- Shots,Angles, Effects and Sound- The Woman In Black opening

Research: The Shining

 

Background and brief plot-
The Shining was produced in 1980 and made by director Stanley Kubrick based on Stephen King's on the same name, though there are lots of changes. The storyline is about a recovering alcoholic who stays in an isolated hotel. His young son has the ability to see the past and future in the hotel. Soon after being trapped in the hotel due to a snowstorm supernatural event occur. Distributed by Warner Bros and released on May 23, 1980 with a budget of $19 million. This movie made box office profits of $44,017,374. The movie won a Saturn Award for best supporting act and was nominated fro many different including best horror movie.

Representation of important elements-
This horror genre shows a clever establishing shot of the whole location with creepy and tension building non-diegetic sound playing. The music sets a creepy and disturbing atmosphere and gets louder to maybe lead to an important element in the movie or a scary scene where the audience to waiting for the tension. The tracking shot instantly tells the audience where the film is based also a Ariel shot is used to show the main focus of the van which is all alone and the surrounding location telling the audience that the van is alone perhaps being vulnerable and an easy target due to the fact there is nobody around. This quickly shows how alone the van is from the out inside world which represents a sense of danger and mystery. This is a common location factor of a horror film of being alone and distance from the outside world. The opening doesn’t reveal much about the actual characters and how the audience, which creates a mystery, might represent them, however the opening shows a lot of the location and tells the audience what type of characters might be in it because of the isolated location they might be outdoors people or like to be alone.

Connections with my own ideas-
This opening is a perfect example of how I want to shoot my movie by using theses effective shots to create tension and connection with the audience. The location stereotypes the perfect horror movie as the location is alone and far away from the outer world with no sight of people or object. This instantly makes the audience realize that they aren’t safe. This is a common aspect that producers use when creating the perfect horror movie and what I’m considering including in my movie to create an atmosphere.

The idea of producing my movie in an isolated location appeals to me as I feel it links the movie more to the horror genre and creates tension in the audience. This is also done by the non-diegetic music as it builds up an atmosphere and makes the audience think something more tension building is about to happen with the music getting louder and more dramatic.

An element I noticed that was included in this opening was the ident was included at the beginning. When I create my movie I’m consider adding an ident as it shows what company produced and distributed the movie making it more clear to the audience what type of movie it is due to the company that produced it. I’m also considering including titles in my opening to shows the audience the cast and the name of the film as this opening show a title, which is clear to indentify the name of the movie.

Media Terms

 Low Angle Shot-

• An example of a low angle shot from the movie War Horse (2012) shown by a print screen.
• It is a shot taken at a low angle, normally positioned downwards facing up at the subject.
• Shows the size/status of the horse.

High Angle Shot-

• An example of a high angle shot from the movie Titanic(1997) shown by a print screen.
• It is a shot taken from a high position often looking directly down at the subject.
• Shows the audience whats happening.

Extreme close-up-

• An example of a extreme close-up shot from the movie Avatar(2009 shown by a print screen.
• Its a shot that only shows certain features of the face often the eyes.
• In this case the shot was to show the beauty of the creature.

Medium Close-Up Shot-

• An example of a Medium Close-Up shot from the movie Alice In Wonderland(2010) shown by a print screen.
• Its a shot that shows the subject in detail to the audience, showing just the head and shoulders. This shows the mise en scent of the subject telling the audience about that subject.

Close-Up Shot-

• An example of a Close-Up shot from The Shining(1980) shown by a print screen.
• Its a shot to show the head only to show the detail of the subject and the mise es scent. 

Long Shot-

• An example of a Long Shot from the movie Dodge Ball(2004) shown by a print screen.
• Its a shot to show the location and a wide viewing and understanding of the narrative linking to the location.

Two/Three Shot-

• This is a shot with more than one characters in. This is a screen shot of the movie  Despicable Me 2 (2013) shown by a print screen.
• This shows all the characters to the audience.

Aerial Shot-

• This is a shot to show the location, scene and time. 
• This is often filmed using a crane etc.

Point Of View-

• Point the view shot is the camera angle positioned so the audience see the camera in the characters perspective.
• This connects the audience with the character and shows the audience more about the narrative, getting us involved in the film.

Panning shot-

• When the camera shows the whole location with a simple steady motion left to right.
• This shows the audience the location and connects them with the narrative.

Tilting-

• The tilting is to create an image which is at an angle.
• The camera is placed at an angle to create an effect to show the audience.
• This is an example from the movie The Third Man (1949).

Tracking-

• This is a shot where the camera follows the subject or character.
• This gets the audience involved in the movie and allows them to follow the subject on the journey.
• This is an example from the movie produced in 2011.

Dollying-

• This shot is similar to tracking where the camera follows the subject however its a camera on wheels which can move back and forwards with a smooth and stable action.
• This is effective for action shots or fast moving moments.

Hand Held Shot-

• This is when the camera is postioned so the audience think the character is holding the camera to make it more realistic.
• This is used when films want to make it look like a dairy or a documentary such as this screen shot from the movie The Blair Witch project (1999) who made is realistic with this documentary like movie. 

Establishing Shot Video

When creating this video it made me have a stronger understanding on the different establishing shots to include in a video and how important they are to create affect towards the audience. I used the same skills I learnt when completing my Preliminary task so as well as including the important shots I have used the same editing skills from Final Cut Express. Adding; music, title and fade effects.

To help me create my own video using theses shots I did research and found videos that really helped to explain the importance in Establishing shots:

This 180 degree rule is very affected and is used is almost all successful films in the industry. When looking at this video I realised I didn't include the 180 degree rule in this video which is an instant mistake when creating a film as it gives a confusing message towards the audience and they can't match the location. I will remember to include this rule in my final piece to have a better connection with the audience.

The video below shows how important it is to show the location where the film is to make the audience link to the storyline more and connect with the characters. this is what have included in my video of the different establishing shots, show the school building however in my final project I will show a longer shot of the location to really connect with the audience and give them as much information in one shot. The video really shows how important this shot is to link with the audience: