Tuesday, 30 October 2012
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Editing
This is Continuity Editing as there are several cuts in the editing where different things occur. It is a longer situation condensed into a few minutes.
These are both Hollywood montages as they show long situations in a few moments.
This is a soviet montage as several seemingly disconnected scenes are placed into a montage of shots, and the audience are very aware of the cuts.
Friday, 26 October 2012
Ratcatcher sounds
The starting image is rather abstract, which is reflected by the muffled sound of children shouting.
The image and sound are both in slow motion as the boy wrapping himself in a curtain distorts both himself and his hearing. It is slow and muffled as it is barely audible over the curtains.
We are firstly introduced to the real world by the hard slap over Ryan's head by his mother and her telling him off for spinning on the curtain. This is a harsh sound as he has to come out of the curtain, and it shocks the viewer as the muffled sound is taken over by the mother catching him and telling him off.
As the curtain unwinds, the background noise that we hear is again the muffled sound of the children shouting. It seems to be coming from outside but we cannot be sure.
When Ryan is looking out of the window, you can hear the children shouting ans playing again, and you can see a boy throwing stones into the river on his own. This could suggest that Ryan wants to join him, and he is fed up with his mother telling him what to do.
When he and his mother leave the housing block, we hear and see children playing, which is what we could hear before.
Ryan runs away from his mother and pulls his trousers out of his boots. The sound designer has stressed that this is an important sound of defiance as the sounds are emphasised from what it is normally. This shows that he has power over his mother.
There is a parallel sound between Ryan and James 'playing' by the canal and Ryan's mother buying him some shoes. By the canal, you can hear the boys splashing around and submerging each others heads into the water. They also swear at each other a lot. In the shoe shop, the sound is quiet and muffled, as if she doesn't know what is going on. you can hear a ringing sound in both cuts.
James then pushes Ryan into the canal. The sound then goes silent when Ryan doesn't surface. This creates a very sullen mood which shows that he has drowned.
James' mother then comes home, from the street to the staircase. the sound stops as the camera moves to the staircase. This shows that she has seen that James has killed Ryan, and we feel shock at what has just happened.
The sound moves from concrete to abstract very abruptly, without any form of warning, such as when Ryan's mother has a go at him for spinning in the curtain.
Sunshine Sounds
We have no idea what sounds might live in space, but there are some ideas created by the sounds we hear accompanied by the spaceship. The non - diegetic music itself is monotonous, yet powerful, which could show that the spaceship is a very large powerful machine but not much to look at. The music is asynchronous with the movement of the spaceship, but as it gets closer to the sun, it reaches a crescendo. This could show that something dramatic or shocking is about to happen.
The exterior sounds of the spaceship sound more soft and monotonous because as space is a vacuum, everything seems to be free flowing and has no force to it. The monotonous sound could show this slow free movement. The interior sounds however are clearer as there is a pressurised atmosphere, so the sounds that we do hear are clearer and more metallic as most of the interior is made of metal. The character with the spacesuit free falls in the spaceship to the door where a scream occurs.
The interior sounds are made of sharp screams and growls, which could suggest that it is a very scary unpredictable atmosphere under there. we see a bloody hand print on the metal, which along with the screams shows that there has been or will be death in there.
The music heard throughout the clip is monotonous yet powerful, with a mixture of high and low pitch sounds. This is a very overwhelming sound as it can be a very scary time out in space. The crescendos make it sound very dramatic, tense and powerful, as you don't know what is going to happen next.
We believe that sounds that we hear as although these sounds are non-diegetic, they sound realistic to the sound effects of the spaceship, very metallic.
Sunday, 14 October 2012
Hunger Sound Effects Questions
The sounds that I hear throughout the extract are:
- A humming sound that continues throughout the whole clip. This gives an eerie, grim, dull and creepy atmosphere, as there is barely any dialogue. The clip focuses on the demise and death of the main character, Bobby Sands, so this adds to the grim sparseness of the music. This is a soft sound.
- The footsteps of police officers walking around the jail. These are harsh sounding compared to the rest of the sounds there, as it shows the only activity there, and any sound that occurs in the sparse silence of the surroundings will sound creepy.
- The sound of birds wings flapping. This is a representation that keeps appearing throughout the clip.
- Him slumping on the floor when the officer refused to help him out of the bath. This shows his weakness at the end of his life.
- Breathing. This gets heavier the closer he gets to death, which makes it even more eerie.
There are 2 main sounds that feature throughout the clip, birds and breathing. The bird sound represents the life of Bobby. They are around doing their normal activity when Bobby is alive. At the end of the clip after Bobby has died, they fly away, representing that he has emigrated to heaven, like birds emigrate somewhere else in the winter. A similar representation happens with the breathing. His breathing gets deeper and more audible towards the end of the clip, which suggests that he is a dying man and he is struggling to breathe more towards his death.
Towards the end of the clip, there is a flashback of his childhood which is represented by the young boy in his cell. It is here where the music starts. This music is plain, sparse, metallic and monotonous, which suggests that he could have had a bad childhood, but the start of the flashback suggests otherwise. He is running around with his friends. The second part of it shows him looking miserable on the bus whilst everyone else is singing. When one of his friends shouts his name to sing, he shakes his head. The music gets louder and more prominent the deeper he runs into the dark forest, and therefore the closer to his death. Shortly before his death, he sheds a tear, which shows that it is too late to turn back and he doesn't believe where he is, at the end of his life. When he looks behind him after running too far into the forest and he gets lost, it is too late to turn back, which represents that he has gotten too weak to get better and he dies. The music then stops representing his death, then the birds fly away.
The filmmaker builds up the sounds to his death then stops the after he has died. This could represent the life flashing before his eyes before his death. The silence emphasizes the sounds that are second nature to us, such as breathing, which is emphasized when we are struggling to breathe. This adds a creepy atmosphere to the clip as it is to do with death which is very creepy and sullen.
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Sound Effects Terminology
Non -diegetic sound
This is the backing track of the trailer, to ad a catchy effect to it. Only the audience can hear it so it is classed as non - diegetic sound.
Diegetic sound
The alarm clock here is classed as a diegetic sound as both the character and the audience hear it so it is part of the narrative.
Synchronous Sound
This is synchronous sound as the dialogue is shown in time with her lips moving, so it is in sync.
Asynchronous Sound -
This is asynchronous sound because the dialogue is not in sync with the lips moving.
Sound Effects
In this clip the car horns have probably been added to emphasize the effect of a working morning in a busy town with everyone wanting to get to work. This is a sound effect.
Sound Motif
The silence after she says that they are getting married even though they strongly dislike each other each other represents the dramatic turn in the storyline. this is a sound motif.
Sound Bridge -
This is a sound bridge as the backing track is playing over a number of cuts/transitions.
Dialogue -
This is dialogue as it is filming people have a conversation (talking to each other).
Voiceover
The man talking over the narrative of the trailer is giving information about the movie. This is a voiceover.
Direct Address
This is a direct address as he is looking at the audience telling them to watch his movie.
Sound Perspective
This is a sound perspective as the car horns get louder as Andrew comes closer to the cars.
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
Representations of age in Skins
Representations of Age in a Skins Scene
Skins show the representation of ages in several ways through mise en scene, camera angles and the music itself.
The theme tune shows that it is a show about teenagers as it is fast paced and timeless. It is not a song, just a catchy young sounding theme which creates an identity for the show. As Tony does his montage of weight training and exercises the electro music kicks in. This is a very teenage sounding tune with harsh beats and non- diegetic, which means the characters can't hear the music. It relates to the target audience of the show as it sounds young and edgy.
The main character of the show, Tony, is represented as a typical teenager in a way that he plays loud music to deliberately to annoy his Dad, and he is seen admiring himself in the mirror in an over the shoulder camera shot after he has done his montage of exercises. However, there are some major binary opposites between a stereotypical teenager and the character of Tony. First of all, his room is tidy, and his clothes are plain colours and folded up perfectly which could imply that he suffers from OCD. He is reading a French book called Nausea and the posters in his room are of French movies. The mise en scene is very beige and dull. He is also dressed in relatively plain clothes with a simple haircut, wearing chinos, a plain shoe, a plain T shirt and a jumper/hoodie. Typical teenage boys have a messy room, sport a preppy up to date look and have posters of films and posters in their room. He also has a mischievous side to him. He puts loud rock diegetic music on to distract his Dad while younger sister Effie sneaks in after her night out. He also locks the bathroom to annoy his Dad while he climbs out of the window to admire his neighbour, who he has previously watched getting changed out of his window.
Effie lives a double life, at night she is out clubbing and drinking, as shown by her messy look of one sock up, one sock down, a short skirt and top that make her look older than her years. Her hair is messed up and her makeup smudged. When she sneaks upstairs, she takes all of that off and changes into her school uniform, which makes her look younger. A long shot is used to show her coming home from a night out, which could show that she is out of touch with her family, and to show that she acts older than her age. She walks with an attitude as most teenagers do. She seems dishonest and manipulative.
Their father is the binary opposite of Tony, as he is fat, short and hairy, and Tony is tall, thin and smooth. He uses foul language towards his family to show that in many ways he acts like a teenager, and he lives up to being the representation of a typical Dad by walking around in his underpants showing off his beer belly, hairy chest and crack as he ends down. The camera usually points down on him as Tony and Effie have the upper hand over him. The mother in the house seems to be fed up of the father’s language. She smiles as Tony walks in from the bathroom to the kitchen, which suggests that she knows what's going on with her children and the Dad doesn't. She claims that Effie is having egg as she didn't sleep well, which implies that she knows what’s going on, and plays along with it.
The bird’s eye view on Tony shows that he has a lot of responsibility for Effie, and he sets an alarm just to let her in. This isn't really a representation of a teenager as they aren't usually very responsible people. The duvet cover on his bed shows a man and a woman, with him in the middle of them, which shows that he is confused about his sexuality, as some teenagers that age will be. It is perfectly straight which usually doesn’t happen for anyone who wakes up. He is also a man of routine, as shown when he lets Effie in and how he does his exercise montage at exactly the same time each day. Most of it is in medium shot to show clearly to the viewer these representations of age and to keep them involved in the storyline.
Skins show the representation of ages in several ways through mise en scene, camera angles and the music itself.
The theme tune shows that it is a show about teenagers as it is fast paced and timeless. It is not a song, just a catchy young sounding theme which creates an identity for the show. As Tony does his montage of weight training and exercises the electro music kicks in. This is a very teenage sounding tune with harsh beats and non- diegetic, which means the characters can't hear the music. It relates to the target audience of the show as it sounds young and edgy.
The main character of the show, Tony, is represented as a typical teenager in a way that he plays loud music to deliberately to annoy his Dad, and he is seen admiring himself in the mirror in an over the shoulder camera shot after he has done his montage of exercises. However, there are some major binary opposites between a stereotypical teenager and the character of Tony. First of all, his room is tidy, and his clothes are plain colours and folded up perfectly which could imply that he suffers from OCD. He is reading a French book called Nausea and the posters in his room are of French movies. The mise en scene is very beige and dull. He is also dressed in relatively plain clothes with a simple haircut, wearing chinos, a plain shoe, a plain T shirt and a jumper/hoodie. Typical teenage boys have a messy room, sport a preppy up to date look and have posters of films and posters in their room. He also has a mischievous side to him. He puts loud rock diegetic music on to distract his Dad while younger sister Effie sneaks in after her night out. He also locks the bathroom to annoy his Dad while he climbs out of the window to admire his neighbour, who he has previously watched getting changed out of his window.
Effie lives a double life, at night she is out clubbing and drinking, as shown by her messy look of one sock up, one sock down, a short skirt and top that make her look older than her years. Her hair is messed up and her makeup smudged. When she sneaks upstairs, she takes all of that off and changes into her school uniform, which makes her look younger. A long shot is used to show her coming home from a night out, which could show that she is out of touch with her family, and to show that she acts older than her age. She walks with an attitude as most teenagers do. She seems dishonest and manipulative.
Their father is the binary opposite of Tony, as he is fat, short and hairy, and Tony is tall, thin and smooth. He uses foul language towards his family to show that in many ways he acts like a teenager, and he lives up to being the representation of a typical Dad by walking around in his underpants showing off his beer belly, hairy chest and crack as he ends down. The camera usually points down on him as Tony and Effie have the upper hand over him. The mother in the house seems to be fed up of the father’s language. She smiles as Tony walks in from the bathroom to the kitchen, which suggests that she knows what's going on with her children and the Dad doesn't. She claims that Effie is having egg as she didn't sleep well, which implies that she knows what’s going on, and plays along with it.
The bird’s eye view on Tony shows that he has a lot of responsibility for Effie, and he sets an alarm just to let her in. This isn't really a representation of a teenager as they aren't usually very responsible people. The duvet cover on his bed shows a man and a woman, with him in the middle of them, which shows that he is confused about his sexuality, as some teenagers that age will be. It is perfectly straight which usually doesn’t happen for anyone who wakes up. He is also a man of routine, as shown when he lets Effie in and how he does his exercise montage at exactly the same time each day. Most of it is in medium shot to show clearly to the viewer these representations of age and to keep them involved in the storyline.
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Bridesmaids Case Study Video and Transcript
Genre: comedy
Plot: Annie is a middle aged woman whose life is a mess. When she finds out that her lifelong friend Lillian is engaged, she is assigned Maid of Honour, where she has to organise her wedding along with her other Bridesmaids. Annie and Lillian’s posh friend, Helen, get into a bitter rivalry over their friendship with Lillian and try to upstage each other.
Pre-Production
The script was written by Kristen Wiig (plays Annie, the main character in the film) and Annie Mumolo. They are good friends in real life and they met at The Groundlings, where they wrote sketches together in the early 2000s. The script was initially called Maid of Honour.
The film’s original idea was cast in 2006, soon after Kristen Wiig was cast as a supporting role cable television executive in producer Judd Apatow's comedy film Knocked Up. When Apatow realised that she had comedic talent, he asked Wiig if she had any ideas for a screenplay herself, a similar idea which produced ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’.
The writers then came up with a script for Bridesmaids. Over the next few years, writing started, with Wiig working on Saturday Night Live in New York City and Mumolo writing the script in Los Angeles. They would meet at weekends and show drafts to Apatow to get his feedback on the script. The film was produced by Universal, along with Apatow pictures and Relativity Media.
Production and filming-
It was budgeted at $32.5 million. It was originally set in Milwaukee and Chicago, but some photography actually took place in Los Angeles.
Jefferson sage, the production designer said of the film, “you had these two disparate worlds: There was Annie's world in Milwaukee, and then there was Helen's world in Chicago. It immediately drew this dichotomy between the rivalry that developed between them”
He also said that it was challenging to find architecture that would give us those Midwestern worlds.
They used Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden for Lillian and Doug’s wedding.
In some scenes, filming took place in Oxnard, California, where the roads between Milwaukee and Chicago are in the film.
Distribution
The film was distributed by Universal and its arms in most countries, but in other countries it was distributed by their own country.
Here is a list from IMDB of the distributors of the film:
•Universal Pictures Canada (2011) (Canada)
•Ro Image 2000 (2011) (Romania)
•United International Pictures (UIP) (2011) (Slovenia)
•Universal Pictures (2011) (USA)
•Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2011) (Australia)
•United International Pictures (UIP) (2011) (Iceland)
•United International Pictures (UIP) (2011) (Hungary)
•Finnkino (2011) (Finland)
•Forum Cinemas (2011) (Lithuania)
•Solar Entertainment (2011) (Philippines)
•Tokyo Theaters Company (2012) (Japan)
•United International Pictures (UIP) (2011) (Argentina)
•United International Pictures (UIP) (2011) (Greece)
•United International Pictures (UIP) (2011) (Philippines)
•United International Pictures (UIP) (2011) (Singapore)
•Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2011) (Belgium)
•Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2001) (France)
•Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2011) (Netherlands)
•Zon Lusomundo Audiovisuais (2011) (Portugal)
•Argentina Video Home (2012) (Argentina)
•Film1 (2012) (Netherlands) (TV)
•Home Box Office (HBO) (2012) (USA)
•Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2011) (Greece)
•USA Network (2013) (USA) (TV)
•Universal Pictures Benelux (2011) (Netherlands)
•Universal Pictures (2011) (Germany)
•Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2011) (USA)
•Waylen Group (2011) (Taiwan)
Marketing
Teaser and Photos released on 1/2/ 2011
Trailer 15/3/2011
International trailer 19/4/11
Restricted trailer 26/4/11
TV shows "Celebrate" and "Best Ever", 7/4/11
TV shows "Event of the Century", 19/4/11
Featurette 19/4/11
6 clips 3/5/12
Video interviews 5/9/11
Soundtrack 10/5/11
Bloopers: 5/25/11
According to:
http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=63411
Exhibition
It was released on May 13 2011, grossing $26,247,410 on its opening weekend and $287,797,912 ($169,106,725 domestically and $119,276,798 in foreign markets) worldwide. It was shown on 2918 screens.
It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 20, 2011. This DVD includes commentary from the actors, writers and directors, as well as deleted and extra scenes and a few other extended features. The Blu ray includes the same as above but with a ‘Made of Honor: Behind the Scenes of Bridesmaids’ feature, a performance of Wilson Phillips' "Hold On", and a digital copy of the song. There are also several iTunes extras.
It was released again as part of the 100th anniversary of Universal Studios on September 4 2012.
Critical reception:
It has received mostly positive reviews from critics.
“A marriage of genuine characters, gross out gags, and pathos, Bridesmaids is a female-driven comedy that refuses to be boxed in as Kristen Wiig emerges as a real star"
Jeff Bayer: “The best female-driven R-rated comedy of all time"
Owen Gleiberman (Entertainment Weekly): ‘brilliantly written and shrewdly honest about what's really going on in women's lives’
Awards:
1 Critics’ Choice Award (Best Comedy)
1 Las Vegas Film Critics Society (Best Supporting Actress, Melissa McCarthy)
2 New York Film Critics Online (Best Ensemble Cast Best Supporting Actress)
2 MTV Movie Awards (Best Comedic Performance, Best Gut Wrenching Performance)
1 NewNowNext Award (Next Must-See Movie)
1 People’s Choice Award (Favourite Comedy Movie)
1 Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association (Best Acting Ensemble)
My opinion: Outside of the Box Office, I think that the film was successful. This is because it was making extra revenue out of the sales on iTunes. It was a funny film with some hilarious scenes, and it is worth a watch.
Credits:
By Rebecca Dickinson
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridesmaids_(2011_film)#Filming
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478338/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478338/companycredits
http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=63411
Song- Kate Nash - Do Wah Do
I chose the song as it's on the soundtrack to the movie.
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