Character Representation.

Having decided our final group idea, I've decided to research how our main characters (therapist, victim, rapist) have been represented in other movies.

Therapist:


1. [Analyze This, 1999] 

The therapist here is a caucasian male aged around his late 40s/early 50s. His costume is simple - he wears a plain white shirt and a plain black tie (although you can't see in it in this photo). He has facial hair and a receeding hairline, making him looks older.
He also wears glasses - these help him to look intelligent and experienced in his field.

2. [A Girl Thing, 2001]

Here, the therapist is a female rather than a male. However there are similarities between them - she is also middle aged (albeit slightly younger, perhaps in her early 40s) and she also dresses simply and professionally wearing a plain red shirt and a grey suit.

3. [Freaky Friday, 2003]    

Again, the therapist in Freaky Friday was a woman - she also seems to be a similar age to the two therapists above and like them, she's dressed very simply and professionally. When it comes to choosing the costume and overall look for the therapist in our film, we'll need to choose somebody who looks mature and we'll need to dress them in smart, professional and simple clothing.

Victim:

1. [The Accused, 1988]

Looking at opening sequences.

Whilst browsing www.artofthetitle.com i came across many interesting opening title sequences. I realized that things such as font as extremely important as these smaller touches help establish the theme of the movie very early on, way before characters and dialogue are introduced.


Dexter opening title sequence:





After watching the Dexter title sequence, I thought it was really really good. The whole sequence is focused around one main character, Dexter, and his daily morning routine. Each shot slowly reveals more and more of the main character and the audience are lefting waiting to see what he actually looks like - a full body shot isn't shown until the very end of the sequence.


The theme is made extremely clear - Dexter is of the extreme thriller/horror genre. This is made clear from the very first shot which is of a spider being killed. The title that follows this says 'Dexter' and the words look as though they are written in blood, again emphasising the theme and making the colour red a main colour.


The majority of the shots are either ECU's and CU's of parts of either Dexter (eg. his stubble) or his routine (eg. bacon, eggs). Because of this, all of the shots look somewhat grotesque and graphic. A clear example of this is at 0:40 - 0:42 where a tiny drop of blood is magnified and takes over the entire shot. The shot that follows this is of Dexter cutting a slice of meat - because of the closeness of the shot, it's easy to make the mistake of thinking a surgeon is cutting open a human. This happens again many a time - at 1:02 as he cuts up his food, at 1:19 as he juices fruit etc.

In terms of lighting, there are plenty of shadows in the sequence and Dexter is often left partly in shadow himself, suggesting that there are two sides to him and that as well as being normal and having this 'routine,' there is a dark and more sinister side to him.

Dexter is finally revealed to us at 1:41 and despite the fact that he looks relatively normal, everything that we've just seen in the title sequence makes us think that there is much more to this character than what meets the eye. The sequence ends with Dexter casually walking out of his apartment and into the sunlight, playfully eyeing the camera - this suggests to the audience that the genre might not just be horror.

The opening credits are shown continuously throughout the sequence in capital white letters, tinted with shades of red. This makes the words bold and easy to read but at the same time, they don't majorly distract the attention away from what's going on in the shots.

The music throughout the sequence 'fits in' with the cuts and the action in the shots - it also softens the mood of the sequence and makes it seem slightly less grotesque and horror-like as it sounds like a ukelele/guitar was used for the music rather than more sinister sounding instruments eg. cello's. This shows the importance of finding good music for your title sequence - it can alter the mood of it, make it sound more professional etc.

Applying Theories to Opening Sequences.

1. Applying Levi-Strauss to the Opening of 'Pale Rider.' [Eastwood]

- Cuts from action and noisy surroundings to peaceful village and quietness, quiet vs. loud.

- Turns darker when danger approaches, darkness vs. light.

- Complete darkness in sky after disruption.

- Pale Rider's horse is white as opposed to the brown horses of the bad guys.

- Calm vs. panic. (before and after attack)

- Dry plains vs. green trees.

- Men vs. women.

- Steady cam vs. frantic cam.

- Upbeat music vs. tense music.

- Slow editing (same length shots) vs. choppy editing. (more frantic movements)

- Life vs. death.

- Attacker vs. victims. (high angle vs. low angle)

- Open space vs. enclosed space.

- Everyday vs. spiritual experiences.

Applying Levi-Strauss to the Opening of 'Die Hard.' [John McTrernan]

- Confident flyer vs. scared flyer.

- Family vs. alone.

- Older vs younger. (married vs. single)

- Reserved character vs. chatty character.

- Sunshine vs. dark elevator and car-park.

- No music vs. violins, tense music.

- Sweetness vs. anger.

- Marriage vs. career. (family vs. job)

- Husband vs. wife. (past vs. future)

- Hero vs. criminals (good vs. bad)

- High tech vs. old fashioned.

- Formally dressed vs. informally dressed.

- Home vs. away (NY vs. LA)

- Loads of veritcal camera movement.

- Repeated motifs eg. photos.

- Repeated phrases.

- Repeated actions.

2. Applying Barthes to 'Rear Window.' [Hitchcock]

Action Code: Man wakes up in flat, people wake up on surrounding balconies, man starts to shave, woman dances.

Semantic Code: Man sees woman from his window dancing in her underwear.

Enigma Code: Why are people sleeping on their balconies? Why is the man's leg in a cast? Why all the old photos?

Referential Code: 'Screenplay by MJ Hayes' 'Directed by Alfred Hitchcock'

Symbolic Code: Male character may symbolise mental instability?

3. i) What forms can opening sequences take? Can you list the conventional features of opening sequences?

Opening sequences generally feature some sort of disruption/a hint at how the equilibrium will be affected to reel in the audience and to ensure they will carry on watching the film. They also feature the main characters - the protagonist and the antagonist, most importantly. Throughout most opening sequences, music is usually played in the background which sets the mood for the rest of the movie. For example, in 'Legally Blonde' an upbeat song was played in the background whereas in 'Seven' more tense music was played, clearly showing the difference in genre between the two films. Text is always featured in opening sequences too, displaying information about the actors, director etc.

ii) What narrative functions of opening sequences can you identify?

Opening sequences have a number of narrative functions:

• To introduce the main character/characters to the audience
• To establish a narrative structure
• To grab the audience's attention and keep them interested in the rest of the movie to come
• To establish the genre and mood/tone of the film
• To establish the audience's expectations of the film
• To introduce key iconography

iii) What do audiences gain from watching the opening sequences?

Audience's gain a large amount of knowledge from opening sequence's alone - they get a hint at events to come as well as who these events involve (character[s] shown) and what the key themes in the movie will be. (eg. romance, crime etc) The opening sequence is what draws the audience in - providing it is successful, the audience expect the rest of the movie to be just as good. They also gain knowledge about the area in which the film will be set.

iv) What do film-makers gain from including an opening sequence?

By including an effective opening sequence, film-makers gain control over their audience. It can hook the audience in and encourage them to watch the whole film. The sequence leads the audience to have many questions about the plot, the characters and the events to come making them want the answers to their questions. Sometimes, film-makers use opening sequences to mislead the audience so the twist at the end of the movie is effective - this is more common in horror movies such as Saw, The Hills Have Eyes etc.

Proppian Analysis of The Lion King.

Synopsis:

A young lion prince is born (Simba), thus making his uncle Scar the second in line to the throne. Scar plots with the Hyenas to kill King Mufasa and Prince Simba, thus making himself king. The king is killed and Simba is led to believe by Scar that it was his fault, and so flees the kingdom in shame. After years of exile he is persauded to return home to overthrow the usurper and claim the kingdom as his own thus completing "Circle of Life." [www.imdb.com]

Identified Character Types:

The Villain - Scar (evil uncle of Simba)

The Donor - Rafiki (all-knowing monkey)

The Helper(s) - Timone and Pumba (Friends who discover and look after Simba)

The Princess - Nala (Simba's childhood sweetheart)

Her Father - not mentioned

The Dispatcher - Nala (makes problems in Prideland known to Simba and convinces him to return)

The Hero - Simba (ultimately returns to Prideland and overthrows Scar)

False Hero - Scar (does not try to marry princess but tries to run Prideland)

Analysis of Board Game:

In our board game we identified all of these characters and their character types were shown in the following ways:

- The main image on our board game was of Rafiki in the middle with the words "What will your fate be?" below him, showing that he is the all knowing donor.

- If you land on a square with Scar of the Hyenas, you either miss a go, go back spaces or get hurt, which happens in the film.

- If you land on Timone and Pumba, they take you across a bridge and help you progress through the game, as they do in the film.

- If you land on Nala, she can help you go forward a few spaces and the game ends with the player marrying her.

- Half way through the game you return to the Prideland and must miss a go if you land on a particular square to restore it.

There were a few other outcomes from landing on certain squares but those mentioned above were the most important.

Examples of Functions in Lion King:

- Villain attempts to decieve hero with trickery: Scar leads Simba to believe he is at fault for Mufasa's death.

- Hero decides on counteraction: Simba decides to return and restore Prideland.

- Villain defeated: Simba defeats Scar and returns to thrown.

- True hero recognised: Simba is king.

- Hero marries and ascends throne: Simba marries Nala and is king.

Evaluation of Propp's Theory:

When comparing Vladimir Propp's theory to The Lion King, we found it challenging to identify all of the functions, partly because the theory is so old [20's] and because not all of the character types were identified [eg. Nala's Father] and some character's doubled up as two types of character. [eg. Nala - princess and dispatcher.] Propp's theory is that of a Russian Folk Tale after all and due to the fact that his theory is now outdated, more recent film does not conform to all of his ideas.

DYM Equilibrium + Disruption Homework Task

1. Who are the agents: the protogonist (the main hero who propels the narrative forward) and antagonist (opposing agent).

2. Describe the Equilibrium. How is it represented? What kind of camera shots can you identify? (e.g establishing shots to create a sense of space or use of CUs/cutaways to emphasise particular objects/characters faces). Pick out 2 or 3 examples. Describe the mise-en-scene: what meanings to the props/costumes/lighting/framing carry?

The protagonist in this is obviously played by ashton kutcher - in the beginning we see him as the hero going through a major struggle and we can tell that the storyline will be centered around him and his personal struggles. We can't tell who the main antagonist is in the opening sequence but the character 'George' is shown to be a bad character, one who inflicts pain on the hero when he's a child.

3. Is the Disruption or Disequilibrium introduced or hinted at? (e.g the serial killer in "Seven" is introduced in the title sequence).

The equilibrium of the story is not shown until two minutes into the film - this is because the effect of the disruption is shown to be taking place at the very beginning. I will talk about the disruption in further detail in my next answer.

After the second minute, the equilibrium is shown to be of a young boy and his mother living together contently. The establishing shot is a wide shot of the street on which they live during the daytime. The setting seems quite normal with children cycling and the young boy playing with his dog. The focus is on the relationship between the mother and her son

There's plenty of shot-reverse-shot between the mother and her son and a normal sequence of events happen. The mother is even shown to take her son to school. It is at this point that disequilbrium is hinted at.

The first two minutes of the film show the effects of a major disruption in the movie that the audience have not been shown yet. The main character is shown to be distressed and in a hospital of some sort, trying to hide from other people showing that he may be in some sort of trouble or danger. We do not know why he is here yet but we get further disequilibrium hinted at later on in the clip.

When the mother picks up her son from school, the teacher is shown to be distressed and we establish that the child has been drawing disturbing pictures at school. We are then shown the mother taking her son to an institution etc and we know that things are going to get worse.

Other disrupting events are shown during this opening snippet too - lots of information is revealed very quickly about the hero's disturbing childhood. (Eg. Knife incident at 5:39, Video incident 7:20 onwards)4. Are there any visual/verbal/aural clues that hint at what the hero's journey might be? (e.g having to solve the murders within a time-limit of seven days in "Seven")

At the very beginning the fact that the hero is in a hospital of some sort hints that his journey might be to do with a personal physical/mental health issue. This is backed up by the title sequence at the beggining where the words 'The Butterfly Effect' are written with an x-ray of a brain in the background.

We get the hint that this will be a journey which he will spend many years on as we are taken back 'thirteen years earlier' telling the audience that they are about to see how and why the events shown at the very beginning of the clip happened.5. From your knowledge of the film, how will the equilibrium be restored and what will be the new equilibrium?

The equilibrium will change a number of times as the hero will change the outcome of his future more than once by going back in time and handling certain events differently. The final equlibrium will involve the hero going back to his childhood and pushing away the person that he cares about the most in order to better her future. The new equilibrium will involve the hero and his love barely knowing eachother or being involved with eachother.

BLK Continuity Exercise Homework

- To begin with, an establishing shot, a wide shot is used to show the people in the living room and shows the audience that the characters are in the same geographic space.
- Between 0:04 and 0:11 shot-reverse-shot is used during the conversation between the two women.
- Around 0:48 match-on-action helps the shots flow when a party popper is shown to be pulled in one shot and when in the next shot, the confetti pops out as though no time has passed between shots.
- At 1:01 a long high angle shot shows all the characters in the location, informing the audience of their positions in relation to one another and their surroundings.
- Throughout the conversation, there is plenty of shot-reverse-shot is used to show reactions from different characters etc.
- The 180 degree rule is followed too. I noticed that throughout the sequence the camera never goes behind Julia Roberts or the red-headed woman.

BLK 'Accident' Evaluation Homework

1. What did you think was the point to the activity?
The main aim of this exercise was to learn about continuity, how to create it and how film is affected when continuity rules are broken. We also had to learn to construct a sequence with only six shots, making us see what important things needed to be included and what would be a waste.

2. In regard to your finished sequence, what worked well?
The brief told us to use six shots - this was successful and our finished sequence clearly shows six shots. We included a whole range of shots in our piece including a wide shot, mid-shot, over the shoulder shot and a close up. The action-reaction part also worked well thanks to the use a cutaway.

3. What w0uld you aim to improve about your sequence?The establishing wide shot was far too short - we should have made this longer in my opinion. The transition from shot 1 to 2 also appears to be a bit jumpy and I would have liked this to have been smoother. We also broke the 180 degree rule as the camera mvoes from Ella's left to her right, confusing the audience a little and making the sequence look unprofessional. We also struggled with the 'match on action' rule in between the shots where Ella punches Jess and where Ella's hand is shown to hit the pole. This looks extremely bad and needs editing. I also feel that before the punch, we should have had a shot-reverse-shot between Ella and Jess.
4. What did you learn from doing this activity?
By making mistakes and breaking a number of continuity rules, I learnt the importance of them and how clumsy filming can seriously mess up your film. I also learnt about establishing shots, shot-reverse-shots and the importance of match on action and how it is vital that it looks like no time has passed in between shots so that the scene flows well.

DYM Homework Notes

A Comparison of Two Opening Sequences.

LEGALLY BLONDE:

- Woman brushes hair, gets ready, ECU's.
- VLS of woman cycling, plenty of WS so we can see scenery.
- Mainly character is extremely girly.
- Expect romance, comedy. 'homecoming queen' etc.
- Loads of group shots, expect it to be about students and school life.
- WS show perfect surroundings, expect a storyline that's very fun, not too intense.
- Plenty of buildup to main character, Elle. Lots of pink etc, comes accross as ditsy but well liked by her friends.
- Perhaps 'too perfect?' We expect something might disrupt this very soon.

SEVEN:
- Main character, male, black, 50's? Smartly dressed.
- Expect drama straightaway, thriller, low key lighting.
- MS, LS, WS, dingy surroundings visible.
- Plenty of slow zooms, build up tension.
- Expect crime based, ECU's of film strip, articles, evidence etc.
- Ordinary beginning, man getting up and getting dressed. Can tell he's a detective, ECU's of his possessions, very organised.
- Straight into storyline, "crime of passion." Blood etc visible.
- Det. Mills clearly introduces himself. Main focus on two very different characters. One is laid back, younger, less experienced (Pitt). Other is more alone, bitter. (Freeman)
- Expect movie to take place over seven days, the number seven will be a very important number. Day of week appears.

BLK Homework Evaluation

1. Describe your shot and identify in what way it could be seen as representing 'horror'.

- The shot is a MS of a caucasian teenage female directly addressing the camera.

- The shot is quite dark with a small light source coming from the far right, leaving half of the female's face in darkness. The light source is artificial.

- The female teenager has pale white skin and long mouse brown hair. She is wearing all black although her clothes are overshadowed.

- She seems to be tightly gripping the bars of the gate in front of her, attempting to look through the bars. She is standing still and looking intensely at the camera.

- In the background a brick wall is visible as well as the gate in front of the female, although most of the surroundings are in darkness due to the lack of light.

- Darkness is usually associated with evil, leading the onlooker to believe that the shot is from a scary film.

- The female's face is partly in darkness, leading the onlooker to wander if she has a secret or a dark past.

2. What did you actually do to achieve the effect?

- Firstly, we ensured all other light sources were off and we closed the curtains, ensuring our surroundings were as dark as possible so the pad-light would be as effective as possible.

- After experimenting with the pad-light, we closed the doors over the light a little as when they were completely open, there was far too much light on the female's face.

- To achieve the half shadow effect on the female's face, the light was held above her head on her left side (right hand side on screen)

- We had to be careful to ensure the light did not end up in the actual photo, and in the end we captured a successful photo.

3. What is successful about your shot?

- The fact that half of the female's face is in darkness gives the shot a more eerie feel, as though there are dark secrets to be discovered, making the shot look scarier.

- I think that the surroundings look convincingly real (even though the shot was taken indoors with stage props)

- The female looks scary and is obviously the main character of the 'movie.' It is also obvious what type of character she is (dark, possibly mentally disturbed) due to the use of lighting, props and darkness.

4. What would you do differently in hindsight?

- On the gate, you can see on the top left hand side there's a piece of string hanging that might distract the onlooker. If we had paid more attention to detail, we would have removed this.

- There's also a small light in the very top right hand corner of the shot which we would have removed.

- I might have put the female in a short sleeved top rather than a long sleeved hoodie, personal preference.