Creating Our Genre- "The Awesomest Action Movie EVER!"

Our task was to use the typical conventions of the action genre and employ them in our short sequence. From the very beginning of this task we were thinking about the conventions, whether it was the plot, camera angles, music or editing etc... Personally the challenge for me, was using editing as a convention when we were stringing together our sequence either in real time or shrinking time.

Plot

• Nationality of enemy as Russian (connected to stereotypical use of Russian villains in action movies)
• Actual use of the "goodies" side and "baddies" side which is the back bone of almost all action movies
• Use of chase (typical convention is a car chase, however this was obviously unachievable)

Music

• Use of tension building music
• Powerful, guitar-heavy music with a clear and quick tempo- usually main theme for action movie (e.g. our main theme was taken from the action movie "Wanted") 

Mise-En-Scene

• Use of dark business colours
• Clothes that depict the characters to "mean business" (although I think we could've depicted this better through use of suits as costume, however this was not our priority and due to our confusing schedule of filming and focusing on other conventions) 
• Use of work/office environment/usually areas of high profile - large urban areas 
• Use of typical action props- Gun 

Camera + Lighting

• High and low angles used to depict power + status 
• Shaky camera usage
• Use of shadow during shot of the head "baddie" (this is a cliché often used where only a part of the leader of the "baddies" is shown- shadow used to hide the rest of his appearance) 

Editing

• Fairly quick editing pace used
• Special effects used to depict flashback
• Added emphasised gun shot effect

The Editing Process: Using Final Cut Pro

Trying Final Cut Pro for the first time would've been a nightmare had we not had a couple lessons to research specific areas of Final Cut Pro to help us get started with our editing. We found that this information was very useful to learn before coming to the editing stage of our Preliminary task, and that initially, we were referencing to the handouts and power points whenever we forgot certain aspects of using Final Cut Pro. 

Operating Final Cut Pro

<Toolbar

     -Arrow is the select tool. As any other select tool, this allows you to select certain clips to move etc...

    

  - The fourth tool from the bottom is called the razor or blade. By selecting this you can cut        any desired clip anywhere. 

  - Finally, the magnifying glass tool allows you to expand your view of the timeline as well as shrink it. The Advantage of this is that you can be as precise as possible should you need to make cuts in very specific areas of the clip. Simultaneously, if the sequence you have created is extremely long, by shrinking the zoom of the timeline you will be able to see your entire sequence of clips in a small amount of space, helping you determine where certain areas of your sequence are. One common misconception is that by zooming in using this tool, you are expanding time, which is obviously not true, as I have already explained; this tool simply allows you to see your sequence at a larger or smaller scale. 

                                                     Layout of Final Cut Pro

- The bottom rectangular shape is the timeline. This box, as you can see consists of layers- in this particular image there are five layers in total, the single layer above the thick grey line will contain the visual part of you clip and any layer below this line is a sound layer. 

Layers are arranged by priority (top being priority), this means that if you had two layers perfectly aligned with each other that the top layer will play first. Say you had a top layer with one minute's worth of footage and below you had a layer with two minute's worth; once the top layer would finish playing the second would start where the first finished. 

If you want to mute any sound layer or alter the volume then you click on the green button on the left side of the timeline with the speaker sign on it.

-The last box on the top right-hand corner is called the canvas. This allows you to view a clip you're importing, a clip in your sequence or your whole sequence. 

-The box in the middle is the viewer. Here you select the area of your imported footage you want to include in your sequence, You do this using in and out points. by tapping the "i" key you add an in point and by tapping the "o" key you select and out point. In between these two points is your desired section you wish to import into your sequence- you can see this in the image above in between the two arrows. The viewer also allows you to add certain filters to your footage and edit it in other visual ways (e.g. slowing the pace, quickening the pace etc...).

- Finally the box in the top left-hand corner is where you store your footage on Final Cut Pro. Here you store all your imported footage and sequences in a "bin". 

As with any piece of technology, it takes a little time for you to grow accustomed to the way it works. The same goes for Final Cut Pro. Knowing the basic information really helped us, and I think it would've taken longer to edit our sequence trying to guess what tool did what had we not learnt this before. I found (and I think the rest of my group would agree) the importing of the video most annoying. Whilst we were importing the footage, during the change between two different clips on the tape, Final Cut Pro would sometimes take too long separating the different clips, during this our footage would still be playing and as a result it would not load what it had just missed. As a result some of our shorter clips were either missing or cut even shorter. This is difficult to explain, but the point is that it caused us to take longer re-importing footage. Other than this, I don't remember any particular problems that got in the way of our editing process. Not knowing everything about Final Cut Pro is of course a disadvantage, because there was so much we wanted to do to our footage, but the pressures of time and limitations of what we knew on Final Cut held us back from achieving this. 

                                                    

The Awesomest Action Movie Ever!

Our final edit of our Preliminary task, based on the script "Pop Goes"

Info:
Directed & Filmed by - Cary Banks, Keeley Burridge, Lorna Edwards and Victoria Paul
Genre Given- Action
Key Prop- Gun
Editing by- Keeley Burridge, Lorna Edwards, Cary Banks and Victoria Paul

Representation- Female appearance in the media (Marilyn Monroe)

Norma Jean Baker

Born Norma Jean Baker and died as Marilyn Monroe at the age of 36, she is arguably the most identified female  actress and performer there ever was. We studied the representation of female performers in the lesson however, I wanted to do a post on a particular actress I thought was one of the victims of this representation and someone I admire also. I chose Norma for this post on representation because I thought what she went through with all the wrong "dumb blonde" roles, the unwanted attention and the "sex-bomb" reputation, Norma is an example of the classic representation of women in the media. Although through time, the media's perspective has morphed into different representations of women, some of the previous typical representations that Norma herself faced still linger in today's representation of females in the media.

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn in "The Prince and the Showgirl" (1957)

Marilyn's story was sold as "the beautiful girl who got discovered by chance" hiding the reality of how much work and effort she put into being noticed. This was the first step for Norma, and she soon understood that to do this she had to sell herself.
 Norma started out as a model & making adult movies, because although Hollywood made it out to be this way, it was quite rare you'll get noticed by chance.
Women at the time in the entertaining business were expected to be "pretty" in order to be successful in entertainment- particularly in singing and acting. After Norma signed her contract with Fox, she was told to change her birth name of Norma Jean Baker to Marilyn Monroe, to make it more memorable and appealing to the public. She bleached her hair following the advice of Fox and had minor plastic surgery carried out. All of this trouble was put into enhancing her appearance rather than her acting skills. It was Marilyn's choice to pick a mentor  helping her achieve her full potential. This alone displays  just how look-driven the media is; particularly with females, as an attractive actress also meant someone to look up to for the female public and a "perfect woman" to dream of being with for the male public.

 Throughout Marilyn's acting roles, she was expected to bring nothing more to a role other than her obvious attractiveness and sexuality, which affected Marilyn's life on a large scale because she wanted to be taken as a serious actress rather than a woman who's famous for her looks. Most of her roles displayed a weak-minded, pretty female who fell for the handsome and dominating "prince" figure. Constant battles with the studio took place for better acting roles and more creative control. Despite all of this Marilyn would settle for nothing below a good performance in any role she got, pressurising herself to be the perfect performer and woman everyone expected her to be. Although now the media's representation of women has changed now, appearance still means a great deal.

Significance of Lighting & Colour (continued)

The three main sources of Lighting use on a film set

 The Key Light is the main source of lighting.

The Back Light's use helps to replicate the lighting of objects/subjects we see with our own eyes- to make the subject appear more "rounded" so to speak

Finally the Filler Light creates a softer effect on the subject by literally subtly filling in any harsh shadow or use of harsh lighting, it also helps the subject/object to appear more "rounded" in addition to the back light.

Some scenes in films require a certain filter to achieve a particular effect a director is going for. I'm assuming that this can be achieved either during filming with certain camera settings or (more professional alternative) during the editing process. Some filters may depict a particular emotion/physical feeling such as contentment or coldness. 

Angling of Lighting

Top Lighting- can be used to depict glamour of a star, could depict  weakness of a character or single a character out to appear as a victim

Back Lighting - Source comes from behind subjects/objects. This can create silhouettes if used extensively as shown below. 

Underlighting - Source comes from below subject/object. This can create a menacing look, depict danger and show the subject to be of high importance/status.



Representation of Teen Drama's in the Media

During the lesson we were given an example of a Teenage drama (Skins), for which we commented on the representation.

extract- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shjkid9qw3Y

Of course this being a teen drama, it's audience is clearly targeted at young adults. This being so, the audience needs characters to whom they can relate and recognize similar personalities in reality; such as the geek or school nerd, the popular guy/girl, the rebel etc... These are examples of characters stereotypically that may be displayed in teen dramas.

In the extract given the main characters are obviously of an age group close to that of the audience, again, to make the characters relatable for the audience.  The location or situation displayed in the extract involves what seems to be a night club, which is a location associated with the audience watching further maintaining their attention. The gender types in the extract are obviously a combination of male/female, however there is a shot within the sequence of a female participating in the fight part of the extract, going against the stereotypical portrayal of females to be the weak figures who aren't expected to be the participants of a fight as much as observers. In terms of the class and status of the group of adolecents in the extract, seem to come from families with a standard income judging from the decoration of the area where the party is being held, and the costume worn, which doesn't appear to be particularly expensive.However the fact that a venue such as the one shown in the clip is the location of this party shows that the family/parents can afford to pay for such a venue, therefore aren't in a grave financial problem.

Significance of Lighting & Colour

The Hedgehog (Le Hérisson)
I thought throughout this film there was a strong use use of indoor natural lighting as well as artificial, to replicate the probable lighting of a Parisian apartment. The characters of Paloma and Madame Michelle  discover similarities between them. Paloma is a girl who feels trapped into a destiny she doesn't want to realize, and Madame Michelle lives a quiet unnoticed life hiding herself from the world, behind the shadow of a widowed janitor, until their paths cross. 

It seemed to me that in all shots of Madame Michelle's apartment, the lighting used is very obviously artificial and high-key as you would expect it to be, it appears to make her skin very pale and tired looking, except for when we finally discover her "hiding place" which is her personal library. In this particular room, there is the use of the diagetic & low key lighting of a single lamp. This light is very warm looking as you can see from the movie still above, which is quite a significant change compared to the other areas of her apartment. I see this room as being the heart of Michelle's character. This is the place she comes to to hide from the rest of the world (like the hedgehog she's compared to by Paloma) to be herself through reading about other worlds. The use of low key lighting reflects her reluctance to share much of her secret place to others, simultaneously as showing the small yet strong glowing warmth of her true, elegant character that is costumed in prickly spikes and unseen by most people. It also gives her apartment for once, an actual warm, homely feel.

Becoming Jane 
I picked this movie to briefly analyse for lighting as I felt, whilst watching it- the brightness was one of they key aspects that I liked about it and that stood out to me my first time watching the film. 
In general, I thought the lighting was designed to replicate that of a natural, rural environment in the English country side through the use of diagetic lighting, as this is where Jane Austen lived during the age she is presented in the movie. As a result the bright and raw looking lighting seemed to also brighten the characters faces and highlight rosy refreshed faces living in such a peaceful and country area. There was also quite a repetative use of low key lighting creating an effect of light and shadow in many of the scenes. However, although the lighting remains fairly natural throughout the movie, at certain points in the movie particularly when the characters are going through something emotionally difficult the brightness of it seems to depict a cold and still atmosphere rather than the simple fresh atmosphere of the country side of Hampshire- the colours of the clothing play a vital role in this as well.

Clip extract 1- Insult of the smiling face 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnEKQD1fS20&feature=channel&list=UL

Within this scene, the audience is led to believe the lighting source are the candles scattered around the room and centre piece to the table. However it seemed to me, that there is a use of overhead lighting here, due to the unusual brightness of the guests at the table in contrast to the other areas of the dining room. The purpose of this could be to replicate the probable other source of lighting in the scene- perhaps a chandelier, but also to draw attention to the guests at the table. I think this attracts the eye naturally to their faces through the use of low-key overhead lighting and therefore to the conversation and reactions of each character to one another. Also, after watching the special features of this movie, it is mentioned by the costume designer how the colour choices for the costume were made to stand out or at least not blend in with the background colours, further drawing the viewers attention to the characters and maintain their visual interest. 

Clip extract 2 - Jane and Tom Elope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOMIZUsKlmg&feature=relmfu

I thought there was great significance within this clip of lighting, particularly the section of the extract where the sun is rising as the characters Jane and Tom run away. Although the time of morning they eloped would make sense realistically, the way the director has chosen to have the diagetic light source of the sun in the shot sequence shows significance of the two lead characters- Jane and Tom having another chance at being togther, as previously there was a scene potentially desroying all hope the audience had, and now the sun is symbolism for that hope rising again. It also shows quite a transition between the lighting within the Austen house and the lighting outside where "the love of her life" waits. During the sequence of shots where Jane is seen packing her belongings there is quite a lot of shadow in contrast to the bright and hopeful lighting of the following sequence. The fact that the sun is so bright, results in almost a silhouette outline of both characters as they run away, creating a very romantic use of back lighting.

Short Action Film- Filming Diary

Day 1 of Shooting 
Shots filmed : 2
Camera Woman: (Me), Victoria 
Use of: Steady Cam
As this was our first time filming, it was expected (for me) from the beginning of the day that we wouldn't get many shots recorded. However we managed to completely finish our detailed storyboard, sort out character roles as well as prepare ourselves properly for efficient filming thanks to Mr. Wall and Mr. Lucas. We automatically opted to shoot from the beginning section of our script, which made sense also for the reason that that shot in particular was short and achievable in the short amount of time we had.  Also this was our "official" first time with the camera so we were still learning how to work it in addition to the correct film terms to use. Despite this I think its safe to say we all felt pleased with the shot we got and it pretty much matched what we wrote into the story board.

Day 2 of Shooting
Shots filmed: 2
Camera Woman: Keeley Burridge
Use of: Steady Cam
We planned to do more during this filming session than we managed to, however we were told that this is a natural problem that arises during all or most filming productions. There were two factors that affected this; one- we wanted to achieve as close as possible to what we had in mind so it took some time getting the shot exactly how we wanted it and two- at the beginning of the lesson I think we were quite disorganised. We decided at the start to shoot other scenes to what we ended up shooting, but this is only because what we intended to shoot involved class rooms and there were no appropriate classrooms available at the time, therefore as a result we lost around twenty minutes of our filming session. The shots that we achieved I think were exactly what I, at least pictured in my mind, and my group members were pleased with the result as well. We actually. got to incorporate a specific technique we learned during the production day- focus of camera. The effect we achieved focus on the texture of the carpet as well as the shoes moving within the frame, I thought this added an aesthetic point of interest compared with the second shot, which was solely focused on the shoes. As we learned on the production day, focus is one of a few basic camera adjustments directors use to capture the attention of the audience, or focus it on a specific area of a frame.

Day 3 of Shooting
Shots filmed: 5
Camera Woman(en): Cary Banks/Keeley Burridge
Use of: Shaky Cam
I would agree that this filming session was the most successful so far as we planned in advance exactly what shots we were going to film and decided to take advantage of the wet whether conditions, in addition to saving time finding a class room and simply using the window of our classroom to film, as this was all we really needed and would not affect the continuity of the film when we'll film in another room later on. One of two shots were successful for the establishing shots we filmed, which was quite difficult to manage as half our group was outside and we somehow needed to communicate when we would shoot; so we created colour cards to signal to one another- which were really useful, and without which the process of filming would've been much slower. As with the other shooting sessions, we confirmed the shots we would be shooting using our story board, and then discussed the shot we would use and the movement of the camera. It was during this session that we began to strongly consider the use of shaky & steady cam and which would really be more appropriate for an action film. I think this session was also successful in the sense that we were following our story board, yet the conventions of an action film were slipping from our minds, this session was sort of a wake up call in terms of conventions, which we've become more aware of now. We also put into practice, the use of zoom in an impulsive shot, which I thought was really successful  It will also give us a variety of shots to choose and alternate between, thus later reflecting one of the conventions of an action film we researched- a fast editing pace. 

Day 4 of Shooting
Shots flimed:5/6
Camera Woman(en):Lorna Edwards/Keeley Burridge
Use of: Shaky/Steady Cam

First part of idalogue- Lorna/Vicky
Clock/corridor
We managed to move onto filming the first part of our dialouge scene this filming hour.
We also impulsively added in more shots to prolong the arrival of one of the lead characters in order to create tension. This theme alone, we thought, runs strongly through any action movie that we've come across. We portrayed this theme through a shot of a clock ticking to show the passing of time, which makes the audience more aware of how much time has passed, making its passing seem longer thus creating tension. 

Day 5 of Shooting
Shots filmed: 3
Camera Woman: Keeley Burridge
Use of: Shaky Cam/Steady Cam
During this filming session we were around about the middle of the dialogue part of the scene. However I hadn't worn the required clothing for the scene being filmed, and this did pose some problems as to what we could shoot, nevertheless our group was successful in dealing with this problem by filming the dialogue of the other lead character where we put the conventional low angle shots into use, and the standard over the shoulder shots. However, looking back on it now, I think the continuity of our piece was affected as the room layout was different to the filmed in last time, and I think we also made the mistake by filming over the wrong shoulder. In a series of over the shoulder shots one subject must be filmed from the right and the other from the left, or else the series will create the a sense of confusion as the camera's line of perspective will not be straight but diagonal. Towards the end of the session, we decided impulsively (again) to add in shots for a flash back sequence (which we discussed, however did not draft into a final version of the story board), as they would not only enhance the narrative but also add in some actual action- the flashback was of one of the lead characters running and a shooting taking place. I think these shots were crucial as they are what make our project an action film.

Day 6 of Shooting
Shots filmed: 4 
Camera Woman: Keeley Burridge
Use of: Steady Cam
We decided to film during our free time as we had fallen behind scedule, unfortunatly though to of our members weren't available to shoot, so we shot what we could without them. We finished the flash back sequence shots as well as getting more crucial dialogue shots.

Some Production Day Quotes

" I am the teller of the tale, not the creator of the story" 
                                   -British Director

" Meaning is limited by the tools we have available."                                                                                                                                                                        - G.Wall

"You can make a bad film from a good script, but you can never make a good film from a bad script"                 

 -G. Wall

Some quotes which I thought would be relevant during the filming of our short movie, and that I found quite interesting.

Significance of Sound (Atonement)

I personally found this movie to be quite a let down (plot wise), I was about a quarter of the way into the movie when I thought of turning it off. However, what prevented me from doing this was the interesting use of Mise-en-Scene, Shots and Sound. Despite the unbelievably depressing story line, my eyes were captivated by the methods the Director (Joe Wright) and co used to portray this story. The sound was a large part of this portrayal, and arguably for me- the most successful. 

Throughout the entire movie, the sound and various other factors presented this theme of motion; in the sense that, every time an event occurred which would later result to be the cause of the unfortunate future of these characters, the background music began to play. It would always begin softly by that one recurring note, then two layers could be heard and it built up until you heard this polyphonic texture of musical sounds, resembling a wheel spinning faster and faster- spinning the fates of the characters into reality as a result of small mistaken actions. A motion which could not be stopped or undone.
Another interesting use of sound was the typewriter, which comes back in snippets at certain parts of the movie. It is fist evident in the beginning of the movie.
Before I launch into further explanation of my two points- I decided to make a list of all the introductory sounds only within the first two minutes of the film, which you may compare to the link of the clip below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqjEXD0T5Lo   - Part 1

Atonement: Initial Sounds
-Nature sounds (birds etc...) Diagetic
-Typewriter (being wound up) Diagetic
- " "
- Typewriter typing, in sync with letters of movie title appearing on the screen Diagetic
- After establishing shot, the direction from which the typewriter sound is coming changes. As camera approaches the typewriter, sound grows louder to the same level of volume to what we heard in the opening credits. Diagetic
- Nature sounds continue- buzzing of a wasp singled out from those sounds Diagetic
- Music begins- single reccuring note, all other sounds continue Non- Diagetic music
- Page is pulled out from typewriter, and placed in a folder Diagetic - 2 musical layers are now heard Non- Diagetic
- From now on the musical layers build up, entwining with typewriter sounds to provide a rhythm.
(analysed until 2:01 mins in the clip)

These sounds not only support the reality of what is occurring in the visual frames we see before us, but also can foreshadow the future of what will occur in the story- only to be evident once the film is finished.
For example:

•    The typewriter sound is used (as I have already said) in certain parts throughout the entire film. The first we hear of it, is when the typing sounds are in sync with the letters of the title appearing on the screen. At the very end of the movie we discover that the little girl (Bryony) has been driven to write the truth about the events that happened during that summer onward as a result of guilt, through the medium of a book. This book is entitled "Atonement". When the sounds are typing out the title in the initial two minutes of the film, this could reflect Bryony beginning to write her novel. And as the typewriter sounds return throughout the movie, this could also reflect the events being written into her book as we see them happening on screen.
• We hear the sound of a wasp, buzzing against the window in the room, in the initial two minutes of the film also. This wasp sound is heard again at around 6: 18/6:19 mins into the clip above. The sound attracts Bryony's attention to the window, causing her to see something which she understands in the wrong way- this is one of the misunderstandings that causes an unfortunate future for both the characters seen by Bryony, later causing Bryony to feel guilty for her childish mistake. 
• Finally, as I have mentioned before;the polyphonic musical theme repeats itself along with the typewriter throughout certain parts in the movie. This presents the theme of motion as a means of reflecting the fates of the characters being constantly altered for the worse as a result of misconception. It presents the course of fate to be unstoppable through the theme of motion, only constantly progressing and spinning faster and faster into reality. The way music can reflect the theme of motion can also be supported by action within the frame at certain points. Below there is a link to part two of the film. I noted that when the character "Robbie" touched the water the spinning musical motif began again, to perhaps show that what had just occurred was an event that would weave their fates into unfortunate futures. Note how after this shot, there is the same shot of Bryony closing the window, as evident in the part 1. The musical layers thicken at the same time as they thickened in part 1 when her eyes flicked upward in the reflection in the mirror. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obpz-hZcQaM&feature=relmfu  -Part 2

My explination may appear confusing, this is only because the film is constructed of two perspectives of each event that Bryony misunderstands- her view (the way she saw it) and reality (the way it really occurred). The sound is a support tool used to tell both stories and evoke certain themes/emotions- for which I thought "the theme of motion" was the most relevant. This shows how sound can be used effectively in film. "Atonement" I believe is a perfect example. 

Key Terms learnt

Diagetic Sound - Sound that placed in order to appear that it is coming from the world of the film, for example- a girl walks into her room, closes the door and turns on her cd player- the noises created by her movement, the closing f the door and the sound of the cd player are all diagetic sounds coming from the world the character on the screen is in.

Non-Diagetic - Sound that is placed in the film for the purpose of adding to the atmosphere. The viewer knows that this sound does not come from the world of the characters on screen, this tends to be a musical score/soundtrack.

On Screen Sound - Diagetic sound that is coming from a source that can be seen in the frame on screen.

Off Screen Sound - Diagetic sound that is coming from a source that cannot be seen in the frame on screen e.g. the sound of a car crash whilst the camera films the character's reaction to this inside their house.

Parallel Sound - Sound that fits the action occurring on screen e.g. a fast paced song, heavy on guitar playing in a scene of a car chase.

Contrapuntal Sound- Sound that is the wrong fit for what is happening on screen. e.g. a positive pop song during a battle on screen.