Homework 2 BLK - Film-Making Conventions and Cultural Codes

I chose a scene from near the beginning of Disney Pixar's Up showing Carl's morning routine. It is a family movie so the themes have to be portrayed quite clearly.

Film-Making Conventions

• CU of alarm clock and side table – we can guess whose room this might be before seeing him
• LS room to establish the setting
• Extremely slow pace to reflect his age - 27 seconds on stairlift, long pause before getting out of bed
• PAN following him getting out of bed – we know we’ll be following him in the movie
• Organisation within the frame (lots of sharp angles, nothing out-of-place, in patterns) reflects his structured and repetitive daily routine
• HA, Carl's POV breakfast on table
• Frame within a frame – he’s trapped, nowhere to go in life, no purpose anymore
• CU – we can see his (lack of) emotion
• CUTS used – not in a fast paced way because action in the shots is slow
• In the shot when retrieving his hat he slowly creeps into the frame
• A ELS at the end shows the surroundings and puts his life into perspective to the rest of the world
• Orchestral music, used for comedic effect when door doesn't open 

Cultural Codes

• Dull, grey, pale colours - makes him seem old, meaningless and alone
• Glasses, walking stick, stair-lift, pills, cracking of back, hearing aid – signify old age and weakening
• blue&white striped pyjamas very stereotypical 'old man' pyjamas
• Early morning – 6 o'clock alarm
• Bran - bland and dull
• Cleaning & organisation ( bird ornament and table layout) – lack of things to do, killing time
• Amount of locks – unsafe, vunerable, keeps to himself
• All links to a stereotypical grumpy old man

Homework 1 DYM - Film Still Analysis

The shot I have chosen is from the final scene of My Sister's Keeper, a film I only managed to watch quite recently and found exceptionally moving (cried the whole way through!)

• The lighting in the shot is natural and bright, you can tell it's a beautiful day and the sun is shining. This contrasts with a lot of the other lighting in the movie, for example the high-key yet dull hospital lights. 
• The CU framing works well as we can see the joy on Kate's face very clearly and her positive energy beams through the screen to the audience, it truly is a scene of relief from the sorrows of the rest of the movie. The bubbles in the shot almost create a frame within a frame. However, instead of giving a sense of claustrophobia like this shot might usually do, the blurring of the bubbles helps to give us a sense of safety and security. 
•  From the use of the bubbles we can connote a sense of childhood which is what Kate is trying to hold on to as her life is slipping away. This shines through strongly in this shot and is aided by the use of beautiful colours and her laughter. The way her head is tilted upwards and a slight low angle is used shows that she is in control, fearless and above all, hopeful. 

Although just from looking at this still you can't tell that the rest of the film will be so sad and passionate, we can assume from the woolly hat covering her bald head that she has been through chemotherapy. After noticing this, we automatically begin to ask questions. What is the seriousness of her illness? Who is she with, loved ones? How can she seem so strong when she must have been through a lot? 

Homework 1 BLK - Film Still and Evaluation

The genre that we selected was a thriller because we realised that we could create some very interesting shots with the limited settings we had. The film still we captured was of an actress buried deep amongst the leaves of a bush with the light hitting her in a haunting way, the image combines various effects which could give the audience hints as to what the genre is.

• Although the shot is a close-up, because we can only see certain features of the girl, we get the same intense feeling that an extreme close-up would provide us with. 
• We made sure the leaves surrounded the girl to form a frame within a frame and therefore a sense of being trapped, this highlights the great sense of enigma that the still creates for the audience. 
• A sense of enigma seems to be a frequent occurrence in thrillers due to the use of weird and unusual shots which aren't always clear. The actress is slightly out of focus, which could be seen as more haunting; it is blurring your vision as an on-looker and making you less aware of what is happening.
• Another convention of thrillers is a strong use of contrasting light and colours to make the shots more extreme. This shot fulfills this by using very bright leaves with darkness in the background. We ensured the beam of sunlight shone directly onto the side of the actress' facial features. 
• Along with the technical codes, the expression on the actress' face was important in representing the genre. She is looking up in an unnerving and unnatural way, reflecting themes of the genre.

I feel that our shot was successful because it really looks like a mysterious shot you might get in a thriller and the mise-en-scene was chosen effectively. It has a strong sense of enigma which helps portray the fact it is part of a flowing narrative and therefore a film still, which is also what we wanted to achieve.

In hindsight, I would have liked to try some other positionings of the actress so that different features were in the light. If we had more time, I think it might have been interesting to try a male actor doing the same shot as well, just to see how it differs.