Homework 3 DYM - Title Sequence Sound Analysis

I chose to analyse the sound in the opening title sequence of Forrest Gump: http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/forrest-gump/

Background Music/ Sound&Vision Editing

• The music is very gentle and soft, which matches the characteristics of the pure white feather on screen.
• The slow pace of the movie helps the audience establish the genre (not an action movie!)
• Towards the beginning, as the music gets higher in pitch, the feather rises and as the pitch lowers, the feather floats down
• There is a crescendo as the feather on screen gets closer to Forrest on the bench
• Still retains a sense of peacefulness even as the speed of music picks up and gets louder
• It slows down and gets quieter again once Forrest has put the feather in his suitcase

Dialogue & Sound Effects

• The lack of any form dialogue helps to maintain the calm atmosphere and mood created, we have a strong focus on the journey of the feather and the names on screen
• The only sounds other than the background music are diagetic: the closing of his suitcase, and the bus arriving. They both seem basic but symbolic, something closing and being shut away, alongside the new beginning. With those two sounds, the audience can begin to form a story already.

I think the sound and especially the focus on the background music definitely compliments the scene, and reflects the rest of the movie.

Homework 2 DYM - Barthes Five Codes

The Devil Wears Prada Opening Scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNfEHIcWQYM 

Enigma Code

• Who are all these girls? Which is the main character?
• Why is the way they dress so relevant?
• Where is she going?
• The slow reveal of everything with CUs on certain body parts builds up the enigma
• Why does she sit flicking through some newspaper articles? What are they?

Action Code

• The girls are all in parallel with each other and are getting ready to go out, most probably to work?
• The main girl goes to kiss her boyfriend in her bed goodbye. If they're already together at the beginning, what is going to happen to them in the middle? What drama will occur?
• Why have they made such an effort of contrasting the protagonist with the other well-maintained women in the opening scene?

Semiotic Code

• Lingerie, make-up - Sexiness, care about appearance, appeal to men
• Jewelry - Expensive, wealthy, glamorous, feminine
• Chapstick - Practical, unfeminine, bland
• Bagel - carbohydrates, not on diet
• Subway - Common, normal, not very well-of

Cultural Code

• New York skyline is easily recognisable
• Old Phone - not a modern girl, not technological

Symbolic Code

• The well-dressed sexy women in contrast with the protagonist could highlight how different she is from them, not a normal feminine woman. It could be because she is friends with all of them, or has the same characteristics and just dresses differently? This one scene shows that how you look really does make a difference to people's opinions of you which reflects all the themes of the movie.

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?