ROUGH CUT - Coursework Short Film

ROUGH CUT IS HERE
Improvements Required: -Audio -Better lighting and messed up resolution, will be fixed -Re-shooting of scenes for better flow and pacing -Faster editing, intro too long.
Quality is poor due to change of sequence settings in file conversion - will make sure mistake isn't repeated. Wish to use a SLR camera to include 2 more shots.

Coursework: Test Footage 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU-xbJw6xqA
Simple test of making things appear. Added an opacity fade as it's almost being generated rather than just appearing. There is supposed to be a high pitched sound effect that plays as the mug phases into existence however after exporting from premiere, it doesn't play. Apparently it's a problem to do with H.264 files. If this problem is to occur during the final version of the film, I am going to have find a solution. I attempted two different angles, one with a transition effect. The first being a still camera sat in one place, the second being a fast pan.

How are the micro elements of film form used in the reaping scene to convey the following?

How are the micro elements of film form used in the reaping scene to convey the following?

-          The oppression of the citizens of District 12.

-          Analogies of historical oppressive regimes, especially in Nazi Germany.

-          Katniss’ character function as a hero.

What do you think is the intended emotional response to these scenes? How does the director convey this through the micro elements?

How are social groups represented in this scene?

What purpose does the scene serve in the narrative structure of the film?

Using the micro element, mise-en-scene, the oppression of the District 12 citizens is emphasized within the reaping scene. The most notable being the costume and makeup, there is a clear distinction between the District 12 citizens and those from the Capitol. The citizens are dressed in monotone, neutral colours whilst attempting their best to dress smart for the occasion but as District 12 is the poorest district out of them all, their clothes are not the best. Makeup is very minimal if even existent at all with the women having a natural look, perhaps to emphasize that any money spent within the district would be on the necessities such as food and clothing, rather than luxuries such as makeup. This is juxtaposed with the costumes of those from the Capitol, bright and extravagant colours, especially with the character “Effie” that is wearing a bright, noticeable purple with sharp, abrupt edges in her dress, mimicking the reddish-purple rose in her hair. In both her costume and makeup is a large prominence of purple, which typically represents royalty and power, the opposite of the citizens of District 12, especially Katniss who is contrasted when she is stood next to Effie on the stage. The meaning of oppression is created through the reminder that District 12 is much poorer than the other districts, let alone the Capitol through the juxtaposition in the costume.

Oppression is also manifested through the separation and use of social groups within the scene. The crowd at the reaping is separated into two, the male children on one side with the female children being on the other – parents being at the back of the crowd. This suggests that the capitol looks at the districts as databases of people that own certain attributes, rather than individuals. If a person is not a parent, under 18 and male or female, they’ll be submitted into the Hunger Games roster and expected to remain in a certain part of the crowd. The rich from the Capitol are higher up on a platform, above those from the districts, to symbolise “superiority” by speaking down to the district.

The two crowds are made separated and surrounded by “Peacekeepers”, a close analogy to that of Hitler’s forces that were responsible for control of those that were forced into camps during the end of World War 2. This is emphasised using costume and character expression. The peacekeepers are dressed in the same uniforms, making each one unrecognisable as individuals.

All that separates them is their tinted, transparent visor which is quite hard to see the person’s face directly in the sunlight, this uniform is changed in later films, completely removing all colour other than white and small sections of black with fully tinted visors.

The meaning of Oppression is also conjured with the film’s use of Cinematography. When the focus point is on the Capitol addressing the citizens of District 12, it’s typical that the camera will be placed in a high angle, or on stage looking down upon the citizens. Almost like the audience is placed within the viewing angle of the Capitol – looking down on District 12. This changes once Prim, Katniss’ sister, is called within the reaping. Now the camera is usually at eye level within the crowd, focusing on Prim or Katniss, this emphasizes that the audience is on District’s side and highlights Katniss more as the protagonist and hero. The audience is watching what’s going on from the crowd’s perspective, a spectator as another citizen, this provides relatability. Katniss’s character function as a hero is demonstrated here through the use of character expression and sound. Almost immediately after Prim’s name is called from the reaping roster, Katniss bravely stands forward and volunteers in her place. Sound and character expression combine here, as Prim starts to panic and scream, with her screams being almost ear-penetrating - Katniss remains calm and collected, presenting herself and brave, honourable and respectable, however still looking scared and clearly unhappy with the result of the reaping.

The purpose of this scene in the narrative structure is to suit the role of a complication or a rise in action, taking place after the beginning and exposition phase. A development in the plot to drive the story forward, in a typical narrative structure this would be to raise tension in the audience. However, the narrative structure of The Hunger Games is not typical, the tension is raised throughout the film right until the actual games, in which the climax is dragged out throughout the game, with the game itself having its own structure, with a final climax being at the elimination of the antagonist. However, tension is then raised again with the blueberry seen right before the ending. The reaping scene serves the purpose of being the driving force for Katniss’ actions, and the first true point of tension and suspense building.

(Post 27) Working from a script - Editing

Editing

The editing stage in the development of our project was one of the longer stages as I had failed to realize some of the difficult properties of the task. Thinking I had to just edit one clip after another and then make minor alterations at the start and end to remove the “action and cut” sequence. Ultimately I realized that I had to edit the clips so the continuity was mostly the same and that the clips flowed well, for example; at the start of the short film, there are shots of dialogue and interaction and I had to edit them in such a way that flowed well to establish the illusion that the conversation was happening all at once and not that the lines were just being said into a camera. This was followed by longer shots, one example is Mr. Beaver walking away and the camera tracing his movement. This established pace by differentiating the shots of fast, reactions of dialogue by long, panning shots of travel.

Which you can see here on the time line, the short lasting shots of dialogue in comparison to the long pan of Mr. Beaver walking away.

Transitions

There wasn’t any fancy methods of transition used in this project, just the standard of when one clip ends, it cuts to the next with no fade in’s or fade out’s. In the opening and outro sequence, there are fades on the text but none on the actual film.

Linear Narrative

Linear Narrative is what is used in our project, this means that the story includes plot, characters, setting, climax and resolution. Linear narratives present stories in a logical manner by telling what happens from one point in time to the next without using flashbacks or flash-forwards and then returning to the present.

 

Theoretical Effects

Unfortunately there was no theoretical effects included.

 

What was added?

The main thing added during the editing phase was the colour correction, by adding a contrasted, blue tint gave the film a cold, crisp feel and made it seem like it was set in a cold environment, which was the added “Narnia” effect. The sequences were then edited to be in chronological order while making cuts to make the clips flow better and removing the “action and cut” from the clips. The final thing which was done was the sound editing. In some shots you can hear shouting in the background from the rugby players that were nearby, however the clips were quite short so the shouting isn’t too prominent. One clip however, is much longer than the others as pace is being established and there the shouting is very noticeable. So what I did in post was gather background noise of the wind from the other clip and put it over the clip and removing the original audio, luckily there is no dialogue present in this scene so the original audio can be removed without backlash.

(Post 18 & 19 *one video*) Public Feedback to Questions and Reactions to our Kushelov Videos

We went out into Wymondham and asked the public questions abotu what sources of film they use, some possible options being:
- Cinema
- DVD / Blu-Ray
- Online Sources such as Netflix

At the same time, we asked others, including some in school, to react to the Kushleov Video, this is their answers to the question, and their reactions to the video:

(Post 17) Recreating the Original Kuleshov Effect

This is the demonstration of the Kuleshov Effect, using the same clip of someone's reaction but with different scenarios, this gives the illusion that the character is reacting differently with each scene.
Here is the one we created:

(Post 15) Alfred Hitchcock Loves Bikinis

We based this production based on the ideas of Alfred Hitchcock, his idea was that people opinion are different based on what they are looking at, such as if a man is looking at a mother and child they seem as nice, sympathetic person whereas if you used the same clip of the man looking but changed what they are looking at, of a girl in a bikini, they man will then appear as perverted and creepy.

 

 

We chose to use a clip of someone looking angry/disappointed, the first thing they were looking at Teresa may winning Brexit this presents the person and relatable and an all round normal person, the next clip we have used is someone looking at a news article about gay marriage being legal we chose this so they viewer will see them mean and homophobic person therefor they have a negative attitude towards them.

 

Cast:

We used Oscar as our main character who is being portrayed differently each clip.

Final Edit:

 

 

(Post 14) Sound in Love Actually

The Love Actually task was not assigned to our group as we did the other task, 13 reasons why.

(Post 13) 13 Reasons Why with Custom Audio

After removing the audio from the original clip, we recorded and inputted our own. For example;

the song is sampled directly from the original video, the footsteps were recorded by Lauren Webb and then I slowed them down in time with the steps in the video. The voice over was recorded in a quiet room and was done by Elsa. Here is the original and our version:

(Post 10) Storyboard from the Gold Rush

Here is the storyboard which we created from the Gold Rush:

From this we attempted to recreate the scene given to us;

Post 9: Mise en Scène from "Her"

This was the picture given to us to analyse:

This is shot from the movie 'Her'.




Costume and Make-up:

Most things about the costume are linked to the points in colour. His outfit uses varying reds, which juxtaposes the costumes of the other characters in the scene, which focus on sad blues, business whites and casual browns. His outfit shouts to the audience that this is the main character, with him being in bright, different colours. This and the combination of position within the frame emphasises that this is the protagonist. The costume is very business, casual, suggesting that he has some sort of role in a modern / futuristic job.




Composition:

The shot is highly focused on the main character, with him being centre-frame and in quite a powerful position, with the arms crossed. Even though he is centred, he is not taking up the entire frame, with a clear image of the background, that being a city. This combined with his and the other's costumes, suggest the idea that the protagonist is related to quite a business role / occupation. Another idea brought from the image is that the positioning of the characters suggests that this is a romance film, the fact that he is on his own whilst being surrounded by couples emphasises his apparent loneliness, especially with his expression, looking rather sad.




Lighting:

The lighting is soft, not drawing too much attention to it. It is most likely 3-point lighting, being lit from the right, top and left. Lighting isn't key here, only providing the information that it is day time, perhaps suggesting that he is on a lunch break, as the "sunlight" is coming from above him, with the idea that it is mid-day.




Colour:


All the colour is in linked with the costume, with what I mentioned previously, however the idea of romance is brought up again with the colour of his costume, reds being the colour of love and passion.