Analysing Movies
Franchise - Marvel Studios - Disney - Costs $300 Million - Due to the large investment franchises are used, to ensurw a good film is made, and a profit is turned
Todorov's Theory - Equlibrium (bad stuff happens, so the heroes come and make everything better)
Enigma - Who is the green child in the trailer?
All media products are 'texts'. When you read, watch, play, listen to a media text, you make meaning of the sounds and imagery presented. This process of making meaning or understanding the media text is called DECODING.
DECODING = understanding a media text.
CODES can be visual (you can see them) or aural (you can hear them). Codes have symbolic value. For example in our society wearing a pair of glasses (glasses are the code) symbolises, or connotates, that you are clever. TV drama, magazines and videogames use these symbolic codes to generate character types and character archetypes.
Nico
Dark clothing
Stereotype - Biker, tough look - made visible through look
Background - he's under a bridge, Shady
Class - Lower to Middle class
Serious
Looking down has power
Cherry
Red
Name links to her red theme
Lollypop
Immaturity
Statue of Liberty in the background - in the open - less shady
Loose demeanour - made apparent by her body language
Enigma- what is she looking at
Barthes Invented Semantic Code
Enigma code refers to mystery within a text, clues are often dropped, but nothing is definite.
Diegetic sound.
Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film:
voices of characters
sounds made by objects in the story
music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music)
Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world
Non Diegetic sound. Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action:
narrator's commentary
sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect
mood music
Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space.
Star Wars the Force Awakens Trailer
Closeup shot - used to create the scene, and show small detail of the subject. Is used to keep anonymity and mystery.
Mid shot - shows subject in some detail, whilst giving slight context. Used to do two things at once
Extreme Close up - shows extra detail into his face, to show his emotions in detail
Wide shot - shows extra context, the whole scene can be understood just from this screenshot.
Sounds: the main theme tune and the narration are non-diegetic. Example's of diegetic sounds are spaceship noises, and guns.
The stage in the film-making process in which sound and images are organised to construct an overall narrative.
It is how a film maker puts together and considers cuts/cutting and applies transitions, special effects etc. to communicate a narrative to an audience.
Remember that an audience is a non-active participant who must understand a narrative through the editing, they can only see what you show them.
Imagine a film or even a scene from a film without any editing, it would be very interesting!
Shot reverse shot is when a shot goes from shot A, shot B, shot A, shot B etc.
It goes continuously back and forth between the 2 shots to show there is a connection between them
It is often used in conversations so you see what both characters are saying
It is a form of eye-line matching if the character is looking at someone and the next shot is what they look at
Imagine if a conversation was just 1 shot of character A and you didn’t see character B’s face at all?
Eye-Line Match is a following shot that follows what character is looking at, makes cuts smoother the audience expects the cut to happen and is eager to see what happens next/what character sees.
Editing - Special Effects
B&w –often used to show memory or time period
Contrast – to altar the lighting (or contrast = very light lights and dark darks sometimes with memories
Colour - to add a colour filter to show a specific mood
Example ‘The ring’ – many scenes are very blue-ish, which show sterile/coldness etc.
Animation – titles of shows or cartoons
CGI – computer generated images (example = avatar, planet of apes, polar express)
Fast forward/slow motion – speeding up or slowing down footage
Ghost trail – see multiple actions (overlapped) to show someone drunk or on drugs
Blur – to show un-clarity, or fuzzy memory/flashback
A low angle shot is used. To give the animals and scenery more power, so they can be viewed in a more fantastic way. Shows the majesticness of the jungle, made apparent by the saturated colours. The positioning of the two deers on the bottom left, further justifies this point. The predator at the top of the scene, also shows the majesticness, this is made apparent by the fact that only a outline of it is visible. This also implies the danger that is always looming in the jungle.
They use a mid-shot. The dark colours show the creepy mood, and also shows the mystery of the jungle. The gorilla's face shows his curiosity and interest in the man-cub. CGI is used, this is a form of special effects. There is a contrast between the light and dark, which creates a sense of the gorilla looking foreboding.
A wide-shot is used to show the full setting in this shot. The use of the huge waterfall in the background demonstrates the majesticness of the jungle. Mowgli (the main protagonist) is pictured as being tiny, in comparison
A close-shot is used, in order to show a direct danger, and therefore create an emotional connection with the audience. The fact that the lion's big teeth are the first thing that are visible, makes the danger even more apparent.
A mid shot is used, in order to be able to see the majority of the context, while the detail is still visible. The green colour shows
