Cuffs Gender Analysis (DYM)

(28:13 - 32:05)

The scene starts with two female police officers discussing the new male police officer and talking about him being good looking, this conforms to the stereotype that females are obsessed with boys and relationships. As the car with the two men in pulls up, the shot uses shallow focus on the car to draw the audience's attention to it, before cutting to a close up of their faces wearing masks with tense atmospheric sound effects playing in the background and shadowed lighting across the two mens faces, and these things make them immediately appear dangerous and threatening. This contrasts with the following shot of the two female officers which is a brightly lit medium close up showing the pair laughing which suggests they are care free unaware of the situation around them. A few shots later a voice over of one of the female officers is heard as the other team of officers sit in the cafe and the dialogue is her shouting requesting their assistance and she sounds panicked, this makes her seem vulnerable which conforms to the stereotype that females are dependent and weak. The next scene uses a close up of Ryan as he drives the police car which shows him looking extremely in control and powerful and he gives orders through his radio. This shot makes him seem like the typical macho, powerful male character who is good at his job. The next scene where the female officer comes into contact with the robber uses an over the shoulder shot from the robbers point of view and an eye line match which makes the female police officer look small and vulnerable compared to the robber. He is also advancing towards her and she seems to be edging back which adds to the image that she is the 'damsel in distress' being targeted by the dominant male. The next scene which follows the two male officers in the police car uses fast cuts between close ups of one officer to the other to show the audience their emotions and convey the fast pace of the scene. During the journey a sound bridge of the police siren is used over an aerial shot of the roads and this moves the audience quickly through the journey while still keeping the fast pace of the action. The close up shots of Ryan show him looking determined and in control keeping with his image of the stereotypical strong man, while the close ups of Jake show him looking scared and out of his comfort zone which challenges the stereotype of men being brave and shows him to be more vulnerable. As they continue the journey and the car they are chasing looks as if its going to crash the shots slow down into slow motion and the diagetic sound fades while atmospheric, unsettling music is played and this creates a frighting, uncomfortable atmosphere for the audience which reflects the emotions of Jake. He still appears to be vulnerable and weak.  

Continuity Task 2 BLK

(first 01:08)

In this sequence from the movie Bride Wars it starts of with an establishing mid shot which then moves to an eyeline match shot from character A's point of view. This then cuts back to a medium close up where the action is matched to the first shot. The camera tracks backwards in front of character A as she moves forwards. There is then a sequence of shots cutting between the medium close up of character A and the eyeline match shot from her point of view and back again as she walks down the isle with the camera tracking along with her. There are then two close up shots of people in the audience and the second one uses a fast pan upwards to character A for a reaction shot.

For the second half of the scene showing character B walking down the isle the same sequence of cutting between the medium close up of character B and the eyeline match shot from her point of view is used.
It then goes back to character A using a medium long shot as she reacts to the video being played, then a match on action is used as it cuts to a mid shot from the opposite direction as she turns to leave the room. The sequence as she runs from the first room into the second uses match on action between the shots as she runs through the foyer. A master shot is then used of the second room to show the overview of both character A and B.

The next sequence of shots are played in slow motion in order to slow down the action fro dramatic and comic affect. This starts with a mid shot of character A as she runs down the isle with the camera tracking along in front of her, to an eyeline match shot from her point of view, to a close up of character B as she turns around, and this action is matched in the next shot from character As point of view before it cuts back to the master shot as they collide.

Evaluation of AOTT activity DYM

1. Our movie idea was a horror movie about a collection of haunted dolls based in a large house which a family go and stay in. In out film opening the setting of the haunted house is introduced and there is a montage of shots of the dolls around the house.

2. Information on the setting of the movie, the director, writer, producer, musical director and the title of the movie is included in our opening. The audience also gets a clear sense of the horror genre in the title sequence.

3. The titles link to the main film idea as they connote a strong sense of genre and include the main theme which is the haunted dolls.

4. The audience response to our opening should be that they are shocked and scared by the graphic images of blood and the dolls, they should also be intrigued to watch the rest of the film as the opening is quite ambiguous; it does give away much of the story but just sets up the main theme and setting.

5. In our opening sequence we included:

• The movie title- this is important to include in the movie's opening sequence as it is basic information the audience wants to know about the movie. 
• Key production and cast members- this is important to include as you have to credit that cast and production team for the making of the movie. 
• Horror images of the dolls- this is important in order to establish the setting and tone of the movie.

6. Our project is effective as a film opening as if conveys a clear sense of the horror genre while still not giving away too much information about the story which leaves the audience excited to watch the rest of the movie. It also includes all the necessary information such as director and producer names etc. The typeface we used for the credits work along side the creepy images to build up the horror genre in the opening. 

Film Opening Analysis DYM

(0:00 - 4:23)

The film opening sequence I chose to analyse was The Devil Wears Prada which is a comedy, drama and romance film.
The story is set in New York and is set over the period of a few months.
The opening sequence begins with the main character Andrea waking up and getting ready for her first day at her new job at a fashion magazine. It also introduces the New York setting. It also shows a number of other woman carrying out the same task- getting ready for work however their morning routines are contrasting with Andrea's as they put on more fancy, expensive clothes and makeup and spend more time on their appearances. The opening then follows the woman as they either get a taxi to work or in Andrea's case the subway. The opening finishes as Andrea arrives at her new office and is overwhelmed by the huge modern building. The order of events is significant to the story telling as the opening sequence gives the audience a clear introduction to the main character and setting so that they know a lot about her character before the film has started.
The events do link together and the main character Andrea is introduced along with a group of other woman who are not significant to the story but provide a contrast to the main character in order to give the audience a better sense of the main characters personality and situation. We find out that Andrea is starting her first day at her new job as she is making the journey to the office and seems out of place and nervous when she reaches her destination.
Hardly any of the story is revealed to the audience in the opening sequence and what happens in the rest of the film is withheld, the audience is only really introduced to the main character and the setting in the opening sequence.
I think it is important for the audience to be introduced to the main character and the main setting in the opening sequence of the film as this sets up the genre and the style of the film early on, however more detail is not necessary in the opening sequence.

Both opening sequences are contrasting as they have contrasting colour schemes. The Breakfast Club opening sequence is very dark and simple based around the black and yellow colour scheme whereas the Up opening sequence uses brighter more saturated colours and the scrapbook theme. 

They are similar as they both carry their colour scheme and style throughout the opening sequence. 

Up uses the scrapbook styling and incorporates the credits as scribbles and doodles in the scrapbook. However The Breakfast Club Titles use a simple yellow typeface on the black background which is bold and simple. 

The aesthetic style of The Breakfast Club is simple, bold and dark compared to the bright, happy and uplifting style of the Up opening. 

Continuity Task 1 BLK

1) The story of our video is that two people are walking down opposite corridors which eventually meet at a corner. Character A is holding a large pile of books and character B is on their phone. When they reach the corner they collide and character A falls over and drops all his books whereas character B continues walking on her phone.

2) We attempted to create narrative flow in our film by starting with the two introducing shots which introduced the audience to the two characters in and the setting of the film. We also moved the camera framing in closer between shots 3 and 4 to bring the audience closer into the action of the collision and make the collision smoother.

3) No we did not achieve full continuity as due to our camera positioning in shots 1 and 2 the two characters appear to be walking in the same direction and therefore the collision does not make sense. Also the transition between shots 4 and 5 is jumpy and we did not achieve a smooth cut as character A appears to fall twice.

4) To improve narrative flow in our film we would shoot shots 1 and 2 from the side so the characters look as if they are walking in different directions and the collision would make more sense to the viewer. We would also cut between shots 4 and 5 quicker and match up the action in the shots so the fall is smoother. We would also cut away the point when character B turns around to look at character A after the fall as this would be more fitting with character Bs personality which has been set up in the initial introducing shot (shot 2) where she appears to be unaware of her surroundings.

My Film Still Analysis BLK

The genre we chose was horror and this shot conveys the genre through the spot light on Josh which creates shadows and a dark background which means the audience can only see part of what is in the foreground of the shot and none of the background which leaves them unsure of what is happening in the shot.

To achieve this affect we only used one spotlight to light the shot and placed it in front of the bars of the cage to create the unusual shadows.

We intended for the audience to believe that Josh had been locked away in a cage and that a guard was walking by him in this shot with a flash light looking in on him. We intended for the audience to interpret that although Josh was trapped he wasn't scared, but more determined.

The lighting of our shot is successful as it conveys the genre.  

In hindsight I would spend more time on choosing the correct framing to make the shot even more dramatic. By making the framing tighter we could have made the focus more on the characters expression.