Slumdog Millionaire 0.1 Emotion

Slumdog Millionaire

 

I had not seen 'Slumdog Millionaire' before, so when the clip was shown in class I decided to write down how I felt. The scene below has to be the utmost emotional movie scene I have ever watched. I say this from a personal view point; the thought of losing your mother and then being alone and having nowhere to go can become very sad and depressing.

The Muslim Scene
 

How I felt watching this scene:

·         Shocked

·         Surprised

·         Horrified

·         Sympathetic

·         Miserable

·         Sad

·         Devastated

Exploring Enigma

Enigma

Definition:

Enigma

Noun

A person or thing that is mysterious or difficult to understand.

My Definition and Understanding:

·         An Enigma is an idea or thing that can build suspense and tension but can also be broken by revealing the unknown.

In class we were discussing enigma when we came to the conclusion that you can't have enigma without convention.

Convention

Noun

·         A ingredient of something

·         The way something is usually/typically done.

Below there is a mind map that we did as a class to explore the other ways enigma can be created.

 

 

Reflection:

I personally think the concept of enigma is being surprised. I say this because as the mind map displays; lying is another way of creating enigma and I believe that is true. Enigma is the suspense that is built when we unsure of something so when someone lies, you become unsure because the truth is what you want. Than when the truth is revealed the enigma has been broken and exposed causing the person to be surprised.

 

This may be a more confusing way of seeing the meaning of enigma but to me it is clear enough.

Editing Process

Editing

Definition:

The activity of selecting the scenes to be shown and putting them together to create a film

Extra Information:

Editing refers to how shots are put together into sequences to make up a media text. 

 

Three Main Areas:

When editing there are three areas to help improve the quality of the movie being made 

·         Transitions - How one shot moves to the other. 

·         Continuity - How one shot merges into another.

·         Shot Duration - How long a shot is.

Transitions

Different transitions can easily give dissimilar meanings for audiences.

Types of transitions:

·         The Cut – This transition is where two shots come together.

·         Dissolve – The blending of two shots to communicate a passage of time and/ or location. 

·         Wipes - When the shot changes across the screen.

·         Cross Zooms - When the next shot starts small and gets bigger.

·         Flash Frames

·         Jump Shot/ Cut - Shot stays the same, an object moves.

·         Fade in - Gradual appearance of the image.

·         Fade out - Gradual diminution of sound level.

·         Fade to black - Gradual disappearance of image into black screen.

Shot Duration

Definition - The duration of a shot will usually reflect the narrative content.

·         Short Shot Duration: conveys urgency.

·         Large Shot Duration: conveys detail and intimacy with narrative. 

Continuity

·         The 180 Degree Rule: A rule which maintains that the line of action should not be crossed, in the interest if fluid continuity. You can't cross the line unless you show you are crossing the line.

·         Cross Cutting (Parallel Editing): Alternation between two or more different scenes which are usually developed simultaneously.

·         Cutaway: A brief shot that momentarily interrupts a continuous action by briefly inserting another related shot.

·         Eye-line Match: A common convention to maintain continuity; a character looks at something and in the next shot we see what they are looking at.

 

 Cinematic Time

Definition - The time a given sequence takes to play on the screen in comparison to 'real time action.' In the film industry this time can be compressed or extended.
When we see match on action [is the same as] Cinematic time - is the same as real time.

What defines Editing?

Shrink Time

·        Shrinking time is a chain of fast paced cuts where we as viewer can see things that would usually take a long time be shortened into minutes or even seconds. For example if we were to watch a character get in a car and drive for half an hour we will see them get in and out of the car, giving the audience the impression that the car journey has taken place.

 

Expand Time

·        Expanding time is when the editor incorporates additional frames in the first sequence. For example if someone was running away from another being, in real time this may last a few seconds. But the editor is not responsible for building tension; they may choose to do this by including shots of the person’s feet, the person’s eyes and the chaser. Resulting in the scene to have a longer duration. This would also be an obvious example of 'film' time and not real time action.

Find Rhythm

·         Editing/The editor is responsible for the rhythm or pace of a scene. The music can be used behind the scenes to create mood in films but also interrupt the pace of a film.

Preliminary Task: Questions

Questions

After we completed our first preliminary movie we made a review and divided the sections into – Theory, Technology and questions. This post will focus on the question aspect of the review.

Here are some of the questions we came up with as a group.

·         How to colour grade a video (Movie)?

·         How do you make a voice over?

·         How to add music on final cut pro?

·         What is the main production of film?

·         How do you get special effects on final cut pro?

·         How to get a split screen effect on final cut pro?

·         How to make a realistic script?

Reflection:

After discussing the question we then thought of ways to answer them and as a group we decided that there were many video tutorials on ‘youtube’ that will benefit us in the future. We also said that if there were no videos available then a Media Studies teacher or student that has done this before will be able to assist us and put us on the right guidelines.

Questions on the first Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task: Theory

 Theory

After we completed our first preliminary movie we made a review and divided the sections into – Theory, Technology and questions. This post will focus on the Theory aspect of the review.

When discussing theory we were a bit confused on what would be classed as theory and what would be technology, but this is what we came up with.

·         Making fake blood and scars

As weird as this may seem we did indeed make scars, cuts and bruises for our main character but as it did not go with her skin colour and it was too heavy we decided to abandon that idea and just draw on the cuts and splash fake blood in her face.

·         Script Writing

The script work was an obvious element of theory work so there was no confrontation on this but as we did it as a group we could all have the same opinion on the script.

·         Storyboarding

Storyboarding was another obvious element of theory work as it also included all of us in the group but involved using paper.

·         Choosing the right location

Choosing the right location was very easy at first because of the lighting but then when it came to editing, we then had so much problems we changed the location to a class room.

·         Interpret text into film

I found this kind of hard personally, I say this because all the ideas that were thought of and written out were very difficult to portray film so I believe we struggled a bit there.

·         Using free time effectively.

I honestly think that as a group we did use our time effectively but I also think that what we completed in the short time could have been better. Thus leading us to create a new video.

Review on First Video for Preliminary Task 

Representation

Representation

· To show what something means

· The way we look at things

· How things come across

· Camera shots

· Character representation - How its presented

The sophisticated definition of representation:

- The action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state of being so presented. Their description or portrayal way of someone or something in a particular way or as being of certain nature.

Synonym: Presentation, Portrayal, Image

What type of things could we talk about in terms of representation?

During the lesson we were put into pairs to come up with different things we thought would be ideal for representation. After we came up ideas we then came back to the group and shared/talked about the different points.

Here is what the class thought of in terms of representation:

· Jewelry (religious or just fashion)

· Gender (male or female)

· Skin tone (showing different race)

· Facial expressions

· Clothes/ Make-up

· Posture/Body Language/Actions/Walk

· Dialect/Language and accent

· Intelligence

· Behavior (good or bad)

· How characters interact with others

We then later went on to discuss the 6 main areas of representation, with the input of everyone in the class we did a closer analysis of the areas and key words used to describe them.

1. Gender: How the person wants to be perceived. (Male, Female or Transgender)

2. Age: Age is not only how old someone is but how much responsibilities they have as a person and how much respectthey need as they grow old, it can also be how mature the person is.

 

3. Sexuality: A person's sexual orientation (Heterosexual, Homosexual, Bisexual, Asexual, Pansexual, Demi - sexual)

4. Class and Status: Upper, Middle or Lower Class. Class and status can also be decided on how intelligent one is, how well one speaks and how much power one has.

5. Physical ability and disability: Completion of something based on ability. [With this area we decided to expand a bit more than the others, we thought it would make things easier to break down the different types of mental and physical abilities.]
 

Here is what was thought up:

Mental Disabilities:

- Bipolar

- Paranoia

- Eating Disorders

- Multiple Personality Disorder

- PTSD

- ADHD

- ADD

- Alzheimer’s

- Depression

Physical Disabilities:

- Paralysis

- MS

- VI (Visually Impaired)
- HI (Hearing Impaired)

6. Regional Identity: The identification of where a person is from later determining the stereotype of the area, dialect and accent.

Sound

Sound

Definition of Sound:

Noun

The vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person's or animal's ear.

In class we were discussing sound and decided to start the lesson off by identifying 5 different very famous theme tunes of TV programs. There were two very important questions we had to answer these were:

ü  How does it make you feel?

ü  What type of program are you expecting it to be?

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air:

How does it make you feel?

- This sound makes me feel happy and just puts me in a good mood. It also tempts me to sing along to the rap.

 

What type of program are you expecting it to be?

- I personally think the music was aimed at kids because it is upbeat but also being there is a rap it might include teenagers. Another thing is the rap it states that he is from west Philly indicating it is an American TV show.

The A-Team:

 

How does it make you feel?      

- The sound makes me feel empowered and important in some way, but I personally feel as if I am on a mission whilst listening to this music.

What type of program are you expecting it to be?

- This music is mainly aimed at adults; I say this because it sounds as if it had aged comparing to the first one. When I first listened to it I instantly thought about super heroes that are on a mission of some sort. Also the sound/music varies between American and British.

 

Dr Who?

 

How does it make you feel?

- The sound is very dark and makes me wonder what is going to happen next. As if I am actually part-taking in the TV show. 

What type of program are you expecting it to be?

- This music is aimed at Sci-Fi fans because of the way the music has been synthesised. Being that I have said that I do believe with music like that there will be a lot of alien characters, maybe appealing to young boys.

 

Eastenders:

How does it make you feel?

- The sound is very happy at the beginning but I think as it gets to the middle of the music not only does it sound 'Christmassy' but as if it can be dark at the same time. 

What type of program are you expecting it to be?

- This music is very family friendly so I believe it is aimed at any ages group but I also think it can be very dramatic because of the dark sounds (bang bang).

 

Hollyoaks:

How does it make you feel?

- The sound is very upbeat and happy.

What type of program are you expecting it to be?

- The music also sounds family friendly but also like a documentary intro. What I mean by this is near the end of the theme tune it sounded like animals, making me think it would be an intro for a wildlife show.

 

After the task we then went on to discuss the technical aspects of sound and the key words.

Keywords:

Soundtrack - The narrow strip at one side of a movie film that carries the sound recording.

Theme Music - A melody used to introduce or identify a television or radio programme, a dance band, a performer.

Sound Effects - A sound other than speech or music made artificially for use in a play, film, or other broadcast production.

Ambient Sound - The background sounds which are presented in a scene or location.

Dialogue - A conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or film.

Voice Over - A piece of narration in a film or broadcast, not accompanied by an image of the speaker.                                                                                    

Direct Address - The use of a term or name for the person spoken to, as in securing the attention of the person.

Diegetic Sound (natural) – The sound of which is visible on the screen or what is implied to be presented by the action of the film these are:

ü  Voices of characters

ü  Sounds made by objects in the story

ü  Music represented as coming from instruments in the story space

Non - Diegetic Sound (man-made) – The sound of which is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action these are:

ü  Narrator's commentary

ü  Sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect

ü  Mood music

Sound Bridge - When the scene begins with the reminder sound from the previous scene before the new sound begins.

Parallel Sound - The sound you hear that would naturally go hand in hand with the film on screen.

Contrapuntal Sound – The sound you hear that you wouldn’t associate with the events on screen.

We then colour coordinated the list with Blue Diegetic sounds and Red as Non – Diegetic sounds. As you see in the list ‘Direct Address’ is coloured with both red and blue this means that it can be both.

Why is sound used in television programs?

From my point of view I think sound is used in television programs because without sound we would not know what the characters are saying and they wouldn't know what mood they are meant to set. Causing upset throughout the audience.

Film Production

Film Process

 

Before we were given our preliminary task were separated into groups and told to discuss how we thought the film production works. The Image below is what we as a group came up with.

 

We divided the list into 3 three parts:

ü  Pre - Production

ü  Productions

ü  Post - Productions

Pre - Productions - Pre-Productions is what is done before the actual filming has started. This would consist of hiring cast members, designing costumes, building stages, preparing script, deciding the location, creating a story board and many more 

Productions - Productions is when the filming has started. In productions all the stuff that were completed in pre productions now contributes to the final outcome.

Post Productions - Now Post Productions is the last stage in film production, this is when the trailer has been developed and is 'leaked' so the public have time to comment on and their comments are then to be reviewed by the film staff. This is also the time when they get to set dates for the releases and meet the general public.