Film Education Worksheet

1) Why do you think a modern director would choose to produce a film in black and white rather than colour? What effects might they be hoping to achieve?

Well there are many reasons why directors would want to produce a film in black and white, the most obvious one of course is because the film is set way back when colour tv's weren't invented so making it black and white and the effect of this sets the film back in that time. Black and white can also make the film seem more realistic as if there hasn't been special effects added.

2)Choose three films, and find out their release date, genre, directors reputation, and the critical reaction of the film.



Sin City - Released in 2005 by Frank Millar and Robert Rodriguez
Genre - Action, Crime and Thriller
Frank Millar - He was a big comic reader and writer in the 70's and 80's. He wrote and penciled the Marvel series "Daredevil" for a long time. He also wrote two spinoffs about the character Electra and did a miniseries about the "X-Men" character Wolverine. In 1980, he wrote the acclaimed "Batman" story "Wanted - Santa Claus - Dead or Alive!" for DC Comics.
Critics - The New York Times
"Hard to get pulled into the story on any level other than the visceral."




Raging Bull - Released in 1980 by Martin Scorsese
Genre - Biography/Drama
Martin Scorsese - He entered a seminary in 1956 - Martin Scorsese opted to channel his passions into film. He graduated from NYU as a film major in 1964.
Critics - The New York Times - Vincent Canby
"The entire film is played at such high pitch it may well exhaust audiences that don't come prepared. And, at the heart of the film, there is the mystery of Jake himself, but that is what separates Raging Bull from all other fight movies, in fact, from most movies about anything. Raging Bull is an achievement."



Manhattan - Released in 1979 by Woody Allen
Genre - Comedy Drama
Woody Allen - Woody Allen was born December 1, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York. He went into show business at age 15 when he started writing jokes for a local paper, receiving $200 a week and pumping out an estimated 2000 jokes a day. Woody's theoretical directorial debut was in "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" which was a Japanese spy flick that he dubbed over with his own comedic dialogue about spies searching for the secret recipe for egg salad.

3. The film is named after Somers Town, the part of London which it is set. Most of the filming also took place on location in the area.

a) What iconographic sight and sounds you might expect from the film?

Hussle and Bussle of city life (beeping horns, revving of engines e.t.c)
Kids playing in parks (football)
Dogs barking on estates
The British Museum

What are your expectations about character and narrative based on this setting?

Poor family or families
Poor Estates
Crime
Neglect
Adeventure

Once upon a time in the west

Non Diegetic Sound:-

Sound which the source is not visible on the screen or has been implied to be present in the action:
narrator's commentary
sound effects
mood music
Non-diegetic sound is sound that has been placed over the videos original sound.

Sound that's source is visible on the screen or the source is taken by the watcher to be present on the scene of the film:
voices of characters
sounds made by objects in the story

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world

Definition from www.associatedcontent.com

“Diegetic sound is anything you hear that has a source within the story; non-diegetic is sound that has no source within the film itself.”

Sometime we can often hear what is diegetic and what is non diegtic for example when music is playing on a radio in the film and then gets louder as the person leaves the house you can tell its been placed on to the video but this adds an effect to the video.


At the start of Once upon a time in the west there are some immediate sounds that you can hear like:

> The Creaking Door
> Birds
> Wind
> The Chalk Board
> Footsteps

The most obvious one is the creaking door, the sound may have been amplified to add more effect to it. When the door creaks open and the man is standing in the door way it really gives him a sense of power and in away it makes him seem a bit rebellious when the other two men step into the door way because it makes you feel trapped.


The footsteps also contribute towards the mood of the film, they are slow paced and loud. The slowness of the footsteps puts across to the viewer that the cowboy is calm and in control of the situation and not the old man.




The men are wearing long brown coats with dark t-shirts underneath and the contrast on colours really helps the viewer decide whether or not the men are villains or heroes.

Camera angles have a huge part to play in many films and not just thrillers, camera angles can show many different things and not just pointing it at who's talking. For instance the pan up of the cowboy! It starts at the bottom of the cowboy and pans to the top because this give him a huge sense of power. The camera starts from a low angle and low angles are often associated with weakness. Another example of this is when the camera turns from the old man to the cowboy and the camera looks up at him which makes the old man look weak.

The reason why this film fits into the thriller sub genre because it does put you into suspense of wondering what's going to happen. The introduction is slow and it often makes us feel as if something fast paced and energetic is about to happen. Film makers can make this go along for along time which will make us very engrossed within the film.

No Country For Old Men

No Country For Old Men was released in 2007 and produced by the Coen brothers: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. Its is a Western Crime Thriller, and won many awards including: three British Academy of Film awards, two Golden Globes, and four Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin. The setting for No Country For Old Men is in West Texas in the year June 1980



No Country For Old Men conforms to the commercial opening of a thriller because it sets the scene by using Extreme Wide Shots of the desert and there is no sign of civilization, this makes it feel like a very desolate place. There is a explanation at the start if the film which sets the mood. Also its very very silent and the only thing you can hear is the wind which makes it very dreary, the best example of this is when the man is hunting deer and its so silent you can hear his footsteps and the shell hit the floor when he fires his gun.

Final Cut Express

Final Cut Express is a type of application that allows you to import and edit videos or video clips. Using Final Cut Express you can 'Capture' the footage from your camcorders so you dont have to mess around cutting and cropping clips.

We learnt that whilst doing the Capture you press 'I' to make a start point and then you press 'O' to get the end point and then Final Cut Express imports the footage inbetween these two points.

We also learnt that Final Cut Expess measures in Hours, Minutes, Secounds and Frames it measures in frames because this is then easier to get to certain points of your footage and edit it. Final Cut Express also makes editing easier by using a drag and drop system where you can simply drag footage from the browser to the Timeline,Viwer or Canvas.

The last thing that we learnt how to do was to make a new 'Bin' (Bin is another term for folder in Final Cut Express). To make a new bin you need to go to the top and click 'File' and on the drop down menu click new bin. Using the bin you can then drag footage into it, this helps keep all the clips organised so you dont mix up different videos.




In Friday's lesson we learnt how to import music into Final Cut Express, Go File, import files and find the music and double click it. Then drag it down into the timeline. If a red line appears above the timeline then it needs to be rendered, to do this you press and hold the Command button and then press 'R'. In one of the preview windows you can see a scale that shows the music waves, this is how Final Cut Express shows this type of media.


We also learnt how to import chunks of our video. What we had to do was (assuming you have your camera plugged into the Mac via the FireWire cable) rewind the tapes back to the start using the short cuts (J and L) then once it was at the start you can press the 'Capture Now' button. The video looks like it's just playing but its really importing the video and when you want to stop you just press the 'Esc' button. This then places a clip called 'Untitled' into the selected folder. It is important to make sure you re-name your clips because you can very easily muddle up clips.

Chris Ashwell

Thrillers

A thriller is a type movie that really keeps you in the dark and guessing until the end. Even once you think you've guessed what's going to happen there is always a twist which throws you off balance. There doesn't tend to be much blood or gore. The Dark Knight is a good example of a thriller because just when you think they've
caught the Joker he still manages to escape!

Top 5 Thrillers from IMDB.com
1. The Godfather (1972)
2. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
3. Pulp Fiction (1994)
4. The Dark Knight (2008)
5. Rear Window (1954)