Analysis of Vacancy and The Departed
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Vacancy:
The title scene's music is very slow at the beginning and very occasionally they speed up for a couple of seconds and this helps to build suspense, also give it a very eerie feeling. All the titles are in red and drip like blood and are a very urban broken text. The opening credits help to set the mind of the audience and this is very important because then the viewer can enjoy the film.
The credits play the part of setting the viewers mind into an eerie and mysterious feel. The music uses a low pitched bass note with a high pitched strong note these are put over the original theme song that repeats over and over, this helps to create the eerie feeling.
The film begins as the credits fade into the licence plate of the car.
Its set in the early hours of California, with the two characters travelling in the car, the filming is mostly done so at least part of their faces are shadowed and you can only see certain parts. This shows the separation and anger between the two characters.
The man in the car is frustrated and tiered, you can tell this by the way he wipes his face continuously and his facial expressions, because of this you can tell they have been travelling for a long time. The shadowing of the faces also helps to stop the audiences from getting any attachments to the characters. This is done so the character doesn’t feel any emotions for the characters. He still finds that he can joke and make remarks about the woman.
The Departed:
The titles are short and it starts with the old man's voice over with a small explanation of life.
He uses a lot of swear words and his voice is load and low pitched and you can nearly make a connection to him being the bad guy. Once again a lot of shots show darkness and corruption when he goes to collect his money from the corner shop.
The title scene's music is very slow at the beginning and very occasionally they speed up for a couple of seconds and this helps to build suspense, also give it a very eerie feeling. All the titles are in red and drip like blood and are a very urban broken text. The opening credits help to set the mind of the audience and this is very important because then the viewer can enjoy the film.
The credits play the part of setting the viewers mind into an eerie and mysterious feel. The music uses a low pitched bass note with a high pitched strong note these are put over the original theme song that repeats over and over, this helps to create the eerie feeling.
The film begins as the credits fade into the licence plate of the car.
Its set in the early hours of California, with the two characters travelling in the car, the filming is mostly done so at least part of their faces are shadowed and you can only see certain parts. This shows the separation and anger between the two characters.
The man in the car is frustrated and tiered, you can tell this by the way he wipes his face continuously and his facial expressions, because of this you can tell they have been travelling for a long time. The shadowing of the faces also helps to stop the audiences from getting any attachments to the characters. This is done so the character doesn’t feel any emotions for the characters. He still finds that he can joke and make remarks about the woman.
The Departed:
The titles are short and it starts with the old man's voice over with a small explanation of life.
He uses a lot of swear words and his voice is load and low pitched and you can nearly make a connection to him being the bad guy. Once again a lot of shots show darkness and corruption when he goes to collect his money from the corner shop.
Cutting It
Cutting It was a popular BBC television programme set in Manchester, England, which ran for four series between 2002 and 2005, total time of 60 minutes for each episode.
Created by - Debbie Horsfield and Starring - Sarah Parish, Jason Merrells, Angela Griffin, Siân Reeves, Ben Daniels and Amanda Holden
It got five nominations (BAFTA TV Award, National Television Award, RTS Television Award x 2) and one of which was won (RTS Television Award).
Page 123 and Page 136 Establishment Questions
Sunday, November 15, 2009
1. List Five Media Sectors And One Leading Profit Making Company For Each Sector?
?
2. Name Two Interdependent Music Labels?
Dancing Turtle Records and Dragonfly Records
3. Why Is Some Music Downloading Illegal And Some Legal?
Downloading music offline is illegal unless you pay for it or the company doesn't have the license. Downloading a song off iTunes is not illegal because you pay for it before you download it.
4. Who owns the British Board of Film Classification?
?
5. Name three organisations that own British Newspapers?
Sky, The Mirror and The Guardian
6. Why does the BBC have no adverts?
The BBC is funded by the TV License and don't need any extra funding and other broadcasters have to find funding in order to keep broadcasting so they sell there time between programmes to adverts.
7. What is OFCOM?
OFCOM is the organisation that deals with complaints from the public.
8. What is MP4?
MP4 is a type of file extension which produces live pictures e.g Movie/Video Clip
Why does the sound regularly disappear on the live Big Brother?
So they don't broadcast any swearing or indecent material said by the house mates.
10. Who owns channel Five?
?
11.What happened as the result of the Hutton Report?
?
12. What do magazine make most of their money from?
Adverts inside the magazine
13. Who owns your regional ITV channel?
?
14. How do website that offer free content make money?
Again it has a lot to do with advertising. Companies buy spots of a website to display their adverts.
15. Who deals with complaints about adverts?
OFCOM?
16. Which is the biggest film industry in the world?
Hollywood
17. Who decides for age classifications on video games?
Pan European Games Information (PEGI.
18.Which media company do you pay the most money to?
BBC
19. What is an RSS feed?
Something that informs you of all the latest information about that particular RSS feed.
20. Who are BARB what what do they do?
?
?
2. Name Two Interdependent Music Labels?
Dancing Turtle Records and Dragonfly Records
3. Why Is Some Music Downloading Illegal And Some Legal?
Downloading music offline is illegal unless you pay for it or the company doesn't have the license. Downloading a song off iTunes is not illegal because you pay for it before you download it.
4. Who owns the British Board of Film Classification?
?
5. Name three organisations that own British Newspapers?
Sky, The Mirror and The Guardian
6. Why does the BBC have no adverts?
The BBC is funded by the TV License and don't need any extra funding and other broadcasters have to find funding in order to keep broadcasting so they sell there time between programmes to adverts.
7. What is OFCOM?
OFCOM is the organisation that deals with complaints from the public.
8. What is MP4?
MP4 is a type of file extension which produces live pictures e.g Movie/Video Clip
Why does the sound regularly disappear on the live Big Brother?
So they don't broadcast any swearing or indecent material said by the house mates.
10. Who owns channel Five?
?
11.What happened as the result of the Hutton Report?
?
12. What do magazine make most of their money from?
Adverts inside the magazine
13. Who owns your regional ITV channel?
?
14. How do website that offer free content make money?
Again it has a lot to do with advertising. Companies buy spots of a website to display their adverts.
15. Who deals with complaints about adverts?
OFCOM?
16. Which is the biggest film industry in the world?
Hollywood
17. Who decides for age classifications on video games?
Pan European Games Information (PEGI.
18.Which media company do you pay the most money to?
BBC
19. What is an RSS feed?
Something that informs you of all the latest information about that particular RSS feed.
20. Who are BARB what what do they do?
?
British Films
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Investigate a recent British film: Lesbian Vampire Killers
Lesbian Vampire Killers is a 2009 British comedy horror film which stars James Corden and Mathew Horne, very funny comedians. It is written by Stewart Williams and Paul Hupfield, produced by Steve Clark-Hall and is directed by Phil Claydon.
James Corden and Mathew Horne are very popular comedians and actors who's main recognition is Gavin and Stacy (comedy)their popularity is what I reckon leads to the success of this film.
In short the film plot is about two men who aren't very successful in life and haven't had any luck with the ladies, they decide to go on a road trip to a random location of a unknown village in which they find by throwing a dart at a map of England. They make their way to the unknown village and stop by into a small pub, the men inside the pub tell them about a place down the road in which they can stay. Previously they had seen some young women making their way to this lodge. After time goes by the girls begin to get picked off one by one and its just Fletch (James Corden), Jimmy (Mathew Horne) and Lotte one of the young women left. Turns out Fletch is the prophet who, in legend is supposed to kill the vampire queen Camilla, after Fletch is captured Jimmy gets help from the Vicar who tells him about the sword which can kill Camilla, they go get it whilst throwing holy water bombs at vampires and shooting them with crossbows. Only to find that the sword is some amusement to Jimmy because it looks like male parts. They get the sword and kill the vampire queen. End of story. Throughout the film love builds up between Lotte and Fletch.
This film was extremely popular in Britain and in addition made a healthy profit. The film is a tongue-in-cheek homage to the classic Hammer Horror films and was originally slated to be the first "new" Hammer film. This did not come to pass and it was ultimately Alliance and Momentum Pictures along with AV Films who finally allowed the project to go ahead. The film as I can see did not win any awards even despite its popularity, it was slated by many film critics and was given a bad name.
Compare a recent Hollywood film: Role Models
Role Models is a 2008 American comedy film directed by David Wain about two energy drink salesmen who are ordered to perform 150 hours of community service as punishment for various offenses. For their service, the two men work at a program designed to pair kids with adult role models. The film stars Seann William Scott, Paul Rudd, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb'e J. Thompson, and Elizabeth Banks.
This film is about two men who are energy drink sales men who eventually give up on their job because it was becoming more and more depressing as each day passed. As a result Paul Rudd loses his girlfriend and after a particular school assembly they crash into a school statue by trying to escape from a cop who attempts to tow their truck. Then they are sent to a program called Sturdy Wings which involves them looking after their own child for 30 days. Paul Rudd gets the quite, white and nerdy teenage boy and Seann William Scott gets the opposite, a small, young and rude black boy who attempts to joy ride his car. Throughout the film they both start to develop a relationship with the boys and they end up participating in a event that Christopher Mintz-Plasse likes to go to called 'LAIRE' which they previously got banned from after having a fight with the king. This time they come back with their own country to attempt to over throw the king and become ruler, it ends up with just the king and Christopher Mintz-Plasse left for the final battle. Ill let you watch it to find out what happens ;).
This was a hugely popular film in both UK and the USA no doubt about it there was a huge profit in this film and with 3 nominations of Critics Choice Award, MTV Movie Award and Teen Choice Award.
Production Tips
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Diegesis:
Diegetic material is something that exists within this world and its something we can hear that has not been syntheticly put over something else. Examples of this are Dialogue and Thunder.
However Non - Diegetic material is something that is placed over the film for the audience for example: Music or Sound affects.
Some types of sound can be both! A characters thoughts as a voice over for instance, its diegetic because we aware of the thoughts but non - diegetic because other characters are not.
Micro and Macro Origination:
One thing when shooting appropriate material is to use the Micro-Macro strategy. Best not to dive right into filming at any stage planning is important. You need to follow three steps which are:
. Research into the type of film you are making.
. Comprise a story line that will be recognisable from the start.
. Plan how you are going to edit and film the production.
Camera Work and Framing
Using tripods is very important unless a shaky FPS shot is what you want, its very difficult to hold a camera extremely still with your hands. Zooming is best to be avoided as its not every professional and hard to pull off. Using a widescreen resolution is more appealing to the eye and avoiding Extreme Close Ups is recommend due to people nowadays can afford larger TV's. Use mainly Mid-Shots and Long shots.
The 'rule of thirds' is all about imagining the screen is spilt into 9 squares (3x3) and the eye is often drawn just of the centre square and this is the best place to have the character or object.
The stages in which you change the camera angle is important, its much more easy for the viewer to understand the film if you go from long to mid to close ups rather than long shot, close up and then mid shot.
High and low angles and important as well, low shots will enforce power upon the character and a high shot will show weakness.
Mise en Scéne
Mise en Scéne means what type of mood and atmosphere is within the film. Mise en Scéne will be one of the hardest elements to catch in our production due to the lack of time and expensive equipment we will not have at school. Although using props and the correct lighting it is still possible to catch the right atmosphere.
Lighting
As student it can be very hard to get the correct lighting for our production but there are some things we can do to get good lighting:
Use natural light - Sunlight, shadows, mist and rain
Use cheap and cheerful artificial lighting - using candles and street lights you can obtain the right effects for a thriller.
Colour Filters - Shining light through coloured liquids vases and ornamants.
Position of lighting - Using lights to shine from above can create different types of atmospheres.
Combining sound, image and titles
Titles plays a very important part in our production it can sometimes introduce the movie and if its not visually appealing it can put people off the film from the start. Also we will be using music in our titles and thus this can also affect the mood and atmosphere of the film.
Diegetic material is something that exists within this world and its something we can hear that has not been syntheticly put over something else. Examples of this are Dialogue and Thunder.
However Non - Diegetic material is something that is placed over the film for the audience for example: Music or Sound affects.
Some types of sound can be both! A characters thoughts as a voice over for instance, its diegetic because we aware of the thoughts but non - diegetic because other characters are not.
Micro and Macro Origination:
One thing when shooting appropriate material is to use the Micro-Macro strategy. Best not to dive right into filming at any stage planning is important. You need to follow three steps which are:
. Research into the type of film you are making.
. Comprise a story line that will be recognisable from the start.
. Plan how you are going to edit and film the production.
Camera Work and Framing
Using tripods is very important unless a shaky FPS shot is what you want, its very difficult to hold a camera extremely still with your hands. Zooming is best to be avoided as its not every professional and hard to pull off. Using a widescreen resolution is more appealing to the eye and avoiding Extreme Close Ups is recommend due to people nowadays can afford larger TV's. Use mainly Mid-Shots and Long shots.
The 'rule of thirds' is all about imagining the screen is spilt into 9 squares (3x3) and the eye is often drawn just of the centre square and this is the best place to have the character or object.
The stages in which you change the camera angle is important, its much more easy for the viewer to understand the film if you go from long to mid to close ups rather than long shot, close up and then mid shot.
High and low angles and important as well, low shots will enforce power upon the character and a high shot will show weakness.
Mise en Scéne
Mise en Scéne means what type of mood and atmosphere is within the film. Mise en Scéne will be one of the hardest elements to catch in our production due to the lack of time and expensive equipment we will not have at school. Although using props and the correct lighting it is still possible to catch the right atmosphere.
Lighting
As student it can be very hard to get the correct lighting for our production but there are some things we can do to get good lighting:
Use natural light - Sunlight, shadows, mist and rain
Use cheap and cheerful artificial lighting - using candles and street lights you can obtain the right effects for a thriller.
Colour Filters - Shining light through coloured liquids vases and ornamants.
Position of lighting - Using lights to shine from above can create different types of atmospheres.
Combining sound, image and titles
Titles plays a very important part in our production it can sometimes introduce the movie and if its not visually appealing it can put people off the film from the start. Also we will be using music in our titles and thus this can also affect the mood and atmosphere of the film.
Somers Town After Viewing
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
How would you categorise this film in terms of genre? Does it remind you of any other films you have seen?
4) I would class this film as a comedy drama because young Tomo has a particular cheeky attitude and you can see this in the film when he steals the photos from Marek and runs away into the private area of what looks like an housing estate, then when a man comes out and tells them to leave he gives him back chat and swears at him.
The film reminds me of This Is England even though I haven’t seen This Is England by watching the trailers they do look similar.
5) What do you think is the film’s appeal for audiences?
I think that the film’s appeal for the audiences is the independence of Tomo and the decisions he makes by himself and the way that he wants change things by moving from Newcastle to London. Also I think some of the appeal is about the romance between the two boys and Maria
6) As well as being in black and white, the film is subtitled during a conversations in Polish between Marek and his farther; there are also sections in French. In what ways do these factors affect your responses to the film, the situation and the characters?
Response: The use of using subtitles added almost another dimension making the film seem more real rather than scripted. I personally found this very interesting, it really managed to grab the attention of the viewer and gave me an impression of the two characters.
The Situation: As before it did make the situation feel more real, but it also made it feel slightly uncomfortable with people talking different languages that we wouldn’t understand if we didn’t have the subtitles.
Characters: I feel that the sense of it being uncomfortable also plays a part on Mareks father because we know from early on that he is a drunk. It also made me feel slightly uncomfortable about Marek until later on because his father’s actions could have been portrayed upon him
7)What similarities and differences can you identify between Somers Town and This is England?
Both the films are very British, I have not seen This is England but I can explain some similarities between them. Both the films are set around teenagers who are perhaps lost and are looking for independence in the way of getting as far away from their existing lives.
8)To what extent do you think the audience is expected to be ‘comfortable’ with this portrait of two teenagers?
When Tomo is beaten up by the three lads late at night it makes us feel as if he is vulnerable and that portrays upon us and makes us feel like if he were to be a real character in real life then he wouldn’t poses a threat upon us. Also all the little witty things he says and when he steals the wrong clothes from the dry cleaners, the fact that Tomo and Marek are funny and makes us laugh also helps us to feel comfortable with them. Also the relationship between Tomo and Marek is tight as and this reflects upon us and we’ve been watching them the whole time and this makes us feel as if we are in with their friendship.
9) A sign on the estate reads “children playing on these grounds is prohibited”. In what different ways do Tomo and Marek seek to amuse themselves within this environment? Do you think the film encourages us to judge any of their actions?
One way they seek to amuse themselves is by drinking alcohol in park and then having a party, playing loud music and drinking more alcohol and lots of it. They do this because they are feeling down by the fact that Maria left to go to Paris. I don’t think we are meant to sympathise for them because even though they are upset about her leaving they say that they are drinking to move on and get over Maria.
10)What message of childhood adolescence do you, or could you, take away from the film?
I personally do not see a message to take away from the film. The boys to me were acting somewhat immature by getting drunk over a woman who’s 10 years older than them. However there could be a message to others about how sometimes we learn to adapt in other situations in desperate times, when we are put into situations we don’t know or are comfortable with we as human beings learn to adapt and this is what Tomo had to do when he left home and went to London.
11)Do your reactions towards the boys change at different points in the film? Which moments in particular?
a) Encourage you to sympathise with the boys
When they get drunk like I mentioned before and start pondering on why Maria left them to go to Paris without telling them is defiantly a time when we should or are supposed to sympathise for the boys. It makes it even worse with the fact that they are in the park because this is place where people are supposed to have fun not to be upset.
b) Make you unsympathetic towards them
When they steal clothes from the dry cleaners but they are clothes that they would never wear unless they really had to. We all know that stealing is bad and because of this we know not to sympathise with the boys because what they have done is wrong.
12) Some of the other characters include marek’s father, Mariusz, Graham the cockney neighbour, and a French waitress, maria. To what extent would you agree that Meadows is playing with stereotypes in his representation of these characters?
We often see in films that French woman are waitress’s and Maria is a waitress in a small cafe. Also that France is a very romantic place and Maria is somewhat of a flirt with the two boys. Also we see immigrants as people who work for low income and can work hard, his house is small and in a bit of a mess which indicates low amounts of income.
4) I would class this film as a comedy drama because young Tomo has a particular cheeky attitude and you can see this in the film when he steals the photos from Marek and runs away into the private area of what looks like an housing estate, then when a man comes out and tells them to leave he gives him back chat and swears at him.
The film reminds me of This Is England even though I haven’t seen This Is England by watching the trailers they do look similar.
5) What do you think is the film’s appeal for audiences?
I think that the film’s appeal for the audiences is the independence of Tomo and the decisions he makes by himself and the way that he wants change things by moving from Newcastle to London. Also I think some of the appeal is about the romance between the two boys and Maria
6) As well as being in black and white, the film is subtitled during a conversations in Polish between Marek and his farther; there are also sections in French. In what ways do these factors affect your responses to the film, the situation and the characters?
Response: The use of using subtitles added almost another dimension making the film seem more real rather than scripted. I personally found this very interesting, it really managed to grab the attention of the viewer and gave me an impression of the two characters.
The Situation: As before it did make the situation feel more real, but it also made it feel slightly uncomfortable with people talking different languages that we wouldn’t understand if we didn’t have the subtitles.
Characters: I feel that the sense of it being uncomfortable also plays a part on Mareks father because we know from early on that he is a drunk. It also made me feel slightly uncomfortable about Marek until later on because his father’s actions could have been portrayed upon him
7)What similarities and differences can you identify between Somers Town and This is England?
Both the films are very British, I have not seen This is England but I can explain some similarities between them. Both the films are set around teenagers who are perhaps lost and are looking for independence in the way of getting as far away from their existing lives.
8)To what extent do you think the audience is expected to be ‘comfortable’ with this portrait of two teenagers?
When Tomo is beaten up by the three lads late at night it makes us feel as if he is vulnerable and that portrays upon us and makes us feel like if he were to be a real character in real life then he wouldn’t poses a threat upon us. Also all the little witty things he says and when he steals the wrong clothes from the dry cleaners, the fact that Tomo and Marek are funny and makes us laugh also helps us to feel comfortable with them. Also the relationship between Tomo and Marek is tight as and this reflects upon us and we’ve been watching them the whole time and this makes us feel as if we are in with their friendship.
9) A sign on the estate reads “children playing on these grounds is prohibited”. In what different ways do Tomo and Marek seek to amuse themselves within this environment? Do you think the film encourages us to judge any of their actions?
One way they seek to amuse themselves is by drinking alcohol in park and then having a party, playing loud music and drinking more alcohol and lots of it. They do this because they are feeling down by the fact that Maria left to go to Paris. I don’t think we are meant to sympathise for them because even though they are upset about her leaving they say that they are drinking to move on and get over Maria.
10)What message of childhood adolescence do you, or could you, take away from the film?
I personally do not see a message to take away from the film. The boys to me were acting somewhat immature by getting drunk over a woman who’s 10 years older than them. However there could be a message to others about how sometimes we learn to adapt in other situations in desperate times, when we are put into situations we don’t know or are comfortable with we as human beings learn to adapt and this is what Tomo had to do when he left home and went to London.
11)Do your reactions towards the boys change at different points in the film? Which moments in particular?
a) Encourage you to sympathise with the boys
When they get drunk like I mentioned before and start pondering on why Maria left them to go to Paris without telling them is defiantly a time when we should or are supposed to sympathise for the boys. It makes it even worse with the fact that they are in the park because this is place where people are supposed to have fun not to be upset.
b) Make you unsympathetic towards them
When they steal clothes from the dry cleaners but they are clothes that they would never wear unless they really had to. We all know that stealing is bad and because of this we know not to sympathise with the boys because what they have done is wrong.
12) Some of the other characters include marek’s father, Mariusz, Graham the cockney neighbour, and a French waitress, maria. To what extent would you agree that Meadows is playing with stereotypes in his representation of these characters?
We often see in films that French woman are waitress’s and Maria is a waitress in a small cafe. Also that France is a very romantic place and Maria is somewhat of a flirt with the two boys. Also we see immigrants as people who work for low income and can work hard, his house is small and in a bit of a mess which indicates low amounts of income.
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