10/09/13 Notes

10/09/13 lesson 1

Seven trailer - what made it a thriller?

- music, fast and intense, sudden noises which put audience in shock and make them more involved, pace speeds up 

-guns 

- repeat of the seven words, quickly flash on the screen, catch audiences attention

- metronome at start of trailer - intensifies, continue to hear ticking sound without seeing it (non diegetic) from hearing it with seeing it (diegetic)

- sense of something awful has happened, people have died, told about 7 deadly sins and that 2 deaths have taken place and there will be 5 more. 

 Title sequence:

- heart beating sound at start, speeds up

- photographs, attention to detail, slow movements (contrast with music)

- text looks as though scratched rather than type, white (purity - ironic, contrast with 'SEVEN DEADLY SINS') on black background 

- short clips

- colours of red, black and white - darkness, evil, sinister, dark room (reduce likeliness of being caught), red = safe light, irony cause it is opposite of safety

- music doesn't match film clips 

- lots of opening of books - notes?

- flickering of notes on and off screen

- hands of a surgeon?

- scissors - cutting, link to deaths? 

- crossing out of someone's face - they have been killed? Eliminated? 

- long dirty nails - digging?

- crackling, eery noises

- the book - word related to seven sins, scrap book, sews it together (surgical skill), made similarly like the bible - seven sins! See same image of book multiple times

Panning - go from one side of the scene to another

Semiotonics - the science of signs (Barthes 1964)

Denotation - eg: a rose = flower/garden plant

Connotation - what the rose represents e.g love, death, rugby, it is a personal frame of reference 

Different forms of analysis: 

- micro elements: mise en scene - clothes, hair/make-up, location, lighting, props

- sounds - music, dialect, effects

-editing

- camera angles, movement and composition 

Macro elements: the narrative, representation, audience, genre. All of the micro elements work together to impact on these macro elements

Lesson 2

Taxi driver: Immediate intense music

Beat of the music, slow, orchestra music, 

Close up of a face - jazz music came on, perception that he is relaxed and calm

Slow music and rain in window

Music livens up when he is looking at city, city is to be feared/ thats how he feels inside then slows again - two sides to the movie

Dramatic strong music, calm jazz music 

Night time, cold, dark 

Taxi is made to look huge and comes through smoke - intimidating

Bright orange, glowing font - headlights 

His view is distorted

Falling down: heavy breathing at start, close up of a face, sweaty top lip, in a bad situation

Slow, high pitched music, on and off, intensifies with deep bass music

Screams of children - annoying 

Traffic jam - people getting frustrated - presented in deep music

Music changes from high to low 

Something bad will or has happened 

He was trying to calm down, kid staring at him, Garfield grinning, children screaming, couple arguing 

Looking at him then looking through his eyes 

Day starts bad 

He looks tense

Shutter island: dark room, rain

Red font

Loud, intense music, goes from quiet to loud

Snow, cold, 

Prison cell 

Flame and fire, represents emotion

Plush red chair- contrasts with prison cell 

Guns

Island looked bleak

Gates look imposing, intimidating, keeping the madness in 

Imprisonment 

Gives imression you wouldn't want to be there

Image flickers - no clarity in picture 

Spinning staircase - illusion, spiral of the situation 

Vantage point: best line of sight (meaning)

Images overlap each other

Slow music, with banging background

Main font evolves out and becomes clear

Sniper laser sight within the text 

Conflict - protest against USA and then a presidential car 

Sherlock Holmes: fast intense music

Old fashioned paper, writing, drawings, old fashioned music - sets scene 

Drawings of scenes - suspecting a scene? Originally a book

Fight scene - going to be aggressive 

Stained images

Explosions

Pauses an action shot and turns it to drawing - lots of action scenes and fighting

Only speech is at start 'case reopened' - makes audience think about what is happening 

Woman laying on stone table - struggling 

Coffin carried by police men - murder? Link to woman on table?

Close up of a house - significance of this house?

Actors have stern look (e.g mark strong), serious attitude, something serious has happened or is happening 

Music gets faster and tenser towards end of title sequence, explosions are also starting to be shown - more drama and action

Music suddenly stops at the end - suspen se and surprise within the film? 

Colours if drawing are black, brown and red - dark, sinister, no colour 

Casino royale: mentions of the casino, cards etc

Lots of killing

Combines killing and casino

You know my name" - everyone knows bonds name, Daniel Craig close up

Original bond start of film

Enemy in red - can tell difference between good and bad

Queen face changed to female face, romance in film, Bond girl

Card suits used as weapons - game of life and death, links with casino

Cartoon image of bond to fit with picture - big unveiling at end 

Vertigo

Catch me if you can

Fight club

Casino royale 

Summary: meaning of a title, art of the title and how it is broken down, what and how you see it