Preliminary Task 1 Planning- Pill productions

Media Studies Preliminary Task 1 Planning- Pill Productions

Luci Crawford

The following is a rationale I have written to explain and describe the codes and conventions we will be using in our clip 'The Hitman'. We decided to name our Production 'The Hitman' as the plot is based on a man who has been hired to kill a man by a woman with power in a high up position. The plot that goes with this man however, is that he is unexperienced and new to his career. We show this through the use of a kitchen knife, and a flashback. The kitchen knife is usually what a mum would use to make dinner for her children as opposed to murdering , someone. It shows that this killer wasn't prepared or didn't have access to a proper murder tool, such as a proper knife. The flashback helps to prove this as well because the man looks down at his hands and picks off something thats not there and then we flashback to him washing blood off his hands it shows he is almost haunted by what he did, and that he regrets it. We are using eerie music at the beginning if the clip to add a mysterious and tense feel, the music will be mostly violins/string instruments. We are planning on getting a more drum, based, intense music for the background during the flashback so that it comes across as the fastening drum beat mimicking the Hitmans' heartbeat. For the bathroom scene we see the hitman pack away his knife which was his weapon and his black hoodie which was a disguise (to help add to the verisimilitude so he wasn't walking in and out of the bathroom looking the same making him harder to identify), and he turns around and the shot follows him and goes to a slowly growing pool of blood coming from a cubicle door. This adds to the verisimilitude as a pool of blood after seeing a bloodied kitchen knife makes more sense than a lack of blood would as there would be no clean way of killing someone with a knife like that, especially someone knew to the trade like our character. In the office scene, both characters are dressed in work attire. The hirer lady looks especially powerful, the black and white on her costume represent the power and evil (black) and the purity (white) contrasting each other, and obviously the evil wins out. The hitman will be in a dark grey suit, which symbolises being calm and neutral, but this too contrasts with his red tie as red symbolises guilt and regret. The hirer will be portrayed as having a sense of hidden identity and secretiveness about her as there will always be a shadow cast on half her face. A shadow itself represents the blocking out of light, and therefore, implies the existence of darkness or some lurking force of evil, which we are shown through her at the end of the clip when she hands the hitman an envelope after  he replies 'yes' after she asked 'is it done?' The envelope is obviously filled with money, and the envelopes are a convention used in many thrillers, an unmarked envelope always has either money, or a key to a safe of some sort in it as payment to the assassin. The Hitmans face will always be shown in full light. This will be to show the audience how he feels he cannot hide in the dark from what he's done.

This was the original brainstorm for our group: 

And this was the second and final brainstorm after we decided to change up some of the effects we were planning to use:

This is the shot list for when we film on Thursday the 27th of February:

For costumes:

The first character is the hitman. He'll be wearing a dark grey suit with a red or blue tie. We made this decision because the colour red represents guilt and regret, and the colour blue represents sadness.

This is in contrast to his grey suit because grey represents calmness, being neutral and emotionless. However, when he flashes back to the crime he did and we see him washing his hands we see that he is not completely emotionless and may even feel regret for what he did for money.

 
     



The second character is the lady who hired him. She is wearing an official looking tracksuit, and a dark blazer. The dark colours add to the mysteriousness of her character- the darkness of her clothes could reflect the dark shadow hiding her face. The black in her costume also represent her power and the evil side if her.

  

For props:
Fake blood will be needed as the hitman cleans blood of his hands, and a pool of blood is shown underneath a cubicle in the bathroom. We chose to use the blood because blood signifies death, danger, and violence. It also adds a tension and shows the audience that the man has done a bad thing. The following is a video of the recipe I'll be using to create the fake blood.

A black hoodie will also be used as a prop, not necessarily as a costume piece because the hitman doesn't wear it, but he does put it in a black bag showing that he was wearing a disguise when he entered the building where he committed the murder. The hoodie adds more verisimilitude as it shows the audience that the hitman didn't just walk in and walk out again, he had a disguise to get to the bathroom which makes it more believable. This is what the hoodie will look like, unmarked and black in colour, however it will be scrunched up as the hitman grabs it.

                                     

The last prop we'll be using is a kitchen knife. This represents how the hitman is new to the business as he doesn't have the proper equipment. The kitchen knife helps to tell the audience why the hitman is so remorseful and nervous about what he's done. A proper torture knife would be a signifier of danger, violence, and death, however a kitchen knife would signify a mum cooking dinner, so it contrasts the man with the knife almost as if hes just quickly gone to his kitchen or his local supermarket to get his weapon. The knife will be shown when he cleans blood off it after we seen   him clean off his bloody hands.                                   

I did the weather check for my group, we have windows in the office we are using and are planning on creating a dark atmosphere by pulling the blinds. The weather on the 27th is cloudy, which means the sun won't be too strong or come through the blinds too much or ruin the effect we are trying to create.

I was also in charge of creating a callsheet for my group. This also has the film schedule attached to the bottom as I was assigned to that also.

Thriller Brainstorm

Thriller Brainstorm

For my thriller brainstorm I chose situation 2:

A kidnapper watches a child at a fun-fair. The parent and child are separated. The kidnapper moves in for the abduction.

I decided to do an opening for a thriller movie. The shots used are detailed in my storyboard. The editing will be quick cuts, a use of slow motion, and continuity editing. Mise-en-scene and sound are explained in the rationale and my list of conventions.

First, I made a brainstorm of things that create fear in a persons life:

Next, I added a few of these examples onto a brainstorm for the Fun-Fair Kidnapping:

Rationale:

There are 4 main characters in the scene:

The first two go hand in hand- a man and woman exchange a childs bag awkwardly. They are both dressed in white-collar uniforms suggesting they both value there jobs and have power and money. The lack of rings on there fingers (as shown as they exchange the bags with their left hands) shows they are not married which implies divorce. We are shown this more in the way that we are shown them fighting with big hand gestures as their daughter watches on.

The third character shown is the quiet little girl who watches her parents. She has an obvious attachment to the toy which could be because it may be the only constant in her life with her parents split up. She is young and naive as she heads to the forest beyond the fun-fair to pet a rabbit identical to the one she id holding.

The fourth character is the kidnapper. He is young (30) with a slight psycopathic look about him as he watches the girl- but we never see his full face as at least half is always shadowed by the trees. It is shown that the man has done his research and has purpose to taking this girl in particular as he knows about how she likes rabbits. Whenever his eyes are shown they dart around as if waiting and watching nervously.

The scene is set at a fun-fair with a deep forest beyond it. 

The family friendly carnival which is a signifier for happiness and family-fun is surrounded by a deep, dark forest which is a signifier for darkness, danger and getting lost. The dark shadows the trees cast give an eerie feel to the seemingly harmless setting. The trees and forest also offer a believable escape for the kidnapper- if it was set in an open space someone would spot him in no time, but in the dense forest, he could easily slip int the darkness and follow a pre-arranged path to his car/van.

Some examples of Iconography and Symbolism I have used are:

The fun-fair is a contrast to itself in the scene as a fun-fair is usually a symbol of happiness, whereas in the video we see two divorced parents arguing and a kid getting kidnapped.

The toy rabbit the little girl carries around represents childhood and innocence, it is what she keeps with her to avoid having to focus on the world around her- she looks and takes care of the rabbit as opposed to watching her parents have a public fight.

The rabbit the kidnapper used is a symbol of pure innocence being used for evil. Another way of putting this is it represents the term 'All that glitters is not gold.' The rabbit from the little girls view is a sweet, little creature that is welcoming her to him, the rabbit in the kidnappers eyes however, is a tool to entrap the little girl.

The conventions I chose to use from the list given were:

1. Extreme Close-Up

On the 12th shot on my storyboard, an extreme close-up is used to show the tears and fear in the little girls eyes as she is taken captive. This makes the audience empathise for this 4 year old as they see the petrified and confused look on her face.

2. Shadows

Shadows are used in two different ways in my thriller. The first is to symbolise the eerieness of the forest and to be a signifier for darkness and evil that happens in the forest. The second is the way in which the kidnappers face is never shown as there is always a shadow cast about one side of his body by the tall trees. This creates a sense of tension and mystery for the watcher as they are left in the dark in regards to the kidnappers identity.

3.Eerie Music

At the start of the scene the non-diegetic music will be happy carnival songs, but as soon as the racking focus in shot 4 goes from the little girl to the man watching her, an underlying tone of eerie music will begin. The carnival music will die down in volume as the eerie music increases in volume as we see the mysterious man reach into the box.

4.Slow Motion 

Slow motion will be used in shot 14 as the toy rabbit falls from the little girls hand to the grass. This will increase the tension as the music will slow down with it. Lets what has just happened sink into the audience. The rabbit which represented her childhood has happiness has fallen away from her reach as this man has kidnapped an innocent 4 year old girl.

5.Dolly Shot/Tracking Shot

This is used in shot 10 when we see the little girl move away from the fun-fair and move towards the forest. We see her moving from a place of safety and security to a place of danger. The tracking shot also gives the watcher a good view of the trees the kidnapper was in. This builds suspension as they look for him in the shadows.

6. A Vulnerable Character

The vulnerable character in the story is the 4 year old girl who gets kidnapped. She was to naive to imagine anyone would hurt her by the shadows and she was not properly protected by her parents as they were too wrapped up in thee own issues to be looking after their child. Her vulnerablility is mainly shown in the way in which she simply walks away from her parents with no worries.

This is the storyboard for the opening:

Ideas From Movie/ Clip Openings

Ideas from Movie/Clip Openings

Citizen Kane Opening Scene

The name of the movie is edited onto the screen. There is deep/eerie music which creates almost a tense atmosphere. Dark Clouds and colours add to the eerie mood. There is a large gate shown- its bulky which suggests that the owner wants to keep someone out or even possibly in. There is a scary castle in the backgund shown by an establishing shot. All the shots are foggy and dark, and are shown in a montage form. The castle is shown again with one light on that is shown from the outside looking up at the window. We ae shown our first character- a man who dies instantly. The snowglobe in his hand falls to the floor and smashes, this could symbolise his death- his whole life has just been smashed up. A shot is shown through the smashed snowglobe which is a distorted nurse. We are not fully shown the dead mans face as it is hidden by shadows this creates a sense of mystery and wondering who this supposedly powerful and rich man was.

Dark Knight Opening

The shot of a man from behind hides his actual face but shows the clown mask hanging from his hand, this man is almost hidden in daylight. We are shown men on a zipline and there are fast cuts between the shots. The zipline is shown in a high angle shot to show the danger and add suspense. There is loud bangs which adds to the tension, this is joined with the music building up in the background. All the shots are quick to reflect the action that is happening in each of them. The wide shot of the safe helps the watcher understand what is going on in the scene, and when there is the lound clink of metal on the safe it is clear what is going on. The dialogue has helped to establish the joker as a character. Close ups of faces anables the characters reactions to be seen. There is loud noises everytime someone shoots which adds to the affect of danger. 

Exemption (AS Media)

Extreme close up at the very start. Absence of music.  Shot goes to one of blood. Blood is associated with danger- something is not right. The diegetic noise of the loud breathing adds to the suspense this is joined with the nervous tapping. The shot of the tapping hands dhows the guy trying to get the other guys attention. The loud music that starts as the boy stabs the man in the leg creates a jump fright for people who werent expecting it. The way it shows the boy looking for his attacker and the audience only seeing him when the boy sees him was well done.

The First Degree (AS Media)

There is eerie music. Shot of eye in the dark. The way the camera goes in and out of focus reflects on what the boy covered in blood is seeing as he fades in and out of consciousness. The loud footprints adds to the tension, the attacker is coming and the guy cant move any faster than he already is. The blood is a signifier of danger, death and pain. The lack of identity for the bad uy created by not showing his face also adds tension and a sense of mystery.

Public Enemies- TV Drama Analysis

Public Enemies-TV Drama Analysis

Public Enemies is presented as a Police/Crime drama. We are shown this in the way that we hear the diegetic noise of a girl kicking and yelling 'Help me please, somebody help!' in the boot of the car, this suggests a kidnapping and as kidnappings are illegal so it will be under investigation by the police . This type of drama is also proposed when we hear the man murder the girl in the boot by breaking her neck. Furthermore its presented by the lady shown through a camera lense who is dressed in official looking clothing and the worried look on her face when the father says his daughter Sandra was murdered by someone who was let out of parol early this shows that she maybe the parol officer which again suggests police. The father is at some sort of press conference and his dialogue is about his murdered daughter which again shows that this is a police/crime drama.

All of the groups of the seven core  representation of media are represented in this clip, however, some more than others.
 For ethnicity there is a white man who is the murderer white men are identical portrayed as psychopathic killers, more scheming which we learn this man is as he got out of parol early. We are then shown the classic white family with the mother, father and daughter.
Love and romance is only present between the couple who lost there child  as we see how they support each other through the press conference about their daughter.
Age is shown through the two parents who just lost their daughter. They are at what is supposed to be a calm age but now are dealing with this loss. The man who killed the daughter looks almost the same age to the parents- this could show the stark difference between two sets of people’s lives- although they are the same age one set has just lost there daughter and is mourning, while the other has just been released from parol after several years and has killed a young woman. We are also given the classic young rookie parol officer who appears to have made a mistake that may cost her her job.
Class and Status is shown first through where the murderer drives his car, this man knows how to get to a secluded rubbish dump by going through a forest. This could suggest a lower class as it may show that he has been there several times. It is also shown through the young parol officer, as she walks down the stairs behind the parents she almost hides her face- she could be of a lower status now because her worried expression shows she may have been the reason the man got off parol. The parents appear to be of higher status by the way they carry in front of a camera, mostly the mother projects an air of superiority by her posture and steadiness in front of a camera.
Regional Identity is shown by the accents in the parents voices, they are slightly fancier sounding then other English accents. The man who plays the murderer has a slightly chubbier face and rounder body and that along with his hair cut suggests a more ‘cockney’ decent.
Physical Ability/Disability is presented through the older looking man who has the ability to overpower and then break the neck of a young woman.
For gender we are shown the man killing the woman and the stereotypical British parents. We are also shown the classic rookie  young woman who is the parol officer.

The director used all of the 4 key elements to create representation and add overall meaning to  the clip.
The camera uses establishing shots, wide shots, mid shots, high angle shots and closeups to add affect to the clip.
An establishing shot is used at the beginning to show the setting- an overgrown forest with a car moving slowly through it.
Wide shots are used throughout to show the movement of characters across the screen. For example, when the parol officer in the background runs around a corner off-camera the wide shot shows her hiding her face as she moves away from behind the parents, this allows the audience to see her worried body language and facial expressions as she moved away.
Mid shots are used throughout to show characters movements as well as facial expressions. For example when the murderer moves behind the car we see a mid shot which enables the audience to be able to finally see his previously hidden face and how he checks to see if anyone else is in the area hearing the girl in the boot scream.
The high angle shot are used in this clip to hide what is going on off screen. For example, the high angle shot is of the sun shining brightly through the trees. The beautiful image is a direct contrast to the screaming and kicking we hear off-screen.
Close ups are used throughout the clip to show characters expressions. There is a close up of the parol officer when she is behind the parents. As the dialogue includes the dad mentioning how the murderer was let off parol wrongly, the woman’s face grimaces and she looks worried and on the verge of tears.  This enables the audience to be able to sympathise with her.
Most of the shots in the clip appear to have been filmed by handheld cameras. When there is a shot of the murderer driving through the foliage we see the stillness of the outside world compared to the shakiness of the camera. This creates the idea that something is off-centre and gives the audience the feeling something bad is about to happen.

Diegetic and Non-diegetic add to the clip and create tension.
We hear first the diegetic noise of the birds chirping and the soft noise of the cars tires driving slowly across the gravel road. We then hear banging and kicking which adds a sense of confusion- the scene had previously been peaceful and know there is a violent noise. As the man turns down the noise of the radio the non-diegetic music begins in the background, it’s eerie and suspicious and we immediately hear screams and yells joining the kicking and banging. A girl is screaming ‘help me’ from the boot of the car. The audience feels a sense of tension and worry as the man exits the car. He opens the car boot and we hear the girl crying ‘please don’t’ and then the unnatural sound of her neck being broken. The sharp diegetic crack is unexpected and the audience will feel shocked and a feeling of suspense will grow as they hear the body being dragged against the gravel and the eerie music gets louder and more tense.
The eerie music takes more of a sad feel as we see the victims parents being interviewed. The father begins to speak over the clicking of cameras. He speaks about a guy who was ‘released on parol’ who had already ‘attempted to murder someone else’ the fathers mournful words make the watchers sympathetic for the parents and a dark mood is added to this scene.

The editing throughout this clip is continuous.
The names of the cast and crew are edited to appear on the screen. There is quick cuts throughout the whole clip. Also, as the lady hides behind a pillar, the pillar is out of focus and the camera focuses on her face.

Mise-en-scene is presented through lighting, costumes, mirrors, characters, and buildings.
There is bright lighting at the beginning of the scene, it creates an idyllic  calm feeling. This is joined with the bright green trees. However, the beauty of nature is destroyed by the rubbish dump that we are shown around the corner.
Costumes were used to present the characters well in the video.
The murderer has on a waterproof jacket. This jacket would be fairly easy to clean blood off if necessary, which shows that this man had been planning this murder. It wasn’t a crime of passion, or a spur of the moment angry decision. He was ready to do this which shows the possibility of an unstable mind.
The father and mother are dressed in dark clothing to reflect there current situation of grieving. The father has on a purple tie, which could either represent his power over the killer as they call for help through cameras which could reach thousands of people, or his devotion to his daughter as he can barely speak his words to the camera because he’s sad.
The young woman in the background is wearing formal clothing often seen on ladies who work for the government. This suggests that she is possibly the parol officer for the man who was released and killed the girl.
Mirrors were used mainly to distort an image in this clip. The first use is when we are first shown the murderers face, but the rear view mirror of the car that we are shown his face through only shows his eyes. This creates a scenario of mystery for the audience as they don’t know who this man is. The second use is to avoid showing the man kill the girl. We are shown the reflection of the trees and light on the front window of the car as we hear the sharp crack of her neck being broken.
The characters all have different personalities which add to the video.
The killer is represented as having almost psychopathic tendencies. We are shown this in the way that when the young girl is screaming and kicking for help he doesn’t look remorseful or regretful of what he had done, he just looked around and raised his eyebrows as if wondering that he hoped no one else heard it.
The father is remorseful and unable to keep himself together for the interview, his wife steps in to help him and is shown as the stronger one of the two of them, able to support her husband as he pulls himself together.
The lady in the background is remorseful and hides her face as she walks behind the parents. This shows that she may be in trouble for the decisions she made.
The last point for mise-en-scene is the grey building in the background. It has ordered squares on the entire outside of the building, which contrasts with the shaky handheld camera which could represent how the parents are feeling- their seemingly normal life is now unordered and shaky.

Sherlock Essay

Sherlock Essay

The main camera angles used in the Sherlock clip were mid shots, over the shoulder shots, wide shots, and close-ups. 

The mid shots were used frequently to add to the sense of tension by showing the danger a character was in at the same time as enabling the person watching to see their facial expressions. For example, at the start of the clip a man is standing with a bomb on his chest, the mid shot lets us see his facial expression which is worried and scared. The shot enables the audience to sympathise with the character and see the danger he is in at the same time.

The over the shoulder shots are generally used in the clip to show a gun and what it is pointed at. Near the middle of the clip it shows Sherlock point a gun. The camera follows the gun from behind his shoulder and racks the focus from the gun to the bomb on the floor. By showing the gun and the bomb in the same shot it creates a sense of tension for the audience and shows them the threat at the same time.

The wide shots are used to show the audience full effect of what is happening in the scene to create tension. A wide shot shows Sherlock and the antagonist in a gun stand-off while the third hides behind Sherlock gives the audience a clear image of the scene and the setting of the scene also.

Close-ups were used to show the expressions on the characters throughout the clip. The protagonists have guns pointed at them during the clip and does close ups of their faces. The audience can clearly see the distress on the first mans face and Sherlock calculating how to get out of the situation. This builds tension for the viewers as they feel for the men in danger. The use of focusing on facial expressions adds drama and intensity to the clip.

For editing, at the beginning of the clip there are many short, quick cuts as it shows a recap.The camera fades in and out of blackness from one shot to the next and this creates the effect of blinking. The word 'PREVIOUSLY' is edited onto the screen at the beginning of the clip. during the quick cuts Sherlock walks through a door and his entrance is sped up, this creates a sense of urgency and builds up tension for the watchers- they want to find out what happened to the protagonists.

At one point in the clip a camera focuses from a gun to a bomb. This helps let the full effect of what the character wants to do set in on the audience so they can feel the full effect of the decision.

There is continuity editing- the clip carries on from beginning to end and makes sense in the world of the story. 

The clip starts of with eerie music in the background, and then a creepy voice begins talking- its the antagonist. Two of the characters dialogue over top of the music. There is a 'swish' noise as a character is sped up by editing as he walks through a door. As the characters who are talkings voices get harsher the music builds up and gets more powerful, the volume is also increased and the pace of the music sped up which creates tension and a sense of danger. When two of the characters are under threat, the music builds up in the background and the drums mimic the noise of a heartbeat getting faster and quicker which reflects on how the protagonists are feeling under the highly pressurised situation. The non-diegetic heartbeat builds and builds and suddenly stops. The silence on-screen is penetrated by the diegetic noise of the antagonists phone beginning to ring. Ironically the two protagonists have multiple guns pointed at them and the ring tone of the other mans phone is the song 'Staying Alive'. This changes the mood of the scene from intense and heavy to almost humorous and light. The character suddenly yells 'Say that again!' and threatens to 'skin' the person on the other end of the phone which switches the mood back to heavy, and dramatic music begins building up again in the background. It builds up till the character leaves and then stops as the door closes and you hear the diegetic noise of the door clicking shut.

For mise-en-scene the lighting in the video is quite dark, the blue light in the pool and weak overhead lights almost contrast to the dark pillars and roof in the building. The setting of the pool is shown by an establishing shot at the beginning of the video. The setting is a contrast in itself as a pool is usually a fun place for kids to go and play, whereas now it is ironically the scene of an intense and dangerous situation. At the start of the clip a character talks from behind a pillar- this makes it mysterious as the watchers don't know who is talking and makes the scene tense.

The three characters all have very different personalities shown in the clip. The antagonist has a creepy voice, and his mood changes frequently suggesting that he is bipolar and his facial expressions and eyes give off a psychotic feel. He wears an expensive looking tuxedo which is black and white which could represent the good and evil having a face-off inside him. His tux and his body language and the way he communicates suggest he is wealthy and possibly in power and a superior position to others. The main protagonist, Sherlock, is dressed in a cheaper looking suit, suggesting he doesn't care so much about money and power. His facial expressions are calm under pressure along with his body language, this shows the audience this is not the first time he has been in a situation like this. He has an air of experience and confidence in the situation which puts him on a level playing field with the antagonist. The third character is almost portrayed as  Sherlocks side kick. His clothes are cheaper looking and he is not in a tuxedo like the other two characters. He expresses a calm demeanor through most of the clip but is not as collected as Sherlock as we see him unable to hide his worry in many of the close-ups. We see by the way he and Sherlock look at each other for confirmation and how he nods slightly saying yes Sherlock almost shooting the bomb without saying anything that they they have worked together often and trust each others decisions.

The contrasting and opposite personalities add together to make a scene with diverse characters which helps add to the dramatic, intense and  overall heavy mood of the clip.