My Film Opening Project - Genre & Group Members

Genre: Drama
Members: Ryan and Cori

Weeks 8-9 Film Opening Research

#1 Happy Gilmore

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? 

The film opening displays 6 opening titles to show the name, starring actor, and various other aspects of the film. In this order the titles roll: Universal Pictures Present, A Bernie Brillstien-Brad Gray, Robert Simmonds Production, A Dennis Dugan Film, Adam Sandler, Happy Gilmore.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?

The opening scene is a backstory of Happy Gilmore's childhood in order to set up the movie and introduce the main character. The film is set to act like a "home movie" film to portray his childhood.

What connotations do the images carry?

The images portray a positive connotation even in difficult times. Even when it shows his dad's funeral there is still a positive sense as if nothing happened. Happy Gilmore would always say positive words in the beginning.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

Technical Codes: During the opening scene, the music is very alternative and rock-like and it sets the stage for the rest of the comedy film. The transitions and editing techniques of the opening scene are unique in their own way and just spread a positive vibe into the main part of the film.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

As the main part of the film starts, the background music goes away. This is done to signify something that is going to happen and to make sure that the audience is paying attention to details. 

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

One key strategy that is used to appeal to the comedy audience is not only music but different scripts or actions that different character say or do. Words or actions appeal greatly to the target audience when a film is being shot.

How has technology been used effectively? 

Technology does not play a major role in the movie other than with different camera angles and shots. When the camera is following the far hit golf ball, there is a lot of editing and technology that is involved. 

#2 Black Panther

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? 
There are not any main titles during the opening sequences to the film. The script does the introduction to the movie on its own.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
The images of the past are used to introduce the background to the movie. While the narrator explains the aspects of the film, the viewers are shown images of the past through "sand characters" to portray the backstory of Wakanda. 

What connotations do the images carry?
The images portray a dark connotation through the dark blues and purples in color. Even as the main scene occurs, the setting is in a less developed area at night. This imagery gives off a scary and negative connotation to the film.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
Technical and Symbolic Codes: In addition to the colors used in the opening scenes, the editing techniques of the film are very intricate and symbolic to the film. The dark colors portray the symbolism of the Black Panther to emphasize his powers.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
In all marvel movies, there is a crescendo in the music when there is a transition between the opening scene and the main part of the movie. Marvel has their theme music and their introduction/title edit to make this transition. 

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
One key strategy that is used to appeal to the action/adventure audience is when the king kills his own brother after he betrayed the country of Wakanda. This sets up the movie for the violence and action that is involved with this genre. 

How has technology been used effectively? 
Technology plays a major role in the opening scene of the film. It is very difficult to describe what elements of technology are used to show the backstory of the film, but it seems as if there are sandpeople showing this. 

Movie Genre Video

https://youtu.be/i416GvyO9DI

Personal PowerPoint: Sports

My Favorite Genre PowerPoint

Film Viewing Practice Essay

The extract of the film "Agent Carter" shows various forms of camera shots, editing techniques, sound options, and mise-en-scene throughout the clip. These aspects of film help to give the movie a meaning and help the viewer comprehend the different parts that the director may be trying to show.

The film shows the viewer different forms of camera shots and angles during this clip of "Agent Carter." First off, the extract show an establishing shot almost right away in the office setting. The camera angle rotates around the room to show what the different people are doing and to show the environment in which they work in. The shot clearly defines the location and the mood of the scene as a busy working environment. After the establishing shot in the office, the director uses a close shot of Agent Carter and a coworker having a conversation. This shot allows the viewers to focus solely on their conversation and try to understand what is going on between them. Another example used is a high angle shot when the camera is above the subjects that are walking up the stairs. This does not really have much meaning, but it gives the viewers an alternative perspective.

The film also shows various examples of editing techniques. One example of editing is symbolism. The director will use cuts and different shots to emphasize how much Agent Carter misses Steve Rogers from the introduction clip and when she finds the picture of him in her work drawer. This then encourages her to go find answers for herself. Another form of editing is the 45 second introduction where the scenes switch back and forth from Carter and Rogers. This example of simultaneity gives a backstory to the film.

This extract enhances multiple forms of sound. Most of the film includes diegetic sound which is where the characters and the audience can hear the sound. This type of sound occurs during the conversations in the office and during the scene at the end with the men she encounters. There is also an example of non-diegetic sound when she is fighting the men outside. Non-diegetic sound is when certain characters cannot hear something but the audience can. This occurs when the man inside is unaware of the fighting that is occurring outside.

The film lastly shows various forms of mise-en-scene to help the audience understand the film. Firstly, the setting is clear to the audience in the office and when she goes to confront the men in the warehouse. It is dark outside so the audience can anticipate something is going to happen. Additionally during this scene there is low-key lighting as the moonlight is the only source of light during the fight outside. The mise-en-scene of these extracts show the audience that something is going to occur.

Graphic Organizer

Four General Mise-en-Scene Areas

For this blog post, I am going to be commenting on the different mise-en-scene areas of film in the movie "Black Panther."

Setting: The setting in the movie Black Panther is very mixed on where different scenes take place. In the beginning of the film, the setting is in urban Oakland, California, while other parts of the movie show the jungle of Africa and the city of Wakanda. The setting of Wakanda describes how technologically advanced the civilization is and that they are thriving. 

Lighting: There a various forms of lighting used in this movie. One form of lighting used in the scene where the king is rescuing the girl is low-key lighting. This is a form of low-key lighting because the scene is taking place at night in the jungle with the moonlight shining down on the characters as the only source of light. Right before this scene, the Black Panther is in his ship and is about to jump out and rescue the girl, but he is planning out the strategy. High-key lighting is used in the ship with the indoor ship lights shining down on him. 

Costume: In all marvel/superhero movies, the costumes of each and every character are very unique to what traditional everyday humans where during the day. Superheros typically have special made costumes that give them a brand and have viewers understand exactly who they are viewing even in a costume. In Black Panther, King T'Challa (Black Panther) is given the black suit to give the main character a specific costume that the hero is supposed to wear. While various movies are different, the sci-fi and fantasy genre of Black Panther gives the King his specific costume.

Staging: The various characters in the movie present extremely well acting in the movie. Watching different characters use forms of mood and different actions they present describes each and every character perfectly. For example, King T'Challa uses humor in his acting to show his soft and caring side presenting him as a "good guy". However, the so called villain, Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) presents himself as vengeful in his acting styles. 

5 Master Edits Post With Sound

5 Master Edits Post With Sound

This shows the different sound effects used in the 5 master edits film. I used different forms of sound to enhance the different effects in the video project.

5 MASTER EDITS VIDEO

1.) Contrast: This first shot of contrast we used direct sound to display sound effects in the video. The shot gains effect from the direct sound by picking up sound from the classroom.

2.) Parallelism: We added music to this edit giving the edit a sound bridge because it gives a sense of finding something. The two actors are walking towards the same place and the audience can assume that they will eventually cross paths. The slow, symphonic music gives a somewhat "romantic" effect to the shot.

3.) Symbolism: The next form of sound effect we used was a short ding. Our shot shows symbolism between the gator eye and the subject's eye, showing symbolism between the two shots. The ding effect happens as the cut effect occurs. This type of sound is post synchronization dubbing.

4.) Leitmotif: This last edit is supposed to include sound effects to the shot giving music to the edit. Leitmotif is the form of editing where a certain sound effect is played when something is about to happen. For example, in our master edits video, the subject falls to the ground whenever the drum starts to beat. 

5 Master Edits in Film Examples

5 Master Edits in Film

This first shot is from the movie Happy Gilmore, starring Adam Sandler. The movie is about a young aspiring hockey player that gets cut from the local team and has to find a way to make enough money to buy his grandmother's house back from the IRS. While helping his grandmother move out, the moving workers fine an old set of golf clubs and begin to see who can hit it the furthest down the street. Happy Gilmore (Sandler) comes over and tries to get them back to work so they set up a friendly bet. Without knowing his extreme talent, Happy hits the golf ball almost 400 yards down the street and the movers are amazed! This scene showing contrast cuts shots from the ball traveling down the street back to the expressions of the movers in shock of how far the ball is going. 

The next shot is from the movie American Sniper showing parallelism. The scene switches between two different events occurring at one time emphasizing foreshadowing that something is going to happen. In this case, Bradley Cooper is in one scene shown about to kill a terrorist who is going to be a suicide bomber near the american troopers. The other scene shows an american tank driving down the street with soldiers nearby. 

This next introduction to Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Last Ark shows a form of symbolism that is very unique. The scene transitions from the introduction of the film company paramount. Their logo is a mountain and the logo from the company fades into a mountain from the movie emphasizing the setting of the film.

Additionally, the next shot shown is an example of a simultaneity edit from the movie Inception. The scene shown below is an example of simultaneity because it cross cuts between the scene of the main actor walking down a hallway causing a sense of anticipation from the viewers and a scene of a hit man job occurring on the rainy streets of the city. This example of simultaneity causes a sense of foreshadowing that something may happen to the actor walking down the hallway.

The final shot that I used for my 5 master edits from films was an example of leitmotif. This example was used from Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone where Harry receives a letter from Hogwarts wanting him to come to the school. Leitmotif occurs when repetitive music begins to play when the director is trying to emphasize something. In this case, Hedwig's Theme begins to play in the movie when an important event relating to magic is going to happen. 

Link to 5 Master Editing Shots

https://youtu.be/L8rgSfYNZn8

Contrast: In our contrast edit, we used a scene of a student walking into a classroom full of students and as soon as the student walks in the room, he immediately runs out of the room in panic. There is contrast between the actions of the students room and the student walking through the hallway and into the room.

Parallelism: In our parallelism edit, we used the perspective of two different subjects walking towards the library in two different ways. From the setting of the direction of where the subjects are walking, the viewer can tell that the two subjects are walking towards the same place and they will eventually cross paths.

Symbolism: In our symbolism shot, we used the eye of the gator on the University of Florida logo and zoomed in to a black screen and then zoom out on Cori's eye. Cori, the subject can relate to the gator logo as she is a fan of the team and symbolizes her dedication to the school.

Simultaneity: After symbolism, we used simultaneity. In our simultaneity shot we showed two different subjects doing different things while waiting for one another. While Ryan was using the mirror to look at himself, Cori was waiting for him around the corner. She seemed to be annoyed that Ryan was taking his time.

Leit Motif: Our last master edit was our leit motif shot. In our edits, whenever the drum sound begins, the subject immediately falls over into a death drop. The viewers will be able to perceive that when the drum noise starts, the subject will fall over.

The Office: Season 1, Episode 1 "Pilot"

The Office: S1, E1 Pilot Camera Angle Analysis

        The Office is one of America's most popular television series' of all time. The backstory of the show premises around a small paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. A camera crew follows each employee around the office and the goal is to ultimately make a documentary on the American workplace. This comedic series stars Steve Carell as Michael Scott, the branch manager, Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute, the dorky lead salesman, John Krasinski as Jim Halpert, the young prankster of the office, and Jenna Fischer as Pam Beesly, the receptionist. Together the cast of the show empowers the definition of comedy and the directors use different forms of wordplay and camera shots to capture the humor. Below I am going to display some examples from the first episode of this series of different camera shots used to create emotion.


Dolly Shot: This shot portrays a cameraman following the subject around. In this case, the camera was following Michael Scott as he walks into the office and introduces the receptionist, Pam Beesly. It was a significant shot in the episode because it not only introduced characters, but it also introduced the setting where the television series takes place. This shot was necessary for the introduction of these items because it shows the audience a wide perspective of the background. 

Choker: This next shot is what is known as a choker. This shot of Michael Scott in his office is one of the very first scenes that the audience sees in the whole show. It not only introduces a main character, but it also gives the audience his personality and emotion. Right from the beginning the audience can tell that Michael Scott is very humorous in his personality and wants people to like him, especially his employers. The choker shot gives the viewers a still shot of him and the camera angles accomplishes a lot in developing his character by just showing his face. 

Close Up: This shot is shown in the introduction and opening credits of a hand pressing the keys of a calculator. The introduction of the show introduces different characters and addresses the setting pretty well. Over the course of the introduction many close up scenes are used to show different items that may be found throughout and office environment. The use of this close up gives the audience an additional perception of what the series may be about. 

Cameo Shot: This next shot of Jim Halpert is a cameo shot. A cameo shot is a camera angle where the subject's face is shown against an overall plain background. Throughout the whole series, whenever the film crew asks questions to the characters, they use cameo shots. In this instance, the crew was asking Jim what he does at his job and they focused on his word usage and facial expressions to capture the whole meaning of what he wanted to say. 

Over the Shoulder: This final shot is known as the over-the-shoulder shot. The name is self explanatory as the camera is positioned over one subject's shoulder in order to capture a conversation between two characters. In this shot, the camera is focused on Michael's conversation with his boss Jan, as they discuss downsizing the office staff. In this minute long scene, the camera crew uses normal two-shots, which capture a conversation from the front, while also using over-the-shoulder shots as well to capture the emotions of the characters. 

       

Classmate's Camera Angles

While analyzing different blog posts and camera angles, I noticed how different and unique my peer's shots were from mine. I watched Cori and Kaelyn's camera angle shots and compared and contrasted their shots from mine. Both used the close up shot in which I was able to evoke a sense of emotion of the character. Even though there was not any story behind each shot, there is still a sense of emotion in each shot.