DYM HW FEEDBACK

Your comparison was well presented, Hugh, and showed very good analytical skill and a clear sense of the task.

Continuity Sequence Analysis

1. What did you think was the point to the activity?

• To get us to think about continuity and narrative structure and to put it into practise, without having learnt any techniques so we would make mistakes in our sequences to learn from.
• To get us used to the process of storyboarding and how a storyboard can help us to shoot a sequence successfully.
  

2. In regard to your finished sequence, what worked well?

• The establishing shot at the beginning of the sequence works well to create a sense of character and setting.
• The close up of the feet and the tilt up as the runner starts moving works well as it fits the rule of match on action and includes movement into the sequence, without making the movement obvious. Without this movement the sequence would seem very static. The close up brings the audience right in on the action to give an increased sense of involvement.
• The shot from the point of view of the cone introduces the cone's character and shows the direction that the runner is runnig, and the handheld shot puts the audience in the place of the runner, increasing audience involvement.
• These two shots also follow the rule of shot-reverse-shot.
• The final shot of the fall pulls the audience right out of the action which means they are an onlooker to the accident. This allows them to see the whole fall and adds to comic effect.

3. What would you aim to improve about your sequence?

• The pose that the character is doing in the first shot doesnt really fit and isnt really needed.
• The first and second shot transition breaks the 30 degree rule. It looks jumpy and doesnt flow as the two shots are too similar

4. What did you learn from doing this activity?

• A lot of the rules of continuity.
• The importance of narrative flow in a sequence.

Opening Sequence Comparison: 'Legally Blond' & 'Seven'

Legally Blond

Shots

• CU of nails, hair etc, in slow motion, which shows how much time she spends on her appearance.
• CUs at the start make it clear that this is the main character, but withholds information so we don’t find out too much about her.
• Long track through corridors gives audience a sense of setting and allows them to get a sense of the people on the campus; all female, rich, obsessed with personal image.
• At the end of sequence there is an MCU of the girl, finally showing us her whole appearance.

Character Information

• All very stereotypical: Girls spend all their time working on their appearance and the boys spend their time play fighting topless and only stop to cheer as a girl rides past on her bike.
• You don’t see anyone working on campus which indicates that everybody is there just to have a good time.
• Everybody is signing her card and you see a large homecoming banner on the wall, showing that she is very popular.

Narrative Expectation

• Everything is in different shades of pink, suggesting that this is going to be a very girly film.
• She has a picture of a boy by her bed, and she blows a kiss at the picture, which shows the audience that he is going to be central to the narrative.
• Everything is very bright; this is going to be a happy film.
• The card says ‘good luck for tonight’, suggesting that something major is going to happen that night.

Seven

Shots

• Establishing shots of Morgan Freeman at the start show that he lives alone and that he is very organised and is used to routine; the way he picks his equipment is very methodical.
• LA of Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt shows that their meeting is quite important.
• LS of Morgan Freeman sitting in bed shows that he isn’t necessarily happy, and creates a sense of loneliness.

Character Information

• Contrast between characters: Freeman is old and methodical; Brad Pitt is young and energetic.
• Freeman is not very popular: he wants to take his time to solve the case, while his colleague just wants to finish up and leave.
• Freeman is retiring in a week.

Narrative Expectations

• ‘Monday’ signifies that something is starting, and also makes it clear that the film takes place over a week.
• The ticking just before the opening titles shows that something is about to happen.
• During title sequence, you see a killer cutting out newspaper stories, cutting out photographs etc, which shows that there is an organised killer on the loose.

Horror Still Analysis

This shot is a CU of a young female character. To the right of the shot is a brick wall, and she is looking upwards around the wall to the right of the frame as if she is hiding. The expression on her face is one of fear, and there is a diagonal beam of light which illuminates her eyes.

This still is clearly from a horror film, clearly represented by the dark colours and shadows, which distorts our view of the background, limiting the information given to the audience; the audience fear the unknown. The shaft of light illuminates the girls eyes, adding to the expression of fear on her face. The light also points in the same direction as she is looking, to the right of frame, as if the light also illuminates whatever she is looking at. She is hiding behind a wall as if she is hiding from something, whatever she is looking for.

To achieve this shot, first we had to find a dark location, which we found behind the stage in the great hall. In this area there were also many props from school performances, including the wall we used in our shot. We set up the camera on its tripod at head height, and used the zoom function to get the frame tight on Ciara's face. To light the shot, we closed the shutters on the portable light so that it only illuminated a narrow shaft of light. We concentrated this shaft on Ciara's eyes and took the shot.

I feel that the framing, and the expression of fear on Ciara's face was very successful in creating an effective shot. I also think that the lighting was effective, the darkness and the shaft of light making it clear that this shot is from a horror film.

With hindsight, however we should have used two lights, one to create the shaft of light, and one to illuminate the whole frame, as the shot is currently too dark. We also should have made sure that we took the first shot quickly, within 2 or 3 takes, allowing us to take more shots at different locations, and then we could have chosen our final shot from 3 or 4 good shots.