Introduction To Genre :

Blog Entry One: Introduction to Genre

So what is Genre?

In film theory, genre refers to the method based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. Most theories of film genre are borrowed from literary genre criticism.

Examples of different Film Genre’s?

1.)  Musicals

2.)  Comedy

3.)  Science Fiction

4.)  Western

5.)  Horror

6.)  Teen Movie

7.)  Thriller

What three things do films within a certain genre share in common?

For example in the focused genre of a “Teen Movie” it is most likely that the movie will revolve around the concept of:
-     The film being mostly set in a school, revolving around teenagers in the age category of 13-18.

-       The film’s plot line would be based around the incident of a boy meeting a girl to which he or she would like a relationship to then involve, however there is then a conflict, to which the friends of the lovers successfully solve, and the film ends satisfactorily.

-       The characters usually include the two lovers known usually an audience as usually “the girl next door” as well as “the jock”, the lover’s best friends who are usually portrayed as “the geeks” and the people trying to cause conflict in the lover’s relationship, such as there teachers, parents, or fellow classmates, also known as “the enemies”.

                                                                                          

Rich Kids :

Synopsis For Our Thriller:

Date: 5.11.2014

Name: Christina Kane

Title: “Rich Kids”

My Group: Lowa, Romy and Christina

Genre: Thriller

Inspiration : Lone Scherfig's "The Riot Club" 

Venue: Hurtwood House School Top Car Park/ Main Area Of Hurtwood House School

Characters: Five Boys including the “outsider”, as well as Two Girls

Beginning:  The beginning of our thriller will present three or four Etonian/Harrovian schoolboys in the age category seventeen to eighteen, the audience will be aware of this hence there smart uniform, for example tails, (this will be used showing a wide shot) as well as a strong sense of wealth which will be presented through “mis en scene” which will accessories them with expensive watches, cufflinks, top hats, canes, gloves (there will be close up shots shown on there accessory’s) as well as expensive transport including cars such as “Rolls Royce” or “Bentleys”.  They will firstly be presented lounging around their cars adjusting their watches and bow ties etc., to which they are then introduced (close up on the boys faces on noticing the new boy) with a new Etonian/Harrovian who is seen walking towards them who will be implied to the audience as the “outsider" (an over the shoulder shot will be used on the leader of the four boys).

Middle:  The middle of our thriller will then represent the “outsider”, attempting to make friends with the other boys (close up on the “outsiders” face as well as well as wide shots to show the rest of his body); this particular boy will also be presented in the same uniform as the other boys but will differ, in the idea that he will not be presented with the same luxurious accessories which the other boys have, such as high brand watches, canes and top hats, as well this particular “outsider”, wont be as muscular and adult looking as the other boys in the way that he will look more childish and be a lot shorter , this is a necessary technique in order for the other boys to represent more authority.

End:  The boys will decide between one another that they want to initiate this boy into there schooling society, and decide to make a call up two prostitutes (close up shots on the boys discussing what to do), to which when they arrive, is forced into one of the extravagant cars, (mid shot used to present the boy being forced into the car, as well as close up shots on his face, to present his terrified emotions), to which is then locked by the other boys who the end the opening sequence laughing and mocking the “outsider”.

Editing :

                                              Editing :

Gender Analysis Of Primeval :

Gender Analysis : 

“Discuss the representation of gender in the TV Drama Primeval. Please refer to specific examples from: camera shot angles, movement and composition sound and editing, this should be 1000 words.”

   Primeval is a British Science Fiction drama television programme produced by ITV, created by Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines. In this particular extract we are represented firstly with a short scene revolving around a couple arguing, to represent this a disagreement, non-diegetic music is represented which consist a strong use of violins to present a theatrically discomforting mood, this music also suggests the woman in an extremely positive and independent aspect towards the audience, in the idea that she is walking away from the man in order to represent that she is making her own choices and disobeying the man, this is also shown through the use of wide and middle camera shots which represent the naturalistic surroundings as well as the vehicle which she drives off in .

    This scene then short cuts towards the scene, presenting a man who is stereotyped to look like a scientist hence the costume choices of glasses as well as being shown exploring environmental aspects in there forest surroundings, we are then presented with another stereotype of one of the men being suggested to look extremely feminine, hence the flamboyant pink shirt as well as being accessorized with garments such as a hat, waist coat and bracelets, as well as this we are then introduced with the character Abby, who is suggested in society as countertype , in the idea that she is dressed in a leather jacket and cargo pants in the following earthy colors grey, black and moss green, as well having the hairstyle choice of a cropped pixie cut.

   This presentation of Abby’s appearance immediately drives the audience towards a strong sense of masculinity, another example to prove this during this scene Abby is driving a digger type vehicle, this could then be argued that driving this dangerous vehicle is supposedly driven by a man which is intriguing towards an audience perspective as it gives off the impression that Abby is equally as ambitious and ruthless as a man, an example to define this reason is when the scientist is being chased by a tiger, the camera shots are presented on Abby from a low camera shot in order to represent authority and importance , to create the impression that inevitably has to save the scientist as well during the crucial moment where the tiger is presented as offering to finally end the life of the scientist , a wide camera shot is presented on Abby in order to present a clear contrast between her brutal and heroic aspects , to which she is then surrounded by the peaceful and simplistic forest, as concept of Abby saving the scientist is a countertype, in the idea that as society we are so used to the revolving story based on the man rescuing the woman, which immediately presents a more powerful image towards women, this is shown in the following scene to which we are represented with a middle camera shot presenting Abby walking with three other men, this gives the audience the immediate impression that by placing Abby with the other men shows she has equal authority, this is also shown with the use of diegetic sound of Abby walking through the grass with the idea that she is stating her ground by conquering her way through the simplistic surroundings, as well it suggests that Abby prefers working with the opposite sex in the idea that she feels she is more intellectually challenged when working with men .

    Throughout the next scene we are brought to the conclusion that the characters are presented having discussion, to which we are introduced with the stereotype of the classic business man, this man is presented in a very sophisticated manner in a crisp cut business suit, this immedialty gives the audience the impression even before the man vocalizes, that he is extremely intellectual, organized and demanding, as well he the camera angles are represented from a long shot in order to present a sense of higher authority .

     The next woman we are introduced to is presented as an extremely common stereotype of a woman, dressed in extremely feminine clothes of a cream coat with lace trimmings around the collar, as well as being extremely neat and sophisticated hair, scraped back into a bun, this creates a strong sense of sophistication as well as organization, the woman is presented at the beginning as being extremely demanding in order to get answers from a certain man to which she is then stunned to find that she is threatened with a viscous weapon of a gun to which is presented in a sarcastic tone in order to cover up her sense of fear .

   In conclusion this Primeval sequence represents a variety of genders in order to present stereotypes which audiences are aware off as well as condensing character types , which intrigue the audience to explore there personality and character in more depth.

Vertigo Presentation :

Vertigo

My Group : 

Christina Kane 
Phoebe Bell 
Georgie Heaton 
Francesca 

What we did : 

We were given the task of explaining a presentation on the subject of "Vertigo Films". We firstly started by researching the history of Vertigo, there biggest box office successes as well as how the team started , who was involved as well as the subject of who invested in the company as well as the company's visions and goals for the next current years .

Here are some screen shot provided from my Apple MacBook Pro of our slide show presentation : 

Firstly here we have the first shot on  the definition of the company Vertigo as a whole :



Vertigo's Vision :

The History Of Vertigo :

 Block Buster Success ? : 

Vertigo's Success : 

In conclusion, my contribution towards our presentation was structuring the whole presentation together on my laptop, as well as taking the lead the group by making sure they each gathered a variety of different information which I could then structure into the powerpoint . 

Introduction To Preliminary Exercise :

Introduction To The Preliminary Exercise:

The preliminary exercise is a continuity task involving filming as well as editing on a character opening a door then crossing a room and finally sitting down in a chair opposite another character , with whom she or he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue . This task should demonstrate "Match on action shorts", "Shot reverse shots" and finally use "The 180- degree rule" . 

Preliminary Exercise:

 On the sixth of October we shot a short film sequence to which we will then edit later on ,at the beginning of the exercise we were introduced to a short and simplistic story board which was intended to interpretative a carton concept , this particular story board involved the two crucial aspects to the preliminary exercise which was the dialogue we needed to include as well as the wide range of shots , for example wide and middle shots as well  as over the shoulder shots and close up shots ,which are crucial to fit the criteria.

Sound Analysis On "Kill Bill" :

Sound Analysis On “Kill Bill”

 Kill Bill is a is a 2003 American martial arts action film, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, staring the A Lister actress Una Thurman as the “Bride”, who is determined to seek revenge on a assassination squad led by a man named Bill, played by David Carradine after they try to kill her and her unborn child, this is an incredibly action packed film to which sound is crucial, this is strongly shown in the scene where the Bride is trapped in a coffin to which she is eager to escape in order to survive .

   The scene starts with camera closing up on the Bride’s face as well as other parts to represent the tight space she is placed in, as well there is a strong use of Non-diegetic sound with the use of a music sequence which represents the idea of western music due to the use of the instruments such as banjos as well human based instruments such as foot tapping and whistling, this gives off the immediate impression to the audience that this is a western based film which creates key themes such as action as well as areas of suspense due to the whistling which gives of mysterious aspect in the idea that there is something lurking around the corner .

   The first use of diegetic sound, which is portrayed in this scene, is the sound of crickets, this immediately gives of the impression to the audience that this scene is taking place in a hot climate as well as taking place at night time, due to the fact that crickets are nocturnal as well as there natural habitats being in humid, this then foreshadows towards the close up shots of the Bride’s face who is drenched in sweat and deep breathing as well as using long shots of her figure trapped in a coffin, this creates the immediate impression hence the diegetic use of deep breathing and grunting ,shows that this particular character is anxious and under pressure, as well as it creates tension and intrigues the audience to discover how she is going to get out of the coffin , it then moves on to the bride taking off her boots and with the use of diegetic sounds to represent the clanky sounds of metal attached to her boots gives of the idea that she is ruthless due to metal being extremely dangerous as well as giving off the clue that she is going to use the metal as a key weapon to escape.

      Throughout the scene the bride is constantly kicking, touching as well as hitting the coffin in order to explore the weakest spot in the wall in order to escape, this automatically persuades the audience to believe they are in this small compartment space, which convinces the audience to feel uncomfortable as well as claustrophobic which creates the key theme of suspense, as well when the Bride does finally get her hands on a knife in order to cut her hands free from a tied up rope, the use of diegetic sounds to create the sound effect of the cutting of the rope makes the viewers feel extremely uncomfortable as they are so determined and anxious for her to be set free this is due to the use of synchronous used as the sounds produced are extremely high pitched and squeaky which is extremely uncomfortable to listen to , to which the Bride’s facial expressions as well as the audiences match , it also causes strong aspect of suspense as the audience are concerned that the bride wont be able to cut the rope off as well as accidently cut her hand open instead due to the great amount of blood which is presented on her top clothing , this is all due to the dramatic non-diegetic western music which crescendo’s when nearer the point of her hands being released , this creates tension due to the sound increasing and leaves the audience with a “sitting on the edge of a seat” type feeling .

     A similar scenario is presented later on in that scene when the “Bride is shown punching a wall in order to escape from the coffin, the use of diegetic sounds to create the punching sound as well as the breaking of the wood is incredibly effective as it creates a sense of freedom as well as bravery which intrigues the audience to explore what is going to happen next and will the Bride successfully escape the coffin as well as involving deep breathing as well as gritting of the Bride’s teeth, this use of natural human sounds creates emotions which we as viewers can relate to when were in dangerous situations .

  In conclusion the use of sound in this film is crucial due to the it being an martial arts themed film so to create that sense of tension and action the use of sound through composed music, nature and human vocals is important in order to create a sense of realism.