Seven

Seven Film Analyse.

 Narrative:

The beginning of the sequence shows somebody to be planning or investigating something, it shows a book that someone is reading and then to be filing. The middle part of the sequence presents writing that the hidden character is underlining and crossing out, it also displays disturbing photographs which are also being crossed out. These disturbing images suggest to the audience that this person is nasty or has a violent personality. The ending to the sequence shows something being completed as it is being filed. This suggests that this person is very methodical and organized. The narrative of the opening sequence is non-linear.

Codes & Conventions:

The opening sequence of Seven consists of several thriller genre codes and conventions, such as the question and answer model, partial vision, mazes and labyrinths, and concealment and protraction.

Camerawork:

Camerawork is also used in the opening sequence to portray thriller conventions, like how the extreme close ups are used to portray partial vision, by how the close ups hide things out of shot. In the begining of the sequence, there is shot of someone shaving his fingertips, these are disturbing images which convey pain and self harm. This use of camerawork creates suspense and scares the audience. The camera angles also control the mise-en-scene, as the extreme close ups hide a lot of the location. There are also many shots of a book with its pages turning, this conveys the time that goes by, and suggests that it is taking them a long time.

Mise-en-scene:
The only element that suggests the location is the lighting, which is quite dim, this suggests the book filing and stitching was done in a seller or private room.

Sound:
All of the sound in the opening sequence is non diegetic, the sound contains the a heart beat, screeching and unpleasant music that gets faster and gains more tension throughout. The opening sequence also contians non diegetic sounds of creeking and screeching, these are sounds that would be associated with the thriller genre and so gives the audience a greater insight to what this film is about and what it may contain.

Editing:
The editing is fast paced, this is used to create excitement and tension. The editing in the opening sequence also uses strobing, this is to disentoriate the audience and to show that the character who is filing and organising these these documents that he/she has been doing this for a long time. Additionally, jump cuts are used to quickly know what he has been doing and they also may scare the audience.

Graphics:
The graphics in this are very basic, they are white on a black background. The type face of the credits have a typewriter like style to them, this has conotations of organisation and documentation. Each credit is randomly placed, this adds confusion to the audience.

Risk Assesment

Risk- Tripping over wire of light whilst filming.
How to prevent- Make sure the wires are not sticking out and are not in the way of peoples walking paths.

Risk- Falling down stairs whilst filming the scene
How to prevent- Make sure that you are being careful whilst walking down the stairs and make sure that there is nothing to trip over.

Risk- Trapping fingers in the door .
How to  prevent- Make sure that when you are opening and closing doors you keep your fingers away from the hinges and make sure that any one else near the door is well away from it.

Film Noir info

About

Film noir is often  dark mood lighting, shadowy images, seedy locations, and crime/thriller plots with unhappy endings.

Corruption is a common theme. Greed and sex are also often shown a lot 

Film noir is often a emotional with feelings such as disillusionment, melancholy, hopelessness, pessimism, moral confusion, guilt, desperation.

Narratives are often complex ed and the story line is a roller coaster of emotions and character representations.

Female characters tend to be either completely honest and trusting , or evil femme fatales.

History

Film noir has roots in European films of the 1920s and 1930s, especially German Expressionism films. These films often employed daring camera angles with lots of shadows and contrast.

At the same time many American films were made based on books with dark themes such as detective and gangster novels.

What was to become known as Hollywood film noir originated in the post-WWII era. French film critics Nino Frank and Jean-Pierre Chartier first applied the term to Hollywood in 1946, although the term was not widely used in America until the 1970s. Film noir was a hugely influential genre of film and shapes the way many films are made in modernn day movies.

Famous Film Noir Titles. Such as...

Dark Passage


Maltese Falcon

Sunset Boulevard.

December feedback

Your research and planning needs immediate attention.  Several posts are missing or lacking in detail. You need to manage your time effectively in order to meet the deadline. Take responsibility for filming.

Targets

Film more footage
Create your own edit
Use the Foundation Portfolio booklet as a checklist
Planning needs to be thorough
Publish storyboards

Identifying an Audience.

Identifying an Audience.

The gratification theory, people use media text to gratify certain needs.

For example people watch horror movies to get the thrill of being scared they get this thrilling feeling out of watching it. They also enjoy watching them as they can see people getting haunted by the things you would be scared off.  People often gather together to watch horror movies as they enjoy 

the fact that they can get scared together.

Audience reception

Audience receive deception differently

Different types of audiences.

Preferred Reading- 

Opposite Reading- when the audience takes the message, plot in the opposite way of the meaning of the message. Due to not understanding the message fully they have an idea though just not the right one.

Negotiated reading- 

Aberrant Reading- when the audience doesn't understand the plot, idea or message. And can take it in the wrong way

Stuart Halls encoding theory.

In the early days people were easily negotiated in to believing in something from a media source for example before TVS were around and there were very few radios when something like war of the worlds was read out people couldn't understand it and genuinely thought there was an alien invasion. This was because people weren't use to the media being deceptive unlike these days.  People were only used to reading the paper where everything in it was factual and genuine and every time they listened to the radio they also where listening to factual information and news.

An example of panic caused by media was the time when in the early 19^s the story war of the worlds was read out on the radio this story is based on the invasion of aliens. Many people thought that this was a real event happening and panicked this is known as opposite reading and could be linked with aberrant reading.

This would work better in 1957 as people weren’t used to being tricked on television. People believed what they saw in the media.  

The hypodermic needle theory

The media pump ideas into people’s heads so much that they believe it. But less common these days are people are more in touch with media these days and are more active for example they can vote on TV shows who stays in and other things.

How identifying an audience links in with my film.

Different audiences will be watching my filn 

Film Production Plan

Date	Location	Description
17/11/2014	School- office/ classroom.	Film the opening scene of the film. The camera views of the building.
21/11/2014	School	Film the opening scene of the film. The camera views of the building.
25/11/2014	Car	Film the scene in the car
28/11/2014	Car	Film the scene in the car
01/12/2014	Town Hall	Film The town hall
06/12/2014	Town Hall	Film The town hall
8/12/2014	Town Hall	Film the murder

November feedback

You are working at level 1/2 and need to develop a more thorough approach to research and planning.  You need to complete the posts. Add detail to show that you have analysed four texts thoroughly.

Complete;

Seven

Maltese Falcon

Blue Velvet

Your script shows some awareness of the genre but needs to be continued to show a post title scene which plays with the conventions.

 You analyse the codes and conventions of the genre and could expand this by discussing 'The Maltese Falcon'

I need to see a storyboard.

Targets

Film

Risk assessment

Edit

Consider sound and titles to add meaning and atmosphere

Manage your time effectively

 Production Schedule

Blue Velvet

Blue Velvet.

• When the credits are running at the start, quite mysterious and melancholy music is being played, with a blue velvet curtain swaying in the background, relating to the title.
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• This blue velvet curtain then fades into a blue sky.
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• In the first scene happy and cheerful music and imagery is used (flowers, children). Red roses are used which are often linked to love and desire, however in this case could represent danger. The white picket fences, blue skies and perfect gardens depict a traditional and idyllic American town.
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• During the editing of the scene, dissolves have been used between shots to create a smooth transition from one to another, so not to ruin the peaceful atmosphere intended.
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• The gun briefly shown on the TV could foreshadow the events to follow (discovery of a murder). This dark image makes the viewer curious, as it very out of place from the seemingly perfect setting shown previously.
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• The close up shot of the tap malfunctioning suggests there is going to be a problem and the sharp cuts between this tap and the man builds tension.
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• The blue velvet song is faintly playing in the background throughout, with the sound effects such as the tap spraying and the dog barking over the top of it.
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• The close up shot of the grass used, appears as though the viewer is going through it and shows an uglier and less perfect side to this supposedly "perfect" town, showing lots of large black insects which most people would find rather disturbing and disgusting. 

Codes and Conventions of Film Noir

Codes and conventions of film noir

Film Noir is a very specific genre which nearly all of the films follow the same pattern. One of the main conventions of film noir is moods.

Examples of common moods often used in film noir are…

Melancholy- Is a mood of a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause.

Alienation- the state of experience of being isolated and detached from something.

Bleakness- lacking in warmth and comfort.

Disillusionment- a feeling of disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be.

Moral Corruption-  the act of corrupting a state or being.

Pessimism-  is a state of mind in which one anticipates undesirable outcomes or believes that the evil or hardships in life outweigh the good or luxuries.

Guilt- the fact of having committed a specified or implied offence or crime

Paranoia- a mental condition characterized by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically worked into an organized system.

All of these moods are often portrayed in film noir and are common in famous film noir films.

Male Characters

Anti-hero- a person who often lacks the characteristics of a hero, the character is often confused the antihero is often a helpless character.

Hard Boiled Detective- A detective who often had a strange name for example Sam Spade, or Johnny Jones they were often middle age men who dressed in trench coats and wore trilby’s. On often occasions they would be seen smoking or drinking bourbon or some other type of stiff drink. They were always very cool and calm even when in danger or where in a rush they didn’t show much expression or feelings on subjects like murder. They tend to be very flirtatious beings and where quite the ladies’ man. But would tend to get the job done. There speech would be very direct and often in one tone.

Villan- Would often be a gangster or someone from a sort of retro mob like that. They would have a distinguishable feature about them like a scar on there face or a moustache. Also they would have names like Robbie Rotten or something like that. They would be very shady and they would always be seen with either a silouite of them of a shadow covering most of them sleves to add to the shady sly characteristic of the villan. Sometimes the villain would be closer than you think and could be the detectives allies.

Female Characters.

Femme Fatal- The Femme Fatal is usually shown as a sexy young woman wearing a tight dress high heels and red lipstick that lures men in to her secret plots and creates tension or problem’s between the men in the film, getting her in danger. She sometimes could be the villain’s accomplice to win over the detective and to point him in the wrong direction to finding the case.  Or maybe even she is the villain, they would also do jobs like roll the detectives ciggerates and also seduce him into thinking he is in with a chance and then she can win him over. They are crafty and sly and use there looks against it.

Sound

Voice over- There can often be a voice over by the detectives who describes his feelings as everything is happening. He would introduce himself and the other characters’ and tell us a bit about them. The voice over would add effect and helps us understand the movie as we go along and he can also make it deceiving for us. As he would mention his feelings about the femme fatal and then it would turn out she was not as good as he portrayed.

Foreboding dramatic music- This adds huge effect to the film, for instance when somebody is murdered the sound would escalate and become dramatic which makes every emotion and action more effective and makes everything stand out an come alive.

Lighting

Lighting is a huge part in the film noir and is one of the important features which make the genre so famous and recognisable. Obviously all of the films where in black and white but, bold shadows and lighting effects where used. The lighting effects where simple but effective, it was as simple as this they would put objects at an angle in front of the light to make the shadow of the person fit the mood and atmosphere. For example when the villain would be seen they would make the shadows so you could only see a limited part of his face and the rest would be hidden by shadows which all add to the effect. Shadows where a huge part of the whole film noir movement.

Iconography

Many famous props and objects would be a constant in the film noir genre. Examples are guns which would be often used as a murder weapon. Or alcohol or cigarettes would often be drunk by the detective, villain and other characters and you would very rarely see a man in film noir without out a beverage or a fag. Blinds where often used to add to the shadow effects as they would only allow certain amounts of lights in. Trilby’s and trench coats where also worn a lot and you wouldn’t see a film noir detective without one.