Task 3: Mind-Mapping Ideas

Task 2: Film- Existing Products Analysis

Task 2: Music Video Anaylisis

The music video has a very strong narrative through out. Overall it is about the events in the woman's life that have led to who she is today, the story goes through various stages of her life that people watching may relate to. In the end, you see she is in fact singing the song to her own daughter telling her she is perfect how she is. It has a strong message about being 'perfect' no matter what others may think.

Shot reverse shots are often used within this music video as it helps the narrative.This particular one is at the beginning of the music video so also helps to set the scene, the shot is a medium close up on her. As it cuts to the teddy bear it zooms in and changes back to the woman before continuing the zoom. This shot is particularly effective as it shows the importance the bear has on the narrative side of the music video. The song doesn't start until you see the bear before this is there is ambient sound.

This is the first of several super impositions through out the duration of the music video, it has added effect as it appears to be on the wall within the room and direction the woman was looking at. This works as a good transition between scenes and adds an interesting feature to the music video. The main sounds of the music are used as a point to change the scene and shot.

This shot provides an interesting angle as its a low angle it makes the surrounding environment seem bigger, the focus remains on the bear. This shot also incorporated a focus pull between the boy throwing the bear and it landing on the floor, this helps to direct the focus onto the subject at the current time. 

Using a fast zoom enables the audience to see the immediate reaction to what has happened. The location of a playground is also related to the age of the child and is something that people associate with them. The pace and volume does increase until this point where the music has built up slightly.

This is another super imposition effect, this time over the performance piece of the music video, this is a unique feature and one I've not seen before. Instead of using a shot reverse shot the music video has been edited using this technique which doesn't provide any interruption. 

Another focus pull is used on the scene of the young girl, there are a number of focus pulls used through out, they are a common feature of this music video.

The music builds up for the chorus of the song of which you see the performance for a majority of the chorus.

Its conventional within music videos to feature a singer performing the song and this video is no exception, although not used as much as in other music videos I have scene. The unique thing about this video is that the performance and narrative are seen at the same time although the singer is not related to the narrative. There is close up shots of her singing that are used several times through out.

This is another performance part of the music video where the camera pans from the singer to the scene super imposed on the background, as this happens that singer becomes out of focus before cutting to the reaction of the mother.

This is with the scene it becomes clear that this is the girl as a teenager, her experience may be related to by others of a similar age, and similarly the mother figure may be related to be parents.


This is another different edit that leads into yet another performance section of the music video this time it appears to vertical track down to the another super imposition effect for a brief performance part.


This next scene features various different panning shots and close ups on the girl followed by another panning super imposition to change the scene.

Since the chorus has ended the song isn't as built up anymore.

This is during the panning shot, featuring an aerial shot of this scene a type of shot that has features as of yet in this music video.




This is the best superimposition effect of the music video, this is still part of the above pan and you see various different scenes behind the performance aspect.

The music tends to build up on the performance areas of the song.



After another scene of the girl where it is clear she may be about to do something, it briefly cuts to a close up of the performance, then goes back to the scene and back to the performance almost acting as a shot reverse shot between the two unrelated things. The music pace build up with the narrative, increasing as the pace of the narrative increases.

This next scene is clearly her reaction from the previous scene, this shot becomes directly after a long shot of her on a pair of scales. This music video is clearly continuing to deal with issues that people of this age may feel like. Another close up performance part follows before the next scene.
 
She next gets into the bath, there is a close up of her foot stepping into water before through a medium close up seeing her clearly in pain. This shot zooms in until her face fills the frame.

 It becomes clear what she was doing, you can see Perfect engraved onto her arm and at this point it looks as though she has given up. The music has decreased in volume significantly, you can hear the dietetic sound of the water dripping.Another shot reverse shot effect shows the bear and this is the turning point of the music video narrative. The music at this point, the lyrics are at a reasonably
fast place, although the the instruments as backing are the same. As she begins to get back up the music build back up again signifying her movement but also showing her change in mind set.


After seeing her pick up the scissors, a close up shows her cutting her hair. The cuts between shots also increase in speed to match the music.





This shot is from an extreme low angle showing the hair falling to the floor, this is an unusual shot and adds to the already wide variety used through out this music video.



An over the shoulder shot means you can see her reflection in the mirror and also what she is doing, although this reflection isn't clear to ensure the focus stays on what she is doing.


Followed by another performance aspect although the singer takes up little room with the main focus clearly being on the narrative of the video.


An extreme close up shows her face in this scene, another                                            close up follows after this.                                                There is use of various close                                               ups through out.

I like the lighting in the background of this shot, although you can tell its artificial as it doesn't appear to be lighting up the room.

This change in scene shows the lighting, she is much more well lit, especially compared to other similar shots in the earlier part of the music video,
the narrative also shows the change in woman and how much more positive she has become.

Another shot that was used earlier in the video is used again. It now appears that the character is watching her own story or this is what she is thinking at the moment shortly after this it fades from the wall.

It becomes clear that the narrative was in fact her memories, that have made her who she is.

After picking up the bear from the same position as the start of the video, she takes it into the room of her own daughter this is a medium shot. You then see a medium close up of the young girl who is asleep.




This shot shows her placing the bear with the young girl. The focus is on the girl as she is lit the most.

 The only time the character narrative sings the song is the final line 'You are perfect to me' to the daughter, the shot is another medium close up used a lot through out. The end of the music video it cuts back to performance before seeing the long shot of her on the bed, it zooms out sightly to conclude the music video.

Task 2: Poster Analysis

 In order to create a poster for our film, I looked at posters from similar genres to get an idea of what conventions to include in the poster but also ways we can successfully challenge them. I looked at a selection of posters from Action Thriller and Action/Adventures.

From looking at the posters the first thing is the location of the main title which is usually located at the bottom of the poster often central although there are variations of this. The release date is usually near this. From the posters it is clear to see that it is conventional that a lot of blue and white is used for the overall colour scheme of the poster of these genres. The titles are often in white or silver and stand out from the poster. The main actors names are also used on the poster. A slogan related to the events of the film is used often within the genres although the location varies from centre of the poster to by the main title. These other titles vary between the same colour and style of the main title to different. It is important that the main title is the largest in comparison to other titles, such as the actor’s names or slogan.

 There are few colours with the posters themselves to create atmosphere they are mainly dark with some featuring a couple of brighter colours. Overall it is conventional for there to be few characters featuring within the poster with one or two at the most. It is almost always convention for film posters to feature text on them mentioning the studio name, actors, directors and producers etc. although this text is small and often not clear. There can often be a studio logo that's small within this or in a bottom corner.

From looking at the posters I think think the main important things to keep conventional are

-The colour scheme - the use of blue and white as the main colour theme for the genre of poster

-Titles - either use a stand alone main title or titles using the same theme, size is important between the titles. The location of the titles could be explored

-Date- must feature a release date, how audience know the date they can see it

-Text (credits) - conventional feature to see on film posters

- Slogan - while the poster doesn't necessarily have to use one, I think the most successful film posters have these on. 

Task 2: Connected- Short Film Analysis 2

Connected-  Short Film

The trailer starts off with an extreme long shot which establishes the scene, consisting of what seems to be destruction under a large bridge which is then faded out into another extreme long shot showing the rest of the city that has been vanquished of everything and leaving nothing but rubble and wreckage. As an added effect their are flakes of ash falling from the smog/ smoke in the sky which gives the audience thoughts and emotions such as loneliness, despair, etc. It then switches to the title screening, it clearly uses a green screen to create the falling affect of rubble.
The Film starts to begin, officially, with a shot- reverse-shot between the title screening and hand held footage of a man with some sort of mask on, which creates questions of "Why the man has a mask on?" and "What does this mean or link in with the genre?" also it is clever because it unfolds the story to the previous scenes in the beginning of the video, the rubble is an understatement to the mask asking "What has gone on in this city?". Next the director/ creator uses a match on action of a muddy puddle with two people walking through it with the sound effects of heavy breathing emphasizing the intoxication of the air and it creates tension, it then returns to another extreme long shot showing the surrounding area and the two people implying that the atmospheric feel is most significant to the storyline and what gives the film its suspense. The use of a low angle shot concludes that they are dominant characters within their production, again an extreme long shot is used next to show a different perspective of the scenery, passage of time and give the audience the feeling of abandoned- along with this angle their is heavy breathing voice over which switches to a new character which is watching the main characters suggesting he is planning something, as well as using a match on action to view a timer on his mask which is counting down rapidly, this may indicate amount of oxygen he has left to breath before he dies.
Next it comes to another low angle close up of the main characters showing the front man yanking on the connections tubes signifying that the second man is struggling to carry on and needs help to keep walking or he will collapse of presumably exhaustion. Then suddenly the second man trips and has to be helped up on the way to standing up a tube gets caught and the man starts panicing implying that he can't breath properly and like the tube connecting the characters gives the men the ability to breath properly.

Task 2: Music Video Review

this music video is a good example of its genre of rock. it has quick cuts shots and full of band shots where everything seems chaotic and fast paced to match with the song. from the start at the build up the main colour for the music video is blue. this set the tone for what is going on in the video to give the connotation that the animal character being shown is lonely. towards the middle of the song the pace picks up and a more orangey mist appears through the shots which is associated as a more energetic and powerful colour. this is also added to with the huge flashing flood lights that add to the pace of the music video and add light to the mist. after the initial build up in the middle of the music video the pace clams down again and the atmosphere returns to calmer one again portrayed with blue and flashes back to earlier shots in blue at the start of the video, however it continues on and shows the whole story with extra clips that weren't shown at the start as if to complete the story.

 overall this video is a well thought out rock genre video. it has quick and fast paced shots plus shots of the band acting chaotic and and unusual, but nevertheless clear narrative throughout the video with a beginning, middle and end.

Task 2: Short Film Analysis 2

Todorov's Theory of Narrative

Todorov's Theory of narrative has five stages of which the narrative is broken down into, which include these simple ideas:

1- A state of equilibrium- When everything is normal as it should be

2- A disruption of that by an event- Something going wrong

3- A recognition that the disorder has occurred- Knowing it has happened

4- An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption- Trying to fix what is wrong

5- A return or restoration of a new equilibrium- Start of something new

                                                                 

    

This short film is called memorize and is based in the year 2027 when everyone has been implanted with “the memorize chip “this allows officers to hunt down their suspects and play back their memory to see whether they committed the crimes.

Film starts with quick cut scenes of a man looking behind them whilst running as if being chased. The audio makes this clearer as in the background we hear the non diagetic sounds of police car sirens and the beating of his heart in time with the cut to black. The man is then placed within the shot having negative space behind himself which gives us an early indication that he’s about to be shot from behind. he then drop to the floor from the shot and the camera reverses out from an ELS to show the futuristic officer walking towards the body that has an electric spark effect emanating from it. The officer picks up the body and pulls out a scanner to the back of the man’s head, this then brings up a holographic display showing a play back of the man’s memory proving that he didn't commit the crime. We then get a long shot of the second suspect as she runs up through a building in which she attempts to confront him then slows the officer down by chucking grenades down the stairs which is shown as a slow motion close up as they fall towards him then giving us an Ariel view down the centre of the stair case.

Nevertheless he survives the blast and makes it to the next floor where his path has been blocked by a remote controlled machine gun on a tripod which then fires at the officer who then hides and throws a grenade which is also shown in slow motion until it stops itself underneath the machine gun and then destroying it. The officer then walks into the room overlooking the city. The woman that he was chasing then appears over his shoulder then begins shooting at the officer however the officer in front of her appears to be a hologram with the real officer appearing behind the woman and then shooting her in the leg allowing him to scan her memory. The video play back of her memory shows that she’s not committed the crime and shows the person who did commit the crime which signifies the stage of 2 I which the video has disrupted current events and changed the timeline of events.

Stage 3 begins with the officer driving to the location of the crime and as he pulls up the camera gives us a wide shot of the location showing the recognition of the problem and situation. After he arrives and enters the building a holographic wrist device is acting like a map on his wrist which tells him where to go. The device leads him into a small room where the camera pans around show it’s just a simple brick wall however the wall then begins to flicker and pixelate. We then get a high angle ELS to re-establish what’s happened as 3 people are revealed on the other side of where the wall was.  After a couple of shot reverse shots the 3 people bring up their guns and begin to fire however the officer doesn't go down but just flicker telling us that this is the hologram.  The hologram then raises its gun acting like the officer is and then shoots the woman in the middle however the shots came from behind where the real officer was stood. The other 2 men then run in to the opposite sides of the room and start shooting towards the officer. One of the guys then get shot in the head and the scene has been edited with a slow motion effect as the man falls to the ground. The last man then gets up and runs across in a horizontal track. The guy carries on shooting and the officer flickers again showing it's the hologram. However the guy doesn't notice and the camera changes to a different angle but still tracking horizontally until he runs into the officer who grabs his gun and knocks him to the floor. The officer the point the gun to the man on the floor and pulls the trigger several times. We don’t see the man get shot but we see the officer form the side on waist up shooting down, with each bang the scene flashes slight and the camera quickly zooms in for a burst. After this it cuts to a quick ECU of the officer’s eyes and then cuts back to his whole face as he turns to locate the diagetic sound of clapping coming from behind.

From here this signifies stage 4 where the officer tries to repair the disruption by solving the crime.  From out of the dark and in a long shot a man enters the frame clapping. This quickly cuts to a scene of the guy being dropped on the floor with the dead guy’s foot in the side of the shot along with a patch of blood. Both men are then put into an ELS of the room as they walk into the centre of the shot which has also been edited into slow motion. As this happens it cuts to a close up of the criminal waving a white handkerchief to show his surrender however the officer quickly restrains the man then holds the scanner to his head. With the criminals head in the side of the shot the holographic play back starts up.

From here signifies stage 5 where a new equilibrium has been put in place but the problem hasn't been solved. As the holographic play back appears the video crackles then cuts to a close up as the words appear “ time-code deleted “ this signifies a new problem which has caused a new equilibrium but not the one that the officer wanted to achieve. He then takes the criminal into another room which was seen earlier in the woman’s playback as to where the murder happened. In this room are computer screens that have been hooked up to a scanner like the officers with the monitor saying the time-code has successfully been deleted. As this happens we get an over the shoulder shot of the criminal brush himself down and as he walks out he says “ have a nice “. This then cuts to a shot of the officers head form behind then cuts to black and all we hear then is the officer say “ we got a problem “.