Saw 6 and Flight Plan

Saw 6 

the opening credits are writen in a weird font you see 3 versions of the text all in differn't sizes moving at differnt times across the screen also a few of the letters seem to twice every so often.
this is to create a creepy feel to the film. the only lighting used is key light to keep a dark feel and uses Low key lighting to keep the film feeling dark the credits fade to black and fade in to part of jigsaws death traps the producer uses Extreme Close Ups of the traps slowly revealing the trap to the audience there is not alot of opening credits to finish the opening we see the first two victims waking up and wondering where they are using a medium close up. 



The plot of the opening is to introduce jigsaw the main cerial killer of the series new game of life and death and to show the audience how sick and twisted the film is going to become as in the first 5 minutes there is alot of blood ,gore and self harming.





Flight Plan  
Below is the opening to Flight Plan, Our theme for our opening peice is a thriller. I have looked at various openings to Thrillers, below is one of them. This Film begins with a train going past, after it 'Touchstone Pictures and Imagaine entertainment present', follows, it is white writing on a black background which creates a eerie feel , this is the first thing you see so it sets both the mood, and the setting of a train station, The rest of the titles follow in the style of a train going past, the kind of shutter, line effect going over the writing is used to create this, this also give a tense feel to it. After the last name, the black screen fades out and shows a train with a woman sitting on the bench persumed to be waiting for the train.  This scene is the establishing shot and shows the back of the lady in  the middle of the screen, this automaticly make you think she is the main charecter. High Key lighting is used in this scene. The doors of the train open and the camera beings to zoom into her with the words 'Flight Plan' in white, fading in beside her, the pause here and the time it takes to zoom in also creates a feel of suspence, its almost like your waiting for something to happen now. The writing 'Flight Plan', which establishes the name of the film, flashes and fades back out, the camera then turns to the other side and shows the front of her face, this is the first time you see her, it continues to zoom it up to a 'Close up' viewpoint to show the worried emotion on her face. Quite a Soft High Key lighting is used here, this is to make you look more at her expression and less at the shadows. This sets the scene and mood for the rest of the film, the screen then blanks out and opens on a new scence, where low key lighting is used. This is the begining of the film. This will help me with openings because it shows new ways of setting a scene and creating the mood for the rest of the film. This opening scene captures your intrest in the film so it is inportant it is intresting and full of tension and suspense.

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The use of colour in films

Colour working on the subconscious mind to create certain mood. Hospitals and dentists use pale colours in their waiting rooms, such as pale blues and greens, this is said to have a calming effect on the mind. Each colour has its own connotations, which may have been influenced by the culture of our beliefs, For example Christan's see the colour White as a symbol of purity where as in Indian religions white is seen as the colour of mourning.

In the early days if a film maker wanted to use colour it would be painted on the shots afterwards. Technicolour introduced their new system in the early nineteen thirties that colour film began to see a commercial possibility.

Colour film was nearly thirty per cent higher than black and white, the effects where so dramatic that major film makers where eager to use it. Today we expect films to be in colour, and anything in black and white is added for effect. In the early days it was the opposite and colour was only really used for fantasy films.

Red- Excitement, energy, passion, love, desire, speed, strength, power, heat, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence.

Pink- Love, romance and excitement.

Beige- Unification, Quiet, Pleasantness, Clam and simplicity.

Yellow- Joy, Happiness, Betrayal, Optimism, Idealism, Imagination, Hope, Sunshine, Summer, Gold, Philosophy, Dishonesty, Cowardice, Jealousy, Conventousness, Deceit, Illness and hazard.

Blue- Peace, Tranquillity, cold, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conversation, security, cleanliness, order, loyalty, sky, water, technology, depression, appetite suppressant.

Turquoise- Sophistication, Feminine appeal.

Purple- Royalty, Nobility, spiritually, ceremony, mysterious, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance, mourning.

Lavender- Femininity, grace and elegance.

Green- Nature, enjoyment, Healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy, misfortune, vigour.

Brown- Earth, stability, hearth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, simplicity and comfort.

Grey- Security, reliability, intelligence, staid, modesty, dignity, maturity, solid, conservative, practical, old age, sadness, boring, silver symbolizes calm.

White- Reverence, purity, birth, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, snow, good, sterility, marriage (western cultures), Death (eastern cultures), Cold, clinical.

Black- Power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, evil, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger, anonymity, underground, good technical colour, mourning, death (western cultures).

A film that uses colour to add drama is "Jennifer's body". {as shown in the image below}

This images use of pink and red  and the toned down colour in the background makes you think that the character is dangerous or even very desirable. this reflects the characters new persona; although the backgrounds lack of colour using dusty natural colours, portrays the depression, everyone is going through in the movie.

In the film Shindler's List the girl shown below, was shown wearing a red coat while the rest of the film was in black and white. This is done to show  you that the girl is of some importance, it also makes her stand out to the audience while in the film not much attention is payed towards her.

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Dawn of the Dead (2004) {First Scene 00:00-01:00}

To begin with there are the dedications, to the filming groups, that help put the movie together; (such as logos, and iconic animations, “universal studios”).

However, instead of their iconic backing track, there is a more eerie track that runs through the dedications. This instantly puts the audience out of there comfort zone; helping to add to the films atmosphere. Relating to the fact that the genre is horror, a low continuous sound with a few distortions helps to create the atmosphere for the following scenes.

The final logo then dissolves, into what looks like a fire or chemicals mixing (a bright, moving mass of a yellowy orange substance). This then has a use of non-diegetic sound of fire burning, or even something dissolving in acid. These sounds will most like have been produced, using a technique called Foley art/sound.

The camera zooms out changing the colour of the mas to a white and blue; as the camera retreats farther the image of an X-Ray is shown, this would be considered the establishing shot; as unlike the first shot (established as a extreme close up of the X-Ray) I lets the audience know that it is in a hospital, this is strengthened by the fact that the shot is over the shoulder of a person in a lab coat. The audio also fades out, and the diegetic dialogue fades in. this almost gives the impression of snapping into reality or fading out of it.

The shot then zooms out further, to reveal the shot is over the shoulder of a doctor. This reveals the it is the doctor talking and not a voice over. A mid shot is used for the two characters to swap dialogue, once the character has finished his phone call the shot jumps out with no audio; to a long shot. This use of jumpy camera changes is typical of horror film as it adds a sense of urgency. As the characters begin to talk the shot goes back to a mid shot, the use of going out to a long shot could be considered as the establishing shot (this would be as the shot show that both characters are in a hospital hall way).

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Title Credits for Dawn of the Dead

Title Credits for Dawn of the Dead

Camera Angles/Time	Screen Shot	Analysis
00:00, the camera frames the title to the bottom right.		The text appears showing the production name. It is a thick red text, this gives the impression of evil and blood. Because of it being written in capital letter, it farther supports the evil vibe
00:04, a extreme long shot is used of a mosque.		The text smudges past like blood it fades to a old film reel of Muslims praying in a mosque.
00:06, text framed to the lower middle.		This text fades out via the same as the other clips.
00:08, an ecu of a zombie is shown.		A shaky clip of a zombie is used, this a short clip that flashes in and out in a second or two.
00:09, a centred title.		There is the film title. The first word is large, then the insignificant words are smaller and thin. The final word “dead” is extremely large to emphasize the importance of the word.
00:13, a centred title.		The text the fades out in a similar way to all the other credits.
00:34, over the shoulder shot of a news conference. (ms)		This shows a news conference being held about the infection; the audio from this clip has been running through some of the first clips.
00:40, LS of some swat police officers.		This is one of the many new reels that flash on and off in a shaky way. These are mixed in with more credits. The song Ring of Fire, by Johnny Cash runs throughout the rest of the credits
01:03, the final scene is of a news, so it is all done like a fly on a wall.		This ends with the zombies breaking through the barricades and attacking the camera crew

Lighting Techniques

Ambient Light	The light already present in a scene, before any additional lighting is added. <image to add taken by Connor Page> More info: Ambient Light
Incident Light	Light seen directly from a light source (lamp, sun, etc).
Reflected Light	Light seen after having bounced off a surface.
Colour Temperature	A standard of measuring the characteristics of light, measured in kelvins. More Info: Colour Temperature Chart
Contrast Ratio	The difference in brightness between the brightest white and the darkest black within an image. More Info: Contrast Ratio
Key Light	The main light on the subject, providing most of the illumination and contrast. <image to add taken by Connor Page> More Info: 3 Point Lighting
Fill Light	A light placed to the side of the subject to fill out shadows and balance the key light. More Info: 3 Point Lighting
Back Light	A light placed at the rear of a subject to light from behind. More Info: 3 Point Lighting
Hard Light	Light directly from a source such as the sun, traveling undisturbed onto the subject being lit.
Soft Light	Light which appears to "wrap around" the subject to some degree. Produces less shadows or softer shadows.
Spot	A controlled, narrowly-focused beam of light.
Flood	A broad beam of light, less directional and intense than a spot.
Tungsten	Light from an ordinary light bulb containing a thin coiled tungsten wire that becomes incandescent (emits light) when an electric current is passed along it. Tungsten colour temperature is around 2800K to 3400K. Also known as incandescent light.
Halogen	Type of lamp in which a tungsten filament is sealed in a clear capsule filled with a halogen gas.
Fresnel	A light which has a lens with raised circular ridges on its outer surface. The fresnel lens is used to focus the light beam.
Incandescent	Incandescent lamps produce heat by heating a wire filament until it glows. The glow is caused by the filament's resistance to the current and is called incandescence

This was sourced from http://www.mediacollege.com/lighting/terminology/ re-worded/arranged by Connor Page

Today (8/10/2010) our group had to present 3 IDEAS for our final production..
I presented the IDEAS across to the class
RYAN RECORDED the presentation ( you can watch the video down below)
and fran took notes about POSITIVE CRITISISUM.
while as liam was unavalible to help with the presentation

Idea 1
our first idea was taken from the film "LORD OF WAR" but instead we would show the LIFE OF A MACHETE in the hands of a local nut job then the scene changes to a crime scene.

Idea 2
our second idea we are going to film the whole scene in a FIRST PERSON prospective as he masacures a few victims then the scene changes to a crime scene

Idea 3
our third idea is that a group of "yobs" teenagers sneak into a abandoned factory and takes drugs having a good time. then a guy with a baseball bat enters wearing a hoody.. one of the teenagers start on him and ends up getting killed .. then the hooded charater takes on all the "yobs" while one person runs away and hides in a cupboard of some sort and the charater walks around searching for him , when the teenager thinks he's safe the hooded charater comes right up to the cupboard to scare the audience... then cuts to the opening title.

Camrea angles, movement and shots

Camera Shots
A camera shot is the amount of space that is seen in one shot or frame. Camera shots are used to demonstrate different aspects of a film's setting, characters and themes. As a result, camera shots are very important in shaping meaning in a film. Reviewing the examples on the right hand side of this page should make the different camera shots clearer.

Extreme long shot- contains a large amount of landscape. It is often used at the beginning of a scene or a film to establish general location (setting). This is also known as an establishing shot.

Long shot-contains landscape but gives the viewer a more specific idea of setting. A long shot may show the viewers the building where the action will take place.

full shot-contains a complete view of the characters. From this shot, viewers can take in the costumes of characters and may also help to demonstrate the relationships between characters. For more information on costumes and acting refer to Chapter 4.

Mid shot-contains the characters or a character from the waist up. From this shot, viewers can see the characters' faces more clearly as well as their interaction with other characters. This is also known as a social shot

Close-up-contains just one character's face. This enables viewers to understand the actor's emotions and also allows them to feel empathy for the character. This is also known as a personal shot.

Extreme close-up-contains one part of a character's face or other object. This technique is quite common in horror films, particularly the example above. This type of shot creates an intense mood and provides interaction between the audience and the viewer.
Camera angles
It is important that you do not confuse camera angles and camera shots. Camera shots are used to demonstrate different aspects of setting, themes and characters. Camera angles are used to position the viewer so that they can understand the relationships between the characters. These are very important for shaping meaning in film as well as in other visual texts.
Bird's eye angle-is an angle that looks directly down upon a scene. This angle is often used as an establishing angle, along with an extreme long shot, to establish setting.

High angle-is a camera angle that looks down upon a subject. A character shot with a high angle will look vulnerable or small. These angles are often used to demonstrate to the audience a perspective of a particular character. The example above demonstrates to us the perspective or point of view of a vampire. As a viewer we can understand that the vampire feels powerful.

Eye-level angle-puts the audience on an equal footing with the character/s. This is the most commonly used angle in most films as it allows the viewers to feel comfortable with the characters.

Low angle-is a camera angle that looks up at a character. This is the opposite of a high angle and makes a character look more powerful. This can make the audience feel vulnerable and small by looking up at the character. This can help the responder feel empathy if they are viewing the frame from another character's point of view.

A Dutch angle-is used to demonstrate the confusion of a character. The example above should disorientate you.

Camera movement
Composers of films also use camera movement to shape meaning. The following are some examples of common camera movements and how they can be used to shape meaning in films.

Crane shot-is often used by composers of films to signify the end of a film or scene. The effect is achieved by the camera being put on a crane that can move upwards

Tracking shot/dolly shot-have the same effect. A tracking shot moves on tracks and a dolly shot is mounted on a trolley to achieve the effect in the example above. This camera movement is used in a number of ways but is most commonly used to explore a room such as a restaurant. By using a tracking shot or a dolly shot the composer of a film gives the viewer a detailed tour of a situation. It can also be used to follow a character.

Panning-is used to give the viewer a panoramic view of a set or setting. This can be used to establish a scen