Monday
some key words...
Representation - how something is Re presented. Re: Again
regional identity - the identity of a setting
Verisimilitude - the appearance of being true or real. Most TV shows will use a lot of realism to add to their verisimilitude.
regional identity - the identity of a setting
Verisimilitude - the appearance of being true or real. Most TV shows will use a lot of realism to add to their verisimilitude.
Mise-en-scene: Sound
Sound
Types of music i would expect to see with these types of genres:
- Action - fast paced music
- Horror - High or low pitched or no music = to create an eery feeling.
- Sci - Fi: computerised music
- Comedy: up beat music
- Romance: Calm, nice, classic music
- Children's films: Light and happy
- Fantasy: mystical and dramatic music.
Diegetic sound
Diegetic sounds are noises that would appear naturally in the scene, for example, if a character was singing, this would be diegetic music.
Non - Diegetic sound
Non - Diegetic sounds are noises that wouldn't appear naturally in the scene, for example a narrator would be a non- diegetic sound.
applying narrative theories to my terror in the night task
My storyboard for "Terror in the night" has a linear structure, as it opens with a scene showing the bat, and then showing the two children playing in the park, followed by a scene conveying the parents - thus introducing us to the characters and the story. It then continues to a scene where the children are running from the bat, and the parents are phoning the police; the story builds. It then ends with one of the children dying, the police finding both children, and then a long shot of the dead child with the bat in the background. Therefore meaning my storyboard has a linear structure.
My storyboard links to Barthes ideas on narrative structure, as it has aspects of the action code in it, for example, the audience know that the children are in a park, because the mise en scene indicates this.
My storyboard links to Strausse's theory, as it conveys binary opposites such as light/dark alive/dead strong/weak evil/good young/old included in it. Strausse's theory suggests that nothing is known without its opposite, meaning that we would not understand what one thing is, without the other. e.g. without day, we would not understand what night was.
Friday
Levi - Strauss
Levi- Strauss describes narrative as being created by binary opposites.
Meaning that he believed there was no meaning without binary opposites, how do you know what cold is, if there's no such thing as hot? He was a structuralist, believing that we don't make an interpretation, and meaning is only created by knowing what it is not.
Hitchcocks structure 1960
Hitchcocks structure shocked audiences of its time, as it was so different from what the audience expected, this is because they had not experienced anything like this at the time, and, overall in horror films the 'star' of the film would survive whatever horror they had to face, where as in Hitchcocks film "Psycho" the star is killed off after the audience has identified with her, shocking the audience.This was so different to what had been done at the time, that it made the film infamous, and this example added to my inference that narrative structure can by moved around and edited to portray a different meaning, and change the way the story is told.Todorov
Todorov describes narrative as going from a state of balance (equilibrium) back to an altered equilibrium.
- equilibrium
- disruption
- conflict
- resoulution
- new equilibrium
This is the classic Hollywood narrative.
Barthes
- Action: the audience knows what is happening from previous knowledge, the mise en scene helps to indicate this.
- Enigma: what is happening is hidden from the audience, this creates intrigue.
- Semic: the audience recognises what is happening through connotations.
- Symbolic: this symbolizes more abstract concepts, not unlike metaphors, for example, a plant in a historical place, could represent the deep roots of the area.
- cultural: the audience understands what is happening due to their cultural awareness.
Propp
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Propp is a russian theorist who studied russian folk tales.
His theory was to do with character types.
He identified 8 types of characters, which where:
He identified 8 types of characters, which where:
- the villain (antagonist)
- the princess or love interest
- the father or person with knowledge
- the dispatcher who sends the hero off on his quest.
- the donor, who offers help
- the sidekick, or helper, who is not as handsome as the hero.
- the hero (protagonist)
- the hero (protagonist)
- the false hero: a villain who pretends to be good in order to trick the hero.
An example of a film with all these characters in would be Avatar.
In addition to the characters, Propp also has a list of 31 narrative functions, which are called narratemes.
introduction to narrative
Narrative explores the conventions of:
- Genre
- Character
- Form
- Time
Narrative means: how the story is told.
There are 4 key types of narrative, these are - linear, open,closed and circular structure.
Linear
beginning
(audience introduced to the characters and the story)
Middle
(Story builds)
End
(closure)
Open
The audience are left to wonder what happens next, and have to make sense of it themselves. e.g inception
closed
There is a definite ending; a clear conclusion for the audience.
Circular
The narrative begins at the end - events, (often with the climax), and the audience is taken on a journey - arriving back at where they started.(e.g pulp fiction)
There are many theorists who use theory to explain narrative structure, i will be studying four of them:
- Propp
- Barthes
- Todorov
- Levi-Strauss
ellipses...
the definition of editing is to put everything together, to create meaning.
You can get the viewer to think something is the meaning, through editing, when the meaning is actually completely different.
This is done using an ellipses, the editor could use an ellipses to make the audience 'fill in the blanks'.
You can also show time passing through blank slides with text that conveys the passing of time, i.e '5 mins later'...
You can get the viewer to think something is the meaning, through editing, when the meaning is actually completely different.
This is done using an ellipses, the editor could use an ellipses to make the audience 'fill in the blanks'.
You can also show time passing through blank slides with text that conveys the passing of time, i.e '5 mins later'...
editing and narrative
In last weeks lesson, we looked at what editing is and how it changes the meaning of a piece of media.
For example, we saw how adding a narrative to a scene can completely change the meaning - to help us see this we looked at a clip that portrayed how a show like big brother might be edited.
This sounds strange, as big brother is advertised as being 'live', however, nothing we watch on the tv actually is live, as we are 15 minutes behind what is really happening - so there is time for it to be edited.
Big brother is aggressively edited to change the meaning of what is happening, this is done to make the show more entertaining to the audience, but also means it is not real life.
This is done by the editors placing different narrative over the scene. For example, if one person was telling a story and the others were listening, we could mute that, and play a narrative of somebody saying he's boring, or we could play a narrative of someone saying how interesting and entertaining he is, and these would show the scene with completely different meanings.
We can also cut scenes to show something, for example, if we wanted it to seem like two people are into each other, we could omit all the scenes were they aren't close, or aren't getting along, and only show the scenes in which they appear to be flirting.
For example, we saw how adding a narrative to a scene can completely change the meaning - to help us see this we looked at a clip that portrayed how a show like big brother might be edited.
This sounds strange, as big brother is advertised as being 'live', however, nothing we watch on the tv actually is live, as we are 15 minutes behind what is really happening - so there is time for it to be edited.
Big brother is aggressively edited to change the meaning of what is happening, this is done to make the show more entertaining to the audience, but also means it is not real life.
This is done by the editors placing different narrative over the scene. For example, if one person was telling a story and the others were listening, we could mute that, and play a narrative of somebody saying he's boring, or we could play a narrative of someone saying how interesting and entertaining he is, and these would show the scene with completely different meanings.
We can also cut scenes to show something, for example, if we wanted it to seem like two people are into each other, we could omit all the scenes were they aren't close, or aren't getting along, and only show the scenes in which they appear to be flirting.
Thursday
Transitions
In class we looked at editing in the film industry, I learnt about the different transitions between scenes and we made our own storyboard that portrayed the different transitions and the timings of the scenes, we learnt a list of transitions and the effect they give:
- jump: the sudden transition shocks the viewer and makes them jump.
- dissolve: may be used to soften obvious hard cuts that may startle the viewer.
- slide: can sometimes be used to convey the end of a fun, e.g an iris wipe at the end of the looney tunes.
fade: A fade is probably the most common transition in films, it suggests that something has finished, or is dramatic and intense.
The fall of the studio system and the rise of the stars
The fall of the studio system occurred on the 3rd May 1948.
It took place because...
-war related income tax laws encouraged top talent to go freelance.
- TV was introduced, and films were turned into TV series, so people went to the cinema less, since they could watch it in their own homes.
- The introduction of Technicolor.
- The introduction of sound: as this meant that many actors and actresses lost their jobs because they had bad voices - so, they either had to have somebody speak for them, or they lost their jobs all together.
It meant that block booking, blind bidding, and the company owning the production, distribution and the theatre venues was banned.
This meant that there was a rapid growth in independent actors, and thus the united artists was created.
This helped the rise of the stars:
- more actors went freelance, so could do more things
- they were scouted for glamour, talent and charisma
- they transformed films
- the stars had dialogue coaches and beauticians
- their image provided financial backing and audience identification, which meant the stars had bargaining power.
It took place because...
-war related income tax laws encouraged top talent to go freelance.
- TV was introduced, and films were turned into TV series, so people went to the cinema less, since they could watch it in their own homes.
- The introduction of Technicolor.
- The introduction of sound: as this meant that many actors and actresses lost their jobs because they had bad voices - so, they either had to have somebody speak for them, or they lost their jobs all together.
It meant that block booking, blind bidding, and the company owning the production, distribution and the theatre venues was banned.
This meant that there was a rapid growth in independent actors, and thus the united artists was created.
This helped the rise of the stars:
- more actors went freelance, so could do more things
- they were scouted for glamour, talent and charisma
- they transformed films
- the stars had dialogue coaches and beauticians
- their image provided financial backing and audience identification, which meant the stars had bargaining power.
Hollywood's studio system
Before 1948, the studio system meant that the producers of the film, also distributed it, this meant that businesses like 'Universal', owned Cinema's as well, and could do absolutely everything themselves - thus cutting out the middle man. This meant they had a reliable return of investment.
During this time, there where only classic genres like :
- Gangster
- Musical
- Western
- etc...
Films were also known for a specific narrative structure, combined with a set of of cinematic expressions of narrative.
It also meant that actors and actresses became synonymous with a certain genre, and actors were only allowed to work with that business.
As well as this, it meant that studios were known through their 'house style' and the public had a set of expectations and an identification process about the genre and who made the film.
During this time, there where only classic genres like :
- Gangster
- Musical
- Western
- etc...
Films were also known for a specific narrative structure, combined with a set of of cinematic expressions of narrative.
It also meant that actors and actresses became synonymous with a certain genre, and actors were only allowed to work with that business.
As well as this, it meant that studios were known through their 'house style' and the public had a set of expectations and an identification process about the genre and who made the film.
Tuesday
How can genre aid you in relation to your brief?
Genre can help me a lot in relation to my brief, this is because it can help me to create the mise en scene for the scenes I film - this is because genre is security for the viewer; when they go to see a type of genre - there are certain things that they expect to see.
For example, if a viewer went to see a horror film, they would expect it to have scary settings and audio, and have characters that are meant to frighten them.
Or, if a viewer went to see a Rom-com (a sub-genre, turned genre), they would expect it to be funny, and make them feel uplifted and happy at the end.
Therefore, knowing my genre can aid me in relation to my brief, because it provides a set of guidelines for me to follow depending on what genre I choose.
It also helps me to plan for my brief, in that once I have selected a genre, I can research other people's work in that genre, helping to give me an idea of what I could do.
Overall, genre helps me in relation to my brief, as it gives me something to follow to make my work successful, whereas without genre, the director could do whatever he wanted, and that would make my brief more difficult, as i would have a wider range of things to do, and would have to be more creative to make my work successful.
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