Olivia's media blog

  In this clip, editing, camera work, sound and lighting all give meaning that the girl is in danger. In the opening shot, an establishing shot shows a girl standing in front of a funhouse - with a sign saying 'Find Yourself'. This is foreshadowing when you consider the context of the film (a family discovers there are clone-like copies of themselves who are out to kill them, and the girl's doppelganger is inside the carnival). The bright lights illuminating the building emphasise the darkness around the areas, isolating the young girl and creating a silhouette of her body. When it moves on to a close up of her feet, which proceed to walk away, it creates the impression she is walking out of the audience's reach, and walking away from safety. In the following shot, a slow zoom on the girl as she walks into the building, framed by the doorway, also leaves the impression she is walking away from the outside world, and into darkness.   As the character walks through, a tra...

  Introduction We analysed the opening to the show 'True Blood', to look further into tv shows opening sequences and to explore montage techniques. We also looked at the imagery and what the shots represented, while looking out for theory tools such as binary opposites. Tasks 1. Think about the format of the images     - How are they constricted     - What shot types are used     - What filters, effects are used     - Any adjectives you would use to describe the quality of the images     - Are there any key colours used? The images are formatted in the form of a montage - short clips edited together. The edits are quite fast, almost overlapping. There a lot of mid-shots and close ups, to keep the audience guessing (introducing enigma codes). A flickering/glitchy effect has been added to the images, as well as retro filters. There are vivid colours contrasting black and white images. Adjectives you could...

Introduction Today I watched the movie 'The Silence of the Lambs' (1991), directed by Jonathan Demme. This is a classic example of a Psychological Thriller, as it changed the Thriller genre forever by introducing the idea of highly intelligence serial killers. It stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Sterling, a young trainee with ambitions to become a FBI agent. Anthony Hopkins plays the role of Hannibal Lecter, an educated doctor-turned serial killer who seems to provide help for Clarice, but continues to live his horrible lifestyle. 'Buffalo Bill', is the main serial killer in question, played by Ted Lavine. I looked at representation throughout the movie, along with looking out for conventions of the Thriller genre, and common Narrative structures. Genre and Narrative Clarisse - Representation Deconstruction Conversation Analysis

Task 1 Google 'top thrillers of 2021' select 4 and watch the trailers. Then embed the trailers into your blog and slides and answer the following: - What do these films have in common? - What are the differences?   This trailer for the movie "Rushed" contains many typical Thriller conventions. A lot of these can be identified in the plot, such as an investigation and a murder plot. There are also other recognizable features of thrillers, such as low key and coloured lighting, and dramatic camera angles. This Thriller is also very effective, as it incorporates common fears that people have into the film, such as heights and being trapped in a fire. This makes the overall effect of the movie successful, and this technique is often used in Thrillers. At first the trailer doesn't seem to reveal the genre of "House of Gucci", howev...

  Introduction As an introduction to film openings, we were instructed to analyse the first two minutes of the film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". First, we identified the key features of a film opening and what we thought were the most important factors. We then watched the clip three times, and noted down our observations, making sure to look our for narrative details. Film Openings Narrative Films include narrative details such as binary opposites, to make a film more interesting and engaging. These narrative features can also be found in film openings, so they are something to look out for. - Binary opposites - Narrative range (eg. restricted/unrestrictive narrative) - Codes (eg. enigma codes) ...

  Introduction We were tasked with analyzing the classic horror film "Scream" (1996). We were looking for symbolic codes within the opening scene, and typical conventions within Horror films. Our main observation was how the character was portrayed as innocent with connotations of purity, through her clothing and actions. We also picked up on the popcorn reflecting the rising tensions in the scene, as her fear levels rise so does the packet of popcorn. The scene ends with the girl dead, and the popcorn in flames. My annotations for the scene is below. This task familiarised us with some more film terminology, and was one of the first instances we were able to practise analysising a film opening.

  Introduction We were instructed to analyse a scene from Breaking Bad. I focused on deconstructing the shots and finding meaning encoded within. I then wrote about the meaning created by camera, mise-en-scene, editing and sound. Progressing emotions Analysis Practise essay How does the Breaking Bad clip create meaning through the use of camera, mise-en-scene, editing and sound? Throughout the clip the director uses camera, mise-en-scene, editing and sound to show how the teacher is undermined by Chad, the student. Towards the beginning of the clip, the power is held by Walter, the teacher. This is shown predominantly through camera angles. The teacher is mainly the focus of all the shots, or it shows him standing in front of a classroom of students. He is displayed with a slight low angle, which indicates he is more powerful. When the class is displayed there is a slight high angle which exaggerates his height over the sitting students and further indicates he holds th...