European Horror Analysis

Martyr is a french film that was directed by Pascal Lauger and it came out in France in 2008. I couldn't find an opening sequence to it, so im going to be analysing the trailer that i found.

Mise En Scene
From the trailer it gives the audience a rough idea of the film but not too much to give the whole entire story away. The first scene that we see is of a young girl, around the age of about 10 or 11, chained to a chair and a shadowy figure enters the room. The next scene is then text, while this bit of text is on the screen there is non-diegetic music that fits in perfectly with the genre to create a scary atmosphere. Throughout the trailer there are a lot of scenes of torture, blood and eerie happenings. For example the scene where we see the girl running out of the building, covered in blood and screaming, we dont know whats happened to her, we can clearly see she has been hurt but we didn't see by who/what or why.
In the next few scenes we see some sort of investigation happening and we then connect it to the scenes that were seen following up. A man talks about a girl and torture and her name is 'Lucie' who it seems is now being looked after. Throught these scenes where its mostly talking (in French with subtitles), we can see that people have been hurt, people are planning to hurt and protect. Lucie seems to go back to the house where she was kept hostage and tortured and try to kill everyone there, the presumed detectives are asking another little girl about Lucie, she tells them that Lucie's scared and in other words wants revenge.
From this point forwards, most of the scenes involve a lot of violence, torture and abuse. We see a lot of blood and naked bodies fighting, for what? the audience don't know until the film is watched. We also see Lucie then killing the people in the house where she was captured and tortured but when she returns it turns out there is another girl in exactly the same position that she was, abused with a metal device attached to the head.

EditingMost of the scenes on the trailer are jump shots, at first there are scenes for a period of around 10-20 seconds long giving the audience an idea of the story, with these there are also scenes with text giving us some information towards the film. As the trailer carries on the jump cuts become to a faster and quicker pace to create a scary atmosphere and feel to the film.

Camera
Most of the shots are close ups, of people fighting, the gun pointing, the girl running and of people walking and talking. There was also extreme closeups such as when there was injuries that were made a point of focus, like the girl with the eye patch, there was an extreme closeup of her face focusing on the injury and her facial expressions. There was alos another close up of the girls face when she was running and we saw the blood coming from her face and also how scared she was.

SoundThere was non-diegetic music over the text scenes which gave the trailer the scary atmosphere to fit in with the genre, There was screaming from the girl and other people forward into the trailer, the sound of gunshots that was fired several times, the sound of metal being clanked and people talking in french.

Essay On Opening Sequence Of 'City Of God'

In the opening sequence of the film "City Of God" there is a busy enviroment within the jump shots of a knife being sharpened, a woman making drinks, drums being played, chickens being skinned and also a lot of other people preparing food and drinks.
A dominant icon in the opening sequence was the chicken, it was seen as an object to the actors in the film. What we see visually within the jump shots leads up to and influences and we percieve the chicken and how we feel towards the scenario. When the opening sequence starts the first thing that we see is an extreme close up shot of a knife being sharpened, this signifies that something is going to be cut or an animal/human is going to be killed. The idea of this is also exxagerated by the size of the knife, as its a big meat knife that could easily cut through anything. The use of the extreme close up shot intensifies the scenario and makes the audience wonder what is going to happen next.
The next scene which is a jump shot from the first shot is where a dead chicken is being skinned, this also is another visual element of the film that signifies that the chickens are killed and used to feed the people. This also explains how the chicken is seen and treated throughout the opening sequence as an object.
The following focus of the scene is where there is medium close up of a single live chicken tied up to something, this automatically makes the audience see what the chicken will be used for. We see the chicken watching everything that is happening and witnessing all the other chickens be killed and skinned. There is diegetic and non diegetic music with the drums being played. With the scene and the audio it makes it seem like it should be something that should be celebrated but even with all the celebrations, the chicken is the most dominant and focused icon of the scene. The audience will not be focused on the celebrations but the chicken as we witness how frantic and anxious the chicken is too escape from the rope which it is tied up with.
In the scene, when the chicken finally does escape. The actors seem to be very frantic over the loss of that one chicken, this could signify the fact that there is alot of poverty and lack of financial materials to support the population. This is shown as when the chicken runs, almost thirty people chase after the chicken trying to catch it, it seems that the chicken is very precious to the people as we see when they are running they do not let anything get in thier way, for example when they were all running after the chicken and a man with alot of pots got in the way. The people running did not stop for him but instead pushed him aside out of the way so that the chicken was visible at all times. While the people and the chicken were running, two different camera shots were used. Firstly the tracking shot was used where it makes the audience feel as if they are running with the people to catch the chicken, along with this camera shot, a high angle view from the people runnings perspective looking down to the chicken running ahead of them, this angle gives the people the sense of authority and power over the chicken. When the camera is focused on to the chicken, a point of view shot was used, it was behind the chicken and we saw the back of the chicken and also what the chicken saw. We saw that the chicken was running quite fast away from the people and also the chicken had to avoid alot of obstacles. We mostly saw peoples frantic reactions with thier feet that signifies that the chicken really is nothing in this big world. Another camera shot that was used was a low angle which pointed up towards the people. It was as if the chicken was looking behind and seeing where they were. With this shot and the chicken being the point of view that it is coming from, this also shows that the people have power and authority over the chicken, which clearly shows that the chicken is literally fearing for its life.
With the two focused scenes of the chicken and people running, when they are intergrated together to make the scene fit in together, it effectively increases the atmosphere and audiences perception of what is happening. The chicken is used as a metaphor as to the people all it was seen as was food and financial prospects, and not the actual fact that it was an animal. The people in the film did so much to catch the chicken that escaped which shows that the chicken is very important to them. the angles and shots that were used also helped the audience to see both points of view between the people and the chicken.

TARGETS.

I have set a target for myself too:

- Use varied terms of media terminology.
- Make clear links with the connotations and denotations.
- To complete my work to the standard i think i am capable of.

Short Script - Continuity Editing & The 180 Degree Rule

*Anonymous hand opening a door, close up of hand and door handle*

*Jump cut to behind man in seats right shoulder, seeinng the anonymous figure walk into the room and close the door behind him*

Dave: Thanks for seeing me at such short notice Sir.

*Camera goes behind Daves left shoulder to see the man in the chair*

Bob: Your lucky! What is it? I dont like wasting time.

*Camera behind Bobs right shoulder*

Dave: Well... (faces floor), my wife is pregnant and at the moment we are really struggling with the mortgage and bills, its hard. Theres no chance i could, maybe, er, um get an advance on my wages? Just to see me by?

*Camera behind Daves left shoulder*

Bob: No chance! Does this company look like a charity for wastes and strays to be helped financially just because they cannot keep on top of all their bills. Now goodbye. Close the door on your way out.

*Camera behind Bobs right shoulder, see Dave walking out the room, looking at the floor. Opening the door and closing it behind him*

Analysis of 'The Godfather'

This is the opening scene to the film 'The Godfather'. With this opening scene the main thing is a man talking to somebody or a group of people. He gives a detailed monolgue of a girl being in an accident with her boyfriend, whom ended up in hospital with a broken nose and shattered jaw. The camera is focused on this man constantly throughout the opening scene all we see is a dark black blackground with a sillouette of the man, we see his face clearly and the white collar of his shirt. Another distinctive look in him is his gold tooth, which stands out the most. The man has a strong itailian accent which can be pretty hard to understand. The colouring is another important factor of the scene, it shows that there is some recency to when this scene was shot.
Before the man comes onto the screen and the opening credits are shown, there is non-diegetic music played before the man starts talking, the other things that we can hear is the tine change in his voice, through him talking about what he is, the subject touches him as you can hear his voice start to break.
With the editing of the opening scene it is a continuous cut on the man, but throughout the scene nearer to the end the 180 degree rule is used as from the shot being a close up of the man, it then zooms out and the appearance of a shoulder comes to view, we know this is a 180 degree rule as this technique is mostly used for when two indivuals are having a conversation.

Analysis of 'Touch Of Evil' Opening Sequence

I watched the opening scene of  'Touch Of Evil'. The Mise En Scene of the opening shot is that it is set in black and white, with it being this colour it gives the film a time setting, which we all know was in olden times. The first thing we see is a close up shot of a bomb that an unfaced man is holding, here it is where the audience know and expect something to happen but the actors do not know. Then there is a moving shot which focuses on a couple linking arms walking through a sidewalk and the man who is holding the bomb is running away and hiding from anybody else. Even though the setting is in black and white we can tell that this scene is at night time, there then is a scene of a man standing in the road acting like a traffic light which we notice that there is none. Which is also another reason how we know its an old movie. There is non-diegetic music as the scenes are played, there is a couple that is focused on throughout the opening scene, firstly when the man with the bomb was at the beginning and we saw the couple linking arms, till the end where we see them talking to the customs officer, then all of a sudden the expected bomb blows. We hear the bomb before we see it. The costume of the actors were what we would expect to see in the olden times as women were in formal dresses and neat bleach blonde hair which represents also that it may have been set the time when Marilyn Monroe, the men were in full piece suits and the workers were in strict identical uniforms.
            Most of the editing of the opening scene is that it is a continuous cut throughout the scene, it makes it look like the camera is walking and following everything thats going on. It is continuous but the camera shows us different points of view, such as when the car is coming out of the car park nearer to the beginning it gives us a birds eye view so that we know the car that would be coming out is the same car we saw before.
With the sound of the opening scene, the most that we hear is the non-diegetic music which is playing most time throughout the scene. There is not much dialogue as the whole opening scene is mostly non-diegetic music and noises of cars, the only dialogue that we hear is when the traffic light men were shouting to cars and when the customs officers were talking to the American citizens, we also hear the sound of the bomb which everybody knew was going to happen some time or another throughout the scene.

Tuesday Media Lesson. Hollyoaks-.Audience Profile.

The audience of the Tv programme Hollyoaks will most likely be aged between 16-24, it would be this age as the programme is based on college and uni students. The gender of the audience would be both males and females and there isnt a certain genre to the programme, also it tells us that the programme isnt specified to just one gender as the opening title to the programme has the male and female symbols. The likely location of the audience would either be a village like where Hollyoaks is filmed or a city where uni's and college's are.
Most likes of the audience would be that they like to go shopping, out for meals, drinking and partying, also that they are mostly dedicated to thier education and family. In Hollyoaks there is also a lot of drama that some individuals can relate to, such as eating disorders, cancer, pregnancies and teen dramas. There would also be dislikes that the audience would have which could be anything, there could be a variety of different things that different people dont like. The programme doesnt give people specific ideas of what to dislike.
The title of the programme is called 'Hollyoaks', I think the name is a good name as even though it doesnt mean anything, it does fit in with the genre of the programme as the name does have a village element to it, also with the name, the directors made the programme name fit in with the name of the school and college which then makes the audience realise that the village is named Hollyoaks.