Project 3: Filmmaking Conventions and Cultural Codes - BLK HW2

Clip from the 2007 movie 'Shooter', Classification 15

I have chosen this clip because it is one which plays an important role in the film's narrative and does so through its use of cultural codes and Film conventions which allow us to further understand the characters and settings

Cultural Codes:

00:05 - the colours of the room are cool, making us feel on edge and not fully comfortable with the situation, adding suspense

00:20 - The fact that the protagonist is not wearing military or FBI clothes suggests he is not fully part of the surveillance group

00:25 -  We can see that the person they are observing is the president, and we can instantly guess his character through our previous knowledge of US presidents

00:27 - We can see that the man is showing signs of boredom and does not understand the severity of the situation, even though he is dressed like a professional government agent.

01:23 - Although we do not know what will happen, the dirt and water marks on the window in conjunction with the fact the protagonist is looking straight at us through binoculars can make us feel uneasy and forebode the events to come.

01:27 - As the hero's blood flashes on the window, the red instantly alerts us to the danger which is ensuing

Film-Making Conventions:

-Technical Codes:

00:08 - the music that starts playing adds to the uneasy feeling of the audience.

00:54 - This establishing shot allows us to relate what we have seen in the room and outside to the overall area, making us understand the proxemics

00:57 - Close ups are used of the man clicking the button which suggests he is an antagonist and does not 

want to be seen.

01:11 - The MCU framing allows us to see his facial expressions, as well as the binoculars he is holding

01:20 - The pace of the music picks up and the suspense builds as we wonder what will happen

01:25 - The editing is made faster, as shots are only a few seconds long to increase the pace of the film at the time the shooting begins and the crowd begin to scream. This increases the feeling of danger in the audience

01:29 - The shot through the civilian news channel camera flings to the right as the cameraman attempts to flee the scene, the tilt and film grain connote chaos and confusion

-Genre Conventions:

00:01 - Typical of action adventure films involving military personnel, we are looking POV through a pair of binoculars at what we can presume to be the main focus of the scene

00:15  - When the protagonist (holding binoculars) is asked what he feels after shooting a civilain, to which he replies 'Recoil'. This remark makes us place him as a stereotypical army special agent and sharpshooter, which allows us to understand he is well trained.

00:24 - The people in the room, including a police officer and a man looking into the laptop on the table, as well as the binoculars make us feel that the target area is being spied on and surveyed, and we assume they are not antagonists as they have a police officer with them

00:58 - The scope and cross-hairs seen pointing at the president is a stereotypical example of an assassination attempt to the president, something easily identifiable with the action/thriller genre.

01:09 - As the protagonist looks through the binoculars and comments on the 'altitude, humidity, and temperature' we can finally understand he is working with the police to try to halt the assassination attempt, and as he is a veteran sharpshooter he is useful in identifying the assassin's location

01:25 - As the tension builds to the climax of the scene, instead of stopping the assassin, our protagonist is shot by the 'honorable police officer' and the sniper is shot, but hits the wrong target. We instantly associate this to a conventional conspiracy thriller film, helping us understand the narrative

01:48 - This man can be identified as an agent of some sort, but his confusion over the situation makes us believe he may be inexperienced and innocent.

02:04 - Our perceptions of the men in the beginning is changed as they show their true intentions. They are associated with the stereotype of corrupt, yet powerful antagonists who elude their discovery through their statuses

Project 2: My Film Still - DYM HW 1

                                   












             'Toby Kebbel as 'Johnny Quid' in RockNrolla 2008'

I chose this still from the film 'RockNrolla', as i believe it is a very well crafted still, which makes good use of mise-en-scene and framing to create an effective still.

>The man is standing in a room which seems to be in an abandoned house. Although the film is not of that genre, this is a convention of horror films, which makes the audience feel uneasy and cautious as they examine the shot

> The fact that the man is topless shows he is not fearful of whatever he is facing the guns at, and the mid shot framing in conjunction with his strong pose and the way he is holding 2 guns at once makes his seem like a very brave and hardened character, in full control of the situation.

>The lighting is well in this shot, as the room is in low key lighting except for the harsh streaks of light entering through gaps in the curtains. This connotes danger, but also has themes of exposure and vulnerability. The strong shadows which cover half of the character's face also signify that there may be more than side to this character. This is a very interesting concept in this scenario, as it makes it even harder to tell if he is a villain or a hero, which adds narrative enigma to the story.

Project 1: Horror Stills - BLK HW1

Our Selected Image

   For this project we chose to take stills of the horror genre, as we thought it would be challenging to attempt to find creative settings appropriate for the genre in our school grounds. We tried to include iconography which is easily identifiable as the horror genre, here being the dark surroundings, deformed shape of the hand and the large crack in the glass face. These particular signs create a strong sense of genre from only a still image.

   To achieve this effect, we paid close attention to the technical codes of the image. we angled the shot in such a way that it did not catch the reflection of the light as seen in the comparison image below. This reflection would have given the audience a greater view of the area and therefore would have been less effective as a horror still. Furthermore, the titled angle also creates a sense of confusion and unfamiliarity, which are key to the horror genre, whilst also being in the point of view of the subject here, which most people would assume to be an antagonist due to the deformed hand shape and the aberrant nail color, once again anchoring the shot to the genre, and the juxtaposition between the warm skin colours and the cold ,vibrant nail colour as well as the black surroundings make the blue stand out, which can slightly unnerve the audience.

  The dark surroundings is something fundamental to the horror genre, and we have utilised low key lighting to add enigma to the still, as the audience has no way of knowing what is behind the glass.
  In addition, taking the shot on top of a broken part of the glass adds another dimension of narrative and enigma to the still, as not only is the question raised as to why is the subject prying at the glass, but also why  the glass was broken. It makes the audience assume there was a struggle or fight of sorts, which once again is common in this genre.

Comparison Image

   I believe our selected image was very successful. It is easily identifiable as part of the horror genre, and it does so in many different ways. Comparing our selected image to the image taken beforehand, it is clear to see we were able to identify the good and bad points of the comparison image, and improve upon them to allow us to achieve the greatest effect possible. 

   If i could have done things differently, i would have probably found a different pane of glass which did not have the metallic squares embedded in it, as i found they slightly distort the meaning of the still. Furthermore, although the dimness is sufficient to convey the dominant meaning and genre of the image, if we could have had complete control of the surroundings, we would have been able to create sharp shadows and aim the still at any part of the glass, as the offending reflection would have been non existent. Lastly, if we could have added some mise-en-scene such as bloodstains to the image, the narrative would have been enhanced and the genre would have come out much more clearly. Other than these few points, i believe we were very successful in doing what we set out to achieve.