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.