Accident continuity sequence analysis

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4yAn8jrjwE&list=PLuboFoQeI7ki-DbwVm8PGC7IdmbKf_JOs&index=3

What techniques did you specifically use to create (narrative flow) in your accident sequence?

To create continuity we used various techniques, including the story idea. The story is a simple idea, which left the audience with something easy to follow. The audience were left with no twists or overflowing shots full a lot going on, where the audience could be left to try and figure out what’s going on.

Various shot types were used to help convey narrative flow. This included use of master shot, close ups and reaction shots. We begin with the master shot which establishes all the characters within the story, the setting, and Gavin's decision to climb the tree. This means we don’t jump into Gavin climbing the tree leaving us confused and questioning; but we are shown how he decides he is going to climb it. We used a close up of Gavin’s face to establish that he is the main character of the story.  

The reaction shots used include the shot of the two Girls’, and Gavin’s reaction when he is falling. Both reactions make the story more realistic, as we react to everything that happens in real life. The reaction of the two girls allows us to follow  what’s going on, and their worried reaction gives us an idea of what height Gavin is going to fall from.  Gavin’s reaction builds suspense for the fall itself.

We also used various angles to help emphasise certain aspects of the scene. For instance, the shot of the two girls expressing how Gavin is falling is of a high angle. This symbolises Gavin’s perspective, and emphasises how high he is in the tree and compared to their height on the ground, which emphasises the danger of his fall. We also used low angles for when Gavin is falling. When he is in the tree about to fall, the low angle emphasises the height of the tree.

The second  mid shot of Gavin climbing the tree is at an angle which comes round the side of Gavin and the tree he is climbing. This allows it to seem as though Gavin is climbing past us, and therefore shows the height in which he is climbing.  

 In hindsight, what could you do to improve the continuity (narrative flow) of the sequence?

To improve the continuity of our sequence overall we could have made the scenes flow into each other a little more, instead of jumping from angles and shots that were very different to one another. Some shots jump from a long shot to a close up which can leave the audience disorientated. We could have made the shots go from close up, to mid shot, to long shot, or the other way around.

Falling out of a tree is very difficult, and is especially hard to convey with limited shots. If it was  possible for Gavin to jump from the tree the shots could have been a lot wider instead of having to film a lot of close ups of shots that aren’t that realistic. In the falling scene, Gavin grabs back onto the tree before he falls which could confuse the audience as what the shot is meant to represent.

Lord of the Rings opening sequence-Continuity analysis

Lord of the Rings- The Two Towers.

How techniques used help establish narrative flow:
There are three main parts to the opening sequence. The first being the snow-covered mountains landscape scene, and the second being the action-filled fight of Gandalf  and the Balrog on the bridge, the third being their continuing fight while falling into the abyss. The whole opening follows the principle of continuity making sure movements and actions are followed through to create a  continuous yet action filled opening scene. The techniques used include:

PANNING CAMERA SHOT:

The opening scene begins with a continuous pan of the mountains, giving us an idea to what extent we are dealing with. The pan creates a fluid movement, with no jump cuts between displaying each part of the setting, but a continuous reveal of the snow covered mountains and their surroundings.

ARC CAMERA SHOT:

The second camera shot is a smooth arc around one of the mountains which leads us into the mountain itself.

TRACK CAMERA SHOT:

As the first shot dissolves and fades (making sure there are no jumps) the two shots merge into one another, the second being track movement of the camera.

MASTER SHOTS:

We are firstly provided with a master shot of the scene between Gandalf and Balrog, allowing us to have an idea of what is going on. This does not only establish the setting of the fight, but the characters within it and the space between them. We see the close intense confrontational distance between the Balrog and Gandalf, and the slightly more distant, sheltering from the fight, Frodo and the others.

REACTION SHOTS:

As the dialogue between Gandalf and the Balrog begins, we see the reactions of one another to each other. Close up’s between each of the characters reactions to one another allow us to believe they are in the same geographical space.

180 RULE:
The 180 degree rule is used to show the reactions between both Gandalf and the Balrog and Gandalf and Frodo while keeping the perspective the same.  This allows the audience to see different reaction without being disorientated or confused because the perspective has changed.

MATCH ON ACTION:

At some parts within the scene, the dialogue between character to character is cut without big pauses in dialogue, this allows the dialogue to flow consistently. In this opening sequence this isn’t necessarily used for dialogue of speech, such as the one between Gandalf and Frodo at 2:34, but dialogue of actions between Gandalf and the monster at 1:50.

FOLLOWED THROUGH ACTION SHOTS:

there are no Jumps from action to action. For example, we see Gandalf going to slam his staff down before we then see it slammed onto the ground

SLOWER MOTION:

At 2:23, when Gandalf is falling, the reaction of Frodo and the other members are slightly delayed. This gives us time to grasp exactly what is going on and to allow us to understand the severity of the danger Gandalf is in.  
TILTED FRAME SHOT:

At 2:40 when Gandalf is falling a tilted frame is used to give the audience the false impression that they are also falling by disorientating their view. This makes the fall of Gandalf more realistic and effective, following him smoothly falling through the air.

AERIAL SHOT:

When Gandalf is falling, an aerial shot which runs into a track shot of following him falling down this great hole allows us to see the depth of what he is falling into, therefore establishing what kind of height he is falling into. 

LONG SHOTà TO MID SHOTà TO CLOSE UP SHOT:

When Gandalf and the Balrog are falling, the camera shots always go from long, to mid, to close up instead of jumping from long to close up. Not only does this follow the principles of continuity but it allows us to follow the movements of the characters instead of leaving us trying to work out what’s happening when the shots jump from long to close up.

ESTABLISHING SHOTS/LONG SHOTS:

When close up’s aren’t happening, long shots of the action are provided to ensure that both characters are in the same location, informing the audience of the relative characters positions to one another and their surroundings.

Near the end of the opening sequence at 3:39mins we are given an establishing shot. This is a very long shot, that allows us to see exactly what Gandalf and the Balrog are falling into, allowing us to know exactly what is going on.

127 Hours openeing scene

The Film I am focusing on is 127 hours which is a survival drama film. The story takes place in Utah’s canyon lands National Park in the US. It is a modern film under the influence of a true story. It is based in 2003; from April 25^th- May 1^st.

The beginning sequence firstly consists of a split screen of three parts. The first minute is taken up by various crowd events playing within each of the split screen parts, building up to form a screen filled with three different  clips of crowd events. As a clip ends the next one begins on the section next to it, creating a fast paced sequence of moving images. The first clips are crowd celebrations, but the third clip enters bringing in a religious theme of large structured lines of people praying.  Then follows  clips of: a congratulating crowd scene, a swimming competition, a crowded beach, a large crowd doing a Mexican wave and  a man being thrown up within a crowd, until one clip of a crowd running  to the left is played on all three sections. Each section is then filled with a busy crowded place with people all travelling in the same direction. The clips continue to change until a lamp with a man walking in front of it appears in the middle section. Both the left and right sections are filled with two different but symmetrical clips of people travelling up an escalator. The right section is first discarded to reveal more of the scene with the man and the lamp, then the left does the same, giving us a full screen of a man walking through his house. The man is packing a bag, taking various equipment, water and food within his bag. As he is doing so his answer message is playing. The message is from the man’s sister who says, even though she knows he’s going to be away this weekend they need  to decide what they’re going to play and when they're going to practice. She also asks him to ring their mum ‘as she worries’. As he grabs his keys and leaves the door, the split screen reappears filling the screen with three sections of the man’s tap dripping in which he used to fill his water.(symbolising the foreboding of the water he will lack when he Is trapped, and how he wastes it now)  Each section is then filled with a clip of moving cars on a motorway of some kind, and the main character’s face is shown driving switched between many of the screens, followed by places and food restaurants he passes. The sections each show parts of the now empty motorways with only his car driving. The only other people to be seen are a group of cyclists travelling in the opposite direction in which he is driving. The split screen finishes as the focuses is brought onto the man’s car driving. He then begins filming himself driving, stating the date and expressing his happiness and excitement for his adventure he is taking. Various images of Egyptian inscriptions are then played, until It shows him pulling up to an apparent campsite.
 I feel that the order of the events are significant to the story. I feel that by introducing the film with hundreds of thousands of people creates a false impression of the film. This means the lonely journey that we find out the film is about is a surprise to the audience, meaning it is more effective.

I see the opening sequence in three sections. The first being the various crowd clips being played, the second being the character packing his bags, and the third is his journey down to the campsite. The first part is very unconnected to the two other parts. In some sense they are very contrasting. While the first involves thousands of people, the second and third involve the preparation and journey of one man. The second and third parts to the opening sequence are linked to one another, allowing you to follow through with what this man is doing. The packing of his bags allows you to understand what kind of journey he is going on, and the journey to the campsite links to why he packed his bags.

The main character is introduced at the beginning, being the first individual person to be introduced to the film. Unlike the thousands of people included in the beginning, the introduction of the main character is on a more personal level. We are in his house, listening to his answer phone messages, and seeing all his possessions that he has around the house.  We find out his name is Aron due to his answer machine. We also are introduced to his sister on the answering machine who also introduces us to their mother as being ‘very worried’.  We know that this man Is the main character as the opening sequence comes down to only him, and we know the woman on the answering phone is his sister due to her comfortable tone and her reference to him as ‘A’ symbolising how she knows him very well, and her reference to ‘mum’ as their mother.

Due to the beginning crowds scenes played for the first minute of the opening sequence, this leaves the audience with not much content and detail to the opening sequence. The story evidence that is revealed is that our main character is going on a journey in which he has travelled into an isolated part of town to begin, which we discover from the contrasting busy motorway images first displayed which then become images of empty roads with only his car travelling on.  Any information about how long he is going for, where he is going is withheld in order to build suspense and allow us to follow him through with his journey, instead of waiting for information we already know, and we have already been given, to take place.

I feel that there is nothing in particular the audience needs to know at the start of the film. This is because the film involves a twist in which the whole film ends up being about. If any hint to this part of the film is revealed, then the audience know what the whole film is about, as this is the only thing the film involves. I think for this reason in order to really feel the surprise from the film and to go through the emotional journey of Aron that can be granted, the audience should watch the film knowing nothing about what is going to happen.

Photo still analysis

 

 

 

-Describe your shot and identify in what way it could be described as representing your chosen genre?

Our chosen genre for the shot was a horror/thriller. The shot contains a dark silhouette figure in a corridor, who is leaning against the wall of the corridor. This suggests that the figure is comfortable in the dark surroundings, probing into the mystery and darkness that a horror contains. The grainy effect used heightens the light behind the figure and the darkness above and around the figure, as well as the silhouette itself. The dark ceiling symbolises the foreshadowing of the dark hanging over the silhouette and therefore the dark events to come in the person’s life; The dark corridor suggests his dark path to come. These are both themes that a horror or thriller would contain.

-What did you actually do to achieve the effect?

Not only did the location of the picture help us with the effect but the camera settings we used also contributed. The location helped us achieve the effect because of the low key lighting. Within the corridor we turned off the lights, but allowed the light coming from the door behind to continue to be lit, in order to bring contrast to the picture instead of it being all dark. On the camera we used the night vision effect, to help achieve the dark colour pallet within the shot.

-Identify what is successful about your shot.

I think the success of the shot is the uncertainty we have created. This clearly portrays our thriller genre. The blurred silhouette, darkness, and the effect used, all create a certain mystery in the photo. The fact that there isn’t much going on in the shot, draws attention to the figure. The lack of detail in the figure leaves the audience with questions of details like, who he is, what he’s doing there, and what kind of a person he is. The mystery of all of these questions creates the kind of suspense that all thrillers and horrors contain.

-What would do differently in hindsight?

I think that the shot itself could have been wider, meaning less of the shot would contain the wall. In the shot we have taken, the angle it is taken from ensures that the figure is on the left hand side, the right hand side of the picture mostly containing the wall of the corridor. When making alterations I feel a wider shot of the overall corridor would be more effective. In a wider shot this would mean the figure would be in the middle of the two walls of the corridor, creating a dramatic symmetry which the leaning of the figure would then overrule. Due to restrictions with things in the corridor this could not occur, but if It did I feel  it would bring more depth to the shot.