Media Studies 3 - Chloe

James marsh had constucted Man on Wire around the narrative which is a crime/heist/thriller.  The documentary follows a heist narrative and this engages us as the audience as it has action in it and is not like the usual documentary.  It also engages our attention as it follows a structure that we all know and this influences how we react to the documentary as we know what we expect to see.  The fact alone that it is a documentary may put certain people off viewing it as they dont like the style the documentary is shot it.  To stop this from happening James Marsh carefully changes the structure to suit more of a heist film than a documentary as he shows us the end at the start of the docmentary which creates enigmas through the opening scene, this grabs the audiences attention and automatically creates suspense and tension throughout the rest of the documentary.  Another thing that may put the audience off it that isome parts are shot in black and white.  James Marsh changes this so that the documenatary is shot is both colour and balck and white, this is to give the feeling of both the history and the modern effect that it has on the audience, this therefore broadens its appeal on a wider range of audiences.

The emotion that i felt is suspense; this is because James Marsh uses the music carefully to create tension.  Also because you want to see what is going to happen; are they going to get caught and are they not going to be able to do it?  By using the re-enactments you feel as if you are there with the other people, this gives a sense of reality to the audience and you can understand the storyline much better with the re-enactments as they are like a guide and they are guiding you through the story.  The film language helps to emphasise this because the shots are very sharp and there is alot of cuts therefore you get the feeling that they are looking around nervously and this creates the feeling that its not going well and they are going to get caught.  You also hardly ever see a full view of anybodys face which adds to the fact that they are doing it secretly and cannot be seen.

Marsh has decided to focus on the realationship between Annie and Philippe because it creates a new attration for a female audience as it is about romance and this associates more with a female audience.  From the interviews of both Philippe and Annie the audience get the impression that Philippe will have to choose between Annie and his dream to cross the twin towers you wonder what is he going to do, this also creates suspense as you know that they have been together for a long time and you dont want it to end for them.  All of this helps to emphasise how big his dream really is.

Marsh uses archive footage and this is to draw the audiences attention in as they are becoming more and more a part of Philippe’s team and the feel like they can associate with him, also you feel closer to the team as you are let in to see Philippes life and how he has managed to complete this stunt.  The footage also shows you how much training and how hard he had to work to make sure the stunt was succesfull.

In Man on Wire there is a good use of comedy, this is mainly from Philippe himself, by doing this we learn more about him and the documentary as he tells the story in a funny way.  An example of this is when Philippe is getting interviewed, his actions and the way he descibes certain things makes it amusing for us.  You can tell that he loved the stunt that he had done as he is so enthuiastic about everything!

The Black Hole,
I though this film was quite weird, but also quite good in a way!!  It had a range of camera shots, there was a lot of close ups used to show the audience what they had to be focusing on.  The music in this film was very slow to show how confused the office worker actually was, the music went well as it was slow and had some sharp noises which showed his having an idea!!  The long shot at the end of the film of the guy taking money out of the safe is good because it shows the audience the whole room and it shows them exactly what he is doing.

Dragonfly,
In this film there was a very wide range of camera shots being used here, i liked the one were the boy is running towards the camera and it is shot in a long shot and you can see just how small he is compared to the rest of the surroundings.  In one scene the camera shot is a high angle and this shows that the boy is scared and frightened and very small compared to what he is facing.  I liked the part at the end when the boy jumps off the swing and turns into a dragonfly, i liked this because i didnt expect it and it was quite a nice ending to the film as before you seen what he has to put up with.

Propp

The Villian - The World Trade Centre and its associates.
Hero - Philippe
Donor - The Circus
Helper - Jean Louis
Princess - The actual walk
Dispatcher - Media
Father - The Press
False Hero - The Judge

Todorov

(the actual climbing of the twin towers)

Equilibrium - the early aspect/discovery of wire walking.
Disruption of equilibrium - the news paper article.
Recognition of disruption - realises the obstacles - the physicality of the World Trade Centre
Attempt to repair - “the coup”
New equilibrium - after the evet, realisation of the dream

(Realationship, between Annie and Philippe)

Equilibrium - when they are young and they are doing wire walking normally
Disruption of equilibrium - when he realises his dream of climbing across the twin towers, Annie always comes second
Recognition of disruption - Annie has to help him, as she wants to be with him and follow him
Attempt to repair - when Annie goes to comfort Philippe in New York even though she knows she is second to the dream
New equilibrium - when they go seperate ways and begin a new life apart

Today in class we couldn’t film any of our scenes; this was because one of the actors (Connor) was off but also as we couldn’t use the same props (the black jacket) which would not be good continuity.

 As Connor was off, this meant that Tristan, Shona Isla and I had to do the editing which went quite well, considering that we hadn’t had much experience doing this!  I think it went well as we all gave different ideas which helped to make the opening look much better, which also gives a better feeling of film–noir.   As we were editing we added in the flash effect which helped us with the continuity of the scene, we used it to get the cut more accurate so it would go much better. 

As we put all the clips together we began to see that we hadn’t done some shots, so therefore we are going to have to film these shots next week and edit them also.  It was good as I learned quite a bit on how to use the editing program (Sony Vegas) which is good in case Connor is off again!  We made a list of what we are going to have to do so that the next time we are filming we know what to do. 

Today we started to talk about documentaries.  We began by doing an exercise which was to think about what type of documentary each was.  There are three types of documentary,

-          Actual – Something that would have happened whether or not the camera was there.

-          Creative – Affected by decisions made by the Director/Camera Operator, which in turn makes the scene more entertaining for the audience.

-          Interpretive – Decisions made by the camera operator/director, which might affect an audiences understanding of what they are seeing.

We also looked at documentary style,

-          Expository – An unseen speaker who performs a voiceover commentary, which explains the images which are being shown on screen, which the audience are seeing.  This is used in wildlife programs a lot, for example David Attenborough.

-          Observational - They appear to have been filmed in ‘real time’, as if the camera has happened upon events while those involved are seemingly unaware of the filming going on.

-          Interactive – This involves people being filmed whilst responding to a number of questions asked at them.  Their interpretation of events or personal account may be rendered to change what they are trying to say, which can be changed to come out worse or better.  An example of this is interviews. 

-          Reflective - the filmmakers are interested as much in the process of making a film, of how reality can be constructed, as the actual content in the film, the film might possibly make no attempt to show us (the audience) certain aspects of its construction.

Today we filmed another scene.  As Shona Isla was back we were able to do a scene with her in it, so we did the scene with her leaving the room, with the gun, jacket and gloves on.

To begin with i filmed her getting her gloves on, we used an over the shoulder shot so the audience could see exactly what she was doing, as it was in a clear view.  We then filmed her opening the draw and taking out the gun and getting ready to use it, we used a very high angle shot, so the gun was in clear view, i then slowly zoomed into the gun.

The next part Shona Isla had an idea, this was when she pulled her coat over, it would then cover the camera and then this would be a transition into the next scene.  We then had a lot of fun on the next scene because Tristan and Connor had the job of trying to teach Shona Isla how to walk like a boy, which was a lot harder than we thought!!! We then finally got it and we filmed the scene with her walking out of the door.

As we need to do more establishing shots we are using the corridors.  We used a low angle shot and filmed Shona Isla’s legs walking by and cut it to her walking the whole length of the corridor.  This shot is good because the lighting is quite dark, which is contributing to film noir, also Shona Isla’s costume as she is all in black then she stands out in the light that we have.

Today was really fun and we got some good shots done.  We have a lot of ideas for the next time we film.  The next time we are hoping to film the conversation between Shona Isla and Connor, this is going to be a little bit tricky but i think it will be good and look cool!!!

Today, we had to choose what part of our opening we were going to film; as Shona Isla wasn’t here today we had to find a scene which doesn’t have her in it.  So we decided to do the very first scene of the office.  We began by setting up the pictures on the wall to look like all the targets; we used small and large pictures and circled the target.  We then began to change the lighting, as we didn’t want it to bright because it didn’t look as good when it was darker; we took a few shots of the same thing just to be on the safe side.  After this we thought that since we had time then we would film Connor running out of the door with the briefcase.  On this shoot we tried a lot of different camera shots to see it from different perspectives, this gives the audience a better view of what is happening to the character and gives them a good view to see what he is doing at all times.  Whilst filming we shot a lot of close ups, this is to show the audience certain important things and to keep them entertained, so close up shots were Connors face, his hand opening the briefcase and the pictures on the wall. Today went well I think because we were all coming up with different ideas whilst filming, this helped to make it look much better.  Tomorrow we will be looking to shoot another scene with more camera angles and shots which should look good if we use some different ones. 

Today in class we were told that the opening credits that we had filmed had been out of focus a little and the camera was shaky, so to fix this we had to film it again, we got all our equipment out and placed the camera on the tripod and filmed it, I think it went much better as the camera was in focus and it was on a steady tripod!!! 

Then we started to film one of the scenes which was the office scene at the end, we went into the English base, which is the perfect place as it is dark and looks like an office.  When were filming we tried to use as many different camera shots such as close up on Shona Isla’s face and her foot twitching, medium close up and extreme close up on the phone but you cannot see all of Shona Isla’s face to keep the audience wondering, a medium shot so that we got the important parts of the set included and all the important props, and just one of Shona Isla picking up the phone with a point of view shot.  We also changed the lighting; we used a reflector to reflect the light onto important props and Shona Isla.  We also changed the lighting when Shona Isla picks up the phone, as it is a feeling of realisation.  We filmed everything that we needed for the end scene in the time we had and we were all pleased with what we got but we need to check what it looks like on the big computer.  It will be good to see how everything turns out!

I think that our group worked well together, Shona Isla was good at acting! As Tristan is the director he had to help and tell everyone what they had to do which he did very well.  Connor was good at helping with the lighting and getting all the props. I also really enjoyed working with the camera; it will be good to see how everything turns out.

Today was the first lesson of production!  All the work that we had done for our pre-production was going to get used now!  So to begin with as a group we made a check list of what we should do today, this was so we knew what we had to do and we got much more done.  So, firstly we had to get a camera for the pictures that were going to be used on the board, Shona Isla then edited them on the computer to make them black and white.  We put the names of the suspects in the pictures and we used serif text, this can connote feelings of the devil – something bad!  As Shona Isla was doing that Tristan, Connor and I made the credits to our opening scene.  We got black card as a background and then got a light to put over the card, it was still a little dark to give the feeling of film noir, this also gives the feeling of the unknown and the dark sidethat people have.  When I was filming the light it would slowly move across the writing to look like a spotlight, we would leave the text on screen enough for the audience to read it and then Connor slowly blew it off the screen, it looked cool!  We managed to get the credits done except for one thing, the name of the film, which we still need to come up with.  We also made a props list. I have to bring in a cup and an ashtray to sit on the desk.  Shona Isla needs to bring in the coat.  Tristan is going to make fake blood! Connor is bringing in the gun, there are more props but I will post them up on the blog when I know who is taking them in. 

Another opening sequence that we watched was ‘The Hitcher’.  The opening to this film is basically a young driver who is very tired and is driving along which looks to be an abandoned road.  A small car passes him and is going very fast.  The driver at this point is almost asleep.  Later on he passes the car and then a little further on he sees a man walking looking for a lift.  He picks him up and eventually turns out that the guy he picked up is going to try and kill him.  After what feels a very long time he manages to kick the bad guy out of the car and drive away with the bad guy lying on the on the road.

The first scene of the young boy is set on a very dark road so you get the feeling that anything could be out there, there is no-one to be seen so this builds the tension that someone is going to appear.  When you see that the boy keeps falling asleep this creates the feeling that something like a crash is going to happen.  When the bad guy gets in he is always filmed in the shadows and this gives the feeling that he is dark and evil and mysterious, which he is!  The way that the bad guy talks throughout the whole journey is very slow and in a very deep voice, this is to possibly make the journey feel a lot longer.  The car is used to make you as the audience think that both characters are trapped and there is no escape for the younger boy.  During the duration of the car journey the bad guy doesn’t talk that much except until he feels in control and this is the point that he brings out the knife.  When he starts to point the knife at the good guy the audience start to sit in suspense, because they automatically think that he is going to get killed, the knife is a very powerful prop at this point, even more powerful than a gun because it can inflict more pain than the gun could.  At the end the good guy manages to push the bad guy out of the car and get away but the man is left lying on the road and gets up and this creates an enigma that is he going to come back and get him.

This opening shows me and my group that prop selection can make a big difference on the film.  Also the setting, we realised that you don’t have to have to many different places because in this opening it is only really set inside the car but so much happens.   This opening was very useful to my group.