Titanic

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtVyu-A3vkY

Titanic starts off with a slow transition fade from a black screen to a shot of hundreds of people standing on the dock as the RMS Titanic is about to leave. The camera slowly pans left and tilts up as it goes from the shot of crowd of people to the titanic. This can also be an establishing shot as establishing shots are generally the first shot. In this case, the movie indicates that it will be set on the RMS Titanic.

In the next shot we can see a medium shot of a man filming the Titanic as it departs. From his clothing we can assume he is a formal man as he is wearing a smart suit with a beret. From the camera he’s filming with, we can also tell that the movie is set in the late 1900’s because his camera is an old camera style where you have to manually turn the reel. Within this shot is also text in the top left which tells the audience the two film production companies that are associated with this film – ‘Paramount Pictures’ and ‘Twentieth Century Fox’.

The next two shots are a long and medium shot of people on the Titanic waving goodbye to their friends, families and loved ones. This could hint towards the movie containing some relationships and therefore romance. All of the shots above contain a strong yellow/orange hue to it. This makes the opening shots look warm and calm because orange and yellow connote warmth and being relaxed. All the sound from the shots above has been non-diegetic and there has been no diegetic sound from the shots. There has been a non-diegetic sound track playing in the background and the music is uplifting as it contains the piano and a female’s voice singing. This is suggesting that the movie will contain drama as well as romance.

The next shot is the title shot denoting ‘TITANIC’ and in the background is the ocean. This lighting in this shot, and the shots later on, are very dark indicating that something bad is going to happen during the film. This is what we’d expect in a romance and drama film – for something tragic to happen like a death of a close friend for family member.

Notting Hill

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArlsU2_cUbg

The beginning of Notting Hill starts off with the shop owner speaking to a man who has tried to steal a book by placing it in his trousers. An over the shoulder shot is used to show the two characters talking to each other. The man trying to steal the book is wearing barker cloths and the dark cloths connote danger and crime. He is stereotyped as a thief by wearing dark cloths, having a stubble beard and scruffy hair. The store owner is presented as a formal man because of is smart, light blue, shirt and smart hair.

As this scene switches from shoulder to shoulder shots of the owner and thief, there are quick shots of a lady who is in the store with them. A medium shot is used to show her reading some books and she is made to look a bit mysterious as she is wearing a black leather jacket, a black beret and dark sunglasses. This could also indicate that she is the love interest because she is the first girl shown on screen with a medium shot in the film.

Later on, we are shown a three shot of the owner, lady and Rufus (the thief) at the front desk. The girl is about to buy a book until Rufus approaches her asking for an autograph, implying that she is famous and well known. This could explain why she is wearing dark clothing to hide her identity. After she signs the book, she reads out what she wrote – “Dear Rufus, you belong in jail”. Rufus sort of smiles and this could also indicate that is movie will contain some humor and comedy, as well as romance. During this part, we can hear the diegetic sound of the paper rustling. Throughout the intro, we can also hear the diegetic sound of people and cars outside of the shot. This ambient sound of the stop gives the impression that we are there as well.

We are the left with a two shot of the lady and the book shop owner for the rest of the opening scene. This could hint that the romantic couple in the film are them however we are not shown any indication that they are in love with each other yet and this makes the audience want to watch further to see what happens.

Before Sunset

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WscLkiiCts

This opening scene in Before Sunset starts of with somebody saying “We just have a time for one last question”, and this was said by an old man dressed in a formal blazer and shot using a medium shot. The hundreds of books behind him suggest that this scene is set in a library or a book store. The next words said was “Where is your next book?” . This was said by a young man, also in a blazer and smart shirt, wearing glasses. This shot uses a medium shot and also denotes several people next to him and behind him. This group of people suggests that there is interview taking place. At this point we aren’t shown the interviewees face – making the audience curious to what he looks like. His accident also tells that audience he is from France which could hint that the movie will contain love and romance because France connotes the ‘City of Love’ and romance.

The interview suggests he is one of the main characters in Before Sunset. After the young French male asked his question, the interviewee then goes on about his next book. A medium shot is used to show the interviewee sitting on the desk and talking about his book. The lighting in this scene is bright and uplifting indication that this movie is not a horror or action film, bur most like a romance film. The colours in this scene also denote a lot of red – from the table cloth, books and the wine glasses on the right. The colour red connotes love and roses however it can also connote death, blood and violence in some circumstances. We can tell the movie will note contain death, blood and violence scenes because the lighting of the scene points towards a brighter and more romantic film rather than a barker and violent film.

During this interview, you can also faintly hear the rumbling and screeching sound of the cars outside. This ambient dietetic sound is effective because it’s so quiet you can hardly hear it, but still there to give the impression that you are there in the scene with them.

To make this interview less boring, it has been edited to show several shots throughout the interview of different things, keeping the audience interested. One of the shots was a medium/close up shot of the French man who asked the question. This shot was used to show his facial expression because he seemed very interested by the interviewee’s speech on a new book. Another shot included an over the shoulder shot of the interviewee speaking to lots of people about his book.

About a minute into the film we are then shown an over the shoulder shot of the interview when he was a young teenager with a girl, dancing and smiling. Then an over the shoulder shot if the girl. This indicates to the audience that he is part of the romance in this film – along with the girl. In these two shots we can only hear the voice over of the interviewee as he’s still talking about his book. Later on another shot of the two young teenage couple is shown then a medium/close up shot after of the young girl, now a young adult, at the man’s book interview. The shot after this is a medium shot of the man sitting on the chair. He turns round and sees her – seeming shocked. Then it cuts back to the lady who is now smiling and these sequences of shots indicate that she is the love interest and they are the romantic couple in the film.

Mission Impossible 2 Presentation

This presentation was made as part of our AS Media course. This presentation is about the different shots, angles and camera movement that were used in the opening of Mission Impossible II. This presentation also includes the mise-en-scène that were used in the opening.

youtu.be/K0KzvD-0rx0

This first shot in Mission Impossible 2 is an establishing shot of Dead Horse, Utah. This shows the audience where the scene is taking place and also indicated that this movie will contain a lot of adventure in exotic places.

These shots determine the theme/genre of the film as it is evident that this movie will contain action and adventure, followed by near death experiences; it denotes a man rock climbing on a steep cliff face without any safety gear.

At this part of the scene Ethan Hunt leaps from one side of a rock to another. At this point we get a high angle shot of him and then it is shown in slow motion, this is to add an effect to create suspense. He lands but slips, as he is falling down in these four seconds we see a lot of different shot types. One of these shot types is a close up on his hand trying to regain grip, which is then followed by him hanging there in which we get a low angle shot of him.

This close up shot shows the audience the main character, ‘Ethan Hunt’ – who is played my Tom Cruise. This shot goes from a medium shot to a close up shot onto his face, signifying that he is an important character in the film.

You can also see that Ethan’s face is not positioned in the centre, but in the left third. This makes it scene more visually appealing to the audience.

You can tell this is an action adventure film as Ethan Hurt is shown climbing up rocks and cliffs in an extreme location which is then followed by him preforming high risk moves that could possibly result in death which suggest to the audience that he is a risk taker.

Further into movie, a helicopter flies in with a man in a suit holding a weapon. The man in the suit indicates that he is part of a spy organisation and he is also wearing sunglasses to conceal his identity.  The weapon indicated that the movie will contain action and fighting because the connotations of the weapon are danger, violence, action and death.

Genre Analysis - Romance

Target Audience

Romance films are generally aimed towards females around the ages of 13 - 25 because they are more emotional when it comes to love and romance.  Girls like to feel as if they can relate to emotional films where as men prefer not to show much emotion.

Romance Movies Analysis 

Before Sunset

Notting Hill

Titanic

Dawn of the Dead

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G2YAtFeVOM

Starting with a black background and blood red writing, Dawn of the Dead immediately indicates that the film is going to contain death, blood, horror and mystery as these are the connotations. We then see the blood red text flow to the side like blood dripping. As the blood suddenly flows to the side, a creepy scratchy sound is play. This is effective as it makes the audience feel creeped out and suggests to then that the genre of the film is horror. Between the intro credits, we are shown a few quick shots of people praying, weird creatures and a close up of a bloody person face. The creepy scratch sound effect is only played when the intro credits are on but when we are shown those quick shots of the horrifying things, a screaming sound is used to put fear into the audience.

The quick snippets are still shown after the movie title, with the same creepy scratching sound effect when the credits are on screen. The quick shots are starting to show the audience more of the situation, and still use a screaming or shouting sound in them. After the movie title flows away, a voice over is playing and is of an interview about the situation. The interviewee starts of by saying “I’ll take your questions”. The first question asked was by a man and he asked “Is it a virus?” – Which he was replied with “We don’t know”. The next question asked was “How does it spread? Is it airborne?”. She was replied with “Airborne is a possibility, we don’t know”. The fact that he doesn’t know the answers to these questions is concerning and makes the movie seem there is little hope for the people.

The next question was “Is this a nation health hazard or a military concern?”, with which the interviewee replied with “Both”. This suggests that this is a big issue effecting millions of people. This, along with previous questions, could indicate that this is like a zombie movie. The last question askes was “Are these people alive or dead?”. After this is said, a close up shot of a man with blood around his mouth is shown for a split second then changes to an over the shoulder shot the girl who asked the question and the interviewee. The camera then zooms into the interviewee and while this is happening, no sound is playing. This builds up suspense, and then finally interviewee replies with “We don’t know”. The tone of his voice suggests that he is very worried and afraid.

The next minute and a half showcases much of what is happening due to the unknown deadly disease outbreak. During this time, the song ‘The Man Comes Around’ in playing in the background, over all sound coming from each shot.

The shot above shows many people running away from something. The expressions on their face and the screaming suggest that they are afraid of what ever of chasing them – making the audience curious to find out what it is that’s chasing them.

In a later shot, we are shown a long shot of a truck that is headed its way towards a large crowd of people. This could be due to people becoming insane after the outbreak of the unknown disease or virus.

A shot near the end of the opening intro of the film depicts the United States Capitol building in the background. This hints to the audience that the film takes place in America, so we would expect to see American actors and locations.

Jaws

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrEvK-tv5OI

At the start of Jaws, we see two people running near the sea. The guy at the back first asks the girl in front “what’s your name again?” and we find out her name is “Chrissie”. We can also determine that the buy is trying to chase Chrissie – maybe because they are a couple. As they are funning along the fence line towards the sea, Chrissie says she is going swimming and as they both run, they take off their cloths so that they can swim in the sea. Chrissie is first into the waters and starts swimming out into sea while the guy has only just made it to the shore. The guy wants to swim with Chrissie however he seems too short breathed and tires to swim.

The opening scene is shot during the night, just as the sun is about to go out. The dark / low key lighting which makes the scenes look spooky and mysterious. The dark connotes fear, danger and mystery. We can also hear ambient sound in the background. It is not evident that there are other people in the shot, but through the ambient sound, we can assume that there are more people on the beach.

A bit into the film, we are shown a low angle shot of Chrissie in the water as she swims. The camera also pans to keep her in focus. Generally, a low angled shot is used to make the subject seem bigger and give then more authority however it’s not in this case. The low angled long shot and pan to keep her in the shot, along with the dark lighting, makes Chrissie look vulnerable and as if something is stalking and watching her. When we are shown this low angle shot of Chrissie in the water, we start to hear music playing in the background of a piano with other instruments such as the violin. In the next shot we see another low angle shot of Chrissie however the camera is moving towards her. At the same time, the pace of the piano also increases which builds suspense and tension. When the camera get to a medium shot Chrissie under water, the shot then switches to a shot of her from above the water. We see her suddenly get pulled down for a brief moment and her facial expression suggest something is very wrong. She the get pulled down two more times in quick succession – then realizing she is in danger and she starts streaming. We then see her being dragged around on the water, frantically screaming.

The shot then briefly switches to the guy who is still lying down on the shore – oblivious to what is taking place around him. This shot is cram and doesn’t have any screaming however it still has an eerie sound playing in the background which keeps the audience at unease to play with their emotions.

The next few seconds are showing Chrissie crying for help as she is being attacked by an unknown creature. After a few seconds she is suddenly pulled down into the dark waters and we are left with no sound but the waves of the sea and the bell on the floating buoy.

We are never show the creature that took Chrissie. This makes the incident seem mysterious, as well as being scary, and also makes that audience curious to find out what it was.

The Woman in Black

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z_XetLZlqc&feature=youtu.be&t=12s

The Woman in Black starts out with a close up shot of 2 tea cup sets followed by someone pretending to pour tea into the cups. The next two shots denote a young person feeding the tea to 2 individual dolls – indicating that the first scene is of young children having a tea party with their dolls. The dolls look scary connoting horror and evil, and their designs suggest that this scene is not modern and is from old times. The lighting in this scene is not as bright as you’d expect for a children’s tea party scene. Instead the lighting is more dark and gloomy making this scene more scary and atmospheric. The soundtrack playing in the opening sound is rather eerie and slow paced. This type of sound is commonly found in horror and thriller movies suggesting that the film’s genre could be either of those. When the child pretends to pour tea into the cups, the sound of the tea pot and tea cups toughing is amplifies and make to sound very echoey.

This shot show a three shot of young girls sitting on the floor and playing with their doors.  This shot uses a medium shot to show the audience everything in the scene and the setting. The cloths the children are wearing are dresses that seen they are designs from the late 1900’s – indicating to the audience when this movie is set. The same eerie music playing in the background coupled with the low key lighting gives the audience an uneasy felling and as if something bad is going to happen so the girls. The next two shots are a medium/close up of two girls then the other girl. In both shots, the little girls are seen smiling at each other which make the audience feel worried about them because everything around then and the music hints that something bad is going to happen.

The next is a high angled long shot of the three girls on the floor. This shot type is used to make the girls seem venerable. The girls then simultaneously turn round to face to face the camera, like there is something behind the camera. The expressions on their face suggest that someone is talking to them, and then suddenly they turn their heads round to see behind them. Not being able to hear or see that the girls saw makes the audience feel scared and question who or what was there. As they turn their heads, a shot of the windows appear to indicate to the audience that the girls are looking at the window as well. They then stand up in unison, like that are possessed, and they slowly make their way to the window. Each step they take is synchronized suggesting they could all be under the influence of something unnatural. The next few shots utilities close up shots of a girl dropping the tea cup and two girls stepping on a cup and a doll. These shots are filmed in slow motion which builds up suspense. In these scenes no diegetic or ambient sound is used, only the music in the background is what we can hear. The feeling of not knowing what is happening around in the movie makes the audience feel uneasy and frightened. These play with the audience emotions to make us feel terrified, venerable and weak.

This medium shot denotes the three girls slowly walking to the windows then behind shot to show the girls step onto the window sill as they are about to open the window. A close up shot is used to show a girl opening the window. When opening the window, the sound is also amplified and made echoey - like the teapots. 

The last shot of the girls is a long shot of them jumping out of the window. As they are about to jump out of the window, the music in the background suddenly get louder to build tension then turns silent a few seconds after the girls jumped. This was followed by a loud scream and the words “MY BABY”, which came from outside the house window. Then the camera shows a close up shot of one of the dolls and as the shot was shown, a loud echoey thud/drum sound is played to out emphasis on it. This made the doll seem scarier than it actually was and could also suggest that the dolls were a part of the little girl’s death. The final camera shot was dolly out movement while focusing on the window the girls jumped from.