Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Research






















Six Feet Under  
The title Six Feet Under suggests that the show is about death or maybe old people. The soundtrack that is being played in the opening sequence is alike church bells and a funeral service usually takes place in a church. The first image we see in the opening sequence is the crow flying around in the sky and it is said that they are commonly thought to circle above scenes of death. There is a huge impact with music on detailed points of movements and actions like when the hands are being separated apart, this suggests that they are being parted by something which could be death. Lots of close ups are used to emphasize on what the characters are doing like washing their hands which may suggest that they are preparing to work on a corpse or that they have just finished working on a corpse. There is use of animated titling and the opening credits are thought of carefully as one is placed on a gravestone to suggest to us that the series is about death. We also see pale feet on a trolley being taken into a hallway of light so it may suggest that it a dead person going into heaven. There are cutaways of the sky and clouds shown often to suggest that after death it is peaceful and heaven like. There are a lot of death related objects shown like the flowers and the gravestones, cold lifeless corpse that is being groomed which maybe for a funeral as the body has been dressed up and we also see a coffin which is in the car.





Dexter
Dexter starts with the main character killing a mosquito; which is a bloodsucker. it shows death and blood which suggests to us what the clip is going to be about.Dexter looks pleased when the mosquito has been killed which may suggest he is evil and likes death. We then see the title dexter and it is very red and it is in a bloody colour and it is also messy which suggests it is written in blood, we can see blood-like stains. When the show starts we see his morning routine and everything he is doing in his routine is perfectly normal but the close ups, music and detail make it seem very gruesome and disturbing. Everything  that he is doing relates to death and blood. When he is shaving, he cuts himself and the blood drips down very slowly and splats on the ground. When he is cutting the oranges up with the knives it is like he is cutting into someone's flesh and the colour of the inside of the orange is also very red and bloody. The ketchup that is being added to the eggs also resembles the colour of blood. There is alot of blood like substances that is shown in the clip and all these suggests murder and death. Even when there is no bloody colour being shown, when he is flossing and tieing up his shoe laces, he uses a very tight grip and this may suggest he is strong.




Donnie Darko
main character at the beggining 
The movie Donnie Darko is very strange and we are able to know this because the movie starts off with a young boy lying in the middle of the road. It is a long take and it has no cuts, he is the main focus at the start of the movie and the only character we see. This suggests that he is the main character of the movie.
The way that he then comes into the shot is strange because he comes into the shot with his back to us and he stands up from below. When he faces the camera, an animated title is shown by the side of his face with the name of the movie "Donnie Darko" this suggests that he is Donnie Darko because the name and title is very close to his face. When he is driving his bike home, we are then introduced to as to where the setting of the movie is taken place, there is a shot of a halloween poster which also suggest when the movie was created, which is in the 21st century as everything is modern and up to date. We are aware that it is in the US in a rich neighbourhood, we are aware that it is in the US because of thier accents.
animated title 
The music and soundtrack used in the movie adds to.the strangeness of the movie The thunder at the beggining suggests that something bad is going to happen.When he is on the bike home, a song is being played this is the first song in the movie.When he then gets home, the song is immediately stopped, it is usually stoped by the music slowly fading away. the immediate stop is strange and suggests to us that the movie is strange. When he gets home, there is a note saying "Where's Donny?" on the fridge, that is unusal because if they did not know where donny was, surely they will be looking for him. not just post a note on the fridge sayinig "Where's Donny?". The scene with the whole family sitting round at the dining table is very bizzare becasue there is lots of swearing, and the parents do not get strict or worried. even when the young girl swears the father starts laughing instead of correcting her and getting angry.



                                        Clip stops at 5:00 

City Of God
This movie is not in english, it is a brazillian movie which is urban but the subtitles helps us to understand it. At the beggining, there is no sound, it is silent and then we start to hear the sound of a knife which is forgrounded. The knife is being sharpend so we can hear the sound very clearly as it is very distinctive. The start seems to be very happy, there are musical instruments being played while the knife is still being rubbed againt the stone and we see carrots being cut which suggests that they are cooking. This may suggest a festival or party of some sort. It is obvious that they are cooking because a chicken is being killed and it is being cooked. We then see another chicken and the chicken sees lots of detail and sees what has happened to the dead chicken, there are lots of close ups used which gives us the image that the chicken sees what is happening and does not want it to happen to him, so he then escapes. As soon as the chicken escapes, the movie is not as happy and joyful as it was when it started off, everybody is chasing after the chicken and trying to catch it with differnt weapons such as guns and sharp objects. There is another scene consisting of two boys being shown and the chicken ends up being infront of the boys, When the young boy sees the boy with the gun, there is slow motion that takes place. The chicken is a linking device and it links both crowds, the opposing forces are linked by the chicken which makes the chase take place and makes the main character stuck in the middle. When he tries to catch the chicken, all the guns are aimed at him which takes him back to a flashback and an intelligent use of turning is used. There is a use of voiceover of Rocket narrating the clip, so we can tell that he is going to be the main character of the movie. There is also use of parallel story lines taking place. The colour tones are very different in the two scenes, the flashback is much brighter and the present is very gloomy and dark. lots of swearing is used in both times, even as kids they are swearing. There is a vet good shot used when there is a bullet that goes through the ball.




                                                      Clip stops at 5:13 


Cold Mountain
Soldier looking pale, tired and scruffy
We are told by the text on the screen that it is the civil war and it takes place on the year 1864. Animated titles are used to create an illusion for example, the names gently rippling on the water.The movie starts of with a voice over delivered by a femaile character who is obviosly writing a letter or a telegram or communation of some sort to the male character that is later shown which shows relation between them. There is a good use of colur being used, warm colours are used when we see the rabbit underground, it may have suggested the hot temprature underground, and then when he goes overground, we see cooler colours  like blue to suggest the temperature.When the female character is narrating, he looks at a picture of a lady so this suggests that it is the woman that he is looking at. there is a very convincing close up because it shows his grubby hands and his worn out book and it shows integrity. The soldiers look grey and dull to suggesr tiredness and they have to borrow clothes from the dead. The rabbit provides linkage between the two groups and shows us the rivalry that they have between one another. There is a huge explosion and everthing is getting burnt and destroyed and there is a close up on the picture of the girl when it is being burnt and all her letters are being destroyed. this shows sadness and sorrow and the music that is being played also shows its sad.



Tuesday, 19 October 2010

Brief

Video

Main task:the titles and opening of a new fictional film, to last  a maximum of two minutes