Project 4: Five Codes DYM

Enigma Code

• Who is the voice -over?
• How did the girl's mother die?
• What is going to happen to the girl?

Action Code

• Old man at the beginning nods 'no', makes you think something bad has happened.
• When the father takes a scalpel out of the drawer, the camera focuses on a gun, which makes us think he might use it later.
• After the father finds out that everything goes to the girls in the will, he pushes everything away and drinks a lot of alcohol, which makes us expect him to do something violent that will change the narrative
• You see the father blaming the daughter for the murder of her sister, which makes you think she will be punished rather than the actual villain.

Semiotic Code

• The father represents evil.
• The youngest girl represents innocence.
• The mother represents what is closest to the main girl and her death corresponds to that being taken away from her.

Cultural Code

• The father smiling when the mother is shown dead and the fact that he gets extremely angry and violent when he finds out about the will shows he is only iTnterested in the money and not the girls.
• We see the older girl try to escape from her abusive parent even if it means climbing outside a window as she is trying to save her sister.

Symbolic Code

• Good vs. Evil
• Right vs. Wrong
• What the audience and main chaacter know is true vs. What all the other characters think is the truth.

Project 3: Movie Clip Analysis BLK

Film-making conventions 

• There are very few shots where both Christine and Walters are shown in at the same time until the shot where he runs up and hugs her. This has been done to show a certain distance between them, and that could possibly be because he is not actually her son.

• There are mostly close-ups and mid-close ups as character and narrative is portrayed rather than action, as the audience want to see the expressions of the characters and how they react to the situation.

Cultural Codes

• Christine's colourful clothes juxtapose the fact that she looks distressed. On the other hand, the fact that her clothes are colourful and everyone else's aren't, present her as singled out from the rest.

• Christine's hat creates a shadow on her eyes which connotes a sense of sadness, like a black veil would at a funeral. This creates a juxtaposition with her clothes as they are more colourful but that could be because she is trying to hide that sense of sadness and hopelessness.

Project 2 : Movie Still DYM

Movie Still from the 2009 thriller/sci-fi/horror film Splice.

Why I chose this still

-The juxtaposition between the warmth of nurture and the coldness of the iconography in the mise-en-scene.

-The framing doesn't allow any of the characters to be thought of as good or bad, we aren't part of any point-of-view at this point and can't feel compassion for either character.

- There are many questions raised in this still, for example why the creature is so dangerous that it can only come in contact with others under only these conditions. 

- The idea of a futuristic family is portrayed as a female scientist is trying to care for this unusual-looking creature.  

  

Project 1: Horror Stills BLK

Our chosen genre for this project was horror. As a group we decided horror would be the most interesting genre to look at, and it allowed us to think creatively when it came to the mise-en-scene. As many people from the group weren't that familiar with this genre, we took on board what we had learnt from the lesson before about horror films and the different type of iconography involved when trying to make a realistic and successful still. We also took on board conventions such as lighting and framing, and how you would manipulate those conventions to portray a horror film.

This shot includes (with an explanation of why it links to the horror genre):

-Frame within a frame (leaves act as a border around the face)

  This creates a sense of claustrophobia in the shot, and also directs the eye of the audience to where you want them to focus - the person's expression. 

To achieve this effect we had to surround the actress in leaves (go into a bush) and make sure there was enough space between the leaves to enable her face to be seen by the camera, while there were still leaves surrounding her face.

-Vivid Colours

  The use of the bright green of the leaves contrasts with the dark interior surrounding the person. The creates  a juxtaposition as the the leaves connote a sense of nature and wide space, while the darkness creates a  sense of claustrophobia in this jungle-type surrounding.

 We were lucky as on the day of the shoot the sun was shining bright which bought out the intensity of the colours in the shot.

-Light hits white of eyes

  The expression of the person is really important when trying to capture the emotion and narrative of the movie. This shot is successful in creating narrative enigma and makes the audience question what is happening, e.g where is the girl looking? why is she hiding? why is she in a bush? The minimal use of light on her face also creates a sense of claustrophobia.

  The leaves surrounding her face allowed for a barrier to stop light coming through at certain points. Light was able to pass through the gaps, and we tried to,with the use of angle, aim that light to the person's face, mainly the eyes.

-Half of face shown 

  Enigma is created as it could signify to the audience that the girl has something to hide (half of her face in light- the other in darkness). Contrast between light and dark is a common convention of the horror genre and allows familiarity between the audience and theme.

 This effect was easy to create as we directed the actress to move slightly to her left, so not only was half the face visible, but it looked as if she was looking out towards something, that the audience wasn't able to see. 

We were successful in achieving to make this shot look like a still from a movie, rather than a posed picture that would suit a poster etc more. I also feel we succeeded in the atmosphere we wanted to create in relation to the character and location.

Looking back at the shoot, the only thing I would change would be maybe trying out more poses, or trying harder to get the beam of light exactly where we wanted it. Other than that, I think we were successful in our location,expression of person and theme we were trying to portray.