Chess Film Day 3

        Hello Friends! Day 3 and our film is coming together nicely. Everything is set up for a successful  movie production. I did hit a couple of rough patches with the genre statement and cast list. We didn't do any collective research on the genre for the film. Kensey created the original plot based of the idea of chicken-man and with some adjustments everyone agreed on it. Horror was the best genre fit even though we have to work with implied violence and nothing too graphic. The theme of a guy in a scary mask and a victim being killed is still a part of the horror genre. We also did not look at any specific movies for reference prior to creating the plot. 

       The cast list was a little difficult to write because I didn't have much justification for why I picked the actors. Justhyn had the chicken mask so it felt like he was automatically the chicken-man/loser. Between John David and I, he seemed a little better fit for the role of Winner so that's how I picked him. Initially it was just the 2 of them, but then we needed another person to briefly appear and award the medal to the Winner at the end of the match. I decided to fill that role so the cinematographer wouldn't have to be away from the camera. None of us had any real acting experience so it wasn't a huge deal of how good you could act. 

       In class, our teacher taught us how to use a basic tripod and phone mount. This is really all the equipment we would need from him for the production of the film. What I like about the tripod is how many things you can do with it. Its so easy to set up whatever shot you need.

Chess Film Day 2

        Hello Friends! Day 2 of pre-production has been off to a good start. We have a plot and genre to work with which allowed us to start writing down our planning. Our movie is centered around a chicken-man who is the villain of the story. He gets revenge after losing a game of chess. The idea for the chicken-man came from Justhyn who has a chicken mask. 

       I started filling out the call sheet and the script which easy to write out. The call sheet had basic information about who was acting, where we shoot, date and time. For the script I used the plot as a reference to describe visuals. We have a total of 2 scenes and 29 shots. 

       During the last 15 minutes of class, our teacher showed us examples of chess films from last years media studies class. A lot of those movies used the common theme of having the winner wear white and the loser wear black. This use of semiotics sets up the expectation for who triumphs and who is defeated. Our film Chicken's Chess is still going to be unique because of the concept of The Chicken-man.

Introduction to the Chess Film

     Hello Friends! Today my class has started work on The Chess Film. The Chess Film is a 30-second to 1-minute long film. It can be about anything, in any genre, as long as it somehow involves a game of chess. We need to use all the conventions of filmmaking that we have learned so far. High/low angle shots, deep focus, shallow focus, color, contrast, rule of thirds, etc. We can use our own own cameras or the ones the teacher has for us to use. 

       Near the end of class we were put into groups for our film. We used the remaining time to decide who would do which job. Kensey is the cinematographer, he is the one mainly responsible for filming the movie. Justhyn is the editor, in charge of putting together clips so we have out movie. John David is the Sound/Technical designer, he adds sound to our movie because there is no dialogue. I am the director, in charge of overseeing everything and making sure we go according to plan. This is our film crew!

       Next class we will be starting our pre-production research and planning. See you soon!

       

Structuralism - Claude Levi-Strauss

     Hello friends! Today we are looking at the theory of stricturalism. 

The first clip I will be analyzing is from Spiderman into the spiderverse.

The purpose of the scene is to establish doc Ock as the villian and give the viewer Gwen Stacy's story.  The clip starts with doc Ock revealing herself as a villain before giving the heros a hero moment. They manage to steal the router but are still being chased. Then comes the entrance of another hero, spiderwoman. She helps them win the fight before we get the backstory. There is stylistic opposition in this clip. It changes from calm to action throughout the whole thing. Especially in the break room when they get a bagel before everyone starts chasing them.

Genre Theory - Steve Neale

     Hello friends! This post is about another media theory, Genre created by Steve Neale. Genre is the way we categorize our media and the characteristics that come with it. These genres are all subject to change over time and have other subversions. 

The first trailer I will be analyzing for genre types is for Everything, Everywhere, all at once.

I believe the genre of this movie is an action/comedy but mainly more action.

Representation is the best convention to identify the genre because we see an Asian woman as the main character. She is going through multiple universes to try and save the world so we see fighting in interesting ways which would fall under the genre of action. 

The audience saturation effects for this movie would be different based on who watches it. Some may love the movie, some may hate it, it seems like it would get mixed reviews. The entire movie brings surprises and a lot of random and strange things happening at the same time.

In this movie, there is a lot of hybridity that enables quick tonal shifts. A lot of the movie switches between different settings, for example the part with the planets colliding. And it includes many other genres, not just action and comedy. There is a bit of Sci-Fi with the whole multiverse travelling. 

The second trailer is Phantom of the paradise

I believe the genre of this movie is a comedy with a little bit of horror.

Narrative similarities is the best convention the identify the genre. In the beginning of the trailer its seems very much like a horror movie with the guy in the mask threatening the guy in the shower. The rest of the movie seems to be kind of silly and happy with the underlying villain in the background which is why I picked comedy as the genre.

The cultural effects of this movie would be somewhat nostalgic to people who see it now because its set in the late 1900's. The culture of that time has changed drastically compared to now. 

I would say this movie creates individual product character because it takes some elements from phantom of the opera and is named almost the same. But it applies the whole American, rock and roll, 1980's theme to a somewhat similar story.

The third trailer is Electric Dreams

I believe this genre is comedy and a little bit romance.

Levels of verisimilitude is the best convention to identify the genre. In the real world back in the 1980's computers couldn't talk which makes the whole situation funnier. The computer didn't even have that much power to control other electronics. 

Social context is important for this movie because at that time the computer was a big thing. Them making a movie about this computer was supposed to be popular because it seemed like an insane idea which is why its funny. Nowadays this seems more more like a reality with the development AI technology. 

I would say this movie expands audience appeal because there's romance combined with the idea of a computer competing with a human for the love of a human, 

Narrative Equilibrium - Tzvetan Todorov

     Hello friends! My new post is all about the media theory of Equilibrium. There are 3 parts to the traditional narrative. Equilibrium is established at the beginning of the story, this creates a stable world for the viewer. Disruption is when the stability is thrown off and there is a problem that needs to be solved. The new equilibrium is established after the problem is fixed, this is the "happily ever after" of the story. 

I will be analyzing the opening of Mission Impossible-Rouge Nation 2015 for Narrative Equilibrium.

Proppian Characters: The hero would be Ethan because he is the main character who jumps on the plane. The helpers are Benji, Brand, and Luther because they all assist in tracking and hacking the plane.

Equilibrium: Equilibrium is established very briefly at the beginning of the extract with the calm grassy field.

Disruption: The disruption comes when there is a problem with the plane. Ethan is not there and the package is about to take off on the plane. 

New Equilibrium: The new equilibrium is established when Ethan and the package get off the plane. 

In media res: There was no story behind why the package on the airplane was so important, the scene gives a sense of urgency.

Multiperspective narratives: The scene changes between the perspectives of Luther, Brand, Benji, and Ethan. They are all in different settings and doing different things.

    The purpose of this extract is to place to viewer into the immediate action. The opening uses In media res to get to the conflict. There is a brief calm scene before the movie dives into the problem that needs to be resolved.

Semiotics - Roland Barthes

    Hello everyone! Today we will be talking about the media theory Semiotics created by Roland Barthes. Semiotics is really the use of signs and symbols and how they set up expectations. For example, if we see a person dressed in camouflage and carrying a weapon, we expect them to be in the military. 

In this post I will be analyzing the opening of Punch-Drunk Love for semiotics.

Sign: The sign is The car crashing and the harmonium placement together. 

Signifier: The signifier is the harmonium, its the physical thing that is being put in front the viewer.

Signified: This signifies that there is going to be something big happening to the characters life.  

Denotative: The harmonium is a mini organ like instrument with bellows.

Connotative: The car crash represents a big, sudden change in the characters life. The harmonium represents music or the calmness of what happens after the event. 

Code: The code is the room we see the character in. It is mostly empty with only a desk and chair, and painted a dull color to show how the character is sad with his life. He feels depressed and lonely. 

The purpose of this extract is to set up the story for the rest of the movie. The empty room, car crash, and harmonium are all pieces of how the characters life is going change over the course of the movie. The character starts out sad and lonely, there is a big event "crashing" into his life, and then he is peaceful and happy with his new life.

Depth of field in cinematography

     Hello Friends! welcome back to my blog. This week we are talking about the different depths of field in cinematography. I have taken images from a movie and created my own stills to show examples of deep focus, shallow focus, and soft focus.

1a. Still from The rules of the Game, 1939, shows 
deep focus by giving you the foreground,
middle ground and background.

1b. This still shows shallow focus.

1c. This still shows soft focus.

2a. This still shows dep focus because everything 
is in focus. There is a foreground, middle ground,
and background.

2b. This still shows shallow focus because the 
objects in front are blurry so we focus on the chair 
in the back.

2c. This still shows soft focus because everything
In the image is soft, there are no hard lines. This
gives the image a dreamlike feel.

    3.    This blog was rushed so I didn't spend a lot of time on my photos. I looked up examples of focus shots from movies online and The Rules of the Game was one of those movies. I was unsure if the shallow focus still really showed a shallow focus because really only the bed frame was out of focus. The viewer is already looking at the 2 characters in the back. The soft focus still I felt kind of iffy on because the entire shot was blurry, but that is supposed to show they are in motion and not so much showing emotion. For my deep and shallow focus shot I used the selective focus feature on my camera. The soft focus still I used the pro camera feature on my phone after playing with the settings to try and get the image to be dreamlike and cloudy.