Existing Product Research - Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko

A classic feature of Donnie Darko's visual style is the liberal use of slow-motion, which is evident with the slow-motion shot of the characters jumping on the trampoline. Whilst the protagonist and damsel in distress are on the trampoline, the subtle non-diegetic music is yet suspenseful. The diegetic sound in the shot of the trampoline is the sound of birds and the gentle tap of the character's hitting the trampoline. The non-diegetic music gradually fades out after the transition, therefore only the diegetic sound of the conversation is heard. The dialogue from both characters indicates that the woman is a therapist, and Donnie is being treated by her and portrayed as slightly delusional and depressed. The protagonist's voice is heard over in this shot, meaning an L-cut is used, as you hear him before seeing him in the next shot. This allows what would have been a harsher cut, to feel like a softer, more subtle cut. The pace of the scene is due to the lack of cuts, which has been done in order to gradually build up tension and angst, making his descent into chaos even more unsettling for the audience. 

The high angle shot of the characters jumping on the trampoline, to represent the trampoline as a symbol of being fragile and innocent, more significantly the fragility and mutability of the universe. During the medium-close up of Donnie and his therapist, the camera pans towards both characters extremely slowly in order to build up suspense. The medium-close up panning towards him allows the audience to build an emotional connection to the protagonist.

In terms of mise-en-scene, the setting of the first shot is in a garden, where a trampoline sits. On the trampoline, are the two characters, Donnie and Gretchen. It cuts to the setting of a room, where Donnie, the protagonist, is now sitting on a couch. The setting resembles a home or therapists room from the 80's due to the patterns and furniture, meaning the audience can presume the film is set during this period. On the other side of the room, an older female character is sitting in a therapist's chair, indicating to the audience that she is his therapist, therefore, that Donnie is slightly delusional and depressed. The clothing of the main character is casual and laid-back, that would typically be worn by a teenager. The outfit of the older women appears professional yet casual, indicating she is doing a job. The only light source appears to be coming from the two lamps in opposite corners of the room. The lighting is low-key, and it appears that a key light, back-light, but only a small amount of filler lights have been used; This hints at the darkness in the film's theme and in the protagonist's mind, making the audience feel on edge. The fact that the director chose not to have bright lights, and mainly darkness on the protagonist's face, portrays him as mysterious and shady. This use of lighting is effective since, it creates an unrealistic atmosphere, which matches the protagonist's mind descending into chaos and disillusionment. 

Existing Product Research - Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind

The most beautiful thing about the scene is the camera work. It was shot beautifully. In media, if you don't have the best shots, then everything during editing will fall apart. In this scene, the establishing shot is an extreme close-up of the female character, Joel's love interest, which develops a sense of intimacy and allows the audience to develop an emotional connection to her, feeling sympathy for her and Joel's situation. As she throws the letter away, it cuts to a medium close-up of her. An over the shoulder shot is then used. The pleasant simplicity of the shots create a heartfelt atmosphere and extend the audience's attachment to the characters as they can relate to them. Some of the editing is choppy, disjointed and fast, which connotes surrealism, indicating it is not real or is in fact in his head.

In terms of mise-en-scene, the low-key lighting makes the scene appear quite beautiful. It also creates an unnatural atmosphere, indicating towards the surrealism in the film, which also suggests that it is taking place in his mind. However, it emphasises that his mind has descended into darkness and creates an atmosphere of confusion. Clementine's hair in this scene, is blue, which connotes sadness. This sadness may be, due to the fact, that Joel is erasing her memory of her. However, throughout the film, her hair changes colour and is quite symbolic. Her blue hair is referring to the time that comes after Joel and Clementine erase their memories, which could be the reason it appears sad. 

The non-diegetic tender cinematic music determines that the movie is a romantic movie, or perhaps, a romantic comedy. It also allows the audience to connect with the characters. The diegetic speech of both characters is clear and soft, adding to the fact that it is a romantic film and adding to the serenity of the scene. 

Preliminary exercise evaluation

Evaluation

Brief
The brief was to produce a 30 second clip (though, a lot of the clips were longer than this) with the manipulation of basic film production techniques (lighting, sound, editing etc). You will need to exhibit the use of a match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. The narrative will need to involve a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he will exchange a couple of lines of dialogue.

Planning
After discussing the location, sequences of events in the clip and actors in the clip, the planning consisted of creating a short script and shot list before devising a storyboard. The most essential part of planning was the script. It is a crucial part of pre-production as it establishes narrative. Before completing a storyboard, the shot list is a key thing to do as it allows you to understand what shots you will use before drawing them. The story board fulfils the role of assisting the director to achieve a particular visual look of the film, and gives an idea of the mise-en-scene to include in filming. Both the story board and shot list, determine how you will shape the narrative and make it interesting to the audience. In terms of what I could have done better, I think I could have added more shots to the storyboard, therefore it would have been easy to edit if one shot wasn't quite right. Also, in my story board, I would write more things in the boxes, therefore I would have a better idea about what was going to go on in the shot, like sound, camera movement and pace.

Strengths and Weaknesses
The most noteworthy qualities of the production were the selection of shots. This included the over-the-shoulder shot worked well because I had angled it to make sure that there wasn't that much dead space. However, during filming the over-the-shoulder shot, I broke the 180 degree rule. A prominent issue with a number of the shots, was the lack of focus in them, making some parts seem unprofessional, which in the real production I would not allow to happen and would re-shoot it. However, during filming for the preliminary task, I didn't have time to re-shoot it due to the availability of our actors. In terms of editing, for the POV shots, I used an eye-line match effectively to convey the fact that they know each other, attempting to create a dramatic atmosphere and develop enigma codes of why the main character looks so sullen and irritated. This is a form of continuity editing, as well, allowing the narrative to piece together and the audience to understand that she is angry at her friend, developing an enigma code of why she is this way towards her friend or what her friend did to provoke this attitude from her. The range of continuity editing shown in my production is good, as it creates narrative and allows it to flow continuously. There a few continuity errors, which actually make a lot of difference if you watch the production carefully. For example, glare and the reflective image of the camera are noticeable during the POV shot into and out of the classroom through the door window. In order to over come this, I would need to change the angles when filming reflective surfaces. Another continuity error, which many students have made over the years, was the camera's bag, that was left on the staircase railing, only a appearing for a few moments, before disappearing. This will confuse the audience and, fundamentally take away the flow of the production. Quite a number of things, however, fell short in the production. Specifically, how the over use of shots, threw the pace off and therefore the pace is constantly changing, meaning it is less effective. An example of this is where the main character's hand reaches for the door and opens it. It was a match-on-action shot, and I used different angles in three different shots for the same action, however, due to the over use of shots, it changes the pace. During filming, the 180 degree rule was broken, and therefore, the positioning of the characters, confused the audience and left them engaged. In my real production, I would need to make sure that it doesn't happen by changing the angles of the two characters in conjunction with the accuracy of filming and following the rule consistently. The establishing shot extends for too long, making the pace seem slower than I would have liked, and it leaves the audience unexcited and fails to engage them. The sound was clear for most of the production, having clear dialogue which answered the enigma codes of the audience clearly, making the narrative easy to follow and understand for the audience. To add to the tension between the friends, I could have used a dramatic soundtrack to build up to the climax. However, there is the faint feedback in the background, which is worse due to the humming of the computers in the room. In some shots, the dialogue exchanged between them appears forced and unnatural, which would be more down to acting. The lighting in the scene was made to be realistic, allowing it to accurately portray school life. Next time, I will use key lighting, back lighting and most likely a filler light, in order to add more depth to characters and make it seem even more realistic and bright. Another subtle weakness that lessens the effectiveness of the piece, was the long lines of dialogue the characters exchanged in the clip, which, essentially makes the piece drone on, and lose pace, making the audience lose interest.

Preliminary - Media Studies

Preliminary Planning Task

Location:

Stairs

Hallway

Classroom

Sequence of events:

Walking up stairs

Walking down corridor

Opening door

Walking across room

Sitting down

Conversation

Actors:

Maya

Sagal

Shot List:

Medium Shot of Maya, walking up stairs

High angle shot of Maya walking

Low angle of Maya's back

Close up of her feet as she walks
Long shot of her as she reaches stop of stairs
Close up of hand opening door
Medium close up as enters
Long shot of her walking down corridor

Medium shot of her walking down corridor

Medium shot of back

Medium close up of face

Close up of face through window

Medium shot of Sagal through window (eyeline match)

Mid shot of her opening door from behind

Mid shot #2 of her opening door, close up and different angle (match on action)
Medium shot of her walking through door and closing it

POV Close up of Maya's face 

POV Close up of Sagal's face (eyeline match)

POV Close up of Maya's face (shot/reverse shot)

Long/medium shot of her walking towards a chair

Medium close up of her pulling chair out

Mid shot of the two

Over the shoulder shot over Sagal's shoulder as Maya talks

Over the Shoulder shot over Maya's (180 degree rule) as Sagal looks up from her work (eyeline match)
Mid shot of sagal looking up

Close up of Sagal looking up as she speaks

Over the shoulder shot over Sagal's shoulder

Medium shot of the two of them, as sagal speaks
POV shot of Maya as she retaliates

Close up of Sagal, looking down at her work as she speaks

Medium shot of Maya, getting angry and goes to get up

High angle shot of Maya swiping papers off table 

Close up of paper flying off table (slow motion)

POV (Sagal) Low angle shot of Maya getting up and walking away

Script:

INT. SCHOOL – STAIRCASE. DAY.

A girl walks up the staircase and corridor. The girl is Maya Shukla. Young, beautiful, rebellious.

Maya arrives outside classroom. She looks through the panel glass on the door and spots Sagal.

She opens the door and enters – crossing the room to sit down.

Maya

I thought you were going home.

Sagal

[She looks up from work] What?

Maya

You told me you couldn't hang out because you had to help your mum.

Sagal

I’m sorry. I just knew you wouldn't understand if I told you I was revising.

Maya

Are you kidding me?

Sagal

[Looking down] Look, I understand if you don’t care about your education…. but don’t ruin mine. I have to revise.

Maya

You know what. Forget this.

Maya Swipes papers off the table and gets up, walking away.

Media Awards

Labrat

Review

In Labrat, the mise-en-scene has been used effectively to create a well rounded production piece. Before we first get a glimpse of the protagonist, we see tree branches and blades of grass. The protagonist is a young teenager, who sets up his camera and begins to narrate his story in front of the camera. His normal everyday urban clothing, allows the audience to identify with the character. At the beginning, in the first few shots, it is hard to identify where it is set. But, as it continues, the audience will be able to identify the setting as a school, creating narrative, as they will be able to make the link that the boy is a struggling student at the school. He changes his clothes once throughout the production, where he changes into a lab-coat and enters one of the labs in the school. This highlights that his intelligence and science is significant to the narrative which is emphasised through the use of chemistry equipment and substances. 

A wide range of cinematography has been used in the production, to make it a great finishing piece. The establishing shot in Labrat is unusual as it is a high angle medium close-up of a tree's branches, which doesn't reveal much about the main location, expect the fact that it is outdoors. Only a few of the branches are in focus. An extreme close up of blades of grass blowing in the wind is then used before cutting to a medium close-up of the protagonist's hand, holding a camera inside a room. The medium shot of the character cleverly indicates that he is recording himself and talking to a camera. This also allows the audience to clearly to depict the character's emotion without making the connection too deep. The angle is neither high nor low, which suggests that he is neither powerful nor vulnerable, and just a normal human being, allowing the audience to connect with him on an emotional level. Extreme close-ups of the chemistry equipment towards the end of the production indicates their importance to the narrative. 

A range of transitions are used at the appropriate times in the piece, however, the most commonly used cut were straight cuts. These are simple and effective in showing the simplicity in pieces. A dissolve is used after the teenager first addresses the camera, emphasising the serious nature of the show's content and that the genre is a drama. However, the dissolve was specifically used to indicate the character's re-telling of the story, and that the scene after was a flashback as he narrated. Four more dissolves are used not shortly after this and not far between each other to indicate a passing of time yet, he is still narrating a flashback. It cuts to a scene of the character walking into a lab in the school. Match on action is used often during the production, to make the narrative and action flow easily. The use of continuity editing, between shots of the character and the setting of the school, allows the audience to make the narrative connection that he is a student at the school, which, essentially, makes the narrative flow better. At the beginning, the pace is slow and relaxed as the gaps between transitions are quite long. However, as it continues, the pace gradually begins to gain speed as transitions are used more often to emphasise the action and drama in scenes as it escalates. It then fades to black, adding tension to the character's dialogue. After this, a fast paced sequence of shots of chemical equipment props, which, in a way, is like a montage and shows a passing of time between his actions and his experimentation with chemical substances. 

The Experiment

Review

The first thing that catches the audiences eye is the background information intro of the production, which depicts a dystopia. The figure of a teenage girl can be seen looking through a list of names, one of which is hers. Her face is not revealed in this shot, adding mystery and drama to her character. Pictures and papers are pinned with strings around the list of names, showing that someone is looking for her and her whereabouts are being traced. Low-key lighting is used here, and almost throughout most of the production, which creates tension and drama. The girl is then seen entering a train station, shown on CCTV. She then stands in front of a train, her hair blowing as it passes, creating a dramatic and almost sorrow atmosphere. The use of a deserted house at night, which we can assume was hers, emphasises how alone the protagonist is and how devastated the events leading up to the programme left her. The audience can assume that she is searching through the house with the hand held. This in a way, is trying to provoke an emotional response from the audience, as they will understand the character is faced with so many good memories she can never have back. In the next scene, the girl is seen running away from something and with a serious expression across her face, which indicates she is on the run and creates an atmosphere of action and drama. It cuts to a shot of the character looking through old photographs, provoking sympathy for the character as she wipes her eyes of tears. Old videos of friends depict happy memories they have shared together, indicating the fact that she is contemplating them which upsets her, allowing the audience to feel sad for the character. As the girl runs, the figure of a man in black stops in front of her. His black attire indicates that his intentions are sinister and is one of the people after her. The man eventually catches up with the girl after a short chase, and grabs her, before the production finishes, indicating that he caught her but it still leaves it at a cliff hanger.