Group Proposal

After our group meeting we have decided on our final idea for our opening sequence and have put together a proposal to present to our class.

A phone rings and we see an 18 year old girl, Zoe, babysitting in a house. She goes to the kitchen and a man is standing at the window, wearing a mask, a hood and dressed in dark clothes. The audience see’s him but Zoe doesn’t. She then hears a scream and strange noises coming from the child’s bedroom upstairs. She is startled and drops a cup of red juice, smashing it on the floor. She runs upstairs to check on the child. She opens the door to see the room filled with the child’s possessions. The window has been blown open and as she approaches the bed, slowly pulling open the covers to realise that the child has gone.

Signifiers

Mask

We're going to have the man at the window wearing a mask so his the character seems mysterious and causes the audience to question who he is and weather he is related to the babysitter in any way, this creates a lot of enigma for the audience. We haven't decided what mask to use yet but we want just a simple white mask, in the picture there are the masks from Scream and V for Vendetta which were our influences for this idea.

Technology

I think the mobile phone/blackberry is an important visual reference of our opening sequence as nearly all teenagers have mobile phones, so it's something they're familiar with and can easily relate to.

Red Signifiers

We're going to use a lot of red signifiers to make it clear to the audience there is danger and something bad is about to happen. When the babysitter drops the red drink, the audience will get a sense of blood and murder as this colour connotes danger. We're going to have the red coat hanging over the banisters as she runs of the stairs again symbolising how there is present danger.

Child Signifiers

When the babysitter enters the child's bedroom, we will have a lot of signifiers eg. teddy bears, crayons and kids drawings there to make it very obvious to the audience that it is a child's bedroom. We will also have a rocking horse and a musical box playing slow music which will both create a very eerie atmosphere in the room.

DYM Applying Barthe's Theory

Roland Barthes wrote an essay called S/Z, in it he identified a number of codes (set of rules) which he proposed are linked together in the production of all kinds of stories.  Therefore, he postulated that all stories used the same 5 codes and that all genre signifiers can be grouped under them to create narrative.  These codes are:

1. Action Code

Depicts the events which take place in the narrative - the who, where, when of the story.  Action codes are sequential.

2. Semantic Code

Refers to character and characterization.  The actions in the story are explained by the character's view point on events.

3. Enigma Code

Involves the setting up of a mystery, it's developed and resolution.

4. Referential Code

Involves explaining or informing.  Mise-en-scene is a referential code.

5. Symbolic Code

Involves the reading of the connotations of signs which transforms them into symbolic representations eg. a character can symbolize bravery.

Applying Barthe's Theory to opening of 'Rear Window'

1. Action Code

A man wakes up an apartment and answers a phone call from his boss, we guess he is the main character.  There are other people we see, a man shaving across the road, a couple wake up on a balcony with their bed there and a woman dances in another apartment.

2. Semantic Code

We see the film from the main character’s point of view.  He is in a wheelchair.  He keeps looking across the road to women dancing in her underwear. 

3. Enigma Code

Why is the man in a wheelchair? What is the job his boss wanted him to do? Why are people sleeping on their balconies? Why does he have so many magazines/photo’s?

4. Referential Code

The film is directed by Alfred Hitchcock which creates big expectations and a typical storyline the audience would expect.

5. Symbolic Code

The cast and wheelchair symbolise the fact he can’t walk.  As he is trapped in his apartment because of his broken leg, we see that he can see everything from his window which suggests he may see something he doesn't want to see.

DYM Applying Levi-Strauss' Theory

Strauss argued that narrative has two main characteristics..
1. That it’s made of units that are put together according to certain rules.
2. That these units form relations with each other, based on binary opposites, which provide the basis of the structure.

The idea of opposites that he proposed roughly works out something like this, we often understand a concept by knowing what it isn’t. This, he said, meant that in texts we had direct (or roughly direct) opposites that reflected differing ideas in narratives. These opposites were often in conflict in the narrative and that was where the crux of the story or the crisis of the narrative lay.

Pale Rider
Good vs Evil
Quiet vs Loud
Still vs Action
Slow vs Fast
Night vs Day
Life vs Death
Sun vs Storm
Dark vs Light
Calm vs Panic
Innocent vs Evil
Threat vs Safety
Town vs Country
Death vs Survival
Attacker vs Victim
Cowboys vs Villagers
Peace vs Destruction
High Angle vs Low Angle
Open Space vs Enclosed
Black Horse vs White horse
Peacefull Village vs Chaotic Speed
Slow Editing vs Choppy Fast Editing
Spiritual Experience vs Everyday Normality

Die Hard
Good vs Evil
Hero (cop) vs Villians (terrorists)
Past vs Future
Home vs Away
New York vs LA
Husband vs Wife
Single vs Married
Marriage vs Career
Relaxed vs Arguing
Maiden Name vs Husband’s Surname
Outside vs Inside
Open Space vs Enclosed
Empty vs Crowded Party
Happy Light Party vs Sinister Dark Street
High Technology (terrorists) vs Old Fashioned (mcclane)
Light Upbeat Music (party) vs Dark Tense Music (terrorists)

Preliminary Exercise

1. Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?

I worked with Winnie, Jacob and Wanda for the Prelim exercise.  Firstly, we had a group meeting to discuss and plan what we were going to do.  We wrote our script, did the storyboard and then wrote our shooting schedule.  We all contributed ideas equally, were well organised and did this very easily and efficiently.  We’d learnt about the different roles before which were:

- Director

- Assistant Director

- Camera Person

- Sound technician

- Light technician

- Actors

As there were only 4 of us and me and Wanda were required to act in a lot of the shots, we had to double up roles.  Winnie and Jacob shared these roles between them mostly.  We took it in turns doing these roles to ensure we all had a go at all of them eg. When I wasn’t acting I would be Director and the Camera Person, we didn’t need a light technician as we didn’t need any particular lighting.  When we were editing our sequence, we all made suggestions and listened to each others ideas and got the editing done quickly and without any big problems.

2. How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try and take into account?

We did most of our planning in our group meeting.  When we wrote our script, we ensured it had narrative flow and made sense to the audience.  When drawing our storyboard, we planned how each shot would be framed and if we had a pan in the shot we drew an arrow to show the camera movement and direction, we also made sure we had a range of different shot types and that there wouldn’t be any jumpy transitions eg. We wouldn’t have an establishing shot to an ECU but we would have a MS to a CU to an ECU.  We also included the continuity rules such as the 180 degree rule so the characters had the same left/right relationship throughout the sequence and the ‘imaginary line’ was not crossed.  Also match on action when I’m opening the door, we planned to film this twice, once from outside the room and once from inside the room so we can just edit the shots together to create the match on action, also a shot-reverse-shot to show the conversation.  We planned on our storyboard the length of our shots and to film them longer than they will actually be as we can edit what we don’t want out.  We planned the location of all our shots too.  As we had all our shots on our storyboard, we can then write out our shooting schedule, we chose to shoot them based on location instead of order as this is much quicker and less set-ups.  After our meeting, we did a walk through to figure out camera placement and to ensure we had enough room for our shots, the lighting looked good and we were clear and confident about what we were doing.

3. What technology did you use to complete the task and how did you use it?

Hardware – We used a Canon HV video camera, a mini DV tape, a Tripod as oppose to holding it as this makes the shots look really smooth and is easy to move when doing a pan, and a shotgun microphone and headphones plugged into the camera to increase the quality and clarity of the sound and to hear if there is any background noise which would disrupt the shot.

Software – We used a PC based editing suite and we used Adobe Premiere Pro.  There were two monitors, the source monitor, the main one which we were editing on and the output monitor, where we could watch what we had edited so we would see what the sequence would look like and weather it looked right or not.  We dragged our clips onto two timelines so we could put the clips alternately on two different tracks so they were clear to see.  We cut the clips using the razor tool, this cuts them into separate shots so then we could just delete the clips, using the rubber band tool, we didn’t want.  When doing our shot-reverse-shot we had to cut the clips and then rearrange them to create the conversation.  Also we had to drag the clips right next to each other so there were no gaps so the sequence had narrative flow.  Finally, using the board titling software we created a title for our sequence at the start and we used a transition, a fade to black at the end.

4. What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

We had to take into account many factors when planning, shooting and editing.  When planning, we had to consider how we would manage our time shooting the sequence, we had 1 hour to shoot and 1 hour to edit so our storyboard and shooting schedule helped organise our time really well.  We also had to consider the location of where we wanted to shoot and if all the locations were free at the time we wanted to use them as all of the groups were using the corridor to shoot, so we arranged time slots for when we could film in the corridor.  

When shooting, we had to consider camera position, weather there would be enough room to comfortably shoot where we needed and the 180 and 30 degree rule as without these, the sequence would have looked disorientated.  We had to move around furniture in the room so that there wouldn’t be any distractions away from the characters and so there would be more space to do the pan and the establishing shot.  Sound was a big factor we had to take into account when shooting as we were picking up background noise from people which was disrupting the shot so we had to ask the other groups to be quiet while we were filming.  

When editing, we had to consider where to cut each shot to create narrative flow and techniques such as match-on-action and shot-reverse-shot.

5. How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and in hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?

I think our sequence was quite successful as a lot of things worked well.  Firstly I think the editing was very good, the shot-reverse-shot was cut exactly right and we showed the match-on-action very well as when I’m filmed opening the door from outside the room, the door is the same angle amount open when it cuts to me being filmed from inside the room.  We didn’t break the 180 degree rule, there was no camera movement and we didn’t have any background noise as we’d ask them to be quiet.  We also created a sense of the characters surroundings and atmosphere well for the audience as we had a few establishing shots.  All of this adds up to create very realistic narrative flow.

However, there were a few things that I would improve if I had the chance to do it again.  Firstly I would have a close up of my hand on the door handle pushing the door open as this would have been more effective, our original shot of this broke the 30 degree rule, it was too similar to the one of me walking in and the transition looked really jumpy so we couldn’t use it.  Secondly, when I walk across the room we originally planned me to say “Hi” to Wanda as she said “Hi” to me but we had to cut this out because it interfered with the match-on-action, so it looks like I’m ignoring her but walking towards her which doesn’t make sense to the audience.  Also, when I walk across the room and sit opposite Wanda, there is a pause which creates a sort of tense atmosphere, this wasn’t meant to be there but we had to keep it in otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting down yet.  Still, the transition between the establishing shot of me and Wanda sitting opposite each other to the shot-reverse-shot is really stiff and doesn’t flow at all, this was because we didn’t take a long enough shot to make this transition smooth.  We should have filmed this shot twice, once from the pan and once from Wanda’s point of view and we could have edited this together to create a match-on-action.  Finally, I think the last shot-reverse-shot when Wanda says “Sorry” is not long enough, we had to cut the end as she looked at the camera so I don’t think this was very effective.

6. What have you learnt from completing the task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of our foundation coursework, do you think?

I have learnt a lot and understand a lot more about planning, shooting and editing from completing this task, I see how important the continuity rules such as match-on-action, shot-reverse-shot and the 180 degree rule, are to make a sequence flow, make sense and be easy to watch for the audience.  I’ve learnt how important it is to film a shot much longer than you intend it to be and make sure you have the shot’s from all point of views and camera positions so you can edit and cut the clips down later to create the sequence, this ensures transitions are always smooth and never look jumpy or stiff.  I’ve seen how important planning is as this really helped us organise our time and we worked a lot quicker and efficiently with our storyboard and shooting schedule as we knew exactly what we were doing.  I’ve also learnt how important every little detail is as the smallest detail could disrupt the narrative flow.  I think this task will really help me when completing the rest of my foundation coursework as I’ve had experience with planning, shooting and editing now and I know I won’t make the same mistakes again.

Group 1C

DYM Applying Propp's Theory

Propp's theory

Vladimir Propp proposed that there are distinctive character types and actions in all fairy tales. He said that characters have narrative functions as well as being representations of people, he said that all fairytales had only 8 main character types:

• The villain - struggles against the hero
• The donor - prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object
• The (magical) helper - helps the hero in the quest
• The princess - person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative
• Her father
• The dispatcher - character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off
• Hero or victim/seeker hero - reacts to the donor and weds the princess
• False hero/Anti hero - takes credit for the hero’s actions/tries to marry the princess

He also suggested that all fairytales had a similar narrative structure and he broke it down into 31 functions that followed roughly the same order. He then broke these 31 functions down into 4 spheres which were:

• 1st Sphere - The introductory sequence
• 2nd Sphere - The body of the story
• 3rd Sphere - The donor sequence
• 4th Sphere - The hero returns

Propp's theory applied to Lion King

Synopsis

A young lion prince is born in Africa, thus making his uncle Scar the second in line to the throne. Scar plots with the hyenas to kill King Mufasa and Prince Simba, thus making himself King. The King is killed and Simba is led to believe by Scar that it was his fault, and so flees the kingdom in shame. After years of exile he is persuaded to return home to overthrow the usurper and claim the kingdom as his own thus completing the "Circle of Life".

The 8 main character types

• The villian - Scar
• The donor - Rafiki
• The helper - Timon and Pumba
• The princess - Nala
• Her father - Her mother Sarafina
• The dispatcher - Nala
• Hero - Simba
• False hero - Scar

Our board game

We showed the character/character types in the following way:

• Scar - If you land on a square with Scar, you have to go back or miss a go which disrupts your game as Scar disrupts Simba’s life.
• Rafiki - There is a big drawing of Rafiki in the centre of the board with the words “What will your destiny be”, showing he is the magical donor as he is in the film.
• Timon and Pumba - If you land on Timon and Pumba, they take you across a bridge which advances you in, and lets you skip some of the game, this is a memorable part of the film when they take Simba across the bridge and we are shown the time skipping as he grows from a child to an adult.
• Nala - If you land on Nala, she helps you move forward a few spaces and when you reach the end of the game, you marry her.
• Simba - You play as Simba so you are the hero moving through.
• Also if you land on a certain square, you must return to Prideland and miss a go to ‘restore’ it as Prideland needs restoring by Simba in the film.
• We drew a small image of Rafiki holding up Simba over Pride Rock when he is born symbolising Simba’s importance.

Examples of functions in Lion King

1st Sphere

• Villian attempts to deceive hero with trickery – Scar tricks Simba into believing it is his fault his dad Mufasa died
• Hero is deceived - Simba believes Scar

2nd Sphere

• Hero leaves home - Simba leaves home because he is so ashamed of what he thinks he has done, what Scar has convinced him to believe
• Hero discovers the lack - Nala finds Simba and tells him about what has happened to Prideland
• Hero decides on counteraction - Simba decides to return to Prideland, fight for it and restore it

3rd Sphere

• Hero and villian in direct combat - Simba and Scar have a big physical fight
• Villian defeated - Simba defeats Scar and Scar dies

4th Sphere

• True hero recognised - Simba restores Prideland and becomes king
• Hero marries and ascends throne - Simba marries Nala and is now king

Evaluation of Propp's theory

The biggest problem with Propp’s theory is that it was written such a long time ago, in the 1920’s, and it is hard to apply it to modern films. Also, the 8 character types are meant to be different characters but some of them double up in Lion King eg. Nala is the princess and the dispatcher and some of them were different characters completely eg. Nala’s father is not mentioned. Also, we found it hard to identify all of the functions as some didn’t happen and some weren’t quite right. As his theory is so old, contemporary films might not match his theory completely.

DYM Applying Todorov's Theory

Todorov’s theory of Equilibirum

Tzvetan Todorov discovered that folk tales and fairy stories all followed a similar structural pattern. This is known as the classic narrative pattern, and is directly applicable to mainstream films and TV dramas today. The classic narrative pattern works like this – Equilibrium --> Disruption --> Resolution --> Restored order --> New equilibrium.

1. Who are the agents: the protogonist (the main hero who propels the narrative forward) and antagonist (opposing agent)?

The protagonist in this film is obviously Cady as the film is based around her, we are introduced to her straight away and we see her with her family showing us she is the main character, the audience are made to sympathise with her as we she is going through a big change in her life. The antagonist seems to be ‘the plastics’, they are the most popular girls in the school and are shown to be ‘superior’ to everyone else, Damien describes them as "teen royalty", but to the audience they come across that they think they’re better than everyone else and very self-obsessed. Janis and Damien introduces the audience to all 3 of them individually emphasising their ‘importance’, also describing the main one as "evil in human form" emphasising their role as the antagonist.

2. Describe the equilibrium. How is it represented? What kind of camera shots can you identify?

The equilibrium is introduced immediately and is shown to be a nice innocent girl who is very naïve about starting an American high school, the film starts with some close up shot-reverse-shots of Cady talking to her parents focusing on their relationship, this forces the audience to realise she has a good happy relationship with her parents and they get along very well, but the title suggests this may change later on in the film. It also cuts back to an establishing shot showing us her surroundings, the street is a typical leafy homely American street suggesting to us they are quite wealthy as they have a big house and everything looks very nice. She meets Janis and Damien who are her real friends in the film and they guide her about ‘school life’.

3. Is the Disruption/Disequilibrium introduced or hinted at?

The disruption or disequilibrium is not introduced in this clip but it’s hinted at by the introduction of the plastics at 7:27, we can gather they will play a big part in the film and that Cady may be manipulated by them and sucked into their lifestyle as she is vulnerable and as she isn’t used to school life, could be easily influenced.

4. Are there any visual/verbal/aural clues that hint at what the hero's journey might be?

We don’t really get an idea of what the hero’s journey will be from this clip but we can assume that Cady will get caught up with the plastics, this is hinted at when Damien says “Oh you’ll get socialised alright”. Also, we can tell that Cady won't go on a physical journey as she has just moved to America but she will go on a mental/emotional journey in this film.

5. From your knowledge of the film, how will the equilibrium be restored and what will be the new equilibrium?

Throughout the film, we see how Cady gradually changes into one of the plastics, she becomes so obsessed with Regina, her scheme to make her unpopular and being a fake friend, that she becomes a ‘mean girl’ as she acts just like Regina and lets her real friends, Janis and Damien, down. There is a huge disruption when everyone finds out about Cady’s scheme, but the equilibrium is restored when Cady apologises to Regina so there is no longer an antagonist. The new equilibrium is that the plastics all go their separate ways, people are no longer divided into cliques and Cady, Janis and Damien are friends again.