Cutting Rates

In class we have looked into cutting rates of scenes and how it can affect the audience.

cutting rate is a term for the amount of camera shots used in an amount of time or a scene.

This clip from Christopher Nolan's,' Batman The Dark Knight' we see The Joker chasing after Police cars and the black van that Harvey Dent is being protected in, after a few minutes into the scene we see that Batman joins this chase to stop The Joker. At approximately 3:13 minutes Batman arrives, and from this point the cutting rate of that scene speeds up significantly. This is when The Joker blows up the Bat mobile, so there are more camera shots added in a small amount of time so that the audience is aware of exactly what has happened, as well as the effect the event has had. A fast cutting rate contributes to building tension and the engagement of the audience.

However, a slow cutting rate can also increase tension for example in the context of a horror or jump scare film. It can create great anticipation for the audience making the viewers expect the worse of the situation and fear what is to come next. which is of course what you want from a jump scare horror film.

I can apply this knowledge of cutting rate effectively to my main task as a way of gripping and setting  a scene for my audience.

Evaluation Questions

1.  In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media?

I understand that i am being asked to review my research on forms and conventions of media using elements of film language such as costume, actors, location, camera shots/angles etc. I will then take my research and use it to analyse those different elements of my own media product to see if it challenges, uses or develops any of those areas of film language.

2.  How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• character's qualities      
• how have I represented those qualities 
• what affect does it have on the audience 

In this question i need to pick out the key characteristics and the personality of the characters/actors that I have chosen to use and explain how they may represent a particular social group.

3.  What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

This question is asking me to research different media institutions to find out what genre of film each institution distributes and what qualities they look for in a film that they chose to promote. This will help  me match the suitable media institution with my media product.

• creation 
• distribution 
• consumption 
• appropriate to my genre 

4.  Who would be the audience for your media product?

For this question I would need to appropriately decide on the elements of my product such as; style, feel, treatment, theme as well as taking into consideration the commercial aspects of it. To do this more effectively i can reflect on my product research. 

5.  How did you attract/address your audience?

This question is asking me to identify what processes i used to make my product for the target market. There are  some questions i need to ask myself to help me identify these processes.

• Is my product easy for my audience to relate to (behavior of characters, use of language, etc)?
• What is it about my product that makes it interesting for the audience/ what elements could i have added or taken away from my product to improve the interest and engagement of my audience ?
• How did I make my film appropriate for the targeted audience ?

6.  What have I learnt about technologies from the processes of constructing this product?

For this question i need to visit the pre- production , production and post production areas of my task and ask myself what technology processes they are, how I used them and how/ why they were or weren't useful.

7.  Looking back at my preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full production?

include areas:

• planning 
• story boarding 
• editing 
• camera work
• sound work

Main Task Filming Brief

Film Brief 

film the opening sequence of a new fiction film including titles and soundtrack to last approximately two minutes.

filming an opening sequence means that i don't need to make a short film with a story line, an opening sequence is made to introduce and set the scene for the rest of the film. Because it needs to be a new fiction film this means i can create story line of my own to introduce and there is no specific genre that it has to be.

my opening sequence must include titles, introducing actors, producers, editors ect. As well as having soundtrack which includes, diagetic/non- diagetic sound, dialogues, sound effects and background music.

Ideally the sequence should last approximately two minutes.

Mise-en-Scene and Semiotics

Mise-en-Scene: is the arrangement of scenery and props within the camera shot.
There are different elements of Mise-en-Scene:

costume

lighting

actors

movement

props

setting

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs. It helps us to understand how humans 'read' or make meaning of the images, pictures and visual signs that they see.

All communication is possible through signs - whether it is grunts, gestures, sounds, or drawing symbols.

what is denoted and what is connoted:

denoted is what it is, what we can see that is fact.

connoted is the interpretations we make when seeing something, how we see it and the impressions that we get from it.

Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is that the main object of focus within the camera shot is never directly in the centre.

shot reverse shot

Shot/reverse shot is where character A is shown looking at character B (from character A's point of view), the reverse shot is when character B is looking back at character A (from character B's point of view) this works not just in conversations but when we see a character looking at something and then the camera cuts to what the character was looking at (from the point of view of the character./ over their shoulder)

180 degree rule

The 180 degree rule is where characters opposite each other have an invisible axis going through them. The camera will only focus on one half of the 'circle' otherwise it looks like the characters are next to each other as opposed to opposite .