Yesterday, we reviewed the homework assignment we completed individually and carried on from last lesson, analyzing a scene from a movie of our choosing. Through an analysis of the ending scene of Wanted and Memento, I learnt what is expected of from a film analysis. Instead of discussing the storyline, we should analyze the camera’s movements (tracking, panning, tightening of the frame etc.), what the director is aiming to achieve (the message he’s sending the audience) and how it is being done (e.g. a steadicam to film the office scene in Wanted to portray the movements of a stalker). From these presentations and discussions that followed, I learnt about the how the use of framing and cutting between scenes can send a message to the audience and cause tension in the audience (Memento car scene); I learnt about the Steadicam and its uses in a confined space (Wanted office scene); and also learned more about what to look for in a movie scene for the future.
In Class Notes:
Brigitte: Wanted Ending Scene
Through the tracking of the office, winding through the desks using a Steady-Cam, the audience gets the message that somebody is stalking the person at the desk, and that he knows he’s there from the extreme-close up of his hesitant hands as he types at his keyboard.
Stephen: Memento Ending Scene
Car scene: The gradual close up to the main character’s face with every flash-back suggests that we are getting closer to the character by seeing his past. The fact that he’s in a moving vehicle and has his eyes closed gives the audience a sense of tension, worry, anxiety etc. Extreme-Close up of “Sammy Jenkins” tattoo suggests that it is an important detail. The sound is very mellow, adding to the “remembering” feeling.
Towards the end of the class, Ms. Rosati taught the class about the video cameras we would be using and the basics of the gadgets. I learned that the lens is a tool that converts the light that enters into usable data; I learned about white-balance and other brief functions of the camera; I learned about using the tripod efficiently and the shoe or base-plate that attaches the camera to the tripod, and was able to try out the functions for a brief time until the end of the period, familiarizing myself with the tool I will use in tomorrow’s class and speed challenge.
Homework Assignment:
Bullet-Time was first invented by Eadweard Muybridge, and the first example of this visual effect can be seen in the action film Kill and Kill Again (1981). Eadweard Muybridge accidentally created this slow-motion effect when he was gathering evidence for a bet on if all four legs of a galloping horse left the floor. By placing a series of cameras along the track and capturing the photograph as the horse ran by (using a system of taut strings), Muybridge was able to create a short animation clip by compiling the captured images and projecting them one after the other. More recently, the Matrix movie trilogy publicized the visual effect in its action scenes to the extent that commercials, and even games, were created based on the concept of slow-motion scenes.
"Bullet Time." TV Tropes. 31 August 2011 <http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BulletTime>.
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