Title: Elephant
Director: Gus Van Sant
Genre: Crime/drama/documentary
Audience: Teenagers
Narrative: Based on a true story about a day in the lives of a group of average teenage high school students. The film follows every character and shows their daily routines. However two of the students, (Eric and Alex) two close friends and students in a suburb of Portland, calmly plan and perform a mass execution of their classmates and school administrators in the course of a day.
Film Language: Most of the shots in the movie are very long and Steadicam-based, lots of tracking shots of the characters build suspense and allow us to know what the chracters are like. Not a lot of non-diegetic sound, its mostly gunshots, screaming, chatting etc, which is all diegetic. Part of the film was edited and shown three times, recapping what had happened but each time showing a different characters actions.
Thursday 22 October 2009
Friday 16 October 2009
Editing
Editing is part of putting the film together with different shots to help create the story and atmosphere with different transitions. It makes a movie what it is, creating something that wsnt intended and makng it better. For example in 'Mean Girls' when "the plastics" are having a 3-way conversation on the phone, there are three different frames to make the scene look affective. It allows us to see each character at the same time, and shows us what they are all doing. It is also quicker and more affective than showing each individual character i one shot.
For a director, editing is important to create what they first saw their film to be watched like. With realistic explosions, slowing down time, speeding it up and so on. The timing of a cut can shock or amuse audiences. It is important to get this right, and to create the right impact without going too far. Length and choice of shots shape our response to everything we see happening on the screen.
An example of a film with a lot of various types of cuts in is 'North By Northwest'. There is a lot of cross cuting in this film, meaning lots of quick short cuts, which helped build tension in sceness where nessaccery. There are a lot of scenes that fade out, showing time has passed since the previous scene, like when Roger is punched in the forest the scene fades out to when he is in hospital. Reverse shots are used aswell, they show both the characters reactions and how they are saying things, e.g. at dinner on the train when Eve and Roger are talking (there is eyeline matching - meaning it looks like one character is talking into off screen space, but then he director shows the spectator what they're looking at).
And in 'Fargo'
For a director, editing is important to create what they first saw their film to be watched like. With realistic explosions, slowing down time, speeding it up and so on. The timing of a cut can shock or amuse audiences. It is important to get this right, and to create the right impact without going too far. Length and choice of shots shape our response to everything we see happening on the screen.
An example of a film with a lot of various types of cuts in is 'North By Northwest'. There is a lot of cross cuting in this film, meaning lots of quick short cuts, which helped build tension in sceness where nessaccery. There are a lot of scenes that fade out, showing time has passed since the previous scene, like when Roger is punched in the forest the scene fades out to when he is in hospital. Reverse shots are used aswell, they show both the characters reactions and how they are saying things, e.g. at dinner on the train when Eve and Roger are talking (there is eyeline matching - meaning it looks like one character is talking into off screen space, but then he director shows the spectator what they're looking at).
And in 'Fargo'
Costume & Make-up
All pieces of clothing worn in a film is part of a costume. They are very important as they help tell the story and are often used to tell us about the characters personality. Costumes can also tell you the time period, where the film is set, what mood the characters are in and the characters age.
For example in 'Edward Scissorhands', Edward wears a tight black all in one suit, the black suggests he is mysterious and has something to hide, he could be evil. The pale white make up on his face, however, shows he is quite innocent and lonely. He has scars all over his face, which could show he has had a difficult life having scissors for hands, this makes us feel sorry for him. His hair and scissor hands make him look like quite an excentric character.
Also in 'Edward Scissorands', the Avon lady (Peg) wears bightly coloured dresses, she looks like a typical American lady. There is another promiscuous woman who lives in their little village who has bright red hair and wears tight trousers, low cut tops, and stilettos. She looks like your typical desperate housewife, her red hair shows her sexuality and suggests she is firey and passionate.
I think that by putting Edward in all black, but making his face white contrasts his apperance and personality. A first look at him would make you think he's evil and mysterious, but by looking at is pale face, it suggests to the audiece that there might be some good in him an shows his innocent side.
For example in 'Edward Scissorhands', Edward wears a tight black all in one suit, the black suggests he is mysterious and has something to hide, he could be evil. The pale white make up on his face, however, shows he is quite innocent and lonely. He has scars all over his face, which could show he has had a difficult life having scissors for hands, this makes us feel sorry for him. His hair and scissor hands make him look like quite an excentric character.
Also in 'Edward Scissorands', the Avon lady (Peg) wears bightly coloured dresses, she looks like a typical American lady. There is another promiscuous woman who lives in their little village who has bright red hair and wears tight trousers, low cut tops, and stilettos. She looks like your typical desperate housewife, her red hair shows her sexuality and suggests she is firey and passionate.
I think that by putting Edward in all black, but making his face white contrasts his apperance and personality. A first look at him would make you think he's evil and mysterious, but by looking at is pale face, it suggests to the audiece that there might be some good in him an shows his innocent side.
Thursday 15 October 2009
'Elephant' Cinematography
The film 'Elephant' is based on a true story about a day in the lives of a group of average teenage high school students. The film follows every character and shows their daily routines. However two of the students, (Eric and Alex) two close friends and students in a suburb of Portland, calmly plan and perform a mass execution of their classmates and school administrators in the course of a day. This film is heavily influenced by the Alan Clarke TV drama from 1989 of the same name (Elephant - 1989). Both films chronicle senseless killings and contain many long an wandering takes of its main characters.
The opening shot of this film is of the sky, which looks dull and gloomy. It is quite a long shot, showing time passing as it changes from day to night. This shot is shown a few times throughout the film, to pass the time meaning only the important parts are shown. The second time this happens, we hear thunder, suggesting something bad is going to happen.
This film if full of tracking shots, following each of the characters to show what they do in their daily routine. Tracking shots allow the audience to follow the characters lives, and also makes them feel part of the scene. It also helps us to learn more about the characters, so we feel more sorry for them when they're killed at the end, for example, the geeky girl in the red top, she appears to get bullied when she's done nothing wrong. They help build suspense, as we want it to hurry up and show us whats going to happen.
At the beginning of the film there is a pan following the drunk dads car as he swerves down the road. This allows us to see where he is going, makes us feel part of the scene. There is also another pan when the students are sat in their classroom. The camera pans each of the characters faces, we are able to clearly see their facial expressions, and see what they're doing. In the scene where the boy is in his bedroom, the camera pans around it showing us whats in his room. This lets us learn more about the character and tells us what he's like.
There is one scene in 'Elephant' that is repeated three times, but each time it follows a different characters actions. The photographer guy stops to talk to the blonde guy in the corridoor and takes a photo of him, then the girl in the red top runs past. The first time this is shown, we follow what the blonde guy does, then the second time its shown we follow the photographer, and the third time we see where the girl in the red is running to. She appears to be in a hurry. It allows us to see what happens to each of the characters.
When Alex and Eric are in the bedroom, they are playing a video game where they are shooting bad guys. There is a point of view shot as we see the screen as if we were playing the game. It allows us to feel part of the scene, the same as at the end when the boys begin their massacre and we see one of them shoot someone. Again it is a point of view shot, so we can see it from the caracters perspective.
The non-diegtic music in most of the film is calm and sounds classical, but occassionally we hear a sinister change, for example when we are following the lifeguard at the beginning, its calm, but then a bit of it sounds like a knife being sharpened. The film ends on a cliffhanger, we dont see if he kills the couple in the freezer. We want to know if they live, so we want to watch on.
Overall I wouldn't say this is one of my favourites, but it was definately a great film to write about as there are many techniques used.
The opening shot of this film is of the sky, which looks dull and gloomy. It is quite a long shot, showing time passing as it changes from day to night. This shot is shown a few times throughout the film, to pass the time meaning only the important parts are shown. The second time this happens, we hear thunder, suggesting something bad is going to happen.
This film if full of tracking shots, following each of the characters to show what they do in their daily routine. Tracking shots allow the audience to follow the characters lives, and also makes them feel part of the scene. It also helps us to learn more about the characters, so we feel more sorry for them when they're killed at the end, for example, the geeky girl in the red top, she appears to get bullied when she's done nothing wrong. They help build suspense, as we want it to hurry up and show us whats going to happen.
At the beginning of the film there is a pan following the drunk dads car as he swerves down the road. This allows us to see where he is going, makes us feel part of the scene. There is also another pan when the students are sat in their classroom. The camera pans each of the characters faces, we are able to clearly see their facial expressions, and see what they're doing. In the scene where the boy is in his bedroom, the camera pans around it showing us whats in his room. This lets us learn more about the character and tells us what he's like.
There is one scene in 'Elephant' that is repeated three times, but each time it follows a different characters actions. The photographer guy stops to talk to the blonde guy in the corridoor and takes a photo of him, then the girl in the red top runs past. The first time this is shown, we follow what the blonde guy does, then the second time its shown we follow the photographer, and the third time we see where the girl in the red is running to. She appears to be in a hurry. It allows us to see what happens to each of the characters.
When Alex and Eric are in the bedroom, they are playing a video game where they are shooting bad guys. There is a point of view shot as we see the screen as if we were playing the game. It allows us to feel part of the scene, the same as at the end when the boys begin their massacre and we see one of them shoot someone. Again it is a point of view shot, so we can see it from the caracters perspective.
The non-diegtic music in most of the film is calm and sounds classical, but occassionally we hear a sinister change, for example when we are following the lifeguard at the beginning, its calm, but then a bit of it sounds like a knife being sharpened. The film ends on a cliffhanger, we dont see if he kills the couple in the freezer. We want to know if they live, so we want to watch on.
Overall I wouldn't say this is one of my favourites, but it was definately a great film to write about as there are many techniques used.
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