Slumdog Millionaire

General comment about: How sound is used primarily in the clip:
Its used to create the emotions that the main character is feeling. When dramatic sound is projected it gives you the feeling of panic and worry, what the character is feeling.
Diagetic sound: sound from the people, vehicles and objects (sound that everyone in the scene/movie can hear)
Non-diagetic sound: sound that is put over the top of the background noises, for example the dramatic sound when the main character is running, its like footsteps(drums) to increase the suspense and drama to what is going on around in the background. the background music tells you how to feel e.g. my heart will go on- titanic is a very sad song, which makes people cry feeling sorrow.

Specific sounds/parts of the 10 minute opening:
-background noise from children , water splashing everyone is happy the music used is cultural and fitting, it helps set the scene as it is music from that particular part of the world. Then the train sound is cut out to give effect of panic of when the bad people come to kill people, then all the sound is returned to create an impact of shock and chaos of the villagers running and screaming.
-dramatic sound like fast footsteps, it then becomes more upbeat when the 2 friends are actually running through the burning houses and state of distress everyone is in.
- diagetic and non-diagetic sound is mixed together, its quite spooky, you should be scared of the bad people.
-the upbeat negative music portrays the stress and panic, it perceives the children state of panic by the drumming, its like a pacing heart beat. its the sound only the main character would hear, the sound of chaos and panic, main purpose is to reinforce the persons fear, sound serves as a plot.
-when they are not running, there is only diagetic sound, the sound of the burning homes when they stand on top of the hill, no other sound is used apart from the cracking of flames, it has the effect of sympathy on the audience.
-during the dreams and flashbacks the sound is distorted to give the information to the audience that its a memory.
- when the 2 children talking there's a lighter, positive non- diagetic sound, to show positivity within all the terror, it shows the children are getting on - sound of lost girl reflexes emotion-she is vulnerable and gentle.
- the only time when there is no diagetic sound is when they are running away, to make you feel their danger. its like a drumming/running footsteps as if you are running with them.
-the sound of the train breaks up the 2 contrasting sounds, before the screeching, you hear the water splashing, children playing- everyone is happy with getting on with their day-to-day activities. then after the train screeching, its all panic and chaos, shouting and screaming, its a very distressing time.

2 minute opening to movies

2 minute opening to feature movie-
We all know that first impressions are important, right? Well, the same goes for film. The opening title sequence of a film is giving the opportunity to make a good first impression on you, the viewer. A well-crafted title sequence introduces the audience to the tone and theme of the film as well as the cast and crew. You expect it to be interesting and exciting, to make you want to watch the rest of it. Although you don't want to much to be given away, you want it to make you be excited and to draw you in to listen and watch carefully. Some of the best movie openings are as followed, (rated by Andrew Lindstrom in 2008):
Lord of War- 2005- Andrew Niccol
Catch me if you can,- 2002- Steven Spielberg
Se7en- 1995- David Fincher
Superbad- 2007- Greg Mottola
Alien- 1979- Ridley Scott

Romeo and Juliet: Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-Scene in the opening scenes of Romeo and Juliet (1996)

Mise-en- Scene is the arrangement of everything that appears in the framing – actors, lighting, setting, sounds, props, costume – is called mise-en-scène, a French term that means “placing on stage.” 

The opening scene of Romeo and Juliet, the Montagues are driving along a highway, in an urban part of the USA, there are buildings and busy roads, and you can instantly tell its set with the daytime on a sunny day, as one of the boys is wearing sunglasses. The lighting is natural, so it doesn't emphasis anything in particular as there is lots of information to focus on. The Montagues car is yellow so your attention is drawn to it. The costumes of the Montagues is casual and colourful, in Hawaiian shirts, their costumes portray their behaviour in a kind of way as immature compared to the rival gang. The diagetic sound mainly comes from the car engines and the boys shouting, the non diagetic sound is a song about boys, a more fun upbeat song, once again implying their behaviour is youthful.

As they arrive at the petrol station which is a mutual ground for both gangs, its surrounded by greenery and the scene is colourful, as the Montagues turn up to the station the camera is focused on the number plate with ‘mon’ on the front implying what gang they are from. The car brakes sound is emphasised, with a continuing of funky music. Once again as the leader of the Montagues walks away- the camera pans away following him, until you reach the rival gangs car. Emphasising the number plate once more, it tells you it’s a different gang. The engine of the Capulets car is emphasised, and you focus on the ground, not revealing what they look like yet. The first obvious reaction is that they look slicker, the colours are darker perhaps mirroring their Latin ethnicity. Compared to the Montagues clothing which is very loud, they clearly want to be heard and seen. The sound of heels of the shoes are emphasised, and the music starts to change, it gives off a western style with the heeled boots and music, The music changes the mood of the scene also and the genre of the piece seems to move to Spaghetti Western. The music once again switches to a more upbeat, transferring the focus onto the Montagues.

This is the first time you properly see the Capulets, their clothing is black leather, metal heeled boots, more tailored clothing, portraying their maturity, the Montagues are more subtle about there appearance, their presence is still just as strong, just not as obvious. The costumes of the background characters are very normal, everyday clothing, the Capulets are much groomed, with gel hair, shaved beards. The outfit contrast between the 2 gangs is very different; you can clearly tell who is in what gang. The non-diagetic music shifts between each gang so it tells the audience who to focus on.  Both gangs show religious significance by Jesus on their clothing and a cross shaved on one of the Capulets hair. This is when the language from the original Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare) comes in properly. More emphasis on the car engine as it pulls away, also on the screeching of the breaks, at the intense scene of them arguing, there is only diagetic sound from the background and the speech. Then a fade drumming sound comes in, the diagetic and non-diagetic sounds are mixed well to create a feeling of suspense. A screaking of a sign which says ‘add more fuel to your fire’ gives of a hint of what could happen, guns? Petrol? Does this mean fire? The surrounding are very colourful, so the Capulets stand out by sight. Whereas the Montagues stand out by the noise they make. When Tybalt Capulet shows, a wind and an eerie whistle starts giving you the western style battle, all you need is the tumble weed. The fight scene and camera shots are very comical. The music builds up and has a religious style by the choir, but also a upbeat feel to it. Then it stops so we can hear is noise from the traffic. The fire takes hold and we see copies of the local newspaper telling stories of Montagues and Capulets. The camera angles focus on the fire, with slow motion and quick camera angles.

 

Les Miserable Review

Les Miserables- Did you dream a dream of this movie?

 They dreamed a dream, and now it’s come true. It’s been a long time coming — 27 years since Les Miserables opened in London — but it’s worth the wait.

 ‘At the end of the day’, Les Miserables is a film to see. The Oscar nominated cast of the films £8 million grossing from the opening weekend, singing live was bold but a mistake for some. It’s a bit peculiar for a Burberry model and Bellatrix Lestrange (Harry Potter) to be singing along live to songs about being ‘Master of the House’.

Ex-convict Jean ValJean turns his life around, and becomes a pillar to society during early 18^th century after visiting a local church, when he is given a positive outlook on life.  He becomes a successful business man and steps into the role of a father after finding a young Cosette to whom he adopts- after her mother Fantine (Hathaway) gets fired from her job and becomes a prostitute but sadly dies very early on in the movie. Throughout the years we see Jean ValJean’s life unfold during the final years of the French revolution, with villain Javert following his every bad move. An all singing, intense acting cast, Les Mis has struck controversy worldwide. I was mesmerised by the compelling film, featuring an intelligent performance from Hugh Jackman and the big grizzly man we all call Russell Crowe. Not only do you follow ValJean with his life, you watch Cosette (Seyfried) grow in to a young women and fall in love. With the final number ‘Do you hear the people sing’, you walk out of the movie theatre with a sense of achievement and power  as the actors sing proudly looking to the sky,-with the draping French flags burnt and teared and standing upon their very own homemade barricades.

Every line, every  note, every scene shows a great sense of passion and power, even if you are the iconic gladiator (Crowe) who was given a lot of criticism over his live, unedited ‘singing’ voice. As Crowe retorted when American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert dared to criticise the cast’s performances – resulting in hundreds of bile-filled tweets – the singing wasn’t meant to be technically perfect, but “raw and real”. Well, I’m fine with raw and real. I don’t believe singing has to be technically perfect but it does need to express emotion, The physical strength of the movie is impressive, just like ValJean when he lifts the flagpole to the intro of the song ‘prisoner 24601’.

A tear runs down the faces of the audience when a young boy with the bravery of a grown man- as he lays out cold in a line of the lost souls of young revolutionists (age 20-30) who risk their lives for freedom as they protect their homes literally with pianos and chairs. A touching part, of which continues when evil Javert has a moment, he does the cliché looking up to  the light and finds a place in his heart, to which he places a medal on the young boys chest, in bravery and honour of protecting his friends. The music gets louder and become a powerful part of the scene. Then a positive uplift to which brings the whole theatre to tears.

 Although other moments are less successful, it’s sad and all that a ten year old has died for his country and all,-when he has hardly lived, but it’s a bit peculiar when a strong cockney accent is in the mist of the French revolution, on top of that no one has a French accent, not one of them.

But if you are ready for a sing off between Wolverine and Gladiator, be prepared for 158 minutes of melodramatic French revolution movie, with a touching and pride holding side to it. One way or another you NEED to see this this is a magnificent tribute to Working Title and Cameron Mackintosh, whether you beg to by the movie or watch it online somehow-Seeing a movie this terrific is a truly thrilling experience.

Editing the movie poster UP.

To recreate the film poster of 'UP', we are using Photoshop. We used the original background of the movie poster and removed 'Russell' the character on the front, by using the magic wand tool, and the eraser. Then took a photo of a friend who is pulling the same pose as the character on the front of the poster. Making our recreated version of the poster was harder than we thought, Photoshop is a un-reliable programme, especially as we were making our poster, it was a typical error. But as Matt, the person I was working with, knew how to use Photoshop, I was lucky, as his skills were put to good use.

How we created and edited our Poster


1. Get the original poster cover, and get our actor to pose as much as he can like Russell.
2. Import the image six times and crop it to the following body parts: head, chest, leg, left arm, bicep and forearm.
3. Remove the background from each part.
4. Morph and transform the head into a disproportional size to the body as this is what most Pixar characters seem to be like. .E.g. Buzz, Woody, Mr Incredible.
5. Attach the head to the original hat of the poster.
6. Do a lot of morphing and transforming for the rest of the body parts and try to get them to look like Russell's original pose.
7. Repaint the hose and the background by hand to restore the hose back to the images because the history brush was not working.
8. Do the finishing touches like adding a cast shadow, and then you will have a successful recreation of the UP movie poster.

 This is the finished product.

 

 

 





'UP' poster

In todays media lesson we are choosing movie posters ,and taking our own photos to which we will edit our own pictures into it. our choice of movie is the 2009 'Up' about a 78 year old man who ties thousands of balloons to his house, as his dream is to see South America, specially Paradise Falls. Russell a wilderness explorer, 70 years in his youth, tags along for the ride. After a long journey with surprises along the way, they make it.