Film History Presentations - Friday 15th April

What's On?

Continue with your research on your chosen topic, remembering what you need find out from last week's post.

You will need to give a formal presentation to class. You will be assessed on the following:

a) Your knowledge of film in the decade chosen

b) Your use of film language throughout the presentation

c) Your ability to embed clips or images and explain their relevance and importance

Some of you have been asking what the best way to present any images or key words would be. Why not use your film blogs? You all know how to upload images and clips from youtube already.

Remember: deadline is Wednesday 27th April. You will need to work on these thoroughly over the exeat!

Open Framing - Friday 15th April, 2011

What's on today?

Post your paragraph on Closed Framing drafted yesterday, including a relevant screen shot from Elephant.

Open Framing

Key questions:

• What visual and stylistic features make an Open frame?

• Why are some films open frame, and what effects are created?

Your task is simple - watch the clips from Junebug ( Morrison, 2005) TWICE .

Discuss and make notes on the following:

What differences in framing and mise-en-scene from Elephant?

What can you see in the framing to make the world of the film seem "real"?

How are the characters made to seem more important than the design and composition of the film? This isn't easy - but think carefully about camera, lghting, sets, costumes, shots, angles, colours - basically anything in the Mise-en-Scene.

Conclusions:

Open framing -

·designed to depict a world where characters move freely within an open, recognizable environment

·feel of reality - a "window" on the world with changes of frame to show constantly changing reality

camera, movement and other visual aspects are secondary to the characters P-O-V of characters. More conventional editing.

Closed Framing - Thursday 14th April

Feedback from your Mise-en-Scene work
Three excellent compositions of shots, all with a very different mood and feeling, carefully thought out and well-shot. Good work all round.

To improve: use of technical film angle when explaining shots - long shots, mid shots, close ups, eye-level shot, high-angle shot, etc.

Today
It's all about framing, and how/why filmmakers create open or clsed frames in their work.

What is framing?

The frame in a film is the border between what the director wants us to see and everything else· 

Unlike a picture, the frame in a film can move and change the point of view. It is DYNAMIC.

To get a feel for framing:

·Put your hands together and make a rectangle.

·Close one eye and look through it

·Move it towards you, away from you, move it around the room.

·Notice how your view is changed depending on the movement

The world we see becomes different - same in the movies.

Now watch the clips from Elephant, which we have discussed in class.

a)      what aspects of the mise-en-scene within the frame make the world seem not "normal" or artificial, distorted?

b)      What techniques are used by the director to give a feeling of the characters being trapped, controlled, imprisoned in some way?

In what way do the following screen shots, from Halo and Super Mario Galaxy, remind you of framing in Elephant?

What we have learnt today:

Closed framing:

• visual/sonic elements are exaggerated or heavily stylized.

• ·We are more aware we are watching something MADE than real

• framing suggests characters are trapped, imprisoned or controlled by outside forces in some way (fate; social; economic, governmental), robbed of ability to act/move freely

Write a paragraph on closed framing and upload to your blog, using images and examples from Elephant to help your explanation.

FILM HISTORY PRESENTATIONS - Friday 8th April

Starter:
First task is to finish off any bits and pieces relating to yesterday's practical work on mise-en-scene. You'll need to work quickly and effectively here, which should be okay as you did some thorough and - may I add - impressive planning/research yesterday.


Any groups totally satisfied with their shots can use this time to upload them onto blogs, including an explanation - a paragraph of roughly 100 words should do it - of the effects you wanted to create with the shot, and HOW you created these effects.

Main course:

Forgive the slightly awkward jump here to something rather different. It's time to focus on your Individual Film History oral presentations. You'll start planning them today in class.

YOUR HOMEWORK THROUGHOUT THE NEXT THREE WEEKS (INCL EXEAT) WILL BE TO RESEARCH, PREPARE AND PRACTICE YOUR ORAL PRESENTATION.

You need to choose a DECADE of film (from 1910s onwards). No student can pick the SAME decade

You need to cover the following in your presentation:

• Important Movements and traditions in film (eg. French Impressionist Cinema is a Movement) during this decade
• Important film makers, actors, etc who were widely regarded/started their careers - why were they important
• Major films and what made them important, what the films tell us about the culture they came from (you should focus on films from AT LEAST TWO DIFFERENT COUNTRIES)
• Important innovations and technical developments in film
• Outside influences on the world of film in terms of financial and sociocultural context.  

2000s - T Wetzel

1990s - H Oleksuk

1980s - S Cantini Budden
1970s - Manuel Denegri

1960s - S Espina
1950s - Ernesto Travato
1940s - Ramiro Villegas
1930s - G Brun
1920s - V Galindez
1910s - C Juni

How to research - you will find the "useful websites" section on the blog helpful. Particularly, I urge you to read the Filmsite website, which will be a useful STARTING POINT to start exploring your assigned decade

DEADLINE: WEDNESDAY, 27th APRIL.

Happy hunting.

CREATING THE MOOD: MISE-EN-SCENE - Thur, 7th April

What's on the menu today?

We have looked at both still and moving images to begin analysing the MISE-EN-SCENE, and how the different elements work together in both DESIGN and COMPOSTION to create meaning in film.

It's now your turn to see if you can translate what you have learnt into your own still shot. (Anyone with the equipment feeling particularly adventurous can create a moving image shot with sound instead)

Your task is to design and shoot a mise-en-scene which helps communicate the mood and feel of life in the St George's College.

Task 1 - in pairs
Brainstorm emotions/feelings/ideas you identify with St George's. Try to go beyond simplistic ideas such as "happy" and sad". (eg. enclosed; open; oppressive; liberating; etc.) As many as possible in two minutes. I'm happy for you to write words in spanish at this stage - we can translate them when you feedback to the class.

Task 2 - in groups
From the class list gathered, you can select the ideas and mood you feel most conveys the "essence" of St George's College. Now, you need to plan a shot which can convey this essence. You will need to visualise it and sketch it using the paper provided. You can shoot outside or in class, corridors, but, obviously, no classrooms where other classes are working! Perhaps you will need to walk around first to decide on a suitable location? Fine - but you only have ten minutes to report back to me with your finished sketch.

Consider:

• characters (posture, clothes, appearance, spatial relationship to camera and other objects)
• objects (be realistic here - you can only use things that are available now in class)
• colour
• lighting and shadow (no light kits yet so you will have to use natural or ambient lighting)
• camera position and angle
• (and, if you are shooting a moving image - camera movement and sound)

Task 3 - in groups:
Once your group has had its sketch approved, you can go off and set up/shoot the shot. You will have twenty minutes to complete this. Then meet back in E2 to discuss the success of the shots, difficulties encountered, etc.

HOMEWORK - each group needs to upload their shot to their blogs ready for viewing on Monday, 11th April.

MISE-EN-SCENE (continued) - Monday, 4th April

The object of today's lesson is to extend your growing skills in analysing films as texts, considering, once more, the mise-en-scene and how meaning is created. However, whereas before we have looked exclusively at sill images, we are now going to consider moving images.

So two things we need to consider within the frame of a shot that we have yet to do: 1) that characters and objects may move, changing the relationship between us, the camera, and them; 2) the camera may move, or zoom in/out.

TASK: We will look - again - at the opening of Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954).  Discuss and make notes in your journals on:


a) the mise-en-scene used in the opening credits - what feelings of the "world of the film" are we given through all the various elements?


b) the use of camera movement here. When does the camera start to move, how does it move, what mood or feelings are conveyed through this movement?

After sharing your ideas, you will all write two paragraphs and post them, with a suitable image, or, better yet, a film clip from Rear Window.

MISE-EN-SCENE - Wednesday March 30th

The idea of the next two lessons is to develop a better understanding of how all different elements of a shot, both in design and composition, work together to create meaning. We call these elements the "mise-en-scene", which is a french term meaning "put in the scene".

The first thing to do is discuss the following still shot of The Last Emperor (Bertolucci, 1987), which we have talked of in class. Discuss the various elements within the shot, their relationship - spatial or otherwise - with each other, and the feelings the help create in us, the audience.

Consider:
camera position/angle
characters and objects
set, buildings, landscape
light and shade
colour





After making notes based on your discussions, everyone needs to write a paragraph showing your understanding of the mise-en-scene in this shot. Remember to use all the film terminology you have learnt so far.

Post the paragraph on your blog by Monday, 4th April.