Explain how camera work and sound are used to establish the situation and the characters in the opening 2 minutes of Seven. Explain how the film intrigues its audience.
The opening shot in Seven is of Morgan Freeman’s character, pouring coffee down the sink. The character is in mid long shot. We see his clothes, body language and his house. From this shot alone we can see his home is very ordered, tidy and clean. This is highlighted by having Freemans character in the background, with his organized chess board and perfectly placed household ornaments in the foreground. This could be interpreted that Freeman’s character is lonely, in that there is no mess, or clothes lying about, no obvious sign of life apart from his. The camera is still, and is shooting for about 10 seconds. This allows the audience to grasp the characters surroundings, and the fact that the camera is still, and not moving at all, means that the whole image is used, and is not a passing blur. The camera is shot from a low angle, but keeps the character in frame as he is in MLS range. This shot, coincidentally, is in line with his table, which holds his chess board. The background noises also help ascertain his surroundings. Throughout the whole sequence shot in his home there is the typical loud neighbours. The audience can hear them talk and move around, most probably above him. This shows that he lives in a flat or an apartment building. There are also a few sounds as he pours the coffee down the sink and places it in the sink. These sounds are diegetic, but are probably placed in the post-production of the film.
The next shot compliments the first, in that it carries on the tidiness and precision of what the first shot shows. We see him do up his tie. The camera is shot so we see the characters actions in the mirror. This is because the director wants us to see that the character cares about how he looks, but not out of vanity. The tie is done up perfectly, and the camera is shot at Freemans eye level, to show his perfectionism, and how he perceives himself. The sounds are of the loud neighbours, crashing about upstairs. Despite the neighbours upstairs, the audience can still hear him do up his button, and pat down his collar. This is to show how quiet his life is, that we can hear every sound he creates.
Then it cuts to a close up of his belongings, lined up neatly, on a clean wooden surface. The reason that they are shot in close up is so we can see the characters occupation, and what he carries on a day to day basis. The objects are his keys, police badge, pocket knife, pen, and what looks like a glasses case. The way the camera stays still and fixes on his objects make them seem important. The police badge is the most notable object, as it tells the audience his occupation. We hear him pick up his keys, his badge, knife and pen. These sounds are diegetic, and match the material he is picking them up from, wood. The next shot is back to shot 2, Freemans character looking in the mirror. We see him looking down and placing his objects into his pocket. The movements are slow and articulate, and again, the camera remains still, so we concentrate on his body movements and facial expressions.
We then see him by his bed, which is made perfectly, with his suit lying folded up like new on his bed. Again, this serves the function. His character is very ordered, organised and articulate. The camera is at a low level, but not at a low angle. The suit is the main aspect of the shot, and the audience pick up on it being very neatly folded on a crease-less bed. We hear some more diegetic sounds during this shot. There is traffic outside. There are cars honking and we can hear them drive past his home. This highlights the fact he does not live the high life.
The next shot is a slow upward pan of a dead, obese body. The camera does not linger on the body for too long, and there is no sharp burst of music or any kind of non-diegetic sounds. The way the camera scans the body almost serenely suggests that this is another typical day for the character. We can hear another character talking off screen, but the audience can tell it’s not a voiceover. It cuts to the next shot, which is Freeman’s character walking down a corridor in a house. The whole shot is filmed at Freemans eye level, even when he hunches over to read something on the fridge. This makes him seem like the dominant force in the scene, the camera compliments him, and stays focused on him, even when the other character is talking. To highlight the polices presence at the scene, we can hear police radio conversations in the background, with the perpetual traffic sounds outside to authenticate the setting. We also hear Freeman walking on the wooden floor with slow, heavy steps.
The shot that follows subtlety shows the blood splatter on the blinds behind the policeman. This backs up the dead body seen earlier on, and shows that Freeman’s character is nor shocked or moved by the occurrences at the house. The camera keeps the policeman in mid long shot, so we can see his body language and his facial expressions evenly, as it happens here; his is one of dislike and annoyance. It then cuts to Freeman’s character again, from the other side, taking off his glasses as the policeman speaks. This is because the dim light is showing that side of the face, so we can see how he reacts to the other characters comments. The rain outside is now more clearly heard, and it carries on throughout the whole scene, to set the drab, dim and depressing tone of the scene.
The next shot is of the policeman walking away, and Brad Pitt’s character walking up the stairs and looking at the policeman in an accusatory manner. He starts off in mid long shot, so we can see his body language, which is very much closed, and walks to a mid shot position, this shows that he gets close to Freemans character, which implies that they will have a relationship. It then cuts to Freeman, who looks around at Pitt with wide eyes. All the while we hear Pitt’s character walking nearer Freeman’s. Then it cuts to Pitt, who is now in an established mid shot, to show their relationship is still founded. The camera accentuates his facial expression, which is one of interest and hidden enthusiasm. This separates his character from Freemans immediately as he is young, and has a certain eagerness, whereas Freemans is very much old and mildly apathetic, with his closed body language.
The last shot in the opening 2 minutes is from the outside. Here the rain is heavy, hard and symbolic of the bleak atmosphere that David Fincher created beforehand. The camera pans slightly, then stays fixed as the dead body is wheeled out and Pitt and Freeman follow. They are both in mid long shot. This is so the audience can see how they react to each other, and their judgements of the other, without it being overpowering.
Overall, Seven creates a grave, bleak opening; using fixed camera shots and dim lighting, it allows the sounds, characters and settings to play themselves into the audiences’ heads.
Written by Michael.
Sunday, 25 January 2009
The Usual Suspects Video
This video is a little over the 2mins of my essay.
posted by Jo White 25/01/09
Explain how camera work and sound are used to establish the situation and the characters in the opening 2 minutes of the thriller The Usual Suspects
Explain how camera work and sound are used to establish the situation and the characters in the opening 2 minutes of the thriller ‘The usual suspects’ and how the film intrigues it’s audience.
In the opening two minutes of ‘The Usual Suspects’ the first shot is an eyelevel shot, close up, this close up of the matches brings the audience into the action to what’s happening, which makes them feel more involved as the film begins. The sound of the matches being stricked is diegetic as its from a source from the film. A cut is used in the following shot to show the audience the first character in the scene and that it was him who had lit the matches. The camera tilts up towards the characters face to show he’s lighting a cigarette. A following cut is used to show the trickling of water from the barrels, the sound from the water is quite loud compared to the flow of the water coming from the barrels.
In the following shot the male character is poisoned in the middle of the frame, at the medium close up at eyelevel to show the characters actions, this helps to build suspense and intrigues the audience as we don’t know what the character is lighting.
A close up is used in the following shot to show the barrels again, this shot is also the first real shot were the audience can see the location and the situation the male character Is in, the audience can see he doesn’t seem to be worried or scared even though his situation seems to be in a pretty remote lonely place. The camera movement tilts down towards the ground and pauses at the ground for a few seconds. The next shot is the male character sitting on the floor looking slightly bewildered or that he’s just given up with what ever it was he was trying to do, this is shown as he drops he’s match onto the floor and just watches it to show that he doesn’t care anymore. The shot is a medium shot at eyelevel, as the flames ignite on the floor the camera movement follows the fames by panning to the right. The sound of the flames is diegetic but it could also be off screen diegetic as the sound could have been created off screen. In the next shot the audience can see a dead man lying on the ground, at this point the audience realises that the characters situation isn’t right, as he doesn’t seem to be bothered about the dead man at all. This scene also intrigues the audience as we don’t know what has happened to the man, or who killed him or what both men are even doing in this location. This shot is a low angled shot, the low angle allows the audience to see the situation that the dead character may of got himself into although we don’t know if the first male character killed him or if he was already dead this shot also allows the audience to their own interpretation of what’s happened as there is no dialogue to explain what’s happened. The next shot shows the camera tilt down towards the flames and shows the audience that someone from above is trying to put out the fire. This intrigues the audience as their not sure if someone’s trying to help the first male character or not.
The flames sound like a crackling log fire; this may be because the sound effect has been added in after making it off screen diegetic.
In the next shot the camera tilts up slowly to where the water is coming from, and suddenly the audience realises the second male character isn’t trying to put out the fire but infact urinating from above. Again the camera tilts up towards the second character, as the camera reaches him, music begins this is non diegetic sound as the characters can’t hear it. The sudden involvement of music shows the second characters importance; it also adds tension as the audiences know something’s going to happen now that this mystery character is in the scene. A cut is used and the next shot is of the first male character, the shot is a medium close up and the audience can see from his facial expression that this new male character isn’t here to help the man. The first male character looks down at the floor as if he’s disappointed, the soundtrack used is parallel to the actions, but non diegetic, the soundtrack adds a sense of danger and disappointment, which allows the audience to suspect something bad is going to happen before it does.
As the second male character walks down the metal steps the sound is diegetic as the character can hear his footsteps. The camera slowly tilts back down to the ground, the shot is a mid-close up of some rope and the audience can just see the man’s feet walking towards the camera at a low angle. The next shot cuts to just the man’s feet and the audience watch him walk out of the frame, this is shot at a low angle to show the characters importance and mystery as he walks towards the first character. This shot also establishes the second man’s character as he walks straight past the dead man on the ground and doesn’t even ask the first man what happened or anything about the dead man, he just walks straight past as if he wasn’t there. This shows the audience he’s used to this type of situation and that he’s not afraid this also intrigues the audience as to what type of man he is and what he’s going to do next.
In the following shot is a medium shot at eyelevel, the camera stays fixated on the first character for a few seconds. A cut is used and the next shot is a close up of the second characters hand as he flicks his lighter up and on, this sound is off screen diegetic. as the man brings his hand towards his face the camera cuts to the first male again so that the audience still doesn’t see his face keeping him the mystery character so that no one knows what’s going to happen next. This shot is the first shot with dialogue, it’s one minute and thirteen seconds into the film, this has kept the audience intrigued and guessing throughout the begging on the film. Shot reverse shot is used as the camera goes back and fourth to each character as they engage in conversation. The audience still cant see the second characters face, you can just see him flicking his lighter off. The next shot is at eyelevel and a medium shot. The second male character is also in the frame, but only his shadowy outline, and the vague outline of a gun. At this point the audience and the first character knows something bad is going to happen and his situation doesn’t look good. As the first character looks up the camera pan’s to the right at the second male and the audience see’s him look at his watch at eyelevel. The next shot is a low angle shot as the man switches the gun from one hand to the other, the camera tilts back up to the second male character as he points the gun at the other character, the shot is a medium close up, and the soundtrack seems to build suspense and tension as it gets louder. A cut is used and the audience doesn’t seem the man get shot but they know he has been through the music and the lack of no camera movement, is a long shot and just focused on the outside location the first gun shot is heard, it’s on screen diegetic. As the second gun shot is heard a different part of their location is shown, at a medium shot at eyelevel. The soundtrack also changes and almost sounds sad from the use of violins which is a contrast from earlier when the soundtrack created tension and made the audience wonder what was going to happen next.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=t6msq8mgdnE
Posted By Jo White. 25/01/09
In the opening two minutes of ‘The Usual Suspects’ the first shot is an eyelevel shot, close up, this close up of the matches brings the audience into the action to what’s happening, which makes them feel more involved as the film begins. The sound of the matches being stricked is diegetic as its from a source from the film. A cut is used in the following shot to show the audience the first character in the scene and that it was him who had lit the matches. The camera tilts up towards the characters face to show he’s lighting a cigarette. A following cut is used to show the trickling of water from the barrels, the sound from the water is quite loud compared to the flow of the water coming from the barrels.
In the following shot the male character is poisoned in the middle of the frame, at the medium close up at eyelevel to show the characters actions, this helps to build suspense and intrigues the audience as we don’t know what the character is lighting.
A close up is used in the following shot to show the barrels again, this shot is also the first real shot were the audience can see the location and the situation the male character Is in, the audience can see he doesn’t seem to be worried or scared even though his situation seems to be in a pretty remote lonely place. The camera movement tilts down towards the ground and pauses at the ground for a few seconds. The next shot is the male character sitting on the floor looking slightly bewildered or that he’s just given up with what ever it was he was trying to do, this is shown as he drops he’s match onto the floor and just watches it to show that he doesn’t care anymore. The shot is a medium shot at eyelevel, as the flames ignite on the floor the camera movement follows the fames by panning to the right. The sound of the flames is diegetic but it could also be off screen diegetic as the sound could have been created off screen. In the next shot the audience can see a dead man lying on the ground, at this point the audience realises that the characters situation isn’t right, as he doesn’t seem to be bothered about the dead man at all. This scene also intrigues the audience as we don’t know what has happened to the man, or who killed him or what both men are even doing in this location. This shot is a low angled shot, the low angle allows the audience to see the situation that the dead character may of got himself into although we don’t know if the first male character killed him or if he was already dead this shot also allows the audience to their own interpretation of what’s happened as there is no dialogue to explain what’s happened. The next shot shows the camera tilt down towards the flames and shows the audience that someone from above is trying to put out the fire. This intrigues the audience as their not sure if someone’s trying to help the first male character or not.
The flames sound like a crackling log fire; this may be because the sound effect has been added in after making it off screen diegetic.
In the next shot the camera tilts up slowly to where the water is coming from, and suddenly the audience realises the second male character isn’t trying to put out the fire but infact urinating from above. Again the camera tilts up towards the second character, as the camera reaches him, music begins this is non diegetic sound as the characters can’t hear it. The sudden involvement of music shows the second characters importance; it also adds tension as the audiences know something’s going to happen now that this mystery character is in the scene. A cut is used and the next shot is of the first male character, the shot is a medium close up and the audience can see from his facial expression that this new male character isn’t here to help the man. The first male character looks down at the floor as if he’s disappointed, the soundtrack used is parallel to the actions, but non diegetic, the soundtrack adds a sense of danger and disappointment, which allows the audience to suspect something bad is going to happen before it does.
As the second male character walks down the metal steps the sound is diegetic as the character can hear his footsteps. The camera slowly tilts back down to the ground, the shot is a mid-close up of some rope and the audience can just see the man’s feet walking towards the camera at a low angle. The next shot cuts to just the man’s feet and the audience watch him walk out of the frame, this is shot at a low angle to show the characters importance and mystery as he walks towards the first character. This shot also establishes the second man’s character as he walks straight past the dead man on the ground and doesn’t even ask the first man what happened or anything about the dead man, he just walks straight past as if he wasn’t there. This shows the audience he’s used to this type of situation and that he’s not afraid this also intrigues the audience as to what type of man he is and what he’s going to do next.
In the following shot is a medium shot at eyelevel, the camera stays fixated on the first character for a few seconds. A cut is used and the next shot is a close up of the second characters hand as he flicks his lighter up and on, this sound is off screen diegetic. as the man brings his hand towards his face the camera cuts to the first male again so that the audience still doesn’t see his face keeping him the mystery character so that no one knows what’s going to happen next. This shot is the first shot with dialogue, it’s one minute and thirteen seconds into the film, this has kept the audience intrigued and guessing throughout the begging on the film. Shot reverse shot is used as the camera goes back and fourth to each character as they engage in conversation. The audience still cant see the second characters face, you can just see him flicking his lighter off. The next shot is at eyelevel and a medium shot. The second male character is also in the frame, but only his shadowy outline, and the vague outline of a gun. At this point the audience and the first character knows something bad is going to happen and his situation doesn’t look good. As the first character looks up the camera pan’s to the right at the second male and the audience see’s him look at his watch at eyelevel. The next shot is a low angle shot as the man switches the gun from one hand to the other, the camera tilts back up to the second male character as he points the gun at the other character, the shot is a medium close up, and the soundtrack seems to build suspense and tension as it gets louder. A cut is used and the audience doesn’t seem the man get shot but they know he has been through the music and the lack of no camera movement, is a long shot and just focused on the outside location the first gun shot is heard, it’s on screen diegetic. As the second gun shot is heard a different part of their location is shown, at a medium shot at eyelevel. The soundtrack also changes and almost sounds sad from the use of violins which is a contrast from earlier when the soundtrack created tension and made the audience wonder what was going to happen next.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=t6msq8mgdnE
Posted By Jo White. 25/01/09
Explain how mise en scene and editing are used to establish the situation and the characters in the opening minutes of a thriller film.
The opening sequence of Usual Suspects uses mise en scene with editing to establish to the audience the situation in which the characters are in.
The sequence starts with an extreme close up of a box of matches being lit; the camera then changes to a medium shot of one of the characters sitting on the floor lighting his cigarette of the match. From the lighting and body language the audience can already sense that something isn’t right with the situation the character is in. also in the background the audience can see fire and looks as though he is in a damp dark environment.
The camera shot then changes to a shot of barrels with water dripping off them; this reinforces the kind of environment he is in. The camera then changes again back to the character sitting down, he then drops the matches lighting a line of petrol. His body language and how he is sitting suggests that he has ‘given up’. The audience reaction would be them questioning what’s going on why has he done this etc.
The camera then follows the path of the fire, as the camera follows you see a dead person lying on the floor suggesting to the audience that something bad has happened and the character sitting don was involved. The camera keeps following until some mysterious character ‘peeing’ to stop the trail of fire stops it.
The camera the tilts up to look up at him, it’s very dark with use of low key lighting to give the audience a sense of the surroundings. Throughout the whole sequence with this character his head is never revealed to the audience.
It again focuses on the character sitting down, his body language again suggests that he is in a bad situation, he shakes his head and then looks distressed. The camera then follows the other mysterious character as he walks down the stairs. The director has done this to create suspense concentrating on every detail about the situation and what’s happening in the sequence. The way in which it is edited is very clever, when the character walks across to the other character sitting down it gets dead bodies in the shot giving the audience an idea about what happened. POV shots and shot reverse shots are used when they are in dialogue to capture facial expression. Which tells the audience how they are feeling in the situation they are in.
The next shot is of the mysterious character standing up, props that are used is a lighter which he pulls out to light a cigarette although he is still kept a mystery to the audience.
Dialogue starts and the audience is then made aware of one of the character names, ‘keaton’, this tells the audience that both of the characters have a history together. The other character standing up then pulls out a gun and points it at ‘keaton’, this tells the audience the kind of relationship between the two characters and gives the audience an idea to the type of situation they are in.
You don’t see him being shot, it cuts to the surroundings telling the audience that it’s quite and know one is about to witness it. The way in which it’s edited is very clever, the characters are established not too much is given away to the audience enforcing the sense of mystery making us question who they are. Nothing is revealed about the situation, the film comes in after all the action has happened and you don’t know why ‘keaton’ is involved.
The elements of mise en scene that create effect to this situation is lighting, very low key lighting is used to create this dark feeling along with editing used with close ups, camera angles which create mystery and get the audience questioning what’s going on while building suspense. This is the most important aspect of thriller getting the audience excited and involved.
The camera angles used creates a lot of mystery as not a lot is revealed about the characters so it makes the audience want to know more.
The sequence starts with an extreme close up of a box of matches being lit; the camera then changes to a medium shot of one of the characters sitting on the floor lighting his cigarette of the match. From the lighting and body language the audience can already sense that something isn’t right with the situation the character is in. also in the background the audience can see fire and looks as though he is in a damp dark environment.
The camera shot then changes to a shot of barrels with water dripping off them; this reinforces the kind of environment he is in. The camera then changes again back to the character sitting down, he then drops the matches lighting a line of petrol. His body language and how he is sitting suggests that he has ‘given up’. The audience reaction would be them questioning what’s going on why has he done this etc.
The camera then follows the path of the fire, as the camera follows you see a dead person lying on the floor suggesting to the audience that something bad has happened and the character sitting don was involved. The camera keeps following until some mysterious character ‘peeing’ to stop the trail of fire stops it.
The camera the tilts up to look up at him, it’s very dark with use of low key lighting to give the audience a sense of the surroundings. Throughout the whole sequence with this character his head is never revealed to the audience.
It again focuses on the character sitting down, his body language again suggests that he is in a bad situation, he shakes his head and then looks distressed. The camera then follows the other mysterious character as he walks down the stairs. The director has done this to create suspense concentrating on every detail about the situation and what’s happening in the sequence. The way in which it is edited is very clever, when the character walks across to the other character sitting down it gets dead bodies in the shot giving the audience an idea about what happened. POV shots and shot reverse shots are used when they are in dialogue to capture facial expression. Which tells the audience how they are feeling in the situation they are in.
The next shot is of the mysterious character standing up, props that are used is a lighter which he pulls out to light a cigarette although he is still kept a mystery to the audience.
Dialogue starts and the audience is then made aware of one of the character names, ‘keaton’, this tells the audience that both of the characters have a history together. The other character standing up then pulls out a gun and points it at ‘keaton’, this tells the audience the kind of relationship between the two characters and gives the audience an idea to the type of situation they are in.
You don’t see him being shot, it cuts to the surroundings telling the audience that it’s quite and know one is about to witness it. The way in which it’s edited is very clever, the characters are established not too much is given away to the audience enforcing the sense of mystery making us question who they are. Nothing is revealed about the situation, the film comes in after all the action has happened and you don’t know why ‘keaton’ is involved.
The elements of mise en scene that create effect to this situation is lighting, very low key lighting is used to create this dark feeling along with editing used with close ups, camera angles which create mystery and get the audience questioning what’s going on while building suspense. This is the most important aspect of thriller getting the audience excited and involved.
The camera angles used creates a lot of mystery as not a lot is revealed about the characters so it makes the audience want to know more.
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Teachers Feedback
The first issue was framing; Jo needed to be lower in the frame during the corridor shots. Also, we need to fill the frame better, shoot at a lower angle, and not include extraneous things in the shot. Editing; we needed to cut sharper on the match on action, so it seems more realistic. We also need to use a wider variety of shots, to make our thriller project more interesting to watch.
Written by Jo and Michael.
Written by Jo and Michael.
Prelininary evaluation
Firstly we going to start with the things wrong with our location, firstly the location didnt fit with the situation. The next low comment was the unwanted props that we had at the beggining of the video. The next evaulation we got for the props was, that our peers found our use of props unintersting. Hower our peers liked that we used realistic props such as the coffee cup and folder. The evaulation we got for lighting was that people noticed that we used natural lighting throught the use of the window, however we didnt use artifical lighting. The following box is coustume and make up, our peers didnt think that the coustumes we used suited the situation. The following box was camera framing and people found that our camera framing was adverage. And the use of the black screen with text was not appreciated as it wasted time. The next box is variety of frames, people found our use of framing too simplistic and a bit dull.
The next box is angles, our peers noticed that there wasnt enough variety and we seemed to only use eyelevel. The following overall opinion on movement was that the pan we used wasnt enough movement from the camera. The 180 degree rule was a success as everyone overall realised we hadnt broken the 180 degree rule. Match on action overall also seemed to work well and our peers thought that this worked well, although the absence of the doors noise when closing was noticed. The shot reverse shot seemed to work well but as the scene was boring people didnt notice it and therefore didnt really see the need to comment on it.
Written by Jo and Michael
The next box is angles, our peers noticed that there wasnt enough variety and we seemed to only use eyelevel. The following overall opinion on movement was that the pan we used wasnt enough movement from the camera. The 180 degree rule was a success as everyone overall realised we hadnt broken the 180 degree rule. Match on action overall also seemed to work well and our peers thought that this worked well, although the absence of the doors noise when closing was noticed. The shot reverse shot seemed to work well but as the scene was boring people didnt notice it and therefore didnt really see the need to comment on it.
Written by Jo and Michael
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Final Stages
Today Tom, Michael, and i finished editing our sequence, we made sure the sound was all the right tempo, and played through the sequence to double check it all fitted well. We added some credits at the end of the sequence and then burnted it to a disk and gave the disk to Andy the technician.
The final stages are to upload our evaulations to the blog and hand them in on friday.
Jo 14/1/2009
The final stages are to upload our evaulations to the blog and hand them in on friday.
Jo 14/1/2009
Friday, 9 January 2009
Editing
Jo and Tom did some more editing on Wednesday. While I was not present, these guys did some great work; layered the music over the film, and cleaned up the sound levels to increase its authenticity. Hopefully, next Wednesday when we're all there, we'll all be able to finally finish this project.
Michael
Michael
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