Cinematography - Pride and Prejudice

This is the opening scene to Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. The first shot of the whole film is an establishing shot, introducing us to the setting, which we see is the countryside. This shot continues for about 45 seconds while the first credits are shown.

The next shot is a medium shot of the film's protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet and she is walking towards the camera reading a book; the camera moves backwards as she walks forwards and zooms out slightly to show us her surroundings and we immediately have an initial idea as to her character/personality. This is reinforced by the next shot which is an over-the-shoulder shot in which we see the book in more detail - as she closes the book, she appears to stroke it which could be an indicator of her passion for reading so we are able to infer that her character is one of creativity and imagination. 

The next shot is another establishing shot which introduces us to the Bennet residence which appears to be a farm, possibly indicating the family's wealth and social class. 

The next shot is a medium-long tracking shot of Elizabeth, following her as she walks through the hanging linen towards her house. As she walks past the door of the house, the camera stops following her and we are taken into the house. 

In this single shot that lasts over a minute, we are quickly introduced to the rest of the family and this gives us brief insight into their characters. 

The camera then stops moving forward and slowly pans to the right so we are given a further understanding of the family's home life. 

Then, the camera stops panning and continues to move forward and takes us outside onto the veranda and we are re-joined by Elizabeth who comes up onto the veranda and looks into the window in front of her as she hears her mother's voice and the camera stops just behind her, creating another over-the-shoulder shot enabling us to see what Elizabeth can see which could signify that what is happening in the window provides information relevant to the rest of the narrative. 

The camera then moves backwards creating a long shot and continues to track Elizabeth, highlighting her significance, making it very clear that she is the protagonist. 

The next shot is a medium long shot of Elizabeth's two youngest sisters, Kitty and Lydia eavesdropping outside the room their parents are in and this illustrates their childishness. Elizabeth initially tells them off but then in the next shot which is a medium close-up shot she joins them, suggesting that she too has a childish side to her. They are then joined by their oldest sister Jane and the remainder of the scene alternates between the medium close-up shot of the four sisters, and the medium long shot of Mrs Bennet through the ajar door which reinforces the idea of the importance of the conversation being had between Mr and Mrs Bennet.

Blog Feedback

WWW: What a fantastic start to AS Media – I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog and what comes through so strongly is how much knowledge and passion you have for film. I can’t tell you how valuable this is when studying A Level Media! You’ve picked out some superb clips and images to study but what really sets your work apart is the analysis. You are confidently using media terminology while deconstructing texts and images. This in-depth textual analysis is extremely positive and coupled with your natural authority on film tells me you should be aiming for the very highest grade in this subject. Keep up the good work!

EBI: There are a couple of minor things that we can fix straight away: in terms of how you present and organise your writing, please left-align all work as you would expect if using Microsoft Word. Similarly, you also need to look at paragraphing: for the Little Miss Sunshine clip you pick out so many excellent aspects but in one large block of text it’s difficult to follow. It’s also useful to divide each aspect you are analysing into separate paragraphs as you can then self-assess whether you are discussing each point in sufficient detail and really considering the impact on the audience. Finally, a couple of other comments – the sound video LR doesn’t contain an assessment of your top three sound videos from the class and why and your film noir research is very short. This surprises me – in a blog full of phenomenal film knowledge and expertise this post really stands out as lacking depth!

LR: Reflect on your first month of Film Language. What is your strongest piece of work so far? What is your weakest? What specific skills or knowledge do you need to develop over the rest of the course?

Sound Clips Analysis

A Clockwork Orange

As soon as the clip begins, we hear a dramatic piece of what initially appears to be non diegetic classical music in the background but then a voice-over begins and we can assume it's Alex, the character leading the group in the clip and during his voice-over he mentions how he can hear a piece of music from a stereo in someone's window, leading us to wonder whether the piece of music we can hear is diegetic or not. I think this particular piece of music becomes more and more contrapuntal the further we get into the clip and not the kind of music you would expect to hear for such a violent scene. I think Stanley Kubrick chose to use this piece of music because it accentuates Alex's insanity in that the music has connotations of triumph and and optimism so it implies that Alex feels triumphant about the fact that he is afflicting injury on his "Droogs". Furthermore, the fact that we can't hear the violence; all we can hear is the music suggests that this was Stanley Kubrick's way of essentially softening the scene and making it easier for the audience to handle, whereas if we were to hear the violence, especially the first thing Alex does, I think a large proportion of the audience would have found it extremely hard to watch, especially since it's in slow motion. Also, when the violence starts, the volume of the music increases which heightens the dramatic nature of the scene, drawing the audience's attention to the action.

Once Upon A Time In The West

During this scene, all the sounds we hear are diegetic and they are all sounds that emphasise how desolate and empty the characters' surroundings are. For example, we hear sounds like knuckle cracking, water dripping, footsteps, a fly buzzing and a windmill creaking. All these sounds have deliberately been intensified and they are sounds that would otherwise go unnoticed, yet they are the only sounds we hear and I think the director's intention behind this was to express how barren and quiet the setting is. The collection of sounds appear to build up as the scene progresses and eventually there are many noises happening at once and this builds tension as the audience would naturally expect a climax from all the noise building up, so then we feel relief when one of the men disconnects the tape recorder and all the sounds appear to stop.
There are a number of sound bridges in this clip; the most noticeable one is probably right at the end when we hear the sound of the train approaching but we are still looking at the man with the fly trapped in his gun. The sound of the train might not be immediately recognised as a train and so the effect this has on the audience is that they begin to wonder what the sound is, and then they are shocked by the sudden image of the train going over the camera. The sound of the train is then massively intensified and is very loud and so a strong contrast is created between that and the quiet, calm scenes beforehand, potentially making the audience jump.

Once Upon A Time In America

There are many sounds that feature in this clip, both diegetic and non-diegetic. Examples of diegetic sounds include: the quiet background music at the beginning that appears to be playing outside the house, the rustling of newspaper, the voice of the man giving soup to the injured man, the fire, the fire hoses, the panicked voices of people, the clipping of the name tags on the dead men, the music during the men's funerals, a man making at telephone call. The continuous sound of a phone ringing is also diegetic but not until right at the end and there are times in which we think it applies to different parts of the narrative. Initially we think it is a phone ringing in the house the injured man is in but no one appears to answer it so we know it's not there. Then we think it could be a phone ringing in the scene of the fire but then it moves on to the funeral scene, then it moves onto the image of a phone and so we are certain that it's this phone that's ringing but then when the man picks it up, the sound continues so we are even more confused. Then we see an image of another phone which is the phone ringing so this is a diegetic sound because whoever else is in the room would be able to hear it, but no one picks it up so from this we are able to deduce that it's the phone of the injured man.

My Sound Video Learner Response

Teacher Feedback:

- Great choice of music - has a strong feel and atmosphere.

- Use of YouTube footage is contemporary and interesting and also creates a link between the parallel and contrapuntal.

- Perhaps not enough of a jump/distinction between them despite the clear emotional difference.

- More of a montage/wider selection of clips (perhaps newspaper/online headlines relating to the issue?) could have added to this.

My own Feedback:

WWW:

-I think my choice of music was a good choice and I think it worked as both a parallel piece and a contrapuntal piece.

-I think my clips contrasted well in terms of mood and emotions.

-Both clips and the lyrics of the song link to current issues faced by many girls around the world.

EBI:

-Adding a newspaper or online headline would have made it better in terms of getting the message across.

- I should have used more clips and perhaps some still images to shorten my original clips and decrease the risk of the audience losing interest.

-Using two very similar YouTubers lacked variety - I could have used one clip from a YouTuber and one clip from a film or something similar to make the video more interesting and appealing to more than one audience.

My Top 3 videos in the class:

Ratna:

I enjoyed Ratna's video because there was a clear contrast between the parallel and contrapuntal clips and the contrapuntal clips were completely contrapuntal to the music and so as well as working extremely well, there was also a sense of humour to it. However I think the use of titles lessened the impact of the change from parallel to contrapuntal on the audience.

Ellis:

Ellis' video also showed a clear contrast between the two sets of clips and the music worked with both in that it was definitely parallel with the images of mountains and the complete opposite of the images of war and fighting so the transition from one to the other was a shock to the audience and the contrast between the music and the contrapuntal clips had an almost eerie feel to it. I think that he could have used some video clips as well as still images.

Karol:

I liked Karol's video because of how contrapuntal the classical music was to the second clip - the contrast was so strong that it made it funny to watch, especially the subtitles and this kept the audience's attention throughout. Similarly to Ratna's the titles lessened the potential shock the audience could have felt about the transition from parallel to contrapuntal.

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Film Noir

Film Noir is a film genre that was extremely common and frequently used in the 1950s, with sub-genres of crime, mystery, drama and often romance.

 Getting the lighting right in Film Noir is crucial because it is usually the lighting that enables audiences to identify a film as being of the Film Noir genre. For example, Film Noir directors usually incorporate the frequent use of extreme contrast between black and white, also known as Chiaroscuro. This creates a strong sense of mystery and tension, themes that often feature in Film Noir. Another vital element of any Film Noir film is the use of shadows to reinforce the mysterious narratives. Shadows can be created by using under-lighting and back lighting, and putting filler lights at different angles can create a variety of shadows. Examples of films that incorporate the Film Noir genre include: The Maltese Falcon, The Blue Dahlia, The Big Sleep and some could argue that there are elements of Film Noir in some Hitchcock films like Psycho, although the overall genre for Psycho isn't Film Noir so wouldn't immediately come under that category.

This is the theatrical trailer for the 1941 film The Maltese Falcon. This trailer tells us that the genre is Film Noir because it hints at all the different sub-genres that are to feature in the film with on-screen text, the most obvious ones being crime and romance, which are both extremely common in Film Noir films. The trailer also includes a brief scene involving shadows which ultimately confirms that this film is of the Film Noir genre, since shadows are an essential feature of the genre, as well as the contrast between black and white.

Film Language: Lighting

The lighting in this photo could arguably be either high-key or low-key but since the whole of the woman's face is visible, this suggests that it uses high-key lighting. I think position of the lighting used is a combination of top and back lighting as it appears to be coming from the side, perhaps a window and this is in order to emphasise both her face and the smoke. The fact that the smoke has been deliberately exposed by the lighting creates a mysterious feel to the image, indicating that the woman could be concealing something that the audience isn't meant to see, suggesting that this film's genre could definitely be Film Noir.

The lighting in this photo is undoubtedly low-key lighting since the only thing we can see in it is the woman's face. The director's intentions behind creating this darkly lit image could have been in order to emphasise the mysterious narrative that the film appears to have. The lighting that exposes her face is clearly top lighting and the fact that only her face is lit tells us that that is the part that requires the audience's attention; it's the most important part of the scene. The lack of lighting in this scene creates a feeling of being trapped, as the woman in this photo also seems to be and so it enables the audience to be as involved and engrossed in the film as possible, empathising with the woman.

The lighting in this photo is definitely high-key lighting because every aspect of the photo is well lit, except a small number of places under the man's chin and eyes, which emphasises the rest of his face more, making him look dominant, important and powerful. The lighting appears to be coming from all angles which reinforces the idea of him being a powerful and important character, drawing the audience's attention directly to him. Referring back to the shadows around his eyes, as well as making us think he is important, they also create a sense of darkness in this well-lit photo, causing us as the audience to wonder whether he is perhaps dangerous as well as powerful.

The lighting in this photo could be both low-key lighting and high-key lighting based on the fact that not everything in it is clearly lit but there are some areas that are very well-lit. I think lighting that has been used is top lighting that accentuates only the top half of his body and possibly a filler light from the left side of the character which lights his face very clearly. This back lighting has been used to create some sort of silhouette of the character which makes him look mysterious and almost scary. The fact that they have only lit one side of his face reinforces the idea of him looking scary and threatening - the gun he's holding also appears to have a 'glow' to it in a very dark part of the image, drawing our attention to it and this makes the audience aware that he is probably unafraid of violence, subsequently making us even more wary of him.

The lighting in this photo is interesting because every part of the woman in it is brightly lit, but there are still shadows of her on the wall. However, I personally think that this is high-key lighting because there aren't any parts of her body that have been obscured due to the lighting. The lighting used here appears to come from all angles, completely exposing her, which perhaps links with the film's narrative. However, as well-lit as it is, the use of shadows could be emphasising the mystery and the elements of Film Noir that this film could include, enabling us to make deductions as to the genre and the narrative.

This photo's lighting is difficult to define because there are elements of both high-key and low-key lighting in it. I think however that it is mainly high-key lighting because although there are shadows suggesting low-key lighting, everything important in the photo is well-lit and the light is coming from most angles, ensuring both characters are lit so the audience can see the action clearly, from which we can then assume that this could a romantic film with elements of mystery signified by the use of shadows.

The lighting in this photo from 'A Clockwork Orange' is definitely low-key lighting to create a mysteriously sinister feel. Back-lighting has been used to create a silhouette and long shadows of the 4 main characters in order to conceal their appearances/identities from the audience, creating an extreme sense of mystery and uncertainty making the audience feel wary of them and perhaps threatened by them. We can also see the silhouette of a person lying on the floor in front of them which leads the audience to wonder why he's there and what they're going to do when they reach him.

This photo has elements of both low-key lighting and high-key lighting but I think overall it is low-key because of the amount of shadow in it. This shadow creates a strong sense of mystery, especially since half her face is lit and half is in shadow and along with the expression on her face and her body language, the audience might also be able to sense a lot of fear in it which can then lead us to assume that the genre could easily be horror or thriller. There's de

The lighting in this photo is high-key lighting because everything in the photo is completely lit, even though the woman's neck is in shadow, it's still visible. The lighting used is top lighting which has been used to accentuate her facial features and this makes her look slightly exposed and maybe even a bit vulnerable. The small use of shadows on her neck and her hand could maybe imply a sense of mystery or secrecy in the narrative.

The lighting in this photo is definitely low-key lighting because you can hardly see anything in it and the only place any light is visible is behind the door the person at the top of the stairs has come through and so he has been lit up by the back light behind him, creating a silhouette. This immediately makes us fear him and wonder how the narrative is going to develop with this character. The lack of lighting is a typical indicator of horror films, and this scary looking figure adds to that even more so we can definitely assume that this is from a horror film.

The lighting in this photo, despite the shadows is high-key lighting and the key light is being shone right at the two characters. I think top lighting has been used in order to draw the audience's attention to the two characters and to create realism. However, since the top light accentuates the man's facial expression, we can see he is not smiling like the woman appears to be and we can also see his shadow on the wall created by a filler light and I think this is to symbolise that this particular character isn't as nice and romantic as his wife/lover thinks he is and that he has a nasty, dark side to him and this could be a subtle hint at what might happen later in the narrative.

Film Poster Analysis

This is the film poster for Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford. One of the main aspects of this film poster that suggests its story line is the image of the gun which could imply that the story line will feature a fair amount of action/violence. The slogan in the top right corner says "Man has made his match...now it is his problem" and this could be a strong indicator that after trying to do something right or successful, the protagonist is now facing problems that have stemmed from his well-meant actions and is now having to fight them which suggests a main plot for the film. The genre implied by this film poster is predominantly Sci Fi, due to the futuristic looking buildings and vehicles featured on the poster and the large amount of bright lights coming from each building. The colour scheme of black, orange and yellow also suggests the Sci Fi genre. However, the image of the woman holding a cigarette in a particularly dark part of the poster could be a subtle hint at a sub genre in the film, possibly Film Noir, a genre that typically includes dark lighting, cigarette smoke and women in its films. I think the target audience for this film would be an older (18-40), more educated audience with a strong interest in Sci Fi films and I think the gender divide would be 70% male and 30% female.

This is the film poster for Scary Movie 2. Someone with knowledge of horror films would be able to recognise the image of the girl and the priest in the top left corner from the 1973 film The Exorcist and would also be able to recognise the slogan on the t-shirt of the bottom right girl as being from the 1999 film The Sixth Sense and so would therefore be able to deduce that this film is parodying a number of already existing horror films in its narrative. The genre therefore of a film like this would be a spoof film, combining horror with comedy. I think the target audience of this film would be of the age range 15-30, and would be more or less equal in terms of gender. I think it would appeal strongly to students and also possibly slightly less educated people. 

This is the film poster for Sin City. At first glance, seeing the number of weapons in the poster definitely implies that a large portion of the narrative will feature violence and this could even be implied by the title itself. A possible story line to go along with the violence could be that one or more of the characters is seeking revenge. An obvious genre that this poster connotes is thriller, and this is suggested by the colour scheme of black, white and red, (red is a colour that could be typically associated with anger or death or blood) and the serious expressions on the characters' faces. However I think that the smaller image of a person facing the camera could indicate a sub-genre of mystery, especially since the person's face is unidentifiable. I think the gender balance of this film's target audience is definitely more male than female because the poster itself appears stereotypically 'masculine', especially the colour scheme and the fact that the central character is male, as are two of the other characters featured on the poster. I think that the three guns (suggesting violence) and the title could imply that the age range of the audience this film is aimed at would be around 18-30, predominantly people who enjoy thriller films, or films that feature violence and mystery.



This is the film poster for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the second film in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The dominant colour in this poster is green and this, with the image of a large tentacle protruding from underneath the ship could connote monsters and this could be an indication of something that will happen in the narrative. The expressions on the main characters' faces allows us to rule out comedy as a genre and the images of the ships on a rough sea could suggest that the main genre is action/adventure and the tentacle could possibly suggest fantasy. The fact that one of the main characters of an action/adventure film is a woman in historical costume could possibly be a hint that there also may be a sub-genre of romance between herself and another main character since at first glance she doesn't visually fit the description of an action/adventure film so you begin to wonder where in the film she fits as a main character. Looking at Johnny Depp's character, his bandana is bright red and is a huge contrast to the other colours in the poster so it stands  out. He is also holding a gun and is the only one doing so. These two things could signify to the audience that he is the protagonist. I think that based on this poster, the target audience of this film would fit the age range of 13-25 and I think the gender divide would be about 60% male, 40% female.


This is the film poster for Uzak, a Turkish film made in 2002. The colours in this poster are mainly dark, bland colours like brown, grey and black and although it also features red and blue, colours that are generally brighter, they have been deliberately darkened to fit the dark theme of the film. I think there is a strong contrast between the dirty polluted air and the clean white snow which could suggest an element of something destructive ruining something pure, which could indicate that the genre could be thriller or horror. The fact that all you can see of the man on the poster could also suggest that there might be an element of mystery. Because the man (who we assume is the protagonist) is looking in the direction of the town ahead of him, we can then assume that that town is crucial to the plot. Furthermore, Uzak means 'far' or 'distant' in English so that gives us an idea that the narrative involves the protagonist needing to travel a long distance to do something . I think that the target audience of this film would be mostly male, around 70% and I think the age range would be 28-40. I also think the majority of the audience would be Turkish since it's in their native language. 




This is the poster for the 2004 film Bride and Prejudice. Almost immediately we can assume that based on the title, the genre of this film is a parody of the Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice which tells us that it is a comedy but also romance. This idea can be further emphasised by the happy, laughing facial expressions of the majority of the characters on the poster and also the vibrant colour scheme. I think that the target audience would need to be people who know the original story of Pride and Prejudice in order to fully understand the plot of this film. I think that the majority of the audience would be women, around 70% and I think the age range would be around 20-45. The fact that it is a spoof means that the narrative will have several similarities to the original story plus the comedic additions.



This is the poster for the 2004 film Million Dollar Baby. The strong use of shadows and dark colour scheme immediately suggests that the dominant genre of this film could be mystery or thriller, but the fact that Hilary Swank's character is wearing a sports bra indicates that the narrative largely involves sport so this could give us the impression that there may also be an element of the drama genre, possibly involving an important sporting competition. I think the target audience for this film would be mostly male because of the sport theme, but the poster could suggest female empowerment since Hilary Swank's character here could represent women in sport and breaking the stereotype of traditional women roles. I think the age range of its target audience would be around 18-40.