Preliminary Exercise

For our first task in AS Media Studies, we had to create a short clip, around 30 seconds long. There were several requirements we had to fill - in terms of content, it had to include two characters - one of whom had to enter through a door, and cross a room. The two characters had to then exchange a few lines of dialogue. In terms of cinematography, we had to display three different skills. These are listed, along with the definitions, below.

180 degree rule is a rule that allows for a sense of continuity in a scene. When filming using the 180 degree rule, there is an invisible axis drawn parallel to (or straight through) the placing of the characters, meaning whatever angle you view them from, they will always have the same left-right relationship. If you cross the invisible axis, the character who originally appears on the left will then appear on the right side of the shot, which is potentially confusing for the viewer, especially in a situation where the background is very similar. This rule is almost always followed, apart from in some situations in which it is purposefully broken to cause confusion.

Match-on-action is a technique used to cut between shots when there is a character/moving object involved. For example, it's commonly used when someone is moving from one room to another - there's a shot of them opening the door from behind, and then the shot cuts to one of the door opening from in front. These two shots don't necessarily have to be taken at the same time - often, the action is just repeated twice as similarly as possible, and then the two clips are edited together to make it a smooth, natural looking transition.

Shot-reverse-shot is a technique used when two characters are in close proximity and facing each other - typically during a conversation. This allows the viewer to focus on one person's emotions during a scene - if it is shown the other way round, the tone the audience will get from a certain interaction could be completely different.

In this scene here from Fight Club, shot-reverse-shot is shown several times. From the start of the clip to 0.08, the camera switches from Tyler's face to the Narrators and back several times according to who's speaking. Match-on-action is also continually showed throughout. When Tyler and the Narrator are just about to have their first fight, from 0.08 to 0.17, there are four examples of this. This allows several different angles and actions to be shown within a short amount of time, whilst still keeping the scene smooth and flowing. Throughout the entire clip, the 180 degree role is demonstrated, as the camera never goes the other side of the two characters, therefore sustaining their left-right relationship (making it a lot easier to understand whilst watching).

Our Preliminary Task
Our preliminary task was a drug deal. We chose this as we felt it would allow for a lot of different camera angles and a potentially really interesting location.

Location
We wanted our location to reflect the mood we felt the topic should have. Therefore, we decided to try and find a place which was dark and small, that looked like it was unused and hidden away. We decided to hold it in an underground boiler room - it had the perfect look, and it was dark but not too dark as it had some natural light coming in from a skylight type small window.

Casting
It was quite difficult to find an appropriate cast for our Preliminary task. Since we were filming it inside of school, and in school time, we had to base our cast around anyone who had free periods in the time frame we had to film it. However, despite this, we did manage to find two people who fit the cast quite well, one of whom had a GCSE in Drama. To help our actors fit with the role better, we had them wear specific clothes that we felt would fit with the scene - baggy jumpers, jeans and one of our actors wore a backward cap.

Characters
Since our characters only had a couple lines of dialogue each, we didn't really have to focus on much else about them apart from how they presented themselves. The clothing we had them wear mostly made the scene adopt the right mood, but in addition we had to tailor the dialogue so it showed the power dynamic between them.

Equipment and editing
The equipment we used was quite basic - just a camera and a monopod. We decided to use a monopod over a tripod, as the location we had chosen meant we had a variety of angles to choose from, and so using a monopod would allow us to take advantage of every angle we could (tripods aren't always as easy to place as monopods, as they are a lot bigger).

Editing was also fairly simple. Some parts were difficult, but only due to the fact that it was our first time filming and so we didn't know what makes match-on-action really effective - small, subtle movements of the camera/actor following the previous movements etc. Apart from that, it was fairly easy as all it was, was cutting out excess parts and matching up the shots correctly.

Here is our finished piece.

If we had the chance to do the task again I would change a lot of things, but mainly the two biggest problems we found during editing, which were the jumpiness between cuts and the lack of different shots to evaluate during editing. To fix the jumpiness, there were a lot of things we could have done. After doing some research, I found that to make a cut more smooth, doing things like panning e.g. left to right just slightly at the end of a shot, then carrying on this at the start of the next shot is a very subtle but effective way to make it more smooth. The same can be said for the actors - I would definitely make sure that, for example, going on from a full body shot to a close up, they are still moving e.g. left to right just very subtly at the start of the next cut to carry on leading the eye, allowing for continuity. I think that as it was our first time filming in a group, and since we weren't completely comfortable sharing our actual opinions, we were probably too nervous to say that maybe a specific shot needed to be re-done, or to share an idea for a different camera angle. I think we weren't all too sure on how to manage our time, and so some parts were a bit rushed as we only had around 40 minutes to actually film.

How is family represented in the film 'Stand By Me'?

'Stand by Me' is an adventure/drama film, produced in 1986. In the film, a writer recounts a journey he took with three of his friends to find the body of a missing boy.

Gordie
Gordie doesn't appear to have a physically abusive home life like the other boys do, but it definitely isn't perfect. His brother Denny recently passed away in a jeep accident, and as a result of the subsequent grief his parents feel, they ignore him, and dismiss his talent and love for writing. Denny was the only one who actually noticed Gordie, and the two had a very close bond. In a dream that Gordie has on the boys' trip, he is at Denny's funeral, and his dad tells him,

'It should have been you, Gordon'.

This tells us that Gordie feels like he doesn't matter in his family at all, and his parents much preferred Denny. The inferiority Gordie feels and is shown by his parents is again shown here in this flashback he has:

Gordie: Dad, m'I have the potatoes?
Father: That's what I hear, son.
Mother: Are you going to see Jane after the game? I think she's a lovely girl.
Gordie: May I please have the potatoes?
Father: Dorothee don't talk to the boy about girls. He shouldn't be thinking
about girls. This is the biggest game of his life. Dennis, when you're
out there tomorrow --
Denny: Pap, did you read the story that Gordie wrote? Gordie wrote a story.
It's really good.
Mother: What did you write sweetheart?
Father: See? That's what I'm talking about. Football takes concentration. You
start in on the girls and his mind's all over the place.
Denny: Gordie, I really liked it. It was great.

Here, Gordie asks his dad to pass the potatoes twice, and he is completely ignored. The only time he is acknowledged by anyone who isn't Denny, is when Denny is the one who speaks up about him - the second he mentions a story Gordie wrote, his mother seems interested in noticing that he exists, however his dad is still focused on Denny's football game. The bond between the two brothers is shown here, as Denny seems to much rather talk about Gordie's writing, rather than his own important upcoming football game. This is probably why Gordie is so insecure - he never really tells anyone about his talent for writing, as his parents dismissal of it has lead to him being incredibly insecure - the only person he felt truly believed in him (Denny) is now gone.

Chris

Chris doesn't have a very good home life. His father is an alcoholic criminal, and his brother is part of a punk gang, and they are both abusive toward him. The quote,

'It's what everyone thinks of my family in this town. It's what they think of me. I'm just one of those low-life Chambers kids.'

 shows that he feels like he'll never amount to anything more than them, as everyone in his town sees him as the same as them. In the scene where Chris is telling Gordie about the milk money, he says both

'Oh wait, it is. No one even asked me if I took the milk money that time. I just got a three day vacation.'

and

'Chris: Me, Chris Chambers. Kid brother to Eyeball Chambers. Do you think that anyone would've believed it?
Gordie: No.
Chris: And do you think that that bitch would have dared try something like that if it had been one of those douchebags from up on the view, if they had taken the money?'.

This shows that family has had a negative effect on Chris in more than one sense - the fact that he stole the money in the first place was probably something that he did because of his family background, but also when he got blamed for it with no evidence the automatic assumptions of his character based on his family are strongly shown.

Teddy Duchamp
Teddy's father is violent and mentally ill. He once got angry and held Teddy's head to a stove, resulting in his ear being burnt off. When the boys get chased by the man and his dog, the man says

'No wonder you're acting the way you are with a looney for a father.'.

This shows us that Teddy's dad being mentally ill has a huge effect on how people see him - even people who he doesn't know very well see him as 'the looney's son', and think that he will probably turn out the same way.

Teddy is also a very reckless character - he takes a lot of risks (e.g. standing in front of the train) and just doesn't really seem to care about getting hurt. When he got his ear burnt, he lost a lot of his hearing and partial vision, so his reckless behaviour may be down to the limitations of his senses.

However, despite these family problems, Teddy is still proud of him and fiercely defends him when in front of others, telling them repeatedly how he stormed the beach at Normandy. This could be down to the fact that since everyone thinks Teddy won't amount to anything, he is trying to emphasise the good that his father has done, so that people might have a bit more confidence in him.

How did I engage with Marilyn in the film ‘My Week with Marilyn’?

At the start of the film, even before Marilyn is introduced we get a sense of what she is like. She is described in the first few lines as ‘the most famous woman alive’, and a ‘Hollywood siren’. This immediately makes us think that she is very successful and glamorous, and so I personally found it hard to empathise and engage with her in the start, as her lifestyle is so different to most peoples. This is the same throughout the first few scenes – they spend a lot of time and care finding her the perfect house, and considering what colours she may or may not like - she seems so idolised by everyone around her, when they haven't even met her yet, it almost makes her seem unreal, and therefore very hard to engage with.

When she first appears in the film, the sense of power we feel she has grows. The crowd is focused on Olivier and Vivien, but as soon as Marilyn's plane lands, everyone turns from them to her - enforcing the superiority we feel she has. 

When Marilyn is first introduced to the film they are shooting, her character becomes more confusing, and the perceptions we had about her from the start of the film begin to be challenged. When she’s on the film set, she seems to struggle a lot with her lines, relying heavily on her acting coach Paula to help her get through each scene whilst remembering her lines. This sense of her having faults is enforced again when Olivier begins to insult Marilyn, and she leaves the set visibly upset. I think introducing the sensitive and more flawed side of her allows everyone to empathise with her more, as we finally get the sense that she is a human being who struggles with things, just as we do.

The day she spends with Colin further shows us the human side of her. To anyone who didn’t know who she was, the two of them would look like a completely normal couple having a day out – this part is the most important when finding a side of Marilyn we can relate to, as she isn’t having specific troubles with her acting that none of us have experienced, and she isn’t being put across as some famous, untouchable Goddess.

However, when Marilyn invites Colin to her house, in the part where he enters through the window, her problems become known as being a lot more complicated than is portrayed at the start – when she says she is having a miscarriage, and she tells Colin she wants to forget everything, at that point in the film I felt her problems were much too deeply rooted and unknown to the viewer for me to empathise with her.

Overall, I didn’t really find it all that easy to empathise with Marilyn. I think on the surface she just seemed to struggle with some features of acting sometimes, despite being a great actor, but as you get further into the film, her problems become too much for the average viewer to understand and relate to immediately. We do empathise with her sometimes, but I feel like her character is overall too complex for us to completely relate to.