Analysis Of 'Scream' poster

The ‘scream’ poster is dominated by a comic book style image of a washed out monochrome face partially covered by a hand, with the only colour being the staring ice blue eyes.

In contrast the characters are photographed below in highly saturated colour making them appear ‘larger than life’.
The use of black to generally flood the background suggests the story takes place either at night or in the dark.
By using red accents within the typography the designer is able to pick up the exaggerated lipstick of the actresses whilst the ‘Scream’ logo has been developed so that the central section of the ‘M’ looks like a dagger, implying a murder-mystery is about to unfold.

Appearing a little ‘cheesy’ the viewer may conclude this may not be a serious movie and perhaps somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

Analysis Of the opening scene in 'Scream'

The opening of 'Scream' presents a typical ‘girl next door’ character who is being harassed over the phone by an anonymous caller. The fact that she is blonde is intended to represent innocence in preparation that she will be either murdered or tortured as in many similar characters stereotypically portrayed in other horror movies. The phone rings almost instantly after the previous call is ended. The diegetic silence is intended to build up tension and the mysterious callers’ voice sounds persistent yet emotionless creating a growing tension.The isolated location is presented via the slow moving high to low camera shot of the trees to the house. It is night time creating yet again another foreshadowing event making it recognisable to the viewer that the women is in a vulnerable position. The ‘popcorn’ is a relatable prop used by the audience implying its significance.  This prop becomes a trigger for the start of the suspense and emotions produced by the actress. It becomes predictable to the audience that the female character maybe in peril due to the dialogue over the phone and the knife props. Then the tracking shot is used to emphasise the distraction and that something tragic is about to occur. "I want to know who I’m looking at" is the evident turning point. Suddenly the character considers that she may not be alone. This is supported by the sound effects used such as the dog barking and the subtle, non-diegetic deep toned music. Also a slow moving close up shot is used to present her fear. This builds suspense as the audience feels as though someone is actually watching her.The aggressive dialogue becomes synchronised with the non-diegetic music. The fluctuated emotions and actions she demonstrates are replicated via the pace of the non-diegetic music and the camera shots. The lighting darkens as her hope shatters. 

Analysis Of 'Children Of men' Poster

A movie set in the near future tracking the lasts days of the human race, this poster sets out to give the viewer a snap shot of the story in one go.

The use of a bold red typographical solution to the top left hand corner allows the viewer to immediately grasp the year and context of the story.

This is a slightly less conventional hierarchy of information as it is more usual for the title of the movie to have the largest font. In this instance the designer has emphasized the dystopian nature on the movie  with the blood-red date ‘2027’.

The main character played by Clive Owen stares disheveled through a broken window, placing him ‘outside’ and alone.

The bleeding eye logo worked into the ‘children of men’ heading is a metaphor for pain and sorrow and is sat on a black background with white typography for maximum contrast. It is not immediately obvious that the silhouette of the child forms the pupil of the eye and the viewer is left to recognize this on further inspection.

Overall this composition suggests a deep and complex story with multiple meanings and symbology to be found on different levels.

Analysis Of 'Pulp Fiction' Poster

The Pulp Fiction cinema poster of Quentin Tarantino's 1994 gangster movie Pulp Fiction is designed to look like the cover of a ‘Pulp Fiction’ novel (pulp fiction being a term applied to cheaply produced books in the 1920’s).

This poster shows one of the main characters Mia Wallace, played by Uma Thurman.

Here she is lying on the bed in a seductive pose, with her gaze fixed directly in to the camera. The header of this poster is a garish red and yellow band suggesting aggression or danger (1) and is matched to the colour of her lipstick for impact(4).

A degree of nonchalance is implied by the casual cigarette (3) and the placement of her hand on a half read paperback (6) suggests the viewer is interrupting a private scene.

The placement of the pistol just below the plunging neck line of her dress (5) further adds to the danger and intrigue of the composition.

The dog-eared corner of the page (7) and the 10 cents price tag (2) suggests that this ‘trashy’ novel in this very genre.

Kill Bill Volume 2, Scene Comparison

Both these scenes represent the ‘bride’ in different ways via: sound, camera and Mise En Scene.

In the first, intense burial scene it is immediately recognised via the low to high camera shot directed at ‘Budd’. This is aspecific camera shot which presents him as superior and dominant in comparison to the ‘Bride’  where she is as a result is presented as the victim whom has a lower status at this moment in time. The non-diegetic angelic music sets the ‘cowboy-like’ theme hinting a possible violent scene is approaching. Then suddenly, when the ‘Bride’ is disturbingly viciously placed into the coffin the music originally played is dropped alongside the lighting. Where, the unpredictable, discomforting noises displayed by the ‘Bride’ are synchronised, with the diegetic pouring of the gravel and mud coincided to the aggressive nail drilling. Additionally it is signified through the plight of her heartbeat . As a result, a claustrophobic environment is presented. Her feelings are amplified by the black screen. The continuous groaning and screaming examines her desperation and vulnerability. The torch used as the light source emphasis her minimal chances of escape. The extreme close up camera shots of her drenched eyes represents her fear and innocence reflected from her experienc .  This drained mood continues to worsen via the ambient car noise; which vanishes with her hope.

 In juxtaposition, the other scene presents a more heroic natured scene. The location is firstly recognised by the crane shot. This is then followed by a wide panning shot of the coffin where the ‘Bride’ lays. This implies that the ‘Brides’ whole body is shown presenting a bigger view of her which, contrasts with the close ups from the other scene. The lighting also differs. This time round, the golden coloured light contrasts from the black and white. This presents hope for the ‘Bride’ and the audience. The camera and lighting in this scene is more comforting and predictable creating a relaxed environment in contrast to the claustrophobic one. The non-diegetic music is an exaggerated, uplifting tune which, becomes synchronous with the ‘Brides’ strategic movement. The music also: foreshadows the escape, signifies her composure and presents a heroic character. The ‘Bride’ is more in control of her breathing which contrast significantly to the previous scene. Once the ‘Bride’ escapes, the over dramatic punch through the ground brings back a sense of reality via the silence. The clenched fist becomes the central point of the wide shot, presenting triumph and passion.

Preliminary Editing Task

After filming the Preliminary Task we went the Media Studio edit it using Adobe Premiere.

Firstly we divided our footage into individual shots and labelled them. This was followed by the logging process where we removed the specific shots without overlapping onto a different shot. Coincided to this I identified mark in and mark out points.

Once this time-consuming process was complete, we organised the shots on the story board to present a variety of different camera angle. This would represent different perspectives within the scene. We then discovered how to produce different story board within Premiere Pro, enabled us display an even proportion within the audio. This was the case for the door- window camera shot, where there was lots of disturbing background noise. The extra storylines were used to transfer the audio from one shot to the specific one. The film ends via a faded blacked out screen. This was done by embedding a black image and linking it to the previous camera shot; then a sharp fade was included.

This was a relatively difficult task due to minimal previous experience. The biggest challenge was overlapping different shots and making it presentable. Ultimately, for all of us this was out of our comfort zone. However, with practice and dedication the experience will play a significant role within my future film.

Preliminary Task

After a slow and frustrating camera set up, I began with the white balance task. White balance is the process of removing unrealistic colour casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo. Firstly, to complete this white balance task, I had to take a piece of plain A4 paper. Then a member of my group held this paper in a fixed position. I then zoomed specifically onto the piece of paper, where I held this shot it in focus. This was then followed by an adjustment on the camera settings to enable the white balance to occur. 

    Once my group completed this, we found a location for our first ever filming task. Due to there being no available actors for the filming, two out of three people from the group had to volunteer. So myself and another member of the group became the actors. I filmed single varied shots of the other actor, while he filmed me, followed by the other person filmed wide shots consisting of both actors. The story board itself was difficult to follow, due to the lack of time the actors could not learn the script. Also using the camera for the first time is quite daunting, due to the level of concentration required and the ability to multi-task. As a result we improvised the script. The 180 degree rule was a burden for me personally and as a result a main cause for the retakes. Due to the actors improvising each retake, they would forget their previous lines.

    Although this task was a challenge, and not as successful as we would have liked, as a group we delivered as much as we could in the conditions provided. Despite our minimal knowledge and experience at this moment in time, lots of lessons were learnt, and room for improvement is recognised by the group and myself, such as the 180 degree rule.