Analysis of sound in 'Inception'

Group Moovly analysis: Analysis of sound in 'Inception'

In our animation (moovly) we have analysed the sound that has been used in this opening clip of the film Inception. Inception is about a thief who steals corporate secrets through use of dream-sharing technology. This opening clip was easy to analyse and we made sure that we wrote in detail and used media terminology when describing the sound used in this clip.

My Prezi analysis of "Inception"

This is the opening scene of the film Inception which we analysed.

I think that this film would be aimed at the reformers psychographic group becasue it is an action packed film which also is hard to understand so therefore is more intellectually challenging. It would be aimed at the demographic group A or B because it's more intellectually developed and complex so the higher educational audience might be able to relate to it.

Analysis of Psycho

Analysis of “Psycho” shower scene, explaining how film techniques are used to create effects.

The shower scene from Psycho uses many different film techniques to create different effects. This scene follows the female character around to build up tension and this makes the audience curious about what might happen to her. At the beginning of this scene there aren’t as many camera shots, this has been done to make the audience keep watching her and what she is doing. There are many different camera shots used in this scene when the murder is taking place such as close-ups of the female actor and the plughole at the end of the scene, this creates tension and makes the audience want to keep watching to see what’s going to happen next. At the start of the scene the pace of the editing is slow this is to show that something is going to happen. The sound builds up as the villain becomes more visible, this is to create tension and also to make the audience worry about the female actor and what might happen to her. Diegetic and non-diegetic sound is used a lot in this scene; diegetic sound is used when the water is running in the shower this is the only sound that is used up until when the murder is happening. Non-diegetic sound is used when the murder is happening, the soundtrack makes the audience feel scared, the high pitch of the music heightens the audiences emotions making them feel apprehensive.  

In this screenshot you can see the shadow of the villain on the shower curtain, this makes the audience frightened and want to keep watching to see what is going to happen to her. In this shot the soundtrack hasn’t started playing the only sound you can hear is the sound of the running water. Although the after this shot the sound of the shower curtain being pulled back by the villain is played and then the soundtrack starts. The main points of interest in this shot are the shadow of the villain and the female actor, the shadow is a main point of interest because it makes the audience curious about what is going to happen and whose shadow it is. The female actor is a main point of interest because she is the most important person in the shot as we know that something is going to happen to her. The female actor has her back to the shower curtain; this shows that she doesn’t know what is going to happen as she can’t see the shadow on the curtain. The lighting in this screenshot is dark but you can tell that the light coming from behind her is the bathroom light, this could mean that the directors want the lighting to be darker so that the audience can’t see who the killer is and then it becomes a mystery to who the killer is. 

This is a close-up of the killer holding the murder weapon. The running water hides the villain’s face, this has been done to keep the identity of the killer hidden so that it keeps the audience guessing and makes them curious about who the killer could be. The murder weapon is clearly shown, this clearly shows the killers intentions and makes the audience frightened of what is about to happen. This shot follows the golden mean with the knife being the main point of interest. The knife is the main point of interest because you can see it clearly and also the way it is being held tells the audience that it’s going to be the murder weapon. Therefore it is a significant prop that is used in this scene. The running water isn’t clear and is obscuring the killer’s face this makes the knife stand out. This has been done to create a sense of mystery and also makes the object/ prop stand out more so that the audience can clearly see what it is. In this shot the high pitched music starts to play, this makes the audience feel sacred and also it creates tension.

This shot is a close-up of the murder weapon; this shows that it’s a knife that is used to commit the murder in the next shot. The directors have chosen to leave the killer out of this shot because they wanted to focus more on the murder weapon and show its significance in this scene. This shot does not follow the rule of thirds or the golden mean but it does show the murder weapon clearly and it is in the middle of the shot, which suggests that it is important. The way the prop is being held tells the audience that it’s going to be the murder weapon. This shot shows the weapon clearly but doesn’t show much more in the shot, this is so that the main focus is on the knife and nothing else. In this shot the pace of editing starts to increase and get faster, this makes the audience feel scared as we know that something is going to happen to the victim.

This screenshot is a high angle shot; this shows that the victim is weak and vulnerable.  This shot also shows the whole of the shower and both the victim and the killer clearly, this is to show the audience what is happening in the shot and also make them think if she will survive or not. In this shot you can see more of the victim then the killer; this is so that the killer stays a mystery. The shot follows the rule of thirds with the victim’s hands on the killer and the shower being the main points of interest. The victim’s hand holding the killer is a main point of interest because it shows that she is trying to fight back and try and stop him from hurting her in any way. The shower is a main point of interest because it shows the setting of where the murder is taking place. In this part of the scene there are many different shots, this is so that the audience can see clearly what is happening to the victim. There is also the high pitch music that is playing; this tells the audience that something will happen to the victim and also it creates tension and makes the audience feel sacred.

This is an extreme close-up, showing the victim’s blood going down the plughole. This shot and another extreme close-up of the victim’s eye is a graphic match. This shot has been shown after the murder has happened and at the end of the scene. This shot follows the rule of thirds with the plughole and the blood being the main points of interest. The plughole is a main point of interest because it links to the 360 motion of the victims face and creates a graphic match. This has been done to create a relationship between the two shots.  The blood is a main point of interest because we can tell that the blood is fresh from the bright red colour and with amount of blood going down the plughole we can tell that the victim wouldn’t survive such an attack and leaves the audience wondering if the victim survived. The effect of this shot would be that it makes the audience think about what has happened before and after this shot and also makes them want to know who the killer is.

Vox Pop

The rules of the Vox Pop are; to have the person you are interviewing on the right hand side of the camera. The person answering the questions should be facing the interviewer so that their gaze is off screen. A banner with the name, age and occupation of the interviewee should appear once on the bottom of the screen. The Vox Pop should have a busy background and should also have the question which has been asked at the start of it.

This is our Vox Pop and we filmed this in school, we asked four people two different questions about thrillers, our questions were; what makes a Thriller, thrilling? and what is your favourite type of thriller genre? When we filmed our Vox Pop we asked all four people to answer both questions, however when we were editing our Vox Pop we noticed that one of the clips of Kezia answering the second question which wasn't filmed very well as it had Elle's finger blocking the camera. Therefore we only had three people answering the last question and if we were to improve we would use a digital camera and a tripod instead of a phone because the sound wasn't very loud and the picture wasn't that good. We made sure that our Vox Pop followed the rules of a Vox Pop, for example we made sure that the interviewee was on the right of the screen and their gaze was off screen, we also made sure that we put a banner of the persons name, age and job on the bottom of the screen which was only shown once.

Question 1 results: What makes a Thriller, thrilling?

Answers to this question:

* music
* suspense
*atmosphere
* music, suspense and narrative

From these results, we have learned that the audience want to see all these things when watching a Thriller genre film. From this data we know what we need to include in our Thriller opening. We will include all these requests from the audience, this will benefit us because audiences will want to keep watching and the audience will see what they want our Thriller to include.

Question 2 results: What is your favourite Thriller genre?

*psychological
*action
*sci-fi

From these results, we have learned that the audience want to see these types of thrillers. From this data we know that we need to choose a sub-genre for our thriller opening that the audience want to see. We will choose one of the types of genre that the audience wanted to see, this will benefit us because it will allow the audience to see what they want in our Thriller.

I have learnt that audiences aged 16-18 like to watch thrillers, this is because they like to see action and all the different types of thriller genre, for example psychological. My findings will influence my thriller because it will give us an idea of what type of thriller genre to use and it will also help us to know what our target audience want to see in thrillers and what we can add in our thriller to make audiences want to keep watching.

Prelim Task

Evaluation

I think that our prelim task was good and we used many different shots and camera angles. We used mostly straight cuts, however we did use fade to black for some of the transitions, this made our prelim look professional. We edited our prelim well and we made sure that each shot looked good, for example on the CCTV shot we used a black and white effect and put a time stamp in the corner to make it look like a CCTV camera. We also made sure that we added transitions between the shots to make it look a bit different, this made our prelim look good and also professional. We also made sure that it contained all the things we asked to include in our prelim, for example we had to include someone walking down a corridor, opening a door and two people having a conversation, we included all these things however the conversation between the two people was a bit too short in our prelim, we could make this better by making the conversation last a bit longer and maybe as it is a interview style some questions could be asked. The opening of the door was a successful shot because we edited it so that the sound of the door opening matched the door opening in the next shot. We also used the 180 degree rule, this makes our prelim look good and also it made it look professional.

I think that filming our prelim was easy and we used different parts of the school to make it look as good as it could be. However in our plans we said that we were going to use another person to be in our prelim, we had to change this because the person we were going to use was filming their prelim at the same time. We adapted to this change quickly and came up with another idea of how we could film this without using three people, instead we filmed Georgia coming into the school to have an interview. Changing our idea at the last minute made it a little bit harder to film, but we did still stick to our plan that we made, we just didn't have three people staring in our prelim task. So the storyboard we created at the start of this task was not used as we had to change our plans so that meant we needed to make a new storyboard, which are below.

Although we used what we thought was a lot of different shots, in our feedback from our peers they said that we needed to include a wider range of different shots, this would make our prelim look a lot better and once we film our Thriller we will be using a wider range of shots. We wanted to gain experience of using the camera and filming different shots so that we know what we can improve on when making our Thriller opening. We think that the quality of the camera wasn't very good, this might be because we didn't focus the camera, next time we film we will make sure that we try and focus the camera to make the quality clearer and look better.

 The things that we need to improve on are; the use of the music and where we have placed it, this is because in our peer assessment our peers said that the music didn't sound right and wasn't really needed. Another thing that we need to improve on is that we need to include a wider variety of camera shots and angles. When we film our Thriller we will need to make sure that we use music correctly and in the right place to create an effect or tension, we also need to make sure that we use a range of camera shots, this will make our Thriller look better and look more effective. It will also make it look like a Thriller and we will also make sure that we use the typical conventions of a thriller, this is so that it looks more professional.

I think that this is a successful shot from our prelim because we have made it look like a CCTV camera, however you can see that it shakes a little bit. If we were to do this shot again i would make sure that it didn't shake and that it was steady. 

I think that this is also a successful shot because this shot and the next shot was edited well so that the sound of the door opening matched the door opening. I think that this shot doesn't need to be filmed again as it has been filmed well and edited well.

I think that this shot isn't successful because you can't see the interviewer (Conor) very well as he is hidden behind the computer. If i was to do this shot again i would make sure that you could see Conor clearly and i would make sure that Georgia didn't have her hands on her hips. 

I think that this shot isn't successful because this shot should be closer to Georgia. This shot doesn't look like an over the shoulder shot and if i was to film this shot again i would put the camera closer to Georgia's shoulder. 

Sin city presentation

My presentation of Sin city the film 

My results from my presentation 

Opening titles timeline of Se7en

My timeline of the opening titles from the film Se7en 

This timeline shows all the names which are important in the film, for example it tells you who the director of the film is. This timeline shows all actors and producers which are important to the film Se7en. This timeline also shows when each name appears in the opening titles and how long they appear for on screen, it also shows when the music starts and when it finishes, in this film the music starts straight away and then fades out towards the end of the opening titles. This timeline also shows how long the opening titles last and how many people are involved in the making of the film. It also shows what time in the opening titles each name or title appears and for how long it stays on the screen.

The picture above shows the titles 9-12. We did this to see how each title came on and how long it lasts. In this picture the 'John C. McGinley' cast member title came on 41 seconds in the title sequence. Each title lasts different times.

The picture above shows more titles and when the main title is shown in the title sequence. The animation sequence starts as soon as it starts to play.

The picture above shows the most important people to the film like the writer, producer and so on. These are shown on the titles as they are important. 

Analyse of shots from opening titles 

This shot is a close up, showing an image of old looking man hands, this could suggest that the film might be disturbing for the audience to watch. The hands could show that the film might include an old man or it might include an artist or someone who is recording something, this is because it looks like a diary. Part of the shot is dark this could show that natural light has been used and the important part of the shot, which is the image of the hands and the paper surrounding it is light, this could suggest that this is the only part that that the directors want the  audience to see as it doesn't give away any clues to what the film could be about. 

This shot is a close up showing a title of one of the actors staring in the film. This shot is dark and you can't really see what is going on in the background, this could suggest that the film has a  dark or mysterious theme. The typography used for the actors name looks quite creepy and is the colour white so that it stands out against the black background. The typography could also suggest a spiritual like theme or a mysterious theme.  The fact this actors name appears in this titles sequence suggests that she is important in the film. 

This shot is a close up showing someone writing, this makes the audience want to know what he is writing, the picture is distorted which could show the speed of his writing or time going on. This shot is important becasue it could suggest that this person is a writer or a journalist, who is recording down an event or something that has happened. The typography used in this opening title sequence is the same throughout and therefore is continuous.  

This shot is a close up showing someone putting a black line through the eyes of a picture, this could suggest that this person doesn't want to look into their eyes or they could be crossing off someone from a list. Titles also appear on this shot, this is also done in the same typography to show the theme of the film. 

This shot is a close up showing someone ripping paper off something, this could suggest that this person is hiding or destroying evidence. This persons thumb is bandaged this could indicate that he might have hurt himself on the metal hooks which are on the paper. This persons hands are dirty this could show that he has a job where he gets his hands dirty such as a garden worker or a builder, but it could also suggest that he might have been digging so maybe he might have been burying a body. 

The opening sequence titles influence the thriller genre becasue it shows what could be in the film and it they also support the thriller genre as it builds up tension and an atmosphere for the audience which  is a typical thriller convention. 

I think that this film would be aimed at the reformers psychographic group because it is intellectually challenging. It would be aimed at the demographic group A or B because it's more intellectually developed and complex so the higher educational audience might be able to relate to it. 

Notes (19th September)

Post production - editing 

• How clips are ordered/ structured.
• Speed/ pace of editing.
• Special effects. 

Transitions:

 

Straight cuts - where one shots cuts straight to the next.

Dissolve - gradual transition from one shot to another, could show time passing.

Fade to black/ white - one shot fades in or out or from black or white. Sense of time passing, flashback.

Fade in or out - shot fades out to black screen or in from black screen. This is between shots to show separate things happening. (montage effect)

Cross cutting- action cuts in between two sequences to create contrasts between two storylines and their settings, this can create tension.

Wipe - a line moves across the screen showing a transition from one shot to another.

Jump cut - an abrupt cut between shots (dramatic).

Visual effects: 

CGI, CCTV camera, graining effect.

Diegetic sound- stuff that's already in the shot (dialogue).

Non- diegetic sound- sound put in when  editing (soundtrack).

Graphic match- two shots put against each other that matches together.

Continuity editing- maintains relationships in a film. Allows the film to shift through time. 

Prelim Planning

The pictures below are of our story board. Paired with our shot list it helps us to define a sequence of clips when we are editing but also gives us an idea of how the shots would actually look once filmed and in the order. The shot order in the pictures goes from left to right.

The picture below is of my shot list that my group and I will be using when we are filming our prelim. We need a shot list so that we know what shots to take and also gives us an idea of the sequence we can order our shots when we are editing.

Opening titles of Snatch

This is the opening titles video of snatch. I have analysed this below in my Prezi.

In my Prezi I have analysed the mise-en-scene in the opening titles of the film Snatch. I have explained my points in detail and used media terminology to analyse the opening titles of this film and how it has been put together. I have made sure that I have used screenshots in each piece of analysis. 

I think that this film would be targeted at the explorers psychographic group because it's action packed and the younger generation would like to watch this film as it would keep the interested. It would be aimed at the demographic group E because of the same reason.