Mise-en-scene

Sin City, 2005 - The Lady in Red

Directors: Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez




For our first assignment I have been asked to find a clip from a film on Youtube and discuss how it uses the audiovisual elements to convey meaning and tell a story. I have selected the opening scene to the violent comic book inspired movie Sin City. This scene at first seems peaceful and romantic, you could almost be fooled into thinking that this was a love scene, however it just lulls the audience into a false sense of security before something shocking happens revealing the true cold and dark tone of the film.

I will look at the composition, colour, lighting, dialogue etc. to see how it creates an atmosphere and tone.
The scene opens on the terrace of a high rise building with a lady dressed in red calmly walking over to the balcony. The background is set in black and white however the women's dress and lipstick are coloured red, this unique form of cinematography emphasises the sense passion as well as danger depicted in this scene.

A slow jazz tune plays in the background; a man approaches the women calmly and conversates with her, his manner is cool and charming, his thoughts narrated on the audio are generally innocent; this settles the viewer into a relaxed and soothing atmosphere; however there is a vague sense of danger and tension, this is brought on by the contrast of colour and composition between the two characters.

The women appears vulnerable in comparison to the man; he is tall, dressed in black with a shadow cast across part of his face making him seem dark and mysterious while the women is dressed in a glowing red, a colour often with danger; there is also more light shone on her face which gives her a more innocent and vulnerable appearance. The body language and facial expressions also show this, the man keeps a stern face and steady posture during conversation while the women seems more affected by the conversation as her facial expressions show a range of different emotions from sadness to happiness. The dialogue too puts the man in control, he is confident, charming and wise managing to seduce this beautiful women with minimal effort.
As they embrace the atmosphere seems to soften as his thoughts are narrated; he seems to truely care for her; they kiss and a second after he tells her he loves her there is a sudden and violent flash; as the women dies in his arms he pulls a gun with a silencer out from off screen. He continues to hold her as his narrated thoughts continue to express his love for her with a sadness in his voice; the rain begins to come down harder to emphasise this sad tone. This sudden and disturbing action leaves the audience confused and gripped to why he has done this.
Finally with a nasty and souless tone of voice he says "I'll cash her check in the morning" as the cameras zooms out as a dark and sinister audio track plays, revealing the mans true colours as a cold and calculating assassin simply after money rather than the love-struck gentleman he appeared to be a few moments ago.
As he says this and the camera pans over the dark grey city and the sinister soundtracks plays as the opening credits roll setting the dark and off-key tone of the film while still leaving the audience in shock from the transition.

This film is incredible visually, the use of shadows combined with the odd splash of colour creates a truely unique visual experience and an atmosphere like no other. However the audio here is equally important in creating this, particularly the narratives which along with black and white set the dark and cold atmosphere.

Working inside out- Holding Pattern

What is the theme?
Immigration, isolation, freedom- going home.

Locations?
Grass verge - Day. West Bridgeford A52.Government office - York House room 308, Friday 2-3pm. Make posters.Living room - Alex’s house. 58 Forest Road West.Park - Forest Fields.Library - Boots Library, Sherwood Street.Swimming Pool – Skylarks swimming pool. Underwater camera.

Shooting dates.
Ideal dates –
Monday 22nd - from 11amTuesday 23rd - from 2pm – 6pmWednesday 24th– morningsFriday 25th– 10pm – 3pm
Monday – Government office and library.Tuesday – Living room, park, grass verge and swimming pool.Wednesday - Back up time, in case we are behind our shooting schedule.

Booked equipment.
Big cameraRifle microphoneTri – podPistol gripMuffler

Year 2 - Audio Visual Pathway - WSM - Holding Pattern - Seminar 1

Jools has set us this task called 'working inside-out', the purpose of completing this task is:-

• Ideation


• The process of turning a script into a working script


• The creative process


• Idea generation


• Learn practical skills


• See various different approaches and perceptions of script


• Teamwork

What is the film about?

A Romanian immigrant arrives in U.K. with hope of making money, however things are not what he hoped for - he is out of pocket due to expensive living costs, is having difficulties understanding the foreign language and misses his home country and culture. He receives a letter for deportation sending him home, he has failed his goal to live and make more money in the U.K. but is happy to be going home

What if any current issues impact on the film and how will these be addressed in the film?

The increase in immigration in the U.K. shown from the immigrants point of view.There is a largely negative outlook on people who move into the U.K. to reap its benefits and can be seen as free loaders, therefore widely disliked by British nationals. However this film depicts the situation from the the immigrants point of view to adopt a more sympathetic outlook on their situation.

How you 'see' the film (visual styles, audio, motifs).

U.K. scenes to be fairly depressing and grey, flashback scenes to Romania to be colourful and bright.U.K. scenes to be quiet except for awkward annoying sounds - phone rig,fan etc.

Some idea of how the film will be crewed by yourselves.

Identities - Multimedia promotional video
This is the video ident I produced for my identities project. It is pretty much an advertisement for the course, I used Screen Recorder to capture various images from Youtube and my PC before editing them using Cyberlink PowerDirector. I am fairly pleased with this even though the majority of material used is copyrighted. The video is meant to give its auience an exciting glimpse into what can be learnt and achieved from studying on a multimedia degree.
P.S. The video has been sped up therefore the music has gone out of sync during the transfer from my PC to Googlevideo.

3D Studio Max
Here is a very basic 3d animation created with 3D Studio Max.

Advertising
I have uploaded a collection of audio visual advertisements that caught my attention and have given a short analysis of how I feel they are effective in promoting the product.

7-Up
Although fairly basic in terms of imagery and narrative I feel this advert is very effective. 7-Up is a refreshing soft drink used to quench the consumer's thirst as well as give short term burst of lemon flavoured pleasure to the taste buds. The imagery used in this advert symbolises this feeling of natural refreshing bliss with close-up visuals of crystal clear lemonade being poured into a glass, followed by ice, followed by fizz and bubbles; it almost symbolises the feeling of relaxing in a cool natural spa pool. I find the audio used on this advertisement very effective; the music, voice-over and particularly the sound effects are all extremely soothing and refreshing which overall is the purpose of the product. The advert also shows its own 'face of 7-Up' character which is there to give the product a unique identity and also make it look 'cool' to add to consumer appeal.


Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
This advertisement could be seen as more of a trailer in the sense of how it is produced. GTA: SA is an extremely popular videogame where you play as a gang member working his way up in the world through any means possible - theft,murder,drugs,extortion etc. therefore the game centres around a variety of gunfights, car chases and completing a variety of crime related missions. The advert shows various clips of the game in action, some introducing characters and showing of the games locations and vehicles, but mainly pure explosive action. This is what the game is about - exciting violent fast-paced action for adults and this is exactly what this advert delivers. The track used on it: Welcome to the Jungle by Guns n Roses goes perfectly with the action too, firstly its a great action packed tune but I also feel the term 'welcome to the jungle' symbolically greets consumers to be prepared for some rough, rugged n raw insane action.The american 'ghetto' in which much of this game is based has also been described as the 'concrete jungle' before because you continuously have to watch your back for predators or sumthing.


Ford Sport KA
This advert derives appeal from making its product look 'mean' which again can be related to being 'cool'. The Ford Sport KA is a revamped model of the Ford KA, complete with a more powerful engine, larger alloys and overall slicker and 'meaner' looking bodywork. The advert shows a typical picturesque friendly neighbourhood scene with the sun shining and birds in the trees with the car in question resting in the background. A pigeon calmly flies over to presumably sit or shit on the car when the bonnet suddenly flings up killing the pigeon before closing again. This is implying that this is some mean arse car with a mind of its own; although this is a lie and it is really just a car with a bigger engine and wheels, an advert like this would appeal to many consumers as they feel the advert alone gives this product character. Another appealing factor of the advert is the humour of the car killing the pigeon before it has the chance to crap on it. Many drivers can relate to this as pigeons tend to be the proud car owners worst enemy due to them wrecking their cars slick image with their excrete, therefore it can be seen funny in terms of the irony and revenge. Humour is another factor of adverts which can make a product stand out to the consumer.


MC Convention
This advert for a popular drum n bass rave appeals to its audience by representing the night as a live energetic good vibes party which is what every young raver is looking for. This rave in particular is more about the MC rather than the DJ, therefore uses MCs excitedly introducing the event promoting all the different names that will be present also using clips of each artist in action to hype the line up for the fans even more. The clips used show the party at its most hyped and exciting moments which in turn hypes the audience into coming to the rave as it looks like looks to be a constant good vibes party, even though the night will have a slightly more subdued atmosphere for the majority of the night and a few instances of particularly bad vibes, the advert won't show this as it will lack appeal. There are also numerous clips of sexy ladies shakin it down to entice the male audience into coming to the rave. The tune used is also an especially jump-up good vibes party tune which again entices the consumer into going for a fun night out.

Career Paths
After some thought I have narrowed down a list of possible careers I hope to pursuit after finishing my degree. My primary interests lie in these fields of the multimedia business:

• Advertising
• Making travel, wildlife or cultural documentaries
• Making surreal, scary or gritty movies

Obviously these are just the top the list but I decided I would definitely like to work in the audio visual side of multimedia; filim is something I find enjoyable, interesting and more flexible in terms of what I can add to the industry. I feel I have fairly unique interests in life, for instance a love for underground music and 80's B-movies, aswell as reptiles and marinelife; and can think of no better way of spending my working life than creating films on topics such as these myself. Steve Irwin (R.I.P.) brought something new to wildlife documentaries, and I would hope to do the same....add something to a genre of film that has rarely been seen before.

In regards to advertising, I would love to work on promoting any type of product that I feel I can relate or use...e.g. clothes labels, videogames, holidays, toiletries, restaurants, movies, music, technology etc. via audiovisual or graphical means.

End of Year Presentation
After finally finishing off my Identities package, presenting it to Jools and writing up the evaluation report; I am fairly pleased with what I have achieved and feel I have learnt a lot from working on this project.
To finish off the year, I am to deliver a presentation discussing what I have achieved throughout the year and which area of multimedia I hope to focus on next year.I have been given 5 options to choose from - Animation, Audio Visual, Games, Interactive and Web design.
Interactive and Web Design were instantly removed from the list as I have struggled with these throughout the year and don't find them nearly as interesting as the other choices, although there is probably more work available for a web designer.
Games is a pathway that I felt I would enjoy studying, however I have been told that it is considerably more difficult to grasp than the others and only those with true dedication to videogames should take this; have also only had one lecture on this and so have not seen enough to get a clear idea of whether I would enjoy this or not.
So currently I am stuck between whether to choose Animation or Audio Visual. I know for sure that I would love Audio Visual however I feel I am fairly competent with many of the programs and techniques used here already, where I could learn a lot from the Animation pathway which I would not be able to learn by myself, plus the design capabilites of this option seem imensely impressive particularly what can be produced with 3D Studio Max and Maya etc......more thought needed on this.

Multimedia Poster

Here is a poster I designed for the multimedia course using a combination of Photoshop and Fireworks MX. I also had this printed to scale and was very pleased with the result.

Website Update
After much fiddling around with Dreamweaver and Fireworks creating different designs I have come to conclude that the general layout design for my website is a tacky piece of shit and plan to start over.Although I feel the general concept of the design is OK...it just doesn't have a very modern or slick feel to it...and especially doesn't suit the corporation that I'm trying to promote.The colours just aren't right and the graphics are too big and bulky...just generally has a very unprofessional feel to it....some of my feedback sources described it as looking too 90's as well. My plan now is too look at various websites for inspiration and work on giving my website a more basic but slick look to it.Also recently purchased a book from the reading list - Designing Brand Identity, so hopefully this will help too.
In regards to Jool's comment about the logo being hard to read, I have tried out various other colour schemes which has hopefully rectified the problem.
Here is the website that I intend to scrap and some more logo designs:-

Identities - Website & Logo Design
Have finally started to get the hang of Dreamweaver a bit due to handy book called Macromedia Studio MX for Dummies. Instead of wasting time trying to work out javascript code have taken the easy design mode route and have started being able to produce functional decent looking webpages. Another useful program I've been using in conjunction with Dreamweaver is Macromedia Fireworks which is a web graphics program, it is similar to Photoshop though I find has a greater range of effects and tools available for this particular project.I parcularly like the way I was able to enhance my basic logo design using it. Below are some examples and (above) a basic test file for my homepage.

Adobe Premiere - DnB Kung-Fu Video
Below is a short video montage I made for fun today.It contains various fight scene clips from a few of my favorite kung-fu movies - Wu-Tang Master,One-Armed Boxer and Goose Boxer.I have used part of a live drum n bass set (Swan-E w/Eksman,Herbzie,Rizla & Flyte) for the audio.I feel this works very well as the lightening fast kung-fu action goes perfectly with the music.Enjoy!P.S.Quality bit shit beacause films are in widescreen.

Identities Design Board Presentation
After a fairly late start and countless hours on my computer it was great to finally get this out the way, and I was overall pleased with what I had produced.I now now have a much clearer idea of what I'm doing and started to enjoy producing work for it.Think my presentation went pretty well although I seemed to be lacking the quantity of test files of other group members.My website test file wasn't too impressive as I had just made a quick website template on MS Publisher without really putting too much thought into its actual design, although would still prefer to keep it simple as my Dreamweaver skills are still pretty sketchy.Only seemed to have one real criticism from jools and debs and this was because my website test file displayed its text in several different fonts therefore lacking continuity.Although I could see their point, I didn't really understand why it mattered at this early stage as the fonts used would be something to focus on more towards the post-production period.
Here is the powerpoint slide show I produced for the presentation:

Live Performance Show
Finally got this over and done with.Our performance basically consisted of a poem about Erasmus Darwin written by Sherri being read outside St. Mary's church in the Lace Market.The rest of us did some acting/mimes which related to the poem.We all dressed up in green to represent Darwin's link to naturalist theories and also used various other related props.I was worried that we would get heavy criticism from jools and dominic since our performance was only around 2 minutes long but we had a display of drawings and information to look at after the show which seemed to make up for the brief show.
We watched 3 other groups performances after which were all pretty good.It was interesting to see how differently everyone had approached this task.My favorite however was one where there were a number of dough turtles things hidden around a field outside this windmill and everyone had to search for them.The turtles had answers to questions written on the back.It felt this was good as it really engaged the audience by adding a fun interactive element to it.

Identities Project
After much confusion I finally know what's going on with this project due to an extremely helpful group tutorial last week; although am still a little uncertain about the design board presentation which I should really get a move on with! I've decided to settle with the NTU Multimedia course option as this is probably the one I have the most knowledge on and would find easiest to produce.Have started writing out some ideas on paper though have nothing to show as of yet.....main problem is I'm gonna have to learn how to use Dreamweaver properly in less than 2 months