Sunday, 30 September 2012
analysing waterloo road clip
How the camera portrays certain characters
In the opening part of the clip the camera angle was looking down on the three people walking up the stairs, which indicates people looking down on them, and emphasizing people belittling them. When they get up the stairs they see a women and they ask where a certain teacher is, this teacher also looks down on them and makes them feel small. The camera shot was a ‘over the shoulder’ shot, which give the viewer a feeling of being part of the conversation. Then when the teacher chases the three people down the stairs there is shot of the teacher looking down on them again; this signifies that the three people are still being looked down on.
The camera angle is a low shot in the scene of the teacher speaking to the students as he is on a little stage; this signifies authority and power, which teachers tend to have on students. When the three people come into the scene and start talking to another teacher the camera is a ‘over the shoulder’ shot, which makes the viewer feel right in the middle of the conversation.
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Independent Research 3
Patrick Stewart to return to the X-Men universe?
Star teases a comeback at Montreal Comic Convention
By George Wales
Having run aground slightly toward the end of the noughties, the X-Men franchise is in rude health once more, with long-awaited sequelThe Wolverine finally making its way towards cinemas, and X-Men: Days Of Future Past also in the pipeline.
All this success seems to have piqued the interest of series veteran Patrick Stewart, who suggested he might be in line for a return, when quizzed by a fan at the Montreal Comic Convention.
"I think there is every possibility," he said, when asked whether he might return to the franchise. Confusingly, he then began to list the names of some of his female co-stars ("Halle Berry! Famke Janssen! Rebecca Stamos! Anna Paquin!") before concluding, "Yes, I'll be reprising..."
Where exactly he might fit in remains to be seen, although it has been suggested that there will be a time-travel element in Days Of Future Past, so perhaps he might play an older incarnation of James McAvoy?
Or perhaps he’s just messing with us. In any case, it’s just one more reason to eagerly await the return of the mutants, when X-Men: Days Of Future Past opens in the UK on 18 July 2014.
All this success seems to have piqued the interest of series veteran Patrick Stewart, who suggested he might be in line for a return, when quizzed by a fan at the Montreal Comic Convention.
"I think there is every possibility," he said, when asked whether he might return to the franchise. Confusingly, he then began to list the names of some of his female co-stars ("Halle Berry! Famke Janssen! Rebecca Stamos! Anna Paquin!") before concluding, "Yes, I'll be reprising..."
Where exactly he might fit in remains to be seen, although it has been suggested that there will be a time-travel element in Days Of Future Past, so perhaps he might play an older incarnation of James McAvoy?
Or perhaps he’s just messing with us. In any case, it’s just one more reason to eagerly await the return of the mutants, when X-Men: Days Of Future Past opens in the UK on 18 July 2014.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Camera Shots
extreme close-up (ECU)
big close-up (BCU)
close-up(CU)
medium close-up (MCU)
medium shot (MS)
medium long shot (MLS)
long shot (LS)
very long shot (VLS)
two shot (could be CU/MCU/MS)
'over the shoulder shot'
interviewers look into space in the frame
(and towards the interviewer)
moving subject walks into space
high angle shot (looking down)
low angle shot (looking up)
tilted frame
meaning of photo
The close up (CU) shot is to emphasis my
emotions/feelings; in this case it highlights some of my expressions that
suggest I am shocked and surprised. My eyes are wide open and my eyebrows are
raised, this is a common trait that when someone is shocked, and therefore I look
even more shocked when it is a CU. Also my hands are over my mouth indicates
that I am surprised as this is another trait people often do when in astonishment.
Independent Research 2
James Cameron wins Avatar copyright case
Judge rules that Elijah Schkeiban's screenplay for Bats and Butterflies was 'not substantially similar' to sci-fi blockbuster
Protected planet ... James Cameron's 2009 hit Avatar. Photograph: 20th Century Fox/Everett /Rex Features
Had Elijah Schkeiban succeeded in his copyright case against James Cameron over the blockbuster film Avatar, he might just have been in line for a large payout. However, a US judge yesterday dashed the novelist and screenwriter's hopes of securing a share of the film's $2.7bn (£1.7bn) box-office gross by throwing out the case. Cameron's lawyers had successfully argued that it is not possible to copyright such elements as a "weak hero" and a plot twist in which "the bad guys attack the good guys", reports The Wrap blog.
In his judgment, US district court Judge Manuel Real said Schkeiban's screenplay for a film titled Bats and Butterflies, based on his own series of children's books, was "not substantially similar" to Avatar. The screenwriter had complained that Cameron borrowed multiple plot elements from his script, which he said the director must have been passed by a third party in the film industry. However, Real ruled that Bats and Butterflies was "a straightforward children's story that lacks the depth and complexity of the moods expressed in Avatar".
Lawyers for Cameron had focused on elements of Schkeiban's argument in which he suggested that wheelchair-bound Avatar hero Jake Sully was based on his own protagonist, a small boy, because both were physically "weak". He also argued that a segue in which the bad guys turn on the good guys was based on his own similar twist.
"Even at this basic level of idea, the characters differ," Cameron's lawyers successfully argued. "Being seen as weak is not protectable expression." They later added: "Bad guys attacking good guys is not copyrightable."
Schkeiban had also claimed that the multi-levelled homes inhabited by the Na'vi tribe on Avatar's moon, Pandora, were comparable to the plants and trees seen in Bats and Butterflies. "The Na'vi can also experience their ancestors through a connection with sacred trees," Cameron's lawyers responded. "In contrast, the plants in Bats and Butterflies are just window-dressing."
Schkeiban's case is just one of a half dozen made against Cameron for copyright over Avatar since 2009. So far, none of the plaintiffs have succeeded in their actions.
Binary Opposites
The way opposites are used to create interest in media texts.
Eg. good/bad, coward/hero.
Representation
The description or portrayal of someone or something in a
particular way or as being of a certain nature.
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is
used to represent the whole (for example, ABCs for alphabet)
Indexical signifiers
the signifier is not arbitrary, but is directly connected in
some way to the signified (but not by resemblance)
Monday, 24 September 2012
Independent Research 1
Daniel Craig signs on to two more James Bond films after Skyfall? | Metro.co.uk
The actor, who makes his third appearance as 007 in the upcoming action movie, will also appear in the 24th and 25th Bond films.
Bond film website MI6 reports: 'Studio executives have been alluding to a return to the two-year cycle to produce the 007 adventures, which would peg Bond 24 as a late 2014 release.
'This schedule may be too aggressive for the artistic process at EON Productions, who have savoured the longer than usual break between films to craft the script for Skyfall and have other non-007 related projects in the works, too.
'Craig himself is keen to have a breather before kicking off another Bond outing, telling press recently that he is not taking any other film work on until after all the Skyfall promotional work is over in the New Year.'
Daniel Craig will make his third appearance as Bond in Skyfall (picture: Sony Pictures Entertainment)
Craig has previously vowed to keep appearing in James Bond films 'until they tell me to stop'.
He told the BBC: ‘I know there’ll be someone after me and hopefully someone after them – I’m just trying to keep the series going.’
Craig promised that Skyfall would be a 'great' film.
He added: 'We haven't been resting on our laurels, we've been plotting what to do with this film," he said.
'The first one was a whirr - it was a new experience and flew by - the second one was the tricky second album, but this one we've really planned and got a great script.
'It's going to be different from the last one, but it will still be a great Bond movie.'
Skyfall, directed by Sam Mendes, will be released in cinemas on October 26.
Iconic Signifier
signifier resembles the signified. It imitates some sensory impression of the "real" object.
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