Due 10/29 & 11/05

This week and next you will tie all that you have learned about the codes of film together into one paper which you will post to your blog.  You will actually complete the first part of of a past AICE Media Studies Exam.  The only difference is you do not have to write this exam in one classroom sitting, instead you will have all next week to complete it.  The exam is based on viewing the first 5 minutes of the movie "Agent Carter, Marvel One-Shots, 2013, dir. Louis D’Esposito".  Before viewing this film, each of you will create a graphic organizer of your own, which will help you recall all the different elements of film we have studied so far.  I am placing a partial sample below of one type of graphic organizer you might like to make.  You may have another graphic organizer you feel fits your study habits better.  Once you have decided what your graphic organizer will look like, you must make it by hand.  That is, it must be hand written and hand drawn.  Feel free to discuss ideas about this graphic organizer with classmates but you must create one of your own.  Post your graphic organizer to your blog this week and the essay to your blog next week.

1) Blog:  Create a new post and upload a picture of your graphic organizer.   Title this post "Film Elements Graphic Organizer".

Partial Sample:

2)  Blog:  View the film extract and write a complete essay (at least 500 words) following the directions below.  Title this blog:  Film Viewing Practice Essay "Agent Carter"

You can view the film at this link:https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x27z5eg
You should stop stop the video at 5:09

Agent Carter (Marvel One-Shots, 2013, dir. Louis D’Esposito)
Clip duration: 5:09
Start point: 00:00
End Point: 05:09

In essay format, discuss the ways in which the extract constructs meaning through the following:

• camera shots, angles, movement and composition
• editing
• sound
• mise-en-scène.

Q2 Week 1 - Mise en scene

  Due 10/22

Mise-en-scene

What is mise-en-scene?  Well, once you read the article below and take the corresponding quizzes, you will have a better understanding of this film term.

1)  Article - Mise en scene

     Q2 Week 1 Quiz 1 - MISE-EN-SCENE (Part 1)
     Q2 Week 1 Quiz 2 - MISE-EN-SCENE (Part 2)

2)  Blog - Watch one movie or TV episode of your choice and describe the four general mise-en-scene areas: setting, lighting, costume and staging.  Explain in your post how these recognizable attributes helped to tell the story, aided the success of the movie, or contributed to why you like the movie. (500 words)

     I decided to comment on the mise-en-scene of the M. Night Shyamalan movie, “Unbreakable”.  I made this decision primarily because I wanted to show that you can easily write about the sets, costumes, lighting and blocking in a film where these elements appear to be less prevalent, rather than in a show with obvious period elements of elaborate costumes and sets.  I also chose this film because it was the prequel to the movies "Split" and "Glass", two movies which are more recognized by this director, who is one of my favorites.

     The movie opens to a shallow space setting on a train with the Bruce Willis character quietly sitting and soon to be having a conservation with a woman to which he appears to be attracted.  The shallow blocking gives the viewer a sense of being a passenger in the seat just in front of the conversation.    Soon after this conversation, the setting changes to a hospital room with a deep space set, showing Bruce Willis in the background and a dying passenger being worked on by medical staff in the foreground.  This deep space blocking helps the viewer focus on the total scene rather than just the conversation between the main character and the doctor.

     As you move through the first few scenes of the movie you will notice that the lighting is low-key, helping to portray a sense of gloom and depression for all the characters involved.  This darkness aides in the viewers interpretation that this is a low time in the lives of these characters.  The family’s meager home is gloomy, dim and lacking of life, further adding to the sadness of the film.  Inversely, just after the main character and his wife have a conversation about working on their marriage, the lighting changes to a high-key format, giving the feel that things will be looking up for this family.

     During the 1974 scene where the younger version of Samuel L. Jackson’s character is having a conversation with his mom, the set designers chose to represent the 1974, Philadelphia West Side apartment through a reflection of their conversation in a vintage television.  The reflection not only succeeds in showing the 1974 décor of the apartment, but also contributes to the feeling of doom and gloom with the low-key lighting it provides.  The mood changes for this character as well when he chooses to venture outside, despite his frailness, and goes for the present his mother has placed on the park bench.  The color purple is introduced during this scene by the purple present sitting on the park bench. Then as the character moves out into the bright sunny day the camera pivots around to his front revealing his iconic purple shirt which will become a prevalent part of his future wardrobe.

     My observations were limited to the first 23 minutes of the film due to the fact that on your AICE media studies exam you will also view just a clip from a film.  You will then write about all the elements in the clip we have studied so far this year; cinematography, editing, sound and mise-en-scene.  As you can see, after completing this assignment you should be ready for the first part of the exam.

  Due 10/15

You will now move on to observing and working with sound in film.  Begin by reading the following articles and then taking the corresponding quizzes below each.

1)  Film Sound and Music​
      Week 8 - Quiz 1 - Film Sound & Music

2) The Emotional Realism of Sound
    Week 8 - Quiz 2 - Movies and Film: Sound Effects and Their Functions

2)  Edit - Reopen your "Five Master Edits", in your editing software, and add sound to the 5 different scenes.  You should have at least 4 different examples of sound when finished.  This means you can't just add music to all, keep them all direct sound, or voice over all of them.  You can have a combination of sounds on one clip.  You may not have to edit the sound in a clip which you wish to maintain it's current direct sound or if you have already added music to create a leitmotif edit.  If this is the case, these 2 sounds will be part of the four you discuss in your blog.  (Diegetic Direct sound and Non-Diegetic Music)  Choose from these types of sound edits, although you will learn that some items in this list are subcategories of others.

  Diegetic sound, Non-Diegetic sound, Nonsimultaneous sound, Direct sound,  Synchronous sound, Postsynchronization dubbing, Offscreen Sound, 

Sound Bridge, Voice Over, Sonic flashback, or Music,

     After you finish editing the sound, export your new video with a different name upload it to Youtube.  Do not take down the previous version of the film since it is linked in your post from two weeks ago and needs to remain there in its original version.  You need to keep both versions in order to show your journey.

3)  Post -  Place a link or embed your new edited version of  "Five Master Shots with Sound Effects" in your blog for this week.  Comment on which types of sound you added and how each affected your film.  Do not limit your comments to just stating and defining the type of sound you used.  State how the sound changed the emotion of your film.

4)  Post - Post a comment on on this blog post that you are finished when you have completed all the assignments.

Here is the link to my sample "Five Master Edits with Sound Effects"

Sound Effects Added Comments:

1) Music:  I added music throughout most of the film to give it an overall theme of a "Circus" environment.  My clips which were already on my phone when I started this project, are mainly taken at school and sometimes I think of school as a circus.  Adding background music is also a form of non-diegetic sound.

2)  Music:  I added Mozart music to the first half of my contrast section to portray the intelligence of the young man as he's scanning through his textbooks studying.  The music helps you fell that this student is very intelligent.

3) Direct Sound: I left the direct sound in the second half of my contrast video because it contained the music that the same student was dancing to at the volleyball game.   The ambient sound of the volleyball game helps to add to the contrast of the video.  Direct sound is also a form of diegetic sound.

4)  Post Synchronization Dubbing:  In my parallelism clip, I added two different sounds of post synchronization dubbing which were not a part of the original videos.  I recorded myself calling my dogs name and added it to the clip of me walking with the empty leash, and then downloaded a file of a doberman whining to add to my dog walking.  This addition of sound helps the viewer see that a person is walking looking for their dog while at the same time a dog is walking, looking for it's person.  This dubbing is also a form of diegetic sound even though it was not a part of the original film.  The sound appears to be coming directly from the characters on the film.

5)  Voice-over:  I lowered the volume of the background music on my symbolism clip and added a voice-over to better explain the transition.  By adding the voice-over the viewer better understands why the camera goes from one set of stars to another.  (This is just a symbolism reference that could appear in a film, I don't really worry that some of the students will end up in a patrol car.)  Voice-over is a form of non-diegetic sound.

6)  Direct Sound:  In my example of simultaneity, I chose to leave all the natural (direct) sound that was in the film clips.  The sounds show what was happening inside the building and outside the building during the hurricane.  The contrast of the two sounds was enough to help the viewer feel the danger that was just outside.

7)  Sound Bridge:  I allowed the circus music to play throughout my Leitmotif film clip because it represents the emotions I wanted to express during the entire film.  This clip shows the craziness that sometimes goes on in the classroom and how a teacher might feel as though they are a hamster running on a wheel.  The circus music helps to impress these feelings onto the viewer.  The same music running throughout the entire edit also serves as a sound bridge for the various clips linking them together as one video.