Ok it's time for our latest and greatest blog post dealing with our oh so favorite research script, for our most favored people running IB.  After watching my four films I realized many adjustments that I wanted to make on my research script.  One, maybe even two of my films are going to have to be changed, because I am changing my research topic.  Here's the latest:

Research topic:  How directors use different elements of mise en scene to create varying worlds other than reality.

Films I'm looking at for sure:  Pan's Labyrinth, Sleepy Hollow

Films needed to be changed: The Shining, Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo.  After I find my two new films I'll update this blog.

Pan's Labyrinth

first scene

Ok, so this is the scene we discussed in class, you know, the "hella awesome one".  I'm going to run through the things I found interesting and what I plan on possibly using in my research script.  Those of you in class can skip over this one because it's very similar to what we talked about in class.

The three elements of mise en scene I'm focusing on in this particular scene is:

Lighting

-The director chooses to play with different temperatures of lighting to separate reality vs this "other fantasy world".  In the fantasy world, the color temp is very cold because of the use of orangy/reddish colors, such as the fire behind the child eating monster.  

-Because the colors are often brighter within this fantasy world, the director also plays with shadows which are produced from the warm lighting.  When we see CU on the girl's face, there is usually fast falloff that separates part of her face in light and in shadows.  Also, when we see the hall, there are many cast shadows on the ground produced from the lights/windows.  This adds to the element of fore grounding, and allows the director to stage/place his actors in interesting ways along the Z-axis, which actually helps to add our attention to something.  For example, when the monster chases the girl while she's standing on the chair, we see the monster coming down the hall, but notice how he's standing in the middle along a row of cast shadows on the ground which stretch from the camera lens all the way down the z-axis.  This adds attention and emphasis on the monster, but also creates this spooky/tense world in which the heroine is attempting to escape from.  

-The real world is the opposite of the fantasy world in that it's color temp is much warmer through the use of bluer lighting.  In the one shot of the hour glass in the foreground, and the tunnel/fantasy world in the background, we notice the difference in lighting and color temps which help the audiance distinguish between the fantasy world and the real world.  

Sound/Music

-The use of sound and music in this scene is another element of mise en scene that the director controls to help add a spooky and mysterious element to this fantasy world.  When the monster awakens for the first time the sounds of his arms/hands cracking and the sound of his breathing adds a whole new element in the scene.  The gasping breathing of the monster and the bone cracks of his hand/body seems not from this world, so it helps the audiance remember that they are not in the real world--they are indeed in another world where the most gruesome/horrific sounds are heard by just one monster/character/element.  

Props(slight focus on setting)/Cosutme (creature) design

-There are many props within this scene that helps add to the fantastical idea of this world.  The most prevalent in this scene are the dagger/key, hour glass, grapes/shoes/pictures, and the chalk/chair.  The key and the dagger help us, as the audience, connect to the story and remember the goals that our heroine must accomplish.  The key was from the first of the three tasks, which she uses to unlock the dagger, which was the goal of this task (the second task).  The key represents her unlocking the discovery of this fantasy world.  She is aware of its existence, but does not know much about it, so the key symbolizes her unlocking the mysterious of this fantasy world as the movie unfolds.  The dagger represents the idea of attacking/force that the girl will need if she is to complete her tasks to become the ruler of this fantasy world.  Each ruler needs strength, and the dagger not only represents strength, but it compliments the heroine well.  Rather than give her a bulky sword or small gun to carry around, she wields a majestic beautifully embellished dagger.

-The hour glass is a prop that the director chooses to almost use as a character itself.  The hour glass is constantly being referred back to as the heroine attempts to complete her task.  This builds suspense and reminds the audience of the strict time limit the girl is on.  On a more subtle level, the hour glass shows how the girl only has so much time to be in this fantasy world--or else she is stuck there forever.  This helps the audience distinguish that this world is fantastical because you can only be in it so long before you loose the chance of coming back to reality.

-The grapes, shoes, and pictures are all elements that build character in this scene.  By building character the director helps introduce the audience to further elements and surprises that can only be found in this fantasy world.  The grapes show temptation, the pictures show the deathly/grim character of the monster (and it foreshadows the possible doom of the heroine), and the pile of shoes show how deathly the monster is (for each pair of shoes represents one child that has been eaten by the monster/fell into its grasp).

second scene

-The scenes where our Heroine visits the faun at the last remaining portal is also carefully manipulated by the director in terms of mise en scene to help convey the meaning of this fantasy world.

-Lighting is very much like the world of reality, because they are still in reality, however, there are a lot of elements in terms of sets that show the clash between the magical world and the world of reality.  Again the color temp is warm, as is expressed through the bluish lighting style.  What's important is how the lighting style of the real world (the warmer temp) compliments the faun, the portal, and the stairs.  

-Set design, as previously mentioned, is key in this scene for conveying the idea of the fantasy world.  The stairs begin with a colder color temp at the top where the real world clearly exists, but as the heroine walks down the stairs, we see the lighting get slightly warmer, showing the ALMOST transition into the fantasy world.  Remember, this set is the bridge between the fantasy world and real world, so it has to have elements of both.  What's neat in this scene is the design of the stairs (they are circular and therefore  have more of a haunting dominance), the statue like/magically shaped portal in the middle of the set, and the balance of color and how it compliments the fauns character.  Such decisions in mise en scene like this allows the director to juxtapose both worlds in one scene, which is essentially the crux of the story--especially to the heroine.

Sleepy Hollow

My two scenes aren't online, urg.  I'll talk to Mr. Bigue tommorow and see if I should post my notes up here anyways.

Blog #9--3 annotated scenes from 1 movie

Yahoooooooo!!!!!! We get to look more indepth at our research script today by annotating three different scenes from one of the movies we plan on watching for our research script. The movie i'm going to be using for this time is Pan's Labyrinth, even if it seems to be a movie that everyone is choosing lately. BTW, I called dibs first...I so called this movie like last year :p

Anywho, the three scenes i'm choosing to annotate are:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=n9YD2PFF31E

http://youtube.com/watch?v=p25w1pxGg6k

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5z3u-iCbNxI

Blog #8--Visual Concepts in "Get a Date"

In the short film Get a Date, there is a variety of visual concepts that the director chooses to show. From the beginning of the film we see the use of a split screen while the two different people look through a newspaper. The use of the split screen emphasizes a connection between the two different characters as we are able to see what types of people they are interested in, which is ultimately shown when they circle the types of people they want. The director's use of a split screen falls under the ideas of visual concepts because it shows the connection between the two characters rather than telling us.

Another example of visual concepts found in the movie is when the old man is sitting in his chair, stroking the cat with one finger, while staring at the camera with one picture haning over his head. This has to be the funniest shot in the film because we see such a humorous character on screen during this shot. While the narration does not provide us with any detail about the man, the mise en scene that the director choose to include is more than enough. It was able to show us what the character is like without having to tell us, not to mention, it was a lot more enjoyable for the audiance to see the man's character rather than hear about it.

The last MAIN example (besides the use of sounds to ruin the date over and over again) of visual concepts found in this film is when the old lady applies her makeup. This is a continuing shot that expands with more detail and length each time we see it. The first time the lady only puts on soo much make up, the next time something is added, and the last time, something more is added. Each time she adds more makeup, the outcome of the date occurs diffferently, although, she still never ends up going on her date.

Through using visual concepts, the director is able to show the main points of the movie in an more interesting way, which is ultimately more pleasurable to the audiance, and thus is a more sophisticated technique in the film maker's arsenal of tricks and techniques.

Blog #7--Visual Concept Questions

1. In your own words, explain what you think is a visual concept and how do they work?
A visual concept is a story that is told without dialogue. To achieve a story without the use of dialogue, the body language of the actor, certain editing styles/cinematograpy, or objects are used. These different aspects mainly emphasize the visual aspect of film rather than the telling aspect. Visual concepts are challenging, but is necessary to help filmmakers understand how to tell a story without telling/guiding the audiance along through the use of dialogue. A strong film will actually find the happy balance between visuals and dialogue to tell there story...enough telling so your not totally lost, but a lot of visual aids so that the story is more emotionally enhanced, thus causing a better response/connection to your audiance.

2. Answer/Discuss the Points to Consider on the project description.How can you show the passage of time?
Passage of time can be done through the use of special effects during editing like a clock wipe, flash to white, or a cross disolve. To be more "professional", filmmakers will actually use their objects or actor's body language to show the passage of time rather than use cliched editing effects (more often than not they distract the audiance from the original story line).

3. Describe an emotional moment you would like to explore cinematically. It's basically a short rough draft of your treatment.
I'd like to explore the moment of akwardness. May people always say "akward" when something get's quiet or what not. As a film maker, I'd like to "poke fun back at society" by playing of the comic and emotionally frustrating feelings of akwardness. Not only is this something that many people can relate too, but it will be something that can explain some truth behind actual akward situations.

Blog #6--Research Script 2

Yay!!! We get to look at another research script! Will this one live up to Jason's awesome script, or will it fail to reach such incredible standards? Follow along with me and we'll find out.

First off, before I dwelve into the questions that Mr. Bigue wished for us to answer, there is one immediate problem that I noticed about his research script. It looks as if he's looking at 6 different movies! Holy #%@*, how the bloody hell is he gonna look at 6 different films in the maximum alloted pages (15)? Even worse, he only has 13 pages...it already looks like he's set himself up for failure. Also, this is incredibly hard to read vertically--someone should teach him the right format!

1. How this writer structured his discussion of the topic?
Blah, he suckes so bad in this script. He doesn' narrate this one in his own voice, rather he relies on two fictional narrators to narrate the story. Even so, the flow of the script felt slow. He took a long time to get into his topic, so most of the script ended up being his narrators blabbering on aobut the history of social realism. I suppose it would be worthwile to mention this, but it needs to happen fast, rather than take like 3ish pages.

2. What visuals did he use to enhance the v.o. narration?
He used visuals from the films to support his ideas. I think he did ok here.

3. What topics and references he researched to get his information.
Most of his sources are from online, which is ok, but he needs a variety of sources. He also has some videocassettes, but still though, where are the books and the interview referances?

4. Look at the rubric and give the script a score and explain why.
I'd score this as a 15. He has some good points that are necessary to consider, but he overwhelms himself in too many different films, therefore, his analysis is short and not fully developed. He also spends to much time on an introduction/history and a conclusion, so this throws of the pacing of the script/film. His largest hinderance is the format and narrators, which are both wrong...completely.

Blog #5--Research Script- Topic/Thesis/Films

Woot for IB and crazy research scripts!!!!

Now that I've got that out of my system, I'm finally ready to crank my research script ideas onto paper....well, digtal paper in the form of a blog :)

Ok. So, my topic: Old horror versus new horror in Spanish and American movies.

More specifically/my somewhat developed thesis for now: I want to look at how horror has developed as a genre of the course of film, and also how American concepts of horror compare/contrast to Spanish horror.

Films I plan on viewing
American: Sleepy Hollow, The Shining
Spanish: Pan's Labyrinth, Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo (director: León Klimovsky)

Blog #4 -> response to Jason's research script.

Overall I think Jason's research script was very good. It was, hands down, far superior to my own. I especially liked his topic of study because it was specific enough to provide a concise thesis, but general enough to explore many realms of lighting. Lighting also happens to be one of the easiest things to talk about in film because it is so subjective; it basically gives you more "under the surface" ideas without having to think too horibly hard.

Jason's scripts was structured like an "visual" essay. It started with an intro paragraph, which also happened to be the opener to his documentary. The nice part about his opening scene was that it focused on a lot of similarities to the movies he watched (the thunder/lightning, black and white with flashes of color, etc.). I believe this adds to his understanding of the films watched, and the art of visually showing what he's going to talk about. The rest of his script focused on supporting paragraphs from each movie; first Tsotsi and then Sin City. He used many examples from the film and the director/director of photography's conversation to support his ideas. I also noticed that he used our text book to help him use the appropriate terminology for describing what he saw/talked about. Not only do we have to recognize what the style of film are, we have to be able to talk about it appropriately...nice work here Jason. He does use VO's and sound from the movies to help add an element of expertise to his documentary, so this was also nicely done.

I think I'd score him between a 20-22.