Gallery Visits

Today we visited a number of galleries to aid us with research and inspiration for our response to Freedom and Liberty, and to also aid me with my Transcription project.

We started at the National Gallery, pictures of which can be found HERE

The exhibitions we were to look at were the Visions of Paradise and Delacroix. In the Visions of Paradise exhibition, we were not allowed to take photographs, but the images portrayed tranquil scenes similar to that of The Garden of Eden. The Delacroix exhibition wasn't open, so we went around other exhibitions shown in the gallery.  I found that the paintings evoked imagery of feeling trapped and freedom. One of a boy leaning on a window sill, reminded me that the boy was innocent and therefore free of responsibility. Another painting in a dark room suggested to me that freedom was something we aspire to, but in the main scheme of life, it's unrealistic and unreachable. On our way out of the gallery we found a 3D model of Trafalgar Square encased in plastic. The amount of detail that went into the model was unreal, it was like I was a God looking down on the tiny figurines like they were people, I thought about if that was happening to me right there and then, that someone was looking down on me - trapping me in a plastic case. Although not a piece in any exhibit (it promotes donations to be made), I think it questioned my idea of freedom - that we aren't really free and what I would do with total freedom.

We then visited the Saatchi Gallery, pictures of which can be found HERE

I didn't think much of the art in this gallery related to freedom in terms of imagery, more artistic freedom than the idea of freedom. I particularly liked the piece entitled Ideal Proportions: Squeeze, that shows the number's 36, 24, 36, which are supposed to be the perfect measurements for a woman's body, however I don't think the style of the art is something I find aesthetically pleasing.

The Last gallery I visited was at Somerset House to see the Big Bang Data, pictures of which can be found HERE

I enjoyed this exhibition and thought that it was very intriguing. My favourite piece was a slideshow/video showing images stolen from people's computers via hacking, I think that it shows (in terms of the Freedom and Liberty project), that although we think we are free, someone always has control and takes personal things away from you, like pictures saved on your computer and unleashes them to the internet, taking away your freedom. In the past few years, this has been in the news, for example nude images of Jennifer Lawrence being released online as her icloud (and many other celebrities') was hacked. Another piece I liked was the polaroids that an artist had taken of a place and on the polaroid he described his feelings and smells of the place etc. I think it's very nostalgic, but something I would like to do so in a few years when I look back I will have documented how past me was feeling at the time of the photo rather than relying on bad memory.

Freedom & Liberty Initial Ideas

Freedom & Liberty Over the Years

Freedom & Liberty - The Naked Ramblers

Filming, Editing, Final Piece and Evaluation (Drama)

For this title sequence I wanted to strip down and figure out what the film is really about. The film, for me, is about the coming of age of the protagonist and revolves around his knowledge and what he can learn. The film's essential prop is the chalkboard. I think this title sequence, although basic, links the audience with the turning point of the film - when the protagonist writes on the chalkboard. To improve this I think I could have less movement of the chalkboard and perhaps better equipment for terms of filming, for example the camera quality and the height of the tripod. To improve I would also add a soundtrack that fits a drama genre in addition to more diegetic sounds of typical school life, such as scraping chairs across floors, writing on the chalkboard and bells. Again, with this piece my main issue was timing, to fit in all the credits within 30 seconds, I think that had the title sequence been atleast a minute I wouldn't have struggled as much. I could also set this sequence within a classroom, and watching students leave the room and then pan closer to the chalkboard. I would also perhaps try a stop motion as I don't like the hands within the sequence. I could also try and use different colours of chalk depending on the credit.

Audience (Drama)

Ideas (Drama)

Law & Order UK

I chose this title sequence so I could get a range of the subgenres of drama.

The title sequence begins slowly with a voiceover while the title font slowly fades in from black, presenting a sense of mystery but also power with the voice over. The soundtrack builds very quickly and presents a sense of urgency. Clips are overlaid onto imagery that represents police, London and courts which sets up a sense of location and historical period (current day). The music feels very patriotic and might fill the audience with a sense of empowerment and trust within the characters.

Good Will Hunting

The sequence opens with an abstract background, it's only when the audience looks closer that they can see it's copies of books repeated like a kaleidoscope effect. The kaleidoscope effect reminds me childhood, for me the film represents the coming of age, so I think that this effect is well used and representative of it's character. The music is very soft suggesting childhood again, the music becomes progressive throughout, perhaps suggesting the character will do the same. The font is basic and centrally aligned to not distract the audience. The cinematography is very tight and shows close ups, which could suggest a sense of intimacy with the character. The final shots of this sequence are from a high angle perspective, to perhaps make the characters look inferior.

Forrest Gump

The title sequence is very slow paced, following a feather, which could signify innocence and delicacy perhaps suggesting this of the character. The font in this title sequence is very basic and centrally alligned so that it doesn't distract the audience from what is going on in the background. The soundtrack is very soft and delicate, matching with the feather, I think that this combined with the one take of this sequence makes it flow well and sets the mood and atmosphere of the film and also the drama genre. The colour palette again is very soft and delicate, which adheres to the codes and conventions of the drama genre.

Drama Conventions

Idea for Thriller

Filming, Editing, Final Piece and Evaluation (Thriller)

I think the main issue I had with this piece is that I think the other idea would've worked better. My original idea was to show the seven deadly sins, which feature heavily in the film Se7en. Another issue I had was that the title sequence to Se7en is so iconic that I found it hard to steer away from the title sequence I knew well. To improve this piece I think I should add sound, specifically a soundtrack that builds pace and tension and also add diegetic sound of a clock ticking to add a sense of urgency and time to the sequence. I had already made this title sequence when we were told not to use font from a computer, my way to improve that woul be to write on a mirror and show it at a canted angle, or perhaps show the character out of focus but the font within focus. Another issue I had was timing, I think I found it difficult to get all the credits in, and set up an idea of the character, the mood and atmosphere for the piece at the same time. I think that another issue I had was lack of 'good' equipment. All of this is filmed off a Fujifilm finepix AV10, which isn't great quality for shooting, it has auto focus which is annoying for doing close ups and pulling focus in some shots would've helped add tension. I like the effects I've added to the footage, I think to improve the edits, I could've also filmed more footage and over laid two clips and changed the opacity so that they gave a more uneasy feeling for the audience.

Panic Room

The diegetic sound in this title sequence fits that of a busy city, matching what the cinematography shows us of wide shots of buildings. The soundtrack fastens and starts the build tension, the camera movements become faster at this point, showing more busy traffic and from high angles suggesting power, towards the end of the clip there is a low angle shot perhaps suggesting the characters lack of power within the diegesis. I like the way the font fits with the buildings, almost as if they are the buildings or are like billboards. The pace of the editing begins slow, and then fastens with the soundtrack. I don't think there are any signifiers to suggest what happens in the film, I think this title sequence is used to set the scene within the film.

Gone Girl

Gone Girl Title Sequence from Faris Abass Jibril on Vimeo.

The non diegetic sound track sound is slow and keeps pace with the slow paced cuts, this shows the mystery and drama of the piece, accompanied with the voice over, it contrasts and evokes the audience to feel conflicted. The shots at the beginning of the sequence are close ups from a higher perspective, suggesting that we are looking down on the character and are superior to that character. It also suggests an intimate relationship with the two characters as the male character strokes the female characters hair. The character's eye contact in this scene isn't broken, which could suggest power over the other character, or perhaps links the audience to this particular character. The mood and ton of the piece suggested by the light and saturated colour palette and the cross fade transitions suggest a softer atmosphere to the film, showing the 'perfect' life. The following shots show a town, suggesting a trapping environment as the town is isolated - this also suggests that the male character are alone.

Catch Me If You Can

In this title sequence you can see the influence from Saul Bass' work with the use of lines and cut out images. This animation challenges the audiences depth of field, for example the last shot showing the two main characters running. The title sequence summarises the film in a humorous way that is simple for the audience. This is also shown by the non diegetic soundtrack that slowly builds throughout the title sequence and fastens towards the end of the sequence. The editing flows well into each shot type as it turns into the scene. This title sequence almost feels like a short animation, as the titles fit into the mise en scene as the become roads and cords for lifts.

Conventions of Drama genre

• Realistic storyline of life and situation
• character development
• dramatic sounds 
• revolves around families
• high key lighting 
• slow paced editing
• emphasises on the mise en scene 
• close ups of characters
• thematic 

Codes and Conventions for Thrillers

• Low key lighting
• fast paced editing - quick cuts
• shadows/dark/contrast
• mirrors
• sharp objects such as weapons/knives/razor blades
• building music 
• diegetic sounds - breathing/door creaking
• cinematography - angles and tightly framed
• crosscutting
• trapping environment
• filmstroke - fine & grainy 

Audience

Thrillers are divided into sub-genres. Thrillers are primarily watched by Males in the 18-25 region, who are typically students (Occupation brand E) and have the most disposable income and typically buy into franchises.

Roland Barthes

Enigma Code

Roland Barthes Enigma Code

Enigma - illusive - secret

A text portrays mystery to draw an audience in to pose questions and as such become intrigued in the piece.

For instance, a murder mystery will often not reveal the identity of the killer until the end of the story which poses the question,'who is the murderer?'

Narrative/enigma codes

Categorised as:

• Hermeneutic Code - Voice of Truth. : Element in a story not explained and therefore exists as an enigma for the reader, raising questions
• Proairetic Code - Voice of Empirics : Tension built up leaving the audience guessing what will happen next
• Semantic Code - Voice of Person : Any element in text suggests meaning by way of connotation which the story suggests
• Symbolic Code - Voice of Symbol : Wider level of semantic code, organises semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. New meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas
• Cultural Code - Voice of Knowledge : Looks at the audiences wider cultural knowledge, morality and ideology

These codes are important so that the audience read the text with multiple meanings, the audience then take control and take an active role in determining the meaning of the text. The codes are crucial to title sequence as the title sequence is the 'taster' of the film, if the audience aren't satisfied or find themselves 'bored' in the first 2 minutes of the film, they will stop watching or not appreciate the codes.

STINCS

Saul Bass

Kyle Cooper

Title Sequence: Napoleon Dynamite

A title sequence is the first thing an audience will see when watching a film, it is essential that the title sequence gives a good impression to the audience so they will continue to watch the film. 

Mise En Scene
The lighting throughout the sequence is very natural which suggests that the film is very realistic and conveys to the audience that the film is realistic and very natural, and could also suggest a comedic element.The sequence is set in a house (or so the audience assume), as the background shows fabrics and carpets and floor tiles usually found within the home; this portrays an idea of familiarity to the audience and makes the film seem natural and realistic as the audience would live in homes like these due to the era of which the film is set in. The background of each shot is usually very plain and simple, perhaps suggesting the character is this way too allowing the audience to relate to the character. The use of this plain background makes the titles more striking to the audience and to pay attention to each little detail. All of the objects used within the sequence are ones that the audience can familiarise themselves with and use within day-to-day life, this makes the audiences feel more relaxed and allows them to relate to the character and the film more. Most of the shots show strange food combinations which makes the audience stereotype the character to a teenage boy, as the audience typically associate weird food combinations with teenage boys. The food combinations could also suggest to the audience that the character himself is weird. There are a few shots of Alien related objects such as the UFO Abduction Insurance card and the books show that the character could be stereotyped as a 'geek', as 'geeks' are stereotyped to be liking UFO and space related things. UFO sightings and expereinces typically happen in rural areas, so this could portray the idea of the character living in a rural area. The UFO related items could also suggest that the film is a spoof of a sci-fi film. The school stationary shot and the student card shot, tells the audience that the character is a a student at a school which allows the audience to relate to the character as audience memebers will have been to a school. The character seems to be organised as the character's hands and fingernails are clean, his wallet is organised, the toy cars are labelled, the character uses chapstick and could possibly be concious of his health as fruit and vegetables are shown within the food shots and the lemon sweet packet says fat free on the box; each of these parts combined stereotypically represent a nerdy teenage boy, which allows the audience to guess what the character's personality is like.

Cinematography
The use of close ups within the whole sequence show the detail of each shot and make it easy to read. This shot is very straightforward and shows the audience that whatever you see within the title sequence there will be no hidden meaning and portrays to the audience that the character is very down to earth and what you see is what you get. The use of these close ups could perhaps create intimacy between the character and audience as it shows that the character trusts the audience and hasn't really ever showed anyone what he really likes, what he eats and his drawings. There is no camera movement in the title sequence whihc could perhaps represent that the character's life is stable and also not really going anywhere. The title sequence is from a slight high angle, this could represent the social hierarchy within schools and that the audience members are higher than him and look down on the character.


Editing
The jump cuts are used to show that there is no routine within the character's life. The pace of the shots and the title sequence is very slow, which could show that there isn't a lot going on in the character's life and everything drags within his digesis.


Sound
At the start of the sequence the audience hear diegetic bird tweets which could suggest again that the character lives in a rural area as there are no sirens or traffic. The soundtrack is non-diegetic and is empathetic sound. The music has lyrics relating to school re-enforcing the idea of the character being a student. Each time a plate is put down, the sound is either emphasised or echoes which portrays the idea of the character being alone and isolated, which could suggest that his parents aren't around, the character has minimal friends and lives in a rural area.

Title Sequence: Codes and Conventions

The opening credits for a film establishes the characters, setting, genre and mood or atmosphere.

Typically an opening sequence will contain:

• Details of cast and crew
• The films title
• Introduction to character or character type
• Indicate place
• Indicate historical period
• Information regarding mood and tone
• Introduction to signature theme tune
• Information about genre
• Sets up enigmas
• Patterns and types of editing that will be echoed for remainder of film
• Mise en scene & cinematography that will be echoed or elaborated upon later in the film

Common Credits in a Film Opening: 

• Name of production companies 
• Producer
• Name of title
• Director
• Other Key Crew
• Executive Producer 
• Top Billing Actors

Title Sequences: Throughout History

I found this article while researching for title sequences throughout history, which can be found here. 

I think it's very.. weird. As an audience in this era pretty much all the information needed was needed on one or two screens, nowadays, we have minimum of 30 names on a 2 minute video. I also think that's it's strange imagining sitting in an audience having to guess the genre on the film based on the typography of the title.

 On the other hand, I think it was very clever. Those making these films had to think about what was the easiest font to read and how big the text should be, the average reading time for an audience so they could determine how long each shot should be on screen for. I wonder if any of those audiences imagined that film would be like it is today. 

I think it is amazing how much title sequences have changed, they're now seen as an art form and are so more creative than they were in early film. I remember seeing this film as a child, and instantly (if you can't tell from the title of the film), you were able to get a real feel of the film and what it would be about - almost like a blurb but for a film. Title sequences became more entertaining, you would actually pay more attention to the names on the screen which would mean that those involved with the film would actually be remembered for it (I know there are credits right at the end of a film, but no one ever stays to watch them all through unless there are bloopers on the end like with Toy Story).

(To Kill a Mockingbird:) I really liked and enjoyed this title sequence. From watching the title sequence you see it presented as if you're a child (which really is the whole story, we're seeing it from the child's perspective with her older voice narrating her thoughts at the time), it also intrigues you as it completely contrasts with the idea from the title of killing a mockingbird as the themes and youth and death are rarely put together. I feel, if it wasn't for this contrast I wouldn't have been so encouraged to watch the film. In addition, I felt like most of the films I had seen up to this point had had title sequences that were more narrative and introducing the story to me, whereas this threw me off a little as it wasn't something I had really seen before.

This is, personally, one of my favourite title sequences ever to date. I love that you get all these little snippets of information at the title sequence and then spend the whole film on the edge of your seat ready to find out how they all link together (which, they do. In case you haven't seen the film, he cuts off his fingerprints which makes him so hard to track down). I also didn't realise until this lesson that the film and title sequence were made by two different people. I think it's amazing that Kyle Cooper (title sequence maker) followed the directors style for this title sequence, you literally can't tell. Which, I think is beneficial to film, you don't want two different styles clashing, as it disrupts the audience too much.

Overall, title sequences have changed for the better. Now title sequences are entertaining, they get more credits in and due to the entertainment of what is happening on screen and how the name will unfold in front of you, gets the name a lot more attention than in earlier films. I believe that title sequences have definitely taken on this form of art which allows the audience to appreciate it more and the time put in to making it. I think it also gives a taste to the audience on what the genre is to the audience and what the film will be like and is about.

Jury Service: Sycamore Row Review

I initially bought this book as I had seen the film A Time To Kill (it's prequel) and studied it for a year, comparing it to To Kill a Mockingbird during my Film Alevel. I enjoyed the film and wanted to see how the story and the character's life continued.

Although I knew what had happened in the book very early on in the book and the disequilibrium and resolution in the last two chapters. I loved this book, I think that it is easy to be absorbed in the character's life and diegesis of the films, I still catch myself thinking about if the Brigance's moved into their new home. Most of the book contains the 'behind the scenes' of the court proceedings and how the protagonist attempted to do certain things to the trial, which (while being on jury service) was really interesting to see the similarities and differences between British and American court systems.

Jury Service: Evaluation