Typical film plot structure - Boy

Typical film plot structure

(Especially in Hollywood movies)

Expository opening/set up: central characters are established, their goals may be introduced.

Often the goals are dual: one is personal, usually romantic; the other is more public(e.g. career, money).

In "Boy" - When the main character is doing a presentation in front of his class, telling them about his interesting life, and after when he is in the class room each of the main characters get slowly introduced to us. Also he tells us of how great he thinks his father is, and maybe his goal is to meet him again because he looks up to him.

Inciting event: an event takes place that incites or triggers plot development (a killing, boy meets girl, a disaster, etc.)

In "Boy" - When his father finally returns home we slowly begin to understand what the plot will be about because we are gradually shown the fathers reasons for returning and what plans he has in mind for his life. This effects his sons because whatever the father does, they will want to go along with him.

Intensification/complication/development: a series of interrelated events (problem1, problem 2, etc.) leading like a series of steps up to a major confrontation

Conflict builds

At the same time, film plots need to keep the audience’s mind fixed on the overall are of the story, on the characters’ main goal despite the intricacies of the plot.

The goal may be defined, re-defined, even temporarily thwarted. Stakes may be raised. Plot turning points are clearly marked.

In "Boy" - This is when the boy starts to find out that his father may not be the person he thought he was, this is first shown to us when the father says to his son "don't call me dad" this comment, I think would make the boy feel like his father didn't care about him and/or was not mature enough to realize that he was this kids father and that he was responsible for this boy. In this section of the movie we also see that the boy tries to grow up too fast so that he can be more like his father, and forgets to be a kid.

Climax: this resolves the problems/conflicts raised during the film and the protagonist’s goal is usually decisively achieved.

It often follows the ‘darkest moment’ for the hero when obstacles seem insurmountable

In "Boy" - This is when the boy finally realizes that he does not want to be anything like his father and that his father did not care about him in the way that he thought he did. So the boy tries to beat up his father to maybe knock some sense into him, to show him that he is not a good person at all. In this moment I believe that the father realizes what his son is feeling, and realizes what he has done.

Epilogue: the restoration of a stable world, usually in a happy ending

Strong sense of closure

In "Boy" - This is when the boy finally decides to be a kid again and he returns to his friends, this shows us that he realizes that he was trying to grow up too fast and he did not want that. Also we see a strong sense of closure when the father finally decides to visit his wifes grave and the boys meet him there and they all sit around the grave. This shows us that the family might have a new beginning and that their problems have been solved. Also it shows that the father wants to be a better role model to his children and he is acting more like a father.

Audience

Brothers and Sisters - 15-19, 30-39
Friends - 15-29
Top gear - 15-50 (more for a male audience)
Heroes - 15-23
Lost - 13-50

Rush - 20-29 30-39 40-49
Desperate housewives - 30-39
Shortland Street - 20-29, 30-39
Home and away - 15-19, 20-29
Outrageous fortune - 20-29, 30-39
Transformers - 15-19
South Park - 15-19
The hills have eyes - 20-29
Saw - 20-29
Death at a funeral - 40-49, 50-59
Rush hour - 20-29
Australia - 40-49, 50-59
Twilight - 10-14, 15-19
Independence day - 20-29

Slumdog Millionare - I Will Never Forgive You

Question One

Type Of Shot Used: Low Angle Shot

In this shot we see Jamal looking down on Salim through the eyes of Salim after Jamal punched his brother to the ground and is now looking down angrily at his brother. This shot is showing us that Jamal has over powered his brother and is looking down at him as the more powerful figure in the shot. This is a particularly interesting shot because Jamal is overpowering his brother for the first time in his life. Salim was always the dominant figure in their relationship and now it has taken a fair amount of anger from Jamal to show us a side of his personality that we have never seen before. By Jamal taking out his anger on Salim it shows us the he is taking control for the first time in his life and standing up to his older brother. This shot shows us that Jamal is bigger or more powerful than Salim even though Salim is the older brother and was always bigger than Jamal. This scene shows us that Jamal has had all this anger and hate built up inside him up until now and he unleashes it for the first time in his life.

Question Two

Film element used: Sound Effects

There are not many sound effects in this scene apart from the construction workers or the sound of the crane lifting Jamal up onto the top of the building. The reason I think that they have made it so that it is very quiet in this scene is to show the audience that this struggle is only between Jamal and Salim. It almost shows us that they are the only two people in their world. The sound effects in this scene are there to show us where the scene is located and where Jamal and Salim are in this scene. They show us this when Jamal is taken up to where Salim is on the crane. By hearing the cranes sounds we understand that the scene is taking place on a building that has still not been fully constructed and this is why they need a crane to get to the top of the building. The sound effect when Jamal punches his brother in the face and he is knocked to the ground is a "thump" sound that shows us that he landed on a hard, stable surface which in this case is the concrete of the construction sights floor. The director shows us the emotion of Salim through sound effects when Jamal first came up to meet him. We hear the footsteps of Salim and he builds up his walk gradually to meet his brother, showing us that he is excited to meet him.

Question Three

Film element used: Costume

The costume is important in this scene to show us the personality of the two brothers and to show us who they are. By looking at Jamal's costume which is a very simple tidy white shirt with brown pants. This shows us that he is very simple, smart, and doesn't think much of himself because he isn't wearing any clothing that is in fashion or new. On the other hand Salim is wearing a fashionable blue shirt that is unbuttoned to show his chest and his gold necklace. He is also wearing designer sunglasses and stylish jeans with Italian elegant shoes. All these clothes that show us that he thinks he is"the boss", these clothes that he is wearing show us that he is very full of himself and believes that he is better than everyone else. Which is the complete opposite to Jamal.

Question Four

Film element Used: Dialogue

The dialogue in this scene shows us the anger that Jamal has and the emotions that he has because of what his brother has done. When Salim first sees Jamal he says "Jamal? Is that you brother? God is good, god is good" This shows us that Salim is happy and relieved to see his brother after all those years. After Jamal has hit Salim to the ground Salim says "left a message for you at work" to tell Jamal that he had been looking for him after they left him alone. Jamal replies with "there was no message, there was no message, there was no message!" getting more aggressive with each repetition. This shows us that Jamal is mad at his brother for leaving him and never attempting to find him. The dialogue concludes with Salim lying on the ground and Jamal says to him "I will never forgive you" and Salim replying with a quiet "I know" after his brother turned around in anger and walked away. This showed us that Salim understands what he has done to his brother and is sorry for his actions and for leaving him by himself all those years before.

Question 5

Film element used: Camera angles

The camera angles in this scene show us the anger that Jamal has and help us understand it. The first camera angle that shows us Jamal's emotion and feeling is the first close up of his face when he reaches the top of the lift. The emotion on his face shows us that he is in search of something, or that he is anxious to see someone, and in this case it is Salim. When he finally does see his brother we see Salim through an over the shoulder shot, which puts us into the eyes of Jamal and shows us that Jamal is seeing Salim walking up to him hurriedly and excitedly and we see Salim's emotion of happiness and surprise to finally see his brother. We are switched back and forth between this over the shoulder shot and the close up shot on Jamal's face, which shows us his emotion of surprise to see Salim and also the anger on this face as he walks up to punch Salim in the face. After Salim falls to the ground we see a low angle shot showing Jamal's anger and showing us that he is dominant over Salim in this part of the scene. We also see a high angle shot which shows Salim on the ground and we see his emotion of surprise and fear as he sees this new side of his brothers personality that he has never seen before. The final camera angle is a long shot that shows both of the brothers and shows us Salim on the ground looking at the floor thinking about what he has done wrong and Jamal kicking the dirt with anger.

Question 6

Film element used: Lighting

The lighting in this scene is very bright on the outside of the construction site which shows us that it is a very sunny bright day. On the inside it is very dark which could show us that Jamal wasn't very angry before he entered the building but his anger developed as he entered into the building and met his brother. Also the colour is very murky which shows us that there is a lot of uncertainty in this scene and that we don't know exactly what is going to happen.

Question 7

Film element used: Pace

The pace at which this scene was filmed helped influence how the scene could be carried out or shown to the audience. In the scene when Jamal imagines himself throwing Salim over the edge of the tall building, we see three different shots of Jamal and Salim falling. The first shot was very short and fast, at about the pace which they would fall at if it really did happen. The second and third were in slow motion to capture the movement of their arms as they dropped off the building. If all three had been in slow motion, the scene would have been too long and would not show the real speed at which Jamal and Salim were falling and it would not show us the damage and consequence of Jamal and Salim falling off this tall building. The pace shows us Jamal's anger by the speed at which he hurled his brother and himself off this tall building.

Question 8

Film element used: Mise en Scene

The composition of the scene simple and very easy to predict what was going to happen. We knew from the start the Jamal wasn't just going to meet with his brother because he missed him after all these years and that he wanted to see him because of this. Jamal went to see Salim so that he could tell his brother how he felt after all those years that he had been by himself. The camera work and framing captured the characters and the setting which are all very important for the Mise en Scene. The lighting was very dull and dark on the inside of the building which made the outcome of the scene unpredictable and uncertain. The framing also put Jamal and Salim in most of the shots and also showed us the anger that Jamal was expressing and the aggression he showed towards Salim.

Slumdog Millionare Review

Slumdog Millionare by Danny Boyle was an interesting movie because of many things. First of all the music in the movie suited the film because most of it was bollywood themed music. Even though this film had such an amazing soundtrack, you don't really notice it during the movie. It is good background music and is well suited for the film. Also on the topic of music, it was a good effect to put the well known song "Jai Ho" at the end, because this song was made famous worldwide by the pussycat dolls even though they are not the original artists of this song. The colour in the movie was very well placed all through the movie, for example when there was a scene in the slums we would see many different colours of all the slums which shows us that the area is not well looked after and not well planned because all the housing is made out of anything that the residents could use. This is why the use of colour in this scene is not well organised and is all over the place or messy. Also when there is the scene in mumbai at night, there is a good use of colour because we can see all the headlights from the cars and also from all the business buildings in the city, which shows us that Mumbai is a very busy and fast moving city, full of civilians. In general the storyline in Slumdog Millionare was unique because the whole story is set around a tv show. Also it was interesting because of the way that we find out everything about the main characters life through the questions that he is asked. Also it is full with different emotions in every memory that Jamal (the tv show contestant) has. All this emotion that the film showed us made it such a real life film, because of this I believe that the movie attracted such a large audience worldwide. Also the movie made a large profit because they did not have a large budget and also most of the actors that the hired were from the indian slums and were not paid large amounts of money. Also the movie was filmed in India which made it less expensive to produce. This movie also attracted large audiences because it was a sort of underdog film compared to all the others in that year, even though it won the most awards in all the film award ceremonies. The media hype I also believe attracted many more people and helped make this film so successful.

Saving Private Ryan - Omaha Beach Landing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZgKo46X8CI

Choose one element and discuss its use in detail.

Film - Saving Private Ryan

Scene - Omaha Beach Landing

Element - Sound Effects

At the beginning of the scene we hear the sound of the waves as they crash onto the boats that are heading towards the beach. This shows us that the sea that the soldiers are travelling on is rough and makes it more difficult for the boats to reach their destination. We also hear at this point sound of the boats motors and also the sound of soldiers that are vomiting. This sound effect shows us that they are so nervous, worried or scared about what is going to happen when they reach the shore, that it is causing them to be sick in fear. As they get close to the beach with the boats you can hear distant bombings and as soon as the captain blows the whistle the front opening of the boat opens up and instantly we hear gun fire and many soldiers are shot and killed instantly from above. We see the close up of the machine gun that is being used from above and we hear it firing down onto the soldiers on the shore. Then we see the soldiers jump into the water and we hear the muffled sounds of the soldiers moving underwater and the gun fire from above the water. This shows us what the soldiers are hearing as this is happening, and as they re-surface above the water we hear the full volume of the gunfire and bombings that are taking place. As we see the captain dragging an injured soldier out of the water we hear the gun shots hitting the water around the soldiers and we also hear the bullets hit the bodies of the soldiers. This sound effect shows how dangerous this scene is to the soldiers that are being shot at. One of the most effective sound effects in this scene is the part when the captain loses his hearing for a moment because of an explosion that occurred close to him. In this section the captain is looking around at all the things that are happening around him and we cannot hear anything, he looks around at one of his soldiers and he can see his mouth moving but no sound is coming out. This gives the effect to the audience that the captain cannot hear anything and once again is showing the audience what it was like for the american soldiers at Omaha Beach. The use of sound effects in this scene ultimately made the audience understand what the soldiers were feeling, hearing and seeing at the time of this massacre. It makes the scene more eye opening and realistic for the audience.

Chapter One

Define each of the following and give a relecant example of each one.

Film - Film is the word given to describe the physical reel of pictures which are then projected onto the screen for the audience to watch. Example: "Do you want to come watch Valentines Day with me?"

Cinema - A cinema is a place where people go to view movies. Cinema is a word also used to describe all aspects of film and film making. Example: "Lets go to Sky City Cinema" and "I am interested in learning more about modern cinema".

Shot - A shot is one consecutive piece of filming which is not interrupted and goes from when the camera is turned on till when it's turned off. For example when there is a conversation between two people, the camera man will maybe put them both in the same frame and put them facing eachother.

Edit - An edit is a break in the film where one shot finishes and the next shot begins. Example: One type of edit is a cut, this is when there is no transition and the next shot plays straight away.

Scene - A scene is a collection of shots arranged, through editing in a specific order. For example in the movie Saving Private Ryan there is a scene where the soldiers arrive onto a Omaha Beach and they are massacred from above.

Frame - The frame is the border or edge of the screen in cinema, the physical boundary that contains what the audience sees. For Example when there is a person talking in a movie, the person that they are talking to may be the only one in the frame so that the audience can see there expression.

Diegesis - The diegesis of a film is everything contained within the 'world' of that film. Therefore, a diegetic element is an element within the world of the film, while a nondiegetic element is any element outside the world of the film.

Outline the four elements of film style. Discuss each element and again give relecant examples for each point. This includes film and reasoning.

Mise-en-scene - The visual elements within the frame
Eg. Setting, Lighting, Costumes, Acting Style

Cinematography - The art of capturing images on moving film
Eg. Exposure, Speed, Focus, Perspective, Camera Position, Camera Movement.

Editing - The art of placing shots together in a specific order to generate a relationship between the shots.Editing creates things like: Graphic relationships between the different elements in each shot, the films rhythm, the space that the film takes place and the passing of time in the film. "The editing in that film was amazing, it was so well put together I would of actually thought it was happening/ all being acted at the same time"

Sound - What you hear while viewing a film.
Eg. Uses of sound, qualities of sound, sources of sound, timing of sound.

A Narrative is the storyline in a film. It is the sequence of events placed in the correct order to create meaning. Narrative is extremely important in "Kite Runner" or "Forrest Gump"

Genre is the word used to describe what type of film a film is, it is defined by the set of narrative and stylistic 'rules' that the filmmakers adhere to. Some genre examples are..
Horror - Friday the 13th
Musical - Hairspray Comedy - Little Nicky

Intertexuality is a reference to another film to deliberately evoke the audience's memory of that other film. If i were to describe this to someone who had never heard of it I would say "When a film has a part or section in it that reminds the audience of another movie."

Camera Techniques

1) Extreme Close-up: An extreme close-up emphasizes a portion of the face, a small detail.

2) Pace: The speed at which something moves.

3) Low angle shot: Camera positioned low, looking up. This emphasises the size of the object in frame.

4) High angle shot: Camera positioned high, looking down. Emphasises the vulnerability of the person or object in focus.

5) Music: An artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner.

6) Sound Effects: Noises other than the human voice.

7) Pan: Camera swivels slowly, giving a sweeping view of a wide area.

8) Zoom: Move along very quickly, when you zoom in, the object being filmed gets closer.

9) Tracking shot: Camera moves along a track on a dolly, keeping pace with a moving object that is being filmed.

10) Performance (of actor/s): People playing speaking. acting roles in a film

11) Special effects (usually digital): The illusions used in the film to simulate real events which are hard to create.

12) Backlight: A light high up behind the scene, illuminating the subject from behind, giving a halo effect.

13) Dialogue/script: Spoken words by actors, helps to tell the story.

14) Mise en scene: The placement of objects within the frame. Such as the setting, the lighting and what is happening.

15) Cross-cutting: Cutting back and forth between two scenes to create the effect that they're happening at the same time.