Casting

Plot 6- Cinderella-The True Story

This story is the story of Cinderella but set in modern times. Instead of going to a ball however she attends Prince Charming’s 18th birthday party and as usual, the fairy godmother dresses her up beautifully on the condition that she returns by midnight. She spends the evening with the prince but when midnight strikes she remembers to run away, unfortunately leaving her shoe behind. This time however she goes back to collect it and it is too late. She starts to turn uglier and uglier by the second, and no one recognizes her. Everything goes wrong and she just wants it to end. BUT...the answer to her problems seems to be in front of her…

I decided to use Nicole Kidman as although she is a bit old for the part she has the elegance and attractiveness, which is perfect for the role of Cinderella. It is similar to her role in Moulin Rouge which is sort of a fairytale gone wrong. She also features in the fantasy romance Bewitched as well as the family fantasy The Golden Compass. Her looks as a whole, also fits the role of Cinderella because of her blonde/red curly hair and blue eyes.

I have decided to call it Cinderella-The True Story because unlike the original story, this one does not have a happy ending and seems more realistic as everything does not work out so perfectly.



Plot 3-

This film is about a young Pakistani man who owns a shop in Lahore and lives with his large family. The man is accused of being an Islamic extremist threatening the America and so he is taken away. His family are left to break down with no income. The film is about their life back at home, and the man’s horrific life in Guantanamo bay. He meets other prisoners there who have also been wrongly accused. This film gives us an insight to life in Guantanamo Bay and how badly the prisoners were treated there and how they get tortured.


I have decided to use Sendhil Amithab Ramamurthy (or Mohinder Suresh as known in Heroes), partly because there are not many Asian Characters in Hollywood, but also because the programme Heroes has made him very well known. Portraying race has always been an issue in the film industry and this is why this particular actor had been called to audition for "stereotypical brown skin" roles including convenience store employees and terrorists. Therefore, he is perfect for this particular role as the Islamic extremist.

From this casting activity, I learnt that directors face many issues when trying to find an appropriate star for their film. As we saw with Plot 6, age was an issue and in Plot 3, race became an issue. Therefore these factors must be considered by directors.

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

This was the first time I saw Psycho the Film and I very much enjoyed it as it successfully kept me in suspense through out the movie. I particularly enjoyed unravelling the mystery along with the other characters in the film and how little clues were constantly being revealed throughout the narrative. It made me feel very involved and engaged. I was also very shocked to discover the outcome of the Psycho and how his mother had been dead all along. The director, Alfred Hitchcock here effectively introduces a very clever twist in the story of Norman’s split personality which certainly took me by surprise.

I found that Psycho is a film that is not only appreciated by us today, but is well known for being one of the best horror films in the history of cinema, and has even been labelled the ‘mother of all modern horror suspense films’. It was the beginning of a completely new era of bloody and terrifying films such as Homicidal (1961), Halloween (1978) and Motel Hell (1980). The famous shower scene (made up of around 90 shots) became iconic and has become widely recognisable by audiences since. A similar scene was used in Dressed to Kill (1980). This is a perfect example how, in Genre, directors and producers re-use some ideas that have been popular and are familiar with audiences, in order to help target a particular audience and to reduce the risk factor (repetition and difference). This film was such a success that a Psycho II (1983) by Richard Franklin and a Psycho III (1986) by Anthony Perkins was also released.

Psycho-

Psycho consists of a repertoire of elements which conform to the conventions of the Genre of Horror Films. Here are some examples from the film:

Style:
- Low Key lighting is often used creating a dark and shadowy effect especially at the motel.
- The film is in black and white, originally to keep the budget low but which also adds to the mystery and suspense.
- A lot of the film is shot at night time as horror films are often set during the night.
- The director has also used dark slow movements if the camera followed by fast cuts- an example of this can be seen in the ‘shower scene’ (at 0.28secs) where the camera is still at first for a few seconds so the audience focus on Marion showering. It slowly zooms in for 9 seconds past Marion, as we see the silhouette of the killer appear. This is effectively followed by 3 fast cuts, an MCU to a CU to an ECU. The director has used this particular shot order so that although it makes the audience jump, it does not lose its continuity.
- Creepy music/sounds- harsh strings, high pitched, screams, the mother’s bitter voice ‘she wouldn’t even hurt a fly’

Setting:
- Much of it is set in the Bates Motel which seems to be deserted and isolated.
- The House on the Hill where Norman Bates lives apparently with his mother- looks like a haunted house and the fact that its is much higher and bigger than the small motel makes it seem overpowering and even more creepy.
- Norman’s backroom- full of stuffed birds which is very disturbing

Props
- Killer’s Knife - Blood - Stuffed birds

Conventional Characters
- Janet Leigh as Marion Crane - woman victim
- John Gavin as Sam Loomis – Boyfriend
- Vera Miles as Lila Crane- Sister - Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates - Killer/psycho - Martin Balsam as Milton Arbogast – Detective

Horror Themes

- Death /Murder of two main characters (Marion Crane and Milton Arbogast)
- Fear
- Psycho Behaviour- from Norman Bates who puts on the voice of his mother and pretends to be her.
- Gore- the shower scene

The Sixth Sense: closet ghost scene

In this scene, I found that although the Director has used a range of shots and angles, they have been seamlessly edited together so that the audience are not aware of the movement and angle of the camera as the main character moves about the set.

The first shot in the sequence is a high angle shot of a balloon floating up, and then immediately cutting to a MCU of Cole looking up. Here the cross cut represents how the two things are happening simultaneously so Cole is in fact looking up at the balloon. It is made even clearer by the way the director has matched the actor’s eyeline with the high angle of the camera in the previous shot showing exactly where Cole is looking. Cole then gets up followed by a Match on Action where we see the moving subject walking into the space which naturally follows his previous action of getting up and the audience are able to see him walking off screen. The Match on Action also helps the audience identify that the shadow belongs to the little boy in the previous shot and no one else.

This is followed by some complex camera movement where the camera pans in one direction and then in the opposite direction, followed by smooth a tilt up. This is made to seem continuous as the director, although panning the camera both right and left has followed the 180° rule. This means that the audience are able to follow the actor’s movement up the stairs, rather than placing the audience at different angles, which would make the editing more noticeable and the shot would lose its mysterious effect as a whole. Rather than using choppy cuts here, the panning movement also slows the pace of the scene down so that audience suspense and tension can gradually be built up.

As the boy slows down we are again able to see the string of the balloon shown at the beginning of the shot sequence. This shows how the first cross cut between the balloon and Cole’s matching eyeline towards it, have finally been brought together. Directors always use this technique of two things happening simultaneously in two different shots and then eventually being brought together so that both can be seen in one frame. The Director lingers on this shot for a while, zooming slightly in. Here it is obvious that the boy is no longer looking up at his balloon, but somewhere ahead of him. This is followed by a motivated cut to the shot of the door which shows what he is now looking at. The handheld low angle camera effect emphasises that we are looking at it from his point of view as it matches Cole’s eyeline from the previous shot. It places us on his side therefore creating empathy within us.

The shot of the door is then followed by a reverse shot of Cole, where his eyeline is looking directly in between the door frame and open door. Here the director places the audience where the voice is coming from, which can also be seen as a reaction shot as we can see Cole’s frightened expression. The director then cross-cuts to a high angle shot of two boys talking at the bottom of the stairs. This shows how their conversation is taking place simultaneously with the previous shot. As the boy looks up, he motivates the next cut to the low angle shot of Cole again. Here the director is using a repeat of a previous shot showing the audience that although everything around him is still going on, Cole is still stood stunned in exactly the same position.

Shot-reverse-Shot is then used from the boys to Cole and back to the boys. Here the director has used shot order, from high angle LS to high angle VLS. These have been edited together so that the audience are smoothly taken through the physical space up the spiral staircase. Again, the previous cross cutting between the Cole and boys have now been brought together in this VLS as we see both boys and Cole’s hand as well as the balloon string.

Here we are placed in Long range from the two boys, distancing the audience from them, but closer to Cole’s hand. This means that the next cut to the MCU of Cole follows on more smoothly. The director also uses cuts to reduce wasting time showing the whole climb up the stairs, as the audience can work this out for themselves when they see the boys approach Cole from the back. This therefore saves time so that more important information can be shown during the length of the production.

Cole then turns around and we then see the standard technique of Shot-reverse-shot used in many conversation scenes which actually places the audience in action. This is then followed by the specific shot order of MCU to MLS, where we first see the boys and then where they plan to take Cole. They then move towards the camera. Here the camera moves from in front of them to behind them and then back, however the audience is not aware of this due to the Match on action. The director then uses the black-out transition placing the audience in the darkness behind the door but then cuts to the other side of the door. Here the choppy cuts increase the pace of the action.

The director then cross-cuts to a low angle shot of the balloon again as it pops and we hear a screaming sound. I have noticed that it is essential to refer back to the different themes (the balloon/ party downstairs) that have been going on in a shot sequence to make it seem more continuous and realistic, because these things are still happening so they cannot be forgotten, especially by the audience.

Here we see a clear Reaction shot which shows that parallel to the popping of the balloon and screaming, downstairs a woman looks up but then carries on her conversation. However, we then see Cole’s mum’s reaction as the camera tilts up. Here her eyes motivate her next action and so the camera cuts to her going up the stairs. As done previously with Cole, the camera pans around as she goes up the stairs and then quickly cuts to an LS from the other side, and again to a low angle shot of her as she reaches the door. Here the two quick cuts represent how the pace of the scene and action is increasing as the tension increases.

It then match cuts to a high angle shot where the mother’s eyeline in the previous shots matches the other characters to whom she was looking at. Another cut to a high angle shot of the actors on the stairway follows, however the director seems to have used the 30° rule, so that although the camera has moved between set-ups, it has avoided jumps. The scene finally ends with two straight cuts.

BLK feedback

Aarti! Where is that link?? Please add it now!

BLK feedback

Super choice of clips Aarti and such high quality analysis. Good idea to choose such different clips for comparison, well done. Please add that link though!

The Sixth Sense

I also analysed a short clip from the Sixth Sense in which the camera is used to create a different effect and atmosphere in comparison with the Mama Mia trailer.

In the first film clip of the sequence a slight High angle MS has been used to show the weeping boy, Cole, as weak vulnerable and victimised. At 0.13 there is a LS to reveal the surroundings of the dark red tent in which the boy looks small and in danger. There is then a High angle shot of the tent itself from the outside as if the boy is being spied on.

The next film clip makes great use of CUs and BCUs for effect. As the camera slowly zooms in to the boys face, the BCU enables the audience see his expression and emotions very clearly. We can see his eyes filled with tears and his expression shows that he is terrified and extremely troubled. This sort of shot helps the audience feel his emotions and sympathise. There are also CUs of the Bruce Willis showing his curiosity as he listens carefully.

In the next clip the director has used a handheld camera to make it look as though although it seems to be a totally ordinary day, there is something not quite right, and seems as though something is about to happen. The handheld effect also creates the effect that someone is watching them and that someone else is present. It then cuts to a CU of the boy’s sweaty handprint next to the untouched bowl of cereal, which makes it seem more creepy and abnormal.

The Mamma Mia Trailer

I have analysed a few shots in the Mama Mia trailer to see how some of the practical work we have been doing in class, is used in reality and for what purposes. As it is a trailer a montage of snappy shots are used and therefore although there is less camera movement, a range of different shot types have been used.

The opening shot is a MCU of dancing feet and legs. This enables the audience to focus on the legs and therefore not revealing much to the audience but introducing the elements of dance song and colour to the film. The camera is also on ground level showing the synchronisation of the dance step.

It is followed by a High angle VLS which enables us to see the crowd of people dancing. Here the VLS is useful in showing lots of detail, so the building n disco like lights around the set and the High angle is useful in showing many people densely packed in a small space. It also gives u an overview of the general atmosphere and happy tone of the movie. There is then a MLS of people’s arms in the air holding the main character whose back is facing the audience, before being first revealed in MCU. This enables us to see her expression, which shows she is is extremely enjoying herself, young and carefree, but also her hand gestures and positioning, being flung upside down.

The trailer then sets the scene with a lovely but quick crane shot showing that the story is set on a beautiful island. This is clear from the mis-en-scene present in the ELS showing the sparkling sea framed nicely by the mountains on either side, as well as the white Greek island building and trees. Here the director has nicely used a frame-within-a-frame Therefore an ELS and Crane shot can be used to show the surroundings and to set the scene.

At 0.25 there is an OTS which shows the main character revealing a secret to the boy. This can be used to leave the audience curious as to the young man’s reaction to this secret, and therefore anxious as to what will happen next. It also shows Amanda Seyfried’s shocked expression whilst revealing her new findings.

At 0.26 there is an example of a two shot and a slight pan as the two friends step backwards in shock. The two shot makes it obvious that after her boyfriend, she only has two other close friends.

At 0.36 there is another High angle shot which enables us to the wooden floors and white steps again showing it is set in a hot country. We also see the mother falling down looking quite vulnerable and clumsy from above.

At 0.39 there is also a Low Angle shot of the three men and it is also a POV shot as we see Meryl Streep’s two legs on either side (frame-within-a-frame). This clearly shows her dilemma of having had three men in her life who have all come back. All three have moved on and progressed in their lives as we see them looking quite dominating, but they all seem to be looking down at her as if she still has not changed her ways.

At 0.46 there is a reverse track shot showing the motion of car driving towards the camera. Here it gives us the glimpse of the swirling and sandy roads, maybe somewhere near a beach resort.

At 1.13 there is a tilted frame to enhance the craziness of the characters who seem a bit tipsy in their fancy dress costumes.

At 1.48 the director has used a whip pan from Meryl Streep to Pierce Brosnan showing how they are in love again as they glance at each other as well as to fit the fast paced movement on the dance floor and add to the excitement.