Godfather title sequence

The Godfather’s titles consist of just name strips which appear over police records of mug shots, or as a autograph on the back of pictures as they come onto the screen. All of the titles are in white upon a black background, other than the autographs. These titles are very small and slightly draw just as much attention to them as needed. The shots may display “dramatic irony”, by showing mug shots, which are also used in prison. They may also show a gang, or gang culture and crime, as they are shown one after the other, the colour used is shown to display older times that link to the old family pictures, the lack of colour may be used to show a darker side to these men shown. As the titles come and go, the pictures change and notes come up, this may show a sense of family and being linked. The screen then fades to black and the last title, the name comes up.

Soprano’s Title

The Sopranos title sequence,  a first person view is used all of the time, and this is used to show the audience what the driver, is seeing, this may be a main character as the audience sees him in the shots sometimes.  Different parts of New Jersey are shown, these may be later shooting locations and to show what is to come, different views are used and this may set a delightful mood on the audience. This links to the music, which is also upbeat and happy. This may be used to trick the audience, for what is later to come.

Action Carried Out	Risk	How this can be prevented or changed
Filming the first shot of the opening scene.	The weather being different than forecast (snow) or a reflection in the windows which shows the film crew in the background from the windows.	Check the weather consistently and if the weather was to change, we can sweep any snow away out of the shot or break and remove any ice. We also shall angle the camera away from the door so there is not a direct reflection of the camera.
Lighting up the inside of the restaurant.	Wires on the floor causing health and safety risks. The angles of the lights may be difficult to produce and also in some cases depending on what is in the restaurant	Using proper ladders and stand if needed for the lighting and tape the wires to the floor to insure that there are no hazards of people tripping and injuring themselves.
Props and Clothing	All props and clothing may not match the theme and this would ruin the atmosphere. The clothes may also make the characters hard to see in the light because of the colours used.	All clothing and props must be decided on and if this problem occurs the colours must be changed.
Glass Breaking in the shooting of the gun shot	Breaking glass would be really dangerous and this would be a health and safety hazard as someone could be cut or seriously injured.	There will be no real glass used in this shot but sugar glass alternative to resemble the smashing of real glass but with no hazard to anyone who is taking part in this scene.
Shooting of a gun inside a restaurant	The public outside of the restaurant maybe able to see into the scene while the shooting is occurring and may be distressed to see  gun being shot even though it is not a real one but a look alike. This could cause problems as a member of the public may do the correct thing and call the police although they are un knowing of what is going on. This could get our whole shot into alot of trouble	As we are in a private place we should have no problems gaining permission to use guns on set although with this issue we will need to tell the authorities of the area of the restaurant that we are going to be using a look alike firearm to insure that there are no miss under standings and that no one is forced to waste their time.

Codes And Conventions

Opening
This is the first few minutes of a film which is placed so that the audience watching the film know what the plot is, as the plot of the movie is in these first few minutes. If these few minutes are not good than these can make the audience feel confused and lost when the rest of the film is playing.


Gangster Movies
Motifs of The Gangster Genre

1. The hero is an immigrant who dislikes his low status in life and wants more.

2. Unlike the Western, this story takes place in the big city. The wide open plains have been traded in for the seedy alleyways and wharves of the urban jungle.

3. The gangster can only gain power by taking it. It is survival of the fittest, and the only law is the law of the jungle.

4. The only loyalty the gangster feels is for his own immigrant roots.

5. Success is measured in material goods - flashy cars, expensive clothes, and mansions. Women are measures of success as well.

6. The hero's antagonist is society, and the enforcers of the law. The police, the FBI, the CIA represent the enforcers of societal status quo.

7. The end justifies the means.

Title/working title	Clear Bets         (?)
Plot/outline summary	Due to the assassins actions 3 years ago, a gang rivalry has been created, two mafia families fight each other over the money being taken 3 years ago.
Opening sequence outline/summary	Assassin receives a phone call, and is told to murder 6 rival mafia guys who owe money. He then walks into a closed restaurant through the back door, and proceeds upstairs where an illegal poker game is taking place including thousands of pounds. This money is owed and the assassin then pulls out two guns and shoots everyone there, except the waitress who hides and survives, the assassin then takes the money.
Characters (consider genre, role, image etc)	1 – Main Assassin 5/6 – Gangsters gambling 1 – Barman 1 – Waitress
Mise en scene Setting: Locations: Costumes: Props: Lighting (what mood are you trying to create? etc)	Guns, Money, Poker related things, drinks. Dark, empty, closed restaurant. Upstairs. Restaurant Dark, not to reveal much character. Shirts, waistcoats, blazers. Guns, shot glasses,money, poker. Toplighting, backlighting to create a sense of being superior. Low ambient lighting. Few lights used with mise on scene.

Types of Lighting: Back Lighting

Back Lighting is used to illuminate the character from the back, therefore separating them from the background, this creates a 'halo' effect on the shoulders of the subject, and portrays the subject as more 'pure'  &  'heroic'. Less of a backlight makes the character seem secretive and hidden.

< Backlighting seperates the subjetcs from the background.

                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                                                                        

Types Of Lighting - Key Lighting

We recently learnt about different types of lighting and their effect, these are a huge contribution to the making of a film and its effects. One of these is Key Lighting, this is used and seen as displayed here;

This example shows key lighting. A Key light is the main light used in a filming set, it emphasises a characters appearance, it can be used in a 'hard' or 'soft' way, to focus or diffuse the light. It may stand either left or right of the camera. The use of this light will benefit our production by diffusing the light of a mafia character, maybe hiding, or in contrast a focused character, maybe to strike fear, or show power.

Camera Movement

Pans

A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.

Tilts

A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.

Dolly shots

A movement that follows the action, the camera can be placed on a track or attached to a vehicle to follow an action.

Crane shots

Its like a dolly shot, but in the air. It can move up, down, left, right, swooping in on action or moving diagonally out of it, a sort of aerial shot.

Frame & Shot Length

* Extreme Long Shot

This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an exterior; the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action such as in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression of everything.

* Long Shot

A long shot typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings.

* Medium Long Shot

Medium Long Shot shows more detail on the character but retains the setting quite clearly.

* Medium Shot

A Medium shot focuses on the character or an object showing them from knees or waist to just above the head.

* Medium Close Up

Shows the subject from mid-chest to the top of the head. This shows much more detail of a character.

* Close Up

This shot shows head and shoulders of an character. It is used to show emotion, feelings and reactions.

* Extreme Close Up

Shows a small part of a face or object, can also show extreme fear or emotion if focused on the eyes.

Types Of Camera Angles

High Angle

A high angle shows the subject from above; the camera is angled down towards the subject. This has the effect of making them appear less powerful, less significant or even submissive.

Low Angle

This shows the subject from below, giving them the impression of being more powerful or dominant. Looking up, maybe even a rola model or to cause suspense.

Bird's Eye (Aerial)

The scene is shown from directly above. This is a completely different and somewhat unnatural point of view which can be used for dramatic effect or for showing space in a different perspective.In drama it can be used to show the positions and motions of different characters and objects, enabling the viewer to see things the characters can't.The bird's-eye view is also very useful in sports & documentaries.

Slanted

Also known as a dutch tilt, this is where the camera is purposely tilted to one side so the horizon is on an angle. This creates an interesting and dramatic effect.A famous example may be the Batman series.

AS Media Studies: Preliminary Exercise

Preliminary Exercise Theme

The theme for our preliminary exercise was a "Sopranos" themed scene. It was a typical 'meet and trade' scene where two people meet and trade a substance, for money, in a secluded place.

Preliminary Research 2

Continuity

Continuity editing determines the sequence of shots and how much content is shown, it may be used to minimize time consuming clips or to highlight different events occuring at any one time, ie; progression of events. These two statements can be shown in this example; Imagine a man glaring up at the sunshine, the next shot could be a second person shooting a gun t the camera which would imply that the first man was now shot, this is continuity and it shows two events by cutting into each other.

Preliminary Exercise Evaluation

We have finished our preliminary exercise and encoutered numerous faults with our filming, editing and production. Some of these were technical and some were human errors, when we filmed it, the sound was not recorded properly and therefore our preliminary exercise now consists of mostly quiet shots up to a speech scene, editing was a problem because of experience with the software and the software itself cut out at times. The tripod was slightly hard to operate and this gave a stutter to the some shots. Background noise nearly overcame the main speech dialogue.

Preliminary Research

 Match On Action

Shot Reverse Shot And Match On Action Media

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Brief

Prelimanary Exercise

         Produce a continuity exercise which involves a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, withwhom they exchange a couple of lines of dialogue.
The task should demonstrate;
 * Match On Action
 * Shot/ Reverse Shot
 * 180 Degree rule

 Main Exercise

       The main titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of 3 minutes.

Introduction

I'm Luis Mendes, welcome to my Media Studies blog. The members included in my group are; Luke Sheridan, Zygimantas Pukas, and myself,  Luis Mendes.