textual analysis of the opening title sequence of jaws

What happens in the opening scene is there is a group of young adults relaxing on a beach. A woman that appears to be maybe drunk runs off and gets a man to follow him. She then runs into the sea but the man waits on the beach. She swims out into the more deeper part of the sea, and gets attacked by a great-white shark. I will be trying to break down and analyse how the film attempts to create this opening scene so dramatic and tense through, camera’s, editing, mise en scene and sound.

The scene opens with the production company Universal’s opening sequence. Special effects are used here to help man this opening title and effective and eye-catching as possible. The screen then turns black, then immediately switches to an underwater camera scene with the Jaws theme song over the top. By including an underwater camera at the start lets the audience know that this film will include the sea and a important location and that maybe a key feature for the rest of the film is coming. Coupled with the Jaws theme song, this creates the great opening thriller title sequence. The theme song is arguable the most well known tension building soundtrack, it is designed simply to put the audience on edge and create as much tension as possible. Then with the underwater camera and the soundtrack, text is added on top of both, introducing the main actors/actresses in a very clear way. The style of the text used is somewhat horror like, it is hard and sharp, this sets the thriller scene.

Then soundtrack gains pase and peaks, then the camera cuts, using a jump cut and changes to a different scene. The music now is a harmonica and guitar playing, portraying the switch from a tense scene to a much more relaxed one. This is very effective as it has already built up the audience then cut instantly to completely different scene. The characters in the scene are dressed very casual, they are conveyed as average middle-class young adults. The camera for the scene is a to a two shot, then the camera pans across to show the audience what is happening in the scene, what the location is, etc. When the camera pan stops it stops on a male individual. The reason this is done is it tells the audience he is an important character, as the camera has just scanned across multiple people then using a one shot stops on him. A match cut is used after this to show who the man is looking at, this could also be described as a motivated cut, because the audience are intrigued to find out who/what the man is looking at. This is where the second main character is introduced, a woman displayed through a one shot looking back at the man, this lets the audience know that she is also important to the film. Both of the characters are dressed very casually to show a normal campfire/party. After more match cuts being used between the two people, a more arial shot is incorporated to fully display the full scene location and show the two characters walk up to each other and decide to run into the sea.

A wide range more distant shot is used to show the two running along the beach, and both panning and tracking is used to focus on both individuals. Then scene continues to carry on to a shot displaying the sun setting in the distance shining over the sea. The characters have ran away from the more relaxed campfire setting to a much more dark and gloomy focused one. The woman swims deeper into the sea, a shot from underneath her is used. It shows the light above the water and the dark body swimming through it, this shot suggests to the audience that something may be below her, that something might be about to happen.

When she emerges from the water is shows a close up on her expression, displaying joy. Then the theme begins, the theme so well known for a tension building and for putting the audience on ‘the edge of their seats’. The camera begins to rise up from what started to be the bottom of the ocean, now getting closer and closer to the body swimming at the top of the water. This now lets the audience know for sure that something is coming up to get her. A match cut switches back to the woman face, the audience know that something is about to happen, that the attack is imminent. With dead silence a loud shocked shout comes from the woman and she is quickly dragged under the water. She splashes back above the water and a close up is used to shows her expression, terrified. She is continued to be dragged back under the water. A variety of shots and cuts are used after this to tie together scene together, but there is a strong attention to sound, there is a huge focus on her screaming and the strong sound of the water splashing and crashing. This continues until she is eventually dragged under the water for the final time, then it shows the man still sitting on the beach just looking out at the sea, and the audience are aware of what has just happened. Then it fades out to black, concluding the opening scene to Jaws.

textual analysis for the film no country old men

In the opening title sequence for the movie “no country for old men”, the sequence beings with the company that produced the film. This does not differ from other films that i have analysed already (MIRAMAX FILMS). After this the assosiated company that assisted in producing the movie is shown (PARAMOUNT VANTA), this is often what happens in the opening credits of a film. Then the title follows this, this is another theme that i have noticed when analysing these opening title sequences; all of the sequences show the title very early into it. This is because it is meant to emphasise that it is not a trailer (usually trailers have the title shown at the end).The first camera shot used in the sequence of the opening titles of the film ‘No Country For Old Men’ is an establishing shot of a remote desert location, this is to show the audience the type of surrounding the film will be in. One of the next shots is also an establishing shot again showing the audience that the story is still in a remote location in a desert. This adds a sense of curiosity for the audience as they do not know where they are and they start to become suspicious of what will be taking place. Straight away, connotations of a Western film have been conjured, despite no characters have yet appeared on screen. There is a long shot of some hills and then a close up of a barbed wire fence. This suggests to the audience that although it is a remote location there is some still signs of people living there. There a close up shot of a man pretending to be a police officer using a compressed air tank. This shows that this is a significant piece of information/evidence because a close up of the tank emphasises the importance of the object. We know it’s important because in the following scene it’s used as a weapon to kill a man.

The mise-en-scene in the opening sequence shows the audience that the location of the film is set in a remote location because all that is shown to the audience is desert horizons and no sign of civilisation. We also learn from the mise-en-scene that it is set in America because of the costume of the police officer, which makes him look like a stereotypical America sheriff and also the police car is easily recognisable as an American police car.

The sound used in the opening sequence is just a voice over of a mysterious character which we do not know yet, however it’s clear that he’s an important character. Diegetic sounds are used such as the sound of the police officer and the closing of the police car door, as well as sound of the main character placing the mysterious tank object on the front seat of the car. The non-diegetic sounds of the wind blowing softly emphasises the isolation of the setting, which just makes the placement of the characters all the more bizarre. The lack of a soundtrack when the killer chokes the policeman

main task title ideas \ audio

Some random title ideas lol to do with our idea

• Hunted
• The Tracker
• Vengeance
• The Pursuit
• The Tracker
• The List
• What Lurks In The Hearts Of Men
• Blood Shed Carries A Price
• Fate
• Foresaken

We are still unsure whether to leave the footage with no music as that is what is done in our inspiration for our idea “not country for old men (hotel scene)”.

textual analysis of the film the girl with the dragon tattoo

When the title sequence starts off the title of the production company is introduced  first, this is generally shown in most films. The shot is very simple using the monochrome effect. The use of monochrome gives the effect of juxtaposition as they are very opposite colours. It also reflects positive and negative in which may suggest these are particular themes in the film. The music that is used during this part of the sequence is fast paced, this may signify the possible action that could take place in the production. During the next section of the title sequence the use of credits are displayed on the screen. However in the background there are a series of dark closeups which are highlighted around the middle with a creepy black/dark blue shade. All of the close up shots feature water. This could suggest to the audience that water is going to be a common theme throughout the film. This use of water could represent danger, nature and purity. These themes could be exploited within the production.

In the middle of the sequence the title of the movie is shown “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”. This is normally an identifying feature that shows that the opening title sequence is not a trailer; as trailer always show the title at the end of the clip. The font that the title is displayed is unnerving and suggests a certain amount of paranormal atmosphere. It is written in silver like the rest of the titles. The color silver is associated with meanings of industrial, sleek, high-tech, and modern, as well as ornate, glamourous, graceful, sophisticated, and elegant. Silver is a precious metal and, like gold, often symbolizes riches and wealth. These features may also be used in the film. The use of editing is used during this shot because the text is displayed in slow motion this creates tension in the sequence.

In the next shot we see an extreme close up of a keyboard. This suggests that the film with involve technology to a high extent due to the featuring of it in the opening title sequence. This is further emphasised by another scene where we see the use of a USB cable. In this shot the word enter is featured. This could signify that you need to “enter” and watch the film or not. The next shot is of someone being chained up and strangled, this is extremely significant as it shows that the film has some hidden messages of action and violence. Although this could also signify one of the characters sexuality. This is because she is lesbian and her sexuality of her being a lesbian could be chaining her up and preventing her from achieving what she want to achieve. In the next few shots there is a black liquid that is featured. The colour black is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery. A mysterious colour associated with fear and the unknown (black holes). Usually has a negative connotation. Denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious colour. This could also suggest that someone is drowning in fear and sorrow as it is a liquid shown rather than a solid.

textual analysis of the opening title sequence of Momento

In the opening title sequence of the film momento the first 44 seconds of the film is solely credits on a black background . The credits are a dark blue, this is Atypical of a thriller movie as blue Blue is the colour of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. Where as in normal thriller films the text is usually red as it represents danger, blood and violence.

This is soon contrasted when the first shot is shown. The shot is of a picture in a mans hand. The picture is of a man laying dead on the floor with the wall and the floor scattered with blood. This instantly contrasts the initial impression of the movie with the blue titles. As the shot goes on, the holder shakes the picture multiple times and each time it is shaken the picture becomes more and more difficult to see. This is effective because it suggests to the reader that the person who is holding the picture can get rid of the guilt simply by getting rid of the picture. This shaking goes on until the inc is fully gone from the picture.

After two minutes of the same shot the camera angle finally switches to a close up of the man putting the black canvas back into his camera and taking a picture with it. Once the picture is taken the man behind the camera is revealed. He is wearing smart clothes as if he was a wealthy man. His face was covered with blood and looked below him as if there was something or someone there that he was taking a picture of. It then switches to a shot of the floor with blood streaming on it. This suggests to the reader that this is what the man was taking a picture of. This makes the audience tense because it shows what kind of a man this guy is. Then this is followed by a shot of a bullet rolling on the floor. After this the editor reverses the footage. So he played it backwards so we end up with the shot of the man holding the gun to the other mans head (their identities are not yet revealed). This is effective as it confirms to the reader that the man holding the camera is the one who shot the man in the head.

Shutter Island Textual Analysis

In the opening title sequence of the movie Shutter Island, the sequence begins with a shot of a darkly lit corridor. The music is sharp and suspenseful. The credits are coloured in red and have a weird twitch going on with them. The colouring of the text suggests to the audience that there is going to be blood and violence involved as red is symbolic of those traits. Then imminently after this there is a quick cut to a spinning shot of what looks to be a spiralling stair case. This stair case could be seen as somewhat of a hypnotic shot as it is spinning it resembles hypnosis. This also adds an element of illusion and confusion for the audience.

After this there is another fast cut to a another darkly lit shot of a open gate. In this shot there is rain and music. This adds to the , grisly mise en scene. This makes the audience tense and nervous as to what will show next in the sequence. The camera then switches to a close up shot of a healthy hand. This differs from the opening sequence of Se7en as the hand in that was crusty and looked to have done things that took their tole on the hands (sinister things).The identity of the person remains hidden in this shot. Also in this shot we can see that the hand is putting force into the concrete floor, this alludes to some sort of physical struggle from someone. After a loud crash of music, the shot then switches to a gate. This shot is the first light one of the sequence so far.

This is followed by the camera closing in on the gate. This adds to the suspense of the sequence as the audience does not know what lies behind those gates. The scene then changes to a close shot of a room with flames that look to be coming out of a fire place. This fire adds suspense to the scene and an aspect of danger. This then cuts to a shot of a gun, with a foot stepping on it and dragging it slowly. This adds an aspect of crime and danger, this is effective because it intrigues the audience as they will want to find out more. The editor then fades in a shot that has snow falling from a black background and also the colour of red coming in. The music that is used is suspenseful and makes the overall mise en scene packed with danger and tension.  dark room then appears and is shown to contain items such as chains and handcuffs. This gives the audience the impression that the film has a prison like theme. This is further emphasised with the use of gates shown earlier. The music then changes to a dramatic type when the pitch black shot is enlightened by the strike of a singular match. This editing is effective as it makes the audience tense and anxious and keeps them on the edges of their seats. Next there is a long view of a isolated island that has a dark colour correction on it to keep up with the theme of the rest of the sequence. This could connect with the idea of isolation in a prison as shown in the earlier shots of the bars chains and gates.

Five ways NME uses social media to ‘harvest ideas’ from its audience

NME has evolved from a print-only publication with a passionate fan-base who waited for the weekly newspaper to arrive through the letterbox or on the newsstand to a multiplatform title with a news site that attracts a mobile, social crowd, keen to join the real-time conversation around the “world’s biggest standalone music site”.

Helped by NME’s 200,000 Facebook fans and 350,000 Twitter followers (which includes notable names such as Lady Gaga, Rhianna, Justin Bieber and Arnold Schwarzenegger), social media drives 30 per cent of NME.com’s traffic. And a quarter of NME’s audience of 7 million, 2 million of whom are in the UK, accesses the site via mobile.

Indeed Luke Lewis, editor of NME.com, attributes the site’s growth over past couple of years to two reasons: the “explosion in social sharing” and “a growth in our mobile user base”.

Here we look at seven ways in which NME.com is inviting its audience to influence editorial.

 

1. Turning comments into a headline (NME allows the fans of the company to comment on events and it will be used as a seperate headline on their website) 

NME.com takes the comments from below the line, from Facebook and from Twitter to create a second story with a headline starting “NME.com users react…”

It’s a bit of an ego boost for your users as they like to feel the comment that they left underneath a story is important enough to then be a headline in a separate story  

-Luke Lewis

Passionate fans are not only keen to contribute, but they are also eager to read other fans’ reactions. These are often the “best performing” news stories on NME.com, Lewis explained.

Big comeback tracks are a good example of where reader reaction can provide a story. “I remember one that did really well was when Noel Gallagher came back with his first solo single,” Lewis said.

“NME.com gets an initial spike from the news story and then uses comments to write a headline such as ‘NME.com users hail Noel Gallagher’s comeback track as a work of genius’,” Lewis explained.

Other examples include “NME.com users react to Reading and Leeds 2012 line-up announcement” and “NME.com users react angrily to ‘sickening’ comments on Norway tragedy“.

“Not only do you get the sustained traffic spike, it’s a bit of an ego boost for your users as they like to feel the comment that they left underneath a story is important enough to then be a headline in a separate story.”

2. Using Twitter within the news story (NME shows the audiences views on their hashtags on their website)

NME.com embeds Twitter widgets in some blog posts to encourage and display contributions from their 350,000-strong Twitter community.

For example, last week NME.com asked its users for the points in songs that give them goosebumps. Twitter followers contributed using #GoosebumpMoments and the Twitter widget displayed contributions within the post.

Other examples include #beautifullyrics, #songsthatmakemecry and #songthatchangedmylife, which was a top trending topic globally on Twitter for 24 hours.

“The responses to ‘a song that changed my life’ were so good that we Storified them and put that in a separate blog post because even though they were just tweet length, we found that they were quite moving and people were really responding in really quite a passionate way.”

And with #beatifullyrics, NME.com used ThingLink to make images interactive by adding links to video and other external content. (Find out more about ThingLink here.)

Using the Twitter widget gives NME.com “feedback in real-time and is an instantaneous way of harnessing that feedback”, Lewis said. And choosing topics that “absolutely anyone can identify with” whatever their musical taste helps appeal to a wide audience.

3. Using hashtags to crowdsource photos via Twitter (For NME’s 60th anoversary  they tweeted out #NME60 and asked fans to send pictures of their favourite magazine that NME had released over the years) 

NME turned 60 earlier this year and on the anniversary of the first issue being published, Lewis created a #NME60 hashtag and encouraged users to take pictures of themselves holding up their favourite issue of NME.

Within two minutes we had created this really rich story that told the whole 60-year story of NME just in pictures and tweetsLuke Lewis

“I wasn’t sure whether it would really take off but people really responded to it. And the great thing was we had a whole spread of new readers, of teenagers holding up pictures of Arctic Monkeys covers, plus there were people going further back, holding up pictures of The Cure and the Stones and The Beatles.

NME turned the hashtagged tweets into a Storify. “Within two minutes we had created this really rich story that told the whole 60-year story of NME just in pictures and tweets,” Lewis said.

 

4. Using Facebook Subscribe (They use facebook subscribe as a method of interaction with their fans as it is a one way follow so the fans can interact with the account) 

Luke Lewis also uses his personal Facebook account as an “editorial tool”. He has set up Facebook Subscribe, allowing Facebook users to follow him and his posts, and enabling Lewis to interact with his 51,000 subscribers.

For example, Lewis has used his personal account to gather suggestions of “beautifully sad songs”.

Facebook is an incredible resource for harvesting editorial ideas from your audienceLuke Lewis

“Facebook is an incredible resource for harvesting editorial ideas from your audience. It’s the most valuable tool there is really.”

He added: “When most people think of community and social feedback is just something that sits on the end of the article, beneath the line. I think that’s good to turn that on its head and and think of how the feedback could be the headline. We use the feedback we get as a way of planning editorial rather than just something that sits on the end of it.”

 

5. Using Facebook to ask simple questions using photos and polls (They use polls to create posts on their webisite of what the fans voted on their questions eg Which 2012 album should be nominated for the mercury.)

Another lesson the NME.com editorial team has learned is to ask simple questions, whether on NME.com, Facebook or Twitter. Speaking in July at news:rewired, Journalism.co.uk’s digital journalism conference, Lewis gave the example of asking “what’s your favourite Blur song?” (you can see a video of Lewis’s presentation here.)

“To me that kind of feedback is as valuable if not more valuable to getting an exclusive interview with a famous band.”

Lewis also advises asking questions on Facebook using photos. NME uses Photoshop to add text to a photograph or image to ask a question such as “which 2012 album should be nominated for the Mercury?” or “NME ultimate icon?“. Photographs are ranked highly in EdgeRank, Facebook’s algorithm, and followers respond well to the visual nature of the requests.

NME.com also uses Facebook polls to allow users to create stories, such as “ultimate icon of NME’s 60-year lifetime” as voted by the users.

 

filming the main task

The first edit is due to be shown on the 2nd of February which is next week Thursday. We haven’t been very organised when it comes to the preparation for filming. But we have managed to organise a date to film. We plan to film on the coming Sunday. This leaves us with 5 days to start editing for the first edit. We have asked the A-Level drama students Lauren and Luke to help out with the acting for our title sequence. This should be effective because we have skilled drama students performing for us

the test shots

In our last lesson our group had the idea to go and take some test shots before we went and filmed the real thing. We thought as if this was necessary because we were unsure if our idea of creating a silhouette was doable with the equipment we had. Below are some of the test shots:

…

For the close up of the eyes I cropped it because it wasn’t close enough in and it wasn’t at an accurate angle for the shot. For the actual shot we will use a tripod in order to keep a strait and steady view of the eyes. I found these test shots helpful because it has given us an insight as to what we are going to need to do to get the perfect shot. For the main task we were asked to create a survey about preferences on aspects of the thriller genre. Taking these test shots allowed us to experiment with some of the aspects the people liked. In these shots we focused on lighting as the survey showed most people liked dark lighting in thriller movies.  For one of the shots we attempted to create a silhouette by using intense lighting. It worked because we managed to acquire a very large and bright light from the art department, but i am unsure whether we will be able to replicate that when we go to our location to film. Also in some shots we tried to create a lighting that looked like the moon was shining on my face. This kind of worked as we used the white lights from an iPhone to shine close up on my face. This created a moon like look to the shot. When we take the actual shot we might be able to use natural moonlight as we will be filming later on in the day but if not we can use the method we did for the test shots. After we took the test shots I went out of my way to create some edited versions of the shots. I added black bars to  give it to make it look like an actual movie. also i adjusted the rotation of them as they were not all strait. Lastly i added a light yellow colour correction to them as we were trying to replicate the visual look of the movie “No Country For An Old Man” (Hotel Scene)

Below are some examples of the pictures with colour correction and black bars applied

The Dark Knight Rises film review

PLOT 

It has been eight years since Batman (Christian Bale), in collusion with Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), vanished into the night. Assuming responsibility for the death of Harvey Dent, Batman sacrificed everything for what he and Gordon hoped would be the greater good. However, the arrival of a cunning cat burglar (Anne Hathaway) and a merciless terrorist named Bane (Tom Hardy) force Batman out of exile and into a battle he may not be able to win.

For a more detailed plot I will leave a link just below to the Dark Knight Rises Plot:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_Rises#Plot

NARRATIVE

If i was to apply Todorov’s theory to “The Dark Knight Rises” it would look like this:

Equilibrium: Bruce Wayne is helping inspector Gordon clean up Gotham city of crime, as Harvey dent leads the legal assault on the crime syndicates.

The disruption of the Equilibrium: The joker offers to kill batman in return for the half of the crime proceeds of all the gangs.

Realisation of the Disruption: Inspector Gordon and batman realise they need to team up to defeat the joker after the commissioner Lowe’s death.

Attempt to repair disruption:Most of the film batman attempts to restore the Equilibrium in Gotham by trying to get rid of the joker. Despite Dent becoming corrupt.

New equilibrium: Peace and justice restored to Gotham by getting rid of the joker; although Gotham may never been the same, neither will Bruce Wayne (no spoilers lol)

MY OPINION

Personally I like this film. I have always been a fan of super hero based film. I like pretty much all of the Marvel films and all the DC films. My personal favourite marvel movie is X-MEN. But batman is the best DC film as of now IMO.

OTHER REVIEWS 

The Dark Knight Rises was rated a 8.5/10 by IMDb

87% by Rotten Tomatoes

78% by metacritic

DIRECTOR

Christopher Nolan is the director of the film ” The Dark Knight Rises”. Below is some information on Christopher:

Christopher Edward Nolan is an English-American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and editor. He is one of the highest-grossing directors in history, and among the most successful and acclaimed filmmakers of the 21st century.

Some other films he has directed are:

• Interstellar
• The Dark Knight Rises
• Inception
• The Dark Knight
• Memento
• The Prestige
• Batman Begins
• Dunkirk and many more.

ACTORS

Christian Bale played the role of batman in the trilogy.

Some films that Christian Bale features in are:

• The Dark Knight
• The Machinist
• American Psycho
• American Hustle
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Fighter
• Terminator Salvation
• Equilibrium