Group - Pitch Feedback

Feedback:

 - Good concept, inter-cutting between two lines of action.

 - Detailed planning.

 - In depth research and inspirations.

 - Time constraints to less then 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Next Steps:

Make sure that we have everything planned and so we can shoot efficiently. Also to see where we could cut certain scenes to ensure we don't go over the time limit and yet still tell the story with tension and suspense. 

MM: Technical Analysis - Panic Room (Fincher, 2002)

Technical Analysis:

Camera: 
 - All the camera movements are smooth. Most of the actual camera movements are pans but there are some slides. Many shots are also locked off on a tripod. This makes it feel calm at times, but the tension is brought on by the cutting rate rather then the shakiness of the camera. This is also so, that when later the gas alights, the craziness and movement of the fire and the tank is emphasized as the subject movement and the camera movement was slow before. 

 - Almost all the shots are medium shots, so that a lot is visible in the frame, in order to convey exposition effectively. The shots in the panic room are a little closer on the characters as they are in a more closed space.
 - Many of the shots are a little low angle, so that are looking up at the characters, but I also think this is so that it shows more of the ceiling and so it feels more enclosed and makes you feel trapped, like the characters are.

 - When she throws the fire blanket to the daughter, the camera pans and follows the movement of the blanket as it lands and stays so that the information is conveyed. 

 - The camera tracks backwards when we are shown the vent, showing the increasing amount of gas being pumped in. 

 - The camera tracks in towards the exploding gas tank as it moves frantically around and this intensifies the moment.

 - The close ups are used sparingly, like the fire blanket, the lighter finally getting a flame, and the gas tank. This makes each one more significant.

Editing:
 - The pace is quite steady but then the cutting rate increases as she gets the lighter and attempts to light it in the vent multiple times. The three outside slowly understand what's going on and so the rate increases. Also more individual reaction shots are shown. 

 - But when the gas becomes lit, the rate increases significantly but still stays on each shot long enough to see what happens. The stability of the movement helps this. 

 - The rate varies in the second half depending on what happens, like when the tank is moving around the room, the rate is very fast. But then the shot inside the panic room, with the fire on the ceiling, the shot is slower and it doesn't cut.

 - The colour grading in this clip is also very significant. The Panic room is very cool and blue while the outside is quite warm and green. This helps create contrast between the two places so you are not confused.

Mis-en-scene: 
 - The set design is quite minimalistic, as it is a unfurnished house. The lighting of the outside is quite low key and has lots of shadows. While the Panic Room is more evenly lit and little is in shadow. 

 - The clothing of the all the characters contrast well with the pale walls as they wear relatively dark clothing. This helps create separation between the environments and create depth.

 - The facial expressions are used effectively to show what they are feeling, before they say anything and this makes it more tense as audiences can read facial expressions very well. 

Sound: 
 - The non diagetic background score is used very well to build up tension. The underlying deep bass tone of it increases in volume as she gets closer to lighting the gas. Then when it is on fire, the score really makes the audience feel the impact of the scene. 

 - The sound is very well mixed, in that you can hear all the little foley actions as well as the dialogue and the background score. There are no gaps in which there is no dialogue, score or foley and so it keeps the pace and tension high. The sounds of the footsteps were made louder to emphasize how worried the attacker is about the gas and so increases the tension.

TK: Shot-by-Shot Analysis - Gone Girl (Fincher, 2014)

In this clip from Gone Girl, tension and powerful emotions are constructed within a domestic environment, centred around the struggling marriage of a man and his mentally disturbed wife, culminating in a moment of violence that whilst lacking in intensity, is emphasised and lifted into an incredibly impactful moment through the use of film language and techniques. 

Camera techniques:

• In a medium close up shot, the camera is framed on a mirror, with Amy visible in the foreground from behind, but her reflection and that of her husband visible in the mirror.
  
  
  
  
• A sense of cosiness and security is constructed through the medium shots that take prevalence during most of the conversation scene. 

• Steady cam shots track the characters as they move around the scene, staying on one side of the 180 degree line throughout. 

• When shot/reverse shot is used, Amy is framed in a high angle, whilst Nick is framed in a low angle, making her seem subordinate to him. Nick is also given higher frame presence in the shot of Amy's face. 

• A shot pans downwards as the two characters walk down the stairs, ending on a medium shot focused on Amy's emotional expression. 

• A medium long shot frames Nick and Amy against the door for just a moment before he attacks her. 

• The push only lasts a few moments but is framed in several different shots; a knee-height long shot, a high angle long shot and another high angle medium shot framed on Amy's body as she recoils from the attack. 

• A very low angle (almost a worms eye view) frames Nick against the light behind him, making him a threatening masculine figure, and giving him a higher status.

Editing techniques:

• The whole clip is edited for continuity, constructing straightforward, chronological meaning with the placement and selection of the scenes and shots. 
• The clip has quite a warm, yellow and beige tinting to it, creating the sense of a cosy, close, domestic environment. 
• The moment Amy is pushed to the floor plays out in slight slow motion, emphasising the impact of the action. At this point also, the shots fade to black for a split second before fading in the next shot, unlike the rest of the clip where they cut normally. 
• Throughout the first half of the clip, Amy seems to motivate the cuts, as her movement throughout the rooms is followed by the shots. After Nick kisses her, he starts to motivate the cuts more prevalently, showing the shift in focus and power, and slowly building tension throughout the clip. When Nick pushes Amy, she motivates the cuts, causing the scene to focus completely on her character for that moment. 
• Regular shot/reverse shot is used during several parts of the conversation. 

Mise-En-Scene techniques:

• In terms of costume, both Nick and Amy are dressed in average looking contemporary clothing, intended to build verisimilitude in the clip. 
• The location is a modern looking, large house, pushing the idea of a domestic, classy American lifestyle. 
• The lighting throughout is fairly soft and dim, adding to the warmth of the scene and maintaining the upper class aesthetic of the environment. 
• After she is pushed, make-up is used on Amy's face to make her eyes appear reddened and tearful.

Sound techniques:

• Non-diegetic sound is used subtly in the clip. The musical score is ambient and synth-infused throughout the argument, with some soft violins, all of it anchored in minor key. This creates a sense of serenity even over the loud voices and tension in an almost dissonant technique, creating a false sense of security within the seemingly safe domestic location. 
• Low, bassy notes anchor the moment when Amy is pushed to the floor with tension, as the violins become more scratchy and increase in volume, making Nick seem like a very threatening presence in only a few seconds of sound. 
• The dialogue increases in volume throughout the argument as it's delivered, peaking at Amy's line "It's not even close," before she is thrown to the ground. This is another way the scene slowly constructs its tension. 
• The diegetic sound of Amy smacking into the stair post and falling to the ground is selected and increased in volume, emphasising the emotional (and physical) impact and implications of the action. 
• Amy monologues over several parts of the clip, in a serene, almost sad tone of voice, adding more depth to her character in the scene with lines such as "The kind of woman I used to mock," in reference to the way she acts. 
• This culminates in the final line of the scene, "I am frightened of my own husband," which is an incredibly impactful piece of scripting, and combined with the sound mix, editing and shots used in that moment, ends the extract on a horrific and haunting note. 

TK: Production Log - Wilderness Woods

• In our group of two, Mishaal and I shared the workload fairly equally. We carried out the location recce together, and explored the possibilities for different action moments and how we could film them, by structuring the plot around the environment we were given. Through this, we were able to each have a distinct vision in our heads of how the shots would take shape as they were edited together and created a meaningful (if simple) plot. 
• The main areas in which we differed was filming the shots themselves. Mishaal, who had more experience in film making than myself took the roles behind the camera, whilst I put myself in the position of our main actor, but even with our division of roles we still communicated our ideas and developed them throughout the process as an effective team.
• The experience definitely helped us learn how to work together in the field. It wasn't our first time filming together, but it was our first time building a plot and filming it together, so if anything it showed us just how much quality work we can get done in such a short space of time, from arriving there and scouting locations, to finally editing the piece together in Premiere.
• I was incredibly pleased with the outcome overall, but the shots that stand out to me most is the tracking shot between the trees where the camera follows the protagonist, and the final shooting scene at the end. Both of these took a lot of time and hard work to film, but in the end looked completely amazing, and really accented the outcome overall. 

• Our biggest challenge was probably time, and although we did carefully plan out our shooting schedule before lunch, we were quite late getting back to the rest of the group at the end of the day. Another issue we had at one point was weather, as we were unsure how intense or how long the rain was going to last, and Mishaal's camera needed to be kept dry and under cover. We were lucky however, and most of the day remained quite dry, a bit blustery and cold, although that fit the tone of our outcome very nicely. 
• The blackout screens just before the gunshot in the final sequence proved to not be as effective as I thought they might have been. This may have been an issue with the sound mix not matching up to our visuals, but whilst it didn't work too well, it also didn't detract too much from the atmosphere of the clip. 

• Overall this experience really helped both Mishaal and I to grow better used to working as a duo when it came to filming and editing together. It's definitely given us a lot of confidence towards creating our final production, and seeing the quality of both this and our Preliminary task has really helped us share an idea of what our final outcome will look like in terms of visual style, and the manner in which we will shoot it. It's also given us a lot of ambition. We want to go big or go home with this production, and with this and the Preliminary under our belts I'm confident that we're going to create something great.