romantic film analysis- Bridget Jones' diary

i found this particular opening scene interesting and unique in comparison to typical romance initial scenes primarily because there was no male appearances, meaning the genre of the film wasn't initially evident and nothing about the plot or male interaction was revealed or foreshadowed.

i didn't think this initial scene was  very effective because although Bridget Jones' diary is a comedy, aimed too at a male audience and directed to be a box office hit for couples...this movie seemed like nothing but a typical 'chick flick' with the cliche music and female protagonist. however, in many ways this initial scene was effective in the way that without dialogue, we could still assume that our female protagonist Bridget Jones, was single and looking for a relationship presumably with the song 'all by myself' and the idea that she was almsot 'serenading' her wine glass.

our female protagonist is filmed in pjamas. these connote realxation, laziness/tierdness, a nighttime environment and even a sense of 'cuteness' and therfore attraction. The red colouring of the pjamas is directly associated with christmas, and children wearing typicall seasonal festive pjamas before receibing their gifts. this may be assoicated with the 'gift' of love that Jones later reciebves in the film. We also see with our female pjama dressed charachter that she is comftable in the sanity of her own home, however she may not be so comftable with her realtiosnhip status. the fact that Jones looks as if she has made no effort with her appearance suggests she has given up hope, or has no need to impress any fellow males.

the body language Jones uses is almost helpless and lazy as she smokes a cigarette whilst watching 'Frasier'. The cigarette contributes to Mise-en-scne becayse we see the almost 'classy' way she smokes this so it dosent have any 'chavvy' un-asthetically pleasing connotations. Her posture and body language on the sofa which the camera captures in a long shot allows us to see how she is almsot helpless and dosnet know what to do with herself. the camera shot infrequently differs, so we have the same sort of shot the entire way through the openign scene which empathszes how jones is continuing to have the same routine, the same lifestyle every day, there is no proxemics with any other charachters as frankly, there are no other charachters in the scene! this reinforces how far away other people are from Jones and that she is possibly alone and iscolated.

the pjama orientated, nightly scene uses low lighting that is un-natural to almost make the audience feel like they too are in this living room with jones. daytime is usually associated with action, work and activity where as night tends to contrast as it is a time of thought,relaxation and tire. we see however, that Jones' drinking habits, loneliness and longing to not be 'all by myself' is what keeps her up in the evenings. thus, the low lighting corresponds to her lkow mood. the lightshades behing briggget hoiwever almost highlight her with a glow of light so we can still feel as if she is a postivie, charasmatic charachter and we can see her movements with ease.

there is no dialogue in the film however a non diegetic sound of the song 'all by myself' plays throughout the beggining scnene. however, effectively we discover this sound is not non diegetiuc after all....we as the audience think we are hearing a soundtrack to go along with the solemn lazy actions Jones creates, however halfway through she actually begins to mime along to the song! because we didnt think she could hear this song from the start, and the sound of 'Frasier' could not be heard over this, the music could either be digetic and played extremely loudly in her apparetment or non diegetic and only heard by us, however thought in her head due to her alcohol intake and negativity about being alone. the audience can relate to this because many people can have relatable songs or songs stuick in their heads. the clear lyrics also directly associate with the film becauyse phrases lkike 'i never needed anyone' and ' dont wanna be all by myself' realte to her situation. although this song triggers sympathy, it also reinforces the sub genre, commedy, of the film because viewrs would find her singing into a newspaper comedic.

action movie analysis- the matrix

The matrix reloaded is a typical action film, sub categorized under the genre of science action. it is the first sequel to the famous Matrix and was directed by the Wachowski brothers; an independent duo of film makers. It was released by Warner Bros, a notorious film production company making the matrix even more recognizable. At the very start of the film opening we see the Warner Bros logo has been converted to a pixilated, green hue-this is clever in making the logo seem very computerized,unique and fitting with the technology orientated film. This science action film was intended to target a male audience, predominantly young males. user ratings represent that 153,000 males rated the film online whereas there were only 17,000 female voters. particularly online ratings showed most rates came from male 18-29 year olds.  

The start of the film begins almost in a paradox of pixels, numbers and computerized features. The special effects used make the viewer feel uneasy as the camera constantly aligns and tilts to a canted angle. The actual idea of the film going from one pixelized setting in a paradox world to another more real, human world actually fits with the entire story line of the Matrix because the main theme revolves around dreams and if dreams are actually reality...once again a shift between two different worlds. Typically, people would connote the color green with nature, environments, even money or harmony- however we see the green here used in a completely contrasting manner as a computer screen. this possibly foreshadows how technology and knowledge and the outside natural world may intervene throughout the film.

even within the animated opening of the film, there is a prominent soundtrack that acts as the 'theme' for the matrix which most fans will immediately recognize. we can hear the synthesized melody in the backing sound sounding almost computer generated, synthetic and new. this links in with the plot of the film being innovative, almost unreal and futuristic.

usually, with a computer generated opening like this, without the introduction of characters, we would be given names of actors and production team members on screen as the film draws in, usually deterring our attention from the animated background and instead onto the names. however effectively, here we don't see any names...indicating all our attention should be on the green pixels, which seem inanimate and irrelevant.....until you continue to watch the film. the pixels brusquely fade away at 1;20 to reveal the face of a watch, filmed with an extreme close up shot. this is effective because the pixels are what create the watch face, once again showing us how real world and the technological paradox interact. straight after this, we get a long shot of an office seen, typically boring..especially when the only synchronous dialogue us 'see you tomorrow' however almost immediately at 1;30, we see a motorbike appear to be descending a high rise building rooftop! we get a brief close up of one of the office co-workers faces to frame his shocked expression as the motorbike soars through the air, but this shot changes very quickly as our attention is devoted entirely on the speed and height of the motorbike. diegetic sound of the motorbike reinforces what exactly the mode of transport is, as because the lighting is fairly low and the vehicle is fairly modernized and obscure- the audience may not immediately know what it is without the sound effect. we can see from what the office worker is wearing and the mise en scene that perhaps he is a police officer, and he is working in an office alongside other policemen or detectives. this is suggested by his baton (an effective prop to tell us who a character is) and smart uniform as well as the ID passes. The inclusion of the police is a typical convention of an action movie as often the police are portrayed to be corrupt or incapable of the work that other detectives/action characters can do. often, our main protagonist will be able to capture the antagonist better than the police ever could. also, the police are a common part of society and viewers will be able to relate to and recognize any inclusion of the police.

The black, glinting motorbike descends the building with a rider in matching outerwear that back flips off the bike- in mid air- as it falls. the slinky, delicate manner of these processes hints to us that the motorbike rider is in fact a female,however the dark disguising costume may suggest this character is our enigma. this creates a clear contrast because typically people would associate motorbikes with males, and as this is a action movie- it tends to be male protagonists and impressively talented characters, not females. Joe Queenans screen review even suggests'women never get to drive'. the black tight costume that the female wears disguises her and her features but not her figure, possibly allowing her to be agile and quick, and additionally still alluring and attractive, especially to a male audience. her slender toned figure and inclusion in the opening scene is very effective to draw in masculine lure and attention however a possible sub plot with this female love interest for any female viewers. the black bike and costume connotes darkness, mystery and disguise...it also makes her appear like a shadow- almost unreal...linking to the plot again with not everything being as real as it seems. a shot from a low angle is used to look up upon the girl riding the motorcycle possibly to make her appear powerful and authoritative. she actually even appears to fall from the sky! we would connote someone falling from the sky with danger and confidence- typical values a protagonist of an action movie would have. in another perspective, you could liken someone falling from the sky with angelic features, a saivure and create a context with heaven and angels. this directly contrasts with a hidden darkly suited woman with the contrast almost with heaven and hell, dark and light, good and evil. when the woman back flips, we look down on this from a high angle, i think rather than portraying her looked down upon- this looks down upon society beneath her...and the small irrelevant man that runs away from the action in the bottom right hand corner. the camera then pans down from here to reveal an intense and dramatic fire explosion...combined with loud, enticing synchronous sound affects to increase the dramatic intent.

all of this action (from the man shockingly noticing a motorbike is zooming off from a high rise building to the female back-flipping off it in slow motion so the bike falls alone and starts an explosion)  happens between 1;29-1-39...that's ten seconds. this abnormally fast pace of the course of action in the scene gives the audience an idea that there will be cyclic action throughout....reinforcing its genre of an action movie.

one of the onluy phrases of dialogue in the entirety of the opening two minutes is 'oh my god' a typical cliche phrase of an action movie that is framed as a close up shot frames the officers face. just after this, we see the woman remove her helmet- this action is combined with non diegetic sound to make the ordeal seem more exciting and revealing as the music reveals more about how this is a revealing and important moment. sound effects also make the fight scene between the woman and the  officers seem more dramatic from 1.55 on-wards making the audience feel more like they are in the scene. This completely coverts to typical action films because a woman doesn't usually tend to permeate fight scenes or defeat all of the male opposition, especially considering they are all high position officers. the slow motion camera pace makes the audience notice minor details more, and ensures such a high pace energetic scene carries on for longer. The floor level shot of her boots when she is standing still shows her dominance over everyone else. over the shoulder shots cleverly almost seem to switch shoulders to portray how fast the fight is taking place, and it shows a different male subject each time from the over the shoulder view. a 360 degree tracking shot follows the action round the woman, as if all is revolving around her. this links in with the title 'revolutions'. a high angle shot looks down as the woman as she does a flip in mid air, i think this shot was most effective for framing her movements as any other shots would have made this flip look less dramatic and high up.

the fire in the background of the scene continually reminds the audience of the explosion. additionally fire would connote danger and fear, even tension in case there is another fire. the fire is the main source of light in the movie, which effectively brings light and shadow to the dark scene. if the scene used natural light it would be a lot less effective because the darkness makes the scene seem sinister, unknown and more thrilling. with darkness people can hide, be unseen, be stealthy- just like our female protagonist. Also this usage of mise-en-scene fits with her clothing of the dark black over-wear.

i think one of the most important scenes is the one that begins at 2;17. at this point a high a angle shot looks down upon a cityscape...a complete change of scene from the start which reinforces the non stop action in the film. This shot is still briefly, and we can only see the faint, small movements of cars below...however just seconds later the female we saw previously jumps from a building window. the entire shot is in slow motion, and we can hear the digetetic sound of the glass almost in slow motion too as if it is still shattering. as well as looking down upon the woman, we also get a shot which is mid level and looks frontally at her. we even get the bullet and gun shots in slow motion to reinforce the detail of the action, and a close up shot to see her cut face however content facial expression. the proxemics of Trinity and her shooter are quite far apart, however the bullets are not. although both characters are far apart in the air, the bullets are very close, as-well as being close to doing major damage throughout. this suggest that firstly, they are both on completely opposite 'sides', secondly that overall, even with the incredible fighting techniques we've seen flaunted previously- weaponry will always dominate.

when we see our female protagonist, trinity, finally get shot..the speed of the camera shot is much faster, and we see her fall, just as a normal person would, quickly to her death. this is the only realistic scene in the entirety opening scene, and shows how fragile life can really be. this scene is hugely prominent for fans of the matrix because Trinity's story was followed through the sequel so this is a huge moment, however when we receive the close up shot of Neo, her boyfriend, we realize it is only a dream. although dreams can be very cliche beginnings and endings to films, dreams are almost the most diverse and easiest basis to use for a start or end of a film because you can base them on almost anything to shock and draw in an audience and completely defeat reality.

war/historical/epic movie opening

Horror movie analysis- Daybreakers

Daybreakers was released in 2009 and was intended to be a vampire horror. It grossed over $50 million (US) and received a positive reception from its audiences.  I  think this movie cleverly fits into the genre of a thriller too with its fast paced plot diversions and twists during the film where we continue to follow our main characters. Many reviewers even thought the inclusion of vampires actually made the film more of a science fiction thriller due to the science basis behind it where a 'disease' had almost eradicated humans, leaving an overrun society of vampires. The beginning of the film is heavily orientated around the search and researching for a blood substitute by vampire scientists...however as the movie goes on, the gore, jump scares,deaths and un-easiness along with additional horror conventions implicate the plot. 

we can tell from the extreme close up of the calendar on the young girls wall during the first few minutes of the film that 'Daybreakers' is set in a futuristic, possibly dystopian world. the calendar is on the year 2019, making the film seem more chilling as this is a futuristic representation of what has become of society. Many horror movies adopt conventions that make their movies seem like they are happening currently as this often scares the viewing audience more when they are able to relate features of the film to their own world and lives. Films like paranormal activity,ouija, incidious and other horror movies can adopt  this sort of present day context to scare watchers however other films like woman in black or horrors with a religious or biblical basis can be set back in the past to have a scary, historical context to fictionally build on so it seems realistic. it is therefore rare to have futuristic films however with plots involving an apocalypse, invasion or world take over- films like Daybreakers would have to follow a future based path. 

back to the camera shot type. the calendar appears to be illuminated by lights, showing positivity. these lights are also floral and feminine, hinting a character we are soon to meet is a young girl. when looking in more detail- we can see that none of the dates on the calendar are marked with any events...this foreshadows why the girl may later on in the movie opening commit suicide and not be able to 'go on' as we see in writing in the extreme close up shot of the girls suicide note. There is very quiet non diegetic sound being played during the initial scenes of the film possibly to not distract the attention of viewers from the shots and the climax of the scream at the end. the scream of the girl is empathized and sounds even more dramatic simply because of it being one of the only prominent noises in the whole of the opening for the film.

as the girl walks outside, we hear the creak of the door. a typical synchronous sound used i n horror movies to reinforce a presence entering or leaving. the way the girl is shadowed in contrast to the light outside possibly suggests she is the darkness/ a dark,negative character in the movie. the contrast of light and dark almost makes her appearance seem shadowy and unreal, and we see her reflection in the floor cleverly reinforcing her presence. the actual use of a young girl in these first few shots is clever because it is often 'little scary children' that have a chilling inclusion in horror movies. also- the girl filmed is very young, vulnerable and we would connote young girls with carelessness,often un educated, cute and fragile....however we see that this girl has the ability to make her own decisions and commit suicide which is typically a last resort that older people who have experienced terrible, un-fixable or depression linked adopt. this also foreshadows how the girl is a vampire, suggesting the immortality of vampires who can live forever. being forever a young girl would be a hugely challenging and incapable thing.


The next shot is a still, establishing shot of a house. the house appears to stand alone in
rural land which is typical or horrors  because there is often nowhere else to go, nobody to call and nobody to help. this convention was followed in the other horror movie i analysed, scream. the establishing shot is very still and doesn't pan in reinforcing that there is almost no action because it is meant to be very early in the morning, just as the sun is rising so everyone would be asleep. the white painted color choice of the house connotes purity and if we were given this image alone we would probably assume that this is a peaceful yet isolated picturesque location for a house, however its large size and position within the woods suggests it is not all it seems. looking closer into the picture we see the house has no windows. I think if the camera were to pan in at the house with the absence of any windows it would have been a much more effective shot as the audience wouldnt typically notice the house not having windows straight away.

The young girl we see in this part of the opening is clearly recognized as abnormal due to her jaundiced eye color. the low lighting in the scene reinforces the prominence of her eye color. typically, vampires are associated with eye color like this...possibly because of mythical folklore associated with the context or even just the conventions of modern vampire movies where the likes of twilight, van helsing, underworld all give vampire characters the additional feature of colored eyes. this close up of her frames her face and shows her absence of emotion, her draped hair over her face is even prominent because other horrors (mostly Asian horrors) like the grudge and the ring hide any form of beauty or normality with dark, draped hair.


i thought this shot was very atypical of usual horror movie beginnings because most horror movies tend to use the darkness to their advantage with creatures of the shadows and the night. having the sunlight and a beautiful picturesque view in a long shot juxtaposes the typical dark, hidden shadowy scenes of most horror movies.

For me, this was the most prominent scene at the start of the movie because firstly, this was when the action actually took place, secondly it was the only point of diegetic, synchronous sound of screaming and burning when the rest of the film opening was almost in silence and thirdly because of the dramatic CGI of the flames. the surroundings looked so peaceful in the previous establishing shots and long shots however this burning shot of a young girl completely contrasts with the surroundings and happenings so far. it also reinforces the idea of vampirism in the film, because the suns morning glow would not set alight a normal person. this scene is also very graphic-following typical horror conventions and draws the begging to a dramatic climax. the audience are left in anticipation awaiting the rest of the film in hope it will be as dramatic as the begging.

i think this film is a very unique opening to a horror because it doesn't follow stereotypes or horror movie beginnings. it also attracts a huge audience because girls will be drawn in to watch the movie because of the love interest, modern vampire craze after movies like twilight and enticing and attractive male actors however males too will be drawn in to watch the movie due to its horror, science fiction futuristic themes.

Horror movie analysis- scream

The title alone- 'Scream' struck me as a clear indication of genre;  having a title of a frightening, unsettling verb almost directly associates with the audience and can be perceived as telling the audience to 'scream' as this film is a horror, and therefore unnerving, or merely the lexis 'scream' is describing a typical and frequent possible occurrence in the film where endangered or threatened characters will 'scream'. 

Additional conventions help to reinforce that this movie is a horror, such as the non diegetic sound of a loud, screeching, dramatic siren noise played as the title appears. Also, typical conventions of horror movies can be unsettling phone calls- and Casey receives a phone call directly at the beginning of the film. however, this phone call actually subverted to typical horror movie phone calls as the male on the phone sounded human, making no unsettling noises, and no difficult conversation. Casey is home alone at the beginning of the film and the camera tracks her as she moves around the house, however typically of a horror- the audience continues to await something jumping out, or something seen by the audience but not by our protagonist as she obliviously walks on. another convention that indicates our film is set to scare its audience is the mere idea that the film is initially taking place at night. Night is the more unsettling time of the day for people- connotated with ghouls, Halloween, nocturnal animals, darkness and obscure noises. Just like pathetic fallacy (when peoples feelings can be associated with the weather or inanimate things or animals in literature)  the night almost has a link to the darkness of the Grimm reaper in scream, or the dark presence Casey can sense, or even the dark thoughts that are going through her head of what this deranged man is doing. 

there is no backing sound in the scene as Casey talks on the phone, possibly to deter the audience from loosing focus on Casey and her conversation. The synchronous diegetic sound keeps us focused on Casey and her phone call and the close up shot used in the beginning of the film too keeps the audience focused on our protagonist. because no other characters are introduced all focus is to Casey, and we begin to see her typical attitude of females in horror movies- generally the typical 'dumb blonde' is in every horror movie and Casey coverts to this by not admitting she has a boyfriend and continuing to talk about her movie likes and dislikes to a complete stranger. however, we see that our main character has more chance of surviving than her boyfriend when she begins to lock the doors after feeling uneasy. With this attitude the audience begin to associate more with Casey and hope for her survival throughout the film, even though typically in horror movies there are few survivors. the idea that Casey is home alone suggests already that she is seen as a responsible adult, however many teens (who are the most common audience for mainstream and slasher horrors) may be able to relate to this as stereo-typically teenagers picture themselves as older and therefore able to use this sense of responsibility to their advantage which may not work out so well, as we see for young Casey in her house alone. and not only this....Casey is in her house alone....but her house itself is isolated, away and alone from any other house too! usually at the start of a movie or scene, establishing shots flaunt the location of a scene or establish relationships with characters and their surroundings however in the opening five minutes for scream we have no idea where Casey's house actually is until a snippet of dialogue between the caller and Casey when she threatens to call the police and the caller responds with 'they will never make it in time' followed by the idea that she is 'miles away from any other house'. this is the only indication we receive of the significant countryside or abandoned location of the films setting. the setting itself is very typical of a horror movie as often the characters have nowhere else to go, nowhere else to hide and nobody to help. 

the repetition of the calling makes the audience feel like this is an ongoing plot, an ongoing theme of the film where the characters get the option to answer or not to answer to stay on the phone or not pick up-despite frequent threats. this repetition triggers mild  'jump scares' and agitation from the audience, anticipating what the next call is going to be. The calls are our predominant source of sound in the clip until around 2.53 where a tense high pitched melody begins to play as a non -diegetic tension building sound. this is reinforced when Casey's stove pop corn 'pops' as the attention seems to be taken away from the calls themselves, and the attention turns more to the external issues- how can the reaper see Casey? where is he calling from? how does he know her name?

My favorite director

                                                     Favorite director
My favorite director would have to be David Fincher. Davids most famous, not to mention my favorite cinematography hit would have to be Fight Club. Fight club gains a much deserved 10th place on IMDb list of the top 250 movies, although for my own list it would come close to championing it. Its kind of naive and stupid that i'd brand my favorite director from just one movie- but i don't know any other director- not Spielberg, not Nolan, not even Cameron who could have pulled off such a blockbuster success. I don't think there's one person on this earth who could bring insomniac office worker. Fight club generated $100.9 million at the box office alone, so who isn't to say that Fincher is a living representation of complete success. 


together the fragmented themes of fight club in such a successful manner. The plot twist Fincher devised was unforeseen and his talented directing allowed one mans mind and mentality to form the main enigma of the film. The audience almost felt like they were inside the head of our narrator who was in fact also (SPOILER ALERT) Tyler Durden. To be honest, the film actually got into our heads more, with severe confusal and the twist in comparison to us getting in the head of a mental,

but anyway, back to Fincher and more about him...not just the reason hes the best director to me.

 Fincher was born in 1962 in Denver..he lived a simple life and When he was 18 years old he went to work for John Korty,a famous american film maker and director in mill valley. . Fincher began to drift from his path in hope of having more control and independence and began alternatively  to direct TV commercials and music videos and attempted to sign artists of the time. Fincher has in fact directed TV commercials for clients that include Nike, Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Heineken, Pepsi, Levi's, Converse and Chanel. This alone indicates his huge interest and ability to deal with the public and diverse ranges of audiences.  He has directed music videos for Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Iggy pop as well as George Micheal and Micheal Jackson! But his successes don't end there, his main successes are with se7en in 1995, fight club in 1999 and panic room in 2002. This is where Fincher truly gained his renown title. Finchers legacy has not yet reached a deficit. He continues to create ingenious screenplay for films such as gone girl and the social network and will most likely continue into a future of incredible  films. 

Dredd class presentation

This was the presentation we created and displayed to our media studies class. we analysed the different shot types used in the opening two minutes of the film Dredd directed by Pete Travis. we chose to analyse this particular opening for  a movie because we thought it flaunted a lot of fast paced action which immediately deciphered the genre of the film. additionally, we were able to analyse many different shot types which presented a variety of themes, characters and foreshadowed plots. *the presentation slides & narrative are blogged further down*

Although our presentation was effective and of a high grade, we could have made the presentation better by incorporating a comparison with another movie of similar or same categorized genre or even an opening of a completely different genre film, to use in contrast.
 an example of a film we could have used to contrast Dredd with would be the first film of the divergent series.

Displayed above, is the opening two minutes for the film divergent. it begins with an establishing shot very similar to the opening shot for Dredd with a large mass of derelict land separated by a wall...however this wall is not as simplistic as the concrete wall in dredd- it seems almost like a three dimensional electric fence. having this instead of a typical concrete wall hints there is more than what meets the eye and divergent possibly has a more confusing plot or enigma within its basis. Also, the non-diegetic sound in the background is very similar to that of dredd- however in Dredd we hear the diegetic sound of the wind through the land mass however in divergent we hear human made noises- almost like a faint humming as we pan up the wall. this is also an effective contrast as in our analysis for Dredd we saw close up shots and aerial shots being used to see over the wall empathizing its height however here we use panning as we travel almost up the wall which is too ,effective to show its authority and importance in the society divergent is set in.

having establishing and master shots showing the location of the setting for divergent is effective because the ideology of a city being engulfed by un used land is very atypical- so when we see this in the opening we automatically place both films into the futuristic and possibly dystopian categorization as  the opening of the film continues our protagonist states 'they built the wall to keep us safe' creating firstly- a dramatic and tenacious attitude to watching more of the film, and secondly it enables us to question whether the wall is really to protect or separate? to confine or contain?

In divergent, the opening differs with the setting of the film not reinforced by the narrative like in Dredd- instead simplistic titling of 'Chicago' tells us where the camera is panning into. Also. much like our opening for Dredd....there is many high angle and aerial shots looking down upon masses of abandoned buildings- even car parks just like we saw in Dredd. however- one of the main differences i found between both film openings was that in dredd, the only hint we receive of human life within the dwellings is a point of view shot through Dredds mask where even here, human faces are blurred hiding their identities and not allowing close up shots to view emotions or mid shots to frame body language...the characters in Dredd are not associated with their surroundings very much- the only time is when rioting is happening or disruptive activities however in divergent we see the immediate relation of human life with the degraded surroundings in ruins looking almost normal. for the audience this is a complete juxtaposition of objects...we wouldn't think that human life would thrive under such challenging conditions however everything we see in the beginning of divergent is positive- everyone is helping their community and doing their part in different 'factions' unlike in Dredd where an ultimate judge is needed to sort out the rebellious citizens of an un-organised city. 

mid shots used in divergent are often used to show people walking- this shows their productivity and movement- possibly movement forwards in advancements in technology and scientific research, advancements in population advancements in time.....the advance in science is reinforced when it links to an extreme close up of an eye looking through a microscope- suggesting that scientific research is being undertaken and once again- everyone is doing their part for society. the eye through the microscope would connote knowledge- and knowledge is power.

there are many tracking shots used from a medium angle to follow citizens of  the varied fractions and the camera continues,without cutting, to follow onto the next scene. this is effective because it links everyone together- in comparison to Dredd which doesn't link any human life with the surroundings. also, in divergent a two shot is used with two of the characters from the agricultural fraction. this is effective alongside the narrative which at that time states 'kindness and harmony' because it represents how people are working together, helping each other, there is a sense of complete positivity...however in dredd there are no two shots we only see Dredd alone- creating this idea that possibly he is fighting or standing up for what is right on his own, that maybe his side is the villainous side, that his judgement is questioned. 

one of the prominent links i analysed was the brief shot of a judge banging his gavel in the opening for divergent. this is because this was an extreme close up and very symbolic to the fraction that was filmed. the surroundings behind the shot of the gavel are white- connoting purity and goodness. the symbol for this fraction is even a pair of scales- connoting that judgement is fair, the odds are weighed up, everything goes accordingly to plan. in dramatic contrast- in judge dredd the mise en scene as well as the lighting is very dark. we know our main character judge dredd wants some kind of authority and rule- but from the dark surroundings and havoc in the city we guess that this power is not as pure or fair or abided by as the rules in Divergent.

one of the final shots in the opening for divergent is a tracking shot- tracking the runners from 'dantlas' as they sprint forwards. they are in clad, military style dark costume just like the mise en scene choices in dredd however these runners unlike dredd who stands alone are being followed by children, looked up to, respected...they don't need bulletproof armor like we see in the close up shots of dredd nor do they need specialist helmets...this indicates these youngsters are more pure, less disguised, less of an undisclosed enigma like dredd...less to hide from. we even see these members from dontlas being looked up upon from a low angle shot, empathize their power as they climb up towering buildings in contrast to Dredd who hasn't yet associated with the outside world and its ginormous buildings. 

in the opening for divergent, we don't receive any indication of a fatal flaw in society until the end where the narrative voice states she doesn't know where she belongs...however in Dredd we are reminded of negativity and flaws in society the entire way through the opening two minutes. This suggests that although full-packed action thriller Dredd may be a typical action movie of cyclic plot twists and occurrences....sometimes things that are hidden or undisclosed under the surface create more of an enigma for the audience, and more tension to see a film like divergent when we are completely left in the dark about what the problem with society.

analysis of openeing two minuites of an action movie-class presentation-DREDD

Shot analysis of DREDD

IMDB rated DREDD 7 stars & described it as: ‘In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality altering drug’

Establishing shots almost construct the foundations for a new or beginning scene. They are designed specifically to show the audience where the action is going to take place. In terms of the opening two minutes for Dredd, the location is heavily emphasised to the audience...this is primarily due to the repetitiveness of shots showing the location.

The film begins with an initial master shot of a large derelict land mass. The wind whistles through this neglected land as a diegetic sound, however non diegetic sound-being the narrative and infrequent drum strokes-over powers the noise of the wind. The narrative that plays alongside the scene informs the audience that the location of the establishing scene is the USA, with this indication we can assume that this is a dystopian futuristic representation of the USA however without this indication; the audience would be left puzzled about what the master shot even shows.

The towering buildings almost look lost in their own location. They seem alienated in contrast to the surroundings and almost look like an elongated Stonehenge…this would connote that the buildings are old, almost historical which we see holds truth as the camera pans in and we have more establishing shots as we see car parks abandoned and old and buildings looking tiered and historical in comparison to more modern buildings with un-identified aircraft soaring along beside them. Being the same level as this modern aircraft makes us as the audience feel almost powerful and helps us to follow one of the key characters who holds a strong vital role in this new American society.

Because there are no characters included in these establishing shots, it hints to us that something corrupt or very bad has happened to any prior characters. Also, because our key character-Dredd is not placed in these surroundings or associated with them as we only see him in a dark room during the opening two minutes the audience assume he is possibly hiding or is cautious about how he associates with the outside world. the lighting used in these establishing shots almost shadows the buildings so it is made to look like everything going on in the American city is almost trapped in the shadows, or that a dark age has arisen. The bright light from behind the buildings however foreshadows that there may be a positive outcome in the end. The camera angle seems to alter so that this bright light continually remains central to the screen, possibly indicating its importance.

They have used this aerial shot to possibly suggest the power that one of the characters have over everyone else. The fact that the shot is overlooking a wall suggests the idea of separation or alternatively protection. Typically when you see an aerial shot it is like a bird’s eye view, and/or someone is looking directly down, whereas in this shot it is showing the sight from behind a wall. Although it isn’t showing a whole landscape, which is also what an aerial shot commonly does, this shot gives us an insight as to what the setting is like. Though the buildings may be tall, this shot tells us otherwise as the aerial shot is partially towering over them making them seem like degraded objects.

 we thought these shots were very prominent and original to use for the opening two minutes because the shots combine high angle shots as well as computer generated imagery so that it looked like we were seeing through the computer generated first person view of ‘Dredd’.  Therefore, what we were actually seeing was a point of view shot.

The settings we see through Dredd’s point of view look almost distorted and uninhabited…the way we view these shots in a very fast paced manner in comparison to if the shot was filmed using tracking or panning to the right or left or using a pedestal or mechanism to keep the camera still makes these shots appear very fast paced and almost rushed. The fast appearance of the shots fits the action genre of the film because typically action films are fast paced with lots of continual cyclic action happening to keep viewers engrossed. Also, these swift camera movements make Dredd- who’s point of view it is- appear to be travelling very fast…this is empathised that maybe he is possibly flying or above the towering buildings as it is from a high angle shot.

This point of view technique through Dredd’s mechanical mask makes the audience able to relate to Dredd and as well as this they feel more involved in the film...especially when this would have been shown in cinemas in 3D. Similar techniques are used for films like Iron man where we often get to see through iron man’s mask from his point of view to reinforce his height, prominence and ability. This makes the heroic persona he adopts stand out more. Additionally, the camera shot often slants towards a cantered angle; this possibly shows uneasiness or a change of direction in the scene.

 in these extreme close ups we suggested that the light behind could possibly connote that Dredd is almost like a saviour, and this glow is like a halo…however we know from the actual context of the film that this idea is completely juxtaposed as Dredd is brutal. However, in a religious perspective- Christians for example would describe god as the ‘ultimate judge’ the position that Dredd has in this film. The dark and light heavy contrast with the glow and the shadowing could almost create an idea of heaven and hell in contrast.

 these medium shots enable the audience to see one of the most revealing shots of Dredd as in all the other shots only extreme close ups are used to make his presence feel almost secretive as if he is the undisclosed enigma of the film.

When we finally see him captured in a medium shot even now he is still in full costume-completely covered up. Mid shots are often used to show body language which we see as Dredd finishes his preparations and steps out into his devastated city with an almost slow yet prominent pace. Mid shots also establish importance and power- and we see Dredd associated with his dark, shadowy surroundings looking powerful and his outerwear empathising this power with black, thick almost military costume and large boots. This particular choice of costume relates heavily to the importance of the mise-en-scene in the opening two minutes of the film because his costume choice ensures that his true identity is not revealed-building up an engrossing and enticing attitude to the film.

‘Dredd’ is also filmed with a level angle; however the shot is still very dark and un-revealing possibly connoting a kind of mysterious plot. The mid shot used in the film allows us to view Dredd from a frontal and back medium view- so the audience are given 360 degree view of their main film character in just the first two minutes-even though he has no dialogue and not one of the close ups features any of his emotions or facial features. Having no close ups or even extreme close ups of Dredd’s face makes him seem almost emotionless as we do not get any indication of his feelings or personality. This makes it harder for the audience to relate and through the shot types alone the audience would begin to presume Dredd could possibly be brutal and ruthless towards society- as he often turns his back to the camera, is in the dark and has no emotion exhibited…this completely relates to the context of the film and ‘judge Dredd’ because Dredd’s position is meant to be judgemental and in some cases severe…however this can be a very controversial point in the film because his judgement is often questionable.

Low angle shots often look up upon key things or people. The opening two minutes of Dredd has very few and limited low angle shots possibly because there is little in this dystopian society to look up upon. The majority of shots in the opening sequence are actually looking down upon abandoned buildings and chaos. The final part of the scene we analysed where there was a low angle shot looked up upon an illuminated eagle logo. This eagle presence possibly connotes power and flight- linking to the almost flying pace that Dredd has in the beginning…this enables the start of the opening scene and the end of the opening scene to sustain a strong relationship. Also- the shot type almost creates a resounding order over society with its height and the natural lighting as well as the illuminated neon lighting…this is one of the lightest parts of the opening two minutes-possibly representing it as one of the most positive aspects of society. 

main film genres

ACTION:
films categorized under the genre 'action' tend to commonly include huge financial backing and   big-budget stunts along with technological computer generated imagery (CGI). Action films commonly also maintain typical conventions such as physical stunts,chases, and rescue from difficult physically and mentally challenging dilemmas. Battles ,fights and ideas of escapism and non stop motion often permeate action films. conventions of action films also consider the spectacular rhythm and pacing of the story line and the characters in action films that revolve around this story line are often two dimensional 'good guy' heroes or heroines battling the bad guys. the main purpose of this genre, relating back to its conventions, is for audience escapism. Examples of action films consist of the James bond series,

similarly to action films -Adventure films are usually exciting stories, with new experiences or exotic locations. Action and adventure pair very effectively together. adventure films, as hinted in the title often include a search or adventure to find something that's 'lost' this often includes searching for lost continents, jungles, treasure or even the unknown. films such as Indiana Jones and Jurassic park would be considered as adventure. searches or expeditions for lost continents, "jungle" and "desert" epics, treasure hunts, disaster films, or searches for the unknown.


COMEDY:
Comedies earn their title from their comedic nature and light-hearted plots consistently and deliberately designed to amuse and provoke laughter. Typical comedies contain jokes, puns, one liners and deliberate pranks or clumsy stunts. In addition many comedies actually star famous comedians, having famous comedians flaunted on posters and comedy films is a USP (unique selling point) so for films that star the likes of Kevin Hart or Ricky Gervais, if that audience have seen their stand up-they are likely to watch films they star in. comedies typically also exaggerate situations, language, relationships,language and action making dilemmas seem worse of funnier than they are. The sub categories of comedy include slapstick, Rom coms (romantic comedies) black comedy and spoofs/ paradoys. examples of comedies are those like dumb and dumber, get hard, step brothers and i give it a year.

CRIME &GANGSTER:
Crime& gangster orientated films primarily follow the path of criminals, groups/gangs or criminals or a prominent even mysterious sinister action. Often crime thrillers and gangster films have a predominant focus of money-whether this is in the form of bank robbery, themes of ransom or even just the general theme of payment and debt.  film noir or detective mystery films are two alternative genre classifications for crime and gangster films. serial killer and murder films are also classified under the title of crime and gangster. Typical mise-en-scene of crime and gangster films have costume that revolves around the idea of formality and gangster wear- like black glasses and a black suit and tie. Also, may crime films actually covert to the usual stereotype of criminals being obvious robbers and evil people- in fact usually the real villains or 'baddies' are actually unexpected, plot twisting subtle characters. 
examples of crime and gangster films are films like Good fellas, legend, the gangster and casino.

DRAMA:
Dramatized films have a plot that is frequently portrayed to be realistic, with relatable and realistic characters, settings and life situations and dilemmas. the context of dramatized films often actually hold some form of realistic non fictional truth. drams often have intense character development and interaction, with a limited cast so the audience can relate and get to know the characters in a more understanding way. usually, dramas are not concerned with special effects,CGI or comedy...they just obtain key aspects like having exceptional acting and very realistic plots. Dramas can also be specially made in response to key news or recent events to almost illustrate an occurrence in a visual way...these types of dramas often feature on TV. Drama is probably one of the largest film genres and there are many sub-genres under the same category such as historical dramas and epics, Biopics (which are dramatized biographical films) and romantic dramas.  examples of drama films would be Forrest Gump, schindlers list, the Godfather and the changeling.


HORROR:
Horror films have a primary purpose to frighten or invoke hidden or fearful subjects from an audience. This alone makes horror movies one of the most interactive film genres as they often don't depend on a creative or ingenious plot or story line- its more about how they will scare their audience. A typical feature of horror movies are their often shocking finale scenes, where often, we realize that the whole cast almost-is dead.  horror movies for an audience are described to be a  'cathartic experience'...horror movie producers intend to use jump scares, relatable topics, everyday life idea of routine with added often gruesome and terrifying implications. There are a huge variety of horror film sub-categories...from horror films that use CGI to create un-thinkable monsters, horror movies on low budgets and horror movies that use gore, and horror movies that are simply disturbingly relatable to something that 'could' be real. They are often combined with sci-fi films when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. examples of horror movies would be the exorcist, Ouija, psycho and a nightmare on elm street.

SCIENCE FICTION:
science fiction films- also known as sci-fi always tend to have a scientific basis-hence the name....whether this is a futuristic invention type of science or alienated science. sci-fis are visionary and imaginative and adopt the key aspects of adjacent movie genres like heroes, impossible quests and villains however sci fi films are famous for their improbable settings,futuristic forces and technology and monstrous opposition. Science fiction films heavily relate to fantasy films and share many of the key features of action and adventure films however they use more special effects, CGI and basis in the future whether it is dystopian or simply modernized.