Lord of the Rings

How does the use of cinematography in his key sequence from 'Lord of the Rings the Two Towers Battle of Helm's Deep' portray a sense of pathetic fallacy?

The opening mid-shot is a three shot of men standing strong, caped in steal armour suggesting they may be preparing for a battle, within the mise-en-scene there is a mist among the air which is contrasting as it is a common convention of a fantasy genre, although it is in the genre, war. With the man (Theoden) in the middle, centre of the camera, perfect on the rule of thirds, with him being the main focus, it reveals he may be more important and in control conveying his dominance over the other men. The mid-close-up shot highlights the relationship and the unitedness between these three men and implies they are on the same side. Their worried faces tell me they believe they’re fighting a losing battle and don’t want to see their friends die which makes me anxious as I would not like to be in their position. Furthermore, this particular mid-shot makes the characters look squashed, as if there is no room where they’re standing, this is shown by the way the camera only captures their head and shoulders making me feel almost claustrophobic. The low key lighting suggests this is a very serious situation and as this shot contains a tint of blue colour it allows me to know this is the good side whom I should be supporting.

The camera stays on the three men as a mid-three shot for a moment as they listen to the diegetic sound of the thunder as it rumbles within the atmosphere, torrential rain starts foreshadowing the beginning of the battle. Then the scene cuts to an extreme long shot allowing us to see the mise-en-scene of the rest of their side all standing together ready for battle and facing the same way upon the castle, depicting they’re united and fighting for the same thing. All the men’s faces are shadowed by their helmets stirring mystery in my head as I can’t see their emotions. Furthermore, this extreme long shot of all the men forebode how crowded they all are as they are standing waiting for their opposition. A flash of lightning strikes emphasising the weather which sets the mood of this scene being as we expect something bad is going to happen, this is called pathetic fallacy. On top of the diegetic sound of the rain, high pitch non-diegetic sound drawn from my speakers, like high horns withdrawing an uneasy emotion upon myself as the sharpness of the notes imply something horrific is about to occur.

The scene then cuts to a close up of the sharp spears of which the Orcs (the opposition) grasp. I believe the sharp non-diegetic sound symbolises the sharpness of the weapons emphasising the tension between sides and add to the anticipation of a bad occurrence. The camera portrays a crane shot which swoops down then the weapons allowing us to see the heads of the Orcs. The non-diegetic sound, upon the diegetic sound of their armour crashing to the floor due to its weight, gets deeper as a sudden straight cut occurs foreshadowing a wide shot of the mise-en-scene which forebodes the amount of Orcs compared with the number of men on the castle. The scene then cuts to a reaction shot which slowly pans right to left for a moment that illustrates the plain facial expressions of the men as they are calmly waiting and watching the sea of Orcs marching towards them. A thick mist surrounds them which conveys a claustrophobic sensation as they are surrounded by their opposition. Meanwhile the non-diegetic sound of getting louder although still being able to hear the diegetic sound of the thunder and lighting and the rain, this builds suspension as this pathetic fallacy is a common convention to depict something bad about to happen. This brings to mind a scene from 300 when the battle of Thermopylae takes place. It includes a series of cuts highlighting both armies as Leonidas (king of Sparta) motivates his warriors at a standstill, while they are watching their opposition running towards them whom also have more men then Leonidas. In this scene there is a dirty mist in the air which portrays an unclear ending of this battle, ordering me to feel as though something bad may happen during this war. As well as this there is non-diegetic sound, over the top of Leonidas’ motivation speech, of a cello playing very low, powerful notes which implies a sense of heroicness about him and his warriors.

Another straight cut materialises as a close-up shot takes place of the Orcs walking past the static camera which reveals their constant movement proving they won't stop and are fearless. This puts me on edge as they give the impression that they are a strong army and will do a lot of damage to the castle. Parallel editing occurs revealing the women and children hiding under the castle grounds to keep as far away from the battle as possible. A pan to the left occurs which foreshadows the amount of women and children squished in this one room. Starting with a close-up shot of a woman highlighting the fear on her face, as the camera pans round a mid-shot emerges conveying another women with two children wrapped in her arms, as they are all listening to the heavy-footed Orcs who are walking the grounds above them. This wide shot makes me feel claustrophobic as it allows me to see many more women in this one space. This implies that the fathers of all these children are being forced to fight as they needed more people. This makes me feel worried as I wouldn't like my facing his death in a battle opposed to the strong Orcs. Additionally I am able to hear the diegetic sound of babies crying as they are confused to what is going on and this makes me feel more on edge as the repetitive screeching noise inflicts the feeling of all the women and emphasises how much I would not like to be in their position.

After that, an extreme long shot occurs revealing the mise-en-scene of both armies about to go at war with each other, we are able to see all the men at the top of the tower wall watching their opposition on the left of the screen. Then the Orcs slowly moving closer to the tower on the right side. This high crane shot high combined with many high angle pan shots emphasises the whole spectical of the situation as if it was a gladiatorial fight within a collosium and they're putting on a show. On the other hand it reveals the distance between the two sides is a big open space which reminds me of ‘dead man’s land’ from World War 1 due to it looking very empty and dirty. The thick mist among the air stirs mystery, symbolising that the battle is going to be unclear and unpredictable therefore creates suspense and makes me feel apprehensive. The diegetic sound of the Orcs marching upon the muddy, wet ground, over powers the diegetic sound of the thunder emphasising their movement and the closer they get, the closer to war, blood and loss. This reminds me of a heart beat getting faster the more nervous one is, I believe this reflects the feelings of the men on the tower as well as their wives and children underground.

The camera then tracks in mid shot to the left following Aragorn as he walks between the elves shouting out some encouraging words to prepare them for battle. This also illustrates a mid-close-up shot of all the elves with their bows in their tight grasp foreshadowing they’re ready and their urgency to fight. This shot also allows me to witness their fearless faces as they have no expression, implying they have been in this position before. The camera conceals the fact that they are standing on top of a high tower and makes it seem as though they are standing on flat ground, this allows the audience to feel relaxed as we don’t see the height at which they could fall at. Furthermore I believe this shot depicts their unitedness because they are in close proximity with one another and as they are all facing the same way it shows they are on the same side. This moment in particular reminds me of the scene from Braveheart when William Wallis gives his freedom speech to a whole army of countrymen persuading them to fight as free men for what they believe in. However this scene is more emotive than the sequence from Lord of the Rings due to William Wallis have to try harder with persuading the army to fight, William goes into detail about the consequences of not fighting. Also there is non-diegetic sound which is a mixture of low notes from a drum and high notes from a horn, this mixture emphasises this being a heroic moment and forebodes that there may be loss but good will come in the end. Whereas Aragorn only gives two short sentences as he knows his army are eager to fight the Orcs.

There is then a straight cut to a long shot of the Orcs which sweeps up gradually revealing an Orc on a big boulder rock, turning into a low angled shot, it shows the dominance of that one Orc over the rest of them. This Orc then throws his arm up in the air with his weapon in his grasp ordering the army to come to a halt, this builds suspense as I see this as unexpected considering I believe the Orcs would have kept marching to the tower. The camera then zooms in on this Orc on the rock to a mid-shot and I spotted a hand print on his armour in place of his heart which suggests to me that this Orc army are no strangers to war.

Case Studies

US Blockbuster- Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

• Budget- $160 million
• Stars- Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks.
• Genre- Science Fiction
• Box Office- $246,665,981
• Production Company- Color Force
• Certificate- 12A
• Marketing- Trailers, Adverts, Posters- in Jerusalem the star of Mockingly part 2 was taken off the posters to avoid religious audiences.
• Release Dates- November 20, 2015
• Other- a website was created to make the audience seem as though they could join in with the Capital and determined what happened within the control room etc.

UK Production- Spectre

• Budget- $245-300 million
• Stars- Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes.
• Genre- Action Film/Crime Fiction
• Box Office- $677,381,971
• Production Company- Eon Productions
• Certificate- 12A
• Issues around reception- the Indian filmgoers reportedly ordered all kissing scene to be cut by 50%
• Release Dates- November 6, 2015
• Budget of other James Bond films- Dr. No(1962) £1,000,00... Casino Royal(2006) £150,000,00... Spectre(2015) £250-300,000,000

US Independent- Titanic 2

• Budget- $6,000
• Stars- Elizabeth Ammann, Will Sexton
• Box Office- $6,000
• Production Company-Northern Lights Motion Picture Company
• Certificate- 15
• Marketing- relation to the first titanic in 1997
• Release Dates- 24th August 2002
• Reviews- terrible
• <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TzE-DDk-YwE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

• Stars- Thanapat Saisaymar
• Box Office- $1,130,645
• Certificate- 12
• Marketing- true story
• Release Dates- 2nd March, 2011

Reflective Analysis On Our Noir Film

Scarlet Silver

For this project we were given the task to produce a 1940s-50s film Noir, we named our film Scarlet Silver and we decided to start at a murder scene and the detective is looking through the suspects who murdered the girl. We then reveal that the detective is the killer and the femme fatale is in on it too, at the end of our sequence we highlight that the man who was framed was actually the femme fatales husband.
We included a murder, an investigator and a femme fatale which are all common conventions of a Noir film we also made it in black and white to help the low key lighting, which is also a common convention, as we filmed it in the sunlight. My part in producing our film was joint editing and sound with Micky. We decided to take away the sound in the film as we believed it made it more mysterious and we replaced the sound with the sound of a keyboard playing harshly on the keys. This non-diegetic sound added to the collection of common conventions within our film. I believe our attempt of including common conventions of a Noir film in our sequence was rather success although we intended to do a voice over in place of the music however we didn't have enough time. Therefore if we could improve our film we would add a voice over to narrate the story and we would make it longer, getting into more detail on the story line to enable it to be more clear on what happens.

The Shining

The second golden room scene forebodes many conventions which add to the horror genre. However there is an argument to whether this is a psychological horror genre instead. The first shot is a mid-long shot which reveals the mise en scene of the 1920's party. This shot conveys how crowded the room is making the audience feel claustrophobic. This party also portrays the hierarchy of society and all the wealthy people being waited on, symbolising the divide in society at that time.

The low key lighting allows the women’s dresses to look more ‘glam’ and shiny foreshadowing their wealth. Within this shot, a woman attending this party walks past Jack, I noticed there was a handprint on her dress in the area of her bum. I believe this resembles the old fashioned, sexist statement of objectifying women, where they were only seen as 'baby makers'. This isn't the only time in the film where sexist judgments are being made. For example Jack, on various occasions, refers to his wife (Wendy) as a "bitch", this may make the audience feel astounded at how harsh society were on women’s positions. This is in contrast to the calming diegetic sound of classical music in the background which makes the audience feel peaceful.

Furthermore, Jack is wearing a red jacket which could symbolise blood and danger implying something bad is going to happen. Although this is contrasting with the circular chandelier above his head as if it were a halo implying Jack is pure and kind, when actually he is the complete opposite. He is also wearing blue jeans which used to be manual occupation workwear which weren’t seen as smart, especially for this party. When the red and blue are next to each other it symbolises good and evil. Shortly after, Grady knocks a tray of drinks over Jack, the yellow colour of the drinks contrast with Jacks red and blue clothing’s. These three colours are similar to the colours of the American flag which depicts American history.                     

The camera tracks forward following Jack and Grady into the bathroom almost like they are being watch by people at the party. The longshot of the two men in the bathroom, who are placed directly in the middle of the rule of thirds, allow the mise en scene of the high key lighting of the red bathroom to stand out. This convention adds to the expectation of something sinister about to happen and enhances the genre horror.

The shot then changes to a mid-two shot of Jack and Grady talking to one another while Grady is cleaning Jacks jacket. Despite them talking to each other, Grady is making eye contact with Jack, although Jack isn’t. It seems he is actually looking over Grady’s shoulder at his reflection in the mirror, as if Grady isn’t even there, almost like jack is talking to himself. This image below allows us to see that jack comes across as looking at himself in the mirror.

This emphasises the psychological features of this film as this whole party is in jacks head, it’s not actually happening. Jack then converses “Mr Grady, haven’t I seen you somewhere before” as he takes a long look at his face implying he has definitely seen him previous to this meeting. Jack then suggests that Grady was the old caretaker who killed his wife and daughter. Grady then replied with “no you are the caretaker, you’ve always been the caretaker” which is said in present tense almost as if the caretaker has never left implying Jack has never left. Although it could mean the caretaker lives in Jack being the reason why his personality has changed whilst he’s been at the hotel as if he were skits phrenic which. Almost like the old caretaker from 1921 was resurrected into jack allowing the old caretaker to live on, this is referring to religious beliefs which is in contrast to the genre horror due to resurrection not being an evil thing. This religious reference convention is common in this film, like any other horror film. For example, the framing of windows reminds me of the crucifix cross. However occasionally the cross can be upside down which could symbolise Satan (death, evil). This adds to the psychological horror of this movie and makes the audience feel uncomfortable as they wouldn’t want to be in Jacks wife and sons position.

However I believe the mirror jack is essentially looking through isn’t actually behind Grady, it is down the centre of the room, going straight between Grady and Jack, even the lights on the ceiling are perfectly symmetrical. This is because I feel Grady is Jack but from the past, it is as if Jack is talking to himself in a mirror to his old self. Grady is his reflection and he is trying to recognise himself from the past as Grady looks similar to the old caretaker but he has changed so much representing the change of time.

This makes the audience feel uncomfortable as they assume something isn’t right. There is then an eye line match between the two characters to convey their emotions of confusion and madness as they are trying to work out why Jack recognises Grady. This creates mystery allowing the genre horror to be easily portrayed.

The diegetic sound of the calming classical music is still playing in the background during the scene in the bathroom to foreshadow the party is still going on and that all this is in Jacks head, it is his imagination.

Conventions and Themes

Musicals
Conventions

• High Key lighting, to express a happy emotion.
• Diegetic sound of music backing tracks.
• Close-ups as the camera conceals to make someone seem isolated to emphasise emotion.
• Parallel editing with a dissolving transaction when the same song is being sung in two different places.
• Eyeline match to forebode emotion and meaning.

Themes

• Love
• History
• Anger
• Conflict
• United

 War
Conventions

• Mix of high and low key lighting.
• Diegetic sounds of gun shots.
• High and low camera angles to show superiority and inferiority.
• Extreme long shot to reveal the mise-en-scene.
• Hand held camera to express realism.

Themes

• Sacrifice
• Revenge
• Death
• Heroism
• Cowardice

Reflective Analysis- mine, Megan's and Lily's horror film

In the process of making our film we made it seem as though a group of young teenagers were being chased by an unknown person. Throughout the film you only ever see a close-up shot of the villain’s big boots as he is taking giant strides, following the kids. Moreover, he only ever walks as if there is no need to rush, almost like he knew where they were running to. We believe all this adds to the genre horror and builds tension as you never see the face of the villain, creating fear of the unknown.

I believe our efforts of creating this film and making it do justice were good as we used a variety of techniques throughout our sequence. We use forward tracking at the beginning of our sequence before introducing the situation. We thought this would give the impression that they were running away from something in fear. Hopefully making the audience feel intrigued as it adds mystery to what/whom they’re running away from.

Alongside this technique we made sure it was a long shot of the teenagers running to convey their desperation of getting as far away as possible from the villain. Furthermore, the long shot was used in order to reveal the mise-en-scene which started off set in a graveyard to symbolise death implying that something bad is going to happen. These conventions are used quite frequently to add to the genre horror.

Another technique we involved was an extreme close up on Lily’s face after she tripped in the graveyard. You could see the expression of fear in her eyes as she spotted the villain. I then cut the scene at this point, when I was editing this sequence, leaving a moment between the next pieces of recording. This is because what was going to happen next, (Lily being murdered) I believe didn’t need to be recorded as Lily’s death was expected. This convention adds to the horror genre as the audience never know how she was killed.

If we were to redo our sequence, personally to improve it I would add more different editing techniques for example, eye line match and parallel editing due to this depicting a wider range of techniques which would build suspense and complement our ability. Additionally, I would include more camera angles such as, dutch, high and low angles because this will signify dominance and innocence and will add a sense of realism. This builds an uncomforting feeling from the audience which would complement the genre horror as this convention has been used in many horror and thriller films.

Favourite film from the summer 2015

My favourite film this summer was Paper Towns. I thought, it having an element of mystery other than your usual ‘chick flick’ made it more interesting and exciting. I first heard of this movie through a social networking site where I found its trailer, which left me looking forward to it coming out in the cinema.

The title of this film is a metaphor in itself meaning no one really cares about anything which matters in life. People are so side tracked on other things like status and money, that they almost forget what is really important, for example family and respect. This is highlighted in the film when shortly after Marlo goes missing, the only people who really care about her absence are Q, one of her ‘true’ friends and her sister. Marlo’s own parents weren’t even bothered and told the police investigators not to put ‘missing’ signs up around the neighbourhood, which is unusual behaviour for parents.

This film is set during the last year of high school where the students are making that vital decision of choosing the next path which determines their future. As a student who has just made that difficult decision, I can relate hugely on Q’s frustration of not knowing where he stands and not knowing what to do and being anxious for the future.

De-puzzling the clues about where Marlo had gone, allows many ‘firsts’ for Q. For example he had never missed a day of school before nor gone to any parties. These are the moments we realise Q is changing for the better and is becoming his own person and also taking responsibilities. The fact that Q has his best friends helping him along the way depicts the strong relationship and allowed me personally to relate as I would do anything for my best friend. I believe that this illustrates that you shouldn’t ever be alone in life as it is unhealthy as you lose your communication skills and aren’t usually happy.

Although this was one of my favourite films over the summer, I do think it had a major bad point. I believe the ending could have been improved and made more stirring. It was very much a ‘let-down’ when Q eventually found Marlo. She was shocked to see him standing in front of her, Marlo then explained to Q that the clues were left just so he knew she was okay, not so he would come and actually find her. This meant all his efforts of finding the clues and traveling to her, was all for nothing.

The ending does provide the audience with the juxtaposition of Q finding Marlo and immediately losing her and yet over the journey discovers himself.

 

Jurassic Park

Jurassic World was the first ever movie to make $500m at the global box office within its introductory weekend. It has accumulated $1.4billion so far and experts believe it will be in the top 3 movies of all time alongside Avatar and Titanic. The question is how.

There are many reviews on the Jurassic World movie which elaborate how the film portrays human arrogance through futuristic knowledge and how people get bored so easily unless they have something bigger and better being produced. This film illustrates this as the theme park is already so popular. However that isn’t satisfying as they are constantly modifying it in order for more visitors, generating more money for the corporation. Without retelling the story of the film, here are some of the reasons for its success.

Jurassic World was first planned to be released back in 2005. However they spent 10years improving the script and the quality of the film in order to make it better by relating it to real-life. The new modified dinosaur (the Indominus Rex) symbolised the greed of humanity and how we humans always want bigger, faster, louder etc. This is controversial because they are trying to stop the dinosaur completely as they have finally realised they went too far. Does this mean humanity is just waiting for that ‘too far’ moment where they are hoping they never made that decision in the first place?

Steven Spielberg (executive producer) is one of the world’s best known and most respected film directors. He directed the Jurassic Park 1 and 2 and produced Jurassic Park 3. Clearly the 4^th film had to be a success, financially and also for his reputation as a great director. This will be one of the reasons why the film was delayed and why so much effort was placed on the story line, the special effects, the casting and the music. 

Having modern media especially social networking sites allows the official advertisement of the film (trailer) to be easily shared in far more places. This will increase the number of people with an interest of watching the film. The picture below depicts an interesting mix of old and new technology- for example the 4x4 and the broken pod and the juxtaposition of the business lady and the ‘outdoor guy.’ Strong imagery like this help create an interest in watching the film making it even more so successful.

Not all reviews were good, for example shortly after Jurassic World was released there was some commotion with the paleontologists as they found out that the Pterodactylus dinosaurs originally had feathered wings, not scales. As this discovery was found out before the releasing of the film, they wanted this small detail to be put in the new Jurassic movie, however it wasn’t. Although this made the news at the time, this didn’t deter people from watching.

Having seen the movie myself, I believe the critics were correct in their review. The film was “visually dazzling” and the story kept me captivated from start to finish.

References

cinemablend.com

theguardian.com

wikipiadia.com

flavorwire.com