Film Techniques

Very usefull!

IB Film - Student Work - The Oblivious - Daniel Silva

The Oblivious from Daniel Silva on Vimeo.

Example of a film student's final film. I found their use of sound particularly effective, and the fact that there wasn't any music and not a lot of dialogue and just limited sound effects really added to the suspense. Over all I felt that this would have been a very successful piece.

Formal Requirements

Another slide show, could also be usefull in my Personal Project.

Formal Requirements

View more OpenOffice presentations from cmcgoun.

IB Film Independent Study

Check out this SlideShare Presentation: Just started researching and brainstorming ideas for our final script.

IB Film Independent Study

View more PDF documents from nepaliain.

Psycho Scene Analysis

How does film language represent gender and power?
Analise the scene where Marion and Norman dine together.

Animation Research

Animation Research Questions:

1. What are the conventions of Animation?
   (See Blog #1)
   
2. How have they changed/ developed over time?
   (See Blog #1)
   
3. What are the different styles of animation?
   (See Blog #1)
4. What are the different methods of animation?
   (See Blog #1)
   
5. Why are there cartoons being made for adults when they are supposed to be aimed at children?
   Many debate weather or not adult cartoons should be aired on television. However i think that it has only become an issue because the majority of cartoons are generally directed towards children. The animation audience is made up of more then children as such, the content of an animated series should not have a default requirement to be 'kid-friendly'. There is no hard or fast rule that animation must be limited to children.
   
6. How does the style of animation vary throughout cultural interest?
   There is a very wide variety of different styles/methods/themes in animation. And sometimes depending on the cultural background of the theme/idea that the cartoons are based upon, obviously the style will be different.
   For example one of the most popular and recognized animation films are the Japanese Anime cartoons. They are most commonly recognized for their unique exaggerated stylization.
   
7. Why does the stereotypical theme of 'damsel in distress, villain and hero' commonly occur in animation films?
8. How come animation has remained so popular in the advancing technology industry?
   

An interesting clip of animation i found on you tube, i found the method and stylistic of it very interesting:

Die Flickenkoenigin

Montage

Montage (from the French for "putting together") most often refers to collage including photomontage and sound collage. It is a technique in film editing that can refer to a montage sequence, a segment which uses rapid editing, special effects and music to present compressed narrative information.

Battleship Potempkin (1925) directed by Sergei Eisenstein.
One of the most famous uses of Montage in film history.

• Re-watch up to 0:45. What atmosphere do the contrasting shots create? How does Eisenstein create a sense of foreboding alongside the overriding atmosphere?
  
  

In the beginning for the first 45 seconds Eisenstein demonstrated a series of shots showing the civilians welcoming back sailors. Although there is an obvious portrayal of excitement and happiness, even relief that overrides among the crowd, the audience develops a sense of uncertainty alongside.
This is created through Eisenstein’s theories of “montage”. Students of the Kuleshov School of filmmaking were experimenting with the effect of film editing on audiences, this was Eisenstein’s attempt to edit the film in such a way that when the edits were played back together it would convey a emotion of sympathy on the viewers. He was aiming to produce a film to get the greatest emotional response.

• Watch the rest of the clip again. How dose Eisenstein create a contrast between the soldiers and the people? How and why dose our view of the people's feelings change?
  
  

Eisenstein creates a contrast between the soldiers and the people by cutting back and fourth from the scenes. For example it will cut from the soldiers marching with their guns down the steps to the panicked civilians running away in fear. Or it will cut from the soldiers in aiming positions and firing shots to the civilian that has just been wounded but the bullet as they fall to the floor dying. We now see the soldiers as ruthless monsters as we have just seen they shot a innocent mother and her wounded child. Our feelings for the people change to sorrow and unhappiness because Eisenstein cleverly contrasts the separate shots together to make us feel distressed and shocked.

• Choose a minute in the film which you found particularly effective. Analyze shot by shot the contrasts and effects of the editing in your sequence. Prepare a 3 minute presentation detailing your analysis.
  
  

I found the Odessa Steps sequence the most effective scene in the film. In the minuet it shows the massacre of the civilians on the Odessa Steps. It shows the Tsar’s Cossacks marching down the seemingly endless flight of steps in sync to each other in a robotic like manner as they open fire at the stampeding crowd. Here Eisenstein successfully portrays the soldiers as cold-hearted murderers as they kill a mother and her young boy, and a mother who is pushing a baby in a pram. She is shot in the stomach and falls to the floor accidentally pushing the pram with the baby inside down into the crowd of fleeing people. The massacre on the steps includes the most dramatic effect and shot angles. My favorite shot was the boots of the Tsarist soldiers shown marching down the Odessa Steps. I also like the angle where both the mother and the injured young boy and the soldiers are included. The shadows of the soldiers dominate over the mother and her child appearing as the soldiers are bigger and have more power.