North By NorthWest Analysis

North By NorthWest

 

North By Northwest is an Alfred Hitchcock film made in 1959. This film was a particularly popular film for several reasons. Firstly, because it was an Alfred Hitchcock film, but also because it was a colour film, which was rare for the time, adding the to the spectacle of the film.Another element that made this film brilliant was the special effects used in the film. For the time of  the films production, the effects used were of a particular good quality.The film surrounds Roger Thornhill, an innocent New York Advertising Executive, who is mistaken, by foreign spies, for a government agent, who they believe is trying to interfere in their plans to smuggle a microchip out of the USA. As Thornhill tries to stay alive, they pursue him all over the country.

This particular thriller is an archetypal thriller. This means it involves a fast paced storyline, a build up of tension and the huge bundle of excitement. It is evident in the auction scene, when Thornhill has to start a fight to prevent the foreign spies from getting him, to attempt his escape. Other elements of this film is the red-herring. Throughout, this movie we're lead to believe that Eve, the beautiful blonde, is a villain, working hand in hand with the foreign spies and ready to set up Thornhill anytime. However, we later find out that she is actually a government spy, working against the foreign spies all along. Also, there is a cliff-hanger, within North By NorthWest. When Eve shoots Thornhill, the film just stops and we're lead to believe that Thornhill is dead. But then we see Thornhill getting out of a car, once the detective has taken him away from the scene, when it was presumed he was dead.

Hitchcock once said that thrillers allow the audience "to put their toe in the cold water of fear to see what it's like." This is very much the case in North By NorthWest. Roger Thornhill, an ordinary man, at the forefront of mistaken identity. When he is suddenly no longer the Advertising Executive, but a murderer and a criminal. This makes the audience really start to think, as nobody wants this to happen to them, and this situation is nightmarish. Which is why is film succeeded, because Hitchcock took a real life situation and turned it into a nightmare scenario, provoking audience reaction.

Light Exercise! :)

Light Exercise!

During lesson we completed an exercise on lighting. We focussed on several different lighting techniques. These are;

• Key Light is when the main light is on the focus point (character ) ,this could be done simply to show the attention on the character or to soften out shadow effects. 
• Back light is the light is placed behind the focus point which is most likely used to create a silhouette which remains in the dark or it could be done to create a mystery character due only being able to see the shadow this could be used in a horror film.Which could create awareness and frightening effects.

• Low key lighting is when a light is placed below the focus point and it is used to create images with high contrast between dark.The light areas this tends to block the background slightly and mainly focuses on the actual part where it needs focusing this could also be seen as  creating a chiaroscuro effect.

• High key lighting is when the light is placed above the focus point and tends to illuminate the focus point with bright light and focus more on the light.
  
• Filler light, which is also known as a 3 point lightning, consists of three different angled lights located in the front, back and side mainly to bring out features of a character. This is used in interviews or on tv to make someone look naturalistic.
• Top lighting is when the light is placed above the focus point most likely to illuminate any shadows and it usually maintains a high amount of light.This can give out a high contrast on the focus point.

• Under lighting tends to block out the background and only allow you to visually see a particular face which could be seen in most horror films and making it look asif the character is evil and up to no good. However there are other scenes where this could be used in a opposite manner to being evil , such as making a person look innocent by looking up with the light.

Beautifully crafted. :)

A Dagenham Love Story - Sound Exercise Evaluation

A Dagenham Love Story - Evaluation

 

The sequence we filmed is the story of a girl who is pregnant, and has been left by her ‘partner’. The girl calls someone, and tells them that her ‘partner’ knows about the affair. Then her lover arrives, who is a female. Then, her female lover comforts and ensures that everything will be ok. But then as the female lover tries to propose,she is cut short in her proposal, when the other girl’s waters break.

During the sequence we used all the listed sound techniques, but one. This was the sound bridge, as it was difficult to decide what we could do for the sound bridge.

In the first shot we chose to use non-diegetic, off-screen, and contrapuntal sound because it helped display how the girl was down and out and on her own. The contrapuntal sound, (‘Knee Socks’ by Artic Monkeys) especially helps display this as it shows she is on could struggle and be in trouble. In the next shot we have on screen and diegetic sound, when the girl is calling her lover, to tell her what has happened. Then we have off-screen sound, when we hear the door swing open, and are looking at the girls face. Then we see who is at the door, it is the female lover. In the next shot, the girls have a conversation, which is diegetic and on screen sound, where they talk about what is going to happen. In the next shot the pregnant girl gets up, and tries to leave. The other gets up and tells her lover she has to tell her something. At this point, we introduce parallel sound into the scene, (‘Love Story’ by Taylor Swift), to help show how the scene is a loving and an emotional scene. But it doesn’t go to plan as we hear an off-screen sound as the pregnant girl’s water breaks. At this point the shots changes to the audience seeing the floor.

I feel we captured the sound fine; however, it could have been better, as not all the sound techniques were used, or used effectively. I found the sound equipment easy to use within our filmed sequence, but some of the sound in the sequence, before editing, didn’t come across well enough. We clearly showed the difference between diegetic and non-diegetic sound, as we used conversations to show diegetic sound and our soundtrack to represent non-diegetic sound. Also, we conveyed the difference between on and off-screen sound, for we used the girl crying for on-screen sound and her waters breaking for the off-screen sound. Moreover, I feel we portrayed the difference between parallel and contrapuntal sound well. This is because we used ‘Knee Socks’ for our contrapuntal sound, when the girl is upset as it doesn’t completely match the action of her crying. For the parallel sound we used ‘Love Story’, when the lover tries to propose, for it easily represents the love within the scene. Unfortunately, in my opinion, I do not think we used a sound bridge. Fortunately the group know what a sound bridge is, but we did not put it into our sequence.

Overall, in my opinion, the filmed sequence went well for the most part of the film. In our filmed sequence I feel we used the parallel and contrapuntal sound well, as it helped our scenes in the final edit of our sequence. However, I feel our filmed sequence could have been much more successful, for example, when we were recording sound it could have been much clearer. Also, within the filmed sequence we could have used a sound bridge, for the group understood its meaning, but unfortunately it didn’t make it into our film. Finally, although this exercise was not entirely about the camera shots etc. I feel our camera shots in this film were not as good as we had hoped, for we had already completed a camera exercise.



Sound Exercise - A Dagenham Love Story

Sound Exercise - A Dagenham Love Story

Enjoy my beautifully crafted exercise!

Unknown Calling



Unknown Calling

The Film

ENJOY! :)

Unknowning Calling - First Excercise Evaluation

Unknown Calling

 

In our film “Unknown Calling”, the two protagonists get a phone call from their friend, who tell them to meet in the hall. The girls arrive at an empty hall, and sit down to await their friend’s arrival. The girls sit and wait, when suddenly they hear the nursery rhyme Ring o’ Ring o’ Roses. The girls get up to leave when the get a phone call. The phone says “Unknown Calling”. The girls debate between themselves whether to answer it, the girls can’t come to an agreement so one girl answers the call. The girls speak, they ask “who’s there?” and “hello?” nobody answers. The girls both agree they need to get out of the hall, and so they try a set of doors. To their horror and despair the doors don’t open, the girls frantically and desperately try another set of doors, when they hear the nursery rhyme again. They begin for another set of doors, when they find a circle of chairs has been organised in the middle of the hall. One of the girls finds her phone in the middle of the circle. The girls become more and more panicked. They try for the last set of doors and, at first they can’t get out but eventually, and somehow, get free from the hall. The girls begin running down the corridor and then they come to a set of stairs where they begin ascending the stairs. One of the girls then falls and tells the other girl to go on without her. She obeys her friend and goes on. She first comes to a door that she can’t get through, when suddenly her friend appears behind her, possessed. The girl runs down the stairs, when to her delight see her friend, who she doesn’t realise, is possessed. She asks her friend questions but the possessed girl ignores her and descends the stairs towards her. The possessed then puts her hands round her friend’s throat until she falls to the floor. The possessed girl then turns to the camera, to say “we all fall down”, the last words of “Ring o’ Ring o’ Roses” and then she puts her hand over the camera.

We included the majority of the shots, but we did not include all the shots. This was due to the fact that when it came to editing the shots some were edited outas they were not the best shots.

Firstly, we chose to use a medium shot because the protagonists were having a conversation and walking along. It displayed the characters perfectly. Also at this point we used zoom because we were focussing in on the conversation. I do not believe the movement of this shot was successful because, the zoom of the shot didn’t flow and didn’t represent the fluidity of a conversation. Another shot we used was the close up, at the end of the film. I feel this shot was successful as we used it to intimidate and scare the audience, as it’s just the possessed girl’s face and it brings somewhat more horror to the film. Next, we used a point of view shot to make the audience to feel first-hand, the fear and feelings of the character. I feel this shot was successful because the sound and movements in this shot feel as if it is the audience that are doing what is going on, on camera. Then, another shot we used was an over the shoulder shot, this again makes the audience feel close to the characters, and gives the audience the chance to feel their feelings too. I feel this shot could have been more successful as it could have been more ‘over the shoulder’, as I felt it was not close enough to the character. Finally, we used thetracking movement. This shot helped show the characters are scared and frantic, as the camera is shaking. I feel this was successful because it was not the ‘perfect’ tracking shot but it made the fear of the characters feel genuine.

At certain parts of the film, the shots were not always steady. This was due to the shot looking better as an unsteady shot to show the characters panic.

Overall, I feel our film was successful, considering it was our first film and editing opportunity. I feel we completed the shots quite well, for our first attempt, but the shots will look much better in our films to come. I feel that we have to work on our editing of our films, as not all of the film flowed very well. We could also work our sound quality, as sometimes in the film you could not always hear what was going on.