I take it back. That last one is pretty famous.
Here's your task:
Watch all three clips. Select one that you'd like to write about.
Break it down - moment by moment, frame by frame. Identify techniques of cinematography, sound editing, and film editing. For each element, explain in detail what effect it creates for the viewer.
Your essay should NOT be a five paragraph essay. Instead, it should be organized by technique, with many short paragraphs. Use your note packets for reference.
You will have two days in the IMC to work on your essay. Essays will be due on Thursday. If you have any questions, feel free to address them in the comments section below. Remember, your objective here is to demonstrate an understanding of how filmmakers use cinematography, sound editing, and film editing to manipulate an audience.
Good Luck. Have fun.
Selection 3
ReplyDeleteIn all of the scenes has non diegetic playing for interesting background music. The first shot we have a low angle shot of Norman. We can also see that the scene is also a medium shot.
We can see the subject or Norman is acting rather odd. He tilts his head side to side to see if anyone is there. He then takes of a painting and then looks through a hole to Marion’s room. In between the scenes the camera is then is on a tilt and then an invisible wipe appears between the two scenes.
The scene were Norman is looking at Marion through a peephole. In this seen we see Marion in subjective viewpoint. We get invisible whips between Norman and him looking at Marion. Next we get another medium shot of Norman.
Once again Norman our subject in this scene once again tilts his head side to side to see if anyone is in presence. We then get a flowing shot of Norman as he leaves the room. The flowing shot is still a medium shot.
As the subject known as Norman leaves the room we get a medium close up shot on him. The camera tilts and we get a follow shot of Norman.
Norman is still in a medium close up shot. Then he passes the camera and then we get an invisible wipe to his house. We get an extreme long shot of him walking to his house on the hill. We also get a mater shot of the house on the hill, part of the motel, stairs, trees, and etc.
During the scenes the non-diegetic sound for the background music keeps on pitch, loudness, and timbre trough out the scenes. We also do not have any speech or any dialog in the scene.
The overall clip is about how Norman looks at Marion through peep hole. Also how he looks uses the peep hole to spy on Marion.
The general details of the plot, first Norman tilts his head back and forth to see if anyone is present in the room. It rather odd but the scene continues. Norman then walks to a painting and we see a large hole and then a smaller one.
The large hole is so he can fit his head and the smaller one is a peep hole. He looks in to the peep hole and sees Marion striping off her clothes and getting ready for a shower. He then stops. Leaves the polar and walks home.
Looking at the plot we know that Marion has no idea that she is being spied on. We then can tell that Norman is a pervert and as never had any interaction with a woman. We can also say that he was nervous and felt uncomfortable about spying on Marion.
I would like to say that the background music and scene went together but did not make any sense. The scene was a perverted scene and the music was meant for a scary scene. However they still somehow went together.
I can also say that the scene took place at night and not during the day. Judging by the amount of darkness in the scene its night. It would be easier to tell if the movie was in color and not in black and white.
The overall scene was just there to describe Normans other personality because his mind houses two personalities. His first one is a perverted lonely young man that doesn’t know how talk to a women. His second one is his mother a old women.
What I first notice about the scene when the woman is walking up toward the house is the music. When she is walking from the porch of the motel the non-diagetic music in the background gets increasingly louder, just by a little, but enough to raise suspense.
ReplyDeleteWhat I notice next is when she is peering from behind the motel. The shot is a high angle shot, mixed in with a long shot. The reason this is a great moment is because it gives the depth of the house, and in that scene makes us the person in the house watching the woman from a distance.
Next the shot of the house from the woman’s point of view is a great subjective view point. This gives us the feeling of the creepiness of the house. We see it from a low angle and long distance shot. The low angle shot gives the house power, which gives us, the viewers, the sense that something is going to happen in that house. Something bad!
Next, as she is walking up toward the house we see her still from a high angle shot, which means the house still has power. The non-diagetic music is still increasing giving the scene more and more suspense. As she first starts walking up toward the house there is a brief moment of a fixed camera shot, just until we have her center screen, and at about a medium shot. From that point we have a tracking shot backing up as she is getting closer to the house.
While the camera is tracking backwards as the woman walks toward the house, we see a subjective view point from the woman’s point of view. The camera is getting closer and closer to the house giving us the feeling that in that moment we are the woman. Meanwhile, the camera is also in a hand held shot form. The reason for this is to give us the creepy, suspenseful feeling while, to give us the real feeling that we have traded places with the woman.
As she gets closer we notice that now the camera which is still hand held, and at subjective view point is no longer focused on the house but on the creepy old door. The music is still increasing and gaining suspense. The camera has focused on the door so that we know what the woman is looking at specifically. While this is happening we still are subjectively viewing from a low angle perspective, to make sure the house, and door, stay in power over the woman.
Now, the woman is close up to the screen and in a close up shot. This allows us to see the fear she has, but also the curiosity of what is behind that door. At this point the music is very suspenseful.
The next shot is when she stops completely right at the foot of the stairs. By her stopping and giving a direct transition to a high angle, medium shot this has given us the idea that the woman is now second guessing herself about entering the house. We see a glimpse of the creepy old porch, and the door from a subjective viewpoint. The house, by using low and high angle shots, still has the power over the woman.
The shot remains high angle, while she makes her way up the stairs of the porch. The door, and stairs get closer as the camera moves subjectively toward the porch. The hand held shot tracks backward up the stairs as the woman walks up. Once she is on the porch the high angle shot has gone from being high angle to being eye level. This finally shows us the she has made it to where she wants to be, and the house no longer has rule over her.
As she opens the door there is a direct cut to a semi high angle shot focused in on her hand opening the door. This gives us the suspenseful feeling where we are think, “Don’t open the door”, and “What is behind that door?” this way of filming is very effective because we feel like we are holding our breath and we want to breathe but can’t until we know what is behind that door.
This whole scene was filled with only direct cuts from woman to house, and from woman to hand opening the door.