Cinematography analysis on four film stills

This film still is from the film 'Remember me' It's a high angle shot which makes the audience look down on this female character, it makes the audience feel superior to the female character but due to the female characters facial expression and emotions/body language, the audience may feel sympathy for her, relating to Propp's character roles she may be seen as a princess, she is in need of help, her facial expression shows that she is upset, scared and about to burst into tears, the fact that her hands are up against her mouth seem as if she is looking directly at something that is shocking and surprising and has made her feel weak (hence the reason for the high angle shot) the lighting is low-key lighting, there are few shadows around her and behind her and below her neck, this could connote a bad event, she is surrounded by dark coloured objects.

This film still is from 'The Great Gatsby', it's a extreme close up (or could be argued as a close up) of a female characters face with a small area of the film still having a male character leaning over the female character which connotes he is either dancing with her or whispering to her in her ear, the audience or viewer of this film still can assume she knows this male character due to them both being in close proximity with no signs of fear on her facial expressions, her facial expressions aren't blank, the gaze she gives in her eyes connote that she is listening to the male character or is thinking of something while dancing with the male character, this relates to Barthes theory of enigma, the audience from this film still wouldn't know exactly what is going on. The close up/extreme close up used is to show the facial expression of this female character and to also attract the male audience, the character has flawless skin, an alluring beauty mark next to her tender bright red lips, (the colour red connotes love, passion and romance) she has almost a "doll like" face and make-up (doll-like connoting perfect and flawless make-up).

This film still is from the ending of 'Inception', it's a close up of a spinning top which in the film is used by a character as a way to tell if he's dreaming or if he's in reality, the close up forces the audience to look at the spinning top, the director wants us to look at the spinning top and wants the audience to be on the edge of their seats waiting for the answer to be revealed, relating to Barthes theory it creates an enigma, the lighting used is low-key lighting on the right side of the spinning top u can see a shadow on it and below the right side of the spinning top is another shadow which could connote that the answer isn't the "happy ever after" ending, it could connote that the character isn't where he wants to be (back in reality) it could foreshadow a bad event to come.

This film still is from 'The Prestige' it shows a long shot of a magician just after performing an incredible trick, the camera is at a low angle shot, it gives this character a sense of power, the magic trick is seen as impossible to pull off and he does it in a matter of seconds which makes everyone seem as less superior to him, the camera is deliberately set at a low angle to allow the audience to feel what the film audience/magicians audience feels. You can see a male character/actors face on the left side of the camera as if you are a member of the audience, you could be seeing the point of view shot from the magicians rival who happens to be in the audience, you are literally put in the position of the audience and feel what the fake film audience feel, the lighting is a realistic theatre lighting that would be used in magic shows creating a lot of low-key lighting like the shadow of the magician on the wall, it could connote that the magician has a dark side within him and that he isn't who he portrays himself to be.

The cinematography of a 1940 and 1990 film

Cinematography consist of two elements which are camera framing e.g. close up, medium shot, long shot etc. and camera movement e.g. panning, tilt, tracking etc. so for the two film extracts I shall analyse purely the cinematography but I shall also include other aspects of film such as lighting and try to relate to theories if needed but I will not go into depth on them (unless needed). I will analyse "The thief of Bagdad" (1940) and "Goodfellas" (1990)

"The thief of Bagdad" extract above starts off with a long shot to establish the setting and allow the audience to see what is going on in a scene. This scene starts off with a shadowed character running alongside the sea on a beach which creates an enigma, which relates to Barthes theory, it could connote that due to the shadow character, created by low-key lighting and a use of back-lighting, is a evil or dark  character (which relates to Propp's character roles saying that this character is a villain) and could be a possible antagonist, it could also foreshadow a bad event which may occur to the character. The camera then slowly pans across just to follow the character as they run across the beach. The camera then cuts to a high angle shot looking down on a bottle which has drifted its way on shore. The high angle shot could connote that the bottle isn't important and has no dangers within it, the camera then cuts to the accused antagonist and a reverse shot is used. The camera looks down on the bottle from a high angle shot but then looks up at the male accused antagonist and then back down at the bottle, this connotes that the boy is obviously superior and it also allows the audience to see what the boy is looking at and allows the audience to see what his reaction is to seeing this bottle (the boy gave a slightly curious and confused look as he stopped to look at the bottle).

The boy picks up the bottle in a long shot which is followed by a medium shot to allow the audience to see that the boy is attempting to open the bottle, the medium shot shows you the characters facial expressions and body movement/language. A close up is then used when the boy is able to open the bottle, the close up forces the audiences eyes to look at the bottle, it is possible that the director wanted to emphasis the importance of that bottle being opened. The camera shows the characters facial expression in an extreme close up and along with the dramatic music that starts, it foreshadows that trouble is about to come. Two long shots follow the opening of the bottle, the first is to show the action of character and the second one is to show or unravel an enigma of what the bottle contains. A reverse shot is then used again this is to show what the character has done and his reaction to what he has done, when showing the characters facial expression the camera angle is a high angle shot which connotes that the character who once was superior is now seen as an underdog/weaker one, low-key lighting has created a huge shadow over the character which emphasises the size of this bad event and the darkness/evilness within it.

The camera shows from a high angle shot of the assumed antagonist running back and forth with fear in his facial expression, he is seen from the audience as the weaker one due to this high angle shot, accompanied with his facial expression. The camera pans side to side following the character as if it comes from the point of view of this new revealed character who came from within the bottle and is a giant, it puts the audience in the new characters shoes and makes them feel superior to the small, weaker looking character who they are forced to look down on. The giant is then looked at from  a low angle shot, this gives the audience the feeling of what the weaker character felt, it allows the audience to feel weak while putting the giant in a superior position and possibly giving this giant the label of Propp's characters of a villain

This scene in the "Goodfellas" starts off with a pan shot of the subject (the three males fixing the car) to the speaker (protagonist male alongside female companion/sidekick). This forces the audience to look at the characters fixing the car and then to the male and female, which could connote that there is going to be some sort of event occurring between the two set of characters. The camera shows a point of view shot from the male protagonist in the car, he looks at his rear-view mirror and sees the three males fixing their car, but the director focused the audiences view on the male in yellow as he is the only one out of the three who is looking towards the camera/character, he is also the only one out of the three who is wearing yellow, the other two are wearing blue which connotes that this character in yellow is most likely the one who is seen as an antagonist and is the one who will most likely be confronted by the protagonist. A reverse shot is used to show the three males then to show the reaction of the protagonist in a close up, as the protagonist leaves his car a high angle shot is used on a close up of a gun which the protagonist takes out, the fact that it is a deadly weapon a low angle shot would have most likely have been suitable to emphasise its power but the director used a high angle shot which could connote that the deadly weapon isn't going to be used in the way it would normally be used (shooting and killing people).

As the protagonist leaves his car a close up and pan shot is used to show the character getting out of the car but to also emphasise and focus the audiences eyes on where the character conceals his weapon. A tracking shot is then used at medium shot height to show the characters body language and facial expression as the character speed walks across the street and confronts the male character in yellow. The camera stops as the character reaches the edge of the antagonists driveway and changes from a tracking shot to a panning shot, it pans around focusing the audiences attention on this antagonist, a long shot is used to allow the audience to see the surroundings and also to see the actions of the protagonist on the antagonist and the reactions of this event on the two non-important characters. The camera tracks the protagonist as he speed walks angrily back across the road, half way across the road the camera stops and pans to allow the audience to see a long shot of where the protagonist is going. The audience then see a close up revealing the emotions of the female who was earlier shown with the protagonist in the car, another close up is then used to focus the audiences attention from a high angle shot on what the protagonist has given this female character as he asks her if she is okay, the high angle shot was of the gun which again suggests that the gun isn't going to be used for killing or shooting anyone and is therefore looked down on as something weak. Using the words the protagonist had said to the female character "Are you alright?" could connote that the woman, when relating to Propp's characters, is a princess in need of rescuing.

Key differences

The 1940 film used sound to show or foreshadow a bad event while the 1990 film used reverse shots and facial expressions more to show or foreshadow a bad event. The 1940 film didn't really use camera movement much but did use a lot of camera angles, it wanted to emphasis the power of a person or object. It wanted to use (relating to Levi-Strausses theory) binary opposites of strong vs weak. One object or person had to be portrayed as stronger than the other while the 1990 film didn't want to portray their protagonist as a stronger force than their antagonist even though it was clearly shown that the protagonist was the stronger force than the antagonist in that scene.

The Charter Agreement on Prezi

Photos accompanied by parallel and contrapuntal music

In this video you will see the same two sets of photos accompanied first by parallel music. Parallel music is music which is appropriate for the video, it portrays the same feelings and emotions that the video gives. e.g. sad music will be parallel to a set of photos or videos which is about war, relationship break ups, death etc. The second set of the same photos will be accompanied by contrapuntal music. Contrapuntal music is music which is portraying a different message or feeling than the video or photos which it accompanies. e.g. sad music for a wedding video/photo, for the birth photo of a child, happiness of people etc.

My video shows memories of prom night, the first set of photos has violins, harps and a piano playing in the background all in perfect harmony to produce a calm song, the music could anchor a meaning on the photos, due to the music being calm and relaxing it gives off a nostalgic feeling, it represents the people in the photos as calm, caring and relaxed people, it allows the audience of the first part of the video feel comfortable and relaxed, the music allows them to reminisce peacefully and connotes happiness and good memories. The second part of the video has contrapuntal music in the background, it confuses the audience and creates an enigma (which relates to Barthes enigma codes), the audience would be questioning the choice of music and would wonder what it could represent, could it represent these people who are portrayed as smart, business looking men and women (due with their clothing) as people who aren't who they seem to be, they aren't formal business looking people and are rebellious teenagers? or could it connote that there is some sort of tension within these groups of people? These would be the questions left in the audiences head when viewing this video.

side note - during part of the video of the parallel music some of the photos go through a transition at the same time as the piano sound hits.

Two minute pitch of print advert about TV is not dying.

Pitch: The background photo is from the 'Godfather' film, the whole concept of this print advert is to do with reliability, we're trying to say that television isn't dead, it never will be, it has always been around and has been much more easier to use and more reliable than the internet. The target audience for this advert is aimed at 35-40year old men as the 'Godfather' is seen as a manly film and is to do with reliability, trust and respect, also the film would have most likely been seen by that age range and are therefore familiar to the scene.

Stereotypically women in general consume a lot of media by talking on phones, texting a lot, going online to do shopping and they are therefore less likely to stay with TV, they have already experienced the internet and most likely have gotten the hang of using the internet while males are less likely to be going on the internet to do shopping or to talk on the phone with their friends so this advert is to try and persuade a male to not move onto the internet because compared to the TV it's nothing, we can help persuade the male not to move on by the direct quote from the film and tagline on the print advert which says "A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." it's a quote which is questioning the manhood of males who see this print advert, it's saying that to be a real man you must spend time with your family so what better than to sit together and watch TV rather than to go on a PC to watch TV shows on your own, this quote might also persuade males, who in a household is stereotypically the "boss" of the house, to "boss" the rest of the family and make them watch TV together which will also hopefully show the whole family that TV is more reliable and much easier to use.

The red tagline is written in the font of the 'Godfather' and is in a red colour because red is related to the 'Godfather' through their blood, violence, the red rose etc. also the colour red is one of the colours the human eye looks directly to first so we are trying to put importance onto the tagline.