WARIS WAS HERE

Trailer Review- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7YllAOqpF4

I decided to review the trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (my favorite movie, by the way) in terms of how it uses narrative, cinematography, editing, and sound (effects and score).

Narrative

Based on the characters, locations, and all of the fighting, this film falls under several genres: action, adventure, epic, and fantasy. The trailer also embodies the universal concept of good versus evil by showing the enemies and then contrasting them with the good side.

The basic idea of the film can be understood by those who have not seen the previous two films. Much of the trailer is narrated by various characters in the film by picking out lines used in the film, and they are often used as transitions in the progression of the trailer's plot, such as when Gandalf narrates, "We've come to it at last" and we then see the vast army of the enemy awaiting battle. The trailer identifies the issue (the enemy) and then the trailer brings the audience to the most pressing situation: Frodo and the Ring. They suggest the isolation between characters through dialogue between Aragorn and Gandalf in which they question whether or not Frodo is even alive.

Through a bit of meaningful dialogue, it is is established that the enemy has arrived. The pace of events shown picks up to highlight the most significant part of the film, which is the big battle to end the struggle.

The trailer also serves to give glimpses of each significant character and how they work into the film without giving too much information.

Cinematography

Many of the shots in the trailer are aerial and/or eagle eye views, which supports the genre of adventure and epic by showing off the location and vastness that implies the magnitude of this final film.

The shots of characters are generally medium close-ups or close-ups for the more emotional parts, thus signifying their importance in the film to the audience. This is meant to get at the audience's emotions so that they are more likely to want to see the film.

The lighting in the shots are often dark, providing an overall tone of evil or hopelessness, while other shots are more warm-colored to give a sense of hope or even urgency (see screen shot).

Editing

The pace of the film starts off fairly slowly. When dialogue brings the film back to the pressing issue of Frodo and the Ring toward the end of the trailer, the pace of evens reaches its maximum with glimpses becoming shorter and shorter to provoke maximum interest. The shots fade in and out to black to increase tension and so that the audience waits to see more.

It is also cut so that it is chronological according to the plot, although some shots are out of order toward the end (when the pace is quickened) and are there to merely highlight action.

Sound (Score and Effects)

The score in the film is appropriate to the genre--an epic orchestral compilation that emphasizes how "Wow!" the film will be.

Sometimes drum beats fall as shots are shown. There are growly noises when we catch glimpses of the prime enemy and when we are shown fast, intense shots.

"Run Lola Run" Editing Presentation--Critique

Our presentation was an overall success in terms of getting all of our points across and keeping to our topic of editing. Our interpretation of the film through editing seemed fairly spot on because we discussed how odd this film was compared to others (through the discussion of formalism), as well as the importance of time in both its manipulation within a shot or shots and the pacing (cutting). Some prime examples that display our interpretation are the slow motion and how it's used at pivotal points in the plot, the use of split screen to show parallel action, and the use of fast cutting to highlight the fast pace and tension in the film. I think our use of film language was fairly good, going from simple terms such as "slow motion" to more advanced terms like "formalism" However, I think it could have been further developed, such as how I did not use the term "associational cut" in my analysis of the scene of Lola and Manni on the phone when Manni is discussing how the homeless man could be on a plane anywhere by now.

I believe a strength of my presentation were my analysis in my attempt to go under the surface of examples. I also think I had good examples and screens shots, such as the shot of Lola getting shot and the bag flying up in the air. A final strength was my use of quotes. I tried to find Tykwer's quotes, from his take on "Run Loloa Run" that we went over in class, that were the most relevent to whatever point I was trying to make.

One challenge or weakness I had was my limited use of film terminology. As mentioned previously, I could have used the term "associational cut" for the homeless man/vacation example. Also, there was at least one thing I failed to see in my examples that related to editing. The one mentioned in class that I fialed ot notice was the graphic match of Lola on the ground after being shot transitioning to the intimate scene between Lola and Manni. Also, I find it hard to tell when presenting and when I did not get feedback on it, but I may not have looked at the audience enough and may have looked too much at my notes and the screen.

HoodBlinked

A girl arrives at her doorstep with a guy. They stand shyly and hesitantly next to each other; they both twiddle their fingers, unsure of what to do next. "Well, I'll text you later," the guy says with a smile. "Yeah, okay. See ya," the girl responds, returning the smile, not the least bit disappointed. The girl slowly starts to reach for the doorknob, but the boy quickly takes her outstretched hand and pulls her toward him into a quick hug.

Taken off guard, the girl bites her lip with a smile. The guy lets go and they are seen smiling even bigger than before. "Okay, now I'll see you," she turns and opens the door, stepping inside, while inside her head she squeals. The door shuts behinds.

An alarm clock goes off. Its bright numbers flashing repeatedly. We see a neat room and the girl rises with a big smile and gets to her routine: jump cuts of teeth being brushed, her legs trying to make their way into her pant legs, her hand pulling up the zipper of her jacket, hair being put into a ponytail, shoes being put on, and finally a waist shot at the end of the routine.

A voice calls out from downstairs, "Morning hun."

"Morning, Ma," she calls back, about to walk out her door. The girl passes her clock and checks the time: 10:12 AM.

She blinks: the clock now reads 10:12 PM.

It's now nighttime and the girl finds herself in her pajamas again with her hair down. That's not supposed to happen..She slowly turns toward the window and sees the night sky. She looks down perplexedly at her pajamas, her hand grabbing a fistful of her shirt. And wasn't I wearing actual…Um...clothes?

Her mom yells from another room in the house, "Night, hun."

Um, Night? she thinks as she looks toward the door. The girl checks her phone for any texts. She sees some from earlier that day, only she doesn't remember reading or responding to them. There was one text confirming that she has another date with the guy. Since when do we have another date? The girl checks her calendar and we see the the girl mark the calendar for the next date, 3 days later. Hmmm…

Glancing at the clock, she yawns with her eyes closed for a few seconds: 10:14 PM. Now, her hair is in a braid. Yeah that's weird. The girl touches her hair, but then shrugs off the strange happenstance. Her phone vibrates and she checks it. She quickly texts back as she sighs. When she puts the phone back to its home screen, the date is changed to 4 days later. The girl's eyes widen OH MY GOSH. and she looks at her calendar. The day for her date has been crossed off. The phone vibrates and she checks it. There is a text from the guy she went on a date with: "Are you okay? Every time you respond to my texts, it doesn't seem like you're all there." She purses her lips in thought Well maybe that's because I HAVEN'T been responding to your texts, puts the phone at her bedside, and then gets into bed and looks at her clock again and turns the alarm on: 10:14 PM. She puts her head on the pillow and lies there. The girl sighs, then the crickets gradually become the sound of chirping birds and sun falls on the girl's face [this is not one of the phenomena of time, just a transition].

The girl's alarm clock goes off at 9:00 AM and she turns it off without looking. She gets up and goes through the morning routine again, exactly as in the first scene. She goes back and checks the clock: 10:12 AM. Then, looking up in thought and suspicion, Maybe if… the girl looks at the clock and closes her eyes, even squinting them shut. We hear sounds of time moving by quickly, and when the girl opens her eyes, it is 10:12 AM.

The girl nods her head in triumph at solving her little problem.

She sees a missed call on her phone from the guy. She calls the guy, and a female voice picks up on the other end: "Hello?"

The girl quizzically asks for the guy and the voice on the other side pauses and hesitates. Static can be heard and then the guy's voice is heard, "What do you want?"

"When are we going on our date?"

"What are you talking about? We haven't talked in three months."

The girl freezes. Three months. We spin around her as we cut to a calendar passing through the months until it becomes transparent with the girl. The room starts to become a wavy blur, causing her to drop her phone. The loud crack on the ground can be heard as well as the guy on the other end saying "Hello? Are you there?" She ignores it, runs to the clock and pulls out the plug. The clock crashes to the floor and in that same instant, there's a whoosh as she wakes up, eyes wide. The swooshing sound merges with the sound of the alarm clock and her eyes move toward something off-screen. The camera follows her eye line and lands on the clock, unbroken, on the stand blaring the time of 9:00 AM.

The girl picks up the phone and calls Pleeeaaase pick up! "Hello?"

The girl closes her eye in joy and smiles, relieved. Yes!

Revised Dress Code Segment- Critique

Jenevieve and I came up with the idea to do a revised dress code segment by noticing all of the strong feelings toward the subject since Mrs. Shanks announced it at the end of last semester. The only research we had to do was familiarize ourselves with the dress code, but this wasn't much of a task because we'd heard it so many times already. We wanted a range of people for interviews, so we chose a sophomore (Alec), a senior (Camilla), a teacher (Ms. Ferro), and, of course, Mrs. Shanks (mainly to justify the decision and try to help students understand). We made sure our questions were focused and relevant, but still allowed for the interviewees to give an opinion. It was difficult to come up with good ideas with b-roll because we obviously had to show students and what they were wearing, but we didn't want to point rule-breakers either. Basically we envisioned a couple shots of students at lunchtime and the photoshopped stills of what not to wear.

For Ms. Ferro, we used her classroom, but we set her up at a diagonal so the shot wasn't quite so boring.

For Mrs. Shanks, the window made it a little hard to set up the shot at a nice diagonal, so we put her up against her bulletin board, which actually had the yellow dress code paper off to the side.

For Alec and Camilla, we set up outside (Camilla by the office and Alec by the cafeteria), but it was during 1˚, so there weren't any distracting noises. None of our shots were creative (we just used stills to add to the interviews). I think we set up Mrs. Shanks well, but Ms. Ferro, despite being on the wrong side based on where she was looking, had a nice background that was the least bland out of the interviews. The one or two lunchtime shots we had were handheld, but still fairly smooth. We only used the rule of thirds for the interviews. The lighting was decent (Alec's shot involved the sunrise, so he squinted a little).

Our focus was always good. Our audio came out great, for once, but during Alec's interview we came across some strange noises during editing that may have been the result of Alec fidgeting with the mic while talking (we cut those out).

Jenevieve's voiceover basically introduced the topic and gave a list of what the revised dress code is. Jenevieve exclaimed "Hey Cap!" I think that was enough to grab the audience's attention. Our segment was informative in that it gave students insight into different perspectives, thus giving insight, as well. I think the voiceovers blended our interview SOTs together well in our "grande" finale closing voiceover, which pointed out the positive intent of the code, and in our introduction by pointing out that these are all opinions, not facts. This final though is meant to show that the school isn't out to get us, it just wants to focus more on a bright future of professional adults.

All of our b-roll/PIPs corresponded to what the interviewee was saying (e.g. showing businesspeople when Ms. Ferro says that the dress code makes people look "well-put-together").

We used fade in-fade out transitions and cross dissolves, but nothing that pops out. We also lowered the background music during the interviews and faded out at the end. We had many graphics, the most significant being the ones during the introductory voiceover, which shows the red and blue clothes, no sagging, etc. with big red circles with lines through them on top. All of this was set atop a still of the yellow dress code paper we found in the science hall.

We used a Motion template for our title, but it was boring at first, so I added a picture of the school to make it a little more interesting.

We added no filters, special effects, animations, or montages--the segment was meant to be straight to the point and not so humorous as other topics would have allowed. We had a little jump cut of Camilla toward the end, but it is barely noticeable. Other than that, there are no other glitches.

My favorite part about our piece is Mrs. Shanks interview because she really brings up some good points and she addresses that she understands how the students feel and why she has to just put up with it. If I had more time, I would have shot and added more b-roll (without attracting attention as we shoot what people are wearing). The most important lesson I learned is that segments that don't bring up offensive or controversial topics are capable of more humor, unlike ours, which was purely informative.

A Character in Time

Treatment: Untitled

A man wakes to the sound of his alarm clock. There is a lanyard name tag beside the clock that reads: Wondercon" and then "Albert Randalf." Albert sits up and stares out the window with an appearance of hopelessness, purposelessness, and just plain boredom. The birds chirp endlessly in the background. Albert glances longingly at his portraits of Gandalf, Dumbledore, and an interpretation of Merlin, then an unfinished Dungeons and Dragons game on the nearby table, a battered copy of the Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring) lying open on the floor, and the first Harry Potter movie just by the DVD player. Albert stares back out the window, and then lies back down.

Hours later, judging by the alarm clock, Albert is just leaving his cramped, dim apartment. He trudges outside and down the stairs to the loud city below, a frown on his face. He walks along slowly, people on bikes peddling by, people in tracksuits jogging around him, actually heading toward something.

There in the window was a sight like no other--a wizard's pointy hat sitting in the window of an old magic shop. Albert's eyes became wide at the 50% off sign just beside the hat.

Albert heads inside the shop and goes to the window. "Authentic, that is. That hat is said to belong to my distant ancestor, a well-known wizard of the 11th century," said a voice. Albert turned around, hat in hand, smiling. "How much?" he asks. "20 dollars after sale," said a small bearded man with a similar pointy hat and flowing robes.

Albert's face turns to sadness as he realizes in a flashback that he still can't afford the hat as we return to the eviction sign and a frustrated Albert going through bills in the dim apartment. We return to Albert staring at the hat and go into another flashback highlighting Albert focussing only on the screen as he watches Gandalf casting Saruman out of the good King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings, popcorn in hand, but not daring to move as he watches in awe. We see Albert crying as he reads Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We see Albert chuckling and moving one of his players in his one-man D&D game. Lastly, we see Albert washing his framed portraits of his favorite wizard with Windex.

Albert comes out of the flashback.

"I don't have the money, but I'll do anything for that hat," he said with emotion.

"Hmm," said the shopkeeper, stroking his beard thoughtfully toward Albert. The shopkeeper glances towards a dusty D&D game board not far away. We go into a flashback of all the times the shopkeeper won (exclaiming, "Ha!" every time) against himself. He turns back to Albert, "I'll play you for it."

Albert squints his eyes at the shopkeeper, and the shopkeeper does the same. We see Albert again, "Deal."

The shopkeeper grabs his Windex from behind the counter and cleans off the dusty board. Albert half smiles at this. The two sit down, a clock in the background.

A few hours pass, judging by the clock in the background and we see the two slowly nearing the end of the game. We see the two placing their characters in slow motion, Albert chuckling at a good move, and the shopkeeper exclaiming, "Ha!"

One hour later, we see Albert make a move in slow motion and chuckle. The shopkeeper stares back and forth, mouth open, at the board and at Albert. Albert the victorious puts his hand out over the board for the shopkeeper to shake it. The shopkeeper smiles and shakes it, "Marlin Dumbledon, by the way."

"Pleased to meetcha," Albert replied. The shopkeeper handed him the hat. "Oh, and good game," Albert added. The shopkeeper, still smiling, nodded.

Albert was headed for the door, when, as he pushed the door open, Marlin called, "Say, you said you're having money troubles, eh." Albert, turned to him and nodded, frowning. "And, well, you seem to know a lot about this kind of stuff", he added a little more quietly to himself. "I've been manning this shop by myself for years now. I could really use a partner." Albert chuckled and put his new hat on. He came back inside and said, "Sure would." Marlin walked him over to the counter and started enthusiastically explaining how to determine between a fraud wizard hat and the real thing, which types of customers to watch out for, how to organize the bookshelf of wizarding history and fantasy novels, etc., with Albert nodding all the way.

Short Film Cinematography Critique: She Deserved It

I watched the short film "She Deserved It" from the short film horror series Black Box TV. This episode follows a young man faced with troubling decisions that can either make him both a winner and a loser at the same time by choosing either wealth or family.

I chose this short film because of the way it drowns out color in the beginning. The constant grays, white, and black at the beginning foreshadow a depressing ending before we even know the subject of the story. The color in the shots can also be connected to the characters because toward the beginning, the characters are fairly expressionless, showing no signs of having a familial relationship. However, as the story goes on and we learn more about the characters, their faces are less gray and more full of color as the characters really come to life.

The opening shots show us extreme close-ups of an injured, unconscious lady, and then we see the full shot of the dirty young woman in black clothes on a snow-white bed. This darkness on whiteness suggests the personality of the woman. She, representing dark colors, is a disgrace to an otherwise "honorable" family, representing white colors.

The shaky camerawork heightens the intensity of the film, as well. During this scene with the old man, it is very dark inside, with little light on his face, while it is light outside. This implies how the character is stuck inside his thoughts, unable to free his mind of the current situation. This is also supported by the shot of the old man gazing out of the window, suggesting the old man's desire to free himself of his family's disgrace--to relieve himself of his misery.

There seems to be a particular highlight on the man's glass in his hand, supposedly alcohol, that fuels his depression.

The way the young man and the old man are placed in relation to each other represents a strained relationship. The slightly worm's-eye angle is meant to highlight the importance of the situation while the Dutch angle is meant to peak our interest and remind us that something in this room is or is about to be "off".

The close-ups during this dialogue scene involve a worm's-eye angle of the old man and an eye-level angle of the young man, thus establishing the old man's authority.

Also, there is occasional rack focus, but much of the film is in soft focus. Its contribution to the overall meaning of the film is that nothing matters outside of the characters. This family is isolated in their dilemma, leaving no room for escape. Also, the shot of the young man and his reflection in the mirror "mirrors" the way the young man has to look back on himself to find what really matters to him.

It is also unique in this scene how upon the entrance of the old man, we don't see his face until heartlessly says, "it's quiet and painless". This ultimately reveals how we are meant to feel about the old man, especially with the worm's-eye angle looking up at him and eagle's-eye angle looking down at him.

The extreme Dutch angle in the last scene as the men walk in tries to make us feel how the young woman would feel by putting us in a similar physical position of the woman in relation to the men. We see this again when the young man is about to put the pillow on his sister.

The point-of-view shot of the young man as he walks in shows how hard killing his sister would be on him because he can't even stand to look at her in the face.

This is supported by the following jump cuts of the young man contemplating and walking back and forth, in and out of focus. The worm's-eye angle looking up at the young man foreshadows a new source of authority when the young man finally speaks his mind to his father.

Basically, the film's stylistic elements are neutral colors, shaky camerawork, and an emphasis on focus and angles, which all work to reflect the focus on character thought rather than the physical space the film takes place in. The pillow has no meaning because it is the young man's mind we care about until the end when the style is contradicted by the action (with the waking up of the girl and the gun) surprising the viewer.