Feedback Sheet 1 for Unit 1 Task 2

Theory Revision Starter

Todorov narrative theory, 1997
Andre Goodwin, 1995
Laura Mulvey male gaze
Bart's action code

Task 2 Script Peer Feedback

Peer assessment by Steven 

Lots of information about the film eg when & where it was released. And good interpretations of mise en scene.

Don't forget to include connotes & denotes/
Good start on mise en scene but make sure it is finished.

Based on Steven feedback I know I need to improve my work by finishing of mice en scene and to include Connotes & Denotes more often.

Narrative Codes

Barthes (1977) Narrative shots

Enigma-
(Problem/puzzle needed to be solved) used because it get the audience to ask questions.

Action code-
A sequence that suggests possible action can be linked to and insert shot edits and eye line matches.
Eye line match is where you see the character looking at something then you see what the character is looking at.

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot reverse shot that is a editing technique that is meant to appear invincible.

Typical shot sequence-
Medium shot to medium close-up.

Starter 17/10/14 Analysis Done on 'The Avatar'

Three camera angles used in the film trailer I'm analysing was ;

At the start of the video they use a close up to show the emotions the character is feeling as well as to show that he is significant(important).
They again use a tracking shot/ mid-shots throughout the film trailer to show what he is doing or to  show what happening as its a Dutch/canted angle which is often used to show that the enigma is about to close.

Three editing techniques used in the film trailer;

They use the editing technique known as dissolve several times throughout the video.
 They also use the editing technique fade in several times throughout the video.
And they also used most common editing technique cut.

Round up-Use of Sound

Today I have learnt about several things like diegetic sound which is sound that appears as though it is coming from within the story world of the film or TV programme. Non-diegetic sound which is sound that is clearly not coming from the within the story world. And finally that diegesis- is the 'story world'/world of the narrative. How real the diegesis appears is linked to the level of verisimilitude (Which means the appearance of being real)'.

LO1 Unit 1 Task 2 Research

           Diegesis- is the 'story world'/world of the narrative
How real the diegesis appears is linked to the level of verisimilitude (Which means the appearance of being real)'.

          Diegetic sound is sound that appears as though it is coming from within the story world of the film or TV programme.
-
For Example;
Dialogue and sound effects (includes Foley sound which is where a foley artist makes sound to use in a film or programme).
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These are added during production and post production to create meaning, Sound effects and dialogue in particular are planned carefully during pre-production.

             Non-diegetic sound is sound that is clearly not coming from the within the story world.
-
For example:
-
Incidental music-is background music used to build up emotions like tension, suspense etc.
or another term for incidental music is called Soundtrack/kcore which is again used as background music.

Non-diegetic sound effects
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These are added at the stage of post-production to create meaning for the audience.

            Examples of diegetic sound from my film the Avatar are;
For example

Explosions
Thud of people hitting the ground
Screaming/Yelling
struggling



            Examples of Non-diegetic sound from my film the Avatar are;
Incidental music. I.e. The violin used at a low pitch to suit the scene they're in and build the tension,
And the incidental music used when the scene is meant to be emotional.

Unit 1 Task 2 - Analysis of "The Avatar" Script and Video

Unit 1 Task 2- Analysis of the film The Avatar

Introduction
Hi, we're back again with me, Joseph Treacy for our task 2 of Unit 1 and in todays vlog we will be analysing 20th Century Fox's production 'The Avatar'.

Purpose
The purpose of the film Avatar is to entertain the viewer and sell products like most audio/audio-visual product but the difference is with this product is that does it can do it in so many different ways as it has hundreds of ways to do it from the special effects to how well presented the film is as this makes the film more appealing to the audience and therefore means it’s there to entertain this is proven to work as 'The Avatar' is the highest grossing film of all time.

Genre
The genre of the film Avatar is Science fiction and therefore the sub-genre of fantasy, the film also steps into the genre of action and therefore adventure however you could also say these two are again sub-genres of each other as they go hand in hand.

Form and Style
The film The Avatar is in the form of a feature film as it runs for a maximum time of 178 minutes (2 Hours 58 Minutes). It was distributed by 20th Century Fox in the UK (December 17th 2009) and the US (December 18th 2009) and the premiere was in London on December 10th 2009 It is also a feature film as it had a massive budget of 237 million dollars and relies heavily on CGI(Computer Generated Images).The Avatar is in the style of new age, animation and CGI which again enforces the idea of being on an alien planet in the future as well as the idea of the narrative being based around the idea of the humans searching for some kind of material or resource that's of value to them.

Narrative
The preferred reading of the film 'The Avatar' is in chronological order (linear), It's narrative structure follows the style of Tzventan Todorov's 5 stages of production; The 1st stage is the intro-equilibrium which is where Jake Sully one of the main characters is introduced to Pandora and the Na'vi, For the 2nd stage it's the disequilibrium (enigma) which is where Jake Sully started to care for the natives (question his loyalty) the Na'vi and when the marines started to attack and demolish the Na'vi homeland, The 3rd stage of Todorov’s narrative theory is the recognition of the enigma in this case it’s when Jake Sully unites the clans and the nature with each other. Then it’s the 4th stage of Todorov's narrative theory which is the action taken towards the enigma, which is to stop the attack on the home tree, and now for the fifth stage which is the restoration of the equilibrium, in this case it’s a cliff hanger where Jake Sully in now a Na'vi which leaves an open ending i.e. the ability to produce a new film. The Avatar also follow several of Kate Dominailles 8 narrative structures such as; Candite- The hero that can’t be put down this is shown in the story at the end where Jake Sully is fatally injured and then brought back to life in the avatar body. The film also follows the narrative structure Circe- the chase the good and the bad when Jake is stopping the marines from destroying the home tree, the film also follows the structure Romeo and Juliet-the love story when Jake falls in love with Neytiri (the other main character) and finally the film follows the narrative structure of Orpheus the loss of something personal which is probably the most important narrative structure of the film as he is offered the choice between his legs in the avatar body or his legs by destroying what he has begun to love.

In this section I will be talking about the features within mice en scene

The content and meaning applied to the film The Avatar
The content and meaning applied to the film 'The Avatar' is based upon several aspects of the film like the location/iconography, gestures, costume/make-up, props and lighting/colour and how these help the audience to understand and relate to the film to how he micro elements mise en scene camera work,editing and sound make up content and meaning.

Location
The iconography of the main location is that it suits the genre the film 'The Avatar' is based around as the film takes place on a planet known as ‘Pandora’, which is inhabited by a species called the Na’vi this also helps to connote the idea of the genre being science fiction as they are imaginary. However there are several other locations used on the planet 'Pandora' which is supposed to be perceived as part of the planet 'Pandora' such as the marine and scientist base, which again connotes the idea of the film being based in the future as the technology is advanced which represents the genre Science fiction.

Clothes/costume and make-up
The iconography of the clothes/costume and make up is that it plays a big part of all science fiction films/series as it helps to create verisimilitude this means that the special effects (Visual/sound effects) are crucial to the science fiction genre as it helps to create the aesthetics that makes them look realistic and futuristic, which is the typical representation of the science fiction genre. The representation of the genre is also used in the film ‘The Avatar’ as the clothes or more likely the costume they have been told to wear is again supposed to look realistic to connote the typical representation of the genre, for example if we take a look at the humans, specifically the scientists you see the stereotypical representation of a researcher i.e. the white lab coat at 7 minutes 49 seconds in the film to create verisimilitude, Then if we take a look at the marines the costume they wear is there again to create verisimilitude as they are wearing the standard uniform for marines (DCU, BDU or ACU show at 4 minutes 40 seconds in the film first) this again is shown to make the film seem realistic. They also do this by using the inhabitants of Pandora the Na’vi to represent the science fiction genre, the costume the Na’vi wear is mainly produced through CGI (Computer generated images), some of the costume was created using make-up and possibly silicone and other materials which is again used to create verisimilitude.

Props 
The iconography of the props used was that they all connote the genre of science fiction in some way for example the Turak (Giant Ikran/bird at the time of 1:12:23 to 1:12:40) and the gun Jake Sully is holding while in the avatar body (At the time of 26:47).The Turak is shown to be significant as its shown from a low angle chasing Jake sully which connotes it has dominance over Jake and therefore and obstacle he will have to overcome, The gun is denoted as significant as it is used in an insert shot at 26:47 to show that its important and to pose the question of whether or not some kind of violence is about to happen which connotes the genre of the film action.

Gestures
There are several gestures used within the film, but the most significant are the ones at the time of 1:06:46 as the scene connotes violence because they use an action code of Jake Sully in the avatar body hissing at the Ikran (bird) to pose the question of whether or not there is going to be violence which then connotes the genre action as it denotes aggression/violence.

Lighting and Colour
The film uses hundreds of different colours/shades and lighting, for example low key lighting denoted the scene at the 32nd minute 45 seconds to the 35th minute 5 second, when Jake Sully is in the avatar body at night trying to light a torch to use as a light source this suggests he feels threatened which then this poses the question of whether or not violence is about to occur(using an action code).High key lighting was then later used at the time of 1:39:40 -1:41:10 to denote the size of the home tree in comparison to the ships(Helicopters used) as this shows how significant the tree is to the natives, the 'Na'vi', the high key lighting is also used in the scene as it makes the special effects used,(Pyrotechinics etc.) more visible to the audience. The film uses several different lightning techniques throughout the film, the most important of which is the colour blue, it also however happens to be the most used in the film as they use it for the skin colour of the Na'vi (Aliens) they do this because the colour blue it considered a strong stereotype of the science fiction genre and by doing this it helps them to create verisimilitude and meaning throughout the film.


Camera and editing
The film, The Avatar, uses several different editing and camera techniques to create verisimilitude and to create your emotion towards the character/actors, For example they use a tracking show in shallow depth to connote the colonel (Miles Quaritch)significance at 6:18,they also use the editing technique known as jumpcutting at the same time to again connote the colonel (Miles Quaritch) importance in the film. The film again uses this combination later at 17:20 to track Jake Sully when he is first in his avatar body to connote the importance of this body and how it makes him feel having his legs back which brings us back to Kate Dominialles narrative structure, Orpheus this again works with the jumpcutting used to connote Jake Sully's importance in the film. This also relates to Claude Levi Strauss binary opposition as Jake Sully represents the good in the film whereas the colonel represent the bad. Another example of a editing technique used is the technique known as cut at the 6 minute 16th second 1to connote a change of the scene and location and therefore an ellipsis, and a camera technique was the reverse shot used at 11th minute Grace Augustine and Jake Sully to show that they are significant. 

Sound)
Sound is used in films to create verisimilitude, sound can be categorised into two groups diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic is sound that is on screen for example in the Avatar they use this in the scene at 2:40 to the 47th second.Non-diegetic sound is sound that isn't shown on screen for example in the Avatar they use this in the scene at the 25 second by using background music.However they can both be used together to create meaning for example in the scene where the home tree is being destroyed at 1st hour 39th minute as they play dramatic background music to enforce what the scene is supposed to represent as well as the explosion going off on screen to show what is happening.

Production process
The production process of the film The Avatar and every film is; pre-production, production and post-production. Pre-production involves the planning, scripting and story boarding. However there are a few things that happen before pre-production like figuring out the financial cost of everything from advertisement to the actual production of it, and screenplay. Then there’s the production, which is the actual shooting and recording of the film/series. And the final stage of the production process is post production which is everything between the pre-production and production stages such as the finishing touches of the product like the special effects (Visual effects and sound effects), distribution (getting it out to the public). However the different parts of the production process work together like pre-production and production will work together to get a reasonable budget, release date and planning. And then the pre-production with the production and post-production for the distribution date for the trailer and release date. For example the Avatar would have used the planning, storyboarding and the scripting i.e. adding the stage direction and saying what special effects went where such as the pyrotechnics. For the pre-production stage, and like every film they would have discussed the financial cost of it from the production to the distribution before the pre-production, then in the production stage they would have also recorded and shot the film for example when Jake Sully is talking too the two men at the start of the video (1st minute 41st second).Then there is the post production in which the Avatar would have used this stage to do the Computer generated aspects of the film which for the Avatar is most of it, as the Na’vi were computer generated as well as all the pyrotechnics used throughout the video for example the one at  1:39:40 To 1:41:10.

Lesson Starter 6/10/14

My aims for today lesson is to finish collecting my images to go with my video and to start my video.

Starter

That 20th Century Fox is a subsidiaries and a conglomerate of Newscorp.
Newscorp is owned by Rubert Murdock.
A subsidiaries is a smaller company that is owned by a larger company.
BBC is a public service broadcaster.

LO1 Script Feedback Sheet and Self Assessment