Cinematography Exercise - Evaluation

  In our short film, me and my group were filming in the school playground. Out of all of the shot types required, we managed to record all but two. The two we didn't include were the rolling shot and the tracking shot. We didn't manage to include these because we found them too difficult to film, and we didn't have the correct equipment to be able to steadily take them.
We chose to do the shots that we did because they were the most realistically perform-able shots in the time that we had.
We chose to act out the scenes that we did because they seemed the most fitting for each particular shot. With the long shot, we chose to have two people dancing because with the long shot we could see the whole body of the people involved, and we thought that it was fitting. With the close up and extreme close up shots, Each of our attempts were successful to an extent, the only problem that we faced when filming each scene was keeping the camera steady when not filming with the tripod. Furthermore, whilst we were filming we didn't realize that many of the shots with the tripod were slightly slanted, making the image look amateurish and off balance.
With the framing, I found that many of them were done correctly, but like with our pan shot the timing of the pan was slightly off, meaning the whole scene wasn't captured on camera. This made the project look and feel unfinished. Also, i noticed that when we were shooting the pan scene, at the beginning when the camera first started to get turned, the filming was jumpy. What I did notice was that after the first initial jumps, the rest of the pan was done very steadily.

Media Theory

Media theory
Nowadays, all the best thrillers follow two theories written by Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes. these two theories are Binary opposites, and Enigma codes.
Binary opposites
 Levi strauss was a french anthropologist  who lived in the early 1900s. He developed the theory that we understand certain words because of the different between them and their opposite, and not so much because we understand the word itself. He called it "binary opposites." For example, we understand the word villain because of the difference between it and its opposition in the word hero. binary opposites are used often in films, particularly the thriller genre. All the best thrillers will include binary opposites in the plot of the film. This will always be between a protagonist and an antagonist. For example in Batman, rise of the dark knight, we see Batman take on Bane after he has had his back broken. in this movie he is the underdog.

Enigma Codes
written by Roland Barthes are 5 codes explaining what makes a good thriller, these codes include; the Hermeneutic code, the Proairetic code, the Semantic code, the Symbolic code, and  the referential code. The hermeneutic code is when clues are dropped in a movie to the audience, that leave them with unanswered questions, this builds up suspense for the audience, and if these enigma codes are left unanswered the viewers will become impatient and fustrated. The proairetic code contains sequential elements of action within the text. The semantic code is when the plot to a movie has more than one meaning. these codes are commomly referred to as semes. The symbolic code stretches the differences within a film to present a larger meaning, it creates tension and drama in the development of the character. The referential code is when a character in the film has supernatural or scientific knowledge.

The hermeneutic code is dropped often in Thrillers, because thrillers are meant to give the viewers that off their seat feel. We see this in the medical thriller "Awake" where the main character Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) is under going surgery, and the surgeons  performing the surgery start discussing how they are going to kill him. In this film Christensen is awake during the surgery and hears his trusted surgeon and friend discussing how they are going to kill him, leaving him betrayed and confused about why they are doing this.

The proairetic code is used in the film "Awake" when we see Christensens subconcious body trying to desperately wake his real body up, going around the city that he lives in and realising that his attempted murder was set up by his Fiance and his close friend/surgeon (played by Terrance Howard) in attempts to get hold of his fortunes.

The semantic code is used in this film when because we see that the film isnt just about a realistic surgery errors that people may go through, but its also about betrayl from loved ones. We can see this when the surgeon Terrance Howard) and Clays girlfriend (Jessica Alba) are discussing whether the heart that is meant to be replaying Clays dying one has been injected with posion or not. and  and how a mother loves their child, as she takes her own life to give her heart to her son.

We see the symbolic code used in "Awake" when Clay starts to realise that he has been betrayed by his girlfriend and friend. He immidiantly develops a stronger, smarter personality and a direct understanding of what is happening.

The referential code is put to use when Clays mind leaves body and he is walking around. He is aware of what is happening but the people preforming the act on him are oblivious.

Character theories
Vladmir Propp had the theory that all narratives have 8 main characters that play all equally measured roles in the film, and that without them the film wouldnt be as good as it could be. These characters include:

• the villain - disrupted by the hero, often defeated by the hero after long battles.
• the dispatcher - lets the hero know of the villain, sends him on missions and teaches the hero how to beat the villain.
• the helper - helps the hero in the quest, digs the hero out of trouble when they are in need of help
• the princess - hero tries to win her over, but is unable because of unfair evil. The villain will use the her as a means of defeating the hero. Hero is able to save the princess and marry her when he has defeated the evil.
• the donor - prepares the hero, gives them the equipment required to be able to battle the villain.
• the hero - disrupts the villain, long winded battle with him, sponsored by the donor, wins the princess over.
• false hero - takes credit for what the hero has done in attempts to win over the princess, usually ends up helping the hero defeat the villain but dies or loses something of value.

the classic hollywood narrative:

• routine life - when the problem is introduced
• problem solving - the character logically works through creating a story
• problem resolved - end of the problem, life goes back to normal

The male gaze
the male gaze is the idea that in most films, female characters are sexualized by the camera in a way that heterosexual supposedly do. The camera follows female bodies, capturing every curve. Feminists see this as degrading to women, as they feel that they have been reduced to an object.

Conventions of a thriller

The film genre thriller is one that is very popular amongst writers and directors, and to make a perfect thriller, certain unwritten rules need to be followed. All thrillers have a protagonist, and an antagonist, but different directors may have different ideas of presenting the baddie. in most thrillers, the hero is left to battle to protagonist with less resources, money, and are often out numbered by the enemy. In thrillers, against all odds the protagonist ussually comes out on top after a build up events and tension. the protagonists in thrillers are often retired service men, or policemen, and occasionally just average joes. whilst the antagonist is a criminal mastermind usually trying to take over governments or rob banks. when thriller story lines are written, they are done in such a way that the audience feels that it is very realistic, and that in these situations they have the possibility to be the protagonist. Also, good thrillers will follow the enigma codes, these enigma codes help the audience to understand whats going on in the movie. These are:
- The hermeneutic code; hints are dropped to the audience of what might  happen next, leaves the audience questioning the storyline, but these questions are left unanswered. this works as an element of suspense as the viewer is left desperate to know more, it works almost as a cliff hanger.
- The proairetic/Action code - this code contains the sequential elements of a film.
- The semantic code - when the aim of the movie has more than one meaning.
- The symbolic code - refers to the symbolism in the text. it stretches differences to present contrast and a larger meaning.
- Referential code - anything within the movie that refers to extra curricular knowledge in the text, bneing scientific or supernatural.

Also, thrillers will follow 'Binary Opposites' by Levi Strauss.
in the Binary Opposites, they are easy to spot in films, usually with films containing an antagonist and a protragonist.