Semester Exam - Film Opening Analysis of Black Mirror (season3, episode 4, San Junipero)

 

The “Black Mirror” clip opens with a logo and a glass cracking, creating an unsettling feeling as the logo fades into the ocean. This unsettling feeling is contrasted by the first few minutes, however. An establishing shot shows a city overlooking an ocean, this is followed by a more dense and smaller establishing shot that shows the setting of the rest of the scene, the nightclub.

Mise-en-scene is used heavily throughout the clip, mainly to keep reminding the audience of the setting and atmosphere. In the establishing shot of the nightclub, we see a poster of the film “the lost boys”, educated viewers would know that this is a movie from 1987, which establishes the time period. Then we see our main character, Yorkie, who is walking in the street. She passes by a car where a radio can be heard saying that the year is 1987, for viewers who missed “the lost boys” poster. At this point, its clear that the clip takes place in the 80’s, mainly due to the outfits and vocabulary of the characters. Our 3 main characters are also all stereotypical 80’s teenagers, Yorkie the nerdy quiet girl, Wes the jock, and Kelly the cool girl who takes the nerd under her wing. All 3 actors are playing their parts so well that its obvious what type of person they are by their first line. The scene exemplifies how to use mise-en-scene expertly to properly create a sense of nostalgia for the viewer.

The scene is loaded with types of sound as well. The first sound heard is waves crashing, a quiet and lonely feeling is conveyed. Which is the perfect feeling for the viewer to have as the main character is established, a quiet and lonely girl. The sound of the waves is used so the audience can relate to the girl, Yorkie. Once we get in the club, the soundtrack is mainly digetic sound, the nightclub music. Many different types of shots are used in the scene as well. Two establishing shots open the scene, exploding in 80’s nostalgia. After this, Yorkie walks into the club and a long 30 second dolly shot is used. The camera is following Yorkie while showing off the setting of the club at the same time. Once Yorkie meets with Kelly, their shots together are solely two shots, establishing their friendship to the viewer. Finally, editing is used sparingly in the scene, but to its advantage. The lack of editing and the long length of its shots strengthen its 80s setting and throwbacks. Movies in the 80’s were simplistic in terms of editing, so that’s exactly what this scene is doing as well, appealing to that nostalgia.

The scene expertly utilizes mise-en-scene and the way it can convey a certain time period. The shots are long and use that length to their advantage by conveying the setting or emotion of the characters. Nondigetic sound is used mainly to convey the loneliness of the main character, and editing is used sparingly to strengthen the 80’s nostalgia. Overall, the clip uses the 4 main elements of film to convey the characters and setting in the most appealing and nostalgic way possible.

Film Viewing Practice Essay "Agent Carter"

 

The clip being analyzed is from Agent Carter, directed by Louis D’Esposito, captures many of the elements of film that we have been studying recently. As the scene opens and the marvel intro cinematic is playing, we hear Peggy’s voice. This is an example of a sound bridge: when sound carries over a visual transition in film. After this, we get a flashback between Peggy and Captain America, the scene is full of close ups to convey the emotions these characters feel and to clearly show the audience the tone of the scene. Right before the flashback ends we get a behind the back shot of captain America sitting in his pilot seat heading straight down towards the ground, this shot shows the setting but does not show what he is feeling in these supposedly last moments. On the other line Peggy hears silence/radio static then a fade to black.

After this, the next scene opens with an establishing shot of a city with the words “one year later” to set up the scene and provide detail to what is now happening. In the background, melancholy music plays, helping to inflict emotion in the audience. This use of music is an example of a non-diegetic sound or any sound that the characters on screen cannot hear but the audience can. The scene changes to a lowkey lit office filled with men and Peggy, with an alarm blaring showing something important is going to happen. The boss gets a call that two agents are needed to be sent to go after a man called the zodiac and the music amps up and changes to a faster, more frantic pace, adding much needed drama and intensity to the scene. After Peggy is not picked to go on the mission her boss comes and talks to her and in this confrontation there is a heavy use of over the shoulder shots and eye level shots to make you feel like you are the person who is listening in their place. The eye level shots also help to show details into the faces of the characters demonstrating their personalities.

In the next scene, Peggy is walking to the establishment. During this walk, the mise-en-scene use of costume is exemplified, demonstrating the time period by showing the men wearing clothing from a period like the 50’s, this helps to make the setting more believable. As the men approach Peggy, the setting is dark and is lowkey lit, helping to emphasize the mise-en-scene and make the scene that much more suspenseful. Peggy beats up the men and there is one left. As he goes for his gun, he looks up and she is gone, the whole time an old, classic, song is playing in the back. This is an example of a diegetic sound because the characters on screen can hear it. After, she gets the man at gunpoint and says drop it.

The final scene utilizes the film elements extremely well, convincing the audience of the setting and with the use of music. Overall, the clear use of the film elements really strengthen this clip and (most likely) the show as a whole.

Film Elements Graphic Organizer

 

Mise-en-scene

 Mandalorian Season 2 Ep 1

Setting - The episode takes place primarily on Tatooine, a classic star wars planet. The dry, desolate desert makes the viewer feel alienated and not at home. But at the same time, something about the desert feels so natural (aside from the gargantuan sand monster of course). The setting moves the story forward, being set in a small, poor village in the middle of the desert.

Lighting - Towards the beginning of the episode, lighting is interwoven into the narrative. Our main character, the mandalorian, goes to a dark planet to receive intel. On this planet, the paths are lit up by streetlights, however, ominous creatures are seen in the dark, just off the path. Skipping forward in the scene, the Mandalorian gets in a fight and shoots a lightbulb above the man he's fighting. Surrounded by darkness, the man gets overcrowded by the creatures in the dark. The lighting tells the story of these creatures.

Costume - Being Star Wars, costume plays a large role. Many alien character designs are based off of whether they're good or evil. However, in this episode, costume plays a big role in the narrative due to a character having stolen someone's armor. This stolen armor drives the episode and its story forward because the mandalorian needs that armor.

Staging - There's a scene in a bar, in the desert, that is staged and shot to be like a movie from the old west. The staging of the scene is intense, having close ups of two actors faces who are about to get in a shootout. This scene is a nice callback to classic westerns.

5 Master Shots with Sound

        1) Offscreen sound - The first clip uses offscreen sounds for both weatherby and myself. When i'm sleeping, soft music is playing. And while Weatherby is running around, circus music is playing. Since these sounds directly in the scene, they're offscreen.

       2) Post-synchronization dubbing - This occurs when a sound effect is added over a scene that has been filmed, a dub. Since the sounds of the car were added afterward, it is an example of post-synchronization dubbing.

       3) Music - Music was simply added to the scene to strengthen the effect and the emotions that the toilet paper has over Weatherby in his time of need.

        4) Sound Bridge - A sound bridge occurs in this scene due to sounds being carried over throughout two scenes, hence the term sound bridge. The sound bridge adds to the atmosphere of the overall scene and sets the mood.

       5) Non-diegetic sound - Non-diegetic sound may be something the audience can hear but not the characters. That is exactly what is happening in this scene. The audio is clear to the viewer and adds a sense of comedy, yet the characters cannot hear it.

Master Edits in a Professional Film

 The Social Network

Contrast - 

In this scene, we see Mark introducing the idea of Facebook to Eduardo. However, the scene is intercut with another scene of Eduardo filing a lawsuit against Mark. These two scenes are purposely intercut together to create a contrast between them. One shows the hopeful beginning, the other shows the bitter end.

Parallelism - 

In this scene, we see Mark in two separate situations being intercut into one scene. These two situations create a sense of parallelism due to their relation to one another. In both situations, Mark is being sued for reasons unknown to the viewer up to this point. The scenes parallel each other due to their nature.

Simultaneity - 

This scene cuts back and forth between Mark in his dorm and other students out partying. Together, since these two scenes are occurring at the same time, they create a sense of simultaneity.

5 Master shots

            

        Contrast - For contrast, me and weatherby used 2 clips. The first clip is of me sleeping, the second is of him being extremely hyper; these moods contrast each other.

Parallelism - For parallelism, we used a shot of weatherby running, as well as a video of a cheetah running. Both of these shots are parallel to each other.

Symbolism - We use a clip of toilet paper and connect it to a clip of weatherby using paper. This is symbolism due to symbolism having a symbolic object to move it from one shot to the next.

Simultaneity- Simultaneity is when two things are occurring at the same time. In the clip, you see scenes of me in the house and weatherby knocking at the door, events occuring at the same time.

Leitmotif - A leitmotif uses a reoccuring theme. We used clips of me being tempted to do bad things, but every time, weatherby discourages me.