Gone Girl: Camera Movement And Shot Analysis

In this scene of Gone Girl Margo (Nicks sister) asks Nick 'What is up?' When we initially see her ask him this the frame is a long two person shot. The two characters are positioned according to symmetry down the centre third of the frame. However, asymmetry is used within the miss en scene to show the left hand side of the frame as jumbled and unorganised and the right hand side as neat and orderly. This could be a representation of Nicks out look on life or current situation as being confused and having no order in his life. Where as, on the right hand side of the frame (the direction Mrago is looking) the miss en scene is tidy showing she has no worries or troubles. As the scene progresses the camera slowly zooms in on the two characters having their discussion as Margo continues to ask Nick what is wrong. This can show that she is slowly becoming closer to Nicks true feelings and personality and that the audience are being trusted enough to be in on their private conversation.The closer she gets to getting him to talk, the closer we get to the actors.









In this scene the audience witnesses the first meet of Nick and Amy. The two person mid shot immediately portrays the fact the characters have never met before. Again the use of the symmetry within the frame and the characters being in the centre third facing each other can suggests that at this moment in time they have made no judgement on each other and can also portray to the audience that they should be considered as equal. This could link to the ongoing theme throughout the film of a police investigation. At this moment in time the shot (with a different miss en scene) could be perceived as an interrogation between two people. The fact the symmetry is used could represent that when the police look back on this moment at the end of the film whilst investigating the events, that they are currently both equal to each other. This suggesting to the audience that they are now open to make their own decisions on the character as no one wants to persuade their opinions. However, when Nick asks Amy 'so who are you?' the camera angle switches to show a long shot in which Amy is in the foreground and is blocking Nick from the audiences view. This can portray to the audience that she is blocking Nick from the true her and as she walks away she is broadening the distance between them almost as if she is distancing Nick from her true self. This is then contrasted when Amy asks Nick the same question. The shot type has now switched from a mid shot to a two person head and shoulder shot. This is confusing as the previous shot suggests that we are being hidden from the truth however this change in shot types suggests they are getting closer. This could suggest to the audience that he is winning her over in  the way of romance and that he is falling for her deceit. This is continues when She asks him 'and you, who are you?' and the camera shot changes from a close up to an over the shoulder shot from nicks perspective through the use of a track. This visually brings the two characters closer together within the frame. This helps to signify the beginning of the relationship.

In this scene the intentional lack of camera movement is important. Amy has returned from 'capture' and this shot is dramatic. The use of having many detectives stood facing her with deep focus on them whilst she is out of focus is important. The audience at this point know she has spun many lies and this could almost be a symbolism of all those lies. The fact she is out of focus can suggest that the audience see the fake her and her real personality isn't clear. However, this shot is almost an over the shoulder shot but inst close enough to be so. The camera then cuts to show a high angled long shot from the detectives point of view. Considering they are interviewing her and getting dramatic information of what she allegedly went through, you would expect the camera to zoom in on Amy becoming closer to her as she opens up. However, the camera is position as far away in the room as possible and is a static shot. The camera then cuts again to be closer to Amy but uses Asymmetry to put her on one side of the frame along with the nurse looking after her but the interrogators on the other. This shows the clear distinction between her and them and uses binary opposition to display them as being against each other. The overall use of purely static shots in this scene represents how she isnt opening up or telling the truth. The camera is almost represented as how the audience feels towards her: cautious and staying at a safe distance away from her without getting closer.

How can this help me:

analaysing these film clips shows me that framing and camera movements are essential when portraying a character. The slightest camer achange can change the way an audience pereieves a character. Also, camera movements are typically zooms when you become closer to a chracter or learn soething more about them and this is a convention of films in general. The distance from the camera and the onbjects within it is often significant in portraying how much you can trust whatever the frame is showing.

Black Swan: Lighting And Costume Analysis

The first frame you see in the clip of the black swan begins completely black. Then a single sourced spotlight slowly brightens from the top left corner of the frame to reveal a female wearing what appears to be a white wedding dress. This is significant as the fading in of the light could suggest the progression of the narrative foreshadowing to the audience that they are about to witness something important. The fact that the spotlight it coming from the top left hand corner of the frame but is aimed at the centre of the frame could also connote, through the use of binary opposition light and dark, that she has a decision to make. The use of a spotlight to make the character seem as shining on appear to be in light yet still subtle light in contrast to the origin of the light source could suggest she is the level headed person in the situation the audience are about to witness. The implications of the use of the white dress suggests innocence and youthfulness continuing this idea. However, the fact it seems to be a wedding dress could suggest she is dependant on another person and is in a premature situation as she should still be living through her youthfulness.

The next scene switches to a close up of her feet using high key top lighting should create a shadow on the floor which could be quite eerie if the audience haven't yet seen her face. However, the use of the reflective surface the lighting is shining on it shows the reflection of her feet using symmetry within the frame to continue the idea of order and peace around this character. The reflection can also suggest what we see is a genuine reflection of her character and she has nothing to hide.

The scene then continues to show a long shot of the woman using a back light to emphasise the dress and we also get to see her appearance fully for the first time. However, the use of the back light (that is possibly still the top spotlight that she has purposely been positioned just in front of) could again foreshadow the narrative suggesting she has to watch her back as there is a presence behind her. Or that there is someone watching or following her.

The introduction of the male character in the next frame uses the theme of binary opposition of good vs evil again through the use of his black costume and her white dress. Also, the fact that no light or very subtle low key lighting is used on him when he enters the room continues to create an eerie feel towards him as if he has something to hide or is dangerous. Furthermore, in this scene when he reaches the woman the spotlight shines directly onto the top right corner of the frame using the hard light to create a glare. However, the contrast of the white bright light to the low key lighting of the rest of the room has been used along with the fact she is staring at it. The sudden intensity of this light could continue the idea from the beginning of the clip where she has a choice to make. The intensity suggesting the decision is now urgent as he has been introduced.Also, the change of lighting from the left of the frame the right of the frame can again suggest something is evolving and changing.

How this can help me:
This can help me as it shows the importance of lighting when portraying a mood/tone/character. Lighting is a good way to subtly foreshadow a characters intentions or personality. It can also be very effective depending on its position within a frame. It can show emotions and be a physical representation of feeelings. Eg. torn (spotlights on opposite sides of a frame), peacefull (symetrical or natural lighting with no source) etc. I have realised that in my final piece i will have to make sure the lighting used within a frame represents how a character is feeling or how the mood is developing.

Prop Analysis: seven opening sequence

Seven begins with a close up of an open book. The fact a book has been used straight away can connote wisdom and knowledge of whoever is reading it. It could also suggest who ever is handling the book strives to know as much as possible about things. The fact the page of the book flips over can also symbolise how the person or narrative is evolving. e.g. as the pages of the book turns, something is developing. Another way of decoding to book could be to link it to religion. Religion can be symbolised by their Holy books. This could foreshadow danger suggesting that whoever it is is praying for something; prayer which can be linked to asking for forgiveness.

The next frame shows the character, who the audience assume is the same as the previous frame, handling a razor. This creates a sinister tone to the audience as razors are often linked with violence and self harm connoting the state of the characters mind. It raises questions of how stable they are. Linked with the low key lighting consistent through the opening sequence so far, it suggests the audience are being kept in the dark about something. Considering the only human we have come across so far is this character, they assume its about them. The fact the razor has numbers/letters engraved into creates further enigma as it suggests it has been branded as if it has an owner. For someone to engrave something as simple as a razor suggests that the owner of it has a reason to be so protective over it.

In-between multiple shots throughout the opening sequence, the editor has edited very short shots of images of people in. The images have been used purposely to make the audience feel uneasy. The fact that the images seem to be quite disturbing but are not shown long enough for them to understand what it is can be disorientating and nerving to the audience. Furthermore, the use of the props of the images themselves can also effect the audience as it suggests the character we haven't really been introduced to has been watching someone. The symbolism of the photographs suggesting that he is always looking at them as they are a permanent thing.

Next we see the character using the prop of a pen and paper to write. The use of the fast paced editing and jump cuts to follow them writing across the paper creates a sense of urgency. The fact they are writing down makes this particularly eerie as it suggests he is rushing to get his thoughts down or rushing to record something. This could suggest some of their characteristics almost as if he is unstable as he is in such urgency to record his thoughts that he almost cant cope with them. On the other hand, it could foreshadow the narrative as it could suggest they are planning something in great detail.

Over all this opening sequence is effective as the audience are never introduced to the character. Instead they see him/her interacting with objects that all have sinister connotations. This forces them to make judgement on the character due to what props they see. The props have all been purposely selected to continue the early connotations the low key lighting, fast paced editing and threatening music all created. They generate an enigma as to the intentions of the character and the props add to this as they all have negative connotations but they are never confirmed to be used for the negative reason therefore, it leaves the audience in immediate tension and suspense for the rest of the film.

How this will help me:
This opening sequence will help me because i have realised how important the connotations of props are. As in our opening sequence we are planning on following our stalkers routine on preparing to kidnap the victim, i have realised we need to plan what props our stalker interacts with. I have also realised that you do not have to constantly include the characters interacting with props but it is equally as effective just to have frame that are filled with a specific prop that could foreshadow narrative events and characters personalities.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task Planning

For our preliminary task we were asked to film a sequence that included the following:

• Film someone opening a door
• walking across a room
• sitting down opposite from someone
• engaging in a couple of lines of conversation

Other than this we were given three specific requirements:

• We had to follow the 180 degree rule
• There had to be match of action
• We had to include the reverse shot

Therefore, when planning the preliminary task i decided to film it on my own and not in a group in order to gain as much filming and editing experience as possible. Originally i planned on using my two friends in my task and just filming them walking into a room and having an everyday conversation, of which i would have filmed from a range of angles and shot types. However when i thought about it i decided to change my mind and think of a short narrative that would compliment my genre and my current pitch idea. 

As a result i decided to plan my preliminary task in the form of a story board and shot list. My new plan was to film a girl as if she was the friend of the girl that goes missing in my current pitch idea. The idea was to make it seem she was at a counselling session talking about her missing friend. I did this intentionally so i could gain practise filming in relation to the thriller genre and could practise using shots that are conventional to the genre as well. 

Here is my initial storyboard plan:

Gone Girl Opening Sequence Analysis

How does this media text use media language to communicate and appeal to its target audience?The opening sequence of ‘Gone Girl’ conforms to the thriller narrative therefore appealing to its primary unisex target audience of eighteen year olds (in terms of the BBFC) to thirty year olds, who have psycho-graphics of thriller films. The first shot in the opening sequence appeals to the female audience who enjoy sub plots of romance. This shot appears to be a point of view shot and accompanied by the non diegetic dialogue, ‘I always think of her head’ it suggests there is an intimate relationship between Amy and whoever it is that is staring at her. The use of the pronoun, ‘I’ creates an immediate enigma around who the narrator is. The fact the narrators identity is also withheld through his absence in semiotics could also reflect that he sees Amy as most important and significant and therefore doesn’t want to take the attention away from her. As a result, this connotes to the audience that whoever is staring at Amy, who appears to be the hero in terms of Props character theory, is admiring her and appreciating her. This sets the tone of love and peace backed up by the intimate action of stroking her head. This appeals to mainly the female audience as they can relate to the intimacy and aspire to have that sort of relationship.

However, half way through this shot there is a tonal shift created through the use of the non diegetic dialogue: ‘I picture cracking her lovely skull and spooling her brains’. This creates an uneasy tone to the audience due to the juxtaposition of the intimate actions displayed through the use of semiotics and the violence suggested through his dialogue; Amy now appears a a victim. This also changes the expectations of the stock narrative, therefore appealing to a more mass audience of males who enjoy the violence denoted by the dialogue used. This offers the opposite interpretation from before as the audience now questions who the narrator is and worries for Amy's safety. The producers have also encoded Amy's body language to create the sense that she is not moving and have placed the narrators violent dialogue over the top to create a sinister feel. This could connote death and makes the audience feel uncomfortable almost as if they're witnessing something much more sinister than it originally seemed. Due to this, it offers the opposite interpretation that we are being withheld from the narrators identity as he has something to hide not because of his selflessness that we originally expected. The audience will now associate the narrator as having an almost psychopathic personality.

At the end of the narration the woman turns to stare towards the camera. This forces the audience to feel a sense of relief due to the denotation of her body language connoting death through symbolism. Due to the timing of her turning around it also makes it seem as if the narrator had been talking out loud. This connotes that they have a close relationship as she could almost read his mind and that maybe she is used to his dark thoughts and accepts them as if they're nothing as she doesn’t have a scared expression on her face. Already, the linear narrative that has lead the audience to confusion through different emotions portrayed. This can be a reflection of the narrative and the characters emotions therefore suggesting the film is a psychological thriller appealing to the target audience who have specific psychogrphics in this sub genre. Although the expression is not scared, she doesn’t appear to be relaxed, instead the straight mouth, wide eyes and lifted eyebrows suggest she is calculating and plotting something in her head. This assisted with the fact she inst looking directly into the camera, which is meant to be the narrators point of view, suggests that maybe we cant trust her as she can’t ‘look you in the eye’. This, to the viewer, creates intrigue into her personality and they expect an aspect of the narrative to explore why she doesn’t trust. They emphasise with her clearly slightly damages state.

             
As the narration moves on, the audience is again forced to change their opinions on the situation. The woman, who initially appeared as the victim begins to appear delirious as she moves slowly pressing her face into the mans stomach and her gaze now appearing threatening rather than loving. The intimacy of her being closer to the man switches the audiences worries from her to his safety. The use of the pale makeup they have used on her emphasises this making her appear ill and linking to her mental state. This could represent her to the audience as having inhuman traits, again adding to the mystery already created around her character. The use of the light in the doorway in the background contrasted with the more low key lighting on the woman herself makes her appear as if she is almost the dark side through the encoding of binary opposition. The fact the light is also in a doorway is significant as is symbolises that the man needs to escape building the tension of the viewer as they worry that the male character will not escape.

This close up shot is then followed up, through the use of a fade away, with an establishing shot featuring the title ‘Gone Girl’ in the centre. The fact that the establishing shot lacks any people suggests the location for the film will be isolated, it could also symbolise the feeling of the characters we just met and how alone they feel. The theme of secrecy is also continued from the first shot in which enigmas are created and not answered, as the use of the sea, dark and isolation have been encoded. This can link to the narrative suggesting that as the audience already know it is a thriller, this location can be the perfect place for typical thriller plots to take place: small, lonely and empty. Furthermore, the fact that the ‘Gone Girl’ title literally disappears through the use of a fade out suggests the narrative. The use of white also symbolising her empty space. So far the audience have only met one woman and this could foreshadow that she will disappear at some point through out the narrative. This conforms to the narrative theory that suggests the target audience appeal to what they know and what they can predict. However, the apposing theory suggesting that the target audience also enjoy a sense of the unknown can also conform to the opening sequence so far as the stock characters in terms of props character theory have not been established and the target audience are still confused and un-trusting towards the characters they have met so far.

The next shot shows Nick stood outside a house. The audience automatically infer that Nick is the male whose voice we heard in the narration in the previous shots. This instantly makes the audience feel threatened by him but also intrigued. This is continued by the hesitation before he turns his back to walk towards the house. His stance is also intriguing as his manly physique, creating the representational issue that all men should aspire for the muscly body type, is contrasted by his hunched posture almost as if he is anxious. The long shot used to frame this shot also keeps the audience in their comfort zone due to their instinct that so far the situation is dangerous: the long shot reflects that they are safer from a distance. However, it might also make some viewers feel like they want to get to know him on a personal level as they feel like they have been mislead towards his intentions making them feel guilty. The theme of juxtaposition is also continued in this shot. The juxtaposition of the abnormal feelings displayed by the male and the uneasy feel the audience generate for themselves after meeting the female for the first time are continued towards the characters. However, this abnormal tone created is juxtaposed to the familiar every day situation of being stood outside of a stereotypical American house and garage and carrying out normal every day activities suggested by the bins in the foreground of the shot, which again the audience can relate to creating a sense of surface realism to his character.

The final shot of the opening sequence remains a long shot outside the front of the house but has moved further away. It allows the audience to see Nick moving back towards the door of the house. As he does the non diegetic musics volume increases and quickens. This builds tension to the audience and makes them anxious to see what events will follow. However, because of the confusion generated towards the characters previously due to various changes in opinions, they will find it difficult to predict what he Is about to do or what is about to happen. This means that the function of the opening sequence has been achieved by the events and semantics encoded by the producer. As the audience are struggling to decode everything and make sense of what is happening, they are intrigued and almost ‘in to deep’ to stop watching now. They are so interested in the dynamics of the characters that have been created that they want to see how the narrative will play out. They have, by now, categorised the film into the thriller genre category and are inferring that the narrative will contain some sort of female disappearance and an attempt to discover where she if and who has taken her.

How will this helps me:
The main thing i can take from this opening sequence is how to use the miss-en-scene to represent characters and relationships. Also how to subtly suggest things about characters without instantly giving their personalities away. This helps to create a creepy tone from the beginning of thriller films as you're not sure weather to trust the character you think you are seeing. I think this is especially effective when meeting characters in a relationship as from previous opening sequence research (see previous blog post on Inception) i realised that when you meet two apposing character types together eg. hero and villain it is important to clarify their roles immediately.