Children
of Men
Children of men are set in 2027 where Women have somehow
become infertile. A former Activist named Theo agreed to help transport a woman
who has miraculously become pregnant after 20 years or so to a sanctuary at
sea.
Format/Genre:
This is a feature film. A feature film is a full-length film
normally has a running time of 1hr 40mins or more. The genre of Children of men
is Science fiction as this film is set in the year 2027 but however does not
look like it within the opening scene of the film as it is set in London where
you see the old transport vehicles used in the past but has some features in
the background that make us believe that it is set in the future such as
advertisements on the windows of huge buildings. Also the situation of the film
makes us believe that it is set in the future as Women no longer are able to
have babies.
Narrative Features:
Children of men is a linear film as it doesn't have any
flashbacks and is set in a realistic world but is set in the time period of
2027. Children of men is a single strand film as the camera focuses on the main
character, Theo, when all the action happens we focus mainly on Ki and Theo as
they tend to be the most important characters within the whole film even though
we meet Ki at a later stage within the film but she has a great impact as the
film goes on.
The Narrative pace for the film is fast paced as there is a
lot happening in the background and in the focus and the story of the film is
done really quick as there is a lot of action scenes throughout the film. As
every film, this film is short as the story is told in 2 hrs. or so, where as
long form would be a story that continues over a large amount of time, this can
be done in a TV show.
The opening scene of children of men show us Theo in a
coffee shop getting coffee and looking at the news about the youngest guy at
the age of 18 dying, this suggests that something has happened where women
can't have babies anymore. Then as Theo goes out of the shop, we see a place
where we think that its gone into the past as there weren't any cars and
instead people drove on carriage type vehicles but however the place had
aspects of futuristic mis-en-scene in the background, for example it had
billboard displays on windows of offices/building to make us believe that this
is a realistic setting of a futuristic London
In the ending of the film we see Ki, Theo and the baby get
onto a small boat that heads into the ocean where they wait for the Human
project boat as it is the last hope for human civilisation. Throughout this
scene, we finally see Theo as a kind and caring guy who helps the baby stop
crying and then as the baby stops crying, Theo dies as he lost too much blood
when Theo was shot by Luke as they were heading to the boat that led them to
the human project.
The information to the audience is given mainly through
dialogue and the action that happens throughout the film.
Technical Methods:
Within the car scene, it was shot in the car which means that there would be a lot
of close up shots of the actors within the car and their reactions. However,
the camera movement isn't clear and you can see that there is a bit of jittery
movement as if someone was holding a camera in their hands. The camera also has
been done so that you can see all around 360 degrees this is good so you can
see the whole cast and their reactions but also the surroundings of everything
that is happening outside the car. You can also see that there are panning
shots when the camera goes out of the car this shows us what the location of
the scene is but also later in that scene the camera follows Theo than the
action which suggests that Theo will be more important than the action that
goes around him.
The director for this film has decided not to use a lot of editing and film it
all in one take and once a cut or a piece of editing has been used it shows
that the action has ended and we can breath now. The editing within the film
has been done so that we use that editing as a breather and to let us know that
all the action that has happened has finished. But also makes us not want to
look away for any second as it makes us feel that its a realistic scene that
could happen with the use of no editing. This scene also follows the rhythm of
the music in the background as it gives us a guidance as to how fast the scene
will be
Within the car Scene in 'Children of men', you can see a wide range of objects
and mis-en-scene. The first object we see, before the action is the ping pong
ball that Theo and Julian use for enjoyment, the action between the Ping pong
ball and the characters shows us that Theo and Julian has had a sexual
relationship between one another before the crisis. This makes us feel that the
Julian and Theo have had a relationship in the past but something didn’t work out between them. Later on in the scene, we see a burning car coming from the
woods towards the road they were driving which give us an impression that
something the action is about to begin. But, before the burning car and all the
action we see an orange is given to Ki to eat and then later on in the film we
see a Russian grandma giving a orange to the baby of Ki. During the action of
the scene, we see people in camouflage clothing coming out of the woods on
the abandoned road with baseball bats in their hands and then later see 2
motorcyclist trying kill Theo and Julian with guns and full black motorcyclist
outfits, this scene makes us believe that someone doesn’t want them to
protect the baby and are willing to kill her to stop this.
Throughout the whole scene we hear radio playing in the background even in the
action but a bit quieter this is to set the rhythm of the whole scene
so if the radio music playing is fast paced you will know something will
happen and so this music tends to be digetic and rhythmic music which is realistic
music that might be played on the radio in a car. We also the car noise to tell
us that their in a abandoned road as the only car you can hear is their car
that their driving in. The music from the radio also blends in with the sound
effects of all the vehicles and screaming happening outside of the car. At the
end of the scene we hear the bullet that is shot by Luke when the police come
and then after the bullets have been shot, we hear a ringing sound effect as if
we were in the scene and then to finish of the scene we hear birds chirping as
the car drives of.
The lighting throughout the scene tends to be dark but as Julian is shot or any
blood is shown, we see the blood as lighter to emphasis what has happened.
However, at the beginning we see the relationship between Theo and
Julian by the use of the Ping-Pong game and the dialogue they have between each
other as Julian has said that Theo snores. As Julian is shot Miriam tries to
help her and give advice of what to do this suggests that she is a caring woman
and possibly knows something about medical stuff. As the scene goes on we see
Ki as a direct but funny (at times) character. As the Burning car comes down we
hear Luke say, "I can't outrun them' as he slows the car down, this
suggests that he didn't want them to escape. all the lines in this scene help
decide what will happen next in the film and possibly reveal who the villain is
in the film and who the hero/heroine is.
The Blacklist
The plot begins with Raymond 'Red' Reddington (Played by
James Spader) who is a former US navy officer who turned into a high-profile
criminal, volunteers to surrender to the FBI after being disappeared for
decades. He tells the FBI the list of the most dangerous criminals in the world
that he has come up with over the years, he has called this list 'The
Blacklist' and is willing to help guide them to the criminals in exchange for
immunity over prosecution. However, he will only speak to Elizabeth Keen,
who is a rookie FBI profiler
Format/Genre:
The Blacklist is An American Crime/Drama TV serial that
premiered on the American TV channel, NBC, on 23rd September 2013 and is a
continuous TV show. The show is a serial instead of a series as the plot is
answered throughout the season instead of having a plot that is revealed each
episode. The show can be put into a variety of different genres, but the main
genre that it goes under is Crime/Drama as each episode there is some sort of
crime investigation happening but also has a bit of drama as Elizabeth deals
with emotional issues at home but also the emotional relationship of Redding
and her.
Narrative Features:
The Blacklist is a linear TV show as it has no flashbacks
and has a continuous story that happens throughout the season but also has
separate stories within each episode that includes one of the criminals from
the blacklist being captured. This TV series is a single strand series as we
are introduced to a limited number of characters that are within the FBI and
the criminal each episode. The narrative pace for the show is slow pace
as we only get to know 1 of the members of the blacklist and it doesn’t
directly give out all the names on the list, but however the relationship
between Elizabeth and Reddington has a fast narrative pace as we get to know
their stories quicker in each episode.
The TV show is short form as each episode is split up into
40 or so minutes and is not in a long form as its not over 2 or 3 hrs each
episode. They have done this so that it draws attention to people watching, as
they will want to know what will happen next and normally leaves the episode in
some sort of a cliff-hanger. The Blacklist is a Realistic TV Show as it is set
the real world where something like this could happen but also doesn't use any
flashbacks this also suggest its realistic.
The Opening of the first season start with Reddington
surrendering to the FBI, this suggests that he will be the main person that
will be in the series. Also, we immediately ask ourselves why did he surrender.
However, the closing of the first season show us one of the
top criminals getting captured but we yet don't know who the master criminal is
because as we find out that later that the person captured was in fact working
for an organisation called the Kabal.
Technical Methods:
Throughout the series there is a bunch of technical methods
used to show the realism of the situation. One of the scenes in Season 2
episode 22 shows us a reporter reporting at a crime scene. Within the
background we see a variety of different props such as Police cars, ambulances,
other reporters and even people witnessing what is happening. There are quick
jump cuts throughout the episode to show how fast paced it is but also it has a
close up of Elizabeth when she shot Tom Connolly who had worked for the Kabal and
is apart of the government, this is to show the facial expressions from her as
this is not typically what she does and that she is as shocked. As the audience
watching it, we were shocked as well as we didn’t expect her to do something
like this.
The editing
throughout the series is very fast paced and has cuts after cuts this is to
show how quickly everything is happening but also it doesn't give us a breather
that lets us calm down after all the action that has happened because its
action upon action. We follow Keen on her journey after we found out that she
infected the senator and so she is the main person the camera will be focusing
on but also the FBI agents that she worked with to see their reactions and how
their going to deal with it.
Within the FBI agency and outside the lighting is darker
than usual to show that its on lock down and something has happened. Within the
agency the colours used is mainly black and red but outside the colours are grey
as we see the grey clouds and it’s not the typical sunny weather.
Once, Tom Connolly got shot, Elizabeth's Boss (Harold
Cooper) told Elizabeth to "RUN" this suggests that she will become
like Reddington and will be on the run in the future who will try to not get
arrested for shooting one of the people that worked for the government.
The sounds that were being used were very dramatic in some
places to show that something dramatic has happened and that there will be
something happening but however in some other places there was no audio in the
background, this was to emphasise the dialogue between the characters
Within this episode the audience felt shocked, as this isn’t
something Elizabeth would do but also we see what would happen if didn’t come
through to the FBI and make a run for it just as Harold Cooper told her to do.
Orphan
Black
The plot of the Orphan black is that a streetwise hustler is
pulled into a world of compelling conspiracies after she witnessed a girl
committing suicide that looked exactly like her.
Form/Genre:
Orphan Black is a TV series that premiered on
BBC America in March 2013. It explores a variety of different genres such as
Action, Drama and Sci-fi. Orphan Black is a Series instead of a Serial as each
episode, the plot is answered but there are also some clues as to what will
happen next episode. I believe that the main genre it goes under is Sci-fi as
it shows how a bunch of clones try to get answers whilst getting a cure to stop
a disease that is spreading between the clones.
Narrative Features:
Orphan black is a non-linear TV show as it has
some flashbacks here and there to show what the character was thinking or dreaming
of but also it goes back to previous events that have already happened. Orphan
Black is a Multi-strand TV show as it not only shows one main hero/heroin but
shows that each clone is a hero in their own way and so throughout the seasons
we see them evolve into individual people.
The narrative pace of the series is slow as we
see each episode, each of the clones has their own plot that they try to get
resolved but also has a main story line that they try to follow. It is a short
form series as each episode is only 44 minutes and not over 2hrs.
The
opening of the first episode of season one, we see Sarah Manning at the train
station witness a suicide of a woman who exactly looks like her. She then tries
to take her identity to later realizing that she is apart of a cloning
experiment. The Season closes of with Sarah Manning coming home to get Kira
(her daughter) but then she discovered that her house has been ransacked with
no sight of Kira. This is a good ending to end the season as we want to know if
she will find her daughter and left us in suspense as to what will happen next.
Technical Methods:
We start the scene with a close up of Helena
looking happy into a box with the background being nice blue sky, making us
feel like its summer. Then later we see a mid shot of Helena and Sarah talking
to each other which then pans over to when the other clone comes out of the
house with cupcakes in her hand and Felix grilling something which suggest that
they are celebrating something special. After this we get a mid shot of one of
the other clones coming in and dressing in traditional clothing with some bread
in her hand. Later on we see a close up of only Helena lying down and relaxing
where she soon realizes that she is not in that place but instead is stuck
inside a box in the middle of nowhere.
Throughout this scene we see that there is very
smooth editing and panning across one another but once Helena realizes that
this was just a dream, the camera editing has done a quick close up of Helena's
to see the emotions that she has. This editing also shows us that this might
not be a reality as it is very slow and calm when this series is very fast
paced so we get a feeling that this might not be a reality that she’s living in
and might all just be a dream.
Within the first part of the scene we hear nice
and happy music playing in the background which suggests that its a very friendly
environment but as Helena goes to shut her eyes the music automatically fades
into spooky and dark music to make us feel that something is about to happen to
Helena and that it was all a happy dream.
The lighting within the first part of the scene
is very bright with the sun in the sky everyone enjoying themselves, this
however makes up believe that this is a fantasy or a dream that Helena is
having as its very bright and colourful, but as Helena closes her eyes, the
lighting and the mood becomes very dark and mysterious as all we can see is a
scorpion that she is talking to inside a large box, this makes us feel as if
Helena was in danger.
Within
this scene we see that the props used are very family oriented props that are
being given to Helena to celebrate her baby shower, some of the props we see in
this are; a teddy bear which represents family, baby shoes to fit the baby
which tells us that the people are going to look after the baby if something
goes wrong. We also see one of the clones wearing some traditional clothing from
Helena's country with some of the traditional food that has been freshly made.
In the background we also get a glimpse to see that there are banners, balloons
and party decorations with a sign above the door that uses baby clothing to
tell us that this is a happy environment. But then as Helena falls asleep we
see a scorpion coming out of her dress that tells us that everything is about
to change for Helena and the situation. Then as this scene continues we see
Helena is trapped inside a box talking to a scorpion that she had met once.
After she realizes that she is inside a box we get to see where she really is.
As she looks through the hole we soon realize that she is inside a military
looking place with bars and a desk opposite to the other side.
0 comments:
Post a Comment