Colour
Colour works on the subconscious mind to create mood.
Over the years the used of colour in film has improved by a lot. The first use of colour was in films such as the film by the pioneer 'Voyage a Travers L'Impossible'. The film was hand painted frame by frame. Before this films did not have any colour and were simply in black and white. Once colour started to be used in films it was very overexaggerated for example in the film 'The Wizard of OZ.'
The next development of colour was the introduction of 'two-strip technicolor' using red and green. For example in the film 'The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)'
The technicolor system:
The first full three strip technicolour was 'Becky Sharp' (1935)
From the year 1930 to the year 1940 the colours black and white represented reality and colour would represent fantasy and spectacle such as in the film 'The Wizard of OZ(1939)' There is a difference between the real world and fantasy world which is shown from the dramatic change in colour and the
over exaggerated colours in OZ.
Colour denotation and connotation
Colour denotation is the literal description of an idea concept or object and colour connotation is what we associate with a particular idea, concept or object. For example the colour red denotation is a particular wavelength on the electromagnetic spectrum and the connotation would be anger, blood or danger etc.
Non-Diegetic/Digetcic Sounds
There are different types of sounds used by the film industry. For example digetic and non-diegetic sounds. Examples of diegetic sound could be, sound effects or music from a radio and non-digetic sounds could be the soundtrack.
Digetic sounds can be edited for example if you wanted the sound of footsteps over a part of a film this could be added and then made to fade. This type of sound can create more mystery, even silence can be added to a part of a film so the viewer pays more attention.
Firstly the opening sequence is effective as we are introduced to the main charachter at the beggining of the film. There are many cuts used in the opening sequence of 'Casino Royal'. The cuts in the beggining of Casino Royale are slower as the carachters are being introduced. As the sequence progresses the cuts speed up so each scene only lasts a matter of seconds. The more cuts help the action appear more fast paced. This is a good effect to use for an action scene. Slower editing would be used in a genre such as a romance or comedy.
Different types of lighing are used in the opening sequence to show different things, very high key lighting is used in a flash back of fighing scence. The lighting used also shows the change in setting, as the scene starts of with very low key lighting. This also could suggest something about the charachter James Bond as it shows him in two different lights. Using the low key lighting could show his more dark and mischevious and in control side and the high key lighting could have been used to show him as his true self when he was being more careless with his kill.
There are two versions of "The Manchurian Candidate." They are both based on the cold war.
Manchurian Candidate 1962
Director:John Frankenheimer
Cast:
Khigh Dheigh- Dr.
Yen Lo
James Edwards
-Cpl. Allen Melvin
Douglas Henderson
-Col. Milt
Albert Paulsen -
Zilkov
Barry Kelley -
Secretary of Defense
Lloyd Corrigan -
Holborn Gaines
Robert Riordan -
Benjamin K. Arthur
Frank Sinatra -
Maj. Bennett Marco
Laurence Harvey - Raymond Shaw Angela Lansbury -
Mrs. Iselin
Janet Leigh
-Eugenie Rose Chaney
James Gregory -
Sen. John Yerkes Iselin
Henry Silva -
Chunjin
Leslie Parrish -
Jocelyn Jordan
John McGiver -
Sen. Thomas Jordan
Genre:Suspense thriller
There are two
versions of "The Manchurian Candidate." They are both based on the
cold war. In this film a son of a right wing political family is brainwashed as
an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.
Trailer 1962
This version of Manchurian Candidate is in black and white. The graphics in this version are also not as good as in the version that was done in 2004 as it is a lot older. Both of them differ slightly in the way the story is told. This trailer is effective as too much is not revealed about the film. The text also goes along with the film effectively and makes the audience want to come an view it early as it says that if you turn up late you won't be able to understand what is going on.
Manchurian
Candidate 2004
Director:Jonathan Demme
Cast:
Ted Levine -
Colonel Howard
Miguel Ferrer -
Colonel Garret
Dean Stockwell -
Mark Whiting
Charles Napier -
General Sloan
Jude Ciccolella -
David Donovan
Tom Stechschulte -
Governor Robert "Bob" Arthur
Pablo Schreiber -
PFC Eddie Ingram
Anthony Mackie-
PFC Robert Baker III
Robyn Hitchcock -
Laurent Tokar
Obba Babatundé –
Senator Wells
Zeljko Ivanek -
Vaughn Utly
David Keeley -
Agent Evan Anderson
Denzel Washington
- Major Bennett Marco
Liev Schreiber - Congressman
Raymond Prentiss Shaw (the "Manchurian candidate")
Meryl Streep -
Senator Eleanor Prentiss Shaw
Kimberly Elise -
Eugenie Rose
Jon Voight -
Senator Thomas Jordan
Vera Farmiga -
Jocelyne Jordan
Jeffrey Wright-
CPL Al Melvin
Simon McBurney –
Dr. Atticus Noyle
Bruno Ganz - Delp
Ann Dowd -
Congresswoman Beckett
Trailer 2004
The later Manchurian Candidate is set in Kuwait which makes it more appropriate and immediate for the viewing audience. The suddenness of the sound as soon as the video comes on screen creates a more dramatic effect as well as the fast Cuts leaving the audience guessing what is going to happen next and why it happened. The text used in the middle of cuts is also effective as it tells the audience that little bit more about the film by instructing them to pay more attention. For example it uses the words "look closely" and "listen carefully." The sound of the heartbeat in the background near the beginning of the trailer ads to tension during the trailer.
The big names in the film industry are also shown, such as Denzel Washington, this is a good marketing technique and will appeal more to the audience as they may want to watch the film more if a well know actor is in it. This film seems to appeal to an older target audience but it may appeal to some younger viewers.
This clip is quite emotional due to the graphics of the pictures shown which are upsetting, the images also tell the audience that the film has something to do with what happened during a war. The pictures are effective in the way they create emotion. Continuity editing in this clip is also effective and is done well, as it uses slow cuts any mistakes would have been more noticeable. Also as the clip progresses the cuts appear to become faster which creates a more dramatic effect, this is a good effect to use in a thriller as most thrillers use dramatic scenes.
Alfred Hitchcock is one of the best film directors/producers. He includes the conventions of a thriller in his films sucessfully. The Manchurian Candidate is sucessfull in using some of these conventions. For example, it uses suspence as the veiwer is left not knowing certain things in parts of the film. Such as what parts are dreams and what parts are reality. Other things however are left out such as the use of a red herring. The film also does not use a MacGuffin.
Overall the film was not that enjoyable and could have included more conventions of a thriller.
This lighting set-up uses a backlight, fill light and key light. The subject is then placed in the middle of these points.
1) Filler Light 2) Key Light 3) Backlight
Key light is the brightest out of all the lights and the most influential.
Backlight helps to counteract the effect of the key light and can create an outline or silhouette.
Filler Light softens the harsh shadows created by the back and key lights.
Under lighting is another type of lighting. It is mostly used in the thriller/horror genre and this light source mainly comes from bellow the subject. Top Lighting is the opposite of under lighting as the main source of light comes from above highlighting features and can create a more glamorous look. Backlighting is when the main source of light comes from behind the subject. If no other lighting is used silhouettes are created.
Low-Key and High Key Lighting Low-key(chiaroscuro) lighting is created by using only the back and key lights. This creates a sharp contrast of light and dark areas on the screen as deep, distinct shadows are formed. More filler lights are used to create high key lighting so that the light appears more realistic.
Low Key Lighting
High Key lighting
In the film Noir, low-key lighting is used to show the darker side of human nature and gives a stonger contrast between dark and light.
Editing- is the process of looking at all the footage shot during the making of a film/tv programme and placing it in the desired order and joining it together.
Eye line match- we see the character looking at something off screen and then there is a cut to a shot of what they are looking at.
Match on action- We see a character start an action in one shot and then see them continue that action in the next shot.
Sound Bridge- a bridge between two scenes.
Double Graphic Match- For example a drop of water that turns into the earth then the earth turns into a traffic light.
Graphic Match- When two shots are linked with a particular shape or image. For example a Paramount logo becoming a mountain.
Space Odyssey
Psycho
180 degree rule- Two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subject it is called crossing the line.
Mise-en-scene is a french term meaning 'in the scene frame.' The elements of mise-en-scene are:
Settings and props
Costume, hair and make up
Facial expressions and body language
Lighting and colour
Positioning of characters and objects in the frame
There are different types of colour- denotation and connotation
Scenes in films use different shots, these can be in the:
Foreground- Front of the scene Background- Back of the scene
In the film 'Casino Royal' colour is used to show a flashback. The present setting is in colour and the flashback in a very bright colour, the viewer is then able to distinguish the difference between the two settings.
This same technique is used in an earlier film 'The Wizard Of OZ' where Dorothy is taken to the magical OZ, which uses lots over done colours. This setting contrasts with the one at the beginning which is in black and white.
George Melies was a pioneer who first used colour in film. This film was called 'Voyage a Travers L'Impossible.'
Denotation is the literal description of an idea concept or object.
Connotation is what we associate with a particular idea, concept or object.
Colour works on the subconscious mind to create mood. A good example of this is in 'We Need To Talk About Kevin.'
In this scene the red tomatoes give an image of blood and guts.
The colour red is used a lot throughout this film, creating a feel of danger.
Other colours in 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' and what they could suggest:
