analysis of city of god

The opening scene of city of god implies to the audience that the film will be a violent action movie. We can see this because there is multiple use of a variety of weapons like guns etc. throughout the first two mins of the movie. The location also helps the audience know that the film will be a gritty action movie most likely set in slums of a worn down part of a low income country. This is made evident by the dilapidated buildings and masses of trash on the streets. We are shown all of this location brilliantly because the camera follows the man chasing the chicken through the streets of the set and the audience is given a bigger insight.

Initial film

Initial idea

Plot summary: We are going to make a horror spoof which will consist of quirky comedy. A young boy will wake up in the middle of the night and we will use very dim lighting to create a spooky effect and set the mood of the film early on. Then the child would walk down the stairs following a trail of blood and slip on the blood and tumble down the stairs. This would show the quirky side of the intro informing the viewers that it is not all a serious horror movie. Also whilst he falls we will have funny music in the background which will contrast to the spooky build up music we would add whilst the child wakes up and follows the trail outside his room. The child then screams out to his mother and then his father and he gets no reply. He starts to panic and keeps following the trail of blood down to the basement. He goes inside the basement and sees the ghost hiding really obviously and stares at the ghost for a while. The ghost then goes “boo" and starts to attack the child in a funny manner. The child accidentally hits the ghost whilst trying to protect himself and the ghost starts to cry out load. Then the ghost calls his aunt and complains about the profession of being a ghost and how hard it is. The child then casually goes to the window and screams "my mummy my daddy" and the film opening comes to a end

Setting/props:  The setting will be a large house on the end of a street that is isolated from all the other houses on the street. It will have a large rusty iron door that creeks when it opens and closes. Also the windows will have bars attached to them making a prisoner effect.

Characters:  There will be a young boy and a middle aged ghost.

Genre: spoof horror

Target audience description

I did multiple research about my target audience so I could mould and sculpt my movie opening to suit them. I found that most people who watch the thriller genre were males aged 25-39 this is as i anticipated because most men like fight scenes and action in contrast to women who are may prefer a softer and light-hearted movie. I will try add many action scenes and make the violence level a little higher to satisfy the audience. My target audience are men who have probably left university and are in full time work therefore they might not have that much time to visit the cinema and watch movies. Therefore I will try my best to make my movie as memorable and exiting and possible so the audience feel like they have had their money’s worth and would come back for a possible sequel in the future.

Editing Techniques

  

Continuity editing:

Continuity editing primarily suggests directing the audience through a collage of events and during this journey you showcase what the audience want to see and expect to see also what you want them to see. At the end you have shown and told a story you want with a satisfying ending. In dramatic films the best editors can manipulate the plot slightly to make an extra dramatic affect sometimes leaving the audience thinking and not closing the film with a satisfying ending such as Inception where the dreidel is spun at the end by Leonardo DiCaprio and the audience are not told whether the dreidel drops to indicate that he is in reality or keeps going to indicate he is in a dream. This was done brilliantly by the editors however if done incorrectly can leave audience members unsatisfied.

Accelerating time:

In films and videos it’s essential to keep an audience interested and engaged with the film or video therefore there has to be certain things in films that are done most likely in a montage such as a girl getting dressed for a date in a movie which works very well because the audience still see what is going on whilst the girl is getting ready but the montage only shows you the best bit that are usually funny or interesting. Also this allows makers of the movie to have more time to spend on dramatic scenes that the audience came to watch like a final battle in a war movie.

Expanding time

Expanding time is mostly used by editors to create suspense and tension for example In horror movies the actors might be sitting watching tv and the ghost might be behind them slowly approaching them but only the audience knows about this therefore the ghost approaching the people is very expanded usually with loud dramatic instrumental to create even more effect and tension. This is a very good effect to engage the audience with the movie and makes it more of a thrilling experience.

Cause, effect and motivation:

Editors must have a good understanding of human psychology to be able to create realistic cause and effect relationships making them believable to audiences. Many dramatic films are made where the actions just are not realistic or believable therefore the audience won’t be satisfied because they might feel like there intelligence has been insulted. For example in a movie if a husband is getting stabbed or hit in front of his wife who loves him very much she would not be laughing because that’s unrealistic and makes no sense. She would most likely be crying or shouting in despair.

Insert shot:

This is a basic close up of something within the basic scene typically visible during an establishing or wide shot. This shot is usually to show important information such as a note or letter that adds to the story.

Showing causality: This is basically implemented to show or explain a cause of something. The editors have a duty to keep the audience up to date with what's going in in the movie because if it is not explained the audience would get confused.

Continuity techniques: A common continuity technique is a montage. This basically brings together many different things a character might do during a film which would probably take a hour or longer and only show the main or key points therefore not wasting time and keeping the audience engaged.

Relational editing: This is editing of shots for the purpose of contrast or comparison of content. This was done brilliantly in the God father when the film cuts back and forth from the christening to the murders of the heads of the other crime families. It forced the audience to consider Michaels deceit and hypocrisy.

Thematic editing: This is also known as montage editing where images are edited together based only on a central theme. This may be used at the start of a film to set the tone and give the audience insight.

Parallel editing: Also known as cross cutting is the technique of alternating two or more scenes that often happen simultaneously but in different locations. This is often used to create tension and to build up to a climax.

Preliminary Task

1) At a micro technical level, how well did you observe the conventions of continuity and the language of editing?

Our scene involved two students who attend the same sixth form sitting opposite each other having a brief exchange of words about how one of them has "snitched" on the other. We demonstrated match on action when Evans opened the door to enter the scene. We cut from a POV shot of Evans pushing the door open to a wide shot from inside the room of the door swinging open. These two shots were seamless. We also used match on action at the point when Evans slams his phone down on the table in anger after cutting from over the shoulder shot of the two students. We demonstrated shot reverse shot when the two students were exchanging conversation by keeping on switching the over shoulder shots from over one students shoulder to the other.

2) What were you pleased with? What seems to work well and why?

I was very happy with the seamless editing that we did. The editing really gave the whole video a very smooth and refined finished which made it look very professional. Also the match on action was presented very nicely during the video and is the use of it is evident. When Evans throws the bag from the sofa he was going to sit on was captured beautifully and executed perfectly. The over the shoulder shots are smooth and seamless. Also we kept the 180 degree rule in mind for whole duration of the conversation. The audience won’t have any doubts or misconceptions on where or the actors are facing or speaking to.

3) What mistakes did you make? What would have done differently?

I think that our lighting whilst filming could have been better if we had acquired an external light or had been in another room with a window that lets the sun be the light. The room we filmed in was too dark and it was hard to see the actor’s faces. I also think the dialogue could be a little longer making the conversation better to watch on screen because it was a little vague.

4) How did you manage the group dynamics equipment and resources?

We had limited resource like the battery length was quite small so we would have to take breaks in between the shooting to charge the camera battery. Also the people in my group were new to Ernest Bevin so i had never spoke to them before therefore i had to get to know them in order for our group to be as successful as possible. Also our camera we were filming with was not the best quality so we had to move some lights and props around to create the best view for audiences despite the poor camera quality.

5) What problems did you encounter logistically?

We had some issues with everyone coming to film at the same time because one day a person in the group would be off sick therefore we would have to re schedule the shooting. However that was the only problem because the whole group stuck to the shooting schedule with great punctuality.