The structure of a story
Death race
The set up
The scene starts off with Jason Statham walking in talking to his wife.
They discuss Jensen’s day at work as his wife asks him for his dirty top, from there they both compliment each other on their feelings about each other.
The couple get intimate but get distracted by the baby monitor. Jensen then goes to make sure their daughter is alright
He then goes to freshen up from a long day at work.
The conflict
His wife is then suddenly killed by a random attacker in their home. Jensen soon comes to find his wife on the floor dead.
In shock he looks up to find this stranger behind him that sprays pepper spray into his eye, everything turns blurry yet Jensen manages to take a quick glance at the killer.
The last image of the killer Jensen has of him is him pointing his fingers like a gun, which is basically a threat. From that point on Jensen had a black out.
He then wakes to his hand covered in blood and holding a knife making it look like he did the murder.
From then he is surrounded by police at gun point. It makes it clear that the killer wanted to frame Jensen
The last image Jensen gets to have of his wife before he gets put in jail is her lying dead next to him.
Jensen then gets into his first fight. The men who started on Jensen victimize him in the garage where they work on the cars for the death race.
Jensen then gets his own back on them by fighting back and winning.
It all becomes clear to Jensen who killed his wife and framed him. He gets his own back during the race and kills him.
Jensen then teams up with another contestant in the race to defeat the guards in one of the other vehicles. They’re plan works and they complete the race together
The resolution
Six months after they found a escape from prison , Joe, Ames, and his daughter are living in Mexico where Case joins them. what goes around comes around.
District 13
District 13 was a French Action film made in 2004.
The set up
Social problems including issues such as Violence, Drugs and Arranged Crime have overrun the poorer ghetto population. This has caused for the Police waiting at checkpoints to stop anybody going in or out.
This image is showing the Audience Leïto (David Belle) in the first scene on a get away from the police.
This happens throughout the film. However half way through, Leïto teams up with a undercover police captain named Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli).
Both characters are amazing at fighting, running and climbing. Which is what makes them a good team.
Their both on a mission for the same thing, which also helps their friendship.
The conflict
The conflict of this story is when both characters go through days on end fighting Drug dealers, the government and Police. They run through every street, house, window or building they come across on their get away. Damien gets framed with something he didn’t do. He then gets caught and put in prison.
The resolution
As a partner Leïto goes to bail him out. They both fight police and do a lot of stunts throughout this.
The pair return to the government building with the bomb and force Mr Krüger to admit that he had planned to blow up B13.
They then film the confession being made and then it is immediately broadcasted by private television across all channels. Leïto and Damien depart as friends.
Scene Analysis
Medium shot
This medium shot is showing the audience of this women waiting at the bus stop.
Medium shot
This other medium shot is showing these women in conversation waiting for the bus.
Over the shoulder close up
This close up is showing the women’s reaction to what their talking about.
Close up
This close up is also showing her reactions.
Establishing shot
This establishing shot is showing the audience the environment around the bus stop and is also showing that the bus they was waiting for finally came.
Medium shot
This shot is showing her response to the comment the other person has just made.
Close up
This close up is showing the women is about to leave the other character, and is sending her a friendly smile.
Matrix Trailer & Final Cut Evaluation
For this assignment we had to use final cut to make a trailer for ‘The Matrix’.
It had to be around one minute long from a ten minute clip from the film. We used an editing software called final Cut pro.
Final Cut Pro is video editing software that allows you to edit footage. To make things more interesting when editing a piece of footage you can use things as transitions; camera effects likefade by fade; filters etc and dissolve.
Once I got the hang of using final cut and getting to know where all the transitions where it made it a lot more easier to use.
Firstly I imported the video into final cut. After it downloaded completely I then went through the ten minute extract selecting parts that I wanted to use in the trailer and put them in the timeline at the bottom of the page.
I then arranged the clips in the correct order. Once all the clips were chosen and put in the time line, I then went through each clip in the timeline and cut out any unnecessary bits at the beginning and end of each clip. I then chose the first two parts I’d like to be at the beginning of the trailer.
Secondly, I made some changes and effects into my trailer such as transitions ect. After I added my effects, I was then taught how to edit text. To add my text I had to click on ‘slug’ then ‘text’ which is where I was able to write the phrases or sentences that I wanted in my trailer.
When it came to sound, I wanted to add in some music in my trailer. I wanted some non diegetic sound. I wanted the audience to feel the vibe the song was giving off as it had similarities to the trailer. I chose to imput a song written by ‘Giggz’ because the lyrics was based around violence and guns which therefore has a connection to the trailer.
I chose to either shorten the clips, make them longer or I moved them around. I kept it simple to help not make it look to typical and to give the trailer a more of an effect with fast cutting action.
I decided to end my trailer with the last mesmerizing scenes in the movie. The last thing that is seen in my trailer is the text ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Coming Soon’.
However using final cut was relatively easy to use,but I wasn’t as confident to using all the equipment because it was my first time using it and I didn’t know where all the functions and effects were although i did have fun experimenting
Finally, I am really satisfied with my trailer. I enjoyed the process I went through to making it. Although I feel I could have added some more things and improve it a bit more but I am happy with the project in overall.
Creating this trailer has taught me a lot about using final cut and the editing process, it was a good experience and It has made me want to learn more about it and use it a bit more.
Early Film Technology
Film technology didn’t start until further into the 19th century. The first films were really short and most often no more than a minute long, aslo, sound wasn’t added to the film until around the 1920′s.
Pioneer: Develop or be the first to use or apply (a new method, area of knowledge, or activity).
A person who is among the first to explore or settle a new country or area.
Well known Pioneers including:
- Eadweard J. Muybridge –
A British photographer who became famous for creating animation locomotion. His technique included taking pictures to capture motion, then he would frame them into a film clip by putting the images into a ‘zoopraxiscope’. Eadweard Muybridge also created the ‘zoopraxiscope’ which is a machine that displays motion pictures on the screen. He’s well known for a piece of animation locomotion that was a 30 second clip of a standard-bred horse trotting. He used these images to create a clip that would show the horse trotting as if you was seeing it in person.
Early Film Technology
Pioneers such as Eadweard J. Muybridge, Thomas Edison and Auguste Lumière and Louis created/invented certain technology techniques that are used in films.
- Thomas Edison
- Auguste Lumière
- Louis
- Eadweard J. Muybridge
Invented certain technology techniques that are used in films.
Eadweard J. Muybridge was known for creating animation locomotion. His technique which sometimes included taking several pictures from a stop-action camera and then framing them into a film clip by putting the images into a zoopraxiscope. Muybridge also created the zoopraxiscope which is an device that displays motion pictures on screen. Some people would consider it to be a modern-day projector which nowadays is used to premier movies on the big screen. His most famous piece of animation locomotion was the 30 second clip of a standard-bred horse trotting. He used these images to create a clip that would show the horse trotting as if you was seeing it in person.
invented certain technology techniques that are used in films.
The first camera to be used in the United States to show animation was called the “wheel of life” or “zoopraxiscope”. William Lincoln created it in 1867. Photographs or moving pictures were watched through a slit in the zoopraxiscope.
A Frenchman called Louis Lumiere is frequently credited as inventing the first motion picture camera in 1895.
The quest to produce motion pictures in realistic colors began the instant that that the first hand cranked cine camera turned. A variety of assorted methods achieved varying degrees of technical and commercial success prior to the introduction of three strip full color Technicolor® in 1934.
As you can see, the color fidelity appears remarkably good, but the image suffers from extreme fringing. This tells us that the camera that took the picture did not expose all the color records simultaneously. Static items, such as the ladders and background are relatively free of artifacts. Moving objects, the two children and the swing, are fringed because movement takes place during the interval between successive exposures.
An example of a tinted film base. Pictured is Jobyna Ralston in Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman
Link – http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/oldcolor.htm
7 Rules of Editing
Rule One:
Don’t ever make a cut without a positive reason.
“The only reason for using another cut is to improve the scene.”
Every cut should be made at a precise and exact point. Some scenes wont need any editing if the composition and camera movement are strong enough to support the requirements of the scene. On particular parts of the scene for example; action and montage sequences they require continuous cuts in order to provide and set the right mood.
Rule Two:
When it’s a difficult choice to decide about the precise frame to cut on, cut long rather than short.
When cutting a filmstrip, it’s easier to trim a bit of extra time than to add more on to increase duration. You have to be careful that you don’t miss out anything and to don’t cut any of the main key parts of the cut.
Rule Three:
Whenever you have the chance, cut in movement.
The concept of this rule is that during movement of any sort, make cuts to enhance the purpose. This wont work without the right command of timing: If you choose to cut too early, the next cut wont make sense and seem inappropriate. If you decide to cut too late, the audience might miss the key information. There is a precise moment to make the cut: close to the dead centre of the action. This is the main purpose of editing: to give communication.
Rule Four: The fresh is preferable to the stale.
A film editor has to avoid the shot being boring or confusing. Because it will be disappointing to the audience if it has a bad managed cut. However, your able to divert the viewer from the moral of the story with even the most good intentioned cut. Frames need to be added between shots, need to do this at the beginning of a new shot so that the viewer accepts the lingering frames for a new angle or shot.
Rule Five: All scenes should begin and end with continuing action.
It isn’t a good choice to begin a scene with an actor doing nothing. A scene should begin as an actor picks up a telephone or walks into the frame. A scene should end with the actor walking out of frame or slamming down the telephone or some sort of ending of the action. This is to ensure that the audience is not bored by getting ahead of the action.
Rule Six: Cut for proper values rather than for proper matches.
In a crisis such as this, cut to match the emotional truth of the scene so as not to cheat the audience of the experience. Even if the action doesn’t match at all, the viewer will be more able to follow the emotional flow of a scene than its specific shortcomings. It is likely that most continuity errors in films are not due to lazy errors on the editor’s part but instead result from decisions to use the strongest emotional performance.
Rule Seven: Substance first—then form.
This one is more of a summary rule than anything else. At all times, an editor must strive to improve the emotional power of a film.
Matrix Evaluation:
This assignment included making a trailer for ‘The Matrix’.
We got given a 10 minute extract from the film and we had to crate a trailer that lasts about a minute.
To make the trailer we had to use final cut pro. As long as u understood what you had to do in terms of using final cut pro and the equipment on final cut, it was simple to use.
At First we individually had to imported the 10 minute matrix video into final cut.
Then i needed to view the extract and start selecting clips that I was going to use in the trailer.
I then had to drag them in to the timeline at the bottom of the page.
Once i made my decision on all the clips and made sure they were selected and put in the time line, I then cropped out any extra bits at the beginning and end of each clip and then i chose what clips i wanted t the start of the trailer.
I then continued putting all the clips in the order that I wanted it in. And once I made my choices with the clips and had a rough idea of the trailer I then made edits and crops where they need be.
I shortened clips, edited them to made them longer or i moved each clip around.
Once i had everything in order I then went on YouTube and found a song that i was going to use a the soundtrack for the matrix then imported it into final cut.
Although it was my first time using final cut i have to say it was easy to catch on with how to use it.
Using final cut pro will take practice to perfect other assignments in the future. Doing the trailer was a good experience and I would now like to learn more about it and use it a bit more.
continuity mistakes
In one picture the car is damaged yet the scene after the car is repaired .
One scene the plane has a specific number plate yet another shot it shows a completely different number
both images have different shades of glasses
Pioneering Techniques
Edwin S. Porter
Cross cutting was important to this film because it gave it rhythm and pace.
Cross cutting is an technique used in movies to show action happening at the same time in two different places. In the film, the cross cut is shown by the camera cutting away from one action to another action.
D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
Griffith was born in Kentucky. He grew up with his fathers black-and-white view of human existence and history. Griffith set out to pursue a career of both acting and writing for the theater. Both choices was unsuccessful. Unwillingly he agreed to act in the new motion picture medium forEdwin S. Porter. Griffith managed to find a more successful job where he directed over 450 short films. Story techniques are the category of the story whilst it is separating before you, in audio or text.
George Méliès
George Méliès
Georges Melies started of as a professional magician. He then first saw the new “moving pictures”. Not long after, Melies started filming and projecting his own creations.
By accident, he discovered that he could use stop-motion photography to render trick visual effects.
Melies coincidentally was the first to use techniques such as the fade-in, the fade-out, and the dissolve to create the first real narrative films.
Melies created over 500 films. His most famous – A Trip to the moon, also known as Voyage to the Moon.
It was a major achievement because around the time it was made it had a coloured background and sound effects. This was a minor breakthrough compared to the times they were in and the quality of the editing techniques.
Alfie Rogers 
Make sure you finish all parts to a merit standard. you are missing lots of the homework.
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