Lost Task

I had completed the Shanghai Noon and Alien task in class. However, I didn't put it on my blog straight away, which meant i unfortunately lost it. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Evaluation

This unit involved a lot of work. I had to think harder than I normally would have in creative media. I encountered a few problems during this unit. Firstly, I didn't understand the in depth meaning of cinematography, mise-en-scene and sound and editing. This made it harder for me when it came to the essay. Secondly, there wasn't enough time allocated for writing the essay. Thirdly, analysing films is quite boring, in my opinion, so I think the unit should be made more interesting in the future. The in class discussions did help me understand the different elements. I liked the genre recipe activity, as it made learning about various genres a lot easier. The biggest thing I have learnt through this unit is how to discuss film elements in a logical way. I didn't plan as well as I could have. My draft was very late (better late than never) so I didn't get as much feed back on it as I could have. That will something I will do differently next time. I have learnt planning is important. My essay was rushed, which means it wasn't to my normal standard. The essay writing process was tedious and boring.  I researched my directors well, which gave me an extra insight to the concepts and execution of the movies. I believe I should get an A on my essay, as the final result was quite pleasing. If I could go back and change anything, the amount of planning I did would be all. If I were to start all over again, I would most likely have a completely different essay. The proper drafting would have completely changed the direction of my essay, allowing me to produce an amazing essay. This unit involved a lot of work. I had to think harder than I normally would have in creative media. I encountered a few problems during this unit. Firstly, I didn't understand the in depth meaning of cinematography, mise-en-scene and sound and editing. This made it harder for me when it came to the essay. Secondly, there wasn't enough time allocated for writing the essay. Thirdly, analysing films is quite boring, in my opinion, so I think the unit should be made more interesting in the future. The in class discussions did help me understand the different elements. I liked the genre recipe activity, as it made learning about various genres a lot easier. The biggest thing I have learnt through this unit is how to discuss film elements in a logical way. I didn't plan as well as I could have. My draft was very late (better late than never) so I didn't get as much feed back on it as I could have. That will something I will do differently next time. I have learnt planning is important. My essay was rushed, which means it wasn't to my normal standard. The essay writing process was tedious and boring.  I researched my directors well, which gave me an extra insight to the concepts and execution of the movies. I believe I should get an A on my essay, as the final result was quite pleasing. If I could go back and change anything, the amount of planning I did would be all. If I were to start all over again, I would most likely have a completely different essay. The proper drafting would have completely changed the direction of my essay, allowing me to produce an amazing essay.

Moulin Rouge Element Analysis

Note: I haven't seen Moulin Rouge, so my answers are just based off the opening scene.

Concept: Breif description of the story. It is set in the city of Paris in 1900. It is about a writer and the women he once loved. He will start to tell his story from the beginning.

Theme: A description of the movies overarching theme.
I think it's about love and lose. How easy it is to fall in love but how much it hurts when you lose it.
What do you see?
Everything started out black and white. Dark colours are seen in the first sweep of the city, then new, brighter colours are introduced. Filth and loud party's are contrasted.
What do you hear?
The man was singing, telling his story through song. The music starts off sad, the people at the pub are heard. The second shot through the city the party is the predominant sound. The music then starts to cheer up.

What do you feel?
Overall I feel sympathetic towards the man. In the begining there is a coldness to everything. Then later in the clip you feel glad that the city isn't as miserable as it first appeared. Happy that there are some people enjoying life.
What does it make you wonder?
I want to know the full story, what could of happened to make him so sad. Who is the Sparkling Dimond.

Common Elements in Various Genres

Action-  Violence, protagonists, antagonists, pyrotechnics, suspense, car chases, guns,  
Adventure- Tasks/quests, outlaws, native people, Comedy- Humorous moments, exaggerated circumstances,  
Crime and Gangster- Drugs, illegal operations, secrets, corruption, 
Drama-  Dramatic circumstances, tragedy, miracles,
Epic Historical- Large scale battles, huge amount of death, based on a historical event,   
Horror- Mystery, surprises, shock, twists, murder, gore, isolation,   
Musical/Dance-  Music, spontaneous songs and dances,
Science Fiction- Fictional ideas and concepts, aliens, spaceships, alien languages, different planets, futuristic technology, monsters,  
War- Massive battles, death, hero, guns, violence, concentration camps,
Westerns- Cowboys, Indians, guns, show downs, western music, pretty girls, horses,   

Examples of Antagonists and Protagonists

- Spiderman & Green Goblin
- Micheal Scofield & the Company
- Robin Hood & the Sheriff 
- Batman & the Joker
- Mr Shoe & Couch 'forget her name'

The Stages of Monomyth

DEPARTURE
The Call to Adventure
The hero starts off in a mundane situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the unknown.

Refusal of the Call
Often when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.

Supernatural Aid
Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known. More often than not, this supernatural mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans or artifacts that will aid them later in their quest.

The Crossing of the First Threshold
This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.

Belly of The Whale
The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. By entering this stage, the person shows willingness to undergo a metamorphosis.

INITIATION
The Road of Trials
The road of trails is as series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.

The Meeting With the Goddess INITIATION
This is the point when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely.
  
Woman as Temptress
This step is about those temptations that may lead the hero to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.
 
Atonement with the Father
In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power.


Apotheosis
When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.

The Ultimate Boon
The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.

RETURN
Refusal of the Return
Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.

The Magic Flight
Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.

Rescue from Without
Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, oftentimes he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience.

The Crossing of the Return Threshold
The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world. This is usually extremely difficult.

Freedom to Live
Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.

Mise-en-scene and Cinematography Exercise

My group consisted of Rebecca and Jamie.
Our chosen genre was horror.
The story is as follows:
It's the first day of school and Mia is unable to find Kate (her best friend).  Mia looks everywhere for her,  with no success, Kate can't be found. Strangely no one is around to ask, the school is deserted even though it's 9am. Mia is sick of carrying around her bag, so she goes to put it away before resuming the search for Kate. The locker room is really dark, the lights haven't been turned on yet. It hard to see inside, so Mia carefully walks in. Mia is half way down the corridor when she spots a leg sticking out form the shadow. Immediately she knows its Kate. She approaches carefully. Kate is lying on the ground unconscious. Mia leans over her to check her pulse, when doing so, she hears a deep breathing sound. Mia knows the killer is behind her, to save them the statifactipon of a scared face, she bravely turns around to seal her fate.
The pictures we took don't depict every aspect of the story but you get the basic idea.
In terms of editing we just used basic functions of adjusting the exposure and the brightness/contrast to create a darker and more eerie effect.

Epic Genre Research

Epic movies have heroic exploits, that are mingled with adventures from myth and legend. Epics have a great length, expanding to 3 hours or more.
"Epics often take an historical or imagined event, mythic, legendary, or heroic figure, and add an extravagant setting and lavish costumes, accompanied by grandeur and spectacle and a sweeping musical score. 

Epics, costume dramas, historical dramas, war film epics, medieval romps, or 'period pictures' are tales that often cover a large expanse of time set against a vast, panoramic backdrop. In an episodic manner, they follow the continuing adventures of the hero(s), who are presented in the context of great historical events of the past.

Epics are historical films that recreate past events. They are expensive and lavish to produce, because they require elaborate and panoramic settings, on-location filming, authentic period costumes, inflated action on a massive scale and large casts of characters. 

As epics often rewrite history, accuracy is sometimes sacrificed: the chronology is telescoped or modified, and the political/historical forces take a back seat to the personalization and ideological slant of the story."

Epic Films, http://www.filmsite.org/epicsfilms.html (22.2.10)