Editing analysis task

The French Connection 

Subway/car chase scene 

The expository seconds of this extract from the fast paced 70s police/crime thriller uses plenty of fast-paced straight cuts every 2-3 seconds of the scene to establish the rivetingly rapid progression of the narrative. This is parallel to the manic action displayed on screen which is exhibited via the employment of a large array of shot types and angles in order to set a scene; which makes use of many key film conventions to suggest to the audience that an expeditious typical chase scene is featured.  Sound is used in the diegesis at the start of the film to create this unified blare of car horns to accompany the enhanced sound effects (SFX) of the tires of the character's car screeching and turning. The shots shift rapidly and include a bird's-eye view angle of the car which displays the car's phenomenally quick speed at such an angle it'd create a resemblance between a car to a mouse which would move very quickly in a state of vulnerability and fear. A track/dolly is also used frequently to show to car as it manoeuvres through the streets as well as an over-the-shoulder shot to show the driver's struggle as he drives. 

An evident disequilibrium is established by the use of frequently rapid straight cuts because it associates the fast-pace of the mise-en-scene of the car in the metropolitan setting with crime and action. Enigma codes are repeatedly used as the editing accommodates cross-cuts periodically from the car's journey through the city and the train's journey as the subject is being chased by the policeman, leading the audience to question the upcoming events and resolutions in the narrative. The cross-cuts serve as a means of juxtaposition, an editing decision which creates a multi-strand narrative of two characters or events to establish simultaneity and hence an association among them that the events occurring in one of the settings/characters will have an effect on the associated narrative. The audience is impressionable on predicting the upcoming events with the use of action codes which include the more apparent ones such as: opening the train door to walk through, revealing a gun to shoot at the policeman and turning the steering wheel of the car. The pace of the cuts begins to decrease as the car is near to the train and the characters in the vehicles are near; in order to create inquisition in the audience via the use of enigma codes suggested by the man's knocking on the cabin door. Throughout this phase of the scene, the cinematography is altered and features many close-ups of the man with whom the audience can now develop personal relationships with and develop a sense of empathy. 

Following on, the actors dressed in costumes which regard them as authoritative figures begin to approach the cabin, this is filmed in a single-take and creates suspense as to what the repercussions of the criminal's actions may resort to. Cross-cuts are used to a higher meaning henceforth as the car is displayed to be directly below the over-ground train-track travelling at a similar speed; this is shown with a track/dolly moving at a large frame of a long shot. The cuts then arrive to a repeated shift between a medium shot of the car driver's facial expressions and struggle to adjust the steering wheel continuously; and a track/dolly shot facing towards the oncoming danger of the traffic from an eye-line view from the front of the car. Throughout the scene so far there is very little dialogue from the setting of the train and no dialogue at all from the car driver. When the car driver approaches threateningly towards a mother with a pram and a baby, the straight cuts alternate swiftly between the horrific reaction of the driver and the fear on the mother's face with a use of close-ups - this occurs very quickly and audiences experience a short-term outrage as personal relationships create empathy for the mother due to social norms of it being indubitably taboo to be responsible for the death of a mother and their child(ren). This creates a flash-blub enigma code which causes audiences to question the potential victims' survival. 

The scene proceeds with dialogue and interaction among the criminal with the gun and the authoritative figures after which the audience questions whether he will shoot or not as well as the outcome of the train and its' destination. The pace of editing is slow during this period because the confrontation among the two parties is questionable in regards to whether the criminal will be prosecuted yet. Soon after however, the train is travelling at a fast speed and the straight cuts shift quickly in chronology as the criminal frantically attempts to stop the train. The scene concludes with the enigma code of the car driver's exit near the setting of the juxtaposing narrative of the train crash, leading the audience to find out whether the two characters will meet and the resolution of this highly thrilling disequilibrium. 

(832 words)

Brand values task 100-10-1

  Nike present a well constructed brand identity which claims intent to motivate and enhance lifestyles. Its brand values could promote opportunity and access to success as well as desirability for oneself. Nike could also fit into several of Dyer's lines of appeal: self-importance and pride, as exhibited by Nike's slogan 'Just do it.' which is regularly supported by successful celebrity endorsements which also fits Nike into the elite people or experts lines of appeal. This is linked via Nike's selected celebrity endorsements who specialise in a particular sport and are displayed wearing Nike products; as if Nike enhances their expertise.

The Nike brand is about motivating self- enhancement and improving lifestyles.

Nike in one word: Inspiration

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  Apple accommodate a brand identity successfully adopted by idolised founder Steve Jobs. This brand identity aims to innovate existing technology and to do things differently, thus better, instead of conforming to the regularities. Apple fits into Dyer's lines of appeal: community and social interaction, family values, durability and longevity - especially due to their products which boast its social connectivity, but furthermore because Apple continue to broadcast adverts which exhibit a narrative involving family members using Apple products such as their iPads and iPhones. Opportunity and access to success is also another brand value Apple accommodates, this being because Apple users are marketed as talented and successful in a particular field.


The Apple brand provides technological innovation to fuel social/professional integration.

Apple in one word: Innovation 

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  Facebook promote their brand identity as a social network which provides purely advantageous abilities to 'Share' content online instead of the contrapuntal alleged exposure of privacy. Facebook feature Dyer's lines of appeal including  community and social reaction as their campaigns are imminent on advertising the website's distinctively effective role as a communication platform. Opportunity and access to success also taps into their intended establishment as a brand identity because they wish to convince businesses, offices and other institutions to use Facebook as a means of sharing information in an integrated part of mundane working and social life. 

The Facebook brand compliments integrating people via information to 'Share'.

Facebook in one word: Interaction  

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London 2012 occupies a brand identity intended to boost morale, patriotism and social integrity on a large-scale as well as enhancement in smaller scales from communities and cults to personal achievement. Dyer's lines of appeal are gratified by the brand identity: community and social interaction, durability and longevity class as a very important one because the event intends to bring the metropolitan city together as well as the entire nation via festive spirit and appreciation of sport and culture. Culture and sophistication is another one of the many lines of appeal implemented into the campaign because the event and beyond boasts the cultural perks of Britain.  

London 2012's brand identity is all about community and development.

London 2012 in one word: Pride

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The F.A. Premier League most proudly stands to be the world's most watched sporting league, effectively due to the passionate spirit and love for English football as a culture; immediately this taps into their prestigious lines of appeal including culture and sophistication. The F.A. Prem. League is continuously treated and marketed religiously and claims its football culture to be an appealing factor of the brand's identity in association to the longevity of the historical heritage behind it. Particularly, TFAPL features significantly in the media and gains a lot of coverage worldwide because of the way it connects communities and inspires generations to appreciate football culture.

The F.A. Premier League is predominantly about passionate football appreciation.  

The F.A. Premier League in one word: Passion

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Narrative Blog Task

1. Film - A scene from 'The Artist' 

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2Yc1RNFp_Y

                         This scene extracted from 'The Artist' features all three stages of Todorov's proposed theory of narrative equilibrium. In terms of the character by the name - George Valentin, there is an existing state of some stability as the scene exposes the character simply sat at a desk, which continues until many enigma codes are featured to create mystery of the upcoming narrative as suggested by Barthes. The scene implements shots of the lady (Peppy Miller) calling for a driver hurriedly which makes the audience question her destination as well as her purpose for haste. In this particular scene, the lady is our 'hero', George is quite ironically 'the princess' *pause for laughter/outrage/speculation* and the man's best friend (the dog) fits into Propp's character type of 'the helper'. The scene progresses to exhibit action codes such as the unveiling of a gun which suggests a killing is about to occur, which also serves as the disequilibrium as our tragic character is feeling suicidal. This continues until Peppy heroically arrives at the setting to resolve the conflict and preventing George from committing suicide, hence establishing a new equilibrium.

2. TV - A scene from 'Boardwalk Empire' 
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxeYhkY4FD4

                            The embedded scene from 'Boardwalk Empire' demonstrates many of Barthes' proposed enigma codes such as at the equilibrium stage of the scene, the phone-call creates mystery regarding who has said what to make a significant contribution to the upcoming events of the narrative. The 'hero' of this story is Nucky Thompson with whom we side against the absurd and slightly suspicious character of Roland Smith, who we may see to be the 'villain', as well as Owen who is seen as 'the helper'. Disequilibrium is created as soon as Roland's obnoxious character is identified by Nucky at which point he offers him a cigarette - a common (possibly coincidental) symbol meaning a character's time is up - the action code leads to a sequence of action codes such as Nucky's turning around as well as the reveal of a handgun. A new equilibrium is reestablished after Roland's death as the tension subsides.

3. Other - A scene from 'Bruce Almighty' 

                               A comedic scene from 'Bruce Almighty' stars Jim Carrey as the protagonist we side with, and the character Evan Baxter as the villain who feels the wrath of Carrey's revenge which we do not hold sympathy for. The enigma codes of the scene include Carrey's peek through the blinds as well as his approach to the news report studio, after which he performs an air keyboard gesture as an action code to forebode the arriving comedic effect. The disequilibrium continues until the end of the scene as the protagonist's (not exactly morally correct) intentions of making Baxter's job difficult succeeds throughout. 

CoolBrands® - Brand values

1. Choose five brands that you personally admire (from the list) and explain what you like about them.

The O2 is one of the brands I'd top on my list of admired 'CoolBrands'. This is because of personal reasons which include the image of their brand associated to the O2 centre as well as the O2 Millenium Dome, venues as such enhance the brand image significantly (similarly to the Staples Centre or Barclays Centre). The O2 also serves diligently in their ways of marketing their products and services through their well-designed advertisement campaigns.

Itsu, let us begin with their brand slogan: 'eat beautiful'. They pose sophistication and boast beauty in convicing the average metropolitan businessmen/women to consider 'Itsu' an alternative investment to eat healthier than grabbing another Tesco meal deal. 

Virgin Atlantic continue to present themselves with the pride of being a travel 'superbrand' via a spectacular PR and marketing team. I personally appreciate how they promote their services.

Green & Black’s Organic is another brand from the list worthy of admiration because I personally believe that their brand image poses a more appealing exhibition of something considered unhealthy - chocolate. Nevertheless they do brag about their organic and relatively nutritional chocolate which is something worth appreciating in an average convenience store besides the grotesque appearance of rival brands such as Mars or Snickers etc.

GYMBOX is an admirable brand in terms of their methods of combining trends and culture with healthy living. They advertise their facilities and services effectively and appeal well to their target market of Londoners. 

2. For each of those five brands, write a sentence/paragraph summing up their brand values. Remember: brand values are the words or qualities that the brand would like to be associated with.

O2 promotes community and social interaction, family values, durability and longevity - brand values which support them as a company based primarily on telephone communication.

Itsu promotes desirability for the self and others, as a company which is based on healthy eating.

Virgin Atlantic promotes opportunity and access to success as a travel company which congratulates themselves on the provision of discovery of new places for people.

Green & Black's organic promotes social responsibility as a company which is imminent on preserving nature and using natural ingredients in their products as well as being a FairTrade company.

GYMBOX promotes brand values of desirability for the self and others as they advertise self-enhancement via fitness and use of their facilities to improve lifestyles.

3. Lastly, explain why you think those five brands made the list of the coolest brands in Britain. What is cool about them?

I think that these five brands are eligible contenders of being named within the top coolest brands in Britain because they successfully appeal to what is considered to be 'cool' in today's day and age. People want to feel as if they are investing their disposable income into something (product or service) which will enhance them or make them feel better about themselves as people in their society. Social status is something which is established from purchasing certain products and these brands successfully manipulate this in order to place themselves in a position where their products can imply social supremacy. 

Blog feedback and learner response -

Blog feedback: Kishan

WWW: An outstanding blog - continuing your exceptional work in GCSE Media. Your sound presentation collages offered spectacular design (although perhaps could have been slightly more starkly different) and your cinematography clips show a real interest and passion for film. Great choice of Silver Linings Playbook for sound analysis too!

EBI: Don't forget to highlight key media language - you're clearly using it but it's still a valuable habit to get into early on in the course. For the cinematography comparison (Citizen Kane and Three Colours: White) you produce excellent analysis of the two clips but don't discuss the differences between them. What changed in cinematography terms between the 1950s and 1990s?

LR: Reflect on your first month of AS Media. What is your strongest piece of work so far? What is your weakest? What specific skills or knowledge do you need to develop over the rest of the course?

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The first month of AS Media has been highly enjoyable considering the increased exposure to film culture as well as the current media and its history. My strongest blog-post would be: '12C Sound presentations and homework', not only because of the quality of the collages but because of the analysis of sound in the Silver Linings Playbook scene which was somewhat interesting. My weakest work would have to be 'Film Poster Analysis - 12/09/2014',  because I found that due to the excessive number of example film posters to analyse I repeated myself a lot because the questions were fairly closed. Specific skills I would need to develop on would be influenced by my developing knowledge of topics, and remembering to include every aspect of a media text which has potential for analysis - this shall progress with time.

New TV show: Brief Pitch

Channel 4 is to introduce a new constructed reality TV show: 'Flat 5A'. The show features the many social ordeals faced by a cast of 18-21 year old university students living in their dorms in Flat 5A. The show represents these young adults in a manner which reinforces negative stereotypes about them for entertainment purposes - light humour) but only to the extent at which the content displayed is suitable for pre-watershed broadcasting (the show occupies a slot of 6:00-6:30PM every Tuesday), before prime-time and at a time when the working 9-5 is over and students have returned to their accommodation. The target audience is based on an age rangr of 15 to 18 years and a gender ratio of 55 male:45 female in a working to middle-class social class demographic. The content of this show will adhere to the channel's remit of entertainment, information and education. 

Cinematography tasks

Choose two extracts from different eras (e.g. one from the 1940s and one from 1990s) and analyse the cinematography. What are the key differences?

Citizen Kane (1940) directed by Orson Welles 

'Citizen Kane projector room scene' 

The scene is introduced with the use of a long shot to exhibit the many characters present in this large room. The high angle shows the many actors consumed by the setting, at which point the power is neutral and not one character has supremacy. The camera then begins to pan and follow the one character stood up and with the most dialogue. The character's power is challenged by another, but he persists at which point a low camera angle is used to show the superiority of the talkative character. The extract lacks cuts and consists of plenty camera panning to follow the characters subtle movements. The clip concludes with an over-the-shoulder shot at a low angle to show the challenger's inferior position to the talkative character in a one-to-one conversation.

Three colours: White (1994) directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski 

'Shoot scene' 

The expository seconds of the clip establish the setting of action as the character proceeds down a large set of stairs - as displayed by a long shot. This then continues as another character is displayed and many over-the-shoulder shots at eye level are used to show the interaction as well as close-ups to show the facial expressions to show the character's emotions. The end of this extract uses a tracking shot to show the two sliding across the ice from a long-shot, concluding the clip with an establishing shot where the setting is of predominant significance in comparison to the characters. 

Find and analyse four film stills. Consider different camera angles and their effects. 

King Kong (1993)

A very iconic still from the 90s' blockbuster. An aerial establishing shot exhibits Manhattan as it is terrorised by the monstrous 'King Kong' and the havoc associated around it. 

Singin' In The Rain (1952)

Another iconic still, using a long shot to show Gene Kelly and her rainy setting. A low angle shot is used to connote the emotional superiority felt by the character as they enjoy 'singing in the rain'.

       The Shining (1980) 

A film from an 80s' horror film displaying the lunatic facial expression of Jack Nicholson via a close-up at an eye-level angle which creates empathy for the audience to encounter the character in a personal point-of-view. 

Safety Last (1923)

Iconic image from this 20s' film showing Harold Lloyd's vulnerability displayed from a high/aerial angle at a long shot distance to show the surrounding setting which is a threat to the character. Lloyd is in danger and of course, safety is not a first with this one. 

Cinematography research/revise tasks

1. Research/revise the main camera shots 

• Wide/establishing shot - shows the locale of the setting where action takes place. 
• Long shot - (or wide shot) shows a subject or object from head to toe.
• Medium shot - shot displaying more than a close-up but less than a long shot, so it would show a person head to knees.
• Medium close-up - displaying more than a close-up yet less than a medium shot, so it would show a person's head to torso.
• Close-up - shot occupying the frame full with a person's face. 
• Extreme close-up - (or big close-up) displaying a very specific aspect of an object or subject's face.
• Over-the-shoulder shot - shot positioned by a subject's shoulder to show distance between interaction among two subjects.

2. Research/revise a variety of different camera angles

• Bird's eye view - overhead angle displaying action/setting to place the audience in an omniscient position. 
• High angle - positioned above the action/setting to give an overview. Characters may be displayed as less intimidating or as consumed by their setting to exhibit their insignificance.
• Low angle - audience is feeling powerlessness within action of a scene. Disorientation of the view and added height to the subject evokes fear and insecurity in the viewer.
• Eye level - fairly neutral shot which makes it seem as if a human is observing the scene. Actors heads' are on a level with the focus.
• Oblique/canted angle - camera is tilted to suggest imbalance, instability or transition. Common in horror movies and filmed handheld. 

3. Research/revise camera movement 

• Pans - horizontally scanning a scene. 
• Tilts - scanning a scene vertically. 
• Dolly/track shots - camera placed on a moving vehicle to capture moving action. 
• Handheld shots - gritty realism by the use of a handheld recording device such as a smartphone. 
• Crane shots - follows moving action from an aerial point of capture by placing a camera on a crane.