Definitely, Maybe - Film Analysis (Ruhela Begum)

Titles

§  The film starts off with Universal logo and animated production logo and the website for 22 sounds.

§  Working title (animated production logo) for 22-31 seconds

§  Universal Pictures presents for 32-34 seconds

§  At 39 seconds images appear and the film starts

§  In association with Studio Canal at 46 seconds (Studio Canal is a lot bigger then in association with as they want the company to stand out)

§  Adam Brooks film at 1:42

§  1:41-1:51 Defiantly appears and then Maybe comes in after

§  1:54- Actor 1

§  1:58- Actor 2

§  2:04- Actor 3

§  2:07- Actor 4

§  2:12- Actor 5

§  2:16- Actor 6

§  2:32- Actor 7 and 8

§  2:37- Actor 9 and 10

§  2:44- Actor 11 and 12

§  2:54- Casted by

§  2:58- Music supervisor

§  3:03- Music by

§  3:07- Costume

§  3:12- Edited by

§  3:18- Production designer

§  3:23- Director of photography

§  3:30- Co- executive producer

§  3:34- Executive Producer

§  3:39- Produced by

§  3:43- Written by

§  3:48- Titles finish  

Sound

§  Asynchronous sounds with animated title

§  Exaggerated sound of the envelop on the desk to show it is important

§  The sound of the busy street shows, this also shows he is in the city

§  Dialogue is herd on a black screen before the scene starts    

Mise-en-Scene

§  Envelope/Letter: this creates an enigma. This also tells us where he lives (in New York) and what is name is. -This also shows that his divorce is final.

§  Tables and a board: this shows he is in a office and he is at work

§  Pen: he keeps clicking his pen which shows he is nervous to open the envelope

§  Suit: this shows he is dressed smart for work 

§  When he leaves his office we can see a busy city and taxis which shows he is in New York

§  Headphones: he puts his music in to block out the city noise

§  He loosens his tie which shows he is more relaxed and his work has ended

§  IPod: this is what he is playing his music through

Editing

§  Cuts

§  Titles slide in

§  Cuts to each scene

§  Shot reverse shot is used for actions and objects

§  There is a lot of variation of camera shots which relates to the bites that are important to the scene  

Camera Work Features

§  Extreme close up of the envelop which creates an enigma to show it is important

§  Medium shot of the environment that the actor is in

§  The letter is shown from his point of view. There is also a close up to the letter to show that his divorce was finalised

§  Close up and an over the shoulder shot of him putting in his headphones and then an arc to show him putting his other headphone

§  Low angle shot when he plays the wrong song to show his reaction

§  Medium close up when he is looking at his assistant. This shows his feelings towards her but also her feelings when she finds out the news

§  Eye line match of the assistant which shows she is looking at him

Budget

When filming, we are planning not to spend any money so therefore, we aren't going to need a budget.

Roles-
Amy Cass typed this up

Equipment List

Camera

Tripod

Main character’s house + furniture that you will find in his house
Car
Suit for the main characters

Movie Maker (to edit after we’ve filmed)
Computer
Memory Stick

Roles- 

Amy Cass typed this up

Main Task- Pitch Video and Feedback

Roles-
We all wrote the pitch and presented the pitch to the class together but Amy Cass uploaded the video to the blog.

Planning- Initial Ideas

Group Roles:
For this task as a group we discussed ideas together which we thought would be best for our main task. After we came up with our ideas, Ruhela wrote up the initial ideas.

Main Task Pitch

Main Task Pitch

Title

Genre: Action  

Location:  Actors house

Time: daytime

Characters:  main character, therapist

Audience:  15+

Plot: The film is going to be about a boy who has just come out of recovery from an accident. The boy is a millionaire and people were after him for his money, but because of his car crash he cannot remember what happened or his past life. The boy has dreams about his past life but he doesn't know it is his past life he just thinks they’re dreams so he goes to therapy. 

The scene begins with a match on action, this will be when the therapist rings on the doorbell, we will show her hand on the doorbell, opening the door, and then the next shot of her walking through the door. The shot of her walking through the door will be shot from over the shoulder of the boy.  We then will have a close up of the therapist closing the door. While she is walking towards her seat the camera will pan around to follow her.  The next shot will be a two person shot to show both the boy and the therapist. Then while they are talking we will use a mixture of shot reverse shot, close up shots and two person shot. While he is talking about one of his dreams, he will have flashbacks of them. These flashbacks will be in black and white to show that they are flashbacks.

Camerawork- The shots we are going to use are;

Overhead shot

Close up of the door bell and door handle.

Establishing shot of the house

Two shot when the main character and the therapist are sitting down.

Shot reverse shot when they are talking about his dreams. 

Sound: Non diegetic: copy right free music, in the beginning of the film when the scene starts with the credits.

Diegetic/dialogue- when the characters are talking about his dream and the sounds in the dream, also the doorbell.  

Mes en scene: sofa, chairs, glass of water and other common things you would find in a living room.


Roles
We all contributed to writing the pitch, but, Amy Cass typed it and uploaded it to the blog. 

Definitely, Maybe - Film Analysis - Amy Cass

Titles

0:00:00 – 0:00:22 – Universal logo –Animated production logo. Website is under universal logo.

0:00:24 – 0:00:32 – Working title – Animated production logo.

0:00:34 – 0:00:36 – Universal Pictures present

• Black and white, simple, minimalistic

0:00:39 – Images appear, film starts.

0:00:46 – In association with Studio Canal

• Studio Canal is larger than ‘In association with’
• All in black and white

0:00:59 – a Working title production

• Working title is larger than ‘ a’ ‘production’
• All in black and white

0:01:41 – an Adam Brooks film

• Once again, Adam Brooks is larger
• Shown alongside the film, in the corner where as before they were on a black screen

0:01:49 – 0:01:51 - Titles appear. Defiantly appears then Maybe slides in. Comma then rises from the bottom.

0:01:54 – Actor 1 – Ryan Reynolds

0:01:58 – Actor 2 – Isla Fisher

0:02:04 – Actor 3 – Derek Luke

0:02:07 – Actor 4 – Abigail Breslin

0:02:12 – Actor 5 – Elizabeth Banks

0:02:16 – Actor 6 – and Rachel Welsz

• Because Actor 6 is the last, they added ‘and’ before her name.
• All of the actors above are the main stars of the film, so their names appeared on their own.

0:02:32 – Actors 7 and 8

0:02:37 – Actors 9 and 10

0:02:44 – Actors 11 and 12

• These actors are less well known/are playing less important parts, so are listed in groups of 2.

0:02:54 – Casting by

0:02:58 – Music Supervisor

0:03:03 – Music By

0:03:07 – Costume Designer

0:03:12 – Edited By

0:03:18 – Production Designer

0:03:23 – Director of Photography

0:03:30 – Co-executive Producer

0:03:34 – Executive Producers

• Two names are listed here, together.

0:03:39 – Produced By

• Two names are listed here, together.

0:03:43 – Written and Directed By

0:03:48 – Titles finished.

Sound

0:00:00 – 0:00:22 – Universal Trademark music, along side the logo.

0:00:23 – Background noise from the film starts although still showing Production logos.

• Sound is A-sync – image and sound isn’t connected/in sync.
• Bridging the sound into the first scene

0:00:37 – First bit of dialogue is heard.

• Off screen though.

- Ambient sound of the office is heard.

- Before the woman starts talking you hear footsteps of a high healed woman

- Makes you think of an office.

- Introduced to the name of the main character, through the woman’s conversation

- She says ‘Hello, Will, package for you.’

- The sound of the package hitting the desk is exaggerated

- This is to signify its importance in the storyline.

- The sound is Foley (added in after filming) so that the sound is clear.

- Pen is thrown onto the desk

- This sound is Foley as well so that the sound is clear.

- Rustling of him taking the letter out of the envelope.

0:00:55 – Voice over of the character direct thought starts.

• Internal narrator, someone from the story narrating the story as it happens.

- Woman tells Will good news but he doesn’t react happy.

- Shows how serious the divorce letter must be.

- This also tells us a little bit about his job.

0:01:08 – Voice Over starts again

• Tells us that he doesn’t like his job.
• We find out that he has a daughter called Maya.

- You can see him put in his headphones, voice over introduces the music as he plays it.

- Normally the music at the beginning of a film, that plays throughout the credits is non- diegetic but here it is diegetic because the character can hear it as well as us.

0:01:39 – Everyday People (song) plays throughout the titles.

Mise-en-Scène

Envelope -

• Creates an enigma (What’s in it?).
• Tells us he lives in New York.
• Tells us his name is William Hayes.

Table -

• Tells us he’s in an office.

Pen, clicking -

• Shows anxiety over the envelope.

- Could possibly show he may already know what is in the envelope.

Board -

• Shows advertising/ his job.

Clothes -

• Smart office work.

Tower Block -

• Offices.

Letter -

• Once it has been opened, it shows that it’s for a divorce and shows his wife name/signature, Sarah Hayes.

Will (Main Character) -

• His reaction to the good news he has been told shows he’s not excited about it, even though the other character is.

Once he gets outside;

Yellow Taxis -

• Shows he’s in NY.

Traffic -

• Once again, shows he’s in a city of some sort and NYC is known for its busyness.

Headphones -

• Used to isolate him and block out the busy noises.

Tie -

• He’s wearing a suit but his tie is loosened.

- Shows he doesn't like his work/suits and that he isn't a serious business person all of the time.

Phone/iPod -

• Allows him to play the music.

Tall buildings -

• Shows that he’s in a city.

Iconic buildings and props-

• Chrysler Building.
• Grand Central Station.
• Street Signs.

- All used to help tie in the NYC theme.

Extras -

• Starts with smart business clothes then as he walks away from the business area he encounters other types of people (Students, homeless people, bikers, traffic cops etc)

Editing (ignoring sound editing, just visual editing)

Early on in the film you get straight cut shots from package to person to show their reaction to it (Reaction Shot).
Cuts back to dark screen titles.

Cuts from face to prop then to black screen titles.

Straight cut between person and another person.

- This is basically a ‘Shot, Reverse, Shot’ but slightly different because it has the titles in the middle.

Master shot because you see it more than once. They have set up the camera and then run everything through as they film it. Then when they re-film it and if any of the other shots mess up, they can go back to the master shot for that part.

They then used a long take. He came out of the office and started to walk down the street in one shot. This shot was also an establishing shot because you could not only see him, but you could see the road as well.

It is then continued to with straight shots, over the shoulder shot and more are used, many different variation in the camera work.

Close up of the phone in his hand, then to his face, then back to the phone, shot, reverse, shot.

Sound match-on-action is used when he pushes the button on his phone the music starts.

Uses split screen to show the character's surroundings and the extras. There are more than just 1 or 2 frames sometimes, sometimes maybe 3 or 4.

Titles move and the frames push the titles in/out.

It all flows easily- continuity. The takes in the first 2 mins are usually quite short, and they are usually straight cuts, hardly any flashy transitions, other than the sliding frames of the split screens.

Use of Match-on-action and shot, reverse, shot.

Key Camera work Features

Extreme close up on the divorce envelope- Creates and enigma and shows it's importance

Medium shot- Not too close in that you can't see the environment but not too far out that you can't see his reaction.

Tilt up to show the package then his reaction to it. This is to show his reaction and the package all in one shot.

Shows the letter from his eyes point of view. Close up shot of the letter so you can read what it says.

Medium close up on the assistant so that you can see her feelings/emotions to the news she just found out but not too close that it's intrusive.

Eye line match, when she looks from the door to Will, he is out of shot but she is looking in the direction that he would be, even if he's not actually there on set.

Another reaction shot is used.

Many references to the master shot is used throughout.

Once he leaves the office;

The camera pans to follow him through the door. Medium shot so that you can see him and still see the street. The building is used to split the screen because it takes up half of the screen and is slightly reflective, so you can still see the road and his surroundings.

The camera moves backwards while Will moves forwards so that the distance between them is maintained.

Close up, over the shoulder of him putting his headphones in his ears. It arcs so that you can see him put both headphones in, in one take.

Low angle shot to show his reaction to playing the wrong song. 

Self Assessment - Jodie Rider

 Does your film use continuity editing so that the sequence of events are clear and easily understood by the viewer? Yes. Our trailer does use continuity editing  that are clear and visible for the viewer. Our trailer needed editing because its a trailer. We needed to use quick transactions in between shots because trailers only have quick shots on scenes. We used fade in and fade out black on scenes because it flows better and because our theme was horror the blackness went well with it. We chose good edits which made it run smoothly throughout the trailer.

Have you followed the directions in the brief? The brief for our task was  ‘A character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character, an exchange of dialogue occurs’. We did not have a character open a door, or sit on a chair opposite another character and exchange dialogue. We found it hard to follow this brief because we done a trailer so it was harder to. Our trailer did have good ideas though that our other class mates gave feedback on. We saw what we done and in our main task we will make sure will follow the brief.

Have you used match-on-action? No we did not use match on action in our trailer. But we did video match on action in the videos we took for our trailer but did not use it in our final trailer.

Can you explain what a match-on action involves?  Match on action is where one shot of something is taken then theirs another shot taken straight after and if flows together. An example of this could be someone opening holding a door handle then the next shot be the door opening, this would flow together.

Have you used shot/reverse shot? Yes we did use shot reverse shot. We used this when the lights were flickering, then onto the characters face to show face expressions we did this with the lights flickering then onto his face then back to the lights.

Can you explain what shot/reverse shot involves? Shot reverse shot is when the camera focuses on one object then to another object and then back to the other object. An example of this is person A speaking then the camera goes to person B and the back to person A this is using shot reverse shot, it is used commonly with people having conversations.

Did you observe the 180-degree rule? We did observe the 180 degree rule but did not use it in our trailer because it didn't fit in right.

Can you explain the 180-degree rule? The 180 degree rule is where the camera will move 180 degrees around the room which shows characters in different places. For example one person could one person could be on the left hand side of the room and the other one being on the right hand side of the room so the camera would move around 180 degrees to show both characters also showing the scene.

What role did you play in the making of the preliminary task? (e.g. filming, acting, editing, equipment organisation etc.) In the task my main role was probably the organisation of the actors, organisation and managing. I was making sure everything was happening right and the camera angles and shots were right. I also did some filing. We all contributed to the filming equally. 

How would you assess your contribution to the group? I would assess my contribution to the group in a good way. I think my contribution was good enough. I think i had some really good ideas and it showed in our trailer. My contribution for filming and editing was equally the same. I was more focused on the filming because i enjoyed that more and have experience in it. In the editing i done well and we had a good outcome. There was two scenes that had to be done right for the sound to be right and i got it right on point which was really good.

What have you learned from the process of making your preliminary film? (E.g. skills - teamwork, acting, organisational etc. From doing the preliminary task i have learnt a variety of things. I have learnt that because we didn't follow the brief as well as we could i learnt that when we do our main task we know now what to do and realized our mistakes. I learnt a lot of skills through filming and editing  i learnt how to convert videos quicker and better, different types of shots and angles, i also learnt a lot of it skills. I learnt that we shouldn't use copyright music because this is not allowed we now know that next time we will have to use our own music and not someone else. My organisation for the filming was good and i learnt to be more organised throughout the editing from this. My teamwork was already good because of experience but i learnt how to work better in a team from this task.