A Level Film Studies - Joanna Thompson

The aesthetic quality of 'Trainspotting' depicts youth and drug addiction through editing, camera work and  mise   en  scene. In the opening scene the first key detail is the  non-diegetic  soundtrack, Iggy Pop's song is lively and upbeat which matches with the pace of Renton and Spud running away from the security guards, the camera starts with a low angle establishing shot that shows us the setting, a busy street in Scotland. It then cuts to a  mid-shot  of both of them running, even though the focus is on them we can still see the security guards they are running from in the background, the use of this mid shot is close enough for us to see their faces and emotions b ut also distant enough for us to see their surroundings. The camera uses a tracking shot for this frame which ensures it is kept at a  mid - shot . It then cuts to a low angle shot that shows us the security guards behind them to show the audience what they are running from. We c...

The first part of this scene in ‘The Place Beyond The Pines’ starts with an establishing shot of a fair ground, whilst we see this shot we can hear the narrative of the two characters talking, the scene then switches to a close up of a man talking so we can establish who is talking. This shot is eye level and has very neutral lighting, we get a shot reverse shot of Ryan Gosling and the other man talking, all at eye level to make the audience feel as if they are part of the conversation. The camera also looks handheld to add to this. The scene then switches to an extreme long shot of Luke (Ryan Gosling) riding a motorcycle, the camera follows him with a tracking shot and uses high key lighting because he is outside. The next shot is an over shoulder, mid shot of him knocking at the door. The use of mise en scene in this shot creates a contrast as we can see he is wearing all white but this scene switches to quite low-key lighting because he is standing at a black door. The contrast of c...

Crimson Peak In the clip of ‘Crimson Peak’ it begins with a close up of the character Edith’s (Mia Wasikowska) face, it shows her waking up. This shot uses very low key lighting to set the scene as it is supposed to be the middle of the night. We also get some long shots/establishing shots to show us the setting she is in, she is in an old gothic-type room. She then gets up and walks out into the hallway, the use of mise en scene helps further to set the scene because she uses props such as an old candle to use as a light. The camera pans a lot in this part to show the viewers where the character is and to show all around her to show she is alone, also the lighting remains low key to add the mysterious effect and to emphasize that she is trapped in the darkness which would create a scary effect for the audience because we cant see her surroundings. There are a lot of diegetic sound effects used such as, dogs barking and doors creaking, on top of this there is non diegetic music ...

Wonder Woman The film I have chosen to analyse is ‘Wonder woman’, this a new film which came out recently this year. It's about an island of women who are there to protect, a man comes to the island and tells them about the war going on, wonder woman believes she can help because she is the strongest on her island. She goes back to the normal world to help fight in the war. One of the first main sequences in the film is the first fight scene when the Germans come to the paradise island. This is a key sequence because it is what sets the scene and the storyline for the rest of the film. This particular scene starts with a plane falling from the sky into the ocean, this is enjoyable because it creates tension. There’s smoke coming from the plane and we can see that someone is in the plane when it crash lands into the ocean so this gives us a sense of danger. This then follows with wonder woman (Diana) jumping into the sea to save the man as he struggles to get out of the plane, h...

Action/adventure Genre I have researched how the action/adventure genre incorporates gender within films. If you look at action adventure films, you can see that they are very male based. Most main characters are males and if there are any women, they normally play very little roles within a film. Most action adventure films have the same storyline to them where there is a hero who has to defeat a villain, the hero is almost always a male because of the characteristics a hero has to have. The stereotype of a hero is someone who is strong, brave and will beat impossible odds to save the day, these characteristics are strongly linked to men, for example, superman, ironman and spiderman. Women are not as strongly represented as men because in films they are usually the damsel in distress, they are supposed to have characteristics of being helpless, weak and that they need saving. Male actors also get paid a lot more than female actors, this is because the film industry is very male do...