Prop List

PROP LIST

Sound Perspective

The term sound perspective can be used to transform sound into either distant or close. Distant sound will perceive to the viewer as sound coming from a distance with the technique of reverberation. An example of this may be a tap dripping from a distance, which will have an echo effect, the microphone will be placed at a distance to record the sound at the viewer’s perspective.

Sound perspective can also transform sound to make it sound very close to the reader; this would mean that the microphone would have to be placed quite close to the object or person making the sound.

Sound perspective creates realism for the viewers from the effects, which makes them feel like they are actually there.

Sound Motif- Sound motif is the term used for the viewer to associate a piece of music or specific sound to a person, place or object. An example of this is the association of the Jaws theme with a big dangerous shark.

Digetic Sound- Digetic sound is the term used to describe sound emitted from a scene in which all the characters can hear such as dialogue or knocking on a door. The example of the EastEnders scene showing Max scuffing his shoes on the floor is Digetic sound as all the characters can hear it and there is no need for editing.

Non-Digetic Sound- Non-digetic sound is sound or music that has been edited in scenes in which the characters cannot hear such as music soundtracks. The example of the Doctor Who scene uses non-digetic sound such as the music being played or the explosive effects as they have been edited.

Synchronised Sound- Synchronised sound is the term to describe sound or a piece of music matching a characters or objects movements or gestures such as music videos as artists normally dance or move in sync with the music. The example of ‘500 days of summer’ uses synchronised sound as the when the brass instruments are introduced into the piece of music in sync with orchestral musicians enter the scene

Contrapuntal Sound- Contrapuntal sound is the term used to describe sounds or music that is inappropriate and odd to the actual scene it is edited with. This confuses the viewer and changes their mood, an example of this is ‘Dr Strangelove’s final scene in which multiple shots of explosions and mushroom clouds are being shown which represents sorrow and mass destruction. However, the music that is being played is retro, cheerful and can be perceived as victorious. This does not match the visual scenes and makes the viewer feel that the explosions are somewhat of a celebration or victory just because of the contrapuntal music.

Voice-Over- Voice-Over is the term used to describe narration that is heard over a scene that is being played. This can be the character’s thoughts or just a narrator explaining a situation or story to the viewer. Either way, it can be emotional or understanding to the viewers. An example of this is JD’s narration from Scrubs in which the viewer seems to be hearing his thoughts and to bring out this effect more prominent, reverberation is used.

An example of this is Chuck’s narration in Supernatural; he is speaking emotionally of the main characters to the viewers by typing his narration onto a computer even though he is not talking. It is perceived to be his thoughts.

Dialogue- Dialogue is the term used to simply describe conversation between two or more characters.

Soundtrack- Soundtracks are music that is being played over a scene such as a commercial song or even a theme. The main objective of a theme is to associate it with the film, which is known as sound motif.

Ambient Sound- Ambient sounds are sounds that are perceived in the background such as a dripping tap. This creates realism for the viewer and the effect of reverberation increases this. An example of this is background noise such as a ticking clock or drumming fingers on a table.

Case Study - Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and cinematographer, who lived in England during most of the last forty years of his career. He was known as a perfectionist as he put vast amounts of care and precision into his films. The vast majority of his films were nominated for Oscars, Golden Globes or BAFTA awards. Early in his film career, he moved to England which is where he got the majority of his work done. Some of his most famous films include:

A Clockwork Orange

Kubrick only had a small budget to make this film but he created a hybrid thriller - sci fi film. The film is an exploration of violence and experimental rehabilitation by law enforcement authorities. The film contains lots of violence and received criticism for this although Kubrick defended this saying that the gang violence was crucial to the moral dilemma of the film. Due to this it became one of the most controversial films of the decade.

The plot of the film involves a teenage boy called Alex who commits horrific crimes including robbery, murder and rape. When gets arrested he gets a 14 year prison sentence. He is then subject to government program which brainwashes him, he now loses all his old violent traits and is released from prison where he does not commit crimes but when he is repeatedly beaten up by old enemies he realises he is now also defenseless. The government scheme has turned him into a vegetable. He tries to kill himself and fails to do so. The government are critisized and reverse the effects of the program.

The camera movement that is used is typical of the thriller genre as there are many tracking and panning shots.The camera angles used are also quite commonly used in other thriller films as a high angle is used to show those that are in power.

The Killing

The Killing is a fictional story about a racetrack robbery gone wrong. The plot involves lots of crime which is often the basis of a thriller plot. The killing was Kubrick's first full length feature film shot with a full cast and crew. The film was not a financial success but received some good reviews.

Inception opening sequence.

The opening titles of inception start off slow paced and build up during the 2 minute sequence until the ending where the name of the film flashes up on the screen. The music begins with slow violin tones and builds up to a fast paced violin rhythm. It gets louder and louder and more dramatic until the end of the opening. There are dramatic graphics and imagery that go with the titles aswell and it zooms into the picture and then it turns into the next name in the opening tiles. Both of these techniques are commonly found in thriller films making inception conform to its genre.

The opening is an animation so the lighting is not a serious factor but the backgrounds are mostly dark and black setting very serious and dark tones for the rest of the film.

Fireworks- making a logo.

We used the program fireworks on the macs to create logos for our production companies. Fireworks is easier to use and much more user friendly than photo shop so that was why we used it. I made a test logo called 'Star Entertainment'. These picture show each stage i went through to make my logo.

I used the shape tool to create a star shape, I then filled it in with the fill tool I made it yellow and added text with the text tool and then using the options at the bottom i changed the size and font.

I took a picture off Google images, saved it to my area and then imported it to fireworks, re-arranged the order of images so the fire was at the back creating a background for my star.

I changed the colour of my star so it stood out better.

 

 Then i added a movement affect as a finishing touch.

 

This my final product.