Master and Commander Questions

1. The extract is a historical, swashbuckling AA film. This extract is typical to the AA genre as it creates tension in the sense that it is a boat on open waters that is vulnerable to enemy attack. The fog that surrounds the ship creates a sense of mystery and fear because it is unknown what could be on the other side. The heroic protagonist is always centre of the screen and is well dressed for the period, and seems to be superior to everyone else on the boat. He gives the commands and everybody respects him and his word to the letter. He is confident and courageous in the face of danger, never letting the boat go down without a fight.
    
   In the extract, a fight scene ensues in which two boats are firing cannons at each other. This is a convention of the AA genre as it includes lots of explosions and destruction caused by cannonballs, and an immediate sense of danger is created because any of the men could die at any point, and if the cannons create holes big enough then the ship could sink. This essence of danger helps create an atmosphere in several films of the AA genre because it builds up tension in the audience, and leaves you excited.
2. The soundtrack of this extract is effective because it contains no music, instead it enhances the background sound of people talking and the waves of the ocean. This creates effect because it makes the scene ever more realistic and much more relatable. When the signal to return to quarters is initiated, drums start playing, and drums are usually always associated with war and battle. These drums are ambient sounds, which helps create suspense. The complete silence at certain points in the extract creates an eerie sense of tension as it leaves the fate of the characters completely unknown, and reveals nothing to the audience
   The camerawork in this scene is effective as it uses several pan shots to reveal the expressions on the faces of the soldiers to create a sense of emotion and atmosphere, as the scared faces of the soldiers helps add to the atmosphere of tension.  Several of the shots establish the sailors as being superior before the enemy boat attacks as it is trying to establish them as strong men. An establishing shot of the boat is used to revolve around each edge of the boat to show the audience what is happening and where and also how they are isolated in the fog.
   The editing in this scene is effective as it includes several shot-reverse-shots to try and switch between the protagonists and reveal the emotions they are feeling. The sound of the cannons is effective as it is a real sharp, quick sound that takes you by surprise and leaves the audience in surprise and fear for the characters. The cannons are extremely realistic and the effect for the splinters of wood being blown everywhere immerses you in the events of the narrative and certainly makes it much more realistic.
   The mise-en-scene in this extract is extremely effective because it looks realistic because it adds to the realism of the narrative. The extract is set on a British ship in 1805, and you can really immerse yourself in the scene because the props are authentic to the time (such as the boat, the objects and the sails) the costumes are also authentic, and they add up to make the scene much more realistic and immersive, which adds to the overall effect, making you feel as if you are there with the sailors and experiencing the same dangers as them. It also serves as educational, showing you events that are very likely to have happened in the time period.
    

Kingsman Extract Analysis

This extract from the film The Kingsman is full of several typical conventions of the AA genre. The film is an Action Adventure Spy hybrid and draws inspiration from several films of this genre such as James Bond.


The main protagonists of the film are classy British gentlemen with extremely good etiquette and suave natures which is something typical of the AA/spy genre of films. Throughout the extract, a real sense of suspense and jeopardy is created as the main protagonists have to fight their way through vigorous and deadly training trials which all take place under pressure such as being awoken in a flooding room and trying to escape. The danger in this comes from the fact that one wrong move will get you killed. Another AA convention is present in one of the scenes in the extract, which involves suave superspy Colin Firth showing a young delinquent a cabinet full of spy gadgets and weaponry, something which is typical of Spy films and heavily repeated in James Bond films.


The presentation of antagonists in the extract is also typical of the AA genre, but with a different twist which the creators threw in to try and look clever and unique. It involves a "tough as nails" antagonist sidekick who regularly interferes with the protagonist's work and serves as the force of muscle and strength, whereas the main protagonist is usually intelligent and cunning. The sense of danger is repeated through this villain's assistant as she is a disabled woman, who instead of having prosthetic limbs, has razor sharp blades which she uses to cut someone in half in one of the scenes. (which could be considered offensive as it portrays a person with a disorder as 'evil', but I will leave that to debate)

Textual Analysis of Gladiator

Editing: Title sequence- CGI because it is text that has been inserted through the editing suite. Text explains the historical background to the conflict in the Roman Period. It is about the Barbarians in Germania trying to resist the German conquest. It is there because it is useful. It provides background information to the audience regarding the plot of the film. This is a convention in historical and documentary films. This is a historical AA film.

Sound: We hear orchestral music that sounds ancient and foreign with a chorus singing wordlessly. The mood of this is melancholy and romantic. It is mingled with what appears to be ambient sound- the gentle laughter of children. The combined effect of the sounds evokes the protagonist’s home-life, which is far away from the battlefield.

Mise-en-scene: There is a man walking through a cornfield, brushing his hand through them, fondling them. He is romanticizing home as he runs his hand over the golden corn. He is thinking about his more personal side. In his mind, he wants to be running his hand through the cornfields, but he can’t as he is on the battlefield. The music is slow and it matches both the protagonist’s feelings and the pace at which he is walking through the field

Editing: A straight cut takes us to reality- the battlefield. It is like waking up from a dream. There is a close up on the protagonist’s face to show the emotions he is feeling in this particular scene. There is a deliberate contrast between the soft, vibrant atmosphere of the cornfield, and the extremely grey, violent, fearful atmosphere of the battlefield. The cornfield is full of growing life, whereas the battlefield is full of life being taken away.

Sound: There is a sound bridge between the cornfield and the battlefield in which the sound and music from the hopeful, gentle domestic scene, shifts over to the next scene, which is tense and grey. The protagonist then turns to see a bird fly away, and smiles when he looks at it. This is contrast to the current setting as it is depicting life and innocence on the battlefield, but also represents life being taken away on the battlefield, the loss of hope and also the transition between scenes

Camerawork: Establishing shot of the battlefield. We saw a wide shot of a dark, gloomy solemn forest. This suggests the mood of trepidation, apprehension, fear, anxiety, foreboding, the unknown; we know the enemy is hiding there so it creates a sense of tension and fear. Tracking shot of Maximus is important because it shows him to be a strong, powerful and courageous person. He is directly in the centre of the shot and the effect of the tracking shot is that it leads us to believe that the protagonist is very dominant and praised due to him riding through the crowds with ease

Antagonist: The antagonists are hairy and ragged, whereas the romans are polished, clean shaven and sport clean, strong armour. This contrasts the antagonists, who are portrayed as ruthless barbarians who love nothing more than to chop some heads off. The clothes they wear are ragged and ripped, symbolising that they are much less advanced than the protagonists. This lack of perfection in their ragged and dirty features represents them as villainous as they are completely contrasting their clean shaven and disciplined counterparts.

 

 

Johnny English analysis

The extract from the film that I have chosen is when Johnny is called to the office of his new boss 'Pegasus'  to discuss a ceremony being held at the tower of London regarding the crown jewels. This scene creates comedy as the scene sets up to believe that he is being professional (even though we already know he isn't), as he confidently enters the room and tries to throw his jacket onto the windowsill to hang up, but it ends up flying through the window. Johnny then tries to maintain the image that he is a suave and smart spy by picking up a pen which reminds him of an old gadget which concealed a tranquiliser dart and ends up explaining how it worked, while accidentally activating it (not realising it was actually the gadget) and knocking out Pegasus's secretary. Just at this moment, Pegasus comes into the room and a humorous scene ensues in which Johnny is trying to hide the body of the unconscious secretary from Pegasus from standing in front of it while paramedics are trying to figure out what is wrong with the body.


The action and adventure concepts in this scene are represented by the fact that Johnny is extremely well dressed and also due to the fact that there is a spy gadget concealed inside an everyday object (which often happens in AA/spy films). The location of London and the slightly old fashioned building also signifies the action/adventure genre as it was a feature repeated through various James Bond films. Throughout the duration of the film, Johnny is constantly trying to prove himself to his boss and is constantly trying to save England from antagonist Pascal Sauvage, but can never quite get it right as he has incredibly low intelligence *which is incredible that he was allowed into MI7...) No matter how much he tries to prove himself, he always fails, which ends in humourous situations and predicaments for the protagonist

Fragrance Draft

This is an initial idea for my fragrance advert. My fragrance is called sourire (which is smile in French), and it features a man in a suit, posing for the camera with a big grin on his face. The tagline for this advertisement is "put a smile on that face" It represents elegance and happiness, due to the general theme of smile symbolised through the tagline and the model and the elegance due to the suit the model is wearing.