Sound Analysis - Where's Shannon?

The Story
Where's Shannon is the story of two school girls who meet up at the school gates and make their way to class together. Once they arrive they realise that nobody is there yet and assuming that they are just early they enter the classroom and wait for the rest of their class and their teacher to arrive. But their wait for the rest of the class is interrupted but not by their classmates but by books falling from shelves on their own. They get up to investigate which is when one of the characters, Shannon, disappears. The other student looks towards the door which closes on it's own and she is left alone in this room with these strange paranormal happenings.

Use of sound
We used; diegetic, non-diegetic, on-screen, parallel, off-screen and contrapuntal sound. We tried to use the appropriate sound at the best moments and I believe we achieved this although in some places the sounds cuts in or off too quickly perhaps or is too quite although we made good use of the microphones in our first time using them.

1. The first shot is from inside and is meant to suppose to the audience it is a point of view shot although it is never certain. But we used an off-screen sound of heavy breathing to create this assumption that someone is watching these two girls from the window. The sound of breathing is to create fear within the audience as to what is going to happen to these girls as they are being watched.

2. The next scene is quickly switched to a panning shot of one of the girls walking towards the other and within this scene the off-screen breathing has disappeared but what we use is on-screen dialogue as the girl is on the phone. This sound is a diegetic sound and contrasts what we hear in the first scene as there is nothing for us to fear from the sounds within this scene. Although it creates tensity and the audience are aware something will happen but the characters clearly are not and the audience will be waiting for something bad to occur.

3. These two first scenes constantly switch between eachother so we are getting both the story and an increasing dramatic moment in the running up to what is going to happen.

4 We then see a long shot of them walking down the corridor towards the classroom. This is again, more dialogue, in the build up to what is going to happen but unfortunately the dialogue in this scene is not very clear and we also have the unfortunate sounds of people talking and moving out of shot but this was unavoidable. But then within this scene we get the creaking of the door as they enter the classroom which adds to the tense and eerie atmosphere we were trying to create.

5. We then tried to use contrapuntal sound when the girls were listening to music but I dislike how the music within this scene does not sound at all muffled, as I wanted the music from the headphones to. Unfortunately we had to place music over the sound of the music coming from the headphones in this scene as we focused more upon getting the dialogue from this scene and so the music was very hard to hear. The music did then work with being a contrapuntal sound, as it did not match the atmosphere we made when the crash of the books interrupted suddenly to frighten the audience, although may have been slightly too loud over the sound of the bang of the books.

6. The music then fades as they get up to investigate the fall of the books but it does not fade smoothly and it would have sounded better if we'd have stopped it suddenly at the crash of the books.

7.  We then get the second sign of paranormal activity as the chairs appear to move on their own making a large crashing sound as they clash against the table to again make the audience jump as it catches them off guard. This is on screen and as it matches the atmosphere now is also parallel.

8. The moving of the chairs moves over onto this scene although it would have been better if both these scenes the sound have overlapped and created a sound bridge. We do this so the audience then see the characters reaction to the chairs moving. We then have more diegetic dialogue coming from one of the girls as the other, Shannon, has no disappeared and she frantically panics as her friend has now vanished.

9. The next scene in which we use sound is of the last sign of paranormal activity as the character is now both scared and very panicked from what has since occurred since she entered the classroom and she watches the door begin to close on it's own. As the door closes we included a piece of non-diegetic music that carries on as the scene disappears to black to create a cliff hanger. We also made the closing of the door very loud to match the rest of the paranormal activity.

Conclusion
In many cases our different uses of sound had to be improvised or we had to accept a lower quality as to what we would have expected as we didn't have endless amounts of time but despite this we used the different types of sound appropriately and you can see evidence of how we tried to use every type of sound as we expected to do. We used both different cuts and filming techniques to match our sound , using both techniques on ways we filmed and what sound we used based upon the types of shot used.  The sound could have been improved in places although overall our technique was good.

Where's Shannon?

Mise-en-scene

High Key lighting is the use of a Fill light placed above what is being lit. This creates a brightness and softness to the scene or a glamorous or angelic appearance to a character as it does not create may shadows upon a scene or character and will make a subject look more youthful as few shadows will appear upon their face defining aging features. 

The word mise-en-scene is french and translated means "placing on stage"and refers to what is in front of the camera and where what is on the camera is placed. This includes; props, characters, sets, lighting, and costume and includes the actors movement and placement. It is used when a director means to create a certain impression of what is happening or of the characters without the use of dialogue, so the audience will know without it really ever being said.

1. Settings & props

Setting and what is within that location is important in setting a certain scene and mood the audience can pick up on and can also reflect the personality of the character. For example in the film Psycho we see the parlor within Bates Motel where Norman Bates takes Marion to dine with him. In this room upon the walls are dead birds of prey giving the audience a sense of what Normans character is like. It signifies him as himself perhaps a bird of prey, a bird of prey kills as does Norman Bates. Most people also get a sense of discomfort and will find the hanging of dead birds upon walls as decor to be creepy. The audience creates this impression of Norman Bates character being odd and a hunter, a man who kills. The stuffed birds give the audience a hint of Normans other personality.

2. Lighting and colour

Lighting can be used in various ways to create a different effect upon how the character or setting will appear. The position and what lighting is used can make the audience view the scene in a different way and create a certain impression. Most popularly used is a Three-Point lighting in which Key, Fill and Back lighting are used in most scenes as just a normal visual as to how the lighting would be, without manipulating it too much. 

High Key lighting is used usually upon a scene or person to create a glamorous perhaps even angelic feel. High Key lighting uses a Fill light upon what is being lit to create few shadows and upon a person would create a youthful look as few shadows will appear upon the characters face. Upon a scene High Key light makes a bright and softness to a scene. 

Low Key lighting is useful in horror films as it is often used to create a feeling of tense, thrill and fear within the audience. Low Key lighting creates many shadows and a huge contrast between light and dark. The darkness can make antagonists and characters obscure creating fear in the audience. 

Colour is also very useful in changing how we view a scene. Within Wizard of Oz colour is used to represent a fantasy world Dorothy finds herself in and the use of black and white within her life at home to show the dullness of her life at home in contrast to this exciting new world she dreams about. 

3. Costume, hair and make-up

A very noticable aspect of the mise-en-scene is costume including both the makeup and outfit of the subject. Costume gives us an idea of the characters personality and to signify differences between characters and change in costume can be of great significance to what has or is going to happen or a change in the characters personality or status. Costume can be chosen either very stereotypically or to contrast the persons character. Costumes and make up can be stereotyped by the genre and the position of the character. For example within the western genre you would be most likely to find a man wearing a cowboy hat, waistcoat and boots. A villain would often be found to be wearing dark clothing and heroes found in capes and spandex. 

Left to right: Loki (Villian) & Thor ( Hero)

4. Performance (Facial expression, Body language)

Performance is important within any film regardless of how interesting the story is and the actors performance as their character can decide how the audience will then perceive that character. Facial expression and body language usually give us an idea of how that character is feeling. Performance is usually individualized for that character and gives that character unique movements and the actor will give the character their own movements and expressions. 

5. Positioning of characters and objects within the frame

Directors can use positioning in various ways in the mise-en-scene to create a variety of effects. 

Characters that are placed in foregrounds of scenes are usually attached some sort of significance to, as they are placed within the foreground for a reason or will be then introduced to you. Characters you see placed far apart from eachother, with one on one end of the scene and the other placed on the other end we see a distance between these two characters whereas if we see people who are quite close to eachother we see that this could indicate a relationship of some sorts between these two people. 

Moving bodies or objects placed in backgrounds grasp our attention, so the positioning of characters and objects within the background that are moving are usually supposed to catch our attention.

Denotation - Literal description of an idea, object or concept

Connotation - What we associate with an idea, object or concept

Practical Analysis - The Dream

The Story
The Dream is a story based in a school and the main character is a student called Stephanie, played by Marianne. It begins with the teacher taking a register and at that moment Stephanie enters the room late to class. The teacher inquires as to why she is late but Stephanie claims she isn't terribly late. The teacher approaches Stephanie and this is where Stephanie makes a break for it and the teacher chases her. At the end Stephanie is awoken to find herself in class and that it was all just a dream and she had fallen to sleep during registration.

Use of Shots
We used most if not all of shots we were told to use within the sequence, we used; mid shots, long shots, panning, close ups, zoom, extreme close ups, over the shoulder shots, tracking, low and high angles and a tilt.

1. The first shot is the shot of the teacher in mid shot. This is to introduce the audience to this character and so they can make the realisation as to who this character is and what they are are doing. So the audience will recognise that this is a teacher and that she is taking the register.

2. The next shot goes to a long shot of the class as the teacher is questioning as to the whereabouts of Stephanie, this will show to the audience that Stephanie is not in the room despite the fact they don't know who Stephanie is, they will be able to see the teacher searching and being unable to find Stephanie. This will create mystery as the viewer will question as to the whereabouts of Stephanie.

3. A pan is then used to go from focus onto the teacher to the door where Stephanie will enter from, this gives the audience an introduction to Stephanie and the audience will then assume that the person entering the classroom is the person that they have been in search of.

4. A close up of the teachers face in then used so the audience will be able to see the exasperation in the teachers face and action and so the audience will be aware that it is the teacher that is talking.

5. A zoom into Stephanies face in then used. I believe this was a bad shot to use, I dislike the zoom and think it is messy. The zoom was to smoothly make the manoveur into the next shot but failed to work and it didn't look good.

6. The next shot was a close up of the time on the phone, the phone was slightly unfocused which could have been avoided without the use of the zoom but this shot was to show the time on the phone as it had it's relevance to the story line.

7. The next shot is a point of view shot of the teacher storming towards the student, this was unstable and wasn't a very smooth transition towards the student.

8. But we then have the cutaway to the feet of the teacher, showing her anger to the audience and this is a much more efficent way of moving from one scene and then to another.

9.  An over the shoulder shot is used, over the teachers shoulder, so the audience can see Stephanies reaction and how she makes her escape when the teacher scolds her.

10. A tracking shot is then used of Stephanie making an escape down the stairs, this sudden fast paced atmosphere of the film will surprise the audience as they will not have been prepared for a sudden change in pace. The audience will be alarmed and want to know if she will be caught.

11. A high angle shot is then used of the teacher making her way down the stairs (this shot is fairly wobbly to start with and at a tilt) to then extend the suspense the audience will feel as to what may happen in the story.

12. A tilt is then used from the point of view of Stephanie to create tension as we can see the teacher in the shot, the audience feels as though they too are in the same danger that Stephanie is in due to the use of the point of view and the creation of tension, the audience is scared of getting caught.

13. A close up is then used of Stephanies face so the audience can see her reaction when she is awoken and the audience will then realise that all that just happened was infact just a dream.

Critical Assessment
There were several occasions where the shots were shaky or tilted when infact they weren't supposed to be. In some of the shots cuts should have been used rather than zooms and moving closer and further away.
We tried to use shots appropraitely, although in some cases the shot type could have been chosen differently.

Conclusion
I believe that the positive elements of our film was that we used many different types of camera shot within the film which is what our aim was to do.
We used most shots appropriately and despite some of the wonky camera work and moving the camera rather than using cuts our film was adaquete for a first piece and we have learnt from the film how we could further improve in future projects.

The Dream

Sound Terminology

Sound

In our lesson we learnt about the different terminologies that are used when describing the different types of sound used within a film.

Diegetic sound is the terminology used to describe the world of the text. An easy way of thinking of it is that it is sound that will be heard by both the audience and the characters within the film.
Some diegetic sounds for example are; sound effects, dialogue, televisions, radios, knocking sounds, sounds of cars, screaming and internal thoughts are all diegetic sounds that are used within films that the character can hear.

Non-Diegetic sounds are opposite, and are sounds that are used out of the world of text. Non-diegetic sounds are sounds that the character will not hear but will be heard by the audience such as; music (soundtracks), voice overs, captions and titles. These are all heard by the audience but not heard by the characters within the film.

On-Screen sounds are sounds which are shown on the screen so the audience can see what is producing the sound. If a person is talking and the audience can see the characters that is talking on the screen as they speak then this would be an example of an on-screen sound.

Off-Screen sounds are sounds where the audience cannot see the source of what is making the sound. If you can hear a car driving but the image on the screen is not focused on the car that is producing this sound then this would be an off-screen sound. Off-screen sounds are used to make the audience aware of the diegetic world, that there is more than what appears to be happening on the screen.

Parallel sounds are sounds that match the action of what is happening within the scene. Sounds are used to create an atmosphere within a scene and parallel sounds are when the sounds used match what is happening within the scene or match whatever action is being made. For example in a horror film, if the scene is a scene in which they are running to escape from something the appropriate music to use would be fast paced to show urgency. This would then be a parallel sound.

Contrapuntal sounds are the opposite. Use of contrapuntal sounds are the use of sounds that are not matching that of what is happening within the scene. If the scene has a happy atmosphere but there is a use of sounds we wouldn't relate to being content or relaxing then this would be the use of contrapuntal sounds. For example in Jaws the scene set at the beach is a scene of enjoyment and relaxation but the music used when looking from the point of view of the shark is that of suspense and danger and does not match the happy beach scene.

A Sound Bridge is what creates a smooth transition from one scene to another. If you're moving from one scene to the next a sound bridge is used to make this change efficient and easy and to link both the scenes together.

Welcome to my blog

I am Jadzia Bambridge.
This is my blog containing my work for Film Studies AS which I am studying at Robert Clack school within their sixth form at year 12 and 13.