Deeper analysis into editing and its meaning - "Don't Look Now"

Yesterday, we looked at the opening to "Don't Look Now." For our exam we have to look at all four aspect, not just editing, but for this lesson Adam thought it was necessary to look into editing deeply as it is possibly the hardest one. This was much easier as I could just pick out the different editing techniques rather than having to remember all 4 sections.

When watching the sequence we treat it like the exam in terms of, the first time we watch it we are not allowed to write anything down. On the second time you start to write stuff down but still watch however, on the third and fourth time you should have stopped watching and being drawn in by it and instead write notes and just quickly look up to notice another editing technique.
The sequence opened with an establishing shot of the pond, this could symbolise that the pond is very important as it is held for a long time. Then there is an edit to a dark window with glistening light, this is a very ambiguous shot which could represent the ambiguity of the opening sequence. Another establishing shot is shown with the girl playing with a wheel barrow and the white horse in the background which suggests purity as it is white, but the establishing shot produces as understanding that the children are happy playing outside. There is an edit from a close up of the pond to the fire which could suggest the contrast of both and that there is a contrast of something in the play. The cut from outside to inside and the fire inside is symbolic of danger... the danger that is going on outside. There are many match cuts in this piece for example when the girl throws the ball into the water and the dad throws the cigarette packet to the mum. This almost suggests a connection between the father and daughter as they are doing the same actions at the same time. Another match cut is when the father dives into the river and the mother throws the symbolic picture onto the sofa. This photograph has a huge meaning in the opening sequence which is ambiguous throughout. However there are man cuts to and from this image the father was studying to the little girl. When the ink starts to spread and the girl starts to drown the cuts from her being held in her dads arms in a specific

shape, to the ink spreading in this shape. This represents a connection between the two. The positioning of shots represent the danger the girl is going to encounter. For example when she is walking along the bank and her reflection is in the water, which technically shows her underwater and this is foreshadowing her death. The reason I have mentioned camera a lot is because it is very closely connected with editing and so it is hard to avoid.

Production Meeting 1

Initial view points of my group

This lesson we got put into our groups. Adam our media teacher asked three people to give them three names and the outcome was 3 groups of 4 and one group of 3. I am in one of the groups of four with Chris, Laura and Lauren. My initial thoughts on the group were varied as I am not in a friend group with any of the three. However, when I joined with them to start talking about our ideas we seemed to work well together and listen to each other. However, this is just the beginning and I don't want to get too ahead of myself. Strengths of our group are that we can work well together and listen to each other however when we disagree on something it tends to have an impact on the mood of the group as we all have very strong view points.

This is my group 

Thriller Ideas

Idea 1 – A family of four are struggling with their money, the children aren’t being affected but the mother and father are finding it hard to supply to them. In order to get money they sell their fairly large house and downsize, moving to a different neighbourhood. The neighbourhood they move to is slightly less safe than the one they were living in before but this does not seem to be a problem for the people in that neighbourhood, thus they buy a house and live there. Unbeknown to them their next door neighbour is a psychopath. As soon as they move in the next door neighbour has his eye on the ‘new’ family of the neighbourhood. Throughout the film you see the psychopath plotting ideas in order to kill the children. Towards the end he captures one child and she goes missing, he fails to actually kill her. The opening sequence opens with the mother placing the children’s dinner on the table, there is a clock in the background to highlight the time (early as they are children). They have a pizza take away as there is not much food in the house as they have just moved in. There is crockery around wrapped in paper so the idea that they have just moved in is emphasised. Then a cut to the father in the study which has boxes in but the desk, chair and his laptop have been unpacked and he is doing some work. Then a cut back to the kitchen, the children and mother are very happy laughing and smiling. There is a window in the kitchen too and the man has walked around the outside of the house and stands still looking into the window at the children. There is a shot from outside the window looking in to show the audience that someone is watching the family but they do not know. It cuts there.

Idea 2 – A teenage girl about 17 is in a relationship with a man of 30 years old. She met him as she had a group of friends who were interacting with older men. Her and this man were very happy and enjoying their relationship. He meets the family and they ask him and their daughter to babysit the younger daughter, who is 9. The older daughter drives the parents to the restaurant they are going to. Back at home is the younger daughter and the man, he is watching her and unbeknown to the rest of the family, he used to be a rapist and had just come out of prison 3 years ago. The man rapes the child in the film and there is major suspence as she is sworn to secrecy about it and none of the family know. Thriller follows their story. The opening of this involves the 17 year old girl and the man driving home. They are playing music loudly and the camera follows their journey home. They are very fond of each other in the car whilst driving and the man is slightly over the top, this highlights his power over women. The journey home is fairly long but they then arrive home and there is a POV shot of the younger girl looking out the window of the couple walking towards the door, there is eye contact between the man and the younger sister and then the younger sister hides behind the curtain in fright. 

Idea 3 – A journalist has been assigned work for the New York Times. Her task is to write about the crime in New York. She was going around New York involving herself in high flying people such as politicians. Almost like the prohibition where police men and politicians got away with drinking, this was the same, but to do with drug crime. The opening of this in an the woman’s office where she is working on a computer, the desk is full of paper to highlight that she is a very busy woman. There is a knock on her on her door (she has her own office) from the boss. She is told that she has been promoted and they celebrate. The offices cheer for her. There is then an over the shot of her looking at her computer screen researching drug crime in America.

Idea 4 – There is a computer virus going around a town, which then leads to a major spread into the cities. This virus is killing many people and it happens when you go on your computer and it penetrates your eyes. Once this virus is in you in kills you with in 2 days. A man is all behind this, and someone is out to catch him but he does not know this. He is sat at his computer screen killing many innocent people via a computer, so technically he is a mass murderer. The opening sequence is set in the psychotic mans house, where it is night time and very dark. The camera follows round the corridors, as if it was someone else and goes very slowly. The man who is catching out the psychotic man is in his house. As the man approaches the kitchen, the psychotic man sitting in his kitchen eating dinner emerges. The whole of the opening sequence is in the point of view of the man who is stalking the psychotic man.

Sound Analysis

Connotation and Denotation

Semiology

Semiology came from the Greek word 'semeion'. which means sign. It trys to create a science of study of sign systems and their role in the construction and reconstruction of meaning in media texts. Semiology concentrates on the text and the signs and codes that are in it.

Connotation

The secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its real meaning. (ie ‘red’ connotes danger/passion/communism, a ‘car’ connotes freedom. This is very often cultural and can depend on context. Connotation represents the various social overtones, cultural implications, or emotional meanings associated with a sign. For example if you see someone holding a knife in a horror movie you would associate it with a murder.

Denotation

direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression from the meanings associated with it. What it actually is. (ie ‘red’ denotes a certain colour, a ‘car’ denotes a vehicle for moving people and things around. Denotation is the real meaning. Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the 'dictionary definition'.

What is a thriller?

The genre thriller are known to promote intense excitement, suspense and high levels of anticipation. The tension usually rises when the main character is placed in a situation or mystery, when life itself is threatened. There are many types of thrillers: 

Types of thrillers: 

• Comedy thriller
• Crime Thriller
• Psychological thriller 
• Supernatural thriller
  

Above are a few thrillers from each genre. 

Characters in thrillers:
There are different characters which include convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims, prison inmates, menaced women, drifters and romantic triangles. Obviously there are other types of characters that create thrillers however these are the type of characters I have seen in thrillers. 

ALFRED HITCHCOCK-
Hitchcock helped to shape the modern day thriller genre. His first silent film was "The Lodger"(1926) which was a gripping story. Although Hitchcock was nominated 5 times as Best Director her never won an academy award. 

In many of his films there was an inevitable life and death chase ending with a showdown. One of Hitchcock's most shocking thriller is Psycho (1960) which is about a loner mother which a 'shower scene.'

Hitchcock inspired
There are a number of Hitchcock inspired films such as 

• Niagra (1953)
• Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
• The Night of the Hunter (1955)
• Touch Of Evil (1958)
• Cape Fear (1962)

Finished prelim task.

Finishing editing our prelim

We carried on from our last lesson editing our prelim task. We had to remember the tools we used last week in order to finish it. 

I wanted to make sure I had a full understanding of the editing so far so I made sure I took control at the beginning. After about 10 minuets of discussing with my group and editing others joined in and we all took part together. 

We watched through our prelim so far and were happy with that so did not change anything. The next scene was a moving shot. When editing on a moving shot you have to make sure the action is taking part in the next scene. 

The plan in our prelim was to make the reasoning of the argument in the scene to be ambiguous until the last shot. However, we did not look close enough when shooting at how all the scenes will connect together. Unfortunately there came a point where we realised that we had missed a shot which would connect one scene to the next. There was a discussion with in the group on how to sort this out. We decided to zoom into the door to split the scene where the hand goes up to the projected otherwise it completely didn't fit. 

This was very annoying as we wanted it to be as good as it could be, however it was also a good lesson to learn as we know what to concentrate on when shooting and to think about all the scenes connecting in editing to make the one document.  

Another problem we encountered was with the sound. At the end of one of our shots there was "cut" said a lot before the end of the shot. This meant that we had to collaborate other sound from other shots, this was quite difficult as we had to ensure it was the sound was similar and flowed continuously without interruptions due to the sound.  

Although we had all these problems, the outcome of our piece was much better than I had expected. As only editing for the second time I feel we overcame these problems well and learnt a lot through the process.