Burn After Reading - Scene Analysis

fter reading is a comedy by the Cohen brothers. The premises of the story is that two gym employees undercover what they think is top secret information and they then try to blackmail the C.I.A into giving them money to pay for plastic surgery. The scene i have chosen to analyze is the scene when the gym employees are first introduced. Linda and Chad are working at the gym and Linda is checking her internet dating websites to see if she has had any responses. There are bright lights and lots of friendly, chattering background noises. There are many different pieces of gym equipment in the background that are being used by different customers at the gym. The scene is very light hearted and the shots vary from being close ups to mid-long shots. The shot is just straight for most of the time as they are sitting in front of the computer and the camera is not moving, and there is only one high shot in the entire scene.

Elements of Film

Mise-en-scene

• Combination of all visual elements within a frame/consider:
• Setting
• Lighting
• Acting style
• Costume and props

Cinematography

• The art of capturing images on film and video/ consider:
• Exposure
• Perspective
• Camera position
• Focus

Creatively use framing to:

• Limit and control what the audience sees in each shot
• Withhold information
• Create balance in each shot

The Aviator- Mise-en-scene

The film ‘Aviator’ is a historical biography about the life of Howard Robard Hughes who broke the air speed record. Although it is a historical biography, from watching the clip, one can gather that there is a sense of action and adventure, which are possible sub-genres for the film. The film is set in 1963 in the daytime, so the light, acting style and props are suited to that era.

The lighting in the film is very bright. During shots f the plane being in the air, there are sections where the lights are overly bright, almost washing out the shot and giving the impression that the plane is very high and the sun is almost blinding. The scene is cheerful; it is about breaking a world record and doing something positive. The sun is bright in the sky and all of the characters are happy because of this.

The way that the characters speak and act is relevant to the set time so it appears a little dated. Leonardo Di Caprio, who portrays Hughes in the film, is convincing in his role. All of the actors seem to be excited at the prospect of breaking the record, as the people would be in real life. They are all believable. There are not a great deal of props in the scene. Most of the scene is shot in the air, watching Howard Hughes fly the plane. Because they are not that important, the props in the plane are not shown in the frames often, only when them being shown is crucial to know what is happening.

The film makers effectively used mise-en-scene to make the film look interesting. After watching this scene, I am interested in watching the rest of the film.

Comparing Star Wars Trailers

After watching The Star Wars trailers for a Star Wars one and episode three, the differences in the two trailer styles are quite evident. As they were made almost 20 years apart, the differences are primarily because of the changes in styles used and the technology available.
The music used in between the different scenes shown in episode one was not very excited and was very quite. The music played in Episode three trailer was much more exciting. It gave the sensation that there was constant action occurring in the film.
In the first version, the voice over’s were by a voice not actually in a movie and was very dry voice walking about the film. In Episode three, the voices used to tell the story were voices from the film. It make the trailer much more interesting because the voices wer4e full of emotion and feeling, unlike the boring voice in the first.
Both films tried to give the impression that the movie was a fast, action paced film but episode three did a much more successful job of conveying this message. The first didn’t look all that exciting because there were constant interruptions of the scenes to cut to a blank, black screen saying star wars with only a voice. The second was a constant sequence of interesting and suspenseful scenes which did a much better job when.
It is a little hard to equally compare the two films because they were created at such different times. Episode one may have been the best technology available at the time and contained amazing technology, but watching the film in the 21st century, comparing it to one of the most successful uses of technology since, it just looks old. They both attempt the same thing, but the style of the second is much more interesting because of the changes in technology and how movies are portrayed in trailers twenty years later.
The impact that the trailer for episode three had on me was much more powerful. After watching both and given the option without watching the films, I would choose the second option because I think it looks so much more interesting and looks more like something that I would enjoy.

Film Recipe

Ingredients:

Characters: 7 teens murderer police VIctimsfamily Weird/spoky kids Hero Traitor Klutz	Weapon/device: Poison Shard of lollipop Knives Saw Axe Guns Crow bar Gas Fist
Setting/Location: Rain Night Deserted bulding Graveyard Church Dark Alley Castle	Enemies: Monster Escaped mental patient Circus freak Mutants Vampires Psycho Technology Zombies Ghosts

Method:

Take one man who has never been very good at anything and make him begin to think that there is a ghost haunting him Make him meet a young beautiful woman who confesses to have been haunted by a ghost. Have the man not believe her, but the woman is adamant about what has been happening to her. The young woman’s father disappears and is found some days later in a graveyard, having been murdered, but nothing science can explain. The man is convinced and the two begin to investigate. The two main characters suspect something to do with the supernatural, so they travel to the ‘murder scene’ graveyard at midnight to solve the mystery. They are confronted by a mutant and escape with their lives. They discover the entire case is linked to a billionaire, but when they travel to his mansion they find it abandoned with no sign of life what so ever. They break in and find that something is wrong. After searching the house they are about to leave, but are attacked by hundreds of mutants. The man defeats the mutant, saves the beautiful women and they fall in love and live happily ever after.

Horror Genre

The point of a horror film is to create a feeling in a viewer of shock, fear and terror. The typical plots of a horror film include the themes of death, mental illness, isolation and the supernatural such as vampires, werewolves and the un-dead. Horror films are often violent, filled with gore that makes viewers want to turn away, but this is not always the case. The typical elements of a horror film are suspenseful moments, shocking things happening or threatening to happen. Horror film is quite hard to analyse in the way that because the idea is to not be able to predict the plot and to be full of suspense, Because of this you can often not know what is going to happen and many films in the same genre take different turns.

The ending of horror films using involve death or sadness. When a horror film does have a happy ending it is often clouded by the unhappiness of the film and the unsettling feeling that things won’t remain so happy for long.

Defintions

A shot is a continuous piece of filming without interuption from the time the camera is turned on to when it is turned off

An edit is a break in the film where one shot begins and the nest begins.

A scene is a collection of shots, arranged through editing into a specific order.

Framing is the art of deciding what images the audience will see within the frame of the

cinema screen and how those images are arranged. Framing limits and controls what the audience sees in each shot.

Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema.

Mise-en-scene is an expression used in theatre and film to describe the design aspects of a production. It has been called film criticism's grand undefined term because the term has many different meanings. The French term literally means ‘putting on stage’. When it is applied to the cinema, it refers to everything that appears before the camera and the arrangement of actors, props, lighting, sets and costumes. Mise-en-scene also includes the positioning and movement of actors on a set. For some, it refers to all elements of visual style—that is, both elements on the set and aspects of the camera. For others, it takes on mystical meanings related to the emotional tone of a film. The term has come to represent a style of conveying the information of a scene primarily through a single shot—often accompanied by camera movement

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing images, sound, video, or film through processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications. It is part of the post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots, connecting the resulting sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story, dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the actors' performances to effectively redirect and even rewrite the film to craft a cohesive whole. Editors usually play a dynamic role in the making of a film.

A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film.

In a narrative, such as a novel or a film, Matifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the piece’s major themes. The narrative motif is the vehicle by means of which the narrative theme is conveyed. The motif can be an idea, an object, a place or a statement.