Elephant



This film starts off by showing the sky, this represents two things, the weather and time passing by, as the film gets going it uses a lot of close up shots, not just of the characters faces but the camera shots just over the shoulder or just behind the character, the camera never goes away from head height level, this could be to get the viewer more involved.

During this film panning shots are very frequent as the characters on screen never seem to be standing still for long and when they do it’s only for a few seconds, this adds a bit of realism as around the college if your not in class there are a lot of people just wondering about.

The clothing that is worn during the film seems accurate as if you compare pictures from the film and that of the news reports showing clips of the attack they are very similar.

I feel the best parts of the film were when several shots of the same scene were shown through out the film at different times, this lengthens the film, shows different versions of that clip and also gets people saying “didn’t we already see that bit”, this also shows us what each of the characters versions were of each particular event. The other part of the film I found interesting was the ending in which the gunman finds a guy and girl hiding, he then starts to play game which is only enjoyable for himself, the film then ends there, and again gets people saying “is that is, what happened after that”. This then gets the viewer to want to look up what really happened.

The rate of the camera seems to be of normal through out the whole film right up to the bit just before the shootings in which a boy leaves the college and get a dog to jump up and do a spin, in this bit it goes to slow motion for a brief second, then back to normal rate, this could represent the last happy moment in the film as this is right before the killings take place.


There are a variety of camera shots, for example when the shootings are well under way, a boy goes to the classroom door and looks down the corridor and gets shot, but you don’t get to see who shot him, the obvious example of the variety of camera shots are from the points of view of the shooters, they are shown shooting people from the front as if it were you being shot, they show it where is looks like your doing the shooting and camera shots who watch the shooting from a distance like down a corridor, where you see the shooter and the person who gets shot. The most common camera shot is a wide angle lens, as there are many cases through out the film which don’t just show the character but the surrounding environment as well. The movement of the camera seems very smooth as it seems to be carried all the time, it never seems like the camera man is running, if a character gets too far then he will stand still and film that person going off into the distance.

Overall I think this film is very entertaining and interesting in the way the camera and variety of shots are used, this film really does get the viewer on the edge of there seats and wondering what is going to happen next.

Costumes, makeup and editing.




The film I have chosen to concentrate on for makeup, costume and editing is Gladiator the opening scene. First of all it all seems very historically accurate with all the Roman soldiers wearing there armour and carrying there weapons and the more important soldiers like the generals wearing more decorated armour and helmets, the emperor who sits at the back of the army is the one who is most elaborately dressed wearing bright colours and stands out, this part is slightly inaccurate as he would at the very least be wearing armour as he is in a battle environment.

When the German army comes out of the woods, they are wearing rougher clothing to that of the roman army, this again is historically accurate as the Romans were the most advanced civilisation at that time and the Germans along with nearly the rest of the world still lived in smaller communities and tribes.

During this opening scene I didn’t notice much of the makeup at the start of the film as there are many camera shots from a distance to fit in the huge army but they did have a beheaded head that looked very real, and they have towards the end of the battle made the soldiers look all worn out and bloody, for example the stab wounds and the injured soldiers lying all over the place.

I feel the editing in this film in the opening scene is the best part, as the Romans fire flaming pots and debris at there enemies and set the whole woods on fire just behind the German soldiers, I don’t think they did this for real as it would have been very hard for the actors and extras to do there job when there is a big set of woods is on fire right next to them, plus I don’t think they would of got the permission to set the woods on fire and if they did then it would have been very expensive.

To me this opening scene in Gladiator shows the viewer the costumes, makeup and editing really well and shows us what the film has in store, as this all happens in the first ten minutes.

Leon Review



I feel this film was really good as it starts of with a quick fast paced opening giving us an insight in to one of the main characters Leon as he carries out his day to day job of being a hit man, it then switches to the other main character Matilda and shows the viewer of her hectic life style, of having a rough time with her family as no one takes much notice of her and eventually there two paths cross which makes for a very entertaining film.

At the start of the film these two characters share a little moment where they talk when Matilda is smoking at the top of the stairs, at this stage you begin to feel that won’t be the last they see of each other as Matilda’s dad is getting in trouble with a crooked cop and Leon is a hit man, the film starts to unravel itself.

Later on in the film Matilda finds her family has been killed by the crooked cop, this is the point where she seeks Leon’s help, they create a bond but you can see Leon is uncomfortable with it at first but comes to accept it and in the end likes the company and they generally care for each other, the first signs of this is when Matilda desperately wants Leon to teach her to become a cleaner but Leon just wants to make sure she is safe and looked after.

When the film is coming to an end with the last dramatic scene where the crooked cop has drafted in what looks to be the entire police force to kill Leon, he makes a desperate last stand but only making sure Matilda is safe and out of the way first, this shows the viewer that there bond has grown a lot and they genuinely care for each other like a father and daughter would, but in the end in a double twist, the crooked cop kills Leon but Leon took the pins out of his grenades on his body and killed the cop but not before saying “this is from Matilda”.

If Leon survived it would have been a typical fairy tale story scenario where the baddie (crooked cop) does some thing bad and the goodie (Leon) gets his revenge and saves the day, this shows that it doesn’t always end the way you would like it to but showed the reality of the situation, this also made the film a lot more entertaining as there were twists and turns through out.

Cinematography


The film I have chosen to concentrate on for cinematography is 300 and a certain fight scene during the film (found In the link at the bottom), first of all the colours that are used during this scene are generally dark, I feel this is because a battle environment is not a nice place for any one and we associate nice things with bright colours and dark with bad, this is also the same with goodies and baddies, for example in the lord of the rings the baddies, goblins, orcs etc are all wearing dark clothing and evil whereas the good wear lighter clothing and are fighting for good. If you are a viewer who haven’t seen the film before and just watch the clip you could become confused as to who is the good guys but I have come to the conclusion that a natural viewer would easily be able to separate the two, the good guys in the film the Spartan warriors are wearing red capes although it is the colour they traditionally wore at the time, there is another character from a different film a superhero who is fighting for good who also wears a red cape and that is superman.

In this sort of clip there are several camera shots used, the first being a panning shot where the main character King Leonidas is running at the enemy taken them on one at a time, I feel this is the right shot for the scene as it shows his strength and leadership as a king, but on the other hand it is very dramatic, at times over the top and unrealistic but this does show the Spartans as very tough and good soldiers which they were, so the clip being dramatic pays of in this film.

The other camera shot that is being used is a close up, this shows the fear in the Persians and how worn out they are and shows the Spartans who have done this many times before, it also shows the Spartans six packs that would please the female viewer.

During these shots it is shown in slow motion, I feel this is to make the scene more dramatic, lengthen the film and to also capture every kill as each one is different, it just simply wouldn’t have the same effect if it was played in normal speed.

Overall this scene is not historically accurate but I don’t think people would mind as a lot of people don’t know what really happened anyway, and it also makes the film much more watchable and enjoyable to watch with the added slow motion and variety of kills.