On Saturday, I went to the ODEON in Lincoln with a friend to see Legend. I was very impressed with the film, I had heard good things about it from friends and relatives who have seen it but it was still much better then I was expecting. If you have not yet seen this film I advise that you do.
Legend is directed by Brian Helgeland. It is about Ronald (Ronnie) and Reginald (Reggie) Kray, otherwise known as the Kray Twins. They are a set of twins who practically ‘own’ London’s Eastend, they are at the very top of their own gangster world, everybody knows who they are and nobody wants to be in trouble with them. Tom Hardy plays both Ronnie and Reggie Kray, which is actually really effective! Ronnie Kray is a schizophrenic with many other mental health issues which are portrayed perfectly throughout the film. Not only is the film very serious and thrilling but at the same time there is a very comical aspect, the Krays are so confident within their gangster circle that their encounters with rival gangs or businesses they’re working with are actually quite funny because their confidence makes these encounters a lot less serious. Legend is a lot less violent than I was expecting, which is what makes it better I think because it doesn’t have to be packed with blood and gore to be a good gangster film.
Brian Helgeland shows the deterioration of Frances, Reggie Kray’s wife’s mental health very well as her relationship with someone who is so strongly involved with the gangster culture progressively gets worse and eventually leads to domestic violence which leads to Frances commiting suicide to escape Reggie Kray. This is also what lead to The Kray’s finally being put behind bars because the guilt of what Reggie ‘did’ to Frances became too much for him and sent him crazy at the mention of her name.
If you have not yet seen Legend I strongly recommend that you do! I’m not usually a big fan of gangster films but I found the lives of the Kray Twins very interesting and the film was just great to watch whether you’re interested in the Kray’s or not.
A shot/reverse shot is carried out when a shot is taken of what a character is supposedly looking at, for example another character of an object. This is usually an over the shoulder shot or a point of view shot. This is them followed by a reverse angle shot of the characters face looking at the other character or object. This editing method is used to create a sense of continuity throughout a scene and easily shows both characters reactions and what each one is saying in a conversation or to show what someone is looking at and their reaction to it.
Match on action can be otherwise known as cutting on action. This is an editing technique to show continuous movement throughout an action, this is achieved by one shot following on from another without any disturbance to the action being carried, no jumping and missing any of the action for example. Creating this sense of continuity is known as a ‘visual bridge’, this takes the audiences mind away from the fact that different shots have been cut together as the action looks smooth.
The 180º Rule is often used when characters are engaging in conversation. An imaginary line called an axis connects the two characters, by keeping the camera on just one side of the line for every shot in a scene, one character is always to the right of the other and vice versa. If the camera crosses over the axis, it causes confusion for the audiences as it becomes unclear as to where the characters are stood and whether they are moving. The object or characters that are being filmed must me in the centre of the camera rotation and the camera must always face what is being filmed.
I feel that overall the video we made as a group was quite successful, considering we only had 50 minutes to film and 50 minutes to edit, I am happy with the end result. In particular, I like the close ups of the teacher’s and student’s eyes because it builds on the idea of the student having no idea what the meeting is for and her thinking the worst, it builds more tension.
However, if I were to do this project again, I would make sure that there is sound all the way through the clip because due to the school bell going off and other background noise, we couldn’t use sound on the two shots of the eyes, which sounds odd against there being consistent sound all the way through the rest of the clip. I would also make sure to add more dialogue, to fully forfil the task we were set. One last thing I would change is making sure that it doesn’t look like either of the girls are moving during the conversation because with the shots between the two of them changing, the angle of the camera is also changed which makes it look like they’re changing positions from the left and to the right of the table, or the other way round, throughout the film.
Short Term 12directed by Destin Daniel Cretton is a film that I had never heard of until I came across it while looking through Netflix for something to watch, but I am so glad I did find it because I really enjoyed it.
Short Term 12 is about a foster-care facility for at risk teenagers. Not only do the kids at the care home have troubled pasts, most of the staff do too. Which of course helps them to understand and help the children in their care but can also causing a few problems too because they get too involved. One member of staff in particular, Grace (Brie Larson), makes it her own personal mission to help a girl that is new to the home. The girl continuously runs away from the home and has a history of hurting herself. Grace feels more of a connection to the girl as she has experienced similar things and so she starts digging to find the root of the girls unhappiness and Grace tries to save her from drowning in whatever’s going on.
The film is quite dark and reflects on issues most children in care have to deal with, it helps people who have never had to experience such things to understand how it must feel, which creates a lot of empathy for the characters. It also makes you realise how much care workers have to go through and how difficult it must be. Destin Daniel Cretton has created a great storyline and I advise that everyone watches this, but don’t forget your tissues because its bound to make you cry.
We have been asked to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then engages a few lines of dialogue.
I was put into a group with Sophie Olive and Jenny Breislin, together we talked about what we would like to do. We decided on a student being asked to be seen by a teacher and building up the tension of them being scared about being told off as they approach the room, but then when they get there the teacher praises them for good work.
To plan the filming, we made a story board, showing the sequences of shots we will take when we film tomorrow. We have included lots of close ups and want to add music to create more tension to exaggerate the thought that she’s in trouble. We are using Tamsin Roark to play the teacher and Jenny is playing the student, while me and Sophie film and record the sound.
At the beginning of the film, the camera slowly cranes down across a large grey building to eventually focus on the character, Heather. This helps to focus the audiences attention and it becomes clear to the audience that she is the main character. When the audience is viewing Heather the camera never looks up at her, it looks directly at her. This shows that she isn’t superior to the audience, the effect this has is that the audience find it easier to empathise with her and relate to the situation she’s in. In the call centre, there are multiple repeated close ups of the clock on the wall. This symbolises the importance of time through out the film and how time is running out for Heather to save the man and time is running out in the mans life, he is getting closer and closer to dying. As the audience are taken into the office, there’s is an establishing shot of the office and where she sits, showing the audience how she is quite lonely and isolated because she isn’t sat near anyone else and the office is where she must spend most of her time so it could also show her lack of friends and in effect show how the small relationships she makes with the elderly people on the phone are as important to her as they are to the people she is helping because it gives her someone to talk to aswell. As the man is shown as having passed away in his home, the camera looks up at the door his wife enters the house through. This is symbolic of looking up at heaven and therefore the mans wife being an angel, it also shows the importance of his wife because she is to be looked up at.
Sounds Design:
The non-diegetic sounds of Jazz music connects with and adds more emotion to the mans story, because he explains how he used to play in a Jazz band and him and his wife used to go to Jazz concerts together , showing how the music connects to the time when he was happiest in his life because his wife was still with him. The Jazz music also relates to the mans age as Jazz music was most popular a long time and it was most popular in the mans youth. When the camera is in the mans house there is a diegetic clock ticking, along side the repeated shots of the clock, this emphasises the passing of time until he dies, but the sound also emphasises how lonely the man is without his wife because when he is sat at home the sounds of the clock is what he can hear because he lives alone and there is no one for him to talk to. This diegetic clock noise is also louder in the woman’s office, showing that she cares more for him dying than he does because he feels that it is the right time to die because he can’t go on any longer without his wife. Through the phone there is the added sound effect of heavy breathing that becomes louder as the mans death is becoming more imminet. Which again shows how time is becoming more scarce and like in horror films, the heavy breathing shows the mans fear of death, even though he wants to die, he is scared of it happening, when he first speaks to Heather, he says he is scared.
Editing:
A blue filter is added to the film, this gives the film a very cold and lonely feeling, which reflects how Heather and the man are feeling. A slow fade is added between most scenes, this adds to the idea of time passing. Sound bridges of Heather and the man talking are added between some scenes, this shows their relationship coming together and them forming a stronger bond the more they talk. The pace of the editing increases as the jeopardy increase, the jeopardy being his death so as the pace increases the time left until he dies decreases.
Mise-en-scene:
As the film starts you see a large grey building, all the colour is very plain and cold so it feels quite empty, also connecting to how lonely Heather is as she is in a big city on her own. However against the plain background her brightly coloured hat stands out making her the main focus of the scene and giving her the audiences attention. In the call centre, the walls are very plain and blue and everything is very dull and impersonal, which creates a juxtaposition between the impersonal surroundings and the very personal phone calls they receive there. Also against the surroundings her face looks more colourful and warmer, showing her as a very friendly and welcoming person. The mans house is very white and pure, symbolising heaven and how he has now died and gone to heaven. In the house there is also shown to be a mantle piece cluttered with little ornaments, this is stereotypical of an old person so links to the mans age. Heather is wearing very relaxed clothing that doesn’t hug her figure, she isn’t trying to look attractive making her easier to relate to for the audience and showing that she cares more about her job because she isn’t there to look all made up, she’s just there to help people. At the end of the short film, the room is a lot more colourful, giving it a happier, more romantic feeling, which also gives these feelings to her finally having a date with her colleague, making the audience fell happy for Heather.
Side Effects directed by Steven Soderbergh was the last film I watched. The film starring Jude Law, Channing Tatum, Rooney Mara and Catherine Zeta-Jones was released in the USA on the 8th of Feburary 2013. The film is about a young woman called Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) who’s husband (Channing Tatum) has just returned home from serving time in prison. However although Emily seems to be happy to see him and have him back, it becomes clear that she is quite severely depressed and even attempts to kill herself by driving her car straight into a wall. So after this incident, she seeks the help of a psychiatrist (Jude Law), he speaks to a previous psychiatrist Emily had called Dr Victoria Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones). After speaking to her previous psychiatrist, he decides to prescribe her with various different anti-depressants that appear to give her side effects such as nausea or that she claims just simply don’t work. Due to these various anti-depressants causing problems Emily asks to be put on a new drug called Ablixa, everyone is talking about it, saying how good it is and how much it has helped them with their depression. However the Ablixa seems to have the side effect of putting Emily into a “sleepwalking” state, where she can’t remember anything she has done whilst in this state. When in the “sleepwalking” state Emily tragically murders her husband by stabbing him with a knife she was chopping vegetables with in this Ablixa side effect state. She wakes up from the state having no idea her husband has been killed and immediately calls the police when she sees him laid on the floor with a knife in his back. Furthermore, due to this horrific incident, Emily is emitted to a mental hospital where she awaits the verdict of the murder case as it is very clear to the police she killed him, but she ends up not getting charged because her psychiatrist explain how this “sleepwalking” state effects her, how she doesn’t know what she’s doing and doesn’t remember anything that happens whilst she’s in the state. The whole murder case completely ruins Emily’s psychiatrists career though because he is blamed, by the public, for the murder as he prescribed the drugs to Emily. However Emily’s psychiatrist can’t accept what has happens and starts digging further to find out more about the murder, he ends up revealing some quite troubling information that explains a lot and the whole story about the tragic truth starts to unfold.
I enjoyed watching this film, although it was slow to get going, it’s worth a watch because the plot twist that reveals the truth behind the whole film is very cleverly done, it makes the whole film make so much more sense. If you like films with completely unpredictable endings, one that are quite thought provoking then Side Effects is definitely one for you.
Megan Jackson's AS Media Studies Blog 