Representation of women in horror films.

Women are represented in many different ways in films, some might be represented as a victim/ weak character, and some might be represented as the 'scary, villain' element of a movie.

In the movie 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' the girl is represented as a scary/possessed person. She has had an exorcism performed on her by a priest which adds the religious element.  Emily Rose is a young girl, and often to make movies more scary and more sinister filmmakers use young girls or boys to be the villain, to be the possessed person, or to be the person with a mental illness. Emily Rose is a child so she has that sense of innocence about her, and as you see the link between her and ghosts/spirits in the movie, the viewer feels more emotion towards the character than if the role was played by an older women. In a way the film is made frightening by the fact that the child is a young girl because young girls are stereotypically nice, sweet, and innocent but none of these qualities are shown in film so the viewers would be more interested.

In the movie ‘Psycho’ (1960) there are two main women represented, the first women is the typical women who works as a secretary. She steals money from her employer’s client and runs away with it, subsequently she gets murdered, and she is shown to be the victim in this. This is the stereotypical role we would expect to see from a ‘blonde women’ as they are usually considered to be the weaker characters or even the ‘damsels in distress’. The second woman is an older woman who is quite the opposite to the first women. She is first shown as a motherly, old character who lives with her son, and they both own a motel. Later on in the movie she ends up being shown as the murderer, as she kills any people who do stay at their motel, we never actually see her face so we don’t know what she looks like but from the way she is described we can tell that she has always been like this. In this film there are two very different women who might seem similar to us at first but as the movie progresses we get to know what they are like, and they contradict each other massively.

To conclude i think that there are many different ways in which women might be represented in films, like victim, villain etc, and sometimes the viewer can predict what the characters role might be or how they are going to end up in movie, for example blonde, dumb characters are usually the ones who get killed off first or the victims. But other times , it might not be so easy to guess what a certain character is going to be like in a movie as it might be that the way the character is shown to us at first is not actually how the character ends up to be in the end, for example the mother in Psycho. 

Analysis of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' opening sequence

In the Opening of 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo we first hear non- diegetic sound,with a black screen, this grabs the attention of the viewer. Images and text then begin to flash onto the screen, this is effective as it gives the viewer a feel of what the movie is going to be about, if the images and text had faded into the screen we could have made the assumption that the movie was going to be of a different genre to what a movie with flashing images could be. The viewer sees many different images that at this point don't seem to be of a particular thing, the colours are mainly blacks and greys and we see a black liquid kind of thing which seems to be covering other objects, a kind of suspense and curiosity is created at this point, as the viewer is left wondering what relationship these images have with the rest of the film. Also the colour black could symbolize darkness or danger.
We then see the title of the movie appear on the screen and the black liquid kind of 'hits the words' and covers them up entirely. the sound (non - diegetic) has been playing the entire time, from start till now, and at this point the sound appears to be getting louder. The sound is the 'Immigrant song' by Led Zeppelin.
At this point the viewer can make out the image of a person struggling, also surrounded by the black liquid. The camera seems to be following the black liquid and is going wherever it goes, sometimes there are even point of view shots that make the viewer feel like they are the black liquid and they are the ones surrounding words and on keyboards etc.  We then see fire, which could also symbolize danger, or an element or horror. As the sound speeds up, so do the images as the flash onto and off the screen.

Research on Directors.

(Information from Wikipedia)

1. Brian De Palma

Films he has directed:
- Dressed to Kill (1980)
- Scarface (1983)
- The Untouchables (1987)
-Carlito's Way (1993)
- Mission Impossible (1996)

Themes:
- Psychological thrillers ( Dressed to kill)
- Commercial films ( Mission Impossible)

Most of De Palma's films have graphic violence in them, and some of his films, like Scarface, have been at the center of controversy with the 'Motion Picture Association of America, Film critics' and the viewing public.

Camera Shots:
De Palma often uses slow sweeping, panning and tracking shots throughout his films.
To put emphasis on a dramatic scene he often uses a 360-degree camera pan.

Awards:
De Palma has won many awards, some of them include:
- Blue Ribbon Award (best foreign film, 1988)
-Silver Lion (best director, 2007)
-Saturn award (best director, 1981)

2. Tim Burton

Films he directed:
- Alice in wonderland (2010)
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
- Sleepy hollow
- Beetlejuice

Camera shots:
Tim Burton uses Dutch angles, Stop-Motion, Point of View shots.

Awards:
Emmy Award - outstanding animated program (Beetlejuice)
National Award of Review award- best director (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet street)

Preliminary exercise

preliminary exercise evaluation

WWW: we used precision editing to make the shots flow and look more continuous, and we merged the sound together to make it sound more even, so the sound on one part of the clip merges into the second, so there are no jumps.

EBI: When we were merging the sounds, on some of the clips we moved the sound instead of stretching it, so it was out of sync with the clip.

preliminary exercise evaluation

WWW: We used a number of different shots, e.g. close ups, wide shots, establishing shot, over the       shoulder shot.
We also used the 180 degree rule.
We took a number of shots, so when editing, we could choose from which shot to use to make it flow.


EBI: we could have used lighting, as some of our shots are more in the dark than others.
we could have also filmed more extreme close-up shots, e.g. to show expression on their faces.
In some of our shots we couldn't make it flow when editing because when filming we made small mistakes like in one short, an arm is up and in the next the arm is down.

How is the chicken used as a metaphor is the opening of 'City Of God'?

In the opening of  'City Of God' the chicken plays and important role in telling the viewer about what the rest of the movie could be about, in other words the chicken is a metaphor for the events that occur in the rest of the film.

The sound playing throughout most of the opening sequence is non-diagetic music; this music represents the fast tempo of what is happening in the scene. At the beginning when we first see the knife the viewer feels as if something is about to happen, and it obviously would have something to do with that knife this could either indicate death or that something is about to be cut, we then see the chicken, the camera angle make the chicken look like it is showing fear, this is done by the camera cutting to the chickens face, as a close up then quickly cutting to a different shot. We then see the vegetables being cut with the sharpened knife which could represent that aye the chicken is about to be cooked. After one of the chicken's is killed we see the other chickens face again, it looks frightened again, the camera at this point looks quiet shaky, so it could be a hand held shot, we then see a close up of the rope tied around the chickens leg this makes the viewer feel like the chicken is about to escape or tries to escape before it, like the other chicken, gets slaughtered. throughout all of this the sound is pretty much the same- it is non-diagetic music. we then see another close-up of the chickens face, at this point the viewer gets to see what the chicken is actually looking at, as the camera cuts from a shot of the scared looking chicken to to that of the chicken that is being put into the cooking pot. 

we then see the chicken escaping from the piece of rope tied around its foot; this could be of significance to the rest of the film as it might be giving the viewer hints as to what they might expect to see in the rest of the film. the viewer might guess from this that the film is about a murder, or someone escaping from somewhere or from someone. the killing of the chicken at this point, looks brutal and to have a killing at a very early point in the film could indicate that the rest of the film will be about pretty much the same thing, and the chicken would represent many more brutal deaths to come. then we see the chicken running away from the people, the people look quiet dangerous,from the way they act and their speech. at this point we start to hear diagetic sound- which is the speech of the people who run after the chicken. 

The people look and sound like catching the chicken is fun for the, and killing it is like their entertainment, they run after it desperately. There are quiet a number of people running after the chicken, most of which are holding guns, which shows the viewer the type of place they live in and the viewer gets a sense of location (this is called an establishing shot). there are a couple of wide shots in which the viewer gets to see what is around the people, the place looks like a small village, in a LEDC where the economy isn't very established and there is a great deal of black market/informal economy, in this particular place. there are many shots of the chicken running and there is also tracking shots of the chicken which gives the viewer the feeling of running alongside the chicken and having the people chasing them. 

We then see two people conversing, walking down stairs, they look like they are important characters as the camera focuses on them and follows them down. then we see the people running after the chicken again, and the viewer feels like the people talking and the people chasing the chicken are going to have some sort of vital confrontation. The camera is behind the chicken and he viewer sees it running and they feel like they are the chicken and they are seeing the place from the chickens point of view. then both sets of people come out into an open space and we see them both looking at each other for a few seconds, there seems to be some sort of tension between the two groups, the people chasing the chicken take their guns out and point them at the other person, the camera goes behind the other person and we see that there is police standing behind him. and in the other side we see he people who were chasing the chicken. the man is in the middle of the situation so he looks like he is in the middle of a very 'on edge' scene, and it feels almost as if he has been in this kind of situation before or he is going to be in a similar situation some time in the future. the man feels like a key person in the movie as he is the focus of the shot. the chicken is also standing in the middle with him, so the chicken is a metaphor for how the man in the middle is the one being chased and is almost like the chicken and he needs to escape and run to be able to survive. as the camera is turning around the man, the scene around him is changing and it looks like a flashback of when the man was younger, it looks like he has been in a similar situation and he is well aware of what is going to happen. 

My target: to use appropriate media terminology, and to be able to do the work set to the best of my ability

The Godfather

The Godfather In the opening sequence of The Godfather, we first see the words 'Mario Puzo's The Godfather' this text introduces the film and lets the viewers know what the film is called and the image that is shown is of puppet strings and that they may have some significance further on in the film. we also hear slight music starting to play in the background, it starts playing just before the text fades out. we then see a black screen and the viewer is left playing wondering what will happen next. The music then stops and there is a silent pause for about 2 seconds and with the black screen this creates suspense and makes the viewer even more interested in whats going and why the sound has stopped and why the screen has gone black. A man then starts talking and an image of a man fades in as he is talking, he starts with 'i believe in America' this makes the viewer realise that the film is going to have something to do with America and possibly Italian people as the man talking sound like he has an Italian accent, also the image is only of the man which indicates that the center of attention at this point in the film, we then hear the man talking about his daughter and we get to know more about his life, and all the time we are getting hints of what the film could be about. The camera then slowly moves backwards, and the viewer gets the feeling that they are the ones the man is talking to and that he is telling the viewers his kind story, this makes the viewer interested in what he is saying. towards the end of the scene we start to see another man, and we realise that he is talking to someone sitting opposite him, the man then starts to get emotional and he starts crying, the viewer can then tell that then man is talking to someone of a possible higher authority to him because of the way he is addressing him, and how he apologises to him when he starts to get emotional.

How i met your mother

The target audience for this TV show is young adults, this is because there are sexual references. This TV show is a comedy. It is about a man telling his children about his life and his friends and how he eventually came to meet their mother, hence the name of the TV show.

Forrest Gump - Opening sequence

In the opening sequence of Forrest Gump we first see a small feather falling from the sky, the camera is at a low angle which gives the viewer the feeling of looking up at the sky and seeing a feather fall as they do. The camera then follows the feather down and then the viewers get the see the surrounding and get to visualize the place,the whole time the feather is falling we see the opening credits; we see the producers, directors, actors...etc. We then see the name of the movie in simple white font against a background of buildings, trees and roads. This is quiet a simple opening/introduction to a movie, but it is also effective as it shows the viewer all the information before the movie has started, also the slight music playing in the background sets the atmosphere as calm and quiet, almost as if the music and images together were giving a feel for the next scene or even for the whole movie, it could be introducing a theme. The camera still follows the feather around, while the opening credits are going on, the camera angle moves along with the feather giving it the effect that the viewer 'is' the feather and is seeing the surroundings (buildings, trees, roads) with its own point of view, seeing it all from the top (a high angle). We follow the feather back up into the sky again, this gives the effect that there could be some wind as the feather is flying around up and down, this also gives the viewer a sense of atmosphere as it creates an image, a feel of what that particular place is like. We see the feather being pulled down by the wind and we see cars and people walking around below, we see a women crossing the road and a taxi, the main character is in this shot but as he is not the center of the image we do not see he is the main character until later on. The feather falls onto a man's shoulder and immediately the feather moves again as the man moves so the wind carries the feather off again, this whole time the simple music (without lyrics) is still going on in the background as well as the opening credits. The feather falls onto a car and like on the man, is straight away brushed away by the wind as the car starts to move. The feather travels very near to the ground and the camera angle is from the top so it is a high shot, we then see a pair of feet, the viewer at this moment gets the feeling that this might the be the main character as the feather has almost 'guided the viewers through a journey to the main character' in this case Forrest Gump.The camera is still following the feather this whole time. The feather lands near one of his feet and he picks it up, the camera is still following the feather so was the feather goes up so does the camera and the viewers, we then see the person, he looks at the feather for a bit then opens up his suitcase and puts the feather is a book, this is effective as it gives the viewer a feeling of what this character is like, seeing him put a feather he found on the street into his book, shows that he is maybe quite a naive person as usually people would just brush away the feather, not pick it up and keep it like he did,the viewers at this point get the music and how it fits in to his personality and the feather. He then closes the suitcase and sits back in his original position, the viewers then get the feeling that he looks like he is waiting for something or someone, We then hear a vehicle approaching and we see a bus pull up in front of him, the viewers then know he was at a bus stop. The camera is slowly backing up and then we see a wide shot of the bus in front of the man, as we can no longer see him.

Children Of Men - opening sequence

In the opening sequence for Children Of men we first hear the voice of a news reporter, reading the news, with no image, only a black screen, this is effective as it makes the viewer pay attention to what the news reporter is saying. As the news is still being read the camera cuts to the image of a group of people standing in a coffee shop, all of the people have a look of despair on their faces and they all look upset and shocked. The camera shot is at a high angle, as if the viewer is watching the people from the point of view of the television, we then see a man (possibly the main character) coming in through the crowd, we also see him looking at the television, the camera then cuts to a shot of the TV. The TV shows images of the news that is being shown. the TV shows BCC which shows the viewers that the film is not made in a time that they live in and it is in fact in the future as the TV also shows an image of 'baby Diego' who was born in 2009 (3 years after this film was made) and died in 2027, which would be present day for the people watching the news. Also the shown emphasis on how he was the 'youngest person on the planet' gives the viewer an indication on what the rest of the film might be about. Music starts to play in the background as an image of baby diego plays on the screen, this gives the viewers a sense of emotion as it makes them feel the sadness the people would be feeling and also it makes then feel a sense of mourning as the youngest person on the planet has died. Also in the background you can hear people crying which also shows how upset they are. The man then walks out of the coffee shop and the camera follows him , this gives the viewer a sense of them following the man out of the shop, this makes them feel involved.Before leaving the shop we see another TV screen with 'baby Diego's' image still playing on it, this keeps a hold onto the sad and mournful atmosphere this scene has created. The man and the camera are then outside of the shop, and the viewer gets to see what the surroundings are like, we see a dull, very boring looking place, it also looks like a dirty place as we see bin bags sitting on the pavement in a heap. we also see huge billboards with moving images on them which suggest that the movie is set in a different time period to the one the viewers are in, the date is then shown: it is the 16th of November 2027, so the viewers now know that the movie is set in the future. On the roads we see cars and vehicles that look old, this place doesn't look like it is set in the future at all. This makes the viewer think about how their idea of the future and the movie's idea of the future is very different or perhaps even the same. The camera then follows the man along the pavement until the man stands still and looks around. The camera rotates around to go onto the other side of the man so the viewers are now facing the side they had been before. As the camera is rotating it gives the viewer a chance to really take in all of the surroundings and see the things that are the same like the red buses and the things that are different like the moving advertises on the buses. We then hear a loud unexpected explosion, this makes the viewer jump and be suddenly aware as the quiet, people chatter noise that was going on in the background before, suddenly changed into this loud almost deafening sound. Also this gets the viewers attention as when this explosion happened they were probably still taking in the surroundings and waiting for something else to happens, but the explosion would have been somewhat unexpected.