FILM FINALS --- 2A & 6B Production Analysis to a Surprise Film at end of semester.
- Present a 5 slide Powerpoint (bring Powerpoint to school) 4 slides introducing 4 BEST clips from FINAL FILM
- Title Slide has your group category and first/last names of everyone in the group.
- LINKs . Cast and Crew (for a more detailed list of crew search the DVD end credits) Movie Review https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-illusionist
NEXT, With your dvd clips, write down the TIME 00:00 from the DVD where your clip begins and NOTE that somewhere on each slide or in the Slide NOTES.
Bring these start times of the 4 clips to TEACHER computer where you will make/label your 4 film clips (1st row on the right end)
LAST, REHEARSE WHAT EVERYONE IS GOING TO SAY WITH THE SLIDES AND MOVIE CLIPS IN ORDER AT LEAST 10 TIMES ALOUD.
SAVE PPT. TO GOOGLE DOCS, AND ALL OF THE GROUP MEMBERS NEED TO BE ABLE TO OPEN IT ON FINALS DAY.
Bring these start times of the 4 clips to TEACHER computer where you will make/label your 4 film clips (1st row on the right end)
LAST, REHEARSE WHAT EVERYONE IS GOING TO SAY WITH THE SLIDES AND MOVIE CLIPS IN ORDER AT LEAST 10 TIMES ALOUD.
SAVE PPT. TO GOOGLE DOCS, AND ALL OF THE GROUP MEMBERS NEED TO BE ABLE TO OPEN IT ON FINALS DAY.
Art Direction 1: finding out location shoots (where in the world, what film studios were used) and select 4 best clips for the BEST examples of the set design/construction in this film. Try to distinguish between REAL locations and sets that were actually BUILT for the movie. Discuss how the SET/LOCATION contributed to the story and possibly what it symbolized for the characters or how it supports the theme of the movie. LOCATION LINK
Art Direction 2: select best 4 film clips showing the most memorable props (hand props, smaller objects handled by actors) that were created for the movie. Discuss how the PROP contributed to the story and possibly what it symbolizes for the characters or how it supports the theme of the movie. (cannot be "just" the magic tricks in movie) CLICK ON BUTTERFLY FOR MORE ABOUT SYMBOLISM |
Cinematography I: -- Select 4 best film clips showing the most memorable CAMERA angles, CAMERA MOVES (not lens zoom, but physical camera rolls, trucks, or flys using a Crane) not post effects to film, camera moves or angles.Discuss how the camera ANGLE or MOVES contributed to the story and possibly what it symbolizes for the characters or how it supports the theme of the movie.
Cinematography II: -- To become an expert of film lighting - WATCH these 2 short videos: short video on lighting techniques (10 mins.) Excellent! Standard Angles in Film Used (7 mins).Select 4 best film clips showing the most memorable LIGHTING DESIGNS; remember lighting is as much about the lights, shadows/highlights on the actor themselves and how a setting/scene is lit or not lit (darkened) to establish MOOD for the story. Discuss how the lighting design contributed to the story and possibly what it symbolizes for the characters or how it supports the theme of the movie. (cannot be "just" the magic tricks in movie). Click photo below for more info about 3 point lighting.
Cinematography II: -- To become an expert of film lighting - WATCH these 2 short videos: short video on lighting techniques (10 mins.) Excellent! Standard Angles in Film Used (7 mins).Select 4 best film clips showing the most memorable LIGHTING DESIGNS; remember lighting is as much about the lights, shadows/highlights on the actor themselves and how a setting/scene is lit or not lit (darkened) to establish MOOD for the story. Discuss how the lighting design contributed to the story and possibly what it symbolizes for the characters or how it supports the theme of the movie. (cannot be "just" the magic tricks in movie). Click photo below for more info about 3 point lighting.
Costume Design: decide what you will analyze about costumes. Could be color palettes or how certain characters are "connected to each other" with color choices. You can also look at silhouettes of the "time period" male/female. Texture, materials, trim or lack of it often DEFINES character's economic or social standing in their society. Certain colors/dyes were more expensive than others to produce, for example, Royal Purple. Discuss how the COSTUME DESIGN contributed to the story and possibly what it symbolizes for the characters or how it supports the theme of the movie. CLICK ON BUTTONS ABOVE FOR MORE COSTUME INFO.
Film Editing: Do you understand what editing is? It is the storytelling created with ALL the film footage (master, over the shoulder, close-ups, cutaways, tracking, dollying shots, etc.) If still confused watch THIS video. If you DO understand than watch the 13 video at end of paragraph for a quick VOCAB of editing. Select 4 best film clips showing artsy editing -- rapid fire or slow dissolves that set a mood or BUILD an emotional response from audience. Ask questions such as "what is the rhythm of the editing in a particular scene? Long and lyrical? Short and clipped? Does the rhythm speed up or slow down? How are the scenes connected? By straight cuts, slow dissolves, fading to black and then fading in to next scene, WIPES or circle WIPES to black. Sometimes how you transition to the next scene gives audience information about TIME (forward, flashback, dream sequence, etc). Discuss how the EDITING contributed to the story and possibly what it symbolizes for the characters or how it supports the theme of the movie. 13 Editing Types Defined video
Music (original score): select 4 film clips showing the most MEMORABLE EMOTIONAL moments that the music HELPS underscore the story. Think if NO music was allowed in a film how that wouldn't CARRY you as an audience to certain emotional states and intensities ( building tension, anxiety, conflict, love, grief/despair ). Here is a LINK to the Soundtrack of the Film; very important to SEE the "titles" of the music tracks. Often composers will attach a "theme" of music to a certain character whether hero or villain, or attach a "romance" theme to a couple. Once you can recognize those themes, you will be amazed how much the themes are repeated through the film or slightly altered theme by emphasizing different instruments dominating the theme. Also Scroll DOWN for Purple BUTTONs under the bold heading Music Vocabulary Assistance. This will give you the "terms" for what you are "feeling" about the music.
Visual Effects - Special Effects - Post Production - FX: 4 best film clips of Visual Effects --- only 2 of your selections can be "magic tricks" in the story of the film. Visual Effects often are the "processing tricks" you ADD or enhance after the footage is SHOT with the actors. Like your digital phone can do Effects after the picture is taken (sepia, contrast, filters, cropping, vignette: a small illustration or portrait photograph that fades into its background without a definite border--fuzzy edges; etc.)
A SUB CATEGORY of Special Effects-- refers to anything added to the final picture that was NOT in the original shot on the day of shooting with actors/crew. Special Effects could be a stop-motion animation of actors or buildings, cars, models that explode. Double exposure could be a "Ghost effect super-imposed onto the final cut of scene. Or a number of different optical or digital post-production processes, CGI (computer generated images). Magic consultancy and technical advice during the production was supplied by James Freedman, Ricky Jay, Michael Weber and Scott Penrose. Director Neil Burger wrote, "Starting in pre-production, James (Freedman) became a major collaborator; brainstorming, designing and refining everything from small sleight of hand tricks to major narrative set pieces. He worked with Edward Norton preparing him for his stage performances and acted as a hand double in various scenes. His contribution was enormous."[4] Aaron Johnson, who plays the teenage Eduard in the beginning of the film, also learned how to do the ball trick seen in those scenes.[5] /wikipedia
You must include an extra slide about "ghost effect of Pepper's Ghost" actual historic magic trick onstage. SEE button below.
Roman Tudzaroff ... special effects supervisor
Viktor Muller ... visual effects supervisor
Visual Effects -- check out Pepper's Ghost for HOW the ghost effect was done in the 1800'. Showing and explaining THIS is REQUIRED SLIDE/talk for your production group.
Sound Design: In motion picture production, a Sound Designer is a member of a film crew who is responsible for some original aspect of the film's audio. Sound design is the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating audio elements. Sound design most commonly involves the manipulation of previously composed or recorded audio, such as sound effects and dialogue. In some instances it may also involve the composition or manipulation of audio to create a desired effect or mood (for example, even the choice to MUTE the normal volume of dialogue or the normal sounds of the surroundings/location is a design decision.) For this assignment (1) you are LISTENING for things OTHER than the music and dialogue, things that help create "the world" of the story, yet does not distract you or PULL you out of the make-believe of being INSIDE the story/world. (2) you are listening to the decisions of SOFTNESS of volume, MUTING, or STRENGTH of volume or "Attack" of a LOUD sound, sometimes LOUDER than real life because "we" the audience are experiencing the emotional state of the actor/character who is HEARING, or sometimes deliberately hearing NOTHING, because of an intense emotion they are feeling or trying to DENY or AVOID an emotion or train of thought.
You should remember these examples in the film A BETTER LIFE. When Carlos sees the police lights pull him over, his son's voice fades out and only the "doomed" music is heard by Carlos and "us."
Discuss how the SOUND DESIGN contributed to the story and possibly what it symbolizes for the characters or how it supports the theme of the movie.
Script Structure: Probably the strongest element of this movie is the script. Like Poltergeist that we studied at the beginning of the semester with script structure; there are many foreshadowing elements as well as theme and CLUES... A summary of the PLOT (spoiler alert). A movie review by the famous Roger Ebert (spoiler alert). Butterfly theme: hint, "just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly". Butterfly appearances in film (live/symbol). You want to focus on elements first time viewers of movie wouldn't remember or make a connection to.... Disappear theme.... ;) . The original story (pdf) that the movie is loosely based on Steven Millhauser's short story, "Eisenheim the
Illusionist. CLICK on Prince pic below for HISTORICAL parallel true story that the short story was inspired by.