Wednesday, 4 March 2009

Three Targets

Three Targets:

1. Start improving written quality work
2. Start Analysising and not describing
3. Focus on Exam

Next Best Steps:

1. Do the Mest exam sheet with my case studies
2. Do representations with my case studies
3. Use Migrain etc with case studies

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

  • Attainment - 3 - I've missed some days due to exams
  • Effort - 3 - With Exams on it's hard to just focus on media so I haven't been putting my usual good effort
  • Punctuality - 1- Always on time
  • Submission and quality of homework -3- Some essays I do good but I always miss something out
  • Ability to work independently - 1 - No problems
  • Quality of writing - 2 - English is good.
  • Organisation of Media folder - 2 - Still keep forgetting to put some sheets in
  • Oral contributions in class -2- A lot
  • Contributions to your practical production group -2- With exams going on not really everyone can give it 100% but now-on we are.

NBS

The mis-en-scene in the film is her surrounded by the Crazy 88. The setting used in the extract is inside. This means that because it's taking place inside in a lit room the lighting is therefore high-key. This is unusual as the scene is very action focused and gory; it creates a sense of confusion which Tarintino uses to excite the audience. The Bride's costume is a yellow tracksuit. Tarintino wanted her to stand out more. He does in this extract as all of the enemies are in suits and she's in a yellow tracksuit. She stands out as her suit is light yellow and everyone else is wearing black suits it also connotes good. Tarintino wanted to emphasize on how she stood out in the extract; so he positioned her surrounded by the 88. This was to emphasize on how powerful she was.

Sunday, 4 January 2009

Long essay 1500 words





Media Extract Analysis

Kill Bill Volume 1 Extract:
I will be looking at the fight scene in Kill Bill; where The Bride takes on the Crazy 88. The scene is 5:00 but I’ll be assessing the first 2 minutes of the extract only.
(0:00 – 0:45) The extract starts off with an extreme close-up on one of the Crazy 88’s weapon. The reason for this is to emphasize that they are about to battle and Tarintino decides to open the extract with the weapon. The shot then pans to show the enemy holding the weapon. This is significant as he’s the most important from the 88 and Tarintino wanted to express his importance by showing his face then him holding it.
The shot then cuts to The Bride surrounded by the Crazy 88. The camera then pans upwards slowly into a bird’s eye view. Tarintino wanted to show how many people The Bride was going to face as the whole shot shows just about everyone in the Crazy 88. This also affects us as the audience think she doesn’t stand a chance as there are a lot of people. The shot cuts into a big close-up of her in an action stance. The camera then pans quickly to her face as she wields her sword. As she pulls out her sword a quick bird’s eye view shot shows the entire 88 jump back. Tarintino uses this to show that while she’s going to fight them single hand-idly she is also powerful. It gives the audience a sense of closure.
The next shot shows a point of view as she’s holding her sword up to her face. From the Point of view shot we see the enemies behind her through the reflection of the blade. There are numerous reasons for why Tarintino has decided to do a point of view shot. One reason is because Tarintino wants us to relate to the character. The Bride is just an average mother who wants revenge and the hard-hitting drama within the film can help some audiences relate to her. Another reason to why he has chosen to do this is to show that she has everything in control. By the fact that she can also see who’s behind her means that she knows about her surroundings. Tarintino does this for two reasons. One is to show how much power she has and another is to give a sense of closure that she would be able to attack everyone.
The camera then pans around the Bride but the camera is placed in the crowd of the Crazy 88; it’s a point of view shot of one of the Crazy 88. Tarintino uses this shot so that you can see how she’s outnumbered as we’re seeing it from someone in the crowd. It gives you a better idea of how she is outnumbered.
The scene then cuts into the action. As they all start to attack her, the camera stays fixed at one place during 0:45-0:50. During this part the camera zooms in when she slices one enemy then zooms out as another comes towards her for 5 seconds. Tarintino does this to signify her power as they come one after the other to her. After this numerous amount of shots occur as she is fighting the horde of enemies. During the next 10 seconds a lot of camera shots were used. These shots were placed all over the place. The camera at one part was above to show her fighting everyone, another is an extreme close-up of the enemy flying as she attacks him. Tarintino decides to use these amounts of shots in little time to signify how many people she’s fighting. It shows that she’s really busy and gives you an adrenaline rush as the shots occur rapidly throughout the short ten seconds. All these shots flow together with a lot of camera cuts which is used to show the pace.
From 1:03-1:10 the camera cuts slowdown as she comes directly face to face with an enemy. This happens for a second but it gives us a quick sense of disclosure as there was a chance she would fall. Tarintino decides to use a over-the-shoulder shot as she takes out her eye. In this sudden scene Tarintino makes the audience feel disequilibrium before quickly facing equilibrium despite her still in battle; the shots and the way he expresses them through the camera works is powerful.
When 1:10 happens she finally faces the leader and his introduction is not there. He straight away jumps at her which shows how incredibly fast the movie is moving at during this extract. They fight for 7 seconds then he finally hits her. The camera-angle suddenly goes into slow-motion as she falls to the floor. Tarintino uses this so that we as an audience see that she has finally been stopped after attacking all the bad guys before-hand. However as she falls to the floor the pace returns as she is still fighting from the floor.
While she continues to fight a range of camera angles are incredibly shot between each one she kills. It slows down when a man actually throws an axe at her as her back is turned. Tarintino decides again to go for the slow-motion route as he wants us the audience to see that she was vulnerable and she could be finished. However she dodges the axe and the pace continues. When she’s about to kill a younger one of the 88 he begs her not to so she throws him away sparring his life. Tarintino wants us to know that she still is a human and is one of the good guys. He also decides to shoot this in slow-motion so we can absorb this fact.


During the two minutes the lighting remains the same. Tarintino decides to do this so that it would appear to be more real. The lighting is high-key which doesn’t connote what you would find in a typical movie showing this much violence. There are numerous reasons for why Tarintino has decided to use this type of lighting. One reason is because we can see everything clearer. He wanted to emphasize on the violence in the film so decided to shoot the film in a lit room. The other reason is to create a sense of disclosure among the audience. This type of room would be safe for people however Tarintino is breaking typical conventions by placing the scene in a lit room. It shows a sense of normality in the movie despite the fact she’s fighting a horde of enemies.
During the first 45 seconds of the extract there is virtually no diagetic sound. The non-diagetic sound is slow music. It’s a slower version of modern techno. It creates suspense as the music goes along with the scene. There is some diagetic sound during the first 45 seconds when she pulls up her sword it makes a loud noise as she pulls it with power. The SFX is loud because Tarintino wants the audience to be aware that the sword she wields is special. The non-diagetic sound suddenly stops from 45 seconds onwards as she fights everyone.
From then on it’s pretty much all diagetic sound. The sound effects are loudly represented and also presented very well. You can hear most things that are happening throughout the extract. From her cutting someone Tarintino wanted to emphasize that she is literally pulling limbs off so when she slices someone you can hear the flesh being ripped apart and the blood pouring out.
This connotes the film’s violent premise and is used to show the audience that what she’s doing is actually serious. This is accompanied with the victims screaming in agonising the pain; the screams fade away as they die. The sound makes the scene sound realistic and horrifying as you watch the extract. Tarintino also wants to create sense disequilibrium during the scene. He does this by at some points will use non-diagetic sound. The non-diagetic sound which is produced is cartoon noises which do not go along with the scenes at all. The non-diagetic sound and diagetic sound are parallel to each other as the both don’t go along. Tarintino wants viewers to remember that at the end of the day this is still a movie and not real life.