What music means to me...

My musical life

Childhood

Every day of Primary school consisted of at least a few minutes singing this with my best friend Emilie. I've known her since we were 3 and she's basically like my sister. A lot of our childhood was spent together, and even my parents have adopted her as a 6th member of the Islam family. My dad even made up up a song which goes like this: "Emilie, Emilie, you are our Family!" My family are completely mad by the way. 

Also this song means a lot to me personally. It's about freedom, and breaking free of constraints, which as an Asian girl can sometimes be a little overbearing. I've always thought of myself as a bit different to the typical Bengali female, a mould-breaker shall we say, and this song pretty much epitomises my attitude to well..life.

Early teens

This song was the anthem of my last and only visit I actually remember to Bangladesh. Those visits usually comprise of imitation Cola, strange flavoured yogurts and bugs. Lots and lots of bugs. If you need the loo in the middle of the night, honestly it's not worth your life. Picture this, pitch black in the dead of night, like WICKED DARK as a certain Lobster in Finding Nemo would say. Two potential routes to take to the bathroom, with only a small battery-powered lantern.

Route A - The short way: The door is locked from the other side. Darn.
Route B - On reaching the door, you spot a gigantic cockroach squatting directly in your path. Note: These are not the tiny little fingernail-sized cockroaches you get here in Britain. They are the size of a golf ball and can fly. The evil creature is blocking your only path to the loo, which you desperately need. So you decide to be brave and leap right over it. Guess what? A SCOUT. Everywhere you look, all the walls, every corner of the hall, there are more of its friends. You're in the corridor, and the bathroom door is all the way at the other end... Halp.

This very song was what gave us the courage to face those FOUL LOATHSOME EVIL LITTLE COCKROACH(es), and finally get to the hole in the ground. Humming or softly whisper-singing it gave us the courage to make our way treacherously through that infested corridor, and has ever since been our "Courage" song. It even kept us safe and protected when the lantern died in our hands, and both other times that night we needed the toilet!  

(^^Ok, I was in a bit of a weird movie mood, so there are some random movie references in bold capitals, sorry bout that!)

Now

So this is a romantic(ish) song, but my reasons for choosing it are not. I actually found one of my best friends who became a very important part of my life because of our mutual love for this song, and the "Jason Mraz hat" as we call it.

It has a really positive feel to it, and is upbeat and happy. The lyrics are quirky with some made-up sounds, and though not  typically/ traditionally romantic, it offers a kind of alternatively sweet message. I also associate this song with that friend, so it's an instant uplifting experience every time I hear it. The multiple times we've attempted karaoke and miserably failed. This songs has a lot of good memories to go with it, so for that reason, it's the most meaningful song to me today.

The Bourne Continuity Analysis

Hi there! For my cotinuity analysis, I decided as soon as we got set the task, that I would use a clip from one of the Bourne movies. I am a HUGE fan of all 3, so it was an easy pick :D

Continuity principles:

Match on action - the guard walking through the door / jason climbing the stairs

Establishing shot - the opening shot gives a view of the entire room

Eye level shots- Jason looks around the room at all the people

30 degree rule - Jason holds the gun and the camera takes this shot from multipe angles

Cutaways/Elipses - We fill in Jason climbing the stairs when it cuts to men in armoury

Shot reverse shot: The guard, then Jason

Steps: Shows Jason standing MS, then Guards hand (camera position further back)

Cutaway - parallel time - the guards scouring the building, while Jason escapes.

Game of Thrones title sequence - Sound

I love GOT so much, so naturally it was my first choice from 'artofthetitle.com'. But before I get too hyper over this, I'm going to analyse the sound

GOT title sequence
(Ok, I'm not exactly sure how to analyse a soundtrack but here goes nothing!)

The sequence is quite long, which is unusual for a title sequence. It's full length of 1:50 only has 1 soundtrack playing, which matches the animated and graphic images we see on screen, in that there is no other music or diegetic sounds.

The soundtrack opens with a short intro to the main bulk of it - matching the colourful sun thing we see. This is followed by string instruments coming in, when the sequence moves on to displaying parts of the map - less warm and colourful than before. At this point, there is a sense of movement and zooming on the map.

The main melody of the soundtrack begins, with the main animations also starting - It is notable that the cogs turning on screen and the cities coming to life on the map look magical (castles and kingdoms) and sort of Lord-of-The-Ringsy. Similarly the soundtrack already has a magical and other-wordly feel to it.

As the camera seems to speed over the landscape and the shots get shorter and more fast-paced, the soundtrack takes a higher pitch. The music crescendos until the end of the sequence, where a slight change change in the melody, and a ringing noise signifies the end.

Continuity task - Evaluation

I actually was a tiny bit late to media, so ended up missing my group and looking for them for 15 minutes ¬_¬ In the end, I just joined a different group, who were already midway through filming.. slightly awks. But anyways, here's the vid:



Continuity Principles:

-Transition from VLS to Mid 2-shot - looked like a direct continuation of the previous shot.
-Match on action - looked realistic and movement matched in terms of speed, geographic position.

Although at the time, we didn't really think about the principles, (well at least I didn't since I wasn't there 0.o) the shots did seem to cohere at first. Further on though, as the story got more complex, the continuity was very difficult to keep up.

Changes/Improvements:
-Less talking after the shots
-Drop the lunch card quicker/more realistically

I would definitely choose a different accident to begin with. But as for continuity, I would attempt to use a master-shot to keep the audience orientated, and perhaps a shot-reverse shot during the conversation. 

From this task I learnt that editing is the best and most films, if not all would be extremely bad without it. So YAY for editing software! :D

Roland Barthes's 5 Codes

When I got home the night the homework was set, my sister asked me if I wanted to watch a film called "Unknown" with her. I thought 'Hey, why not do media at the same time?'. So cleverly, I did :)

Here's what I got out of the first 10 or so minutes of this film...

OMG Why is it so difficult to find any clips anywhere?!
"Unknown" movie (watch first 10 minutes)

Enigma code:

• What is the character writing in his notebook?
• They are on a plane- where to and why?
• Their luggage was left behind- significant? What will happen?
• Blurry shots - CU - What on earth is going on?
• His phone has lost signal.. hmm interesting.

Action code:

• Getting off a plane is usually followed by a journey somewhere else.. unless you decide to spend your holiday in the airport, fun times.
• Suitcase left behind - Maybe someone will come searching for it.
• Taxi plunges into a raging river of death - surely there will be panic and possibly death?
• Main character waking up in hospital attached to machines - recovery journey.
• Loss of memories - another journey, to find memories?

Semiotic code:

• Plane window - CU - freedom, travel.
• Passport- associated with travel, airports, and also identity.
• Water showering down and tiled walls- know it's a bathroom, without even seeing the whole.
• Woman in white gown, and oxygen mask- hospital, or could be a torture room, but not likely :/
• Reception room with chandeliers and elevators - expensive hotel.

Cultural code:

• Both the protagonist and his wife have big furry coats on - richly dressed.
• Taxi - not black or even yellow, but white - Berlin taxis.
• Blackberry- Product placement. Relatable to audience, since it's become so mainstream now.
• Graffiti on brick walls- we've all seen it before. Associated with rough neighbourhoods- contrast to the fancy hotel before.
• Grand hotel itself- connotations of rich people/ luxury.

Symbolic code:

• Black vs. white - darkness and light - binary opposites between husband and wife (their coats are opposite colours) - Maybe foreshadows a separation or conflict.
• Broken windows - shattered. Symbolic of a shattering relationship - future implications.

Film making conventions + Cultural codes

I was told to make the font on my blog bigger, but wow this is HUGE. Can it not get smaller than this?? 

So I did this on paper and actually didn't realise we had to do it on here! 

I used a clip from iron Man. It's right at the beginning of the film, where Tony wins an awards, but is busy in the casino, drinking, and generally being a Playaaa.

Iron Man (watch from 06:37-07:40)
(Wow I only analysed a minute? It seemed longer at the time ¬_¬)

Film making conventions:

• WS of casino to set the scene: establishing shot.
• Tracking shot- LA- emphasises importance of main character Tony.
• Large building out of focus in background- rich, fancy setting.
• High-key lighting, hardly any shadows- sense of openness, no secrets.

We can see this is an expensive area where no-one would be unless they have tonnes of cash and are invited - quite a niche party for only the privileged.

Cultural codes:

• Sunglasses and suits - expensive. 
• Large suited men behind him - bodyguards- he is important?
• Nice but ridiculously expensive looking black car, and chauffuer.

So we know he's loaded, as well as being a bit of an arrogant sod.

As most of the groups, we decided that Horror was the easiest genre to shoot a film still for. In the limited locations and props we had, it was not easy to find a suitable space to create our perfect shot.

We achieved our still by shooting a LA shot, to create an intimidating and powerful figure. The light behind is blocked by the character, who dominates the right hand side of the frame. The fact that we can see the victim and the hunter builds suspense and the audience feel apprehensive.

The characters are easy to distinguish and the lighting is enough to see their expressions. The LA LS also shows enough of the location, whilst still focusing on the characters.

The horizontal lines behind our male character make the shot look too busy, so next time I would do the shot in a less packed, and more plain area. Also, I might make the setting look darker and cast a shadow over the victim to add to the vulnerability.

POTC film still

Reasons I chose this film still:

• LA angle - this is an interesting shot choice for a scene like this, especially as we have the main characters placed specifically in the shot to look more or less important.
• Foreground and background characters- Again this. as well as their size in the frame, emphasises importance.
• Half the shot filled with sky - The choice was made to have other characters (the rest of the crew) only in the bottom half of the shot, with the vast majority being taken up but sky.