Thursday, 25 September 2014

AS Film - Mise en Scene: Lecture 1 26/09/14


Welcome to the supporting teaching blog for your AS Film Studies.

In today's lesson we considered one of the major cinematic techniques - Mise en Scene. This, as you will remember, translates as "everything in the frame". Mise en Scene includes: setting, location, costume, props, lighting and character placement, and has a vitally important role in how meaning is constructed by film makers, and consequently understood by the audience.

 In this blog entry you will find MP4 files of the sequences shown today




William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, directed by Baz Lurhmann (1996).
Consider how Lurhmann provides a modern take on a classic play in order to engage the contemporary audience. This is achieved by its modern setting, costumes and props, while still retaining the original language. Note how the repeated visual motif of fire sets up the violence ahead.


28 Days Later, directed by Danny Boyle (2002)
A sequence full of meaning, which Boyle achieves with his creative use of a deserted London as a setting, the use of costume and props, together with how he places the main character within the various locations.


You may choose one of these sequences for your 1500 word coursework analysis. Other film sequences will be shown in the lectures the coming weeks which you can also choose from, as well as those which I did not show in the lessons.

IMPORTANT: You will be required to undertake a short 400-500 analysis of one of these three sequences as part of your initial review on the AS Film Studies course. This will help me assess your analytical and written skills in order to progress further onto this AS Level course.

Consider how directors use Mise en Scene in other films which you have watched.

More on Mise en Scene next week.

Thursday, 20 March 2014

Fade to Black: A2 Film - Schindler's List exam preparation - sequ...

Click on the blog link below for fifteen sequences from Schindler's List for analysing and revision



Fade to Black: A2 Film - Schindler's List exam preparation - sequ...: In conjunction with the questions you discussed in the lesson, here you will find fifteen sequences from Schindler's List .

Monday, 25 November 2013

Fade to Black: AS Film - more examples of editing

Fade to Black: AS Film - more examples of editing: Here you will find some more examples of interesting uses of editing techniques to support the previous blog. Examples are taken from Up!, Kill Bill, and Casino Royale

Fade to Black: AS Film - Editing lecture - November 2013

Fade to Black: AS Film - Editing lecture - 09/11/12: Click this link for the same lecture given in November 2012

Fade to Black: A2 Film - Key sequences from 'Vertigo'

Fade to Black: A2 Film - Key sequences from 'Vertigo': In this blog post you will find thirteen key sequences from Hitchcock's Vertigo. You can use these for class presentation, individual a...

Fade to Black: AS Film - Sound in Film lecture November 2013

Fade to Black: AS Film - Sound in Film lecture 19/10/12: Click on this link for the sound lecture from 2012. In this lecture I again focused on the use of music in Trainspotting, but also looked at the use of dialogue in Pulp Fiction

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

AS Film - use of Mise en Scene and Cinematography in 'Scream'

Following on from last Friday's session, here is the opening sequence to Wes Craven's Scream (1996).

You can use this for your 1500 word sequence analysis if you wish, but remember the analysed part should be between 5-6 minutes in duration, so you cannot use the whole sequence.

You could also use this for the use of editing and also for the incredible use of sound.