1. What Genre do you see want to use in this short film: horror, drama, comedy, etc.
The genre that I want to explore in the next short film would be a drama
2. What film or films will you use as your models? Include movie poster
The films I would use to model my short film would include Love, a drama about a man who is stick in space. The film explores isolation a and loneliness.As the film begins an astronaut is in space, he is doing research and has contact with people on earth. However later on the astronaut experiences technical difficulties with communication with his those who are helping him on earth. Finally after several days he loses complete contact with earth and is left alone for several years. The protaginist struggles staying sane given that he now has no one to talk to. he contemplates suicide and even attempts it, but is suspenseful.
3. Detail the conventions of the genre in terms of the following
a. Themes and Narrative Structure Themes in drama differ in so many ways. The themes I would like to focus in include several specific aspects such as
the horrific struggle of depression and constant fight to stay in a right state of mind.In addition just like the film Love the protaginist portrays the overall consumption of depression leading into tragic and unhappy ending. Narrative Structure would include a main character who the audience is focused on and how their obstacles change them.
b. Character/Acting Style
Characters are usually the center of attention when it comes to dramas. The whole film is focused around them and their barriers that they are facing. At the end of the drama a character or character's life has changed by overcoming a large obstacle. The audience usually only see the perspective of the main character and fully understand the plot and actions from this one person's point of view
c. Settings/Production Design/ Lighting
Dramas completly differ when it comes to setting, production design and lighting.An example would be a film where the begging of the film there is full luscious colors. Everything is bright and has a warm mood to it. As the protagonist slowly falls into a conflict we see lighting become darker and colors become dull. Setts would include everyday locations that you would usually see in real life. These sets are pretty simple and usually do not need a lot of design comapted to other generes such as horrer.
d. Cinematography
Cinematography would conveyemotion within the protaginist .
An example of an protaginist struggle with his depression is, when he stares blankly at the wall he imagines himself on top of a building. He is gets closer and closer to the edge but then he snaps out of his day dream.This is similar to the film Love when he images his death before he attampts it.
e. Sound Design
Sound Design would include a series of songs that help push the mood of the film during a specific section.For example in the beginning of the film there would be a upbeat pop song when the protaginist is finding life easy. When things take a turn for the worse music becomes slow and somber. This song will play during scenes when the main character is depressed and lastly at the end of the film when we makes his last decision
4. Logline: Give us a possible logline for you movie. It's 1 sentence that describes the whole movie-
A man tries to escape depression and indifference as his life crumbles but fails.
16–20 There is a coherent and detailed analytical evaluative interpretation of the extract, displaying
a good understanding of how meaning is constructed through the use of film language and a
good awareness of the extract’s relationship to the film as a whole. There is a clear
explanation for the selection of the extract. The critique shows a good awareness of the film’s
genre, its place in a broader sociocultural context, and gives a sound analysis of the director’s
intention. There may be brief elements of description but analysis will be thorough.
In my oral I mention a lot information about Alfred Hitchcock but I do not discuss how this connects to my extract or the film in general. In addition I point out themes but do not convey how these themes are actually portrayed in the film or the other films Hitchcock has done. I do discuss the social culture context such as production codes and some of the many aspects of the film that where completely new to the audience at the time, and name many of these examples. Furthermore I do connect this social culture context to my extract with Arbogast's murder and how much of it was actually censored. I do mention the director's intention with the original script with having Marion beheaded just as the story of the murderer Ed Gein. I do overall analyze the extract and how it affects the overall plot in the film.However when it comes to analyzing cinematography I do lack major terminology in describing shots. I also needed to connect my extract to the film alot better, the relationship between the extract and the film in general is very important! Much of the time I say "this shot" or "that shot", when I should have specified what type of shot this is. I do need to work on how fluent I am when talking, I stumble alot and constantly say "um" which is very distracting when trying to convey an idea.Lastly I fully explain editing techniques and point out significant shots and how this plays an element to hiding the murder's face. I need to work sounding more natural when I am talking, this is one of the reason my oral was so long, I had many pauses and times where I would have to repeat myself after saying something incorrectly.Overall I am in the 16-20 section of the rubric.
The extract I chose occurs 1hr 12min 14sec into the film. At this point in the film we see Arbogast has just integrated Mr.Bates and he is now entering a telephone booth where he calls Leila to tell her that he will further spend more time looking into Mr.Bates. Arbogast then goes back to the Bate's Hotel where he is murdered.
In this extract there is only one character that is focused on, this is detective Arbogast. In this section of the film, detective Arbogast is represented as being as a minor character that propels the plot through his murder and leading the audience into the development of Mr.Bates's mother. Furthermore Arbogast is a static character that allows the audience to see how ruthless the murderer is, which who at this point in the film the viewer believes is Norman Bates's psychotic mother. The spotlight was not on Arbogast until this moment in the film because Arbogast's role is seen more of a rise in action then he is an actual character, for this reason the audience does not fell much sympathy when he is killed. For example there is much more despair when Marion is killed then their is when Arbogast is even when he is depicted as an innocent man seeking for the truth. After his death(not in the extract) their is development in plot when Sam and Lila go to the police and they find out that Norman's mother is dead. The audience is now put on the edge of their seat, however this suspense was caused by Arbogast's murder, without it Lila and Sam would have never discovered this information and went to the hotel to see for themselves
Arbogast's style of acting is very normal and acts as a common male detective. Arbogast does not have a unique style of acting because this would distract the audience and take away from the main points of the plot. For example if Arbogast was a very likable character the audience would feel sympathy and this would take away attentions from Marion's murder. Or if Arbogast was an unliked or malicious character the audience would believe he deserved his horrific ending, this would also take away from the mother's compulsive killing and would some what justify it.There is a lot of dramatic irony as he slowly walks up the stairs to the Bate's home, the audience acknowledges how much danger he is in, but Arbogast himself is completely clueless as he takes another step to his death. In addition the murderer's acting, who the audiences believes is the mother, is very forceful and vicious when she is attacking Arbogast, she never hesitates, this further pushes the idea of how violent and insane the she really is.
The overall extract is shot in a formalistic style. In the first scene of the extract Arbogast is in a telephone booth. Arbogast is the main focus during this time in the film and for this reason he falls on the rule of thirds in this scene to the left and almost all of the others. This fast fall off creates more interesting shot as Arbogast tells Lila that Bates's mother might have had something to do with Marion's disappearance. Arbogast is correct, but he doesn't know that this impact was the extent of murder and this is why the scene is set in more of a dramatic way because his words are true but ignorant .In addition when Arbogast goes back to the Bates's Motel, their is slow pacing within the shots as they build up to his murder. This consist of several extreme long shots of Arbogast walking around the Bates Hotel and walking up to the Bates's home. All the shots of Arbogast before he is killed are held for a very long time. The shots prior to Arbogast's murder keep the audience on the edge of their seats as he gradually and painfully walks to the home. Shots finally pull in closer to a medium close-up a minute before Arbogast's murder as he walks into the house and starts walking up the stairs. One of the shots that also adds to the slow pacing prior to his murder, is when Arbogast is slowly walking up the stairs. Their is a full shot and close up of his feet climbing the stairs. The audience truly knows that Arbogast is in danger as he is getting closer to the murderer. The audience is able to focus on him and his last seconds in the film before he is killed. The shot that follows this is even more important, it is of a door calmly opening.This shot captivates the audience because at this point it is appallingly obvious that Arbogast is going to die because it assumed that the murderer is about to strike.
The next shot, is high angled, which captivates most of Arbogast's attack. This is one of the few shots that the audience is able to see of the murderer. The attack is shown from only a few shots in order to conceal the face of the murderer which aids in the film's amazing climax when the murderer is revealed. This shot is well set up. We see both characters and the knife that the murderer is holding, it is fully visible and is clear that Arbogast has been caught by surprise and will be killed. Lastly one of the significant camera movements in this scene is when Arbogast is falling down the stairs and camera follows his fall. His arms are flaring and his face is covered in blood and conveys terror with his expression.
Territorial design is pretty simple, there is a eye line match as Arbogast first walks into the home and he looks at the inside. The scene is kept pretty simple because their needs to be some element of surprise when we see the murderer about to kill Arbogast. For instance if the home was cover in knives or blood it would be too obvious and Arbogast would have probably left the house at that point, but if he unwisely ventured on into the house it would also be obvious that he would be killed.
The editing of the scene follows Classic Cutting. Before entering the house the cuts are long and slow, however right when Arbogast is about to be murdered we see faster and shorter cuts. One shot of this faster cutting is when the murderer is holding the knife that is about to be stabbed into Arbogast. Lastly most of the shots used for the murder of Arbogast were not used in the final film due to production codes.
The scene has relatively a lot of light for a murder scene.Darkness does not conceal the murder's face, but instead cinematography hides the person with the knife who kills Arbogast. Color is not a significant element in this extract because the whole movie is shot in black and white.
As Arbogast walks to the Bates's home dramatic music is played which adds horror and gives the audience an unsettling feeling. This is also the music that is reoccurring in the film, it was played when Marion was killed in the shower and when Bates's mother is revealed as a corpse. These rising actions had all the same song, and this benefited the film. Hitchcock even quoted, "33% of the effect of Psycho was due to the music".
The location of the extract has many interesting aspects due to the character stumbling into his own death when he enters the house of a murderer. It would have been over done if Arbogast's was also killed in the Bate's hotel, the murder would have been to similar to Marion's. An example of mis en scene is the knife, this is purposely used again so the audience can identify that this is the same murder previously seen and the location also allows the audience to assume that this the mother since Arbogast has entered the Bates's house. If it where to be shot outside with another weapon used, the audience would be confused on who is killing the characters.
One of the main symbols in the film that is also portrayed in the extract is the usage birds. When Arbogast first returns to the Bates's Hotel he looks in the office, here there is an eye line match where Arbogast looks at a giant stuffed bird on the wall, he then leaves to walk up to the house. "Stuffing birds" is British slang for sex, bird meaning desirable women, this conveys suppressed sexual desire in the film due to Norman's mother controlling his life. Before Arbogst's dies he sees this symbol, this is significant because Arbogast's figuratively sees the reason for both his death and Marion's through this reoccurring object.
The emotional information that is conveyed through the film making process is overall suspense, Arbogast had a good lead up into his murder that kept the audience watching and anticipating what was going to happen next. This scene and the character of Arbogast add another layer apprehension and is overall another element added for even more surprise for the ending of the film.
The films I would use to model my short film would include Love, a drama about a man who is stick in space. The film explores isolation a and loneliness.As the film begins an astronaut is in space, he is doing research and has contact with people on earth. However later on the astronaut experiences technical difficulties with communication with his those who are helping him on earth. Finally after several days he loses complete contact with earth and is left alone for several years. The protaginist struggles staying sane given that he now has no one to talk to. he contemplates suicide and even attempts it, but is suspenseful. 
Cinematography would conveyemotion within the protaginist .
