Iron Man Opening scene Analysis

Iron Man

Iron man is an action film about a Billionaire super smart man called tony stark, who is captured by terrorists and is forced to make weapons for them, instead he makes an iron suit which then leads onto him becoming one of the greatest super heroes of marvel.

Characters

Characters in the Iron man opening are represented as serious people because they are soldiers who are escorting Tony Stark. Tony Stark is the main protagonist in this film and is Iron man. Tony is represented as a fun but sarcastic person because they
wont the audience to feel like he is a smart guy but doesn't take things seriously. He often jokes around a lot for example when he is talking to the soldier in the car, he says" I feel like you're driving me to court martial, this is crazy what did I do? What aren't you allowed to talk?" He says it like he is really serious but he intends it to be funny to the other soldiers. He also talks to ladies like he is flirting with them so you can call him a genius and player who is good with the ladies. When the car is attacked he seems hopeless and he can't do any-thing to help the others. This portrays him as a character who is weak and has a smart mind kind of like the stereotypes of nerds, they are super smart but they are weak and helpless when it comes to physical activities like sports they are more comfortable with maths and science just like Tony Stark. There are lots of ways that the audience can recognize the main protagonist, one way is that the camera is mostly focused on him, when he gets out of the car it mainly follows him so it is obvious that he is the main character. Also it is mostly an close up shot of Tony so they can get more of an idea of who he is and what is personality is like.

Sound
Sound in Iron Man is used very well,  for example at the start of the scene there is complete silence and just the shot of the cars driving a long in a desert, suddenly music plays and then the whole situation changes. At first you think that the shot is going to be serious and something bad is going to happen but then music comes on and changes the whole perspective. The music is catchy and sounds like a proper action song. It has a rock theme to it which makes it sound very masculine, it also gets people excited for the action that is coming. The music also makes you think that something intense is about to happen but instead it switches to them speaking in a car, which then catches people off guard for when the missiles hit the car. The diegetic sound in the films is very good also, for example you can hear the car at the same time as when the soldiers are speaking, which shows that the director has not forgotten the small things which makes the film better.

Camera Angles
There are lots of camera angles used to give a different perspective in the scene. At first there is an extreme long shot of the vehicles traveling through the desert, this shows the audience where they are, this is a great way for the movie to be introduced because it is different to most other action movies. After the long shot a medium shot is used to introduce the music to the scene, this is a sudden cut so it immediately makes the audience think there is going to be action. An establishing shot is used of the setting to show where they are and what situation they are in. If they are in the desert it usually means that there is going to be military activity. It also gives an impression to the audience that it is going to be an action film because it is the genre which uses the desert theme the most. A two shot is used of the characters in the car, when Tony is looking at the soldier next to him. This shows their relationship as nervous for the soldier, because he knows who Tony is and he is nervous because he famous and rich. Also the soldier feels intimidated because he knows that Tony creates weapons for military uses all over the world and that could put fear into him. A tracking shot is used on the cars at the start of the shot when the music starts. It follows the military vehicles to say that it is an action film, it also gives the audience the impression that it is going to an action film because the military is associated with action.

Props/Costumes
In the car there are two different types of people, one is Tony stark who is wearing a suit and the others are soldiers wearing military uniforms. Tony is presented as a rich man who has it all, the audience can tell this by what he is wearing. The suit makes him look like a business man who is very successful and has a lot of money. This is a good look for Tony because he is a person who has a lot of money and it represents him as a person who has a lot of power and is important to the world. Also he is holding a glass of brandy, which is a typical drink that rich people tend to drink, to make them look like they have a lot of money. The soldiers are represented as soldiers who are protecting Tony like they are escorting him to somewhere just so he doesn't get into trouble. They are treated like normal people they don't get to have any brandy or alcohol, it's like they are in a place where they aren't allowed to do anything accept follow orders. The props are very noticeable like the glass of brandy, this shows a big difference between the soldiers and tony, because it shows that tony is more important than them. Another example of props is the radio, this plays a big part in the first part of the scene because it plays the music which is very loud, which then turns to a quieter sound when they are in the car like it is actually playing in real life.

The Dark Knight Opening Analysis

Dark Knight

The Dark Knight is an action film about Batman "The Dark Knight" who has to stop the main antagonist The Joker, who is an criminal mastermind who uses his smarts to rob banks and get money. The Jokers main aim is to kill and find out  who Batman is.

The Characters

The Characters are very different to each other in the opening scene of the movie, they all have different masks which separates them very well. When they are in the middle of the heist they all have different roles which will make the plan successful, for example there are two on the roof and three that go through the main entrance. The ones on the roof are going to disable the alarms so that the police are not informed about the robbery and the three in the bank are going to do all the dirty work like crowd control and getting rid of security. However before the scene where the three clowns get in to the bank, there is one which is on their own. This makes it very suspicious for the audience because he is the only one that is by himself, so the audience could suspect him to be the main antagonist. Also he is different to the others in many ways, for example he is not wearing his mask and all the others are and his standing posture is like he has a hunched back. Also when he is standing on the curb it zooms onto his mask so it makes the audience look out for that particular person during the bank robbery. The audience could also notice that the clown is on his own and doesn't speak until the very end. The audience is made to look out for the Joker in the beginning and are given a lot of hints. For example when they zoom into the mask when he is standing on the curb. Each of the clowns look like they represent different emotions so that is how thy are separated from each other.

Sound
The sound in the opening of The Dark Knight is very important to make it set the tone for the audience. It starts of with non-diegetic sound which is the music. When they first zoom into the building you can hear a violin which makes it sound sinister and like something is going to happen. This gives the affect to the audience because they are expecting something sudden to happen. It also it makes it sound more intense because they are about to show something which is very serious and illegal in the real world. Also the music makes it sound like they are on a time limit and need to do it quick before the police get there. It also makes it sound like they are trying to be sneaky and not get caught so it plays beat constantly to make it more intense. It then shows the window smashing and the clowns setting up to get to the other side of the building. They also add all the other sound affects which make a big difference to the whole shot. For example when the clown shoots the gun, you can hear the wire make a zoom noise like it is getting shot and is going at high speed.This is known a diegetic sound which is in the shot, it adds a lot of affect to the shot and makes it sound realistic. Another example of a diegetic sound is the talking, when most of the clowns are speaking they sound like the average gang member who sounds like they have no education and are the tough guys. However when the Joker speaks he has a voice that sounds very menacing and can put fear into the people that he doesn't like. It also separates him from the other clowns so that he can look like the more scary person and is more of match for Batman.

Camera Angles
The Camera angles in the Dark Knight are very good and are used perfectly to get a good effect on the mood of the situation. At the start of the scene there is a camera shot which is long shot and it is zooming towards the building. This gives the audience the perspective that something is going to happen in the building, it also goes well with the menacing music, which brings the effect that something bad is going to happen. A close up shot is used on the Joker when he reveals his mask to the audience, this should bring a shocking reaction to the audience because they should know that
the Joker is one of the main antagonists so seeing him rob the bank at the beginning of the movie is a lot different then other movies. A tracking shot is used on the Joker when they are outside of the bank getting out of the car. It is mainly focused on him because the director wanted the audience to focus more on him then anything else.

Mise-en-scene 
In the opening the audience would identify symbols such as the clown masks, which represent the Joker. The director did this because the Joker is the main antagonist in the film. So he did this so people would think that those people work for the Joker, instead of the joker being in the gang with them. This could make the audience feel confused for when the Joker reveals himself by taking his mask to the bank owner. Also it could make people concerned about why he killed his crew when he would want as much help as possible to stop the Batman.

Props/Costumes

The Props used in the film are very realistic for example the guns, masks, vault and drill. The props that are used need to be realistic so that they add a good effect to the opening. The guns that are used in the bank robbery are typical for the action genre because it shows lots of fast paced scenes that get people excited for action.  Also the high tech tool they use like the drill are commonly used in bank robberies because they can make the audience think that they are a rich and well organised mafia or gang. The costumes which are used have a massive impact on how the audience may judge the film, for example if the robbers went into the bank without wearing the masks the audience may think that they are not as scary as they could be, they could also think that they would not be as intimidating to the ones that they are robbing. Also they are dressed up in black suits so they could be disguised as businessmen who cant be identified. This is also a good disguise because it is a city that is mostly made up of business so it will be hard for the police to identify them when they are dressed up.

What are you doing here? - Analysis

What are you doing here?

For our first task we were told to go out and film different types of shots of us saying what are you doing here? For our first show we used a close shot of us walking up and asking a person what are you doing here. The close up an good shot,  but it was not great. The camera was shaking and it becomes very distracting for the person to watch and takes the concentration of the people in the shot away. Also the environment wasn't the best because it was in a very green place and it doesn't look very realistic. Another shot which we used was a medium shot which shows the top half the person. Again the camera was very shaky and it didn't look good because of the environment. We also did one over the shoulder shot where we can see the back of the persons head closest to the camera, and then in the background you can see the person speaking to the other person. 

Our strengths were that we did good camera shots, and we know how to use a range of shots. We also know what they are and ho to do them. By knowing this we could create good shots if we have a good plan and know what to film we could use a knowledge of shots to create a good film.

We have a few weaknesses with our shots, one of them is the camera shaking. When we film and the camera shaking it is really distracting because all you can see is the character going out of shot and it looks really bad. To improve the shot we either need to get a tripod to keep the camera still, this would improve our shot a lot. Another thing that we could improve is the location of the shots and the lighting, the location of the shot is in a place where there is a lot of trees and bushes, so it seems a little random people to be filmed. The lighting was very dark because it was a cloudy day, so it was bad for people to see what was going on in the shot. To improve this we need to find a place where it is more open so there is more light shown and it look better for the shot.

Preliminary Task Analysis

Preliminary Task Analysis

For our preliminary task we filmed a class doing an essay. We used different camera angles to make the film look different and entertaining. For example we used close shots on Conor and Matt to show a different perspective. We also used match on action when we recorded Conor and Matt writing with the pen, although it isn't the greatest match on action it still shows that we can use different skills with the camera.

We have a lot of strengths and weaknesses in our film, one of our weaknesses is the camera shaking. it was difficult to keep the camera still, which does ruin the shot because all you can see the camera shaking and that takes your concentrating away from whats happening in the shot. Also we did make the shots a bit long  for example we made the match on action shot too long which drags the shot on and makes it more boring for the audience. Final weakness is we need more dynamism in the shot so it looks more better.

Our strengths were, we had a range of shots, for example we had close up, mediums and long range shots. This is to show that we understand all the different types of shots and how to use them. Another strengths was we knew a range of different shots for example close ups, medium shots and reverse shots. We showed all of the above and we used them to make the shots more interesting. Our final strength was in the editing, we used a lot of good cuts to show different angles of the scene. For example we cut from a close up on Matt to a shot of Luke sitting at a desk. This shows that we used to shots to show whats going on at the same time.

Targets- what we need to improve on is the camera shaking, to resolve this we are going to bring a tripod which should keep it still for when we are filming. Lighting we need to make sure that the lighting is the same the whole time, so to solve this we need to make sure that the lights in the room are on the whole time because at first we had the lights off, then we turned them on at the end and  it didn't look right.

Codes and Conventions of Action

Code and Conventions of Horror

The Expendables 2 Opening Analysis

The Expendables 2

The Expendables 2 is an action film which involves a special force military team, which are on a mission to save a hostage from being killed. They use unusual ways to do this, for example they drive in with three armored trucks, and start shooting people to get through.

The Characters are violent and deadly, in the scene it shows that they are holding different weapons, which shows that they have different skills and are independent to each other. Also they seem like they are close to each other and trust each other with their lives, which helps us as the audience relate more to them. The audience can also recognize the main characters as they have a great introduction to the film. They come in three armored vehicles which have loads of soldiers in it which are heavily armed and are going into a burning town. Also the audience can tell that they are the main characters because they show them all working as a team. It also tells the audience that if they work as a team they can do anything which is dangerous and is likely to kill them in real life which is an classic action cliche. Another way they show that they are the main characters is by the close up shots on them, this gives the audience a good judgement on the characters by the way they act in the situation and to each other.

The sound that they use involves lots of explosions and guns firing to add effect through violent scenes. They also use a lot of verbal communication which gives the scene more of an action feeling. It also adds effect to the atmosphere because it shows that the team is under fire and is in a lot of danger. The sound is very important within an action film, because without the sound it wont sound very exciting or like its an action film. They use degetic sound to make it sound like that they are in the middle of a gun fight.and they are being fired upon. Also the characters uses a lot of diegetic sound like shouting to the other person to make it sound intense and like they are in danger. This makes the audience feel like they are in the action and are being shouted at by the characters which gets them more excited. This also shows that it is a action genre film because of the intense action like gunfire and explosions. The music which is non-diegetic sounds very intense and fast paced. It makes it sound like they are in a hurry to save the hostage.

The shots they use are mostly medium and long shots which constantly overlap with each other to help add effect to the surroundings and emphasis to the verbal communication between the protagonists. There is also few amount of close ups on the characters to show what they think of the situation and how they are coping with it. It shows a little bit of the characters personality so people can see how they react to the situations. For example one if the characters who are driving are smiling and laughing, this shows that he enjoys being endangered and has no fear. An establishing shot is used to show the setting of where the intro takes place. It shows that the characters are in a desert in the middle of know where, and there is an army base which is heavily guarded by soldiers. It is based in the desert because it shows the audience that it is not supposed to be found and it is hidden away from civilization. This also makes it more like a real setting where the army would be, for example soldiers in Afghanistan are usually based in the desert, they do this in the film so the audience can then feel like they based the setting in real life conditions. The tracking shots is used to follow the characters in the vehicle, this makes the audience feel like they are in the vehicle with them and engages them to feel what the soldiers are feeling like.

You can tell that it is an action film because there are lots of explosions and gunfire. Also they are shouting to each other to make the scene look more intense and fast paced. This gets people more excited about the movie. Also they wear army uniform which makes them stand out to the other characters, it also says that they are soldiers. You can also see that it is an action film by the vehicles that are driving. This is shown by the vehicles being covered in heavy armor so no bullets can get through. This is typical of the genre because the director wants to show you that these soldiers are unstoppable and know what they are doing, so when they get into a fight they aren't  going to get hurt badly they are going to get a scratch on their face and carry on like nothing happened. Also the hero usually doesn't get hurt badly until the end, when they fight the person who they have been after the whole time. So if there is an explosion at a gas station and it is in the middle of the film, usually they wont get hurt they will only get a scratch, which shows they are really tough. However at the end they will get broken bones and deep cuts which will stop them from beating the guy up, until the very end when he is about to get killed, he suddenly gets a weapon or uses his fighting skills and counters the attack leading to the enemy being killed. This is a typical cliche in action movies, and has been used in a lot of movies.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNmtTC8PMFI&feature=player_detailpage