Disney trailer analysis

At the start of the trailer, Ralph is presented as outcast through a voice over where he seems frustrated that no one likes him for doing his job. In the immediate following shot, Felix, Ralph's friend, gets into an accident where he is nearly hurt, and the reaction from the townspeople is one of worry. This contrast of the townspeople disliking Ralph and idolising Felix portrays Ralph as a character that fits into the underdog stereotype. In the following scenes, the semic connotations of the support group help to emphasise this character trait, as Ralph needs help with his problems so he seeks a support group. He states that he no longer wants to be 'the bad guy', and this is then set in stone to be the main story arc due to the excessive negative reaction from his peers. Enigmas of where this arc will lead Ralph help to engage the audience into the story. The character trait of being unloved is further emphasised in the trailer by Ralph walking down a station, and having innocent bystanders fear him and get out of the way. However, whilst the trailer progresses, the symbolic meaning of it is revealed, that without Ralph, his game will die out, and this has the cultural impact of sending a message that everyone has a place in the society that they live in, and everyone is useful and loved in one way or another. The townsfolk start to become increasingly worrisome as more time passes with Ralph gone, emphasising this message.

Continuity task evaluation task 1

My property

1. Explain the story of your video:
Ben is being antisocial, and his friends are upset that he isn't listening to them. They take his phone to try to stop him from using it, and Kush runs off with it. However, he accidentally runs into a pole, and Ben takes back his phone.

2. How did you create 'narrative flow'?
We tried to link shots together with relevant shot types, for example scene 1, an ELS, is followed up by a MS in shot 2. We didn't include any jump cuts from one shot type to another, e.g a LS to an MCU. We also tried to start shots with characters where they left off in the previous shot. This however proved hard due to it all being in camera, however is still evident in shots 1 and 2 where they are still in the same positions on the bench. Most of the shots show continuity in the edited version however, seen below. We started the film off with an establishing shot in order for the audience to have a clear sense of space. This then allowed for the next shot to be an MS as it wouldn't confuse the audience and would allow them to learn about the characters of the film.

3. Did you achieve full continuity? If not, why not?
As said before, most of the shots didn't show full continuity, and this is due to the difficulties of shooting everything with only a camera and no editing software. For example, in between shot 2 and shot 3, Kush seems to teleport about 3 metres forward, as does Ben, and this is due to us shooting shot 3 with the characters in the wrong positions.

4. In hindsight, what would you do differently to improve the narrative flow of your video and tell your story more effectively?
In hindsight, I think showing Ben getting up off the table would have been very important to show for continuity reasons, so I think adding this in would be very useful. Also, I think starting shots with all the characters in the same place as where they were in the previous shot would also be very important as it would stop the audience from becoming confused as to the story of the film.

Reflections on Practical: TV Drama Still

1. We constructed a storyboard including the framing, positions and poses of the actors involved. We then used this as a guide when taking the shots in order to stay organised.

2. The dark lighting of the shot helps to convey the horror genre as it has scary and mysterious connotations, which creates a tense atmosphere. Virginia in the foreground of the shot conforms to the innocent and defenceless character type due to her paying no attention to the apparent killer behind her, and no defensive weapon present in the photo. This is a character type used heavily in the horror genre, which as such helps to convey this genre. The mysterious character of Kush in the background has his hand out with clear malicious intent, and this conforms to the serial killer character type. This is also used heavily in the horror genre, and this convention helps to convey the genre of the still.

3. The semic codes of the dark room helps the audience to interpret the still as one conforming to the  horror genre, with a clear victim and killer scenario made clear by the conventions of this setting. Enigma of where the room is helps to create tension in the audience due to its isolated nature, which allows a dangerous meaning of the still to be communicated.

4. The framing in this shot was successful, with a mid shot of Kush in the background and a close up of Virginia in the foreground. The lighting of the still was also successful, with dark lighting around them but also with their faces lit up for the audience to see, helping to create tension.

5. If done differently, I think I would have tried to polish the lighting even further, and have Kush's hoodie much darker than it is in order to create a much moodier atmosphere to even further convey the horror genre.

TV Drama still analysis

This scene is set at night with low-key lighting. This produces a dark, foreboding atmosphere, which anchors the mystery genre of the show. This results in the audience having high tensions in the following scenes due to the low-key lighting connoting both the unknown and a possible danger. However in contrast to this, the character Locke's face is lit up with harsh lighting from a flaming torch. This conveys to the audience the harsh, intense emotions he would be feeling at that moment, which further helps to create tension in the scene due to empathy being felt by the audience. Also, a mysterious ladder is shown to take up a large proportion of the scene. This has never been seen before previously in the show, therefore this enigma creates interest in the audience as they strive to figure out what the ladder is doing there and where it leads. This then hooks the audience into the scene and further contributes to the tense atmosphere due to the unknown and possible dangerous nature of the place the ladder leads to.