Inquiry:

Firstly I chose this screenplay because Star Wars is incredibly popular for a good reason, especially ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ where we wanted to film a scene which is iconic and wasn’t too exhausting or lackluster to watch. Also I grew up watching Star Wars and it was a huge part of my childhood. This particular scene is widely renowned as one of the most famous plot twists in film history. Another reason for why I chose it because there are only two characters in the scene and doesn’t require as much screen directing as most of the scenes in the film.

Action:

To make the film, we wanted actors to be in as much character as possible, so we acquired props such as a Darth Vader mask and a sound recording editor to make the actor that played Darth Vader have his exact voice. During the production, there were only two actors, including me and Will and he was also the cinematographer as we were only a two-person group. Since we didn’t have a spare team member, Will and I had to film shot reverse shot (He filmed me and Darth Vader and I filmed him as Luke Skywalker). Also the mask I wore during production limited me form speaking clearly and as a result Will had to dub the audio over after production. So to make the choreography work, we had the exact scene playing from Youtube in the background so I would simultaneously act out Darth Vader’s actions and Will would act out the scene without the over dub during production as he knew the lines already.

Refection:

What we’ve learned from the production and working with my group mate was that Will was willing to hear my suggestions out on how we should film and act out the lines from the screenplay. Also he put effort into making stay in character as much as possible , as he provided the Darth Vader mask and the voice editor and was also willing to do much of the editing because he had prior experience to editing techniques. What I think we could improve on is time management as we only got to finish the overdubbing of the audio during the deadline of when the film was supposed to be completed and the editing was only finalised a week after the deadline. Another thing which we can improve on is to make the choreography in the film more dramatic because although I got the actions right for Darth Vader in that scene, I just wasn’t passionate or intense enough in the gestures i was making.

For my screenplay, my group chose a scene from Scott Pilgrim vs The World involving a dialogue scene between Scott and his flatmate Wallace discussing Scott’s new love interest, Ramona, and how Scott has to “defeat” her seven “deadly” ex’s.

We chose this film and scene as everyone in the group had seen the film multiple times and knows the scene well. It was interesting to experiment with a dialogue scene between two actors as it challenged us to use different angles, such as reverse shots, extreme close ups and over the shoulder shots, to film with to make the dialogue more interesting.

INT. WALLACE’S APARTMENT — DAY

Scott slumps on the couch, phone pressed to his ear. Wallace cooks bacon in the kitchen (no pants). We hear the OUTGOING MESSAGE: This is an automated voice messaging system. RAMONA is not available, please record your message after the beep.

SCOTT

Hey. It’s me, Scott again. Call me back. Scott Pilgrim. (hangs up) What’s the deal? Seriously.

Scott ambles over to the fridge and rests his head on it.

WALLACE

Yeah, you said that last night.

SCOTT

You know what really sucks though?

WALLACE

What?

SCOTT

Everything!

WALLACE

Come on guy, you can’t say you didn’t see this coming. It was right under your nose.

Wallace points to the NOTE Ramona scribbled which is pinned literally under Scott’s nose on the refrigerator:

RAMONA FLOWERS, 212-664-7665, xxxxxxx

WALLACE

What did you think these were?

SCOTT

Kisses? Seven little kisses?

WALLACE

Seven deadly X’s.

Wallace cocks an eyebrow. Scott slides to the floor.

SCOTT

Why does everything have to be so complicated?

Wallace crouches down to join Scott on the floor.

WALLACE

If you want something bad, you have to fight for it. Step up your game. Break out the L-word.

SCOTT

Lesbian?

WALLACE

The other L-word.

SCOTT

Lesbians?

WALLACE

Okay, it’s ”love.” I wasn’t trying to trick you or anything. You have to overcome any and all obstacles that lie in your path. You have the spirit of a warrior, Scott. You can do it! Be with her! It’s your destiny!(beat) Plus, I need you to move out.

FINAL EDIT

The actual scene in the film is heavily edited, so, I tried to match the scene to the best of my ability. Due to my limited editing skills, I couldn’t exactly match the standard of editing quality in the actual film. We made the decision to not film in a kitchen as we couldn’t find a similar kitchen to the one in the film so we opted to make it look as if it were two students having a conversation in a cafeteria as the script sounded as if it could be fit to that type of setting.

To make the scene feel more authentic and similar to the actual film, I feel like I could have used a better microphone as in the scene, you end up not being able to hear the actors speak in some parts which can take away some of the humorous elements in the scene. I also feel like I could have spent more time editing and adjusting the shots so it doesn’t look like my actors have moved around a lot so it could have enhanced the verisimilitude of the scene. I would have played around with the sound mixing side of the scene a lot more to try make my actors sound a bit more louder and add sound effects to make the funnier parts of the scene even more comedic.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

No Country for Old Men

M:\Students\Year 12\Oliver Huelin\Portfolio\Screenplay

• Diegetic perspective or “gaze” is expressed in terms of how the audience is being asked to look at the content or subjects on screen by the director e.g. what is being emphasised through the use of close up?​
• The intra-deiegetic gaze is when the audience are put in the place of a character and being asked to see things from their viewpoint e.g. through the use of subjective camerawork in films like Cloverfield.
• The extra-diegetic gaze is when someone on screen addresses the audience directly by looking directly down the lens of the camera– sometimes known as “breaking the 4th wall”. Not to be confused with the above when the audience are being asked to the “perspective” of another character.​

An example of a diegetic scene from film is any omniscient camera angle

an example of intra-diegetic is the opening scene in the original Halloween. the camera follows the peraspective of a young micheal myers, the camera moves through the house and tension mounts throughout the scene until Myers finally commits his first murder.

An example of extra-diegetic is from Fight Club in which Edward Norton’s character addresses the audience directly on a number of occasions.

Shot Distances, Camera Angles and Camera movements

Raging Bull has one of the best shots and scenes in cinema of all time. At a low point in his life in one of his final fights la Motta practically begs for punishment and just before he gets what he asks for the film slows. It exhales. It coils itself up quietly, and first we get this medium shot (image 2), and then we get this one (image 4), and here, everything shifts. the crowd goes quiet. recedes into the darkness. Robinson looms closer, the lighting intensifies. we hold our breath, and then the pot boils over and it explodes. this shot is absolutely terrifying, utterly effecting, we feel a shift come over the film as if it comes over the imagery and know that something is coming. and whats particularly amazing about it as a medium shot is that Scorsese engages in that dynamic between person and environment. he is actively and conspicuously playing with the relationship between them and he does that with a camera movement, a dolly zoom.

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You might be familiar with the dolly zoom from Jaws and Vertigo. It involves changing the focal length of the lens by zooming while moving the camera to keep the subject in the frame at the same scale. The result of moving in while zooming out is that the background changes with respect to the subject and by doing this in a medium, Scorsese creates a perfect relational shot. We can see Robinson’s position, the physicality necessary for fighting, and most of all his expression. however, we can also see the ring around them as it becomes cavernous and vast and hollow and utterly barren. The men are alone out there, swallowed up by the ring and we can see how they feel about it, or in this case, how they feel in spite of it, all rage and hate and loathing and violence surrounded by an uncaring void, The moment has almost teleported them to their own plane. In a closeup this shot would lose its context it’s intentional sense of distance from the world outside the ring. In a long, we would lose the emotion, the detail of their faces, the powerful and potent twisted humanity which is why this is an incredible example of a medium shot.

Depth of Field

The area in front of the camera that appears sharp in the frame is called depth of field. Depth of Field is defined as the range of acceptable focus on a shot or photograph. Deep depth of field, on the other hand, is the kind in which the entire frame, from the foreground to the background, is sharp or in focus.

BLANK SCREEN:
Against Black, TITLE CARD:
 "...and these children that you spit on,
 as they try to change their worlds are
 immune to your consultations.  They're
 quite aware of what they're going through...
 - David Bowie"

The Blank Screen and Title Card SHATTER to reveal...

1. EXT. SHERMER HIGH SCHOOL - DAY

During Brian's monologue, we see various views of
things
inside the school including Bender's locker.

 BRIAN (VO)
 Saturday...March 24, 1984.  Shermer
 High School, Shermer, Illinois.
 60062.  Dear Mr. Vernon...we accept
 the fact that we had to sacrifice a
 whole Saturday in detention for
 whatever it was that we did wrong,
 what we did was wrong.  But we think
 you're crazy to make us write this
 essay telling you who we think we
 are, what do you care?  You see us
 as you want to see us...in the
 simplest terms and the most
 convenient definitions.  You see us
 as a brain, an athlete, a basket
 case, a princess and a criminal.
 Correct?  That's the way we saw each
 other at seven o'clock this morning.
 We were brainwashed

I wasn’t in the group at first so i missed the filming process however i was allowed to edit the my own version of the opening. the breakfast club opens wit an voice over so it was fairly easy to recreate. The theme of the film is that you should never judge a book by its cover which is a positive message that we felt was nice. it was quite easy as all I had to do was put the clips the others filmed into premier and then put the audio of the narration over the top. When I edited the clips i tried to make is flow as if someone was walking trough the school. i think it came together quite well and although the camera work was a bit shaky, i think we produced a good film.

my finished film is here: M:\Students\Year 12\Abby Good

I chose Snowpiercer as my screenplay example because of one pivotal scene towards the end of the film. In this scene Chris Evans’ character confesses the reality and severity of his experiences at the back of the train, the soul-crushing performance primarily lends itself to the screenplay and writing. Another reason as to why i chose this scene was the relative ease of filming, as it features two characters and is primarily a monologue that cuts between the characters to present the harrowing nature of the story through dialogue and the facial expressions displayed by both characters.

Peter is walking out of the school with Mary Jane when they are ambushed by Flash.  He starts to ridicule Peter,
then threatens him.  Peter just clenches his jaw and backs
away.  Peter does not believe in violence... and he has
never thrown a punch in his life.  It just wouldn't occur
to him.

Through a row of bushes he sees Flash grab Mary Jane by
the arm and spin her around.  They are arguing.  Flash
slaps her across the face.  Peter is so enraged his hands
snap a four inch tree limb without him realizing it.

Flash is walking to his car after gymnastics practice.  It
is dark.  A figure drops silently down from behind him.
Flash spins and sees a guy in a black fishnet mask.
Thinking it is a robbery, Flash swings... only to grab his
own fist in pain.  It was like hitting oak.

Peter holds Flash with one hand and slaps him hard.

                          SPIDER MAN
          How do you like it?  Huh?

He slaps him again, backhand.  Then he cocks back his fist
and BLAM!

Punches Flash so hard he flies ten feet.  He picks him up,
gets him in a painful armlock... marches him to his
beloved Porsche and slams him brutally against it.  He
pounds Flash into the car until the jock collapses, semi-
conscious.  Peter then rips a signpost out of the ground
and pounds the car into junk.  Glass flies everywhere.

Peter leans close to Flash and tells him to stay away from
Mary Jane... or else.

As a group, we chose this screenplay as it was set in a school and we could mimic the location closer than other settings.

James- Camera man.

Micah- Actor (Peter Parker).

Harvey- Actor (Bully).

Morgan- Director / actor.

• How many cinema screens were there on Jersey during the “Golden Age” of cinema ? (1930s to 60s)

There was only 4 cinemas (Wests, Odeon, New Era and the Forum) in Jersey and each of these cinemas only had one screen so this lead to less choice in films and a more limited section.

•How many cinema screens are there now?

Cineworld is the only cinema in jersey, it has 10 screens all together however, it has fewer seats than the original cinemas but allows for more selection when choosing a film.

• What independent cinema spaces currently exist on Jersey?

Currently there is no independent cinemas because Cineworld is a commercial cinema.

• Explain why the number of cinema screens have declined over the years and what you think the implications are for the film industry in general.

Because new films are constantly being viewed all over the world which means more people are going to want to see lots of different film at roughly the same time.