Preliminary task

"Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule." OCR Specification

My project was a film noir. I have been influenced by Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels when I worked on this project. However, I have not shot it because the camera angles in the stairs and the crane movement in the street were very difficult if not impossible to realise! 

So I have been taking part to "Evil Dolls", a project of a student of my Media class. As an actor, I have been learning how to manage to apply the 180-degree rule. So for the shot/reverse shot, the director has been shooting the entire lines of an actor and then the lines of the other actor. Then, we edited the film by alternating both parts: Actor 1/Actor 2.

We really focused on the match of action for the door. When it opens and when I am entering in the room. In fact, the camera angle is not the same, so we had to catch the very moment when we were editing to have match in action. I think that we managed quite well...

Credits:
www.youtube.com
www.google.co.uk
Microsoft Office - Words 2011

Promoting & Marketing

I have chosen Mr Nice, a film from Bernard Rose recounting Howard Marks' life,  one of Europe's biggest drug dealers in the end of the 60s. 

Howard Marks' photographies

'It's been a long time coming, but the true story of incarcerated drugs smuggler Howard Marks has finally made its way onto the big screen.' Jennifer Trevorrow, LOVEFiLM

Release date: October 8th, 2010 (UK)

Director: Bernard Rose (Editor - Screenwriter)

Producer: Luc Roeg

Distributor:  Entertainment One UK

Adapted from Howard Marks' autobiography

Music score (composer): Philip Glass

Genre: Comedy-Drama

Starring: Rhys Ifans, Chloe Sevigny

Runtime: 121 minutes

SYNOPSIS

'Howard Marks (Rhys Ifans) was a young Welshman studying at Oxford when he discovered there was something unusual about his dorm room -- it had a secret passageway that led to a storage space used by one of the school's top marijuana dealers. Marks and the dealer struck up a friendship as he became an enthusiastic customer, and a few years later, when plans to bring a large cache of hashish into England via Germany went haywire, Marks stepped in to help and was introduced to a circle of big league marijuana traffickers. Marks quit his job as a teacher to become a full time drug wholesaler, and while his new career cost him his first marriage, it introduced him to Judy (Chloe Sevigny), a lovely woman who became the love of his life. As Marks' business grew, he gained some interesting new associates, including an Irish Republican Army operative (David Thewlis) who knew how to get past customs agents, an intelligence agent (Christian McKay) working on both sides of the law and a wildly eccentric American marijuana kingpin (Crispin Glover).'

Mark Deming, Rovi

PROMOTING & MARKETING

The film has been promoted through teasers in cinemas, teasers on the TV during the advertising. 

Posters have been put up on buses, hoardings... 

Rhys Ifans, who is playing the role of Howard Marks, is a good friend with the real Howard Marks. This latter asked him to play in the film. 

Rhys Ifans and Howard Marks at the UK film premiere of 'Mr Nice' at the Cineworld Cinemas Haymarket on October 4, 2010 in London, England.

As we can see at the end of the video posted by E1EntertainmentUK on YouTube, they created a website for the film. 

The slogan dominates the website "Most wanted. Most wasted". It is the catcher, the thing that will stay in people's mind and will arouse the urge for them to watch the film. 

Then the game, which advertising is made at the end of the teaser by Howard Marks himself, presented as "Work for Mr Nice, become the biggest online smuggler!" Players have to register, then join Mr Nice on a journey by smuggling packages to different locations on the internet. The competition starts and the best player, or best smuggler, wins a "plane ticket around the world". This game enable the audience to get into the character of Mr Nice and to take part to the process of smuggling !

The website also offers the book, Howard Marks' autobiography; the iPhone App; a link to the real Howard Marks' website (see below for the link).

The website has been funded by UK Film Council.  

More information about Howard Marks on this website :

The Official Website of Howard Marks

Credits:

www.mrnice-themovie.co.uk

www.howardmarks.name

www.allocine.fr

www.fandango.com

www.lovefilm.com

www.youtube.com
www.zimbio.com

Opening Scene Analysis

I choose a french film, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain ("The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain") produced by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, with Audrey Tautou and Mathieu Kassovitz.

Release date: April 25, 2001 (France)

Director - Producer: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Distributor:  UFD (UGC-Fox Distribution).

Genre: Comedy

Starring: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Isabelle Nanty

Runtime: 120 minutes

!SORRY!  Videos in English (or in OV) of the opening scene are no longer available on YouTube. The video below is then in German... (from 00:00 till 3:10)

This opening scene recreates the world of childhood. The actor is young; her costume is typical of a little Parisian girl in the 20^th century. The camera angle is not stable; it looks like if another child was filming her or like a family film that parents do about their children. The quality of the video is not a high quality, it looks old-looking.

The first part of the opening scene presents the events that happened in Montmartre while Mr and Mrs Poulain were fathering Amélie Poulain: a fly landing on St Vincent St in Montmartre; two glasses dancing on a tablecloth; an old man erasing his dead friend’s name… All these events are described with an amazing precision and meticulousness. The music (from Yann Tiersen) in this first part is the theme music, that we will hear several times in the film. The last event is the birth of Amelie Poulain, who is the first character in the movie. Then starts the second part of the opening scene with a music that sounds like a lullaby, which lets also think to childhood. It is the logical suite of Amelie's birth.

The second part of the opening scene is the presentation of the film unit. The font is old-looking. It actually used to be the font employed for the adverts in the Parisian subway (for shows in the welll-known Moulin Rouge for instance) or for the café signs in the street. 

Then we can see a stream of games every child used to do. These plays belong to the knowledge of everyone, every people can recognize it. If it focuses on the childhood, we know that this moment of life will be a determinative item in the movie. In addition to the music, we can hear some characteristic sounds of every game.

Credits:

www.youtube.com

www.google.fr/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

Dexter - Se7en

Our first work is to compare DEXTER's and SE7EN's title sequences.

DEXTER

SE7EN

There are some similarities between these title sequences.

First of all, both camera shots are close-up. In Dexter, we can see the gesture of the every day life: shaving and cooking breakfast mainly. In Se7en, we see the drill of a police investigation, in other words the research they do in their office.

Both videos give a very particular atmosphere: Dexter give a very 'bloody' view on every single item (mosquito, cuts himself while shaving, egg and orange seem to be bleeding heavily!). In Se7en, the atmosphere seems to be very dark, kind of dirt, worthy a film noir. 

The sound is different between the two title sequences. In Dexter, we notice a soundtrack: the score that is known by the audience and will be used for every episode. Sound effects are added to this score and seem to be diegetic, in other words captured from the story-space. In Se7en, there is only a score. The sounds bring about by the actions of the characters are not reproduced.
(below: links to YouTube for Dexter's and Se7en's soundtracks)

Focusing on the titles, we observe a difference between the two:

In Dexter, the font is not linked to the style; only the colour (red) reminds to the blood. Moreover, the titles are incorporated in the image. Dexter's titles do not seem to play such an important role in the opening sequence, contrary to Se7en's. They use in Se7en a kind of manuscript, crossed out font that reminds to the style of dirty, dark atmosphere. The titles are not incorporated in the image but are written on a black background. Se7en's titles really take part to the lead-in of the film, they help the audience understanding the kind of atmosphere the characters will evolve in.

Finally, the name of the TV-Dramas appear quite at the same time, in other word after the first set of images. Both titles are stylised in the particular style of the drama. Dexter is written with the same neutral font, red, seems to be full of blood, and some drops of blood are falling. Se7en is in the same manuscript and crossed-out font, white on a black background. 

Credits:
www.artofthetitle.com
www.youtube.com