Patrick Hughes is a up and coming director he has just finished his first feature film Red Hill a action/ thriller/ Weston film. from his list of short films my two favourite are "The Director" and "Signs" the main aspects that draw me into his films are his unique narratives and his simplistic but effect cinematography.
http://patrickhughes.com.au/shorts/
Friday 25 June 2010
initial analysis of The Italian Job
first i decided it would be beneficial to look at some openings of professional films, this would give me a look at how directors film particular aspects and how the director commonly open a film i.e establishing genre within the first minute, or just techniques the industry use to portray a particular moment or theme.
the first extract i looked at was "The Italian Job" 1969 directed by Peter Collinson staring Micheal Caine, this film is a classic and a nations favourite the film its self is in the action crime genre and is a personal favourite. The extract opens with an extream long shot showing the iconic Italian mountain landscape , the director uses the camera to pan down raveling the whole location. i have studied lots of feature films and it seems to be a common convention that a director will establish 4 things within the first 4-5 minutes LOCATION NARRATIVE GENRE AND CHARACTER by looking at "The Italian Job" the director establishes these four areas in the first 5 minutes to establish location the extreme long shots are used and as the camera is positioned framing a mid shot situated in the car the audience are shown this continued shot as the car drives up the Italian mountain side again revealing location. The car itself is an iconic sign of action it is the sports car of its era ,Lamborghini, and is bright race red all conventions that relate to the action genre which is reinforced when the pace of editing builds and the sound changes to diagetic sound, heightening the level of verisimilitude , as the car crashes suddenly, low angled long shots with mafia in the foreground as well as background , connoting size and power, are an indexical sign of danger and action and iconic props such as guns are again used to reinforce genre.
the first extract i looked at was "The Italian Job" 1969 directed by Peter Collinson staring Micheal Caine, this film is a classic and a nations favourite the film its self is in the action crime genre and is a personal favourite. The extract opens with an extream long shot showing the iconic Italian mountain landscape , the director uses the camera to pan down raveling the whole location. i have studied lots of feature films and it seems to be a common convention that a director will establish 4 things within the first 4-5 minutes LOCATION NARRATIVE GENRE AND CHARACTER by looking at "The Italian Job" the director establishes these four areas in the first 5 minutes to establish location the extreme long shots are used and as the camera is positioned framing a mid shot situated in the car the audience are shown this continued shot as the car drives up the Italian mountain side again revealing location. The car itself is an iconic sign of action it is the sports car of its era ,Lamborghini, and is bright race red all conventions that relate to the action genre which is reinforced when the pace of editing builds and the sound changes to diagetic sound, heightening the level of verisimilitude , as the car crashes suddenly, low angled long shots with mafia in the foreground as well as background , connoting size and power, are an indexical sign of danger and action and iconic props such as guns are again used to reinforce genre.
the audience for this film is very much male orientated it is easy to see that the director has engaged in this fact and used it to his advantage. the director creates this emotion of men wanting to be the characters on screen, he uses codes and conventions to represent the men in this film as cool and sophisticated which in turn creates this idol role model type cast which men want to be , which could be one of the reasons why this film is so successful!. we as the audience first see this sophisticated collected man driving the sports car, he is shot in a point of view shot putting the audinece in a situation, this situation soon becomes relaxed and pleasurable as the location is shown in its beauty and the non diagetic music is pleasing and parrell to what is on screen. this male character is wearing a smart shirt and tie donating wealth and lifestyle and then he lights a cigarette which in 1969 is a very cool habit to have again adding to the status of this man and also showing how directors when creating a film that relating to the present time would uses props and subjects that relate to the current events and subjects of the time, something i think is vital to appeal to any audience and is something i would like to add into my short film.
now the audience are in a state of relaxation, the extract comes to a climax and the car is destroyed by the mafia army, the car is thrown of the edge of the cliff, being an Italian location the director establishes a link to narrative and by having a character who is initially represented as cool and familiar killed puts the audience in a state of mystery again showing a deeper narrative. finally we are introduced to our protagonist of the film, he is represented very different to the original character but still as cool and familiar if not more familiar to the audience, the director uses a close up to introduce Micheal Cain ,playing Charlie , his exspesion is cheeky and he smiles at the camera, next the director uses a long shot reveling Micheal to be in prison which dose subvert the stereotypical hero. however Micheal with his first line of dialog shouts "cheerio lads" in a cockney accent this instantly puts him as English and creates this laddish "lovable rouge" type character he is cheeky yet sophisticated wearing a suit and creates a strong connection with the audience and being a cockney English man there is a level of familiarity with the British audience which dose put him as a idol status to the male dominated audience.
key points i picked up on:
directors establish 4 main areas in the first 4-5 miniutes - genre - narritive - character - location
directors realte to current times
semiolidgy is very important
use simple techniques and shots.
action usually use a lot of tracking and movemnt within the camera
narritive is always key to every second of the film must link.
now the audience are in a state of relaxation, the extract comes to a climax and the car is destroyed by the mafia army, the car is thrown of the edge of the cliff, being an Italian location the director establishes a link to narrative and by having a character who is initially represented as cool and familiar killed puts the audience in a state of mystery again showing a deeper narrative. finally we are introduced to our protagonist of the film, he is represented very different to the original character but still as cool and familiar if not more familiar to the audience, the director uses a close up to introduce Micheal Cain ,playing Charlie , his exspesion is cheeky and he smiles at the camera, next the director uses a long shot reveling Micheal to be in prison which dose subvert the stereotypical hero. however Micheal with his first line of dialog shouts "cheerio lads" in a cockney accent this instantly puts him as English and creates this laddish "lovable rouge" type character he is cheeky yet sophisticated wearing a suit and creates a strong connection with the audience and being a cockney English man there is a level of familiarity with the British audience which dose put him as a idol status to the male dominated audience.
key points i picked up on:
directors establish 4 main areas in the first 4-5 miniutes - genre - narritive - character - location
directors realte to current times
semiolidgy is very important
use simple techniques and shots.
action usually use a lot of tracking and movemnt within the camera
narritive is always key to every second of the film must link.
Monday 21 June 2010
brief
create a short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animation or a combination of both, together with:
- a poster for the film
- a film magazine review page featuring the film
i chose this brief because it is a project i can get really involved with and take my time with. by working alone it is purely my own ideas and my own story which adds to the amount of work i can put into the film. film is an area that interests me and is something i want to go into as a career therefore this brief is perfect from my interests and my ambitions.
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