The Lovely Bones - poster analysis

Director: Peter Jackson

Genre: Thriller, Drama, Fantasy

Lead roles: Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg and Saoirse Ronan

Plot: Centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.

Visuals

Type of shot: Long shot / two shot. The framing of Mr Harvey in the foreground compared with Susie Salmon in the background walking towards him, emphasises the power that he has and the fact that a 14 year old girl is no competition. She is on the right hand side, which has heavenly connotations 'on God's right hand', this also ties into the theme of the film, as she watches her family from Heaven to see how they repair slowly after her tragic death. Our eyeline is drawn to her because of the way Mr Harvey is diagonally facing her, but then we trace the invisible line between them and notice him, turned away in darkness which creates a sense of ominous mystery about the connection between the two characters. Her stance with one leg infront of the other creates a sense of movement and we feel nervous for her and she walks towards him. There is also a determination/curiosity in her step, which implies to us that although he is a stranger to us, Mr Harvey is not a stranger to her.

Background: with the light on her side, with the pink clouds and yellow sun, Susie Salmons innocence and also the heavenly aspect of her being is portrayed. Mr Harvey is in darkness so his intentions towards Susie seem very ominous and dark. From the way his body is turned, it seems he is looking at Susie, but as we cannot see his face, the lack of light makes us think he would be looking at her with perverted hunger or something dark along those lines.

Text: The film title is in the top 3rd of the poster, more towards Susie Salmon, emphasising the fact that the film is about her and that she forms the main plot. The directors name is above the film title in a small font as recognition that this is his work. 'Coming Soon' is also in bold medium font at the bottom of the page, so that the viewer knows when he/she can see this film. The clump of text at the bottom of the poster contains details of the actors/sponsors/writers and Alice Sebold who wrote the novel this film is based on.

Colour

Susie: She is dressed in primary colours, mainly yellow and blue with some red, which highlight her youth and innocence. This is further emphasised through the lighting and how she is in an unrealistic light that could symbolise the fact that she is innocent, died in horrible circumstances and is now on her way to a heavenly place.

Mr Harvey: The greys and blacks used for his costume emphasise the innate darkness in his character. It merely hints at the darkness of the secrets he has to hide from the world. The whole essence of his character radiates sinisterness and ominousness which makes the audience feel extremely uneasy at the fact Susie is walking towards him.

Background: The background colours are quite dull, so the focus is immediately drawn towards Susie. This could also suggest that background things don't matter any more, particularly to her family, because the only thing that matters is Susie and the fact she is no longer with them. In addition, there is the cross over between dark greay clouds and blue sky, which could connote that Mr Harvey's dark grey clouds descended over Susies happy life and those clouds linger over her family and friends lives because of him.

Linguistics

Caption: 'The story of a life and everything that came after' sounds like a fairytale which emphasises the fantasy side of this hybrid-genre film. It sounds pretty even though the subject matter is hellish, emphasising the fact that this film is about how Susie watches her family fall to pieces and then picks back up the pieces after her death. It also makes a comment on society, because if someone has been raped and murdered, all we ever hear in the media is exactly that; someone has been raped and murdered. This caption informs the audience that, actually, the trauma doesn't just end with the actual occurance, it carries on for the family and friends and will have an effect on them forever.

Black Swan trailer analysis

I have to chosen to analyse this trailer to establish the differences between teasers and trailers. In addition, I really like the mise en scene in this trailer and it has therefore made me mindful of how important mise en scene is within any film.

Camerawork

The first thing we see is 'Cross Creek pictures' which is one of the sponsors of the film, importantly placed before any footage is played. A wide shot of a Ballerina dancing on stage is then shown, to put a theme to the thriller so that the audience knows that the film will involve ballet. This is further emphasised by the following close up of her feet as she dances and then the medium shot as she stands tall with her arms outstretched into second. As a change in the narrative happens, we see facts about the film presents on a rippling black feather background. We are then introduced to the character of Nina, in a close up as she dances with her troupe, which makes the audience associate the main plot with her. The following close up of her stretching her feet and then the long shot of her stretching emphasizes this further. The audience has now been given the theme and main character, so we now see another black feathered background, telling the audience who directed this film (Aronofsky). Then we see a wide shot of Nina on the stairs at a celebration of her being given the lead role in Swan Lake followed by a close up of her smiling face, which makes the audience tense because we are wondering 'how could this possibly go wrong?' Another black feather screen is then shown, with the names of other films that have been directed by Aronofsky, 'The Wrestler' and 'Requiem for a Dream' so we can associate Black Swan with other very good films which gains the trust of the audience. Then, we see a close up on Lily, smiling, followed by a close up on Nina, looking distressed, so we automatically assume that there will be some rivalry between them. We then see a wide shot of Nina dancing, using a whip pan as she turns, reflecting her distress and movement; this creates suspense as we are now starting to see that things are going wrong from her facial expression. The close up of the sore cut on her back reveals how she is now tainted with the black swan and her purity cannot cope with it. Her fracturing mental state is further emphasised through the mid shot of Nina infront of the mirror, as her reflection turns around. Her mental fragility is confirmed with the close up on the broken ballerina figure followed by the close up of Nina's leg as she is spinning on pointe, as we link the physicality of the broken figurine to Nina. It also foreshadows her death at the end of the film when she is quite literally broken because of the emotional demands playing the black swan has had on her. A further confirmation of the fact that her role in Swan Lake has taken over her is the two shot of Nina in pink with her hair tied up as she passes herself dressed in black with her hair down, symbolising both the white and the black swan. The two shot of the kiss between Nina and Lily shows the black swan's desire filtering through Nina's reality. Nina is drowning into the world of the swans and drowning into maddness, which is emphasised through the close up of her panicked with her head under the water in the bath. The audience feels extremely tense as there is a midshot of Nina with her hands over her ears, clearly distressed as she sees the paintings on the wall move and scream too. It further shows her descent into madness and the audience really sympathises with her here. A close up of Nina's face reveals that she is in the real performance, with her full face-paint on, revealing that possibly the transformation is complete. Another black feather screen is used here to rob the audience of 'what comes next' instead showing them the names of the actors/actresses with the star roles. We then see a close up of the cut on her back that has gotten much worse, as she (eye-wateringly!!!) pulls out a black feather out of it, further emphasising that the transformation into the black swan is complete and it has now fully taken over her mind. This is then confirmed by the closing close up of Nina, staring at the black feather with blood shot eyes. The final thing the audience sees is another black feathered screen, with 'Black Swan - coming soon' followed by other credentials.

The exessive use of close ups highlights the fact that this is a trailer, because they do not reveal a lot, but reveal enough to make the audience want to know what will happen in the whole film.

Editing

After the opening frame of 'Cross Creek pictures', a fade to white is used symbolising the fact that in the start of the film, Nina is pure like the white swan. Throughout the duration of the trailer though, any other fade cuts, of which there are multiple, are faded to black symbolising the mystery and the darkness that overwhelms Nina to the point of suicide in the end. Fade to blacks tend to be used before a black feathered screen is shown with information on it. This is a way of creating suspense for the audience because they are shown so much of a clip and then it fades away from them and is interupted by words. As the trailer shows more disturbing scenes or scenes of hightened emotion, the sequencing becomes faster, we see less of the shot but more shots in total, which acts as a tease to the audience as we can see a lot of things quickly but we crave to see them in context and with more detail in them.

Sound

Non-diegetic music -  this is played throughout the trailer, creating many sound bridges throughout. At the start of the trailer, the music sound relatively normal for a ballet dancer to be interpreting, however, as the trailer progresses and the shots become sequenced more quickly the music becomes more tense, as an ominour bassline is heard with the more dominant violin sound leading the track. As we see the last fade to black the music has one final loud boom and then the non-diegetic music stops.

Diegetic music - in the beginning of this trailer, Nina narrates as the ballerina dances. She tells the story of a dream she has which ends with the ballerina killing herself, which foreshadows the ending of the film. Sound Bridges are created by speech between characters, 'sweet girl', 'new swan queen' and 'you've been dancing long enough', which show how everyone plays a part in ruining Nina's mind and pure spirit. There is a particularly disturbing piece of diegetic sound, as Nina's mom cuts her nails. The abruptness and loudness of the snips makes the audience coil back because it sounds so harsh and horrible. Also, there is a particular line Nina says 'she's gone!' that sounds so harsh and unlike the character we come to know in the first minute and a half that we as an audience know that she has cracked under the pressure, in more ways than just a temper. However, the most effective piece of diegetic sound, in my opinion, is at the very end; after the final fade to black, we just hear Nina's heavy breathing after she has just pulled a black feather out of her back, creating an uneasy and intense atmosphere that the audience will be highly intrigued by.

Mise-en-scene

Throughout the trailer, during the time when Nina is scared or herself, she is dressed in pale pinks/whites symobolising her association with the white swan, purity and innocence. Any times that Nina is experiencing desire, disillusionment and jealousy, she is depicted in black or with dark lighting, emphasising her growing but fragmented relationship with the black swan. Lily is always in black, even in the ballet rehearsal studios, which shows how she is passionate and desireable - and therefore more fitting to being the black swan than Nina in the beginning.

Differences between trailers and teasers:

The most obvious difference is the length of the clip. A trailer is normally between 1:30 to 3:00 long, whereas, a teaser trailer can be 30s - 1:00 long. In this trailer for Black Swan quite a lot of the plot is given away. It shows the basic infrastructure of the film. However, in teaser trailers, all that is revealed is a hint of the plot and the main character(s), leaving the audience asking far more questions that a trailer does. However, both are aimed to wet audiences appetites and spark interest for the film, so both do need an element of mystery but teasers will have more mystery.

Black Swan - Magazine front cover analysis

Masthead: Central to the top quater of the page, not dominant at all. This shows that the issue is dominated by Black Swan, that Little White Lies are providing this, but that they want you to focus on Black Swan, not who published the magazine.

No pugs or puffs: This is to avoid distracting the readers focus from Black Swan, again emphasising the dominance of Black Swan in this issue

Image: The image is a sketched close-up of Natalie Portman with a lost expression on her face, hightlighting how her character loses the sense of who she is and her grip on reality within the film. The feathers look light and dynamic, as if they are falling gracefully, which further represents how reality is just falling away from the character of Nina

Main Coverline: This takes up the whole page, therefore emphasizing the fact that the whole issue is dedicated to Black Swan.

Colour Scheme: The colour scheme is monochrome, which puts emphasis on the theme of black and white which is very dominant in the plot of Black Swan, as Nina is the perfect white swan, but stuggles to become like Lily who is a very good portrayal of the black swan

Black Swan (2010 - Film Poster analysis

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Genre: Thriller, Drama, Mystery

Lead roles: Natalie Portman as 'Nina Sayer', Mila Kunis as 'Lily', and Vincent Cassel as 'Thomas Leroy'

Plot: A ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan.

Type of shot

A close up has been used to show her dark expression. This creates mystery as we don't fully know what to expect from her character except that we will see the demise of her sanity in the film.

Lighting

The right side of her face is in the light which symbolises the white swan. She is a very pure character and that is why she is a good portrayal of the white swan. The left hand side of her face, however, is darker, representing the black swan. This is also the side of her face with the crack running down it, suggesting that the cracks in her sanity only occured when she tried to be the black swan.

Use of colour

The black background has connotations of ominous mystery and from this we can tell that the film content will be hard-hitting and more than likely disturbing. The white feather on the light (right) side of her face, further emphasizes her character purity and connection with the white swan. Contrasted with the black background and shadows though, we can conclude that because of her pure character she cannot cope with the dark demands of being the 'black swan'.

Conventions I have noticed

• The main image is most dominant feature of the poster
• contains a quote praising the film 'An extradordinary intoxicating masterpeice'. Excessive use of syllables creates emphasis and also communicates the fact that this film is aimed at people educated in art (ballet) and also that it is not aimed at children.
• Main actors names are given. Advertising technique, showing off either a newcomer or someone that is well known for being a good actor/actress
• Film title
• other credentials e.g. editors, producers, writers etc and also studios it was filmed at/sponsorships
• Directors other works 'from the director of "the Wrestler" and "Requiem for a Dream". This is an advertising technique, as not everyone will know the director by name, but they are very likely to be familiar with the films he has produced. Persuasive technique.

Mise en Scene

Mise en Scene literally means 'everything in the scene'. It is visual information that the viewer subliminally decodes and through this communticates essential information to the audience. There are six elements to mise en scene that will be relevant to my teaser trailer in the genre 'Thriller/horror'

Setting/Location - these are fundamental to the audience's understanding of the message being sent out by the director/cinemotographer, because they are not just a 'background'. Choosing my setting/location for my teaser trailer will be essential to the success of my product, because I need to make sure it fits in with my chosen genre of thriller/horror. Setting it in a house and/or park would be ideal because I can play on a lot of things especially with editing e.g. doors slamming/villain entering the house when victim is unsuspecting upstairs.

Props - like setting and location, props are essential to the audiences understanding. In my project, props such as mobile phones/watches are acceptable because it will be a modern thriller. However, because it is a thriller, I could use props such as knives or rope or other sinister objects that have a clear message that they send out - that the audience should be tense/scared.

Costume/Hair/Makeup - all three of these work in unison to tell the audience about the character's personality, status and job - and sometimes what they think about themselves but what everyone else sees. In my project, I don't want to reveal the identity of my villain, so his costume will probably involve a hood or something that will always keep his face in darkness. However, I want my victim to be a bit of a social outcast so she would wear something like bright skinny jeans and a band t-shirt because that isn't mainstream fashion.

Facial Expressions and Body Language - facial expressions are the main indicators of how someone is feeling. Body language can reveal how characters feel towards each other or in a situation or can reflect the state of a relationship. I can use this to my advantage in my project, because facial expressions will show how my victim is feeling and `the body language between her and my victim will show their power struggle relationship.

Positioning of Character/objects within a frame (blocking) - positioning within a frame is a way that a director can draw the audience's attention to either a character/object. A film-maker can use this to an advantage to idicate relationships between characters/objects. In my teaser trailer I can use this to establish the relationship between my characters.

Lighting and colour - Lighting is used to highlight import characters or objects within the frame. It can also be used to make characters more mysterious through the use of shading, and it's used to reflect a character's mental state e.g. bright = happy, dark = myseterious, strobing = confusion

Low key lighting - is created by using only the key and back lights. It produces sharp contrasts of light and dark areas and deep distinctive shadows/silhouettes are formed for effect. This will be the style of lighting that I will aim to use in my project because it fits in with my genre, and it also has connotations of mystery,  which is what the villain's identity will be - a mystery.

High Key Lighting - in this style of lighting, more filler lights are used so that the lighting is more natural and realistic to our eyes. It produces brightly lit sets or can emphasize a sunny day. This would be an inappropriate style of lighting to use in my thriller/horror teaser trailer, because it won't give off a sense of mystery and would therefore lose it's credibility.

Colour can be used to shape a meaning or understanding to the audience. It can have either a connotative or denotative meaning;

Conotation: the set of associations implied by a word in addition to its literal meaning.

Denotation: The most specific, literal or direct meaning of the word.

So, the denotation of any colour is that it is a colour. But the connotations can imply much more and shape the audiences understanding much more fully.
E.g. Black has connotations of darkness, mystery, funerals, death, enigma and evil.
Blue: Calmness, saddness, loneliness, peace, authority, coldness
Green: Sickness, new life (Spring), jealousy, nature, eco-issues
White: Purity, innocence, death (china/italy), Sterility (hospitals), cold, blank, desolate, goodness
Red: lust, romance, love, passion, danger, anger, hatred
Purple: peace, royalty, power, holiness

I can subtly use colour, in my project, in things like props/costume/lighting to emphasise the message I want my audience to recieve at any particular moment within my trailer. The shade of which colour can have so many connotations, that if I used an ECU on the whites of my victims eyes, and changed the contrast so they looked a pure white it could emphasize the fact she is pure and has done nothing wrong, but that that is about to change when my villain steps in.

Million Dollar Baby analysis - Sound/Camera/Editing

In this extract, Maggie is fighting Billie ‘The Blue Bear’ for the world title. Frankie is her trainer and manager with the support of his friend Eddie – who is watching the fight at home. We join the film as Billie lands an illegal punch on Maggie; which, eventually leads to her being paralysed. The scene then shifts to the hospital where Maggie is being cared for and where she is visited by Frankie.

How have camerawork, sound and editing been used to create meaning in this extract?

                The establishing shot id a mid-shot of Billie throwing the illegal punch, followed by match on action as Maggie’s head turns with the force of the blow followed by her body. Accompanied with ominous non-diegetic chords, this shows the audience that this wasn’t a legal punch and foreshadows the fact that this punch will be damaging. Shot-reverse-shot is then used to show Maggie falling in slow motion and then to Frankie with a look of pure shock on his face, providing further evidence that Billie threw an illegal, damaging punch. Shot-reverse-shot is used again from Frankie in a long shot, revealing the ring and stool foreshadowing her being paralysed, back to Maggie falling towards the stool. Shot-reverse-shot is then used a third time to show a mid-shot of Frankie grabbing the stool in a bid to move it, then back to Maggie who is falling too quickly for him, as there is a close up of her neck-to-stool collision. Throughout this, all of the diegetic sounds e.g. Frankie grabbing the chair leg, the neck collision, crowds gasping etc... are echoed and loud, emphasising the fact everything is in slow motion physically and also for the bystanders and Maggie, because this is such a serious event, time has slowed down. From the neck collision, a straight cut is used to show an extreme close up of Maggie’s arm falling limply to the floor, showing that she has been paralysed. A cross-cutting technique is then used to show a close up of Eddie, gasping in shock at what has happened as he watches the fight on TV. A mid-shot is used to show Billie looking on with curiosity as to what has happened to Maggie. This then uses a straight cut to Frankie in a mid-shot staring in disbelief, showing to the audience that the situation is dire. Cross-cutting is used again to another close up of Eddie, worried as he watches, helpless, the TV screen intently, again creating this sense of severity because Maggie is seriously injured.

The next shot we see is a bird’s eye view shot of the ring, with Maggie sprawled in the left-hand corner as a non-diegetic solemn violinist piece of music is heard, emphasising the severity of Maggie’s fall and the fact this fall has cost her; her career, freedom and ultimately her life as she knew it. As the non-diegetic music gets louder, the camera zooms out and spins getting quicker and quicker emphasising the characters’ distress and the fact that slowly but surely each character is being hit hard with the realisation of what has happened. The camera movement could also reflect how Maggie’s life has suddenly spun out of her control, as she is now paralysed and will need help with the simplest of daily activities.  The framing of Frankie, guy 1, paramedic and a torch holder, in arguably a POV shot, emphasize the severity of the situation. The diegetic sound of the torch clicking is loud and echoey and the diegetic sound of the paramedic talking is distorted emphasizing that this is what she is seeing/hearing and that she is very confused at this point.

We next see a close-up on the lights over-head, as the camera spins and the diegetic sounds of chatter become whirly and distorted, reflecting the way Maggie must be feeling; her head is spinning from the force of the punch, the distress of the fall and the pain in her head and neck, she is also very confused and probably too dazed to grasp fully what has happened. As the spinning gets faster and faster, a fade to black is used, to change scene, but also to indicate that Maggie has probably passed out.

The black screen then fades into a mid-shot of Maggie lying in a hospital bed, as we hear the diegetic sound of a heart monitor and a ventilator, emphasising the seriousness of her condition. As she opens her eyes, we hear an indistinguishable faint squeak, highlighting her confusion and the fact that this is a nightmare situation for her to be in. There is a slow fade to black, which suggests how slowly time must be going for her, as she realises the full extent of the damage to her body. The black screen slowly fades into a close up of Maggie asleep, with the diegetic sound of the monitors quite dominant throughout, showing the audience that all she can do is lie there listening to the monitors and fall asleep. The diegetic sound of Frankie speaking is heard as a straight cut is used to show a mid-shot of Frankie looking down at her, showing us that he feels a great sadness and sympathy towards her. This then straight cuts to an over-the-shoulder high-angle shot of Maggie, showing how frail she is and how he now sees her - broken. Shot-reverse-shots are used between them, as she faintly tries to crack a joke, showing the audience that their relationship is like a father/daughter relationship. The diegetic sound of the monitors becomes more noticeable as the speaking stops and the scene fades to black, emphasising the fact that there is no hope for Maggie anymore.

I really like absence of non-diegetic sound when Maggie falls and paralyses herself because I think it's really effective. I will bear this in mind for my own teaser trailer.

Editing

Editing is used to control the sequencing, the pace of sequencing, the pace of a frame and the transition between frames. It is the technology that makes a film a film, and the editing on my teaser trailer will be absolutely vital for a successful project. Here are some editing techniques with an explanation of how they could be used.

Straight cut - probably the most common and simple cut, it is where a frame changes to another frame quickly. In my project, I could use this in the opening to change from an establishing shot to a wide shot of my main character.

Fade (up/down/black/white/etc) - when a scene grows duller and then brighter as another scene is shown. I could use this in my project to create a sense of chaos, because I could have fast paces frames fading to black to hide thingd from my audience, leaving them tense and uncertain.

Dissolve - when a scene dissolves into another. If i used this in my project I would use it to cross-cut between the 'villain' and the 'victim' to show how they are merging paths.

Jump cut - similar to a straight cut, but is much quicker. I could use this to show a sequence of horror-enticing shots that will cause my audience to be scared/tense.

Continuity editing - this is a technique that is seemless and virtually unoticable to an audience. I won't use this in my project because I don't think it will create the sense of uneasyness that is fitting to my genre.

Cross-cutting - this is when two scenes are running simultaneously showed by cutting from one scene to the other and back again. I could use this to demostrate how the villian's and victim's lives are intertwined.

Graphic match - this is where a shape from one frame is matched to a shape in the next frame. An example would be a cake that dissolves into a sun in the next frame.

Shot Reverse Shot - a really popular technique, this is often used for conversation turn takings, where we will see one shot, cut to the next, and then cut back to the previous. I could use this in my project between the victim and villain to create a sense of unease for the audience.