I noticed something the other day when I was watching my case study film (Chatroom) and I thought I'd make a post about it. This is probably one of those irrelevant posts that nobody cares about, so feel free to completely disregard it.


I was thinking about that whole category thing for British films, which made me want to watch it again, and I was thinking about which category Chatroom would go into. It's nearly entirely British, but it has a Japanese director, Hideo Nakata. I'm guessing it goes in like B or something like that. But it also got me thinking about the film and how having a director from a different country and culture can influence how the film is made. Chatroom is a very British film; it has a British cast, it uses London as its setting and they film on location and nearly everybody involved was British.

But, there are certain things that reallllllly stand out as being incredibly Japanese-style.

For instance, in this picture, where they're sitting in their newly decorated room, there's a lot of Japanese influence. You can't hear it (obviously, it's a picture...), but the song when they open up their new room is I Left My Heart In Tokyo, and there's all the bunnies and I don't know it just reminds me of those scarily happy Japanese girls that are all jumpy and screamy and stuff (think Battle Royale, that girl on the video, she's scary...)

And then there's this scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tip2qeMHTEI&feature=related

If you look from 3:35 - 4:00 (be warned, it's kind of graphic and I guess kind of triggering), the part that's cut in between him putting lotion on his scars is really reminiscent of a scene from A Tale of Two Sisters (I'd find it, but I can't remember which part of the film it's in and I don't want to watch the whole film to find it, because that film scares me :')), which is a Japanese film. And just the way it's just harshly cut in. After 4:00, there's a clip of a girl jumping out of a window, but that's not really that Japanese-y, just there's a Japanese girl in it...

Aaaand lastly, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcu1JyIFR-c&feature=related

If you go from 8:25, you see some scarily peaceful woman sitting in a really eerie room. This is like the epitome of the Japanese influence in this film. The whole clinically white, yet with a blue tint, thing they've got going on pops up all over Japanese films (especially in Ringu, also by Hideo Nakata) and there's always a creepy little girl in it with black hair and a really pale face. The woman in the room is like them, but with short hair. She even has the slow and peaceful voice. I'm not explaining myself very well, but if you like Japanese horror films, you'll know what I mean.

/coolstorybro

After watching two films and one whole mini-series, I have finally decided to do something productive with my Friday evening. Here is a list of key terms that I will constantly be updating (not forgetting about and then trying to frantically compile a whole year's worth of terms next year, obviously...) as the year goes on.


Mise-en-scene

• Lighting: high key/low key
• Costume
• Props
• Set/location
• Charactors/actors
• Production design
• Make-up
• Body movement/gestures
• Dominance
• Camera proxemics
• Colour: dominance/symbolism

Sound

• Diegetic (meant to be in the scene eg. dialogue)
• Non-diegetic (not meant to be in the scene eg. soundtrack)
• Pace/tempo
• Instrumentation
• Volume

Editing:

• Transitions: rapid cut, fade in/out, dissolve, cutting on the action, action match, eyeline match, intercutting
• 180 degrees rule
• Rule of thirds

Cinematography:

• Shots: extreme long, long, full, close-up, medium, extreme close-up, wide, weather.
• Angles: bird's eye view, high angle, eye level shot, low angel, oblique angle, over the shoulder shot, point of view.
• Camera movement: pan, tilt, dolly or track, crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom in, reverse zoom, snorricam, zolly (dolly and zoom - zooming in at the same rate as a dolly moving away).
• Framing
• Shot/Reverse shot.

Theorists/theories:

• Ferdinand de Saussure - semiotics (signs and signification)
• Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent/filters
• Jenny Morris - disability representation (writers use disability to provoke empathy from a viewer, and also use it to define the character).
• Roland Barthes - mythologies
• Claude Levi Strauss - binary oppositions
• Stewart Hall - representation.
• Jack Sheehan - Reel Bad Arabs
• Verisimilitude - the level of realism a piece has.
• Karen Ross - disabled people want more respect in the media.

Good day.

Is there anything I really need to know/need to do from today's lesson that I missed due to physiotherapy/cripplingly painful migraine that forced me to sit in a dark silent room for hours and made me want to kill myself?

Iconography.

Hello :) So a little while ago, we had to do a collage of things that represented us to demonstrate Ferdinand de Saussure's theory of semiotics. Here is said collage:

• 1 and 22: So I was unaware that pentagrams are Satanic symbols until the other day, and then I thought back to this and thought 'oh no, they're going to think I'm a devil worshipper' (not that there's anything wrong with that, you know, some people do love them a bit of Satan). I have not accepted Lucifer as my lord and saviour (although I can see his point), honestly, I just really like Supernatural. Which brings us nicely to 2, 16, 26, 17. I literally live and breathe Supernatural, so it seemed only fitting to add some nice pictures of some pretty men from it. I was going to make up some massive thing about how I relate to 2 and Sam/Dean's brother relationship with my own sister, but that'd just be untrue. I just find them attractive.
• 3 (flowery dress): I wear a lot of flowery dresses, and when people see them they're always like 'oh, Sarah, I saw this dress you'd really like!' and people just associate it with me.
• 4 and 28 (tickets): I go to gigs and musicals a lot; they're like my favourite places ever to be and I try to go as often as I can.
• 5: This is my niece, Katie. I put her on here because she means absolutely everything to me and I love her so much. She's the most amazing little girl and I would do anything for her. She's in the middle because she's the most important thing in my life and I will always bend over backwards to see her or to anything for her. 
• 6 and 29: I'm really into films, and Danny Boyle and Stanley Kubrick are two of my favourite directors ever because their films are just immense.
• 7: Love me a bit of Kerrang!
• 8: I'm a massive supporter of gay rights because, well, it would be hypocritical if I weren't. 
• 9: I constantly listen to my iPod and I love music, so I put them there. You can't see them because of the lighting, but there's also music notes on there because I play instruments and just generally love music. These signify that I am a very musical person and involve myself in music. (I could make another link to my social awkwardness here, but I think we've heard enough about that and I think it's very apparent).
• 10 and 15: Harry Potter is my childhood. It came out when I was like 3, so I've grown up with it and it symbolises, to me, being young and growing up.
• 11: This isn't because I'm fat and like cake, honest, this is like one of those weird family quirk things. This is Colin and he's a caterpillar cake (that's actually what it's called, I didn't name it like the sad fat child I was), and every year, my mum would buy me and my sister one on our birthday and now it's tradition that everyone gets a Colin on their birthday. It's weird, I know, but there's my family for you, I guess!
• 12: This is a train ticket. I get on trains a lot. Especially to London. I really miss those old travelcards. They were only two pounds, and now I have to pay like £7 to get into London, which is just ridiculous and is why I never go there any more /rant.
• 13: This is the symbol for The Black Parade, an album by My Chemical Romance. They are my favourite band of all time and they were the first gig I ever went to and I just love them.
• 14: That's the Eleanor Cross memorial thing that sits awkwardly in Waltham Cross, which is where I (unfortunately) live.
• 18: That's the symbol for Tumblr, where I basically live my life. I guess it also signifies my social awkwardness because, in reality, I can't talk to people I don't know without having a complete mental breakdown, but on there, it's different because I can think for ages about what I'm going to say before I actually say it, so my brain doesn't melt during conversation.
• 19: You can't read it, but it says Camden Town, and it's off a leaflet they give you up in Camden. I love Camden so much because they just accept anyone up there and it's just mental so I like it. Plus, they do some good Chinese in the market, even if it does give you food poisoning.

This is taking so long.

•  20: That's a library. I've loved reading ever since I was able to read and my book collection is basically a library because it's so big. I love books. I would marry books if I could, they're so much better than people. I guess this also signifies my social awkwardness, because I'd rather sit at home with my books and read about fictional people, who I like better than real people, than actually go out and have to experience social interaction.
• 21: That's a place called Potters; it's a leisure resort in Norfolk. Sounds lame, but I go there every year with my dad and Annie. It's just full of memories for me, and I've met some great people there.
• 23: That's the symbol for Jigsaw, the performing arts school I go to. Love me a bit of performing arts. I used to want to do it for a living, then I realised that I have no talents whatsoever.
• 24: Shakespeare is just a massive babe.
• 25: In year 11, I lived in the Starbucks next to my friend's house. It just reminds me of all the good times we had before we started year 12 and now we don't see each other /emotion.
• 27: Corey Taylor is a flawless human being.
• 30: A Clockwork Orange - I know that's the film poster, but it's just an amazing book that I love. The film's good, but not as good as the book. I just love it. I tried to learn nadsat once... Didn't go so well.

WE DID IT, GUYS. We got through my totally uninteresting collage about my completely uninteresting self! Succeed. Good day.

So I'm not going to be in Media next Thursday.
Everybody's gutted, I know.