Blog 8: Scene Deconstruction

Wedding Crashers

Summary:

After sharing the Shout scene from wedding crashers, I believe its clear to see that the clip explains the theme of the movie: Adventure.  I feel as if the theme of this movie is active.  The scene shows all of the different weddings the main characters crash and what they do for fun.  Also, showing all of the weddings in one montage foreshadows that something will happen to twist the movie in an upcoming wedding.

                  The scene I chose from Wedding Crashers expresses the theme of adventure by utilizing the aspects of movement and rhythm.  In the scene, they show all the weddings the main characters crash during “wedding season”.  Not only are they playing what seems to be movie’s theme song, but they are also jumping all together to create a rhythm to the song.  This portrays that the film will be action packed and there is a twist expected later on in the movie.  Rhythm is the most easily recognized out of the scene.  All the people jumping all together every time the song screams, “SHOUT!”.  This, to me, foreshadows the upcoming twist because clearly they have already been to so many weddings that something significant must happen at an upcoming event.  Not only is rhythm used, the rhythm as well as the movement is expressed with affinity in the aspects.  The affinity within the two attributes makes the scene flow very well and sets a base theme for the audience.  While the audience is so interested and excited about what is going on in the scene, there is irony that is expressed sub textually.  The audience is enjoying the clip as if they were there, but they aren’t noticing the irony that the characters have no affiliation with the families that getting married.  This clip from wedding crashers portrays a theme of adventure by using rhythm and movement to help the audience understand the basis line of the film, while foreshadowing upcoming twists.

Blog 7: Animation Deconstruction

I chose to write my animation blog on one of my favorite animated films Finding Nemo.  The first scene I took a screen shot of is at the beginning of the movie when the camera is showing the location in which Nemo and his father resides.  The Shot contains many bright colors as it is displaying the coral reef.  There are many bright hues of the colors.  There is very high brightness of the color scheme of the coral reef in this particular shot.  On the other hand, in the other shot I chose, when Dory and Nemo’s father are in the dark abyss, is a very dark scene.  The two got lost in the abyss and now there is a mysterious light in front of their own eyes.  The hue of colors are very different, they are very dark and changes the mood significantly.  The brightness in this scene is dark other than the shining light.  It is a very unique feature of the scene, because the only light in the shot is the mysterious light in their face.  Other than that it is a very dark and intense scene. 

This brings me to the lightness factor of the two scenes.  The abyss scene obviously has much more shadows in the shot.  The coral reef segment has lots of lighting.  Which portrays different moods to the two.  The abyss scene is a very scary and intense mood while the coral reef portion is a very happy mood expressed by the lighting.  Both shots use the lighting to symbolize different meanings and mostly to express different moods and emotions.

The last factor I would like to speak about in the two animated shots of Finding Nemo is the movements.  The coral reef portion contains lots of horizontal line direction through the attributes of the coral and the creatures in the scene.  In addition, there is proof of parallel movements between the coral.  However, in the abyss segment, there is more overlapping movement than anything.  Overlapping movement is occurring by both Dory and Nemo’s father looking at the unknown source of the light.  The light is also moving at the same time as the two characters which create the overlapping movement.  One last feature of the abyss shot is the use of weight.  The animation shows weight by the bouncing up and down of the mysterious light.

Blog 6: Storyboard imitation

After drawing my fabulous and very artistic storyboard…(sarcasm), I have come to the conclusion that the producer clearly uses the 3 rules in the Empire State Building scene in King Kong.  The Rule of Thirds is one of the first most recognizable aspects of this clip.  As seen in my storyboard drawings, the director always places the most important objects in the intersections of the vertical and horizontal third lines.  Especially the last picture, where it is a point of view shot from the pilot’s view, while having Kong and the empire state building in the distance in the intersection of the lines.  The next rule that is used is the 30 rules.  Almost every cut is either 30% larger or the camera was positioned 30 degrees from the previous spot.  Though, it used a 30% larger shot most of the time for obvious reasons: 1) The scene is not on the ground 2) because King Kong’s size is so over whelming.  There are more than a few situations in the clip where the camera cuts to a 30% larger shot to make the film flow and blend better.  The last rule that was used was the 180-degree rule.  Although it is not clearly identified, it is for sure used.  The scene containing so much action, the director has to constantly set new initial 180-degree lines.  If closely watched, it is definitely used by the director.  I mean what would a movie be without it?  Its almost as if 180-degree rule is required in all movies, though, there are ways to break it.  It is recognizable that this director is experienced and knows what he is doing.  It is not easy to incorporate all of these rules in such a complex scene.  This director is very talented by how he produced this film.

Blog 5: Song Deconstruction

LISTENING FRAMEWORK   - Say What You Say – Eminem

(SIMPLIFIED)

LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm)

Tempo [slow, medium, fast]

- medium

Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]

- Drums

Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]

-Intense, Serious, Rhythmic

LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?]

- drums and background bass

Structure/Organization [how is the song built? Order, patterns, etc.]

- Intro/Verse/Verse/Chorus/Verse/Verse/Chorus

Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]

- Started intense, and built the whole time

LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality)

Balance

         -  Height [high and low of frequency]

      -Low

         -  Width [stereo panning left/right]

  - None

         -  Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness]

  - Medium

LISTENING FRAMEWORK – Marshall Mathers - Eminem

(SIMPLIFIED)

LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm)

Tempo [slow, medium, fast]

- Slow

Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]

- Bass

Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]

Funky, smooth

LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?]

- Bass and Drums

Structure/Organization [how is the song built? Order, patterns, etc.]

- Intro/chorus/verse/chorus/verse/chorus

Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]

- Builds up the whole song

LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality) Balance

         -  Height [high and low of frequency]

- Low

         -  Width [stereo panning left/right]

- None

         -  Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness]

Medium

I decided to choose two of many favorites from one of my favorite artists Eminem.  The first song called “Say What You Say” featuring Dr. Dre, is a Diss song against the artist Jermaine Dupree.  It is clear that Eminem and Dr.Dre do not have a good relation with Jermaine.  With Lyrics such as “F*** Jermaine” and “and I don’t have to do it with 11 or 12 year olds”.  The lyrics of this song clearly are sent out and are very vulgar and intense.  Just as those of the other song titled “Marshall Mathers” off of The Marshall Mathers LP album from Eminem.  This song is another diss song to a lot of people.  In this song Eminem is mainly targeting his greedy family and his other rap rivals, ICP (Insane Clown Posse).  He targets ICP because the have been talking a lot of bad things of Eminem in the first place.  The two have had many encounters and Eminem mentions them in the song.   Such as, “Y’all claim Detroit when you live 20 miles away” or maybe even worse when states, “I don’t get f****ed in mine like you two little flaming f**gots.  Eminem uses similar style of vulgar lyrics to get his message across yet again.  Although both songs are made for similar reasons, the melody is clearly different.  The tune is a little bit faster and louder in Say What You Say.   The rhythm is very clear with hard-hitting bass and snare. However, the musical quality is, in my opinion, more similar than different.  The pitch of the two songs are fairly the same, more lower pitch instruments, but still including high pitch background noise to create more depth.  One contrast nevertheless is the speed.  Marshall Mathers is a little bit slower but still create a very serious and intense mood.  These two songs are very hard for me to choose which I like better.  I like so many Eminem songs its so hard to decide, but I think I would choose Marshall Mathers over Say What you Say.  Only because there are a ton of parts in that song that I really love.  Also because it is so intense and upfront to the people he is talking about.  

Blog 4: Reflections on Sound Design

The two topics I am going to discuss about the Empire state building scene from “King Kong” are Space and Time.  The space in this scene is obviously a large size.  The echo on the sound lets the audience know is it a large space in the scene.  The large space creates distance from the characters.  Many effects are used in the scene to create this space, such as echo and other type of compressors.  This can create moods and connection with the characters as far as where you stand in the scene.  The background music also creates a lot of emotion and tension for the scene.  Next is time.  In this scene the tempo seems to slowly progress.  As the action and tension builds, the speed gradually gets faster.  The speed can create the mood that is intended to be felt by the audience.  The loudness also increases with the tempo.  As the action and intensity levels increase, so does the volume.  These two go hand-in-hand with each other.  Both speed and loudness are key factors in creating a mood.  It is the basis of the movie and may be what effects your view and emotion of the movie the most.