Life On Mars

While we watched Life On Mars we categorized activities that took place which we would consider to be inappropriate or illegal in the present day. We categorized these things into three groups political, technological and cultural.

• Political is something in the episode which you would consider to be politically incorrect.
• Technological is a piece of technology which has been replaced by something more high tech in the present day.
• Cultural would be actions that would be considered acceptable in 1973 but these actions wouldn't be acceptable in present day.

Cultural

• When Tyler arrives in the 1973 police office he has a bewildered expression which makes the other officers comment on him being drunk which shows drinking during the work hours was acceptable while in the present it is highly unacceptable.
• Some of the men in the office use quotes such as, 'Your as white as a gingerbirds arse' and 'she'll kiss it better' which shows men are very sexist and women have very little respect and one of the men said the women work upstairs like they're nothing.
• Sam Tyler gets beaten up in the office by his boss, and punched in the stomach by the same man which would be unacceptable now.
• When Sam Tyler goes over the evidence with other officers one man is eating a sandwich over the evidence, and not treating it like precious evidence. In present day evidence would be handled carefully and wearing gloves as to not interfere with the fingerprints already on the evidence.

Political

• The scene in 1973 where Sam Tyler is in the office is filled with smoke and all the officers are smoking which is illegal in present day now because some people find it unhealthy and disgusting and the new 'smoking ban' brought in means people cannot smoke in public places or the work place.
• We notice in the office in 1973 that there are no women in the office because soceity was very male dominated. Women would be at home doing wifely duties, while men worked but in the 1970s some women started going out to work. In present day it is not unusual to see men and women working together in the same space. Later on in the clip you see that the women work somewhere else, whereas in the present day women work with men.
• When the two detectives from 1973 go with Sam Tyler to the morgue the two detectives laugh at the young women as she is a prostitute and deserves to be murdered because of her profession. You see the difference between the 1973 men to Sam Tyler present values of how women and victims should be treated whatever their lifestyle.
• When Tyler travels back to 1973 the men in the office make sexual inuendos towards women, which also shows that women were looked at as lower class in soceity because of the way men treated them.

Technological

• There is a lot of use of files around the police office because they are in 1973 but in the present there is not a lot of metal filing cabinets used because you can store all your work onto the computer under different files.
• There is the use of a typewriter in the office, but in present day this would be replaced by a computer.
• There is a shot of Izal toilet paper which was used in all workplaces and public toilets. Izal toilet paper was uncomfortable and felt like plastic but technology has changed this so we have better toilet paper.
• In the office they have old phones but in the present day they have been replaced by cordless phones.
• The black and white television that is shown in the female workers house has been replaced in present day with a colour television, which would have more channels than BBC.
• A switch board operator is shown in the office in 1973 and the switch board operator would usually be a woman and it was a low paid job thats why it was for females. These have been replaced with internal telephones and technology.

Thriller Character

My thriller character is about a fifteen year old girl called Alice and she lives in New York City with her mother and father. Her mother is a forty-five year old woman called Diane who is very quiet, isolated and suffers from a mental illness which she could have passed on to Alice because Alice portrays a lot of her mother's qualities. Her father is a strong business man who is fifty years of age and is hardly ever home because of his wife's growing illness.
Alice has extremely blonde hair, almost white, to her shoulders and she has very large blue eyes framed with light eyelashes. She rarely smiles, or frowns, most of the time she seems like she isn't all there. She doesn't hang out with anyone her own age, or hardly speaks to her family. When her father is home she will speak to him for hours about her day, and its the most she speaks all week. When her father is away from the house for days Alice will shut herself away in her room and only leave to go to school and other necessities. Alice doesn't speak to her mother, because her mother spends her days crying or staring at a wall in total silence. Alice fears that she will turn into her mother so stays away from her as much as possible.
Her mother tells her one day that her father is leaving them for another family, and Alice goes into a rage, ruining things in her room. Alice shuts herself in her room and doesn't even leave when her mother calls her down for dinner.
A week later, her father is reported as missing and when Alice's mother tells her Alice sits on the edge of her bed in complete silence and she appears to be quite calm and unfazed. Her mother, however, cries with worry about her missing estranged husband.
Does Alice have more involvement with her father's disappearance than she lets on? Or is she simply a fifteen year old girl ruined by her father's affair and her mother's mental illness?

Perfume Advert - Darling

Perfume Advert - Darling
Originally uploaded by xlondoncalling

the cosmetics advert (leads to flickr where I have annotated the advert).

Life On Mars TV Analysis

Life on Mars: Episode 1

The opening sequence in episode one cuts between the credits and an extreme close up of the front wheel of a car going at high speed on a main city road in present day Manchester. The colour palette is grey (use of grey filter) which connotes (which applies) bleakness, monotony and technology. The car is also a masculine signifier (representing the character) and is an object characters identify with (the car reflects the characters ego). There is tense music in this future shot. The gray steel is cold, hard, unforgiving and the shot really emphasises on technology on the zoom of the wheel.

The medium close up shot of the terraced houses juxtaposed with the tower block that dominates the mise-en-scene. The tower block connotes crime and to some a hostile environment. The terraced houses connotes community, neighbours, more control and in the shot they represent the past. Life over tower block because its more modern, Mars is over terraced housing which could suggest another dimension. This could mean that the past and the future are so different we associate the past with another dimension. Rule of diagonals on the terraced housing roof which creates a sense of movement and dimension and perspective. Grey clouds over the tower block (modern day weather) and reflective light over terraced housing (representing another dimension again). The grey clouds over the tower block could suggest that the director finds modern day boring and the light over the terraced house is more interesting.

Tyler's associated with suits, smart cars and he is in the middle of it all. Tyler is shown to be very stylish, and modern. Tyler seems to act like a machine, and that he has lost part of himself and has become cold. He has quite robotic feelings, and is dismissive which is proven when he speaks to his girlfriend. It is clear that the couple are having problems, but when she tries to console him he is dismissive. Tyler says to her, 'What use are feelings?' which shows he is cold and robotic and is lost in a materialistic world of technology and smart suits. Tyler's girls clothes are the same colours as the clothes he is wearing and the colours are also associated with police colours and technologies grey cold colours. The office behind Tyler is surrounded by technology and the office is a shade of white, and greys. Tyler is holding a mobile phone, and people are working on computers behind him. He is also holding a plastic cup with water in it from a water machine, which is very modern and also the cup is blue blending in with the clear background.

The low angle tilt shot of police headquarters and Sam Tyler's car indicates the importance of police HQ in the narrative and the importance of Tyler. The dominant grey tone reinforces the contemporary setting which is hard metallic surfaces. The use of the tilt shot represents confusion and disorientation. The police car that is beside his car shows the audience that Tyler is at Police Headquarters.

In the interview room they rely on technology like the tape recorder (which could also resemble something from the past because the 21st century has moved on from tape recorders), the laptop to show the criminal a picture of him who the victims have identified as the attacker. In the interview room everything is either blue or grey. The police are very hard on Colin (the accused) and the social worker tries to stick up for him againist the police. The police are confident that they have found the killer, but then the social worker proves that Colin was with her on the day of one of the murders. This causes Tyler to feel like a failure, and right back to the start of his investigation.

After the interview and after Tyler has acted harshly to his girlfriend they get a call about a crime scene. The crime scene is at a child's park, surrounded by tall grey tower blocks and their are grey clouds behind the tower blocks. The child swing is set against the tower block which brings innocence into the shot but the t-shirt Tyler's girlfriend was wearing is smeared with blood and draped across the child's swing which stains the innocence with dread and murder. Tyler's expression in the shot is guilty because his last words to her were cold, and unloving. They use a tilt shot so the tower block looks taller, and looms over the characters and the swing seems bigger which emphasises the fact that Tyler's girlfriend could be missing or worse, dead.

In the next shot Tyler is driving in his car, and he is in a state because his girlfriend has been kidnapped or murdered and his last words to her were cold and heartless. The camera remains mostly on his face and his expression which is showing emotion. Sam Tyler sheds this robotic personailty for a moment, while he shows emotion over his girlfriend. There is a shot of his ipod which is very modern and 21st century but the song then changes to David Bowie - Life On Mars which brings the 70's (the era he is sent to) into the car and into the scene.

When Sam Tyler enters 1973 the colour palette changes from greys to sepia which is the colour of old photographs. Sepia is a cinematic technical device to connote a different time. Also the 70's was known as the brown period and the sepia effect emphasises on this fact because things in the frame are different shades of brown.

In the shot it shows buildings being knocked down which in 1973 they done a lot of to make room for new motorways, and tower blocks which are evident in Sam Tyler's future. They use a tilt shot and it pans around in a circle to show Sam to be confused and disorientated. The shot is called a zooming pan shot which is the characters point of view. There is a poster Sam spots which is advertising a new motorway, the same motorway Sam was driving along and then got hit on.

The Happening analysis

Cast:

Mark Wahlberg
Zooey Deschanel
John Leguizamo

Ashlyn Sanchez
Betty Buckley

The film opens up with fast moving clouds across the screen, with quite simple, innocent music with an egde of mystery and suspense, also the sound of wind is intwined in the music.

The sky, and the clouds are light and summery in the first few seconds then they turn dark, and the music changes to fast and filled with tension and soon the screen goes to black.

The film then opens up to Central Park in New York City and shows a lot of people, and the rustle of trees in the wind and strange music. The camera then shows a long shot of two girls sitting on a bench and one girl says, 'I forgot where I am' very blankly which makes you instantly think, what's wrong with her? But then the second girl tells her, and she laughs it off which makes you relax again.

A loud piercing scream grabs the attention of the girl who didn't say the opening line. A pan shot searches Central Park for the source of the scream. A mid shot of the girl who is distracted by the scream is shown, and the wind blows her hair and her facial expression is confused and panicked. The camera shows nothing of the girl sitting beside her, even though the distracted girl is speaking quickly and asking questions to her but she never answers. The distracted girl describes what she see's, and we don't see anything of what she is seeing which creates mystery within the scene. Her friend sitting beside her doesn't respond to what she is saying. A long shot of central park is shown and people are walking backwards, and some are frozen still. Then another scream comes from the opposite direction, and the girl paying attention says, 'Is that blood?' but we never see what she's seeing. A mid shot of the distracted girl's face, and she is very startled. Another long of Central Park shows everyone to be frozen still, and a few start to walk backwards.

There is a lot of jerky head movements from the girl, and shocked breaths come from her. The whistling from the wind carries on throughout the opening. A shot of a dog trotting across the grass is shown which proves, along with the girl, are not affected by what is happening in the park.

The girl turns to her friends, addresses her as 'Claire', and she is also frozen. The woman repeats Claire a couple of times, and the shot changes to a two people shot but Claire is out of focus. Her face then twitches, and her eyes focus back in and she looks throughly confused then she speaks nonsense. Music then builds up tension, and the whistling of the wind gets louder.

A close up of Claire is shown pulling out a hairpin out of her hair, and slowly brings it to her neck and stabs herself with it. Claire's expression is completely bewildered, and she's not aware of what she is doing to herself. The girl beside her who has been the most active throughout the scene doesn't scream or say anything, she turns her head away from Claire. Then the scene instantly goes to busy New York City.

Leon Thriller Analysis

Cast:

Jean Reno
Gary Oldman
Natalie Portman
Danny Aiello
Peter Appel

The film Leon opens up to a pan across the city showing water and trees which gives a natural adyllic feeling, then the camera carries onto landscapes and a zoom int0 the city and the camera moves along the roads. The camera then enters into a small shop and moves through the door to a dark room, and the light is focused on the table where two men are sitting. One man is shown by the camera, and he is discussing a job for the man opposite him. The man opposite him is never shown, but parts of him are like his dark glasses and hands which are wrapped around a glass of milk.

Then the shot goes to a hotel and shows gangster type characters and a large beefy man. The opening shows all the classic gangster qualities like accents, cigarettes, guns and knifes and dark shades.

You first see Leon through dark shades, but his identity remains hidden. The opening shows a lot of shots of the spiral staircases which are linked to mystery because you can hear the person coming but don't who it is.

The opening scene is of some gangster's staying at a expensive hotel, and dealing with drugs and the beefy character having sex with a typical blonde bimbo.

Leon kills the gangster's men and he does it in a simple way, he doesn't reveal his identity and he shows real cleverness. The camera shots show how Leon comes into the room and how he kills them but never shows who he is.

There is a moment in the opening where the beefy character is trying to escape Leon and Leon has trapped him in his hotel room. The gangster is backing away into another room, then Leon comes from the darkness revealing his face and holding a knife to the mans neck. The characters are the focus on the screen and they are both covered in darkness.

After the killing you see Leon go back to his apartment. This introduces another character called Matilda who is a young girl and this brings innocence into the movie and she is also looking down a spiral staircase. The young girl is then shown to be beaten by her father.

Don't Look Now analysis

Cast:

Julie Christie
Donald Sutherland
Hilary Mason
Clelia Matania
Massimo Serato
Renato Scarpa

The film opens up as the bells of Venice in the beginning, and a man humming, then the scene fades to black.

The scene then opens to an outdoor setting, which is quite adyllic and picturesque and soft music is playing. A shot of the girl is shown of her throwing a ball into shallow water which could represent what's about to come. There are a lot of water shots and reflected image of the girl in water.

The man in the house, the girl's father, is looking at images and there is an image of a church with a red hooded girl sitting in a pew. His daughter outside is wearing a red hood, then the man begins to panic linking the two things. Then the camera shots link togther beause there is a shot of their boy on a bike then he falls off which begins the danger feeling of the movie. The sound effects stay inside the house, but the camera stays outside which links the scene together. The shot outside is the boy running after he see's his sister drowning. Inside the house water leaks onto the image the man is looking at which also links water and the little girl together again. The colours in the image begin to run, and blend together which could represent the little girl drowning outside, like the image of the redhooded figure drowning in the water the man has spilled. The man then jumps up in panic, and runs outside.

Effective tension music is playing then the man's scream breaks through the music and the little boy shouting, 'Daddy'. The man rushes into the water, desperately searching for the little girl who has gone under, and the camera stays on him and the little boy overlooking his father. When the man finds her, he comes to the surface and his desperate screams are the only sounds made. The camera shows the Dad trying to ressusitate his daughter, and his son overlooking his Dad and his attempts. The Mum remains in the house for the whole ordeal, then the camera shows her through the glass of her house when her life is perfectly normal and everyone is safe. Then she looks up and the camera captures her life being ruined and her loud scream links to the next shot of loud drilling.

I like the opening of this thriller because the sound and camera shots all smoothly link together. When the scene opens everything is beautiful and the little girl shows innocence but then there is the devasting shift in mood and camera angles, but everything is done smoothly and everything flows together nicely.

Street Font Poster

The Street Font Poster we did in class on photoshop. We were playing about with fonts on photoshop and using different fonts to match up with a word of our choice which will be useful when we create our advert.