Questionnaire

We conducted a market research on the types of genre people liked to watch, the types of movies they liked to watch etc. It was mighty helpful because we got to know about our market. Our target audience, their likes and dislikes, their expectations and their requirements etc. The link is:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9SBBQQ5

The Questionnaire and its Result is :

the Questionnaire is:

Research:Film Analysis

For the task of deconstructing a film in order to understand how different aspects contributed to its meaning, its representation, its audience, the genre its trying to represent and its related codes and conventions I selected a few movie scenes and short films to help guide me in understanding.

The first short film that i selected for my deconstruction task is 'Inside', directed by Trevor Sands.It is a 5 minutes and 8 seconds long film. The short film starts with the music which is a thriller and mysterious type of music playing while the title of the film comes at the right middle of the screen. The title starts in a manner that the words appear to be coming out of each others and expanding to the opposite direction. The font is plain simple white colored font against a black background. Just by hearing the music that is playing and by reading the title and seeing how it emerges one can assume that the genre of the film is suspense and to some extent drama.

Shots and Angles
The short film starts with a scene where the camera remains static in one position and direction and has a shallow depth of field. As the subject moves closer to the camera he becomes clearer. The next shot is a high angle view, long shot where one character-the nurse helps the other character-the patient to get on his feet. A over the shoulder medium close up shot follows.

As the characters move along the corridor a long shot is shown that at first has a slight low angle but as the characters move along the corridor, further away from the camera it slightly tilts upwards but this tilt upwards is the whole camera moving upwards.Two very important element of the short film are shown as the characters move along the corridor.One element is as the characters moving in one direction another character comes from a different direction. He seem to be in normal clothes carrying a folder, the identity of this character is not know as of  yet but the reason why he might have been shown is that he might play a part later in the short film.As the characters move in the corridor a medium close up shot is shown of all the  3 characters but the camera is seen to be panning left to right (as well as tilting up and down in one shot-the girls shot) to show the four new and different characters who suddenly appear at the side of the patient and then dissapear just as soon as the camera pans.

In this scene the shot is a long take where the camera is panning and revolving around the female to give the view of the whole frame.A series of medium close shots, long shots , cowboy shots  follow. In certain shots we scan also see the 180 degree rule applied.

In one scene a slight low angle is shown of the character with all the other characters standing around him in a circle, all talking at the same time. The low angle used here shows the characters weakness and despair as how he feels a victim to all the other characters that surround him.various close up shots are shown of all the different characters all talking at the same time.

Dialogues and sounds
Dailouges and sounds were a very important part of this short film. The music used had a huge element of suspense and it was a dark type of music, not upbeat or funky but with a very serious and mysterious tone. The dialogues( the digetic and the non-digetics sound-the voice overlay of different characters was heard as walking through the corridor) were integral to the short film for they represented the main concept of the story that was that the person had multiple personality disorder and heard voices of different characters. Also the scene where the characters speak simultaneously with the victim or main characters further reinforced the image of the victims disorder and how at different points they take over his personality and speak through him.


Mise-en-scene
The location becomes clear in the first few scenes because the mise-en-scene plays a very important part here. The characters all wear plain white clothes which are usually worn by people in medical centers. the location is also a closed solitary compartment that has a door that has to be unlocked to gain entrance. The dialogue 'lets go, the doctor wants to see u' tells the viewers immediately that this is definitely nothing but a mental asylum. Also as they move from the room into the corridor the digetic sounds heard at the back of people menacing laughter and moaning further reinforces the image of the location.

Lighting
The lights used in this entire location were usually low key slighting but the contrast is set as high and with fine grains in order to give a more dreamy but classy look. in the corridors the subjects again and again enters and exits the light illuminated parts of the corridor. The main  source of light in the interview room is the bright light right above the table. A very important light scene was however when the women stands up furiously and yells at everyone to stay quiet. as all the charters dissapear and only the women and the victim are left in the room and there is a sudden decrease in the victims anxiety and he feels relief. This relief is show as a light which source is unknown shines from outside and sweeps the whole room from left to right giving a impression of like washing away traces of the past and bring something new.

Props
They are an integral part of any scene and helps in setting the meaning associate with the scene for example in the scene where the victim being interviewed we see that he is strapped to the chair by the hand in order to prevent movement which indicates that his disorder is such that he can cause himself and others harm.

Costume also contribute to understanding the scene, the identities of the characters and the link of it to the location. The white medical nurse and doctors lab coat and patient customs worn by the character reinforces the image of it being a hospital type setting or a asylum.

Face expression and Body language play a very important part in any film. It helps in conveying 50  percent of what the character is doing or saying. For this short film it was very important because the patient had to show severe distress and anxiety by this face expressions and the ability to show different personalities while maintaining one posture is a difficult task to do but in order to convey the message of being a victim of multiple personality disorder it was an integral part of the film, to have meaningful and accurate face expression and body language.

This is a scene from the film 'The Nanny Diaries' . its genre is drama with an element of comedy and romance. The scene I choose is of Annie's Graduation.

The scene starts with a panning shot from left to right which is also a wide close up shot of different peoples faces. the camera pans until it stops on a subject face, obviously Annie.All the different people as well as our subjects wear robes with graduation hats which makes it clear what the setting is as well as the event.

 The camera stops on our subjects face where there is a cut away shot to show the stage that is showed in a medium full shot. the shot cuts back to Annie's face that shows her face expressions to be tensed but some what happy as well.there is eye line match between these two shots. As her name is announced and she gets up there is a fast tilt up that goes diagonally from right to left and as she makes her way to the stage the camera follows her. its a medium close shot with a continuous adult view angle of the camera maintained.

the props inculdes things such as robes, hats, chairs, the shields and awards given away etc and the colour used are fresh and vibarant colors which creates a light but happy environment.

the lighting used throughout the scene is natural daylight which give a every fresh and healthy feel to the whole scene. if additional light is used it has been diffused considerably.

a medium close shot of her mum shows only her standing and clapping with excitement which shows how proud she feels of her daughter. there is good leading room and sufficient head room given.

The next shot which is a long shot of Annie's, as she is climbing up the stairs of the stage the camera tilts up diagonally from left to right slightly at a low angle.

Until she falls that it becomes wide close up shot of Annie's face that shows the expression of embarrassment.  as she gets up the previous close up shot of her moms face-after she falls-of embarrassment and worry for her daughter changes into a wide close up of her smiling proudly at her daughter.

The last shot is when Annie mentions her moms occupation, a macro shot of her moms nurse shoes is shown.
The main prop in this scene is the nurses shoes which might be because they play a very important part later in the film when grayer gets sick and her mom finds out Annie's original job.Also that Annie lied to her.





The next scene is again from the movie 'the nanny daiaries'.

The scene that I chose for my analysis is the conversation being held between the mother and the daughter after the graduation ceremony. The location is a diner where they celebrate. This shows that they belong to an average family who has to work hard in order to earn a living. The location is in a diner in new jersey.

 The scene starts with a macro shot of Annie opening her gift with which the camera tilts up slowly and it shows a close up shot of Annie.

Excitement can be guessed from her face expression.the camera moves ups from the insert shot to annies face that is a wide close up. The next following shots in the entire scene are shot revese shots following the 180 degree rule(with over the shoulder shots). All these shot reverse shots show a close up of the 2 character sitting on the table.

As Annie opens her gift her face expression change from excitement to confusion . This might show that what she got was not what she would have liked to have shot reverse shot, her moms expressions are excited when Annie unwraps the gift but as she views her gift her mum has a defensive face expression while she explains the reason for buying the gift. Its a close up shot.

the next scenes that follows consist of more shot reverse shot and are basically consisting of dialogues and expressions. annie dicusses with hedr mom that she wants to try out her options of jobs. that maybe she is not meant for the business world but how her mum gets annoyed by this and argues back.

Dull colored clothes and simple hair style suggests life style that is not full of luxuries. The entire shots are adult angel. High key lighting has been used. The main key light is natural light like sunlight but much diffused lights. White reflectors have been used to add light to the other part of the face where the light is nor reaching and the face is comparatively darker.

The main prop in this scene is the gift wrapped business suit because it is used in later scene at how she is uncomfortable wearing it and how her friend teases her with snide comments about it.

Mis-en-scene

It is basically what is put into the frame or the scene.

 Everything that forms part of the frame, lights, camera angles, camera movements, props , characters, setting(location), clothing, colors and even sound are part of  Mise-en-scene. It is a very important aspect of any film for it helps the viewers in understanding what they are suppose to feel at a particular point and also in making them understand about the character and the role the play.  what is put in the frame and what is left out can make a huge difference.

What constitutes a Mise-en-scene?
Setting
 A very important part of any film is its location. this helps to specify those aspects or locations that are important for a particular film plot or for a particular character. settings can also manipulate an audience by building certain expectation. sometimes shots of places are shown where no action is even taking place.

                                                  Hogwarts castle in Harry Potter series

Props
One major prop of the film is as such that is is relevant throughout the film. They can be big or small and add flavor to the film and to the characters as well. For example in the transformers the prop that held the most significance were the glasses. 

Costumes, hair and makeup

Can instantly tell about the character personality, their social status, the age or the time period they live in etc.It can tell if its set in the present time or in the same culture or a different time period and different culture. It may also provide clues as to the part the character will play in action. Ccertain types of genre are closely identified with certain types of costumes. 

Facial Expression and Body Language

Clear indicator of how someone is feeling. small changes to someones face can send out totally different signals.

Eyes give particularly important signals to us when we are trying to read someones expressions and it is usual for us to follow the direction of their sight, so if a filmmaker wants to draw attention ta a feature she/he can use this to make the audience focus on something or someone in the frame. body language may also indicate how a character feels towards another character or may reflect the state of their relationship.Although every person has different facial expressions some facial expressions are recognized universally. The way we hold or move our bodies also indicate how we are thinking and feeling.

Research on Different Genres

The official definition of genres is 'Genre is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or entertainment, e.g. music, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions.'

Now according to this definition and to my understanding of this definition I realized that there are more then a hundred categories of genres. Now why is that so? Well it is because every person has their own taste and likes and therefore someone might like action/romance films while the other might like horror/romance films, but then the problem comes of how to differentiate these hundred genres from each other. Well that is why codes and conventions play a major role in defining a genre.The codes and conventions lay down the general pattern that the storyline follows and thus a person can easily categorize the genres following the storyline in the film.

Like I said before there are more than hundred genres but the major genres that start the whole chain reaction are:

• Drama
• Horror
• Thriller
• Comedy
• Romance
• Suspense
• Action
• Adventure
• Biographical 

From these genres onwards there are the sub genres that can consists of two to three genres playing together in a movie.

Following aspects of different genres are supposed to be identified:

• style and forms
• paradigms(key elements)
• icinography
• structure
• theme

Following is my own research and understanding of various genres.
My first research was on the movies 'The notebook' and 'The vow'.
Both films genre are drama and romance.I noticed  considerable similarities between these two films.
Both films featured two lovers who would meet in casual circumstances like 'love at first sight', their love would take them on a journey of unusual happiness where the will find themselves doing those things that they never expected to do before.They express their love in unusual manners like in 'The Vow' he stands in the rain just to see that the girl receives the gifts and opens it and the gift is something that he anticipates will happen in the future but not sure but he still takes the risk. Something of the same sort happens in 'The notebook' where the guy hangs from the Ferris wheel just to get a date with the girl, putting his life to risk yet he does this in his love for her.

In both films the parents disapprove of the relationship and try to end it, in both cases the class plays a major difference. Then the parents own complicated life's interfere with their children lives. Also fate and life plays a part as well where in 'The Notebook' the women has Alzheimer and has forgotten all about her past and her lover and almost similar thing happens in ' The Vow' where an accident wipes 4 years of memory of the girl life which were considered to be the most important years of her life and in both cases the love between the lovers has been shown to be so unique and strong that no matter what happens they always find a way back to each other.

The color used in the movies are soft neutral colors.The locations consist of open wide spaces with laces like the parks, beaches, lakes used. Even their rooms seem to be decorated with lively colors.

Usually high key lighting has been used in order to create hope in the characters of a better outcome.Less grainy pictures with soft contrast.

Their dressing is very casual, however depending on the scenes and places like in a ball they are dressed fancy but in normal days they are dressed in casual clothes that fits the trends of the time period in which the movie is set. Colors like pink, blue, yellow etc. Black is only used for formal meetings usually, like on a funeral etc.Makeup is light and according to the mood.

The next two films that I studied were 'my week with marilyn' and 'the social network' which are biographical drama based genre films.

Again the codes and conventions of these genre play an important part in the film study. biographical films are based on the true life stories of famous personalities that can be political, an adventurer, an artist, an inventor, an entertainer etc. And it usually seems to focus on how they rose to fame and how they met their downfall. It usually focuses on a particular issue that played a very important part in their career went about and effected them. The personality of the characters,the settings, the clothing, the backdrops and the makeup are done following the original environment and the characters and the time period it actually took place in. The film can start at any point. Either showing the down fall of the characters, or their rise. It can go in chronological order or in a set correct order from slums to rise to slums again.

Although many a times many events are changed or alters in order to hide the true faces of the characters and to have the audience sympathies with them. sometimes the order of how the film is shown is changed or another character is added so that the audience can put the blame on someone else and not the main character.

Since biographical accounts of people varies as theirlifestyle varies the lighting and setting varies as well but usually in the case of biographical genre films both high key and low key lighting are used because  a real person has many highs and lows in life.

the third set of film that i studied were 'kill bill' and 'rocknrolla' which are action/crime/thriller/drama genre based films.

Both these films are a blend of three genres . Both these films feature a lot of action and killing and fighting. Also there are more then 4, 5 peoples whose lives are interlinked in one way or another.

The films have elements of thriller in it as well which creates anxiety and terror in the viewers. They begin anticipating what could happen afterwards which is something that can completely blow them away. In a thriller genre the villain sets these difficult obstacles and tasks which the protagonist must overcome like in kill bill she is almost killed but after being in a coma for 4 years she wakes up to find that she lost her child and is paralyzed temporarily from the waist down. but we wills her self to move and sets out to find the 5 people who killed her and her baby.The same pattern follows in the rocknrolla.

In kill bill the women is killed and every one who was attending her wedding rehearsal at that time including her fiance as well, as well as her unborn child.The villain bill is clever enough to find her and plan out of how to kill her. Then the women when she wakes up from the coma sets out to kill bill and solve the mystery of where to find every one else who took part in killing her.In Rocknrolla the master mind mob leader Larry Cole controls the entire real estate business. he is a corrupt leader who is secretly using his arch men and other people like the wild bunch for his own gains and has planned for how to dispose of these characters in a clean manner so that no trace links back to him. he is an untrustworthy just like Bill in kill bill who uses his resources and people to turn against each other.

In the end of both films the villain is killed of by the protagonist after the truth becomes clear to them.There is a lot of action and fighting in both films depending on the types of weapons they carry. the villain is presented in a posh manner or as the leader while the protagonist or the hero is always their servant or assistant or helper in some manner. The clothing varies according to the setting and the task and the type of criminals they represent. the props in the film however where similar. Like for example both characters where skilled in one type of weaponry like sword or gun and where skilled in physical hand to hand fighting showing a general patter that follows in films based on such genres.