Photoshop Fun!!

Master and Commander

1)   This film is a historical pirate action movie. The movie fits in the action and adventure genre because there is a lot of suspense as one of the characters spots a shape through the fog, the officer of the watch has to make a decision if everyone on the ship gets to battle stations, the captain then comes out of his quarters because one of his sailors thought they saw a shape. The Captain (heroic protagonist) looks through the telescope with the silence there is fog and open sea to also add to the tension and isolation of the ship in the wide open sea, this is the suspense and jeopardy convention of this scene he is looking through the fog to see a bleak outline of another ship. Suddenly he sees as flash through the fog, cannon fire. He then shouts to his crew to get down to the decks, this shows his place and authority as above the rest of the crew.   This makes the audience excited to see what will happen, the main convention in this scene is speed and motion and suspense and jeopardy as all the crew are all rushing to get to their stations, the editing shows this when the cuts between clips are very fast. Another part that fits in the action and adventure genre is when the two ships start fighting, this convention is combat and conflict which is typical in an action and adventure movie.

2)   Sound: The soundtrack is mostly silent throughout the scene to build up the tension, but when one of the crew call everyone to call to arms there is a drum roll which is an ambient or diajetic alarm bell for everyone to then wake up and get the viewers and the actors hearts racing. when the flashes of the cannon fire are seen all the sound goes chaotic and is very loud.

Camera work: When the character at the start says to the rest of the crew to get to their stations the camera follows the captain (main protagonist) because he is the most important character. Also when the captain is looking through the telescope it shows as POV shot so that we can see what he is looking at. It also shows as two shot as the two characters at the start making the decision to tell everyone to get to their positions. The camera also pans around the ship to show how big it is.

Editing: When everyone is going to their battle stations the clips are moving fast to create some speed to the scene. Also there is just ambient sound in the scene and no non-ambient sound added into it like music or voice overs.

Action & Adventure: Kingsman extract

The narrative shows different Action and Adventure (AA) conventions as in the extract it shows different scenarios in which the young, intelligent males have to figure out a way to save themselves and others around them. This increases the tense moment that is happening at that time, this makes people sit on the edge of their seats because they are eager to see what will happen. Another AA convention that is shown is the villain, in this extract it shows one of the antagonists running and then bursting straight through a window holding a pistol and firing it simultaneously. It shows here with amputated legs, but without plastic springy running prosthetic limbs, it shows her wearing curved, sharp knives which earlier in the extract shows her about to cut someone in half with them.

Textual analysis for Gladiator

Editing: Title sequence, CGI, Text explains the historical background to the conflict in the roman period; it also explains the barbarians in Germania trying to resist the roman conquest. This helps the viewers/audience the time and era and helps the audience understand the plot in the story; this is a convention for an action/adventure movie.

Sound: We hear orchestral music that sounds ancient and foreign, with a wordless chorus. The mood is slow and wistful with the peaceful music and mingled with ambient sound of the gentle laughter of little children. It evokes his home life which is far away from the battlefield where he is right now.

Mise-en-Scene: The protagonist is running the palm of his hands along the top of his crops; this shows the home like features that he is thinking of. This is a romanticized scene due to the fondling of his crops at home. The music is slow which matches his feeling of slow and steady walking. The long grass is golden which is another point to the romance of the scene.

Editing: It is a straight cut from the long grass to the battlefield where it is reality. There is a deliberate contrast between the golden corn field and the dark grey, wintry battlefield. His head is down as he finally merges back into reality after thinking of home.

Sound: There is a sound bridge between the corn field and the battlefield because the main protagonist has been thinking about the corn field and then he goes back into reality on the battlefield. He keeps hearing the music because he is always thinking of home and it is within him in his heart.

Camera Work: An establishing shot is a wide shot of the battlefield, we can see in the wide shot we can see the forest which is dark and solemn, this is no place for the light hearted, this place is scary and creates a feeling of anxiety and a sense of foreboding. The roman army are standing ready to take the pounce of the barbarian army as they know that the barbarian army are lurking in the forest. A tracking shot of the main protagonist, Maximus is there to show the importance of him and how he is a higher rank than the people he walks past. There is another wide shot to show the barbarian army emerging from the forest to reveal their powerful army.