Mise en scene Preliminary Exercise

 What is the objective of the lesson today?

The objective was to familiarize the students with the elements of Mise en scene.

Define mise en scene and why is it significant in film production?

Mise en scene is the essence of film making, something every director does. Mise en scene is the action of positioning actors and scenery on a stage for a theatrical, film or television production. It is a process of determining what to include in the scene and where it should go on the stage. Mise en scene is meant to tell a story with a single image. There are two types of mise en scene: The Naturalistic - the world in which the film shows is meant to match our own real world (familiar and realistic), and The Theatrical - Exaggerated worlds which are not intended to be normal. They draw audiences attention because of their uniqueness and strangeness. 

Mise en scene is important because it allows us to see many things including the characters, the props, the audio, the makeup, the costumes, the hair, the color, the lighting, etc. which gives the audience a good idea of what is happening in the scene from when the film is based upon to who is who and their emotions. Everything in a shot that we see is part of Mise en scene.

What is designing, blocking, arranging objects and framing in mise en scene and why are they important?

Designing - It is like the colors/color patterns in objects, such as a red, green and white striped couch or a black curtain. The stripes on a couch could be connotated as the owner of the couch is happy a lot of the time and likes bright colors and Christmas. The black curtain could mean the exact opposite where the owner of the curtain does not like bright colors and wants to hide from the lights outside. This gives the audience clues/predictions on what the characters or the overall movie will turn out to be.

Blocking - It is the cherry on top of the shot and refers to what is happening on-set. In the film "The Shining", the boy innocently playing with his toy cars is introduced to a new prop, a pink ball. The camera turns to the hall which the ball supposedly came from but no one was there. This shows the audience that something isn't right. 

Arranging Objects - This term refers to where an object is supposed to be before, during and after the shot has been developed. It is the placement of the object. Certain objects, like decor should be placed in the background and usable objects, like scissors, should be placed in the sight and the reach of the actor.

Framing - Framing is what it sounds like: what is in the shot, it refers to what the audience sees in the film. Framing includes everything that is intended to be in the shot from the actors, to the props to the setting excluding audio.

Blog Post: Barbados School Life

https://goo.gl/maps/MQSgb9RBt39pfpVTA 

About Barbados:

Barbados is a very small country in the Caribbean and has a population of about 287,371 people as of 2020. This results in the schools in Barbados not having middle schools. The school system starts in nursery which means a child spends 7 years in primary/elementary school (8 years if the school has a nursery in it). After every school year, you must take a standardized test to see how much you have learned in the 3 terms (it's like a semester but there are more frequent breaks, the summer has less weeks and Christmas and Easter breaks are longer.) At the end of the 7-8 years you spend at the primary school, you take another standardized test but in another school. This standarized test is called the 11+ (eleven plus) and your test results deterrmins what high school you go to. if you get a high score, you are given the choice to attend any school, including the top school in Barbados. I you have a low score, your choice is very limited. In high school, you're meant to gradutate at 16, meaning you spend 5 years in high school. If yoou wish to not attend college, some schools give you the choice of staying an extra 12 years before university.

What My Schools Were Like:

The school I went to was a private school and I spent a total of 7 years there. The school hours last from 8:30 to 2:30 lasting 7 hours  with a number of 4 classes every day with a 30 minute break at 10:30 and an hour-long lunch at 12:30. The classes include: P.E. (Physical Education), Music, Computer class, Spanish, English, Swimming, Religious Studies, Science and Maths. The seven years are all named after the level of the class, the initial of the teacher's last name and sometimes start with a J for juniors. For example: J4I; J is Juniors, 4 is the number of years you have been in the juniors section and I is for the teacher's last name. I always had the same classmates and on different days, our schedule always changed. For a few years, Wednesday was the only day we went to swimming class (this lasted from the 1st grade until about the 3rd grade) and the other years instead of swimming, we had computer class. Thursdays were Biblical Studies and Fridays we always had P.E. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we have assembly for 10-30 minutes before school where our principal would either address what we are doing in the school and whether it was right or wrong, she would have us singing and doing activities that we enjoyed or some other topic came up like wanting to read a story or giving badges for students' courtesy, conduct and effort. We are required to learn every singe class and none are electives although we are only tested on English and Maths in the 11+. 

Secondary School:

In Secondary school (high school), we have no assembly, no breaks, just lunch but we aren't required to learn computer class or swimming. Instead, we are required to learn HFLE (health and family life education) and French. None of the classes are electives and you only get to chose certain subjects in your third year at the school (around 8th grade).

After hearing that we must do school from home, I found it pretty exciting since we wouldn't have to focus on rushing to school in so much traffic but even if school seemed easier through a computer, it was also quite challenging. The wi-fi was not available to everyone and physical education was also quite difficult since our rooms aren't built for exercising (the rooms were either too squishy, the lighting was bad, it was hot/bright, etc.) Either way, I appreciate that we had an opportunity to move to America because if we hadn't, we wouldn't have found this school and its amazing features.

Film Codes and Genre Conventions Preliminary Exercise 1

Symbolic Codes Closed Reading of VALERIAN Official Trailer #1 (2017)

In films and texts, the media producers use symbolic codes to give audiences the idea of a certain object or scene but why is it significant to audiences? "They hardly pay attention to the behind-the-scenes while they are watching the movie!" you might argue. Media producers use symbolic code in films by adding meaning to objects, settings, props, etc. to give them meaning. This process allows audiences to actually understand a situation better than just being told about the situation. Take for example: a Sci-Fi film of a werewolf hiding among a crowd of people as a human. Scratches on a wall next to a seemingly normal human would give the crowd in the film and the audience watching the film that the human standing next to the scratches is the werewolf. Symbolic Codes are the visual components that signify meaning in a media production. It is the Mise En Scene of the film. Mise En Scene can include important elements such as: Setting/location/set design, acting, costumes, hair & make-up, color, lighting and tone. Symbolic Codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see, hear and feel. They use techniques, processes, equipment and layout strategies all to connote ideas for the audience. They are also signs where there is no physical relationship between the signifier and the signified. The signifier is purely conventional and culturally specific.

From the trailer, I perceive the movie "Valerian" is about a whole species of aliens that humans found and some sort of force disturbed the planet so the humans had to help the aliens and protect the planet. The genre that I have identified from this trailer is Sci-Fi. Sci-Fi is short for "Science Fiction" and is a genre of speculative fiction that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life.

DID YOU KNOW THAT...?

- The Phrase 'science-fiction' was first found in print in 1851.

- Edgar Allan Poe is often mentioned with Verne and Wells as the founders of science fiction.

- The first sci-fi was published in 1616, named The Chemical Wedding Dress.

In the trailer of the movie, there are some examples of symbolic codes which include the aliens shooting in one clip and a human in a suit in the next. The aliens shooting most likely mean that they are attacking someone/something or they are under attack and attempting to defend themselves. The human suiting up possibly means that he is preparing to leave the space ship and go on some sort of adventure to protect the planet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_shrCoqWh9k 

VALERIAN Official Trailer #1 (2017)

Semiotics Preliminary Exercises 3

Charles Peirce's Theory of Semiotics

Charles Sandes Peirce was an American scientist and philosopher that claimed that semiotics is the relationship between a SYMBOL, ICON and INDEX. It is called the triadic model of a sign because it is made of 3 parts. Iconic signs are signs where the signifier resembles the signified. Symbolic Signs are sign where there are no physical relationship between the signifier and the signified. The signifier is purely conventional and culturally specific. Indexical signs are signs where the signifier is caused by the signified.

Examples of these signs appear in the movie Luca including the "Vespa" Logo representing the luxury of the vehicle (Iconic), the numbers on the signs in the dirt representing the prices of plants (Symbolic) and the boat on the ocean floor with a hole in it representing that something must have happened to the boat whilst fishers were in it (Indexical).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSwd12JonmA 

Luca is a movie where a certain species of sea creatures is not known to the humans of a near-by town. This makes the humans fear the new species and wan to kill it which is why Luca's mother does not want him to swim to the surface as him and his whole family is the species that the humans are willing to kill. Luca is bored of his daily life and decides to swim to the surface but is afraid and struggle to leave the water. Another boy of the same species, Alberto, helps Luca and brings him onto the land where Luca discovers that the species can turn into humans when dry. They decide to explore the near-by city to obtain a "Vespa" which is a scooter that would supposedly allow them to "see the world". At this point, they spot a luxury-style scooter owned by a very nasty human boy, Ercole which claims to be a champion at some sort of race and Luca and Alberto, with the help of a third human girl named Giulia decide to challenge Ercole in the race and end up winning, Luca wanted to try living a life at a human school with Giulia so he wants to use the reward money to buy a train ticket to the same school as Giulia but Alberto wanted to stick with their original plan of buying the scooter. In the end, Alberto turns from a jealous friend to a supportive friend and lets Luca go to the school with Giulia.

Semiotics Preliminary Exercises 2

Semiotics: Ferdinand de Saussure's Theory

Examining the: Characters, costumes, acting, setting, color, lighting, audio, etc.

Ferdinand was a French linguist that theorized that a sign is made up of two parts, the Signifier and the Signified. Ferdinand identified semiotics as a scientific discipline and referred to it as semiology. He argues that written or spoken language is the predominant form of communication among people, although it is not the only form. Semiotics permits audiences to identify different codes in his theory: sign= signifier + signified. He believed that the signifier is dependent on the signified. 

Signifier is: A sign's physical form/object (such as a sound, printed word, motion, gesture, event, pattern or image). Signified is: The meaning or idea expressed/conveyed by the signifier. Examples of this theory can be seen in the movie "The Hunger Games" in the scene of one woman and one man being chosen to represent "District 12" in battle. The signifier was the expressions on the women and men's faces when the day came to be chosen as tribute to the "Hunger Games". What was signified was that they were all afraid that they were not going to make it out of the Games alive. 

Plot of the movie, a brief synopsis: The Hunger Games is a movie in which women and men from the ages to 12 to 18 years old enter an event called "The Hunger Games" where one man and one woman fight each other to the death and only one of the two come back alive.

Ferdinand uses his theory to gives the audiences an idea of what is happening in the film. The audiences would then know that they would have reacted the same way in situation with so much detail.

Semiotics Preliminary Exercises 1

Barthes Theory of Denotative and Connotative Signs (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)

Examining the: Characters, costumes, acting, setting, color, lighting, audio, etc.

Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist that claimed that there are multiple ways to read codes and that a certain text or object could have more than one meaning. In addition, Barthes recognized five different sorts of semiotic elements that all texts have in common. Such are denotation, connotation, Polysemy, myth and ideological signs. Examples of some of these words are in the movie "The Hunger Games" where the announcer of the tributes which are entering the games, Effie Trinket, wore more colorful clothing than everyone else at the event which shows that she was open to a choice of a lot more clothing than anyone else as well as being wealthy and in a position of power. Another example is in a clip of one of the tributes, Katniss Everdeen, in her supposed "wedding dress". Her dress was all white and when she spun around and lifted her arms, it was all black with fake wings on her back. The dress being white at first shows that Katniss followed the tradition of women wearing white dresses to a wedding ceremony and the dress then being black and having wings was supposed to represent a "Mockingjay".

The Hunger Games is a movie in which women and men from the ages to 12 to 18 years old enter an event called "The Hunger Games" where one man and one woman fight each other to the death and only one of the two come back alive. Signs that portray this synopsis include the ballet boxes, the crowd with men on one side and women on the other, the amount of security in the area, the announcer, Effie Trinket, saying that Katniss, one of the tributes, was the first volunteer for tribute and Katniss' sister, Primrose, screaming and crying after her when she realized that Katniss was replacing her and risking her own life. Our assignment for the day was noting signs in the scene with Katniss and her wedding dress on a chart based off of Roland Barthes' theory.

Welcome to My AICE Media Studies Blog!

Media Studies is vital for the production of Media. The importance of Media Studies is to understand the audience that you're presenting your media to, the study of your audience to attract more audiences. My favorite media is a cell phone and the technological media that I consume is Social Media apps such as YouTube, TikTok, Netflix, etc. Sometimes I would read books that include Science Physics, Engineering and build mechanical and electrical machines sent by Kiwi.Co. I think it is important to understand who, why, how and when media is used to engage audiences so that the media producer knows what to base their media off of, who they are presenting their media to, who would like their media, how often can their media is viewed, how convenient accessing their media is, and so on. 

As a child, I had a basic of television that all you had to do was make a video, post it, and get lots of views, likes and money. Now, I find it interesting that there is so much more "behind the scenes" of the movie like: studying audiences, demographics and psychographics, etc. to actually create and publish the content. I hope that by the end of this class I am able to know how to structure and publish an online product (game/movie/T.V. series) which includes both publishing to the correct audience and making sure the audience likes the product. Strategies /success skills I will be using include: Focusing on the types of audience I am presenting my blog to, confirming with other people that my blog is interesting and makes sense, using as much of my vocabulary as possible to attract more of my targeted audience and taking quality and interesting pictures to engage and keep my targeted audience. These strategies will be a great help to having high scores in completing the component 1 blog because it speaks towards improving my products in meaning and appearances.

Media Studies is the process before the production of a certain product, searching and researching in order to gain knowledge from the product the media producer creates to the audience the media producer is publishing their product to. I hope to fully understand how to structure my media product and properly use the camera and edit videos and write proper plots and scripts and how to know if I have hired the correct people.