Semiology, Connotation and Denotation

Representation in TV Drama

Representation is the process of analysing the ways in which film language, which includes; camera, sound, editing, and mise-en-scene) is used by filmmakers to create meaning for audiences.

We were set the task of considering how different social groups are represented through the media texts and the ways in which they represent these social groups through using deliberate film language. This process makes media both an art and a science. It could be considered an art due to the creative, visual side of using ones vision to construct a film. It could also be considered as a science due to the analysis side due to the way in which one has to back up statements surrounding the technicality of the production.

The terminology used in Mediastudies such as 'consuming the media', means that one is surrounded by different types of media. For example millions of people are subjected to media everyday when watching television. Computers and the internet is also an example of where people are experiencing or 'consuming' media everyday. This exposure to media all around us means that we become aware of media, for example we become aware of films and books that are coming out through advertising. My generation have grown up with media everywhere around them.

The Cultural Circuit:

Text à Institution à Audience à Institution à Text

Semiotics is the study of signs which act to create meaning. This particular topic examines how symbolic, written and technical signs construct meaning. Semiotics looks at how meaning is made and understood. There are some key terms that one should understand within this topic:

A Signifier the sign: a word, colour, or image. An example of a semiological signifier would be a balaclava, which acts at the signifier and robbery is the the signified.

Signified is the concept, meaning, associations that the sign refers to. An example of this would be a robbery as a balaclava can symbolise a robbery through a stereotype that has developed of robberies.

Denotation and Connotation:

All media texts have two layers of meaning.

Denotative Level: What we actually see

Connotative Level: What you associate with this image

Title sequence of Casino Royale

Information:

- Albert R. Broccoli's Eon Productions LTD.
- Daniel Craig (Leading Role)
- Ian Flemings James Bond 007
- Casino Royale
- Starring Eva Green
- Mads Mikelson
- Giancarlo Giannini
- Caterina Murino
- Simon Abkarian
- Isaach de Bankole
- Jesper Christensen
- Ivana Melicivic
- Tobias Menzies
- Claudio Santamaria
- Free Running Stunts: Sebastien Foucan
- Jeffrey Wright
- Judi Dench as M
- Associate Producer: Andrew Noakes
- Production Executive: David Pope
- Casting: Debbie McWilliams
- Stunt Coordinator: Gary Powell
- Second unit Director: Alexander Witt
- Costume Design: Lindy Hemming
- Editor: Stuart Baird A.C.E
- Director of Photography: Phil Meheux, B.S.C
- Production Designer: Peter Lamont
- Music: David Arnold
- 'You Know My Name': performed by Chris Cornell
- Written and Produced by Chris Cornell & David Arnold
- Executive Producers: Anthony Waye, Callum McDougall
- Based on the novel by Ian Fleming
- Screenplay by: Neal Pervis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis
- Produced by: Michael Gawilson & Barbara Brocolli
- Directed by: Martin Campbell

Action:

- The ongoing theme in the title sequence is cards (Spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs) this could be associated with gambling and casinos.
- Man (Daniel Craig) with pistol shooting spades.
- Guns appear regularly in the title sequence. Guns have connotations of death and violence which are things that could feature in the film.
- As the gun passes over the queen of cards a womans face appears which is the only real erson othr then Daniel Craig so one could guess that she may be another leading role in the film.
- In all the killings the bullet is a either a diamond, spade or club and this could show that all the killings are linked to the gambling within the film.
- There is also an unknown man in a black suit fighting people whom one could guess is James Bond (Daniel Craig).

Band of Brothers Title Sequence

Information:

- HBO Original Programming

- HBO presents

- In Association with Dreamworks &Playtone

- Starring: Kirk Acevedo, Eion Bailey, Michael Cudlitz (Leading roles)

- Rick Gomez

- Scott Grimes

- John Hughes

- Damian Lewis

- Ron Livingston

- James Madio

- Neal McDonough

- Rene L Moreno

- David Shwimmer

- Douglas Spain

- Richard Speight jr.

- Donte Whalburg

- Casting: Liberman Patton

- Visual Effects Superviser: Angus Bickerton

- Special Effects Supervisor: Joss Williams

- Costume Designer: Anna Sheppard

- Edited by Fox, A.C.E

- Music: Michael Kamen

- Production Designer: Anthony Pratt

- Director of Photography: Joel J. Ransom

- Supervising Producer: Eric Jendresen

- Producer: Mary Richards

- Supervising Producer: Eric Bork

- Co-Executive Producers: Stephen E. Ambrose, Gary Goetzman, Tony To

- Executive Producers: Tom Hanks & Steven Spielberg

- Based on a book by: Steven E. Ambrose

- Written by: Graham Yost & Bruce C. McKenna

- Director: David Nutter

- Title: Band Of Brothers

Action:

- From the soldiers and guns etc one can infer that the film will be about warfare.

- The heroic but somewhat saddening music suggests that many die

- The old plane and bad quality of the video footage suggests that this film is set long ago.

- Possibly the beginning of the war as it shows hundreds of soldiers boarding a ship from the city suggesting that they are going to war

- Shows close ups of certain soldiers who may feature as leading parts in the film

- The title sequence portrays the soldiers as brave and heroic and this is made clear by the music and the footage of the men battle.

- The footage shows the soldiers together with one another through the good times and bad times suggesting that the film  may be to do with the group of soldiers

- At the end of the title sequence it shows thirteen soldiers standing in a line next to one another suggesting that they are the band of brothers.

Catch Me if You Can Opening Title Sequence

Catch Me if You Can - Opening Title Sequence

Information:

- Dreamwork pictures presents

- A Kemp company & Splendid Pictures production

- A Parkes/Macdonald production

- A Steven Spielburg film (Director)

- Leonardo DiCaprio (Leading role)

- Tom Hanks (Leading role)

- 'Catch Me If You Can' (Title)

- Martin Sheen (Actors)

- Nathalie Baye

- Amy Adams

- James Brolin

- Brian Howe

- Frank John Hughes

- Steve Eastin

- Chris Ellis

- John Finn

- Casting by: Debra Zane, CSA

- Casting Associate: Terri Taylor

- Co-producer: Devoorah Moos-Hankin

- Based upon the book by: Frank Abagnale

- With Stan Reading

- Titles by Kuntsel Deygas

- Music by John Williams

- Costume Designer: Mary Zophres

- Film Editor: Michael Kahn, A.C.E

- Production Designer: Jeannine Oppewall

- Director of Photography: Janusk Kaminski, ASC

- Co-Executive Producer: Daniel Lupi

- Executive Producers: Barrie Kemp & Laurie Macdonald

- Ex Prods: Miche Shane & Toby Romano

- Produced by: Steven Spielberg & Walter F. Parkes

- Screenplay: Jeff Nathanson

- Directed by Steven Spielberg

Action:

- Smartly dressed men and women holding suitcases and hand bags appear from all angles of the screen

- Many aeroplanes also feature in the sequence

- One can infer that the people are at an airport as an animated control tower is also shown

- Mysterious suited man changes into pilot or air-host

- The use of the xylophone for sound creates a sense of suspicion due to the pause between each hit .

- Music constructed using very similar instruments as  the 'Pink Panther', a notorious detective film could suggest similarities in Catch Me if You Can.

- Another man appears he is dressed in a smart suit with a hat similar to that of the stereotypical detective's. The hat could suggest that he is hiding from something.

- This man is looking around taking in his surroundings, suggests he is very perceptive just like a detective.

- The man in the hat follows the pilot. This suggests the rest of the film will be centred around these men.

- The rest of the title sequence shows the detective man following the pilot around.

Preliminary Task

Editing The Prelim

We began by opening Final Cut Pro onto our screen. We then searched the shared area and found our film footage that had been uploaded onto the computer already.

We then opened a new page and immediately created two 'bins'. The first one was called the 'Rush bin' where we kept all of our video footage that was saved on the program. After we'd placed all of the footage in the 'Rush bin' we then created the second bin called the 'Log bin', in which we placed all of the footage that we wanted to use for our editing.

Once we had sorted out the footage that we were to edit, we began the editing process:

1. We watched the first clip over once on a small screen and picked the point where we wanted to cut it. We then clicked on the point and pressed 'i' and a small yellow triangle appeared on the timeline below the small video screen. To end the cut we pressed 'O'and a second small triangle appeared confirming the cut.

2. Then we dragged the chosen footage down onto the timeline where the footage appeared with the yellow triangle that signified that the cut footage began at that exact point of motion.

3. We then did the same for all of the seperate clips that were in the 'Log Bin' until we had all the clips of footage cut and next to one another, in order on the timeline.

4. The clips did not flow onto one another perfectly yet so we began to cut all of the footage on the timeline in motion to create continuity and this meant that we could avoid any mistakes and if any were made which some were initially, it enabled us to correct what we'd done wrong initially. In order to shorten or lengthen the clips to create this continuity all you had to do was hover the mouse over the timeline and a razor would appear, then you either dragged it backwards or forwards to lengthen or shorten the piece of footage.

During these stages of the editing process we made a few mistakes whilst cutting the footage yet because we had used the method of continuity editing we were able to go back and correct these mistakes and this gave us the time to understand where we had went wrong and how we managed to go off track.

How We Filmed The Preliminary Task

For this task i worked in a group of five to film as short sequence:
Actor 1 - Alexandra
Actor 2 - Marriella
Director - Louise
Assistant Director/Cotinuity -

We had to fulfill certain criteria that was given to us in the form of a storyboard showing a variety of different shots and angles that we were set the task of capturing. We also had to find our own props which were to act as signifiers to give a background to our story. In our piece we chose to use street life and so we dressed the actors in hooded outfits with cap hats and we used a spray can as our main signifier object. The storyline we came up with for our short prelim was simply a thug covincing another person vandalise a wall with sray paint.

Filming
To begin with we fimed the whole scene in a wide shot. We did this so we would be able to cut back at anytime during editing and so we could create continuity. Also by shooting a wide shot first of the whole story we managed to capture a number of shots in one take and this saved us time in the long run and meant that we could be finished filming in the time we had. By having capturing this wide shot of the whole thing we also got the shots 1, 4, 7, 11.

After having filmed the wide we then filmed the whole story again as part of an over the shoulder shot to show the persective of one the characters. We then added a closeup of the character to show a reaction shot of his face. This covered shots 2, 5, 9, 10. This shot diplayed emotion to the audience and allowed one to empathize with the character, it also gave variaion to the prelim. We then repeated these shots from the other characters perspective, agin by filming the whole sequence. These shots covered the frames 3, 6, 8, 12; and meant that we had covered all that was demanded by the sheet within five takes. As a result we finished early and consequently decided to film to extra shots to give our piece some more variation and make it stand out from the other groups in the class. We added a close up pan of the spraying can being passed from one character to the other and an extreme closeup o the spraying can to establish our signifier object.

Prelim Storyboard

Prelim Storyboard Draft and About Storyboards

How To Create a Storyboard

What Is a Storyboard And Why Is It Necessary To Have One?

A storyboard is a graphic representation of how your video will unfold, shot by shot. It is made up of a number of squares with illustrations or pictures representing each shot, with notes made about what is going on in the specific scene and why. It can even include whats being said in the shot (dialogue).

Making a storyboard may sound tedious and time consuming however it is extremely productive when it comes to he filming.

Storyboards are a visual aid they make it much easier to share and explain your ideas. This also enables other people to understand your ideas more clearly. A stporyboard also makes production considerably easier as is essentially setting up a plan for production that will include all the different kinds pf shots, how they are laid out and how the visuals will interact with the script. It ensures that you will not forget any shots. Most importantly a storyboard also saves you a considerable amount of time. Initially it may seem that constructing a storyboard is time consuming in itself however in the long run it will mean that you are doing many things such as editing and production much more quilcy and efficiently.


Our Groups First Storyboard




During todays lesson my group and I began to piece together our storyboard. After discussing between us how we would split the thriller up into individual shots we began to draw it up. We chose Mariella to draw as she is an art student so she would make a clear representation of our thriller idea. Myself and the two others finalised our thriller story and told marriela what we wanted her to draw. This storyboard is not finalised it is the initial rough copy that will be developed over the year and converted into the final finished piece, however this piece provides a basis that we can work on.

On this storyboard we annotated it with proosed props and ideas for charecter choice.

What is a Thriller?

A thriller is defined as a novel, play or movie with an exciting plot that uses suspense, tension and excitement as main elements within the composure. A thriller is often simliar to a puzzle, that your mind has to put together and once you think you've figured it out, the picture on the puzzle changes. Thrillers keep you guessing by being fast paised and many incorperate plot twists and red hearings whilst also including clues that are often difficult to pick up on that enable one to piece together the story.

The main objective of a thriller is to keep the audience on the edge of their seats and captivated.The tension is used to create a stressful climax. It does this by providing a sudden rush of emotions, excitement and adrenaline that create a drive for the narrative. This narrative is usually based around a quest that the main character has to solve and is often portrayed in the view of one specific person rather than a variety.

Thriller films have been used as a genre since the 20's where Alfred Hitchcock began to exploit the idea with his films; The Lodger and Blackmail, which were silent films. Over the decades up until the present, a massive development in technology has allowed peoples thriller ideas to be created in film more easily and much more affectively. This has meant that plots have become more complex and intricate. Some of the most famous thrillers include:

Learning To Use The Camera

The Camera

During class we were taught both how to set up a camera and how to use it to create a piece of film.

Setting up the Camera

Firstly we took the tripod stand, on which the camera would sit, and simply adjusted the legs to the preferred height and position and tightened the various knobs and assured that they were securely fastened. Once this was completed we positioned the camera on top of the tripod stand, once again fastening securely to ensure that the camera would not be in danger of falling off. Then we 'bubbled' the camera; a method used to check that the camera is not angled awkwardly thus not affecting later filming. Next we turned the camera on and adjusted the white balance which is done by zooming the in on a white object and focusing in on it. Once this is done the lighting on the camera image will match that of the surrounding environment.

The 180 Degree Rule

This rule is used to give one a basic understanding of the on-screen spatial relationship between two characters in a scene. The line of vision lies across the centre of the circle and the camera must be kept on one side of the line to avoid the audience becoming confused when the two characters are both facing the same way. However one can cross the line if it is included in film, yet if you decide to cross the line onto the other side you must stay on this side.

Toby Baring

Hi, my name is Toby Baring I am 16 years old and I am currently studying for my AS mediastudies qualification at Hurtwood House in Surrey. This subject is new to me yet i have always been deeply interested in the film world and how exactly films are constructed. I am taking biology, chemistry and geography along with media so it was a bit of a punt but i thought it would be a really great thing to do considering my interest in the area. After school my dream is to go to medical school and become a surgeon. You're probably thinking why i'm doing mediastudies if i could have chosen physics or psycology maybe, but the truth is i believe in doing the subjects that one really likes not the ones that one is good at yet finds deeply boring.

I love to watch a wide variety of film genres and appreciate all films ranging from indie classics to modern day comedies. My favourite film of all time has to be the blues brothers shot in Chicago during the mid 80's, I still remember the first time my mum put it on and insisted that my brothers and I would love it and sure enough we did! Dan Arkroyd as 'Elwood Blue' was awesome he had us laughing our heads off as we sat watching the classic, I think it must have been how outrageously behaved he was that made it so great for me!