Genre/Neale

 

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Electric Dreams (1984)

Everything Everywhere All at Once : Psychological thriller

• Character conventions are best used to determine the genre, because of the actions of said characters and how they speak. 
• 
  

Phantom of the Paradise: Psychological horror

Electric Dreams :  Romantic Comedy

Equilibirum/Todorov

 

Mission Impossible : Rogue Nation (2015)

Proppian characters: Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) , Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg), William (Jeremy Renner)

Equilibrium: The story introduces us to our protagonist as he rushes to jump on a plane about to take flight, holding the "package". This follows as he is not the first character we're introduced to. The stability of the world would be taken away, if the story didn't introduce Hunt (Tom Cruise) properly.

Disruption: The disruption in the scene stems from Benji not being able to hack into the plane and open it for Ethan to enter, which gives some delay in the scene, and lets the viewer try to interpret what happens.

New equilibrium:  Ethan makes it safely on the plane after Benji finally opens the door, and retrieves the "package", even while being spotted by one of the co-pilots checking after the door is opened.

In media res: The opening scene starts with action immediately as we are met with conflict concerning the "package", and how it will be retrieved.

Multi-perspective narratives: Using multi-perspective narratives, the story shifts from each character's point of view about retrieving the package, from William to Benji to Luther and finally, our protagonist/hero, Ethan.

        The purpose of the clip is to start the film calmly while the main conflict introduces itself more. For example, our first image presented is a field of grass, with no one taking any importance from the shot. This shot is able to change our viewer's point of view in a very short amount of time.

Semiotics/Barthes

                                The Semiotics of : Punch Drunk Love

Punch Drunk Love (2002)

Sign : The piano/harmonium placed in the middle of the road

Signifier: A piano/harmonium in the middle of the road

Signified: The instrument will mean something later in the film.

Denotative meaning: The denotative meaning of this scene is to introduce the character and the piano.

Connotative meaning: The connotative meaning of this scene is to introduce how important the piano will be to the film later on.

Code: The code used here is a symbolic code, because its used to signify something more than the presence of the piano.

            The purpose of this clip is to introduce our protagonist and the symbol, which in this case, is the piano. For example, we use the car crash to create suspense before the piano is dropped off. This creates an effect to keep the viewer's attention.

        

Depth of Field

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (December 18,2015)

This still from the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens uses a deep focus shot to convey conflict, as the subjects are running away from an armed Stormtrooper.

The Handmaid's Tale (April 26,2017)

This still from the series The Handmaid's Tale uses a shallow focus shot to convey character, where our main subject is shown very emotional in the scene.

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince (July 15, 2009)

This still from the popular franchise Harry Potter uses a soft focus shot to convey character, as this scene is used to distribute a flashback.

The still photographed here is used to display a deep focus shot to display character, where our subject is placed sitting down, surrounded by the background.

 

The still used in this photo is used to display a shallow focus shot that conveys character, which in this case, shows our subject as relaxed as possible, and the background isn't displayed.

This still used in this photo are used to display a soft focus shot that conveys character. which shows the contrast of the background and the character.

Reflection:

In this still photo experiment, I came across a few challenges that made the process a bit more difficult. For example, the shallow focus shot was difficult to maintain on camera due to the background still being partially shown, despite the purpose of this shot. Another issue was the soft focus shot, and the lens I used was particularly difficult.