Assignment A: Analysing the features of single-camera productions - DAVID

Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)

Rated 8.1/10 (IMDb)

A group of intergalactic criminals are forced to come together to stop a warrior from blowing up a planet and from controlling the universe

Director: James Gunn

Writers: James Gunn, Nicole Perlman

Year of Release: 2014

Main Cast: Chris Pratt as Star Lord

                   Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot

                   Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket

                   Zoe Saldana as Gamora

                   Dave Bautista as Drax

                   Lee Pace as Ronan

                   Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta

                   Karen Gillan as Nebula

FORMAT

This is a feature film, directed by James Gunn, and is part of Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in which superheroes from comic books owned by Marvel come to life as live-action movies. This film has a open ending, which means the story is not over yet or does not have an ending. Because of the success of this film, Marvel are going to make a second movie named Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which will be released in 2017. Rumours are also going around that the cast of this film will make an appearance in Avengers: Infinity War, which brings all superheroes that are owned by Marvel comics together.

GENRE

The genre of this feature film is action, adventure and sci-fi. This is emphasised through its use of lighting, colour and camera techniques. There is many themes in this particular film that reaches out towards the audience. The first and main theme would be FAMILY. This is conveyed in many different ways, the first way is when all five heroes, Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot, all come together as one to defeat Ronan. Throughout the movie, these five characters were all trying to settle their differences by fighting each other, but near the end of the movie, we see these characters working together as a team, talking as if they were friends. They also cared about each other very much which is another example of family. This is really conveyed when Groot makes a shelter out of his body when they are all crashing down into Xandar. What the audience didn't know until Rocket said, was he was sacrificing himself to make sure the other four characters survived. Another example of family in Guardians of the Galaxy is the clip shown above when Thanos confronts Ronan. Thanos refers to Gamora being his 'favourite' daughter which angers Nebula (his other daughter). This is completely opposite to my other example with the Guardians coming together. This example is negative because it shows that Thanos favours the daughter that betrayed him more than the daughter that is still more loyal to him and Ronan.

NARRATIVE FEATURES

The basic plot of 2014's Guardians Of The Galaxy is about a group of intergalactic criminals are forced to come together to stop a warrior from blowing up a planet and from controlling the universe.

This is a linear storyline but also has elements of non-linear elements in it. Examples of this are shown at the beginning when there is a flashback of the main character, Peter Quill, and it shows his mother being killed from what looks like cancer and was abducted by aliens. Another example of this shows Peter Quill holding an infinity stone, then looks at Gamora (played by Zoe Saldana and is one of the guardians), but in Peter's eyes, he sees the figure of his mother, telling him to take her hand. This film is set in outer space and other planets but it is not set in real life, so it is an anti-realist film but also has elements of realistic in it. The only scene we got that was set in real life was at the beginning of the film where Peter's mother dies. There are also a lot of anti-realistic characters in this film as well as this is set in other planets in outer space. These are a couple of images that show the different aliens in this film:

This film has one single story based round, at first, one character in Peter Quill when we see his adventures in outer space, then we get multiple story lines from different characters. After meeting Quill, we meet Gamora who is on a mission of her own to steal a magical orb that is in his possession. We then meet two bounty hunters in Groot and Rocket, who tumbles across Peter Quill, who at that moment is wanted for a lot of units (money). This is the scene where all four characters come together:

This film lasts for 2 hours 2 minutes which is a short form narrative. The plot does have a very fast pace meaning the plot is identified quickly, mainly through the use of clear characters involved. In this film, there are elements of non-linear moments. Examples of these are flashbacks, flash forwards or alternative versions of plot. In this case, we see flashbacks from Peter's character back to the scene of his mother, when she says the line, 'take my hand'. This scene is extremely effective as it shows these events has affected Peter's life growing up in outer space with no family to go to. The first video shows the flashback scene of young Peter and his mother dying from what looks like cancer and the second video shows the flashback of his mother saying 'take my hand' in the form of Gamora.

                                             

                                       

This film has an open ending which means the events of the movie aren't over just yet. After Ronan's death, we see the united Guardians of the Galaxy blasting away into outer space, then goes black and text appears saying 'Guardians of the Galaxy will return'. There is also a sequel being made at the moment named "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' which follows the events of the first film. The setting is very anti-realistic with the setting used, exaggerated characters and the plot getting a stone that can blow up worlds.

TECHNICAL METHODS

                                   

This scene happens in the film where Ronan finds out Gamora has her own plans on finding the orb for herself and to not give it to Thanos. We then see a meeting between Thanos and Thanos demands that if he doesn't bring the orb to him, he would punish him severely by death. The miss-en-scene is extremely important in this scene. First of all, this is set in outer space, potentially in Thanos' base. We can tell this by the name of the planet named Sanctuary, which is also called the 'domain of Thanos'. This is shown in 0:29. We can tell this scene is set in outer space because throughout the scene, we can see stars and asteroids that surround the domain. There are a lot of head shots throughout the scene because the director, James Gunn, focuses on the character's facial impressions rather than what is happening in the scene. One point in the scene that I found important is on 1:36, when Ronan has quite a worried face on. This is very important as it shows Ronan 'The Accusor' at a moment of weakness by Thanos when he threatens him to bring the orb and to not let him down. This shows a completely different contrast in his character because throughout the film, he is very powerful and has extremely dramatic facial expressions, but at this particular moment, he was at a moment of weakness. The use of lighting and colour is extremely important and really stands out in this scene. There are a lot of vibrant colours, for example Ronan's blue skin is extremely bright and almost matches the surroundings. Thanos' gold and purple costume is also very vibrant in colours and is almost the brightest in the whole scene. This is to represent him being the dominant character, out-matching Ronan the Accusor's costume being black and blue. The use of colours also emphasise the theme of fantasy and adventure very much, which sticks to the audience's mind when they watch the movie. 

Doctor Who (2005-)

Rated 8.8/10 (IMDb)

Focusing on Series 1 (2005)

This particular series focuses on the character Rose Tyler (played by Billie Piper), after she is saved from a mysterious man called The Doctor, who has a unusual and dark past. She then finds out he is an alien with a space ship, formed as a 1960's police telephone box. The series then follows the two travelling in time and space, visiting ghosts from the past and aliens of the future, all in aim of saving planets, involving Earth.

Executive Producers: Russell T. Davies, Julie Gardner, Mal Young

Producer: Phil Collinson 

Start Date: 26 March 2005

End Date: 18 June 2005

Main Cast: The Doctor as Christopher Eccleston

Rose Tyler as Billie Piper

Mickey Smith as Noel Clarke

Jackie Tyler as Camille Coduri

Captain Jack Harkness as John Barrowman

Adam Mitchell as Bruno Langley

FORMAT

This is a television series revived in 2005 after a long wait of 16 years to be re-made. It is comprised of 13 episodes, all 45 minutes each, 6 episodes were 2 part-stories (episode 4&5, episode 9&10 and episode 12&13). The rest of the episodes had closed endings after each episode which means the story was told in 45 minutes. Since the popularity of this series, they then made more series' with the Doctor changing (known as regenerating) after each 2-3 series. These actors were: David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi. 

GENRE

The genre of this series would be sci-fi and fantasy, but the main genre for this series would be a drama. These types of themes are emphasised through the use of settings, as each episode is set in different centuries and planets that is really important as the series follows two characters who travel in time and space. The use of characters is also used to portray these themes as the villains are portrayed as sci-fi aliens from different worlds, aiming to blow up Rose's home planet of Earth and also other fantasy planets. The names of these planets seem made-up as well, with names such as Gallifrey and Raxacoricofallapatorius. These are examples of aliens that were seen in Series 1 of Doctor Who:

NARRATIVE FEATURES

Episode 1: Rose

Episode 2: The End of the World

Episode 3: The Unquiet Dead

Episode 4: Aliens in London

Episode 5: World War Three

Episode 6: Dalek

Episode 7: The Long Game

Episode 8: Father's Day

Episode 9: The Empty Child

Episode 10: The Doctor Dances

Episode 11: Boom Town

Episode 12: Bad Wolf

Episode 13: The Parting of the Ways

Each episode tells a different story in this particular series. This has multiple storylines which means it is a multi-strand narrative. Each episode lasts for 45 minutes which means each episode has a short-form narrative. It has a total of 585 minutes (9 hours 45 minutes). It has a basic narrative pace, which means everything runs at a normal beginning, middle and end, which makes it simpler for younger audiences to understand. This series is linear, which means there are no flashbacks or flash-forwards or any alternate to the plots of the episodes. Each episode always has a closed ending except for the two-part episodes, in which part one has an open cliffhanger and is resolved in the second episode (the episodes in red are two-part episodes). This series is filmed in a realistic style meaning filmed on real locations and set in modern-day Britain. This series was filmed in Cardiff, Wales; even an episode was set in Cardiff (Boom Town).

TECHNICAL METHODS

This clip is from the second episode of this series named The End of the World. This follows the first adventure that Rose and the Doctor go on. The Doctor takes Rose to the future, when they land on Platform One, a space station orbiting the Earth. When they land, they are introduced to a party celebration in celebrating the destruction of Earth. They meet different aliens, including Lady Cassandra O'Brien, who is supposedly the last human on Earth. Suddenly, mysterious metallic spider-like creatures are released and they start killing the staff onboard. The Doctor then investigates this situation and finds out that Lady Cassandra O'Brien released the spiders to sabotage the platform and to kill everyone on board. This scene shows the ending of the episode where an upset Rose looks at the burnt Earth and talks about her family on there and where they all go to die. We then get shown the Doctor landing Rose on present-day Earth, filled with modern people, not knowing about the Earth exploding in many years to come. The first scene shows The Doctor and Rose in an empty party room with a view of the burnt Sun. There are asteroids surrounding the Earth, almost representing this is the new Sun, after exploding. The second scene is more important I believe in this clip because the Doctor talks about his own home planet burning up like the Earth and his family all burnt, after a massive war named The Last Great Time War, involving two planets: The Doctor's home planet, Gallifrey and another planet named Skaro. In the scene, we hear sounds normally heard in a town centre, for example babies crying (1:22), people talking and laughing (1:21) and a homeless man persuading people of the town centre to buy The Big Issue, a magazine (1:30-1:34). We see various different shots in each scene. We see a full body shot when The Doctor offers his hand to Rose (0:49). This is very effective because the two characters are both in a very dark light, maybe to emphasise a couple in love. This is important as their relationship seem to grow in the series and even Rose develops some feelings for the Doctor. In the second scene, we see more head shots than body shots. For example, in 1:52, we see the Doctor telling Rose about his own planet gone and never coming back and how this is similar to what Rose witnessed of her own planet exploding. The use of colours and lighting is extremely important, especially for the first scene. The most vibrant colour in this scene is mainly orange, which emphasises the Earth's explosion. This colour lights up the entire room, which shows that this is the main colour the director, Euros Lyn, wanted to covey to the audience. The use of sound is more important in the second scene than the first. When the Doctor talks about his home planet, we hear faint voices 'ooing' quietly, which really creates an emphasis of the fallen victims of his planet. This is an example of a non-diegetic sound, which sets the mood being very upsetting. We also hear diegetic sounds, for example the announcement stating 'Shuttles 4 and 6 departing. This unit now closing down for maintenance.', which explains after the events of their adventure, the platform has to close down. This particular setting of Platform One is also featured at the end of the series, when the Doctor confronts his eldest enemies, the Daleks. The use of script and dialogue is also important in these scenes. The main points being the Doctor talking about his home planet. This really emphasises the Doctor's character all alone with no family or friends to rely on anymore. It also presents him being lost in the world because he has no where to go to, except his use of transport...his TARDIS. When Rose is introduced into his life, it is almost like she is the person he could turn to in a moment of need, almost like a guardian angel to the Doctor. 

Children of Men (2006)

Rated 7.9/10 (IMDb)

In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women seem to have become infertile, a former activist aggres to help transport a pregnant refugee to a sanctuary out at sea.

Director: Alfonso Cuaron 

Writers: Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby

Year of Release: 2006

Main Cast: Clive Owen as Theo Faron
                   Julianne Moore as Julian
                   Michael Caine as Jaspar Palmer
                   Chiwetel Ejiofor as Luke
                   Charlie Hunnam as Patric
                   Clare-Hope Ashitey as Kee
                   Pam Ferris as Miriam
                   Ed Westwick as Alex

FORMAT

This is a feature film, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, a Mexican director, who has directed many famous movies, such as Gravity (2013), Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). The film lasts for 109 mins (1 hour 49 minutes). This film is based on the novel Children of Men, written by P.D. James, who is also known for writing the novels Unnatural Causes, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and A Certain Justice.

GENRE

The themes for Children of Men are Drama, Sci-fi and Thriller. This is emphasised really through the use of settings and props. The theme sci-fi is shown through interactive boards on buildings with animations talking about fertilisation. These buildings are shown at the beginning of the film, from 1:49 to 2:12:

The theme of Drama is really conveyed through the use of characters involved, with very dramatic characters, such as Jaspar Palmer being extremely dramatic with the use of humour he says. The theme of Drama is also emphasised by how serious the main character's situation is in. Throughout the movie, we are shown very dramatic locations, for example near the middle of the film, we see a refugee camp that the main character is in that is filled with poor immigrants and a very dark and filthy atmosphere that suits the theme of Drama.

NARRATIVE FEATURES

As this is a feature film, this is a single strand narrative which means there is one single story based around one character in Theo Faron (played by Clive Owen), in which he needs to escort a pregnant refugee to the other side of the country to a sanctuary near the sea. This film lasts for 114 mins (1 hour 54 minutes), which means it is a short-form narrative.This film has quite a fast pace, which means the events are quicker. This is used to introduce different characters and also to stick into the audience's minds more than if the story went at quite a slow pace. This is a linear film, which means there are no non-linear elements, such as flashbacks, flash-forwards or alternate versions of the plot. This film, I think, has a very open ending. We see the hero, Theo Faron, dying onboard a canoe-shaped boat with the refugee, Kee, with her baby, escaping from the events that happened previously in the film. We then see a very large boat, that is very similar to the ship that they were trying to get to. The thing is, we, as the audience, don't know if they either made it to the boat, if the boat found them and they are then rescued, or if they board the ship and they are then captured and taken back to a refugee camp. This is the ending to Children of Men:

                               

This is set on planet Earth in the year 2027, and is filmed in a very realistic style. First of all, there is a very realistic setting as we see different places that are all what would look like to be realistic. There are different people that we meet in the film which are very realistic and what we would expect if the world was dying. This is seen through the use of costumes, characters and settings:

TECHNICAL METHODS

                              

The use of camera is very important in this particular scene. There are a lot of close-ups inside the car, 360 degree turns of the camera, these are to show key emotions of the characters, especially when Julian (played by Julianne Moore) gets shot. When Miriam says 'look-out', 1:22, that is when the fast action occurs and therefore a lot of 360 degree camera turns. The camera also followed every bit of action whether it being inside the car or outside the car. This is show the perspective's of the characters involved in the scene. As you can see in the scene, there are no editing cuts, meaning this is all one shot on camera. This makes it more realistic when the audience sees it. The use of mise-en-scene is also important in this scene. The people outside of the car are dressed as almost like a different genre, like a zombie horror genre, instead of a drama, thriller style genre. The characters in the car are driving in a stolen car, as seen in 3:39 to 3:47, where they are driving a car belonging to a 'Biology Institute'. As soon as they drive off, there is a walkie-talkie heard from the shot policemen. Talking about the shot-policemen, they were shot by Lewis (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor). Lewis, near the beginning of the film, didn't look like a character, who would kill, but then in this scene, shoots two policemen. Also in this scene, the character Kee, played by Clare-Hope Ashitey, is dressed in black to match surroundings. This gives us a sense that she is trying to hide from somebody or maybe even the world. This also gives us a sense that she might be trying to hide SOMETHING, which we then see is a baby, later on in the film. The use of sound is also important. There is a radio that is played throughout the scene. There is an impact alarm, which is seen when a flaming car is driven to block their view. When the gun shoots Julian, we hear ringing in the ears to symbolise that this would be a normal reaction. There is a police walkie-talkie sound effect after the policemen are shot, which shows that there is going to be more danger for the main character and his companions when they exit the scene. Going back to the gun shot, the gun shot wasn't that loud, but the screams from the other characters were even louder, which gives us a sense of danger and sadness, as we see a death of a very key character. At the end of the scene when the car drives off, we hear normal sounds, like birds chirping, which conveys the emotion of quite peaceful and maybe not even knowing that everyone on earth is dying. Lastly, the script and dialogue is very important in this scene. This is very realistic dialogue in this scene which gives more emotion and also gives backstories of the relationship between Theo Faron and Julian. There are a lot of background screaming outside of the car, almost sounding like angry screaming. Throughout the scene, every character is shouting, which gives a sense, as the audience, that the characters are very confused and don't know what to do. When Miriam says 'put pressure on the wound' from 2:27 to 2:30, this is a medical term which shows that Miriam has a medical background to her life. This is an action scene and dialogue in action scenes lets you know what is going on. This was made perfectly as every character had a say in this scene.