Rutherford feedback

You are slowly beginning to develop ideas about the direction of your coursework.  You now need to pick up the pace and ensure that your blog reflects your progress.  Try to fill in any gaps and be thorough in analysis.

Targets

Complete the analyses of music videos and publish these as a post
Have another look at the short films Andrea Arnold and Lynne Ramsay and conduct research
Come up with your definition of a short film using examples
What are the codes and conventions of a short film?
What makes a good short film?
Start  planning your production based on research.

Analysis of a Music Video - Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift // Pop

 The video begins with Taylor Swift in a large bold font with a long shot of grassland in the background. It cuts to an aerial shot of zebra's running through the grassland with the directors name in the same large bold font. It then cuts between a shot of the sun in the sky to a lighting director, maybe saying that the sun sets and shows finish. A shot of a giraffe with a fan in the corner shows the difference between the wild and man. It then shows the artist, Taylor Swift, for the first time,with her looking down in a mirrors reflection. The next shot shows a beginning of a film with a board being slammed down and a side shot of the light director and an old style camera. It cuts back to a shot of Taylor, with her makeup being done and the camera zooming out to reveal an old car in the back ground with a cut to a pan showing the set of the film. Taylor is then shown to still be having her makeup done, and then with her looking to left at a man. The man turns to look at her and she looks away.
The next scene begins to show them filming - the board is slammed together and a shot shows the director and all the behind the scenes people watching the scene. They kiss and the camera zooms forward past the cameras in the film as the line 'say you'll remember me'. The next shows him with his arms around Taylor with them watching a sunset as she shes 'standing in a nice dress staring at the sunset' - a quick cut shows them wear sunglasses that are from the 40's/50's era. The next shot lines up with the lyrics 'red lips and rosy cheeks', with his hand on her cheek and her smiling and looking down. The shot the changes to show the behind the scenes filming them. An aerial shot of a waterfall is cut into the shot of the Giraffe and Taylor in a long yellow dress. The dress can be symbol to show that she is free and yellow also means a few things - it means happiness but can also mean jealously.
The next shot matches the waterfall - they are stood together on top of the waterfall - this is to further emphasize the romance between their on screen characters.
The next scene shows them in a bedroom with the mise en scene being that of a safari lodge. It shows further proof that this is set in the 40's/50's - there is a gramophone in the corner, old style suitcases stacked on drawers, they're drinking brandy, there is a hat that a woman would have worn in the 40's.
The camera changes to show Taylor and the man having an argument on set - she walks off and the director just looks at the behind the scenes camera - this could be to show that she has feelings for the man outside of the film. They then go back to the scene mentioned earlier but another take - Taylor looks down and presses her lips together to try and get herself under control and they restart that scene.
The aerial shot of the zebra/wildebeest is resumed but with a plane flying over them and then its revealed Taylor is in the plane with the man flying. She wears a headscarf and cat eye sunglasses, showing the fashion of the women in the 40's. The plane is also from the that same era, The camera is off center with the plane in the left and shows the man swinging Taylor round when they've landed.
They then begin to cut between three different types of scenes - Taylor with a lion behind her/Taylor on her own, shots of her and the man acting and shots of the African grasslands. This is used to make the film look more romantic and put emphasis back on Taylor singing.
The camera then pulls back to reveal then in a studio with a background of the grasslands and all the behind the scenes people watching them act, with Taylor looking longingly towards the man and it is clear she has feelings for him.
The camera pulls back again as the scene changes to a huge premier - Taylor steps out wearing silk and fur with further shows the era as if you wear fur nowadays you are frowned upon. It cuts the man and a shot of his hands covered with the woman who is kissing him to reveal that they are married. A close up on Taylor face confirms that she has feelings for the man. She runs from the premiere with the man running out after her which suggests that he has feelings for her too.

The video is considered quite conversational as it is filmed in Africa in the style of the 40's with only white people in it, but is actually quite true to the time - only white Hollywood stars would have been in movies no matter where it is filmed.

Analysis of a Music Video - Bad Romance by Lady Gaga // Dance-Pop

The first scene is a group of people in a room. The women are all in gold and the men in black/shirtless. Gaga sits in the middle on a white throne in gold - this draws your eye to her. She has sunglasses on with razorblades around them - perhaps showing whatever she is seeing is painful. She then presses play on on a box, this is also product placement through the use of parrot box and the next shot has an iPod classic in it. Another product placement appears - clear glasses of "Nermioff' which appear later in the video.
The next scene shows pods, with the one in the middle saying monster with a red cross on. They then begin to crawl out of the pods as if they are newborn, and they wear white latex suits which cover them head to toe, showing the innocence of them. Lady gaga's suit has an open mouth, whereas the rest all have their mouths covered but can see.
This ties in with the next scene where she's in a bath tub,wearing earphones with huge,innocent eyes. This could be because hers were covered so she doesn't know what the world is. The earphones is product placement as lady gaga has her own brand of earphones.
The next shot is of her standing in the mirror, but it could be a flashback as she is dressed in black with her eyes covered.
One of the shots is gaga making a gun motion with her finger, maybe showing that she is too innocent to shoot it at this moment in time. The bath scene then switch to women pulling her out of the bath and her fighting it and then placing her on the side of the bath.
A quick shot of a close of lady gaga wearing very little makeup is used, again to show her innocence right now.
The women rip off lady gaga's shirt, perhaps showing that they have the power and that women in the media constantly degrade each other. Then make her drink something, which could be the alcohol from the start, and she fights it. Another of the close up scenes is used but shes in tears this time, showing that the innocence is broken and she knows the real world.
The next scene shows a ring of women trying to tear a coat of lady gaga. The coat has words on it, maybe showing what she thinks in her head. They rip it off and she acts as if she's naked and not in clothes, but her clothes are very sexualised and all diamond. The shot pulls back to show a ring of men, drinking. She then joins in on the dancing almost as if she releales if shes goes along with she can escape.
Another scene is shown where shes in a very dark room compared to the other room, and shes on her own as if this is where she goes when shes not paraded in front of the men.
The next bit in the white room is sit crawls along the floor and sits on a mans lap, relating to the next scene where men are bidding for her. Its like shes figured out if she goes with him she can get away from the women. The women can also represent other women in music or the media and how they sexualise everything.
The next scene is she is all in black and posing in the middle of a group of men, with another scene that joins it of her spinning in a wheel. She is wearing the same outfit in both of these, but in the wheel she is dressed slightly more futuristically.
She also is then in the dark with a strange outfit on, and at the end of this scene she fires the guns, showing that she has the power but has been making the power on her own.
It then changes to a scene of her walking towards the man that bought her, she has sunglasses on so that he can't see her eyes or intentions. A dance scene begins too, wear she is back in the white room but it is dark and she is dressed in a red outfit, showing that she has no innnocence but she has power. The crying scene appears too, showing that she maybe regrets what shes about to do but it had to happen for her to escape. The bed sets on fire and the guy is trapped in the flames, and the vevry last scene shows his skeleton and gaga on the bed, with her in the black outfit with smoke, and a cigarette hanging out of mouth.

Analysis of a Video Game - Fallout 4

This is a trailer for the popular series of Fallout. The series follows a post apocalyptic wasteland, with most of the games taking place in the 22nd and 23rd century, following survivors after a nuclear war in the 50's.
They released this trailer to promote the release of the game, which is coming in early November. The trailer switches between showing the 50's and the future, showing the destruction in between. The first shot of the trailer is a mid close up showing a television with the emergency please stand by message showing with diegetic white noise. The shot then begins to zoom out showing a weathered and decayed house, with it showing the living room. As it pans round, it then switches to how the house was in the 50's, with clean walls and no broken furniture. It then switches back, with a dog standing in the doorway, showing the first signs of life. The house also shows that nature is beginning to take the world back, with a tree growing through the roof. The dog walks through a kitchen and the camera follows, with it then changing back to the 50's. A robot is then shown carrying milk, with it switching back and forth to the past and future - this also can show that humans were more advanced then, but the robot also says that we were responsible for our own destruction as robots have the stereotype of destroying everything. The camera continues to pan round showing the dog walking through the hallway - the hallway shows decay worse then the front room did. The doors hang off,the frame are rusting or peeling, there is debris all over the floor and a pile of leaves suggesting that its autumn. It follows the dog into a child's room - this is shown by a crib and toys scattered about. It flashes back to the past, showing the first people in the trailer, bending over their children and playing the mobile. It then changes back to the dog nosing the mobile - this is to make the audience sad for the child as you don't know the fate of the baby yet. The dog then runs through the town - the town showing the same level of decay and shows a wasteland. The editing cuts back to the 50's - people run down the road with a plane flying low above them. It then continues to show and cut between the dog and the 50's.
The editing then cuts to door moving backwards. It then begins to show some of the scenery and more of the game play - it shows a post apocalyptic wasteland with everything abandoned and makeshift cities. This is to make the audience excited to walk through the game themselves as it shows the different parts of the map.
The trailer then shows what happened to the people at the beginning for the people who have never played the game before - a nuclear explosion happens, making the audience feel shocked and have sympathy for the people. Back to the dog - the camera follows and pans up showing a huge metal suit which has the face of the game. It cuts to show a long view - you can see a person beginning to walk up to the dog which changes to a mid shot revealing a man stroking the dog. He shoulders his gun and begins to walk off and the screen goes black. The logo and fallout being to show, showing off the name for anyone who didn't know it. The final frames are of the developers the website to find out more information.