film deconstruction (saving private ryan)

Film deconstruction

Saving Private Ryan

Release year: 1998

Director: Steven Spielberg

BBFO rating: 15

Genre: action

The start of the film opens with war music called hymn to the fallen this shows that dead soldiers are being remembered it has a sad tone on top of the directors credits this sets the mood for the location of the film. The second shot shows an American flag flying in the wind there is some diagetic sound of the flag rustling the American flag represents unification as well as freedom. In the next shot there is our first character this suggests he is the main character it then shows a family walking behind him this is a reference to him being the frontline as he was on the frontline later in the film. One of the family members takes a picture of the man walking this shows it is not just a normal day, they are doing something he wants to remember. As the man is walking the camera shows his face so you see that he is sad, also it shows a medal on his chest this shows he was in the army. He stops and looks up at the American flag this shows he is American then the camera jump cuts to a French flag this shows that he is in France. He walks along grass towards a grave stone but as he gets closer you see it is unmarked and that there is more he walks past a man in full army uniform with lots of medals this shows he is not the only war veteran visiting. He walks past some more graves as if he knows where he is going but you soon see as the camera pans out that there are thousands of graves this shows that lots of people died here and so many unnamed graves.

film deconstruction (spider-man)

Film deconstruction

SPIDER-MAN

Release year: 2002

Director: Sam Raimi

BBFO rating: 12

Genre: action

The first two minutes of this film is the credits but what goes on behind the credits tells you a lot about the film for instance the first shot is of a comic strip this shows that it is going to stay true to the comic book version of the story also the comic strip is scrolling very fast coupled with a urgent sound track this gives a suspense to the opening. The next thing wee see is cylindrical rods moving at high speeds you don’t realise what these are this builds suspense the camera zooms out to reveal what the rods are they are silk strands in a web this relates to spiders there is more spider webs for a bit but soon the credits change to have a red outline, they resemble red blood vessels. The webs start to make a binding action like it is capturing something which relates to how the alter ego of spider man takes over peter parker. Later the webs are inside a vein or artery this shows the webs are inside him and are infecting him more you see this in the movie as peter uses his powers more. You start to see human features like a fist this shows that the human is fighting the spider infection but as the credits continue the human features are chests and heads this shows that he is become more spider. After spider man has been established the green goblins head appears briefly this establishes a character for the film to base spider mans adventures.

film deconstruction (Napoleon Dynamite)

Film: Napoleon Dynamite

Director: Jared Hess

Year of release: 2004

Certificate: 12

The first two minutes of the film are credits they consist of different plates of food being put on a carpet or rug there is something missing in every dish whether it is flavouring on crisps or vegetables to go with steak or the fact that there isn’t a table there it is just put on the floor this reflects napoleons life there is something missing. The song that accompanies the title sequence is jack Johnson’s ‘we are gunna be friends’ this relates to the movie because napoleon makes friends with a Mexican boy previously he had no friends. The steak is a reference to the story as well because it comes after other dishes that were slightly better which resembles napoleons grandma going away and uncle Rico looking after him he only makes steak for napoleon which makes his life that much more repetitive.

preliminary film

preliminary story board

questionnaire

match on action

Match on action

This is the editing process where the editor matches all the shoots so it look as though they were filmed by different cameras at the same time when really the director will have moved the camera and got the actor to do exactly the same sequence again so he got it from another angle for instance if the actor walks through a door then the director move the camera to the other side of the door and the actor walks through again it gives the impression that there were two cameras rolling.

180 degree rule

180 Degree Rule.

The 180 degree rule is a rule that helps continuity in filming it keeps the actors on the side they started on. If you start you’re filming on the green side of the diagram you must stay on that side unless you film yourself crossing the line.