Modern Family - Editing

Modern Family- Flash Mob  

Cross cutting is cutting back and forth between two or more events or actions that are taking place at the same time but in different places. Cross-cutting is used to build suspense or to show how different pieces of the action are related. Modern Family uses this technique often when the illustrating a story being told by the character that is being ‘interviewed’. This gives the audience a visual on the tale that's being backed up by dialogue.

 Close up is a shot showing a detail, like only the face or hands. Whereas a cutaway is a cut away from the primary subject to something the filmmaker has decided is equally or more relevant at that time. Often cutaways consist of shots showing the reaction of one character to another. This is often used to compress time in what appears to be a seamless manner. This again is another technique which is usually created to emphasis the emotion from the character that helps to build up a documentary experience.

Camera shots are part of the subject matter that is viewed and filmed by the camera. In this particular clip, there is a juxtaposition if different camera shots. This is show when footage is shown through a mobile phone and then flickers between the staged camera shots that look as if they’ve been shot from a distance. This looks as if the director has collected different footage to construct the scene.    

A transition is an easy way for one shot changes to the next. Usually created through layering of images. To add to the effect of a documentary, Modern Family don’t actually use such editing skills as it would detract from the raw camera shots and angles that assist to the production of modern family.      

Modern Family is an American television comedy series, which follows a family and records their antics. Although a scripted show, is made to look like a documentary. This is a style called ‘mocumentary’ where the fictional characters talk directly into the camera during many situations that arise throughout the series. This is created through Editing that is the process of rearranging, adding and/ or removing sections of video clips. This is all part of the post production.   

A Clockwork Orange

In a community where gang raping, robberies and murders happened nightly, lies a charismatic delinquent and anti hero, Alex DeLarge. A sociopath, teenager who’s sees the society to please his sexual, cynical, and frightening desires. The name ‘DeLarge’ allows the character to adapt himself as ‘Alexander the large’. This references ‘Alexander the Great’, which feeds his egotistical mind as well as creating a witty sexual pun.

To help create the concept of the film and the character of Alex, is his 136 minutes of narration. Within this Alex takes us on his world of the near future, of consistent orgies and attacks performed by him, and his friends. Otherwise known as, “a bit of the Ultra-violence” with the ‘Droogs’.  The film beings with the droogs sitting in their beloved social hangout, drinking milk-druged cocktails, named ‘milk-plus’. This is to hype themselves up for the commencing night.

The name ‘Clockwork Orange’ is completely appropriate for the deeper metaphorical meaning of the story. It touches on Pavlovian laws on conditioning. This is displayed in one particular famous scene in which, Alex is a victim of government criminal conditioning. He is drugged and shown disturbing images of his past lifestyle. As result, Alex becomes the ‘perfect’ citizen’ but at the cost of his free will. This raises many questions like, how should society control the ‘evil’ in us, with typical confinement or techniques like positive conditioning? The title allows us to understand that although Alex is completely organic being, on the outside, he is an otherwise known inside as a mechanical structure. 

Alex is a horrific and complicated character. Nerveless, intelligent and quick witted with sophisticated taste in music. He is particularly fond of Beethoven or “Lovely Ludwig Van”. Alex never justifies his actions and although as unlikable he may be, manages to create pity from the audience. This is because we hear from first hand experience his unending suffering and through his realization that his life is a vicious cycle that can not be altered.

LINKS
Trailer...

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3502113049/
Article...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/may/11/a-clockwork-orange-cannes

The Social Network

The Social Network is a film about the founding of social networking and internet sensation, Facebook. Growing up when Facebook started and having it escalate so dramatically in the past 4 years, it’s only natural theirs a demand for Hollywood feature film. Or was David Fincher leaching on the franchise that is Facebook. There are clear themes throughout the film, girls, power and money. Whether this is factual or not, is another issue, resulted from the 2010 film ‘The Social Network’ The film starts with high pace scene in which Mark Zuckerberg creates a website called ‘facematch’ due his bitter breakup. This involves intense hacking skills, code breaking and algorithms. This scene sets the speed, intelligence and concept of networking for the whole film.  

Through out the film there is a juxtaposition of time with the current lawsuits and the creation of Facebook. As the audience, we are drawn more into the plot and characters. The lawsuit scenes become less frequent. This is because we become more interested with the friendship between Mark and Eduardo as it’s the only relationship we truly crave and support. It is only till the timeline catches up with it’s self that we find out the result of the lawsuit.

We then re visit the initial sub plot of Erica Albright which suggests that girls and women where a key issue involving the making of Facebook. Especially as the preliminary site was to ‘rate’ girls after his hurtful spilt with girlfriend. Another inspiration for the site was the idea of relationship status. In his words “Relationship status, interested in. This is what drives life at collage. Are you having sex or aren’t you, it’s why people take certain classes and sit where they sit, and do what they do, and add some centre. You know, that’s what’s Facebooks going to be about, people are going to log on because after all the cake and watermelon theirs a chance their actually gonna meet a girl.” The real, Mark Zuckerberg resents the female motive and quotes, “I started Facebook to improve the world , and make it a more transparent place…this movie portrays me as someone who built Facebook so I could meet girl”  Others say the creation of Facebook was a lot more boring and quotidian than that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xwDcLKbt8g

How does Hotel Babylon represent Ethnicity?

How does Hotel Babylon represent Ethnicity?

Hotel Babylon is known for a drama series set in the sexy world of the luxury five star hotel, on a journey beyond the facade of the smiling faces and glittering chandeliers and into the frenetic, non-stop world of the hotel staff. It discovers who the staff are and the background of the ethnic workers within the hotle.

The main two ways in which creating any sought of image is through mise-en-scene and sound. Mise-en-scene is everything going on ‘with in the scene’, this may be costume, set, lighting, casting, etc. Sound is the noise you are able to hear. This could be music, language, effects, or voices etc.

One of the many ways to create ethnicity is through casting of actors. We are presented with multiple ethnicities to create a group of minim wage employees working as the hotel staff such as cleaners and cooks. They range from Latina, African, to Chinese. Having many different actors of different races in a busy environment makes a scene of cultural hustle. Thus giving the allusion all the staff is multi cultural. This is shown when all of the staff is rushing to the room in which they are hiding from the immigration team. We see different skin tones and features allowing us understand the variety of races.             

The costumes are a dividing technique between the front and back of house. With the receptionist and barmen and others from the front of house, are usually clothed in smart suits as they are representing the hotel and what they stand for. On the other side the uniform changes dramatically when it concerns cleaner and cooks etc. With them there is a standard uniform showing the audience a clear divide between the two different staff units.

Sound is a key way to show ethnicity. We hear in the staff canteen and room when everyone is sat eating and on their break that there are many different people talking multiple languages and accents. This gives the audience the ability to hear the representation on ethnicity.                                                                            

The sound of typical jobs happening is another sound technique. Immigrants are famous for doing the jobs British people aren’t applying for. This could be shown through the sound of someone hoovering or sweeping.