Scene Deconstruction:Titanic

Titanic Ship Sinking


The theme of the movie Titanic is that there is no greater power in life then love. Love can conquer all whether that be through two rival families, two different countries, or in the Titanic’s case through two different class distinctions. This scene portrays that very morbidly. Even though the ship is sinking Jack is still trying to help Rose because he loves her. The theme is active because near the end of the movie Rose says that she will ‘never let go’ as if we didn’t already know that she loved him.



This scene is very important in the film. The theme is a very simple one, so they needed a chaotic scene to contrast the simple theme. Lines are used in the scene to help create that chaos. When the outside of the ship is shown most of the actual lines are pointing to the top of the ship, which is where everyone is running. When life boats are shown the lines on the boat form an arrow away from the ship. The linear straight lines from the outside of the ship contrast the curved lines from the inside. There are circular windows and various light fixtures that are circles. A clock is also shown. Movement is utilized in a similar way. The movement from the outside of the ship is all up to the top of the ship beside some people falling off. The movement used in the inside is much more complex. Inside there are many objects and people moving in various different directions almost the whole time. The outside is contrasting this by having most people moving one direction. Inside there is much more object movement and on the outside of the ship they used a lot more camera movement. There is also a lot of subtext in the scene. The main one is that the ship, a huge penis shaped object, sinks and Jack dies but Rose does not. A lot of the windows they show breaking and other objects that break are also penis shaped. Only a few boob shaped objects are destroyed which adds to the fact that women and children got off the ship and survived, but most men did not.

Animation Deconstruction:Dragon Ball Z vs. Family Guy

     

        

The two still images that I chose are from two different genres. One is from an anime called Dragon Ball Z and the other is from Family Guy. Both animations use lighting and movement to portray a story. The Dragon Ball Z picture uses shadow to add depth and definition to the image. Without the shadow the two fighting would seem flat and it would be harder to see the shapes of their body. They also use shadow to highlight the characters by making the entire background completely dark. Family Guy uses no shadow because the scene does not require depth or definition. Symbolism is used in Dragon Ball Z with the brightness of the character on the left compared to the right, showing that the one on the left is the ‘good guy.’ I can see no concept of symbolism in Family Guys lighting because the entire screen is lighted the same. The mood in Dragon Ball Z is morbid and deep because of the use of dark lighting in the background and shadows. Family Guy chose to use lighting that created a very happy feeling showing contrast to the actions on the screen. Both pictures do a good job portraying movement. Overlapping Movement is when various motions are happening at the same time. In the Dragon Ball Z shot the character on the left is punching the character on the right up. The character on the rights mid section goes up first followed by its arms and legs. In the Family Guy shot the character on the left is getting punched back. His mid section goes first and his eyes close followed by his arms and legs. The body parts are all moving at different times showing an example of Overlapping Movement. Weight is an important concept in animation. When animating you need to be able to create ‘weight’ to the character. In the Dragon Ball Z shot the Character on the left is punching a seemingly larger opponent with ease. The ‘weight’ of the character is showing the strength of the left character. In Family Guy the chicken seems to be punching the character with a lot of force judging by the look on his face but because the character on the left only seems to be moving a little bit means the animators were using weight. Family Guy sucks.

Storyboard Imitation: The Rules from Fight Club

    The scene I chose for Blog 3 and this was the ‘rules’ scene from Fight Club. This is my favorite scene from the movie. The director utilizes the 180 degree rule, the rule of thirds, and the 30 rule during this scene. The 180 degree rule states that all camera positions must stay within a 180 degree arc. The baseline of the arc is determined by the central “line of action.” This scene creates a central line of action by showing a large group facing Brad Pitts character. the baseline of the arc is straight through Brad and splitting the crowd. The camera stays on the right of Brad the entire scene. The rule of thirds states that important elements of the image should fall on the intersections of horizontal and vertical thirds. The director utilizes this not by using it but by not using it. Most of the important actions and images were not placed on any of the thirds but in the middle of the shots. What did lie on the thirds were lights and other things in the background to give the sense that everyone in the room is anxious, nervous, and all over the place. The 30 rule states that in order to avoid a jump cut the camera has to be moved at least 30 degrees or the shot needs to change 30%. Each time the camera switches between Brad and the crowd it is moved at least 30 degrees and the 30% rule was even followed during some shots of the mens actions while Brad is talking. The director has obvious knowledge of these three rules and applies them when necessary. The 180 degree rule is followed so the viewers can keep track of where everyone is and the 30 rules are followed to avoid jump cuts. The director broke the rule of thirds to keep your point of interest moving around the room.

Song Deconstruction: Sound of Silence

The song I decided to choose was Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. The cover is by Shaw Blades. The Shaw Blades version of this song is one of my favorite songs. The two versions of the song are very similar in most ways but there are some subtle differences that make the cover interesting. The lyrics are the same and the so is the melody unless you include the addition of a higher third harmony  as melody. The rhythm of the songs are a little different but both are regular rhythms. The intensity is changed because the cover gets louder than the original. The beginning of both versions starts off very quiet as more instruments are put in until the last verse which is the loudest part of the song. Then, right before it ends, all of the instruments drop out and the song finishes softly with just voice and guitar The cover has drums in it where the original does not. Both songs have higher and lower pitches but the key of the cover is a semitone down which changed the overall feel and groove of the song. The vocal parts are rather high for the lead part and the second part is lower for voice. The cover has a third harmony that is higher then the lead vocal part. Both songs use bass guitar creating lower notes. The timbre of both songs are very simple. They are both easy to listen to. Both versions use smooth sounding instruments and both vocalists have very clear voices. The speed of the songs are both slow but the Shaw Blades version is slightly faster. Both songs are organized into five versus that all end in the word ‘silence.’  I prefer to listen to the Shaw Blades version of the song. The semitone difference between the two is enough to make the cover seem very eerie and mysterious as opposed to the original which sounds sad and whiney. I am a little bias of course seeing how Tommy Shaw is the lead singer of Styx, my favorite band. 

In Class Movie

Animation!!!!

Reflections on Sound Design

This is one of my favorite scenes from the movie FIGHT CLUB. The scene is the explanation of what exactly they are about, so the sound is very important. They make good use of the Gestalt Principle.  They use figure and ground to create an interesting picture by making the scene fairly dark around most of the people, but Tyler is more clearly lit. They also used illusion to make it seem like there was a bunch of noise in the background even though there were just a bunch of little sounds happening one after another. This scene also uses listening modes to convey the intense meaning. Casual and Semantic listening are used throughout the entire scene. The scene opens up with semantic listening as an off screen Edward Norton is talking about what fight club is. Then it is used as Brad Pitt starts to explain all of the rules. If the audience didn’t understand any of this the rest of the movie would be completely pointless. It also makes use of casual sounds while he is giving the rules. throughout the entire monologue there are various small noises that are extremely loud. One man is shown and heard taking his belt off, some shoes are kicked around, and another man is shown popping bubblegum. This shows that the guys either know the rules already and are anxious to start or the newbies don’t want to waste time.