The professional film I chose is the Wizard of Oz. Apart from its memorable songs and characters, this film is loaded with iconic master edit shots that help guide the story of Dorothy Gale from Kansas who was swept up by a twister and taken to the land of Oz.
1. Leitmotiff
Leitmotiff uses musical interludes or phrases that often repeat throughout a film. In the Wizard of Oz, the antagonist, mean old Miss. Gulch always enters the scene with the same musical theme playing behind her. The first video shows the scene of her making her way on her bike to the Gale family farm to take Dorothy's dog, Toto, away. The second video shows the scene where Dorothy is inside her house as it is swept up in the twister. She sees Miss. Gulch ride her bike through the twister and then turns into the Wicked Witch of the West flying on her broomstick. In both clips, the same instrumentals are played. Whenever the audience hears this tune throughout the rest of the movie, they know that the Gulch/Witch is present.
2. Contrast
The Contrast shot shows one shot and then switches to another shot, completely different from the previous one. The Wizard of Oz has possibly one of the most iconic contrast shots in film history. This video shows Dorothy in her house after it has landed from the twister. The scene, like every scene in Kansas, is shown in black and white. As the clip progresses, Dorothy opens her front door and discovers that she has traveled to the land of Oz. Once she opens the door, the scene switches from black and white to technicolor.
3. Symbolism
Symbolism uses an object or idea to provide a deeper meaning that moves the film from one area to another. In the Wizard of Oz, the whole film revolves around Dorothy struggling to understand the idea of home and make her way back to it. Near the end of the movie, Dorothy is finally able to go back to Kansas -- what she has worked for the whole time she was in Oz. She must click her heels together three times and repeat the phrase "There's no place like home." The clip shows Dorothy doing just that. The symbolism in the scene is the ruby red slippers that have followed her in her entire journey and have helped her finally understand that she has always had the power to go back to Kansas. Home is not necessarily just a place, it is who you are with and where you find your heart's desires. This scene does an excellent job of symbolizing the message of home.
Movie Opener Final Cut After reviewing some comments made by my classmates, I edited my film opening. I re-shot some clips of individuals putting on masks and asked the actors to look more serious because I did receive a comment saying that the emotion of the shots in the first draft fit the tone. I think these ones look nicer and have the emotion that matches the film opening's overall tone, which is pretty somber and reflective. Additionally, some mentioned that I take a look at the audio. I re-did the audio to make sure that the backing music sounded good at all times and the voices of the actors counting down from 10 were loud enough to hear. I am thankful for those comments and think that they helped me improve the quality of my film opening.
I decided to comment on the mise-en-scene of the 2008 movie, "Mamma Mia!" I made this decision because this is one of my favorite movies and I think the setting, lighting, costumes, and staging are quite remarkable. For those unfamiliar, Mamma Mia takes place in the Greek Islands and features Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep) who is preparing for her daughter's wedding. Her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), secretly invited three men from her mother's past in the hope of one of them being her real father. Mamma Mia is a jukebox movie-musical that is based on the songs of the Swedish pop band ABBA. The movie opens in the dark of night on the island, and pictures Sophie mailing letters to her potential fathers. Deep Space is used in this opening scene. This opening sequence has the song “I Have a Dream” playing under it, and contains a variety of wide, low, follow, and cameo shots. Sophie is looking from the letters to the open ocean. Deep Space is used in this frame ...
In season three, episode 4 of the Netflix series "Black Mirror," the shot opens up with a plain black screen. White text in the form of codes begins to appear, doing so with sounds of typing playing. The text shows the show title, Black Mirror, and then a crack in the screen jumps out -- almost as if the screen was an actual mirror. The sounds flatline and the text fades. The episode title, "San Junipero," shows quickly and then also fades. Just with the title sequence, there is bits of suspense and erieness due to the typing and flatlinning sounds that will leave the audience wanting to see and hear more. The opening shot of the episode shows waves of the ocean rising to the shore. The setting is dark, showing the audience that it is clearly night time. The water is also dark except for the neon colors reflecting onto it, this shows that the shot has developed through low-key lighting. An establishing shot is then shown, displaying the city which is off the coast ...
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