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.
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 ...
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.
Here is a screenshot of my editing. I recorded shots of individuals putting on a mask - somewhat solum which created a bit of a dramatic effect. A shot from last week (of a series of text messages discussing the changes going on once the coronavirus hit) transitions to a shot of the first individual (Lissa Mann) putting on a mask. I wasn't sure last week how it was going to work, but I like how the text is shown briefly over the next shot as they transition. Here is the second screenshot of my editing screen from more filming that I was able to do this week. I'm not sure if I am going to add extra titles or not because I like the simplicity. In my last post, I showed my title scene. This week I am going to work on implementing the big party scene and making sure those transitions go smoothly and work nicely. I also have been playing around on iMovie with audio. The party scene will have mostly diegetic sound and maybe some light music underneath. These scenes a...
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