Pilot

Genre: Drama Group Members: Santiago Tapia Torres, Benjamin Nguyen

         Lady Bird Opening Scene Analysis           Lady Bird is a coming-of-age drama. At the beginning of the opening sequence, there is a single title; it is a quote from Joan Didion that says "Anybody who talks about California hedonism has never spent a Christmas in Sacramento." This, followed by Lady Bird's first dialogue asking her mother "Do you think I look like I'm from Sacramento?" introduces the main conflict of the film. The opening image is of Lady Bird and her mother, Marion, sleeping next to each other. We spend the entire opening scene with Lady Bird and Marion, as they drive back from a college trip after finishing a "The Grapes of Wrath" audiobook.           Lady Bird and her mother are constantly shown standing at opposite sides of the screen. This highlights their contrast of ideals, which becomes the main conflict of the movie. Even though the scene takes place during the day, it d...

Skyfall Opening Sequence      Analysis There are 32 titles displayed during the opening sequence.  Most of the prioritized images include James Bond himself.  However, there is also heavy imagery hinting at the main themes that the 007 franchise often deals with, such as death (gravestones, blood, and skulls), lust (women and weapons), psychopathy and mental disorders (Rorschach inkblot images), and betrayal (deceitful shadows).  The camera is almost exclusively zooming into these symbols to either reveal what they hide behind them or use them as transitions for the next shot.   This title sequence cleverly plays off the question of "will James Bond survive the fatal bullet?" It constantly goes back to the imagery of Bond with a bullet wound on his chest, and even shows him doing it to himself, suggesting that he caused this fate himself through the choices that he made. This is one of the main dramatic questions of the film, as Bond faces the risks an...

  1. Voice Over          For this example, I added a creepy clown laugh on top of the image of the clown decoration, as well as a purring sound over the cat. Adding a creepy laugh to the image of the clown really made the shot creepier. The contrast of images + sounds also highlighted the transition's mood change and gave the cat shot a bigger sense of comfort. 2. Sound bridge           To bridge the two shots together, I included a dissonant violin chord. The sound helps draw more attention to the change in detail and gives the scene a sense of discomfort. 3. Postsynchronous sound          To make the Echo feel more "techy", I added a warping sound effect over it, as if it were emanating a signal. Doing this gave it an eerie tone, which contributed to the message of "it's watching you". 4. Direct sound          Since Direct sound refers to using the sounds picked up while filim...

1. Parallelism               In this scene of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Scott sees Ramona for the first time. He is perplexed to the point that he ignores his own girlfriend. Stephen immediately pops into the frame and the scene cuts to a parallel of Scott, now at home, just as perplexed as he was before. This cut highlights how long Ramona's impact on Scott affected him. 2. Symbolism             In this scene of Breaking Bad Season 4 Episode 9, Jesse, one of the protagonists, visits Gus, the antagonist, for dinner. At the end of the scene, when Gus closes the door after letting Jesse in, the sound of the door closing matches the sound of Gus cutting vegetables with a kitchen knife. This match cut symbolizes the danger that Jesse is walking into by having dinner with Gus. 3. Simultaneity         In this sequence from DC's Stargirl , the main team of superheroes, the Justice Societ...

Five Master Edits  1. Contrast: This transition contrasts the creepiness of a scary clown face with the cuteness of a cat. There is also the contrast in lighting; the clown is in the dark while light shines on the cat's face. It goes from a shot of tension to giving a sense of peace. 2. Parallelism: I wanted to use this technique to create impact. I used some fake blood and matched my steps to show a stunning time skip from a man walking down his house to the tragic end of his life. 3. Symbolism: This one was my favorite one to make. I got to play with reflections and some colored lights I had in my room. I wanted to use the dollar bill in the piggy bank to represent how big companies invade our privacy through products like the Amazon Echo and it's all for the sake of money. I used the red tint to symbolize the inherent evilness of this concept. 4. Simultaneity: Cuts back and forth between the cat and the dowel rods. The final abrupt cut that goes along with the sound of the s...