Monday 30 December 2013
Narrative structure of I am Legend
I Am Legend.The drama/sci-fi thriller hybrid of 2007!
Following the story of a Robert Neville’s journey with his dog Sam after a plague of zombies wipes clear almost the entire human race transforming survivors into other monsters within minutes.
The scenery, props and costume in this are used so effectively and precisely they help to create a lot of suspense to leaving the audience anticipating what comes next, showing that Robert truly is alone with Sam.
As for the sounds used, there wasn’t a lot of dialogue involved but tense music hinting oncoming actions or jump scares. The dialogue is deep in terms of thought and speech apart from the occasional Bob Marley reference., allowing us to understand the character and almost be able to share his pain.
The plot structure isn’t the strongest; apart from the occasional zombie scare and battle conflict is kept to a minimum, apart from the emotional parts where are little to keep the audience on track. When it comes to the narrative structure it’s mostly shown through the use of flashbacks. This allows the audience to keep up with the story, and follow along with the main protagonist – Will Smith. However, the pathos suffers when the character acts out unreasonably like when he meets the woman and her child. Which is different to how we have seen him react to his dog and the shop mannequins – treating them like a living human being?
Notes to narrate:
The beginning of I am Legend was told in first person narration, coming from Neville himself, whereas then it changes in the end to third person because it changes to Anna.
The flashbacks in the film are used to signify past memories and the chaos caused by the virus, allowing the audience to keep up to date with what's happened.
Although the events throughout the whole movie were uncoventional, the possibility of a cure going wrong, like Dr Alice's cure for cancer which is what started it all off is conventional.
In the first few moments of he film it introduces an official looking news report about the cure for the virus with a 100% pass rate so far,The first narrative code is then brought in allowing the audience to come up with their own ideas of what the stories going to be about and why there was such an urgency for this cancer cure.
Many questions are brought in within the first few minutes of the film, especially when we see the main character holding a gun. Questions like, what could he be planning doing with that gun if he is truly abandoned like the film so far has portrayed. The opening sequence to I Am Legend uses different narrative codes well to make the audience think and ask themselves questions that they anticipate throughout the film for these questions to be answered.
Storyline:
Outbreak and ensuring families safety by sending them away
set up a safe zone for himself
find the cure
hunt for food (deer)
retrieve Sam from building filled with infected
escape a trap set by the infected
kill his dog
Kill himself
defend his safe zone and protect Anna and Ethan
Extract blood from the cured infected
stop the infected from getting to the family by detonating a grenade,
killing himself in the process To create a cure for the infected.
The Quest To restore humanity and "light up the darkness".
Refusal of the Call
He decides to stay in New York to try and find a cure, instead of escaping with his family.
After losing his only companion, Neville attempts to kill himself.
A woman and her son intervene and save him at the last minute.
She fixes his leg, helps clear his mind and gives him someone to converse with.
The End
Enemies:
"Darkseekers" -vampiric like zombies that kill any living being.
Main enemies shown Alpha male and Female.
Thursday 19 December 2013
Sound Editing
S O U N D E D I T I N G
Introduction:
Recording and editing back in the older days were never a simple task mainly because not everyone had access to the erquired equipment and because of prices being so high of this new equipment it was harder to get your hands on. Now-a-days, a simple PC's microphone can be used to record sound and most have a basic system on it that can allow you to edit, if not then clicking on the microphone settings will allow you to alter the sounds anyway.
Of course, using PC's wont produce pro-task material but the majority use this to just record simple vlogs (video blogs) and quick messages. It is also probably the cheapest bit of recording material available. As well as recording on your phones - before they had apps available on them.
If you need some serious work with your recordings and editing investing in better audio equipment will come in handy either that or extending the capabilities of your hardware on your PC. Presuming you already have a PC with a built in microphone, you just need an audio editing software to make changes to the sound you want to manipulate.
The basic idea that you need to remember when editing software is how good you can make
something out of it, was it really useful or could something better cover it?
SOFTWARES
Audacity
This software is better for single track editing, there is very little that cannot be achieved with Audacity, and achieved easily. Track editing however isn't it's own function. it's also able to apply effects and modify existing audio tracks. That's cool!
With this software you can record tracks in either mono or stereo using a sample rate up to 96kHz depending on your hardware. The process of recording a track is really simple too with simple controls. It is capable of mult-track recording but this can also depend on your hardware as the more memory on your hardware the better this works.
It's not the best choice but it does the job!
Kristal Audio Enguine.
iThis is one powerful mutli-recording audio device, combining recording, audio sequencing and audio mixer. This is a better software for beginner film editors!According to their website, "It is designed as a modular system. The main application provides a mixing console, while the audio sequencer, live audio input and so on are loaded as separate Plug-Ins".
It can only handle a maximum of 16 audio tracks, but the website has promised a newer faster and better one with more plugins. Kristal requires a modern, fast PC. Don't even think about using it with a sub-1Ghz machine!
WavosaurIt can hold up to 708KB and is the only program so far on here that requires no installation so doesn't take up any space on your PC. Even though it is a small programme, it contains a lot of advanced features including pitch shift, vocal removal, DC offset removal, silence remover, crossfade loop
Zombie films must have
1.)
STUDY STUDY STUDY!!!
You should watch at least 5 Zombie films. Play plenty of games like Left for Dead 2. Consume as much zombified media as possible before planning!
2.)
REASONS
Make a reason to why you have zombies. E.G- Apocalypse, Disease, Virus.
3.)
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!!!
The location is especially important in productions it can really help the audience follow the story better, for example in horror films you wouldn't have some happier place like heaven unless you're doing a psychological horror. Better locations would be cemeteries or abandoned streets.
4.)
SCRIPT!
Scripts are obviously important in productions, and are good to start as early as possible.
5.)
ACTORS!
Granted you most likely wont get the next Angelina Jolie or Will Smith, but gathering some friends and have them volunteer or audition for their parts is always a good idea. You need to have at least 15 actors to play as the zombie to show the zombie horde scenes. The audience are clever to know if the same actor is just wearing different makeup each time.
6.)
DETAIL
Details for movie making are always important, like characters, time not just of the day but what year? Sometimes these details can help to pick out a title. For example, 2012 was supposed to be set in 2012 and showing what could happen, and so came it's title.
7.)
CAMERA, ACTION!
After all these steps have been followed, then you can start filming the scenes. It's always best to do a scene at a time because of how much memory it'll take up on the camera.
8.)
EDITING
One the scenes have been filmed to how they were imagined, then its time to upload to an editing software to start working on music, credits, and edits in general. This will make a film more entertaining to watch.
9.)
FINISHED
Once you've finished editing, you can then pat your self on the back. You are done!
STUDY STUDY STUDY!!!
You should watch at least 5 Zombie films. Play plenty of games like Left for Dead 2. Consume as much zombified media as possible before planning!
2.)
REASONS
Make a reason to why you have zombies. E.G- Apocalypse, Disease, Virus.
3.)
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!!!
The location is especially important in productions it can really help the audience follow the story better, for example in horror films you wouldn't have some happier place like heaven unless you're doing a psychological horror. Better locations would be cemeteries or abandoned streets.
4.)
SCRIPT!
Scripts are obviously important in productions, and are good to start as early as possible.
5.)
ACTORS!
Granted you most likely wont get the next Angelina Jolie or Will Smith, but gathering some friends and have them volunteer or audition for their parts is always a good idea. You need to have at least 15 actors to play as the zombie to show the zombie horde scenes. The audience are clever to know if the same actor is just wearing different makeup each time.
6.)
DETAIL
Details for movie making are always important, like characters, time not just of the day but what year? Sometimes these details can help to pick out a title. For example, 2012 was supposed to be set in 2012 and showing what could happen, and so came it's title.
7.)
CAMERA, ACTION!
After all these steps have been followed, then you can start filming the scenes. It's always best to do a scene at a time because of how much memory it'll take up on the camera.
8.)
EDITING
One the scenes have been filmed to how they were imagined, then its time to upload to an editing software to start working on music, credits, and edits in general. This will make a film more entertaining to watch.
9.)
FINISHED
Once you've finished editing, you can then pat your self on the back. You are done!
Thursday 12 December 2013
Zombie Films so far...
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