Movie Sequence Analysis-The Holiday

Media Prep 4 – Textual Analysis Assignment
by Stephanie Kufferath
I analyzed the first 10 minutes of my favorite movie “The Holiday” which is a love-comedy and was published in 2006 and directed by Nancy Meyers. The movie is about two women who are desperately in love and change houses and lives for two weeks to try to find themselves. In these two weeks they meet new partners and finally begin to live a better life full of love. The Sequence I am going to analyze is made up out of 5 little and 1 big sequence. The main sequence takes part in an office around Christmas time in the year 2006.
In the beginning the camera fades in to a mid shot and shows a pair kissing each other while the names of directors and actors are screened in at the bottom. The Soundtrack is played non-diagetical and is a slow piece of music. Then the camera zooms out to an establishing shot which shows that the male character Miles is playing the soundtrack for the movie scene that we have just seen. The shot is used to show that Miles is a film music producer and to him the music is diagetic. After this the camera zooms to show his facial expression while he is looking at his girlfriend Maggie. This is represented by the point-of-view shots between Miles and Maggie. His point of view is a low-angle and hers is a high-angle because she is standing and he sits on his chair. This should also represent that he is the one chasing after her and she “wears the trousers”. At this point the commentary and the talk to the audience by one of the main Protagonists called “iris” starts and she describes the different relationships and love situations that refer to the characters which are presented. The camera crabs right to another scene where you can see two people in a car looking at each other but they do not have anything left to say. The camera zooms up to a close up and there is a two-shot to show their facial expressions while the music is going on playing non-diagetical. While Iris continues to talk about relationships the camera tilts up to a mise-en-scene which shows that they were sitting in a car and are stuck in a traffic jam around Christmas time. After this the camera cross cuts to the bedroom of an old man with this picture of his wife in the left hot spot while Iris says that “for others, love is simply lost”. Another cross cut into a bar where the camera is tracking a young boy who is flirting with a girl and finally walks over after some point of view shots which express that they are looking at each other. All these cross cuts introduce us to the main characters in the whole movie and show us, with what kind of love they are dealing, so the audience directly knows who is who. After this the camera finally cuts to Iris with a full shot which shows that she is working in her Biro on a present. The camera zooms in and crabs to Iris with a mid shot showing how she is packing the present and then an insert shot to show how she puts the present into her cupboard. Then she gets up while her voice continues and the camera tracks behind her and finally focuses her when her voice says “yes you are looking at such an individual”. Then she starts describing her experience with love and we see a point of view shot to the man she loves. While she walks over to talk to her friend the camera tracks behind her and ends up in a two shot. When they start their dialogue the soundtrack stops and we can hear a diagetic melody which are Christmas songs that are played in the office. While they talk about Iris’s relationship to Jasper the camera uses an over the shoulder shot to focus on the person who is talking, until a third person is entering and the camera jump cuts to Iris sitting back in her office working on her computer. While she is typing you can see her back until Jasper starts to talk and she turns around. Then the camera switches into a point of view shot to show Jasper in a low-angle shot leaning on her door. During their conversation the camera cuts between point-of-view shots either high or low angle. His point of view is a low angle because he is standing which represents that she doesn’t mean very much to him and he just pretends as if. When Iris gives her present to Jasper the camera zooms into her face up to a close up to show how nervous she is giving him her present. In the middle of their conversation they are interrupted by their chief who wants to do a speech for their company and they have to get out. However there is a jump cut to Iris and Jasper walking through the people but the camera follows Iris because Jasper decides to leave to talk to other people. While she is standing in the crowd the chief is shown in a low-angle shot because she looks up to him. When he finally addresses her she is shown in a mid shot between the other people in a high-angle. When the chief announces that Jasper is getting married the camera zooms into Iris’s face to show how hurt she feels and the Soundtrack of the piano starts to play again to underline her emotions because the man she loved for so long did not even tell her that he’s is getting married and told her 2 minutes before that he loves her. After Iris and Jasper exchange views Iris leaves and the camera cuts to a Montage sequence which shows Iris home way. She needs to go through London, go by train, through her little village and finally to her little cottage where there is another insert shot to piece of wood which says “Rosehill Cottage”. When Iris enters her house the camera zooms out and shows her house with the lights switching on to show that he had entered. When Iris starts crying the Soundtrack stops and the camera fades out into dark.
All in all this scene shows very clearly what kind of person Iris is like because the camera shots and movements represent her character to an extent that you can identify with her. She is very breakable and doesn’t have any luck with love and this is a feeling that many people know, so when she is talking to the audience in the beginning everybody can identify with her and sympathy is created. Another motion that is created by the camera is that the viewer directly dislikes Jasper because the Close-ups show very well that she is hurt by him and he doesn’t care at all. I really like how the first ten minutes of the movie are built up according to cuts, because all important characters and stories are introduced shortly with the help of Irises speech. This is one of my favorite movies because I think a lot about love and can totally understand the feelings of the Protagonists.

Still and Video Camera

The Camera shots are very important to make a movie or a picture look good, because if you use the wrong settings it looks weird.
The battery on top of the camera shows how many minutes the battery still lasts. The time code ( - - : - - : - - : - - ) shows how many seconds, minutes or hours you have already recorded and the last bit of the time code shows the frames per second which is 25 on this camera so it moves up to 24 and starts at 0 again.
The number 16:9 shows the wide aspect because if you shoot in 16:9 the movie can be used for a original TV. (The old ones who looked like a square had been 4:3)
The little window in the camera tries to show the hotspots of the shot. DVCAM 48K means Digital Video Camera and 48 K is the Sound quality which is used for the movie.
The Number 50 stands for the shutter speed light and if it is increased it is sharper, which is good for action scenes. It is very important to NEVER but it below 50 because the pictures won’t be sharp at all.
If there is 18 db written on the ground of the window you should put it at zero because it makes extra light which you normally do not need.
Another very important setting is that if you film outside you need to switch on the sun symbol and if you are indoor the lamp symbol should be switched on because otherwise everything inside would be yellow.

Tripods

Today we have had a practical lesson about Tripods. Tripods are used to make a still image which lets the action play through. This means that you focus the Tripod with the camera up to a certain area and let the action go through it because then you’ll have a better view without irritations by the camera.
The Tripod can be moved and locked in lots of different positions. It is very important that whenever you move it, it needs to be perfectly locked. As well as all the legs etc are movable you can also tighten the pan and till instructions. If you want to pan or tilt softer or harder you can use the locking nuts and make sure the camera moves the way you want it to.
To put the camera on top of the Tripod you need to push the button, lock it after woods and make sure the camera is perfectly still.

Photoshop

Practical Lesson: Photoshop
Today we started working with Photoshop and learned the first basics which were how to cut things out and how to put other things in. Another thing we learned was how to work with Layers and to understand that you only get used to Photoshop if you practice using it and play around with it.
We started of opening the Adobe Photoshop and getting an image in it by taking one from the Internet or one our teacher Matt McIvor gave us. Then we opened the file and cut things out with the Rectangular Marquee Tool, then edit and copy it, and then paste it to make it “movable” through the Layers.
We learned three different way of cutting things out. First by simply drawing out the subject we wanted to cut out. Secondly by using the magnetic colour tool which follows the colours in the picture which is useful if you just want to cut out a black coat for example. Third, by using the Polygonal Tool where you can cut things out more detailed by making a circle or a figure out of lines.
Another important point was how to work with the Layers. The picture you are working with is usually in the background layer and this is where you see the complete picture. If you cut something out it opens another layer where only the object which was cut out still exists. You can only work on the whole picture if you are on the background layer.
Last we learned about Pixels. Pictures are pixels which are made out of little boxes you can see if you zoom a lot. There need to be 72 pixels per inch to make it good-looking on a TV screen. The Computer Pixels if you do a movie need to fit to the PC which has 720*576. All TV’s have a different size, but they all pixel the same size.

Horror Poster

The Media Prep: Image Production and Analysis
By Stephanie Kufferath
I was required to produce a Horror movie Poster that I created on my own with my own pictures and own ideas. My Poster shows a squid which is watching scuba divers in the ocean. His eye is in the foreground to make it look as if he is trying to follow them with his eyes and the divers can’t notice it. I think this is a good Horror movie poster because it is under the ocean in the depth of the sea and many people are scared of what might lie and wait for somebody down there. I took the picture on a diving Trip with my father in the red ocean in Egypt and now worked on it with Photoshop to make the squid more noticeable and put the anemones further into the background. I also screened in a title, a slogan, a directors name, actor names and a film company.
With lighting down the anemones and brightening up the squid the Hotspots are the squid in the foreground and the group of divers in the background swimming in the middle of the ocean. I also like that the viewer looks into the picture because behind the divers you can image the wide open see and the Poster gets its own depth. Another important thing that attracts the viewers attention are the colors because down in the ocean everything looses it’s color and everything is blue, but in this movie Picture the “main characters” which are the sea monsters and the divers are colored. I chose the picture with the squid because it is kind of red and this color represents a warning and draws attention to it. You can also identify it with blood and death that might come from the squid. The flippers and the oxygen bottles of the divers are yellow which builds a great contrast to the blue of the ocean.
I chose the title “depth because I think that the ocean is very deep and most people fear exactly this because they don’t know what might be living down there. I also think the title fits very well because in the Poster you can see that the bottom of the sea is falling down to the left side and goes deeper and deeper. The slogan says: “In the depth of the ocean nobody will ever find you, nor hear you scream”. I chose this slogan because it says exactly what people fear about the ocean because under the water it is difficult to communicate, you depend on your oxygen bottle and nobody will ever find you because in the middle of the ocean you are just a small person. The actors and directors I simply imagined because I wanted to create something new but it didn’t really refer to anything that I had in my mind.
In my Poster the signifier is the squid and the ocean because everybody knows what a squid is. The signified is the danger that comes from it because it can kill or attack the divers and there might be other cruel animals waiting in the depth.
All In all I personally think that this is a good example of a horror movie poster because the ocean is something we do not totally know and we have got no control of it, which is the reason why it is so scary. I also think that the poster portraits a psycho horror movie like “jaws” because in the ocean you can only see about 15 meters far and deep and for this reason a dangerous animal can come very quickly out of the dark without anybody noticing. In my opinion this poster makes the movie attractive because it doesn’t really show blood or an attack of somebody so that the action of the movie is taking place in the mind of someone who is looking at the poster.

Blade Poster

My own creation of the Blade Poster.

Family

This is me with my family again in Egypt at the Photoshooting. It was taken by the Photographer during the day and he turned it black and white. It is a medium shot.
My father and my mother, but my sister is missing because she wasn't able to come with us to Egypt because she had to stay in school to study. =(
I am in the Hotspot on the left corner and because the mise-en-scene is just us and the bar the focus is on me and my family

Europapark

This is me in the Europapark in Rust where I have been two months ago with my boyfriend.

The Europapark is an entertaining park with lots of rollercoasters and shops and i enjoyed it a lot. The trip to this place was a present for the 19th Birthday of my boyfriend.

The picture was taken with him in a low-angle shot during the day and shows me having fuun with these little animated mouse figures that i really loved =D

Friends in Germany

This picture was taken a long time ago when I had been with my friends at the football match in my home town Dueren. It was set up a place to watch Germany playing againist somebody else I can't remember.

The picture is a wide shot which shows some of my friends together dressed up in flags of Germany. The Picture was taken by a friend of mine in a little low-angle shot, at the end of the day while the sun is going down behind the buildings.

I like this picture because it represents my nationality and shows a coouple of friends and I love the day the picture was taken because Germany won the match.

My Profil

This is me doing a Photoshoot in Egypt where I have been on Hollydays with my family.

The Picture was taken by a Photographer and is shot in a high angle. It is a full shot of me in the middle of the day and you can see the sunlight coming through the building. I am sitting on the floor of the main entrance hall.

I like this picture because I loved my hair colour at that time and I like the expression on my face because the Photographer made me smile for this one. I also like it because I am sitting on the floor and I dislike pictures of me standing somewhere.

The mise-en-scene is just me so the whole focus of the picture is on me because the Hotspots are not filled out because you just see the floor without any graffiti or something else

Introduction

Welcome!
My Name is Stephanie Mareen Kufferath Kassner.
I am 16 years old and grew up in Cologne with my family and my older sister.
I am originally from Germany but I study Media Studies at Hurtwood House in England. This subject interests me a lot because I love movies and everything that has got something to do with it. My favourite movie is "The Holiday" and this is also going to be the movie that I am going to use for my next prep because I love Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz.
In the last 2 weeks I have learned a lot in Media Studies for example how to use Photoshop either to create Posters or how to make oneself beautiful.
In my school I am also studying Theatre Studies and Psychology and I am a singer.
This Blog is only about my Media Work that I will be doing over the next 2 years with all my Posters and Preps that migth interest someone.
Go and have a look! xx Steph