Planning: Idea discussion-

Yesterday we discussed our  ideas for the short film with the teacher which, unfortunately, didn't sound very impressive to him, so we would now work on some more ideas and stories to present to him the next time.

My partner and I want to focus on something that has become a part of our culture and something that is common among our people here in Pakistan. For instance, if we want to focus on child labor or what and how the low socio-economic class in our country is struggling and making a living, or anything likewise, a Documentary would be more suitable to focus on such issues. But since we want to work on a short-film, it's going to take a lot of hard-work and brains to make an appropriate story line for matters like these.

So, now, we have about a week to go during which we will hopefully come up with an adequate storyline that is approved, and start working on it.

Research: Audiences Feeback

Our research was concluded by carrying out a questionnaire survey in which questions gained audiences' preferences for Short-films.

The survey was published on SurveyMonkey and people were asked to fill it out. As much age variation as possible was obtained.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9SBBQQ5

Screen shots of the results gathered:

Deconstruction of Media Product(2)

The next scene is also from Jerry Mguire; part of the ending to be more specific.

Scene starts with a close up of shot of one of the supporting charatcer's, the background is very well lit and showing christmas accents. The setting used for this scene is the protagonist's house- the settings have been, therefore, worked on accrodingly; very soft and cozy look has been created inside the house. As for the lights, flats lights have been used throughout the scene giving characters' a very soft look and making their faces glowy and entirely visible. 

Colour palatte used for the costumes is complimenting the genre, also the costumes colours are very pleasing to the eye-pastel colours are used.

The screen shots from the moive above are showing the use of the colour palett for characters' costumes.

The shot then cuts away to the long shot of the protagonist-low key lightings are used here to add to the nght time effect. The long shot zooms in and stops at mid-shot to focus on Jerry. The use of low key lighting here, in the close up shot, is also complimenting the character's emotions of regret and sorrow, yet, reilief as well.

Meanwhile, the shot cuts away to the heroine to show viewers her presences and  to convey it to convey it to them that he is thinking about her.

The next shot shows enterance of the hero into the house, asking for his wife. Use of long-shot has been done here so that his enterance does not seem very abrupt, meaning, that in the previous shots, close-ups have been used a lot, so, also to break that pattern, use of long shot has been very apropriate here. 

This long shot, however, zooms in to a mid-close up of the character placing emphasis on his facial expressions while he speaks. During this scene, the camera is pannig with character's movement to keep him in focus thorughout. 

Even when the shot cuts away to the heroine, camera movements are the same as with the protagonist; camera panning with the character moving. The change in positioning and camera movement, however, is more visible in the shots of the heroine. As it can be seen, from relevence with the painting behind, the actress is positioned on the left of it at first, and as she moves to the right, camera has also panned with her keeping her in focus at the exact same position as in the first frame. 

In the two screen shots below, use of 180degree rule has been made evident in a mid-long shot.

The camera, in the next shot, keeps zooming in on characters face when he is confessing his feelings to the wife. This much use of close up has been used so that emotions are accentuated and aundiences are able to understand and relate more to the character's position and feelings.

Apart from the camera work, rule of thirds is being followed here as well and the use of soft lighting 

As seen in the few shots above, the camera is slowly zooming in to the character's face; this has been done so that the intensity of the dialogues is increased, so that his facial expressions and gestures can make the audience feel the character's pain. Working out the shots this way engrosses the audiences completely into the film and plays with their emotions as well- what is actually required by the director.

Deconstruction of Media Product

Scenes from 'Jerry Maguire'

The film falls under two different genres which are drama and romance respectively. Codes and conventions of the genre have been followed in the film as characters' development is very close to real life and such that a person can relate to them. In context of romance, very soft lighting, colour palette and, very typical of the genre, happy ending after the major distances between the couple has been followed.

The scene of which analysis has been done is from the first thirty minutes of the film and starts with the close up shot of the protagonist. Low key lighting in this part of the scene is used mainly because of two reasons, night time is being shown and secondly because the character is distressed and worried, hence, use of high key or bright lighting would not have been appropriate.

Extreme close up of the protagonist's eyes is then immediately shown after the close up to highlight the moment of realisation and the reality check. From the above picture, work of light can be analysed as well. Low key side-lighting is used, highlighting  just the left half of the character's face, and a tint of blue has been added to the light to give it s moonlight effect- this would make the viewers perceive that light is coming through the window, creating a very natural effect. 

During this scene the protagonist is remembering meetings with other people from the past, therefore, the voices of those people has been used as a background score, along with the  voice over of protagonist's own narration of how he is feeling at this particular moment.

Further during the scene, lighting is changed- very soft light has been used here to focus on the character's distress. 

The scene slowly zooms, once again focusing on character's guilt  and regret. The Top camera Angle has also been used in this part. 

Since the entire scene is focused on the reality check and different realizations the protagonist has, variations of close up shots have been effectively used throughout to engross the viewers more and for them to understand the character's feelings and emotions more deeply.

 

The above shots are highlighting perfectly the use of close up shots in the scene and how these shots are capable of creating an impact on the viewers. The use of lighting here is once again the same as used in the first scene, i.e. low key lighting. In this part of the scene, eyes, I believe, are truly depicting how the protagonist is feeling; guilt, realisation, tension and enthusiasm to put everything back alright can be very well seen through the eyes. 

This scene of the film is falling under the drama genre, as character being shown here is very close to real life. Apart from that, the entire misc-en-scene is reflecting the wealthy, well settled character. In a previous part of the scene, where use of bright lighting has been made, it seems as if the character is in some hotel room; meaning; a very posh look has been created. Even later in the scene when long shots, following the composition rule of thirds,  have been shown, the entire background and setting of the room is giving a very high-class look, reflecting well on the character's requirements.

During the scene, from the part of realization hit till the end, a song has been used as the background score along with the character's own narration, as mentioned previously as well.