Jamie's Wallace and Gromit Analysis

Sound
- Ochestra music used throughout, always fitting with the mood of the scene
- Quiet, sinister music used for scenes to create tension. Loud disruptive music used for climactic scenes.
- Off screen noises used to create curiousity, confusion.
Mise en scene
- Knife
Editing

Camera work

Wallace and Gromit=Best thing since Roger Daultrie's undergarments

From a media perspective, it has to be said that Wallace and Gromit is probably better than Keira Knightly smothered in some sort of pliant material. Although I have to admit that a compilation of angles and music isn't quite as good as a Hollywood actress combined with honey. However, that being said, this is me trying to explain why it is as beautiful a sight to see as syrup draped over certain lumpy bits of anatomy.

Sound

1) The music throughout the film seems to be very confused when you closely listen to it, it has to try and keep up with the almost constant switches between thriller, horror and romance so it has to be irregular if it has a hope of keeping up with the footage.

2) A number of sound effects also seem to contribute to the film making it far more realistic and picture perfect. This is of course bearing in mind that this is an animated film, therefore every single sound you here is being dubbed into it after filming. The most impressive one of these sounds to me has to be the rattling of the teacups.

Camera Shots

1) The close up shot on the knife as it falls to the floor and spikes just between two slippers thrills the audience as well as emphasising the name of the film itself (A Close Shave)

2) The close up on the eaten plant is poignant as it arouses the suspicion of the viewer as to what exactly could have eaten the plant as well as all of the bite marks around the house.

3) The close up on the grate ion the basement as it creaks open makes the audience almost want to warn Wallace and Gromit that something is there.

4) Cross cutting has been used in the effort of building the suspense for the viewer

5) The close up on Wallace's and Wendalyne's hands touching as they try to collect all of the fallen balls of wool is a classic romantic shot that has been used since the dawn of time.

6) The close up on the dents in the Knit O Matic as they appear gives off an ominous impression, forcing the audience to wonder exactly why and what has made the dents from the inside.

7) The first opening scene when Shawn escapes and is watching through the rear view mirror is very sinister as all you can see in the mirror are Preston's frowning eyes giving the audience a firm idea of who the villain is

Mise En Scene

1) The clothing of the two main characters is typical of the nothern middle aged man. This makes it seem as though it really is just ordinary people living out their lives

2) The shadow falling over the sign gives off a sinister impression of danger.

3) The way that the film begins at night in what is effectively the back alleys gives off the impression of a classically seedy and shady scene where criminals roam the streets at will in masks with their sawn off shotguns stained with the blood of millions.


Ideologies

1) The theme of there being a constant threat to every sheep and human in the town is very strong throughout the whole of the film

2) There also appears to be a hint on the idea of false imprisonment as Gromit is framed for all of the sheep rustling done by Preston

((Will Price))

Jamie's Evaluation

Before we began this preliminary task I had a very limited understanding of what it takes to make and edit a filmed sequence. I felt reasonably comfortable on the theory side of things as we had done a lot on terms and covered all we needed to get started on the project. However, putting the theory into practise proved a lot more difficult than i had foreseen. I learnt that very subtle things that people who are just normally watching television or films would not notice, such as the 180 degree rule, have a big impact on the flow and continuity of a piece. Also i did not feel completely confident with using the editing software, however i got used to it very quickly would feel accomplished on it now.

I feel that as a group, we definitely all contributed an equal amount of workload into the project. We made all the important decisions regarding the piece as a group once we had had a dicussion on the best way to do something and come to an agreement between the three of us. In terms of location, we didn't really have to look far in order to find a place suitable for our sequence. We just needed an empty room that represented a police interrigation room. We all put in equal input into how the sequence was too be shot and this helped us get the work done quickly and efficiently as we had little arguements doing this.

Obviously, we made the three continuity editing strategies that were to be included our priority whilst filming. The first shot we filmed was the match on action shot as we agreed it would be the hardest to do. However I believe we dealt with it well as we did not over complicate the shot. To ensure we did not break the 180 degree Rule, we would set up an invisible line during shooting that we would stick too throughout.

In the main task our group will look to use the time we are given a lot better in terms just getting on with the task as I believe we spent to much time not doing much. However, once we got going we managed to accomplish a lot! Another thing we will look to improve on is exploring different techniques and doing more shots so as to give us a wider range of choice when editing.

Jamie Simmons :)

William's Superspecialawsome Evaluation

Throughout this preliminary task i have discovered quite a few things i didnt know before hand which will almost certainly guid me straight to coming up with something rather special and accurate to the specification for the main task.

Before i started the task i already had a pretty firm idea of some of the terms and what was required to make a good peice, for instance i didnt see Match On Action as being a term but nmore plain and simple common snese, which of course it is. But i didnt know about the 180 degree rule as i had never really noticed it in real life film work before, but when this was pointed out to me i suddenly realised just how often it is used.

I didnt find too much of the technical side very difficult. The camera started off as a bit of a tricky spot, filled with regular moments when i would end up charging off location to the technical department in the media block to get it sorted out for the first two lessons. But i easily got used to it and when i got the hang of it it wasnt too bad. The real difficulty on the technical side was the editing as i had never done any sort of video editing before let alone with imovie. With Georga's help however we managed to get through the editing. I think it wasnt as hard as i thought it would be but it was most certainly intimidating as my mind couldnt help but continue to think 'what if i push the wrong button and delete all our footage?'

We started off the task by sorting out the basics, storyboard and script were drawn up in just one lesson together. One of the few lessons we were all actually present. We then used the next few lessons to start filming, settling into one of the abandoned rooms in the old building of the college. Unfortunately however we had to work around other people, as the room was only ever free on a thursday, forcing us to use the other days to try and film any parts that werent inside the room itself. Fortunately however, there was usually at least 2 people from the group present so we could at least film as much as we could when we could.

As a group i think we worked well together when we could all actualy show up in college. Individually i think that i was probably best at directing where the shots were placed. We all seemed to listen to each other and was always interested in what each other had to say which i feel was importent as well as being able to have a laugh while we worked otherwise it would have just seemed like another boring task added onto the many we already had in other lessons. The filmwork especially was a testemony to this, the corpsing made for a really fun eworking environments and made sure that we were all kept interested in what we were doing if anything to see which of us would mess up our lines next.

The only dissapointment for me was that some of theshots didnt seem to come out as planned, the second to last one in particular was incredibly wobbly and juddery where it really shouldnt have been. I think that was the only place where we need advise, i know full well that i came in to filming days with a different top on at one point but i would like you to ask yourself if you would have realy noticed had i not pointed this out to you. I should also like to point out, that considering that was the first idea of filming that any of us had ever done before, i think that its a very good first attempt ever.

Georgia's Evaluation

Throughout the making of the preliminary task I have found out many new things which will help me in media when filming.

Before I took media I didn’t understand how important filming was, such as match on action, the 180 degree rule.

When filming you have to make sure that you keep the camera steady, (which is much more harder than it looks). Also you need to make sure that you use the relevant shot sizes, angle’s etc.

For editing my group used imovie as we haven’t used editing software before. After 5 minutes of using the software it became quite easy to use, and we got the editing done quickly. We just put all of the necessary shots in order and cut the parts which we didn’t want in it, or the parts which we didn’t think worked well.

One part of the editing didn’t flow as well as it could have, so we cut a second from the end of one shot and the start of the shot next to it, which lead to the film looking how we wanted it to.

For the task, we started off making the storyboard together, so we could hear each others inputs. Then as a group we decided where the best location for filming would be. I mainly did the filming for the task. To do this it took over a few days, we used the classroom time to do the filming, we used the time effectively. Then when we finished the acting and filming I helped with editing all the shots together, we used some of our own time to do this.

AS a group we all made sure we listened to each other to make sure that we all understood what we wanted to achieve and how we wanted the shots to be. We changed some of the storyboard as we were filming as we listened to each others ideas if we thought something would work better from the original ideas we had. As well as this we changed some of the script. Also as a group we looked at where we should place the camera so we would have enough space around it and that it wouldn’t be in the way.

Unfortunately when filming, some of the shots didn’t come out how we wanted them to, some of it was uneven, wobbly etc. So next time when we film I think we should take more of the same shot to see if they improve each time we take them, then also we will have more choice from which shot would look better. And also try our best to keep the camera steady and maybe find different techniques that could help us when filming. As well as this I think sometimes we forgot to set the white balance, so for the main task, setting the white balance should be done each time we take a new shot.