Due to the snow on Thursday I was unable to come in a take a camera home so filming was postponed to Sunday evening, the 8th.
On the monday after I uploaded my work onto adobe premiere and tried to put it together as best i could. After putting it together i noticed that it was longer than i anticipated so i will need to compensate that by making the other scene shorter and take out and change around the choreography a bit.
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Time Plan
WB – 02/02/09
Film talking scene, between Tien and Terry
-Actors (Family)
-1 camera plus stand
-Location (my house, easy to get to, walk)
-Normal clothes
-Narration
-180 degree rule, match on action, rule of thirds etc…
Edit film - - load up what I’ve filmed onto computer and edit what I can
WB – 09/02/09
Film fight scene
-Tracking Shot, jump cuts, mid, close and long shots
-Actors (Myself, Sam Hall, Nathan Wilcox, extras)
-Clothes (Cloak and Mask of Nathan, Suit and dresses for extras, hoodies and masks for Sam and myself)
-Crew (Nathan Wilcox, Anthony McGowan, Myself)
-College Bus and walking
-2 Cameras plus stands
Continue Editing - - Load up what I’ve filmed and then edit as much as possible including last weeks filming
WB – 16/02/09
Half Term
WB – 23/02/09
Post Production - - Editing clips
-An overall attempt at making everything mesh together and run smoothly, then I can think about adding a soundtrack and the effects.
-Fast paced editing
-If needs be go back and re-shoot scenes
WB – 02/03/09
Post Production - - Music and sound, credits
-Need to search through music to find a suitable soundtrack and sound effects
-Add credits to opening tracking shot of film
WB – 09/03/09
Post Production - - Patching up
-Finish the film by adding final little touches and effects (e.g slow mo)
-Burn onto DVD
Film talking scene, between Tien and Terry
-Actors (Family)
-1 camera plus stand
-Location (my house, easy to get to, walk)
-Normal clothes
-Narration
-180 degree rule, match on action, rule of thirds etc…
Edit film - - load up what I’ve filmed onto computer and edit what I can
WB – 09/02/09
Film fight scene
-Tracking Shot, jump cuts, mid, close and long shots
-Actors (Myself, Sam Hall, Nathan Wilcox, extras)
-Clothes (Cloak and Mask of Nathan, Suit and dresses for extras, hoodies and masks for Sam and myself)
-Crew (Nathan Wilcox, Anthony McGowan, Myself)
-College Bus and walking
-2 Cameras plus stands
Continue Editing - - Load up what I’ve filmed and then edit as much as possible including last weeks filming
WB – 16/02/09
Half Term
WB – 23/02/09
Post Production - - Editing clips
-An overall attempt at making everything mesh together and run smoothly, then I can think about adding a soundtrack and the effects.
-Fast paced editing
-If needs be go back and re-shoot scenes
WB – 02/03/09
Post Production - - Music and sound, credits
-Need to search through music to find a suitable soundtrack and sound effects
-Add credits to opening tracking shot of film
WB – 09/03/09
Post Production - - Patching up
-Finish the film by adding final little touches and effects (e.g slow mo)
-Burn onto DVD
Rough Script
Tien:
It was never my intention to fight…
(Cut to clip of fight)
It was something I was bred to do…
(Cut to clip of Fight)
To fight for the entertainment of the upper classes and to honour my masters pocket…
(Cut to clip of fight)
The battle raged on and my master barked orders savagely, as I fought for my very
life…
(Arrives at fight)
Gematia:
Finish This!
(Fight Scene and beginning of soul taking)
Tien:
As the sorceror began to take the soul of my opponent I felt the…
(Cut to Tien’s house)
Terry:
Woah woah woah… Began to take his soul?
Tien:
It’s true I tell you
Terry:
Okkkk... Welp, I think that’ll do it for one night James, take your medicine and ill see you in the morning.
Tien:
I told you my real name’s Tien
Terry:
Ok, well your file says James. I’ll see you in the morning to cook you breakfast.
Tien:
Fine.
(Terry leaves house)
It was never my intention to fight…
(Cut to clip of fight)
It was something I was bred to do…
(Cut to clip of Fight)
To fight for the entertainment of the upper classes and to honour my masters pocket…
(Cut to clip of fight)
The battle raged on and my master barked orders savagely, as I fought for my very
life…
(Arrives at fight)
Gematia:
Finish This!
(Fight Scene and beginning of soul taking)
Tien:
As the sorceror began to take the soul of my opponent I felt the…
(Cut to Tien’s house)
Terry:
Woah woah woah… Began to take his soul?
Tien:
It’s true I tell you
Terry:
Okkkk... Welp, I think that’ll do it for one night James, take your medicine and ill see you in the morning.
Tien:
I told you my real name’s Tien
Terry:
Ok, well your file says James. I’ll see you in the morning to cook you breakfast.
Tien:
Fine.
(Terry leaves house)
Planning and Research
In terms of the institution who would produce my film, I would like go for new line cinema. They were responsible for the Mortal Kombat movie, as well as many other martial arts/ action film, E.g. Mortal Kombat, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Surf Ninjas, The Street Fighter, Rush Hour etc… By choosing New Line Cinema the audience will know what kind of film they are going to get out of it, and will expect good things as well, as they are responsible for blockbusters such as the Lord Of the Rings.
In the Fearless (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WQnBrEAzvE4) film the two characters are fighting over honour, in the Mortal Kombat clips they are fighting for the sake of fighting, however, the good guys are fighting for a bigger thing than there own gain, they are fighting to save the world. I think honour is very important and is often used in Chinese film.
Back in the 70’s, nearly all of Hong Kong martial arts films would revolve around a students master or friends being killed, and then the student going off to take revenge. Examples of this are in films such the 36th Chamber of Shaolin, and Fist of Fury.
In my film I think I’ll go for that but go the other way, where the protagonist realises that his master is not all he’s cracked up to be and ends up wanting to go the other and take the life of his master to reclaim his own honour, in the process realising that it isn’t honourable to kill people, I got this idea from Jackie Chan film, The Fearless Hyena, and his father tells him that he teaches him to fight so that he doesn’t have too.
However this will not be a period piece like Fearless, but more of a Hollywood product like the Mortal Kombat film , that way I can bring it up to date a bit. I’ll do this by incorporating a more ‘rock’ styled soundtrack, similar to that of as well as the more Chinese orchestral music associated with Fearless.
At the beginning part of the film I will use a tracking shot towards the church building, much like in the intro to Mortal Kombat deception . This will provide a good platform for my opening credits to stand. I’ll interlope it with short cuts the fight going on inside the church, much like in the clip. This will allow the audience to anticipate the coming fight scene.
Fearless uses intentional jump cuts and intentional ellipses that connote the pace of the action, I’ll hopefully be able to incorporate these ideas. Also in Fearless, a cross between fast and slow motion is used in combination to make what the actors are doing more spectacular. Slow mo is normally used in more epic parts of the scene, or if something needs to be noticed and is too quick for the eye to see properly, I plan to make use of this too as it will help with some of the more complicated bits of choreography.
During the fight I’ll also take elements from the Mortal Kombat fight scene, between Johnny Cage and Scorpion. In it are used an array of mid and long shots, but most importantly in this scene are the POV shots. This allows the audience to feel more a part of the battle and it makes the scene a lot more intense.
When it comes down to when the sorcerer takes someone soul in my film I’m not sure what techniques I’m going to use. Due to the abysmal budget I can afford to give it amazing special effects. So I think I’ll incorporate the ghosting effect on adobe premier to make the whole scene seem more surreal.
In terms of the slower part of the scene where two people are just talking I shall stick to the normal recipe for film making, 180 and 30 degree rule, rule of thirds, match on action cuts, and all the elements I need to include and are looked at by the examiners. These techniques I have already used when doing other films with film studies and earlier in the preliminary exercise.
After seeing the characters from these three fight scenes, it is clear who the ‘badies’ were, through the way they dressed, acted and how other elements portrayed them. From the Deception intro the two ‘bad guys’ are dressed in darker and more sinister clothes. One has pale skin and tattoos with spikes on his clothes with dark green trousers and the other wears red, with quite expensive looking clothes. These colours and costumes connote these two as shedders of blood and that they are very good at it. The fact that the fight is two on one also shows their lack of honour, not giving a fair fight. In the other Mortal Kombat scene, as well as being dresses in dark yellow, and his eyes are clear with no pupils, making him seem all the more sinister, the music also portrays him as evil, whenever he comes onto screen heavy rock music plays, connoting his anarchaic nature.
The goodies in all three clips however are dressed in more simple clothes, in Deception Raiden is in white and light blue clothes, conoting his purity. Jet Li’s outfit is plain too, and Johnny Cage is the Hollywood generic hero personified.
For my film the only real bad guy, the sorcerer will be dressed in a most sinister outfit. I have seen from horror films such as Halloween and Friday the 13th , how scary a mask can be to an audience, so I shall give the sorcerer a terryfying mask to wear. In this scene there isnt particularly a good guy, however, the two fighters will be dressed in dark but simple clothes, much like in Jet Li’s Fearless but will still cover their faces much like scorpian in his film, making them seem more like tools for their masters to use as they wish.
The masters of the fighters will be dressed in suits, as they will be rich and powerful. In a sense the masters will be going against the dominant ideology of rich people as a civilised people. Being that they are betting on the lives of these two fighters, shows them as nothing other than savage and brutal.
The audience of all these clips are male, aged 15 to 24. It is for those who are into action and fighting, who are prodominantly male. The two Mortal Kombat scenes id say are for a B/C1 audience on the jicnar scale, more so the film than the deception intro. I think because they wont really reach a higher audience as it follows too greatly the hollywood formula and todorovian plot. However, the Fearless film puts a lot of effort into being beautiful and portraying a lot more emotion in the characters and storyline. The fact it’s subtitled also means that a less mainstream audience would go and see it and the morales involved in the plot make it for a more interlectual audience, a more B/A audience. As much as I would like to aim it at the highest end of the jicnar scale, my film probably won’t be able to reach that audience no matter how much I want it too due to lack of funding and depth of the story, however, I think a B/C1 audience will be my most likely target, as I can still appeal to them with complicated choreography and an interesting but easy to follow storyline.
In the Fearless (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WQnBrEAzvE4) film the two characters are fighting over honour, in the Mortal Kombat clips they are fighting for the sake of fighting, however, the good guys are fighting for a bigger thing than there own gain, they are fighting to save the world. I think honour is very important and is often used in Chinese film.
Back in the 70’s, nearly all of Hong Kong martial arts films would revolve around a students master or friends being killed, and then the student going off to take revenge. Examples of this are in films such the 36th Chamber of Shaolin, and Fist of Fury.
In my film I think I’ll go for that but go the other way, where the protagonist realises that his master is not all he’s cracked up to be and ends up wanting to go the other and take the life of his master to reclaim his own honour, in the process realising that it isn’t honourable to kill people, I got this idea from Jackie Chan film, The Fearless Hyena, and his father tells him that he teaches him to fight so that he doesn’t have too.
However this will not be a period piece like Fearless, but more of a Hollywood product like the Mortal Kombat film , that way I can bring it up to date a bit. I’ll do this by incorporating a more ‘rock’ styled soundtrack, similar to that of as well as the more Chinese orchestral music associated with Fearless.
At the beginning part of the film I will use a tracking shot towards the church building, much like in the intro to Mortal Kombat deception . This will provide a good platform for my opening credits to stand. I’ll interlope it with short cuts the fight going on inside the church, much like in the clip. This will allow the audience to anticipate the coming fight scene.
Fearless uses intentional jump cuts and intentional ellipses that connote the pace of the action, I’ll hopefully be able to incorporate these ideas. Also in Fearless, a cross between fast and slow motion is used in combination to make what the actors are doing more spectacular. Slow mo is normally used in more epic parts of the scene, or if something needs to be noticed and is too quick for the eye to see properly, I plan to make use of this too as it will help with some of the more complicated bits of choreography.
During the fight I’ll also take elements from the Mortal Kombat fight scene, between Johnny Cage and Scorpion. In it are used an array of mid and long shots, but most importantly in this scene are the POV shots. This allows the audience to feel more a part of the battle and it makes the scene a lot more intense.
When it comes down to when the sorcerer takes someone soul in my film I’m not sure what techniques I’m going to use. Due to the abysmal budget I can afford to give it amazing special effects. So I think I’ll incorporate the ghosting effect on adobe premier to make the whole scene seem more surreal.
In terms of the slower part of the scene where two people are just talking I shall stick to the normal recipe for film making, 180 and 30 degree rule, rule of thirds, match on action cuts, and all the elements I need to include and are looked at by the examiners. These techniques I have already used when doing other films with film studies and earlier in the preliminary exercise.
After seeing the characters from these three fight scenes, it is clear who the ‘badies’ were, through the way they dressed, acted and how other elements portrayed them. From the Deception intro the two ‘bad guys’ are dressed in darker and more sinister clothes. One has pale skin and tattoos with spikes on his clothes with dark green trousers and the other wears red, with quite expensive looking clothes. These colours and costumes connote these two as shedders of blood and that they are very good at it. The fact that the fight is two on one also shows their lack of honour, not giving a fair fight. In the other Mortal Kombat scene, as well as being dresses in dark yellow, and his eyes are clear with no pupils, making him seem all the more sinister, the music also portrays him as evil, whenever he comes onto screen heavy rock music plays, connoting his anarchaic nature.
The goodies in all three clips however are dressed in more simple clothes, in Deception Raiden is in white and light blue clothes, conoting his purity. Jet Li’s outfit is plain too, and Johnny Cage is the Hollywood generic hero personified.
For my film the only real bad guy, the sorcerer will be dressed in a most sinister outfit. I have seen from horror films such as Halloween and Friday the 13th , how scary a mask can be to an audience, so I shall give the sorcerer a terryfying mask to wear. In this scene there isnt particularly a good guy, however, the two fighters will be dressed in dark but simple clothes, much like in Jet Li’s Fearless but will still cover their faces much like scorpian in his film, making them seem more like tools for their masters to use as they wish.
The masters of the fighters will be dressed in suits, as they will be rich and powerful. In a sense the masters will be going against the dominant ideology of rich people as a civilised people. Being that they are betting on the lives of these two fighters, shows them as nothing other than savage and brutal.
The audience of all these clips are male, aged 15 to 24. It is for those who are into action and fighting, who are prodominantly male. The two Mortal Kombat scenes id say are for a B/C1 audience on the jicnar scale, more so the film than the deception intro. I think because they wont really reach a higher audience as it follows too greatly the hollywood formula and todorovian plot. However, the Fearless film puts a lot of effort into being beautiful and portraying a lot more emotion in the characters and storyline. The fact it’s subtitled also means that a less mainstream audience would go and see it and the morales involved in the plot make it for a more interlectual audience, a more B/A audience. As much as I would like to aim it at the highest end of the jicnar scale, my film probably won’t be able to reach that audience no matter how much I want it too due to lack of funding and depth of the story, however, I think a B/C1 audience will be my most likely target, as I can still appeal to them with complicated choreography and an interesting but easy to follow storyline.
For those who can be bothered to read - research into other films
In depth research into film clips
Mortal Kombat Deception, Raiden vs Quan Chi and Shang Tsung
Despite this being taken from a video game I know that gaming takes a lot from film and vice versa, I know this because I’ve seen plenty of films based on video games, Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat and Doom are just a few. This clip in particular uses techniques that would be good to incorporate in my own film. Obviously the setting of this clip would be impossible for me to create, due to lack of funding, however, in terms of cinematography and editing I can take a lot away from the scene.
It starts off with a forward tracking shot toward the location of the scene, in a way this acts as an establishing shot to show the viewer where this scene is taking place. Whilst the camera tracks forward it cuts in and out of people fighting, very quickly. This would be a superb start to a film and a place where I can incorporate the opening credits for my film.
Over the top of the scene is overlapping narration, an older wise voice. This would represent old people in a positive way in that they are very knowledgeable, as they have experienced a lot. He obviously knows something we don’t and due to the character having a distinctive voice we can tell that he has a part to play in the games storyline. Eventually the camera reaches the scene of the people fighting.
They are shown posing before they fight; a generic feature of many martial arts films. We can also see what the binary oppositions are. The two ‘bad guys’ are dressed in darker and more sinister clothes. One has pale skin and tattoos with spikes on his clothes with dark green trousers and the other wears red, with quite expensive looking clothes. These colours and costumes connote these two as shedders of blood and that they are very good at it. The fact that the fight is two on one also shows their lack of honour, not giving a fair fight. The ‘goodie’ in this scene on the other hand is nearly dressed completely in white with white blue and has rather simple clothing. His hair is white and eyes give off a bright glow. This shows his alignment to good, compared to those he is fighting.
During the fight there is plenty of smooth continuity editing and the takes, compared to some of the older martial arts films of the 70’s and 80’s, are quite quick really. The fast editing makes the scene seem more action packed and busy. When it comes down to techniques such as the 180 degree rule it’s quite hard to tell as there are three people in the fight. However you can see that it isn’t broken when there’s more of a one on one scenario.
Being that this clip shows death and shows a merciless approach to killing, I would have to say that the game would be aimed at an older audience, perhaps males, aged 15 – 24. The game itself is rated an 18 but that is through the use of blood and gore, however this isn’t included in this scene.
Toward the end of the scene a clear disruption to the diegesis can be seen as the dragon king arrives, and being that he can only be described as blatantly evil, with horns, scaly skin, he’s an enemy of the ‘goodie’, and his army are a bunch of walking skeletons, he is undoubtedly not a good guy and would pose a threat. Obviously because he’s a dragon the audience will assume he’s a bad guy. This would reveal that the rest of the story would involve defeating this Dragon King.
At the end of the scene the narrator reveals himself as clearly an old man, however, he is silhouetted, making the audience ask questions, who is he? Why is he the only one who can defeat the dragon king? Along with this enigma code is a dangling cause, as to what that circular thing that everyone wants is and whether or not it’ll be used to do something in the rest of the story.
I think for my film I want to borrow conventions of this scene, the narration for example and the forward tracking shot as it sets the scene very well. However in terms of the fighting perhaps some more slow mo could be used as it is a convention in both the old and new martial arts and action films of cinema.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WQnBrEAzvE4
Jet Li’s Fearless, Jet Li vs Master Chin
In this scene Jet Li is fighting Master Chin in a restaurant. Its starts off, similar to that of the Mortal Kombat opening, with the two warriors staring down each other and posing before battle. However, differences can be seen throughout the scene compared to the other. Firstly there is a mix of both intentional jump cuts and short ellipsis’, these techniques are used to connote the pace of the battle being that they are used within the genre it is something I may want to think about when doing my film.
Due to the fact it’s a video game, the Mortal Kombat opening can include anything it wants and has the potential of infinite spectacle, however, real films, and especially mine, will not be able to rely on this and so other techniques must be used. In this scene a cross between fast and slow motion is used in combination to make what the actors are doing more spectacular. Slow mo is normally used in more epic parts of the scene, or if something needs to be noticed and is too quick for the eye to see properly.
In terms of its audience, I would say it would be for 15 +. You can see from the use of blood and the violence incorporated in the scene that it would not be meant for an audience any younger than that. There is a slight beauty to the film as in how lighting, and colour is used and there’s also the fact it’s a subtitled film, so this would put it up the jicnar scale, probably a B/A audience as they are the only ones who can be bothered to try and watch a film with subtitles.
It’s not too easy to distinguish what the binary opposites are here. The character played by Jet Li is wearing black and we know by this point in the film that he is our main protagonist; however he is going through a bad patch in terms of his attitude towards his enemies as well as his friends and this is shown both through what he is wearing and the aggressiveness with which he fights. His enemy is Master Chin, he is dressed in red and is a much more imposing and physical figure, so we tend to feel more sympathy for Jet Li as he, as a much smaller individual, has to topple this giant.
Their weapons are also parallel to how they dress and look. Master Chin’s sword is much bigger and as we can see in the scene is able to cut down Jet Li’s smooth thin sword to nothing.
The non-diegetic music used, along with that of Mortal Kombat’s opening scene, is a traditional Chinese music sound track. Traditional music in China is played on solo instruments or in small ensembles of plucked and bowed stringed instruments, flutes, and various cymbals, gongs, and drums. Chinese orchestras traditionally consist of bowed strings, woodwinds, plucked strings and percussion. Traditional chinese music is used through out this scene. This music is often used in films in China and is very generic in terms of their martial arts films. The gongs and drums/percussion used connote the power of the characters and intensity of the scene. Although it hasn’t really been used in this scene (just for a split second), sometimes more high pitched intruments are used, these are sharp sounds and relate to the weapons that are used, swords. I also noticed, after the two fighters had lost their swords and were fighting in the pots and pans, the music stopped completely and we are left with the diegetic sound of them fighting. This allows the audience to focus on the action and realise how intense this long and agonising fight has become.
Mortal Kombat, Johnny Cage vs Scorpion
The non-dietic music used in this is fairly different from the two other examples, despite being from the same franchise as the first however this is a more Hollywood product and is trying to appeal to a teenage audience. Once they begin properly fighting there is a heavy use of guitar. This defines the character of the enemy that Johnyy cage has to fight, Scorpion. The music is very intense and angry, much like the character who’s voice is nothing but a deep, powerful growl.
The binary opposites are clear here, the manner in which they act is a give away first of all. Scorpion has a deep voice and is very aggressive and Johnnyu cage just seems to be fighting back against this maniac. The way scorpian is clothed is a lot more sinister, he is dressed in a ninja out fit which is dark yellow, his eyes are clear with no pupils, making him seem all the more sinister.
Another thing I noticed, as the two were fighting, was that a series of point of view shots were used which put you in the place of the cahracters and make you feel more a part of the battle. I think I may well use this technique for reason stated.
The location they are fighting is also quite an evil place, full of skeletons and is pretty dimly lit with a dark orange glow resinating over the place. Editing is pretty fast paced too, connoting the pace of the action. A mix of long shots and mid shots are used, the mid shots allowing the audience to see a more complicated display of choreography. This is also the case for the scene for Jet Li’s Fearless.
I also noted a lot of close ups shots are used to show the expression on the characters faces, making the scene more intense.
In this are slight horror elements, especially when Scorpion takes off his mask and reveals a skull, that sort of screams, something that wouldn’t be suitable for an audience below the age of atleast 15.
I’ve started to notice that most martial arts/ action films tend to be aimed at an audience aged 15 plus so ill probably aim for that as my audience, in terms of the jicnar scale I’d aim it a B/C1 class, mostly male.
Mortal Kombat Deception, Raiden vs Quan Chi and Shang Tsung
Despite this being taken from a video game I know that gaming takes a lot from film and vice versa, I know this because I’ve seen plenty of films based on video games, Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat and Doom are just a few. This clip in particular uses techniques that would be good to incorporate in my own film. Obviously the setting of this clip would be impossible for me to create, due to lack of funding, however, in terms of cinematography and editing I can take a lot away from the scene.
It starts off with a forward tracking shot toward the location of the scene, in a way this acts as an establishing shot to show the viewer where this scene is taking place. Whilst the camera tracks forward it cuts in and out of people fighting, very quickly. This would be a superb start to a film and a place where I can incorporate the opening credits for my film.
Over the top of the scene is overlapping narration, an older wise voice. This would represent old people in a positive way in that they are very knowledgeable, as they have experienced a lot. He obviously knows something we don’t and due to the character having a distinctive voice we can tell that he has a part to play in the games storyline. Eventually the camera reaches the scene of the people fighting.
They are shown posing before they fight; a generic feature of many martial arts films. We can also see what the binary oppositions are. The two ‘bad guys’ are dressed in darker and more sinister clothes. One has pale skin and tattoos with spikes on his clothes with dark green trousers and the other wears red, with quite expensive looking clothes. These colours and costumes connote these two as shedders of blood and that they are very good at it. The fact that the fight is two on one also shows their lack of honour, not giving a fair fight. The ‘goodie’ in this scene on the other hand is nearly dressed completely in white with white blue and has rather simple clothing. His hair is white and eyes give off a bright glow. This shows his alignment to good, compared to those he is fighting.
During the fight there is plenty of smooth continuity editing and the takes, compared to some of the older martial arts films of the 70’s and 80’s, are quite quick really. The fast editing makes the scene seem more action packed and busy. When it comes down to techniques such as the 180 degree rule it’s quite hard to tell as there are three people in the fight. However you can see that it isn’t broken when there’s more of a one on one scenario.
Being that this clip shows death and shows a merciless approach to killing, I would have to say that the game would be aimed at an older audience, perhaps males, aged 15 – 24. The game itself is rated an 18 but that is through the use of blood and gore, however this isn’t included in this scene.
Toward the end of the scene a clear disruption to the diegesis can be seen as the dragon king arrives, and being that he can only be described as blatantly evil, with horns, scaly skin, he’s an enemy of the ‘goodie’, and his army are a bunch of walking skeletons, he is undoubtedly not a good guy and would pose a threat. Obviously because he’s a dragon the audience will assume he’s a bad guy. This would reveal that the rest of the story would involve defeating this Dragon King.
At the end of the scene the narrator reveals himself as clearly an old man, however, he is silhouetted, making the audience ask questions, who is he? Why is he the only one who can defeat the dragon king? Along with this enigma code is a dangling cause, as to what that circular thing that everyone wants is and whether or not it’ll be used to do something in the rest of the story.
I think for my film I want to borrow conventions of this scene, the narration for example and the forward tracking shot as it sets the scene very well. However in terms of the fighting perhaps some more slow mo could be used as it is a convention in both the old and new martial arts and action films of cinema.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WQnBrEAzvE4
Jet Li’s Fearless, Jet Li vs Master Chin
In this scene Jet Li is fighting Master Chin in a restaurant. Its starts off, similar to that of the Mortal Kombat opening, with the two warriors staring down each other and posing before battle. However, differences can be seen throughout the scene compared to the other. Firstly there is a mix of both intentional jump cuts and short ellipsis’, these techniques are used to connote the pace of the battle being that they are used within the genre it is something I may want to think about when doing my film.
Due to the fact it’s a video game, the Mortal Kombat opening can include anything it wants and has the potential of infinite spectacle, however, real films, and especially mine, will not be able to rely on this and so other techniques must be used. In this scene a cross between fast and slow motion is used in combination to make what the actors are doing more spectacular. Slow mo is normally used in more epic parts of the scene, or if something needs to be noticed and is too quick for the eye to see properly.
In terms of its audience, I would say it would be for 15 +. You can see from the use of blood and the violence incorporated in the scene that it would not be meant for an audience any younger than that. There is a slight beauty to the film as in how lighting, and colour is used and there’s also the fact it’s a subtitled film, so this would put it up the jicnar scale, probably a B/A audience as they are the only ones who can be bothered to try and watch a film with subtitles.
It’s not too easy to distinguish what the binary opposites are here. The character played by Jet Li is wearing black and we know by this point in the film that he is our main protagonist; however he is going through a bad patch in terms of his attitude towards his enemies as well as his friends and this is shown both through what he is wearing and the aggressiveness with which he fights. His enemy is Master Chin, he is dressed in red and is a much more imposing and physical figure, so we tend to feel more sympathy for Jet Li as he, as a much smaller individual, has to topple this giant.
Their weapons are also parallel to how they dress and look. Master Chin’s sword is much bigger and as we can see in the scene is able to cut down Jet Li’s smooth thin sword to nothing.
The non-diegetic music used, along with that of Mortal Kombat’s opening scene, is a traditional Chinese music sound track. Traditional music in China is played on solo instruments or in small ensembles of plucked and bowed stringed instruments, flutes, and various cymbals, gongs, and drums. Chinese orchestras traditionally consist of bowed strings, woodwinds, plucked strings and percussion. Traditional chinese music is used through out this scene. This music is often used in films in China and is very generic in terms of their martial arts films. The gongs and drums/percussion used connote the power of the characters and intensity of the scene. Although it hasn’t really been used in this scene (just for a split second), sometimes more high pitched intruments are used, these are sharp sounds and relate to the weapons that are used, swords. I also noticed, after the two fighters had lost their swords and were fighting in the pots and pans, the music stopped completely and we are left with the diegetic sound of them fighting. This allows the audience to focus on the action and realise how intense this long and agonising fight has become.
Mortal Kombat, Johnny Cage vs Scorpion
The non-dietic music used in this is fairly different from the two other examples, despite being from the same franchise as the first however this is a more Hollywood product and is trying to appeal to a teenage audience. Once they begin properly fighting there is a heavy use of guitar. This defines the character of the enemy that Johnyy cage has to fight, Scorpion. The music is very intense and angry, much like the character who’s voice is nothing but a deep, powerful growl.
The binary opposites are clear here, the manner in which they act is a give away first of all. Scorpion has a deep voice and is very aggressive and Johnnyu cage just seems to be fighting back against this maniac. The way scorpian is clothed is a lot more sinister, he is dressed in a ninja out fit which is dark yellow, his eyes are clear with no pupils, making him seem all the more sinister.
Another thing I noticed, as the two were fighting, was that a series of point of view shots were used which put you in the place of the cahracters and make you feel more a part of the battle. I think I may well use this technique for reason stated.
The location they are fighting is also quite an evil place, full of skeletons and is pretty dimly lit with a dark orange glow resinating over the place. Editing is pretty fast paced too, connoting the pace of the action. A mix of long shots and mid shots are used, the mid shots allowing the audience to see a more complicated display of choreography. This is also the case for the scene for Jet Li’s Fearless.
I also noted a lot of close ups shots are used to show the expression on the characters faces, making the scene more intense.
In this are slight horror elements, especially when Scorpion takes off his mask and reveals a skull, that sort of screams, something that wouldn’t be suitable for an audience below the age of atleast 15.
I’ve started to notice that most martial arts/ action films tend to be aimed at an audience aged 15 plus so ill probably aim for that as my audience, in terms of the jicnar scale I’d aim it a B/C1 class, mostly male.
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