Genre Research #2- PowerPoint

My Favorite Genre- Video

My Favorite Genre- Powerpoint

Film Viewing Practice Essay

Agent Carter

Agent Carter, directed by Louis D'Esposito is a short film that correlates with the motion picture Captain America: The First Avenger. Viewers realize this when the cinematographer uses parallelism to show Captain America on a plane, trying to stop a nuclear bomb from going off, and Agent Carter at a military base trying to talk sense into Captain America. These scenes happened at the same time but in different locations. The acting style of the actress who plays Agent Carter is more of a non-method kind of acting, because the actress' personality is apart of her performance. The actress showcases her connection and relationship to Captain America through her expressions of sadness when he is about to die. Some symbolism in the short film is a photograph. Captain America has one of Agent Carter, and Agent Carter has one of Captain America, showing again their romantic relationship. Some shots that take place in the film include an establishing shot that shows outside of Brooklyn. They also later use a long shot to show Agent Carter walking towards the villains. This shows that she seems harmless to the villains, so they encounter her without any worry, but they end up being knocked out by a suitcase. The setting of the short film also gave viewers a sense of dread and mystery, due to the dark, low- key lighting, which contains several shadows. Other editing techniques that are used include simultaneity when Agent Carter is walking towards the villains. The perspectives switch between Agent Carter and the villains, creating suspense in that we don't know how the spy is going to avoid being caught, or is going to get through the guards. Some types of sound that is used in the short film is synchronous sounds when Agent Carter is beating up the guards, however this can be also seen as post-synchronization dubbing as the sounds are added after the shots are filmed. These sounds would also be diegetic because the characters supposedly can hear the sounds witting the film. Other shots include a pan shot when the shot of the last guard turns to Agent Carter with a gun, and a cutaway after Agent Carter receives the call about Zodiac. Most shots that are used are very basic such as the eye level shot, or the medium long shot, which shows the subject from the knees up. During the introduction there is a leitmotif, which is the Marvel Studios theme for all of their films. This theme appears whenever the logo appears, telling viewers what they are getting into. Some more Mise-en-scenes that are important to the plot are how the producers made up the costumes. While the costumes are simple, and are basically just suits, we also know that this takes place possibly sometime in the 1950s, and that these people are professionals. We can also assume this is sometime in the 1950s by the staging, and props, such as the old-fashioned cars. Overall, from the clip that is shown viewers are enthralled finally in a world of superheroes, where the main character is just like one of us.

Film Elements Graphic Organizer

MISE-EN-SCENE

MISE-EN-SCENE: The Office- The Injury

Setting: The episode begins at the main office building of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company's Scranton Branch. This setting, while important for all episodes of the series is particularly important for this episode because it shows how bored all of the characters are. When Michael calls stating that he burned his foot, his co-workers finally find something that is amusing, so that they make their long day at work go faster. The setting is also important, because it is a basic setup for an office buildings, except its rather open instead of cubicles, making the viewers relate to the show. Many of the viewers have had or know someone with a similar office job, and can relate to the characters in the show by seeing the dull workplace that they too have experienced.

Lighting: The lighting in this episode also goes with the setting, because of the fluorescent lights. These lights make the office complex bland and abnormally bright as though to keep the workers awake while they sell paper. This unusually bright lighting also makes the office more welcome, and allows you to clearly see all of the characters of the Scranton branch for what they truly are. An example of this is when the lighting clearly allows us to see through the bubble rap that Michael Scott, had indeed burned his foot on a George Foreman grill, but it wasn't as bad as he made it out to be. This type of lighting is known as high-key lighting since many shadows do not appear, and the scenes seem bright and soft.

Costume: The costume design in this episode of The Office is very simple, but that is what makes the show work. Each character is made out to be an everyday man, or white collared worker that most people can relate to. These suits and ties, are not fancy, or anything close, but professional enough to make it seem as though the outfit was thrown together in a hurry at seven in the morning. The colors of these work suits are very bland, which contrasts with the personalities of the characters as they are anything but bland. This contrast also makes the show more funny, as you as a viewer realize that this is more than an office of boring people, but people that one is willing to spend time with. 

Staging: The actor's performance in this episode is very important to keeping the viewer invested in the plot. The plot is simple, the regional manager of a small paper supply firm burned his foot on the grill and no one is taking his minor injury seriously. Steve Carell, who plays the manager Michael Scott, provides the viewers with a great performance making it seem as though the character is in dire need of attention while also being funny instead of annoying, which most vain people tend to be. This type of acting is non-method acting, because you can still see that this actor is a major part of this character, unlike method acting where the character completely takes over the actor. The supporting cast does a very good job as well, to keep up with their boss' antics while almost ignoring him all together to help Dwight who suffered a concussion, and to get some work done. Without these great performances the well-written script wouldn't have come off as well-written, and this wouldn't have become such a popular show. 

5 Master Shots with Sound

Contrast

In our Contrast shot we added both non-diegetic sounds and diegetic sounds. The diegetic sound is the conversation between Jairo and Scott because both characters can hear it, while the non-diegetic sound is the voice inside Jairo's head while he's watching the video. This is non-diegetic because no one other than the viewer can hear these thoughts, except maybe for Jairo. These thoughts are also known as post-synchronization dubbing.


Parallelism 

The sound introduced in these shots is also post-synchronization dubbing. We implemented a warping sound that acted as a transition from Scott's id to the real Scott. We also took out the background noises so the only sounds in the scene are non-diegetic.

Simultaneity

In this scene we added both horror and jazz music. The horror music represented the serial killer getting closer, while the jazz music showed Scott reading, giving each shot a different meaning. Again only post-synchronization dubbing and non-diegetic sounds were included.

Symbolism 

We decided not to add any sounds in this scene because we already had dialogue, which is diegetic. We felt that it introduced a more sinister tone since nothing but all is quiet besides the conversation, which almost foreshadows that the serial killer is near.

Leit Motif

All of these sounds are diegetic because the characters can hear the music when it is being played. The music represents the fall of Jairo as he slowly delves in to his serial killer persona.

Bloopers

These shots also have diegetic music that makes the end of the film funny in an awkward kind of way, and with out the music, oh boy, I wouldn't want to watch this. It's already hard watching this with the music.