Media Language Theory Four: Structuralism/Levi-Strauss

Shaolin Soccer- The purpose is to show how good the shaolin players are to point of being supernatural in comparison to the regular team. Meaning is created by creating a clear difference between the two teams, through different colors, shots, and special effects which gives a clear binary difference between the supernaturally good main characters, and the out of their league antagonists. The binary opposition used is to create a compelling narrative. The two teams are on completely different levels of skill when it comes to soccer and it makes for a hilarious conflict, emphasized by the stylistic choices like towards the end of the clip where it gets to the point of the shaolin players kicks sending the players of the other team into the goal along with the ball.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse- The purpose of the scene is to introduce two new characters into the plot, that being Gwen(as a superhero) and Doc Ock, both of them being a binary opposition to Peter and Miles in some way. Meaning is created by contrasting the innocence and inexperience of Miles to the fully realized and experienced Peter and Gwen, although those two in themselves could also be their own binary opposition as the out of shape adult and the top of their game teen. The binary opposition here is used to create identifiable character types. Miles is the rookie, Peter is the teacher, Doc Ock is the villain, and Gwen is introduced as the cool friend that Miles will look up to through the use of low angles used throughout her introduction.

Media Language Three: Genre/Neale

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once- Sci-Fi. Narrative similarity is what would be best used because the trailer emphasizes the sci-fi idea of the multiverse and action, which are big narrative conventions in sci-fi. Economic context, as the movie came out during a time where the multiverse is all the craze it makes sense that A24 would want to make a multiverse movie as it will guarantee some commercial success. To add on, the genre hybridity to the film would be genre piggybacking because of what I've previously explained.

Phantom of Paradise- Horror Comedy Musical. Iconography would be best used because it uses a lot of references to famous movie scenes comedically which is a staple of the comedy genre, as well including overall wacky hijinks throughout the trailer. Audience saturation seemingly apply to the film because of it's references to 60s and 70s movies that the audience will recognize and is a comedic subversion of genres that will surprise them. The genre hybridity is creating an individual product character by pulling from multiple genres and movies.

Electric Dream- Romcom Thriller. Character-driven motifs would help best because the trailer showcases the standard romance character tropes. There's the shy nerdy guy, the pretty girl next door(upstairs in this case), and the crazy friend(computer) obsessed with one of the characters that gets in the way. Historical effect seemingly apply as this was the time where home computers were fresh on the market and there was a lot of fear about it. Quick tonal shifts seem to be the genre hybridity here because of the trailers switch between thriller and romantic comedy.

Media Language Theory Two: Equilibrium/Todorov

Proppian Characters- The hero(Ethan), The helper(Benji), The dispatcher(Brand), The donor(Luther)

Equilibrium- The equilibrium seems to already be distrupted at the start of the story.

Distruption- The package was still on the plane and is taking off

New Equilibrium- Ethan gets on the plane and secures the package

In media res- The team is already mid mission going wrong

Multiperspective narratives- Shifts from Benji, Brand, Luther, and Ethan's perspectives

The purpose of the clip is to introduce the ensemble of characters and dynamics. Throughout the clip the character's are constanly bantering with each other showing off their personality, role and dynamic in the group. Benji being told what to do constanly shows his helper role, Brand giving commands tells us he's the dispatcher, Luther being away yet aiding our heroes makes him the donor, and Ethan dramatic entrance and one liners clearly signals to us he's the hero.

Media Language Theory One: Semiotics/Barthes

Sign- Establishing shot

Signifier- The emptiness

Signified- Isolation 

Denotative Meaning- Adam Sandler's character is isolated from the world

Connotative Meaning- Adam Sandler's character is isolated in an emotional sense and most likely lonely

Code- Emptiness of shot, blue suit blending in with the background, shadows create uncertainty, wide shot emphasizes isolation. All this works together to create the emptiness and loneliness that the character is currently experiencing.

By applying semiotics theory, we can infer that the meaning of the clip was showcase the isolation and loneliness of the main character, and his fear of the outside world. At the start of the clip, the shot is wide with nothing in the shot except for the character and his desk; this use of empty space signifies to us the characters isolation. When he goes outside his storage room the car crashes out of nowhere only to be fine in the next shot, it signifies his fear of the outside world and how unpredictable it is to point where he, and by extension us, sees stuff that might not even be real.

Depth of Field

Existing Stills

1a) Deep Focus Halloween II 1981

 

1b) Shallow Focus Oppenhiemer 2023

1c) Soft Focus The Sound of Music 1965

Taken Stills

2a) Deep Focus

2b) Shallow Focus

2c) Soft Focus

First off, I just want to say my iPhone camera just refuses to have everything in the shot in focus and it was so helpful for this assignment! Thanks for nothing Apple. Seriously though, it was difficult to get everything in the shot in focus crisply for the deep focus shot I had to create. The regular camera lense just wouldn't do it at all so I had to switch to the 0.5x lense which was the best I could have done for it and is what you end up seeing in the post. The most difficult thing about the shallow focus was the positioning of the characters as Legos have problems with more complex positioning without something to support them like clay. The camera would also have trouble focusing on the characters in the front if they weren't certain distance from the camera which was a bit annoying but I made it work. There was nothing in particular that gave me troubles with the soft focus shot other than me just being picky with the amount of focus there was on the subjects. Overall, I can't say I had the best time with this experience, this is because i couldn't really experiment with the aspect of film at hand because of the limitations of my equipment. Even though there's nothing i can do about it now it still leaves me dissapointed.