Film Language Essay

The clip from ‘Titanic’, which I will be analysing, is approximately 1/3 into the film. I will be commenting on how this clip creates beautiful romantic scene and how it captivates its audience into feeling the characters love and connections, through, mise-en-scene, lighting, camera works and other aspects of Media Language.

Firstly, the diegetic sound of the oceans gushing and roaring creates a scene of reality to their whereabouts and this signifies their mutual love for one another as it shows their love is real and passionate, as the sea has such connotations which can be described as this. Also the sweeping winds at the beginning correspond to Jack’s (Leonardo Dicaprio) facial expression as he seems sad and lonesome, however this alters completely as the non- diegetic sound mellows through as his love interest enters the scene. The non-diegetic sound heard as Rose (Kate Winslet) enters is the Parallel Sound which accompanies and anchors this scene of romantic passion. The soft romantic music seems to be essential to heighten the emotion of the scene and entice the audience into feelings sentimental about their love.

The ship penetrating through the sea as the scene opens, can connote the sexual feelings towards the two protagonists and can connote a sign of frustrated emotion, from how fast the ship is sailing through the sea- jump cutting to the close-up of the male protagonist. This can also show the fast-paced narrative, and how the characters love for one another is growing quickly.
The props used in this scene also entail to the meaning of the movie, such as the clothing, the actual ship it self and also the green hairpin that Rose is wearing, which the audience are already familiar with since it was introduced at the beginning of the movie before the flashback of the older Rose. So the young Rose wearing only seems sense and makes the whole narrative seem more real.

The colour of the skies background as the sun is setting connotes passion as the colour purple and deep pink can imply that. Also the sunset is always usually related with love and being romantic. The orangey- pink colour of the sunset can also connote and signify their love and feelings towards each other, as these colours seem to always have happy and lovey-dovey connotations- that can be interpreted to be eventful within this scene. The colours of the sunset are very domineering over the scene, and this seems to draw the audience in, making them feel emotions of happiness and passion towards the characters and the overall scene.

The mise-en-scene in this scene is incredibly essential to enhance the feeling and emotions of this scene, for example the characters costume seem to play an important part, as it sets the time period to movie, but more closely both characters have lengthy clothing, which can move and ruffle in the wind- especially the white shawl on Rose- as the powerful winds go though them- this can show both their figures as strong and powerful, and this connotes that nothing can stop their love.

In addition the clothes and props can also represent their characters stereotype and gender roles within the narrative, as the female protagonist is presented as rich and of higher class- detected from her clothing that she is wearing- whilst the male protagonist is seen wearing rather dull and old clothes. This outlines the female character in playing the role of a ‘Princess’ within the narrative according to Propp’s Character theory. The female protagonist richer and of higher class, puts her in the position of being somewhat superior than the male protagonist, which goes against the dominant ideology of men being perceived highly in society, and this can encourage social change within the narrative and also maybe society, pushing a feminist view across.
There are many camera framing devices that are used to intensify the characters feelings, such as the close-up shot which illustrate the characters facial expressions and deliver to the audience the meaning of the characters love for example the close-up shot of both Jack and Rose when he is singing in her ears as there are both smiling and laughing.
Also the Big close up shot focusing of them embracing hands intensifies their feeling towards each other. Whilst they are holding each other looking into the horizon together a Point of view shot is present which seems to overview the characters feelings and involves the audience- as if their part of the film, which always seem put the audience into perspective and this involves the audience, into understanding the movie and their love.

The Crane shot which is apparent when Jack and Rose are ‘Flying’ as the camera angles around the ship and setting of where they are kind of exaggerates their act of love and suggest that they’re the only ones of the ship and nothing can stop them from loving each other not even the ship which can be quite ironic as the narrative leads to the end of the movie. This crane shot is very affective, as it draws the ship and characters into perspective, where the audience can feel sentimental about their love.

The part in which the two main characters are holding each other at the tip of the ship as they are ‘Flying’, can be a non-verbal code which connotes to us that the two of them, are now officially together, and that their differences of being of opposing social classes won’t get in the way.

This scene of the movie can be the Equilibrium in Todorov’s Narrative Theory, before the disequilibrium develops. This is where the story of the movie grows, and the characters motives and emotions are apparent before an unfortunate, dulling action or event takes place.

Lastly, the lighting throughout this scene is evidently High Key, with uses of light fillers to enhance beauty and give an overall well rounded look of the scene. Towards the ending of the scene, the lighting changes to Low Key lighting, as it fades in to the next scene. The different lighting can maybe connote to the audience a change in the narrative, and as the change in lighting is very sinister and wreckful, this can signify an unfortunate turn of events. This concludes to the audience that maybe their love will not last and will inevitably die out.

This Low angle shot of the protagonist establishes him as a superior, powerful and an important character within the narrative. The gun, graffiti and setting of this shot displays the iconography of the genre and whole feel of the movie. As the graffiti connotes, youth violence and anarchy.

Camera Angles in Poster Films

This Long shot from Titanic, as the ship is sinking, illustrates the disaster, from this long shot, showing the elegant staircase, wrecked amongst the havoc the water has caused. The Mise- en- scene here captures the essence of the ship sinking and creates shock and huge tension and suspense between the audience and the character as they are trying to get through.

Film Poster Lighting Analysis

This still image of from Silence of the Lambs is defiantly low-key lit, as there is an apparent strong contrast from white to black, with top lighting intended on the face, creating a flawless figure, however if you notice the contrast of shadow on the face itself is less pronounce(the face being the protagonist), which signifies the use of fillers on this dimly set image.

The use of black and white outlines the main subject which is the moth replacing the mouth which suggests that it plays a part in the narrative creating an enigma code. The black and white also creates an affective image as this connotes sorrow and reality.

The contrast from black to white near the right jaw line can connote a hidden narrative within the film as the background seems to be vague which raises some enigma codes too.

The use of low-key lighting creates a sentimental exposure, making the image somewhat creepy and very odd. The moth and the eyes being the only things in colour evens out the image drawing in the audience into the whole image raising questions to what the story of this movie can be.

Woman's Weekly

The audience profile for the average consumer of Woman's Weekly magazine is a 59 year old woman with a real lust for life, open to new experiences and are image conscious.

The woman’s weekly magazine website consists of things which women will be interested in, things such as health, diet and relationship advice etc which are presented as the tabs in the website.

These are what the target audience will be interested and media text and information in the website has been put their especially for the audience so they will buy and enjoy reading Women's Weekly.

The cover for the issue of 7th-13th October has the main image of Claudia Winkleman who is well known for her appearance on “strictly come dancing- it takes two”. Who again is well known amongst the age group for women in their 50-60’s. The video on the right hand side shows tips on how to do hair which also helps with the image conscious of the women.

The Women's Weekly website includes topics such as

-Fashion

-Three ways to ease the pain of varicose veins-

-How to brighten your garden-

-TravelPlus puzzles,

-stars and experts advice,

These are what most of the target audience can relate to and are intereseted in, and these things macth up to the audience profile as these things appeal to them and are up on the website for a reason.

Film Poster Mise-en-scene Analysis

This poster from Pulp Fiction uses the Mise-en-scene to its fullest advantages, hinting the narrative of the film with many props such as the book, matches and the cigarette. The book being turned the other way creates an enigma code which will perhaps unfold the narrative of the film.

The gun and cigarette showcase what the genre of the movie can be as guns connote to violence and action, this also signifies her role as the protagonist as normally males take the lead in modern action movies as she is illustrated to be a (that word) which the target audience of that film (males) will find interesting and therefore be attracted to watch the film.

The female protagonist costume only being black, with black heels connotes her as a deadly woman with fuelled up seductivity which entices the male audience into enjoying the film.

Film Language Analysis- Titantic

One the best scenes of Titantic after The Sketching Scene...

The diegetic sound of the oceans gushing and roaring creates a scene of reality to their whereabouts and signifies their mutual love for one another as it shows their love is existent.
The sweeping winds at the beginning correspond to Jack’s (Leonardo Dicaprio) facial expression as he seems sad and lonesome, however this alters completely as the non- diegetic sound mellows through as his love interest enters the scene.

The ships jirating through the sea as the scene opens can connote the sexual feelings towards the two protagonists.

The non-diegetic sound heard as Rose (Kate Winslet) enters is the Parallel Sound which accompanies this scene of romantic passion. The soft romantic music seems to be essential to heighten the emotion of the scene and entice the audience into feelings sentimental about their love.

The props used in this scene also entail to the meaning of the movie, such as the clothing, the actual ship it self and also the hair green hairpin that Rose is wearing, which the audience are already familiar with since it was introduced at the beginning of the movie before the flashback of the older Rose. So the young Rose wearing only seems sense and makes the whole narrative seem more real.

The colours of the sky background as the sun is setting connotes passion as the colour purple can imply that and also the sunset is always usually relates with love and being romantic. The orangey- pink colour of the sunset can also connote and signify their love and feelings towards each other, as these colours seem to always have happy and lovey-dovey connotations.

The mise-en-scene in this scene is incredibly necessary to enhance the feeling and emotions of this scene, for example the characters costume seem to play an important part, as it sets the time period to movie, but more closely both characters have lengthy clothing, which can move and ruffle in the wind- (especially the white shawl on Rose) and as the powerful winds go though them this can signify how strong their love is and enhances the overall presence of the scene.

Many camera framing devices are used to intensify the characters feelings, such as the close-up shot which illustrate the characters facial expressions and deliver to the audience the meaning of the characters love for example the close-up shot of both Jack and Rose when he is singing in her ears as there are both smiling and laughing.
Also the Big close up shot focusing of them embracing hands intensifies their feeling towards each other.
As they are holding each other looking into the horizon together a Point of view shot is present which seems to overview the characters feelings and involves the audience- as if their part of the film.

The Crane shot which is apparent when Jack and Rose are ‘Flying’ as the camera angles around the ship and setting of where they are kind of exaggerates their act of love and suggest that they’re the only ones of the ship and nothing can stop them from loving each other not even the ship which can be quite ironic as the narrative leads to the end of the movie.