Moving Image Arts Exemplar Examination - Sample Answers

Moving Image Arts Exemplar Examination - Sample Answers

Question 1 and 3 provide the candidate with a number of choices. These sample answers attempt to cover all aspects of each particular question.

Question 1.

Sequence 1 - A new day begins for a father and daughter

Examine the following sequence.

In what ways do you think this sequence follows the conventions of the continuity style? Discuss the contribution of three of the following elements of film style to creating this scene.

Camera: Editing; Cinematography; Mise-en-scene; Sound (including music).

The use of camera technique, lighting, editing, mis-en-scene and sound in this sequence closely follows the conventions of the classical Hollywood style (also known as the continuity style).

Camera: balanced composition; conventional camera framing and positioning; conventional shot size and use of long shot, establishing shot, medium shot, close-up; low contrast photography; eye-line match and adherence to 180 degree rule; cross-cutting and point-of-view shot from the perspective of the young girl as she looks at the factory. All of these are typical of the classical Hollywood style

Lighting: high key lighting

Sound: upbeat, pleasant score; sound of the factory; Irish music on the TV soundtrack

Editing: smooth, seamless, "invisible" editing

Mise-en-scene: family characters; domestic setting; factory setting; the river must be crossed in order for the father and daughter to meet; positioning, and movement and of the two characters is paralleled (for example, preparing to put on their footwear)

Narrative: A father clocking off from work on the nightshift; a young girl, his daughter, wakes up and awaits his arrival back from work;; narrative driven primarily by the actions of the returning father.

The director's intention is to create a smooth flowing narrative sequence which sets up the story and creates the connection between father and daughter through an accomplished use of the technique of crosscutting or parallel editing. This sequence works visually, telling the story and establishing the main characters without any dialogue. Intention to contrast the atmosphere of the warmth and homeliness of the domestic setting with the colder environment of the factory, to contrast the masculine, adult world of the father (industrial equipment, protective clothing, work mates) with the feminine, childlike world of the young girl (fluffy slippers, cereal for breakfast, glued to the television); Despite the warmth and familiarity of the domestic setting and the pleasant feelings being generated by the score we still wonder where is the child's mother as she is shown alone in the protection of the home.

The director's intention is to engage the audience in identifying with the characters that are caught up in the narrative through the use of crosscutting and point of view (key techniques of the continuity style); to build on a sense of familiarity and normality (for example, the pleasant score); to build towards the arrival home of the father.

Question 2.

Sequence 2 - As they wait to raid a bank, two men recall a robbery that went badly wrong.

Examine the following sequence. Discuss how the director uses narrative structure, camera/editing technique and cinematography to create the mood and emotional impact of the sequence.

Narrative

The narrative structure is based around the technique of flashback. As the two men recall a robbery gone wrong, we are transported back in time. As the two men discuss what is on their mind, through flashback, we revisit the past five times (each one for a longer period), before being brought back to the present one last time as the men focus upon the immediate reality of their situation.

Camera

Camera framing, angle/positioning and movement are important elements in this sequence. A forward tracking shot moving in on the car features at the beginning and end of the sequence. We first see the two men framed in a wide two shot, the camera positioned at a left angle. After a point of view shot from their position showing the street sweeper, the camera tracks into a medium close-up of the younger man. A point of view shot from the younger man leads us into the first brief flashback, a sudden slow motion medium long shot of a man running. The flashback cuts back to the frozen stare of the young man seen front on through the car windscreen. In the next shot, the camera is positioned within the car. We see the look of anxiety on the young man's face in side profile from the position of the older man before the flashback returns. In the second flashback , the camera frames the running man from behind moving with him. Again the camera angle and framing is off-centre. A hand-held camera is used to capture the frenzied motion of this chase sequence. The camera framing and angle also seems to close in on the two men in the car. The medium close-up shots from the front and side are replaced by three continuous shots of them from behind in an extreme angle as if someone in the back of the car was looking over their shoulder. The final tracking camera movement completes their enclosure. We are positioned outside the car again as at the beginning, only this time the car is viewed from behind. This expressive camera movement is accompanied by a piercing, high-pitched sound (like an alarm) that underlines the growing doubts and fears of the men. In the final two medium close-up shots, the camera is back inside, capturing the disquiet and unease on the men's faces.

Editing

The editing style begins at a slow pace. A faster rhythm marks the flashback scenes with the first quick cut in slow motion. Each flashback after that is of a longer duration, with several different shots in each flashback. The editing pace gets faster even inside the car where we see the two men from more and more angles in quick cuts. It slows down again as the flashback abruptly ends to be followed by a slow tracking camera movement.

Lighting

The present takes place the early morning light of dawn. Inside the car, low-key lighting creates a darkened atmosphere of increasing oppressiveness. The shots from behind the men's heads are bathed in shadows. The outside world is cold, grey, misty, and unwelcoming. The empty streets seem drained of colour and life. The air is ominous and threatening.

The past takes place in a shopping mall - high-key lighting conveys the brightly illuminated spaces of the mall. This too is an empty oppressive space, a potential prison, of wide-open corridors with no hiding places.

The camera/editing technique and cinematography in this sequence is daring and inventive - from the use of slow motion within a rapid cut to plunge us into the past to the sense of all hope draining from the faces of the men in the car as the blood drains from the wound in the man's side. Past and present are brought together in interesting ways.

The cold light of dawn and low-key lighting establishes a mood of foreboding. The off-centre framing and camera tracking in on the car, first in a fast tracking movement and later in a slower, more insidious, low angle movement, conveys psychological tension. The continual use of medium close-ups brings us face-to-face with the haunted look of the young man.

This highly controlled use of camera framing and movement to isolate the men inside the car is in sharp contrast to the flashback scenes where the slight jerkiness of the hand-held camera mimics the panic and disorientation of the man as he flees from his pursuers.

The entire sequence is based around a series of such strong contrasts in visual style and tone - past and present; time suspended in moments of self-reflection by a slow editing pace, time speeded up and running out of control by fast editing; a jerky hand-held camera juxtaposed with static shots; a wide long shot of a brightly lit mall cutting to a close-up of a young man in a dark, claustrophobic interior; low-key lighting and desaturated colour contrasted with high key lighting and primary colours; the cold sweat of fear reflected in the steamed up back windscreen of a car; desperation and approaching death foreshadowed in the blood-soaked shirt turning from white to red.

The director employs a range of different cinematic techniques to communicate similar feelings and emotions - dread, entrapment and a sense of time running out. The mood within the car is one of mounting anxiety as the men confront their worst fears. They seem suspended in some sort of emotional limbo in which they reflect on the fate of a fellow robber. The mood within the shopping mall is one of terror and panic. The isolated men in the car and the man surrounded by the police share the same basic situation. There is no way out. Looking into the past, they could be staring the future for they might share the same fate.

The sequence therefore carries many echoes of film noir from the low-key lighting, expressionist camera angles and flashback structure to the sense of entrapment and impending doom.

Question 3

Sequence 3. A young girl discovers a whole new world

(Loccy Moon)

Examine the following animated sequence. How does the animator use film language to create the mood and atmosphere of this sequence?

Knowledge and Understanding refers to:

Camera: Low angle framing of the young girl; tracking camera following her movements; multiple point-of-view (POV) shots from the perspective of the young girl; high angle POV shot of the young girl looking at the moon; use of long shot, medium shot and close-up; low angle shot; unbalanced compositions and unconventional, low angle camera shots – of girl framed behind bars; the off key shot of the frozen pond and the danger sign; unusual underwater shot.

Cinematography:Naturalistic light from the moon and the snow; low key lighting effects and use of shadows of people passing, the bars and the sign.

Sound: Upbeat, pleasant score; absence of dialogue – with focus on visual story telling. Ominous, discordant piano notes accompany the shots of the danger sign and the frozen pond.

Editing:smooth, seamless, “invisible” editing, cross-cutting

between the young girl and the snowman; narrative driven by the actions of the young girl and the cross-cutting between her POV and the objects of her gaze - the moon, the snowman and the pond.

Mise-En-Scene:outdoor night time setting; winter landscape; the colour white dominates – snow, moon, snowman, frozen pond, snow-covered bars; reflection of the moon; strong contrast between the snow and the night sky and the colorful clothing of the young girl; movement of characters in the frame.

Analysis and Evaluation refers to:

This animated sequence is a good example of visual storytelling as the director creates a mood of excitement, joy and wonder without any recourse to dialogue or exposition. However, throughout the sequence there is a subtle undercurrent of anxiety and foreboding (unnoticed by the young girl) that gradually builds up to the final menacing shots of the danger sign, the frozen pond and the watery depths – all lying in wait for the unsuspecting child.

The key means of achieving the mood of wonderment and discovery that dominates the sequence until the final shots are;

• The extended use of the POV of the young girl as she encounters a magical, snow-covered landscape of characters. Four POV shots are employed in both the sequences where the young girl discovers the moon and encounters the snowman. The use of a shaky hand-held camera in the POV shot where the child spots the snowman, looks down at the snow and picks up a stone places us in the exact perspective of the young girl. We literally look at the world through her eyes.
• The use of a jaunty, upbeat soundtrack that brilliantly conveys the feelings of joy, wonder and exhilaration of the young girl
• A mise-en-scene that evokes fantasy and imagination. The falling snow, snow-covered streets, the cresent moon, the friendly snowman and the glowing reflection in the frozen pond all communicate a sense of warmth, wonder and magic. The dream-like atmosphere is also achieved through the strong contrast between the dazzling moonlight and snow, the star-filled night sky and the rich primary colours of the clothing of mother and child.
• A low angle fast moving shooting style that follows every movement of the young girl as she skips along, framing her in medium shot or close-up (alternatively from the front, back and sideways) so we are always with her in her journey of discovery

Alongside this enchanting atmosphere, the animator leaves definite signs that all is not just sweetness and light – that there are threats to the innocence and vulnerability of childhood. The danger only breaks the surface at the very end of the sequence when the uplifting soundtrack gives way to the discordant notes of a piano. The ominous low angle, off key, shots of the sign, the frozen pond and the watery depths completely overturn the festive mood, and through the use of heavy shadows, create an atmosphere of foreboding and dread.

However throughout the sequence the animator has been subtly drawing our attention to this danger through the use of low key lighting (the shot of the child alone in the snow criss-crossed by the shadows of people passing by) and the off-key framing of the child through the bars (as she gazes at the snowman we have the feeling that she is trapped behind bars like a prisoner).

The final shot makes it clear to us that the wide-eyed, unsuspecting child, so alive to everything else in the sequence, has failed to notice the danger sign at the frozen pond.