Standard operating procedure

standard operating procedure

Standard operating procedure is a crime/war documentary made in 2008 and directed by Erroll Morris. This documentary explains the criminal activity used by the military and the procedures of the military police in an American prison in Iraq called Abu Ghraib. throughout the documentary several guards and interrogators in the prison were interviewed and there was a montage of pictures used showing and explaining a deeper understanding of the going on inside the prison; including reconstructed flashbacks/events of specific occurrences giving the audience a deeper understanding of what happened.

cinematography is used throughout the film to develop meaning, whether it be during the interviewing or in the re-enactment. during the interviewing a lot of close ups are used to show explicit emotion within the soldiers that lived within Abu Ghraib especially with General Lynndie England, they used specific close ups of certain facial features as in some cases she became intense with emotion. In the reconstructed scenes they also used a lot of close ups of hands or feet, so that the audience don't see an actors face who had nothing to do with the case, or to make sure they don't make accusations as to who did certain acts. however even though we didn't understand who the characters were they still managed to tell the story of what had happened. lighting was also used to good effect for example in the interviews the room was very dimly lit with what seemed to be only one harsh light on the interviewee, giving the affect they were still at Abu Ghraib.

editing was used a lot throughout this film to help explain what went on, for example the in the reconstructed scenes slow motion was used in the edit to make these events seem more dramatic and tense to the audience. also again in the interview with Lynddie England when she raised her voice or became slightly angry they would increase the speed of the cuts to show she was an important woman and to emphasise her emotions. the editing also helped to tell a story from the amount of photos recovered from the prison, for example the way they edited the photos into a story line and linked each photo with the camera it was taken with making it clear when the photos were take, in what order of events it happened in and who took the photo crystal clear to the audience.
 Furthermore editing was also used to show the audience the vast amount of picture evidence taken from Abu Ghraib by crating a black background with loads of pictures flying into the shot and filling the screen.

Mise en scene was used brilliantly in the film to really give an affect that these reconstructed scenes to really give the idea that it was real footage. They did this by adding everything we could see in the photos ,whether it be obvious or in the background, into the scene. for example the close up of the guy in the box's hand with the wire wrapped around it looking identical to the way it was in the picture, the same with the use of the box making it seem like the same box actually used.
in conclusion Standared Operating Procedure does a brilliant job at explainging what went on in Abu Ghraib through the use of Cinematography, using subtle close ups to not give away to much. Also in editing to show emotions and laying out the evidence clearly for the audience to see. alos finally in Mise en Scene being extremely carefull in reconstructed scenes not to ruin continuity.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ is a romantic drama directed by Woody Allen, starring Rebecca hall and Scarlett Johansson. The film is the tale of two Friends with clashing personalities that escape from their normal life and head for Barcelona. Once there an exotic painter comes into place along with his crazy ex-wife. The themes that are shown in this film are love, friendship, betrayal, art, lies, and money. The director uses different techniques to tell this story through mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and editing, also adding to the effect and impact of this film.

Sound is used in this film to tell a story and construct meaning especially through the narrative, where by parts of the story are explained through a background voice of someone we do not know and isn’t related to the story of the film. This creates an effect on the audience where they take a step back from the film and don’t get as engaged as they usually would to therefore appreciate the plot of the film and specific details that occur. Sound is also used in the film to express characters emotions through the use of specific music for example on Juan and Vicky’s date there was the traditional Spanish acoustic guitar playing in the background to show that there is romance between the two.

Mise-en-scene is used in this film to construct meaning and tell a story in many ways. For example the prop of the pistol used at the end of the film to symbolise why that three way relationship between Juan, Cristina and Maria was so important in stabilizing Maria. The gun represents Cristina destroying what the couple had by leaving them. The Gun is also used to show the vast contrast between Vicky and Juan and explains to the audience why they are not meant to be together. Also the use of art shown in the frames of the film also tells a story and constructs meaning as we see from whoever painted it what they are internally feeling at the time. For example when Maria was painting before the threes relationship, we could see from the stroke of her brush and the look of the painting that she was very angry and tense, showing us that she therefore didn’t like the relationship between Juan and Cristina. Also the costume is also used to construct meaning and crate characters, for example Juan’s red shirt symbolises his fiery, foreign personality giving us an insight as to what might happen.

Editing is also used to construct meaning and tell the story in this film. For example right at the beginning of the film with the two lines of action between the two girls on the phone, both on their way to the airport. This use of editing instantly gave the audience the idea that these two girls are completely different, one liking to explore and live and the other wanting to settle down.

Cinematography is also used in many ways, for example  with the shots through Cristinas camera we get a true understanding of what photos she’s actually taking and how good she is at it. also the high angled shot of Maria taken from upstairs, while she is painting gives us a sense of empathy as we feel how she feels like Juan and Cristina are looking down on her after she tried to kill herself.

deal

re-make of last years film:better costume suited to characters, better props-money in a bag, briefcase for the gear, appropriate location-abandoned quite, do it in day time for better lighting. advanced shots- long shots, high angled etc... more cuts while deal occurs, a planned and written script. better performances of characters empathetic understanding in audience. cahnge in story, no chase at the end-instead armed police come at the end, don't start the film straight from the deal-show background of characters before the deal ocours, there every day life personalitys expressed. two lines of action o the build up of the deal, between the two sets of groups, making there way to the deal 1-2 mkinute sequence of this, builds uo tension to the actual deal
genre-Crime
themes-betrayal, anger, violence
characters:4 characters,
setting: abandoned area, quite, dingy-working class area
reprsentation:
Plot:
narrative:

the last day of my life

the audience know its the last day of the main characters life, as the beginning sequence is him being killed or dying (this sequence will be the only bit with dialogue and natural sound in the rest of the film will be a silent film with no dialogue, tension and emotions expressed through the music) we then flash back to the beginning of the day of the last day of his life, we follow him around what occurs in this the audience already knowing what is going to happen to him at the end.lots of dark sinical  shots. he gets shot or stabbed at end, and we find out here with the entrance of sound and dialogue that he accidentally killed this mans younger brother, and the hole day he has been rejoicing this sin. black and white?
genre-drama
themes: sadness, rejoice, revenge, sorrow, regret, faith, friendship, family 
characters:only one character, we don't find out his name. at begining of film we know nothing about him as the day goes on we find more and more about him, making his death at the end of the film impact alot more on the audience then at the beginning 
setting: center of London, allot of traveling. dark, tall, old, overpowering buildings foreshadowing his death
representation:
Plot: the plot of the story begins with the character being killed, stabbed. even though the audience find this out from the beginning there will be a flash back leading up to th explanation as to why he has been shot. we see him visit a grave yard, a church
narrative:circular narative finishes how it begins with the man dying going to use the same scene, the flash back of his day- starts in the morning when he wakes up, he travels to visit a grave lays flowers, spends most of day walking round depressed, his day ends with him being stabbed and dying

story board
beginning first shot: high angled shot of character lying in pool of blood, slow motion, moves into close up of lifeless face, coloured with background sounds
flashback-black and white
first shot of flashback close up of him asleep similar to him when he was dead he wakes up and the camera follows him
pan shot of room stopping at picture of him and friend, he enters frame picks it up, we then have low angled medium close up along the floor of him getting dressed, he leaves shot. shot through door of him leaving house he then opens door. train station purley oaks-quiet medium long shot of him from opposite platform train stops obstructs view of him and he gets on. montage of film sped up of train journey.  exits train low shot of feet walking off follows him. long shot acrosss grave yard he enters shot, goesd to colose up of flowers bacl to same long shot watches him put flowers on grave medium close up of braking into tears.
 Ending
medium-long shot side on to character walking, trolley following him walking medium some one bumps into him, shoulder shoulder shots as two talk, cuts become quicker as agression builds, long shot in narrow ally with two characters placed perfectly at the end of frame we see other character drag him in to ally, quick close up to the hand of other character holding a knife side on medium shot see a sharp stab close up of his face on the guys shoulder the guy moves away and he falls resort back to same image we saw at the beginning.