Short Film Treatment- Offline

Log Line: A girl allows other peoples harmful words to characterize herself; therefore leading her to believing that there is only one way out of her situation, and her friend has to beat the clock in order to save her.

Two-way screen shot of two girls walking through a hall way in school. The two girls both look content with their lives. Crowded hall ways, loud voices, posters on the wall; all resembles the usual high school setting.

The two girls finally meet up outside the school and talk about their day. We see their instant connection. We also see that they are both wearing friendship necklaces showing that they are best friends.

The girls names are Selena and Tiffany. Tiffany asks Selena, "Did anything happened today and how are you holding up". Selena responded "No and I'm doing fine... just fine". Through Selena's facial expressions, there seems to be discomfort arising. On that not, Selena quickly says, "I have to go, bye"and gets on her bike and rides away without looking back.

Without any notice, Tiffany ignores the instant goodbye and heads the opposite way.

Selena rides her bike up the driveway of a two story house. As she enters the front door, no one seems to be present in the house. Selena runs upstairs and approaches a door with her name on it. Instantly we know that she lives in this house with her family.

As she enters the semi-dark room, she dashes over to her laptop and turns in on. "Come on, turn on fast you damn computer", Selena says this while anxiously waiting.

The next thing we see is the computer screen on a social networking site. Selena starts to close her eyes in hope that everything she sees will disappear.

As she keeps scrolling down, we see nasty comments being posted about her back and forth among a couple of people.

Tears start to roll down her face without hesitation. Selena's hand slowly leaves her face ,that was wiping away the tears, and covers up her left wrist. She looks down at her wrist with scars on it and then back up at the comments on the screen. Screaming at the top of her lungs, "AHHHH!!!!".

She frantically gets up and goes to the bathroom. "WHAM!" the bathroom door is slammed  shut. The tears from Selena's hopeless soul starts to continue pouring out. She looks up at the mirror, makeup is running down her face.

Broken voices start to fade in and surround her. You’re so ugly. Why are you so fat? You have no friends, you’re such an outcast. You should just kill yourself. No one will care. No one will miss you.

As the voices get louder, the faint images of the people who hate her start to float around, present in the mirror.

Selena starts to breath quickly in panic and she turns around, trying to see if they are really there, standing behind her talking to her.

She turns back toward the mirror and the voices get louder and faster and start to overlap.
Selena shuts her eyes tightly, trying to block them out but to no avail. The faces get closer to her image in the mirror and she opens her mouth to scream.

The mirror cracks in her hands and she opens her eyes to see her own reflection distorted in the different cracks of the mirror.

"The mirror is broken, it can’t be fixed. There is nothing left of it." Selena says to herself in distress. The cell phone in her back pocket rings. She takes it out and sees that Tiffany is calling. She forwards the call to voicemail.

Selena then turns off her cell phone. Tiffany keeps trying to call hoping that Selena will pick up. When Tiffany doesn't get any ringer, she knows something is up because Selena never ignores her calls.

As the tension keeps rising, Selena keeps moving towards her conclusion of ending everything and anything.

Tiffany then notices that Selena deactivated all her social networking sites besides one. And on that one, she posted "Goodbye world".

Tiffany realizes that Selena is going to commit suicide. Tiffany dials Selena's mom number; she doesn't get any answer and leaves a voice message. "I think Selena is trying to kill herself. I'm going to the house! Get help!"

Knowing that there is little time she grabs her keys and heads out the door to her car. She frantically tries to put the keys in the ignition. Once she gets it in, the car’s  battery is dead and won’t start. This gives Tiffany the only choice but to run.


A split screen is used again to show Tiffany running to help save Selena's life while Selena is gathering her last thoughts before she severs all ties.

The tension and anxiety between the two keeps rising. As Selena is literally about to finish what she thinks others wish they could do to her, Tiffany brakes through the door. "STOP!!!"

As Tiffany huffs and puffs, she recollects her breaths and explains to Selena that, "It's not worth it, let the haters hate. So what? All you need is to surround yourself with positive thoughts and people... You need to admit to getting help Selena."

Selena silently looks to down at what lies in her hands.

Momentarily she says, "Tiffany, I need help". She drops the objects, resembling her letting go of the past and hoping to move forward by getting the necessary help.

New Bell Schedule Segment Critique

 

My partner Isabella and I came up with the idea of doing a segment on our high school's new bell schedule. We came up with this idea by looking at the differences in our school over the past couple of years. One of the first things that popped in our mind was the new bell schedule. The research that we had to do was to find out exactly why the bell schedule was changed. In order to find our answer, we had to go to the principal to ask her a few questions. We found our interviewers by finding people that we would get the most information out of. So we went to the principal for the reasoning behind the bell schedule, a teacher for her input and 2 students for their input as well. We wanted to get the views about the bell schedule from  different people. Our questions were most definitely focused and direct. Because our segment was about the new bell schedule the only b-roll I could really intend on getting was of a clock and class rooms with students working. The b-roll came out really well with the different angles we had. 

Our location was our high school. For the interviews it depended. For instance, when we interviewed the principal, we had her in her house sitting at her desk with books, diploma's, and papers in the background. Then for the teacher we had her in her classroom with displays of what class it was in the background. Lastly the students we interviewed outside around the campus. One interview we had a mustang in the back resembling the school mascot and the other one we used part of the campus as the background. I think our most creative shot of our b-roll was an ECU of a student writing in her planner. We also had another creative shot, which was a CU of two students and in between then you could see the teacher teaching in front of them. We didn't have a lot of camera movements besides framing and panning, but for the most part our camera movements were smooth. There definitely wasn't any excessive zooming or panning in our shots. We would zoom into an object or person before we would record the shot so that we wouldn't run into shaky zoom shots. For all of our shots, we used natural lighting. We didn't have to use a lighting kit at all because during the days we shot, the natural lighting was just right. It wasn't too bright and it wasn't too dark. In my past film projects I have run into problems with the audio, but for the first time our audio was synched together correctly and the audio level was perfect. We didn't really have to adjust the interview audio. 

In the beginning of our segment we used voice-over to describe what our segment was going to explore. We said that we were going to look into why we got a new bell schedule and what the students/faculty would get out of it. I believe our segment was informative because not all the students knew the reasons behind the new bell schedule and thats what we wanted to inform them on. We wanted them to have some background information on it before they went around saying how much they disliked it and so on.  In the end of our segment we informed the students and faculty what the new bell schedule was. So we made a scrolling text saying each day of the week and what classes were dropped (since our schedule was dropping classes almost every day). And we also informed them on what days they were getting out early and at what times. After the whole segment was about the motives for the new bell schedule we wanted the students to actually see what the schedule was like and what the principal meant by a compromise between last year and this years bell schedule. 

Our b-roll reflects the voice over of some of the interviews because it's continuity. For example, as one of the students talk about this new bell schedule having more consistent time to see your teachers, b-roll of a class is shown. Also when on of the students talked about how the schedule makes the load of binders and books heavier, footage is shown of a backpack and a bunch of books and binders next to it. The transitions we used for the video were mostly fade out-fade in. We used this when switching between interviews. On the other hand for the audio transitions were cross fades; i believe we only used that in the beginning and end of our segment. We didn't use any animations or filters in our segment. And we also didn't have any jump-cuts or glitches in our edit. The only thing we had to fix and edit out was unnecessary footage and interviews that was repetitive and over- drawn. 

What I like best from our segment is probably the b-roll and the framing of the interviews. I feel like their all a deep focus and have details to them. If we had more time, I would probably re-do the interviews and the questions. I would want to go more in-depth with the topic and try to get under-the-surface questions. After working on this project, the most important lesson I can take with me is to go more in-depth with ideas and go under-the-surface because thats when segments or films attract the audience. I will also remember to make sure to try and use cinematography as one of my main elements in a film. And lastly I will take with me to remember to think more on the positive side of things and not focus mainly on the negatives. 

Character In Time

A boy, roughly around the age of 19 sits at the window looking out into this unfamiliar city that he now resides in. All he can hear is his own guilty conscious and the honking of horns from the cars that are down below. As he looks out into this city, flashbacks occur through his mind. Time rewinds slowly through his head. It all started with the day he turned 18. (Flashbacks occurs) He is the kind of high school teenager who doesn't take school seriously and hangs out with the wrong group of kids; always looking for trouble. The police are apart of his life, ever since freshmen year. Once he turned 18 his family said to him that, they didn't want to deal with anymore of his trouble making and that he needs to learn how to depend on himself and no one else. So he went and got a minimum-wage paying job. It wasn't the easiest way to make money, but he knew that it was all he could get with his poor grades. Things went well for a couple months, until he got back into his old habits. Sooner then later he got fired from his job and was about to be evicted from his small apartment. Not knowing where to run to for help, he knew this was a reality check from himself.

He realized that he needed to move to another city to start fresh, meet new people, and get away from the old ones. He snaps back into reality where he now sits at the window looking out into this big city feeling alone; not knowing where to start. This is his new beginning; a beginning to a better, successful lifestyle.

Camera critique-- Never again

The short film that I watched and decided to watch and critique was Never Again directed, written, and edited by François Bordez. I found this short film on youtube. The run time is about 4 minutes and 11 seconds.

This short film is about a man who gets into an argument with his wife. He ends up walking out on his wife and son. As the husband walks down a street thinking about the fight, he decides to cross the street without looking and gets hit by a car. When he gets hit, he knocks out. As flashbacks hit him, he reawakens and decides that he made a mistake and needs to go back home to his family. In the end the reunite. His life was almost taken away but he got a second chance.

 In the first minute we see the man walking on the street with distress on his face. We can see this through the camera. The shot is a medium close up. Because of this camera height we can see his full facial expressions. In the very first shot of the short film, we have a long shot of the man walking which is our establishing shot. That shot establishes  our main character and our location which happens to be in a city/suburban. Then as we see the man

walking flash backs occur which reveal the distress in this man. The shots used in the flashbacks are medium close ups and close ups which lets us in to the family's problem to see where his distress is coming from and why he walking the streets alone. These shots connect. In most of the shots all we see is foreground and background. We don't get much of the mid-ground because the characters have so much emotion that in order to attain a connection with them, we need to be up close. These two shots and all the other shots are used with a normal lens' because it helps us capture the moments like we are there in real person. These shots are seen like we humans would see something with our own naked eye. In the first screen shot, the actor is walking towards the camera as the camera is traveling backwards. We call this a traveling shot because we are moving with the actor. This helps us show his direction and where his next location will be. Both of the shots above are a soft focus. Our main attention is the actors which is why they are sharper compared to the background. The angle of both shots are eye level.

 After the flashback, the camera brings us back to the man walking. As he is walking, the camera cuts to a long shot of a car driving. The lighting of this shot is from the natural light from outside. The camera then cuts to a shot of the man turning a corner and walking in the street. When the camera cuts back to a long shot of the car we see the man with his head down and the car even closer then it was before. At this moment we can anticipate what happens next.
The camera angle is a long shot that is

looking directly at the man and the car that is about to hit him. This shot has a deep focus because everything in the shot is sharp. But having the car and the man in the center of the shot helps the audience know where they should be looking. In this shot, the camera lens is normal again. For this shot, the camera is still. The next couple of shots are cut fast to show the intense impact that hit him, not only emotionally but physically.

The next shot that the camera brings us to is an extreme close up. As we can see, the impact of the hit starts to knock him out that almost leads him to death. As the mans starts to fade into unconsciousness, the camera starts to zoom out. As the shot fades to the next, we notice that the length of the camera to the actor is the same. This is called continuity editing. They are both close ups.

The second shot is in black and
white. In this shot, we see the reaction to his
"death". In the above shot, the camera angle is looking down on him (high angle), but the second shot the camera is at eye level. The second shot is more of a "flash forward" if he were to die. But after the flash forward he reawakens.

 The shot were he reawakens, the camera is at a high angle looking down at him, but as he rises to his feet it meets with his eyes again. He then realizes that life is too short and gets right back up on his feet and heads back home. The lighting of these shots are once again the natural lighting from outside. In the top shot, as the man gets up, the camera rises as well. The next shot of him is him running down the street limping. The shot of him

 getting up to him running can also be a continuity edit. The shot of him running is a waist shot. Also this shot is at an angle with directional lines. The directional lines help us determine where he is going. The focus of this shot is a deep focus because the man and the cars in front of him are in focus and sharp. The angle is eye level even though his back is turned to us. The movement of this shot is a traveling shot because as he runs back home the camera follows him.

 In these last two shots of the short film, it establishes the reuniting of him and his family after their argument. Through the medium close up we see their eye contact and how they connect again. The lighting of the two shots are from a three point lighting. I think this because there is no shadows on the objects and people. I  believe that the reuniting of the family is more than just a symbol of family.
It shows that no matter what, life can hit you harder

then you expect it to. But in the end family will always be there for you. And in this last scene thats what I see the camera captures. A normal lens is used again in this last scene. The camera angle is at eye level. The camera doesn't move a whole lot, but it does pan down a tad when the son comes into the shot.


To me, the cinematographer's stylistic elements consisted of close ups and some hand held shots for dramatic effect. The cinematographers stylistic elements help with the pace of the film and the effect on the audience. When the man was getting hit by the car, the editing was fast to imply the hard impact of the car. Also in the emotional scenes, the shots were held longer.

"Exit Wounds"- Commentary

A. Rationale


The short film that my group and I created is called "Exit Wounds". Our working plan was to first create the treatment and script as a group. After creating the treatment and script, we planned out where and when we were shooting. The plot of our film was about a teenage boy and his younger brother who are the only ones left of their family and don't have much money to survive off of. The older brother wants his younger brother to have a good life, but the low income is favoring them. The older brother gets fired from his job and decides to take revenge of it and go back to his work and steal money from the safe. When he ends up getting caught, the little brother saw the whole thing. The older brothers desperation for a better life and more money leads to unhappiness in the younger brother. We wanted to try and create a film that could be also told through the sounds. We experimented with the suspense and emotional genre, lighting, sound, and  camera movements and different angles. The target audience for this film would definitely be teenagers and adults due to the understanding of the situations going on. I believe that this film was a good idea because it help reveals the struggle and low income that families, today, are still going through.

B. Commentary
1-3. My area of responsibility in the film was the editor. As editor, I had to make smooth cuts between shots and put all the music and shots in the correct order as best as possible so that the story would flow more easily. Also as editor, on site I had to make sure that the shots and camera angles were unique and that we got multiple angles of every scene so that there was different views to choose from when editing. Through the editing process, I ran into multiple problems with the audio. When uploading our first couple of scenes that we first shot, none of the audio came out. But when the audio did come out, it was synched together which made it more of a hassle. Also another problem I ran across in the editing process was the lighting in one shot. The lighting was a little dark but to the point where it was disturbing. In order to fix these two problems I got the group together and we came up with a plan. We decided to re-shoot the first couple scenes where the audio was all messed up and we made sure that the audio was coming on correctly while recording. When fixing the lighting, I just used a color correction/brightening tool to brighten the footage a little.

4-5. There was quite a few problems that arose during the actual filming process. One of the problems that we came across during the shooting was making sure our youngest actor (A.J.) would cooperate. He was uncooperative at times. He would either get super hyper and not settle down or he would be moody and not do the scenes correctly. There was times when we had to shoot a shot of his over and over again about 15 times until we got one that was somewhat decent because we knew we weren't going to get anything better then that. We came up with the solution of bribing him to cooperate. We bribed him with ice cream and money! Hey, at least it worked! Another problem we ran into was daylight. One of our shots has to look like it is early in the morning so we shot it around dusk time so it looked like the sun was rising. We had to rush a couple of the shots because it was getting darker and we needed it to look like the sun was rising and not setting. We fixed that problem by adding a little more lighting to the scene and worker faster through the shots.

C. CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE FINISHED PROJECT

Script/Narrative/Story
a. The film definitely develops a clear story around the character that moves through 3 events: Liam and Christopher are alone and don't have a lot of money, Liam gets fired and steals, Christopher sees Liams actions and is upset. Through out these sequences of events, the story and characters develop emotions that relate to todays families. In conclusion of these events, we see the disappointment in Christopher that developed as Liams character changed because of the course of the events. 

b. This film gives an impression of a issue that is very big in todays society and economy. In this film, we see the problem arising of low income and no family and financial support. This film help shows the audience what is happening in todays society and that this is actually happening to people out there in our world right now. 

c. I do think that the actions and lines are consistently "in character" and appropriate to the background, motivations and personality of the characters portrayed. Nick P. does a good job of portraying the character of the older brother who takes over the job of being the head family member and the person who brings home the money. He does a good job of showing and expressing the emotions that the character "Liam" should be feeling through the course of the event of him getting fired and stealing. His own character can express the stress of developing a better life for one and how hard it may be to be happy without being desperate. 

d. I would say that through out this film there is a good amount of action really telling the story rather then dialogue telling the story. But some dialogue is useful when helping develop the characters actions. In the film Liam's action of stealing through desperation and anger from being fired helps show that he is in need of money even more now and that he feels like he doesn't have any more options to run to. But the dialogue when Liam's boss and him have the conversation about being fired helps develop the emotions in Liam's character that cause him to steal. 

e. I feel like the climax is unique and effective because it shows how one's emotions can take over the better of oneself and cause one to do bad things. In this story Liam's emotions rise as he gets fired as he is stressed about making his younger brother happy. He develops a sense of robbery in him and takes advantage of it rather then going and finding a different job. The climax of this film is when Liam is caught after he steals them money. But the real emotions step in when we see that Liam's little brother had been watching the whole time and we see a sad and hopeless look on his face as we can feel the pain he must be going through. 

Casting/Acting

a. The actors that we chose for the parts of Liam (older brother) and Christopher (Younger brother) are Nick P. and A.J. When selecting the actors we knew that had to look like they could be brothers and we happened to find two people that did have similar looks. I think that both of our actors had the appropriate personalities and physical attributes of the characters that they are portraying. Liam character needed to be a teenager, which Nick is, and Christopher needed to be a young boy, which A.J. is.
b. I believe that our actors portrayed their roles in a totally believable manner. They did the lines the way they were told to. And they added emotions to each line. When they needed to be angry, they were. When they needed to be sad, they put some tears on. These actors were one of the most easiest actors to work with. They listened and got everything down in a proper amount of time and manner.
c. The actors definitely have distinct personalities that give each character a clear and distinct identity. Both the actors had personalities that were open and wanted to go far in life, which helps develop the story because Liam wants to give Christopher a better life but because of the struggles for money, it makes it hard to do so.
d. Our characters were definitely capable of involving the audience emotionally. Nick did a good job off portraying a mad older brother who was figity when in a rush to do a bad deed. Also A.J. did a good job of expressing emotions of concern and disappointment that helped shows the audience how Liams struggle and decisions affect Christopher in all way and forms. As a crew member and an audience member, I feel that we do care about what happens to them in the end. This is because we see the struggle for money everyday in our society and now we see an experience that is seen through the crew members eyes. 

Music and Effects

a. The background music doesn't really ever inappropriately call attention to itself. This is because the music and effects used helps express the emotions that are being portrayed in the film. It helps bring a more emotional theme to the screen and to the audience. 

b. The music is definitely loud enough to the point where it is at a appropriate level but not a over whelming level. The music is at a low level to the point where you can still hear it and develop the emotions while still hearing the dialogue. 

Titles and Credits/Editing 
a. The titles and credits are appropriate for the nature of the production because it helps shows that there is going to be scenes with dark lighting in it.
b. The credits do remain legible on the screen for a good amount of time, but I feel like they could of been drawn out a little longer so that it develops more emotions and feelings towards the characters. 

c. All of the cuts are motivated and are in harmony with the pace and nature of the subject matter. The use of fade in/fade outs helps draw attention to a lapse of a period of time. It also helps draw out the emotion in a scene into the next scene.
d. The visual perspective is maintained throughout the film. We tried not to confuse our audience as much as possible because I feel like our beginning scene is a little rusty. We stayed on one side of the 180 line the whole time while shooting this film. We payed close attention to that.
e. The shot selection follows what the audience expects, wants, and/or needs to see at each moment. When Liam gets fired, they want to see some sort of rebel that you can see building up inside him and the audience sees that he goes back to his works and steals money from there.  

f. Yes both technical and general continuity jump cuts been avoided.
g. I feel like for the most part, yes the editing is fluid. There is one spot that I can recall on that is not as smooth as it should be, but because of the time thats what had to be done for the time being. My favorite scene to watch is the robbery scene because the cuts are fast and the camera movement is fast which helps draw the emotion and suspension to the audience and to the screen. I felt like the most difficult edit to do was the beginning scene because of all the problems we ran across with it. But once we got the new footage in, it was a little easier. Also the first shot of the film is not as smooth as I wanted it to be and I wish I could go back and fix it, but we learn from our mistakes so that we can make the next film even better. 

Cinematography

a. Our cinematographer really made sure we had an excessive amount of camera shots so that in the editing process it made it more fun to pick different shots that looked better then others. It also helped me have a bigger range of shots to add to the film to make it more unique. For the most part, I think our camera movements weren't that shaky and were on key. 

Production Design/Mis En Scene

a. The set design that we came up with is definitely appropriate for the time period of the film. This is because it is set in the present. In our present time, there is an economic fall which is shown in this film and how hard it is to maintain financially happy. We didn't create many sets but we did rearrange some sets. We shot in San Bruno and San Francisco. 

b. The location lighting was actually pretty well lit for the most part. But we had to add some light for the robbery and when Liam gets caught after he has done the crime. In the beginning scene it was all natural light but for the rest of the time, we had to add lighting here and there to help portray the time of day and the mood of the scene and characters. 

Overall I felt this film was good. I felt it was a success even though I know it could of been better. There is always room for perfection. We may not have envisioned it the way it came out to be, but it came out pretty good from the looks of it. I am also proud of all the crew members who were always working and never had nothing to do because it made my job as an editor more easy to have others working. Also I am also proud of the actors and how well they preformed and portrayed their characters! I hope you enjoy our film "Exit Wounds". 

Oral Presentation Critque

My Own Oral:


The movie I choose for my oral presentation was "Million Dollar Baby". When looking back and reviewing my oral, I did a lot better then I thought I was going to do. I was clear and has information, but I realized I forgot to talk about a couple of things like cinematography and how the extract relates back to the movie as a whole. Talking about those two things probably would of helped my oral become stronger and receive a better grade. I feel like I was sorta organized, but at the same time I could tell I bounced around from different topics. My strongest topics that I talked about were the lighting and how gender takes a big role in the movies. I covered most of the material besides relating the extract back to the movie as a whole and the cinematography. Overall I think I did well even though I felt like I was going to do horrible. If I were to give my own oral a score, I would give it a 20. This is because I covered most of the subjects, I went deeper into the meaning of things, and because I was clear on most of my points. Also there reason once again why I would take points off is because of not hitting the topic of how the extract relates back to the movie as a whole and the cinematography, and how at times in my oral I wasn't overly specific. 


Jenna Fontaine's Oral Presentation:


 I choose Jenna Fontaine's oral presentation to critique. The movie she choose was "Edward Scissorhands". Jenna did a good job of explaining her extract and each topic. She throughly explained shot composition, sound design, and the sociocultural aspects. She really went deep into the foreground, midground, and background of her extract and what it meant. She also explained the dominating sounds in the extract and how they were brought about. I really like how she related the film to gays and AIDS; which are problems that still exist today in our society. She discussed how they were important in the time period of the film. Jenna made a lot of connections to the film which brought my attention because I saw more meaning to the story than before. I feel like she could of talked a little more about the target audience but I felt that her point was clear enough for people to understand what she was saying. Just like me, her weakness was talking about cinematography and sound design. Those two things I had trouble with talking about and i felt like maybe she did too. I felt that she focused a lot on how the character struggles with his surroundings and how that signifies his actions. Overall, I would give her a score of 22 because her oral presentation was well developed and she hit a lot of the subjects. She also went deep into what she was talking about so it was just simple details but a detailed analysis that takes time to really think about. Good job Jenna and keep it up!!!

Oral Presentation Part 3 Narrative- Million Dollar Baby

Part 3
IV. Narrative

1. How is this film constructed according to narrative/story being told?
 The film is being constructed according to the story being told through not only the dialogue between the characters but the actions and reactions. My extract that I have chosen to evaluate is the last fight sequence near the end of the movie (1:28:30-1:33:30). The story is really told in this scene through the characters body language and emotions. In this scene, Maggie is taking on one of the biggest names known in woman's boxing. Through her mentor's words she gains the power to struggle through and start fighting back. Through anger and adrenaline the opponent hits Maggie during a time out and sends her to the floor where her neck lands on a chair and ends her career. At the time of her fall, you see her action of falling while we also see her mentor's reaction. He helplessly tries to save her by moving the chair out of the way, but fails in the attempt. During the extract we see how close their relationship has evolved not only as a coach and boxer but like a daughter and father.

2. Is the narrative organized by plot or time sequence, or some other way?
 The narrative is organized by time sequence.


3. Does the film use other principles than narrative sequence as a structure (for instance, an argument)?
This film is a three act structure. The three act structure consists of a beginning, middle, and end whereas the plot is the main focus in the story. In this plot, the beginning, middle, and end help develop the story and that characters actions towards each other. Through out this film, the plot helps develop the climax in the film and how the characters have come to a conclusion.


4. What is the nature of our engagement with the story or characters?
The nature of our engagement with the characters are very relevant. Through out the story, we can closely relate to the emotions and struggles that the characters deal with on a daily basis. We all deal with the emotional struggles of relationships with the people around us in our everyday life.
 
V. Film Language and Representation

1. How are characters and issues represented?
The characters are represented through the issues that are brought upon them. The issues help build the characters and help express who they really are. As the big championship fight gets closer and closer, Maggie and her mentors relationship gets closer and closer as they train harder. Through the training process, we see issues with Frankie and Maggie not knowing wether they have become to close because they both don't want to deal with the risk of losing one another. Especially Frankie who has had a tough time dealing with his distant daughter.


2. What is the style and effect of acting and performance?
The style of the characters reveals strength and determination. Through out the film, the performances of the characters are intense, active, and also fearless. For example, Maggie's character is determined to get Frankie to be her mentor and boxing coach, while along the way she risks her emotional attachment with Frankie. Also Frankie risks having a close relationship with Maggie, when he told himself he never would be close with anyone again after what happened with his daughter. So both Maggie and Frankie are in the same emotional situation. The style of the acting definitely helps portray who the characters really are and what they are going through. This helps us relate more to them as we see them open up and spill more details out.


3. How is meaning created by camera angles, shots, and camera movement?
Meaning is created by camera angles, shots and camera movement because it helps capture the emotions through the characters expressions. The variety of camera angles help develop the tension and emotion in the story through close ups and quick cutting between fight sequences. In the extract that I picked, the camera angels and shots help develop the tension between the two fighters. Through the close ups we also develop the same feelings that we see the characters going through.

4. How is meaning created through proxemics, territorial design, or open and closed forms?
Maggie and Frankie has a relation in proximity. They both have been through the rough edges on family history. The proximity shows how close in relationship the two have develop through time when developing themselves. The majority of the scenes are in open form because you instantly know where the scene is being taken place at from the wide angles.

5. How is meaning created by editing and sequencing?
During the fight sequence at the end, the editing is cut at a good pace to keep people wondering what's going to happen next. In the extract of the fight sequence, when Maggie goes down the shot is slow downed to help with the dramatic tension. During the shot in slow motion, the editing cuts back and forth between Frankie's reaction and to the action of Maggie falling to the floor. During this cutting, we see how close they have become through Frankie's reactions to try and help Maggie before she hits the chair which breaks her neck and ends her boxing career.

6. How is meaning created by lighting, shade and color?
There isn't much lighting techniques used in this scene because it is a boxing ring. What they did was set it up like a actual boxing ring with the spot light above to brighten up where the fight is being taken place. In the scene if you look off into the background, it is dark compared to the actual ring. The lighting during this scene is to show that she has her spotlights and she has her dark moments. Her spotlights are when she makes a come back after being tossed around a little and the dark moment is when she takes a hard fall and hit her neck on a chair. The dark lighting helps show that we should feel sad. After the fight sequence it goes to a shot of Maggie in the hospital after the fight and the lighting gives you enough to see of how badly she was injured. On the other hand, there is a little shadow on the right side of her face to resemble how badly beaten up that side of her face is.


7. How is meaning created by sound and music?
There isn't much music in this scene, but at the end of the fight sequence when she takes the hard fall, sad slow music slowly fades in to help draw the feelings to the audience. The sound in this scene on the other hand takes a big role. In this scene you can hear the sound of the punches and the heavy breathing of the fighters. You can also hear the roar of the crowd. All of these sounds help the audience actually feel like they are sitting in the stands watching a boxing match. What really draws my eye is the use of expressionism during the slow motion part of the scene. When Maggie takes her big fall, you can't hear much of the crowd anymore or anything else. All you can hear is her body falling and when her neck hits the chair; the director really wanted to emphasize her neck cracking. When her neck hits the chair, all you can hear is her neck cracking, people's reaction and her hand hitting the floor. There is also a little echo feeling sound in the background that helps resemble that the scene is in slow motion. The isolation of these sounds helps the problem stand out to the audience. It also helps bring emotions to not only the characters but the viewers as well. The cracking off the neck makes me feel uncomfortable, which helps portray the feelings created by these sounds. Lastly when we see Maggie in the hospital after the accident, we hear the heart machine in the back ground and a machine that is helping her breathe. She also tries to talk, which is an attempt fail because of the injury. This short scene helps the audience see and feel her pain.

8. How is meaning created by location, set design and mis en scene.?
The location of this scene is a boxing ring in Las Vegas. The reality of the fight sequence and the location definitely helps portray that it is an actual boxing match. It gives the film a sense of reality. In this scene the set design is taken very seriously in order to pull off the action. Also there wasn't much props, but the props that were necessary helped tell the story.

9. Does the film make use of symbols, metaphors, or allegories? Share are they and how do they work within the context of the film?
I believe that Frankie, Maggie's coach, takes on a big role as a symbol. Not only has a symbol of a mentor but as a father figure she never had in her life. Frankie helps Maggie shape her life and shape who she is. He also guides her through the difficulties of boxing which help her overcome her anger. Maggie doesn't have a supportive family, so I think that she thinks Frankie is supporting her by pushing her to become the best she is capable of becoming. I believe that Frankie symbolizes as her turning point in her life and his life as well. He was afraid of opening himself up to others because of his distant relationship with his daughter, but when Maggie comes along something changes in him and he gives it a shot.

10. How is meaning created by technical elements such as production design, mise en scene, composition, special effects (matte paintings, models or animation, computer generated images….etc.)
Meaning is created  by technical elements such as production design by the film blending boxing and the real world. Both boxing and the real world have moments where you have to think and make ways to get through difficult situations; and the two really come together when making a way for both. The production design of how boxing is portrayed in the movie helps show that boxing is not only a adrenaline rush but a way to express yourself through hard times and a way to get things of your chest. That is one of the reasons why Maggie was so devoted to boxing because she wanted to find a way to make herself feel like she knows who she really is.

11. What emotional information is conveyed through the film making process?
The emotional information that is conveyed through the film making process is how people are trying to make there way through life. The movie definitely brings a sense of reality because all the emotions that the characters go through are real. These real emotions allow the audience to connect to the characters immediately.