The video below is from Shawshank Redemption:
The sub genre of this film i believe is crime thriller as he has ended up in a prison and has allegedly murdered two people and is facing back to back life sentences. So i believe the sub genre is crime thriller.
The editing techniques used in this opening scene of the movie are varied and create a very good effect to the audience and a sense of involvement with the movie. These techniques vary and have different effects.
The Opening minute is titles and through these titles is a non digetic sound to make the titles more interesting. Though as they come to an end the music still carrys on but still feels non digetic to the audience until around 1 minute 16 seconds. Then it changes to digetic as it is playing out the car radio. This then leads me to the editing technique used first. This technique is eye-line match this is a type of edit which cuts from one character looking at something to then what it is that the character has been looking at. So in this scene we go from the character looking in the glove compartment to actually seeing just his hand as if it is a personal shot. This really gives a good effect to the audience as it makes us feel involved as if we are him maybe sitting in that car.
In the second minute we have a close up on the characters face and then the bottle he is drinking from which establishes he is drunk hence for the bottle. The close up on his face shoes the emotion of his face then we start to hear a voice as if it is a narrator but then we cut to the same characters face all cleaned up and with a different emotion. This tells us that the scene we saw before this new one was a flashback. A flashback is a clip or moment in a film of an event that happened earlier in the film shown to the audience. This really shows the audience what they are talking about but leaves the audience still with enigmas. Also the connection between the two shots of him in the flashback and now is called match cut. Match Cut is a type of editing where the position of one object id get in the next cut, but using a different object.
Throughout the next few minutes there are match cuts and also the narrative voice effect from the courtroom as the scene flicks from flashback to present day. This really gets the audience to understand what is actually happening and why he is there but still really leaves a strong enigma as the voice or the clips never release too much information so there is always a false path and a mystery to what may happen on the other hand.
At 6 minutes we get a eye line shot of the judges eyes. This really gives a sense of the extremitys of what is being said and the case that he is dealing with. It makes the audience look him in the eyes. This involves the audience as they feel intimidated by the way his eyes stare back at them with the look of power and authority. We then have another eye line match as we see what the judge was staring at. This really gives us the sense of looking through the judges eyes and makes the audience feel as if they are now the ones in power.
7 minutes into the clip we have another charachter coming into the film. As he enters a room the camera effect is a very clever one. It has a personal shot that flows into an over the shoulder shot to end in a mid shot. As the scene moves on we get a sense of this character and his status in the prison. As the camera goes up the stares behind him it is as if he is becoming from a small man from the rejection in the judgment room to the big man in the criminal world of the prison. Then we have get a bigger sense as people begin to follow him and consult him about things.
At 8 and a half minutes we have an amazingly effective camera shot. The camera starts off with a wide shot on the prison and pans over the whole top of the prison looking down as we fly over it. This gives the audience a few different feelings and also helps them understand the setting a bit more. The one thing that strikes to the audience without them realising is they feel a sense of their status is higher and better than anyone of those people. It makes them feel like they are god watching over the whole place and being higher up in the world. This really involves the audience as they can get to know where they are alot more and also can feel that real sense of authority. This shot is a really clever shot.
What is your media consumption?
My media consumption is extremely high. I am use media in everyday life in more than one way. I day to day use one end of the scale of media consumption which is very old media of todays world, using my mobile phone and also use my computer to communicate with friends and others. I also take my media consmption to very opposite end of the scale in online gaming using my xbox 360. Media consumption the different methods and platforms in which people interact and use media choices. Ranging from TV, Internet, Radioto Print, Video Games and such others.
How does the media effect you?
In my life media effects me incredibly. I constantly use and watch lots of types of media everyday of my life. I have my iphone which has many different types of media running through it every minute. These consist of; Texting, the internet, a news feeder, social networking and calling. I also play computer games everyday with my friends and socialise and chat and meet people from all over the world on this. Another thing i watch for 2 hours everyday is Sky Sports News which informs me of everything going on in sport world wide. A extra thing that also has a major effect on me is i work in computers in fixing them and also creating website so i am communicating everyday to help my customers. Media effects everyone in the world as most peoples jobs use computers are have something to do with communication and everyone communicates.
How is the media embedded in society, the culture?
Media is used by everyone either in buisness or in social and family leisure. It is used either by a buisness comunnicating as they have to either sell or help customers/clients out, or the simpleness of enjoying listening to your latest MP3/iPod or even a family having a nice film for there movie night. It is used by everyone and in todays society people could not live without it as it is has a large effect on the way the world runs. Every buisness needs the media to make money for people to live and everyone has to work to live so everyone uses media. It is a very important source to the world.
