Oral Presentation Genre: Breaking Bad

I chose the film series "Breaking Bad" by Vince Gilligan for my oral presentation. The series is about a high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. On the verge of being bankrupt with a baby on the way, the main character "Walter White" becomes inspired to join the drug underground and "cook" the purest crystal meth. This series takes numerous twists and turns, opening possibility for the classification of multiple genres. Generally, I would consider the series under the genre of "thriller."

The Thriller genre is consists of filmic elements that cause suspense or "on edge" feelings. Thriller genre is not to be confused with Horror. One of the first Thriller films was Harold Lloyd's Safety Last (1923). This film came out post-WWI and the Great Depression had recently begun, which obviously had a lot of influence on the film's narrative.

An common and important element in Thriller films is time. Time is important because it creates suspense in the sense that there is a countdown leading up to something. Time plays a big role in the series Breaking Bad because Walter is given a countdown on how long he has left to live. In the end, everything Walter White had done was for his family so that they would be financially stable after he was gone.

Mise-En-Scene Analysis of “American Beauty”

Mise-en-Scene Analysis

1) In the clip from American Beauty, what cinematic techniques are used to define the characters What meaning is derived from these techniques?

Everything looks so balanced within the frame in the shots when they play through the main character's dally routine to show off a "perfect" life. For example, the scene when the main character and his family are sitting at the table for dinner. In a wide shot, the camera faces the table lengthwise with each family member in each third of the frame. There is candles on each side of the table that match each other on the opposite halves of the frame. This is done in order to send a sarcastic message to the audience about his perfect looking life not so being purpose. This is also accomplished by the main character's "empty" or "bland" attitude throughout each scene of his daily routine. These techniques spark numerous ideas for the audience to guess the thoughts of the main character. I assume from his attitude towards his life that he is bored and upset with having a plain life with no more excitement. Humorously, he is suffering from a "mid-life crisis. You can tell the main character feels trapped by his lifestyle and is waiting for something to rise within him to make life exciting again.

2) How do the cinematic techniques change in the scene after Lester has decided to take control of his life?

The main character, Lester, begins to take more up of the frame. The scenes become less gloomy and seem to have more vibrance and life. The scenes are framed to be more  appealing to the eye and half more of a natural balance rather than sharp shapes in the shots. The facial expressions on the main character seem more relaxed and optimistic toward life. He literally says he, "doesn't care cause I [he] am a middle aged man who has got nothing to lose."

3) Now watch the clip from the Matrix. What cinematic techniques do you notice? How do these techniques create meaning? Compare and contrast the techniques used with Neo and the Agents.  

They use a lot of low angles in this clip. Most of the shots in this scene are very tight on Neo and he takes up a good portion of the frame. There is a lot of sequence shots and they build suspense for the audience. The cutting between shots is sped up when Neo is sneaking around the cubicles to the office. Once Neo is on the ledge, the shots become tight in and from a high angle and makes Neo look smaller and submissive to men who have basically trapped him.

3 Beat Sheets: 3 Films

The Godfather

Opening Image(1): A CU man's face dimly lit, slowly tracking tracking out. 

Theme Stated (5): Respect is valued more than friendship or justice.

Set-up (1-10): Establishes the Don, his family and members of his mafia that will play a role further on in the film. It also establishes the idea of organized crime that drives the storyline.

Catalyst (12): A man who has affiliation with the Tatalias wants to financial support for the narcotics business from the Corleons but the don refuses his offer. Then the Tatalias try to assassinate the don.

Debate (12-25): The Tatalias want Tom Hagen to make peace between the Corleons and Tatalias because they needed the business after the supposed death of Don Corleon. The Corleons begin to plot the next moves.

Break into Two (25): Michael begins to take control of the family while the Don is recovering in the hospital.

B Story (30): Michael and his girlfriend are slowly fading away from each other because of his involvement with his family business.

Fun and Games (30-55): Where Michael kills Solazo and the Tatalia boss in the restaurant.

Midpoint (55): Michael kills Solazo and the Tatalia boss then has to move to Italy to hide away for awhile.

Bad Guys Close In (55-75): The Tatalias kill Sonny and inflame the rivalry between the Corleons and the Tatalias.

All Is Lost (75): There seems to be peace after the death of Solazo and the police chief as organized crime throughout the city becomes low key.

Finale (85-110): Michael Corleon takes over the family business as the new head of the family.

Final Image (110): Fade out shot of New York City.

Mickey Blue Eyes

Opening Image(1): Character auctioning off priceless items.

Theme Stated (5): Family ties are strong.

Set-up (1-10): The main character, Michael, plans to propose to his Italian wife, Gina. He proposed and she reacts crazily.

Catalyst (12): Gina happens to be a mob bosses daughter and does not want to involve Michael in her family like that.

Debate (12-25): The father keeps insisting to involve Michael into the dirty business he is involved in.

Break into Two (25): Michael owes Jimmy money for a painting of Jimmy's sold and Gina shoots Jimmy by accident

B Story (30): Michael is slowly slipping away from Gina as he grows closer to her father.

Fun and Games (30-55): Michael tries to be more Italian by picking up on some Italian-English lingo.

Midpoint (55): Vito figures out that it was Gina and Michael who killed Jimmy and he wants them killed

Bad Guys Close In (55-75): They plan to kill Michael at the wedding and have Gina's father kill Michael.

All Is Lost (75): Michael and Gina's father try to cross Vito by getting in the FBI into the situation.

Finale (85-110): Vinny shoots Gina and Michael and Gina's father feel at  fault. But Gina and Vinny were also in with the FBI and Gina faked her death.

Final Image (110): Gina and Michael kissing in Central Park.

My Cousin Vinny

Opening Image(1): A car riding freely down the highway, countryside.

Theme Stated (5): Wrong place at the wrong time.

Set-up (1-10): Two friends are traveling across country to go  UCLA to see the college. They make a stop at a gas station on the way and the main character forgets to pay for an item and steals it by accident.

Catalyst (12): The cops follow the teenagers driving down the freeway. They are then pulled over and the teenagers think it was for accidentally stealing the item. But they were actually framed for a murder that occurred as they left the gas station.

Debate (12-25): One of the boys has a cousin who is an attorney and will come help them out. It was their last resort after not having the funds to pay for an attorney which they said would cost $50,000 - 100,000.

Break into Two (25): His cousin comes to rescue them but the teenage boys come to find out that the attorney cousin, Vinny, has failed law school 6 times and had became an attorney six month ago for personal injury cases and not had one case yet. The boys seem to be out of luck.

B Story (30): The relationship between Vinny and his girlfriend are the  b story. She motivates him to become a better lawyer and wants to help in out in any way possible for the case.

Fun and Games (30-55): There is a series of little quarrels that Vinny has numerous times throughout the movies. His smart aleck remarks exemplify his witty and hard headed personality that defines him as a character and corresponds with his attorney job.

Midpoint (55): The case is now going to trial. Vinny has realized his inexperience and now has stepped his act up. He has now been studying and finding counter evidence to prove his cousin not guilty.

Bad Guys Close In (55-75): The persecutor is bringing new evidence to court and warns Vinny, but does not let him know what the evidence is. He warns Vinny that the case is now in the bag.

All Is Lost (75): In court, Vinny attempts to object the witness being called to the booth by the persecutor but the judge overrules his objection. The witness is a forensics FBI agent and states his evidence which seems more than likely to the jury.

Finale (85-110): Vinny's wife is a mechanic and she finds evidence to prove the defendants not guilty of the murder when called up to the witness booth. The two boys are sentenced not guilty.

Final Image (110): Vinny and and wife ride off  into the sunset.

Genre

Genre: Comedy

Basics
Comedy: humorous to the audience/viewer

Sub Genres of comedy: Black Comedy (dark humor), Family Comedy, British Comedy, Stand Up Comedy, and Slapstick Comedy.

Black Comedy
Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Family Comedy
Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)

British Comedy
Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie (1997)

Stand Up Comedy
Kevin Hart: Seriously Funny (2010)

Slapstick Comedy
The Three Stooges

Conventions

- Cinematography

• camera follows basic angles
• basic shots (CU, WS, MS, LS)
• sometimes whips zooms---Films from the 70's era
• blocking techniques used when necessary (ex: censoring something)

- Edit

• basic cutting
• faster cutting based on action
• Special FX possible

- Sound

• catchy music
• very animated sounds---possibility of a light motif
• Possible narration, thoughts of the main character
• Special FX

- Character

• Characters who seem to be normal are often satirical in a sense
• People are often stereotyped by Western civilization

Application to my own film...

I would like my short film to be under the genre Comedy, additionally under the sub genres of Black Comedy and Nostalgia. In the storyline aspect, the purpose of the film is to make the audience laugh through a sense of dry humor.

Through cinematography, we will use whip zooms, a series of blocking shots in order to hide violence in the film and follow a main structure of dialogue cinematography for the most part of the film. In the edit, we plan on following basic cutting sequences.

I plan on making the dialogue very important throughout the film to motivate the plot rather than the cinematography of edit doing that. The dialogue will be quirky for the main character for he is supposed to be very dim witted and oblivious to the crime around him. I plan on doing a lot of word play in the character of the police officer like a police officer would "patter" in real life.

Since I plan to make the film a spoof of a 70's film, I will use animated sounds and very bad sound effects on purpose. I will also try to use a light motif to play on throughout the film like in the Godfather. I will also use very catchy 70's music. Possible narration if I would like the main character to speak their thoughts to the audience and separate from the police officers thoughts. 

We plan to watch Godfather, My Cousin Vinny, Mickey Blue Eyes and The Untouchables

Mustang News Broadcast Ideas

Five Ideas for Mustang News Segments

• Summer Fashions
• Summer Movies
• Student/Teacher Summer Break Recap
• Very very short film skit (weekly, everyother week, monthly, etc...)
• New Sports Coaches
• Football, Cross Country, Water Polo, etc...
• Capuchino Cribs
• Summer Music