Amy’s Weblog

Evaluation of Creative Project – Toybox

My main role in the making of the film ‘Toybox’ was location and set design along with co-editing and co-writing of the script. By being assigned the role of location and set design it was my job to find a location that reflected the eerie and potentially scary storyline. Our storyline consists of an orphan boy who is moved to a strange house and discovers ‘the doll’. I needed to find a location that reflected the stereotypical foster parents home, who are normally pigeonholed as older people. I visited three locations and finally decided on a location where the décor seemed relatively old fashioned and where the room chosen, itself didn’t have many personal details such as photos or ornaments. I wanted to strip the room of any personal things because the child is supposed to feel unwelcome and look as if they have only just arrived. There is one shot in the film where the child is taking the doll to the toybox and lots of books and a vase can be seen in the background. This created a problem for me during the editing process because it was something I didn’t want in the shot but was totally unavoidable due to the positioning of the toybox, and its position is significant.

The only other shot in the film that I feel displays items that are classed as personal is the shot of the bedside cabinet where three dolls can be seen. These dolls were not originally intended to be in the shot, but whilst shooting we came up with the theory that they represent the doll’s presence is the room, and the fact that the smallest doll is knocked over creates a sense of fear and violence to come, and the vulnerability of the young boy in the film. The use of a gun in the shot also connotes violence and makes the audience question why it is there.

At the beginning of the film we use a distorted version of a nursery rhyme with lyrics that relate to the theme of the film which is fear and partly death. The voice seems sinister and we tried to make it seem like it was the voice of the doll but in spirit; although the voice comes before we see the doll it acts a juxtaposition of what is to come. Throughout the film a piece of strings music is played, even during the small piece of dialogue. This is significant because it keeps the film from being silent, but it also could potentially calm the audience preparing them for what is to happen at the end. It also keeps a fast pace to the film, allowing it to flow. Right at the end of the film when we are face with the final image of the dolls face we use a build up sound which comes to a halt. This could potentially look really good, but the build up music comes as we see the dolls face, and I think the build up should come just before and the dolls face should appear on the halt. This wasn’t possible due to the short clip on Final Cut Pro and we weren’t able to edit it properly. As the credits are rolling a ‘lullaby’ version of ‘Wouldn’t it be nice’ plays to create a serious juxtaposition of what has just happened with the boy being killed by the doll. A member of my family said ‘The music at the end is the best. It makes it really professional and goes against everything that’s already happened in the film, it makes it seem happier I think’.

The opening shot is one of the most interesting shots in the film; it is a shot of an action man pointing its gun directly at the camera.

It gives a sense of the violence and drama to come, hinted that there may be killing involved. Another of my favourite shots is the shot from the eye’s point of view reading the pages in the book. It was a really interesting shot to create and it wasn’t as difficult to make look good as we thought; the camera person just literally put their fingers over the camera lens and did like a scissor motion.

Overall I’m really pleased with the final film. Its had mostly positive feedback and when we handed out a questionnaire that also asked to mark the film out of ten our average mark was 7. I feel that it targets the intended audience well and follows the genre of a scary movie.

Ladder 49 was released in the UK on 21 January 2005 and was written by Lewis Colick. The film tells the story of the life of Jack Morrison and his journey to becoming and his life as a firefighter. Most of the movie is in flashbacks, helping us to get to know Jack, his family and his friends. Throughout the film we are taken back to the current scene, being a burning building with Jack trapped inside. This is ironic, as normally he would be the one doing the saving, but in this case, everyone is trying to save him. Ladder 49 received 7 award nominations, winning one of them which was the BMI film music award.
For my micro-analysis, I have decided to focus on the final scene of Ladder 49 which is the funeral of Jack Morrison. I’ve decided to look closely at the sound, both diegetic and non-deigetic and performance in the scene and analyse these closer than mise-en-scene, editing and cinematography.

As the scene begins, we hear very slow, sad non-diegetic music than begins to create emotion instantly and we see Jack’s wife Linda appear. We immediately sense that something might be wrong but we are put at ease when we hear children laughing, before we see their faces; this calms the audience. Linda hears a car pulling up outside the house, and she curiously walks to the window. We see the emotion in her face change as she raises her hands to her mouth and lets out a small gasp. This is displayed in the screen shot below, and we can see just how amazing her performance is here in this part of the film. We know from previous scenes in the film that a red car is significant as it brings bad news to the families of the firefighters, and it is discussed between Jack and Linda.

Her performance here is really realistic because she doesn’t make a scene in front of her children, as she obviously wouldn’t want them to be upset, as she has realised her husband has passed. Her realistic performance really adds to the emotion here. 

There is then a sound bridge of Captain Mike Kennedy talking, a firefighter who had worked very closely with Jack. As we are introduced to this part of the scene, we discover that he is at a funeral and talking about the person who has passed, being Jack. He talks about how he had watched Jack grow as a firefighter, and as he is talking, the emotion is expressed in his voice. It adds to the performance because his voice seems dry and shaky with lots of pauses breaking up what he’s talking about. This suggests that Mike is fighting with his emotions. He takes a lot of deep breaths throughout his speech and this adds to the emotional performance because it is almost like he’s too upset to speak. The above screen shot of Mike Kennedy shows pure emotion in his face and even seems to give the impression of his breaking voice as his face seems to be scrunched up. There is an ongoing piece of slow, non-diegetic music in a minor key being played throughout this scene, that is very similar to the music used in the first part of the scene. It again helps to add to the emotion and creates a sad mood even though there is the sound of a voice over the top. It somewhat adds to the emotion in Mike’s voice as he seems to being talking to the slow and sad beat of the music. There are several close ups on the faces of the people at the funeral during this scene, whose facial expressions and individual performances make the scene even more emotional. Each of the close ups capture the emotion of the scene without saying or doing anything and this is extremely powerful. At the end of his speech, Mike asks everyone to stand up, and applaud the life of Jack Morrison. Everyone stands up and begins to clap, and the sound of the clapping really makes the end of the scene emotional, and really stick in your head as if everyone (the characters and the audience) is celebrating his life. We’re shown close-ups of mainly Mike and Linda during this part of the scene as these were the two closest people to Jack in the film. This is significant as their performances here are the most believable and the most emotional.
As we are focused on a close up of Mike’s face after he has finished his speech, the sound becomes non-diegetic and there is a sound bridge to lead us to the next part of the scene. We are invited to join the last part of Jack’s funeral along with all the other firefighters and his family and friends. The emotion here is clearly created by the sound and performance. Throughout the scene, a song is played and every other piece of sound that would have been in the scene is not, and is over powered by the s0ng. Its a particularly slow and emotional song with lyrics that really relate to the current situation. The music doesn’t seem to fit perfectly with the scene, as the music seems very cheesy and a typical American song, but if the lyrics are listened to clearly, they relate well. The whole last part of the scene is very realistic and believable as the scene of a typical, American fire fighter’s funeral is created. The performance of all of the people in the scene, mainly Mike and Linda again, is again created by using close up shots of peoples faces. There are several close up shots of just Linda’s face where she is crying and very emotional. Her performance here is not too over the top, making it extremely believable.
Towards the last part of the scene, flash backs are used to help to show Jacks life and everything that he has achieved. The music here seems to pick up a bit in volume and in key, and begins to sound more celebratory and a little more happy than the rest of the scene; almost as if a gosbal choir have been added in. This gives the sense of a more happy emotion and end to Jacks life and the scene. The final thing we see in the scene is Jack and Mike emerging from a building (obviously still in flash backs) and the music slowly quitens connoting the end of the scene. The shot is then de-saturated and made to look like a photograph. The performance in the actors faces at this point creates a happier emotion as they are both smiling because it was after Jack had put out his first fire and this adds a happier outlook to the final part of the scene, leaving Jacks happy memory with us after the film is finished. We find ourselves smiling along with the two firefigters as they celebrate the significant event in Jack’s life, and the audience celebrate the event and Jack’s life along with them.

Both performance and sound had a major impact in creating the emotional mood throughout this scene, and without either of these the scene would not have created the same impact on the audience as it did.

Grease is a film directed by Randal Kleiser and was released in 1978. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John both starred in the film, alongside Stockard Channing, Jeff Conway and Didi Conn.

The opening scene of the film shows Olivia Newton-John who plays Sandy Ollson, and John Travolta who plays Danny Zuko, on a beach where they have shared a holiday romance. They talk about how when they go home they will never see eachother again.
Later on in the film, we see Danny at Rydell High School meeting up with some friends, and he talks to them about the girl he met on his holidays. Soon after, we meet Sandy who talks to her friends about meeting someone ‘special’ on her holidays. It is considental as we realise they are at the same school, and at the beach they spoke about how they’ll never see eachother again. We find out that they’re at the same school during the song ‘Summer Nights’.
Later on in the film, we see Rizzo and the rest of the ‘Pink Lades’ re-introduce Sandy and Danny at the pep rally, where Sandy is delighted to see Danny again. However Danny doesn’t seem to feel the same, and tires to act cool in front of his friends by pretending to feel nothing for Sandy. In an attempt to cheer up Sandy, Frenchie invites Sandy to her house for a sleepover with the rest of the girls. But Rizzo starts to make up a sarcastic song about Sandy, when she chokes on a cigarette and hates the taste of the wine.
Soon after the girls stop singing, the T-Birds arrive at Frenchie’s house, and start to shout things up at the girls bedroom about Sandy. The rest of the girls stay in the house, obeying Frenchie’s wishes, but Rizzo sneaks out with the boys. When she makes a remark at Danny, he leaves Rizzo and Kenickie to drive off together. This next scene shows Sandy confessing her love for Danny in a song called ‘Hopelessly devoted to you’.
A bit later on in the movie, after Kenickie’s car was damaged whilst he was making out with Rizzo in the back of it, the T-Birds break into ‘Greased Lightning’ where they fantasize about what the car will look like with a paint job and all new accessories.
Danny tries his best to become a ‘good guy’ like Sandy would like when he see’s her sharing a drink with a jock from the school. He goes to basketball and running practice, but he is terrible and he gives up. He takes Sandy for a drink in ‘Frosty Palace’ in an attempt to get away from his friends and gain some privacy for him and Sandy, but he sees his friends and they come over and intrude.
A little later on Danny asks Sandy to go to the High School dance with him where she accepts. There is a dance off toward the end of the evening, where Danny partners up with his ex-girlfriend Cha-Cha who is a much better dancer that Sandy. Sandy leaves the school hall in a strop leaving the couple to go on and win the dance contest.