180 Degree Rule (This video is horrible but useful)

Hellsing (Character Profiles)

Hellsing OVA Episode 1:



For this task I chose to write about the television show 'Hellsing'. This show is personally one of my all time favourites. I think that this show is aimed at older teenagers- mainly teenage boys between the ages of 15-21. I think this because the story line is about the 'Hellsing Organization' who battle against ghouls and enemy vampires to protect the British public. This will appeal to the target audience because in the episodes there is a lot of iconography used that will stereo typically appeal to a male audience (For example: Guns, blood, knives, swords etc) 
This show is definitely aimed at an older audience because there is a lot of violence and blood/ gore shown which would not be appropriate for a young audience. Also there are scenes that are of a sexual nature, which would not be appropriate for a younger audience. 

Character Profiles: 

Alucard:
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown 

• He's the main protagonist. (He's an anti Hero)
• He's a powerful vampire.
• He works for the Hellsing organization. 
• He serves Sir Integra.
• He uses a gun to fight mostly, but he sometimes uses his strength and vampiric powers with stronger enemies.
• He's actually the original vampire that was defeated by Van Helsing in Bram Stoker's book Dracula. In the Hellsing universe, instead of being killed, Alucard (Dracula) was captured by Van Helsing to serve Van Helsing and the Hellsing organization. At some point he was locked up by Van Helsing's son Arthur, and later released by Arthur's daughter Integra, who becomes his Master from then on.

Sir Integra Hellsing:
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown 

• She's a descendant of Abraham Van Helsing.
• She's the leader of the Hellsing Organization.
• Integra is Alucard's current master.
• She's nearly always featured smoking cigars.
• She's respected and admired- Even by her enemies. 
• She's human.
• She's skilled at fighting with firearms. 

Seras Victoria:

Gender: Female

Age: Unknown

• She was formerly a member of the police force.
• After being badly injured on a mission involving Alucard, she chose to join him among the ranks of the vampires rather than die (Alucard turned her into a vampire by biting her neck to save her).
• Both her parents were murdered when she was a child.
• She has no close friends or connections.

Donnie Darko Opening Analysis. (Camera)

(00:00-04:09) 
(Opens with the logos of the institutions involved with the making of the film)

Camera: 

(00:50)
Opens with a panning camera. This shows the audience the location but also having a panning camera combined with a fade from black transition is effective because it almost gives the illusion that the audience is opening their eyes and looking around because the panning camera is like a POV (Point of view) shot for the audience. This gives the illusion that the audience is actually present within the scene. Having this at the beginning of the scene is effective because the main character (Donnie) opens the scene by waking up in the middle of no where and begins to look around. This can make us relate to Donnie because the illusion created by the camera and editing techniques will make the audience empathise with Donnie because it feels like we're in the same situation as him.  

(01:13)
The camera starts moving towards Donnie who is laying down on the road. This is effective because this is another POV shot for the audience because it's almost as though we're walking toward's Donnie. This also shows that Donnie is the main focus of this scene because there's nothing else around and the camera is completely focused on him and he is in the centre of the frame. 

(01:43)
The camera then begins to circle around Donnie. This allows the audience to get a close look at Donnie.

(01:57)
Cuts to a POV shot from Donnie's perspective. This is effective because this also allows the audience to relate to Donnie by letting them see the world him his eyes. 

(02:04)
The camera stops panning when Donnie stands up. this makes Donnie's head in the centre of the frame. This makes Donnie the main focus on the screen. 

(02:11)
The camera doesn't move and Donnie turns around. This is a medium shot of Donnie. This allows the audience to see his facial expression clearly. 

(02:31) 
The camera is ahead of Donnie while he's on the bike keeping a steady pace in front of him to keep him the frame. This is a long shot. (It keeps Donnie's full body in the frame). The camera must move at a steady pace. They probably used a vehicle of some kind to do this. 

(02:34)
The camera is now beside Donnie at a low angle looking up at him. This shot is a medium shot.  Again, the camera must be attached to a vehicle of some kind in order to keep up with Donnie. 

(02:42)
The camera is now ahead of Donnie again. 

(02:46)
The camera is now taking a POV shot through the perspective of Donnie's view. This is effective because this allows the audience to relate to Donnie because the audience is looking at the world though Donnie's perspective. 

(02:53)
The camera is situated behind a sign that talks about a Halloween carnival that will be happening in the town that Donnie is cycling through. This is effective because it gives the audience information about the time of year the story is in and it also tells you where the location of the story is. 
The camera then pans to the right to capture Donnie in the frame as he is cycling past to make him the main focus. 

(03:00)
The camera is panning down the street. This gives the audience a good view of the neighborhood and also makes the joggers the main subject of the frame for a moment. By doing this the audience will realise that this town is just like any other town because it has normal everyday people in it.

(03:03)
The camera is ahead of Donnie again. 

(03:11)
The camera then pans to the right and moves forward to show to other characters. The shot turns into a medium shot onto these characters.  

(03:40)
There is a low long shot looking up at Donnie as he gets off his bike. 

(03:44)
The camera pans down from a shot of the trees to reveal a girl jumping on a trampoline. This is a long shot. 

(03:56)
The camera pans down to the left to show a woman reading a book. This is a medium shot. 

(04:00)
The camera then pans to follow Donnie into the kitchen where it stops to show Donnie opening the fridge, which has a note on it that says: 'Where is Donnie?' This is effective because this will allow the audience to read the note but it also shows that Donnie is completely oblivious to the note. 

Donnie Darko Opening Analysis. (Editing)

(00:00-04:09) 
(Opens with the logos of the institutions involved with the making of the film)

Editing:

(00:50)
Starts off with a fade from black transition. This is effective to start off the scene because it's a slow transition which will set a slow pace for the rest of this scene.

(01:56)
The camera then cuts to a shot of the scenery and the location of the scene. This is effective because it allows the audience to get a good view of where the scene is set. Also, that fact that  it's edited like this makes it seem like we're looking though the eyes of the main character (Donnie). This is a POV shot (Point of View shot).

(02:19) 
The title of the film then appears on the screen. This happens when Donnie walks out of frame. This is significant because this tells the audience that Donnie Darko is the name of the main character because Donnie was just on the screen. Also, the fact that Donnie has walked out of frame and left his name behind is effective because this gives a slight hint to the outcome of the film. (Donnie dies, but he isn't forgotten). 

(02:21) 
Then there's a fade to white transition which is supposed to look like a bright light taking over the screen.

(02:45)
This cut is effective as this shot is another POV shot which allows the audience to see the location through Donnie's perspective.  

(02:50)
This cut is effective here because in the shot it has an image of a sign which is placed in the town that Donnie is cycling through. The sign tells you that there will be a Halloween party. This is effective to pace this shot here because it tells the audience that something is going to happen on Halloween night that is significant to the plot. 

During this opening sequence there isn't a lot of editing and there isn't many cuts. For example, the only times that there are cuts is when there is a change of location, to point out something significant in the mise en scene or to gain a slightly different camera angle on something to allow the audience to get a good look at something. 

Having a small amount of cuts in this opening sequence is effective because having too many cuts can disrupt the flow and rhythm of a scene. In this opening sequence I think the director was looking for a slow and almost dreamy pace. You can tell this because the amount of cuts were minimum which made the pace seem slow. Also, instead of cutting there was a lot of different camera techniques being used. For example; there was a lot of panning going on. This is effective because it gives a slow pace, looks interesting and allows the audience to effectively see everything that's happening in the scene. By doing this it also gives the impression that the audience is actually in the scene with Donnie because the moving camera is moving almost like a person would, also the camera is from a POV perspective. This allows the audience to relate to Donnie because it feels like we're actually in the scene with him. 

Donnie Darko Opening Analysis. (Mise en Scene)

 (Opens with the logos of the institutions involved with the making of the film)

Mise en scene: 

(00:50- 02:19) 
-Starts off showing the initial location of the film. (On an empty road.) The location appears to be in the middle of no where due to the fact that there are no houses, people or cars nearby other than the main character who is laying on the road. The area is surrounded by trees which could also show that this scene is set in the middle of no where. 

-Donnie (The main character) is laying down on the road next to a fallen bicycle. This could show that Donnie was cycling away from somewhere/ something and that he was in a hurry but he had fallen off of the bike. 

-Donnie appears to be wearing his pyjamas. This could show that either Donnie had to get away from something in a hurry so he didn't have time to change his clothes, or it could connote that Donnie wasn't aware that he was travelling and that he was sub consciously travelling in his sleep. 

-The sky shows that the scene was all happening quite early in the morning because it looks like it's sunrise. This could connote that Donnie was travelling all night. 

(02:24 - 03:40)
-Donnie is now on his bike on his way home, cycling around what appears to be his home town. There is a montage of familiar places and people. You can tell that this place is familiar to him because of how natural he appears in these surroundings. He looks as though he's travelled through this place many times. The people around him seem to know and recognise him which also hows that Donnie is familiar with these surroundings.

Children Of Men Opening Analysis.

Mise en scene: 
-British/ red buses show that the location of the film is in England. 
- The colours in the scene are washed out and look bleak and dreary. (They have a slight grey/ blue/ green hue) This gives the film a depressing atmosphere due to the filters that have been used to create the dull colours. 
- The television shown doesn't look like a modern television. It looks like a hi-tech television from the future. 
The moving advertisements on the billboards on the street also connote that this film is set in the future. 

Editing:
-The scene starts off initially with a black screen. All you can hear during this time is the sounds of the news report. This is effective because this will make the audience's attention focus fully on what the news report is saying rather than the audience getting distracted by what they can see on the screen. 

Sounds:
-Diegetic: 
-The music in the opening scene is diegetic because the music is actually coming from the television in the scene. This means that the actors can hear the music being played which is why the music is diegetic. 
- The sound effects are diegetic. (Sounds of cars and traffic, the explosion, the sirens of the cars and the sirens in of the shops.) 
- The dialogue is diegetic and the people screaming is also diegetic. 
- The sound from the news report on the television is also diegetic. 

-Non- Diegetic:  
-I didn't notice any examples of non-diegetic sounds in this scene. 

Camera: 
- An example of a high shot was shown in the beginning of this scene where the people are looking up at the television screen. This allows the audience to see the character's facial expressions and reactions to the news report. Just by seeing their facial expressions we can tell whether or not the news report is of good news or of bad news. Another reason why they might have decided to use a high shot would be to make the news report seem a lot more important. A way they made the news report look more important is that the characters are looking up to the television (literally) which will make the news seem a lot more important. Also, another reason why this is a high shot is because the camera looks like it's from the actual TV's point of view looking down at the people. 

- During the opening scene there is an example of a moving shot. This shot occurs after the main character walks out of the Cafe with his coffee. A reason why a moving shot at this point is effective is because the moving shot lets the audience watching the film get a good look at this character. This shows the audience that this man is the main character of the film