Laura's AICE Media Studies Blog

This week we were asked to post examples of the five master shots that we filmed last week from actual film. I found this fairly difficult because I don’t watch a lot of movies, but I was able to find some things regardless. The first example I found was of Leit Motiff. This was found in the show “The Great British Bake Off.” I’ve never watched this show before, but I noticed that they used suspenseful music when showing the desserts before they were judged. Here are some clips: Next, I found an example of parallelism in the movie “The Breakfast Club.” While the tudents wall through the corridor, the teacher is seen walking in the same hallway at the same time. This could also be seen as an example of simultaneity. Here is the clip: The next shot I chose was an example of symbolism. I chose a scene from “Snow White,” in which the witch offers Snow White a red poisoned apple. First, the apple symbolizes the original sin from the Bible. However, beyond that, th...

These last two weeks, Sophonie and I worked together to create a simple video with an example of each of the five master shots. Here is the video: Five Master Shots In the video, we begin with an example of contrast. While contrast is often used to show the stark differences between two very different circumstances, such as extreme poverty and wealth, we chose a simpler approach. In our example of the contrast shot, we chose to take a video of Mickey drinking a cup of coffee followed by a video of me drinking from a bottle of water. While we are both doing the same action: drinking, we are drinking two very different things. As everything else in the clip is the same, the contrast between the water and the coffee is emphasized. The next shot that appears in the video is our example of parallelism. Parallelism is used to represent the similarities between two different characters. In our shot, we chose to first film me walking. We then filmed Sophonie walking from the same angle....

Review of Separate Camera Shots in the  Television Series Magic for Humans This week I chose to comment on a couple shots from the television series Magic for Humans. I watched several movies and shows in order to really get a feel for the effect of different camera angles, but I didn't realize that it is not possible to take a screenshot while streaming via the Netflix app. After a couple of failed tries, I chose to do a shorter show so that I could really take the time to focus on the effects of those shots. I also chose to do a show that I was unfamiliar with so that I could record my initial reaction. This show, Magic for Humans , is a series in which Justin Willman, a magician, performs funny magic tricks. Here are some shots that I thoguht were very effective.  First, the show begins with an introduction using a a series of cameo shots. While the man, Justin, describes what magic means to him and transitions to the next topic, the shots change from full ...

This week we were tasked with assignment of watching the 12 shots that our classmates made and choosing at least two to comment on. Before commenting, I looked through almost all of my classmates' blogs and I really enjoyed the unique perspective that everyone brought into their shots. It was nice to see how different each shot could be even though we all had the same assignment and the same shots to choose from. First, I commented on Maya's blog. While I really enjoyed all of her shots, I do have some favorites. The first shot that I chose to comment on was Maya's close-up shot. In Maya's close-up shot, she chose to film her sister's mirror reflection from the side as she applied mascara. This was a very interesting way to incorporate a close-up shot and it made you feel like you were really there. The angle made the subject very clear and detailed and it was an interesting approach to a close-up shot. Next, I chose to comment on Maya's extreme long shot....