Infinite Productions: Drive

Showing posts with label Drive. Show all posts

Saturday, 13 October 2018

GENERAL CONVENTIONS 3: sound; genre signification

My influences

I like the idea of incorporating music into our film opening for more than just creating an ambiance (diegetic or not I'm not sure) - 'choreographing' a film to sound isn't the most common of conventions but it can work
Not using much dialogue for exposition
A voiceover
The use of Foley sound, both for verisimilitude and creativity - a good example of this this BTS video form the 2018 horror film The Quiet Place

Summary

audio bridge between titles (eg Bride of Chucky, Baby Driver)
ambient and Foley sound for verisimilitude (The Mexican, The Quiet Place, Baby Drive, Chucky)
music can be diegetic or non-diegetic - often used to signify genre/target audience (eg Baby Driver and Chucky)
music is not usually continuous - fades in and out (eg Baby Driver)
sound can signify setting (eg Submarine)
Can be used to build tension/narrative enigma (eg The Mexican, Drive and Chucky)
Institution aspect - OSTs

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Vodcast

RESEARCH (MINE):
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Baby Driver - driven by music

I have decided to split this opening sequence into 2 parts: the opening sequence & titles.

Opening Sequence

Baby Driver OST on vinyl

Sound is one of the most important aspects of Baby Driver, with large sections of the visuals being “choreographed” to fit the soundtrack, sometimes more reminiscent of a music video than a film. In this example it has been stated by the director that the scene is built around the song, rather than vice versa.

The attention to detail is a part of the auteur director, Edgar Wright’s, style, but also has huge marketing potential

a line used in a lot of the promotional material was "all you need is one killer track" (OST available on apple music, spotify & vinyl).

The opening sequence begins on a fade from black, and before the first shot we can hear a high pitched sound which turns into a musical note (an audio bridge)

the sound is unsettling and has a foreboding nature, signifying a somewhat serious genre.
This is also a part of the narrative, as the audience will come to know that the protagonist suffers from tinnitus (a ringing in the ears).

As the screen fades from black and we see a city street, the ambient sound of cars driving past can be heard - high level of verisimilitude.

As the car which the protagonist is in pulls up a louder sound can be heard - also for verisimilitude.

In the second shot we see the protagonist pull out an iPod classic and begin a song, which then plays over the remainder of the opening sequence.

The follow 4 cuts happen to the beat of the song, and even the chewing of gum is on tempo, although it does not make any sound.

via GIPHY

The song is a garage/blues/alt rock song by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, which signifies the action genre, but also more serious themes.

Every part of the opening sequence is choreographed to the song

the opening and closing of car doors, walking to the beat, the movement of the car, ads the protagonist sings and dances along - diegetic.

via GIPHY

Just before the protagonist watches the rest of his ‘crew’ fire guns in the bank they are robbing, the music becomes quieter and police sirens can be heard as a police car drives past

this anchors the genre as action, as this takes precedent over the music.
This is also somewhat expositional to the narrative as we learn the protagonist’s central conflict is that of his commitment to a life of crime, and music is one of the ways in which he can hide form the immorality of criminality.

The sound of gunfire is also heard through the bank window, although the sound is muffled - this is most likely Foley sound

via GIPHY

Sounds of the tyres screeching can be heard, and there are some close ups of the tyres making sharp turns/quick stops

The only dialogue in the opening sequence is over the walkie-talkie of a police car (also diegetic). This is a part of the director’s style - focusing on film as a visual medium, using sound and visuals for exposition rather than dialogue as often as possible.

Titles

Also created very much like a music video, the title sequence is lead by audio, with diegetic aspects adding to the song (car horns, bike bells, scuffling of feet, ATM beeps), and the visuals being made in conjuncture to the lyrics

the protagonist miming playing the trumpet in a shop window as is it heard in the song, and lyrics being written in graffiti on the street which change as the protagonist walks back from getting coffee.

via GIPHY

Baby Driver on the way there vs. on the way back screenshot

Unlike in the opening sequence the title sequence is a 2:45 long steady-cam tracking shot, with elements of the street timing in with the music rather than cutting to the beat.
The song used in the titles is Harlem Shuffle - Bob & Early

R&B rather than a rock song
Appeals to an older audience

When the protagonist removes one earphone to order coffee the music becomes quieter

sound editing done in post
assures the protagonist is properly anchored as the audience is experiences the diegesis through his eyes and ears
Then only exposition done throughout dialogue here is the main characters name ('Baby')

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Submarine

The first sound that can be heard in Submarine is unclear: it could be wind or waves

it is made clear that it is the diegetic sound of waves when seagulls can be heard. This is expository as it signifies that the film takes place by the sea.

After 30 seconds a voiceover begins

this is non-diegetic and purely for exposition, but also builds narrative enigma as the voiceover begins before we see the protagonist’s face, but is very quickly resolved as the protagonist comes into the shot.

The accent tells us that the protagonist is from Wales, and from the sound of waves we can infer that the film is also set there.

The sound of waves is quiet and not overpowering as if it were a storm, creating a calm atmosphere.

As a mellow song begins to play the camera cuts closer to the protagonist’s face twice - both times to the beat - and on the third beat the protagonist looks into the camera.
Similar to Baby Driver there is conjuncture between the music and the visuals, however the music is non-diegetic within the opening scene of Submarine.

As the music starts a brief montage consisting of wide shots of the Welsh coast is shown (9 shots in total, only the last 2 of which have Oliver in them).

With the music this creates a calm atmosphere/ambiance, but is also iconography, as it shows the character's awareness of himself as just a small part of the surrounding world, that he accepts he is not ‘an individual’ and does not need to think of himself as unique in order to motivate himself to ‘get out of bed, eat food and walk around like nothing’s wrong’, as he states other people do in the voiceover.
This is similar to in The Wicker Man - which was filmed on location at Hebridean, and during the opening credits has many wide shots of the countryside as the protagonist arrives by helicopter

via GIPHY

Submarine OST on vinyl

The acoustic music adds to the calming atmosphere, and similar to Baby Driver has marketing potential for an OST, as it is by the lead singer from the alt band Arctic Monkeys (star billing).

when you look up a poster for the film, the second image which comes up is for the soundtrack

A google search for Submarine's poster

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RESEARCH (Sam's):

CONVENTION3: DETAILED ANALYSIS SOUND, GENRE SIGNIFICATION

Bride of Chucky (1998):

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Non-diegetic music
Audio Bridge between titles
Sound:

slow high pitch string instruments
slow long drum beats which are several seconds apart. Therefore makes it creepy:

it gives the slow heartbeat feel (messes around with your psychology)
the slow drum beats make you holding your breath which gives a tense feeling.

the single beat kicks slow down your heartbeat which again messes with your heart which impacts the heart (if fast pace music, it speeds up your mood/adrenaline)
later on the non-diegetic sound changes to a faster pace (drum kicks)
(It's very effective to mess with somebody's heart if combining fast/slow notes)

Baby Driver (2017):

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At the beginning, we find an audio bridge which is common in movies (still in the black screen and then the first shot comes)
ambient sound of cars driving past and people talking on the phone to add verisimilitude
the sounds are all non-diegetic which were added later on during the post-production process
00:12 we hear a clear sound of a car pulling up which gets louder and louder
sound of engine, brakes, and handbrake
all this non-diegetic sound (details) of the car is signifying that the red Subaru is going to play a bigger role in that scene (before transitioning into the main film)
it's always cutting to the beat
the long drawn out drum beats are several seconds apart
in the background, you hear a fast pace high pitch note which rises in volume
this is going to raise the tension (make the mood tense)
01:00 they have included diegetic sound (protagonist singing along)
the music they chose is kind of rock genre
the pace of the music changes often it goes from slow then fast then it slows down again and stops (brake) eventually then it picks on the pace again
therefore it messes with the heartbeat
it gives the tense feeling/mood then stops or slows the mood down
when the music goes fast again with the sound of the car (engine, tire/drifting) it makes the viewer more excited again
especially for rock the fast notes, drums, and guitar, it fits well because the fast beat of instruments gives the viewers adrenaline and excitement
also, the fast pace is likely to signify action (whereas, for horror, it is long drawn out slow drum kicks to make it creepy/scary)

Drive (2011):

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audio bridge/ambient sound which overlaps between the title sequence and first shot of the movie
there again we find a slow drawn out bass kick which is several seconds apart
it slows down our heartbeat which gives a tense vibe
the fact that the bass kicks don't change in notes (monotone/change in speed) it makes it mysterious and dramatic
first shot (panning/tilting shot) there are a lot of non-diegetic sounds (flipping the phone, taking the bag, walking noise)
ambient sound is also present (cars driving past)
at 02:11 the music rises in volume which signifies tension, it's about to get serious (action)
at 03:11 you only hear the non-diegetic sound of the watch
it signifies that the time is going to be a major element
at 03:20 the central protagonist turns up the volume of the radio
it signifies that there are important pieces of information to pick up

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GENERAL CONVENTIONS 4: 1st shot

My Influences

clear indication of the narrative/central protagonist and audience
balance between exposition and narrative enigma
heavy set dressing for mise-en-scene

Summary

balance between exposition and narrative enigma (eg The Mexican, This is England)
Mis-en-scene for exposition (keep brief)

Setting/period (This is England, Submarine, Spectre)
ABC1C2DE?

incorporate elements of the narrative (eg Baby Driver)
framing (anchoring, rule of thirds, eg L4yer Cak3)
inter titles (break up panning shots, exposition, signify genre)

conventionally and challenging convention (Spectre)

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Vodcast

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RESEARCH(MINE):

Submarine

The heavy set dressing seen in the first shot of Submarine

The first shot is 40 second long hand-held panning shot of the protagonist's bedroom (an establishing shot)

The heavy amount of set dressing for mise-en-scene gives a strong sense of the character and the time in which the film is set (more on this on my post on mise-en-scene)

The sound of seagulls and the light blue colour of the walls signifies that the film takes place by the sea

The colour theme of the room (blue) stereotypically represents boys, and the protagonist (a boy) is also seen in the first shot

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Baby Driver

Baby Driver first 2 shots screenshot

The first 2 shots show 2 of the most integral aspects of the film: driving and music

The genre (crime) is signified by the combination of sound and visuals: the high pitched ominous sound and the closeup of the car wheel as it pulls up outside the bank

The first character shown on screen is also the protagonist

The location is also known form the first shot

this is also representative of the institutional background of the film: major cities are more expensive/difficult locations to film at

The first shots of Baby Driver give a high level of exposition as to the location of the film and include integral parts of the narrative while still having a level of narrative enigma

Baby Driver screenshot 'FIRST BANK OF ATLANTA'

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The Mexican

A 40 second long establishing shot of Laurel Steel, LA, with a slow zoom towards traffic lights

This provides exposition similar to Baby Driver
Also representative of the institutional background: major cities are more expensive to film in, and initially this film was going to be an indie production, but famous actors Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt got involved in the project and produced it

The tension builds as the camera zooms into the traffic lights as they change from green to red, and cars beneath cannot be seen, only heard: this creates narrative enigma

we only hear the sounds of the car crash, and the following shot creates more narrative enigma
the following shot is a close up of a man's face, and it is unclear whether we are meant to assume he was in the crash

The Mexican 1st and 2nd shots

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L4yer Cak3

The first shot of L4yer Cak3, similarly to Submarine, is a 1:30 long tracking shot, which almost immediately signifies the genre (crime/drug heist)

Men shooting guns coming out of a van
Hippies smoking in 1967 (voiceover for exposition 'the summer of love') - this is a recreation, not copyrighted footage
A prison guard walking past an occupied table in a prison

L4yer Cak3 opening screenshot

Although the protagonist is not the first character on screen, the camera stays on him the longest (more than 20 seconds)
There is also a voiceover used for exposition

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Apocalypse Now

The first shot of Apocalypse Now also gives a clear indication of the genre and setting:

a widest of helicopters flying over burning palm trees denotes a war setting
As the film was released in 1979 the audience at the time would most likely be able to infer that the setting is the Vietnam War of 1955-75

The protagonist is also the first character we see, layered over the establishing shot of the palm trees and helicopters

Apocalypse Now opening screenshot

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The Notebook

The first shot denotes someone on a boat on a lake at either sunset or sunrise

this character is the protagonist, but there is a level of narrative enigma
this is anchored if the rule of thirds is applied - the protagonist is centrally framed in almost every shot of the opening sequence

The first shot is a 20 second long establishing shot

this is quite long for a first shot, but signifies an older target audience as it reminiscent of an older, slow paced style of editing
is not conventional for modern examples/films aimed at a younger target audience

The Notebook opening shot screenshot

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RESEARCH(SAM'S):

The 1st shot in a movie is basically the scene before transitioning into the main film.

This is England (2006):
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the mise-en-scene is highly effective
chair, desk lamp, picture, and radio are centrally framed (rule of thirds) which makes them significant
the ripped wallpaper, using a chair as desk anchors poverty
football cards on "desk" for verisimilitude
the use of a young ginger character makes it not glamorous
we also find no ambient sound
lack of non-diegetic sound
got a long opening shot

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the preferred reading isn't accessible for our generation because we weren't born at the time this movie is set
the director used some connotations to signify he dislikes Maggie

Spectre (2015):

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here we also find a long opening shot (about 4 minutes)
the whole opening shot is one single take
celebrating the Festival of the Dead
they are referring a lot to the title because Spectre also means a ghost
therefore the use of the big skeleton
everybody dressed as skeletons/ghosts
the cigar in the skeleton mouth at the beginning makes it kind of badass
it is challenging the convention
the male character in the white suit gives away that he is the central protagonist because of his ponytail

Baby Driver (2017):

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the 1st shot (opening shot) is around 6 minutes long
the main movie starts when they got away from the police
that's where the equilibrium changes

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GENERAL CONVENTIONS 5: central protagonist & narrative

MY INFLUENCES:

make the central protagonist clear in our film opening
using tracking shot
different focus
central framing (rule of thirds)
make the character stand out
shot-reverse shot

A protagonist is the leading character of a story. The protagonist is at the center of the story (central protagonist), it makes the key decision, and experiences the consequences of those decisions. The protagonist is the primary agent propelling the story forward and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. The protagonist is the character whose fate is most closely followed by the reader or audience, and who is opposed by the antagonist. The antagonist will provide obstacles and complications and create conflicts that test the protagonist, thus revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the protagonist's character
Summary

Uses & gratifications theory - identification (Submarine)
Todorov 5 point narrative (Submarine)
Counter+stereotypes - realistic representation (eg Molly Pretty in Pink)
Binary opposition (eg Bridget Jones Diary)
Archetypes (Bond)
Narrative enigma + voiceover (Bond, The Mexican, Drive, Baby Driver)
Amount of time the camera spends on protagonist/first character introduced - cutting back to protagonist - reactions, rule of thirds(Drive)
iconography as part of narrative (Baby Driver)
establishing/panning shots + tracking (Bond)

Todorv's 5 point narrative (from DB media blog)

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Vodcast

Baby Driver and Submarine take very different yet equally effective approaches to the central protagonist and the narrative: Submarine uses a voiceover for exposition and has a heavy focus on set dressing (mis-en-scene), whereas Baby Driver has almost no dialogue and begins with an action sequence.

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RESEARCH(MINE):

Submarine

Submarine opening shot

The voiceover offers a lot of exposition, as the protagonist is stating that he does not believe he is a completely unique individual as the rest of the word does, and this level of awareness makes him feel unique. This is reflected in his positon in the shot: awkwardly cramped into the corner of a cluttered room, seen from a high angled long shot.

Uses and gratifications theory would suggest that a teenage boys would identify with the protagonist, making them the primary target audience.

This is indicated by non-glamourizing low-key lighting (also reflective of the institutional background)
Welsh accent (rather than a southern English or American)

Todorov’s 5 point narrative theory would suggest that the film begins with an equilibrium. This film is clearly divided into parts (intertitle “Prologue”)

Submarine intertitle

the protagonist feels alone, surrounded by people who feel as though they are unique – the equilibrium is established to the audience
There will then be a conflict, or change to the equilibrium – in this example a romantic narrative – the introduction of Jordana Bevan later in the film

From the other examples I’ve looked at a voiceover for exposition is used in Apocalypse Now, Mean Girls and L4yer Cak3

A use of counter and stereotypes is employed in the representation of the protagonist:

The Welsh accent implies a sense of regional identity within the uk and the stereotypes that come with it: areas in the North are considered poorer, more industrial, grim and sometimes less intelligent, but also more friendly.
This protagonist seems intelligent, but arguable antisocial, and was filmed on location (Wales) giving the film a rural rather than industrial setting.
There is also a mild North-South binary opposition between the protagonist and his parents

Baby Driver

The opening scene in Baby Driver tells us a lot about the protagonist and the narrative however with no dialogue or voiceover.

The first character we see is a medium-close-up of the protagonists face (also rule of thirds), and as the 3 other people in the car leave - the film stays with the protagonist

In special features the director, Edgar Wright, stated that the film was built around the character (it has also been stating that a large part of all his films is having characters which are easy to draw - recognisable & memorable)
The framing of shots make it clear that we are seeing the world form the point of view of this character, and also that he is not properly committed to crime (he stays in the car while the others go inside, and in the opening credits when he is getting coffee for everyone else but not himself)via GIPHY

The sunglasses are used repeatedly throughout the film for iconography: when the protagonist wear them he is choosing to blind himself to the immorality of crime (music is also a way in which he does this) – when gunshots are heard in the bank he watches over the top of his sunglasses, showing how he cannot truly do this

This shows that the character has a moral compass and makes him easier for audiences to identify with

Baby Driver opening scene screenshot

Through visuals we learn more about the main character than through any dialogue (that he is a good getaway driver but has reservations in his attitude towards crime, he likes music and dancing, he is on a lower level to the people he works with as he’s the one who goes to buy coffee)

All we learn about the character through dialogue is his name

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Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now has a voiceover very late in the opening sequence, but the narrative focus/genre is signified only through visuals: an establishing shot of helicopters flying over burning palm trees denoting a war setting. The layering of the protagonist face on top of this also introduces us to the main character before any other, like in Baby Driver and Submarine