Practice Extract Essay: 24 Extract

Savanna Nemmers

The director’s main purpose in the “24” extract is to create intense and suspenseful scenes that demonstrate people will go to extremes to get what they want. The director uses many strategic camera movements, angles, and editing techniques to create these suspenseful situations. The intensity in each scene is also increased because of the editing and actual camera shots.
In the first scene, a zoom is one of the first camera movements used. The zoom is used to show the female lead’s facial expression when the male character enters the room. The zoom in that shot creates a tense situation and indicates to the audience that the two characters are not allies. An eye-line match is also used in this scene when the male lead spots the camera in the room. This increases the tension of the scene because it indicates the character has something to hide or may plan on doing something he does not want recorded. Next, a cutaway is used to reveal the woman has a team of people watching what is happening in the interrogation room, ready to help her at any moment. In the cutaway, the two main people there for back-up are dressed in formal attire and are standing in front of two tvs, displaying what is happening in the room. This creates suspense because the audience and back-up can see what is happening but do not know what the man is willing to do to get the information he wants from the woman or when he may lash out. The whole first scene is creating an intense situation and emphasizes the male wants something from the woman and will not stop until he gets it.
The second scene uses an eye-line match again to show the woman looking at the clock and checking the time. Diegetic sound of the clock ticking is also used in this scene. Both of these techniques place an emphasis on time and the fact that their time may be limited which further increases the suspense of the scene. A tracking shot is used to follow the male as he paces back and forth while trying to get the information from her. When she does not give in, a low angle is used to show him hovering over her and looking down at her. This signifies that he may feel he has power over her in this situation and intensifies the scene because of the way he is trying to show dominance over her. Both the tracking shot and the use of the low angle intensify the scene greatly. A cutaway is then used to show the viewing room again. In this clip the woman’s back-up is seen watching what is happening with concern on their faces. The director may have shown this because if viewers see that that other characters are worried about the woman, the audience will be put more on edge and become even more emerged into the intensity of the scene.
The final scene uses shot reverse shot while the main characters exchange dialogue. For a moment, the male character starts to stare in silence and the shot reverse shot continues to be used during this silence between the two characters. This strategically built up major suspense until the male finally lashed out. The director did it this way to keep the audience on edge, wondering what is going to occur and then shocking the audience when the man finally reaches his most extreme point to get the information he wants from the woman. In the clip, diegetic sound of the chair being dragged across the floor and then slammed into the wall is used. The scene then immediately goes into a split screen. The split screen allows the viewers to see what is happening in the two different settings. While the woman is being choked by the man, the audience can also see her back-up coming to save her which creates a chaotic and intense scene. A two-shot was used to show the man holding the woman in a choke hold which created an intimate yet extreme situation. This scene greatly built up suspense and heightened the intensity by using the different sounds, camera movements, and editing skills.
Overall, the director’s vision was meant to emphasize the importance intensity and suspense can have on a scene by showing a situation where someone went to extremes to get what they wanted. The director used many different camera shots, angles and movements, as well as many editing techniques to heighten the intensity and suspense levels of the film.

Practice Extract Essay worksheets

This assignment was to fill out worksheets about the camera movements, angles, and editing techniques used and then do a T.E.A. analysis for each scene. Attached are those worksheets.

Mantis creative critical reflection

The last task we had was our creative critical reflection. This reflection was made in a 12-15 minute video where you’d answer four important questions pertaining to your movie and process producing it. I decided to do mine as if it were a game. In the game I’d pull questions at random from a bowl and answer them. I separated the four questions into six so I could go more into depth with my answers. I think this was a fun take on answering these questions however, presenting makes me nervous and I think the camera made me nervous. I answered these questions the best I could and I was able to still give examples with evidence.

The final: Mantis

This is the first two minutes of a movie that I have wrote with my teammates. In this project we had to research not only the type of genre for the movie, but we also had to research the conventions of the opening credits for these types of movies. The sound and music had to go along with the clips being shown as well as help tell the story. This project took several months because of all of the research, planning, filming, and editing. This project was definitely the most challenging, however, it taught me the process of shooting a movie. Although only the opening sequence was filmed, each step a cinematic production would take was followed in this project. My teammates and I had to make a schedule for filming, make a shooting script, a sound script, and a storyboard. The editing process of this project also took the longest because of how much detail goes into making a thriller like this. I personally love how our film came out and think it definitely earns the thriller title.

The music video: no scrubs

This is my music video from earlier this school year. This was a very fun project because it allowed a lot of creativity from my group mates and I. The first thing my group and I did was choose a song. We ended going with the song no scrubs! This was a contemporary r&b song so we had to research the conventions of the music videos in that genre. I learned about how much costume, lighting, and location affectS the feeling and atmosphere of a music video. This project also taught me about time management since this was a project to be done out of class. Editing was a little bit more challenging then I’m used to because each clip that was in a different location needed to still match up with one another.

The first project: commercial for vans

This was the first project I did in this media class. My teammates and I had to research a company’s  commercials, and then create our own commercial for that brand. This was the project that taught me how to research the different types of genres for tv shows, movies, and commercials. This commercial project also taught me that there were and the different ways to capture a targeted audience. This was also the first project that I worked with my teammates, Haylie and Kelly. Since this project,  I have furthered my skills in editing. I have learned how to incorporate sound affects and use new kinds of transitions. I feel this was a very good introduction project because it was a beginners version of what the next projects would be like. This personally was my favorite project because it was fun, allowed creativity, and taught me how using conventions could lead to a great outcome that was still uniquely my own.

Editing: New obstacles

     Hello blog! It has been a few days since I’ve last updated you. Since we’ve last spoken, online school has been extended till May. This experience has been very unique so far and is unlike anything I’ve done before. COVID-19 has affected my project quite a few ways. The main thing this virus has affected is my ability to meet up with my team mates. For the safety of everyone’s lives, we must stay inside and practice social distancing. Social distancing has become even more important since the last time I was on blogger. Because of this, my team mates and I cannot edit together. I was to take on the editing process for the remainder of this project (since our project is due before May 1st).
     This process has been a little bit more difficult alone. Haylie and Kelly, my group mates, are unable to work with me and actively participate. The process is also taking longer than it did before because it is just me doing all of the editing. Because I am the only one with the correct editing software I of course would edit the movie. Not only does the movie have to be finished but we also each have to do our reflection questions. As if this situation was not tricky enough, the reflection questions must be answered in a 12-15 minute video, fully edited and filmed individually. I now have to not only edit a two minute video by myself, but I am also responsible for answering very important questions in a 15 minute video that must also be fully edited. This has definitely contributed to my stress. I just have to remind myself that this is very new to the teachers, students, and everyone in my community. Blogging this process is important because this has never happened before and I think it’d be very beneficial to document this process.