AS Level Media Studies
Ice Princess;
Mise en scene;
At the beginning of the clip the main character is wearing a colourful strippy beanie, a grey hoodie and has her hair down. This shows that she is youthful and quite relaxed due to wearing that sort of attire in her free time. Later on in the clip we see the main character again but this time in school, she is wearing a peach shirt and muted brown trousers with her hair tied back. This shows that she is less comfortable and fun in a school setting, a lot more serious to how she is portrayed whilst ice skating.
In the first scene the main character is shown skating on a frozen lake, this is done to give the audience an idea of the theme of the film and to act as a transition from the title sequence to the first scene. The ice in this scene also connotes how innocent, fragile and niave the main character is, which helps the audience begin to form a bond with the character.
Camera Work;
One of the first shots in this clip is a pan, moving from the main character (Caseys) feet to her head. This was done to introduce the character, her hobby and what the film is about, ice skating. The use of a slow pan shows that ice skating is a second nature to the character, it is so fluid and natural to her which is why the camera movement was so smooth and steady.
The next shot was an establishing shot of Caseys back garden, this shot was done with the purpose to show the cold conditions i.e. the snow. This gives the audience the inpression of what the film is going to be about and acts as a nice transition into the next shot which is casey skating on a frozen lake.
Another shot that we see is a point of view shot from the mothers persepctive looking out at casey, the lighting in this shot was slightly higher in key which enhanced the proud feeling that the mother was feeling towards casey. This shot also allowed the audience to see more of the setting and the skills that casey has as an ice skater which again helps the audience imagine what the plot of the film is going to be like.
We also see an over the shoulder shot of casey ice skating just before her mother calls her to come inside, this shot acts as a smooth transition from the point of view shot to a mid level shot of casey.
Editing;
Shot reverse shot is used during the first use of communication, this is when the mother asks casey to come inside. This is done to show that the two characters are communicating, the way in which they respond allows the audience to get to know the characters more.
During the iceskating montage at the beginning of the clip, dissolves were used between each shot to create a smooth and seamless transition. This made the whole scene really fluid which fits in nicely with the idea of iceskating being a really elegant and seamless.
The main graphics were used during the montage at the beginning of the clip, these were the use of shadows which were added post production using CGI and the indents made by the skates into the ice. These two effects were used as a transition from the credits and typography to the actual scenes, the use of the indents and shadows allows the audience to assume what is about to happen in the scene and give them an impression of what is going to be happening throughout the rest of the movie.
Sound;
The score plays throughout the whole first scene until we enter the school setting. The score is in major key throughout the whole duration of it playing, it has a fast tempo which is in sync with the movement of the iceskating. The lyrics throughout the score are have a very positive impact, they are based upon the idea of standing out from the crowd and finding yourself, the lyrics give the audience an idea of what the theme of the movie is about and gives them a happy or content feeling before the plot begins.
Sound effects are used during the iceskating montage, they are used to make the sounds of the skates scraping across the ice. This is done to give a sense of realism to the clip and allows the audience to infer what the character is doing before we actually see her doing it. These sound effects are an example of synchronous sound as they fit in nicely with the visual image of the skates gliding across the ice.
There is not much diegetic sound during the montage as we as an audience are made to focus on the score and sound effects rather than the background noise, the only piece of diegetic sound that we hear during this scene is the mother knocking on the window signalling for casey to go inside. This sound cuts off the seamless impression and acts as a transition for the large amount of diegetic sound that the audience will be hearing during the next scene.
Typography;
The credits that were shown at the beginning of the clip were varied, there were two styles that were used depending on the word. Names were shown in an uppercase, blue, sans serif and bold font. The names were never positions centrally, more to the lower and upper corners. This shows that the names were important but not the main focus due to not being in our direct line of sight.
The film title was in a large, upper and lower case, serif, blue font style. The title was positioned in the exact center of the screen putting it in our direct line of vision, this shows the importance of the film rather than the casting. Once the title was put on the screen the special effects of the scraping across the ice underlined the words to show that the film is of higher importance.
The use of the colour blue ties in with the theme of ice and snow which again adds to the effect of the theme and gives the audience a larger idea of what the film is about.
