Blog Task 14- Micro and Macro Analysis.

For this blog post, i will be presenting the research i have done on Micro and Macro analysis.
The movies and TV shows I chose to analyse were;
The taking of Pelham 123.
The flash 1990(CW's the flash title sequence is very different)
and lastly Smallville. This is because these are all moving images media that i really enjoy, i also felt that i would have a challenge in terms of analysing them due to their differentiation in time production.
This would allow me to pick up on the difference between costumes and camera work from the 1990's in contrast to the modern day.

I watched the title sequences of 3 different movies and gave a thorough analysis on what we can see visually, what we can learn from it and how the titles are presented.

Micro analysis Sequence 1:

The first film's title sequence i watched was the taking of Pelham 1,2,3.
From the films title sequence i was able to learn the following.



Camera:The shots were close up on the bad guys.
Shots track on the characters who have significance.
They use high shots to show the city.
Used the 180 degree rule in the office on the two office workers.
They used a 3 shot when three of the antagonist were standing beside each other at the railway.
Key characters again, get extreme close ups.
The framing on certain props such as trains or duffel bags are slow to show their importance later on.

Editing:
Slow motion shots on the bad guy.
Speeds up when there are shots of the city or its citizens for dramatic effect.
Speeds up after the bad guys are introduced.
Image enhancement and special effects are shown in the office.
They use transitions such as bars on the credits, they use radial blurs and glows on the main characters .
Slow-motin speeds are used on the credits.
Titles are in an out of frames.
Bars are used to metaphor the trains by special effects.
The title credits are introduced slowly.
The speed of the editing changes depending on how the pace of the music is.

Mis-en-scene:
Bad guys are wearing the typical costume.
They wear a beanie, have stubble, look very shady. Sun glasses, black leather jackets all add up o the typical antagonist look.
There is a contrast between the bad guys and the good guys costumes in the comm office. The office workers are wearing typical sits and boring clothing.
Main, Denzel Washington is wearing a boring uncle yet looking very experienced.
Due to the lack of women being shown, there is no make up.
Construction wears are wearing the typical, working cap,illuminated orange and yellow clothing.

Sound:
Music was very slow paced and eerie at the start.
It then changes to dramatic(this contrasts with the shots that are being shown.
Diegetic sound- there is audio from the actors on set when they are in the office.
Other sounds such as the special effects are added in to set the scene. This includes,radios beeps and alarms in the control office in order to make it more realistic.
The music is cut in and out by the sound of trains.
It opens again with the sounds of train screeching.
Whenever the bad guys are shown on screen near trains, their theme is Jay-z 99 problems. It is very up beat and sounds aggressive suit in their character.
Good guys have a calm sound that is drowned with the sound of clicking and keyboards (general sounds of the office.)
The use of non diegetic sound is very effective for when the shots are shown in the office as it allows them to introduce typical office sounds making it more realistic.

Macro analysis sequence 1:
What is the key plot idea introduced in the title sequence:
We got were able to get an overview of the story in a sequence.
I managed to learn that the main plot will involve the three shady guys/ or antagonists that had entered the train.
The fact that there is a contrast between the workers in the control room i.e Denzel Washingtons character and the bad guys boarding the train means that it will involve a possible train problem.

In what order is the story line introduced?
First the overview of a calm city, the city is then dramatic as the music kicks in.
Then the bad guys are shown in their antagonists attire looking shady to show that they are the main issue.
Then it contrasts with the good guys in the train control room.
We see it go back and forth between bad guys, control room and train.

What characters are introduced. When and how?
First we are introduced to the bad guys, as they walk through the streets finally entering the train station one by one allowing us to infer that they are bad. They are introduced alongside with very aggressive music which helps set the theme of bad guy.
Then the good guys in the control room are introduced. The calm music suggest that they are the good people in the film, they are seen wearing suits.

What social groups are represented? How are they represented (positively negatively stereotypical etc?)
The social work group in the office- everyone is dressing in smart casual clothing, some are wearing suits.
Citizens are stereotypical in a positive way, they are seen wearing casual clothing, t shirts and bags.
The bad guys are very stereotypical looking; they are wearing a black beanie, shades, carry duffel bags and suitcases alongside with leather gloves and black bomber jackets.

Title Conventions Sequence 1:
1)Colombia
2)Colombia Pictures and metro goldwyn-Mayor pictures -
3)Relatively Media -
4)Scott Free/Escape Arts - Production
5)Tony Scott - Film
6)Denzel Washington - Main actor
7)John Travolta - Main actor
8)FILM TITLE CARD (The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3)
----
9)John Turturro - Actor                }
10)Luis Guzman - Actor              }Secondary Main Actors
11)Michael Rispoli - Actor          }
12) and James Gendolfini - Actor}
-----
13)Frank Wood, John Bejamin Hickey, Gary Basaraba, Ramen Rodriguez - Actors
14)Ghena Akinnagbe, Kathenre Sigismud and Jake Sicillano - Actors/Actress
15)Alex Aluzhsky, Aunjanue Ellis, Tonye Patano, Jason Butler Harner - Actors
--------
16) Denise Chamlon,CSA - Casting
17)Renee Ehriich  Klafus - Costume Designer
18)Harry Gregson-Williams - Music
19)Linda Farica, Anson Downes - Co-executive producers
20)Chris Lebzon - Editor.
21)Chris Seagers - Production Designer
22)Tobius Schllesser,Asc- Director of Photography.
23)Barry Waldman, Michael Costigan, Frank Kavanaigh - Executive Producers
24)Todd Black, Tony Scott - Produced by.

The type of title sequence is stylised.
The font colour used is blue and white, it uses the fade and blur.
Its size is medium.
The placement of the title credits are integrated.

Micro analysis Sequence 2:

Micro analysis Sequence 3:
The third film i will be analysing the title credits of is smallville.

Camera:
They use many close up shots to introduce the characters.
Long shots are used to show the scenery and a full body shot of characters.
They use cut in shots to introduce new events happening in the title sequence.
A weather shot is shown at the start of the sequence, it also shows rubble falling and a child and the city.

Editing:
They make use of speeding up shots to show that the events occurring in that particular part of the film are of super speed.
They slow down certain shots when an important object in the film is shown, an example would be when krypton is shown.
Whenever they introduce a new title credit, they make use of a domino transition or a fade and add a back screen of visual art to contrast with the media playing in the background.
The special effects used in the title sequence are of space, explosions and CGI props. This allows the audience to easily identify its genre. An example would be when they had  the prop of a meteor crashing into the farm.
They use cut in and outs to introduce the next title credit and the next character/actor.

Mis-en-scene:
They make use of lighting in order to set the tone for which characters are good and which are bad.
The locations used allow us to gain information about the characters.
An example would be, whenever we see Tom welling, there are shots of a farm and the office. This allows us to learn that he lives and works in those places. We also see him in space and near explosions telling us he is the lead.
The costumes used are quite generic for the most part. Civilians will wear vibrant casual clothing.
The bad guys will wear dark clothing.
The good guys will be represented with very bright transitions and are shown wearing smart clothing.
The superhero, Clark Kent is shown in his superhero costume once throughout the title sequence. It is very vibrant.
Sound:
The only track theme playing throughout the entire title sequence is a song by Remy Zero called save me.
This is a metaphor as what the character does throughout the title sequence is save people and help, hence him being a superhero.
It also helps set the setting and tone of the film as he is a good guy, the music is very up beat and heroic suggesting that the genre is of science fiction and superhero.

Macro Analysis sequence 3:

What is the key plot idea introduced in the title sequence:
The key plot idea introduced in the title sequence is that the character we see is a generic man who has superpowers. He then uses his superpowers to help people alongside having friends and social life in the work place. Its about him balancing the responsibility.

In what order is the story line introduced?

The order is not very clear. However, it does start off with the main lead saving a little boy from death by meteors then a variety of miss adventures that are occurring and him saving the people from explosions and such.

What characters are introduced. When and how?
The characters that are introduced are Clark Kent. He is first and then we see him saving people suggesting his role. We then see a villain who is Lex Luthor. We know he is a villain as he is fighting the hero we previously saw, he is also introduced with a blackish tint effect over the screen suggesting evil.
We see a female who is clearly a detective. We know this as she arrests a person within the sequence an then shoots someone with a gun.
After we are introduced with another female fighter briefly.
There is a news reporter who is also shown. We know he is of some significance as he is shown being next to Clark, the leading character and has a camera taking pictures of kryptonite.
We are then introduced to an elderly looking man. He is to be of some sort of significance as he is shown next to two explosions and is shown jumping away from a train.
This allows the tone to be set, we can see explosions suggesting action.

What social groups are represented? How are they represented (positively negatively stereotypical etc?)
Good guys and generic civilians are shown wearing casual clothing with different colours.
Super heroes-being Clark Kent is shown in a typical costume. Very vibrant, with a cape and spandex with boots allowing viewers to identify him.
The bad guy being Lex Luthor is shown wearing all black and acting very shady, glaring at the camera.

Title Conventions Sequence 3:

1)Small ville

2)Tom Welling - Main Actor

3)Michael Rosenbaum - Actor
4)Kristin Kreuk - Actress
5)Allison Mack - Actress
6)Erica Durance - Actress
7)Aaron Ashmore - Actor
8)Laura Vandervoort - Actor
9)AND John Glover - Actor

10)Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster - Creators of character Superman
11)Alfred Gough and Miles Millar - Developed for Television.

The type of title sequence was stylised. It made use of transitions on the text itself such as the ladder and making it fade in and out.
The font colour used was Bold white capitals with a green screen glare/shine on top.
The credits are integrated into the moving images.