Movie Rating criteria

 Movie:

All Quiet On the Western Front (2022)

The movie All Quiet on the Western Front gives a practitioner (15 points) rating for keeping the audiences attention. The movie is action packed from start to finish and tells a saddening story about war. It follows the main character and his journey from an innocent teenager to war-torn soldier.

This movie meets the expert criteria (20 points) for demonstrating camera work and editing that enhance the story. Multiple camera shots and movements help show the setting, environment, and contribute to meanings. For example, the opening shot begins with calm and quiet scenes and transitions slowly to a chaotic battleground showing contrast.

When meeting the criteria for dialogue and background music, this movie gets the expert rating. (20 points). The music is used to show contrasts throughout and convey a feeling. For example, when the young soldiers are marching, they sing happily but the music is ominous and tense. Its dialogue helps show the impact of the war before and after between the characters.

For the last rating I'd give it the practitioner tier. (15 points) The actors were good and showed lots of emotion throughout the film. They accurately help show the devastation and impact the war would've had on soldiers at the time. The main character was also round and changed throughout the story showing how the war affected him. An example, is the closeups of his face and emotions that appear throughout the movie.

Sound Art Project

 This is a group project.    

Scene 1:

1. Car door opens

2. Footsteps walking

3. Door opens

4. Door closes

5. Background chatter

6. Glass shatters

7.  "Get down on the ground"

8. Crowd screams

9. Alarm goes off

Scene 2:

1. Running sounds

2. Robber says "C'mon lets go"

3. Bag ruffling

4. Car Unlocking

5. Car doors open

6. Car starts

7. Car doors are slammed

8. Car drives away

9. Police sirens start

10. Getaway car crashes

Scene: 1

Scene: 2

Foley sounds:

Analyzing technical elements of film

 All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

From Edward Berger

    The movie I chose was All Quiet on the Western Front. A film where we experience war through the viewpoint of a young German Soldier. It's a dark, gritty, and tragic anti-war film that depicts the brutality of war. This is a drama and action packed film that has many carefully crafted shots, movements, sounds, and elements with meanings in each one.

    The beginning of the movie starts with steady shots of a quiet morning. The woods and animals are calm and provide a peaceful scene. This is in heavy contrast to the future loud and chaotic war. This clip then transitions to an aerial shot of a battle ground, where it slowly tilts and utilizes a slow push in. The silence of the forest to the transition of a battlefield quickly develops into a chaotic battle scene. Audiences are now quickly drawn into the heat of the battle.

    A little while after the opening, the main character is introduced. He is a young adult who hasn’t experienced war. He doesn’t understand its seriousness and believes that it's an honor to serve. The clip begins with a long shot of the fresh troops singing and marching. It then displays a medium shot with their faces emphasized. They smile and sing, marching towards their doom unknowingly. Sound design in this scene also creates contrast. Their smiling faces, enthusiastic singing, and marching, conflict with the music. Audience members may feel dread as the score is ominous and intimidating. They can expect something bad is going to happen to the new soldiers.

    The next scene happens in the aftermath of a battle a while after the scene previously mentioned. The main character, now having experienced the war first hand, must collect tags off his deceased comrades. In this scene, it uses a pull out camera movement that takes us farther from the protagonist and reveals the surroundings. This movement helps audiences take in the environment and devastation that occurred. It invokes a feeling of sadness and despair. Within the scene, the music is also calm and melancholy which further emphasizes the tragicness of war.

    Halfway through the protagonist's account, he rests at a camp and uses the bathroom. He has a friend that he met during the war with him and they read a letter from home. Unlike most of the film, this scene is bright and uses the sun to illuminate the characters' faces. Shallow focus is used throughout the scene to show their facial expressions and emotions. The clip also makes use of a two-shot and closeups to capture their emotions. Audience members can empathize with this clip as we see that they are missing home and the effects of war are taking its toll.

    Finally, the last clip depicts the lead up to the final battle. The war has ended but we see that our protagonist and his fellow troops are not celebrating. Instead, it shows a wide shot again, where the soldiers are marching in silence. It then utilizes a zoom which focuses on the protagonist's face. He no longer is smiling and shows no emotions. Audiences can see that the war has ruined the once happy and proud soldier. It zooms into a closeup shot of his face. Transitioning into a tracking shot, audiences see the contrast of soldiers celebrating the end while we know what is coming. They are supposed to feel dread and tension. This scene ends with a trucking movement following the protagonist in silence as they approach in silence.

    To conclude, this film uses many movements, shots, and sounds to convey the idea that war is dreadful and tragic. The scenes I chose made use of closeups, tracking, sounds, and other film elements to give audience members different feelings. These also convey a message that the producer was trying to emphasize.

Composition

 

Focus pull- The focus pull first begins with the shot on two students. It focuses on their conversation and what they're doing. As the clip goes on, another student begins to walk by. The camera pulls the attention towards him. Audience members attention is now supposed to be on the new person that walks by instead of the other two talking.

Shallow focus- The shallow focus shot focuses only on the face. It completely blurs the background to put emphasis on the subject. The serious look might make the audience wonder what's happening. It also gives a serious tone.

Deep Focus-  The deep focus shot slightly blurs the background and people. It still focuses however on the two students and what they are doing. It shows the foreground while still showing their actions.

Standard focus- In the standard focus shot, the entire person is what the lens is focused on. The background is blurred so the audience only focuses on one thing. The audience can see that the person is in a state of shock. His facial expressions are exaggerated. The focus might make audiences only want to see the person's reactions and actions.

Rule of Thirds- In this picture the camera is sectioned off into 9 squares. The subject Julian is reading his book on the left side. It leaves two thirds of the frame open. The audience might feel a sense of interest. We don’t know what he's reading but his facial expressions look like he is interested heavily.

Classmates commentary

In today's post, I am discussing which of my classmates' blogs I commented on. The first was Elizabeth's blog and her camera shots/angles. Her Dutch shot was comedic and showed the character looking lost and confused. It gives a comedic tone since the character is depicting a lost “nerdy” type of character. The next shot was the two-shot. It made the audience feel curious as we didn't know what they were reading. We only see their reactions. The last shot is the establishing shot. It showed a panning movement across the library. This shot helped me understand where they were filming. It also displayed the setting and environment where the other clips were made.

The second blog I commented on was Nestors. Nestor had good dutch angles, mid shot, and the master shot. His Dutch angle made the audience feel like something serious was happening. She swings the door open and walks through like she's looking for something. This shot also helps create a mysterious tone as we don’t know what she is looking for. The mid shot was funny and had a light-hearted tone. In the clip, the character is doing a dance and pointing at potential college choices. It isn’t as serious and shows what her options might be. Nestors last shot was the master shot. In this shot it establishes who is in charge. Nestor is telling the other cadets to do their pushups. The audience gains a sense of authority as it shows who gives the orders.