The four films ‘the Spider wick chronicles’ ‘nanny Mcphee’ ‘where the wild things are’ and ‘night at the museum’ are all aimed at a similar target audience but target them in different ways using the microelements of sound, camerawork, editing and mise en scene to introduce the genre, location, characters and story.
‘The Spiderwick chronicles’ is aimed at children aged eight upwards because its genre of fantasy would appeal the age group, the genre is introduced with the use of sparkling sound effects which accompanies the gold overlaying graphics on screen at the beginning of the sequence which introduces the name of the film. ‘Nanny Mcphee’ uses the same effects to introduce the audience to its magical genre, it helps to set the scene of the story and also introduces the narrative, the same effects of twinkling are used when the main character, nanny Mcphee, is first introduced so the young audience can associate the sound with the character.
All of the four films dominantly use continuity editing to give a more true to life feel to the film, with the cuts the change from shot to shot more naturally, than another transition, for instance fade, although these are occasionally used in ‘Nanny Mcphee’ to portray a sense of magic.
The sounds in the films are appropriate to the genre, and characters emotions, for example in the beginning of ‘where the wild things are’ there is a non diajetic soundtrack, which consists of child like humming, helps introduces the main character and establishes who the film is aimed at, it also conveys a sense of the Childs innocence. Similarly the music at the start of ‘night at the museum’ the pace and style of the music changes as the camera pans around the different themed rooms, such as the animal room which had low fast paced music whereas the room with Sacagawea is accompanied by slow and higher music to suggest her femininity and the love which takes place later in the film.
In each of the films establishing shots are used to introduce the location and setting of the film, in ‘night at the museum’ a shot of the city is used, similarly in ‘spider wick chronicles’ there is a mid shot of the house, also in ‘Nanny Mcphee’ an establishing shot is used in the form of a high angle shot of the village into a zoom to a mid shot of the door to the house, which reveals the last nanny, this represents the narrative of the film.
The lighting in each of the film are similar, right at the beginning of the sequence of ‘spider wick chronicles’ very dark and eerie lighting is used, also after the child has gone up the dumb waiter, a torch light is use, to make the audience feel like they are in the scene, as well as this effect the scene makes use of a point of view shots and hand held camerawork to again get the audience involved. Similarly point of view shots and handheld camerawork is used in ‘where the wild things are’ during the snowball fight scene to make the audience feel as though they are a part of the action.
The diajetic sounds in the sequence range from traffic and seagull sounds in ‘night at the museum’ to give a sense of place, putting the scene in a city location. Whereas the footsteps and rustling leaves places the location of ‘the spider wick chronicles’ in a cold and windy eerie atmosphere. The school bell sound effect in ‘where the wild things are’ again introduces the location as the scene changes from at home to in the classroom.
In both ‘nanny mcphee’ and ‘where the wild things are’ the non diajetic soundtrack behind the shots reflect the emotions of the characters and the pace of the shots for example, during the snowball fight as the boy in happy there is a fast cut rate and the music is fast and upbeat, however when his igloo is ruined and he starts crying the music gets slower and sad in the same way in ‘Nanny Mcphee’ when she is at the door and the mood is tense and scary, the music behind the scene where the children are playing in the kitchen and they are having fun the music is upbeat and faster. In ‘where the wild things are’ during the scene where the boy is laying under the table a high angle shot is used to look down at him suggesting his youth and how he looks up to his mother, and a low angle shot is used to look up at the mother like the child’s point of view, to show how she looks down at him like she is authorities, representing how she has power over him, later in the clip when she shouts at him later in the clip when she shouts at him , reinforcing his innocence as a child.
Angles in the shots are used in the same way in ‘Nanny Mcphee’; there is a high angle shots of the father as he lays in a state on the floor after trying to deal with the children and failing, then a low angle point of view shot looks up at Evangeline to suggest she has authority over him when it comes to disciplining the children although she is the slave in the house.
In both the ‘Spiderwick Chronicles’ and where the ‘Wild Things are’ a montage of clips is used. In ‘Spiderwick’ the shots are of multiple props in the house which introduces the genre of the film, where as in ‘Wild Things’ the montage is various clips of the boy as he rages through his sisters room.
The two shot types that I found in all four of the films is reaction shots and over the shoulder shots, they are used because they support the style of the films, continuity and editing, for example in the ‘Spiderwick Chronicles’ there is an over the shoulder shot whilst the boy is on the phone and the mother is in the shot behind him, the audience can see her reaction. Similarly in ‘Nanny Mcphee’ we are shown the back of the father and the letter box over by the shoulder. However ‘Nanny Mcphee’ is the only film which uses a voice over to introduce its main character, the other three films do not directly introduce them but does it through dialogue.
The use of costume in the films helps to portray the characters, for example in ‘Night in the Museum’ the older characters are depicted in the security officers uniforms, giving them authority over characters such as Larry who wears very casual wear, by contrast the characters played by Gervais wears a posh suit portraying him to be very upper class. The child in ‘wear the wild things are’ is shown wearing a childish wolf outfit suggesting his growth and innocence. In ‘nanny Mcphee’ the characters a;; wear very periodic clothing, introducing the time the film was set in.
In conclusion the four micro elements are used successfully to introduce the genre, setting, location and characters of the four films. They are all very similar in the technical effectiveness .
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