USE OF 3 RULES FOR RORSCHACH's OPENING MONOLOGUE

SHOT 1

OVERHEAD 1

SHOT 2

 OVERHEAD 2

 SHOT 3

OVERHEAD 3

 SHOT 4

 OVERHEAD 4

 SHOT 5

 OVERHEAD 5

USE OF RULES WITHIN SHOTS:

The shot sequence used for Rorschach’s opening monologue definitely follows all three rules. 

            With the Rule of thirds we always find Rorschach on the right side of the third in wide shots.  For instance in the first frame he is off to the right while the drain and floating newspaper consume the left third of the shot.  Also in the Close-up of him examining the Comedian’s pin the moon and buildings fill in the upper right third, the pin fills in the lower right third, and Rorschach consumes the left thirds.  The other shots are close-ups so the thirds are consumed by Rorschach’s face.  The rule of thirds is clearly used to establish setting and Rorschach’s features keeping the two in focus.

            For the rule of 180 we find the camera always on Rorschach’s left side or directly in front of his face.  Both over the shoulder shots are over his left shoulder staying on the same side of the 180 degree line.  Then the director utilizes the line itself, by positioning the camera directly behind Rorschach as he looks back at the building and directly in front of him as he looks at the building.  Although this rule was not necessary with the use of close-ups it was seemingly still used with camera constantly positioned on his left.

            The rule of 30 is used in the sense of 30 percent.  The camera remains in the same angle unless after a close up of more than a 30 percent increase.  The camera then goes back to a more than 30 percent decrease when going back to the over the shoulder shots.

            The director was clearly aware of the rule of thirds and 30 in his shot sequence.  He made sure he established the most important elements with the rule of thirds, focusing on the pin, Rorschach’s face and the setting of the location.  The rule of thirty prevented any jumps between his closeups and OTS shots as well.  With the rule of 180 he did follow it, but it could’ve been out of habit since with close-ups he was allowed to break this rule, however with that said it is clear he is an experienced cinematographer and can create clean flowing sequences without jump cuts.

ANIMATION COMPARISON

FANTASTIC MR FOX IMAGES:

IMAGE 1

IMAGE 2

COMPARISON OF COLOR SCHEMES AND LIGHTING:

My images come from Fantastic Mr. Fox, but compare the lead characters (the foxes) to a supporting character Kylie. 

            With the picture of the foxes we find various brighter hues in the color scheme.  Mr. Fox contains an analogue color scheme composed of his orange fur and off-white red pinstriped shirt.  Mrs. Fox also contains orange fur but is accented by a redish hued dress.  As for the younger foxes, Ash and Christopherson, we see Ash with just the orange Hue, and Christopherson with a grey Hue analogued by his blue shirt.  Together the foxes create a split complimentary color scheme, with the use of Chirstopherson’s softer blue and grey colors.  All of these colors are fully saturated with the orange being very deep accented by a washed out saturated white; the same goes for Christopherson’s grey fur.  The colors saturate out to black around their facial features creating accents that help make their faces come to life.

            A hand held lamp in the foreground, which casts a dark shadow behind all the foxes, creates the lighting in this shot.  The light is warm which casts a positive feeling around the characters and helps symbolizes they are the protagonists of this story.  This can also be said for their color scheme as their combination of colors can be said to represent a thrist for action (orange), intellect (light yellow), understanding (light blue), and love (light red).

            KIley’s color scheme (image 2) is also an analogue scheme as his grey fur is accented by a green vest and hat.  His saturations are all dark along with the value of his colors.  The saturations fall into full olive green with few black accents and the grey in his face holds a dark saturation as well. The lighting for Kiley is focused on his face casting a shadow on his right shoulder and the background of his chair.  The light is seemingly fluorescent and gives off a very neutral feel to the character overall in terms of mood. 

            This was more than likely done to emphasize his supporting role part, for Kiley isn’t a negative character.  In fact his colors stand for peace.  With that in mind Kiley is simply a peaceful character, but not as important as the foxes, explaining his fluorescent lighting compared to their warm lighting and why he is in the background instead of the foreground of Image 1.

MY BODY IS A CAGE COMPARISON

Peter Gabriel's version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsox-MIKLkQ
Arcade Fire's version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyp34v6Lmcc

LISTENING FRAMEWORK

MY BODY IS A CAGE BY ARCADE FIRE

LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm):

Tempo [slow, medium, fast] 

Moderato

Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]

Electronic drums guided by the lead vocals. 

Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]

Baroque Rock.

LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?] 

Organ, Electronic drums, snare drum, Bass, violins, also vocals (harmony and lead).

Structure/Organization [how is the song built? Order, patterns, etc.]

There isn't really a chorus or typical structure however if I were to label it in any way it would by this.

verse / verse / bridge / instrumentation / verse / verse / climax / Repetition of set my spirit/body free / outro with ohhhs

Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]

The song is a constant build up of intensity and longing which is never relieved as the lead singer is still asking to have is spirit let free in the end.

The top of this graph's y would be more longing over time.

LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality)

Balance

-Height [high and low of frequency]

The frequencies are mainly higher in this song.  The only aspects that hit lower frequencies would be the deepness of the organ and the hollowness of the electric toms.

-Width [stereo panning left/right]
The width isn't very wide in this song.  At the beginning it would appear most of the sound is coming from the left and then erupts into a full left and right use of sound once all the instrumentation comes into play.

-Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness]
There is a lot of depth to this sound over loudness.  IT starts simple with a soft organ, vocals, and electronic drums...but soon erupts into choir like sounds, heavier organs, bass, vocals, and strings.

LISTENING FRAMEWORK

MY BODY IS A CAGE BY Peter Gabriel

LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm):

Tempo [slow, medium, fast] 

Andante

Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]

Driven by the piano.

Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]

Melancholy, depressing, piano rock.

LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?] 

Piano, horns, violins, vocals

Structure/Organization [how is the song built? Order, patterns, etc.]

SAme structure with different instrumentations and breaks

Instrument intro / verse / verse / instrumentation / bridge / pause / instrumentation / soft instrumentation / climax / pause / verse / verse /  Repetition of set my spirit/body free / outro with ohhhs

Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]

This song holds a lot of intensity but is mainly formed around a build of depression of some sort which climaxes at a release of tension and comes back down into the depression.

Much like a bell curve, with the top of the y representing the release in tension and the bottom of the y being the depression.

LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality)

Balance

-Height [high and low of frequency]

This song plays a lot with high and low frequencies balancing the high frequencies of the strings with the low frequencies of his vocals.

-Width [stereo panning left/right]

We receive a lot of width through the piano in this song as the lower pitches played on the piano come from far left while the higher pitches come from the far right.  Everything else seems to fill the middle

-Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness]

There isn't a lot of depth instrumentally.  Its basically four layers vocals, piano, horns, and violins.  However the variety in loudness creates a great depth as the song goes from ear shatteringly loud to no sound at all.

ESSAY:

The song I chose is a cover so the lyrics have remained the same between both Arcade Fire’s original version and Peter Gabriel’s interpretation.  However Peter Gabriel spaces out the verses more dramatizing the effect of the lyrics, which is done so to the point his song his two minutes longer.

The Melodies are also entirely different and give off two completely different emotional architectures.  Arcade Fire’s Melodies are much higher pitched and resonating with the tone of Win Butler’s voice and the piping organ in the background.  Also the rest of the band sings backup to Win Butler creating a choir like sound, as well as creating a track with an overall feel of a song that would be played at church. This gives the song its feeling of longing for something more.

However in Peter Gabriel’s version we find the slower choppier pacing creating a feeling that is almost more depressing than anything.  In Peter Gabriel’s case the lyric “My body is a cage” is an actual trap that he can’t get out of, where as in Arcade Fire’s version its more so that the vocalist is aware of his body’s limitations and feels there is more outside of his own mind.   Peter Gabriel creates this depressing tone with his deep voice and somber piano fueling the song, especially at an extremely slow tempo.

As for overall musical quality the songs seem to have the same organization although this organization occurs at two different speeds.  Arcade fire uses a combination of versus’ and a rise in instrumentation to give the song an ordered organization whilst Peter Garbiel does the same, however in Andante rather than AF’s moderato tempo.  As for timbre Arcade Fire is rather complex, with its use of electronic drums and reverberating the organ, where as Peter Gabriel’s version remains more simple and clean with orchestral instrumentation.  Gabriel’s pitches however highly contrast with high in low combining his low voice with the high piano notes and violin strings.  Arcade Fire all around has a higher pitch with Butler’s vocals and choice of instrumentation.  Finally Gabriel and Arcade Fire use the same rise in Intensity from loud to soft, although Gabriel’s version fades out to soft in the end.  As for Rhythm Arcade Fire uses a consistent regular rhythm throughout the song while Gabriel uses breaks in the sound to create random pauses and an irregular rhythm.