Second Movie!

The second movie we watched was The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smauge. Despite this movie's length, we chose it because it takes place in a high-fantasy world, which is along the lines of what we want to do. We didn't end up watching the whole movie, but we did skip through to the parts that were more blatantly otherworldly. Such parts included when they were in any kind of room, establishing shots of a new set, or the scene leading into a fight. We skipped to these sections because that's when the genre was most clearly fantasy.

Camera movements and angles were often combined in this movie. Many of the establishing shots were also high angle tracking shots of the main characters. These shots often snake through the architecture of the medieval set, and give the impression of something greater lurking. In one scene with a forest, the camera tilts upwards and to the side into a canted angle. This alone lets the audience know that there is something seriously wrong with the forest. The air of suspense created by this kind of shot is something we can use on our own project. Moreover, when the main characters are talking in a group the camera is slightly wavering, like its handheld. This particular technique creates a kind of urgency for the protagonists to act and heightens suspense. 

All music in The Hobbit has significance, the tracks are mostly a sound motif letting you know who your watching or where the characters are, tying the long movie together. Otherwise, there is a lot of sound throughout the movie. Diegetic sound is a must, the clanking of armor, clomping of boots and rustling of clothing are especially important when the objects contribute to the genre of the film to such a degree. Next, the smaller sound affects, like demonic whispering coming from the woods, works in tandem with the other film aspects to set a specific mood, like increasing suspense.

In fantasy films, editing is very important. This is because all of the magical creatures must be made with at least some CGI effects. The various beasts that attacked the protagonists were all effects so making sure to edit them in well was a must. While we can't use CGI in our final project, we can still use some of the other editing techniques. There are a lot of time skips, as the journey from one place to another takes days in a medieval setting. For these particular transitions, they are made with a dissolve when the skips are made in the same setting.

Finally, mise en scene in fantasy is the one that contributes the most to the aesthetic. Costumes, makeup and prosthetic all play a part in making up the many races and sub-races in Middle-earth. The elves' ears are elongated and their cheek bones are sharp. These differences are the easy change, heights are much more interesting. Dwarves and hobbits are half the size of an elf, so the producers must use forced perspective to change this. The actors meant to be smaller handle larger props, while larger characters use a smaller version of the prop. This is one example of how the illusion is created. Ideally, it would be fun to use something like forced perspective in our final project, and  it would certainly be fun to work with! Lighting is also a key factor in completing any fantasy scene, purple fog in the mountains and too-vivid flowers in a field both succeed in making the set feel other worldly.

Sadly, I don't think we will be able to use fog, or set up any other worldly scene for this project. We also probably won't be able to use to much make up, and our costumes will be low budget but that doesn't mean we can't try. Music will be slightly easier to work with, we need to get permission to use any song by it's composer, but it won't be impossible.