Question 1
In my perspectives, I believe that the sound contributes in creating tension and thrill in the film. In the film, as soon as the clown comes into the screen, a very faint creepy music is being played at the background. Also, every time the light goes out for a second, it has that spark sound made by the florescent lights that actually helps creating a little bit of tension. When the clown suddenly reappears beside the boy after the light comes back on, the background music becomes louder accompanying with a ‘knocking’ sound fading in and out. This is to create suspension and some tension to the audience. Most horror films uses this kind of sound effects as sound contributes like 50% percent of the film in creating the atmosphere. Horror genre films uses sounds to scare the audience with the loudness, the eerie music, and the very detailed sounds of the atmosphere. However in this film, it reminds me of the Heath Ledger’s Joker in the Dark Knight. The film uses a lot of sound to create tension especially the music and the actor’s voice. One of the scene in the Clown Train is when the clown suddenly raises his voice with no warning. That level of sound is capable to scaring and catching the audience by surprise. This scene was quite similar to one of the Dark Knight’s scene where the Joker films himself torturing a man who was trying to be Batman. In that short clip, he yells “LOOK AT ME” at a sudden moment which is to capture the viewer’s attention. Music is also another factor in creating an atmosphere. In the Clown Train, as the Clown is getting nearer and nearer to the boy, the music at the background is becoming slightly louder before it reaches a constant level. In the Dark Knight’s interrogation scene, notice the background music. It becomes louder and louder as the scene becomes more intense. It guides the audience to know what to feel. Without it, the audience will be in confusion with their emotion of a scene.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnOLhXmhkyA
Question 2
One of the points that I got from the reading on Slogans for the Screenwriter’s Wall was that making a comedy is hard and comedy works best with master-shots. It is said that not to attempt making a comedy until you’ve mastered making a drama. My perspectives at first was thinking comedy is the easiest and drama is one of the hardest because of casting. I guess I was wrong. I thought this is pretty informative and really interesting to know. Everybody loves to laugh. However, if we’re making a comedy and nobody gets the joke or the joke is too old, it will result in failure. In a drama, we just need a good actor and a dramatic story. In a comedy, although the actor is great, but the joke is too old, nobody will have a good laugh. Comedy requires a lot of effort in originality in my books.
Another thing that I picked up was that it was mention that if you’ve got a beginning but don’t have an end, then you’re mistaken. You don’t have a right beginning. I thought this was very interesting and helpful for my writing skills. If always have the tendency of writing a story but the main theme fades away somewhere in the middle. It is also mentioned that what happens now is less dramatic until it reaches the zenith of the plot. That’s where the point of attack is.
Question 4
I thought the film Rolling has this very typical love story whereby the guy meets a girl and has a crush on her for a very long time but does not have the guts to ask her out. Typical not in a bad way. I thought they made it really well with the love story by using toilet papers. The screenplay seems very well organized in my perspectives in the sense that the lines are very well written especially when the boy asks to buy 50 rolls of toilet paper to donate to the orphanage but in reality he just wants to spend a little more time talking to her. The location was also very well chosen as it fits the script and it looks that they have enough space to develop the camera angle they wanted. The casting – I thought they have chose the perfect actors for this role. The man manages to pull off a shy personality very well and very much convincing that he likes her. He manages to pull the emotion on without looking awkward. The film was also very well shot in the sense of cinematography. The angles were good and as well as the camera movements. Great job with the tracking especially as the guy walks down the aisle. But there seemed to be some lighting issues as he walks down. The color seems to be changing every time he walks by. However, I’m also not really a fan of the timing of the conversation. Although I see there are sense of humor in the conversation, but I feel like the sequence is being dragged too long at some shots, particularly at the conclusion. There was some awkward pauses there with no camera changes from what I remember.