Jibran Karamat Film Blog (AS 2023)

  Film Opening Inspiration 1. Smile (2022) A recent horror film that released, directed by Parker Finn which had an amazing opening that served to set the mood for the entire film and create a terrifying enigma for the narrative to base off of. It was this film that made me realize I wanted to do a horror/mystery project of some sort even more than before. 

A storyboard is a graphic representation of how your video will unfold, shot by shot. It's made up of a number of squares with illustrations or pictures representing each shot, with notes about what's going on in the scene and what's being said in the script during that shot. Here are some attempts at storyboarding I've done for other projects in the past.

  Vertigo Effect: Introduced by Alfred Hitchcock in his 1958 film Vertigo. The technique involves reversing the zoom of the movement of the camera (for example, camera is moving towards the subject, so you zoom out) to give a disorienting zoom effect. We were tasked to try this effect for ourselves in class.

According to the theory of code by Roland Barthes, there is always more than one way to read a text. Within any given text there is a plurality of meaning rather than one correct reading. Uncovering a text’s plural meaning requires not only reading but also re-reading.  Barthes identifies five different kinds of semiotic elements that are common to all texts. He gathers these signifiers into five codes:  Enigma:  anything that is mysterious or unexplained Proairetic:  sequential elements of action Semantic:  elements of the text that carry referential, extra-literal meaning Symbolic:  When two connotative elements are placed in opposition or brought together by the narrator Cultural:  anything in the text which refers to an external body of knowledge such as scientific, historical, and cultural knowledge

 Levi Strauss' binary opposition theory identifies how within media texts, most commonly films, there is a binary opposite between two characters or forces. This is shown obviously within comics where there is a struggle for the good to win against evil.  It is the contrast between two mutually exclusive terms, such as on and off, up and down, left and right. Levi Strauss, proposed a theory of 'binary opposites' which entails that the majority of narratives in media forms such as books and film contain opposing main characters. These binary opposites help to thicken the plot and further the narrative; and introduce contrast. For example, hero and villain, predator and prey, masculinity and femininity, etc