TASK 2: Fallout 4

Fallout 4 is a video game that is going to be released in November 2015. The marketing for the game began with an announcement trailer, which is featured above. The film is rated by esrb.org and is expected to be rated Mature.

The genre to the game is survival and post apocalyptic It is set in 2274, and the trailer transitions between then, which is after a global thermonuclear war, and in 2074, which is before.

The duration of the trailer is 3 minutes and 4 seconds. This means that it is likely that the trailer will not be shown it television advertisements, as it will take up the whole time slot. The most likely place for the trailer to be shown is either in the cinema, or on YouTube. The cinema has a much larger time slot than television, and the viewer is much more likely to be engaged, as there are no distractions. Putting the video on YouTube allows it to be seen by a much wider audience, and they can benefit from web 2.0, as the video can be shared.

The editing of the trailer features lots of  cross cutting at the beginning, as a transition is made between the post apocalypse world and the pre apocalypse world. This is done seamlessly as the camera is positioned in the exact same place and while it is tracking, matches up perfectly. Later on in the trailer, we see jump cuts that show scenes from the game. This is done very quickly and overwhelms the viewer and this is done in an attempt to create hype and excitement within them. It also foreshadows that the game will feature lots of fast-paced action.

In terms of sound, we first here a distorted signal. The fact that it is distorted helps to portray that this is post apocalyptic and helps to bring a sense of hopelessness and distance from what the world used to be. This radio then starts to play the song 'I'ts all over but the crying'. The name of the song is relevant to the post apocalyptic setting of the Fallout franchise being post apocalyptic. Also, the song is from 1947 and fits in with the retro-futuristic theme of the game. After this, during the montage, we hear a soundtrack from the actual game. This is used because it is a lot more fast paced than the slow 1947 song and creates tension within the viewer.

The content of the game has a very retro futuristic feel to it during the flashbacks. It is a colourful, almost perfect town. However, in my opinion it looks a lot like the media representation of what a nuclear testing site looks like, and it is fitting considering Fallout is set after a nuclear war. We see towards the end of the video the dog approaching a man, which we as viewers would assume was the protagonist. It is unusual that he appears so late and this could tell us that the dog has a pivotal role in the game as well. The dog itself could show an innocent life that has been affected by the war and the way he looks at the cot and where his dog bowl used to be could show that this was his home pre apocalypse makes us feel empathetic towards him.

The last shot of the trailer looks like it has been inspired by I am Legend and Mad Max. Both show a man on a road with his dog, and the dog in 'I am Legend' looks very similar to that in the Fallout 4 trailer. It appears that the costume is inspired by 'Mad Max'. This could work in their favour, as fans of both films will be hopeful that this game replicates or gets inspired by memorable moments from these films in order to improve their game.

I am Legend

Mad Max

TASK 2: Johnny Cash - Hurt

Johnny Cash was born in Arkansas in 1932, and was one of seven children. His family struggled during the great depression and this inspired many of his songs. He was very religious and was brought up in a Christian family.


Johnny Cash's Hurt has become one of his most famous songs. It was the last music video he starred in, and the video itself received critical acclaim, with it winning a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video. The video is performance based, with the use of archive footage. The archive footage is used because the lyrics of the song suggest that Johnny Cash is looking back on his life, and therefore cutting to footage that associates with the lyrics give them power and meaning.

Below is some analysis I annotated on the lyrics of 'Hurt' before I watched the video. I looked at deeper meanings to the lyrics and how it could be presented in the music video.

'The needle tears a hole' could have multiple meanings. It could be a link to Johnny Cash's drug problem that he suffered for a large part of his life, which is supported by the next line, 'The old familiar sting', or it could have a deeper meaning. 'The needle' could symbolise all of Cash's mistakes and 'tears a hole' could be the damage that they have caused.

'Try to kill it all away But I remember everything' could show that he is trying to leave his past in the past but cannot escape the memories and that they are tearing him up inside. He uses the word 'kill' as this implies that the memories will be dead and will not return, but this word could also represent the negative side of Cash, as to kill is evil.

'And you could have it all My empire of dirt' shows how little Johnny Cash values his success, and that he would give it away with no second thought. 'empire of dirt' is an oxymoron, as 'empire' shows how large the legacy is that Cash has created, but 'of dirt' shows that it doesn't matter to Cash, because he made sacrifices for that legacy that he regrets and wishes that he hadn't hurt those close to him.

'I wear this crown of thorns Upon my liar's chair' has religious connotations to it and we know that Cash was a very religious person. The religious symbolism of the crown of thorns is sacrifice and linking this to Johnny Cash's 'Hurt', it could reinforce that he has made sacrifices for his career, and we see that he is not proud of it when he says 'Upon my liar's chair'.

'I am still right here' is a very powerful line, as it shows that Cash has been left in the past while everyone has moved on, and shows that all he has left is his music career. The fact that he says it in the present tense could show that he foolishly felt that everything would stay the same during his career.

The last stanza concludes the song with Cash implying that he would chose differently if he could start again, 'I would keep to myself' shows maybe that he disliked the fame that came with producing his music, and 'I would find a way' shows that he would maybe have chosen a different career to provide for his family.

Then I watched the video and analysed it, noting down how it presented the lyrics visually. In a way, it was similar to what I predicted in that it used archive footage from Cash's past, however the performance of him looking towards the sunset and eating a feast on his own I didn't predict, but I thought it was the best feature of the music video.

 The first shot features Johnny Cash wearing the iconic black with his guitar. We see him looking out into the distance and judging by the yellow glow we can assume that he is looking at a sunset. This could represent Cash's career coming to an end, as 'Hurt' was his final performance before his death.

 This shot is of the sign to Cash's museum. We see on the sign that it is 'closed to the public' and this could represent Cash's career no longer means anything to him. Behind the sign we see the United States flag, which could connote that Cash was very patriotic, which we know as he was enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1950.

 This shot is one of many archival footage shots that is used in the music video. It shows Cash at the height of his career and could represent all of the good memories that Cash has. Few of this footage features his family and this could be the reason for producing this song, because spending time with his loved ones was maybe sacrificed for his career.

 This next shot coincides with the lyrics 'everyone I know goes away in the end' and is a shot of a photo of his mother framed on his wall. This shows how close Cash was with his mother and could indicate that this song is addressed to her. The fact that they show a photograph indicates to the viewer that she has passed away.

 This shot has lots of religious connotations to it, as we see him sitting at the foot of the table with a feast. It could represent the last supper, again indicating that this will be Cash's last performance. Unlike earlier, he is now facing the viewer directly, which could show he is now addressing it to them rather than his family. The way the camera is situated is like the viewer is on the table with Cash, which shows the importance of his fan base to his success.

The final shot shows him closing his piano and stroking it. This concludes both the song and Cash's career. We can see the reflection from the sunset the strongest here, with Cash's hands being a silhouette, which shows the progression of the song leads him closer to the end.

TASK 2: Music Videos

The first experimental music video was made in the 1960's. The Film 'Hard Days Night' from 1964 unintentionally created conventions of music videos that are still used today.

The conventions include multiple camera's, lead singers in focus, cutaways and a variation of shots, such as high angle and zooms.



This first music video, Beat It by Michael Jackson is a narrative based music video. This means that Michael Jackson is a character in the video as well as the performer. The video shows a group being lead by a man in a white coat and a group lead by a man in a leather jacket. These groups face each other and one of the men pulls out a knife, and at this point Michael Jackson steps in and prevents it, and the groups start to dance in sync with him. During the dancing, the camera focuses on Michael Jackson, as he is the song artist and performer and the video is to promote his song.

The video contains shots that are conventions of music videos. The shot to the right is a zoom in shot of Michael Jackson. This ensures that the viewers attention is on him, so that they know who the lead is. Despite having a narrative, the music video is also performance based, as Michael Jackson dances throughout, and in the end everyone is dancing.

The last shot is a high angle shot, also a convention of music videos, and gives the audience a scale of how many people are dancing and enjoying the music, and watching people enjoy the music in the video may have the same impact on them.






This next video, 'Eat It' by Weird Al is a pastiche of Beat It by Michael Jackson. It emulates the work shot for shot for the most part, except for the ending, which rather than having a high angle shot of dancing, has another close up of Weird Al. The props use also differs, as instead of a knife, spoons are used to coincide with the change in lyrics and theme of the parody song.



Space Oddity, by David Bowie is a performance based music video. Throughout the video it focuses just on David Bowie singing the song with his guitar. This music uses the convention of handheld camera very effectively. There are a lot of zooms towards Bowie and the guitar and towards the end we see the camera get very shaky in conjunction with the sounds that occur.

The video also has elements of an abstract and artistic music video, with the use of special effects like the green sound waves that appear over the top of Bowie. Also, his face is red throughout, giving the overall video a very Sci-Fi feel, which is quite fitting because the video is about Major Tom being lost in space.




This music video, Shuttin' Detroit Down by John Rich combines both Narrative based Music Videos and Performance based. There is a clear narrative, that an experienced worker loses his job and gets defended by his young coworker, but the performer does not appear in the video. Instead, there a frequent cutaways to the song being performed with a guitar. Also unlike the other videos, this song is interrupted by dialogue from the narrative regularly, which suggests the producer wanted the story to be highlighted.

This music video follows the conventions of music videos with the use of close ups towards the performer. This allows the viewer to acknowledge who is singing it in order to promote his work.

It also concludes with a long shot to show the performer in full and also his surroundings, but in contrast to 'Beat It' by Michael Jackson, this shot is not high angle, and this may be due to the fact that there are no dancers, but just one performer.

TASK 2: Power of Childhood (2014)

The Power of Childhood is a Russian film about a father who is set to be executed and must hide it from his son, who appears just before the execution, by pretending that they are playing. The film shows how the love shown between the father and son changes the executioner's stance, and makes him struggle to go through with his duty.

When the child comes running in, the camera becomes very shaky and as a result it is difficult to understand which direction the kid is going in. This helps to emphasize the confusion and panic that he feels. The peasant is also very forceful in how he treats the child, and this tells the viewer that they are the antagonists of the short film.

When the father and child are reunited, the camera tracks the peasants, and we see their expression is that of empathy and sadness, and without dialogue shows the audience that they understand the love between them both. The sun also creates a lens flare on the camera, which could represent hope and the good inside those about to execute the policeman.

When we see the boy shouting at the executors, an over the shoulder shot is used. This is to give the audience some perspective of where everyone is in the scene, and also informs them that the child is directing his dialogue directly to the peasants. We see that they themselves stare at the child completely different to the father, as he is innocent.



The next shot is going into the dream sequence. We can see that it is very washed out and the colour intensity has increased. This is used to emulate what a dream is like, and to show that it is idealistic. We see in the sequence that lots of the adults are either replaced by children, or act like children and it shows that maybe the adults still haven't lost touch with their childhood.

We see in this shot that the man holds the child up. This gives the child power as it shows that he is no longer speaking up to them, and it could represent that they have started to listen to him. The shot is a medium close up, and this intentionally cuts off the bottom half of both characters so that we don't see that the child is being held up by his father, in order to give power to the child.

TASK 2: Short Film - Wasp (2003)

Wasp (2003) is a short film by Scottish Director Andrea Arnold. Her success in short films lead to her directing the feature length film Fish Tank (2009). Wasp is set in Dartford and is about a single parent who struggles to find time for herself due to having four children. She goes on a date at a pub and, with no one to take care of the children, takes them with her.

 This first shot shows the children in a group sitting on the grass while Zoe is in the road. This is powerful, as it shows the mother on the potentially dangerous road, while the kids are staying safe, and this could foreshadow that she will make poor decisions.

The shot in the house shows one of the daughters looking into the kitchen where her mother is, but rather than going inside the kitchen, she is holding on the the wall and staring in. This could symbolize a detachment from her and Zoe and could maybe show that the mother has problems with anger and that she is unpredictable.

The shot of the wasp in the window could represent the protagonist Zoe, and the struggle of getting past the glass could show her struggle to maintain a social life whilst being a parent. In this shot she lets the wasp out and this could foreshadow that she is going to turn her back on parenting further on in the film.

The shot here shows all of the children and Zoe running to the end of the path. This could show that she is immature and prehaps not ready to be a parent, and it is also dangerous, as the path is very uneven and she is pushing the baby at a high speed. All of this is Andrea Arnold subtly suggesting to the viewer that Zoe is not fit to look after the children, like earlier when they were fed sugar. This builds up until the ending, where the viewer almost does not feel sorry for her, despite her difficulty with being poor and having children she can't look after, but want the kids to be taken away. This would have been difficult as the story follows Zoe throughout and normally in films a rapport is built with the viewer and the protagonist.

TASK 2: Short Film - Gasman (1998)

The academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as

"an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less including credits"



Gasman is a short film directed by Scottish Director Lynne Ramsay. She began her career producing short films and her success lead her to begin working on feature length films such as Ratcatcher (1999) and Morvern Callar (2002).

The film, like the majority of Lynne Ramsay's short films, is set in Glasgow in the 1970's and the plot is about a father who has two families and shows how it affects one of the daughters, with jealousy a key theme.

The opening shots in the kitchen are very much from a child's point of view. We can see this because the camera is low down, and at the eye level of a child. The framing intentionally cuts of the head of the mother and this is done throughout the scene. This could symbolize maybe a disconnection between her and the girl.

This is also shown with this shot. There is only back light and this results only the silhouette of the mother visible in the foreground. This highlights how unimportant the Mother is in the story, and allows us to later on focus on just the kids and the father and focus on their relationship.

This shot on the train tracks shows danger as it almost represents the camera as being a train and, as it is going at such a fast pace, foreshadows that a disequilibrium is approaching in the story. The narrative in itself invokes danger by the fact that they make their way to the party through the train tracks. The fact that it is abandoned could show a representation of what Glasgow was like at this time and this makes the fact that the father has two families seem much more probable.

We can see with the entrance to the party again that it is from a child's point of view, as the camera is low down so it actually cuts off the heads of the adults. This could have a deeper meaning though, as it could show how oblivious the adults are to the emotions of the children, and how they are unaware of the jealousy within the girl.

To illustrate jealousy between the two little girls, Lynne Ramsay uses a close up of the girl. A narrow depth of field is used so that the viewer focuses on the emotion shown on the girls face. We know exactly what the girl is thinking because the previous shot was a point of view shot, showing the other girl sitting with her Dad.

Despite being quite far away, the shot zooms into the girl to show that it is not the need for attention that the girl has, but jealousy that she is not the only one her father cares for. The scene does not have any dialogue at this point and it shows Lynne Ramsay's style, which tends to focus on emotion. It also assists the viewer because when there is dialogue, it is often difficult to understand due to the strong Glaswegian accent.

I think the messages the film put across is maybe the impact that having multiple families have on one of the children. We see by the way the father reacts after the fight that he is quite oblivious to the emotions of his daughter and doesn't understand the impact that it has had on her.

What makes this film a good calling card for Lynne Ramsay is that it tells a story using cinematography and the emotions of the characters as opposed to dialogue, and this allows her to fit a narrative within the time constraints of a short film.

TASK 2: Short Film Tropes

Christopher Booker, an English author, wrote a book 'The Seven Basic Plots'. He  realised that all films follow the same basic plots:

The Quest involves the protagonist(s) going on a journey for something. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is a good example because Frodo and Samwise are on a quest to take the one ring to the fires of Mount Doom.

Overcoming the Monster involves a dangerous beast threatening the lives of the protagonist and also innocent civilians.

Rags to Riches is the story of the protagonist starting from the bottom and rises to the top. He starts with seemingly nothing and ends with everything he could of wished for.

Voyage and Return is where the protagonists go on a mission, much like in a quest, and then return to where they started. An example of this may be Forrest Gump as, despite the film being about his life story, it could be his voyage and his return would be meeting up with Jenny again in Alabama.

Tragedy films are films that don't have a positive ending and plays with the emotions of the viewer. A good example of a tragedy is Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. In this film, the antagonists, the Sith are successful, with the protagonist, Anakin Skywalker, switching from the protagonist to the antagonist.

Comedy is where a dark force prevents the hero and heroine from being together. The story will see the dark force be stopped so that the hero and heroine can be together.

Rebirth is when the protagonist is a villain. However, unlike Tragedy, they realise their mistake to avoid defeat.