media studies summer task

1. Media Studies
Summer Task
Amy-Jane Curtis

2. The clips I have chosen
Casino Royale opening scene
LA Noire title sequence

3. Genre
• Casino Royale is a thriller movie, the clip is designed to
build tension and to grab the audiences attention. Most
thriller films use this technique to keep the audience
interested as to what might happen next, this makes them
want to keep watching. This clip portrays the genre of the
movie right from the start.
• LA Noire is an action/adventure game, these type of
games are designed to keep the player occupied with
lots of things going on around them. This clip doesn’t
make the genre very obvious to the player, instead it
indicates the time that the game is set and includes
glimpses that something more mysterious could be going
on behind the scenes.

4. Similarities and differences
• These two clips are very different, in fact they are nothing
alike. The clip from Casino Royale builds up to a climax at
the end of the clip, whereas LA Noire has no climax. The
LA Noire clip has a very calm, slow pace and the Casino
Royale clip starts of at a slow pace, then gets quicker as
tension is built through the scene.

5. Mise en scene
• The entire clip is in black and white, this means that
shadows can be used effectively to build tension, this can
also bring about more emphasis to the characters face to
define emotions. There is very little light in this scene, the
only light we see tends to be focused on a characters
face. The props used are designed to show wealth, the
set is very expensive looking.
• The whole LA Noire clip is in colour with a very natural
lighting as it is set during the daytime. The set and
costumes are designed to represent the era at which the
game is set.

6. Similarities and differences
• The mise en scene of both clips is completely different.
Casino Royale has dark lighting and no colour whereas LA
Noire is set during the day so has normal everyday lighting
and colours. There is also a contrast of wealth in the two
clips, Casino Royale shows a wealthy businessman in the
modern day and LA Noire shows the poorer ‘gang type’
businesses during the time the game is set.

7. Camerawork and
cinematography
• The clip from casino Royale uses various camera angles;
close ups, long shots, over the shoulder and birds eye.
Camera angles help to show anything from location and
emotion to the position of the characters.
• The LA Noire clip mainly uses panning shots which help to
show the location of the game. Using panning shots
means that long shots are also used, these help to create
a feel for the city and how big the space is.

8. Similarities and
differences
• Both clips are very similar in terms of camera angles. They
both use panning shots to show the location. This is the
only similarity, both clips are very different when it comes
to camera work and cinematography. Casino Royale
uses a lot of close ups on the characters faces, this is used
to develop the characters, showing their emotions and
reactions. LA Noire is very different and concentrates
more on the scenery. LA Noire also uses quite basic
camera angles as the clip is very calm whereas in Casino
Royale more complicated camera angles are used as the
scene has far more action.