READING A FILM

Media Coursework
By Hasina
Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix

Institutional Information
TitleThe title of this movie, which comes up in the first five minutes
of the movie, is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This
movies title is effective because, as this movie is a sequel, the
title goes with all the the previous movie titles. The Font is a
creepy yet mysterious font. The font/title goes well with the
movies genre. Even though the title is only shown for a small
period of time it is very effective in showing the audience what
the movie is about. Also the title in this movie sequel has a
theme to it where the title are all very similar except the fact
that each of sequels have a different movie name after the main
movie name Harry Potter The way the title is presented makes
it effective because, as the movie is a sequel, each movie gets
more mature (scary/more thriller) and the title is presented in a
way to fit the atmosphere of the movie.
Front Facing Shot- The title is
presented in a shot where it is
shown from the front where
you can see the full title
clearly.

Institutional Information
Genre

The genre of Harry Potter and the Order of the

Phoenix is fantasy and horror, which is animated
very well in this movie of the sequel. The
fantasy part of the genre is very obvious with
this movie, and all the others, because there is a
lot of magic, spells and mythical creatures
included in these movies. This is effective for
the movie and the audience because most of
the audiences are children (12)- teenagers. The
Horror part of the genre is included more in the
start of this movie than the rest. This is because
this sequel of the past movies is beginning to
bring out the tension and as the characters grow
up the movie becomes more grown up.

Institutional Information
Production Company and
Distributor-

The production company of this movie and all the other

Harry Potter sequels is, Heyday Films. They have a large
career in fantasy/fiction movies and they have produced
films like: Gravity, Were the Millers, Paddington etc.
However, Heyday films is well known for creating the Harry
Potter movies and have been given a lot of credit for it.
The Distributor of Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix and all the other Harry Potter sequels is, Warner
Bros. Pictures. This distributor is very famous and well
known, they have worked with producers like: J.W
Productions, Carousel Productions, Heyday Productions
etc. This is a good thing because the distributor is as well
known as the movie and that is effective because then it
will be watched.

Institutional Information
Target Audience

The Target audience of this film is quite easy to understand with the
beginning of the movie. This is because the beginning of this movie is
scary, therefore the movie would not be for little children, unlike the other
sequels of the movie. For this reason I think the target audience is
children above the age of 12 (mainly Teenagers). Children would probably
get scared of dementors which are displayed/shown in the first 5
minutes of the movie. The special effects make the dementors seem
more realistic and they have close up shots which are actually quite scary.
The dementors are black, cloaked, mythical creatures who suck out your
soul. Even though they are mythical I think many little children would get
scared of them, even some young adults sometimes. However for the
target audience I think the movie is effective in entertaining the audience,
because in most movies the openings are quite boring but this movie has
already brought out the tension.

Dementors- Scary Image (not for

children) In the opening scenes of
the movie. Close up Shot- This
shows a close up view of the
subject where you can see most of
their facial features.

Institutional Information
Director

The Director of the movie is David Yates

he has directed the Harry Potter movies
from 2006 to 2011 (the last one) which
includes this movie (Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix). Also he has a close
relationship Warner Bros who he has
worked with and directed some of their
movies. For these reasons he has become
a famous director and is still directing
upcoming films.

Institutional Information
Main/Lead Actors/ActressesThroughout all the sequels up to this this movie the lead
actors and actresses have been the same (no one has died
or left) and there are three.
Daniel Radcliff- He plays the main character in all the Harry
Potter movies, who is: Harry Potter. Harry Potter is a
famous boy because he lived when he was cursed by a
dark sorcerer. He is known to be a very good wizard and his
parents died so he is not very happy when he has to live
with his cruel aunt and uncle and their spoiled son Dudley.
Emma Watson- She plays the second/third main character
who is: Hermione Granger who is the clever, talented witch
with the muggle (non wizard) parents.
Rupert Grint- He Plays the second/third main character:
Ron Weasley. One of the, red headed, large Weasley family
who is also Harry Potters best friend.

Cinematography
Camera Shot Types

Extra Long Shot (group shot)

Where the subject is shown with the
landscape and other characters in
the background. By Using this Group
shot The director wants to make the
characters intimidating because
Harry is outnumbered.
An Extreme Long Shot where the
setting of the scene is shown and a
lot of scenery is shown on the Image.
CA (Cutaway) where something
other than the subject is shown in
the scene.
Mid-Shot this shows the character
from the waist up giving the
audience a view of their facial
expression and how they feel
towards other characters they are
facing.

Cinematography
Camera Shot Types (2)

Full Shot This shot shows the

characters/Subjects from top to
bottom showing the audience what
they are wearing and how they are
presented, this also demonstrates
the characters relationship. In this
case its a gang/group of teenagers
going up against one single. The
fact that they are standing and he is
sitting makes them seem more
intimidating making this scene more
effective.
Close up A certain feature of the
subject is shown and takes up the
whole screen making him seem
important because of the fact that
he is winding up the other character.

Cinematography
Camera Angles

A birds eye angle The

camera is showing the
audience a birds eye
view of the scene so all
the main props are
shown and helps the
audience understand
whats going on.

Eye-Level Angle The

shot is taken at a angle
of the audience which
makes them more
comfortable with the
characters. This is the
most common angle
used in films.

Cinematography
Camera Angles (2)

Low Angle This angle is

the opposite of a high
angle where the character
is shown from below and
makes them seem
intimidating and bigger
than the audience. In this
case the character is
especially intimidating
because they are
supposed to be scary and
this is effective because it
makes the movie scary
enough so that the
audience get scared but
not terrified.

A High Angle is where

the setting/scene is shown
from above to give the
audience a view of the
scene and what is going
on and shows the
audience how it is windy
and the scene is dark . In
this case because it is
getting spooky the
audience would feel as if
they are in the same
position as the characters.

Cinematography
Camera Movements

Dolly Shot the

camera is following
the subject whilst
keeping it in the
scene. This helps
the audience
understand what is
happening and is
effective in making
the audience
understand what
the characters are
doing and what sort
of position they are
in.

Track the camera is

moving from side-toside horizontally with
the conversation. In
this scene the
characters are laughing
and the camera moves
to the subject to see
the reaction which the
audience would do as
well. So they give the
audience a good view
of whats going on.

Dolly Zoom is a
technique where the
camera is zooming into
the subject whilst keeping
them the same size in the
frame. This is effective
because at this point in
the scene the subject
looks like he is going to do
something suddenly
because the movements
are slow at the moment
and this gives an element
of surprise to the
audience.

Cinematography
Transitions (Edits)-

A Cut is where the scene is being cut into the

other scene without any effects of edits and it just
cuts to the other scene like a flash. This scene had
a lot of cuts because there was a sort of
conversation going on so the camera cut from one
character to the other.
Mix / Dissolve / Crossfade the scene sort of
fades but also dissolves into the next scene
without cutting and makes it sort of flow into the
next scene whilst the previous one is still playing.
This is an effective way to present how the
character is feeling and it shows that he is lonely
because the movement is slow and sad.
The movie has a lot of cuts because the movie is
focusing more on the scenes than how they move
from scene to scene. Most of the cuts are there to
show the audience the characters and what is
happening next, this also shows us that the movie
has a lot of action which requires the transitions to

Sound
Diegetic Sound

The diegetic sound in these scenes, of the first 5 minutes of the

movie, are clear and you can tell that they are diegetic and have
not been edited.
The Diegetic sounds include:
Talking, the voices and dialogues between characters are diegetic
sounds because they have not been edited to sound different.
Rustling of paper, the wind was blowing and even though the
wind is non-diegetic sound the rustling of the paper is not.
The footsteps, when the characters where running or walking the
sound of their footsteps were noticeable and you could tell that
they were not edited because they were in sync with the sound
perfectly and when the rain started creating puddles they made
sounds as the stepped in the puddles.
Having more diegetic sound in a movie is more effective than
having non-diegetic sounds because then it will be more realistic
for the audience and it will be believable.

Sound
Non-Diegetic

The non-diegetic sounds, in the opening of the movie, were pretty clear and
obvious. They are sounds that have been edited to make it seem real even
though these sounds were not in the shot when they were recording these
scenes.
They were sounds like:
The radio at the beginning, there was a radio playing whilst the character (Harry)
was walking to the park even though he did not have radio on him.
The squeaking, the obstacles/swings were squeaking in the movie and the
squeaks were quite loud which does not happen normally and especially in a
playground where it could irritate children. However if you arent focusing on it
too much it is believable and links to the scene.
The wind roaring like a storm is coming, the sound of the wind was very powerful
which is not an ordinary thing because whenever a storm comes the clouds do
get darker and the wind does get stronger but it doesnt have a sound so loud.
For what is happening and the fact that the dementors attract cold and make
everything gloomy this was an appropriate choice in the movie. Especially a good
way to bring tension at the beginning of the movie.
The non-diegetic sounds are very effective for fantasy movies where half the
movie is non-realistic anyway. This movie is very affective in making the sounds
sound real so the audience believe it even though it is fake.

Mise-en-Scene
Set

The way the atmosphere changed

so quickly from a nice sunny day
to a dark windy twilight time
suggests that the magic and
darkness is beginning. The
audience would have expected this
from a fantasy film and it is a good
way of introducing the genre of the
film and how the tension is built up

so quick.

The use of the wide landscape

suggest that its a nice sunny
day and there are still normal
things going on even though
Harrys life has changed
throughout the previous
movies.

The way the merrygo-round is moving

by itself shows us
that the movie has
added a hint of
desire, the fact that
harry is watching the
merry-go-round spin
means that he
misses the normal
things he used to do.
The way this shot is taken
shows us that they
intended to make Harry
seem alone and whilst he
was facing a gang he was
on his own and this is
where the tension comes
in because it is him Vs. a
whole group. I can see
this because the shot
shows him sitting in a row
of swings but all the
swings are empty except
the one he is sitting on.

Mise-en-Scene
Lighting

Although this light may seem real,

because of the fact that it is followed by
a nice bright day in the park. However
because before that there were dark and
misty clouds covering the light you would
know that the light is not the sun (not
natural) However This is very effective in
the movie because the lighting shows
that there is nothing bad going on at the
beginning and this is also effective
because later on in this scene the
atmosphere changes completely.

This shot shows a clear shadow of

harry which means that the sun/light
of that day is very bright and the
shadows are very clear. The shadow
makes harry seem lonely because its
dark and dull and it looks like hes on
his own, which he is.

This scene shows the sunny day

being covered by these dark, scary,
stormy clouds which make the
atmosphere seem scary. The Light
that is being shadowed lets the
audience know that there will not be
anymore light after that which is true.

Mise-en-Scene
Costumes and Make-up

The costumes of these first few scenes are pretty straight forward and normal.
Although the movie is more about the fiction and fantasy most of the wardrobes are normal like
basic jeans and t-shirts. This is to make the movie seem realistic because they want the
audience to be involved with the movie and they try to make it very normal by wearing normal
clothes that anyone would wear. The make-up for the humans at this point is natural which
means that they have not added anything which is not normal for this scene and all the
characters look like they aren't wearing any make up.
However in some scenes of the beginning like when the dementors come the costumes start to
get fictional. The dementors are wearing black cloaks and the fact that they dont walk and they
sort of fly/float shows us that you would not really be expecting them to wear jeans and a t-shirt
because they are supposed to be scary so they wear cloaks. The make-up on the dementors is
not that noticeable however when there is a close up of their face at one splint in the shot you
can see their mouth and there it is clear that there was make up used however it is not very
noticeable because the shot of the dementors is very short.

Mise-en-Scene
Props

The props in the beginning are the equipment's in the play ground and
because they are so obvious you instantly know that the setting is in a
playground this is called: Narrative cos.
The Props at the beginning of the opening are things like: swings, slide,
merry-go-round etc. These props are typical in a playground so you know
where the scene is even if they don't show or tell you.
A main prop which comes up for a brief moment of the opening and is very
important throughout all the sequels is the wand. The wand was effective
in reminding the audience what sort of movie this is and that they still use
magic in Harry Potter even though things might have changed.
Another brief prop which many would not really recognise is the trolley that
Mrs Figg is carrying throughout the scenes. The prop is not so important in
the movie but it is very effective in showing the audience what type of
character Mrs Figg is and it is quite stereotypical in showing that because
she has a Trolley it means she is old because most old women have
trolleys.
There arent many props in the opening because most of it is acting and
dialogue.

Mise-en-Scene
Acting/Dialogue

The acting and dialogue is pretty straight forward where the backing actors just act
like its a normal day in the park. The acting is very convincing because the boy is
acting sad because he has to leave and the mum is telling him to leave. This is a
convincing act because that is usually what happens as well.
Like a group where they have to be intimidating and look big in front of harry because
they want to show they are tough, they also talk like they are in charge and what
Dudley says and he is speaking like a bully. When Harry says beat up another 10
year old This shows the audience that this gang is actually intimidating because
they have given us information about the fact that they beat up 10 year olds.
Also after when Dudley says this one deserved it we can see that he doesnt feel
guilty and even if he did he tries to mention that the 10 year old did something to get
beaten up which wouldnt be a good excuse.
The dialogue and acting of the opening is very effective because everything they say
or do is believable and it makes the audience feel like this is real and it actually
happening. The acting being effective meaning that the audience feel as the
characters feel.
For example when Dudley was saying hurtful things to Harry we all would feel sorry
for Harry because he looked hurt and his facial expression showed it.
Also this links to a close up of his face which is effective at this point in showing us
how Harry feels.