David Finchers 'Fight Club' is a polysemic text and can be approached in more than one way to create meaning, whether this be by the cinematography, mise-en-scene, sound or characters performance. Certain approaches are more useful than others, one approach often used when decoding Fight Club is the Crisis of Masculinity. The approach Crisis of Masculinity suggests that men in todays society are becoming more feminised due to the lifestyle they have chosen. The approach also suggests that we live in a female-dominated world and this is the reason for the femininity of males.
During the scene in which the narrator first goes to the Self Help Groups, framing and the mise-en-scene is important, as in the background of the shot is a basket ball hoop, showing the audience the Self Help Groups are being held in a basketball gym. This was seen quite ironic, as basketball gyms are usually used for sports and manly activities, but instead is being used for a group of men to talk to one and other about their problems, hug and cry with each other. This emphasises the emasculation, also with the pure fact that the men in the discussion all have testicular cancer, resulting in no testicles and a lack of masculinity. As all the men find partners to discuss their problems, the narrator comes across 'Bob'. He states he has 'bitch tits' and goes on to tell the audience in a voice over that he has had his testicles removed due to cancer, and his body wasn't producing enough testosterone and more estrogen, he then grew a pair of breasts and his wife left him. Bob is a perfect example of the crisis portrayed in the film as he has no testicles or wife/children. This helped me gain a deeper understanding of the film as males are literally being turned into women and they can't do anything about it. Fincher even played around with Bobs name and made it humorous as it is just one letter off being 'boob'. The narrator struggles to cry, it is only when Bob hugs him and is placed within Bobs boobs he starts to feel emotional and lets out a weep, implying that men need woman to be able to cry and become emotional, once again showing the lack of masculinity. As the narrator walks out the room and down the street, non-diegetic music accompanies the scene, it is very bland, and almost sounds like elevator music, it isn't very masculine, and once again shows the emasculation within the males in the film.
Throughout the film, there are numerous homosexual references. During the scene in which numerous males, including Tyler and the narrator, go down into the basement for the first ever Fight Club, close ups are shown of the men taking off their wedding rings. This a subtle reference to homosexuality and leaving their wives behind. Another subtle reference to homosexuality within the scene is where Tyler explains the rules of Fight Club. "The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club" which may be implying not coming out of the closet and admitting you're gay. Tyler also says 'if a player taps out, goes limp, the fight is over', the words 'go limp' have been selected carefully to refer to a mans penis during sexual intercourse, referring once again to homosexuality and a lack of masculinity.
Another critical approach used when watching Fight Club to develop deeper meaning is Post Modernism. Fight Club is considered a post modern text, it involves things such as intertexuality, homage and hybridity. Multiple scenes in which the house where Tyler lives are shot and framed in a similar way to the house in Psycho. It is in fact the same house used, an example of intertexuality and homage. During the scene in which Project Mayhem had the members of parliament on the floor in the toilet and there is a point of view shot showing Tyler from a disoriented angle. This mimics the rape scene from A Clockwork Orange, another example of intertexuality. Another example of intertexuality is the scene where Tyler enter Marlas room and finds a sex toy on the table, mirroring A Clockwork Orange once again. Many would consider Fight Club a drama, however, it contains multiple conventions of the Noir genre, with things such as the voice over, a sinister and emotionally damaged protagonist, the constant low key lighting and Marla acting and being portrayed slightly as a Femme Fatale. Taking the critical approach that Fight Club is a post modern film is very useful in finding meaning, it is a suggestion of how society is moving, it is no longer moving forward but is just moving in circles picking up parts of the past to mix into a new, society is just a copy of a copy of a copy, which the narrator actually says within the film.
Tuesday, 17 June 2014
Monday, 16 June 2014
What is the importance of mise-en-scène and/or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied
Both Matthieu Kassovitz' La Haine and Fernando Meirelles City Of God use mise-en-scene and sound to create meaning and generate a response. La Haine is set in France in the 1990's, the time in which the youths and police force were rioting against one another. After the real life footage is shown to us, we get a close up of our first character, Said. The camera slowly zooms into his face and as he opens his eyes we are introduced to the diegetic sounds around him. This shows that Said, and the youths of France in the time in which it was set were trying to shut out the world around them, or that they couldn't believe their eyes. We then get a point of view shot of Said looking across the road at the police force, or better known in the film as the 'pigs'. The distance between Said and the pigs creates conflict, providing contextual information for the audience.
We are then introduced to our second character, 'Vinz'. As well as mise-en-scene and sound being important to create meaning within the text, cinematography and the choice of camera work also helps. We are first shown Vinz in a dream, as he dances around in an underground deserted area, but the camera then cuts to a close up of Vinz' face asleep as Said walks through the door, a point of view shot is then used but the camera then scurries away to zoom into a ring on Vinz' finger which says 'Vinz'. This gave me a representation of Vinz which made me see him as a bit of a slob, who is quite unintelligent that likes to wear jewellery stating his name. Later, we are shown Vinz mimicking the Travis Bickle character from Taxi Driver in his mirror, threatening his reflection, using his hand to mimic a gun. Vinz only believes what he has been shown on the TV, he has not had the opportunity to explore anything else, so he has an unrealistic view of violence and believes this is how ordinary life is. This piece of mise-en-scene shows the results of poverty, and generates a response within the audience.
La Haine is based around a 24 hour period, time is a constant reference used within the film. We often get cuts to a time a frame with a ticking clock in the background. Throughout the film, in scenes like the one wear Said, Vinz & Hubert are sat on the side-walk doing nothing, there is a subtle non-diegetic ticking clock in the background, this suggests that the characters have nothing to do, causing them to become disconnected from society and results in characters turning to things like crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour. This subtle usage of sound creates huge meaning within the text. Within the mise-en-scene, we are often seen Vinz fantasizing. The characters don't resort to crime in the film, however, their attitudes towards the police and society are clearly shown, Vinz is willing to kill an officer if his friend dies in a coma, and the use of mise-en-scene showing Vinz fantasizing his vengeance backs that up.
The use of mise-en-scene and sound is also very important in creating meaning and generating a response in City of God. Straight away within the opening shot we get a close up of a knife sharpening against a rock. There is meaning instantly as it represents the violence within the favelas, and that if you live in the favelas you are living on the edge of a knife. This shot is then supported by the usage of cinematography, which as I mentioned earlier on, is equally important in creating meaning within the text. The editing is fast paced, and also includes very harsh cuts, which shows the fast pace of Rio De Janeiro. All these conventions have been encoded into the text to represent citizens in the favela as poultry.
The character, Lil' Z/Dice is often represented as in power. During the scene in which Lil' Dice disobediently goes to the hotel in which his brother and friends trashed, he kills many, if not all the people inside, this shows Lil' Dices lack of conscience and how sinister he actually is. This is supported in the mise-en-scene as a low camera angle angle is used to show he is in power and to emphasise his evil smile and the gun in his hand. This scene supports the statement often implied in the text 'whoever has the gun, has the power'. Another scene which supports this is the scene in which the character Steak 'N' Fries is forced by Lil' to shoot a runt from the favela, a low camera angle is once again used to show that Steak 'N' Fries is in power as he is currently in possession of a gun, a point of view shot is also used to emphasise the power gained by the gun as it is centre frame.
City of God begins with bright colour to represent the sixties and seventies, but as the narrative progresses, the colours become duller. This represents the power of drugs and drug dealers in the times they were set, back in the 60's/70's the colour was bright, happy, green, to represent the calm times back in the favela when marijuana was around, however, when Lil' Z was in power, cocaine was the biggest drug around, at this point things in the favelas were much more about power and control and this was reflected through the dull colours in the mise-en-scene. In both La Haine and City of God, mise-en-scene and sound are both important in creating meaning and generating a response, however, cinematography and editing are equally important also.
City of God begins with bright colour to represent the sixties and seventies, but as the narrative progresses, the colours become duller. This represents the power of drugs and drug dealers in the times they were set, back in the 60's/70's the colour was bright, happy, green, to represent the calm times back in the favela when marijuana was around, however, when Lil' Z was in power, cocaine was the biggest drug around, at this point things in the favelas were much more about power and control and this was reflected through the dull colours in the mise-en-scene. In both La Haine and City of God, mise-en-scene and sound are both important in creating meaning and generating a response, however, cinematography and editing are equally important also.
'Experimental films are often designed to make us see and experience the world differently.' Has this been your experience as a spectator of the films you have studied for this topic?
Experimental films are constructed and designed to make the spectator see and experience the world differently. Experimental films are nonconformist, they challenge mainstream conventions and rely mostly on imagery and don't often have a narrative. Arguably, Luis Bunuel 'Un Chien Andalou' is the most popular and most successful experimental film.
Un Chien Andalou is a surrealist film, the film is displayed as a dream, an element of the subconscious mind. The film was released in 1929, the opening scene created a response straight away as we get a close up of a womans face with another Bunuel himself holding a knife up to her, the film then cuts to a shot of the moon with a cloud moving across it. The moon represents the womans eye, and the cloud represents the knife, in the next shot, we are shown a close up of the womans eye being slit open by the knife with a strange substance coming out of it. Even in the modern 21st century, I found it difficult to watch, and thought I had seen most horrific and extreme things in cinema, so I can imagine in the time of release, many were horrified at the scene. As the film went on, I tried to discover a narrative, but eventually I decided this was a purely surreal film, that relies purely on imagery, during the scene where one of the male characters chases a woman around the room attempting to rape her, he is suddenly out of no-where anchored down by a rope tied to a piano with a dead mule on top of it. This to me had no inner deep meaning, it was purely imagery of Bunuels subconscious mind and dreams placed in front of the camera to challenge the spectator. Bunuel once said in an interview "reject any idea or thing that has meaning". This film overall made me see the world differently as it's not all black and white, we are capable of thinking such shocking and strange things, and Bunuel proved this by putting it on a movie screen.
Another experimental film is Godfrey Reggios 'Koyaansqatsi'. It is very different to Bunuels Un Chien Andalou, but is still considered experimental as there are no actors or script and was filmed over a 4 year period. Koyaansqatsi is a montage sequence, it focuses on human destruction to the earth by showing changes visually to the earth over a certain amount of time. The opening scene is very dramatic, slow motion imagery of the earth in it's true form, just open space and beautiful scenery, but then we start to get imagery of the modern day earth, buildings, cars, roads. During one of the scenes in which the buildings are shown, the non-diegetic soundtrack is quite dominant and powerful and sounds very triumphant, this subtly shows the audience that mankind is triumphant and has won the battle over nature. I responded to this in almost a guilty way, as I am part of the race that has destroyed the earth that was here before us, even though I did not take part in any kind of destruction whatsoever. After watching Koyaansqatsi, it enabled me to see the world we live in differently, and I appreciated those parts of the earth not yet touched by man kind.
Jon Svankmajers stop-motion film 'Darkness Light Darkness' is also seen as an experimental film. The film is constructed in a way to gain more than one response from it's spectator, when first watching the film, I went through many different emotions. The film features a group of body parts slowly coming together as they work out what goes where. This is presented to us in quite a humorous way, for example when the eyes are put on the ends of two fingers and it looks directly at the camera, or when the two feet come together and squish the face, etc. At this point, I found the film quite funny and didn't think it was very serious, however, then real human body organs start to come into the scene, which are in their natural colours, red, brown, where as the rest of the body and room is very dull and bland, this grabbed my attention straight away and started to make me feel a bit sick. As it grabbed my attention, I started to become a much more active viewer, and believe their may be meaning behind the film, which I found out toward the end, when the body is complete, it is very cramped inside the room, the meaning behind this is the more real you become, the more trapped you will be.
Experimental films vary, and are presented and constructed in a number ways but always attempt to make the spectator see and experience the world differently, after watching all 3 films, the response I got from all 3 were different, but I certainly saw and experienced the world differently.
Un Chien Andalou is a surrealist film, the film is displayed as a dream, an element of the subconscious mind. The film was released in 1929, the opening scene created a response straight away as we get a close up of a womans face with another Bunuel himself holding a knife up to her, the film then cuts to a shot of the moon with a cloud moving across it. The moon represents the womans eye, and the cloud represents the knife, in the next shot, we are shown a close up of the womans eye being slit open by the knife with a strange substance coming out of it. Even in the modern 21st century, I found it difficult to watch, and thought I had seen most horrific and extreme things in cinema, so I can imagine in the time of release, many were horrified at the scene. As the film went on, I tried to discover a narrative, but eventually I decided this was a purely surreal film, that relies purely on imagery, during the scene where one of the male characters chases a woman around the room attempting to rape her, he is suddenly out of no-where anchored down by a rope tied to a piano with a dead mule on top of it. This to me had no inner deep meaning, it was purely imagery of Bunuels subconscious mind and dreams placed in front of the camera to challenge the spectator. Bunuel once said in an interview "reject any idea or thing that has meaning". This film overall made me see the world differently as it's not all black and white, we are capable of thinking such shocking and strange things, and Bunuel proved this by putting it on a movie screen.
Another experimental film is Godfrey Reggios 'Koyaansqatsi'. It is very different to Bunuels Un Chien Andalou, but is still considered experimental as there are no actors or script and was filmed over a 4 year period. Koyaansqatsi is a montage sequence, it focuses on human destruction to the earth by showing changes visually to the earth over a certain amount of time. The opening scene is very dramatic, slow motion imagery of the earth in it's true form, just open space and beautiful scenery, but then we start to get imagery of the modern day earth, buildings, cars, roads. During one of the scenes in which the buildings are shown, the non-diegetic soundtrack is quite dominant and powerful and sounds very triumphant, this subtly shows the audience that mankind is triumphant and has won the battle over nature. I responded to this in almost a guilty way, as I am part of the race that has destroyed the earth that was here before us, even though I did not take part in any kind of destruction whatsoever. After watching Koyaansqatsi, it enabled me to see the world we live in differently, and I appreciated those parts of the earth not yet touched by man kind.
Jon Svankmajers stop-motion film 'Darkness Light Darkness' is also seen as an experimental film. The film is constructed in a way to gain more than one response from it's spectator, when first watching the film, I went through many different emotions. The film features a group of body parts slowly coming together as they work out what goes where. This is presented to us in quite a humorous way, for example when the eyes are put on the ends of two fingers and it looks directly at the camera, or when the two feet come together and squish the face, etc. At this point, I found the film quite funny and didn't think it was very serious, however, then real human body organs start to come into the scene, which are in their natural colours, red, brown, where as the rest of the body and room is very dull and bland, this grabbed my attention straight away and started to make me feel a bit sick. As it grabbed my attention, I started to become a much more active viewer, and believe their may be meaning behind the film, which I found out toward the end, when the body is complete, it is very cramped inside the room, the meaning behind this is the more real you become, the more trapped you will be.
Experimental films vary, and are presented and constructed in a number ways but always attempt to make the spectator see and experience the world differently, after watching all 3 films, the response I got from all 3 were different, but I certainly saw and experienced the world differently.
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Compare the attitudes to poverty conveyed in the films you have studies for this topic.
City of God:
- City of God tends to show a more colourful pallet of brown, green and amber, to show the more sinister side of Urban existence and to reflect the poor living conditions in the Favelas.
- The earliest events are shot with bright colours in a very open environment, suggesting freedom, whereas 2 decades later, with a steady decline, the city's descent into poverty is visualised in much darker tones and colours as the characters become more violent and turn to crime and drugs.
- The boys don't have the education to realise violence isn't always the answer
- Much of the narrative delves into violence and drugs, showing how poverty leads to this behaviour, which then leads to poverty, creating a vicious circle that is impossible to escape. This is also shown at the end of the film, where Lil' Ze is killed by 'the runts' who then take over as one of the main gangs.
La Haine:
- The entire film is shot in black and white to reflect the bleak, cold and boring surroundings where the characters live and also suggest the black and white sense of conflicts between social groups that begins as a consequence of poverty.
- Simply revolving the action around the three characters, during a 24 hour time frame, were they are often shown sitting around doing nothing, as a ticking clock constantly marks time, suggests that they have nothing to do, causing them to become disconnected from society and results in the characters turning to things like crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour.
- The youths ignore their education and take on unrealistic roles influenced by US cinema and rap.
- We see Vince copying the Travis Bickle character from 'Taxi Driver' as he mimics his actions in the mirror. Vince only believes what he is being shown as he has not had the opportunity to explore anything else, so he has an unrealistic view of violence and believes this is how ordinary life is, effects of poverty.
- The characters don’t resort to crime in the film, however, their attitudes towards the police and society are clearly shown. For example, Vinz sees himself as a gangster, and is willing to kill an officer if his friend dies after being put in a coma after a riot, and is seen multiple times fantasizing his vengeance.
- Poverty is a constant reminder of why the characters act and behave the way they do.
- In both films, brotherhood is shown to illuminate that the characters go through because of poverty. Through poverty, communities have to work together to survive, these boys are doing just that, they don’t necessarily have the support of a strong family environment so they look elsewhere for that sense of brotherhood and belonging.
- City of God tends to show a more colourful pallet of brown, green and amber, to show the more sinister side of Urban existence and to reflect the poor living conditions in the Favelas.
- The earliest events are shot with bright colours in a very open environment, suggesting freedom, whereas 2 decades later, with a steady decline, the city's descent into poverty is visualised in much darker tones and colours as the characters become more violent and turn to crime and drugs.
- The boys don't have the education to realise violence isn't always the answer
- Much of the narrative delves into violence and drugs, showing how poverty leads to this behaviour, which then leads to poverty, creating a vicious circle that is impossible to escape. This is also shown at the end of the film, where Lil' Ze is killed by 'the runts' who then take over as one of the main gangs.
La Haine:
- The entire film is shot in black and white to reflect the bleak, cold and boring surroundings where the characters live and also suggest the black and white sense of conflicts between social groups that begins as a consequence of poverty.
- Simply revolving the action around the three characters, during a 24 hour time frame, were they are often shown sitting around doing nothing, as a ticking clock constantly marks time, suggests that they have nothing to do, causing them to become disconnected from society and results in the characters turning to things like crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour.
- The youths ignore their education and take on unrealistic roles influenced by US cinema and rap.
- We see Vince copying the Travis Bickle character from 'Taxi Driver' as he mimics his actions in the mirror. Vince only believes what he is being shown as he has not had the opportunity to explore anything else, so he has an unrealistic view of violence and believes this is how ordinary life is, effects of poverty.
- The characters don’t resort to crime in the film, however, their attitudes towards the police and society are clearly shown. For example, Vinz sees himself as a gangster, and is willing to kill an officer if his friend dies after being put in a coma after a riot, and is seen multiple times fantasizing his vengeance.
- Poverty is a constant reminder of why the characters act and behave the way they do.
- In both films, brotherhood is shown to illuminate that the characters go through because of poverty. Through poverty, communities have to work together to survive, these boys are doing just that, they don’t necessarily have the support of a strong family environment so they look elsewhere for that sense of brotherhood and belonging.
How far can it be argued that your chosen films provide a realistic representaion of the people and places they focus on
City of God is based on a realistic representation of life in the favelas in Brazil. The narrative spans three decades, from the 60's to the late 80's. The director Fermando Merielles tried to make this film as realistic as possible to show a true representation of the slums and favelas.
One way in which he did this was through the usage of unknown actors. Merielles discussed how he cast the film largely with non-actors, mostly young males, who were discovered in Rio De Janeiro in various favelas. Whenever he gave them the script, instead of giving them dialogue, he would tell them the intentions of the scene/sequence and allow them to improvise, only about 30% of the film was actually scripted.
Within the favelas, violence is a common occurrence, stats show that one person dies every 90 seconds in Rio De Janeiro, 90% of these deaths are by shooting. During the scene where Goose has sex with Shortys wife, Shorty resorts to violence, by beating his wife to death with a shovel, it reflects the behaviours within the favelas, providing a realistic representation of the people and the place City of God focuses on.
One way in which he did this was through the usage of unknown actors. Merielles discussed how he cast the film largely with non-actors, mostly young males, who were discovered in Rio De Janeiro in various favelas. Whenever he gave them the script, instead of giving them dialogue, he would tell them the intentions of the scene/sequence and allow them to improvise, only about 30% of the film was actually scripted.
Within the favelas, violence is a common occurrence, stats show that one person dies every 90 seconds in Rio De Janeiro, 90% of these deaths are by shooting. During the scene where Goose has sex with Shortys wife, Shorty resorts to violence, by beating his wife to death with a shovel, it reflects the behaviours within the favelas, providing a realistic representation of the people and the place City of God focuses on.
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
'What is the importance of cinematography and/or editing in communicating issues of power, poverty and conflict in the films you have studied for this topic?'
City of God
- Opening scene of City of God, close ups of sharpening of knives, shows violence, 'living on the edge of a knife', harsh cut editing, suits the style of the film, is overall about a gang of hoods chasing a chicken, indicates that humans are seen as poultry, disposed, killed in cold blood
- Editing in City of God shows the power that drug dealing gives people, the start of the film when it was based in the sixties, there were no jump cuts, or extreme close ups, it just consisted of quite quirky editing, long shots, this is to show the main drug used at the time, marijuana, which makes people feel very relaxed.
- As the film progressed, editing became a lot harsher and faster, the style of the film felt unsettled, this was to show that cocaine was slowly taking over.
- Lil' Z/Lil' Dice often has power, when he walks into a building in which his brother and his friends had recently gone in and robbed and trashed with a gun, and then kills them all, this shows the person with the gun has the power, this is backed up with a low angle shot.
- When Steak 'N' Fries is asked to shoot the small child, a point of view shot is shown with the gun centre frame, done to emphasise whoever has the gun, has the power.
La Haine
- La Haine is in black and white, represents the lack of colour in life, and the oppression that people were facing
- Time is a reoccurring motif in La Haine, as the whole film is set in 24 hours, and there is a reoccurring ‘ticking’ noise throughout the film
- In La Haine, the gun always comes between Vinz and Hubert, and is always in the middle of the frame, creating conflict.
- The opening scene, close up on Saids face, as he opens his eyes, diegetic sound is heard, shows he is shutting out the world around him.
- Point of view shot looking at the Police Station across the road where many 'Pigs' are standing, this shot was used to show the distance between them, representing conflict.
Chungking Express
- Opening shot uses hand-held cameras and fast editing, shows the realism and the fast pace of Hong Kong.
- Usage of smudge motion shows everything else moving and progressing with Hong Kong except for the cops, they are stuck in the past.
- Throughout the film, there is a wide variety of colours, this is done to show that Hong Kong is multi-cultural, also the usage of diegetic & non-diegetic Indian music shows it is multi-cultural.
- Wong is shoving a new a genre at his audience, a post-modern romance with a new wave editing style, the usage of jump cuts and montage sequences, the on-location realism and narrative dissonance, all make up this new wave genre. Throughout the film is a large usage of slow motion, this signals that the Hong Kong new wave is coming full circle.
- Editing and cinematography creates and adds to conflict, poverty and power in the feel of the film, and puts across issues that the narrative may not in a subtle, but noticeable way.
- Opening scene of City of God, close ups of sharpening of knives, shows violence, 'living on the edge of a knife', harsh cut editing, suits the style of the film, is overall about a gang of hoods chasing a chicken, indicates that humans are seen as poultry, disposed, killed in cold blood
- Editing in City of God shows the power that drug dealing gives people, the start of the film when it was based in the sixties, there were no jump cuts, or extreme close ups, it just consisted of quite quirky editing, long shots, this is to show the main drug used at the time, marijuana, which makes people feel very relaxed.
- As the film progressed, editing became a lot harsher and faster, the style of the film felt unsettled, this was to show that cocaine was slowly taking over.
- Lil' Z/Lil' Dice often has power, when he walks into a building in which his brother and his friends had recently gone in and robbed and trashed with a gun, and then kills them all, this shows the person with the gun has the power, this is backed up with a low angle shot.
- When Steak 'N' Fries is asked to shoot the small child, a point of view shot is shown with the gun centre frame, done to emphasise whoever has the gun, has the power.
La Haine
- La Haine is in black and white, represents the lack of colour in life, and the oppression that people were facing
- Time is a reoccurring motif in La Haine, as the whole film is set in 24 hours, and there is a reoccurring ‘ticking’ noise throughout the film
- In La Haine, the gun always comes between Vinz and Hubert, and is always in the middle of the frame, creating conflict.
- The opening scene, close up on Saids face, as he opens his eyes, diegetic sound is heard, shows he is shutting out the world around him.
- Point of view shot looking at the Police Station across the road where many 'Pigs' are standing, this shot was used to show the distance between them, representing conflict.
Chungking Express
- Opening shot uses hand-held cameras and fast editing, shows the realism and the fast pace of Hong Kong.
- Usage of smudge motion shows everything else moving and progressing with Hong Kong except for the cops, they are stuck in the past.
- Throughout the film, there is a wide variety of colours, this is done to show that Hong Kong is multi-cultural, also the usage of diegetic & non-diegetic Indian music shows it is multi-cultural.
- Wong is shoving a new a genre at his audience, a post-modern romance with a new wave editing style, the usage of jump cuts and montage sequences, the on-location realism and narrative dissonance, all make up this new wave genre. Throughout the film is a large usage of slow motion, this signals that the Hong Kong new wave is coming full circle.
- Editing and cinematography creates and adds to conflict, poverty and power in the feel of the film, and puts across issues that the narrative may not in a subtle, but noticeable way.
Key Points About Chungking Express
- The opening sequence of Chungking Express is in context of Hong Kong in the early 1990's. It reflects the films central films of uncertainty, separation and reunification.
- The director, Kai Wai Wong, seems to be creating a new genre, a post-modern romance, a new wave editing style, on location realism and narrative dissonance, the slow motion editing signals a slow recognition that the Hong Kong new wave is coming full circle.
- Hong Kong remained under British rule which oversaw a liberal economy, until 1997 when it was 'hander back' to China
- The opening shot uses a hand held camera and consists of fast editing, showing us the fast pace city that Hong Kong is
- The wide range of colour shown in the film shows us Hong Kong is multicultural, the same goes for the usage of non-diegetic and diegetic Indian music
- Constant reference to time through imagery, the clock, and dialogue 'I fell in love with her 57 hours later', 'love you million years' The reference to the expiry date on the pineapple tin shows us that nothing lasts forever
- Everyone knows everybody's business, the opening of the Policeman's letter emphasises that the people of Hong Kong are all confined in a tight space
- The director, Kai Wai Wong, seems to be creating a new genre, a post-modern romance, a new wave editing style, on location realism and narrative dissonance, the slow motion editing signals a slow recognition that the Hong Kong new wave is coming full circle.
- Hong Kong remained under British rule which oversaw a liberal economy, until 1997 when it was 'hander back' to China
- The opening shot uses a hand held camera and consists of fast editing, showing us the fast pace city that Hong Kong is
- The wide range of colour shown in the film shows us Hong Kong is multicultural, the same goes for the usage of non-diegetic and diegetic Indian music
- Constant reference to time through imagery, the clock, and dialogue 'I fell in love with her 57 hours later', 'love you million years' The reference to the expiry date on the pineapple tin shows us that nothing lasts forever
- Everyone knows everybody's business, the opening of the Policeman's letter emphasises that the people of Hong Kong are all confined in a tight space
Friday, 11 April 2014
Reflective Analysis
Aims and Context:
Short Documentary/Urban Story film
Targeting 16+ middle class males and females, knowledgeable about urban story conventions
2 - 4 minutes long
Key stylistic elements - Montage, urban story themes e.g representing the minority, strong soundtrack, singling characters out with framing
Niche, reality, new wave, key theme of loneliness
Based on La Haine
The film sequence that me and my partner have produced is a short Urban Story with experimental stylistic features called "Downpour", which has taken influence from films such as Mathieu Kassovitz' La Haine. Originally, our intentions were to produce an Urban Story which stuck to traditional conventions, however after studying Experimental Cinema, I decided the best outcome would be to add elements of experimental cinematography, making more of a high brow film which would attract a more niche, active audience. To focus on my philosophical reasoning in more depth, the message I intended to get across to my audience is the consequences of alcohol, and how they effect yourself and others around you.
Short Documentary/Urban Story film
Targeting 16+ middle class males and females, knowledgeable about urban story conventions
2 - 4 minutes long
Key stylistic elements - Montage, urban story themes e.g representing the minority, strong soundtrack, singling characters out with framing
Niche, reality, new wave, key theme of loneliness
Based on La Haine
The film sequence that me and my partner have produced is a short Urban Story with experimental stylistic features called "Downpour", which has taken influence from films such as Mathieu Kassovitz' La Haine. Originally, our intentions were to produce an Urban Story which stuck to traditional conventions, however after studying Experimental Cinema, I decided the best outcome would be to add elements of experimental cinematography, making more of a high brow film which would attract a more niche, active audience. To focus on my philosophical reasoning in more depth, the message I intended to get across to my audience is the consequences of alcohol, and how they effect yourself and others around you.
My original primary influence was 'La Haine', in terms of the camera shots used. My film is very slow paced as there are numerous long shots used of the main character walking, adding to the effect of realism. 30 seconds in, we used the well known opening shot in La Haine, where the camera zooms in on Saids face and as he opens his eyes we hear the diegetic sound around him, this is used in our film and worked very effectively, to show the character is trying to shut out the world around him. During the close up, the experimental elements start to come in, with very quick, short, black and white flashbacks, with bursts of white noise behind them. My reasoning for this was to make my film non-linear, enabling my film to attract a much wider audience as it is a very mainstream convention. The clips consisted of things such as a close up of a bottle of beer, showing our audience that our film will involve alcoholic references like within other Urban Stories such as Princesses.
The opening scene of our film shows the main character in a drunken state, a close up of him was used and he held the camera himself to enable us to get the shaking movement of the camera effectively, as editor of the film, I wanted to really get across the experimental elements and make it look as unusual as possible, so I used jump cuts within the 2 minute clip which created a stutter effect, then I added a delay video effect to the clips, this made the overall effect of much more unusual, and more surreal, relying more on imagery to tell the story and the characters background.
We then placed the camera on a tripod facing the back of me as I walked away. 3/4 seconds into the clip we used an overlay of a close up of the other character lighting a cigarette, this is the usage of both an Urban Story and Experimental Film, as the long walking clips and usage of framing to make the character alone is used often in La Haine and Princesses, and unusual effects such as overlays are often used in Experimental cinema. About 30 seconds on, an extreme long shot is used, the camera pans and follows the main character, it is used for around 5 seconds, this is a huge convention of the Urban Story genre, the usage of slow paced editing, the framing emphasising the loneliness of the character, often done in La Haine and Princesses, I personally think it is a key clip throughout the whole film. Another La Haine reference included into the sequence is a low angled long shot of once again the character walking, however the camera was placed behind a set of bars, this was done a couple of times in La Haine but also in films like City of God & Princesses, it shows the audience that the character is trapped, the character in our film is trapped via alcohol, bad things will continue to happen to him and others around him if he continues to drink, but he can't stop himself, thus the usage of the subtle trapped reference.
Whilst walking, the main characters physical performance was something I took into consideration, Maya Derens 'Meshes of the Afternoon' has her main subject walk throughout her house, but she doesn't over act, it's almost as if she is sleep walking, this emphasises a more subtle experimental performance, a huge reason to why the character in my film isn't focussing on facial expressions.
A key shot used in the film is a fixed mid profile shot of the character walking passed and behind him is a wall covered in graffiti, the graffiti connotes the characters background and the kind of place he grew up, influencing his lifestyle choices, such as drinking.
The ending of the film is most significant, but also goes against the common conventions of an Urban Story, it's what many would consider a happy ending, a typical ending of an Urban Story would show the constant cycle of violence and the problems shown within the film, like the ending of La Haine shows Hubert being shot, there is no solution, just the starting of violence once again, the ending of my film shows the character give up his drinking problem, the audience learns he has gave up, and these problems will no longer occur, the opposite to a typical Urban Story.
I do have a few criticisms of the film and things we should've included and things we shouldn't have. First off, I was a little bit annoyed with myself that we didn't film it all on one day, as certain shots that are filmed outside are sunny, and others are dull, which in my opinion makes the overall outcome of the film seem slightly amateur, so if I were to do this again I would manage my time better. Another criticism I would have is we intended on using time frames, like Kassovitz did in La Haine, however, because of the lack of time management, we ended up rushing slightly towards the end and completely forgot to add them in, which in my opinion really would have boosted the quality of the film and made it a lot more obvious which genre it falls under and what my influences were.
The opening scene of our film shows the main character in a drunken state, a close up of him was used and he held the camera himself to enable us to get the shaking movement of the camera effectively, as editor of the film, I wanted to really get across the experimental elements and make it look as unusual as possible, so I used jump cuts within the 2 minute clip which created a stutter effect, then I added a delay video effect to the clips, this made the overall effect of much more unusual, and more surreal, relying more on imagery to tell the story and the characters background.
We then placed the camera on a tripod facing the back of me as I walked away. 3/4 seconds into the clip we used an overlay of a close up of the other character lighting a cigarette, this is the usage of both an Urban Story and Experimental Film, as the long walking clips and usage of framing to make the character alone is used often in La Haine and Princesses, and unusual effects such as overlays are often used in Experimental cinema. About 30 seconds on, an extreme long shot is used, the camera pans and follows the main character, it is used for around 5 seconds, this is a huge convention of the Urban Story genre, the usage of slow paced editing, the framing emphasising the loneliness of the character, often done in La Haine and Princesses, I personally think it is a key clip throughout the whole film. Another La Haine reference included into the sequence is a low angled long shot of once again the character walking, however the camera was placed behind a set of bars, this was done a couple of times in La Haine but also in films like City of God & Princesses, it shows the audience that the character is trapped, the character in our film is trapped via alcohol, bad things will continue to happen to him and others around him if he continues to drink, but he can't stop himself, thus the usage of the subtle trapped reference.
Whilst walking, the main characters physical performance was something I took into consideration, Maya Derens 'Meshes of the Afternoon' has her main subject walk throughout her house, but she doesn't over act, it's almost as if she is sleep walking, this emphasises a more subtle experimental performance, a huge reason to why the character in my film isn't focussing on facial expressions.
A key shot used in the film is a fixed mid profile shot of the character walking passed and behind him is a wall covered in graffiti, the graffiti connotes the characters background and the kind of place he grew up, influencing his lifestyle choices, such as drinking.
The ending of the film is most significant, but also goes against the common conventions of an Urban Story, it's what many would consider a happy ending, a typical ending of an Urban Story would show the constant cycle of violence and the problems shown within the film, like the ending of La Haine shows Hubert being shot, there is no solution, just the starting of violence once again, the ending of my film shows the character give up his drinking problem, the audience learns he has gave up, and these problems will no longer occur, the opposite to a typical Urban Story.
I do have a few criticisms of the film and things we should've included and things we shouldn't have. First off, I was a little bit annoyed with myself that we didn't film it all on one day, as certain shots that are filmed outside are sunny, and others are dull, which in my opinion makes the overall outcome of the film seem slightly amateur, so if I were to do this again I would manage my time better. Another criticism I would have is we intended on using time frames, like Kassovitz did in La Haine, however, because of the lack of time management, we ended up rushing slightly towards the end and completely forgot to add them in, which in my opinion really would have boosted the quality of the film and made it a lot more obvious which genre it falls under and what my influences were.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Aims and Context
Short Documentary/Urban Story film
Targeting 16+ middle class males and females, knowledgeable about urban story conventions
2 - 4 minutes long
Key stylistic elements - Montage, urban story themes e.g representing the minority, strong soundtrack, singling characters out with framing
Niche, reality, new wave, key theme of loneliness
Based on La Haine
Targeting 16+ middle class males and females, knowledgeable about urban story conventions
2 - 4 minutes long
Key stylistic elements - Montage, urban story themes e.g representing the minority, strong soundtrack, singling characters out with framing
Niche, reality, new wave, key theme of loneliness
Based on La Haine
Wednesday, 5 February 2014
Experimental Films
Un Chien Andalou:-
Director - Luis Bunuel.
Year Made - 1929
Techniques - Abstract, based purely on imagery
Themes - Surrealism
Response - Confused, drawn in, disturbed by opening scene, wanted to look away but couldn't
Meshes Of The Afternoon:-
Director - Maya Deren
Year Made - 1943
Techniques - Abstract, though it appears to have a slight narrative, we still get that dream like effect
Themes - Surrealism
Response - On edge, confused and shocked by closing scene
Darkness, Light, Darkness:-
Director - Jan Švankmajer
Year Made - 1990
Techniques - Stop motion animation
Themes -
Response - Really interested, funny, disturbed by human organs, couldn't look away
Director - Luis Bunuel.
Year Made - 1929
Techniques - Abstract, based purely on imagery
Themes - Surrealism
Response - Confused, drawn in, disturbed by opening scene, wanted to look away but couldn't
Meshes Of The Afternoon:-
Director - Maya Deren
Year Made - 1943
Techniques - Abstract, though it appears to have a slight narrative, we still get that dream like effect
Themes - Surrealism
Response - On edge, confused and shocked by closing scene
Darkness, Light, Darkness:-
Director - Jan Švankmajer
Year Made - 1990
Techniques - Stop motion animation
Themes -
Response - Really interested, funny, disturbed by human organs, couldn't look away
Discuss some of the ways in which the film or video work you have started for this topic requires a different kind of spectatorship from that with spectators bring to their mainstream film-going
Experimental film takes a different kind of spectatorship than mainstream films, due to the fact that mainstream films are made easier to understand, experimental films challenge typical conventions and themes and often have no narrative, but are purely based on imagery.
Un Chien Andalou is an infamous surrealist film made in 1929 by Luis Bunuel. Throughout the film there is an artistic concept, surrealism, the film is shown almost as a dream, it was based on dreams Bunuel and Salvador Dali, one consisted of someone's eye ball being cut open, which is the opening scene. We are shown a close up of the womens eye, then a cut to the moon with a cloud going straight through out, representing the cutting of the eye, which the next shot shows. As the eye is cut, a very strange texture is shown, even in this day and age, I could barely look at the screen, so I imagine when it first came out in the late 1920's, it got a wide range of responses, mostly horrified. Most people are used to films with a clear narrative, like I mentioned before, experimental films challenge typical conventions, so personally I didn't think there was a narrative, I did at first, but watching it again made me realise that this is an abstract film, based purely on strange imagery, I realised this during the scene in which one of the characters is chasing a women in her house but then is all of a sudden being anchored down by a piano with a dead deer on it, this in my opinion has no meaning, it was purely abstract and Bunuel was looking for a reaction from his audience and to challenge them. Another example of abstract imagery is the close up shown of a males hand with ants coming out of it, this was a dream of Salvador Dali's that he mentioned, so Bunuel thought it would be perfect to include in his surreal experimental film, my personal response to this was very confused and also slightly disturbed, to watch I really had to take on a different kind of spectatorship than I would when watching mainstream films. Bunuel actually said himself in an interview 'refuse any image with meaning or culture.
Another experimental that requires a different kind of spectatorship to mainstream films is Meshes Of The Afternoon, made in 1943 by Maya Deren. This film is slightly different to Un Chien Andalou, as in my opinion this film seems to have a narrative, but still not one that I was able to pick up. I think this because when first watching it I actually believed that this was a horror, I personally think it has many horror conventions, starting straight away when she unlocks her door and walks into her house a first person shot is used, slowly panning around her house with a very strange repetitive non-digetic sound, almost sounding like to fry pans are being banged together to make a very tinny drum beat, this all adds to the tension, which is why at first I believed this to be a horror. Strange imagery is then brought into the film, as a long shot through a strange tin tube shown, almost as if we're looking through a telescope, looking at a tall black cloaked figure, a mid shot is then shown of the figure turning around revealing what we thought would be his face, however, it is a mirror, this strange imagery made me realise straight away that this is an abstract film, and Deren is trying to challenge her audience. We then start to get even 'trippier' effects, we get a mid/long shot from the top of the stairs looking down at the female character walking up the stairs, the camera then starts to tilt from left to right, as this happens the character also falls left to right, giving the feel that the whole house is moving, this left me curious and quite intrigued, as I thought it was quite clever how they challenged typical mainstream clips like that. During another scene where the women goes up the stairs, a close up of her feet is shown, the clip has been slowed right down and it gives the effect that she is flying, it's very dream like, which genuinely started to make me feel quite sleepy, like I was dreaming, a perfect example of abstract imagery and surrealism.
The film Darkness, Light, Darkness requires a different kind of spectatorship
Un Chien Andalou is an infamous surrealist film made in 1929 by Luis Bunuel. Throughout the film there is an artistic concept, surrealism, the film is shown almost as a dream, it was based on dreams Bunuel and Salvador Dali, one consisted of someone's eye ball being cut open, which is the opening scene. We are shown a close up of the womens eye, then a cut to the moon with a cloud going straight through out, representing the cutting of the eye, which the next shot shows. As the eye is cut, a very strange texture is shown, even in this day and age, I could barely look at the screen, so I imagine when it first came out in the late 1920's, it got a wide range of responses, mostly horrified. Most people are used to films with a clear narrative, like I mentioned before, experimental films challenge typical conventions, so personally I didn't think there was a narrative, I did at first, but watching it again made me realise that this is an abstract film, based purely on strange imagery, I realised this during the scene in which one of the characters is chasing a women in her house but then is all of a sudden being anchored down by a piano with a dead deer on it, this in my opinion has no meaning, it was purely abstract and Bunuel was looking for a reaction from his audience and to challenge them. Another example of abstract imagery is the close up shown of a males hand with ants coming out of it, this was a dream of Salvador Dali's that he mentioned, so Bunuel thought it would be perfect to include in his surreal experimental film, my personal response to this was very confused and also slightly disturbed, to watch I really had to take on a different kind of spectatorship than I would when watching mainstream films. Bunuel actually said himself in an interview 'refuse any image with meaning or culture.
Another experimental that requires a different kind of spectatorship to mainstream films is Meshes Of The Afternoon, made in 1943 by Maya Deren. This film is slightly different to Un Chien Andalou, as in my opinion this film seems to have a narrative, but still not one that I was able to pick up. I think this because when first watching it I actually believed that this was a horror, I personally think it has many horror conventions, starting straight away when she unlocks her door and walks into her house a first person shot is used, slowly panning around her house with a very strange repetitive non-digetic sound, almost sounding like to fry pans are being banged together to make a very tinny drum beat, this all adds to the tension, which is why at first I believed this to be a horror. Strange imagery is then brought into the film, as a long shot through a strange tin tube shown, almost as if we're looking through a telescope, looking at a tall black cloaked figure, a mid shot is then shown of the figure turning around revealing what we thought would be his face, however, it is a mirror, this strange imagery made me realise straight away that this is an abstract film, and Deren is trying to challenge her audience. We then start to get even 'trippier' effects, we get a mid/long shot from the top of the stairs looking down at the female character walking up the stairs, the camera then starts to tilt from left to right, as this happens the character also falls left to right, giving the feel that the whole house is moving, this left me curious and quite intrigued, as I thought it was quite clever how they challenged typical mainstream clips like that. During another scene where the women goes up the stairs, a close up of her feet is shown, the clip has been slowed right down and it gives the effect that she is flying, it's very dream like, which genuinely started to make me feel quite sleepy, like I was dreaming, a perfect example of abstract imagery and surrealism.
The film Darkness, Light, Darkness requires a different kind of spectatorship
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
Experimental Exam Response
'Experimental Film requires a different kind of
spectatorship.' Has this been your experience?
Experimental films are full of strange mixtures of images, situations, words and expressions that may not tell a cohesive story but, in the end, don't have to in order to achieve an emotional goal. This type of film therefore requires the spectator to shift their conventional cinematic expectations to accommodate more radical narrative techniques, themes and meaning construction.
Un Chien Andalou, the infamous 1929 surrealist short film from Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, attests to this. An artistic concept is shown throughout the film, and that is surrealism. The film is shown, almost as a dream, it is an attempt to portray or interpret the workings of the subconscious mind as manifested in dreams. The opening scene shows a man slicing open a womans eyeball, even now watching it I found it shocking, and back in the time it was made, I can imagine the response they would've got would from the audience is that it was horrendous. Personally, I think this is an abstract film, as personally I think there was a narrative, but one that I couldn't follow it, the film was organised through theme and variation. There were constant artistic based themes and scenes shown in the film, for example there was occasionally a close up of a mans palm, and coming out of it were ants, this once again refers back to realism, and it takes a different kind of spectatorship to really be able to watch the film.
Chris Marker became known internationally for the short film La Jetée (1962). It tells of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel by using a series of filmed photographs developed as a photomontage of varying pace, with limited narration and sound effects. I found that this film really challenged the mainstream, with obviously it's usage of still images rather than film. I found that to be able to watch this film, your favourite genre of film cannot be action, as this is a very slow film, in which you have to able to just sit, watch, listen & really take in what is being said and portrayed. Personally, I found the supposive linear narrative confusing, as the film was about time travel, and the end was kind of the beginning, which I admit grabbed my attention, however, the rest of the film nearly put me to sleep, as it was far too slow for my liking, the music was very dull, the non-diegtic voice over was monotones, and really didn't keep my attention on the film and I started to drift off.
Un Chien Andalou, the infamous 1929 surrealist short film from Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, attests to this. An artistic concept is shown throughout the film, and that is surrealism. The film is shown, almost as a dream, it is an attempt to portray or interpret the workings of the subconscious mind as manifested in dreams. The opening scene shows a man slicing open a womans eyeball, even now watching it I found it shocking, and back in the time it was made, I can imagine the response they would've got would from the audience is that it was horrendous. Personally, I think this is an abstract film, as personally I think there was a narrative, but one that I couldn't follow it, the film was organised through theme and variation. There were constant artistic based themes and scenes shown in the film, for example there was occasionally a close up of a mans palm, and coming out of it were ants, this once again refers back to realism, and it takes a different kind of spectatorship to really be able to watch the film.
Chris Marker became known internationally for the short film La Jetée (1962). It tells of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel by using a series of filmed photographs developed as a photomontage of varying pace, with limited narration and sound effects. I found that this film really challenged the mainstream, with obviously it's usage of still images rather than film. I found that to be able to watch this film, your favourite genre of film cannot be action, as this is a very slow film, in which you have to able to just sit, watch, listen & really take in what is being said and portrayed. Personally, I found the supposive linear narrative confusing, as the film was about time travel, and the end was kind of the beginning, which I admit grabbed my attention, however, the rest of the film nearly put me to sleep, as it was far too slow for my liking, the music was very dull, the non-diegtic voice over was monotones, and really didn't keep my attention on the film and I started to drift off.
Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) is a work that maintains all of the mystery, tranquility, unpredictability, and personal attachment that is ever present within the world of dreams. Personally, I found this one to also be very slow and boring, however, when I first started watching, I felt it had typical horror conventions, complete silence, walking into an empty house with a point of view shot, zooming in on certain objects that have been moved, diegetic sounds building suspension, and at first it had me hooked, but it carried on for too long and I eventually lost interest. I liked some of the cinematography used, like the slow motion upstairs, that was different from the other two films I had watched, and momentarily had me interested again. I also didn't think this film was as artistic or different as the others, the music dominant like the others and was different, but other than that it was actually quite a typical horror scene, in my opinion.
Thursday, 14 November 2013
Presentation Script
Projector - "Quentin Tarantino uses specific music in his films, can this be seen as his key signature and does this make him an auteur?"
Speaker - Quentin Tarantino is a 50 year old American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is probably one of the most iconic Film Directors of all time, as his films all consist of the same thing, very dominant, popular music, and I believe this, which I will go into more detail about later, makes him an auteur. "Auteur Theory suggests that a director can use the commercial apparatus of film-making in the same way that a writer uses a pen or a painter uses paint and a paintbrush. It is a medium for the personal artistic expression of the director" (Item 11)." Quentin Tarantino said "he would listen to music in his bedroom and create scenes that correlated to the music playing" (Item 9). All over the world Tarantino's films are recognised instantly and never ignored, "Quentin Tarantino is not what anyone would call a music ignoramus" (Item 14) Tarantino tries his very best to get the perfect soundtrack for his films, and in all of his films so far, he has succeeded. "If you put the right piece of music, with the right scene, the right sequence, then I actually truly think it's maybe the most cinematic thing you can do" (Item 11) Tarantino explained in an interview on the Culture Show.
Projector - Image of Reservoir Dogs poster. (Item 15)
Speaker - In 1992, Quentin Tarantino released the film 'Reservoir Dogs' (Item 3). This was probably seen as his first iconic film, the film that started Quentin Tarantinos career. "The content of the soundtrack is very much a case of quality over quantity. For the most part the songs are used in a manner that compliments the scenes they accompany and in particular there are two scenes that feature here that have become so iconic that it's impossible to hear the song and not think of the movie. These are, of course, Little Green Bag by The George Baker Selection and Stuck In The Middle by Steelers Wheel." (Item 6).
Projector - Ear cutting scene, Reservoir Dogs. (Item 3)
Speaker - This scene in Reservoir Dogs has become one of the most iconic scenes in the film industry. In this scene, Mr White checks on Mr Orange, who at this point is tied to a chair, gagged & very bloody, the camera zooms in onto his face to show how scared he is, normally, at this point, the music would fit the atmosphere of the scene, and become very tense, not in this scene, and this may be why it is so unnerving. "The generic yet perfectly pleasant pop tune bobs along, unaware of the cop’s plight. Tarantino’s camera looks away as the cop screams yet the music blandly continues." (Item 7). A lot of people could see that the fact that a pleasant pop tune came on whilst something as tense as this was going on was quite ironic, "Tarantino was free to draw upon a variety of different songs and manipulate their values as ironic counterpoints to on-screen action" (Item 7). I think that the fact Tarantino did this is what has made this scene so iconic, because whenever I hear this song on the radio, I can't help but picture this scene, and I'm sure that goes the same for anyone who has seen this film.
Projector - The opening scene, Reservoir Dogs (Item 3)
Speaker - "It's hard to say what difference it would have made had Tarantino not chosen the song Little Green Bag to effectively introduce himself to the world, perhaps it would have made no difference at all, but that is the song he chose" (Item 7). The opening scene in Reservoir Dogs is seen as Tarnantino's other iconic scene in the film. There really is no true reason as to why it's so iconic, maybe it's because the music is so different to the atmosphere and style of film, that the song is almost personal to Tarantino, either way, just like the ear cutting scene, when someone listens to the song, this scene immediately pops into their head.
Projector - Image of Pulp Fiction poster (Item 18)
Speaker - 2 years later, Quentin Tarantino did it again, playing around with film conventions and using pop culture references, he was able to make an iconic, post-modernist film, Pulp Fiction. "Tarantino's second feature as writer/director was produced on a modest budget and became an international smash that ended up being one of the biggest films of 1994 and one of the most influential of the decade" (Item 6).
Projector - The Dance Scene between Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega (Item 1)
Speaker - There are many scenes in Pulp Fiction which can be seen as iconic, so I will start off with an obvious one, the scene between Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega dancing at Jack Rabbit Slims restaurant. In this scene Mia and Vincent do the 'twist' to the song 'You Can Never Tell' by Chuck Berry, the reason this is such an iconic scene is because of the chemistry between the two characters, the usage of performance as they both stare at eachother and mimic, the usage of the camera shots, putting them both in the same shot the majority of the time, and from this, whenever someone is to listen to this song, they picture this scene and chemistry the two characters shared. "The scene is a homage to a similarly spontaneous dance scene in Godard’s A Bande Apart (after which Tarantino named is production company) and the dancing is deliberately amateur, yet the scene is one of the most iconic dance scenes in movie history even though it doesn’t even need to be there, which is perhaps what makes it so good" (Item 7). I think what also makes this scene so iconic is the fact one of the characters was played by John Travolta, 16 years before was playing the character
Danny Zuko in Grease, and the fact he is once again dancing, breaking out some of his old moves, makes it that more iconic.
Projector - The scene where we first meet Mia (Item 1)
Speaker - Another iconic scene within Pulp Fiction has got to be the scene where we are first introduced to Mia Wallace, played by Uma Thurman, Tarantino decides that the soundtrack that should be used to support this scene, is the song 'Son of a Preacher Man' by Dusty Springfield. "All that we know of her to this point is there’s a rumour doing the rounds that one of her husband Marsellus’ men got thrown from a 4th storey window for giving her a foot massage". (Item 7) At this point of the film, we know about as much as Vincent does, and Mia is a mystery, Tarantino keeps Mia as a mystery and as Vincent enters the house, Son of a Preacher Man begins to play quietly. Tarantino creates the scene almost like a dream as he continues to keep her identity hidden whilst the song plays, we only see the back of her head as she talks into the telecom and then a close up of her lips as she speaks, she even sounds mysterious, a mid shot of Vincent is used to show he is startled.
"As drink and drugs are consumed the music gets louder. The camera follows Mia’s bare feet into the room where Vincent is waiting and the music stops. Tarantino is playing with the audience just like Mia is playing with Vincent and just like Vincent, we don’t know what just happened but we’re intrigued." (Item 7).
Projector - The opening title sequence of Pulp Fiction (Item 1)
Speaker - After Tarantino's massively first successful film, people were dying to see what he would do next, and his opening title sequence was his way of saying 'sit back, and enjoy my next greatest film'. "Although the majority of Miserlou and Jungle Boogie are played over the opening credits of Pulp Fiction, the pieces of music, particularly the introduction of Miserlou, have become steeped in modern culture because of this moment, the moment Tarantino introduced the world to his second film, Pulp Fiction." (Item 7) Halfway through the title sequence, there is a change of song to 'Jungle Boogie' by Kool & The Gang, we have suddenly gone from instrumental rock to 70's funk, Tarantino did this just to make sure he was getting his audiences attention. These tracks were used at such a key time, that they have become iconic, and now whenever someone thinks of those tracks, they link it to Pulp Fiction. "I was going for this rock and roll, spaghetti western, blaxploitation vibe, it screamed we're an epic" (Item 12) said Tarantino in an interview on the Culture Show.
Projector - Kill Bill: Vol 1 Poster (Item 19)
Speaker - Then in 2003, Tarantino released the first part to his epic revenge film, Kill Bill. "The use of pop music is still evident, but the soundtrack was mostly organised and produced by the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA. RZA is a kung fu movie obsessive, something that's evident throughout his back catalogue, so he was the perfect choice to provide the music here." (Item 6) After Tarantino's three very successful films, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction & Jackie Brown, expectations were extremely high, and everyone was dying to see what Tarantino could come up with next, and like always their are certain sequences where the music dominates.
Projector - Intro to Kill Bill: Vol 1 (Item 1)
Speaker - Arguably, the most iconic track in this film is 'Bang Bang' because of the moments it was played in the film. "Lyrically, it's hard to imagine a better song to fit the tone of the film than this." (Item 6), because of the tension and mystery from the opening scene, The Bride covered in blood, panting uncontrollably with just a hand shown from the other character looking down at her, speaking to her, then the sudden gun shot, which just released all that tension, and then the lyrics 'bang bang, he shot me down, bang bang' it just fits perfectly, and because of how well it fits, it makes is so iconic.
Projector - The hospital scene in Kill Bill: Vol 1 (Item 1)
Speaker - "In Kill Bill the most famous musical choice is the theme from the movie Twisted Nerve, a film about a mentally psychotic teenager who becomes engrained with gaining the attention and affection of a young lady and in the process ends up murdering her mother and his step-father." (Item 10). This song is whistled by Ellie Driver as she dresses up as a nurse and walks down the hall to poison The Bride whilst she is in a coma on the hospital bed. This once again shows an example of a pop cultural reference by Tarantino, but I can't really answer why it's so iconic, maybe it's the build up of tension, the way it's edited with the clip of The Bride sat asleep and the clip of Ellie getting closer and closer shown at the same time next to one another, it just seems to fit perfectly.
Projector - All 3 movie posters and a picture of Tarantino himself
Speaker - In conclusion, Quentin Tarantino is an auteur, as the music he uses within his films allow the audience to really connect with the film and be drawn in, and because of how well the scene and music are constructed, the scene never leaves their mind, because of this, anyone who watched a Tarantino film would know it was a Tarantino film because of the highly dominant and specifically selected soundtrack.
Speaker - Quentin Tarantino is a 50 year old American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is probably one of the most iconic Film Directors of all time, as his films all consist of the same thing, very dominant, popular music, and I believe this, which I will go into more detail about later, makes him an auteur. "Auteur Theory suggests that a director can use the commercial apparatus of film-making in the same way that a writer uses a pen or a painter uses paint and a paintbrush. It is a medium for the personal artistic expression of the director" (Item 11)." Quentin Tarantino said "he would listen to music in his bedroom and create scenes that correlated to the music playing" (Item 9). All over the world Tarantino's films are recognised instantly and never ignored, "Quentin Tarantino is not what anyone would call a music ignoramus" (Item 14) Tarantino tries his very best to get the perfect soundtrack for his films, and in all of his films so far, he has succeeded. "If you put the right piece of music, with the right scene, the right sequence, then I actually truly think it's maybe the most cinematic thing you can do" (Item 11) Tarantino explained in an interview on the Culture Show.
Projector - Image of Reservoir Dogs poster. (Item 15)
Speaker - In 1992, Quentin Tarantino released the film 'Reservoir Dogs' (Item 3). This was probably seen as his first iconic film, the film that started Quentin Tarantinos career. "The content of the soundtrack is very much a case of quality over quantity. For the most part the songs are used in a manner that compliments the scenes they accompany and in particular there are two scenes that feature here that have become so iconic that it's impossible to hear the song and not think of the movie. These are, of course, Little Green Bag by The George Baker Selection and Stuck In The Middle by Steelers Wheel." (Item 6).
Projector - Ear cutting scene, Reservoir Dogs. (Item 3)
Speaker - This scene in Reservoir Dogs has become one of the most iconic scenes in the film industry. In this scene, Mr White checks on Mr Orange, who at this point is tied to a chair, gagged & very bloody, the camera zooms in onto his face to show how scared he is, normally, at this point, the music would fit the atmosphere of the scene, and become very tense, not in this scene, and this may be why it is so unnerving. "The generic yet perfectly pleasant pop tune bobs along, unaware of the cop’s plight. Tarantino’s camera looks away as the cop screams yet the music blandly continues." (Item 7). A lot of people could see that the fact that a pleasant pop tune came on whilst something as tense as this was going on was quite ironic, "Tarantino was free to draw upon a variety of different songs and manipulate their values as ironic counterpoints to on-screen action" (Item 7). I think that the fact Tarantino did this is what has made this scene so iconic, because whenever I hear this song on the radio, I can't help but picture this scene, and I'm sure that goes the same for anyone who has seen this film.
Projector - The opening scene, Reservoir Dogs (Item 3)
Speaker - "It's hard to say what difference it would have made had Tarantino not chosen the song Little Green Bag to effectively introduce himself to the world, perhaps it would have made no difference at all, but that is the song he chose" (Item 7). The opening scene in Reservoir Dogs is seen as Tarnantino's other iconic scene in the film. There really is no true reason as to why it's so iconic, maybe it's because the music is so different to the atmosphere and style of film, that the song is almost personal to Tarantino, either way, just like the ear cutting scene, when someone listens to the song, this scene immediately pops into their head.
Projector - Image of Pulp Fiction poster (Item 18)
Speaker - 2 years later, Quentin Tarantino did it again, playing around with film conventions and using pop culture references, he was able to make an iconic, post-modernist film, Pulp Fiction. "Tarantino's second feature as writer/director was produced on a modest budget and became an international smash that ended up being one of the biggest films of 1994 and one of the most influential of the decade" (Item 6).
Projector - The Dance Scene between Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega (Item 1)
Speaker - There are many scenes in Pulp Fiction which can be seen as iconic, so I will start off with an obvious one, the scene between Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega dancing at Jack Rabbit Slims restaurant. In this scene Mia and Vincent do the 'twist' to the song 'You Can Never Tell' by Chuck Berry, the reason this is such an iconic scene is because of the chemistry between the two characters, the usage of performance as they both stare at eachother and mimic, the usage of the camera shots, putting them both in the same shot the majority of the time, and from this, whenever someone is to listen to this song, they picture this scene and chemistry the two characters shared. "The scene is a homage to a similarly spontaneous dance scene in Godard’s A Bande Apart (after which Tarantino named is production company) and the dancing is deliberately amateur, yet the scene is one of the most iconic dance scenes in movie history even though it doesn’t even need to be there, which is perhaps what makes it so good" (Item 7). I think what also makes this scene so iconic is the fact one of the characters was played by John Travolta, 16 years before was playing the character
Danny Zuko in Grease, and the fact he is once again dancing, breaking out some of his old moves, makes it that more iconic.
Projector - The scene where we first meet Mia (Item 1)
Speaker - Another iconic scene within Pulp Fiction has got to be the scene where we are first introduced to Mia Wallace, played by Uma Thurman, Tarantino decides that the soundtrack that should be used to support this scene, is the song 'Son of a Preacher Man' by Dusty Springfield. "All that we know of her to this point is there’s a rumour doing the rounds that one of her husband Marsellus’ men got thrown from a 4th storey window for giving her a foot massage". (Item 7) At this point of the film, we know about as much as Vincent does, and Mia is a mystery, Tarantino keeps Mia as a mystery and as Vincent enters the house, Son of a Preacher Man begins to play quietly. Tarantino creates the scene almost like a dream as he continues to keep her identity hidden whilst the song plays, we only see the back of her head as she talks into the telecom and then a close up of her lips as she speaks, she even sounds mysterious, a mid shot of Vincent is used to show he is startled.
"As drink and drugs are consumed the music gets louder. The camera follows Mia’s bare feet into the room where Vincent is waiting and the music stops. Tarantino is playing with the audience just like Mia is playing with Vincent and just like Vincent, we don’t know what just happened but we’re intrigued." (Item 7).
Projector - The opening title sequence of Pulp Fiction (Item 1)
Speaker - After Tarantino's massively first successful film, people were dying to see what he would do next, and his opening title sequence was his way of saying 'sit back, and enjoy my next greatest film'. "Although the majority of Miserlou and Jungle Boogie are played over the opening credits of Pulp Fiction, the pieces of music, particularly the introduction of Miserlou, have become steeped in modern culture because of this moment, the moment Tarantino introduced the world to his second film, Pulp Fiction." (Item 7) Halfway through the title sequence, there is a change of song to 'Jungle Boogie' by Kool & The Gang, we have suddenly gone from instrumental rock to 70's funk, Tarantino did this just to make sure he was getting his audiences attention. These tracks were used at such a key time, that they have become iconic, and now whenever someone thinks of those tracks, they link it to Pulp Fiction. "I was going for this rock and roll, spaghetti western, blaxploitation vibe, it screamed we're an epic" (Item 12) said Tarantino in an interview on the Culture Show.
Projector - Kill Bill: Vol 1 Poster (Item 19)
Speaker - Then in 2003, Tarantino released the first part to his epic revenge film, Kill Bill. "The use of pop music is still evident, but the soundtrack was mostly organised and produced by the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA. RZA is a kung fu movie obsessive, something that's evident throughout his back catalogue, so he was the perfect choice to provide the music here." (Item 6) After Tarantino's three very successful films, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction & Jackie Brown, expectations were extremely high, and everyone was dying to see what Tarantino could come up with next, and like always their are certain sequences where the music dominates.
Projector - Intro to Kill Bill: Vol 1 (Item 1)
Speaker - Arguably, the most iconic track in this film is 'Bang Bang' because of the moments it was played in the film. "Lyrically, it's hard to imagine a better song to fit the tone of the film than this." (Item 6), because of the tension and mystery from the opening scene, The Bride covered in blood, panting uncontrollably with just a hand shown from the other character looking down at her, speaking to her, then the sudden gun shot, which just released all that tension, and then the lyrics 'bang bang, he shot me down, bang bang' it just fits perfectly, and because of how well it fits, it makes is so iconic.
Projector - The hospital scene in Kill Bill: Vol 1 (Item 1)
Speaker - "In Kill Bill the most famous musical choice is the theme from the movie Twisted Nerve, a film about a mentally psychotic teenager who becomes engrained with gaining the attention and affection of a young lady and in the process ends up murdering her mother and his step-father." (Item 10). This song is whistled by Ellie Driver as she dresses up as a nurse and walks down the hall to poison The Bride whilst she is in a coma on the hospital bed. This once again shows an example of a pop cultural reference by Tarantino, but I can't really answer why it's so iconic, maybe it's the build up of tension, the way it's edited with the clip of The Bride sat asleep and the clip of Ellie getting closer and closer shown at the same time next to one another, it just seems to fit perfectly.
Projector - All 3 movie posters and a picture of Tarantino himself
Speaker - In conclusion, Quentin Tarantino is an auteur, as the music he uses within his films allow the audience to really connect with the film and be drawn in, and because of how well the scene and music are constructed, the scene never leaves their mind, because of this, anyone who watched a Tarantino film would know it was a Tarantino film because of the highly dominant and specifically selected soundtrack.
Sunday, 13 October 2013
Discuss some of the techniques used in your chosen films to provoke audiences into taking a particular point of view towards characters and key events
In the film 'City of God' Fernano Meirelles uses many cinematic techniques to make the audience take on a certain point of view towards certain characters and key events.
Starting straight away with the opening scene, the first thing you see is a knife, this straight gives the audience an idea of the area this film is set. The editing in the opening scene is very fast paced, swapping from clip to clip of knives, chickens, people, stoves, etc, this gives the audience the ideology that this place is very fast paced.
Lil' Dice/Lil' Z is often shown as very powerful and dominant, for example when Lil' Dice goes into the building with a gun in which his brother and friends had robbed and trashed, and killed them all, his performance as a character shows how much of a conscience he lacks, with the fact he just laughs psychotically, however, with the use of cinematic techniques, we see that with this psychotic side he is, he is very powerful, this is emphasised with the usage of often low camera angles, this angle also emphasises the gun in his hand.
Whenever a character has a gun, in terms of framing and camera angles, the gun is very much emphasised, like when Steak N' Fries is told to shoot the small child, we switch to a point of view shot with the gun in the centre of the frame, this is done purposely to show that whoever has the gun in the situation or event, has the power, so at this point Lil' Ze and his gang all have the power, because they have the gun, this is once again emphasised with the usage of low angle shots.
Starting straight away with the opening scene, the first thing you see is a knife, this straight gives the audience an idea of the area this film is set. The editing in the opening scene is very fast paced, swapping from clip to clip of knives, chickens, people, stoves, etc, this gives the audience the ideology that this place is very fast paced.
Lil' Dice/Lil' Z is often shown as very powerful and dominant, for example when Lil' Dice goes into the building with a gun in which his brother and friends had robbed and trashed, and killed them all, his performance as a character shows how much of a conscience he lacks, with the fact he just laughs psychotically, however, with the use of cinematic techniques, we see that with this psychotic side he is, he is very powerful, this is emphasised with the usage of often low camera angles, this angle also emphasises the gun in his hand.
Whenever a character has a gun, in terms of framing and camera angles, the gun is very much emphasised, like when Steak N' Fries is told to shoot the small child, we switch to a point of view shot with the gun in the centre of the frame, this is done purposely to show that whoever has the gun in the situation or event, has the power, so at this point Lil' Ze and his gang all have the power, because they have the gun, this is once again emphasised with the usage of low angle shots.
Monday, 23 September 2013
How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques?
The film La Haine is set in the 1990's in France, the time when the youths and police force were rioting against one and other. Normally when we think of France we stereotype it, think of it as very peaceful loving place, but the representation of France in La Haine is very negative and involves lots of conflict, this is created by the film techniques but also by the performance of the actors.
Matthieu Kassovitz based the film around a small social group of young men from ethnic minorities. The first character we are introduced to is 'Said'. He is stood in the middle of the street with his eyes closed and the camera is slowly zooming into his face. When Said has his eyes closed there is no sound, but as he opens his eyes, you can hear the diegetic sounds around him, this almost suggest that the youths at this time are trying to shut out the world, or that they can't believe their eyes, this film technique makes an impact on the audience as they are already aware of some kind of conflict in the film. In this opening scene impact is created on the viewers straight away with the usage of conflict which is shown through film techniques. After the close up is shown of Said opening his eyes, the film then cuts to the back of Saids head, the camera slowly pans up and over the top of his head to reveal what Said is looking at.
Said is looking at the Police Station where many Police Men are standing (pigs). A point of view shot is specifically used because Said is standing on the other side of the road, so this is creating distance between him and the Pigs. This shows conflict, as even though the Pigs are usually seen as the heroic people in films, you know that in this film from the usage of the film techniques, that in this film they are the 'bad guys'. The camera then pans to Said at the back a Police Van writing graffiti on the van.
A close up of the graffiti of the van is shown for a reason, because at the top of the graffiti he has marked his name, and underneath says 'Fuck the Police' (but in french) This had an impact on me because it made me think of him as a very risky character, showing he's not afraid of the police and is quite rebellious, so it showed me as to what kind of character he was.
We are then introduced to another character who is friends with Said, Vinz. Straight away I was aware of the character Vinz was as a low angle shot is shown of him asleep, which to me made me think of him as a bit of a slob. As Said then enters the room a point of view shot is used and the camera zooms into his hand, which on it, is a ring that says Vinz. We are introduced to Vinz' character in a similar sort of way in which Said is introduced. Because of the fact Vinz was wearing a big ring, it made me stereotype him and look at him as a kind of thug who wears a lot of 'bling'.
The next clip backs up my theory as Vinz is standing in the mirror threatening his reflection, almost practising in case he needs to hurt or threaten someone, I think this behaviour has been influenced by the surroundings he is living, constant conflict and riots going on around him, which in a way, made me feel sorry for him.
A close up of the graffiti of the van is shown for a reason, because at the top of the graffiti he has marked his name, and underneath says 'Fuck the Police' (but in french) This had an impact on me because it made me think of him as a very risky character, showing he's not afraid of the police and is quite rebellious, so it showed me as to what kind of character he was.We are then introduced to another character who is friends with Said, Vinz. Straight away I was aware of the character Vinz was as a low angle shot is shown of him asleep, which to me made me think of him as a bit of a slob. As Said then enters the room a point of view shot is used and the camera zooms into his hand, which on it, is a ring that says Vinz. We are introduced to Vinz' character in a similar sort of way in which Said is introduced. Because of the fact Vinz was wearing a big ring, it made me stereotype him and look at him as a kind of thug who wears a lot of 'bling'.
Friday, 20 September 2013
Annotated Catalogue
Quentin Tarantino uses specific music in his films, can this be seen as his key signature and does this make him an auteur?
Films:
Item 1 - Pulp Fiction (1994)
Pulp Fiction is a film in which very dominant popular tracks are used in very tense and strange scenes. Tracks that fit the scenes perfectly and add to the effect, an example of this would be the track that is played over the scene when the character Mia Wallace mistakes the Heroin for Cocaine which causes her to nearly die, 'You'll Be A Woman soon'. Tarantino uses a wide range of genres of music in this film, making it very Post Modern and very personal to him. This is seen as his key signature, making this a very good film to refer back to when proving he is an auteur.
Item 2 - Kill Bill: Vol 1 (2003)
I am choosing Kill Bill: Vol 1 as one of my films because this film is very well known for having specific and dominant music in scenes and also varying in his choice of music. For example when 'Black Mamba' is searching for O-Ren Ishii, even though there is tension, there is still very dominant happy Chinese dance music in the background, giving it a very different feel to other films, making this a key signature in the film.
Item 3 - Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Reservoir Dogs is a perfect film to use to back up my question, as people have been saying for years now when people listen to the songs featured in this film, they have become so iconic, that they just can't help picture the scene in their mind. 'Stuck In The Middle' by Steelers Wheel was used to accompany the scene in which a police officer was tortured, and because of how graphic the scene was, now when listening to the song, one can not help picture the scene.
Books:
Item 4 - Quentessential Tarantino by Edwin Page (2006)
This book discusses all three of my chosen films, it mentions specific scenes in the films and why certain tracks of Tarantino's choice have been chosen at this certain point. It also tells me the names of these tracks and how they are significant, therefore it is a very useful source.
Item 5 - Tarantino A to ZED (1999)
This book will make a key piece of evidence to answer my question as there is a section purely specified on his music, it discusses how he decides on the right tracks before shooting, or even scripting, has begun.
Websites:
Item 6 - http://www.denofgeek.com/other/12893/music-in-the-movies-quentin-tarantino:
This website contains tonnes of information about Quentin Tarantino's choice of music. It contains all 3 films I am looking at and gives the names of the majority of tracks he uses in key scenes. It is therefore essential as I will be analyse my films in great detail.
Item 7- http://whatculture.com/film/10-greatest-uses-of-music-in-quentin-tarantino-films.php
Even though this website only contains information on two of my chosen films, it is still a fantastic website to use, as it includes names of tracks used in the films that are iconic and even include videos of key sequences in which these tracks are used.
Item 8 - http://bradtilles.hubpages.com/hub/Quentin-Tarantinos-Cinematic-Soundtrack
This website discusses all 3 of my chosen films in slight detail, focussing on specific music, looking at key scenes in each of my chosen films, it also includes videos of these scenes with analysis. It is therefore a good source as it makes it a lot easier to find tracks in certain scenes and say how they are his key signature.
Item 9 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Tarantino
Even though Wikipedia is full of information, there aren't really any specifics on his choice of music and why he uses the music he does, so the reason I am using this website is for a certain quote which is completely relevant, "He said he would listen to music in his bedroom and create scenes that correlated to the music playing" This quote is brilliant to back up my theory that he is an auteur.
Item 10 - http://voices.yahoo.com/a-style-apart-look-into-technique-quentin-5885460.html
This website discusses how Quentin Tarantino has a specific style to his films, and how he often refers to pop culture in his films with his use of music. The text then discusses films such as Pulp Fiction and makes reference to key scenes and key tracks used.
Item 11 - http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/siryan/screen/auteur%20theory.htm
This website explains the Auteur theory, this will enable me to back up my discussion and I can pick out key quotes to include into my script.
Interviews:-
Item 12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTF5XvwcYZI
This interview is perfect to use for my research project as Quentin Tarantino discuss all 3 of my chosen films and discusses why he uses certain music in key sequences, also, things Tarantino actually says can be used as quotes to back up my theory of him being an auteur.
Item 13 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZkHS1Fqc10&feature=player_embedded
Tarantino discusses how in Kill Bill he actually uses original music in the film rather than a soundtrack, and he then goes on to discuss how he is a soundtrack legend and has a huge soundtrack collection and his been/done for years, hearing the director say this himself can really help my statement that Quentin Tarantino is an auteur.
Magazines:-
Item 14 - http://www.empireonline.com/features/quentin-tarantino-playlist
This magazine is very vague, but however includes key quotations which back up that his choice of music in films makes him an auteur, with quotes such as 'Quentin Tarantino is not what anyone would call a music ignoramus'.
Item 15 - http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/quentin-tarantino-and-the-art-of-the-badass-soundtrack
Straight away from the title of this article you can see that Quentin Tarantino is an auteur. 'Quentin Tarantino and the Art of the Badass Soundtrack'. This article discusses that even if you don't like Tarantinos films, his soundtracks are always essential listening, this really helps me answer my question.
Item 16 - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/at-the-movies/a451459/quentin-tarantinos-music-moments-stuck-in-the-middle-david-bowie.html
This article once again discusses how Quentin Tarantinos films all have a similar style in choice of music. This article talks about all 3 of my chosen films and key tracks in key scenes, as well as this, also discusses how the tracks make the viewer feel. This is therefore a very good source as it makes it very easy to discuss scenes in his films and the songs used, I can also use quotes in this article to discuss how his music makes the audience feel.
Images:-
Item 17 - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7850Hg384jcRa4qW7EVrxN057SLTvWge6oXDxK4qEeL5rTW_YqmNKTuFCiF_gZ89ONjpxQZxS6F8tXoaugC13sLzvPwpNu9_DXVq8fgbbqwNRfsZftFuUVeAV-QSRiDPN_DnIbIz5z5Y/s1600/reservoir_poster.jpg
This poster is relevant for my Presentation Script as when discussing Reservoir dogs I can give the audience something to look at so they know exactly what I'm talking about.
Item 18 - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-xCDk9sHL5F9vlQc6Xmwrr7rNjWGr4Y1emgqwlOxUwO2IkfypRg1fnRDMNC22GWYCoXWnHUiSs5Be50O4ifS9be9GcODyqo0u4An0YIEF_Z9dQo3MEb1mf_JScr09JEEn5EUSDoKyOV0/s1600/pulpfiction1.jpg
This poster is used for the same reason as Reservoir Dogs, to give the audience an image as to what I am talking about.
Item 19 - http://www.movieposterdb.com/posters/08_11/2003/266697/l_266697_42fb368f.jpgv
This poster will be used when introducing Kill Bill, as it will enable the audience to have more of an image to what I'm discussing.
Rejected Items:-
Website:-
http://rateyourmusic.com/list/ipoduser/a_guide_to_the_music_in_the_films_of_quentin_tarantino/
At first, I thought this website was quite helpful, as it gives the songs to more or less every track he has used in his movies, however, that's all it states, it doesn't state what scene they were used in or why they were used, so in the end I realised this was useless.
Magazine:-
http://www.empireonline.com/features/a-z/quentin-tarantino/default.asp
This magazine discusses various stylistic elements that make Quentin Tarantino an auteur, and I thought this would be brilliant to use, however, it didn't really discuss his usage of dominant popular music in his films, and also didn't make reference to specific films, so I then decided not to use and reject the item.
Film - Inglorious Bastards:-
For a while at the start of this project, I had chosen Inglorious Bastards as one of my focus films, however, during my research of this film, there was actually very little about Tarantino's music and the influences it had on people, so therefore I decided to scrap this film and look at Reservoir Dogs instead.
Saturday, 31 August 2013
A2 Coursework Prep
Chosen Director - Quentin Tarantino
Basic Information:-
Born - March 27, 1963, 50 Years Old
- Knoxville Tennessee, USA
American Film Director, Screen Writer, Producer & Actor
Films:-
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Jackie Brown (1997)
Kill Bill: Vol 1 (2003)
Kill Bill: Vol 2 (2004)
Grindhouse (2007)
Inglorious Bastards (2009)
Django Unchained (2012)
Quentin Tarantinos films are known to use very popular songs to create a certain atmosphere or mood in a scene.
" He said he would listen to music in his bedroom and create scenes that correlated to the music playing."
The music Quentin Tarantino selects his films is the aspect I shall be concentrating on, and the three films I will base this idea on are Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vol 1 & Reservoir Dogs.
Basic Information:-
Born - March 27, 1963, 50 Years Old
- Knoxville Tennessee, USA
American Film Director, Screen Writer, Producer & Actor
Films:-
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Jackie Brown (1997)
Kill Bill: Vol 1 (2003)
Kill Bill: Vol 2 (2004)
Grindhouse (2007)
Inglorious Bastards (2009)
Django Unchained (2012)
Quentin Tarantinos films are known to use very popular songs to create a certain atmosphere or mood in a scene.
" He said he would listen to music in his bedroom and create scenes that correlated to the music playing."
The music Quentin Tarantino selects his films is the aspect I shall be concentrating on, and the three films I will base this idea on are Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vol 1 & Reservoir Dogs.
Thursday, 25 April 2013
Section C: Exam Response
With particular reference to the endings of your chosen American films, compare their messages and values.
Both Badlands and Natural Born Killers have similar messages and values, however, because Badlands was made in 1973 and Natural Born Killers was made in 1994, the way these messages and values are portrayed are very different, however, both of these films were inspired by an American mass murderer known as Charles Starkweather.
One very big theme that runs throughout both films is the American Dream. The American Dream was basically that all Americans dreamed of being rich, famous and successful. This theme is shown in Badlands because Kit wanted to be famous and like a film star, also, the constant references to Kit looking and acting like James Dean & when Holly said they were going to change their names to James & Priscilla, as in James Dean and Priscilla Presley.
At the end of Badlands, Kit is sentenced to the electric chair and is killed, the film ends at that, which is completely different to Natural Born Killers. When Mickey and Mallory went to jail, the film was no-where near over, a big message that runs throughout Natural Born Killers is the media, and that the influence it has on society is not always how it seems and is not healthy. Wayne Gale, played by Robert Downey Jr. is the man that represents the media, and in this film Mickey and Mallory both kill him, thus killing the media. A key scene in Natural Born Killers is the one where Mickey and Mallory are both at the drug store buying antibiotics for a snake bite, because as they are both being beaten by the police outside of the drug store, this is a re-creation of something shown through the media a few years before, the OJ Simpson beating in England.
Wayne Gale is an important character in the film in terms of getting the message across to the audience that the media is bad and evil, in most of the shots that he is in, a blue background is behind him, to show the cold hearted media that doesn't care about the people that they portray, just that they portray them in a way that will attract an audience, also every so often he would be shown in devil costume with a low angled shot, which his power over the media, but also shows what he does is evil.
In Badlands, society isn't consumed by the media like it is in Natural Born Killers, because obviously back in the 50's when Badlands was set, there wasn't a TV in every room in the house like in the 90's. Even though this is the case, Kit still wanted to be famous like James Dean, and he believed an easy way of doing this would to become a serial killer, just like in Natural Born Killers where Mickey and Mallory both celebrate after they see they're on TV. Both films give people the idea that it's easier to become famous by doing something tragic and horrible like being a serial killer, rather than becoming a film star. However, the two endings of these films both give off very different messages. At the end of Badlands, the death that was foreshadowed in all of Kit's life, like with Hollys dog being shot and the cow dead on the floor, ended up with Kit being caught and killed, however, in Natural Born Killers, the film ends with Mickey and Mallory having killed Wayne Gale and then walking out of the shot, this shows they have in fact escaped the media and have gone on to live a normal life. So Badlands shows that actions have consequences & Natural Born Killers shows that you can just run away from your problems, this also reflects the times in which these films were actually made.
Both Badlands and Natural Born Killers have similar messages and values, however, because Badlands was made in 1973 and Natural Born Killers was made in 1994, the way these messages and values are portrayed are very different, however, both of these films were inspired by an American mass murderer known as Charles Starkweather.
One very big theme that runs throughout both films is the American Dream. The American Dream was basically that all Americans dreamed of being rich, famous and successful. This theme is shown in Badlands because Kit wanted to be famous and like a film star, also, the constant references to Kit looking and acting like James Dean & when Holly said they were going to change their names to James & Priscilla, as in James Dean and Priscilla Presley.
At the end of Badlands, Kit is sentenced to the electric chair and is killed, the film ends at that, which is completely different to Natural Born Killers. When Mickey and Mallory went to jail, the film was no-where near over, a big message that runs throughout Natural Born Killers is the media, and that the influence it has on society is not always how it seems and is not healthy. Wayne Gale, played by Robert Downey Jr. is the man that represents the media, and in this film Mickey and Mallory both kill him, thus killing the media. A key scene in Natural Born Killers is the one where Mickey and Mallory are both at the drug store buying antibiotics for a snake bite, because as they are both being beaten by the police outside of the drug store, this is a re-creation of something shown through the media a few years before, the OJ Simpson beating in England.
Wayne Gale is an important character in the film in terms of getting the message across to the audience that the media is bad and evil, in most of the shots that he is in, a blue background is behind him, to show the cold hearted media that doesn't care about the people that they portray, just that they portray them in a way that will attract an audience, also every so often he would be shown in devil costume with a low angled shot, which his power over the media, but also shows what he does is evil.
In Badlands, society isn't consumed by the media like it is in Natural Born Killers, because obviously back in the 50's when Badlands was set, there wasn't a TV in every room in the house like in the 90's. Even though this is the case, Kit still wanted to be famous like James Dean, and he believed an easy way of doing this would to become a serial killer, just like in Natural Born Killers where Mickey and Mallory both celebrate after they see they're on TV. Both films give people the idea that it's easier to become famous by doing something tragic and horrible like being a serial killer, rather than becoming a film star. However, the two endings of these films both give off very different messages. At the end of Badlands, the death that was foreshadowed in all of Kit's life, like with Hollys dog being shot and the cow dead on the floor, ended up with Kit being caught and killed, however, in Natural Born Killers, the film ends with Mickey and Mallory having killed Wayne Gale and then walking out of the shot, this shows they have in fact escaped the media and have gone on to live a normal life. So Badlands shows that actions have consequences & Natural Born Killers shows that you can just run away from your problems, this also reflects the times in which these films were actually made.
Thursday, 18 April 2013
Sightseers Case Study
- Sightseers is a 'black comdey' in order for this to be a success, they need to get the balance between the comedy and the horror correct.
- People who have watched Ben Wheatleys films will go and watch this film.
- This film will more than likely be more successful in Birmingham, as the two main characters are 'brummies'
- However, this wont be successful in America, because they don't understand the humour or types of films of 'Black Comedy', also, they wouldn't understand the accents very well.
- This film would more than likely be promoted in the Midlands Area through posters and trailers, like these:
- People who have watched Ben Wheatleys films will go and watch this film.
- This film will more than likely be more successful in Birmingham, as the two main characters are 'brummies'
- However, this wont be successful in America, because they don't understand the humour or types of films of 'Black Comedy', also, they wouldn't understand the accents very well.
- This film would more than likely be promoted in the Midlands Area through posters and trailers, like these:
The Poster:
- The poster is in bright colours, creating a sense of happiness and gives off the comedy element.
- Shows the two main characters in the image.
- Main image sets the scene, out in the countryside, bright blue sky, quite peaceful
- Four different reviews on the front with their ratings, however quite misleading as it only mentions the hilarity of the film and the comedy side, but nothing about the horror.
- Title in biggest font, bold & bright yellow.
- Discusses the producers and directors, attract fans of these people.
- Small image of a caravan next to the title, has blood up it, gives off the horror element.
- The caption 'killers have never been this close-knit' once again gives off the horror element from the usage of the word 'killers'.
- The characters both have very different facial expressions, the man has a very serious face and quite scary looking, which gives off the horror side of the film, and the woman has quite a surprised worry face, which is quite humorous and comical, which gives off the comedy element of it.
- At the bottom is a website for the film.
The Trailer:
- Two Characters introduced straight away.
- Non diegetic sound of one of the characters narrating whilst writing the poster.
- Comedy element from the usage of 'The bed's quite short, but Chris is a sensitive lover'.
- More comedy included from the usage of the woman writing the postcard with a huge pencil.
- Sudden usage of violence, when Chris hits an innocent man over the head with a branch.
- The director 'Ben Wheatley' is then introduced.
- The use of non-diegetic sound gives the horror element when Tina says 'I've never really thought about killing innocent people before' but then Chris adds to the comedy again by saying 'He's not a person Tina, he's a daily mail reader'.
- Rating and review included in the video.#
- Romantic element toward the end, change to romantic music, kissing, saying how Chris loves Tina.
- Ends on a very funny clip, him running someone over and then shouting 'Haha! F**k you!'
Genre - Black Comedy
Director - Ben Wheatley
Stars - Alice Lowe, Eileen Davies, Steve Oram
Release Date - 30 November 2012
Budget - £9,300,000
Grossed -
Production Co. -StudioCanal
Review:- "I really wanted to like this, yet I left the cinema feeling underwhelmed. The basic set-up is pretty straightforward, which I think may be part of the problem. Whilst the main pair of characters are played well, the plot doesn't really develop them, or the set-pieces, in any meaningful manner. So it feels like there's a lack of depth in what unrolls in front of you.
Yes, there are some funny scenes and some humorous lines indeed, and the shots of the English countryside in particular are beautiful and haunting. However, it comes across as a sketch show bundled up into a longer piece and you can see the various outcomes of scenes being flagged up clumsily throughout.
Basically to me, this feels like the result of a conversation between the writers that was along the lines of "Wouldn't it be really funny to do a film about a couple of sociopaths who go on a caravan holiday together?" and hasn't really had much more put into the mix. Throw in some obvious continuity errors (people speaking with their mouths shut, car doors opening and closing themselves, etc) which distracted me greatly, this isn't really the great British comedy that it's been made out to be. As someone said to me, it's a film that feels a bit too pleased with itself....sorry.
Yes, there are some funny scenes and some humorous lines indeed, and the shots of the English countryside in particular are beautiful and haunting. However, it comes across as a sketch show bundled up into a longer piece and you can see the various outcomes of scenes being flagged up clumsily throughout.
Basically to me, this feels like the result of a conversation between the writers that was along the lines of "Wouldn't it be really funny to do a film about a couple of sociopaths who go on a caravan holiday together?" and hasn't really had much more put into the mix. Throw in some obvious continuity errors (people speaking with their mouths shut, car doors opening and closing themselves, etc) which distracted me greatly, this isn't really the great British comedy that it's been made out to be. As someone said to me, it's a film that feels a bit too pleased with itself....sorry.
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