Homework - 10th December

V for vendetta characters

Dietrich - this characters role is to be a fatherly figure for Evey and he shows that he cares about the medias representation as he hides all his beliefs away from his job and has Evey come over to his house so he looks like he is having women over.

Mr Creedy - this characters role is to show that our government are corrupt as he sells out his own boss so that he can get a higher politicial position, we see the message that we shouldn't believe what we see as what this character has done is secret and he is in the shadows.

Porthero - this characters manipulates the people and shows the audience that we shouldn't believe the media.

Sutler - Sutler is like a puppet and he backs all the project. He shows the audience that too much power is never good.

The people of London - we see the change within these people as at first they have no power but by V standing up, they then all joint in to fight for their rights. They wear the mask to hide their fears and also to stand up as a group. They are shown at first of being quite trusting to their government. They show the message of power in numbers.

V - he shows that it only takes one person to stand up. He represents the idea of freedom and symbolises freedom to many people. He is not just a terrorist but a freedom fighter too.

Evey - this character represents that sometimes we need to be tortured to loose our fear. She becomes a stronger character throughout the film as she starts off vulnerable and ends up being the person who blows up parliament.


Children of men characters

Theo - the only way to help

Jasper - always willing to help

Kee - the only last hope of youth getting back to world

Immigrants -

?? -

?? -

?? -

Children of men themes mood-board

Help for coursework

Macro - themes, messages and values, genre, narrative (how a story being told) (characters), techniques used in telling a story, representation, style, authorship 

Choices within film: English spoken, same macro framework, same genre, only one Hollywood and one independent, within last ten years 

Success: 

Excellent analysis, excellent, knowledge and understanding, excellent ability to communicate, excellent application and evaluation, terminology, meaning, detail 

Four areas of coursework :

Textual analysis (1000-1500 words) 

Planning

Creative artefact (film or storyboard and script) 

Evaluation 

Only get one draft for coursework!! 

V for vendetta characters

Creedy:
"Be aware of people in the shadows"
He is responsible for the water pollution
Powerful, dangerous, corrupt
Secret police
This could happen in our country
Furthers his political position - sells out his own boss, corrupt
He kills Sutler
In co-operation with V
He is secret, don't believe what you hear
Terrorist, mass murderer

Evie: 
Vulnerable at the beginning, nearly gets raped by police, v saves her, she got caught
Looses identity - looses hair and fear
Becomes a stronger person
V represents freedom to her
She is responsible for blowing up parliament - revenge for her, she is there to live it
V makes her loose fear by torturing her
V is more important to her, as he represents freedom, than her own life
Social responsibility

Voice of London: 
Voice of propaganda
From lark hill - people don't know that - just that he is a powerful leader
Manipulates people - illusion of choice
Aggressive
Don't believe the media

V: 
Starts off saving Evie's life (heroic)
Freedom fighter and terrorist
Good side to him
Strong and powerful
He went to lark hill - he got experimented on and was the only person who survived
He is mentally scared
Killing people - revenge and protection for country
You just need one person to stand up !

Population: 
They had no power at first
Stand up against everyone  the army too
Mask hides their fear and makes them all a group together
Rebellion
Power in numbers
Start - children, have a lot of fear
Walk up unarmed to the armed - they have lost their fear
They were all separate at the beginning
If you're scared of you're government you're in trouble
Unity

Bishop: 
High authority at lark hill
Hides behind religion
Corrupt
Peadophile
Faith and state together is bad

Detrix:
Protects Evie - fatherly figure as her parents died
He is a tv presenter - in the media
Steven fry - homosexual
Room = qur'ran, flags, naked photography - hidden away in his basement, rebellious
Contrast with the voice of London

Chancellor Sutler: 
He holds whole story
Backs project
Like a puppet
People are scared of him but too know that they should respect him
Too much power isn't good - it will come back and get you

V for vendetta themes

Themes :

Terrorism 

Revenge 

Oppression 

Government 

Corrupt society 

Fear

Rebellion 

Revolution 

Media 

Ideas : 

Government is bad (oppression) 

Terrorism is positive 

Pro- revolution 

Freedom fighter not terrorist 

Could there be a link between v for vendetta and our society today!? 

"People shouldn't be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of their people" 

Government ? Deceived them (public) - water pollution, made the virus and a cure. Targeted to kids. Did it for war. Lark hill - human experiments, made the cure - control population, safety and trust in government - did it for money 

Publicised by the media 

They caused terrorism 

Religion - they thought that it was given by God

Themes - distopian

Distopian films:
Metropolis
Idiotocurcy
Surrogates
Minority report
Blade runner
The hunger games
Gattaca
Fahrenheit
Soylent green
Logan's run

Themes often seen in distopian films :
Government - totalitarian, excessive control
Propaganda - media, controls ideas
Crime - "police state"
Monitoring - CCTV
No resources
Overpopulation - a 'super class' in control, global banks
Technology - de humanisation, genetic, robots
War/terrorism

Sound heard in films

Avatar 

Dialogue, clicking of fingers, twitching, blinking, stretching, walking steps, falling down, machines moving, doors slamming, door opening, ball bouncing, screaming, ball hitting net, landing on bouncer, trees moving, sliding across mud, moving clothes, turn off light, body clicking, touching body, eyes moving, birds tweeting, machines beeping, tree moving, wobbling, tail hitting things, mud inbetween feet and toes, bang on window, jumping off equipment, laughter, robot clicking 

Wall-E - sci-fi, futuristic

Squeaking noises, metal noises, shooting, explosion, tone of voice, twisting noise, whistles, beeping, squeaking door, crys, metal rustling, dialogue, beeping sounds

Children of men 

Non diegetic, voice over to start off - not multicultural - deporting immigrants - English accent - no children are being born 

Sound perspective cars - busy city, loud 

Diegetic - creaming, bomb 

Ringing sound - diegetic, coming from his mind, see that we are going to see from his point of view 

Foreign direlects - pleading for help, not a good future

Trains, sirens, buzzers 

Sound terminology

Diegetic - sound that you can see
Non-diegetic - sound not from set
Synchronous - matched with action on screen
Non simultaneous - sound that happens before the image
Direct sound - recorded at time of filming
Post synchronisation dubbing - adding sound after filmed
Off screen - can hear but not see, happening off screen
Sound perspective - refers to distance of sound

Sound editing :
Sound bridge - sound over a visual transition
Voice over - character voice over clip
Sonic flashback - sound that is used earlier in the film
Film music - theme music / soundtrack

From films

Fight Club 
Unstable mind
* Shot Rev Shot - shows conversation - we see that there is somebody here in his pov but when looking from further away there's nobody there
* Jump cut - cuts back abruptly to flashbacks
*spacial
*graphic match

The Godfather Baptism 
Narrative/genre
Parallel editing - showing the conscience of him, know they are related because priest talking
Spatial - introduction
Juxtaposition - good and bad, life and death
Cuts back to his face
Rhythmic editing?
Keep cutting back to baby to show the baby's innocence and purity within all this
water over babys head - cut to the dead bodies
innocence vs death
babys future destined - what baby is going to be like

Crank
Editing for style
Fast paced - reveals genre
Hyper editing
Reveals state of mind -aggressive
Rhythmic
Spatial - see what he is seeing
Flashes of white
In control
Match on action - temporal
Heart beating
Long take

Rocky 1V 
Symbolism
Stylist
Rhythmic editing - music video style - everything moving to a beat
Parallel editing - conflict between two people - against each other/ countries
Juxtaposition - red vs white
Red - russia - evil, motionless, control, robot
White - America - freedom, pure, traditional values
Juxtaposition - nature vs technology
Nature - just running, Rocky
Technology - uses tech for training

Children of men 
Long take (fluid movement) to show normality
Documentary style

Editing Terminology

Graphic Relationships: Graphic Match
- Relates two disconnected scenes/helps to build a relationship
- Same shape e.g. psycho eye and the plug hole

Spatial:
Establishing Shot - situates with an environment/ introducing a character
Shot Rev Shot - Multiple shots showing a conversation

Rhythmic Relationships
- Assembling of shots to a rhythmic pattern - pace and rhythm - like a music video

Temporal Relationships:
Match on Action - cuts two alt views of the same action
Parallel Editing - portrays multiple lines of action occurring in different places at same time

Longtake - extended for period of time before cutting
Jump cut - one shot abruptly interrupted (braking continuity) Alternatives to continuity

Alternative transitions:
Superimposition - Frames overlap either mech or digi
Fade In - fade to white or black

Hollywood style montage - piecing images and sound together

Spatial continuity:
cut in and cut away - brings viewer from close view to distant view or vise versa
Eyeline match - shot of character looking at something, cuts to what they are looking at
 

First draft of textual analysis

I have had to copy and paste this as I cannot print-screen from home. Hope this is not a problem. Beckie.

Compare and contrast the representation of women in P.S. I love you and One Day.

Within this essay, I will be talking about the representation of women within P.S. I Love You and One Day, I will mostly be using the sound within these two films to back up what I am going to say. The representation within these two films is quite a contrast to one another, in P.S. I Love You Holly is shown having a change in behaviour throughout the film and in One Day, Emma is shown being quite a powerful and independent woman throughout.

At the beginning of P.S. I Love You, we see the idea of women being represented as a predictable stereotype of a woman with having an argument without explaining the reason and also having a lot of shoes. Scene one introduces the characters, Holly and Gerry are arguing but Gerry doesn’t know what he has done to make her annoyed with him. She is shown as being argumentative through the sound, because even though they are walking down the street there is little background noise and sounds. This has been done to increase the tension of their argument and the only sounds we hear is Gerry’s dialogue. This also directs the audience to listen to what Gerry has to say and the audience realise that Gerry’s dialogue is important. Holly is being shown as quite a powerful character during this scene, she is shown having power of the situation and over Gerry, during their argument Gerry leaves their apartment and then asks to return a few minutes later. Because of the long take once Gerry has left, we see that Holly didn’t really want him to leave and that she is feeling sad.

A comparison with this is in One Day in the second scene when again we have an introduction to the characters. However, in this scene Emma and Dexter have just properly met after their graduation, they then go back to her apartment. Differently from P.S. I love you, Emma is portrayed as quite a timid character who doesn’t want to get anything wrong. She wants to have a good experience with Dexter and even when she leaves the room is get ready, she puts some music on. This has been done because without Emma and Dexter together, there is little other sound so this music sets the mood whilst she is gone. When Emma is lying in bed with Dexter, we now have soft music playing which creates a mood of intense and friendship, this lets the audience understand that Emma and Dexter are going to have a good and strong friendship.

Once Gerry has passed away in P.S. I love you, we really start to see how Holly is now being represented as a weak female without the guidance of a male around. This is scene five and we see that she is really missing him here and is depressed without her soul mate Gerry, she is staying in on her own and is rejecting any help from her friends and family. The sound is really important in showing Holly’s downfall in this scene, there is a lot more sound than in the previous scenes here. There is music which is creating an atmosphere to how Holly is feeling without Gerry, this represents women as weak as it is showing Holly’s struggle without him around. We hear the telephone voicemails as a voice over here, which lets the audience know that people are trying to help Holly through this difficult time but that she is rejecting this help which is representing women as trying to be independent but actually appearing quite weak. We also hear the TV in the background, this is to create an atmosphere of a busy environment and Holly not being able to focus on one thing. We also hear memories of Holly and Gerry’s conversation, which gives the audience the impression that Holly cannot let go of her memories of Gerry and is mourning over him badly. She still sees him around and talks to him although there is no way that he could be there. Gerry plays the guitar softly at one point, which relaxes and comforts Holly and this sound is used to relax the atmosphere. All of this sound, portrays females as weak and incompetent without males.

This scene can be linked to scene eight in One Day. In this scene we again have a lot more sound and background noise than the first two scenes that I explored. Emma has gone out with another male in this scene and Dexter keeps ringing her and is shown as really needing and relying on her although she cannot help him. Females are being represented as independent females here, who don’t need males around to survive. This is opposite to P.S. I love you, as now Dexter is needing Emma and is being shown as being incompetent without her to talk to. This shows a major role reversal as Emma is the character in power here and males are being represented as the weaker sex.

In scene twenty-seven in P.S. I love you, the audience again see the change in Holly’s behaviour as she is now being shown as an independent female again, doing things on her own. She is shown moving on with her life and going back to Ireland taking her Mother there for one final visit. The audience hear a voice-over of Holly’s final message to Gerry throughout the clips. Females are being represented more positively and having more power and independence at this stage.

This can be linked to scene 19 in one day, as this is too a closing scene to the film. At this stage in the film, Emma has passed away. Dexter is talking to his daughter at the same place that he and Emma visited a few years back, he misses Emma a lot but is trying to stay strong and the powerful man he should be. His daughter is being shown as a young female who has strong views so this too makes women still seem powerful at the end of the film.

These two films condone women in a variety of ways, from powerful to weak. One Day more represents women as powerful throughout the whole film as Emma is always shown having power even when she is timid. P.S. I love you shows a journey within a woman, she changes from weak and depressed to powerful and moving on with her life.        

Textual Analysis Study Proposal

For my textual analysis, I wish to study One Day and P.S. I Love You.
I am going to use representation of women as my macro and sound as my micro.

UPDATE - 7TH DECEMBER 2012
Today in class I gave my presentation about my coursework and I was advised to widen my macro area to the representation of gender in these two films as I talk about males and females anyway.

Analysis of sequence from V for vendetta

We can see that this character is important from the use of voyeurism, we see him through a screen giving the impression that this character is too busy to attend this meeting in person. Also, from the chancellor being on a screen, it draws the audiences attention in to watch this character carefully, this being the use of voyeurism. From him being on screen, we recognise that he is in charge.

We only see close ups of his face whereas we see mid shots of all the other characters. This shows his importance as we are really close to him as he is big and we see his strong facial expressions. The screen that we see him on is big which shoes his significance as this is taking up the majority of the screen space.

The background behind him is bright and is illuminating his face also giving him power and showing his importance. The lighting around him is lit up, whereas it is very dark around all the other characters. This makes him powerful because it shows that he is important from being the only character in the light.

The juxtaposition helps show the audience about his character because he has been introduced after the bombing scene so we straight away associate this character with this strong action and trying to sort this out.

The workers are all sitting in a semi-circle so that the main character can see them all easily and these characters are shown being really small compared to him on screen which shows his strength, importance an power.

The shots Between him and the other characters are very sharp and clear which also makes him seem important as they are quickly referring back to him.

To help with exam

Messages - short point getting ideas and beliefs across

A body paragraph should contain four parts (PEAS)
P- point
E- example
A- analysis
S- synthesis (higher level thinking)

Message- meaning, ideology, specific point

Words for show:
Presents
Condones
Explores
Conveys
Portrays
Expresses
Puts forth
Illustrates
A warning of
Symbolises
Indicates
Suggests
Reveals
Depicts

Essay frameworks:
"through the theme of... The film conveys the message that..."
"the character personifies (the theme of) ... Therefore this film condones the belief that..."
"the theme of vengeance is used to explore the idea that terrorism..."
"the film explores the theme of... Through the scene/character ... (description) the costume is ... (analysis) and symbolises ... (synthesis) this celebrates/criticises/warns the ideal/ belief that..."
"the film has strong ... Values and questions the role of... By exploring the themes of..."

Themes in v - corruption, oppression, freedom

Infer meaning (put a meaning into something)
- representing
- implying
- reasons for
- gather
- induce

To express a message - criticises, celebrates
Justify; explain yourself

Distopian films take aspects from the present

My paragraph:
The film explores the theme of oppression through the concentration camp scene. This shows how Larkhill had these people in these camps and they was tested on. This is shown by the make up as they are being beaten up. It was also shown by their costume with the orange jumpsuits and this symbolises that they have had their identities taken away. This criticises the belief of oppression as it creates people to fight back and the camp created V to be who he is.

Alice in wonderland -> Alien

The homework for this week was to turn the MES aspects of the growing/shrinking scene in AIW to be like Alien.

This was my attempt. I got pictures from the Internet from the set of Alien and stuck them down to be in a similar set to AIW.

I have included a small circle room, we can see the table in the middle of room and I took parts from ceilings to be different sized doors.

From doing this I realised that the mise-en-scene is so important to a film because even though I have kept the important aspects of this room, it doesn't look like AIW at all and looks like a completely different film!

What I picked up about cinematography in film clips

.................:
Dark shots, close ups, high angles of man hanging making him seem week and powerless, mid-shots, low angles of the doctor - shows point of view of him looking at them and makes her look strong and intelligent, character on the right hand side of the shot, 2 faces close together - face to face- closes the space and increases tension built up

Inglorious Bastards:
The bar man is in shot but not totally focused > we can see its set in a bar (normality) but that he isn't important
Close up of the gun > shows different stories
Pan > shows a new person getting involved
Shallow focus > audience focusing on these people
Over the shoulder shot > we are sided with one person but we see that there are people behind the nazi giving him power and back up
Close ups of faces make tension
Close up to a mid shot > weaker, accepting what is going to happen
Levels - male dominance and power - guns and male crutch area symbolising male power and is a phallic symbol
We have the conversation above the table and underneath we have the guns

Voyeurism - the idea of looking
Male gaze- satisfies the male

Cinematography Terminology

Cinematography - The use of camera shots, angles, movement, depth of focus, composition
Deep Focus - Depth of field is the measure that can be applied to the area in focus within the frame
Shallow Focus - Shallow focus is a function of a narrow depth of field + it implies that only one plane of the frame will remain sharp + clear
Racking focus - The change of focus of the lens to a subject in the background to the foreground
Zoom shot - Changes the focal length of the lens in the middle of the shot
Film Speed - Rate - Standard rate = 24 frames per sec

Angle of framing:
Low angle - Filming from below
High angle - Filming from above
Level of framing - refers to height at which camera is positioned in a given shot

Canted framing - Where the camera is not level but tilted
Following shot/reframing - Follows the character
POW Shot - Where the viewer would image a characters gaze to be
Wide Angle Lens - distort the edges of a frame to emphaize amount of space in shot

Extreme Long Shot - What being seen is tiny
Long Shot - What being seen is small
MLS - what being seen takes up almost entire height of screen
MCU - Large screen shot, takes up most of screen
CU - large, entire screen
ECU - very large, usually part of a face
Crane shot - mounting a camera on a type of crane device
Steadi Cam shot - used for motion tracking shot
Pan - Follows action
Tilt - camera moves up and down
Tracking shot - follows action through space in variety of direction

What we are going to be doing!

Analysis of film > reading > messages and meaning (subliminal)

Coursework (50%) - Synthesise (create)
1. Screenplay + photos - short 2 min - sequel/prequel
2. 1500 word analysis comparing 2 films (within 10 years) of my choice
3. Planning
4. Evaluation

Exam (50%)
Dystopia - V for Vendetta, Walle E, Children of Men
> Will study all 3 of these but only write about two

Mise-en-scene, visual elements (techniques), language, genre, character, narrative, themes

Setting = Location, Props, Set (decor)

Things I picked up on from watching certain clips of films:

Metropolis:
- theme = control
- corrupt/busy
- technology taking over
- dehumanised (workers)
- mechanical
- workers are brainwashed
- seem mental
- there's no women workers
- it may show our future but with a reflection of our past
- the buildings are very close together  but the roads are on different levels and have distance between
- workers walk really close together
- black and white
- the humans are like robots
- the workers are unified and synchronised

Blade runner:
- America = multicultural > everything is Japanese
- dystopian thriller
- everything is squashed and in a tightly packed area
- rain
- light saber
- run down area
- main character is an outsider
- busy and congested
- future : corrupt and busy
- media comes over religion
- costume= long cloaks
- smoky area
- supernatural
- nature
- dirty and poor
- advanced in technology
- scifi

Alice in wonderland:
- trapped
- she is very naive
- doors represent options in her life but she only has the key for one door
- growing and shrinking represents changes within herself
- circle room = never ending > will she get out?
- key only unlocks one door > she has one choice
- costume, hair and make up show her innocence and the era
- world has been turned upside down for her (she is on the ceiling upside down at beginning)
- bright, unnatural lighting

Terminator 2:
- robots
- props: skulls
- 90s costume
- everything is burnt out
- set in the future
- lasers show war
- destruction

Terminator:
- Red smoke=evil
- Shock
- Man= hurt,warn down, weakness - this is shown by him sinking to the floor
- Fire = destruction
- Terminator is very strong
- Hope - when the characters meet
- Terminator rises from the ground representing hell
- Cold, metal environment
- Red eyes = devil, evil
- Robot dominates human - he walks through the fire
- Woman takes over - shown as masculine

Overview

Unit F631: film text and context
50% AS, 25%A2
Section A: contemporary English language film - 40 marks
Section B: cinema in context - 2 x 30 marks
Total: 100 marks              2 hour exam

Unit F632: foundation portfolio
50% AS, 25% A2
Students produce a portfolio consisting of:
*a textual analysis of 2 contemporary English language film texts - this should not include more than one film produced in Hollywood - 40 marks
*evidence of planning for a creative artefact, which should be related to the textual analysis - 10 marks
*a creative artefact - 30 marks
* an evaluation of work produced - 20 marks
Total: 100 marks