Binary Oppositions:
Freedom vs Oppression/Freedom vs Fascism/Female vs Male/Femininity vs Masculinity
Fantasy vs Reality/Childhood vs Adulthood/Naivety vs Reality
Parent vs Child (captain looking up to father, Mercedes becoming mother role)
Female vs Male (Men have all the power - freedom fighters, doctors, Faun. Women underestimated but then show their strength)
Ofelia ends up taking care of mother with mandrake, rebels defeat soldiers, women defeat men - oppressed rise up, all lead to freedom
.
Sequences to be used for the themes:
Arriving at the house shows themes of parent vs child (the relationship between Ofelia, her mother, the captain, and setting up Mercedes to be a replacement mother), femininity vs masculinity (captain makes mother sit in the wheelchair, mother needs driver's help when sick, but while captain decides what happens the women are instrumental in it happening - he responds to them), fantasy vs reality (Mercedes obsessed with the fair only to be brought back to reality by the focus shift and her mothers focus on her shoes)
Captain killing rabbit hunters is parent vs child (lack of power father has to help son directly comparable with mother over Ofelia and her son because of the captain - fascism and hierarchy takes away family). Captain is half in shadow* while others are cowering in darkness. Entire film language of the scene doesn't work as expected. Doesn't build tension via music or cinematography (i.e. swell of music and close ups), relates to fascism and fem vs masc as it looks casual - robotic, procedure, no emotion on his face. No punishment for the officer who brought them in front of him wrongly - life is cheap
*his face is half in shadow at other times - before interrogating the stuttering rebel, his face is half covered in shaving cream when he pretends to cut his own throat in the mirror. Possibly shows the inherent violence he and by extension fascism has
Captain at the head of the table relates to Pale Man scene - both at the head of the table with fire behind them, Pale Man = fascism. Pile of shoes relates to concentration camp imagery, officer has a luger, a German gun
When mother is hurt, Mercedes immediately becomes the mother role - i.e. singing
When Ofelia talks to Faun there's a lot of music, when it cuts to the doctor and Ofelia there's no sonic bridge, snaps back to reality
Recurring image of lottery ticket - when listening to lottery numbers Mercedes escapes leading to their demise - greed, fascists selfishness leads to demise
When captain finds the root, there's never a 3 shot of all of them together - they aren't a family, they're separate. (Parent vs Child)
Editing:
Frog scene - seems seamless
Rabbit Hunter scene and the lack of conventional/Hollywood editing, no quick cuts
Fantasy vs Reality - pans with cuts to other places blurs between fantasy and reality, especially as it's usually used to cut between the two
Jump Cut/Axial Cut when she enters the Pale Man place shows her isolation and small size, and the chase uses choppy editing to make the chase seem faster than it is, especially his movement
Editing slows down massively when she's shot, her life ebbs away
Thursday, 28 March 2019
Monday, 18 March 2019
Pans Labyrinth Scenes
Start sequence:
Captain's grey contrasts with the light or earthy tones of the rest of the sequence, his close up is slightly low angle and imposing (probably mise-en-scene instead)
Soldiers go right to left to enter screen, while Ofelia and mum go left to right, shows we're on their side
Pull focus from her to mum when looking at 'fairy' pulls her back to reality
Follows Ofelia's eyes, gets us on her side, and has lots of close ups on her
Pale Man scene analysis (cinematography, sound and editing):
Music
Editing
Theme
Cinematography
Shows eyes then grapes, hinting to the audience that she's going to replace the eyes with grapes, but doesn't
Needed to focus on her hunger (having not ate the night before) and use more shots of the food to make it more tantalizing, and her more relatable
Pacing is way slower than a typical 'scary' horror film, we can see him coming, eating the faeries etc. Also makes us anxious that she won't get out in time from the get go, which eventually comes true
Sound of eyes on plate disgusting
Cutting to hourglass keeps us in suspense
Pale Man - Del Toro decided to make him featureless, where they were initially going to have a face, to make it representative of institutions and ideas rather than an individual
Initial shot of her entering the corridor shows her as small, showing her weakness and foreboding, jump cuts to show her even smaller also effective
All music ends as the Pale Man comes alive, replaced by deep drum noises then his groans, immediately changes tune. High pitched noise of her tools also contrasts with the deep noise, and the noise of the faeries also contrasts, almost jarringly against the low rumble of the background, plus it shows that they aren't supposed to be there, different worlds
Ambient noise almost sounds like breathing (Darth Vader esque), immediately putting us on edge. Also rumbling in the background suggests underground, unknown area
Music rises as she finds the dagger, indicating success, dips, then rises ominously as she is tempted by the food
Lightning/thunder as he finishes eating the faeries suggests danger
Her heart beating at the end is the only thing that remains from the scene after the door shuts
Quick cuts between her running and man coming towards her - he's gaining on her
When she first shows up he's in shot, but after before he focuses on the key he's constantly over her shoulder, reminding us of the danger, but when she picks up the key and uses it a similar shot is used but he's no longer there, showing us she's unaware of the threat. When distracted by food, shot shifts to block the Pale Man to focus on the fruit, also drilling in that she's distracted. She only realizes he's behind her when he comes into shot. Every time we see the hour glass it's always in focus, aside from when she's running towards it when the time runs out, before coming back when it does run out and the door shuts
Groaning makes him sound archaic, an ancient being, the pillars being Freco-Roman also imply age and show that he's ancient
Shot of mural with kids screaming debatably diegetic - can she hear it in her head, is it just for us, does it fill the room supernaturally (capturing souls etc.)
Cries of babies make us worry for her as a young girl
Fantasy has been gentle up until that point, which is incredibly jarring (only violence is bludgeoning and shooting the rabbit hunters), ramping up the violence. Relates to fascism concept theory - seems reasonable at the start but gets more and more dangerous
Ofelia wears green, which contrasts heavily with the red of the fruit, showing they're her opposition and has connotations of danger, and also with the orange of the room due to the fire and the metal, which extends to the Pale Man to an extent because as he's white the light reflects him, ie he belongs there but she doesn't
When the scene ends she returns to the blue-green colour she's assocaiated with, she belongs
Overall theme and point of the scene is that it shows that Ofelia is a flawed hero - it's the only point so far that it hasn't gone her way in a way that's tangible to the story (Toad and Mandrake good, dress ruining bad but not consequential). Sets in the disequilibrium, as although this started for the character with coming to the house, as the audience has only seen that it's the equilibrium for us (could be debated that her finding out she's a princess is a form of disequilibrium, but this is it in the traditional pejorative sense).
Rabbit Poachers Scene:
Repeated motif of circles and wheels in the film - cycles like the moon. Scene takes place next to a water wheel, and it comes from a scene where he's fixing his watch.
Camera's moving at the start as if moving with purpose, stops with captain and soldiers in the foreground in focus, farmers behind slightly out of focus
Patriarchy as a theme is present in all the film, including this as there's a father son relationship.
Camera moves in as they're about to be accused
Uniforms blue and the darkness of the scene stand out compared to fantasy world
Can see more clearly that the farmers are dirty, even more contrast with uniforms
Very long take, the push in as they're accused, and again as the captain examines the bag, warns us that something bad is about to happen. Pushes in more as they speak and become more in focus. At this point the captain is on one third the son is on the other, showing opposition. Moves in again before bottling and we still don't expect what's happening because the lack of pace
Cuts to lower angle with the strong violence of the bottling, then cuts to various angles of his face, POV shot and a low angle shot, immediately speeds up pace. Ends with a shot with he father's ace in the center and the camera rises, again showing warning, before he's shot without performance warning
Shot tracks forward as he goes back to check the bag, showing that what he's going to say is important, and also has a long take.
The line shows that he's not phased by violence and sets his up as a violent man
Rack focus of the two soldiers as the captain walks away shows the fear of the soldiers as well, and that there's no camaraderie between troops. This is the easiest points for them to question him, and they outnumber him, but they're all order followers and so don't
Music is very sparse, highlighting the brutal sounds of the bottle
End scene:
Adds a lot to the fairy tale theme of the film. The somber scene goes to a high key colour fantasy world. Adds a dream like quality that goes into the afterlife
Yellow light that transitions into the fantasy scene is an effective transition, but also could represent the bright rebels defeating the cold blue of fascism - almost a pyrrhic victory. The yellow is also the yellow of the real world, i.e. in the start, and so goes towards the argument that she's actually alive and that they fantasy is real, adds towards the negotiated reading, especially as the light appears in the real world
In the fantasy world the shoes are focused on, and has imagery of Dorothy's shoes in Wizard of Oz. But they're less feminine, links to feminism and that she isn't a passive character
Red of the blood contrasts (high contrast colour) massively with the white of her costume, very emotive and striking image.
The high key blood almost shows she's dead because it's so striking
Cinematography, ie the crane shot focusing on her, is typical death cinematography
Bloody hand death imagery
Goes back to the Toad Tree, which is supposed to look like ovaries to show reborn, and goes to the branch where she hangs her clothes to show the flower being reborn, like the story at the start, and so brings about ideas that she is reborn and reinforces the fantasy negotiate reading.
The cuts in the end, ie by the tree, shows us that it's soft or fantastical
Faun meeting scene:
Relating to death scene where the final shot of her cranes up, the first shot of her walking down the stairs matches the shot, implying that its marking her movements down into the labyrinth to be reborn
She's isolated in the scene, innocence or even naivety. She's manipulated by every man in her life including the faun
Scene edited via POV shots, Faun shot from low down, very little objective cinematography
Faun in half light all the way through, showing that he's untrustworthy, and we only really trust him at the end of the film. Appears and disappears via shadow
Captain's grey contrasts with the light or earthy tones of the rest of the sequence, his close up is slightly low angle and imposing (probably mise-en-scene instead)
Soldiers go right to left to enter screen, while Ofelia and mum go left to right, shows we're on their side
Pull focus from her to mum when looking at 'fairy' pulls her back to reality
Follows Ofelia's eyes, gets us on her side, and has lots of close ups on her
Pale Man scene analysis (cinematography, sound and editing):
Music
Editing
Theme
Cinematography
Shows eyes then grapes, hinting to the audience that she's going to replace the eyes with grapes, but doesn't
Needed to focus on her hunger (having not ate the night before) and use more shots of the food to make it more tantalizing, and her more relatable
Pacing is way slower than a typical 'scary' horror film, we can see him coming, eating the faeries etc. Also makes us anxious that she won't get out in time from the get go, which eventually comes true
Sound of eyes on plate disgusting
Cutting to hourglass keeps us in suspense
Pale Man - Del Toro decided to make him featureless, where they were initially going to have a face, to make it representative of institutions and ideas rather than an individual
Initial shot of her entering the corridor shows her as small, showing her weakness and foreboding, jump cuts to show her even smaller also effective
All music ends as the Pale Man comes alive, replaced by deep drum noises then his groans, immediately changes tune. High pitched noise of her tools also contrasts with the deep noise, and the noise of the faeries also contrasts, almost jarringly against the low rumble of the background, plus it shows that they aren't supposed to be there, different worlds
Ambient noise almost sounds like breathing (Darth Vader esque), immediately putting us on edge. Also rumbling in the background suggests underground, unknown area
Music rises as she finds the dagger, indicating success, dips, then rises ominously as she is tempted by the food
Lightning/thunder as he finishes eating the faeries suggests danger
Her heart beating at the end is the only thing that remains from the scene after the door shuts
Quick cuts between her running and man coming towards her - he's gaining on her
When she first shows up he's in shot, but after before he focuses on the key he's constantly over her shoulder, reminding us of the danger, but when she picks up the key and uses it a similar shot is used but he's no longer there, showing us she's unaware of the threat. When distracted by food, shot shifts to block the Pale Man to focus on the fruit, also drilling in that she's distracted. She only realizes he's behind her when he comes into shot. Every time we see the hour glass it's always in focus, aside from when she's running towards it when the time runs out, before coming back when it does run out and the door shuts
Groaning makes him sound archaic, an ancient being, the pillars being Freco-Roman also imply age and show that he's ancient
Shot of mural with kids screaming debatably diegetic - can she hear it in her head, is it just for us, does it fill the room supernaturally (capturing souls etc.)
Cries of babies make us worry for her as a young girl
Fantasy has been gentle up until that point, which is incredibly jarring (only violence is bludgeoning and shooting the rabbit hunters), ramping up the violence. Relates to fascism concept theory - seems reasonable at the start but gets more and more dangerous
Ofelia wears green, which contrasts heavily with the red of the fruit, showing they're her opposition and has connotations of danger, and also with the orange of the room due to the fire and the metal, which extends to the Pale Man to an extent because as he's white the light reflects him, ie he belongs there but she doesn't
When the scene ends she returns to the blue-green colour she's assocaiated with, she belongs
Overall theme and point of the scene is that it shows that Ofelia is a flawed hero - it's the only point so far that it hasn't gone her way in a way that's tangible to the story (Toad and Mandrake good, dress ruining bad but not consequential). Sets in the disequilibrium, as although this started for the character with coming to the house, as the audience has only seen that it's the equilibrium for us (could be debated that her finding out she's a princess is a form of disequilibrium, but this is it in the traditional pejorative sense).
Rabbit Poachers Scene:
Repeated motif of circles and wheels in the film - cycles like the moon. Scene takes place next to a water wheel, and it comes from a scene where he's fixing his watch.
Camera's moving at the start as if moving with purpose, stops with captain and soldiers in the foreground in focus, farmers behind slightly out of focus
Patriarchy as a theme is present in all the film, including this as there's a father son relationship.
Camera moves in as they're about to be accused
Uniforms blue and the darkness of the scene stand out compared to fantasy world
Can see more clearly that the farmers are dirty, even more contrast with uniforms
Very long take, the push in as they're accused, and again as the captain examines the bag, warns us that something bad is about to happen. Pushes in more as they speak and become more in focus. At this point the captain is on one third the son is on the other, showing opposition. Moves in again before bottling and we still don't expect what's happening because the lack of pace
Cuts to lower angle with the strong violence of the bottling, then cuts to various angles of his face, POV shot and a low angle shot, immediately speeds up pace. Ends with a shot with he father's ace in the center and the camera rises, again showing warning, before he's shot without performance warning
Shot tracks forward as he goes back to check the bag, showing that what he's going to say is important, and also has a long take.
The line shows that he's not phased by violence and sets his up as a violent man
Rack focus of the two soldiers as the captain walks away shows the fear of the soldiers as well, and that there's no camaraderie between troops. This is the easiest points for them to question him, and they outnumber him, but they're all order followers and so don't
Music is very sparse, highlighting the brutal sounds of the bottle
End scene:
Adds a lot to the fairy tale theme of the film. The somber scene goes to a high key colour fantasy world. Adds a dream like quality that goes into the afterlife
Yellow light that transitions into the fantasy scene is an effective transition, but also could represent the bright rebels defeating the cold blue of fascism - almost a pyrrhic victory. The yellow is also the yellow of the real world, i.e. in the start, and so goes towards the argument that she's actually alive and that they fantasy is real, adds towards the negotiated reading, especially as the light appears in the real world
In the fantasy world the shoes are focused on, and has imagery of Dorothy's shoes in Wizard of Oz. But they're less feminine, links to feminism and that she isn't a passive character
Red of the blood contrasts (high contrast colour) massively with the white of her costume, very emotive and striking image.
The high key blood almost shows she's dead because it's so striking
Cinematography, ie the crane shot focusing on her, is typical death cinematography
Bloody hand death imagery
Goes back to the Toad Tree, which is supposed to look like ovaries to show reborn, and goes to the branch where she hangs her clothes to show the flower being reborn, like the story at the start, and so brings about ideas that she is reborn and reinforces the fantasy negotiate reading.
The cuts in the end, ie by the tree, shows us that it's soft or fantastical
Faun meeting scene:
Relating to death scene where the final shot of her cranes up, the first shot of her walking down the stairs matches the shot, implying that its marking her movements down into the labyrinth to be reborn
She's isolated in the scene, innocence or even naivety. She's manipulated by every man in her life including the faun
Scene edited via POV shots, Faun shot from low down, very little objective cinematography
Faun in half light all the way through, showing that he's untrustworthy, and we only really trust him at the end of the film. Appears and disappears via shadow
Visual Storyelling 101
Pan's Labyrinth and City of God will both ask about key elements of film form, both likely to be cinematography
Composition:
Rule of thirds
Central framing to draw attention , applying with symmetry
'Leading lines' (using lines in frame to direct attention)
18mm wide shot, used to establish
50mm standard
Use long lens to pull background forward
Lighting direction
Side lighting suggests character has a dark side, as does surrounding them with darkness
Colour and contrast
Low contrast - looks like real life
High contrast - colours stand out, blacks darker. Stylized
Ie colour contrast in Trainspotting goes up when he's off heroin - more vibrant, or less normal
Should use a start, ending, middle sequence in each film to analyse
Composition:
Rule of thirds
Central framing to draw attention , applying with symmetry
'Leading lines' (using lines in frame to direct attention)
18mm wide shot, used to establish
50mm standard
Use long lens to pull background forward
Lighting direction
Side lighting suggests character has a dark side, as does surrounding them with darkness
Colour and contrast
Low contrast - looks like real life
High contrast - colours stand out, blacks darker. Stylized
Ie colour contrast in Trainspotting goes up when he's off heroin - more vibrant, or less normal
Should use a start, ending, middle sequence in each film to analyse
Thursday, 7 March 2019
Coursework
Friday 26th April Deadline for film and write up
Try and get everything done for 29th of March
Look on EDUQAS website at GCE Film Studies for criteria
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