Bring debates about experimentalism and post modernism - is there a difference?
No meta narrative - no real binary oppositions or themes, just there to look at. Not put behind anyone or anything - could represent that life is unpredictable and without metanarrative
Non-linearity - the way it uses it, makes us confused as we think we're behind someone and then they die or we switch to another time. Once Vincent is gone we don't really latch onto anything else, possibly Butch but that's up for debate. The non-linearity actually impacts our ability to relate to him even though we know the most about his backstory and life. We first see him in opposition to Vincent, which puts us immediately against him. Butch doesn't have a 'cool' stylized monologue, even his girlfriend does. Makes him look boring, uninteresting in comparison to others.
Auteur traits come into play - dialogue not used to move forward - either to develop character or to look cool.
Debates about experimentalism could be that, as different experimental films came out the same year (Natural Born Killers), there is a movement of post modernism instead of individual experimentalism. Also Breathless by Jean-Luc Goddard came before
Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Silent Film
Aesthetics and the outside influence on them - cubism etc. Look at the idea that realism vs expressionism can be seen by Charles Wolfe things
Aesthetic Qualities in Pans Labyrinth and City of Giod
Look and feel of the film - auteur traits, mise en scene and cinematography and sound - have we got repeated audio or visual motifs that keep recurring in the film.
Pans Labyrinth - Spiral imagery, dark colours contrasting fantasy. Captain's room - watch motif keeps recurring - cogs turning link to the idea of the clock, as if he's trapped inside the moment. Puts us on the brink of sympathy with the character. Waterwheel in the background of the rabbit sequence. Lullaby played in various scenes, used to emphasize the jarring juxtaposition of fantasy vs reality, and her innocence
City of God - all the costume of the characters makes them blend them into the slum - enforcing the idea that they can't escape and are part of it. This is true for both times. The people who don't belong are obvious - Tiago with his ginger hair, Benny when he starts wanting to leave wears bright colours, different to the others
Pans Labyrinth - Spiral imagery, dark colours contrasting fantasy. Captain's room - watch motif keeps recurring - cogs turning link to the idea of the clock, as if he's trapped inside the moment. Puts us on the brink of sympathy with the character. Waterwheel in the background of the rabbit sequence. Lullaby played in various scenes, used to emphasize the jarring juxtaposition of fantasy vs reality, and her innocence
City of God - all the costume of the characters makes them blend them into the slum - enforcing the idea that they can't escape and are part of it. This is true for both times. The people who don't belong are obvious - Tiago with his ginger hair, Benny when he starts wanting to leave wears bright colours, different to the others
Key issues to talk about for each film:
Pans Labyrinth - Fascism and Patriarchy - Rabbit Poachers and Pale Man, and Tree and opening sequence
City of God - Entrapment and Corruption and escapism and poverty - the aerial shots - and Li'l Dice brothel and montage, supported by Benny death - poverty = everything is a result of poverty
Ideology in BOTSW and NCFOM
Libertarianism, Feminsim or Marxism in BOTSW
Marxism for NCFOM
Passive and active spectatorship - looking for readings of things
4 different ideologies when we talk about it:
Dominant ideology - relates to society
Spectator's own ideologies
The ideological framework or perspective that we put on the film
The film's own ideology
Ie putting a feminist ideology over Blade runner it would change how we see the film compared to putting a Marxist reading on it
By putting a different framework on it will it change the way you see it - would be see civilization vs wild is BOTSW if we didn't put a libertarian perspective on it
Difference between ideology and narrative is that ideology is a set beliefs and values where as narrative is unique to the film
Marxism for NCFOM
Passive and active spectatorship - looking for readings of things
4 different ideologies when we talk about it:
Dominant ideology - relates to society
Spectator's own ideologies
The ideological framework or perspective that we put on the film
The film's own ideology
Ie putting a feminist ideology over Blade runner it would change how we see the film compared to putting a Marxist reading on it
By putting a different framework on it will it change the way you see it - would be see civilization vs wild is BOTSW if we didn't put a libertarian perspective on it
Difference between ideology and narrative is that ideology is a set beliefs and values where as narrative is unique to the film
British Film Production Context
Cool Brittania - pride in British culture, especially counter culture - rise in Britain on international stage, don't mention the time it's set in. People are changing, drugs are changing, music is changing. Also change from conservative to labour. Brought in heroin chic, made Lou Reed's Perfect Day number one in 1998. An adaptation from the book
Sightseers - smaller budget due to being independent
Sightseers - smaller budget due to being independent
Narrative
Narrative positioning - who we're placed behind through the cinematography and who we side with. Allows us to talk about spectatorship - bridges narrative and spectatorship
Sid Field's Narrative Structure - 3 acts - sets up problems and establishes character, confrontation and revealing problem, resolution - everything is solved
Todorov's - Equilibrium, Disequilibrium, Recognition of disequilibrium, Solving disequilibrium, new equilibrium
Binary Oppositions - Claude Levi-Strauss
Narrative themes
Linearity - flashbacks don't make us non-linear because it's internal non-diegetic - in the character's head not the spectators. Ie Trainspotting is non-linear because it's shows nihilism and the cycle of addiction, creating an enigma that draws in the audience, same with Pans Labyrinth. Trainspotting is omniscient because we know more than just the main protagonist, but stops being omniscient when he moves to London - ie when he stops doing drugs. Could show shared drugs experience or their reliance on each other.
Sid Field's Narrative Structure - 3 acts - sets up problems and establishes character, confrontation and revealing problem, resolution - everything is solved
Todorov's - Equilibrium, Disequilibrium, Recognition of disequilibrium, Solving disequilibrium, new equilibrium
Binary Oppositions - Claude Levi-Strauss
Narrative themes
Linearity - flashbacks don't make us non-linear because it's internal non-diegetic - in the character's head not the spectators. Ie Trainspotting is non-linear because it's shows nihilism and the cycle of addiction, creating an enigma that draws in the audience, same with Pans Labyrinth. Trainspotting is omniscient because we know more than just the main protagonist, but stops being omniscient when he moves to London - ie when he stops doing drugs. Could show shared drugs experience or their reliance on each other.
Essay Structure
Paper 1 - 2 paragraphs per point, 2-3 points per film - 45 mins per question, 5 planning, 3 questions
To get Band 5 talk about alternative interpretations
Intro - quick summary, context, setting etc. Anything relevant. Suggest general terms of answer
Body - more detailed
Conclusion - sums up findings, explain what overall message and effect is
To get Band 5 talk about alternative interpretations
Intro - quick summary, context, setting etc. Anything relevant. Suggest general terms of answer
Body - more detailed
Conclusion - sums up findings, explain what overall message and effect is
Thursday, 23 May 2019
Compare the extent in the films you haev studied duispay author individuality
'The Hollywood machine always crushed any individuality in filmmaking'
Vertigo - first scene - Elster and Scotty talk for first time - that scene follows classic Hollywood conventions of deep focus, blocking, dialogue driven, doesn't display auteur individuality, however there is one moment of unmotivated camera movement that shows director control
Dream sequence - v. Hitchcock - breaks rules of Hollywood - discontinuity editing, all subjective, no dialogue and he started out in the silent era making tile cards, and so may prefer to show scenes without dialogue, which happens for a lot of the scene. Also narratively, in book don't know until end that Judy is involved, but Hitchcock brings it to the middle to use suspense, v. him
Scott not as strong an auteur of Hitchcock, difference in cuts and how they demonstrate decisions he makes of director, shows that that's not what he wants and hat he had to compromise. Debate with Ford about whether he's a replicant or not. Eye gouge in theatrical cut is shown, cut to owl's eyes, his trait, in the d cut
Very important - can we talk about auteurs anyway, do they exist
Vertigo - first scene - Elster and Scotty talk for first time - that scene follows classic Hollywood conventions of deep focus, blocking, dialogue driven, doesn't display auteur individuality, however there is one moment of unmotivated camera movement that shows director control
Dream sequence - v. Hitchcock - breaks rules of Hollywood - discontinuity editing, all subjective, no dialogue and he started out in the silent era making tile cards, and so may prefer to show scenes without dialogue, which happens for a lot of the scene. Also narratively, in book don't know until end that Judy is involved, but Hitchcock brings it to the middle to use suspense, v. him
Scott not as strong an auteur of Hitchcock, difference in cuts and how they demonstrate decisions he makes of director, shows that that's not what he wants and hat he had to compromise. Debate with Ford about whether he's a replicant or not. Eye gouge in theatrical cut is shown, cut to owl's eyes, his trait, in the d cut
Very important - can we talk about auteurs anyway, do they exist
City of God Meirelles Quotes
'City of God is about exclusion - it's a part of Brazil that doesn't participate in wider society'
Used to work making commercials - quick sequences that can get the ideology across in 30 secs or less
Used to work making commercials - quick sequences that can get the ideology across in 30 secs or less
Sunday, 19 May 2019
Thursday, 16 May 2019
Exam Stuff
Silent film - revise mainly production context as it relates to everything - all the ideas and themes relate to things at the time
Most questions 'to what extent' which is basically evaluate
Most questions 'to what extent' which is basically evaluate
Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Blade Runner Discussion
Themes
Corruption - the 'corruption' of the Replicants away from their designed prupose results in their attemot at humantiy - they turn into us when the are corrupted - brings into question the IDENTITY of HUMANITY and what defines it
Corporation - the individuals are lost to the neon glow of billboards and products, swimming in a sea of light it's hard to find yourself, let alone anyone else. Also draws comaprisons to America at the time (production context), who were promoting corporations heavily, and shows that it may already be happening. Brings in ISOLATION
Implicit - humanity can be achieved by other means - what does it take to be human? Is what we knw what is ture (Vertigo).
Aesthetic
High contrast colour, low key lighting. Typical in sci fi, expecailly the gritty dystopian ones of Scott. Without the harsh neon there is blackness - the tech and corpoations are rising to the top and the darkenss is the result. Confusing, alien but still reminiscent of our world
Shoot through smoke - everywhere. Cigarettes in the bar show the seedy nature, but also obscure the view of the other patrons and makes it feel unsafe, unfamiliar. Constantly smoke or steam iun the background achievieng a familiar effect, and shows that the inudstrial wasteland is ever present in the lives of the inhabitants. The smoke as he's fighting Leon hides the fight and leaves us confused and on edge. The background is always hazy and unclear, drawing our attneiton to the foreground but also showing danger and uncertainty
Long landscape establishing shots + cinematography that docuses in world building - the world is more inteseresting than the characters - the world defines and shapes the characters, and the story is told thourhg them but it's of the world. We learn relativily little of the character's backgrounds or personality, but how they act and react tot he world is what defines them to us
Eye close ups - ie the beginning and the Voight Kompff test showing them. Eyes are the gateway to the soul, and is how we see others - eye contact is noticeable and it's our key to our perception of the world. Lights shine off replicant eyes to show who they are - they betray who we are, our identity, and our purpose. Eyes are used for symbolism constantly in the real world for divinity. They visited an eye shop to find Tyrell, very important part of creation and them
Deckard - an enigma, even at the end we learn very little about him, compared to Scotty who we learn everything about in the second scene
Corruption - the 'corruption' of the Replicants away from their designed prupose results in their attemot at humantiy - they turn into us when the are corrupted - brings into question the IDENTITY of HUMANITY and what defines it
Corporation - the individuals are lost to the neon glow of billboards and products, swimming in a sea of light it's hard to find yourself, let alone anyone else. Also draws comaprisons to America at the time (production context), who were promoting corporations heavily, and shows that it may already be happening. Brings in ISOLATION
Implicit - humanity can be achieved by other means - what does it take to be human? Is what we knw what is ture (Vertigo).
Aesthetic
High contrast colour, low key lighting. Typical in sci fi, expecailly the gritty dystopian ones of Scott. Without the harsh neon there is blackness - the tech and corpoations are rising to the top and the darkenss is the result. Confusing, alien but still reminiscent of our world
Shoot through smoke - everywhere. Cigarettes in the bar show the seedy nature, but also obscure the view of the other patrons and makes it feel unsafe, unfamiliar. Constantly smoke or steam iun the background achievieng a familiar effect, and shows that the inudstrial wasteland is ever present in the lives of the inhabitants. The smoke as he's fighting Leon hides the fight and leaves us confused and on edge. The background is always hazy and unclear, drawing our attneiton to the foreground but also showing danger and uncertainty
Long landscape establishing shots + cinematography that docuses in world building - the world is more inteseresting than the characters - the world defines and shapes the characters, and the story is told thourhg them but it's of the world. We learn relativily little of the character's backgrounds or personality, but how they act and react tot he world is what defines them to us
Eye close ups - ie the beginning and the Voight Kompff test showing them. Eyes are the gateway to the soul, and is how we see others - eye contact is noticeable and it's our key to our perception of the world. Lights shine off replicant eyes to show who they are - they betray who we are, our identity, and our purpose. Eyes are used for symbolism constantly in the real world for divinity. They visited an eye shop to find Tyrell, very important part of creation and them
Deckard - an enigma, even at the end we learn very little about him, compared to Scotty who we learn everything about in the second scene
Thursday, 9 May 2019
Silent Film - Theory
Realist vs Expressive
Using Critical Theory
Andre Bazin (the guy who came up with auteur theory) - French theorist and critic
Distinguished between directors who put faith in reality and those who put faith in image
He believed un objective reality - like documentaries
Father of auteurism - he believed cinema is the director's personal vision
Realist isn't in terms of how realistic it is, but in key elements of film form. Expressive is using sound and angles to create meaning, where realist is just showing (common in social realism)
Tom Gunning - 1986 - The Cinema of Attractions
Cinema from 1895 to 1907 is primarily concerned with spectacle. Chase, trick films. Narrative plays a secondary role
Cultural Contexts
Rube Goldberg cartoons - seem to focus on mechanical comedy - ie the Rube Goldberg Machinem which is similar in themes of machinery and overcomplicated simplicity to silent films
Mechanical development/transport - cars have appeared, railways define America, planes are now a possibility
Cubism - art movement all about symmetry, which can be seen in Keaton and realist films. A more interesting way to look at everyday life. As, back then, art was almost an entertainment form in itself
Consumer culture greater - buying instead of making
Modernism - consumerism more popular, pop culture rising, the system of editing etc. How things are. Tech age comes in to this, as separate mediums such as radio and cinema came into their own it created celebrities
Wolfe's Conventions of American Silent Film
Keaton has no use of expressive cinematography - long shots, framing used to show gags. Rule of thirds coming into play which it hadn't yet. Mise-en-scene favors gadgets and engineering. There are multi-featured sets and props. Keaton's costume - the baggy trousers, black jacket and straw boat hat iconic. Fast paced action editing, ie the dog at the gun range. Iris shots - vignette, instead of close up or POV, but these happened in European cinema. 'Stone face'. Emphasis on physical expression.
Aesthetics - symmetry, surrealism (impossible gags, ie the paint coat hook), parallel lines - train tracks etc. working within the frame. Circular imagery
Using Critical Theory
Distinguished between directors who put faith in reality and those who put faith in image
He believed un objective reality - like documentaries
Father of auteurism - he believed cinema is the director's personal vision
Cinema from 1895 to 1907 is primarily concerned with spectacle. Chase, trick films. Narrative plays a secondary role
Rube Goldberg cartoons - seem to focus on mechanical comedy - ie the Rube Goldberg Machinem which is similar in themes of machinery and overcomplicated simplicity to silent films
Mechanical development/transport - cars have appeared, railways define America, planes are now a possibility
Cubism - art movement all about symmetry, which can be seen in Keaton and realist films. A more interesting way to look at everyday life. As, back then, art was almost an entertainment form in itself
Consumer culture greater - buying instead of making
Modernism - consumerism more popular, pop culture rising, the system of editing etc. How things are. Tech age comes in to this, as separate mediums such as radio and cinema came into their own it created celebrities
- Falls and chases played for big laughs
- Stunts that thrill the audience
- Star comedians with intriguing personalities - Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd - everyman personalities - childlike, idiot savant. Passive characters. Stars as we know them first developed. Groomed or success by studios
- Implausible scenarios - flat packed house, accidental assassin
- Stories told efficiently and clearly - no ambiguity or unresolved narratives
- Evoking of dream-like states - bits of surrealism. Silent films are almost inherently dream like states because they have no sound
- Critiques of American society - authority figures are butts of the joke, incompetent and bullying idiotic antagonists who are set against the 'everyman' protagonists
- Men and Women representation - women are motivation, the Treasure chest in Propp Theory, but is active in One Week. Masculinity is a physical thing Brett Carroll wrote American Masculinities, said definitions of masculinity is through body. Joe Roberts - tall antagonist compared to small Keaton, big aggressive movement, anger, facial hair. Encompassed by antagonists but not the protagonist
Keaton has no use of expressive cinematography - long shots, framing used to show gags. Rule of thirds coming into play which it hadn't yet. Mise-en-scene favors gadgets and engineering. There are multi-featured sets and props. Keaton's costume - the baggy trousers, black jacket and straw boat hat iconic. Fast paced action editing, ie the dog at the gun range. Iris shots - vignette, instead of close up or POV, but these happened in European cinema. 'Stone face'. Emphasis on physical expression.
Aesthetics - symmetry, surrealism (impossible gags, ie the paint coat hook), parallel lines - train tracks etc. working within the frame. Circular imagery
Thursday, 2 May 2019
Silent Film
Have a lot of comedy shorts - go to see a program of things rather than one long things
Much more melodramatic performances - as sound couldn't help and it came from theatre
Popular until talkies - late '20s
Title cards to inform or add dialogue
Pianist usually played in the cinema
Buster Keaton does all his own stunts, practical not CG
Not that different to now in that they have different genres - horror, western, action, comedy, German expressionism
Realist vs Expressive areas of silent film
Started as realist - ie Lumierre Brothers. Spectatle, watching something int he real world happen instead of narrative. German expressionism changed this - strange camera angles, expressive editing
Conventions of silent film comedy:
Stunt comedy - physical, slapstick
Lack of narrative for gags or opposite, Keaton combines them
Chase sequences
Shot in long shot
Buster Keaton
Really successful comedian, rivaling Charlie Chaplin. Was an independent filmmaker but gets persuaded to sign to MGM (i.e. the studio system) which destroys the purity of his work, and so retires. Developed alcohol problems and dies in 1960s. People rediscover him around then. Rail Runner made around then, transitioned well into talkies
A lot of it is improvised - figure out beginning and end at the rest will figure it out, which created a contentious relationship with MGM who wanted written down stuff, but he felt it was stifling as he changed his mind
Influence on Jackie Chan
Unique to the film
Auteur traits
Context of the time
One Week
What's similar and what's changed.
Editing is different - says 'this is what happens next or at the same time'. Very functional, no use of juxtaposition.
No ECU, use lens eye instead (vignette, says look at this), also used in and out for time transitions
No camera movement, tiny bit of panning but that's it.
Scores written for the film
Had a really strong role for women at the time - risqué sequence of her in the bath, she makes decisions
Mise-en-scene is very symmetrical, one of his auteur traits
Cinematography is mainly long shots
Uses flat lights all the time, no low key lighting at any point, contrast with silent horror at the time
The High Sign
Violent comedy
Stories of house split into story board like shot - symmetry
Stronger narrative
Protagonist has fallen on hard times - auteur trait. Relevant to the time, just before the Great Depression where poverty was rife, relates to audience, almost a strong social comment even if the main purpose is escapism
Also, characters are inept - idiot savant
Motivation is usually women
More extreme close ups, but on inanimate objects (ie calendar, register) not on people's faces. Don't get reaction shots, use physical comedy instead
Cops
Deep depth of field so can see anything behind
Camera movement tracking the horse and cart
Scarecrow
Symmetry - key elements and aesthetics. Also American art focused on symmetry at the time, especially interesting as filmmakers were influenced in art at the time
Fascination with mechanical things - house spinning in One Week, walls in High Sign, other stuff here
Editing was more sophisticated- - eyeline match
Focusses on the relationship between him and the big man more, which doesn't usually happen.
Woman looks at camera after being kissed by the scarecrow, braking fourth wall, acknowledging that it's a film
Much more melodramatic performances - as sound couldn't help and it came from theatre
Popular until talkies - late '20s
Title cards to inform or add dialogue
Pianist usually played in the cinema
Buster Keaton does all his own stunts, practical not CG
Not that different to now in that they have different genres - horror, western, action, comedy, German expressionism
Realist vs Expressive areas of silent film
Started as realist - ie Lumierre Brothers. Spectatle, watching something int he real world happen instead of narrative. German expressionism changed this - strange camera angles, expressive editing
Conventions of silent film comedy:
Stunt comedy - physical, slapstick
Lack of narrative for gags or opposite, Keaton combines them
Chase sequences
Shot in long shot
Buster Keaton
Really successful comedian, rivaling Charlie Chaplin. Was an independent filmmaker but gets persuaded to sign to MGM (i.e. the studio system) which destroys the purity of his work, and so retires. Developed alcohol problems and dies in 1960s. People rediscover him around then. Rail Runner made around then, transitioned well into talkies
A lot of it is improvised - figure out beginning and end at the rest will figure it out, which created a contentious relationship with MGM who wanted written down stuff, but he felt it was stifling as he changed his mind
Influence on Jackie Chan
Unique to the film
Auteur traits
Context of the time
One Week
What's similar and what's changed.
Editing is different - says 'this is what happens next or at the same time'. Very functional, no use of juxtaposition.
No ECU, use lens eye instead (vignette, says look at this), also used in and out for time transitions
No camera movement, tiny bit of panning but that's it.
Scores written for the film
Had a really strong role for women at the time - risqué sequence of her in the bath, she makes decisions
Mise-en-scene is very symmetrical, one of his auteur traits
Cinematography is mainly long shots
Uses flat lights all the time, no low key lighting at any point, contrast with silent horror at the time
The High Sign
Violent comedy
Stories of house split into story board like shot - symmetry
Stronger narrative
Protagonist has fallen on hard times - auteur trait. Relevant to the time, just before the Great Depression where poverty was rife, relates to audience, almost a strong social comment even if the main purpose is escapism
Also, characters are inept - idiot savant
Motivation is usually women
More extreme close ups, but on inanimate objects (ie calendar, register) not on people's faces. Don't get reaction shots, use physical comedy instead
Cops
Deep depth of field so can see anything behind
Camera movement tracking the horse and cart
Scarecrow
Symmetry - key elements and aesthetics. Also American art focused on symmetry at the time, especially interesting as filmmakers were influenced in art at the time
Fascination with mechanical things - house spinning in One Week, walls in High Sign, other stuff here
Editing was more sophisticated- - eyeline match
Focusses on the relationship between him and the big man more, which doesn't usually happen.
Woman looks at camera after being kissed by the scarecrow, braking fourth wall, acknowledging that it's a film
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