How does a film tell a story?
Story can be split in two ways: Story and Plot
Story = everything that happens
Plot = what filmmaker chooses to show you
e.g. in BOTSW, it could start at Hushpuppy's birth
Basic storytelling tools:
7 Story Types
Monster attacks, hero steps forward with a side kick + helper
A hero is doubtful of abilities and rejects destiny, then embraces goal and becomes hero
Flawed character meets woman of dreams, overcomes flaw and becomes a better person, fall out and separate before reuniting at end
etc.
Conventional Narrative
Narrative has cause and effect with an overall trajectory of enigma resolution
NCFOM doesn't have linearity - Anton taken out by accident etc.
The trajectory is what the plot is aimed for
Enigma resolution is fixing a problem
Most narratives focus on a goal driven main character
Character has goal they need to complete - a quest
Usually a time limit to complete the goal
This narrative is based on a series of cause and effect events
Syd Field's 3 Act Structure
Act 1: Set up - usually first 1/4, learn about world, incident that disrupts normality
Plot point one - an event takes the plot in a new direction and ends Act 1 Anton killing two associates
Act 2: Confrontation - usually next 2 1/4s, hero undergoes development, improves skills or awareness
Plot point two - ends with another major plot point, sets up Ac 3, Llewellyn dying
Act 3: Resolution - usually last 1/4 films climax
When in Active spectatorship, narrative isn't clear, so the plot points can vary depending on perspective i.e. BOTSW a plot point 1 could be Wink in hospital gown or the flood
Claude Levi-Strauss - Binary Opposites
All narratives about binary opposites
Good vs. Evil, Man vs. Machine, Man vs. Nature, Civilization vs. Wild, Loyalty vs. Betrayal
Useful for identifying themes, which effects audience therefore spectatorship
The type of spectator you are governs with binary oppositions + themes you see
Blade Runner: Slavery vs. Freedom, Man vs. Machine, Duty vs. Morality, Man vs. God/Father vs. Son
Vertigo: Perception vs. Reality, Money vs. Morality, Man vs. Himself, Loyalty vs. Betrayal
No Country for Old Men: Rich vs. Poor, Individual vs. Corporation, Old vs. New
Beasts of the Southern Wild: Civilization vs. Wild, Utopia vs. Dystopia, Nature vs. Artifice, Childhood vs. Adulthood, Imagination vs. Reality, Freedom vs. Responsibility
Todorov's Theory of Narrative
Most conventional films follow the structure
Equilibrium - Normality in the world
Disruption of Equilibrium - Something changes the status quo
Recognition of Disruption - Characters recognize the disruption
Attempt to Repair the Disruption - Making it right
Equilibrium - Doesn't have to be the same as before, but disruption ended
Alternative Narratives
Jean Luc Godard - 'I agree that a film should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order'
Some narratives do not follow this basic structure. Called 'Alternative Narratives'
Some narratives are out of the sequence or disjointed. Tell the stories in the wrong order or use flashbacks
Can go further by not having logical order to story
Some narratives are made up of little short stories - called 'Episodic Narratives'
Omniscient or Restricted Narratives
Omniscient - Audience knows more than the characters, great for tension + suspense (i.e. coin toss in NCFOM, we know more than the petrol station employee)
Restricted - Only know as much as the characters (usually protagonist)
Linear or Non-Linear Narrative
Linear - Show events in chronological order)
Non-Linear - Not chronological, via flashbacks, montages etc.
Open or Closed Narrative
How the narrative ends
Open - Audience is left wondering what will happen next at end of film. E.g. a cliffhanger
Closed - Narrative ends with a definite ending where everything is resolved 'happily ever after'
Single or Multi-Strand Narrative
Single strand - Only one story in film, follows protagonist
Multi-strand - When the film has more than one story, involving several characters of equal importance
Enigma
A riddle or puzzle to be solved
Most narrative driven by an enigma that drives film. Introduced when equilibrium is disrupted.
Keeps viewer guessing interested story. Not answered until end.
Monday, 14 May 2018
Sunday, 13 May 2018
Trainspotting
Main focus of British film is ideology (nihilism and a bit on addiction) and narrative
Controversial
Released in 1996
Directed by Danny Boyle, considered his and Ewan McGregor's breakout film
Nominated for Best Picture Oscar, won Oscar for Best Adopted Screenplay from Irvin Welsh - Trainspotting
Kick started 'Cool Britannia' along with other British films which inspired pride in British culture
Inspired heroin chic
Both surreal and realism
Cinematography to nihilism
Which comes first, nihilism or heroin? Is there any ideology in nihilism at all? Or is it just addiction
Controversial
Released in 1996
Directed by Danny Boyle, considered his and Ewan McGregor's breakout film
Nominated for Best Picture Oscar, won Oscar for Best Adopted Screenplay from Irvin Welsh - Trainspotting
Kick started 'Cool Britannia' along with other British films which inspired pride in British culture
Inspired heroin chic
Both surreal and realism
Cinematography to nihilism
Which comes first, nihilism or heroin? Is there any ideology in nihilism at all? Or is it just addiction
Ideology in Trainspotting
Everyone's morally reprehensible - taxi driver ditching Rent Boy, Diane blackmailing Renton into a relationship
Sticks to the dominant ideology that 'addicts are bad' but shows that its to do with their addiction not them as people
Anti London-Centric media representations:
First time since 1960s we've had representation of working class British people - before that it was Richard Curtis films - middle class London was the worlds view of Britain, shown by Renton describing the British as 'effete'
Challenges notion that London is the centre of the world, high vs pop culture - linked to Cool Britannia
Colour palette - dark but high contrast colours - red=danger, green=healing
Called Trainspotting because it's a hobby that no one else understands why you'd do it, you're ashamed to admit it etc. + you get 'track marks' on your veins when you inject heroin
Honest representation of heroin - challenges the view that junkies are passive victims
See loads of addicts - Begby alcohol/fighting, Renton's mum's Valium, Tommy exercising. In society there's power, attention, wealth, shopping, work addictions
Binary oppositions:
Addiction vs sobriety
Passivity vs choice
Culture vs depravity
Civilisation vs wild
Scenes showing addiction:
Toilet Scene - pills glow pure white while everything else is brown, even though they wouldn't realistically be clean
Bar Scene - Begby putting knife down, needs a quick fix of violence, but doesn't need the knife but is willing to use it
Knife Scene - Spud gets cut, repercussions of addiction harming others, last straw for Renton
Working Out Scene - Tommy's addiction to fitness
Anti-British scenes:
Renton's Rant - Why being Scottish is 'shite' (down to the English) and why the English are worse
Describing his London real estate job (the epitome of what life in London is/represents) as 'cheating, scamming, fragmenting, breaking... there was no such thing as society and if there was I had nothing to do with it' - directly comparable to the lifestyle of a heroin addict
Judge was English - us vs them, English in position of power
Nihilism - apathetic about situation, life, goals, drugs
Can't discuss the significance of Trainspotting without discussing Cool Brittania
Postmodern - style over substance ie sinking into the carpet, James Bond intertextuality especially with Sean Connery who's very pro Scottish, toilet scene. This gives us ideological views of drug addiction
WE ATTACH ONE IDEOLOGY TO EACH FILM
Sticks to the dominant ideology that 'addicts are bad' but shows that its to do with their addiction not them as people
Anti London-Centric media representations:
First time since 1960s we've had representation of working class British people - before that it was Richard Curtis films - middle class London was the worlds view of Britain, shown by Renton describing the British as 'effete'
Challenges notion that London is the centre of the world, high vs pop culture - linked to Cool Britannia
Colour palette - dark but high contrast colours - red=danger, green=healing
Called Trainspotting because it's a hobby that no one else understands why you'd do it, you're ashamed to admit it etc. + you get 'track marks' on your veins when you inject heroin
Honest representation of heroin - challenges the view that junkies are passive victims
See loads of addicts - Begby alcohol/fighting, Renton's mum's Valium, Tommy exercising. In society there's power, attention, wealth, shopping, work addictions
Binary oppositions:
Addiction vs sobriety
Passivity vs choice
Culture vs depravity
Civilisation vs wild
Scenes showing addiction:
Toilet Scene - pills glow pure white while everything else is brown, even though they wouldn't realistically be clean
Bar Scene - Begby putting knife down, needs a quick fix of violence, but doesn't need the knife but is willing to use it
Knife Scene - Spud gets cut, repercussions of addiction harming others, last straw for Renton
Working Out Scene - Tommy's addiction to fitness
Anti-British scenes:
Renton's Rant - Why being Scottish is 'shite' (down to the English) and why the English are worse
Describing his London real estate job (the epitome of what life in London is/represents) as 'cheating, scamming, fragmenting, breaking... there was no such thing as society and if there was I had nothing to do with it' - directly comparable to the lifestyle of a heroin addict
Judge was English - us vs them, English in position of power
Nihilism - apathetic about situation, life, goals, drugs
Can't discuss the significance of Trainspotting without discussing Cool Brittania
Postmodern - style over substance ie sinking into the carpet, James Bond intertextuality especially with Sean Connery who's very pro Scottish, toilet scene. This gives us ideological views of drug addiction
WE ATTACH ONE IDEOLOGY TO EACH FILM
Spectatorship
A spectator is an individual member of the audience
Two types of spectatorship:
Active - Requires thought, effort, resolve enigmas myself, not everything obvious
Passive - everyone walks away with the same reading, little effort, general good/bad
Blade Runner is Active - not sure what it's really about, character roles are mysterious
No Country for Old Men is Active - does things you don't expect, changes protagonist
A good way of telling if it's active or passive is what you take away from it
Stuart Hall - can get one of three readings from a film:
Preferred - Reading film maker intended you to get, passive is usually this
Oppositional - reading opposite to whats intended
Negotiated - accepts some but not all of the film, active usually this
Different readings:
Experience, film persuasion, age, culture, own interests, societal opinions, conventions used to
Positioning
Where foes the narrative position me? (ie if Tarantino directed NCFOM we'd like Anton), who?
Achieved through story, POV shots
Ie westerns
Metaphor for American foreign policy - ride in, kill someone, leave
In About a Girl - spectatorship as we're a friend
What drives the story in Beasts of the Southern Wild?
Hushpuppy/ Goes looking for mum and dad, sets fire to house etc
What drives the story in No Country for Old Men?
Anton. Llewelyn up to when he picks up the money. Bell never. Event driven narrative
Two types of spectatorship:
Active - Requires thought, effort, resolve enigmas myself, not everything obvious
Passive - everyone walks away with the same reading, little effort, general good/bad
Blade Runner is Active - not sure what it's really about, character roles are mysterious
No Country for Old Men is Active - does things you don't expect, changes protagonist
A good way of telling if it's active or passive is what you take away from it
Stuart Hall - can get one of three readings from a film:
Preferred - Reading film maker intended you to get, passive is usually this
Oppositional - reading opposite to whats intended
Negotiated - accepts some but not all of the film, active usually this
Different readings:
Experience, film persuasion, age, culture, own interests, societal opinions, conventions used to
Positioning
Where foes the narrative position me? (ie if Tarantino directed NCFOM we'd like Anton), who?
Achieved through story, POV shots
Ie westerns
Metaphor for American foreign policy - ride in, kill someone, leave
In About a Girl - spectatorship as we're a friend
What drives the story in Beasts of the Southern Wild?
Hushpuppy/ Goes looking for mum and dad, sets fire to house etc
What drives the story in No Country for Old Men?
Anton. Llewelyn up to when he picks up the money. Bell never. Event driven narrative
Friday, 11 May 2018
Ideology in No Country for Old Men
Llewellyn (protagonist) is a Vietnam war veteran, but is flawed, while usually they're undefeatable (ie Predator, Commando)
Typically one man can win and make a difference, but he dies
Good always wins, evil loses, but Llewellyn dies, Ed-Tom gives up and Anton walks away with the money
Realism vs myth - reality is brutal
CHANGE AND CHANCE - Capitalist change, society going towards it, and poor people not having a chance - Marxist ideology
Money is the front of all evil
What it means to be a man - violence solves nothing
Context of Setting
America in the 1980s
Went from liberal 1970s to a new climate of reactionary attitudes
Reagan got into power, brought with him an era of 'New Right'
Anti government ideology
Cold war at it's height, arms race
Reagan: Aggressively capitalist government, relatively militaristic for the first time since the Vietnam War, a growth in a new form of conservatism, right wing ideologies become stronger and more mainstream - imagery of businessman changed
Serious rise in drug culture. In 1980's armed robbers were still at the top of the criminal food chain, and as the prison time was only 4-5 years for most offences there was a code of silence.
Society
Fragmented society - young and old, left and right
Cut backs in government spending coinciding with factory closures, many communities in economic collapse
Older industries cutting down
Rise of Corporate America, more personable companies exert a strong influence on everyday life, reward effort, strong hierarchies, seen to be morally dubious/borderline criminal
Greater stress on individuals rather than community, selfishness and greed admirable, self improving qualities
Cinema
Blockbuster risen in significance, large scale event films with simplistic plot lines dominate the cinematic landscape (Stallone, Schwarzenegger)
Era of action heroes, solve all problems with violence, seen as morally correct, ends justify the means, individualistic and uncompromising
No Country for Old Men explores and critiques these dominant ideologies, using each of the three main characters to confront the changing face of America
Anton being the corporations of America is summed up his last scene. Even freak accidents like a a car crash (or a market crash) don’t stop them. They will even take the shirt off someone else’s back to rebuild, their inhuman ability to grit their teeth and walk through the pain keeping them going. They suffer no retribution from the law, as they have already escaped, covering their own backs, possibly through the manipulation of those below them.
Llewelyn Moss
Blockbuster character - cinema section. Also represents the people on the fringes of society, the underclass. bourgeoisies
Anton Chigurh
Corporate America - aggressive - New Society section
Sheriff Bell
Communities dead - old society section. Police were still blue collar in the 1980s and so represents proletariat - gets things done by talking to people.
The man in the coin toss sequence is the people (family owned business, family minded), Anton is capitalism threatening to destroy it, the coin, ie money, is how its done
Typically one man can win and make a difference, but he dies
Good always wins, evil loses, but Llewellyn dies, Ed-Tom gives up and Anton walks away with the money
Realism vs myth - reality is brutal
CHANGE AND CHANCE - Capitalist change, society going towards it, and poor people not having a chance - Marxist ideology
Money is the front of all evil
What it means to be a man - violence solves nothing
Context of Setting
America in the 1980s
Went from liberal 1970s to a new climate of reactionary attitudes
Reagan got into power, brought with him an era of 'New Right'
Anti government ideology
Cold war at it's height, arms race
Reagan: Aggressively capitalist government, relatively militaristic for the first time since the Vietnam War, a growth in a new form of conservatism, right wing ideologies become stronger and more mainstream - imagery of businessman changed
Serious rise in drug culture. In 1980's armed robbers were still at the top of the criminal food chain, and as the prison time was only 4-5 years for most offences there was a code of silence.
Society
Fragmented society - young and old, left and right
Cut backs in government spending coinciding with factory closures, many communities in economic collapse
Older industries cutting down
Rise of Corporate America, more personable companies exert a strong influence on everyday life, reward effort, strong hierarchies, seen to be morally dubious/borderline criminal
Greater stress on individuals rather than community, selfishness and greed admirable, self improving qualities
Cinema
Blockbuster risen in significance, large scale event films with simplistic plot lines dominate the cinematic landscape (Stallone, Schwarzenegger)
Era of action heroes, solve all problems with violence, seen as morally correct, ends justify the means, individualistic and uncompromising
No Country for Old Men explores and critiques these dominant ideologies, using each of the three main characters to confront the changing face of America
Anton being the corporations of America is summed up his last scene. Even freak accidents like a a car crash (or a market crash) don’t stop them. They will even take the shirt off someone else’s back to rebuild, their inhuman ability to grit their teeth and walk through the pain keeping them going. They suffer no retribution from the law, as they have already escaped, covering their own backs, possibly through the manipulation of those below them.
Llewelyn Moss
Blockbuster character - cinema section. Also represents the people on the fringes of society, the underclass. bourgeoisies
Anton Chigurh
Corporate America - aggressive - New Society section
Sheriff Bell
Communities dead - old society section. Police were still blue collar in the 1980s and so represents proletariat - gets things done by talking to people.
The man in the coin toss sequence is the people (family owned business, family minded), Anton is capitalism threatening to destroy it, the coin, ie money, is how its done
Ideology in Blade Runner
Explicit
Pro-humanity
Future gets worse - dystopian
Fear of Asian/Japanese culture
Freedom
Man vs Machine
Isolation
Dystopian future, negative ideology, plays on fear of time about nuclear holocaust
Implicit
Humanity can be achieved by things other than human beings
Pro-humanity
Future gets worse - dystopian
Fear of Asian/Japanese culture
Freedom
Man vs Machine
Isolation
Dystopian future, negative ideology, plays on fear of time about nuclear holocaust
Implicit
Humanity can be achieved by things other than human beings
Ideology
A set of views and ideas and values that are held by a society or a group within society
Societies have dominant ideologies - lying is bad
Karl Marx - the problem with society is that we changed from the ideological to the material
Not all ideologies are true
Different groups have different ideologies
Ideology falls in to two different categories in film:
Explicit
Films like superhero, war, westerns - violence solves problems
Good vs Evil
Love will conquer all - Rom Coms
Golden era Hollywood reenforces dominant ideology
Implicit
Harry Poter films - equality, chosen one isn't nice, shouldn't judge on impressions etc.
Some films appear to be neutral in terms of ideology but always will have implicit ideology
Echo Chamber
Surrounded by own views and doesn't listen to others
Things that contribute to a film's ideology:
Genre
Context of production (time, place it was made)
Target audience
Diegesis (setting)
Perspective of audience
Dialogue
Ending/resolution
Ideologies and views of crew
Characterisations (think about film behind a different character)
Pace
Narrative
Binary oppositions for set up in the narrative will set up the ideology
Societies have dominant ideologies - lying is bad
Karl Marx - the problem with society is that we changed from the ideological to the material
Not all ideologies are true
Different groups have different ideologies
Ideology falls in to two different categories in film:
Explicit
Films like superhero, war, westerns - violence solves problems
Good vs Evil
Love will conquer all - Rom Coms
Golden era Hollywood reenforces dominant ideology
Implicit
Harry Poter films - equality, chosen one isn't nice, shouldn't judge on impressions etc.
Some films appear to be neutral in terms of ideology but always will have implicit ideology
Echo Chamber
Surrounded by own views and doesn't listen to others
Things that contribute to a film's ideology:
Genre
Context of production (time, place it was made)
Target audience
Diegesis (setting)
Perspective of audience
Dialogue
Ending/resolution
Ideologies and views of crew
Characterisations (think about film behind a different character)
Pace
Narrative
Binary oppositions for set up in the narrative will set up the ideology
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