Film studies
Thursday 8 October 2015
Study
I am going to write my study about Stanley Kubrick and The Shining. I will include things like how colour is used to connote satanic themes through a genre analysis, as well as how Kubrick uses sound and editing to make the audience feel uncomfortable. I will also do an auteur analysis by comparing other films Stanley Kubrick has made.
Monday 5 October 2015
The Shining ending
The Shining ends with an old photograph of Jack on the wall from a time period he wasn't alive in. This is probably because history repeated itself, meaning every 60 years or so, a man that looks like Jack comes to the hotel and goes insane.
Thursday 24 September 2015
Auteur theory
AUTEUR THEORY
Auteur theory essentially states that a film's director can be recognised by its visual style.
We looked at and compared three films by JJ Abrams: Mission Impossible 3, Star Trek and Super 8. Each film opens with a mystery. With Mission Impossible 3, it was the ambiguity of what was happening, the same with Star Trek, and with Super 8 it was the strange boxes that were on the floor after the train crashed. He does this in all of his films as a means to draw the audience in. The start of his films are always very fast paced and contain a lot of violence and explosions. Camera shake is also a recurring feature of his films, and it was very obvious in the three we looked at.
As well as this, all three films open with some form of loss of a family member. In Super 8, it's the boy's mother, Star Trek, the supposed loss of the baby's father and Mission Impossible 3 a woman is shot in the head and killed in the opening scene.
JJ Abrams frequently uses lens flares and camera shake in his films.
TOM SIX
Tom Six is the creator of the infamous Human Centipede trilogy. He was relatively unknown to the masses until this particular franchise, but he had made films in the past for a Dutch audience. Whilst many people would consider him to be mentally ill, he considers himself an artist, often marketing himself as "a decadent artist decaying in style". He could be considered an auteur as his films are consistently offensive in their nature.
The first Human Centipede film was essentially a stereotypical psychological horror film. It used typical genre conventions to get the story going, such as a car breaking down and two young girls being lost in the woods. This was apparently done deliberately to make the audience think they were watching just another horror film, meaning there would be more shock value when the plot really got going. Despite audience reaction, the first film was very tame when compared to other horror films and the other two films in the series. It was shot very 'clinically' to parallel the central character, who was an insane Doctor. For example, the camera work was is smooth, and the colour pallet of the film matches that of a hospital (a lot of greens, blues and whites).
The second film was a contrast to the first. This is because Tom Six believes that normal sequels are boring. It is about a man who becomes sexually obsessed with the first film. This was supposedly done as a 'satirical response' to people who believe horror films and violent video games are the cause of violence, which is part of the reason why this film is so over the top with violence to an almost comical level. The central character is the complete opposite of the character of the first film. He is small and obese, as opposed to the tall and thin character of Part 1. As well as this, the film is shot entirely handheld and in black and white. Like with part 1, the visual style of the film is influenced by the traits of the central character. The shaky camera and black and white colouring reflect the unstable personality of the character.
Part 3 is a big departure from the other two films, as it is a straight out comedy. It could be argued that the other films were comedies as well due to their absurd nature, but this one is very explicit in being a comedy. It reuses the two actors who played the main characters in Parts 1 and 2, and the visual style is similar to that of a 1970's American film, using the 'centipede' idea as a method of prison punishment. Tom Six has said he believes this should actually be implemented in prisons as a crime deterrent. This film is more funny than offensive, but the offensive elements are mainly in the dialogue. This is a recurring theme through all of the films, and Tom Six himself has said if his films have managed to offend people, he has succeeded.
Auteur theory essentially states that a film's director can be recognised by its visual style.
We looked at and compared three films by JJ Abrams: Mission Impossible 3, Star Trek and Super 8. Each film opens with a mystery. With Mission Impossible 3, it was the ambiguity of what was happening, the same with Star Trek, and with Super 8 it was the strange boxes that were on the floor after the train crashed. He does this in all of his films as a means to draw the audience in. The start of his films are always very fast paced and contain a lot of violence and explosions. Camera shake is also a recurring feature of his films, and it was very obvious in the three we looked at.
As well as this, all three films open with some form of loss of a family member. In Super 8, it's the boy's mother, Star Trek, the supposed loss of the baby's father and Mission Impossible 3 a woman is shot in the head and killed in the opening scene.
JJ Abrams frequently uses lens flares and camera shake in his films.
TOM SIX
Tom Six is the creator of the infamous Human Centipede trilogy. He was relatively unknown to the masses until this particular franchise, but he had made films in the past for a Dutch audience. Whilst many people would consider him to be mentally ill, he considers himself an artist, often marketing himself as "a decadent artist decaying in style". He could be considered an auteur as his films are consistently offensive in their nature.
The first Human Centipede film was essentially a stereotypical psychological horror film. It used typical genre conventions to get the story going, such as a car breaking down and two young girls being lost in the woods. This was apparently done deliberately to make the audience think they were watching just another horror film, meaning there would be more shock value when the plot really got going. Despite audience reaction, the first film was very tame when compared to other horror films and the other two films in the series. It was shot very 'clinically' to parallel the central character, who was an insane Doctor. For example, the camera work was is smooth, and the colour pallet of the film matches that of a hospital (a lot of greens, blues and whites).
The second film was a contrast to the first. This is because Tom Six believes that normal sequels are boring. It is about a man who becomes sexually obsessed with the first film. This was supposedly done as a 'satirical response' to people who believe horror films and violent video games are the cause of violence, which is part of the reason why this film is so over the top with violence to an almost comical level. The central character is the complete opposite of the character of the first film. He is small and obese, as opposed to the tall and thin character of Part 1. As well as this, the film is shot entirely handheld and in black and white. Like with part 1, the visual style of the film is influenced by the traits of the central character. The shaky camera and black and white colouring reflect the unstable personality of the character.
Part 3 is a big departure from the other two films, as it is a straight out comedy. It could be argued that the other films were comedies as well due to their absurd nature, but this one is very explicit in being a comedy. It reuses the two actors who played the main characters in Parts 1 and 2, and the visual style is similar to that of a 1970's American film, using the 'centipede' idea as a method of prison punishment. Tom Six has said he believes this should actually be implemented in prisons as a crime deterrent. This film is more funny than offensive, but the offensive elements are mainly in the dialogue. This is a recurring theme through all of the films, and Tom Six himself has said if his films have managed to offend people, he has succeeded.
Thursday 17 September 2015
Shot types:
Extreme long shot: usually used as an establishing shot.
Long shot: A shot that depicts an entire character or object from head to foot. Not as long as an establishing shot.Medium shot: A shot of an individual from the waist up.
Insert shot: when objects fill the frame. Can be used to break continuity.
Angles:
Birds eye view, high angle (h/a), low angle (l/a), Dutch tilt/oblique angle, POV shot, eye level.
Pan (camera moves horizontally), tilt (camera points up or down), tracking (camera moves on a wheeled truck), crane (camera moves up or down through a space), zoom (different from a dolly as it uses just the lens)
Transitions/edits: Cut (instant transition), fade outs (screen gradually goes dark), fade in (screen becomes lighter), dissolves (shot A is superimposed over shot B), wipe (a moving boundary line crosses the screen)
Kuleshov effect:
The Kuleshov Effect is a film editing (montage) effect demonstrated by Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.
SPACED ANALYSIS:
The sequence when the two main characters discuss what they are going to do later in the evening is interesting because it is overlayed with the future events, as opposed to them just explaining what they are going to do. The male character's scene is presented in a comic strip, which links to his character as he is a comic book artist.
As well as this, when they toss a coin to decide where to go, the audience do not see the result, but instead, it cuts straight to the bar, meaning the audience have to figure out, or assume, the coin landed on a certain side. The bluntness of this transition adds to the humour, as well as making the scene more engaging.
Another thing that is particularly intriguing about this specific episode is that it is told in a non-linear fashion, as it starts with one of the ending scenes. This immediately draws the audience in, and keeps them watching until it comes full circle. Also, in the scene where the two central characters are fighting off a group of chavs with their hands as guns, non-diegetic gun sounds have been added.
Extreme long shot: usually used as an establishing shot.
Long shot: A shot that depicts an entire character or object from head to foot. Not as long as an establishing shot.Medium shot: A shot of an individual from the waist up.
Insert shot: when objects fill the frame. Can be used to break continuity.
Angles:
Birds eye view, high angle (h/a), low angle (l/a), Dutch tilt/oblique angle, POV shot, eye level.
Pan (camera moves horizontally), tilt (camera points up or down), tracking (camera moves on a wheeled truck), crane (camera moves up or down through a space), zoom (different from a dolly as it uses just the lens)
Transitions/edits: Cut (instant transition), fade outs (screen gradually goes dark), fade in (screen becomes lighter), dissolves (shot A is superimposed over shot B), wipe (a moving boundary line crosses the screen)
Kuleshov effect:
The Kuleshov Effect is a film editing (montage) effect demonstrated by Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.
SPACED ANALYSIS:
The sequence when the two main characters discuss what they are going to do later in the evening is interesting because it is overlayed with the future events, as opposed to them just explaining what they are going to do. The male character's scene is presented in a comic strip, which links to his character as he is a comic book artist.
As well as this, when they toss a coin to decide where to go, the audience do not see the result, but instead, it cuts straight to the bar, meaning the audience have to figure out, or assume, the coin landed on a certain side. The bluntness of this transition adds to the humour, as well as making the scene more engaging.
Another thing that is particularly intriguing about this specific episode is that it is told in a non-linear fashion, as it starts with one of the ending scenes. This immediately draws the audience in, and keeps them watching until it comes full circle. Also, in the scene where the two central characters are fighting off a group of chavs with their hands as guns, non-diegetic gun sounds have been added.
Tuesday 15 September 2015
Sherlock
In this scene, Sherlock is dressed in very dark, formal clothing. Usually characters dressed like this would be considered villains, but here it is used because Sherlock is an anti-hero and is not the character the audience directly relate to. The character the audience do relate to is John, who is dressed in very normal clothes, and is usually the one who asks the questions for the audience. Irene Adler is completely naked throughout most of the scene (apart from her shoes, which are red, connoting danger), meaning we can't deduce whether or not she is a villain. Whilst she is naked, she dominates the scene and appears to outsmart Sherlock, however when she puts on Sherlock's coat, the tables are turned and Sherlock has the upper hand. This scene suggests men can be controlled by sex, but will ultimately have power over women, so it plays to stereotypes.
The music and dialogue are very fast and snappy, which parallels Sherlock's character.
The music and dialogue are very fast and snappy, which parallels Sherlock's character.
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