mediastudies 1 Alice

James Marsh uses the conventions of a crime-thriller narrative to engage his audience in “man on wire”. The basic premise of the film is a heist, getting to the top of the world trade centre with the equipment and executing the walk. The way Marsh constructs his narrative is familiar to a wide and varied audience of people, engaging man people from different back grounds and ages.

The main audience of the film are white, middle-class, Europeans. The main reason for this is the predominantly white European “cast”. The hero is a French man that not many people out side Europe would be able to identify with. The way Marsh places Philippe Petit in the Narrative is as the hero, there fore he is the main person in the film people can identify with. He is the mastermind; this is a type of character people will recognise from a familiar narrative structure. The mastermind in a plot to commit a heist.

The audience could be restricted by the preconceptions about documentary, that it is boring and for boring people. Marsh challenges these preconceived ideas by his way of projecting the film. All the advertising for the film fitted in with the heist genre. The use of “crime” on the poster and the striking images all diverts attention away from the fact it was a documentary.

The first emotions you feel in the beginnings of the sequence leading up to the entering of the

When the people were in the cinema the “illusion” is continued. The way marsh establishes the narrative fits in with heist conventions. The fact that the film almost starts at the end is a typical aspect of heist, particularly noirs.

The emotions felt where the cast are entering the WTC are ones of worry and suspense. Marsh creates these emotions by the use of voice-overs, the people who were involved are describing their feeling that they were experiencing therefore passing them in the audience, the anxiety that the character are feeling are transferred to the audience. The use of music is also key in creating the atmosphere, it adds to the feelings of suspense because it is jumpy. It is also piano music which is reminiscent of many heist film, culturally the audience will connect this with emotions of suspense adding to the already tense atmosphere.

Marsh chooses to focus on the love story between Petit and Annie because it is a narrative strand that appeals to another demographic that has not yet been addressed. This is the predominantly a female audience who may not be attracted by the heist or documentary genres of the film.

Marshes use of archive footage gives a more intimate view of the planning stages and Petit’s life. This makes the audience feel more apart of the process and gives them a clearer view into Petit’s life. It also goes some way to helping explain Petit’s passion for dreams and wire walking by giving footage of his early life and showing you his long standing relationship with the wire.

The points on the film that are funny are mainly when Petit is making his “passionate” comments this is funny because especially as a British audience we are not used to someone being so passionate about something. Because of this we find his pure infatuation with the ideas comical and have the desire to laugh at something that is not normal to us.

This is an animated short film of around five minutes. It is a very “experimental piece” it uses lots of bright and phycadelic colours but is aldo very dark. The style of animation is very unusual it seems to use photos of body parts such as legs and hands to make ip the landscape. The music is very disgointed and quite sombre it is very “plinky plonky” with pianos and xyylaphomes, it changes quite a lot using harps giving it a slightly magical feel and other sounds changing the mood. I really like this animation because it has a feeling that is so disgointed from reality.,

We have now got our acts together over the whole buisness of our film, we have decided to change the premice of the film and concentrate on the realtionship of Tom and Gillian. Using flash backs and introducing a vengeful character in the form of Ellis.

Right…first post in a long,long time, hopefully this poster analysis in more successful than the last.

1.       The genre of the text is physiological horror.

This assumption is developed as the eye travels down the poster. Starting with the tagline, the words rape and ultra-violence immediately pop out to the viewer. This suggests elements of the horror genre, both having connotations of a horrid nature. Rape, for many people brings to mind images of terror and shock, thus creating a mood of horror. This is furthered by “Ultra-violence” reinforcing the images of terror and shock. However it is then confused with the mention of Beethoven as the other primary interest of, who can only be assumed to be the protagonist. This adds the element of physiological to the genre as it upsets the balance of stereotypical horror as the idea of the famous composer, class, art and high brow does not fit in with the ideas of the dark and terrifying world of the horror genre.

As you travel further down the poster, the next thing you see it is at the heart of the poster, drawing the eye to it as it is the only bit of colour on the page, surrounded by a vast, blank whiteness. This adds to the idea of physiological horror as a main convention of genre is not knowing what is around the next corner.

The knife is the most prominent image in the poster, in the foreground. It connotes violence, blood and gore as well as fear.

2.       The purpose of the text is to inform and persuade

It informs the viewer by giving, most prominently, the director’s name, informing obviously of his name, but also of the style of the film, the way it will be shot and the style it will follow, especially as Stanley Kubrick is a well known director, therefore there will be a general understanding of how his films look.

The rating is also encompassed, restricted. This shows that it now is reaching a limited audience. Down at the very bottom of the poster are the names of the starring actors, obviously not as important as the film maker.

It persuades the viewer by the large and bold name of the director, Stanley Kubrick. This appeals to his fan base, keen on his style.

The design of the poster is eye catching. It draws the eye in with the concentric triangles, therefore attracting a large body of people even if they have not heard of the book or director the design can be enough to persuade some viewers.

The age restriction could be seen as a constraint, however given the eye catching nature of the poster, it could work to its strength with youths determined to rebel against authority and see it.

3.

The man in the poster appears to be peeking out from the dark ,connoting that he is hiding something or hiding from the audience, which shows that his character in the film  is often in dark places, hiding in crevices and thus enforcing that this is indeed a horror film.

The appearance of the man is similar to the stereotypical appearance to Jack the ripper, something specially a British audience will relate to. His black hat and out stretched hand holding a knife are included in basically every drawing of Jack the ripper. His reputation as a predator, terrorising the streets of white chapel will then be associated with the man on the poster, creating an idea of his character and the plotline of the story.

The dismembered eye ball on the sleeve of the man connotes that he is always watching. The fact that it is on his sleeve resonates with the saying “wears his heart on his sleeve” someone is very open about their emotions, replace heart with an eye and the meaning can be read as he is always watching and that it is the only thing he lets people see him doing considering the rest of him is in darkness.

The background of white tiles represents a sterile environment, perhaps one in which to commit this “ultra-violence”. Coupled with the prominent image of the knife it congers images of blood splashing against the tiles and images of surgery. This again resonates with jack the ripper as he would mutilate and dissect the corpses of his victims.

The title “a clockwork orange” is in white out lined by black. This connotes that it quite a hollow film in terms of the main characters feelings towards his actions, maybe after he has committed his crimes he feels empty, it has not cured any yearning he has in order to commit these crimes.

4.

An example of anchorage in the poster is the concentric triangles and the tagline.

The tagline encompassing the words “rape” and “ultra-violence” are associated with a lust not necessarily for woman but for power. It suggested that the protagonist is out for the feelings of power that these acts will give him.  The mention as well that he is a young man suggests that he is “finding himself” he is mixed up and confused. Felling lost and powerless he strives for the feelings of supremacy and control it could give him as well as regaining some of the control he feels he could have lost in his growing up. All feelings it is accepted young men often feel however not many will take it to extreme levels. I wish to point out that I am in no way insinuating all men are power hungry rapists.

 This is anchored by the triangles that could be phallic or at the very least representations of masculinity and power. This is reinforced by the positioning of the woman above the smallest triangle, she is hand cuffed and appears powerless, this reinforces the meaning that this “young man” is power hungry and out for the kill.

Today was the first day of our shoot and we began in the workshop of the school. It is the perfect enviroment for Tom to discover Gillian dead. Mr Stuart allowed us to use the workshop while it was still in a state of use meaning it looked recently vacated. Ellis made Gillian up with Bruises and blood (Pics to follow). We got a lot of shot but unfortunatley we had a constraint of time, however Mt Stuart said we could come back at lunch time. There was however a breakdown in communication meaning again we only had 15mins. Still we have all the shots we wanted.

Film Noir- The western of the street

 Narrative

The General narrative of a classic Noir follows a simple pattern: A married woman meets a stranger, the stranger and woman have an affair, woman convinces stranger to kill her husband.

They are also often Gangster movies; this was especially prominent with the influx of German refugees escaping the Nazi regime leading to a mixing of the cultures.

The themes in Noir tend to be centred around the darker nature of man. These were morally dark films and concentrated on the blurred lines of the ethical black and white of the world. Other themes include racial tensions and issues to do with society. Neo-Noir brings these themes back in a different time and relates them to the time in which the film was made.

Representations

Light is the key to much of the representation in Film Noir and to an extent its success. Light used as a way to represent the moral divides of black and white: Dark and light. The lighting is often shady representing a questioning of the motives and principles of the protagonists. In the end of the films Villains are often “trapped by light”, they are pinpointed by a spotlight of high key light in a dark environment, leading to the idea of light overcoming the dark.

The way woman are represented in Noir was different to many pictures of the 20^th century. Women in Noir are evil and manipulative and will stop at nothing to attain their goal, hence the title femme fatale. These are powerful woman, and often greedy, in spite of this they are attractive to the main protagonist and he cannot resist them. Women’s ends are different in classic noir than in Neo-Noir, in classic Noir they are mostly stopped where as in Neo-Noir they are not.

Often set in L.A Noirs are often seen as the western of the streets. L.A a developing community draws a lot of parallels with the old west, obviously the idea of a developing community but also the idea of everyone striving for something.

Institution

In the beginning Noir films were made on a budget, they have been described as an “action movie on a budget”. They were also made on a very short time scale sometimes as little as two weeks, being churned out by Hollywood on a very regular basis. The limited budget is partly responsible for the signature low lighting. Lighting takes time and money, so fewer lights mean more time and money. Another way to save money was to use shadows instead of extras, this added to the shady, dark fell of the Noir style.

Due to the lack of things to do in such damp weather I find myself re watching some of my favorite films. One that caught my eye was the history boys in regard to characterisation as it effectivly introduces the personality of each character and the dynamics of the group.

The first Character we see is Posner, he is listening to 1940s style music, I think it is vera lynn but I could be mistaken, this immediatley reveals his love of music and singing, a major theme in his own, personal story.

The Next Character we meet is Scripps, who is on his knees in a Church praying. This again is reveling a major part of his character. Out side the church he meets Posner, and it is then revealed that they are from Yorkshire, through there accents, this is contradictary to the stereotypes of Northern lads, culturally we do not expect Yorkshire Boys to be listening to Vera Lynn and on their knees praying.

The Next character we meet is Lockwood who is on a milk float, his summer job, showing he is porer than the others, Shortly after we meet Akthar he is surrounded by his family showing his, family orientated way of being.

We meet the other boys while they are reciving their A-level results  they are all exited and shows there eager and fun loving motives.Rudge is introduced as a rather somber character and has the lowest results of the Gang although they are still very impressive. This shows that he is slower and maybe not as interested as the other boys, a characteristic that rings true through out the film.

Next on the agenda we have Dakin a rather greasy piece of work, he reveals that he got his results the night before while bedding the school secretary, showing his “ladies man” image an integeral part of his character amd interaction with Posner, an important part of the script.

Re watching this opening has shown me how important it is to introduce each character effectivley as it helps to move along with the story and gives the audience a clear indication on the motives of the character.

I have not been able to find a clip of the opening online as of yet but when I do I will post it.

As we are drawing closer to the actual shoot we are now refining out plans. First off the story board is taking shape thanks mainly Richard, an as we were doing this the idea came to light, to open with an birds eye view shot of a record that fades in to a rotating shot of a table thus creating a graphic match. We also now have a definite cast, Tom as the “hero”, Ian Angus, Alfie and Kevin and the “gangsters” and Mr Wallis as the “Big Cheese”. There is also now a definite location for the shoot which should take place in early January. As well as this we have a list of everything we need regarding props, costumes and the like. So we are now well on the way to creating this film.

We were set the challenge of coming up with a 2 minute film in a double period as an exercise in continuity. Our group decided to go with the simple idea of someone running through a corridor. Tom was the caracter with Ellis and I behind the camera. In the double period we have filmed all the footage we need now we have to edit it.

In this meeting we went into greater detail with location, actors and constictions we might face.

Due to the constrictions of time it would be near impossible to get out of bowmore to shoot, we discussed numerousd locations that would fir the bill. We needed a darkroom with a table and plenty of space it also needed to have the look of a comfrence tipe room but not look like a school so that ruled out shooting in the school. Locations we discusses were the Macherie Hotel, Islay house and the port Charlotte Hotel. Al of these we decided would be too far away. Mr Wallis suggested the training room of Bowmore Distillary it fits the bill and is near enough to film with the restraints of a double period. Apart from geting actual permission we have a location.

We also discussed Cast and decided that the technicaleties of getting 7 teachers in tghe same place might be difficult and it may be a better idea to ask some of the 6th year boys.

We now have a location and hopefully some cast members so now our film is all coming together.