mediastudies 1 Alice

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.

Poster analysis of “The imagination of Doctor Parnassus

1.       The Genre of the text is a hybrid of Fantasy and romance. The Fantasy element is conveyed by the colours in certain parts of the text they are bright and standout, it creates and image of a different to the grey world the viewer id most likely in. the Bright colours counger images of other film such as the wizard of oz where the world turns from grey to coulorfull. The genre of romance is evident with the two characters at the top of the picture they are close and looking at each other, Heath ledger is toughing the woman denoting that they are lovers.  There is also a theme of adventure in the text as in the centre there appears to be a road leading to the framed colourful world, again this is similar to film such as the wizard of oz, a path leading to an fantasy world. There is also the idea of an ensemble piece there arte many names of famous actors at the top denoting a lot of characters. As well as this at the bottom of the poster there are many faces showing these many characters

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

It informs the viewer by telling them the Title first and foremost as well as information such as the production companies involved, unusually however this poster has no indication when the film is to be release, this would prompt the viewer to go and find out more about the text and from an institutional point of view means more interest in websites generating more money. Also it lists a lot of the actors informing the viewer of the talent on offer this intern persuades them to see the film m as they may be a fan of one or more of the actors. There is a similar idea with informing the viewer of the director, Terry Gilliam enticing fans of his work and people who will have heard of him through the grape vine so to speak.

3.             

The fact that the couple are at the top of the poster connotes that they are important in the story and are the main protagonists. Also the slight low angle connotes that they know something the audience don’t and that they are powerful in the film. There clothes are of a similar fashion to one another suggesting they are both of the same “people” this also suggests that they are not pulled apart and there is no major struggle to get together.

The font of the title is in the style of an old circus suggesting that there is an element of travelling show in the text. It is also serif connoting an old fashioned style and that the film is set in some fantasy of the past. There is an image of what appears to be a road but is made of black and white check, this adds to the feeling of surrealism, this appears to be moving, heading towards the world in the frame. This world is surrounded by a gold old fashioned fancy frame connoting again old fashioned ideas also it surrounding a surreal world reinforces the idea of a twisted imagination of history. This is reinforced by the title including imagination, which has connotations of dreams and fantasy, blatantly backed up by the colours and images of the world inside the frame.

In the text there is an idea of journeying from reality to fantasy, this is first conveyed by the title “The Imagination of Doctor Parnassus” Immediately this gives the idea of imagination and fantasy firstly through the word imagination and secondly the doctors mane which has the brings to mind the ideas of fantasy as it is not a real name. This meaning is anchored by the road and the appearance of moving towards the fantasy world, this is emphasised by the greyness of the surrounding poster. This connotes that there is a want to escape in the film as the idea of imagination is anchored by the idea of escapism created by the road and the moving towards the fantasy world.

The untouchables opening sequence.

In the title sequence there are shadows moving across the screen, these shadows are remenicent of prison bars suggesting that this film is about crime. They are also moving across the screen connotes that there is a lot of movement in the film, running from the prison suggesting this is a heist movie and the main character are running from the law in it. The use of shadows also suggests elements of film noir, as in noir there is an excessive use of shadows. This would also link in with the ideas of heist and crime. The music during the credits creates suspense using jumpy piano segments and an almost military style drum beat that creates an image of running, you can imagine criminals thudding through the street being chased by the police. The revelation that one of the main characters is al Capone reinforces the idea this is a film about crime, it also shows it is set in the past, in America and is a gangster movie, Al Capone having the cultural codes of these things. The font of the credits are serif connoting the past and grandeur, this enforces the idea of the high and powerful in the world of the world of gangsters. When the film title “The Untouchables” is revealed it appears to be moving away from the audience anchors the meaning of the word untouchables as it gives the impression of it running away out of your grasp. This also rings back to the idea of the music creating the impression of running.

The opening shot has a snippet of factual information about the time (1930) and some background information on the film’s concern Al Capone and bootlegging. It also anchors the previous decoding. The first impression we get of Al Capone is with him surrounded by people tending to him. Someone shining his shoes, someone doing his nails and someone shaving him. This shows that he is a powerful man. At first his face is covered by a towel instantly creating an enigma as to who is this powerful man. When he is revealed he carries the stereotypes of a ‘typical’ gangster, the slicked back hair and the American-Italian accent.  When he is talking he spreads his arms out in the style of a cross connoting images of Christ, this links to ideas of the mafia with religion. It also shows him as a sort of anti-Christ connoting that he is the ‘bad guy’. However it also look like a gesture of surrender and given the birds eye shot that makes De Niro making him seem less powerful than those around him. This indicates that he may be brought to his knees in the film, this also links back to the idea of crucifixion.

There is a change of scene and now it is in a Chicago street, it is a typical street scene of the 1930s. There is nothing untoward about the image. All the mise-en-scene fits the cultural codes of 1930s America, from the appearance there is no immediate assumption of crime going on in the area completely contradicting the previous scene, it does however create enigma as to how the peaceful image fits with the powerful gangster. A little girl appears in shot carrying a bucket, she has pig tails and is a stereotypical little girl and the audience immediately sympathises with her. We follow her inside a bar that is empty, the bar man is having an argument with a man trying to sell him something, The man is smartly dressed connoting power, this shows that he has superiority and this being a gangster movie is probably not a good person to be having a argument with as his dress and manner suggest he is part of the mob. In the background there is a man dressed in a white suit and trilby, a staple of the gangster genre and also noir. The bartender refuses the offer of the man who leaves in a storm.  The bartender attends to the little girl, the man dressed in white is still in the back ground as he is lurking he appears to be trouble coupling this behaviour with his dress it is obvious that he up to no good. As he leaves he ‘forgets’ his brief case at this point it is obvious what will happen as all the sighs lead to the inevitable conclusion that the bar is blown up for not accepting the deal.

Production meeting no.2

The first point we discussed was the constraints that we may face while filming. The main constraint that we will face will be the budget or lack there of as this has a knock on affect on every thin else including the other constraints. These are locations as here we do not have a vast array to choose from, transport as the island and possible locations are spread out over a wide distance. The other constraints are cast and finding people willing to be seen on camers. The last and on a level with the budget is time as it is tight.

 The second thing we discussed was mise-en-scene, this included, setting/locations, costumes, actors/action, lighting, and make up. For setting primarily we dicusses as in the original idea a snooker table, but there also came to light the idea of a polker game, that has coccatations of heist and mafia. We decided to go with film noir as insperation and maybe head fer a neo-noir film as the original idea does work within noir conventions. Regarding costumes we also took the root of film noir, thinking of trench coat and trilby hat, there was also a brief discussion of the ‘hero’ wearing slightly different clothes to the other 6 characters and also the possibilities of him being younger than the rest. We decided that we may try and rope in a few of the teachers in order to have actors that looked more mature and more fitting to the film noir genre than teenagers.