Film Reflective Evaluation Tom Slade

This film project has been the more difficult one out of the two. It involved me scrapping my initial idea and using a story, I had personally written when I was in year 12. The film's world involved a huge amount of detail and I definitely didn't have enough time, in my five minute film, to show the entire story. It's called Mors and has elements of a fantasy. It didn't have obvious mes en scene factors like warrior clothing, swords and castles in a fantasy but it did involve a different world where the character of Mors was trapped and his Brother, Fratris, was trying to save him. Now you might think that these names are strange but there is meaning behind why I chose these names. Mors in Latin means death and Fratris in Latin means Brother. I was inspired by the usage of Latin words in the Harry Potter series to have secret meanings and signs. The reasoning behind why Mors is called Mors is because I wanted it to hint to people that there might be an air of mystery surrounding Mors. 

I took the role as Director in my film and learnt a lot from being it. My friend max, which has had a lot experience with drama theatrical work, played the character Mors. He could be a bit of a challenge at time because he was very demanding wanting to know where, when and how we are going to shot it before I even casted him as Mors. The other actor I considered to be Mors was my friend Tyler. I had them both separately read out a part of my story to me to see who fit the character more. It was a hard decision because they both delivered it in their own dramatized way. I decided upon Max because he seemed to create more mystery and enigma than Tyler did. It was an easy decision for Fratris, My acting friend Dan who was quiet and moody. I had acted with Dan lots of times so I knew his strengths and weaknesses.  I soon gave Max his script straight after casting him and gave Dan one as well. 

The shooting was shot over two days. The first day was max's scene with him collecting the letter sent from Fratris through the teleportation box. The second day of shooting was Dan's scene which was him sending the letter to Mors through the teleportation box. The actors didn't actually have to meet over the two days which made it easier for me with matters of transporting the actors and the equipment in my car. The post production was done over three days. My friend Sebastian Black helped me edit the film into a coherent stream of footage. I gave him a lift back home and a hard drive case in return for his help. Sebastian and I used Premier Pro to edit the film. We intertwined the scenes together to construct a deeper and more complex narrative and we reduced the colour in Dan's scene and made the colour red pop out. The teleportation box was red so I wanted it to stand out in the scene. This box played a significant part in the narrative of the film because this was the only way that the two characters could communicate. Therefore I needed it to be clear to the audience that this box was integral to the development of the narrative.

I learnt from last year that dialogue is not needed as much as I thought. In my previous film last year there included a scene entailing a long winded conversation between the protagonist and his friend. Not only did this conversation take a long time for the actors to learn but it also took a long time trying to shot it because of the multiple mistakes from the actors and myself. Therefore I decided that only one of the characters should speak and have little dialogue. The two lines spoken are from Fratris: (played by Dan) "You can come home now brother" and "Done". The rest of the actor's performances are through their body language and their facial expressions. Not much dialogue is needed for the plot to advance because I made sure that it's not what the characters say but what they do, their actions that matter.

Now I am aware that the audience may not perceive this to be a fantasy. This is because of the common conventions that encompass the fantasy genre. I have already mentioned some of them previously. But just like I mentioned earlier as well I have included different worlds and two mysterious characters with equally mysterious names and a box that can teleport objects. These factors, in my opinion, have constructed it be fantasy.

In the scene where Mors receives the letter from Fratris I decided to shoot it in a thick dense forest. The first shot was an angled up wide shot of the canopy. It involved the silhouette of interweaving tree branches, which contrasted with the white of the sky. I wanted the shot to look like a prison encapsulating Mors with all of the branches and trees surrounding him. This differs from what the usual theme of forests would be being peace.

In conclusion I have learnt a lot from this film project. Such as the issue with actors and them learning the script, carting around equipment with transport, the dilemma of scraping a film idea and still keep to the film schedule and audience's mixed responses to my film. I dealt with these problems successfully and have deepened my knowledge on film production. The micro feature of mes en scene cinematography differs from a common fantasy but still provide the conventions of a fantasy but in a more modest way.  

"How much do you know about yourself if you never been in a fight?"- Tyler Durden 1999

This film has to be one of the most controversial, convoluted and debated films in recent years. It was  first a book written by Chuck Palahnuik in 1996. Chuck was inspired to write about how nobody seemed to care about his injuries, he was given on a camping trip, and they would ask him "how was your weekend" instead asking straight away "what happened?". People seemed not to care about him and wanted to stay away from any personal connection.  From its trailer it initially reveals itself to be an action film but with actually watching the film more than 6 times I can assure you it's so much more than a simple mindless action film. As well as fitting into action it involves a heavy amount of psychological thriller elements which test the audience throughout the film and ,this is arguable but it, includes elements of a drama romance such as love and kindness being a theme the Narrator desires. The film Fight Club was directed by David Fincher and released  in 1999. It is about an insomniac worker who is struggling to find fulfillment in his monotonous materialistic and comsumeristic life thus his subconscious mind, tries to help with this absence of fulfillment by manifesting an alter ego called Tyler Durden played by Brad Pitt. To clear things up the narrator is given no name and this is because David Fincher was trying to convey to the audience that this could be anyone anywhere. This film battles with themes of materialism, consumerism, misogamy, toxic hyper-masculinity, U.S society, mental illness and finding purpose. Now obviously I cannot cover all of those topics but I will try to cover as many as I can. 

The narrator, played by Edward Norton, is trying to find purpose in this materialistic, consumerastic and tedious U.S society. His mind and body starts to experience insomnia. This causes the narrator to stay up late at night and do meaningless tasks to occupy his mind. One of those tasks is watching television where the narrator is subjected to a further degree of boredom from the constant advertisements. This continuous insomnia and boredom forces his mind to change thus the alter ego of Tyler Durden is born. In the second scene where the narrator is explaining his insomnia whilst being in the office, there is a very quick image of Tyler that pops up in the office for a frame.  I believe that Tyler has just been born within his head and is gradually growing. That's why Tyler is only popping up for a second because he isn't fully developed within the narrator's mind. Back to the image. Tyler looks very much like the narrator does, his face is almost droopy and has a lack of emotion being shown. This is because Tyler has just been born and hasn't developed yet. 

The narrator tries to cure his insomnia by "becoming a slave to the IKEA nesting instinct". The narrator tries to find his life value by buying himself and creating a false home. He fills his apartment full of furniture he sees in a magazine. In the shot at 4:38 it looks like the narrator is looking at a pornographic magazine and is flicking through the pages. The narrator finds satisfaction through buying himself a home and not building one up. "what type of dining kit defines me as a person", he is finding purpose and satisfaction in buying a "home" but he is still suffering from insomnia. A doctor suggests if he wants to see real pain he should go and visit the support groups which deal cancer and life threatening illness's.  This is where we see the first image of the corrupt american society. A man, who has had his testicles removed, is telling everyone in the group about his wife leaving him and having kids with someone else because he couldn't have children. In the foreground of the shot we have the man crying and in the background, with very little lighting, is the american flag. This contrasts with the stereotypical american flag usage in an action film being bright, colorful and overt. David Fincher could be trying to convey to the audience that america has its flaws and isn't always the remarkable knight in shining armor it's made up to be. Another shot representing that would when Bob played by Meat Loaf and the narrator are hugging with the american flag behind them. The narrator experiences a strange occurrence when he is forced to hug one of the cancer sufferers, Bob. The narrator finds him self crying into his "bitch tits" and "lets go". He feels like whilst at these support groups, everyone thinks he's dying, so people actually listen to him instead of "waiting for their turn to talk" (Marla). the choral sound of a male choir comes in when the narrator starts crying signifying how he is free from his insomnia. 

Whilst looking at the list of support groups on the wall, in the bottom left corner there is a leaflet saying "schizophrenic?". Subtly foreshadowing what is going on his head. This is where we meet Marla Singer played by Helen Bonham Carter. Before she walks into the support group hall the noise of footsteps and the shadow of her is seen. Almost like a monster creeping in. Marla was in these support groups "because it's cheaper than movie and there's free coffee". The narrator knew she wasn't really dying like the rest of support group visitors and so he felt his lie being reflected through her consequently once again causing insomnia to reoccur. He practices telling Marla off and revealing her to be healthy to the rest of the group in his day dream. He also compares her to the scratch on the top of mouth you can't stop licking and a tumor and then she appears in his mind cave. When they converse for the first time Marla says how she saw him practicing telling her off. This all relates and supports the theory that Marla is also another ego within his mind. This theory is supported further when the support leader walks around them saying to the narrator "share your self completely". Notice how she doesn't say yourselves. If Marla was actually there the support leader would have said share yourselves completely. When Marla is walking down the street, leaving, another image of Tyler pops up but looks very different to when we saw him before. He is smoking a cigarette and wearing a red jacket. Tyler has developed more, maybe from the attempts from trying to cure his insomnia. 

The narrator's insomnia has fully reappeared and the narrator is now struggling with keeping up with time when starts flying round the country for his job. It is on these planes where Tyler Durden is embodied next to the narrator. After the narrator wakes up after having a day dream about the plane crashing Tyler is talking about the plane's wing exit door and how if you are not up for the duty of opening the door in an emergency you have to be re positioned. Above Tyler there is a sticker, on it is a woman opening the exit door and then in the picture there is man going through the door. David Fincher from the beginning subtly indicates how things aren't as they seem.  It is through Tyler Durden that the narrator learns about the minimalism and the utilitarianism concept. That products and services should only be used if needed and for the greater good. Materialistic items should be disbanded and thrown away. The narrator ends up living with Tyler and through him they start fight club. Fight Club was started by Tyler and the narrator simply fighting and finding great satisfaction in it. The narrator's insomnia is disappearing once again and he feels like he is finding purpose. People saw them fighting and joined because they felt like their sense of reality had been lost in this superficial capitalistic society they were living in therefore their only way to feel reality again was from the pain they experienced in fight club. Fight Club is a metaphor for what a lot of people feel now, society dictates you to purchase your life through the means of attractive clothing, furniture, cars and houses. This leads to a lack of enrichment in life and makes you feel empty inside. Almost like the narrator's fridge- "A fridge full of condiments but no food". This film is trying to express what capitalism, consumerism and materialism can do to you. The audience will look upon the narrator, Tyler and the other members of fight club in an alienated way but they will experience the exact same thing  (maybe not to the same degree). 

Initial audience reactions were that they didn't like it. The audience perceived from the trailer and teasers that they were being thrown another action film an a list cast  involved. Now who wouldn't want to soak up another action film with stars in it. thus the cinemas were flocked to with 1963 cinemas being fully packed (in America). On it's opening weekend the film earned 11 million. Once the film had revealed its unusual meanings, meanings and characters the audience disliked it because they thought it was an action film trying to be innovative and complex for the sake of being complex. "Fight Club is a thriller Masquerading as a Philosophy"- Rodger Ebert October 1999. Rodger Ebert's opinion on the film that it was far to violent and excessively bravado for what its message was. 

In conclusion Fight Club is a thriller with a huge amount of violence and excessive bravado. I cannot agree with its philosophy enough. We need to remove ourselves from being a consumerist and find some sort of purpose or fulfillment which is more than just what furniture set defines me as a person. Connect with other humans and become your own independent being. Don't let your possessions start possessing you.  

40 Year Old Virgin Jude Apatow
40 Year Old Virgin is a comedy romance starring Steve Carrel, Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd made in 2005. It includes themes of sexuality and relationship. The film is about a man who is found out by his work friends to be a virgin at the age of forty. He then goes on this long journey to lose his virginity and in the process find love. The film is not entirely meant to be deep and emotional. The real aim of this film is to provide the audience with entertainment. The film focuses on circumstances which do happen in the real world but are not heard of.  The emotion which is associated with the protagonist, Andy, is sadness but the filmmakers have used this sadness and made it comical at the same time.

Such as in the scene where Andy is remembering his past experiences with past girlfriends nearly having sex. Commonly , in a Hollywood film, the scene might be dragged out, to dramatize it, but this scene is very short, with Andy's ex girlfriend kissing down him and then goes to suck his toe. This makes the audience realise that Andy isn't just a nerdy guy who is inept at getting a girlfriend and having sex he has just instead had a very unfortunate sexual life when it comes to finding the right girl who he can connect with romantically and sexually.

This scene makes the audience empathise with Andy because we have all had struggles with relationships in the past. The film has a universal theme which a lot of people can relate to thus making it very popular with mainstream audiences. The performance from Steve Carrel is realistic but still has aspects of comedy such as the scene where Andy and his work friends are all playing cards and Andy is says how the boobs he has felt felt like sand bags. The friends reaction from around him display what the audience are probably thinking as well. The friends look surprised to what he said. Later after the poker scene Andy is seen riding his bike and repeating the line "they felt like sand bags" and realising how weird that must have sounded. Through this scene we feel sorry for the character because he is so embarrassed about his absence of sex.

Weekly News- Demolition

Demolition is a romance drama film directed by Jean-Marc Vallee staring Jake Gyllenhaal. The film is about successful banker who's wife dies in a car crash. He finds help within a customer service rep and her son and starts to re-discover him self through the demolition of his past life. The films construct the themes of death, love and life. 

The protagonist Davis, tries to combat the loss of his wife by deconstructing anything he feels is faulty. It starts from his fridge to a cappuccino machine, a light fixture and eventually his entire house. The reason to why he does this is because he is told by his wife's farther that a heart, in times of sadness, must be pulled apart and put back together again. Davis takes this in to consideration but in a literal sense. Anything he finds faulty or flawed he deconstructs down to its very fundamental pieces. Yet he never puts anything he deconstructs back together after. In my opinion this is a metaphor that the director is trying to construct and convey to the audience. Davis needs to build a new life thus to do that he needs to deconstruct his old life. He does this through dissembling machines and other items that had a personal relation to him and his wife. But unlike the advice he receives from his father in-law he does not put them together again. This is a metaphor for how Davis is struggling to move on from his wife's death. He can't quite put the things back together because he is struggling to miss his wife. Davis is still in shock from the accident. 

This is where Davis comes across the customer service rep. Karen is the person who helps him find sadness in order to overcome his wife's death. She helps him find sadness through reading his letters and listening and talking to him. Karen's son, Chris, enables Davis escapism. Davis finds it gratifying to listen to someone else's problems and not his own. For example when when Chris is drumming and Davis is dancing around. It is evident that Davis is having the most amount of fun in ages. Davis also finds it amusing to destroy, such as the building sight he visits to demolish. Davis even offers the builder ,in charge of the demolition, $200 to help him destroy the building. 

Towards the end you find out that Davis's wife was pregnant with another man's baby. Again this does not send Davis in to distress or sadness. Davis eventually discovers how to overcome his wife's death and the death of an unborn child but only after he witness the love from Karen to Chris when Chris nearly dies from a sex offender. This deep emotional love from Karen is what makes Davis realise how important life is. 

Exam Question 2013 June
Section A
Urban Stories- Poverty Power and Conflict
‘To find an international audience, films about local and particular problems need to use mainstream techniques such as those associated with Hollywood cinema.’ How far do you agree with this statement in relation to the films you have studied for this topic?

Mainstream techniques- linear narrative, realistic character development, love development with other character to refind them self. commonly holly wood uses straight couple- stereotypical simple easy for audience. Single or double narrative line, confrontation to achieve goal follow men typically

Plan- Rust and Bone is about a woman's life after a horrible accident where her legs get chopped off from a whale attck.- Love development, straight couple, confrontation to achieve goal. (FOLLOWS)

COG- multi protagonist- multi and flexi narrative, little love development yet all men linear narrative strands, confrontation through conflict such as with guns ( IN THE MIDDLE)

ANSWER

Over the films I have studied for this topic there have been unique problems to which the characters within the films have had to face. Directors use mainstream techniques such as used in Hollywood, so that a global audience is reached easier yet some directors use different techniques, uncommon to Hollywood, because they want to challenge film norms. 

One such film which uses its own techniques but does not stray away to far from Hollywood conventions is the action social realism film, City of God (Fernando Mierelles, 2003). The film follows a young boy, named Rocket, who grows up in the fevella of City of God and it is about his struggles with power, poverty and conflict within the fevella. The film uses multiple protagonists to convey the plot. Such as Rocket, Carrot, Lil Ze, Knock Out Ned and Benny. This contrasts to Hollywood block busters such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (David Yates 2016). Yet City of God also uses usual techniques used in Hollywood such as character development is shown predominantly through men and confrontation is shown through action scenes. For example the final scene where Rocket is stood in between the police and Lil Ze's gang and they both start to shoot at each other. In my opinion City of God film applies common Hollywood techniques to find an international audience to a slight extent. It uses these because of the multi protagonists and flexi narrative which they are all included in. Thus City of God needs some mainstream techniques because without them the audience will not understand the main themes of power, poverty and conflict. 

However the social realism romance film Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard, 2012) follows mainstream conventions to a vast extent to find an international audience. The film entails a woman who loses her legs to an accident involving a whale and a man who's trying to look after his child. Although, to some, having your legs amputated from a whale accident is rare, it is a common technique used in mainstream film; for the character to lose a part of their body, which makes them them, and thus them having to battle with the repercussions. Similar to the film of "Me Before You"(2016 Thea Sharrock). Just like Me Before You The character re-discovers them self from the love of another character. For example in Rust and Bone one of the protagonists, Stephanie, finds love with the other , Alain, and thus re-discovers her passion for sex. Other techniques are implemented such as a linear narrative and the protagonists being straight and white. In my opinion this film follows the mainstream techniques to an immense degree so that it can find an international audience with ease. 

In conclusion we have two films which slightly contrast with each other. Rust and Bone which follows mainstream techniques to a great scale so that it can find an international audience with simplicity to portray the particular problem of disability. On the other hand there is City of God which encompasses techniques used in Hollywood as well as using unconventional methods to find an international audience to show the local problems of living in the fevellas.

Weekly Film-
Hunt for the Wilder People (Taika Waititi 2016) is a comedy thriller which entails a young rebellious child, named Ricky, who runs away from his home and is soon discovered by his foster uncle, named Hec, to which the uncle suddenly discover he is being hunted by the child protection agency for kidnapping  the young boy. The film involves themes of family and relationships. It displays the themes simply. The family theme is exhibited through the uncle loosing his wife and thus befriending the young boy eventually after finding him in the forest and having to rely on him to get back home. This consequently leads to construction of the relation theme between Ricky and Hec. At first Hec doesn't like Ricky because he thinks he is an annoying attention seeking child, thus having lack of a relationship, but with further time spent with Ricky, Hec discovers that he isn't all those things he thought he was initially.

The director evidently had a lot of inspiration from Wes Anderson. Taika constantly uses square framing and commonly associated musical scores which can be heard in MoonRise Kingdom. Key scenes include the opening scene where Ricky is introduced. It introduces him as a disobedient lost cause. This creates a contrast to the developed character that Ricky becomes at the end. Other key scenes include will be the chase scene in the car and the scene where Ricky discovers they are being chased by the child protection agency.

In conclusion the film portrays its themes successfully through the development of the relationship and family between the main protagonists.

Exam Question
Foreign Film

Q.
To what extent can the films you have studied for this topic be accused of reinforcing rather than challenging stereotypes?
CCCEO
rust and bone- men- reinforcing, big strong family provider fights sex primal
women- weak dependent, damsel in distress  sex symbol
disability- challenges- sex power love
COG- poverty stereotype- lil ze- gangsta, violent, black, greedy
Rocket- subverts- black, poor , not aggresive, honest
La Haine- Hubert- reinforcing hubert, poverty, black sells weed,

The films I have studied for this topic have challenged stereotypes as well as reinforced them. Filmmakers use stereotypes to create a concrete character or setting for which the audience can easily interpret and undertsand . But other filmmakers try to subvert stereotypes to create unique narratives and unusual character which both drive the film in a unconventional way.

An unconventional stereotype can be viewed in the social realism ,Rust and Bone directed by Jacques Audiard released in 2012, The Film follows to characters Alain and Stephanie. Alain is fighting poverty to feed his young son and Stephanie is fighting an injury with stained by an accident at her job in sea world where she consequently loses her legs. By Stephanie loosing her legs she challenges the stereotype of disability. Stephanie more than anything misses her ability to dance and be sexually desired. There is a scene where Alian takes Stephanie to a club. She is seen ,through a close up shot on her face, looking upon the other people dancing in sadness. There are numerous shots of the short skirts and dresses which people are wearing. She doesn't just miss dancing she misses the sexuality of dancing. Sexuality is an aspect which is very uncommon to disability thus for them to be mixed together is challenging the stereotype of disability to far extent.

However for the film City of God, directed by Fernando Mierelles in 2003, the stereotype of poverty is reinforced.  The film follows a young boy, called Rocket, and his journey through the fevellas of the city of god. On his journey a gangsta, named Lil Ze is met, and it is thanks to him why Rocket's journey becomes so successful. The character of Lil Ze is a violent, greedy, black gangsta who wants to dominate and take control of the fevella. Such as Lil Ze is seen tormenting little kids into shooting there friends foot. When the little kid can't do Lil Ze tells him to do he pushes him to the side and shoots the young boy on the floor. This is reinforcing the stereotype of the lower class to be violent criminals. Additionally it does not help the stereotype of black males being seen as a crazed criminal. In my opinion this reinforces the negative stereotype of the lower class and reinforces the negative stereotype of black males to a very far extent even being arguably the paradigm stereotype for lower class.

In conclusion The films I have studied have each challenged yet also reinforced stereotypes. City of God reinforces the negative lower class stereotype to an extreme extent But Rust and Bone challenges the stereotype of disability with it being mixed strongly with sexuality.