The Selfish Giant 

The selfish giant was directed by Clio Barnard and was made in 2013. The film is about two boys who risk their lives to collect scrap metal to survive. The genre of the film is social realism and drama. It is the a social realism because the director has brought the audience to a place where we wouldn’t like to go to or are to scared to go which is a council estate in Bradford in northern England.  It is a drama because the film relies heavily on realistic character development and also it has a real life issue which the characters tackle. The films themes are exploitation, friendship, selfishness, trust, violence and poverty. The theme friendship and trust are constructed and conveyed through the advancements in the two protagonists relationship. The incident when Swifty sees the dead horse which has been electrocuted and Arba doesn’t own up to it. Selfishness is created by the character Arba. Arba steals the metal because he wants to sell it for him self. Exploitation is displayed by the character Kitten because through out the film he is using the boy to collect the scrap metal. Kitten is also used to show violence for example when he strangles the kid for not winning the race. Finally poverty is shown during the whole of the film. The scrap dealing, not being able for housing bills and terrible housing conditions. These are only a few factors which show poverty.

The cinematography was used in such a way to construct the meaning of that life for the working/lower class and life in a council estate is very difficult and challenging. My evidence to back my theory is  that much of the film is filmed with a hand held camera. This positions the audience in a kind of first person view of someone with the characters therefore positioning the audience in a recessive position because they wouldn’t want to be in this situation. The films producers target audience would middle class maybe higher class and preferably males aged 17 to 50. They are reaching their target audiences needs because they are wanting to be taken away from everyday life, escapism. But the film producers are doing it in a risky way because they're putting the audience in a recessive position. This is all created by the cinematography.  

The mes en scene was used beautifully through out the whole film. The protagonists average day clothing attire is a jacket, t-shirt and jogging bottoms. But the attention to detail is what creates the characters and identifies what class they are. The jacket which Arba is black and has rips all over. These rips signify that he has the coat for a long time or that he has used a lot of times therefore suggesting that he has not had the money to buy a new one or repair it or wash it  and telling the audience that his mum might not have the money to buy a new one. The age Arba is, which is thirteen, tells the audience the audience that he should be looked after by his mum still but the fact the she hasn't bought a new coat suggest that money is tight and only spent on the necessities. The same goes with the t-shirts and jogging bottoms he wears. they are both ripped and jogging bottoms usually are very muddy. All the clothing gives the audience more information so they can understand more about the characters social class.  

The performance conveys the classic story of mice and men. You have the character Lennie in mice and men who is big and strong but is soft inside such as he likes to touch soft objects and pet animals. The character Swifty is exactly like this. Swifty is incredibly strong, He tackles Arbas brother down to the floor let along Arba's brother is 18 or 20. But he loves to pet, rise and generally look after and nurture horses. On the other in mice and men there is The character George. George is the smarter of the two, isn't that strong but knows his way round to getting money. The character Arba closely resembles George. Arba is smaller much smaller and weaker. But knows what metal to collect to earn the most amount of money so he has the smarts.  The two characters I believe both need each other. Without Arba, Swifty would be bullied and picked on and not able to stand up for him self. But without Swifty Arba wouldn’t be able to protect himself against his older brother and wouldn’t be able to run away on the horse when collecting the scrap metal. The relationship between the two protagonist boys is very comforting because the audience becomes used to these boys being together.  

In conclusion I believe that these three micro features are what makes  the film what it is. The cinematography constructs and coveys the message that it is not easy to live in poverty. The mes en scene creates gives the audience a huge amount of information on the characters lives and social class is. Finally the performance supplies the audience with a comforting factor which Is a big contrast to the main plot of the film.  

TITLE:

Django Unchained

YEAR OF PROD:

2012

TYPE:

FILM 1

TELEVISION

DOC.

MUSIC

ADVERT

MUSIC VID.

OTHER:

DIRECTOR

Quentin Tarintino

PRODUCER

Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone.

WRITER

Quentin Tarintino

PRODUCTION COMPANY

Columbia pictures Weinstein company

KEY CAST /ARTIST

Jamie Fox, Leo Decaprio, Christapher Waltz, Samuel Jackson

KEY CREW

Django, Dr. Schultz, Missouri Candie, Steven,

GENRE

Action, period Drama,

BUDGET

$100 million

BOX OFFICE

THEMES

Adventure, Racism, Prejudice, xenophobia, white supremacism, freedom

AWARDS

Academy Awards, USA Won Oscar Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Christoph Waltz Best Writing, Original Screenplay Quentin Tarantino Nominated Oscar Best Motion Picture of the Year Stacey Sher Reginald Hudlin Pilar Savone Best Achievement in Cinematography Robert Richardson Best Achievement in Sound Editing Wylie Stateman

NARRATIVE: protagonist- Django side kick- Dr. Schaltz damsel in distress- Brohilda van shaft antgonising- Mr. Candie and steven the story line is a non linear and is multi narrative Which is very common to a quentin tarantino film.

KEY SCENES: The dinner scene- where Leo finds out about the prtagonists and side kicks plan. The wrestling scene where django meets leo for the first time. Where Dr. Schaltz meet Django for the first time.

Wes Anderson- Director 

Wes Anderson is an American film director who has directed many films such as moonrise kingdom, Bottle rocket, Rushmore and grand Budapest hotel. He works with the same actors most of the time. For example he uses bill Murray, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman. Anderson attended the University of Texas in Austin, where he majored in philosophy. It was there that he met Owen Wilson. They became friends and began making short films, some of which aired on a local tv station. One of their shorts was Bottle Rocket (1994), which starred Owen and his brother Luke Wilson. The short was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was successfully received, so much so that they received funding to make a feature-length version. Bottle Rocket (1996) was not a commercial hit, but it gained a cult audience and high-profile fans, which included Martin Scorsese. his following films were  Rushmore(1998), The life aquatic with Steve zissou The Royal tennabuams (2001) and an animated feature, Fantastic Mr.Fox (2009) These were all very successful . The latter two films earned Anderson Oscar nominations. 

Anderson has chosen to direct mostly fast-paced comedies marked by more serious or melancholic elements, with themes often centred on grief, loss of innocence, parental abandonment, adultery, sibling rivalry and unlikely friendships. Anderson has been noted for his extensive use of flat space camera moves, obsessively symmetrical compositions, snap-zooms, slow-motion walking shots, a deliberately limited colour palette, and hand-made art direction often utilizing miniatures. These stylistic choices give his movies a highly distinctive quality that has provoked much discussion, critical study, supercuts and mash-ups, and even parody. Anderson frequently uses pop music from the 1960s and 70s on the soundtracks of his films, and one band or musician tends to dominate each soundtrack. In Rushmore, Cat Stevens and British Invasion groups featured prominently, The Royal Tenenbaums included multiple songs recorded by Nico and The Velvet Underground, The Life Aquatic was replete with David Bowie including both originals and covers performed by Seu Jorge, The Kinks appeared on the soundtrack for The Darjeeling Limited, The Beach Boys in Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Hank Williams for Moonrise Kingdom. 

British Film Institution Trip, Otherwise Engaged. 

The Short film I saw at the BFI called Otherwise Engaged was directed by Alicia MacDonald. The genre is comedy and romance. The themes of the film are love and social networks.   It is about a man proposing to his girlfriend to get married and how they post it online before celebrating it. 

I believe that the micro feature cinematography is very important for setting the scene and it gives a sense to the audience that they're actually there. The camera is hand held for most of it. Creating the sense that it is from a person watching point of view. This helps the audience connect better with the characters because they have been positioned neutrally therefore not scaring the audience away from the characters because of a low angle shot or not putting the audience in a dominant position. There are some high angle shots such as when he kneels down to propose but its not an extreme high angle. The shot where The man pulls out the ring is a great establishing shot. It creates a sense of beauty and adds to the context which is the man proposing. This establishing shot appeals to the directors audience which is females aged between 35 to 17.  

I believe that performance is one of the biggest of micro features in this short film. With out the performance this film would be nothing. The part where The man is down on his knees and just about to say the words will you marry me. The woman suddenly interrupts him by getting out her phone. This instant event from the female creates a comic effect. It then cuts to a mid shot of the man kneeling down again and his facial emotion shows and tells the audience that man is confused and bit embarrassed. This facial expression adds to the comic affect. The woman tells him to start again nagging him by saying "just go" and at this time she is filming him with her phone. The line "should I look into the camera" is very well timed because the audience is still thinking how is he going along with this and then his question comes out. This supplies the comic effect a huge amount. I believe that this was the funniest line through out the short film simply because of the timing and that he continues the proposal looking at the camera.  

In conclusion I believe that these two micro features are the most important to the film. The performance creates the comedy which is crucial to the genre and the cinematography allows the audience to connect with the characters.