Wednesday, May 11, 2011
A2 Film Studies: Urban Stories timed essay
A2 Film Studies: Urban Stories timed essay: "How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques? Refer to at least two fi..."
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Star/Performer – Helpful, although the star appears to be a hindrance where you can see the characters such as the “Brad Pitt” character.
Auteur – Possibly helpful if you understood what the auteur actually was, and had of watched more of his films.
Ethnicity- In a way where the actually fight club or project mayhem has formed a “race” of there own where they all share the same opinions and look the same within the cult and even stripped of their names.
Institution- Helpful, The budget was nearly tripled and the original budget went on the main stars salary.
Gender- The representation of different males and the way the majority are shown to be masculine and like fighting etc.
Technology- not particulary helpful, doesnt really change view on film apart from the money spent on it which is part of the budget not technology
Monday, April 4, 2011
Fight Club Reviews
TalkTalk Website:
Positive and descriptive about the film- has reviewers opinions on the film and gives a summary of the film especially describing the opening drawing the viewer into being interested and watching the film
Positive and descriptive about the film- has reviewers opinions on the film and gives a summary of the film especially describing the opening drawing the viewer into being interested and watching the film
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Bowling for Columbine. (2002)
Bowling for Columbine is a documentary by Michael Moore in which he explores the roots of America's gun violence. Within the documentary itself Michael Moore uses techniques to present reality in the way he wants it to be seen.
For example the way in which he displays the interviews with people- for starters the people he has chosen to interview are obviously either eccentric, exciting people who are going to react to the camera and put on a show or clearly are going to have a strong view that he is opposed to- to try to get across the reaction he wants us to see and for us to believe that this is the opinion of everyone within that group rather than just the indiciuals views.
Michael Moore has also clearly changed parts of the film- such as when Charlton Heston is walking away he displays P.O.V shots when there was clearly no camera man infront or behind him. Meaning that he has gone back and filmed these scenes to make it seem more dramatic such as in a movie, this is obviously a warp on relatity and trying to make the audience sympathsise and believe the issues he wants us to believe.
Also for the first rough cut of the film there was around 6 hours of footage, this means that Moore has taken scenes and edited interviews to make the audience believe what is happening is true. Where infact he has taken facts that he wants us to think and made it into a cineamtic way and the more you think about the- the more you cannot trust is actually facts and what has been changed to try to make us alter the way we think.
For example the way in which he displays the interviews with people- for starters the people he has chosen to interview are obviously either eccentric, exciting people who are going to react to the camera and put on a show or clearly are going to have a strong view that he is opposed to- to try to get across the reaction he wants us to see and for us to believe that this is the opinion of everyone within that group rather than just the indiciuals views.
Michael Moore has also clearly changed parts of the film- such as when Charlton Heston is walking away he displays P.O.V shots when there was clearly no camera man infront or behind him. Meaning that he has gone back and filmed these scenes to make it seem more dramatic such as in a movie, this is obviously a warp on relatity and trying to make the audience sympathsise and believe the issues he wants us to believe.
Also for the first rough cut of the film there was around 6 hours of footage, this means that Moore has taken scenes and edited interviews to make the audience believe what is happening is true. Where infact he has taken facts that he wants us to think and made it into a cineamtic way and the more you think about the- the more you cannot trust is actually facts and what has been changed to try to make us alter the way we think.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
The Class
With reference to one or two elements of film language show how the director conveys power and conflict in 'The Class'.
In the film "The Class" different techniques are used in order to convey the subjects power and conflict. For example a way in which both power and conflict are shown (but mainly conflict) is by using cinematography and in particular camera shots and angles. When there is an argument in the class a shot reverse shot is often used, this is a good way to show the conflict as the shot alternates between characters allowing the viewer to see both of their reactions and facial expressions- which is always a powerful way to show the characters and emotions not through spoken words.
Another camera shot that also produces the same effect is the fact that a lot of the shots appear to be from the teacher perspective and the shots are slightly angled down when facing the students and vise versa for student toward teacher displaying the fact that the teacher is more dominant and powerful- if this wasn't the case the viewer may see the two are at the same level of power.
Another way that the director uses power and conflict is the fact that the whole is filmed in a documentary style and draws your attention to every word in which the characters are saying- although there is background noise such as other students and other classroom noises, which adds to this in fact adds to this effect. This also makes it seem as if you are viewing the teachers situation in the classroom and as if he is competing with the class to gain power/
In the film "The Class" different techniques are used in order to convey the subjects power and conflict. For example a way in which both power and conflict are shown (but mainly conflict) is by using cinematography and in particular camera shots and angles. When there is an argument in the class a shot reverse shot is often used, this is a good way to show the conflict as the shot alternates between characters allowing the viewer to see both of their reactions and facial expressions- which is always a powerful way to show the characters and emotions not through spoken words.
Another camera shot that also produces the same effect is the fact that a lot of the shots appear to be from the teacher perspective and the shots are slightly angled down when facing the students and vise versa for student toward teacher displaying the fact that the teacher is more dominant and powerful- if this wasn't the case the viewer may see the two are at the same level of power.
Another way that the director uses power and conflict is the fact that the whole is filmed in a documentary style and draws your attention to every word in which the characters are saying- although there is background noise such as other students and other classroom noises, which adds to this in fact adds to this effect. This also makes it seem as if you are viewing the teachers situation in the classroom and as if he is competing with the class to gain power/
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Creative coursework deadline,
Post on your blog an outline of your creative project. State clearly what it is about and what films have influenced you and why. Identify the genre and explain what you are trying to achieve.
For my creative project I am going to create a screen play showing a small section of my film. The film itself is going to be based upon life in inner London and follows a group of teenage and young people- it follows them through their everyday lives, such as not attending school, gangs, drug usage. The film itself would be simular to films such as kidulthood and adulthood, but also films like quadrophenia that confronts the lives of young people.
For my creative project I am going to create a screen play showing a small section of my film. The film itself is going to be based upon life in inner London and follows a group of teenage and young people- it follows them through their everyday lives, such as not attending school, gangs, drug usage. The film itself would be simular to films such as kidulthood and adulthood, but also films like quadrophenia that confronts the lives of young people.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Essay on "La Haine"
(My essay is written on La Haine as i wasnt present in class when we watched the film Persepolis)
How does "La Haine" represent political and social messages?
La Haine is set in the suburbs of France in a less glamouris area which is normally presented to the audience whenever the country is used for a film- and central france stars in many romantic films. La Haine certainly isnt one of them and is a film that shows violence, anger and fustration of three young men stuck in the suburbs.
La Haine is certainly a good example of political messages within films, the whole motivation of the film is based around the riots in France in which one of their closest friends die- this sparks the group to rebel and cause trouble such as in the scene where they are swearing at the media. Another example of this is the fact that the city is run by some form of enforcement, although the majority of these people are rogue as we see in the end scene, when he ends up dying as a result of this. Through-out the whole film there is only one person who tries to help, but even he isnt that interested in their lives he is just trying to make his own job easier- this is showing both the lack of control that the police and government have control over these youths, others like them and the people rebeling in france, especially seeing as it is result in the death of young people.
There are a number of social messages in La Haine such as the interactions between the characters, their age difference, ethnicity etc. For example every single one of the main three characters are from a different ethnic background and also from different religions- although the characters still bond together and shown as three good friends, it shows that prehaps the problems arent the people within the suburbs but the way they are treated and represented which links back to the political messages.
How does "La Haine" represent political and social messages?
La Haine is set in the suburbs of France in a less glamouris area which is normally presented to the audience whenever the country is used for a film- and central france stars in many romantic films. La Haine certainly isnt one of them and is a film that shows violence, anger and fustration of three young men stuck in the suburbs.
La Haine is certainly a good example of political messages within films, the whole motivation of the film is based around the riots in France in which one of their closest friends die- this sparks the group to rebel and cause trouble such as in the scene where they are swearing at the media. Another example of this is the fact that the city is run by some form of enforcement, although the majority of these people are rogue as we see in the end scene, when he ends up dying as a result of this. Through-out the whole film there is only one person who tries to help, but even he isnt that interested in their lives he is just trying to make his own job easier- this is showing both the lack of control that the police and government have control over these youths, others like them and the people rebeling in france, especially seeing as it is result in the death of young people.
There are a number of social messages in La Haine such as the interactions between the characters, their age difference, ethnicity etc. For example every single one of the main three characters are from a different ethnic background and also from different religions- although the characters still bond together and shown as three good friends, it shows that prehaps the problems arent the people within the suburbs but the way they are treated and represented which links back to the political messages.
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