“Five stars” – me

It’s rare to find an original film nowadays that just purely imaginative while providing a solid narrative. Winner of the BAFTA for Short Film 2014, Room 8 is one of five films that created their film on a single script as part of the Bombay Sapphire Imagination Series.

Initially, you would empathise with the prisoner despite having that inkling feeling of uncertainness towards him; from the way his positioned towards the wall and the harsh shadows that contour his face. On the other hand, our perspective is centred on the inmate that enters the cell, thus creating a shock factor when he is once again captured in a weird but freaking awesome way and the discovery of other matchboxes. The concept of the box itself is just genius that establishes a whole different dimension and climax in the short film.

“Casablanca helps us to understand what happens in those movies that are born in order to become cult objects” (Eco, Casablanca: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage, p.11)

Indeed, Casablanca cemented our understanding of such established ideas and archetypes: associating Paris with love, America being the land of the free, the love triangle, and the list goes on! If this classic film was reproduced in Hollywood during this day and age, the audience wouldn’t appreciate the “outdated” values and morals the film encapsulates. Surely, these established concepts would still be weaved within such different views and values, but at the end of the day, it would be criticised as any “formulaic” romantic-drama (well, according to film buffs for sure). Essentially, films and television shows are produced for their audiences’ values no matter the time period or place the text is set within. Since Casablanca has shaped the way we interpret Hollywood cinema today, television shows such as Community have somewhat taken a playful approach to these concepts and stereotypes. This makes it one of the best and underrated comedies on television within these decades

I discuss here about post-modernism and continue to grasp on this subject a tad more here. The 2009 comedy series follow the “Study Group” consists of seven student attending Greendale Community College. This unusually functional group endure the ever-changing inter-personal relationships, a diversity of teachers and a dramatic Dean.

If we analyse a handful of episodes, each episode is a satire of clichéd narrative forms:

The 90s action film

The morning show

The heist

The stop motion animation

 The video game

The documentary

The western

And the list continues! Pop culture manoeuvres the show towards a playful and sceptical approach on culture. The meta-narrative of a family is the Study Group itself while they’re all based on contradiction: Jeff has a degree in law, but doesn’t practice it, Britta is a so-called activist but is inactive, Annie is a former drug addict and homeless, but is a straight A student, Abed is awkward but manages to be the character that’s the easiest to get along with, and no studying actually occurs within the Study Group.

Reference: Eco, Umberto. (1985). “Casablanca”: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage.SubStance, 14(2), pp. 111

Robert McKee’s The Substance of Story expands on the inner psyche for developing and understanding the protagonist. This explains why “the audience identifies with deep character, with innate qualities revealed through choice under pressure” (Mckee, The Substance of Story, p. 142) no matter how “unsympathetic” the character may be. Mckee further elaborates on empathy; being the connection between the audience and the protagonist while sympathy is basically liking the protagonist. Yes, empathy creates that relationship with the audience but it doesn’t necessarily equate to asking the character to like them, per se.

SPOILER ALERT

Let me elaborate on the main protagonist of the television program Breaking Bad, Walter White. For those of you haven’t heard A SINGLE THING about this show, chemistry teacher Walter White resorts to making and dealing meth in order to financially support his family after being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. At the beginning, we sympathise the “underdog” persona that Walter possesses: a loving family and a secured job. It is until he is diagnosed with the disease, do we begin to empathise with his personal struggle of finding a way to secure his family’s future. Despite breaching the law, we still empathise with Walter because we know his intentions.

When he crosses over that moral threshold of killing Krazy-8, we still know that it was self-defence for both himself and his family. It is only when he progressively murders and manipulates others to kill, for the sake of his own authority, do we realise that he has essentially become his own self-destruction through his development as his alter-ego, Heisenberg. Furthermore, missing the birth of his daughter, continuing the business despite earning millions, and poisoning a child confirms his transformation as the anti-protagonist.

So would you say we still “liked” / empathised the guy? No, not particularly at all. Walter was infatuated with “a self-contradictory unconscious desire” (Mckee, The Substance of Story, p. 138) for self-fulfilment from the outset. His life consisted of a loving family and stable occupation but it was obvious that he wasn’t particularly satisfied with his life. Why did we continue to watch this show if we stopped empathising with Walter? He finally financially secured his family’s future, but didn’t find his own happiness, even though he did murder quite a few people and put his family’s life in constant jeopardy. For me, it was the progression in empathy that I had for Jesse. We were all sceptical of him at the beginning but then we witnessed his stark contrast in character from Walter’s as he matures, in aiming to escape from the drug world and realisation of his self-worth. If it weren’t for Jesse, there would’ve been a (slight) chance that I would’ve discontinued to watch the rest of the series. Breaking Bad would’ve been stuck in an endless loop with its sole focus on Walter’s gain and loss in the drug lord hierarchy, the life of an unlikeable / love-to-hate character, Heisenberg and continually pondering on what in the world happened to that underdog we were all rooting for.

Reference: McKee, Robert. (1997). ‘The substance of story.’ In Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York, USA: HarperCollins, pp. 138, 142

“How good are you at noticing?” Louise asks us in this week’s workshop. To determine this, we turned around for one minute to jot down the outfit Louise was wearing that particular morning.

What I remember

Boots
Colour palette: grey
A scarf
Jumper
Faded light blue jeans
Her hair tied up

What she was actually wearing

The ankle boots that she wore from last week
A long grey jumper
Light grey slim fit jeans
Earrings and bangles
Hair tied up in a bun like last week
A light-material scarf
Dominant colour palette: grey

It becomes apparent that I only noticed objects from a superficial level, as supposed to marking what she’s wearing when I turn around and visually notice her outfit. For example, I detail her wearing LIGHT grey jeans, not just simply wearing jeans. After marking, I progress to recording, in terms of recalling her boots as something she wore the previous week. Not only did I realise how noticing is superficial compared to marking and recording, but also the fact that my memory isn’t as bad as I thought it was.

Editor Tony Scott establishes a relationship between continuity and discontinuity editing in the 1998 Action film Enemy of State. Will Smith portrays a lawyer caught up within a politically motivated crime instigated by a corrupted politician and his NSA colleagues. At the core of this film however, is the breach of privacy that citizens of the United States face in the modern age of innovation and technology.

Expanding on this notion of a modern society, Scott employs continuity editing through the use of juxtaposing shots of close-ups and long-shots. In particular, Robert Clayton Dean’s (Will Smith’s character) conversations with his wife and child through a cross cutting of close-ups and long shots of their home to conjure a sense of normality in the domestic sphere.

On the contrary, Scott relies on tracking and pan movements, point of view and overtly blue colour grading in order to position the audience towards an unfamiliar and chaotic environment. The constant sharp cuts lures the audience into Thomas Brian Reynolds’ fast paced and chaotic environment. Furthermore, the exaggerated camera angles in conjunction with the NSA’s technology correlates to the underlying theme of privacy in the film. Extreme high angle shots, for instance through CTV footage instigates a negative connotation towards the constant progression of technology in society.

Scott relies on contrast and spatial manipulation in order to identify the environment the characters’ are in and the issues facing society at that time.

Recording “in some way, may be a product of our written-visual culture” (Mason, The discipline of noticing, p.33)

In this particular scene from Date Night Tina Fey and Steve Carrell’s characters’ notice that the restaurant is filled with couples, thus marking the individual circumstances that each couple are in. Further along, they communicate by recording the intimacy of each couple; their body language and lip reading to establish the current state that each couple are in.

As the audience, we notice that Fey and Carrell are currently on a date as couples also surround them and are a married couple due to their wedding rings. We mark that the fact they have been married for a fair amount of time from their banter and how comfortable they are around each other. As we record, we analyse the marriage that they’re in; a marriage that lacks the excitement they once had. In particular, the actual fact that they’re criticising and teasing the couples only reflects their insecurities and comparing their lack of spark to the development of others. The dialogue and lack of camera shots together further suggests their love for each other is still prominent but their marriage is in jeopardy from their own responsibilities in life; their career, their children etc.

From this short sequence we can distinguish what Mason explains to be the three levels of noticing in intensity and energy.

Reference: Extract from John Mason, 2002, Researching your own practice: The discipline of noticing (London: Routledge), pp. 33

Wes Anderson’s 2004 film “The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou” provides the audience with characterisation through the use of mise-en-scene.

In particular, Anderson’s extensive use of compositional balance through centring the frame on Steve Zissou exerts his authority and leadership amongst the “Zissou team”. Emphasising this notion of a team, the members are dressed in uniform; light-blue tracksuit pants, red beanies, Adidas shoes and are given a gun to personify Zissou’s trust in them. Although the members are not consistently identical, Anderson maintains the casual attire, and accented red, yellow and blue colour palette throughout the film.

On the contrary, a neutral based colour palette are maintained in the costumes of Bill Ubell portrayed by Bud Cort and Cate Blanchett’s portrayal as the character of Jane Winslett-Richardson. This principle of contrast exhibits these characters to be non-official members of the team and reflect Zissou’s scepticism towards their motives. For instance, Blanchett’s persona as an outspoken female reporter is continuously criticised by Zissou, thus her less vibrant khaki cargo pants and neutral t-shirt or button down attire. Similarly, Cort’s character who was kidnapped by Filipino pirates and according to Zissou, is a “bond company stooge”, is dressed in khaki pants, a cream shirt, a jacket, and a plain brown tie.

Costuming also epitomises a character’s development in the film. Zissou’s nemesis Allister Hennessey’s outfits are always regal and formal, a stark contrast to Zissou’s casual and laid back persona. However, as Hennessey is saved by Zissou from the pirates, he dresses casually and eventually like Zissou and his team to symbolise his gratitude and trust in Zissou.

Ultimately, Anderson’s use of costuming allows the audience to depict the entire film through Steve Zissou’s perspective.

The struggle to answer some these of questions allowed me to re-analyse the structure of my interview and question the purpose of every frame and idea within the portrait. Is there a certain way I want my mum to be perceived? Is this “controlling idea” consistent throughout the interview?

What is the “controlling idea” (Robert McKee) of your portrait?

The “controlling idea” of Beyond Healing is breaking the common misconceptions about the nursing industry and my mum’s reflection in building her career as a nurse and teacher.

How is your portrait film structured?

Narration is provided through a voice-over while the narrative structure circulates from how she never thought of being a nurse due to the common misconceptions in nursing and then concluding on the rewarding experience nursing and teaching has given her.

What do you want your audience to make of your interviewee?

My aim is for the audience to reflect on how they’re beyond their occupation in determining their happiness and self-fulfilment. Furthermore, I want the audience to empathise with my mum when it comes to building their career and

How is your portrait being narrated?

Narration is provided through voice-over while the visual can sometimes contrast to the narration in order to evoke a sense of depth and a personal attachment.

What role will the “found footage” play in the portrait?

Filming at my mum’s workplace was unlikely. Therefore, I purposely used vintage found footage as a means of representing how primitive and ignorant the superficial ideas are and how they’re unnecessary judgements in this day and age. It also shows how the nursing industry has progressed overtime; from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Does your portrait have a dramatic turning point?

No, since the portrait is more of a reflection and informative piece.

When does this turning point happen in your portrait and why?

Not applicable

How does your portrait gather and maintain momentum?

It maintains a slow, consistent pace that imitates the reflective narration my mum provides with the help of dissolves and pans.

Where will your portrait’s dramatic tension come from?

Dramatic tension situates within the found footage as my mum elaborates on the common misconceptions in nursing.

Does the portrait have a climax and/or resolution?

I would consider the climax to be apparent as soon as she explains her reason for continuing nursing while the resolution occurs when she realises how it’s a rewarding experience for her as she reads through the cards.