Urban Stories Exam Response (City of God)

How far can it be argued that your chosen films provide a 'realistic' representation of the people and places they focus on?

To a certain extent, my chosen films do provide a realistic representation of the people and places they focus on. 

An example of this in the film City of God (2002), is where the audience is told 'The Story of the Apartment' and we can see that drug use is used throughout the different decades that appear in the film and is a constant way of life for the people of the favelas. Throughout this static montage scene, we see all of the owners of one apartment in the favelas, and all of the activity that goes on there. The audience see that the character Li'l Ze takes over the apartment and uses it for drug selling etc. This is something that is very realistic and does happen in the favelas in Brazil. 

From my own knowledge, I know that young boys, from the ages of 11, are forced to participate in drug selling and similar business as this is the way of life in the favelas. The life expectancy of males in Brazil is an average of 18 years old. A reason for this way of life may be that living in the favelas is a 'vicious cycle' and the people living like this are always sucked into things of this nature. 

'Suck' is a constant word used in the dialog of the film. Rocket says that "Having a hood as a brother sucks..." in the scene where his brother Goose is being told off by their father about him stealing from a motel, and this word relates to the idea that people living in the favelas constantly get sucked back into the drug activity and violence, even if they don't want to. Another example of the cycle is through these individual's friends. Peer pressure and copying others may be a factor of the continuous cycle, as when somebody sees somebody doing something, they may want to copy them and do what they do. This can be seen in the film where Li'l Dice (Li'l Ze) goes with the Tender Trio (Shaggy, Goose and Clipper) to a heist at a local motel to steal goods. Li'l Dice wants to go in with the older guys, however he is too young so stays outside to watch. Li'l Dice wants to be like the other guys as he wants the same amount of respect they get from the rest of the villagers in the favelas. (WRITE ABOUT LA HAINE- YOUNG BOY COPYING VINZ/HIM COPYING AMERICAN FILMS)

There is also the constant thought that if you attempt to escape the favelas, you may die, like the character Shaggy does in the scene where he tries to run away with Bernice, the woman he loves and wants to start a family with. 

SHORT FILM: Reflective Analysis

Reflective Analysis- A Story of a Burns Victim

My aims for this film were to create a sequence called 'A Story of a Burns Victim',which showed the life of a young girl named 'Sarah', who has suffered a burn from a chemistry experiment that went wrong at school. I wanted to show the 'aftermath' a few months later when Sarah was about to return.  In my film I also wanted to include a variety of shots such as extreme close ups. In terms of my aims and context, I think that the final product was very successful. I got the idea for this story after reading the book 'Beautiful' by Katie Piper, which is her autobiography about her experience of the acid attack she experienced several years ago. I then based my short film around some of the things she said in the book, such as emotions she felt.

I managed to use the style of shots that I wanted to, taking techniques from directors which I have watched and been inspired by. The main director who I wanted to work in the style of was Kenneth Anger, who is known for his homoerotic films such as Firework. This was successful as I think that some of the shots which distort Sarah's body whilst she is getting changed at the beginning of the sequence replicates similar shots to those which Anger uses in his work. 
Another influence for my film was from the French New Wave style from the 1950s and 1960s. Main notable characteristics for this style of film were; constantly breaking the fourth wall (which is something that features in this sequence) and breaking rules of continuity editing and using free editing techniques. 
Someone else who influenced my film, were the Quay Brothers as one of their films, 'The Comb' features similar shots to the ones that I used in my sequence. This is an experimental film, therefore my film does feature some experimental characteristics. For example, one of the most noticeable similarity is the beginning sequence where the female stretches out her arm whilst in bed. This is a shot that I used in my film, when 'Sarah' does a similar thing. 

The non-diegtic music which features in this film is an acoustic song called 'Better World' which mainly features at the end of the sequence. This accompanies a voiceover from Sarah talking about her incident and the effects from it. Trying to shoot a variation of shots within this sequence was one of the most difficult things to do whilst creating this film, as well as the editing process. As I had ever made or edited a film before, this was 'new territory' therefore I had to learn how to do things such as shortening clips and changing the volume on the audio as I was editing. This film would be shown on something like 'Random Acts' on 'Channel 4' which is a late night viewing window for short documentaries like my film. Some of the shots that I used in the sequence such as the extreme close ups, helped make the desired effect that I wanted to create within the film. I wanted the film to be realistic and relatable, therefore producing an universal personal reaction as this is something which could easily happen to anybody at anytime. I think that the 'narrative' for this sequence was successful as it was clear of the story which I was trying to tell. This was also something picked up on in my feedback from the audience. Some of the feedback that I got from some of the audience included suggestions that I could possibly fit the audio in time with some of the shots better, as there is a certain part in the sequence where 'Sarah' touches her face, and the voiceover states that time can't heal everything. This would have fitted perfectly to the visual on screen. I think that the sequence could have been edited slightly better, however this was my first time editing so there were going to be a few mistakes. I also think that the non-diegetic audio (voiceover) could have been slightly louder as when I watched it back for the second time, I had to turn the volume up slightly as I was unable to hear it.  

For this sequence I did all aspects of post production, filming and editing. I did my main character's makeup, which was a key aspect of making the narrative visual on screen. I then did all of the filming, directing my main character and the editing once everything had been filmed. 

Short Film

SHORT FILM: Aims and Context

Aims and Context

• Documentary Short.
• Film/Script
• Short Film.
• People who have suffered from burns (or something similar) Male and female audience. Shown on Channel 4's Random Acts (late night short documentary - http://randomacts.channel4.com/#home). French New Wave style and characteristics. 

• Close ups throughout sequence of right side of young girl's face, low key lighting at beginning of sequence, changes to high key lighting near middle of sequence. Applied cinematography techniques from an independent drama.

• Issues: This is new to me as at AS I made a storyboard instead of film-never made a film before. New thing to me. Never edited a film before either.

• Influences: Kenneth Anger: variation of shots taken in his style (while Sarah is getting ready) and French New Wave, breaking fourth wall characteristic (when Sarah looks straight at camera for a second) 

Experimental Film Exam Response

Discuss some of the ways in which the film or video work you have studied for the topic requires a different kind of spectatorship for that which spectators bring to their mainstream film-going. [35]

Some of the ways an experimental film's spectatorship opinions differ from a mainstream's is mainly based on the fact that a mainstream film is a lot easier to watch in terms of the narrative and any other subliminal messages hidden in it. This is can certainly be seen in 'Un Chien Andalou', directed by Luis Bunuel in 1929. This is a very surrealist film, which was based on a dream that Bunuel and Salvador Dali, a surrealist artist, had about a man with a hand made up of ants. It could be argued that this film is very difficult to watch as parts of it are very disturbing, such as the beginning sequence where an eye is cut open with a knife. It has been stated that this is very hard to watch and makes audiences cringe as the human eye is a very important part of the human body so seeing it cut open makes us fear it happening to ourselves. I personally found this film very disturbing and weird because of these factors. Compared to a mainstream cinema film, such as '127 Hours', where similar things happen which strike a reaction like in 'Un Chien Andalou' (such as the protagonist cutting his own arm off due to it being trapped under a rock) this film, is very difficult to watch. A mainstream film is arguably a lot easier to watch than an experimental film due to it being watched in a cinema by a wider amount of people.

Another experimental film which may contain a different spectatorship view to a mainstream film, is 'Meshes Of The Afternoon', directed by Maya Deren in 1943. This surrealist film, based on the male's perceptions of females is a very surreal film. The film argues that the male opinions which state that women should say at home and be in the kitchen all day, is wrong, and this is shown in many ways including the director Maya Deren being female. As well as influencing other forms of film, such as Muse's music video Supermassive Black Hole, which could be considered as a short film, there have also been references to Meshes featured in films such as David Lynch's Inland Empire (2006). As an actress starts to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world starts to become nightmarish and surreal is the main narrative of the film. However as David Lynch's films are very surreal this question may not refer to Meshes and the spectatorship views of these films.

An experimental film that has certainly got a different spectatorship view to a mainstream film is Kenneth Anger's 'Fireworks'. Made in 1947, the homoerotic underground film is about a young man being homosexual and getting beaten up for it. Some of the spectatorship views for this film may include references to the film being hard to watch as in the present, it is less common to hear about somebody being hurt due to their sexuality, whereas in the 1940's it was illegal to be homosexual. A mainstream film such as 'Brokeback Mountain' has very different spectatorship view as it is a film which was shown in cinemas, that features homosexuality, and was very successful as it won 3 Oscars and many other awards such as, Best Motion Picture - Drama at the Golden Globes. Audiences nowadays have a more open opinion on homosexuality as there are more people coming out everyday, and people are more acceptant of it, whereas 60 years ago when 'Fireworks' was made nobody would allow it.

The last experimental film that I am going to discuss is Chris Cunningham's "Rubber Johnny", a 6 minute short film in the style of a music video which could be seen as very weird. Whilst watching this film, I was very confused for the majority of it because it is unclear what is going on and there is no clear narrative. When you are watching this film you also get the sense of not wanting to watch it as you are unsure what is going on, however you are intrigued as to what is going to happen so you are unable to not watch it. Compared to a full-length mainstream film such as "Titanic" where is it clear what is going to happen, as it is based on a true story, "Rubber Johnny" has the element of surprise in terms of what it happening on screen.

Fight Club Exam Response

What does your chosen film reveal about the usefulness of one or more critical approaches you have applied?

The film that I have studied for this question is David Fincher's 1999 film, Fight Club, which features a certain critical approach that questions the masculinity of the male characters in the film. This critical approach allowed me to understand the narrative of the film more and the reasons as to why certain characters did certain things in the film. The film begins with the audience seeing the narrator, Jack, going to a pressure group that men who are experiencing testicular cancer go to for support. We see several men sitting in a circle talking about their feelings, located in an American gym. In the shot the audience can see an American flag on the wall, as well as a basketball court. This is one of factors of the crisis of masculinity, as these American men, which are usually perceived as manly, are ignoring their surroundings of the sports hall and talking in a circle, which could be considered as being the feminine way of dealing with this problem. It could be argued that to solve this problem, playing basketball like men would have worked, but in this sequence it shows that the males are giving into the testicular cancer and this is making them quite feminine. The males in this circle are wearing name badges, and this shows that they have no identity as it is in the process of being taken away. There is a specific character, named Bob, who has been a victim of this femininity, as he had testicular cancer and therefore had to have his testicles removed. Bob was given pills which contained oestrogen, and this caused him to grow a set of female breasts. It could be argued that Bob's name is a playful pun, as Bob is only one letter away from being the word, Boob. Bob later becomes a member of the Fight Club/Project Mayhem and this helps him to regain some of his masculinity, despite the breasts.

Stop Motion Experimental Film with Reflective Analysis

link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZeNxbkzogw

Reflective Analysis

Josh, Steph, Emily and I made a stop motion film about society and how it influences our lives. Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. We did this by having a white ball of play-doh being a person who gets squashed by society, shown by the hand flattening it, and it being tied up, with the string at the end of the sequence. Our film uses a lot of symbols in the form of the string and the play-doh, because this shows that humans can be 'morphed' and 'shaped' to do whatever society wants it to do. In total we took 250 images and this created about 44 seconds of film. If we were to do this again, we would need to take more images to make it longer and this would also allow us to put more symbolism in the sequence and make the message that we are trying to put across more clear. We found some parts difficult to film as we needed the sequence to look as fluent and real as possible. We also found coming up with ideas to symbolise our message quite difficult too, as they had to be possible to create. We attempted to create a variety of shots such as close ups and pans around the ball as this would be effective and make the sequence seem like it wasn't made up of images. We think that this stop motion sequence is very successful despite it's minor flaws such as lighting and fluidity.