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.

Experimental Film Exam Response: Un Chien Andalou, Le Jetee and Meshes of the Afternoon

'Experimental Film requires a different kind of spectatorship.' Has this been your experience? [35]

Experimental films are full of strange mixtures of images, situations, words and expressions that may not tell a cohesive story but, in the end, don't have to in order to achieve an emotional goal. This type of film therefore requires the spectator to shift their conventional cinematic expectations to accommodate more radical narrative techniques, themes and meaning construction. 

Un Chien Andalou, the infamous 1929 surrealist short film from Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, attests to this. 
I think that this film was very strange in the terms of having no narrative, and this made it quite difficult to watch. After watching it for the second time, I then understood the constant use of repetition and the referral to the box and the ants in the male's hand. The themes of the film were religion, with the reference to the hole in the hand like Jesus, taboo topics with the nudity of the female character, and generally being about being in a dream-like state. This film makes you think about things featured in the film and makes you ask questions. Parts of the film are quite disturbing to watch such as the eye cutting scene and when the female's armpit hair ends up over the male character's mouth. The thought of your eye being severed by a blade makes me cringe and I find this difficult to watch. The title of the film makes no sense either once translated to English and this shows me that the film is going to be quite surreal and odd. I do like the film because it makes me experience different emotions and I like the surreal style. Some of the film explores the relationship between men and woman with men and woman dressed up as the opposite sex. This is meant to show that men don't understand women and this is also a theme in some of the other experimental films I have watched. I like the idea of having no diegetic sound because this then emphasises the film being an art form and visual medium. Parts of the film are quite shocking but over this is a very interesting film to watch.

Chris Marker became known internationally for the short film La Jetée (1962). It tells of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel by using a series of filmed photographs developed as a photomontage of varying pace, with limited narration and sound effects. I think that this film is a very good example of experimental film because it is a completely different style and it's one that I've never seen before. As a fan of science fiction films, I can see the relationship that modern day sci-fi has to La Jetée and I can also see similar themes such as having no way of changing time due to the paradox. This theme can also be seen in films such as Terminator. There is a narrative to this story and this is something which is not common in experimental films. The film relates to time and in some parts it looks like a time lapse, as if the male lead is dreaming about time travel instead of participating in it. There is a non-diegetic voice over featured in this film to narrate what is happening in the photographs. The photographs that make up the film symbolise that time doesn't move and memories, which is the fuel for the time travel, are simply just mental photos. The film explores dreaming versus  reality and this makes you question whether things are real. This is mentioned during the narration when he says 'real birds, real cats'. La Jetée also relates to the film Minority Report, featuring Tom Cruise with the reference to the covering of the eyes. There is the small section of the film where the woman blinks and because the film is made up of images, I wondered whether I actually saw it. This challenges my perceptions and this is the impact I think the filmmaker wanted to create and it confused me slightly. In the film, the male protagonist sees his own death as a young boy due to the paradox and this has certainly influenced modern sci-fi films because I have seen a similar narrative before watching this. Technical skills in this film include dissolves and fading as well as panning and zooming into and around the images. This makes the film seem more like a motion film instead of being made up of still frames. In total, I like this film because it has very clever ways of portraying the themes and it is an early sci-fi film, which is my favourite genre of film.

Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) is a work that maintains all of the mystery, tranquility, unpredictability, and personal attachment that is ever present within the world of dreams. I think that this film is very well made and I understood quite a lot of it, despite it being experimental. The main theme for this film is to show woman's perceptions of men's interpretations of the female gender. This is shown by a black figure, which is seen throughout the film, who has a mirror for a face. This is a symbol for the female's perception as this figure represents men. As this film was made by a female director, feminism is a huge factor in this film. In the 1940's, female directors weren't really seen, as they were ideally 'stay-at-home mothers'. Maya Deren decided to then make this film with these themes to speak out on behalf of women. I think that the non-diegetic sound in this film is very annoying and this made the film very difficult to watch. The music is made up of somebody tapping a drum in different tempos and a slightly annoying wind instrument. It is quite high-pitched and this is what gives discomfort while watching this film. Another theme of this film is sleeping and being in a dream-like state. This is what attracted me to like the film, as I like things based on dreams. There is a fade of an image, with a shot of Deren's eye closing, which represents the process of falling asleep. Then, a time-lapse of Deren asleep follows and this shows that dreams don't really have a concept of time. A knife and a key are two recurring objects in this film and this relates to the theme. The knife represents a dagger on the male's perceptions of women, and these perceptions involve the 'mother' role, which typically involves keys to look after the home. After thinking about these representations once I watched the film, I really liked the whole idea of using subtle objects like this to replace other messages being portrayed in the film. Meshes of the Afternoon has gone on to inspire music video's such as Muse's Supermassive Black Hole, which involves similar figures with mirrors for faces. In total, I really like this film because I agree with the themes and the feminist issues, and I think that the symbolism in the sequence is very effective.

Short Film (La Haine style) with Reflective Analysis

Our short film was based around the film La Haine, which is an urban story that we have bee studying. We chose to base it around this because it was easy to recreate similar shots used in the film. Our sequence featured a variety of shots such as long shots, mid shots and the occasional close up. We wanted to show the pointless activities that the people living in the projects undertook on a day-to-day basis. To add to this we used a had-held camera to make some shots look as if it were a documentary. We also used a point of view shot from the perspective of Rebecca, to make it look like she was watching Emily and myself. We used three females instead of three males to make our film diverse from La Haine.

Presentation Script

Presentation Script: Can Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's screen collaborations be seen as an auteur approach?

PROJECTOR: Image of Tim Burton shown on screen [item 24], Edward Scissorhands theme song played [Item 28]

SPEAKER: My research project is based around the well-known working relationship of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. My intention is to explore this relationship and then go on to answer the question, is Tim Burton an auteur? Auteur theory is the "basic premise that a movie director, in certain circumstances, can be assigned the title of 'author'." [11]. A US film critic, Andrew Sarris, stated that, "the strong director imposes his own personality on a film; the weak director allows the personalities of others to run rampant." [11]. This quote means that an auteur is a director who has recurring themes, actors and subjects in his films, which distinguishes them from other ordinary directors who may use many different styles or actors in their films. Tim Burton is known to be an auteur, and his constant casting of his friend and working partner, Johnny Depp is one of the reasons why.

PROJECTOR: Image of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp together [item 25, image]

SPEAKER: Before meeting Burton, Johnny Depp was the heart-throb in the television series, 21 Jump Street. The soon-to-be star played Officer Tom Hanson and was in the show for three years. [17] Depp didn't want to be seen as a 'poster boy' for the rest of his life and wanted something different. This was when he met Tim Burton and was cast as Edward Scissorhands. The duo explain in this interview with Jonathan Ross when asked about how Burton found Johnny Depp and why he was casted for this character.

PROJECTOR: Clip of interview with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp [item 22] (play from 1.00 to 2.11)


SPEAKER (cont): As you've just heard, Johnny Depp seemed like the perfect actor for the role of Edward Scissorhands as he was misperceived for a section of his acting career, due to his part in 21 Jump Street. Whenever asked, Tim Burton always states that Johnny Depp is very similar to him and this is why the pair constantly work together. In an interview with Burton, he was asked what was "the basis of the bond between (Burton) and Johnny Depp that enables (Burton/Depp) to work together so successfully?" [4] and he responded with "I realised something about Johnny...which is that he has baggage too. He looks a certain way, but who he is goes far beyond his appearance. There's a lot going on with Johnny." [4]. This statement informs us that Depp is very similar to Burton and this is the reason for him being casted as the main character for Edward Scissorhands. This point relates to Auteur Theory as Tim Burton puts parts of his personality in each of his characters and this is a factor of the theory as many directors, who are seen as auteurs, commonly do this.

PROJECTOR: Image of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp [Item 25]

SPEAKER: Burton has a very strange and distant personality, which is something he likes to portray in the characters featured in his films. Edward Scissorhands is the most similar in regards to personality and how the character acts etc. This has been stated that Burton's greatest character [18] is Edward Scissorhands. "Edward Scissorhands is as Burton as a character can get; his alienation from suburbia, his dark shaggy hair (and) pale complexion..." [18]. In this sequence from Edward Scissorhands, Edward is discovered by Peg, the Avon lady who takes him in and gives him a family. When Edward is found, he is distant and seems scary and peculiar, which is very similar to Burton and his personality.

PROJECTOR: Sequence from Edward Scissorhands [Item 1] Sequence where Peg finds Edward in the large house.

SPEAKER: So as you saw, Edward seemed peculiar and Peg thought she was going to be in danger when he began to get closer to her, due to his scissor hands. However when Edward began to talk to her and came out of the darkness and into the sunlight, she saw that he was a gentle person and she saw his "trusting nature and sweetness"[18]. Burton's personality and ideas for his films are sometimes perceived that way. However, these weird and strange thoughts work in Burton's films, as you can see from the amount of success they always produce. Whenever Burton and Depp are thought about, many people think of their relationship being very symbiotic. This means that are very close and they understand each other well. In an interview with Esquire Magazine, the Burton stated that "There are partnerships where one person is good at one thing and the other is good at another... But we're very connected in terms of taste." [27] This states that the pair have a very symbiotic relationship, in Burton's own words. Depp has stated "Even when we first met, we connected on all these super absurd levels" [26] and this goes on to back up the previous point.

PROJECTOR: Image of a drawing which Tim Burton did when he was young boy [Item 23]

SPEAKER: This image is a drawing of Burton's idea of Edward Scissorhands, from when he was thirteen. It could be argued that this looks like Johnny Depp, despite the duo not meeting until the late 80's. This must be a 'happy coincidence' however it is strange. Another thing which allows Tim Burton to be called, "auteur" is his constant reference to the actor, Vincent Price.

PROJECTOR: Clip of The Inventor reading a story to Edward in Edward Scissorhands [Item 1], After clip has ended project image of Vincent Price, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp on the set of Edward Scissorhands. [Item 26]

SPEAKER (CONT.): In Edward Scissorhands, Price plays Edward's creator, who could also be seen as a father figure. Price also worked with Burton by doing the voice over for Burton's short film, Vincent, which is about him. [19] This could be seen to be an auteur style factor, as reference to Price and his genre is a regular thing that is seen in Burton's films. Sweeney Todd [3], featuring Depp, is a film version of the famous musical, which was made by Burton in 2007. The film features singing, which means that Burton must have trusted Depp, despite it being out of his comfort zone. This continues to show us the strong working relationship that the pair have.

PROJECTOR: Clip from Sweeney Todd, song 'Epiphany' [Item 3]

SPEAKER: Another factor which may make Burton an auteur, is the constant use of the protagonist being a romantic and the idea of falling in love. This can be seen in Edward Scissorhands [1] where Edward falls in love with Kim, the beautiful daughter of the family who find him. It is also seen in Sweeney Todd [3] where one of the main characters, Mrs Lovett is in love with Todd, despite him not seeing it. It could also be argued that the proposal scene in Alice In Wonderland [2] is very romantic, when Hamish proposes to Alice. This also shows that Burton sees himself as Depp in these romantic roles because these are things he can't express, therefore he has to use his characters to do this for him.

PROJECTOR: Clip from Alice In Wonderland, when Hamish proposes to Alice. [Item 2] Then show clip from Edward Scissorhands scene “Because you asked me to.” [Item 1]

SPEAKER: However Burton and Depp don't always work together and the pair have both been known to work with other actors and directors. Could this be argued that this is the factor which makes Burton an ordinary director instead of an auteur? Burton has been known to have a very good relationship with actress Helena Bonham Carter as well as Depp. One thing that is known is that Burton and Bonham-Carter are in a long-term relationship and have been since 2001. [29] It is sometimes argued that despite her having a smaller role than Depp, Bonham-Carter had more screen time than Depp in the most recent film Burton has made, Alice In Wonderland. Depp plays the Mad Hatter, while Bonham-Carter plays the Red Queen. It could be argued that the relationship the Hatter and the Red Queen have is similar to Burton and Carter's, with her being 'bossy' and demanding things constantly. 

PROJECTOR: Clip from Alice In Wonderland, sequence where Mad Hatter fits the Red Queen with a selection of hats. [Item 2]

SPEAKER: William Goldman, an American novelist and filmmaker, often argues against auteur theory, and makes a point which asks why 'auteurs' are the authors of their films by stating, 'How in the world is Stephen Spielberg the "author" of that? Why is it often referred to today as "Stephen Spielberg's Jaws"?'. This is a valid point and it could be argued with Tim Burton. Why are Burton's films referenced to as 'Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland' and 'Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands'? In regards to Edward Scissorhands, Burton wasn't the only writer for the film, as he received help from Caroline Thompson [20]. So surely this makes the film Thompson's as well as Burton's? 

SPEAKER (CONT.): Despite Burton also using Helena Bonham Carter in his films quite frequently, this doesn't stray from the title of auteur as this could be considered as another feature to the theory. I personally do not think that this makes Burton an ordinary director because Burton will never be ordinary due to his personality, which is always seen in his films, and despite him not using Johnny Depp in every single film he produces and giving other actors more screen time, there will always be auteur factors within the films which still give him the auteur title such as the types of characters used in his films. In regards to William Goldman's view on auteur theory, the films that Burton makes are solely his own ideas and visions. This then gives him the right for the film to be called a Tim Burton film. It adds to his auteur title even further. The types of films that were created and produced by Burton is an new style of film itself which could be called 'Burton-esque'. Films such as Henry Selick's Coraline take on this style of film to honour Burton's way of filmmaking. Henry Selick was the director for Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas therefore Selick would be familiar with Burton's style of work.

PROJECTOR: Screen shot of The Nightmare Before Christmas IMDb page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107688/) to highlight details of the film.

SPEAKER (CONT.): Johnny Depp and Burton have made 8 films together [16] and their 23 years working together have been extremely successful and a credit to the film industry. In conclusion, Tim Burton can certainly be seen as an auteur in regards to his partnership with Johnny Depp and his film making because Burton portrays his own personality through the use of Depp and without this, Burton's films wouldn't be as good as they are. It is Burton's quirky personality and amazing ideas which make his films as great as they are.