unit 1: film analysis

 Film analysis

independent company- An independent business is a business that is free from outside control. It usually means a privately owned establishment, as opposed to a public limited company, the latter of which is owned by investment shares traded in the stock market. In many cases, independent businesses are sole proprietorship companies.

conglomorate- A conglomerate is a multi-industry company – i.e., a combination of multiple business entities operating in entirely different industries under one corporate group, usually involving a parent company and many subsidiaries. Conglomerates are often large and multinational.

joint venture- A joint venture is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterised by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. 

the big 6- main 6 company's that own most market share in film industry

Verisimilitude- how real the world of the story appears to the audience

Diegesis/ diegetic world- the world in which the film takes place

juxtaposition- placing one object next to another to create meaning

narrative theory- theories that categorise narratives and find features common to them

popular narrative theory

Levi-Strauss and Binary Opposition

• "cinema is a set of universal rules, a set of relations that could be described as the grammar film
• Levi-Strauss theorised that since all the cultures are products of the human brain, there must be, beneath the surface, features that are common to all 
• Structuralism attempted to demoranticise the filmmaker as auteur and apply a more scientific approach to uncover the underlying structures of film

Levi-Strauss binary opposition

• Narrative tension is based on opposition or conflict 
• this can be as simple as two characters fighting, but more often functions at ideological level

Vladimir Propp was a Russian and soviet formalist scholar

• He analysed the plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their basic narrative elements
• he looked at one hundred folk tales and came to the conclusion that they were all made up of 31 plot elements, which he called functions
• he also found that despite the large of characters which appeared in the folk tales, there were only 8 character types: Hero (goes on quest and ends up with princess), villain (against here), dispatcher (set the hero off on their quest), princess or prize (prize of hero), father (rewards hero and identifies false hero), false hero (takes credit for heroes actions), helper (helps hero)

Shrek

• hero- Shrek
• villain- Lord Farquard
• princess- princess Fiona
• dispatcher- lord Farquard
• donor- fairytale characters
• father of princess- father/parent
• false hero- prince charming
• helper- donkey

Cars

• hero- lightning Macqueen
• villain- Chick Hicks
• dispatcher- Doc Hudson
• donor- Doc Hudson
• False Hero- Chick Hicks
• Prize- Piston Cup
• Princess- Sally Carrera

Equilibrium- when he draws with Chick Hicks and the blue car for the championship 

disruption- gets lost when he fell out of Mack

realisation- how there is a life outside of racing 

repair- when Doc Hudson and Sally teach him a better way to drive and enhance his driving ability

equilibrium- he sacrifices him winning the piston cup for helping out Dino

Action + enigma codes - Rolan Barthes

Action Codes- what will happen next? 

she falls over- will he catch her?

she has been caught - what will he do with her?

Denotation- what you see e.g. a red sportscar

connotation- the meaning you get from something e.g. red is linked with anger and passion.

Genre and audience pleasures

Rick Altman argues that genre offers audiences a set of pleasures:

• emotional pleasures- how does the text make you feel? - happy, sad, nostalgic etc.
• Visceral pleasures- gut responses such as excitement, fear, laughter 
• Intellectual Pleasures- does it make the audience think

Mise-en-scene- everything Infront of camera ·      Costume ·      Props ·      Setting ·      Colour palette ·      Hair and make up ·      Performance	Camerawork ·      Camera movement ·      Camera angle ·      Shot size ·      Depth of field ·      framing
Editing ·      pacing ·      length of cuts ·      transition ·      elliptical editing	Sound ·      sound fx ·      diegetic ·      non diegetic ·      parallel ·      contrapuntal ·      Diegetic- in the world of film ·      Non diegetic- added to the scene but not in world e.g. music in background

 

micro features of Get Out clip:

Sound:

diegetic

dog barking

crickets

leaves in wind

cr engine

man talking

boot door slaming

"crazy confusing ass suburb"

Parallel sound- sound that matches the actions

non diegetic

old fashioned music

creepy score

cam movement:

slow tracking back

medium shot

pan around 180 degrees

ark shot

shot size

depth of field

editing:

continuous shot

fast paced editing

shot reverse shot

chronological editing

Pacing

Length of cuts

Transition

Elliptical editing

mise en scene:

dark lighting

empty street

silent

face half lit

blurred lighting

wearing a tracksuit- stereo typically not wealthy

spotlight

red brake lights

black clothing

nice car

props

setting

hair and make up

colour palette

1st answer

Subvert- Challenge or change (starts to answer straight away)

Props character types- tied in theory to answer

Peel- links back to question

needs one more paragraphs to get full marks

2nd answer

enigma code- theory- can lead to talking about theory

straight to theory, not explained anything else

very good last line

3rd answer

false hero- theory

new sense of equilibrium- theory

answer 2

answer 1

answer 3

Analyse how genre conventions have been used to create meaning in a media product you have studied: (15 Marks)

The film 'get out' which was created in 2017 uses Genre conventions to create meaning. The introduction to the film is set on a half lit, empty road at night. These micro features suggest evidence to that there is a scary, horror feeling throughout the introduction of the film, therefore suggesting that it is in the horror genre. As well as this, This scene used juxtaposition to show the difference between the man being kidnapped and the man kidnapping him. The man kidnapping him is in an expensive sports car, which contrasts to the other character wearing a tracksuit and viewing the suburb as a place that he does not belong in. 

Fittingly, the film uses non- diegetic sound to build tension towards the main action of the film. The sound of the radio playing a certain song starts out as diegetic coming from the car, however this slowly changes to non- diegetic sound when. the kidnapping starts to take place. This is called parallel sound. This creates more tension between the 2 characters and gives the viewers a visceral feeling towards the action taking place. This will create a lot of tension, therefore creating a Thriller type of vibe with in the film.

As well as this, the editors use a continuous shot to give the viewers the full experience that the man being kidnapped goes through. throughout the shot they see him showing the emotions he is going through and everything he is thinking when he gets confronted by the kidnapper.

Analyse how mise en scene elements contributed to the construction of stereotypes in a media product you have studied (15 marks)

The film "get out" which was created in 2017 uses mise en scene to build the construction of certain stereotypes and characters throughout the film. there is an exa please of this in the opening scene when the kidnapper is in an expensive white car driving very causally in an expensive area. mise en scene creates a contrast between the kidnapper and the victim, because the victim is wearing a tracksuit and feels uncomfturble in this certain area, as if he doesn't belong there. this is made very obvious to the viewer because of the body language that the victim is presenting to the camera. these micro features suggest evidence that there is a binary opposition theory involved in the film. this opposition involves the darker race being the victims/hero's and the white People being the villains. 

Fittingly, elements of Mise en scene is used to create stereotypes by emphasising the outfits being worn by each character. For example,