Reflective Analysis

Fraser McKean
AS Film
Reflective Analysis


The intention that I tried to achieve in the production and capture of my film was to present a genre that was related to the drama side, I did this by not exploring a comedic section or a violent section, the entire film is up to the viewer's interpretation for their own enjoyment, this makes for a much more artistic and experimental film that has succeeded in the past. However, the desired required audience was sixteen to twenty-four years old of both genders within the socio-economic grouping of D, this is the desire due to the class of that subject is more open to different interpretations of filmography.

There were several convention in our short, dramatic film, such as tense non-diegetic music, that when listening to this made me feel on-edge and eager to find out what was going on in the scene, this is achieved by overlaying a heartbeat sound bite and an orchestra arrangement with compelling, dark themes that accompanied the scene at hand.
During the climax of our twenty-one second film, I added a black and white filter to a section of the film lasting roughly four to five seconds, this promoted tension and related to the genre that I was trying to accomplish.

I have chosen this film to be certified a PG, this is due to the lack of violence or adult themes, but I feel as though the film would be wasted upon a U status in where children could watch but not have any understanding of the scene or context.

AS Film Favourite Summer 2014 Film

Fraser McKean

Enrolment Task

 

My favourite film that I saw this Summer 2014 was Belle, an Amma Asante film, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a mixed race daughter of a Royal Naval Admiral raised by her uncle Lord Mansfield (portrayed by Tom Wilkinson) in the 1700's. The reason that I personally enjoyed this film is that the idea of following a young, mixed race woman through the world in where African-American's were treated incredibly poorly, and the fact that the protagonist is of Caucasian and African-American roots, the protagonist is in the midst of slavery and due to the colour of her skin, she is out-casted from society, one scene is shown to where the family are hosting a dinner party, and Belle must dine with the servants in the kitchen at this time.

 

A story based on true events as well as a painting of Belle, at its heart, this film is a costumed melodrama with romance, although this may be common with other time-era films, this film also handles the concept of racism in the 18th century (although throughout the usage of such, you will most likely become desensitized) and the aristocratic way of life and their pride. However, the main aspect of this film is (when de-constructed) to show the torment that African-American's were put through during this era, even someone who was living in such a wealthy household is still affected.

 

Racism, love and struggles of one young woman is shown in this film from trying to relate the audience into the events that were present of the film, for example, the Zong massacre is followed through this film, an event in where 142 African-American’s were murdered, this is an infamous case and therefore the audience can understand the aftermath of the case as well as the reasons why the Lord Chief Justice had his own point of view of the case.

 

Camera angles in this film are highly intriguing, one example is one scene in where Lord Mansfield is addressing Belle of that she is not eligible to meet the outside world and assured that her life at the house will remain the same of that is has lived thus far, the camera angles point to a mirror for each character that is talking, so that we never actually see the pair communicate in great lengths, this disconnected view of the pair gives the impression that they may share the same name, but they lead completely different lives, this is evident as it is clearly proven that Lord Mansfield cannot comprehend the struggles that Belle undergoes as an African-American in an understanding and cruel world.

 

The film starts by introducing the protagonist's father, collecting and leaving his child with his family, it is made clear by this point that Belle is not welcome due to the colour of her skin. After many years, the family have grown accustomed to Belle, but retain their disapproval of Belle's father having relations with an African-American by stating to guests that she is merely "Here to accompany Elizabeth” (Their daughter) It should also be noted that Belle's father was a Royal Naval Captain, an honour that the family would see tarnished if people were to find this out. Belle's uncle, Lord Mansfield, is Lord Chief Justice, this plays an important part in the story as it is on his word to end slavery in England, can his opinion of the African-American culture be changed upon caring for Belle?

 

This film truly is a work of art, an 18th century romantic classic that will no doubt be remembered as such. This film was my favourite choice to write about, as a fan of dramas such as Franklyn, Donnie Darko, Control etc. I was pleasantly surprised with this film, as feeling that I encourage others to replicate upon this filmography.

AS Film The Fault in Our Stars

Fraser McKean

AS Film Studies Induction

How did The Fault in Our Stars become a box office success?

 

The Fault in Our Stars, a romantic-drama film based on the novel by John Green of the same name, became a huge success due to the film being widely watched by the teen culture.

 

The film revolves around two loved up teenagers struggling with cancer. Even with the burden of this dreadful disease, the protagonists of the film maintain what many couples with call the perfect relationship and therefore can relate to many teenagers that strive for or may have their own idea of the perfect relationship. While teenagers can particularly relate to this, the main focus is that it gives an insight into the circumstances of others, in this case, adolescents coping with the fact they will not live a full life that the audience may have.

 

A similar response was given to My Sister's Keeper (2009) which was also based around a character that suffered with cancer; one might wonder whether this is a strong contributing factor into the popularity of this film.

The characters are relatable in the sense of how almost every audience member has had a struggle with cancer, either having it personally or losing a cherished one to it, this allows the audience to understand the pain and struggle that the protagonists are going through, as well as the sacrifice of entering a relationship knowing that it cannot last a lifetime.

 

Many story lines of this genre do not follow this path due to how tackling a story with cancer can be very precarious as if handled in a way that could offend the audience, the aftermath can be catastrophic. For this reason alone is one of my theories of why this film did so well in the box-office, because there was not any story lines present that could handle it so beautifully.

 

Another reason that I think this film did so well in the box-office is due to the promotion of the film, before the film was even released there were thousands of Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter etc. Posts about how perfect the book was followed the Game of Thrones mentality, where if you had not heard or read the book, you needed to watch the film. By promoting this way through the audience, the public were more relaxed with trusting their own social group with the praise of this film rather than the film's marketing team trying to convince the public that it was a great film, the entire process was proof that the Two Step Flow Theory clearly worked within this argument, no matter how much of a negative outlook on this film one may have, the audience will take up arms and fight their opinion.

 

My overall thoughts of how The Fault in Our Stars became a box office success are that due to the promotion of the film by avid fans of the book, the film gained critical acclaim before the first screening of the film. This combined with the fact that the story of two teenagers that are suffering with cancer finding love, is a story that can touch any person's heart whether they had enjoyed the film or otherwise.

AS Film Horror Induction

Fraser McKean

Enrolment Task

 

Horror genre

The horror genre is a popular choice of filmography that relies on the viewer's state of mind to be shocked or otherwise horrify to the point of inflicting a negative reaction from them.

 

The horror genre is one of the most successful genres of films with various sub genres that apply to different viewer's taste, the classic types of horror films are Slasher and Supernatural and remain to be one of the most popular sub genres, however with the modern age genres such as psychological and torture have been highly praised.

 

Codes and conventions that associate with the horror genre are typically low-key lighting, abandoned/isolated areas, vulnerable females, complex monsters and a hero.

A classic story arc that is shown perfectly in Scream (1996) consists of the following cast of characters:

⦁ The hero.

⦁ The jock.

⦁ The stoner.

⦁ The horror film buff.

⦁ Minority race.

⦁ The virgin.

⦁ The slut.

⦁ The killer (known to the group).

 

The horror genre is most famed for providing chills and making the viewer feel tense and is perhaps the most efficient form of escapism for ninety minutes as it gives insight to another person's perspective, and the fact that that person is most cases in great peril it provides entertainment as well as the social interaction to feel fear and abhorrence amongst other viewers in the room.

 

Another recent horror film that received high praise despite the film not following conventional aspects of the horror genre is the Paranormal Activity (2009).

Although the film is a ghost story, it relies on the use of handheld cameras; immersing the viewer, actors that aren't well known; making the story feel real, minimalistic plot; allows viewer to be more open to scares and not rational thought.

The film has received praise for bringing found footage horror  into the mainstream spotlight with countless films copying the style, the antagonist is never seen during the film, but their presence is aware such as furniture being moved, bed sheets being blown over or dragging a victim into a closet. As far as technical codes go, lighting is mostly green night vision, this is essentially low-key as the amount of visibility is limited and what is shown as bright is consistent with high-key lighting. This helps keep the lighting aspect of the film simple but effective.

 

 

 

Another sub-genre of horror is a chilling ghost story, a film I feel represents this greatly is The Woman in Black (2012).

This is a supernatural horror which was a blockbuster hit based on the classic ghost tale of the same name.

The way in which this sub-genre  terrifies the viewer is through a vast amount of tension building up twenty five percent from the film's start, one of the aesthetics is jump scares which are essentially cheap moves in where a ghost is very quickly and unexpectedly shown on screen, usually screaming or shrieking, this shocks the viewer and puts them on the edge as the main scare builds up soon.

The lighting of this film is mostly low-key (aside from the daytime scenes) which in a story setting works as the film is based in the early nineteen hundreds and therefore did not have the disposal of lighting that we have today, this means that the only source of light that the character has is a torch that he must set a flame.

The conventions remain vastly similar such as a protagonist is a painful past, an abandoned/isolated area, a vulnerable female (in this case the ghost) and the monster.

 

The next horror sub-genre I will dissect is the psychological horror (my personal favourite).

The codes and conventions for this are typically the following:

 

The setting:

The setting needs to relate to the audience, therefore it must be in a place that is a familiar sight to the viewer, this includes:

⦁ Schools.

⦁ Hospitals.

⦁ Forests.

⦁ Mansions/Large estates.

 

Characters:

The antagonist is typically a disturbed, tormented or psychologically damaged person who tries to harm his victims in various ways; the protagonist(s) do not have to be in anyway related to the antagonist, they can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A running trend is that female characters are becoming more often the antagonist; this may have something to do with how traditionally the female roles are seen as the damsel in distress or the sexual icons. Children in this sub-genre are also popular as it gives off the impression of innocence to the viewer but they are deceived once the true intentions of the child, an example of this is in the film Orphan (2009), where the antagonist is a child.

 

Defences:

The protagonist(s) are at the most, largely the victim of this sub-genre as they are reliant on their wits to survive. The antagonist however, are typically the character with the weapon, be it supernatural or conventional weapons of a blade of a blunt object, an example is this is Orphan (2009) where the antagonist's main weapon is deception.

 

 

 

Visuals:

Again, like most horror sub genres, low-key lighting and in this particular sub-genre assets such as black and white filters (mainly used in flashbacks) are signature, examples of this are The Sixth Sense (1999) and The Human Centipede 2 (2011) which negates all forms of colour and life, this along with night vision is an alternative for low-key lighting effects and works rather well in keeping the audience immersed in the film.

 

Audio:

An element of psychological horror is Contrapuntal Sound, which is a sound that does not fit with the actions that are shown on screen, this is very much a contradiction to what is occurring, for instance, eerie music and diminished notes are used to build tension quickly in a scene (most commonly in trailers) to hook the viewer and make it apparent that something is about to happen, the audience just cannot predict when.

 

Psychological horror is more of a mental horror rather than a physical horror as it dwells on the audience's mind long after they have left the theatre, questioning what they have been through, this horror is very close to home in terms of realism.

 

A scene from a horror film that affected me personally was the main twist of The Sixth Sense (1999), although it by present day's standards not a horror film, when I was younger it opened my eyes to the psychological aspects of films and I can remember going into school the next day with that scene playing over and over again in my mind, in my opinion it is one of the most classic and spoilers that must be experienced and not told.

We are drawn to the horror genre is the excitement of not being able to take our eyes off the screen in sheer terror or engrossment, the idea that we are drawn to what we are scared of is fascinating, personally I love how such a monstrous idea can spawn form a person's mind, it is a sick, guilty pleasure to be terrified over and over again, from Dracula (1958) to The Human Centipede (2009) horror fans just love to be disgusted and have their spine chilled, a phenomenon that I agree with but also do not understand.

AS Film Scene Essay Analysis

The scene that I have chosen to use is a one-hundred and seventeen second clip from the 2008 drama Franklyn, I have used this particular scene as I feel that it contains all the points I need to address.

The visual codes that are in this scene vary from close up shots of the character's expressions, particularly in this scene, there are multiple characters that show different emotions; sadness, anger and confusion, this is found by the mise en scene that is shown throughout the clip.
The following visual codes are within the scene itself:

• The mise en scene gives out a very moody and a sense of gloom due to the dim lighting of the room and the rainfall on the windows.
• In the later parts of the scene, there is a special effect which wipes across the panning shot of the room, causing glows and vibrancy of the room.
• Zoom-in shots of a man's face is shown whilst he is armed to show his expressions such as his concentration and his anger.
• A zoom-in shot of a man taking off his glasses and closing his eyes, only to reopen them in a look of despair, the camera keeps on point with this man's expression and maintains focus on the man's face.
• A close up shot of exchanging items between two characters is shown at eye level, this helps the audience understand what has exchanged between them rather than showing it by an high-angle shot for example.
• Connotations of the room towards the end of the scene once it becomes golden represent wealth, power and value.
• The last section of the scene shows a zoom-in shot of the blonde man's face; crying,  whilst he reveals a lighter on screen and trembling upon releasing the flame.
• The rain and thunder outside of the room symbolize sadness and remorse, but also of cleansing and creation, these connotations are appropriate to the scene in where a man is seen dropping his weapon after aiming it at an older man, it could be argued that this scene follows these attributes.

There are also several technical codes that are within this clip this contains lighting and other camera shots from this scene, such codes are simply shown by looking on-screen, these are the following technical codes that are most worth noting in the clip:

• Zoom-in shots of a man's face is shown whilst he is armed to show his expressions such as his concentration and his anger
• A close up shot of exchanging items between two characters is shown at eye level, this helps the audience understand what has exchanged between them rather than showing it by an high-angle shot for example.
• A medium-long shot is briefly shown in the introduction to show a man aiming a gun out of a window, this reveals the character and his nature to the audience.
• The entire scene has low-key lighting, this gives off connotations of gloom, despair and death.

There also multiple audio codes in this scene, these split into two categories, Non-diegetic and Diegetic, Diegetic being audio that is within the same universe as the scene, and Non-diegetic being the opposite.
The following cases are listed:

Non-diegetic

• A soft and atmospheric piano sympathy is heard fading in as the blonde man starts to put his gun down, the music is peculiar and contrapuntal to the scene at hand.
• A bright and uplifting orchestra play through the scene where the woman turns around and watches the room change and blossom into gold.
• A tense and discorded tone is droned towards the end of the scene, this puts the audience on edge as to expect something explosive to appear on screen.

Diegetic

• The sound of a lighter is heard being open and closed in multiple parts of the scene.
• Rainfall can be heard throughout the scene.

The entire scene is littered with codes of these natures, this is the main reason I had picked this clip from the entire film, this two minute clip contains many different forms of visual, technical and audio codes.