Short Film Sequence

Reflective Analysis We shot a 26 second sequence consisting of 7 shots, the purpose of this was to show our understanding of different types of shots. It fits into the horror-comedy genre as it contains the common horror convention of a stalker as well as parody which is comedic. The narrative was very simplistic; I walked out of college and Luke was revealed to be watching me however after he followed me he just asked for the time instead of behaving like a creepy stalker. The horror element wasn’t very strong so it would probably certified a PG or 12, however the target audience would be teenagers the plot would appeal to them. Also teenagers tend to watch things featuring people around their age. The horror element could have been exaggerated if it had been dark or by me showing fear through facial expression. Suspense was created through a close-up tracking shot of Luke’s feet as he walked towards me as this concealed what else was going on. Another shot which built suspense was the extreme close-up of his eyes which we used to create an eyeline match with a long-shot of me turning to face the camera which built tension. This also introduced the stalker convention. This eyeline match was repeated in the final two over-the-shoulder shots.

American Beauty

“American Beauty” in a 1999 American comedy drama film. It was directed by Sam Mendes and Written by Alan Ball. It centres on the mid-life crisis of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) and his dysfunctional middle-class suburban family. Throughout the film Lester and others come to realisations about happiness, identity and freedom, I chose to analyse the last scene which is the culmination of these character developments. The scene opens with a close up of Lester who says “I’m great” and smiles. This contrasts with the dim lighting and diegetic sound of heavy rain which represents misery. Non-diegetic classical music starts and it cuts to a mid-shot as the camera then pans slowly following him around the kitchen as he picks up a photograph then tilts down as he sits down. This places a very heavy focus on Lester as he is continuously positioned in the middle of the shot. Lester’s body language is very casual; he swings his arms and walks slowly. This, combined with the music and rain, gives it an air of tranquillity which disarms the audience from anticipating the impending violence. However mise-en-scene opposes this as a bouquet of red roses (American beauties) is positioned in front of Lester which symbolises the blood which will be spilled. It cuts to an extreme close-up of the photograph then a reverse close-up shot of Lester in a shallow focus with the shadows of rain falling in the background; again hinting at the dripping blood. It then cuts to a close-up of the side of Lester’s head and the barrel of a gun moves in behind his head. The music fades out as the camera pans left gradually emitting from view: the gun, Lester, the photo and finally the roses until it stops on a close up of a white tiled wall. A gunshot pierces the pattering of the rain and a bright circle of blood sprays onto the tiles which drips like the rain on the windows. The colour is the same as the roses which creates an interesting link in that the red symbolises perfection, life and beauty while also representing brutality, death and vengeance. It is interesting that the two are not juxtaposed in the shot together which highlights how throughout the film these two positive and negative connotations are harshly separated by people’s identity; except in the case of Lester. It then cuts to a hand-held shot down the stairs, the unsteadiness of this expressing Jane and Ricky’s fear before it cuts to a low angle mid-shot of them walking downstairs. The angle obscures their facial expressions but emphasises their nervous body language of clinging to each other. It cuts to an out of focus extreme close-up of Ricky’s hand opening a door behind which is revealed to be a white table covered in blood. A spotlight is shone on the blood giving the effect that it’s glowing. It then cuts to a mid-shot; Ricky stays in the shadows maintaining his dark persona while Jane steps into the light which highlights her innocence as she reverts to a child-like nature in her shock. All of the techniques used in “American Beauty” relate to it’s tagline: look closer.

The horror genre

The purpose of horror films is to incite panic, fear and dread in their audience. Horror is an incredibly diverse genre which caters for most tastes, be it a zombie comedy such as Shaun of the Dead (2004) or a psychological horror such as The Shining (1980). Some of the other sub genres of horror are: supernatural, slasher, science fiction, monster and splatter. Many cult films are horrors such as Re-Animator (1985) and Friday the 13th (1980); which resulted in which twelve slasher films, a television show, novels, comics books and merchandise. One reason for such a dedicated following is the connection the audience feels to the concept and the characters. An obsession can easily develop with the disturbing plot and addictive adrenalin rush of pure terror. A lot of horror films have sequels as there is always something to build on, another supernatural twist or new methods of torture. The attraction of horror films can vary from the fun rush of fear to a sick fascination in suffering. While many people are content with just watching giant spiders eat people alive, there is something captivating about experiencing the boundaries of human pain and terror while safe in knowledge that it is pure fiction. However often terror is intensified by making the film “based on a true story”. Of course artistic license has a heavy impact on the true accuracy of a film as it’s primary purpose is to entertain not to document. Often supernatural horrors are said to be based on a true story, for example The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005). The reliability of this is especially debatable due to the questionable nature of demonic possession. However it can give the film a sense of realism and allow the audience to be taken in and feel truly terrified. Watching a horror film and thinking this really happened can be quite disturbing as you may imagine it in the context of your life and think about it happening to you. When an audience watches a paranormal film they could easily be skeptical, but “based on a true story” opens their minds to a new level of fear, which is the purpose of the experience. Films based on true events such as tortures and murders are less easily accepted as entertainment. Often an audience may find that the factual element of the story makes it too distressing to watch. These films may be regarded as exploitive of the victims; for example The Girl Next Door (2007) which tells the story of a teenage girl horrifically tortured by her psychopathic aunt and is loosely based on the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens. To some this makes it more interesting and deepens the dark fascination. To others the knowledge that it really happened is too much to bear. Dark horror must maintain an even ground of being watchable while still potentially unbearable. It pushes the audience to their limits and exposes them to the darkest depths of the human mind, the sickening, the terrifying and the mind-scarring. A scene I found particularly disturbing was the nurse scene from Silent Hill (2006). There is no music used in the background which actually builds suspense due to the ominous silence. It begins with Rose running up some stairs into a corridor where she sees the nurses. You can hear her fast footsteps which suddenly stop and fade out with echo which coincides which Rose gasping. This is chilling and made me gasp too as it exaggerates the shock of seeing the nurses positioned grotesquely together. An eerie silence follows then the only sounds are Rose breathing deeply in terror and the nurses begin making odd creaking and breathing noises. Two sudden seconds of loud stamping from the nurses follow featuring a close up of their feet and it once again goes silent. The constant on/off terror made me constantly question what was going to happen and what threat the nurses posed. The greatest feature of this scene is the movement of the nurses; they are animalistic and move as if controlled by one dysfunctional mind. They give the impression of spare body parts which are somehow erratic yet in sync. Individually they are very broken but as a unit they have strength. The noises they make add to this; sharp breaths and gasps and as if they are waking up in pain yet a loud marching which is intimidating and strong. The sudden movement of one when rose walked past made me jump as they are so odd and supernatural that they are totally unpredictable. The final minute contains close ups of their hands holding blades as they move slowly towards each other, again creating suspense. The last 30 seconds was a perfectly choreographed collision of deformed bodies and blades causing shocking bright red sprays of blood against the dark background and figures. It was very strange and disturbing yet utterly captivating.

The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars (TFIOS) is an American romantic comedy-drama based on a young adult (YA) novel of the same name by John Green. It’s release was greatly anticipated, particularly among Green’s dedicated followers the “nerd fighters”. This follows the same path of YA novel to film success as franchises such as Twilight, The Hunger Games and Divergent. These films all also feature young female main characters that are seen as role models by many fans. YA novel adaptations have the advantage of a dedicated pre-existing fanbase who are media-crazy and the most frequent attendees of the cinema. TFIOS follows the age old tale of young love and loss which has proven countless times to be immensely popular. It could be said that it carries an air of Shakespearean tragedy; the title is taken from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/ But in ourselves, that we are underlings”. However, unlike many modern films following this cliché, TFIOS maintains a more organic approach with no CGI fight scenes, dystopian universes or supernatural beings. Instead it relies the emotional aspect of the film; “You have to concede the laser-guided accuracy and psychotic vehemence with which it goes for the tear duct.” [1] “a perfectly crafted machine for making you cry” [1]. TFIOS unites all who watch it in the empathy they feel for these carefully designed characters giving people a satisfying cinematic experience. Various other elements played a role in making TFIOS such a commercial success; a significant one being social media. Green’s Youtube channel Vlogbrothers has built a following of over 2.2 million subscribers in the last 7 years. Hype was built up through a marketing campaign on instagram called SharedRank which reached a claimed 16 million people and resulted in more than 350,000 engagements [2]. This contemporary method of advertising not only utilises the accessibility of social media but is also designed to specifically target those who are most likely to be interested in the film. Together this resulted in TFIOS grossing $48.2 million in it’s opening weekend while only costing $12 million to produce [3]. It was reported that it has just crossed $100 million domestically and $165 worldwide, making it one of the most profitable films released in 2014 [4]. A film's success is generally measured by gross yet this doesn’t truly represent financial success as well as net; however gross sounds much more impressive so that is what is reported. Yet both gross and net don't truly represent popularity as they are dependent upon ticket prices which vary greatly. The best measurement for a film’s commercial success is ticket sales. Cinema attendance peaked in the UK in 1946 at over 1.64 billion before a dramatic drop in the 60s and 70s to reach just 54 million in 1984 [3]. This is because of the growth of TV ownership and video rental. Even though cinema attendance picked up to just under 180 million in 2011 it is still a remarkable drop in numbers. This is most likely the reason for ticket sales not being usual measurement of a film’s success; it’s an embarrassment. Sources: 1. www.theguardian.com/film 2. marketingland.com 3. www.forbes.com 4. www.deadline.com 5. www.economicshelp.org

Personal response to We Need to Talk About Kevin

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a British-American psychological drama-horror film adapted from Lionel Shriver’s novel of the same name and was directed by Lynne Ramsay. The film builds a fractured narrative of the troubled, distant relationship between Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton) and her sociopathic son Kevin (Ezra Miller). It is directed in a non-linear style and moves between three key periods: Kevin as a baby/toddler, Kevin as a 6-8 year old and Kevin as a teenager. I found this captivating as instead of being told the story I had to piece it together myself through short insightful scenes. It is centred throughout around an event which is gradually revealed to be a high school massacre and referenced through things such as repeated red symbolism and flashbacks. The film deals with both the causes and the aftermath of this event through Eva’s eyes; an interesting twist. Eva's hatred of Kevin and motherhood itself reaches disturbing heights when she tells him “Before you were born Mommy used to be happy!” and breaks his arm. Her chilling behaviour suggests that she too may suffer a mental illness causing this detachment. This is one of the significant moments which questions whether Kevin’s sociopathic nature is entirely natural or if it developed due to Eva's inability to bond with him since pregnancy. The air of uncertainty this creates adds depth and intrigue. At times like these I could pity Kevin as his youth victimises him. This too is the case for his father Franklin (John C. Reilly) who is blind to the concerns Eva has about Kevin. Red symbolism is first presented in the second scene; it features a young Eva in a mass of swarming bodies churning through a sea of tomatoes at a festival in Spain. This creates a very striking image which I found mesmerising yet as the film continued it seemed more like a horrifying premonition. The vivid hue is continued in the next scene through lighting and props giving it a heavy eerie glow which contrasts the organic freedom and vitality of the festival. This lighting is also used in flashbacks to the massacre. The red details give the film a sense of unity and ties together the short, erratic scenes. This is a film which is designed to have a lasting impression on it’s audience. The harrowing narrative and imagery explore dark depths of the human psyche and it’s development. Tilda Swinton plays Eva hauntingly well with a tentative, almost horrified approach to Kevin which continues as their alienated relationship progresses. Ezra Miller is cold and calculating with a fixated glare occasionally permeated by a sly grin to further manipulate his father and sister, sending Eva deeper into her prison of misery. Despite the horror of the actions leading up to the massacre I found the sight of Franklin and Celia’s bodies on the ground with arrows in their backs is repulsively shocking. It represents a betrayal of humanity itself and asks how much of a part did Eva really play in this tragedy?