course work

Film.

Chosen short films-

-the grandmother
-elephant
-the wrong trousers
-high maintenance

The grandmother

The short film titled the grandmother, by David Lynch inspired me by its random narrative which has unexplainable elements to it such as, the parents acting like dogs in the start though the films narrative is very miss matched and confusing there is still a clear story line. i will include this strange narrative style in my film to fit with the brief by choosing a narrative with an enigma. also in this film there is a mix between real life action and stop motion animation with drawings, this will also be a main inspiration in my film.

Elephant

In the short film Elephant by Clarke 1989, is a montage of long shot of men walking around and shooting random men, the element that inspired me from this is the tracking shot and at the end of that shot something bazar happens which you don't entirely expect when you start watching it. I am going to use an tracking shot and the element of surprise in my short film.

The wrong trousers

The wrong trousers by park made in 1993 is a short Wallace and Gromit film. all Wallace and Gromit films are stop motion animation made from plasticine. I was inspired by this film to create my short film as a stop motion animation and to use plasticine as my animated subject.

High maintenance

In the short film by van titled High maintenance which is about a robot wife and husband who are not happy so the wife replaces the husband with a new model. the sound in this film is very elevated such as chewing breathing and the sound of mouth movements when talking are heard louder than in real life, I want to include the element of elevated sound in my short film.

Jan Švankmajer

Jan Svankmajer has heavily influenced my short film idea with his mixed animation and real action also the strange and peculiar essence to his work has inspired me to create something unexplainable and really out of the box.

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My idea

My film is going to be an experimental film narrative with an enigma.

Experimental cinema

Experimental film, experimental cinema or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms and alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, particularly early ones, relate to arts in other disciplines: painting, dance, literature and poetry, or arise from research and development of new technical resources.
While some experimental films have been distributed through mainstream channels or even made within commercial studios, the vast majority have been produced on very low budgets with a minimal crew or a single person and are either self-financed or supported through small grants.Experimental filmmakers generally begin as amateurs, and some used experimental films as a springboard into commercial film making or transitioned into academic positions. The aim of experimental filmmaking is usually to render the personal vision of an artist, or to promote interest in new technology rather than to entertain or to generate revenue, as is the case with commercial films. 

Narrative enigma

Enigma codes entice the audience to watch the rest of the film as they're curious as to what will happen next; they also help to move on the narrative. Action Codes. Action codes are significant events which move the narrative on in a particular direction. For example, a phone ringing or a knock at the door.

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?id=documents&resid=B52ABAEFB9FA9483!1274&cid=B52ABAEFB9FA9483

Compare how far your chosen films reflect their auteur signature features of their filmmakers. (40)
An auteur is a director whose style is easily recognisable and unique to them, for example directors Riddley Scott and Orson Welles both have a distinct style to film making and ways they convey messages through the films.
Orson welles film the lady from shanghai shows many ways that he is and auteur. Welles quite often uses very theatrical elements such as mirrors and smoke in his films , this is evident in the ‘house of mirrors ’ where it consisted of fast cut scenes and dutch angles which gave a very tense and dazed idea of a gun fight. Film noir was very big in the 1940s this widely influenced welles in his characters, the main character being the classic troubled anti hero common in the noir genre and the leading lady played by rita Hayworth is the femme fatale also common in the noir genre who tempts the main character in to an affair with her leading to his eventual down fall.
Welles uses these characters in his unique style to make both a personal statement and a larger social one , a sequence where this is clear is the house of mirrors sequence which is fast paced and quick cut editing a visual representation of welles style. There are many shots within this sequence where characters faces overlap one another at various transparencies , one shot which shows the relationship between Elsa ( femme fatale) an her husband Arthur , they are seen in a stand off and Elsa’s face is transparent taking up the same amount of screen as her husbands figure showing the fight of power between them shows he has physical dominanc but she has mental dominance over him, the lighting only covers half of her face and body and his so the mirrors are practically invisible which really shows the tension between the characters. Even without this context there is a message conveyed to the audience along the lines of getting married to a woman is nothing but trouble , this is a huge auteur characteristic as during the filming of this Welles and heyworth we’re going through divorce and auteurs are known for personal messages from real life events going on during the filming of their films.

Scott’s style is very similar to Welles as he is widely influenced by the noir genre, tho he focuses more on the movement of the film than the iconography of the genre through lighiting ,sound,setting and at times literal movement. He creates a personal message through weather as most of his films contain harsh weather containing mostly of rain this is indulgences by his child hood as he lived in the north of England where it rains the weather and dark lighting could also represent sadness at the time as while filming his brother passed away.. Scott’s film blade runner contains much more personal message as well as social message about the apocalyptic future. Much like Welles Scott’s characters are typical of the film noir genre: a troubled protagonist this time a retired blade runner and also a femme fatale in this case being controversial as she in a way is also the villain.
The message that Scott wanted to put across was seen in the fight scene between Roy and deckard in this scene Scott uses his trademark beams of light coming through steam and industrial elements such as fans hover cars and once more rain to make the scene come to life with the vast movement. This film really concludes the message of the entire film as it is about life and death as Roy is trying to expand his life as his body is becoming out of date but he has failed and when he knows he is going to die a dove flies showing he has died and is free he also chooses to save decade before he dies to remain connected to life again creating a personal message as Scott’s brother has just died and he could not save him so he is portraying something he wished he could do.

feedback on the auteur presentation

to improve my presentation i needed to explain the auteur theory more so the viewer of my presentation would have a clear understanding of what an auteur is if they had never learnt about what one is.  though i did include good examples of the proof of del toro being an auteur visual and written. i used lots of visuals more than written as del toro is a very artistic man and his films focus on the artistic elements of the creatures and such. to also improve i need to include more technical film language as my use of that was very limited and including this would show my understanding of the task more.
i could also improve more by creating my own video essay as that would show that i understand why he is an auteur and show how i understand film and see the signature style of the director. i could also write about if and how the directors past and childhood effects his style and how he may incorporate that in there and the fact that he draws his own creatures and the fact that its mostly just makeup as he wants it to seem as real as possible .

prisoners

pans lab

The scene where she gives the faun the key
as the little girl walks down the stairs the music is quite faint and delicate but as her foot reaches the floor of this mysterious place the music intensifies and becomes more prominent and deeper which could suggest that she’s in danger  the low key lighting and the fact that its at night time also suggests danger and mystery mainly because these are stereotypical conventions use in horror films during the end of the scene as she starts to walk back up the stairs the music lightens and becomes more delicate and magical then inferring that she’s possibly walking away from danger back in to safety.
When the little girl is talking to the faun there is no music at all, all we can hear is diegetic sounds of the faun creaking when he moves and the fairy’s wings fluttering apart from when she hands the key to him we hear a non diegetic twinkle noise which is a typical convention in fantasy films as it gives the key a sense of importance.
The key is given a sense of importance as during the time it set (1944) Spain was under the control of general Franco who attempted to topple the Republican Government and control the people of Spain in a similar way to Hitler and Mussolini. the key shows this as keys are used to lock things and open things , and Franco had the power of the key he unlocked what he wanted people to see and he locked what he didn't want people to see. Straight after this scene it cuts to a man locking a lock, this takes us back to the idea of locking away what shouldn't be seen and the fact that we see a mans hands do this also shows the representation of men and women of that time, men being controlling and powerful and women being obedient and controlled, Ofelia breaks these stereotypes as she misbehaves and sneaks off in the middle of the night to the labyrinth, this is a prime example of being disobedient.
in this scene the surroundings are very dark due to the low key lighting , this technique makes Ofelia stand out as she is wearing a costume that is predominantly light colors which show that she is young and pure and that she is the key part of this story, it also seems as if a light is shining on her and at the time it is shown it is night so the light shining on her would be the moon and previously the faun says that her father is the moon so now we see that her father could be protecting her by shining down on her, the faun also has light shining on him as he steps out of the dark shadows to talk to Ofelia, this shows that he is safe and that he also links with the father who is also the moon.
the second scene I chose to analyze is the first time she steps in to the fantasy world through the chalk door , we immediately see a change between real life and fantasy due to the color pallet , when she is drawing the door the colours are very cold and blue and green tones which shows that real life is pretty undesirable and harsh , but as she opens the door and the camera shows an establishing shot of the hallway Ofelia had just discovered and we immediately see a change in color as the tones are warmer using colors such as reds yellows oranges and golds , this creates a more desirable feeling and even makes the audience feel safer and comforted than when seeing the cold real world. though the colours of the fantasy world are quite warm and humble a lot of red is used which is also a colour that signifies death and evil as its the colour of blood so already this has foreshadowed the encounter with the pale man later in the scene as he is evil and murders children , his eyes are also red like blood and his eyes represent what people could see and couldn't see in the time Franco was in control.
even though the fantasy world looks desirable the diegetic sound used creates this tense emotion as they use sounds that sound like breathing which is a common convention used in horror films to make the audience feel on edge , also when we see the paintings of the pale man killing children there is a diegetic sound of children screaming and crying which in a way brings the pictures to life and makes the audience fear for Ofelia as she is a child and the is alone with this pale man.
the first shot we see of the pale man is a depth of field shot , this shows that he is nothing to worry about  as he isn't in focus though when Ofelia takes some food from the table and the pale man starts to come alive when the camera goes back to Ofelia and shows again another depth of field shot of the pale man being out of focus even though now he is something to worry about this shows that she isn't scared and she hasn't even given it a thought that this creature could be dangerous because she doesn't realize he has awoken till she turns around .
I also picked up that in this first shot of the pale man we see the long table and just him sitting at the top of it, this is also seen when the captain is at the dinner table in the house so the pale man is also the captain in this fantasy life as the captain hates Ofelia who is a child and the pale man hates children as he kills them the pale man is also influenced by an art piece called 'Saturn devouring his son' this could foreshadow later in the film the captain has a son but unfortunately the mother dies.
also the camera pans from Ofelia to a pile of children's shoes this links to the context of the time it was filmed which was when the Holocaust was happening and that is a reference to how the children and adults were stripped from all their clothes and were thrown in to a pile as that is the level of control Hitler had so this shows the level of control the pale man has and the pale man is a reference to the captain who is a reference to Franco.