(Research) & Se7en Anyalsis…

After understanding the concept of our groups film, i began to research various editing styles, to get a deeper understanding of which direction i wanted to take my film in. When looking upon the genre of the film, it would be a crime/thriller therefore i decided i wanted to create something, dark and monotone, to re-create the atmosphere of the scene, but also to represent the emotions of the main character.

Therefore when thinking about directors that produce quite dark films, but not necessarily of the horror genre, i decided to do some extra research on my favourite director “Tim Burton”. The two films of his that i looked at were “Edward Scissor hands” and “Batman Returns”. After looking at these films, i found that both contained two key elements which only personify the atmosphere Burton tries to create. The first is the dark use of the cinematography. Burton uses lighting to make everything look dark and grimy. The use of shadows are a common element in his pieces which often create tension. As for Edward Scissor hands, although the film focus’s quite heavily on colour contrasts i.e the bright houses of the neighbourhood and the dark, eery feel of the castle. The scenes in the castle represent Edwards emotions, as he is so used to being alone and scared, that the darkness is a metaphor of his whole world being engulfed in nothingness.

After deciding upon the dark features my film would posses, i re-looked at a film which i had recently reflected on in a previous blog post, A Single Man. The editing style in ” A Single Man” is an interesting one. The edit is unique, because when the main character is of high emotion the video filter goes to high saturation, giving a clear indication to the audience the visual stimuli of an over powering feeling, felt by the main character. Therefore i decided that i wanted to produce a piece that has a interesting visual filter over my video. I didn’t want the footage to look to raw, even though i planned to light the scene well. Therefore i wanted to put quite a low tone filter over the hostage scenes to represent the unnatural situation taking place.

For the first time, i watched the film Se7en which really related to the dark elements i wanted to produce. The film makes certain locations feel very claustrophobic due to the clever lighting and editing styles, therefore below i have analysed the film in detail, and i must admit, this is where i have taken most of my inspiration for my edit from.

Se7en is a film starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey. The film follows two detectives who begin to investigate a serial killers murders. As the film progress’s it becomes clear that the killer’s victims each has something in common. One of the seven deadly sins.

The mise-en-scene has been created well within the film, as everything the audience see’s reflects the tone of the film. The film takes place in a very run down city where crime is on every corner. Visually the scenes look very grim, as everything seems desaturated, dirty and dark. Which as a whole is the theme throughout.  Pathetic Fallacy is used a lot within the film, as rain and dark clouds hang over the city representing the dark cloud hanging over everyone’s lives.

The film towards the end is very much a mind game. It gets the audience guessing what will happen next, making them come up with endless outcomes that may take place, and although it took me a while, I figured out what the ending was going to be before it happened. Although normally I like to be surprised, it was a good feeling knowing what was going to happen next, because that way, you then become on edge to the decision the main characters are going to have to make.

The editing was almost a combination of two styles. The first being a classic Hollywood style, showing action with fast paced cuts. But the other editing style was almost like that of CSI, or any other crime scene programs. Where it is edited together, so that the audience have time to focus on the evidence and other aspects that when edited normally, people wouldn’t notice.

The opening credits was also another interesting editing technique, as it seemed to foreshadow what was going to happen in the rest of the film. The way it did this was by using creepy music, disturbing images and dark lighting.

The majority of the sound within the film was diegetic, and occasionally the audio sounded like it had been produced in a Foley studio. Such as papers being slammed down, knifes and forks clanking and the sound of heavy footsteps and gunshots. The only non-diegetic sound in the film was at the beginning and the end in the credits which was purely used to build the audience up in the beginning and keep them shocked by what they saw happened at the end.

I found that I really liked the film, and this was because it was clever. When a film is mentally stimulating you it not only keeps you engaged, but it allows you to become part of the films world, making you do just as much detective works as the characters within the film.

The cinematography was used to a very high standard, as the lighting only emphasised the dull, grim tone of the film and built tension in the necessary places.

Overall I found the film very entertaining and worth a watch, the combination between the killers and the detectives stories tied in very well at the end.

A Single Man…

Like many films that aren’t classed as “mainstream”, a lot of directors take the artistic approach, and although many of them are beautiful to watch, they don’t always have the storyline to match them. However after watching “A Single Man” I found that the piece have an excellent combination of the two.

 The key aim the film has, is to allow the audience to become part of the main characters troubled world, allowing them to emphasise, sympathies and relate to him. The film focused on many negative aspects of life, such as death, love and the battle of the mind. However all these themes were completely relevant and had me captivated throughout.

Visually the film was stunning, not just the use of great locations and cinematography, but the editing style. Throughout the film, the majority is very saturated, illustrating how dull his life feels without his partner in the world. But it’s the small positive aspects of his life, which create the most impact as they subtly become more colorful showing that for that one moment, his world isn’t a bad place to be apart of.

Like many films, it contains a controversial subject; in this case, the main characters homosexuality. In modern days this subject isn’t often referred to as a “controversial subject”, however it is set in the 60’s and although his life appears to be very open when talking about the subject, it is apparent that it is the complete opposite.

The irony that I found fascinating in the film was that he lived in a house with large windows all around the house, allowing everyone who wished to, to see into his home. But in fact no one was truly allowed into his world, not even his friends. The one person who had, his soul mate, was now dead, and although the house was flooded with light, it almost felt dark and empty.

Obviously anyone who has seen the film will know that it is about his struggle to find his place in the world, now that the one thing he ever truly loved was not in it.

Although the film Is only representing a day of his life, it shows the audience so clearly the battle he has with himself to make it to another day. A couple of times within the film the audience is shown him trying to end his life, but it’s the small but significant things that stop him, such as his friend.

One thing that I didn’t really understand was his relationship with the character Kenny, played by Nicholas Hoult. I understood that Kenny found comfort with Mr. Falconer as Kenny was battling through the struggles of being gay himself, but I couldn’t work out whether Mr. Falconer was attracted to Kenny and intended to form some kind of relationship with him, or whether he just found comfort in him as they had certain qualities in common.

The emotional connection the piece makes towards the audience is very powerful and it is clearly illustrates how empty Mr. Falconers world is without his partner, and when relevant the non-diegetic sound only emphasised that. The struggle to make it through another day is portrayed excellently, which in one way or another is what many people can relate to.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo…

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has just taken me on an emotional rollercoaster. Not the in the conventional way where viewers seem to go from happy to sad. But in the way where I am confused by what im supposed to be feeling, taking me through stages of shock and then suspense.

I have always been weary when talking about films, which stem from books in an artistic way. Partly because more than nine times out of ten they don’t live up to the books, but also because they become widely mainstream and although that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does make me question them. Film versions of a series of books have often been economically successful (such as Harry Potter and Twilight) but haven’t always satisfied my opinions of them, as more often than not, large chunks of the books, which allow you to enter the characters world, are cut out to allow the film to be shorter than 10hours!!! 

I went to the cinema to see this film with no pre-conceived ideas, which was a conscious choice made by myself.  This is because I am the type of person who doesn’t necessarily like films described as “thrillers, mystery’s or action”, but I took a chance with it because of reviews it had received and peers raving about it. Im glad I took that chance.

The only way to describe the majority of the film is “Uncomfortable viewing”. Throughout certain points I was surprised at what the BBFC actually allowed the filmmakers to keep in. Graphic scenes of rape, the victims being of both sexes were shown. At first I was apprehensive about how necessary it was to actually show this, but as the film progressed I realised that these scenes allowed the audience to understand and quite possibly emphasise with the main character. The whole film is based around a unsolved crime which two people are trying to solve, however this synopsis would be too simple and as the film progresses, four storylines come into place. Although I think it was done quite well it did seem a bit choppy in parts.

In my opinion when creating a murder mystery type of film where pieces of evidence are collected, the investigation would almost have to be made physically in the script development stage to make sure that there are no gaps or loopholes in the film, to make sure that nothing is missed out. Although I couldn’t see anything that had been, everything moved very quickly, as if the backstory wasn’t strong enough to support the realistic values it held.

It does appear that all I’ve done is moan about the film, but in fact I really enjoyed it. Yes, It did make me leave the cinema feeling emotionally confused as I didn’t really know how I was meant to feel throughout but when thinking about it…. Doesn’t that make it successful? It is SO common in mainstream cinema at the moment to view a film and then come out and all you can say about it was whether you liked it or not. Often people who study or teach the media will try and get you to say why you liked it or didn’t, but often you don’t really know why. Therefore in my opinion its rare for a film with a high status to make you feel something more than whether you were entertained or not and this is what this films has done to me. It made me feel that when I was leaving the cinema I wanted to come home and write about it, and surely that just shows that it actually had quite an effect on me.

It addressed issues which people, especially Britain shy away from, Sensitive issues such as rape or sexuality which people would much rather be blissfully unaware of. Im not criticizing these people as they’re were a couple of the issues shown that I would do the same thing with.  One thing is for certain though, in my opinion it broke down boundaries within mainstream cinema, which fundamentally all held reasons within the film, for why they were shown.

To be honest though, I wouldn’t rush to see the film again anytime soon, as it did make me feel more uncomfortable that it did entertained, possibly because of the graphic nature of a couple of the scenes, but a key thing is, it did have an emotional effect on me. Which I think is what cinema is all about.

The Infamous Banksy…

After carelessly roaming the Internet the other day out of boredom I came across “Banksy’s” website. Although I have passively seen his controversial artwork in papers and on the news in the past, I have never actually looked in detail. The layout and design of his website reflects the style of art he produces and there seems to be very little, if any, text.

The reason why I think there’s no text is to maintain the image that has been created around him, therefore if there’s not text it doesn’t give much information away about the artist and almost mirrors his image of being quite secret.  But also I think that he has purposely chosen to do this because his art speaks for it self. Rarely do his pieces have to have their meaning explained, they all pretty much speak for themselves. It almost is a physical definition of the phrase “A picture says a thousand words”.

Although the world and the UK in particular moan about things being different and people speaking out, secretly society thrives off a bit of controversy. Most of, if not all his pieces are controversial and personally that’s why I find him so alluring.

In my opinion, controversy is one of the key motives for change. At first many aspects of society such as divorce, sexuality and people of different race’s integrating with other countries have once been taboo subjects, but people speaking out and making an impact have been seen as controversial but in retrospect it has also led to change. In modern society, neither of those three “issues” are shocking to people as they have been accepted as normality now by many people.

Banksy’s works are often not portrayed in conventional ways, but are produced on sides of buildings, street signs and billboards. This method reflects the point I just made about society, as he is not putting his work on a canvas, which will only be viewed by people that want to see his work. Any one who is in that area will view it passively. I believe this is a genius idea, because if your trying to put a point across whether it be political or fact based, then this is the way to do it. People who would choose to see his work already have pre conceived beliefs and ideas on what he produces, however it’s the people that haven’t seen his work before that it will create the most impact on.

After looking at his pieces online, the thing I found surprising was that I  understood the message that he was trying to put across. Now im not the best art analysist in the world, or even very good at it at all. However his points are easy to understand and the message is clear in many of them. He creates impact with his works without them being mentally challenging. The question is though, is that because his art is simple and just plain outrageous? Or is it that although the meaning is fairly simple, it is innovative and extremely clever? Personally I believe it is the latter.

The real question is though, who is Banksy? After looking at the website I did a bit of extra research to see if Banksy’s identity had ever been revealed. I discovered an article on the “Daily Mail” website (surprise, surprise) and found a text from July 2008, which claimed that Banksy’s had been unmasked and was a man called “Robin Banks” and alongside it is a picture of the suspected artist. The article try’s to avoid the statement that this man is defiantly the famous artist but most defiantly implies it. In my opinion is just a very clever game of “Where’s wally”, where they have tried to find the person who technically ticks all the boxes.

Personally I really hope that this isn’t the artist, and that Banksy’s identity is never confirmed, as his secretive image compliments the art very well. (Let alone that the police and government are after him for numerous crimes against vandalism). But also I feel that the picture used in the article isn’t what I imagined him to look like. Which is also a let down as the imagination will always create a more exciting version of someone than reality.

http://www.banksy.co.uk/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1034538/Graffiti-artist-Banksy-unmasked—public-schoolboy-middle-class-suburbia.html

Rihanna – We Found Love. Review and Reflect…

Rihanna – We found love video analysis 

  In my opinion this is the best music video of then year! The video directed by Melina Matsoukas is shot in England and reminds me slightly of the film “This Is England”. The video begins with a monologue from a British girl who narrates the opening clips talking about the ups and downs of love. While this is happening the audience is introduced to the two characters the narrator is talking about. It begins with a very unglamorous shot of the couple sitting in a bath fully clothed, the female (Rihanna) has make up running down her face. This instantly will shock the audience, as it is not a social norm, which will immediately show the audience that something dis-functional is going on. The transition from the monologue to the actual music video has been created quite cleverly as the monologue is quite depressing and then the song is a dance song which almost represents the opposite emotion, so the sound of thunder is used to create the transition allowing the two to flow quite smoothly. The whole video is very fast paced cutting between shots every two to three seconds representing the pace of the song but also keeping the audience engaged and intrigued. Ninty percent of the shots appear to be handheld as they move around a bit, pan at strange angles and almost look like they’ve been recorded for a friends point of view. I think the director has chosen to do this because it creates a more intimate and personal feeling for the audience almost allowing viewers to be apart of the characters life and feel the emotions they are going through.

The video portrays the stereotypical view of “young love” as it shows many shots of the couple kissing and getting physical, but also shows non stop partying and the use of drugs. The interesting aspect of this video for me is to see Rihanna an America based artist, in England, acting the way the youth are portrayed in the media in England. However in America young people are portrayed a lot more positively, which leads me to think, has the writer or producers specifically chosen to shoot the video in England because of the way the Youth are seen over here.

I think the theme or message that is trying to be portrayed for this video is the destruction of love. When the actual music video begins the visual images all appear to be quite fun and happy images of the couple enjoying each others company however as the video progresses it displays more negative images of hate and arguments.

I think the word I previously mentioned of “destruction” is actually more of a theme than I had originally thought when looking at the video in more depth. When Rihanna is singing the lyrics often projections of building collapsing, explosions and bombs going off is shown therefore putting more emphasis of the message of the song. I think this music video sets its self aside from others at the moment by representing the lyrics in different ways. I think this because more than eighty percent of the video is actually a constructed narrative and only ten percent is the artist miming to the song. This is quite the opposite to other music videos around at the moment such as Beyoncé’s, “Single Ladies” which is one hundred percent miming to the song. The video fits very well to the song and the director, producers and whole crew have thought in detail about the songs message and how they could illustrate the message. In my opinion I think the video may be better than the song, however they are both two very strong platforms, which compliment each other very well.

Overall I think this is the best music video of the year and I feel like I could watch it over and over again and still notice other aspects, which I had not seen before. I would highly recommend this not just to Rihanna fans but everyone who takes an interest in video production, as I’m sure everyone will individually take from it what they wish.

I saw Rihanna At The LG…

Last night four of my friends and I went to see Rihanna in concert at the LG arena. We arrived quite early and queued for a couple of hours to get as close to the stage as possible. Queuing early defiantly was too our benefit as we were around 3-4 meters away from the stage. Calvin Harris supported Rihanna and did a hour DJ set, although it was entertaining and the lighting set up was visually brilliant, I am not Calvin Harris’s biggest fan so I was more in anticipation waiting for Rihanna to come on. There was a 40-minute gap between the support act and Rihanna to come on, and when she arrived, she was amazing. She entered to the song “only girl’ and throughout the whole show she performed to the highest standard who constantly kept the audience entertained and mesmerized. The set was very interesting as when the show began four large circular projectors came down to introduce Rihanna with a medley of her music videos and scenes which she shot in a studio solely for her tour.  Overall Rihanna was at the top of her game and performed amazingly, I would defiantly go to see her again.

Photos and Videos Captured and Created By Myself David Bird