Aims and Context

Aims and Context

• Short experimental film 
• I aim to produce a short experimental film around 3-5 minutes long
• Avant-garde visuals (high contrast low key lighting, black and white)
• Elements of surrealism (non-narrative form, dream logic)
• Target audience will be more art-house/exhibition/gallery as opposed to mainstream cinema complex

Main Influences

• Simon Pummell's 'Body Song'- Documentary like shots exploring an aspect of society
• Stan Brakhage 'Stella'- Use of dark lighting yet abstract with colour and idea of something you imagine
• Andy Warhol's Screen Tests- Use of low key lighting, black and white close up clips of people faces

Discuss some of the ways in which the film or video work you have studied for this topic requires a different kind of spectatorship from that which spectators bring to their mainstream film-going (35 marks)

Discuss some of the ways in which the film or video work you have studied for this topic requires a different kind of spectatorship from that which spectators bring to their mainstream film-going (35 marks)

Mainstream films and experimental films differ from each other in many ways. Mainstream films are easy to understand which makes then harder to write about however because experimental films are hard to understand it means there is much more you could talk about for example, experimental films don't always have a meaning or storyline which makes it hard for the audience to understanding whats going on. The Quay Brothers made many experimental films that don't have meaning and are very hard to make out what is actually happening in the films. In mainstream films such as Harry Potter, there is always a beginning, middle and end however this isn't clear cut in experimental. For example, The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer where there are several chapters to the film giving the same message every scene of the teacher teaching the child.
Mainstream films also tend to be quite predictive however this isn't the case for experimental films. Some may say that they are 'art for arts sake' and they don't have to make sense to everyone.
Experimental films don't always require a different kind of spectatorship than spectators bring to mainstream films as Un Chien Andalou...

The Body song is also a good example of using a different kind of spectatorship as it makes you think from a philosophical point of view and really makes you question whether there is a God and if so why do people suffer? The Body Song makes you feel many different emotions as when the film first starts, it isn't very pleasant seeing the babies being born yet when the images of the babies a home with family and enjoying themselves it makes you really happy inside and makes you think that having children is like a miracle from God as a baby is only able to survive in the right environment and there are only 12 times you can conceive in a year. Also seeing the children growing up can make you relate to your own childhood memories. However when you see the war, poverty and death it really makes you think about how lucky you are to be living this life and makes you wonder why an all loving, all powerful God would let this happen. Many mainstream film, if not all of them don't address real life issues like these. On the other hand there are documentary films that do deal with these issues like Supersize Me, so there are some example to suggest that you don't need a different spectatorship when watching experimental and mainstream films. 

How useful has a particular critical approach been in gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation of your chosen film?

How useful has a particular critical approach been in gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation of your chosen film?

The film I have studied for section C  is Fight Club. The main critical approaches of Fight Club are Postmodernism, crisis of masculinity and the Freudian approach. Freud distinguishes three parts of the mind; the Id, the Ego and the Superego. This approach can be used in criticising any film and comes in very useful in gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation of Fight Club. 

The Id is the part of the mind that is controlled by someones unconscious desires and is described as the 'repressed'. In Fight Club the Id is presented as Tyler Durden. Tyler has no conscience and is set free to 'run wild'.  The Ego is the 'narrator' and is almost like the neutral side of the mind which keeps the Id and the Superego balanced. the 'real' Tyler can be found between the Id and the Superego. The Superego encompasses an individuals ideas, goals and conscience as well as society's.  throughout the film there are several points where the Superego is present for example, At the start of the film, Tyler's work is presented as the Superego as it is restricting him with rules and morals which initially causes the 'split' where he creates his own rules and the Id Tyler comes out.  

Throughout the film the Id is constantly interrupting Jack's conversations with Marla as is shown when they are talking and Tyler is in the basement talking over Marla, then telling Jack what to say to end the conversation. Tyler makes Jack aware that he is there through diagetic sound that only Jack can here.  The Id is also shown when Tyler and Marla are having sex and Jack can here through the walls. His Superego is present however at the same time ah he is brushing his teeth rapidly for a long period of time as if he is trying to gain control of the situation. When Jack walks past the room, Tyler says 'Want to finish her off?' as if he is tempting the Superego or trying to show that the Id has more control and can easily 'come out'.

'Experimental Film requires a different kind of spectatorship.' Has this been your experience? [35]

'Experimental Film requires a different kind of spectatorship.' Has this been your experience? [35]

Some people struggle to follow experimental film as they tend to not have a clear narrative or dialogue. many people will also not like them as they aren't like mainstream films which are aimed at specific audiences. experimental films are made to experiment different ways are making film which is obviously why they are called experimental. 

La Jetee is a collection of photographs that are put together with a narrative about World War 3 and experiments to go into the past to change history.  As Chris Marker used still images some may have not been able to concentrate however because it has the dialogue it made it easier to follow. If la Jetee didn't have the narrative then you would have to try and make sense of the pictures which means there would be many different perspectives. It would have also been hard to concentrate as it runs for 28 minutes. 

On the other hand, I didn't enjoy Maya Deren's 'Meshes of The Afternoon' as I struggled to understand the meaning of the film. i believe that experimental film does require a different kind of spectatorship. As i was watching Meshes of The Afternoon several things were going through my head and it wasn't until the last couple of scenes that i understood that it was all in her mind and it was herself that she was scared of which meant that she ended up taking her own life. 

Is Mulvey's theory of 'the male gaze' relevant in todays Hollywood?

Is Mulvey's theory of 'the male gaze' relevant in today's Hollywood?

(Item 5) The Resident Trailer

Speaker: That was the trailer for The Resident which was made in 2011. I will be using this film as well as 'Peeping Tom' and 'Disturbia' to discuss whether the male gaze is relevant in todays Hollywood. I will also be looking at Laura Mulvey's work from 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' . As you can see in the trailer, the male gaze isn't always an attractive thing for someone to experience and it isn't always acceptable. In the film itself, Juliet's landlord has become obsessed with her and spies on her through secret holes in passage ways on a daily basis. Mulvey talks about 2 different roles women play in films. These are sexually active females and powerless females which are two very different types of behaviour for a character. A powerless female such as Juliet would be vulnerable which men would see and then take advantage, just as Juliet's landlord had. However a sexually active female would hold more control over men so they would be less able to take advantage of. Mulvey is distinguishing between women who want male attention for sexual pleasure and women who have unwanted male attention which in most thriller films turns into a dangerous obsession.

Disturbia looks at the male gaze in two different lights. Kale, who is played by the young attractive Shia LaBeouf,sees his neighbour as a sexual active female however Mr. Turner who lives across the road sees woman as powerless which gives him the chance to take advantage of this.

(Item 3) Clip from Disturbia: Caught in the Act scene for 1:40 seconds 

Speaker: This clip shows how the camera which is controlled by men, controls the women in the films. the women are continuing with what they are doing but the men control the way they are seen. Men in the audience look at the men in the film and how they control the women and women in the audience look at the way women are in the film as they are attracting the males attention. This is what Mulvey is saying in her work.

(Item 11) Quote from "Pleasure in Looking/ Fascination with the Human Form- Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema"

(Item 15) Quote: ‘Scopohilia. This term translates literally as the love of looking’

Speaker: The definition of Scopohilia is 'sexual pleasure derived chiefly from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity.' In film criticism, the term Scopohilia is often used by feminist theorists when talking about the predominant male gaze of Hollywood cinema. The James Bond films are good examples of where Scopohilia is presented. The Bond films have been around for over 50 years and are still being made today which is useful when considering Hollywood in today’s society. We can see that the male gaze has changed through out the years in the Bond films as in Doctor No, a white woman walks out from the ocean while 007 watches her.

(item 7)  Show from 20 seconds until 30 seconds of the YouTube video

Speaker: 40 years later, Halle Berry was the famous bond girl who walks out of the ocean while Bond watches her as well. However in one of the most recent films, James Bond is the one that walks out of the water while a woman looks at him. This shows that people are aware of the male gaze due to Laura Mulvey exposing it in her essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'. Mulvey includes work from Freud and Lacan in explaining the pleasure of looking within film.

(Item 6) Show slides 6 and 8 of slideshow

Speaker: This proves Mulvey’s point of two types of women characters in films. The women who are killed in Peeping Tom are presented in this way.

(Item 2) show opening 4 minutes from Peeping Tom

Speaker: As shown in the opening scene of Peeping Tom we immediately see a frightened look in the woman’s eyes. The camera controls the women in films especially in thriller films as they are almost trapped. The way the killer is controlling the camera means she is being objectified sexually as the camera moves up and down her body. Even though she may seem to enjoy the male attention at the start and be presented as confident and in control we can see she is really just frightened and ‘in need of protection against the killer’. The view of the male gaze in thriller films hasn’t changed a considerable amount over the last few decades. This can be seen in Peeping Tom, which was made over 50 years ago and the resident which was made in 2011.

 

How far can it be argued that your chosen films provide a 'realistic' representation of the people and places they focus on?

City Of God is set in Brazil throughout the 1960's and 1970's. On the bonus DVD, it is revealed that the only professional actor with years of filming experience was Matheus Nachtergaele, who played the supporting role of Carrot. Most of the, cast were from real-life favelas, and in some cases, even the real-life City of God favela itself. These actors from real-life favelas give the film authenticity as they personally know how these gangs of drug dealers act and how they stay on top of their favelas. the film 'City Of God' even though it was based on a book was loosely based on a really story from the City of God with characters very similar to them in the film

La Haine Exam Question

How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques? (35marks)

The film techniques throughout the film had a small impact on me for example, in several scenes the director shows the time of the day on the screen and uses non-diagetic sound of a clock ticking used as a re-occurring motif.

This had an impact because it showed how slow time was going and we saw throughout the day how very little Vinz, Said and Hubert had to do because they don't have jobs and cant get them because they are uneducated. However in the last scene this film technique has a very big impact on me because as Vinz is shot time is going even slower,so it made me feel as if i was watching the shooting in slow motion. The time is shown from at 06:00 then to 06:01 literally showing how slow time is passing at this point. this also shows that its only a matter of time before something similar happens again, for example, the riots in London and other British cities in 2011 which were caused by similar reasons and saw mainly youths rioting on the streets.

In the very first scene of La Haine the audience knows that this isn't going to be about french tradition because the director uses Reggae music - which shows different cultural values. Throughout the film the music supports this view as we see when a DJ remixes American music - KRS-One 'its the sound of da police' - with a traditional french song by Edith Piaf  'Je Ne Regrette Rien' (which is a song about regretting nothing and moving on). this particular part of the film and the music used had a big impact on me because it shows that the youth are trying to change tradition and rebel against it however some are going about it in the wrong way, for example Vinz tries to use violence and keeps attempting to use a gun he found against people. However in the end he learns that he doesn't want to rebel in this way and doesn't actually like violence.

This had a big impact on me because it shows the youths in a different light, not all of the youths want to riot and cause harm, they just want to break out of the cycle of not having a job and living in the Projects.

The biggest impact wasn't due to film techniques but the narrative in the last scene of La Haine because Vinz's death wasn't expected. Throughout the film Vinz, Said and Hubert have had a negative view because of certain actions. The media also showed them to be negative and even though there were scenes where they weren't doing anything negative they haven't done anything positive either so the audience have this underlining view of them. However in that last scene i felt sorry for Vinz because even though he had wanted to commit a crime by killing a police officer he couldn't do it. i also felt sorry for Said and Hubert because Hubert didn't want to be involved in any crime, he was the only one with a job but because of the riots he had been forced into committing crime to make a living and Said has been stuck in the middle of the conflict throughout the film.

 Said was in the middle of the conflict in the hospital scene which we could see through the framing. This had an impact because you could clearly see that Said was stuck between supporting his friends and doing the right thing. He is seen as the mediator throughout the film.

The director used real footage from riots that regularly took place between youths and police between 1986 and 1996. the use of real footage was impacting because it was real life stuff that was happening in France. I could see all of the destruction and violence going on. I also know that the death of Vinz was based on a real story that the director Mathieu Kassovitz had heard about. A young Zairian, Makome M'Bowole was shot at point blank range in 1993 while in police custody and handcuffed to a radiator.

 'In court, Compain, who was suspended from the police and held in pre–trial custody for nearly two years, said he got out his pistol to intimidate the teenager because he was shouting and had insulted him'  (AI News-1996). The link between the story of Makome M'Bowole and Vinz's story are very similar which had a big impact on me because Vinz is acting out a real life event. Its not just a fiction story, Makome M'Bowole actually died in a similar situation.

The main impact for me was the narrative in the last scene because of how realistic it was and how unexpected Vinz's death was because the audience had just started to see him in a new light because he didn't want to commit crime. The film techniques like the use of time, framing and music did have an impact but not as big as the narrative.