Strike (Eisenstein, 1925) Opening Sequence

AL Film Studies. Component 2: Section C: Film Movements (Silent Film). Realist vs Expressive Debate. ‘Strike’ (Eisenstein 1925) Opening 1’06- 3’41 / Police on horseback 42:15- 46’00 / End- The Carnage 1.29’30- 1.33’50

Questions, select one for 20 marks:

1. How do the aesthetics of the film you have studied reflect the production context of the film?
2. Why might expressive tendencies have emerged within the silent film period?
3. Discuss how either age, gender or ethnicity is represented in the film you have studied.
4. Explore how film form devices are used to convey messages in the film you have studied

2. planning

• expressive tendencies may have emerged for the cause of using an art form to promote propaganda, as well as drawing in the audience through editing techniques , particularly soviet montage
• rather than valuing entertainment it uses expressionism to make a point and give off an intended message
• uses plotless cinema – no individual specific characters or character development, uses lenins quote to promote propaganda and reinforces this through the lack of protagonist and instead a mass collective of individuals
• different editing techniques used like :
  • kuleshov effect
  • montage
  • manipulation of time – reversing shots and speeding them up
  • action reaction shots
• a range of experimental camera angles – high angle, low level shots, a reflective shot in a puddle which then reverses the time
• eisenstein uses these techniques in order to affect the viewer with emotions and feelings, as well as shock. He combines all of these expressive tendencies to make the audience leave with psychological influence.
• the continuous use of circular imagery through the wheels and clocks in the factory play a part in expressive tendencies as they are ahead of Eisensteins time. He uses the wheels to portray how the narrative is circular, the cycle of how Russian society will have multiple revolutions due to the workers being treated unfairly. The wheel is the motif of revolutionary progress
• The wheels are also representative of the mechanics of filmmaking, imitating a roll of film, Einsenstein as the ‘engineer’ of the film, as making a film in 1925 would have been a lot of work and very mechanical.

Silent Cinema powerpoints

https://worthingcollege105-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/r/personal/w00021105_stu_worthing_ac_uk/Documents/Microsoft%20Teams%20Chat%20Files/German%20Expressionism%20cinema.pptx?d=w150476aa3bd1451fafd5480150d5128f&csf=1&web=1

https://worthingcollege105-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/r/personal/w00021344_stu_worthing_ac_uk/Documents/Microsoft%20Teams%20Chat%20Files/French%20Impressionism%20cinema.pptx?d=wf0570cbba4fe47f5b5a6b8a052ff639f&csf=1&web=1

https://worthingcollege105-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/r/personal/w00021083_stu_worthing_ac_uk/Documents/Microsoft%20Teams%20Chat%20Files/Classical%20Hollywood%20cinema%20(1).pptx?d=w85d2bc41de5c4fbabbdd239687d3489d&csf=1&web=1

Strike – Initial notes

Cinematography

• using a range of shot types – for example, close ups of faces and objects, overhead/birdseye shots, midshots of people, over the shoulder shots.
• lowkey and higkey contrast lighting – representing the ongoing conflict between the workers and government
• light used expressively – real/natural light

Editing

• high speed/slow motion
• cross fades between the bosses and the factory scenes
• reversing, repeating shots
• soviet montage – order, duration, repetition and rhythm
• montage creates sense of chaos, not a story but an idea being shown
• split into 6 parts, each titled.
• montage split up with black screen with writing on it, speech or describing what is happening. in place of dialogue.
• cutting between conflicts
• fade ins and outs

Sound

• diegetic music, no non-diegetic sound at all
• classical music playing the whole way through- using instruments like trumpets, flutes, violins, cellos, pianos.
• gets more and less dramatic depending on the action on the screen.
• Changes at the end, music turns to a repetitive wooden scraping instrument over a montage.

Mise en scene

• sets – factory yard, factory , village, offices
• large amounts of people and dirty conditions represent the working class of this time, living in bad conditions with many people and poverty
• shots of ropes, machinery, muddy ground, dirty faces and hands
• exaggerated performances as there is no dialogue
• easy to tell difference between rich and poor people, banquets and fancy clothes, dancing on the table maybe symbolic for how tey take it for granted. surreal

ISP Week 19

SERGEI EISENSTEIN (1898-1948)

• A soviet filmmaker who originated from Latvia and carried out most of his life and career in Russia.
• He was a student in the school of Civil Engineering from 1916, as well as furthering his studies in the plastic arts in a school of Fine Arts
• In 1917, the Russian Revolution began and Eisenstein enrolled in the Red Army- where he assisted in defences and in creating entertainment for the army troops.
• At the beginning of the 1920s, he moved to Moscow, which lead to him beginning to write screenplays in 1923, through to 1925 when he released ‘Strike’, his first film and his most well known film.
• Battleship Potemkin and october are among his first silent films.
• He travelled around the world, particularly in Europe, learning more about film and sound motion picture, and ended up in the USA in 1930 to produce films for Paramount.
• He taught Soviet montages and montage of attratctions, where pictures are shown to create an impact on the audience.

ISP Week 17

Identifying errors in screenplays

1.

• Should be INT not EXT, as it says it is inside a classroom
• Name should be capitalised

2.

• Doesnt state what the waitress is doing, just names her and describes her appearance – doesnt make sense.
• Names should be capitalised if first appearance

3.

• Is an opening extract so her name should be in caps

ISP Week 16

Notes on videos about subtext

VIDEO 1:

Subtext into screenplay

• Dialogue is an important part of the story and it can also get in the way
• Confusing conversation and dialogue – not the same

Conversation = an exchange of ideas

Dialogue = an exchange of ideas directed at solving a problem – a negotiation, argument, duel, fight, flirtation. A conversation confronting any type of conflict. Points toward a goal.

• Exposition is the delivery of information through dialogue, exploring something for the sake of the audience that cant be dramatized.
• Its about making the audience feel the importance of their words
• On the nose dialogue- when the character speaks directly about the issue in the film or the theme, pushing below the surface and breaking the 4th wall
• In films, there are 3 walls we see and the audience is the 4th. This is to make us believe that these characters are living in their own world
• 4th wall is the veil between the audience and the characters
• Speaking about the themes, on the nose dialogue, breaks the 4th wall

VIDEO 2 :

Subtext in film

• Subtext – hidden content within the meaning of a word image, storyboard or action.
• Root of subtext can stem from character inner motivation
• Writers tool used to express and highlight a deeper meaning / emotional issue – brings characters to life
• Brings issues and emotional problesm to the surface for the characters and allows audience members to sympathise and relate with them

VIDEO 3:

How subtext is operated

1. If the topic of a scene is something emotional, you can avoid having ay dialogue about that specific thing, and instead replace that with a metaphor or create tension

E.g – the film might be about a broken marriage and the characters talk about/argue about a broken tap in their home – metaphorical and purposely avoiding the real topic for subtext

2. Describe behaviour, the characters body language. Just about whats happening

VIDEO 4:

Parasite – the power of symbols

Bong Jung Ho created compelling plot and performances and cleverly uses symbols and motifs.

Symbols are important in films as they stand for something and can gie audiences powerful messages indirectly. Highly concentrated meaning makes them so impactful.

In Parasite there are two main symbols throughout the film;

• The viewing stone
• Smell

The viewing stone is introduced early in the film through a friend of Ki-Woos, with the intention of bringing the family wealth and luck.

The Kim’s are in poverty and share a small, basement space and Ki-Woo looks up to Min his friend, and becomes obsessed with the viewing stone seeing it as sign and a symbol for him to be successful and become rich.

The stone represents how Ki-Woo wants what he doesnt have – wealth – and is surrounded by it in his work trying to imitate Min

The second symbol, smell, is introduced later on when the Kim family are all working in the house as tutors, cleaner and driver.

The smell is brought up when the rich family begin to comment on it, in the car and the child runs up to 2 of them and says they smell the same, unknowingly threatening to reveal their true identity.

Smell represents the Kim familys poverty and the binary opposition of wealth and poverty, reminds the family they are in a poverty they cant escape.

A symbol creates a resonance like a ripple as it is repeated, and this repetition makes the audience more aware of this symbol and that is is important. They may not even be consciously aware of it but the repetition makes it stick.

A repeated symbol is also known as a motif. Lots of the same symbol is called a motif.

Multiple motifs create a theme, which is a lesson to take away from the story that is textually supported by the story.

The difference between and motif and theme is that a motif is concrete and a theme is abstract and can be inferred in multiple ways. A theme is the meaning being expressed by these motifs.

The theme in parasite is wealth and poverty – the smell and the rich family constantly repeating it and pushing it, keeps reminding the Kim’s of their poverty that they are stuck in, which makes it reach a breaking point.

Both of the motifs contribute to the breaking point, the reminders of the smell pushes the Kim father to kill the rich father, and Ki- woo uses the viewing stone as a weapon.

ISP Week 15

Notes on scriptwriting videos

VIDEO 1:

• Having an idea, developing the idea and creating the basic plot structure is the way to start
• Ideas can come from lightbulb moments, a question, opinion, debate, hypothesis
• Have discussions with yourself in you head about ideas
• 4 pillars of story telling : people, places, purpose and plot
• developing character is important – protagonist, antagonist, love interest
• Dan Harmons story circle

1. You. Protagonist introduction in a comforting, normal situation
2. Need. What this person needs kickstarts the story
3. GO. Entering a situation, story starts
4. Search. Adapt to the situation
5. Find. Get what they want
6. Return. Returning to the comforting world
7. Change. Back to normal but something is differernt now.

• This can easily be adapted, simplified or made more complicated to get a unique story.

Video 2

Tips from Aaron Sorkin

• Rules. 2000 years ago Aristotle. The rules of drama should be learnt
• Learn from other people, other script writers, but stick to your own ideas, genre and voice. Influenced work is good
• Be an audience member too and watch other films. Figure out why you like or dislike a film and learn how you would write it from that, knowing what you like and dislike
• Show what the character wants instead of who they are. Intention and obstacle of the character
• Speak script out loud as you write it to make sure it sounds natural and speakable
• Know that it takes time to learn and will be difficult at first
• For the dialogue to sound like they know what theyre saying not babbling on
• Avoid cliche storylines and have a unique approach. Research ideas you want and work out what you dont want
• Have your own quirks and motivations that get you into the mindset of writing. Music, car drives, showering, somewhere new for different perspectives
• Have a good story of what got you into writing

VIDEO 3

Tips from Quentin Tarantino

• Have your own writing processes that give you motivation to write, something that makes you feel happy
• Dont confuse the audience, loses the viewers and just makes them want to give up trying to understand. Keep them hooked and only confused momentarily
• Rewrite other scenes and fill in the blanks from memory, fresh ideas and ones that work better
• Take old stories and reinvent them, put your own ideas into old ideas
• Take morality out of the question, makes characters more interesting and their lives more gripping. Unique ideas
• Write the movie you want to see yourself to keep yourself interested
• Do subtext work
• Give characters choices
• Write extensive character backgrounds, get the best, deep characters so you can write them correctly
• Love what you do

VIDEO 4

Tips on how to format a screenplay

• Screenplays all look the same because they used to be written in that font and size on type writers in the 30s, they are kept this way so they are easily recognisable and stay professional
• Using writing software such as studiobinder, writer duet, to help you with the rules
• Slugline is the first thing, establishes a new scene and the setting
• EXT or INT – outside or inside
• More action than dialogue- shows what characters are doing and provides indepth detail. Also further describes the slugline
• Whenever a character is introduced it should be in caps
• Centralised dialogue and character names in caps
• ‘cut to’ and ‘back to’ when changing place frequently, put in the right hand side in caps.
• New slugline per scene
• If referring to a camera shot or a sound in the action, should be in capital letters.

Component 3

Which screenplay and DSB did you enjoy the most and why?

i liked the first one (compos mentis) as it built tension and enigma and used montages to show chaos reflecting jonahs mind vs how he wanted to be I thought it made it really interesting, I also liked the first ones storyboard it had a range of shots from low angles and stuff

id you see anything that has inspired ideas for your own coursework?

To use enigma and montage

What genre would be best to replicate in coursework and which will ones will you use?

Horror/thriller is a good genre to use as it easy to build tension and keep audience gripped, plus it would be easy to recreate shots for a storyboard using lighting.

A coming of age genre is also good as you can show character delevopment and have a target audience to relate to.

What are typical conventions of this genre ?

– suspense – definitely used in thrillers for building tension leading up to a scary climax/moment/ realisation

– creating fear for the audience

– enigma and leaving things out to leave the viewers with questions or to use their imaginations

– mystery

– violence and dark imagery

Settings – usually isolated or abandoned places – places which might have a scary history. Dark places like forests that are typically scary at night

Characters – a protagonist/ protagonists often a group of people. an antagonist who creates issues

Narrative – often starts simple but the tension rises and often ends in a cliffhanger – often have sequels as a never ending story

Props – weapons or blood are often symbols of horror movies and often show up on the covers

Aesthetics – weird camera angles, more expressive. Close up shots and POV shots to align with characters experiencing what they do. Close sonic perspective. Dim, lowkey lit settings. Cold eerie blue and dark colour palette

FILMS WITH :

A narrative tiwst – shutter island – begins with the character with a motivation to find a criminal in an insane institution, and the twist comes up when we are shown that the main character is actually a patient in the institution and his accomplice is his doctor.

an enigma – Donnie darko – the enigma is established when Donnie meets Frank and it is not explained who or why he is there and is left for the audiece to figure out. The countdown that is coming towards Donnie is also an enigma as we do not know what will happen and it is confusing

establishes and develops a single charater – into the wild – follows the main character (a true story) on his embark to Alaska and we see his struggles and the emotions that he faces. He begins unhappy and angry towards hisfamily and wants to find the meaning of his life, and at the end when he ends up not surviving, he says he is happy suggesting his character development lead to this.

Donnie Darko opening sequence

Characters – we are first introduced to Donnie laying on the ground after fallen off his bike – this could foreshadow his death or implicate that this is the moment things began to change for him mentally. There is no dialogue just ethereal music as he stares at the sky again suggesting his death/going to heaven. We see other characters being is family at home, all shiwn in slow motion doing odd things – blowing a leaf blower at a woman and juming on a trampoline whilst Donnie does a mundane thing – riding his bike suggesting there isnt a connection between them.

What key themes/ Genre codes are introduced? Enigma, we are unsure of why Donnie is on the ground or how the music fits. Coming of age theme, riding bike through a neighbourhood seems like a common coming of age scene. Dark lighting, slow pace – horror / thriller

Film forms – lowkey lighting despite it being daytime suggests it may be a dark film, the flash of light in the sky being linked to heaven as heavenly/ethereal music plays – foreshadowing donnies death. The song that plays, The killing moon, turns from non diegetic into diegetic, as Donnie goes into his house suggestig its playing on the radio and therefore stablishing the year the film is set by what song is popular at the time – 80s?

Short films

The Grandmother (1970, David Lynch)

Cinematography

– lowkey lighting and shadows

– close up shots on the people

– handheld shaky, zoom in shots add to the chaos

Mise en Scene

– Dark rooms with a bed in the middle or an object

– the people have pale skin and red lips, almost supernaturaland like a vampire and from the clothes and house objects it seems set before the time it was made

Narrative

– use of enigma and lack of speech and sound, leaves the viewer to interpret in their own way

– theme of nature, naturistic visuals and sounds

Sound

– eeriness created through noises, high-pitched noises and strange screaming and no speech

– when the parents speak it doesn’t sound human, suggesting the disconnect the boy feels to them

– static whistling noises during chaotic scenes

– the grandmother and boy whistle as communication, almost like a baby bird and a mother

Editing

– jump cuts creating a sense of chaos

– fade outs of scenes

– shots sped up to create chaos

Themes

Family, nature, child abuse

What are the characters like? Do we like or dislike them?

The boy seems innocent and we seem him grow up in an abusive household where him and his parents don’t understand eachother. We sympathise with him and dislike his parents as they appear scary and aggressive by shouting at the boy and jeering at him. When the grandmother comes we like her as she immediately connects with the boy as we see them both come from nature, and he grows her himself. None of the characters seem human and are maybe supernatural as they look pale and make weird noises, as well as come from the ground.

High Maintenance

Cinematography

– close up shots of them at the table as the conversation becomes heated

– over the shoulder shots aligning with the characters

– close ups of the switch on the neck

– high key lighting except for in the office when she is on the phone, suggesting dark intentions

Mise en scene

– appear like normal people but are packaged up and wheeled away like furniture and have on/off switches

– dining room table creates distance between the man and woman

Sound

– close sonic perspective of eating and drinking – uncomfortable for viewer

– static noise at tense moments when the button on the neck is shown

– slow high pitched music plays in the background

– knocking is loud and intrusive

– at the end close sonic perspective of the woman breathing, becomes more tense

Narrative

– woman replaces her husband, starts off as a womans world- the person on the phone is a woman and the delivery people are women when typically and stereotypically that would be men, but this has a plot twist when she also turns out to be a robot.

– man referred to as ‘series’ and able to design an ideal man, a dystopian world

Themes

– dystopia, control, robots

When the day breaks

Cinematography

– pictures shown like flicking through film

– slow motion (ambulance driving away) and fast paced contrast (pig running home)

– see POV of pig in the shop, and in her kitchen. shaky vision shows the anxiety she felt

Mise en scene

– lemons on the ground shows us the chicken is the one to get killed

– all animal characters, wear human clothing and walk like humans yet don’t speak other than through song

Sound

– music in line with how the pig feels, begins happy and upbeat and ends up being classical sad music. and no music when it is tense

– ambulance sirens and car screeching shows theres been an accident offscreen

– close sonic perspective of eating and fast-paced breathing

Editing

– animated/ illustrated stop motion

– montage of pictures of chickens heritage, showing his life and what the pig is thinking about/feeling guilty for

Narrative

– ‘when life gives you lemons’ or ‘the chicken that crossed the road’

AMY sequences

Film: Amy (Kapadia, 2015)         Sequence: opening sequence

Cinematography: – Archive footage- establishes digital technology – grainy and low quality, a personal documentary. – Whip pan camera showing the camera person, informal – Close-ups making the relationship with Amy intimate – Zoom crash – unprofessional camera man – Focus automatically used – digital technology debate, everyone can use a digital camera
Mise en scene: – Amy remains in north London from the start to later on – Unprofessional camera men, zooming, handheld camera, close-ups – Starts to wear more makeup, becoming Amy Winehouse and also becoming more insecure – First person we see is friend Juliet, showing that Amy wasn’t always the star and had all the attention, and that she valued her friends – Lens flare indication of star persona- paparazzi foreshadowing	Performance: – Amy singing candidly, as a Jazz singer like a performance to the camera. Not a natural reflection of her but of her as a performer. – National youth jazz orchestra – showing a conventional Amy Winehouse – ‘what year is it’ ‘lunchtime’ capturing her personality – On stage self-conscious – the way she looks away and around on stage, not confident with eye contact, touches her nose – foreshadowing drug taking later on -Humorous nature
Editing: – Titles on top of the footage to establish time and place – Zoom on still images gives it movement – Style of title ‘AMY’ 1960s style when jazz was very popular – See the title form and being created, and then slowly deteriorates foreshadowing – Slow motion to capture everything D	Sound: -Jazz Piano keys at the beginning – establishes music genre building towards the opening shot Amy voiceover from an interview – Songs that influenced her Disconnected use of footage and audio

Film: Amy (Kapadia, 2015)         Sequence: blake and rehab

Cinematography:   – camera lingers on her body, what the media wanted people to notice and see. Sexualising her – spied on by paparazzi, not home footage or archive footage, but strangers spying on them. An extension of viewers, their job is for audiences. The lone voyeur – long takes and still images forces us to look at her and frames us as the judgemental viewer, as everyone was at the time – helicopter shot showing footage of rehab
Mise en scene:   – overwhelming lights like an attack from camera paparazzi	Performance:  – Comparison to blake and amy in their childhood traumas
Editing:   – establishing titles of places and dates – friend talking to the manager about Amy’s safety and cuts to the manager shifting responsibility to her family/Mitch	Sound: – voicover, blake talks about how he cut at a young age similar to Amys trauma – lyrics link to what is happening on screen ____________________________________

END SEQUENCE 1 (Serbia concert)

Cinematography

Sound

• the piano keys from the beginning playing at the end,

Cinematography:   – shots from the concert that reflect how people thought it was the end, she gave up caring – establishing helicopter shot, gives us sense of scale of the crowd and also distances us from Amy as opposed to previously when shots would be closeup – footage from people in the crowd – handheld, non professional, chaotic and seeing from different perspectives. makes the crowds complicit in contributing to Amys downfall – helicopter and plane shot and the drone shot of her home and then the concert, shows how she got taken away against her will
Mise en scene:   – says where the concert happens, ‘fortress’ negative connotations – surrounded by houses and people, feeling trapped – grainy footage style from audiences position, gives us sense of reality and enforces the documentary genre – red light colours- warning/danger, demonic element; foreshadowing what happens to her – subtitles from the crowd purposely kept in – telling her to sing and dehumanising her – (digital technology debate) camera phones being used to tell a story, people have got technology so everything is instantaneous. new iphones just coming out. digital technology impacted Amy	Performance:   – disorientation – goes towards the band to get help and clearly not wanting to perform – sits down on stage, body is tired, taking a stand against her management, refusal to do what she is told. exploiting her for money still pushing her into it. – acting like she doesnt care about anything – body language on stage, confident and doesnt care when getting booed at, opposite to in opening sequences when she was nervous and very insecure.
Editing:   – slow motion shows Amy’s discomfort, her slowing down her career and also her body slowing down – photo editing – blurred image ‘she didnt want to do it’ Kim Longinotto female subject socio political and cultural contexts – may be interested in social issue of drinking, exploitation of Amy the victimization of a female	Sound:   – plane noise shows she is going abroad, then fades into the crowds at her concer (disorientating for Amy) – booing and shouting at her – ‘it felt like the end’ – non diegetic paparazzi sounds, she is always being watched and no privacy – ‘she just wasn’t singing’ – ‘if she doesn’t sing i want my money back’- makes the crowd also bad as she is not stable to perform. care more about money just like Mitch. – ‘she totally blew it’ tv footage MichaeL Moore tv footage reflection – to show elements of other peoples opinions and the negative light that the media shows)

ENDING SEQUENCE – Funeral

Cinematography:   – professional footage of the Jazz singer – paparazzi footage of her body and of the funeral. personal moments made public. lack of respect for her friends and family – camera used in an intrusive manner. we are aligned with the press. – distant at funeral , – desaturated footage, more grey, connotates sadness and isolation, lack of positive emotion – long shot of people crying, lingers on the main people in Amy’s life. – jumps to removed footage, to closeups of Amy
Mise en scene:   – ‘she was sleeping’ innocence, peaceful – picture of her as a child with her friends- shows her innocence – ‘4:05pm’ specific death time, wants audience to remember where they were when she died – uses last pictures of Amy that were taken before she died when speaking to Jules about talking tomorrow, foreshadowing	Performance:   – see the innocence of Amy, no makeup, sleeping, intimate but not exploitive. see her smiling. – shows raw, pure footage of her, happy and shows her as the person she was before she went downhill to show who people contributed to her death.
Editing:   – showing video of her and it pauses at the end to capture the moment – cross fades – amy fading away and showing the distance – fades a young pic of her and friends into an older one – showing how they grew up	Sound: – excited about the wedding ready to get back to normality, cares more about the personal things rather than career. died day before wedding, irony, one day away from normality – traditional phone sound effect rather than mobile, suggesting she wanted to go back to old days when she wasn’t famous – ‘my Amy’ she is going back to being normal, duplicates Amy as if there are multiple versions of her – emotive language contrasts the film in terms of early moments in the film- ‘lucky to be a musician’ now ‘wish i could walk down that street again with no hassle’ change of perception of fame – piano keys the same as at the beginning of the documentary. shows this film has been leading up to this point; the end – sad music to provoke emotion rather than voiceovers – ‘Valerie’ most famous song not played until the end

Michael Moore – guided experience, leads you through emotions and what youre supposed to feel with emotive music. Kim Longinotto – female main subject with a tragedy. felt uncomfortable filming sad things after a death, yet did it anyway. could link to how kapadia used the funeral footage

Digital debate – digital technology has a negative effect on Amy, see her happiness and healthiness before she was controlled by the media at the end, blaming it for her downfall.

The way technology has an effect on perception, in the 60s celebrities wouldnt have been crowded, she wanted to be a chill jazz singer and ended up not even being able to walk down the street

Identity being taken away from Amy (a fan dressed like her), negative or positive, impact on her fans and the public visually, could be negative if her drug taking had an influence on young people.

When you included footage of the funeral, was it anti-press?