Spirited Away-Task 5: Annotating key scenes.

 This is a close-up shot at Chihiro's eye-level, showing her facial expression, which shows how she is scared and relies heavily on her parents.

 This is a low angle shot which makes Chihiro seem powerful and brave, which is a major difference to the beginning of the film.

 This is a medium shot, which shows the danger and trouble Chihiro is in, and so it shows the bravery she has.

 This is an eye-level, medium shot, which shows how humble Chihiro is, as she doesn't want to take the gold.

 This medium shot shows Chihiro trying to help save Haku, which shows her bravery and how kind and nurturing she is to the people.

This is a wide shot that allows us to see both Chihiro and No-face in a location. We can see Chihiro being brave and helping the workers from someone who poses a threat.

Spirited Away-Task 4: Key scene analysis

Scene 1: In this scene Chihiro and her family are moving to a new house. We see that Chihiro isn't happy about starting a new life, but her parents, try to show her the positives. They get out of the car and explore an over-grown tunnel. Chihiro is represented as scared, timid, and stroppy. This is common in young girls as they show them as being weaker than older characters.
While she is in the car, it zooms in on her face (close-up shot), allowing the audience to see her expression. The director uses facial expression (mise-en-scene) to show how grumpy Chihiro is about moving and how hesitant she is about going into the tunnel. As Chihiro and her parents are going through the forrest, there are lots of shot-reverse-shots (editing) used to show Chihiro's reactions to the statues around her. Which shows how she is both scared and in wonder of the mystery around her. Dialogue (sound) between Chihiro and her parents show how she is nervous about both starting a new life and adventuring within the abandoned forrest and tunnels.

Scene 2: Haku is sent to the boiler room to try and get a job from Kamaji, she is scared at the beginning representing young girls, but she eventually becomes amazed and in wonder of the events that are happening to her, which is an opposite to the common negative stereotypes. When Chihiro first encounters Kamaji, a high angle shot (Cinematography) is used to place Kamaji as a more powerful character showing that not only are older male characters more stereotypicly powerful, but that Chihiro is very weak around these new people. The dim lighting (mise-en-scene) is used to show the eraieness and master and wonder around the bathhouse. Shot-reverse-shots (editing) are used to show how Chihiro is focused on what is happening and despite her fear, she is trying hard to get a job and paying attention to her surroundings. The boiler room has a faint score that is used to add a sense of magic and wonder to the creatures carrying around coal.

Scene 3: Chihiro is sent to clean the stink spirit, on her own, which shows how hard-working, brave and resilient she has become compared from when she first started working at the bath house. These traits of being extremely hard-working and determined and often shared amongst stereotypical teenage girls, making Chihiro seem even braver and resilient to viewers. There are multiple wide shots of the bath house used to show the hard work that all the workers are doing. We can see the bathhouse interior quite well, which adds to the wonder of the environment. The bathhouse ((setting)mise-en-scene) looks beautiful and amazing which shows the magic of the bathhouse. The scene uses lots of long cuts to show all of the workers working together and getting inspired by Chihiro. The musical score has a fast pace adding to the hard work that the workers and Chihiro are doing.

Scene 4: After saving Haku and arriving back at the bathhouse, Chihiro must choose which of the pigs are her parents and will be set free. She succeeds and her and her family leave the bathhouse and go back to their new home. After all of the events that she has gone through, Chihiro, has completly changed into the opposite of a stereotypical young girl like she was at the beginning of the film, and is now represented as strong, brave, adventurous and determined. The "boos" from the workers show how they have now come to like Chihiro and want her to succeed at going home, showing her as becoming an inspiration icon, so their facial expressions (mise-en-scene) show anger towards Yubaba.

Spirited Away-Task 3: Representation of young girls

Stereotypical Young girls:
Weak, timid, scared, ignorant, unintelligent, obsessive, laid-back, rude, obsession over body image, rebellious

How Chihiro is stereotypical and against stereotypes:
For:
At the beginning, Chihiro is extremely timid and scared. She doesn't want to adventure through the tunnel. When she sees that her parents have been turned to pigs, and sees all the spirits heading towards the bath house, the believes it to all be a dream and doesn't want it to be true. This shows her as being very ignorant, but she looses this trait soon after.

Against:
When her parents tuck into the buffet, Chihiro doesn't want to eat anything as she is worried that she will get in trouble. This shows how she goes against the trait of being rebellious, and instead her parents take that trait instead. Throughout the film she shows how brave she is, for example, when she tries to help Haku, after he has been injured.

Spirited Away-Task 2: Applying knowledge- Baby Driver

Baby Driver- The opening scene of Baby Driver follows a team of bank robbers escaping the cops in a fast-paced getaway scene.

Shot 1:

 This is a wide shot that shows us a city bank. From this we can immediately tell that these setting is a big city, and we can safely assume that some sort of robbery is about to be committed. It is also the establishing shot which shows how much of this film is dependent on robberies and crime.




Shot 2:

This is a close-up shot on a character's face. This is followed by three other close-ups on other character's faces, showing how these are going to be the main characters throughout the film. From this shot we can see that the character is feeling a mix of determination, fear and anger. We can apply this to the establishing shot and now, it is certain that they are involved in a bank robbery.



Shot 3:

This is a wide shot, used to show the fast paced action going on. We see Baby perform a very impressive and reckless drift to escape the cops, which shows us that he is extremely skilled driving but also takes risks, which is shown how seconds later, the car is inches away from hitting the camera.

Spirited Away-Task 1: Identifying cinematography.

1. This is a medium shot that shows the two characters in a scenario. We can tell that one character is injured or ill, and that they are in a cold place. We fell sympathy for them as we can see that they are children stuck in a very cold place.

2. This is a close up shot used to show expression on the character's face. We can see that he is feeling somewhat displeased and upset about something, but also has a look of determination on his face.

3. A medium shot on a character, that is used to show us the character's clothes and location, so we can tell that the character is wealthy or important.

4. This is a close up shot that shows the character's facial expressions. We can tell that the character is  feeling happy or excited about something. We can also see bit of his clothing showing that he is most likely a pirate.

5. This is a low-angle shot that is used to make a character seem powerful or important. From this we can tell that the character is important to the story or has more power or wisdom than other characters.

6. This is an extreme wide shot, that shows the full body of a person as well as a large portion of a location. They are often used to show a major location or a very large prop used in a scene. We can tell that the city are amazed about this object and are celebrating it. We feel amazement as we see this giant statue in its entirety within the cities walls.

7. This is a medium, high-angle shot that is used to show the cat running around the courtyard. We feel more powerful over the cat. We can tell that something is happening and that the cat is seen as prey to some other creature, that we are put in the eyes off.

8. This is an extreme close ups shot, that is used to show just the characters face, (mainly the eyes). We can tell that the character is ver focused on something.

Does Slumdog Millionaire have a Perfect Hollywood Ending?

Does Slumdog Millionaire have a Perfect Hollywood Ending?

A perfect Hollywood ending is an ending that: ties up loose ends; and ending where evil is defeated and where al enigma codes are answered.
By the time Slumdog Millionaire is at its conclusion, all three of these things have happened.

Firstly, despite the film's circular narrative and and jump cuts between different time periods, the film obviously ends at the "new-equilibrium" once you apply the film to Todorov's theory of Equilibrium, which is common amongst Hollywood endings as it often has a happy ending and things go back to normal.
By the end of the film, Jamal and Latika are reunited and are able to finally share a kiss. They can be together with all the money that Jamal has just won on "Who wants to be a Millionaire" and don't have to worry about being followed.

We see that Latika was freed due to Salim sacrificing himself so that Latika and Salim can get away. Salim dies, which doesn't appear to be part of a Perfect Hollywood ending, but Salim dies by killing Latika's "husband" Javed, who is seen as the major villain by the end of the film., which shows good defeating evil, one of the most promininet binary opposites Hollywood films.
The killing of Javed means that all loose ends throughout the film have been cleaned up. This is common in Hollywood endings as the film doesn't want to leave the audience asking questions about the film and the fate of events and characters. For example, if Javed wasn't killed, after the film, the audience would ask, "what happened to Javed" and the ending becomes a lot more uncertain and a lot more worrying, which wouldn't fit within a Hollywood ending.

Throughout, the film poses lots of questions that can't be answered until later on. These are called Enigma codes and they are all answered by the time the film is over. Some examples are: "Why did Jamal go on Who wants to be a millionaire?" and "What happened to Latika once Salim left her behind?". This is something you don't necessarily notice but works to give the film a perfect Hollywood ending, as all questions are answered, leaving and audience feeling satisfied with the ending.

The very end, has a dance scene at the end, which can appear to come out of nowhere, but actually pays homage to the Indian form of film, Bollywood, which has lots of extravagant dance scenes throughout its films. The dance scene also gives the film a quirky and unique ending to the film.

In conclusion, Slumdog Millionaire has a perfect Hollywood ending because not only does it feel like one, but shares the same features as all the Hollywood endings before it.

Slumdog Millionaire viewing notes and Unconventional narrative sheets.

Unconventional narrative:

Viewing notes:

We were tasked to film match-on-action of anyone we could find, to catch and throw an object. This is how it turned out.

NEA Practice

Micro Elements and theories shown in Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park

To show the 4 Micro-elements of film form as well as 4 theories, I will be using ,from Jurassic Park, the scene in which Dr Sattler is sent to turn on emergency power after the park is sabotaged.

Micro-Elements:

   Mise-en-scene: In the scene, the hallways in the bunker are dimly lit and thus it adds meaning to the scene, making it more tense and atmospheric showing how dangerous of a place it is. Dr Sattler's facial expressions show fear as she works her way through the corridors. Her hair is quite messy and un-kept showing how she is stressed with her current predicament, especially as the are raptors on the loose around the bunker.

   Cinematography: The scene is mainly filmed at an eye level,close up shot to put the audience in the scene and can imagine how Dr Sattler feels. The film also switches to the raptor's perspective and see how Ellie is vulnerable like prey. All the shots are very real instead of CG making these fake dinosaurs seem a lot more realistic.

   Editing:The scene runs along side Dr Grant, Tim and Lex climbing over the electric fence, while Ellie is trying to turn it on, clueless to the fact that the Tim is stuck on the fence. Both these scene are linear meaning we experience the events as they naturally occur. The cutting between Ellie turning on all the power and Dr Grant trying to get Tim to climb down builds tension between a purposefully tense and scary scene and a scene that starts of normal and turns scarier.

   Sound: With the Grant Gang climbing over the fence, sirens start to go off which alerts the viewers and the characters of the impending doom. With Dr Sattler, in the hallway there are multiple pipes that make noise and that shows how that area of the park is not safe and a scary place to be. The raptor sounds add to the scary noises and solidifies that this is more than a regular park and that the dinosaurs pose a real threat to the guests.

Theories: 

   Todorov's theory of narrative development (NARRATIVE): This scene follows this theory perfectly. Equilibrium: The park has been sabotaged but most people are safe. Disequilibrium: The power around the park goes off and needs to be fixed. Recognition: The fences and phones stop working and the park becomes very unsafe. Resolution: Arnold goes to fix it bur doesn't come back, and so Ellie and Robert Muldoon go and check on the power and Mr Arnold. Climax: Mr Arnold and Robert die, however Ellie is able to turn on the power. New equilibrium: The power turns on but dinosaurs are already loose. Tim is injured, and people have been killed.
   Blumler and Katz - Uses and gratification theory (AUDIENCE): This theory also perfectly works as it states that people watch and use films for different purposes. Most people will watch Jurassic park because it is an entertaining film, but other people will watch it to get away from the mundane realism of the world today. Others might watch it to inspire them and help flex their creative muscles.

   Henry Jenkins - Genre constantly breaking the rules (GENRE): This theory states that genre is constantly evolving and that they aren't stereo-typical. Despite Jurassic Park being a fantasy film, this scene above shows fantasy as having aspects of horror in it. Both the main raptor scenes are very tense as it cuts between the raptors stalking their prey (humans).
Laura Mulvey - male gaze (REPRESENTATION): This is the one theory that doesn't work. Throughout the whole film. There are only two female characters, and neither of them are shot, portrayed or clothed for the male gaze. Lex is a child and thus is not shown for the male gaze, and Dr Sattler is never shown in a sexual light as she is running away from dinosaurs trying to eat her face off.

As shown, Jurassic Park is a great film for analysing Micro and Macro Elements.

Micro elements and theories shown in films.