Independent Study

1.     Choose the topic you want to research about.
2.     Watch movies related to the subject.
3.     Select two Films, and analyse them in full detail.
4.          Investigate about the chosen film, and the theme chosen.
5.     Plan the documentary, making sure you have all the materials needed.
6.     Write the first draft of the documentary script.
7.      Give the draft for the teacher to correct it.
8.          Re write the documentary script and finish the final version of it.
9.           Write the rationale.
10.     Once you finished, collect all your sources together, making the list. 

To what extent is Memento a Film Noir?

Movie synopsis

It was a horrible murder, no witnesses, only the Polaroid photo of the victim). The picture gradually loses its forms, and their colors fade. Finally the image returns to be made clear. The bloodied face and collapsed in pain is again the face of a living person. The gun back in its way, the time back ... (Leonard is killing Teddy, his assistant, having become convinced that the real murderer of his wife).  The order of events in this psychological thriller is revealed back. This gives us greater ability to understand the situation of the protagonist, who suffers short memory loss. Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) refuses to surrender, and follows a strict method to recall the gist of their actions through notes, tattoos and photographs. All with one goal ... revenge the murder of his wife.  People who are aware of its "quality” intend to use it for their own purposes ... or help, as Natalie and Teddy. The film is unique; it would seem that for their specific experimental edition. It develops through two intertwined story lines. One is shot in black and white and the other in color. The events pass color inversely to their logical order, going back in time, so that the viewer gets into the skin of the protagonist and his dismay at the situation and gradually discovers the events that caused the whole story, beginning with the murder of his wife. A curious detail is that while there are scenes that are "backwards" around the sound is normally issued. On the other hand the music is minimal, with the intention of producing a greater emotional freedom in the spectator. As we reached the bottom of the story, many things change in meaning: allies become enemies, the victims are guilty. Leonard solitary scenes while fighting in his hotel room on his inability to create memories are in black and white. The  scenes from his search for the murderer of his wife are shown in color from the story line "in real time ". The past becomes present.  You can not trust his veracity and only the facts allow us to understand the reality ... This is the philosophy of Leonard in combating the problem.

Source: http://es.shvoong.com/books/1746728-memento-review-la-película/ # ixzz1VbyYfBnT

Flippo noir characteristics

1. Dark, shadowy, contrasted images filmed in black and white (a contribution of German Expressionism) -- often at night and usually in a gritty urban setting 


2. Hard-boiled, cynical, disillusioned characters -- who are nevertheless usually likable 


3. male protagonist facing a moral dilemma and/or some kind of threat 


4. An alluring, sassy, independent and usually dangerous woman 


5. Flashbacks -- a wavering past and present, inextricably linked 


6. A voice-over narration


7. A healthy dose of paranoia or, at the very least, a strong sense of insecurity, betrayal, or being trapped 


8. Angst, American style 


9. Required for "pure" film noir: NO happy ending. A happy ending turns a film noir into a film gris or a melodrama done in noir style.

Source: http://virtual-explorations.org/film_noir.htm

Memento has many of the named characteristics of a film noir, such as death, blood, a crime, no happy ending, black and white scenes and flashbacks. 

Flashbacks

Black and white scenes

Characteristics of Film Noir

Film Noir

From Wikipedia


"Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-whitevisual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during theDepression.

The term film noir, French for "black film",^[1] first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unknown to most American film industry professionals of the classic era.^[2] Cinema historians and critics defined the noir canon in retrospect. Before the notion was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic film noirs were referred to as melodramas.^[a] The question of whether film noir qualifies as a distinct genre is a matter of ongoing debate among scholars.

Film noir encompasses a range of plots—the central figure may be a private eye (The Big Sleep), a plainclothes policeman (The Big Heat), an aging boxer (The Set-Up), a hapless grifter (Night and the City), a law-abiding citizen lured into a life of crime (Gun Crazy), or simply a victim of circumstance (D.O.A.). Though the noir mode was originally identified with American productions, films now customarily described as noir have been made around the world. Many pictures released from the 1960s onward share attributes with film noirs of the classic period, often treating noir conventions in a self-referential manner. Such latter-day works in a noir mode are often referred to as neo-noirs. The tropes of film noir have inspired parody since the mid-1940s."

Characteristics:

History: 1940s-50s, Hollywood Studio but a reaction against the glamour and idealisation of Hollywood
Setting: Nameless timeless urban landscape,
Tone: cynical, subversive
Themes: crime, detective, thriller, revenge, immorality, bleakness, alienation, moral corruption, guilt... a lack of a happy ending...
Characters: Male protagonist: detective, police officer, a drinker and smoker, not a success in his personal or professional life, often as amoral as the people he chases, falls for the... femme fatale: a beautiful usually independent woman who typically leads the male protagonist astray, the antithesis of the loving, maternal, domestic female. 

Femme Fatale

Classics: The Third Man, A Touch of Evil, The Maltese Fiction, Big Sleep, Sunset Boulevard...  
Neo Noir: Se7en, Fargo, Fight Club, The Game, Brick, Batman, Memento...  
Technical aspects: close ups, spot lighting, contrasts between black and white, use of shadows, smoke; iconography of fedoras and cigarettes, smart three piece suits and pcket watches...

Waiting for Superman

Pre-Production

In the first place, we should make an appropiate research to know all the information related to the topic., as well as the most affected people, who are the ones that are going to be iterviewed.

- In order to make this documentary we should have a number of arragements regarding the interviews. Such as, who are we going to interview, why is he/she being interviewed, where would that interview take place, when and fianlly a list with all of the questions related with the documentary topic.

Production

- Through the documentary there are different interviews made to children who are the main affected by the educational system,  we also see interviews made to politicians, councilors, eduactional reformers, who are trying very hard to make a difference and finally to teachers who fight against these eduactional system in order to achieve a fair education.

- There are a number of footages thorugh out the doucmentary. We can distinguish, different speeches from politicians and important buissness men who seem concerned about education, different scenes from TV shows or movies such us The Simpsons or old movies as the one Superman and appears. On the other hand, live footage we were able to identify were, all of the interviews made to teachers, students, parents, etc, and scenes such as the lottery taking place or kids at school. 

 Post-Production

- graphs and cartoons

- non digetic music added

- voice-over

Cache Review- Best Two Pragraphs

As the sequence begins, Georges enters the building while the camera takes him with a low angle, to portray him as a vulnerable character, the victim of the situation. The public in the building is used to show that he is a successful person, as well as a public figure, an expert of what he does.

As Majid’s son appears, he is a big, imposing figure, revealing only his back, without showing his hidden side, his unknown identity. When he appears, Georges is giving him his back, showing that Georges’ past returns to haunt him. There is also a physical difference, creating a contrast between the past and the present in Georges’ life. However, as he turns, hi is confronting his past, to end the situation. 

Documentary- Six Point Plan

1. We have chosen our topic to demonstrate the insecurity there is in the roads of Argentina within the driving methods people here have. The main message we want to convey is to warn people about this serious problem the Argentina has that puts in risk many people lives. 
2. Our target audience are people within 17 to 25 years old, because these people are the most affected by this problems since they drive late in the night where they are tired and are not conscious of the risks driving has. Besides at these ages, these groups do not have that much experience in driving. 
3. We will use a Canon 7D to film and record. We will also need a computer with final cut pro to edit the film. 
4. Our primary sources will be the people we interview to gather information, they will talk about how they suffer this problem and their opinion about it. Our secondary source would be other extra information or materials that will be donated by Belen’s dad who works in these areas. 
5. Interviewer: Mercedes Bossi, Organizer and producer: Belen Lopez, Filming: Catalina Somoza. The editing will be done by the three of us. 
6. As a basis of our film we will use a pilot of a new TV show about traffic issues and insecurities. 

Waiting for Superman- Analysis

1. Sound

We can hear nineteen different voices, from chancellors and educational reformers, teachers, students and kids willing to become students. In terms of dialogue we are able to hear an off-voice, who narrates and communicates the situation to audience. Furthermore, we can also hear a background music as a non-diagetic sound, which contributes to the impact of the message the trailer wants to state.

2. Video Footage

All the footage used in the documentary is based on different interviews of different people who have different ages and social classes but share the same interest and goal, give their children the best education possible. This footage is mainly used to show the different points of view of people who wish to fight against the poor education in the World. There are also interviews of the children who suffer the consequences of the lack of education and they tell their wishes to study.

3. Sources

·      Michelle Rhee, chancellor, D.C, Public School.

·      Geoffrey Canada, Education Reformer.

·      Bill Gates, Founder Microsoft

·      Teenage Girl who wants to be a teacher.

·      Girl who dreams to be a nurse.

·      Boy who wants to go to school to make his grandmother proud.

4. Text

There are two main text types in the documentary, one is the reference for the interviewed person, so that the audience knows who he is and why his opinion is important. On the other hand, there is the text between takes used to make emphasis on the point the documentary is making, creating a clear message to the audience.

5. Editing

The first scene is of two young girls who are interviewed and share their hopes and dreams for their future, one is being a nurse and the other one is being a teacher.

Then the next shot is an interview to a professional who communicates the problems the education has. Further on, there is an interview of an education reformer who shares his thoughts about education. Then there is a shot of kids in a school and an interview to another young boy who tells his story.

Next, education statistics are shown, with a close up on the USA.

CAT: Textual Analysis of Caché

Caché is a french movie, one of Michael Haneke’s most famous works. He was both writer and director of this film. It is considered a critical success, receiving mainly positive reviews form the most important critiques.  The open ending of the film is typical of a Haneke film, creating intrigue in the audience.

This sequence is taken from Caché, starting from the opening scene where Georges is entering the building where his office is. My analysis will start form this point up to the moment in which Georges (Daniel Auteuil) and Majid’s son (Walid Afkir) finish their conversation in the library. This is a critical scene of the movie because it shows a turn in the narrative and in the perspective the audience has of the character of Georges.

The camera is used beautifully throughout the film, and particularly in this scene. The angle is mostly on eye-level, and there is a variety of shots, but there is never an establishing shot, another feature of Haneke.

The dynamics of the camera and the actors are just right. As the sequence begins, Georges enters the building while the camera takes him with a low angle, to portray him as a vulnerable character, the victim of the situation. The public in the building make the audience remember that he is a successful person, as well as a public figure, an expert of what he does.

As Majid’s son appears, he is a big, imposing figure, revealing only his back, without showing his hidden side, his unknown identity. When he appears, Georges is giving him his back, showing that Georges’ past returns to haunt him. There is also a physical difference, creating a contrast between the past and the present in Georges’ life. However, as he turns, hi is confronting his past, to end the situation.

The elevator scene is one of the best takes in a movie, the creation of tension through the complete silence, and the refection of Georges in the mirror, while the camera frames Majid’s son. While this is taking place the audience can see how the past in Georges’ has a huge weight in his life, this is shown by the size of each character in the picture. The reflections of both characters provides details of the situation, Georges is looking at his own reflection, recapasitating about the past; Majid’s son shown both his sides, without having anything hidden.

When they leave the elevator, they have a conversation in the entrance of the office, where they seem to be alone, but there is occasional people walking through the place. In this scene, the camera is focused on Georges’ reaction. This, together with the size of the characters, he is portrayed as the victim of the situation. Once again, Majid’s son reveals a hidden side, which creates intrigue in the audience.

As they continue their conversation in the bathroom, they change the dynamics of the scene, the sizes of the characters are reversed, Georges now assumes the power of the situation, demonstrating that his past is not so important again, As Majid’s son has a smaller size, and by focusing on his reactions, he is portrayed as the victim of this situation. 

When Majid’s son is shot alone, it is possible to say that Georges is confronting his past, and finally defeating it, showing that his past is now more vulnerable.

Soviet Montage

This Russian film movement began in 1924/25 and lasted till the early 1930’s. Only a small amount of movies were made, about 30, but they were extremely influential. Eisenstein’s strike (1925) was the most successful movie made by Sergei Eisenstein, the most recognised director of the Soviet Montage.

Soviet History and Film Production

In 1917 Russia suffered two extremely big revolutions, in February, eliminating the Tsar’s government, and in October, when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was created. Narkompros, the Minister of culture, controlled the film industry.

Narkompros created, in 1919, the State School of Film. A year later, Lev Kuleshov joined the school and began to explore the importance of editing in a film, developing the main idea of the Montage theory and style. He believed that the viewer’s response to the movie was based in the editing, and not on an individual shot. He saw film as the most important art, and as an effective medium for propaganda and education.

Montage

One main characteristic of Soviet Montage films is the downplaying of individual characters in the center of attention. Single characters are shown as members of different social classes and are representing a general type or class. In Eisenstein's Strike there is only one character named individually in the entire film. Another characteristic is that Soviet Montage filmmakers often chose strikes and other clashes in the history of revolutions e.g. Eisenstein's Potemkin, October and Strike.

The central aspect of Soviet Montage style was the area of editing. Cuts should stimulate the spectator. In opposition to continuity editing Montage cutting often created either overlapping or elliptical temporal relations. Overlapping editing means, that the second shot repeats part or all of the action from the previous shot. Through repetitions of this method the time an action takes on the screen expands. Elliptical cutting creates the opposite effect. A part of an action is left out, so the event takes less time than it would in reality. Elliptical editing was often used in the form of the jump cut. In Strike, Eisenstein cuts from a police officer to a butcher who kills an animal in the form of a jump cut.

The butcher is not part of the story but should make the viewer think about the connection and come to a conclusion such as: the workers were slaughtered like animals. The butcher is here a nondiegetic element. Anything that is part of the film story world is diegetic. A nondiegetic element exists outside the story world. There is no connection between the slaughter of the animal. The use of such nondiegetic shots was central to Eisenstein's theory on "intellectual montage". Intellectual montage creates its effects through conflict such as the juxtaposing of shots that have no direct connection. Soviet Montage filmmakers often shot on location. Strike, in fact, was shot in a real factory. The machine and the factory became symbols of the new society in this time.

Source: http://cinetext.philo.at/reports/sv.html

View more presentations from nepaliain

Battleship Potemkin

Kuleshov Experiment

Influence of Soviet Montage on Modern Cinema:

A movie that follows the characteristics of a soviet montage film is Psycho (Hitchcock 1960)

Hitchcock uses a lot of non continuos editing, and makes a sequence that as one shot that is not related to the previous shot, he also includes shots that portray what the character is looking. 

Our own version of Soviet Montage

Shot 1: the teacher is starting the lesson.

Shot 2: the responsible student is paying attention to the class.

Shot 3: some students are still walking around the school.

Shot 4: The teacher is sill teaching to the one student who wants to listen.

Shot 5: The student does not really understand the lesson.

Close reading of 'The Birds' (Hitchcock 1963)

1. Note the details of each attack: who is attacked, and why. When is the first attack? What happens? When do the audience first know an attack is coming? How is the moment foreshadowed? 

During the first attack Melanie is in the boat, very near the shore after taking the lovebirds to Mitch’s house, when a seagull appears and attacks her. On the majority of the attacks, there is a very peaceful mood, but a sudden ‘chatering’ of birds breaks the tension being generated, and then the birds attack.

3. Write a one sentence description of the protagonists:

Mitch: a man who is trying to maintain balance between the two worlds in which he lives, his job in San Francisco, and his family in Bodega Bay.

Melanie: Young, wealthy, socialite form San Francisco who uses Mitch as a distraction and a way to have fun, until the birds begin to attack.

Lydia: An over-protective mother who is willing to do everything for her children, because she is afraid to be abandoned again, after her husband died, a couple of days ago.

Annie: Mitch’s ex-girlfriend, who never had a very good relationship with Lydia, but is still very fond of Mitch

4. How does Hitchcock build tension through editing in the school yard scene? 

The brilliant editing in Hitchcock’s movie is constantly changing shots and angles, giving different perspectives, therefore creating tension. In the school yard scene, the audience sees the kids faces, their feet running away from the birds, and their backs, as they run away.

7. Can you work out what triggers the attacks?

Melanie is present in all the attacks, so it is possible to say that her presence triggers the attacks.

What we learned form 'State and Main'

Sketch a spider diagram depicting the influences different people have on the final film.

All of the items have an important role in a film.

Moving from common sense to film language

‘Strangers’ Review

‘Strangers’, the short film written and directed by Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv, is used to communicate the story of two men, the main theme of the film, discrimination, and how, this two men, confronted by their religious differences, turn to be allies in order to escape from a difficult situation.

The filmmakers choose a subway, moving from station to station, as their setting to create a sense of confinement, how the characters are presented with a situation in a limited space and they cannot leave from that restricted space.


The opening scene initiates with a medium shot of an empty subway station, by what the audience is able to listen, the train is approaching, and then passes by. The next take portrays a man, in another station, about to get in a train. As he takes a sit, he glances another man, sitting opposite to him. The second man begins to read a newspaper. An extreme close up to it shows that it is written in Arabic, which means that the man is a Muslim. The directors choose to create a contrast as they do another close up to the David’s star the first man has in his necklace. Incredible tension is built through the use of close ups of the faces of both men, as the first one shows his Jewish necklace.

After another stop a group of robust men, all with the same hair cut, approach the two guys and take sits around them. Great tension is created as one of them paints a swastika cross on the Arabic newspaper.

Tension increases even more as the directors do a close up of each men involved in the situation at a time, repeating the two men in the beginning of the film. To make things worse, as they stop in another station the Jew’s cell phone begins to play a very iconic Jew song; bursting the silence of the train. Both men look at each other, and, as the directors include two close ups of two members of the gang, the audience realizes the two characters will have to work together in order to escape the situation they are living. The doors close, providing once again a sense of imprisonment; the two main characters begin to run, and manage to get out of the train on the next station, leaving the gang inside the train, captive. 

‘Strangers’ is edited so that it can be easily divided into three main parts. The first one, when the two main characters are sat on the train and they cross views, judging each other. The second part, when the gang arrives and starts to intimidate them. And the third part, when they get to escape from the gang, and return each other’s bags. 


Sound in this short film has a very important role. Even though none of the characters say anything, the sound of the doors opening and closing has a very critical effect, as it creates a sensation of incarceration. On the other hand, the silence on the train as it moves from station to station, builds up tension.

The final scene, where they return each other’s bags, and make eye contact, highlights the main theme of the film, how two men who have many differences, can still work together and help each other.


This short film is extremely interesting, given that the directors have a great capacity, that enables them to transmit a story, and a lot of different feelings to an audience without a single word pronounced during the entire film.

In my personal opinion, I would rate ‘Strangers’ with ****.

Notes: Sentences/words in orange are those that I did not change.

Psychosis

In today's lesson we worked on the basics of camera shots.

TASK: work in group of 3 and take the following shots.

Bonus: Hitchcock Level: Create a narrative through the shots.

Establishing shot

Two shot

Over the shoulder, close up 

Low angle, long shot

Extreme close up

High angle, low shot

Low angle

Close up

Medium angle, medium shot

Medium angle, medium shot

Cast

Gabriela Figueiras

Belén López

Photographs

María Figueiras

Acknowledgments

Karina Perone

Cooks