Reflective Analysis

My group and I decided to create a scene from a Crime Thriller which included 4 different characters; two hostages, one henchman and a Mafia boss known as 'Chief'. The film is called "No Redemption Without Blood" and has many of the conventions typically used in the crime genre. The scene clearly states what the film is about, with drugs, abusive language and violence. The film was originally aimed at a mainstream cinema audience for males between the ages of 15-40 and to appeal to a variety of social classes. I feel that we have stayed true to this original idea of a target audience but because of the change in cast with having a female 'Chief' instead of a male one, I feel that the film would appeal to more women because of the lead role played by a strong woman.

We originally wanted to take influence from Harry Brown, London to Brighton and the interrogation scene from Casino Royale. We did take influence from the gritty look of Harry Brown and London to Brighton which was a what a large part of the film was based on, Harry Brown was the main influence for the crime theme and genre of the film; London to Brighton also influenced the cinematography of the film.

As a group we set out to make the film in a more Noir style, we wanted the film to be edited in black and white and have dark elements with spotlighting to set the correct mood for the film. We wanted it to be full of tension and suspense and I feel that we have achieved this, by editing the film in black and white and using spotlighting to give the noir feel to the film. In our film there is part where the fourth wall is broken which was an idea that came to life during the editing of the film. The film felt a bit plain and empty and we felt that this would give the audience a different perspective with someone not only narrating the film but also looking and almost having a one way conversation with them. This idea came from Fight Club when Tyler Durden and the Narrator break the fourth wall in the cinema, another idea from fight club was the flashes of two characters in the scene, this makes the audience question "what was that?" and makes them concentrate, this way you have the audiences full attention.

- London to Brighton (inspiration)
- Harry Brown
- Casino Royale (Interrogation)
- Target Audience
- Influential film makers


I was the Audio Editor for the film this consisted of me choosing music and sound effects for the film and also cleaning up sound for example; erasing white noise. I took influence for using pop music from Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino uses pop music instead of using a film score, a good example of this is in Pulp Fiction and Django. The main idea for the scene came from the opening titles to Pulp Fiction, using pop or more up beat music than the original tone of the film. I also took influence from Drive by using the music called 'Hammer' which is played throughout the scene. This music was perfect for the scene as it has separate sections which sound like different pieces of music in which I could chop up the music and decide which parts I wanted to use and where. For example when the "Chief" in the film raises her hand above one of the hostages heads the guitar starts, I did this to show that the Chief also has power over where and what direction the film is going in.

I had a few original ideas for the film which were; use theatrical music from Batman, Inception or The Usual Suspects, More electronic music like from the musician Brain Eno or music from Drive which is done by Cliff Martinez. I Tried a few of these options before making my final decision. The theatrical orchestrations from Batman, Inception and the usual suspects created a tension in the films but made the scene seem quite 'cheesy' and seemed to mimic the genre of film, especially the Usual Suspects soundtrack which gave an American Gangster feel. Brian Eno's music had no place in the film because it simply did not fit anywhere in the sequence, it would have given the scene a more emotional feeling than first intended. The use of the Drive soundtrack fitted perfectly along with T. Rex's "20th Century Boy". I thought this was a good song to use because it has a faster tempo than the music used previous to it, its a song from a band with an iconic look especially from lead singer and guitarist Marc Bolan and last of all, the title itself is ironic to the scene. What I mean by ironic to the scene is that the character in control is surprisingly not a man but a woman which is ironic in itself.

Aims and Context

• Genre: British Crime Thriller

• Sequence/ from a film 

• Noir stylistic elements; Low key lighting.    Linking with Neo-Noir.

• Target Audience: main stream cinema viewers, 15- 40 year old males. Open to a variety of social classes. 

• Attention to lighting elements to create contrast, as well as interesting cinematography, using features of symmetry and rule of thirds. 

• Use a variety of camera techniques, pans, tracking, low, high and Dutch angles. 

• Experimentation with more technical camer work; reverse zoom dolly shot. 

Sound and Lighting

• Spot lighting
• Fight Club type of underground feel
• Noir
• Gun shot sound, flashing light (camera flash as effect)
• Gangster rap?
• Theatrical orchestral music, Batman? Inception?
• Music from Drive? Martinez?
• Brian Eno?

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

There are many theories and approaches to understanding Fight Club, the one that has helped me is the crisis of masculinity. A strong scene which shows the crisis of masculinity is the testicular cancer self help group. The men are in a gym sitting down and talking instead of playing basketball which is what a gym is used for and what men do. Other things are in this scene which show the crisis of masculinity such as men sitting cross legged which is perceived as a feminine thing to do. In this scene the men hug and cry which not seen as masculine. Bob also shows the crisis because he has boobs which is not a masculine thing to have, boobs are part of a woman. 

Jack, AKA the narrator, gets jealous of Tyler when he seems to favourite Angel-Face and not include him in Project Mayhem. Jack shows his jealousy by fighting Angel-Face this also has links with homo-eroticism. I think this because Jack says "I felt like destroying something beautiful." which show inner desire and feelings towards Angel-Face.  

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

Experimental films are full of strange mixtures of images, situations, words and expressions that may not tell a cohesive story but, in the end, don't have to in order to achieve an emotional goal. This type of film therefore requires the spectator to shift their conventional cinematic expectations to accommodate more radical narrative techniques, themes and meaning construction. 

Un Chien Andalou, the infamous 1929 surrealist short film from Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, attests to this. This film was very odd and also quite deceiving. The deceiving part of this film initially shocked me because it made me think that the man was cutting a woman's eye in half but it was actually an animals eye. This alone shows that not everything is not as it appears and this theme is shown throughout the film. The film also questions gender for example when one of the men is wearing women's clothes, this also shows the auteurs acceptance of cross dressing and transgender.


Chris Marker became known internationally for the short film La Jetée (1962). It tells of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel by using a series of filmed photographs developed as a photomontage of varying pace, with limited narration and sound effects. This film was very cleverly filmed because even though pretty all the film is just still images the shots are very well framed. The lighting of the film is also good because it is mainly dark with a spotlight on certain characters and people. There are also camera tilts and zoom ins and outs which gives the film dynamics and make it seem more familiar and more film like.

Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) is a work that maintains all of the mystery, tranquility, unpredictability, and personal attachment that is ever present within the world of dreams. I did not like this film at all. I felt that it was unnerving because of the human 'hmmmmm'ing soundtrack and also the mirrored person. This makes the film very uneasy to watch. I also felt that the film was very repetitive which made the film very boring. 

Annotated Catalouge

Could the attention to detail in Ridley Scotts films qualify him as an auteur?

Films:
1-Blade Runner (Focus Film)
Blade Runner is my focus film because throughout the whole film there are strong visuals and attention to detail. I would say that Blade Runner is Scott's strongest film for visuals taking influences from 15th century art and film noir. Scott mixes the influences perfectly to create a mood instead of a completely gripping story line. Scott had full artistic control on the film. The visuals were also influenced by his interests in Sci-fi and the idea of post modernism.

2-Alien
Alien is my second film because it creates a mood right from the start. The geiger characters are introduced in sleeping pods and no words are spoken for the first few minutes of the film. The beginning sequence is almost an introduction to the space craft. The film also combines genres, using film noir and sci-fi.

3-Gladiator
Gladiator is known for its compelling action scenes but again, Ridley Scott really nailed the visuals. Creating the perfect setting of ancient rome. Unlike the other two films there is day light in gladiator and sets a completely different mood. The first scenes of gladiator are probably the darkest of the whole film with dark tones in the editing.

Rejected film:
4-Black Hawk Down
I felt that this films attention to detail wasn't not as prominent as the other three films. Although it has good action scenes I feel as if the film didn't have any deeper meanings or under tones.


Research Sources:
5-Ridley Scott by James Clarke  (Book):
This book gives a good summary of the plot line and other additional information about the films such as the reason he made the film, costumes, lighting choices and quotes from the films. I think that this book would be useful for finding inner meanings and original ideas of Scott, because of this I think that the book can be referenced to.

6-Ridley Scott film making part 1 http://filmschoolthrucommentaries.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/ridley-scott-on-filmmaking-part-i/ 
Ridley Scott discusses how he got into directing and into the film industry. He also discusses why he casts the Actors to play the characters and what they bring to the character. This interview isn't not relevant to my question.

7-Teach yourself film studies by Warren Buckland (Book) The Director as Auteur
This book discusses the idea of an auteur instead of the directors being mere 'technicians'. It discusses how mise-en-scene and themes can qualify directors as an auteur, and how the film looks to the audience just like Ridley Scotts. Ridley Scott's films are all glossy and really good on the eyes.

8-Analysis of Blade Runner 
http://vimeo.com/47059529
This analysis is about the look of Scott's Blade Runner, how he got into the industry of film. It shows that he gets influences from different pieces of arts and other auteurs. It shows how he concentrates on the whole look of the film rather than the narrative of the film. He bases a lot of Blade Runner on historical events and artefacts to give the film an moody look.

9-Ridley Scott as an Auteur
http://laceysfilms.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/ridley-scott-as-an-auteur/
This article is about what qualifies Ridley Scott as an auteur. It says that the glossy look of of Scotts films are part of his art, the reason for this glossy look is probably to do with the advertising job at the BBC. Scott is the controlling voice in his films and employs people to realise his vision. Scotts films have more emphasis on their look compared maybe to their story lines. This is a good source because it shows how it qualifies Scott as an auteur.

10- Adventures in the Screen Trade
This article is an argument against the auteur theory. It discusses how a director of a film because there are more than one person working on a film so that it is not just one persons decision.

How Far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on the distinctive use of techniques?

- Handheld camera, documentry, realism.
- For a minute 50 there is no cuts, not many cuts
- A lot of references to films in conversations
- A man with a camera, makes the film seem like a real person is documenting, always a media source present.
- Pans from a close up yo another part of the group, there will always be conflict.
- Arab policemen comes in into the shot to balance.
- Said's brother tells him to go to stay out of trouble, good role model.
- Camera changes to a more gritty camera, looks like a documentary, they its not thoiry but then they act like animals throwing things at the car.
- They say it isn't a zoo but they act like animals.

The impact of La Haine for me does depend of the techniques used. La Haine uses a lot of handheld camera shots which creates realism to the film. This helps the film move along well because the film is dealing with real life situations. The film is filmed like it is a documentary so that the audience will use this as a learning tool, its an insight to how the classes are.

The lack of cuts shows shows the slow pace of life in the suburbs. It also shows how bored theses people are and how they don't do anything productive in their life. With the lack of role models and functional families they result to violence because they have nothing else that they feel they can do with their lives. Some people want to break away from it like Hubert who seems to want to break away and join the police. Another thing that influences the violence to theses kind of people are the media and film. For example when Vinz in reacting a scene from taxi driver which is very violent and Vinz's only male role model.

When the Police come and kick off the people on the roof there is a man that is holding a camera. This shows that there is always a media source present. It also creates the effect of realism as it makes the camera that is filming seem like a local person filming what is going on, it also gives the film a more documentary feel.

Through out the film Said is in the middle to keep balance in the friendships, he is the only character with a brother or a male role model. Just like Said, an Arab policeman goes mid shot and tries to bring balance to the situation. He likes the lads who are in trouble but he has to do his job.

Stanley Kubrick

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000040/