Film Studies Blog

The ideas I had previously didn't seem to have enough depth to write eight pages of script on them so I changed my idea to a story of a student skipping school. So far I have written six pages of the script, however I feel as though I already have much more to write, therefore I'll have to cut out some unnecessary scenes. I’ll post the full script when I’ve finished writing the eight pages.

Ideas A horror/thriller film of a person being kidnapped while walking home from school, and then is locked in a soundproof room. They have to try to escape. On the other end the kidnapper is happily spending time with his neighbours and they’re none the wiser. It would end with the kidnapped person attacking their kidnapper and running out of the house to safety. A thriller film of someone skating around during a zombie apocalypse talking in voice over about things that make the apocalypse good, when suddenly they run into a familiar face. They only see the back of their head but we get a geographical match cut to a back flash of the girl at school talking to her friends and laughing. It cuts back to reality as the protagonist lifts up their bat and swings to hit the girl, who is a zombie. The main character breaks down over what they did and drags the body to a patch of land where he buries her. * I wrote a script for the apocalypse idea but it was only two pages. So, I start...

Wasp Wasp is a social realist film focused around a single mother of four children reconnecting with a man from her past. With Wasp being a social realist film, there are multiple techniques which are typical of that genre which Arnold applies through the short film. For example, the film has clearly been shot on real locations, without the use of sets or green screen, as a whole doing this makes the short film appear to be more realistic, since it is in an area where people similar to the protagonist may actually live. Because the film is on location, there are many long shots of the surrounding area with the buildings and of the sparse nature around; this establishes a sense of community and mundanity, due to it being a fairly common environment in England. Throughout Wasp, Arnold uses other techniques such as the hand held camera and tracking shots, that are standard to the social realist genre, this may make the audience feel as if they're following along the characters, almos...

‘The director is always the most important influence on a film'. Compare how far your two chosen films support this statement.   Both ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘The Lady  From  Shanghai’ are films from directors who are labelled as auteurs, which is defined as a sole creator of a film, that uses their personal style an ideas to make their films unique to them. Evidence of Ridley Scott and Orson Welles being auteurs comes from their signature styles, because this makes an auteur identifiable. When it comes to their films, an example of Scott’s style from ‘Blade Runner’ could be the “Tears in a rain” monologue, this is because of its use of rain, which is prevalent in many of Scott’s movies due to his English upbringing, the scene also uses smoke which makes an appearance in multiple of his films, then there’s the actors being shot with lowkey lighting, and the elaborate set designs of the buildings and the neon sign making the world feel real and it also shows Scott’s love ...

How does the aesthetic quality of 'Trainspotting' depict ideological issues of youth and addiction? Your answer must refer to two scenes. The opening scene of Trainspotting, introduces the audience to the style and the main theme of the film, heroin addiction. The fast paced editing along side the quick, upbeat, non-diegetic music work together to create a high energy feeling, simulating the rush of being young and getting high. By adding Renton's voice over to the film the audience is given immediate insight into his ideological values, and from his accent and language they can make assumptions on his status in society. What he says in his voice over monologue, demonstrates his thoughts on society, he displays a distaste for the lives of ordinary people, he mocks them and his continuous swearing illustrates his anger at the norm; he ends his speech by explaining that he didn't choose life because he has heroin,  w hich indicates Renton decided to destroy his chances ...

Discuss how important cinematography is in establishing strong responses from spectators to a key character in La La Land. Of the scenes in La La Land, the one in which I will be focusing on is from after Mia and Sebastian break up - in it I will focus on Sebastian, I chose this scene because in this point of the movie, I believe the characters become more relatable. The scene begins with long shot of a wedding, as the camera pans anti-clockwise we see couples dancing and sitting then it stops at Sebastian playing the piano and pans forward.  By panning the camera around the audience, the audience can notice that Sebastian is the only one alone at the wedding, this highlights how lonely Sebastian must feel, since all around him are happy couples while he has recently experienced heartbreak. An audience member may identify with this scene, because many people have to go to weddings when they're single, and most people experience terrible break ups. If the camera had just shown Se...

What is independent cinema? + Winter's Bone social and production context. An independent film is a film produced outside of the mainstream usually about problems in a real  setting with long takes that lack action. Verisimilitude is used to make the film feel realistic, this is also helped by the aesthetics and visuals. Another difference is that compared to mainstream films, independent films have a much smaller budget, for example, Winter's Bone's budget was $2 million, while La La Land's budget was $30 million. On top of this independent films are filmed on location without a long time to shoot - Winter's Bone was shot in 25 days. The film maker Debra Granik has a neo realistic style, which is why the film focuses on the rural poverty of the Ozarks, as well as their lack of opportunities and education. The majority of the social context comes from kin based patriarchal power and the dependence on strong women, as shown by Ree and Merab's resilience. Throu...