A Hero’s
Journey. Made in 2012, doesn’t say the director. Found on virgin media shorts
in their list of 2012 films. The film is that of a traditional fairy-tale of
how a man is on a quest to rescue his love, a princess from an evil
villain. However the entire thing was in
the mind of a modern day person who has fallen asleep on a train and taken the
people in his carriage as the people in the film and then princess from his
dream goes up to him on train and asks for some assistance with her bags. I
chose this film because it shows contrast between reality and fantasy in film.
Representation-
·
The
location when the character wakes from his dream is a train this is quite
symbolic as it can be seen as a journey or an adventure
·
The genres used are fantasy and
action/adventure. But it’s the traditional fantasy storyline of a captured
princess that needs saving from a villain. However the film may also not be
considered fantasy as when he wakes up its realism.
·
The
character of the hero is a strongly stereotyped/ but a positive stereotype as they are the traditional
hero who is strong, brave and noble. This has been done as its easy for the
viewer to establish what they are like as they have commonly seen it before.
·
The
character of the princess is stereotyped quite strongly in some ways as she is
portrayed as weak and submissive as she has been captured and needs saving.
However in this film she does do some things that break the negative stereotype
as she helps the hero to find her by leaving a trail and she managed to free
herself from being held captive (with a distraction from the hero). Then back
in the real world she is still in need of assistance from the hero in regards
to her bags. Yet again the role of the
damsel in distress is a well-known and easily recognisable one
·
As
you can see in the screenshots below the differences between the fantasy part
and the realism part in the film.
Narrative-
·
The plot of the film starts in the middle of the
story after the hero and the princess have fallen in love and she has been
captured by the villain. This helps to involve the spectator more quickly into
the film and to save time as it is a short film.
·
There are also certain areas of the story that
are cut out in the plot but they are simply the majority of the traveling. This
is also to save time and to keep the viewer focused
·
The chronology of the film is linear this makes
the film easier to follow especially as I feel the target audience is quite
young.
·
It is quite difficult to apply narrative
theories to the film as it is practically two films in one. However it is very
easy to apply them to the fantasy part of the story. With Todorov’s theory the
equilibrium isn’t shown in the film but it is mentioned and is when they are
happy and together. You then also don’t see the disruption but you know it
happened as its when the princess in captured. The film starts at the
recognition as the hero realises that she is not there and then he attempts to
repair it by tracking her down. The equilibrium starts to be repaired but then
the character wakes up and the film swaps into the realism, however you could
argue that it continues as the two characters are together again.
Genre-
·
The genre in this film is quite complicated as
it spilt between the contrasting genres of fantasy and social realism
·
The fantasy genre is created by many ways mainly
via the use of mise en scene in things such as the woodland and castle
settings, the costumes. the story of a hero and a princess is a common theme in
fantasy
·
The social realism is created by the
recognisable everyday setting of a train and by the causal everyday clothing
the characters are wearing.
·
This short films uses genre quite traditionally
as it does not have much time to establish complicated characters and so it has
stuck to recognisable and easy to establish characters specific to a genre.
Audience-
·
From the platform of virgin media shorts you get
the feel that it should be a teen and older site as it has a professional
approach to it. However I feel this films audience should be children as it’s a
fairy-tale story so it’s intended for children. As well as that the narrator of
the film is a child therefore it seems
that the film is being told from a child’s perspective
·
The audience will be pleased by the film as it
is what you expect from a fairy-tale but with a twist at the end.
Media language-
I particularly liked this sequence in the film a lot as the
princess is escaping and then falls over and you somebody turns up in front of
her but you only see their boots. This builds some very strong enigma codes as
at the time you don’t know where either of the other two characters are so you
don’t know if that is the villain of the hero in front of her of the hero.
A
Touch of Black. Directed by Richard Pinches 2012. I watched it on Virgin media
shorts. The film seems as if it’s about a murder that a woman is going to
commit but you find out at the end that the woman is going to a party themed as
‘murder mysteries’. I chose this film as its set up as a traditional noir
murder film with a lot of enigma codes and a lot of mystery about it but it has
a twist at the end that it’s a modern person playing the role of a noir
character.
Representation-
· The female social group
is represented in this film in a very non-traditional way as the character is
not weak and innocent. In fact the character in this film is the complete
opposite of it as she is shown to be deadly and powerful as you believe she is
going to cold heartedly kill people. This type of female character is a femme Fatal
and is very common in the Noir genre.
·
In one bit of the film the character is
represented as a black cat as she is sleek, deadly and considers herself on a
hunt for her prey.
·
In some ways her character is a positive
representation as she challenges the traditional stereotype by not being weak
and submissive. On the other hand though she is also being portrayed negatively
as she is a dark, manipulative character with evil intentions of murder
Narrative-
·
The use of plot here is quite important as, what
you see is taken out of context with the character’s normal life. In their
normal life they are probably just a regular person but when you just see the
plot you think the character is a murderer.
·
The film is in chronological order therefor it’s
linear this makes the viewer try to predict what is going to happen and draw
their attention.
·
It’s hard to apply Todorov’s narrative theory to
this film as the character doesn’t really leave their normal life. However if I
had to put it down the film starts with equilibrium with her just on her own in
her home. The disruption is then when she receives the invitation to the party.
This is the point where it becomes challenging to apply it as she recognises it
by reading the note (not shown in film) and then she attempts to repair it by
going to the party. I think then re-equilibrium isn’t shown in the film as it
happens when she gets back home from the party.
Genre-
·
The film is very clearly ‘Film Noir’ as its in
black and white with low key, chiaroscuro lighting. The only character is a
‘Femme Fatale’ this is an iconic character style that goes with noir films.
·
Another thing that is used traditional of Noir
is including a lot of enigma codes, this builds a lot of suspense and raises a
lot of questions
·
The setting of the film is also that of a noir
as its night time and there is not a lot of people around.
·
I think this short film stuck to the genre
conventions so tightly is because it’s a short film and so they can’t spend
much time establishing their own conventions so they stuck to a well-known and
familiar one.
Audience-
·
From the platform of virgin media shorts you get
the feel that it should be a teen and older site as it has a professional feel
to it and is organised very well. I feel
this film meets that criteria very well however I feel this film is more
specifically targeted at males as the main character is shown in an over sexual
way.
·
I feel the audiences will be pleased by the film
as it meets what they expect to see by fitting the genre conventions but it
also has a clever twist at the end which the audience wouldn’t expect.
·
The production company is ‘Cupboard Under the Stairs’
however I can’t find anything to do with film about them so it may just be a
small company that has made the one film.
Media Language-
·
Throughout this film there have been many enigma
codes and most of them are making you question who is going to be killed and
why. I find this very effective as your attention is focused on the question of
who and why that you don’t stop to think the correct question of ‘is somebody
going to get murdered at all?’. Because your attention is drawn to ‘who’ and
‘why’ it makes the twist that it’s a party all the more clever as you had never
considered it.
Mentis Saltus by Joe McGowan, 2012. Found on Virgin Media
shorts. The film is about a man who wakes up in a forest and goes about boring
daily morning things like having his breakfast and brushing his teeth. All of
this he does while in the forest and then at end when he is deciding what tie
to wear he gets called (presumably by his wife) and you see him exactly the
same but in a standard looking bedroom. I chose to do this film as it had a
quirky and unusual feel to it that I real liked, also the shots around the
woodland seemed very horror like and could be replicated in our film.
Representation-
·
The location of the film is very unusual as you
see the character in a woodland however he is probably in his own house and is
just seeing it as a woodland.
·
I feel the film is a representation of a normal everyday
morning where you have to get prepared to leave the house very quickly when all
you want is to stay in bed. I think this because when the character is up and
about to put his dressing gown on he says ‘is it really that time again?’ in an
unenthusiastic rhetorical way.
·
The film is very difficult to put into a genre
as it has a very strong horror feel to it and follows many horror conventions
like fast paced editing, the location of a woodland and an eerie soundtrack.
·
The film could also be about a lack of free
will. In the case of the main character he is being controlled by his wife as
he clearly doesn’t want to get up but he is being made to. He eats the cereal
he is given and wears the clothes he is given even though he doesn’t like them.
He says the only chance he has to express himself freely is by the choice of
two ties that he wears. Then typically for this character in the credits you
hear his wife asking him to wear the
other one.
Narrative-
- · The plot of the film starts with the main character waking up and then goes through chronologically getting ready for the day ahead ending with him just about to leave the house.
- · The story of the film is that the character had probably been told before by his wife that they needed to leave the house early in the morning for something the next day. The characters wife had then got up before him, gotten ready and was then waiting for him to get ready. Then when he was ready they went to where ever it was that they were going.
- · Applying Toderov’s theory to the film- the equilibrium of the film is when the man is asleep and the disruption is when the alarm goes off and he wakes up. The recognition is when he gets up and starts to get ready. He attempts to repair the equilibrium by going through the daily routine of getting ready. The forming of a new equilibrium is pretty clear as he snaps back into the real world when his wife calls him.
Genre-
·
The genre of this film is very hard to place as
it has a strong horror feel being created via the location, soundtrack, acting
showing fear and face paced editing. However the film is in no ways a horror as
there is no supernatural antagonist of any kind.
·
On Virgin Media Shorts the film is put into the
thriller genre. This could fit as you can perceive the characters wife as the
antagonist because of his negativity he feels towards what she is making him
do.
·
I feel the use of horror codes and conventions
are to confuse and disorient the spectator so that they feel the same of the
character in terms of feeling lost and
confused.
Audience-
- · The platform used to show this film was online on Virgin Media Shorts. It has a feel of a site that is targeted as teen and older site as it has a professional feel to it and is organised well.
- · The film is also on Vimeo, youtube, The Small and the British Independent Film Awards
- · I feel the film is targeted at a male audience over the age of 20 as the character is probably a married man who is being dragged out of bed by his wife to go somewhere that he clearly doesn’t want to go to that much.
- · Audiences may like this film as it is a very unique and original idea that is full of mystery and enigma codes.
Media language-
- · I really like the opening sequence in the film where the character wakes up on the floor of a woodland and then goes to the pile of clothes on the tree stump. The reason why I like this so much is because it instantly starts building enigma codes from the very start as you start to question what is he doing in the middle of the woods and how did he get there. The character then darts awake suddenly with a sharp breath, this type of thing is very commonly seen in a lot of openings to horror films like 28 Days later. Just before the character wakes up you also faintly hear an alarm clock beeping that you don’t detect the first time viewing when you think he is actually in a wood.
- · Throughout the film a lot of enigma and mystery is built up by many of the everyday things you see in normal life. This is simply because you are seeing these items out of their usual context in the home, and are instead seeing them in a woodland and the character is acting as if that is a normal thing to see. This strong breaking of mise en scene helps to add to the films strange and weird feel to it.
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