I am currently in the process of editing, altering and adding to my film reel. So far, i have around 2 and a half minutes of editing footage and around thirty seconds of my cinematography role. Next, i will edit in some of my cinematography footage to reach around 5/6 minutes for the show reel
All posts by Molly
Filters
Film role one – editing – second clip
Clips – Happy Death Day
This clip appears at around the 100/110 minute mark towards the end of the film, and is important because it appears at a time where Tree has gone through so much emotional and physical trauma throughout the film, that she has began to develop her personality and character arc.
Clips – Alien
This clips occurs slightly after the halfway point of the film, at around the 80 minute mark. Ripley discovers that Ash has tried to bring the Alien back, which is a significant turning point for the film but also shows the character as smart and resourceful. However, this is also juxtaposed by the fact that she is choked by Ash and saved by the male character of Parker. This is supported by the films social context because despite the growth of second wave feminism; there was still the common perception of women as meek and needing to be saved by men. This also ties into the common misconception around early examples of the ‘final girl’ before the 1980’s being a survivor opposed to a stand-alone final girl character typically because they are saved by male characters.
For example, Laurie Strode from Halloween (1978, John Carpenter) is often referred to as the first strong example of a final girl. However, many theorists actually debate this, because she is saved from Michael by Sam Loomis. Even Clover herself to coined them term, argues about the difficulty of distinguishing between a final girl and a female survivor character.
Clips – happy death day
This scene is not the final showdown, and instead appears at around 50 minutes into the film where Tree finally thinks she has escaped her antagonist. This is important because it shows the continuous fight between the final girl and antagonist seen with the character type
Clips – Alien
This clip is found towards the end of the film, in the last remaining 10 minutes. It shows Ripley ‘surviving’ her antagonist – the alien. (Although we later found out that the alien survives and comes back for the sequel) This scene is important to use in my comparative study because it represents the typical final girl traits of defeating the antagonist and shows the elements of the feminist film theory
Comparative study title cards
Quotes/ references
Screenwriter Lobdell of HDD explains that he wanted to change the concept of the final girl by subverting the basic idea to create a cruel character whose acts are justifiable and a strong theme of character development to run throughout the film
‘Every slasher film opens with the mean girl getting killed and the good girl living till the end. And i thought, how can i make the mean girl and the good girl the same person?’
The character of Tree changes the idea of a final girl. Prior to the modern generation, final girls were typically the strong sole survivor who faces a usually successful final showdown with their antagonist
Comparison points
How the female gaze may differ in both films due to the social context of what is happening e.g. Alien is filmed at a time where Mulvey had just conceived her idea so would be used as an early representation
‘Females are represented as the object of a male’s desire and fear whilst watching horror films through the use of the female gaze. Alien shows this idea through the extended 10 minute clip of Ripley walking around in her underwear which suggest that female characters only exist for male pleasure. Since the film was released during the early era of second wave feminism, the idea of female characters standing alone and representing strength was only recently introduced. Therefore, it is justifiable that Alien would still represent elements of the male gaze because the theory had not been implemented for long.
Whereas Happy Death Day neglects to show such scenes and keeps sexual focus at a minimum, to represent the development of strong female characters but also the removal of the male gaze. This is shown when Tree is an embodiment of a sarcastic, rude yet strong and emotionally developing character as we follow her journey rather than a sexual object for male desire to be projected on throughout the film.
How i will gather the clips
I will try to search for some main clips to use in the introduction of my comparative study to give a general background of the films. These should be easy to find, and since most films are mainstream, iconic and well-known: most scenes can be used to give a general gist of what both films are about.
After writing my essay script, i will search for the appropriate film clips to match the points that i am making. If there are some restricted, difficult to find or less popular scenes (so will not be uploaded) i will have to try and handbrake the entire film. This will allow me to be more picky and restrictive with the scenes because i will choose what i want to show and for how long. However, this can be difficult to edit and cut down the film to not only find my effective scenes but it will be time consuming in regards to the editing process especially if the scene is small and less than 30 seconds.