I chose Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of hearts character. This is because she is supposed to represent Mary, Queen of Scots who had a rivalry with her sister, and the big head is a metaphor for Queen Mary’s selfishness. The hair, being red and heart shaped, was a clever play on the “Queen of Hearts” façade and the makeup represents how royalty used to wear their makeup in the 1500’s.

I chose Zendaya’s character in “The Greatest Showman” because her purple leotard and pink hair was her signature look when performing her trapeze art on stage, however in other scenes outside of performing, she had her natural dark hair. This shows that she portrays the skilful trapeze artist separately from the character “Anne” when she is herself and not a “freak” on stage. I like this portrayal because even though everyone considers the performers all freaks, it shows that they are still people with personal lives.

I have chosen this scene from The Shining (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1980) as it is an interesting example of a long take. Creating long take scenes are very difficult for directors, as everything must be filmed in one continuous shot, with no stopping or camera cutting. This means that the entire scene must be well rehearsed, especially when it contains lots of extras. If anything goes wrong in the scene, then the entire thing must be started again. Even though this scene doesn’t contain a lot of characters, it is still difficult to get something like this right. This scene adds to the suspense of the film, as the audience thinks there could be something around any corner.

I chose Mamma Mia as they used a beautiful (real) place for where Donna lived. The iconic hut on the island made a reappearance in the prequel “Mamma Mia – Here We Go Again” however, they used a different island for the second movie. In Mamma Mia, most of the outdoor scenes were filmed on location at the small Greek island of Skopelos, and the seaside hamlet of Damouchari in the Pelion area of Greece. The film’s main location site in Skopelos was Kastani beach on the south west coast but Mamma Mia 2 was filmed on August 12, 2017 in Croatia, including the island of Vis. In October 2017, the cast gathered at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, to film song and dance numbers with Cher. 

I chose the movie Gladiator (Dir. Ridley Scott, 2000)  for its costume design because of the work put in by Janty Yates in researching not only the clothing worn by the Emperors of 180 AD, but also of the lesser known and far less represented gladiators of this era. Yates won an Oscar in 2001 for her work on Gladiator because of how accurate and complex the clothing was for the time. Yates was especially praised foe her work on Maximus’ clothes and armor as well as a very high level of continuity throughout the film.

Alien was directed by Ridley Scott, David Fincher, James Cameron, Jean-Pierre jeunet in 1979. I chose this film for its set design because how everything was created to look futuristic, yet familiar to audiences in 1979. Even though it is set in 2122, the main area where the crew of the Nostromo interact feels realistic and lived in. it is also a stark contrast to the horror elements of the film, as it feels very safe and normal, compared to the danger and disturbing nature of the alien Xenomorph itself.

Opinion on Spike Lee’s viewpoint

Spike Lee’s opinion that you cannot create a film properly when trying to reflect the experience of a certain group – gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, or culture if you are not a part of it is something that I agree with to an extent. This is because you can’t capture the essence of what these groups go through in terms of discrimination and fighting for rights unless you have experienced it yourself. Even if you do extreme research including interviews with people from the groups or witnessing a protest/hateful remarks on these groups yourself; that is an experience of a bystander. Plus, every individual person’s story is different, and so making the mistake of basing an entire movie about a specific group on one person’s experience can set the wrong impression on how it truly is – since it’s different for everyone.

Certain groups such as gender and race, the most commonly known groups to have a movie about since they tend to have large audiences, are the most sensitive. These groups should be created by someone who has personal experience with what it’s like; otherwise the context can be taken out of proportion. Life imitates art, therefore movies have a big impact on how the world works, which is why certain subjects should be carefully presented or else the wrong impression can be made and make matters in the real world worse. Plus a large controversy over the film can build up and it would have a low success rate.

However, some of the best films that approach these topics are created by directors outside of these groups. I believe that certain people can direct these films with high levels of maturity and understanding, that it is not disrespectful to the audience and doesn’t send the wrong message. Plus, hateful audience members such as racists and sexists who know it is directed by a member of the group may claim that it is over-exaggerated and sending a completely wrong message. It is known that an outsider’s perspective is usually more accurate than the insider’s perspective. Therefore a movie about issues that groups of people face, created by someone who observes rather than takes part, could be taken more seriously and gain more respect from particular audiences that aren’t apart of the groups. Plus people in these groups may respect the fact that someone who isn’t struggling understands what they go through despite no personal experiences with it.

So in my opinion, it’s a mistake for someone unbeknownst to the struggles to be the ones to present it to the world, as audiences may treat these movies as a learning experience.  So if the wrong idea is shown in these films, a big breakout may happen and the movie’s success rate will plummet. However, certain directors know how to approach these issues respectfully and maturely. Overall, I believe when using a director who is outside of a group that the movie is trying to reflect, choose wisely and make sure they have researched properly and have high levels of respect for people.

Costume Design Example

Set Desgin Example

I have decided to choose this costume design from Marie Antoinette (2006 ) (dir Sofia Coppola) example because the dresses are aesthetically pleasing and the colors are bright and have pastel tones and this creates a happy and upbeat tone. Furthermore, costumes are very important to this movie because it is about someone who was famous for the clothes that she wore.

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