Film 4: Til Death do us Part/Hasta que la muerte nos separe 

What did you like about the film? I really liked the plot of the film; it made it entertaining to watch.	What didn’t you like? I thought the beginning was my least favorite part of the film as the music I felt didn’t match the vibe of it.
What ideas could you use? Narrative or style? I would perhaps use the narrative theme of betrayal displayed in the film.	What ideas won’t you use? Why? I probably won’t use the violent aspects of the film (i.e. the glass smashing cuts scene) though I do think it was crucial in the plot and scene.

In-Depth study: All elements 

Feature	Example
Narrative structure	The narrative structure is a wedding that goes wrong in many ways but ends up being fine for the bride and groom as they realise they are perfect together because of their toxicity.
Establishing characters, setting, plot, theme	The beginning scene establishes the plot, as it’s obvious it’s a wedding and the images that the family are watching establish the characters.
Mise-en-scene	The mise-en-scene is mainly crowds dancing on the wedding floor, this example is the Simcha band, a Jewish band that the bride and groom have to celebrate their wedding.
Cinematography	The cinematography in this feel is cleverly used and has a very professional look. In this scene the bride is calling the number from her husband’s phone and looks at the girl through the mirror, this is cleverly done to show the bride’s expressions at the same time as showing the girl picking up the phone.
Editing	The editing in this film is very smoothly done, it has lots of clean cuts that roll to the next scene without the audience noticing the editing because it flows so cleanly.
Sound	The sound in Till Death do us Part, is very chaotic and links to the scenes shown in each part. The music and scenes emphasize the characters’ emotions throughout, so when its loud, fast music, the characters feel stressed, in the beginning scene, its celebratory music, again showing the characters emotions, and the end scenes music being a love song, shows the characters feeling of love to each other.

Inspirations – what ideas did this film give you for your own short film? 

Cinematography/Sound/Editing: This film’s cinematography and sound were the best aspects, so I would use similar in my short film.	Narrative structure: I am inspired by the theme of betrayal in this film, so I am thinking of a similar theme to mine.
Establishing characters, setting, plot, theme:  The setting of the film was really creative so would be inspired by it; the rooftop scene was very impactful and gave effect to the overall film.	Creating enigmas: The ending really created enigma in the film because after all the chaoticness and stress, the bride and groom got back together, making the audience confused, so I am inspired by this ending because it is so unexpected.

narrative devices

narration – the subjective telling of the story from a specific point of view e.g. trainspotting mark renton

unreliable narrator – a character who tells us a story without credibility

backstory – a story that tells what led up to the main story/plot e.g this is england shaun’s backstory

flashback – interrupting the chronological sequence of events to interject events of earlier occurrence

flashforward – a transition in a film or scene in the future

linear – the events of the story unfolding in the order in which they occurred

non-linear narrative – a storytelling technique in which a narrative is told out of chronological order

ellipsis – the shortening of plot duration achieved by omitting some story duration

framing device – a story that is different from the main story, comes at the beginning and end of it, and adds to it in some way

cliff-hanger – a plot that leaves the audience in suspense at the end of a scene or episode

closed endings – the character finishes their overall aim of the plot/makes it to the end of their journey

macguffin – a device in a film which serves merely as a trigger for plot

foreshadowing – be a warning or indication of a future event

alignment – the process by which spectators are are placed in relation to characters in terms of access to their actions and to what they know and feel e.g trainspotting mark renton – we are on his side

POV – a sequence that is shot as if the viewer were looking through the eyes of a specific character e.g this is england shaun – we follow his story throughout

causality – an influence by a cause contributes to an effect where the cause is partly responsible for the effect, and the effect is partly dependent on the cause

in medias res – technical term for the epic convention of beginning ‘in the middle of things’ rather than at the very start of the story

subplot – secondary plot used in film and television that receives less screen time and emphasis than the main plot e.g. trainspotting Lol and Woody relationship

masterplot – the main plot, ‘skeletal’ stroies that recur again and again

narrative hook – technique in the opening of a film that hooks the viewers attention e.g. trainspotting beginning scene

plot twist – an unsuspected occurrence or turn of events in the story that completely changens the direction or the outcome of the plot from the direction it was likely to go

Key Theorists

Todorov – Equilibrium

Todorov’s narrative structure theory states that all narratives contain equilibrium, disequilibrium, recognition, resolution, and new equilibrium. Equilibrium is the beginning stage in the theory, it is the ‘steady state’ where things are all as they should be.

Levi-Strauss – Binary Oppositions

This theory entails that the majority of narratives in media forms contain opposing main characters, these binary opposites help to thicken the plot and further the narrative as it introduces contrast.

Propp – Spheres of Action (Character Types)

Propp argued that stories are character driven and that plots develop from the decisions and actions of characters and how they function in a story, he claimed characters could be classified into certain roles that progress a story. He identified seven archetypes: the villain, the donor, the helper, the princess, the dispatcher, the hero, and the false hero.

Vogler/Campbell – Hero’s Journey

The Hero’s Journey Theory is a theory that aims to prove the existence of repetition of hero travel patters used in many heroic stories. It’s been analysed as an example of the sympathetic plot, a universal narrative structure in which a goal-directed protagonist confronts obstacles, overcomes them, and eventually reaps rewards.

Barthes – Narrative Codes

According to Barthes, all narratives share structural features that each narrative weaves together in different ways. The five narrative codes are; hermeneutic/enigma code, proairetic/action code, semantic code, symbolic code and cultural/referential code.

Find a good working definition for narrative which connects well to Film Studies

The narrative in a film is the story elements, including narrative structure, character and plot. The narrative tells a story by writers using narrator style, chronological order, a point of view, and other strategies. A good narrative story is one that ensures all actions in your story develop a central idea or argument.

What is your understanding of a realist mode of filmmaking? Can you think of examples of films that are realist from the ones we have watched?

The realist mode in film refers to realism and is essentially a narrative style that aims to represent realistic themes such as characters, settings and events. An example of a realist film that we have watched is This is England, as it aesthetic is influenced by documentary filmmaking, emphasising the representation of British social realism.

What is your understanding of an expressive mode of filmmaking? Can you think of examples of films that are expressive?

The expressive mode of filmmaking is emphasising the truth and realism with unnatural and dramatic aspects in order to convey the narrative to the audience. An example of this is the abstract and surreal hallucinations in trainspotting.

To what extent does Eisenstein’s work merge the two ideas and how does he do this in Strike?

Eisenstein’s work merges the realist and expressive mode. In Strike, examples of the merge of these two are the intercutting with animals being killed and the workers being run down and the editing techniques of metric montage which is synthetic and disrupts the visual flow vs rhythmic montage which cuts to the action, having more of a flow visually.

Film 3: Bombita 

What did you like about the film? I liked the emotions portrayed by the actors and how it had lots of aspects of realism in it. It emphasized the plot, and it definitely works by attempting to connect to the audience, by using similar real-life struggles.	What didn’t you like? I didn’t particularly like the repetition of the same tone of the man throughout the whole short film, he just seemed miserable throughout, and it got quite repetitive, however it did show realism which I liked.
What ideas could you use? Narrative or style? I liked the variety of filming locations and set designs, it helped emphasize the narrative and made it more enjoyable to watch.	What ideas won’t you use? Why? I probably wouldn’t use the narrative, as I found it very repetitive. However, I did think it suited this film, I just wouldn’t use it for my film.

In-Depth study: All elements 

Feature	Example
Narrative structure	The short film had a very repetitive narrative structure, and lots of the scenes were at the towing companies and showed him struggling to get justice.
Establishing characters, setting, plot, theme	The characters had problems that focused on realism and were used in order to connect to the audience. For example, this scene shows him and his wife having marital problems.
Mise-en-scene	The mise-en-scene of the short film is heavily focused on the surroundings of the scenes, it emphasizes the other characters featured in the scenes, to give more of an effect to the performance of the main character.
Cinematography	An example of the cinematography in ’Bombita’ is this scene, in which the shot is taken as a POV of the ATM machine he is receiving the money from, it is cleverly used and potentially could be a metaphor for him assembling the bomb he uses to blow up the towing place.
Editing	The editing in ’Bombita’ is sudden and the scenes are shot suddenly to emphasize the quick impulsive decisions made by Simon.
Sound	An example of sound in ’Bombita’ is the explosion in the beginning, this could be used as a moment that foregrounds the catastrophe that is about to commence throughout the film.

Inspirations – what ideas did this film give you for your own short film? 

Cinematography/Sound/Editing: I got inspired by the cinematography in Bombita and how certain scenes foreground the others.	Narrative structure: From the narrative structure, I was inspired by the realism used and how the film conveys real life scenarios.
Establishing characters, setting, plot, theme:  I liked the way they involved the main character’s family because it let us view Simon in a more empathetic way, knowing his struggles at home.	Creating enigmas: I was inspired by the enigma of the ending and how it abruptly ended because of the main character’s anger and impulsive personality.

Identify one film which appears to have been influenced by the visual style of classic Soviet Constructivist Cinema

Similar to the classic Soviet Constructivist Cinema style, Citizen Kane (1941), focuses on the more functional representation of the film rather than the aesthetic beauty, typical of the Russian Constructivism era. Visually, “Citizen Kane” was a breakthrough that helped shape film’s classical vocabulary as a cautionary tale, it’s no less formative or necessary.

Film 2: The Rats/Las Ratas 

What did you like about the film? I enjoyed watching the film because of the narrative and characters.	What didn’t you like? I didn’t like the abrupt ending as it left me confused on certain aspects of the plot.
What ideas could you use? Narrative or style? I would use the space that was used as it was a good location.	What ideas won’t you use? Why? I would maybe add more of an ending, as it was quite abrupt, and the ending left us with a lot of unanswered questions about the plot.

In-Depth study – Mise-en-scène 

Feature	Example – how does it convey meaning or create an effect
Set Design	The set conveys a simple American-styled diner, in which there is a kitchen and a bar that is in the diner itself.
Costume	The costume is typical restaurant staff attire, the chef wears a cooking apron, and the waitress wears a nice dress with a short apron. The customer wears smart business wear to emphasize his business job and dark persona.
Space	The space is based off an average kitchen diner.
Lighting	The lighting in the kitchen is slightly green toned, perhaps to imply the sick concept of the poison. The diner, though, is dark to potentially emphasize the dark background of the character who had killed the waitress’s family.
Composition	The diner is put together as a nice, sweet diner, this is not shown because of the dark nature of the scene and what happens.
Hair and makeup	The hair and make-up of the characters show typical, normal hair and make-up, perhaps the dark lipstick shade of the waitress suggests her revenge and anger for the customer.

Film 1: Pasternak 

What did you like about the film? I liked the narrative and characters used in the short film as they were all linked so it was entertaining to see their connection to Gabriel Pasternak.	What didn’t you like? I think it was really fast-paced and all kind of happened at once, so I think that made it feel rushed in a way.
What ideas could you use? Narrative or style? I liked the style of the way in which the film was displayed cleanly with a flow and how the revelation of links to Pasternak began.	What ideas won’t you use? Why? I wouldn’t use the pace of the short film as I felt it was too rushed. Instead, I would maybe extend it a bit to add more effect and dramatize it a little more.

In-Depth Study – Film elements 

Film element	Example
Cinematography	Example 1: The shot of the plane taken from the middle of the aisle shooting all the way down from the front to the back of the plane.  Example 2: The wonky camera shot to show the plane’s turbulence and to emphasize the panic of the plane crash that is about to commence.
Editing	Example 1: The quick shots between each character.  Example 2: The cuts between the rocking plane and the passengers.
Sound	Example 1: Airport sounds (plane taking off, check in, plane crashing, etc.)  Example 2: Tense background music when revelation about Pasternak is formed

Inspirations – what ideas did this film give you for your own short film? 

Cinematography: I liked the camera shots that showed each angle and each character who would appear on the plane. I would use similar shots.	Editing: I would use the editing technique of switching quickly between each character to create tense emotion.
Sound: I would take the dramatic tense music in the background for my film because it added great effect to it.	Other: I did get inspiration from the plot as I thought it was a good narrative, in which they all discover they have a connection to Pasternak.

Part 1: Brief Reference 

What did you like about the film? I liked the narrative/plot and how he ends up being the person he sees dying at the end.	What didn’t you like? I didn’t like the fact it was only images shown as it didn’t exactly depict the full story well enough for me to understand clearly.
What ideas could you use? Narrative or style?  I liked the narrative in the short film so could use a similar idea in the circular narrative it used.	What ideas won’t you use? Why?  The lack of the actors talking confused me because it was one man doing the voiceover, so the tone of the whole short film was the same throughout.

Establishing protagonist – what information do we find out? How is it conveyed?

The short film focuses on tracing the life of a man, a slave who travels in time to find a solution to the world’s destiny. He is the main protagonist, who remains nameless, and is sent back and forth in and out of time in an experiment that attempts to unravel the fate and the solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world during the aftermath of WW3. The experiment results in him getting caught up in a reminiscence of past events that are recreated on an airport viewing pier. 

Establishing other characters – what information do we find out? How is it conveyed? 

We see the other woman at the beginning and end, emphasizing her importance to the narrative. She almost leads the story on because she represents the main protagonist’s death and foregrounds that at the start. 

Establishing location (time and place) – what information do we find out? How is it conveyed? 

We know from the beginning that the location is Paris. The images they show of bombed out wreckage of the city are real WW2 images. 

Creating Enigmas – what are they? How are they created? 

Throughout the narrative, we question the beginning death scene and who the dying man is, we wonder how he dies, who the woman is and why he’s there. These are powerfully answered through the end scene and the images and voice over. 

Narrative binary oppositions 

The film is primarily based on the theme of past vs future, which is the main narrative binary opposition because of the protagonist’s confliction of deciding to either stay or travel back to the past in which he can find the woman. 

Crisis – how was this conveyed? 

I think the crisis is the moment he finds the woman as that is technically when his death is. Then when he dies of course is the other crisis, though metaphorically it’s when he sees the woman as she basically foregrounds his death. 

Resolution – is it closed or open narrative? 

I would say the narrative is either circular or closed as it is a loop so it doesn’t have much opportunity to continue the story. 

Part 3: Meaning and Effect 

What did you think was the intention of the filmmaker(s)? Intellectual message? Emotional response? How was this achieved?

I think the message of the film was that you can’t change your past or go back in time in order to achieve things, because it will mess with time, and the same thing will happen but in a different way. I think this idea was shown by the crisis at the end in which the main protagonist dies, because he tries to go back but ends up being the person he sees dead at the start. 

The effects of the aesthetic binary oppositions

I think the photos that show each scene and the time change throughout create the effect of change, as they progress throughout and showcase his emotions of loss and almost an identity loss. 

Inspirations – what ideas did this film give you for your own short film? 

Establishing characters, setting, plot, theme I like the plot of him going back in time and getting caught up in his own death.	Creating enigmas  I like the mystery and enigma of the woman on the airport viewing pier. I would use a similar concept in my film of the mysterious person who technically brings the film together.
Narrative structure (non-/linear? Open/ closed ending?) I would use the idea of the beginning and end linking to complete the story as I quite liked that concept.	Striking use of technical features  In a way, although it wasn’t my favorite technique, the photos did add effect to the film overall because it added dramatic effect, so maybe I would add photos in my film.