Joker:

A key message in Joker shows that TV personalities treat others as tools for their show, just as Murray used Arthur as a laughing stock, and under appreciates his work.

Moonlight:

Drugs become a key part in life for some people, just as Chiron’s mother becomes dependant on it so much she tries to strip her son of his money for more crack.

A narrative is a story, an account of a string of events occurring in space and time, and connected by the logic of cause and effect. It is the structural feature of a film.

Todorov’s theory of Equilibrium

A linear sequence of events containing:

• Narrative starts with an equilibrium (normal life)
• Something disrupts the equilibrium (change of normal life)
• quest to restore equilibrium begins (realisation)
• reaches climax (peak tension)
• equilibrium is restored (new normal life)

Levi Strauss’ theory of Binary opposition

Within the narrative, there will be binary counters, such as the villain to a hero, or cure to the poison

Propp’s theory of Character types

Propp believes that in nearly every basic narrative, there are these 7 archetypes found in characters:

• The hero (sets out to save/achieve something)
• The donor (gives the hero the resources)
• The villain (opposes the hero)
• The helper (aids the hero)
• The princess (what the hero wants to save/achieve)
• The dispatcher (gives the hero the quest)
• The false hero (misled on the path with bad intentions)

Vogler/Campbell’s theory of The hero’s journey

following the narrative of the protagonist, seeing them venture off their normal life on an adventure through these different stages, crossing into a world unknown to the protagonist, until they meet their end back at their normal life.

Barthes’ theory of Narrative Codes

All narratives will weave together these 5 codes in one way or another. The 5 include:

• Enigma code (what will happen next?)
• Action code (adds action)
• Semantic code
• Symbolic code
• referential code

Metric montage – Here Montage is used in equal fast paced intervals, giving each person’s reaction an equal amount of time to the unexpected arrival. Each shot is in quick succession

Rhythmic montage – Here montage is used in the rhythm of the band’s music, where each each symbol crash would cut to a different person, showing where Scott’s focus is, and also to create pace and moments adrenaline.

Tonal montage –

Over tonal Montage –

Intellectual montage –

 Golden Mountains by Sergei Yutkevich (1931)

 The House on Trubnaya by Boris Barnet (1928)

The End of St. Petersburg by (1927)

After WW1, the economy was led into crises, and there was a massive human toll, and this then led to the monarchy being overthrown February 1917.

roughly 90% of film stock came from over seas, so after the war, disrupted this trade, and Russia lost a lot of their film stock.

After the downfall of the monarchy, the government became a very regulatory, and nothing negative was allowed to be said, politics almost became the new religion as all other religions were ban

These art pieces were designed to be abstract and geometric instead of using real people. This allowed people to see art without the emotional attraction we would have to people, but rather just a 2D image that gets the message across.

German expressionism: Directors and films

• Erich Pommer – Director of Destiny (1920)

• Fritz Lang – Director of M (1931)

Russian constructivism: Directors and films:

• Lev Kuleshov – Director of The death Ray (1925) this was one of the earliest full length films at 2 hours and 5 minutes

• Dziga Vertov – director of Kino eye (1924) was Vertov’s means of capturing what he believed to be “inaccessible to the human eye”

Charlie Chaplin was influential because he would make himself relatable with his working class audience. He wore clothes with holes in, and his characters, such as the tramp, were rarely upper class.

Buster Keaton was influential because of his slapstick comedy, and his stunts which were physically done through planning and risk. He had a dead pan static facial expression (named the ‘The Great Stone Face’), which made his comedy all the more iconic.

Harold Lloyd was also influential for his physical stunts of comedy, where he put himself in danger, such as swinging from building.

The hub of Film production had to move from the East Coast of America to Hollywood because of a patent that Edison had on essential filming techniques and equipment. Hollywood was far enough away from the East Coast to avoid the law, and not have to pay a fee for every time they use a piece of equipment.

Hollywood was also good because of its sunlight, versatile landscape, cheap land, etc…

The Cousins described Sweden and Denmark as the best place in the world to film. This was because of their unique light that gave films a certain look. Censorship was also fairly loose in these countries compared to America, giving filmmakers more creative freedom.

Two famous film directors that were marked as incredible by the cousins in this area were:

Victor Sjöström, who directed the film ‘Phantom Carriage’ (1921)

Benjamin Christensen, who directed ‘The Mysterious X’ (1914)

‘The Birth of a Nation’ (1915) was directed by D. W. Griffith. This was deemed a controversial film because of its showing of racism and portraying the KKK as heroes, and its use of ‘black face’. Despite its cinematic beauty, it then led to lynching’s, segregation, and is used by white supremacies.