10/10 – I really liked this Film and found it very immersive in capturing my attention, Although scenes were fast paced, they where easy to follow and through the films non-linear structure this helped also. For me the most memorable scene was when Lil Ze teaches the runts a lesson by shooting them in the feet. This stuck with me as its intense and disturbing in nature and really contrasts to what you usually see within films we have previously studied such as Casablanca that pacify Gun violence with their dramatized panto. Through the performance of the child actors alone, this really creates the impression they have genuinely been shot and makes you feel sorry for them.

This was an iconic scene as through posters I have seen it before, it also acts as one of the few single sombre moments where characters get to experience happiness, before the reality of the City of God takes it away from them.

Brooklands Farm – with permission of relatives that own it, I will film here due to its nostalgic appearance as an old theme, which matches the periodic setting of my NEA film being set in the 1940s.

The Thief Gets Finessed

Characters:

Luke
Zach
The Thief

Now your probably wondering how I ended up in this situation. and I’m not gonna lie , I’m wondering the same thing, when i got this call from my mate Zach i thought it would just be some easy money, just a normal walk in the woods like we usually do. not some life threatening wild goose chase. if i knew that was part of it i would have stayed at home

Luke is is his living room, frantically playing on the PS4. After much stressing and shouting, Luke’s character dies on the TV. He throws the controller down in frustration and picks up his phone. On it is a message from Zach. He clicks on the message and reads allowed:

Scene one:

(Luke gets a call from Zach)

Luke: Heey whats up bro

Zach is stood in some random car park

Zach: Yo Have you seen the news

Luke: Nah what’s up

Zach: so basically some guy has stolen this artefact from a museum in Goreville.

Luch: what jersey heritage

Zach: yeh that one, anyway he’s on the run and the police have said the artefact is worth at least 50k. so all we got to do is get this thing and were fifty K richer

Luke: oh alright, I’m on my way; ill bring some gear

Zach: see you in 10

little montage of Zach getting equipment

Scene two

Luke running across field with a bag and stopping in front of Zach, panting.

Zach: You took your time!

Luke: Yeh, well you try running fast when you are carrying around someone else’s stuff!

Zach: Excuses, excuses. Anyway, you said you were bringing gear?

Luke: What, you mean this gear?

Luke throws a bag down on the floor. Zach opens the bag and pulls out 2 torches,, 2 sets of camo gear, , a trowel, a map and 2 pens.

Zach: Perfect!

Luke: So come on, so what did you see then? What’s the genius plan then?

Zach: Well, here’s what I was thinking.

Zach takes the map and spreads it out on the grass between them. He then takes the pens.

Zach: So we are here, right. I was up here earlier and saw lights coming from over here [he circles a point on the map] I think the this was trying to signal to someone to escape. So I say we head in this direction and see if we can find where he’s hiding. Then we tell the police and, boom, big fat cash prize.

Luke: I’m not sure Zach, what if one of us gets caught?

Zach: That won’t happen.

Luke: How can you be so sure? You have got no idea how this will play out.

Zach: Just trust me Luke, yeah? It’s nearly dark. This is the perfect time to strike.

Luke: Whatever you say mate, but I still don’t like it!

Scene three:

Cut to Zach and Luke in the forest where the path splits in two.

Luke: Which way now?

Zach. I don’t know man. I’ll go this way and you go that way. Remember we got our radios for communication. If you see anything then hide in the bushes and radio me. You got it?

Luke: And what if you don’t reply?

Zach: Stop worrying Luke – I’ll be there.

Luke: Err….OK got it. Well, I guess I’ll see you in a bit.

Luke and Zach salute and then split off.

Green camera shot. following Zach

Crackly radio is heard

Luke: What the fuck bro; i thought this was some random guy. not an armed robber. this is not worth it

Zach: Oh my bad, did i leave that bit out. anyway were n to deep now, and remember for 50 K this is worth it

Luke: oh whatever. just be safe

Scene four:

Cut to Luke in the middle of the forest path, walking quietly.

Luke pings his walkie talkie.

Luke: Alpha Brava, are you OK?

Zach (on radio): Alpha Brava is doing fine. How is you?

Luke: Yeah all good my side. Just checking in.

Zach. Alright. See you soon.

Cut to Zach, looking at map. Not watching his footing

Zach: Should be around here.

Zach trips up and rolls over. when he looks up, a man in a mask (the thief) is standing over him

Cut to black.

Cut to black.

Luke walking through the woods, looking around nervously. He finds a spot to hide and waits for Zach. He then hears a voice shouting in a clearing ahead.

Zach: GET OFF ME! LET ME GO! I WAS JUST WALKING, I SWEAR!

Luke runs forward and crouches behind a bush and see Zach tied to a tree. With Thief in front of him.

Thief: Well explain to me why you had all this ?

Thief empties Zach’s backpack on the floor in front of him.

Thief: I’ve come this far, there’s nothing left to do than get rid of you!

Zach: No! Please – I wont say anything I swear.

Thief: Do you think I’m a fool! [he raises a big rock] you should have stayed at home boy….

Cut to Luke

Luke jumps up from behind the bush. He picks up a rock and throws it at the thief. The thief falls over, unconscious.

Luke runs over to Zach. Picks up a knife from the guards pocket and starts to cut the rope holding Zach

Zach: Thank god you came Luke. I cannot thank you enough. I thought I was a gonner!

Luke: All I’m going to say is “I did warn you.”

Zach: Yeh you did. Now lets get out of here.

Luke: What? No way. You think I’ve done all this for nothing. We came for something and we are gonna leave with it.

Zach: I’m not staying here! I’ve almost died.

Luke: And I almost died saving your ass, now get up and grab the duffel bag!

[Zach smiles hesitantly, then grabs the bag from next to the thief and the boys run off into the trees. Just in time, as thy run a roar is heard behind them]

Thief: Oi, don’t you dare!

The thief chases after the boys but can’t catch them

Montage of boys running and thief chasing but getting more tired

The boys get to the opening of the forest, then scene changes to Luke’s living room. They fall and, panting, to their knees.

Zach: We’re safe here Luke

Luke: let me tell you this, im never doung something like that agin

for my Nea Film I plan on using a narrator, and the genre of drama, The idea of the narrator is inspired by la jete, to explain things in the story and the world and the genre of drama from
Until death do us part, to create a suspenseful story

Technological –

Behind the scenes of Pans Labyrinth VFX is evidently used throughout the film such as with the fairies, The fantastical throne room at the end and for explosions. Used In conjunction to VFX is the use of physical prosthetics such as with the faun and the male man. Due to the inability to create the appearance of the fantastical nature without breaking the immersion, VFX is used to mask out unneeded physical parts of the body.

Historical and political –

Set in the year 1944, in Fascist Franco-Spain, the story’s narrative is centred around the time period after the nationalist victory in 1939, were rebels of the communist Spaniards (presented as egalitarians) fight against an outpost of the fascist government where our main protagonist, Ofelia is brought to and lives within. The political message of the film drives home the message of the evils of fascism and how there can never be a ‘clean’ world as everyone is uniquely equal and not one group has the higher position. During the year of filming, 2005, this could be said that the choice to cover this politicial topic was to remind people the horrors of fascism as right-wing politics started to seep back into Spain’s political system.

Social –

Being set in the 1940s, the representation of women’s social problems stem from their patriarchal/Macho society they live in. Furthermore religion such as Catholicism is showed to be critiqued by director Del Torro in the scene where a local priest attending captain Vidal’s banquet says about the rebels “God has already saved their souls. What happens to their bodies hardly matters to him”. Although criticising religion, Del Torro does however show its representation with the religious-inspired ending scene where Ofelia is transported to a sort of heavenly place with colour and costumes similar to religious gowns.

Institutional –

Released in the UK by Optimum, It premiered at Cannes in May 2006 to Great acclaim. The 19 million dollar budget film was co-produced by many Spanish, Mexican and American production companies. The budget is clearly reflected with the production design with things such as period dressing and fairly large cast. The worldwide box office of the film was 83.3 million dollars which was seen as a huge success.

Del Toro’s work is now recognised as a recognisable auteur of fantasy/horror, which he could be seen to span across his other films such as Cronos (1993), Devils Backbone (2001) and Crimson Peak (2015). Other films apart of his auteur are the more mainstream, Hellboy (2004) and Pacific Rim (2013).

Men – Men in Pan’s Labyrinth are represented as the more powerful and authoritative figures, though it’s shown in different levels as the Captain, who obviously has the most power being the leader, he is more emotionless and has a more cold persona, compared to the Doctor, who has a warm and caring persona, and he is seen as one of the hero’s in the film, helping the mother and getting involved in helping look after the opposition.

Women – Women in Pan’s Labyrinth are seen as inferior to the men. They appear to have less power, such as Ofelia, being forced to live with the father of her mother’s unborn baby, Mercedes who the Captain uses to do his household jobs, and Ofelia’s mother, who is weak because of the pregnancy so is unable to do anything to help her and Ofelia escape. Ofelia and Mercedes both break the rules so end up holding more power than the males because of their role in their society. Like Ofelia is the princess of the fantasy world, and Mercedes holds lots of power for the opposition as she is on both sides so knows more information that can be used to help them.

Representation of Gender –

Men – Men, such as Captain Vidal, are represented as being overly masculine and autocratic, featuring patriarchal tendencies of being cold and having emotionless personalities. Also seen to be striving for their own goals, This is the case with Vidal, wanting an heir to his name and to crush the communist resistance.

Men, are also shown however as caring, passionate defenders who want to help others and fight for freedom such as with Mercedes Brother, Pedro and Doctor Ferreiro.

Women – Women, such as Ofelia, Carmen (Ofelias mother) and Mercedes are all patriarchally represented as subservient to men, forced to abide by their dictations and rules. However at the same time, Ofelia and Mercedes are shown as rule breakers and breaking away from the stereotypical representation by disobeying their infixed rules. For example, Ofelia dirties up her dress that her mother gifted her, goes against its stereotypical appearance of a maid-purposed outfit that she said she should feel ‘privileged’ to wear as para-phrased from her mothers words.

Another Example can be seen with Mercedes who uses her deceptive appearance as a house maid to go under the nose of captain Vidal to supply her brother and the resistance fighters with supplies to fight against the fascists and eventually hurt captain Videl.

Aesthetics –

Tone – The Tone of Pan’s labyrinth is both dark and heartfelt with elements combined to make you believe your watching a film made for children with its use of fantastical elements but also horror with the use of frightening and graphic scenes of the actions of Captain Vidal and the appearance of the Faun, fairies and Pale man.

Visual Style – Using a mix of dark and rich warm hues, the visual style is purposely used to create a visual style of a fairy-tale whilst also using darker scenes to show the bleak reality of events that fits within its historical context. The visual style as a whole shows the mixed reality Ofelia lives in of a fantastical world and also a painful real one.

Realism – Pan’s Labyrinth is a film that contains magic-realism with its use of characters such as fauns, fairies and monsters, this is used to create a fantastical world that Ofelia lives in, either as an illusion or a reality, regardless it is used to create a world far from our own to a illusive world we can escape to when watching the film.

NEA – SHORT FILM SCRIPT  

Characters: 

• Farmer 1 
• Farmer 2 
• German 1(Dead) 
• German 2 – (Can possibly play the 2nd Dead soldier)

Starts with in media res –  

Farmer 1 drags the lifeless body of German 1 across the floor whilst farmer 2 follows frantically in pursuit.  

Farmer 1: We are done for this! They’re going to kill us if they find out!  

Farmer 2 catches up and says in a panting breathe… 

Farmer 2: Calm down! We are almost there, once we’ve got the shovels, I know a place to hide the body! 

Sene cuts with an Ellipsis to both farmers digging a hole in a farm  

Farmer 1 stops to catch his breathe 

Farmer 2: this is not the time to take a break  

Farmer 1: I know I know * resumes digging*  

Farmers stop digging and grab the soldier who has been stripped of his heavier equipment and is a just in a shirt and trousers 

Farmer 2: I will grab his legs you grab his arms, got it? 

Farmer 1: got it. 

Lowering him in the camera is a worm level shot looking up as dirt covers it until the screen goes black.  

Text appears – A few minutes Earlier 

Screen fades in to a German soldier standing by a brick wall appearing to be on guard.  

German soldier 1: mein Godt ist zu heist 

Shot changes to Farmer 1 and Farmer 2 positioned somewhere high up with a hammer in one of their hands – both are out of frame from each other  

Farmer 2: OI, pass me the hammer there’s something loose over here! 

Farmer 1: yes yes, just give me a second * mimics hitting something of screen before chucking it off screen to farmer 1* 

Scene cuts back to German on guard in the same spot and positioning they were in before but a hammer comes down and hits them on the helmet knocking them out. 

Canted anle shows hes unconscious 

 Close-up shot –  

Farmer 1: Oh no.  

Farmer 2: Oh no.  

(In the distance) German 2: oh mein gott ist heist, ja Johan? 

Farmer 1: what are we going to do his friend will come and check up on him at any minute! 

Farmer 2: Let’s get down and well take him somewhere, anywhere, far from here! 

Running up to body the camera is a worm level looking up at both as they look down at the dead German. 

Farmer 1: God, (feeling for pulse) he’s dead, that makes this so much worse 

Farmer 2: we need to move him 

Camera shows both men fling an arm each over their shoulders and move him around a building corner  

German 2 is shown walking down the road to German 1s location 

German 2: (shouting now) Johan! Wo bist du? 

German 2 is about to turn the corner to where the farmers are hiding his body, scene cuts back to farmers –  

Farmer 2: we must make it seem like he’s fine 

Farmer 1: What! Are you mental that won’t wor- (cut off as farmer 2 flails German 1s lifeless arm using in a broken German impression) 

Farmer 2: Hallo kamarad, est ist gut  

German 2: Wirklich?

Farmer 2: errhh, Ja Tschuss

Dramatic pause is held as the camera at a canted angle zooms in on his eyes before stretching back out again

German 2: oh ok, auf wiedersehn *walks away*  

Farmer 1: what was that, you call that speaking German!?!?

Farmer 2: well, I’m not a bloody collaborator, it did the job! 

Montage of the 2 farmers commences, shows them moving the body to different locations, panicking and arguing, until finally they set eyes on farmer 2’s farm.  

The In Media res part – replays but shortened 

Scene starts right after they finish burying the body  

Farmer 1: Phew, I’m glad that’s over  

Farmer 2: yeah now lets get back to work so they won’t expect anything, we’ll say we had a lunch break

Farmer 2: Hey throw me the shovel ill chuck it with the rest of the tools 

Throwing the shovel, farmer 2 misses the catch and the shovel goes over a ledge killing another German down below. 

looking over ledge at the second German they just killed – camera is to their rear

switches to camera looking up them from below the ledge

Farmer 1: Oh for fu-  

Words cut off as end credits roll with music score.  

narrative & genre

The genre I have chosen for my NEA film project is a mix of horror and drama. I have chosen this genre because it creates effect to my final film and opens up the variations of ideas I can use in my film.

I will be using a non-linear narrative in my film by using flashbacks to illustrate change in time and dramatize the scene. For this I was influenced by the flashbacks featured in La Jette.

short film influences

In terms of inspiration for the narrative of my film, I have been inspired by ‘Till Death Do Us Part’ and the plot twist featured in the film. Also as mentioned, I was inspired by La Jatte and the flashbacks featured in that.

In terms of cinematic influences, I was influenced by cinematography of the shot captured as the broom goes to look for the bride and he exists the kitchen door, with the camera being placed on the door itself, it creates a more personal shot as it incorporates point of view, adding a sense of realism. I will be using this technique in my film, when my character goes to open the washing machine door and the camera is placed on the door itself so we see it properly open.