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impressive vocabulary – “The deliberate and stylised use of this slow-motion reaction shot…”

Diegetic – a way of describing the overall world of the film and everything in it

Cathartic effect – the emotional experience the spectator goes through after watching a film caused by the impact it has left

Reframing – to change the way something is viewed by others

response example:

Throughout Joker, cinematography is used effectively to create sense of chaos within the film’s diegetic world. This is particularly evident in the scene towards the end of the film where Arthur is shown using a   low- angle, close-up looking out of the police car window and reacting with glee at the riots taking place around him. Here, the camera is used to position  the spectator as not only connecting with Arthur, but now looking up to him. This suggests to the spectator that the tables have turned and Arthur who was earlier depicted as pathetic and sad, is now depicted as powerful and heroic. This “reframing” of  the central character” has a potentially cathartic effect on the spectator who has, up until this point, been encouraged to sympathise with Arthur’s point of view as a victim of circumstance. The deliberate and stylised use of this slow-motion reaction shot, enables the spectator to get a sense of poetic justice being served.

point

evidence

explain

link back to question

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  1. ‘ Throughout Joker, cinematography is used effectively to create a sense of chaos within the film’s diegetic world’, ‘This reframing of the central character has a potentially cathartic effect for the viewer’, ‘This suggests to the spectator that…’
  2. Diegetic – (of sound in a film, television programme, etc.) occurring within the context of the story and able to be heard by the characters. This includes sound, characters, landscapes etc…
  3. Cathartic effect – Trying to make the viewer have an emotional response, such as cry
  4. Reframing – Shifting your perspective in a conflict or situation
  5. The first sentence of the paragraph is the point in this response. The second sentence is the evidence and rest of this response is them explaining the effect this has on the viewer.

Essay Feedback

Impressive Phrases:

-“The deliberate and stylised use of…”

Diegetic: Something which is occurring within the context of a scene – the characters are aware of it.

Cathartic Effect: Involving the release of strong emotions through a particular activity or experience. In film, this is when the audience has a strong – sometimes personal – reaction towards the film.

Reframing: The general change of a persons mindset (spectator).

synonyms for ‘connote’: imply, suggest, indicate, signify, hint at.

Throughout Joker, cinematography is used effectively to create sense of chaos within the film’s diegetic world. This is particularly evident in the scene towards the end of the film where Arthur is shown using a   low- angle, close-up looking out of the police car window and reacting with glee at the riots taking place around him. Here, the camera is used to position  the spectator as not only connecting with Arthur, but now looking up to him. This suggests to the spectator that the tables have turned and Arthur who was earlier depicted as pathetic and sad, is now depicted as powerful and heroic. This “reframing” of  the central character” has a potentially cathartic effect on the spectator who has, up until this point, been encouraged to sympathise with Arthur’s point of view as a victim of circumstance. The deliberate and stylised use of this slow-motion reaction shot, enables the spectator to get a sense of poetic justice being served.

Point / Evidence / Explain / Link

Exam Feedback

  • ‘Reframing of the central character’
  • ‘A sense of poetic justice being served’

Diegetic – existing or occurring within the world of a narrative rather than as something external to that world.

Cathartic effect – releasing strong emotions that were previously held back.

Reframing – changing a person’s mindset towards something, whether it be good or bad.

Connotes – suggest something other than the primary meaning.
– Suggest
– Imply
– Signify
– Indicate

The PEEL structure that is typically used for essay question is clearly defined in the level 5 analysis. They use effective terminology consistently and there is further analysis of multiple aspects of cinematography.

EXAM FEEDBACK

“To create a sense of chaos within the films diegetic world”

DIEGETIC-  narrative techniques and elements in a fictional work. Appearing in the context of the film.

CATHARTIC EFFECT- involving the release of strong emotions through a particular activity or experience

REFRAMING- To change the way something is expressed or considered

CONNOTE- to imply and suggest meaning, along with a primary view.

Throughout Joker, cinematography is used effectively to create a sense of chaos within the film’s diegetic world. This is particularly evident in the scene towards the end of the film where Arthur is shown in a  low- angle, close-up looking out of the police car window and reacting with glee at the riots taking place around him. Here, the camera is used to position  the spectator as not only connecting with Arthur, but now looking up to him. This suggests to the spectator that the tables have turned and Arthur, who was earlier depicted as pathetic and sad, is now depicted as powerful and heroic. This “reframing” of  the central character” has a potentially cathartic effect on the spectator who has, up until this point, been encouraged to sympathise with Arthur’s point of view as a victim of circumstance. The deliberate and stylised use of this slow-motion reaction shot, enables the spectator to get a sense of poetic justice being served: Arthur is now on his way to prison.

This Is England – Representations

Young People:

Young people are shown in This Is England to be reckless and irresponsible. At various points throughout the movie, we’re shown the younger characters in the movie making irresponsible or wrong choices, not caring for the consequence of their actions. Examples of this portrayal are how Woody and his gang go to an abandoned housing complex to destroy the building for fun, or how Gadget goes to Combo’s gang purely out of spite, instead of because of his belief in their politics.

Older People:

One of the few times we see characters in This Is England that are older than their early 20’s is when Combo and his gang attend the nationalist rally. This shows that the older generation at the time would’ve cared about the nationalist policies and agreed generally with the anti-middle eastern policies they carried. This racially insensitive stance paints the older generation as being bitter.

Class:

Most of the characters in This Is England are from a lower middle working class background, and the indoor settings they are shown in give us an idea that these lower classes generally have worse living conditions. For example, Shaun lacks real furniture in his room, needing to use a chair as a bedside table, and the paint on his walls is peeling. We can further infer that the living conditions is worse through the actions of each character. Most of the lower class characters shown in the movie show a lack of intelligence, and this portrayal paints the lower classes as being generally less educated than higher ones.

English People:

Much like older people, English people are portrayed as being driven by entitlement, through the nationalist party. The only times we hear England being mentioned in the movie is in tandem with the viewpoints of the nationalist party, showing English people as agreeing with nationalist views.

Asian/Black People:

Every racial minority shown in This Is England becomes a victim to Combo and his gang, and these racial attacks portray Asian and black people as being victims in a 1980’s British society, as the common viewpoint of the time was that they were threats to “usual” society.

Men/Masculinity:

This Is England features toxic masculinity quite strongly, having the first issue of the movie be that Shaun gets bullied for having feminine trousers. Men are portrayed as being excessively aggressive throughout the movie, mainly through Combo. Combo’s irrational and crazed attacks through the latter half of the movie tell us as an audience that masculinity is being portrayed negatively, and as something that leads to most of the “evils” shown in the movie.

Women:

Women take a more submissive role in This Is England, with their plotlines having no agency in the main story of the movie. Although women aren’t directly shown to have agency in the story, Loll acts to portray women as equally as masculine as the main cast of the movie, through her character design and actions towards Combo. Her fearless denial of his love shows that she is a character that can stand up for herself and her skinhead character design helps to roughen up her character, helping subvert typical gender roles for women.

Place:

The Midlands are shown to be grimy and urban in This Is England, with a lot of the external set featuring graffiti or broken down/unmaintained housing. This, combined with the aforementioned internal set design, tells us that The Midlands wasn’t a particularly nice place to live in the 1980’s, as it was unkept and ran by the younger (less responsible) generation.

This Is England – Micro Elements

Mise-En-Scene: At 04:06, we see Shaun waking up and getting ready for school. In this shot we see that the paint on his wall is peeling, and that his “bed-side table” is a chair that he’s stacked items on top of. As this is one of the first shots we see of Shaun, we’re instantly made to believe that Shaun is less fortunate when it comes to money, as his mother can’t afford to properly furnish and decorate his room.

Editing: At 58:50, we see Shaun, Combo, Gadget, Banjo, and Meggy walking together in slo-mo, with the English flag imposed over them. This shot mimics a scene prior, where Shaun is shown walking in the same figuration with his old group, and this shot with the added context of the English flag shows Shaun’s transition to nationalism, through Combo’s mentoring.

Cinematography: At 01:02:50, we see Shaun getting apprehended by the shop owner, ending in the store getting raided by Combo and his gang. During this scene, the camera pans between characters frequently, making the documentary style that the film aims for feel much more realistic, and due to the amount of pans we do, it adds to the franticness of the scene, and throws the audience off when paired with the scenes racist undertones.

Sound: From 00:00, the movie starts with the song “54-46 Was My Number” by Toots And The Maytals, and this ska track paired with the 1980’s broadcast television footage on screen tells the audience about both the topic and time period this movie is set in. Through the song, we can infer that we will be dealing with the 1980’s Skinhead revival, as Ska was one of the genres skinhead culture was based around.

Representation

All aspects of film form including narrative contribute to the representations of cultures and societies (gender, ethnicity and age) including the ideological nature of those representations

Performance

Age, ethnicity, wardrobe, facial expression, body language, and gestures are all examples of representation through performance.

Stereotype

A stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example, an expectation about the group’s personality, preferences, appearance or ability. Stereotypes are often overgeneralized, inaccurate, and resistant to new information. A stereotype does not necessarily need to be a negative assumption. They may be positive, neutral, or negative.

Countertype

A representation that actively seeks to subvert and challenge negative stereotypes usually of a person, group or place.

Sarah Connor Examples

Countertype

Although Sarah Connor was shown as a submissive female character in the first movie, in the second she is shown a lot more masculine, donning more utilitarian costuming and displaying tight muscles and shorter hair. These all hint towards Sarah fitting a much stronger character type in the second movie, one commonly assumed to be fit with men.

Stereotype

In the first movie, Sarah is shown to be a lot more ditzy and feminine, wearing light colours and having large styled hair, whilst working in a service job, we get the idea that this is the “damsel in distress” type character

Representations In Trainspotting

  1. WHO IS DOING THE REPRESENTATION? (DIRECTOR’S VIEWPOINT)

Danny Boyle

2. WHO IS BEING REPRESENTED ? (Identify specific social groups)

Heroin addicts, Scottish people

3. WHAT SOCIAL GROUPS ARE OMITTED FROM THE REPRESENTATIONS?

POC, women

4. WHAT MESSAGES ABOUT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS ARE BEING CONVEYED?

People who do drugs are generally less intelligent than clean people

5. WHICH CHARACTERS OR SOCIAL GROUPS HAVE POWER WITHIN THE REPRESENTATIONS?

White men have power, and older people are given the most

6. DO THE CHARACTERS ADHERE TO OR CHALLENGE STEREOTYPES?

Begby adheres to the stereotype of Scottish men being very aggressive and angry

7. ARE THE CHARACTERS TYPICAL OF FILMS IN THAT GENRE?

They don’t fit the typical character types of dark comedies like itself, but the ensemble matches casting of similarly “British” films

8. WHAT DO REPRESENTATIONS TELL AUDIENCES ABOUT SOCIETY AT THE TIME THE FILM WAS MADE AND/OR SET?

As this film is set in Edinburgh, Scotland, the main theme being about drug addiction tells us that Scotland has an issue with drugs

9. HOW ARE ELEMENTS OF FILM FORM (MISE EN SCENE/PERFORMANCE/SOUND/EDITING/CINEMATOGRAPHY) BEING USED TO CONSTRUCT THE REPRESENTATIONS?

The grimy setting of “Mother Superiors” den conveys the idea that drug addicts usually dont pay much attention to taking care of their surroundings, and end up living in nasty conditions

TRAINSPOTTING REVIEW

Trainspotting (Boyle, 1996) CRITICAL SCORE: 6/10 My first initial thought of the movie was that the acting and story line were very good and interesting. However, personally I thought it was too graphic (the needles).  Memorable Scene: The most memorable scene for me would be when Renton was hallucinating and seen the baby crawling on the ceiling. I thought it was strange yet clever the different ways the director made them be under the influence of drugs. I also thought the editing was unique and that’s why it was memorable.  


Trainspotting Micro Elements:

Sound:

This is taken at the beginning of the film as it introduces the different characters. Music is played that is upbeat and quick which sets the mood/tone of how the film will be like. There is also narration over the top saying the characters names which clearly shows to the audience who is who.

Mise-en-scene:

In this scene there is very minimal mise-en-scene in the scene. The basic furniture around him, with dull colours helps the audience focus on Renton. Also the high angle camera view helps show he is the main focus as the audience is looking down on him.

Editing:

In this scene Renton is under the influence of heroine and is under a trans. When the baby is crawling on the ceiling there is obvious editing as they have to edit the baby the other way round to which it was originally filmed.

Cinematography:

In this scene the cinematography creates a chaotic shot. As this is an eye-level shot it makes us feel like we are sitting across the table from Renton and Spud. Also the eye-level shot helps us the people in the background and where they are (a bar).

Consider the ways in which the following groups are represented in the film : 

Young People: young people are the dominant age in the film. Renton and his friends are all young adults aged 20-25. I think they are viewed negatively as they are seen taking drugs and having bad behaviour.

•older people (parents/authority figures): In this film the older generation are the parents of the main men. They show they have authority over the younger generation as they are sensible and clearly show more respect and concern over their sons taking drugs.

•working class people: In this film working class people are highly stereotyped into merging with low class people. As most main characters are part of the working class this means that they are seen taking drugs and having no self respect and no morals.

•Scottish people: In the film the main characters are Scottish. However, not a lot of attention is drawn to this and doesn’t remain a key feature of the film. This just makes them seem like regular people and you are seeing their storey.

•Addicts: In this film there main supplier of heroine is ‘Mother Superior’ who is heavily addicted to heroine. They can be viewed as bad people because when under the influence of drugs they turn into different people that hallucinate and become naïve. In the film you can see them see things that aren’t actually there giving the audience a negative insight to drugs.

•Men: Men are the dominant gender in this film. All main characters are men.  

•Women: There are not a lot of main women in this film apart from the girlfriends of Renton and his friends. You see a women getting injected with heroine and she screaming and getting told it’s ‘better then sex’. This can give the impression to the audience that women are dependent on men and are scared of taking risks.

This is England representation

Young people:

Throughout the film, young people are portrayed as easy going without being too concerned about rules and the law. This is particularly shown when Woody’s gang invite Shaun to hang out with them, dress up and go to an abandoned place. They are represented as having their own belief system without just following what the older generations say, such as when Woody didn’t agree with Combo’s racist and nationalist beliefs so he left.

Older people:

Older people in the film are presented to have strong beliefs, many of them are nationalists and hold discriminatory views towards ethnic minorities in order to create what they believe to be a better England, seen in this scene where a speech is being given about trying to make England better, and what the audience (majority being white, poorly educated older men) can do to achieve this.

Class:

Many of the characters in the film are lower class, and poverty is prominent throughout the film. The characters are often wearing out-dated and ill fitting clothing. In this scene Lol followed by many other women are walking to work in a large factory, the setting is quite dingy and rundown highlighting the lack of money in the area, and it’s drawbacks are prominently shown in the different settings, and costumes.

English people:

The majority of characters in the film are English and it creates a large proportion of the plot, however their nationalities are represented very differently. For example Combo uses the meaning of being English to manipulate and convince others to join his discriminatory gang. Whereas characters like Woody and Lol are comfortable in their nationality and are less focused on it, which makes them appear more content compared to Combo. In this sceneCombo is giving Shaun an English flag to show their proudness of their ethnicity, however they’re proudness can be perceived as almost too much leading them to appear almost insecure about it.

Asian/Black people:

People of other ethnicities and minorities are commonly discriminated against in the film by Combo and his gang. There is a very small amount of non-english representation yet it its crucial to the plot. Such as this scene where foreign shopkeeper is being robbed, verbally abused and threatened by Combo and his gang. This representation highlights the social divisions in England at the time and again draws back on the political conflict in the film.

Men/Masculinity:

Masculinity is very important in the film as many of the male characters want to appear strong and have high masculinity, which could explain Combo’s violent outbursts. The role of a father is critical in the film as it explains Shauns behaviour without the film, after loosing his father in the war he spends the rest of the film trying to make his dad proud which eventually leads him to join Combo’s gang, as well as him becoming a father figure for Shaun after Woody.

Women:

There is little feminism in the film as the female character’s are only really shown in reference to their partner, and when they are on screen. In this scene Lol is walking away after Combo has confessed his love for her and she rejects him as she is with Woody. Shaun’s mother is presented as strong after being widowed and raising Shaun alone, but other than that the other female characters provide nothing else to the storyline aside from being a wife or girlfriend.

Place

The mise en scene is well used in the film to create a strong image of a run-down lower-class northern town in England. Montages of real clips of England are used that show drugs, abandoned places, fights, social housing and graffiti add a sense of desolation and a town that is far from its best. The setting explains why gangs form as there is little to do and highlights the boredom felt by many young people at the time.