Production Journal

Production Journalà story board

We had to decide what our chase was going to be about, we had decided that it had to be funny so it would be more interesting, but my entire group was thinking what our plot was going to be about. I had a brilliant idea of doing it of a misunderstanding, so someone would throw a ball to another person, and she would think it was the other person who threw it on purpose, so she would start chasing her. I liked this idea a lot, although when I first said this idea some of my group liked it, but others didn’t. First it was frustrating that we couldn’t all agree, but then we convinced them and decided to do the chase about that.

We all got inspired and started to have great ideas of places we could film, and the passages we could do. We wrote them in a paper, but then again we started to fight, because some of us wanted to make different portals than others, or in a different order. Any of us agreed with each other and it was really frustrating, I didn’t felt as if any of us was hearing to each other, as we were all shouting. After a while of fighting we realised we weren’t doing anything so we started to hear to each other, and found that some of us had really great ideas. So we put all our ideas together and went to take the pictures of the places we were going to film.

Production Journal à shooting

It was our first day of shooting, we wanted to do the first scene which was on the field, but it was being used so we couldn’t shoot that scene. Some of us wanted to film it anyway in the field with the people that were there as background, but it was too complicated as they could interfere with our project. We went to the coliseum to make the second scene. Gema was the only one who appeared in this scene running. We had to move the camera so we could have Gema running through the coliseum, but we couldn’t do it properly as the camera moved too much and the shot wasn’t stable. As we didn’t had the right equipment because Sandro Calderon was using it, we managed to solve our problem by putting the camera on top of a table, so it only moved by the sides and we had more control over it. When we were shooting the field scene we had some problems with the actors, as some of them didn’t know how to act, so we had to film the same shot many times until she finally did it. We had a great scene done in the black room, when the two actors suddenly appeared in the room. To do this we first shot a scene that there was no one, and then without moving the camera we filmed it with the actors in the scene, so when editing we put the two scenes together it looked very good. For this we used the camera stand so it wouldn’t move. 

Lesson 34. Documentary Form

General question: What makes a film a documentary? 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film

Give a brief definition:

Informs, real world, facts, explanations, events, documentaries are films

Feel real. Not imaginary things.

Super Size Me, Omnibus 174 - Jose Padilha 2002

Try to formulate three golden rules film audiences hold about documentaries?

1.  Events in the documentary must have happened

2.  Objective view point

3. Events shown on the films must continue on. The documentary you have made is part of the real world.

WATCH these 3 extracts from 3 different styles of documentary

Coalface (1935) dir: Alberto Cavalcanti

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7yExWQQjRw

Streetwise (1984) dir: Martin Bell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZERDYwSUgCE

A man with a movie camera (1928) – Dziga Vertov

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22_KBgOxQL8

What is the content or theme of the documentary?

Coalface-  Coal industry and the people working in there.

Streetwise- lifes about people on the street, homeless.

Who do you think is the intended audience?

Coalface- adult white collar members. Educated audience

Streetwise- people that don’t live in the street.

Discuss the choice and sequence of images, portrayal of the characters and setting, use of diagetic and non-diagetic sound, type of narration used.

Coalface- non- diagetic sound. Characters are shown as generalized miners. Maps at the beginning, but it’s not clear were it is. The story is being told by an external narrator, educated, white male. Voice over, to focus more on what he is explaining. Omniscient narrator. Classic mode of documentary.

Streetwise- narrators are the same people of the streets. People wondering in the streets. Color mostly comes from the clothe of the people of the street. Diagetic sound, at the beginning the first voice was non diagetic. The voice just shows us, feels more honest. Good continuity editing.

What does this documentary style make you feel or think about the content?

If you are British you would feel patriotism, because of the great mines, achievement. Publicity for the whole business of mines, they only show the good things. At the end they show us a tree which represents nature, so it show us that they don’t pollute. It also shows us the houses of the workers, to show us that they have a good job.

Streetwise- depends on the viewer, some might want to change the life of the people that live there.

Why do you think these film techniques were chosen by the director?

What do you think is the overall message or aim of this documentary film?

Coalface- Romantic, workers work inside the earth and then they come out of there and we have a tree which represents nature. Poetic.

How would you describe this style documentary and why?

Coalface- Optimistic, romantic, informative, descriptive.

Streetwise- Realistic, camera being used like an ordinary point of view,

Make notes on each of these ‘modes’ or styles of documentary developed by American documentary theorist Bill Nichols, who created a conceptual scheme which seeks to distinguish particular traits and conventions of various documentary film styles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_mode

Poetic = Definition and Examples

Expository = Definition and Examples

Observational = Definition and Examples

Reflexive = Definition and Examples

Performative/Participatory/Interactive = Definition and Examples

Which of these modes do you think is likely to give the most accurate picture of ‘real life’ and why?

Structure of a film review

  

Paragraph 1: Overall impression

• Make your general reaction to the film clear

I liked this film a lot as it was very unexpected as I didn’t know what was going to happen so it surprised me, specially the end. I would have never guessed that McMurphy was going to die and that he would cause all that scandal at the mental hospital. I also found it funny as it had a sense of humour which makes the movie more entertaining.

• Identify the following information:
• Title: One flew over the cukoos nest
• Genre: Dramatic comedy
• Director: Milos Forman
• Lead actors: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield
• Year of release: 1975

Paragraph 2: Plot summary

• Don’t explain every little detail
• Identify the premise (the scenario that drives the action). Is this convincing and engaging?

This movie is about a man that tries to escape from jail so he acts like he has mental problems so he would be send to the mental institution, thinking it would be easy to escape from the mental hospital but it’s not as easy as he thought it would be. In the mental institution he makes the other patients rebel and make it more entertaining and less boring than what it was, as they go out of the same routine and do things they would have never imagined doing like escaping from the clinic or making a party there and getting drunk. He becomes the leader of all the other patients of the clinic as they followed him in everything he did. At the end the nurses caught him, and because he was seen like a danger to the hospital they do a lobotomy. There is a rumour that he has escaped, but one of the patients discovers the truth and kills him so he wouldn’t loose his respect as all patients sow him like a hero.  I think this is convincing and engaging as it is a good story which is original and you don’t know what is going to happen. 

Paragraph 3: Acting

• How did the actors portray the key roles? How did they convey the lives of the characters?
• Did they fulfil your expectations? Were they believable characters?
• Refer to other films made by the main actors, and assess their performance in this one

The actors acted very well in this movie as they really got into their roll. The patients of the institution made me believe that they really had mental problems. The main character, jack Nicholson, did very well his roll of a criminal person who wanted things to be made his way, and that was to be free. The nurse Ratched also did very well her roll in the movie, she made me believe that she was a strong dominant nurse.

Paragraph 4: Film techniques

• Describe and assess the mise-en-shot and mise en scene (camera angles, editing, lighting, set production, costumes, etc.)
• Identify other notable successes/failures of the film – for example, the soundtrack, special effects, etc.
• Place this in the context of other films (ie compare and contrast to other films from the same genre/director/period)

This is a realism movie as it doesn’t have much editing and it looks real. The scenery looks real, as if it was filmed in a real hospital, as almost the entire movie is in the mental hospital. The scene when the patients escape to a boat, it is also filmed in a real boat in the sea. Costumes are depending on the characters roll but as most of them are patients they all wear the same uniform which is the hospitals clothe, and the nurses use a nurse uniform. The colours are bright as they are in a hospital and there is artificial light, and it is mostly white, which represents hospitals.

Paragraph 5: Themes

• Identify the message (s) of the film and how it is/they are conveyed
• Is this done effectively?
• Place this in the context of other films (ie compare and contrast to other films from the same genre/director/period)

This movie give us a message that woman are bad as they are put in the movie as terrifying figures that control men and don’t give them liberty, and are the reason of there problems and why they are in the mental hospital. The nurses are portrayed as the villains of the movie that don’t let these men have liberty, but capture them in a hospital. Also Bromden mother, although she doesn’t appear, is portrayed as if she had caused Bromden to have mental problems and be in that hospital, as he says that she put him down as well as his father so she would grow up emotionally. And that happens with many of the other patients mothers; they are described as the reason of their problems. At the end of the movie McMurphy is done a lobotomy by the nurses, taking out his complete freedom. The fact that woman are in charge of a hospital which only receives men, also portrays woman as bad influence who control men by taking their liberty.

Paragraph 6: Conclusion

• Justify your opinion of the film by ranking it alongside others that you may or may not have already mentioned
• Suggest to the reader that this may be a film to see/avoid

I really liked the movie, although the theme is not one of my favourites I thought it was well done and as it had some comedy it was more entertaining to watch. As it is an uncommon theme it is not predictable so you have no idea of what is going to happen, and the end is very unusual, because although McMurphy didn’t escape from the mental hospital as we expected he would do, he still escaped from a much unexpected way, by dying. As I enjoyed the movie I would recommend other people to watch it, specially adults, as I don’t think children would enjoy it. 

Genre Study

What is it?

• Genre means type or category
• To study a film as a genre involves grouping together a large body of films according to characteristics that they all share.
• There are two approaches to identify these characteristics; the descriptive approach and the functional approach.

The two approaches

• A descriptive approach to genre study mean simply describing the attributes of a film, such as theme, mood, and setting, and assigning it to a genre on that basis (eg film noir)
• A functional approach means defining the function or purpose of a film and linking it to other films trying to do the same thing (e.g. blockbuster)

Genre study Vs. Auteurism

• There seems to be a contrast between these two approaches
• Genre study is all about thinking what makes a particular film the same as many others, regardless for director
• Auteurism is all about thinking what makes a particular film different from any other according to who directed it.

Why study films according to genre?

1. simplifying and making sense of film (convenience)
2. comparison of particular characteristics of films
3. Tracing and understanding social development. We can see how films develop during years.
4. satisfaction of expectations

Problems with the descriptive approach to genre study

• Boundaries between film genres are fuzzy- some films are hard to categorize. Is Alien a horror or a science fiction film?
• Genres evolve over time. Look at thrillers from the 1930’s and from today. Do they belong together? 

Problems with the functional approach to genre study

• The function of the same film can often be read in different ways
• E.g. invasion of the Body Snatchers, Don Siegel, 1956, USA (written by Daniel Mainwaring)

General problems with genre study

• Who should define genres: film critics, the film industry, or movie- goers?

Criticism of genre study

• The main criticism assigning a genre to every film is artificial and contrived
• Robert Stam: “are they really the construction of analysts?
• Do you agree?

Examples of main genres (according to Tim Dirks)

• Action
• Adventure
• Comedy
• Crime and gangster
• Drama
• Epics/ historical films
• Fantasy
• Horror
• Musicals/ dance
• Science fiction
• War
• Westerns

Examples of sub- genres within the crime and gangster genre

• Buddy cop
• Cops and robbers
• Femme fatales
• Film noir
• Lovers on the run
• Police
• Prison
• Suspense thrillers 

Descriptive and Functional approaches to Genre

  

WORKSHEET:  GENRE BY DESCRIPTION

1. Let’s review what we know already about how

2. Watch these five minute clips of mostly well-known and highly regarded examples from different genre.

1.      The big Sleep

2.      The Godfather

3.      The shining

4.      The magnificent seven

5.      Paths of glory

6.      Metropolis (fritz lang)

3. While we are watching you should decide what genre(s) you think the film belongs to and why.

7.      Police, crime. Film noir

8.      Gangster

9.      Horror, suspence created by music and noise. Point of view shots

10.  Western. Crime

11.  World war I. War. Black and white.

4. Describe the film in terms of i) theme, ii) mood and iii) setting iv) any other elements that make it fit the genre you think it belongs to. Can you think of other films that fit this genre description?
5.  

6. Now make a table in your notes with each of the 7 genres along the top (leave a space for one EXTRA CATEGORY) -- and 5 columns for each of these categories:  i) theme, ii) mood and iii) setting iv) other elements v) examples of the genre.

7. We will now try to compile a general list of what elements need to be included in a film for it to fit into a particular genre.

8. DISCUSSION POINT:  What are the problems you have found when you start to group films by using this descriptive approach – what are the strengths and weaknesses of this approach? Does this list take account of the auteur interpretation of film or film-makers such as Hitchcock? Write some notes here to explain your position.

The negatives are that if a movie is categorized in one genre and maybe you normally don’t like the genre but you would like the movie you wouldn’t go to see it. Also many movies can be categorized in more than one genre, and some films are hard to categorize as the boundaries between film genres are fuzzy. Sometimes the function of a film can be read in many different ways depending on the persons point of view, and also there is a problem with who should be the one incharge of giving the genre to a film, it could be the director, the movie goers, film critics, etc. The positives are that it satisfies our expectations as we know what we are going to see so we don’t get disappointed, also it makes it easier for people to choose the movie they want to see depending on what genres they like.

9. We’ll now finish watching Hitchcock’s Psycho. As we watch – make notes on theme, mood and setting in the last column of your table. We will end the lesson by thinking about where this film fits in as a genre(s).

	Film Noir	Gangster	Horror	Western	War	Science fiction	Monster
Themes	Mystery, investigation, crime, isolation in the city	Mob, organized crime, violence, family values	Supernatural, terror, evil, chaos, redemption, suffering	Crime, injustice, revenge, power,	War, death, fights, world without rules.	Vision of the future, conflict, adventure, discovering the unknown	Terror, science fiction, man vs. monster, violence
Mood	Worried	Happy, huge contrast	Suspense, tension	Action, adventure, music, suspense	Obedience, violent, patriotism	Sad, loneliness	Suspense, fear, action
Setting	Urban, naturalistic, black and white, driving scenes	House, parties, rich houses, social events, poor houses, urban and rural	Isolation, haunted house, brave yard	Old west, cowboys	Battle field, trenches, outside, dirty, broken	Future, huge base, outer space, space ships	City
Other			Music, different shots			Prototype of robots	Lots of music, formalist
Examples	The big sleep (dir. Howard Hawkes) 1946	The Godfather (dir. Francis Ford Coppola) 1972	The shining (dir. Francis Stanley Kubrick) 1980	Magnificent seven (dir. John Struges) 1960	Paths of Glory (dir. Stanley Kubrick) 1957	Metropolis (dir. Fritz Lang) 1927	King Kong (dir. Merian cooper and earnest schoedsack) 1933

Is Alfred Hitchcock a true ‘auteur’?

Opening Credits: Black Screen title crawls in from the left Superimposed: Is Alfred Hitchcock a true auteur? Still photo of Hitchcock (0:15 0:40) Montage from films from the French New Wave  and influential people (Breathless, Francois Truffaut, etc) Still shots of Hitchcock Disolves Stills shots of Chaplin, Welles and Hitchcock Video clip of Breathless Talking head (Charles Barr) Video clip from a rollercoaster. Post production grainy texture Video clip of Hitchcock saying that “80% of my audience are women” Video clip from The 39 Steps Video clip from Psycho. Scene where Marion is at the shower and the killer comes and kills her Scene on North by Northwest were they leave Townsend’s house but as they leave the camera focuses on the gardener who was also the kidnapper Montage of posters from Psycho, Rope and North by Northwest. Scene from North by Northwest were Roger Thornhill meets Eve at the train Scene from Psycho were Marion is being followed on the car Video clip from a gun being fired but not shown its target Video clip of Olive Berry in Studio giving interview on Hitchcock’s style of film making Video scene were Marion is packing and we see the shot of the money in the envelope Video clip from Psycho Scene where Marion is driving her car and imagines what would happen when they discovered what she had done. Superimposed: Psycho Video clip from North by Northwest when he is being persecuted by an airplane Superimposed: North by Northwest Montage of Hitchcock’s pictures Montage of Hitchcock’s pictures at the studio directing films Picture of Fracois Truffaut Superimposed: Francois Truffaut Montage of Hitchcock’s most famous movies (Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Rope, etc) Montage of Hitchcock different pictures on a set of movie Superimposed: Alfred Hitchcock. Video clip from Hitchcock saying  satisfaction of temporary pain” Montage of films considered to be from Auteur Directors E.g. Breathless Montage of Hitchcock’s films Video Clip of ‘Alfred Hitchcock presents’ opening scene, profile shadow

Music (fades) Narrator (VO): many people consider Alfred Hitchcock to be one of the greatest directors in history, in fact some people call him an auteur director. Narrator (VO): The auteur theory was originated in France as a result of the French New Wave in the 1950’s, and it believes that the director’s films reflect the director’s personal creative mission. The concept defines a film director as having consistency on films in terms of thematic and stylistic consistency. It was advocated by film director and critic Francois Truffaut. In auteur films the director is who controls the artistic statement and takes credit for the film, elevating film to a work of art. The Auteur Theory was created during the French New Wave which was a reaction against the movies of the times because they were purely narrative and directors were simply overly paid technicians. Famous directors who influenced the French New Wave were Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock himself. Some characteristics about the French New Wave were the use of heavy editing, use of black and white, low budgets and the constant pursuit of the avant garde. Narrator (VO): One of the obvious things that make Alfred Hitchcock special is that he always appeared in his films. Charles Barr: Hitchcock appeared on the first ten minutes because he did not want the audience to be looking for him during the entire film Narrator (VO):For Hitchcock he created the films for the mind of the audience and he says it is like being on a rollercoaster where you feel the fear of the fall but on the same time you enjoy it. Sound effects: Girl screaming Narrator (VO): Hitchcock puts a lot of emotion in his scenes to put more emotion he focuses on facial expressions. He uses the cameras as if it was a person looking at what is happening. Hitchcock said: “People don’t always express their inner thoughts to one another” so he made actors transmit their thoughts through their actions and not through their words. He has also always used montage in his movies because he says “transferring the menace from the screen into the mind of the audience” For example in Psycho we do not see Marion being killed but the montage of images create the scene in our minds and this gives a better impact. Narrator (VO): We can see that on Hitchcock films there is a high use of dramatic irony and builds tension around it. The use of soundtrack creates more suspense and this can be seen in movies such as Psycho, Rope and North by Northwest. (Background music from Psycho) Narrator (VO) Another theme is framing innocent people, when a character is mistaken for a killer or a secret agent that does not actually exists like in North by Northwest. The theme of sex and guilt is also very important as in North by Northwest  as well as crime and punishment in Psycho. Narrator (VO): Hitchcock uses heavy editing and many different types of shots per scene. As Hitchcock himself said “there is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it”. Hitchcock does not show things actually happening; the audience can imagine them like Marion being killed. He does not show the audience that she is being killed we can imagine it. Olive Berry on Hitchcock: “Hitchcock’s monsters were not creatures of the imagination, but the characters that might occupy the next-door seat on the bus, or rent us a backwater motel room” Narrator (VO): Hitchcock also uses the “McGuffin” which is an object part of the cause and effect logic however has no significance after the plot has happened. Like in Psycho, the money Marion steals. Narrator (VO): Hitchcock is known to be the suspense master. He creates effects of suspense and terror over the audience and Hitchcock uses many cinematic techniques and elaborate editing as well as soundtrack to do this. For Hitchcock dialogue is not as important as image and visual effects as he expresses his ideas purely in visual terms. His films are mainly based on the cause and effect logic like in Psycho and the chronology of his films is linear and the logic is of equilibrium, disruption of equilibrium and return to equilibrium. Alfred Hitchcock uses both restricted and omniscient narration to create dramatic irony in North by Northwest as well as in Psycho. His recurrent theme of suspense as well as psychological thriller gets the audience focused and there is high use of panning and close ups. Narrator (VO) Hitchcock has a consistent style of film making which is of creating suspense and making the audience stay attached and involved in the film. He creates the film so people can appreciate the art of cinema. Not because he wants to make a point. Alfred Hitchcock had a say in every aspect of the film making process to show it exactly as he imagines it in his head and as he himself said about the other people involved in the film making process as “little other than elves in the master carpenters workshop” As Fracois Truffaut, the creator of the Auteur theory, said about Hitchcock “He exercises such complete control over all the elements of his films and imprints his personal concepts at each step of the way, Hitchcock has a distinctive style of his own” However, at the same time, film is a collaborative medium, in which it is impossible for one single person to manage it all. The director has to work with a lot of other people such as actors, editors, scriptwriters, camera operators and many other people who help in the film making process. Hitchcock himself said one “People embrace the auteur theory but it is difficult to know what someone means by it. Very often the director is no better than his script” However it is difficult to talk about Hitchcock without referencing the auteur theory as he is a clear example of an auteur director. He shows consistency in his pieces of work and his films are works of art. He creates masterpieces of suspense which give the audience “satisfaction of temporary pain”. His works all show heavy use of editing, different camera angles and image is the main part of the film, not “pictures of people talking” as he himself says. It is important to consider Hitchcock as un auteur as we give not only his films, but any auteur director’s films a new level as a piece of art making film industry more respectable. By considering Hitchcock as an auteur we recognize that he is the mastermind behind the films and that the final credit is given to him as he is the one who decides on everything. Without his decisions film would be completely different. Furthermore this makes his name become a brand as people know his style and the themes treated in his films and they can almost predict how they are going to feel on his movies.