Grace's Film Studies Blog

During this task, we chose to make a short film with the horror genre about a girl (Willow) who is walking down an alley and is attacked by a stranger (Lilith) and knocked unconscious and taken to an abandoned farm and then hunted down by the stranger. This short film was made to show the contrast between evil and innocence, which was shown through the portrayal of the two characters because Willow, played by Grace, is portrayed as the innocent character and Lilith, played by Tee, is portrayed as the evil character, also we showed the contrast in the atmosphere when it is day and when it is night because when it is day you can hear all of the diegetic sound of children and cars in the background whereas when it is night you cannot hear anything accept the sound of footsteps and wind.

In this essay I will be exploring the cinematography and mise en scene of two scenes from the 2006 film, Pan's Labyrinth, by Guillermo del Toro. The two scenes that I will be comparing will be the Pale Man scene, where Ofelia meets the horrifying Pale Man, and the dinner scene, where Captain Vidal hosts a dinner party for his colleagues. In the Pale Man scene, the cinematography practically mirrors the cinematography in the dinner scene with the Pale Man sitting at the head of the table, which is exactly where Vidal sat in the dinner scene. The mise en scene of the Pale Man scene suggests that the Pale Man is a monster because on the walls of the room there are illustrations of the creature eating and murdering children, also the costume and make-up used to turn Doug Jones into the Pale Man looks physically disgusting and scary. In addition, throughout the scene and whole film there are constant references to circles and eyes, circles being a reference to the type of narrative th...

A narrative which portrays a conflict between two central characters. Willow and Lilith are complete opposites. Willow a normal, innocent, happy teenager meets Lilith a girl with a malevolent side to her. In the film we meet both the characters, and later see the series of events which take place. Camera shots Close up - We see Lilith at the beginning as she looks down at Willow the camera is zoomed in to Lilith's face.  POV - Lilith kicks Willow's head and we see the attack from Willow's POV Extreme close up - When Willow escapes from the 'cell' Long shot - At the end willow is seen looking frightened, at this point the camera is quite far back giving a long shot perspective.  High shot - Willow is lying vulnerable of the floor, looking up at Lilith Low shot - Lilith is looking down at Willow while she is lying on the floor Sound  Diegetic - Foot steps,               - Leaves and sticks, ...

Willow Hunter is an everyday teen that has an ambition to be a successful nature photographer. On one of her photography outings something unexpected happens. She gets kidnapped and ends up in the middle of nowhere. With her kidnapper Lilith Sinner not in sight, she makes her escape. When she breaks out of her 'cell' she notices the inky black sky and realises she must have been unconscious for hours. As she is finally excepting her surroundings as real, she sees a mysterious figure moving in the darkness so she sets off. Willow’s heart beats loudly as her legs become weak. Willow finally comes to a clearing where she thinks it is safe but is she? Can Willow escape her kidnapper and pursue her photography dream or will her dream die alongside herself?

In this essay I will be analysing a scene from the 1996 film 'Trainspotting', staring Ewan McGregor. In the scene the four main characters (Renton, Sickboy, Begbie and Spud) are in the process of a drug deal. The scene starts off with the characters outside on the streets on London and Mise-En-Scene is used to make the streets seem bright and colourful which directly contrasts with the Edinburgh streets because the Mise-En-Scene makes those streets seem dull and lifeless. When they are crossing the street non-diegetic sound is used because music is playing from an unknown source and also when they cross they street in plays homage to the Beatles when they crossed Abbey Road. The scene then cuts to the main characters in a hotel room making a drug deal and the placement of the characters in this scene says a lot about what they are feeling about the drug deal: Renton is sat away from the main group which could be showing how he is done with the drug life, Spud is stood in t...

Social realism is the realistic depiction in art of contemporary life, as a means of social of political comment. What are the conventions of social realism? The conventions of social realism are: Location shooting Wide shots Non-professional actors Semi-improvised scripts Humour and seriousness The erosion of regional identities  Wider social issues explored Triumph over adversity What kind of political ideologies are most associated with this style of film-making? The ideologies that are explored in social realism are: Democracy  Capitalism Anarchism Conservation What is Hyperrealism? Hyperrealist art is art that tries to be as true to real life as possible.

In this piece of work i am going to be researching the context of the film Trainspotting. What was the Poll Tax? Poll Tax was a system of taxation introduced to replace domestic rates in Scotland from 1989. It was then introduced in England and Wales from 1990. it provided a single flat-rate per-capita tax on every adult, at a rate set by the local authority. Why was it introduced in Scotland first? The Poll Tax was introduced in Scotland first as and 'experiment' and that was solidified when Margaret Curran MP said: "Now we know for sure what many suspected during the 1980s- that the Tories saw Scotland as a test bed for the poll tax". Also Scotland was probably targeted because Thatcher would not have lost votes from Scotland. What were the main strategies employed to resist the Tax? Main strategies to resist the tax were people protesting and demonstrating, some people refused to pay it and some people went on strike.

In this essay I will be analysing a scene from the 2013 American thriller film, Prisoners, directed by Denis Villeneuve and staring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. The scene starts off with the camera panning towards Jake Gyllenhaal's character in a mysterious way and he appears to be in a kind of roadside Chinese restaurant. The lighting inside the restaurant is neutral and the camera stays at eye-level with Jake Gyllenhaal's character. The mise-en-scene in this part is very typical of a film in the thriller genre because all throughout the whole scene it is pouring down with rain, when the camera is panning towards Jake Gyllenhaal you get a sense that someone is creeping up on him but it is revealed that it is just the waitress going over to the protagonist. When the waitress has left the protagonist, the camera cuts to a wide shot of the restaurant which could be showing how the protagonist feels isolated and alone from everyone else in the movie. The sound in this part ...

https://youtu.be/54Go73Cyi3o This link goes to the opening scene of the 2013 movie 'The World's End' starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The scene opens with a blank screen and non-diegetic sound is used because there is music coming from an unknown source, however as the scene carries on there is a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound because Simon Pegg starts narrating to introduce us to the main characters of the film and to tell us about the night they first tried the 'Golden Mile'. Also, the music adds factual dimension to the scene because the song that is playing is "Loaded" by Primal Scream which came out in the 1990's and it is used cleverly because this part of the film takes place in the 1990's. As the scene continues it uses more diegetic sound because the main protagonist sets off the fire alarm and you hear the alarm going off.  The music in this scene makes me feel happy because the music is upbeat but as the scene end...

In this essay I will be analysing a scene in the 2015 movie 'Crimson Peak' by Guillermo del Toro. In the scene I have been given, the character Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) has been awoken in the dead of night to be attacked by a 'monster'. In the beginning of the scene the protagonist (who is portrayed by Mia Wasikowska) is disturbed in her sleep because of stomach pain and her dog is barking and as she gets out of bed the lighting changes from low-key lighting to side lighting to suggest that there could be something hiding in the shadows and the camera then tracks the woman as she searches the corridors, the way the camera tracks her creates the effect that she is being followed by something unknown. At the first look of the scene, the mise-en-scene is used to give you a visual sense of when this film is set (early 1900's) because the costume that Mia Wasikowska's character is wearing is very dated and she uses a candelabra to light her way which shows ...