October
11
September
25
Narrative analysis of a Pixar movie
Here you can see me and Jacque’s poster on the narrative of the Disney Pixar Movie MegaMind.
This films narrative like most films is split into 3 sections Act 1, Act 2 and Act 3. In Act 1 we have the setup where the film follows an antagonist who’s s goal is to take over the city and defeat Metro Man but in reality he just wants to fit in. Also in Act 1 we have the disruption where in this film Mega Mind kills Metro Man in a fight and he finally after many defeats takes over the city and has power over everyone. In Act 2 we have the climax where in Mega Mind the whole city discriminate against him for being in control. He then feels guilty and he wants everything to be back the way it was where good was against evil, so he makes his own hero from a random person and trains them to be heroic and for them to fight against him. Before Act 3 we then have the resolution where he realises he wants to be good as he prefers keeping his dignity when he is in his disguise with his girlfrend. In Act 3 tighten becomes evil as he finds out that his mentor is MegaMind. He then gets out of control destroying the city and stealing Mega Minds girlfriend. In the denouement Mega Mind defeats tighten in an epic fight and saves his girlfriend and a happy ending is concluded.
I think the theme of this film and the message behind it is that we all have a choice about how we act, and it is our actions, not our past, that determine what kind of person we are. The “duality of man” is also a major theme in Mega Mind and we see it in the denouement. It is the idea that every single human being has good and evil within them and Megamind being the antagonist at the start of the film shows us that he doesn’t want to be good and that he likes being evil. But at the end of the movie he develops as a character and becomes the protagonist as he Fights Hal Stewart (Tighten) to save the people of the city he now cares about, here we see he understands and acknowledges how wrong he was for his ignoble actions and need of power at the start of the film.
September
24
Mise-en-scene in The Captains Feast
The Captain’s Feast establishes the nature of the fascist ruling class in rural Spain and the attitudes and values of Captain Vidal, the villain in the film. The feast is a scene of indulgence, greed and power. Vidal is a fascist brute, he is proud of his reputation and dominates the scene. The guests are hypocrites and prove to be arrogant, patronising and snobbish. Carmen, seems out of place and is represented as fragile, elegant and intimidated by the other guests, we also get the impression that Vidal does not care for her.
Taking a look at the Mise-en-scene of Carmen in the Captains feast we can see that the costume design of her character has been chosen to show she is wealthy and has class we know this as she is wearing a dress, earrings and other jewellery. The lighting and colour through out this scene remains Dark and low toned with quite a few shadows being highlighted around her face. Having low key lighting and shadows helps to create a mood of tension, threat and sinister, this juxtaposes Carmen and the Captains awkwardness throughout the scene, as the guests and even the priest, who is meant to help others stuff their selfish faces with food while the others cue for just one slice of bread. In the scene the action she makes is eating and talking, she is timid at the table as she doesn’t speak much as she is scared of the Captain, Later in the scene she stands up to go check on Ofelia. The hair and makeup in this scene is done up as it a special occasion as the family are over and she is trying to make an impression to the guests and wants to please the captain. The props in this scene are the wheel chair, cutlery and the food. Everything is beautifully displayed and we see the proxemics of the rich food, this shows they have status and power over the poachers. The body language in the scene, Carmens timid and timorous, she doesn’t make eye contact or talk expressively to Vidal as she is intimidated by him. Finally in the setting of the scene we see Carmen to the side of Vidal showing that he dominates the head of the table and has empowerment over everyone there. The dinning room however is warm and cosy as there is a fire place but because it is put behind the captain it makes him look more maculating and menacing.
September
17
Genre Analysis of Pan’s Labyrinth
5 reasons that Pan’s Labyrinth fits the genre of Fantasy
- It is set in a magical forest and this Mis En scene is used in other fantasy films.
- There are fairies and monsters, this you might see in other fantasy films.
- It has an Evil villain that is killed at end of the film, this theme is common in this Genre.
- Magical items are displayed in pan’s Labyrinth, such as the book and these items are shown in other fantasy films.
- In Fantasy each character has a side kick to help them on their journey Ofelia has Pan.
5 reasons that Pan’s Labyrinth doesn’t fits the genre of Fantasy
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- The writer in Pan’s Labyrinth borrows the genre of War to add to Fantasy, the influence from War adds dark violence and racism to the genre of fantasy making the film more interesting.
- Fantasy films usually have a happy ending and this Film doesn’t have one as the main character dies at the end of the film to the Villain.
- This Film combines War with fantasy making it a lot more unique and in this film we see both sides of War and Fantasy, this is not very common in this genre.
- Most Films of this genre are fun and have childish humour but this film is more mature and focuses on the horrors of War. It follows a traumatised child and we see how she copes with the terrible life she’s living.
- The homes in Most Fantasy films are peaceful and warm but in Pan’s Labyrinth the protagonists home is horrendous and unbearable therefore she wants to leave and enter the labyrinth.
September
15
Genre poster
This is our poster for the genre Musicals. The class had to look at our conventions and guess the Genre.
We choose to draw a Big Stylised Font as this symbolises many Musicals such as Mama Mia. The font attracts attention and appeals to the reader due to the colours and the text size. The next two images we decided to draw were a lion the central protagonist Simba and a blue bird called Zazu from The Lion King which is a classic and very well done animated Musical. Further more, we drew some music notes to make it easier to guess the theme for the class. We drew the protagonist Olaf the snowman and also a boat on a wave which resembles Anna and Elsa’s parents death in the original Musical Frozen. In addition we drew an apple to convey Snow White and the seven dwarfs which is a very old animated Musical. Moreover we drew a wand which is a prop from the wizard of OZ which was a live action Musical, produced in 1939. Finally we drew a Hat to resemble the Greatest showman which is a live action musical produced in 2017. The point of doing this was to convey to the class the genre of Musicals by using denotations of different Musicals through drawings. This will help us in future as we know what things make up different types of genres by looking at the posters the class have made.
September
9