For our first mini task in class we were told to create small clips, framed differently and using different shots to create meaning. In our small groups we tried to use different techniques to create a wide variety of shots to show we understood these shots.
Pan’s Labyrinth Context Research
Each of us in class were assigned a different review to look at in terms of context in class and to pick apart key quotes from the review.
Context can help the audience understand the film in different ways:
- Historical – Historical context gives the audience a sense of where they are in time and space. Pan’s Labyrinth is set in the Spanish Civil War for example which explains the costumes and sets in the real world of Pan’s.
- Cultural and Artistic – These two types on context helps the audience understand any cultural references and shows why the director may of used something in a certain way (drawing on his or her culture they grew up in). In Pan’s Labyrinth the design on the mythical creatures (Faun, Pale Man, Fairies) would have all been influenced by how the director sees these creatures and what fairy tale stories he grew up on.
- Critical Reception – This gives context to the audience by giving them a a quick look into what the film will be like an how it was received. For example someone might want to watch Pan’s Labyrinth already but they don’t know if they will enjoy it so they look at some of the reviews to give context to see if they like the type of narrative and themes.
Narrative Analysis of Pan’s Labyrinth
In class we were tasked with breaking down points on a slideshow of a narrative analysis of Pan’s Labyrinth. In this we broke down character functions, conflicts, themes, and the structure and how analysing the narrative can help the audience understand and breakdown the film.
This helped understand the film by:
- Knowing the context behind the scenes (structure). This helps in that we understand where Pan’s is set and why it’s happening. The context the structure gives is crucial to how we understand the monsters in the story and how they relate to the real world in parallels.
- Understanding he characters key roles. Categorising the charterers as their character types helps to understand the film in more depth as we get to know their importance to the story.
- Getting to know the conflicts in the film broadens the audiences understanding. It makes the audience think about the film on a deeper level then at face value.
- The themes in a narrative analysis help the audience by showing clear, or not so clear, opposing sides to the story and provide clarity to what the story’s core morals are. In Pan’s this is the acts of defiance that Ofelia takes even when her opposite, Vidal, is trying to make her conform. She is also a symbol of the rebellion, likewise Vidal is also a symbol but for fascist Spain.
- When analysing a film, even on a small scale, it makes the film easier to comprehend and ‘get’ what’s going on. A narrative breakdown does this by making you think about the different elements of what makes up the narrative in a deeper way.
Narrative Analysis of a Pixar Movie
In class we made story mountains or arcs on a Pixar movie to show the characters narrative journey throughout. This included the main events that happen in the external 3-act structure and we considered the characters internal conflicts. Me and my partner chose to focus on the movie Brave for this task.
Brave’s Main Narrative Events:
- No current expectations to be married (the exposition)= – Merida is free and can do what she wants like going out for rides of her horse, archery, and her mother, Queen Elinor, has no real expectations of her yet.
- Forced to find husband – Queen Elinor is now expecting that Merida is married and finds someone to help her take over the throne as she is the eldest of her siblings. This is the first dip in the mountain, the disruption. This sets off why Merida and the Queen go on the main journey.
- Finds Witch – After Merida shows her Mother that she does not want to be free, the Queen tightens her rules and Merida rejects them by following the Wisps to the With in order to find a potion. Merida knows this potion will help her Mother understand but she does not care about knowing the side effects.
- The Queen eats the tart laced with the potion and becomes a bear – The Queen is given the tart and eats it, unfortunately along with Merida’s brothers. This is the peak of the mountain and where Merida realises that she might’ve made a mistake.
- Quest (making sure her Mother is not found out) – Merida now has to keep her Mother safe from her own family as they do not like bears (The Legend of Mor’du) and her own Father had his leg eaten by one. This is the main portion of the story. As time goes on and the Queen becomes more of a threat as she turns wild, Merida is forced to try to rekindle her bond with her Mother before the time runs out and she becomes a bear forever.
- Almost loses her Mother – This dip in the mountain is another crucial point in the story as Merida is finally hit with the epiphany that she could lose her Mother and brothers forever and almost does. This spurs on her want to complete the task even more.
- Break the spell – The Queen fights Mor’du in her complete bear form to save Merida from him, showing that she had not completely lost her conscious and still had love for Merida. Merida throws the symbol of her and her mothers love over them and her mother and brothers have their spell broken.
- Freedom gained and her family restored – Ind the end Merida and her mother both learn that freedom an family go hand in hand and that they’re both as important as each other. The mother loosens her grip on Merida’s life and Merida learns that listening to your family is important which is the equilibrium to the story.
Merida and Queen Elinor’s Character Arc:
At the start of their relationship both are hostile towards each other and have very differing values, creating conflict between them. Merida wants the freedom to do whatever she wants without consequence while Queen Elinor wants Merida to take responsibility and get married to become the new Queen.
During the middle of the story their relationship becomes closer as they now depend on each other. This forces them to become become closer.
At the end of the story Merida and her Mother find an equal balance of family and freedom, learning to except each others differences.
Genre Analysis of Pan’s Labyrinth
Using different corpora (Lord of the Rings, Shrek, Harry Potter) from the same genre in class we analysed and compared Pan’s Labyrinth’s genre conventions to theirs to see what Pan’s Labyrinth did similar and what it did differently. Me and my partner specifically did events and scenes.
What Pan’s Labyrinth (Pan’s) did the same:
- Both Pan’s and Shrek : Forever After have a close to death scene. Pan’s has this convention but does it a little differently, using a darker, more realistic tone then Shrek’s passing, which was more spiritual.
- Pan’s has a teacher or creature introducing her at the beginning of her journey. This is very common to the fantasy genre and Pan’s does it perfectly, giving us the fawn which tells Ofelia about her quests and starts the story.
- In Pan’s there is a fight or battle with the enemy. Pan’s version of this is quite different from the regular battle of an army of thousands. Instead it chooses to keep the fight personal with only Vidal and Ofelia. This makes the fight seem much more intimate and suits the style of a small cast that Pan’s has.
What Pan’s did differently:
- There is no large sweeping shot in Pan’s of the landscape. It tries to instead keep the same closeness that it shows in the rest of the film. Most of the sets in Pan’s are closed and are made to feel as though Ofelia is trapped in the real world with her abusive step-father and in the magical world with her having to complete these quests.
- Pan’s chooses to drift away from the convention that all fantasy films are bright and magical and often happy. It chooses to stay darkly themed and keep within that realm. Early Harry Potter films could be described as the opposite of Pan’s due to their bright and magical feel and dealing with childhood. Pan’s is much darker and does not have the same feel although magical and dealing with childhood.
- Traditionally fantasy films like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have older, medieval settings. Pan’s chooses to keep their setting in 1930’s Spain. Although this may still seem far away, it is a much more modern take on the fantasy setting then other films in the genre. This makes it more relatable to the audience and helps them connect emotionally.
Mise-en-scene of Pan’s Labyrinth
In class we discussed the mise-en-scene and micro features of Pan’s Labyrinth and focused on one character/s or the feast to analyse in a slide. Me and Ben were given The Captain.
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.
Some of the mise-en-scene that relates to The Captain specifically we decided was, firstly, that he was wearing medals on his chest. This communicates that he was given them for his skill in war and conveys that he is the Captain like is mentioned in the film. This may also indicate that he would do anything to achieve those medals, especially with him being the rank of Captain, suggesting he’s ruthless and ambitious.
Secondly, Vidal is seated at the top of the table. This is an example of proxemics due to the placement of him at the end. Seating him at the top end of the table shows the power imbalance between him and the other guests, making him appear important. As the camera moves back, him sitting at the top of the table could also show loneliness and reveal that he is fighting his own battle, even with his comrades on the same table. It shows that even with his friends by his side, because of the position he is in he is struggling with his own thoughts.
Another example of mise-en-scene is that the lighting is dark and bland. Within the scene the colour is kept minimum conveying that Vidal is a man of little taste and structure. He like to be in charge and take order of things, keeping everything minimal and tactical; only used for its purpose and nothing else. The lighting being this dark also shows how sinister Vidal is and how dark and life-taking his own world is. He has invited them to his feast, into his world, only to show them a decrepit dining hall, a metaphor for what he is trying to convince them to join. His hellish dictatorship.
Overall Vidal’s mise-en-scene shows that he is ambitious, dark, sinister, and cruel. It shows he is an ugly man with an ugly heart, full of selfishness, trying to conquer its own battles.
Genre Poster
We designed a poster for the genre action.
We looked through some films (Sharknado, Mission impossible, James Bond, The Bourne Identity) in clips and the relevant posters to analyse which elements and generic conventions were shown most frequently.
For the repertoire of elements that we identified:
- Fire – Many action films use fire
- Explosion – Most action films have some sort of explosion. For example, the mushroom clouds in the genre poster above to a small car explosion.
- A Gun and Knife (weapons) – Action usually contains some sort of fight using guns or other weapons such as a knife.
- A Car Flipped Over – A lot of action films include car chases which sometimes end in a crashed car in flames.
- A Skyline – Most of the action films are filmed in cities and at nighttime.
- Target – With weapons comes targets (usually humans).
- Agent – Agents and men in suits often appear in action films (James bond)
- Shark – In Sharknado sharks are prominent feature, sharks and other animals that humans find scary are used in other films.
- A person going through lasers – Most heist based action films include people going through lasers to steal something important, like a document or object (Mission Impossible).
My Favourite Film
I chose La La Land as my favourite film for three main reasons. The first reason being the ending of the film. It is one of the only films that takes an unconventional route by not presenting a ‘boy gets girl and everything is peachy’ stereotype impede a realistic and natural relationship irrespective of the impact of the ending on the audience. The second reason is the cinematography, mainly the lighting. I loved the lighting because this was the first time I actually noticed the lighting as a vocal point and enhancing the story. The third reason is that is that I enjoyed the story line of the characters fulfilling their dreams even with very real obstacles in their way, this resonated with me.