This film has a very dull and eerie feels about them. At most times, the children are highlighted with a high lighting aspect ratio illuminating their innocence. From the beginning of the film, the audience assumes that they are travelling to an innocent destination and do not expect to find what eventually happens. The children balancing on the wall also emphasizes the innocence of a child. The wide shot reveals a whole world that they think they live in, pure and free. However the shot does not show the evils that are revealed later on in the film.
The lighting chosen captivates the moods of the characters or victims within the story. It has a very ambiguous beginning. It keeps the audience guessing. From the beginning of the film, we cannot tell where the children are heading, only that they are going somewhere. The ambience is very dreamy and calm. The children are just walking down a road and minding their own business. The ambiguous beginning allows the audience to interpret the scene or narrative of the film in their own way. There is hardly any speech at the beginning of the film which makes it seems as though it is in even more of a dream world.
When the children finally arrive at their destination, the people surrounding them seem a lot older. From here, the audience is already suspicious about what is going to happen next. The party seems like a normal teenagers party until one of the younger boys start taking drugs. A close up on each of the characters faces reveals their reaction towards this. They seem calm, as though they are used to it, which is surprising considering their innocent actions towards the beginning of the film. As the night moves on, everything begins to get a little out of hand. The next thing we see is the main character lying on the floor suffering the effects of the drugs. A close up of his face is shown. We are then shown the setting through his point of view, the editorial pace becomes slower and a slow motion technique is used to emphasize the boys distorted mind. The surroundings suddenly become clear and we are then taken to a shot from his point of view. Here we can see one of his friends being raped by grown men, but he is confused an unable to do anything about it as he doesn’t know what is going on. This emphasizes the fact that date rape happens everywhere in the world, however everyone is oblivious to it happening and no one does anything to stop it.
Later on in the film, when the party has cleared, the boy gets up and his vision is cleared again. We can here nothing but silence which adds to the eerie feel. He walks into the room in which his friend was being abused and sees her lying in bed, naked and alone. The lighting surrounding her illuminates her making her look innocent and angelic which completely contrasts with the previous event. Throughout the film, lighting plays a key part to set the mood and ambience of the scene and is one of the key techniques used by the director.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Cubs
These issues in the film cubs link to the representational areas of age and class/status. The boy receives peer pressure from the groups surrounding him. He has a need to be chosen by the gang in order to gain respect from them. You can see that there is a hierarchy between the boy and the gang leader. The reason why he wants to be chosen is because of the peer pressure building up towards him. The mise-en-scene shows the gang leader wearing a bright red jacket. A hierarchy is established between the protagonist and the antagonist. The antagonist, gang leader, is filmed from a low angle shot. The camera starts from the bottom showing his trainers, and pans to the top of the screen revealing his face. It shows that he is in power and appears as though he is looking down on the audience. In the mise-en-scene, his red jacket is emphasized in this shot. Red is a colour that is associated with danger and so reveals an aspect of his personality which he didn’t need to reveal with speech.
Specific shots are used to differentiate the association between the two characters and their backgrounds. There has been a large use of different camera techniques to highlight these points. There is a scene in which the antagonist and the protagonist are speaking to each other through a fence. When seen from the protagonist’s point of view, it appears as though the gang leader is locked away behind bars. Also, the placement of his hands on the fence shows that he has been locked away and has no way of getting out. This represents gang crime, and the world that teenagers such as those in the film have led themselves to live in. The silence between the two creates an uneasy feel and adds to the tension in the film. All you can hear is the diagetic sound of the busy streets surrounding them. There is no speech included in this particular scene, only a look given to the protagonist by the gang leader which intimidates him. This is another technique given into peer pressure.
Every now and again we can hear a high pitched sound which is very uncomfortable. It’s slow and haunting, almost like a bad omen. The fast editorial pace, with lots of cuts in a short space, is employed to contrast with the longer sequence shots which again create texture in the film.
The colours in the film are dull. Colours such as grey, black and brown have been used in order to create a sense of emptiness. A lot of the film has been shot inside a tunnel. A tunnel has two different exits. This is significant within the film because it represents the choice the boy will have to make. He can either choose to exit one way, which means running away from crime and violence. However, he looses his reputation within the gang. The other choice he has is to choose the other exit, this means giving in to the peer pressure and committing crimes, which he would in future, regret. The proxemics between the two characters are quite close when they are talking to each other. When filmed in a wide shot, their height difference is emphasized and therefore shows the gang leader with more power. The closeness of their proximity shows a constant power struggle between the two characters which the antagonist consequently wins. The fast editorial pace of the film builds tension, especially in the scene where they try to catch the fox. The quick camera movements create an uneasy feel and atmosphere.
Specific shots are used to differentiate the association between the two characters and their backgrounds. There has been a large use of different camera techniques to highlight these points. There is a scene in which the antagonist and the protagonist are speaking to each other through a fence. When seen from the protagonist’s point of view, it appears as though the gang leader is locked away behind bars. Also, the placement of his hands on the fence shows that he has been locked away and has no way of getting out. This represents gang crime, and the world that teenagers such as those in the film have led themselves to live in. The silence between the two creates an uneasy feel and adds to the tension in the film. All you can hear is the diagetic sound of the busy streets surrounding them. There is no speech included in this particular scene, only a look given to the protagonist by the gang leader which intimidates him. This is another technique given into peer pressure.
Every now and again we can hear a high pitched sound which is very uncomfortable. It’s slow and haunting, almost like a bad omen. The fast editorial pace, with lots of cuts in a short space, is employed to contrast with the longer sequence shots which again create texture in the film.
The colours in the film are dull. Colours such as grey, black and brown have been used in order to create a sense of emptiness. A lot of the film has been shot inside a tunnel. A tunnel has two different exits. This is significant within the film because it represents the choice the boy will have to make. He can either choose to exit one way, which means running away from crime and violence. However, he looses his reputation within the gang. The other choice he has is to choose the other exit, this means giving in to the peer pressure and committing crimes, which he would in future, regret. The proxemics between the two characters are quite close when they are talking to each other. When filmed in a wide shot, their height difference is emphasized and therefore shows the gang leader with more power. The closeness of their proximity shows a constant power struggle between the two characters which the antagonist consequently wins. The fast editorial pace of the film builds tension, especially in the scene where they try to catch the fox. The quick camera movements create an uneasy feel and atmosphere.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Lamb
Lamb is a film that deals with issues that people come across every day. It has a non linear narrative which means that there isn’t a simple beginning, middle and end. Themes that appear in the film are issues such as relationships, friendships, boredom, innocence and jealousy. The film is very silent and calm but manages to convey different messages through the various techniques the director uses. The soft lighting adds to the ambience and allows the audience to take in the scenery. At the beginning of the film, the fast tracking shot filmed from the point of view from the protagonist opens the scene it travels down a large field; this also establishes the setting at where the film is being shot. When the main character is first revealed, he is shown riding a bike towards his destination. The camera follows him through his journey in a wide and long tracking shot. This reveals his loneliness and isolation from everything around him. The lack of cuts in the scene shows his alienation from his surroundings and the tedious of the journey he has to take in order to have company. A jump cut is then used to progress the scene. This represents the remoteness of the location and this eventually establishes the boredom that is a major issue of the film.
A strong theme that appears in the film is the theme of sexuality. Sexual tension occurs during the various meetings between the main character and his friend’s mother. During the film, there is a lot of close up of hands. Hands are very sexual parts of the body and so represent one of the five senses. The close up of the boys hands touching the cake that the mother made implies that he wants to touch her in the same way. A close up of his face then reveals his emotions. Here, he looks fascinated by the cake that she has made. The close up of the hands and face were used to portray his interest in her. As soon as the mother walks in, tension rises between them both. She is shocked to see him standing there instead of him being with his friend and suddenly realises what he must be thinking. The lack of speech here shows that they don’t have a normal relationship it emphasises his tepid nature towards her. The presentation of the mum is quite controversial. Her clothes are mature yet slightly revealing and it shows that she is older, but in good shape. The young boy is interested in her youthfulness and the director establishes her as a trim older woman. The point of view is shown through the boys eyes. The camera focuses mainly on the mother’s eyes, mouth and body which are the most sexual parts of the human frame. Women in this film are represented as an item and she represents the typical female figure of what a woman should look like.
There is obvious acknowledgement of each of the characters behaviour. They are both old enough to realise that what they are thinking and doing is wrong, but they are still tempted to feel these sexual emotions towards each other. It could also be seen as payback towards the boy’s best friend. He came there to visit his friend, but he was neglected by him so that he could spend time with his girlfriend. The frustration of the boy and his friends behaviour towards him is apparent by his sudden outburst when he his calling him from downstairs. He is ignored by his friend, and his disappointment is shown through a close up of his face. He feels rejected and leans away from the stairs to show his reluctance to make any more effort with his friend. He then looks for other things to do and that is when he goes into the kitchen and finds the bread. Again, there is a close up of the boys hand as he is playing with his jeans. This also emphasises his frustration. The focus on his hand gestures are tension shots and greatly increase meaning in the story without adding dialogue.
The lack of sound raises tension. When there is sound, its diagetic and is quite soft, for example, the sound of the river flowing and birds tweeting. However, these sounds do not create any excitement and contribute to the remoteness of their location. The sudden burst of sound from the video games and also the sound of the classical music from the radio show the slight bit of excitement that is shown in the film. These are from two different worlds and represent the two different reasons why the boy was here, to visit his friend and to see his friend’s mother. This links to the representational area of sexuality.
A strong theme that appears in the film is the theme of sexuality. Sexual tension occurs during the various meetings between the main character and his friend’s mother. During the film, there is a lot of close up of hands. Hands are very sexual parts of the body and so represent one of the five senses. The close up of the boys hands touching the cake that the mother made implies that he wants to touch her in the same way. A close up of his face then reveals his emotions. Here, he looks fascinated by the cake that she has made. The close up of the hands and face were used to portray his interest in her. As soon as the mother walks in, tension rises between them both. She is shocked to see him standing there instead of him being with his friend and suddenly realises what he must be thinking. The lack of speech here shows that they don’t have a normal relationship it emphasises his tepid nature towards her. The presentation of the mum is quite controversial. Her clothes are mature yet slightly revealing and it shows that she is older, but in good shape. The young boy is interested in her youthfulness and the director establishes her as a trim older woman. The point of view is shown through the boys eyes. The camera focuses mainly on the mother’s eyes, mouth and body which are the most sexual parts of the human frame. Women in this film are represented as an item and she represents the typical female figure of what a woman should look like.
There is obvious acknowledgement of each of the characters behaviour. They are both old enough to realise that what they are thinking and doing is wrong, but they are still tempted to feel these sexual emotions towards each other. It could also be seen as payback towards the boy’s best friend. He came there to visit his friend, but he was neglected by him so that he could spend time with his girlfriend. The frustration of the boy and his friends behaviour towards him is apparent by his sudden outburst when he his calling him from downstairs. He is ignored by his friend, and his disappointment is shown through a close up of his face. He feels rejected and leans away from the stairs to show his reluctance to make any more effort with his friend. He then looks for other things to do and that is when he goes into the kitchen and finds the bread. Again, there is a close up of the boys hand as he is playing with his jeans. This also emphasises his frustration. The focus on his hand gestures are tension shots and greatly increase meaning in the story without adding dialogue.
The lack of sound raises tension. When there is sound, its diagetic and is quite soft, for example, the sound of the river flowing and birds tweeting. However, these sounds do not create any excitement and contribute to the remoteness of their location. The sudden burst of sound from the video games and also the sound of the classical music from the radio show the slight bit of excitement that is shown in the film. These are from two different worlds and represent the two different reasons why the boy was here, to visit his friend and to see his friend’s mother. This links to the representational area of sexuality.
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