Pans Labrynth

How are women represented in a negative way?

Pans Labyrinth was set in the civil war in 1944; this may be why the women’s roll is seen in a very negative light. The women are shown to be week and powerless at the very beginning of the film, in my opinion this plays on the date the film is set because women had less rights back then and men overpowered women by far.

At the very beginning of the film we hear a little girl heavily breathing this represents a bad image for women instantly it shows them as scared and maybe weak, not only is it a girl heavily breathing but it sounds like a child, this shows that not only women were treated with no respect children were too and it shows that women were brought up to be incompetent and powerless. The scene were Ofelia meets the Captain is a good example, Ofelia innocently holds out her hand with a scared face and instead of being gentle towards her he is harsh and says that she has the wrong hand, this is not a nice introduction to their relationship and the fact she is below looking scared and he is above looking over her shows his power and strength. The fact that she had to shake his hand as an introduction and she is a young child doesn’t really show a relationship this shows he doesn’t really care about her feeling comfortable with him instead he lets her become scared of him. This could represent why she is there, it represents she’s there for a reason, because he wants something not because he wants to protect them and start a family.

In a part of the film, roughly at the beginning the Captain and the Doctor have a conversation, the doctor says that the pregnant woman shouldn’t have travelled she should have stayed were she was because she is too ill and the Captain reply’s that ‘a son should be born were his father is’, the fact that he doesn’t talk or show any signs of caring about the woman’s well-being he just cares that the baby be with him shows woman in a bad light, it shows that he doesn’t care about the women he just cares about the boy being born. Another scene were the Captain talks only about his son is when Ofelia hears him say to the Doctor ‘if you have to choose, choose the baby’ this shows he would rather the baby be born then the woman be healthy and well again. This shows the Captain sees the woman as an object that is used to give birth to the son so the son can be brought up to take after the Captains roll and so the Captains name will live on after his death. The fact the women dies for a boy shows men taking over women and women being pushed behind the men.

In my opinion the woman are pursued in a really bad light all because of the men and the Captain really over powering them but I don’t think the women really help for example when Ofelia’s Mother find the thing under the bed which is helping her even though Ofelia tries to tell her different she still throws it into the fire and this probably shows women are under the influence of the men and they do as the men want because they have been brought up with it all their life I think this because the pregnant women does exactly what the Captains says even though he treats her in a bad way and doesn’t respect her. 

Quantum of solace, half term homework.

Quantum of solace

In the opening sequence of quantum of solace the first thing I heard and noticed was the incredibly eerie music, in my opinion in the whole opening sequence the music is what brings it all together and gives it the intense feel the sequence owns.

The very first thing we see is quick clips of the camera running over the water, in my opinion this is used to show the new bond film has arrived at this place and it zooms in on the destination were quantum of solace is filmed.

We see a number of flashes of the car and the car wheels this raises suspition as to who is in the car and it brings to our attention that the person in the car could own a huge importance in the film.

The number of flashing scenes include a flash of some bullets, this to me resembles danger and it can easily show what could occur in the upcoming events. We then see a flash of the car wheel; this resembles the speed and also maybe a race. The final quick flash we see is of Bonds eye, the flash of Bonds eye reveals to us two things, one being the man in the car was actually Bond and two it shows concentration, the concentration could represent that something is going to happen, something very important.

We hear the sound of the car make a sudden entrance, this shows the audience the speed and it gets the audience’s attention on Bond. When we hear all of the gun shots they are incredibly loud and emphasized this would draw in the audience.

We see a number of quick flashes with the mad gun fighting; we see a flash of a man shooting his gun then it instantly goes on to a car window smashing, they use these quick flashing images in my opinion so the audience can keep up with what is happening and to also increase the intensity.

The sound is also emphasized on the guns shots bouncing off the car, this can represents Bonds protection and his advantage in this gun fight, it also could hint that Bond will come out of this gun fight a survivor.

The music casually comes in again, the music includes trumpets and this really increases the tension and brings in the audience.

Another sound which is emphasized is the horn before a car crashes and the sound included as well as the car crashing can create a shocking feeling for the audience which is another thing which could draw the audience in.

As time goes on in the sequence the music gradually builds more and more and this is by adding more instruments. This leaves the audience wide eyed and intrigued as to what’s happening in the scene, the music is built up purposely to create a very intense feeling from the audience.

Over the noise of everything going on we hear the police man talking, it is made louder so the audience can hear him, this may be because what he has to say holds an importance. When the subtitles are up translating what the police man is saying not much is going on in the background, this came to my attention and it made me realise that maybe this has been done on purpose so that when the audience is busy reading the subtitles no one misses anything really important in the background.

We have a quick close up of Bonds face, we see that on his face we see no expressions, and he is not panicked or even in a struggle this could show that he is very used to this kind of thing.

We very easily hear the car wheels and the engine, it sounds very smooth and this could be that he’s not in a hurry and it could also back up my previous point of him being relaxed and used to what’s going on.

We then see a two person shot of two men in the back of the car facing the camera through the back window, we see one of the men take a shot going towards the camera, this draws the audience in and it can also makes them feel involved as if they are getting shot at.  

A wide shot is used in this sequence as the cars are driving wildly along and by using this shot it makes it clear to the audience that the number of cars are gradually decreasing. As the sequence goes on the volume of the music increases and tightens the atmosphere even more especially at this part of the sequence.

We then see a really quick shot of a dumper truck coming towards Bond and the other fighting cars. This lets us understand a bit more on what is about to happen and the mayhem which is about to be caused and that is the final car falling off the cliff, there is a long shot when the car falls off the cliff and also a bird’s eye view, this is to give the audience a couple of clear views of what has happened to the car.

As soon as the car falls off the cliff the music dramatically dies down and the music is not as intense, this could be used to represent Bonds safety being restored.

We can easily hear the sound of Bonds car engine over the sound of the music, this could show peace especially as the car is moving swiftly and the engine is going softly.

 Text then pops up onto the screen which says “Sienna Italy” this is to inform us where Bond is, the text appears to me as very classy in italics, the typography could project on the place where Bond is and maybe Bonds personality considering he is in “sienna Italy”.

The classic bond music comes on as he drives down a secret alley way, this informs us and lets us know that we are actually watching the Bond movie as this music is repeatedly played in every Bond film.

The music goes off and all goes silent as Bond steps out of the car and walks to the back of his car to soon reveal that there is in fact a man in the trunk of his car. The music goes off so we can focus on Bond, his actions and his speech. The only thing he says is “it’s time to get out” which is short and simple, by keeping it short and simple leaves it nice and interesting and leaves us wanting to know more just as it goes into the classic bond title sequence. The way he says “it’s time to get out” is very relaxed which also resembles him being used to this and he acts like it is nothing new to him.

Citizen Kane

This film includes reporters all attempting to discover the meaning of Kane’s last word, “rosebud”. The film is made up of a number of flash backs and memories of peoples experiences with Kane himself as the reporters dig deep to try and discover what “rosebud” really means.  In this film we uncover that Kane’s life has been made up of two marriages which have both disintegrated terribly, one in which was destroyed by his own slight obsession with work and the newspaper. We also see that when he was at his happiness he was only young and yet even then was a terrible time considering his mother sold him.

I have an incredibly large like for the micro features which have been used in this film, I think the standard of the micro features are incredible for the time this film was made in 1941. This film was absolutely ground breaking and it took a massive role in changing the history of film. I think the micro features were absolutely outstanding compared to the amount of equipment we have nowadays to make editing effects. There are a number of edits done to make the film stand out for its time for example; throughout the film we see a number of scenes were it fades in and out between clips. Throughout this film we notice plenty of montage editing for instance at the beginning we see many quick shots such as the no trespassing sign, the big black ‘K’ at the top of the gates in front of the creepy massive house, the misty lake and even the lonely old bench at the bottom of the hill that goes up to the massive house. We also see montage editing in the film which is used to show Kane’s first marriage slowly disintegrating. There are plenty of quick cuts which involve Kane and his wife at the time, Emily, at first we see them very close and in love with Kane walking in giving her a kiss then going on to call her beautiful. Emily mention something about Kane and the newspaper but they seem to bypass it and dismiss the subject with Kane going on to mention how he ‘absolutely adores’ her. We then see a couple of cuts which include them gradually being more and more vicious with each other and short tempered, Kane no longer dismisses the subject of him and the newspaper he just comes straight back with a tempered answer. We also see that Emily is getting more and more fed up with Kane and his newspaper and by making this all into a well put together  montage it represents their marriage falling apart very well. The music also starts all happy, sweet and peaceful but it gradually turns into deep, dark music as they grow apart, the music then jumps back to music which is a little bit more peaceful but this is only when they are completely not talking at all. Between the shots we see the camera spinning around and I find this a great way of slotting them all together I also think this shows their patience with each other winding out of control.

When I first saw the film I wasn’t a fan, I thought it was very boring and it was confusing and hard to get in to but after I had watched the film and thought about the impressive editing skills which were used and also thought deeply into the skill it must’ve had to make this film in the 1941 my mind had changed and I was quickly a fan of it. After reading back my notes and watching certain scenes again on the internet I was quick to get the hang of what this film was about and I easily read more into the film and became engrossed. I was really fond of the beginning of the film were we see the news reel and we see and over view of Kane’s life, the fact it is at the very beginning of the film hints what the film is going to be about and also the fact it is in a new reel shows that he was a rich, powerful, well known man. It also gives us an insight of his life by telling us his whole story and it lets the viewer understand more things about this certain main character. Another thing I was really fond of was the scene where we see Kane’s mother sell him, we see Kane’s mother and father in discussion talking and we have a clear view of him playing happily outside, I really like the way this is shot and the fact Kane is clearly outside in the window having a marvellous time in the snow. The reason why I really like this is because we are soon to find out how his last words were “rosebud” which related back to his childhood and is written on his sledge, the whole film is us trying to discover what the words really mean, to me Kane’s last words were said because that was his happiest time and back to my point it is shown clearly here at the beginning of the film so basically the film was created for us to wonder what the words meant when in reality they were placed in front of us in the first place.

Some other things I easily picked up on about the film which makes me like the film were things such as at the beginning we see a big house with only just one window with a light on, the place has tons of windows and the fact it has only one light on signifies he is on his own and he is actually a lonely guy. I like how we can find this out from the start of the film and how it hints his personality.

I do in fact have dislike to this film; my dislike would probably be how hard it is to get in to and how confusing it seems to be at the end. I also disliked the fact I only figured my like for it after thinking about it and realising the genius that Orson Welles was as a twenty five year old.

The story was told by a number of characters, it was never once told by Kane himself as the film was looking back on his life and trying to discover why his last words were “rosebud”, it was told by Thatcher’s memoirs, Jebadire, Susan and also the butler. I really like how this was put together.

From the film we understand that everyone saw him as a big famous man, he was also shown as a man who has plenty of female attention when we see him dancing with a bunch of ladies in one scene. But in my opinion the real Kane is actually a guy who needs love but is lost on how to give it in return and I think this comes from him getting sold as a child. I think this because during the end of the film when he is with Susan because we see him give her everything, a massive house and a beautiful lifestyle and he thinks that is him showing her love when in fact Susan feels no love at all and is feeling lonely, we see a sense of this in the scene were Susan is doing a puzzle and Kane comes down to have a talk with her.  Both Kane’s marriages fail and in my opinion this is because he doesn’t know how to show true love, he only knows the love and happiness he had as a child but that soon got taken away.

split screen video.

Expand your mind.

The best film maker's TED talks!

In this article we notice a sum up of the video to the left; we see the 17 minute video be described and shown in this one paragraph. This article is all about telling and informing us on how inspirational James Cameron is. There is not a single bad word written about this great man, there are plenty of good words to say.

This article includes a few words that James Cameron has actually said himself; he said things such as ‘I made a film about a boat’. I think this was added into the article to add a sense of humour and entertainment because I find this very humorous myself because it is a very well known, popular film and he describes it in very little detail as if it is just a film not a lot of people really care about. He also mentions that he only made this memorable film just to see the wrecks and ruins from the actual boat that sunk, I also found this funny because it’s a pretty jokey tone and it’s not incredibly serious.

Very kind words were used at the beginning of the article including his ‘insane’ box office hits. The article happens to fill us in on his love, passion and drive for sci-fi. This makes it also interesting for the reader because the article seems very inspirational for the reader and it makes you want to watch one of his well made movies.

The use of the words 'natural worlds' creates a separation between James Cameron and the earth itself. The effect of this is that the reader gets strong imagery of James Cameron being an out of norm character who doesn't belong in a normal society,this is extremely complementary due to james Cameron being portrayed as a higher rank of authority amongst everyone else.

This article was probably written for an audience who are big fans of James Cameron and want a sum up of things from the clip because I very highly doubt that someone with a love for James Cameron would want to sit through and read an article about him which includes plenty of positive words about the man.

The article is based on the clip next to the article which is seventeen minutes long clip of James Cameron talking to a large audience about his movie making, some of his past and his true thoughts and feelings. With this clip I got drawn in quit a lot because of the first part he goes on about his childhood and his wild imagination. He states at the beginning of this talk ‘I grew up on a steady diet of science fiction’ I really like the way he puts this in my opinion it sounds intriguing and it pretty much drew me in. He basically tells us about how he has had a passion for it from a very young age; his passion for it comes through in the article as well.

This article is based on an incredibly motivational speech, I am a fan on how James Cameron ends his speech as well he ends the talk with plenty of moving words which will easily inspire all, such as ‘curiosity, it’s the most powerful thing you own’ and also ‘failure is an option but fear is not’. In my opinion this ends it really well and it will leave the audience feeling good and inspired although, this does not come through in the article and I don’t feel the article really gets through everything James Cameron has to say in his speech. In my opinion a lot more could have been said in the article about his knowledge of film and the making of it.

http://www.empireonline.com/features/best-film-ted-talks/p3

Zoom.

This is were the camera goes from far away (extreme long shot/long shot) to very close (extreme close up/ close up

Birds eye.

This is when the camera is placed above everyone, literally like a view from a bird