Film and Cultural Identity

Film and Cultural Identity:

 

Meanings of stereotype, ideology,culture, power and representation…

Stereotypes - 
are basically fixed and over generalised beliefs about certain groups or a class of people.

for example: a typical stereotype about Scotland would be that it snows a lot and that they all wear kilts as well as they all play the bag pipes.. (but obviously we know that all Scottish people don't actually do thats but as I said its just a stereotype!)


Ideology… is a system of ideas especially one which forms the basis or either economical or political theory and policy. for example  the set of beliefs or characteristics of a social group or individual.

Culture…is ideas and customs and behaviour of particular people of a society.

Power… is the capacity and ability to direct or influence the audiences of others and the ability to do something in a particular way.

Representation…is the description or portrayal of something in a particular way, like the action of speaking on behalf of someone or the state of being represented.

Foreign films and there cultural identity

1- Amelie - (FRANCE)  
The movie Amelie is a French romantic comedy that was released in the year of 2001. The location of the film is Paris and culture and history has had a huge impact on the movie as a whole; the country France and the city Paris is being clearly portrayed as the city of love and its shown to be that Paris is full of wonder and the place is very lively as well as great to be in. The culture and context of the way the film is portrayed is giving the audience a very beautiful impression on the city Paris and its shown in a very positive way. Paris has been shown to look very perfect as it has that certain stereotype that it is a city of love and dreams can come true. I noticed that the colour red is used a lot in this movie and that shows to me that the people are looking for love or that they are in love showing us that France is a passionate country.

2 - City of God (BRAZIL)
The movie City of God is set in the country of Brazil in the 1960's it shows us the many problems of the country which are the extreme poverty, overcrowding and violence due to the extreme gangs.

3 - Tsotsi (SOUTH AFRICA)
The movie Tsotsi is a South African movie which was released in 2005. The film shows the high rate of poverty and the addiction of crime. Africa has been a region with a very diverse population with several ethnics and language groups. 

 4 - Separation (IRAN)

The movie Separation is an Iranian film, which was released in the year of 2011. The genre of the movie is known as a drama film. This movie demonstrates the influence of cultural diplomacy.

My chosen country to talk about the film and cultural identity is India.
I have chosen India because to has a huge film base named Bollywood.

Country: India - Bollywood

India (Flag)

This is the Bollywood mood board which I have done.

Brief outline on the country India 

India is a country in Asia. Its capital is New Delhi and the largest city in India is known as Mumbai. Mumbai is also known of the city of Bollywood, where a lot of the films are produced also a lot of the well known big stars are from Mumbai too. India is the seventh largest country and the most populated country with roughly over 1.2 billion people and the most populous democracy in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi is very well known as he was famous for the important part he played in gaining India's independence. The most popular sport played in India is Cricket.

The national emblem of India.

The Tiger known as India's associated animal

Gathering evidence of cultural relevance

Characters:

From the four films I have chosen I believe that some of the characters from the movies  are actually quite similar to me especially the one in the film Cocktail. The character Meera (Diana Penty) is her name, she's quite simple and family orientated and I believe I am like this. I would fit into being and playing this character well because her personality similarly matches mine, even the clothing she wears is quite similar to what I would wear and the way she is as person in terms of the way she acts with people and talks to people is definitely similar to me. The characters in the film are also quite similar to my family in ways especially the ones who do live in india because of the way there lifestyle is in terms of living in the village and being quite loud and vibrant in both ways personality and clothing, they are also quite outspoken too.

Experiences:

Some of the experiences that the characters go through are quite similar in terms of what  I have been through and probably will go through at different stages of life and this connects with others  in all cultures because the feelings and events could happen to anyone and it doesn't really matter about the culture in this sense. The way that the characters are quite independent in terms of the fact that they have travelled alone that is definitely similar to me because I have been to India by myself and therefore I feel quite connected to this character and I know how she felt when she got there and what sort of feelings she had been going through. Other experiences which are similar are the relationships they share with their friends, the way that most of the characters are in trims of with each other as well as there family is what I am like and how I am treated too because I am quite open minded and sincere.

Place:

The places in which the characters have lived in these movies re quite similar to the ones I have been and  lived in. I have been India many times I know exactly what the places are like and what to expect in the certain areas they area at. 

Time:
the events in the films are quite similar in terms of what i have been through aswell as what i have seen in life worth other people. the stories are quite common and i think happen to a lot of people in every day life and people genially know a lot of people who are experiencing these events.

Main characters age and gender
The ages in most of the films are roughly 20+ so the characters are quite young. The movies generally have a lot of females in them more than males and the males in the movies seem a lot more older then the females. Overall the main gender is female.

Languages:
the languages in the movies which are spoken are hindi, punjabi and english. I also can speak those three languages. The characters however are very fluent in the ways they speak the languages and are quite fast paces in terms of the way they articulate. Some of the characters in the films are quite philosophical and I feel site connected to that because I feel as a person I am quite sentimental, also one of the films the character is a writer so i feel quite connected because of the poetry which is read in the movies. \

Frequency:
A lot of British and Hollywood film are quite similar to these Bollywood movies that I have analysed because they are quite modern in terms of the stories. The movies I have seen which have similarities are Love Actually, The Wedding Planner, Red Eye…

The Lumiere Legacy (Task 1 and 2)

                                                  LUMIERE BROTHERS

Who were the Lumiere brothers?

Lumière brothers, French inventors and pioneer manufacturers of photographic equipment who devised an early motion-picture camera and projector called the Cinématographe (“cinema” is derived from this name). Auguste Lumière and his brother Louis created the film La Sortie des ouvriers de l’usine Lumière (1895; “Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory”), which is considered the first motion picture.

When and where did they live?

The Lumière brothers were born in Besançon, France and moved to Lyon in 1870, where they both attended La Martiniere, the largest technical school in Lyon

What are the films about?

These factual shorts (or mini-documentaries), termed actualities, with the mundane quality of home movies, included the following:

1. La Sortie des Ouviers de L'Usine Lumière à Lyon (1895) (Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory)
2. La Voltige (1895) (Horse Trick Riders)
3. La Pêche aux Poissons Rouges (1895) (Fishing for Goldfish)
4. Le Débarquement du Congrès de Photographie à Lyon (1895) (The Disembarkment of the Congress of Photographers in Lyon)
5. Les Forgerons (1895) (Blacksmiths)
6. Le Jardinier (l'Arroseur Arrosé) (The Gardener or The Sprinkler Sprinkled) (1895)
7. Le Repas (de Bébé) (1895) (Baby's Meal)
8. Le Saut à la Couverture (1895) (Jumping onto the Blanket)
9. La Place des Cordeliers à Lyon (1895) (Cordeliers Square in Lyon)
10. La Mer (Baignade en Mer) (1895) (Bathing in the Sea)

The ten shorts included the famous first comedy (# 6) of a gardener with a watering hose (aka The Sprinkler Sprinkled, Waterer and Watered, or L'Arrouseur Arrose), the factory worker short (# 1, see above), a sequence (# 9) of a horse-drawn carriage approaching toward the camera, and a scene (# 7) of the feeding of a baby. The Lumieres also became known for their 50-second short Arrivee d'un train en gare a La Ciotat (1895) (Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat), which some sources reported was shocking to its first unsophisticated viewing audience. By 1898, the Lumiere's company had produced a short film catalogue with over 1,000 titles.

How long are they? Why?

All the 10 films ran on average 50 seconds long:

1. La Sortie des Ouviers de L'Usine Lumière à Lyon (1895) (Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory) (46 seconds)

2. La Voltige (1895) (Horse Trick Riders) (46 seconds)

3. La Pêche aux Poissons Rouges (1895) (Fishing for Goldfish) (42 seconds)

4. Le Débarquement du Congrès de Photographie à Lyon (1895) (The Disembarkment of the Congress of Photographers in Lyon) (48 seconds)

5. Les Forgerons (1895) (Blacksmiths) (49 seconds)

6. Le Jardinier (l'Arroseur Arrosé) (The Gardener or The Sprinkler Sprinkled) (1895) (49 seconds)

7. Le Repas (de Bébé) (1895) (Baby's Meal) (41 seconds)

8. Le Saut à la Couverture (1895) (Jumping onto the Blanket) (41 seconds)

9. La Place des Cordeliers à Lyon (1895) (Cordeliers Square in Lyon) (44 seconds)

10. La Mer (Baignade en Mer) (1895) (Bathing in the Sea) (38 seconds)

What can you say about the cinematography and other aspects of the films’language?

By early 1895, the brothers had invented their own device combining camera with printer and projector and called it the Cinématographe. Patenting it on February 13th 1895, the Cinématographe was much smaller than Edison’s Kinetograph, was lightweight (around five kilograms), and was hand cranked. The Lumières used a film speed of 16 frames per second, much slower compared with Edison’s 48 fps - this meant that less film was used an also the clatter and grinding associated with Edison’s device was reduced.

Short Film… Lumiere Brothers Style

Hey guys, 

This is a short one minute film which I made in the style of the Lumiere Brothers which means no camera movement and no editing.

The film is called "When Strangers Meet"

The Jeepers Creepers Script

Jeepers Creepers Script

FILM: JEEPERS CREEPERS

YEAR: 2001

DIRECTOR: VICTOR SALVA

I am going to be analysing and talking about a movie, which I really love, called Jeepers Creepers. Jeepers Creepers is an American horror movie directed and written by Victor Salva and it was released in the year of 2001. The main three characters that play the roles in this movie are named Justin Long, Gina Phillips and Jonathon Breck. The movie is basically about a brother and sister who are driving home for the summer break from college and encounter a flesh-eating creature in the isolated countryside that is on his last day of its ritualistic eating spree.


The establishment of the movie starts off with an extreme long shot but before that we have the title which appears on screen, the title gives away a lot because of the font and style of writing, the text is a very eerie style and it’s in white gothic text roughly of the size 38 and its quite bold, this shows me that it’s a horror movie straight away because that style of writing gives you an instant feeling of horror as it’s a type of writing you’d use if you was writing a title to do with Halloween or something scary. The establishing shot is an outside exterior, which is a field with a blue sky and surrounding trees this is a natural setting because this place really does exist, and it has not been setup by studio at all.

     


In this scene you can see very clearly that these two characters are very scared and I think the facial expressions they use are acted out very well.

In the distance of the extreme long shot you can see and hear a car approaching, this is known as diegetic sound as the sound belongs to this particular scene. The car is where the main characters are introduced and they mostly spend most of the film in the car, as the film is mainly shot on road because that is what the film is basically based on, all the action happens there so there is elements of road as well as horror.

The long shot, which is used, is a good use for opening a movie as the shot shows you the surroundings of the area the characters are in and that is great because it gives us as an audience a good view to the area and where it is, then from what we seen of it we can then choose whether we like it or not from the feeling we get from it. The starting sequence uses iconography very well as it tells us as an audience about setting, where they are and what it is like and this is all typical Mise en scene for a horror movie.

As the shot zooms in we see the two main characters this theory is known as Propp and that is basically the introduction to them. The two characters are named Derry and Trish and they are brother and sister. This is their introduction to the audience and for Trish there is a close up on her face and she is talking. This close up shows us basically that she is a main character and then after that the camera has a quick transition to the other character Derry and that is a close up also, the camera then goes into a two shot and stays like that.

As the scene goes on we see the relationship between the two characters and it shows us a typical relationship of a bickering brother and demanding sister. The sister who is the oldest is more of a stubborn and challenging character as she seems very bossy, you can see this quite clearly due to the way she is being with him from the start. Derry however who is her younger sibling is a very young, child-like bubbly character who is quite quirky and you see this very clearly in the first scenes as he is joking around with her and then she starts calling him names like 'brat' which shows he's the childish one because he’s acting like a brat and she's more of the stubborn one who's more serious. I think that the personality of the characters is shown very clearly as well due to the colour of the clothing that they are wearing because Trish is wearing red which connotes she’s a stubborn, feisty character as red is generally associated with those adjectives. Then we have Derry his clothing is a mellow yellow colour which a slogan on it and that shows us that he’s a bubbly, child-like- innocent character because the colour yellow is associated with that and the fact that it’s got a slogan on it shows me his personality too.




The fact that the scene starts off with the two characters driving on a road that is very desolate and abandoned and that there is no one there instantly shows me that something might happen. First scenes are always very significant and beneficial to kind of give you a hint on what is coming. The fact that the road is straight gives me the idea that they might be heading straight into danger or that danger might be heading straight into them. The camera has been set up with a tracking shot to film the road sequences with the camera just set in front of the car following its movement.

As the scene goes on and the characters are talking they start to talk about the past of what happened to their colleagues on a road so again hints at something will happen to them. That to me is an enigma because it’s giving us signs and symbols of danger. The diegetic sounds we hear in the opening scenes are sounds of nature and cars. The hair and makeup of the characters are not as very symbolic as the colour of the clothing is which I have already spoken about. The makeup and hair is just generally very casual looking and everyday style. The camera is mainly focused on the two characters throughout the movie. While they are in the car the shot is a mid shot, it shows us waist above the characters as well as the scenery around them. The scenery however is not in focus but this is not a big deal because we don’t really need to see anything else as their focus is on their dialogue.

The camera angles are mainly on point of view this is so the audience can see them directly and we clearly see their facial expressions and body language towards each other. The main focus in these scenes the faces of the characters. There are a few editing techniques, which are used, and the main one, which I have noticed, is the use of a wipe black out to transition from one character to the other.

Middle scene: The entry to the creeper

I have chosen to analyse the middle scene, which I believe is very important within the film, it is important because this scene is where we see the villain clearly and this is also the first time where the characters Trish and Derry see him fully.

The setting of this particular middle scene is on a dark, long road and the fact that its quite late in the day shows clearly because the sky is black. The lighting in this scene is very low key and this is great as it creates effects and keeps a scary sort of atmosphere going. The creeper, who is introduced in this scene, is very scary looking and we see him very clearly because of the use of close ups. 

  

We see that he is half human half animal.  He has a normal body head to toe but what makes him half animal is that he has wings. The use of props is used to create these effects as well. 

The fact that he is wearing a hat and has a cloak on indicates the fact that he is an important but mysterious character and therefore in disguise. The hat he has on creates suspense because it hides a bit of his face but in this close up we see of him it’s used greatly because the shadow. The hat covers a bit of his face below his forehead but emphasises his eyes, this is quite scary and his eyes are the main focus in this close up shot. This is to create effect.  

We see in this scene he’s not a normal man because of the way he portrays himself. He wears a face mask cast which has been used in this movie. The mask builds up layers of prosthetics and body pint. The creeper where’s this throughout the movie as his role requires this. The facial expression of the creeper in this scene is smug it’s almost as if he is smiling, this creates a feeling to the audience that he is going to do something evil because he is smiling about something. 

The movement of the villain is quite relaxed and he seems like he’s not fussed about anyone, as he just wants what we wants. The positioning of the frame varies because when the creeper is still it’s a close up of his face but when he is moving and walking towards the victims in the car it goes into a long shot showing you what he looks like, what as well as the area. The transition within this scene is a quick fade. The sounds in this scene are sounds that are within the scene and they are known as diegetic sounds such as the sounds of the car door, the creepers footsteps and the sound of the gulping when the creeper eats.

All sounds used are associated with the genre of horror.

The characters Derry and Trish in this scene are very scared and you can clearly tell because when the shot changes to them two as a quick fade and swipe and you see their faces. You see Derry’s expression and his eyes are open wide looking teary eyed with sweat all on his face and his nostrils are flared showing his fear. Then the scene goes into a quick straight cut to Trish and you see her fear this is a single close up shot too of her and you see her fear as she looks as though she is getting teary eyed as and her eyes are open wide showing confusion.

The shot then goes into a mid shot, which shows the characters together and what they look like, as they are scared, this is good because they literally look the same in terms of their facial expressions.

Ending:

The setting of the ending scene is set in an old, rundown, damp and dark area. The lighting is very low and dark and this is to create effect and show us that the villain has done something bad and that the darkness reflects on the dark deeds he has done and has been doing since the movie started. The scene is very dark; completely almost pitch black, this definitely shows how bad the character is and that what he has done is very sinister.

The camera first of all is on a mid shot and we hear the sounds of water running and a song is playing an old record player. The song playing in this scene goes by “jeepers creepers where did you get those eyes”, this to me is very ironic because the villain who is known as the creeper has just ate the characters eyes and that song that played throughout the movie in some scenes gave us viewers hints to what was going to happen to one of the characters because it states the word eyes a lot. I think this was a really good use of an enigma; this also goes very well with the theory of Barthes because of the reoccurring motif of death that kept cropping up in the film and the fact that it actually does occur. The sound which is in the scene is known and non-diegetic sound as it has been added into the scene is its playing in the background.

Another enigma, which is shown in this scene, is the fact that the creeper blinks through the eye of the one he has killed; this shows us that he is not sorry for what he has done. It shows that he’s generally being quite condescending and smug about his actions. The positioning within the frame from this part of the scene is an extreme close up and you see a straight on point view of the characters. Another theory, which is believe is used, is Todorov’s theory and this is the new balance, equilibrium of the scene. The new balance is basically the death of the character Derry because the creeper has killed him. The fact that the creeper is not dead in this movie also indicates to the audience that that the evil will carry on until the next 23rd spring (the time where the creeper arises back to eat) and that the next film will end up like this and another main character could end up being dead and evil will take over once more.

The oppositions, which are use in this movie, are the oppositions of good and bad and this is shown through the end as well as in the middle of the movie. Its shows this quite clearly because the villain has killed a good character so this is trying to show us that in this movie evil has overweighed out the good, but maybe that the reason for why the director made the movie end in a bad way is to show that evil should only occur in movies and not in real life.

Humanity vs. inhumanity is also an opposition in this movie because you have the creeper who is very inhumane as he kills humans. To me this is quite interesting though because if you see the creeper we know he is he is half human and half animal so this to me shows that he is that humans can be evil too and it shows us different personalities.

The fact that when the credits show up after the closing scene of the film which is the blink of the creeper, we hear sound coming through and the sound is of a song which is the song called “bogey man” and then we see the titles show up of the names of the director and actors in the film, the writing again in written in white, gothic text style the same as the one used in the opening establishment credits of the movie and the size again of the writing is roughly the same too. I think that the song bogey man is a good enigma because of the fact that the bogey man goes with the creeper quite well because he is green and a bit gross looking so again its connected to him and its telling us what he looks like. The song at the end is quite fast paced and it’s quite strange because you wouldn’t really think it’s a horror movie ending song but I think it stills works within the movie because of the lyrics of the song.

Overall the reason for why I chose to analyse the movie Jeepers Creepers is simply because of the fact that I have watched this movie many times, it’s a movie which creates feelings of horror as well suspense and it really does keep you intrigued until the end. I like how this film is quite different to most horror movies I’ve seen because of the fact that the story line is not obvious at all, like you wouldn’t expect the movie to end the way it does, there’s also lots of elements in this movie that keep you intrigued and there is a lot of interesting characters too.

Narrative Theories (Opening) Jeepers Creepers

The four narrative theories for the opening

MOVIE: JEEPERS CREEPERS
YEAR: 2001 
DIRECTED BY: VICTOR SALVA
GENRE: HORROR



I am going to be applying the four theories of narrative in the movie Jeepers Creepers for the opening scene.


Here is the opening scene of the movie…

Propp (Introduction to the character(s)

Jeepers Creepers starts off with the two main characters Derry and Trish and the setting is of them in the car, the scene starts off with a extreme long shot followed by a long shot and then a close of the two characters.

The way the scene is started off show you see the relationship between the two characters and it shows you the typical relationship of a brother and sister, the sister who is the oldest is more of a stubborn and demanding character and seems very bossy and you can see this clearly due to the way she is being with him. Derry however who is her younger sibling is a very young, child-like bubbly character who is quite quirky and you see this very clearly in the first scenes as he is joking around with her and she's calling him names like 'brat' which shows he's the childish one and she's more of the stubborn one who's more serious.

The fact that the scene starts off with them two driving on a road that is very desolate and abandoned that fact that the scene looks like that shows me that something might happen to them on the road as that is the first scene and the first scenes are always very significant and kind of give you a hint on what is coming. 

Where is the story set? The story setting is on a road, which is very abandoned and desolate – looks very scary because it’s very abandoned. The events in the scene start off are after a few minutes into the scene a truck comes behind them very fast and it approaches there are trying to get into there way several times. What event starts the story? Driving, on long road shows the journey is long – something bad will happen along the way.

Todorov (Establishing narrative structure, captivating audience and interest)

The scene starts off with long shots showing us that the car that is approaching and this sets the scene as it shows us what the area is like where the characters are. The start off scene is a good scene because I think it gives you a good setting of the area so you warm to the characters more as you feel connected in terms of where they are.

Strauss (establishing the main themes) 

This starting off uses the use of iconography quite well as it tells us as an audience about the setting. Danger is a theme that crops ups a lot in the movie because there so a lot of it. Violence is also a key theme as its a motif and it reoccurs throughout the movie a lot.

Barthes (Establishing the sense of enigma)

The symbolic that are used in the start are good indicators of how the story will progress due to the fact that they show us animals like crows, this to me gives me the sense that death will happen in the story as crows represent death so you know it won't end quite well. The use of good and evil is shown through the use of colour because of the transport that they are in: for example the 2 main characters are in a light blue little petite car and that shows that they are calm characters. The transport which the villain appears in is  a large brown old rugged truck with blacked out windows - this enigma gives the audiences a sense of danger because of the fact that he is hidden in a huge truck and the fact that it looks very dangerous and compared to the little car it looks huge.

Enigma: The two characters start off playing a game of reading license plates and making out words and the fact that they do this is very significant because of the fact that the villain’s licensee plate they have read has a significance later on in the story. The fact that the truck is so big implies that its going to have such a big effect in the movie as well as on the characters.

Narrative Theories (Ending) Jeepers Creepers

The four narrative theories (Ending scene)

MOVIE: JEEPERS CREEPERS

YEAR: 2001 

DIRECTED BY: VICTOR SALVA

GENRE: HORROR

Applying the four theories of narrative in the movie Jeepers Creepers -  (Ending scene)


Here is the ending scene of the movie Jeepers Creepers.

Propp
In this scene the main character which I believe is the villain is still alive and he has now killed one of the two main characters. He has killed the character because he believes that this character has something that he wants. The villain is a cannibal and eats certain parts of humans, the villain has taken this characters eyes and has eaten them so he can have them as a part of himself.
The other character who was the other main character is called Trish and she is still alive, I would class her as being the hero now because she was the one that stayed alive and managed to keep away from the villain, the villain however generally didn't want this character as he wanted the other one(Derry) because the villain liked the idea of fear and Derry was a very scared character and always had fear so the villain liked him and the idea that he was scared.

Todorov
The new balance of this scene is that now the main character is now dead and he is dead because the villain which is known as the creeper has sliced him and ate some of his body parts him. The fact that the villain has not died shows me that the evil will carry on until the next 23rd Spring (The time when the creeper arises back to eat people) and that the next movie will be like this and another hero could end up being dead. 

Barthes

Enigma: I think that the enigma from this movie is the song that is played several times through out the movie and the song goes by "jeepers creepers where did you get those eyes" and this song is also played in the scene above which is the end scene and I think that it gives you the enigma as well as a symbolic connotation of whats going to happen even before knowing whats going to happen, in this scene the villain has ate his eyes. The fact that the song states the word "eyes" shows the link through the song and what was going to happen to the character so I think that was a motif as it kept reoccurring.
The villain(creeper) which they show In the end scene blinks through the eye of the character showing us as an audience that the eyes he has are from him.
Symbolic meaning: The fact that their is a lot of dark colour in the movie shows us clearly the negativity of the film and the villains dark deeds. It shows us clearly that it is going to end badly. The crows are also a huge part off the movie and they convey bad luck and the fact that you can hear them again symbolises that what was going on.

Levi Strauss
The oppositions which are created are the oppositions of humanity and inhumanity, this is shown because the creeper is inhumane as he eats and kills humans so this shows he goes against humanity. 
The song "jeepers creepers - peek a boo" which is played throughout the movie is also an opposition as the innocence of the song contrasts to the gruesomeness of what the villain does.
Another opposition is of the good VS evil, as the villain is evil which is shown clearly as the creeper is bad and the 2 characters are good.