Second Viewing Of Irreversible.

The three scenes I had most emotional response to was;
-The attack in the club when a man gets beaten with a fire extinguisher, this makes me feel sick and disgusted and made me want to turn away, because of the full extent of the injuries we saw. It also made me want to block out the sound because of the sounds heard when the man was getting attacked like the cracking, as they were made to sound that much worse (exaggerated.)

-When 'Marcus' realises that the woman attacked is his girlfriend. When you first see her injured body, it makes me feel sick again, just because the image is so intense and graphic. Then I began to feel sympathy for Marcus - as we have worked out from previous scenes that Alex is his girlfriend, and now all he wants to do is seek revenge on the man who has done this, as he feels he has now let her down.

-Rape scene. This scene made me feel so disgusted and shocked even for a second viewing. Again, I think it shocks the audience because of the intensity of the image you we are shown. It sounds so real and comes across so intense, creating the feeling of sickness.
When you think of the scene after watching the whole film, makes me feel a whole lot worse as you find out she is pregnant, so not only did the rape harm her, but also the baby.
Also when you hear of the dream Alex had of a 'Red Tunnel' and dismisses it, you want to shout at the screen and warn her of the danger, so you feel helpless watching as you already know what it about to come.

The Green Mile (Emotional Response Clip)

The Green Mile

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American History X

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Emotional Response.

Emotion - Any strong feeling.

Irreversible.

At the beginning of the film i felt confused as I watched because as it goes backwards we had no idea why the man wanted to find this other person and his purpose for it. As you begin to realise the story line, you begin to pick up why this man has made his actions.

Whilst viewing scenes such as in the tunnel it made feel sick and uncomfortable because I felt like I shouldn't be watching as this shouldn't be happening, but as I am seeing it we should be attempting to somehow stop it.

I feel that the film portrays these emotions and again in the scene when the male gets beaten in the gay club because the images are so graphic and they don't hide and inch of detail, this makes us feel there in the scene, therefore makes us feel the same emotions as if we were there.

Case Study Films.

Location

The Descent: The caves are isolated and are away from outside help.

Dog Soldiers: Set in a big open forest area where there isn't any people living, they are taken to a house by one lady, and she says there is one house nearby, but it works out this is one house on its own, with no others nearby.

Characters

The Descent: Women usually represented as weak, don't seem to feminine here, strong as a group. The Crawlers stick together and have a disadvantage as they cannot see, but have a dominating sense of movement and smell.

Dog Soldiers: Men are strong and in the army, tough and fearless. The Werewolves are twice the size of humans, and kill without leaving mess, dominating the men.

Plot

The Descent: Women go caving - Are met by Crawlers underground - One survives.

Dog Soldiers: Men in army go on exercise - Turns out to be fatal and met with Werewolves - All die one by one - One manages to survive.

Genre.

Genre - In film theory, genre refers to the method of film categorization based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed.

Key Concepts -

Why is genre important? - Genre sets the tone for the film, and is like a base that is built upon to create the film, we use genre to build upon as once you have that, you can begin to link in all the elements for that particular film. For example once you have the horror genre you can link in things such as blood, death, quick shots, suspense and tension.

These elements then enable the audience to recognise what type of film they are watching.

Horror is appealing to the audience it always keeps them in suspense and on cliffhangers, keeping the audience on edge and always wanting to know what is going to happen next.

Representation Of Women In 'The Descent'.

Relationships: At the beginning of the film, we see one male character, we can tell he is married to one of the characters, as we see them shown as a family unit with a child. After the girls have been rafting, another woman in the group gives the male a look which suggests that they have been more than friends, which later comes out that they have been having an affair with one another. As the widow of the husband finds out, there is alot of tension between the two girls, and they represent alot of lies and deception between one another. Within the group, the girls are generally playful and happy towards one another, but they tend to show a strained realationship towards the woman who had the affair.

Costume: These women aren't represented in any sexual way or being flaunted to men. The rock climbing gear is more manly and doesn't show them as very feminine.

The Descent Notes.

The film begins with, a group of women laughing and screaming with excitement rafting in a strong current in the river. When we hear the girl shout 'mummy' we feel this is a fun family affair and then we are shown the husband as well, to show a family. As the girls vacate the boat, we see how one woman (Sarah) joins her daughter, showing that the man is also her husband. As another woman from the group then gives the man a flirty look, we sense that there is something going on between the two and that they were having an affair, and Sarah is totally oblivious to this. As the rest of the group let Sarah go, knowing she needs to spend some time with her husband, we are shown the family on a country drive.

Suddenly there is a crash, and pole goes immediately through the car from the lorry killing Sarah's husband and her daughter, this is unexpected as it happens so fast. We see everything in a crane shot, allowing the audience to see what is happening. It then switches a hallucination of her daughters birthday and the goes to Sarah in hospital. She doesn't know what is happening, and as the hospital seems deserted we are then shown back to a normal hospital scene. Her friend hugs her and takes her away to reality. Now there is a overhead shot of trees, allowing us to see countryside. We see bullet holes in sign - danger. Country music shows set in south America. Isolated cabin - girls - alone, no help. We see a shot of a skull - death. Misty shot of trees show its early morning. The horseshoe on door, upside down is unlucky. Photograph turns to black and white, this shows maybe the end.

The Descent As A Hybrid Genre.

The Descent is a hybrid genre, because we see the horror conventions of blood, death and the villain against the hero. We can also see the elements of thriller through the crawlers jumping out from behind things and that sense that something is always hiding to make you jump. Another genre that could be seen in the film is adventure, we see this from the girls experiences of rafting and caving, and from the sense that we can see how they are up for any adventure or task thrown towards them.

Binary Oppositions In the Descent.

Real vs Surreal: We see how there is this boundary between life in the caves for the crawlers which we see as an unknown situation, and then the real and normal life of the humans.

Hero vs Villain: Again the Crawlers against the humans.

Good vs Evil: We could again include the crawlers here, but as well, we could use this to show how Juno sends them to the wrong cave, wanting to first discover it, and then the rest of the group for trying their best to get out alive.

Levi Strauss and Binary Oppositions.

He came up with this 'theory' for us to understand the way in which we look at words. We shouldn't just think of the direct meaning that it has, but to also look at the difference between the word and its opposite - (it's binary opposite).

An example could be young/old, male/female.

Levi-Strauss noticed another important feature of these 'binary opposites': that one side of the binary pair is always seen by a particular society or culture as more valued over the other. For example older people are seen more valued that the younger generation, (the young/old binary opposites).

Guy Ritchie.

Guy Ritchie is a popular director who has produced many well-known films, his achievements include several films from Sherlock Holmes to Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels. All of Guy Ritchie’s films are usually a strong success in the world of film and production. Guy Ritchie has won eight awards and been nominated for a further six.

Guy Ritchie shows no signs of slowing down, as he has just revealed his new film, which is in the pipeline. “Gamekeeper”, is due to be released within in the year 2010 and is sure to fly in the film stakes. “Guy Ritchie’s Gamekeeper”, is originally a comic book series from Virgin comics, and will sure be made well-known from this production.

From talking about getting into the film industry, Guy Ritchie says, “I got into film-making because I was interested in making entertaining movies, which I felt there was a lack of.” We see how Guy Ritchie is a man who makes his work for a purpose and his audience is a strong component in his production.

Genre Of The Descent.

I think the genre of the descent is a horror/ thriller film. I think this because there are a lot of moments that make you jump throughout the film. I also think it is a horror film, as they are caving in an isolated area and are not out in the open in sight of help. The film also includes a lot of blood and death which is always a main aspect you think of in horror films.

Applying Vladimir Propp's Character Actions To The Descent.

The Hero - Sarah - She tries to protect her friends from the crawlers, and get them out safely. She defends her friends from the other girl's actions.

The False Hero/ dispatcher - Juno - She tries to lead the group's expedition, but ends up leading them to the wrong cave, and tries to shift the blame.

The Princess and her father - Sarah's daughter and husband who died in car accident earlier in the film.

The Villain - Crawlers - They fight against the group of girls and especially Sarah (The Hero).

It was quite hard to apply this structure to The Descent, as this film doesn’t follow the traditional equilibrium. I found this also quite difficult as the majority of the group of girls play the same type of role and don’t really stand out to fit a certain role.

Vladimir Propp's 7 Character Actions.

Vladimir Propp's 7 Character Actions Were:

1) The Villain - Struggles against the hero.

2) The donor - Prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.

3) The (magical) helper - Helps the hero in the quest.

4) The princess and her father - Gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.

5) The dispatcher - Character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.

6)The hero or victim/seeker hero - reacts to the donor, weds the princess.

7)[False hero] - Takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess.

Difference Between Narrative And Story.

The story is the beginning, middle and end, and is split into these three sections to show us the story.

The narrative is the telling of the story and telling us what is happening within the story, describing it for the audience.

Horror Conventions.

There are many elements which make up the production of a horror film.

Setting: The area for a horror film would usually be a typically isolated house, with no-one to help nearby, or any help available. This is used as there would be no second choice for the characters and their fate is concealed in this one isolated area.

Characters: In all horror films there is always a villan in some shape or form. This could be from a knife-weilding maniac or in the form of something that is not human. the killer also has certain weapon used throughout the film.

A blonde female character is always killed near the beginning and is seen to be dirty and to have slept with multiple partners. There is also a young brunette woman who usually plays a part and lives to the end, she is seen as quite clean and a virgin and the innocent one, and most probably the sole survivor.

Themes: There is also usually a theme of death and murder or someone seeking revenge on their victims.

Iconography: Sometimes there is a symbol such as a phone or weapon which is significant throughout the film.

Children Of Men Analysis Extract Analysis.

When the sequence first opens, we are met with a sound bridge. We hear the sound of news reporters, a man and a woman. We recognise this as an English film from the British accents and the similarity to BBC news. And by the presenters saying 'Good Morning' we know this is the news the public is waking up to.

As we hear the boy's name who has been killed, it sounds as if its a south American/spanish name, showing us its a worldwide news report. When we first hear that the 'youngest boy in the world' has been killed, this is an enigma code, because we think its impossible for there to be a youngest boy in the world who is 18 years old. Making this a question we want answered.

As the shot cuts to the people looking at the TV, we see adults with sad and shocked expressions staring at the screen, showing that the story is appealing to them, making us feel as if we need to watch this. We see the working class with a cup of tea/coffee, looking as if they are on their way to work, showing the story was so important on the TV that they needed to stop to hear the ins and outs of what is happening. There is also a TV shown in the background of the shop, even though it is not clear to us, we can still see it, making us feel that we also have the same insight to the story on the TV screen as the characters. The audience are given another hint that the story is important as we see the policeman in the background, he has come off the street and his patrol to see the story on the news, showing that even if the incident is across the world, people still need to see the report.

The colours in the shop, are dull, dark, cold, miserable and drab, this reflects the story on the news and shows us its a sad and depressing news report.

The man who then pushes through the crowds and takes his order, is breaking the silence. This shows he is the main character and key person in the film. As he leaves the shop, the camera then follows him out, this makes us as the audience feel part of the action, and as if we are walking beside him. We also feel part of the action as we feel up close and personal to the other customers in the shop, as we follow the main character out. We also get a glimpse of the screen on the way out, giving us a reminding image of the boy as we leave the shop.

As the violins begins to play, it is sad, funeral music, reflecting the news report and the death of the boy.

When we first exit onto the street, we see big screens and and the roads filled with pollution. As the date flashes up 2027, we recognise its the future, this is establishing the future which is recognisible to us. The pollution and extrvagant screens, are something we can relate to, and is a future which isn't that far away.

The use of handheld camera, feels as if we are again following him and still playing a part in the action.

As only one explosion takes place, and not several, it is very realistic. It is played from one angle and still from the handheld camera, as if we are there. The one explosion is a tell tale sign it is a British film, as a Hollywood Blockbuster would use several to create a stronger impact, but this is more realistic. Finally as the woman walks out of the explosion, she is walking like a zombie and connotes a horror film, which then leads onto the connotation of death.

This is my final choice of film extract for my Micro Analysis essay. I chose this clip as I feel there will be a wide range of features to speak about. I will be Analysing in this clip, performance, sound and cinematography. The sequence is between 2mins20 - 5mins40.

Sound: Jaws Opening.

From the beginning of the scene the sound begins to rapidly build up. This builds up the tension and tells us as an audience that something bad is going to happen soon.

The music then suddenly stops, as the girl is starting to get dragged underneath the water, this shocks us and makes us really eager to know what is happening now. The girl's giggling then begins to stop and we sense fear in her gasps for air.

Whilst the girl is getting dragged around, we haven't been shown what is doing this, and her screams for help begin to increase and the tension rises again.

When the image flicks back to the boy on the beach it is silent, as he is oblivious to what is happening in the water, showing he is calm, away from the danger.

The music then builds up again as the girl is eventually pulled under the water, and as the image flicks back to the boy, it is silent again, showing the ordeal is over, and make it seem as if nothing has ever happened.