Applying theories to 'Lovefield' - A2 - Maisie

Applying Rick Altman

The genre for the majority of the film is thriller. The semantic and syntactic codes that communicate this, including sound, are as follows:

Semantic	Syntactic	Sound
Large isolated field	Crow – signals that something bad is going to happen	Wind – isolation
Crow – symbolises death	Restricted narration – leads the audience to only assume that an attack is taking place	Crow – harrowing sound, reinforces symbol of death
Blood – an attack	Camerawork – tracking shot of man running to the car, gives a sense that he doesn't want to be caught, the audience is ‘chasing’ him	Screaming – torture, murder
Discarded bag/money/clothing – possible robbery, rape, murder	Plastic bag – iconographic, wants to hide the body, typical thriller narrative	Creaking sign – reinforces the town apparent reputation of being scary and unforgiving
Knife – weapon, iconographic in the thriller genre, immediately suggests a violent attack	Binary oppositions – man appears to be the antagonist, then changes into hero	Music – tense, builds up to a crescendo and there’s a loud sound when he stabs the knife in the ground reinforcing the thriller genre, music calms when baby is born
Sign – old, wooden, suggests eeriness of town		Phone - no signal, reinforces isolation, victim trying to call for help
Man – skull tattoo, ‘red-neck’ stereotype of being violent
Lighting – quite dark, gloomy at the beginning, brightens up when the baby is born, changes the mood and atmosphere completely

Applying Steve Neale

At the beginning of the film, the music and diegetic sound of the wind suggests something is wrong and something bad is going to happen. Usually in thrillers, wind implies a sense of isolation. The music is mainly made up of stringed instruments, creating a tense atmosphere.
The crow is very symbolic and could suggest several things. Crows were seen as symbols of death and evil, and with a flock of crows creatively named a 'murder', it fits the thriller genre.
The sign that the crow is perched on creaks eerily in the wind, implying that the town it shows is old, which links to the genre; an old, eerie town in which bad things can happen.
When the male character is introduced, the audience are led to assume that he is the antagonist. He is given the identity of a 'red-neck' and is stereotyped to be violent; he is quite large, has tattoos (skull), overalls and dirty vest.
When the baby is born, the lighting that was originally low key and dull, literally brightens up, which isn't normal in a thriller. This signifies obvious change in both mood and genre.

Applying David Buckingham

The antagonist in the short film is represented in a very traditional way at first; he's a threatening-looking male, dirty clothes and bares tattoos, which obviously signals to the spectators that he isn't a nice person. But what the director, Mathieu Ratthe, is possibly trying to convey is that not all 'red-necks' and tough-looking men aren't always violent and unpredictable. It shows that they are sentimental and caring, and people need to stop stereotyping them.

Genre in 'This Is Me' - A2 Jack

Genre in 'This Is Me' - A2 - Maisie

This short film is mainly comedy, but with a subtle dark side. Using Rick Altman's theory, we can identify the semantic and syntactic codes that defines this film's genre.

Semantic	Syntactic	Sound
Titling – rounded letters, known for comedic purposes, doesn't quite fit with imagery	Breathing and hospital ward – could suggest illness/death	Breathing – harrowing
Mise en scene – hospital bed, motionless body, dark lighting, daunting	Sarcasm – talking about something that has already happened, building up to something	Voice over – humorous accent, sarcastic undertone
Change of lighting – changes mood	Close ups on writing – all link to something, pinpointing, leading up to an event	Music – slow but not monotonous, almost comedic, changes to upbeat cheerful music, positive atmosphere
Amusing graphics – bright colours, entertaining animation	Model plane - words 'the end' engraved, end of his life? Darker undertone	Music cuts off – back to dull atmosphere, sudden stop (shocking?)

Applying Steve Neal's theory to this short film, reveals that the director may have wanted the audience to see the darker side to the comedy. Clearly, through the amusing visuals and music, the darker undertone of illness and death leads the audience to feel uneasy about it. This has been done before, but it still keeps the audience on edge and therefore they won't be bored. A comedy plus something more sinister definitely catches the audience's attention because it's an interesting genre choice.

There isn't a lot in this short film to apply to David Buckingham's theory, but there are still some aspects of it that can. The man is seen in his back garden and it's not very big or luxurious. This suggests that they don't have a lot of money but they can do what they can with what they have. When he's in the hospital, he mentions they now have £10 million in compensation, and the wife spends a lot of it.

This could be classified as new luxury, but the man is in a coma, so it's luxury for the wife. As shown, she doesn't really mind that he's in a coma as she can do what she likes with the money. It also shows that she doesn't think much of spending time with him whilst he's in hospital, when she sets the timer for ten minutes of just sitting next to him and reading a holiday magazine.

This could stereotype the modern woman, but since the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act (SDA), women have been viewed more equally. This is just a common stereotype to make it more amusing.

Narrative in 'Lovefield' - A2 - Maisie

At the beginning of the short film, it is unclear which narrative structure it's following. The the story is slowly revealed, it's apparent that it is non-chronological (in the sense that it's started midway through the action). The first few minutes or so are mainly restricted narration as the two characters' identities are being concealed from the audience, so they can only assume the worst.

Using Bordwell and Thompson's theory of story and plot, the audience can see only a small part of the overall story told in the limited plot line; at first it's a woman possibly being brutally murdered by a stereotypical 'red-neck', but then it changes into something completely different and the audience can piece together what else may have happened before the two characters met. The plot shows the audience the man helping the woman, but the story tells them how it came to be (mainly at the end when an ELS shows more of the area surrounding them).

Todorov's theory can be applied here because the narrative is technically linear, but not fully. The first part of Todorov's model has been skipped as there is no beginning equilibrium. The films starts part way through the second part, the disruption. The confrontation then takes up most of the film, as the man rushes to apparently clear away the evidence. As the film builds up to the climax and then reveals the baby, the resolution emerges and finally the new equilibrium and normality is restored.

Roland Barthes' theory can be used for the majority of the short film. The enigma codes continuously used throughout the piece keep the audience guessing; the scattered items and discarded clothing, the phone, the woman's screams, the man's knife, the crow, the car and the black bag. The blanket is also one of them because as this film is assumed to be of the thriller genre, a blanket isn't iconographic of that particular genre, so it can be seen as an enigma code. There are a few action codes that signal something about to take place, such as the knife coming down into the ground suggesting the murder is done, and the crow tapping on the roof of the car signalling to the man to change his mind.

Also, the baby can be seen as an action code. When it appears in the frame, the lighting and the music completely changes, signalling a change in the mood of the film. Clearly there are more enigma codes in this than action codes, as it's about altering the audience's perception of things and see where they are positioned when presented with specific features of a genre.

The theory of Vladimir Propp can be applied here. At the beginning of the film where the audience can see the man supposedly attacking the woman, they immediately assume that he is the villain and the woman is the 'damsel in distress'. It's only when the baby appears that the man's character changes from villain to hero. This theory can only be applied loosely as there are only two characters in the film, even if the man's character changes.

Similarly to Propp's, Claude Levi-Strauss' binary oppositions theory can be applied, but not as a whole. There are only a few obvious binary oppositions, the most prominent being good and evil. The man is apparently attacking the woman, so he is instantly labelled as evil. Another would be protagonist and antagonist, even though the protagonist (being the woman) is physically unable to help herself. One other opposition would be young and old, mainly at the end when the baby is revealed. The man at first represents age and the woman is younger so she represents youth. The baby then comes in and the representation of youth is transferred from the woman, even though she is still young.

The final theory, Chris Vogler's 'The Hero's Journey', is very similar to Todorov's, but as there is no apparent hero at the beginning of the film, only one part of it can be applied, which is the final segment of the theory. The man delivers the baby and becomes the hero, inevitably 'facing his greatest ordeal'. This doesn't last long and the film moves into the final stage as everything returns to normal. However, if the audience were to look at the film from a more optimistic perspective (if they knew he was helping deliver the baby), then the theory could be applied slightly more effectively. The whole film is based around how he helps her, which lengthens the 'resolution' segment.

Audience for 'Mix Tape' - A2 - Maisie

 
It's not entirely clear what the target audience for this short film is. The actors are mainly children, possibly around the ages of 13 to 14, so it could be directed at a younger audience; younger actors means children can relate to them.




However, the obvious contradiction of this is the music. The music is 70s/80s indie/rock, and it's normally what the majority of adults listen to as it's what they grew up with, so the target audience could also be directed at adults that listened to this genre of music when they were younger. This short film shows that some of the younger generation also enjoys that style of music, and could cause the older generation to reflect back on their younger years to when this music was new.

Also, the actual mix tape itself is older technology, which appeals to the older audience. At the beginning of the short film, the boy appears to like the style of music and era, as his bedroom isn't like a modern child's bedroom.

This is also shown in their clothes; simple, a lot of plaid and quite smart, which could reflect the style of the 70s/80s era. All of this shows that the short film is mainly directed at an older audience.

Representation of disability in 'Silent Things' - A2 - Maisie

The opening credits to the short film have a very simplistic style, possibly representing the fact that people with a certain disability, such as autism, think in simple ways (a common stereotype).

The mise en scene and sound reveal a beach and the colouring of which is bleak and dull, setting a somewhat eerie atmosphere and a possible negative stereotype towards disability (how it can affect people etc). The camera cuts to a long shot of two characters, a man and a woman, flying a kite.

The man is standing in a very laid back posture and it isn't instantly obvious he has a disability. The woman, however, stands with her hands close to her face, a possible sign of anxiety and nervousness. Her hands are fidgety and it's apparent she finds it difficult to focus on things; her facial expression is very vacant. This could indicate her disability and causes the audience to question why she's acting like this.

As the camera cuts, the lighting dims to low key, demonstrating time passing. The man and the woman are seen dismantling the kite. The man holds the pieces close to his face, his expression shows he's entirely focused on what he's doing, suggesting an intense interest.

The film continues and it cuts back to the man flying the kite alone. The lighting has gone from low key to high key, suggesting a change in mood and atmosphere. At this point, because the audience has seen the man's obvious interest with the kite, the audience questions his suggested disability. The fact that he has what appears to be an intense interest, suggests he has a type of autism called Asperger syndrome (AS); one of the characteristics of the syndrome is having some kind of fascination of something.

When the girl starts talking to him, he tells her he has Asperger syndrome, confirming the audience's queries. The film continues and the man and the girl are packing the kite away, the woman returns. She is obviously jealous as he has made a new friend; she may fear that the girl will replace her. Again, her lack of empathy is another characteristic of AS (whether she actually has it remains unclear, but the audience can assume so). When she tries to speak to him, it looks like he doesn't want to talk to her as his speech is mumbled and quiet and he turns away from her. At this point, the woman's status is low as she is being intentionally ignored.

The man and the girl sit on the beach and talk and the ferry goes by and he begins to talk about them. This indicates another one of his intense interests as he talks about how he knows how a ferry works. The music used is very atmospheric and almost warped, which can be seen as contrapuntal to the image being shown; a calm, bright day at the beach. This could represent the man's senses and his feelings, as his are different to the girl's. However, this type of music could also be suggesting a negative stereotype about his disability, that his view on things are 'warped'.

The camera cuts to a MCU of the woman watching the man and the girl, her facial expression and the audience's knowledge of her showing obvious jealousy. This links back to the fact that she has a lack of empathy for the man making new friends, which could also be a negative stereotype.

When the camera cuts to the man and the girl on the ferry, the hand-held camera movement instantly suggests something is wrong. The ambient noise slowly dies down, and as the man seems to be struggling to focus with an expression of discomfort, a dull ringing sound gradually builds up. It's unclear whether this certain sound is diegetic or non-diegetic, but it is possible it could be both. This clearly represents his disability having an effect on him and the audience as a whole.

As the sequence continues, the girl explains what's going on, and the audience can quickly see that she is lying. This therefore positions the audience to dislike the girl, as she was nice to the man before and is now framing him (linking back to the conversation about a 'white lie'). Here, she is showing she has more power over the man as he is unable to communicate what's actually going on.

The camera cuts and reveals the woman sitting on bench and the audience can only assume she is waiting for the man. The policeman is trying to talk to him but the audience can only hear slight muffled sounds, representing the man's current state. He lashes out a few times and the music/sound effect booms, creating a shocking effect. This represents how his disability affects him and reinforces that it can change him as a person.

All of this positions the audience to feel sorry for the man as he is badly misunderstood. The girl is seen being led from the ferry and she stops when she sees the woman, her facial expression clearly showing that she feels guilty for what she's done.

The shot fades to black and the last few shots show the man and the woman together without the girl. The audience can be positioned depending on how they feel, if they liked the girl or not (the majority probably being against her). The two together represent what the woman was saying before, as the girl may not have 'been the right friend', and the audience can feel sympathetic towards the woman. This could be seen as a positive stereotype of the woman's disability, as she thinks of the possible consequences of making new friends (this isn't seen as a characteristic in the autism spectrum, but it does show that it doesn't affect her greatly).

Key

• Blue = mise en scene
• Red = sound
• Orange = editing
• Green = camerawork
• Purple = representation