Princesas film
One scene within the film 'Princesas' where it depends upon distinctive uses of film techniques is the scene where the character 'Caye' is at a restaurant with 'Manuel' on a date. Particularly in this scene a forward tracking shot following 'Caye' is shown within this shot behind 'Caye' miss en scene of props is used by the use of her clothing which on the back of the shirt it says 'Sexy Girl' and underneath this writing is the number '69' which could link specifically to her job as a prostitute as the number links into a sexual position which would usually be deemed as inappropriate clothing to wear on a date especially as she says earlier on in the film 'I want to find love'. Which suggests the character as a dreamer. On the date, the camera that is being used is hand held, showing both characters 'Caye' and 'Manuel' sitting at the table which creates a sense of verisimilitude within the date. The use of dialogue within the scene of 'Caye' saying "The shirt looks better on Zule, she has bigger tits than me, Guys like big tits right? Mine are pretty small." This quote shows that she is very limited as a dominant figure as she is concerned about the size of her boobs which shows that she is sub-ordinate to me to the 'male patriarchy' as she wants her boobs to be bigger as she cares what men think about her, showing a dominance of masculinity. There is then a close up shot shown within the date scene at the restaurant with 'Manuel' of their hands touching move up and down gently on top of his, this shows 'Caye' trying to be seductive towards 'Manuel' as she is trying to win his love over for her which again shows he need for love and the theme of her being a dreamer to be in a relationship. There is then 'diegetic' sound of a phone ringing which is a constant interruption within romance films and scenes, which comes in-between 'Manuel' and 'Caye' on the date, this then leads to their hands becoming distant from one another.
Another example within this scene that shows the film 'Princesas' depending upon distinctive uses of film techniques is by the use of a hand held camera shot again showing another man at a different table looking towards the table that 'Caye' and 'Manuel' are dining at to suggest he was the one that rung the phone within this scene. The use of a hand held camera shot within this part of the scene has a very significant impact because it shows the person that is calling her which subsequently leads the character 'Caye' to go into the bathroom. At this part of the scene the man from the other table in the restaurant comes into the bathroom and says "I will give you 100 euros to suck my dick". At first Caye is hesitant but then as she is giving the man a blowjob the sequence shows the character 'Caye' in the reflection of a mirror which suggests that she is not actually there and it's only another part of her imagination and a reflection in her life. The use of her being shown in a reflection of the camera shot is to create a sense of 'verisimilitude', the reason for this is because the shot being shown in the reflection of a mirror doesn't mean it is actually happening, it makes it seem real because you can see the sexual activity happening, however it is not shown directly happening.
Thursday 8 December 2016
Friday 2 December 2016
Presentation quote
Does Christopher Nolan use a recurring theme of flawed male characters to classify himself as an auteur?
Projector: Image of Christopher Nolan (Item 19)
Speaker: Christopher Nolan is an English-American Filmmaker, in such a short time of film making since the late 90s he has gone from making low-budget independent films like 'Following' (1998) to big blockbuster films such as 'Inception' (2010) and even his own 'Batman' trilogy (2005-2012). He is now one of highest-grossing directors in the history of film, thus leading him to be thought as one of the most successful filmmakers of the 21st century.
People that watch Christopher Nolan's films will notice a recurring theme of flawed male characters which can often be caused by memory problems such as Leonard Shelby 'Memento' and characters in a negative psychological state such as Cobb from 'Inception' and also the recurring them of 'personal identity' which is shown by Batman in 'Batman Begins' with Batman being his alter ego to Bruce Wayne. This shows Christopher Nolan as an auteur and supports my point because the 'auteur policy' states that "An auteur is a director who manifests a consistency of style and theme across his or her films."(7) It also states that "The director is privileged by auteur critics because he or she is one who visualises the script on screen." (7) This being shown in the following films that I will discuss.
Projector: Image of Christopher Nolan (Item 19)
Speaker: Christopher Nolan is an English-American Filmmaker, in such a short time of film making since the late 90s he has gone from making low-budget independent films like 'Following' (1998) to big blockbuster films such as 'Inception' (2010) and even his own 'Batman' trilogy (2005-2012). He is now one of highest-grossing directors in the history of film, thus leading him to be thought as one of the most successful filmmakers of the 21st century.
People that watch Christopher Nolan's films will notice a recurring theme of flawed male characters which can often be caused by memory problems such as Leonard Shelby 'Memento' and characters in a negative psychological state such as Cobb from 'Inception' and also the recurring them of 'personal identity' which is shown by Batman in 'Batman Begins' with Batman being his alter ego to Bruce Wayne. This shows Christopher Nolan as an auteur and supports my point because the 'auteur policy' states that "An auteur is a director who manifests a consistency of style and theme across his or her films."(7) It also states that "The director is privileged by auteur critics because he or she is one who visualises the script on screen." (7) This being shown in the following films that I will discuss.
Projector: Play scene of 'Cobb' confessing guilt to Mal from 'Inception' (1)
Speaker: In this scene it already shows the fact of 'Christopher Nolan' using a theme of flawed male characters because the character 'Cobb' already expresses his guilt towards his wife saying that he created an inception in her mind. This already identifies 'Christopher Nolan' as an auteur because "an auteur in the Hollywood studio system is a director who transcends the script by imposing on it his or her own style and vision." (7) This is shown within the scene because it shows the theme of the male character being flawed of 'Cobb' by his negativity of emotion by the use of guilt.
Projector: Play the final scene of 'Inception' (Limbo scene) (1)
Speaker: Again within this scene it shows the character 'Cobb' as a flawed character because the suggests his feel of him being trapped in a dream. It also suggests the character is flawed because he really can't tell the difference between what is the real world and what is just an 'Inception' in his mind by the use of the totem of a spinning top to tell what is an inevitability of whether what he is seeing is real by the spinning top still spinning towards the end which suggests he has a choice whether to believe what is real and what isn't this leading the character of 'Cobb' of being a flawed male character which supports my point of defining 'Christopher Nolan' as an 'auteur'.
Projector: Play 'Batman Begins' (opening scene set in graveyard) (2)
Speaker: Like that in comparison to the film of 'Inception' the character 'Bruce Wayne' in 'Batman Begins' of this particular scene again shows the male character as being flawed. The reason for this being is because it shows not just his parents tombstone but also the characters 'fear' of Bats as he falls into the pit of the grave. This again supports my point of 'Christopher Nolan' using male flawed characters to identify himself as an 'auteur'.
Projector: Play 'Batman Begins' (Bruce training with League of Shadows) (2)
Speaker: Within this scene it refers back to the opening scene which shows Christopher Nolan's male characters being flawed, because as Bruce Wayne (Batman's alter ego) is training with the League of Shadows, Henri asks Bruce what he fears. Then within this scene we see "Almost instantly, we see a shot of hundreds of bats rapidly flying past Bruce as he lies in the hole. But in a subsequent shot from the hole, looking upward to the light, the film depicts Bruce's father climbing down with a rope in order to rescue him." (5) From this research it shows again the use of a flawed male character to represent Christopher Nolan as an 'auteur' because it clearly states the character of Bruce needed to be rescued and comforted by his father Thomas, who despite rescuing him is actually dead, this could represent Bruce's desperate need of his father and not wanting to be a failure in his fathers eyes, which represents Bruce as a flawed male character.
Projector: Play scene from 'Memento' where 'Leonard Shelby' is with 'Teddy' (3)
Speaker: This scene from 'Memento' again shows one of 'Christopher Nolan's' male characters as being flawed because the character 'Leonard' does not know who he is because he cannot remember because he has amnesia, because of the fact that he even has amnesia makes him a flawed character because he does not remember anything about himself friends or family and the only thing he actually trusts is the pictures he has of people and what he needs to do, in this case the picture of 'Teddy' underneath lists "Kill him" already making the character of 'Leonard Shelby' flawed because he doesn't know anything about anyone so his whole entrustment is within photos with writing underneath which again supports my point of 'Christopher Nolan' identifying himself as an 'auteur' by the use of flawed male characters.
Projector: Scene from 'Inception' where Cobb is on the Train track telling his wife he created an inception in her head. (1)
Speaker: Within this scene it clearly shows again the use of Christopher Nolan representing male characters as flawed because referring back to the first clip shown of Inception of where the character 'Cobb' confessed his guilt of creating an inception in her mind, the scene before this shows the explaining of how it happened where 'Cobb and his wife 'Mal' are lying on the train track waiting for the train to hit them so that they wake up, however this is what ultimately lead to the Inception within 'Mal's' mind leading to a simulacra where Mal cannot tell the difference between the real world and fake world even by the use of her spinning top 'totem' which usually tells her when she is in a dream world and she now does not believe in what the 'totem' tells her because the character 'Cobb' her husband lead her to believe this, which ultimately leads to him being another flawed male character to show Christopher Nolan's directorial work as an auteur.
Bibliography Reference Items:
(1) Inception (Film): 2010 Directed by: Christopher Nolan
(2) Batman Begins (Film): 2005 Directed by: Christopher Nolan
(3) Memento (Film): 2000 Directed by: Christopher Nolan
(4) The Cinema of Christopher Nolan: Imagining the impossible (2015) Author(s) by: Jacqueline Furby and Stuart Joy
(5) The Fictional Christopher Nolan (2012) Author: Todd McGowan
(6) Memento (2009) Author: Andrew Kania
(7) 'Teach Yourself Film Studies' (2003) Author: Warren Buckland
(8) http://movierdo.com/the-flawed-heroes-of-christopher-nolans-films-the-evil-in-the-good/
(9) https://narrativeinart.wordpress.com/nolan/
(10) https://filmandphilosophy.com/2011/09/15/memento-mind-memory-and-personal-identity/
(11) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmmakersonfilm/7894376/Christopher-Nolan-interview-for-Inception.html
(12) http://www.mtv.com/news/2764224/interview-christopher-nolan-talks-inception/
(13) http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2000/10/16/christopher_nolan_ii_interview.shtml
(19) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634240/
Reject Items:
(14) The Dark Knight Rises (Film) (2012) Director: Christopher Nolan
(15) The Dark Knight Trilogy Books (2012) By: Christopher Nolan
(16) http://www.timeout.com/london/film/why-christopher-nolan-is-not-the-new-stanley-kubrick-1
(17) http://www.nolanfans.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3419
(18) http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/christopher-nolan-interstellar-critics-making-760897
Speaker: In this scene it already shows the fact of 'Christopher Nolan' using a theme of flawed male characters because the character 'Cobb' already expresses his guilt towards his wife saying that he created an inception in her mind. This already identifies 'Christopher Nolan' as an auteur because "an auteur in the Hollywood studio system is a director who transcends the script by imposing on it his or her own style and vision." (7) This is shown within the scene because it shows the theme of the male character being flawed of 'Cobb' by his negativity of emotion by the use of guilt.
Projector: Play the final scene of 'Inception' (Limbo scene) (1)
Speaker: Again within this scene it shows the character 'Cobb' as a flawed character because the suggests his feel of him being trapped in a dream. It also suggests the character is flawed because he really can't tell the difference between what is the real world and what is just an 'Inception' in his mind by the use of the totem of a spinning top to tell what is an inevitability of whether what he is seeing is real by the spinning top still spinning towards the end which suggests he has a choice whether to believe what is real and what isn't this leading the character of 'Cobb' of being a flawed male character which supports my point of defining 'Christopher Nolan' as an 'auteur'.
Projector: Play 'Batman Begins' (opening scene set in graveyard) (2)
Speaker: Like that in comparison to the film of 'Inception' the character 'Bruce Wayne' in 'Batman Begins' of this particular scene again shows the male character as being flawed. The reason for this being is because it shows not just his parents tombstone but also the characters 'fear' of Bats as he falls into the pit of the grave. This again supports my point of 'Christopher Nolan' using male flawed characters to identify himself as an 'auteur'.
Projector: Play 'Batman Begins' (Bruce training with League of Shadows) (2)
Speaker: Within this scene it refers back to the opening scene which shows Christopher Nolan's male characters being flawed, because as Bruce Wayne (Batman's alter ego) is training with the League of Shadows, Henri asks Bruce what he fears. Then within this scene we see "Almost instantly, we see a shot of hundreds of bats rapidly flying past Bruce as he lies in the hole. But in a subsequent shot from the hole, looking upward to the light, the film depicts Bruce's father climbing down with a rope in order to rescue him." (5) From this research it shows again the use of a flawed male character to represent Christopher Nolan as an 'auteur' because it clearly states the character of Bruce needed to be rescued and comforted by his father Thomas, who despite rescuing him is actually dead, this could represent Bruce's desperate need of his father and not wanting to be a failure in his fathers eyes, which represents Bruce as a flawed male character.
Projector: Play scene from 'Memento' where 'Leonard Shelby' is with 'Teddy' (3)
Speaker: This scene from 'Memento' again shows one of 'Christopher Nolan's' male characters as being flawed because the character 'Leonard' does not know who he is because he cannot remember because he has amnesia, because of the fact that he even has amnesia makes him a flawed character because he does not remember anything about himself friends or family and the only thing he actually trusts is the pictures he has of people and what he needs to do, in this case the picture of 'Teddy' underneath lists "Kill him" already making the character of 'Leonard Shelby' flawed because he doesn't know anything about anyone so his whole entrustment is within photos with writing underneath which again supports my point of 'Christopher Nolan' identifying himself as an 'auteur' by the use of flawed male characters.
Projector: Scene from 'Inception' where Cobb is on the Train track telling his wife he created an inception in her head. (1)
Speaker: Within this scene it clearly shows again the use of Christopher Nolan representing male characters as flawed because referring back to the first clip shown of Inception of where the character 'Cobb' confessed his guilt of creating an inception in her mind, the scene before this shows the explaining of how it happened where 'Cobb and his wife 'Mal' are lying on the train track waiting for the train to hit them so that they wake up, however this is what ultimately lead to the Inception within 'Mal's' mind leading to a simulacra where Mal cannot tell the difference between the real world and fake world even by the use of her spinning top 'totem' which usually tells her when she is in a dream world and she now does not believe in what the 'totem' tells her because the character 'Cobb' her husband lead her to believe this, which ultimately leads to him being another flawed male character to show Christopher Nolan's directorial work as an auteur.
Bibliography Reference Items:
(1) Inception (Film): 2010 Directed by: Christopher Nolan
(2) Batman Begins (Film): 2005 Directed by: Christopher Nolan
(3) Memento (Film): 2000 Directed by: Christopher Nolan
(4) The Cinema of Christopher Nolan: Imagining the impossible (2015) Author(s) by: Jacqueline Furby and Stuart Joy
(5) The Fictional Christopher Nolan (2012) Author: Todd McGowan
(6) Memento (2009) Author: Andrew Kania
(7) 'Teach Yourself Film Studies' (2003) Author: Warren Buckland
(8) http://movierdo.com/the-flawed-heroes-of-christopher-nolans-films-the-evil-in-the-good/
(9) https://narrativeinart.wordpress.com/nolan/
(10) https://filmandphilosophy.com/2011/09/15/memento-mind-memory-and-personal-identity/
(11) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmmakersonfilm/7894376/Christopher-Nolan-interview-for-Inception.html
(12) http://www.mtv.com/news/2764224/interview-christopher-nolan-talks-inception/
(13) http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2000/10/16/christopher_nolan_ii_interview.shtml
(19) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634240/
Reject Items:
(14) The Dark Knight Rises (Film) (2012) Director: Christopher Nolan
(15) The Dark Knight Trilogy Books (2012) By: Christopher Nolan
(16) http://www.timeout.com/london/film/why-christopher-nolan-is-not-the-new-stanley-kubrick-1
(17) http://www.nolanfans.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3419
(18) http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/christopher-nolan-interstellar-critics-making-760897
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