Aims and context for Screenplay

Connor Rowe

Aims and context:

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Screenplay/Script

Extract of a film: Introduction, Plot and End

Target Audience: Age 15-Mid 30’s

Key stylistic elements of sequence: Apply editing that usually appears in the horror genre for example non-diegetic sound

Use common conventions of the horror genre for example Villains, Religious iconography, Mise-en-scene, and typical character archetypes for example dumb blonde etc.

Inspired by Victor Miller the writer of the original Friday the 13^th Film script.

(Princesas) How far does the impact of films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques?

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.

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: 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

How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques? City Of God

City of God

Within the film 'City of God' the impact of the film largely depends on distinctive uses of film techniques. A scene where this shown is where the character 'Lil Zé' and his gang offer the character 'Steak' to "take a walk with them" which 'Steak' a young character, accepts and goes to the favelas with them. This scene shows the dependence of uses of film techniques to create impact because the simple use of 'Steak' deciding to walk with 'Lil Zé' and his gang will effect him for the rest of his life. After this the scene instantly cuts to an establishing shot of the favelas which has a lot of impact upon the film as it shows part of the urban environment and how narrow the favelas are causing a verisimilitude feel as it shows the reality of being trapped in a poor area especially within the characters walking within the favela of the establishing shot which suggests the reality of them being stuck there. This then again cuts to an overshot of the characters of 'Lil Zé' with his gang including 'Steak', this overshot causes a big impact as it again shows how narrow it is while the characters of 'Lil Zé' and his gang have guns which again suggests the verisimilitude of being trapped theres no space to escape the reality they live in. Again the use of distinctive film techniques is depended upon to cause impact within the film by the use of a hand held camera which makes the scene feel real again for the verisimilitude effect, however the hand held camera while showing all the characters, the camera focus is vastly on the character 'Steak' which could suggest that he is effected in this scene by 'Lil Zé' and his gang which causes verisimilitude towards the character of 'Steak' to suggest whether his decision to walk with 'Lil Zé' will effect his life, this hand held camera and verisimilitude effect is then cut onto the 'runts' who are the young characters within the favela which also suggests that the reality of their life and how they are going to be effected within this scene, the characters which before this scene robbed an old mans store to which they ran away from which could focus on the karma and how their decisions may have consequences within their lives. Then this cuts back to 'Lil Zé' and his gang with 'Steak' tracking upwards on the characters which makes it seem as though all of these characters are important and have an impact within the scene including the 'runts' no matter how small their role is within the film, which suggests within the favelas and urban environment setting are all important leading to an immersion within the film of its environment and its characters of the favelas and other settings and adds verisimilitude that everyones life is important no matter how big or small they are in the world.

How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques? La Haine

La Haine

The scene within La Haine where the character Vinz is being shown by the use of a split screen shot with Vinz's face on the left and what he is witnessing on the right. The use of the use depends on the distinctive use of film techniques by the split screen shot it shows Vinz as a reaction shot and what he is witnessing on the right hand side of the screen. On the right hand side of the screen it shows what Vinz is seeing, where a gun being shot is shown, at this moment on the left hand side of the screen it shows Vinz's reaction in a reaction shot to what is actually happening at this actual moment in time. The use of this film technique has a big impact towards the film as it shows Vinz and how he handles crime first hand, in comparison to earlier within the film where he was watching an action movie at the cinemas showing crime to Vinz in third hand. This film technique has a big impact on the film because it shows the character Vinz face of shock and awe to witnessing crime happen in real life where it is out of control. The use of this is to represent the difference between reality and what is not reality. This shows what impact violence has towards Vinz, although Vinz may be highly influenced under crime because of films and controlled fighting it doesn't effect him the same way to cause him to aspire to a life of crime. Another use of this split screen shot of Vinz's reaction is also to show that everything on television fake and fantasy where as in the real world it shows Vinz does not find violence acceptable or at the very least he does not aspire to a life of crime even though previously in the movie he has pretended to point a gun or pointed a gun and has not shot multiple times, he is also neutral when doing this, his reaction never phases from a neutral expression when witnessing crime until he sees it happen first hand, which the reaction shot within the split screen shot that real violence can conjure up much more or actual emotions more than film does. Linking to another scene where La Haine shows further dependences on distinctive uses of film techniques is earlier on within the film where the character Vinz impersonates a scene from the film Taxi Driver which features Robert De Niro, the scene that Vinz is impersonating here is the infamous "Are you talking to me" scene, the reason that this links within this scene is because it shows Vinz being influenced by the use of crime and action within films but again is not actually phased by it within this scene also, this shows that until he witnesses with real guns with real violence he is not phased by it at all until he witnesses it first hand which leaves him in despair.

La Haine 4 words

The first word I have chosen to best describe the film La Haine is pessimistic. The reason that I have chosen this word is because throughout the whole film there are consistent signs shown by the characters that they are very doubtful about everything. An example in the film featured to show this is where the character Hubert suggests he needs to leave the area and that the society is not good for him and he wants to leave.

The second word I have chosen to best describe the film La Haine is innovative. The reason that I have chosen this word is because the film shows a lot of new ideas. There are plenty examples of this shown within the film and a few of them are where The Dj is mixing songs from a western hip hop song into a traditional French song by Edith Piaf, I felt that this in particular was very innovative because of the suggestion behind it of the factor that the races are mixing with each other which supports diversity among society. Another example that I felt was innovative was where a poster said "The world is yours" in french which Said spray painted over to change it to "The world is ours" which suggests that everyone is equal and there shouldn't be one more person dominant over the other which I felt was an innovative ideology.

The third word I have chosen to best describe the film of La Haine is real. The reason that I have chosen this word is because it represents real life situations in the underbelly of France in lower socio-economic classed areas. An example that I particularly liked within La Haine which suggested realism was the scene where Said tries to click his fingers to turn off the Eiffel Tower lights, to which Vinz responds "That only happens in movies". The reason that I liked this was because it was strongly suggestive of a sense of realism in the film as to it being a fairy tale for such a thing to happen and that it represents an ideology of a fake world and real world in society and which is real and as to why society is bad in this particular film.

The fourth word I have chosen to best describe the film La Haine is hopeless. The reason that I have chosen this word is because the group of Said, Vinz and Hubert, whilst all mentioning in the film of what they want in their lives or how they're represented, for example Vinz is a dream and Hubert says he wants to leave the area and Said wants everything to be equal and everything to change. The fact that their society is so hopeless is shown by the fact that at the end of the film none of these three achieved their ambitions and that their future is hopeless.

La Haine 6 pictures that represent it. separate to 6 words, 2 power discuss 2 conflict, 2

6 words:
Liberty
equality
fraternity
Misunderstanding
tri colour
ethnicity

2 scenes of power: One scene of power in La Haine is when Vinz pulls out a gun towards the camera.

Another scene of power is where the cops are outstrengthing Said and Hubert where the two are being held hostage.

2 scenes of conflict: One scene of conflict in La Haine is where reporters pull up and accuse Hubert, outstrengthing  and Said of being at the riots.

Another scene of conflict is where Hubert and Said are being held hostage by crooked cops and being abused by them.

2 scenes of poverty: One scene of poverty in La Haine is where the youth are on top of the flats and they are cooking and eating food up there which makes them appear homeless.

Another scene of poverty is where the 3 are sitting with a younger kid and there are needles on the floor which have been used which suggests they are in a poorer area.