A-Level Film Studies - Daniel Kallin

Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994) - Resist conventional narrative structures - Familiar narrative structure seen with:     - Todorov's equilibrium     - Three Act structure     - Cause and effect     - Linear     - Classical Hollywood... ends on "Hollywood kiss" - Storytelling; new ways of telling the story - Multi-stranded, e.g. Tarantino's Four Rooms  - forerunner of his cinematic style and techniques - Intertitles at start of each storyline - Black comedy, graphic violence, dialogue and                                                                      monologues 1. The diner - 3 2. Jules and Vincent - 1 3. Vincent and Mia - 5  4. Butch - 6 5. Jules and Vincent and Mr Wolfe - 2 6. Back to the diner - 4 'Honey Bunny & Pum...

The cohesive interpolation of realism and expressionism has proved itself to be a key tenement of Soviet montage cinema, and other European equivalents, where an exaggerated reality can be used to propagandise Communist ideals. Within Man With a Movie Camera , Vertov uses expressionist editing to forefront the achievements of the Soviet Union, basing his visuals on everyday life in Soviet cities, prompting comparisons between man and machine. Vigo, in A Propos de Nice , takes the city of Nice and employs a critical perspective on the class divisions there, using techniques from German Expressionism to emphasise the grotesqueness of the actions of the idle classes. Where the reality of the poverty and disparities in Nice is shocking enough if presented naturally, expressionist imagery and editing allows Vertov to promote Communist ideals as a solution to these problems. Man With a Movie Camera implements realism with expressionism through a combination of visuals and editing, owing ...

4. With close reference to the two films you have studied, explore how either performance or mise-en-scène create meaning. [40] Both City of God and Ida, as films from global cinema, employ performance to create meaning, by forming human connections between the spectator and the characters they follow. In both films, this is integral to bridging the cultural divide between the typically Western arthouse spectator and each film's different worlds, with the favelas in City of God, and post-war Poland in Ida. In both cases, non-professional actors, from the places in question, are employed to bring realism to the film, and to make the films' meanings come from within the people they document, rather than from outside them. In doing so, the spectator becomes a visitor to the film's world, and the meanings within them, as they can find a way into the perspective of characters very different to them. In City of God, many shots spend time developing some of the more violent chara...

  How far does the film's aesthetic qualities contribute to the film’s themes and messages? Intro:  Key themes - lingering presence of the Holocaust, guilt, isolation, emptiness 'aesthetics' - visual tonal qualities of the film and mood Bones sequence, Exit sequence Visual elements reflect the depression and guilt of the film - b&w, tonally consistent, lingering shots Integral to tone of movie However... dependent on content of film Holocaust elements come through in the dialogue, and the sparseness of the film Music, also important, but more add to the tone than create it, rarely used Overall, visuals aesthetics for themes through tone, post-war Poland non-verbally represented, but dialogue brings nuance and characterisation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Pawel Pawlikowski's 2013 film Ida, he uses the film's aesthetic qualities to enhance the film's themes and messages, as the dull visual colou...

  Man With A Movie Camera (Vertov, 1929) - City symphony - Omniscient viewpoint of three Soviet cities (Kyiv, Odesa, Khavkiv, Moscow) - No actors or scripted scenarios - Focus on theatre, poverty, babies - Maxim Gorky - Music symphony tied with sequence, offers continuity - Part of film is showing the process of making it Celebration of diversity of life: - Couple in registry office, wedding - Transition into funeral procession - Constant movement, modes of transport, rhythm of life Form = cinematic equipment = how film is made Content = sacrificed = what we see = ideas and themes  A Propos de Nice  (Vigo, 1930) - Great Depression - Social discontent - Rise of Marxism/Socialism - Beginning of European Fascism - Art Deco - Cinema as 'art' or Cinema as a social force - Modernism and constructivism - City symphony - Banality of life - Jump cuts, juxtaposition and montage editing - Handheld and hidden camera, social realism Silent Cinema - By the mid-1920s Silent cinema was m...

  Refer closely to two different sequences and analyse how key elements of film form contribute to the themes in  City of God . Moving to favelas: displacement, isolation, the "left-behind" Closing seq.: abuse of justice, corruption, cyclical nature Through the sequences of "moving to the favelas" and the "closing sequence" in City of God , Merielles uses a cinematic framework of cinema novo and social realism, to root the film's aesthetics and form to themes relevant to Brazilian social issues. In doing this, he fits City of God into the tradition of Brazilian cinema whilst also bringing to the fore a sense of identity and representation to the overlooked groups of people in Brazil, giving the themes a sense of contemporary relevance, and allowing the victims of and contributors to said themes to make their voice hear cinematically. Within the "moving to favelas" sequences, these themes include displacement and the 'left-behind', usi...

                            Ida  (Pawlikowski, 2013) - Influence of European tradition in terms of styles, takes inspiration from film movements such as Italian neo-realism, French New Wave, Polish New Wave - Also taking inspiration from film noir - with the use of monochromatic lighting and colour scheme - Narrative comes from European history and specifically from Poland and the Jewish community - Relevant to the failed initiatives for an integrated Europe Pawlikowski's first film made in Polish, funded by Polish film institute, uses their personnel, filmed on location in Poland - Set in Poland 1962 - After WWII - communist rule (under Stalin and the Soviets) - Many Polish-Jews died from the Holocaust - After 1945, Poland mostly a homogenous nation - Ruled by Polish People's Republic - After Stalin's death in 1953 - some relaxation of political pressure from Soviet Union - Early 1960s economic pr...