Elise Thompson
AS Film Studies: Evaluation
For the Unit F631 was to create an artefact, for my artefact I chose to produce
nine key frames from which the audience would be able to clearly depict the
narrative through. Alongside this I had to complete a few pieces of paperwork to
explain the basis of my artefact (this included a location report, script etc.). . My
creative artefact tells the story of the protagonist Sophie escaping torture after
being abducted by the masked antagonist; it follows Todorovs narrative theory
as Sophie is in disequilibrium and attempts to restore her equilibrium.
The aim for my artefact were to ensure that my key frames reflected a similar
theme portrayed by the protagonists within the two films The Hunger Games:
Catching Fire and Skyfall as referred to in my textual analysis, therefore I had to
show both the opposing genders represented as dominant and thus the female
must gain dominance over the male at some point during my production. I did
this through this shift of dominance I created in which the male antagonist was
dominant at the beginning then the female protagonist gains dominance at the
end.
In my textual analysis I identified specific codes and conventions that I was able
to use within my creative artefact, one thing I was able to identify is that
regardless of the genre of a production the director has the ability to use
semiotics to portray specific messages about the protagonists. I identified this
within my textual analysis names within Skyfall the as the author has created
symbolism through his choice of names. The name James Bond also furthers the
stereotype; James' such as Eve' shows intertexuality as
James is a name from the bible displaying importance. The
last name Bond' means fasten things together this is
symbolic of his dominant behaviour and can connote to the
audience that he is the superior character among the rest.
I was able to input semiotics within creative artefact
through mise-en-scene element costume; the genre of my
artefact is a horror therefore it is a convention for the
antagonist to be dressed in black to connote the fact that
they are somewhat evil, however, my protagonist also
wears black and this acts as an enigma to the audience as
a director I input it as a sign to the audience that there will be a plot twist as the
protagonist will be the murderer an act that stereotypically the antagonist carries
out within horrors.
Another convention recognised in my textual analysis was the fact that in The
Hunger Games: Catching Fire a countertype between genders is presented.
Within the film Katniss Everdeen as the protagonist is constantly portrayed to be
dominant over every character she encounters including characters of the
opposite sex, in the world of films this is seen as a countertype as it is usually
males presented as dominant throughout productions. We see this portrayal
presented throughout the narrative with help from compositions Katniss runs in
and a focus pull is used to divert the attention to her. Katniss, although in
the background takes up a central position within the frame. The compositions
used within this scene connote to the audience that Katniss is overall
the superior gender. I was able to input compositions to connote the same
message to the audience about my protagonist Sophie, I used the rule of thirds
Elise Thompson
to constantly frame Sophie to take up two-thirds or as much of the shot as
possible, with this the audience were able to clearly identity her as the
protagonist. I also used depth of field in order to divert the audiences attention
away from the murderous action in the foreground of the shot and to the dull
ceiling in the background, I did this as a stylistic way of showing the audience
Sophies current state of mind and present her as morally desensitised due to
the intense situation she is in.
did
I planned out for my production before beginning it
to ensure I had truly thought about the narrative,
mise-en-scene and cinematography for my
artefact. One thing that I involved in my planning
was to ensure that Sophie had the correct makeup,
I therefore was able to find a makeup artist in
order to do her makeup as it is stereotypical that
an attractive star plays the princess in terms of
Vladimir Propps theory of the seven broad
characters, on top of the standard make-up I
included the fact she would
have dry blood on her face within my script I
this to add to the conventions of the horror
genre and create verisimilitude, the blood
connotes the danger Sophie is in.
My
script and location report allowed me to
establish the setting for my production I
decided to film in a workshop and therefore I
was
able to think of stage directions suitable so the
space I was filming in, it also helped me to
select a good sequence of shots and angles in
which I could use to construct the narrative with. Establishing my location also
helped me to ensure that I was fitting into generic conventions for my artefact
this included props to match the setting and genre e.g. the saw to fit the
environment as well as the fact it could be used as a tortuous weapon to fit with
the genre.
Overall, I believe that my artefact was successful in achieving the aims, I was
successful in using semiotics to through depth of field that Sophie was
desensitised. I was also successful in portraying both the opposing genders as
dominant at some point of the extract through my linear narrative. However I do
think that I could have made improvements by referring further into the stylistic
way the directors of my two chose case studies manage to portray the theme of
gender dominance to the audience by constantly specific scenes from my textual
analysis and I think if I did so I could have been able to effectively incorporate a
similar style to my artefact.
Word Count: 1000
