Wasp Textual analysis (2003)

wasp

Wasp is a short film written and directed by Andrea Arnold. Released in 2003, it stars Natalie Press as a struggling single mother determined not to let her four young children prove an obstacle in the pursuit of rekindling a relationship with an old ex-boyfriend, played by Danny Dyer.

Cinematography

• holding the camera to reflect emotions
• shaky camera (when women are fighting)
• tracking shots 
• handheld camera- reflects the panic, gives a disorienting effect which illustrates how the children are feeling
• filming the scenery 
• more shaky shots when children are playing in the car park causing 
• regular close up with David and the mum to show the intimacy 
• 
  

Editing

linear editing-much more realistic 

 many cuts whilst women were fighting 

cross-cutting- to the children perspective and the mums perspective

question: how is cinematography used to create meaning:

in wasps (Arnold 2003) cinematography is used to create meaning. Towards the end of the film, several close-ups are used to create intimacy between the spectators and the subjects. Specifically, when the wasp was about to enter the babies mouth the shot changed from close up to extreme close up, The director intended the spectator to feel uneasy by the extreme closeup because as spectators we have entered such close proximity to baby's mouth ultimately the spectators would feel extremely uncomfortable because the baby is in potential danger. 

Micro features

Microfeatures

Four main "Microfeatures"

1. Mise-en-scene
2. Editing
3. Sound  
4. Cinematography

 cinematography

• Camera Movement
• Shot size
• Camera angle

Camera movements :

• Track(in, back, left, right, with, and behind)
• Tilt(up and down )
• Dolly(left and right ) (dolly out zoom in\dolly in zoom out)
• Zoom( in and out )
• Crane(up and down )
• Pan ( left and right ) and whip pan faster movement
• static(still)
• Camera racking (pull focus)
• Handheld

Camera angle:

• canted/oblique/dutch angle (tilted at an angle)

depth of field:
shallow- background blurred focus on one person/object

deep-everything in focus

lighting:

basic 3 point lighting setup 

• key light brightest 45 degrees to the camera
• fill light 50%-75% of the key light
• backlight low intensity must use diffusion
• chiaroscuro(strong contrast between light and dark)

Editing

The Kuleshov Effect- is a film editing effect invented by Soviet filmmaker, Lev Kuleshov. It is a mental phenomenon where the audience derives more meaning from the interaction of two back-to-back shots than from one shot in isolation. In the 1910s, movies were emerging as an art form.

rhythm and pace: the way a film fits together.

use of montage: 
a technique in film editing in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time, and information.

graphic matching: 
the creation of strong visual similarity between shots, encouraging audiences to make connections between them.


performance:

melodrama-exaggerated
realism-daily everyday life in a naturalistic manner
comedic-humour
intertextual- a cluster of meanings and parts, often referencing 

the stars consist of three component parts:

real person 
reel person
the star's persona (independent of, but a combination of the other two parts)


stars image :

• what industry puts out
• what the media says 
• what the star says or does
• what we say 

stars are considered as a cultural value they reflect the time in which they work and their work becomes a sign reflected in society.


MISE EN SCENE


mise en scene slide show:https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/195SWoLnuxxt53kOcGUHq5q6zz1WtrT0UW_Zfax6ex_w/edit#slide=id.g6317ff31de_0_5