REVISION city of god and panslabrynnth

exam question : Explore how aesthetic qualities canbe  used to enrich meaning in city of god.

In the city of God foot shooting scene, Meirelles uses aesthetic qualities such as cinematography and mise-en-scene to present the themes of violence and power and how they manifest themself into the Rio de Janeiro slums. Cinematography played a big role in how the characters were portrayed, especially the fast pace handheld camera, gives the sense of chaos and unpredictability of the camera is aligned with the unpredictability of steaks decisions making on whether or not he should shoot the young boy. As well as the extreme closeups on the 2 boys distressed faces this gave the effect of claustrophobia and allows the spectator to sympathize with the children's sense of fear. It then transitions to a high canted angle shot of the gang interrogating the boys this angle gives the effect of a CCTV camera this amplifies the crime that's about being committed. Because it replicates the evidence that may be used against them. Aesthetically, the handheld camera shots, combined with the high-angles and the over-saturated, grainy look of the film, imbuing it with a documentary feel, almost as if it is war reportage.

Another key scene that has distinctive aesthetic qualities in the city of god is the opening montage scene and 360 shot of the rocket.  The opening scene introduces the audience to the film and gives us visual signifiers of what's to come. The first opening shot depicts an extreme closeup of a kitchen knife being sharpened, we see this image intercut a few times. This successfully introduces the idea of violence. A knife is seen as an everyday object so its evident that violence is going to be a recurring theme in this film. in terms of colour, it's very cold with a range of blues and greys, making up the colour palette. The opening scene uses "colour isolation" in a couple of shots, this is when only one colour is present and the other colours are dulled down almost to monochrome. This is especially evident when a young female is cutting a carrot. The orange colour of the carrot is extremely vivid and portrays the idea of freshness as well as the mass killings of the chicken was in vivid colour this sets up the assumption that they're in an urban setting, and that its a cold and unfriendly place. However, there are several displays of rich vivid colour in the opening scene, for example, the spices. this is a representation of the more traditional side of Brazil, but its use more to show us that it's not your typical representation that will be shown. These aesthetic qualities help contribute to the overall effect of the film on the spectator because of the give a snapshot of what the basis of what the film will be about.

Also, the 360-degree shot reflects a time-jump, as the camera winds around rocket anti-clockwise to represent, going back in time and a representation of rocket feeling trapped. As time rewinds we see a rocket in the sixties with a yellow saturation instead of the blue which was originally in the present Rio de Janeiro. Yellow aesthetically is deemed to be a happy colour and connotes a calmer time in the favelas. Meirelles uses filters to indicate the passing of time. Meirelles uses his cinematographic skills to represent the poverty and the true reality of the city of God through the grittiness and the use of natural light this perhaps signifies the poverty in the slums and the lack of electricity, furthermore, this demonstrates how the aesthetic qualities in the city of god can contribute to the overall feel it has on the spectator.






PANS LABYRINTH

PALE MANE SEQUENCE:

It is the underworld, literally because Ofelia has to go down to reach the pale man and enter the catholic

church to find the table similar to vidals table. there are historic references of the dark repercussions of war such as the holocaust, this is evident with the pile of children shoes.del toro does this to show that all wars end in disaster and suffering and how history repeats itself, so will the Spanish civil war that vidal (the facists) are currently fighting will end in unrsolved pain and suffering.  this underworld where the pale man is parallel to vidals world e.g military and the church. it symbolises how Vidal and his army, as well as the Spanish catholic church concealed identity, is dark and monstrous and that they cause much pain and suffering this is highlighted through how Ophelia tries to take food from the feast on the table, but she is not able to eat it, because punishment will follow. this symbolises how war is a time of rationing and the church possesses all the food(money) but not willing to share it. Del toro uses the pale man sequence as a microcosm to represent the greed and dark hidden world of the church and the Spanish civil war.

the irritable noices of the fairies add to the tension to the scene when ophelia attempts to take a grape, also the shallow depth of field is evident when ophelia attempt to eat the grape whilst the pale  man sneaks behind her, creeping up on her without her being aware.This shows that the punishment of eating food from the table which repersents the riches greed consequently means the punishment is the paleman eating you, this is evident with the pile of shoes of paleman last victims who fell for the trap,this thereofre symbolises how the poor and less fortunate succumb to temptation and are always in the hands of the rich who hold power over them. But ophelia is able to get away .

experimental cinema -pulpfiction

 PULP FICTION-QUENTIN TARINTINO 

experimental cinema :

-fragmented narrative and narrative structure

-resists cohesive narrative style-deliberately encompasses a range of film forms within the category.

-poses many challenges for the spectator who must work hard to put the overall narrative together.

-endings and beginnings are enigmatic-more questions than answers

Narrative:

-isolated moments possibly 

-empty of conventional plot and story

-resists creating characters with whom the spectator may engage at any level

-create meaning will be the spectator's role.

honey bunny and pumpkin:

-first storyline 

-honey bunny is seeming really nice to the waitress, they lock eyes, and smiles seem very friendly and her voice is soft, but as they start the robbery her voice and character changes its more performative.

-everyday dialogue-normalizes criminals

opening sequence honey bunny and pumpkin:

microfeatures

-starts in the middle of the conversation, no introduction to characters 

-quick cuts-focus on faces

-no establishing shot

-leaves with more questions than answers

-zoom-when deciding to rob-unsettling -breaking conventions 

-scene foreshadows

butch:

narrative challenges what it means to be an American/patriot

-storyline links butch to Marcellus and julse/vincent

scene Marcellus give butch money: only focusing on butch- side with him 

lighting red-anger-distrust, warning

back of Marcellus head-mysterious character

jules and vincent storyline:

• First meet when driving- movement, the car​

• Jules been in Amsterdam a few years- an intellectual, earnest discussion of hash ​

• Then the etiquette of eating and drinking in Europe: Mcdonald’s ‘Royal with Cheese​

• On the way to meet Marsellus (new task)​

• (back story Antwan gave Mia a foot massage)​

• Vincent to look after Mia when Marsellus ‘out of town’​They go to Brett’s- violent

•  shootings (Brett disloyal to Marsellus)​

• Vincent picks up drugs on way to Mia’s​

• MIA & VINCENT- eat out​

• ‘Force Fox Five’ joke- Mia​

• Mia’s quick reference to Andy Warhol’s ’15 minutes of fame’​

• Again dialogue- ‘uncomfortable silences’​

• She Ods- adrenaline shot​

• Serious situations made comedically​

• REPLAY- at Brett’s with Jules​

• ‘divine intervention’​

• Marvin killed in a car- Mr. Wolf to ‘clean’ at Jimmy’s –again serious and violent issues are normalized​.

butch:

• Bribed by Marcellus to lose in ‘5th round’​

• As a child- Butch given a watch by a marine veteran- irony​

• Butch wins his match and flies with Marcellus after him​

• He made an additional deal with Scott to win- cashes in ​

• Leaves watch behind – goes back to the motel and accidentally kills Jules​

• Jules and Butch- meet (Marcellus common link)​

• Butch crashes into Marcellus- they fight ​

• Both wounded-​

• White man takes them to shop​

• Marcellus- violence​

• ‘what now’ – they part​

honey bunny + pumpkin

• they eat breakfast in a diner, while they plan their next robbery.
• they then decide that the diner is the perfect place to rob and they proceed to do so.
• while robbing the diner, they encounter Jules who takes control of the situation, placing a gun on pumpkins head 
• He decides not to shoot and takes pity on them. honey bunny and pumpkin run away with the money.

in the wolf scene it is experimental because they talk about mundane and ordinary things whilst cleaning a mans blood they just killed, this is unconventional and it humanises criminals. It also is experimental because the director and maker of the film Tarantino, which is random to use yourself as 

EXPERIMENTAL FILM IS OFTEN THE RESULT of an auteur challenging established conventions 

with fresh ideas'. with reference to your chosen film option. how far do you agree with 

this statement [20]

Auteur:Tarintino

because he has a distinctive style-themes and filmmaking across a body of work which becomes more recognizable. specifically dialogue, juxtaposition,reflections, satire,on america passt/present ande certain actors in his films thurman.

BREAKING FILM CONVENTIONS-MAINSTREAM AUDIENCE TARINTINO-RESISTS A BAND APART:

Storytelling conventions -unfamilar = experimental

Narrative -deconstructs structures

because this was a classical hollywood style of narrative

characterization -dialogue

beginnings and endings

genre conventions-his hybrid approach and refusal to follow generic film conventions -confirming the question

multi-stranded narrative and nonlinear time  frame 

Challenges to Convention ​

• HYBRID QUALITIES/ Genre???​

• The heroic portrayal of the US army- absent ​

• Absence of a protagonist/ all villains (Marvin a victim) we side with villains- 

• antagonists- Vincent dies (we might have sided with him; he dies early in the narrative)

• ​

• Constant power shifts- link with key elements analysis- POV​

• Narrative- non linear/ multi stranded/ 3 strands – connected???​

 

challenges to convention

• a lot aspects belonging to the crime/thriller mixed with comedy 
• flashback with young butch (watch) Christopher Walken 
• Marvin -Mr wolf-Marcellus-butch
• pumpkin and honey bunny -Jules/vincent 

counter-arguments how far do you agree:

• Disagree with the statement. He is NOT unconventional-  because:​

• We follow characters and their stories- ‘death, redemption, freedom’​

• Use of establishing shots​

• Still argue there is some kind of structure (albeit confusing)​

• Exploits familiar codes and conventions in unfamiliar ways (Graeme Turner –Genre)​

• Steve Neale- audiences like the unfamiliar in predictable ways​

• Representation of women STEREOTYPICAL- NOT EXPERIMENTAL – MISSED OPPORTUNITY

• ​