Tuesday 17 January 2017

Meshes Of The Afternoon - Maya Deren



Meshes of the afternoon is a experimental film by Maya Deren, it is often recognised as the first feminist film and contains several clips of different women, my main idea for this film is that is like a dream-like de-construction of a woman's personality and the different sides that make her up through physical people and ideas. The messy repetition of the film and sharp cuts and jumps go against the typical conventions and interrupts the flow of the narrative heightening the dream-like state

Tuesday 22 November 2016

Presentation Script

How far would it be said that Johnny Depp is a method actor when it comes to developing his character for his roles.


Projector; Image of Johnny Depp (Item 16) 
Speaker; As seen in the previous image Johnny Depp is known for taking on roles where the character is very eccentric, playing characters where the characters require a great deal of preparation and characterisation. One of my focus films is Alice in Wonderland (Item 1), his character who is the Mad Hatter is the pinnacle of madness and main characterisation comes from his clothes and his demeanour, the Hatter is often said to be Depp's best characterisation. 


Projector; Clip of Johnny Depp as the Mad-hatter (Item 1)


Speaker; As seen in the clip above you can see the process that Depp takes to get into his character, with him using watercolours to create his image for the character. He did research on Hatters and found that they became mad on mercury and that it would stain their hands so he designed his character accordingly with his skin being bleached white and his curly vibrant ginger hair. This also impacted the physicality to his character, with his mannerisms and the way he acts. Which can also be seen in the clip, he has very jerky wild movements and he walks almost dream like. This by means makes him a method actor because of the way he got into character with his research. Within an interview (Item 5) he explained how he had "picked his poison" with this character, When he takes on a role, Johnny Depp often paints a watercolour portrait of the still-forming character to help find his face and personality of the character. Johnny Depp uses clothes as another one of his methods to characterise a character he is playing"Depp looked down at the Mad Hatter staring back at him from the canvas and giggled"(item 5) He uses the characters clothing to determine a personality that the character possess and uses the clothes as a solid foundation to build off. This example is carried through by a number of different characters he has played from Sweeney Todd and Edward Scissorhands to t
he Mad hatter and Captain Jack Sparrow, each of these characters has an outfit that makes their character. "to have that layer of that character, to feel their skin, it helps you find your posture as that character" (Item 12)


Within the Alice in Wonderland (item 1) film there is a scene where the Mad Hatter is having a tea party, within this scene there are key elements that present themselves that prove that Depp is a method actor, within this scene the first key thing that you notice about this character is his bright orange curly hair, Depp said in an interview that this become a incredibly important detail,"The 46-year-old actor said his Hatter’s springy mass of tangerine hair became a particularly important detail because of one of the suspected origins of the term “Mad as a hatter."" (Item 5) The curly hair is a trait in hatters as it is a sign of mercury poisoning which is why is he is as mad as he is as a character, Depp's Mad Hatter also “was poisoned  — very, very poisoned,” Depp said. “And I think it just took affect in all his nerves. It was coming out through his hair and through his fingernails, through his eyes



Thursday 10 November 2016

City of God Question

Within the City of God it talks about a number of serious issues, such as social exclusion and poverty,  within the scene of Benny's deaths there is uses of techniques which create a feel of immersion within the scene. With the use of the camera revolving around groups of people which show Benny interacting with different groups, this sets the base for the loss of Benny because it shows how everyone interacts with him. this creates an impact within the scene because it makes the audience feel a greater connection to Benny and therefore when he passes it creates a greater emotional response within the audience. The camera seems to be hand-held and revolving through crowds of people with Benny being flashed around in the middle of them, interacting and blending with the different groups, this relates to the idea of social exclusion but with Benny it creates an cohesive character family and joins them all together. The revolving camera with the flashes of lights and the diegetic music playing creates a blanket of film techniques which suffocates the viewer and fully emerges them into the film. Increasing the empathy felt for the character Benny at the time of his death.







Tuesday 1 November 2016

La Haine Question

Within La Haine the director Mathieu Kassovitz uses a number of different camera techniques, lighting and editing. This creates an impact within the audience which without these techniques the impact would not be as influential. Within the film there is scene in Paris where the three main characters are stood on a bridge and the camera does a reverse zoom dolly, this is a prolific camera angle for it makes the subject of the shot, in this case Vinz, Said and Hubert, alienated within the environment that they are in. This is done with the use of focus

Monday 3 October 2016

La Haine

Unrest, imbalance, tri-parte, loyalty, betrayal, revolving.

Poverty ; 1. Walking through the an estate block.
               2. the contrast in paris (dolly)
Power;  1. Hospital scene with police holding them back.
              2. Riot police chasing them through the building.
Conflict; 1. shooting vinz in the face.
               2. Vinz and Hubert fighting
Bleak - La Haine is bleak because the cinematography of the film as well as the settings are desolate and empty. There is little action within the film until a few sequences and this is personified through the characters and their lack of activity throughout the film.

Heroic - La Haine is an heroic film because it deals with strong social issues, the three main characters each fight an issue within the film. Hubert fights against the full of crime, Vinz fights against the police and Saïd fights with both Hubert and Vinz to keep the peace between them.

Tense - La Haine is a tense film because within the film there are recurring shots of a clock, this gives the ideas that within the film there is being a countdown to something. Another way that La Haine is tense is because there are rivalries within the film which build up to a conflict. 

                                                            Menacing - Throughout La Haine there are a lot of connotations of violence within the film, with the use of a gun as a centre piece within many of the scenes, like when Vinz admits that he found the gun or when Abduls brother gets arrested. 


Thursday 8 September 2016

Research Catalogue

Subject of my Study; Actor
Focus of my Study; Johnny Depp
Title; How far would it be said that Johnny Depp is a method actor when it comes to developing his character for his roles.

Item 1; Alice in Wonderland.Alice in Wonderland is an adaption of the Disney classic, directed by Tim Burton it has been reimagined as a gothic invention of artistry. Starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, this character is the pinnacle of madness and is portrayed as so through his clothes and his demeanour. This is a good example of a film where Depp gets into character as this character is a very detailed character to portray.

Item 2; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is an adaption of the book by Hunter S. Thompson, it is the story of a Journalist Rauol Duke (Depp) and his lawyer Dr. Gonzo played by Benicio Del Toro who travel to Las Vegas on a psychedelic drug fuelled trip to achieve the american dream. This is a good example because in preparation for this film Depp moved into Hunter Thompson's basement for three months in order to perfect the role and to get a true understanding of what Thompson wanted portrayed.
Item 3; Pirates of the Caribbean.Pirates of the Caribbean is a series based on the ride at the Disney Theme Parks and tells the story of several pirates and their battle for freedom against the ruling powers. Within the Pirates of the Caribbean Depp plays Captain Jack Sparrow, an eccentric pirate captain who Depp based the characterisation of this character on the guitarist of the Rolling Stones.
Item 4; Youtube video of Depp as the Madhatter.This shows how he is a method actor because it gives examples as to how he brings the character to life, using watercolour paintings to portray the image of the character which he then allows make up and costume to help create the image of the rest of his character. This shows that he is a method actor because it shows how he created the imagery of the Madhatter.
Item 5; A interview with Depp explaining his character and how he became him                                 A website interview explaining how Depp "picked his poison" with his character the Mad Hatter, giving examples as to how he had decided on the hair colour and the eyes of the Hatter, this explains how he creates the basis of the character. 
Item 6; Youtube Video of Depp appearing at a fan Expo as Jack Sparrow                                                        
This is a youtube video showing Depp appearing at a fan event dressed as and in the character of Jack Sparrow, this shows that he is a method actor because it gives an example of how he uses events that aren't within filming to cement his character and gain practise within that area. 

Item 7; Johnny Depp: The Illustrated Biography                                                                                      Within this biography there was mentions of how he was a method actor and it was mentioned within his biography that he often "loses a part of him to the characters he plays". This is an example of how he is a method actor because it shows that he puts a lot of work into his character and becoming whichever character he plays.        

Item 8; 
This is the book that the movie  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is based on. It is good evidence to use to prove that this was a tough character to portray and that Depp is a method actor in his right with how he became that character. 
Item 9; Johnny Depp; a kind of illusion
Within this book there is a mentioning of Depp "becomes wrapped up in his character and you'll find pieces of him within each person he plays and pieces of his characters within him" this shows that he is a method actor.
Within this video he talks about how going to visit these places really helps him to get into his characters because it gives him an opportunity to do improv, "visiting these places really helps me because I get to see happy children as well as practising my characters" 
Item 11; Behind the scenes in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
This video for behind the scenes is a good example of his method acting as you can see that even behind the scenes of the film that even when he wasn't in front of the camera he still remained in his character.  
Item 12; Depp talking about how wearing the characters clothes makes you feel like you are wearing their skin. 
"to have that layer of that character, to feel their skin, it helps you find your posture as that character" this gives an example to how he gets into his character; by wearing the clothes of the character.
Item 13; A Method Actor
This is a book on method acting, this is useful because it defines essentially what a method actor is which makes it useful to help define whether Johnny Depp is a method actor or not. (refers to a range of training and rehearsal techniques that seek to encourage sincere and emotionally expressive performances)
Item 14; Depp talks Mad Hatter
"‘I had re-read the book not all that long before and there were lines that I was pretty fascinated by, that I thought were clues to the character, little morsels" this is a good example of how he gets into his character
Item 15; Johnny Depp's Savage Journey
" All the time, Depp was studying: "Watching his mannerisms, the way he rocked back and forth, the way he talked, his expressions." This is an example of Depp getting to learn his character in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by staying in his basement and getting to know him through that.
item 16; image of Depp as Jack Sparrow

Rejected                                                                                                                                                       
Item 1; 101 Amazing Johnny Depp Facts                                                                                          Within this book it states that Depp does use method acting when taking acting jobs and developing a character. This is rejected because it holds no real depth to proving whether or not he was a method actor or not. 
Item 2; Sweeney Todd
This is rejected because I already have 3 focus films to get scenes from to prove his method acting and within this film it doesn't show his method acting because he did very little preparation for this role.
Item 3; Dark Shadows
This is rejected because I already have 3 focus films to use as examples.