small scale research project, catologue draft

Catalogue draft: does Ryan Gosling create meanings within his films?

Films

Item 1:
half nelson produced in 2006 dir. Ryan Fleck.
https://zimbofilms.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/half-nelson-ryan-gosling-3800890-400-222.jpg
image of Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson
this is relatable to my area of topic as it shows how ryan gosling creates meaning through his performance as he clearly shows the two sides of his character the role model teacher figure and the drug addict struggling to fight his temptation.

Item 2:
drive produce in 2011 dir. Nicholas Refn.
This item shows how Ryan Gosling uses his performance to create meaning as throughout the hole film he is doing this to give the audience an understanding.


Item 3:
crazy stupid love produced in 2011 dir. Glenn Ficarra, John Requa.
this is a good item to show how Ryan gosling creates meaning through his performance as within the film he through his performance he shows to the audience that his character Jacob has fallen for Emily as his performance is different to when he's with other girls.

Books/Articles

Item 4
Empire, in cinemas: Half Nelson by Angie Errigo. Issue 215 may 2007 page 52
This relevant to my area of topic as it shows that Ryan Gosling created meaning through his performance in half nelson by expressing two sides of the character clearly the cocaine addict and teacher. Also he was nominated for an Oscar showing his performance in this portraying meaning to the audience was remarkable.

Item 5
QandA by Rebecca Carroll in the independent film and video monthly volume 28 number 7 September 2005.
This is sportive of my question as it shows Ryan Gosling creating relation between his acting role and experiences in real life in the film 'the believer' giving him a deeper understanding to his character and role, therefore showing he creates meaning through real life emotions he has actually experienced.

Web-links 

Item6
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/09/ryan-gosling-blue-valentine-film
Article on Ryan goslings life by Alice Fisher
it stats that in the 10 films he's appeared in, he's been nominated for 32 different awards. it also explains is a cross over star, who critics and audiences love. The fact that he sticks to a lot of indie films that are challenging roles and expresses his apparent love for acting, and shows even though they are challenging roles he still creates meanings as he has been nominated for 32 awards.



Item7
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ryan-gosling-named-coolest-person-of-year-274671
this item supports my statement as it stats that he won two golden globes for his performances in crazy stupid love and ides of march, it also shows that even with a extreme pressure Ryan gosling doesn't crack as he made 4 films in 2011 being drive, blue valentine, crazy stupid love and ides of march (all Hollywood blockbusters) and in each of them different meanings from his variety of his performances. Gosling was not over exposed as in all performances he was different.



Item8
http://screenrant.com/interview-ryan-gosling-drive-rothc-131693/
this article is relatable to my area of topic as it states that Ryan gosling has not only pursued, but also actively developed, films that challenge the audience to engage with characters and circumstances showing he creates meaning through his performance to creates a strong engagement with audiences. the article also talks of him choosing small scale projects, he makes these small scale films into blockbusters with his apparent love from audiences. the fact that he also chooses different roles within completely different films also makes him flexible with performances.



Item9
http://collider.com/ryan-gosling-crazy-stupid-love-interview/
this item also supports my question as in the interview we find out that Ryan Gosling did research to make his character Jacob in Crazy stupid love real as he learnt and practiced how to make cocktails or his role and also practiced in a band. Showing Ryan Gosling practiced his performances to suit and create meaning with his character.







YouTube clips
Item 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oXIzkqJ484
interview with Ryan Gosling for crazy stupid love
explains he did research for his characters pick up lines to create meanings through his performance and that the clothes he wears for specific roles and the cast list help a lot while acting.
Item 11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdqbdEKeJ_4
extract of performance from opening scene of drive relevant as it is from my supporting film and also shows how he creates meaning through his performance, useful as it is primary coming straight from the film.
Item 12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGZzWyt-YG0
Extract from half nelson.
shows clearly his performance constructing character through showing his conflicting sides. Part of my focus film, primary source coming straight from film.




Three items I didn't include in my catalogue were:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls058052066?ref_=nm_rls_5
I have excluded this item from my catalogue as it disagrees with my statement as it believes in a rating of best actors and actresses Ryan Gosling comes at 34.





http://www.vulture.com/2014/05/illustrated-comprehensive-history-bio-biography-ryan-gosling.html
the complete history of Ryan Gosling by Annie Silman is relatable to my topic of area as it gives a complete history and background of all the films and shows Ryan Gosling has appeared in, including the awards he was nominated and ones he won for all my focus films.




Filmmaker volume 14 issue 4 July: check your head by Ross Mathews
this item is relevant to my topic of area, however it mainly repeats what has been said in some of my other items and it isn't necessary to involve it in my catalogue.

The Intouchables

The untouchables is a French film directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano in 2011 about the tale of two people of different ages from juxtaposed backgrounds finding friendship In the most unlikely way. There are many themes, representations and uses of symbolism shown through the use of mise en scene, editing and cinematography all used to add impact and affect to the film.

there are many themes throughout this film, the main theme being friendship shown through the use of representation of lower class black subcultures in Driss and the stereotypical aristocrat shown in Philippe is used very well in this film to create a comedic affect. This stereo type is specifically shown through mise en scene with the use of costume specifically Driss wearing a baggy coat and jeans and Philleppe wearing stereotypical aristocrat clothing with a shirt and handkerchief. This emphasises the juxtaposition between the two through the difference I close they wear and really creates an impact of how un likely yet symbolic their friendship is. The difference in class is also shown through location with Driss living in a Council estate and Philepe living in a closed off mansion. Friendship is also shown between the two through miss en scene and the prop of the picture which Philippe gives to Driss expressing to the audience that Driss wasn't just his carer and it wasn't just a working relationship.

Another theme shown, also shown through the use of location, in this film is power between Philippe and Driss. We see the power of money with Philippe having a lot of money and Driss having little to nothing, the power is shown through the location as Philippe lives in a considerably larger house and is also waited on hand and foot. This power through location is symbolised in Omar's performance as he is amazed and belittled by Philippe's house. its Also shown through the use of little props like glasses of water as Philippe demands for water and Driss obeys showing who is in charge. Philipe's power is also shown in the end of the film when they go parachuting this is shown in the editing with Driss saying he want go on it even though Philipe demands, but then a harsh cut is shown of Driss ending up strapped in, showing Philippe gets what he wants. However this then changes as Driss is physically stronger, shown by the deliberate use of the character that parks outside Philippe gate. Driss' power is shown through cinematography with high angled shots looking up at him in this scene.

Another Theme shown in this film is family, this is shown between Driss' relationship with his brother and Philippe with his daughter. the theme and message of family means everything is shown with miss en scene and the medium shot of driss walking with his family at the train station and the bags being used as props showing Driss' love when he helps his aunty carry them.b Philippe and his daughter also pot ray this message through Philippe's performance with him raising his voice at her seeming like he's being harsh, but really he's trying to care for her.

in conclusion the film Intouchables is a well rounded film showing important messages through the use of miss en scene, cinematography and editing.  adding comedic values to a drama through they stereotypes of Driss, this being don with his costume and his performance with the way he moves and speaks, which is then counter acted with the way that he cares for Philippe.

compare and contrast La Haine and City of God

Compare and contrast core texts La Hain and City of God.

City of God directed by, Fernando Mierelles, Katia Lund in 2002, and La Haine directed by, Casa Veti in 1995, are two very similar films in the locations they are set in, the background of the characters and the messages they portray; even though these two films are shot and set in different countries. The genre of the films are also the same as they are both urban crime films. La Haine is a film based in a working class estate in France and is influenced/based on the events of the riots which took place in France around the time the film was made. It is a tale of three friends both involved in a power struggle to be top dog of the group, but also seek revenge for the people who brought brutality to their estate. City of God is located in the favelas within Brazil and follows the life of a young man seeking to find a living through photography even though gang crime and drugs is all that surrounds him.

There are many similarities within the themes between the two films, the main one of these being poverty, shown through the location that both films are set in one being a council estate and the other being the favela. Poverty is also shown through the main character in La Haine as when we are first introduced to Vinz the use of a pan shot round his room is used and mise-en–scene with posters of wrestlers and Marilyn Monroe to tell us that he shares a room with his sister showing his family are too poor to afford a house with separate rooms for them.  Another theme shown in both films is revenge shown through the performance of the main character s and the use of props especially guns to portray power and anger for example the gun used as power in La Hain in the end scene when we see the conversion of power between Vinz and Hubert when Vinz hands over the gun. Another similar them that is shown in both films is the urge to escape from poverty, we are shown this in La hain with a crash zoom on to Vinz’s bright gold ring, suggesting to us he likes to give the appearance that he is not poor meaning he doesn’t like to be poor. It’s also shown in La Haine through the mise-en-scene in Vinz’ room with a picture of a sunny beach paradise along the wall by Vinz’ bed showing he wants to escape to paradise. This theme is also represented in City of God through the prop of the camera; Rocket is intent on having the camera because he knows it is his ticket out of poverty.

There are also similarities between representations of both films. In both films police are seen as crocked or brutal, we see this in city of god in the very end scene where we are shown from shots of rockets camera and through the use of props, these being the money and the box, that the police are crocked because they are paid off by li’l Ze. We also see crocked and brutal police in La Haine, which we are shown through a medium room shot of Hubert and said being beaten up by the police.

Both films are also similar in the fact that they both use real life events to base their films around, la haine using the riots in Paris and City of God using the gang war in the favela. The audience know this because in La Haine they use real life hand held footage of the riots to start of the film and in City of God they use a close up news interview with the actual ‘Knockout Ned’ to finish the film.

 However there are differences between the representations of young people in both films, this is because in La Hain young people are represented as being disrespectful and lazy this is suggested through Siads performance when he shouts at the old man and also through the close up of Vinz sleeping when it is clearly midday. Where as in City of God young people are shown as respectable and hardworking only with rocket though, as at the beginning of the film the fish stall shows us that rocket is hardworking as he is selling fish from a very young age. Furthermore there are also massive differences between the endings of both films these being the fact that in La Haine we see Vinz get shot in the head and we are left with a medium shot of hubert and the policeman pointing guns at each other than a crash zoom to Said and a blackout in synch with a gunshot, leaving us unsure of what has happened and the main characters in a horrible situation. Where as in City of god we are told by monologues on screen that rockets pictures gave him a job in photography leaving us knowing the main character lived happily.

In conclusion both of these films are very similar and in truth havge very little differences apart from in some cases like representations and what they leave the audience with.

Creative project presentation

The genre is action and it will be reflected through the use of props in mise en scene and quick cuts in editing. We choose to do it as a short film because it ha a lot of detail and a full storyline. The target audience is British teenagers because it reflect the youth of London and most other countries wouldn't understand the vocabulary, are focus points will be mise en scene and editing we will show these main points through detailed props, relative location and a lot editing and cuts. The location will be purley car park. 

Our performers will be:

Callum

Grant

Alex

Patrick

Connor

Khari

Luke

Luke

Christoph

Beth

What are the similarities between 'fish tank' and the first part of 'sket'?

There are many similarities between the two British crime films 'fish tank' being the most subtle crime film and 'sket' the more obvious crime film. One of the main similarities between the two films being the location, both based around a working class estate. The costume in both films are in someway similar with some characters wearing teak suits to make them look like youths, along with costume, the hair was actually similar because Mia in fish tank had a gelled back pony tail similar to some of the characters in sket. Some of the props were similar aswel, because in both of the films they have alcohol bottles used as props.

There's also similarities in the characters between 'fish tank' and 'sket', for example Mia and the leader of the girl gang, there's similarities in these two because they commit similar crimes like assault when they're insulted or threatened, they also show a part of a good side in them, Mia in saving the house and the girl from sket in looking after kayla and taking her in. There's also similarities between Mia and kayla as the both get sexually harassed, Mia by pickeys and kayla buy boys on the bus. They both in some way want revenge to what people have done to them, and both of them either have no mother or a bad mother.

Also the performances are similar in both 'fish tank' and 'sket' as in most of the the actors mainly all use colloquial language or slang. The actors also act and walk or move in the same way, this is because both films show the life of working class youths and they try to show this in similar ways. 

The cinematography in both films were similar as they mostly all used the same camera shots, mainly all being eye level shots or low shots. Both films also mainly use medium close ups or medium shots.

The editing is roughly the same on both of them aswel they both go around medium pace, fish tank sometimes a lot slower though. They also both only really stick with one line of action rarely ever using two lines.

Coursework

The film me and christoph are going to make for our coursework is going to a tine of illegal racing film based around the genre of action/crime. The conventions of the genre that we are going to be focusing on are mise-en-scene, editing and sound, this is not yet are final decision though. The micro features we are going to be focussing on are the location because we want a good location for it to make it look like a real underground race. The films or directors that have influenced us into doing a film like this was 'the fast and the furious'.

ill manors

How does mise-en-scene, performance, cinematography, sound and/or editing construct meaning and provoke response in ill manors?

The film I am analysing is Ill manors which was released in 2012, written and directed by ben drew. Ill manors is a film based on the  lives of four drug dealers Kirby, Chris, Ed and Arron; a gang Marcel and Jake; and two prostitutes, Katya and Michelle all living around an estate in London. The lives of these people all interlink through the course of drugs, gang troubles and pimps. The genre of ill manors is crime/drama. The extract I have chosen is 8:06 minutes in and is 4 minutes long, in my extract it goes back in time and shows Kirby’s life as a drug dealer and the childhood of Chris and how he grows up to become a man. The extract have chosen barely has barely any dialogue and is narrated by the directors (plan B) song. I am using Mise-en-scene, sound and editing to analyse my extract. My main themes for this extract are how the switch of power from Kirby to Chris is shown and how Chris’s harsh upbringing is shown throughout the film.

Mise en scene constructs meaning and provokes response in ill manors in many ways. One of these ways being the costume and hair used, especially for Trevor, he is dressed in a shirt with braces and rolled up jeans and a shaved head giving us the understanding that he is a skin head, provoking a response as we worry about Chris when he is left alone with him. Mise-en-scene is also useful as when Kirby is coming out of prison the prop used, which was the mini disc player Is a very old belonging to have, showing he has been in prison for a long amount of time, constructing meaning because we start to think that Chris has had a long time to gain power over the drug game.  Mise-en-scene is also used to provoke a response through the harsh upbringing of Chris, through the setting of the basement. The link between the basement and the props used in it for example all the drugs and the razor blade, provokes a strong response that Chris has had a harsh upbringing. Also the use of drugs give us a clear understanding of the switch in power from Kirby to Chris because at the start the drug props are twigs and seeds that are given top Chris showing Kirby’s in power but then at the end of the extract he then gives him real drugs because Chris stands up to him showing Chris becomes more powerful. Also the make-up used on Chris to show his scar constructs meaning that Chris was mistreated and constantly reminds the audience of jakes harsh upbringing. The use of body language in mise-en-scene shows the switch in power and makes us think that Chris has taken over control when  he stands up right and holds his head up high looking over Kirby making him seem more important and over powering Kirby.

Sound is also used throughout the extract to construct meaning and provoke response. One of the ways in which this is done is through the use of non-diegetic sound, as there is music playing throughout the whole of the extract. The music in the extract acts as a narrative because there is no dialogue, the narrative explains what is going on throughout the piece and guides us along what is and has happened. This gives us a strong understanding of Chris’s harsh upbringing because we get a detailed and in depth narrative of what is happening to him.  Another important aspect that sound brings to the extract is when the music changes from a non-diegestic sound to a diegestic sound. This happens when it starts to play through the stereo making the part of the extract stand out and draws are attention, the stereo then starts to cut out building up tension and then we get our first bit of dialogue which constructs meaning in the switch of power between Kirby and Chris. The sound helps us understand this because through the change of non-diegestic sound to diegesstic it makes it stand out, making the change of power more noticeable.

Editing is used in my extract to construct meaning and provoke response I many ways. Editing is used we to show the child hood and bringing up of Chris, the editing is good at this because it manages to show a wide spread amount of years on Chris’s changes in a very short amount of time. Slow motion is used in the extract when Kirby leaves prison this is good use of editing as it makes us see Kirby serious, and latter makes us worry for Chris because we feel sorry that he had to grow up around a man like Kirby. The fade out used from the black space Trevor was in back to the basement brings us back to the harsh reality and makes us realize that Trevor is in the basement while Chris is there making us worry for him. Editing is also done well in the extract because it shows a change in time clearly making it easier to understand the growing up of Chris. This is done by having the image of the wall in between the two shoot too make it look like its going to a separate room even though the room stays the same.  Slow motion is used again in the editing of the extract when Chris finds his mother dead of an overdose, this makes us pay attention and makes the moment more sad and deep, provoking a response from the audience making them feel sorry for Chris and worry about what is going to happen to him next. The fade out from the clip of Chris’s scar to another clip of his scar but of when he’s older is a good way to show the audience that Chris is growing up and gives them a clear understanding of what is happening. The shot that the editor chooses to keep mainly throughout the extract, always shows the hole of the basement which gives us a proper view of the location and analyse what is in the shot, this gives the audience an understanding of what kind of environment that Chris grow up in. the cut to the stereo before and after the dialogue also helps improve the effect of sound making the switch in the power stand out even more. There’s mainly one line of action used in this extract so that we are constantly concentrated and understand the harsh bringing up of Chris and the switch of power between Kirby and Chris.

The use of Mise-en-scene, sound and editing are used in many ways to construct meaning and provoke response. Sound is mainly used as a narrative to give the audience a strong understanding of what is happening in Chris’s life. Mise-en-scene is mainly used through costumer and props to give us an idea of the switch of power and too make us worry for Chris.  Editing is used through the cuts to just give an overall understanding.