Film assignment- Task 1

Film Genre assignment- BTEC Media

Action and Comedy

The reason I chose these two genres is because I am comfortable analysing and comparing the two genres. Also these 2 genres have to be analysed within the task.

Task 1

Compare and analyse the stylistic codes and conventions of fictional genre film in reference to its target audience.

The comedy films I have decided to analyse are

The Hangover (2009)

And

Anchorman (2004)

The first comedy I am going to analyse is The hangover, which came to screens in 2009. In this film, there appears to be many successful stylistic codes, these include the usage of the camera and the shift in angles. In this film, there is a scene in the latter stages where a character, Doug, is missing on the roof of a Vegas hotel. The movement within this scene is vital as the other characters have been trying to find him for the majority of the film. Therefore, the stylistic codes have to match otherwise the film wouldn’t really work as well as they’d have hoped. With this shift in camera angles in this scene, the editing is clearly fantastic as the angles change from extreme long shot, to long shot and then to close and extreme close ups within a matter of seconds. With the shift in angles and cinematography within this certain scene, it creates a great deal of suspense, as you can see the panic growing in the character’s faces. Through this, to show the character’s panic, they use extreme close ups; to show the sweat dripping and to show the growing fear in their faces. As they are also searching round a rooftop for Doug, they use the ‘tracking shot’ and follow the characters every move upon the rooftop. Again, by doing this it creates a lot of tension, as to whether they will find Doug. This of course excites the audience of the film as they will be eager to know whether they do in fact find the missing character. The mise en scene matches too, as the characters have been searching for Doug in the scorching heat for hours, therefore the lighting matches the scene as the Sun is beaming down on them. Their extreme heat makes sense, as they are exposed to sunlight on the top of a roof, whereas if they were on the floor, they may not be sweating as much. Their body language also links, as they are shaking in nervousness and disbelief that they have lost their friend, and may ultimately never see him again. With this exact scene, the film uses non-diegetic sound involved. With this sound, it relates to the mood of the character and it builds suspense throughout the scene as to whether they will find the person they have been looking for throughout the whole movie. The sound throughout this is rather continuous and relates to the mood of the character, which means it is non-diegetic. This differs from The Anchorman, where the sound is rather non-diegetic and doesn’t tend to base itself around the mood and feeling of the character, which in fact works as it doesn’t give anything away as to what is happening in the move, it all comes as a surprise.

With The Hangover, this follows Tzetvan Todorov’s five stage theory of starting with equilibrium with them being

1.    There is an initial equilibrium

2.    The equilibrium is disrupted by an event

3.    There is recognition of the disruption occurring

4.    There is an attempt to restore the disruption occurred by the event

5.    The equilibrium is restored at the end of the narrative

1.With this narrative stylistic code, it starts off by everything starting off all well, the 4 main characters are about to set off to Vegas for a night for a late stag do. They then enjoy a good night out, however, things get a little out of hand

     2. The characters emerge after a night out and wake up in their hotel suite realising        they are without Doug, there is a Tiger in the bathroom and there is an unknown baby in a closet.

3. The police find out about their events, and realise the characters stole a cop car, eventually leading them to be arrested and eventually tazed by voluntary children. They then stumble across a Korean who they stole money from, and tells them he will give Doug back if he gives them his 80,000 dollars. Finally, Mike Tyson’s character catches those who stole his Tiger and forces them to give him it back.

4. The character’s gamble towards the 80,000 dollars and then agree to meet the Korean whose money they stole, then agree to meet up with him in an exchange for Doug. After they do the exchange, they realise the Korean gave them the wrong Doug, and they are forced to continue their search.

5. The equilibrium is finally restored as they stumble across Doug on top of the hotel roof. They rescue him safely and take him back to LA where he gets married.

Anchorman

The second comedy I am going to analyse is Anchorman, which came out in 2004. With this film, there appear to be many stylistic codes used, with these, the most successful of these are the shift in angles. With this, the most apparent and successful use of cinematography appears to be the tracking shot. This appears quite frequently throughout the movie, most often when Ron, the character played by Will Ferrell, is at the centre of attention. An example of this would be when he is running through San Diego to read the news or when he is wandering through the streets after he has been sacked as lead anchor. This interests the viewer as they will want to see the main character’s every action, and how he reacts to being late to read the news and being sacked from his job. With the use of the tracking shot, you can see the character’s emotions, and how they’re feeling about each action. This compares to The Hangover as tracking shots are used for the effect of the viewer, to check the emotions of the character and to see what they’re going through. Seen as though it is the main character. With anchorman, it also specializes in its medium shots of the characters, which often occur when the anchormen are doing a news broadcast.

This is just a typical shot throughout the movie, which is one of the most common shots.

With this, the tracking shot, this is another common shot within the movie. It appears quite a few times throughout and is typically being used when Ron appears to be in a bad situation.

In comparison to The Hangover, the anchorman appears to use a variety of stylistic codes and conventions, including the usage of camera angles, which change from scene to scene. However, like The Hangover, anchorman also follows Todorov’s five stage theory. This story line of this is

1.    Ron starring in San Diego with his job, happy with his news team and doing a good job

2.    A woman who he meets at a party then joins the news team and effectively takes Rons job

3.    Whilst Ron still has his job, he has his dog kicked off a bridge by a biker, he then starts crying in the middle of San Diego and is late for his job, the woman takes his job and eventually Ron gets sacked.

4.    After becoming depressed and rather lonely, Ron finally sees his old news team and tries to get back on their side and get his job back

5.    Ron gets his job back and eventually does a co-anchor job with the woman. They then eventually marry and everything goes back to normal.

With the film Anchorman, the lighting is perfect on the characters, as it does not shine too bright on the characters faces when in direct sunlight. However, the sound within the film is quite hit and miss. This is because the sound doesn’t really give anything away, it is diegetic sound. The reason this is rather hit and miss is because some people love a surprise and have to work out what is happening next, however, others may want to find out at the current time, so they know how each character is really feeling at that given moment. This differs to The Hangover as the Hangover has non-diegetic sound, therefore you can understand the characters emotions and how they are feeling at each moment.

Action

The second genre I am going to analyse is action. The reason being is, with action, there is plenty to talk about, including the props, the sound, the dressing and makeup of the character and the setting.

The two films I have chosen to analyse for action are

Die hard(1988)

And

Skyfall(2012)


First of all, I chose Die Hard because it is a thriller/action movie. With Die Hard being claimed to be a Christmas film, it is clear to see why people suggest otherwise, albeit being set around Christmas time, there is a lot of gun action and hostages.

Synopsis

A policeman from New York City is visiting his distant wife and their 2 daughters nearest to Christmas, however, when he arrives at the destination he accompanies his wife to  festive party for the organisation she works for. Meanwhile, during this party, German terrorists take control and take hostages at the scene. At this moment the policeman finds out he is the only person that can save everyone.

In this film, again, there is a wide range of camera angles being used for the effect of the viewer. However, one used to great effect is the canted shot. The canted shot works because the focus of lighting on the terrorist gives him a menacing and a sinister look to him, this is shown by the large shadow looming over him.

Another camera angle used for effect in Die Hard is the close up shot. With this shot, you can see the agony and pain the Bruce Willis character is in. The close up shot is best to portray his pain. This shot is shown with John having many scars and blood on his face, you can see by the discomfort in his face he is worried about what might happen, if he is to die and the plaza is taken over completely. 

With action films, there is always a fast moving plot, which contains violence in abundance. With action films, there are always scenes where the protagonist faces a series of challenges. Whether that be to save people from death or to go out of his way to kill an enemy, these challenges always occur. These scenes can alter from many physical threats, which is shown in Die Hard, to extended fight scenes. The antagonist, Hans Gruber, who was played by the late Alan Rickman was the mastermind terrorist in Die Hard. He was the character who put John to the sword in the fight.

Hans Gruber was suited in a suit and tie and looking like he was ready to get down to business. The suit and tie combination on the Alan Rickman character shows a sense of masculinity, it shows a will to fight and determination to become superior. This is shown in the Bond trilogies. Bond will always be shown in a suit and tie, he always looks smart when going to fight. Maybe by dressing this way it gives a psychological edge to the character as they believe in themselves, it could be seen as confidence from the character.

Sound

With Die Hard, the soundtrack is non-diegetic, not that it always matches the mood of the character, however it matches the scene and the events. This is because when Bruce Willis’ character is closing on Hans or an enemy the soundtrack is played. It comes to an expectancy that, when the soundtrack is played, Bruce’s character is about to come across Hans, he’s about to go face to face with him and fight.

Skyfall

I chose to analyse the film Skyfall because I have watched it countless times therefore I am familiar with the film. Having said that, there are many talking points and many points for comparison.

Synopsis

There is an awful turn of events after Bond’s latest assignment goes horribly wrong. International undercover agents are exposed, the MI6 is attacked, forcing the character M to relocate the agency. With the MI6 now compromised inside and out, M turns to Bond, the only man she can trust. Bond is only aided by a field agent, he now takes to the shadows and follows a trail to Silva, a man from M’s past who wants to settle an old score.

First of all in Skyfall, the first thing to mention would have to be the 007 theme song. The reason being is the theme is unique and is unlike an other films I have analysed. It is unique as it is Bond’s own theme, the Bond theme has been passed through all of the 24 Bond films, ever since Dr.No. The reason for this theme being so unique is it is a signal that Bond is ready to fight his opponent and save the day. It is a sign that action is about to take place. This contrasts to the other films as no other sound track compares to those analysed, none are as significant or as recognisable. Viewers can relate to the James Bond theme as it known worldwide, viewers know immediately what is happening when they hear the symbolic Bond theme, and that is that something is going down and some action is happening. Whereas with the other analysed films, if they have non-diegetic sound, it isn’t as familiar as the Bond tune, as it only relates to the mood a character is in.

Secondly, in Skyfall, as well as all other Bond films, Bond is always dressed in a suit and tie. With the character of Bond having this dress code, it makes him more recognisable for who he is. If he changed his attire every film, he wouldn’t be as recognisable, you wouldn’t be able to relate to the character as much, therefore it is vital he doesn’t change his look. Also with this look, he looks more professional in his agency, it shows masculinity and manliness and also kind of showcases his ability to outfox his opponent as it makes him look rather smart. Also, by the look on his face, he never gives anything away. Bond is always focused on the task, which of course makes for a professional look, which may give him the edge of his opponents. Therefore, with Bond the props never really have to be altered, which makes the series so great as it doesn’t change much, he is always wearing a sharp suit and equipped with a pistol. 

With the cinematography, one great scene for its camera angles is the Macau casino scene, where Bond travels across a lantern lit lake. The angle shot used was the long slow tracking shot. This shot is one of those ‘wow’ shots which you appreciate due its sheer beauty. It works well as the colour and lighting is perfect and compliments the scene. With fireworks aplenty shooting up to the sky to welcome him. The lighting of the fireworks and lanterns make sure everything works, and with the long slow tracking shot, it gives you time to adjust to Bond’s current situation and take it all in, it’s a moment to realise that everything with the lighting and shot makes everything work.

 

         Another scene good for its shots is the train derailment scene. This scene specialises in a low close up shot. The reason this shot is being used frequently in this scene as it shows a scent of worry on Bonds face. As he is in a direct shoot off

 with a policeman and he then derails a train onto him. The look of sheer worry is written all over his face, however this is portrayed and shown in an excellent way by the low close up shot, it lets you see Bond’s every motion whilst this is happening, which makes it such an important scene in the film.

Overall, I believe Skyfall is the best for its overall mise en scene and cinematography, as its sound relates to the movie and is recognisable. Also, the range of shots is fantastic, and they all make sense and fit in with the scenes.