Project 17 - Time

Viewing: Memento – Christopher Nolan (originally posted 10th March 2013)
A film with a non linear (i.e forward in time) narrative

I attempted to draw a diagram of this narrative but it got very messy, complex and was more confusing than helpful. Rather, I’ll just relate the plot and describe how I came to fathom out what I think this film is about. The narration of the film is restricted to the point of view of the main character, Leonard who is suffering from short term memory loss after an injury sustained when his wife was raped and murdered by two intruders (he killed one of them before being knocked unconscious). This of course provides an interesting dilemma for the film maker, how to present this condition to the audience in a way that reflects the character’s day to day experience as he seeks out the remaining perpetrator of the crime so that he can exact vengeance.

From the interview with the director shown as an extra on the DVD, it is clear that the viewer being confused and uncertain about the story and the plot is a deliberate ploy by the film maker to let the audience experience the same type of confusion and memory problems that Leonard experiences. This also reinforces the absolute necessity for Leonard to keep daily notes and polaroid photographs of people and locations to keep track of his actions and movements.

Christopher Nolan also points out that his narrative is often described as non-linear. It is a linear narrative but it is shown in reverse, compounding the audiences difficulty in comprehending what is happening. The clue to this is the opening scene when you are shown a polaroid print “un-developing” hinting that everything from this point should be read in reverse.

I watched the film in its entirety twice. At the end of the first viewing I could put together an interpretation of the narrative. The opening scene showed the killing of a man. Subsequent scenes (I assumed) would show how this final act  came about. Very soon I was confused but I was making notes so I carried on watching and established that Leonard was looking for the man who raped and murdered his wife and took away his life. He seemed to have assistance in the task from Teddy and Natalie. The two characters appeared to be playing each other off, one against the other but keeping the climactic first scene in mind you started assuming that it all worked out in the end and Leonard tracked down and executed the murderer.

Intercut between the action were scenes in black and white which told the story of another man (a client of Leonard's when he worked as an insurance investigator) who suffered from short term memory loss which helped to explain and also question Leonard’s experience, however this was also told entirely from Leonard's perspective.

My second viewing was in reverse. Using the scene selection menu of the DVD I started watching with scene 15 and worked back to 1. Something interesting happened as a result. It became apparent that Natalie and Teddy were not as they appeared. It was in fact Teddy that Leonard killed in the first scene. Natalie also manipulated Leonard into kidnapping  a drugs dealer she suspected of killing her boyfriend. It was in fact Leonard who killed him. At this point, the confusion is absolute and you realise that Leonard is being used. Often in the film he is asked why he wants revenge when he will never remember having it. The narrative is unresolved (in my mind anyway) and the film maker has made the point that with short term memory loss (unable to make new memories) Leonard could be destined to continue his search, being fed false information which targets another “suspect”.  Alternatively, Teddy may have been the murderer and Natalie helped Leonard achieve his goal. The audience remains uncertain and the plot remains unresolved………

Research blog
Memento is no longer available to me  for viewing so for the examples of expansion and contraction of time, I used “Sliding Doors” which has an interesting story line where two possible scenarios are played out in parallel after the heroine misses (or catches) a tube train home after being dismissed from her job.
Compressing time – the rush to the office – under the opening credits. A series of jump cuts compressing time (in this series) to 26 seconds.

Slow motion – The two scenarios which form the basis of the plot occur from the moment Helen approaches the doors of the train. In the scenario where she catches the train by fractions of a second, the action is slowed as she reaches for the doors of the train to prevent them from closing, showing her squeezing through the opening doors.

Cutaway – There is an interesting use of cutaway in this sequence too. Helen is shown inside the train and the camera pans left to show her other self, (who missed the train) standing on the platform by the closed doors, followed by a jump cut from within the train showing her on the platform and a subsequent shot of her sitting in the train to reinforce the idea that two scenarios are being played out.

Dissolve transitions are used to compress time in the bar sequence as Helen drowns her sorrows after learning of Gerry’s infidelity and also to show time passing as Helen sleeps and wakes after her night with James.


Wipes (R to L) and Intercutting are used to show how time passes in Helen’s parallel stories i.e intercuts of her finding work in one life and having a makeover in the other.


Empty Frame – is used when Helen is following Gerry unseen, indicating the delay as she tries to keep out of sight and a safe distance behind him.

These were the only transitions I could identify in the film, fading in and out to black or white seems to be absent in this one.

Two Scene Script
Scene 1 Interior – morning  summer light
Camera zooms back from sunlit exterior showing summer growth on trees outside and pans to tennis racquet and sports bag on window seat. Girl picks them up, calls out goodbye and leaves by the front door.
Fade to black
Scene 2 Same interior – late afternoon light
Camera on front door, door opens and the same girl rushes in excitedly hold aloft a sports trophy in her free hand  and calls out to her mother, “I did it Mum, I did it!”

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Viewing–Fahrenheit 911

A few notes. I wasn’t impressed by Michael Moore nor do I care much about US politics. I have a reason for that but this is not the place to discuss it. I was grateful for not seeing the whole World Trade Centre Atrocity again. The audio track, the black screen then the floating paper and running people summed it up tastefully.
As for the rest of the “revelations” and in light of the  alleged subsequent assassination of Bin Laden, and Obama’s failure to deal with the Guantanamo Bay internees, I maintain a healthy scepticism. I trust neither politicians or journalists unless I can grip them by the gonads and look them directly in the eye.

Viewing Non-narrative films

The first film I watched was Symmetry: https://vimeo.com/22564317 2m 54s
It presented a very simple idea – balance. There was a narrative, it was just a view of life in terms of the way things go together.

• Yes, there was a journey, or the many journeys that we take in life. This caused me to reflect on my life.
• This was achieved by using a split screen showing a pairing of things, objects, animals, people, which in most people’s minds are associated.
• There was a delay of four or five pairs before I got the hang of the film, from then it was very simple to understand. First I thought it was about opposites but then realised that it was more, it was about balance, i.e. one thing counteracts another.
• The most memorable pair was the final one with a new-born infant crying and an old man lying dead on a hospital bed with a continuous tone from his heart monitor. The ultimate summary of life.

The next one was called Record  (2m 33s) https://vimeo.com/72287275. This was bit more complex at first viewing with four different scenes shown in rotation a the camera panned clockwise as if on a record turntable (the film starts and ends with the pickup arm being placed and lifted from the record.

• Two of the scenes were do do with discord, a young couple arguing in an bedroom and two old men falling out over a game of chess.
• The other two scenes were about harmony, a party where people were enjoying themselves and a dance studio where two girls are rehearsing a duet
• As the scenes changed the discordant people were reconciled and the record in switched off showing the dance studio. The party winds down showing a near empty room.
• I was trying to find a link between the scenes and the final caption “Hello,  again” forged the link and I thought, old enmities forgotten friends reliving the good times. Three act narrative.
• The film was an advert for Lincoln Cars – a re-launch I would guess.

• The “making of” video is here https://vimeo.com/73003033 The film was less direct in its motivation, the four scenes were different ways in which people respond to music. The lyrics of the music are what gave me my idea; “We used to be so happy, I miss you”
• Not really an advert but an initiative by Corporate America:

“The Lincoln Motor Company is proud to partner with Vimeo to explore new collaborations with emerging artists. Join us as we say, “Hello, Again” to classic ideas. What we reveal just might surprise you.”

Viewing: “Dogville” Lars Von Trier

In the course filmography, this film is described as something “artificial and contrived”. While it is different, there is not much more that is artificial or contrived than in in any other film. The narration by John Hurt, the minimalist set and props seem to to be very much what I have in my mind when I listen to a radio play. The sound effects, particularly the opening, closing and knocking on of invisible doors are as you would hear on the radio. Although the film is nearly three hours long, the division of the narration into 9 Chapters make it easy to watch. The linear narrative is easy to follow without the distraction of elaborate sets and the lighting is cleverly controlled to indicate the time of day and the seasons.

The plot centres around the American town of Dogville and the sudden appearance of Grace, a fugitive from gangsters and her changing relationship with the town’s people over the year in which they offer her shelter in return for work.

I found myself looking for the “anti-American” theme in this story which seems to be a major criticism. My perception was that this could be justified.  The film was a microcosm of one view of the American Way. 

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”…. could apply to Grace as she sought shelter. The democratic process of the town voting on her conditional acceptance. Her need to work, to pay her way and her acceptance into the community until the town remembered she was different, an outsider, not to be trusted. Acceptance turned to rejection, exploitation and betrayal. By delivering  Grace into the hands gangsters that she ran from a year earlier, the town sealed its own fate as she wreaked her revenge and obliterated the town which had offered her redemption but then snatched it away.
This is only the second Von Trier film that I have watched, both with a bleak prospect and dramatic and in this case, I thought, unexpected ending. I wasn’t expecting the resolution of this narrative to be so brutal and final. Definitely not a Hollywood ending.

Project 15 Narratives

Viewing: Objective, to view a variety of films and to identify the narrative structure. Try to sketch out a diagram of the film’s structure.
Hollywood Classic The Black Narcissus 1947

This classic tale of jealousy, passion and repressed lust set in a remote Himalayan Convent was easy to watch and I found the three act narrative easy to identify. Using the diagram structure outlined in the course notes I have described the narrative structure below and tried to use coloured lines to show the different threads:

Having reflected on this diagram, I think it more complex than it needs to be.
Modern Film Gran Torino 2009
The narrative structure of this modern film, set in Michigan tells the story of a resentful US army veteran and his immigrant neighbours. It is about redemption and sacrifice. The three act narrative is still present, the threads which build up the tension culminating in the final crisis and climax are well defined. I have tried to make this diagram clearer by not attempting to link the threads

I have arranged the threads by character and each one should be read across the table to identify their interactions with the narrative and the other characters through the Acts.
Conclusion: This has been a very time consuming exercise but I have learned to identify both simple and complex narrative structures. I did also watch the film Inception which has a complex layered structure and a very tricky premise which may or may not be resolved, depending on the interpretation you place on the opening sequence. Although I think I grasped the story, it was so complex I did not have the time to work out to display the structure in a meaningful way.

Viewing: Melancholia – Lars von Trier

This is one of those films that you watch in spite of yourself. The reviews I have read were not particularly good but I picked up from one that it was a “difficult” film. I like a challenge.

Directed by Lars von Trier and starring Kirsten Dunst, Alexander Skarsgard, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, John Hurt and Charlotte Rampling I found this film visually stunning, I loved the the hand held documentary camera style of the film. The director of photography explained that it was Von Trier’s  style to let the camera “know” nothing and that it should react to the actors. The first take of any scene would be shot in this way, then the director would make adjustment to the next take.

I watched the film and made notes about what I thought it was about before watching the “extras” section of the DVD. It actually wasn’t that difficult to understand. The title sequence was a sort of overture with the prelude to Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde played against stylish, enigmatic slow motion clips of the coming story.

The narrative was in two parts. In the first, Justine and Michael are celebrating their wedding at the home of  Justine’s sister Claire and her husband John. It soon becomes apparent that Justine is depressed and the the whole party self destructs in no part helped by Justine’s dotty father vindictive mother and overbearing boss. All this, despite Claire’s attempts to protect and  care for Justine.

In the second part, Justine’s depressed state is reinforced as Claire attempts to help her function on a daily basis. Meanwhile, the giant planet Melancholia is heading towards earth at 60,000 miles an hour. There is an implication that the approaching planet and Justine’s depression are somehow linked as her behaviour becomes noticeably bizarre.

John tries to protect his wife and son from the knowledge of the inevitable disaster but as it becomes apparent that the world is about to end, the sisters’ roles change as Justine accepts the inevitable and protects and cares for Claire and her son during the final moments and the destruction of  the planet, the CGI sequence of which is quite brilliant and not a little frightening if you can bear to think of the reality of two planets colliding. (Astrophysicists were consulted in the making of the CGI sequence so it has the hard edge of a “realistic” scenario)

I always enjoy the “making of” sections of DVDs and have included some screen shots below with my notes.

The style of the two halves of the film were distinct from one another, the first being shot with predominantly warm orange and yellow  light, the other with cool blue colours to emphasise the change in mood as the disaster looms. Here,  Claire pleads with Justine to pull herself together and avoid any scenes that may spoil the party. At this stage, Claire is very much the dominant sister trying to keep Justine safe in spite of her depressed state.

 

This shot is an almost “Lynch” like moment as the flag on green proclaims the 19th hole even though several references had been made earlier to the 18 hole golf course at the house. Only hours from disaster, the earths atmosphere is thinning and there is a hailstorm and St Elmo’s fire on the power lines. Clair is desperately trying to find safety for herself and her son. You can interpret the reference in several ways.

Having failed to reach the village, Claire pleads with Justine to stay with her and Leo at the end. Justine agrees and takes Leo with her to make a “magic cave”. Leo knows that Justine (Aunt Steelbreaker) will protect her and calmly helps her build a tepee of sticks.

I’m not sure if the two round finials at right of this frame are intentionally placed but their reference is unmistakable.

At the conclusion of the film, the three remaining characters await their fate. Justine and Leo (calm and trusting that his aunt has made him safe) are resigned but Claire remains agitated until the end.

Melancholia rapidly approaches the Earth in a spectacular crescendo of music blended with that rumble/crackle much used by film makers. Throughout this final sequence Claire remains fearful and she almost instinctively runs.

At the firestorm approaches the camera the deafening roar drowns the music and fades to silence on a black screen for several seconds before the credits roll, in silence initially and then with Wagner's theme once again. This is a good example of diegetic and non-diegetic sound being used together for dramatic effect.

Viewing - Another Earth - a film by Mike Cahill

  16 August 2012 This independent film won a prize at Sundance 2011. I enjoyed it. Right from the start, the director uses images and diegetic sound to narrate. There is very little dialogue at the start but the story builds as the two principal characters lives cross against the background of the discovery of a duplicate earth; with tragic results. I think this a very interesting film because of the way the story is told. It is very low budget so the director has used the locations provided by friends in the area of Connecticut . Despite this, the story unfolds dramatically and has the feeling of a well crafted narrative showing the interaction between a lonely girl who has tragically and negligently killed a mother and child in a traffic accident. After spending four years in jail, her clumsy attempts at redemption by contacting John, the grieving father, her weakness in being unable to admit to him who she is, all build the tension towards the climax of the film where Rhoda meets herself after the two Earths send travellers to each others planets. At this point the film ends, leaving the viewer to contemplate the nature of the possibility of parallel existences. Tragedy, love and a sort of resolution has been found. John taking Rhoda's place on the exchange flight to seek his wife and son on the new planet and the other Rhoda arriving on Earth indicate that at the point at which the two planets recognise each other's existence, the parallel nature of their existence ends. The debate about the nature of the universe and existence will continue.

Project 9 – Light and Colour

Viewing
I watched the film “Stranger Than Fiction” an found these examples of changing light levels in a scene:
   
Action motivates change: Harold reaches for the light and turns it off.

  
The source is shown in the shot: The garage door lifts and floods the space with light.

  
Represents an emotional or abstract state: As Karen Eiffel writes the final scene in which Harold supposedly dies in a traffic accident, the camera pans right to the window and the scene fades to white.

Use of  Colour

I found these examples of the use of colour representing :

• change of atmosphere between scenes
• emotion of a character
• general mood or atmosphere of the film as a whole
• a range of feelings, emotions or atmospheres such as love, fear power or joy

 

From the Film “Sphere”

  

 

Set in an underwater habitat the colour blue showed the general mood and atmosphere, a cold inhospitable environment,

while red showed fear and danger.

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From the film “Atonement” there was a change of atmosphere between scenes, cold blue lighting is used as Bryony is left to contemplate the consequences of her lie. In the following scene Robbie is arrested and she runs to the window. The anticipation is that she may tell the truth and the change of lighting reflects this change of mood but she remains silent with the voice of Robbie’s mother screaming “liar” echoing in her head.

The emotion of the character is shown (sadness, anxiety) here in blue light as Cecilia waits for Robbie’s return from France on the beach in Sussex.

I’ve watched two films and not been able to come up with all four of the examples. No doubt they exist in various manifestations. I’ll note then in my log as I come across them.

Project 8: Balance

Viewing: I chose to watch an episode of Wallander to find the examples listed in the course notes.
    
These two images demonstrate the rule of thirds, Kurt’s eye line is on the intersection and he is looking to the left of the camera position; “look room”. In the second frame, the car travels along the road in the background from right to left, turns into the centre of the frame and swings round and stops on the intersection of thirds bottom left. This is quite an interesting device which gives the car some time in the frame to establish the change of  location.

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I have included this frame for its use of light and shadow to create depth in the scene. From within the crime scene we see the car pull up outside. There is just enough space through the broken window to show Wallander climbing from the car and the dark shadow on the left suggests menace or the unknown waiting for the detectives’ insightful mind to enlighten the viewer.

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This frame is the establishing scene for a dialogue between Kurt and his daughter Linda as they sit down for a meal.

 

The conversation starts amicably and the balance is typical with the figures to left and right of their respective frames.

As the discussion becomes more heated, both figures are shown in the frame. There are some important gestures which need to be shown from both characters.
   

These frames are in the order shown. At the height of  the argument, the framing changes so that both characters appear to be  back to back until Linda declares that they should not be arguing but concentrating on the search for her missing friend Anna when the sequence returns to  the normal left right framing of the dialogue.

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In this frame, Kurt is entering a farmhouse to meet Anna. The balance gives “walk” room to the left and also a dark shadow, introducing tension as Kurt walks into the unknown.

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I thought this was an unusual use of an over the shoulder two shot. It is quite tight but very much to one side of the frame. Wallander is confronting Monika, Anna’s mother, with the effects of keeping the truth about Anna’s father’s suicide from her. The space to the right gives room for Kurt’s gestures while the strong side lighting on Monika's face enables the viewer to see her reaction to Kurt’s questions.

Conclusions: This was a good exercise and I have learned to look at framing and balance in a different way. I shall continue to watch films and learn more about composition, depth, balance and the meaning that can be inferred from their subtle combinations.

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