City of God essay

What is the importance of mise-en-scene and/or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied?

In 'City of God' the mise-en-scene just before Benny gets shot shows us that there is conflict between him and Lil Ze.  The use of a green tint suggests that Lil Ze is a very jealous and greedy character  because he sees that they all have what he wants and this causes him to kill and harm others in order to get what he desires.  This is also shown in other scenes like when he looks at the jewellery and when he sees Carrots fortune there is always a green tint that comes over Lil Ze.  This green tint could also suggest that Lil Ze is a very sick character, as he kills and rapes innocent people.  Another element that suggests conflict between these characters is the split screen, which indicates that benny and Lil Ze, even though they are the best of friends, still have their own issues that they both have deal with.  The split screen also represents the fact that Lil Ze is a negative representation of the favelas due to the killings, for example when we found out that he killed all of those in the motel.  Benny, on the other hand, is a positive representation because he is always seen as the mediator and the one who sorts conflict between Lil Ze and the other characters when they are in trouble with him.


Another scene that creates a lot of meaning is when Shaggy is introduced to Bernice when he goes to Bernice's mothers house to try and escape from the police because they are after him for supposedly killing innocent people at the motel.  The non-diegetic music starts off foreshadowing that there may be romance between these two characters later on in the film.  A shot reverse shot is also included in this scene to also indicate there may be a relationship about to flourish.  The candle light indicates that there is a flame burning between them, like a metaphor between the characters and the golden candle light.   However the mother interrupts this romantic scene and brings it back to reality which gives this film a touch of verisimilitude because it's always focused on what happens in the favelas and anything else around this topic is always interrupted and brought from fiction back to reality, which also suggests that romance in the favelas will never work and will always be interrupted by conflict between other characters.  There has been many documentaries about the favelas that reinforce the killings and how drug gangs dominate over everything, meaning that over 3,000 people were killed in one single year in the favelas due to gang disputes and disagreements; it's like a war zone that nobody can escape from and this is highlighted in the film when the characters try and escape from reality with this idea of romance but are always interrupted by different factors.  This is also illustrated when Rocket and Angelica get together at the beach and the runts interrupt their kiss to ask for drugs which shows that even though romance does run throughout the film, is it always brutally interrupted and abruptly ends due to the favelas and the conflict within it. The runts are shown to be of a higher power which may also foreshadow that they are the ones that may take over the favelas later on in the film.  

Small-scale research project

Can the recurring narrative theme of dysfunctional families define Steven Spielberg as an auteur?

Films:

Item 1

Jurassic Park (1993)-

I chose this as my focus film because there are many scenes that clearly show Steven Spielberg's theme of dysfunctional families.  Jurassic Park, apart from having many action scenes and also scenes of violence, really goes into detail about the relationships within the film and we get to see how these relationships build throughout.  The theme of dysfunctional families is very personal to Steven Spielberg and by incorporating a piece of his life into his films like he has done with Jurassic Park really gives the audience a feel for his childhood.  I believe that this would be an ideal film to focus upon.


Item 2

Saving Private Ryan(1998)-
I'm also using this film to support my question because it also illustrates the theme of dysfunctional families that Steven Spielberg incorporates into many of his successful films.  There are scenes throughout that show how families and those who fight for the war have suffered many losses since the war including family members and friends.  This film also shows that the war has influenced many peoples lives and has impacted on how they live and act after the war.  Although this is a key theme, the joy of of finding Private Ryan also brings a positive outlook on the war as people that had lost hope, found it again.  

Item 3

E.T(1982)-
I'm using this as a supportive film because the narrative also relates to the key theme of dysfunctional families.  In E.T one of the key scenes in which E.T points his finger at the sky relates to Steven Spielberg's childhood experiences as he stated that, as a child his father would point his finger up to the sky and so linking this to the film gives us an idea of how personal this film is to him and how his childhood has majorly impacted on the making of his movies.


Books:


Item 4
Film Studies by Warren Buckland-
Film Authorship: The director as auteur
This book talks about how auteurs are clearly distinguished between the themes and styles that they add into their films.  Consistency is key when directing films, this can relate to Steven Spielberg's film making due to him using certain themes like dysfunctional families in his films that, apart from being part of his personal experiences as a child, may also relate to the audience as they may have been through the same or can sympathise with the character.


Item 5
Steven Spielberg and Philosophy: We're gonna need a bigger book by Dean Kowalski
This book explains how many of Steven Spielberg's films are to do with his childhood and a father son relationship.  It also states that due to this, many of Spielberg's films have had the recurring theme of dysfunctional families in them because of his own childhood.  It talks about the Indiana Jones films and how they have had key scenes in which there has been an absent father.  Much like in Saving Private Ryan and in E.T.


Item 6
Steven Spielberg: A biography by Joseph McBride
This book allows us to explore Steven Spielberg's childhood and how he became such a successful director. He is able to express to us why his childhood has had such an impact when it comes to his film making and why, in some movies, he incorporates so much of himself and his life experiences into them.  It also tells us that although Spielberg had reached adult age he still felt like a teenager and still wanted to be a teenager maybe due to the fact he felt trapped because of what had happened with his parents getting divorced.


Item 7
The Directors: Take three by Robert J. Emery
The section of the book that focuses on Steven Spielberg talks about the inspiration behind Spielberg's film making. It allows us to find out how and why Steven became a successful director by the way his childhood has influenced his films.  This book gives out an outlook on how he started out as a film maker and how he then built his skills up and followed his dream by going to film school and achieving many things. 


Item 8
SPIELBERG: A Retrospective by Richard Schickel
The part of the book I want to focus on is when he talks about the making of E.T and how aspects of the film directly relate to him as a child.  It reinforces the fact that due to his parents splitting up he felt alienated and this represents Elliott who plays a character that is very lost and confused about where he belongs in the world.  Elliott finds E.T and finds a special bond with him where he is able to find himself as a person and form a friendship with E.T which may seem impossible to others.


Item 9
A Cinema of Loneliness by Robert Kolker
Page 323
This book states that all Spielberg wants to do is please his audience whether it's with the narrative behind the film, the imagery or the techniques that are put into place.  The narrative is a very important feature in Spielberg's film because apart from incorporating parts of his childhood into his films he also adds a positive outlook and there is always a sort of 'happy ending' which he may not have had when he was younger.


Item 10
Steven Spielberg: Interviews by Lester D. Friedman
The author of this book went into detail about why the films were directed how they were, and how the outcome was so successful.  Spielberg states in this book that 'E.T' was mainly about the divorce of his parents when he was a child and how that affected him, making it look like Elliott (the main character) was in a vulnerable position and so E.T came along and this allowed Elliott to find himself and make friends with E.T.


Interviews:


Item 11
BBC interview with Steven Spielberg
This interview focuses on how Spielberg stands out from other directors around the world by creating different types of movies which the audience can relate to in one way or another.  Although films such as 'Jurassic Park' and 'E.T' have had massive success due to the techniques used, the themes that run throughout have also had a massive input in the success of the film.  This is a good source of evidence as it illustrates the fact that Spielberg is an auteur because of his creativity and versatility towards the films he directs.


Item 12
Channel 5 interview with Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg is the focus of this interview, as they talk about how personal his films always are to him.  The movies he directs always have to have a personal touch whether it be elements of his childhood or aspects of his adulthood that he has been through.  These themes make the films he has made so successful.  This source focuses specifically on Steven Spielberg's films and his personal experiences when he was a child.  This shows that he is an auteur, because he can add elements into a film and the outcome is extraordinarily successful.


Item 13
Empire Online: Steven Spielberg interview
http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1714
This interview been Spielberg and George Lucas illustrates the fact that Spielberg likes to use his own personal experiences and incorporate them into his own films to tell a story throughout the film about the background of the characters.  Spielberg also highlights the fact that there is a lot more choice within the film industry now and so he has more of a chance to add in his own themes that show him off as an auteur.  This article is therefore a very useful source because it allows us to see how although Technology has changed over time, Spielberg's techniques and themes have not altered.


Item 14
Steven Spielberg's techniques and themes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uCBYFHRHU0
This interview shows how everything that Spielberg puts into his directing all has a purpose and it is there to cause an effect for the audience to react to.  He uses all of these details within his work to produce different types of emotions for the audience.  This shows that Spielberg is an auteur due to him purposely adding the recurring theme of dysfunctional families into his work to let the audience relate to it and if not, at least sympathise with the characters that are in such a compromising position.    


Item 15
Belief net: Steven Spielberg on Family
http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Movies/Articles/Steven-Spielberg-on-Family.aspx
I have chosen to include this interview as I feel it gives us an insight into how Steven Spielberg really feels about the absence of his family in his younger years.  It allows us to see that although he may not have had the best childhood, he has managed to be a very successful man and move on to make his own family with a lovely home.  His films have always had the theme of a dysfunctional families and because of this and other factors his movies have had massive success in the industry.


Item 16
Terranova- Steven Spielberg
http://terranova.wikia.com/wiki/Steven_Spielberg
This website discusses the parent-child relationships that are illustrated in Spielberg's films.  It shows that there is conflict between them at times, showing that Spielberg has added this theme into his films so that his past is highlighted in his films.  This shows that Spielberg is an auteur as his themes stay the same throughout his films, although there are other elements that are different in each film that he directs he is still able to add in the theme of dysfunctional families in some way.


Item 17
Senses of cinema- Steven Spielberg
I will be using this website to find specific quotes given that will help me expand on my points that I will make.  This website discusses how the audience is sucked in to Spielberg's work and how his themes and styles that are incorporated into his work have guaranteed him success at the box office.



Rejected items:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH_ya6E-N_A
This interview of Steven Spielberg talking about 'Saving Private Ryan' doesn't go into much detail about the themes and techniques he adds into the film.  It mainly focuses on how he became a film director and how he has worked his way up through doing small TV jobs that then lead to a career in the film industry.  You don't get a insight into his personal experiences and how he adds his own touch into these films that he has directed as it mainly focuses on his past.

Jaws
I won't be using this film as it doesn't apply to the question I am researching.  The film does have themes that Spielberg has incorporated into his films beforehand, however it doesn't explore these themes in detail and doesn't really explain the relationships between the parents and the characters.

http://www.psfk.com/2013/05/steven-spielberg-film-tips.html
Thisartcile mainly focuses on Spielberg's techniques and how uses the camera to create different effects and how this has an impact on the reaction of the audience.  This is a very vague article about his themes and doesn't go into much detail about how and why he adds aspects of his own experiences into his own films.

La Haine essay

What is the importance of mise-en-scene and/or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied?

Within this film there is a clear difference between the living conditions on the outskirts of Paris to Paris itself.  When the film starts and Said opens his eyes this gives off a feeling that he doesn't want to be there, like he is dreaming of a different place in where to be as he feels like the suburbs of Paris make him look inferior to others around him.  At this point in the film, every shot is either a close up or a mid shot which shows that everything is very enclosed and almost gives a claustrophobic atmosphere.  The shots also illustrate the fact that Said is very small compared to everything else, buildings tower over him as if he is insignificant.  However, when they go to Paris the shots are much wider, and all three boys are in them.  This suggests that although there is not much distance between the suburbs and Paris itself, the difference in how the boys are portrayed is very big.  This also could mean that there is a difference in wealth, due to the fact that the suburbs are in poverty from what it looks like in the film and Paris has much more wealth and many historic monuments that make Paris stand out whereas in the suburbs everyone is the same.  However, this representation of Paris is questioned when the boys are caught by the police and taken into an interview room that is completely the opposite.  This room contains posters of women half naked in the background, which is part of the mise-en-scene, showing that these policemen are 'bent' as they seem to show off their sexist views by putting pictures of naked women up around their workplace.  This infers that Paris is a corrupt place to live as the justice system puts rules in place but those who are meant to enforce those rules do the opposite behind closed doors.  Throughout the film there are also references to the fact that 'nothing is like the movies', for example when Said tries to turn off the eiffel tower by clicking his fingers and Hubert states that 'it only happens in the films' could imply that although they wish they could live in a fantasy world where everything is as they want it to be, they also realistic and know that they live in a deprived area of Paris in which they are like everyone else and they don't stand out.  

 One of the key scenes in this movie is that Vinz fantasises about killing two policemen when he finds out that Abdel has died.  He pretends to have a real gun and shoots a policemen, however we then see that this isn't real and he just lifts up his hand and forms a gun shape showing the fact that Vinz would have killed these policemen if he had the right weapon.  In the same scene we see that in the background of a close up shot of Vinz face there is what looks to be like a halo on the top of his head.  This could represent him as being a saint, however saints are dead which could gives us an insight into what happens in later scenes of the film.  This also suggests that Vinz's behaviour has changed dramatically since the start of the film.  Throughout he has experienced violence, death and threats made towards him which instead of fuelling his anger has just made him realise that he does not need any sort of behaviour like that in his life and has lead him down the right pathway to not commit any murders or be violent towards anyone.