Animated Emotional Chart

A chart of how different animated shows handle emotional scenes. Not a comment on how well these shows handle said scenes.

I hope this helps you think a little bit differently about animated drama and how different shows handle themselves.

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By Jack D. Phillips

Coursework Essay: Film History

Analyse the use of mise-en-scene in TWO of the essential film texts. How do the meanings generated by the mise-en-scene contribute to the viewer’s understanding of the film’s narrative content?

Mise-en-scene is one of the most important and universal aspects of filmmaking. The use of the properties in front of a camera in any film contributes greatly to the overall understanding that the audience has of the film itself. To analyse the impact that effective mise-en-scene can have on a film I will be looking at Taxi driver (1976, Martin Scorsese) and Fargo (1996, Joel and Ethan Coen) as examples.

Martin Scorsese’s film Taxi Driver is often cited as one of the most important films made during the period known as ‘New Hollywood’. This period allowed smaller American filmmakers to show environments and situations previously deemed unsavoury by the Hollywood hegemony. The environment of the film reflects this embarrassment of the darker side of America, set in the dark and dingy slums of lower New York.

The shot above is from the film’s opening sequence and is a great example of how the world of the film looks. This is not a harmonious Hollywood film set, this is a chaotic and decaying New York wasteland. The low lighting reflects the dark and at times disturbing nature of the narrative that is about to unfold, and the stream of water resembles an archway, an entrance that the main character (Travis Bickle) is traveling through. This is not the world that Hollywood has led the viewer to believe is reality, this is a far more horrifying and violent world of darkness. Bickle, despite being a repulsive and terrifying character, also acts as the audience’s proxy in this sense. He frequents porno theatres and when he finally gets a chance to form a romantic connection it is the only place he thinks to take his date. His actions are entirely based and informed by what he sees on the big screen, similar to how the audience’s expectations had been preset by decades of Hollywood cinema.

There are two characteristics of the mise-en-scene that are common in almost every scene of Taxi Driver. Those being filth and darkness. Many scenes share both, notably the key montage sequences of Bickle driving through the streets in his taxi, as seen in the still above. The all encompassing nature of these common elements reveal the mise-en-scene’s purpose. The audience is being asked to enter Bickle’s mind. As a character he is warped, isolated from society and has a dark lust for violence. The mise-en-scene acts as both an extension of his mind and as the possible reason for his alienation. A dilapidated and run-down society that he is prepared to give up on.

When compared to the confined and dingy streets that Taxi Driver occupies, Fargo features far more sparse and pleasant mise-en-scene. The film is set in the American Mid-west and takes advantage of the areas wide open and featureless snowy plains to create a sense of loneliness and as a comment on the noir genre.

As a neo-noir, Fargo subverts and builds upon many of the conventions established by conventional noirs, this subversion is done largely through the mise-en-scene. Classic noirs, such as Double Indemnity (1944, Billy Wilder), were almost universally set in Los Angeles and were known for their use of enclosed indoor environments and intense expressionistic shadows. By setting the film in the Mid-west and making use of a brightly lit and tranquil environment the film subverts the very genre that it belongs to and, much like Taxi Driver, creates commentary on the Golden age of Hollywood.

Aside from commenting on the history of American cinema, the mise-en-scene of these films also affect the audience's perception of the characters. In Taxi Driver his unassuming Taxi acts as an extension of himself, as he prowls through the filthy New York streets. In contrast, scenes featuring the character Betsy (the object of Travis’ obsessions) are set in far more civilised and clean parts of the city and are considerably more brightly lit.

Travis is horribly out of place in Betsy’s world, sticking out from the clean and well kept surroundings in images such as the one above. However in the aforementioned scene at Travis’s porno theatre, Betsy is equally out of place. The film, through the use of its production design and the presentation of it’s characters, is making a comment on the dual nature of New York city, both psychologically and physically.

Fargo also uses mise-en-scene to demonstrate character, although in a more subtle and less noticeable fashion. Marge Gunderson’s home in Fargo, which she shares with her husband Norm acts as a representation of their life and relationship together and it does so through a very subtle use of the cinematography and production design. In the shot above (the final shot of the entire film), the tight angle demonstrates the closeness of their bond, with the slow zoom implying that their relationship will only get stronger with the coming of their first child. The production design is humble and not ostentatious in the least, reflecting the hard-working and humble personality the Marge has demonstrated throughout the preceding events. Even the lighting is humble, appearing to be coming from a out of shot lamp ather than being professionally set up. In an almost ironic outcome, the Coen Brothers were able to get across large and fairly deep ideas about the two character’s and their relationship to each other by setting a scene as simply as possible.

This is not just an example of mise-en-scene contributing to characterisation, but also mise-en-scene affecting how the audience perceives the themes and ideological content of a film. Fargo is a film that harshly criticizes and condemns notions of greed and ruthless ambition, in favour of the humble honesty that characterises the people of the American Mid-west. By ending the film on such a simple and comforting note, with the mise-en-scene feeding this feeling of contentment and harmony, the film's overall theme is tied up conclusively through the mise-en-scene.  The film is filled with numerous other examples of this subtle relationship building through production design as seen in the still below of Marge and Norm eating a relaxed breakfast before Marge embarks on a very gruesome investigation. The tranquility of this scene demonstrates how different Marge is from the vile characters we have been following up to this point and how at peace she is with her surroundings.

Colour is also a fairly important factor within mise-en-scene, and Fargo uses the white to great effect throughout the narrative. The desolate snowy plains that the film largely occupies is the home of various gruesome crimes and criminal misdeeds. The scene pictured above features the character Carl hiding some stolen money in the snow. Here the all encompassing and featureless white of the background evokes the inherent purity of the setting, which is being corrupted by the red and bloody form of Carl. The blankness forces the audience to focus on Carl and his actions, blocking out all distractions from the pivotal scene that is taking place. Finally, in terms of narrative the blank wasteland of white confirms that after Carl leaves, the money will be lost for all time, hidden by miles and miles of snowy wastes. Carl dies in a scene following this and so the audience knows that this money was likely never found.

The Coen brothers are fairly well known for their delicate and precise use of colour throughout their other films, such as Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013) which uses a retro-inspired washed out palette. This was used to evoke the distant nostalgia of the early 1960’s. Thier previous film O’ Brother Where art thou? (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2000) used extensive digital to replicate the sepia tones associated with the art produced during the American Depression. Overall the Coen’s are an excellent example of how to use colour and overall aesthetics to immerse the audience in a specific time period, further engaging them with the narrative.

Mise-en-scene does not simply refer to environment, it also applies to a character's makeup and costume. Suffice to say that the way a character is made to look heavily influences what we think about them. Travis Bickle for instance undergoes an extreme visual change throughout the film, going from appearing as an unassuming everyday man to a deranged punk-inspired vigilante. By externalising the characters change and development the audience is made to absorb the information visually, allowing the ideas to be better integrated into the themes of the film on the whole, and making the character more memorable and distinct to the viewer.

Fargo makes even more frequent use of costume and makeup for it’s characters. Carl becomes more frantic and bloody as the film goes on, getting assaulted and shot before eventually being killed in the most gruesome way imaginable. The blood seen in the still above demonstrates this. Not only does this show the increasing danger of the situation for Carl, but it also shows his inner selfishness and rabid animalistic brutality coming to the surface.

Margie is also a character who is heavily affected by mise-en-scene. She is heavily pregnant throughout most of the film, and yet wears a police uniform at all times- a traditional symbol of masculinity. This not only subverts outdated views on masculinity, but pushes many of the ideological ideas that the Coens explore with this film. Marge is a nurturing and wholly positive figure, she is the person that the Coens wish represented law enforcement in America.

By including ideas of the films narrative into the mise-en-scene, the filmmaker allows for the story to go beyond dialogue and action. Film is a medium best understood visually, and so including ideas such as foreshadowing and character development into the visuals increases audience involvement. It is more engaging to have the viewer look and understand how a character is feeling from what is around them than by being told through dialogue.

The narrative of Fargo ends with Margie capturing the surviving member of the crime duo and taking him into custody. In their only scene together the Coens film them separated by a police grate. This informs the audience of their ideological separation far more engagingly than if the characters discussed their difference. The only lines delivered by Marge are a simple lamentation about greed, this does not take more than three or four lines. Most of the weight of this scene comes from Francis Mcdormand’s face and the humility of her environment and dress, which echoes the honesty goodness she represents.

In conclusion, mise-en-scene is possibly the most important and useful way of engaging with an audience and allowing them to understand the film’s narrative. What the audience sees in front of them can tell them so much more than some lines of dialogue, and the best visual storytellers know this. Possibly the ultimate testament to the importance of mise-en-scene is the French New Wave. During this explosive period of filmmaking, directors were not credited as directors, they were credited for mise-en-scene, for instance in the film The 400 Blows (1959, Francois Truffaut). Mise-en-scene, represents filmmaking in it’s purest form.

By Jack D. Phillips

Coursework Essay: Reading Visual Culture

I just spent the last few weeks working on some really boring coursework essays. In order to make it seem more worthwhile I have decided to upload them to the blog.

Enjoy I guess.

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Discuss the concept of narrative closure in relation to TWO of the essential film or television texts. How does closure-or a lack of closure-affect the viewer’s reading of the texts?

Narrative storytelling has been the dominant storytelling format in popular cinema since the advent of linear editing at the dawn of the 20th century. Since then, the subject of narrative closure has been a significant point of artistic discussion and debate within the cinematic community. In this essay I will be looking at a tentpole release from the golden age of Hollywood narrative film, The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Flemming) and an independent post-modern film from the late 1990’s, The Usual Suspects (1995, Bryan Singer).

When looking at the nature of narrative cinema in American cinema the historical context is worth noting. At the time of Oz’s release Hollywood has a very rigid and tightly controlled storytelling structure that was obeyed by almost filmmaker working within the studio system. Every mainstream release had to have a happy ending, and simple narrative conventions were strictly abided to. Therefore, the very neatly resolved closed ending of Oz is typical of the period it was made and released in.

Conversely, Suspects was released during something of a small boom in American independent cinema (following the rise of filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino) and following the birth of an artistic movement known as postmodernism. This movement revolved around the reexamination and subversion of previously established tropes and cliches, in this case narrative tropes and cliches. As such, the far wilder and less conclusive ending of Suspects would have been impossible at the time of Oz’s release.

Due to the more restrictive nature of the time Oz was given a very conclusive closed ending. This brings the film in line with the traditional three act narrative structure that popular cinema was slave to at the time. Rather ironically however, the conclusive nature of this ending is something that has become a source of criticism towards the film from it’s own fans. Many view this ending as being untrue to the true message of the film, one of freedom and individuality. Furthermore, the idea that Oz was little more than a dream (as this ending claims that it was) is seen as a contrived way to wrap up the narrative without addressing the core themes of the film properly.

The Wizard of Oz is a film that has been adopted and treasured by many minority groups, such as immigrants and homosexuals. For these oppressed groups, the films messages of freedom, escape and bravery are taken very much to heart. Dorothy herself, a lonely but strong willed child exploring a bright and mysterious new world, has become an iconic figure in such groups. The ending however sticks sourly in the throats of many of these fans, as it instead backs away from the films bold and inflammatory ideals in favour of a highly conservative ‘There’s no place like home’ message that doesn’t seem to blend properly.

Oz has often been cited as one of the most important films of the Hollywood golden age, and along with several minority groups, has been a source of inspiration for filmmakers since its release. One of the reasons for this is the structure of its narrative, which takes the episodic structure of the source novel and transforms it into an impeccably tight three act structure. It has been posed by many that this structure is an excellent example of the benefits of this structure, and the film has become one of the fundamental models for the fantasy genre. The narrative is clear, easy to follow and conclusive in all ways, and this extends to the ending.

Despite the many grievances that fans and critics alike have about this ending, it is still as influential as any other aspect of the film. The idea of ending a story with and it was all just a dream, has become a constantly repeating cliche, particularly in family-friendly fantasy films. This type of ending is popular for several reasons; firstly it is simple and conclusive, wrapping up all loose ends as tightly as possible. Secondly it is very easy to pull of, and does not require a lot of time to come up with. And finally, it is a fairly comforting ending for kids, validating ideas such as imagination and dreams. However dream endings have been vastly parodied and criticised for all the same reasons. They are seen as lazy, a way for writers to end their stories without consequences or any kind of depth, and are the epitome of audience passivity. All of these criticisms have been labeled towards Oz and are an extension of the criticism given to many closed ended narratives. Furthermore, quickly ending a story with a character waking up from a dream does a disservice to dreams as a thematic device. The television series Cowboy Bebop (Hajime Yatate, 1998-1999) uses themes of dreams to mysterious and unconventional effect, and actually uses dreams to end on a highly inconclusive and ambiguous note.

Overall, despite the simple and narratively satisfying nature of the film’s ending, in Oz’s case a more open and ambiguous ending would probably have done more to complete the film’s themes and ideas. This ending, as are sadly many of the time, an example of the studio hegemony favouring the safer and more traditional style of narrative over what actually serves the film better. A very reductive and conservative outlook towards a very adventurous and progressively minded film.

When creating Suspects, director Bryan Singer did not have to worry about these narrative restrictions. The film was made at the height of the post-modernist movement in American independent cinema, spearheaded by directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Jim Jarmusch. As such he was able to construct a film entirely around a non-conclusive cliffhanger of an ending.

The final scene of Suspects does not answer many of the questions raised in the preceding narrative. In fact it raises several new questions and throws out a lot of what the audience was made to believe was fact. Inconclusive and open endings have existed for a long time, however this was one of the first major examples of a film untethering all we have seen before from reality and bringing the entire plot into question. What was real? Who can we trust? These answers are not only not given, they are made basically impossible to answer.

This ending also goes against many of the conventions of the crime and mystery genres, in many ways an example of a genre which frequently misleads and engages with the audience. In any kind of mystery or crime film, the viewer is asked to keep track of things themselves and figure mysteries before the narrative reveals the answer, the concept of a whodunit is fairly popular in cinema. Suspects goes one step further however, it’s narrative never reveals the answer. So the viewer is kept in an eternal state of anticipation and confusion. Classic crime-noirs such as Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) will happily mislead and misdirect the viewer, however these films always ended mostly conclusively, with the motives of the characters fully figured out and justice being served. This is not the case with Suspects, a film that only compounds upon its own mysteries in the final scene.

The effect that an ending such as Suspect’s can have upon the audience cannot be overstated. The film has become something of a pop-culture touchstone precisely due to the impact that this ending had upon viewers. In the case of this film, the ending gives the narrative extreme longevity, as fans return time and time again to try and decipher the film’s complicated knot of a plot and pick up on the clues that lead to the bombshell of an ending. There are several other examples of popular films that have become iconic due to their inconclusive twist endings, including Seven (David Fincher, 1995) and The Sixth Sense (1999, M. Night Shyamalan). To put it simply, filmgoers love to enjoy a puzzle that they cannot solve, a mystery that the can pour over without ever getting a complete answer. I do not think that there is much of a coincidence that the two films I just mentioned stand alongside Suspects as some of the most popular and beloved American films of the 1990’s. A powerful enigmatic ending is one of the best ways a film can remain relevant in pop culture years after its release, and this tactic continues to be used to this day with films such as Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010) continually being dissected and discussed due to the nature of its ending.

Despite its gigantic amount of critical acclaim and it’s huge fanbase, Suspects does have a large number of critics. Roger Ebert himself was quite vocal on his tepid feelings of the film. When writing about the film’s ending on his website, Ebert wrote.

‘To the degree that you will want to see this movie, it will be because of the surprise, and so I will say no more, except to say that the "solution," when it comes, solves little - unless there is really little to solve, which is also a possibility.’

Here, Ebert seems to view the ending as little more than a gimmick meant to increase long term interest in a film that doesn’t really have much to say on its own. That the inconclusive nature of the ending is more a symptom of Singer’s inability to properly end the narrative rather than a genuine artistic decision. A flaw rather than a feature. This is a fairly common view that many viewers have towards open ended films, and it is a consequence of ending a film in such a way. In some cases, a cliffhanger can feel more like storytelling impotence rather than storytelling mastery.

Conclusive endings have the benefit of putting the entire audience on a level playing field. With more ambiguous endings, the audience's enjoyment of the film’s narrative hinges on their ability (or interest) in piercing the narrative together. Closed endings removes this issue, the entire audience is told the story at the same level and understand what happens identically. However this can lead to the issue of audience passivity, where the audience is not asked to engage their brain and so become disinterested in what they are watching. This is a complaint that has been aimed towards major Hollywood productions for decades, and the push against audience passivity was one of the motivating factors of the postmodernist film movement in the first place.

In conclusion, the ending of a film decides what the viewer will feel the moment the credits begin. Not only does the ending close the narrative, it also acts as the final thing the audience sees. By ending conclusively, a film can leave an audience feeling satisfied and complete, leaving them knowing that they have spent their money well. This works best in certain kinds of films, such as blockbusters and family films, which are highly competitive from a market perspective and need a satisfying conclusion to keep a broad group of viewers happy.

However, a conclusive ending will rarely keep the audience thinking. The more themes and plot threads that are kept in the air, the more likely the audience is to think about the film later down the line. The viewer becomes a part of the film, the narrative does not function without them, they have to engage with the text. Although an audience member may not feel as immediately satisfied with an open ended narrative, they may thank the filmmakers later on for giving them something to think about. Basically, it is a question of immediate gratification versus long term engagement, and this question exists entirely due to the nature of a film’s ending.

By Jack D. Phillips

'Horror'

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The Thing (1982)
There Will be Blood (2007)
Dragon ball Z (1989-1996)
Halloween (1978)
Game of Thrones (2011-)
The Babadook (2014)
Through a Glass Darkly (1963)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Stephen King's I.T (1990)
Carrie (1976)
Antichrist (2009)
Trainspotting (1996)
The Wicker Man (1973)
American Psycho (2000)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Attack on Titan (2013)
The Call of Cthulhu (1928)
Alien (1979)
Nosferatu (1922)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
When the Wind Blows (1986)

By Jack D. Phillips
A Zoom Film Collage

'Love'

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Avatar the Legend of Korra (2012)
Adventure Time (2010)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Eternal Sunshine of the Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Ed Wood (1994)
It's such a beautiful day (2012)
Ocean Waves (1993)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
5 Centimetres Per Second (2007)
Telltale's The Walking Dead (2012)
The Innocents (1963)
The Master (2012)
Carrie (1976)
Lost in Translation (2003)
Avatar the Last Airbender (2005)
The Slippery Slope (2003)
Pinocchio (1940)
Casino Royale (2006)
Casablanca (1942)
Manhattan (1979)
Return of the Jedi (1983)
Butch Cassidey and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Jack D. Phillips
A Zoom Film Collage

Film Collages 2.0

Hello everybody. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

One big change I want to occur on this blog in 2016 is an increase in technical proficiency on my part.

The many collages I released on the blog in the later months of 2015 were made by using Google docs and so were quite primitive and limited.

Over Christmas I purchased Adobe Photshop and so I will be using this to create a far more advanced and delicately made series of collages from this point on, with a greater amount of creative input and control on my part.

I hope you enjoy the better content.

By Jack D. Phillips

Photography Reflective Journal (2)

Edited Pictures

Now I will discuss the various post production edits I have made to some of my photographs for the purposes of the course.

The first images I edited were done so on the online application Pixlr. The site, although basic in many respects, allows for a wide range of alterations to be made, from cropping to colour adjustments and so on. I chose to edit some pictures that I felt has interesting elements within them but were not fully realised.

The below images were all altered in drastically different ways and show a range of simple techniques to enhance their effects.

For the picture on top, I cropped a significant portion of the right side of the image so as to have less negative space distracting the viewer. I also added a shadowy blur to the left side, forcing the eye to the cat in the middle of the image. A few simple techniques to guide the viewers eye towards the most interesting part of the frame.

For the picture in the middle, I sharpened the image as much as possible without making the effect distracting and then desaturated the colour, giving it a washed out look. Finally I intensified the shadows, cropped a small section from the right side and cleaned up some unwanted blemishes. This was done to enhance the images creepy mood and atmosphere above what was originally possible.

Finally, the bottom image had the opposite effects as the one in the middle. The colour was intensified dramatically and a blur effect was given to the edges of the frame. The gave the image a bleeding effect and evoked a dreamlike fantasy of sorts.

I feel that all three images are improvements on the originals (I have provided them alongside for comparison) and are great examples of my use of editing in post. I also edited some pictures using Adobe Photoshop Elements, however those images were given far smaller and subtler changes, these images are the best examples I have of a photo being dramatically transformed and altered in post.

By Jack D. Phillips