character appeal:

design,performance and role

exaggeration:

realism ,element of exaggeration

definition:

reviewed:

• Take 2 films you enjoy and break down the character development and story development throughout the film:
• Analyse how the main characters evolve
• Analyse how the characters drive the story
• If there are similarities between your films point this out and why you think they are following a similar structure if so.
• 1.Watchmen

The story is set during the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union. In the beginning, a strong man named Blake was thrown out of his balcony. At night, a mysterious man who called himself Luoxia in a windbreaker and mask sneaked into the scene of the crime. He found a combat suit hidden in Blake’s wardrobe.
The mysterious man found the middle-aged man Daniel. It turned out that both of them were masked heroes. The Blake family’s battle suit proves that Blake is the hero code named comedian. The free law enforcement of masked heroes was protested by the public. It has long been banned by the government. Today, only Rorschach is still illegal.
Rorschach thinks that someone is slaughtering masked heroes, so he hereby informs Daniel, the former night owl. Then he went to warn Victor, the original code name Pharaoh; Rory, the once silk soul; And Dr Manhattan, the only superpower hero in this book, who is now in a relationship with Lori. They don’t care about Rorschach’s conspiracy theory. Rory also said the comedian’s death was deserved because the omnipotent guy raped his mother.
Dr Manhattan buried himself in his work and had a big quarrel with Rory. Rory went to the owl, while Dr Manhattan went to an interview. In the interview, the doctor was accused of emitting carcinogenic radiation. In the face of the reporter’s evidence, questioning and reprimand, the overwhelmed doctor quickly moved to Mars and cut off all contact with the earth.
Dr Manhattan was originally just an unfortunate scientist. Because of his mistake, he was locked in the Bergenfield experiment module and completely decomposed. Surprisingly, he not only reorganized himself. It also gained the ability to manipulate material particles and predict the future. His appearance shocked the world, and the US government packaged him as a flashy but highly deterrent weapon. Now Dr Manhattan’s departure means that the United States has lost a great weight to suppress the Soviet Union.
On the other side, Rorschach received a message from the former villain Moloch. But when he arrived at Morlock’s house, he found that it was a trap: Morlock was dead and the house was surrounded by the police. Illegal masked policemen were arrested and jailed.
After Dr Manhattan left, Lori stayed at Daniel’s house. Getting along with Rory aroused Daniel’s desire for a heroic life. He put on the night owl suit again, rescued Luo Xia with Luo Rui, and was determined to find out the culprit.
At the same time, the United States and the Soviet Union are at war. But once a nuclear war breaks out, the world will be destroyed. At this time, the only hope was that Dr Manhattan found Rory to see if she could persuade herself to save the earth. The omnipotent Manhattan has long been indifferent to the earth. His love for Rory was the only reason he stayed on earth. The doctor entered Rory’s brain and saw her past. She turned out to be the daughter of a comedian she hated. Rory was devastated, but it was countless / almost miraculous/such coincidences in human destiny that moved the doctor.
On the other side, Rorschach and the owl go to another hero – the smartest man in the world, Victor, for help. But found that he was the culprit. Witt was Frank: he wanted to create a monster using cloning technology and send it to New York. In this way, mankind will mistakenly think that there will be an alien attack, and the world will be united to the outside world. Nuclear war is self-defeating. He killed the comedian because he found out his plan. Framing Dr Manhattan and Rorschach is also to eliminate the threat.
Dr Manhattan and Rory are a little late. There are only ruins and corpses in New York. At the centre of the ruins is a dead monster. Ironically, this absurd plan really led the heads of state to sign a peace agreement. The heroes finally reached a consensus, killed Rorschach who could not accept the result, kept silent and maintained the peace based on lies and sacrifices.
The classic philosophical tram problem means that the tram is rushing towards ten people. You have the opportunity to change the direction of the tram and let it rush towards another person. How would you choose? The catcher actually constructs a real tram problem: before the outbreak of nuclear war, mankind was in danger. Do you agree that Witt chose to sacrifice New York residents to create a false alien attack to prevent nuclear war? Of course, this is more complicated. Peace also means deception. Moreover, how long can a false peace be maintained by this method of treating the symptoms rather than the root causes? It is such a thought-provoking philosophical proposition that makes the catcher stand out from the stereotyped hero comics.
In addition to the story design worthy of careful consideration, as a cartoon, the catcher also combines words and pictures to the extreme. Compared with words, pictures are more intuitive, vivid and expressive. The catcher makes full use of this advantage. For example, skillfully use colour to render the atmosphere: when the comedian dies, the picture is covered with a layer of gradually deepening blood-red; The story of Chapter 8 takes place on Halloween, so a large number of Halloween colours are used. There are also sub mirrors and transitions. The catcher uses the most basic traditional dividing mirror of nine frames per page and still plays with flowers. For example, in the chapter symmetry of death, the title refers to the frightening symmetrical patterns on Rorschach’s mask, but careful observation shows that the content of the whole chapter is symmetrical around 14 pages. The transition is also unique. Rorschach and the owl rush to Witt’s base. The camera zoomed out and turned out to be the picture on Witt’s monitor. The coherent transition will also make Witt more unfathomable. In addition, the catcher also uses multiple groups of montages. What impressed me most was that the little gangster broke into the house of a generation of night owls and fought against the old man who had no strength to bind chickens. The picture of the old man being beaten to death is interspersed with his heroic posture when attacking criminals. The great drop shows the sadness of the hero’s Twilight incisively and vividly.
Although the picture is intuitive, it contains more and more obscure information, which can be found only by careful observation. This in turn enhances the readability of the catcher. The book has repeatedly used newspaper headlines to show the precarious relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, which puts readers in that tense era more than narration. Some of the graffiti on the wall read the classic “who will monitor the monitor”, which shows people’s distrust of masked heroes; Some are advertisements printed with “Witt body shaping scheme”, which reflects that Witt’s company is in the middle of the day. There is no waste in every picture of the catcher. For example, the first picture of the last one looks like an empty mirror of the street. In fact, it has a huge amount of information. The sign of the restaurant has become “hamburger and borscht soup”, which means that the United States and the Soviet Union have made good friends. The original super space-time Research Institute has become the construction site of Witt’s new project. It means that Witt succeeded in covering everything up. Pictures full of information quietly pave the way for the following text, which makes you have to applaud
The catcher makes full use of the advantages of picture books and expresses the depth that traditional picture books have not reached. It is this that makes the catcher an eternal milestone.

2. The Shawshank Redemption

This film takes Shawshank prison as the background of the story, and Andy, the warden and prisoners constitute this chaotic world. It is undoubtedly great work. The fate of the characters in prison makes people think about human nature, crime and hope.
It is about Andy, a banker, who entered Shawshank prison because he was falsely accused of killing his wife, which made him fall from the peak of his life to hell on earth. But in prison, Andy encountered darker things, the humiliation of “sister flower”, the greedy and cold-blooded warden, and the tragic experience of Lao Bu’s institutionalization.
“Shawshank” symbolizes darkness and sin, which comes from the word redemption in the Old Testament Isaiah. I used to and always thought this book was to expose the darkest side of the prison. But now after Rereading, I understand that this book tells us to always hope and redeem ourselves.
Hope is a good thing, maybe the best thing. Hope always has hope.
In this book, Andy, Rhett and old cloth, three distinct people, actually represent these three types of people respectively. Because of different beliefs, the outcome is completely different.
After 50 years of prison life, Lao Bu was institutionalized and absolutely dependent on the prison
In Shawshank Redemption, Lao Bu is the most shocking character to me. He lived in prison for 50 years. Finally, he was released on parole and had the opportunity to experience life outside the wall.
But he felt frightened and wanted to go back to prison. Finally, only “Lao Bu came here for a visit” in the hotel ended his lonely life.
Lao Bu is the last character in this book. It seems absurd and ridiculous. How dare someone be afraid of freedom and want to return to prison? In fact, Lao Bu’s fate is the outcome of most prisoners.
As Rhett said:
These walls are very strange. When you first come, you will hate them. Slowly you will get used to them. Over time, you will find that you can’t live without them, that is, they are institutionalized.
Lao Bu has been institutionalized. He has lived in prison for 50 years. He has long changed from a young man eager for freedom to a kind old man. The prison smoothed his edges and corners, turning him from hatred to habit and even absolute dependence. He is used to the life respected by prisoners in prison. He is used to the quiet environment alone.
Therefore, when Lao Bu was given the freedom he longed for most, he panicked. In 50 years, the outside society has already turned upside down. The fast car brought him not a surprise but a fear of derailment.
Lao Bu just escaped from one cage to another. But he is old and has no time and blood to adapt to the new environment.
Through the image of Lao Bu, we may see a similar situation. But this time there are no physical prisons, some of which are built in the heart. We may choose to escape because of practical difficulties or temporary mistakes. A long time of escape makes us less aware of the real world, so we lack the courage to change.
Rhett chose to be sober and institutionalized
Stephen Edwin King created the image of Rhett. He sold all kinds of goods in prison and was the most thoroughly seen person in prison. But it gives people a startling feeling that he is sober and institutionalized.
In the novel, Rhett has lived in prison for decades. He knows all kinds of prison rules and can even profit from them. He is one of Andy’s few friends. It is also because of his relationship that Andy can get the tools to escape.
In fact, it should have been Rhett who was easier to get a break from prison than Andy, a novice. He knew the prison-like the back of his hand. He had groups of friends, but he didn’t choose to escape. He chose to let it be and let it be.
And ironically, it was Rhett who proposed institutionalization. He clearly realized the horror of prison. From hating the surrounding high wall at first to living on it later. Rhett, he always knew the existence of institutionalization and that there was a world of freedom outside the high wall.
But he is still institutionalized. Unlike Lao Bu’s imperceptibility, Rhett is assimilated soberly. People in prison have three chances of parole. Parole is to release criminals with repentance in advance, but with conditions attached.
In the face of the first two parole opportunities, it can be said that his blood was boiling. But it didn’t succeed. He was discouraged and lost hope of parole.
At that moment, I felt that what Rhett gave up was not the hope of parole, but the longing and pursuit of freedom. There was no hope in his heart and he began to let things go like Lao bu. Even when he learned Andy’s desire for freedom, his heart was full of anger. He wanted to persuade Andy to give up.
For him, if the hope in his heart is out of reach, he should stop daydreaming and give up as soon as possible.
In the final ending, red is rekindled by Andy, gets free and gets the salvation of his heart. But in reality, how many people, like Rhett, give up hope early before they succeed. Just this time, there’s no Andy to save us.
Life is actually a self-salvation. If there is no Andy to save us, we will save ourselves like Andy.
In the dark prison, Andy didn’t wait for God’s salvation and forgiveness. He was saving himself
In the novel, Andy can win freedom because of his adherence to good human nature and 20 years of patience. Compared with an old cloth, Andy has enough time and has the possibility of success. Compared with Rhett, although they have wisdom and can see through many things, Andy has the courage to change.
The most valuable quality of a person is hope. Some things can only see hope if they persist. If you stagnate, success will not come to you automatically.
Just like Andy’s last smooth escape. From the moment he entered prison, he always yearned for freedom and wanted to escape. He even made two preparations for this. One was to find out the truth and collect evidence so that the warden could help him escape; One is to collect tools secretly and dig holes to escape.
He lived in prison for 20 years and almost dug for 20 years. Perhaps even if they tell other prisoners the escape secret, they will despise it and think it’s a complete joke. For decades to dig holes? It’s better to have a good rest at night.
It’s not that they don’t yearn for freedom, but they don’t dare to gamble. They are afraid, they are afraid of paying for decades. If the final result is a failure, what a terrible thing it will be. It is this fear that makes them really prisoners.
Actually, as Andy said,
Anyway, people just have to choose one of two, busy living or busy dying.
People have only two choices. The prisoners chose to be busy dying. They were afraid of failure, so they gave up their struggle and began to wait for death. Andy chose to be busy living. What if he failed? At least he fought for freedom and was not institutionalized.
So, as ordinary people, how can we get rid of “institutionalization” and maintain the pursuit of freedom?
In fact, Andy has told us the answer
keep awake
Andy has always kept a clear mind in Shawshank, a prison full of sin, to prevent his imprisoned heart. After everyone told him that he was guilty, the prison was the right place for him. But Andy himself knows that he is wronged and his life should not be like this.
This firm belief needs to be instilled day after day in order to prevent himself from being brainwashed by the people around him. Be content when others are saying, that’s it. In fact, they don’t even know themselves, so they want to guide others.
In reality, we should always be alert and introspective. When we constantly reflect on ourselves, we will always remember the original goal, and then constantly adjust our route.
Make good friends
In prison, facing the oppression of “Sister Flowers”, Andy didn’t give in. He will not wrong himself to flatter others, and will not let himself fall into countless troubles for temporary comfort. Instead, he took the initiative to choose a friend who was good for him – Rhett. When he was extremely embarrassed, he didn’t give the initiative to others.
In fact, we often complain about their stinginess, laziness and lack of progress while we are hypocritical and snake with our friends. But such a dilemma is caused by ourselves. Although we can’t choose family and origin, our friends are completely chosen by ourselves.
Long term preparation for success For an elite like Andy, it took him 20 years to get free. Success is never easy to achieve. It takes a long time of patience. Andy used the stupidest but most effective way to escape from prison. Stick pictures of beautiful women on the wall to numb others, and then dig tunnels with hammers that carve things.
In fact, we are very much like other prisoners inside. We know the way to escape, but we dare not do it. If you want to learn skills, you know that the only way is to read books, watch videos, and then practice. But we don’t want to do this. We think there must be a shortcut.

audio-visual:
Vision – desert scenery, laying the visual tone, desolate, wild, cruel, magnificent and heroic, pointing out the relationship between the role and the environment.
Close up – enlarge the details, create drama, increase the contrast attribute of the character, and make jokes.
Slow-motion: endow the action with beauty and create a lyrical slow rhythm, slow down the action, lengthen the audience’s watching emotion, and make sudden jokes fast and slow.
Lens movement: a large number of motion lenses, combined with action drama, create action wonders with the sense of the chaos of the scene and the sense of movement of the characters.
Editing: fast editing, with the large-scale movement of scene or character action, enhance the overall action rhythm and scene effect, and make the action/scene spectacle more prominent.
Soundtrack: heroic, rough and wild style, whistles, guitars, violins and another soundtrack with Western flavour make the heroic spirit and western spirit more prominent.
Scene: the desert at the junction of the United States and Mexico, the town and desert landscape, the common narrative scenes of western films, the contrast between the desert landscape and human industrial landscape, and the contest between the two forces (Western traditional spirit and industrial capital ambition).
Character settings:
Overall image style: “judging ugliness”. The images of a large number of animals are rough, ugly, dirty and messy. On the one hand, they correspond to the harsh western environment and reflect a strong desire for survival; On the other hand, this style of judging ugliness forms a unique aesthetic. The ugly and cute style arouses the heart of love, contrasts the ugliness of sin and praises the value of spiritual beauty.
The character image has experienced transformation, chameleon, water thief, rattlesnake and tortoise have all experienced image transformation, which makes the character image get rid of simple binary opposition and make the image more plump and three-dimensional.
Character attribute: the combination of human nature and animal nature, explore the interest of Westerns different from the human world, enrich comedy and jokes, and diversify visual wonders.
chameleon:
Animal attributes: I’ve been simulating colour change, but I can’t find my own nature, corresponding to “who am I?” Asking questions, changing colour and avoiding can mean avoiding the real self; Being kept in captivity as a pet, comfortable, idle and addicted to fantasy, the heroic dream is just an illusion of self paralysis.
Character attributes the growth experience from fake hero to real hero, from cowardice, hypocrisy and self-deception to the beating of reality. After recognizing the reality, the discovery of courage, wisdom and real self – the growth of hero. Different from the distinctive and single character of cowboy/heroin western films, it pursues the growth and change of characters in genre films.
Female owners: hardworking, kind-hearted, brave and innocent female images echo the female images in western films.
Tortoise: the real villain of the film, the disabled businessman boss corresponding to the Western past, represents an emerging capitalist force. Arrogance and authority also represent the corrosion of capital to people and the greedy pursuit of material reality. He puts the town residents in the midst of fire and water. His cold-blooded, greedy and tyranny LED to self-destruction.
Spirit of the western regions: idealistic personality, the metaphor of heroes, cowboy in the great escort in the wilderness.
Rattlesnake: tool man, villain’s minions, typical villain image, Lange’s real enemy, breaking Lange’s last psychological defence line, and also the last obstacle for Lange to face fear and finally grow up.
Villagers: innocent villagers, waiting for the salvation of heroes, creating a bad social environment and highlighting the characteristics of main roles.
Props / images:
Water – the water in the desert is like the “gold” of the human world. In western films, human material desire is changed into survival desire in the animal world, which is more in line with reality. At the same time, it is also the motivation of the characters’ actions and the clue of the whole narrative.
Seeking water: turning the religion of “water” into holy water, with a strong sense of ritual, the action of seeking water, the pilgrimage to water reflects a religious spirit, more highlights the bad real-life and seeks spiritual sustenance, with some perspectives of criticizing hooligans.
Western rule: control water, control everything. As a symbol of power and capital, water has become the goal of the western world. The opposition between good and evil, law and tyranny, justice and evil reflects the tone of the western film.
Owl / Narrator Music: paragraph narration, the rhythm of the film is better controlled, the whole narrative context is clear, and the growth and changes of characters are more distinct; Breaking the fourth wall makes the story more playful and interesting.
Details:
Surrealist dream: fear and ideal, hero’s encouragement and abstract treatment of transformation, and the promotion of internal spirit.
The integration of comedy style: fun, contrast comedy, the common techniques of genre films.
A large number of tribute elements: soundtrack, close-up, composition, fighting scene, character characteristics, clock props, picture style, etc. on the one hand, skillfully use the real “character” Westerns to the animation form to produce a formal interest in “new bottled old wine”, and the animal world version of “wilderness escort”; On the other hand, it also inherits the spiritual characteristics of classic westerns, shapes western heroes and transmits western spirit.
The narrative mode of genre films:
Narrative mode of Western Film: orderly and stable situation → disturbed and damaged environment → united to the outside world → the emergence of lone ranger → return to order and stability.
Hollywood hero narrative: about the growth of “Heroes”. (“the journey of heroes” — Analysis of Hollywood mainstream story model)
Narrative model of Lango:
1、 Character prototype

1. Hero – Lango
2. Mentor – pangolin, spirit of Western Regions
3. Gatekeeper – Eagle
4. Messenger – Sheriff identity
5. Morpher – tortoise
6. Shadow – rattlesnake
7. Allies – Doudou et al
8. Prankster – fellow teammates
   2、 Story stage
9. Daily world: Lango’s life in a glass box.
10. Call of adventure: Lango was lost in the desert due to a car accident.
11. Refuse to summon: encounter an eagle and have fear.
12. Mentor appears: pangolin appears.
13. Crossing the first threshold: the provocation of the gang of bar villains.
14. Test: the eagle frightens away the villain, kills the eagle and becomes a sheriff.
15. Go deep into the tiger’s den: find the stolen water and fight with the water thief.
16. Severe test: the water is lost. It is found that the tortoise has used the water source privately. The rattlesnake appears, revealing Lango’s identity and losing his spiritual will.
17. Get a reward: leave the town, cross the road, enter a dream, see the spirit of the western regions, recognize yourself again, follow the plants and discover the turtle’s secret.
18. On the way home: regain faith, return to the town, pick up the badge and make a plan.
19. Rebirth: Lango fought with rattlesnake, was caught in failure, saved himself with bullets in the water tank, and let the tortoise perish.
20. Triumphant return: the town is moistened by water. Lango becomes the Sheriff of the town and a real hero.

• Settings & Props

This scene is filled with chemical elements and science photos, which shows the audience that it is a chemistry experiment class. Through these settings, people can realize that characters are all students.

• Costume, Hair & Make Up

All characters in this scene wear goggles, which shows that they are doing experiments.

• Facial Expressions & Body Language

Character A(first male fox) is focusing on the experiment. However, his partner, character B(first female fox), looks inattentive and keeps looking at her right side, which shows that something on the right side attracts her. Character D(beaver) has more body language, which makes this character look more naughty.

• Lighting and Colour

Warm soft light covers the whole scene, which makes the scene calm.

• Positioning of characters/objects within the frame

Symmetrical balance was applied in the scene. Also, the rule of thirds is used to locate the position of characters.

• What role does the shot choice (Cinematography) play in the scene.

The first shot shows the scene location(laboratory). The second shot, which is a medium shot, faces characters A and B, which shows that their status is equal.

• What role does the shot choice (Cinematography) play in the scene.

First, there is a medium shot of the door to tell the audience where the story takes place. Then goes to close up to show their talking. Through the eyeliner cut to close up of other two characters. It’s easy to know that there are two groups. We have a deep focus from the beginning to here. Then cut to the dialogue of the fox in blue and the female fox by the reverse angle with shallow focus to show their relationship.

Research Activity 2

• Can you describe the mise-en-scene in this picture? How are the characters placed in the frame?

Mise-en-scene: Two characters, one male and one female, lying on a bed in a room. Their wearing and hairstyle show that the male is much older than the female. A pair of slippers is on the carpet. The light in the room is warm and blurry.

The props, like bed and slippers, for example, show that these two characters are at a hotel. The slippers show that only one person lives in this room, one of them must be a stranger. The bed is clean and neat and the bed throw has not been removed, which shows that this is their first night.

Characters are placed in the middle of the long shot. They look a little nervous and tired. It seems that they are thinking of something.  The woman crosses her arms in front of her chest, which show that she is at a loss.

Research Activity 3

← Week 3: Diary of work.Week 4: Diary of work & Note. →

Week 4: Analysis Of Mise-en-Scène

Posted on 30th October 2021 by Ziyao Zhu

Research Activity 1

https://www.youtube.com/embed/FhVA4NBWbC4?feature=oembedFantastic Mr Fox-Chemistry

• Settings & Props

The first shot shows where the scene takes place – an indoor chemistry lab. Also, we can tell that all the characters are students due to the label ‘Miss Muskrat’s Class’ on the door. Every character are wearing goggles and interacting with beakers. The fox in blue use a fire extinguisher to put out the fire gives me the feeling of reliability. All the set dressing behind works together to form the sense of laboratory.

But actually, I have doubts about the setting. The pictures of animal skeletons and plants in the set dressing give me the feeling of the laboratory is also for biology class. However, the label said it is a Chemistry laboratory. So, I think that might confuse the audience.

• Costume, Hair & Make Up

The fox in blue wears a shirt. That may show he is well-organized and calm. The rat who burn the experiment wears a T-shirt shows he might be sloppy. The female fox wearing a dress may show that she loves beauty.

• Facial Expressions & Body Language

The fox in white looks at the fox with the dress when he talks to her. The eyeliner goes to her. And the audience can see the female fox’s eyeliner is straight to her left which shows there is something that attracts her outside of the frame. Also, the movement of taking out of the goggle show the female fox want to show the spots on her skin because the fox in blue said he like them.

• Lighting and Colour

There is a warm orange tinting covering the whole scene. It’s not the cool colour that I imagined the lab would have. The warm colour forms a humorous and relaxed atmosphere.

• Positioning of characters/objects within the frame

Symmetrical balance was applied in the scene. Also, the rule of thirds is used to locate the position of characters.

• What role does the shot choice (Cinematography) play in the scene.

First, there is a medium shot of the door to tell the audience where the story takes place. Then goes to close up to show their talking. Through the eyeliner cut to close up of other two characters. It’s easy to know that there are two groups. We have a deep focus from the beginning to here. Then cut to the dialogue of the fox in blue and the female fox by the reverse angle with shallow focus to show their relationship.

Research Activity 2

• Can you describe the mise-en-scene in this picture? How are the characters placed in the frame?

From the quilt and the disposable slippers, I can clearly tell the story that happens in a hotel room. There is no special from their costume. But from their haircut, I can tell that the man with white hair seems older than the woman. They looked embarrassed lying in bed. The soft yellow light also creates an ambiguous atmosphere. They don’t look familiar to each other. The woman’s pose shows she is nervous. Maybe they will talk after a while. Two characters are in symmetrical balance but the quilt is asymmetric. It also creates a sense of artistry.

Research Activity 3

• Can you describe the relationship between the characters?

The woman wearing white is Mrs. de Winter, the new hostess of this house. The woman wearing black is Mrs Danvers, the housekeeper of Manderley.

• How do we know what the relationship is?
• Can you describe how the mise-en-scene works together to tell us what the relationship is?

From their costumes and hairstyle, we can find out that Rebecca is the hostess and Mrs Danvers is her housekeeper. What’s more, Mrs Danvers has a poker face and a calm voice, which shows that she is not quite interested in Rebecca. It is obvious that Rebecca feels afraid of Mrs Danvers because her actions are quite nervous and unnatural. The camera also shows their relationships. Mrs Danvers is at a higher level compared with Rebecca and the camera, which gives the audience a great sense of oppression. Most of the light is facing Rebecca and only a small part of light illuminates Mrs Danvers’ face, which shows that their relationship is not quite peaceful.

Research Activity 4

• Can you describe the mise-en-scene in this picture?

The costume and architectural style are so distinctive that I can say the story took place in the Middle East. And it seems she is worrying about something. The hand’s position show she’s trying to wrap herself up, giving the feeling of she’s trying to hide something. The red hood has a high saturation give the feeling of tension.

Props: the character is surrounded by low-rise buildings, telephone poles and people who wear robes and scarves with dense beards. All these props show that she is somewhere in Egypt or Iran.

Costume: the girl wears a red scarf on her head and green/yellow clothes, and carried a bag on her back. Her costume is quite different from other people, which shows that she is quite special.

Facial expression: the girl looking around on the street, looks quite nervous and worried.

Light: natural warm light, which shows that the girl is outside.

Colour: The main colour of this scene is red, brown and yellow. The scene uses a lot of unbright colours and the only bright colour is the girl’s red scarf, which separates the girl from other people and shows her speciality.

• What type of shot is it?

A medium shot

• What is the camera angle?

Eye-level shot

• Where is the character located in the frame?

The character is in the middle of the camera, walking on a street that has old buildings on both sides.

05.lighting and colour

lighting and colour can be used to achieve a variety of effects:

highlight important characters/objects within the frame

to make characters look mysterious by shading sections of the face and body

to reflect a characters mental state/hidden emotions

different colour different culture:China

Low key Lighting

-key lighting/back lighting:to frame things

High contrast lighting:street of crocodiles:cgi,learn it form real film

citizen Kane :light can be framing

light self can be hard in film.

High key Lighting

lighting is natural and realistic to our eyes:under water

Natural lighting:Alice

Paperman:THE rules of nature ,necessary in this film

The French connection The Hunger Games

Colour and Film: Amelie

depth-of-field

deep focus

shallow focus

9 Types of shots

Political propaganda has always been a major feature of media works, and generally, such films are boring, and what I want to talk about today is a superhero film, the catcher. The story of the catcher mainly took place at the end of 1985, which is related to the time of story creation. The difference between spider man and Batman is that he has a strong brand of the times. Therefore, he will not and cannot develop with the development of the times like spiderman and Batman. Science, technology and equipment are evolving with each passing day. We can’t see which generation it is. It’s more appropriate to call it science fiction.
The title of the catcher is by far the most informative of all comic films. In just a few minutes, combining the history of the establishment and dissolution of the catcher team with the famous historical events that took place during this period, we showed us the ups and downs of a parallel world for more than 40 years. It can be said that this highly creative title alone can kill almost all Meiman hero films.
The catcher can’t do this because its main plot is the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union and the threat of nuclear weapons. This is a matter before and after the cultural revolution in our country, so we can’t blur its chronological background. This is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the year can only stay a few decades ago, which makes many technologies not appear, such as Bluetooth, such as mobile phones, such as laptops, such as touch-screen computer systems. Look at the owl’s spaceship in the film. Those screens are what they often look like in the standard science fiction films of the last century. This will certainly affect some viewers’ sense of substitution for this film. Think about the dazzling touch control in the minority report, and look at the huge function buttons in Archimedes in this film. Therefore, the catcher will certainly dissatisfy some viewers who like the taste of science fiction.
Before the shooting of the catcher, director Zach Schneider had hoped to communicate with Alan Moore, but somehow he annoyed the old man. Even his famous work 300 warriors were shelled. In fact, from the performance of the film the catcher, Zach Schneider is really a little wronged. Although Alan Moore has repeatedly said that he would not see the film, I believe that if he did, at least he would not be so angry as he is now. Because it is no exaggeration to say that the catcher is definitely one of the best Meiman films so far. If it is not the previous Dark Knight, even this “one” can be removed. The charm of the catcher lies not only in the high restoration of the original cartoon, but also in the constantly surprising coloured eggs in the film, so that every time you watch the catcher, you will give people a sense of excitement. Looking for the details in the film that may be ignored by us is also an important reason why the catcher should not be seen only once.
The other side of the double-edged sword is that it makes the film a very strong sense of the times. Not only because of Bob Dylan’s song but the depiction of the background and characters in the catcher is also very interesting. With the help of superheroes, the United States settled the Vietnam War, and Nixon succeeded in assassinating Kennedy (many people think so). Nixon, assisted by superheroes, was elected president of the United States for four consecutive terms, which actually broke the rules set by Washington and the special reasons of the Roosevelt era. To put it bluntly, the United States has also become an authoritarian country. The authoritarian country and the Soviet Union are constantly engaged in equipment competition. Both sides have gathered a large number of troops at the impending border of Alaska. If they want to have a big fight, it depends on who can’t help taking the first shot.
However, it is interesting to note that although there has been a heated debate over the adaptation of the catcher for more than 20 years, its original author Alan Moore (who wrote the Raiders and the v-word revenge team) has never cared. This is related to his attitude that movies and comics are different. Second, it is due to his contradiction with the comic company. Due to the dispute over copyright, Alan Moore has quarrelled with marvel and DC. Few of the money made by the DC company on the catcher has entered Alan Moore’s pocket. Alan Moore hates it so much that he publicly says that he doesn’t want his name to appear on the cover of any comic works he doesn’t own the copyright, including the “protagonist” – the catcher. It was precise because of the “squeeze” of Meiman company that Alan Moore, who was angry, had to give up the copyright of his works. Therefore, even if he was killed, he was unwilling to hang a name in the catcher, and the royalties of the catcher, which were regarded as astronomical figures, were not given a penny, all of which were given to the cartoonists who painted with him at that time.
The United States has not stopped. People are disgusted with superheroes’ wanton law enforcement (or breaking the law) wearing masks. There have been many demonstrations and protests asking the government to ban superheroes. Nixon also regarded superheroes as exhausted nightspots, so he forced them to retire. So these superheroes either open their identities, publish books and become famous, or live in anonymity and low-key, or enter the government and seriously start serving the government. These superheroes were first called militia and later called watchmen. In short, they are organized and disciplined and will never be a mob. Of course, their clothes didn’t cause them much trouble, such as bills, because their cloak was clamped by a revolving door and shot by gangsters. These details show that superheroes are ordinary people, they are not eternal winners, and superheroes will retire, grow old and be accidentally turned over by ordinary people. We can see from these aspects, The catcher is different from other superheroes. His story is more realistic and closer to us. The protagonists are not as handsome and golden as Batman, nor do they have superpowers when they are stared at by spiders. Most of the superheroes in the catcher have no special abilities, just because they can’t stand so many violent crimes in society, so they put on masks and begin to punish evil and promote well. The old policeman inside said something interesting. People can arrest criminals with masks on. As a policeman, I have to carefully collect evidence. It’s really unfair, so I also wear masks to enforce the law. This shows that these superheroes join the team spontaneously or semi spontaneously. They are the embodiment of justice, at least because of justice. This Law Enforcement Act (or illegal act) which obviously conflicts with modern law may be effective in dealing with some emergencies in a short time, but if it is carried out in a relatively stable society for a long time, it is easy to produce various social contradictions.