'A common experience while watching a documentary is to be manipulated by the filmmakers.' How far do you agree with this statement?
Gareth Askew Manipulation by Documentary Filmmakers Essay 'A common experience while watching a documentary is to be manipulated by the filmmakers.' This is a controversial statement that suggests a degree of subjectivity on the part of documentary filmmakers. This essay will investigate and examine this statement to find out what degree of truth lies in this statement. The purpose of a documentary is to show life as it is. Despite this, a documentary filmmaker can choose what to film, and what to include in the final edit that supports the filmmaker's own views on the subject of the documentary. A good example of this is Michael Moore's 'Sicko' documentary. One of the opening shots of the film shows a man stitching himself after an accident, an image which most western audiences would be horrified to see. However, the overall theme of 'Sicko' is to bring to light to a U.S audience that even if they have health insurance, they're still not necessarily going to get the best medical care available. A common device used by documentary filmmakers is the voiceover. This is a good way of explaining a point to an audience when to do so visually would be impossible, however to use this device forces the filmmaker to inject their own opinions on the subject, therefore imposing their opinions on the audience. Compare Michael Moore's 'Sicko' (Sicko, 2007), which uses a lot of
Christopher Vogler and Narrative Theories Essay with examples from "The Lion King".
Gareth Askew Narrative Theories Essay There have been many thousands of stories and myths told since the beginning of the human race. Yet the essential elements and structure of these stories have many common methods of dealing with plot and character which have been examined and theorised by many writers, such as Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and Christopher Vogler, and each of these will be briefly examined. This essay will examine and analyse these elements, and reference these to Walt Disney's 'The Lion King', a popular and well-known film, and which uses these familiar plot and character devices. In 'The Writer's Journey', Christopher Vogler examines plot and character archetypes. Based on Campbell's 'The Hero With a Thousand Faces', Vogler identifies twelve stages of the Hero's Journey. It should be noted that the stages of the Hero's journey don't necessarily have to happen in order, nor do all twelve stages have to occur, but is a useful template for structuring interesting stories (Vogler, 2007, p7). This is especially true in the case of 'The Lion King', where the stages are mixed up from the standard order. 'The Lion King' starts, as most films start, showing us the main characters in their ordinary world. The images, beats and scenes shown during the first few minutes are vital to inserting the audience into the story world (Vogler, 2007, p85). In the case of
What do the representations of Cleopatra in film and on television (as shown on the DVD Video Cleopatra) tell us about how her reputation has changed over time?
What do the representations of Cleopatra in film and on television (as shown on the DVD Video ‘Cleopatra’) tell us about how her reputation has changed over time? Discuss with two or three representations. Portrayals of Cleopatra have notoriously arrived at a time during political change with a rising of power. Claudette Colbert portrayed Cleopatra as a tactful flirtatious queen willing to do anything for the survival of her people are her nation in the 1934 adaptation. During this time there was a rising of power with female rights. Claudette was beautiful and strong and everything about Claudette’s appearance was marketable with the times fashion as explained by the following two references: “Yet at the same time Cleopatra helps to foster the overall impression of an Egypt and a Cleopatra remodelled to suit the art deco age” – Tim Chappell, (AA100) DVD1 Cleopatra 3.04 “…the past had become a marketing opportunity” – Tim Chappell, (AA100), DVD1, Cleopatra, 3.31 However Cleopatra’s status as a queen was not the main focus and the role perhaps glamorised romantically for Hollywood, such as seen in the line below from the 1934 film. “I’m no longer a queen, I’m a woman” – Cleopatra’, (1934) Despite the rising power in women’s rights, the idea reflects that of the times were men were seem as the dominant gender and that even Cleopatra
The Matrix - Review
Overview THE MATRIX Main characters: . Keanu Reeves as Neo 2. Laurence Fishburne as Morpheous 3. Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity 4. Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith Director: Wachowski Brothers Brief Synopsis of plot: Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne, lead the fight to free human kind in the Matrix, a complicated deception of the world, created by the powerful machines of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that control everyone and everything within this manufactured world. Neo played by Keanu Reeves, is chosen from the millions of unsuspecting people caught up within the Matrix and has been declared the only one who can free the rest of mankind. With the world's fate resting upon his shoulders he begins his training, with nothing but the tutorial of Morpheous (Laurence Fishburne) and his companions to guide him. Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), is just one of the many enemies that Neo has to combat. Genre: The Matrix is a fictional, action-thriller. Target Audience: This film has been awarded a 15 Certificate, targeting young to mature adults. Primarily it appeals to those who prefer an action genre but provides a good balance between action and adventure, allowing it to appeal to a wide-ranging audience. The complex and thoughtful plot catches the older viewer's attention whilst the continuous action draws the younger generation. Despite the age limit of
The Matrix Review
The Matrix Review Imagine if the only world you knew was a lie, and truth was devilishly hidden and shielded from view. What would you do? We are energy sources that are harvested by computers. Our world is actually a virtual reality computer program called The Matrix; its reality. We live in the 22nd Century and humans are controlled by intelligent machines. As a result of the war between man and machine, the earth is a dark place. The no longer rely on solar power because we eradicated the Sun; their energy source is electricity and heat. Where does it come from then? Us! In order to keep the humans under control and to keep our brains intact and creating energy, the computers created The Matrix. Due to the hype of he film, it could have been slightly better. The credits at the startled me to believe it was going to be confusing and thought provoking. The Matrix is an action sci-fi film and all there is to it is armour, guns and futuristic machines. There's nothing out of he ordinary and it lacks the human element to give it emotional weight and meaning. The humans who escaped the wrath of the machines live outside of the Matrix, in an underground city (that we don't see) called Zion. A small number of people dedicate their lives to going into the Matrix, including Morpheous (Laurence Fishburne), Trinity (Carrie-Ann-Moss) and their crew, to find 'The One' who can save
Jaws Essay
Jaws Essay Jaws is a thriller movie. The definition of a thriller movie is 'A film created with the purpose of creating tension and shocking the viewer.' Steven Speilberg made Jaws so that it would exactly meet these criteria. 'Jaws' effectively builds up suspense and shocks the audience in many ways. Also 'Jaws' has an underlying feeling of isolation and paranoia. In the following essay I will explain how Steven Speilberg achieves this aim. The first scene starts the film and greatly uses the feeling of isolation to its advantage. The purpose of the first scene is to show Chrissy's isolation from the rest of Amity. It also indicates the ferocity of the Shark attacks and how quickly they can start. The scene starts off with a 'pan shot' of the whole of the group on the beach. This shot is good as it also shows the group's isolation. After the long pan shot the scene does a 'straight cut' to Chrissy on her own. This also enforces how she is isolated from the group. After this it cuts to a long pan shot of Chrissy and this boy chasing her along the sea front. This also helps to show the isolation in this film. The shot then cuts to Chrissy swimming in the water. The sun starts to rise and we see the first presence of yellow in the film. Yellow is important as in nature yellow is very hazardous, and any animal displaying yellow is often seen as dangerous. This is
Moulin Rouge.
Media Assignment: Moulin Rouge Within the film "Moulin Rouge", there are two main stars. These are Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. These two actors are classed as 'A-list', as they are very well know in the world of film for their major talent in acting, which could have been a key part to the success of the film. Choosing these well-known actors could have drawn fans of other films, of which they have been a part of, towards watching the film. Satine (Nicole Kidman) is the star of the Moulin Rouge, and believes that she will one day, become a famous actress and has been told by Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent), the head of the night club, that the Moulin Rouge is her key to this dream. Nicole Kidman is considered by many to be a young and beautiful actress, which is how the role of Satine is also to be portrayed. Shortly into the film, the audience discover that Satine's life is in danger. Red is commonly used within the film as a sign of danger and a sign of love, and the colour of Nicole Kidman's hair is also red. Kidman also has an amazing singing voice, which is a key part to this film, as the songs tell the story. This newly discovered talent would have been noticed in Moulin Rouge, as Kidman has had no other role like this. Most of the film is choreographed as it is mostly singing and dancing, but Nicole Kidman's mannerisms throughout the story are perfect, from the
Stand By Me
I will be deconstructing four scenes from the film, 'Stand by Me', the opening scene, and back to the 50's, the train scene and the final scene of the boys' journey. Stand By Me is a coming of age film set in the 50's where four boys Chris, Gordie, Vern and Teddy as we watch them go on a journey to adulthood. The film is more of process than an event. The boys' purpose of the journey is to find a dead body. In the first scene we see the title 'Stand by Me' in white font with a black background. There is no music. We then see a jeep in the distance and we are not quite sure yet what is going on. It is a hot landscape; we then see an establishing shot of a man in the jeep who looks quite dejected, cut to a newspaper with a headline saying 'Attorney Chris Chambers Fatally Stabbed in a Restaurant'. Two young men then ride past on bicycles from the point of view of the man in the jeep and the audience is lead to believe that this triggers a flashback of his past. The director tries to indicate to the audience what kind of film this is in the first scene. He is trying to prepare the audience what is to come in the rest of the film and already the spectators know that the film is a sad, thoughtful film. The next extract I will be analysing is back to the 50's, the second scene. In this scene we see a young boy purchasing a magazine from a shop. We see that we have gone back to
Shrek Essay
How does Shrek subvert the conventions of a traditional fairytale and do you think this is a Good or Bad thing? The film 'Shrek' is the first ever fairytale animation. It was hugely successful in the box office. It made 52 million dollars on its opening weekend. It's based on a mixture of different fairytales. This film subverts the conventions of a normal fairytale in order to expose the unrealistic portrayal of the fairy tale world. The opening sequence of shrek is deliberately designed to shrug off any suggestion that the audience is about to see a typical fairytale story. To begin with shrek rips out a page from a fairytale book. This immediately gives you the impression that this film is going to be different from a traditional fairy story. The dramatic change in the genre of music from classical to pop tells us that the film is not going to be a traditional fairy tale. The pop music makes viewers feel that the film would be fun, adventurous, funny and exciting. Another way in which we realise that the film is not one of those typical fairytale's is the way in which the hero, Shrek is being portrayed. Our first image of him is him yawning and digging his bum. This makes the hero, Shrek, seem lazy and filthy and not a person who is very well mannered. The traditional hero is usually shown to be very well mannered, good looking and brisk which is the opposite of what
Shrek - Review.
Shrek Shrek is a animated fairytale about an ogre. Once upon a time in a swamp far away there lived an ogre named shrek (mike Myers). Shrek loved his privacy and would do anything to be left alone! One day he lost all of his privacy because ha had become bombarded with fairytale creatures, which Lord Farquaad had dumped on his land. Determined to get his land back shrek and the donkey (Eddie Murphy) went to dunloc lord Farquaads castle. Farquaad sent shrek and the donkey on a quest to rescue princess Fiona from the heavily guarded castle in which she was trapped. Shrek rescued the princess and falls in love mean while Fiona has a dark secret she wants to reveal. Shrek over hears part of the conversation that the donkey and Fiona have and he gets the wrong idea. Shrek goes off in a huff and returns with Fiona's new groom lord farquaad. When shrek finally comes to his senses he stops the wedding and declares his love for Fiona she loved shrek back and then Fiona revealed her true form as an ogre. Then the dragon ate farquaad. Shrek and Fiona lived happily ever after. William Steig bases Shrek on the children's novel. Shrek has a u certificate "u" Shrek has several messages, one of which is don't judge by appearances. Shrek sees himself as a big fat ugly green ogre and often refers himself to an onion. Onions have layers like ogres. This shows he has low self-esteem.
