Discuss the idea of the film narrator/narration in relation to verbal to visual issues.

Discuss the idea of the film narrator/narration in relation to verbal to visual issues. I will be looking at the different notions of the 'narrator' in relation to both verbal and visual texts then I will be discussing the importance of montage and mise-en-scene in the construction of a film, otherwise the 'narration' of a film. I will also examine concepts of the film narrator in relation to the verbal to visual process put forward by theorists and film scholars and use examples from the texts The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley (1984), The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (1992) and Emma by Jane Austen (1816). I will also touch upon 'focalization' within the context of the narrator. Before I discuss the concept of film narrator, I will briefly touch on the narrator of the literary text so as to realise the fundamental differences between them. In a verbal text, the narrator will fall into one of three basic types; the speaker who uses his own voice, one who assumes the voice/voices of other persons, and not speak in his own voice and one who uses a mixture of his own and other persons voices. (Cuddon, 1998: 535) The distinction between the three are very important, where all are evidently still narrators, the speaker who uses his own voice or the first-person narrator is 'active in the plot' whereby the speaker who do not use his voice, the third-person narrator is

  • Word count: 2544
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Examine the opening five minutes of 'High Noon', 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', and 'Unforgiven'. Discuss what each of the directors seek to achieve in these sequences and how they locate their film within the genre.

Examine the opening five minutes of 'High Noon', 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', and 'Unforgiven'. Discuss what each of the directors seek to achieve in these sequences and how they locate their film within the genre. The three films 'High Noon', 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', and 'Unforgiven' are all classic films that are located in the Western genre. Principally these Westerns are set between the period 1860 to 1900 and often located to the west of the Missouri and the Mississippi. The production of these three films span through a period of 40 years from 1952 to 1992 showing a change and progression in the style of filming. From examining the opening five minutes of each of the three films and with great reference to the key concepts I shall be able to establish what notions build a Western and analyse how effectively they are used within each of the three films. High Noon directed by Fred Zinnemann was produced in 1952 and tells the story of Miller, a renowned villain who was sentenced in the town of Hadleyville to a lifetime imprisonment in Texas. Much to the town's distress Miller is released and back with a vengeance and together with a group of other villains they return to Hadleyville to seek revenge on the town's sheriff. This is a story about the final triumph of good over evil yet also touches upon other subjects like testing friendships and the

  • Word count: 1449
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Media - 'Die Another Day'.

GSCE Media Coursework Die Another Day In the making of the film Die Another Day the creators needed to produce a piece of work that would carry on appealing to many of the audience. They needed to create a film that would be entertaining for the younger generation as new followers of Bond films, while still keeping the same basic formula that had appealed to the older audience for many years. These films have been in the cinemas for forty years and are the longest running film series ever, so this shows the original class of Bond film must work very well. Today each time a Bond film comes out there are increasing box office receipts, partly due to the popularity of the Brosnan Bond films. Nevertheless, the producers thought that the twentieth Bond film needed a change. Either the film style needed changing or an extra dimension needed to be added. They decided to try to keep what they saw as the superior quality of the series of films but to attempt to add more dynamic action and dare-devil stunts to their winning formula. They felt a need to create more tension and excitement. Several special filming techniques help to create tension and excitement. For example a wide variety of shots make the audience feel that they have a good overall view of the ice-lake chase because the camera is constantly cutting, letting the audience know exactly what's happening from every

  • Word count: 499
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Kenneth Branagh's Dead Again - film review

Kenneth Branagh's Dead Again revisits genre conventions from an earlier time to entertain a 1990's audience with high suspense of a kind different from current fashion. It tells a story using typical elements of film noir, influenced in particular by the style of Alfred Hitchcock. It dabbles interestingly - if not always convincingly - in these elements, and in Californian American life and culture, achieving a freshness and novelty that made it a surprise minor success, particularly in the USA. The narrative structure of the film is quite complex. It weaves a complicated web, in some ways similar to Alfred Hitchcock's great classic Vertigo (1958). Dead Again is a return to the psychological suspense thriller genre of the 40s and 50s in which Alfred Hitchcock was pre-eminently the master (films like Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window and Psycho ). In several instances it pays tribute to Hitchcock's skills and strives for the mood to be found in Film Noir. The story takes on classical narrative form in the way both the Roman/Margaret and Mike/Grace stories develop. Mike Church, a Los Angeles private detective, is asked by Brother Timothy of St. Audrey's School (where he himself grew up) to help investigate the identity of a mute amnesia victim who was found in the school grounds. So it is that Mike meets Grace, the other main 1990's character. Newspaper photographs

  • Word count: 6064
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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"Analyze This" - review.

Lauren Pagoto Dr. Sal Primeggia Reaction Paper #1 February 23, 2003 "Analyze This" "Analyze this," is a popular comedy starring Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal and is directed by Harold Ramis. It is about New York's most powerful gangster, Paul Vitti played by Robert DeNiro, who turns to seek advice from a family psychiatrist, Ben Sobel, played by Billy Crystal. This movie spoofs on the wiseguy roles and portrays the stereotypical Italian men as violent gangsters, cheating husbands, and uneducated stupid men. Though this film is not directed by an Italian-American like what we have been discussing in class it still touches on Italians being socially dangerous to society. I don't know why Hollywood just focuses on gangsters being only Italians because the mafia was originated by the Jews and many other cultures are involved in this. My point being that the Mafia is not fictional but it exists in many cultures. Although, in films they cast men with dark hair, dark skin, dark eyes and then they give the characters Italian names. I would like to see Italians portrayed as educated and hard working. Robert DeNiro has been type casted in so many gangster films that it is difficult seeing him in other more serious movies that he is not beating someone up. It's a shame because I just watched a film last week called "City By The Sea," and Robert DeNiro played a more serious

  • Word count: 830
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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"Blade Runner" is a Science Fiction film, originally released in 1982, with stylistic roots in the hard-boiled "film noir" classics of the 1940's.

Blade Runner by Ridley Scott "Blade Runner" is a Science Fiction film, originally released in 1982, with stylistic roots in the hard-boiled "film noir" classics of the 1940's. It has turned out to be one of the most influential films ever made. Blade Runner presents a certain vision of the future that has been copied a thousand times over; presenting a dark future vision that may prove to be all too prophetic. As the audience is introduced to future LA, the camera moves forward and focuses one of the two massive skyscraper structures shaped like Babylonian ziggurat - they are the gigantic Tyrell Corporation headquarters. Their exteriors are similar to the interior of a vast computer with an intricate microchip design. High up above the street level, an interrogation is taking place in a smoke-filled room. A futuristic Voigt-Kampff machine administers an empathy test, a test device similar to a lie detector, but measures emotional responses. The device focuses in on the subject's human iris and measures involuntary fluctuations. Once again a reference to the eye has been made. The nervous, lower-level employee is Leon Kowalski (Brian James), an "engineer, waste-disposal, file-section, new employees, six days." [The test is useful in spotting replicants - if a replicant, Leon's eyes would faintly glow and his eye fluctuations and reaction times wouldn't be normal.] Leon

  • Word count: 1744
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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"Comment on the techniques and devices used in a particular film trailer(s) and on their effectiveness".

Film Trailer Analysis "Comment on the techniques and devices used in a particular film trailer(s) and on their effectiveness" Introduction To comment on the effectiveness of techniques and devices used in a film trailer, it must first be established, what a film trailer actually is, and essentially, what it tries to achieve. A film trailer is a device, which is used by the media, to advertise a new film that is to be released. It is released prior to the film; normally about 3-4 months beforehand. Most trailers are normally about 30-90 seconds, and in this time, clips from the film and the main storyline are provided. A trailer normally tries to provide the viewer with information about the genre, directors, stars in the film, the age group which it is most suitable to and also the main storyline behind the film. Teaser Trailers are normally well in advance of the main film, in order to create a "waiting game" for people to count down until they see the film. Viewers get very keyed up and excited about the upcoming film, and for this motive, premieres are common, where people can go and see the film in advance. Millions of pounds are normally paid by film companies, just to release film trailers; they are a very important part of publicity of the film. They are needed to actually notify the public of upcoming films, and make the nations anticipate the film, so they

  • Word count: 3817
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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"Examine the techniques used by the director of The Sixth Sense. How are the scenes in the film presented to maintain the belief of Malcolm Crowe being alive? Evaluate the importance of these techniques to the film as a whole"

GCSE English Language Media Coursework: The Sixth Sense by M. Night Shyamalan "Examine the techniques used by the director of The Sixth Sense. How are the scenes in the film presented to maintain the belief of Malcolm Crowe being alive? Evaluate the importance of these techniques to the film as a whole" The Sixth Sense (1999) directed and written by M. Night Shyamalan is a psychological thriller which touches upon elements of the supernatural. In the film, Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is presented to the audience as being alive. The techniques used by the director to maintain the perception of Malcolm's reality include deceptive techniques using language shots or acting, the relationship between Malcolm and Cole Sears (Haley Joel Osment) and specifically Shyamalan's way of creating an illusion to deceive the audience. The film, The Sixth Sense is based upon communication. The running theme of communication is significantly evident in the relationship of Malcolm Crowe and Cole Sears. Cole is isolated because he cannot communicate with his friends, his mother or the ghosts haunting him - until he meets Malcolm. Malcolm addresses Cole when he meets him in a church (3) Cole is reciting the words "De profundis clamo ad te domine" (out of the depths, I cry to you oh lord) a traditional catholic psalm read, when someone has died. Malcolm reassures Cole that he is doctor and

  • Word count: 1512
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Discuss 'Apollo 13' a space drama, Directed and produced by Ron Howard.

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 a space drama, Directed and produced by Ron Howard and was made in...... It was made to look as realistic as possible without it being a documentary; no original footage from the launch was used, apart from a few embedded images like in the news on TV. Howard used many different techniques to achieve realism: weightlessness, camera angles, special effects and historic words phases and speeches, but before he even started filming he had a good idea of the astronauts backgrounds, the flight plan and the exact events that happened on the mission. He spent a long time with the astronaut Jim Lovel researching the events. One technique used was weightlessness, in many of the scenes Howard needed to have the feel of weightlessness and he was lucky that NASA let him use their aeroplane KC135. This is a normal plane but not like a passenger aircraft, it has no seats and the insides are built to look like that of a shuttle. This plane was taken to huge altitudes and dropped to give the feeling of weightlessness; real astronauts used this in their training. Howard had to get 3 men and a camera crew onto the plane, and film good quality realistic scenes. I feel that this is a major part in the making of he film and the film couldn't be made well without it. The launch was a very realistic part of the film and Howard put a lot or work into it. With the combination

  • Word count: 576
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Show How Genre And Narrative Are Established In 2 Crime Films

Show How Genre And Narrative Are Established In 2 Crime Films Heenal Amin 10N Introduction 1 The focus of this essay is to show how genre and narratives are established in two crime films and the textual analysis of the title sequence. In main crime films we see typical signifiers to show the genre. Specifically in crime films we seem to see objects such as guns and torches, as well as objects we see dark colors, unique fonts, serious facial expressions. Crime films also use close ups to show the characters facial expressions, as from expressions we can tell what kind of genre the plot is based on. There are three types of genres; they are sub genre, major genre and hybrid genre. A sub genre is a minor category closely related to a major genre, a major genre is a dominant important category, which is easy to identify, and finally hybrid genre, which is a combination of major genres that create another type of film. A signifier is a particular object that gives away what genre it is going to be e.g. guns, torches. A convention is typical ingredients of a film. The main conventions and their signifiers are: romantic subplot- male and female characters; tension- isolated location, shadow figures and dark colours; threats- facial expressions weapons threatening villains; violent crime- murderers, serial killers and mafia; urban settings- New York, Washington and L.A. Another

  • Word count: 1946
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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