Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese

The Man With A Plan

Type of film - British Art house
Target Audience- 15/ teenagers
Technical aspects used- dutch tilt/ narrative/ freeze frames/ sped up montage
Genre/narrative codes applied-
Influences- Guy Ritchie/ Fight club/ snatch/ James Brown
Individual or group project- Jordan Mistry, Sam Randle
Issues/theories explored- drugs/ violence/ poverty


Plan

Costume

Jordan- shirt open, suit jacket and black trousers.

Sam- rolled up shirt, open vest underneath. jeans and trainers.

Character names
Sam- "Milly" Kennedy
Jordan- "Kendrick Rodell"


Opening
Black screen , text fades in, ... productions.
Quick cut into jordan OVS shot walking down the street
Quick cut in front of jord mid shot walking, greets someone as camera moves back into over shoulder that follows passer by.
next quick swoosh of camera and goes into sam, same OTS shot and mid shot. he then walks out the mid shot, close up of door being opened.
Throughout shots of jordan getting ready, doing hair and winks.

House section
Music stops one door is shut. goes to black.
two of sam and jord, sitting watching tele.
shot of tele.
back to sam on his own.
door knocks (2 knocks).
OVS shot of sam opening too, we see jord.
Front mid of sam confused looking back into the house as he thought i was there a min ago, as he turns his head back round quick cut to sam dutch tilt and he follows.
picture taken ( cam click), goes to black and white.
Jord narrative cut to sam in dark space . wide shot , close shot ( kennith anger).
back to photo, press play effect, carries on with jord walking into house. jord enters shot, sam shuts door.

In House

 jord on phone, sam pesters him. 2 time tap on shoulder, 3rd time he says "wants some cookies".
jord warns sam not to fuck up as its going to be a busy day. door knocks, mid shot of jord saying " right get the stuff out" , quick selling drug montage starts. Wide shot jord and sam running around, edit in some close up of hands dealing.
 pause, jord knackerd. sam gives hime cocaine , montage starts again. But alot faster. incluse the table shot of dugs decreasing and more close up hand deals. slowly cross fade the slow shot of jord tired and sleepy with the quick motion selling sequence..

End Sequence

wide shots of sam and jord spaced out. shot of door and someone knocks, high shots of empty rooms.

Fight club clip

what does your chosen film reveal about the usefulness of one or more critical approaches you have applied?

For me, Freudian psychology helps understand the characters in this film. At the start of the clip we can clearly hear tyler (jacks id) upstairs have sex with marla. the shot is of jack down stairs having nothing to do with his repressed subconscious. the id part of the psyche,acording to Freud, is the most devilish side of someone. this in-tales anger, lust, passion, sexuality. we see that his ego has failed to compromise between the id and the super ego, hence splitting him mentally and we also see it physically. his super ego struggles to be heard, for instance in the clip when he walks past the bedroom they are in Tyler opens the door and asks if he wants to have a go, meaning with Marla, and instead of that opposite side taking control the greater repressed side wins as jack backs down and goes to bed. looking at the film from this angle makes it all the more interesting as it allows me to think at different time which part of his mind is in control. before the film could have just be seen as superficial but now i see that looks at the mind and whose who live in a post modern world and the struggles mentally that go with that.
 in the clip i am looking at there is a change of scene where it reverts back to his day job, but unlike before where he is taking orders and is clean looking, he has bruises and blood on him; he is smoking and back chats his boss. this is him rejecting what used to be his routine, what used to be the funds for his purpose of living which is the IKEA lifestyle. we now see the id overtaking the super ego and ego but without the physical representation which is tyler.
jack has trouble sleeping as we know he suffers with insomnia. the only time he sleeps is when he goes to the help groups, this is because he finds some release in this as they give his boring, office bound, figure talking life purpose. it could be said that he suffer wit anxiety neurosis; Anxiety neurosis is caused by an irrational fear, imagined danger, and an inability to deal with the daily stress and strain of life. this pretty much sums up Jack, and Freud's description of this is "outbreak of sweat", "difficulty in breathing", he says "i call this syndrome 'anxiety neurosis' because all its components can be grouped around the chief symptoms of anxiety". Many people who suffer this have extreme anxiety and panic in situations that they feel are beyond their control, a lot of these situations in Jacks case are caused by Tyler. the film in some respect is very malleable to various approaches as there is so many points in which we can see different theories of psychology being used, we see the crisis of masculinity (e.g where the men are gathered to talk about testicular cancer, therefore leaving them infertile) and we also see how Freudian psychology is put in place and explored. 

'Experimental Film requires a different kind of spectatorship.' Has this been your experience?

'Experimental Film requires a different kind of spectatorship.' Has this been your experience? 


Un Chien Andalou, the infamous 1929 surrealist short film from Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, attests to this. throughout the dream based film i was confused, shocked at times and found myself constantly trying to find a meaning for some of the screenplay. the part where the woman gets her eye lid cut, i found horrific and sickening; mainly because i thought for the time period it was graphic. this shot comes at the start of the film, immediately grabbing my attention. Bunuel makes a statement with this, saying that cutting/editing in movies deceives the eye and manipulates the viewer. in this film its clear that the cutting at times has no relevance to the narrative, but then it was all based on a dream. that is why the time lapses have no relevance and some off the wall shots like when it jumps from narrative with Bunuel to the rest of the film on Salvador; in a dream world you are free and time has no meaning nor does story line.

Chris Marker became known internationally for the short film La Jetée (1962). It tells of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel by using a series of filmed photographs developed as a photomontage of varying pace, with limited narration and sound effects. i found this photo roan style film boring. this is because the images were very similar and repetitive, the story was unclear and lacking in any gripping factor and also the voice over of the man, who was purely narrating the story, had a very monotonous voice which was fairly hypnotic. i was struggling to stay awake; but as the film was again based on dreaming and a dream world, it did a good job of sending me off to one.

Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) is a work that maintains all of the mystery, tranquility, unpredictability, and personal attachment that is ever present within the world of dream. out of the other two films, i enjoyed this surreal display the most. this was down to the concepts being well represented, for instance there was alot to do about feminism as the director was a woman. also how the woman is portrayed by men and how that makes them feel.  the place where the majority of the film was set was was the kitchen, lounge and bedroom; representing all three key areas a man expects a woman to have the most purpose in. obviously things have changed now but in the 40s women were very much dictated by men, and the only way they could see themselves was through mens perception. that is why the tall black figure that is seen with the rose and in the repetitive shots represents that male figure in her life. the repetitive shots show how teadious and plain this womans life is; she has to stay at home and clean up, but you notice that the house isn't clean as theres clothes thrown around the lounge and bread out in the kitchen. this depicts the womans rebellious side, which we dont see untill the scene where there is three of the same woman sat around the table and the knife is shown in one of the woman's hands. we see the side of her that wants to escape and is quite suicidal.

How far do the films you have studied for this topic offer an analysis of the social issues they present?

How far do the films you have studied for this topic offer an analysis of the social issues they present?

None of the films are analytical about the social issues. They all show a lifestyle and how the people
 are trapped in a revolving problem. in Chung king express (CHE) the social issues that are shown are how the people of hong kong lack an identity as they are stuck between western culture and having to go back to chines rule, even though this is not mentioned it was very relevant when the film was made. the pace of the film, the songs , the shots and dialogue are repeated throughout the film to show how monotonous their lives are. visually the film offers a lot to the audience, for instance the cinematographer used a unique style at times called 'smudge motion'; this is where the subject in focus moves slowly and all the background blurs past. this represents the passing of time and how nothing has happened, and also the boredom people have. the shot is used a few times throughout the film, tying the different stories together. 'The midnight express' food bar also is a key place in the film. we see how the different characters revolve around the bar; the miss en scene in the kitchen and around the counter displays an array of noticeable, familiar and western logos and items. for example we see the coke logo stuck on the drink dispenser which is always in shot when we see Faye behind the counter, also there is MnM stickers near the phone box; all this shows the attachment these people have to the western culture. having a stable place where the stories revolve around is a good way for us to see the change and lack of change that goes on. one moment there is a girl who works their, suddenly she has left and is replaced. the whole film is about change, the characters even ask for change. the policeman only known as 663 asks for change at the counter, this goes un-noticed but it is one of many references to the fact that change is good and sometimes inevitable.

this is a very different case in City of God(COG) as the change we see is much more drastic and violent.

Romeo is me!!

"Romeo is me, and Knock Knock, his next door neighbor was my next door neighbor, the guy I wrote it with [Paul Fraser]. Romeo Brass was the most autobiographical thing I’d done until This Is England. The whole ‘taking chips out of the chip packet on the way home’ was me. The chippie my mum worked at in Uttoxeter was my favorite. That’s got a special place in my heart. We didn’t have a lot of money so in the summer holiday as a kid I’d have to have my tea there, and when my mum wasn’t working I’d take my friends there and put it on her tab. At the end of one week she had to give them money just to pay for the food I’d eaten, so she didn’t earn anything. She wasn’t happy."