Video essay notes

A video essay needs to have major clips relating to the point 

Narrative > CHN

> characters > 

> post modern narrative

Key points (as titles)

V & CoM

1. CHN - narrative plot outline/cause/effect/heroes journey

2. CHN - clear resolution/ending has a sense of closure. 

3. CHN - characters, psychological profile

4. Opposites - problems & challenges - good v. bad } stock characters

5. Stock characters - off the rack

Title - to what extent does children of men and v for vendetta conform to CHN

CoM is more about putting the message out there. 

Total Recall is more similar to Children of Men because he doesn't know what is real or not on TR, in the same way that the dude in CoM doesn't know what he's really fighting. 

Terminator Salvation is more like V because he is fighting for a cause in a war. 

V for Vendetta and Children of Men - Points of Comparison

Government Sponsored Terrorism


Government sponsored terrorism is seen in Children of men when a coffee shop is blown up, and is used to keep people in control and afraid of rebelling.

Government sponsored terrorism is used in V for Vendetta when the government launches the St Mary's virus at a school, a water treatment facility, and a park, which kills 80,000 people. This was used to get people to vote for Adam Sutler as he had the cure.

12/11/13

Style creates message - "Children of Men" is shit in a realistic way as a warning that it could actually happen

Macro - style

Micro - crime thriller - blue (cold colour)

Sad at the beginning - sound to set the scene

Set in a graveyard - gothic horror

Following a structure poorly

Ambiguous - double meaning 

They seem to be at the top of the chain - but later on they're not.

8/11/13

Third film

Narrative - how the story is told through the characters and music

Restrictive narrative

It tells the story through his journey

Influenced by "the hangover"

Narrative over cinematography

Genre: rom-com

Representation: friendship

Theme: party animal

Narrative: 

Style: seagull, through glasses, from his POV

Filmed through his perspective - exposure of the camera - could emphasise the hangover - white could represent dream state - emphasise another world or state (hyper reality) - lucid dreaming - broader palette of creativity - animalistic style 

First film

Style over substance - used every micro aspect to emphasise the visual style - focus on style and camera angle rather than the style - bright lighting (change exposure of the camera) 

Focuses on foreground - leaves, man is in the background - nature is more important than people 

Macro - narrative (used the characters as a device) Classic 

Hollywood narrative - there isn't just one narrative - exploring other types of narrative - all we know is mainstream

Style - no dialog (the way it is shot) - what does the leaf mean? - style over substance - films can be appreciate through aesthetics - relationship between the sound and the visual - all a low angle - they are both running - keeps on tracking (movement) film is called motion - THEME - how limiting is the classical Hollywood narrative to a film?