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CONTEXT ESSAY

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Costume and make-up is the clothing and attire of the characters or lack thereof depending on how the director wants to present the characters to the audience. Many films are known to follow the expectation of a handsome and exceptional character such as James Bond but some auteurs have broken this mold. Edgar Wright makes mundane, everyday characters become the unexpected heroes of his story, using a linear format to make the growth of the characters visible to the audience along with the tremendous amount of foreshadowing in his films.

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Lighting is the illumination of the objects and characters in frame, being able to highlight or shadow characters to amplify their emotions or inner characteristics. Lighting can set the mood for a movie, whether to bring tension or dramatic tendencies, an example of this being from ‘Blade Runner’ as the light shines through the wooden planks on the door, creating tension for the audience as the character tries to escape.​

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Complementary Colours

 

Complementary colours sit on opposite sides of the colour wheel as they complement each other and is the most commonly used in film, a common example being blues and oranges that contrast each other well. This technique matches a cool colour such as blue with a warmer colour, orange, to make the contrast strong and vibrant to the visual eye of the audience, allowing the colours to impact them stronger than any other combination. Some of the most popular examples of this can be seen in 'Fight Club' or 'Drive' but can also be seen in the new Blade Runner '2049', being the colour scheme that is mostly found in block buster films.

 

This colour scheme is normally used when the director wants to show conflict, two colours that complement each other meeting across the space to show the different sides and to influence the audience to see which the good is and which is the bad. This is evident in this scene from 'Blade Runner 2049' where the two colours are complimenting each other, creating a vibrant constant. This scene also uses a third colour to make the characters pop out from the background but works alongside with the other two colours, working as an accent to the two main colours shown in the scene. 

 

Analogous Colours

 

'Analogous colours are easy to take advantage of in landscapes and exteriors as they are often found in nature. Often one colour can be chosen to dominate, a second to support, and a third along with blacks, whites and grey tones to accent.' Cinema5d.com. (2018)

 

Analogous colours sit next to each other in the colour scheme, matching well and creating an overall harmony without making anything of the image pop from the background. The colours are normally warmer colours or cooler colours such as brown or grey to make it have less contrast and tension of the complementary colours. This can be seen in films such as 'The World's End' by Edgar Wright and in many of the films of the 'Fast and Furious' series, using the colours to make the landscape blend but using other colours to accent them and to help the characters stand out from the background.

 

Triadic Colours

 

 Triadic colours are sat evenly spaced from the other colours, one being more dominant and the two others being used as accents to the main colour. This choice of colours makes the scene more vibrant as the colours stand out against each other and don't blend together, making a different kind of feel to the other colour schemes that can be used. This colour scheme can also be seen being used on rare occasions where two colours are more dominant and one accents the frame, a good example of this being 'A woman is a woman.'

 

'A woman is a woman' has the two main characters wearing colours that sit across from each other, making both of them stand out from the background. The red on the dress is more dominant than the blue on the man's suit, making her pop out more than the male but work well together to create a different kind of feel and to accent the scene around them correctly. This is a rare occasion where the two colours are more dominant, the background being a colour to accent the characters and to make them stand out from the background, adding a level of depth to the shot that may have been missed with any other colour scheme, making it unique and different.

 

Split Complimentary Colours

 

Split complimentary has two colours sat next to each other and the one directly across to them, creating a triangle shape on the colour wheel. This colour scheme works similarly to complimentary colours, sharing the same high contrast but has less tension in the shot. Some of the more popular colour choices for this are teal, green and red which make the background blend in or pop out as needed against the characters in the shot. 

 

'A split-complimentary colour scheme is really very similar to complimentary colours but instead of using the direct opposite colour of the base colour, it uses the two colours next to the opposite.' Cinema5d.com. (2018)

 

Tetradic Colour Scheme

 

Tetradic colours consist of four colours arranged into two complementary pairs, allowing the colour scheme to be wide to allow variety in the shots. Although this scheme allows a wide selection of colours to be used, creating a full pallet of colours to be used, and one colour is normally still dominant to the others and the others are used to create a strong contrast against the main colour.

 

One example of this is the balloons in 'Up', the multiple colours allowing a wide pallet of colours to be used but in this particular scene blue dominates the scene. The colours are used to complement each other and to make the scene vibrant, expressing happiness and innocence to the audience as there are multiple colours being used, creating a child-like feel to the scene presented to the audience. This colour scheme is rarely used in film as it is hard to present correctly, being easier to represent through animation similar to 'Up'.

 

Monochromatic Colour Scheme

 

Finally we have the monochromatic colour scheme which is the least common chosen in films, being one of the hardest to perform correctly and to represent in film. Monochromatic colours are all rarely used but is when a shot uses one colour off the wheel in different hues and contrasts. The most common cause of this is blues and browns to create a colour that pops which can either make the character blend into the background or stand out. 

 

A good example of this can be seen in the Matrix, the main colour consistently throughout the film being green and can be found in all of the scenes. The scenes use different contrasts and hues of green to create a differentiation throughout the background and uses black for the costumes, allowing the characters to stand out from the background whilst also complimenting it. It is a technique that can be hard to use but allows you to have a wider range on whether you want to allow the characters to pop for the background or whether to allow them to blend in, the Matrix performing both throughout the film but uses other colours to help compliment the green and to keep the consistency of using the colour.

 

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​Colour Theory

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Colour can set the tone of the scene, deciding what colours blend and what pops out from the scene, being applicable to characters and objects. Colours can be used in different groups and layouts to create different tones and accents, being six main colour wheels. Complementary, split complementary, triadic, analogous and tetradic, the most commonly used in film being complementary.

For this project I aim to create a short film under the working name of ‘Transfer’ with the sole purpose to entertain an audience of the ages 15 and over. I aim to make the total running time between five to ten minutes and to edit the production with Premiere Pro CC. The concept of the video is that Scott is your traditional everyday human but has a secret power that only comes to life when he falls asleep. He says resolute in his opinion but his friend, Marshall, says otherwise when Scott gets dragged into over the top scenarios when he is in a dream state, putting him in more danger than before. To understand what would be contextual for my idea, I have looked into Auteur Theory, Mise En Scene, narrative Structure and the use of colours.

 

Auteur Theory

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'Arising in France in the late 1940s, the auteur theory—as it was dubbed by the American film critic Andrew Sarris—was an outgrowth of the cinematic theories of André Bazin and Alexandre Astruc, the first to introduce the theory was François Truffaut.' Brianair.wordpress.com. (2018)

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An auteur is a director that can be seen as the author of their films, the word deriving from the French version of author, creating a certain style that feels and looks different to other auteurs and stands out from the crowd. Their individual style and complete control over the filming process creates a trademark stamp to the audience that any of their films can be noticed at first glance as they have so much creative force in their films. Auteurs have an individual style and normally don't aim to create a blockbuster film, the story and characters being the most important element in their films.

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Before the theory was introduced to the film industry there were still many directors who unintentionally had made their own style which had made them noticeable to the audience. Some of the most popular Auteurs throughout history have been Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch and Jean-Luc Godard. After the idea of the director as the author was presented to the film industry, later directors more frequently began to create more self-consciously personal and self-referential works to create their own style and make them more noticeable to the audience. Many auteurs are known to bring back the same actors and actresses for their films to keep the same style and feel behind their films no matter of the genre.

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Although Auteur theory exists it cannot be proven and many have different views on the exact meaning behind it, many deeming that there are too many people involved in the production for the director to be labelled as the author of their films. 'The theory argues that a film is ultimately a reflection of the director’s vision; so, a film by a given filmmaker will feature recognizable, recurring themes and visual tropes that allow a viewer to observe a consistent artistic identity throughout the director’s body of work.', as written by Screen prism shows that there have been multiple arguments on the exact meaning of Auteur Theory, many people seeing this theory in different ways with different conclusions behind them.
 

Mise En Scene

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Mise en scene is the placement of props and people that are visible in frame, which can be affected by four main aspects; the setting, costume, make-up and lighting. The setting is the space in the frame and creates the overall design of a setting to which the audience can understand the action in frame.

Narrative Structure

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Todorov produced a theory in 1969 that was believed to be applicable to all films and their narrative structure, believing that all films progressed in a linear fashion. Many films do follow the narrative structure of films, starting at the beginning, moving to the middle then the end. 

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There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

  1. A state of equilibrium.

  2. A disruption of that order by an event.

  3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.

  4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.

  5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium.

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Todorov's narrative theory suggests that all narratives follow the structure above where they begin with equilibrium where the characters are in a balanced setting before progressing for something to disrupt that equilibrium and finally reach a resolution before the equilibrium is restored. Although this theory is used the most in film there has been other narrative structures that have occurred such as non-linear and circular narrative.

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Circular narrative is where the story starts at the end, the film joining back to the beginning of the film to find out why the character was in the position they were in. This narrative can be seen in films, as stated by 'The Pen and Pad', 'the movie “Looper,” for example, centres on characters who travel back in time to be killed by their past selves.'  Circular narrative starts and finishes on the same action, allowing the audience to understand that they have come back around to this action and allows them to understand the story in better detail. This is one of the harder techniques to use and present to the audience properly that they are able to understand the story telling, this being a far less used technique to those such as open structure or linear narrative story lines.

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Open structure allows the audience to interpret parts of the film by their self, normally in the form of a cliff hanger or not all of the questions being answered in the film. This allows the audience to come up with their own ending or answers which makes it unique to them, allowing theories to occur between fans of the film. Although this can be used in film, it is normally more suited for TV shows such as 'East Enders' as it allows the audience to come back to understand the unanswered questions in the episode beforehand.

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Non-linear is where the story jumps around, a good example of this being Tarantino's 'Reservoir Dogs' as the story doesn't flow from beginning to end, some of the parts from the end of the film being shown at the beginning. Films with a non-linear narrative structure normally have to be watched multiple times before the audience can understand the full meaning behind the film, being the most complicated to perform correctly. This technique is unique and complicated but can be one of the most effective story telling techniques if performed correctly, being able to affect the audience in a different way to other narrative techniques such as circular or open structure.

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Narrative structure is important as it allows the audience to understand the story and to give reason behind the story that you are trying to convey to them. It allows the audience to understand the characters and the reactions that they have to different situations, being able to link up the events throughout to make sense no matter what narrative structure you follow. It also allows the audience to understand the details that are in the film, allowing them to take the information to understand the story and meaning behind the film in better detail.

Conclusion

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This was important to understand what context is behind creating a short film and what may be expected whilst creating one, knowing what to think about and what can create the difference between a good and bad film. This was also important to see how I could use these contextual techniques and use them in my own idea, referring back to my original idea at the beginning of this essay. I wanted to understand what elements can go into a film and how they can affect the audience, these being the more noticeable and important parts to creating an effective film.

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Auteur theory helps understand the overall basis of film making and how directors have developed over time, allowing me to understand the history behind directors and film making to apply into my own work. Being able to understand what an auteur is will help me find inspirations of directors for my work that I possibly have a similar style to, allowing me to use these techniques to make my film overall better than what it could’ve been without this knowledge.

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Mise En Scene is important as it can set the overall mood and sense to the audience, being able to provoke emotions in the audience that cannot be provoked through storytelling or character techniques. The setting is unique to the audience and can create different senses to form in the audience, being able to tell your story or ideas to the audience without having to make characters verbally speak it out loud to the audience. Mise en scene can be extremely powerful in evoking the audience's emotions if planned and used correctly. By being able to understand Mise en scene, I will be able to make the audience provoke emotions that I want them to feel and to make them more invested into the story line.

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Colour Theory helps to understand that colour can set the tone of the scene, deciding what colours blend and what pops out from the scene, being applicable to characters and objects. Colours can be used in different groups and layouts to create different tones and accents, being able to work along with the Mise en scene to evoke emotion in the audience, being able to set the tone on the overall feel of the setting. This allows me to provoke emotions in the audience and to understand how I can use colour to make the audience experience different emotions or to tell the story to them without narrative, this sometimes being more effective than the story.

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Narrative structure is important as it allows the audience to understand the story and to give reason behind the story that you are trying to convey to them. It allows the audience to understand the characters and the reactions that they have to different situations, being able to link up the events throughout to make sense no matter what narrative structure you follow. It also allows the audience to understand the details that are in the film, allowing them to take the information to understand the story and meaning behind the film in better detail. This was important to understand otherwise my story line may have not been effective to the audience, this allowing me to understand what technique would fit my story the best and get it across properly to the audience.

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With this knowledge, I will be able to use these contextual techniques and use them in my own idea to help set the story and the tone of my film, allowing myself to be able to provoke emotions in the audience and to understand the context behind films.

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References

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video essay

 

Clips Used From:

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  • Edward Scissorhands

  • Sweeny Todd

  • Alice In Wonderland

  • Dark Knight

  • The Shining

  • Breathless

  • Hateful Eight

  • Psycho

  • Deathly Hallows Part 2

  • Beetle Juice

  • Skyfall

  • Drive

  • Shaun of The Dead

  • Hot Fuzz

  • Worlds End

  • Baby Driver

  • Scott Pilgrim VS the World

  • Pulp Fiction

  • Reservoir Dogs

  • Jackie Brown

  • Blade Runner

  • Blade Runner 2049

  • Spaced

  • Fight Club

  • A woman is a Woman

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