Blog 11

 Representation/Hall

Still video from  Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2019)

In the scene where Miles sings 'Sunflower' emotionally while drawing, in his messy but colorful room; The Filmmakers appropriately show a smart and creative teenager being simply a teenager. Then when he is called by his father, he communicates with his mom in Spanish, with his dad in English and with his friends in both languages, we can see the multicultural side of Miles, through his expressions and languages. Miles is bilingual and speaks English and Spanish representing his Latino and African-American roots. That makes him an identifiable and diverse teenager because normally superheroes are adult white guys - DC reference-. Miles is a very expressive and charismatic boy who through his art, languages and music shares his culture with the audience. Filmmakers use counter typical representation through the contrast between their old school and their new school. On the one hand, in his public school – a more urban environment – he was an outgoing, popular and admired boy and he felt comfortable there because his friends were there and, in addition, he was admired by them, teenagers who share the same cultural context. On the other hand, in his new school, Miles tried to be friendly but did not get the reaction he expected from his classmates, also his classmates are just as intelligent as him and competitive, he no longer stands out as in his previous school. That contrast challenges stereotypical portrayals of Latino and African-American teens because they are often portrayed as problematic in films. Deconstructed representation: Miles is a character who breaks stereotypes, he is an intelligent, creative, sensitive boy and represents himself through his way of communicating, music, drawings, humor, charisma and colorful world. He represents a cultural mix.

Blog 10

 Postmodernism/Baudrillard

                          Still video from Electioneering - Radiohead (Remastered) 2017

Radiohead's song "Electioneering" reflects the idea that authenticity is impossible in a world where politicians know exactly what to say and do to appeal to their audience, the citizens, and get their votes through empty promises and false actions. With lines like "Say the right things when electioneering, Trust I can rely on your vote," they demonstrate that political speeches and political promotions function as marketing strategies that turn politics into a baseless spectacle. Words are repeated frequently, both in the song and in many political campaigns. This saturation of words makes their meaning increasingly less impactful; just like the Implosion of Meaning. This causes words to lose value because they are constantly used superficially.

Blog 9

 Structuralism/Levi Strauss

Still video from Shaolin Soccer (2001)

The purpose of the excerpt is to show the contrast between the humility of the Shaolin Soccer team and the arrogance of the Puma team, highlighting how taking action and humility is more powerful than arrogant bragging and cheating. The meaning of this scene is constructed through Binary oppositions, arrogance vs humility and good players vs bad players.  For example, the leader of the Puma team does not stop talking and bragging but does not take action when playing and complains that the goals by the other team are an illusion. While the leading Shaolin Soccer team stays quiet and collected, plays well and scores goals in every round and celebrates every goal. The differences between teams create the juxtaposition of heroes and villains. The "to create identifiable character types" function suggests that the arrogant leader of the Puma team is the 'villain' - as well as a bad player - and the humble leader of the Shaolin team is the 'hero' - conveniently a good player, characteristic of heroes-.

Still video from They Live (1988)

The purpose of the scene is to present propaganda as a means of media manipulation that suppresses the truth and is used by aliens to manipulate and control humanity, revealing a world controlled by aliens, in this case the 'aliens' represent humans in higher positions who believe it is their job to rule the world.

From the structural perspective, the meaning of the scene unfolds under the label of 'consciousness vs ignorance' and 'control vs free will', for example, when the protagonist puts on his glasses and sees the world as it really is, everything changes colour and becomes black and white, as if colours were also a manipulation tactic. In addition, signs that appeared to 'offer you everything' and were intended for the consumer were actually a single word or short fraze with a cruder and less picturesque purpose. Meaning is created when the audience sees parallelism with the real world and realizes that their day-to-day life hides a deeper meaning, a world dictated by oppressive 'laws'.

Clearly explain ideas because it divides the world into two realities, true vs. false. The meaning is that we are under constant manipulation by Media until we learn to see their true intentions.

Blog 8

 Genre/Neale

Still video from Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Genre: Sci-fi, action comedy

Convention: Iconography and Narrative Considerations because the jumps between realities of the multiverse – and the whole concept of the multiverse – in addition to the special effects (the travel between universes through the chair) indicate that its genre is science fiction.

 

Subversion genre: The protagonist is a middle-aged Asian American woman (cultural effect) and mother (social context)

 

Sci-fi and action combined with comedy is relevant because it engages the audience and the real-life situations make the audience relatable and at the same time combine it with fictional situations.

Still video from Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Genre: Horror satire, theatrical

 

Convention: Iconography, because of the costumes, masks, lights, stages, music of the 70s and the exaggerated reactions of the characters make it look like a satire.

 

Genre subversion: obsession with being famous (cultural effect) because the protagonist made a deal with the devil to be a pop star and also kills to achieve his goals.

 

Hybridity: A horror satire, the protagonist kills in an absurd and comical way (with the reed opener) and says absurd costumes at the same time. 

Still image from Electric Dreams (1984)

Genre: Romance, Sci-fi, horror

 

Convention: Iconography, The technological elements, the special effects of the computer trying to separate them and the computer becoming aware makes it look like sci-fi.

 

Genre subversion: historical effects, in the 80s, technology, especially computers, was still very recent and many people feared it because of speculations that they would take control and that they were capable of weighing on their own.

 

Romance combined with sci-fi, because it mixes the love of technology -computer- for the user and the love of the user for the girl. Since computers have no consciousness or feelings, then it would be sci-fi too.

Blog 7

 Equilibrium/Todorov

Still video from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE ROGUE NATION (2015)

Proppian character: Ethan ‘the hero’

 

Equilibrium: The begging scene were the agent contacts Benji.

 

Disruption : in the scene where the doors of the plane close and it begins to take off.

 

New equilibrium: When Ethan is discovered and the doors open and then he is ejected from the plane, it is a new balance because the mission is completed.

 

In media res: the first scene would actually be disequilibrium because the imbalance has already occurred (but since I'm analyzing that specific scene then it would be equilibrium compared to the later scenes)

 

Multi perspective narratives: The characters are involved in the event in real time but from different perspectives and communicate through networks (waquie talkie/communicators). All the characters have their function and do their tasks differently.

 

The purpose of the extract is to show through missions, action and challenges how the 'hero and his helpers' resolve the conflict caused by the villain. Ethan with the help of Benji and the entire team manages to access the plane and get the packages off the plane. The hero and his assistants resolve the conflict.

 

Blog 6

 Semiotics/Barthes

Still video from Punch-drunk love (2002)

Sign: Unexpected Harmonium 

Signifier : A small Harmonium, used and a little bruised

Signified: A small keyboard instrument which produces sound using air pumping by below

Denotative: keyboard musical instrument in which the notes are produced by air pumped through free reeds.

Connotative meaning: Spirituality, peace and harmony.

Code: The harmonium instrument comes out of the delivery car unexpectedly; it's not something common and it's not even new.

The purpose of the extract is to highlight the Harmonium as important to the plot and imply that something will happen as a result of its delivery. In the extract, when the harmonium is unexpectedly delivered, there is an extreme close-up and it is centrally located. The main character stares at it with determination, and the sound creates the mood of it being an essential object. According to prioretic codes, since the harmonium is unexpectedly delivered and there was a car crash prior to its delivery, it is positioned as an important object for the film.

Blog 5

 Deep Focus

Still image from Jurassic World (2015) 

Soft Focus

Still image from Atonement (2007)

Shallow Focus

Still image from 50/50 (2011)

Deep Focus

Deep focus example, I used multiple elements to create narrative and a interesting shoot.

Soft Focus

Soft Focus example, I modified the lens with Vaseline to create a dreamy effect. 

Shallow Focus

Shallow Focus example, I used simply a blurry background made with the camera tool.

Reflection: 

I really enjoyed doing this assignment, it was definitely a challenge but preparing the whole set made it more enjoyable. One of the biggest challenges, for example, was soft focus. It's a bit ironic because I thought it would be the easiest of the three – I thought it was just a little Vaseline through the lens – but I was wrong; Soft Focus was a technical challenge, as the lens was covered (with Vaseline) it was very difficult to make the elements of the composition visible or to focus on them. Not only focus the elements was difficult, but also the light, for example, the photographs were very bright, my solution was to clean the lens and place a minimum amount of Vaseline and also adjust the light in the settings of the phone.

On the other hand, shallow focus was not easy either, the biggest challenge I faced was to focus the main subject of my composition without losing the narrative of the background. For example, in my first shots the background was very blurry because I don't know how to use the camera tools, then I realized -although it is embarrassing to admit- that I could fix that problem simply by touching the element I wanted to highlight/focus on. After solving that, everything went smoothly.

Last but not least, Deep focus. It's funny because I was very stressed trying to understand this one and it ended up being the easiest to do -I hope my example is good- and one of the ones I enjoyed the most. After reading the article and watching the videos I was a little confused, according to what I understood "Deep focus" would be the entire narrative panorama within the same frame/shoot, that the audience has the opportunity to explore the entire frame. In order to capture all the narrative I wanted to express, I first made sure that all the elements are in focus on the frame, then I tried to tell a story with the elements I had (a dinosaur devouring a fish near the audience and another fish far behind because it is scared because it knows it will be next one to be devouring). I'm a little disappointed because even though it was easy to do I still feel like I could have done it better.

Overall, I liked most of the results and I really enjoyed doing the set, I feel that with each post I learn more even if it is stressful.