Hellgate IB Film

Juno – PG-13 – Jason Reitman – (2007) – Comedy, Drama, Romance

Assignment

Over the summer, view the above movie with the critical eye of a film connoisseur. Provide a textual analysis which you will turn in at the beginning of the school year to turnitin.com using the criteria provided below. There is a student example to serve as a template below. View the movie first for enjoyment. Then watch it for analysis and evaluation. You will watch the selected scene numerous times for analysis and evaluation. Include a complete bibliography of resources referenced (using proper MLA citations). Follow the IB markband as a guide for evaluation.

Genre – In film theory, genre refers to the method based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. Each of the above movies has been assigned a genre. What similarities in the narrative elements contribute to the categorization of the movie.
Theme – The main subject or idea in a film.
Film Conventions – Elements that are common to movies.

Mise-en-scene
Lighting
Cinematography
Editing
Sound

Getting Started:

Analyze and research the film as a whole focusing on the film’s genre and audience as well as its historical, institutional, and socio-cultural significance.
Complete a textual analysis of a specific scene. The scene should inform the understanding of the rest of the movie; support the theme; or otherwise propel the narrative. Be sure to cite specific examples from within the film that relate to its larger framework.

Preview the questions for each of the sections below that address the areas that must be included in your answers.
Watch your film and then focus on what you think is important about the film. As you take notes on the film, refer back to the questions. Be conscious of the many aspects with in the film that create meaning.
Focus on one scene that seems to really illustrate your interpretation of the film. If possible consider creating a screenshots of particular shots that illustrate your points and can be referred to during your presentation.
Begin your research and take notes in order to explore areas of genre, history, institutional and socio-cultural context etc as they relate to your selected film. Please cite your research in order to show where your information came from.

Use the following concepts to focus your research and analysis. Each area must be addressed in your presentation.

Part 1

Genre and Audience-

What tradition or genre is it in?
What are the features determining genre?
What other work might it be connected to?
Who made this? Why?
What can we tell about its’ creators?
How does it fit within the director’s other work?
Does it share significant narrative or thematic concerns?
Does it share particular visual or technical elements?
What is the film’s theme?
What is the target audience? How does it address its audience?

Historical and Institutional Factors-

What are the institutional factors that may be important?
as a production of a specific producer (i.e. Walt Disney), institution (Disney Studios), specific economic factors (Studio Film), or a political background? (U.S. politics 1959)
What is the film’s historical significance?
as a document of its time?
as a part of history of film?

Socio-cultural context

What is the film’s socio-cultural context?
as a work from a specific country?
As a work from a specific culture?
As a work representing a specific part of its society?
As a work made for a specific audience?
As a work made for a specific reason?

Part 2

Narrative

How is this film constructed according to narrative/story being told?
Is the narrative organized by plot or time sequence, or some other way?
Does the film use other principles than narrative sequence as a structure (for instance, an argument?
What is the nature of our engagement with the story or characters?

Film Language and Representation

How are characters and issues represented?
What is the style and effect of acting and performance?
How is meaning created by camera angles, shots, and camera movement?
How is meaning created by editing and sequencing?
How is meaning created by lighting, shade and color?
How is meaning created by sound and music?
How is meaning created by location and set design?
Does the film make use of symbols, metaphors, or allegories? Share are they and how do they work within the context of the film?
How is meaning created by technical elements such as production design, mise en scene, composition, special effects (matte paintings, models or animation, computer generated images….etc.)

Tips for the textual analysis:

The Textual Analysis cannot be discussed in isolation.
Discuss the wider context of the film and the socio-cultural period of the film at the time the film came out.
Reference to directoral style is important but the most important is an examination of film language conveying meaning. While words like framing, focus, editing and ambient or diegetic sound are important to demonstrating cinematic understanding, candidates must show they understand how and why the techniques they described are used.
Academy Awards should not be used in analysis.

Student Example:
Textual Analysis—Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is an extremely powerful movie that comments on the overlooked challenges impoverished people face, as well as the corruption of money. It was produced by a British film company (although was influenced in part by Bollywood, and was filmed in India) and is a combination of crime, drama, romance, and was directed by Danny Boyle. Slumdog Millionaire is about an Indian boy from the slums, Jamal Malik, who has the chance to participate in a game show called “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Jamal gets surprisingly far in the game show, and afterward is questioned by the police for cheating.

He reflects back on his life to convince the police officers that he was not cheating, and dives into the hardships he faced as a child with his brother, Salim Malik, and their friend, Latika. The three kids struggle to make a living, and survive the violence and corruption of the slums. They get separated when they run into a man exploiting children to use them as beggars, but eventually are reunited briefly towards the end of the movie. Jamal is very much in love with Latika throughout the story. Unfortunately, he is separated from her and his brother, when Salim begins to work for a rich gangster, because of the allure of money and power. Jamal enters the game show as an attempt to be seen by Latika, and hopefully reunited. She sees him, and they find each other once more, but at the price of Salim’s life, when he is murdered by his boss and his sidekicks. Flashbacks occur throughout the film, as Jamal moves through his childhood, into adulthood, until he decided to take part in the game show.

The climax of the film (1:43:50—1:49:13) is a crucial segment that reinforces the themes of the movie in many ways. It illustrates how money and power can lead people to their doom. It also juxtaposes economic wealth between the rich game show host, and the overpopulated slums by using quick cuts and parallel editing. In the present day, India has an extreme economic gap between the impoverished lower class, and the prosperous upper class. There are very real slums, as portrayed in the movie that are vastly overpopulated. Many children are orphaned and end up homeless. They often have to resort to crime to survive, as Jamal and Salim did. However not all of them are bad in their hearts, but quite the opposite as Jamal shows throughout the film. This film, and climactic segment, speaks to many of the problems that India faces.

Within this segment, the camera cuts between three scenes occurring at the same time, all of which play a crucial part in the film: the scene of Jamal, as he struggles to answer the final question at the game show, the scene where Latika tries to help him answer this question over the phone in a busy, crowded street of the slums, and the scene where Salim faces the consequences of freeing Latika as he watches himself in a bathroom mirror, and prepares for a gunfight with his boss. In the entirety of this segment, parallel editing, quick cuts, and rhythmic sounds are used to convey the chaos and emotions of the characters. The sounds are also used to forge connections between each scene so the viewer knows that they are relevant to each other.

For example, Jamal and Latika’s scenes are complexly intertwined. Jamal is asked the name of the third musketeer (which is significant because Jamal, Salim and Latika called themselves the three musketeers growing up). As he is being asked this, it cuts to Latika, and then a point of view of Latika, where she stands in a crowded part of the slums, watching Jamal on a TV. The sound from the TV matches what the game show host is saying as the cut happens. The mise en scene in the scene of Latika is a burst of color and action, as a cluttered background of traffic and people wiz by her, compared to Jamal’s scene which is bland, except for Jamal and the game show host, who stand out from the surrounding darkness. Latika’s yellow scarf is very apparent in this scene, and mimics the yellow dress she wore when she was a little girl.

As Jamal thinks about the question, it flashes back to earlier in the film as he remembers learning about only two of the musketeers with his brother. Throughout this part of the scene, there is a pound of a heartbeat, making it suspenseful. He decides to call his brother, and use the lifeline the game show provides. As he says this, it cuts to a medium close up of Latika watching the TV once more. The sound of the ringing of the phone, as well as Jamal’s words play through both scenes, connecting them in a way they wouldn’t be otherwise. It cuts to the cell phone ringing in her car, and then to Latika as she realizes what she must do, and takes off running. There is a suspenseful number of quick cuts between closeups of Jamal and the host as they listen and wait on the game show, as well as follow and tracking shots as she frantically runs, pushing through the crowd, and finally answers the phone.

When Latika answers the phone, her voice is heard both in her scene, and in Jamal’s as it cuts to the game show. The game show host says, “I’m guessing, that isn’t your brother.” As he says “brother”, it cuts to a closeup shot of the mirror that his brother is peering into. There are periodic cuts to this scene from the other two, but it does not go as hand in hand as they do. The mirror is angled, so his face is reflected in two different places on the mirror, showing two sides of him. The good, and the bad, the selfless, and the selfish. This idea is reinforced with the constant shadows passing through the room, illuminating his face, and then obscuring it in shadow. He washes his face as if trying to cleanse himself of the sins he has committed. As Jamal and Latika discuss the question about the three musketeers in the midst of a time limit and count down, the camera often cuts to Salim as he fills the bathtub up with money, with the idea of dying rich. It shows this by using an extreme low angle shot looking up at him,as he flicks money past the camera and into the bathtub, showing the power and corruption that money has left him with.

It continues to cut back and forth between the three scenes as the ticking of the countdown clock is heard in all three making it clear that they are all happening at the same time. Closeup shots are mostly used while Jamal and Latika talk over the phone, emphasizing their emotions and reactions. Once Latika is cut off from the line, the heartbeat sound returns as Jamal realizes that he must guess. As Jamal and the host discuss the answer, close up and over the shoulder shots are used to engage the viewer with their conversation. The camera cuts to a medium shot of spectators at the game show and then a long shot of those around the city, gathered in massive numbers to watch it. This shows how important it is for people in the slums to see someone as poor as they are given a chance to become wealthy and prosperous. Once Jamal chooses an answer, the sound of a heartbeat continues and the suspense grows. It once again focuses on the slums where he grew up, emphasizing the economic gap between the rich and poor.

At the same time, Salim is also in a very tense situation. As he prepares to face his boss, a series of close ups and low angle shots are used to show his feeling of power when he has money. A bird’s eye view is also used looking down on his boss as he bangs on the bathroom door shouting for Salim. The effect of the bird’s eye makes his boss look like Salim’s prey. This is very true because Salim shoots him later in the scene. As Salim’s boss bangs on the door, Salim gets up from where he was leaning against the mirror and walks toward the bathtub. His reflection is crossed with a shadow pattern made by the light coming through the shutters. They look like bars across his clothing, and imply the message that he is jailed in the bathroom. It then cuts to his shadow, as it travels across another barred shadow on the wall, again implying that he is imprisoned. It then shows Salim as he stands in the bathtub next to the reflection in a mirror, once again suggesting that he has two sides to him, as the lighting fades and brightens as it did before.

When the host of the game show tells Jamal that he guessed the right answer, things break into pandemonium in both Jamal, and Salim’s scenes. On Jamal’s side, the background of the game show (usually darkness) is lit up in an exploding cheer as the crowd jumps up and down in a euphoric blast. The camera cuts to a long shot of Jamal and the host, as they no longer are the only two illuminated, but are now joined by many. It then cuts to people celebrating outside of the game show, watching from TVs in the slums. This symbolizes how people felt Jamal was a beacon of hope, because of their similar backgrounds. During these explosions of excitement, the bathroom door is broken down and Salim’s boss barges in. A series of quick successive cuts go by, beginning with a bird’s eye view of Salim and his boss, and ending with a match to action as Salim fires his pistol and shoots his boss. The bird’s eye view implies that they are both in danger, which they are. It then cuts to the Taj Mahal, which is a tomb and symbolizes death, foreshadowing Salim’s death which comes swiftly as the boss’s sidekicks barge through the bathroom door and shoot him.

In this climactic segment of film, Salim’s final act in the bathroom as he prepares for death, reinforce the theme of corruption of money. The shadows moving across the room show the dark things he has done because of money, and the low angle shots of him show the power he feels as a result of it. The challenges of poverty are also well expressed in this scene because of the frequent cuts to impoverished and crowded areas covered in trash, that express the hardships these people face compared to those who are prosperous, like the gangster and the game show host. Danny Boyle says in an interview that he wanted to embrace the disorganization of an impoverished lifestyle, which is very apparent as the three main characters grow up and move from place to place. For The Baltimore Sun newspaper, Michael Sragow writes, “Slumdog Millionaire dives headfirst into something greater than subculture – the enormous unchronicled culture of India’s megaslums – and achieves even more sweeping impact.” Slumdog Millionaire makes a huge statement about the conditions of life for people living in the slums of India, making it very clear that they suffer from problems most people would simply overlook.

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWP9F8UGhGQ

Danny Boyle & Darren Aronofsky: Directing Style. Perf. Danny Boyle, Darren Aronofsky.

Youtube, 2009.

http://www.metacritic.com/movie/slumdogmillionaire/

criticreviews

“Critic Reviews for Slumdog Millionaire Metacritic.”

Critic Reviews for Slumdog Millionaire Metacritic.

N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2014