Film Studies Lesson 8
Planning for Assessment 1
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
prompt RSPCA warning
Charity concerned about baby terrapins bought after seeing the film, only to be abandoned as
they grow up
The killers of James Bulger were
said to have copied a scene from
the film where Chucky splashes one
of his victims with blue paint,
though it was later found out that
neither murderer had watched the
film.
Suzanne Capper, a 16 year-old girl who was
kidnapped, tortured and murdered by six
people, her tragic death was linked to Child’s
Play because during the horrific torture, the
perpetrators played a recording of one of them
saying “I’m Chucky, wanna play?” over and
over again. This led to a huge crackdown on
violent films and new legislation was put in
place.
Backlash was so fierce that Stanley Kubrick voluntarily withdrew it from distribution in the UK
because of threats to him and his family.
There are numerous cases of copycat crimes in regards to A Clockwork Orange such as a gang of
young boys beating a homeless man to death, mirroring an early scene from the film.
More notoriously, a girl was gang-raped by a group of men who were singing “Singin’ in the
Rain” whilst committing the act, imitating the actions of Alex and his droogs in A Clockwork
Orange’s most infamous scene.
The association to these crimes hurt the film and Kubrick massively and the film remained
banned and locked away until the great director’s death in 1999.
Philosophical themes of the movie that became associated with a multitude of murders.
One particular instance involved a woman who killed her landlady, believed herself to be in the
matrix.
Her logic appeared to be that the person she killed wasn’t a real person and like something in a
dream.
She was eventually judged insane by a court.
2002 Washington sniper attacks as both John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, the
perpetrators of the attack were said to be fascinated and obsessed with the movie and
Muhammad reportedly rambled about characters from the film during his incarceration.
Attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
The man who tried to assassinate Reagan was John Hinckley Jr, who believed that Travis Bickle
was talking to him when he tried to assassinate a politician to get a woman’s affection.
Hinckley was a fantasist and psychologically damaged and upon seeing the film, he delved
further more into his imaginary world and eventually decided to try and kill one of the most
powerful men on the planet to impress Jodie Foster.
Hinckley wounded the president, but failed to kill him and after a series of trials he was
eventually found insane and has been under psychiatric care ever since.
Wes Craven’s horror has inspired a series of grisly murders.
A man stabbed his neighbour over 30 times whilst dressed in full Ghostface attire.
Another, more strange case was that of two teenage boys in England who believed that the film
was sending a message to them, telling them to kill their friend.
The boys lured their friend to a quiet area and subsequently attacked him and left him to die. He
miraculously survived the ordeal, and is a stark reminder of the strange power films can hold
over people.
A drain cleaning agent is poured down a
human being’s throat.
As a result of seeing Magnum Force,
William Andrews and Dale Selby Pierre
wanted to use the method during an
armed robbery of a hi-fi store in Utah.
The murders are particularly vile and the
use of the drain agent did not work like it
did in the movie where Margaret Avery’s
prostitute dies instantly.
Three people died as a result of Andrews
and Pierre’s action and they were both
eventually a victim to capitol punishment.
Fight Club also seemed to inspire a large number of teenagers to set up their own forms of fight
club at school and have fights on the grounds, but these were quickly suppressed by the
authorities.
People were inspired by the anti-capitalist message of the film and went about imitating the
acts of Tyler Durden. One such imitator was Kyle Shaw who set off a homemade bomb created
from fireworks and set it off outside a Starbucks, an infamous symbol of corporate America
Shaw was said to be planning his own Project Mayhem, the group set up in the film by Tyler
Durden to bring down corporate America. Shaw plotted to mimic the events of the film and
was a noted obsessive fan of both the book and film, making the association clear.
A couple from Illinois from attempted to emulate the robbery scene
Wearing nuns clothing and covering their faces
with nightmarish masks like the crew in the
film, Navahcia Edwards, 25 and her fiancé
stormed a Chicago bank heavily armed and
walked away with over $100,000.
No shots were fired during the robbery and
nobody was injured or hurt, which is actually a
pleasant surprise. The couple were eventually
caught and sentenced
Murder of William Savage by Sarah
Edmondson and Benjamin Darras.
Subsequent court case brought about by victim
Patty Byers who was shot by the pair but
survived.
Byers brought a lawsuit against Oliver Stone
and Time Warner accusing them of inciting
violence with the film and there being a direct
correlation between the film and the acts of
her shooters.
The case was eventually dismissed, but it is still
a clear reminder of the powers that film
possesses and how they can unwittingly
influence unstable individuals to commit
heinous acts
Natural Born Killers wasn’t just accused of inspiring one isolated
crime but a very long list of grisly murders, the most famous of
which would be the Columbine High School Massacre.
Task 1
Choose two films from the same genre and critically analyse them in the form of an
illustrated report or edited voice over analysis. Ensure you cover the following points:
•
Explain how you can identify the genre of these films referencing specific parts of the
film. (Use analysis of micro-elements to help you such as camera, editing, lighting,
sound, music and mise-en-scene)
•
Explain what form the narrative takes and whether this is typical or not for this genre.
Include information on time and location.
•
Discuss the characters; how are people represented? Is this typical of the genre?
Task 2
In the same document or voice over analysis continue with Task 2. Choose a theory below
and discuss why it would be most suitable to apply to your chosen films. Then actually apply
the theory and discuss the content of the film with specific reference to this theory.
Film Theory:
Semiotics
Auteur theory
Feminism
Queer Theory
Psychoanalytic
Film Noir (literally 'black film or cinema') was coined by French film critics (first by Nino Frank in
1946) who noticed the trend of how 'dark', downbeat and black the looks and themes were of
many American crime and detective films released in France to theatres following the war
A wide range of films reflected the resultant tensions and insecurities of the time period,
and counter-balanced the optimism of Hollywood's musicals and comedies. Fear, mistrust,
bleakness, loss of innocence, despair and paranoia are readily evident in noir, reflecting the
'chilly' Cold War period when the threat of nuclear annihilation was ever-present. The
criminal, violent, misogynistic, hard-boiled, or greedy perspectives of anti-heroes in film noir
were a metaphoric symptom of society's evils, with a strong undercurrent of moral conflict,
purposelessness and sense of injustice. There were rarely happy or optimistic endings in
noirs
Explain how you can identify the genre of these films
referencing specific parts of the film. (Use analysis of
micro-elements to help you such as camera, editing,
lighting, sound, music and mise-en-scene)
The Long Goodbye (dir.
Altman, 1973)
Locations used: city streets, rain,
darkness etc…
Black and white
The male voice over
Apply genre
analysis to the film
using specific clips.
Use close analysis to help you.
E.g. the lighting in this scene is
not typical of film noir…
This film challenges
noir conventions:
Colour
Bright sunlight
Revisionist noir
The Big Sleep (dir.
Hawks, 1946)
Locations used: city streets, rain,
darkness etc…
Black and white
The male voice over
Apply genre
analysis to the film
using specific clips.
Use close analysis to help you. E.g.
character positioning reveals…
The venetian blinds are typical in
the mise-en-scene of the genre.
Typical Noir film
Locations: rain
soaked streets
Black & White
Male voice-over
Traditional noir
Explain what form the narrative
takes and whether this is typical or
not for this genre. Include
information on time and location.
Typical narratives
in film noir:
twisted plotlines.
Audience are also
like a detective
trying to work out
what’s happening.
Treatment of
time e.g. use
of flashbacks
Narrative structure: e.g. single strand, multistrand, closed, open, linear, non-linear;
alternative, narrative; enigma; climax;
equilibrium
Propp’s
characters?
Discuss the characters; how
are people represented? Is this
typical of the genre?
The investigating hero is represented through
Marlowe
He’s independent but not completely
organised and rambles throughout the film.
This is different to the typical quick thinking
noir detective…
The femme fatale & sexuality
In The Long Goodbye Mrs Wade
is an updated noir femme
fatale…she is represented as…
In The Big Sleep Vivian is
represented as strong and
independent. It is her sister who
is the femme fatale type of
character…
Task 2
In the same document or voice over analysis continue with
Task 2. Choose a theory below and discuss why it would be
most suitable to apply to your chosen films. Then actually
apply the theory and discuss the content of the film with
specific reference to this theory.
Film Theory:
Semiotics
Auteur theory
Feminism
Queer Theory
Psychoanalytic
Semiotics
Semiotics is the theory
chosen for analysing the
two films. This theory has
been chosen because of the
rich symbolism evident in
both films. This theory can
be applied to aid
understanding of character
and story etc…
In this particular scene there are a number of
signs which signify important information and
reveal vital elements about the plot and
characters for example the positioning of the
characters…the lighting…the prop…
This is not appropriate
for my 2 x films as they
are done by different
directors.
But if I chose two other films…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Style
Trademarks
Involvement in the film
Distinctive aesthetic
Recurring themes
Identifiable
Recognisable look to films
Often personal filmmaking
Make sure you
reference specific
parts of the films to
prove your points
This theory ‘Feminist film
theory’ would be suitable
for these two films as I can
look at the portrayal of
women…
1.
2.
Women as object
for characters?
Women as object
for spectators?
Role of women in narrative of a film
Women’s physical appearance through
the visual scheme of a film
Male gaze?
Not suitable
for my 2 x
films
But if I chose two other films…
The content of the
films feature…the
narrative addresses…
Queer theory
can be applied
because…
Production
films made by gays/ lesbians
-
Reception
: Films that are
watched by gays and lesbians
Content
- films about
homosexuality with narrative addressing queer issues
Lesson
resources on
socs-media
Planning
document
Website
Tips
• Do NOT copy and paste
• You MUST reference!
• You MUST include a bibliography if you use research
Using quotes or information in your main body…
• E.G. Very often, a film noir story was developed around a cynical,
hard-hearted, disillusioned male character (Dirks, 2001)
• Or
• Dirks (2001) considers that ‘…a film noir story was developed
around a cynical, hard-hearted, disillusioned male character…’
• Or
• According to Dirks (2001) film war was based on characters who
were ‘hard-hearted’.
What is a Bibliography?
• Alphabetical list of all the places you’ve
researched and used in your assessment.
More, S. (2013) 10 Movies Which Unwittingly
Inspired Real-Life Crimes. Available at:
http://whatculture.com/film/10-movies-whichunwittingly-inspired-real-life-crimes.php
(Accessed: 3rd November 2014).
Title
Writer
+ The date I
accessed it:
3rd
November
2014
Date
URL
Date assignment given out 16th October 2014
1st deadline date (for
initial feedback)
4th December 2014
Final deadline date
11th December 2014
Unit 26: Film Studies
Your work will be marked using the following grid:
To achieve a pass grade the
evidence must show that the
learner is able to:
To achieve a merit grade the
evidence must show that, in
addition to the pass criteria, the
learner is able to:
To achieve a distinction grade the
evidence must show that, in
addition to the pass and merit
criteria, the learner is able to:
P1. Apply approaches to
analysing films with some
appropriate use of subject
terminology
M1. Apply approaches to
analysing films coherently with
reference to detailed illustrative
examples and generally correct
use of subject terminology
D1. Apply approaches to
analysing films critically,
supporting points with arguments
and elucidated examples
consistently using subject
terminology correctly
Unit 6: Critical Approaches to Creative Media Products
Your work will be marked using the following grid:
To achieve a pass grade the
evidence must show that the
learner is able to:
To achieve a merit grade the
evidence must show that, in
addition to the pass criteria, the
learner is able to:
To achieve a distinction grade the
evidence must show that, in
addition to the pass and merit
criteria, the learner is able to:
P4 present a descriptive
response to a media product
with some appropriate use of
subject terminology.
M4 present a discussion of a
media product with reference
to detailed illustrative
examples and with generally
correct use of subject
terminology.
D4 present an analysis of a media
product with supporting
arguments and elucidated
examples, and consistently
using subject terminology
correctly.