FILM STUDIES

 "The director is always the most important influence on a film" Compare how far your TWO films support this statement.  Some mass audiences would rather turn to the belief that the actors and actresses are always the most important influence on a film due to themselves actually being the main focus; however, compared to more niche, indie films or films directed by true auteurs can transpose this opinion. In fact, the influence a director withholds is the driving force of the film; if the actual movie is either extremely self-conscious of the director, reflecting personal aspects, or if the film is a biopic dramatising the life of a historical individual, the director will always have a recognisable influence as their own personal style and ideologies may always be revealed through film form. In this essay I will be comparing "Sunset Boulevard" directed by Billy Wilder and "Bonnie and Clyde" directed by Arthur Penn. Both films are incredible cinema classic...

 NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007) Component 1 Section B spectatorship and ideology Coen brothers  Distinctive filmmakers within wider context of US contemporary production. Auteurs. This is based on a book of the same name by Cormac Mcarthy released in 2005.  Overview US values and ideologies.  (further down the like) - our spectatorship and spectatorship issues Differences between Gen Z and Millennials  Values Speech Views on certain topics - political views Internet Technology Opening scene for No Country for Old Men  Accent and language used seems very Country/Western Voiceover Talks about older generation? Younger generation? Willing to die for the job - says younger generation wouldn’t Cant compare yourself to the old timers Thinks older generation is somewhat better? More respectful to the older generation than the younger Younger generation doesn’t carry a gun Likes to hear the story for the old timers - respectful of them His gra...

 DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) Billy Wilder  - Wrote the screenplay  - Directed - Film Noir, Crime, Drama, moral ambiguity  FILM NOIR: Defined by stylistic and cinematic features or themes.  Low budget due to war and lack of funding in Hollywood amongst studios. Use of lighting to create shadows and suggest crowd when few actors were paid to be on set.  The "noir" alludes to the darkness.  Use of lighting to create atmosphere.  Film noir is about the symbolic use of lighting to create a mood.  Noir - moral ambiguity and uncertainty. Defining a genre through themes.  Transitions in the moral landscape due to changing gender roles (both wars).  Plots around duplicity, deceit, individual desire and gain. Double-crossing people.  FEMME FATALE.  FEMME FATALE - WILDER Aligned with Sunset Boulevard - Norma Desmond.   

 Penn and Wilder as auteurs Similarities  Differences Focusing on: wider contexts, representations and key elements of film form. 

  ALICE'S RESTAURANT  Arthur Penn (1969)  Arlo Guthrie - also co-screenplay writer.  Alice. Ray.  Entrenched in the hippie culture and sitting outside of societies norms.  TRUE EVENTS: - Based on Arlo's own attempts to avoid being drafted into Vietnam War.  - He visits his friend Alice - having been asked to leave college. - Thanksgiving. - He and a friend dump rubbish and are arrested. - He comes before the law for this.  THEMES AND PENN'S AUTHORSHIP: Quintessentially confer cultural - rebellion  Youth - new generation "hippy" culture  Anti-Vietnam  Old vs young  Linear narrative  Post Hays Code - freedom into expression in film  The title sequence includes non-diegetic sounds, as if the story is continuing with no visuals.  Broken America Recklessness Arlo goes to school in the hopes of getting out of being drafted in the war. Goes to Alice after dropping out of school for smoking weed in the dorms. Alice ...

  AUTEUR REVIEW:   Explain what is meant by a film auteur? Auteur is a French word for author. A film auteur is a film director with a profound sense of personalization towards their films and the many aspects of cinematography and film form. They can be the equivalent to a novelist or play director, which usually have certain elements personal to their desire within most of their books or productions.    Explore why Billy Wilder is an auteur? Of course, Billy Wilder is profoundly known for excellent film making and enthralling his audience, drawing them in so much that they actually forget they are watching a film and in a theatre. Personally, I believe his success is down to the reflection of powerful drives and controversial elements within his films, otherwise not spoken about in day to day American life. Bringing multiple problems faced by society but held under minimal supervision to the screens of America symbolise his personal ideologies, this can be through ...

 Varieties of film and filmmaking (Hollywood 1930-1990  comparative)  PRE-SCREENING NOTE Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn 1967) Genre: crime drama - based on real events and characters  Begins - still photography, suggesting documentary  like approach / realism Stars and stardom: Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  Beatty also influences the script.  Picking up a biopic and running it through cinema.  Protagonists are the villains.  NEW DEPARTURE IN HOLLYWOOD Thematically Chronologically Evident that controversial subject-matter would not have passed the high censorious standards of the Hays Code.  (Now reformed as the Moving Picture Association of America in 1964).  CONTROVERSIAL ELEMENTS Taboos - sexually. Clyde and Bonnie run off together (not married). Opening sequence, Bonnie seen as a sexual woman, close ups.  Violence - often thought to be the most violent closing sequence in Hollywood.  CONTEXTS Production cont...