How do the the micro elements of two chosen films create a representation of the protagonist/s and how is this representation linked to audience expectation?

How do the the micro elements of two chosen films create a representation of the protagonist/s and how is this representation linked to audience expectation?

In this essay I shall be exploring how the protagonists from two different films are created through a combination of micro elements and how the way these protagonists are represented is reflective of audience expectation.
Too examine this I shall be using two primary theories, the theory of uses and gratifications and cultural Marxism, also known as critical theory.

The theory of uses and gratifications is a theory that has evolved since the 1940's and really found its solid ideals in the 1970's, key thinkers include HERTA Hertzog and Abraham maslow.

The theory of uses and gratifications posits that audiences actively consume media and are aware of their consumption of media, in order to fulfil certain needs and desires including personal connection, excitement, ego/self respect and others. (The power of media, 2012)
IN this essay I shall be using the theory of uses and gratifications alongside a generally accepted aspect of film making and media, you have to give the audience what they want.
This leads to films and media, reflecting to some extent, the needs and desires of the audience that are going to view them, as these needs and desires are linked to the culture of the time period, this intrinsically links the depiction of certain aspects of a film, such as the protagonists, to the culture of the time.

For the purposes of this essay I shall be applying the uses and gratifications theory by examining the cultural and social situation of each films time period a how this creates the specific needs and desires of the audience, and how, through application of the theory that media makers must, to some extent, satisfy these needs and desires, the representation of the protagonist is intrinsically linked to the culture of the time.

Cultural Marxism, or more accurately when referring to the theoretical aspect of this, Critical theory, was created during the period leading up to world war 2 in the early 30's.
A number of Marxist theorists, with critical members including Max horkeheimer and erich fromm set up the 'Frankfurt institute of social studies' in Germany. These men theorised that ideology was the key obstacle to human liberation and sought ways to change the capitalist, Christian centric ideology of the western world.
They did this through the creation of critical theory, which encouraged audiences to question what they were presented by media from a Marxist view point, in particular traditional values, such as men and women place in society, moral social standards such as the taboo on heavy drinking or women smoking and the belief that capitalism and Christianity can ultimately provide for all Americas people. (The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Overtime the Marxist aspect of this theory has declined somewhat in prominence, however the fundamental idea, of questioning what one is shown from alternate viewpoints an to question the motivation of the media itself in showing the audience what is presented remains and has had profound effects on western culture, particularly from the 70's onwards as a new wave of commercialism swept the western world on the backs of Thatcher and Reagan.
For the purposes of this essay I shall be applying critical theory and its effects on audience reception to explain some differences between how protagonists are presented in film noir and neo noir.

Cultural Marxism, or critical theory, shall be used to further this link between audience expectation and how protagonists are presented on screen by examining how the growth of critical theory as a key method of audience interaction with media, has led to radical changes in cultural and social standards of acceptability, and the differing uses and gratifications of audiences in the more modern age of neo noir.

I shall be comparing how the protagonist is constructed in two films that are typical of their genres, Fr film noir this is (the big sleep) and for neo noir this is (reservoir dogs)

Philip Marlowe, played by Humphrey Bogart is typical of the hard boiled detective that was the primary form of protagonist seen in classic film noir, a rough edged, down on the streets detective that was distinctive from the older, upper class detectives of older English crime drama.
Throughout the film Marlowe is presented in such a way as to provide his character with a sense of power, responsibility and moral justification that stands in contrast to the rougher aspects of his camera.
In the opening scenes of the movie, when Marlowe is seen talking to General whatever his costume is highly notable. He quickly removes his suit jacket, rolls up his sleeves and is wearing a crooked tie. This suggests a somewhat rough element to his character, and an element of willingness to get stuck in, as rolling up ones sleeves is typically seen before one engages in dirty or arduous work.
In this scene Marlowe is also first seen drinking, being offered a drink by general whatever. Drinking is a common aspect of film noir protagonists at the time and can have a variety of possible meaning depending on the social standards that are attributed to drink and alcohol at the time, which will be explored in more detail later.
Camera angle and lighting n Marlowe throughout the film are also important, Marlowe is frequently framed with a slight low angle, and in many scenes is shown standing when the other characters in the scene are seated. These two aspects of cinematography give Marlowe a sense f power and command, and a certain sense of responsibility, as power often comes with such.
IN regards to lighting Marlowe is frequently well lit during most scenes, with heavy shadowing of the face being largely reserved for moments of violent interaction or for when Marlowe is engaging in stealthy investigation of the criminal case.
Together these aspects create a character that is simultaneously presented with a sense of power and respectability, but also presents a character that is imperfect, prone to worldly indulgences such as drinking and smoking, and is not afraid to become violent and forceful when required, which stands in contrast to the traditional upper class, highly respectable image of older English crime dramas.

By applying the theory of uses and gratification, in combination with an observance of cultural and social standards of the time period, links can be drawn between audience expectation and uses and gratifications they seek in film noir, and the representation of protagonists in the genre.
During the post war period, which is when film noir was at its most popular and most defined, America was undergoing radical changes. It's emergence as the sole unscathed victor from world war 2 catapulted the previously isolationist country to a role as the worlds great super power. America had also undergone an intense period of urbanization and industrialization as part of it's preparations for world war 2.(American history, from revolution to reconstruction and beyond)
This created a population that had become concentrated in cities and suburbs and that were ill at ease with their new found power.

The depiction of the protagonists in film noir is highly reflective of these changing attitudes among the public.
The sense of power and responsibility that is seen in Marlowe could be construed as a direct projection of a feeling of power and responsibility among the public as they came to terms with Americas new role in the world. In particular the less clear cut moral ambiguity of the protagonists, seen through the introduction of moral vices such as drinking, womanising and a heightened level of violence compared to pre-war films can be seen as a way of addressing the moral difficulty America faced in acting upon its new role as a world power, with engagement in distant wars, such as the Korean war, and a wave of anti-communist sentiment as America found itself at odds with the world other rising super power, The USSR.
There was a need in America to address moral concerns with the behaviours required of their new found role.
In addition as America had moved towards a more concentrated more urbanized population, crime rates and moral inadequacy soared as the concentration of humanity inevitably led to overcrowding, poverty and moral degradation. The moral ambiguity of the film noir protagonist can be seen as a way of tackling these new criminals at their own level, on the streets and with a certain level of meanness that was lacking in older crime dramas.

The protagonist of reservoir dogs-

The protagonists of reservoir dogs are markedly different an more modern than those of older film noirs such as the big sleep.
The greatest contrast between the protagonists of reservoir dogs and Marlowe is that the Mr. Colours of reservoir dogs are criminals, unquestionably so.

However despite being clearly presented s criminals, the protagonists of reservoir dogs are arguably more human than Marlowe in the big sleep>
This can be seen to some extent during the opening scene.
Here the characters are shown, eating, drinking and smoking with one another, having a somewhat rude and colourful conversation with one another. the most important cinematographic aspect of this scene is the camera angle. Throughout the scene each protagonist is presented with a camera angle that is more or less even in comparison with the other protagonists, this creates a sense of equality among the characters, and a sense of equality with the audience. The low angle that is frequently used to present Marlowe in the big sleep stands in contrast to this and creates a character to be looked 'up' too by the audience, which would have been critical for helping audiences of post war America conform to the new social standards required of Americas world position.
The harsh language used by the characters also separates them from the wittier, better spoken protagonist of the past and may be linked to declining standards of social acceptability in post 70's America or a growing sense of non-conformity as a rebellion against the highly conformist life of suburban America in the post war period. Creating character and protagonists in film that explore these concepts of rebellion of more relaxed standards of social behaviour would have been critical to attracting an audience that were increasingly seeking more freedom of personal expression.
This change in social standards and rebellion against conformity may also be linked to the decline of the USSR as a rival to America, with America acting as the worlds sole super power from roughly the 90's onwards, there was less need to present a united ideological opposition to counter the USSR, giving America more time to explore it's own internal identity and cultural differences.

This need among audiences to explore their own ideas and identity in more detailed can be seen in other neo noir films, such as pulp fiction and sin city which also adopt multiple distinctive protagonists.

Also critical to discuss is the growing effects of critical theory in the post war period and particularly its dominance in modern media.

Critical theory focuses on encouraging audiences to ask more questions and to look with greater depth at the messages they are being presented with by the media. This inherently creates audiences which are oppositional towards media or movies that adopt a more hypodermic needle approach towards informing the attitudes of the public, Film noir and it's relatively rigid protagonist structure can be seen as following a more hypodermic needle approach towards informing the audience, the protagonist, such as Marlowe, are presented as strong, above the audience and the other characters in the film, and as an ideal to strive for and to conform too.
The frequently criminal characters of modern neo noir, like reservoir dogs, encourages the audience to more actively seek their own conclusions on what moral and social standards are being presented and how they should fulfil their desires as a result.

In conclusion, it can be suggested and proven to some extent through the application of the theories used, that the particular way in which protagonists within film and neo noir, but also in other genre's is intrinsically liked to the expectations of the audience when viewing these films, with film makers having a certain requirement to satisfy these needs and desires. These needs and desires are in turn influenced by the cultural and social pressures of the time period, as such the presentation of protagonists in different film genres and across different time periods is itself also linked heavily to the social and cultural pressures of the time period, this is what leads to the creation of genre and character specific cliches, as these cliches are created to satisfy the audiences needs.

References:
(THE POWER OF MEDIA(2012) the basics of uses and gratifications theory [online] Available from: https://thepowerofmedia.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/the-basics-of-uses-gratifications-theory/

[last accessed 13/11/15]
Frankfurt School and Critical Theory | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2015. Frankfurt School and Critical Theory | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.iep.utm.edu/frankfur/. [Accessed 13 November 2015].

Critical theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2015. Critical theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory. [Accessed 13 November 2015].

Historical Main Currents < Does Film Noir Mirror The Culture Of Contemporary America? - Lise Hordnes < General < Essays < American History From Revolution To Reconstruction and beyond. 2015. Historical Main Currents < Does Film Noir Mirror The Culture Of Contemporary America? - Lise Hordnes < General < Essays < American History From Revolution To Reconstruction and beyond. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/essays/general/does-film-noir-mirror-the-culture/historical-main-currents.php. [Accessed 13 November 2015].

United States History - The Culture of the 1950s. 2015. United States History - The Culture of the 1950s. [ONLINE] Available at: http://countrystudies.us/united-states/history-117.htm. [Accessed 13 November 2015].

Fears-Pre-production role breakdown

During the pre-production of FEARS my role in the team has primarily been script writer and head of cinematography. During the pre-production I have taken a lead role in deciding upon and developing the idea for FEARS and developing the visual aspects of the film, both in terms of overall visual style and in terms of what camera and filming techniques should be used to convey the films message effectively. I have also worked closely with my team member, discussing sound design and making general improvements to the script to make the film more manageable to produce. This has involved meeting with and discussing with my team member and completing relevant pre-production paperwork including script, shotlist and research, I have also dictated what elements of paperwork need to be completed by my team member and adopted a role collating our work. Following pre-production my role as writer and cinematographer will continue into role as director, cameraman and head producer with a creative lead over the film.

Fears: Pre-production research

 A limited level of research went into the pre-production of fears, this is largely due to the main idea's having already been formed in the head of Josh for years. The movie is to be a form of psychological horror that focuses on addressing two questions that form the basis for the films inspiration.
"Why aren't horror movies scary?" and "What are we afraid off?.
It has been observed that, generally, horror movies are shocking but not very scary in modern times, with a small amount of research, largely based upon asking friends and family questions and general observations of the issues raised in mass media, we determined that this was due to fears of the real world being far more prevalent and frightening than fears of ghosts and goblins.
It is much more real and much scarier a thought to most people that they may loose their job, get mugged on the way home from work or the feeling of dread when an envelope with the word URGENT on it falls through the door.
Thus we decided to create a horror movie that sought to raise and address these questions and answers.
To do this the movie would follow a persons everyday life, while presenting usually normal situations that many people deal with everyday, in a dark and horrific light, using classic horror cliche's such as dark lighting, chase cams and other techniques.
These techniques are showy and unmistakable and though they may be comic to a certain extent, we believed it was more important to ensure our audience understood the point being made about the potential fear people feel in these situations as opposed to ensuring the film itself was terrifying.
This is in part due to the difficulty with make a letter with the word URGENT on it seem as immediately frightening as an axe murderer charging towards you while wearing some murdered teenagers face as a mask.
To Further ensure that we would be well prepared to embark on production of the film we viewed several old horror films, in particular the works of Hitchcock, who's focus on the psychological effects of horror is exactly what we have planned. The potential use of unusual and disorienting camera angles and filming techniques has been picked up from this and applied to the script, with light and dark being used to radically alter the appearance of the shots on screen. Darkness in particular is used to help isolate the character during moments of panic and give a feeling that the fears he is facing are so all consuming and overwhelming that they override reality.
Overall in depth research is limited due to the experience and passion that both of us have for horror movies and our experiences with a very fearful, modern age.

Reporting on Politics in the local news.

I am personally interested in looking at the political and economic circumstances faced by people here in Liverpool, especially with the next general election looming on the horizon. I am interested in doing a piece on politics as it is an area of personal interest to me and one that I believe must that I believe needs more done to get the general population interested and involved, especially young people.
Within the most prominent local newspaper in my area, the Liverpool Echo, political reporting is woefully inadequate.
Most stories are short and concise, often giving a brief summary of the issue being explored in the article and little else. Most often only a single primary source is used though there is occasional use of secondary sources to provide opinions or commentary on the issue.
The political coverage is also distinctly left wing with a strong leaning towards labor, though this is to be expected as the Liverpool area has traditionally been a labor stronghold.. This can be seen in the wording of the articles and the secondary sources used that are distinctly anti-conservative. For example MP for Walton, Steve Rotheram was highly critical of the current Conservative governments economic plans for Liverpool, calling the current budget "a Paul Daniel's magic show".
Also notable is the level of coverage given to political news within the Echo, on the front page of their website only a single article, at the bottom of the page, concerns Politics or the Economy. This can be compared to the over half a dozen sports related news stories on the front page. In a time where the general election is only 2 months away this is simply not enough to get the public interested, invested in and aware of their political and economic future.
This is exasperated by the simplicity of many of the articles, giving only a brief overview and a few facts and figures, often from a single primary source, there is a lack of in depth reporting on the current political occurrences at both local and national level. While some most of the articles contain some form of an opinion on how the issues covered will effect the readers, few of the pieces provide fair and un-biased analysis of this.
However the overall short length and low depth of the stories is reflective of the style of article across the site as a whole.

Scriptwriting Module reflection. te1054

Beginning the module at the start of the educational year I had never made a movie nor written a script in my life. I've always been full of idea's but never had the skills needed to turn them into films or proper stories and I've hugely enjoyed attaining those skills.

I have found the narrative theory aspects of the module to be the most interesting and the most useful to me. I've always been fascinated with how things work and how they're made and being given the tools needed to analyse films and scripts and break them down into their components and study how they fit together has been a massive boost to my writing abilities.

Studying Todorov, Propp and Strauss came easier to me than the rest of the module, particularly when breaking down 'The Spongebob Sqaurepants Movie' during our first assignment. The movie turned out to have a much more complex application of Todorov and Propp's theories than I had expected. However I ended up highly enjoying breaking down the film and the way the theories applied. It taught me a lot about how to alter and adjust the way different theories can be used to improve a film without limiting it.

Writing scripts themselves has proven more difficult, however learning proper research and character profiling technique has made this much easier than before, though during the third assignment I had less passion for my script idea's than I would have liked. However this was a good thing as the challenge of writing for a script you are not passionate about is likely to be a part of the industry and proper application of theory, idea and research still results in well written and thought out scripts, even if they lack passion.

The small exercises performed in and out of class; single character break downs, quick script analysis and short research tasks has been very useful in cementing the idea's and techniques in my head and teaching me how to apply these to my own ideas both quickly and more thoroughly.

The technical formatting of the script has also been very easy as it is constant, ordered and sensible and suits the way I work.

I have found some difficulty finding the passion to write the scripts I want, though I enjoy writing, writing a script is very thinned down compared to story writing in terms of what you write on the page and creating scripts that clearly tell the story with the limited information than be put into the script has been a little more difficult. From the second and third assignments I learned how important it was to consider the length of your story and how quickly an idea can be formed and represented in a script.

I used the 'Amelia the Acorn' short as a 60 second script and ran into the problem than my original idea for the story would have involved a script closer to 5-10 minutes in length.

Though I was able to re-tool the story to work in 60 seconds it was still difficult to achieve and I wasn't happy about doing so, so in future careful consideration of an idea and how well it scales to different film lengths is important.

I also had some difficulty with the researching, character profiling and mood board type tasks as, although I have learnt well the importance of these things, before I started I had never really used them before when writing or painting, and I still feel I have a lot to learn about how I am best creating my own mood boards and research profiles to suit the way I work and to improve my ideas.

Overall I feel I have been successful int his module, the work has been enjoyable and interesting to me and I feel I have picked up on many of the important elements of how to write a successful script and have created, what I feel, are examples of work that show that slow growing of my understanding. 

I still have some areas to improve my understanding and practices in but for now I feel greatly improved in my ability.

Basic Script writing guide

Before beginning to write a script it is important to start by deciding what it is you wish to write. A horror movie, a political statement, a simple one liner and jot down this idea in its basic form before you begin to develop it.
Development should be gradual, from the basic idea a synopsis or treatment should be formed and then developed into a rough screenplay. AT this stage correct formatting is not necessary.
Following your writing of the screenplay you should begin to look for feedback, preferably from those with film making and script writing experience themselves though almost any feedback is useful in some form. Use this feedback to inform your improving of the screenplay. A screenplay will rarely be perfect the first time you write it, and while it easy to write stories for oneself it is more difficult to write them for others, always remember you’re writing the story for an audience.
While scriptwriting joining workshops, seeking regular critique and working with others can be hugely helpful as writing is typically a very lonely enterprise. And the more you seek out others assistance and critique the more your story will come to be formed in a way that excites the people you are writing it for. This is especially true if you can find people who are fans of the type of story you are writing e.g if you are writing a horror movie then finding horror fans to critique the script will be more helpful than fans of romantic drama’s.

When creating your idea’s it can be helpful to surround yourself with mood boards, films and other media that is similar to the idea you wish to portray in your script. These things can act as a point of inspiration or comparison for your ideas. When writing a horror film is it going to be supernatural or a slasher, perhaps a mood board of famous serial killers and an evening of watching the golden era of slashers will help to inspire your ideas or assist you in refining them.
While you are writing your script carry a small notebook on you, every time you hear something or see something that you think could be useful to your script then write it down. It could be a potential filming location you would love to set your film in, it could just be a joke you overheard than you think would be great for setting the mood in a particular scene, it could be anything at all, but the more you have to work with the easier it will be to create an interesting, in depth, well thought out script.
However just because you think it would work in your script doesn’t guarantee that it will and learning to cut things from your script is as important as adding them in.

When creating your script it is important to remember the narrative structures of a film and what parts create highly memorable films.
Analysing the theories of Propp, Todorov and Strauss should help to give you a better idea of how to structure your story. Propp’s theories focused on character roles such as Hero, Princess and Villain. Todorov focused on the narrative sequence, beginning with equilibrium and strauss focused on the use of binary oppositions in film. However while these theories are all widely recognized as being at the heart of many films they are by no means rules to be followed to the letter and there are times where breaking away from these theories can result in a better story than if they were followed.
It can be useful to first write your idea and create an un-refined screenplay of the idea and then begin to apply these theories, it is much easier to trim a script down than it is to expand it.

When writing your script it is also important to research the genre and subject matter of your script, for example if creating a short about the struggles of an amateur band then researching the music industry, talking to friends or family who are part of small time bands and going to see local bands play at small venues will build your store of information to draw on when writing your script and allow you to create a more authentic story. Though you should never be afraid to apply a bit of artistic license where necessary. Artistic license should however be avoided as much as possible as though it is widely accepted that this is a necessary part of making any story entertaining it is usually glaringly obvious and immersion breaking when a story has departed from the reality of the subject it is portraying.

Once your idea is properly formed you should beginning to convert your screenplay into an industry standard script. Though there are no official guidelines on how to format your script there is an industry standard that most industry professionals are used to seeing, many will not even seriously read a script if it is not formatted in this style.
When formatted according to these standards it should be easy to see the length of your script one it is converted to a film as one page should roughly equal one minute of film.

Once you have reached the stage of having a fully formatted, completed script it is important to then go over the entire script again, ask friends or family to help you enact certain scenes you feel you may be unsure about, if possible ask friendly actors or film making societies to do this.
Re write any area’s that appear to be obviously weaker than the rest of the script, easy from out of nowhere magical solutions to characters problems should be avoided, as should overly complicating things. Constantly ask yourself, is this scene necessary? Does this character really need to say that? Could this problem be solved with a simpler solution? Why are my characters choosing to do this instead of that? It is important to cut out the unnecessary fluff, both to keep the film at an acceptable length and to ensure that the script is easy to follow and does not confuse the viewer.

 

Script writing assignment-reflection

So this was a tougher assignment than the video production one. I've never been particularly good an essay writer, always had trouble cutting down the words or trying to make sense out of what my heads trying to say. However it was easier than I had expected in the end. The spongebob movie turned out to be pretty complex from a narrative standpoint so it gave me lots to work with when I was covering the three unities and how they could be applied to the script, if at all.
The quotation requirements were also difficult to fill, largely just due to the difficulty of finding reputable source that can back up your own interpretations of theories and the script as well as how to apply theories to that script. In the end I largely relied on very factual quotes, mostly just reiterating the theory itself before going into the in depth discussion.
The script writing itself though is very interesting, I've always loved writing and learning how to go about that with a little more structure and knowledge and learning how to use a wider range of resources to support my writing is really good for me and it's gonna me pretty excited to take part in NaNoWriMo this year.
However trying to apply all of these theories does run into a bit of a roadblock at times since I've always been a pretty individual thinker, I tend away from overly incorporating other ideas into my own, very much a go with the flow writer sometimes. Though I suppose one way to work the best of both into future assignments, scripts and other writing and narrative efforts is to simply write it up as I would ordinarily and then begin to apply theories and narrative ideas afterwards, using them to help bring order and structure to the madness, so to say.

In terms of the classes themselves and all the things I'm learning I'm just constantly excited to be learning and looking for ways to start thinking in a different way and improve myself. The narrative theories themselves are fascinating, as is watching out for how they're actually used in film and other media.
Working at a community cinema is also really helpful throughout this work as it means I constantly have the chance to be putting all the things I've been learning into practice, largely in my own time, to reinforce them in my head and improve my understanding further.
The classes in general do occasionally drag a little and a large part of the time is spent just learning the theories with relatively little time given in class for us to go out and put them into practice. Though this could simply be due to how early into the course we are I still feel that if it carries on it could become a little tedious, alongside the fact that I learn better through putting things into practical use myself.

I'm more interested in putting all these ideas into use in my own films rather than over analysing a dozen other films. I'm a creator at heart.