Chris Marker was a French writer, photographer, documentary film director, multimedia artist and film essayist. La Jetee is sone of this films he is best known for. La Jetee ('the Jetty', here referring to an outdoor viewing heir at an airport), is a 1962 french science fiction feature. This film is almost entirely consisted of sill photos. It tells a story of a post-nuclear war experiment in time-travel. It is 28 minutes long and shot in black and white. It won the Prix Jean Vigo for short film.
The 1995 science fiction film 12 Monkeys was inspired by and borrows several concepts directly from La Jetee
Monday, 23 January 2017
Monday, 16 January 2017
Maya Deren
Maya Deren, Born: 29th April 1917 - 13 October 1961 in, Kiev, Ukraine. Deren was one of the most important American experimental filmmakers and entrepreneurial promoters of the avant-garde in the 1940's and 1950's. Deren was also a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer, writer and photographer. Deren believed that the function of film, like most art forms, was to create an experience; each one of her films would evoke new conclusions, lending her focus to be dynamic and always evolving.
She combined hr interests in dance, Haitian Vodou and subjective psychology in a series of surreal, perceptual, black and white short films. Using editing, multiple exposures, jump cutting, superimposition, slow motion and other camera techniques to her fullest advantage.
http://www.zappinternet.com/video/zajDveMkoS/Maya+Deren+-+Meshes+of+the+afternoon+(1943)/
Meshes of The Afternoon has multiple recurring motifs such as a flower in a driveway, a knife, a key a unlocked door and a cloaked figure with a mirror instead of a face which is similar to the grim reaper. Cleaver editing, distinctive camera angles and slow motion create a surrealist world where reality becomes harder to catch.
Maya Deren (The woman) appears to be caught in a cycle of running after this clocked figure and ending up back in her house, this is her dream world and may represent how she is chasing for answers but getting no avail, the cloaked figure with a mirror instead of a face forms a physical representation of her trying to find herself and understand herself.
During the middle of the film she begins to see multiples of herself repeating the same actions of the dream, for example picking up the flower and chasing the hooded figure. the multiple representations of herself may resemble how she is suck in a pattern in her life and her subconscious ming is showing that struggle through a repetitive dream sequence. As well as this the multiples of her self may show the different sizes to a woman personality put into physical form. When they all sit at a table enforces the idea that women live with multiples of their selfs and that this particular woman has come to terms with the multiple personalities she has.
Throughout the short film there is a reoccurring motif of a key and a locked door, to me the key is a symbol of her attempt to open and push through the the outside world and the locked doors and not letting hr do this, due to it being hr own dreamworld its as if she is stopping herself from opening up even though she wants to maybe because she is afraid of the circumstances?
She combined hr interests in dance, Haitian Vodou and subjective psychology in a series of surreal, perceptual, black and white short films. Using editing, multiple exposures, jump cutting, superimposition, slow motion and other camera techniques to her fullest advantage.
Meshes of The Afternoon:
Original music score by Teiji Ito
Meshes of The Afternoon has multiple recurring motifs such as a flower in a driveway, a knife, a key a unlocked door and a cloaked figure with a mirror instead of a face which is similar to the grim reaper. Cleaver editing, distinctive camera angles and slow motion create a surrealist world where reality becomes harder to catch.
Maya Deren (The woman) appears to be caught in a cycle of running after this clocked figure and ending up back in her house, this is her dream world and may represent how she is chasing for answers but getting no avail, the cloaked figure with a mirror instead of a face forms a physical representation of her trying to find herself and understand herself.
During the middle of the film she begins to see multiples of herself repeating the same actions of the dream, for example picking up the flower and chasing the hooded figure. the multiple representations of herself may resemble how she is suck in a pattern in her life and her subconscious ming is showing that struggle through a repetitive dream sequence. As well as this the multiples of her self may show the different sizes to a woman personality put into physical form. When they all sit at a table enforces the idea that women live with multiples of their selfs and that this particular woman has come to terms with the multiple personalities she has.
Throughout the short film there is a reoccurring motif of a key and a locked door, to me the key is a symbol of her attempt to open and push through the the outside world and the locked doors and not letting hr do this, due to it being hr own dreamworld its as if she is stopping herself from opening up even though she wants to maybe because she is afraid of the circumstances?
Thursday, 8 December 2016
How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques [35]
During the scene where Caye and her friends at the hairdressers talk about the foreign girls and how they're stealing their work there is an obvious divide sown within the shots. A long shot of the foreign girls outside in the street are shot from the inside of the hairdressers and are covered by the blinds. This gives the effect of being behind bars and being trapped both from the girls looking out the window and the girls in the street. most of the shots of the foreign girls in the street in this scene are shot with a hand held camera, this is particularly obvious when a girl stands up and the camera follows her. This creates verisimilitude. The hand held camera makes it seam like a documentary, there are references to how it like a jungle in the dialogue of this scene which empathises the verisimilitude and ho its shot like an animal documentary.
Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Subject of Study: To what extent does Jared Leto's use of method acting allow a more authentic performance?
Item 1: Suicide Squad (2016):
For Jared Leto's role of the Joker in the resent film Suicide Squad, he used method acting to further understand and embody his role and truly become the Joker. During filming Leto would send his co-workers "gifts". These "gifts" included sending his on screen lover Margot Robbie a love letter in a box that also contained a live black rat, he also sent al cast members used condoms and anal beads, he exclaimed after filming that this was to truly embody the elements of surprise and spontaneity that are key characteristics of the joker. Leto's performance of the joker in suicide squad does represent that of someone psychopathic and someone fuel by spontaneity and surprise. He managed to reflect truly upon a new interpretation of the joker and captured key elements of the character.
Item 2: Chapter 27 (2007):
While preparing to play Mark Chapmen in the 2007 film Chapter 27 Jared Leto gained 62 pounds. he did this through binging on copious amounts of both classical fast food such as pizza and pasta and melted pints of Haagen-das ice cream, olive oil and soy sauce. Although this aloud Leto to truly embody the character it came at a great cost of having to be in wheelchair and dealing with extreme pain, as well as this Leto also got gout and dangerously high cholesterol. During this performance Leto gets lost in the vengeful character of chapmen and appears to be very over the top in his performance, this may be a result of becoming too involved and reading far more into the character than needed which brought on an inaccurate representation of Mark Chapmen.
Jared Leto didn't just go extreme with his weight for 'Chapter 27' he also lost an extreme amount of weight to truly form his transgender, drug addict, prostitute character Rayon in the 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club. Leto dropped 30 pounds as well as waxing his entire body from head to toe for the filming of Dallas Buyer Club. This created a truly realistic representation of his character that helped him win 6 awards including a Golden Globe for best supporting actor and an Academy award for best supporting role. Rayon is a character that has many powerful attributes, form being a prostitute to a transgender woman. Instead of focusing on these key personality points Leto focused more on the characters physical look, this therefore didn't allow a well informed and convincing performance of the character.
Articles:
Item 4: Pop Culture Rankings: From Daniel Day-Lewis to Jared Leto, the best and worst in method acting - 4th August 2016:
Item 4: Pop Culture Rankings: From Daniel Day-Lewis to Jared Leto, the best and worst in method acting - 4th August 2016:
This article gives the top five and bottom five method acting performances
and unfortunately Jared Leto fills the bottom five. In the top five Nicolas
Cage gets praised for his role in 1984's Birdy, where he removed two of his own
teeth to fully embody the role and give an amazing performance. Whereas Jared
is placed in the bottom five. One instance is where his 'method' style stole a
role from a 'real' transgender woman for the film Dallas Buyers Club and was
made out to have tried too hard to become a method actor and put more of his
effort in off screen than on it.
Item 5: Hollywood has ruined method acting - 11th August 2016:
This article makes the point that method acting is no longer used to create
a convincing performance but more for an outlandish marketing technique. Leto
had to differentiate himself from Heath ledger's Oscar winning performance in
2007"s The Dark Knight both in performance and approach to the jokers
character. This tells us that cinematic today can take advantage of certain
characters to gain even more media attention and this article explains why it’s
believed Jared Leto's "method acting" is more of a marketing
technique than approach to acting. This helps give an idea of how Leto uses his
'method' techniques more to gain a name as an actor than to give a truly
realistic performance of his characters.
Item 6: A Brief History of Things Modern Neanderthal Jared Leto Has
Done to Get in Character - 27th July 2016:
This article backs up Jared and his method acting style and states that
Leto's style is to help gain insight into the character and become more
involved. He uses method acting as a process to allow himself to give
thoughtful and depth performances. This article also tell us about how Jared
gets into character from the start to finish of a project and uses method
acting as he has no formal acting training. Matthew McConaughey also talked
about his experience with Jared on the set of Dallas Buyers Club. This is
useful as it gives you a look into how and why Jared uses the method acting
style as well as giving his co-stars views of his techniques and performances.
Item 7: ELLE: 9 Times Jared Went Full Method for a Role
4th August 2016
This article explains different roles of Jared's where he as perceived to go
'full method' this meaning he want to extremes to capture his character and
truly embody their characteristics and appearance. This is useful as it shows
the different roles where Jared went the extra mile when accessing a role,
where he changed his body personality and living style to really connect with
his characters.
Item 8: What is method Acting?| the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film
Institute
Documentaries:
Item 9: Lee Strasberg: 'The Method Man' - 20th December 2014:
This documentary examines Lee Strasberg and his controversial philosophy of
method acting. Lee used to coach top Hollywood actors such as; Paul Newman, Al
Pacino, Marlon Brando, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. The documentary also
looks as the people who idolise him for his skilled influence on acting
compared to the people who saw him as a evil manipulative man who had a poor
effect on those who were emotionally vulnerable such as Marilyn Monroe. This documentary
forms a foundation of what the method acting style is and where it originated
from it allows me to see how it has developed and how Leto's style both differs
and involves similarities from the original method acting way.
Item 10: The Origins of Acting 'The Method' - 29th April 2015:
This book talks about the method acting style and the way actors can use it. This book is used more as a guide of how to become a method acting and the different steps and styles used in this technique. It is therefore useful in teaching those who are new to the method acting process about it different styles and techniques and which could be suited to them.
This novel gives more of an insight into Stanislavsky's influence on his 'method' and his interpretations of it. These views have become the central force determining almost every performance we see on screen or stage. Therefore this is useful in creating an understanding of great influences of method acting and how it became what it is today.
This book clearly lays out all ideas of Lee Strasberg's teachings. This book is easy to read and gives different exercises to help further a actors method style. This book is here to almost act as a substitute to having method acting lessons from Strasberg himself.
Interviews:
Item 14: Leto On Method Acting - 30th May 2014:
During this interview Jared Leto talks about how he uses method acting to
truly become the character and block himself out from everything to truly focus
and become an intense and direct performer. He talks about how he found this
was the best way for him to work, not to try and become the character but to
help put up a wall and underrated the character characteristics and
personality. This is representative of the reasons why Jared uses the method
acting technique and someone of the processes and style he uses to allow him to
give his best performance, this therefore makes this source very useful in
giving us a look into what Leto truly does while method acting and why.
Item 15: Charles Roven Talks Jared Leto Joker Method Acting and David
Ayer - 12th November 2015:
During this interview Charles Roven talks about briefly about Jared's Oscar
winning performance where he used method acting as well as how he acted around
the set of his most recent film Suicide Squad. During the interview he chats
about how Jared acted on set and treated other cast members to remain in the
character of the Joker. This interview is quiet useful as it allows us to see Leto’s
point of view of his own acting style and how it was used in practice on one of
his recent film and an opinion one of his most difficult roles.
Item 16: Jared Leto: The Unlikely Triumphs of a Rock-Star Movie Star -
27th July 2016
During this interview Jared talks about his experiences while playing the
Joker in Suicide Squad (2016) he talk about his how he used method acting to
full embody and understand the character and his characteristics. This
interview is only useful in giving an insight into Leto's performance in his
most recent film suicide squad. it is not representative of all of his work but does show us his most recent method acting techniques and how they have
been applied.
Clips:
Item 17: ALL JARED LETO JOKER SCENCES SO FAR!!!
I am using this clip so that i can give the audience and insight into Jared
Leto's role as the Joker and allows them to form their own opinion of the
character.
Item 18: Photo of Jared: Photo taken from Elle article '9 Times Jared
Leto Went Full Method for a Role
http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/g28585/jared-leto-method-moments/
I
am using this photo as it gives the audience a view of the different characters
Jared has portrayed and helps the audience gather who I'm talking about.
Item 19:
Comparison Photo of Jared Weight in Chapter 27
I am using this image as a visual stimulus so the audience can grasp an idea of Jared dramatic weight change for the film Chapter 27.
Item 20:
Comparison photo of Jared and Dallas Buyers Club's Rayon
Made by me for the presentation
I am using this image as a visual stimulus so the audience can grasp an idea
of Jared dramatic weight change for the film Chapter 27.
These photos are used as a visual stimulus for the audience to see and connect more with who these people are.
Item 21: Photo of Lee Strasberg
Item 22: Photo
of Constantin Stanislavski
Item 23:
Photo of Jared Leto:
Photo of Jared Leto:
Rejected Items:
Films:
I have rejected American psycho as Jared only played a small role in this
picture and there is not sufficient evidence to argue his method acting
technique. It is therefore not very useful.
Articles:
I have rejected this item as it is a documentary that only briefly explains
key aspects of method acting and his history and was created for a lesson and
not created specifically for the subject or method acting and how to inform
people whom are not taking the A-level subject.
Creating a Role - Constantin Stanislavski - Published in 1981:
Interviews:Jared Leto Talks Heath Ledger's Joker Legacy - 27th July 2016
To what extent does Jared Leto's use of method acting allow a more authentic performance?
Projector - "What is method?"
Speaker - What is Method? Method was
originally defined by Lee Strasberg as "Method acting is what all actors
have done whenever they acted well". This has developed further as a form
of acting where an actor becomes the character and tries to somehow live in the
characters life to evolve a beautiful and personal performance of the
character. (Item 8)
Method is
an acting style formally developed by Lee Strasberg (Item 9) and Constantin
Stanislavski (Item 12) these men created a base line for the method style and
gave different interpretations of it. Their opinions have helped teach actors
how use the technique today. Before these men the method acting style can be
originally traced all the way back to the Ancient Greeks, through the Italian
Renaissance and more recently the psychological approaches in the 20th century,
here it was given the term 'method'. (Item 10)
However
Strasberg and Stanislavski's teachings (Item 13) are not the only way people
can learn about method acting, whether it be trough social media or through a
'how to' book (Item 11). It has become widely more used and acknowledged due to
media, which forces me to ask the question, is it used to create an authentic
character portrayal?.
Projector - Photo of Lee Strasberg and Constantine Stanislavski (Item 22 & 23)
Speaker
- Leto is
now a very well-known actor for his appearances in many award winning and cult
favourite films such as Suicide Squad (Item 1) and Dallas Buyers Club (Item 2)
Projector
- Photo of Jared's most famous roles (Item 19)
Speaker - Leto has now become renowned for his performance of
The Joker in 2016's Suicide Squad (Item 1), he has gained a vast attention for
the different acting techniques he used in the pursuit of an authentic
character portrayal, however there is controversy over whether these
where indeed methods of creating a unique interpretation of the character
or just a marketing technique for himself and the film. Many
would argue that Leto’s stories of his time on set in fact encourages the idea
that the great lengths he goes to, to inhibit a character are as much
marketing tool as a technique (Item 5)
This is also an instance where Leto has
been referred to as going 'full method'. This is where for his roles as
takes on very drastic and extreme techniques to try and take on the persona of
each character He's been well know recently for extravagant 'presents' he
has given to his cast members on the recent film of Suicide Squad (Item 1).
These include used condoms, bullets, anal beads and dead animals. These very
extreme way of trying to 'become' a character. These 'gifts' have been debated
about as they can either be seen as an extreme marketing technique
that don't really add to his performance or a way of experimenting with
the different traits of the joker, the giving of these gifts would play with
the jokers twisted humour, his element of surprise and his mischievous
personality.
This is
evidence that Leto sticks to the more modern interpretation of what method
acting is. This is where the actor tries to live the life of the character and
almost become them for a short period of time while filming. This differs from Strasberg’s
original definition (Item 8)
At this
point it can be debated that the new techniques do in fact create a good
performance, In Chapter 27 (Item 2) Leto was praised for his performance and he
won an Oscar for his performance in Dallas buyers’ club (Item 3) both of which
he used techniques from the modern interpretation of the method style. However
for his recent film his performance as the world renowned DC villain has been
extremely controversial with equally mixed reviews. (Item 5)
Projector
- Clip of the Joker's Scenes - (0.56 sec) (Item 18)
Speaker - Leto has shown that he takes his
roles to the next level, and truly commits to creating an informed and
accurate representation of characters. (Item 14) While filming chapter 27 (Item
2) Leto gained 62 pounds to embody the physic of Mark Chapmen. (Item 7)
Projector
- Image showing the weight change Jared when through when
playing Mark Chapmen in Chapter 27. (Item 20)
Speaker - He did this by binge eating
classical fast foods such as pizza and pasta as well as drinking melted pints
of Haagen-das ice cream, olive oil and soy sauce (Item 7). This is something
I'm sure nobody would find particularly pleasurable, even though we all dream
of eating pizza 24/7. This heavy weight gain came with the great cost of being
in a wheelchair and dealing with extreme pain, not only this but Jared suffered
health risks such as gout and very high blood pressure (Item7).
This
shows his willingness to put his body through extremes to create a realistic
character. His role in this otherwise forgettable film was praised for being
accurate and well thought out (Item 7), this shows that his method style has
given him the opportunity to give very well performed and well-constructed
performance (Item 16) Even when the film flops Jared’s performance manages to
shine. I feel this was represented in the scene where Chapman gets Lennon's
autograph, he appears as a predator swell as coming of as an insecure obsessive
fan, this scene represents the different elements of Mark Chapman's personality
that Leto wanted to exaggerate and bring to life on scene which I believe he
did beautifully.
Not only
has Jared gained an extreme amount of weight he has also lost it.
Projector
- Comparison photo of Jared and Rayon (Item 21)
Speaker - In 2013 Leto took on the role of a Transgender prostitute who suffers with a drug addiction named Rayon in the film Dallas Buyers Club (Item 3). Because this character suffers with both a drug addiction and aids Leto decided to lose a lot of weight and shave all of his body hair to create the illusion of this character. Although Jared's dedication to the character and a well throughout performance landed him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, others would disagree and say that his method style was used to "steal a job from a real trans woman in order to play one" (Item 4)
I guess
we can't just talk about why we think Jared is using the method style for all
the wrong reasons, we have to look at the other argument that he is using the
method style to create innovative and beautiful performances. Matthew
McConaughey talked about his experience working with Jared on Dallas Buyers
Club saying "He tried to steal things from me, literally my pocketknife,
et cetera" (Item 6) McConaughey shows here that Leto committed to his character
and tried to incorporate their attributes into his own life to really give a
true performance.
As well
as this an interview with Charles Roven he tells us about Jared's Oscar winning
role in Dallas Buyers Club as well how Jared acted on the set of Suicide Squad
(Item 1) and how he used method acting to fully embody and understand that
character and his characteristics. He also talked about how Jared was on set
and how he acted around the other cast members to remain in character as the
Joker. (Item 15)
This
character portrayal is another example of Leto sticking to a more modern
interpretation of what method acting is as he actively tried to live the life
of his character Rayon by drastically changing his body appearance. As well as
this Jared never left his role he remained in character throughout filming and
maintained a very strict grooming schedule much like rayon actually would (Item
7)
However
an issue i have picked with how Leto went 'full method' for this role is that
he seemed to only be interested in the way she looks from the information I
have gathered leo didn't exempt to understand further the struggles of a person
suffering with Aid's and the didn't attempt to discover what life as a true
transgender woman would be like living in this society. If he was truly
involved interrupting an informed and personal interpretation of this character
he should have gone further than just researching her looks as she is a very
in-depth and complicated character to play. Although in the scene where Rayon
tells her father she has Aid's is something extremely though provoking and
real, watching this scene i truly believe that i was witnessing a story that
would truly happen and the emotion within the scene created an incredibly
emotive atmosphere. (Item 3)
In
conclusion I am led to believe that Leto is a modern method actor and sticks to
the idea that method acting is where an actor attempts to become the character
and somehow live in their life, this differs from the original definition
created by Strasberg that it is simply doing their job well (Item 8) and I
believe there is enough sufficient evidence to say the Leto has done his job
very well and gave his best portrayals of each character. E.g. he's won an
Oscar for his performance in Dallas buyers’ club (Item 3) been praised for his
work as Mark Chapman in Chapter 27 (Item 2) and has had good reviews of his
most recent film Suicide Squad (Item 1).
Projector
- Question Jared Photo (Item 23)
However I must say that I think
he could have gone to more extra length to research further into these
characters as his method technique appears to focus more on their appearance
and what will get him noticed than actually trying to take on the struggles
each character lives with. (Item 7 & Item 4)
Tuesday, 29 November 2016
How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques [35]
Chunking Express
Through out the first few scenes off Chunking Express motion blur is used to follow He Zhiwu through a busy crowd in Hong Kong, this give the sense that everything is merging together and becoming blurry. This references the fact that living in a busy and well populated city can cause each persons lives to blur into one. Time is referenced throughout the film in different ways the first time we see time is in a close up shot of clock moving ahead one minute and the first time we hear someone talk about tim is in the first few shots where He Zhiwu passes the woman he falls in love with, in a voice over he talks about he matter of hours before they do fall in love. This countdown and the constant references to time are a reflection of the big change about to happen in Hong Kong. Around the time the film was shot Hong Kong was ending its 100 years of freedom and was about to be passed back over to china. The hand over to china was a huge change for Hong Kong and they were in fear of what happen the population of The City did not want to change. This is also represented in the film through the male character. During a montage scene Faye is going through cop #663's apartment and forcing change upon him.
Tuesday, 1 November 2016
How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques? [35]
City of God
During the opening scenes of the film the overall perspective of life in the favelas is represented. The opening shot is a extreme closeup of a knife being sharpened. In a mainstream film you are usually shown and establishing shot but urban stories shows a completely different side of life, City of God decided to focus upon the violence in the favelas in Rio. The short quick paced cutting of different shots at the beginning show the pace of life when living in this environment, they exaggerate how life is short in the City of God due to the violence. The overall anarchy of these shots are here to confuse the fewer and give an element of confusion to where the films shot and whats happening much like what day to day life is in the favelas. During the main shot of the chicken the camera is at a low angle and follows the escaping chicken in a tracking shot from the back, this restricts the viewer to what they can see, as you can not see the sky it gives a feeling of being trapped with not chance of freedom or escape. Throughout the first few scenes in the film versimilitude has been used to create a documentary style, this is developed by a hand held camera and used to show the reality of the films message and show a link to the film and the stories it is based upon. A shot reverse shot is used to show the difference between Lil' Ze and Rocket, this is further developed through the mise-en-scene, rocket is holding a camera whereas Lil' Ze and his gang are holding guns, althought both guns and cameras 'shoot' one is violent and the other isn't. This furthermore represents the divide in rural Rio and the choice of either being a 'hood' or a 'worker'.
During the opening scenes of the film the overall perspective of life in the favelas is represented. The opening shot is a extreme closeup of a knife being sharpened. In a mainstream film you are usually shown and establishing shot but urban stories shows a completely different side of life, City of God decided to focus upon the violence in the favelas in Rio. The short quick paced cutting of different shots at the beginning show the pace of life when living in this environment, they exaggerate how life is short in the City of God due to the violence. The overall anarchy of these shots are here to confuse the fewer and give an element of confusion to where the films shot and whats happening much like what day to day life is in the favelas. During the main shot of the chicken the camera is at a low angle and follows the escaping chicken in a tracking shot from the back, this restricts the viewer to what they can see, as you can not see the sky it gives a feeling of being trapped with not chance of freedom or escape. Throughout the first few scenes in the film versimilitude has been used to create a documentary style, this is developed by a hand held camera and used to show the reality of the films message and show a link to the film and the stories it is based upon. A shot reverse shot is used to show the difference between Lil' Ze and Rocket, this is further developed through the mise-en-scene, rocket is holding a camera whereas Lil' Ze and his gang are holding guns, althought both guns and cameras 'shoot' one is violent and the other isn't. This furthermore represents the divide in rural Rio and the choice of either being a 'hood' or a 'worker'.
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