Character Analysis

When looking at a picure of any person a character can be thought up. We were given pictures of three different people and a sheet which we filled with their personal information. There were some similarities in what members of the group imagened the peoples lives were. But mainly people similarly created either positive or negative images from what the picture was like. One of my examples are below, everyone thought of a negative and unhappy life for this person because how the person is and looks like she has been crying.

Name- Jemma Hughes 

Age- 25

Marital Status- Seperated from her fiancée.

Occupation- Unemployed, fired from her last job.

Previous Job- Manager of a London boutique, fired because she told her boss he was an idiot.

Residency- Lived in a flat with her partner before the incident.

Family Life- Was living with her fiancée until the incident, only other family live in Australia.

Close Friends- She does not have ant real close friends except for her old university friends who she hasn't spoken to for 5 years.

Where Is She Now- At a police station in London about to be questioned about the sudden death of her fiancée.

Who Is She With- Two policemen who have opposite personalitys. One is very helpfull and tells her the truth wereas the other blaims her for the incident.

Where Was She At 10pm Last Night- In the ambulance with her dying fiancée. He has been poisoned.

Where Does She See Herself In 5 Years Time- She hopes to be back in Australia with her family but with a fresh start and possibly in a relationship with someone she knows she can trust. 

Todorov:

Equilibrium- The story starts when the main character is very happy with her life until she has a fall out with her boss because he has said that the boutique is loosing money. She then tells her boss that her is an idiot and is fired because of her incompetence. Because she has lost her job and finds that she becomes bored very quickly she gets in contact with her old university friends again. They all have succeful careers and happy life's.

They all are very friendly and think about the times they shared at university. After catching up with her friends on if them remember that she had something to tell her and that all she could remember that it was about her fiancée. This scene ends when the character is now doubting her fiancée and is desperate to find out what her friend wanted to tell her.

Disrupt- Now the character cannot trust her fiancée and questions him about their trust. She asks questions about his love for her. This esqualtes until the fiancée has had enough and cannot believe that she doesn't trust him, they argue and he storms out. She is very upset and try's calling her friend to ask if she can remember what it was that she had to tell her. She only remember it was something terrible. Her fiancée then returns after having a few drinks and is drunk. He falls on the floor and cannot speak, he is shaking and heavily breathing. She quickly calls an ambulance. When in the ambulance her fiancée deteriorates and dies, they tell her he has been poisoned.

The next day she is taken to a police station on the suspicion that she poisoned him, she pleads her innocence and one of the policemen believes her and thinks that there is more to the story whereas the other blaims her. The policmen that believes her thinks that there is more behind the story and tells her to track his movements before the incident. He says that he will reward he for her help in solving the case and that they might antagonize the killer if they do too much investigating. 

Restored- She goes to the bar that her fiancée went to before her died and asks who he was with. The barman tells her that he was with a local woman that is known among bad people. He tells her where to find her which she does. She tracks the woman down and finds she is a local prostitute. She cannot believe this and asks what he was doing with her. She explains that he was not a client and that he bought her a drink and told her about how he loved you. She also said that he was with another man before he spoke to her. The man was apparently a local drug dealer who can be found at another bar locally. She goes there that evening and speaks to him. He was apparently speaking to him because he was looking for work, the dealer told him that her could help him and then bought him a drink. The dealer says that it wasn't his fault and that he knows nothing about his death. She then reports her findings to the police who then question the dealer, they tell him they will not charge him for drug dealing if they tell the truth about her fiancées death. He says he knows nothing. She then notices that when she met the drug dealer he was with one of his helpers who looked frustrated but was listening to their conversation. She is confused about this and then received an annonamous phone call from someone who has information. She meets with them and finds that it is another one of the dealers helpers, he then explains that the dealer helper who was with the dealer on the night her fiancée died was to blame and apparently paid the barman to spike his last drink. He says he does not know why but she cannot go to the police. 

She then goes back to the bar that night and realises that helper is there. She try to speak to him as he is unaware of who she is. Then start taking about their lives and she finds that he is very caring and cannot believe that he is to blame for her fiancées death. She thinks she loves him but cannot believe what is happening. They become very close and commit to a relationship. She doesn't want to tell him that she knows he killed her fiancée but eventually she does. He admits that he did it but doesn't want it to come between them. He explains that her fiancée had slept with his girlfriend at the time and this made him want revenge, she realises that what her friend wanted to tell her that he was cheating on her and knows that possibly her new love is not to blame. They become ever closer and find that they are truly in love. All becomes fine and their love is strong.

Vladimir Propp:

Protagonist- Jemma Hughes 

Antagonist- Fiancée 

Heroine- New love, dealers helper.

Donor- Friend, Drug Dealer, and prostitute. 

Father- Kind policemen who belives the main character.

Helper- Friends 

Run Lola Run

Run Lola run is an crime thriller German film in 1998. The German name is Lola rennt. It is directed by Tom Tykwer. 

The story is about Lola needs to get 100,000 German marks to save her boyfriend's life in time.

Mise-en-scene

In Run Lola Run they are very obvious attempts at mise en scene to influence the viewers feeling and make the story easier to understand. I have explained the main mise en scene examples below. 
 

Setting: The genre is modern. The main setting is in an urban area if which Lola lives and is running through. The main settings is red and Lola's hair is also a bright red colour. One of the scenes is the private bridge. The robbery scene is happens in the public store. Besides, when they are talking, it takes place in the private bedroom scene, this scene happens after Lola has been shot. The urban area adds to the pressure of which Lola is under and is very busy which also adds to the difficulty of reaching her boyfriend in time.

 

Props: There are several props such as the clock, the cash bag. The clock means the time is very limited. The cash bag is the key prop that leads the whole story happens. Besides, the phone also is the key prop in this movie which clearly shows when the next run is about to happen. For example, when Lola was shoot and lays down, the telephone hangs off again, it lets the viewer know that the story is starting again.

The clock is also a main point because everything is based on different timings. The clock also keeps the film fast paced and shows how key the time is in possible events happening. 

 

Sound: Sounds are used in diagetic. When Lola shouts very loudly, the glass breaks and this emphasises how she can be dangerous but also powerful. In addition, when Lola scream to her father, the clock is broken. These sound effects prove the power of Lola's voice.

Colour: Red is a key colour thought the film because it shows that she is dangerous. Her hair colour shows that she might be dangerous but the colour red also is repeated a lot of times as subtle hints but also blocks of colour like when Lola is shot and then the scene changes to the bedroom scene. 

 

Narrative Structure: The film has three version in which has different events and timings. For the first time Lola dies, the second time her boyfriend dies and finally the third time they both find money in time and live.

The narrative structure is very similar to a video game because when Lola fails her mission or dies she just starts over again but then finally succeeds. This can be linked to real life situations in which your lives are are based on accidents and incidents. For example if a person had a car crash then everything would change dramatically whereas if you won a large amount of money your life would also change a lot.

This is linked to Lola's life because within one scenario of getting money there are so many possibilities of what could happen due to timings and choices.

Lola does not realise this and doesn't believe in how random a persons life can be and when her life is coming to an end in the first run she shouts "stop" which tells us she now thinks she has a choice to stop her death.

Mise En Scène

Mise en scene is the arrangement of everything that appears in the framing like actors, lighting, décor, props and costume. Its a French term that means “placing on stage.” The frame and camerawork also constitute the mise-en-scène of a movie. Below is an example:

This still image is from a scene in Pirates of the Caribbean 3. The main character is  played by Johnny Depp's who is acting as Captain Jack Sparrow. He is the closest to the camera and the first thing that your eye is attracted to in the scene. His body language and facial expression also captivate and over power the other characters because there faces aren't seen as clearly. All of the other characters are just in the background following him. The lighting in the scene is high key and natural because it is day light and the characters, though dressed in dark colors are visible, especially Captain Jack. The characters look confident because all of their body language is clear and they are walking in a group of only more than 3 people but there isn't a vast group of people that is to large to count and no one is very close to each other they are all just walking a fair distance from each other. It is more of a dramatic scene and definitely not a romantic or tender scene. The camera angles are personal because the camera is very close to Captain Jack, but he doesn't take up the whole frame so it isn't intimate. Because the frame spans out to include the water and the other pirates it keeps in merely personal. Also you get a body shot not just Captain Jack's face. The message of the frame is to convey a sense of anxiousness of what is to come and what the pirates have to face or find in the next scene. Also a sense of pride and honor because they are obviously sticking up for themselves and focused on the task ahead.

Narnia Scene- Lucy Meets Mr. Tumnus

In the past 2 weeks we have started to learn about camera angles/skills including editing by creating the scene where Lucy meets Mr. Tumnus. This will now be edited in the next comming weeks. Keep checking for an update soon. The scene is explained below including the script and camera angles used:

In this scene Lucy makes her way into the mysterious land of Narnia when she comes upon a lamppost. When she hears a noise and quickly turns around to see a strange looking half man, half goat. They become introduced and Mr. Tumnus soon realises she is a human. This shock is then seen through his facial expressions and body language. In this conversation we are planning on using close-ups and over the shoulder shots. Then Lucy and Mr. Tumnus walk to his house where they have tea together, where Lucy tells Mr. Tumnus about her world while he tells Lucy all about Narnia.

The script and planned camera angles are shown below: