What is the extent of V for Vendetta's subversion to Classic Hollywood narrative?

V for Vendetta does not fully comply with Classic Hollywood Narratives fully, in fact, it only complies to half of the parameters set and found in Hollywood narratives.

For example, in the film, there is not a defined villain, to which the movie would end to upon his/her death. However, the film ends once Parliament is destroyed, so the symbol of government is destroyed, ending the movie. Showing that government is the villain due to repression of ideas (the people), showing that opposition and conflict is not completely followed as V for Vendetta uses symbols rather than characters to have conflict between (Anarchy vs Fascism)

There is also no positive end or closure, typically found in Hollywood. The film ends after government is destroyed, which makes the viewer feel satisfied. However, there is no closure afterward.. Does the government rise again by oppressing the people again? Or do people turn on eachother? We are not told like the "happily ever after" we are given in most films. This leads to the idea of resolution in a 3 act structure, there is no resolution. Anarchy and fascism could still occur in this universe, we do not know?

Overall, V for Vendetta subverts some of the rules of classic Hollywood narrative. This the deliberate rebellion against the rules, by bending them to it's own will. This is a metaphor for us to question the simple rules set out by society, rather than follow like sheep

Classic Hollywood Narrative

Dark Knight
Opposition and Conflict / Character driven and Psychological motivation

Donkey Kong
3 act structure

Super Mario Family Guy
Character driven/Psychological motivation or Opposition and conflict (kiss rejection shows realism?)

Sneeze and Disease
Cause and effect

Dark Knight HiSHE
Positive end/closure and Opposition and Conflict

Star Wars Bunnies
Positive end/closure, opposition and conflict

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IN THE END OF A FILM, THERE'S ALWAYS A CONFRONTATION

3 Act Structure is made of:
-Equilibrium
-Disruption
-Resolution

V FOR VENDETTA CONFORMS TO CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD NARRATIVE (In V, People are representation of Ideas "bulletproof" - Anarchy vs Fascism

IT DOES NOT SATISFY CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD NARRATIVE FULLY

NO SOLID VILLAIN CHARACTER - THE FILM ENDS WHEN SYMBOL OF GOVERNMENT (PARLIAMENT) IS DESTROYED

FILM DOESN'T END WHEN BAD GUY DIES, SHOWS REALISM

NO PROPER CLOSURE/RESOLUTION

Stock characters

Stock characters are roles to fill, all fit into the same criteria

V pushes Evey through storyline. V is a:
-Black knight
-Anti-Hero
-Lone Vigilante
-Hero (sacrifice)/Tragic Hero
-Villain

In V for Vendetta, Characters are not stock, too complicated, doesn't conform to stock characters. It does this to make us think about the warning, shows reality of no good or bad people.

REAL LIFE HAS NO STOCK CHARACTERS

MES, Style, Theme & Genre grod

1.5.1 - Exam prep

Theme - what the characters are doing and why?

Characters are fictional, they symbolise and are functional (there to "play it out")

Dystopias are bleak near-future portrayals there to warn, give the message

Totalitarianism is the act of giving one person power who controls EVERYTHING from sexuality, to clothing and religion. Not liked because humans like freedom. Not always bad.
Conspiracy theories are an individual or group of people who tell of stories often through the internet about things the people are not told. Wikileaks are an example. Often about government.

Democracy considers everyone's opinion, using a representative to make decisions. Can be used to make you THINK you have control, but you don't

Fascism is the act of having a dictator of a party, makes nationalism occur (patriotism gone mad, supremacy) - totalitarian

1.2.1 - Star Trek clip analysis

GENRE?
Is a Hybrid of Sci-fi and Action Epic

Due to Sciency elements (aliens and futuristic weapon) action from explosion and tense fight scenes

Clip theme analysis

RotPotA
Against the modification of Nature, showing negative side effects, nature taking back it's land? Evolution

Tron 2
Everything is controlled by a power who is surveiling, justification for "mercy killing"?

Wall-E
Post apocalyptic? Fallout? Potential of feeling in robots? Dystopian future controlled by robots?

1.3.1

Genres:
Crime & Gangster
Drama
Comedy
Musical
Horror
Western
Epic/Historical
War
Sci-fi
Action & Adventure

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V FOR VENDETTA:

Why is it an action,thriller,sci-fi?
Appeal to a wider audience, mostly targeted toward males, masculine (actions, explosions, shot in male gaze), relatable to main character, attractive female co-star. Can draw in female audience as Evie gains power from none. Usually have protagonist being innocent, but V is terrorist protagonist. Because of V, Evey turns from passive to active (terrorist) character. Leads us to believe V is main character, but really, he is only there to transform Evey

Why is it NOT a sci-fi?
No aliens or stereotypical sci-fi elements. Could be realistic (to a degree). Is sci-fi, but is so close to reality, that it doesn't seem like it is. Breaks away from conventions. To show that this could happen. But it does happen, film gets us to realise this, showing that dystopia isn't far away. Shows bleak future, no voice, no freedom

"Experimenting on people - sci-fi" - Burned (given powers) -SUPERHERO GENRE?

Experiment on:
-Immigrants
-Criminals/activists
-Disabled
-Terrorists
-Homosexual

Style: Nazi
Themes: Fascist, Nazi, Conspiracy, Freedom vs Protection

Why is it a thriller?
Contains espionage thriller elements because he spies on government. Crime thriller because V and Evey break the law a lot. Purpose of detective is to solve mystery through an investigation process, guy trying to catch V is a detective, seen from his POV so we can try to guess before he does. Film switches perspective a lot, from Evey to detective. Making it complicated, because it's a thriller, we are left in mystery

Why is it an action?
Fight scenes are made to be entertaining, over the top and skew from reality, uses superpowers to control time. No solid good or bad characters.

Why's it trying to be an action film if "good guy" tortures Evey?

It shows that not everyone is either good or bad, it's a spectrum. No solid characters

Group bad guys, government. Film ties up that destruction of Parliament destroys symbol of evil. At end, noone is in charge, everyone is. Gets us to take responsibility for everyone's actions.

We are conditioned to think that government will fix all problems

Gone with the Wind

Tracking, follows Lady, Long shot on shows amount of injured people, still pans with Lady, turns to medium long shot with zoom out, shows lady's insignificance to the bodies

Turns into medium shot when flag comes into view, deep focus

Narrow focused in closeup dialogue scenes

Otherwise deep focused in scene, blocking used as talking characters are standing in foreground, not lost in background because if this

LONG TAKE = REALISM

SHOT TYPE CAN REVEAL AND CONCEAL
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Terminology
Blocking, panning, over the shoulder, shallow focus, closeup, medium shot, extreme closeup, low angle shots, POV, Low FPS

Analysis
Conflict aggression, phallic, male exchange (woman cut out), importance, intensity, power, looking toward audience, intimidation, two guns, power struggle, fear, character depth, dramatic, immediacy (in the scene), no sound means you focus on visual, more below the surface

Sub-text messages
SPR:

2001: A Space Odyssey

The initial shots show baroness of land, meaning that the apes shown are in hiding from something, as they are all together.. Perhaps a predator or alpha male

Giant wall produces moaning noise every time it is in frame, apes fear it, mysterious. Moaning gets louder the closer the apes get to it. Centre of frame. Causes evolution to begin? Black - Mystery! Shot showing wall, sun and space, narrowing toward space, leading our eyes up there, destined to be starbound?

Camera angles suggest that apes are distantly related to story and are not main protagonist. Or at least there is no main protagonist. Apes could be group protagonists

Silence across the rest of the land shows only disruption in place of the wall

Never focused on one person, until final "bone" scene - he is central of frame, close up

Evolution? Discovery of destruction leading to death of tapir?

Low camera angle on the arm when striking shows power and intimidation (in blocking method)

Graphic match between bone and spaceship - relation

Ideology: We were destined (by some sort of overruling power from space) to go to space for am ungiven reason, perhaps triggering another event?

STAY ON THE LOOK OUT FOR UNUSUAL SHOTS, THEY ARE USUALLY IMPORTANT TO STORY

1.2.1 Notes

Narrative
The way the story is told

Sub-text
Underlying messages, ideas, meaning etc

We can get all these from analysing the film text (Mise-en-scene, cinematography)

Cinematography notes

Deep Focus
All of scene is in focus, requires a lot of light

Shallow Focus
Only one plane is in focus, other is blurred. Eg: Foreground is visible, blurry background

Racking Focus
Shift of focus from foreground to background, beginning in style of Shallow Focus

Zoom Shot
Change of length of lens in middle, we appear far away

--FILM SPEED--

24FPS is standard in films, films in lower FPS, played at a quicker speed are jumpier, look like snapshots

--FRAMING--

Orson Welles uses unsettling objects and people in his scenes to make the viewer uneasy

--FRAMING--

Angle
Low or high camera angles show different emotions (intimidation, fear, abandonment)

Level
Height at which the camera is placed at, exaggerate POV

Canted
If camera is purposely tilted to suggest danger or disorder

Following shot/reframing
Follows characters with pans, tilts, tracking etc.

POV
Shows perspective of a character, emulates their sight

Wide-Angle Lens
Shows space, emphasis

--SHOT TYPES--

Extreme long shot
Makes scene appear tiny

Long shot
Makes scene appear small

Medium Long Shot
What is being viewed takes up almost all of screen

Medium CloseUp
What is being viewed takes up almost all of screen

CloseUp
Intense, fills all of screen

Extreme CloseUp
Very large object (eg:eye) shown very close

Summer Assignment: Children of Men review

Full review can be found here

"Set in 2027, Children Of Men follows the story of civilization's collapse after a baby has not been born in 16 years. Will humanity prevail?"

Summer Assignment: 25 Word Sequel or Prequel

Film Chosen: The World's End (2013)

Sequel: Post apocalyptic Gary (shown at end), breaking into bars and breaking bad! (the gang go on the quest for the perfect microbrew), hilarity ensues

Word Count: 24

1.1.2 - Week 2 Notes

--"MICRO"-- (Textual elements)
A film is a text, this is what makes up a film

Cinematography - The way a scene is shot

Mise-En-Scene

Sound

Editing

--CITIZEN KANE--
Meaning, characters:
Power? Relationships?
Woman appears in power over lawyer, older man (husband) is more powerful than her, shown by sound, loudest is more powerful
Camera follows husband, pans up to him, she reopens window

Space:
Centred chars show connection and authority, larger spaces show more actions/gestures, closeness to camera shows intensity and importance, boy kept in shot shows he is topic of conversation or at least significant, littlest space is kept for silent people, further away people have less importance or authority other a closer character, occupation of space in frame shows importance, distance shows relationship between characters

"Opposite sides? Oppose." - Difference of opinion

People between show "in between" the character's relationships or have significance to the scene (eg: the boy)

"Whatever we see is there to help reinforce the story"

"The power can change, we are able to move characters"

--
**Describe technique>Analyse meaning

--
"City is bigger than him, due to him losing money, city has beaten him"

Analysis is used to create meaning,
Blocking - MES? Or Cine?

**BLOCKING IS MES (Due to Spacing etc.)**

--

1.1.2 - Limitless Mise-En-Scene and Writeup

Colour:
Blue tones, saturated, calm, seems informal

Lighting:
Calm, nothing bright and alarming

Performance:
Brothers catching up after a drink (truthfulness shows), used to be a drug dealer, now into pharmacy.. "Not into that anymore" - Haven't caught up in a while

Costume:
Man in darker clothes appears richer due to suit, compared to civvie clothes

Framing:
Never in same shot, distant brothers now?

Props:
Whiskey glass, small pill in bag (mysterious)

Setting:
Bar, judging by drink and civilians around as well as whiskey glass

Space:
Seem far apart, opposite ends of table.. Not helped by framing

--

Multiple versions all working for same goal, clean apartment, shown by a simple pan across, once done, realisation of accomplishment is shock and disbelief, speeding up of typing, words falling into sentences, hyper productivity, writes (job) really fast, yellow and warm colours, lighting is brighter.

--WRITEUP--
During this scene of Limitless, the writer (and consumer of the new experimental drug) decides to use the hyper productivity that the drug provides to clean his apartment.

As the camera pans around the apartment, many versions of Bradley Cooper are shown part taking in the cleaning, all in a single shot at a time lapse-esque speed. The colours within this scene are warmer and more yellow, as well as brighter lighting, giving a pleasant atmosphere, so we can tell that this is Bradley's home. The reaction of our central character is that of shock and disbelief. Despite his clothes being the same as the before scene, he seems more hardworking and fulfilling

1.1.2 - V for Vendetta Mise-En-Scene

Props:
Weapons under cloak show hidden lethality, TVs

Framing and Proposition:
Pan from mirror of masked man, to young girl, almost identical, both characters remain central, but cameras give angles that create mystery

Costume:
Citizen and Masked man

Performance:
Only dialogue is carried out through a TV, shows control by the media

Lighting:
Dimmer in the Mask wearer's room

Setting:
London, close future?

Colour:
Yellowy tones remind viewer of candlelight, associated with mystery and sinister-ness
--

"Totalitarian society"

1.1.1 - Wall-E Mise-En-Scene

1.1.1 - Wall-E Scene Analysis

1:
Cluttered, dirty house, rusted metal, collection of random item
Intro to Wall-E, small also rusted robot

2:
Wall-E crushes cockroach, feels sorry for him and is relieved when he is okay.. Robot feeling emotion

3:
Giant dusty landfill site, Shows Wall-E's job as a trash compactor (cubes), no life (except cockroach), really small in the shot to show shear size of Landfill, how small he is

4:
Curious, random human household items collected for his interest in them, field of view reveals heat waves

5:
No sense of worth, innocent, clumsy and child-like

6:
Organised placement of trash, programmed for job

7&8:
Very small in shot, shows size of landfill and the impact he makes by compacting trash, he makes a big difference, does it alone, sun was setting through job