Character Clothing

Location 1: Alleyway: In this scene, our characters will be wearing casual clothing, like jeans and a coat, something you would just wear everyday.

Location 2: Living Room:
Wearing causal indoor clothing - jeans, t-shirt, hoody.

Location 3: Doctors Surgery:
*Similar to location 1*

Location 4: Bedroom:
*similar to location 2*

Location 5: House Party:
Party clothing - Dresses/playsuits (girls) Jeans, t-shirt (boys)

Character biography

Candice
Full name: Candice Jackson
Age: 16
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Student at local college
Residency: Small house in crowded estate in Croydon
Family Life: Dad left before she was born, no idea who he is, lives with drunken mum and three younger siblings (two sisters, one brother - all have different fathers). Mum is incapable of looking after them, spends all her time getting drunk and having sex with men she doesn't really know. Candice has to support her siblings for the sake of their health
Close friends: Had a childhood friend (Nath), grew up together, she was close to his family, spent all their time together but drifted apart when he joined the local gang. Doesn't have any at the moment as all of her time is spent looking after her siblings

Kacey:
Full name: Kacey Brookston
Age: 18
Marital Status: girlfriend, haven't been together long
Occupation: Gang leader, drug dealer
Residency: rents a flat on same crowded estate in Croydon
Family Life: hasn't spoken to parents since starting up his gang, no siblings, girlfriend is pregnant - has doubts about sticking around
Close friends: gang members, closest friend is Nath

Mum:
Full name: Shelly Jackson
Age: 30
Marital Status: Single, has a reputation of sleeping around
Occupation: Unemployed
Residency: Small house in crowded estate in Croydon
Family Life: 4 kids all with different dads - not in contact with any of them, spends all her time getting drunk and sleeping around, doesn't support her children
Close friends: doesn't have any - only the locals that she speaks to when she goes down the pub

Nath:
Full name: Nathan Lawson
Age: 17
Martial Status: Girlfriend - only due to pressure and expectations from Kacey
Occupation: Gang member
Residency: high class estate, close to the estate where Kacey and Candice live, large, expensive house
Family Life: Only child, lives with supportive parents - too caught up in their work and each other that they don't realise that Nath's involved with a gang and that his life is going down hill
Close friends: Had a childhood friend (Candice), grew up together, spent all their time together but drifted apart when he joined the local gang. Kacey and the other gang members

Location Research: Location Five - House Party

Our fifth and final scene is the house party venue, the scene varies in location throughout the house using the living room, hallway and kitchen; this is where Candice sells her first set of contraceptive pills as ecstasy before getting caught:

Location Research: Location Four - Bedroom

Our fourth location is Candice's (Courtney's) bedroom where Candice breaks down as she realises the lengths she has to go to, to support her family:

Location Research: Location Three - Doctor's Surgery

Our third location was outside the doctor's surgery in Hethersett where Candice collects a set of contraceptive pills which she will go on to sell as 'ecstasy' at a party:

Location Research: Location Two - Living Room

Our second location was in Courtney's living room. During our filming of this scene we moved some of the furniture around to make the room appear smaller and made sure that we did not capture any technology whilst filming to make sure we did not contradict ourselves concerning the main character's backstory and financial state:

Location Research: Location One - Alleyway

Our first location within our opening takes place in an alleyway in the city of Norwich where the leader of a well-known gang intimidates Candice as he believes she is trying to take over his 'business' of selling drugs:

Who is playing the roles in our film?

Candice Jackson, played by Chantelle Cooper, age 16:

We chose to use Chantelle to play the role of Candice as not only does she fit our age for the character, but she comes across as quite a strong, streetwise person who would do anything to protect her family.

Kacey Brookston, played by Kahmal Sealey, age 18:

We chose to use Kahmal as the role of Kacey as he has a London accent (a stereotypical trait within gangs and thugs shown in films) and seems to have quite a dark side to him.



Nath Lawson, played by Josh Denny, age 17:

We appointed the role of Nath to Josh as he has quite a friendly looking face, yet can still seem intimidating. Nath's character gets into the wrong crowd, but during the film, falls in love with Candice and helps her out of her situation - Josh gave us the impression that he's a kind, caring and genuine person which is what we wanted for this character.

Shelly Jackson, played by Courtney Radley, age 30

When assigning people to play the roles of our characters, we struggled to get adults involved. Due to this we decided to assign Courtney to the role of Shelly as she looks older than what she is).

Lou Jackson played by Emily Ellwood, age 14:

Chloe Jackson, played by Georgia Banks, age 12:

Jamie Jackson, played by Marcus Mauby, age 14:

We chose to have these three children as Candice's younger siblings because two of them are relations to Courtney and was therefore easy to get in contact with them, they fitted the age criteria and because they all knew each other, it created a family bond which is reflected in the opening.

Tom Hooper, played by Harry Silvester, age 17:

We chose Harry to play Tom as he fits the age criteria, he's rather cocky and gives the impression that he only really cares about himself and having a good time, not the consequences of his actions and we wanted that portrayed in the character.

Extras at the party, ages 16-18

The extras at the party are simply mine and Courtney's friendship group as they all fit within the age criteria, they were easy to get in contact with and they are all friendly and familiar with each other, so the scene would run smoothly and there wouldn't be any awkward scenes where they didn't know what the other people were like.

Micro analysis of opening to King Kong, 2005

Setting

1930s New York, during the great depression. The scenes show people sleeping rough, living in poor housing, for example wooden shacks, people digging leftover food out of bins - enforces the poor situation that the poor people were in and the lengths they would go to to avoid starvation

Colour

Outside within the streets of New York City the most dominant colours are blacks, browns and greys, creating an atmosphere of doom and gloom that can be seen as representing the economic state of New York during the great depression that ultimately effects the poorer people within society, relating to unemployment and poverty

Inside the theatre - brighter use of colours: yellows and reds - suggests a parallel setting - smiles, laughter, entertainment - completely opposite to outside on the streets of New York. Theatre setting suggests a safe haven from the harsh reality of the outside world - stars of the show are employed and are putting on a show for the audience.

Props/Costumes

The people presented within the establishing shots of New York City are shown in tatty and old clothing that is ripped and suggests that they have no money for new clothes and are currently suffering from the economic depression that surrounds them. 

Technical Codes

Establishing shots of New York City that set the scene for the audience - the background to the story line through out film

Close up shots that show the expression and body language of the characters - shows their inner feelings and emotions

Narrative Codes

New York in the 1930s - divided into two sections: industrial development i.e. the construction of buildings, or the great depression and poverty slums - shows divide between two sections in society - capitalism
Introduced to main female character - interpreted as damsel in distress - out of work

Music
Opening credits - dark, spooky, quite sinister - puts audience on edge for dramatic opening - turns out to be the opposite - animals
Circus music - almost more like theater music - does not seem to fit in with setting - almost too happy to git in with the economic crisis surrounding America
Darker music returns when closing of theater is shown - softens when Ann hears about how the only thing she has left tells her that he is leaving - creates pathos

Characters
Ann - positive voice, framed sensually, spot light/focus always on Ann - constructed as innocent, little girl, naively optimistic - protected by higher figures: elderly man - treating her like a daughter, older woman - leaning down over her - almost creating a shield against real world
Introduced to Jack Driscal through play on Ann's dressing table. The way she feels that she has to correct the pronunciation of his name - suggests his writing means a lot to her 

Script for our opening

Script
KEY:
K - Kacey
C - Candice
M - Mum
C1 - Child one
C2 - Child two
C3 - Child three
DG - Guy who buys 'drugs' from Candice at the party
N - Nath

-- BC STUDIOS --

-- RAXIP FILMS --

Alleyway

Kacey has Candice pinned up against a wall. Candice is cowering away from his confrontation with some of Kacey’s gang members staring at her from behind him.

-- Directed and Produced by Courtney Radley and Rebecca Tuner --

K: (stares down at C intimidatingly) did you honestly think you could get away with it?

-- Starring Kahmal Sealey --

C: (starts to talk) I.. I.. I didn’t…

-- Chantelle Cooper --

K: (interrupting) I don’t wanna hear what you’ve got to say, I want you to stop whatever little game you’re playing

-- Courtney Radley --

C: (staring blankly up at him)

-- Josh Denny --

K: (shouts) say something!

C: Errr.. you don’t understand why..

K: (interrupting) I don’t care why you did it, I want my business back and right now you’re in the way

C: (on the verge of crying) I didn’t even realise..

K: (interrupting, yells) I’ve had enough of your bullshit (attempts to hit her round the face)

-- FREEZE --

C: (voice over) So I guess you probably want to know how I got myself into this situation, well let me show you..

In her house

Drunken mum passed out on sofa, all three kids sitting on the floor whining, arguing with each other.

C: (walking down the stairs) can’t believe this is happening again, for fucksake mum

M: (groans, wine slips out of glass) let me sleep

C: it’s eight o’clock in the morning and you’re already out of it…

C1: I’m bored

C2: I’m hungry

C3: Candice can you get us some food?

C: Yep with all that money I have in my back pocket..

All C: Pleaseeeeeeeee

C: I’ll sort it

Candice storms out, slamming door behind her

Doctors

Candice walking into doctor’s surgery

C: (voice over) this stupid little idea is where it all started. Now looking back trying pull contraceptive pills off as ecstasy is one of the shittest ideas I’ve ever had… it worked though

Reappears with box of contraceptive pills in her hand

Bedroom

Candice takes pills out of contraceptive box and puts them in bags

Candice sitting in front of her mirror applying her make up – stares at her reflection in mirror – breaks downs and cries.

C: (through tears) Candice pull yourself together. You can do this.

Candice hesitates when putting little bags in her purse then walks out of her bedroom

House Party

Establishing shot of party from outside – Candice walking into party

Random shots taken of party (getting off, drinking, snorting sherbet/salt, drug deals)

Hall way:

DG: (whispers, pushy) I want 3

C: £20

DG: Deal

(Close up of money and pills exchanging in hands)

DG walks off

N: (creeps up on Candice from behind) what do you think you’re doing?

Candice: (gasps)

-- ECSTASY --

Stop Motion

Stop motion is an animation technique that is used to make a physically manipulated object appear to move of its own accord. The object/s in the shot are moved in small increments between individually photographed frames which create the illusion of movement when the series of frames are played through as a continuous sequence.

An very basic example of an older method where stop motion is used is a movie called The Lost World in 1925:

The use of stop motion in this clip makes the dinosaurs appear alive and moving, even though it is a well known fact that they are dead.

More recent uses of stop motion are very common within Tim Burton films, such as
The Nightmare Before Christmas:

James and the Giant Peach:

and Corpse Bride:

From my research into stop motion films, I have noticed that the majority of relatively new stop motion-based films are aimed at audiences of younger children to fuel their imagination with the creation of animated characters and use of colour and content within the film itself.

The main target audience for stop motion-based films, such as those mentioned above, does not match with the target audience Courtney and I are aiming our coursework film opening at as well as the complex story line, dealing with mature topics such as sex, drugs, alcohol and money that children would not be familiar with and therefore does not interest us in our opening.

Film Treatment

Ideas for a film

Genre: Rom-Com

Narrative: Girl (Selena) gets treated like crap by boyfriend (Stering), unhappy in relationship so breaks it off, Sterling's best friend (Zac) comforts her, end up falling for one another, Sterling gets new girlfriend labelled as 'post-it' (Demi), Sterling catches on to the closeness between Selena and Zac - gets jealous and argues with Selena, fights with Zac and created an argument between Selena and Zac which ends in them breaking up, Zac and Selena both uphappy so they make-up and get back together, all reunited at the end-of-school year party

Codes:

Technical: high school - natural lighting, mainly day-time, restaurant/party scenes - low-key lighting, intimate mood

Symbolic: flowers, jewellery, chocolates, crying girl

Narrative: 'Post-it' - a girl that sticks to everyone despite not being wanted by the majority, break-ups and make-ups

Cast: Selena - played by 2010 Miley Cyrus, Demi played by Ashley Green, Sterling played by Matt Lanter, Zac played by Ashton Kutcher

Prelimary Task

In our prelimery task, we had to record a piece of film that included the opening and closing of a door, a character sitting at a table across from another character and an exchange of dialogue between the two.

As a group we decided to choose the scene of a police interview as the above criteria is featured in many interview scenes:

 

Target Audience Research Feedback

Target Audience Research

Video explaining our group's idea for our film opening

Target Audience/Venue

Our target audience is 16-24 year olds, both male and female. We feel this is a suitable age range as it may include some content that this age range are familiar with through the things they watch on tv, have seen in person and taken part in i.e. drugs, sex, alcohol, money worries etc. We decided on having the target audience as both male and female, as the female side would be the romantic interest between the main character and one of the gang members, who would be introduced in the rest of the film, and the more masculine side would the action that follows the main character on her journey to put everything right.
We decided that our film would just come straight out on DVD because we don't feel like it is a main stream film, like those that are shown in cinemas. The film openings I analysed in previous posts, Bully and Havoc, show several similarities towards the film opening Courtney and I are going to create. These similarities are the content topics of sex, drugs, crime all relating to teenagers in an urban area with a similar target audience: both male and female, mid teens to mid twenties. These films were not featured in cinemas as their content was rather explicit and not mainstream Hollywood - this is the main reason why mine and Courtney's film opening would not be screened in the venue of a cinema.

Research into young carers

When we were planning our final idea, we came up with the idea of having a young carer trying to look after 3 siblings and her alcoholic mother. We decided that as this was a vital part of our media piece, that we should do some research into young carers, so we can portray this in the correct way.

Recent headlines from the BBC show that: "Nearly a quarter of a million children in England and Wales are caring for a relative."
Figures from the ONS suggest 244,000 people under nineteen are carers - about 23,000 are under nine.
Girls are slightly more likely to be carers than boys. Among 15-to-19-year-olds, about 5% of girls are carers and about 4% of boys.

From these statistics, we can not only see that young carers are quite common, but also that female carers are more common than male carers, especially within the ages 15 to 19. This has agreed with our idea, and given it more realism. Having this as a part of our storyline, it not only shows the problems and troubles that some teens face, but it enables us to give off a much more mature feel as its quite a complex situation.

It is seen in some TV programmes, for example The Bill, where teenagers end up selling and/or running drugs or turning to prositituion as a way of being able to financially support their families when their parents cannot. This further supports our idea of combining the use of drugs into finding a way for our main character to get money.

First Plan for Film Opening

Filming:
Starts off with main character (Candice) being confronted in an alley or deserted car park (establishing shot, zooming in to medium shot) by rival drug dealing gang (heard that Candice is trying to over take their top position of dealing drugs on the estate). Gang corner her and begin to shout abuse and gang leader (Kacey) threatens her (close ups and point of view shots). Kacey goes to hit Candice - camera freezes and goes to narration voice over of Candice explaining what next few shots are going to be (showing how she got into mess in first place)

FIRST FLASHBACK
Long shot of Candice walking downstairs, pans across living room, medium shot of mum lying unconcious on sofa with a bottle of wine in her hand, one of the kids poking her face "Mummy wake up" (extreme close up), other kids "I'm hungry" "Candice I want food" etc, Candice "I know, I'll sort it, ok?" Medium shot of her leaving house - walking to doctors - long shot of walking inside doctors then walking out again with box of pills in her hand (extreme close up)

SECOND FLASHBACK
Panning shot of her bedroom, xooming in of Candice taking pills out of box and putting them into plastic bags to sell as drugs
Begins to get ready for a party - putting on make-up, looks at her reflection in mirror - begins to cry (close up), pulls herself together and continues to get ready
Grabs bag and hesitates when putting pills in (close up), goes ahead with it and walks out of room

THIRD FLASHBACK
Establishing shots of house party venues
People getting off, laughing, drinking, taking drugs (close ups)
Medium shot of her entering party then close up shots of her handing over drugs (contraceptive pill) in exchange of money

   

Opening for a film - practice run

The Storyline

The opening of the film begins in a high school with the main character, James, attempting miserably to pump air into a deflated balloon with a broken pump, with a close up camera shot. The props and the action represent James failing to inflate life with his broken being and mind - the result of growing up alone and being bullied at school with only your parents as company.

The camera then plans up onto James' face, showing the bleak expression on his face and his disappointing outlook on his current position.

The next shot is a medium shot of James still trying to pump up the balloon; he gives up and walks out of the common room to show the audience what his average day consists of - part of the explanation of why he feels the way he does.

The following scene shows James' lonely walk into another part of the school. Once James enters through the door, we see him walking down a corridor where one of his regular bullies shoves him into a set of lockers and then onto the floor, causing James to drop his books; the bully then repeatedly hits him with a cleaning sign before calling him a 'fag' and then walks back to his friendship group with a smug look on his face.

James stands up, gathers his books, wipes the tears from his eyes with his hand and leaves into another corridor.

The same group of lads face him again by using a short cut to cut him off from reaching his class; the boys slam James' books to the floor and push him against the wall while shouting abusive names at him. James picks up his books and continues down the corridor until the gang leader chases after him, grabs him into a headlock and throws him in towards the other lads who force him into the nearest toilet and flush his head.

James manages to escape the grasp of his bullies and is then shown holding a balloon with a sad face drawn on it beside his head - although he smiles at a passing student, the balloon represents his inner emotions of sadness and lonliness.

James is shown sitting alone on a bench whilst other students walk past and just ignore him- showing how alone he really is at school.

The final scene returns to the beginning frame where James is still attempting to pump up his balloon. James realises that he has finally had enough, that he can be better than the person he is at this moment in time. James slams down the broken pump and deflated balloon before storming out of the common room, different to the first scene where he was then bullied, adamant that he will change his life for good. 

The Concept

The concept of the film is to show how life can be terrible for some students at high school, the lengths hurtful bullies will go to, to make someone else feel worse than they do, day after day and how it can affect the person being bullied. Most stories that you hear about with similar circumstances end in the child believing that it their own fault and force their emotions upon themselves, sometimes by self-harming. The concept of the gilm shows a safer, much more beneficial and better way of dealing with the painful experiences of bullying - a way of turning your life around without harming yourself and others around you, to give hope to those who are being bullied and showing how it's possible to transform your life so that you're no longer suffering.

The Narrative

The narrative voice over is James' voice throughout the whole of the opening, as he explains his current situation, what he is feeling and what happens to him on a daily basis. James compares his life and being to that of a broken pump failing to pump up a balloon - representing how lifeless his life actually is and that no matter how long he continues to live and act the same way, day after day, it will get him nowhere - so he gives up and decides he has to find a different way to act that will change his life around.

Character Biography

Name: James Anthony

Age: 16 years old

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Unemployed - high school student

Previous Jobs: Delievering newspapers

Residency: Lives in a 2 bedroomed terraced house in a small town with his parents

Family Life: Doesn't have any siblings - only child. Isolated family - doesn't see close relations i.e. aunties, uncles, cousins, grandparents etc.

Close Friends: Doesn't have any friends at school - only really speaks to his parents

Personality: Dull - the result of his lack of enthusiasm for everything and lack of socialisation with people his own age

Why is your character this way? Bullied throughout his entire school life - keeps it from his parents - oblivious to the fact that their son is unhappy - put it down to him going through a 'teenage phase'. All of his attempts of making friends and being noticed for the right reasons - failed miserable - people think he's weird and unusual - don't want to be associated with him.

The Script
"Let's play a game of whose life sucks worse... I'll win, I always win"
My name is James Anthony and that quote basically sums up my life... along with this broken pump and crap defalted balloon - representing the sorry state that is my pathetic life.
No matter how many times I attempt to turn my life around, to make myself happier, to make friends and actually fit in for once, it never seems to work and I am stuck in this far too familiar shitty position.
I can't remember a time when I have been happy; happy to wake up, happy to get dressed, happy to even leave the house, let alone face the horror that is high school and be surrounded by those who I despise the most.
Every day I am faced with the same bullying techniques by the same gang of low-lifes: shoved into lockers, had my books slammed out of my hands, hit with various objects, the classic name calling, oh and who can forget the ol' head down the toilet trick?
I sit alone. No one to talk to, walk to class with, hang out with, discuss the previous weekend with. I am completely alone and my life is utterly crap and I am fed up. Fed up of all of it, all the bullshit I'm faced with. But today is different. Today is the day where I am no longer a push around and unhappy to even be aline. Today is the day where everything changes.

The Opening

What I would change

During the opening sequence the narrative contains some stutters and the narrator messes up a few words by not pronouncing them correctly and hesitates in the wrong places. In my opening sequence for my coursework I would make sure that the narrative recording was crystal clear so that the audience can easily hear it and make sure there are no mistakes, hesitation or stuttering of words caused by the narrator. Also during my opening it is sometimes difficult to hear the dialogue as there is the narrative and music also being heard; in my coursework I will make sure that the dialogue is recorded clearly so that the audience can hear and understand it easily. The music in my opening overrides some aspects of narration and dialogue, therefore in my coursework piece I will make certain that the dialogue and narration can be heard clearly by the audience by lowering the volume of the music where appropriate. There is a scene in my opening practice where James' books are slammed down onto the floor: one shot shows James without his books and the following one shows him with his books back in his hands - the recording does not show James picking up his books. In my coursework opening I will make sure that all of scenes relate to each other and join up correctly so that the shots and storyline as a whole make sense to the audience.

Is ‘Big Fish’ a character-driven narrative, or does the narrative shape the characters?

An analysis into how mise-en-scene, narrative, characters, Todorov, Propp and dialogue can impact on how a film is portrayed to the audience.

‘Big Fish’ is an American fantasy adventure film that was released in 2003, directed by Tim Burton and stars Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney as they share the role of the main character, Edward Bloom. The film tells the story of the former traveling salesman from Southern America, with arguably the greatest gift of all, storytelling. Bloom now lies in bed suffering from cancer; after hearing the dreadful news, Edward Bloom’s estranged son, Will, and his wife travel to his parent’s home as Scott attempts to mend their distanced relationship and begins to hear the tall tales of his father’s eventful life as a young adult for the final time.

In this piece of writing I will answer the question “is ‘Big Fish’ a character-driven narrative, or does the narrative shape the characters?” by using my own knowledge and understanding as well as research I have collected. I will also refer to the elements of mise-en-scene, the narrative of the story, the characters in the movie, the Todorov system, the Propp method and some quotations that I have picked up on throughout the film to aid my answer.

In the film ‘Big Fish’ there are plenty of scenes where the mise-en-scene creates a surreal effect for the audience, opposed to the sense of realism in most other movies. For example, in this scene of the movie, where Edward discovers the tiny town of Spectre, the use of mise-en-scene is to create a dream-like environment:

In this screenshot taken from the movie you can see the view of the little town of Spectre. The environment the mise-en-scene creates is close to perfection – everything looks like it belongs to be where it is, and is almost child-like, like a small play set young children may have. The houses look dainty and are perfectly in line with one another. The grass is a bright shade of green with no roads to obstruct the view and the sun in shinning in a clear blue sky with no clouds to block out the brightness. Everything this image shows us screams ‘dream’, the environment seems too good to be true – creating a sense of surrealism for the audience. 

The feeling of surrealism is carried on into this shot, taken a short while after the first, where the people of Spectre are encouraging Edward to stay:

Another factor of mise-en-scene used in this shot to represent a dream-like feel is the costumes. The people surrounding Edward are all dressed in plain and simple clothes – to represent the plain and simple lives they live and to show that the society they live in is not progressing, nor regressing but staying exactly the same. However, Edward is seen wearing a bright red shirt – completely opposite to the pastel colours worn by the inhabitants of Spectre. This comparison is to show the audience that Edward does not belong in Spectre and he is very different from those who do.

A different factor of mise-en-scene that links to the surrealism of the shot is the lighting. The lighting is artificial and greatly high key, although the environment tells the audience it is night-time. Dreams occur during sleep at night, another reference to the audience that this may not be the real world, but one of Edward’s dreams. The lighting makes the environment look misty and the people of Spectre look airbrushed and perfect, matching the surroundings they live in, whereas Edward is very much in focus – again suggesting that he does not belong there.

The use of mise-en-scene in the scenes I have described tell the audience that the narrative is shaping its characters – Edward’s narrative is telling the story and therefore creating the scenes we see and the characters, how Edward wants us to see them.

In the film ‘Big Fish’, Tim Burton uses a very strong narrative structure to differentiate between the real world and Edward’s fanatical tales. The narrative in the movie jumps from the present day to Edward’s past stories producing a fairy-tale narrative in the majority of the film, as we explore the past as Edward wants us to. As it is Edward that is telling the audience all about his past, the narrative once again is structuring the characters – Edward describes the scenes and the characters as he wants us to see them, not how they really happened.

The characters in the film play a huge part in how the narrative is set out. Edward bloom is portrayed as a storyteller and the way the character is expected to shape the story is by telling his own, the narrative we follow, how he wants us to see them. Edward’s son, Will, grows up hating the way his father has a habit of turning every factual event into an elaborate tale and begins to distance himself from his father and his ‘lies’.

Edward’s wife is very acceptable of the tales her husband tells and her reaction to his stories makes the audience question whether her husband is actually telling the truth or whether she just goes along with the stories to keep him happy.

Will’s wife expresses a keen interest in the stories her father-in-law likes to share and insists of hearing them while he is laid up in bed at the family home.

In the film the characters are created to display the narrative; for example, without Will’s wife insisting on hearing Edward’s tales, the audience in turn would not be able to hear them either and if Edward’s wife did not accept the stories with such ease, Edward would possibly never have expressed them – missing out on the majority of the plot and the dream-like atmosphere that the stories create. I believe that, in this case, the film is a character-driven narrative – the characters are determining where the story progresses and how it does so.

I believe the plot of the film follows the method of Todorov: starting with the equilibrium followed by the disruption then ending with the restoration.

In ‘Big Fish’, I believe the equilibrium is where Edward is telling his son, Scott, bedtime stories, which he believes in deeply, following the typical role of a father and a young child at bedtime:

Not long after the above scene, the disruption takes place. The disruption consists of Edward and Scott having an argument on the night of Will’s wedding – where Edward once again takes centre stage and tells one of his favourite tales, causing Scott to flip and tell his father that he has had enough of his ‘lies’:

The restoration occurs right at the end of the film, where the roles switch and Will begins to tell his father the story of how he dies, while Edward lies in a hospital bed. Will slowly begins to understand why his father exaggerates the truth and creates a tale of his own to put his father to rest. The peace between the father and son is finally restored as Edward dies happy with Will fulfilling his final tale:

I believe that in the case of the Todorov system, the narrative shapes the characters – the narrative of the film shows us how the director wants us to see the characters. Edward Bloom describes the stories in such a way that we are not seeing the truth, but we are seeing what Edward wants us to: an elaborated version.

In the movie ‘Big Fish’ the method of shaping the characters over certain roles is established through the use of the Vladimir Propp method:

The hero being Edward Bloom – the main character on a journey to experience the rest of the world, helping out people and getting his own way as he progresses.

The villain being his son, Will – Will gets in the way of Edward telling his stories by passing them off as just ‘lies’ and demanding the true, factual version, not the elaborated ones that Edward loves to tell.

The heroine being his wife, Sandra – Edward works for years in a circus just to receive information on Sandra, the information is offered as a reward for his work.

The father figure being the circus manager – offers Edward information on Sandra so that he can find her in reward for working on the circus.

The helper being the son’s wife – by insisting on hearing Edward’s stories, the audience can relive them as Edward describes.

The donor being Sandra, Edward’s wife – Sandra gives Edward the attention and acceptance of his tales that he needs to feel comfortable enough to tell them over and over again.

I believe that the Propp method shows that the film ‘Big Fish’ is a character-driven narrative, where the characters are the cause of the narrative and show the film how the characters wish for it to be shown and told how they want it to be told from the view point of Edward Bloom.

Throughout the film ‘Big Fish’ there are many quotations which describe the meaning behind some of the things Edward does and the storyline as a whole. One of these quotations is “you’re quite a catch” – “a catch” is a reference we see in fishing when the fisherman has caught a fish, linking to one of the stories we hear Edward talk about at several different points throughout the film. Towards the end of the movie, when Edward is dying, we see him turn into the fish he once described at the start – a never-ending cycle of Edward Bloom that will live on long after his death. A second quotation is “an adventure as big as life itself” – during the film we see Edward wanting to leave the small town he grew up in and start his adventure, meeting many different people along the way – the journey Edward goes on shapes his life from there on in; for example, discovering Spectre, working in the circus and meeting his wife. A third quotation is “you were a big fish in a small pond but this is the ocean and you’re drowning” – the start of the quotation describes Edward’s position in the town he originally grew up in, Ashton. In Ashton Edward was seen as a hero by many of the inhabitants and is even given a key to the town when he decides to leave, showing the audience just how much impact he had on the little town. The second part of the quotation shows how Edward imagined that his adventure would be just like his life in Ashton, easy. However, Edward is soon hit with the reality that actually he will have to work a lot harder to get what he wants; for example, working in the circus for several years and using many different methods to get Sandra to marry him.

I believe that these quotations show that the narrative very much shapes the characters – the events that Edward Bloom is faced with shape how his future is going to be affected.

In this piece of writing I have used my own knowledge and research to explore the question “is ‘Big Fish’ a character-driven narrative, or does the narrative shape the characters?” and by referring to the elements of mise-en-scene, the narrative of the story, the characters in the movie, the Todorov system, the Propp method and some quotations that I have picked up on throughout the film.

In conclusion, looking at all the different elements I have written about, I believe that the film ‘Big Fish’ is a film where the narrative shapes the characters opposed to a character-driven narrative. This is because that although the characters and the Propp method portray to me that the film is a character-driven narrative, the mise-en-scene, the narrative, the Todorov system and the quotations shows how the narrative surrounding the stories shapes the characters as the film progresses.

Sound in films

There are two main different types of sound that occur within films and these are:

Diagetic sound:
Diagetic sound is all the sound that occurs within the frame of the shot; this can be the sound of a closing door, dialogue between characters, the typing on a keyboard etc.

and

Non-diagetic sound:
Non-diagetic sound is all the sound that is added in during the editing process and that we cannot see where it comes from, opposed to the sound that is recorded within the frame. Non-diagetic sound can take the form of music, sound effects or a voice over added in.

Another example of sound used in films that is popular among many different types of film is external voice over:

All stories in this type of narration are presented from a point of view outside the story. The narrator can report the action, describe people, places and things, present the speech of the characters, present the internal life (the thoughts, feelings, relations and consciousness) of any of the characters and comment on the characters and events in the story. Third-person narrative is used in some films to add another dimension of external narration to the narration or moving image and can present expository information, report the innter life of characters and comment upon the events and characters within the story.
An example of external voice over is American Beauty:

The narrative in the opening of American Beauty is the voice over of the main character. In the opening few minutes the audience are informed about the basics of the main character and his surroundings; for example, the voice over tells us the name of the main character, Lester Burnham, introduces his neighbourhood and his age:

The audience are given an insight into the mood of the character and in what direction his life is going by the sentence: "I'm 42 years old. In less than a year, I'll be dead". The montone expression suggests to the audience that Lester could not care less that his life will be ending shortly and the lack of emotion and plainess in his voice support this, along with the following piece of speech which is "an in a way, I'm dead already", further suggesting to the audience that Lester has experienced something or is not experiencing anything to make his life worth living, and he feels dead because of it. Lester goes on to explain the dullness of his life by announcing that "jerking off in the shower" will be the "highlight" of his day and that "it's all downhill" after that. Lester describes how he "gets exhausted" just watching his wife Carolyn do what many women would do on a daily basis, suggesting to the audience that he is lazy. The audience learn more about Lester's life as he tells us that it "wasn't always like this" and that he and his wife "used to be happy". Through the use of narration in American Beauty we learn that both Lester's wife and daughter think he is some "gigantic loser", this suggests to the audience that he has a strained relationship with both of them and they find it difficult to interact altogether as a family. By Lester agreeing with the view of his wife and daughter by admitting that "they're right" suggests to the audience that he does not have any confidence in himself and that could be the main reason for his lack of popularity within his family. The use of narration at the end of the opening changes in the tone of the voice, the voice seems to pick up and is much lighter and hopeful as Lester explains that he has "lost something" but that it's also "never too late to get it back". Overall, the use of narration within the film opening of American Beauty informs the audience about the current mood and out look on life that the main character has, as well as revealing some basic information about himself and the cause of how he is like he is and that he plans to change it around. 

Breaking the fourth wall:
Breaking the fourth wall is a technique used in several films where the character/s within the shot almost come out of the film and appear as if they are speaking to the audience directly, completely oblivious to those that are still within the frame of the film. An example of this is in Ferris Buellers Day Off:

In this case, the method of breaking the fourth wall is used to give advice to the audience that are currently watching the clip; this makes the audience feel a part of the story line as they are being spoken to directly by the main character opposed to just watching him speak to the other characters within the film.