Rec-Jaume Balaguero

Rec is a 2007 foreign film Written and Directed by Spanish citizen Jaume Balaguero which narrative followed on to make 3 films. Each film had a 3 year time gap between them, however they managed to use the same setting and environment, and this makes the narrative more believable as they look more linked. The first Rec is the film Im basing this essay on as I feel it had the best outcome and was the most grabbing. The main start through Rec 1&2 was Manuela Velasco who played the main protagonist Angela Vidal. Angela played the role of a Journalist who’s interview of a fireman’s life took a turn for the worst, when Angela and camera man Manu (Ferran Terranza) become trapped in a council estate with a variety of different people, one of which carries a deadly disease…

Balaguero based the genre of these films upon Horror and Thriller as he wanted to scare yet intrigue the viewer. He kept the themes to a minimal as he mainly focused on survival. I think by keeping the themes to a minimal it created a more intense feel. The plot of this film constantly changed throughout as it began with the intension of making money and a career (recording of the fireman’s life), to escaping the life threatening situations, to pure old survival. I really like the way each person in the film was a protagonist as there goal was to survive and protect there family however as Angela Vidal was the only character to survive into film 2 it makes her the strongest protagonist as she experiences many different goals, including survival, finding her friend and getting answers the murders that happened.

The things that turned me off this film the most was the fact I spent more time reading the subtitles than I did actually watching the actors. Also because the film was based on the first person prospective the camera quality was not of good density it made seeing certain parts of the film hard to understand. Although saying that I think towards the end of the film  when the camera changed into night vision it added a great deal of effect and made seeing the characters and their actions easier to identify.

The sound was clear as you could understand what each character said; although the characters were constantly shouting meaning the sound could get muffled sometimes. When the characters were in hiding from the ‘thing’ there voices dropped from a shout to a whisper which tells us the situation they are in. When the shot was too quiet you could tell a something drastic was about the happen and the camera angles change and the shot becomes wider, like its making space for entry of another character of object.

Overall if I was asked to rate Rec I would give it 4 stars. As the performance, setting and acting were amazing however the subtitles sometimes made the narrative hard to follow.

FishTank_Andrea Arnold

Fishtank is a 2009 film written and directed by Andrea Arnold. It was called Fishtank due to the fact the characters were trapped in a terrible society with no escape or plan to reach a more upper class life. This film stared Katie Jarvis(also know as Sadie Burns in her most recent 2014 series Suspects). Jarvis takes up the role of the independent yet unfortunate teen, when we follow her through the film learning the struggles she faces living in a rough neighbourhood. Arnold makes it clear throughout the 97 minute screening that Katie is the main protagonist as we see the dream of getting a career in dancing evolve, due to the mothers boyfriends (Michaek Fassbender)positive attitude and encouragement. 

Straight away in the introduction of the film we are able to identify the genre(Social Realism) and minimal themes(Hate,Poverty,Betrayal). As the narrative goes on the themes increase as Katie inherits a variety of different emotions(Love,Jealousy and Relationship) towards the other characters, for example: towards the being of the film Katie despises her mother as she viewers her as a bad role model for her younger sister Tyler and how she does not show passion for their insistence, however towards the end of the film Katie's feelings towards her mum switch as she understands her mums effort to keep the family save and off the streets.  

Andrea Arnold also made the 2003 Wasp film which also includes a lower class family struggling with poverty. How these two films relate is clever due to two different narratives yet very similar characters. 

As director of this well thought out production Arnold knew the exact camera shots she wanted…which was a lot. Multiple shot sizes were used constantly throughout however the strongest shot i thought was the extremely long shot towards the beginning when Katie walked through the neighbourhood. I liked this shot in particular because it gave us a strong and clear view of how her estate and daily routine looked.

Much Mise En Scene was used such as the variety of clothing, change of scenery and most definitely body language.My favourite use of Mise En Scene though had to be the Red balloon being released at the closing of the last scene. I particularly liked this because it represented her letting go of her terrible past and focusing on the future of her and her family. This film ended with very minimal themes accept the strongest of them all Hope.     

THINGS TO INCLUDE IN A REVIEW;

·    GENRE

·    THEME

·    NARRATIVE

·    MISE EN SCENE

·    CAMERA ANGLES

·    SHOT SIZE

·    PERFORMANCE

·    SOUND

·    PROTAGANIST

·    DIRECTOR

·    CAST

·    PRODUCER

Frozen(2012) Camera Shot Analysis

Characters:  

	Emma Bell	...	Parker O'Neil
	Shawn Ashmore	...	Joe Lynch
	Kevin Zegers	...	Dan Walker

Camera Shots:

1)Mid Close up                                                     13)Extreme Wide Shot

2)Close Up                                                            14)Close Up

3)Extreme Close Up                                             15)Wide Shot

4)Long Shot                                                          16) Side Shot

5)Mid Close Up                                                    170 Birds Eye View

6)Over The Shoulder                                            18) Ober The Should 

7)Extreme Close Up                                             19)Close Up

8)Close Up                                                            20)Over The Shoulder

9)Wide Shot

10)Extreme Close up

11) Over The Shoulder 

12)Long Shot

Timbuktu_Abderrahmane Sissako

Timbuktu is a new screening in England based on the life style of those living in unfortunate countries and suffer from poverty and a with a strict government and laws. The film included a variety of different families and workers who we seen either struggling with looking after each other or disobeying the new laws that are introduce towards the beginning of the film and receiving unforgivable punishments. 

The main focus of this production is to acknowledge us of the seriousness of poverty and war, allowing us to see the damage it causes. I was shocked to discover the main Protagonist(kidane) having more than one goal. This main characters goal constantly changes even up to his last line which automatically tells us that his goals are important and he must achieve them. 

This film includes subtitles which personally I dislike due to the confussion of having to follow the narrative through reading. Abderrahmane Sissako explored many many camera angles which definitely kept the film more interesting however I felt the use of Mise En Scene was kept to a minimal as there was not much props and the costumes and settings were plain and dull, however saying that the characters were meant to be living in a time period were religious clothing was one of the main laws to oblige by. Sissako really explored Religion constantly throughout his film as the content reveals. 

Overall I would not personally go see this film again as i found is confusing and not very seat grabbing.

Prezi-Sequences