Idea change?

Hello again,

So, after going to a Marylin Monroe exhibition and cinema screening of Some Like it Hot at the Little Theatre in Bath, I have completely fallen in love with this film! I found it absolutely hilarious and am now thinking that it would be a perfect focus film for my project.

... As for the project title... I'm still working on it! But I'd quite like to look at gender- perhaps tying in another favourite of mine: The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I'd also quite like to watch Ed Wood.

I have also considered looking at the controversy caused by the release of Some Like it Hot in 1959 as at the showing of the film today, a man gave some background information on it and I learned that The Catholic Legion of Decency "found cross-dressing to be sinful and rated it C for condemned." which I thought was really interesting.

Anyways, it's just an idea and I shall keep updating!

xx

What is Film Noir?



Kiss Me Deadly

Firstly, I thought it would be a good idea to look into Film Noir itself and see what characterises a noir; what the conventions are and where it originates from.

Literally translated from French as "black film," Film Noir is not so much a genre of film, but "a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations."
The term was coined by French film critics, such as  Nino Frank in 1946,  who noticed the trend of  'dark', downbeat and black looks and themes in many American crime and detective films released in France to theatres following the war.

A wide range of films released just after The Second World War reflected the resultant tensions and insecurities of the time period, and counter-balanced the optimism of Hollywood's musicals and comedies. Fear, mistrust, bleakness, loss of innocence, despair and paranoia are evident in noir. "The criminal, violent, misogynistic, hard-boiled, or greedy perspectives of anti-heroes in film noir were a metaphoric symptom of society's evils, with a strong undercurrent of moral conflict, purposelessness and sense of injustice." Noirs rarely have optimistic or happy endings, often instead leaving unanswered questions and a bleak outlook.

Developed from German Expressionism of the 1920s and 30s, film noir typically uses black and white cinematography with sharp contrasts between light and ominous shadows. Obscure camera angles and swirling smoke give a mysterious feel. Story locations  tend to be in murky, dark streets that are dimly-lit and low-rent apartments and hotel rooms of big cities, or abandoned warehouses. [Often reduced budgets and shadowy, stark sets of film noirs were due to war-time economy.] "Films from German directors, such as F. W. Murnau, G. W. Pabst, and Robert Wiene, were noted for their stark camera angles and movements, chiaroscuro lighting and shadowy, high-contrast images - all elements of later film noir."



Brief Encounter

As well as this, Storylines are often elliptical, non-linear and twisting- for example, David Lean's 1945 film "Brief Encounter" begins with the,  protagonist, Laura (played by Celia Johnson) at the train station, telling her story, it then goes into a flashback.

Furthermore, Film Noirs tend to have two or three female archetypes:

> The Good Woman: the good woman embraces her traditional “role” in the family as homemaker, is passive and monotonous, and dependent of men. The good woman is nurturing, non-threatening and submissive to conventional values.

The Femme Fatale- The Paradine Case

> The Femme Fatale: This “deadly woman” is typically portrayed as sexually charged, strong, independent and magnetic. Her traits include greed, selfishness and insensitivity.

> The Marrying Type: the marrying type is a combination of the femme fatale and the good woman. She could be just a threatening as the femme fatale or just as slow as the satisfactory woman...

I will go into more detail on these archetypes in my next post! :) xx

Small Scale Research Project- Initial Ideas

For my Film coursework I have to create a Research Project and presentation on a focus film and two other films. Here are just my initial ideas on what I'm going to look at...

I'm thinking of researching Classic Film Noir- films such as Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps; Gilda; All About Eve; Brief Encounter and Laura.

Within this I'd like to look at the representation of women and the dynamics of female characters in these films- particularly the role of the Femme Fatale.

I'd like to research the effect the Second World War had on women in general and their changing roles and how this, in turn, was reflected in 1940s and 50s Film Noir.

Rita Hayworth: "They go to bed with Gilda, they wake up with me"

As well as the history, I'd also like to look at classic Noir actresses such as Rita Hayworth and how they played the Femme Fatales...

First attempt at a Research Evaluation table for Festen

Here I have my first attempt at trying a Research Evaluation for sources I looked at to research the film Festen- I will later use this format for my Small Scale Research Project. I haven't posted the actual sources themselves as some of the articles are quite long.

Research Method	Secondary	Secondary	Primary
Source Details e.g. book with author, title, publisher and date noted	Review by Jason Best for BFI: Sight and Sound	Mark Brown Written for EUFS Programme (Edinburgh University Film Society) Autumn 2002	Survey asking a 21st century audience their opinion on the effectiveness of the Dogme 95 manifesto in Festen
Key Findings e.g. summary of what you found in the book. Note quotes with page numbers, in full where appropriate	“…far from stripping away the spurious layers of art, the miasmic cinematography and meat-cleaver continuity comprise nearly the most outré style imaginable. This would appear to make rather a hash of the manifesto's stern caveats against auteurism (none of the Dogma directors receives official screen credit) - especially as Vinterberg comes incestuously close to plying the same faux-naïf techniques originated by von Trier for The Kingdom television series and Breaking the Waves.” “you can't quite bury your misgiving that half the commotion is dictated by the need to justify the camerawork, instead of the other way round”	“The idea of the manifesto…was to "peel" film of its glamour and start an intellectual game with the language of cinema. “ “Like Peter Mullan's Orphans it uses humour to alleviate the bleakness of the subject matter, mostly a black version of the social comedy of films such as Eat Drink, Man Woman along with some lampooning of formal ways of doing things”	“I think it made it more real, like it was a home video of the event” “It made it more realistic and believable which made the content even more surprising! Was a bit slow in some places though”
Evaluation of Method E.g. how the item related to the research, what it contributed to the project, reliability, comparison to other items, where it might lead you next	Gives a very detailed plot summary of the film helped my understanding of the storyline and this article also gives background on the Dogme movement - it questions whether Festen fully follows the Dogme manifesto. However, I did find the wording quite difficult to understand.	Again, this article gave some background on the Dogme ideas and links Festen to some other films, however I had mostly found out the information in here previously in the other article.	Helped give me an idea of audiences’ reactions to the idea of the Dogme 95 manifesto and its effectiveness as a technique. I would like to further this research by asking more audience members their views of Festen.