CASE STUDY The Selfish Giant (2013)

The film The Selfish Giant is a social realism film mad by Clio Barnard. It has the themes of poverty, theft friendship and children. It was released in 2013 and has made $943,209 and received The Europa cinema award in the 2013 Cannes film festival it also had won best film at the 25th Stockholm international film festival. The mise en scene in this often uses symbolism and it also tells the audience what is happening before anything has been said in the scene. I shall also be looking at cinematography and what the different types of shots are showing.

In the film it's very clear that the two boy have their differences for example Swifty is kind, likes animals and wants to have a good life. Meanwhile Arbor whose name has two meanings in both mechanical and natural meanings is a violent, greedy and only concerned for the present. It's strange how these two are friends even though they have contrasting personalities however they both compliment each other. As Swifty keeps Arbor in check before he does too much damage and Arbor gets Swifty to have more courage sop that he will attempt and hopefully succeed.

Often in the film the different camera angles will show how the relationship between the characters are. For example in one shot both of the boys are sitting on one either side of the carriage they have. It shows the difference of views the two have at that point have a difference of opinions, as it's after they look at the power cable. Other camera shots show us that the two boys haven't gone down to other people's level. This is shown during the horse race as the two are up above them showing that they are better than them however the two do go down to their level as they want to race for them later on.

Tim Burton

Tim Burton is an American Director, Producer, Artist and Writer. He had started out as an animator in other films and because of this he has used animation in many of his films. He is well known for his Gothic, horror and macabre alter style. This is one of his token features so that an audience will easily know that this is his type of film and that the audience will know what to expect. He has made a large variety of films from sci-fis (Mars Attacks) to fantasies (Alice in Wonderland). He's done original stories (Nightmare Before Christmas) and he has also done remakes of other stories (Batman).

He has worked with a star studded cast for many of his films however Johnny Deep is the most occurring actor in his films. Michael Keaton has worked on some of Tim Burton's films as well these being in Batman, Batman returns and Beetlejuice he had all of the title roles. He has often used the music of Danny Elfman what has featured in many of his films, he also had been given roles in his films as well such as Jack the pumpkin king "Nightmare Before Christmas" and Bonejangles "Corpse Bride".

These are most of the films he has either Directed, Produce or Wrote he has had other roles in films for example 2009's Coraline where he was a design consultant. He is working on more films at the momment however these have not not been released yet.
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (Debut in directing 1985)

















Beetlejuice (Director 1988)

Batman (Director 1989)

Edward Scissorhands
(Director, producer and writer 1990)


























Batman Returns (Director and producer 1992)





















The Nightmare Before Christmas
(Producer and writer 1993)























Ed Wood (Director and producer 1994)


Batman Forever (Producer 1995)

James and the Giant Peach (Producer 1996)
Mars Attacks (Director and producer 1997)
Sleepy Hollow (Director 1999)
Planet of the Apes (Director 2001)
Big Fish (Director 2003)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Director 2005)
Corpse Bride (Director and producer 2005)











Sweeney Todd: The demon barber of Fleet Street (director 2007)


 9 (Producer 2009)
Alice in Wonderland (Director 2010)
 Dark Shadows (Director 2012)















Frankenweenie (Director, Producer and writer 2012)

The Last King of Scotland

Lately I had watched The Last King of Scotland this is a thriller based on real events. It has the themes of power friendship and politics. It is about Adi Amin and the bond he had made with a Scottish doctor who had gone to help the people and then becomes his personal doctor what is more than what he wanted.

Different shots are used in the film to show the tension that is building in the many different scenes. Different shots are also used to show the transformation of the area that the Doctor is used for example a establishing shot is used so that the audience know that he is in a rural village in the country and later establishing shots are used so that the audience knows that he is now in a large city. A low angle shot is used sot hat the audience knows that Adi Amin is the most dominate person in the area and the county.

Soft

This is part of the Thriller and Social realism genre it was released in 2006. It has the theme of family in it. It follows a father and a son and how they deal with a gang and violence. They both have been attacked by the same person it helps show that they are both images of each other similar to the saying like father like son.

The film uses apart form a variety of different shot types it also has different affects. When the camera has decline in quality it shows the the view of the gang. The reasoning behind this is so that the viewer will know that is how the gang views a certain situation. The wide amount of shots used to capture how different characters feel. An establishing shot is used so that the audience can see everything that is happening as using the same shot will let them know the journey what the characters. Close ups are used to show the difference in emotions between the different characters.

At one point the car alarm of the fathers car goes off, it parallels the panic of the father as they both are controlled by the same person. The father is cowardly this can be seen by him when he doesn't backup any of his actions he also has clearly told his son to do the same as in it the son says that he was told by him that he shouldn't get into fights just like him. In contrast the son has bravery as he feels that taking action would solve the issue (what it does). The son clearly isn't like his father this can be seen not just form what he does but also that they are wearing very different clothes as the father wears a suit and the son wears tracksuits instead. This represents the different views that different people have in today's world.

Get off my land

Get off my land is a short film released in 2008. It is part of the thriller and crime genre. It's themes are ownership and conflict. It follows a couple who are on a public foot path and met the owner of the land. After a bit the man in the relationship says that he'll fight the owner of the land for it. The owner comes back with a shotgun and shoots the man and the woman.

I am able to tell that the two are a couple as they are often seen very close together in different shots. Another thing that tells me this is that the man clearly has come unprepared as he is wearing jeans and trainers in an muddy field, meanwhile the girlfriend is prepared as she has a thick coat and boots. Because of this it shows me that they aren't related as they both would of have known the same that either they will need boots or trainers for what they are going into. the owner of the land is clearly shown to be a local as the owner has a jeep and also wears a farmers cap showing that he knows the land. Clearly the couple and the owner don't know each other as the couple seem confused to see the two there there. The relationship between the couple doesn't seem to that great of one as the two of in the opening seem to be distant, it's shown by having the them separate in an establishing shot near the start. In addition near the start they go over a shaky gate symbolizing that the relationship between the two could also be shaky. At the end you see birds flying and hear a gunshot go off, this is a clear sign hat another person has been shot and it's very impressive as they didn't need to show this as they told the audience without showing them.

The theme of ownership is shown by having a conflict of if the land is private or not. It's shown by asking who had owned the land before all the back in time. It goes all the down to the roots of ownership. This then leads to the second theme of conflict as the two men get into a conflict over the land. This is because they agree that the ownership of the land was decided by conflict. This turns into the two men about to fight over the land. The owner then leaves making the boyfriend to assume that he has won there for a slight bit seems o be a bit of conflict between the couple as they to have different views on whether it should of happened. The owner of the land then comes back showing he has a shot gun this greatly and suddenly increases the tension of the film.

CASE STUDY Fish Tank (2009)

Fish Tank 

This film is a social realism piece directed by Andrea Arnold. It is about a 15 year old girl called Mia who is antisocial lives with her single mum Joanne and sister Tyler. This film explores the themes of family, love and crime. The film was funded by BBC Film and the UK film council with the sum of £1.8 million. It had made £1.5 million back. 

The main characters of this film are Mia who is 15, anti-social, possibly aggressive and has mood swings. Connor is Mia’s Mum’s new boyfriend who has a sexual relationship with Mia at one point. He also has a wife in daughter in another town. Joanne who is Mia and Tyler’s mum she doesn’t care that much for her daughters and mostly for herself.  Billy who is a traveler who has an old horse and a car he’s currently fixing, he’s more understanding than his two other brothers. Finally there’s Tyler who is Mia’s younger sister who is quite like her but younger a difference between the two is that Tyler has friends while Mia doesn’t clearly apart from Billy. 

Symbolism is used frequently the main one being chains and animals. The chains shows that Mia feels stuck where she is that she can’t escape. Animals in this represent Mia as they are things of beauty and are able to go where ether they wish to. These can often be seen together for example in Mia’s room there is a butterfly what has chain over it. An example that animals represent animals is the horse of Billie’s what Mia tries to break free, this also show that Mia wants to break free but is always stopped in doing so. When she is told the horse was killed she’s told it was as old as her. It shows that she feels doomed as the horse was like her and that if the horses life came to an end so will hers. At the end of the film as Mia drives away with Billy to Wales there is a balloon what is flaying away showing that Mia is now free to go wherever she wants. 

The film's themes are family, love and crime. Family is the biggest theme as every important character has an actual family. There's Mia's what is dysfunctional and mostly hate each other. There's Conor's family what he had kept a secret what is him his wife and his daughter. Lastly there's Billy's family what is him and his two brothers. something these families all have in common apart form Mia is that they are in threes and there is three of them. This maybe be referencing that that Conor has three lovers those being his actual wife, Joanne and Mia and how they all love him. Love is also a key theme in this film. There are different types of love in this film there is the love that Mia has for here sister Tyler they may not make it clear however they do as they are both said to leave each other at the end. There is the love that Joanne and Mia have with each other, it's shown through Mia travelling a long way to ask why he had left her mum. If she hadn't cared for her then she wouldn't of travelled so far for her. This loved is mirrored as Joanne wants Mia to do something with her life as she's sending her to good school what is far away. There's the love between Mia and Connor, Joanne and Connor and Connor's wife and Connor, all of these are physical types of love. However as the film goes on they all change; Mia's turns to hatred between the two, Joanne's turns to one sided as only Joanne loves Connor and Connor's wife doesn't change. Another example of a love what changes throughout the film is the love between Billy and Mia. At the start of the film Mia despises him and his brothers as she feel that they are starving the horse however as the film progresses she turns to like him more and more, at the end it seems that Mia and Billy have started to love each other.  Crime is in the film allot in different forms mostly in underage drinking from Mia as she's only 15,  another crime she has committed due to her age is under aged sex with Connor. However another under aged crime is Tyler as in one scene she is seen smoking and though we don't know her exact age it's safe to assume that she's younger than Mia.