Joker Close Viewing

Todd Phillips’ Joker

The concept of the human psyche is one of great ambiguity. Lying just outside of focal awareness, our subconscious is a flowing stream of intangible power and idle knowledge, in a ceaseless entanglement with its own creation. Swedish philosopher and physician Paracelsus was the first ascribed with the scientific mentioning of a subconscious level of thinking, to which he accredited a great deal of his successful work in toxicology. It wasn’t until centuries later, when an Austrian neurologist by the name of Sigmund Freud developed an in depth psychoanalytic theory on the complexities of this layer of the human psyche. Our subconscious goes far beyond the act of learning and obtaining information. It is not a storage facility, but rather a serpentine network of instinctually pre-programmed data that dictates the majority of our interactions with the world around us. Directed by Todd Phillips, the 2019 psychological thriller Joker explores this concept, bringing a new level of profound depth to the superhero genre, and divulging the mysteries and psychological intricacies of a longstanding fan favourite - ‘The Joker’. Through deconstructing the life and mind of this infamous supervillain, Phillips unpacks the arcane nature of the human psyche, and with the help of three key film aspects places emphasis on the effects which societal pressure puts on the enigma that is the human subconscious.

Social constructs are a feeble attempt to grasp an understanding of the unknowability of ourselves and the

world around us. However the true problem with social constructs, is that society paints these assumptions

(often based on minimal prior knowledge) as objective truth: what many of us perceive as reality is reliant on

theseshared preconceptions. Because of this, we create boxes. We create categories for a collective, and in

doing so reduce other individuals - and ourselves - to a definitive label, a set criteria, a set manual on how we

ought to behave and how others deserve to be treated based on the box they’ve been placed in. In the case of

Arthur Fleck, who was no more than a boy when the abuse of his stepfather forced him down a winding path of

life-long trauma and debilitating mental health issues, these constructs have formed a suffocating reality.

After being attacked for a lack of control over his laughing condition on the subway, Arthur murders

two men in self defense, and another in a loss of self-restraint. He soon finds himself shaken and alone

in a public bathroom. Leading up to this point, Arthur had been consistently met with a lack of compassion

and an abundance of ignorance for his mental health conditions. From the verbal and mental abuse of his

coworkers, to being physically assaulted by strangers on two separate occasions, the consequences of falling

outside of society’s ideal benchmark had taken its toll. One foot after the other, Arthur steps into a delicate

accompaniment of the melody that resides in his heart. His body cuts through the air with an unprecedented

grace, balletic gestures mimicking an almost fluidic sequence of motions. He has music deep within his soul.

This display of unchained self-expression is not initially a representation of an abrupt or spiralling loss of

control, nor is it a failure to contain his ongoing list of mental health issues - this is his subconscious fighting

to break free from the conforming identity that Arthur has strenuously moulded himself to for so long.

However as the story continues, the motif of Arthur’s dancing develops into a more sinister foreshadowing

of destructive behaviour, the final scene showing Arthur dancing down the hallway at Arkham State Hospital

after evidently murdering his psychiatrist. Through the of this simplistically rich motif, Phillips dissects the

inner workings of a man thrown into a world designed to tear him down, and a society hellbent on trapping

him in the confines of a labelled box. For the audience, this is a telling portrayal of how the pressures of

societal normality can affect the psyche. We put limitations on our subconscious for the comfort of

others - and when our subconscious feels trapped, it grows desperate to break free.

Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis divides the human psyche into a tripartite model, each layer

pertaining to different levels of the conscious and unconscious mind. These three layers are the ego, the

superego, and the id. While the superego represents the database of learned knowledge which exists in our

conscious mind, the id represents our repressed instinctual urges and desires. The ego represents the perpetual

conflict between the two, or the contradiction between our knowledge of what is right and what we long for.

This concept of Freudian psychoanalysis is best understood when applied to one piece of literature in

particular: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. This tale depicts the life of Dr. Henry Jekyll, a man in

a constant struggle to maintain the dormancy of his alternate personality, Mr Edward Hyde. While Dr. Jekyll

was a prestigious and well-admired scientist, his alter ego Hyde was a manifestation of his worst impulses,

and a satisfier of his most rudimentarily innate desires - the id. Much like the superego and the id, whilst Hyde

and Jekyll are binary opposites, paradoxically, they are one in the same. This aspect of Freudian psychoanalysis

can also be applied to Arthur Fleck in Todd Phillips’ Joker, a purposeful combination of colour and lighting

in the scene following Arthur murdering the men in the subway working to characterise this idea of an

imbalance of power between the id and the superego. A flickering light illuminates the bathroom, a sickly pale

green washing over the decrepit stalls. An extensive degree of desaturation instils a sense of unease in the

audience, as the potency of this green hue overpowers all warmth. Immersed, Arthur continues to dance.

Embracing this imbalance, he welcomes chaos with open arms. The superego gives way to instability as

Joker moves into the flickering spotlight of this rundown Gotham bathroom, and Arthur reverts to his

default visceral state. Apathetic, impulsive, and perfectly devoid of morality, the id has silenced any surviving

slither of reason. Colour allows for visual representation of a transfer in power to be put forth to the audience

in this moment. An alike use of colour can be seen in David Fincher’s Fight Club. In this film, the director uses

desaturation and pale green hues to differentiate between the unnamed protagonist’s true self, and his neurotic

alter ego Tyler Durden. Through a similarly cunning use of green, Phillips and cinematographer Larry Sher

vividly illustrate Arthur’s acceptance of who he believes Gotham’s people have forced him to become in their

cruelty and limiting archetypes.

Paired with lighting, colour serves a second distinct purpose in the unveiling of Arthur’s descent into madness

throughout the film. Following a disheartening encounter with Thomas Wayne, we see Arthur alone in his

kitchen. The man he believed to be his father had rejected him without second thought, and the only woman

who had seemingly offered him love, nurture, and protection from his harsh reality was not the woman he had

dedicated his life to caring for. He stands over the counter in a trance-like state, looming shadows unfurling in

the deepest corners of the room as the malevolence that lurks in his subconscious once again fights to break

free from an exhausting face. The absence of light also draws attention to the sombre essence of the scene,

constructing a darker atmosphere and placing emphasis on Arthur’s declining mental state. Despite all he had

done, this atmosphere assists the audience in finding reason to sympathise with him for his ill-fated

circumstances. The dissonance between a warm orange glow emanating from the dreary Gotham streets and

the array of cool blue hues flooding the room around him reflects an inner struggle between Arthur and his

neurotic Joker persona; the conflict between the superego, encompassing Arthur’s remaining hope in society

and the knowledge of what is morally right, and the id; the embodiment of the most instinctual, primitive

strand of his subconscious, and his desire for violence and serving self-indulgent ‘justice’. With this use of

complementary colours and lighting, Phillips and Sher successfully establish a striking parallel between

Arthur and his environment, accentuating the symbiotic relationship between these two entities in the entirety

of its disharmonious nature.

Throughout Joker, director Todd Phillips uses the film aspects of colour, lighting and motifs skillfully to

delineate the deteriorating psyche of a man suffering from mental illness. Most importantly, however, Phillips

does well to separate Arthur from his conditions, and recognise him as an individual rather than defining him

by these pivotal traits. Elyn Saks is a professor of law, psychology and psychiatry at the University of Southern

California, and a woman living with chronic schizophrenia. In a powerful retelling of her story, Elyn delivered

this line in regards to the portrayal of those with mental illness in media - “Portray them sympathetically, and

portray them in all the richness and depth of their experience as people and not as diagnoses.” By creating

these alternative methods of understanding Arthur for the audience, most notable with a brilliant use of

complementary colours to reflect his subconscious battle, Phillips fabricates a story in which Arthur can bee

seen in a sympathetic light despite his flaws, as a man living with schizophrenia, rather than labelling him as

a schizophrenic. These details are not only crucial to understanding the entirety of Arthur’s narrative - they

also hold significance on a larger scale. The stigma which society has created around mental illness and

diverging from normative behaviour and ideals is exhausting for those who are unwillingly shoved into

these boxes. A study carried out by the World Health Organisation suggests that at minimum, 30% of those

with mental health issues will not seek help. This includes approximately 55% of those displaying signs of

a severe anxiety disorder, 56% of individuals with major depression, and around 50% of people who have

Bipolar Disorder. These shocking statistics outline exactly how these labels and the subliminal baggage

they encompass negatively impact our society. If anything is to be taken away from Arthur’s story, it’s this:

do not reduce yourself or others to a single word. It is a cheap and dwindling expression of your character.

Don’t be quick to define others with a label - the subconscious isn’t designed to be cornered.

Blade Runner 2049 Film Analysis

Humanity is mankind’s fundamental distinction. Our mortality and self-conscious state, our ability to feel and find reason, to create meaning, to change and to aspire. Our naturistic need to love and to be loved - most relevantly, the desperate need to hold on to love for dear life once we’ve found it - all which we refer to as ‘the human condition’. Decades after its introduction in the release of Blade Runner in 1982, a film considered beyond its years, the post-apocalyptic world of Blade Runner returned. Taking place in its titular time period, Blade Runner 2049 follows the story of main man Officer KD6-3.7, or simply K - except, his classification as a ‘man’ is still in question. Produced in a lab by entrepreneurial businessman Niander Wallace, K is a state-of-the-art Nexus-9 replicant, a bioengineered being working for the Los Angeles Police Department. Referred to as a ‘blade runner’, K has been assigned with the task of ‘retiring’ less obedient older model replicants. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, 2017 sci-fi thriller Blade Runner 2049 acts as a sequel to its original namesake in regards to plot, while still putting forth its own strikingly different ideas and a uniquely profound conceptualisation of the human experience.  With the strategic pairing and use of several key film aspects throughout the movie, Villeneuve accentuates one of humanity’s weakest links - the concept of grief, and our resulting inability to let go of the past.

Undoubtedly, the love a father has for his child is unmatched. It’s unconditional. Nevertheless, “Sometimes to love someone, you’ve got to be a stranger.” The delivery of this line breaks through silence with a staggering strength. With such simple words, the image of this hard shell of a man which once stood before our protagonist has been torn out from its roots. Hunted, Deckard was forced to leave the mother of his child long before birth. He never had the chance to love his daughter in the way that most fathers would dream to. Love is an elemental part of the spectrum of human emotions, and yet rarely can we fully understand it - rarely is it as easy as instinct. Loving someone doesn’t always mean being with them at every given chance, or even being remotely involved in their life. In this case, loving his family meant he would never get to see them, never get to hold them. It meant letting go of the ones he loved the most. Cruelly, this often necessary choice is also the hardest. Deckard’s words hang in the air long after they’ve left his mouth, the absence of music throughout the entirety of his conversation with K adding to the dialogue’s already intense nature. It conveys the depth of his words to the audience without need for elaboration or further context. For no more than a moment, we catch a glimpse of Deckard’s most vulnerable, genuine self - a man who experienced loss like no other. The silence shortly comes to  an end when Deckard leaves the room, leaving K alone to process all that had been said. A soft clink can be heard as he slips a coin into the jukebox at the far side of the bar, and a song begins to play. Slow in pace and accompanied by a progression of minor blues chords on the piano, Frank Sinatra begins to sing. A song titled ‘One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)’. Aside from the sorrowful tone and slow tempo which perfectly reflects the downhearted atmosphere of this scene, the story behind the song is also rather fitting. “But this torch I found, it’s gotta be drowned or it soon might explode… So make it one for my baby, and one more for the road.” Written and originally sung by Johnny Mercer, ‘One for My Baby’ was inspired by Mercer’s alleged long-standing affair with American actress Judy Garland. These particular lyrics resonate with the theme at hand, describing the writer’s love for a woman - love that he could no longer act upon. Much like Deckard, he had to let her go. Sometimes to love someone, you’ve got to be a stranger.

Each shelf is lined with the relics of Deckard’s past. Everything contained within the walls he surrounds himself with reminds him of better days. From the centuries-old antique paintings which lay disregarded on the floor, to the shelves upon shelves of books telling stories of years passed. A photograph of Rachael sits idly on Deckard’s desk in a frequently polished golden frame. A row of hand-carved wooden animals occupy the remaining space, a similar finish to the wooden horse which K carries in his pocket - the horse originally made by Deckard for his unborn daughter. The surface they rest upon seems to serve no ulterior purpose. The placement of each item (the mise en scène) encapsulates Deckard’s finest hours. Every trinket and memento is a reminder of all that he has lost - his past, a place he can’t leave and a dream he refuses to wake from. Each object of importance shares a pristine appearance, proof of their delicate and regular maintenance. Diegetic sound plays a role in the creation of this image; the clinking of glasses against an old countertop bar, the sound of metal against metal as a coin rolls into the jukebox, the flicking of buttons and the whirring of disks as they begin to spin and the music begins to play. The music itself, decades old. These sounds are all reminiscent of the past, unusual and almost out of place in their current futuristic time period. The complementary nature of this diegetic sound paired with the mise en scène of the sequence effectively emphasises this idea for the audience. It shows how the room itself reflects Deckard’s inner struggle to let go of the past, and how this makeshift home of his helps to preserve it, keeping the memory of his loved ones alive in the only way he can - for this is what we do to remind ourselves of the places people hold in our hearts. We mask our walls with photos of their smiles, we fill our shelves with items symbolic of inside references, their letters, books with their hidden messages contained within the pages. We do everything in our power to ensure their impact never fades from our lives. The original Blade Runner focused inherently on mortality, and replicants’ endless fight to extend their life spans. In his final moments, Nexus-6 replicant Roy Batty delivered this memorable speech. “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.” Taking one last look back on his short life, he hopelessly tries to cling on to his final moments. Even the darkest of memories induce a sense of nostalgia, finding beauty within the chaos. It’s hard not to look back on even the most perilous of times with sentiment when the clock is running out - without the bad, you can never experience the good. Every breath Roy takes is an attempt to prevent the inevitable. Looking now at Deckard, we see their fight never ended. In truth, it only became more complicated, as it is no longer a fight to merely survive, but a fight to truly live: a struggle not only to delay death, but to hold on to all of life’s greatest beauties. 

As K confronts the man he believes to be his father, his face is tinted by the orange glow of Las Vegas’ radioactive ruins. The decrepit city lies just beyond vision, mounds of artefacts and graves of once grand architecture, having long ago succumbed to the wrath of time. The venue of an era’s fondest memories and greatest accomplishments, lost to the dust. An extreme scale of saturation adds a layer of unease to the scene, warm tones contrasting with deep blue eyes as a close-up shot of K captures a sense of sentiment otherwise lost - a conscious decision made by the director to draw attention to both characters’ innermost thoughts, making the audience feel as if they too were involved in the conversation. The familiar vacancy which often inhabited his eyes was now replaced with clear grief. At last K stood face-to-face with his creator. The man who gave him life, but didn’t care enough to stay and guide him through it. Jaw visibly clenched, K listens as Deckard explains his role in the grand scheme, and how the blackout prevented any attempt to find his child. “Did you want to?” A second close-up suggests K’s fear of the answer, his gaze piercing, the inner corners of his eyebrows raised. The shot places emphasis on the smallest indications of emotion, and comparatively, Deckard’s apparent apathy. Two halves of the same story converge, loss stemming from a common source and sculpted differently by each’s own struggles. Deckard may have lost the ones he loved, but the pain in K’s eyes was for something far more invaluable. He grieved for what he never had. This feeling isn’t one easily defined by a single word in the English language, or by any other for that matter. Para-nostalgia, anemoia, hiraeth... All terms which are similar, but not interchangeable. Despite a lack of definition, it isn’t uncommon. We often experience overwhelming nostalgia for that which we’ve never experienced - whether it be a time before our existence, a connection with someone we never had, a detail from our past which isn’t real or a moment we wish had gone differently. It’s another recurring example of the intricacy of human emotion - one so complex, words simply can’t describe it. K felt a sense of nostalgia, longing for memories he never experienced. His childhood, the love of his mother and father, happiness - things he simply never knew. And yet, he missed them. Comparing this scene to others throughout the film, an interesting conclusion can be drawn in regards to Villeneuve’s intended purpose of colour. For the majority of K’s on screen appearance, the surrounding setting is devoid of saturation. Take the scene in which K finds out his memories are real, for example. After leaving the facility, he is amidst light grey skies, treading through a blanket of pure white snow. During the scene where K fails his baseline test, he is enclosed in an all white room. He’s usually seen in monotonous white or monochrome settings. This is, until he travels to Vegas to meet his father. A brilliant orange glow is cast across the entirety of the city. The simulation on stage at the casino shows musicians dressed in bright shades of pink, blue, and every colour under the sun. This use of contrast in colour subtly suggests that in a sense, vibrancy had been brought into his life. When evidence suggested that K was human, he fed into this dream, relied on it, and found hope in it. It was a lesser than perfect narrative. Even still, believing in it was necessary. In this alternative to his story, he was no longer just another cog in the machine, but instead a man with direction. Letting go of this fantasy would be devastating - it would darken his world once more. After all, there’s no desire more human than the want to find purpose.

Through the use of a compelling combination of colour, close-up shots, mise en scene, diegetic sound,  dialogue and music, director Denis Villeneuve has created a scene rich with meaning and interpretation. His pairing of complementary film aspects, most notably music and dialogue, constructively works alongside the plot of Blade Runner 2049 to convey a prominent theme to the audience through the duration of the film - grief, and the inability to let go of the past. Villeneuve dissects the obscurity of the human condition throughout, directing the spotlight to the complex nature of the spectrum of human emotions, and, in doing so, further reinforcing the theme at hand. Letting go of the past is a primary aspect of life, and yet the hardest to accept. We have great lengths to cross in order to understand ourselves and the human race - the limited knowledge we have on our consciousness and emotions is verification of this. In a world full of such uncertainty, the importance of breaking down these mysteries grows increasingly critical. Without grasping an in-depth understanding of the self, there is no way we can hope to truly value all of life’s greatest wonders. There’s no way we can hope to fully appreciate every miniscule detail - before the clock runs out. Love and loss are two sides of the same coin: we can’t have one without risking the other. One thing can be said with certainty. “It’s better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all” - Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Practice Analysis

Dutch Angles

Dutch Angles

The Dutch angle is an angle which puts a noticeable tilt on the camera's axis. These angles are used to enhance unsettling or disorienting moments and emphasise a foreboding feeling portrayed in a scene. The Dutch angle was used and created by German expressionists in the early 1900s. 

There are three things directors must consider when filming a Dutch angle: Identify an unsettling/disorienting moment in their script, consider the moment, and enhance the moment. There are four things that can effectively enhance a Dutch angle - increasing the degree of the tilt on the shot, lowering the camera height, choosing the most effective lens for the scene, and keeping in mind the depth of field.

Motif in Film

Motif 

A motif refers to any recurring element in a film which has some sort of symbolic meaning relevant to the story being told. Using visual motifs ensures that a film is able to operate effectively on more than one level and convey messages to the audience without the need for dialogue or other verbal explanation. 

By including small details and motifs in a film, you create something which the viewer wants to come back to over and over again, in order to find new a level of depth and understanding of the themes and story line of a film which they may not have had before. The most effective way of utilising and creating motifs as a director is not to ask what is happening in a scene, but why it is happening. Giving meaning to even the smallest of details adds depth to a film. 

Insert Shots in Film

Insert Shots

An insert shot is an isolated shot which focuses on a specific feature within a scene. Inserts often involve an object or objects seen from a character's point of view, and are used to show the audience/focus their attention on a very specific detail. Inserts are used to communicate crucial narrative information. There are three main aspects of an insert shot; composition, colour, and timing. 

Composition of an insert shot involves shot angle, shot size, and camera movement. This can help to foreshadow a future event within the film, or an important message which will soon symbolise more meaning. Colour can be used to draw attention to specific points within an insert shot, and can add extra details which will create a deeper impact later on. Timing changes the meaning of a scene: How long the director dwells on a shot and how quickly they switch between insert shots creates a certain level of urgency depending on timing. This has a direct effect on the viewer's understanding of the scene's importance. 

Colour in Film

Colour

Different colours convey different emotions, and have various psychological effects on people - therefore, colour in film can be used to create mood in a scene. There are three main factors of determining colour in film, these being hue (the colour itself), saturation (the intensity of the colour), and brightness (how light or dark the colour is). 

Take The Matrix, for example. Throughout the movie the hue is almost entirely in different shades of green. This is because The Matrix is a sci-fi movie which takes place in a digital simulation - we associate the colour green with coding. The shades of green in The Matrix also tend to have a sort of sickly quality to them, reflecting the dreary feel of the story being told.

Some directors choose to heavily desaturate - this drains the colour out of each scene, setting a cold, dreary, and overall unpleasant mood for the film. This is also in some cases done to create reminiscence of the time period this movie takes place in. Desaturation can often be seen in war films such as Enemy at the Gates, Hacksaw Ridge, and Dunkirk.

The brightness in a film dictates the mood of a film, and can create contrast. Scenes containing entirely brighter colours were very common during the era in which colour was first introduced in film, and was for some a good enough reason to watch it alone. Scenes containing less bright colours create a darker and foreboding or gloomy atmosphere.

How does Camera Movement Work in Film?

Camera Movement

The pan is a term used for rotating the camera during a scene whilst keeping the camera in it's current placement. Two types of pan movements are the whip pan and the slow pan, both having different purposes. The whip pan is the film equivalent of quickly turning to look at something, and creates a sudden jolt of energy, whereas the slow pan gives the audience time to take in the landscape in a scene.

Tilt shots are often used to reveal something to us, and divert our attention from what is currently happening in a scene. The dolly zoom is a smooth movement which entails moving the camera through a space in a scene, creating a different visual experience. When the dolly and zoom movements are used at the same time, it shows the viewers that the character who is the subject of this scene is having an intense internal experience. The steadicam is a movement which creates the same effect as the dolly shot, however as the camera is placed/mounted on the shoulder of a cameraman, the camera is able to move more gracefully and steadily. The handheld shot is a more shakey intense camera movement which can cause the viewer to feel a higher sense of panic, tension, or anxiety during a scene. 

The ultimate challenge for the director of a film in terms of camera movement is figuring out how to  combine these camera movements in a unique way which affects the audience in the way the director intends to. When creating these sequences, it is important that directors ask themselves if it they are using these movements in a way which compliments the story. Camera movements should be able to effectively move the audience's point of attention in a way which is relevant to the overall story of the visual text and what is occurring in the scene.

Blocking

Blocking 
Blocking can be defined as the precise staging of actors in a film or performance, and can entirely change the feel of a scene and create visual dynamic. In cinematography, blocking refers to where actors are placed in the frame in a scene. There are three basic shapes for film blocking - space, shapes, and lines.

Space refers the distance between characters in a scene. The distance a character is from the camera can determine what level of importance they uphold. Character's closer to the camera tend to be seen as more imposing. The three basic shapes - triangles, squares, and circles - all create a different assumption about a character. Anything can be turned into one of these shapes, including a character's face, the props in a scene, or the space they are in. Circles create a inclusive and safe atmosphere. Squares create limited space, closing or boxing someone into a smaller area. Triangles can make a scene sharper or more aggressive. Shapes dictate where the audience's eye travels to when watching a scene. Using lines in a scene creates tension and imbalance between characters in a scene, and also emphasises who in a scene holds the most power.

Blocking can help with both revealing subtext (the hidden message in a scene) and contrast.

Establishing Shots

Establishing Shots

An establishing shot in a film is a shot which establishes a scene, and they are usually used at the start of a scene to show the relationship between the subject and the location they are in. It also establishes the atmosphere of the scene, e.g whether it is a light-hearted or dark scene.

Establishing shots are well planned out to ensure they aren't time-consuming to shoot and are effective before they are shot, as they tend to be some of the most expensive shots in films. This is due to the fact that during scenes using these shots you can see everything that is going on.

Production Design

Production Design

Production design refers to the overall look of the production. This includes set design, props, prompts, wardrobe, and all other physical aspects of a scene. Production design can reveal three things in a film. It can set the mood of a scene, reflect the state of a character, and articulate a stories themes. 

Production design can be used to set the mood of a scene by using it in a way which conveys the emotions the director wishes to reflect. It can visualise the state of a character, making a set reflect the emotions the character is feeling and the place they are currently in in their lives. Finally, production design can be used to create a subtext of sorts, a hidden meaning. It can be used to intelligently tell it's own story without the need of verbally given context to explain/show what is happening in the scene.

Contrast in Film

Contrast in Film

Contrast adds to visuals what conflict adds to a script. Directors can contrast in film through tone, art direction, in blocking, camera movement, and in colour. In Spike Jonze's Apple Homepod ad, contrast can firstly be seen in lighting, tone, and saturation. It starts with a dark and desaturated world, short of colour. In terms of art direction, the clothes worn by the characters in scenes became progressively darker with each layer. Surrounding architecture is dark. Lighting is minimal. But as the woman begins to interact with the homepod, the whole atmosphere of the scene shifts. 

Lighting increases, the woman's face becomes more visible. Her surroundings became more vibrant with colour, she takes her dark jacket off to reveal a white shirt underneath. Spike Jonez contrasts these things to create a visually pleasing and eye catching ad, grasping the attention of viewers and showing how a constricted individual breaks free. 

  

POV Shots

Point of View Shots

A point of view shot is a shot which shows us exactly what a character sees. It puts us in their shoes and allows to see the world they live in through their eyes. A point of thought - commonly used in films created by Steven Spielberg - is a series of angles which are put together to convey emotion and visualise the thoughts and emotions of a character which the audience can empathise with. It's gives the viewers a visual expression of the character's mind.

Point of thought and point of view shots are important as they - if used appropriately - can consistently express a character's thoughts and emotions throughout a film, strengthening the impact which scenes have on the viewer. 

Over-the-shoulder Shots

Over-the-shoulder Shots

Over-the-shoulder shots are used in film to connect the characters in a given scene. By using an over-the-shoulder shot you create a subconscious connection between these characters in the mind of the viewer. A single shot, on the other hand, disconnects the characters in a scene. This also suggests the characters involved in the scene see eye-to-eye/are on the same page in regards to whatever it may be they are talking about or what is happening during a scene. A single shot causes an absence of another character, and therefore creates an emotional disconnection between the characters in the viewer's mind.

In this scene from West World, John Nolan places the camera on a dolly and uses a push in technique, slowly moving in on one of the characters and slowly obstructing all view of the other. A close up shot later on in the scene isolates the female character once and for all, shortly after both characters being reconnected by the waiter who re-enters the scene.

How does Tone work in Film?

Tone
Tone in films, is also referred to as brightness. The three main elements of tone include lighting, exposure, and art direction. Lighting referring to the areas in which are lighted in a scene, e.g frontal or back lighting, exposure referring to how much light is in the scene, and art direction referring to the colours and shades of set, props, and costumes in a scene, which add to the affect caused by exposure and lighting.

In the classic movie 'The Godfather', tone is used perfectly. In the very first scene of the movie, Don Vito Corleone, head of a Mafia family, is underexposed and barely a silhouette. As the scene continues on and the camera moves to a position where Vito's face is visible, brightness increases, but only by a small amount. The darkness and lack of exposure in this scene fits with the darkness of the scene. This scene is discussing how the God Father deals in violence in death, the room is dark and underexposed. However through the slits in the windows, light is blown out. Outside, the rest of his family is celebrating his daughter's wedding. Its a sunny day, the scene is bright. The contrast between these two scenes shows how the Corleone family are a traditional family out in the public (in the light), however behind the scenes, they are much darker.

Directors can control the emotion conveyed in a scene by using all these individual aspects which contribute to tone. Changing the exposure in a scene can change the atmosphere, making a scene darker in a metaphorical sense as well as a literal sense or vice versa. Using art direction helps to make a scene more believable and convincing, and lighting is used to change the intensity of a scene.

Mini-Writing: The Bystander Effect

Mini-writing

Topic: The Bystander Effect

When you’re in a public space, perhaps with your friends or family, and you see someone struggling with a task, what do you do? Do you help, or do you simply wait for someone else to do it for you? This is called ‘diffusion of responsibility - or more commonly, the ‘bystander effect’. It has been proven that when in large groups, individuals are less likely to help another person than they are when they’re alone. This written text will be informing you of the concept of the bystander effect, and the possibilities for why it occurs.

As previously stated, people in large groups are less likely to help out a stranger than they are in small groups. This is usually due to the fact that when surrounded by other people, we feel less personally responsible for the events which are going on around us. In thinking this, we are passing on the responsibility to someone else. This doesn’t necessarily define us as bad people, or unhelpful, or even irresponsible, it is simply a common process of thought. For example, if you are in a busy shopping mall and you see someone drop their groceries, you more often than not instinctively expect that someone else will help them out, and carry on with your day. However, if you are in the same circumstances but the mall is empty, you feel more personally obligated to give them a hand. Whether it be out of guilt, second-hand embarrassment, or genuinely just wanting to help. Hopefully it’s the latter.

Another possibility for why this occurs, is overthinking. Perhaps you’re self conscious, or afraid that you’ll somehow offend them, or look ridiculous in front of your peers/complete strangers. Maybe, you just want to wait it out and watch how others will react to the situation at hand. This is in our nature, studying other’s reactions to certain situations. In saying that, we should try our best to break this habit - the world would be a much simpler and better place if we all tried to help each other out when we can.

Comprehension Box

Denim 4 - Stinkiest Jobs in History
1. The word stool in paragraph 3 means:
C - bowel movements

2. What part of the contents of human urine was useful in cleaning wool?
C - ammonia

3. The process of removing fur from a hide is the main idea of:
C - paragraph 4

4. What did the tanner have to do to the hide before removing the fur?
A - remove fat and meat

5. What do both a tanner and fuller use in creating their product?
C - urine

6. Which of the jobs did not involve faeces (bowel movements)?
A - fuller

7. If a man was walking the streets with a shovel and container, he would most likely be collecting:
B - dog faeces

8. You can conclude that the king ____ the groom of the stool.
B - trusted

9. Which of the following is a fact, not an opinion?
C - urine was used in medieval times by tanners and fullers

10. Why would the groom of the stool use his bare hands to wipe the king's bottom?
B - toilet paper was not used in those times

11. What cause the tanneries to be located far from the town centre?
B - the smells created during the tanning process were unpleasant

12. Which sentence summarises the supply and use of dog droppings by tanners?
C - Tanners soaked hides in a mix of dog droppings collected by pure collectors.

13. This text was written to:
A - inform

14. The pronoun them in paragraph 1 refers to:
C - jobs

Fuchsia 1 - The Elusive Scarlet Pimpernel
1. The word aristocrats in Paragraph 3 and 5 refer to:
C - wealthy land owners

2. The French revolution occurred because the common people:
B - were starving while the aristocrats lived in luxury

3. Madame Guillotine was:
A - used to chop off people's heads

4. The 'Reign of Terror' lasted for about a:
B - year

5. The novel about the Scarlet Pimpernel was written ____ during the French Revolution.
C - more than 100 years after

6. If an aristocrat begged for his life at the guillotine, the crowd would probably have shouted:
A - off with his head

7. We can conclude that the common people revolted against the ruling classes because they were:
C - desperate

8. The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel rescued French noblemen and women because they:
A - felt a loyalty towards them

9. The Scarlet Pimpernel was written as a work of:
B - fiction

10. It is a fact, not an opinion, that thousands of French nobility were:
A - executed by guillotine

11. An adjective which might be used in a summary of the French Revolution is:
C - brutal

12. In paragraph 3, the pronoun they refers to:
B - thousands of arsitocrats

13. Sir Percy and his wife's brother are similar because they both:
C - are in danger

14. The Scarlet Pimpernel was named after:
A - a small red flower

Rust 2 - Nelson Mandela
1. The word reconciliation in paragraph 2 means:
B - harmony

2. What was different about the law firm of Mandela and Tambo?
A - it helped black South Africans who couldn't afford to pay for legal help

3. Which words provide the best summary of Nelson Mandela's character?
C - wise and determined

4. You could predict any project Mandela supported would be likely to:
C - be highly successful

5. The main idea of paragraph 1 is that Mandela was:
B - an interesting person

6. Which statement would Mandela have been most likely to agree with?
C - violence should only be used when nothing else has worked

7. People around the world asked Mandela for advice because:
B - they admired his achievements and his character

8. Mandela was given the name Nelson by his:
C - teacher

9. You could conclude from the text that FW de Klerk:
A - also worked hard for peace

10. It is a fact, not an opinion, that Mandela:
B - was president of South Africa

11. The text was written to:
B - give information

12. The first thing Mandela did was to:
B - go to Johannesburg

13. Mandela was different from Tambo because he:
A - won a Nobel prize

14. The pronoun them in paragraph 4 refers to:
C - Mandela and Tambo

Creative Writing Matrix - Can you hear it?

Can you hear it?

Write a descriptive paragraph or poem about a setting.

The sounds and scenery can tell where a story is, how the characters are feeling.

Background sounds can be used to show where the character is.  eg. If they are at home in the summertime: the sound of a lawnmower

Every breath hung in the air as it escaped my lungs, the cloud it took shape in only visible due to the faint light illuminating from a nearby lamppost. Oak trees lined each side of the road, their branches reaching far enough to touch the sky, the bark encasing each one a dark shade of brown. Above, the sound of leaves rustling in the canopy of the surrounding trees was a sound far more welcoming than a nerve-wrecking silence. This sound was accompanied by the rhythmic click of my shoes meeting the pavement as I walked, and occasionally the disruptive rumbling engine of an oncoming vehicle, though it lasted no longer than half a minute. The faint sound of music and casual conversation could be heard from inside homes every so often as I made my way down the dark road.

Creative Writing Matrix - Crazy Lyrical Dialogue

Crazy Lyrical Dialogue

1. Go to a lyrics website like http://www.lyrics.com and select a song randomly, preferably one you've never heard or one to which you don't know the lyrics. For instance, I went to the website and selected, Fergie's "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)." I've never heard the song and haven't heard the lyrics.
2. Then, scroll through the song and select the craziest lyric you can find that would be appropriate for school. In Fergie's song, I selected, "What do you think, GoonRock?" because it was the nuttiest phrase on there.
3. Repeat this process twice more, selecting two more songs and two more crazy lyrics.
4. Then, start a conversation with the first lyric you selected between two people very unlikely to use the phrase. For instance, I might write something like, "What do you think, GoonRock?" Aunt Ida asked Bernie, sitting two wheelchairs away in Serenity Meadows Assisted Living Center.
5. Once you get the conversation going, insert the other two lyrics elsewhere, shifting the dialogue to make sure the conversation between the two characters makes sense. Continue until you can end the conversation definitively, with a resolution that meets the needs of one of the characters

"Danny says we're living in a simulation" The boy said, looking across the water and moving a stone between his two small hands. He examined it for a few seconds, before lobbing it upwards into the air, only for it to land with an ungraceful 'plop' no more than three metres in front of him. His sister rolled her eyes from her position further up on the river bank. "You shouldn't listen to that kid, Carlos. He's weird, he'll fill your head with all sorts of nonsense." The boy shrugged, a smile forming across his face. "He's funny" "He's weird." She corrected him, shuddering as the blanket around her shoulders fell to the sandy ground of the river side, the cold air hitting her like a truck. Carlos shook his head, "He's my friend." Another eye roll from his sister. Moving his attention from the body of water in front of him, Carlos looked up at the sky. "The sky looks so much prettier at night. Don't you wish that the sun never came up?" His sister smirked, "If the sun never came up we'd all die." Carlos furrowed his eyebrows "How?" She sighed, "We'd freeze to death, moron." A few moments went by before Carlos broke the silence once more. "I start middle school next year. How weird is that?" She smiled - this was one of the first things he had said that actually made sense all day. "Yeah. Seven years has gone so fast. You'll be graduating high school before you know it." The boy shuddered "I'm not that old."

Essay Brainstorming

Climate change is a lie (Against)

• Arguing against - Climate change is NOT a lie
• There is clear scientific evidence to prove that climate change is a real thing
• The temperature is rising, ice caps are melting
• The level of CO2 in the air is increasing drastically
• Coral reefs and ocean life are dying partially due to the acidity of the ocean rising because of the amount of carbon dioxide we are emitting
• The sea is warming up and the sea level is rising

1. There is clear scientific evidence to prove that climate change is real - explain times in the past where climate change has occurred.

2. The level of CO2 in the air is increasing - explain that this is due to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, caused by us.

3. Coral reefs and other ocean life (explain other consequences of climate change, e.g rising sea levels, ice caps and glaciers melting etc).

Fruit and vegetables should be tax free (Agree)

• It might encourage people to buy more fruits and vegetables, or choose them as a substitute good for less healthier options
• Companies that sell fruit and vegetables would earn larger profits
• People would eat more fruit and vegetables meaning they would be healthier
• They would be affordable for people who don't earn enough money buy fruit and vegetables
• Farmers would earn more money, as they would be supplying companies with more to meet the consumers wants - lowering the price of fruit and vegetables would increase demand
• Fruits and vegetables have a high nutritional value

1. It will encourage people to buy more fruit and vegetables or at least choose them as a substitute for healthier options.

2. Companies that sell fruit and vegetables would earn larger profits, farmers would also earn more money (refer to the law of supply and law of demand).

3. People would be purchasing and consuming more, therefore they would be healthier as fruit and vegetables have a high nutritional value.