Ethel and Ernest Premise Film Review

Fig 1. Movie Poster.

Ethel and Ernst is an ordinary story made extraordinary through animation, the core themes are family, home, life and love, these are all universal themes that appeal greatly to everyone British or not. The characters are the heart of the film, it's challenging because we experience these characters's life and can relate them to our own especially a British audience with World War 2. The ending is challenging because it’s real, it's something that will happen to everyone which makes the film identifiable and touching.

Raymond Briggs is an illustrator and a writer, he wrote and illustrated 'The Snowman' (1982), 'When the Wind Blows' (1986), 'Father Christmas' (1991) and many other books including one about his parents - 'Ethel and Ernst' (1998) which was adapted into an animation in 2016. He created this picture book as a way of remembering his parents, many of his books have been adapted into films in the past so it was no surprise when this award winning best seller became another. This was Briggs's personal story, he was really anxious and concerned about this becoming a film so trusted it with people who have worked on his stories previously, Roger Mainwood was one of the animators who animated 'The Snowman' and this became his first feature film that he directed. Unlike other films, Briggs was eager to be involved and worked very closely with Mainwood on the script, when asked who was the film made for, Mainwood said it was ultimately for Raymond.

Fig 2. Ethel and Ernest in production.

Ethel and Ernest was made digitally — hand drawing on large tablets, (see fig 2) art director Robin Shaw had to replicate the crayon rich texture in Briggs's illustrations so using modern techniques came up with compositing actual painted textures in photoshop to achieve that effect. This choice of medium has a massive impact on the narrative making it all the more personal to Briggs, his style is distinctively his own and reflects his British culture so to tell the story of his family through his eyes and art gives more insight into Briggs’s perspective making it all the more original and extraordinary in addition to supporting the core themes.

Fig 3. Animation Team.

Ethel and Ernest was a big production by a small studio: Lupus Films, (see fig 3). The book alone was a best seller which won the "Best Illustrated Book of the Year" at the 1999 British Book Awards. The film won 3 awards at international festivals for Best Animation in addition to 6 other nominations.

Bibliography:

Howlett, A. (2018). Wivenhoe animator who worked on The Snowman directs new Raymond Briggs film Ethel and Ernest. [online] East Anglian Daily Times. Available at: http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/wivenhoe-animator-who-worked-on-the-snowman-directs-new-raymond-briggs-film-ethel-and-ernest-1-4821215 [Accessed 15 Feb. 2018].

YouTube. (2018). Behind the scenes of Ethel and Ernest. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTcnESXoKn0&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 15 Feb. 2018].

Illustration List:

Figure 1. Ethel and Ernest Movie Poster (2016) [Poster] At: http://pekin.mae.lu/fr/News/10th-anniversary-edition-of-EU-Film-Festival

Figure 2. Behind the scenes of Ethel and Ernest (2016) [user-generated content online] Creat. Vintage Books. 27 October 2016 At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTcnESXoKn0&feature=youtu.be (Accessed on: 15 February 2018)

Figure 3. Behind the scenes of Ethel and Ernest (2016) [user-generated content online] Creat. Vintage Books. 27 October 2016 At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTcnESXoKn0&feature=youtu.be (Accessed on: 15 February 2018)

Belleville Rendez-Vouz (2003) Premise Film Review

Fig 1. Movie Poster.

Belleville Rendez-vous also known as The Triplets of Belleville is a silent comedy with a strange and confusing premise, there’s a crime plot set in a super French, exaggerated version of Paris - a neighbourhood called Belleville. The film starts with the triplets when they were young performing in a club in rubber hose animation (see fig 2) which transitions to them on a tv in a new style of animation where we meet the main characters, Madame Souza, her grandson Champion and his dog Bruno. French culture and stereotypes is the main core theme no matter what part of the film you remember or what parts you cut out, there will always be something strongly French. France is well known for cycling, the Tour De France race. Champion grows up to be a professional cyclist and is taken when he gets too exhausted on the track alongside two others and shipped across the ocean to Belleville where they are used for illegal gambling entertainment, Madame Souza follows the ship with him on across the ocean to Belleville with Bruno on a pedal boat, with no money and on the streets the now elder triplets find Souza and take her in and with their help, rescue Champion. This film isn’t challenging, although crime is another core theme there is also the theme of caper - singing, dancing, playfulness throughout and the characters have their own quirky unique charms.

Fig 2. Triplets of Belleville

Belleville Rendez-vouz is hand drawn animation - Chomet’s favourite medium. This choice had a good impact on the narrative, the characters that are drawn are all unique as the director has a love for caricature and how far a design can be pushed, most characters are individual. Using hand drawn animation gives you more freedom to switch styles like the beginning of the film does, it starts with rubber hose animation like the very first Disney shorts did to present footage of the triplets when they were young before zooming out of the tv to the film’s present day in a different (and well matched) style - he’s using animation history to tell history basically. He chose to make this film a silent one so that he could push character design and visual storytelling to its full capacity which is essential to silent films and has an impressive result. In an interview with Animation World Network Chomet explains his logic:

“Im very involved with the whole line test thing. For me, when you've worked all day on an animation and that moment when you see the drawings move, thats really a magical moment, and there is no sound to it. I also think that an animation without the constraints of spoken words is stronger. If you have to fit everything to the words, all the gestural movement revolves around the mouth. Without it, you are much free to create true animation, to talk through animation itself. Animation modelled around the dialogue is like something, which has already been set in stone, theres less scope for interpretation.” (Chomet, 2003)

Fig 3. Family Portrait.

The way he transitions from scenes supports his theme of being strange and bizarre, he’ll morph a face into a hamburger or the bottom of a saucepan full of tadpoles to the moon. The way he does quirky movement supports his narrative such as how vehicles and cyclists move, how the waiter flops about, how the triplets shuffle across the floor, Madame Souza’s determined steps, the square men in black suits moving up and down shimmying with their steps - even movement has its own traits which adds to the creation/reflection of a character in addition to its design.

Fig 4. Floppy Waiter and Men in Suits.

Bibliography:

Chomet, S. and Moins, P. (2003). Sylvain Chomet’s 'The Triplets of Belleville'. [online] Animation World Network. Available at: https://www.awn.com/animationworld/sylvain-chomet-s-triplets-belleville [Accessed 10 Feb. 2018].

IMDb. (n.d.). Les triplettes de Belleville Awards. [online] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286244/awards [Accessed 10 Feb. 2018].

Illustration List:

Figure 1. Belleville Rendez-vouz Movie Poster (2003) [Poster] At: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/152700243595455979/

Figure 2. Triplets of Belleville (2003) At: https://randomdescent.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/adventures-with-netflix-the-triplets-of-belleville/ 

Figure 3. Family Portrait (2003) At: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/440508407292806091/

Figure 4. Floppy Waiter and Men in Suits (2003) At: https://imgur.com/gallery/qUvBDoc 

Waltz with Bashir Premise Film Review

Fig 1. Waltz with Bashir Movie Poster.

Waltz with Bashir is a graphic novel styled animated documentary where the director explores suppressed memories from his time in the army, he was part of the 1982 Lebanon war and witnessed the Sabra and Shatila massacre. In order to recover his memories, Folman seeks out others who were in Beruit, a psychologist for post traumatic stress disorder and a journalist who wrote about the massacre. The core themes of this film are war, trauma, memory and psychology, this film is challenging because it’s based on real events that Folman and one of his friends put a lot of effort into forgetting his memories as a way of coping with their trauma, it’s not until one evening when Foleman’s friend talks about a dream he has had over and over that they make the connection that it has something to do with the war which neither of them can remember well.

This film is a search for the director’s (Ari Folman) memories from when he was nineteen years old. After the war the director went on to the entertainment industry 1991 onwards where he wrote for several documentaries and tv series and won awards. Israel doesn’t have much of an entertainment industry, Waltz with Bashir had only six animators doing everything, this film is Israel’s second animation. 

Fig 2. Art direction supports aligns with film's themes.

Waltz with Bashir took four years to make, six animators making 2300 illustrations in Adobe Animate (formerly known as Adobe Flash) but this software has its limitations which meant some of it had to be hand drawn and put together - some parts of the film used little 3D elements. Before production came the 90 page script first followed by live action footage based on this script and from that footage storyboards were made then the animation. Graphic novels serve as the art direction for this documentary, this works well with the software as they both serve to be 2D. The style supports the theme of war, the thick black lines and harsh shadows suggest something shady and sinister, also graphic novels are usually fictional stories which reflects the theme of memories, a memory is never 100% accurate so at the end when the graphic novel ends and we see actual footage it represents the fact he has his memory back. Folman chose a graphic novel art direction and to make his autobiography in animation to be more visually appealing to an audience, in an interview for the press book Folman explains why he made these decisions:

“A middleaged man being interviewed against a black background, telling stories that happened 25 years ago, without any archival footage to support them. That would have been SO BORING! Then I figured out it could be done only in animation with fantastic drawings. War is so surreal, and memory is so tricky that I thought I’d better go all along the memory journey with the help of very fine illustrators.” (Foleman, 2008).

He also explains the repeated scene of soldiers emerging from the water was a vision - a day dream it didn’t really happen, fig 2 is a still from this vision and it is visible how the art direction aligns with and supports the themes.


Waltz with Bashir was made by Bridgit Folman Film Gang which is a small studio because Israel doesn’t have much of an animation industry, the budget for this movie was $1.7 million USD in contrast to America’s Pixar and Dreamworks which has $150 million budget. The documentary is banned in Lebanon, but was received well by the rest of the world and praised for its original and vital history lesson, it appeared as one of the top 10 films of 2008 for many film critics. It was nominated for an oscar, won 44 awards and was nominated for 58 awards including Best animated feature film and Best foreign language film.



Bibliography:

Strike, J. (2008). 'Waltz with Bashir': Animation and Memory. [online] Animation World Network. Available at: https://www.awn.com/animationworld/waltz-bashir-animation-and-memory [Accessed 3 Feb. 2018].
The-match-factory.com. (2008). Waltz with Bashir Press Book. [online] Available at: http://www.the-match-factory.com/films/items/waltz-with-bashir.html?file=assets/downloads-public/films/w/waltz-with-bashir/waltz-with-bashir-pressbook.pdf [Accessed 3 Feb. 2018].

Illustration List:

Figure 1. Waltz and Bashir. (2008). [Poster] At: https://www.kinopoisk.ru/picture/854116/
Figure 2. Art direction supports aligns with film's themes. (2008) At: https://www.awn.com/blog/art-documentary-animation-book-review

Paprika (2006) Premise Film Review

Fig 1. Movie Poster.

The core of Parpika are the dreams, looking at the psychology of the conscious and subconscious mind, exploring the subconscious dreams whilst staying in conscious in reality via the device called the DC Mini. The ideas of this film as Mailloux puts it, “In Paprika, the idea that dreams are an internal mental process that occurs during sleep is far too limited. According to the principles of this world, dreams are not limited to the mind of the dreamer, but rather can leak into the real world.” (Mailloux, n/a). The ideas presented in this film are strange and hard to get your head around when you try to find and understand the logic, ideas such as dreams are windows into other realities and that they have great power are often dismissed as ‘just dreams’, that the boundaries of self awareness are not set by reality but can be revealed by dreams. The director, Satoshi Kon, uses the DC Mini as a metaphor for film - a film’s purpose is to connect our world with a non real one in the screen allowing the fake world to infiltrate the one we live in acting as a portal through to which ideas are presented, just like the dreamworld infiltrates the “real” world of Parpika.


Satoshi Kon was approached at an anime festival by the author of Paprika novel (Tsutsui) that the film was adapted from and asked if he would make his novel into a movie since it was too expensive to do in live action, he agreed to take it on because Kon loved the novel and had previously considered adapting it but it wasn’t until he was requested the project went ahead. Kon graduated from Musashino College of the Arts in Japan with a degree in Graphic Design, he started out as a manga artist and then moved to animation and working as a background artist on many films. In 1995, he wrote an episode of the anthology film Memories, before directing his first feature film: Perfect Blue in 1997.

Fig 2. Dreams represented in first scene.

Paprika is Japanese hand drawn animation which uses little CGI, the choice of medium impacted the narrative massively as with animation anything is possible, your imagination can run wild and you can express it through animation, dreams can be recreated and drawn into life, transforming characters into objects, bringing inanimate objects to life, supporting the theme of dreams and the distortion of the unconscious within a reasonable budget. The process of Paprika was to make the images first and Kon decided the story would exist to give those images meaning, he built the story by connecting the images. Kon calls his process “hoodlum emulation” where he has two sides Satoshi Kon and Hoodlum Kon which he identifies with Atsuko and Paprika. Hoodlum Kon is spontaneous and limitless, he used to sketch and let ideas come from that, his process delayed schedule but if it was organised the film wouldn’t be as effective. It took Kon a year and a half to draw detailed storyboards of the entire film single handedly. Once the storyboard and script was done, production took place and voice recording came after. Part of the idea process was Kon experiencing and drawing his own dreams and letting everyday life inspire him, for example he was in a taxi when it was raining and he was watching the raindrops how they form and collect one another to form one long stream, in the scene where Atsuko and Shima Tora-taroh are in the car talking about how dreams are eating dreams to form one giant illusion, it is being represented visually using raindrops. The story is about how our subconscious affects our dreams so in the very first scene Kon presents that (see fig 2), the darkness represents our subconscious, a little car drives into the spotlight - like dreams it starts off with something minor, then a giant clown pulls itself out of it - like dreams something major comes from that minor thing and before you know it you’re in the middle of something. The entire film is a dream, the creators of Paprika do not know how the film ends and Kon hopes the audience doesn’t either, just like dreams there are no clear endings.

Paprika was received positively by the public, on the day of release in Japan, screenings sold out to the point people had to watch from the standing area. Kon was invited to film festivals including the 63rd Venice International Film Festival and the 19th  Tokyo International Film Festival. The film won three awards: Montréal Festival of New Cinema Award for Public's Choice, the Fantasporto award for Critics Choice Award and the Newport Beach Film Festival award for Feature Film for Best Animation.

Bibliography:

Mailloux, L. (n.d.). Paprika. [online] Cinemablography. Available at: http://www.cinemablography.org/paprika.html [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].

Perper, T. and Cornog, M. (n.d.). Psychoanalytic Cyberpunk Midsummer-Night’s Dreamtime: Kon Satoshi’s Paprika. Project Muse.

YouTube. (2012). The Making of Paprika - Part 1 of 2. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/hlHCdi6ASE0 [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].

YouTube. (2012). The Making of Paprika - Part 2 of 2. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFGa4tpM-iM&t=72s [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].

Illustration List:

Figure 1. Paprika Poster (2006) [Poster] At: http://reader.roodo.com/s3300750/archives/12280497.html

Figure 2. Dreams represented in first scene (2006) At: http://hungnguyenphysics.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-laws-of-physics-in-animation.html

Mary and Max (2009) Premise Film Review

Fig 1. Mary and Max Movie Poster.

Mary and Max is an Australian animation that tells the story of two unlikely pen pals, Mary Dinkle aged eight living in Australia and Max Horovitz a fourty-four year old man living in New York, Mary starts writing to him when she randomly rips out his name in a phone book and the pair begin over twenty years of correspondence including gifts, chocolate and photos forming a heart warming friendship. There are themes of confusion, bullying, suicide, misfitting, betrayal, guilt, but the core themes that make this film are mental health, loneliness, misunderstanding and friendship. Exploring these themes and imperfect characters in a dry humoured way makes this story heart warming and deeply empathetic, both are unloved and unregarded in their worlds, Mary is the only daughter of an alcoholic mother and a distracted father and Max suffers with Asperger’s syndrome who is struggling to understand his world. The ideas of the film are challenging as the audience become so involved with these characters, we learn lots about them, (even the little things such as Max’s five favourite words) to understand and relate to them. We watch Mary grow up so when she gets to the end of her tether and attempts suicide, her mental state becomes difficult to watch and we know what she’s thinking and why without any narration. The most challenging thing about Mary and Max is how real it is, even though the clay characters don’t look realistic it’s the life they’ve breathed into this clay, the emotions that makes it so real, in fig 2 you can see Mary's tears as she writes her letter about being bullied.

Fig 2. Mary's Brown World

Adam Elliot is the author, he wrote, produced and directed Mary and Max. Before Mary and Max he made four animated shorts which he calls ‘clayographies’ clay-animated-biographies, the four shorts, (Uncle, Cousin, Brother and Harvey Crumpet) all explored one character, Mary and Max was his first film to explore two characters; his stories are narrator-driven. The characters he creates are outsiders, marginalised and underdogs, he bases his characters on his childhood experiences, he always befriended the people who were teased or bullied or seen as strange because he had great empathy for them and couldn’t understand why they were being teased and misunderstood. His purpose for making Mary and Max is to educate audiences about mental illness, what it’s like to have Asperger’s syndrome, turrets, anxiety etc by putting the audience in the their shoes. Elliot’s biggest challenge as a writer wasn’t comedy but to make the audience be touched by his characters to feel empathy for them - to have the power to make an audience feel something. His biographies he doesn’t set a length for, he lets his characters tell him how long their story should be. 

This film uses the medium claymation, where characters are sculpted out of clay, have armatures placed inside and are painted — claymation is a type stop motion. The medium had an impact on the narrative, clay works well with the grotesque style of the characters, Elliot’s style supports the theme of misunderstanding because these characters, before we learn our affection for them, find ourselves judging (and possibly rejecting) before we even know them and their story. The clay works well with the art direction and colour schemes, for each location has their own specific colour scheme to reflect their worlds, Max’s New York is greys and blacks where as Mary’s Australia is a mix of browns (see fig 2), this is significant to telling the story visually without words, for example, when Mary sends a red pom pom to Max it really stands out in his dark world reflecting how she is significant to him bringing some colour into his life and most importantly companionship (see fig 3).

Fig 3. Max's Grey World

Mary and Max has positive reviews for its charming and heart warming quality and has been welcomed in difference countries around the world, it was a big production by Melodrama Pictures costing 8.24 million AUD. In the past has won: Ottawa International Animation Festival Grand Prize (2009), Annecy International Animated Film Festival Cristal Award for Best Feature (2009), Australian Directors Guild Award for Best Direction in a Feature Film (2009), Asia Pacific Screen Awards for Best Animated Feature Film (2009), Berlin International Film Festival for Best Feature Film. And has been nominated for Australian Film Institute for Best Original Screenplay, Best Film and Best production Design among others.

Illustration List:

Figure 1. Mary and Max Movie Poster (2009) [Poster] At: https://www.italki.com/notebook//entry/670054
Figure 2. Mary’s Brown World (2009) At: https://obscurelybeautiful.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/mary-and-max/
Figure 3. Max’s Grey World (2009) At: https://obscurelybeautiful.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/mary-and-max/

Film Reviews Submission Post

Hero's Journey Film Review - Alice in Wonderland (2012)

Hero's Journey and Archetypes Film Review - Moana (2016)

Structural Theories Film Review - Memento (2000)

Character Film Review - Maleficent (2014)

B-Movie Film Review - Cat People (1942)

Exploitation Cinema Film Review - Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Mockumentary Film Review - What We Do In The Shadows (2014)

Adaptation Film Review - The Little Mermaid (1989)

Comedy Film Review - Scary Movie 3 (2003)

The Little Mermaid (1989) Adaptation Film Review

Found At: http://movies.disney.com/the-little-mermaid

Scary Movie 3 (2003) Comedy Film Review

Found At: http://store.steampowered.com/app/421510/Scary_Movie_3/

What We Do In The Shadows (2014) Mockumentary Film Review

Mad Max Fury Road (2015) Exploitation Cinema Film Review

Cat People 1942 B Movie Film Review

Maleficent (2014) - Character and Storytelling Film Review

I had to use Docdroid as Scribd won't upload my pdf.

Memento 2000 - Film Structure Review

Moana - A Hero's Journey and Archetypes Film Review

Found At: http://thinktheology.co.uk/blog/article/film_review_moana

Alice in Wonderland (2012 Live Action) - A Hero's Journey Film Review

Found at: https://100filmsinayear.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/alice-in-wonderland-3d-2010/

The Blair Witch Project 1999

Fig 1. Movie Poster.

Eduardo Sánchez's and Daniel Myrick's 1999 horror The Blair Witch Project follows three young film makers who visit the town of Burkittsville, (formerly knowns as Blairsville) for their project to find the truth behind the urban legend of the Blair Witch, we hear of children who have been killed and bodies have disappeared - many strange events that occur in the woods. "Horror films that tap into our hard-wired instinctive fears probe a deeper place than movies with more sophisticated threats" (Ebert, 1990). The film making behind this film is brilliant and successful especially since it was a low budget film, from the very first shot we are presented with a mystery - "three student film makers went into the woods" immediately an audience would think bad idea thanks to our survival instincts, then we read that they disappeared we now think danger but we are not frightened yet, this is only to get our attention. Underneath an extension appears - a year later their footage was found, the audience are now intrigued and are going to find out what happened first hand from what is presented to be a trust worthy and factual documentary. (See fig 2). 

Fig 2. Opening Shot.

The structure is well put together from the first shot, the first part of the footage is creating context and introducing us to the world this is set in, Burkittsville, Marlyland in America. The students chat to locals who tell the urban legend of the Blair Witch that these film makers are investigating, one local is holding a child and when she goes to talk the child covers her mouth this suggests the idea that the witch is too dangerous to even speak of and right from the get go our instincts tell the characters don't go especially now we know they never come back (see fig 3). They see it as context for their film we see it as a warning which is ignored and as they enter the woods find some fisherman who again warn them of fateful events that have happened but again they're ignored. This sets up the rest of the plot and now everyone has the idea in mind that is being challenged and we want the answers too - what happened to the students? Is the Blair Witch real? 

Fig 3 Missing Poster

Everything about the visuals tie the whole world to the story, the cameras aren't the best quality they have a particular uncertainty to how it records, not all is clear and there are the black and white glitches (as seen in fig 2). The season which they enter the forest, the leaves have disappeared (just like they will), the weather is cold which you can tell from how they're dressed and the harsh colour palette the forest displays. The forest isn't welcoming anyone, it's dark and ominous. The best thing about this film in storytelling terms is the realist imagery presented, (there's no CGI used at all), we know this place is real it links so strongly to our simulation, the story isn't real but it feels as though it is which increases our fear. We are in that forest with them, the audience are the camera, where the camera is we are and throughout that film we're right in the centre of it all. "the main reason that the film works is that it takes a bit of an unconventional and refreshing approach in its attempt to scare its audience. “The Blair Witch Project” doesn’t merely work on just realism to achieve its horror -- it is, in fact, most impressive in how it utilizes its setting to ultimate effect to create a subtly overbearing atmosphere that just continues to creep into the film." (Larma, 2011).

The directors chose to keep what is happening to the characters ambiguous throughout which maintains our interest and adds to the realism of it all, we are not an all knowing audience, we're in the dark just as much as they are. The ending is the most ambiguous of all, no questions were answered it is up to us to guess what happened, convincing us it all is real is one trick then never telling us what happens is another. The characters and audience experience this together, when the camera stares off into the woods so do we, when they be quiet to hear something we listen too, we're immersed in their world of desolation, fear and despair. When we see the sticks (see fig 4) ordinarily we would not be frightened - they're harmless but we freak out almost as much as they do - same with the pile of rocks. "Here, the characters and audience feed off each other and experience things together. This is the ultimate goal of filmmaking, and it is achieved here so simply but at the same time so brilliantly." Larma, 2011). 

Fig 4. Sticks.

Another realism technique used to film is there was no planning, the actors went off on their own accord using the map and the crew would be the cause of events that occurred and the reactions were genuine they had no idea what would happen. Hardly anything is fake, (even the full names of characters and actors were the same) and thanks to the context and world created the audience are convinced it could be real. The characters' personalities are very much real too and the longer they're in the woods the more true colours become visible, for example when Heather refuses to put her camera away, that camera is her control device, she needs that to keep the feeling of vulnerability and danger away, she went in to create a project and thats all it will be nothing more or less, we see her moment of defeat when she's accepted her fate crying into the camera apologising to everyone - she has been unraveled and as an audience we have connected and feel sympathy. One of the strongest parts of the film for creating reality is the sound effects, (no music scores are used or necessary), it's the sounds in the dark that appeal to our senses and scare us, the sound is scarier than whatever makes the sound, it's the vulnerability you're exposed to by not being able to see and it sets the imagination wild. "The Blair Witch Project" is a reminder that what really scares us is the stuff we can't see. The noise in the dark is almost always scarier than what makes the noise in the dark. (Ebert, 1990).




Bibliography

Ebert, Roger. "The Blair Witch Project Movie Review (1999) | Roger Ebert". Rogerebert.com. N.p., 1999. Web. 11 May 2017.

"The Blair Witch Project (1999) -- First Review". Larma7-filmsandstuff.blogspot.co.uk. N.p., 2011. Web. 11 May 2017.

Illustration List:

Figure 1. Movie Poster. (1999) At: http://www.impawards.com/1999/blair_witch_project_ver3.html (Accessed on: 11 May 2017)

Figure 2. Opening Shot. (1999) At: http://www.thereelbits.com/2016/09/13/90s-bits-the-blair-witch-project/ (Accessed on: 11 May 2017)

Figure 3. Missing Poster. (1999) At: http://iris.theaureview.com/how-the-blair-witch-project-convinced-a-generation-that-the-found-footage-horror-film-was-real/ (Accessed on: 11 May 2017)

Figure 4. Sticks. (1999) At: https://www.blogdecine.com/reflexiones-de-cine/las-secuelas-de-la-bruja-de-blair-que-nunca-llegamos-a-ver (Accessed on: 11 May 2017)

Picnic at the Hanging Rock 1975

Fig 1. Movie Poster.

Peter Weir's faithful 1975 adaptation of Picnic at the Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay (1967) explores sexual transformation for females following a young women's academy's trip to the hanging rock set in 1900 Victorian Era. From the very first scene the camera is very intimate with these young women, peeping in on their privacy as we watch them get ready, in a row bent over one another as they do up each others corsets (see fig 2), not only does perversion come to mind but restriction as well, when they are all dressed the neckline of their dresses are done right to the neck in addition to wearing gloves and stocking - completely covered, forbidden for female flesh to be exposed. 

Fig 2. Corset Restriction.

Fig 3. Dress Code.

This is their uniform a constant imprisonment/protection from any sexual nature. (See fig 3). The first shot on screen tells us which day it is - St Valentines Day, immediately the day dedicated to love and making love is evoked, the closest thing to a couple we see that day is Sara's longing for Miranda which alongside ethereal camera shots display Miranda as desired and a goddess. So when she disappears and doesn’t come back and throughout this mystery we are given hints and leads that go no where. Students are angry that their goddess is gone and the audience is left frustrated as we get so invested in this story only to have no answers or solutions - but why do we get so frustrated? This film is open to various interpretations, and Freud’s theory is one of them, as Megan Abbott explains in her essay 'Picnic at Hanging Rock: What We See and What We Seem' she explains: 

"In his lecture “Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming” (1907), Freud writes that when we reach adulthood, we are told we must abandon childhood play, but the impulse for fantasy remains, and thus we substitute the more private act of daydreaming as a means of wish fulfillment. In our private thoughts, we indulge the wishes we repress in life, but the practice feels shameful. The power of fiction, Freud argues, is that it gives us an acceptable vehicle by which to indulge these hidden desires. The writer (or filmmaker) tacitly assures us that, however perverse and titillating the story we are enjoying is, we need feel no guilt because it is the creator’s fantasy, not ours, “enabling us . . . to enjoy our own day-dreams without self-reproach or shame.” Our unconscious wishes are dramatized, investing us in the story and allowing us an ecstatic release. But what happens if we are given no release?" (Abbott, 2014). The answer to her question could be the story lives on in our minds consciously or not until we find that release - the stories that are least conclusive often give the most meaning, leaving us, the viewers to find our own meaning and to venture through our own hanging rock.

This photo of Hanging Rock Reserve is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Fig 4. Faces in the Hanging Rocks.

The hanging rock is a volcano as well as the ultimate God of this film expressed in several ways starting with how the rock looks down on its subjects and how admired it is expressed by characters upon their arrival. It has been said that faces can be seen in the hanging rock (see fig 4) the reason is ambiguous it could be the many faces of this god, it could be ghostly/unclear faces of those who have offered themselves upon the rock previously or it could be the different faces for different lifetimes this God - volcano has lived changing over time. When the girls arrive at the picnic, the rock watching over them and calls out to three girls: Miranda, Irma and Marion, using diegetic sounds and vibrations. However four girls venture off, the fourth one Edith goes as a tag along not because she was attracted, she was the only one not to lose the gloves, corset or stockings, she was not undressed by this nature. The volcano is a metaphor for sexuality, like these virgins' pre sexual energy, the volcano's energy is ready to erupt. 

"If, for many of the girls, the rock seems to whisper, tantalizingly, of the secrets of sexuality, it is no less meaningful a symbol for the adult characters. It is telling that the “old maid” Miss McCraw asserts that the rock may seem old but is “quite young, geologically speaking,” and bears the promise of sexual release, with lava “forced up from deep down below.”" (Abbott, 2014).

Fig 5. Edith's screaming hysteria.

To explore the rocks is really to explore their sexuality, they were ready which is why the rock called out to them and not Edith supported by her hysterical screaming reaction (see fig 5). Virginity is something you only have once - once it's gone it's gone, there's no return or coming back from it so when these young women that have a load of pre-sexual energy, the rock provides an opportunity for them to eagerly explore it or to use it, to pass through innocence - one life, a child life and into another life of adult sexuality from which they cannot return from - just like they don't return from the rocks. Yet Irma comes back from this adventure so it seems or maybe she was never there in the first place which is why she doesn’t know anything. More ideas can be interpreted as none are given. In fig 6 we see Irma dressed in red among the innocents in white. Red is a sign of danger which causes conflict with the peaceful white, passion red makes the purity of white open to infection of another colour as white is the easiest colour to stain. Red the colour of periods - the sign from the female body that you're ready to have sex and a child, would make any girl feel frightened especially when unexpected like Irma's arrival that day.

Fig 7. Irma's Return - White vs Red

Miranda foreshadows that she won't be back from the hanging rock when she tells Sara that she must learn to love someone other than Miranda, symbolism is well used for example, when the other girls tie Sara up, the bondage is a symbol that she's imprisoned in her longing she will never get to explore, she will constantly live in white supported by her fate in the film when she dies, (and because we don’t know if Miranda is even dead), Sara will never be with Miranda.  Another symbol used to tell the story is when Michael is day dreaming of Miranda the image fades into a swan gliding across water, swans are a symbol of grace and beauty echoed by soft visuals used to convey the heat - together it all create beautiful imagery it's about how we gaze at the images presented to us.

Fig 7. Sara.

But in the end we'll never know what really happened ... "There are, after all, things within our own minds about which we know far less than about disappearances at Hanging Rock." (Weir, 1976).

Bibliography:

Abbott, Megan. (2014) "Picnic At Hanging Rock: What We See And What We Seem”. [online] The Criterion Collection. Available at: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3202-picnic-at-hanging-rock-what-we-see-and-what-we-seem (Accessed on: 6 May 2017).



Illustration List:

Figure 1. Movie Poster. (1975) [Poster] At: http://www.impawards.com/1975/picnic_at_hanging_rock_ver1.html (Accessed on: 6 May 2017)

Figure 2. Corset Restriction. (1975) At: https://gladtobeunhappy.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/schoolgirl-eroticism-and-the-end-of-colonial-rule-in-australia-reiterating-the-brilliance-of-picnic-at-hanging-rock/ l (Accessed on: 6 May 2017)

Figure 3. Dress Code. (1975) At: https://gladtobeunhappy.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/schoolgirl-eroticism-and-the-end-of-colonial-rule-in-australia-reiterating-the-brilliance-of-picnic-at-hanging-rock/ l (Accessed on: 6 May 2017)

Figure 4. Faces in the Hanging Rocks. (1975) At: https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g552275-d2413022-i160719769-Hanging_Rock_Reserve-Woodend_Macedon_Ranges_Victoria.html (Accessed on: 6 May 2017)

Figure 5. Edith’s screaming hysteria. (1975) At: http://basementrejects.com/review/picnic-at-hanging-rock-1975/ (Accessed on: 6 May 2017)

Figure 6. Irma’s Return - Red vs White. (1975) At: http://s4291987.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/picnic-at-hanging-rock.html (Accessed on: 6 May 2017)

Figure 7. Sara. (1975) At: http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/2010/picnic-at-hanging-rock-1975-director%E2%80%99s-cut-1998/572/ (Accessed on: 6 May 2017)