In Bruges - Propp's Theory

1. Which characters in the film correspond to each archetype? Do any of the characters fulfill more than one role? Are any of the roles fulfilled by more than one character?

The Hero - Ray, seeking for redemption. (Ken, could be seeking for Ray's second chance.)
The Villan - Harry, wants to kill Ray as revenge for the 'little boy' who Ray has killed on his 'job'. Eirik wants revenge from Ray for shooting the blank in his eye.
The Donor - ???
The Helper - Ken, helps Ray slow Harry when they are all in Bruges.
The Princess - Chloe could be seen as the princess. if Ray survives then he would be together with Chloe.
The Dispatcher - Harry, Tells Ray and Ken to hide in Bruges after the killing of the 'little boy'
The Father - ???

2. Does the film subvert any of the archetypes? Which characters seem to fit into one category but twist it or surprise us?

Harry fits into the role of The Dispatcher at the beginning of the film and seems to be a 'good guy' to the Hero Ray. however near the end of the film he also plays the role of The Villain which is a twist and also a surprise to the audience. I think that this also subverts to the archetype that the Dispatcher is a good guy and aides the hero. (As the example on website shows)

3. Evaluate Propp's theory as a method to help us understand the film. How much does it apply? How much does consideration of the archetypes and characters and the extent to which they are similar or subverted help us to analyse the movie?

I think that Propp's theory helps us understand the roles of the characters in the film. This theory can be applied to every movie to a certain extent. This is helpful to us to analyse the movie because we can look at the character's role individually and analyse on how well the individual character plays this role. We could also use this to help us analyse the movie as a whole on how well it fits genre conventions. However I think that Propp's theory may not work with movies which has very contrasting genres and sub-genres. this is because the archetypes could not be applied when analysing the film, and the characters would have usually more than one role which could make Propp's Theory more complicated when analysing.

EE

From Studio Ghibli I have decided to talk about 'Princess Mononoke' because I really like the film, however I cannot find a suitable animation to compare with 'Princess Mononoke' the moral promotes protecting the environment and the animals, however i couldn't find an animation from Pixar which is similar to this. currently looking for different animations from different studios to compare with Princess Mononoke.

Psycho Scene Analysis

At the beginning of this scene we see Norman and Marion talking inside the office, and Norman suggests that they eat in the parlour. we assume that Norman would have more power as Marion is agreeing to whatever he suggests. This relates to our knowledge of what a typical women virtue where the women would listen to the man and not question him or talk back.

When they're inside the parlour it looks as if they both have equal power, the way that the camera looks at them at eye level as they speak suggests that they are equally important.

As we see Marion eating the sandwich brought by Norman I noticed that Marion was in the light more than Norman. This suggests to us that Although Marion has stolen the money and was seen as impure (Color change of lingerie) in a scenes Norman looks as if he is mysterious in a sinister way.

We can see from this scene that Marion takes more of a passive role compared to the previous scenes (e.g. with the car dealer she takes more of an active role), this suggests that Norman has control over the situation. This also relates to the stereotypical roles of women.

From this scene the actors performance also suggests the character in control in the scene. Throughout this scene Marion appears to me to be afraid or nervous in from of Norman. This becomes more obvious when Norman says 'I think that.. we're all in out private traps' he also mentions being clamped in traps and people 'scratching' their way out. The word 'scratching suggests to me that it is in a way foreshadowing the death of Marion when she dies and falls in the shower scene.  at this point of the scene Marion seems to be very nervous and her dialogue decreases and Norman does most of the talking, And when Marion suggests sending Norman's Mother to a mad house it is more obvious that Marion is in fear. To me it seems that 'Fear' is another factor that gives people authority, in this case it is seen that Marion's fear of Norman gives Norman more Authority and Power in this scene. 

Scene: 02.15-04.50

In this scene Men was presented to the audience as being more powerful than women. 

The part where when the king asks the servants about how much of the medicine is left 

the male servant nudges and the female servant who then is forced to answer the question. 

This shows that despite both of them being servants the male servant has authority over the female servant.

Another example is when the king tells the queen to drink the medicine. The queen was seen to have a fair amount 

of power at the beginning of the conflict when she talks back to the king, However as the scene progresses we see that

at the end the queen has to give in and listen to what the king said. this suggests that women are less powerful.

In the scene women are shown to keep what they're thinking to themselves. This is shown when we can tell from the queen's facial expression

that she doesn't want to drink the medicine, however she doesn't say this aloud to other characters and tries to get the idea across in a less 

obvious manner.

The Godfather

After watching a clip from the movie 'The Godfather' we were asked to answer the following question:

Identify visual parallel and contrasts, also explain what effect do they have, and what they mean.

In 'The Godfather' many Montage editing was used. An example of this in the short clip we watched is when there were several cuts going from the church and when other family heads were being killed. I think that this makes the killing scenes stand out a lot more because of the visual contrast, at first you have the church where its all peaceful and you see the baby which symbolizes innocence. It then cuts to the killing scene which is the total opposite to what the audience just saw on the screen. I think that this also makes Al Pacino look more powerful because the edit cuts from the innocent baby which looks more fragile and weak to the fight over power.

Battleship Potempkin

Rewatch the up to 0:45. What atmosphere do the contrasting shots create? How does Eisenstein create a sense of foreboding alongside the overriding atmosphere?

up to 0:45 of the clip we see a different clips that suggest to the audience that the people inside the clip is happy and is celebrating something. However at 0:26 we see a child who doesn't look as cheerful as the others, this creates a sense of foreboding because the audience would start to think about why the boy is not happy, and at 0.44 when the text 'Suddenly...' appears on the the atmosphere of the clip changes.

 

Watch the rest of the clip again. How does Eisenstein create a contrast between the soldiers and the people? How and why does our view of the people's feelings towards the soldiers change?

I think that Eisenstein creates a huge contrast between the soldiers and the people by first, using very contrasting colors so that the audience could easily distinguish the different between the people and the soldiers. this also has an effect on the audience's feelings towards the people, because the people in the clip are all in dark gloomy colors and they are all running away from the soldiers the audience would feel sympathy for the people. Eisenstein also uses a faster music in the background. This creates a suspense in the clip and also shows the fear in the people trying to escape. 

This changes the views of what we think the people's feelings towards the soldiers because in the first 45 seconds we would think that the people feels happy that the soldiers are here because of the picture of the warship. however our reaction instantly changes as soon as the people starts fleeing in every direction.

Genre: Adventure

I think that Adventure movies are movies which include the main character going on a journey or a quest to save someone, something or somewhere. The main character of the story usually starts their journey alone and as time passes they gradually find more and more people who helps them.

Examples of story-lines in adventure movies: 

• An outlaw fighting for justice or battling a tyrant (e.g., Robin Hood, Zorro or Star Wars) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_film

Sometimes in adventure movies the main character gets betrayed by a close friend, to create suspense and also it captures the audience's attention. often adventure movies include a

final battle where the hero would prevent the crisis from happening or the villain would be defeated.

Recently i have watched the following movies from my selected genre:

• もののけ姫 (Mononoke Hime : Princess Mononoke)
• Lord of The Ring: The Fellowship of The Ring
• Brave Story 
• 天空の城ラピュタ (Laputa: City in The Sky)

There is a similarity in these movies, and that is the protagonist of the movie is required to go on a journey to accomplish something they desire. For example in Brave Story the protagonist Wataru has to find all the gems to save his mother, and in Lord of The Ring Frodo has to go and destroy the ring. 

The Following Videos show these similarities:

In this clip you can see the Protagonist is traveling to a specific place which is left unknown to the audience.

This clip shows the protagonist going on a journey to find the castle in the sky and to save his friend.

In the trailer you can see that the protagonist is given a task to complete and to save the world.