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1. Who are the communicators?
2. What product or service is being advertised?
3. What are the demographic and psycho graphic characteristics of the audience at which the advertisement is aimed?
4. Which needs and gratifications are addressed in the advertisement?

1. Do the Non-verbal cues in the picture contribute to the non – verbal message?

Objective:

To apply the concepts and the theories of mass communications to a media example.

Media example:

Cartier:

Mass Communication

“The media exert a wide range of effects – immediate and long term positive and negative.”  (Potter) The media are pervasive and always around us.  It is difficult to predict its effects due to technological advances and the complexity of the information age.  “All media differences are blurring.  Some believe we are going towards a convergence of computing, telephony, broadcasting, motion pictures and publishing.” (Neuman) As a materialistic society we are more concerned with the kind of message than how we receive the message.  The media literally engulfs us in its messages and influences us daily, without us even knowing it.  We are being subconsciously taught how to act in society and what it’s value systems are.  Moreover, the media has shifted from:  “A product orientation to a marketing orientation.” (Potter) They no longer develop the product they first develop a need in the audience for the product.  ‘Cartier’ began as a watchmaker, and as it attained a large wealthy clientele it slowly merged into the jewelry business.  ‘Cartier’ is part of the European luxury goods market based in Switzerland.  It has worked hard to become a symbol of rich and elegant European living.

Why do we as a mass audience believe the above statement?  It is a long and successful approach at mass communication by large business with the focus on a mass audience and a niche group.  “Mass communication is a process of delivering information, ideas and attitude to a sizable and diversified audience through a medium developed for that purpose.”†  “Mass media is the technologies and social institutions that are involved in the production and distribution of messages to large audiences.”†  In the case of Cartier the media channels used are selective for a specific target market for the upper socio-economic level of consumers.  Particularly women with rich husbands.  They use the most modern art departments who in turn hire the most modern talent to produce very expensive stills and commercial advertising.  Nothing is spared on any level as the media channels represent a very high-level company.

When we as the recipients of mass communication by Cartier  (which is global) encounter their message we have no way of showing our opinion.  This veneer by the company protects it and fuels its exclusivity.  The correlation theory as that our attitudes and opinions are influenced by the impressions we receive from the mass media.  Cartier spends enormous amounts of money on promoting its image in very clever ways.  They take extreme care with the press often sending invitations to dinners and functions.  At the dinner the guests usually receive an expensive gift made by Cartier.  Enormous amounts of money are spent on celebrities wearing the jewelry to openings – particularly Oscar evening, where the right diamonds on the right personality can be very newsworthy.  Cartier also fits into the entertainment theory as a function of mass communication, because its advertisements and commercials are so expensively done.  Even thought commercially based, “It does present images which provide escapism and relaxation.”†

Cartier as a mass communicator hires an art director and publicist, who both have the role of gatekeeper.  “The Gate keeper is an individual in a group who has the power to select and reject messages, interpret and change them, influencing the information received by a recipient.”†

It is their strict job to make sure the image and exclusivity of Cartier remain in tact in the information received by the audience.  They also make sure that the magazines they advertise in reach the audience they expect.  The demographics and target audience are essential.  Examples of magazines that Cartier advertises in are:  Forbes, The Economist, New York Times, Condé Nast, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar…  The target market of the advertising is woman between the ages of 40 – 60 with a disposable income, and wealthy male businessmen.  Cartier endorses opinion leaders troughout the sports, business and fashion worlds.  In return for their advertising money: “The magazine editors tend to select material which will please the advertisers – material which will appeal to the type of audience the advertisers are aiming at, in this case Cartier.”†

Furthermore, the Cartier publicists are very concerned with agenda setting – particularly getting the media to focus on a positive, healthy and wealthy lifestyle obtainable only by a view, to promote the product with any luxury goods event, and to focus on other editors and opinion leaders in fashion.  This projects an image and a quality that will be talked about, and furthermore, entrenching itself in the opinion of the public.  Cartier has spent the last 100 years in building its image to one of quality and as a symbol of wealth; without it, it is just rock and metal.

The effects of Cartier as a mass media consortium and their message on society also fits into the two step flow theory:  “as they rely heavily on opinion leaders to retransmit the information with their own interpretation.”†  The focus on the opinion leaders are like clients and take very good care of them in order to ensure that the transmitted message gets first to their target market, and most importantly that it is favorable.

By doing careful analysis, Cartier “is able to predict its influences on the audience, depending on what type of mass communication they use.  They know exactly why certain media campaigns fails to alter audience attitudes and believes. “†

Cartier has identified two basic need categories of its audience:

1. Affective needs – pursuit of pleasure and entertainment – satisfactions of emotions. – The pursuit of a life-style where you can afford to wear expensive diamonds.
2. Escapist needs – needs relating to escaping tension, stress and the desire for diversion.  Diversion is the fantasy of the love that comes with diamonds and the symbolism of happiness related to materialism.

Cartier spent millions reaching its audience, understanding where and who they are, and knowing what kind of advertising appeals to them.

The non-verbal cues in the picture contribute to the verbal message in numerous ways.  The first impression is cleanliness, high energy and beauty.  Putting brilliant diamonds on a white background does this.  The macro photo shows the workmanship and the quality of the diamonds.  The choice of graphics is to blend in with the coloring and to subtly state its name.  The photograph is heavily computer manipulated in order to take away any mistakes.  The only verbal information is the name and the website. When going to the website one can see that a lot of money has been spent in creating a digital extravaganza for its audience.

Conclusion.

The mechanisms and complexity of mass communication is the beginning of understanding the effects of the media (as a mass communicator) on us, as a mass audience.  By analyzing and theorizing how mass communication works, institutions and big business can better understand the effects of the media on the audience.  This is essential, as economically, they must understand the effects on their target audience.  Cartier must do so simply because they are paying a lot of money for advertising that must be justified.  As a mass audience we must understand what the mass media are trying to do, so that we can select what we are interested in, and know when we are subconsciously affected.  These knowledge structures will protect us from being manipulated by big business, and being made to believe that rock and glass with make us happy.

Rehearsals

“To forego development prior to filming is to forego depth.”

The development of characters and building the thematic purpose lets the director and actors reach the deeper underlying meaning of the script.  By meeting with the actors and developing their characters the director guides them into his vision.  In the rehearsal stage it is key that everything is still in the development state.  New ideas and input are essential, and most importantly, the chance for the actors to bring their unique outlook on the character you have cast them for.  The director must be intuitive, looking for behaviour in the actors that resembles the behaviour he has imagined in the character.

A character has a childhood, history, inner experience, education, and manner that must be defined.  This is essential for the dialogue to sound truthful.  Good acting can make the audience slip from reality, and really believe that the character exists.  Robert De Niro has literally become his characters, and in ‘Raging Bull’ he went from a fit boxer into a pot-bellied middle-aged man.  He transformed his body for the role.  To discover why an actor behaves in a certain way is the beginning of mannerisms that are true to the role.  It is the director’s job to guide the actors into their characters being, and use their talents to bring the role to life.  “Actors who create original characters do in fact study and rehearse as intensely as concert pianists.”  It is the work in the rehearsal stage that gives the actors their best performances.  “The director must understand the importance of tapping into the actors creativity.”  Through observation, guidance, and intuition a good director will bring out the best in an actor.

Student filmmakers often concentrate on the filming and editing, and do not seem to cast or rehearse.   This is done often for convenience and it shows in the poor acting.  The lack of development and attempt leads to average productions.  Things that are not worked out before hand, become problematic on the day, and the focus of the shoot is shifted.  All attempts of filmmaking is valid, and each one should be treated as valuable.  If well done an intense and beautiful shot five minutes can be as valid as a feature film.  The beginning filmmaker should begin weeks before in planning, storyboarding, casting, and rehearsals; however, it is through rehearsing that development occurs – the development of the young directors mind and the development of the actor’s ability.

How to do it.

STEP ONE:  Plan and be professional.

• Plan your rehearsal schedule well – working out everybody’s availability.
• Work to a pre-determined schedule.
• One hour rehearsal = approximately one minute of screen time.
• Squeeze in as many rehearsals as you can before shooting starts.
• Insist upon rehearsals as part of pre-production.

STEP TWO:  First read-through.

• As a director you must make sure that your idea of each character is crystal clear.
• The first read-through indicates how an actor will interpret the piece and how the characters mix together.
• It is a good place to notice future problems.
• Work on acting associated with behaviour as it signals dialogue memory.
• Be receptive to the actor’s input and understand their motivation in portraying the character.
• Give a printed schedule for future rehearsals.
• Ask the actors to write a bibliography of their characters.
• Arrange to meet with each actor to discuss their feelings privately.
• It is important that the characters are formed in the actors mind without them learning their lines yet.

STEP THREE: First discussions.

• At this stage director must develop his thematic purpose through his cast.  Actors cannot be limited, and therefore, can only be guided into the director’s vision of the character.   More importantly they add levels to the character that the director did not even know about.  By discussing the characters back-stories, developing the subtext, and highlighting the scene’s moments, the thematic purpose develops.  As it is collaboration between the actors and the director, a good working relationship begins.  The director uses this time to formulate his ideas for the rehearsals.

STEP FOUR:  Rehearsals.

• Actors have learned their lines and the thematic purpose, and the subtext of each scene has been established.
• Make sure the actors rehearse in a place they feel comfortable in.
• Rehearse one scene at a time in chronological order to the script.
• Direct by asking questions. Unthreatening and positive ways of communicating let people discover things for them selves. 
• A director must keep notes and impressions for the actual shoot days. 
• Videotape rehearsals for it takes away the fear of the camera, and is like a Polaroid of what will come.  It gives the director an idea about the actor’s behaviour, how to film, what angles look best, and how they should be lit.  It frees the actor’s movements and lets the day of shooting not be such a performance, but rather a continuation of the rehearsals.

Rehearsal frees the mind of everybody.  Film is hard work and must be treated as a job with each person performing to his or her best.  Only after extensive rehearsal are actors able to develop their talents, and perform on the day of shooting.  It is development as everybody involved learns about him or herself and hones their talents.  Only experience can bring excellence.  To develop an actor into the perfect character takes a lot of time and research on both the part of the actor and director.  By the time of shooting the actor should be completely in their role and the presence of the camera non-existent.  If the actors reach this stage through rehearsal their confidence and excitement builds, and there is the potential of a great performance.

All great performances are worked out meticulously before hand.  When the work ethic is combined with talent the chances of success is heightened.  To shoot a film without rehearsals immediately makes it a film of a different nature and purpose.  By rehearsing the director and the actors develop the deeper underlying truth of the characters, and in doing so, understand themselves.  For when we imagine characters we harness our own experiences and situations to create them.  The word rehearsal should be replaced with the word development, as it is a process of learning, of expanding oneself vicariously through the characters.  The script itself is developed through rehearsal as it is brought to life through interpretation.  The director develops his rehearsal strategy by recognising the strengths and weaknesses of the people he has cast.  He becomes closer with the actors and “the company can begin to absorb dramatic situations into its own authentic reality”.  By learning together, and respecting each other enough to tell the truth, the deeper sense of the script will emerge.

Directing the Actors

Now that you’ve bought your new video camera and you are ready to venture into the vast world of movie making you will need to know how to direct the actors. Directing actors is a strange process as you expect so much from them and yet you do not know them as people, at least not in the beginning.  It is imperative to meet them one on one as soon as possible in order to feel comfortable around each other.  Start by telling each other the truth and beginning the process of explaining the subtext, and fitting the uniqueness of the actor into the character.  A lot of work is needed, even for very little dialogue, but the care of every detail is the essence of filmmaking.  By concentrating on getting the mind of the actor focused, and getting the best of every line is the start of potentially good work.

The mind body connection is focussing on behaviour and letting the body guide the mind.  Good acting is based on experience in life; to emulate past rejection, love, aggression, greed, and lust.  Each time we portray the character we take from our past history.  Becoming a character means building a past history, and using this as a motivation to behaviour.  When we are in character we can access our own history, but from the viewpoint of the character.  It is when the actor literally becomes a character that the audience slips from reality.  The behaviour is the key to the character and the cue to the dialogue.  “To interpret is to bring out the meaning by artistic representation, and can be a very personal thing.”† It is when actors trust that they are willing to be vulnerable – trust themselves, their character and the director.

The techniques and skills needed by a director when working with an actor or actress are considerable.

Kinesics is the study of significant connection between physical behaviour and the spoken language.  Body movements can be understood like a language.  And are strong indicators of how one feels.  Body movements, gestures, the posture of someone, facial expressions, and most importantly eye contact.  Actors spend a lot of time understanding how their body language appear to an audience, and in doing so learn to manipulate this language to their benefit.  All cinematic dialogue must have a motivation, as all actions do.   Why would someone say that, how would they say it, what emotions are they feeling and what is their relationship with the person they are talking to.  By analysing the motivations, the behaviour will make sense and the dialogue will follow naturally.  With a script, the director must know the motivations of how his characters behave so he can translate this subtext to the actors.

Certain actions can be used to stimulate emotional memory, putting the actor immediately into character.  Anthony Hopkins in ‘The Remains Of The Day’ held a certain posture that is indefinable because it was a combination of subservience and aristocracy. I imagine him slowly becoming his character as he puts on his costumes and makeup – slowly coaxing him, and assuming slight mannerisms.  Like all great actors it is a question of intense concentration “using their work to purge themselves of their inner demons”.†

It is a complex process assuming the role of another person.  The character allows the actor a place to go to in their mind, and also allows them to be less self-conscious as they maintain focus by actually doing what their characters would do.  “Uncovering a character’s identity is far simpler than uncovering ones’ own.  Some of the most provocative moments of self discovery comes from the observation of others.” † It is not only the lines it is the subtext, blocking, camera movements, how the character moves, vocal characteristics, and vocal interference.  The only way is for the actor to completely understand and focus; then the complexity melts and he performs with truth.  The way to do this is to guide the actor into a rhythm of behaviour cued by emotional memory.  To act with a behaviour so that the lines become natural.   The whole process is a collaboration of talent and inspiration that lets a filmmaker create “an image of man in his many aspects”. †

Rabiger. Chapter 29 – Directing the actors – page 381

•    †Internet Resource
•    Mental focus leads to overall relaxation of mind and body, which leads to more realistic acting.
•    Watch actors for any sort of body language that tells you they are tense
•    When tense reassure and re-direct their attention.
•    An emotional memory is a task that will jar the actor back into character.
•    The body expresses the mind; no inner state exists without outward evidence.
•    When the mind is occupied – unconsciously the body will express what his character feels. “Directing is then arriving at a characters true state of mind, and helping the actor develop the actions that accompany it.”†

•    Explore what the characters will do in their circumstances.  Small behaviours and actions are incredibly important.  A simple gesture can effectively be the whole subtext of a scene.
•    A tear, a look, a movement of the hand.
•    Insecurity, fear, moods on the day, and circumstances can lead to a loss of focus.  Redirect their attention, reassure, get them to focus on something small and real.
•    Every real emotion is visible, so covering up an emotion is also visible.  Intense focus on the character will take care of self-consciousness.  Improvisation and rehearsals breakdown these barriers.  Encourage the actors to find their own solutions never show them how to act (this takes away the uniqueness of the actor).  Focus your actor on the character, never say be yourself, avoid negative instruction of any kind, be clever, use suggestions and guidance.
•    Create a small bubble where the crew does not exist. Never let them look at the camera.
•    Unfamiliar circumstances like filming cause people to fall back on their conditioning.  If this happens, use an emotional memory and behaviour to guide the actor back into character.

†Rabiger
Stripping the psychological obstacles away.

Ambiguity breeds imagination, it lets everyone make up the story, fill in the gaps, and reach their own conclusions.  To tell a story with the least amount of dialogue is the secret of a good director.  Behaviour and actions is the guidance of a good actor.  We as filmmakers, and visualists, want to tell stories, using images – with dialogue indicating directions but the images themselves telling the story.  It is for this reason that writing or finding a script of any value is so difficult.  “Directors employ a great deal of their ideology and history in a selection of scripts for production” Seager et al (1994). To portray a subtext of depth with simplicity and meaning is what filming is about.  Why overcomplicate if you can communicate with simple beautiful images.  Harold Aurman noted that the process of actively rehearsing actors, digging into the collective subconscious from which substantial subtexts are derived, is eventually absorbed into the production.  Once you have a subtext for a script that you believe in, the role of casing is facilitated in that you are now searching for a character in amongst the actors.  The director’s task is to strip away the psychological obstacles that prevent the actors from being.

As a director you must believe in the writing and acting before you even have a chance of creating something worthwhile.  “The collaboration between the director, performers and crew is at its most personal when its creators and receivers are challenged to question the collage of character elements present.”† When the actor becomes the character, and move about his space, his mind will simply follow his actions and become one.  The director guides him into the role.  This oneness of actor, director, and character is when the film becomes timeless and we are immersed in the make-believe.  When a director and actor let the audience feel a pure emotion, through a character, they expose themselves and their vulnerabilities.  The audience can sense this, a shared social response, and in this response the director has succeeded.
†Rabiger

“There can be no true act without living”. Stanislavski

The artist uses his work as a distorted mirror image of himself, and in doing so clarify aspects of their own existence.  The director, as artist, guides actors into the interpretation of the story.  The director chooses actors that reflect his inner vision of the character, which in essence is he.  The actor, as artist, uses his interpretation of the character to reflect a part of his identity.  This focus and concentration of creating a character is the most important part in the relationship of the director and actor.  For it removes the layers of protection, lets the mind flow naturally, and removes the barrier of self-consciousness. The mind and the body becomes one.

Silence of the Lambs

Characteristics of Left and Right Thinking and Ideology

It is important to realise we are a combination of both and our complexity lies in combining them with our own unique ideology.

Social culture, religion and ethnicities

+ Institutions / Traditions / Arts / Myths / Beliefs

+ Historical context

+ Period

Understanding the ideology of a film.

• Ideological criticism questions a film’s ideological stance (an important part of contemporary film theory.)
• Refer to Graph
• Ideology is usually defined as a body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class or culture.
• Refer to characteristics
• The fact that films are visualised and made against the background of culture, experience and knowledge of both the filmmaker and the viewers, places it in the realm of ideology and ideological criticism
• Social culture, religion and ethnicity include traditions, institutions, the arts, myths and believe. Ideological analysis also involves the period and historical contexts. All these elements must be taken into account in the understanding of the ideology of the filmmaker, the characters of the film and the viewer that watches it.
• Ideological analysis: To analyse the relationships between a film, society and the ideology of society to determine whether it supports or attacks the dominant ideology.

Central Questions in Contemporary Film Theory and analysis emphasising ideology

• How does main stream cinema contribute to maintaining social order?

Silence Of The Lambs’ is mainstream American cinema. By criticising and analysing it we can determine its ideological stance. ‘Silence Of The Lambs’ is a rhetorical motif of the police and action genre in mainstream cinema portraying ideal behavioural models in the federal government system, the FBI, and Clarice as an individual agent. Ideologically the FBI represents the establishment which identifies with the right of Genetti’s model. The FBI is an elite group that works to a strict code, is strongly patriotic and emphasises the importance of leadership. In the movie the FBI agency is a subverted form of the actual American government, and is a subtle form of propaganda reinforcing the Republican value system.

The ideological stance of the characters create the conflict and hence the interest in the viewers. Actors or stars are less likely to be ideologically weighted, but if the character is strong enough (the character portrayed well) the ideology of the character can win over the audience. Moreover the skill of the filmmaker will determine us believing in the character’s values. It is for this reason that we identify and even project with Hannibal. Hopkins’ skills in acting, the script and the director have made one of the most brutal murders charming and intelligent; we even identify with his twisted ideology. This in itself is what makes American main stream cinema so frightening. We identify with characters that are shallow and often violent, not characters that are complex or deep thus creating a population of viewers that identifies with misguided values.

Analysing Clarice’s ideological values are more difficult as they have contradictory sentiments. On the one hand she is a female acting in an independent fashion with strong values and at other times she is shown as vulnerable and in need of male help. The killer is a regurgitation of Hollywood’s continued biased and stereo typed character of another mentally unstable homosexual. Linking homosexuality to perversion and murder again reflects the right-thinking ideology of the movie production industry. Any thing that threatens the family is treated with hostility, reinforcing heterosexual monogamy as the only expression of sexuality. The title ‘The Silence Of The Lambs’ also has a biblical reference of Satan against God, making religion the moral arbiter.

• The next central question is: What form of oppositional cinema will break the hold of main stream cinema, and make films as instruments of social change?
• Oppositional cinema sets itself the goal of analysing and interpreting dominant ideology
• Ideological criticism questions a film’s ideological stance
• Films are produces by big production studios operating in terms of capitalist criteria with the purpose of propagating certain political ideas and values. (This makes it a powerful ideological state apparatus)
• Oppositional cinema is needed to counter media-ownership (controlled by the dominant culture of Western / male / white and heterosexual), and ideology being ‘sold’ trough the state institutions
• Examples include:
• African American cinema is the reaction to being portrayed in the first 50 years of US cinema in demeaning stereo-typical roles. Spike Lee’s movies have had a huge role in educating Americans about the ideology and culture of African-Americans.
• Independent American cinema opposition of its money making counter part. Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine” won the Oscar for best documentary. (An attack on the American conservative gun club.)
• Fespaco lead by Sembene have reclaimed there space in world cinema with unique African pictorial communication reflecting their own ideology to counter the effects of colonialism.
• The gay-liberation movement inspired by feminism and the black liberation movement. (‘The Celluloid Closet’ documents the evolution of gay stars and gay roles in cinema.)
• Sally Potter’s feminist art movie ‘Orlando’
• Oppositional films have given voice, dramatizing tensions between the dominant culture and the values of a minority community.

Conclusion

Every film may be determined as an ideological statement as it is determined by, and hence reflects, the dominant ideology of society. By analysing and criticising films with the emphasise on ideology we are better able to understand the motivation, reasons, aspirations, and values of the filmmaker, the characters and how it will be interpreted by the audience. By putting it in the context of culture and the period of history we are able to understand its significance. Film is the most powerful medium of story telling and is an ideological statement. It is therefore our duty to treat it with respect, dignity, and fairness.

Roberto Rossellini 1906

If manipulated in a subtle way, Neorealism transcends the barrier of reality and fantasy.   It makes stories out of real life.  The world becomes a stage set and the people its actors.  It is such a simple and complex idea – detaching yourself and looking at the world from another angle, the visualisation of seeing beauty in the normal world.  Joseph Sudek, the Czechoslovakian photographed through his studio window into the garden for decades.  Through the mist, rain, and snow, came abstract black and white photos of a pure intensity.  He accomplished the feat of seeing the extraordinary in ordinary.  The Neorealists were very similar in this way of seeing.  They reacted to what was happening around them, and dealt with it in an artistic way. They expressed, through an almost documentary style, stories of dignity.  In their realm each expressed them individually but were united in a common purpose.  “To view Italy without preconceptions and develop a more honest, ethical, but no less poetic cinematic language.” ¹ It is without a doubt Visconti, Rossalini, and De Sica were key individuals in its recognition as a movement.  The moment in Italian cinema of Neorealism is considered an artistic evolution in artistic filmmaking.  “The Neorealists wanted to view their world afresh and form a new perspective, there by creating a ‘new reality’ through an artistic means.” ¹

Characteristics.

Neorealism has some general characteristics; “realistic treatment, popular setting, social content, historical actuality, and political commitment.” ² The movement is linked with poetic realism and the influence of Jean Renoir when he moved to Italy in 1942.  He had a lot of influence on Visconti’s ‘Obsession’.  The anti fascist resistance fostered Neorealism.  Italy’s infrastructure was in a mess with an urgency of people to understand what had happened and to move on.  It was an artistic response to the current situation and history.  In Visconti’s essay for ‘Cinema’ he states: “The most humble gesture of a man, his face, his hesitations and his impulses, in part poetry and life to the things which surround him and to the settings in which they take place.” ¹ They filmed the real human experience and explored social issues.  The settings were always real, and the locations and all supporting cast were generally real people.  The director slightly twisted the reality and added their own story into it.  To film without manipulation as authentically as possible, with compassion and non-judgement are all ground rules of Neorealism; however, each director put their own vision into their films and did manipulate them accordingly.  The presence of a camera already changes reality and then to add actors with a script, distorts it, but it is made from reality.

Une,  Due, Tre.

Visconti De Sica and Rosselini are the ‘auteurs’ ¹ of Neorealism.  The theories of the scriptwriter Zavanetti and the film critic André Bazin influenced them all.

Rossalini.

Rosselini’s masterpiece ‘Rome, Open City’ 1945 “alerted both public and the critics to a new direction in Italian film.” ¹ His film experience was in documentaries; moreover he cared about the consequences the war had on people.  Bringing together “fact and fiction, reality and artistic invention.” ³ He used voiceovers, news real footage, old film stock, and their existed always a documentary style in his filming.  He wanted a realistic stage to explore his thinking on the affects of war.  “Rome, Open City, moves freely from moments of documentary realism to others of theatrical intensity.” ¹ The movie was more a message of hope than one of cinema realism.  What was relevant how he accomplished the movie.  He made use with what he had and the result was exciting.  It meant that there were no boundary or constraints.  You didn’t need a huge budget, film sets, and everything used existed in real life.  You could gather life up and organise it to tell a story.

De Sica.

De Sica was a talented actor before directing and Zavattini wrote his best films.  He realised his work by careful planning being concerned with “transposing reality to realm of poetry.” ¹ He played with the illusion of reality in Italian society, combining non-professional location shooting and social themes.  De Sica proved that non-professional actors could give remarkable performances if chosen and guided carefully.  “The man in the street, particularly if he is directed by someone who is himself and actor, is raw material that can be moulded at will.” ¹ He proved his belief in normal people with the acting he got in ‘The Bicycle thief’.  There are moments of pure beauty in the simplest scenes, the father and son giving amazing portrayals.  De Sica used complex plots to portray Italian life and show humanity.  He created his own poetry and film.

Visconti.

Visconti was a gentleman from a famous family.  He was politically motivated, but his idealism sided more with arts.  Before the war he was involved with film intellectuals; during the war he was an antifascist who escaped from prison after capture.  He started with documentaries of resistance and liberation.  With backing from the Communist party he began filming ‘The Earth Trembles’.  He used extreme depths of field to create a very three-dimension world of activity combined with slow panning shots and long shots of objects.  He cinematography was beautiful, stark, and timeless in its rich black and white.  ‘The Earth Trembles’ deals with fisherman and their families.  He had no studio, no sets, no sound, and used lights only when necessary.  He would discuss the script with the people how best to portray themselves.  He was enriched by their talent, and was as authentic as possible to the people’s existence.  He, more than others, were a pure Neoralist.

A shift.

De Sica, Rosselini, Visconti and their films establish Neorealism as a movement.  Their work was followed by a secondary phase but it had drifted away from the original Neorealism.  De Sica’s later work even included pure fantasy as metaphors.  It is important to mention Antonioni, Zampa and De Santis to name a few.  There are many styles and interpretations but their inspiration was called Neorealism.  All of their work and thinking had huge implications, as Hollywood type movies suddenly did not matter.  People couldn’t make films with what they had and with a moral purpose.  The Neorealist’s greatest gift was freeing directors’ minds and taking away imaginary constraints.  A movie made in a local village, about humanity, with the bare minimum of production could be on a higher level than a Hollywood movie.  The movement liberated world cinema especially third world countries in Africa and Latin America.  “It gave them an aesthetic solution to expressing themselves.” ³

African and Latin American.

“African and Latin American cinema was in a shambles after the colonials pulled out, in a very similar situation to post-war Italy.” ³ They learned from the Italians how to make powerful movies from what you had.  The movement gave them a body of work to study and emulate.  It opened their eyes to a style that could retain its dignity.  “The Neorealists had a democratic spirit and they emphasised the social struggle, workers, and peasants.” ³ ‘The Bicycle Thief’ shows how the well being depends on a bicycle for survival.  This is very similar to a rural black family where a bicycle is independence and transportation.  The Africans and Latin Americans related to the style in its production, methods of shooting (often loosely framed), and it’s editing.  There were often long shots and the films moved at a slower pace.  They looked at details of reality, the simplicity of living, and human exchange.  It let the world know that you could make poetry from your own culture.

In conclusion.

Neorealism has affected world cinema to this day.   There was a revival in Italy itself in the late seventies.  Ermanno Olmi wrote, produced, directed and edited ‘The Tree Of The Wooden Clogs’.  Neorealism further went on the influence the Dogne movement of Denmark and America independent movies.  Neorealism seems the saviour of the art movie.  It frees the filmmaker from commercialism and gives him the power to challenge Hollywood movies with an alternative voice.  South Africans are at a pivotal point in history.  Neorealism offers a style that South African filmmakers can emulate.  There is a need for aesthetic movies about South Africans. We need to get world recognition as world-class filmmakers.  Neorealism is the working solution.  Grazie Italia.

Hollywood - Capitol of Global Ideology

“The economics of film determines its infrastructure and therefore it’s potential.  The politics of film determines its structure:  that is, the way it relates to the world.” (Monaco)

Film is our society’s modern equivalent of story telling:  A film’s value system will reflect in the style of the movie.  When a director makes a movie it becomes a reflection of his or her political beliefs and ideology.  “Whichever way we look at it, film is a distinctly political phenomenon.” (Monaco)

While the potential of film can change society’s dominant ideology and be revolutionary; the reality is that it is a controlled political landscape of media ownership.  Who ever controls the systems of distribution and production in essence, controls the political message and the belief systems of society.  Mainstream cinemas are movies that amplify certain aspects of culture and attenuate others.

Movies are a part of Louis Althusser ideological state apparatuses, a part of the institutions that the state (linked to media ownership) uses to literally sell its ideology.  This is done through the control of screening, distribution and its links to broadcasting systems.  An example is Ted Turner’s Time/Warner which is a huge conglomerate of mass publishing, broadcasting, production and distribution of movies.  Turner, a democrat in theory, has an American political agenda that reflects the dominant ideology of American Democratic Party to a global market.  The problem lies in that this dominant culture in film is western, written, white, male, and heterosexual negating the stories (films), of minorities, woman, different cultures, gender cultures and the marginalized.  Opposition cinema today is working, but without the clout of money and politics to back it up, the films are often not distributed.

Film as ideological constructs

The fact that films are visualized and made against the background of the culture, experience and knowledge of both the filmmaker and the viewer, places it in the realm of ideology and ideological criticism.  Ideology is usually defined as a body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class or culture.  Ideological analysis of a film lets the viewer understand the relationship between a film, society and the ideology of society to determine whether it supports of attacks the dominant ideology.  Social culture, religion and ethnicity with the inclusion of traditions, institutions, the arts, myths and beliefs determine a society’s ideology.  One must also take into account the period and historical contexts.  All the elements lead to the understanding of the ideology of the filmmaker, the characters of the film and the viewer who watches it.

A simpler way of looking at it is Giannetti’s left/centre/right model that differentiates political ideologies.  The value systems incorporated in a film usually reflect in the style of that movie.  “We can differentiate a film’s ideology by focusing on some key institutions, values and analyzing how the characters relate to them.” (Giannetti)

It is important to realize that neither left or right thinking in ideology is better or worse, but that people are usually a combination of both and our complexity as filmmakers lies in combining elements with our own unique ideology.  The extreme left or right is where the problems lie, as proven by communism and fascism.

This essay uses Giannetti’s L-C-R model to classify the ideological position of Leni Riefenstahl’s ‘Triumph Of The Will’ and Sally Potter’s ‘Orlando’.  It also looks at Potter’s contribution to feminism in cinema.  The bipolar categories of Giannetti support the classification.

Triumph Of The Will

Triumph Of The Will Germany (1935) directed by Leni Riefenstahl, celebrates Nazi mystique.  Hitler commissioned her to film the Nazi Convention of 1934.  The event was staged for the cameras of over 30 cinematographer’s under the direction of Riefenstahl. “The film uses objective seeming film language to present an intensely partisan view of Hitler.”  (Rabiger) It contains no voice overs and seems to ascribe power and inevitability to her subject.  Its purpose was to create the illusion of Hitler as a myth, a Deity and master.  The film is regarded as a pinnacle in the exploitation of non-fiction’s cinematic potential.  The composition and musical elements combine into a very slick advertisement of Nazi ideology.  The film is one of the first organized media political campaigns backed by the money and technology of the party.  Riefenstahl was a tool used to fuel the propaganda machine; she just happened to be a very talented filmmaker with a genius of manipulating the visual.  She had demonstrated this with her previous iconic Olympia films.  The Nazi’s realized the potency of film in a generation addicted to cinema; they made propaganda films using carefully selected actors to show Aryan supremacy.  ‘Triumph Of The Will’ is an aesthetic masterpiece, it is sad that it eulogizes a monster.  At the root of the film is the attempt to condition rather that to communicate.  Ultimately Riefenstahl would spend four years in prison for her participation in Nazi propaganda.

“The film stands as a reminder of how reality needs wise and responsible interpretation if art is to be on the side of Angles”. (Rabiger)

Sally Potter.

In her literature Wolfe helped radically to redefine what poetry and fiction could be and do.  Sally Potter also helped to redefine what scripts and films could be and do in oppositional cinema giving voice to feminist concerns.  Orlando was one of the most popular art movies of the nineties.

Feminism in film arose from the militant ideology of the woman’s liberation movement.  Up until that point woman, as categorized by Hollywood, was socially inferior to men.  Unable to tell their own stories, their main function was to support men.  Their roles were eternal, unchanging, and of no historical significance; where as men were presented as shapers of destiny and history.

The roles of woman were mundane.  It wasn’t until the late sixties that feminist oppositional cinema took form.  It was clear that Hollywood had sought to discourage woman from acting in an independent fashion.  Feminist filmmakers, like Sally Potter opposed main stream cinema’s biased and stereo-typed depiction of woman’s roles.  They were concerned with how woman in society have been affected by this depictment and treatment on film.  Feminist filmmakers both male and female are attempting to overcome prejudice by providing fresh perspectives and insight of woman in society.

Riefenstahl showed the power of woman filmmakers by making this century’s most discussed documentary.  She would have been a champion of early feminism had she not used the power of the Nazi’s to advance her talent.

“We want nothing less, on or off screen than the wide variety and dazzling diversity of male options.” (Mulvey)

Orlando

The movie Orlando is based on Virginia Woolf’s 1928 novel, Orlando: A Biography.  It is about an English nobleman born in the Elizabethan times that does not grow old or die.  Orlando is a central figure passing through history right up until the 20^th century; at a certain point – near the end of the 17^th century – Orlando discovers that he has turned into a woman.

The movie confuses historic reality with an illusion of reality at those times; sleep and dreams are the links between the stages in history.  The movie is divided into headings which stand as cognitive texts.  Orlando often speaks directly to the viewer and acts as a guide through English history.

1600 Death

The Virgin Queen Elizabeth is played by Quentin Crisp (a man)

1610 Love

Orlando questions stereo types and prejudice.

1650 Poetry

The lines of the poem by Robert Greene refer to Marxis theories and class struggle.  “So fortune smiles on those who own the land, and frowns at the trivia from the dabbler’s hand.”

1700 Politics

Orlando turns into a woman after being in a deep sleep.  She must now face society and its politics from the point of view of a woman.

1750 Society

Orlando receives several invitations to literary gatherings.  She attends one of the most famous in history; Jonathan Swift 1667 – 1702 had formed the Scriblerus club.  Invited were guests Joseph Aderson 1672 – 1719 and Alexander Pope 1688 – 1744 who were both poets.  Orlando realises in the gathering her lost of status by being a woman.  This is a further reference to feminism and it is interesting that Woolf acknowledges “the glass ceiling” (an invisible barrier that stops woman from reaching the same positions as men) through the misogynistic portrayal of other great writers.

Orlando’s receives lawsuits for her property as she is legally dead, and now a woman.  She realises the probability of spending a life alone and as a spinster.

1850 Sex

Modernism is linked to a desire to change society we begin to see the possibilities and success of the female as a single mother, individual and strong careerist.

The last scene of the movie is Orlando’s daughter hand holding a camera and filming Orlando.  Orlando is free and happy in the post modern world of New York.

Bipolar Categories (All quotes by Giannetti)

Democratic VS Hierarchical

“Leftists emphasise the similarities of people and believe societies resources should be distributed in equal portions.  Institutions should be publicly owned with authority representing the people.”  (Giannetti)

Potter’s Orlando explores the woman’s role in history and politics.  By switching from male to female the viewer understands Orlando’s position as how she was treated as each sex.  We are made to understand how society treats the male and the female in a political context.  In poetry we are told the predicament of the workers with no land ownership.  Orlando is Potter’s feminine point of view on politics; her film being the pen for her own political comments.  Potter emphasises the benefits of the collective and the communal.

“Rightists believe social institutions are guided by strong leaders and they should be privately owned with profit as the main incentive.   The emphasis is on the individual and the elite managerial class.”

Triumph Of The Will, is the most extreme example of right value systems of ideology.  The Nazi party controlled all the state institutions and used them as ideological state apparatuses.  It was considered one of the great advertisements of a political campaign.  Was it Riefenstahl’s skill in visualising the movie or was the Nazi ideology her own political belief?  This is the question she went to jail for and is still debatable, but the political effects and subsequent chaos were real enough.

Environment VS Hereditary

“People of the left believe that human behaviour is learned and can be changed by proper environmental incentives.  The person’s environment is responsible for their behaviour and not their character.”

In essence this is the subtext of Orlando as Potter show’s the centuries it took for woman to be accepted as equals.  As Orlando travels through different environments we see the constraints of society on Orlando as a man and a woman.  Orlando in 1600 is a young uncomfortable prince and in the 20^th century is an open and in control woman.

“Rightists believe that character is largely inborn and genetically inherited.  Emphasis is on lineage.”

Riefenstahl’s film used carefully selected actors to show Aryan supremacy, lineage being the focal point of the party.  Although Hitler comes from a dubious past the film shows him as the master of the master race.

Relative VS Absolute

“People on the left believe we ought to be more flexible in judgement.  Issues of right and wrong must be placed in a social context before we judge them fairly.”

Orlando in the last scene is being videoed by her daughter whom the audience can perceive as being the future in a fair society.  In the ages before you see Orlando controlled and not judged impartially.

“Rightist expects discipline, right and wrong are clear cut and violations are punished.”

Triumph Of The Will shows in its composition of form the neat and orderly system of the Nazis.  Discipline above all is what kept the Nazi government system functioning – any violations were dealt with in the most extreme manner.

Secular VS Religious

“Most leftists are humanists with religion being a private matter.  They are openly critical of organised religions and are attracted to progressive denominations.”

In Orlando religion is tied to politics as run by the monarchy.  As Orlando changes gender the viewer realises the church will not accept her.  Potter pokes fun at religion in how it constrains its subjects.

“Rightist accord religion a privilege status and are respected as moral arbiters.  ‘Triumph Of The Will’ presents Hitler as a Deity.  By this time Hitler had full control of the church and any opposition was dealt with.  The documentary places him above religion and his dictatorship has become the moral arbiter.

Future VS Past

“The leftists view the past as dominated by class conflict and exploitation.  The future is viewed with hope; the idea of progress and evolution towards a more just society.”

The value systems of Potter are shown in her belief of the future.  She shows the conflict and exploitation of woman in history and progresses to show Orlando in a post modern society.  She justifies her own position as a woman filmmaker by showing what she had to endure to arrive as a woman of social position.  This is reflected in the character of Orlando passing through time.

“People on the right have a deep veneration of the past and tradition.  The future and change bring moral decline and do not emulate the glories of the past.”

Triumph Of The Will documents the rise of a party that is a result of German societies dissatisfaction of what change has brought.  In a time of depression Hitler emphasise the past and glory of Germany to drum up his support.  The entire style of the party was based on past grandeur.

Co-operation VS Competitions

“People of the left believe social progress is achieved by co-operative effort of all citizens to a common goal.”

In this case Triumph Of The Will shows co-operation of the military which represent the people.  Hitler’s genius lies in his manipulation of people to work together for ultimately his own gain.  He is willing to use ideas from the left to support his right ideology.

“Rightists emphasises open market principals and the role of the government is to protect property and security. “

Orlando is a result of competition between men and woman in the sense of equality.  Orlando’s strength is shown in her ability to break the glass ceiling and to become a script writer in post-modern New York.  However, it is important to note that Orlando’s rights are the result of a co-operative effort of feminists in gaining respect for woman.

Outsiders VS Insiders

“Leftists identify with the poor.  They respect and value ethic diversity, and are sensitive to the needs of woman and minorities.”

Potter explores this in her section ‘Love’ where Orlando falls for the daughter of the Russian ambassador.  We see Orlando’s sensitivity to the foreigner as a woman and immigrant in England.  Potter identifies with the poor with her ridicule of the class system and monarchy.

“Rightists, tend to identify with the establishment, featuring protagonists who are authority figures as Riefenstahl does with Hitler.”

Her documentary was essential in maintaining and dictating social order with the power of the military to back it up.  Hitler was shown to stand as the symbol of authority.  The illusion of power leads to Hitler actually achieving it with Riefenstahl’s documentary helping to fuel and visualise his ideas.

International VS Nationalistic

“Leftists are global in their perspective, emphasising the universality of human needs.”

Orlando shows the universality of human needs when she travels to Turkey and deals with its people.  The character shows common humanity in ethnic diversity.

“Right wingers tend to be strongly patriotic, often regarding people from other countries as being inferior.  They believe criticism weakens a nation.”

Triumph Of The Will could be no more patriotic attempting to condition rather than communicate.  Anybody outside of the pure German was seen as inferior.  The control of the press and media ensured criticism was not heard.

Sexual Freedom VS Marital Monogamy

“Leftists emphasise sexual freedom, privacy, personal choice and non-interference.  They accept homosexuality as a valid life style. “

Potter identifies the struggle of woman with the struggle of minorities, and in particular gay rights.  Quentin Crisp is a gay icon, and Jimmy Summerville sings “Elisa The Fairest Queen” as a cherub up in the sky.  With these two characters Potter laughs at the rules of authority and religion.  By linking her movie to gay icons Potter shows her respect and alliance of The Woman’s Liberation Movement to The Gay Liberation Movement.

“Rightist regards the family as a sanctified institution and anything that threatens the family is viewed with hostility.   Heterosexual monogamy is the only form of sexual expression.”

Hitler persecuted any form of sexual expression outside of heterosexual monogamy.  Homosexuals represented by a pink triangle were an aberration of everything he believed to be pure.

• How did Triumph of the will contribute to maintaining social order?
  • Triumph of the Will could be regarded as the ultimate ideological agent in maintaining social order by visualising the power of Hitler.  In Giannetti’s model it is on the extreme right under fascism.  It was a propaganda tool used to show the power of the party and create Hitler into a myth.  By realising the potency of film the Nazi’s manipulated the medium to show their supremacy.  Riefenstahl’s skill in filmmaking was a major factor in creating the illusion of fear the Nazi’s needed in order to control.

• Sally Potter’s form of oppositional cinema has helped to break the hold of mainstream cinema and in doing so has made films as instruments of social change.
  • Orlando’s position in Giannetti’s model is near the far left under socialism.  Potter as an art filmmaker and feminist ideologically identifies with the rights of minorities and the marginalised.  In all her movies she explores issues of gender the role of the female and opposes the dominant ideology controlled by big production.  Unfortunately Potter’s audience is limited due to distribution, her films not reaching enough people to make a huge difference.  However her contribution lies in the fact that she has a voice and has used her cinema to advance her concerns as an artist and a woman.

Conclusion

Every film may be determined as an ideological statement as it is determined by, and hence reflects, the dominant ideology of society.  By analysing and criticising films with the emphasis on ideology, we are better able to understand the motivation, reasons, aspirations, and values of the filmmaker, the characters and how it will be interpreted by the audience.  By putting it in the context of culture and the period of history we are able to understand its significance.  Film is the most powerful medium of story telling and is an ideological statement.  It is therefore our duty to treat it with respect, dignity, and fairness.

The Thin Red Line

After the debate of expressionism and realism the next major movement in film theory was semiotics.  Ever since the beginning of film history theorists have been fond of comparing film with verbal language.  It was only until the 50s and 60s that the real study as film as a language could proceed.  Semiotics is the study of systems of signs.  The French theorist, Christian Metz (Film language: a semiotics of the cinema 1974) used semiotics as a systematic and scientific method to analyse the ways in which film produces meaning.  This was in line with the structure list movement in linguistics and literature studies during the sixties and seventies.  All the theorists argued that film communicates according to a specific set of grammatical rules.

For semioticians a sign must consist out of two parts: the signifier and the signified.  In film the signifier (image) and what is signified (what it represents) are almost identical.  A picture bears some direct relationship with what it signifies, a world seldom does.  “The power of language systems is that there is a great difference between the signifier and the signified; the power of film is that there is not.”  (Metz)

The reason it is so essential to read images well (understand them and break them into codes) is that one has more power over the medium; and therefore one is more effective in translating ones message to film.

Semiotic theory and analysis provide us with the analytical tools to analyze the working of film as a signifying practice.  “Semiotics is a logical, often illuminating system that helps to describe how film does what it does.

“The word text refers to the form and content of the message itself which could be in oral, written, or graphic languages; using still and moving images, or using multi media including computers”.

“Text usually refers to a message that has a physical existence of its own.”  A text stands detached or separate from the communicator or from the mass media audience.  Textual analysis of audio visual codes allows one to analyse a text.  The content can be broken down into units or codes.  Texts are governed by codes that are basically a set of rules.  By comparing, contrasting, and identifying codes one can get the meaning of texts.

In order to understand the type of texts and be visually literate one must understand media literacy.  Media literacy is composed of content literacy (what is the message – types of texts), grammar literacy (the way the message is encoded), and medium literacy (the medium and its way of expressing meaning).

There are two approaches, one semiotic and the other cognitive.  “The semiotic approach is the analysis of signs and symbols in film, and the relationship between a sign and the meaning communicated.”  Signs have denotive and conative meanings and are used as codes.  The cognitive approach is subjective as we perceive and describe meanings to that which we perceive on the basis of association.  Associations are based on past experiences or assumptions.

Furthermore, all films have an ideological text.  The filmmaker has his own point of view and opinion, but so does the audience who can ignore, reiterate or oppose it.

Film denotation and connotation

Film does not only denote a literal meaning.  The image is iconic indexical and symbolic in that the interpretation of an image is influenced by cultural and social codes.  When understanding an image the viewer uses their own knowledge which is connected to a cultural and ideological background.  So apart from the image containing iconic, indexical and symbolic features we must take into account how the viewer understands it.

A further way of understanding the various modes of denotation and connotation in film is categorizing signs into:

The icon: A sign in which the signifier represents the signified meaning mainly by its similarity to it (likeness) e.g. the image of the crocodile is a crocodile. (refer to Semiological Analysis.)

The index: Which measures a quality not because it is identical to it but because it has an inherent relationship to it e.g. the crocodile is an index of a hunter. (refer to Semiological Analysis.)

The symbol: An arbitrary sign in which the signifier has never a direct nor an indexical relationship to the signified, but rather represents it through convention e.g. the crocodile is a symbol of death (refer to Semiological Analysis.)

The paradigmatic / syntagmatic nature of film

The paradigm represents the choice of the filmmaker when formulating a message.  The syntagm is the formulated film shot.  In order to tell a story, single shots are combined into scenes and scenes into sequences by editing techniques; therefore the paradigm are the production values and the editing is the syntagm.  First articulation of meaning:  The director’s choice of content of the image.  Second articulation of meaning:  The way the director portrays the chosen content (camera point of view as a means of creating form).  Third articulation of meaning:  The way in which the director combines single shots in to sequences and scenes (editing as a means of creating form).

“In truth, the drama of film lies not so much in what is shot, but how it is shot and how it is presented”

Trope is the last element: a logical twist that gives the elements of a sign – the signifier and signified – a new relationship to each other.  The trope is therefore the connecting element between denotation and connotation, and makes this sublime scene work.

Terrence Malick ‘The Thin Red Line’

1999 – Winner – Berlin Festival

Literature as a non-filmic code, based on the book: ‘A Thin Red Line’ By James Jones, Collins 1963.

In the book ‘The Thin Red Line’ by James Jones there is an old Middle Western saying: “There is only a thin red line between the sane and the mad.” This relates to the recurring theme of the affects of war on the mind of the individual.  The text gives the movie its title and becomes a subtext in Malick’s direction.  It allows one to intertextualise between Jones’s writing and the interpretation of Malick.

Overview and scene explanation

This is a film that examines critically the history and affects of war from the point of view of the Americans, from private first class all the way up to general.  Codes are used in the scene to create a certain atmosphere of peace and convey a meaning of impending doom.  Unlike the book that opens on the Cargo boat, Malick has used the entire scene as a visual metaphor for the movie.  The first scene shows two young privates living AWOL with islanders, a patrol boat searches for them which is understood at the end of the scene.   They are fighting a war they know little about and are confronting the fear of death.   The theme is about the futility of war and the power of authority over the individual.  Sub themes include man’s love of humanity destroyed by the ideologies of Government and the thin red line between sanity and madness.

The mis en scene is beautiful and realistic.  The décor, the props, and costumes work, borrowing from pictorial codes.  The camera’s point of view is never static, searching for compositional strength in showing the location and life-style of the indigenous people.  It chooses images like the swimming children in a way similar to how a writer would choose a word.  The innovative editing techniques created all of this into a visual poem.

Pictorially it is reminiscent of Gaugin’s Polynesian paintings.  Deep Saturated colors, emphasizing the health and happiness, sweat and water glisten off everybody – the deep brown skin of the Islanders against the green jungle.  The lighting codes emphasis the ethereal qualities of back-lighting.  The paradigmatic meaning created by the amazing use of production codes Malick has applied; his elements of choice and the unexpected tropes syntagmatically edited into visual poetry.

Semiological Analysis

The opening shot is an icon, index and symbol.  It is of a crocodile (icon), an index of the hunter that cannot be understood without the dimension of connotation which we realize later when the story develops into one of war.  The shot of the crocodile slipping ominously into the water symbolizes the instinct of nature to survive, if necessarily, by killing.  It is a metaphor of death, danger, and the hunter; an analogic code that prompts the reader to make mental comparisons.  The lighting is low key and the colors murky – the crocodile is almost black and slips into the dark green water.  The music is foreboding, prompting the reader to understand the crocodile foreshadows death.  When the crocodile is submerged the editor cuts to a static shot of a tree in the jungle with shafts of light spilling through the canopy.  The music changes to a ethereal operatic aria, soft and beautiful.  The next series of shots shows the dexterity of the cameras point of view as it pans and tilts over the forest scenes.  There is a long pan of the overhead canopy of trees with the light occasionally over exposing the film.  A crane has been used as the mount for the camera.  During these shots the music becomes background to the voice over of a lilting deep-southern drawl – the voice almost hypnotic:

“What is this war in the heart of nature?

Why does nature vie with itself?

This land contends with the sea.

Is there an avenging power in nature?

Not one power, but two.

The text in the first voice over is a poem about war.  This text gives us the reference that Malick’s scene is poetry, and sets the tone of self-questioning that Malick searches for.  The accent stands as a text as it is Middle Western and the reader makes particular associations with that region.

The editor then cuts to a medium shot of the island child cracking nuts with a stone, the camera’s view point is oberservational and shot from slightly above:  The camera never static changing to the movement of the child.  The stone used as a tool gives the reader an insight into the cultural and the ideological background of the island natives.  The editor then cuts to a group of people sitting on the rocky beach in subdued morning light, to a long shot of the beach that cuts back to a bird’s eye view of the children playing an ancient rock game which is a symbol of tradition.  From here Malick takes us to a series of shots underwater of children swimming.   At one point one of the children looks into the camera, breaking the fourth wall.  The editing is synchronized with the aria, the deep colour of underwater blue giving the connotation of angels.

The camera point of view chosen by Malick is always active and subjective and expresses how he interprets the events.  In order to link the underwater shots with the next shot the DOP focuses on the water and then slowly pans to an introduction of the main character sitting in a dug-out canoe.  We know he is an American soldier because of the accent of the voice-over and the dog-tag on his shirtless body.  His is a slender long-necked southern boy from Virginia observing and mingling with the people.  The innovative editing techniques effectively link the individual shots, but are used more as visual metaphors as they are random observations that introduce the viewer to a higher order of thinking.  We then go to a long shot of mothers washing their babies which is followed by a private watching in the distance.  A second voice-over begins:

“I remember my mother when she was dying.

I was afraid to touch the death in her. “

A shot of kids running and next an ECU of the private talking with his friend.  The DOP introduces the next character by focusing on a parrot in his hands (an index of the tropics and a metomic code as it prompts the reader to interpret meaning based on associations.) and then tilts up his body to reveal his face listening.  A cut back to the private shows him pausing and thinking followed by a cut taking us back to shots in America of a mother and daughter.  These shots are the memories of the private’s life.  The code used creates an atmosphere of love and peace conveying a meaning that we select only the most important memories.  The mis en scene is a bedroom filled with white linen and antiques.  The mother and daughter wear intricately white sewn nighties, a symbol of purity.  In one of the shots the daughter touches her mother and an acoustic affect of a beating heart can be heard which a sound metaphor of life is.

The mother is dying and the daughter comes in the form of an angel to fetch her – the heart beat shows that there is life after death as the DOP pans up to the ceiling that turns into a blue sky symbolizing heaven.

The voice-over ends with:

“I just hope I can meet Death the same way.”

Second voice-over is dialogue and stands as a separate text.  It refers directly to death foreshadowing a scene where the private does die with dignity.  It also lets us understand the choice in production values as the shots are symbolic of love, home and nurture.  Throughout the movie Malick returns to flash back memories as a means of re-enforcing the visual metaphor of home, which is a recurring sub-theme in almost all war movies.

The next shot was an ECU of a child’s hands holding hermit crabs; an analogic code of the fragility of life.  The music changes to an indigenous song of the tribe and the steady cam follows the private from behind as he enters the village.  The mis en scene is the village by a river close to the sea.  The huts are made of palm leaves and wood.  It is unchanged for years but the occasional modern implement can be seen.  The tribes clothes combines western clothes with their own traditional clothes, emphasizing that modernity has touch them.  There is a series of medium shots at eye level of a conversation the private has with a mother and child we saw previously in the river.  The dialogue is unscripted, improvised and contains a jump cut.  The grammar is uncomfortable yet seems realistic.  This text allows us to understand the relationship between the two characters, and Malick has used it as a way of introducing a documentary element.  The reader associate documentaries with real events and serves as way for Malick to introduce further meaning.

“The kids never fight (dialogue metaphor)

Are you afraid of me?

Yes

Why?

You look of Army

It doesn’t matter

It doesn’t matter.”

The series of shots ends with a smile of the lady, and the music changes to a gentle rhythm as we cut to the private helping to build, playing with the kids, and inside shots of a mother and a daughter cooking.  We then jump to an ECU of the private smiling and swimming.

Malick and the editors poetic visual essay covers no specific time frame as it was his intention to state time was of no relevance and to create the illusion that the period could be over days or months.  The music again changes as we are introduced to the whole tribe with a long tracking shot, singing and clapping.  They follow their leader whom is carrying a book implying religion.  This is inter-cut with an ECU of the private and is followed by a silhouetted shot of a tree that has fallen into the sea.  On the tree is the second private with kids shot from behind – all of a sudden they move quickly out of the tree as an American patrol boat comes into view in the background of the shot.  There is a pan of the kids and the private running, and then cuts to a long shot of the boat (we can hear the roar of the engines) we cut back to the second private quickly approaching the first.

“Patrol boat.  American!”

Anxiety is shown in the acting of the characters with their movements being followed by a steady cam.  They seem intent on running but realize the futility.  The last shot is of the patrol boat anchored, shot from another moving boat that is circling it.  There is an evil quality about the sunset, the water almost blood red.

Cut to scene two.

Chiaroscuro Lighting by Stanley Kubrick

Good lighting is synonymous with the amount of care a filmmaker has put into his movie.  Although people are not normally visually literate in the subject – they instinctively know when something is lit correctly.  Scene two in ‘Full Metal Jacket’ contains three separate lighting types.  In the centre of the room there is the energy of high-key lighting, in the parameters the three dimensionality of Chiaroscuro, and when there is a window behind a recruit, a silhouette is formed.  The backlight of the windows is very effectively used, and the three types of lighting allows the mobility of the SC.  Kuberick has often used lighting to his advantage to make complex scenes work.  His lighting is considered very modern and clean.

Three point lighting:  The photographic principal.

• Key light – is the principal light revealing shape.
• Fill light – controls fall off of shadows.
• Back light – it separates the figure from the background

In this scene the key light comes from the large windows that are on either side of the barracks.  Each side of the windows acts as a backlight on the nearest recruit and a fill light to the recruits on the opposite side.   So in essence the windows on both sides constitute the key light, the fill light and the backlight, depending on subject positioning.  As the camera changes position the light through the window changes from flat lighting in the centre of the room to Chiaroscuro on its parameters.  In order to do this huge lights have been set up outside each window – this has freed the workspace of any lighting equipment and stands providing the camera with room to roam in any direction.  The lighting creates interest as it varies depending where you are in the room.  The disadvantage of this lighting is the cost of having to generate so many kilowatts, and put a huge light outside each window.   It is appropriate to analyse the lighting in the scene, in terms of the photographic principal, as it teaches us the effectiveness of key- fill- and backlighting in creating a scene.

Chiara Scuro lighting.

• The analysis of Chiaroscuro lighting is that there is a fast fall off of shadows, light and dark contrast, three dimensionality, emphasis on texture and it is a type of light that is more intense and expressive.
• The example of Chiaroscuro lighting is in the parameters of the barracks.  The window light hits the back of the recruits, leaving the faces with highlights on their cheek bones.
• The recruits are selectively lit and there is a fast fall off of shadows.
• This is appropriate as Chiaroscuro lighting has made the interactions of the SC with the recruits more expressive and intense.

There are five functions of Chiaroscuro lighting:

Organic

• By analysing where the natural light comes from on a location, we can determine where to set up lights.  They should be as close as possible to where the natural light comes from.
• In this case the studio lights outside the widows approximates daylight.
• This is appropriate because we learn by analysing existing light where to put the light source.

Directional.

• Directs our attention to certain areas.  The example is when the SC’s face is very close to ‘Joker’s’ face.
• There is backlight on ‘Joker’ and front light on the SC.
• The lighting has directed our attention to the dialogue and profile of the SC.
• This is appropriate as we learn that with lighting we can make the viewers focus on certain areas.

Spatial composition.

• It is where the light and dark parts of the scene match each other.
• As there is perfect symmetry between the rows of windows and recruits, the light and dark areas of the scene balance.
• This is appropriate as matching and balancing the highlights and shadows are necessary for a good composition.
• We learn to consider the effects of shadows and highlights when lighting.

Thematic.

• It is when the lighting emphasises the theme or the story.
• The controlled lighting in the barracks echoes the control of the army over its recruits.
• The lighting is controlled and therefore the environment is controlled.
• This is appropriate as the correct lighting for the correct scene can emphasise the director’s inner vision.
• We learn that thematic lighting is creating an ambiance that contributes greatly to the psychological manipulation of the audience.

Emotional.

• A function of lighting that influences our emotions directly.
• The lighting is clean, modern, and cold.  It effects our emotions in that we empathise with the sleeping conditions of the recruits.
• As it is the opening scene it sets the emotional tone for the beginning of training and eventual combat.
• It is appropriate as the emotional function of lighting is probably the most important part of lighting.
• If the lighting can effect the emotional content of a scene the director is already halfway there – as it effects the actors directly this will come across in their behaviour on screen.
• We learn that lighting can create the ethos of a scene.

Silhouette lighting.

• Falls neither in the Chiaroscuro light category nor the flat light category.
• It emphasises contours and shapes and occurs in extreme light and dark contrast situations.  The third recruit is standing directly in front of a window and forms a flat black silhouette in the bright rectangle of light.
• This is appropriate as this particular shot enhances the scene’s interest by using extreme lighting.
• We learn the effectiveness of silhouettes in filmmaking.

Flat lighting.

• The analysis of flat lighting is light that is highly defused, comes from all directions, and has a slow fall off of shadows.
• Visibility is optimal; it is used in high-energy situations, and is perceived as slightly flat (i.e. low contrast).
• The example of flat lighting is in the centre of the room, as the light appears to come from all directions.
• In the SC’s beginning speech we are given the feeling of energy as the light comes together in the centre of the room. It also allows the SC’s mobility as the light source is on either side of the room.
• This is appropriate as flat lighting is used effectively for certain situations, particularly where mobility is necessary.

In conclusion.

Kuberick’s choice of lighting is intelligent as it serves all of its functions and there is not even one cable on set.  He has achieved three types of lighting in one environment and lets the SC move into all three lighting types.  This combination of lights effects our inner orientations, and therefore, how we feel about the event.  He has achieved his thematic purpose and emotional content by emphasising it through the lighting.  The scene establishes the mood and atmosphere of existence in an army.  The strong light through the windows supplies us with tactile orientation, as the textures tell our sense of touch that the room is filled with rough materials and cold surfaces.  We are given time orientation, as we know it is daytime and the first day of being a recruit.