JAKE COSSEY - A-LEVEL FILM STUDIES

On the weekend I went to visit the Richard Mosse 180 strand exhibition.  The exhibition takes you deep in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, there was an immersive video installation created from his  three years filming in the world's largest rainforest.  A selection of the artist’s photographs from the project were displayed alongside the installation, including large-scale photographs that have not been exhibited in the UK before. Who is Richard Mosse? Richard Mosse is an Irish conceptual documentary photographer. He has worked in Iran, Pakistan, Haiti and the former Yugoslavia. He is best known for  his infrared images from the Democratic Republic of the Congo . For his infrared photographs he used a large format camera and the now-discontinued Kodak Aerochrome film. What is aerochrome film? Developed by Kodak specifically for the US military during World War II, Aerochrome has had a colourful history (pun intended). It was initially created  to al...

  Compare how the  aesthetics of mise en scene  have been designed to generate  spectator response  in the  two  films you have studied. You must refer to examples from  one  film from  1930– 1960   in your answer and examples from one film from   1961-1990 .  [35]   INTRO: introduce both films.    P1: (Dawn of Man) (Film Premiere) – Colour pallet/atmosphere (Dawn of man: natural, warm colours, set, tone, natural look), (Film Premiere: unnatural lights, bright spotlights, bright colours), Spectacle   P2: (Deactivation of HAL) ( You Were Meant For Me ) – Dialogue (Deactivation of HAL:  very little dialogue or sound effects in the whole scene, the main sounds we can hear are all diegetic which are: Dave's breathing, and HAL trying to convince Dave to stop, HALs speech starts to slow as he becomes disconnected ,  HAL singing daisy daisy “I’m half crazy” this could possibly connote towards how H...

  On Wednesday the 11th January we visited the BFI Southbank for a 'Silent Film for KS5 Film Studies'. Throughout the day Matthew Daintrey-Hall spoke to us taking about silent film and aesthetic/cultural movement, he also give us a talk about the focus film: Sunrise (1927) talking about aesthetics, institutions and ideology. After lunch we watched the focus film:  Sunrise (1927) with a pain accompaniment - John Sweeney. After this there was a Q&A with him. (Below is the film we watched - it was the first film to come ready with a backing track however it was much more interesting with a live pianist.)

BIFA (British Independent Film Awards) is an internationally renowned organisation that celebrates, promotes, and supports independent filmmaking and filmmakers in the UK. Founded in 1998, BIFA has championed the best and most innovative independently funded British filmmaking for over 20 years, working at the heart of the industry to nurture emerging talent, promote fair practice, and develop a broader, more inclusive audience for British independent film. We are driving a British independent film revival, harnessing the power of British creativity to change lives through independent film. Many awards are given to films which are experimental and something unusual, these types of films would never be produced by large Hollywood production companies as they would not appeal to the large audience masses, meaning less profit. AFTERSUN AWARDS: BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM BEST SCREENPLAY BEST DIRECTOR THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD (BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR) BEST CINEMA...

What is Auteur Theory: Auteur theory is a t heory of filmmaking in which the director is viewed as the major creative force in a motion picture . With the theory arising in France in the late 1940s, the auteur theory—as it was dubbed by the American film critic Andrew Sarris—was an outgrowth of the cinematic theories of André Bazin and Alexandre Astruc. When Andrew Sarris took the auteur theory to the next level, he laid out three basic rules: Basic Competency. "A great director has to at least be a good director." Which is to say that the director's movies must be technically competent. Signature Style.  Interior Meaning. Who developed the theory? Director  François Truffaut , writing as a critic in the influential French journal Cahiers du Cinéma (Cinema Notebook), developed the concept of the auteur in his 1954 essay “Une certaine tendance du cinéma français” (“A certain trend in French cinema”). Key Words:   Cinephile = people who love film   Camera stylo = ...

  Making notes and creating a research presentation Using online sites like IMDb I researched about: 1 - Research the  key details  of the film  - writer, director, date, budget, production company 2-  Context  - What is the context to the film? A - in terms of Kubrick's career timeline B - in terms of history, politics, culture - the zeitgeist. Make sure you look at the space race, moon landing and the Cold War, as well as America in the late 1960s. 3 -  Genre  - Explore the ideas around science fiction as a genre (what is it, where did it begin (literature and film), what are its tropes, etc) 4 -  Legacy and critical reception  - Look at Kubrick's legacy, and that of the film. Why is it so important? How was the film first received by audiences and critics. 5 -  Auteur theory  -  how important are Kubrick (and Arthur C Clarke) to the making of this film? Do you consider Kubrick an auteur, and why? 6  -  Technol...

After finishing studying The General By Buster Keaton we are moving on to look at  Hollywood musicals and will be exploring the technical side of sound in more detail. Throughout the next couple of weeks I will be updating new terms and new analysis pieces up onto my blog.  After reading the factsheet about "Understanding and using sound" I found out that t he first major Hollywood film to be released with sound was the  Jazz Singer  in 1927. Prior to the release of Jazz Singer , all films other films had been silent however, sound changed film forever and within a few years, silent films were almost extinct. Even though sound changed film, the transition to sound was not smooth and many film makers and critics hoped or as many of us today would imagine. After the introduction to sound in 1927 something important had been lost within film as sound was introduced. Films became less cinematic and visual creativity was hampered by the need ...

0:00-1:05 – Backstory and introduction. Text.    1:11-1:20 - An establishing wide shot of the train and location. We are introduced to Buster Keaton with a medium close up shot and then the camera pans along the train to introduce The General the train as it is the second most important character in the film.   1:20-1:30 – wide shot establishes location and the time in which the film was set e.g. Horse and cart shows the time. The General then swipes left to right through the scene destructing the shot (connotes to how the train is always a disruption.) but also connotes how the movement in technology is happening as the horse and cart is in the foreground, presenting the past and then in the background is the train which is connoting the future.   1:38-1:50 – Further develops Keatings characters as he has an encounter with two young boys.   2:03 – Introduced to the two loves of his life “his engine and Annabel” shown with a close up to a frame of her.  ...

With the BFI London Film festival just starting I thought it would be a good time to research about it. After flicking through the programme a lot of the galas look very good but a few caught my eye, one being Decision to Leave  a  South Korean  romantic mystery film produced, co-written and directed by Park Chan-wook. The film is about  a  detective who is investigating a man's death in the mountains of Korea, on his journey he ends up meeting and developing feelings for the dead man's mysterious wife in the course of his dogged sleuthing. The English. I also liked the look of The English a Western TV series starring  Emily Blunt. The English is about this sweeping tale of love and revenge from award-winning television auteur Hugo Blick. At the BFI London Film Festival the first two episodes will be shown.  I have embedded to trailer below.