'Winter's bone' analysis

A) How far does 'Winter's bone' rely upon an understanding of it's social context? Refer in detail to at least one sequence from the film. [20]

Winter's bone's narrative takes inspiration from four pieces of social context: a sense of separation from mainstream US infrastructure,  an emphasis on family loyalty, addiction and its consequences with families and those around the user and the reality of financial insecurity, domestic abuse and mental illness. As Winter's bone drawing inspiration from all four of these sections, I believe it is important to have at least some understanding of the social context of the film.

In Winter's bone, the film helps audiences with no prior knowledge of the social context understand it, as instead of explicitly explaining that a certain scene relates to one bit of the social context, it buries it in the plot, whilst making it aware to the audience. This means that the audience don't need to have a prior knowledge of the context, but for them to understand the messages being conveyed during the film, they need to at least know of the social context, which the film does a good job at showing.

B) 'Winter's bone' - social and production context

The film 'Winter's bone' derives from the usual hollywood type film, as it focuses on the rough and poorer side of America, whereas majority of big budget films focus on the high life of America, influencing how other people outside of America view those who live there. As most audiences aren't exposed to the darker and poorer side of America very often, if at all, then many audience members will have a oppositional reading to the film as a whole, meaning that they won't agree with what the film is trying to put across, and won't enjoy the film as a media text. For those that don't watch independent films often, or stick to a certain genre such as action, then Winter's bone's narrative may seem slow and tenuous, disengaging many audience members.

The film also takes on many issues during the film, which may come across as being too convoluted for many. The film has elements of substance abuse and medicinal drug addiction, domestic abuse, financial insecurity, mental illness, poverty, low educational standards and lack or respect for women, whilst they try to fight the system. As the film takes on so many issues, some of which can be seen in mainstream movies, it has a hard time at tying up all loose ends by the end of the film. It just gives the message that most of the issues are unresolvable and that the characters can't be bothered to peruse changing the situations to better themselves any further. Topics and themes such as drug addiction and lack of female power have been used countless times in mainstream movies, such as Trainspotting (1996). But as these mainstream films only tackle one or two big issues, they are focused on more prominently, and are usually resolved by the end of the film, or are at least hinted towards being fixed later on.

The film was made on a budget of around $2 million, which for any film is a very little amount. Shooting was started and wrapped in a 25 day period, spanning from January to March 2009. Pre production was started two years prior, as it took so long to find and secure filming locations in the south of America. Locations included real life living locations of families living in the south, as to make the film feel more like a social realism film than a high budget flick. The film was shot using high resolution red DV cameras, except the dream sequence, which was made using Super-8 film, as this gives the footage the grainy look seen in Ree's dream.

Analysis of movie opening (Kingsman: the golden circle)

Kingsman - The Golden circle: 

Kingsman: The golden circle is the sequel to the hit 2015 spy movie 'Kingsman: the secret service.' Released in 2017, it carries on the story of Gary 'Eggsy' Unwin and Merlin as they push Kingsman to the next generation of spies. After losing his mentor Harry, codename Galahad, Eggsy is finding it hard to fill Harry's place in the Kingsman. But when all of the Kingsman locations are attacked and destroyed, killing all of the remaining agents, Eggsy and Merlin go over to the cousin agency, Statesman. With America's help, they take on a new organisation called 'The golden circle.'

There are a few reasons why this film was successful with audiences. For one, the film is a sequel, and the first film was well received by new coming fans, so the sequel was guaranteed to have a similar sized fan base. Those that watched the first film would more than likely want to see the sequel, to see Eggsy's story unfold even more, now he has to step up after Harry's demise during the first film.

Secondly, the films features famous celebrities reprising their roles, with Taron Egerton returning as Eggs, Colin Firth returning as Galahad,and Mark Strong as Merlin. Even though the second film lost Sam L Jackson as the villain Richmond Valentine, the sequel did gain Channing Tatum as Statesman agent Tequila. This film also has the traditional guest star appearance, this time by singer Elton John, instead of Mark Hamill in the first film. The film  features so many famous faces, that even to people who hadn't seen the first film, would see that that many well known stars must mean that the film is going to be good, as the studio is prepared to hire so many famous actors.

The final reason why the film resonates so well with the audience is the way the film series handles the theme of spies. Before the first film, audiences had been bombarded with James Bond films, with a new 007 film being released every other year. But when Kingsman: the secret service was released, many audience members were grateful for the change of heart with making spy movies, as the integration of the humour and a more light hearted tone makes it very different from the likes of James Bond.

So overall, 'Kingsman: The golden circle' is a good and intriguing movie for audience members as it is a sequel to a hit movie, released just two years prior, it features multiple stars, and is a different type of spy movie, making audience members feel like they are watching a different type of movie, even though many things in the Kingsman series are similar to things seen in the James Bond series. 

Story board

Screen play

Mine – A Short Film

{the entire film will be edited to have eerie music the entire time}

Opens with a panning shot of the tunnel, covered in graffiti. It then cuts to a still mid shot of the same tunnel from a slight side view.

Scene 1         Our first character walks casually out of the tunnel, no information is given about them apart from they appear to be just a regular person.

A second character exits the tunnel after him looking a bit sketchy. At this point it isn’t obvious that they are stalking the person, it should seem as if they are just walking the same way.

It then clips to a mid shot further down the path where we see a front perspective of our characters walking.

A non-diegetic voice should then be introduced. This voice should be echoey and represent the evil inside our stalker.

Evil voice  Follow him.

Scene 2       Clip to an over the shoulder shot, over the shoulder of the stalker, the focus should be set on the back of the stalkers head so everything else, including our first character is blurred.

A side mid shot then shows our first character walk into frame. They here something behind them and turn. As they turn it switches to a close up of their face to show the confusion.

We are then exposed to why they are confused when it clips to a long shot of the path behind being empty.

Scene 3      We then see another over the shoulder POV shot from the perspective of the stalker. It should show them peering from a bush. The shot should be tilted so that both characters are in shot. It should indicate to the audience that our second character jumped into the bush. Its at this point the audience becomes aware of the nature of this character.

Evil voice  (laughs in a creepy tone)

Scene 4       Through various different shots(midshot, low angle etc) we continue to follow the two characters walking through the park location.

A POV shot from the stalker's perspective is used as he walks closer to the victim from behind.

Evil voice  He will love us.

Scene 5        Next in a low angle mid shot we see our characters walk round the corner into a dark alley way to intensify the mood.

Another over the shoulder POV shot is used, over our stalkers shoulder as we witness the victim turn around and the stalker, in a sort of comedic way, dive behind a pillar to hide.

Scene 6       A mid shot shows the victim walk up to who we suppose is a friend because they start smiling and looking like they get along. The girl is wearing casual clothes including a red sweater that signifies this character has a particular fate.

It then cuts to a semi close up of the girl shoving the victim on the floor, then it tracks as they get up, brush themselves off and then walk away.

While this happens, the voice speaks again:

Evil voice (progressively getting angrier)  Don’t touch him! Don’t touch him! Don’t touch him!

There is then a low angle floor shot showing the bully walking away. The stalker then steps into the shot showing only his foot, creating a sinister tone in preparation for the next shots.

Yet again there is another over the shoulder POV of the stalker as he quickly approaches the bully in an angry way. As he walks the voice from inside says:

Evil voice  Kill her. Come in it’ll be easy!

In the same shot the bully realises the approach and turns around, only to be punched in the face by the stalker.

It then cuts to a close up of the bully as she comes to her senses and notices that her nose is bleeding. Shocked by this she stumbles backwards.

It cuts to a POV shot from the bullies perspective. Again she is punched but this time it causes her to fall to the ground.

Then there is a low down midshot showing the bully, now on the ground being kicked in the head. As the foot connects it cuts to black to make it seem like she's blacked out.

There is then a shot which focuses on the stalkers hand which will be covered in blood. It should be edited to emphasize the blood. It once again cuts to black and the title fades into the center of the screen.

The audience should think that this is the end. However a tracking shot then follows the hand move up to reveal the stalkers face in a close up. He is covered in blood and the film ends with a sinister and disturbing glare into the camera.

Evil voice  You will be mine.

End

Mood board

American Independant film analysis

What Makes an independent film?

Independent films, or indie flicks, are films that have limited budgets and are made by smaller studios, lack of well known stars, limited set, but usually deal with more pressing topics, such as paedophilia, suicide, homosexuality and satanism. Indie films usually target a niche audience, and don't have much regard for profits, hence why they can make films that target a smaller audience.

Pulp Fiction: 

Pulp Fiction is a indie film, made in 1994 by director Quentin Tarantino. It follows two hitmen, Vincent Vega, played by John Travolta,  and Jules Winnfield, played by Sam L Jackson. The film had a budget of between $8.5 and $10 million, which is normal for an Indie film. It was one of Quentin Tarantino's first movies, and generated a profit of $107.93 million in the U.S alone, and $213 million worldwide. 

The film was one of the first to tackle storylines including hitmen, gangsters, drugs and sexuality, which may be seen more common nowadays, but at the time, would have been targeted towards a niche audience. The film had more well recognised stars in it than a Indie film usually would, John Travolta had gone off the grid for a few years prior to Pulp Fiction, and Bruce Willis had really only been seen In the Die Hard series, and was looking for other films to show off his talent.