LO1, Task 2 - Notes

The Fault in Our Stars

• Purpose

The purpose of the film that I have chosen is to entertain. The Fault in Our Stars is entertaining as although it is a sad and moving movie it has funny parts throughout such as when three of the characters, Hazel, Augustus and Isaac egg a girls house. The girls car alarm turns on and her mother comes out and Augustus makes a joke about their cancer. This movie was made for a mass audience as 20th Century Fox is large company that caters for everybody and it is a mainstream company

• Genre

Daniel Chandler (2001) 'Genre means type or category'
Barry Keith Grant (1995) 'All genres have sub-genres'

- horror
-action
-romance
-documentary
-comedy
-sci-fi
-animation
-crime
- tragedy
- fantasy

This movies genre is a romance as the two main characters have a connection and fall in love. I guess this movie could also be classed as a drama as one of the main characters dies and it is about cancer. The sub-genre is romantic comedy or rom-com this is because funny things happen throughout when the two main characters are together or with friends.

• Form

My movie is a feature length film as it has a duration of 2hrs and 13 minutes. The Fault in Our Stars would have been distributed online by streaming and also on DVD and Blu-Ray, it also aired in the movie theatres or cinema before all of this. The target audience is mass and it was for young adults and teens.

• Style

Modern- present day, 21st century
Old-fashioned- set in the past
Nostalgic-
Futuristic-
creates 'verisimilitude'- appears realistic

• Content
• Meaning
• Production Process

hall theory-
















Narrative- Todorov- 5 key Stages in a narrative- only going to look at three (common structure)
- beginning            - equilibrium 'balance' (everything is fine)
- middle                 - disequilibrium 'unbalanced' (problem, enigma)
- end                      - resolution 'new state of equilibrium' (never the same as the first state of equilibrium)

Kate Domaille  " every story ever told can be fitted into one of eight narrative types"

1. Archilles: the fatal flaw that leads to the destruction of the previously flawless or almost flawless person.
2. Candide: the indomitable hero who cannot be put down
3. Cinderella: the dream comes true
4. Circe: the chase, the innocent and the victim
5. Faust: selling your soul to the devil may bring riches but eventually your soul will belong to him
6. Orpheous: The loss of something personal, the gift that is taken away, the tragedy of loss or the journey that follows the loss
7.  Romeo and Juliet: the love story
8. Tristan and Iseult: the love triangle, man loves woman unfortunately they are both spoken for.    

Levi Strauss

Binary opposition- contrast

Stereotyping- example gender- male vs female dominant vs subordinate

Ideology- views and opinions that we realise

Protagonist- leader/ hero
Antagonist- enemy/ villain

Underdog- the person who is not expected to win

Laura Mulvey (1975)

' The male gaze' - the way males see females. She believes that women are 'objectified'
The fault in our stars has a little of this.

Content and Meaning-

Denotation- describe what you can see and or hear
the image denotes a red heart
a red heart is denoted
the denotation of the image is a red heart

Connotation/ Signification- what does it mean? what does it imply? what does it suggest? what does it infer or represent? what is the deeper meaning?

therefore connotes love
love is connoted in this image of a denoted red heart
the connotation of this red heart symbolises love

The denotation of the image is a red heart and a connotation of this is love.

Connotations need to link to either the narrative, the genre or the representation (the representation of people/characters and places)

sound-
Diegesis- the story world, world of the narrative- could be based on versimillitude (can appear to be real) location- realistic or fictional

Diegetic- is natural to the diegesis- natural to the story world- the characters and audience can hear it.

• ambient sound- sounds that are natural to the atmosphere or environment
• dialogue- key conversations that the characters have
• sound effects-

Non-diegetic- only the audience can hear the sounds.

• voice over- can be diegetic but are normally non-diegetic
• Incidental music- the music that is used to reflect the mood of a scene. can comment on the pace and the pitch.
• Music- plays over the top. can be diegetic if there is a radio on in the scene.

Mise on scene-

mise on scene means everything within the frame.
the origin is from the theatre.
is a French word.

encoded- embedded on purpose

always link mise on scene to:

1. stereotypes
2. narrative
3. genre

Things that need to be included:

1. Location
2. Costume/ Make up
3. Props
4. Colours/ Lighting
5. Gestures - significant movements

location is the diegesis. is it realistic. does it create verisimilitude? what does the location suggest? The Fault in Our Stars is set in Indianapolis, Indiana

costume- something you have been told to wear. they are encoded to represent something. to create verisimilitude for the audience.

props- something that is handheld. short for property. significant props in the trailer.

what types of iconology are in The Fault in Our Stars

colours and lighting- create moods and emotions
- lighting - low key lighting or high key/natural lighting.

- low key lighting is encoded when the scene or location has shadows or low light. Mystery/suspense. sometimes foreshadows something bad. fear of the unknown.

- high key lighting is encoded when the scene/location is bright and well lit. connotations- something is won.

Gestures- refer to body movements of a character. they are used to connote

1. star persona
2. gender stereotypes
3. genre of music`

locations and iconography (2-3 examples)
characters and acting gesture (protagonist v antagonist)
costume and make up (protagonist v antagonist)
props (2-3 significant props)
lighting and colour (high key or low key examples)

1. Instruments- connotes music creations
2. The band or singer
3. Secluded place - personal
4. Outdoors- stage

trailer- This Is England- Iconology

- DR Martens
- braces
- the whole costume
- the tattoo of a cross on the middle finger
- shaved head 
- old settings
-alcohol
-big glasses
- small and rundown areas

1. costumes
2. low key lighting
3. characters
4. blood
5. secluded places- characters cannot escape

camera work-


editing-

Production Process- examples of pre-production, production, post-production