Presence of Women in Star Wars

After watching the recently released teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I began to look into the growing presence of women both on screen and behind the scenes of the franchise. The Force Awakens (2015) introduced the character Rey played by Daisy Ridley and her plotline is likely to develop significantly in the next episode. I particularly liked Rogue One (2016), revolving around the character Jyn Erso played by Felicity Jones, as it was a much more personal take on the conventions of the films. Jones' character is portrayed as an incredibly strong individual both physically and mentally. In shaping the character, director Gareth Edwards said he wanted to avoid the mistakes often made when writing female characters. I also found a really interesting article in the New York Times about women in Star Wars, with particular focus on those working behind the camera.

Clique

BBC Three have recently released a new TV series called clique which follows the lives of two teenagers and their lives at universities however the plot begins to become much for complex. The BBC summarise the story as "In the first year of uni, childhood best friends Holly and Georgia find themselves drawn to an elite clique. When Holly begins to suspect darkness lurks beneath the glamour, she will do anything to save her soulmate."

I first decided to watch the show as it is written by Jess Brittain who also wrote the Channel 4 series Skins. In an interview with the BBC, Brittain said that she hoped the quite extreme themes of friendship and challenges will resonate with young people but particularly young women. The series was filmed in Edinburgh which I find quite interesting as its so common for programmes to be based in London  and surrounding areas. From the two episodes that I've watched so far its clear that the series is driven by strong determined female characters with regard to both their personal and professional lives.

Full Interview : http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/a1acff0d-f7f3-4ef5-86fc-d03d73c5c6a8

La La Land: A Classic?

After seeing La La Land, I was immediately a huge fan and evidently so are most as it has already grossed $405.2million from its $30million budget. It has proven successful with people of all ages, avid fans of musical theatre and film geeks alike. I recently watched Youtuber and filmmaker Hazel Hayes' video highlighting why Damien Chazelle's film is likely to see years and years of success. The film partners modern life and cinema with classic American musicals, allowing it to be successful on an international scale.

Damien Chazelle: Whiplash and La La Land

The director and writer of the film, Damien Chazelle was initially unable to gain funding for the release of Whiplash so he instead turned it into a short film and entered his work into the Sundance Film Festival in 2013. The film won the Short Film Jury Award, and as a consequence he gained funding with an eventual budget of an $3.3 million. "I think it's a great film to open up Sundance because we made it in 19 days, and they edited it in nine weeks, which is unheard of. So, it took a lot of grit and hard work to get us here," Miles Teller told The Hollywood Reporter at the film's after party. Whiplash was released in the USA on October 10th 2014 and 16th January 2015 in the UK. In the opening weekend it accumulated $135,888. Grossed nearly $50 million worldwide. 

I first watched the film shortly after its UK release in 2015, and my first thought was that I'd never seen such tension or anticipation in a film not associated with the horror genre. Use of straight cuts between shots in quick succession and parallel editing enhance the tension provided by Miles Teller's and J K Simmons' performances. This is demonstrated perfectly in the short clip above. An establishing shot of the stage, cutting to an over the shoulder shot of Simmons' character Fletcher in the foreground, pausing for a second before focus is given to Andrew on the drums in spite of the clearly clenched fist dominating about a third of the shot. All of this occurs in the first five seconds of the scene, capturing the rapid pace of the film accompanied by the drums reoccurring presence. Lights dim, but neither character alters their position or expression leaving the audience waiting, as the drums continue. A low angle shot of Andrew is followed by one of my favourite shots, a tracking POV shot of the drum set where it seems the camera can't quite keep up then cutting to a birds eye view of the drum set. Similar close ups are repeated throughout the film to capture the emotional intensity that drives this film. From the point of around 1:40 minutes in the clip, the choice to have no other sound but the drums for a short while, with no enhanced sound of breath or reaction from ensemble aids the camera work in illustrating Andrew's determination and focus the story thrives on.

Aside from the camera work, the very message of the story is what makes it one of my favourites. No, its not a light hearted easy watch but that's what I love about it. It challenges the concept of the American Dream, channelling this idea through the character of Fletcher. He enforces the idea that it takes a lot to be great, beyond skill you require luck. In the setting of a school filled with an abundance of talented students Teller's character is pushed to the edge in order to see himself succeed. Andrew encapsulates the idea of passion, continuously hindered by the words and spitefulness of Fletcher. By doing so Chazelle makes it very easy for the audience to identify with the topic of the film, taking an immediate almost furious dislike to J K Simmons' character. My favourite quote from the film reads "I'd rather die drunk, broke at 34 and have people at a dinner table talk about me than live to be rich and sober at 90 and nobody remembered who I was"

 

Similarly to Whiplash, Damien Chazelle's upcoming film La La Land tells a story driven by the ambition of its two protagonists, a jazz pianist and an aspiring actress. The film has received five star reviews and especially following  an advanced screenings at the BFI film festival 2016, a hype has been created around the its upcoming release. The film is set to be released in the USA on December 16th 2016 and January 13th 2017 in the UK. As shown in the poster below, Chazelle's newest project has received not only astounding reviews but also multiple wins, creating high expectations for the awaiting audiences and success at events such as the Oscars. Many have said it's set to dominate such award ceremonies in the year to come.

The Missing Review

Following the success of the first series staring James Nesbitt, the BBC has recently aired the second series which focuses on the detective Julien Baptiste and the case of Alice Webster. Initially, the series caused confusion due to the format of the editing and storytelling. Use of continuous flashback and flash forward relies on the attention and intelligence of the audience to understand the storyline and piece information together. A variety of establishing shots and lingering close ups infer things to the audience to remember for later in the eight episode series. Cool toned lighting with blue hues establish a mysterious, sad tone for the programme which at the beginning of the series only draws even further focus to the yellow camper van amongst a deserted landscape. The opening of the series immediately conjures up a variety of questions for the audience. My favourite aspect of the opening is the seemingly hand held tracking shot from behind the protagonist Alice. The shots cut between her at the time of her kidnap and when she has managed to escape. In a forest, the exploration of depth of field, with trees in the foreground allows the clips are edited together at points where Alice's character goes briefly out of sight then re emerges as her grown up self.  It appears that there are two stories, with corruption at the heart of both and gradually the two are seen to overlap with the key characters of Henry Reed and Brigadier Stone shown below. Following episode four, however, I am worried that the storyline with become too far fetched and distract from it's emotional intensity.

Ellen

This TV film, created by a team of "breakthrough" film makers aired a few weeks ago on Channel 4. After watching it I believe it contains a number of shots and settings I would love to experiment with in our film opening. The concept of the slow motion party scene captured briefly in the trailer is something I would love to incorporate into our opening. The plot draws focus to the life of  a young teenage girl, and the neglect by her family that  ultimately leads her into a highly vulnerable position. Ellen's character is immediately established to the audience as boisterous and disrespectful through her responses to other characters in her life in spite of any consideration for the relationships. This attitude only exaggerates her affection toward Joe Dempsie's character Jason, and although he is initially portrayed as her escape from life on the estate, he later proves to pose a danger to Ellen. A poignant message is delivered to conclude the film, where again use of slow motion creates emotional intensity. Although the film does not explore a greatly elaborate plot, the drama is character driven, a message relevant to modern day society is delivered through the fate of Ellen. In a bedroom, surrounded by a number of older men the camera dolly zooms out in conjunction with the repeated line "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?". Out of the room, then the house, then the street onto the next road highlights the almost ignorance of people and their perception of who is deemed vulnerable.

In an interview for Radio Times, Sarah Quintrell says “I feel there is a section of our society – young females – who aren’t heard because we have this idea of vulnerability in our society. We have a perception of what a vulnerable girl looks like and that is maybe someone who’s quiet or malnourished or skinny. Vulnerability comes in many guises but one of them fools people and that’s if a girl is mouthy, difficult, smoking, drinking – she has sex and decides to explore her sexuality. She seems to be almost living like a grown up and rather than using those things as a sign that maybe they need someone to step in and check they’re okay or give boundaries, we use that as a sign to write them off"