Film Assignment

Kill Bill:
I am writing to explain the symbolic codes shown within two separate movies by different directors. The First one that I will analyse is Kill Bill by Quentin Tarantino. 

Quentin Tarantino has directed this movie Kill Bill, along with a number of different movies such as Pulp Fiction and Django. From these movies we can concur that Tarantino specialises in violent western style movies, some with guns, and some with swords. 

The Director chooses to use facial expressions and colours to present characters in certain ways towards the audience, or symbolise different things and metaphorical terms. For example, the protagonists jump suit throughout the movie, reminiscent of bruce lee's is yellow. This colour contradicts the personality of the protagonist, because yellow connotes happiness and cowardice, the opposite of what she is. Personally, I feel like towards the end of the movie, she begins to lose this form, and genuinely begins to connote happiness, when she stops wearing her yellow jumpsuit and finally meets her daughter, symbolising her hanging up her "Sword". Her facial expression is consistently neutral throughout the whole movie, connoting that her mind and goal has not changed throughout her journey, however supporting my previous point, in Volume 2 when she meets her daughter and finally shows everyone (the audience) a smile through mise en scene. 

The director chose to place Uma Thurman in the main role, since she was taller than most people, including the average man. Therefore she is shown as independent, and mentally stronger than any one else shown within the film since she is the tallest. I think this was extremely effective, since it makes her look more intimidating. A lot of the time, when the protagonist is within the shot, a close up is placed unto her face, along with a 5 second intensifying tune, showing just the top of her head down to her nose. This shot reminds the audience again, who the focus is on, and who's side we are following throughout their journey. When in a fight scene, the camera may sometimes distance itself, showing the fighters interact, allowing the audience to see the whole battle, but everyone is a silhouette. This connotes that the identity's of everyone else don't matter. This theory is backed by the fact that most of the people killed are presented by miseducating en scene to wear the same uniform and appear as just cannon fodder. 

There seems to be a large amount of shoulder shots throughout the movie, connoting the situations which the protagonist chooses to put behind her and chooses to focus on. For example, in Volume 1 when she kills the final woman in the bonsai Tree garden, leading to her body dropping, and Beatrix turning around to face the opposite direction, again, connoting her putting solved problems behind her. Mise en scene presents the main weapon used, to be a sword, however, the cast are not living within medieval times therefore should it be necessary for them to use such primitive weapons? Well from my point of view, I see it as a sign of honour and being a true Duelist. During the scene vs Cottonmouth, we see that only until they both receive swords, do they begin to fight elegantly and with "honour" and almost respect towards the other person. Nevermore, Beatrix contradicts this at the end of the duel, ripping out cottonmouths last eye, and leaving her blind. Again we see this symbolism of her leaving her old ways behind her, as this is the last duel in the movie she has, proving to the audience that she no longer cares about honour. In my eyes, this tells me that there would be no sequel however there is one, therefore this ending is extremely misleading and could be harmful to the popularity of the sequel since no one was expecting it.

Moving on swiftly to speak about the actors and their movements, Uma Thurman was likely told to by the director, to move slowly though, with quick succession when completing an action. This actually makes her resemble, in my opinion, a snake, usually following her prey then striking when they least expect it. We see more of this in her fight with gogo, where she's slow throughout the whole duel, until the time comes where she actually kills her with a swift hit. Her long, slender body also resembles a snake, making Uma Thurman perfect for the role of Beatrix Kiddo. There are more examples of her slow movements, such as when she needs to get her toes moving again, but her movements are slow due to her being a coma not long before. Moreover, we see her lying down underneath one of the killers Caravans, preying on them like a predator, like a snake. This scene sent chills down my spine, and I think it really expressed her personality to me and the rest of the audience very well.

Moving back to one of my previous points, costume, however this time I will mention gogo, the girl from the photo above. She sports a japanese themed school uniform, with a skirt. This is instant juxtaposition, since she, herself, is a guilty killer. This is juxtaposing since her uniform is meant to connote an innocent school girl, although, I see this as an effective way for her to complete her job better and infiltrate certain people to kill them. We see this when she's first introduced, and actually seduces a man to draw him close then kill him after. Speaking of costumes, moving back to Beatrix, and her Black stripe leading down her tracksuit. This may connote a split personality, or a person with her will or past split in half, I'm not 100% Sure, but I see it as a symbol of a Parting or Break.

To conclude, Quentin Tarantino clearly has a strong focus, sense and understanding of Mise en Scene. He uses it quite effectively, through Camera shots, Facial expressions and Props.


Charlie and the Chocolate Factory:
Here, I will be writing to talk about the symbolic Codes of the infamous "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" directed by Tim Burton. Tim Burton has a very unique style in the movies he creates and you can see, from the beginning, that they can be portrayed as quite Dark and almost gothic. In light of this, people still seem to take a liking to his movies, such as Edward ScissorHands, Alice in Wonderland, Corpse Bride and of course, my main topic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

To begin, in my opinion, the message sent from this movie is actually teaching younger children and adults alike, the dangers of Greed and Gluttony. But how does Tim Burton do this? The house setting of Charlie, the main protagonist, is slanted, run down and unfortunately derelict compared to the multitude of other houses, connoting poverty, which is what Charlie lives in. This is the audiences first signal to how we shouldn't be greedy, as we see that charlie and his family are surprisingly happy with everything they have and are grateful. To reinforce this code, Tim Burtons Actors were required to wear worn out clothing, (Charlie's Family) and through this, the audience were able to take note of what their financial situation looked like.

This had a contrasting impact on the audience, forcing them to be upset in this situation, although they also feel sympathy for the characters and want them to be placed out of their poverty-type situation. Moving on, one of the main characters in the movie, Willy Wonka, uses mise en scene to present himself wearing a purple coat and black top hat. The Connotations of Purple are luxourious, wealthiness and ambition. These are all traits which we see Willy Wonka with throughout the text. In addition, Charlie consists on wearing a red and blue checkered sweatier. The Significance of this is that red connotes passion and love, as we see charlie has this for his family, and blue connotes intellect, which we see Charlie has a lot of over the other four children who recieved golden tickets. Talking about golden tickets, the colour golden carries connotations of stature and wealth, similar to purple. This may be why Willy Wonka, of all people, was the one to initiate the act, and why the children are so obssessed over recieving one. 

Whenever a child is about to be eliminated, the rest of the crew are usually quite the distance away, symbolising them as bystanders to the situation, and that they will not involve themselves unless necessary. Through the camera shots, for example when Augustus goes up the chocolate tube, it's a high shot looking up at him, drawing everyones attention, however for negative reasons as he turned out to be an attention seeker. 


Mise en scene:

• set design
• staging costumes
• props

Acting:

• Facial expressions
• body language
• vocal quality
• movement
• body contact

Colour: (symbolism of colour resource on the blog page)
dominant colour used

• contrasting colours
• colour symbolism 

Technical Codes:

• Camera work (resource on the blog)
• Positioning of the camera
• movement of the camera
• Framing
• Exposure

Editing: 
The director will purposely manipulate images in the film

• Editing
• graphic edits
• Rhythmic edits
• spacial edits
• temporal

Audio:

• Actors dialogue
• special effects
• music used in the film

lighting:

• how is lighting used for specific scenes