Aims and Contexts

Jamie Harper and Jacob Davies

• Urban film, short.
• Target audience, 15 years over, middle-class male/female.
• Applying editing and cinematography to give the audience an idea about the younger brother, emotion of the main character.
• Relationship with friend and bother doesn't last, low-key black and white, location-paris (Eiffel Tower), emotional non diegetic music.
• As the archive I will be gathering music for the film as well as still shots that we could potentially use. Also as well as   

Coursework film script

Film studies script

Jacob sitting in a low key lighting room, close up on eyes showing emotions. Changes angle showing Jacob looking at the window, pans to the window showing brother playing in outside and fades away. Backwards tracking shot of Jacob putting on coat and walking outside away, up-beat urban non diegetic music playing, walks past establishing shot of the Eiffel Tower, walks into Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

Friend tries to uplifts Jacob, showing a 2 shot mid, joining on the walk, another upbeat non diegetic music, Jacob react angry and leavers the shot walking another way but still tracking on friend carrying on walking for a few seconds. Angry aggressive music playing, back in his room, low key lighting again and looking out his window showing his friend looking back fading away

credits

Jacob brother has died- struggling to overcome it. – extreme close up of Jacobs watery eye.- shows sadness.

Tired and looking terrible he looks out of the window- long shot of his faded brother playing in the garden.

Picks up his coat- wanders outside slowly starts walking- tracking mid shot of him walking with upbeat non diegetic music playing in background. Walks to the graveyard.

Friend tries to uplift him, joins him on the walk. 2person mid shot of them talking, friend upbeat, Jacob still down.

 Friend encourages him to move on from this.

Jacob reacts angrily, storms off and tracking shot of behind of him walking away fast. Angry aggressive music being played. Goes back to his room. Low key lighting looking out of the window again. Sees his faded friend in the garden.  

Presentation script

Presentation script: Is Christopher Nolan an Auteur due to his Non Linear narrative? 

Projector: Image of Christopher Nolan shown on screen (item 16). 

Speaker: My research project is based around How Christopher Nolan uses Non Linear narrative in many of his films and how this makes Nolan an auteur. My intention is to talk in depth how my selected films, Memento (1), The Prestige (3) and Batman Begins (2), are hugely influenced by non-linear narrative and how Christopher Nolan creates these films to back up how he is an auteur.  Nolan is a master of creating non-linear narratives (7) and this can be seen in the movies that I have selected to talk about when answering if Christopher Nolan is an auteur due to his non-linear narrative. “The auteur theory is a way of reading and appraising films through the imprint of an auteur (author), usually meant to be the director.” Andre Bazin was the founder, in 1951, of Cahiers du cinema and is often seen as the father of auteurism because of his appreciation of the world-view and style of such artists as Charlie Chaplin and Jean Renoir (11). Auteurs have their own approach to the movies they direct and I think Nolan is an auteur due to his non-linear narrative.

                       

Projector: Memento (1) 

Speaker: This film also backs up my reasoning for Christopher Nolan being an auteur due to his non-linear narrative as this whole film is not played in non-chronological order. The first scene of this film is also the last scene and the rest of the narrative is the main character trying to find clues in order for him to regain his memory so he can find out who killed his wife. Noted for its unusual narrative structure and amnesiac protagonist (4) perfectly backs up how the narrative in this film is not linear because by the main protagonist having amnesia we get an in depth that the protagonist will be a complicated character and by having an unusual narrative structure it implies that narrative is more likely to be non-linear rather than linear narrative. In Memento, whole scenes and sequences appear out of order (5) so this shows that the structure of the movie can’t be linear because having scenes out of order would imply that the movie is non-linear as the movie is not in chronological order. The man who acts as a cinematic clinician, taking a step back to objectively explore these emotions through a quantified, ordered narrative framework (the backwards structure in Memento) (8) shows that Christopher Nolan does not make simple films and instead changes the narrative framework to make it non-linear making his film in a way harder to understand but tries to get the audience to think when watching the movie and not just have everything in chronological order so it’s easy to follow and that you can afford to switch off. Christopher Nolan’s first film was the following and that has a rearranged chronology that prefigures Memento (14) so this shows how the chronology in Memento is not in order compared to the following so you could say that Memento has a more complex narrative by it being non-linear. What gives Memento the aura of an independent film, more than the sparse sets or the use of black-and-white photography, is Nolan’s use of reverse chronology in the narrative structure (12). This shows that what stood out more in Memento was the way Nolan reversed the chronology in the narrative structure and this was put to effect more than black-and-white photography and the narrative structure forces the spectator to take a new approach to making sense of what happens, and in doing so, it exposes the fundamental deception inherent in spectatorship itself (12) so as an audience we have to try to understand the film in a different way and we have to think about the film a lot more than if it was chronologically in order. In Memento, for example, the story is told from both ends at the same time (6) showing that the narrative is non-linear because the opening scene in the film is the last scene played backwards which shows how the narrative is not chronologically in order and also shows the audience how the movie is complicated. Christopher Nolan said in an interview on Memento “effectively tell the story backwards, that way we don’t know just like the protagonist if he has met that person before” (10). Nolan does this because he wants to keep the audience engaged in the movie as if we don’t know what’s happening then we will want to keep on watching to find out and we do find out as Nolan also says “The story is told backwards as a series of flashbacks” (10) so it’s through those flashbacks that we find out what happens and who the main protagonist has met before and because the movie is told through a series of flashbacks it makes the narrative non-linear. Memento’s Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) deliberately uses his amnesia to fool himself into comforting delusions – literally to forget the truth (13) so as an audience we see that this protagonist is a complicated character and because he is complicated it makes it easier for Nolan to use a non-linear narrative as he can play on the flashbacks of the main protagonist to explain the narrative.

Projector: The Prestige (3)

Speaker: This film also backs up my reasoning for Christopher Nolan being an auteur due to his non-linear narrative as the first scene in the film is also the last scene in the movie and the rest of the narrative is showing us how they got to the last scene and also the rivalry between the two magicians. The Prestige, which strikes this critic as Nolan’s most personal—and perhaps greatest—film to date. It is, like so much of the director’s work, a marvel of scrambled chronology, with a narrative that runs along two parallel tracks (15) shows how this movie has a non-linear narrative because of the scrambles chronology which implies that the narrative is not chronologically in order meaning that the narrative is non-linear and by having a narrative that runs along two parallel tracks, this also shows that the narrative is  not in order and that it cuts to two different stories throughout the movie so it keeps the audience thinking what is happening. As in Nolan’s earlier films, Following and Memento, time does not follow a linear chronology in The Prestige (12) and this is because Nolan wants the audience to be engaged in the story which is why the first scene is also the last so the rest of the narrative is us finding out how the two main protagonists get to the last scene and the rivalry between them so because the narrative is not chronologically in order it makes the movie non-linear.  In The Prestige, the film is split into two stories that are from the perspectives of two different characters, and as events in one storyline occur, they add clarity to events that happen in the other (6) so this shows how the two stories of the main protagonists run side by side so the narrative cuts from one to story to the other to keep the audience engaged.

Projector: Batman Begins (2)- scene of flashback to Bruce Wayne's parents being shot.

Speaker: This film perfectly backs up my reasoning for Christopher Nolan being an auteur due to his non-linear narrative as throughout this film there are many flashbacks to when Bruce Wayne was a child and also flashbacks to him growing up and also dealing with the loss of his parents. The film deals with mental issues that Bruce Wayne has to deal with and flashbacks that Wayne has when dealing with the loss of his parents at such a young age. One scene during the film is when we see a flashback of when Bruce Wayne goes to see the head of organised crime and after, the scene cuts back to normal time and shows how Bruce deals with his issues. In Batman Begins, Nolan uses flashbacks heavily in the exposition to bring the audience up to speed about what we are watching while also continuing the main storyline starting from a point in the future (6). This allows Nolan to run two stories side by side with one being flashbacks and the other being the main story narrative and Nolan does this so the audience know what is happening in the main story narrative. This will help the audience keep up with the narrative of the film and understand the background of the main protagonist. You need to explain the story of the main character (9) is a quote Christopher Nolan has used before and this implies to us that Nolan thinks it’s important to explain the story of the main protagonist and through Batman Begins, Nolan does this by using a series of flashbacks of the mains protagonists life so we know the background story of why the character does what he does in the narrative. We see at the start of the film a flashback of when his parents are killed and how Bruce Wayne watches it happen at a young age and because of what sees, he wants to get revenge for his parents death which sets up the rest of the film of Bruce Wayne training to be The Batman. Nolan 

Presentation script for coursework

Presentation script: Is Christopher Nolan an Auteur due to his Non Linear narrative? 

Projector: Image of Christopher Nolan shown on screen (item 16). 

Speaker: My research project is based around How Christopher Nolan uses Non Linear narrative in many of his films and how this makes Nolan an auteur. My intention is to talk in depth how my selected films, Memento (1), The Prestige (3) and Batman Begins (2), are hugely  influenced by non linear narrative and how Christopher Nolan creates these films to back up how he is an auteur. 


Projector: Batman Begins (2)


Speaker: This film perfectly backs up my reasoning for Christopher Nolan being an auteur due to his non linear narrative as throughout this film there are many flashbacks to when Bruce Wayne was a child and also flashbacks to him growing up and also dealing with the loss of his parents. The film deals with mental issues that Bruce Wayne has to deal with and flashbacks that Wayne has when dealing with the loss of his parents at such a young age. One scene during the film is when we see a flashback of when Bruce Wayne goes to see the head of organised crime and after, the scene cuts back to normal time and shows how Bruce deals with his issues. In Batman Begins, Nolan uses flashbacks heavily in the exposition to bring the audience up to speed about what we are watching while also continuing the main storyline starting from a point in the future (6). This allows Nolan to run two stories side by side with one being flashbacks and the other being the main story narrative and Nolan does this so the audience what is happening in the main story narrative. 
Projector: Memento (1)
Speaker: This film also backs up my reasoning for Christopher Nolan being an auteur due to his non linear narrative as this whole film is not played in non chronological order. The first scene of this film is also the last scene and the rest of the narrative is the main character trying to find clues in order for him to regain his memory so he can find out who killed his wife.

Question on City Of God

What is the importance of mise-en-scene and/or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied? (35)


Mise-en-scene is important throughout City Of God and the scene where Rocket first starts delivering newspapers. Rocket is from the favela's in Brazil which is effectively the slums in Brazil. People who are from the Favela's don't normally escape and no matter what they always end up staying in the Favela's. An example of this is when Shaggy and Bernice try to escape with the person from the city but as the car goes to leave it doesn't work, meaning Shaggy has to push but he's shot before meaning he doesn't escape the Favela's as no matter what he can't escape. Bernice doesn't escape as we see a high angle long shot when the car gets started the car just turns back into the Favela's so effectively the car is just going back in circles and never escaping because people from the Favela's can't escape as they are not meant to leave because they wouldn't know what to do when leave. However we see a glimpse of Rocket in a long shot with the Christ the Redeemer statue in the background but the statue is a good distance away from Rocket and is fairly hard to see. Also the statue is blurred as well as Rio De Janeiro and this shows how Rocket is not meant to fit in to the city life as the blurring implies that something isn't right because the shot that we see isn't clear in the background which is different to when Rocket is in the Favela's as the shots are clear nearly all the time and an example of this is when Rocket is a kid in the 1960's and is playing football, the long shot we see of him is clear which suggests that Rocket is meant to be in the Favela's and he fits in there because everything is right in terms of shots.This shows that when Rocket is in a different place other than the Favela's everything isn't right because we don't get clear shots of him, we get blurred extreme long shots of Rio De Janeiro and Christ The Redeemer which means Rocket is not meant to be out of the Favela's and this again suggests that once you are in the Favela's there is no getting out.
Mise-en-scene and sound are both really important throughout City Of God and the very first scene shows that. The film starts with a diegetic sound of a knife being sharpened and we then see the knife being sharpened and this shows us very early on that people living in the Favela's are living on a knifes edge as the directors Fernando Meirelles and  Kátia Lund want us to see how living in the Favela's is dangerous and you never know what is going to happen so there is always that feeling of living on a knife edge, not knowing if you are going to still be alive the next day. The camera then cuts to  chicken and we see lots of cuts to people cooking chicken and a chicken that is still alive and the camera cuts back and forth between these shots. This again implies how everyone is living on a knife edge because one minute you alive, the next minute you are dead and the directors show this by cutting from a chicken which his alive to other chickens being cooked so this shows how living in the Favela's is like living on a knife edge. The music being played throughout this part of the scene is diegetic music as its being played on the streets and the music is traditional Brazilian music and it is one of the only times there is traditional Brazilian culture in the film which shows how the Favela's are so much different to Rio De Janeiro and other big cities in Brazil and we don't see much Brazilian culture in the film. The camera then cuts to the chicken who is still alive, running away which shows the only way to escape being killed in the Favela's is running away and he knows that if he stays he knows what his fate will be, but the chicken is chased by children as we see a tracking shot of the children and the children and all the children have guns which shows how violence is very likely in the Favela's as even young children have weapons which shows how the Favela's is full of violence and crime and that children are introduced to violence and the life of crime at such a young age because they don't go school and have nothing else to do so crime and violence is the only option for these children. The children used for this scene were real children from the Favela's so the directors are trying to show how all this is based on a real life story by not using actors for children and instead using children who actually lived in the Favela's.

Question for La Haine

Q. What is the importance of mise-en-scene and / or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied?

In La Haine mise-en-scene is really important. For example in the scene where they are first on the rooftop in paris they are standing by the edge with Said in the middle of the shot between Vinz and Herbert because there is conflict between Vinz and hubert. When the camera goes to a long shot you can see Paris in the background but Paris is blurred and it's blurred because it shows that Said, Vinz and Hubert don't fit in to Paris as they are underclass and Paris is more upperclass so by blurring Paris it shows that they don't fit in and that they are meant to be there but when they are in The Projects, it is all clear and shows that they do fit in to The Projects rather than Paris. Also by blurring the city Paris it shows how Paris s not meant for them and that they shouldn't really be there. This is important because it really shows how they don't it in to Paris and with them not meant to be there and they are out of their comfort zone. At first in the scene, Paris is not blurred and you can see it quite clearly but then when the camera goes to a 3 person mid shot of the characters and when it goes to the 3 person mid shot, Paris is then blurred to highlight how they do not fit in to the city and how they are not meant to be there. Also when we see Paris fir the first time there is no Eiffle tower so this shows the lack of french culture throughout the film and how Said, Vinz and Hubert are more suited to western culture as while they are standing on the rooftop, there is a lot car beeping similar to how New York is showing that when we see the characters by Paris for the first time there is no French culture and there is more western culture so the characters are influenced by western culture.
Sound is also important in La Haine. For example in the scene where the French DJ is playing music outside the window and mixes two songs. The two songs are Fuck The Police by NWA and 'Non, Je ne regrette rien' by Edith Piaf. These two songs create meaning as by saying Fuck the police it shows how the main character don't agree with the police and they don't respect the police and this down to their background and the place that they live in. this is down to the police attacking Abdul who later on in the film passes away. This song represents how the characters in The Projects feel about the police because of how the police act and treat the people in The Projects. Also with the song being American by American artists, it shows how the people in The Projects are obsessed with the western culture and there is always representations of the western culture throughout the film and Fuck the Police by NWA is another example of this. 'Non, Je ne regrette rien' creates meaning as that means I regret nothing which shows how the characters in the film don't regret anything they do and they regret the actions they make. They may not regret anything they do because the characters are uneducated and don't know the difference between right and wrong so by not regretting anything it shows how maybe they feel that they haven't done anything wrong as they wouldn't know what's wrong and right. Also by mixing these two songs together it shows that the directer Mathieu Kassovitz wants to try and mix French culture with western (American) culture as people in The Projects are massively influenced by the western culture and this shown by them wearing adidas tracksuits and by the music they listen to and the actions they do and the role models they have as Hubert has posters of Muhammad Ali in his bedroom. By mixing the cultures it shows that western cultures are taking over the traditional French cultures. Also the song 'Non, Je ne regrette bien' is one of the only traditional French culture/background that we see during the whole film which shows just how much the people in The Projects are influenced by the western culture and one of the only times we do see French culture, it's mixed with western culture to show that there is very little actual French culture in The Projects.

Small scale research project

Topic of study: Christopher Nolan
Focus study: Auteur/ non linear narrative


Question:

Is Christopher Nolan an auteur due to to his non linear narrative? 

Films:

Item 1- Focus film
Film 1: Memento (2000) - The reason I have chosen this film is because again Nolan uses non linear narrative. the opening sequence of this film is also the last scene of the film played backwards so Nolan uses the rest of the film to show how the main character got to the last scene. The character in Memento has no linear narrative throughout due to his psychological condition that he has lost his memory so that makes it easier for me to relate to how Christopher Nolan uses non linear narrative in his work. The narrative in this film is about how the main character has to find clues to regain his memory in order to find out who killed his wife.

Item 2

Film 2: Batman Begins (2005) - I have chosen this because Nolan uses non linear narrative. It begins in the present tense but does go back to the past tense to tell part of the story and does this to show Bruce Wayne's childhood and how his parents died. Nolan does this to show the audience of the traumatic events that happened to Bruce when he was a child. Christopher Nolan uses flashbacks of Bruce Wayne's life and how the flashbacks makes him into the Batman. This approach has become a 'signature' for Christopher Nolan.

Item 3
Film 3: The Prestige (2006) - I have chosen this because again Nolan uses non linear narrative to help portray the storyline. The film is split into two stories that are from two different characters and Nolan uses events from one storyline to later on link with the other. Also the first scene in the film is also the last scene in the film so Nolan uses the rest of the film to show how the two characters get to the resolution. The Prestige is about two magicians trying to get this magic trick and the first scene shows how one of them already has the magic trick so in the rest of the film Nolan shows us how two rivals battle for this certain magic trick before then ending with the scene we first see.


Articles:

Item 4
http://whatculture.com/film/chris-nolans-memento-non-linear-puzzle-that-launched-a-career.php- I have chosen this article because it implies how Memento is not in chronological order and how it was such a success because of how the events were not in order. The article also discusses how there is an Easter egg with the DVD where you can see the film in chronological order but this effects the plot and doesn't make sense. By showing the film in chronological order it makes you notice how well the film works when shot in non chronological order. I will use the quotes in this article to explain how the film worked a lot better in non chronological order.

Item 5
http://underplex.com/2010/07/non-linear-movies-case-of-christopher.html- I have chosen article because it explores how Nolan uses non linear narrative in some of his films and if it is needed whether to use non linear narrative or not. The article also discusses The Prestige and Memento and how these use non linear narrative and what the movies have that are non linear narrative. the article also discusses The Following which is Nolan's first film and the article discusses if this movie uses non linear narrative.

Item 6
http://www.cinelinx.com/movie-stuff/item/6667-directors-trademarx-christopher-nolan.html- I have chosen this article because it explains how Christopher Nolan uses non linear narrative in Memento and The Prestige so will be vital as the article explains in detail how Nolan uses non linear narrative and also explains why he uses them. The article also has examples of scenes in all 3 of the films I am studying which use non linear narrative. It is therefore a critical source for quotes.


Item 7
http://www.frontrowreviews.co.uk/editorial/a-beginners-guide-to-christopher-nolan/10189- I have chosen this article because it states about what films Christopher Nolan uses non linear narrative in and exactly where in the film he uses it. One of the films this article discusses is Memento which is one of my focus films and the article talks in detail how he used non linear narrative in this film and also in other films that Christopher Nolan has directed like The Prestige and Batman Begins. It is a very good source for quotes.


Item 8
http://www.jonathanlack.com/2014/11/nolan-interstellar-analysis.html?m=1- I have chose this article because it explores how Christopher Nolan doesn't make simple movies and how some of his movies are not in narrative order and the article makes references to Memento and The Prestige. The article also states that Christopher Nolan uses complicated characters and writes about Mementos main character, Guy Pearce, and how he tries to find out about his life and who killed his wife. This therefore makes this article very useful for quotes.

Interviews:

Item 9
Interview- http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=763- I have chosen this interview because the interviewer tries to imply that the first Batman movie is quite linear but Christopher Nolan disagrees and explains how the first Batman movie is played with a lot of memory and flashbacks because in the first film of a trilogy. Nolan states you need to explain the story of the main character which is why Christopher used quite a lot of flashbacks and memory to make the film so Batman Begins does have a non linear narrative to it. This supports my argument for Nolan's signature style.

Item 10
Interview- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYScJZWhaHA- This interview is useful for my question because Christopher Nolan explains how Memento is played backwards in non chronological order so we are in the same position of the protagonist and we don't know what has happened just like the main character. The narrative is played through a series of flashbacks meaning the film has a non linear narrative. Nolan states about why the film is played backwards so we get an insight of what Christopher Nolan was thinking.
Books:

Item 11
Book- Film Studies: The Essentials: Teach Yourself- By Warren Buckland- I have chosen this book because it explains the auteur theory in great detail and also has important quotes that I can use for my research. This book will also help me explain how Christopher Nolan is an auteur because of his non linear narrative and his use of themes in the books I have chosen. The book explains what an auteur is and will help me explain specifically why Christopher Nolan is an auteur.

Item 12
Book- The Fictional Christopher Nolan- By Todd McGowan- I have chosen this book because it states how Christopher Nolan uses non linear narrative in his film Memento and also compares this film to other films that use non linear narrative that aren't directed by Christopher Nolan. This book will help me answer the question as it does mention non linear narrative and it mentions how Christopher Nolan uses non linear narrative and where exactly he does in his films and the reasons why he uses non linear narrative. I will use quotes from this source.

Magazines 

Item 13
Magazine article- http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/christopher-nolan-escape-artist
BFI magazine- This argues how Guy Pearce plays on his amnesia to deliberately forget the truth so he can find the truth out. This shows how this character is a complicated character and makes it easy for Christopher Nolan to use Non linear narrative in Memento because the main character has to work back using notes to find out who killed his wife and with him having amnesia, he can't remember what has happened so this implies how Guy Pearce is a complicated character as his story isn't straight forward.

Item 14
Magazine article- http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/magazine/the-exacting-expansive-mind-of-christopher-nolan.html?_r=0
The New York Times magazine- This magazine article explains how in Memento, the movie is not chronically in order meaning the film has a non linear narrative so this would help me answer my question because the article explains how and why Memento is not played in chronological order. The article also mentions The Prestige and explains the two magicians and also how the film has a non linear narrative so therefore has relevance to my question.

Item 15
Magazine article- http://www.walkerart.org/magazine/2015/christopher-nolan-scott-foundas
WalkerArt magazine- This article is beneficial for me answering my question as the article is about The Prestige and how the film is not in chronological order and about how the movie is played backwards. The article also implies about how Christopher Nolan reverses the narrative in The Prestige which effectively means the movie has a non linear narrative so therefore links to my question and will help in the research i need to gather.

Images

Item 16
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/christopher-nolan-breaks-silence-interstellar-749465- I have used this image because this will be displayed on my projector  at the start of my presentation as it is an image of Christopher Nolan so will beneficial to show at the start of my presentation.

Rejected items

Film- The Dark Knight- I rejected this item because I think there is nothing from this film that would help me answer my question. The film doesn't really have any non linear narrative so therefore I don't think this film would help me in any way which is why I have rejected this film. The film wouldn't help me in any way for my question so this why I have rejected this film.



Article- https://impossiblevsreality.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/authorship-in-film-christopher-nolan-auteur/- I have rejected this item because although it talks about Christopher Nolan being an auteur it doesn't mention anything about him being an auteur due to his non linear narrative so this is why I decided to reject this item as I felt it wasn't beneficial for the question that I am studying.



Article- http://variety.com/2015/film/news/christopher-nolans-next-movie-coming-in-2017-1201588444/- This article has been rejected because although the article is about Christopher Nolan, it has no information about what type of films that he makes. The only information this article contains is details about when his next movie is going to come out, which company he is working with and people he has worked with previously when he has directed other movies.



Film- Interstellar - I have rejected this film because I do not feel it is beneficial for my coursework and the question I am doing. This film does not really feature any non linear narrative so therefore has no relevance to the question i am doing, hence why I have rejected the film. The film does feature a flashback but not enough to be able to talk about so that is why I have rejected the film.