North by North West

North By North Wests   one of the best thrillers...

This film is about an innocent New York advertising executive is mistaken for a governmental agent by a group of foreign spies. His life is changed as he is mistaken for Mr. Kaplin. As this he has also been framed for murder, so that the spies are after him also the police are. This film is a long adventure to see who Mr Kaplin and how the get out of this mess.



The director of this film is called Alfred Hitchcock, he's a very famous film director or producing one of the best thriller films of all time. When filming the scenes, he always planned every scene before filming the real scene. This is because in this time period, you didn't have computer for stunt scenes, all the scenes where real. these scene where so crucial that if they failed, it would cost a lot of money to redo.





The main actor in this film is called Carry Grant (Mr Thornhil/Mr. Kaplin)






Representation of women in North by North West

In North by North West men are seen as active and women are seen as passive. This is because Laura Mulveys theory is introduced with the male gaze. This is because in films, women viewed as the objects of male erotic desire in film and audience. She shows that he audience is forced to identify with male gaze.

Laura Mulvey said that in North By North West, the camera man is a male, she knows this because of how the camera is angled, it s like an males eye. In the cinema, the films reflects patriarchal society. Patriarchy and phallocentrism are linked to phallus (penis) what is a symbol of men having power. Example: In cinema, a film has gun what is phallus what is power. 

An example of Laura Mulveys theory is in a scence of North by North west is near to the end of the film where Mr Kaplin finds out that the woman who has been helping him has been working for the people who are wanting to capture him. In this scene Eve Kendal is being controlled by the villains and has not got one bit of control. Even when Mr Kaplin is disrespecting her. She is shown at high angle shot in this scene to look small and weak.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl0JcK4-Dx0

Media Theory - Barthes and stream

Media Theory - Barthes and stream

Engima ( mystery ) - "enigma codes" Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes was born on the 12th November 1915 and died at the age of 64 on the 25th March 1980. He was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. He explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools.

Barthes said "all text are 'complex'" bundles of meaning. He also said that texts may be "OPEN" or "CLOSED".

Barthes has created five codes for enigma, these codes are:
1. The Hermeneutic Code
Is the way the story avoids telling the truth or revealing all the facts, in ordr to drop clues in   through out to help create mystery.

2. The Proairetic code
The way the tension is built up and the audience is left guessing what happens next.

3. The Semantic code
The semantic cod points to any element in a text that suggest a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation which the story suggest.

4. The Symbolic code
This is very similar to the semantic code, but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. This is typically done in the use of antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas.


5. The Cultural code
Looks at the audiences wider cultural knowledge, morality and ideology.




Heroes and villains - "Binary opposite" Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss was born on the 28th November 1908 in Belgium and died at the age of 100 on the 30th October 2009 in France. He was a French anthropologist and ethnologist.

He said narratives can be organised through binary opposition - two thing opposite

Vladimir Propp
Vladumir Propp was born on the 17th April 1895 and died at the age of 75 on the 22nd August 1970. Propp was a literary critic and a scholar who founded the idea that a certain type of character was to be used in every narrative structure. He analysed traditional stones and invented the 8 character rule.



1. Villian 
Fights the hero in some way. This is the character who struggles against the hero. Typically, with some sort of scarring. The villain usually wears dark and mysterious colours and not very attractive. This is to juxtapose between the hero and the villain to show difference. An example of this can be The Joker from Batman.

2. The Princess 
The hero saves them and marries them. This character needs to be rescued from the villain. An example of this can be Gwen Stacy from The Amazing Spider-Man. Shes taken from the villain and rescued.

3. Helper 
Helps the hero in the quest. The helper is ho helps the hero fight against the villain. An example of a helper can be Robin from Batman.

4. Provider 
Prepares the hero and gives him advice and equipment. This Character offers some sort of help to th hero. An example o this character can be Lucius Fox in Batman.

5. Farther 
Gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero

6. Dispatcher
Character who invites the hero to eliminate the evil. An example of this can b Nick Fury from Avengers who collects heroes in order to send them off to fight evil.

7. Hero 
Reacts to the donor. Its the most common type of character type. This is the character who eliminates th villain and win the woman. An example is Spider-Man

8. False hero 
Takes credit for  the heroes action.

Laura Mulvey said that in North By North West, the camera man is a male, she knows this because of how the camera is angled, it s like an males eye. In the cinema, the films reflects patriarchal society. Patriarchy and phallocentrism are linked to phallus (penis) what is a symbol of men having power. Example: In cinema, a film has gun what is phallus what is power. 

An example of Laura Mulveys theory is in a scence of North by North west is near to the end of the film where Mr Kaplin finds out that the woman who has been helping him has been working for the people who are wanting to capture him. In this scene Eve Kendal is being controlled by the villains and has not got one bit of control. Even when Mr Kaplin is disrespecting her. She is shown at high angle shot in this scene to look small and weak.

Rope

This blogg is about a film called "Rope" 1948, it is directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The main actors are James Stewart, John Dale and Farley Granger.

The film is about two men, who have committed a murder and have a little gathering whilst the body is still in their apartment. so during the film, they notice something has happened to David and are suspicious whilst both Brandon and Phillip are nervous. Rupert then notice that something has happened to David and detects that Brandon and Phillip has done something.

The trailer what was released for the film has been made old fashion because there was no technology like there is today. The trailer is so effective because it isn't like a normal trailer, its different and original. This is because it attracts viewers to the screen. The trailer also leaves the viewers suspicious about what has happened and whats next.

In the opening scene, Hitchcock goes straight into the film to  murder, this creates tension because a man has been murdered by two men, we don't know who he is and why he got murdered. After, the body is then placed in an empty box, both characters then different responses to it. one is shocked that what has happened and the other is calm and relaxed.

Rope is based on a play directed from Patrick Hamilton's 1929 play. This play was also based on a  real life event based on Leopold and Loeb case 1924. Leopold and Loeb were upper-class Chicago law students who murdered a teenage boy.
In comparison to Rope, Philip and Brandon are real life murderers in the film.

Hitchcock uses devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliff hangers. Suspense is a main device what Hitchcock has used in Rope. He has done this from the start of the film when Phillip and Brandon trying to prevent the body to been seen. Hitchcock creates scenes when characters come closer and closer to the body, what build tension and then relaxes to keep the audience entertained and excited for whats next.

Dramatic irony is used as well, for example, us the audience know theirs a body hidden. But the characters do not know this. It wouldn't be effective if the audience didn't know about the body because there will be no suspicion and tension  to the audience and they wouldn't be entertained.

The film was made very smartly, because the film looks like it is continuous, however it isn't. The film is made in 10 minutes wheels. this is because there was never a wheel long enough to record. so to do this there are scene where the camera man has zoomed into an object or a character to change the wheel and to carry it on to look like a continuous play.