Black Swan - Inspiration

Black Swan (2010), Directed By Darren Aronofsky

This scene from Black Swan inspired us when thinking about what shots to use during the beginning dance sequence. I really liked how the camera focuses on the characters face so we can see all her emotions during the performance, we are going to take inspiration from this and have a few close-ups of Sophie while she is dancing to show her determination and passion for dance. The other thing I really liked about this sequence is the way the camera spins round as if we are the character dancing, this is a clever way to draw the audience into the film and adds a sense of realism to the film.

Wasp - Inspiration

Wasp (2003), Directed by Andrea Arnold

We took lots of inspiration from the short film wasp as this film is full of hand-held camera movement and has a phenomenal sense of realism to it. All throughout the film the camera was hand-held, this drew me right into the action and made me follow the story of the character closely. We hope to use hand-held camera work within the second part of our film to make it edgy and more realistic, we want the audience to draw a strong parallel between Sophie and her two different lives. The use of sound within Wasp also adds to the realism, they use diegetic sound all throughout the film, after watching Wasp we are going to consider just using just diegetic sound within the second part of the film again to add to the realism of the film but also to draw the audience in to the action and get them to follow the character and her actions closely.  

Fish Tank - Inspiration

Fish Tank (2009), Directed by Andrea Arnold

After watching the film 'Fish Tank' during our media lessons at school we decided to try and re-create some of the shots which we enjoyed watching. Three of the scenes we hope to take inspiration from are below.

Medium shot of Mia is looking out of her window. I really enjoyed this sequence as we really get to see the characters venerability. The shot is peaceful, with Mia gazing out the window wondering about her life. Before this we see a sun flare and the light streaming through the window onto the characters face. I really liked the peacefulness of this shot and the simplicity. We hope to try and re-create this shot with our character Sophie to show the binary opposite between her 'normal' life and her 'night' life.


Tracking, Hand-Held shot of Mia walking down the road. This is the another scene which stood out to me. The sense of realism within this shot was effective. We felt like we were following Mia on the other side of the road, walking with her. I really liked the hand-held camera work as this made the film more realistic and edgy. We hope to follow Sophie down the street using this hand-held camera technique as we want to draw the audience into the action and symbolize Sophie's current mixed up mental state and venerability.

We will be using fragmentation during the first sequence of our film where Sophie is dancing. Within Fish Tank Arnold uses lots of these shots to depict Mia as a vulnerable young girl who struggles with her identity. These types of shots are interesting and shall add a sense of mystery to our film.

Andrea Arnold - Director

As the director of our film I have decided to do some research into other directors whose work I enjoy. At school we have been watching Fish Tank and also the short film Wasp, both directed by Andrea Arnold. I really enjoyed both films and have been looking into the different film techniques Arnold uses.

Andrea Arnold's films are of the social realism genre.
Social Realist films focus on the raw reality of everyday life.

Techniques
Within Arnold's films she uses lots of hand-held camera work, this helps draw the audience into the action and also gives the film a sense of realism, we will be using this technique within our film to give the sense of distortion and also to add realism. Arnold also uses lots of binary opposites within her films (especially Fish Tank), she uses lots of nature shots which can be compared with Mia and her sink estate life. These binary opposites help the audience to understand the difference between her two 'lives', within our production we will be using opposites between Sophie's 'ballet' life and her 'night' life.

Fish Tank 

Ken Loach - Director

We have learnt a little bit about Ken Loach during our media lessons and I was inspired to do even more when I found out that he focuses on portraying 'British Realism' in his films. Within our production we also hope to add a certain realist element which is why I think it is beneficial for me to research Ken Loach.

Ken Loach was born in 1939 in Warwickshire, Kent. His most famous works include, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, KES, Sweet Sixteen and Bread & Roses.

All his films focus on gritty British life and come under the category of social realism. Some of his most famous work covers the topics of Homelessness and Child Abuse. Ken Loach prefers to use unknown talent who have had some of the life experience of the characters they portray within his films rather than employing Hollywood actors, I feel that by doing this he adds realism to his films as the characters really come alive. Loach is often said to have not given the actors the full script so as they can respond to situations in the narrative naturally. Due to this Loach's work has been described as 'naturalistic' and I feel that his films do give off this feeling due to the realistic atmospheres and characters that feature within them. Within our production we hope to create natural scenes and atmospheres just like Loach has managed to achieve in so many of his films.

Loach once said, referring to the 1948 film Bicycle Thieves, "It made me realise that cinema could be about ordinary people and their dilemmas. It wasn't a film about stars, or riches or absurd adventures." Loach set out to create films which were very different to the normal blockbusters which dominate cinema. I admire Ken Loach's directing style and would love to create an edgy film which depicts real life, just like his productions.