FM4 - Urban Stories: Chungking Express

 Urban Stories - Chungking Express

Wong Kar-wai is seen as one of the filmmakers able enough to capture the postmodern qualities of contemporary cities such as Hong Kong. Ping-kwan posits that in Chungking Express Wong Kar-wai creates a postmodern pastiche out of different parts of the city, but because the names refer to real places they reconstitute the cinematic city from its parts –

a postmodern pastiche of Chungking Mansion in Tsimshatsui and a fast-food place called Midnight Express in the Lan Kwai Fong area in Central. The pastiche of the names of places in the title, like the pastiche of the two unrelated stories in the film, helps us to blur geographical divisions and discredit referentiality. Yet the use of the actual names of these two places, as well as the sensitive lingering of the camera and the attention to details in art direction, also redirect our attention to the specific urban sites in Hong Kong.

Read more about Hong Kong and 'Chungking Express' in chapter 4 pg.94. Also useful for Film Noir and French New Wave.

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FM4 - Urban Stories: Chungking Express

First and foremost, Chungking Express is about relationships in an urban environment. The Hong Kong that we see in Wong's film is a densely populated, multi-national environment that influences the characters. He said, "I think a lot of city people have a lot of emotions but sometimes they can't find the people to express them to. That's something the characters in the film share. Tony talks to a bar of soap; Faye steals into Tony's home and gets satisfaction from arranging other people's stuff; and Takeshi has his pineapples. They all project their emotions on certain objects."

For all of its stylish camerawork, Chungking Express is ultimately a film about human behaviour. One of the joys in watching this movie is seeing how these characters interact with one another. How they act and react to what each other says and does. The film holds a hypnotic spell over the viewer as they get sucked into these characters' lives and begin to care about them. As one character observes, "But for some dreams, you'd never wake up." And that's the feeling one gets from this film. You never want it to end.

Read more @ erasingclouds.com

FM4 - Urban Stories: Chungking Express/La Haine World Cinema Contexts

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FM4 - Urban Stories: Chungking Express

Urban Stories : Chungking Express

World Cinema Masterpiece: Chungking Express

Extract from: Left Field Cinema 

One of the most remarkable aspects of Chungking Express is its visual style. A thousand words could be used to describe this but none of them will ever truly capture Doyle and Wong’s poetry in motion which through truly inspired and unique cinematography achieves something very, very rare. Their distinct hand held style gets them close to the action, so close that no matter what format you view the film in you get a truly honest sense of location; but simultaneously the film is for large sections treats the audience as voyeurs observing these struggling couples from behind a jarred doors, in mirror reflections or from behind a bustling crowd, through this technique there are some excellent uses of deep focus. Along with this they’ve combined a dizzy sense of motion (the shots are rarely static) and dazzling colours, opulent yellows and deep blues, along with many others from a wide spectrum. Although there has clearly been some heavy colour grading it all feels natural; in contradiction with the heavy use of artificial light. It’s almost an hour into the film before we receive our first glimpses of sunlight, and even then it’s very brief. Otherwise it is almost entirely lit from the varying lights of the city, often combining warm and cold light in effective ways: at one point the woman in the blonde wig walks through a red light followed by a blue, followed by another red and so on. This explosively exciting cinematography is matched by Chungking Express’ speedy editing, often jumpcutting scenes and moving to bizarre cutaways, it all breezes by at an extraordinary pace for a film which doesn’t really have many events. Its effervescing style is both deliciously distinctive; elusively hypnotic and captures the beauty of this intoxicating metropolis. If these adjectives seem vague and flakey then I apologise, but honestly no words will suffice; perhaps the best description which others have used is kaleidoscopic.

This aspect is one which helps elevate Chungking Express to masterpiece status. Another aspect is Faye and Cop 663’s unquestionable and unquantifiable sexual chemistry. Faye has a magical energy which once again evades definition or explanation; likewise, Leung’s stiff, ridged but quietly contemplative, sweet, and heart broken Cop 663 contrasts well, but the attraction between them is what makes the film. Even when they’re not in the same room as one and other, the connection can be still felt, and this is what Chungking Express is about, the brief and fleeting connections between people worlds apart in the bustling city state of Hong Kong; connections created between characters who barely know each other. Wong uses all of his narrative restraint in keeping the two stories simple and yet utterly involving. He gives us narration and idiosyncrasies of all the major characters; be it the Woman in the blonde wig’s continual wearing of sunglasses and a raincoat, as she doesn’t know “when it will rain or when it will shine”; Cop 223’s obsessive compulsion - buying tinned pineapples with a May 1st expiry date; Cop 663’s habit of talking to a bar of soap, a towel or even cuddly toys, or Faye’s slightly irritating continual playing of “California Dreaming” by the Mamma’s and the Pappa’s (audiences will be forgiven if they’re a little sick of this song by the time the closing credits role.)

The characters are also reverse clichés in many respects, not so much now but in the year of the production the stereotypical Hong Kong police officer was basically Chow Yun Fat’s Inspector Yuen from John Woo’s 1992 action flick Hard Boiled. A dedicated police man whose life revolves around his occupation, who’s ruthless with a firearm and shoots first asks questions if the plot gives him room to. If we’re honest the evolution of this stereotype hasn’t been too profound in the years that followed, post hand over and we’re still seeing this sort of dedicated portrayal in Wai-keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak’s Infernal Affairs. Granted Tony Leung’s portrayal of Chan Wing Yan in Infernal Affairs is far more complex than the characters of an average Woo film but it still amounts to the same type of police officer; flawed and dedicated to the point of being totally engulfed by his work. In Chungking Express neither Cop 663 or Cop 223 can be described as hardened tough guys, 223 gets to briefly chase a criminal in the early stages of the film but other than this minor exception neither of them are seen doing any police work, their stories are not about their jobs, but about them as people. This is a master stroke from Wong as it allows the narrative to abstract itself from the potentially sensationalised nature of city policing. Cop 663 and 223 are instead shown to be real human beings, emotional, heartbroken, and grieving for the relationships they’ve lost; rather than being the typical laconic male figure of strength and solidarity they are instead a rather talky pair, needy and desperate for affection. The Woman in the Blonde Wig is also another contortion of a noir cliché, taking the femme fatal role, and instead of making her cold heart melt Wong keeps her totally consistent, ruthless and professional up to the end of her story. Then there’s Faye the lively girl working at the midnight express, a free spirit and a true eccentric, traditionally this sort of behaviour in woman is portrayed as “nice, but needs to be controlled by her strong willed husband” well here, like the Woman in the Blonde Wig, Faye stays faithful to her spirit right up to the end and never compromises her lifestyle for a man. In this sense both of the female leads don’t develop much, but they’re not in need to development, they are who they are and there’s no problem in that; it is both the cops who need to sort their lives out and get over their lost loves.

Wong shot the film in a two month lull while the much bigger shoot of Ashes of Time had ground to a hault. He literally shot Chungking Express on-the-run. Never stopping to breath they completed the shoot in chronological order within 24 days; they did this through low-budget and resourceful film making using crew’s houses and flats as locations for the homes of the characters. This guerilla style is part of the method which allowed Wong to capture the kinetic vibrancy of Hong Kong, a bustling street scene is actually shot in a bustling street, a person’s house is actually a person’s house. Night or day, light or dark Wong shot it how it was. Writing the scenes the night before the shoot, the film feels fresh and desultory - because it was, never given time to stagnate everything moves faster than you’ll ever expect.

World Cinema Masterpiece: Chungking Express and Fallen Angels - Podcast: Download here

'Chungking Express': Key Scenes

FM4 - Urban Stories: Chungking Express

At the time that 'Chungking Express' (1994) was being made, Hong Kong was undergoing changes and moving ever closer towards the millennium while another historical moment, its handover to China in 1997, was just round the corner. There seemed to be so many possibilities for the future; both bad things and good things could happen. Citizens of Hong Kong became increasingly anxious about the unknown future. They were worried that political changes would result in a decrease of freedom, an undesirable change in lifestyle, and a negative effect on the economy. Yet at the same time, they were happy to be part of their motherland again. Now, with the help of China’s abundant resources, Hong Kong could continue to excel in its economy and diverse culture, and even further push the country’s prosperity.

In this paper (extract above), Elaine Chan discusses how the portraits of the characters in 'Chungking Express', apparently a film about love stories, represents the Hong Kong citizens at that time.

Another useful article can be found @ Jump Cut

Urban Stories: Powerpoint

Some key phrases and terms for 'Urban Stories'. Click on the image above.

Wong Kar-wai - Auteuristic Themes/Style

Wong Kar-wai is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylised, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild (1990), Ashes of Time (1994), Chungking Express (1994), Fallen Angels (1995), Happy Together (1997) and 2046 (2004). His film In the Mood for Love (2000), starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, garnered widespread critical acclaim. Wong's films frequently feature protagonists who yearn for romance in the midst of a knowingly brief life and scenes that can often be described as sketchy, digressive, exhilarating, and containing vivid imagery.

Wong was listed at number three on the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound Top Ten Directors list of modern times.

Urban Stories: Visual Revison Guide for Annotation

Urban Stories: Brief Student Response

"The stylistic choices made by filmmakers define not just the look but also the meaning of a film". How far far is this true of the films you have studied for this topic?

I personally agree with the quote and believe it's very true in the films I have studied for this topic. In La Haine the chosen stylistic techniques give each situation a great deal of contextual meaning. For example in the rooftop scene, above Hubbert's burn out gym, we see Said ascend through a very small gap in the roof to get to the rooftop. This could be to represent how difficult it is to escape to freedom, as the chances are very small. Through a 360° camera shot of the entire rooftop we are able to see that all the youths have achieved a certain degree of freedom, as they are free and have the power to do what they like in this environment. Although they do have power in this situation they are still trapped by the Urban mise-en-scene of their environment shown due to the relatively small space they occupy through the 360° panning shot. Also through the stylistic choice of diegetic sound we can hear the sound of American hip-hop being played on a 'ghetto-blaster', a clear aural and visual representation of the the influence of American culture upon these Urban Parisian youths. They are also dressed in the American street clothing of hip-hop artists and break dancers; baseball caps, hoodies, tracksuit tops and baggy jeans. Everyone is freely smoking, drinking, eating hotdogs and discussing American movies and guns. As Vinz and Hubbert discuss Vinz's desire to break the law during the riots and be placed in jail (a martyr to their cause) conflict erupts with the entrance of the Mayor and police  in the street below. As Vinz looks over the edge of the rooftop the Mayor and the Police are filmed from a high angle and the youths shout abuse from their dominant position above to exert their power at this particular point. This is a clear stylistic representation of the social situation in French culture during the mid 90's Paris between the youths and the government.

Also:
Very Good Notes on Section A: Urban Stories

'La Haine'

BOYZ IN THE BANLIEUE:
MATTHIEU KASSOVITZ’S "La HAINE"

Matthieu Kassovitz’s recent film La Haine [Hate] confronts the viewer with a France far removed from both the broad boulevards of the capital and the small rural towns of the provinces. Instead, the setting, a banlieue of Paris, and the protagonists, an African, an Arab, and a Jew, offer dramatic illustrations of the social changes and racial tensions that characterize the contemporary scene. La Haine tells the tale of what happens when a country imports labor in times of economic growth, and then fails to provide for these previously needed immigrants when their labor becomes expendable.

The film centers around the experiences of three male suburbanites [banlieusards] on the day after riots have occurred in their housing development in response to the beating of one of their friends by the police. The plot is loosely based on the actual police beating, during a 1986 student protest, of a young Arab, Malik Oussekine, who died from his wounds. Each of the film’s characters comes from one of the three groups most visible as outsiders in today’s France. Hubert, a young African, is a small-time hashish dealer whose boxing gym was destroyed in the vandalism of the riots. He seems to be the most rational of the three friends, but now that his life’s work has been taken away from him, he will do anything to escape his neighborhood. Saïd, an Arab, seems unwilling to acknowledge the problems of his surroundings except by expressing amazement or incomprehension of them. And Vinz is a Jewish youth who finds a gun that was lost by a police officer during the riots. He is the angriest of the three and does not hesitate to offer violence as a means of releasing his bitterness.

Several aspects of the milieu of these young men require elucidation. In the United States, the suburbs connote a refuge for the middle and upper class outside the problems of an urban environment, whereas in France, the term for suburb, banlieue, suggests an entirely different meaning. Surrounding Paris on all sides, banlieues are planned housing developments for the working classes who can no longer afford to live in the city.

HLMs [habitations à loyer modéré] are the low-rent housing projects in the banlieues. Their inhabitants are primarily immigrant laborers from France’s former colonies in North and West Africa, as well as from Asia. After the Second World War, France, like other European nations, needed help rebuilding the country as an industrial nation and looked to its former colonies for workers. These workers were usually single men who were supposed to stay for only a limited period. In 1974, the borders were closed because of economic difficulties, yet families of previous immigrants could continue to enter, creating an ambiguous condition of entry. The HLMs are filled with families who migrated to France and remained there permanently, as illustrated in La Haine. The forest of concrete apartment towers seen in the film provides an unnatural, oppressive landscape for the inhabitants, which helps to explain their anger and detachment from society. Kassovitz includes shots of the HLMs that remind the viewer of powerful monoliths and prisons from the outside and of cages from the inside.

The banlieues, then, are failed urban settings. The housing is dreadful, and most of the jobs that we see are either illegal (selling drugs or stolen goods) or ephemeral (Hubert’s gymnasium). The schools do not seem to be a powerful presence in the lives of the young: not one of the three principal characters goes to school, even though they seem to be of school age. Kassovitz documents the one commodity that is plentiful in the banlieues: unfilled time. In an interview, the director described the place where the film was made:

in a ‘Cité’, i.e. a typical kind of French suburban housing ghetto where it’s not that unpleasant to live; they even have parks there, and soccer fields ... but it’s a ‘cité’ meaning that 80% of the population and 100% of the young have nothing to do... (Polygram Records web page).

Sarah Sussman
Book Review
Source: Here

La Haine Notes

La haine from jwright61

FM4 - Urban Stories: La Haine

Urban Stories : La Haine 

NEW: Slant Magazine Blu-ray Review - 'La Haine'

Extract

Almost two decades after its initial release, La Haine remains a timely portrait of a broken social system. From the perspective of the three outraged young men at its center, this system has the face of a multitude of corrupt and abusive policemen. As the film opens, another young man, Abdel, has been severely beaten while in police custody, and in the rioting that ensued Vinz has stumbled upon a gun, lost by a cop in one of the skirmishes. He vows that, if Abdel dies, he'll use the gun to kill a cop, any cop, just as the police, in his view, indiscriminately target and kill thebanlieusards. As they wait for news of Abdel, they survey the aftermath of the rioting: Hubert's gym has been destroyed, the local fence's car has been torched. (The isolation of the banlieues means that most of the damage caused during the periodic uprisings is to the residents' own property.) When they try to visit Abdel in the hospital, the cops turn them away. Periodic flare-ups with the police throughout the film keep the hate well-fueled on both sides.

But it's also a day like any other: Vinz, Saïd, and Hubert hang with their friends; Hubert delivers his latest drug earnings to his mother; Vinz gives Saïd a haircut; they sit for hours on rooftops and courtyards swapping stories and talking trash; they watch the b-boys spin in an empty high-rise lobby; a local DJ, played by Anouar Hajoui, blasts a mix of Hajoui's own "Nique la Police" and Édith Piaf"s "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" out of his apartment window, while a heli-cam shot floats us above the boys and young men doing their best to cope with life's paradoxically desperate timelessness in the courtyard below.

Full review here

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Essay Writing Style Advice

WAFFLE AND PADDING: Don’t make a great essay

Don’t use superfluous words, phrases or sentences. If a sentence means the same thing with a word taken out, take it out. The same applies to whole phrases and sentences within the wider context of a paragraph. Using words and phrases which don’t add anything to what you’re saying will mean that your examiners will conclude that (a) you don’t have enough to say to meet the required essay length, and that (b) you are trying to hide this by means of a slow, repetitive and boring writing style. Which is not clever.

The left hand column contains 250% more words than the right-hand column, but it contains 0% more information. Examiners spot this kind of thing.

Furthermore, by not inflating the essay with space-filling nonsense, the writer of the right-hand column has got room to show their understanding of the subject by expanding on further points: what did Lil Ze do? Why might he be seen as power-crazed, or influential? How has he demonstrated his personal power? In other words, there is more room for lots of analysis, which is good news.

Good Essay Writing

Essay writing is a difficult skill to grasp, and sometimes people get bogged down in learning a 'formula’ and try to produce a perfect essay regardless of what the question is.

Plan Plan Plan

• Bullet point your main points;

• number those bullet points;

• associate them with pieces of evidence from your case studies or film/TV texts;

Essential features of a ‘good’ essay

• A logical argument; once you have decided what the ‘answer’ is, you need to prove your answer in relation to a question or statement. 

• A clear structure where the reader can ‘follow’ you through the essay – if you plan (numbering your points), you can ensure that each point is linked and will flow to create a smooth transition between your points.

• An argument based on close textual reading. All of your ideas should stem from the case studies from class and your own wider reading/viewing; this will ensure that your comments are relevant, if they closely link back to a relevant piece of evidence.

• An awareness of texts as ‘constructs’ – the creation of resources based on a series of deliberate choices.

•  Equally you need to consider context; how contemporary audiences and producers differ from those in the past.

FM4 - Urban Stories: Strengthening Exam Responses

Exam Responses: Guidance 

• Developing more thorough responses to exam questions is a key skill that needs to be developed in preparation for the exam. 
• Below are sample paragraphs of A and D grade responses to an Urban Stories question from the January 2012 paper. 
• These highlight the contrasts in content, detail and discussion that is required to get the highest grade possible. 
• Strengthening your exam skills and technique to create better responses is not difficult if you can recognise your weaknesses and change your approach to answering questions from a more critical perspective rather than largely descriptive.

(Question 5.)

Compare the different ways in which conflict between the poor and the powerful are represented in the films you have studied for this topic?  

'D' grade response

The early sequences of the film are set post-riot when we see the destruction of Hubbert's gym and the vandalism of police cars by Said it is clear that there is obvious conflict between poor and powerful. The police have also killed someone and Vinz's readiness to go and kill a police officer to get even clearly demonstrates how conflict is rife between people and authority, and how they resent those in power. The unrest and continuation of the riots helps visualise the unhappiness that prevails in the projects and the readiness of people to change it shows how they want to be recognised and helped.

Comments

Lacks detail - has a tendency to generalise - lacks film language - fails to discuss wider issues

'A' grade response

With the use of black and white stock footage of the riots in the title sequence the audience are made aware that conflict is a key issue from the start. The grittiness of the style exemplifies the themes of conflict in French culture of 'Liberty, equality and fraternity' in mid 90's Paris and the way that the 3 main characters express contrasting attitudes to dominant social values. A particularly powerful character is Vinz who represents 'liberty' in the narrative; he is seen displaying power in the scene when he talks to himself in the mirror in a mid-shot and adopts De Niro's posturing from 'Taxi Driver'. His lack of any 'true' identity though suggests that he is a poor character struggling to gain respect from the society that wishes to exclude or devalue his participation in French society.   

Comments

Includes detail - does not generalise - uses film language - discusses wider issues - is confident

Strong Exam Responses:

• Include detail
• Don't generalise
• Use film language
• Discuss wider contexts
• Are written with confidence
• Understand that film is a visual language

FM4 - Urban Stories - 'A' Grade Exam Response: City of God/La Haine

'A' Grade Exam Response

Section A – Urban Stories: Power, Poverty and Conflict.

“Compare the different ways in which conflict between the poor and the powerful are represented in the films you have studied in this topic”

The difference in thematic stylistic and cinematic conventions regarding the films “City of God” and “La Haine” have attributes of representation roles of characters that contrast one another.

For instance, the role of “L’il Ze” in “City of God” represents the possession of having power in the world of crime within his favela, as we see slowly throughout that his dominance is enhanced by giving his framing more thought and his angle being higher than others. This character is high-up in the world of the poor, but in the world of the powerful he is miniscule – we see the effective contrast of setting being close as the favelas and topsy-turvy, unkempt position of the handmade houses demonstrated with a binary opposition of how close-by but out of reach, the rest of the richer, more industrial Brazil is. The film takes place over the space of a few decades, beginning with a yellowish, warm sepia editing that basks the open space of the poor settlers in the early 60s and darkening into a more dangerous tone in the 70s and 80s, giving off a feel of gloominess and expressing the theme of having no escape. Colder colours in mise-en-scene such as grey and blue are used in comparison to the earlier warmth. The palette of vivid colours displayed that range of extremities of cold and warm are perhaps the only embodiment of the true cultural Brazilian nature of a jungle type, natural world.

In “La Haine”, however, the film takes place over a space of 24 hours – a short tie frame as if to portray a small portrait of the culture at the time. Also with a use of black and white stock that convinces the audience of its grittiness, the themes of the French “liberty, equality and fraternity” are expressed to us with three main characters. A particularly strong character, Vinz, who represents “liberty”, is portrayed in a mirror at the beginning shot in a similar style to “Taxi Driver”, when De Niro’s character talks to himself in the mirror. The reference of this film, added to the similar “skinhead” look, gives the audience a sense of the French culture being less influential in this film than the western American conventions. This lack of French culture suggests an anonymity of the characters, presenting Vinz as a poor individual who is living in a society in which has no connotations of the language he speaks. Rap music is also incorporated within the beginning sequence as a strong suggestion of a focus on this being anywhere in the world, as if perhaps the emotions conveyed here are global and this swings the audience into the meaning behind the film. Rather than accepting “La Haine” as a French film, because it has little references its own culture, the audience must instead focus on the conflict the poor face against the privileged all around the world, reinforcing its effect dramatically.

More differences are the amount of characters to focus on. In “City of God”, a voiceover suggests a story-like anecdote behind each random character that the camera pans fluently, suggestive that the main issues with power in the favelas stem from the way they all live on top of one another within a vast population. In contrast, the focus on three main characters in “La Haine” gives the audience an expectancy of self-contained narratives of each one of them, and their struggle is that there are not enough of them to make a difference against the corrupt police. The camerawork is also focused on coming out of the back of each dominant role’s head as their side of the story is focused on, linking the audience to the character emotionally and framing them centrally within their surroundings.

Similarities arise in both films, however in the two urban stories we are met with the representation of the films meaning by a smaller embedded narrative. This is seen during the beginning sequence of “City of God” that has a hysterically panning camera tracking the chasing of a chicken about to be slaughtered. With the diegetic audio of evil laughter in the background and a hurried, terrified escape failing, it is with this sense of despair and frustration that the audience comes to understand the display of non-escapism in the film, and alludes to the characters being hit by a glass ceiling every time they try and break free of drugs and crime.

This small story is also posed similarly in “La Haine”, through the minor character of an old man relating how, when he was a prisoner of war, pride stopped a fellow man’s life from being saved as he was too embarrassed by the falling down of his trousers to jump onto the train. This, intensified by a mirror reflection of the three main characters silently listening, tempts the audience via framing to assume the story means more than is let on. This theme of pride preventing courage is central to the way the characters are represented in Paris, in a reverse dolly-shot that blurs them from being in lace with the city as they appear to be lost amongst a rich world but are too proud to try and be like these people, as their background also prevents this.

The films also have the themes of unsustainable romance, with failure to be in love and nurture a relationship seen in liaison of the poverty and upbringing of the social circles. “City of God” portrays women being raped, mistreated and marginalised, with the main character unable to keep his girlfriend due to drugs, and “La Haine” presents us with a scene in which the three characters attempt to flirt with women of higher class, resulting in shaky camera angles as they fail and lose their footing. Altogether the films provide the audience with a portrait of the conflicting barriers between the underclass and the rich that provoke emotional response.

FM4 - Urban Stories: 'A' Grade Exam Response: City of God/La Haine

'What is the importance of cinematography and/or editing in communicating issues of power, poverty and conflict in the films you have studied for this topic?'

I am going to be writing about three Urban Story films, these being ‘Once Were Warriors’, ‘City of God’, and ‘La Haine’. Although these films are all extremely different in terms of visual, and contextual styles, I feel they somewhat relate and send powerful, strong and moving messages to the audience. Urban Stories films are like no other, they are made directly to tell a story, which holds a lot of truth about political, social, and cultural goings-on in certain countries. I am going to discuss in this examination O.W.W (Once Were Warriors, set in New Zealand) C.O.G (City of God, set in Brazil, Rio) and La Haine (set in France and Paris). Within this discussion I am going to write about how I think editing and cinematography communicates issues of power, poverty and conflict in the previously mentioned films.

The opening scene of City of God is extremely powerful visually. The scene shows harsh cutting shots of knives sharpening, already giving the audience a hint that the film is going to be about violence, and living on the edge of a knife. This editing is harsh and choppy. Which goes, and suits the general style of the film. The opening scene is about a gang of hoods chasing a chicken, and again there are sharp extreme close ups of the chicken. Indicating to me that maybe humans are seen as poultry, easily disposed and killed in cold blood. Another powerful opening scene is in O.W.W. The first shot of the film is a beautiful field, which I would associate with New Zealand’s greenland, and how it used to be. However, the shot of this landscape quickly pans outs and it is just an advertisement on the billboard. The shot then goes to Beth, a main character in O.W.W with a shopping trolley. The difference between the two shots couldn’t be more opposing. In the scene with Beth, the colours are browns, dark greens and greys, all very earthy colours, and a special filter was used to make sure of this. Just by the use of colour, I got the representation of poverty, and by the surrounding sets. By showing the picture of ‘Old New Zealand’ then getting back to reality with the opening scene shows what New Zealand use to be like, in the Maori Culture, before western countries took over, and starved the country, and culture of their life and colour, leaving it with nothing, except growing poverty as the Maori Culture soon turned to drugs and crime, and drink. The film La Haine is shot in black and white, and I feel that this also represents lack of colour in life, and the oppression that people in the projects (who were promised employment) were facing. Time is another editing technique I picked up on, and it plays a very important part in the three films.

C.O.G is based over three decades, starting with the sixties, ending with the eighties. Drug use is a big catalyst to the crime rates and danger the favela’s hold. After doing additional research on the social background of the film, I came across interviews of actual drug lords, who openly admitted that selling drugs and working for drug dealers ultimately gives you power, and places you above other locals, and earns you a good deal of respect. So the majority of people living in Brazilian Favela’s opt to work with instead of against it, as it will give them power, as the extent of the problem even manipulates the police, and is a way out of poverty, as working for drug lords will probably earn you more money than going out and getting a real job.

The editing in C.O.G backs up the power that drug dealing gives people, and it is clearly portrayed throughout the narrative, for example; in the first decades of City of God, the general feel of the film was mellow and relaxed. This was shown by long shots, and there wasn’t any jump cuts or quirky shots to indicate otherwise. The reason for this is that the most popular drug around, that was being commonly used in Brazil in the 60s/70s was marijuana, which gives users a relaxed, mellow and usually happy high. However, as the film progressed cocaine took over, it was being more commonly dealt and started to control people. The editing I feel showed me this as the scenes were a lot faster, jumpier, and the cuts were harsh, the style of the film seemed unsettled, like the effects of cocaine. And things were getting worse in the favela’s as cocaine was becoming more prominent. Another example of how time is shown is through the cinematography in both O.W.W and La Haine. There was a calender on the wall that often came between Jake and Beths frame whenever they were together in the kitchen. Time is a reoccurring motif in La Haine, as the whole film is set in 24 hours, and there is a reoccurring ‘ticking’ noise throughout the film. The way time is represented in all three of these films communicates conflict with the audience as if there is something about to happen/ take place.

A good example of how poverty is shown, and how it is communicated through cinematography in Once Were Warriors is the animalistic cinematography. After the horrific scene where Jake beats Beth and rapes her, there is a close up of dogs sorting through rubbish bins, trying to eat. This represents how the western countries have left New Zealand with so little, to have nothing, like the dogs and this is maybe why Jake feels the need to use violence on his wife, as the animal is coming out of him. There are more references to animals throughout the film, like Jake wearing leather, and Beth wearing snakeskin dresses. These animalistic references scream out poverty as, like the animals, they once again have nothing.

There is a scene in O.W.W which I think clearly conveys, and represents the power that the west has had on New Zealand. This is where Buggie is stealing a car, and is held down by a white policeman trying to arrest him, showing power through framing and cinematography, and also indicating that white west have more power over Maori Culture.

Another example of conflict being communicated throughout cinematography is in La Haine, where the gun comes between Vinz and Hubert, and always in the middle of the frame, creating conflict.

I think the editing and cinematography creates and adds to conflict, poverty and power in the feel of the film, and puts across issues that the narrative may not in a subtle, but noticeable way. I feel that the editing and cinematography in all three films worked to their advantage narratively, contextually and aesthetically.

'A' Grade Exam Responses: Urban Stories

'A' Grade Exam Response

Compare the attitudes to poverty conveyed in the films you have studied for this topic?

When looking at the genre of Urban Stories, it is clear to see that a major theme that runs throughout each film is poverty. The main films I will be looking at will be, Once We’re Warriors, La Haine and City of God. I will be comparing the 3 films with the idea of poverty in mind and how their situation and attitudes are presented. In the majority of the films of this genre, they can come across as having quite an, understandably, pessimistic attitude towards their situation. Take for example, Tamohari’s, Once We’re Warriors. We can see right from the beginning of this film that the attitudes of the characters are very negative. The first time we meet Jake, we discover that he has been ‘laid off’ this immediately suggests a tough financial situation for the family involved. The mise-en-scene of his performance when he eventually admits this to his wife comes across as quite casual, this may also suggest that this is the first time it has happened, and again leading the audience to believe this is a reoccurring situation for the family. This negative attitude is something that is also followed through City of God. However, it is portrayed in a different way. Despite the lack of money available to family through legitimate jobs, from a very young age each character does their very best to begin earning (most commonly through drug sales etc). Right at the beginning of the film, we hear the diegetic sound of a knife being sharpened, this could be suggestive of how the residents of the favelas are constantly living their lives on a knife edge, unsure of what may happen next. This idea, however, is in complete contrast to Urban Story, Chungking Express. This film is far more optimistic of the situation their characters are in, take character Faye for example. Despite the repetition in her life, shown through the repetition of the song she listens to, we often see her singing, this makes her character come across as quite happy. Her curiosity is another suggestion that she is still ‘alive’ when seizing the opportunity to take ‘633’s’ apartment keys. With each visit Faye begins to try and brighten up the apartment, this brighter mise-en-scene again leads towards optimism and making the most of the situation.

When looking at La Haine with this idea of pessimism towards poverty in mind, Kassovitz portrays this somewhat differently to the other films. I feel that each of the 3 main characters has a completely different attitude towards their situation, despite the fact that the narrative joins them together with the same revenge filled plot in mind, each represent a different aspect of it. It could be suggested that they may be culturally represented as Vinz being “liberty” (the most pessimistic), Hubert being “Equality” (the most positive) and Said” being “Fraternity” (each part of the French flag). We can see Said as ‘Fraternity’ as he is often centrally framed between the other 2 characters, attempting to find common ground between conflicting characters, Vinz and Hubert. We meet Hubert in a burnt down gym, which he was trying to create a boxing club with. I feel that this presents him as a more optimistic character as he is trying to make the best of his situation. We also see his mother asking him for money for his younger sisters school textbook, this shows us how is plays a fatherly role in his family, he takes responsibility for things. (A common ground between each character, the lack of a father) This is in complete contrast to Vinz’s character – the most westernised of the 3. This is shown through the mise-en-scene of his bedroom (e.g. poster of Marilyn Monroe and famous wrestlers.) He also quotes a lot of Scorsese, “Are you talking to me?” – Taxi Driver. This is also where his violent/revengeful personality could be suggested to stem from.

I feel that La Haine has the most negative outcome of all the films. A commonality of each of the films is the desperate attempt to flee the area and the poverty the characters are brought up in. The Favelas in City of God, the Project in La Haine and the family home and control of Jake in Once We’re Warriors. La Haine shows just how impossible the French cultural situation is. This is shown through a number of techniques. One of the most striking is the change in camera lenses when the 3 characters leave the Project and head for central Paris. The background becomes blurred suggesting they are completely out of the depth and are not at all comfortable in their new surrounds. Of course, they end up back at the Project. In City of God, however, despite the initial struggle, the character of Rocket manages to get himself away from that life of poverty and uncertainty by taking advantage of his photography skills and his knowledge and familiarity of the Favela. He still shoots but unlike the rest his childhood acquaintances, it’s with a camera and not a gun. This does not however, create a more positive lifestyle for the people of the favelas and their situation is now more publicised through the media. Once We’re Warriors takes a completely different route to this kind of situation. As it is not a place the characters are trying to escape, it is a very dominating lifestyle they are kept in by Husband/Father, Jake. It takes something as serious as Graces (daughter) suicide to set them free.

It would seem to me, that a very negative attitude is generally displayed when it comes to cultural clashes and poverty, in relation to these particular films. I feel this also comes through in media representation of it also. I think if this discussion were to be deepened, this aspect of time would need to be questioned. Is this attitude simply because of the time that is portrayed? I think, with French culture in mind Crack 6T would be a very interesting comparison for La Haine, this films follows a similar structure, 3 young male characters seeking revenge against authority. Also, narrative structure could be looked at? Often being circular narratives. Such as in City of God, we see a scene that appears again towards the end of the films before we begin at the start.

A/B: Mark Scheme Descriptors For FM4 Sections

Section A & B Mark Scheme (35) 

 Section C Mark Scheme (30)