Representation: The Femme Fatale

Representation

Femme Fatale

 

The femme fatale is a very unique and classic character in the Film Noir film genre, nearly always one of the main characters and sometimes revealed to be the primary or secondary antagonist towards the end, deciphered throughout the story. The femme fatale is usually depicted opposite the main protagonist, commonly the detective, presented as a love interest towards him after she involves herself with the main story and becomes entangled within the protagonist’s priorities.

 

The femme fatale is introduced to the film noir genre in many different ways, as there is an enormous field of traits that can be given to the femme fatale which are dependent on the specific character portrayed through the convention. Commonly the femme fatale is introduced as a very independent, enticing woman who is more outgoing and assertive than the other women around her, these unique qualities attracting the antagonist’s attention. As the story progresses the femme fatale proves to be a dangerous individual who is revealed to have malevolent, selfish motives and a manipulative quality over men. The femme fatale brings new traits to the female gender, as it was introduced as a brand new turn for the gender, breaking from the generic roles women were given at the time and presenting them as a more independent group who are more liberated and intelligent than they are given credit for. The femme fatale finds confidence in their gender and doesn’t let it hinder them, something which men have attempted to do to women for countless generations. Because of this the femme fatale commonly defies the control of men and rejects the idea of a nuclear family and marriage, as they find it confining, dull and demeaning. The femme fatale uses her feminine qualities to her advantage, such as working woman stereotypes to her advantage, playing innocent and timid, while simultaneously playing on male weaknesses by exploiting their sexual vulnerability and helpless desire for women. Despite the femme fatale’s evident independence and strength they are still commonly seen as objects to possess by men in the film noir genre, the males in the movie commonly becoming ensnared by the woman’s glamorous persona but then attempting to control the woman and solely make her theirs. This is where the femme fatale is unafraid to murder, the femme fatale commonly poisons men with her desirability, and manipulates them to do the dirty work for her, however she is also very vindictive and is not afraid to cut all ties to a man and effectively end them if she feels suffocated or controlled like a piece of property. When the femme fatale’s are introduced they are often given English accents and desirable outfits, to give them an image of authority and wealth, as American audiences see English accents as high class and immediately dub the femme fatale as a very important person just from this simple first impression.

 

The femme fatale character type has paved a new medium for female independence and empowerment, however despite the fact that the women are portrayed as very powerful and wealthy they are also portrayed as the antagonist, being shown as devilish and evil. The femme fatale simultaneously gives a positive role for women and also a negative role, despite the fact that she is given power, assertiveness and a new sense of confidence which was previously unavailable to women it also personifies women themselves as very vindictive, single-minded individuals with very shallow perceptions and untrustworthy intentions. The femme fatale, after all is an antagonist so despite her seemingly empowering attributes she is still the villain in the story and so is antagonized thoroughly throughout the course of the film, making the audience slowly resent her. Conservative, old fashioned audiences may grow to resent the femme fatale even before her role as a vindictive villain is evident, some audiences may see her eccentric and independent nature as threatening. During certain film noirs the femme fatale becomes strikingly defensive, protecting her status as a woman while still trying to seem respectable, often using her manipulative abilities on the defense rather than the offense to try and sway the blame to other people or even the person accusing her if she is nearly caught in her actions.

 

Sadly, the femme fatale’s independent and empowering persona isn’t always one to be looked up to, as stated before she is technically a bad role model in several aspects due to her villainous and poisonous nature. On top of this the femme fatale is nearly always victim to “The Hays Code”, which is a code that states that justice must be served in the end and the villain must get their comeuppance. Audiences do not like to be left unknowing of the fate of very important characters, so there must be no doubts about the fates of our antagonist, this case being the femme fatale, who from the very start of the film is regrettably fated to lose or die in the end. This provides a sense of justice for the viewers, as up until this point it may have tried to empathise the detective to a male audience, and so when the femme fatale lures him in and takes advantage of him, the entire male audience feels betrayed and vulnerable just like the protagonist. This fact makes the femme fatale’s fated demise in the end all that much more satisfying to the male audience and even the female audience who did not enjoy the femme fatale’s interpretation of women from the start.

Identifying an Audience

Identifying an Audience

 

With anything there is always a wide range of audiences with many different perspectives when viewing a piece of material, these audiences have many different opinions that can be positive, negative or just befuddled with what they’re looking at. Modern audiences have a lot more independence and scepticism then it comes to being spoon fed information, they will often take it upon themselves to prove newfound information as fact themselves rather than take the word of the media. When technology was new and unexplored many audiences took what they were given and had little eccentric opinions on subjects.

 

The War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1938 was a perfect example of audience reception being incredibly confused and panicked. The broadcast essentially described an alien invasion and without much guidance other than the radio broadcast itself the majority of the public was understandably confused and terrified by the catastrophe. At this point is completely alien for the media to purposely lie to the public, it was unknown to them to say anything except for fact. This ended up becoming an aberrant reading of the situation, as in truth the broadcast was an audio play which was not supposed to be taken seriously as a genuine announcement, and it was instead an original storytelling which had gone on air. Mass media had confused the public due to their broadcast which was completely unlike their other broadcasts which would just display the truth on air, so audiences took this new knowledge as truth.

 

There are four different ways a person can interpret material, reading them in several different ways, either understanding the media, not understanding it or interpreting it completely differently. This stems from Stewart Halls’ encoding Theory, which states that there are many different ways to read the same text due to varying perspectives and ideologies.

 

Preferred Reading – This is what the director of the material wants the audience to think, it is the reading which is intended to the public and the message that is supposed to be grasped.

 

Opposite Reading – This is the opposite of the preferred reading, where the message is received exactly opposite of what was intended, which often spurs confusion.

 

Negotiated Reading – A negotiated reading is similar to the preferred reading. The audience grasps the message however they develop their own opinion on the matter based on their own knowledge and get a different message to what was originally intended.

 

Aberrant Reading – This is when the message is interpreted in the completely wrong way, this may be due to a general lack of knowledge on the audience’s part however they do not manage to grasp the message whatsoever and develop a completely abnormal conclusion.

 

Another example was displayed in 1957 by Panorama, BBC; this displayed a short documentary on the harvesting of Spaghetti as a crop, which we know is not the way Spaghetti is created. This documentary follows the hypodermic needle theory, which generally states that the media can manage to brainwash the public audiences by saying certain things as facts to very passive audiences which take what they are given and they are lead to believe this things as truth. The documentary kept a very serious tone and went through the process of how spaghetti is harvested from crops before it is dried and then professionally prepared and served as food. These lead many audiences either confused or sceptic, the scandal was generally received by a negotiated audience. The audience understood that the documentary was a joke and knew that spaghetti was not actually grown on trees based on their own knowledge on the subject, these lead too many opinions and realised that the whole thing was simply a joke by the BBC. Despite this, the audiences were very passive and could have easily believed this to be fact as they are commonly lead to believe that everything on television is known as fact and it was uncommon to question that up until that point. BBC did a similar joke in 2008, with a short documentary styled advertisement about a unique group of penguins who could fly, displayed through the use of computer editing. This was a lot more recent than the spaghetti farm joke and audience at our time period are a lot more active rather than passive, meaning they are much more sceptical of the information which is commonly spoon fed to them and they are more inclined to go by things based on their own knowledge and findings rather than what other people say. Very few audiences found aberrant readings of the advert, not many actually believing the hoax to be true.

 

An advertisement was released by T-Mobile depicting the royal wedding in a much more modern and relatable image, simply named “T-Mobile Royal Wedding”. The advertisements had the royal wedding scrap the traditional ceremony and had many people who would have originally been walking down the aisle gracefully energetically dancing to a very up-beat song and outrageously expressive dance moves which would definitely not normally be in a formal wedding ceremony. The advert depicted the royal wedding in a different light in order to try and communicate a level of modern relevance and humorous portrayal of T-Mobile as a company. The advert attempted to make the royal family relatable, making them seem very light-hearted and energetic which would be empathised by young audiences. There were many ways to interpret this advert shown by various audiences. The preferred reading of the advert was to recognise that T-Mobile was attempting to portray itself as a very modern service which panders towards modern people of generally young ages by taking a very relevant stance on the royal wedding and making it seem very unique and funny. A negotiated reading would be one that understood the general idea that T-Mobile was using the royal wedding as a gateway to make themselves more relevant through a parody however doesn’t really understand how T-Mobile is relevant in any way to the advert so doesn’t understand it overall. An opposite reading would be one that takes moral offense to the advert, believing it may be parodying the traditional wedding ceremony in such a way that it is in offensive taste and it is a direct mockery of the royal family to portray them in such a way. This kind of interpretation might be existent in people with very conservative views and are protective of the monarchy, probably people over the age of 60 who have been alive long enough to appreciate the traditional forms of the country. Finally an aberrant reading would be one that fails to understand the message of the advertisement, potentially based on their lack of knowledge and may accidently interpret the advert as real footage of the royal wedding and not understand the relevance of the advertisement. Due to this advert being released in the time it was released it was easily exposed to viral advertising, the advert poked fun at the royal wedding which was a very relevant topic and so people who may have found it online or saw what company it was made by would be inclined to share it with others or talk about T-Mobile since they created the advert. Viral advertising is practically the golden result of any commercial or professional advertisement as it is insanely likely that the advertisement will gain viral popularity if it is interesting enough to be shared in such a way, gaining professional and also unprofessional attention.

Feedback November

Excellent progress Connor. I am expecting a production of the highest quality. Show initiative and start filming and editing so that you have time to improve the edit.

I am expecting you to achieve a grade A on the basis of your progress so far.

You are working at level 4 for research and planning which is thorough and impressive in detail.

 

Targets for November

Film

Conduct a risk assessment

Edit

Consider sound and titles to add meaning and atmosphere

Manage your time effectively

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Preliminary Task Evaluation
Connor Cushingham

For our Preliminary Task we created a short video roughly under forty seconds in order to practice our camera shooting skills and to see how much we could edit in Adobe Premiere. In the short video we followed a guide on what shots to make from a small power point presentation which was printed off and given to us. Throughout the video we were not to break the 180 degree rule in order to keep continuity errors to a minimum, the shots within the video were taken around the college and show the progression of a student running around towards the entrance after receiving a phone call which was implied to be a threat.

The film remains true to the 180 degree rule, keeping quite a steady continuity throughout the short video and makes sure that the viewer knows where the next scene is relative to the last. The short video makes use of several camera angles and shots which do well to emphasise the scenes. Each shot has a decent length of time given to it so that the shots aren't too fast paced while also making sure that the shots do not drag on too much either. We added a music track over the top of the video created in garage band in order to give some volume to the short sequence and give it an atmosphere of urgency. At the end of the video we also added a green screened explosion over the top of a still image of the school, using slightly advanced forms of editing in Adobe Premiere.

While we kept to the 180 degree rule in order to avoid continuity errors and keep the viewer invested without confusion we accidently ended up with a continuity error during filming which we had not noticed until afterwards when editing. There is a shot where our character checks their phone in one hand, however when the shot changes and he goes to put his phone away the phone appears in the opposite hand he was holding it with in the last shot. This provides a continuity error as the shots were back to back and he did not move the phone to another hand through a shot, it happened instantaneously. Another bad point would come from the explosion at the end, despite it being slightly advanced editing it isn't that refined, the lighting of the image behind the explosion doesn't compliment the special effect and so green tints are evident in the explosion which are results of the green screen. The explosion also doesn't show much realism to the scene, however that much is to be expected.

I believe the continuity error would be a good place to improve, it would only require the reshooting of a single shot which was not very long. The simple thing to do would be to look over the scene prior and then replicate it however with the simple change of having the phone in the same hand as it's supposed to be evident in the scene before. Another improvement would be to change the graphic of the explosion special effect so that it better fits the dimensions of the image behind it, to give it a better sense of realism.

In conclusion I believe that the short video turned out quite well, luckily the only errors being a single minor continuity error which would be difficult to notice without closer inspection due to the fast pace of the scene in total. Throughout the short video we used techniques in order to amplify the quality of the video such as original music and imported special effects.

Film Noir Script

FADE IN:

EXT. LOCAL PARK – LATE NIGHT

 {ESTABLISHING SHOT} DETECTIVE GILBERT stands silently over a motionless corpse by the lake, holding a lit cigarette. Adorned in a trilby hat, a long dark coat trailing to his knees and his worn out black suit which appears to have been thrown on hastily. Several police cars illuminate the twilight as DETECTIVE GILBERT watches over the lifeless husk. 

DETECTIVE GILBERT (V.O): Twelve years working in this town, you’d have thought I’d seen everything, and I nearly have, but that doesn’t change the fact that this town is shrouded in sorrows. This guy makes three now. I’m sure we can conclude that this is a homicide case.

 {OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT} Detective Gilbert’s face is shrouded in darkness by the shade of his trilby hat, however the amount of expression we’re exposed to seems stern and unmoved as he watches over the body, as if expected it to get up and walk away.

 DETECTIVE GILBERT: I can’t believe this.

 {WORMS EYE VIEW SHOT} Detective Gilbert is approached from the rear by DETECTIVE PATMORE, who has a lighter aura than Gilbert, less stern about the situation in his unprofessional posture.

 DETECTIVE PATMORE: Here already Gilbert? I guess nothing gets by you, huh?

 DETECTIVE GILBERT: I was called in, considering I’ve dealt with the last two just like this man in the last two weeks. {Gilbert sighs and rubs his eyes after staring at his cigarette.

 {TWO-SHOT/MID-SHOT} Detective Gilbert turns to Detective Patmore

 DETECTIVE PATMORE: So what d’ya think? Anything to go on?

 DETECTIVE GILBERT: Not exactly, the way he was murdered is pretty standard, but almost identical to earlier cases. All three cases show the bodies left in plain sight near local landmarks, this time being the small lake in the woods, a popular dog walking area. It’s like he’s showing off his work, it’s disgusting.

 {CLOSE UP OF PATMORE}

 DETECTIVE PATMORE: Heh, yeah we got some right sickos in this town don’t we Detective? He was just a rookie cop too, yaknow? Couple years outta school an’ everythin’. Anyway it seems we recovered some evidence from this guy.

 {CLOSE-UP OF GILBERT}

 DETECTIVE GILBERT: Is it like before?

 {SHOT-REVERSE-SHOT OF PATMORE}

 DETECTIVE PATMORE: Bingo detective, here take a look for yourself.

 {AERIAL SHOT OF DETECTIVE PATMORE} Patmore looks down and slides his hand beneath the fabrics of his long coat and his clean suit, which seems a bit more ironed than Detective Gilbert’s, it’s evident Patmore doesn’t do a lot of field work. Patmore pulls out a small pocket-sized evidence bag, sealed tightly with a beautiful ruby red ring sitting comfortably inside, as if on display.

 DETECTIVE PATMORE: It’s a ring, ruby red too. Quite a beauty, wouldn’t ya say?

 {CLOSE UP OF RING}

 DETECTIVE GILBERT: The earring, the necklace and now a ring, all ruby red. There’s no doubt now, it’s the same guy.

 {Detective Gilbert puts his hand out to the ring, gripping the evidence bag and taking it from Patmore. Gilbert holds the evidence back up to his face, examining the ring carefully with the same stern face he wore earlier}

 DETECTIVE PATMORE: Detective that’s not all.

 {OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT FROM PATMORE TO GILBERT} Detective Gilbert rises his gaze from the ring and focuses on Detective Patmore

 DETECTIVE GILBERT: Was there another ring?

 DETECTIVE PATMORE: Not exactly. There’s somethin’ funny about this one. A woman says this ring belongs to her.

 Gilbert acts astonished, letting a soft gasp which is almost inaudible

 DETECTIVE GILBERT: Is she here?

 DETECTIVE PATMORE: ‘Course Detective.

 {POINT OF VIEW SHOT FROM DETECTIVE PATMORE} Detective Patmore rises his hand and stretches his arm out across the local park, extending his finger and pointing to the police cars which illuminate the area around them.

 {CLOSE UP SHOT OF WOMAN} A woman with long straight blonde hair stands by the police cars, looking quite distraught and at a loss of breath as she makes inaudible conversation with a young cop next to her. She appears to be wearing a long cream fur coat and a quite desirable outfit. She’s obviously quite wealthy.

 DETECTIVE PATMORE: Miss Olivia Garnet, quite a sweetheart, don’tcha think?

 DETECTIVE GILBERT: You mean from the Garnet Family?

 DETECTIVE PATMORE: Right on the money, Detective.

 DETECTIVE GILBERT (V.O): The Garnet Family, the wealthiest family in the town. Olivia’s father has had quite a few run-ins with our department, so you could say I almost know him personally. Despite this I’ve never formally met the lovely darling Olivia I can’t deny her beauty, but she’s a suspect, and that’s all I can let her be.

 

  

Film Noir Storyboard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media Assignment: Blue Velvet

Media Assignment: Blue Velvet Analysis

The opening scene to Blue Velvet has no diegetic dialogue throughout the two minutes that it spans. Instead a non-diegetic song named “Blue Velvet” just like the film is played over the sequence as it shows several scenarios surrounded in urban happiness and bliss.

The first scene is a downwards tilt from the perfectly blue sky towards a white picket fence and a bed of red roses at a worms eye view. This shot connotes safety and happiness to the viewer due to the summer sky and the connection to nature. The white picket fence is reminiscent of those seen in early 50s generic advertisements where a dream American house would be depicted surrounded by a white picket fence. This connotes that the scene is in 50s America and is in a safe, ideal neighbourhood where nothing could go wrong. The bed of roses also connotes the idea of love and happiness due to their role as a flower to promote passion. These three things complementing each other give the scene a very pleasant and blissful aura and connotes to the viewer that the setting is calm and inviting. The scene then fades into a wide shot of a man waving with a Dalmatian dog on a very old fashioned looking fire truck, which appears to be a model used in the 50s, similar to the generic idea of a white picket fenced in America. This solidifies the idea that the opening sequence is supposed to represent a safe ideal America. The fire truck slowly drives past a white house in the background which is surrounded by the white picket fence seen in the previous shot. The house also seems reminiscent of the dream American home from the 50s. The fire truck passes by in slow motion so that the viewer can officially take in everything that is happening in the scene. The slow motion of the scene also connotes some form of eeriness as the movements are quite unnatural. The man is hanging on the side of the fire truck waving to the viewer in a docile manner, with a very relaxed Dalmatian dog sitting by his feet on the truck. Firemen have some status of authority and are thought to protect civilians and are often portrayed in very intense scenarios due to their role as firemen. To see a person riding so relaxed on the side of a fire truck connotes a large amount of safety in the area, as even the firemen seem to be under absolutely no pressure and are enjoying the sunny weather. The sequence continues to portray the town that they’re in as a very relaxed and safe place, filled with bliss where the firemen are carefree and the houses are all reminiscent of the American dream. The fireman seems to have direct eye contact with the viewer as he waves, which almost breaks the fourth wall as he stares towards you. This connotes that the fireman isn’t looking towards the camera but is more so looking directly at the viewer which gives off a very eerie atmosphere. This is further emphasised by the soft music in the background which aims to make the sequence seem calm but does an even better job at making it seem quite creepy.

The next scene is again of the white picket fence from the first shot, however this time with yellow tulips rather than red roses. This further connotes the idea of safety due to the traditional idea of a safe America through the ideal white picket fence presented in the scene. All of the shots appear to be fading into one another, which seems like a very unnatural transition in a movie. This connotes the idea that perhaps the entire sequence of the movie is unnatural. The shot then fades into a wide shot of a lollipop woman with a stop sign in the middle of a road, escorting several children across the road. This provides an atmosphere of safety and connotes to the viewer that everything is safe, the same premise which the opening sequence has been reinforcing thus far. Despite this there is still a seed of doubt placed in the viewer’s mind due to the unrealistic nature of a perfect town. The song in the background of the sequence further reinforces the idea of a creepy, eerie and unrealistic idea for a perfect town. The scene once again fades to another shot, this time of what seems to be an establishing shot of a white painted house with a white picket fence and an array of greenery. This connotes the idea of an ideal house; these kinds of houses are also always seen in generic teenage horror films or thrillers, often set in suburban American towns. The scene fades to a full body shot of what seems to be a generic old family man watering the flowers on his garden. This connotes an atmosphere of calmness and serenity, where absolutely nothing could go wrong. The shot once again fades through a transition, this time to what is assumed to be the interior of the fantasy house portrayed in the last scene. A middle shot of an elderly woman drinking tea while watching television. The atmosphere connotes a docile tone and safety, however it is soon contrasted by what is scene on the image of the television opposite of the woman. A gun is scene on the television, presumably from some form of television drama. The gun connotes immediate danger to the audience despite being only on the television, and adds a contrast to the perfect fantasy town which has been slowly built up thus far. This promotes a sense of impending danger for the audience. There is an evident contrast between the gun on the television and the town they’re living in, as the gun connotes to an impending threat however the town they’re in has been structured throughout the sequence to connote a blissful atmosphere. This implies that the town may not be what it seems on the surface layer, and the true underbelly of the town is being shown through the television to the audience temporarily. This is also quite strange because ordinarily the television is what displays a fantasy setting of perfection and unobtainable bliss while reality displays the cruel mortality of the world, however it seems switched in this sequence possibly to suggest that the town is hiding something as nothing could be this perfect. The opening shot to the entire Blue Velvet sequence may also support this idea, as the shot was a worms eye shot and could connote that it is from the perspective of a worm or somebody close to the ground, which could link to the shady underbelly of the town. As if the ugly reality of the town is looking up from below towards the blissful scenario.

The scene once again transitions through a fade back outside to the family man watering the garden with a carefree demeanour. The eerie music still playing over the music through non-diegetic sound. Gradually the music is slowly drowned out by the irritating screams of the hose faucet the man is using to water his flowers. The shot repeatedly looks towards the screaming faucet as well as a knot in the hose, causing a shortage of water to the hose. The loud noises of the hose which frequently interrupt the music or drown it out connote some form of impending danger since the sounds are rather loud, unexpected and threatening. The repetition of the screaming faucet also only builds up the idea of impending danger due to the fact that the threatening noise is not letting up and is only repeating, as if getting closer. Despite the impending danger that the hose connotes there ends up being no immediate scare, instead the man watering the flowers squeaks and frantically grabs his neck before dropping to the ground in pain. This unexpected turn connotes confusion and danger to the audience right after the build-up of the screaming hose. It is unclear why the man has fell to the floor however his actions could connote some internal injury rather than something physically hurting him which the build-up of danger had lead the audience to believe. As the man drops to the floor there is a full body shot of him lying in pain with the hose still spraying upwards, and a family dog playfully biting at the water as if it were a toy. This connotes an eerie vibe from the scene, as the non-diegetic music continues to play over the scene, still disconcerting and unusual, the dog seems to be playing right on top of the mans injured body as if nothing is wrong. The idea that the dog sees nothing wrong connotes the idea of the dog being oblivious, which may link to the entire town being completely oblivious of the dark underbelly of its own town’s happenings. The shot also zooms in on the dog attacking the hose and plays it in slow-motion, similar to the fire truck earlier in the sequence however with the added zoom on the dog. This slow down allows the audience to take in precisely what is happening without missing anything and the unusual movements of the dog in collaboration with the eerie music connotes an inhuman atmosphere.

After this the camera starts to gradually zoom towards the soil beside the man and the blue velvet music is gradually drowned out by the sound of a strange rumbling noise. The eerie rumbling connotes an impending danger, as the music that had once assured the audience that everything was safe in spite of its eerie connotations had now started to fade, and the gradual zoom in on the soil with the loud noise makes the viewer uncertain of what is going to happen, and therefore scared. As the camera continues to zoom in the scene changes to accommodate a better visual of the soil, the music completely gone and the rumbling noise slowly transitioning into what appears to be the crawling of bugs. What was once the dark soil was now the dark squirming bodies of repulsive insect’s right before the viewer. This definitely connotes an uneasy atmosphere to the viewer, connoting fear and danger due to the identity of the insects. The insects themselves represent the dark underbelly of the town, they are placed right below the family man and his blissful house to Imply that the shady dark side of the town is everywhere, it’s just right beneath them all the time, always prevalent. They are also placed there due to the fact that insects are not commonly difficult to find, similar to the dark scenario beneath the town. The blissful ignorance set up by the sequence so far implies that the townspeople themselves consciously ignore the goings on right under their noses however they turn a blind eye, enjoying their lives ignorantly.