In class, I introduce you to the world cinema platform MUBI and we analyse the 4 technical codes of the opening of Bram Stoker's Dracula (dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1992): camerawork, mise-en-scene, sound and editing. We note the creative use of light (shadows falling across the map of Transylvania; silhouettes of lances and corpses on the battlefield); of wind (ruffling the prince's hair; at the moment of damnation); of sound (non-diegetic vocals in the form of a chorus of female voices chanting foreign words in an elegy); and of liquid (blood pooling around the outstretched hand of Elisabetta). The aim of this activity is to improve analysis of technical codes and to learn creative techniques from master filmmakers.
We move on to study British Cinema, starting with the website of Working Title, by looking at what films they produce and what is in the pipeline. We learn about their history and why they are successful. Using examples, we note how the subject matter of British films serves national audiences such as by dealing with British concerns, social history, culture and interests. The class identifies which WT films they have seen. Many of you will associate WT films with 'safe' mainstream topics, such as the Bridget Jones franchise, Mr Bean, Love Actually, Four Weddings and so on. However, WT makes a wide variety of films, not just those that create a sanitised version of Britishness that would sell the UK to international audiences of culture tourists. Look at our next choice.We watch the trailer for The Danish Girl: directed by Academy Award winner Tom Hooper (Les Misérables) and starring Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) and Alicia Vikander (Anna Karenina), it will be released in the US by Focus Features beginning on Friday 27 November. What makes this film controversial? How might this film be received by different audiences?
You can segment audiences loosely as being global, international, national and niche. For films, the terms mainstream and blockbuster can be used in opposition to art house. We move on the British film maker Terence Davies as an example of a superb auteur director with niche audiences. We watch the opening of the cult classic Distant Voices, Still Lives, Terence Davies' moving portrayal of working-class life in 1940s and 50s Liverpool.
We dip into the Guardian interview of Terence Davies then catch up with Sunset Song, Davies's current venture, by watching the trailer for his new release.
Sunset Song stars Agyness Deyn and is an adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's novel about a farming family torn apart by tragedy on the eve of the first world war. Read the review here. What makes it important for national audiences? What films have you seen about British social history (that aren't costume dramas)?
