Related_Texts

Today I have chosen a film as my related text as it has the ability to express individual personal change through dialogue, through direction, through scene setting and through the physical characteristics of the individual actors. Related text is an alternative means of expressing an idea of a concept or story. Film is a rich text that allows the combination of character portrayal, lighting, music and sound effects to set the scene desired by the director. Even the choice of the actual medium that the film is shot on, either film or videotape, can give it a certain look; warm or cold; surreal or realistic. To find related text, it helps to identify and examine all the film elements in isolation. In the case of my related text example, the feature film “The Brave One” starring Jodie Foster is the story of a young woman whose life dramatically changes after her finance is brutally bashed, and dies; a type of reverse metamorphosis takes place. Instead of transforming into a beautiful butterfly, her life reverts into a primal state. Even though she is a survivor, her life is changes forever, although not necessarily in a positive way. To analyse the related text, I broke the film down into its individual production components; characters; look at the character, how they are dressed, their language and the angle they are shot from. For example, in this text, the director Neil Jordan puts a soft joyful persona upon Erica Bane in which she lives in a fear free life with no perceived threat ever coming her way, up until the terrible moment in which all fear steps into place. Next, I looked at music. Is the music threatening and hinting that something is about to happen' In the beginning, the music composed has a light feel giving a joyful sense to the audience. During and after the brutal bashing in which her fiancé is murdered, director Neil Jordan imposes a transition into an ominous and discordant musictrack that makes us feel the full impact of that event in her life. The music even makes the city of New York suddenly feel like a haunting and threatening place. Now, onto lighting and direction. Here, I analysed the look and feel that the director was trying to create, the camera angles, the lighting, contrast and editing style. The colour contrast, having a highlighted effect from each angle gives a positive touch to the beginning of the film with it being soft and warm. Then, when the change is put in place, the light drifts away, left with nothing but shadows, darkness and contrast. The strange and unnatural angles underscore the vertigo and edginess of her fearful emergence back into her life. Moving on, is my brief discussion on the reverse metamorphosis, the underlining narrative. This is not a story of an ugly larva transforming into a beautiful butterfly, but, this is a reverse metamorphosis. Her life is on a beautiful steady course, with all vital pieces in place. About to marry the man she loves, a great career and lives in one of the most exciting cities in the world; New York. In the space of 90 minutes, the brave one takes us on a journey through the use of all the production elements available to the director, he acts as the conductor of an orchestra, bringing a variety of sub texts together to create a powerful example of change.