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In our film, we exemplify a binary opposite through our two central protagonists, Kyle and Olivia. They both have paradoxing personas and epitomize the binary opposite of dominant vs subordinate. Although Olivia is head strong, he lacks the ability to stand up to Kyle, especially when dealing with something she cares about. On the other hand, Kyle is demonstrated to be dominant within their relationship. He isn't afraid to speak his mind and gets angry with Olivia when she talks about family hood, a concept he is not fond of. However, the roles are reversed when Olivia dies. This is because Kyle realises how much he needs Olivia and his guilt and longing for her to be alive puts him in a vulnerable position, thus subverting their roles in Strauss' binary opposition. 

 

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-Genres Change & develop

-Audience pleasure from genre manipulation

-Generic Codes and conventions 

-Difference is essential

-'Genres are instances of repetition & differences'

-Narrative- Our narrative follows a non linear structure due to our implementation of flash backs and jump cuts.  

 

-Characters- This is a crucial part of a film and how well an audience can relate to the text and thus enjoy it. Our film depicts the life of a teenage couple. The audience are able to sympathies with Olivia, due to her being represented as submissive and weak. This is shown through her argument with Kyle; she doesn't back herself up and her letter exemplifies her dejection and hurt. However you could suggest she is an inspirational character because she makes the hard decision of leaving her relationship because she wants to start her future. Many female audience members would therefore be inspired by Olivia and make the decisions she made to benefit themselves from an abuse relationship for example. Kyle is a very contradictory character. On one hand he is represented as an antagonist in some aspects when he degrades Olivia, embarrassing her life goals. However, as time goes on, the fact that he wanted to fight for Olivia makes him a likable character and a motivation for men or women to compromise within a relationship. At the end of the plot, we sympathies with Kyle due to the death of Olivia being a burden he must bear alone.

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                                             These are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell a story in a media text.These can be separated into two sections:

1. -Moving Image

2. -Print

 

 

Moving image refers to shot type, angle, movement and editing. In our film, 'Calamity', we used a range of shots in order to capture every angle of the action. A variation of shots also allows the audience to witness how a character is feeling, as well as what key parts of the framing are within the scene. In the letter scene, we used a depth of field shot, exemplifying Olivia to be in focus and Kyle asleep behind her. This produces connotations of Kyle being forgotten in Olivia's urge to move forward with her life, hence him being blurred out of the shot. We also implemented many close ups, particularly in the scene where Olivia and Kyle are arguing. This is so the audience have a clear view on the contrasting feelings of the two protagonists; Kyle's facial expressions denote his anger and therefore present to the audience he has an aggressive side. Paradoxically, although Olivia's evident facial expression is hurt and sadness, she slightly quivers her lip and breathes heavily, distinguishing her fear of Kyle at this moment. This subtext may make the audience question whether he is abusive or has physically abused Olivia due to her sheer fear. Therefore using a close up allows the audience to not only distinguish a charters facial expression but their internal mindset also. Angle-This refers to the way in which a shot has been taken. In our piece, we implemented many straight on shots. This is because we wanted to connote a sense of normality throughout the plot which would make the explosion more unexpected thus increasing the shock factor for the audience. When Kyle finds out Olivia was caught in the explosions, we exemplified a low angle shot denoting Kyle to lack importance and puts him in a state of vulnerability. This is to depict tot he audience that he is nothing without Olivia and he needs him. This further produces a sense of irony; throughout the plot Olivia is seen as the less dominant character but by the end we find Kyle is the epitome of vulnerability. 

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                                             This refers to everything you can see in the shot alone with the actors and their body language etc. We used many props to aid the realism of our piece. One is a framed portrait of Olivia and Kyle. This is only scene in a depth of shot field of Olivia's hand with the photo in the background but presented to the audience that the couple lived together and it was their home due to such a personal item. 

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                                           This refers to your piece in terms of sound. You must take into account music, speech and sound effects in order to create a verisimilitude. Sound is very important in our piece, because we use it to create a sad mood, in order to make the audience feel the emotions the character's are feeling, thus empathizing with them. We used a slow violin track from when Olivia writes the letter to when Kyle rings her. This duration builds up to the explosion therefore we used this music to foreshadow Olivia's death. When we first listened to the track, it reminded us of a funeral due to its connotations, therefore we thought it would be perfect for our film.We also had to take into account sound effects which were as small as Kyle's phone going off, to the bus explosion. We had to use advanced adobe software for Olivia's answer machine in order to distort her voice slightly so it sounded like it was coming from the phone. Through sound we learned that small nuances of sound are as crucial as the major sound, and all play a part in the creation of a verisimilitude. 

 

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Signifier- 'I'm getting bored of all the pressure you put on me! Its getting old don't you think?'Kyle

Signified- He is unhappy with their relationship at that current time because he thinks his girlfriend is controlling and has too high of expectations. 

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Signifier- Love

Signified- Although Kyle and Olivia's relationship is an argumentative one, they still love each other enough to try and fight for one another

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Signifier- Death

Signified- Olivia looses her life due to a terrorist attack

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-Denotation 1st order: This is a literal and obvious sign.

The letter produces denotations of Olivia's intent to leave Kyle

The framed photo of the couple denotes their love as a couple

The pregnancy test denotes family hood

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-Connotation 2nd order: Throughout our film, there are a range of connotations embedded into our plot:

 

Bright white setting- This produces connotations of heaven, foreshadowing Olivia's death through the plots progression. 

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-Myth- Things in everyday life that construct the world around us

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By Tamia Mullaney-Downer

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