Film evaluation

Evaluation
Jakir Hussain
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) = ET (1982)
Schindler’s List (1993) = SL (1993)
Catch Me If You Can (2002) = CMIYC
(2002)

For my creative investigation, I aimed to find out how Steven
Spielberg presents outsiders of society in his films. The
three films I focused on were E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
(1982), Schindler’s List (1993) and Catch Me If You Can
(2002).
I found that, in his films, his protagonist tends to have a
traumatic past which helps develop character. The
protagonists are outsiders in different ways which gave me
the idea that I should come up with a character who would be
an outsider, different to the ones in ET (1982), SL (1993)
and CMIYC (2002) so my protagonist is a homosexual who
experiences homophobia.

Cinematography
I have used some close up shots of
the actors in my film because it
helps project the emotions of the
character and plot through the
facial expressions. There is a happy
moment in the film when James is in
the club with Hershel and a few
other friends. In the film, James
goes through homophobia and the
close up shots I used, capture the
distressed look in his face, when he
is in the bathroom. I also got a
shot of James when he is walking
with the antagonists behind him, he
is face down which creates shadows
on his face which are seen in the
close ups, at this point he is
feeling discomfort. The last shot of
the film is POV from James’
perspective as he is dying, which in
turn is a close up of Belle, crying
as she spends James last few seconds
alive with him.
- Post J. Initial Ideas
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
The close up shots I’ve picked out
from my focal films are from key
moments of the films. The shot from
ET (1982), Elliott is flying with ET
in the iconic scene. Elliott’s
awestruck face is captured. The SL
(1993) shot, is of Oskar looking at
the Ghetto with concern as the Nazis
are causing chaos amongst the Jewish
people. The shot from CMIYC (2002)
is of Frank as he realises there is
nowhere left to run from reality.
Spielberg’s use of close ups
contributes to him being an author
as it covers two of the criterions
of Andrew Sarris’ Auteur Theory as
it shows “technical competence”, he
knows how to use close up shots and
why they are used and because it is
a recurring camera shot, is can be
considered a “distinguishable
style”.
The Death of Expression (My Film)

In my film, I used a mirror to create internal framing to
show that my protagonist has two sides to him. The
protagonist tries to suppress his sexuality by hiding his
face from the camera whilst his reflection shows in the in
the mirror to escape the reality that there are people who
refuse to accept his true self and show this by beating him.
The way I interpreted this in CMIYC (2002) is, when Frank
stood in front of multiple mirrors, he hides his face from
the camera whilst his face appears in the reflections which
is a way of enhancing his character as a fraud. He creates
multiple identities to commit fraud and his reflections in
the mirrors are fake copies of his appearance much like his
different identities which help him run from reality after
the divorce of his parents.
- Post G. Stage 5: Final Draft of Research

Editing
I used colour selection as an intertextual reference
to SL (1993) for my protagonist in my film by giving
him a red shirt then desaturating the colour around
him. This reinforces the “Red Jumper” idea where it
acts as foreshadowing the suicide of James. I use this
technique during the scenes which take place before he
returns home the next morning from his night out
- Post J. Initial Ideas
The girl in the red coat in SL (1993) is walking
around the Ghetto on her own whilst the Nazis
are causing chaos which shows that she is quite
brave but ultimately dies in the end. My
protagonist appears to be open about his
sexuality as he dances opposite Hershel in a
club and they kiss outside Hershel’s house
without hesitation or concern about who will
see.
Schindler’s List (1993)

During my short film research for Post I, I came across a
film called Check Mate (DISPENCERY7, 2014) about a student
who struggles to come to terms with his sexuality and so,
resorts to violence against his love interest if someone
nearly sees him showing affection. The film uses the
parallel editing to cut between the past and future.
I’ve done this in my film as constantly cross between the
present time frame (James at home) and the past (the night
before and the morning before he returns to his home). The
occurrence of the parallel editing increases as the audience
get closer to discovering the cause of the protagonists
injuries.
- Post I. Short Film Research

Sound
OYF’N Pripeshok And Nacht Aktion in SL (1993)
during the scene where the girl in red is walking
around the ghetto, creates a sympathetic
atmosphere as the song is sung by a children and
the lyrics discuss being proud of Judaism.
I thought the soundtrack in my film which would
be appropriate for the situations or location
that the characters are in.
- Post G. Stage 5: Final Draft of Research
The first song I used was Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen
Spirit which plays diegetically during the scene in
the club scene where James is dancing with Hershel
and a group of friends which works well because they
are teenagers.
The second song I used was Death Cab For Cutie’s
Transatlanticism which begins playing non-
diegetically when the extreme close up shot of the
dripping tap appears. I thought this song would be
good to use because of the location of the bathroom
with motifs of the song being water.
The last song I used was a violin/cello/bass cover
of Hozier’s Take Me To Church, by Simply Three. I
think the use of string music is effective for the
final scene of my short film because string
instruments particularly violins are commonly
associated with the Devil or antagonists and in my
film, the antagonists win.

Mise-En-Scène
I created silhouettes of James against a bright backlight
which is coming in through the window at the back, to create
an intense atmosphere to make the audience wonder why my
protagonist’s face is hidden. His face is also hidden from his
sister, Belle. This adds to the character’s introverted
personality upon returning home as he doesn’t want to be seen
with blood on his face.
The idea is similar how it is used in CMIYC (2002) when Frank
is framed against the light, it darkens his face which is very
ominous. This helps develop Frank’s character as he doesn’t
want people to know his true identity.
- Post D. Stage 2 Collated Ideas

The colour red in SL (1993) is very important as the film is mainly greyscaled. The
addition of colour marked the moment Oskar Schindler changed in the film to a
sympathiser of the Jews which is an iconic moment so I have decided to incorporate the
red in my film. Although, the meanings may differ from my film and SL (1993) but they
do have a similar effect of the wearer of the colour dies towards the end of the film.
Positive connotations of the colour red include love and passion which is why the
colour is a good choice for James as he expresses his love for Hershel, a man. However,
red can also have negative connotations such as wrath (a deadly sin, which is why I
chose the violin, cello and bass version of Take Me To Church) and when the homophobes
“see red”, they attack him.
Post D. Stage 2: Collated Ideas

Narrative
My narrative structure is mainly fragmented/parallel. Initially decided to cut
seven times between the past and present in my planning stages but during the
editing stages, I thought I’d increase the number cuts, particularly during
the attack scene. I thought it would increase the intensity of the narrative
and make the revelation of the cause of James’ suicide much more impactful.
I got this narrative idea from my Post I. Short Film Research. The short film
Checkmate (DISPENCERY7,2014) about a gay man who befriends a closted gay man
who becomes abusive. The narrative cuts from the past and present as seen in
the images above. The left is of the closeted gay man in the present time and
the image on the left is him when he was younger in a flashback scene.
The way my film differentiates between the two time frames is, the flashbacks
are in greyscale with the use of colour selection and the present time is
shown through the use of colour.
Checkmate (DISPENCERY7, 2014)/ Post I. Short Film Research

Genre My focal films SL (1993) and CMIYC
(2002) fall under the genre of Drama
which is why I chose to make a drama
film. I also explored different sub-
genres of drama within my research.
After I did some research on some of
the sub-genres of drama, I decided that
I wanted my film to be a melodrama
because SL (1993) and CMIYC (2002) were
such different sub-genres, I decided to
do something different as well.
Melodrama generally tackles sensitive
issues such as tragedy, illness and
relationships. I can say that my film
falls under this category as my film
highlights LGBT issues and ends in
tragedy as James feels rejected by
society and so, takes his life, leaving
his sister to mourn.
- Post H. Genre

Representation
My main aim of my creative investigation was to find out how Spielberg presents outsiders
of society in my three focal films. In ET (1982), ET is the outsider who is forced to
adapt to life on Earth when he becomes stranded. He befriends Elliott but is pursued by
the government. The outsider in SL (1993) are the Jews and Schindler. The film is set
during the Holocaust, so the Jews are enemies of the Nazis whilst Schindler was member of
the Nazi Party, he does stray from them and sympathises with the Jews making him an
outsider along with the Jews. In CMIYC (2002), Frank is the outsider as he lives off being
a fraud. He is an outsider of his true identity as well as society because of his crimes.
In my film, James is made to feel like an outsider of society when he is pursued and
attacked by homophobes. After researching the treatment of LGBT in schools on the website
http://lgbt.foundation/About-us/media/facts-and-figures/, I thought it would be best to
make my film an awareness film rather than a film which sugar coats the topic as LGBT
people are more likely to resort to drugs and alcohol, caused by hate crime and bullying,
which of course can have drastic results.

My film is about James, a gay man, who is witnessed by a
group of homophobes, kiss his love interest, Hershel, the
morning after a night out. The group pursue and attack him.
This results in James walking home with his hood up, hiding
his face from his sister as he walks into his house, into the
kitchen and grabs the bottle of Jack Daniels. He heads up to
the bathroom as he reflects on the events that just happened.
Feeling rejected by society, he finds a bottle of painkillers
in the cupboard and consumes both the pills and alcohol,
ultimately leading to him overdosing.
I think that my film did its job as it raised issues that
people of the LGBTQ+ community do experience as I have had
feedback from LGBTQ+ peers.

The form of my artefact is a film as stated in my brief which
is supposed to last no more than five minutes in duration,
that is influenced by my research. I carried out a creative
investigation on Steven Spielberg, thinking about his style
and the technical features the he uses in his films that I
could implement in my own film which I have done.

My film would fall under neo-noir which is influenced by SL
(1993) as my film uses micro-technical features that are
iconographic to the style such as low key lighting, the use
of silhouettes and the greyscale editing during the
flashbacks. This style generally emphasises either sexuality
in a lustful way and/or sinister plots with my film
conforming to the latter as the film ends with the
protagonist committing suicide due to homophobia.
Also, my film could be interpreted as a British social
realist film, my film takes place in a British suburban
location due myself living in this area and not having a
large budget on the film and my film drawing attention to a
social issue which is homophobia

My peers and audiences played a vital part in the outcome of
my film as they provided me with constructive criticism in
the comments section of my rough drafts.
This enabled me to build on what I had based on the comments
made and ultimately make a film to the expectation of my
audience.

Feedback from draft 1
This feedback was good
because I found that people
were on board with my choice
of doing colour selection.
At this point, I uploaded
the film with my storyboard
shots in place of the
footage that I had not shot
then so people suggested
adding shots and sound.

Feedback from draft 2
Again, people supported the red
selection idea I took from SL
(1993). Alfie Adams suggested I
shorten the dancing scene (the
scene in the club) which went
on for too long, making the
scene seem a bit awkward. By
the time I uploaded my final
edit, the scene was shortened.

Feedback from Draft 3
As I added more footage, there
was feedback on different
aspects on my film and not just
the red. Lucy Prew liked the use
of lighting in the hallway which
was an aesthetic taken from
CMIYC (2002). The use of the
song, Transatlanticism was also
liked. Sophie Ambrose really
liked the framing in my shots
and the lack of dialogue.
Lucy suggested I reshoot some
shot where the camera appeared
to be very shaky which I did for
the next edit and Sophie
suggested adding more music
which I did by adding the string
version of Take Me To Church by
Simply Three.

Feedback from Draft 4
The feedback from this post
made me happy as a person
of LGBT community showed
support for my narrative as
it highlights the struggle
LGBT people face such as
bullying.
Further improvements that I
took on board was the idea
to slow down the part where
James consumes the
painkillers and whiskey to
make it more melodramatic.

Survey Monkey Results Prior to Post-Feedback Edit
I asked this question
because I wanted to know if
the people I asked have
watched any of my focal
films so that it may help
answering the next
question. It’s good that
they all have watched at
least one of my focal
films.

I was happy that they
all managed to pick
something out.
Answers include the use
of red that was a
reference to SL (1993)
and the silhouette
effect from CMIYC
(2002). Also two noticed
the idea of targeting
minorities.

This question shows what
aspects of my film I had
done well. People liked
the use of black and
white with colour
selection to
differentiate what the
flashback is and what
isn’t and one person
liked that I was showed
issues that the LGBT
community face.

This question allowed me
to see whether people
understood the meaning
of my film and what
messages they took from
the film. I’m glad to
see that they all have a
similar idea of the
importance of tolerance.

Finally, I wanted to see if
further improvements could be
made.
What I learnt from this question
is that I need to give it more
of a film feeling by giving it a
title, a cast list and end
credit, changing the music to
something with violins which I
liked the idea of the violin
being associated with the devil
and relating that to the
antagonists. I sped up the club
scene in my final edit to make
it drag less.

Critical and
Theoretical
Concepts

Tzvetan Todorov - Narrative Theory
Although, my narrative is fragmented, it can be easy to
rearrange my film to meet Todorov’s Narrative Theory.
Equilibrium
James and Hershel
are having a good
time at a club with
friends.
Disequilibrium
James is pursued and
attacked by
homophobes.
New Equilibrium
James mixes
painkillers with
alcohol to end his
suffering.

Syd Field - Narrative Theory
Syd Field said that films can be divided into three acts, Act 1: Set up which
incites the incident and plot point, Act 2: Confrontation at the midpoint and
plot point 2 and Act 3: Resolution where the plot reaches its climax.
James and
Hershel dancing
in a nightclub
with friends
Homophobes see
James and
Hershel kissing
The homophobes
pursue and
attack James
James begins
consuming
alcohol and
painkillers
Belle walks
into the
bathroom to
find James
dying on the
floor.

André Bazin and Neorealism- Representation Theory
Bazin argued that Neorealist films portray: truth,
naturalness, authenticity, and is a cinema of duration
My film follows some of the characteristics of Neorealism as
it has:
A definite social context as my film focuses on the effect
homophobia has on an LGBTQ+ person;
Authentic on-location shooting as opposed to an artifical
studio as my film was shot in a real street and inside a
real house;

André Bazin and Alexandra Astruc - Auteur Theory
Bazin and Astruc’s auteur theory came from Astruc’s concept
of the caméra-stylo, which argues that the director draws the
picture by choosing all of the audio and coming up with the
visual elements of the motion picture, therefore the director
is the author of the film.
In relation to this theory, I could be regarded as the auteur
because I planned and had the final say in all of the choices
in my film. I was the director, cinematographer, editor,
writer, casting director and I chose the soundtrack and
costume for the actors.

François Truffaut - Auteur Theory
According to Truffaut in his article Une Certaine Tendance du
Cinéma Français, he thinks the best directors have a
distinctive style, which can be noticed throughout recurring
themes and aesthetic ideas. Auteurs must have their own style
which is instantly recognisable.
In relation to this theory, I wouldn’t be classed as an
auteur because my film, aesthetically draws inspiration from
the works of Steven Spielberg, so it’s not really my own
style and I have only made two short films which are very
different from each other in terms of aesthetics and styles,
therefore, I don’t have an instantly recognisable style that
would make me an auteur.

A-Level Film
Studies
(AS and A2)

AS Film - Exam Section
Section A, the contemporary English Language Film area
of the AS exam, helped me in the mise-en-scene area of
my film. I studied Andrea Arnold’s kitchen-sink drama,
Fish Tank (2009). Similarities my film and Arnold’s film
include the use of the blue walls to create a state of
depression and the aspects of Neorealism as the actress
who plays Mia, Katie Jarvis, had no acting experience
before shooting this film, much like my actors who had
little to no experience and the use of authentic
locations rather than artificial studios.
Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold,
2009)
The Death of Expression (My
Film)

AS Film- Coursework Section
In my opinion, the AS Film coursework
helped me prepare for A2 Film because
I had never constructed a film before
so planning and researching films in
depth was new to me as well as
shooting and editing them. The
experience helped me going into A2
because I became more familiar with
the editing software, Final Cut Pro X
and learnt how to use the camera
effectively.
I collaborated again with a couple of
the actors from my AS film, Lucy Hurd
and Edward Foster, although they were
in smaller roles in my A2 film.
Mission ImBRAssible (My AS Film)
The Death of Expression (My A2 Film)

A2 Film- Exam Section
For the exam , I studied authorship for section B with my main case study
being Alfred Hitchcock. This helped me with my coursework because I
transferred my knowledge and research sources on auteur theory, to my
creative investigation as one of my sub-focus points was on deciding whether
the theme outsiders portrayed in Spielberg’s films made him an auteur. In my
creative investigation, I talked about Francois Truffaut and Andrew Sarris.

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