Twilight Continued...again...

Fast and slow motion

Another important technique she uses in Twilight is the uses of slow motion. This is done in the editing stage of the film. Catherine uses this to dramatise important entrances and forces our eyes to concentrate on something about the person or what they are doing or what they look like. A few examples of this is when Bella and her friends are sitting at the cafeteria and Edward and the Cullen's walk in. The scene then goes into slow motion when they enter to show their power and magnificence. This, however does not last for very long as it goes back to normal pace after. This is very brief but very powerful and also introduces to the audience that these are main characters.

Another example of this is when Bella walks into to her Biology class and her entrance is in slow motion to force us, the audience to notice the fan behind her blowing her hair and then it cuts to Edward screwing up a piece of paper, almost in pain. This slow motion technique Hardwicke uses allows us to focus on an important part of the scene which could have a big significance to the movie as a whole. It doesn't exactly give us the answers but gives us a big clue to the story line of the movie.

Another example of slow motion Hardwicke uses in twilight is in the baseball scene when the Cullens invite Bella along to play baseball because there is going to be a thunder storm (this is the only time they can play the game). Slow motion and fast motion are used very effectively in this scene to show the excessive force and power these vampires have when they play this game. An example is when Alice say's "it's tim" and then then it goes into slow motion mode for a couple of seconds to show how graceful she is when she is about to throw the ball then it suddenly kicks in to fast motion to show the power she has when she throws the ball and how fast it's going. It then cuts to the balls in the air in slow motion then suddenly to fast motion when Roseanne whacks the ball to show her strength also. This is very effective and brings action into the film.

Task 2

Reading one: Twilight

Themes and ideas: Choices

Twilight is a film about a 17 year old girl called Bella Swan who moves to rainy and cold, Forks, Washington from sunny and dry, Phoenix, Arizona. She is a smart girl but shy and clumsy but everyone seems to want to be her friend. When she meets a charming but very mysterious boy called Edward Cullen and his equally mysterious family, she becomes enveloped in a world of wonder, love and lust. There was something about them that was different though... they were Vampires. This fact didn't seem to bother her so much as she was willing to do anything to turn into a vampire her self so she could be with Edward forever. This leads her into trouble when a tribe of no-mad vampires turn up and trys to hunt Bella down, causing considerable damage and almost killing her.

There is no distinctive main theme in this film but one that really stands out is the choices people make. Bella has the choice whether she wants to live a normal life with a normal family and growing old , but she can also choose and immortal life and lives with the Cullens for eternity and be this perfect creature with the power to do a lot of things. But these choices come with consequences. If she decides to stay mortal AND stay with Edward she will grow old while he will forever be 17, even when she is 80, but if she turns immortal she will always be with Edward who she loves so much but have a thirst for blood and have to leave her family and friends forever to hide her secret, which would be heartbreaking for her and them.

This theme teaches young teenagers (or who ever watches this movie) that the choices you make can have a great impact on everything you do. It could make your life amazing or it can completely ruin it. Thinking over what choices you make is a must because deciding these things on impulse might seem like a great idea at the time but can have dire consequences. For example in Twilight when Bella thought she got a call from her Mum, but it was actually a call from the Vampire that wanted to kill her and had told her that he had her Mum hostage in her old ballet studio, Bella had to make a quick decision that could mean the difference between life and death, either it was to save her mother from the monster and risk losing her life or save her own life and lose her mother. As a loving and caring daughter she chose to go to the Ballet studio to save her mother only to find out that her mother wasn't actually there, and it was just James luring Bella in to kill her. This decision that Bella made had to be quick and she didn't have time to think it out but she did the right thing, even though her mother was not in danger at all, but it shows that she is not selfish and is willing to sacrifice her life over others.

The theme of 'Choices' in this movie is quite broad and has many aspects to it. Another choice that has a big part in the film is the decisions the Cullen's made to only drink animal blood instead of human blood. They made this decision based on what is good for the community around them and that means they can learn to suppress their appetite a lot more around humans and that they can learn not to be monsters and pretend to be normal people fitting into a normal society.

In conclusion, the theme of 'choices' is heavily influenced in this film. A lot of choices had to be made and a lot of them with large consequences. The theme teaches the audience that you always have to think about the choices you are making in life because they can have a big impact on everything you do. This is being shown by the choices that Bella has to make and the choices that the Cullen's had to make about their life style, some for the better some for the worse.

Twilight Continued

Coloration

The coloration used in Twilight is very different to most other movies in Hollywood but is a reoccurring technique in Hardwicke's movies. The coloration throughout almost the entire movie is a blue/grey color making it almost look cold and icy, like the vampires in the movie. This coloration can also give us an idea and a feel of what the temperature of the place the movie was made in, Which is Fork's Washington, and is one of the coldest and rainiest towns in the continental USA. Hardwicke also uses this technique in twilight and her other movies (which is unique to her style) to compliment the narrative. This color changes in New Moon (the sequel) to possibly symbolize the introduction of the warm blooded wolves and their friendship, contrasted to the blue, icy color of twilight which may have represented the cold blooded vampires.

Task one

TWILIGHT

Camera Movement

In Twilight, Catherine Hardwicke uses various types of camera movement to get different results in her film. One of the most used and effective camera movement was achieved by using hand held cameras so the camera is not steady and it gives the effect of the audience being in the scenes like they are just sitting there observing it, almost from a point of veiw from the audience. An example of this is when Bella and her PE class are playing volleyball and the camera is moving rapidly and sharply between people passing the ball, giving us the effect of a head moving to keep up with the action of the game and it also make the scene look more intense and gives it more action.

Another camera movement Catherine Hardwicke uses is the use of panning. She uses this a lot instead of cutting because it's easier to keep track on what's going on instead of having flashing images. She uses this a lot when there is a conversation going on between many people. In Twilight she uses this camera movement effectively when Bella and her friends from school were outside of her car talking, there were about five of them. using a mid shot and panning around each of them as they talked (especially is they talked very briefly was a very effective way of keeping track and making the audience finding out who is talking when a lot simpler.

Hardwicke also used this camera movement effectively at the start of the movie when Bella and her Dad are inside of the police car on their way to his house in Forks, Washington. Hardwicke uses the technique of narrative dialouge with Bella talking to give us a better sense of what's going on and so she can give us more infomation about things. In the car, Bella say's in her narrative dialouge "and this is my Dad, Charlie". Iniatially the camera is facing Bella through the front window and as she says this line the camera quickly pans over to her father Charlie, introducing him so the audience can get more familiar with who is he as she starts explaining what he does etc

Watch from 2.29

Research Assignment 2

2000's Catherine Hardwicke was most influential in the 2000's (her first movie was filmed in 2003). The influence of this time is the changing of the social world around us and how things are becoming more accepted giving her freedom to think of more ideas for movie

Lead up to the decade In the 1990's a lot of things developed in our world which made it easier for us to live but also made us think about issues and causes around the world.

• The bombing of Iraq in (1998)


• The Gulf War (1990-1991) This was a war against Iraq


• Los Angeles Riots (1992) killed 53 people, 5,500 property fires in the space of 100km


• Oklahoma City bombing (1995) killed 168


• Bill Clinton was President in the United States and a huge Political figure in the 1990's. He is known for trying to resolve peace in the Middle East and the wars occuring in Yugoslavia. He also promoted to decrease the human created global warming and the endorsment in advertising Free Trade in The America's.


• Nelson Mandela was realeased from jail in Febuary 1990. This resulted in the end of the Apartheid in South Africa in 1994 marking the end of the orgional cival rights era.


• California made Marijuana legal for medical purposes only


• Gulf War Oil Spill (1991). Caused considerable damage to wild life


• The introduction of the internet


• YK2 panic in 1999 when everyone thought there will be a massive computer malfunction on January 1 2000. Everyone feared of a World disaster


• Email becomes popular and so does the Hotmail service


• MP3 players were released in 1998


• Instant messaging became popular


• Digital SLR's became widely avaliable


• The CD-ROM became standard in most personal computers


• Microsoft software becomes popular


• DNA identification of individulas becomes widely used in criminal wars


• Hubble space telescope launched in 1990


• NASA's spacecraft lands on Mars


• discovery of dark matter and identification of Black Holes


• Global Warming became a major concern.


• Columbine Shootings(1999). Twelve students and a teacher got killed.


• Britney Spears and The Spice Girls became world wide phenomenons


• Freddie Mercury (Queen) and Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) Died


• Play stations became extremely popular

Political situation

In the 2000's, a lot of things happened in the political sector which captured that world.

Wars:

• "The War on Terrorism" began after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center (or The Twin Towers) In New York City in 2001 which killed 2992 people. The United States invaded Iraq, and the war led to the end of Saddam Hussein's rule as Iraqi president.


• Many terrorist attacks and bombings have continued on through the decade including the 2002 Bali Bombings(202 killed), the 2003 Istanbul's bombings(57 killed), the 2004 Madrid Train bombings(191 killed), the Beslan school hostage crisis (334 killed), 2005 Londan bombings (56 killed), 2008 Mumbai attacks (175 killed). Most of these were carried out by the terrorist group Al-Qaeda.


• The war on Afghanistan started when the USA, UK, Canada and Australia invaded Afghanistan trying to find the Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden

Government and presidents

• On January 20th 2001, George W. Bush was elected the 43rd president of the United States of America. He represented the Republican Party.


• In 2009, Barack Obama, became the 44th president of the United States of America and also the first African American president in American history. He represents the Democratic party.

Socail situation

In the 2000's, same sex rights became more common with many countries recognizing civil unions and partnetships and some countries and states approving same sex marriages.

AIDS awareness became a huge thing in the 2000's. The virus had become so wide spread all over the world , mainly in Sub-Sahara Africa. 1.8 million people die of the diease per year. Many celebrities and high profile persons have made large foundations for people to donate money towards finding a cure for the deadly disease, which is fatal to everyone who is exposed to it.

Director study: Catherine Hardwicke

Biography

Full Name: Helen Catherine Hardwicke

DOB: October 21, 1995

Birth Place: Cameron, Texas, USA

Education: Graduated from McAllen High School in McAllen, Texas (Class of 1973)

Studied film at UCLA in the 1980's

Parents: Jamee Elberta and John Benjiman

Filmography

-Thirteen (2003)

This film is a powerful and dark story about a two teenage girls who come under the influence of drugs, sex and peer pressure and it shows the consequences of the choices she made in a raw way. It is influential because it shows real problems that people of our age face and in a real way and really makes you think about their issues. It shows the effect on their relationships with their families and friends and how much it can hurt people so this movie can influence people to drive people away from making destructive decisions.

- Lords of Dogtown (2005)

This movie is one of my favorite movies of all time simply because it is not made like most hollywood movies. Hardwicke really makes you feel like your living in Venice Beach in the 1970's while watching this film. This movie follows the story of the famous Z-Boys, reckless skaters and surfers who don't care about school and getting grades. It shows their sudden rise to fame and what consequences this this has on their family and social life. This is influential because it brings up the issues that fame brings into your life and how it can affect everyone around you

- Twilight (2008)

One of the most famous and influential (on pre teen girls) movie of the 21st century. Everyone has either read (the books), seen (the movie) or heard of The Twilight Saga. The cool thing that Catherine did with this movie is that she didn't use green screens or anything like that to create special effects. Almost everything was filmed directly and if anyone needed to do anything extreme she would use harnesses to get the effects of people flying or jumping high and of course edited on a computer slightly to make it more realistic. This shows that you don't have to use many difficult techniques to create a fantastic film with a lot of stunts.

Trademarks and motifs

Catherine Hardwicke often uses particular color and camera shots in her movies that make them unique. For example in Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown the colors are at a low saturation and

her the use of cameras feel atypical to a normal hollywood movie like it looks like the camera isn't standing on a stand but being held creating a raw and real atmosphere.

Frequently used actors, genres and narratives

In almost every one of the movies Catherine has made, she has cast the actress, Nikki Reed. She was a main character in the movie thirteen and she was the person Catherine got the idea from to make the movie and she actually co-wrote it with her. In Lords of Dogtown she plays the girlfriend of several of the boys and one of their sisters and in Twilight she plays one of the vampires.

Catherines most (or only) used genre is drama. This suits her style well because she is good at making it raw and dramatic with out creating it over the top and typical.

I have chosen to study this director because I really love the way she creates and directs her films and how she makes them feel different from typical hollywood movies. The way she uses colors and camera angles draws you in and catches your eye while the story lines are interesting and believable.

I will be study these three movies by Catherine Hardwicke

-Thirteen

-Lords of Dogtown

-Twilight

http://www.imdb.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Hardwicke