The World's End
The first film I will be discussing is the finale in Simon Pegg's Cornetto Trilogy, The World's End. This is a feature length film which was released in 2013, directed by Edgar Wright and written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. It is a multi-camera comedy science fiction drama.
The narrative conforms to a linear narrative, directly starting off in the 1990s some time, following the main character Gary King as a young adult, embarking on a pub crawl with his four best mates. After the opening five minutes showing their past, we then jump straight to 2013 when they are all grown up, except Gary is exactly the same, just older. I would say that it is a conventional narrative for a typical comedy film about a group of men. The reason is because of various elements which make it conventional, for example the opening shows them as young adults, embarking on their lives. Most comedies do this, as it sets up their back stories, as well as leaving open a window for character development.
There is also a main character who is the driving force amongst the friends, also the more lively and funny one. In this case it is Gary , as well as the lively one, there is always a friend in a comedy that is the miserable one who doesn't like to get involved. In this case it is Andy Knightly in the present day, he is the character who has grown up a lot since being a crazy young adult. He now has a family and despises getting drunk and doing immature things. This is also conventional for a comedy because it leaves room for character development and adds tension between the main characters.
The Propp Theory is applied very well in The World's End, the hero of the film would be Gary King, he is seeking to do the Golden Mile and reach all 12 pubs on a pub crawl, finishing at the World's End pub. Something they failed as teenagers.
Although Gary is their hero of the story, he is an unconventional hero. This is because he is a nice guy who wants to do the right thing, but a lot of the time he is stupid and gets the group in trouble. The princess would be one of his childhood sweethearts Sam Chamberlain, although she is completely over him. He is still in love with her and she is reacquainted with him as an award, when the guys go off on their pub crawl.
The dispatcher would also be Gary King , as he is the one that organises the trip to do all 12 pubs. Sending the friends off on their quest. The villain of the narrative would be the 'blanks' these are the alien figures taking over Newton Haven, the town they are doing the Golden Mile in. They are the enemy getting in the way of the friends reaching the World's End, they also create conflict amongst the characters.
The donor of the narrative would be Gary's four friends, this is because they help him overcome his constant shame at never completing the Golden Mile. This gives Gary the power to be a stronger person, who can fight his own battles and stand up to the enemies. The helper out of the characters would be Andy, he helps Gary when he gets caught in a sticky situation, at the start of the film Andy and Gary do not get along. But Andy soon adjusts to him.
Now moving onto the mise-en-scene, I am going to briefly talk about the opening sequence. The opening sequence focuses on Gary King in his youth in the 1990s, with his four best friends, Andy, Oliver, Steven and Peter. There isn't any on screen dialogue, just a voice over of Gary King narrating his childhood.
The first shot opens up with a medium shot of five pints of beer at a bar in a pub, the shot very quickly zooms into a close-up of the middle pint, with the five friends running to grab their drink. This immediately sets the tone of the film , showing it is about a certain comradeship and brotherhood. The fact that the camera zooms straight to the centre pint with the main character Gary , grabbing the middle drink also shows that the narrative is focused on him. Gary is wearing a long black gothic trench coat, with black jeans and DMs with a dyed black hair. This connotes that he is a punk rocker, a person we also usually associate with bad behaviour and living life not caring. This is soon backed up by the fact that we see him smoking in school and terrorising the neighbourhood.
There is a very up beat and retro non-diegetic sound which is played throughout the opening scene. This helps to show that we are in the 1990s , the picture is also quite bright and hazy, it has a very old fashioned look about is, as the picture is not 100% perfect quality but it shows the standard of how life was seen at the time. The locations are all very sunny , and the characters all look like they are having a great life. This paints a picture as to what kind of people they are, the editing style also has a very stop/start approach to it. For example there are lots of flashes to the next location or shot. This almost represents how quickly their young life will go. This is quickly backed up by the fact that as soon as the opening scene has finished, we cut to future Gary King all grown up at a discussion group.
Saving Private Ryan
The next film I will be discussing is Saving Private Ryan, I will be talking about the use of sound and visuals and what their relationship is like. As well as how this effects the audience. The opening sequence on Omaha Beach is a very key scene which is good proof of how sound and visuals are used well together.
The sound starts off very instrumental and we feel a certain patriotic emotion when in the cemetery, it is quite clear that this man was involved in The Second World War, as the visuals help us to understand this. Whenever there is a cutaway to the American flag or the cemetery , the non-diegetic orchestral sound goes higher pitched. Clearly focusing on the elements that made the war, paying homage to the fallen men.
When the camera starts to zoom in on the elderly man looking at a particular gravestone, the non-diegetic music starts to fade out and the ambience/diegetic sound of crashing waves starts to fade in. The sound gets louder and louder right up until it is zoomed fully in, once we hit his eyes, the scene cuts to the Normandy Landings.
The scene cuts to the past, specifically D-Day on Omaha beach. All the non-diegetic sound is gone, the visuals are very de-saturated and murky. The sound starts off with the sea coming in, this almost represents that something is coming. Which is true in this case, because the Americans invaded to push Germany out.
The relationship between the visuals and sound is very much in sync, as both work with each other. There is no non-diegetic sound at all during the large war scenes on the beach, all that can be heard is the ambience and diegetic sound of warfare. For example bullets flying, soldiers being shot, screams, running, mud, everything harsh sounding to the ear is played. The effect of this with the visuals is that it all sounds and looks very disturbing.
Because we are stripped bear of all non-diegetic sound it seems so realistic to the real event, almost like we are actually there. Spielberg is also trying to make it as life like as possible, so that he can pay tribute to the men that fought, so not to make it feel all Hollywood and fun. Something which a lot of war films do, in which they use heroic and atmospheric non-diegetic sound to make warfare seem exciting. This would typically be a convention of war films.
The visuals feel very shaky and handheld, I wouldn't say that any tripod or steadicams are used. More that there are camera rigs which camera operators would have held so they could just walk through the action. This makes it all seem more like we are actually there, if the camera angles were dead steady and even then it wouldn't feel as gritty and real. These shaky camera movements also match the sound very well, all the ambient and diegetic sounds are very horrific, the shaky camera movements help to make it more disturbing.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The third film I will briefly discuss is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, I will be talking about the relationship between sound and visuals. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was directed by Ben Stiller and based off of the original film. The narrative is of a linear narrative and it focuses on the main character Walter Mitty and his constant problems with constantly day dreaming. He works for Life magazine and he is tasked with developing the final ever issue of Life's front cover photograph. However out of all the photos he has for the issue, he has lost the world renowned front cover from famous photographer Sean O'Connell. So Walter is set on a journey of uncovering the lost photograph somewhere around the world. The soundtrack during the film suits the tone perfectly.
The opening sequence of the film starts off at a very slow pace. The character of Walter, lives a very tedious and unadventurous life. The visuals match Walter's life very well. It starts off with a medium long shot of Walter at a desk. He is wearing a short sleeved white shirt and a tie. The mise-en-scene is very dull, the colours all around him are grey and white. It has a very desaturated feel about it, this is a conventional approach to a drama about a man who is quite down in the dumps. It sets the scene as we immediately recognise what kind of a person he is. The sound which is played in the background is just the ambience of a clock ticking. This makes it seem all the more boring, the fact that there is a clock ticking also makes you feel like it is building up to something bigger that is about to happen. Once we leave the desk area with Walter, the narrative then cuts to a train station, some non-diegetic music can be heard. It is a sad but slightly upbeat tune at the same time. Once the first bit of action kicks off with an exploding building, there is the ambience of screeching cars and screaming people. This helps to add tension and make it more dramatic, there is also non-diegetic music which is exciting, matching the visuals very well.
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