EVALUTATION QUESTION 1
Scene 1
Scene 1 introduces our
protagonists in a one shot that opens in a long shot of Steve, walking towards
the theatre confidently, the camera then does a 180o shot as Steve continues to
stride to the doors. This provides audiences with insight into the personality
of Steve – they see a confident ambitious filmmaker. Then the camera crabs left
and we see our second protagonist Alphonse, who currently on his phone unware
that the film festival is starting. This is an example of binary opposites – as
Alphonse is the laidback but a bit absent minded character in contrast to Steve.
This plays to the strengths to comedy films by having characters that play off
each other, creating humorous events. An example of a film that follows this
trope would be the comedy film Dumb and Dumber, a style we tried to emulate.
After Alphonse is introduced, the camera crabs to the left and tracks Alphonse
as he runs after Steve. The audience at this point does not know the context
about these two characters and where they are. The scene then cuts to a close
up shot of a poster that tells the audience that we are in a film festival,
listing the two protagonists we have seen as independent film makers. This
provides context for the audience. The reason we decided to use practically one
shot for this scene was to emulate the “characters in a doll house” style cinematography
that Wes Anderson uses in his films such as the Grand Budapest Hotel.
Scene 2
Scene 2 is a short scene that
establishes the relationship between Steve and Alphonse and a bit of background
between them. We have a mid-shot of Steve going up the stairs, then a cut to an
extreme close up of Alphonse putting his arm on Steve’s shoulder. The music we
had playing is scene and the one before it, a jazzy upbeat piece reflecting the
style of the film, abruptly cuts, symbolising Steve’s shock. A two shot, with a
slight angle symbolising how Steve sees himself higher than Alphonse, was used
to show the conversation between them. Alphonse makes reference to a past
event, adding to the enigma code- Is Steve really as good as he says he is? The
fact that Alphonse mentions that Steve needs to inexplicably bring “orange
juice” adds a bit of humour to the conversation.
Scene 3
Scene 3 is the longest scene in
the movie, it introduces the narrative enigma. We begin with an establishing
shot of the movie theatre. A visual gag of the feature being empty reinforces
the humour and the fact that Alphonse and Steve aren’t very well known. In a
two shot Steve sits himself down next to another film maker and introduces
himself. The other film maker immediately leaves, showing Steve’s arrogance. It
is necessary that characters have flaws or obstacles they become relatable to
audience and they wish for them to succeed in their task. Later in the movie we
will see that Steve does not only care for himself, showing his development.
After a brief cut we are introduced to our antagonist, Basil Jägermeister,
however his identity is not revealed to the audience yet. We then have a long shot
of the audience applauding as the lights dim, adding to the mise-en-scene and
atmosphere. We cut to the audiences reactions over the film, it is important
that they were positive to show a contrast between Steve and Alphonse’s films.
Basil congratulates Steve and we then see Alphonse’s film, also called the
Incident. The Incident is a parody of bad cliché student films, which we
emulated by it being a cliché psychological thriller. Alphonse’s film is of a
much poorer quality with badly dubbed, silly voices and bad sound mixing. Basil
abruptly stops the performance as a long shot shows the audience slowly
leaving. The camera zooms in closer as Alphonse and Steve have an argument
about them “stealing each other’s movie”. This when the enigma is introduced to
the audience and the central narrative: “how will Steve and Alphonse get their
money back?”
Scene 4
Scene 4 introduces Crazy Terry to
the character roster. Crazy Terry is a conspiracy nut and we wanted to
reinforce this in the mise-en-scene by having a cramped claustrophobic room
with loads of books and a reference to the Matrix on his computer. We have a
shot of him explaining the surreal mythos surrounding the ghost writer they
hired, followed by shot-reverse-shot of Terry asking the duo what they’re
favourite film is. This is followed by an uncomfortably close shot of Terry
replying that it was made by Basil, reinforcing the comical nature of the film
and weird ghost writer. Despite Basil’s legacy it is remarkably easy to track
him down, adding to the comical silly humour. We get an extreme close up of
Terry typing in “whereisbasil.com” followed by a mid-shot of him pointing
towards the camera saying “That way!”
Scene 5
In what is the shortest scene in
the movie, we have a fast paced match sequence of match cuts as Steve and
Alphonse place posters stating “Who is Basil Jägermeister” as they attempt to
bring Basil out into the open. To create humour, the wanted posters are of
increasingly weird silhouettes, including Batman, a dog and a pony because no
one knows what Basil actually looks like. A techno remix of the main theme adds
to build tension for the climax while still retaining that silly theme. The
scene abruptly cuts to a low-key lighting extreme close up of someone talking
on a mobile phone – obviously Basil. We have a voice over of Basil stating his
annoyance at Steve and Alphonse and his request to meet him. We cut to a match
on action of Steve picking his phone up and responding to Basil. This is followed by a close up shot reverse
shot of Steve telling Alphonse that the time to confront Basil is nigh. The
music becomes much more suspenseful and eerie adding to the drama of the scene,
but is contrasted by Alphonse having a goofy face and nodding obliviously.
Scene 6
The final scene of the Ghost
Writer begins with an establishing shot of Basil’s office, as Steve and
Alphonse take a seat. We then cut to an over-the-shoulder shot as the identity
of the Ghost Writer is revealed – this was to mirror the cliché villain reveal
seen in spy movies such as James Bond and spoofs such as Austin Powers. The
Ghost writer is revealed to be the presenter of the film festival, answering
the audience’s enigma. We used multiple shot reverse shots of Steve and
Alphonse talking to Basil to enforce the conversational tone. As Basil has an
extremely long monologue we cut to a high angle of shot of them playing
scrabble, adding to the humour. Basil continues his monologue, following the
conventions of a comedy villain by hammy and bombastic. The camera then cuts to
the protagonists playing with a buzzer, completely ignoring Basils rant,
reinforcing the humour. Basil, in anger slowly reveals a handgun and a extreme
close up of his face reinforces his anger. Steve, in shock, says to Basil that
he wouldn’t dare shoot, immediately of a shot of Basil immediately killing
Steve, reinforcing the threat the antagonist has. Alphonse quickly reveals his
own weapon, yet humour is still enforced by the quote “I don’t know where that
came from”. The film ends on a cliff-hanger as the fate of the duo is left ambiguous,
adding suspense. We decided to end on a cliff-hanger as the enigma had been
solved, the story felt complete and adding anything extra would have been scene
as filler.
