Evaluation Question 1

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.