Auteur and Feminism film theories
Auteur
Charlie and the Chocolate factory - Tim Burton
Firstly, if a director is thought of as an auteur director then it means that they are like the author of the film and when they do this they manage to implement their own creative ideas and concepts into the film. Tim Burton mostly makes dark, gothic fantasy and horror films has directed various films but there are many themes and ideas that can be spotted in the films that he has made and auteur directors all have their own way of directing and visioning their films and they will often use similar looking shots, lighting and sound and actors they've worked with previously in other films and his methods are different to lots of other directors films as he has complete control over the production of them.
Casting
In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton brought in Johnny Depp (Willy Wonka), Helena Bonham Carter (Mrs Bucket) and Christopher Lee (Willy Wonka's father) to play quite key roles in the storyline and these actors have been in about seven other films he has made. Johnny Depp has played a lead role in this Burton film and Willy Wonka is an eccentric, quirky and outgoing sort of man who is childlike and doesn't seem to like the idea of behaving like a grown up. They also brought in Freddie Highmore to play Charlie Bucket and they got the casting right for this part because he had to be a skinny boy as his family are poor and with there being 7 family members, he's not going to be able to eat as much as an ordinary boy might do. Highmore also comes across as polite, caring and brought up well considering his families background.
Techniques
For colour and lighting, the only times really in the film that colour is used is when the children and adults are allowed in the factory or when there is a scene involving Wonka chocolate bars or the golden tickets. A good example of this is when they enter the room Wonka calls 'The Chocolate Room' but before they go in to the factory, from the outside it is a cold, overcast looking day and the factory itself is grey and dull looking with smoke pouring out of it adding more to the cloud. But when they go in to that room there is just like an explosion of colour. When they enter a room in his factory they will normally start the scene with a wide expansive shot showing the whole room to let the audience see what the room is like and then it would switch back to a shot of the group to take in Wonka's pride in what he has created and then a reaction of the party with him. They use special effects when Mike Teevee is shrunk into a mini version and then at the end of the factory tour after he is stretched in to a tall and literally flat size we see him walking out. They use music at the beginning with the opening credits and then when the Oompa Loompas break into a song when one of the children end up leaving the tour and the Oompa Loompas making songs and dancing shows how mischievious they are and how they entertain themselves.
Creative Influences
One thing that really stands out to me is the make up that Willy Wonka has on his face as he is pale because he's in his factory basically all the time and he has shadows around his eyes, his lips are purple and he has strange feminine type of hair. Burton seems to like to use this pale look for characters in his fantasy films. Willy Wonka is also a character who is unusual and weird throughout the film but not creepy like some of the major characters that are in Burton's other films. Tim Burton normally starts his films with maybe 2 or 3 minutes scene of opening credits with pictures (probably if it's an older film) or if it's more of a recently made film like this one then it will be a few minutes of shots of key things from the film (like the Wonka bars being shipped out of the factory) and then maybe a narration after it to open the film.
Genre Analysis
In terms of the genre of this film, just like nearly every other Tim Burton film this is a fantasy and a humour film. Reasons why this is a fantasy genre film is because Willy Wonka is called a genius as he can consistently make the best chocolate bars in the world and then also sweets that in real life might sound impossible to make to us. Also there are the Oompa Loompas who are from a far away land which is conveniently called Oompa Loompa land and they are like little tribal people but it is unclear whether they are human or just some sort of magical little people who can talk. It is also a comedy film because Willy Wonka is an adult with a childish perspective on things which makes him come out with funny comments and remarks particularly about the children who found the golden tickets to get into his factory.
Narrative analysis
For narrative, in this the poor and respectful people (like Charlie's family) end up as the happy ones at the end of the film but the richer and disrespectful children end up finishing their tour early and not getting the ultimate prize which Charlie won and that was Wonka's factory. The narrative has a fantasy concept because Charlie always liked Willy Wonka's chocolate and was very interested in his factory as he made a model of it at the start of the film and then at the end the factory is offered to him to run it as Wonka realises when he dies someone needs to take over. However he's told that he couldn't see his family again so he turns the offer down but when Charlie makes Wonka realise family is important, at the end of the film we see that his families house is moved in to the factory so the two main characters end up happy.
Symbolism
In Wonka's factory, nearly every individual room has a main colour. In the first room, 'The Chocolate Room', it's mainly green, red, pink and brown but then in otherwhich sort of sets the tone for what the rest of the factory tour will be like as it almost reinforces Wonka's imagination. For actors, there is symbolism in Johnny Depp playing a lead role like Wonka in a Burton film as he is is very eccentric and not the usual type of adult man. A good example of symbolism for a character is the shirt that Mike Teevee is wearing throughout the tour and it has a skull on it and this is symbolic because he is a pretty violent and rude person and the first scene we see of him he's playing a violent video game and is shouting at the screen saying "DIE, DIE, DIE" and also when left on his own in the factory the first thing he does is obliterate a pumpkin and the skull T-shirt has connotations of violence and terror.
Technical Codes
For technical codes, I'm looking at the scene where Violet Beauregard turns into a blueberry. Firstly, when she gets bigger and bigger the camera rises up with her and also when everyone else backs away from her that angle is almost like saying she is helpless at that point and everyones backing away in case something bad happens. For the audio, when she starts turning blue some daunting screechy violin music starts playing quietly and then when it gets seriously bad and she turns into a massive blueberry it is really loud. The editing is spaced out so that each reaction of everyone else is seen clearly when she swells up.
Written and spoken language
In this film, most of the written text that we see is in posters or newspapers and when this happens it basically always has something to do with Willy Wonka and his golden tickets and the children who had found them in the chocolate bars. These are important parts in the plot of the film because one of the first examples is a notice on a lamppost announcing that five children will get the chance of getting a tour of the factory if they find one of the golden tickets. For the other times, it announces who the children are and this also introduces new characters to the film making it important overall. For spoken language, most of the characters, apart from Willy Wonka, are quite serious. But Willy Wonka will say some things that adults will find quite funny like when Augustus Gloop comes up to Wonka and says "I really love your chocolate" and then Wonka says "I can see that" which i found quite funny.
Feminism
Divergent - Neil Burger
Feminism theory is a theory that filmmakers
follow that leans towards
the importance and viewpoints
of women whereas stereotypically men are normally the main characters, for example something like Harry Potter whereas with feminism Tris in Divergent or Katniss in The Hunger Games. Neil Burger directed Divergent and the reason that this would be considered a feminism style film is because the Divergent series's main protagonist is a young woman who's called Tris. The film is set in Chicago but way in the future when society seems to have collapsed and everyone is like some of the last remaining humans. As the main character is a woman, it means that the plot revolves around her and she will have important traits and reasons (being Divergent) which is why she's going to be so crucial in the plot of the film. It is also a feminism style because in the film the people have to choose to enter a faction group which means that when they turn 16 they have to join a certain group out of five which suits their characteristics. But she chooses to join Dauntless which is the one that has the most brave, fearless and combative people in which is showing how woman can be what men are stereotypically thought as.
Casting
For casting Burger brought in Shailene Woodley to play the lead role as Tris and she plays it well as a girl who looks quite shy and wary at first but comes out of her shell when plot moves on as being in the Dauntless faction makes her stronger, confident and more daring and then she learns that she is divergent and she realises her qualities and potential. Kate Winslet plays Jeanine who is the main antagonist in the film and she is the leader of the faction called Erudite which is the faction who wants to take charge and this is also another example of feminism from Burger as another very major character is a female. Her mum is portrayed as brave and fearless as she rescues Tris from being executed when the Erudite faction attack Abnnegation and then she dies saving her for it. Also the woman who Tris goes to for her faction test is Tori, played by Maggie Q, and she reveals to Tris that she is what people call Divergent and is therefore important to the story.
Techniques
In Divergent, Neil Burger uses a range of techniques but I did notice that at the start of the film there are lots of aerial and establishing shots on the city and there is a
use of colour to suit the mood in the scenes in Divergent and it has that golden sun colour shining on the city as it's a completely new world to us and those colours remind people of new life but it's a common theme and a shot that is used throughout the film. Another example is the people from Dauntless wearing black clothes because compared to the rest of the city these are the most different as they are fearless and daring and wearing the colour black means their mysterious and protective. Burger makes lots of use of music and it is normally used when the story has progressed onwards or if there is a very beautiful and scenic shot or scene then there will be music used. Music is used when Tris has chosen her faction and they all leave the massive room, music starts playing and it's 'Run boy run' by Woodkid and it's the sort of music that would remind you of action and the Dauntless lot are all running and climbing and chasing after trains so the music suits the scene well. There is also a lot of use of green screen that they use for the background of shots, for example like when Tris and Four are taking a practise aptitude test halfway through the film and they are on a beemline really high up in-between two buildings. Special effects are used when Tris takes her real aptitude test and a fire rises from the ground very quickly and that is definitely CGI.
Creative influences
Neil Burger has said that when he was visualising Divergent in his head, when he was thinking about his approach on it, that he wanted to stay faithful to the book as he spoke to the author of the book, who is Veronica Roth, before he started on it. He also says that he has watched many movies set in the future, such as Blade Runner, and he said he could imagine a CGI city but he wanted to make it all feel real by implementing human nature and things that as the audience we could relate to. Burgersaid in an interview that "the essence of the story's message can resonate with any age" because he thought of the questions "Where do I fit into the world? Who am I? Am I different, and if I'm different, do I hide it?" and these are the sorts of things that a teenagers will have thought of at some point as they mature into adults and then adults can remember thinking about that.
Genre Analysis
For Divergent, the genre is mystery and Sci-Fi. The mystery comes in various ways as there a quite a lot of questions that the audience will have but then as the protagonist, Tris, gets further into the plot she is going to have questions answered and then find more questions. One thing that is mysterious is why is Jeanine and the Erudite faction so interested in Marcus Eaton and rounding up as many Divergent's that they can find. It is a Sci-Fi film as there is so much futuristic iconography and elements that make us think of science and unrealistic technology that we wouldn't have in our time right now and there is also a story of why their society is like it is at the start.
Narrative analysis
The narrative of Divergent is about a sixteen year old girl, called Beatrice Prior, who lives in a futuristic version of Chicago where they seem to be the last remaining humans across the United States. Every year, the sixteen year olds all have to select a faction to be in and Tris, who was in Abnegation with her family, ends up in Dauntless after taking an aptitude test to see which one she should choose and being told that she is Divergent which means that she's not suited to any of them. She joins Dauntless and then realises that she's one of the worst in there and has to train really hard to be able to stay on the program otherwise she will be faction less, meaning that she won't belong to anything and effectively homeless. The faction called Erudite, led by the antagonist Jeanine, wants to take over Abnegation and run the government of Chicago and at the end joins up with the Dauntless leaders to force the Dauntless soldiers to start killing Abnegation, through some sort of mind control, so that they can control the city. However Tris with the help of her mother and father, who both die in the process, stop the mind control on the Dauntless soldiers and then she escapes on a train with Four and his dad, Caleb who is her brother and Peter who was in her Dauntless initiates group.
Symbolism
Neil Burger uses symbolism in Divergent and the most obvious use is for the symbol of each of the city's factions. For Dauntless, there is fire which can have connotations and meanings of danger, will and determination. Abnegation's is an image of two people holding hands which is like offering help to somebody and Abnegation is for the kind and helpful one. Candor's symbol is an image of scales which is symbolic for deciding what is the truth in court and Candor's faction is all about Honesty. Amity's is a picture of a tree and Amity is all about peace and trees can remind people of the countryside and often in films when someone is looking to escape they dream of a place in nature. Finally for Erudite's faction, it is an image of an eye and that can have meanings of focus, vision and observation and in Erudite they are the most intelligent people living in Chicago.
Technical Codes
For technical codes, I'm looking at the scene when they are on the train on the way to Dauntless and then they start jumping off the train on to the roof of the building. For camerawork, for one shot, as Tris and her new friend Cristina jump off it cuts to a birds eye view of the jump, making me think that Burger wanted to show the gap between the roof and the train and how high up they are. For another shot it shows the speed the train is going and this makes it seem more intense and the jump even more daring and dangerous. That same shot also shows how many more people have already jumped and that they are the only two who haven't jumped yet. For audio they use a soundtrack that has intensity and it uses the sound of the train and the tracks and also the sound of drums to make it more dramatic.
Written and spoken language
In Divergent, not much is actually written down, everything is normally just symbolised like the faction symbols and even when someone is reading something aloud they are reading off of some futuristic iPad that isn't visible to the audience. When people are talking to Tris, she is often being told what to do like when she goes into Dauntless and is then told to jump off the roof and then she undergoes all of her training. It depends which group of people that Tris is talking to in Divergent as Dauntless come across as confrontational and blunt, for example Eric, Abnegation seem kind and caring, for example her parents and Erudite is where Jeanine is and she comes across as authoritative and knowledgeable.
