FM3

Catalogue:
Subject of Study: Christopher Nolan
Focus of Study : Narrative
Resources: 3 Films, 4 articles,

Batman Begins
The Prestige
Memento
My subject of study is the director Christopher Nolan who is most famous for the Dark Knight trilogy and Inception. My question is how is Christopher Nolan defined as an auteur? An auteur is defined by them having their own style and making their mark on the film. Nolan has made his mark on his film because he wrote and directed his films, he directed his films himself with no other directing unit with him. Another part that helps define him as an auteur is his use of troubled protagonists, which is used in Memento and Batman Begins. Something else that establishes him as an auteur is his frequent collaborations with actors and composers. 2 actors have a common theme in his films, Michael Caine and Christian Bale, both of these are in Batman Begins and the Prestige, Michael Caine in particular because he is used in 6 of Nolan's films, Bale has appeared in 4. Michael Caine doesn't just appear in the films, he also has a similar role for them all, he serves as a sort of mentor for the main character. Hans Zimmer is another common collaboration, Hans Zimmer worked on the music for The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar and Inception.
https://fuwadabrar.wordpress.com/2014/12/13/christopher-nolan-auteur-theory/
Title "Is Christopher Nolan an Auteur?"
Nolan likes to begin his film with scenes that become important later on in the film, this is seen in the prestige when talking about the magic trick parts. This quote is used to start and end the film. Nolan also uses extreme long shots to open his films, he uses this in the dark knight, the prestige and the dark knight rises. Nolan is still partially involved in the Batman franchise as the recent film Batman vs Superman, he was the executive producer.

Section A Case Studies

Mad Max Fury Road
Heath Ledger was first considered for the film before he died
Heath was chosen because he had the same appeal as Mel Gibson
17 years to develop due to constant delays for different reasons
Both Heath Ledger and Tom Hardy have played a villain in the Christopher Nolan Batman franchise
Budget was cut due to collapse of the american and Australian dollar
Delay because of Miller directing Happy Feet
Didn't have a traditional script but was created through storyboards
Used a lot of symbolism throughout the film
1465 storyboards were created for the film
Budget for the film was 150$ million
It took 378.4$ million at the box office
Actors from the previous films returned
it is the highest grossing film of the mad max franchise
It was nominated for 10 academy awards and won 6 of them: they include
Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling,Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing

earned $16.77 million on its opening day
The vision for the film was only in George Miller's head, no actors new exactly what they had to do at any given time



Batman VS Superman Dawn Of Justice 
Batman vs Superman had bad word of mouth before the film was even released because it received bad critic reviews and rotten tomatoes gave it a 30% but this did not affect its opening weekend gaining a strong $166,007,347 
The film did  have a 69% drop however
The film had a hashtag to advertise : hashtag whowillwin 
Domestic Total as of Apr. 12, 2016:$299,955,534 
Ben Affleck asked if he could keep the suit from the film but was told if he paid $100,000 and then changed his mind and took a picture
The film was pitched by Andrew Kevin Walker with Wolfgang Petersen to direct and Akiva Goldsman to script. 
The marketing for the film was aided by Compare the Meerkat Meerkat's dressing up as Batman and Superman 
A US Senator has been part of this film as well as 5 other Batman films. 

Reflective Analysis

I decided on a step outline piece instead of the alternatives, storyboard and a film, I decided this because I figured my filming skills were not that great. I didn't choose a storyboard because my photography skills aren't too great either so I was left with a step outline which I liked the idea of anyway. The step outline was overall my preferred choice from the three options.


Originally, I wanted to base it of DC comic villains but decided to change it because it would be more difficult than what I chose to do. What I chose to do was slightly based off the TV show Breaking Bad but with twists and alterations, obviously, because otherwise it would be boring. I chose not to have it like that because I thought I could make it better because it would otherwise be the same with different names and just not be as good. 
My idea involved the genres of crime drama because of the features i used and how the story was being told. I think that i did well on the story but the story could have been improved through different aspects. I think it could have been improved by trying to change the idea completely and attempting to come up with an original idea. I did change key aspects in this to what it's based upon but the story seemed too familiar. Other ways this could have been improved is through the micro features that i used, i don't think i used enough. The camera could have been used better, however i thought i used mise en scene well to make the story. I intended for this one, that i creative the build up towards them meeting in the film and was creating scenes before it show it.  
In my step outline I used multiple technical features but I could've used more if I managed to bring out the narrative more. My step outline is  the beginning of a film called "Psychosis" and tells the story of a former business owner called Mark Nable, from the name of the, you can probably tell it is about a psychopath, the scenes described show his downfall into Psychosis becoming a psychopath. I could've illustrated the path into psychosis a lot better than I have described by using the mise-en-scene more often than I have. Another way is through the music in each scene, the music could easily show a downfall of a psychotic state but I don't believe I described the music enough to paint the picture of the scene.
Positive points about the mise en scene are shown through the characters of Leo James, Lewis Taylor and Billy Lloyd, in the scene with these characters, the mise en scene establishes the type of characters they are. The drugs they use are a convention of the crime drama genre and further the narrative, drug use is also a main part of the narrative in Harry Brown. When it backfired, it caused multiple deaths, this caused him to be fired. Leo is a student at the time of his firing, and is deeply into drugs, heroin, weed and cocaine. After Mark's firing, he goes home to find fines through the mail, which he hides from his wife for a while, this takes him further than his breaking point and he flips out destroying everything he can see. Leo also has a crumbling in his life similar to Mark, first Leo was kicked out of college, heads to his house and he sees an eviction notice of 1 month and decides to bring out the heroin and basically diving into full blown addiction. 
The characters are appropriate for the age range the film, the characters were diverse and very different. My choices for the description could have been better and more descriptive, more about the clothes, the rooms and the place the film is set. 
I could've improved this work by adding more conventions to the step outline and adding more mise en scene elements. Other ways I could've improved it could've been a more thought out narrative because it wasn't thought out enough. The narrative could've been so much better than I thought it would be, the narrative was thin and I thought it could've been thought out a lot more than I did. The description of the scenes could be so much better too because I didn't think I did that well with describing the scenes because of the way I tend to tell a story of the situation which was not what I needed to do. 

Step Outline Coursework

Scene No.

1

Page No.

1

Slugline	INT.LIVING ROOM -NIGHT
End Point in Last Scene	First Scene
Characters in Scene	Mark Nable Leo James
Point of Scene	To confuse the audience and intrigue them with what is happening.
Conflict	How each character think completely different
Ending/Central Question	What are they doing that needs so much caution? Who is at the door?
Key Micro Elements	This scene will focus on cinematography. Tracking shots and long takes will be used. An over the shoulder shot will be used too. The scene will also contain high angle and low angle shot, pans and close up shots.
Scene Description focusing on key micro aspects	Mark walks into Leo's house (tracking), Mark shouts at Leo, (camera) as Mark is shouting the camera moves into a close up low angle shot of him. Mark shouts “YOU CAUSED THIS, THIS IS YOUR FAULT, YOU DID THIS" the camera shows a Dutch angle on Mark (Camera). Leo pushes Mark and moves to the right, away from him, the camera pans towards Leo as he moves away (camera). Leo shouts back "WHAT THE HELL MAN, WHAT DID I DO? YOU SAID YOU'D HANDLE IT". They hear a knock at the door and both look towards the door with confused faces as if they know but don't know how (camera).

Scene No.

2

Page No.

2

Slugline	INT.PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL-DAY
End Point in Last Scene	The screen went blank after the knock at the door
Characters in Scene	Mark Nable Doctor Morgan
Point of Scene	To make Mark's condition known
Conflict
Ending/Central Question	Why was he in there?
Key Micro Elements	This scene will focus on the character of Mark. It will show his condition and why he was in there. Mid-shots, overhead shot, close ups and long shots will help show this.
Scene Description focusing on key micro aspects	A long shot of the exterior shows the institute where Mark is staying (Camera). The camera follows through the window showing Mark lying down on the psychiatrist's chair discussing how he feels about being released. As he speaks the camera moves to an overhead shot of Mark (Camera). The psychiatrist begins writing down with a happy look on his face, mid shot of the psychiatrist (Camera). The psychiatrist then releases him from the institute. This is shown through a close up of the paper which reads "clinically sane" (Camera).

Scene No.

3

Page No.

3

Slugline	INT.LEO's HOUSE-DAY
End Point in Last Scene	Mark left the institute
Characters in Scene	Leo James Lewis Taylor Billy Lloyd
Point of Scene	To establish the type character Leo is
Conflict
Ending/Central Question
Key Micro Elements	This scene will focus on the character of Leo and will establish the type of character he is. The character will be explored through the mise-en-scene e.g. the way he dresses, the way he speaks, the way his house looks and the friends he has. Close up shots, mid shots and overhead shots will help establish this.
Scene Description focusing on key micro aspects	Leo is with his friends smoking, an overhead shot (Camera) will show the smoke rising and everything that is spread throughout the room. The room is a mess, bottles, blunts, cigarette butts all around the room, the whole place is just not a nice place to be, the furniture is ripped, broken or otherwise damaged (mise en scene). The camera then switches to close ups of bottles on a low angle (Camera), with cigarette butts next to the bottles, the furniture has holes and is torn (mise en scene). The camera shifts focus (Camera) to the people behind, Leo, Lewis and James. The smoke in the room is building, no one is speaking because they are taking hits from the bong they have. Leo is wearing an oversized black, red and yellow hoodie, baggy black jeans and a beanie (mise en scene). Leo is a slim and average size person. Lewis is taller and has an average build, wearing a black jacket, baggy jeans and has messy hair. James is wearing a black and blue tracksuit and a black snapback backwards (mise en scene). The room has low key lighting (mise en scene) coming from the light bulb that is flashing above the three characters.

Scene No.

4

Page No.

4

Slugline	INT.PYRAMID ENT.-DAY
End Point in Last Scene	The screen reverts from spinning colours to appear
Characters in Scene	Mark Nable Leo James Billy Lloyd Lewis  Taylor
Point of Scene	To show Mark's decent into psychosis
Conflict
Ending/Central Question
Key Micro Elements	This scene will focus the editing and will show a montage of things that ended in Mark going to an asylum. It will also contain a parallel action of Mark and Leo's lives.
Scene Description focusing on key micro aspects	The scene will begin with a backwards zooming close up of (Camera) Mark Nable, revealing his old job as a manager of the successful company (Mise en Scene), Pyramid Enterprises, the company sold weapons to the government. Leo is then shown to be a student at the time (Mise en Scene), learning about the weapons trade and the major distributors, including Pyramid Enterprises. It is shown through the long shot of the school (Camera). Next, a montage (Editing) begins with Mark being fired for misjudging the power of a weapon as shown through an email, Leo is kicked out of the college he is at which is shown through him being sent to the head and him shown to be shouting furiously then papers hit the table and zoomed in, Mark gets fined (Camera) for the damage the weapon caused shown in the mail and Leo gets an eviction notice. Mark then flips out destroying everything he can get his hands, moving outside and attacking everyone he sees with things like fence posts, car bumpers and bottles he finds on the street floor. Leo breaks down and then gets the heroin he has hidden away to calm himself down (Camera).

Scene No.

5

Page No.

5

Slugline	INT. MARK'S HOUSE-NIGHT
End Point in Last Scene	Montage just finished
Characters in Scene	Mark Nable Jennifer Nable
Point of Scene	Mark tells his wife about his being fired and the damage he caused, with the fines
Conflict	Husband and wife financial crisis
Ending/Central Question
Key Micro Elements	The key micro element of this scene will be the sound and dialogue as it will help the narrative.
Scene Description focusing on key micro aspects	Mark walks into his house, tracking shot,(camera) and sits down in front of the TV, a shot-reverse-shot(Editing) of the wad of fines and bills in his hand. Jennifer asks "where did all that come from?" to which Mark replies "Work". She then asks" you were fined because of work!??" in a very temperamental way. The music at this point is slow with occasional bumps of high notes (sound). Then Mark will slowly say “I got fired." Jennifer will show incredible anger with this and say “What?? How??” Mark replies “Faulty weapon", Jennifer then says "These fines??" Mark says “Faulty weapon". Jennifer then exclaims their financial state and that they couldn't pay the fines.

Scene No.

6

Page No.

6

Slugline	INT.MALL-DAY
End Point in Last Scene	Switches from the Nable house to the mall
Characters in Scene	Mark Nable  Leo James
Point of Scene	Introduces the two main characters to each other
Conflict
Ending/Central Question
Key Micro Elements	Cinematography is the focus of this scene and will have different types of shots. Shots such as the over the head shot, tracking shot, two shot and mid shots.
Scene Description focusing on key micro aspects	Mark is walking through the mall, tracking shot (Camera), and meets someone who recognises him, Leo. Two shot (camera) of them both is shown as they speak about who they are and what they've done. The next few shots will be the mid shots (camera) of both characters as each them talk.

Aims and Context

Genre: Drama; Action; Thriller; Crime
Age Rating: 15
Target Audience: 15-20 year olds
Setting: New York
Characters:Mark Nable, Leo James, Doctor Morgan, Lewis Taylor, Billy Lloyd, Jennifer Nable
Character conflict, drug related
Diegetic sound mainly with occasional spots of music

Film research

Hunger games Mockingjay Part 2

Opening Weekend $101,million in USA
Jennifer Lawrence- Mystique in X-men first class and Days of future
Liam Hemsworth-Chris Hemsworth's Brother-Chris Hemsworth is Thor in the Marvel Franchise  
Josh Hutcherson- Journey Franchise, Red Dawn 
Woody Harrelson- Zombieland- True Detective 
Sequel 
Based on a Book 
$160 million Budget 
$247 million worldwide 
Francis Lawrence is the director- He directed 2 others in the franchise 
He has had success with I am Legend 
Based on the novel by Suzanne Collins 
production company color force 
Produced by Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik  
Distributed by Lionsgate 
It's an epic film- meaning that it is intended to sweep audiences and is meant to be huge 
this film is made for teenagers as it is a science fiction war film
This film is doing well because of it being adapted from a book and that it is a sequel to a sequel of a very successful film 

2nd film self reflection Noir sequence

The second time around the film turned out to be reasonable ok, especially compared to the first. This time we had sound, in fact we had a voiceover, a short voiceover of roughly 6 lines that described what was happening, barely. I wrote part of the script as a joint effort with one of my partners within the group. The story of this film was also created as a joint effort with all of us, we all contributed in some way. The conventions we used were a voiceover, femme fatale and we attempted a black and white filter but it didn't go well so we just ignored that. We also used the conventions for the plot, a detective, called in on a murder and has to solve the case. We had an over the shoulder shot that we used to switch from the detective to the femme fatale, a tracking shot of the detective chasing the femme fatale, a tilt to show the detective inspecting the body, a low angle of the femme fatale to show dominance and villainous and an extreme close up of the detective's eye, . We used the convention of the snappy dialogue in the voice over to add to the Neo noir feel of the film. My part in the was i acted a the detective, very poorly, I really wasn't a great actor, never have been, never will be, I tried to get this done as best i could and the film turned out better than before. Overall, the film was better than my last but still really wasn't great. We struggled with the plot as none of us was really liked the noir genre and hadn't watched much so we all just put random ideas together and ended up with this and to be honest, it shows that there wasn't much planning.