Lina Johansen: Blog

How does the interview affect your thoughts about Godard and his film 'Vivre sa Vie' (1962)? The interview makes me think of Godard as a young melancholic man that had a desire to create art in such a genuine that way he needed a 'soulmate' to express his love for film. He wanted to fall in love with the main character in the way the audience would fall in love with her, capturing the essence of her personal character instead of constructing one. One thing Godard wanted to achieve was to represent the real lives of the post-war french youth, instead of sensationalising lifestyles that were out of touch and prominently displayed in the french filmscape at the time. Anna Karina was not like other actresses, but a Danish immigrant that worked her way up all by herself without losing herself and her mind. She stood out to Godard just as she stood out to us in the film, which gives us a sensee of individualism as an audience, as she was not sensationalised as a character ...

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MoJWDjNUtrfWIHEuVG6ZJyvnYXQQMGgRxpkGFk38e1g/edit?usp=sharing

The European Divide and "Mustang" (Erguven, 2015) Europe is divided into two schisms. The rich and urban liberal  north-west and the conservative and rural south-east. The representative leader of the north-west side is Emmanuel Macron (president of France) and the leader of the south-east side is Hungary's president Viktor Orban. Orban represents the religious and conservative side and Macron the liberal progressive side.

Narrative Analysis "Curfew" (2012) I will be applying Roland Barthes's narrative theory to the 2012 short film "Curfew" directed by Shawn Christensen. Roland Barthes believe a text is either open (which is that it's open for interpretation) or clones (which means there is just one obvious meaning in the text. If a text is open, Barthes suggests these 5 following codes can be used to unlock the meaning of a text: Enigma Code Action Code Semantic Code Symbolic Code Referential Code Most texts will follow at least a few of these codes, if not all and they're all used to drive the narrative forward in different ways.  The enigma code is an unanswered question, a mystery. Clues will be given throughout the text for the mystery to be resolved and the effect of the enigma makes the audience want to know more. Unresolved enigmas tend to frustrate an audience but also makes a text open for interpretation.  The action code is there to crea...

"Take It or Leave It"  Screenplay by Lina Johansen   https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K6XA1MGfjRe3raI9SH-cZZx4tdy5DToYnkxa-421nKU/edit?usp=sharing

Benh Zeitlin and "Beasts of the Southern Wild" (2012) Context/Analysis  " Beasts of the Southern Wild " ( Zeitlin, 2012 ) is a film co-written, co-scored and directed by Benh Zeitlin. The film was based of a play written by Lucy Alibar called " Juicy and Delicious ". Alibar became Zeitlin's screenwriting partner for BOTSW and they both were nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Award at the 85th Academy Awards. The film also nobly acquired three other Academy Award nominations such as Best Picture, Best Director (Benh Zeitlin) and Best Actress (Quvenzhané Wallis), making her at only age 9 become the youngest Best Actress nominee in history. Benh Zeitlin had previously only directed short films so BOTSW was his first feature length film, as well as a passion project. His collaboration with Alibar was no question as they both met at summer camp when they were teenagers and had stayed friends ever since.  In " Juicy and Delicious " Alib...

Beasts of the Southern Wild Presentation March 2018 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iOkwMVS81iHUiVgekJLXXklLLm3tg_ef/view?usp=sharing

Editing! Q1: The cut is the most basic editing techniques and is essentially cutting from one shot to another. Q2: The purpose of the cut is to change the perspective and to advance the story. Q3: Cutting in action is cutting a scene whilst the subject still is in motion. Q4: Cutting in action is often used on punches and kicks but can be as simple as a character turning or someone walking through a door. Q5: Cut away is when you cut to an insert shot and then back. Q6: The purpose of a cut away is to show that something is a part of the same diegesis or e.g showing what's going o in a character's head. Q7: Cross cutting is when the editor intercuts between locations. Most phone conversations in films are usually cross cut. Q8: When cross cutting is used effectively it can amp up the tension and suspense in a sequence. It's also used to show what's going on in a character's head. Q9: Jump cuts is when the editor cuts between the same shot and is usually us...

Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) vs The Lady from Shanghai (Welles, 1947) These are screenshots from one of the romantic scenes in each film. The setting in both scenes are very dark but with different sorts of lighting. The lighting in BR shines through some blinds which is a characteristic in classic film noir. In TLFS the lighting is high contrast low-key lighting which is basically the film noir lighting. In TLFS they use a soft focus which they don't use in BR. As you can see in the two screenshots there is a similar use of camera angles, two over the shoulder shots. In the scene the women are both very vulnerable, being overpowered by their men.

A screenplay is a totally different art form from writing a novel or a play. In a novel the story usually goes on in the main characters head where they tell about their inner thoughts, ambitions motives and describe what they're doing. In a play the audience is the fourth wall and they get to eavesdrop the life of the characters stories on stage. An actual screenplay is a visual medium of where the storyline is dramatised. It's told with images, in dialogue, and description and in the context of a dramatic structure. A screenplay is about a person, persons, a place or places doing their thing. All screenplays follow this structure; a character doing their thing is them taking action. All screenplays have three pieces; a beginning, a middle and an end. When you have all the pieces the structure of the story is complete. They don't necessarily have to be in the same order but without any of those parts, the story is no longer a story, it's incomplete. A paradigm is ...

Name: Melvin (Melly) Valerie Gender: Female Age: 22 Height: 5'8 feet Hair colour: Red Eye colour: Grey Personality: Stubborn, short-temper, argumentative, loud, addictive personality, cynical, sarcastic, Inner thoughts: Thinks she's superior, lives a rebellious life because of her strict childhood, doesn't talk to her parents. Situation: Her relationship is her pride and joy but she finds out that her boyfriend is gay and drops all her bad attitude to get him to change his mind. Starts to stalk him, ends up getting in trouble.

Powerpoint presentation  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByddJOGQ_IX8MEY2ODRDYWdybWc/view?usp=sharing

The Lady from Shanghai scene analysis The Aquarium scene: Mise-én-scéne: Lights flickering through the movement of the water in the aquariums in the background creates an uncertainty in the scene and makes it feel a bit eerie. There are also visible silhouettes of the fish, sharks and octopuses. Performance:  Michael and Elsa step closer to each other as they profess their undying love for each other. As the tension starts to build when they read Michaels confession they move further apart and walk around to create a more dramatic dynamic. Their facial expressions are quite bleak and neutral even though it is a very dramatic scene. 

The Lady from Shanghai Character Analysis "Michael" Michaels' a seemingly charming young gentleman. In his opening dialogue he's calling himself a fool, which implies that he's not the most proud man. The character Michael is meant to seem innocent by the way he narrates a flashback of how he met a woman, the classic femme fatale of film noir. He tells a story about how he met the woman in a carriage, passing him by in Central Park, late at night. He described how beautiful she was by saying "once I had seen her I was not in my right mind for quite sometime". He also pointed out in his narration that "some people can smell danger, not me" which once again implies that he perceives himself as a fool. As the gentleman he was he offered the lady a cigarette, which typically appear in film noir, to show her his romantic interest. To his surprise the Lady says she doesn't smoke, but takes the cigarette anyway to flatter him. Whilst this e...

Film Review by Lina Johansen Over the summer I watched the blockbuster movie Deadpool (2016). The film is about a guy named Wade (Ryan Reynolds), with a very special day job. One day he gets cancer and is approached by a mysterious man that says he can cure him. After a lot of contemplation he decides to contact the man that apparently can cure him and go through the procedure he suggested. His plan is to get rid of the cancer and then reunite with his girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). He ends up in a secret clinic where he gets tortured multiple times until he shows signs of a superpower. Eventually he shows the signs and becomes quite invincible. He can't hurt himself anymore without automatically curing himself, limbs growing back and cuts closing. The problem is although that after his superhero transformation he doesn't look as he did before. He ended up looking ugly and nothing like himself so he didn't dare to reunite with Vanessa. Therefore his quest du...