notes on winters bone

Alternative opening - Black and white, focus on animals

Debra Granik : Background
• Made educational films for trade unions after graduation from Brandeis university
• Attended NYU graduate film program and made short, Snake feed, which gained her entrance into Sundance screenwriting and directing labs
• Reworked Snake Feed into first feature, Down to the Bone, story of mother attempting to overcome drug addiction

From down to the bone to winters bone
• Granik and writing partner Ann Rossellini were given a pre publication copy of the book, winters bone
Seen as a mythical quest or fairy tale as Ree has to bring back a trophy of her courage

Granicks process
• Uses organic, instrumental process that involves:
• Video and photographic documentation of daily lives of several families in Missouri Ozarks
• Collaboration with blend of professional actors, regional actors, local non- actors, etc.
• Location shooting that incorporates elements of environment

Graniks style
• Neo – realistic, documentary-like style
• No marks for actors, camera moves around with them
• Removing standard filmmaking accessories as much as possible (lighting interiors from outside, for example)

Winters bone production
• Two year production to find and secure locations
• 25 day shoot
• $2 million budget
• Relesed mid 2010, winters bone was a deserved sleeper hit bolsterd by extremly posotice reviews and word of mouth.
• Rebecca hofherr was costume designer for WB. Her brief shaped by director Granik’s commitment to believability and an extremely tight budget of $5,500; she created a realistic, memorable look of lived in denim, motif fleece sweaters and padded check shirts….
• Screened at Sundance winning grand jury price for dramatic film and best screenplay awards
• Distributor roadside attractions purchase us distribution rights

film review on winters bone by mark kermode

winters bone - bit rusty, first essay question of the new year

How far does ‘Winter’s Bone’ rely upon an understanding of its social context? Refer in detail to at least one sequence from the film. [20] (500-750 word response)

Winters bone in my opinion relies heavily upon an understanding of the social context behind the film. Set in the Ozarks, in a small community where illegal methamphetamine trade flourishes in a devastated economy, Winter's Bone follows the travails of Ree Dolly, a 17-year-old girl who spends the length of the film trudging through the bleak chill of southwestern Missouri in its darkest season, with the trees black spikes and hills bleached silver and rust. Ree's father, a meth cooker, has gone missing while out on bail, but not before putting the house his three children live in up as collateral against his bond. To save her family from homelessness, Ree must find her father, and to do that, she navigates a harrowing underground where blood ties offer no protection from the drug trade's brutality. We need to understand that in the Ozarks in the early 2000’s the law wasn’t a governed law set and followed by a society of people, it was a law set by the land that was obeyed and passed down through generations, where the girls kept quiet and cleaned and cooked whilst the men hunted and used violence to control people
A scene to show this would be the scene where Ree goes to see her aunt and uncle for the first time, this is where get the first look at this law that has been set in place by the locals. Ree is greeted by her aunt and bought into the kitchen she asks questions but shouldn’t be, she is told to shut up by teardrop and he ends up choking her. In todays society that wouldn’t be acceptable, its illegal however this is not seen as illegal in their society.
Understanding this about their society is a key to understanding the film itself, as its an independent film its obviously different to mainstream releases, focusing on a taboo subject like drug usage and cooking whilst showing a dysfunctional family and society. So understanding the social context behind the film gives you a new perception that this is everyday life for them, this is how they live and bring slight to the fact that this film isn’t fantasy its more social realist or hyper realist.

context of winters bone

Social
• The community is blighted by rural poverty, lack of opportunity, low educational outcomes and a sense of separation of mainstream USA infrastructure. Secretive and inward looking with an emphasis on family loyalty and ‘kin’ based around patriarchal power but dependent upon strong, resilient women. Methamphetamine use and addiction has had devastating consequences on families and individuals. The reality of financial insecurity, violence, domestic abuse and mental illness is ever-present.
Institutional 
• http://www.indiewire.com/2010/11/toolkit-case-study-how-indie-hitwinters-bone-came-to-be-244485/
• Based on a novel of the same name by Daniel Woodrell. Produced by Granik and Anne Rosellini through their production company, Anonymous Content. After several attempts to raise finance, the film received half its $2 million budget from a private equity deal which enabled it to go into production. Premiered at Sundance in 2010 and gained a distribution deal from Fortissimo Films. The film went on to take $6 million at US box office making it an indie hit. The film brought Jennifer Lawrence to wider attention.

taken from http://resource.download.wjec.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/vtc/2016-17/16-17_1-19/_eng/winters-bone.pdf

what is independent cinema

An independent film, independent movie, indie film or indie movie is a feature film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies. Independent films are sometimes distinguishable by their content and style and the way in which the filmmakers' personal artistic vision is realised. Usually, but not always, independent films are made with considerably lower budgets than major studio movies.

Generally, the marketing of independent films is characterised by limited release, but can also have major marketing campaigns and a wide release. Independent films are often screened at local, national, or international film festivals before distribution (theatrical or retail release). An independent film production can rival a mainstream film production if it has the necessary funding and distribution.

quoted from - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_film

life of jordan

Cinematic ideas 

Close ups, midshots, longshots, zolly,  

Split screen 

Phones with texts from anonomous, collage shizzle,  

Black and white 

Mad world 

rain  

Synopsys  - life of jordan

The film is going to be a romantic comedy about Jordan and his unrealistic love life involving more than one woman. The film starts in a college classroom beginning with the introduction of the characters, it will continue to show jordan getting a text from an unknown number saying that whoever that person is thinks he is an attractive young boy, this will feature other less important characters gasping in sheer awe of Jordan’s wonderous achievement. The scene will continue to show jordan quickly build a relationship with his new squeeze, however, Jordan’s squeeze shoots him down when he gets back home, his film turns off and the fire he was in front of gets put out by rain (a bucket of water). Jordan gets very salty but becomes relieved when another squeeze hits him up and confesses their feelings towards him. Jordan gets with this new new squeeze and stops being a salty boy; however, jordan being jordan doesn’t take this newer found relationship seriously as he is a little bit of a player, whilst his new squeeze is taking their relationship incredibly seriously and if jordan does not get his act together his relationship and possible future relationships are ultimately doomed.  The settings will include different areas of college and Dan’s house. There will be three main characters played by Jazzy, Dan and Jordan, there may or may not be side tings.  

research on context for Trainspotting

1. What was the poll tax and why was it introduced into Scotland first?
   The poll tax was a system taxation introduced in replacement of Domestic Rates in Scotland in 1989. It was based on the number of adults in your house, so it taxed people not on their income but on other factors, it was introduced into Scotland first as a trial, Thatcher knew it would be unpopular so trailed it in Scotland where she thought it wouldn't damage her votes.  

Research Task

1. what are the conventions of social realism?
   Location Shooting - Non Studio
   Wide shots
   Non Professional Actors
   Semi Improvised Scripts
   Humor and Seriousness
   The Erosion of regional Identities
   Wider social issues explored via emotional and dramatic individual stories
   Triumph over adversity

Film idea - synopsis

A long time ago there was a village in a valley surrounded by high mountains. The village was isolated from the normal world and no one knew that it exists. Except the people who lived in it. There weren't many people. The sky above the city was grey and the sun could never be seen. It rained very often. The people lived kindly together. But it was a strange atmosphere. The people never talked to each other. The family's lived together. No one spoke a word. There was never a happy voice like a laughing child or singing birds. It was quiet. The children sat at home and looked outside the windows when they're parents worked. Everything without a sound. It was like everyone knew something would happen. And then it started to rain. The rain kept on falling over weeks and months. Then finally the sun came out about the valley. There was suddenly a big lake. It was a few miles deep and very black. Years later it became a very popular tourist attraction. People loved swimming inside the lake. But the Village and his people are still there at the bottom of the lake. Waiting to be found. But till that happen, the people will wait......quietly.....without a sound.



were going to expand on this idea and create characters such as the Tracksuit Gang aka Jordan!!!.  

Prisoners – film analysis

As the clip starts we see a Medium-Long Shot of the location which is a diner, we also see a person’s car and the fact that it’s raining. The persons car is Low-Key lit whilst the inside of the diner is High-Key lit, showing this lighting contrast between the two areas makes me feel that inside the diner is a safer place than outside due to the dark and how one of the main conventions in horror is a dark Low-Key lit setting.
Furthermore, the rain in the sequence is a form of pathetic fallacy, as it’s used to foreshadow a bad event in both literature and film, but as the sequence progresses and reaches a climatic ending, so does the rain. We see it get worse as the sequence continues possibly foreshadowing a death or something we don’t know of yet.
From what we can hear there is no Non-Diegetic sound throughout the clip all the sound is Diegetic but no music, this makes me feel uncertain of what is about to happen and constantly on edge, this is a trick that most horror directors use to try and scare audiences as they are made to feel uneasy and uncertain by the lack of sound.
We then get a cut to inside the diner, as we see a man on his own at a table eating, the camera is at a Medium-Long Shot of his back so we don’t know who he is, and this gives the man a sense of mystery about him as he is also sitting alone, it gives us an idea on what type of a person he is. However, we do know that he is a person of importance as the camera tracks forward onto him and he is the only person in the diner.
The scene then cuts to an eye level view of the man eating, the camera is focused on the shallow depth of field putting focus onto him confirming that he is of importance, we don’t see the person he is talking to properly in this moment but we still hear her talk putting focus onto him and what they are saying. They are talking about animals and what they were born as in the Chinese year, I have a feeling that this is another foreshadowing as it seems out of place with the scene, but I haven’t seen the film so I don’t know.
The scene cuts to a long shot of inside the diner, letting us see outside to see that the rain has gotten worse, and that it is still dark, showing that the diner is still a ‘’safe place’’ . Cutting again to outside the diner we see the man get into the car that we saw at the beginning of the clip, we get a close-up again in the shallow depth of field but this time it’s to see his reaction to the call he just received about an RV that has been spotted, giving us a bit of exposition on what is about to happen next.
Another technique that is used at this moment is a form of Chiaroscuro lighting where we have his face split by the High-Key lighting of the diner and the Low-Key lighting of the car suggesting he is entering a bad situation by leaving the diner.
Whilst the background is blurred but just enough so that we can still see the raindrops on the car, we get an extreme close up of his silhouetted face, because its silhouetted we know that he is going to a bad scenario as he is completely shadowed instead of partly.

The scene cuts from the view of the diner from inside the car to a view of a wooded area which we can guess is a view from inside the RV as it’s some different persons face that we can see silhouetted in the same style as the other guy’s.
the next interesting thing is how when the car enters the camera is stationary panning slightly left as the car comes towards the camera, this makes me feel as if I was already there, as he gets out the car get jump cuts as it cuts to either a long shot of the scene or him walking, when he walks the camera tracks back again making me feel as if I was there.
we then get a parallel cut from inside the RV, we know that’s its parallel because a reflection of the man walking towards the RV is shown, however the reflection is at an angle or a Dutch tilt, showing the person looking into the mirror is not mentally stable meaning he could be on drugs or criminally insane.
the next parallel cut if from three different places in that scene showing what’s going on from three different vantage points, as the RV crashes we get jump cuts of the RV crashing to give us a perspective of what we think we saw when we probably didn’t see him crash the car specifically it just looked like it, this is used a lot in the Hollywood film industry.

I haven’t seen this film of yet but from the lack of Non-Diegetic sound and the cuts with also the pathetic fallacy off the rain, I can make an informed guess of what’s going on and that I think this scene is towards the end of the film as it seems to reach a climactic point when the arrest the guy in the RV, we also know what’s going on because of the exposition given by the radio and also at the start with the traits of animals, so perhaps when they try and interrogate the man he will be like the rooster that is the woman boss.

Crimson peak – clip review

Daniel Jacques

In the first 9 seconds of the clip we get a medium closeup of the bed showing the girl waking up and reacting to the dog barking which in this sequence is diegetic sound, as the viewer we are also made to feel creeped out because of the low-key lighting and the eerie non-diegetic music that has been composed for the sequence. As the first 9 seconds go on the camera zooms out giving us a view of the bed and then it switches to a medium shot on the opposite side of the bed so we can see her reaction. Then it cuts to a medium close up of her face so we can see her face lit and her reactions to the surroundings and the dog barking, the mise-en-scene here is the bed from where she woke and the candlestick she is holding in her hand as the only source of light except moonlight making the scene more creepier to make the viewer more on edge and creeped out. Then we get a pan right as she walks towards the corridor which switches to an over the shoulder view of the low-key lit corridor which is empty except a large circular window letting in some light the mise-en-scene of the window and how the light lands on the floor possibly foreshadows that the corridor will be of importance later in the sequence. As we see this we get a piece of diegetic sound that is common in most horror films, a squeaky door opening and closing again this is done for the effect of making the audience creeped out as we can see she is clearly alone. As she goes to investigate we get a medium shot of her walking through a corridor switching to a medium long shot of her and a room which is just staircases, the stairs are low-key lit with shadows from something across them this is like this for 2 seconds enough for the audience to establish where she is in this castle or house, the mise-en-scene suggests it more like a castle or mansion due to the banners on the staircase and the large windows and staircase, a low-key lit castle or house at night is a common place setting for a modern day horror, then we get to see more of the corridor as we get a steadicam shot that tracks right and pans left as it follows her walking down the corridor to where she thought she heard ‘’Thomas’’. Then it pans right as we hear the door shut and the dog stop barking, again adding suspense as the only sound that is heard is the non-diegetic music added onto the video making the audience on edge.

As she goes to open the door that she thinks the dog went into we get a close up of her face switching to a long shot of her from an over the shoulder of the dog so we can guess it wasn’t the dog in the room then we get a closeup of the dog as it barks switching to a close up of her face so we can see her reaction knowing that she’s reacting to the dog, and that in this case it may have been something unknown to both character and viewr that made the noise, the camera then snaps to a medium shot with a face seen even in the low key lit room confirming our idea of the unnatural making the sounds. As the door slams the camera pans right and down to give us a close up of the doorknob as she opens the door again to find it empty, we get a view of her reaction as the camera shot is a close up but it’s on the shelve placed so we can also see a box, however the focus is on the deep field of view so the box is blurred but we can see her reaction to just shelves and a box when the door was slammed shut by a person, we then se an over the shoulder view of the box so we can see what is in it, clearly making what’s in there of importance. We then get a long shot of the corridor with more non-diegetic sound giving the audience a sense that something is going to happen. The sound then switches to diegetic as we hear a moan and see a hand shoot up from the floor as the camera pans from her to the corridor, making the audience jump as we are already on edge and were not expecting it.