Intro
For my Vlog 2 I will be analysing X-men First class which is a successful film by 20th Century Fox which I went over in Vlog 1. Within this Vlog I will be talking about the purpose, genre, form, style, content, meaning as well as the production process of this film.
Purpose
The purpose of this film is to engage and entertain the audience for 132 minutes for several reasons one of them may be to get good reviews as this may help influence others to go and see this film and therefor generate more money for 20th century fox. Also by making a good film now this may inspire people to view the prequels of this film and make the franchise more popular and again generate more money.
Genre
The genre for this film is a science fiction film as it shows humans with powers that are called mutants. You can tell this is science fiction as it isn't something that has happened or could happen but is still based on Earth.
Content and Meaning
The Mise en Scene within this has been encoded (everything has been purposefully placed) in a way that is meant to help create the preferred reading (Stuart Hall 1980).
this can be done in several different ways including camerawork, sound, editing, production process, narrative as well as costume and makeup.
Narrative
Todorov's theory of having a narrative structure has been used within this film. This theory is about the narrative structure which involves an equilibrium, where everything is in order and balanced, then there is a disruption to the equilibrium and then there is a resolution which helps bring back the equilibrium the narrative will have been planned out during post production as there wont be a film to create if no narrative has been made.
The narrative for X-Men First Class also uses Levi Strauses theory of binary opposition (1958) , which is Good Vs Evil. We have the good mutants thats primary purpose is to help defend the human race from the bad mutants. But this film makes it so the audience can relate to both sides of the argument. But despite the fact the "bad" mutants don't want to be experimented on or enslaved which is what they belive their outcome will be if things carry on as they are, the audience will obviously side with the "good" mutants as they are defending the human race which is easier for the audience to put themselves in the situation of a civilian and therefor side with the mutants that are trying to defend the human race.
The basic narrative for this is that there are two sets of mutants the ones that fear the human race and decide that the best way to deal with them is by wiping them out or enslaving them to become rulers of their ideal world, where mutants don't feel the need to hide who they are, this set of mutants are the enigmas and are the main part of the disequalibrium as they want to create a dystopian world. The other set of mutants are the antagonists that want to defend the human race and feel what the bad mutants are doing is immoral and the only way to stop them is by fighting them, which helps to save the human race.
One of the preferred readings I can connote from this film is the fact that people shouldn't be insecure and should embrace who they are which doesn't mean that you will become an evil villain for not doing this but the fact it can take you down a darker path compared to being more secure with yourself and not fearing those who are different.
All of this will have been thought out during pre production because if there is no narrative then there is no film to make, which excludes the production process as well as the post production process.
Form
The form for this is a full feature length film that has been made for an ABC1 audience as they have a more disposable income and as this film has been designed to be played within cinemas that would be a requirement to make a successful film. This film isn't only made for cinema as a DVD for this has been released for this on September 2011 and was released in cinemas on June 2011 as this will help produce more money for 20th century fox which is the entire point of releasing a film to a mass audience.
Style
This film has a nostalgic feel to it within the first shot we get an establishing shot of Oxford University which helps to connote to the audience that the main characters within this are going to be fairly intelligent. The way this has a nostalgic feel to it is because within the first few minutes within the film we already get to know that this is set during some kind of war and you can tell that this is set during a period within the past because of the costume as that Eric is wearing fairly old style clothing. This will have been planned during pre production but executed during the production process itself
Sound
non diegetic
To start off with I will be discussing non digetic sound this is a sound that clearly isnt happening Within the story world such as music or powerful songs that help to make up the film score or a sound motif badge an example of this would be Darth Vaders iconic breathing
within xmen first class as soon as this clip starts we get an example of non diegetic sound throughout this clip for up to 58 seconds there is some dramatic music playing to show what is happening is an act of one of the enigmas within this film starting to create a disequilibrium. This is effective as it fades out when loud noises are made such as the glass smashing and then comes back into earshot when no loud sounds are being made to helps to add to the spectacle
Diegetic sound
is sound that appears is coming from within the story world of the film or TV program and helps create the preferred reading this can include Dialogue Sound Effects this includes Foley sound use materials to make sounds
These are added during production and the post production of the film to help create a preferred meaning
sound effects and dialogue in particular are planned carefully during pre production
Sound effects are meant to captivate an audience and grab attention to an object or subject
off screen - sound you can hear that isn't in the scene. An example of a scene that has been well thought out is when Charles Xavier is trying to chat up a woman at the bar and talks about her "heterohcrhomia is in reference to your eyes which I have to say are very stunning" he then uses the same concept to chat up another woman about her auburn hair
a diegetic sound effect used in this is "put that man down or we will open fire" at 0:17 this is effective as it shows they are against what the enigma is doing but the character saying it is so irrelevant compared to what is going on we do not get to see him. at 0:14 there is some sort of tornado
Location
X-men first class is primarily set in 1962 England during the cuban missile crisis this helps to connote a time of danger for the audience. This is thought out in the pre production stage of the planning by a location scout. The scene I will be focusing on is based in division X which is a top secret CIA base, you can tell this is meant to be a secret base as denoted within this scene are military weapons such as missiles which you would not expect to find in a place of public access this helps to connote danger and helps give the audience a sense of foreshadowing that something bad is about to happen and those weapons will be used.
Characters and acting gestures
The characters within this are encoded to help create binary opposition good vs evil (Claude Levi Strauss) But within this there is a lot of middle ground characters you aren't sure what their intentions are as people already know magneto is one of the main bad guys within the entire xmen franchise but within this he is depicted as being one of the good guys up until the end but if you are familiar with the xmen franchise you will be expecting this plot twist so the creators of this have to make the transition from good to bad really interesting within this film as it would be very easy to lose someone's attention as they already know one of the main plot twists so they add over pieces within this puzzle to entice a fan of x-men such as mystique who's main power is to take the form of others and also manipulate her voice they use mystique and show how she too was a good guy until she decides to join Shaw to help keep someone familiar with the X-men story they decide to add a romantic twist between magneto and mystique which helps make the plot more interesting as magneto appreciates mystique in her natural form which is blue with red hair whereas
this is clear as there are a lot of generic soldiers within this scene which helps to anchors he theme of danger and malice which is fairly stereotypical of a film within this genre. The fact the soldiers are encoded to connoted the fact they are there to protect and also helps spark the question if they can't stop Shaw (the main protagonist) then who else can? You can tell that the soldiers are in such a way that shows they are only set up for death as they all blend into one, and this helps connote how worthless they are.
Within this film there are a lot of gestures used to help denote that the mutants are suing their specific power an example of this would be Charles Xavier uses his two finger and places them on his temples to help show the audience what they are hearing is from his mind and that he is either sending telepathic messages or is reading someone's thoughts.
Magneto stick out his hand and uses a wrist movement to help show the audience that he is moving the metal objects which helps show the audience he is the one doing this.
costumes
At the start of this film Charles Xavier is wearing a suit which helps connote he is from a fairly well off family in the final scene he is in a yellow and blue action suit this helps to create a juxtaposition for the audience which helps to show the change within his character for the audience as he progresses within this film from a fairly immature student who is very intelligent but to leader of a group of super mutants with different ability's
The costume and makeup for this film is very elaborate and has carefully been thought out. This film was made after the first X-men films but the time period is made before them so they have to carefully make the characters such as mystique look younger and yet have some resemblance to the mystique in the previous films that were made. Mystique is a mutant that can take the form of any human but inn her regular form her skin is blue with little bumps on that help create a pattern this has mostly been achieved with makeup but I imagine that some substance has been applied to help amplify the fact she is a mutant her costume is very important to the narrative of this as it helps. when we first see hank who later turns into the beast he is wearing a lab jacket and protective eye wear this helps connote to the audience that he is a man of intelligence and is some form of scientist which is later confirmed when we find out he is trying to come up a cure to reverse his mutation so he can become "normal"
Props
Within this film many props are used as it is a massive budget that has been spent on this film one of the main props used within this are weapons, that are primarily guns which helps connote danger to the audience but a preferred reading as to why this has been encoded for this could be guns and weapons are worthless and rather than fighting we are better off talking and discussing problems as the guns are useless against the mutants so rather than focusing on killing each other we should concentrate on making society a better place the fact that the humans condemn the mutants by locking them away starts to raise a major issue within society is that we don't embrace new things and change.
Camera Angles and Shot Types
This film uses a variety of camera angles to help denote the preferred meaning a camera angle within this, is a POV camera shot which is from the angle of an officer looking through a pair of binoculars, this helps put the audience within the officers shoes as he is having missiles fired at his ship. This helps to get the audience more involved within the film.
A depth of field at 0:6 to show that Charles Xavier is an important character within this you can connote that the background characters aren't as important as him and that he is the main character within this. A close up is also used within this shot helps to emphasise the emotion on his face.
Also an establishing shot this is to introduce the scene as oxford London the title graphic helps to denote this time this helps to connote the fact they are at a prestigious university and that the people will be intelligent within this
Production Process
Pre Production is all about how the film production is planned this will include the high budgeting on this film, as this is a massive blockbuster, luckily for 20th century fox they have a huge budget they can put towards a film. And with the franchise being so popular they are almost guaranteed to make their money back. In the pre production process they will have to keep in mind. Casting, narrative/ script and locations also costume and makeup.
During the production process a range of specialist in several different fields would have to be on hand, including pyrotechnics, stunt men, camera men and even specialists in lighting. The director would be dictating everything that would go down on set, to capture the image that he would have for the script.
And the post production process would be all about editing the film into a linear order to ensure continuity throughout the film. Also sound would come into play because special sound effects will need to be added ass well as a consistent sound.
