ASSIGNMENT A : Analysing the features of single camera productions - David

Children Of Men

Wide shot from star of Children Of Men (1:51)

Single camera is a method of filming in which there is only one camera being used; this usually allows the director a lot more control over each and every shot. Children Of Men which is directed by Alfonso Cuaron (2006), is a feature film that uses the single camera technique. The film is set in London of 2027, where the world is coming to an end as females can no longer have children due to infertility. It follows a middle aged man called Theo (our later hero), and his journey to getting a miracle pregnant girl to a mythical organisation called 'The Human Project'. The genre that this film falls under is primarily science fiction, this is because it is set in a futuristic time, but it's also a drama and thriller.You instantly know the genre of this film within the first few minutes of the film - not does it only clearly tell you the date and location on screen ("London, 16th November 2027"), but you can also tell through the mise-en-scene. The camera shows a wide shot of a slightly futuristic London, where there is technology we recognise yet it looks old - Children Of Men is definitely not your 'common' sci-fi with spaceships flying around.

When it comes to narrative features, it is definitely a short form narrative as it is only 109 minutes rather than numerous hours like a series or serial would be. Along with this it is a single strand narrative which means that there is only one main plot that the audience have to follow. The narrative pace of this film is quite fast (like most feature films tend to be), this is seen through the fact that the audience are thrown straight into a situation and the main plot, and all following events happen quite quickly. For example, when the Theo's former love interest dies, it is very sudden - she is in the car talking and joking then thirty seconds later she is shot and dead. This is done as the director has only a small amount of time (due to it being short form) and yet has so much to get in, therefore everything happens quickly - but also I think that this adds to the drama and thriller genre, by making deaths and the action sudden gives the audience a shock and keeps tension throughout the majority of the film.

The ending of the film can be interpreted as open and closed; after Theo finally completes his mission, he dies (due to being shot earlier). Although we see a boat start to get closer to the characters, which leads you to believe that 'The Human Project' will find them, there are also many questions you're left with. For example, we do not know for certain that the boat seen is even 'The Human Project', if they are can they use the pregnancy to solve the infertility in the world? However, I think that overall, for the main plot, it's a closed ending - the hero has done his job and is now dead. Although, Cuaron may have purposefully made is a semi open/semi closed ending as it leaves the possibility of making a sequel, but also leaving it as a sole feature film.

Lastly for narrative features, Children Of Men, although being a science fiction film is definitely shot in a realist style. This means that the settings, characters, use of camera  (and so on) are realistic and believable. Although being in the future, by the fact that there isn't highly developed technology, but rather a recognisable setting adds to the audiences' believability.

Mise-en-scene seen in Jasper's house

Cuaron's use of technical methods seen in Children Of Men were definitely it's rise to fame. To start with, the use of mise-en-scene is done in a very particular and clever way that allows the audience to gather lots of information about the narrative without having to clearly say anything. An example of mise-en-scene is seen during Theo's first visit to his friend Jasper's house - the camera pans along his walls that have scattered news articles and posters about the fertility crisis but also an immigration crisis. This doesn't only let you understand the narrative but it also gives you insight to the characters and who they are.

The use of camera and editing is also very prominent in Children Of Men. Firstly Alfonso Cuaron used a lack of editing throughout the film purposefully, there were numerous shots that were not cut at all - aesthetically this was definitely effective, however technically it added to the realist narrative. A specific example of a good use of camera was the 'car scene', this was nearer the start of the film where Theo had just agreed to help get the pregnant girl to the destination, and all of a sudden the car is under attack. The scene is filmed from inside the car and is done all in one shot, the camera constantly pans to different things that the characters seen - when a character screams "look out" the camera quickly pans around to where she's pointing. This builds a lot of tension as if it were to constantly do jump cuts it would allow the audience to 'breathe' and therefore not be as tense. By having no cuts the audience feel like they can not stop watching what is happening which then makes the whole scene far more realistic and believable. 

The Wire

Another format in which is filmed in the single camera method is serials. A TV serial that uses this method effectively is The Wire which is a crime drama that aired from 2002-2008. The show follows two main plots - the story-lines within a police department in Baltimore along with the story-lines within a drug gang. This therefore means that the show has a multi-strand narrative; it follows multiple story-lines at once that are either connected or complete opposites. This is effective as it gives the audience two different view points, you don't only see an event through the eyes of the law enforcement but also the gangs which allows the show to have a much wider demographic. The first scene is quite effective in the fact that it sets the scene for the audience - you find out the genre, characters, language, themes and style.

In contrast to a feature film, The Wire is a long-form narrative, which means that the narrative is shown over a longer period of time (each episode is an hour, and there are 5 seasons). This also means that the show has a slow narrative pace, meaning that one storyline will be ongoing for a quite long time before anything is resolved, which contrasts with feature films that only have a couple hours usually to cram a lot in. The Wire is also filmed in a realist style; it is set in current times, within everyday America, there isn't any over the top action scenes, or dramatisation of the drug world, it's filmed and presented in a very realistic way. This is done so that it becomes more believable to it's viewers and somewhat relatable. The show is primarily done with a linear narrative, meaning that it goes forward in time constantly, however there was one flashback out of the whole of the show. Lastly for narrative features, the show always has open endings mostly. This is because of it's serial format - each storyline is carried over each episode, therefore the endings are always left open by the end of the episode and are only closed at the end of a season usually. In contrast would be a series drama, this is when each storyline is resolved at the end of the episode, for example Spaced (directed by Edgar Wright) is a series drama as the first episode is about two characters needing a house, and by the end of the episode they've moved in.

The most effective use of technical methods seen in The Wire would be the script and dialogue, this is because there is a lot of lingo and terminology the audience are not familiar with. However, rather than easing into the use of lingo, The Wire throws the audience straight into it - it expects you to listen carefully and through other technical methods such as props and camera shots, to eventually catch on. The only time that The Wire helps it's audience in a sense is with the one flashback used in season one; this was used to tell the audience what the characters are talking about when discussing and earlier incident. However, apart from that one flash back, The Wire leaves it's audience somewhat helpless but I believe that this is purposeful as it means that the audience are inclined to pay more attention to the show and if they do not catch on then they will just stop watching which is what The Wire said it wanted.

The Wire is also very effective when it comes to mise-en-scene, not only do the props, costumes, and settings allow the audience to understand what the show is about and become more realistic, it also helps with character development. In season one, episode five, we meet a new character within called Omar, within the first ten seconds we discover a lot of information about him without him even being in shot - this is because of the mise-en-scene and dialogue. Firstly, we hear a dog barking rapidly in the background which is a sign of distress or danger usually, as well as this the people are all shouting "Omar's coming". They say this while running away which suggests to the audience that not only are they afraid of this Omar character, but that he's been there before. Then when there is a shot of Omar, the use of props and costume also tell us a lot about him - he holds a massive gun down by his side swinging like it's not a big deal, he also smokes a cigarette casually regardless the fact that everyone is running away from him, lastly he is presented to be wearing all dark colours including a long trench coat which suggest he is some kind of villain.

Little girl hiding when Omar is outside

Although the mise-en-scene is what really makes this scene effective, the use of camera is also effective. Firstly, there is a wide shot of a little girl hiding and watching Omar, this is effective as it tells the audience information about the setting. The fact that there is a little girl hiding and watching in her doorway tells us that this isn't only a place where drug deals happen, it's a community area, a place families live, - this only adds to the scare factor of having Omar there.

Wide shot of Omar whilst bag drops behind him

Another interesting use of camera in this scene is the lack of it - when Omar is outside talking to the drug dealers inside, the camera doesn't leave him once. Usually, when two characters are having a conversation the camera either pans, or cuts to each one, however the fact that the camera here doesn't suggests that Omar is the most powerful character in the situation along with the most important. This also happens when the drug dealers inside the house finally drop the drugs down from the window for Omar, rather than panning up and showing them dropping it, it just stays on a wide shot of Omar and you see the bag fall behind him. This somewhat adds a comedic effect to the situation along with the same idea of who's got the most power. Additionally, when the bag does drop, Omar doesn't flinch or rapidly turn around to get it, he takes his time which tells us that he expected them to drop it which means he has done this many times before.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Shot from the start of the film 

Another feature film that uses the single camera method, is The Grand Budapest Hotel, which was directed by Wes Anderson and released in 2014. The Grand Budapest Hotel is a comedy, but also a period drama which is evident through the fact that it's about a hotel owner telling a story in the past about how he come about owning the hotel. The film is mostly set in the 1930s, you know this because it shows you by having text on the screen, also aspects such as the language used is different to how people speak now.

Like mentioned, the film starts off with a girl visiting a cemetery, which leads to a flashback of an author getting told a story by the owner of The Grand Budapest Hotel, which leads to a flashback of the main story line - the original hotel owner Gustav and his story whilst owning the hotel. Through the fact that there are numerous flashbacks, and flash forwards throughout the film

End scene of girl in cemetery

it means that the film is done in a non-linear narrative; the time and dates of the film are constantly changing, rather than just going from start to finish. Furthermore, although there is a story within a story in this film, it is still a single strand narrative as there is only one main storyline that the audience have to follow. Also, like most feature films, The Grand Budapest Hotel has a short form narrative (only being 140 minutes long), and has a quite fast narrative pace. The ending of this film is how it starts in a way; we first see a girl in a cemetery and then all the flashbacks happen and even once the main storyline is finished, the film ends with the same scene of the girl in the cemetery. This also made the film have a closed ending, the story was told and all plots were tied up (partly due to the main character dying).

The last narrative feature seen in this film is the fact that it is shot in a very anti-realist style, in contrast to the other single camera dramas I have previously spoken about. This means that the film has been made in an unrealistic manner, a very deliberately exaggerated world the characters live in. This is evident through the fact that firstly it is based in a completely made up country supposedly in Europe, and also the way that Wes Anderson has filmed it gives it not only a cartoonish look but also in a way that you can tell it's made up. For example, there is a chase scene between the two main characters and the villain, this is done through them chasing the bad guy on sleds down a snowy mountain - Anderson is highly against CGI, so he uses small models to create this scene at some points. By filming this scene this way it added a comedic effect due to the fact that it does look so ridiculous; usually chase scenes are very serious and high tension, but by filming it in an over the top manner it adds to the anti-realist style and makes it funny.

Wes Anderson's intricate use of mise-en-scene and camera work also make The Grand Budapest Hotel effective. Firstly, each shot is very precise and the mise-en-scene  is always symmetrical; the characters will usually be centred and everything around them has been placed in a specific way, this also adds to the comedic effect of the film as it is something you don't usually see. Furthermore, the camera does a lot of pans and zooms in this film for comedic effect. For example, in a scene called 'lobby boy' Gustav is talking to Zero and then he calls up to another character from inside the hotel, and the camera pans up to a small window where the character looks out. The camera then has a shot of Gustav and Zero looking up at him, but the camera is angled at a downward angle, which then makes the whole scene very exaggerated and extravagant.

The colour and lighting used in The Grand Budapest Hotel is primarily bright and vibrant. The hotel itself is a light pastel pink, whilst the insides present rich reds and golds; these all connote happiness and glee, which is what the hotel used to represent in the 1930s along with the fact that it adds to the anti-realist style. However, then whilst Zero is the current owner, due to the fact time has gone and and the hotel has ran down, the colours are very unsaturated and dull. This shows how the hotel has gotten old, and lost the vibrancy it once had, but Zero keeps it due to the sentimental value. Furthermore, although when the main storyline is happening, the colouring of the film is bright, whenever there is a flash forward to Zero, the colours and lighting darken due to the fact that the flash forwards usually happen when he is talking about something personal such as Agatha.

When it comes to editing, sound and dialogue, they are all quite prominent throughout the film, especially the dialogue. The script in the film features a lot of lingo for the time its set, however it then adds to the comedic effect when this is broken, an example of this would be when Gustav is hanging on the edge of a cliff, while the villain is about to make him fall off. During this scene Gustav is reciting poetry, which he does quite a lot throughout the film, but then suddenly Zero pushes the villain off the edge and this breaks Gustav's poetic speak in exchange for him cursing.

Shot from the Crossed Keys scene

An example where editing, sound and dialogue is very effective is in a scene called 'Crossed Keys', here there is a chain of hotel owners calling one another to help Gustav a former hotel owner. This scene is effective as it is done in a repetitive manner - the camera has an establishing shot of the what hotel it is, then a wide shot of the hotel owner and their lobby boy, then its a mid shot of the owner on the phone before a circle vignette encloses on them and the cycle repeats. This is effective as doing it once is already humorous due to the dramatisation of the situation (as if it's a secret circle of hotel owners), so then to repeat it multiple times just makes it funnier. 

The Usual Suspects

The last example of a single camera drama that I will be talking about is The Usual Suspects. This is a crime film directed by Bryan Singer in 1995, it is about five criminals and the dilemma they got in to, which is all told by one of the criminals Verbal Kint through a flashback. The films starts with the ending of the story that Verbal tells the investigator, it then flashes forward to current time where Verbal begins the story, this means that the film is made in a very non-linear narrative, as throughout the film there are multiple flashbacks and flash forwards. The film also has a closed ending, however the ending alternates the audiences view of the entire film, it makes you believe that everything said in the film is made up (it's therefore in a anti-realist style), this is also where the most effective technical methods are used.

Firstly, the use of camera in the ending sequence is effective because there are a few pans and zooms that tell you a lot about what a character is thinking. For example, after Verbal leaves the police office, the camera zooms out from the investigator at the doorway, this suggests that the case is solved and the film is ending, however then theres a cut to a different setting which makes the audience realise that there is still more to come. Another example of effective
camera use would be when the investigator is sitting looking at the investigation board and the camera slowly zooms in to his face and then into the board and back to the office to an extreme close up. This tells the audience that the investigator is putting the pieces together and realising that everything that Verbal just said was taken off of the board, and therefore the whole story was a lie. The use of a zoom was effective as it puts you into the mind of whichever character it's pointing at, so previously we were in the mind of Verbal as he was telling the story, but now the slow zoom to the investigator makes us see things from his point of view.

Investigator looking for Verbal with car in background

After this the investigator runs off to chase Verbal Kint, however the camera follows him up to the doorway and then stops following him. This tells us that the chase is pointless because the camera always shows the important events, so when it cuts to a different shot we already know that Verbal has won. The last use of camera that was effective, was the framing of one of the final shots; Verbal has gotten away into a black car which the camera follows with a pan, and then the investigator comes into focus, whilst the car is driving out of shot behind him. This if effective because it shows that Verbal was always one step ahead, also that the investigator was so close but not close enough.

Editing is also done in an effective way in this ending scene during the audio visual montage of the investigation board when the pieces come together and you realise that Verbal Kint made it all up. It has been done by having quick cuts, pans and zooms of parts of the board whilst having audio that was from previous parts of the film over the top. This is effective as the whole film was a quite typical crime drama - there's a crime that you, along with the characters try to solve, and by the end you do. However, this fast presentation of new information, that was right in front of us the whole time, makes you feel slightly overwhelmed as you try to understand what it's trying to tell us. Therefore, the use of audio over the top definitely was essential to sell this scene, rather than just showing the evidence that Verbal used to make up the story, you have the audio clips of him saying it which helps you put it all together before coming to the sudden realisation of everything being a lie.

Apart from the audio used in the montage, the other effective use of sound in this end scene would be during the investigator's realisation - he drops his mug, which in turn smashes onto the ground, however this doesn't have any sound. This lack of sound is effective because as previously stated, we are with this character now, so he is finally realising everything, so therefore for him he wouldn't be paying attention to the cup. So the fact that we don't hear it only adds to the concept of us being inside this characters head, which makes this scene more realistic in a sense.

"And like that, he's gone"

Similarly with sound, script and dialogue was used in a successful way. Firstly, when the officer says "Keyser Soze, or no Keyser Soze" we are met with a shot of Verbal - this is effective as essentially the whole film revolves around this master criminal Keyser Soze who the officer thinks he's identified, but the fact that this piece of dialogue is greeted with a shot of Verbal is the first hint of what is to come. Another extremely good piece of dialogue was when the police officer says to the investigation "It'll make sense, stand back a little" (referring to the mess in his office) however this links to the part when the officer looks at the investigation board and the whole realisation happens. This is effective as it's a sort of ironic humorous in a way, the whole time the board has been right in front of the characters, and soon as they do take a metaphorical step back he realises everything. The last use of dialogue, is the very last line of the film - "He's gone". This is done as firstly as an audio overlay of a quote Verbal was saying earlier on in the film, and then it's a close up shot of Verbal from earlier in the film. Then when he says "he's gone" the screen cuts to black, and the film ends. This is effective as refers to Verbal being ahead of the investigator the whole film, and he got away just in time and now the officer is looking for him he is gone and wont be found, and therefore he won.