Industry News - 2018 Oscars Best Picture Race

This year's 90th Oscar Academy Awards was a four man race for best picture. With Get Out and Lady Bird being the potential unconventional wins and The Shape Of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri being the more conventional choice, with Guillmero Del Toro's  fantasy The Shape of Water winning which very roughly details the tale of a a person with a disability, a black woman and a gay man working together to defeat an authoritarian figure to save a sea creature which without actually seeing the film sounds like a mess but has been described to be a touching masterpiece.

Although Get Out was pegged to win the award by those who watched and were fans of it the academy ultimately decided to award Jordan Peele with a Best Screenwriter award which was enough for him but socially as a whole I believe that it has opened a metaphorical door for non-white actors to be considered for leads in feature length films removing the notion that it wont sell at box office which is nonsense as it grossed 255 million domestically.

The Coen brother's three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was also pegged as potential winner for the category. Ultimately it's lead actress Frances McDormand (Fargo) won the award for Best Actress due to her performance and is one of the very few people in the world to receive a Triple Crown of Acting. During her acceptance speech she detailed the issues still racing the film industry and it's levels of representation. She ended the speech with the note of an 'inclusion rider' which is the suggestion that A-list actors can request that"tertiary speaking characters should match the gender distribution of the setting for the film, as long as it's sensible for the plot," To help improve the gender inequality within films.

Greta Gerwig's directorial debut Lady Bird was perhaps the biggest Oscar snub of the night, taking home no awards at all despite being a particularly excellent film. Both written and directed by a female and led by one on screen Lady Bird is a coming of age story that depicts the frustrations of youth and the problems every teenager must struggle through as they enter adulthood. It also flips film conventions by using the male characters as storytelling devices for the female ones. If hollywood had truly intended to help change the opinion on how women are viewed within film, they would have surely chosen it to win an award of some form.

This year's nominees ands lineup was anything but the typical Oscar lineup, it shows that Hollywood although moving at a rather slow rate is willing to start to change and open up it's doors to different and better ways of making film.

Trainspotting Key analysis

Opening Scene

Trainspotting's opening scene displays each of the main characters in the film, first and most importantly being Renton who's erratic dysfunctional personality is  clearly displayed in the form of him taking heroin before the 2:00 mark has even hit the film. Other than Renton his friends are also displayed playing football within the establishing shot, this perhaps represents masculinity (further supported by the watching girls) and the control that Renton's friends have over his life, as they influence nearly his every decision throughout the film. It is also fairly evident from Renton's accent and him running down Princes Street (Edinburgh) that this film takes place in Scotland. As the scene plays out Renton delivers his Choose Life speech, which is used for social realism purposes to make the audience reflect on and decide wether this ties into their own ideology.  Within the football match the audience are also introduced to the personalities of the other characters. Begby and Sick Boy cheat throughout the game and play unfairly, as they do throughout the film, implying they cheat and bully their way through life. Meanwhile Spud (goalie) is depicted as clueless but plodding along nevertheless, and Tommy who seemingly appears to play by the rules of the game but evidently finds himself locked in a corner which perhaps foreshadows his death at the end of the film. It is no mistake that they are presented in this team like manner as in theory they are just not the most cohesive. Throughout the opening scene their drug usage is almost glorified with the upbeat music and obvious joy from the characters that is displayed as soon as any of them come into contact with heroin, this is made immediately obvious as the scene takes the characters into the brightly lit bandeau. Yet it is not made clear in what direction the lights are coming from, that and their colourful appearance create a theme of hyper-realism similar to that of Alice In Wonderland which has been compared to a very long Acid trip, similar to heroin in it's hallucinogenic properties. Dramatic irony is used within the scene for comedic purposes with Begby stating towards the end of the scene that he doesn't take drugs, but is evidently drinking alcohol and smoking a cigarette as he states this which contextually displays the unfair attitude on recreational drugs, as with abuse both cigarettes and alcohol can kill you the same as heroin. It also foreshadows the death of Tommy as he initially mocks Renton in this scene for his drug usage but by the end of the film dies due to that said drug.

Detox Scene

The detox scene depicts Renton as he suffers a comedown from his drug usage, less the overdose and more the lack of usage have brought about the emotions in this scene. His room is detailed to be the same as a child's which suggests either that he left home early or that his parents never re-decorated as they still retain the memory of child Renton when they see him, which allows them to ignore his obvious drug usage for long periods of time.  Here he lies in a limbo of sorts, left alone with his own thoughts and fears as he weans himself of the drug he appears to have a series of hallucinations which references previous moments of the film but on a whole don't explain themselves and leave it up to the audience for interpretation,  this adds to the hyper-realistic themes of the film. One of his visions depicts the underage girl he slept with, Spud in prison wear and Tommy disheveled from the effects of the heroin; these all show his guilt which is evident whenever he reflects on his past for example the dead baby which literally crawls on the ceiling to really hit home that Renton feels almost haunted by his choices in life. Moments from the present are also shown to be warped in his mind, and the line between reality and dreams are both blurred for Renton and the audience which creates an overall fairly surreal scene.

Final Scene

Trainspotting's final scene details Renton's final choice. The film begins with his friends and him, seemingly described as a team but it ends with Renton himself on his own with a bag of money. Both the ending and opening scenes are shot in a face paced up-beat manner but it could be argued that the opening of the film is in fact actually more optimistic than it's ending, with every character at the beginning of the film shown to be happy in their own way, by the end of the film one of the team is dead, and Renton's decision to provide Spud with money as well almost forces their implied separation as it is unlikely that Begby and Sick Boy with their volatile personalities are likely to get along with it just being those two. It is also implied that Renton despite his theft of the money that they all worked to steal together knew that they would not be able to fairly share it as it is shown throughout the film through the characters that life simply isn't all that fair; from the death of the baby to the only character who could really help his life being underage and in school. Renton once again repeats his opening monologue of his 'Choose Life' speech implying that to him now life means doing things his own way and not following his friends or family but making his own decisions.

Fish Tank

Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank socially realistic drama that depicts the coming of age story of a 15 year old girl infatuated with her mother's boyfriend. As a director Arnold appears to enjoy applying the natural world into her work and uses elements such as bugs as stylistic features for her films(Wasp -2003) and rap/dance music to move plot along throughout her stories. She also chooses to shoot at a 4:3 ratio, with her reasoning being that " A portrait frame. My films are generally from the point of view of one person … It gives them real respect and importance. It’s a very human frame, I think.'  Which I believe she does to make her films appear more relatable to audiences.

 Her first film 'Wasp' (2003) is an Oscar award winning tale detailing the story of a negligent mother and she filmed the particularly low budget film in her hometown of Dartmouth, due to the success of that film she was able to make her first feature length film in the form of 'Red Road' (2006 box office of £154,8920) which was a stylistic experiment by several filmmakers who decided to base their films around the same characters. Due to the success of Red Road and the Oscar winner that was Wasp. Andrea Arnold then moved onto Fish Tank.

Mirroring the characters of Wasp and Fish Tank Andrea Arnold herself also grew up on a housing estate to a 16 year old mother who the followed to have 5 more children by the time she was 22. Arnold described her home as 'chalk pits and fields and woods and motorways. I was always out exploring.' and she predicted she would end up with the same future her mother had. Similarly to the character of Mia in Fish Tank, Arnold sought escape from her grim surroundings through dance and hip hop and succeeded by earning a place at an elite dance school.

Fish Tank is used by Arnold to display a 'broken Britain' it's set in a particularly bleak part of Essex with the protagonist (Mia) not being the conventional female lead, Katie Jarvis the actress who plays Mia is a non-actor who was picked out by Arnold due to her similarities to the character as she was discovered while screaming at her boyfriend at a train station so contextually she's unconventional but as a character she represents the females of england that are more represented as a statistic than in the media as a fully fledged character with depth. With her struggling grades and sour attitude she represents what is described as 'broken Britian', themes of abuse and poverty are heavy in this film as well as themes of entrapment within her surroundings and it also paints that this is the real England and not the high terraced houses that it is believed to be.

The aim of the film is not to paint a hero or a villain, but perfectly reflect the social connotations of Britain and the reality of the boredom that naturally occurs when you live a life without money but that. that doesn't define you as a person and it's what you do with that time that still counts, this is shown through the escapism that is shown with music and dance which many people in poorer areas use as an escape as creativity is free.

No Country for Old Men - Coin Toss scene analysis

This scene from No Country For Old Men details power struggle at it's best and is the first real insight we have into the main antagonist (Anton Chigurh) and his personality. It's made almost immediately obvious at the very beginning of the scene that Chigurh is very literally not someone an audience member can relate to as a character, he appears as the camera is focused on the shop keeper, seemingly out of the shadows as if he was a shadow himself, his wardrobe is also used to accentuate the fact that he is seen as somewhat of a dark figure, dressed in all black it automatically creates a contrast to the shopkeepers almost friendly yellow checkered plaid shirt and as it was chosen to be done during the day is also creates a contrast towards the surroundings and makes Chigurh look even more like a shadow-like figure. Javier Bardem who plays Chigurh expresses menace through everything his character does, from his facial expressions to the tone of his voice which all make the scene all the more interesting. As Chigurh enters the shops audience members may naturally feel a sense of unease as all the other times Chigurh has appeared inside of the film he has killed a character so it's natural for the Coen brothers (makers of the film) to play on this and deliberately place the shopkeeper in a place where his fate is ambiguous to both the audience and the characters inside of the scene.

This is done through the form of a coin toss, which Chigurh suggests as he toys with the shopkeeper. He chooses to use reverse psychology to re-direct their casual conversations with questions that break the traditional flow of polite small talk which only adds to the uneasy tension already prevalent in the scene. Chigurh appears to seemingly be trying to get something out of the shopkeeper, a reaction of sorts but deliberately makes it unclear what his motivation for the conversation is, yet it is clear there must be one even if it's not clear to Chigurh himself. This creates sort of a supernatural vibe, suggesting to the audience that perhaps this scene is fated to happen the world of No Country For Old Men, as Chigurh doesn't appear without a purpose of some form.

As the characters talk the directors use two stationary camera shots pacing back and forth between the two figures at a regular rate to show the flow of their conversation but upon the reveal of the coin the shots begin to  narrow on each character as Chigurh seems to straighten his own frame so it could perhaps be used to show the narrowing focus Chigurh has in this scene or even to convey to the audience that this scene has now had a darker turn and become much more serious.  Chigurh flips the coin and suggests that the man's favour doesn't rely on him but the coin itself which once again opens the ideas of fate.

Despite the man surviving the film suggests that was due to nature and not Anton's control as he never explicitly details that he wishes to kill the man or do him any harm, but everything from his demeanour to his general vibe tells the audience that all he wishes to do is cause harm. The shopkeeper and the place of sympathy for this scene, his role as a side character with few lines prevents him from being considered memorable in most films. He is neither attractive, funny or monumental as a character but in this scene his life is held on a line and audiences not only can sympathise with that they remember it, despite the shopkeeper being fairly unimportant the Coen brothers are able to make him seem like the most important character in this scene by doing very little, which is what makes this the perfect scene.

Who is creatively responsible for Casablanca

As a film Casablanca represents the Classic Old Hollywood style of making film, with it's film noir themes, realistic and linear style as well as a predictable fairytale form of continuous editing. This method of making a film is heavily reminiscent of Old Hollywood yet the actors, director and writer of the film remain creatively responsible for the film.

In terms of actors Humphrey Bogart, previously famous for playing grubby gangster characters in somewhat villainous roles, takes the place of the tough on the outside, soft on the inside male lead; While Ingrid Bergman takes the mantle of the main female lead despite previously being contracted to another studio at the time of her accepting the role. While both interpret their characters perfectly, Bogart taking his gangster past and using that to create a sort of reformed bad boy character. Ingrid need not do much as contextually in Film Noir females on screen were more of femme fatale accessories than they were fully fledged characters, despite this the actress still placed her creative stake on the film through wardrobe. During the early stages of the film producer David Selznick wanted Bergman receive a traditional hollywood makeover (heavy make up made to appear natural, eyebrow plucking) however she refused and threatened to leave the film, upon this revelation Selznick took it upon himself to adapt and present Bergman as the first 'natural' actress (technically stealing her idea and making it his own,) this in turn helped her performance shine through a role which if badly acted could have been vapid.

Playwrights Murray Burnett and Joan Allison named 'Everybody Comes to Ricks' which had previously been unpublished. New Yorker Burnett had been inspired by a trip into occupied Vienna in order to rescue some Jewish relatives, and much of the original text is included in the final script for the film. Yet most of the credit for the film can be attributed towards the four screenwriters who adapted the screenplay, Julius and Philip Epstein are famous for the witty dialogue they incorporated into the script.

Howard Knoch added the political connotations into the script, such as Rick's past running guns in Ethiopia and aiding members of the Spanish Civil War to paint the character as a War hero of sorts and contextually place him as a fairly relatable character due to the films release occurring a little after WW2 despite this he did not receive a writers credit. While Casey Robinson detailed the love story between the characters, adding in Ilsa's relationship with Viktor and the Piano player's Sam's reactions towards Ilsa and Rick's relationship.

In conclusion creative responsibility for Casablanca falls on all individuals involved within the film, first and for most being the Playwrights as without them there would be no material therefore no idea for the film in the first place, next is Warner Bros as without the production company they would not have been able to fund the film, and then the actors and the screenwriters for bringing life to the film through dialogue and action.