Post J. Initial Ideas for my A2 Film Coursework

1. Post J. Initial Ideas
Jakir Hussain

2. Narrative
My Textual Analysis Sequences: All of my focal films follow Todorov’s Narrative theory.
My Film: I will use Todorov’s Narrative Theory in my film too but within a Parallel Narrative. I will explore the past
and present events of my protagonist through a series of flashbacks. The flashbacks will contain the equilibrium
and disequilibrium of the narrative and the present time will contain the new equilibrium but overall, it will be
fragmented.
Equilibrium Disequilibrium New Equilibrium
E.T. (1982) ET’s friendship with Elliott. ET dies (temporarily) ET is survives and returns
home.
Schindler’s List (1993) Oskar is in the process of
getting his business up and
running.
Oskar has a change of heart
and uses his fortunes to
bribing Nazi officials to save
to the Jews
Oskar runs out of money but
has helped save around 2000
Jews.
Catch Me If You Can (2002) Frank living with his parents. Frank runs away from home,
commits multiple acts of
fraud and eventually is
arrested.
Frank joins the FBI.

3. Theme
My Textual Analysis Sequences: My focal films all follow the theme of ‘man vs. society’.
Catch Me If You Can (2002) also explores ‘man vs. himself’ as Frank uses different identities in order to escape
his past and to keep himself going in the present.
My Film: I will explore these themes through my protagonist who will suffer abuse from homophobes (man vs.
society) and eventually lead to his suicide (man vs. himself).
E.T. (1982) Schindler’s List (1993) Catch Me If You Can (2002)
ET is kept a secret by Elliot and
eventually once he is exposed, ET
becomes wanted by the government.
The Jews are slaves to the Nazis and
Oskar Schindler eventually becomes an
enemy of the Nazis when he sets out
to save the Jews.
Frank commits acts of fraud.

4. Representation
My Textual Analysis Sequence: My focal films explore different representations of characters which results in
the characters becoming outsiders of society.
My Film: My focal films all explore different representations so I will explore a different representation, sexuality.
The protagonist of my film will be gay which results in him becoming an outsider of society as he suffers
abuse from a group of homophobes.
E.T. (1982) Schindler’s List (1993) Catch Me If You Can (2002)
-Age: Elliott (Child)
-Species: ET
-Religion:: Jews
-Social Class: Oskar Schindler (upper
class)
Crime:: Frank

5. Messages and Values
My Textual Analysis Sequences: The messages and Values of E.T. (1982) and Schindler’s List (1993) have very
similar messages and values of love and tolerance towards those who are considered to be social outcasts
such as Elliott showing love and tolerance towards ET and Oskar Schindler showing tolerance towards the Jews
who were considered the enemy of the Nazis. Catch Me If You Can (2002), has different messages and values
addressing identity issues and that running away from problems is pointless because they will always catch up
with you.
My Film: I think the messages and values of my film will be similar to that of E.T. (1982) and Schindler’s List
(1993). Homophobia is a worldwide issue which causes the alienation of a minority group and one of the
consequences of this is that many homosexuals take their own life because of their struggles of being
accepted by society. Therefore it is important to show tolerance towards homosexuals.

6. Style
My Textual Analysis Sequences
My Film: I think I will use a film-noir style when my protagonist experiences flashbacks so the audience can differentiate between
past and present.
E.T. (1982) Schindler’s List (1993) Catch Me If You Can (2002)
New Media Art: The use of special
effects and technology due to the
genre of the film being sci-fi.
Film-Noir: The use of black and
white framing done in post
production.
Caper: The film involves the main
character (Frank) committing
multiple crimes and is pursued by
the FBI.

7. Authorship
My Textual Analysis Sequences: Steven Spielberg was my chosen focus for my creative investigation. My three
focal films have influences from Spielberg’s personal life such as the broken families in E.T. (1982) and Catch Me If
You Can (2002) and his religion in Schindler’s List (1993).
In terms of cinematography, I really like how Spielberg uses claustrophobic over the shoulder shots in E.T. (1982)
and Catch Me If You Can (2002).
My Film: During my research, I discovered that Spielberg was bullied and beaten at the age of 17 when one of his
schoolmates found out that he is Jewish. I wanted to use this idea but instead of having a Jewish character in
my film, I wanted to highlight the effects of homophobia on a person. I will use claustrophobic over the shoulder
shots to make the protagonist seem intimidated.

8. Mise-En-Scene
In Schindler’s List (1993), I like the use of colour in the when we see the girl in red. Connotations of red include courage, survival and strength
which I think are accurate adjectives for her as she is a child, on her own, trying to survive the holocaust but is killed in this end which could
support the idea of the “Red Jumper” in film and television where the person who wears red, dies or someone nearby dies. I want my
protagonist to wear red which foreshadows his suicide. Other costume ideas include having the antagonists wear black or dark colours and
my protagonist’s sister will wear grey to show sadness when she finds him dead.
My main props will include breath mints and apple juice in a bottle of Jack Daniels which will act as pills and alcohol and will overdose on
these. Spielberg has Leonardo DiCaprio stand in front of multiple mirrors in Catch Me If You Can (2002) which could be a way of showing
that Frank assumes multiple identities. I want the protagonist stare into a mirror which will seem like he wants to suppress his sexuality
as he looks at his wounds. I will need to buy fake blood and face paint/makeup for the bruises.
The first location will be in the college green room. I will try and turn it into a club. Following the party, the couple will go to the protagonist’s
boyfriend’s home where it is implied that they have sex. The third location will be a street where an assault will take place by homophobes
onto the protagonist. The fourth location is the protagonist’s home where he retreats to following the assault but this will be the first
location my audience will see because my film will have a parallel narrative.

9. Cinematography
Spielberg likes to use lots of close up shots of the actors’ faces which is what I will do to capture facial
expressions. This is great for my chosen genre of drama because there will be many different emotions
explored such as happiness, pain and sorrow.
He also uses claustrophobic over-the-shoulder shots to create feelings of inferiority which is what he does to the
characters of Elliott (E.T. (1982) and Carl (Catch Me If You Can). I will do this by having the homophobes dominating
the framing.
I will use either a handheld camera or my mobile phone camera (Samsung Galaxy S4) to shoot the scene where
my protagonist and his love interest are at a club to create distorted feelings as the characters are dancing and
are intoxicated. This will continue when they head off to the latter’s house and during the moments where the
protagonist is being assaulted.
I will use a tripod to keep the camera steady during the rest of the film.

10. Editing
My film will have an anti-narrative because my protagonists will be having flashbacks which will be inspired by
Schindler’s List (1993). The framing will be in black and white with only the protagonist’s red shirt being in colour like
the girl in red who later dies in the film.
I will use parallel editing to go back and forth between past and present. The present day will be in colour will be
in colour whereas the past will be in black and white so the audience can differentiate between the two tenses.
During the assault, I will use jump cuts and the editing pace will be fast to create distortion; reflecting the
protagonist’s situation because it will be a surprise attack.
I will aim to use rhythmic editing, to keep in time with the soundtrack which will be playing over the film.

11. Sound
I will use a sound track during the film. I will be using an instrumental version of Make It Stop by Rise Against
(2011). I chose this song because the song (with the lyrics) accompanied by the music video, raises awareness of
the effects of homophobic bullying. In some parts of the film, I will reduce the volume of the music so I can
include some dialogue.
I will use sound perspective during the assault as the homophobes use homophobic insults towards the
protagonist, the dialogue will be magnified to create further distortion.
A 3000htz sound will be played non-diegetically to act like when a heart rate monitor flatlines once a person
deceases in a hospital. By hearing this, the audience will know that the protagonist has died. As this is happening,
his sister will walk into the room to find that he has died, and as a result, she cries and this will be diegetic.