The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon was John Huston's directorial debut in 1941. Warner Brothers made their fortune from the 1920's through the golden age of Hollywood by following generic conventions that they repeated as they knew that there was an audience for genre films.  They also created a star in Humphrey Bogart who would play the detective role 'and develop his screen persona in this film as tough, worldy wise detective 'Sam Spade' who resists the charms of the femme fatale, despite falling in love with her.

Look at these screenshots from the film and analyse how they are used to create meaning in film noir.

 You could also use a voice-over to provide context at the start of the film. Who would the voice belong to?

 An establishing shot is followed by a shot through the window of the detective agency. What city is this?

 The detective needs a quirk or a signature to add to their character. What will yours be?

The femme fatale visits the detective agency to explain her situation, which then triggers the narrative.  What is the enigma in your narrative?

 This close up focuses on the cry for help of the femme fatale. WHat would the script be at this point?

 Low key lighting is a feature of Warner Brothers films. Why did this stylistic choice develop in film noir?

 The costume of the detectives is generic and notice the single light source. What will your detective wear?

Often a newspaper title is used in the narrative. What effect does this have?

 The locations in film noir are often similar. Where is this and how do the characters interact?

 Joel Cairo played by Peter Lorre is perhaps the most memorable character.  How is he represented?

 The Maltese Falcon could be termed the MacGuffin. What will your MacGuffin be?

 The femme fatale in need. How does the Spider and the Fly narrative operate?

 What does this shot suggest?

This shot reverse shot speaks louder than words. How?

Representation and the femme fatale

All media texts are representations of reality.  Whether news stories represented according to the  journalists view of events or a screenwriter and director inventing a character.  Representation rather then actuality.

As creators of media texts are representing social groups and individuals they need to be careful of how they represent these groups to avoid offence.  MAny represenatations can be seen as problematic in the way they represnet the following;

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gender,  nationality, age, ethnicity, class/status, sexuality...

The narrative of the Spider and the Fly is used in film noir and the 'femme fatale' is a key figure. 


Watch this package which explains how to act like a film noir femme fatale

Watch this series of clips from film noirs which show how the femme fatale is framed and shot as well as the mise-en-scene used.

Watch this clip and analyse how the femme fatale has been represented and her relationships with other characters in the narrative

Watch this documentary about the development of the femme fatale

Film noir

Answer this question : What is the purpose of genre?

key things to include;

• Where did genres come from?
• 
  
• How did the 'Golden Age of Hollywood' re-inforce genres?
• 
  
• Which genres became popular in Hollywood?
• 
  
• Why do audiences like genre films?

Film noir is an interesting genre to study as it has a number of common codes and conventions that make a film clearly fit into this genre. For that reason we are going to study film noir and you are going to identify the codes and conventions. Here is a scene from Sin City.

A good way to understand the codes and conventions is to see how Steve Martin parodies the genre by subverting the codes and conventions.

Research the history of Film Noir

• Define the genre
• Name 10 of the most famous films of this genre in the Golden Age of Hollywood

Maltese Falcon (1941)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Killers(1946)
The Third Man (1949)
The Asphalt Jungle(1950)
The Big Heat(1953)
Kiss me Deadly(1955)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Neo-noir

The French Connection (1971)
Chinatown (1974)
Miller's Crossing (1990)
Barton Fink (1991)
LA Confidential (1997)

Origins

Watch this clip about the history of film noir

• In American pulp fiction Raymond Chandler, James M Cain, Dashiell Hamnett and now Elmore Leonard
• 
  
• German Expressionism stark camera angles, chiaro-scuro lighting, high contrast shadowy,
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• Warner Bothers in 1920's - cheaper sets and studios so dry ice and close angles.

Identify the codes and conventions

Moods

•  melancholy
•  alienation
•  bleakness
•  disillusionment
•  moral corruption
•  pessimism
•  guilt
•  paranoia

Male Characters

• Hero/ anti-hero
• hard boiled detective
• private eye
• cops
• gangsters
• socio-paths/ killers
• war veterans
• politicians
• shady, underworld figures 

Female characters 

Femme fatale - mysterious, duplicitous, double crossing, gorgeous, manipulative, desperate

or

dutiful reliable, trustworthy, loving

Sound

Voice-over by the world weary detective

Foreboding dramatic music

Lighting 

Expressionistic, low-key, smoke, dry ice

Narrative 

entrapment, hard bitten detective has his pessimistic world view re-inforced by a manipulative femme fatale, detective is drawn in by the femme fatale and seduced - recognises just in time
The Spider and the Fly

Iconography

Guns
Cigarettes
Blinds
Trilbys
Gloves


Use of the Camera

Expressionistic
Stark camera angles
Close shots to avoid background
Shadows and dry ice
Smoke

Locations

Office
Alleyway
The big house

Film noir opening sequences

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EawLJUxLk4U

The Unsuspected opening sequence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLJXkULFYA8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgDHINEj2fo

Opening sequences created by students

Lighting in film noir

Watch this analysis of lighting in film noir

A BBC documentary looks at the rules of film noir

Analyse this sequence from Double Indemnity

and this opening sequence from Chinatown

How to answer Question 1 'TV Drama'

This is a good introduction to the unit 'TV Drama'.  You need to develop a set of skills which will allow you to analyse a text.  You will then discuss how one of the areas is represented in that clip.

For example; 'How is class and status represented in this clip form Downton Abbey?'

Treme extract

Cosmic

An exemplar using 'Bad Romance' by Lady Ga-Ga

How should it be done?

Mind map your ideas and observations as you watch the music video at least three times

Pick four or five key points in the video which you can use to explain the messages and values.  Refer to your key concept in your analysis

De-constructing ‘Bad Romance’ by Lady Ga-Ga

Signifier Denotation What can be denoted What you can see

Signified Connotation What is connoted What the signifier means

White pods open to reveal women in white latex suits which cover their eyes. The women crawl out of these pods which have a sign of the cross on with the word ‘Monster’ in red The eyes of the innocent Lady Ga-Ga are widened and it is only when she is forced to drink a potion or some alcohol that her resistance to what she is being made to do ends and she embraces the role that the corporation desires A near naked Lady Ga-Ga dances provocatively for a group of masked men who bid for the increasingly confident dancer. In a final shot the artist is now lying on a bed smoking a cigarette with the charred corpse of a man beside her

The white pods may be some sort of chrysalis or egg that has been artificially hatched by a corporation called ‘Monster’.  The setting is white and clinical suggesting a futuristic, science fiction scenario where women are literally grown for the pleasure of corporations.  This intertextuality could refer to films such as ‘Bladerunner’, where there are ‘pleasure model’ robots creating by the Nexus corporation. The message may be that female artists are constructed by music corporations to feed the  demands of a male audience.  At this point the women are blind and innocent accentuated by their literal blindness and wearing of all white.  The dance moves are jerky and suggest the awkward moves of someone new to the world. The connotation of wide eyes suggest innocence and the ‘doe eyes’ of a fawn.  It is the potion that corrupts the innocent which may suggest that it is some form of corruption that makes the artist feel that they need to conform to the expectations of the corporation and a male audience. By appropriating the expected persona of a female artist in the music industry the character finds a quick way to wealth and status. However, is the price to pay too much in terms of degrading oneself and re-inforcing negative stereotypes used to sell brands in the entertainment industries. This image would suggest that the once naïve and innocent artist is now in a position to burn and destroy the patriarchal symbols of the corporate world. The artist is in control, having taken on the role as an outrageous performer who fulfils the role of male fantasy. This may connote that it is the artist, Lady Ga-Ga who is now in control of her representation and her destiny.

Other questions that you could consider

How does the video link with the lyrics?

How do the messages and values in the video allow Lady Ga-Ga to explain her own position in relation to the entertainment industries?

Do you consider Lady Ga-Ga to be a strong role model for women or to be complicit in problematic representations of gender?

What is the purpose of this music video?

Does product placement undermine her artistic integrity?

Do female artists have to 'prostitute' themselves to get a head in this industry? 

How do artists construct representations of themselves?

Do audiences want to consume Lady Ga Ga's music videos?

How does Lady Ga Ga manipulate the media?

How has she used the music video form to enhance her brand?

How has Lady Ga Ga developed her global brand in a digital age?



TASK

We will be de-constructing a series of music videos in classes.  You need to write these up on your web-logs. 

Your assessed task in September will be to produce a textual analysis of a contemporary music video.  You need to choose an appropriate video and begin research by reading about audience reception and different readings in a variety of media such as newspapers and blogs.  Make sure that you identify your sources.

I will need a copy printed off as a word document. This will be assessed and  written feedback will be provided.

Lady Ga Ga

This article attempts a de-construction of 'Telephone'

It discusses influences such as Edward Hopper, Dave LaChapelle and intertextuality, Kill Bill and Thelma and Louise.

Shona felt that Chicago was being referenced in the prison scene. The cell block tango in particular.

the narrative also has links to Russ Meyer and American B movie sexploitation flicks of the 50's and 60's like 'Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill' which in turn are referenced by the king of intertextual references Tarantino. They directly reference Pulp Fiction with the honey bun and the Pussy Wagon is apparently the same one used in Kill Bill 1, lent to Lady GA GA by Tarantino.

All this postmodern irony is pawed over by bloggers and media types who love to de-code the new videos which is exactly what Jonas Akerlund and Lady Ga Ga want. The video becomes a viral hit and the launch of a new one is an event much talked about in the media. Masters of self-promotion, these texts offer an insight into how the media industries operate and how an artist can both use and critique the society that they exploit so successfully. The product placement is blatant and almost a challenge to audiences who want to promote the form as art. It is self referencing and aware of the crass consumerism of the medium whilst exploiting the controversy this creates. This is a relatively new form form of marketing appealing to a cynical and media savvy generation.

Research the critical reviews and the many sites that discuss the videos and the conundrum that is Lady Ga Ga.

The Guardian seems to ahve a fixation on The Wire and LAdy Ga Ga which is great for research purposes. This article provides an insight into 'Telephone'

THis article compares Pixie Lott with Lady Ga Ga who were competing for the Christmas number one. Pixie is literally being consumed by men whilst writhing on a dinner table; Ga Ga plays with gender representation and uses her image as a highly sexualised and aggressive pop star to consume, through fire, the very men who run the record companies who bid for her.

At least I think that is the preferred reading. What do you think ?