How valuable has ideological analysis been in developing your understanding of the themes of your chosen films? An ideology is a set of beliefs held by an individual or group that defines their world view and societies have dominant ideologies, which influence the people living within that society and the products they create. As an audience living in Western society, we expect the films we watch to reflect back our own ideologies and conform to Western conventions; however, a director is able to guide the film according to their ideology, which the audience can either accept, negotiate with o ..read more

How far do your chosen films demonstrate the importance of visual and soundtrack cues in influencing spectator response? Introduction – Films typically place the audience in the position of passive observer, but they are able to engage the audience to become active in different ways Spectatorship theories have presented various models for the activity level of the audience when watching a film: the Uses and Gratifications Model suggests the audience members are even active when deciding to watch a film, as they do so for different reasons. Watching for education or integration reasons enables ..read more

How valuable has ideological analysis been in developing your understanding of the themes of your chosen films? Introduction – Ideology is a set of beliefs that fit together to form a person’s world view Often, large groups share the same ideology and this can be affected by the culture one has and the society that they live within As an audience, we usually expect to see our own ideologies reflected back to us on-screen, particularly in mainstream cinema; however, independent film seeks to challenge the audience and therefore may present a different ideology for us to engage with Ideology is ..read more

Context – La La Land was produced by Summit Entertainment for a modest $30 million in comparison to the $200 million budget for Rogue One released in the same year. However, the budget was a big step up for Chazelle, who first directed Whiplash in 2014 with a $3.3 million indie film budget in order to establish himself and gain funding for La La Land, his passion project. Chazelle and his college roommate Justin Hurwitz wrote the script and score for La La Land first, and after the success of Whiplash were able to secure Lionsgate’s support. The film was an unusual proposal for a big Hollywood ..read more

Context – Beasts of the Southern Wild is an independent film, as it is funded by non-Hollywood financing, has elements of risk-taking, and has a personal vision that values art over money. The focus of the film on poverty and natural disasters does not align with mainstream cinema output and it only had a limited release in four US cinemas, having been produced by Court 13 for $1.8 million and funded mostly by Cinereach, a not-for-profit organisation. The film went on to gross $21 million worldwide, although the motivation for making the film was driven by the desire to tell the story rather t ..read more

La La Land (Damian Chazelle, 2016) is a musical romance film in which two struggling artists meet each other, fall in love and encourage the other in their pursuit of their dream. Emma Stone plays Mia, a waitress at a cafe on a film studio lot, surrounded by reminders of stars she loves but unable to achieve their success as an actress in her own right, constantly ignored and rejected at auditions, whilst opposite her is Ryan Gosling’s Sebastian, a cynical musician who believes the world has turned against pure jazz and longs to re-educate them by opening his own jazz bar in homage to the lege ..read more

Ideology is a set of beliefs that connect to form a world view. Individuals have different ideologies, as they are influenced by various elements, although large groups of the population often share the same/similar ideology. Sometimes, people hold ideologies that are away from what is societally accepted and these ideologies can have an even more extreme effect on how individuals interact with one another. Personal ideologies – the product of individual experiences and influences Cultural ideologies – constructed by institutions such as school, law and religion Dominant ideologies – widely ac ..read more

Spectatorship looks at the relationship between an audience and film. There are various models, some of which suggest active participation from the audience, whilst others suggest the audience is passively taking on board what the film presents. The Hypodermic Syringe Model This model sees the audience as a group of people passively watching a film. The filmmaker has the control and through the film is able to inject messages into the audience as a collective with no critical response or alternative interpretation. The effectiveness of propaganda could be used to support this model. The theory ..read more

“The Hollywood machine has always crushed any individuality in filmmaking”. Compare the extent the films you have studied display auteur individuality. The influence of Hollywood on American films was much more prominent under the studio system during the Golden Age of Hollywood, where films were highly reflective of the studios that made them. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942), for example, is characteristic of Warner Bros’ house style to the extent that the studio could be considered an auteur influence on the film. In contrast, Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) was made during the New Ho ..read more