This post will deconstruct and evaluate the final scene of Shane Meadow's This Is England based on its thematic elements. The scene can be viewed after the jump.
The theme of the film is that a person's identity changes throughout the
course of their life. This is exemplified in the final scene of the film as Shaun,
who worked so hard throughout the film to fit in with a local gang of skinheads,
tosses the flag they gave him into the sea. This is shown actively throughout
the film as the characters never say
that they're changing. In fact, this scene is the most didactic of any as it’s
quite obvious that Shaun's throwing of the flag marks the end of his
association with the gang, but this isn’t actually stated.
This final scene demonstrates the aforementioned scene through use of
space and movement. Shaun is placed in a vast open, deep space on the sea shore
and is often filmed from a distance or from above in close-ups to make him seem
dwarfed by the landscape around him. Even though this scene is incredibly
personal, he space Shaun occupies on the screen for the beginning of it is
fairly minimal, making the final shot where his face fills the frame all the
more powerful. He is made to seem small and frail in the opening shots, as
though he’s been completely broken by the ordeal he went through over the
course of the film, then in the final three shots we see he has resolved to
frustrated closure and get some hope for his future.
Shaun’s movements
in the scene are slow, but deliberate adding powerful emotion to his actions.
The viewer gets the sense that he knows exactly what he is doing when he brings
the flag to the shore. And the slow sinking of the flag offers a powerful conclusion
to the only fast motion in the scene (the actual throwing). There is time to
save the flag if he wishes, but Shaun (as evidenced by the POV of the shot)
just stands and watches. Had the flag sunk slowly, or worse floated, the theme
of rejection of the past self would not be evident. Thankfully, Meadows made
the flag gracefully sink into the murky water never to be seen again. The
finality of the gesture is clearly shown as the flag disappears and the cut to
Shaun’s unmoving face occurs.
For this post I will be comparing and contrasting stills from Paper Rad's found-footage based psychedelic art film Trash Talking and the animated music video created for Radiohead's "Paranoid Android". The stills are below:
The two stills demonstrate
the very contrasting uses of color between the two pieces. In the Paper Rad
still all of the hues are bright and fluorescent. The only muted color is that
of the bricks, and even that contains some brighter patches to keep it consistent.
These bright colors are one of the many devices Paper Rad use in Trash Talking to give the viewer a feeling
of sensory overload. They attempt to fill the screen almost entirely with the
most bizarre detritus of modern culture in the most dizzying array of
contrasting hues possible to make the viewing experience almost uncomfortable. In
the Radiohead piece however nearly all the hues are pastels or otherwise
saturated, with the exception of the couch which is nearly the same bright
fluorescent red seen in the Paper Rad piece. The saturated colors in this piece
are often used to make even commonplace objects seem disgusting some way. In
fact, the primary goal of the “Paranoid Android” video is to disgust the viewer
by showing them a cartoonized version of modern life portrayed in ugly hues
like mustard yellow and puke green.
The Paper Rad still
displays much more movement than the Radiohead still. The protagonist is
obviously walking across screen, which we can tell by the position of his legs,
but also by the position of his arms which are doing the parallel movement to
walking, an exaggerated swing. If one were to play this clip on they would see
the overlapping movement of his walking in the bouncing of his lump like body
up and down. This gives a notion of weight to his top-heavy frame, which often
keeps bouncing after he stops walking in later scenes. The Radiohead frame on
the other hand shows no motion at all, showing the apathy of the video’s
protagonist who spends a considerable amount of time sitting around in the
early parts of the piece. There are no parallel or overlapping movements here
as there was no primary movement. His slumped position on the floor gives a
feeling of weight to his frame, though it isn’t implied very strongly without
an actual motion.
This post is a storyboarding exercise based on the "By way of the Green Line Bus..." scene from The Royal Tenenbaums, referenced in an earlier post on this blog.
Storyboard
Essay
As per
usual, in the aforementioned scene, director Wes Anderson followed all of the
rules of framing and composition perfectly, which is after all a hallmark of
his style.
Both sequences in this scene follow
the 180 degree rule, though they work around it differently. The first scene,
wherein Richie takes the picture with the fans, follows the rule simply by
dollying down the 180 degree line that is established when the fan first talks
to Richie. Even when other character enter the frame, Anderson continues to
dolly down the original line. In the second sequence, wherein the bus arrives
the camera runs on Richie’s left throughout, starting in front of him to the
left and cutting to a left-side OTS.
This scene is also a perfect
example of the Rule of Thirds as the first four shots are all divided into
meticulously measured vertical thirds. The ground below the characters makes up
the lower third, the characters themselves make up the middle third, and the
space above the actors (divided nicely with the “Royal Arctic Lines” sign)
makes up the upper third. The final shot changes the arrangement into
horizontal thirds, in order to show the disruption Margot’s arrival makes in
Richie’s demeanor. Richie’s shoulder marks the edge of the right third and the
bus ends at the edge of the left and middle thirds.
Finally, Anderson follows the 30
degree rule in shots four and five (shots 1-3 are filmed in one take and thus
are exempt) by cutting from a shot which would be at 30 degrees of Richie
waiting to the over the shoulder shot which would fall around 170 degrees, well
exceeding the “greater than 30 degrees” stipulation of the aforementioned rule.
Wes Anderson is critically
acclaimed for his impeccable framing of shots, with every shot either being
perfectly symmetrical or perfectly arranged into thirds. His perfectly executed
cinematography is often used to make the ridiculous plotlines of his films have
a more natural feeling. The Royal
Tenenbaums is the perfect example of this technique, in which Anderson
creates a beautiful world where everything is visually impeccable, but every
character is absurdly flawed.
The songs I chose are Dexy's Midnight Runners' lone hit single "Come on Eileen" and the ska-punk cover performed by the short-lived, but awesomely named, Save Ferris. The original and the cover are embedded below along with my analyses of each and a comparative essay.
Original Version by Dexy's Midnight Runners
Ska-Punk Cover by Save Ferris
Listening Framework Analyses Original Version
Listening Phase 1 (Rhythm)
Tempo[slow, medium, fast]
Medium
Source[where is the rhythm coming from?]
Upright bass, Banjo, Drums, Piano
Groove[describe how the personality of the rhythm]
Folky, Poppy, Upbeat, Sauntering
Listening Phase 2 (Arrangement)
Instrumentation[which instruments drive the song?]
Emotional
Architecture[Draw how the song build and drop?]
Soft,gentle and reflective intro leads to gradual build of instruments until verse. Verse mounts in pleading intensity to chorus which rolls forcefully into instrumental section and another round of verse/pre-chorus/chorus. Bridge becomes somber as singer is rejected by Eileen yet again, but builds in intensity until a bombastic revival of the chorus when she consents to him.
Listening Phase 3 (Sound Quality)
Balance
-Height [high and low
of frequency]
Full height, with violin, banjo and vocals occupying higher ranges and bass occupying lower. All other instruments fall in the mid-range.
-Width [stereo panning left/right]
No panning.
-Depth[layers of instruments - via loudness]
Considerably deep, with banjo, sax, and piano staying relatively low other than pitch-ins, but violin, bass, drums, and vocals remaining toward the top.
Ska-Punk Cover
Listening Phase 1 (Rhythm)
Tempo[slow, medium, fast]
Medium
Source[where is the rhythm coming from?]
Horns, Guitar, Drums
Groove[describe how the personality of the rhythm]
Gritty, Driving, Swaggering, Swinging
Listening Phase 2 (Arrangement)
Instrumentation[which instruments drive the song?]
Drums, Bass, Guitar, Horns, Vocals
Structure/Organization[how is the song built? Order,
patterns, etc.]
Emotional
Architecture[Draw how the song build and drop?]
Begins forceful and celebratory, vocals come in bringing mood to a slightly more somber twinge. Pre-Chorus builds in defiant punk rock anger. Chorus swings and bops like mid-tempo ska with a guilty happiness. Instrumental section regains punk angst leading into a more angsty version of the prior verse's somber celebration. Pre-Chorus and chorus repeat as before leading into a soft sultry jazzy bridge. Chorus after bridge is true ska-punk full of exuberance leading to loud horn-filled joyous outro with final loving lines in the vocals.
Listening Phase 3 (Sound Quality)
Balance
-Height [high and low
of frequency]
Mid/Low in punkier sections (Bass, low tuned guitar, drums). Mid/High in ska/jazz sections (Higher guitar, horns)
-Width [stereo panning left/right]
Very little width other than occasional doubletracked lead vocal in the chorus.
-Depth[layers of instruments - via loudness]
Bass buried fairly low, horns and vocals toward the top. Guitar is dynamic throughout depending on volume of vocals.
Comparative Essay
The two
versions of “Come On Eileen” are identical in terms of lyrical structure and
follow the exact same vocal melody. In fact, the covers are surprisingly similar
in this regard with the female vocalist of Save Ferris easily mastering the
high pitches that were so impressively sung by the frontman of Dexy’s Midnight
Runners in the original. While the pronouns of the lyrics are changed in Save
Ferris’s cover in order to make the song applicable to a friendship between two
heterosexual females the concept is essentially the same. Likewise, one of the
song’s recognizable pre-chorus (too-ra-loo-ra too-ra-loo-ray-ai) is carried
over almost verbatim from the original to the cover. This string of syllables is “Come On Eileen” and any cover would
feel incomplete without it, thus that familiar melody will truly be stuck in
your head forever.
It’s the instrumental arrangements and
stylings that ultimately set Save Ferris’ cover apart from Dexy’s original
version. Ferris’ rhythms are largely influenced by their chosen genre of
Ska-Punk and thus have much more staccato in some sections and swing in others
than the relatively straight-forward folk rhythms of the original tune. The
intensity of Ferris’ cover is much higher than the original due to the
inclusion of more distorted guitars and the faster punkier instrumental
section. The timbre of the Dexy’s Midnight Runner’s version is relatively
simplistic other than slight distortions on the electric bass; however, the
Save Ferris cover has incredibly complex timbre which changes throughout from
gritty and punky to smooth and jazzy.
Personally,
I find both versions of the song to be equally catchy and interesting to listen
to. On the one hand the original is a round of old-fashioned fun taking classic
folk elements and putting a pop-rock spin on them. On the other hand, the cover
pays loving homage to the original whilst displaying all of the youthful
exuberance and zaniness I’ve grown to love in ska-punk. The similarities in
melody, lyrics, and general structure make it even harder to decide between the
two as I honestly just view them as two really good recordings of a
surprisingly wonderful pop song.
