Unit 26.1 - Media Film Studies Assignment

Introduction
In this assignment I have chose Romeo & Juliet and The Hunt For The Wilderpeople to watch, study and analyse about them. The Hunt For The Wilderpeople was released on 24th June 2016 whilst Romeo & Juliet was made and released 11th October 2013. The Hunt For The Wilderpeople was set in the villages of New Zealand. The director of the film is named Taikai Waititi and it was produced by Carthew Neal, Matt Noonan, Leanne Saunders & the director himself. The certification for the movie is PG and the target audience is mainly aimed at families and also young adults too. Romeo & Juliet was set in Verona and the director of the film is called by the name Carlo Carlei also accompanied by the producers Ileen, Nadja Swarvoski & Julian Fellowes. The certification of the film is PG and the target audience is for young teens in relationships and also adults too. I'm going to analyse the conventions, theories and also an overall review about the two films.

Sypnosis
Romeo & Juliet is a love tale where two lovers are secretly wedded since both of their families are feuding over a feud that has been going on for years hence why the two lovers wed in secret, sadly near the end of the film the couple die due to complications and misunderstanding but at the end of the movie the two families find their children dead and they find out that they're are secretly married and the two families came to a decision to bring this feud to an end.

Genre Analysis

Romeo & Juliet (2013) is a romantic drama film as it deals with real life situations that even happens today with love couples and i'm going to be fully analysing this film in detail.

The film begins with a tournament from an ancient feud between the two families respectively named as the Capulets and the Montagues in the city of Verona. Lord Montague, whom is the King of all Montagues, is also seen in the first scene and he pronounces the winner of the tournament Mercutio, as he is a Montague himself too. A possible reason why Lord Montague made an announcement of his own people winnning was to show the Capulets that the Montagues are the better family than the Capulets. At 3 mins 56 seconds swords are pulled out as the two families look each other in the eyes and this is all a chaotic drama happening by one look in the eyes by rivals.    

The fierce look that Tybalt (Capulet) gives to Benvolio (Montague), shows he is one of the most stubborn people in the film as Benvolio said he only drew out his sword to make peace between the two families. He even started the fight between himself and Benvolio which shows the audience a higher level of stubbornness.

The prince of Verona comes into the scene and yells for the fight to come to an end. He is also sick of the peace being broken that he gives out a threat saying the next person to break the peace will get their lives taken away.

At 15 mins +, there is a ball at the Capulet's manison, where Romeo is the Protagonist and Tybalt is the Antagonist as he wants to kill the Montagues. But in this ball Romeo meets his love of his life, Juliet (daughter of a Capulet) and they both become a protagonist. Despite the fact that their from two different families.

At 23.04 where Romeo and Juliet go to a secret room and kiss, Juliet is called by the maid and this is where Romeo finds out that she is a Capulet, a rival to his own family.

At 35.11 Romeo talks to Friar Lawrence about marrying his love Juliet in secret and the Friar sees it as a way of putting an end to the family feud 

At 44.02 Romeo and Juliet have successfully became wedded as husband and wife, such a happy moment for them, but everything isn't solved between the two families yet as Juliets's maid comes in such worry saying that Tybalt has gone on a rage in the town. When Romeo arrives whilst the Montagues and Capulets are arguing Tybalt finally finds Romeo, as his "main man", Romeo approaches him warning him with peace but Benvolio provokes the fight to outbreak.

30 seconds into the outbreaking fight and Tybalt puts the sword through Benvolio, Benvolio is then left on the floor speaking the crucial last words to Romeo before Romeo runs off to seek revenge from Tybalt, in this scene an extreme close up gives us the view of how Benvolio is feeling and also it could make the viewer of the film feel sympathetic or even feel the pain that he is going through too.

Romeo catches up with Tybalt after chasing him and they have a one on one with each other before Romeo stabs Tybalt to death in the same way as he did with Benvolio, making Romeo flee the city of Verona and it leaves his love of his life, Juliet, hopeless of seeing him again...

Later on in the film there's a twist to the story allowing Juliet to see Romeo again, and this involves Juliet drinking poison which allows her to be asleep for 24 hours whilst her family thinks that she is dead when she isn't. This action performed by Juliet shows that she really is in love with a guy from her families enemy but really wants to make this marriage work out with the help of Friar Lawrence too.

The end of the film doesn't end well as it results to both Romeo & Juliet dying as Romeo didnt receive the letter from the Friar Lawrence saying that Juliet has been put to sleep and the only way she could wake up is by giving her a kiss on her lips. When Romeo comes back to Verona to see Juliet laying on her death bed he assumed she was dead and he drank the poison just after kissing Juliet on her lips, as he slowly dying he notices that Juliet is slowly awaking and this is really patronising for Juliet as now Romeo is slowly dying in front of her own eyes. As Romeo dies, Juliet has decided to stab herself with his dagger. This tragic ending shows how loyal their love is to each other, if you die, i die, that type of loyalty that makes a romantic, drama more eye opening to the viewers.

Narrative Analysis

Carlo Carlei's plot was based on the original shakespeare book and he also took charge of choosing the correct actors to play the role of every single character in the film according to the book. Carlo also explained that it is essential that the characters have the same exact personality as the book was written otherwise the movie wouldn't have any emotions/effects at all on the viewers.

Carlo's adaptation of Shakespeare's novel and play, "Romeo & Juliet", combines his own knowledge of the original play and also the way Shakespeare has written it to create a surreal romantic film to date to make the modern audience in todays time to enjoy the movie. Carlo intended to use non-linear & circular linear with twisted equilibriums and also binary oppositions to make this film come back to life and in the same format as the play back in the 16th century. Levi Strauss, the founder of Binary Opposition, was a anthropologist and a ethnologist and his theory was an idea to include in most narratives have opposing characters that have conflict with each other, in that case it would be Romeo and Tybalt, as Tybalt is from one side of a family and intendeds to kill Romeo's side of the family, and also the family feud is a big example as Binary Opposition as the two families that are fighting against each other, actually stops Romeo and Juliet from being married publicly which results to them losing their lives at the end of the film. In the film it showed Romeo as a protagonist, trying to get to his love Juliet, the antagonist, Tybalt known as the villain is not trying to break the protagonist's and antagonist's love but he is also trying to claim honour for himself and his family, the Capulet's as he wants to destroy the Montagues from an ancient family feud. Looking back at the scene just before Benvolio's life got taken, Romeo says "Villain am I none. Therefore, farewell. I see thou knowest me not"  here Romeo is trying to bail out of the Montagues and Capulets from fighting but Tybalt doesn't listen to him at all as he draws out his sword to fight. Tybalt shows the same sort of arrogance throughout the film till he reaches his death after killing Benvolio which leads to Romeo seeking revenge to kill Tybalt.

Characters And Features:

I'm going to be analysing the characters and their features they have in short snappy paragraphs:

Romeo (Montague Family): one of the main characters in the film and also the son of a Montague, he marries his dream woman in secret as he is a rival of his spouse's family (Capulet) and things become sticky in this film as he is banished from the city of Verona for man-slaughtering her cousin Tybalt in a revenge battle after him killing Benvolio, whom is Romeo's best friend. He is one of the main characters which brings such excitement and entertainment to the film and play.

Juliet (Capulet Family): another main character in the spotlight, a daughter of a Capulet, also known as the only female protagonist in the movie, meeting the love of her life at the ball and becoming married in despise with dear Romeo.

Tybalt (Capulet Family): The antagonist major antagonist in this movie and a arrogant son from a Capulet showing his powers in the wrong way and always wanting to spark a fight, examples as when he saw Romeo in the Capulet's mansion where they were having the ball and Tybalt wanted to start on him for no apparent reason but just to show pride in his family in the wrong way. He is also responsible for the death of Romeo's best friend, Benvolio, and then he is later then killed by Romeo.

Benvolio (Montague Family): The best friend of the protagonist, Romeo, always with Romeo from the beginning till Romeo finds the girl of his dream however he is later killed by an attack that he provoked himself by Tybalt, which leaves Romeo scarred and seek revenge instantly.

Friar Lawrence: In my perspective, this guy has played the most important role throughout this whole film, he's made it possible for Romeo & Juliet's marriage to work out in secret and also finding a solution for Juliet to meet up with Romeo after him being banished from the city. The Friar has done so much to make this relationship work from 2 different families that were currently feuding but sadly it ended with 1 big tragedy ending up to losing a married couple that would of got far in life.

Setting

The film was set in Italy, Verona, keeping things according to Shakespeare's script and writing of the play. The director of the film chose the same location as Shakespeare because he wanted to make the play come to life and also suit a modern audience so that the movie is more interesting to people that are living in today's society. Important scenes such as the mansion, the estates and residential gardens shows us how medieval times were and how things looked back then and this helps a modern day film look more realistic to the novel and play version. 

Point Of View

How i see the movie is like a normal dramatic love and problem solving film but it could vary from another person's view too. The director of this film used back in the days society of feelings and environmental surroundings to give the audience the idea that it was shot back in the 17th century and that there isn't anything in the todays environment like there was back then such as chastity and high religious worshipping too.

Themes

The themes that are included in this movie are hate, love, violence, purity and innocence. These were Shakespeare's original intention when it came to finish writing the script and making the actors act it out on stage and respectively the director of this film has decided to keep the features in his own film and he has certainly did this without no error or parody.

Film Content Analysis

Language

The language used was old English which is often mistaken for latin as they were similar and again the director has kept this the same as Shakespeare has written it in. The film consists of modern english too, to help the viewers get an idea of what is going on.

Music

The music was chosen accurately according to the times the film was based on (17th Century). A scene that showed such a good example was when Romeo was at the ball looking for his love. Calm Waltz/Slow Ballad music was played in the background of people talking, eating and dancing too. 

The Hunt For The Wilderpeople

The final film I'm going to analyse is The Hunt For The Wilderpeople, a film set in the villages of New Zealand, it is also more exciting once you watch it. The genre of the film is a action-adventure film as 100% of the film is based in the woods and there's also scenes of fighting too which stimulates the movie for the audience to continue watching the film even though adventure isn't really a big attraction but the directors work of fusing the two genres together really did make this film come to life.

Genre & Narrative Analysis

At 33 seconds, the film begins with a scene of greenery where the camera is panning over it. The shot angle used is called an establishing shot where you could be able to see everything in and in that opening seconds of the film I saw a lot of green for sure. This shot was probably used to give the audience the idea that the movie is going to be based in that specific setting or even classify/finalize the genre for you by just showing a bunch of trees and bushes. The film then progresses to showing the beginning where Ricky has been brought to a village where the camera shows his facial expression.

Here the camera shot used was a close up and this makes the audience feel sympathetic for Ricky as he is due to get fostered in a village. Without Ricky saying anything in the opening moments of seeing him the audience already knows what he could be thinking by the look he gives. 

7 mins 55 into the film, Ricky is extremely quiet and isolated in his bedroom and this is because he is probably thinking about the good times he had before being put in a place with people he doesn't want to associate with yet.

As the film progresses Ricky and Hector are getting to know each others flaws and they gradually build a bond between each other which leads to them hunting in the forest together to get food for later.

Here at 12mins 43, shows that Bella and Ricky are communicating to ether and this is a complete opposite between Ricky and Hector, Hector being the arrogant one and Bella being the the kind and open hearted person. This also represents how people are like in todays society to possibly get the public to change their ways instead of being a stubborn person to others that are generous or that needs company and love.

At 32mins 27, despite Bella passing away at 17 mins 50, Ricky is dancing in the woods which shows that he is in a good mood compared to when he first got introduced to the "slum". In the background Hector wakens in a horrible mood as Ricky is making too much noise and he isn't totally happy with it. The camera shot used was a long shot mainly to give a main idea to the audience that Ricky is extremely happy in the wet setting he is at now and also to give a clear view of his body language whilst moving. Ricky is moving sharp, quite quick and smooth meaning that he is in a brilliant mood.

38 minutes into the film and tension is on a low to a rising point. Ricky and Hector are joined by 3 outsiders who tease them about turning them in after they've gone missing. The three guys pick on Ricky and then Hector backs Ricky from the three guys intimidating him but then they tell Hector to shut up. Hector replies with "you better watch who you're talking to". A possible reason why he says this is because he knows that he is the oldest of them all and he needs to get respected by the young guns which also represents todays society, but the three young guys weren't having it and decided to turn it into a fist fight.

At 40.30 the fight outbreaks, being provoked by the guy who's being held responsibly on the floor. The words he said were, "You're going to jail, you pervert" where Hector told him not to say it again and he did. It shows that Hector is standing for himself against the verbal abuse and something that is not true about him. We can clearly say that Hector is showing self-respect, which is also shown in real life situations today with fighting. 

  The moment Ricky shoots the gun the camera is placed on to the four men on the floor and the camera shot used is a close up which shows how terrified they are that a young guy with no knowledge of how to use a gun actual pulled the trigger.

The camera then switches to Ricky in a straight rapid cut in a mid-range shot where it shows Ricky holding the gun in an up-right standing position.

An hour and 2 mins, the police find Ricky and try to bribe him with some food. Here the food is presented in a bag and this shows that they treat Ricky like an animal hence why Ricky doesn't want to go back to them hence the mess he is already in. Here the director uses a mid-range shot to show the faces and body languages of the two officers and also their hand gestures too, to show the audience if Ricky would go back or not.

At 1 hour 28 mins after a long police chase, Ricky and Hector's escape comes to an end, Hector results to imprisonment and Ricky got put with a different family. In this scene Ricky wasn't feeling to let go of his "Uncle" as easy like that but Hector turned back to the way he was at the beginning of the film, arrogant and deceiving.

After a year of going both their separate ways, Hector is released from jail and placed in a home for elderly people where he is also seen learning how to read. Ricky decides to give him a visit, which shows true love that both of them have grown throughout the entire movie, and Hector forgives him and it becomes a happy ending.

Character Analysis 

Ricky Baker - The main character in this film and also a protagonist, a shy timid person at first until he gets used to his surroundings he gets comfortable and feels free to do what ever he wants.

Hector - A grumpy old man living in the forest with his wife Bella, also known as a hunter to provide for himself and Bella. He is then introduced to Ricky where he doesn't really want to associate himself with him until Bella passes away where Ricky and Hector have to survive by themselves.

Bella - The wife of Hector and a warm hearted middle-aged woman. Sadly she died so early in this film which probably gave the audience a shock as well as Ricky and Hector. Her importance in this film was welcoming Ricky into her and hectors home.

Paula - A social worker for children, also associated with the police, that helps Ricky to move in with Bella and Hector. Her main part in the film was hunting down Ricky and Hector when they went missing and at the end she became successful. She is a main antagonist because of this action.

Setting

The film was set in New Zealand, in the forests, jungles or even countrysides 99% of the times and the 1% was in the urban, for example, when there was a court case and also the elderly care place where Ricky went to see Hector. But back to the point, this was a great choice by the director and producer to base a film in the countryside because it goes along with the genre "adventure". If this movie was set in an urban estate then this film wouldn't have the same chemistry as the way it was set in the forests.

Point Of View

From the audience's point of view they would think that the film is very interesting or it's eye catching because of the moments that happens in the film whilst others would think it's a boring film because it's based in the forest/countryside and there isn't that much excitement. The way the film had been plotted, it would be easy for the audience to understand the narrative like the way i have.

Themes

The theme of this film in my belief i would say is friendship between Hector and Ricky. Friendship is an important factor in life to get somewhere and the director decided to put this in his film because it would teach those who do not know how to make friends to make friends instantly. Like at the beginning of the film where Hector wasn't happy with Ricky until the friendship grew stronger due to them spending time together and working on their flaws, it could also help in a real life situation and the director just doesn't want to make a film just for money, but he makes it just to show true friendship and how it is formed.

Content Analysis

Language

The language used was modern compared to "Romeo & Juliet" and the language was used to create understanding, sympathy and emotions presented from the actors for the audience to understand their feelings and emotions.

Music

Music choice was good by the director/producer, for the times when tension was high the music was quite rapid and quick for example when the huge hairy hog was chasing Ricky and Hector. The music also changed and wasn't exactly the same throughout the whole film. For example, when Bella passed away, slow music had played and this gives the audience more reason to be sympathetic towards the death of Bella. The great choice of music being selected by the Director/Producer meant that he understood the back story of what audience would feel like during dramatic music playing in the background of something exciting happening to something tragic that had just occurred.

Conclusion

I have finally analyzed two different films and their specific conventions they have got. But the best film I feel like I've analyzed to the point where I feel comfortable enough is Romeo & Juliet as I've talked about the background of the film and the story, the setting, fully analyzed the characters and their features and I also comfortably chose a theory that represented the novel and the film itself. As for The Hunt For The Wilderpeople, it was a great analysis of the scenery and the features it had in it but it lacked the amount of a strong evidence of why I chose a specific character to be a protagonist as the character wasn't trying to get no where in the film. Another hard factor was finding the theory for this film as there wasn't a long time villain or there wasn't even a hero which made me uncomfortable to talk about. However, both narratives were easily understood and I also talk for the audience too. The film I would recommend people to watch is Romeo & Juliet (2013) because there are a lot of mentions to do with love, hatred and chastity which could also be associated with todays society and it could teach them by not hating on each other and just get along with each other.