La Haine Essay- Film Techniquies

How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques?

One of the films i have studied on this topic is the 1995 French film La Haine directed by Mathieu Kassoviz. This film shows the story of three youths that live in La Banlieues or the projects on the outskirts of Paris. With the name the projects it sounds like that area is an experiment. The area that La Haine is set is a lower class area with around twenty miles out of Paris, it seems that i is almost designed to keep the poor out of the middle class centre of the city. Throughout the film the camera shots used are of 180 or 360 degrees. This is to show that no matter what happens or how the French revolt things will never change. In 1994 there was riots in France on which this film is based, ten years later in 2004 the same thing happened again and riots broke out in Paris. The 360 degree camera shots also present Paris itself as the Director Mathieu Kassovits says that "Paris is laid out like a snail" as it goes round in circles. This is not just shown in the camera movements but also in the movement of the people in the film. Such as the breakdancing shown in the picture below. The young man is spinning round on his head, he spins so much that it takes him a few moments to realise that the police have raided the building and everyone has ran away. Showing how oblivious to the problems of Paris people can be.

This film does have very distinctive uses of mise en scene, for example the clothing that Vinz, Hubert and Said wear. Through their clothing we can tell that they are very westerised. The nike and addidas sports wear clothing are big American brands. Throughout the film the westernisation is shown in the music that is played, it is usually american hip hop or rap music. Also when we are introduced to Vinz there is a 360 degree camera pan around his room. With everything we see in Vinz's room the audienec discovers everything about him. There is a poster with a picture weed on it, a picture of Bruce Lee and Maralyn Monroe on his wall. And a collection of low top trainers. Everything we see in his room tells us that he is very westernised, he had American film starts om his wall and American brand trainers. This is also shown when we get a 180 degree camera pan on Huberts room. They all share the enjoyment of drugs, Hubert especially as he is also a drug dealer. When in his room we get a close up shot of the Hash he is cutting up ready to sell.

Another film technique that is common throughout La Haine is the way the three main characters are seen in frame. Said is always seen to be in the middle of Hubert and Vinz, almost as if he is stopping them from having conflict. This is because Said is the only character that has some form of older male influence in his life which is his older brother. Vinz and Hubert have no male influence, this is wear Said steps in as he is constantly bringing them together.

Catalogue- Martin Scorsese

The morality of the gangster community is a theme that runs throughout Martin Scorsese's films, does this make him a auteur?

Films                             
Item 1- Goodfellas (1990)
I chose Goodfellas as one of my focus films as it is one of Martin Scorsese's first and most well known gangster films. Goodfellas is a film based on the true story of Henry Hill. As a young man all that he wants is to become a gangster. Henry Hill is adopted by a group of Italian American gangsters in New York and is taught the ways of a gangster. He is taught the high moral code of the gangsters, what to do when you get 'pinched', and the violent way to 'sort' people out when they are out of line or a threat. We see the rise of Henry Hill when he works his way up through the mob hierarchy, and his fall when greed gets the best of him. Martin Scorsese is the Director and the screenplay writer of this film which is based on the book 'Wiseguy' written by Nicholas Pileggi. Martin Scorsese is easily considered an auteur after Goodfellas. This is why I have chosen Goodfellas for my research investigation.


Item 2- The Departed (2006)
The Departed is another useful and more recent source from Scorsese which also has the reoccurring theme of gangsters. This films tells the story of an undercover cop, Billy Costigan, who is assigned to infiltrate his way into a Irish mob run by Chief Costello. While Billy is beginning to gain the trust of Costello, Colin Sullivan a member of the mob has infiltrated the police department and is working to find out information that he can feed back to the syndicate. Both Costigan and Sullivan become consumed with their double lives of gathering information about the plans of each operation. It soon becomes clear to the gangsters and police that there are 'rats' in their operations. Both in extreme danger of being caught the pair race to discover the identity of the other man and expose them to save himself. Once again Scorsese has made a gangster film full of corruption, violence and mistrust which makes this perfect for my research as a story of gangster morals which will assist me in answering my question of gangsters morality.

Item 3- Casino (1995)
This film again focuses on the power and corruption and greed which occurs between two mobster friends and trophy wife. There is also reoccurring actors such as Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci who are also in Goodfellas and several other Scorsese films. Casino is a film about the exposure of the inner workings of a corrupt casino. Similarly to The Departed and Goodfellas, Casino contains one of Scorsese's most common themes, gangster morality. Casino is another one of Scorsese's films which is all about corruption, mistrust and violence which will assist me in anserwing my question of maorality in the gangster community.

Books

Item 4- 'A Cinema Of Loneliness' Robert Kolker
I chose this book as is goes into detail about the three focus films that i have chosen to use on Martin Scorsese. It compares Scorsese's films, and the specific conventions, techniques and themes that are unique to Scorsese. This will be very useful for my investigation as the discussion of the reoccurring gangster themes of Martin Scorsese's films as it inks in directly to my question. I will be able to use this to include quotes and information in my investigation.    

Item 5- 'Scorsese on Scorsese" Martin Scorsese
I have chosen to use this book for my research investigation as it includes discussions of the three focus films I am using. This book is all from Martin Scorsese's perspective of his films, why and how he came about to make them. This will be useful for quotes as Scorsese also compares the themes of crime and violence and states how they are reoccurring themes in his films. Scorsese also talks of certain technical conventions he used in Goodfellas and Casino and explains why he chose to use them.

Item 6- 'The Directors' Robert J. Emery

This book is useful for my research investigation as it includes Martin Scorsese's reaction to making Raging Bull and one of my focus films Casino. It also includes quotes from Scorsese on how it was for him making Casino and what It was like working with the actors such as Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. This will help with my investigation as the book points out the running theme of violence and gangster crimes that are common in Scorsese's films.

Item 7- "A Companion To Francois Truffaut" Dudley Andrew
This book is useful for my research investigation as even though it is a book about film director Francois Truffaut is includes information about his "Certain Tendency". This is Truffaut's ideas on the theory of auteurship and what it really means to be an auteur. His theory of what makes a director a true auteur links in well with the work of Martin Scorsese as he includes his personal life and his own experiences into his films. This is what Truffaut believes makes a good auteur and a better film as it makes the film more real.

Miscellaneous


Item 8- 'Official Trailer for Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo5jJpHtI1Y
I have chosen to use the trailer from one of my focus films, Goodfellas as It gives an introduction to the characters and the actors and shows some of the violence that is in the narrative. By including some of the voice over of 'Henry Hill' it introduces some of the colloquial language used by the gangsters and shows some of the morals that the gangsters live by. This is good for my research investigation as it gives a quick overview of the film showing the key technical conventions that are typical to Scorsese's narratives.

Documentaries

Item 8-  'The Real Goodfella' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RoFmHR8S3Y
This is a good source for my investigation as this documentary is about the true story on which Goodfellas is based upon. It goes through the life of Henry Hill and compares the events of his life to Martin Scorsese's adaptation of it. This will be a good source for my research investigation as there is many quotes i will be able to take from it. Also it shows just how well Scorsese is as a director since he depicts the true story of Henry Hill in the most accurate way, showing that he is an auteur.

Item 9- 'Scorsese on Scorsese'
I have chosen to use this documentary for my research investigation as it is Martin Scorsese explaining how he came about to make the films that he did. Scorsese talks small scenes from my focus films and explains exactly what his meanings were behind those smalls scenes and entire films. He speaks about how his life growing up in little Italy exposed him to the world of gangsters and how that it has greatly influenced his films. Also showing him as an auteur.

Item 10- 'Emotions through the music'
This Documentary is Martin Scorsese talking about his own personal experiences when he was growing up and how if he stood in the street he would hear a fight at one end and some beautiful music from the other. Martin Scorsese's personal experiences when he was growing up are spoken about through this documentary. This will be good for my investigation as it shows how Scorsese is an auteur.

Item 11- 'Casino 1995 The Real Story Of Casino Part 1' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okTzRr7YzLg 
In this documentary Martin Scorsese and Nicholas Peleggi talk about how the narrative Casino came to be. There is a discussion of how Pileggi got the idea for Casino and how once Robert Di Niro was confirmed for the film that the real people whom the text is based on became more involved as they wanted to meet Di Niro.

Item 12- 'Casino 19995 The Real Story Of Casino Part 2' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00dUS1Ndw1M
Continuing from 'Part 1' in this documentary Scorsese talk about his common technique of a voiceover. Pileggi talk about the struggle of making the voiceovers sound real and have the actors talk the way men from the Chicago gangs talk. 

Internet

Item 13- 'The Auteurship of Martin Scorsese' http://filmcliche.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/the-auteurship-of-martin-scorsese/ 
This is an extremely useful source for my research investigation as it is about the auteurship of Scorsese. It talks about two of my focus films and goes into detail about the films and how they are typical to Scorsese's style. It also discusses how his life leading up to his film making is shown in his films and how this makes him an auteur.

Item 14- 'Martin Scorsese interview' http://uk.askmen.com/celebs/interview_400/437_martin-scorsese-interview.html
This source is useful for my investigation as it is an article interview with Scorsese asking him questions about his reoccurring themes in his films. The article talks of Scorsese's themes of crime and gangsters and how he shows this in his films. It also discusses the time periods in which his gangster films (such as Goodfellas and Casino) are set and how the themes in them are still relevant today.

Item 15- 'A History of Violence' http://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/oct/06/awardsandprizes.martinscorsese
I haven chosen to use this internet article in my research investigation as it covers Scorsese's theme of violence in The Departed. This article does mainly focus on The Departed but does also compare to some of Scorsese's other films. This is a useful source as it discusses the theme of violence and crime in his films. Also how his films can be considered works of art and his close relationship to reoccurring actors in his films such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

Item 16- 'Canon Fodder: Martin Scorsese's Casino' http://www.gq.com/entertainment/movies-and-tv/201111/canon-fodder-martin-scorsese-casino-goodfellas-review
This internet article is very helpful for my research investigation as it goes into great detail about Scorsese's text Casino. It contains quiotes from Scorsese about his opinion on the film and the making of it. It also compares Casino to Goodfellas, another one of my focus films. 

Magazines

Item 17- Empire November 2008 'The Scorsese Scrapbook'
I have chosen to use this magazine for my research investigation as it discusses all three of my focus films. Although what is does discuss about the three films is brief, it contains some good information and talks not only about what the story line of the films are but also gives its reviews on the films. 

Item 18- Sight and Sound November 2006 'Scorsese Faith under Pressure'
This is a very useful source for my investigation as this article focuses mainly on The Departed. It explains in detail what happens in the film and includes interviews with Scorsese. It also discusses the films relation to modern day issues, and covers the themes of violence in the film which Scorsese had to battle with Warner Brothers about.

Item 19- Sight and Sound September 2000 'The making of Goodfellas'
The reason i chose to use this source for my research investigation as it is a very detailed article on the making of Goodfellas. It compares the film to the real life events of Henry Hill and gives the reviews of other magazines and newspapers about the film. It includes a list of actors from the films and quotes from them about their experience working on the set and their opinion of the movie. It even gives the recipes of the Goodfellas meals while they were in prison. 

Rejected Items               

Raging Bull (1980)
Although Raging Bull is one of Martin Scorsese most famous films I chose to reject it as it did not fit with the question I have chosen. Raging Bull does have some of Scorsese's reoccurring themes such as violence, and his style is shown clearly throughout. It is also another film that has led people into seeing him as an auteur. But it does not include the themes of crime, deciet and gangsters.

'The philosophy of Martin Scorsese' http://markconard.com/martinscorsese.htm
I chose to reject this online source as it does not have any use to me in my research investigation. It includes some good facts about Scorsese, but the article is very basic and has no mention of Scorsese's reoccurring themes or the three focus films I have chosen.


The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
The reason I did not choose to use this film as one of my focus films is because it does not fit in with my question. This film certainly includes Scorsese's reocurring themes of deciet and crime but none of the characeters appear to hold any form of moral code that is similar to that of gangsters. 


Empire Magazine May 1998 ' Doctor Martin'
I decided not to include this in my research investigation as it did not have any useful information I could use. It mainly discusses Scorsese's earlier films such as 'The Big Shave' and 'Boxcar Bertha'. It spoke mainly of what happened on the sets of these films and how Scorsese came about to direct them. It has nothing of use towards my question of my three chosen focus films.

"Auteur Theory And Authorship" http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Academy-Awards-Crime-Films/Auteur-Theory-and-Authorship.html
This internet article of the theory of auteurship does include some good information; problem is it is too basic. It discusses the meaning or auteurship and where it comes from but not much else. I rejected this item as it does not contain enough useful information that I could use for my research investigation.

La Haine

• La Haine translates to Hate
• Director- Mathieu Kassovitz
• Release date- 1995
• Protagonists live in Les Banlieues on the outskirst of Paris.
• Real footage of riots that regularly took place between youths and the police between the years 1986-1996
• La Haine is based on a riot that took place in 1993 after a youth was shot in police custody.
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