The Big Durian

Today, I going to discuss what are the important elements of documentary filmmaking? Discuss the digital filmmaking phenomenon in Malaysia by citing examples from The Big Durian that directed by Amir Muhammad.

Summary of film:

The film tries to explain the reasons of an event that triggered a city wide panic in 1987. On the night of 18 October, a soldier ran amok with a M16 riffle in the area of Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. The soldier, called "Private Adam", killed one person and injured two others. But the consequences were much bigger and people thought it would mark the beginning of racial riots, like the events of 1969. Amir Muhammad interrogates over 20 people about this amok and the effects it brought out, including questioning the political system inheritage in Malaysia.

Important elements of documentary filmmaking:

There have five elements of documentary filmmaking need to be concern before doing the documentary film, such as Interviews, Cutaways, cinema verit, Process Footage and Archive. Interview is Frame the person using negative space, have them fill roughly 1/3 of the screen, on the left or right side. Make sure their “Gaze” is into the Negative space. Leave room behind the subject, never interview someone right in front of a wall. Leave 4-15 feet between the subject and the wall, you will notice the person’s shadow disappear from the wall. Watch out for reflections in people’s glasses, turn them away from facing the window to solve the problem.

Next, there are four types of Cutaways like Story Telling Shots is shot where interviews were filmed,

, Emotional Cutaways

, General Coverage

 and Get Close Ups.

 Then, Cinema Verite or live action is filming whatever is going on with the subjects.

 Afterward, Process Footage: This is when you film the making of your documentary. Think of it like combing the behind the scenes footage of your film with the Documentary itself. Last but not the least, Archive is photographs and/or old videos of the subject. For example, scanning is the best way to import them into a digital editing system, but you can get a shot with your DV and HDV camera that can later be made into a still frame, and panned and zoomed through and also making a film about a controversial subject, try contacting local news stations to see if they have any old news stories that you can use.

Digital filmmaking phenomenon in Malaysia:

What makes the film so edgy isn’t the details of the shooting, about which we learn almost nothing, but about the political atmosphere in 1987 that caused citizens to panic and shut down schools for days. The shooting itself was a pretty minor event, at least in today’s world of recurrent school shootings.  That only one person was killed and three others injured makes me almost laugh with relief. What the documentary is really about is what happened before and after the shooting: race riots, tensions between the Chinese and Malaysian ethnicity, dissatisfaction with the sultanate, and in particular a controversial government crackdown called Operation Lalang. Nine days after the shooting the Malaysian government cracked down and arrested over 100 citizens, mostly opposition leaders and Chinese educators, and shut down four independent newspapers. About the killer himself, the film shares very little. In fact, there is very little information about him on the internet. The event is so obscure (or covered up? Just kidding. Sorta.) that there’s not even a Wiki page about it. What I did find out is that his name was Private Adam Ja’afar, not to be confused with the assassinated Nigerian Imam Ja’afar Adam. This Adam was from Penang.

Conclusion:

Throughout the film, the documentary is very dense, pertinent, well documented and quite complex, with a fast editing, the voice-over of Amir Muhammad and some funny moments. He has chosen various people with different languages, religions, ethnic background reflecting the population of Malaysia.

Bunohan

Today, I am going to analyze the cultural elements in Dain Said's Bunohan and discuss how these elements represent Malaysian identity.

Summary of films:

Bunohan is a 2012 Malaysian drama thriller film. This film is about three estranged brothers which are kickboxer Adil who goes by the moniker Bunga Lalang, escapes death when a friend pulls him out of a losing match, Ilham who been hired to kill Adil but also finding it necessary to redress family grievances now that he's in town after many years, the clean-looking Bakar but reedy and ruthless person, he determined to claim ownership of his father's land and their ill father experience murder, passion and haunting memories.

Cultural Elements in Dain Said's Bunohan:

Dain Said’s first scenes is set on a beach, cryptically pairing businessmen, a spiritual healing ceremony, and a young boy who leaps out of frame for a minute and jumps back in covered with blood. The shot is actually a flash-forward to the story's end, but it sets the stage for a picture that occasionally offers us the inexplicable -- a talking bird, a ghost-woman with stegosaurus-like spines -- and then moves on with things as if the spirit world is just another backdrop, like the threat of monsoons, against which living men compete for leverage and property.

The pace of these scenes can be trying -- and would be torture for audiences who came expecting a more conventional Asian crime film -- but it suits the movie's concern with family histories, rural isolation, and the inevitability of development. By the time Adli's big fight arrives, even the money and lives depending on it can't make it more important than the shadow-puppet plays whose secrets a father may unintentionally take to his grave.

The political, social and cultural context of the society strongly influence Ilham, Adil and Bakar to define their understanding of lives or based on power, dignity and struggle. How wealth, power and authority being defined in Bunohan carry the dominant masculine traits include courage, independence and assertiveness. The way Bakar interacts with his father using his diplomatic communication skills is pretty different from Adil who opts for persuasive styles in getting definite explanations of his background. Indeed, these traits vary by location and context, and are influenced by their social and cultural background respectively; Adil, the kickboxer, who was more or less kidnapped in the middle of a bout in Thailand; his half-brother Bakar, who has been living in the city and hopes to sell the family’s land to resort developers; and a professional killer named Ilham, hired to kill Adil but also finding it necessary to redress family grievances.

Elements Represent Malaysian Identity:

Wayang Kulit used in Bunohan. Wayang Kulit is one of the element to represent Malaysian Identity. Wayang Kulit is an illusion of movement on the screen and is a story based on Hindu epics of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata to teach moral values, pass down folklore & historical tales. Furthermore, Wayang Kulit was used in the first animated feature in 1926 The Adventures of Prince Achmed directed by Lotte Reiniger.

Conclusion:

Throughout this film, I can see how much effort of Dain Said trying to reflect the background of the characters in the film. The elements of the semiotics of acting include the actor’s body language, gestures, facial expressions, intonation, eye contact, postures and other vocal qualities crafted by Dain in Bunohan could link the audiences to the emotional journey of each and every character. Both visual Metaphors and the basis of human communication that Dain Said concern shaped the film greatly to the success of the film. Recommended for those who haven’t watch Malaysian film yet, it is the film you should start with.  

Sepet

Today, I going to analyze the mise-en-scene and cinematography in Yasmin Ahmad's Sepet (2005) and discuss how the elements contribute to the portrayal of Malaysian identity in the film.

Summary of films:

Sepet is a 2005 Malaysian teen romantic comedy-drama film in Malaysia. This film is about the love story between a young Muslim Malay girl Orked and a Chinese Malaysian guy Loong. They face some social and racial problems that stopped them from loving each other. 

Mise-en-scene and cinematography in Yasmin Ahmad's Sepet:

The setting I going to discuss is in the Chinese Kopitiam. The Lighting in this scene is used natural lighting. The character in this scene have Orked who dress with baju kurung without tudung to identify she is a modern Malay girl, Loong who wear with a collar shirt and a long pant to show he is very serious for his relationship with Orked, because he wears sleeveless normally and last is Keong who wear long sleeved and a long pant like a Chinese Malaysia guy do. The director Yasmin Ahmad wanted to confront preconception that addresses the stereotypes in Malaysia. She does this by having the two different cultures, religions of the main character to make the audience realise that stereotypes are judgmental and absurd. As this scene, Keong advice to Loong “I don’t think Chinese boys should go out with Malay girls, There’ll only be trouble, You’ll break your parent’s hearts, change your name, and your religion and some more u can’t eat roast pork, they’ll also snip off the tip of your little brother” The issue of marriage between different races was further developed in the conversations between Loong and Keong, we get to know how most of the people nowadays perceive marriage between different races.

The director Yasmin Ahmad also exposed the issues of unfairness and difference through a critique of the random way scholarships are given. In the film, Orked’s mother and Kak Yam highlighted this in a conversation about Orked receiving a government scholarship to study overseas but not Loong who scored better than Orked in the national exams.

At the same time, The director also shows some good example of a Malaysian in the film. Malaysians are a cross-cultural and ethnic boundary in their daily lives. For example, the scene where Orked has done with her prayer, she opens her cupboard. The cupboard had a lot of Takeshi Kaneshiro’s posters pasted over the door. This scenes didn't just challenge the stereotypic perceptions and also tell us that we can be religious and respect other cultures at the same time.

Throughout the entire length of the movie, the audience faces the stereotypes present in Malaysia. From Loong finding it strange that a Malay would be interested in watching Chinese movie. In another way, Orked’s friend called Chinese people slit-eyed people.  Yasmin makes the audience realise that stereotypes are judgmental and absurd. Orked is a character that blurring of stereotypes in this film.

Elements contribute to the portrayal of Malaysian identity in Sepet:

There are multiple elements in this film that highlight the uniqueness of Asian Cinema and portrayal of Malaysian identities, such as Orked and Loong can speak multiple languages. Orked can speak little mandarin because of her mother and her aunty watch a Chinese movie all day long. It has exactly mirrored the culture and environment of Malaysian society. Furthermore, Characters used in the film has multiple races like Malay, Chinese and Indian which is the majority race in Malaysia will also mirror the feature of Malaysia film. Lastly, the setting used in the school will present our Malaysia icon as they show the Malaysia primary outfits.

Conclusion:

This film is present a more multi-ethnic face of the nation while smartly discover issues that think sensitive in Malaysia. It is a great film for us to understand the society better and therefore highly recommended to those that have liberal views.

3 idiots

Today, I am going to analyze and discuss the aesthetics of Asian cinema by citing examples from the film of 3 idiots.

Summary of films:

3 Idiots is a 2009 Indian coming-of-age comedy-drama film and directed by Rajkumar Hirani. The film is about the friendship of three students which are Farhan, Raju and Rancho at an Indian engineering college, due to Rancho’s positive and refreshing outlook to life. 5 Years later, a bet gives them a chance to look for their long-lost friend whose existence seems rather elusive. This film also satire about the social pressures under an Indian education system.

Asian Cinema

Asian Cinema was known as Eastern cinema.  Its most often used to refer to the cinema of Eastern, Southeastern and Southern Asia. Asian cinema is a site or a space which encounters many ideas, philosophies and religions and from these encounters, it develops a universe of its own. Cultural exchange to cinema can be found in filmmaking and film criticism, film reception and film marketing. For example, China adopting Buddhism from India. Asian cinema is full of diversity and flexibility, it is also far from being homogeneous due to the cultural exchange means a process whereby concepts, once absorbed, are invariably reduced the intrinsic of culture and identity. Aesthetics in Asian Cinema is an art object signifies cultural, social and moral values. Use of traditional colours is also one of the ways to present the Aesthetics in Asian Cinema, as instance white signifies death in Chinese cultures, every Chinese funeral used to wear white colour to signifies one of their family member death. In addition, visual representation like appearance and furniture or religious and culture iconography also are showing the Aesthetics in Asian Cinema.

Analysis

Farhan narrate that “We were robots blindly following our professor’s commands, he was the only one who was not a machine”. Due to Rancho free-minded outbreaks, Professor kept him out of class. Compare to Chatur, who crammed blindly and listen to their command, Professors much prefer students like Chatur and Rancho become the enemy of all Professor, especially Professor Viru Sahastrabudhhe. 

To demonstrate for Raju, don’t cram blindly. Chatur is humiliated when he delivers a Hindi speech which modified by Rancho due to Chatur crammed blindly.

Farhan’s fate as an engineer had been decided by his parents since the day he was born, but he loves photography. He following the parent’s direction because it is a duty of a good son have, then he end up studied at the Imperial College of Engineering. Following the parents’ directions is a duty, and following duty is something rooted in Hindu tradition. Bhagavad Gita discusses dharma, the duty that every individual must fulfill, no matter what the circumstances are. Reference from Krishna. ‘Bhagavad gita story: Do not worry!’. http://www.bhagavatam-katha.com/bhagavad-gita-story-do-not-worry/. This shows how important duty is in Hindu culture. The movie shows the importance of family, but also shows limitations, and even danger in solely relying on traditional ways. It challenges the notion of listening to authority like parents and professors. Even though, It brings more modern worldview and leaning towards individualism associated with the Western thought. Throughout the film, Rancho leads Farhan to follow his heart, pursue his dream and go speak to his father from his heart. In this sense, the film breaks the Hindu culture as an important duty as a son.     

Professor Viru Sahastrabuddhe who traditional and strict philosophies on education. Professor Viru Sahastrabuddhe used to emphasize the differences between a loser and winner and instilling the poor education student won’t get any offer in the job. This subplot addresses the issue of the social class system. It shows that through a high education, people from different backgrounds can be empowered and get themselves and their families out of poverty. All because of the notion from someone like Professor Viru Sahastrabuddhe, the student suicide rate fueled by all the pressure from studies and parent’s expectations that they are trying to fulfill. The movie makes an important point: we must not let social pressures ruin our lives.

In a traditional family in India, unmarried girls are a burden for the family. So, found that Rancho after 5 years finished studies, he had not married as Pia too. Five years waiting is worthwhile for an unmarried Indian girl, Pia because five years is quite a long time for a lady.  

However, Aesthetics in Asian Cinema of Hindu culture used in this film, such as Hindu’s wedding, uses music and dance sequences within the narrative structure, Tamil's worship and funeral. The funeral of western also applied in the film.

                 

                 
                                         

Conclusion

Throughout the film, 3 idoits has a very universal appeal. This film used a comedy and way to reflect the problem of social class system and traditional education which still face with most of the country. The flashbacks editing technique and the good storyline with a nice shot and the soundtrack is really recommended for those who have not seen any Bollywood films before, it is a good one to start with.

Chungking Express

Today, I going to analyze the director, Wong Kar Wai's film style in Chungking Express and discuss how his style portrays the aesthetics of Asian Cinema.

Summary of films:

Chungking Express is a 1994 Hong Kong drama film. The film comprises of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman considering her relationship with a woman. The first story is about Cop 223 buys a can of pineapple with an expiration date of May 1 to signify the day he will get over his lost love, May. He love at first sight on a mysterious woman in a blond wig, he unaware of the fact she is a drug dealer. The second story follow with Cop 663 is upset with heartbreak over a breakup but when his loss girlfriend drops a spare set of his keys at a local cafe, a waitress lets herself into his apartment and brighter up his life.

Wong Kar Wai's film style in Chungking Express:

Chungking Express explores the themes of loneliness, transience and identity within the environment of the city. Wong Kar Wai uses fast-forward and pause in the film; we observe the speeded-up passing of clouds and Cop 633’s accelerated running. The use of voice-over obliges the audience to identify with the narrator. This identification is further emphasized by the frequent use of long takes which leave the protagonists either frozen in time, whilst other characters move hurriedly past in a jumble of vibrant activity, or else they are filmed (usually with a handheld camera) in such rapid motion that other characters and locations smear into a blur of colours. The overall result is a quite negative view of single love- all enhance by the energetic editing and shooting styles. Aesthetics of Asian Cinema that Wong Kar Wai used pace to allow the audience time to think, to consider the meaning of the story discovery on the screen.

Analysis:

The theme of identity is strongly alluded to through the cinematography of Christopher Doyle- particularly through his use of shots with a focus on reflection and refraction. These shots reflect the sense of confusion within their identities felt by all the characters, and are a unifying motif within the film. The speed and chaos of the city are also reflected in the cinematography, particularly in the opening and montage scenes- there is heavy use of motion blur, which compounded with the handheld, cinema verité shooting style thoroughly and accurately depict life in the city. Loneliness and transience are highlighted as the characters on screen are alone, despite being surrounded by hundreds of rushing, blurred people. This is also explored through the use of time-lapse: in a particular shot of cop 663, waiting in a bar, his actions are slowed down, while the rest of the scene is sped up and people are, again, a transient blur; this plays to the theme of time. Time and dates are given huge importance in the film; perhaps alluding to the Handover, which shook Hong Kong in the late nineties. This heavy focus on time and numbers is illustrated through the names of the police characters, intimate distances between people, and sell by dates. The notion of expiration is universal, especially in portraying the notion of transient love.

The use of colour in the film is also very outsatanding; many of the scenes are coloured with dark and muted gels, particularly green and blue tones- signifiers for depression. These tones describe the all-surrounding feeling of isolation within the sprawl of the city. Equally, the lighter moments in the film are usually accompanied by a play on lights- refractions and lens flare through windows. The lighting changes constantly- different colours and lights pulse, creating the highly concentrated and strong visual look. Its ever changing nature brings the viewer into the mindset of the characters, and also reminds them of the ever-changing nature of city life. Particularly the city of Hong Kong, which itself reflect transience, with its focus on capitalism and development.

Framing is also used to generate meaning in the film. Doyle uses the camera to isolate characters within the frame – cutting them off and framing them narrowly within shadowed frames and doorways. This framing technique is almost metonymic of the world it aims to portray; alluding to the small living spaces and cramped conditions which mention much of Hong Kong’s city lifestyle. This helps the audience to remember the loneliness looked by some characters in the film, in some cases headed to conversing with clothes and stuffed toys. For example, Cop 663 describe his sad and loneliness feeling with his toy and clothes, he comfort them to cover his loneliness.

Another way that Doyle creates meaning in Chungking Express is through a lack of focus- several of the scenes aim to focus on how light and colour interact within the room, instead of creating a clear-cut image of the protagonists – for example; the scene with Brigitte Lin’s character sitting in the bar. The lack of focus could also be considered, to an extent, as a symbol of a lack of focus, or even confusion/disorientation for the characters themselves.

The editing in the film gives the film much of its punchiness through style, and skillfully knits together the two narrative structures, which echo each other in the way that they share the themes of love, and isolation in the city environment. They are told in succession and in loose chronological order. The looseness of the narratives is attributed to the dreams and desires that characters in both tales share. Instead of following narrative conventions, Wong Kar Wai seems to focus on cycles and routines, exploring his themes more abstractly, and contrasting the plights of each character. This unconventional narrative structure gives the film an esoteric quality, but greatly helps to explore the themes- alluding to the sense of routine confusion which haunts each character’s life.

There is also extensive use of slow motion and pauses. This style of editing also alludes to the prominent theme of time in the film. It even is unsure whether the two stories in the film are happening concurrently or not. Otherwise, the film’s editing could be described as MTV style- the cutting is very quick and punchy, and cut to the beat of the repetitive, electronic music. The film has subsequently been described as having “high octane visuals and action”, due to its editing style. Many of the scenes are highly saturated, and some are equally desaturated- creating noise in a scene with heavy focus on visuals, or embodying a more sombre sense.

Conclusion:

Throughout the film, the cinematography and editing contribute greatly to the success of the film, and how its meaning is put across. The themes of identity, transience, unrequited love and loneliness are all referenced constantly through film language, as well as the narrative of the film which makes these themes its basis. Recommended for those who have like to consider and analysis films, Wong Kar Wai’s film is a good choice to start with.  

Psycho

Today, I am going to analyze the style of filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock by citing example from his film, Psycho (1960).

Summary of films:

Psycho is a 1960 American psychological horror film, written by Joseph Stefano. Psycho was based on Bloch, Robert. Psycho. United States: Simon and Schuster, 1959. Print. The film is about a Phoenix real-estate secretary Marion Crane, on the lam after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to run away. She traveling on the back roads to avoid the police, she stops for the night at the Bates Motel and meets the polite but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates, a young man with an interest in taxidermy and a difficult relationship with his mother.

The style of filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock in Psycho:

Psycho was Hitchcock’s first real horror film. The nightmarish, disturbing film's themes of corruptibility, confused identities, voyeurism, human vulnerabilities and victimization, the deadly effects of money, Oedipal murder, and dark past histories are realistically revealed. Its themes were revealed through repeated uses of motifs, such as birds, eyes, hands, and mirrors. Hitchcock’s techniques drag the audience with the universal, dark evil forces and secrets present in the film.

[Note: A satirical parody of scenes from various Hitchcock films, including some from Psycho, were included in Mel Brooks' comedy High Anxiety (1977). The shower scene itself has been referenced, spoofed and parodied in numerous films, including Brian De Palma's The Phantom of the Paradise (1974) and Dressed to Kill (1980), Squirm (1976), Victor Zimmerman's low-budget Fade to Black (1980), Tobe Hooper's The Funhouse (1981), John De Bello's Killer Tomatoes Strike Back! (1990), Martin Walz' The Killer Condom (1997, Ger.), Wes Craven's Scream 2 (1997), Scott Spiegel's From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999), and the animated Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), in which Bugs acts out with the film's black-and-white footage and a can of Hershey's chocolate syrup poured down the drain.] Resource from AMV Network Entertainment LLC. Reference list: Psycho (1960) Filmsite Movie Review. Retrieved from http://www.filmsite.org/psyc.html

In this film,   Hitchcock's gimmicky device, termed a MacGuffin (the thing or device that motivates the characters or propels the plot and action), is the stolen $40,000 from the realtor's office. Marion Crane becomes a secondary MacGuffin after her murder because everyone searching for her to call her to return back the money.

Analysis

Throughout “Psycho” Alfred Hitchcock cleverly uses mirrors and mirror images, as well as shadow images, to signify characters’ duplicity, false identities, distorted realities, and fractured personalities while exploring the film’s structural oppositions of unity and duality – suggesting that all people possess varying levels of both good and bad, of moral and immoral behavior. This can be seen in the shot of Norman hope that he can get closer to Marion, so he invites Marion having a dinner with her, not because of Marion hungry. 

In addition, The setting in Norman’s parlour back of the office is full of birds of prey stuffed and hung up on the walls, these build up the feel of scary. Even when we first meet Norman at the motel, he is polite and gentle but after Marion advices Norman that he can save her mother mental institutes, Norman’s appearance and attitude change suddenly, he becomes creepy and no likable. This enhanced the scary feel by the creepy setting and Norman’s attitude changing.

The famous scene from Psycho is the shower scene where Marion is killed. The scene doesn’t rely on blood, instead the horror comes from the psychological mind because bathroom is a place where you are feeling safe but Psycho broke all film conventions by displaying Marion being killed in the bathroom. This also shows Hitchcock is playing with audience feelings and thoughts throughout the shot of Norman use the knife stab to Marion many time and Marion resist with Norman, instead of showing the audience the knife stab to the body of Marion directly. 

From the shower scene, the audience believes that Norman’s mother killed Marion because of the appearance and an unclear face. After Norman handles the dead body of Marion, Norman smirks. This enhances the creepiness of Norman and makes the audience start to determine the personality of Norman had. 

Staircase is a common subject found throughout several genres including German Expressionism, and plays different roles depending on the narrative. Hitchcock’s used the staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense. For example, Private investigator walking to the staircase, Norman dressed as his mother running out of the bedroom and stabbing the private investigator on the staircase in an overhead shot, the overhead shot allows the audience to see the whole situation, it also helps to cover the face of Norman, to make audience curious about who is the person are.

The final horror scene when Lila walks into the cellar and she found out a dead mother’s corpse lying in a rocking chair. At the same time, Norman is seen behind Lila with a dress and wig on and a large knife. This show to the audience the character who killed Marion and the private investigator is actually Norman did.

Conclusion

After I watched the film without any knowledge about Hitchcockian is, I don’t feel that it is a horror film at all. However, I know the horror film Alfred Hitchcock want to represent in this film is the dual nature of humanity and voyeurism present themselves. I review back the film, I begin goose bump with the way of horror he used in the film. Narrative, lighting, camera angle and mise-en-scene establish Hitchcockian concept. Recommended.