(Get Out) film analysis

Independent film: is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies. 

the major Hollywood film studios are often referred to as "The Big Six". These command a significant market share, and the budgets tend to be much bigger than those of an independent film: The Big Six are:

• Paramount
• Warner Brothers
• 20th Century Fox
• Universal
• Columbia
• Walt Disney 

Top 10 independent films:
1. mean streets
2.Reservoir Dogs
3. The Terminator
4.Blood Simple
5.Donnie Darko
6.Evil Dead II
7.Lost In Translation
8. The Blair Witch Project
9.She's gotta have it 
10.Shadows

Get Out (2017)
Director: Jordan Peele
Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams
Production Companies: Blumhouse, QC, Monkeypaw

Distributed by Universal

Budget: $4.5 million 
Box office: $255.4 million 



First-look deal: Is any contract containing a clause granting pre-emption right, right of refusal, or right of first offer to another party, who then is given the first opportunity to buy outright, co-own, invest in, license, etc., something that is newly coming into existence or on the market for the first time or after an absence, such as an intellectual property (manuscript, musical composition, invention, artwork, business idea, etc) or real property (real estate).


Blumhouse productions: 
Founded in 2000
produces low-budget horror films such as;

• insidious 
• The purge
• Happy death day
• Paranormal activity 
• Sinister

MonkeyPaw productions:
Founded 2012 by Jordan Peele, who is a director and producer
MonkeyPaw had previously released comedy series Key and Peele on Comedy Central. 


The production process:
there are three distinct stages of production;

• pre-production
• production
• post-production

1.Pre-production: After the development stage, and a project is greenlit ( given permission to go forward with a project).

•  Financing will be confirmed
• principal cast members, director and cinematographer are set 
• screenplay is finalised
• script is broken down into individual scenes and storyboarded 
• location and props, cast members, costumes, special effects and visual effects identified
• an extremely detailed schedule is produced
• sets are constructed 
• crew is hired
• financial arrangements are put in place and a start date for the beginning of principal photography is set
• there will be a read-through of the script.

2.Production: The shooting of the film

involves the camera crew, lighting department, sound department, directorial department (including first assistant director, second assistant director, as well as the director), runners, location crew, security, drivers, stunt crew, actors, ‘talent’ (extras), caterers, rushes runners. Producers and line producers not necessarily on set – often stay behind and coordinate from the production office.

Low-budget films might be shot over a period of five to six weeks. Sometimes this will involve 18-hour days, often six days a week. Bigger budget films will take much longer to film (75-120 days?), and may require multiple film crews in multiple different locations. Eraserhead, by David Lynch, was filmed over a period of years due to budget restraints, whilst the narrative of Richard Linklater’s Boyhood required a decade of periodic shooting.

3.Post- production: principally involves editing and sound.

The editing suite was, at one time, known as the cutting room, because film reels had to be (literally) cut and spliced together.More often than not achieved digitally now, often on PremierPro, Avid suites, or Macs. 

Also involves sound design, with dubbing mixers and foley artists. Could also involve special effects, depending on the film. Editors cut films together, grade them, add filters etc.

Ideology: 

genre: category or type with audience expectations

stereotype: expected generic behaviours, character traits

Get out film genre: Horror/mystery/ thriller (hybrid)

horror genre conventions: 

white middle class girl ( 'final girl' )

=protagonist, resourceful , virgin , abstains from drugs , drinking - sole survivor

=black teenager always dies first 

subverts ( non conforming) 

Horror conventions: mise en scene (generic characteristics)

Setting:quite, suburban neighbourhood, leafy, long, wide streets, white middle class ( most 80s slasher films (  Halloween,Friday 13th, nightmare on elm street usually have white middle class protagonists, with white teenage girls as main protagonists) 

camera work: over-the-shoulder track with or behind shots we share the protagonists journey 

sound: eerie music, one instrument (strings or drum) used to create jump scare often with silences between. eg. cello in a higher key.

editing: long takes/cuts followed by quick cuts/transitions for scares.

Get out (2017) editing notes:

long opening shot with no cuts all in one take. ( 02:27 in to film with no cuts yet) one cut to show setting at 3:22. Decision made not to edit opening shot to allow audience to follow protagonist constantly on journey-follows generic conventions of a horror film.

(14:20) set up for binary opposition

Exam style question: Analyse how genre conventions have been used to create meaning in a media product you have studied.

in Jordan Peele's 2017 horror film Get Out, the director subverts horror conventions through the use of character stereotypes. Typically, in a generic horror film, a black male character would be expected to be targeted first by the antagonist; the 'final girl' - the hero of the film- would be white and middle class. This was especially prevalent in horror films throughout the 1980s, notably in the slasher sub genre. However, in Get Out, the hero of the story is Chris, a black male in his mid-20s, while the false hero, according to Propp's character types, is Rose Armitage a white, middle-class female.

This, though, is not immediately apparent in the opening sequence of the film, which seems to conform to generic horror conventions. For example, in terms of mise-en-scène, it's set in a quiet, leafy, suburban neighbourhood, much like that in Halloween. It takes place at night, and this is another convention of the genre. The use of a long take, without any cuts for the first two minutes, combined with a series of tracking shots around a black male character, builds a sense of supense: we are waiting fo the generic jump scare, which therefore puts the audience of edge. Tracking shots are used extensively in the horror genre. Often, as in this case, it immerses the audience into the diegeses of the film by placing them in the point of view of the endangered character; the effect is that we walk with them, simultaneously experiencing what they do. Sound is also used to heighten the sense of suspense and paranoia. As the film starts, the diegetic sound of footsteps and cicadas create an eerie atmosphere; as the scene progresses, a car engine is heard with diegetic music playing through the car stereo. The music, 'Run, Rabbit, Run', is in a high key; it creates a false innocence for the endangered character, and therefore for the audience.

This is a classic example of contrapuntal sound, an effect used in lots of modern horror films. Peele cleverly uses generic conventions in this opening sequence so that he can subvert them later on. Meaning is therefore created by the audience's expectations being confounded. Peele cleverly uses generic conventions in this opening sequence so that he can subvert them later on. Meaning is therefore created by the audience's expectations being confounded.  

When rose and Chris arrive at the house, we are introduced to a setting that is green and leafy, a large, detached palatial house. An establishing shot is used of the house, with Chris and rose in long shot as they step onto the veranda to meet Rose's parents; at this point, the camera slowly tracks back to reveal Walter, the groundskeeper, foreground right. This creates a menacing atmosphere, in line with generic horror conventions. However, this is juxtaposed by Rose's father telling jokes and being very nice to Chris, throwing the audience off who the real antagonist is. In this sense, an enigma code is created.

Once inside the house, blocking and proxemics are used as Chris and Rose talk to her parents, Dean and Missy. A clear binary opposition is established: young vs old; black vs white ; modern vs archaic views on race. Eye-line two shots are used of Chris and Rose, meaning that the audience aligns with them; however, low angle medium shots are used of Dean and Missy, creating a feeling of unease with regard to their intentions. This is further reflected in their strange, subtextually racist dialogue - for example, Dean's appropriation of the phrase "my man", before pointing out the stereotypically culturally "black" objects in the house.

During the tour Dean gives Chris of the house, tracking shots are used through the hallway, finally revealing Georgina in the medium shot standing in the kitchen. We later discover that Rose's grandmother is inhabiting her body; however, as a black women in her early 30's, her mannerisms, facial expressions and dialogue create a strong binary opposition and enigma code. This is to be expected in a horror film, in which a sense of mystery is a recurring convention.

Fittingly, for a horror film, the final scene is set at night and ends in a bloodbath. Quick cuts are used as Chris attempts to escape, adding to the sense of excitement; this is an action code. This is juxtaposed with Rose in her room, in medium shot, with central framing used to highlight the difference between two spheres of action. However, after Chris crashes and she pursues him, the camerawork becomes handheld when he is in shot: with Rose, the camera is more steady, suggesting she will overcome him. This is another example of the film subverting generic conventions: Rose, the white, middle-class female, is the false hero, she is left for dead, whilst Chris, the black male, is the hero. As Rod drives him away to safety, a new sense of equilibrium has been created, in which stereotypical race roles have essentially been reversed. 

Mise-en-scene

• Green
• Leafy
• Large detached house
• Black male looking and staring as if he knows something
• Columbus on house could have a reference to prison
• Blocking proxemics the distance between characters (the parents and Chris and Rose) this could be binary opposition. We are on the side with Chris and Rose, which suggest we are on their side. 

Camera angles

• Pan out when Chris enters the house to see a black male who is the grounds keeper to the house staring at them (maybe foreshadowing)
• Tracking shot and long shots when Chris is walking with dean as its like they are always being watched
• Camera on Chris and roses side when they are speaking to the parents as they show us that we are on the protagonists side
• At the table the camera is placed at a low angle to ac like the audience are part of the conversation
• Over the shoulder shots at the table at dinner to give us the point of view of the character

Editing

• Diegetic sound when tea pouring
• No sound except dialogue at dinner which promotes the awkwardness
• One long takes with no cuts when Chris first meets the parents – same with the opening scene. Establishing a feeling that they shouldn’t be where they are.
• Dad at high low-angle mums at eye line. Dad is shaped out to be the more important and powerful one. Stereotype of traditional republic white supremacy family – something that is depicted lots in the film.
• The heartbeat gives us the shock

Cinematography

• The film uses a lot of close ups on the tea when its being stirred to show that this is what is being used to hypnotize him 
• They use the camera work to make the audience feel that they are part of the family event
• There is a variety of shots
• Extreme close up on his eyes when crying to show the pain in his eyes from the memory
• The pan up and tilt down  shows the realization of what is going on