mi4017amandithewarathanthri

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Booksmart - possible references

Need to find more interviews

Judith Butler (1990) - her gender theory and how that ties into Booksmart’s gender performance and portrayal of girlhood 

Freytag’s pyramid - where are the characters at this point in the film?

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/booksmart-reviewed-olivia-wildes-toothless-teen-comedy - a negative review. Covers how overly idealistic the movie is 

Good reviews -

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/movies/booksmart-review.html 

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/5/24/18633875/booksmart-review-beanie-feldstein-kaitlyn-dever 

https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/booksmart-review-1203159846/

https://time.com/5594000/booksmart-review/

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/booksmart-review-olivia-wilde-kaitlyn-dever-beanie-feldstein-lisa-kudrow-a8925391.html

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-booksmart-review-20190523-story.html 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14680777.2022.2108481  - Feminism at the movies: sex, gender, and identity in contemporary American teen cinema:

“This analysis illustrates how describing this cycle as “feminist” functions as both a discursive frame for navigating issues of sex, gender, and identity and a commercial strategy to appeal to a new generation of teen audiences.”

Data that Covers audience reviews and experiences - shows if the movie was effective in portraying a realistic high school experience 

Also covers how the inciting conflict between the two characters and motivation for going to the party is due to Molly’s infatuation with a man. The plot only moves forward due to a male love interest. Falls into the misogynistic cliche of women only ever doing something for male validation and attention. (Pg 43)

“The same treatment doesn’t follow Amy though. Even through Amy has a crush on a girl, Ryan, and tries to pursue this relationship at the party, it is clearly not as important to the story as Molly’s crush on Nick… This inequality of the two protagonists love lives could be more expanded with the theories of intersectionality and discrimination”(pg 43)

Rishoi argues that many coming-of-age literature aimed for girls “glorify goodness, duty, and romance” (2003: 2) (pg 12)

“Edwards (2016) criticizes female coming-of-age films and how they rely on sexist clichés. Edwards argues that the genre is heavily affected by the patriarchal society, and thus often diminishes its female character’s development and personalities (Edwards, 2016:1). One of the continues remarks Edwards notes is how female coming-of-age films are often driven by the male love-interest, and not the female protagonist (Edwards, 2016: 1), which evidently decreases the protagonist’s value to the story.”

“Hodkinson (2017a) argues that gender is something that you do, rather than something you are (278-279).

Hodkinson (2017a) has a great statement about male versus female characters: “men are active, independent and in control of their destiny, while the role of women is to satisfy the male gaze and, ultimately, be possessed”. I believe this statement highlights the objectification of women, even in female-lead films.” (pg 12-13)

Bibliography has some useful extra reading material 

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Booksmart notes - relevant quotes

“she [Wilde] was gonna reflect so authentically what it feels like to be a young woman and what it feels like to be a wonderful friend and to have a wonderful friend.” - Katie Silberman, 'Olivia Wilde & the cast/creators of the “Booksmart” chat  about the comedy,’ BUILD series on Youtube.

Wilde says that Booksmart is “a "love letter" to the '80s and '90s movies that defined her adolescence” - 'Booksmart' Director Olivia Wilde: Teen Movies 'Made Me Excited To Be Young’

“We really wanted to take the idea of the kind of convenient stereotypes that exist in most of these movies and like ‘the smart girls’ and the ‘slutty girls’ and the ‘mean girls’ and just say, what if everybody is all of these things? What if we really celebrate multidimensionality? What if the goal starts with just proving something — a sort of noble cause — but then reveals itself to be about, actually, a lot more self discovery than they realised they were even looking for?” - Olivia Wilde, from: Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein on living together while shooting Booksmart, SXSW interview Fandango, Youtube 

"Olivia's mantra to all of us was that high school is war,…It’s that intense when you're in it. It's easy for adults to look back on it, or look at kids in high school, in a kind of condescending way. 'Isn't it cute how obsessed they get or how passionate they get about things?' But when you're in it it's as intense as anything else you'll go through.” - Katie Silberman, How ‘Booksmart’ Captures The All-Out War That Is High School, Bustle

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Booksmart notes 7

Opening Scene Rough Notes

This is our introduction to Molly, and it perfectly sets up her character with just a few lines of dialogue. From this open scene we know she is smart, accomplished, works hard, and has sacrificed a lot to succeed. Ambition and arrogance is a big theme that comes up with Molly’s character. Arrogance is her greatest character flaw. She looks down on others simply by virtue of her grades and her college. 

Sets her up for her character arc, where she realises that this behaviour is not only harmful to the people around her but also to herself and her own life. 

This is the first way the movie subverts stereotypes. It takes the archetypical nerdy character, who is often portrayed as meek and somehow morally and intellectually superior to their popular classmates simply by virtue of being a nerd. Molly isn’t meek, and she’s pretentious and believes herself above everybody else due to her work ethic and achievements. 

Breaking these stereotypes helps the movie be more relatable to a modern audience. Not all nerdy kids are shy or lack confidence. The popular kids in the movie are also portrayed more realistically. Some of them are mean but in actuality some of them are genuinely likeable people. Most popular kids in school are academically smart, active in clubs, activities, etc. the ‘mean girl’ isn’t always a hyper sexualised popular pretty girl. The popular guys aren’t always dumb ‘jocks’ who bully people weaker than them. The real bullies are sometimes bitter loners who say things under the guise of being ‘real’ or ‘brutally honest’ (Hope). School hierarchies that were established in earlier coming of age films is also broken. ‘Popular mean girls’ would hang out with the ‘loners’ and vice versa. There were clear friend groups but the strict boundaries of cliques that were portrayed in movies such as mean girls was not seen. Many of these friend groups interacted and got along. This is all much more in line with how schools are in real life/in the present day

Opening shots - Around molly’s room. Shows all of her achievements. Her valedictorian’s robe, the Yale flag in the background, her trophies, pictures of various influential women in history.

“Good morning winner…You worked harder than everyone and that is why you’re a champion. You understand that greatness takes sacrifice…Stand atop the mountain of your success and look down on everyone who’s ever doubted you. Fuck those losers. Fuck them in their stupid fucking faces”

Voiceover - comedic, starts off as a typical podcast(?) and descends into being unnaturally aggressive and toxic. This reflects molly’s own opinions of herself and her peers. How she values hard work and looks down of people who don’t dedicate their whole time to work. 

The music is also used to create comedy. Music is meditative and calm which contrasts with the VoiceOver. 

Use of comedy engage audience from the get go 

Use of comedy to effectively highlight molly’s main character flaw from the first few seconds  of the film.                       

The Voiceover illustrates how she can’t see outside of herself and can’t perceive that her fun loving peers might also be working just as hard as her. Shows her superiority complex. Brings it back to that theme of caricatures. 

Editing - we hear the VoiceOver before we see the character/visuals

Places emphasis on  the VoiceOver, subtly implies the mindset of our main character 

Close up on the molly’s face as the voiceover comes to an end (this is the first time we see her face) creates further emphasis.

Cuts to the title and more upbeat music - emphasis the nature of the movie and the heightened fantasy it portrays. 

Amy’s Costuming that emphasises her role as a foil - she wears a denim jacket with different patches on it that represent different movements. Shows how empathetic she is to other people and their experiences unlike Molly. 

We also learn in the classroom scene that Amy is spending the summer helping make tampons for poor women in Africa, that further  emphasises this point. 

The fact that they spend the last  day of high school trying to do some work. Shows how dedicated they are to their work ethic. Shows how they never allow themselves to relax and have fun even when there isn’t any conceivable benefit that can be gained from this work. They’ve already gotten into their colleges. They don’t have to do this work, but they insist on it. 

Nick’s character introduction - slamming his head into a locker as his friends cheer/laugh, wrapping a plastic luau around his face, being flocked by a group of girls

“We all know that Nick only ran for VP because they plan for dances. That position is…its basically a popularity contest, he’s useless.”

sets him up as the typical popular boy who doesn’t take responsibly, messes around, is not smart, and gets all the girls. Sets up his character stereotype to be partially subverted later in the film. 

When Molly forces Amy to go talk to her crush, and she nervously walks over - Amy represents the more stereotypical nerdy character we are used to seeing 

This scene also highlights Molly’s weakness - she’s berating nick for being useless and not taking his duties seriously and cannot understand hoe her peers might just want to enjoy their last day of high school and don’t want to think about their responsible at that moment. Instead of empathising with nick, Molly insults him and calls his party stupid. 

When Amy comes back from chickening out of talking to her crush - shows her meekness

Also the conversation they have when she sits back at their table about her crush’s sexuality - shows she doesn’t like to make assumptions of people and is highly empathetic to other people’s emotions and experiences. 

This is also seen in  the scene where she tells Molly not to call Amanda ‘Triple A’ because it was  a derogatory name  

This sets up Amy as a character foil for Molly

Classroom scene sets up most of the supporting characters except for Gigi and Ryan 

We also see Molly interrupting another  classmate and belittling them and their  friend group just because they enjoy partying and having fun. Again, shows how she views herself as above others for her work either and accomplishments. 

Also the moment where she gets into a  squabble  with another student belittles their interests - she doesn’t see how the experiences of others are subjectively valuable to them. And she doesn’t understand how other people might have interest different to her, especially ones that are not  seen  as  productive or academic. 

“Because some of us enjoy working with others” - highlights how  she only  views things from her perspective, and can’t think outside of herself to work with others. Sets her up for the climax of the film where she loses everyone around her because of her own self-centredness 

The costuming of the two leads - they have ‘bad’ style. Starts them out as stereotypical nerd archetypes, and sets their characters up to subvert audience expectations. 

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Booksmart notes 6

“I can’t like him [Nick]. Maybe my body can like him, but my mind knows that’s stupid because he’s just, he’s a jock. and all he cares about is being cool and having fun and he doesn’t look at girls unless they look like Triple A [Anabelle],” - 

Shows how she is still stuck in this archaic conception of high school social hierarchies and roles. She doesn’t understand that these caricatures don’t exist in real life and they shouldn’t define who she is or what she does or even who her peers are. Shows how labels can hurt. 

Also shows how Her character flaw damages her relationships with others. She isn’t even willing to consider anyone she thinks is beneath her, and refers to nick as a stereotypical jock. Displays Molly’s internal struggle; that deep down she too lacks confidence in herself.  

The illusion that all your classmates sit into these nice stereotypes determined by their labels is shattered. By the end of the film our protagonists come to understand that the people around them are nuanced and complex and each have their own internal struggles to deal with.they realise that making assumptions about other people and each other has only harmed them and their relationships 

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Booksmart notes 5

Another theme - characters, not caricatures 

Most 90s and early  2000s coming of age films have characters that can be broken down into easily identifiable caricatures. Even Superbad has come very stereotypical characters. Booksmart starts out with stereotypes and then subverts them 

Everything is a neon coloured fantasy, everyone is so superfluous, and everyone’s characters feel dialled up to eleven. Until they aren’t. 

The shots we see at the start, is set up to contrast with the moment of conflict between the two main characters. Its one long take. It disrupts the fast paced flow of the movie and forces us to sit in  that moment for an uncomfortably long time as we see this conflict unfold. It makes the fight more memorable and more hard hitting. It emphasises how dire this moment is. 

Another way the theme of perception vs reality shows up is how the characters present themselves vs how they really are. jared presents as a egotistical rich boy but really he feels lonely and as if no one understands him. Triple A doesn’t seem to let the derogatory names or rumours get to her, and even seems to lean into it sometimes. But we find out that she is actually very hurt by the reputation that was thrust on her and doesn’t want it to follow her into college. Amy is 

Leads to the theme of the fear of not being understood. 

Pretending to be a caricature is easier than leaving your true self bare for everyone to see you for who you really are. 

Brings us back to Molly - she’s very steadfast, headstrong, and incredibly intense and the audience eventually realises that this intensity comes from her insecurity. With Amy she’s fun and warm, but everywhere else she has a coat of armour on. 

Costuming: her full coverage, thick clothes, and thick wool blazer in the opening scene almost act as armour for Molly. 

In this way the movie is also different to the aforementioned male centred coming of age films because of how it subverts teen stereotypes. 

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Booksmart notes 4

The movie is very over  the top and feels very high stakes. Wilde is portraying high school through the lens of high schoolers. Adolescence often feels very “do-or-die.” Everything feels like a life or death scenario because that school and your grade classmates basically are your entire world up till graduation. I like how wilde communicates the intensity of this situation by making the audience see it  through the eyes of a high schooler. 

The movie plays into the fantasy of being a teenager 

Every situation is incredibly strange and every obstacle is so insane. 

Slow mo shots, Hitchcock shots, montages, snapchat stories, the stop motion drug trip scene, pov camerawork, handheld camerawork that feels messy

Everything is bathed in these ambient neon colours 

Makes the moment an elevated fantasy 

Everything feels more emotionally acute and high stakes 

All the characters feel so eccentric 

The opening and first half of the film is filled with fantasy and eccentrics and this is set up to be contrasted by the second half of the film which grounds itself in realism and reveals all the human emotions and struggles that our characters have been dealing with 

Music choices - 

Opening - use of bombastic popular hip hop music to make the scene feel bigger than life and all consuming. Only for us to hear the record then scratch and reveal the scene for what it is. 

Sam speedle 

When the music cuts the moment feels awkward and weird 

The music makes the moment for them 

This is seen even with Gigi’s introduction

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Booksmart notes 3

How it makes use of the cast to explore its topics 

Themes - 

our own perceptions of reality, perception vs reality 

Appearance vs reality 

Stereotypes and breaking stereotypes 

Learning moderation 

Our two main characters have never strayed outside the box. They’ve always done everything by the book, have focused on their studies, and have never done anything wrong. They avoid taking risks and put their school work above everything else. All in the hopes that it would pay off when its time to apply for colleges. 

They spent their entire high school careers being socially frigid and instead studied and worked toward their end goals of getting into good universities without ever giving themselves a break or some time to relax.

When their perception is broken by reality - they find out that their partying socially vivacious classmates also got into good colleges. 

their most formative years were spent sacrificing fun experiences just to achieve their end goals, only to realise  that they didn’t have to. 

Breaks the stereotypes of traditional coming of age films that have strict rules about the social climate of high school and the  archetypes that inhabit it. 

The movies also emphasises the importance of moderation. Our protagonists wasted their life by prioritising only work when they didn’t have to. The movie shows us that we can still reach our end goals and  be productive and determined while still leaving time to be a kid. And healthy work life balance is important to keeping up a healthy  happy life. 

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Booksmart notes 2

Movies like American pie, porkies, and Superbad are wildly popular coming of age movies that deal with young men coming into their own. But there are few mainstream Hollywood movies that take it from a female perspective. 

Historically movies have always focused on male relationships and close male friendships, especially in coming of age films. When women are the protagonist in a coming of age film, the narrative is almost always centred around her finding romance. Female friendships in these stories are often depicted as petty, drama filled, and overly complicated. 

The film refreshingly focuses on healthy homosocial female relationships 

Male gaze in these male centred movies?

In 1975, feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey published her essay “visual pleasure and narrative cinema”, in which she uses Freudian psychoanalysis to understand the power dynamics of narrative cinema. In the essay, she coined the term that’s now in popular use: the male gaze. She argues that the gaze of narrative cinema, that is, the general position that arises from a film’s camerawork — from its portrayal of women, to the film’s own subjective perspective — is a male one. 

The camera directs its gaze at objects of desire. In the case of mainstream film, that is often an objectified female body. Traditional film portrays men in an active role and women in a passive role. 

Most people understand this part; the idea that there’s a lot of movies where a sexy woman appears and a man’s eyes pop out of his head and he has to roll his tongue back off from the floor and there’s some suggestive camera work that treats women like sexual objects and this dehumanises and takes away the autonomy of women in film by leaving men in control of the narrative. 

And then there’s the other part of the theory: the identification with the male perspective. The audience is forced to take the position of the male gaze, and so, the male perspective becomes the perspective. By entering the film, for the audience, the male perspective becomes naturalised and neutralised, when in reality it reflects the interest of the gender in power.

Even with media that is sexually objectifies men, like Magic Mike, this doesn’t necessarily imply the existence of a stable definition of a female gaze. Magic Mike is just the male gaze applied to men. It uses the same cinematic techniques developed by men in a patriarchal context. But that doesn’t mean that a female gaze couldn’t hypothetically exist.

In her essay, Mulvey hints at an emerging cinema alternative to the mainstream that helps challenge films’ unjust hierarchies. One that challenges the assumptions of mainstream film: the female gaze. 

With Booksmart, the audience identifies with the refreshingly female perspective; that focuses on relationships between women, on the struggles of being a woman, and the meaning of self determination for women.

Is Booksmart the radical challenge to the patriarchal power dynamics that underlie mainstream cinema? No? But it doesn’t exactly fit neatly into the box of mainstream narrative media that Mulvey portrays, right?

At the same time though, while the story emphasises love and self determination in female friendships on the surface, we only see that love and self determination available for the characters who meet certain standards of traditional beauty and femininity.  The movie is overwhelmingly white. Although the film provided a fresh female perspective, it  is still within the confines of  conventional white western beauty standards. So while it does subvert patriarchal cinematic techniques, it only explores a very narrow experience of girlhood that applies to one group of people.  

Counter argument - the director and writer are both white. It would only make sense  for them to tell stories through their own perspective of girlhood instead of trying to embody the lens of minority groups they are not a part of and ultimately do not understand. 

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Booksmart Notes 1

Made  in 2019 

By Olivia wilde 

Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut 

Writer - Katie Silberman

6 million dollar budget 

Grossed 24.9 million 

Coming of age film 

Teen comedy 

The script was originally featuring two straight girls trying to find boyfriends for prom.

Flaws - many of the story beats were by the book to many coming age films. Some of the plot points felt contrived. The humour at some moments fell flat 

Can be compared  to Superbad, project x, risky business 

How does it compare to the more serious female centred coming of age films that came out before it? Movies like eighth grade (2018) and lady bird (2017) were critically acclaimed for how they explored girlhood and the transition into womanhood. What does this provide that these movies don’t? It takes a different approach than these movies too, veering more into light-hearted comedy that feels reminiscent of the male-led coming of age films from the ‘90s and early 2000s. 

How does booksmart stand out among the others?

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Chosen Movie

My chosen movie is Booksmart and I will be analysing the opening of movie between the following timestamps:

00:00:00 - 00:14:35.

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Pan's Labyrinth

Historical Context

Movie is set in 1944

movie is set in somewhere outside of Madrid in Rural Spain, at a military post.

WW2 has been going on for 5 years and is nearing its end.

After the Second Spanish Republican government had been overthrown during Spain's Civil War (1935-1939), resulting in victory of the Nationalists. The Nationalists were supported by Nazi Germany, fascist Italy,

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Music and Musicals

Musical film in Hollywood started in 1927 (The Jazz Singer). there was a musical film boom during this period.

Why did musicals get picked up so fast in India rather than Hollywood? India has a culture if music and telling stories through music. Indian society values escapism vs western audiences due to the economic, social state of their country compared to America.

what makes up a musical?

songs, dance, dialogue, actors

formalism, classicism, and realism

diegetic vs non-diegetic music and how its used to inform us on the level of realism in the film.

leitmotif

how was the dancing in Encanto animated?

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

A Hard Day's Night

60s Zeitgeist

the 1960s was a time of great social change. This was when civil rights movements were in full swing. (poverty, segregation, feminism, gay/trans rights, etc.)

This was also a time of social upheaval: civil rights protests, the Cold War, the Vietnam war, etc.

Music played a big role in this anti establishment culture. For example, punk and rock subcultures were largely a counter-cultural space. they were spaces of respite where marginalised people could be free from social barriers for just one night. The Beatles were very influential here through their use of innovative rock.

This was a post-WW2 era: during and immediately after World War II, most of the mainstream western art was patriotic and optimistic, rallying countries around the idea of a robust, victorious nation.

The arrival of the Beatles was also very welcome due to the post-WW2 landscape. they were a way of forgetting the dismal, gloomy days of war and instead a way to look to the future and everything it had to hold. This influence and fan fervour was so widespread and intense that it gained its own term: "Beatlemania."

In America this was also the time of the Red Scare (propaganda aimed at vilifying and creating fear of communism and the Soviet Union), which would have spread to Britain due to their minor involvement in the Cold War.

Art movements in the 1960s was also very anti-establishment. with the rise of consumerism and the start of late stage capitalism, 60s artists were crucial to the emergence of social, political movements that defined this time. popular art styles in the 1960s included minimalism, conceptual art, psychedelic art, and pop art. the growth of consumerist culture and the increasing commodification of art caused many artists to revolt through their utilisation of commercial materials (especially in their imagery), emphasis on technique, and presentation of their art through installations/scluptures that were free and easily accessible to the public. while this was in part to rebel against abstract expressionism and the art world's institutions, it was, on a larger scale, a movement against everything the western world stood for. (eg: Andy Warhol, Ana Mendieta, Gordon Matta-Clarke)

Film in the the '60s also reflects these transitioning cultural values. The 60s was also a time where comedy as a genre began to become more elaborate and elevated the concept of comedy dramas. This new trend also gave way to exploring satire. spy films were also booming during this time (many film theorists credit Hard Day's Night for this).

Due to the explosion of television and cable, the film industry experienced an all time low. To combat this, the industry invested in magnifying celebrity culture and the allure of fame, bringing about the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame Stars.

It has to be noted, however, that this culture was mainly being created by underground/indie creators, and many mainstream big corporations only sought to co-opt the aesthetics of counter-culture to appeal to the youth market. A Hard Day's Night is no different. It's clear that the film plays with the aesthetics of being anti-establishment without giving the audience any idea of what that materially means. This sort of pop revolutionary media gives audiences the feeling associated with participating in rebellion without them actually having to participate in it. It's this idea that we consume media about revolution to almost of emulate the feeling of revolutionary activity through consumption. it appeals to a generation that is hyper familiar with what revolution is and often describes themselves as very pro-revolution an pro radical political action, but have almost no idea of what revolutionary activity looks like or how to participate in it or how to recognise it outside of sensationalised media.

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

Pan's Labyrinth

TASK: In pairs, find facts about the movie for each of the points

Takes place in 1944 — 5 years after the Spanish civil war and right around the end of ww2. A time  of  high political tensions 

Make-up and styling: The Faun's flapping ears and blinking eyes were remotely operated by David Martí and Xavi Bastida while on set.

goat-faced creature almost completely made out of earth, moss, vines, and tree bark.

Contrast between the faun’s appearance vs their true nature (theme of appearance  vs reality) — when we first see the  faun they are morally ambiguous and presented as this ancient unsightly creature. As Ofelia’s distrust with him grows throughout the film, in conjunction, the faun also becomes more and more physically attractive.

Unique character design – Del Toro is not concerned with making the magical characters aesthetically pleasing or easily marketable.

Genre: Fantasy  Magical realism War story Chose one? Drama 

Casting: The character of Ofelia was initially written for a younger role (around 8-9 years), but that was changed after seeing Ivana Baquero’s reading 

Sergi Lopez (Ofelia’s stepfather)  was considered a more comedic actor and the producers tried to dissuade del-toro from casting him as they didn’t believe he could carry such a serious evil character.

The way the characters of ofelia and the faun are cast and presented in the narrative are meant to be natural opposites to each other, evidenced when Del Toro said in an interview “Everything about the faun and his personality needed to be masculine because you had to pit the female energy of the girl against something monolithic.”

Set/design/etc. There’s a lot of practical effects - not a lot of cgi. it mostly uses complex make-up and animatronics.

At the time of  filming, the woods were actually dry — the moss  and greenery seen in final piece were�� added digitally 

Cinematography: The use of colour to distinguish the two different worlds — the real, adult world is much more blue toned, giving a cold feel. In contrast the fantasy world is rife with life and greenery. The colour green is often associated with the earth and nature making it feel . Also helps the viewers with their sense of location in the film

Themes  Christianity War  Destiny  Choices  Coming of age/puberty/maturity

Note - Jim Henson's The Labyrinth is very similar.

[mi4017amandithewarathanthri]

A Hard Day's Night

TASK: In groups, find 15 facts about the movie

It’s a musical comedy film made in 1964

Directed by Richard Lester and written by Alun Owen

The movie follows the day in the life of the famous band, The Beatles – almost in a mock documentary structure.

Film was a financial and critical success. it was nominated for two academy awards. It was considered a very influential musical film

By the late 1950s, most Hollywood productions were being shot in colour. However, this was shot in black and white, presumably as stylistic choice.

The film was shot in a cinema verite style - "fly on the wall." It was a multiple camera shoot

The first beatles film was almost called The Yellow Teddy Bears

the entire film had to be produced over a period of sixteen weeks, and filming was finished in under seven weeks

It had a low budget for its time of $500,000 (equivalent to 4,311,807 pounds/ $5.3 mil in 2021)

it was filmed in near sequential order –why? - this could be because the film was shot as a documentary so the movie would have ended up being shot as things were unfolding in real time, causing it to have been shot sequentially.

Movie was originally made as a secondary product to accompany the album by the same name. They weren’t planning to make a lot of money out of it and were planning on breaking even from the profits of the album

The choice of accents was debated over, with the studio wanting them to adopt the usual transatlantic accent. Eventually the studio had to compromise with their original Liverpool accent

The film had to be edited slightly to obtain the ‘U certificate’ for British cinemas due to the controversial use of the phrase "get knotted."

The film made heavy use of jump cuts, cross dissolve, and montages

Film theorist James Monroe writes, "The lively 1960s films of Richard Lester — especially his Musicals... A Hard Day's Night (1964) — popularised jump cuts, rapid and 'ungrammatical' cutting.”

Audiences also responded to the Beatles' brash social impudence –Riding off the zeitgeist of the 60s and its civil rights movements, punk influence, and took advantage of the aesthetics of non-conformity

The word ‘Beatles’ was never mentioned in the dialogue.

note - "The Spinal Tap" is a satirical movie parodying movies like "A Hard Day's Night."