The Book of Eli Documentary and a theory

Levi-Strauss Theory
Levi-Strauss introduced the notion of binary oppositions as a useful way to consider the production of meaning with narratives. He argued that all construction of meaning was dependant, to some degree on these oppositions, for example good vs. evil, male vs. female, etc.

In today's lesson we are looking at watching a documentary on the post apocalyptic film and answering some questions along;

1. What questions are posed by post apocalyptic films?
2. What are the "walking dead"? How have they been used in other films?
3. What might be the key to survival in post apocalyptic narratives?
4. How far will Eli go to survive?
5. What would survivors of the apocalypse ask?
6. In The Book of Eli, what has happened to Bibles and why?
7. How is religion used in TBOE? How is religion used in reality?
8. How do societies in reality avoid catastrophes?
9. Who will the future leaders be in post apocalyptic scenarios?
10. What does Eli represent?

Questions that are posed in PA films are "how would we survive?", "how would we strive to maintain our humanity?", "who would guide us?","who would lead us into the future?", "how would we rebuild the word?", etc. The "book" is the centre piece of the film, it can be used for good or evil. The walking dead are numb people that are connected but not connected, their bodies are on shut down, they have no senses available to them, in other films the walking dead can be shown differently for example in I am Legend they are presented as zombies, it keeps the idea of something living but not living, they are used to show no hope, anger and sadness, maybe even lack of energy. The key to survival in most PA films is "hope", most of this genres films end with some kind of hope, for example Eli being able to make the bible available to everyone, I am Legend shows that the female character is given the cure to turn the world back to normal and The Road also shows that the son finds a new family to look after him. However in real life, you would need skills from around 50-100 years ago due to lack of food, clothes, no technology, etc. Eli goes very far to survive, he kills animals to eat to be able to survive, he searches around houses to find new clothes, and even exchanges in shops some of his wipes he uses to clean himself just to charge his iPod, this shows exactly how much little things mean in this film. The survivors would ask "is there a God?", obviously Eli believes there is and doesn't lose hope, in The Road the characters also believe, however in I am Legend the main character explains how there are so and so amount of people but now there is a small amount he then shouts "THERE IS NO GOD" because he loses hope. In TBOE, we are shown that because of the war all of the bibles were destroyed and there was just that 1 bible left and everyone had hope there would be at least 1 they could find, in which Eli ends up keeping on to it and remembers every single word inside it as he reads it every single day. Religion is very important in TBOE as it is expressed in a strong way. "He who controls the past, leads the future", Eli's actor Washington explains that Eli chooses to share even when he is struggling and still decides to help her, a true leader is kind and loyal. Democrat societies have a way of listing themselves. An example of a future leader is Donald Trump, due to the way he presents himself, you can even say that he is like Carnegie in TBOE, another is Barack Obama is more like Eli due to the way he is looked up to. Eli represents hope, altruistic, knowledge, faith that humanity can rebuild, he is shown as a good person, for example in the bible it states "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" which is used in the film for the fighting scene in which Eli ends up chopping off the mans arm.

Alone - Short Film

After that we watched a short film called "Alone". The short six minute film shows a young man that is meant to be the last person alive, a post apocalyptic film. The clip shows a young man around mid 20's doing regular things on a daily basis as if nothing has changed such as brushing his teeth and listening to his voicemails. The male then goes out searching for supplies in nearby houses. As he is on his way back home in the middle of the night he spots a house with light on, leaving the film as a mystery. In our filming groups we were asked to come up with ideas on how we would either improve the clip or how we would have preffered it to end. Personally at the end of the clip I would have liked to have seen a hand on the window covered in blood being dragged down to show that the main character is not alone and is not safe. Some one in my group suggested that perhaps the male character could recieve a new voicemail from his partner asking him where he is, as if she was trapped in a parallel universe. Students in our lesson gave ideas such as finding wet footprints as the man is walking home, or that the man could hear children playing like a ghost effect.

The Road Opening Scene

In today's lesson we watched The Road's opening scene, this post apocalyptic opening scene is very different compared to the Book of Eli's and I am Legend's scenes. This film is rated a 15 due to strong violence and language and gory images. I would say that this film seems more towards a tragedy whilst the other two seem more like thriller/horror films. Personally I wouldn't say that this film seems any similar to the other two, there isn't any tension in the film and the sounds aren't similar, however the camera shots and movements are. I enjoyed seeing a flash back in The Road's opening scene because it was very positive and bright which was different, then as the film went on it got more and more upsetting and tragic. In the flashback/dream we see a graphic match which is the camera showing the flowers then the woman, this shows she is as delicate as a flower, after the happy scene we see the tragedy starting in which we see the woman is pregnant therefore we see how the spring flower scene it links with the woman's pregnancy due to life beginning and growing. The film has 3 main characters, a couple are shown in the first scene which are expecting a baby and as the scene goes on we see that the male partner must have lost his wife due to her not being around however he does have his son which is what makes it seem so upsetting and will make a big impact on viewers. There is one part we question about the flashback and that is "Why is the man filling up the bath tub?" I personally thought it'd be to perhaps save someone as the lights through the windows look orange so I assumed that there was a fire, some of us in lesson thought it could be to try to save the baby hence the child being alive and not the mother in the following scene. There is a sound bridge from the water in the bath tub to the man waking up and we can still hear water and as the camera zooms out we see a small waterfall. Our media teacher thought that the man could have been saving water because the character may have had an idea on what could happen next. In the scene we saw many extreme long shots to show the scene after the tragedy, there were a few panning shots and some tracking shots, however there weren't as many close ups or mid shots but it makes sense because the director must have wanted to show the audience the difference the tragedy made on Earth. As the father and son walk down to the bridge which has something along the lines of death and as they walk through the tunnel the light goes dark which seems to be like foreshadowing however because we have not finished watching this we can not confirm it. There is a voice over of the man talking through the opening scene, his voice sounds very weak and brittle, the camera also shows how damaged the world is which matches perfectly which does not seem as a coincidence as to why the director would have wanted this.

28 Days Later Opening Scene

This film is rated as an 18 due to strong language and very strong violence. In the opening scene we are shown a group of people breaking into a laboratory, their aim is to let the captured monkeys free so they are against whatever the people in the laboratory are doing. A scientist walks in and warns them that the animals are safe being trapped in the boxes and that they are very dangerous. A woman ends up taking charge and sets one free, the monkey then attacks the woman. The lighting is very dark because the group broke in so the laboratory was closed off, then as soon as the woman gets attacked the lights go bright red and flash, which clearly represents danger and fear. The sound at the start is very quiet, as soon as the group is caught the action starts and the monkeys start getting loud and start making you feel tense and uncomfortable. The scene then goes blank and changes to a man in a hospital bed completely naked. The man takes off the tubes attached to him so quickly that the machine ends up dropping on him creating a very loud bang. He walks around the hospital looking very lost and confused, the hospital is left as a mess and looks very deserted, next the man takes a fizzy drink in a can from the floor and drinks it so quickly that it spills down him, he then cleans up the other cans that are left on the floor and acts normally as if nothing has changed. We don't get to see much of what is around the main character because it is constantly focused on him therefore we do not get to see much of the backgrounds so we do not see any clues.

I Am Legend Opening Scene

In todays lesson we watched the I Am Legend opening scene and again jotted notes on the scene. I am Legend is rated a 15 due to it having lots of violent scenes throughout. For the setting I wrote down that the start was an interview room, then once the film moved from the TV scene we saw an urban empty area due to the film being post apocalyptic, we also saw in the area that there were still Christmas decorations out so it gives us a hint when everyone disappeared. The sounds in the film were very loud, before we saw the film we heard a TV report in the background as the titles were showing, once we got to the urban area we heard a lot of wind which emphasized how empty it was, it also gave a hint that it was Autumn/Winter time which was very similar to the way that the Book of Eli started. Once our main character arrived on the scene we heard him driving in a car very fast which built up tension, once the car was breaking the noise got louder and built up even more tension. At the start of the scene we watch a TV news report to give us information on what has happened in the past in which there is a female interviewer and a female "hero" which has apparently cured cancer however acts very fishy, after that scene we see a very masculine character with a pet dog which could also be considered a main character. The Book of Eli has a few similarities to I Am Legend, they both have 2 main male characters and both of their opening scenes show animals, there were also some similar camera angles/shots used such as a close up, a long shot, a crane shot, a panning shot, a tracking shot and they both show a point of view.




https://youtu.be/ksGH1NN8TBA - Opening Scene after interview, unfortunately could not embed.

The Book of Eli Opening Scene

After learning the different angles and shots we watched the opening scene to the Book of Eli. The Book of Eli is rated a 15 due to the violent scenes and strong language. The setting was very dark and gloomy, it looks like it's around Autumn/Winter time due to the leaves falling, there wasn't very much sound apart from the eerie noises and the wind and the arrow shooting the cat which was a very sharp noise. At the start of the lessons we learnt the camera angles which come in handy now for watching the scene, I wrote down in my notes that I saw a crane shot, a tracking shot, a close up, a panning shot, an extreme close up, a mid shot, an extreme long shot, a long shot and it also showed point of view, watching the opening scene helped me memorise the camera angles well. In the opening scene there were 3 characters, 1 dead man, a cat and another character that I would personally say is a male just from the vibes I'm getting. A thing I noticed in the scene was also that before we saw the dead man, we are shown leaves falling which did give me a hint that either someone was going to die or they were already dead. There is a point of view from the cat's perspective which shows that the protagonist is well disguised. A way that the director could improve the opening scene would be to chance the shooting of the cat to be slowed down once it gets close to the cat then speeds up to emphasize the danger. The lighting is very low key which adds suspense to the scene.

Ratings, Audience and Attraction

Attraction for Post Apocalyptic films

All films target at different audiences and find ways to attract them, which is exactly why films have trailers to try to gain a big audience to view the full film to gain a profit. Trailers and films try to gain an audience by showing different technical and audio codes, language, mode of address and construction.

1. Technical and Audio Codes

• A film or trailer for an action-adventure film will have fast editing and a music track that has beats to go with the film/trailer sot that it builds excitement.
• The range of camera angles and shots used in a TV programme or film or trailer all help to make it more interesting to watch and help the audience get into the film to imagine themselves there.

   2. Language

• Hospital dramas use medical language to make the action and dialogue feel more realistic, for example when the main character in "I am Legend" records himself talking about his new experiments to try to bring the people out of the zombies back.                         

   3. Mode of Address

• Newspapers and television news programmes use a formal mode of address, which suits the serious nature of the content and is what their audience would expect. Again another time that this has been used is at the opening scene of "I am Legend" in which we see an interview on a news report with Dr Krippin about her finding a "cure" for cancer.

   4. Construction

• A moving image text can use enigma codes, actors, or narratives to help it appeal to its target audience.
• A print text layout and design will attract its audience to create an eye catching cover image.

Ratings for Post Apocalyptic films

1. The most recent upcoming PA film, "The Girl with all the Gifts" which is distributed by Warner Bros has a weekend gross of £165,837, it has had a -62% change in the last week and it has been released 2 weeks ago in certain cinemas in the UK which is it's origin, it will be shown in 321 cinemas and it's site average already is £517 with a total gross to date of £886,967, which is obviously great seeing as it has only been out for 2 weeks. This already shows that the film is starting off great, it has been rated as 7.5/10 on IMBD and then 4/5 from The Guardian.
2. The Hunger Games is a PA styled film, this films origin is from the USA, it had a weekend gross of £4,534,464. It's distributor is Lionsgate, in the first 2 weeks of release it had a -60% change from the previous week, it was also out in 579 cinemas and had a site average of £7,832 with a total gross to date of £19,323,711. The film has been rated as 6.6/10 by IMBD and 4/5 by Common Sense Media. I personally very enjoyed this film, I cried, it made me angry, it made me sad and happy, I did however hate the ending just because I wanted more films from the Hunger Games because I have loved them from the very start.
3. Divergent is another PA styled film, it was also originated in the USA, it's distributor is eOne Films and had a weekend gross of £1,767,295, after it being released for one week it was out in 423 cinemas and had a site average of £41,78 and a total gross to date of £1,767,295. I have loved these films because of how action packed it is, I think that anyone can watch this film and get into it because it is a great story line, the sequels to it are also fantastic. The film has been rated 6.7/10 by IMBD.

Stereotypical audience for PA films

According to "YouGov Profiles Lite" a stereo typical person that watched post apocalyptic films is a male, aged 25-54 and has a social grade of ABC1, in the UK the most common region is the North West, their views with politics do not show a clear answer due to me comparing the answers between a stereotype for someone that watches I am Legend, The Book of Eli, The Road and 28 Days Later. Their professions are also a mix from media and publishing to farming, all professions are completely different for each film, just the same as their monthly spare, the lowest spare is under £125 which is for I am Legend fans and the highest is £1,000 or more with The Book of Eli fans. There is a split between the stereotypes preferring cats or dogs, all 4 film stereotypical viewers have an interest in sports. There is a split between 28 Days Later and I am Legend fans as they have calm and sleepy personality traits compared to The Book of Eli and The Road fans as their traits show anger. All of the 4 films have an interest in The Walking Dead. I am Legend and The Book of Eli fans both tend to spend 26-30 hours online per week, The Road viewers tends to spend 16-20 hours per week and 28 Days Later viewers spend 41-45 hours per week, all 4 film audiences also have a different amount of time to show how long they watch television for per week. YouGov shows us that there are some links between the stereotypical audience for post apocalyptic films.