Tom's Film Blog

The ending of Captain Fantastic resolves the conflict of traditional vs non-traditional lifestyles. Throughout the film the audience is encouraged to support Ben's non-traditional, chaotic and unsafe lifestyle due to him being the protagonist and allowing us to sympathise with him. This is subverted when we learn of Jack's character. His character's lifestyle is the opposite of Ben's; structured, ordinary and safe. The audience is forced to question who is in the right and who should be taking care of the children. These two themes are opposing each other throughout the film (e.g. the funerals, the families, etc). This is culminated with a compromise of the two lifestyles. The new equilibrium is displayed in the ending through different elements of film form. One of these elements mise-en-scene. For example, the setting of the ending is a vibrant and isolated suburban house. This is a perfect mixture between the two lifestyles: the bright greenery surrounding the house ...

One use of binary opposites in Captain Fantastic is the contrast between suburbia and the wilderness but also the conflict between Ben And Jack. The film uses the surroundings of the different characters to further convey their lifestyles and ideologies. For example, the wilderness represents Ben. The vibrant, green and tranquill forest symbolises his laid back and care free approach to life: his carelessness about telling the kids certain things (e.g. telling the kids about suicide), putting them in danger (when the daughter falls off the roof) and doing reckless things (e.g. trying to get Leslie's body). Furthermore, the forest also represents his tribe-like lifestyle: the natural and isolated surroundings conveys a primal feel. Another example, is the suburban town Jack is from. The structured, familiar and mundane nature of the town represents Jack's ideology: the structured nature of the town demonstrates Jack's traditional and ordinary lifestyle, but also his stabilit...

Short Film Chosen: SOMA https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p084z8wt/two-minute-masterpiece-soma Describe In One Sentence: An individual's search for peace in an isolated and restricted world. This short film follows a narrative that portrays a conflict between two central characters, or in SOMA's case, the protagonist and society. This film is about the world's reliance on technology and how it may lead to people losing perspective of reality. This is depicted, in the scene of Anna when she is being filmed by cameras, there is an intense atmosphere and showcases Anna's fears of technology through editing, camera shots and performance. For example, a shot/reverse shot is used, combined with fast cuts between the close up of Anna's face and the high angle of the cameras. More specifically, there is a focus on diegetic sound, in particular Anna's breathing: her frantic and shallow breaths depicts her fear and panic to the audience and encourages them to be scare...

The first funeral scene follows a traditional service. The audience is encouraged to be against this on first viewing as it goes against Ben's and Leslie's ideology and because we have followed Ben throughout the film and have empathised with his struggles and, by proxy, agree with him. One way this conforms to a traditional and stereotypical funeral is the costume of the people attending. Everyone except for the Priest is wearing Black, which is associated with death and more specifically being in mourning. This highlights their ordinary lifestyles and outlook on life, how death is something to be sad about, a complete contrast to Ben's beliefs. This contrast is displayed when Ben and his children walk in with bright, vibrant, colourful clothing, a demonstration of their unconventional and extraordinary ideologies, highlighted when the guests of the funeral look and gasp at what they're wearing. The scene furthermore enforces their contrast with sound. The funeral hall...

My interpretation of Connect is that its about the power of imagination and that we use it to elevate our mood and possibly a way to escape reality. For example, the majority of Connect is set during an ordinary, crowded London bus. The abundance of people and lack of free space gives it a claustrophobic and chaotic tone. This is emphasised with the close up shots of the characters hand, highlighting their physical closeness. This maybe depicting how the lead feels entrapped and oppressed by mundane, everyday life and, by proxy, to escape its chaotic nature, goes into her imagination to obtain high moral. Another example of my interpretation in Connect is seen when the man in the suit shoots the lady. The editing of this scene allows the audience to understand the lead is imagining it. First of all, when the lead puts her headphones on, the music is diegetic as it sounds like its coming from her headphones. However, it subtly  transitions into non-diegetic sound as the mu...

One issue raised in Captain Fantastic is parenting and it is displayed through the moral argument of Ben's method of parenting questioned by Jack and, through elements of film form, so does the audience. This is achieved with the performance of Jack. More specifically, Jack speaks in a calm, direct manner, he doesn't shout at Ben and shows genuine concern for the children, shown when he talks about the son's bruises and how they aren't in school. This is a clear contrast earlier on in the film when Jack is being depicted as antagonistic (e.g. when he says he doesn't want Ben at the funeral), however this belief is transgressed when its revealed he just wants whats best for the kids. This encourages the audience to side with Jack and turn against Ben because his chaotic lifestyle is putting his children in danger. Also Jack in this scene is displayed like he is in denial that his methods are wrong and are perfectly justified. For example, when Jack is confronting abo...