EN Facillitation Outline for teaching

Tutorial Facilitation Outline (12 April) by YH, Syaf and Jan
  1. Introduction 
    1. Postmodernism vs. Modernism 
    2. Background information of the movie & the adapted book + the writing process
  2. Levels the film operates on 
    1. The story itself and it’s characters (mostly has to do with character growth) 
    2. Self-reflexivity - the movie commenting on itself constantly 
      1. The context of the movie is in itself self-reflexive 
    3. The movie’s commentary about life (outside of the movie) 
  3. Scenes 
    1. Opening scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Geq3wVvaNE) 1:53 or 2:29
      1. Question: What is the significance of the first half of the scene? How is the significance shown? Make reference to cinematic techniques if relevant. 
      2. Scene within a scene 
        1. How do we know it’s a scene within a scene?
          1. Different colour filter. POV shot of the camera, descriptions of the characters shown on screen
          2. Hints at the self-reflexive nature of the scene, basically saying, “you are watching a movie within a movie” 
      3. Unimportance of Charlie
        1. Largely ignored by the crew on set 
          1. He recognises it himself (self-referential). This gives us a glimpse of how the movie will be
        2. His self-loathing is part of the process of growth (more on this later) 
      4. History fast-forward 
        1. Lead in: “I’ve been on the planet for 40 years and I’m not closer to understanding a single thing. Why am I here? How did I get here?” (significant for the next part) 
    2. Conception of opening scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvHA6JgXt9k
      1. The scene features Charlie making a breakthrough with his scriptwriting. Question: What is his breakthrough and how does it relate to the post-modernity of the film? What other commentary does this scene make?
      2. The breakthrough: The way to tie the characters (and flower) together is their context (the opening scene) 
        1. They have they same origin 
        2. All stuck in their own state in the current stage of evolution 
        3. We all adapt as part of the whole process of evolving
      3. Adaption as a fundamentally intertextual film
        1. Movie about a writer, writing a movie about a book (which is the same movie) 
        2. As we see how Charlie literally “adapts the book into a movie”, he is also actually (in real life and the movie) breaking the conventional narrative structure and bringing it to a new stage of evolution
      4. “The flowers arc stretches back to the beginning of life, how did this flower get here?” through the writing of the script, he finds some sort of answer for himself regarding his existential questions. 
        1. How did I get here? because you were evolved from this cell. 
        2. Why am I here? To adapt and progress. You are one part of the evolution chain. 
        3. Interesting how the movie uses Charlie’s epiphany to insert commentary about answers to the big questions in life. It also makes sense because Charlie himself  is the writer of the movie that features him -- the character’s mouthpiece is literally(metaphorically) his own. 
    3. *Screenplay seminar scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHVqxD8PNq8)
      1. Peak of character development both Charlie and the film writer
        1. What is the significance of the scene with respect to Charlie’s character growth and the significance of the speech with respect to the film? 
          1. Charlie attending the seminar as the first indicator of a shift in both his character and for the movie
            1. Successfully approaches Mckee VS Susan
          2. The speech: “And why are you wasting my precious two hours with your movie” 
            1. Real-life charlie borrows McKee’s mouthpiece to poke fun at his own movie
            2. Breaking of the fourth wall 
              1. First half of the movie is boring, 
              2. signalling a shift/turning point in the film 
          3. Blurred temporal and physical boundaries between real and fiction. 
    4. *Post seminar scene
      1. Juxtapose it with his conversation in the beginning with Valerie
        1. Continuing the discussion, how has his character ironically grown from the beginning to the end? 
          1. 5:00 “I’d want to let the movie exist rather than be artificially plot driven. I just don’t want to ruin it by making it a Hollywood thing. You know? Like an orchard heist movie or something?”
          2. Opposition of his principles in film writing in the beginning vs the end.  
      2. Juxtapose it with the ending (The car chase, drug, Donald’s and Laroche’s ending).
        1. The ending occurs when Donald takes over especially after the post-seminar, what is the purpose of Donald’s involvement and why is it important — hint: what character does Donald represent as opposed to Charlie?  
          1. Donald embodies McKee’s advice 
        2. How does the ending produce a parody of the post seminar scene and what is the significance of the parody? 
          1. “A last act makes a film” “Don’t you dare bring in a Deux Ex Machina” 
          2. Deux Ex Machina is applied in the last act of the film which is ironic because McKee advises against it but Kaufman executes it in the end of the film. The sudden changes made towards the end echoes ‘A last act makes a film’ which is ironic because in retrospect of the film, it undermines the film, reducing its significance through its reliance on action. The irony reinforces the Charlie’s initial principle. 
  1. Use other movies as examples for Postmodernism: Blade Runner, Moulin Rouge
  1. Moulin Rouge:
  • Playing with time via the disruption, through Christian’s writing and flashbacks
  • Christian is writing as it is happening, so the film appears at once fictitious and non-fictitious
  • Pop Culture Bricolage (Madonna, Elton John, Nirvana, Musical Genre)
  1. Blade Runner: 
  • Pastiche/bricolage of combining science fiction futuristic dystopia with costumes, offices, punk rock hairstyles of the 1940’s, with noir elements
  • Visual, Simulacrum of the Replicants themselves + Visuals which reference earlier Sci Fi films eg. Metropolis, Close encounters of the third kind, 2001: a space odyssey
  1. Perhaps link to Auteur Theory (If there is time): Postmodern directors- Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson
    1. Quentin Tarantino
  • Morally ambiguous films. Focuses on pure sensations and experiences rather than whether or not it is ‘correct’ to take revenge (a common theme in his work) using Violence. Good vs Bad is questioned. 
  • Most of his films are intertextual and a pastiche of every kind of film: eg. War (Inglorious basterds), Westerns (Django unchained), Martial arts, Crime etc.
    1. Wes Anderson
  • Acknowledges the grandness of his sets and his locations, and constantly breaks the 4th wall through slow motion, narration and dialogue
  • Stylistic Pastiche of past directors
6. Ending notes for discussion: Ask the class what THEY thought the film was about (anything different from what was discussed?), What is one new thing/new insight they picked up either from us or from classmates? 
--------------------------------------------------------end------------------------------------------------------


Scene 1: 
Sets the movie as self-reflexive 
Pessimistic take on self, pessimistic take on movies 
Documentary? Questioning genre? > genre-less-ness??

How did I get here > beginning of time 

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