The Fourth Wall

The fourth wall is the invisible wall between performers on stage or on screen & the audience, it is what separates the audience from the performance & is the invisible wall we view through into their world.

To break the fourth wall is when a performer or actor speaks directly to the audience, thus 'breaking the fourth wall' and momentarily bringing the audience into the world of the performance or movie.

The idea of the forth wall came about in Ancient Greek theatre, as the stage has a left right and back wall & the imaginary front wall is the edge of the stage, in Greek & Shakespearian theatre, the fourth wall has been broken many times

Fargo

In Fargo, the blank whiteness is used as a coen brothers view to the black ans scummy look of a film noir, this complete opposite in Fargo of the constant whiteness gives the small feel of not knowing whats out there beyond view & gives a very dirty grimmy feel, of the melting muddy snow.

The whole time we see Marge and Norm, they are together in bed, totally oblivious to the world outside and the murders, they are very out of place in this thriller & seem more like an odd couple from a Rom Com.

The scene right at the beginning of the movie, of Jerry's car driving down the main road to see the criminals sets the pace for the rest of the movie, this establishing shot is very slow & is drawn out, very much like the rest of the movie, how many scenes go on for a lot longer than would be expected in a thriller, e.g. Marge eating breakfast in the morning and the shot staying with Norm while he eats.

The large proportion of the movies comic moments come from the violent moments, as most all of the more violent scenes are depicted as being funny, such as Gaear putting Carl into the log chipper & when Carl is shot in the face and repeatedly shoots Jerry's Father-in-law, this violent moments are made to seem very comic, which is very much the opposite of the stereotypical action scene in a thriller, as most thrillers are based around their gory or exciting action scenes, where as the main scenes which would place this movie into the genre of Thriller are the movies

And finally the entire setting of the movie is very much the opposite of what is expected of a Thriller as the main cop is a middle-aged pregnant woman, and the ethnicity and setting of the whole movie gives it a much calmer and laid back feeling, including the big bulky clothes worn, slowing people's movement, this makes the pace of the movie feel even slower, as they speak in their very slow scandinavian-american accent comic highlights.

The Coen Brothers

he Coen Brothers are well known for playing with the rules of genre, they write, produce and direct all of their movies together. Their movies have won 30 Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Academy Awards. Their last ten movies are:
True Grit;
A Serious Man; Burn After Reading;
No Country For Old Men;
The Ladykillers; Intolerable Cruelty;
The Man Who Wasnt There;
O Brother, Where Art Thou?;
The Big Lebowski;
Fargo.

First 5 Things Learned in Media Studies

So far in media studies I have learned about:

1. Mise-en-scene, this is about what is shown on the frame, props and positioning of actors, clothes worn, surroundings etc.

2. The rule of thirds, you should never have your main actor/actress in the middle of a shot, but more toward the corners of the shot, it makes for a more interesting shot.

3. How Horror movies set the scene and how yo9u are thrown into the story of the movie very early on

4. How different shots of characters (close ups mid shots and full length shots) can give actors different amounts of moving space and how the shots can make the movie feel different.

5. I learned how Tom Cruise is really short and is never shot from the waist down.