Spectatorship: A Plan

How far do your chosen films demonstrate the importance of visual and soundtrack cues in influencing spectator response?

Introduction: Begin by discussing the ideas relating spectatorship, specifically how both Beasts of The Southern Wild and La La Land conform to a subjective and emotionally evolving style of storytelling. Explain how this is achieved through varying cinematic techniques such as camera movement, sound, colour etc. Link this to the extremely stylised manner in which La La Land is told to adhere to a nostalgia cinematic sensibility as well as influencing how the audience responds to the characters. It’s the techniques used that bring us, as the audience, into the world of the film and the worlds of both films are defined by struggle and a subjective manner in which that struggle is captured. Summarise introductory argument by stating that both films effectively utilise spectatorship as a way of drawing the viewer into the story as oppose to objectively critiquing themes from a stylistically distant and cold standpoint like some filmmakers do.

Beasts of The Southern Wild: Begin by discussing how often independent films use a raw, gritty or intimate style of storytelling to captivate a viewer. Explain that a certain degree of realism and a feeling of authenticity can be produced as a result of simple camera techniques (the close up being the most prominent of these techniques within Beasts of The Southern Wild). Closeups are visual cues cor the audience to feel moments of heightened tension in a more visceral way. Discuss why closeups can be so engrossing and that it eliminates other compositional subjects that may be distracting from the image and leave only the actor performing naturalistically within this extremely intimate frame. Proceed to argue that the non diegetic composed score is used in exactly the same way (make reference to the first argument scans between Hushpuppy and her father). The music’s tempo increases as does its intensity in terms of volume and complexity often becoming more orchestral or even operatic (which can be identified in the final sequence). Explain that handheld cinematography may be used to give the film a raw, documentary-like feeling, adding to the authenticity established through other engrossing techniques such as the close up. Whilst disorienting, it is also a visual cue indicative of just how unstable Hushpuppy’s situation is in the story and it could be argued that the viewer if forced to experience this unrest with her through this.

La La Land: Begin by discussing composition. Wide focal lengths and flat, central framing is used to both convey a sense of isolation for Seb and Mia in the moments in which they feel pressured or torn. The central framing also suggests the audience should be sympathising with the individual (make reference to Mia’s first audition). Then compare this to how flat, two shot compositions are later used to show that an emotional connection is being developed between our two leads. The music is something that’s used to both excite the viewer as well as serve as irony (discuss the opening dance number and how the expressive choreography and sound juxtaposes images of frustrated individuals in a traffic jam, suggesting there are two sides to the show business world). Then explain how Damien Chazelle allows the viewer to empathise with both characters (male reference to Mia’s audition scene and how silence is used, as well as the arguement scene and how the conflict is fundamentally balanced from a storytelling perspective). Examine just how much the film indulges in its nostalgic stylistic elements but that this isn’t simply being used as a ‘cheap trick’ and instead a way of making the narrative distance more intimate and engaging through the likeability of the characters. Argue that it makes the juxtaposing sequences of struggles and vulnerability all the more emotionally effective due to the contrasting tones.

Conclusion: Summarise how the idea of spectatorship relates to effective, emotionally engaging narrative storytelling, as well as narrative distance and how both chosen films place the viewer in the action of the films through techniques that provide an engaging and active experience for the viewer. The audience responds to specific cues and, in doing so, only become more engrossed with the characters in the film.