Pre 1990s Film - Grease

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Plot/Storyline
Grease was a broadway show made into a film in 1978. The film starts off showing two young teens playing around and falling in love on a beach in America, but the bliss ends when the end of summer arrives and Sandy has to move back to Australia. Fate plays it's part and they end up going to the same school, Rydell High, but when they eventually meet Sandy is disappointed to find that Danny is not the same Danny she had fallen in love with at the beach. He feels he has to uphold his hard T-birds reputation and doesn't want to be seen as soppy or uncool. However after trying to change their ways and prove to each other that they both want to be together, they end up driving away into the clouds (literally) to start their new adult lives together.


Motifs
I think a motif in Grease would be the use of cigarettes to show how cool and rebellious the character is. Characters such as Rizzo and Kenickie are seen smoking cigarettes to show their 'cool kid' status and characters that are seen as more geeky are never seen to be smoking. When Danny is first introduced (image below) he is seen talking to some attractive girls and then turns around and has a cigarette in his mouth which shows his rebellious, cheeky chappy, 'top dog' status. Sandy is never seen to smoke, apart from when she is pressured into it once by the Pink Ladies at a sleep over, however at the end of the film when she has her makeover she is seen with a cigarette in her mouth. I think this represents how she is trying to be very cool and seductive and show that she isn't just a 'good girl' and has a naughty side too.

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Sandy wears very light and pale coloured clothing and accessories to show she is pure, youthful and light hearted; whereas I noticed that all the characters that wear seen to have more of a dark side, wore very dark and deep colours to show how dangerous and mean they could be. The perfect example of this is the outfit choices at the end of school ball. Sandy wears a white flared dress, white low heels and a white hair accessory; I think this all white outfit represents her innocence, purity and virginity. Frenchie wears a yellow, frilly dress and the colour yellow is associated with happiness, joy and energy, which are three words you would use to describe her fun loving personality. On the flip side, Rizzo wears a very sexy, body tight, red and black spotted dress with high heels. I think the deep red in her dress represents her passion, anger and longing for leadership; and I think the black in her dress shows her mysterious, evil and power hungry personality. This could also be said for Cha-Cha's all black outfit. The 'good' characters mostly seem to have light coloured hair and the 'bad' characters seem to have dark coloured hair, to represent their dark or light sides.

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I think a motif for the T-Birds would be how they comb their greased up hair up and into a twisted point. I think this is a sign of them showing how cool their style is. An example of both Danny and Kenickie doing this is just after Kenickie asks Danny to be his wing man at the race and they hug excitedly. Once they realise that they are being soppy by hugging each other, they both immediately take out their combs and start combing back their hair to show that their 'hard man' image is still very present. Another motif to show that they like to keep up their cool image is the use of leather jackets. Danny and Kenickie are almost always seen wearing black leather jackets, with their collars up and laid back walk to give off a hard and cool image. When Sandy is given her makeover she is seen slowly strutting up to the boys in a leather jacket, which was very different from her usually attire, representing how she could now have the same 'bad girl' image as Danny.

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Stock Characters
Musicals are always mixed with another genre to shape the storyline. In Grease the genre crosses over with the romantic-comedy genre to create the love story between Sandy and Danny. I will therefore give a list of stock characters more focused on a romantic comedy. Below I have listed the commonly used stock characters and matched them up with characters from Grease.
-The male would be Danny as he is the lead male character that falls in love with a beautiful girl.
-The love interest is Sandy as the storyline follows how Danny and Sandy fall in love and find a way to be together.
-The unsuitable partner would be Tom Chisum, who Sandy briefly dates but realises that he is too boring and stilted for her, this makes her realise how much she wants to be with Danny.
-The evil one could be argued to be Rizzo at points because she makes fun of Sandy and takes pleasure in awkwardly introducing Sandy to Danny. However it could also be argued to be Leo from the Cycle Lords because he is very cruel when he races Danny and he steals Kenickie's prom date off him and then flaunts her in front of him at the dance.
-The sick kick for Sandy would be Frenchy as she is always a shoulder to cry on for Sandy and is always there for support. Danny's side kick would be Kenickie because they are best friends and have each other's backs.
-The good gang for the females would be the Pink Ladies, which is the group of girls Sandy is adopted by, formed of Rizzo, Frenchy, Marty and Jan. For the boys, the 'good gang' would be the T-Birds, who have a cool and hard reputation to uphold, formed of Danny Zuko, Kenickie, Sonny, Doody and Putzie.
-The bad gang would be the Cycle Lords as they are the rival gang to the T-Birds.
-The comedic character could be seen as Blanche as she always acted very over the top and ditsy, however it could also be seen as Frenchie as she is poked fun at for dropping out of beauty school for messing up, especially her hair colours! The trio of T-Birds could be seen as a comedic group as they are always messing around and making up silly dances. Many of the characters have comedic value in Grease, so there are many arguments for this role.


Resources:
http://musicals.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=78360
Introduction to Film Genre, by Lester Friedman

Understanding the Basics of Film Genres

What is a Motif?
A motif is something that is repeated or has a pattern. This could be a colour, music or a phrase etc. A film's motif can give you a greater understanding or clue for the development of the film, so when you find one you need to question why it has been used and why is there a pattern. Therefore you need to identify, track and then propose a meaning.

Film Genres
A film genre is a type or category of film.

Film genres were created when people started noticing that certain story lines were more successful than others and so repeated them. These successful story lines were then put into categories.

Throughout time more and more categories have been created, however the main types of genre are:
-Western - Stagecoach, High Noon, Cowboys and Aliens
-Gangster - The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, Bugsy Malone
-Musical - The Wizard of Oz, West Side Story, Mary Poppins
-Romantic-Comedy - Clueless, Pretty Woman, Easy A
-Action/Adventure - Casino Royale, Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible
-Science Fiction - Alien, Blade Runner, Avatar
-Comedy - The Hangover, Dumb and Dumber, Superbad
-Drama - Fight Club, Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption
-Historical - Braveheart, The King's Speech, Gladiator
-Horror - The Exorcist, The Shining, Dracula

Within each genre there are stock characters, where the same stereotypes are repeated within the same genre. For example, in a horror film you would have the dumb blonde, hero, evil character, hysterical character, non-believer etc.

There are several ways to categorise films into their genre. The same themes are repeated in the different genres, for example, in a romantic comedy the couple always seem to go through struggles but then find a way to be together by the end of the film. Icongraphy are repeated images throughout a film in a certain genre, for example, in a Western you will repeatedly see images of guns, the cowboy hat, horses, the bar scene etc. Each genre will have the same overall mood, for example, in a si-fi film there is a fear of the future. The same cinematic style will be used in each gener, meaning how the film is shot. An example of this would be in a Western there is always dramatic scenery, shots showing tumble weed and cacti and most scenes are shot in the day; in contrast to this, a detective film would be shot in low key lighting, with heavy shadows to create tension and there would be dramatic closeup shots and high and low shots.

Stages of Genre - the development of film genre over time.

1. Primitive - This is when the genres are starting to develop and so the audience has nothing to compare is to and therefore no expectations.
2. Classical - This is when the genre is the most popular with the audience and the audience now knows what to expect as the patterns are continued.
3. Parodic - This is when the genre becomes so predictable and stale that the film makers pick fun at the genre, by creating exaggerated characters or focusing on unexpected characters.
4. Revisionist - This is when the film genre's classical mood, themes etc are challenged or questioned within a film.
5. Extension - This is when the film has the same values and themes of the genres but when unexpected things happen, meaning a certain aspect of the film would not fit in with the genre that you thought.

Many modern day films do not fit into one genre. It is very common to have overlaps.


Resources:
http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html
http://www.cod.edu/people/faculty/pruter/film/filmtopics.htm

How to Read a Movie

It can be very overwhelming to analyse and read a movie as a whole as there are so many different aspects of the film to talk about, so it is easier to break it down into different sections so that you can analyse the film section by section and then put it all together. You can break a film down into three parts; Literary aspects, Dramatic aspects and Cinematic aspects. 

The Literary aspects of a film are the aspects that film share in common with written literature. An example of this would be the plot. A film or a book would always have a storyline, meaning they would first give the background to the story and introduce the characters, there would then be a problem that would heighten the action in the film, there would be the climax and then the action would lesson and the problem would be resolved. Another example would be the characters; all stories need characters to move the plot along and add emotion to the film or literature. The characters can either change and develop through the plot or they can stay the same, for example, the evil characters can stay evil or improve throughout the film or book. Some characters in films and literature carry the plot, whereas some are just used to fill or for a comedic aspect. All films and written literature have a setting, meaning they have a time period and a location. They both have themes within the storyline, this could be the message that the author is trying to give to the audience about moral situations, for example. The last literary aspects would be the point of view of the text, meaning if it was written in first, second or third person. 

The Dramatic aspects are the aspects that films shares with live dramas, for example a musical or a play. This is when you look more at the visual side of the film, in comparison to the written aspects. This is when you look more into the actors or actresses that play the certain characters and how they would suit playing certain characters i.e. how/why the actors are cast into the film or live drama. You could also look into the costumes, makeup and hair within the film and how they suit their characters and what they could say about the characters. You could also look into the set design and how well it suits the certain time period or mood of the film. Another thing you could look at is how they speak and their facial expressions and if that suits their character. 

The Cinematic aspects are the aspects that make film its own medium and that can't be done in literature or in live theatre. These would include how the cinematography, i.e. how the movie is filmed, the angles of the camera etc. Another aspects would be how the film is layered with sound and what impact that has on the mood or pace of the film. You could look into how the film has been edited, for example are there loads of short frames to make the mood more panicked and fast paced or are the frames very long and calming. The special effects used in film are getting more and more advanced and this is where you can evaluate what you think of them and if you think they are effective.