Evaluation

Throughout my textual analysis I focused on the use of gender roles, emasculation of the male characters and Mulvey’s male gaze in the Tarantino films; Pulp Fiction, (1994); Jackie Brown, (1997); Kill Bill, (2003/04) and Death Proof, (2007). I decided to incorporate these aspects throughout my key frames in order to create an artifact in the style of the Tarantino films I have studied. I found that all of the above aspects were prominent in the majority of the texts, and therefore the incorporation of these aspects would result in a successful artefact inspired by Tarantino’s films.

One of the main aspects I was studying in my textual analysis was the switching of the stereotypical gender roles. Throughout my study, I researched into others’ own interpretations and analysis, including my own, to define whether Tarantino uses this theme throughout his work. I eventually came to the conclusion that, despite Tarantino’s Death Proof, (2007), the majority of my texts incorporate the reversal of stereotypical gender roles. This had been portrayed throughout the films; Pulp Fiction, (1994); Jackie Brown, (1997) and Kill Bill, (2003/04) through aspects such as the man adapting to a submissive role, whilst the female takes on a dominant, typically masculine characteristic, as we see in the opening scene of Pulp Fiction. We also see the stereotypical roles being reversed through the violent, macho female characters that Tarantino creates. For example, the fight in Kill Bill with Vernita and Beatrix conveys them with characteristics that signify a traditional male stereotype. The violence that is imposed upon the couple is through the use of household objects, making the reversal of the stereotypical roles become comedic and exaggerated.

The confirmation of the switching of gender roles lead me to incorporate this heavily into my key frames. As the key frames progress, the cinematography develops to show Sapphire's power. We see at the beginning that she is portrayed with sexualised close up shots and medium long shots. As the key frames continue, we see her portrayed from low angle shots to portray her hierarchy and position of power. Meanwhile, Zi's portrayal through cinematography decreases to show his suppressed position. We see him dominated by Sapphire when we are first met with Zi, in key frame no 7, being portrayed through a medium long shot, Sapphire sits strongly and assertively, whilst Zi is 'pushed into a corner' and seems to have a submissive portrayal.  Zi is then further emasculated through cinematography through key frame 8. Although Zi is looking at the waitress as a sexual object, the high angle shot conveys Zi as the weaker. We see how Zi's power and hierarchy as deteriorated through the use of flashbacks. For example in key frame no 12, Zi is portrayed through a low angle shot, portraying his power and control. 

Similarly, I have also reversed the typical gender roles in my key frames with the use of the milk and Budweiser. Drinking a beer from the bottle could be seen as a stereotypical masculine action, the fact this is carried out by Sapphire, whilst Zi drinks a glass of milk, confirms the reversal of the stereotypical gender roles.

Zi’s dialog is also very minimal in comparison to Sapphire, subtly hinting at his submissive position. 

The lighting and colour tones used in the key frames also portray the switching of the stereotypical gender roles. Sapphire's name conveys a strong powerful woman, whilst incorporating aspects of blaxploitation that Tarantino too uses throughout his work. The semi precious gemstone can be typically red. I have manipulated this and portrayed this throughout my key frames by using a subtle red tone on the majority of the frames. This portrays Zi's emasculation and Sapphire's power. This colour tone also creates an old look and feel to the key frames that Tarantino films such as Death Proof also have. The use of flashbacks have also been manipulated with colour toning. The flashback images have a subtle blue tone conveying Zi's power and control over Sapphire, who is the weak and submissive. 

I feel that the incorporation of the switching of stereotypical gender roles was successful as I portrayed this subtly, without over indulging and therefore creating an exact replica of the Tarantino films.

(603 words)

The second aspect that I analysed in my textual analysis is the emasculation of male characters. I found that Tarantino often makes his male characters become, as Emanuela Betti puts it, as the ‘butt of the joke’, whilst portraying women as strong and independent. I came to the conclusion that this is incorporated throughout all of the texts I studied. As a result of this, I ensured that I did the same in my key frames. I decided to heavily incorporate the use of phallic imagery around Sapphire to portray her with the masculinity that the male character has lost, resulting in emasculation. This is evident through key frame 4, 5, 11, 13, 15, 16 & 20. The use of the joint, Budweiser bottle and gun all convey that phallic imagery, which combined with Sapphire’s gender creates an ironic atmosphere, whilst emasculating Zi along with the prominent use of the glass of milk and high angle shots. 

However, the key frames that incorporate the most significant amounts of emasculation are 13, 14, & 16 where we see the threat of Zi’s castration by the use of phallic imagery, thus creating more ironic tones of emasculation.

Overall, I feel that I have incorporated this theme into my key frames sufficiently, however, if I were to complete this task again, I would alter Zi’s clothing throughout the flashbacks to portray his deterioration of masculinity.

(232 words)

I also analysed how far Mulvey’s male gaze theory applied to the Tarantino films I studied. I concluded that although Tarantino gives his female character dominance and a voice, this is often through their sexualisation. As a result of this finding, I decided again to incorporate this into my key frames. We see Sapphire, the dominant female being sexualised throughout. We see the male gaze in my key frames through aspects of voyeurism in key frames 2 & 3. Here, we only see Sapphire’s legs, which ultimately disconnects the spectator from her. Sapphire’s clothing is also fitted, emphasising her figure.  Similarly, key frame 5 & 6 sexualise Sapphire due to the focus of the camera on figure, creating her as a sexual object. 

I feel that I incorporated the male gaze subtly into the key frames, which did not subtract substance from the narrative.

(144 words)

Overall I feel that the aspects explored throughout my textual analysis have been incorporated into my key frames successfully without creating an exact replica of the Tarantino films or subtracting substance from the narrative. 

20 Keyframes

Keyframe 1

The first key frame includes a medium long shot of the setting for scene one. The frame is taken during the day and natural light pears through the window to portray Sapphire's contentment. The keyframes have been subtly edited with a red tone to link in with Tarantino's style and the background of Sapphire's name. In the texts that I have studied, Tarantino uses a subtle tone on his film to make the content look older. I decided to do this to my keyframes and to use a red tone when Sapphire is the dominant and a blue tone when she is most weak and dominated by Zi. 

For example, we see the red tone in the opening scene of Death Proof. 

Keyframe 2

The second keyframe consists of Sapphire turning the radio on with her foot. This explores many aspects that can be seen within the Tarantino texts I have studied. For example, in the beginning of Death Proof the male gaze is incorporated heavily by voyeuristic angles of the camera resulting in Jungle Julia being sexualised and objectified. I decided to incorporate this into my keyframes to show Sapphire's sexual dominance, similar to Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction. The fact Sapphire is turning the radio on with her foot, and the rest of her cannot be seen is also relative throughout Tarantino films, as he uses the naked female foot as a sexualised fetish. I feel that this is a recognisable aspect used in the texts that I have studied, therefore the incorporation of this factor was important in order to make a creative artefact of the aspects studied in my chosen texts. 

Keyframe 3

The third keyframe again is heavily influenced by the opening scene in Death Proof.  As I previously mentioned, Jungle Julia is sexualised before the audience are met with her whole appearance and personality. The use of the high angle shot looking down on Sapphire incorporated the male gaze and voyeurism into my film, which I studied throughout the Tarantino texts. As I discovered throughout my textual analysis, Tarantino's Death Proof breaks from his norms as he portrays the female characters heavily through the voyeuristic male gaze. I wanted to incorporate this into my film whilst still creating Sapphire as a strong, dominant woman. This therefore links back to Stephanie Sutton's point about Tarantino compensating ‘for his masculine representations by creating hyper-sexualized female characters’.[i]

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[i] http://firesunderground.wordpress.com/2010/07/10/the-male-gaze-now-then-false-empowerment-in-tarantinos-films/

Keyframe 4

Keyframe 5

Keyframe 6

Keyframe 7

Keyframe 8

Keyframe 9

Keyframe 10

Keyframe 11

Keyframe 12

Keyframe 13

Keyframe 14

Keyframe 15

Keyframe 16

Keyframe 17

Keyframe 18

Keyframe 19

Keyframe 20

Treatment/Layout for Keyframes

Frame No.1

The film will begin with a still  medium long shot of Sapphire's apartment living room. The scene is set during the day, therefore there will be natural daylight in this shot. Within the shot, there is a yellow glass coffee table centred opposite to the grey sofa. There are newspaper articles neatly placed on the table, along with a gold metal tin, a red lighter and red lipstick. There is a red cow skin rug that lays across the wooden floor, this is centred off to the right of the shot. The red cow skin rug is the first hint of Sapphire's luxurious lifestyle. Everything on the set has it's own place, portraying Sapphire's control over her life. 

Frame No.2

The second keyframe will be a close up shot of a radio, Sapphire is pushing the ON button with her foot. We only see Sapphire's legs, which are bare. I have also incorporated an aspect that Tarantino uses throughout his films; female's feet, portraying sexuality and incorporating the male gaze. Because, at this point we only see Sapphire's bare legs, the audience may get the idea that she is not clothed, portraying an aspect of the male gaze. 

Frame No.3

The next keyframe will be a low level framing shot of Sapphire's legs, walking across the living room, from the radio to the sofa. I wanted to keep the camera at this level whilst she walks to incorporate the aspect of the male gaze and voyeurism, that I shall look at in my study.

My inspiration came from the opening scene in Death Proof.

Frame No.4

The next keyframe is a low angle shot of Sapphire sitting on the edge of the sofa. She is central of the shot. This portrays her importance. This is the first time we see Sapphire completely. She wears a fitted white t-shirt and blue casual shorts, she wears the red lipstick we can see on the coffee table. In the shot, Sapphire is lighting a joint with the red lighter, we previously saw laying on the table.

Frame No.5

Medium long shot of Sapphire stretched out along the sofa, her legs crossed at the ankles. This shot resembles Jungle Julia in Death Proof. In this shot we see Sapphire relaxed, however she is presented in a strong, sexual manner, similar to how Tarantino portrays his female characters.

The inspiration of this shot came from the opening scene in Death Proof.

Frame No.6

High angle shot taken from Sapphire's feet. Her head is tilted backward, she exhales the smoke upward. 

Frame No.7

The second scene opens with a medium long shot of Sapphire and Zi sitting in a booth in a diner. The placement of this shot is similar to much of Tarantino's work, where he uses a booth in a diner to convey the conversation and relationship between a couple.

There is a menu and condiments placed neatly on the side of the table, by the window. Sapphire is sitting up straight, her arms are crossed loosely and rest on the table; she wears a red dress and a fur coat. She wears the red lipstick that we previously saw in the first scene. Her bag rests next to her side on the booth seat. Her legs are neatly crossed underneath the table. 

Zi sits opposite her, he wears an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt and a white vest underneath. A gold metal chain sits around his neck. He has a steady stare. Zi sits further back into the corner of the booth. His elbow rests against the edge of the table as he pinches his bottom lip. The pair begin to converse in irrelevant conversation. 

Frame No.8

Close up shot of Zi's face as he orders a glass of milk. This shot is filmed as a point of view shot through the waitress's eyes, we do not see the waitress at all. Zi directs all of his reactions to the camera. He realises the waitress's reaction (which we do not see). He pauses and stares at her. Smirking and raising an eyebrow, he patronisingly and sarcastically questions the word please. It is at this point that the shot will be taken.
As the waitress walks off, Zi snarls, staring and analysing her as she walks away.  

This links to how Tarantino sympathises with women, giving the waitress a point of view shot, portrays directly how Zi acts towards this woman. When she walks away, he analyses and stares at her, this is an aspect of the male gaze as it sexualises the waitress as a sex object, which therefore links to my thematic study. 

Frame No. 9

FLASHBACK: Close up shot of Zi's hand setting down a glass of cold milk on a counter.

Frame No.10

Medium long shot of Sapphire and Zi. Zi is holding up his glass of milk, gesturing to Sapphire. Zi stares at Sapphire strongly, whilst smiling at her sarcastically, showing his teeth.  

Frame No.11

Close up shot of Sapphire's hand holding up the Budweiser bottle to Zi's glass of milk. The drinks clink as they touch. 

Frame No.12

FLASHBACK: Low angle shot of Zi standing over Sapphire's dead parent's bodies that lie on the floor. The shot is taken as Zi takes a gulp of his milk. 

Frame No.13

Medium long shot of Sapphire and Zi sitting in the diner booth. Sapphire is leaning forward, her forearms are resting on the table, her bottom hovers over the seat. She holds a gun underneath the table to Zi's crotch, symbolising phallic imagery and her control and dominance over males. Zi is completely unaware of what is going on beneath the table. This resembles how Tarantino portrays male characters as the 'butt of the joke', unaware and goofy.
This shot will be similar to Inglorious Basterds,  another film by Tarantino.

Frame No.14

Medium long shot: "Don't you know who I am Zi?" Her foot presses in between Zi's legs, resting on the diner booth seat. Zi looks down at where Sapphire's foot rests, he is uneasy and concerned. Again, portrayed as the 'butt of the joke' due to his emasculation. The inspiration for this shot came from the lap dance scene in Death Proof. I decided to incorporate this aspect into my film as I believe it shows dominance and power of the woman over the man.

Frame No.15

Medium close up shot of Sapphire. She is holding the Budweiser bottle in her left hand, the gun still pointed at Zi's crotch underneath the table. Sapphire's name appears in a bold yellow font across the screen. This is incorporated into the majority of Tarantino's films to reinforce the fact that you are watching a film, rather than immersing the audience completely into the film.

Frame No.16

Close up shot of the gun pointing at Zi's crotch. Emasculating Zi. Once again, similar to the scene in Inglorious Basterds; Tarantino uses this idea many times throughout his work, which greatly emasculates the male character.

Frame No.17

Sapphire stands in front of a crowd of women around the mirror in the diner bathroom. Shallow focus, extreme close up of Sapphire's eyes. The shallow focus portrays the other women in the background being irrelevant to Sapphire. She is central of the shot. She stares strongly into the camera. The camera resembles the mirror at this point in the film. The lighting is dim and poor due to the weak bathroom lighting. This is a similar shot used in one of the texts in which I am studying Pulp Fiction. In the below shot, Mia Wallace is central in the bathroom mirror, therefore the attention of the audience is on her, symbolising her importance and the other character's irrelevance.

Frame No.18

FLASHBACK: four years earlier, Sapphire's parent's apartment. The lighting is weak, however it is day time. There is natural light trying to peep in between the slats of the shutters. Close up shot, very similar to the previous, however this time Sapphire is 16 and her eyes are squeezed tightly shut. She wears her hair is two braids. A foot and a pool of blood lay on the floor, slightly off centre, behind Sapphire. I have decided to incorporate this flashback into my film as I believe that this helps the audience sympathise with the female characters. It is often that Tarantino will only justify a woman's actions with a backstory rather than a man's. This flashback is inspired by O'ren's in Kill Bill.

Frame No.19

Extreme close up shot of Sapphire's eyes open, staring strongly into the camera. Almost the same shot as the bathroom scene. This shot is inspired both by the bathroom scene with Mia Wallace and the flashback scene with the close up of O'ren's face.

Frame No.20

Back at the bathroom diner. The lighting is the same as before, it is a minute later. Medium close up, shallow shot of Sapphire. She lights a joint that she has just pulled out from the gold metal tin. She is slyly smiling in the mirror, and blows smoke onto the mirror. The camera resembles the mirror. 

Screenplay

Recce Report

Casting Considerations

Synopsis

My film is centred around the protagonist, Sapphire and her relationship with the drug dealer, Zi. 

Sapphire is a young woman who is affected by seeing her parents murder. In the present, Sapphire is 20 years old and is out to seek the man who caused her parent's death. Her parents were involved in a drug war and were murdered by the drug dealer Zi, when Sapphire was 16.
We, the audience do not know any of this background information until Zi has been killed, therefore the film does not have a linear structure.
When Sapphire and Zi meet in the diner, Sapphire is in control of their irrelevant conversation, whilst holding a gun to his crotch underneath the table.
Sapphire shoots Zi (switching of stereotypical gender roles). She walks off to the bathroom, where she applies red lipstick.
The flashbacks of Sapphire's parents being murdered is similar to Tarantino's backstories of women, which makes the audience sympathise with these characters.

Throughout the present scenes in the film, Sapphire is portrayed as a strong, dominating woman who definitely has control over Zi in the diner scene. (Relating to Tarantino's representation of macho women and the idea of switching male/female roles) however we see this was not always the case when we are shown her backstory. Sapphire's name also relates to Tarantino's representation of macho women and the switching of male/female roles. (The name Sapphire was a commonly used name for black caricatures during the 1920-1960s. Who's characteristics were stubborn and overbearing. This also relates to the theme of Blaxpoitation)
The symbolism of the red lipstick also relates to Sapphire's name and the symbolism of the colour red.