What is Intertextuality?

Understanding Intertextuality

James Gunn, Writer and Director of Marvels first literally out of this world movie,Guardians of the Galaxy. Gunn took from many great science-fiction classics, these include Alien and Blade Runner, but when it comes to the development and designing of of the films exotic environments and unique creature/character design, Guardians of the Galaxy appears to gather a great amount of inspiration from none other than the Star Wars series. But Gunn has applied his own more updated and expanded version of this providing a great environment for the characters to take place in as viewers are captured by the stunning visuals of its high range of Gunn's own personal aesthetic, which was implemented into Guardians. 

When Gunn was a kid, he had a lot of emotional problems as a child and struggled to fit in, often resulting in him staying home from school more often where he would develop and plan out ideas of different universes and cultures. This lead to Gunn going to his first comic-book convention in Chicago with his father, resulting in him receiving a collection of comics from another enthusiast, totalling at around $8000 back then. These books brought out the creative flare within Gunn and provided an even greater inspiration to move on to developing his own films. He began to develop his own little movies at home starring his brothers, eventually leading him to moving to New York to study creative writing in Columbia. James Gunn says "it was during that time when he began working for Troma, writing up the script for the raunchy Shakespearean send-up Tromeo and Juliet, where my screenwriting career began to gain traction". These events in Gunns' life inspired him to become the writer and director that he is today.

Intertextuality is the shaping of a text's meaning by another text. It is the interconnection between similar or related works of literature that reflect and influence an audience's interpretation of the text. This simple description of Intertextuality is telling us that it is the shaping of ones story influenced/inspired by another's, yet keeping their own uniqueness.

These images are very similar as they look as if they are from the same environment and story, yet they are not. This is showing a great example of intertextuality, as the image above is from the movie Guardians of the Galaxy where the second image below is from the Star Wars movie Attack of the Clones. In two seperate worlds yet so similar helps support my point on James Gunn gaining inspiration in development of the Guardians film from Star Wars.

Intertextuality relates to what i am studying as i am currently a Film Student, and i too am constantly inspired by people, movies and i am in a very influential stage in my life right now where any bit of inspiration i get i often am also able to relate my works to the people that inspire me. Showing that i too have experienced first hand intertextuality when developing stories of my own. Once again i have also gained more knowledge on yet another topic which i am very happy and feel confident about who i choose to be inspired by. Not only did i develop a greater understanding through this process about Intertextuality, but i also learned a bit more about myself in relation to inspiration from the people in my industry that i look up to.

References

Understanding intertextuality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertextuality

image 1: https://cinapse.co/new-on-blu-guardians-of-the-galaxy-im-hooked-on-a-steelbook-1376257f8ce4

image 2:https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/195484440046379645/

Knowledge on James Gunn's inspirations when making Guardians of the Galaxy: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/movies/guardians-of-the-galaxy-director-james-gunn-prepares-for-lift-off/#/0

What is a Narrative?

Lets Talk about Narrative

What is a narrative? Narrative from my understanding is that it is the most important elements of any piece of media. The narrative of a piece in media is what can be seen as the core, due to it being the thing that holds everything together. The narrative is where the story is developed from.

There are two types of narrative that you should be aware of, being Linear and non-linear. Linear being very self explanatory shows the story in one straight formatted line of narrative leaving there not much movement to occur and for barely anything catastrophic within the story to go wrong. Where as with Non-linear, this is where narrative gets a bit difficult to grasp an understanding of. it is basically the story being broken up from its basic straight structure and putting it back together in a more scrambled/warped order. Which now, thinking about it kind of sounds pretty obvious as well, hence the 'non' added to the word.

 Anyways, aside from that, the simplest way to understand narrative is by breaking it down into categories, kind of like my previous post on genre. Narrative begins from your starting point and ends at, well the end; its what lies in-between those two points that help develop the narrative. The first part of your narrative should start off which is whats referred to as the equilibrium (balance). This is where the scene is being set and the characters are gradually being introduced. Now in reference to the term equilibrium, it is setting the balance of the beginning of the story where everything should seem pretty normal in the eyes of your character/protagonist. The story all seems good with the introductory to the characters, location but them comes the complication/disequilibrium. This is generally the part where things begin to take a turn and disrupts the linear pattern. When this occurs, it generally makes different events take place within the story like hence the title of this section the "Complication". Resulting in the climax of the story where it is at it's peak of these turn of events where both bad and sometimes good things can take place. Eventually ending in the resolution of the narrative, bringing the story back down to a low to end off on a linear path once again.

Now to put my general knowledge of what narrative is into play, i will be relating it to once again, an all-time favourite film of mine, being Marvels Guardians of the Galaxy.

For such an action packed, comedy filled movie with numerous events occurring left right and centre, the film does have structure, but it isn't really something i would call linear as there isn't just one target mission/focus, as at times there are numerous and things become quite unpredictable as it progresses on, definitely is something i would expect from its director James Gunn. So what I'm trying to say is, is that the film doesn't follow the linear narrative format but a more non-linear focus in the film. The Guardians of the Galaxy's narrative is embedded instead of emergent, as the film is unpredictable and takes many turns leading to more events. This just makes the film all the more on the path of a embedded storyline/narrative.

The film is highly based on its characters archetypes as the protagonist Starlord/Peter Quill takes on the archetype 'hero' due to his role not only being the main character, but he also has numerous traits of the hero archetype, one being his integrity and bravery directing him into leadership. Another character that takes on another archetype would be The Everyman, this is taken on by the character Rocket Raccoon as in my opinion he is a bit of everything as he can be villainous as he's introduced into the film as a renegade thief, he takes on parts of the hero role, when he help the characters by assisting them in the escape from space prison. And who does love Rocket? He's one of the most loveable characters in the film's. These are just two examples of many archetypes involved in the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Writer and director of the film, James Gunn doesn't stick to the one genre throughout his movies but i must admit Sci-fi is definitely his strong point with both Guardians of the Galaxy movies sky rocketing through the markets and still continue to increase. Gunn has developed horror, romance and comedy films in the past, yet his recent movies do not set his permanent resignation from other genres/ structures in his films. This just goes to show that he is willing to experiment and try new things in his industry, and is definitely an over achiever and thinker. I now am just eagerly waiting for the new Avengers infinity war and the next G.O.T.G movie.

Narrative is the heart, the soul and the base of a great story/film, as it isn't just a story being told, but more so, how it connects with the audience and how its being told. They provide strong emotion, emersion and an overall great experience when done well, wether it be based to true events or made up.

Throughout the development of this blogpost i have heightened my knowledge towards narrate and its means and a greater understanding of why it's such an important factor to have when developing a story.

References
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DmMz9QZRd0

Archetypes: https://www.scribendi.com/advice/character_archetypes_in_literature.en.html

Understanding narrative: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-narrative-writing-definition-types-characteristics-examples.html

How i'd Describe Genre

Let's talk about Genre 

Genre originates from the French which in short means: sort or style and even a kind. It can be used to categorise artworks, images, books, music and film (basically all contents of media). Genre can also be used to categorise society in a way, for example: Hippies, Gangsters, Business people or subcultures like Punk, Goth, Body builders and Surfers. There are numerous genres out there, one of them might even help you find which category you fall into.

Yeah sure genres are great but if you ask me, i feel like genres are great for people who need that structure and organisation in their lives but i find it too confining. For example, if you were to find a movie and it is showing its genres, it would rarely just show one genre that the film comes under, as there are numerous, allowing there to be more than just the one genre within movies, television and music. Take the movie Guardians of the Galaxy... A fantastic movie featuring the genres:

• Comedy
• Action
• Sci-fi 
• Drama
• Romance

This is showing that within media in relation to genre, it doesn't have to be confined down to to the one, as that just wouldn't be very entertaining now would it? Not only do the viewers of these films find them entertaining but will often gladly re-watch, as the genres involved were brought to life throughout various scenes, generating relatability  and empathy towards characters.

Genres allow for various things in film to occur, such as scenes that will make you cry being comedy. Alien races fighting in space spanning through thousands of lightyears, involving a humanoid tree figure that can talk and is the last of his species the Flora Colossus (Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy) this would be listed under Sci-Fi or better known as Science Fiction. 

You see, these are just labels on a movie to help categorise it, yet enable various things to occur throughout the span of the film, engaging the viewers to be more immersed with what is going on.

Personally i struggled grasping the general concept of genre, but with help from a great and educational video about this topic by the youtuber Dapper Mr Tom which you can go check out for yourself at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2vOhTNmRrA

Throughout the course of the video, Tom describes some awesome facts about the origin of Genre, what it means and it is used to categorise numerous things within our society. he goes on providing some great examples which set the scene for the 'genres' we are most familiar with today and how you're able to identify the genre of a piece. Tom refers to these as what are known more complexly as "Paradigms". Moving on through the video, he says that a key feature to depicting a genre is "set", for example, if you were to film a movie following the western genre, the setting of it would generally take place in a more outback, country location as seen in most classical - western films with cowboys and pistols. And for a Sci-fi theres a good chance it will be in space with aliens of some kind. When genre is put like this, it makes it all seem much more easier and simplistic, Thanks Mr Tom!

Anyway, Genre is a format for categorising media, based upon the similarities they share to each specific categories description. But in todays society, the 21 century is complex when it comes to this topic as it is filled with so many sub genres to help categorise so many other different things, like people, movies, music, art and even cars. But as this is such a touchy subject, without the knowledge behind this topic, i wouldn't worry about getting too confused about it all. 

References

Ann Casano's definition and history of genre available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-genre-definition-types-quiz.html

Dapper Mr Toms definition and understanding of genre available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2vOhTNmRrA

Wingate, U. & Tribble, C. (2012). ‘The Best of Both Worlds? Towards an EAP/Academic Literacies Writing Pedagogy’ in Studies in Higher Education 37/5:481-495. 

Aesthetics in Guardians of The Galaxy

Aesthetics in Guardians of the Galaxy

Aesthetic/ Aesthetics is often known as the Philosophy of art and value. Aesthetics is can be personal, as a person can have their own opinion on something that they like, find appealing or beautiful; this could be the way that someone dresses (style), the way an artwork is viewed by the person that so happens to like it would suit their own personal view of 'aesthetic'. in other words 'aesthetics' is understanding beauty in both natural occurrences as well as man-made ones

Media is a massive part in our society and has a massive effect on our culture. It is literally everywhere. In relation to the topic of Aesthetics, this is highly implemented all throughout media.
such as: Films, photography, painting/art, video, design, sound, imaging and other forms of media. Directors of film often produce their work to their own aesthetic to provide the viewers with a visually stunning film. This can be done through; lighting, colour, how the shot is taken, the pace of the film, genre, character development etc. for example Tim Burton, the director of Edward Scissor Hands (1990) starring Johnny Depp as Scissorhands. This film really showcased his "campy" aesthetic. The unique film perfectly captured Burton's trademark Gothic like visuals as also seen in his (1999) Sleepy Hollow film. This goes to provide my statement behind personal aesthetics in the film industry.

Through online research, an article on the Philosophy of Aesthetics found on Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/topic/aesthetics) provides a short description of  the topic.
"Aesthetics, also spelled esthetics, the philosophical study of beauty and taste. It is closely related to the philosophy of art, which is concerned with the nature of art and the concepts in terms of which individual works of art are interpreted and evaluated". This valid description summarizes what Aesthetic/s is in a formal and compacted way.

I have chosen the Film Guardians of the Galaxy from the director James Gunn in the year 2014 following the famous Marvel comic series, to discuss how aesthetic has been implemented into this film. I have always been a big fan of the Marvel universe developed than none other than Stan (the man) Lee. I have grown up watching these films with a fast building love towards them. Out of all of the Marvel movies I have seen, the Guardians of The Galaxy mini series would have to be my favorite. The first movie starts off with the leading protagonist Star-Lord (Quill) in a hospital listening to a tape which provides the film with an amazing sound track filled with great classics from the 80s. This is already a great Aesthetic feature being the audio as the tracks help set the scenes weather it be romance, comedy, action or drama. The director James Gunn says that he tried to develop a post-modern aesthetic which was to provide a lot of contrast around the film between something very beautiful and something very ugly.
As the movie gradually takes us through exotic to very rugged and warn down/aged environments providing us with a greater sense of aesthetic towards the directors style implemented to the movies universe. Gunn said that the film was really about creating a space opera, that brought colour back to the type of movies he was pursuing to create. This shows that James Gunn is adding in his own personal aesthetic into his films, being colour and soundtrack as previously stated. This information was found in the movies featurette titled 'Aesthetic Vision'.

Aesthetics was applied to the characters in the film as they all had their own separate traits yet followed the same interest, for example: Groot, a very warm, happy character from a different origin to the other characters as he is a visual representation of nature as Groot takes the appearance of a humanoid tree figure that is lovable throughout the film. Where as the Antagonist being Ronan, an evil character with a dark ambition to end planets. The character of Ronin utilizes his evil characteristics and provides them to his overall look with a pale and gloomy skin tone and black clothing providing him with the Aesthetic feature of style to help show off his antagonistic role. and for a Marvel film you can only expect the best from the tech used on set. as Gunn posted to Facebook that the film was shot with the RED Weapon 8K and gradually moves on to saying that "when you're shooting a film at the level of Guardians of the Galaxy, the cost of film vs digital is negligible - for me its an aesthetic and creative choice", showing his aesthetic preference over film and to go digital to provide the movie with top quality visuals.

After gaining the knowledge to provide this information, I learned and developed a greater understanding towards Aesthetics in media and how it is implemented into a vast majority of the films that I thoroughly enjoy, and now I know why I am always happy to re-watch. I have also learned that the Philosophy of Aesthetics can be expressed throughout many aspects of life and can be a personal thing as well.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

A little bit about me :)

Hi... My Name is Chris Rossi, i am a Student at SAE Doing a Bachelors Degree in Film, and this is my BLOG

Ever since i was a little kid i was always being creative, weather it be: drawing, building things, creating things, painting, making stories or even taking photographs. It would always fill me with joy and would make me happy when i finish what i'd been working on and seeing the final product.

I have developed videos and edited them as i always make sure none of them are the same, yet unique in their own way.

Discovered an Interest

When i was at the age of ten i had an animation, i would make gif animations, even simple images moving around on powerpoint to simulate either a fight or something comedic. It was at this point that i knew that i was wanting to have a job/career in the creative industries, and that i wanted to have my name featured in the credits of a film or even make one.

Family

I am the youngest member of my family, i have my Mother Michelle that is a professional massage therapist and yoga teacher and my Father Deni/Denis who is a proud and profession Painter who owns his own business,  and also an older brother Alex who is a really good Electrician. And of course my two little dogs Millie who is turning 8 and Sofie who is turning 2... They are very annoying when mum comes home from work because they bark/yap like crazy haha.

School

I never really liked school, it just wasn't a place where i felt happy, yeah sure i had friends and we got along but i just was one of those people where it just wasn't one of those things where i'd say "oh gee i miss school" haha. I struggled a lot with anxiety and was frequently getting bullied... it was tough lets just leave it at that. It got better when i would move schools but it didn't take long for it go back to how the other schools were, i was just an easy target i guess. After moving from school to school, i'd say i learned a lot of life lessons. pick your friends wisely, always get back up, do not ever give up, just smile, and don't put your trust in people you barely know. They will only stab you in the back. In my final year of school i made sure to have everyone not hating, disliking me and to wright my wrongs. And i did it by then end of 2017 (senior year) the people that once picked on me were friendly, they were actually nice.

And now i am just looking forward to seeing what the future holds.