London To Brighton Fitting in Todorov's Theory

London to Brighton fits in Todorov’s Theory, but it does not follow it in order since the film is non-linear.

The equilibrium of the film is the lives of the characters eg Kelly is a prostitute. Though it is not a happy equilibrium and seems unusual to the spectators, it is Kelly’s normality to her because she’s been living with crime for a long time. Another example of a character’s normality is Stuart. He too is living with crime, as he is a gangster, however, he is living a better life than Kelly, as she lives on the streets.

The disequilibrium was when Derek had to find Joanne. This is his disequilibrium as his life is being threatened to find Joanne. Another disequilibrium in the film was when Joanne stabs Duncan. This is her first taste of blood and this slowly strips away her innocence, as she is still a child. The main disequilibrium in the film was when Stuart finds his dad bleeding to death. If he didn’t find him dead, there would be no disequilibrium to drive the story forward.

The attempted repair was when Kelly saves Joanne from Duncan, and the other people involved with crime, to keep her innocence. Another attempted repair was when Derek tries to find Joanne and Kelly in order to save his own life. Stuart’s attempted repair was him avenging his father’s death in order to keep his reputation as gang lord.

The new equilibrium is when Joanne is taken to her grandma’s place. This is a happy new equilibrium for her as her destination was her grandmother’s place. The new equilibrium for Stuart and Kelly is just them going back to their normal lives except some people they know are dead.

Reflective Analysis

The brief was to create a 3 minute sequence with no dialogue representing a genre and creating visual meaning to the spectators. The genre my group decided on was supernatural thriller. We chose supernatural thriller because it’s very familiar to us, it’s also similar to the horror genre and the props are easy to access. The only difference between the horror and supernatural thriller genre is the horrors are usually set in unrealistic places and thrillers are set in realistic settings. The purpose of the film was to create disequilibrium as the protagonist (the girl) meets her ghost. This follows the Todorov narrative as before there was equilibrium and the part we are representing is the disequilibrium. The narrative of the film is linear as there are no flash backs in the sequence. My part was to do cinematography. I chose this part because I wanted to practise more on cinematography and wanted to represent meaning through the shots and angles. It’s important to show meaning because it’ll make the sequence more interesting for the spectators and create more than I meaning. After screening, feedback was given to us by the spectators. Most of the comments were good, however, there were some comments about the music and editing.

The camera is immediately focused on her. This connotes that she is the protagonist of this sequence. A tracking is used on the protagonist so that the spectators are following her. At this point, the spectators don’t know where she’s going and so far, they only know as much as the protagonist knows. This is conventional to the supernatural thriller genre because the camera usually follows the protagonist, which creates restrictive viewing and builds tension. She is also in the middle of the shot to reinforce that she is the main focus.

A POV shot is used when Min Yee is walking towards the tunnel. This foreshadows to the spectators where she is going. This adds meaning because the spectators are seeing everything she is seeing and adds more effect. It also builds tension as what they are seeing is quite restricted. This is conventional to the genre because POVs are used to add more effect as the spectators can only see through the eyes of the protagonist.

A close up of Min Yee's face is used. This is so that the spectators can denote her expression and feel how she is feeling. The close up connotes the anxiety and fear Min Yee is feeling. This is conventional to the genre because close ups are always used for restriction and to build suspense and tension.

A low angle is used on the ghost. This connotes she is superior and dominant. This helps increase the tension and fear as the spectators can only denote her dominating most of the shot and the low angle also creates a shadow over her face which hides her identity and connotes her mysteriousness. This is conventional to the genre because low angles are used to reinforce the dominance of antagonists.

A close up of the gate is used which creates more suspense and tension as this is the last shot. The spectators are yet again restricted from viewing as both the protagonist and antagonist are hidden away from view and so they are forced to use theatre of the mind. This is conventional to the genre because Theatre of the Mind is usually used when the spectators cannot see what the protagonist or antagonist is looking at.

We meet the brief, however, the sequence is 2minutes and 20 seconds long. I believe I fulfilled my role quite well, however, I think there might have been a bit too many side shots of Min Yee. I think I have clearly represented the genre because most of the spectators got exactly what the genre was once they saw it. Also, common conventions, such as low angles to connote dominance, is used to represent the ghost and her power. The scene fits in appropriately into Todorov’s narrative as the part we have represented is the disequilibrium. What I could have improved on was to take less side shots and added in a wider variety of shots and angles, to make the sequence more interesting and to create more visual meaning to the spectators.