20 Keyframes

Keyframe 1: The first frame consists of Cortina typing away her letter to why she should be offered the company promotion in her open cubicle office.The shot is positioned from a high angle shot through a close up, point of view framing. The effect of the point of view shot heightens the intenisity of how eager Cortina is to get that desired promotion and how women have to prove themselves as an active role in the film industry in a male driven environment. Therefore, through this eyeline shot, the audience is pressured to be aligned with Cortina's character. In order to create the image of the open cubicle office in a professional nature, I used the software Photoshop. In order to get the placement of my actors hands correctly on through edited typewriter, I originally took a photograph of Cara typing on a laptop in order to create a stencil for myself to overlay my edited images over. Furthermore, I extracted a copyright free image of a office cubicle background and inserted it over my original photo graph. I then brought forward my original picture, however this time carefully erased the laptop. I then extracted another copyright free image of 1970's typewriter and used the history brush tool and retrieve Cortina's hands. I then heightened through temperature, sharpness, and brightness to reinforce the imagery of 1970's movie through this retro filtering. The only sound involved within this scene would be the overpowering foley sound of Cortina's keyboard to heighten the intensity of her desire for this promotion. 

Keyframe 2: In this keyframe, Cortina is answering the phone to a angry Marlon. It was essential for me to make sure that my constructed setting linked with the location from the previous keyframe. Similar to the previous keyframe, I originally took a photography of Cara at a desk with a phone to her ear to create a stencil for myself to edit around. I then extracted copyright free images form the internet of a beige looking cubicle office background, a telephone and a typewriter. Moreover, I  could not find a picture of a blue typewriter with just the back of it showing. Therefore, I just copied and pasted the typewriter from the previous keyframe, shrunk it to a small size, and overlapped half of it with a blue colouring, to create a illusion of the back of the typewriter. This frame has been captured in a long shot due to the fact that I wanted to portray the image of a females inferior placement in a male driven industry, using a symbolic convention to represent the film industry itself. I then filtered the frame with a heightened brightness, sharpness, blur, temperature and I then decreased the contrast and tint to achieve this seventies filtering imagery.


Keyframe 3: This frame presents Cortina creating Marlon's coffee in the staff kitchen from a high angle, eyeline shot. The use of the high angle shot emphasises the Male Gaze theory of representing a image of the female character having inferior power within the frame; the spectator is looking down on her. Furthermore, I made sure that the use of mise-en-scene with the kitchen essentials was apparent in the shot to not only communicate to the audience that Cortina is in the staff kitchen, however to also reinforce the passive role that Cortina is acting out through this housewife image that she is presenting. I edited this shot with a yellow dew on the frame, which complimented the idea of a 1970's filtering which promotes the passive role that women had in film during that period.


Keyframe 4: In this scene, this is the first shot to which we are introduced to Miura and Minnie.I captured this keyframe as a close up of Miura's and Minnie's shoes to represent the feminine difference between the two characters; Miura's extremely feminine whilst Minnie is blandly dressed.Due to the fact that when I originally shot this photo, the background from the staff kitchen was a living room. Therefore, I then took a image of an office entrance background, making sure that the colours and lighting linked in with the staff kitchen, and layered it within the picture. I then had to carefully use the history tool brush on Photoshop, and retrieve the previous images of the ladies shoes and the staff kitchen flooring.


Keyframe 5: This scene demonstrates the three women discussing each of their personal hate for their boss. I placed Minnie in the middle of Cortina and Miura to communicate the vulnerable personality she is and how she is always 'caught in the middle' or 'sitting on the fence' when discussing hatred for her boss. I placed the lighting to be of a strong sense from the left side of the room to enhance the brightness that yo would see in 1970's movies when I filtered the keyframe. Moreover, I filmed this keyframe in a medium shot to communicate all of the ladies different reactions to their boss through their different body language and also to represent the idea of a unity between the three women because of the male oppressed environment they work in. Once again, this is subtle representation of the breakthrough of the feminist film theory in the patriachal film industry during the 1970's.


Keyframe 6: In this frame, I have focused the camera on a close up shot of Cortina whilst she is thinking up a devious revenge against Marlon. The point of this shot was to demonstrate the revealing of the feminist film theory and the female spectator through the action of Cortina taking control of the narrative, becoming an active role through the sole focus of the close up shot. In this frame, I heightened the sharpness, temperature and brightness of the photo to emit that 1970's look greatly as this was the first close up of a facial expression in my narrative, therefore the retro editing of the photo was needed to be more apparent.


Keyframe 7: In this keyframe, the scene is focused on the three women holding hands, representing the unity between them. I tried a few different angles to communicate this strong message female unity; aerial shot, low angle, etc however,  the shot that captured everything within the framing. Also, the use of the women having different coloured nail polishes differentiates them from one another, which communicates the characters unity more so due to their common ground of their hate for Marlon.


Keyframe 8: In this shot, we see the three women, still in the kitchen, looking down at the coffee cups, thinking if they have got the courage to pull some sort of revenge upon Marlon. The scene is captured in a high angle shot to contradict the actions within the narrative with the spectators viewpoint. For instance, the women are devising a plan against Marlon, however the high angle shot communicates a inferior power upon the women in the narrative, communicating the viewpoint of a male spectator. In contrast to keyframe 5, the women all now have the same body language, reinforcing the fact of the unity of the feminist film theory.

Keyframe 9: In this shot, the audience is first introduced to Marlon through a low angle shot, In order to reinforce the idea of the male spectator from the previous keyframe, the use of the low angle shot presents the higher power that the man has in the narrative in contrast to the women. I chose to interpret this idea early within the narrative in order for that when the narrative continues, we see the revealing of the feminist film theory. Also, the suit that I dressed Marlon in compliments the darkness of his costume once I filtered the photo to a vintage look, as in contrast to the brightness of the location, his suit is darker, creating a slight shadow effect and setting a villainous archetype upon his masculine character.

Keyframe 10: In this keyframe, I have chosen to shoot a over the shoulder shot from Cortina's perspective whilst she is having a meeting with Marlon about her promotion. The effect of the over the shoulder shot allows the spectator to align themselves with Cortina's character and put the spectator in the female mindset of Cortina, feeling her developed emotions of anger against the male character Marlon.


Keyframe 11: In this shot, we see a close up focus of Cortina leaving Marlon's office in a rage due to his sexist attitude and his rude decline to her promotion application. Once again, the only use of close up shots are used on the female characters in the narrative, demonstrating the revolution of the feminist film theory and the female characters taking on a active role within the narrative. The anger in Cortina's character is reinforced through the editing of the colour grading of the photo. I lowered the contrasted and the tint in order to create a shadowing image upon Cortina's character, to demonstrate her transition in to a scornful woman.


Keyframe 11: In this scene, the camera is focused on Marlon and his office in a long shot whilst he is obnoxiously laughing about his disruption with Cortina to another male colleague on the phone. The body language of Marlon's character is structured in a sluggish manner which reinforces the negative traits of the male character, reinforcing the aspect of the female spectator looking down on Marlon. Moreover, the use of the long shot emphasizes Marlon's new inferior placement within the film, reinforces his new weakness within the narrative with his office creating a overpowering image against Marlon's weak character. It structures the idea of Marlon not being a man, and just using this visage of power through for instance his office, to emit a 'fake' masculinity. Through this constructed placement of Marlon's character within this scene, it allows for the female spectator to take upon her new superior role whilst watching down on Marlon's character, representing his role of a passive part in the narrative. The gender roles are switched in the narrative, allowing for the feminist film theory to be liberated and the male gaze to be rejected.


Keyframe 13: In this shot, Marlon is startled by the women's sneaky appearance within his office and drops his bottle of beer. In this frame, I originally took a picture of the three women sitting on the sofa so that their body language would be appropriate for when I superimposed them behind a Photoshoped desk. I also originally took a picture of Marlon from a behind shot with his hands slightly loose in order to superimpose the image of the Budweiser bottle within the scene. I used the same image of the office that I used in the previous keyframes, however I cropped out half of the setting in order to create that illusion that the picture was being shot from a different placement. The involvement of the beer bottle reinforces the sleazy representation of men in film.


Keyframe 14: This frame presents a point of view shot from Marlon perspective after being unconscious, looking up at Cortina with a blurred vision. Although the spectator is put within the perspective of Marlon's male viewpoint, the blurring of his vision contradicts the power of the male gaze. Due to women with their new found power within the narrative and the breakthrough of the female spectator, through Marlon's blurred gaze, it communicate both the idea that a male spectator cannot visualize or perceive a correct representation of women in film, stating that the Male Gaze is not reliable. Additionally, this also communicates the struggle of the film industry trying to visualize and come to terms with the theory of the female spectator during the 1970's as they could not think of a industry controlled by the authority of women. Furthermore, the low angle shot on the blurred Cortina reinforces this female power. I immensely blurred this frame with slight actions of the Photoshop smudging tool in order to create this effect.


Keyframe 15: In this frame, Marlon is looking up at the three women, with a vulnerable look upon his face. This shot aligns the female spectator through Cortina's viewpoint as the camera placement of being on a high angle on Marlon performs to the audience his passive placement within the narrative and the control the female roles have which communicates the feminist film theory.


Keyframe 16: In this shot, Miura is taking part in her own personal revenge on Marlon, acting out a dramatic version of how he sexually assaulted her over the years by speaking disturbingly provocative to him, whilst going to lick his face with a gun placed against him. I photoshoped the two images of Miura and Marlon, superimposing them together, making sure that Miura's face was the right scale against Marlon's. I then also photoshoped the image of a gun from the internet. Moreover, in order for all the images to link well together, I colour graded each photo carefully in order for them to behold the same brightness, contrast, etc to create a smooth finish. The gun acts out as a form of phallic imagery within this shot, presenting that the Miura is the active role within this scene, controlling Marlon's masculinity with the symbolism of the gun in her hands.


Keyframe 17: In this keyframe, it presents Minnie's scene of a mental breakdown, representing her transition from a timid women, and after the revealing of the feminist film theory within my narrative, her true colours are shone through. In this scene, I copied and pasted the image of the reoccurring background of Marlon's office and cropped part of it so that it appeared to be shot from a different angle. I then originally took a photograph of Minnie's character and superimposed her within the background. I then gathered many images from the internet of paperwork and copied them onto the shot. In order to establish to the audience that Minnie has ripped up Marlon's paperwork, in some pieces of paperwork, I would crop them in half, extend them in sizing, etc.


Keyframe 18: This frame is focused on a extreme close up of Coritna's smirking smile. I colour graded this photo to emphasize the feminine colouring of Cortina's lips and I sharpened the image for more definition. This photo communicates the power that the female spectator can have, despite the stereotypical imagery of feminine features which conveys a sexist response. The extreme close up for this shot also conveys the intense power that the female characters have within the narrative.


Keyframe 19; In this frame, Marlon is about to be shot in the crotch by all three women. I collected images of guns held by women's hand to superimpose into the shot of the original photo of Marlon's crotch. I then copied and paste the left gun, flipped the position of the gun in order for it to be identical to the right gun. I then filtered the photo with heightened sharpness, contrast, temperature and lowered saturation to emit the imagery of a 1970's look once again. The use of the guns, similar to keyframe 16, was to emit the representation of phallic imagery of the women controlling Marlon's masculinity with the guns in their hands, making him the passive role in the narrative. Also, the centered gun is positioned to be in a eyeline shot which allows for the spectator to be aligned with Cortina's charter presenting the act of the female spectator.



Keyframe 20: In the last keyframe of the narrative, we are reverted back to the staff kitchen, with all the three women with their eyes closed and dreamy looks upon their faces. They were daydreaming the entire story. Due to the fact that the male character couldn't attend the day of shooting the shot with all the three women in the kitchen, I had to take a separate photo of him, cut out the unwanted background, and superimpose him into the staff kitchen shot. I then colour graded  both separate images in order to result to a smooth finish. The purpose of this shot was to revert back to the idea of the Male Gaze theory, to communicate the idea that during the 1970's, the theory of the feminist film theory and the female spectator was too surreal for the male film industry to handle,hence why I put the idea of the  women's revenge in the placement of a hypereal fantasy. During the 1970's, the Male Gaze was the superior one, and the film industry perceived the Female Gaze just to be a unrealistic reality.