Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark

Key Scenes 

The scene in the bar after Marion's 'death'.

This scene is import as it show's another side to Indy and also changes the pace of the movie as you can not hold an audience at one level throughout the whole film as they wouldn't be able to last the whole film. This scene where Indy has another run in with Belloq allows us to align with Indy emotionally as show's him at the good guy in the film even if he is a anti-hero which can be scene through Micro and Macro elements in this scene.

The romantic score which we associate with Marion is played in the background of this scene at the beginning. This creates an emotional response as you can see that Marion's death has had more of an effect on him than he thought it would as he cared for her maybe even loved her, therefore we feel sorry for him and start to connect with him as we see he is not a womanizer and he did care for her. Focus on loss.

Camera angles: the close up and inward zoom which draws us towards Indy at the beginning of the scene establishes the fact that Indy is now alone and acts as an establishing shot. We also see Indy's facial expression and the bottle of whiskey which show us that Indy is very upset over Marion's death and that he is dealing with this in his own way.

Spielberg also uses foregrounding as a way to show the intimacy of the conversation between Indy and Beloq and how intense it is as the camera never leaves them. This makes the audience very tense as you are not sure what else is going on in the scene and what is going to happen. However the use of close-ups show's that Indy's facial expression doesn't change implying he is utterly unconcerned by what Beloq is saying as he is more concerned by Marion's death.

The shot uses a two hander which helps to show the intensity in the conversation between the two of them as it keeps us focused on Beloq and Indy.

Lighting: At the beginning of the scene Indy leaves the bright sun lit streets and enters the darkly lit bar to meet to Beloq highlighting how Indy is the good guy and Beloq is the bad guy in this scene as well as shadowing of Beloq and Indy's face's.

Beloq also has a European accent this also helps the audience to connect Beloq as the bad guy as in the 1980's American's still feared European's due to WW2 as can be seen in Die Hard. It also helps the audience to align with Indy as he is the good religious American who is going to save the Ark from a European.

Raider's of the lost Ark: Context, Spielberg

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is the first film in one of the biggest film franchise's of all time. The film stars Harrison Ford as the lead character and is directed by Steven Spielberg. This film is considered to be one of Spielberg's 'rookie' films as it was released in 1981 when Spielberg was still starting out and had only released two previous films that had a similar response by audiences.

The film was given to Spielberg by George Lucas the creator of Star Wars. Lucas had the same inspiration behind both Indiana Jones and Star Wars: B-Movies of the 1930's such as Flash Gordon. Both of them also have a feeling of the supernatural behind them; where Star Wars is set in Space Indiana Jones is an archaeologist who finds rare artifacts with supernatural abilities such as the ark.

Spielberg said to Lucas that he wanted to make a bond film to which Lucas replied that he had something even better Indiana Smith, later changed by Spielberg to Jones. They then sat down with Lawrence Kasdan and wrote the screenplay in just three days.

The film was rejected by many large film companies as they thought the plot was too over the top. Eventually paramount took on Indiana Jones for $20 million. This was a small budget but Spielberg made it work. Raiders of the Lost Ark was shot in Elstree Studios in London as Lucas had done Star Wars there and saw it almost as a good luck charm. To keep costs down but also to seperate the sci-fi (Star Wars) from Indiana Jones Spielberg used sound stage and even built in small scale and created like a graphic novel from the 1930's.

Both Spielberg and Lucas took a lot of inspiration from the serials of the 1930's. Indiana Jones especially was inspired by them; his humour, costume and original characterisation are all inspired by serials of the 1930's. Spielberg said the humour in the film was very deliberate and borders on slap stick comedy, though the humour still applies today. This can also be seen in the fight scenes which were choreographed and so looks slap stick. There was some disagreement over the characterisation of Indy as Spielberg wanted to make him a darker hero like Humphrey Bogart and make Indy an alcoholic however this was cut from the film though some of this characterisation can still be seen in the film such as the scene after Marion's death where Indy is getting drunk to drown his pain. Indy's look was created by Comic book artist Jim Steranko, he channeled the 1930's graphic novel style of the 30's and created the iconic Indiana Jones style. The look was inspired by the 1930's adventure style shown in comics and serials. For instance his jacket was scratched by Harrison Ford's own pocket knife to make it look well worn and loved and his hat which is the most iconic piece of clothing and makes Indy recognisable even when you don't see his face was bought from Savile Row which Harrison Ford sat on to make it look worn.

A big reason why the film was so popular when first released in 1981 was very much to do with the success of Star Wars in past years. The fact that Lucas’ name was involved in this film, and that the actual production of the films are similar, would have made his already established fans want to go see it. However, as time has gone on and technology and the director himself have developed, the contextual importance behind why Raiders was such a popular film has faded, and eventually disappeared, which could be behind the reason why his latest Indiana Jones flick, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

Schindler's List Context

Schindler's List: Spielberg, 1993

Schindler's list tells the true story of the Holocaust in WW2 Germany. The film follows Oskar 

Schindler a German businessman and member of the Nazi party who saves the life of 1100 Jews.

The film follows both Schindler's emotional journey but also the journey of several Jewish Families. 

Schindler is introduced to us as a womanizer, a businessman; who employs Jews as slave labour so he can make more money and as a member of the Nazi party.

It is not until Schindler see's the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto that his views on what is happening change and he begins to run a business to save the lives of Jews than to make money.

The point of change is marked in the film by the introduction of the little girl in the red dress.

The film is based on the book Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally.

Context behind the film:

• Spielberg himself was Jewish: therefore he has very personal and emotional connections to the subject discussed in the film as he will have had family that experienced life as a Jew in Germany at the time and seen the horror discussed in the film. Schindler said that the film 'was a Jewish film for Jews, to use against non-Jews as a historical document of what happened.
• In Germany post 1993, German school children were forced to watch Schindler's lit by the German Government. This highlighted the racial guilt felt in Germany at the time and also to educate people on what happened as some people still denied that the Holocaust actually happened.
• The film was banned in some Saudi-Arab countries where Jewish relations have never been good highlighting the importance of this film.
• So that the context and the horror on screen wasn't detracted away from Spielberg used (at the time) B-list actors Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes though both actors were nominated for Oscars for their work.
• The final scene in the film is one of the most emotive scenes in the film as it is a triumphant scene but also a sad scene. Schindler's Jews as they are referred to are paying respect to the man who saved there life and the text on screen highlights the huge loss of life which is just unbelievable. 6 million Jews lost their lives in the Holocaust. The statistics speak for themselves: there are fewer than 4000 Jews alive in Poland today but 6000 descendants of Schindler Jews.

Schindler's list: Emotional Response

Schindler's List, Spielberg 1993

1. Liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto: The liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto is the first point in the film where you see mass murder of the Jewish people. It is also the turning point for Schindler in the movie.

• Macro:
• Viewpoints of the Jewish people:low angle shots
• Increase in extreme violce
• Turning point for Schindler: he finally has a problem with his job (slave labour) and his choices.
• Micro: 
• Sound effects of gun shots etc as score: makes the violence become deafening for the audience you feel like you're surrounded by it.
• Cinematography:
• lots of close ups of faces to see people's reactions e.g. Schindler who looks shocked
• Foregrounding:
• loss of focus
• ed camera movements
• Little girl in the red coat
• Jewish prayer over the scene
• Amon's voice over
• Contextual Factors:
• German school children were forced by the German Government to watch Schindler's list= racial guilt as there grandparents were a part of WW2
• Jewish descendants= are going to be more upset than others
• Banned in Saudi Arab countries: Jewish relations have never been good
• Audience Interpretations:
• Preferred reading: Shock and disgust
• Negotiated reading:feel for both sides little boy used by the Nazi's
• Oppositional reading: denial.

1. Schindler and his secretaries: films can't keep their audiences at high tension for the whole film as the audience would not be able to connect with this for the whole film and so Spielberg has used these scenes of light comedy and relief to ease the trauma of the film. In this scene Schindler is interviewing a group of young Jewish women for the role of his secretary the scene adds humour to the film and also makes you like Schindler as he could be seen as a love-able rogue and a bit of a player.

• Macro:
• Keeps the film entertaining
• Buffer to the horror 
• Makes Schindler likeable as Liam Neesons peformance makes him humorous
• Illustrates he is a womanizer show's his flaws
• Stern is established as responsible compared to Schindler
• Micro:
• Timelapsed: to show how long he is taking
• Sound effects: typewriter, 
• Close up of Schindler: to show how he edges forward on his seat as each beautiful woman enters. Falls back in his seat when the last woman enters as she is not young and pretty, but she is the best typist.
• Facial expression and posture: smirk, smoking at end: bored face and slouched
• Jump cuts:lots of women in his life
• Upbeat violin score: comic score
• Always lit from 1 side: highlights good face, shadows bad face.
• Contextual Factors:
• Gender
• Relationship status: just been cheated on, may not think his actions are funny
• Audience Interpretation:
• Adds humour to the film. Lightens the mood.
• Some may find him a bit sexist
• Some may feel it has nothing to do with the context of the film

1. Burning of the bodies: for me this was the most traumatic and horrific scene in the film. This scene illustrates how the Nazi's really had no mercy or respect for Jews they truly believed that they were better than them and that they deserved what they got. The Nazi's made the Jews remove the bodies of their own dead on to a conveyor belt: th bodies didn't even get a burial instead they were dumped and burned for ease.

• Macro:
• Using Jews to remove their dead:no respect
• Dig up their dead: no repect from Nazi's
• Show's the magnitude of death
• Foreshadowing Auschwitz
• The bodies look like rag dolls being dumped: no longer people they have had their identities taken away from them
• Children playing in the ash which looks like falling snow at first
• Schindler and Amon's breaking point.
• Micro:
• Ash looks like snow, pure and white
• Score: Orchestral singing. Church funeral
• Little girl in the red coat on the cart
• Close up of Schindler
• Noisy: shouting of Officers. Officer laughing
• Close up of Officers covering faces
• Reaction shot: when Schindler decides to change: removes handkerchief and see's girl in red coat.
• Audience Response:
• Horrified and disgust. Shock
• You could also suggest that people don't want to see this as it is to much
• Context:
• Recent death in family
• Racial guilt for Germans
• Ancestry: Jewish upset and distressed