Intertextuality is the relationship between texts but can be used to describe the ways in which films can emulate certain aspects of other films and incorporate it into them. Intertextuality is when another text, in this case or another film is referenced. For example it can be referenced in the form of editing, cinematography, dialogue, sound, mise-en-scene ect. Directors usually use intertextuality of another directors work or an artists work due to being inspired by them, for example Alfred Hitchcock took inspiration from a popular photographer and artist within the shower scene of Psycho. Audiences are able to recognise these references between films, photographers, artists, etc and gain an insight into the film and the directing behind it. The shower scene of Hitchcock and the intertextuality can emphasise the thought process of the scene and the creativity behind it. Similarly in another horror, Stanley Kubrick uses the disturbingly famous photograph by Diane Arbus. Diane Arbus specialised in photographing deviant and marginal people which ranged from transgenders to dwarfs to giants, nudists, circus performers to disabled and deformed people. Her work shows the harsh reality of what `ordinary` people perceive of these apparent subnormal people. There is something quite raw about her work that makes it all the more beautiful and emotive but her most famous work has caused her to be noted the photographer of freaks. It is interesting how Diane Arbus's photograph of the two identical twins has been used in the horror, The Shining. Its as if Kubrick saw the strange quality of the work and echoed it within his. The famous photograph of the two twins standing side by side in matching dresses with one twin with a smile on their face and the other with a frown, has been emulated by Kubrick.The twin girls in his film are notably one of the most disturbing scenes of The Shining due to the display of such eeriness and unsettlement. The twin girls are perhaps an analogy for the hotel and Jack. One twin represents the normality and the ordinariness but as the hotel has warped Jacks mind, he has the same outer appearance, rather much like the other twin but has become distorted and warped.
Diane Arbus
The shining twins
The most obvious place where intertextuality occurs is within spoof movies where plots of various horror movies or comedies or both are combined into one. The popular horror franchise, Scream has had a spoof movie dedicated to it using the same dialogue and scenes for comedic purposes. Scream however also emulates from other horrors and references the popular horror, Halloween. Within Halloween the crazed killer Michael Myers dons a white mask to hide his identity and wears dark clothing. This is similar to that to the killer in Scream as the anonymous killer wears a white mask and a black cloak. Within the opening scene of Scream the stereotypical blonde has the stereotypical phone call where the killer asks what her favourite movie is, in response she says Halloween which is ironic as she describes her killer despite referencing similar qualities of the killer in Halloween. The same conversation is carried out between all five of the Scream movies and the first two The scary movie spoof films.
Scream
Scary Movie parody
Here are the two opening scenes of Scream and The scary movie. There are various similarities including editing, sound and mise-en-scene. The popcorn is a similar feature as well as the blonde in a white cardigan/sweater. There is an immediate change in the mood of each film as the Scream is serious and creates suspense whereas The Scary movie makes fun of Scream by incorporating slapstick comedy whilst still sticking closely to the original plot of Scream. Parallel editing is used within Scream to emphasise that as the popcorn is cooking, her time is running out. It symbolises that her death is soon to be over and as it jumps between the scenes of the protagonist to the popcorn, it is a distraction for her but at the same time makes the audience jump. All Scream movies interlock as the reoccurring anonymous killer is the antagonist of each films plot. The opening scene of Scream is a film called Stab which is shown in a cinema in Scream two where the audience are all wearing the iconic Scream masks. It follows on like this within all of the Scream movies, where the Stab franchise is shown at the beginning of each Scream film. Audiences can enjoy the constant reference to the film and never fails to be a suprise despite it being expected of the franchise.
I have also found intertextuality within other Kubrick films, for example A clockwork orange. Within A clockwork orange there is a scene that is emulated in various music, art and films, especially horror. An iconic yet disturbing scene where Alex endures the Ludovico technique which involved patients being forced to watch violent images, by the aid of a specula to hold the eyes open. The images were violent which would cause nausea every time Alex thought about violence, conditioning him to avert violence. The iconic specula of the eye has been emulated within Final Destination five where one of the characters has her eye held open by a specula. The similarities to that of A clock work orange are a delight for fans as the cultural references to A clock work orange continue throughout the arts and media.
Final Destination
A clockwork Orange
As intertextuality can be exciting for an audience we have decided to feature mise-en-scene and cinematography from other films as we aim to take inspiration from them in order to create a successful short film. I feel that incorporating cinematography techniques from other films will allow us to create interesting scenes which will be enjoyable for the audience. Within our As introduction we used intertextuality and featured aspects of mise-en-scene, locations and makeup. The location we emulated was from Cabin in the woods, we used a shack in the middle of the woods to depict isolation similar to the effect The cabin in the wood evokes. We also emulated the makeup choice form the film Ouija where a girls mouth is sewed up. This helped us create an interesting image for our character and created a sense of enjoyment for our audience as they were able to identify where we got the idea from.
As film intertextuality:
Ouji: The sewed mouth
As two minute introduction: Similar makeup to depict sewed mouth
The cabin in the woods location
Our As film location.
As we have decided to emulate features from other films based on mise-en-scene, locations and makeup, we have also decided to emulate scenes from other films to give the audience pleasure whilst identifying the scene in our film with another films scene. It was important for us to develop on our creative choices and therefore to improve upon the As introduction, we will emulate certain cinematography as well. Within our film there is a chase scene which leads the victim and the assassin to the roof, as the assassin looks over the roof we aim to create the vertigo effect, which is a direct emulation of Alfred Hitchcock's film, Vertigo. In Vertigo a dolly zoom is featured to suggest that the character has a fear of heights and that as he is venturing further up, the bottom is becoming out of reach.
Vertigo scene
The reason we are emulating Hitchcock's Vertigo effect is due to the fact we aim to advance our cinematography by emulating from a great director but also because Hitchcock himself was inspired by other forms of media and featured them within his films. Within Psycho the shower scene features a photographers style choice. Within the shower scene, a closeup of her eye with water droplets is featured but is emulated from a famous photograph with tears on her eye like the end of the shower scene. Hitchcock's Vertigo has also been emulated and featured in music which will also be something we aim to do within our film. We understand that sound is vital within films and therefore will create similar sounding scores to feature within our short film. Vertigo's opening soundtrack by Bernard Hermann is featured in Lady Gaga's Born this way to evoke a celestial sound to the song and is creative in the emulation of Vertigo.
We have also decided to emulate features from films with a dystopian future to reinforce to the audience that our short film is primarily shot in a dystopian future. The intertextuality we aim to feature in our film is a scene from V for Vendetta. The dictators photo is framed on the walls of civilians to exert his authority over them and allows the audience to infer that this is futuristic world led by a totalitarian dictator.
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