P2(a-g) Analysis of a Media Product

My Chosen Media Product - Django Unchained

Type of Media: Film

Company: The Weinstein Company

The Film's Purpose

Of course for The Weinstein Company this film was not primarily to break social views and genre normalities, which it did, it was made to sell box office tickets and dvd/online sales of the film. In this aspect the film did brilliantly, winning two oscars and becoming an international success in terms of sales, it became one of the most watched westerns of all time in 2013, just after its release in December of 2012. The film was made with the driving force of its writer and director, Quentin Tarantino, who ever since its production has been campaigning for the equality of black people in America. 

The Film's Genre

This film was designed to take a new look at the classic western style, with the lead as a freed slave named killing off white criminals as a bounty hunter, this of course is a brand new look at the genre as usually in old westerns black actors would not appear, and if they did they would not be featured for very long and would play a minor part, this theme of diverting from the normalities of the genre is extremely common in the works of its director, Quentin Tarantino, who The Weinstein Company has worked with in the last 15 years quite frequently. The western/action genre has become increasingly popular in modern media as it represents a throwback to a golden age of cinema with the likes of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen.

The Film's Style

As a classic Quentin Tarantino film should be, Django Unchained is a gore-filled, comedic and incredibly entertaining movie. Lasting approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes it does tend to be seen as too long for the cinematic generation of today's faster and easier to bore youth, however for true film fans who grew up with westerns on VHS or Betamax this film really hits the mark with witty one liners and a barrage of blood boiling battery. The comedic style lightens the theme which is essentially a freed slave killing white people for revenge while also searching for his long lost love.

The Film's Content 

Narrative Structure

Plot Summary from IMDb

"In 1858, in Texas, the former German dentist Dr. King Schultz meets the slave Django in a lonely road while being transported by the slavers Speck Brothers. He asks if Django knows the Brittle Brothers and with the affirmative, he buys Django for him. Then Dr. Schultz tells that he is a bounty hunter chasing John, Ellis and Roger Brittle and proposes a deal to Django: if he helps him, he would give his freedom, a horse and US$ 75.00 for him. Django accepts the deal and Dr. Schultz trains him to be his deputy. They kill the brothers in Daughtray and Django tells that he would use the money to buy the freedom of his wife Broomhilda, who is a slave that speaks German. Dr. Schultz proposes another deal to Django: if he teams-up with him during the winter, he would give one-third of the rewards and help him to rescue Broomhilda. Django accepts his new deal and they become friends. After the winter, Dr. Schultz goes to Gatlinburgh and learns that Broomhilda was sold to the ruthless Calvin Candie von Shaft, who lives in the Candyland Farm, in Mississippi. Dr. Schultz plots a scheme with Django to lure Calvin and rescue Broomhilda from him. But his cruel minion Stephen is not easily fooled."

(Selected Scene)

My selected scene from Django Unchained to discuss and analyse is an early scene where Django and his accomplice Dr. Shultz are attempting to claim a bounty on three men that used to torture Django and his wife Broomhilda.

To provide back story to the scene about to be viewed here is a character list and explanation of the plot previous to the scene:

DJANGO

Django is the main protagonist of the film, played by Jamie Foxx, Django is a slave who has spent his life being tortured and brutalised by his masters, he fell in love on a plantation to a girl named Broomhilda. After Django is sold and ripped from his love by the savage owners of his previous plantation he is walked to his new buyer's place of business when the group he is travelling with is stopped mysteriously by a man in a dentist's wagon.

DR KING SHULTZ

The man in the dentist's wagon being Dr King Shultz, a retired dentist who has found a new life as an aspiring bounty hunter hoping to right wrongs in the world by ending dangerous criminals and doing his best to stop slavery as he states "I believe slavery is a horrid thing". Dr Shultz frees the group of slaves due to Django's previous planation workers being on his kill list of criminals. Django agrees with the doctor to point out the workers if Dr Shultz helps him get his wife back, the two continue the adventure from there.

BROOMHILDA

Broomhilda is Django's wife who we only see later in the film as Django attempts to rescue her from the clutches of a horrific slave owner named Calvin Candy, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Broomhilda is Django's main driving force in everything that he does and is his main goal throughout the movie.

The Plot Until This Scene

Django is a slave who has recently been sold at auction, he is walking in a group of slaves on the way to the next plantation. They are stopped however, by a man named Dr. King Shultz, a bounty hunter who wishes to buy Django due to Django's knowledge of three criminals on Dr. Shultz's list. Django after being freed agrees to go with Shultz to kill the three men and claim their bounty if Shultz will help him rescue his wife. Shultz agrees and there is just enough time for a costume change before our scene begins in which they have finally arrived at the correct plantation and Django is mocked for his clothes and status and a "nigger on a horse".

The Scene

This video shows my scene in the first 5-10 minutes, an estimated time frame would be 01:10-10:30.

This Scene's Purpose

This scene like the rest of the film is meant to entertain the audience, it adds certain senses of suspense and leads to the climatic end of the films 'first act'.

I have chosen this scene because it captures wonderfully Quentin Tarantino's message for the whole film, the message being that racism is a big issue and it is still around today, that older white men have put themselves above other because of prejudices.

This Scene's Content

Narrative Structure:

This scene shows the introduction to 'Big Daddy' (Played by Don Johnson), a slaver who runs the plantation shown and who owns all of the slaves inside of it. He is 'a man of business' as stated by Shultz and has a love of money nearly as strong as his hatred of black people.

Camera:

Low Angles

Low angles are used in film to show the shift of power in characters and also to give the audience a subconscious view of which character is of a higher authority in the scene. This scene is perfectly set up to show this shift in authority as Big Daddy stands on his porch high above all the black people in the scene and also Django and Dr. Shultz.

The shot above is especially interesting as even though Big Daddy is not the only person on the level of the porch he is still higher up in the frame than any one else.

By the end of the scene Django takes his revenge on the three brothers that tortured his wife and kills 'Little Raj'. We see the power shift of authority as Django begins his rampage and no longer has to give in to the demands of white men, the shot above shows this well as Django kills his enemy the almost POV shot of Django shows that Django is stronger than his enemy and has clear power over him.

High Angles

 High angles do the direct opposite of Low angles, meaning instead of showing the power of a character they show the vulnerability, instead of authority it shows submissiveness and instead of pride it can show humility. In these examples the perspective is taken mostly from that of Big Daddy, showing his view of those coming into his land. The men are insignificant and submissive in his mind, which opposes what we (the audience) already know, this is a very subtle use of dramatic irony.

Medium Shot

The medium shots in this scene are used to show the emotions and facial expressions of the character while keeping them as a far enough distance so that the audience gain appreciate humour in the scenario. As using a closeup would show emotion in the wrong sense the director and DoP use the medium shot in these examples to give a well balanced shot, as Charlie Chaplin once said "Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot". The medium shots here providing the audience with the best of both worlds.

Long Shot

Long shots in this scene are used to emphasise disconnect behind characters, highlight humourous sections and establish the set and characters proxemics in the scenes.

In the above and below shots the disconnect is shown between the black slaves and the white businessmen (King Shultz) being slightly lower and closer to the black people of course, to show his attitudes when compared to Big Daddy's.

This shot establishes where the scene is taking place, in the background we can see the cotton fields with a large amount of slaves picking cotton. Django riding in on a horse with a bright blue suit. This shows that we are on a plantation of some kind and we recognise the main character Django being followed by the dentistry cart belonging to Dr. Shultz, seen earlier, this gives the audience basic information so questions are not raised as to which character is where.

Tracking Shot

This shot follows Big Daddy down the stairs to meet Dr. Shultz half way, this shot is subtly important as it shows the white plantation owner having to come down from his 'high tower' to meet the German slave supporter Shultz which shows the falsity behind his believed power over them. This is confirmed later when Django and Shultz kill three men on the plantation without warning.

Editing:

Pace and Timing

The pace of the editing during the start of the scene with Big Daddy is very much driven by the dialogue as shot-reverse-shots are extremely common to show the different turns of speech by Big Daddy and Dr. Shultz. The shots change frequently to build tension in the scene and keep the action present as the previous scene has built up to this moment.

Special Effects

There is a significant lack of special effects in most Tarantino films as the director prefers the 'practical effect' method of filmmaking, preferring real explosions to fake ones and clever positioning compared to cgi violence. However there is a blurred vignette in a single shot (shown below) which shows the importance of the character in the frame as well as giving the audience a more realistic effect of a looking glass, which is what our POV is from in this shot. There is also colour correction on the flashback shots with Django and his Wife, shown below the previously mentioned) the blues being far more prominent showing the sad and hurtful past Django wishes to leave behind by saving his wife.

Sound:

Music

The music used in Django Unchained in general is very varied however in this scene the music has a set theme, the theme being suspense, whether its the lack of sound of the hard hitting emotional song during the flashback the music gives us the feeling that something intense is about to happen, and by the end of the scene our feelings are confirmed as the murders take place.

The song behind the whipping scene is shown below.



Effects

In this scene there are some sounds that have been added in to give atmosphere or to build tension, these are not only present in the music played but also in simple sound effects that most likely were not captured during filming, this is evident in the opening shots of the scene and the dialogue between Big Daddy and Dr King Shultz where crickets and the wind can be heard, this was most likely made after the shot as the director wouldn't want anything to interrupt or interfere the voices of the actors into the recording equipment.

Mise-En-Scene:

Colour

Colour in this scene, along with the whole movie, is very important. It is very prominent in this scene through the clothing worn by different characters.

As shown above Big Daddy wears all white, he lives in a white house with a white beard and moustache. This clearly signifies and points towards his hatred of black people and likens him to a Ku Klux Klan member, which he is revealed to be later in the film. However the shot above is interested not because of Big Daddy but because of Dr. Shultz, who is shown wearing all grey. This,  much like Big Daddy being dressed in all white, signifies the intentions of the character, as Dr. Shultz acts as a middle man between the harsh views of the racist south and the revenge fuelling Django's bounty hunting. Dr. Shultz wearing all grey shows he is not on the side of the racist whites but also shows that he is separate in some respects from Django.

Django however is the opposite to all of the other black characters in the scene, shown above, Django wears a blue suit with fluffy white collar, eerily similar to The Blue Boy painted by Thomas Gainsborough, this exceptionally colourful clothing shows his exceptional attitude as a man hellbent on revenge instead of the other slaves who simply are trying to continue their work and life without pain or suffering, this is reflected in their ragged and brown clothing (as seen above).

Also in both shots shown above the colour contrast is massive, with the white of the house juxtaposed against the brown of the dirt on the ground, this shows and emphasises the separation of race in society, and in this shot. It shows that Django is not welcome in to the house because of his skin colour.

Clothing

Clothing is also very important as it clearly shows the separation between the slaves and the slave owners, the white man wearing a clean bright white suit compared to the slaves' rags and dirty dresses show the disconnect between the races and the power the white slave owner has off everyone else. Django also breaks this streak however as he wears the outfit seemingly from the Blue Boy painting which representing (in the painting) elegance and status, however in the mind of the white man this is very difficult to accept and this could be argued that this is one key reason Big Daddy is confused about how he should be treated, 'I don't know what you want Big Daddy...'.

Proxemics

The sheer distance between the slaves and the white people is indicative of the views held by the white men, however, Dr. Shultz is slightly lower and closer to the slaves, showing his views differ from that of Big Daddy's.


This Scene's Meaning

This scene shows the power of Dr King Shultz and the respective lack of power to anybody who is black in this era. This movie does not show a series of realistic events but rather a series of events that happen in a alternate reality to the real world we live in, this is referred to as Quentin Tarantino's Own Universe, this universe acts much as the comic scenes from shakespearean theatre did, in which they mirror and mock the real world series of events or highlight things not thought about. This film and this scene in particular not only showing the power of slavery and racism in the 'cowboy era' but the structure of Modern America in terms of racism at the time of the film's release.

Production Process

Quentin Tarantino built this movie from the ground up including script development, casting, finalisation and production, he consulted on every department of the film.

Tarantino says that he began writing the character of Django approximately ten years before the film's release, the key aspects being he was a salve who became a bounty and killed overseers hiding out on plantations. Tarantino then decided later that he wanted to make a western, spaghetti westerns being his preferred style he began work on a script to suit his character, Django. When Tarantino has decided who was to play each of his characters he met with them in person to ask if they would play them.

"Production began on November 28, 2011" as stated by cinemareview.com's production notes for Django Unchained, "in Melody Ranch, In Santa Clarita, California" a famous location for western fans as many films were shot there, such as High Noon and Stagecoach.

During production decisions had to be made on costume, props and the way actors approached their roles. During this time in costume design the 'Blu Boy' was very well documented to be the favourite on set, this being the outfit shown in my clip where Django rides in dressed all in blue. The Costume Designer Sharen Davis stated in response to  question about blue boy "He was Django thinking, 'Oh my gosh, I have new clothes for the first time in my life.' Seriously, you could barely get him out of that outfit."

During shooting a large number of shots were taken and recorded, these were then enhanced through sound design, music and colour correction. This post-production process is key to ensuring the film comes out as a well polished final product and not simply the previous content without a sense of direction or purpose. The process and effort put into the film seems to be well appreciated by its audience.