City of God Notes

City of God

component two section A global film (outside Europe) 40 marks

      Focus:

• Mise-en-scene
• Cinematography                                              
• Editing 
• Performace
• Sound
• Context

      Aesthetics:

• Mise-en-scene
• color
• how the frame has been composed 
• positioning of the actors and props
• set design

     Characters:

• Shaggy
• Goose
• Klipper
• Li'l Dice = Tender Trio
• Rocket - Photographer
• Shorty - Notorious bad guy 
• Knock-out-Ned = Nice guy wanting revenge 
• Carrot- leader of Li'l Ze's rival gang
• Melonhead- Corrupt police officer
• Benny- Li'l Ze's friend (good guy)
• Tiago - Drug user

       City of God notes:

• Warm color palette beige, earthy tones - signify that the slums are only just coming about they've haven't been built up and the people look happy and make do with their current situations in the 60's.
• The high key lighting conveys that the 60's were hopeful times and the slums were a place of little to no crime 
• The happy upbeat music conveys the emotions of the people
• Handheld cameras adds to the sense of reality and the real locations add to the verisimilitude
• *key scene* Li'l Dice sat high up on the cities foundations imply that he has power and the fact that he is sat on the foundations of the city also implies that he is the new future and the new city will be his city. 
•  Li'l Dice's position & attitude lay down the foundations of the film
• The poor people are trapped 
• Women are treated like animals and below in social status 
• Gender & Violence are a massive focal point in the film 
• Christ the Redeemer is an important landmark in Rio- we never see this iconic landmark which alludes to these characters barely seeking redemption 
•  Knives sharpening- cuts to black- conveys violence and how often it occurs in this society with the editing being so fast. Loud diegetic sounds 
• Favela= living on the edge - conveys danger
• Chicken tide up - can't escape- metaphor for the people living in the city of god 
• Editing fast pace conveys life here is fast and rushed 
• Chicken is a metaphor for how likely you are to live - being chased by gangs conveys that gang related death is high 
• Non-diegetic music is upbeat - conveys that this violent way of life is normal
• Camera level with the chicken conveys the feeling of entrapment in a dangerous world 
• Rocket positioned between gangs & police visual representation of living on the edge 
• Non-diegetic sounds of clock ticking shows that what we are about to see is s flashback
• Sixties life= warm & bright editing is slower so the pace of life is slower which reflects the choice of drugs of the decade which is weed 
• Seventies life= cold, no hope editing is fast pace life matches the choice of drugs which was cocaine
• Freeze frames match what Rocket wants in life- to become a photographer
• Tender Trio never hurt people - the Robin Hoods
• Sixties montage- life was what you made from it, contextually life is better
• Non-diegetic music is more menacing 
• Exit sign represents are multitude of things (polysemic) could mean leaving this lifestyle or death, the tender trio have exited without Li'l Dice- maybe he stays in this lifestyle 
• Scene wipes to the next scene which suggests that the people who have been murdered were wiped out of existence
• Aesthetics are cold
• Klipper is in a higher position than Goose overhearing the police conversation on how they are going to kill them are steal the money 
• Water droplets - implies reflection and change. Always a bigger fish that eats the smaller fish. Police being the bigger fish 
• Romance is interrupted
• Klipper talks about going to church - Klipper gets redemption he dodges a bullet and escapes the lifestyle
• Klipper with girl = slow paced. Women's voice in dominant the mise-en-scene is littered with a women's touch
• Shots are very voyeristic
• Melonhead takes the money
• As time goes on the slums= women loose their voice, police corruption & more violence 
• Women's pose is symbolic of Christ- she wants redemption 
• If someone wants to leave they have got to physically move themselves 
• Benice in the car, Shaggy outside = gender divide 
• Benice & Shaggy (who has been shot) get torn apart. Shaggy becomes the chicken- running aimlessly for freedom which wont happen. 
• Car goes back into the city - you can't escape. 
• 70's favelas are more built up
• Blue is the most dominant color 
• Representing rockets POV- blurry & bleached out
• Tiago is going out with Angelica who Rocket loves. 
• Editing matches the drug of choice - cocaine - fast editing
• 70's more people are in the slums - mixed race
• Camera is filmed 'MTV' style with quick cuts
• *Key Scene* story of the apartment montage of the owners and how time and people effect the apartment 
• Static camera
• Apartment of the beginning was feminine now that men took over its more masculine & silences women.
• When Carrot killed his friend he looked away -first time he killed- 
• Scenes dissolve into one another - montage Benny is Shaggy's brother. 
•  Li'l Ze is Li'l Dice- shot low angle gives him power
• Green is a predominant color- implies sickness, envy and jealousy 
• Witch doctor scene- handheld camera, many cuts with canted angles & red lighting- implies danger & passion. Give a warning to not fuck about 
• Overhead shot - sped up- god looking down - the speed matches the drug of choice in the 70's- cocaine
• Handheld camera is much more prevalent in the 70's 
• Rocket looking @ the gun looking to kill Li'l Ze for revenge 
• 70's everything is a lot worse 
• Despite the amount of Money Li'l Ze makes he never spends it
• The Runts are shot in a low angle (conveys power)
• Benny has no knowledge on the outside world - he wants to change 
• Tiago is being sucked into this world from Benny's outward looking
• Benny & Li'l Ze are very different and its shown visually - Benny isn't blood thirsty Benny is brighter with physical appearance - Li'l Ze is darker with a psychopathic personality 
• "Stop trying to wipe everyone out" scene is wiped - foreshadowing 
• Li'l Ze's aesthetic is green 
• Social situations aren't allowed to last in the slums 
• Benny is standing in the middle he's a mediator - negotiates - he's Switzerland
• Bars - reference to the trapped vibe the slums have. 
• The actors actually live in the slums - reactions are realistic adds to the verisimilitude
• The runts are the new version of Li'l Ze 
• No non-diegetic sounds - very realistic 
• Low angle shot of Li'l Ze before he kills or shoots - gives power
• In the slums you don't have a choice 
• Steak and fries being dragged into the sinister world conveys how easy it is to get into bad situations 
• Dog eating dog world 
• Rocket using the napkin with the girl's phone number on fully suggests the disrupted romance in the Favelas 
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City of God is an example of Brazilian national cinema. It is also an international film that secured worldwide distribution and critical acclaim. Its set in a Rio de Janeiro favela which is authentically Brazilian. There's enough genre characteristics to invite comparisons with Hollywood  'hood' films. The flamboyant and stylish spectacle of violence and poverty is narrated by a boy/man/observer of the action.