After listening to all the characters, we began discussing how and why characters show emotions within films and what the overall context and connotations are behind what they do. We did this to see why, as an audience, we engage with characters and feel as though we understand them so well.
We started off by looking at a scene from Dirty Dancing (1987) by Emile Ardolino, when the character Baby first sees the staff dancing with one another. This scene really gives us a powerful impression of the character Baby and, as I've never seen the film before, made me instantly make assumptions about her and her past. The emotions we see straight away as she walks in are awkwardness and shock. This tells us she's not used to seeing this kind of dancing and she really doesn't fit in or know what to do (never been in this situation before) and this makes the audience assume she is quite shy, quiet and had a sheltered upbringing. As the scene goes on and Johnny is introduced the emotions Baby shows turn to that of attraction and lust. You can see this by her body language, as well as her asking questions about Johnny and her facial expressions. She also starts to dance slightly to the music as if she's getting into it, whilst the PoV sequence shows her looking at Johnny the whole time. The audience then starts to empathise with her as she is starting to come out of her shell a bit more and enjoy herself. Then Johnny comes over and she says "I carried a watermelon" when he asks her why she was here. The emotion portrayed suddenly shifts from lust to embarrassment as Johnny walks away and she repeats the line to herself. The audience now sympathises with her as most can relate to saying something stupid to someone they're attracted to.
Ignore the voice-over in this clip, this is the only clip I could find of some of the opening sequence.
The next film we looked at was the opening sequence in The Headless Woman (2008) by Lucrecia Martel. In this scene the protagonist Veronica has just left a gathering of parents with children and is driving along a road when her phone rings, as she goes back to pick it up, she runs something over and brings the car to a rapid stop. The whole time the camera is at a medium-close up of her face so the audience can see what emotions she is portraying. First and foremost the shock is evident as her sunglasses fly off and she jumps up in her seat (possibly in frustration at herself). Then as the car stops we see her give off disbelief mixed with anxiety as she touches near the doorhandle next to her then decides to go for the sunglasses that fell on the floor instead. The audience can empathise with the shock she is dealing with but then that changes when she decides to drive on and not even check what she hit. As the scene goes on she gets out of the car and it begins to rain as the camera pans slightly to the right. We see her walk in and out of shot not in focus as she paces outside the car. This portrays guilt and panic as she doesn't even know what she has just done and the audience really gets inside her head, especially due to the thunder and rain which become part of the scene connote these emotions really well.
The penultimate film we watched was the final attack sequence of The Birds (1963) by Alfred Hitchcock where the main character Melanie is looking around a house after hears bird noises and chooses to investigate. The emotions first shown is that of nervousness and curiosity as she searches for the cause of this noise, and the audience instantly empathises with her and they also want to know what is happening. The suspense is built up by the score as she opens the door and then her emotions turn to shock and terror when she sees the hole in the roof and the birds begin to attack. Throughout the attack, pain and panic turn to helplessness and defeat as she cannot open the door and get out of the room. The audience want her to escape and not get hurt due to the introduction of empathy when she is first seen within the scene.
The final film we watched was the famous clip from Singin' in the Rain (1952) by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly where the main character Don has just realised he is in love and begins to start singing. The fact that he is dancing and singing when there is a downpour happening already shows the care-free nature of the character and the fact that he is so happy in that particular weather shows the happiness and jubilation emotions of the character so the audience instantly empathises with him and feels as happy as he does.
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