FILMMAKING AND STORYTELLING
Scroll down this page to see answers for the Filmmaking and Storytelling section. If there is a particular question you would like the answer for you can jump straight to it using the menu below |
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4) He has spent all his life learning how to make his wonderful masks but worries that he has no son to pass his skills on to. |
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5) Grandpa is leaving the market when he hears what he thinks is a young boy calling him. |
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6) The man asks for far too much money. |
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7) The "boy" calls to grandpa again. This time grandpa can't resist. |
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8) The tying around Doggie's neck might make us feel sorry for him as if he is indeed a dog or a slave. The fact that everything behind him is blurry - this is called shallow focus - means that we look only at him, as if he is alone in the world. The lighting above his head almost gives him a halo as if he is an angel.
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9a) It moves forward towards grandpa. This is called dollying. As it does so he gets bigger within the shot and so we can see his face and his feelings more.
b) It is almost as if the camera is Doggie, rushing up behind grandpa.
c) Because Doggie is smaller than him and the filmmaker really makes us want to feel as if the old man and the child are looking right into each other's eyes.
d) It gets louder and swells, like a wave. The composer of the music seems to want us to feel the same rush of feeling that Grandpa does. |
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10b) Perhaps by making the light warm and cosy - as if there was a big roaring fire to the right of the two characters. And, of course, because they are hugging each other. And, perhaps, because the camera is looking at them from their level, not from high up looking down on them. |
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11b) Some directors decide not to shine film lights at actors, so they don't feel "in the limelight". Others simplify the equipment as much as they can so that the actor isn't scared. Often a director will play games with a child actor so they get to know her or him. Sometimes they will have their favourite toys, or something that scares them beside the camera to help them feel what they are supposed to feel in the scene. Often the child's parents will be on set too. And usually the director tells the story to them using examples from the child's own life, so that they can understand how it feels. |
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13) The actor playing the Living Bodhisatva is a female impersonator, a man playing a woman, the opposite of Doggie who was a girl playing a boy. |
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14) Hiding messages in this way, and relating two characters because they have something in common, is a way of giving a film a theme. As two of the characters disguise themselves and grandpa himself has spent his whole life making masks and disguising himself behind them, we could say that the theme of this film is disguise or "masquerade. |
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16) Doggie has just stolen something from a shop. She brings it back to Grandpa. |
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18a) She knows that grandpa is poor, wants to help him but hasn't learnt the difference between right and wrong yet. |
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19) Perhaps Grandpa has come to realise that people should deserve what they get rather than just taking it from other people without earning it. |
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20) They ask Where is Tianci? Their baby son has wandered off and, we find out later, is stolen. |
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21) Stealing is always wrong but perhaps we have more sympathy with her this time because she is genuinely starving, has been living on her own, sleeping on the streets, and needs to survive. |
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22a) Doggie has found Tianci and steals him back from the thief.
b) She probably does the right thing because she is, in fact, rescuing Tianci from a dangerous man. |
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23) This is where she makes a big mistake. She is so desperate to help grandpa, and knows so well that he wanted a grandson rather than a daughter, that she thinks by giving him Tianci, all will be sorted. But Tianci is not hers to give, of course, and has a mum and dad of his own who are very worried about him. |
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24) Could this be another "theme" in the film? Just as one of the themes of disguise and masquerade occurs three times - in the characters of Doggie and the Living Bodhisatva, so we see stealing three times. Maybe the filmmaker wants us to think about stealing, why people do it and if it is ever the right thing to do |
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25) Yes, grandpa had no heir to teach his mask making to - which is bad luck - but then he found Doggie - which was really good luck. Often in the best drama, what seems like something bad turns out to be good in some way. This is what the phrase "every cloud has a silver lining" means. |
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26) Filial means being a good son or daughter. Honouring your parents is valued highly in traditional Chinese culture. |
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27) He is upset that he has been wrongly accused but, also, he think that if he remains in prison he will have no chance to pass on the art of mask making and his life will have been wasted. |
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28) Yes, this makes us excited because we are nervous for poor Doggie in case she gets hurt, then we leave her and see the singers who are happy and don't know that Doggie is in danger. We want to shout "What about Doggie! She might hurt herself!" We want to get back to see if she is OK. Going away from and coming back to her creates tension. Filmmakers call this technique "cross cutting". |
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30) Because it is in a language many of us don't understand - Mandarin.
Why did the filmmakers not just change the voices to english speakers? Because the original actors are very talented and make us feel things from the tone of their voice - sometimes happy, sometimes, sad, sometimes angry. Even though many of us don't speak their language, we can tell what they feel from the sound of their voice.
Did the words - which are called subtitles - distract you from the story? At first it might seem a bit odd to be reading in a movie but most people get used to it quickly and, afterwards, many people forget that they had to read at all! |
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32a and b) Both grandpa and Doggie seem to have changed a lot. He was lonely and unhappy that he had no-one to pass on his craft to. Now he has a granddaughter and an apprentice in one! She was lonely too, but now she has a wonderful grandpa and a great new skill - mask making - which hopefully she can practice throughout her whole life. A real happy ending! |
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