'Winter's Bone'

'Winter's Bone' Production and Background
Independent Cinema paired with 'Inception' for mainstream cinema.
Main Theory - Spectatorship
Production Style needs to be discussed.

Director - Debra Granik
Started out making educational films for Trade Unions after graduating from University.
Her short film 'Snake Feed' (1998) was entered at the Sundance film festival and was later reworked to become a feature film by the name of 'Down to the Bone' (2004) which was the story of a mother overcoming drug addiction. This had similar themes and stylisation to 'Winter's Bone' showing Granik as a developing Autor.
She co-wrote 'Winter's Bone' with Ann Rosellini after receiving a pre-publication novel by Daniel Woodrell by the same name.

Granik's Style - For 'Winter's Bone'
This uses organic and incremental processes such as:
Video and photographic documentation of the families in the Missouri Ozarks
Collaboration with actors (professional, regional and local non-actors), local musicians, local business owners, teachers, students and residents.
Location shooting that incorporates environment. This particular in 'Winter's Bone' as much fo the shooting took place on existing family properties.

'Winter's Bone' Stylisation
Neo-realistic documentary-like style
No marks for actors, the camera moved around and with them.
Removed standard filmmaking accessories as much as possible (lighting interior from exterior etc)
Fable-like narrative whereby a girl goes into a forest and endures many horrors to complete a quest.

Production of 'Winter's Bone'
2 Year pre-production including the finding and securing of locations
25 day shoot from February to March 2009
Shot on high resolution Red DV Cameras other than the dream sequence which was shot with a Super 8 camera giving the grainy, home video style
$2 million budget
It was all filmed on location in Missouri. More specifically in a combination of Taney County, Forsyth, Christian County and Branson

Other Information
Released mid 2010 and turned out to be a 'Sleeper Hit' whereby it gained popularity after good reviews and word of mouth spread.
The costume budget was $5,500 and the costume designer initiated a clothes swap with the local community in order to gain authenticity.
It was screened at Sundance in 2010 and won the Grand Jury prize and Best Screenplay
Distributed by Roadside Attractions who released it in cinemas using a platform strategy
Won awards at the Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for multiple Oscars
Grossed $6.5 million in the US Box Office

Social Context:
Rural poverty, lack of opportunity and low educational outcomes. Sense of separation from USA infrastructure.
Secretive and inward looking with an emphasis on family loyalty and kin based on patriarchal power but dependent on resilient women.
Meth production and addiction.
Reality of financial insecurity, domestic violence and mental-illness.

Spectatorship:
Preferred - filmmaker wants you to take this view. Accept what is happening and how it is produced.
Negotiated - audience has some control in what they think is the message being conveyed.
Oppositional Readings - audience may reject the preferred interpretation of the film.
Active/Passive
Passive accept without question and the messages and values the film contains. Active are more likely to challenge or question the messages and values that a film contains.

Audience Theory:
These help explain the relationship between the film and the audience. They allow you to theorise and comment on how the different audiences use and view film. Give you a framework for analysing the construction and reception of any film.
Hypodermic Model - every audience member is passive. Producers are all powerful. No interaction between audience and film. This theory is fairly outdated in modern cinema.
Uses and Gratifications - audience is active in  process of understanding the meaning in film. Producers of the film are less powerful. Some interaction between audience and film.
Cultivation Theory - films cultivate the opinions of the people who watch them, Film has a 'mainstreaming effect' where everyone likes the same thing. May lead to desensitisation of taste or opinion. Persistent viewing may cultivate a passive or active appreciation of cinema dependent upon the individuals capacity for challenge.
Due to the different audiences the stylisation of independent and mainstream cinema differs greatly. This can be compared and contrasted through textual analysis such as sound and editing as well as meaning. How issues generate responses in the audience for each film.

Other things to Consider:
Enigma Code - something that isn't answered and doesn't need to be. (spinning top in 'Inception')
Binary Oppositions - the hero and the villain and the message they portray.
Genre - recognise and analyse the conventions of each film.
Narrative - discuss the way the story is structured.
Representation - comment on the differing representations of character. Ethnicity, gender and sexuality.
Production Values - technical aspects and how the scene is constructed. How this relates to the intended audience.
Own Views - your opinion and why you may take a preferred or oppositional view.

Winter's Bone - Social Context Essay Awarded grade A

Winter's Bone - Cutting Off Hands Scene Analysis of sequence.

Overview/Key Notes (specific scene applications are on paper)
Key Themes:
Family
Poverty
Drug Use/ Addiction
Raw and Primal Environments
Patriarchy/Sexism
Education/ Lack Thereof

Social Context:
Niche Micro-Society (everyone related)
Poverty
Addiction
Violence/Murder
Sexism

Overall Stylisation:
Handheld Camera
Natural Light
Rural Environment
Earthy Tones
Diegetic Sound
Active Spectatorship (few areas of passive)
Lots of shots of run-down/ derelict toys and vehicles
Neo-Realistic Documentary-Type Style
Simplistic Cinematography link to Simplistic way of life

Comparative Spectatorship Essay - Winter's Bone and Inception

Clip Analysis - Squirrel Shooting:
In terms of social context this scene serves to highlight the poverty and raw environment the people live in. This is done through the very minimalistic cinematography. The camera switches between mid-shot and close-ups of Ree and her siblings sat in their dull coloured clothing with a basic rifle. Every scene contains the bare minimum of mise-en-scene. Any tech is run down and their clothes are often scruffy. This foregrounds their poverty. All sound is completely diegetic including the sound of Ree and her little brother pulling the skin off the squirrel. Again adding to this raw aesthetic. Creating the overall tone of verisimilitude.
As the scene progresses in evolves to explore drug addiction when Teardrop comes to Ree while she's chopping wood he casually takes out a packet of what is implied to be Meth and snorts it. Again this is a very raw depiction.
In terms of the readings it encourages more active viewing here but only after the gunshsot. Before that the monotone speech and static quality of the scene allows the viewer to slip into passive viewing. The preferred viewing here would be the statement on the poverty and repression of the people depicted. Hence encouraging more active viewing in order to understand the subtext of this.
There are also aspects of male-gaze and the implication of the male-dominated micro-society here in how Ree is clearly afraid of Teardrop when he grabs her face. The close-ups here reflect this fear by cutting quickly and creating a claustrophobic atmosphere. That majority of their conversation doesn't take place verbally also encourages this active viewing as the audience has to fill in what isn't said.