Psycho Case Study Vlog

Madame Butterfly Case Study

Heavenly Creatures and Madama Butterfly

Heavenly Creatures is a true story about two girls; Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey) and Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet), whose obsessive friendship leads to the famous murder of Pauline's mother, Honora Parker Rieper (Sarah Peirse), in Victoria park, Christchurch, New Zealand. They used a brick in a stocking.

The final sequence of the film is when the murder occurs. Long panning shots which seem to be almost floating, lend a dreamy feeling to the scene. 

Lens flares often blank the screen, giving connotations of heaven, and therefore acting as a prelude to the upcoming slaughter. 

It also is in slow motion, furthermore emphasising this dreaminess.

This is accompanied by the ‘Humming Chorus’ from the opera ‘Madama Butterfly’, a beautiful operatic piece which aurally contradicts the brutal nature of the scene, but lyrically and contextually matches - for example; the soundtrack plays right through the death of the mother, and also throughout the death scene of Madama Butterfly.

Another similarity is that, in Madama Butterfly, the child is being taken away from the mother before she commits suicide, and this bears similarities in the way that in Heavenly Creatures, the child is trying to leave her mother - in both, the mothers end up dying and the children are left motherless.

Those who recognise the soundtrack are also likely to know the meaning behind it. This is probably the more elderly people, and this intertextual link may seem somewhat flattering to them and allow them to become more emotionally attached characters in a film about a somewhat alien topic of youth. This may lead to a heightened experience of tragedy when watching the film for these people.

This scene both develops and challenges thriller conventions through use of location, camera angles and movement, props, and gender representation.

The location is very unlike the typical thriller film, as it is a very open area, very light and airy - opposing the typical dark, claustrophobic areas generally used (such as alleys, bathrooms etc.).

The camera is never static, always floating around giving the dreamlike feeling to the sequence.

This challenges generic conventions; although the angles are all either extremely high-angled, low-angled, long shots, tilts or closeups - the use of constant panning means the shots are less harsh and the jump cuts far less stark when in series, again allowing for the scene to be surreal and smooth in contrast to the action.

Gender representation in the clip is very progressive for a thriller film. For example, all the people featured are female, and profoundly different to the archetype often seen in old noire films.

For example, the characters have very conflicted personalities, and are not suggested to be living for a man or a clear romance; in fact they are living for the friendship of someone of the same gender. This defies the gender, age, physical appearance, sexual and romantic stereotypes of the femme fatale archetype. 

Potential Film Fonts

All fonts taken from 'dafont.com'.

My favourite style, and what I think would work best for our film is a bold, dark and
heavy looking font, hence this selection.
My personal favourites are Altrashed-Rough and Snow White, but the decision will be made once overlaid over the final edit.