La La Land (2016, Damien Chazelle) provokes both active and passive responses from the spectator. A passive audience accept the ‘preferred reading’ (Stuart Hall, 1980) of the film and respond in the way that the director intended. However, an active audience challenge this reading instead and get a ‘negotiated reading’ where they only partly agree with the director’s intentions or they get an ‘oppositional reading’ where they completely disagree with the director’s intended meaning. 

Dennis McQuail’s Uses and Gratifications theory (1972) states that audiences ‘get’ four different things out of a film. These are information, personal identity, social interaction and entertainment. The American Dream is an important ideology throughout La La Land as Mia and Seb attempt to follow their aspirations. This narrative is foreshadowed from the opening scene of the film with the song ‘Another Day of Sun’. Out of the four uses and gratifications stated by Dennis McQuail, this scene in particular offers a passive audience personal identification. It does this by showing the monotony of life with the traffic but then the spontaneous musical number kicks in representing the desire to break the cycle. This reflects Seb and Mia’s narrative which also gives the audience personal identification, particularly with Mia as she tries to get an acting role but constantly gets turned down. Looking more specifically into the opening scene, it generates a positive emotional response from the passive audience through the mise-en-scène. It makes use of bright, primary colours that stand out and make it seem quite surreal. It also uses high-key lighting to give the impression of a sunny day, reflected in the lyrics “It’s another day of sun”. This is also pathetic fallacy which foreshadows the plot and themes of the film. The non-diegetic musical number along with the fact that the scene appears to be done in one long take offers escapism for a passive audience who will also enjoy the spectacle. However, an active audience would see this as unrealistic. An active response to the film as a whole could be very similar to this, and spectators may say that the whole narrative of Mia and Seb constantly bumping into each other is unrealistic. Passive audiences may say that La La Land represents a wide range of races and ethnicities. For example, the opening sequence shows people from all different ethnic backgrounds dancing together. However, an active response to the representation of race and ethnicity in La La Land would be that it is very stereotypical and that all non-white characters aren’t integral to the plot. The only named black character, Keith, is represented as being a sell-out whereas Seb is the one trying to ‘save jazz’. Therefore, an active response to this would be that black characters are portrayed negatively compared with white characters. In response to the opening scene, an active audience would argue that the dances performed by each person are very stereotypical and show an oversimplified view of ethnicity. For example, the Latina is doing flamenco dancing and the black man is breakdancing.

Active and passive audiences will also respond very differently to the ideology of nostalgia in La La Land. Passive audiences will most likely get the emotional pleasure of nostalgia whereas active audiences may see this as quite manipulative to try to make them like it because they like the things being referenced. The idea of emotional pleasures is part of Rick Altman’s audience pleasures theory. La La Land contains a lot of intertextual references (Julia Kristeva). These are mostly in the final scene which references classic Hollywood musicals such as On the Town and Funny Face. An active audience would claim that a lot of people who see La La Land won’t understand these references because they may be too young. Therefore, as La La Land is a mainstream film, an active audience would say that this should have been taken into accound as it is supposed to appeal to a wide audience. The sound in this scene also used to generate a response. Seb plays his and Mia’s leitmotif while we see close up shots of both of them showing their emotion and reaction in shot, reverse shot. This would make the passive audience feel sad because Mia and Seb had to sacrifice their relationship to follow their dreams. However, an active audience may be pleased that they didn’t end up together because of how badly Seb treated Mia throughout their relationship. The ideology of nostalgia is also presented through a wide angle shot and 35mm lens to reflect a stage show and classic Hollywood films. The wide aspect ratio also references Cinemascope which is shown with the logo at the start.

In conclusion, active audiences reject the ideologies of nostalgia and the American Dream in La La Land, whereas passive audiences accept these ideologies.

Shot #	Shot Type	Location	Description
1	Close up	Home	An alarm clock ringing on a bedside table
2	Close up	Home	Our main character’s face, she opens her eyes and sighs
3	Mid shot	Home	Main character in bed from the side, she turns to face the camera and shuts her eyes tight
4	Close up	Home	The alarm clock gets smashed
5	Medium close up	Home	Main character’s head and shoulders, she opens her eyes and the alarm clock begins ringing again.
6	Long shot	Home	Main character getting out of bed
7	Extreme Long Shot/Establishing Shot	College	A shot of the outside of college to establish the location in which the scene takes place
8	Long Shot	College	The main character is seen walking through the corridor
9	Mid Shot/Over Shoulder	College	She is pictured from behind going to open the door to the classroom
10	Close Up	College	Shows her hand hovering over the door handle
11	Mid Shot	College	From the other side of the door, we see it open to reveal her standing there
12	High Angle Close Up	College	Her face as she stands awkwardly for a few seconds
13	Medium Close Up	College	Her face as she turns her head to look at the back of the classroom
14	POV Panning Shot	College	Pans across the classroom to mimic where she is looking, moves towards the very back
15	Long Shot	College	From the back of the classroom, shows the main character rush to her seat
16	Low Angle Mid Shot	College	Shows the chair being pulled back as she goes to sit down
17	Medium Close Up	College	Her face enters the shot as she sits down and looks to the ground trying not to be seen
18	Insert Shot/Extreme Close Up	College	Shows her hand reaching into her bag as a pen hits it
19	Mid Shot	College	She briefly looks up and before turning her attention to her paper
20	Insert shot	College	She writes the title of the film and the main credits (this is the title of the book she is writing)
21	Mid Shot	College	A girl in the corner of the room is looking in the direction of our main character
22	Insert Shot/Extreme Close Up	College	Her hand slowly reaches into a box of pens and picks it up
23	Extreme Close Up	College	The girl’s mouth as she smirks
24	Close Up	College	Our main character’s hand as she catches the pen
25	Close Up	College	Intended to look the same as the previous shot but higher up as she is on the table, match cut.
26	Medium Close Up/Level	College	Our main character is now stood on the table, the shot starts on her feet and begins to pan upwards
27	Medium Close Up/Low Angle	College	The panning stops on her face, she is looking straight on, but we are looking at her from a low angle
28	Medium Close Up/High Angle	College	We cut back to the girl from now looking concerned
29	Extreme Close Up	College	Shows the main character’s eyes shaking, she quickly looks to the right where the girl is
30	Medium Shot/POV	College	Shows the girl, pens fly into the air and she moves away
31	Extreme Close Up	College	Our main character’s mouth as she smirks
32	Medium Close Up	College	Our main character’s head and shoulders, she is still looking to the right
33	Long Shot/High Angle/Over Shoulder	College	Behind the main character’s shoulder, looking at the girl frantically trying to open the door, but it won’t open
34	Close Up	College	The girl’s hand as she tries to turn the door handle
35	High Angle Medium Close Up	College	She looks back at our main character in fear
36	Close Up	College	Her hand as she hits the door in frustration
37	Medium Close Up	College	Behind the girl’s head, she turns around and the camera zooms out slightly as she realises that she can’t escape
38	Long Shot	College	Shows the main character’s full body, she walks forward and covers the camera
39	Close Up	College	The same shot from before of the main character catching the pen, this lingers for longer
40	Medium Close Up/Low Angle	College	The girl pauses in disbelief then laughs awkwardly, looking confused
41	High Angle Long Shot	College	Our main character quickly puts the pen down on the table
42	Insert Shot/Close Up	College	Shows the pen being put down and rolling away
43	Medium Shot/Over Shoulder/High Angle	College	We look over the main character’s shoulder, she is looking down. We see the girl staring at her and the pen falling
44	Medium Shot	College	From behind we see the main character walk through a door and out of college
45	Medium Shot	Home	Now from in front we see her enter the door to her house
46	Medium Close Up	Home	The main character’s head and shoulders as she sighs and looks down at her feet
47	Close Up/High Angle/POV	Home	Looking down at her shoes, she slides them off
48	Long Shot	Home	From behind we see her walk towards the stairs as her bag slides from her shoulder to her elbow and she puts her hand on the banister
49	Close Up	Home	Her hand gripping the banister and moving upwards
50	Low Angle Medium Shot	Home	View from the bottom of the stairs as she walks up
51	Medium Shot	Home	She is standing next to her parents’ bedroom and the door is slightly open, she looks saddened as she hears arguing
52	Over Shoulder Shot to Close Up	Home	She puts her hand on the door as if to push it open but moves away when she hears what they are arguing about
53	Long Shot	Home	She runs to her room
54	Medium Shot	Home	The door slamming behind her
55	High Angle Medium Shot	Home	She slouches in her chair
56	Extreme Close Up	Home	Her eyes as they close
57	Long Shot	Dark Place	Our main character enters the frame
58	Medium Close Up	Dark Space	Her head and shoulders as she stands up straight and takes a deep breath
59	Extreme Long Shot/High Angle	Dark Place	She begins to dance alone
60	Over Shoulder Long Shot	Dark Place	From behind the shoulder of a mysterious person, we see the main character’s full body as she dances, he walks forward and covers the camera
61	High Angle Medium Shot	Dark Place	Looking down at the main character who is now on the floor
62	Low Angle Medium Shot	Dark Place	Looking up at the mysterious person who holds out his hand
63	Close Up	Dark Place	The hand as the main character takes it
64	Long Shot	Dark Place	The main character gets up and the two begin dancing in a long take before walking in separate directions, the screen is once again black
65	Extreme Close Up	Home	The main character’s eyes quickly open and blink a few times
66	Medium Shot	Outside Home	The door to the house closes behind the main character, it is now evening
67	Close Up	Streets	She puts in her earphones
68	Long Shot	Streets	She is walking and stands under a street lamp with her hands in her pockets
69	Medium Close Up	Streets	She looks to her right, concerned
70	POV Long Shot	Streets	A girl wearing black is dancing angrily towards her
71	Medium Shot	Streets	The main character jumps backwards
72	Low Angle Close Up	Streets	The strange girl’s face looking menacingly at our main character
73	High Angle Close Up	Streets	Our main character’s face looking frightened, she blinks
74	Close Up	Streets	The girl’s face again, this time she looks friendly, she asks if the main character is okay
75	Long Shot	Streets	The main character runs into the distance
76	Medium Shot	Streets	The girl looks confused in the direction of where she ran
77	Low Angle Long Shot	Streets	We are back with our main character, we watch her walking from the top of the hill towards the church
78	Medium Shot	Church	We see her through the glass doors as she opens them
79	Over Shoulder Medium Close Up	Church	We see everyone in the church in front of her as she opens the second set of glass doors
80	Extreme Long Shot	Church	From the front of the church as she quietly walks along the back to sit down in the middle
81	POV Long Shot, Panning	Church	Pans around the room to represent her looking at everyone, the lights at the front are currently yellow
82	Close Up	Church	Our main character’s face as she looks down uncomfortably
83	POV Close Up	Church	We see her shoes as she is looking at them while we distantly hear someone speaking and the quiet noise of praying
84	Close Up	Church	We see her face again as she looks up towards the stained-glass window
85	POV	Church	We see a light coming from outside of the window which grows constantly brighter
86	Medium Close Up	Church	Our main character has now changed clothes and is looking around in confusion
87	POV Long Shot	Church	Someone wearing white walks towards her and holds hand towards her, the lights at the front are now white
88	Low Angle Medium close up	Church	Our main character looks up
89	Long shot/two shit	Church	The main character and the girl in white from the side, she takes her hand
90	Close up, insert shot	Church	Their hands
91	POV shot, Mid shot, high angle to level	Church	Looking at the main character from the girl’s perspective, starts high angle looking down at her but becomes level as she stands up
92	Close up	Church	The girl’s face smiling
93	Medium close up	Church	Main character, she looks to her left
94	POV Medium Shot	Church	Two people dressed in white are carrying a coat towards her
95	Two shot, medium close up	Church	The main character and the girl looking at the two people, they look at each other
96	Mid shot	Church	The girl steps away proudly
97	Long shot	Church	The two people put the coat on our main character while the girl watches and smiles
98	Close ups	Church	People around the church looking proud
99	High angle long shot	Church	Main character looking proudly up.
100	Extreme long shot	Church	From the main character’s POV, the girl now stood at the front in the centre
101	Extreme Long Shot	Church	A long take from the front of the church as the main character walks forwards. The two people from before are now dancing behind her and there are people in white watching her from the aisles
102	Medium Shot	Church	We see her closer from the front of the church, she stops still when she reaches the front
103	Close Up	Church	She is looking at the girl
104	Mid shot	Church	The girl steps to the side
105	Long shot	Church	The main character stands beside her and they both look towards the people
106	Close up	Church	The main character looks towards the girl and smiles in disbelief
107	Close up	Church	The girl’s face, loses focus
108	Close Up	Church	Shows the main character’s face as she is now back in her seat at the back, blinking
109	Medium Shot	Church	She moves back in her chair in shock and confusion
110	Extreme Long Shot/POV	Church	She looks down the central aisle, the people who were just admiring her are now looking back at her with confusion as to what she is doing, the light at the front is now blue, they turn back around and resume their prayer
111	Close Up	Church	Our main character looks towards the front of the church with a sad look in her eyes, she closes them.
112	Close up	Library	5 years later, our main character stares into the distance, as if she is remembering the events from before.
113	Mid shot	Library	We now see that she is behind a table, she shakes herself out of her thoughts and looks to her right
114	Master shot, Medium long shot	Library	The main character is facing a young girl and her mother.
115	Over the shoulder medium close up	Library	The young girl’s face, she looks excited
116	Close up	Library	Main character, she smiles at the girl
117	Medium close up, two shot.	Library	The mother is crouching down to her daughter’s height. They both look excited.
118	Master shot	Library	Returns to the master shot as the young girl puts a book on the table
119	Insert shot, close up	Library	The book, it’s the book the main character was writing at the start, the main character’s hands open it to reveal the full credits on the first page.
120	Over the shoulder, mid shot	Library	The main character asks who she is making it out to.
121	Master shot	Library	The three of them looking happy and excited

A teenage girl struggles to come to terms with reality and uses her imagination as a form of escapism when she cannot cope with being present in the real world. A lack of positive relationships means that she wishes she could improve things for herself but simply doesn’t know how.

It begins in the morning as her alarm clock rings. She opens her eyes and sighs. She closes them again, entering her dream state where she visualises the clock being smashed and time being irrelevant. She realises she must get up and leaves for school.

She is sat alone at school writing a story when her classmates begin throwing pens at her from across the classroom. Not knowing how to properly deal with the situation, she turns to her thoughts and imagines being strong enough both emotionally and physically to stand up to her bullies in a way which would make them never bother her again. She dreams of overreacting to the whole situation, shocking them greatly and being able to put a stop to the torment once and for all. The harsh reality sets in as she realises that she will never be capable of such revenge.

The girl returns home to find her parents arguing, they don’t acknowledge her presence. She quickly runs up the stairs and into her room where she can still hear shouting from downstairs. Covering her ears and closing her eyes she imagines dancing alone in a dark room, allowing her to isolate herself from reality and what is going on around her. A shadowy figure joins her in dancing, and she begins to look much more at ease as she has the safety of her newfound company. Reality once again sets in and she leaves the house and begins walking through the dim streets. A concerned girl approaches her but her vivid imagination causes her to only see a dangerous individual.

She arrives at a church and enters to find a mixed ages group of people quietly praying, she looks visibly out of her comfort zone. Silently sitting at the back, she hears only a woman begin to speak about a vision of god when she needed it most, the talking seems distant and she appears far removed from their way of life and their experiences. She closes her eyes and opens them to enter her fantasy world. Her thoughts see a goddess approach her and anoint her as a special individual. The people around her begin to celebrate her presence. She soon realises that this is a complete creation of her mind and returns to reality.

Five years later she is sitting behind a desk with the finished book she began writing five years ago. She appears comfortable and confident, showing how she has grown as an individual and found somewhere she belongs thanks to her vivid imagination. A young girl approaches her and asks her to sign her book. She sees part of herself in this young girl and is happy that others can use their imagination in a positive way.

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Some things in this shot list may change as it is only a guide. Additionally, it is likely that I will shoot more than is required or multiple variations of each shot to give me more options when editing and make it less likely that I will have to go back and reshoot anything.

This is a collection of any additional ideas that I have had, particularly regarding how I will effectively portray the idea of fiction vs reality. It is important that I remember to keep the message relatively ambiguous in order to ensure that the viewer is able to draw their own conclusions. There are a number of different possible techniques that I may choose to use on their own or in combination with each other with the objective of showing the audience that there has been a shift without making the overall message seem too obvious or making the audience feel as if certain viewpoints are being forced upon them. That being said, I feel that the transitions away from reality will work best if they are somewhat jarring and unexpected as to almost throw the viewer off, especially in the first scene.

The extras in the college scene will be based on who is available at the time chosen for filming, this also applies to the extras in the church scene. A friend of mine runs a health class within the church on a Monday night and I have spoken to a lot of the people who attend and they may be willing to help or know others who are. As this ends at around 8:30pm it is at a reasonable time to film as this scene is set in the evening/night. The dance scene in the middle section features a mysterious male character who will be played by my friend Ethan who has expressed interest in helping and confident in front of a camera.

There are some characters who are only heard rather than seen. These parts will be done through voiceover. The main character’s parents will be heard arguing, this can be recorded at a later date so I will need to find someone to do it. They won’t be seen which is to imply that they don’t really matter because they pay their daughter no attention or love. There will also be someone speaking in the church, I will record this with a microphone in the church so that the acoustics sound right but I will do this later as, again it isn’t important that the audience hear the person speaking because the main charter isn’t really listening to them. My brother has agreed to voice this part.

The main character in my film will be played by my friend Grace. She is comfortable on camera and has been in videos previously so will have no problem with the filming. She is also experienced in dance and is able to teach others which will help with the middle section where she will be teaching Ethan a basic dance. Due to the fact we wear the same clothing size, Grace can wear clothes of mine for certain scenes as I know that I have what I need.

Some of the generic conventions of classic musicals such as West Side Story (1961) have influenced my ideas for my own film and how I want it to look and feel. For example, these musicals often use wide shots to show spectacle and scale by resembling a stage. This is something I would like to use in the third section of my film which is set in the church as this section is intended to seem theatrical with nods to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph. I think this will work well as it is a big building and there will be a number of people in this scene. Therefore, this will be a good way to show everyone at once and make it seem a larger scale. In addition, classic musicals are known for sudden bursts into song and dance which create verisimilitude where the audience must suspend their disbelief. As a large portion of my film will be set within the main character’s imagination, verisimilitude will be very important and it is crucial that the fact it is her imagination comes across. Some may argue that the way some musicals transition into song is unnatural seeming. By taking influence from some of the conventions of this genre, I can use this to my advantage as there should be an emphasis on the stark contrast between reality and imagination. Another example of the generic conventions of musicals is high-key lighting which I will use in my third section to give it an ethereal quality. However the second section will do the opposite of this as it will have particularly low-key lighting which will demonstrate the variety of thoughts and feelings that the main character experiences. Additionally, a commonly recognisable element of classic musicals is a brightly coloured mise-en-scène. This will be prevalent in the dream sequences, particularly in the costume but also in subtle ways such as the props. For example, the pens in the first scene will be of all different colours. One thing that West Side Story does in particular that has influenced my ideas its creative use of lighting in the final scene. It uses the light from the street lamps to seem like a spotlight on Maria and Tony. As the main character will be walking through the street when it is dark, I intend to do something similar. This implies that she wishes to be noticed, as a spotlight is used to bring something to someone’s attention. To expand on my ideas, something that I could potentially include is the character’s fears that she sees in the distance while she is in the safety of the small light radius. Therefore, showing that her vivid imagination doesn’t always produce positive thoughts and can create unwanted scenes in her mind.

The first two scenes of the film will be done at college in a classroom, the exact classroom that it is filmed in won’t affect the narrative. Therefore, it can be done in any available classroom. There will also be some shots of the main character entering and leaving the classroom and college which will be filmed outside and in the hallway.

The third scene is set at the main character’s house. This scene will be short and can be filmed at my house. She will need to be seen going in through the front door, walking past a room from which she hears shouting and then going into one of the bedrooms before progressing to the following scene. Using my house for this is especially convenient for transitioning into the fifth scene after returning to reality as the church is within walking distance so the look of the streets will match up. The fourth scene is set in a dark room, this can possibly be done at college as all that is needed is a reasonably sized space with little light.

The fifth scene begins when the main character leaves her house and begins to walk to the church. She will walk along the actual roads between my house and the church which will be relatively dark as this will be filmed in the evening due to the film taking place within a time frame of one day. In the church for the fifth and sixth scene, there are lights at the front which can change colour. These will be useful to convey the main character’s feelings, especially as they will change colour from yellow when she first arrives, to white when she is imagining things and finally to blue when she returns back to reality. The church has chairs which can be moved around if more space is needed. However, in their existing position they have a central aisle which the main character will need to walk through.

Main character:

The central character of the film will wear the same outfit throughout all of the real life scenes as it is set in one day. However, she will add layers as it progresses. The overall look of her costume will be very basic as she is a character who never really makes herself stand out and doesn’t tend to interact with others. She will be wearing a blue top and plain black leggings. The clothing that is added will be a plain red zip-up hoodie and a plain yellow coat. She will have three different dresses for her separate imagination sequences, a blue dress, a red dress and a yellow dress to tie in with the colours of the reality sequences but show that there has been a change.

Other characters:

In the first third, the other students will be wearing regular clothes of no particular colour. This will remain throughout the imagination sequence as the only thing that changes between the two is how the main character acts.

In the second third, parents will not be seen so do not need to look a particular way. In the imagination section of this third, there will be one male character who’s identity is unknown. He will be wearing a black suit with a multi coloured tie. There will be multi coloured aspects to every imagination sequence to symbolise different things. In the first it shows self expression, in the third it shows being special or chosen and in this scene it shows eccentricity as someone who wears a brightly coloured tie would typically be considered outlandish. This shows her desire for life to be exciting and different.

In the final third, there churchgoers will be wearing regular clothes for the reality section. For the imagination section, they will be wearing all white and light colours to seem angelic and more like a collective rather than individual people, representing community but also having negative connotations such as the fact that individuality can be lost when a person’s full time and energy is devoted to one particular group or community. They will also possess a multi coloured coat and bring it to the main character symbolising that she is special and different from others which is what she wishes to be. Additionally, in terms of props there will be a number of open books at the front which she will walk towards. This shows her desire for knowledge and how she wishes the world was honest with her, like an open book.