Jane+Campion

Lucy Guo - Creates controversy in films about women - Focuses a lot on gender studies/politics - Usually puts females as strong and independent, but with desires that "can't be articulated" - Dark humour - She tends to explore the darker sides of human consciousness/states, and the darker side of romance - Entrancing visual style - Usually has disturbing nature in films - Her films tend to leave many things ambiguous - Known for earthy natural imagery and "subtle eroticism"
 * Stylistic elements Jane Campion is known for:**

Cites [] [] []


 * 1: In The Cut
 * 2: Bright Star
 * 3: Sweetie
 * 4: The Portrait of a Lady
 * 5: The Piano


 * 6: Chart It - Jane Campion

Jane Campion - Documentary Script One of her trademarks is that her films usually focus on gender studies, as they create a lot of controversy regarding women, especially ones who seem repressed in many ways.”
 * **AUDIO** || **VIDEO** ||
 * //“One of the things... Lose myself for two hours...”// || //“The Piano - The Making of - Part 1”// ||
 * //‘the heart asks the pleasure first’ mp3// || //Quotes describing Jane Campion.// ||
 * //Music starts fading out// || “JANE CAMPION.” //bolded text// ||
 * Narrator: “Jane Campion is an Oscar-winning director.

//“It’s fairly obvious... statistics...”// || //Shots of the main female characters of her movies.//

// (0:22ish) ‘DP_30 Sneak Peek’ interview // || doesn’t have much empathy for others. This is shown from mise-en-scene, where Frannie’s brutally breaking up with her ex.” || //In The Cut movie poster// //Clip of Frannie brutally breaking up with her ex boyfriend// || “Jane Campion’s artistic and surreal shots have caused her films to be thought of as art pieces rather than movies.
 * Narrator: “Frannie, from In The Cut,
 * Narrator: “Sweetie is about the psychological problems of a girl named Dawn, and you can see her irrational behavior as she tries to sexually harass her sister’s husband.” || //Clip of Dawn trying to kiss Kay’s husband.// ||
 * Narrator: “In the Piano, you can see how repressed Ada feels, from the color scheme of the movie, which is focused on grays and dark murky colors. || //Shots of the start of The Piano, where everything’s dull at the beach.// ||
 * Narrator:

//“For something to be real, it has to be impacted on your sensations, on your feelings...”// This shows one of the reasons why Jane Campion focuses so much on artistic quality, and she tries to the best of her ability to make ‘real’ movies.

Jane Campion also tends to use suspense to illustrate an important part of the plot, as you can see from Osmond’s love confession to Isabel. || //Shots of nature from The Piano.//

//Shot of Portrait of a Lady (the garden)//

//“Jane Campion on Bright Star” interview//

//Cut to Osmond’s love confession to Isabel.// ||
 * Narrator: “Another trademark of Jane Campion’s is how her movies explore the darker side of human consciousness.

//“I wanted to create a mysterious character...”//

This is especially shown in Sweetie, as Dawn is seen as the epitome of all the bad emotions reflected in Kay’s life. Kay has illusions of bad memories from her childhood, of her sister.”

“Kay also has an irrational fear of trees, and when her husband tries to plant a tree in their garden, Jane Campion shows her having visions, her going out in the middle of the night to get rid of the tree.”

“Jane Campion uses dreams and illusions to show how skin-deep attraction affects Isabel into giving up her valued independence.” || // (1:00ish) 'The Piano - The Making of - Part 1' interview scene //

//Shot of Kay’s trance-state, where there are illusions of her sister.//

//Kay and husband arguing next to tree.//

//Kay’s black and white vision of the tree expanding.// //Kay getting rid of the tree at night.//

//Fade in scene: Isabel’s repeating dreams of Osmond’s love confession.// ||
 * “Jane Campion also likes to show the darker side of romance, as you can see, Ada’s in an arranged marriage with Alistair, but she has a clear mutual attraction with George that she acts upon. You can also see that, compared to the gray color scheme this movie usually has, the shots with Ada and George together are usually filled with red-orange colors, compared to the shots that Ada has with Alistair.”

**“Most of In the Cut is shot in seedy and ghetto places, the opposite of normal life as you know.** **This is especially shown at the start of the movie, where Frannie witnesses the murderer in the bar bathroom. The color schemes in this reflects certain aspects of normal life you might not usually see within movies.** **At the lake, Malloy’s trying to teach Frannie how to shoot.”**

“In Bright Star, Brown symbolizes the jealous side of human emotions, as he’s jealous of his friend’s relationship, trying his best to break them up. This scene is focused on gray colors, excluding Fanny, who symbolizes truth and love. This scene has a lot of close-up shots, showing the emotions of each person.” || //Fade in scene: Ada trying to teach George piano, but he’s obviously paying more attention to her.// //Ada and George kissing at the end of the movie.// //Different shots of Ada and George together + note vivid color scheme.// //Different shots of Ada and Alistair together + note dull color scheme//

**//The first time you meet the bouncer at “Baby Doll”.//**
 * //The start of In The Cut (in the bathroom).// **
 * //Malloy trying to teach Frannie how to shoot at the lake.// **

//Fade in scene: Keats and Brown accusing Fanny of being a flirt, and not actually caring about Keats.// ||
 * Narrator: “Jane Campion tends to leave many things ambiguous in her films, and she likes to use suspense to show important plot points. The music in The Piano is extremely helpful because it symbolizes the main themes of the movie, and it creates suspense at parts like this.”

“Right before Dawn’s death in Sweetie, she’s struggling to tell her family something, but you never find out what it is.”

“Fanny has an obsession with writing down every phrase that catches her eye, and it makes the audience question the meaning.”

“In the end, Isabel kisses Caspar, but then she flees and runs back to the house. Jane Campion left the ending ambiguous, so you don’t know what Isabel’s decision is, in the end.” || //Shot of Ada and her daughter translating everything she says.// // Shot of Ada trying to drown herself. //

//Shot of Sweetie’s last moments, and then death.//

//“like one blind, unafraid of the dark.” clip from in the cut//

//The end scene of The Portrait of a Lady.// || //Fade to black.// ||
 * Narrator: “Jane Campion’s films are known for their entrancing visual style, and the controversy they create about women, especially shown through her most famous movie, The Piano, which may be the reason why she’s one of the most successful female directors today.” || //Ambient nature scene from The Piano lightly playing in the background,//