Copy of The Favourite - Beginning and Ending PDF

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The Favourite - Beginning and Ending Beginning What is established (character/setting/theme)

How it is established (technique)

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Aural bridge the sound of the keys as Anne leads sarah with a blindfold on, to a room where she gives her a palace.(bridges the gap between the scene where Anne asks Sarah to say hello to the rabbits and then to the shot where she is leading her with a blindfold on.)

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Sarah sucks up to the Queen Fast paced speaking and dialogue Bickering between Sarah and Anne Abigail and Sarah first encounter. Great contrast between them as Abigails face is dirty and covered in mud with fly flying around her; whilst Sarah looks very clean and elegant in her costume Where Abigail starts from, (dirty with no title) Abigail starts off as sweet, good intentions Sarah talking (dialogue) about the war, shows her patriotism Abigail in the factories/Castle Kitchen and first stepping into the Courtroom Abigail being washed with all of the other servants Motherly relationship Sarah has with the queen How childish the queen is. Demarcation (sarah has the power and anne asks sarah for reassurance)

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Relationship between sarah and queen anne established → the two are very close Queen Anne is revealed to be childlike, unsure of things Abigail is introduced as pitiful, too kind for her own good, kind, eager to please and is gullible as a result of her overly kind/positive nature The gluttony of people is revealed → specifically the upper class Sarah is able to manage the affairs of the state, while she takes care of her own matters - hence the queen has less need to try to do such things

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Classical music Dangling diegetic sound of the keys, it is these keys that are handed over to Abigail later in the film Amber lighting ‘I love you, but I will not.” “If you love me” ‘love has limits.’ ‘It should not.’ Aural bridge of crow Fish eye lens of Abigail in the carriage, duller blue costume in contrast to those in the palace (represents the background she has come from) Dialogue regarding the ongoing War Contrast in costume and clashing dialogue between Sarah and Abigail, foreshadows their conflict Slow motion during the duck racing - luxurious and unnecessary lavishes. Upper class status and activity. Symbolises how those people are supposed to be running the country but instead they're spending money and time racing ducks and having excessive feasts.

classical string music with harpsichord again presents the time period - a warm tone presented for the opening of the film long shot: presents Anne as the Queen of England and shows the time setting, servants (very formal; folds the robes symmetrically) helping Anne with the robe + asking Sarah whether the speech was good or not show how Anne is not independent and confident (childish) Dialogue (Sarah/Anne relationship) Sarah: “I love you, but that i will not do” Anne: “If you love me-”

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Sarah: “Love has limits” Anne: “I’ve been wanting to give [Sarah] something for quite some time now” Clear contrast between Abigail and Sarah ( costumes) Abigail’s costume is that of a peasant, filthy, coarse material for the clothing Costume/colour:Sarah wears black, a colour associated with power and potential villainy, there is contrast to Anne’s costume as well as Anne wears predominantly white with Anne,Sarah is in a gold beautiful room and with Abigail she is in dull, wooden room slight low angle on both women shows they are equal - how the audience looks up to the characters, we are looking at them through a lense While the gluttony of people is introduced, there is use of close ups, fisheye lens on the duck racing scene music stops and dialogue starts -conventional broken sound of keys important -Sarah to Abigail Fisheye lense used to show a carriage being drawn past a forest (shows confinement, they are restricted in their roles) Slow motion

How dumb the nobles are, have so much time and money yet have nothing to do -

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End What has changed/where are they now (in comparison to the start) -

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Relationship between the Queen and Abigail. How the queen realises she has lost the only true connection she had with Sarah. Abigail lies to the Queen, trying to give reasons to get rid of Sarah and also destroys the letter that Sarah writes Anne (crying as she does). Queen is in a bad state after her stroke which is visible in her appearance and attitude. The Queen does not believe that Sarah has stolen from her however she uses lies to hurt Sarah at the end of the film. Queen Anne consistently sits in front of the window throughout the film, symbolises her loneliness We do not see the letter that has been written for Anne, personal

How it is revealed (technique) -

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Quick cuts between court and Sarah, in conjunction with fisheye lens and dialogue ‘a door to a new future’ (Harley) Diegetic sound: Anne’s voice Minor classical music; sad, ominous mood. Dull lighting In contrast with the next scene, Anne and Abigail are in natural lighting, amber colour  palette. Shows how Sarah has been calculatedly replaced Shadows on Sarah’s face while she is writing the letter, we see the tip of her scar. Gives her quite a dark and evil look. Abigail & Anne dialogue in the end vs. Sarah & Anne dialogue at the beginning; contrast of their relationship dynamic

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The Queen reminds Abigail that she is not better or of a higher rank than herself by making her rub her leg, and as a result humiliating Abigail and reminding her of who she really is. Anne no longer denies Sarah’s theft and then declares sarah to be banished from the country. Anne regains her power (over Abigail) in the final scene. The rabbits’ symbolise the children she lost (the overlapping with abigail's face) as she lost abigail as well.

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Fisheye lens as Abigail walks off(?) Use of coarse language (abigail mutters ‘f***’ numerous times as exiting the queens room) The low camera angle makes Queen Anne look superior to Abigail as she stands over her, using her power. Shows the idea that power doesn’t bring happiness or contentment/compassion. Sarah’s affection for Anne comes from somewhere far deeper than decorum. Both abigail and anne utilise their power to manipulate them into getting what they want Montage/superimpose the end scene of Anne, Abigail and the bunnies. (Dialogue) Abigail's use of “incompotent” as she tells the mail boy to re check the mail to see if the queen is missing mail, signifies her change in position of superiority, as she once was the maid that was instructed to do everything and now she has the authority to make orders Music turns sad and dreary as queen announces her decision to parliament to ban Sarah from england

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Abigail has the upper hand, Is still unhappy, realises that she has compromised herself Where before, Abigail was desperate to be in favour with Sarah and looked harmless, desperate for anything, she is now cruel, cold and bitter. Now that she has the upper hand, she sees no need for keeping up a harmless front. Queen Anne takes charge of the running of the country and its affairs after Sarah is gone Anne and Sarah in denial to see each other, yet both desperate for a connection to each other (mail) Abigail in charge, yet in resentment of the queen Abigail crushes rabbit, doesn't care about the queens loved animals. The queen is extremely weak, can't even walk- yet still has lots of power of Abigail

Costume: Wearing pearls, dressed in a black gown, hair done up, yells at servant, many low angle shots of her Is able to manipulate the queen with framing sarah and hiding the letters - Shown cursing when the thinks queen does not believe her, tearing up when destroying Sarah's letter - Close up shots of Abigail’s face: looking smug as she squishes the rabbit beneath her foot

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Sarah in very blue lighting, the queen in warm yellow lighting Harsh lighting on Sarah as she was writing letters (natural lighting), highlights the severity of her mood and/or facial features Chiaroscuro lighting on abigail’s face. Abigail shown in low angles

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Abigail realises that her situation is still the same. She is still taking orders and still regarded as nothing but a servant.

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Shadow over Abigails face as she rubs legs Eerie music playing loudly. The Queens face in full light when legs are being rubbed. Queen now has high angle in the ending scene.

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Relationship between Anne and Sarah is broken Sarah is strong, she learns to move forward and Anne can’t Anne is not fine - increasingly becoming more ill the fakeness of Abigail's feelings towards Anne is revealed - Doesn’t care about the Queen anymore because her place is secured in the palace Queen Anne takes care of more affairs of the state Sarah attempts to write to Queen Anne to repair their relationship Abigail is cunning (becomes more desperate as she realises how deep the friendship between Sarah and Anne is) and still uses the favouritism of the queen to try to further ruin Sarah and Anne’s relationship (Abigail underestimates the extent to which the queen still trusts Sarah and understands her character despite the pettiness and pain that Anne is going through) Queen Anne is hurt by not receiving Sarah’s letter and this causes her to make a petty, childish decision When Anne was with Sarah, she was happy, at the end she is with Abigail and is sad. Sarah was at the center to make all the relationships possible. With her gone, there is an imbalance. Contrast between how Anne and Sarah interact with the Queen. Abigail lies to the queen, becomes a ‘yes-man’ while Sarah does not lie to the queen. Abigail became a foolish Lady (fancy costume, white (completely opposite to the start when she was in black), drunk, thick makeup) (style is called dandy-ish) She has everything she wants now but still feels empty not satisfied Abigail is more carefree with Sarah not around, but also more careless Sarah continues to have the authority even if she is not in power in the palace Abigail destroys herself - she is getting sick of herself yet does not know what to do, she completely lost herself (in the beginning she

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“May I breach the issue of Lady Marlborough” Background music becomes increasingly more dramatic as the scenes go on Lighting on sara is low key, but in a natural sense Close ups of abigail’s face to show of her feelings → seen before she approaches the queen to try sabotage anne, when she burns sarah’s letter Close ups of each individual female lead to help Zoom into abigail squishing rabbit under her foot which cuts to a close up of her face showing how she enjoys the cruelty of her actions only piano playing - not vibrant or busy, subtle and slow, quite modernised from harpsichord at the beginning, lots of pedals, focusing on each notes - focusing on each little actions that are happening - make everything dramatic and significant close up on Abigail's face captures the sensitive change of her facial expressions - hit with reality, empty Uncomfortably long periods of focus on specific characters Blur is used in the extreme close ups is used to further put emphasis on the characters and their transparent emotions Overlaying of shots (super-imposed the images of the faces on the rabbits) - the rabbits, anne, abigail - ultimately ending on the rabbits which appear to multiply as the shot goes on

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Music when Sarah is writing a letter to the queen becomes increasingly tense as the scene progresses.

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Close up on Abigail’s face with mad yet empty yet miserable eyes,wipes tear drops, becomes more vicious. Piano music (and diegetic sound of the heel and the rabbit squealing) as Abigail stomps on the rabbit. Piano music(high notes) as anne sees what abigail did.

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only lost her ladyship) Abigail is now the semblance of who she used to be. Her ambition has taken her character to completely change. She became more self absorbed and a void in her formed. Abigail becomes more vicious and evil to protect herself and to lie to herself Abigail does not look at the queen, avoids it and faces away from the queen which contrasts Sarah a lot, who had a much more personal relationship with the queen (abigail is impersonal with the queen) Anne commands to Abigail, treats her like a servant

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A medium shot and then close up as Abigail kneels down to rub the queen’s leg. A low angle of the queen looking down on Abigail as she “asserts her power /dominance”. A close up on half of abigail’s face. Low reverberating music (combined with piano) as well as a low angle on the queen’s face. Overlapping shots of the queen’s and abigails’ faces (superimpose their faces with the rabbits) and then of the rabbits scurrying around the room. Fluttering sounds of the rabbits. The fish eye lens allows us to see that the characters are trapped and unable to escape their situations - trapped inside the fish bowl...