Distribution

Suffragette Screening and Q&A

On Thursday 5th November, me and my class went to Regent's Street Cinema to watch the one and only 'Suffragette' (Gavron, 2015). Personally, I thought the film was better than I expected. I thought Carey Mulligan was the perfect main actress to convey the story of the Suffragettes in her perspective. The film touched upon the important historic event of female voting rights in a way where we, as an audience, were able to be educated as well as entertained. It was very sensitive, managing to add fictional parts that blended in with the non-fiction and cleverly written and directed by Abi Morgan and Sarah Gavron.

Production Process
In terms of production, there were a few processes that I recognised. For instance, some parts of mise-en-scene. As a part of pre-production, costumes and make-up were pre-planned as they had to be made or ordered and were to look as if they were the the clothes people wore in 1918. They were mainly dark colour dresses, hats, trench coats and scarves, making the audience feel like the film was really set in that time.

Additionally, the lighting types during the film stood out in production. For example, when the women were inside the factory working, there were rays of light purely coming through the windows. This added to the ideas of isolation and lack of control females had at the time. The fact that there were only beams of natural light in the factory that they work in shows that they weren't given much more than that. Also, the camera angles and shots during production showed the importance of each character. Like when Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) gave a speech to her fellow females, there were a camera angles from her perspective, looking down at them, showing she is a more powerful and a valued character because she was, literally, ab
ove everyone else.

Finally, as a part of post-production, cutaways and editing had to take place. The editor Barney Pilling had to put all the scenes together in chronological order and emphasise some sounds, such as explosions and glass smashes. As a part of editing, visual effects were altered and the soundtracks were added into it. The visual effects were to make the film feel more as if it was really set in the time and create verisimilitude. The soundtrack was added to create an effect and keep the audience's eyes peeled.

Q&A Session

The Q&A session was very interesting because there were questions and answers that I also wanted to know prior to and after the film. I enjoyed meeting Abi Morgan as we were able to see some behind the scenes of how she came up with the film idea and what she had to go through and Romola Garai because she actually acted in the film as Alice Haughton. I learnt that Abi Morgan as a screenwriter had to re-draft the script around 30 times before having the final piece. I asked Romola Garai "what made you want to take on the role as Alice and if you were there at the time, would you have joined the Suffragettes?". She said that there were more factors in yes than no in taking the role and mentioned she probably wouldn't go to the extent of the Suffragettes but would support then asked me if I would. That was quite funny.

Regent Street Cinema
The Regent Street Cinema in London, is the oldest cinema in the UK. It was only re-opened by the University of Wesminster in May 2015, reinstating one of the most historic cinemas in Britain to its former grandeur. It was initially built in 1848 and was the first cinema to show moving pictures. In 1986, the cinema showcased the Lumiere brothers whereby the British cinema was born. As an independent exhibition venue, Regent Street Cinema shows exclusive premieres, repertory screenings, documentaries, animation and experimental cinema. Mainly individual British films are shown, in 4K digital film, and for 'Suffragette' to be shown in this special cinema, was unique.

My Poster Analysis