GREED OF DECEPTICONS IN MICHAEL BAY TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN MOVIE (2009): A PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for Getting the Bachelor Degree of Education
in English Department
By:
DYAH HAFNI WULANDARI
A320080016
SCHOOL OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF SURAKARTA
2011
INTRODUCTION
GREED OF DECEPTICONS IN MICHAEL BAY TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN MOVIE (2009): A PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH
A. Background of the Study
One of the popular action animation movies in the world is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It is the sequel to Transformers (2007) and the second film in the live-action Transformers trilogy. This movie is written by Robert Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Ehren Kruger. Roberto Gaston Orci (born July 20, 1973) is a Mexican-American film producer, television producer and screenwriter. His producing credits include Star Trek, The Legend of Zorro, Mission: Impossible III, Transformers, and Cowboys and Aliens. He is the creator alongside with J. J. Abrams and Alex Kurtzman of the FOX hit TV show Fringe. Alex Kurtzman (born September 7, 1973) is an American film and television screenwriter and producer. Alex Kurtzman also write other movie such as The Island, The Legend of Zorro, Mission: Impossible III, and Cowboys and Aliens. Ehren Kruger (born 5 October 1972) is an American screenwriter and film producer. He also write other work such as (1998) Killers in the House, (1999) Arlington Road, (1999) New World Disorder, (2000) Scream 3, (2000) Reindeer Games, (2002)Impostor, (2002) The Ring, (2005) Rings, (2005) The Ring Two, (2005) The Skeleton Key, (2005) The Brothers Grimm, (2007) Blood and Chocolate, (2007) Torso, (2008) The Talisman, and (2011)Transformers: The Dark of the Moon.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie is directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg. Michael Benjamin Bay who was born on February 17, 1965 is an American film director and producer. He is best known for directing high-budget action films characterized by fast edits, stylistic visuals and substantial usage of practical special effects. His films, which include The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and the Bad Boys and Transformers series, have grossed over three billion dollars world-wide. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a movie about a man who caught in the war between two factions of alien robots, the Autobots and Decepticons.
Thousands of years ago, there was a race of ancient Transformers who scoured the universe looking for energon sources. Known as the Dynasty of the Primes, they used machines called Sun Harvesters to drain stars of their energy in order to convert it to energon and power Cybertron's AllSpark. The Primes agreed that life-bearing worlds would be spared, but in 17,000 BC, one Prime, thereafter dubbed "The Fallen", constructed a Sun Harvester on Earth. The remaining Primes sacrificed their bodies in order to hide the Matrix of Leadership — the key that activates the Sun Harvester — from The Fallen, who swore to seek revenge upon Earth.
In the present day, two years after the events of the previous film, Optimus Prime is seen leading a special forces unit known as NEST (Networked Elements: Supporters and Transformers), a military organization consisting of American and British troops and his own team of Autobots aimed at hunting the remaining Decepticons on Earth. While on a mission in Shanghai, China, Optimus and his team destroy Decepticons Sideways and Demolishor, being given a warning by the latter that "The Fallen shall rise again". Back in the United States, Sam Witwicky finds a splinter of the destroyed AllSpark, and upon contact the splinter fills his mind with Cybertronian symbols. Deeming it dangerous, Sam gives the AllSpark splinter to his girlfriend Mikaela Banes for safe keeping, and leaves her and Bumblebee behind to go off to college. Upon arrival, Sam meets his college roommate Leo Spitz, who runs an alien conspiracy website, and Alice, a co-ed who makes unusually strong sexual advances on him.
Decepticon Soundwave hacks into a US satellite and learns the location of the dead Decepticon leader Megatron and another piece of the AllSpark. Revage and Reedman attack the base, retrieve the shard, and use it to resurrect Megatron, who flies into space and is reunited with Starscream and his master, The Fallen, in the Nemesis . The Fallen instructs Megatron and Starscream to capture Sam in order to learn the location of the Matrix of Leadership .
Back home, Decepticon Wheelie tries to steal the shard, only to be captured by Mikaela. After having a mental breakdown and uncontrollably writing Cybertronian language in class, Sam calls Mikaela, who immediately leaves to get to him. With Sam's outbreaks worsening, Mikaela arrives at campus just as Alice — revealed to be a Decepticon Pretender — tries to strangle Sam with her robotic tongue. An irate Mikaela, Sam, and his roommate Leo drive off, crashing into Alice and killing her, but are captured by the Decepticon Grindor , who delivers them to Megatron. The Decepticon known as "The Doctor" prepares to remove Sam's brain, but Optimus and Bumblebee manage to arrive in time and rescue Sam. Optimus attempts to hold off Megatron while Mikaela and Leo escape with Bumblebee. Megatron calls for reinforcements, Grindor and Starscream join the fight, and begin to overpower Optimus. Optimus kills Grindor and rips off Starscream's arm, but gets stabbed by Megatron's blade and dies. Megatron and Starscream retreat as the Autobots arrive to rescue Sam, but too late to assist Optimus.
After Optimus Prime's death, The Fallen — aware that only another Prime can kill him — departs the Nemesis. Megatron orders a full-scale assault on the planet. The Fallen speaks to the humans, demanding they surrender Sam to the Decepticons or they will destroy the world. Sam, Mikaela, Leo, Bumblebee, the twins and Wheelie regroup, and Leo suggests his online rival "Robo-Warrior" may be of assistance. Upon reaching Robo-Warrior, he turns out to be former Sector 7 agent Simmons. Ever since Sector 7 was terminated, Simmons has been working at a deli and living with his mother. He informs the group that the symbols Sam has been seeing should be readable for a Decepticon. Mikaela then releases Wheelie, who can't read the language, but identifying it as the language of the Primes, directs the group to a Decepticon seeker named Jetfire . They then find Jetfire disguised as the SR-71 in the center of the museum at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center , and reactivate him via the AllSpark shard. After teleporting the group to Egypt , Jetfire tells that he changed his allegiance to the Autobots, and translates the symbols, which contain a riddle that sets the location of the Matrix of Leadership somewhere in the surrounding desert. By following the clues, the group arrive at a tomb where they ultimately find the Matrix, but it crumbles to dust in Sam's hands. Believing the dust of the Matrix can still revive Optimus, Sam collects the dust and instructs Simmons to call Major William Lennox to bring the other Autobots and Optimus' body.
The military arrives with the Autobots and Optimus' body, but so does a new wave of Decepticons from orbit, and a battle ensues, with the Autobot/NEST team largely outnumbered. During the battle, several vehicles come together to form Decepticon Devastator, who unearths the Sun Harvester from inside one of the pyramids before being destroyed by a US Destroyer's railgun with the help of agent Simmons. Jetfire arrives and destroys Mixmaster, but is mortally wounded by Scorponok . Jetfire then kills him by smashing his head with his fist. The Air Force carpet bombs the Decepticons, but Megatron avoids the bombings and fires at Sam, killing him. Sam then has a near-death experience where the Dynasty of Primes meet with him and acknowledging his courage and will to risk his life to save Optimus, revive him and rebuild the Matrix.
Sam awakens, and goes on to revive Optimus just before The Fallen ambushes him and his allies, slaughtering a few soldiers, stealing the Matrix and taking off to activate the Harvester. Jetfire sacrifices himself and surrenders his parts so that Optimus can incorporate them in order to fly to the Harvester and ultimately stop The Fallen. Now upgraded, Optimus successfully destroys the Harvester and engages The Fallen and Megatron in the ruins. Optimus blasts part of Megatron's face off, rips off the Fallen's face with his stick, and kills The Fallen by taking out his spark and crushing it in his hands. With the battle finished, Megatron and Starscream retreat to the Nemesis. On the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis , headed back to the U.S., Optimus thanks Sam for his bravery and sends another message into space hoping to find more Autobots, saying that humans and Transformers both share a common past, and a future they will face together. During the credits, Sam is seen returning to college.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie was released June 19, 2009 in United Kingdom and June 24, 2009 in United State. Shooting took place from May to November 2008, with locations in Egypt, Jordan, Pennsylvania and California, as well as air bases in New Mexico. The budget of this movie is $200,000,000 and gross $836 million worldwide.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is very attractive action movie. There are four reasons in this movie that very attractive people who watch it. First, the message that appears in this movie. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie has many message that we can take. As a human, we have to not easy to give up with the problem that we faced. We have to fight against the problem. The other message we can take from the robots (autobots) who come to the earth, even they not live in earth, they help human to save the earth from decepticons who want destroy the human race. Autobots willing to sacrifice their live to save the human race from decepticons.
Second reason is the animation of the movie. Michael Bay makes the animation in this movie so amazing. The animation of the robots is real. The robots are like truly live. They look real when they fight with other or when they have contact with the human. The action animation that made by Michael Bay is like truly live and very awesome. The audiences feel the real robot in the movie, even the robot is just animation.
Third reason is the setting of the movie. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie setting the locations in Egypt, Jordan, Pennsylvania, and California, , as well as air bases in New Mexico and Arizona. Egypt is the most awesome location in this movie, because there is scene when the Autobots fight against the Decepticons. They fight in around the Pyramid and Spink. The Fallen and Optimus Prime fight in the top of the biggest Pyramid and they almost destroy the Pyramid.
The last reason is the robot in the movie. The robots in this movie are so awesome, because they can transform from car to robot very fast. The robots are look like real robot. They can speak like human, can thinking like human, even they more smart than human. They have high level weapon then human. They are the super robots.
So, from the explanation above the writer motivated to write a research paper entitled GREED OF DECEPTICONS IN MICHAEL BAY TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN MOVIE (2009): AN PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH.
B. Literature Review
As long as the writer knows, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie has not been analyzed in Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta.
C. Problem Statement
Based on the title and the background of the study, the writer proposes the problem “How is the greed in the character of Decepticons in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie (2009)”?
D. Limitation of the Study
The writer focuses this research in analyzing the greed of Decepticons in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie based on psychoanalytic approach.
E. Objective of the Study
The objectives of the study are:
1. To describe the greed of Decepticons in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie based on psychoanalytic approach.
2. To analyze Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie based on the structural elements of the movie.
F. Benefit of the Study
This research is expected to give some benefits as follows;
1. Theoretical benefit
To give some contributions to the body of knowledge, particularly the application of the psychoanalytic approach in literary study.
2. Practical benefit
To get better understanding about the movie, especially the main character in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen from the psychoanalytic approach.
UNDERLYING THEORY
A. Notion of Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is the part of psychological study that focuses on the personality of human being; it is a method of therapy for personality disturbances and technique for investigating an individual’s unconscious thoughts and feelings (Hjelle and Ziegler, 1992: 86). According to K. Bertens in Freud (1979: 32-34), psychoanalysis is the study of human psychological functioning and behavior. Psychoanalysis concerns itself with unearthing these early experiences, emotions, and desires. It begins to take form when ideas about centrality of fantasy, importance of childhood sexuality and free association. The goal of psychoanalysis is to strengthen the client’s ego, thereby faciliting greater self-understanding and self-mastery (Atwater, 1983: 306).
Sigmund Freud proposes this of personality organization according to this model psyches life can be represented by three levels: The conscious, The preconscious, and The unconscious. Each of them has different content of thought (Hjelle and Ziegler, 1992: 86). The conscious is “a small part of the mind contains those thought of which you are currently aware, this material changing constantly as new thought enter your mind and pass out of awareness” (Burger, 1986: 56). Freud (in Feist, 1985:25) states that consciousness plays as relatively minor role in psychoanalytic theory. It is the only level of mental life directly available to us. Further, Freud says. Ideas can reach consciousness from two different directions. The first is from the perceptual conscious system and the second is from the mental structure (Feist, 1985: 23). Preconscious is the mental elements, that are not conscious at the moment but which can easily be retrieved into awareness (Hjelle and Ziegler, 1992: 87). The unconscious is those thought, experiences and feelings of which we are unaware, for freud, this unawareness is the result of repression. In Pervin, Freud claimed that “psychoanalysis aims at and achieves nothing more than the discovery of the unconscious in mental life (Pervin, 1984: 71)
According to Hjelle and Ziegler (1992: 87), Freud is not the first to focus attention on the importance of unconscious processes in understanding human functioning, but he give the concept of an unconscious life an empirical status. He gives great attention on the importance of unconscious process in the understanding of human’s action. He argues that the unconscious s not only known as a hypothetical abstraction but it can be known as a reality that can be proved and demonstrated.
The object of psychoanalytic literary criticism can be the psychoanalysis of the author or of a particularly interesting character. In literary approach the critic analyzes the language and of a text to reverse the process of the dream work and arrive at the underlying real thoughts. The critics see the text as if it were a kind of dream. This means that the text represses its real (or latent) content behind obvious (manifest) content. The process of changing from latent to manifest content is known as the dream work, and involves operations of concentration and displacement.
B. System of Personality
Psychoanalysis is the part of psychological study that focuses on the personality of human being. Theory of psychoanalysis is mainly based on the concept that personality made up of three major systems: Id (Biological aspect), Ego (Psychological aspect), and Superego (Sociological aspect), (Hall, 1980: 29-46). They have their own functions, components and mechanism; they interact so closely with one another. Here is the explanation of the system of personality:
1. Id
Id is the biological aspect and the original system in personality. The id represents the biological substance of humans, the source of all drive energy, Freud theory (in Pervin, 1984:77). It is the basic within which the ego and superego become differentiated. Totally the beginning of unconscious where happen here. In the psychoanalytic theory the id is home base for the instinct. The Id is an energy constantly striving to satisfy basic drives, ruled by the pleasure principle. It operates to demands of Pleasure Principle, strive to satisfy desires and reduce inner tension. Freud said, id contains everything that is inherited and present at birth. It is responsible for our basic drives such as food, water, sex, and basic impulses. Freud divided the id’s drives and instincts into two categories; life and death instincts. Life instincts are those that are crucial to pleasurable survival, such as eating and copulation. Death instinct is our unconscious wish to die, as death puts an end to the everyday struggles for happiness and survival. So that, the Id is operates according to the pleasure principle and primary process thinking.
The id consists of everything psychological that is inherited and present at birth, including the instinct. It is a subjective word of a man. It represents the inner world of subjective experience and has no knowledge of objective reality. Before an individual gets experience about the outer world. It is the id that stimulates the individual to do so. That is why Freud calls the is as the “true psychic reality” (Hall, 1980:14).
According to pleasure principle, since the id always seeks pleasure it needs two activities to full fill its wishes, there are reflects action and primary process (Freud in Hjelle and Zieglar, 1992: 89). The first reflect is reflect action. In this level a person will do same activities such as rub his ear when he lies or takes a deep breath when feeling nervous, in order to free himself from uncomfortable feeling or situation (Hall and Liendzey, 1970: 30). The second reflect is primary process. In this stage the id will “form an image of an object that will remove the tension” (Hall and Liendzey, 1970: 33). The id is part of person’s personality that cannot always get what it wants. In its function, the id seeks the release of excitation, tension and energy. Freud (Hjelle and Ziegler, 1992: 88) states that the function of id is tried to instinctual biological urges made the energy for people behavior, id in its function is based on the aim to defense the constancy. This has a purpose to avoid pain and maximize gratification and accomplish its aim of avoiding pain and obtaining pleasure.
2. Ego
Ego is psychological aspect of personality and emerges because of the orgasm need to get in touch with the reality. According to Freud (in Asimov, 1983: 195) “the primary job of the ego is to satisfy the id impulse, but to do so in manner that takes place into consideration the realities of the situation”. If a person is hungry, the id impulse may grab whatever food is around. “The ego understand that this action can lead the problems and instead attempts to obtain good and this reduce tension, in such manner that the person doesn’t end up in a lot of trouble” (Burger, 1986: 57). It means that he or she should distinguish the imagination of food and reality of food. Here the differential between id and ego where id only knows the unreal things.
The ego is that part of the Id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world. It seeks to gratify the Id in realistic ways, ruled by the reality principle and deals with real world. Ego operates to demands of Reality Principle solves problems by planning & acting. It comprises that organized part of the personality structure that includes defensive, perceptual, intellectual-cognitive, and executive functions. The ego mediates between id, superego, and environment. So, the ego is the part of the mind that constrains the id to reality.
Ego has function to reduce the tension in organism by find the appropriate object. In its function ego old on reality principle and react with secondary process, secondary process is the realistic thinking. Ego as the executive of personality fights the greed and tries to reduce greed by preventing undesirable elements from reaching consciousness.
3. Superego
Superego is the sociological of personality aspects, the principle of morality consist of some value and evaluated norms. The Super Ego is a voice of conscience that focuses on how we ought to behave and ruled by the moral principle. It internalized social norm and moral forces pressing on and constraining individual action. The super ego includes the individual’s ego ideals, spiritual goals, and the physic agency that criticizes and prohibits his or her drives, fantasies, feelings, and actions. It is constantly watching every one of the ego’s moves and punishes it with feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inferiority. Finally, the super ego is part of the mind that internalizes the values, morals, and ideals of society. Freud (in Hall and Lindzey, 1985: 35) states that superego represents societies ad is particularly the parents as values and standards.
In order for a person to function effectively in society he or she must acquire a system of values, norm and ethics that are reasonably with that society (Hjelle, 1992: 90). Superego operates according to the morality principle and serves primarily to protect society and us from id. It function is determine true or false, proper or not, good or bad, in order human being will act based on the social morality.
C. Notion of Greed
Greed is the obsession with accumulating material goods. A greedy person values material goods more than they value God. Greed is something that can never be satisfied. Greed and slothfulness have similarities in definition. The greedy and slothful both crave material goods as well as they have no desire to work for or to exchange anything of value for the object of their desires. The slothful will not work even for basic necessities much less add value to the world around them. The greedy will use deception to acquire material goods. The greedy will lie and use false pretenses to acquired goods at the expense of others (www.access-jesus.com). We can describe the definition of greed to justify our own unnecessary desires and it wants more than you need.
D. Structural Elements of the movie
There are two elements which are very essential in the totally of movie; they are narrative element and technical element.
1. Narrative Elements
Besides a novel, movie also needs narrative to take a close look at how movie may embody and showing all the events.
a. Character and Characterization
Character according to Widagdo and Gora S (2004: 24) is defined as “a person who does the dialogue in the scene”. However, in further reading they give an explanation about what are the things which can be called as character. In a movie, they stated that “the characters is not only human, but also animals, plants, or personificated things” (Widagdo and Gora S, 2004: 24). A character in a movie is complex or well developed, it involves attitudes, and any other specific qualities (Bordwell and Thompson, 1990: 58). The character in the story has certain characteristic which differentiate each other. We call the placement of certain characteristic to the characters as characterization.
Character in story can be divided into two types, major and minor character. A major character is the most important character in a story because it plays crucial role to the movement to the story. While minor character is the character that support and completes the major character to make the story more life (Ommaney, 1972: 37).
b. Setting
Setting is the place or environment where the movie takes place. In a movie, environment can express and reflect the movie’s meaning. Setting here includes the time, place, and also the environment in the movie. Setting of place is related to the place used in story. Setting of time is related to the certain period of time used in a story. Setting builds what kinds of the story and characters that we will meet and what kinds of conflicts that will be occurred during a play (Douglass and Harnden, 1996:110).
c. Plot
In general, plot is a set of events that happen in a story. It describes the development of the story from the beginning until the end. According to Kennedy (1983:9) “plot means the artistic arrangement of those events”. From the arrangement of events, it leads to the reflection theme.
In general, plot is divided into some stages. First stage is called exposition; it is the opening portion that sets the scene. In this stage the audiences are introduced with the characters which take a part in the movie (Kennedy, 1983:8). The next stage is complication. In this stage the audiences are introduced with a new conflict that happens in the story. Complication is a series of events causal relationship, which lead to the rising action or conflict. The conflict is divided into two kinds, namely external and internal conflict (Kennedy, 1983: 9) The last stage is resolution or denouement. It is the stage where the problems are solved and it presents the outcome of the conflict (Kennedy, 1983: 9).
d. Point of View
Point of view is one of the important aspects of the movie. Douglass and Hardner (1996: 31-37) divides point of view into three types. First is point of view refers to camera shot taken as if seen through the eyes of the character. The effect here made as if the character looking at the audience. The second is point of view bases on the perspective of the story teller itself. The last is point of view based on character’s beliefs or attitude.
e. Style
Style refers to the manner of expression used by the author to reach the aesthetic value through choice of words, grammatical structures and any other use of language. A successful author can be seen through the way he uses the language in his story. (Kennedy, 1983: 75) stated that in general “style refers to the individual traits of characteristic of a piece of writing”. Usually style indicates a mode of expression: the language a writer uses. Style can be categorized in three forms:
1) Diction
Diction refers to the choice and used of the words. In literature, it deals with the choosing of words used in the sentences of a story by the author. Nurgiyantoro (1995:290) defines diction as the author’s choice of words. Author needs to choose the appropriate word to show the effects and to emphasize some utterances.
2) Grammatical Structures
Grammatical structure in literature refers to the using of sentences structures in a story. The writer is free to use any kinds of sentence structure like repetition and abbreviation in order to reach the aesthetic effect.
3) Rhetoric
Rhetoric is used by the author in order to reach the aesthetic effect. Rhetoric refers to the way the author use to express the language in order to make the readers get his idea.
f. Theme
According to Kennedy (1983: 103) the theme of a story is, “whatever general idea or insight the whole of the story reveals”. Theme reflects the issue mostly discussed in a story. Everything that happens in a story is brought by the conflict which cannot be separated from the theme or center point of a story. The whole story represents the main issue called theme. In literary fiction, a theme is seldom so obvious. That is, a theme need not be a moral message, it may be what happenings add up to, what the story is about (Kennedy, 1983: 103). The theme is also connected with the premise from the drama itself which also connected with the basic tone of a drama and the point of view which is described by the author (Waluyo, 2001: 24).
2. Technical Elements of the Movie
Making a movie is not like writing, there should be technical elements to make the audience interested with its story. In making a movie, the moviemakers need some elements which are very important in the process of production.
a. Mise-en-Scene
In the original French, mise-en-scene means staging an action, and it was first applied to the practice of directing plays. Of all the technique of cinema, mise-en-scene is one with which we are most familiar (Bordwell and Thompson, 1990: 127). The element of mise-en-scene has some aspects: setting, costume and make up, lighting, set dressing and prop, and figurenof expression and movement.
1) Setting
In movie, setting describes the scene of very shot. Setting is where the audiences can meet the characters or what environment they can find the characters in the movie (Douglass and Harnden, 1996: 109). Setting indicates time and place, it can be seen from the building, a familiar place in one location, scenery, etc. The written information about place and time often appears on the scene. Setting itself will be distinguished into two: setting of place and setting of time.
The moviemaker may control setting in many ways. One way is to select an already existing locale in which to stage the action and the other hand, the moviemaker may choose to construct the setting. According to Bordwell and Thompson (1990: 130) “setting can crowd the actors or it can be reduced to zero, to a striking absence. Setting can also be convulsed contorted”.
2) Costume and Make Up
Costumes for movie usually must be believable in close up. It is selected or designed for authenticity (Douglass, 1996: 134). Costume can have a specific function in a film. Costume may, on the other hand, be quite stylized, calling attention to their purely graphic qualities (Bordwell and Thompson, 1990: 132). Through the costume which is used by the actor or actress in a story we can know the personalities of the character in the story itself.
Make up is some beauty equipment that used by the characters in a story (Bordwell and Thompson, 1990: 133). Make up was originally necessary because actor’s faces would be analyzed in terms of how it contributes to unifier characterization (Bordwell and Thompson, 1990: 133).
3) Lighting
Lighting in cinema production is also the important element. It helps the viewers to see the action as the function of lighting shaping the objects by creating highlight and shadows and shaping audience understanding of the shot’s composition (Bordwell and Thompson, 1990: 134). There are some lighting used in the movie: Frontal lighting can be recognized by its tendency to eliminate shadows, side lighting is used to sculpt the characters, back lighting defines depth by sharply distinguishing and object from its background, under lighting suggests that the light comes from below the subject, top lighting usually appears along with light coming from other directions, the key light is the primary lighting source of the image, and fill light is used to fill the darkness (Bordwell and Thompson, 1990: 134-135)
4) Set Dressing and Props
Set dressing are the items in the scene such as furniture, photos or picture on the wall, curtains, knick-knack on the table, lamps, rugs and anything that dresses the bare walls and floor of set (Douglass and Harnden, 1996: 131) state that “Props refers to objects that actors use in the drama or film such as a picture of a love one, a baseball gloves, a gun, a bouquet of flowers, or a pizza that delivered to the door”. Set dressing and props are the interior of the movie, consists of set dressing and property. In summary, set dressing and props show the characteristic of the period in which the movie takes place.
5) Figure of Expression and Movement (Acting)
According to Bordwell and Thompson (1990: 137), the director may also control the behavior of various figure of expression and movement as acting. An actor performance in a movie consists of visual elements (appearances, gestures, facial expressions).
b. Cinematography
Cinematography (Literarily, “writing in movement”) depends to a large extent on photography (Bordwell and Thompson, 1990: 156). “Within the same formal context in mise-en-scene, the moviemaker controls the cinematographic qualities of the shot, how the image is photographed and framed, how long the image lasts on the screen (Brodwell and Thompson, 1990: 199). The moviemaker controls what the audience will call the cinematograpic qualities of the shot. It consists of three features:
1) Photographic Quality Shot
Cinematography depends on large extent on photography. Photography quality of shot contain several components of film exposure. Moviemaker can control and manipulate their shot through their light, sound, tone, etc.
2) Framing of Shot
A frame means the position from which the object in the image is viewed. Frame can be powerfully to the image by means of the way framing the position the angle, level, height and distance of a vantage point into the image. Angle is the position of frame related to the image. Sometimes, we can identify the work of one director from his/her opening act or planting information, because they have found the original style in framing composition (Widagdo and Gora S. 2004: 53-54). There are three categories of angle, the straight on angle, the high on angle, and the low angle.
3) The Duration of Shot
According to Bordwell and Thompson (1990: 195) the duration of shot refers to the shot or records of one camera to take tho whole shot in movie production According to Bordwell and Thompson (1990:176) the quality of cinematography is influenced by the duration of shot and the time of the events in the movie.
c. Editing
Mamer (2009: 347) states that “editing also referred as cutting, it is the process of selecting the parts of the shots that are good and serve the needs of the film and eventually discarding the rest”. Editing in film production is the task of selection and joining camera takes, it may be thought as the coordination of one shot with the next (Bordwell and Thompson, 1990:271). However, editing has become the important element in movie production. Every movie or story should be edited first before it published. Continuity editing can be developed into several parts; they are axis of action or the 180° line, establishing shot, a reverse shot, reestablishing shot, match on action, cross cutting.
d. Sound
In the process of movie production the soundtrack is recorded separately from the images and can be manipulated independently (Bordwell and Thompson, 1990: 224). Sound is as simply as accompaniment to the real basis of cinema, the moving images. It gives the audiences the unuttered description about the thing happens in the movie.
Actually there are two distinct approaches to collecting sound for films: sync and nonsyn (Mamer, 2009: 216). Sync sound is recorded as the camera is roling on-location or on the sound stage. It is also referred to as production sound and is generally, though not exclusively, dialogue. Meanwhile, nonsyn sound is recorded at other times including effects that the location mixer collects, effects recorded later in a sound studio, library effects, and music that was prerecorded or specifically designd for the film (Mamer, 2009: 217)
There are three advantages of sound in film production. Firstly, in engages another sense mode: our visual attention can be accompanied by an aural attention. Secondly, sound can actively shape how we interpret the image. Thirdly, sound can direct our attention quite specifically within the image (Bordwell and Thompson, 1990: 244).
e. Casting
Casting is one of the movie elements in which it is a process of selecting actors, dancers, and other. So those actors can form breathtaking performance because of their acting. Actor or actress are the most important elements in a story. With the appropriate actor and actress who are capable and well grounded, the story that is made will look real and also have a good quality (Waluyo, 2001: 35). Actually casting is not only searching the handsome and pretty actors, but rather than to choose the talent acting of each actor or actresses.
E. Theoretical application
Employing the Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis, this research focuses on analyzing. The structure of personality is consists of id, ego, and superego. By knowing the personality structure of the character, the writer tries to explain one of the dynamic of personality that is the greed in the character, namely the Decepticons. Since the structure of personality in developing the greed is important, the writer thinks that it is important to apply some steps in analyzing the movie. Firstly, the writer notices the action dialogues of the character. Secondly, the writer studies the elements of personality; those are id, ego, and superego. After that, the writer correlates between the id, ego and superego with the character. It can be done through the action, the dialogue and though of the character. Then the writer identifies the greed of the character and describes it as well as classifies it.
F. Research Method
1. Type of the Study
In this research the writer uses descriptive qualitative method. Creswell (1998: 15) defines that qualitative research is an inquiry process of understanding based on the distinct methodological traditions of inquiry that explore a social or human problem.
2. Object of the Study
The object of the study is the movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. This movie is directed by Michael Bay and published by Paramount Picture.
3. Type of Data and the Data Source
In this study, there are two sources of data namely primary and secondary data sources.
a. Primary Data Sources
The primary data taken from a movie entitles “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” which released in 2009 and written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Ehren Kruger. This movie was produced by Paramount Picture.
b. Secondary Data Source
The researcher takes the secondary data sources from the script of the movie, literary book, website from internet that was relevant to the analysis.
4. Technique of the data Collection
The technique of collecting the data used in this study is library research. The necessary steps are as follows:
a. Watching the movie repeatedly.
b. Reading the script of the movie
c. Finding out the important data.
d. Browsing to the internet to get some information articles that are related to the research.
e. Reading the related books to search data information
5. Technique of Data Analysis
The first is analyzing the data of this research is clarifying the obtained data by selecting the necessary ones. Secondary step in analyzing data based on psychoanalytic theory.
G. Research Paper Organization
The research paper organization of “Greed of Decepticons in Michael Bay Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: An Psychoanalytic Approach” is as follows: First is Introduction; it consists of Background of the Study, Literature review, Problem Statement, Limitation of the Study, Objective of the Study, and Benefit of the Study. Second is Underlying Theory; it consists of Notion of Psychoanalytic, System of Personality, Structural Elements of the Movie and Theoretical Application of Psychoanalytic, Research Method, Paper Organization, and Bibliography.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Asimov, Isaac. 1983. Psychology Today. New York: Randon House.
Atwater, Eastwood. 1983. Psychology of Adjustment (Second Edition). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. INC, Engle wood Cliffs.
Bertens, K. 1979. Sigmund Freud Memperkenalkan Psikoanalisa. Jakarta: Gramedia.
Bordwell, David and Thompson. 1990. Film Art (An Introduction). USA: The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Burger, Jerry. M. 1986. Personality Theory Research. California: Wordsworth Publishing Co.
Creswell, John W. 1998. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among five traditions. New York: Sage Publication, Inc.
Douglass, S. John and Hardner,P. Glenn. 1996. The art of technique (An Aesthetic Approach to Film and Videos Production). USA: Allyn and Bacon.
Hall, Calvin S and Lindzey Gardner. 1970. Theories of Personality. Second Edition. New York: John Willey and Sons, Inc.
Hall, Calvin S. 1980. Suatu Pengantar Kedalam Ilmu Jiwa Sigmund Freud (Translated by S. Tasrif). Jakarta: PT. Pembangunan.
Hjelle, Larry and Ziegler, Daniel J. 1992. Personalities Theories: Basic Assumption, Research and Aplication. Singapore: Mc. Brow Hill.
Feist, Jess. 1985. Theory of Personalities. Japan: CBS College Publishing.
Kennedy, X. J. 1983. Literature an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Third Edition. Boston-Toronto: Little and Broun Company.
Mamer, Bruce. 2009. Film Production Technique: Creating the Accomplished Image. USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Nurgiyantoro, Burhan. 1995. Teori Pengkajian Fiksi. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada University Press.
Ommaney, Katherine, A and Schanker Harry H. 1972. The Stage and The School. New York: Mc. Graw-Hill Book Company.
Pervin, Lawrence A, Oliver P. John. 1984. Personality Theory and Research. New York: John Willey and Sons, Inc.
Widagdo, M. Bayu and Winastwan Gora S. 2004. Bkin Sendiri Film Kamu. Yogyakarta: Anindya.
Waluyo, J. Herman. 2001. Drama, Teori dan Pengajarannya. Jogjakarta: Hanindita Graha Widya.
VIRTUAL REFERENCES
http://www.access-jesus.com/definition-of-greed.html) Accessed on Wednesday, 30 March 2011 at 02. 25 pm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers:_Revenge_of_the_Fallen Accessed on Monday, 21 March 2011 at 02. 25 pm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/Roberto Gaston Orci. Accessed on Tuesday, 24 March 2011 at 08. 15 pm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/Alex Kurtzman. Acessed on Tuesday, 24 March 2011 at 08.18 pm.
Dear Dyah,
BalasHapusThe issue of your research is very challenging. Your background of the study is well-done. Keep on doing your research. Good luck.
Be ready for your tomorrow morning presentation.
See you,