Freud's theory in 'Ferris Beuller's Day Off'

The 1986 film, written and directed by John Hughes entitled 'Ferris Beuller's Day off' is a classic text that has gained a cult following and is still widely honoured throughout the world of film even today, 30 years after the release of the film. The text follows the reckless Ferris Beuller, as he takes a day off school and uses it to have a day unlike any other with his beautiful girlfriend, Sloane, and emotionally unstable best friend, Cameron. Throughout the text, it is obvious that Ferris portrays the Id in Freud's theory of the structure of the personality, though his reckless behaviour. Cameron is clearly the Superego in the text and Sloane acts as the Ego.
The initial quality that I believe labels Ferris as the Id is the sole fact that he comes up with a grand scheme in order to take the day off school, something that an Ego or Superego would never consider. What makes Cameron different, however, is the fact that he has a legitimate reason to be off school, as he is genuinely sick, as opposed to Ferris. Sloane gets out of school due to a scheme of Ferris', in which he phones the school pretending to be her father, therefore furthering the idea that Ferris is the Id, and as Sloane does not have an actual reason to be out of school she cannot be the Superego, but she goes along with the plan, making her the Ego. The next factor in Ferris representing the Id is the fact that he convinces Cameron to 'borrow' his dad's 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, to which Cameron is very reluctant, almost definitely due to the abusive nature of his father, which is never explicitly stated but is hinted towards throughout the film, which could have lead towards his Superego tendencies, as he constantly lives in fear of what his father thinks of him. Sloane takes no part in the 'theft' of the Ferrari, therefore furthering the idea that she is the Ego. At one point in the text, Ferris gets on a parade float and performs a rendition of The Beatles' "Twist and Shout", proving that he is reckless and does not consider consequences, as anyone could have recognised him and reported back to the school, especially considering the 'Save Ferris' rally that started at the school due to him being 'ill', as he is the most popular person at the school. After the trio leave the Ferrari with a couple of reckless valets who go on a joyride in the Ferrari and the mileage counter skyrockets, Cameron goes into shock, thinking that his father will kill him, and even tries to commit suicide by drowning in a swimming pool, where Ferris saves him. After this moment, Cameron starts to embrace some of Ferris' reckless nature, and they devise a scheme to reduce the mileage counter by driving in reverse (which does not work), and Cameron then decides to get his revenge on his abusive father by kicking the car repeatedly, causing a dent, but the car then comes off what is propping it up and reverses out of his father's showroom and is destroyed. Cameron's timid nature is then overwhelmed, as he laughs and says that his dad deserves this, therefore he slips into more of an Ego role at this point in the text, as he still contains some qualities of the Superego, but with some of the qualities of the Id.
The one factor that I believe, above all else, proves that Ferris acts as the Id is the sheer fact that he breaks the fourth wall constantly throughout the text, something which no other character does. This fourth wall breaking proves that Ferris does not abide by normal social conventions, and gets across the point that he doesn't care for societal standards, ultimately proving that he is the Id in this text.
Some theorists have claimed that in the text, Ferris does not actually exist, almost exactly like Fight Club, and that Cameron created him in order to gain the confidence to speak up to his father, which give a completely different twist on the film and is a good, yet odd theory, but I believe that that is all it is, a theory, due to the fact that throughout the narrative, people are rallying for Ferris, the principle of the school practically stalks him and breaks into Ferris' house, but some people state that the whole text happens in Cameron's mind. The monologue at the start of the text shows Ferris explaining to the audience how to get away with taking a day off school. In this scene, the camera is positioned as if we are in the room with Ferris and are having a conversation with him. In this scene, he states 'I don't condone fascism, or any ism for that matter. Isms in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an ism, he should believe in himself', which is a very Id thing to say, saying he does not believe in any kind of politics, that he believes in people, similar to the morals of Tyler Durden in Fight Club.
The placement of the characters in the text also displays this ideology. In the scene where they are driving in the Ferrari, Ferris is driving, as an Id would drive a stolen car, Sloane is in the passanger seat, due to her being the Ego, the middle ground between Ferris and Cameron, and Cameron is seated in the back due to the Superego being a subconscious force in the recesses of the mind. Editing throughout the text is consistent and usually are straight cuts, as to portray realism in the text, as it takes place in the 'real world', therefore a sense of realism is used within the edits.
Conclusively, I believe that this text does an excellent job in portraying the roles of the Id, Ego and Superego, as the trio fit into their respective roles perfectly.

Freud's theory in 'Enemy'

Dennis Vileneuve's 2013 film 'Enemy', starring Jake Gyllenhaal, is seen to portray Freud's theory of the Id, Ego and Superego. At the beginning of the text, we meet Adam Bell, a History Teacher in a Toronto university. Adam is shown as a very timid man, who has trouble holding down meaningful relationships, yet lives with his girlfriend Mary. One of his colleagues recommends a film to Adam, in which he sees his Doppleganger, Anthony Saint Claire, who has played a few minor roles in a couple of movies. Adam stalks Anthony, and manages to track him down to his apartment where he lives with his pregnant wife, Helen. Adam also manages to get his phone number, so they arrange to meet after much trial and error on Adam's behalf. Throughout the text, there are various subtle hints towards the fact that they are the same person, such as a torn photo in Adam's apartment, clearly from a break up, however later we see the same photo in Anthony's apartment, untorn, showing him and his wife.
I believe that in this text, at some points both Adam and Anthony can be seen as the Id or the Superego, although they mainly just portray their respective roles, as initially Adam seems to portray Superego characteristics, such as being timid and having a job where he is in control, as he is a teacher, and control is a major factor to the superego, and he also dresses formally. Anthony, however, is shown to be more reckless, as he rides a motorbike and dresses in leathers for the majority of the film. At one point in the narrative, they decide to trade places, Adam stays in Anthony's apartment with his wife, and Anthony goes on a date with Adam's girlfriend. In this scene, Adam definitely portrays the superego, as he seems grounded in this role, however Anthony portrays the Id as he argues with Mary whilst driving, causing both of their deaths in a car crash. The fact that it is Anthony's idea to trade places for a day shows him as being reckless as he does not think about the consequences of his actions and how their respective partners will react to this situation. Contrarily, however, the fact that Anthony is married and his wife is pregnant seems to adjust which roles they portray, as Adam is essentially a persona created by Anthony in order to cheat on his wife, so it could be argued in this instance that Adam is the Id, however I believe the other factors overweigh this in terms of labelling either of them as the Id/Ego. Also, the fact that the first thing we see in the text is Anthony at a strip club, where he is handed a key. After Anthony's death at the conclusion of the text, Adam essentially becomes the Ego, as his Id persona is dead. He finds the key that Anthony got from the strip club, and tells his wife that he is busy tonight, therefore implying that he is going to the club and therefore embracing some of the characteristics from the Id. The closing shot of the film is Adam walking into the bedroom where his wife is and seeing her as a giant spider, something which has been prominent throughout the film, as spiders play a big role.
In the text, we encounter a few other 'Superego' characters, the most notably Adam's mother. His mother tries to talk Adam out of his beliefs of another man through the simple quotes 'give up on your dream of being an actor' and 'The last thing you need is meeting strange men in hotel rooms, you already have trouble sticking with one woman, don't you?'. In the latter of these quotes, she is clearly talking about his affair on his pregnant wife with Mary, however this subtle hint towards them being the same person could easily be overlooked by a passive audience.
Lighting and framing is vital in this film, as in the scene where Adam and Anthony meet for the first time in the hotel room, Anthony is lit much more low-key than Adam, who is lit quite naturally through the window, which emanates the darkness within Anthony, and perfectly represents him as the Id and Adam as the Superego. The mise-en-scene of each character also perfectly portrays their respective roles, as Anthony dresses mostly in black, with his leather jacket being prominent throughout the text, whilst Adam wears a tweed suit jacket with beige trousers and a white shirt and black tie, which is much lighter than the attire of Anthony, clearly showing him as the Superego. However, in the climax of the film, when Anthony is killed and Adam becomes the Ego, he wears a black suit, a compromise between the suit that Adam wears and the black jacket that Anthony wears, showing that he has embraced some of the darkness within him and also showing that despite all that he has been through in the film he will never change his deceitful and manipulative ways.
Overall, I think 'Enemy' does an effective job of portraying the Id, Ego and Superego, due to the fact that Adam and Anthony fit into their respective roles of the Superego and Id quite comfortably.

Id, Ego, Superego in Fight Club

Throughout David Fincher's 'Fight Club', starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, there are frequent references to Freud's theory of the personalty. In the text, the two protagonists clearly portray two of the roles of the theory, with The Narrator being considered as the Ego, and Tyler Durden representing the Id. The Superego, however, is slightly more difficult to label, as throughout the film there are multiple Superegos. Initially, The Narrator is seen to be suffering from insomnia, so he attends multiple self-help groups in order to show himself that there are people much worse off than he is. One of these groups is 'Remaining Men Together', a support group based around men who have suffered with testicular cancer and have had to have their testicles removed. It is here, in the basement of the Trinity Episcopal Church that Jack(aka The Narrator) discovers that through crying he is able to sleep again at night, so it could be argued that these self-help groups act as a Superego to Jack. However, later in the narrative of the text, Marla Singer starts to attend these same classes, and (in the words of Jack) 'Her lie reflected my lie. Suddenly, I felt nothing. I couldn't cry, so once again I couldn't sleep'.

Part of Jack's psyche splits, and he starts to encounter Tyler Durden, meeting him on a business trip, where Jack notices that they have the same briefcase. An event in which Jack's apartment, containing his 'Ikea lifestyle', is blown up causes Jack to call Tyler and they meet up at a bar, where Tyler tells Jack to 'hit me as hard as you can'. After this initial fight, the duo decide to start a weekly 'Fight Club', where men get together and fight in parking lots and basements, having to abide to the ten rules of Fight Club, with the first two rules being 'You do not talk about Fight Club'. These weekly meetings start to replace Jack's desire to cry, as the adrenaline coursing through his veins allows him to feel again, and therefore allows him to sleep. Due to this fact, the Fight Clubs become Jack's Superego, as they ground him to reality and allow him to function as a normal person, as his insomnia becomes less prevalent.

Some people argue that Marla Singer is a superego in the film, as she is part of the reason that Jack discovers that he and Tyler are the same person, and also acts as Jack's only real friend, however I believe that Marla cannot be a Superego, as she is seen to smoke constantly, she steals clothes from laundromats and sells them on, and she is also the reason that Jack is unable to sleep, as she invades his privacy in the self-help groups, all of which are qualities that a Superego would not have. One scene in the narrative clearly conveys Jack as the Ego and Tyler as the Id through the use of mise-en-scene, this scene is when Jack and Tyler initially fight in the parking lot of a bar, and there is a medium-long two shot of Jack and Tyler, with bins behind them. The mise-en-scene in this shot shows Jack as organised, as behind him is a dumpster, whereas Tyler's side contains a large pile of bin bags, therefore Jack can be seen as organised trash, whereas Tyler is shown as chaotic mess. The mise-en-scene also gives us an insight into both of their personas, as in this scene Jack is wearing formal business attire, whereas Tyler wears a leather jacket and an 80's style shirt, much more casual and therefore reinforcing the idea that Tyler is the Id to Jack's Ego.

The editing in the text and placement of characters within the frame is a vital component in understanding the polysemic narrative in Fight Club. Throughout the text, before Jack meets Tyler, we see superimposed images of Tyler frequently, which implies from the offset that Tyler is just a figment of Jack's imagination. Also, in the scene at the air port, when we see Tyler for the first time (outside of the single frame super-imposed images), The Narrator states 'if you can wake up in another time and another place, could you wake up as another person?' just as Tyler goes past him the other way on a conveyor belt, but the low-angle shot makes it appear as if he is coming out of his head, which is essentially what Tyler does in the text. Also, in the aforementioned scene in the car park where they first fight, they are placed on opposite sides of the frame, therefore showing the two halves of The Narrator's psyche.

The Structure of the Personality Evaluation

I believe that my final piece, entitled 'The Structure of the Personality', was fairly successful in showing what I had originally intended, and that the three characters within the text fit into the roles of the Id, Ego and Superego fairly well, however there are some elements of the video I think could have been greatly improved, such as the acting on the behalf of the ego. Granted this was his first time acting in anything scripted, so it was completely different to what he was used to, however there were frequent occasions where he would forget or improvise lines, so in the final cut there were occasions where the line used differs from what was intended in the script, so I feel like some of the definition that he is the ego and not just following everything the Id tells him to is lost. Also, he fond some difficulty in getting into the mind frame of his character, so therefore found it difficult to portray emotions. However, I feel that this lack of emotion works with the narrative, as he has essentially created two alternate personas in his mind, through which he portrays his emotions, however the standard passive audience may not decode this meaning from the text. Also, some people who have since viewed the text have stated that the 'Ego' also acts as an Id, through the fact that he ultimately kills the alternate personas within the narrative, however I wanted to show that in the text he slips more and more into the Id's mindset, as his sanity is slipping away. I feel like some of the definition of his character as an ego was lost through misreading lines and also through the lack of emotion within the actor/character. Ultimately, I believe that with more time I could have re-shot some of these scenes, such as when the Id convinces the Ego to commit the murder, in order to make the scene seem like more of an argument, however due to restricting constraints I was unable to do so, as it was incredibly difficult to get all of the actors together, due to working and college etc. I also feel like this filming experience has aided myself in becoming more demanding in my actors, so therefore if I were to shoot this or another project again I would definitely make sure that everything is done to the initial standards I had anticipated, even if it requires casting another actor. Regardless of the Ego's portrayal in the film, I was incredibly surprised by the talent from the Id, as it was also his first time acting, and he was initially reluctant to get into the main speaking role, as he is a fairly timid person naturally, however I believe he really came out of his shell and did a spectacular job in the text, except for when he had to die on screen, which was shot multiple times. The superego also performed immensely well, as he is quite an emotive person and memorised his lines well, so could clearly portray this role, however I had anticipated him being a successful actor from the offset of the production, as he has acted in mine and his own pieces before. The main thing I am pleased with is some of the camerawork and cinematography in the text, such as the long take tracking shot in the party scene, the low angle two shot of the Id and Ego talking in the party, and the extreme close up of the bloody knife at the end of the piece. I am also happy with the editing, as I feel like it came together smoothly in the end, and even simple things like adjusting the levels of the sound, like when they go outside at the party and the music quietens down.
I am, however, increasingly annoyed in myself due to the fact that I did not use a professional microphone for the dialogue, due to the fact that I had forgotten to borrow some of the valuable equipment needed when setting up the microphone, i.e. the audio jack lead, and only discovered this whilst setting up for the party scene in the one chance I had, so therefore audio quality was greatly reduced by this fact and sometimes the wind would render it difficult to hear the characters, so I will definitely make sure I am better prepared in future. Also, I would definitely have preferred a larger turnout for the party scene, as in the text the party seems very dismal, however this is the justification for the Id taking drugs. It was difficult to find people who were willing to help out with the production, and some people were only convinced by free alcohol, which was enlightening as to who is really there fore me when I need them. Some of the extras were also at times uncooperative, as they would not listen to direct orders, however I could not afford to lose a single member of the cast as numbers were already low.
Whilst producing the text I had to constantly consider character placement, due to the fact that I wanted to clearly portray each of their respective roles. In the scene where the Id and Superego are first introduced, they come into shot from either side of the frame in order to represent the two sides of his personality, also called the angel and devil on the Id's shoulders. After the Ego kisses the girl and she walks out, there is a shot with the Ego in the foreground, as he is the overwhelming part of the personality, then the Superego is the second most prominent character in the psyche therefore I had him in the mid-ground, then the Id comes in last, as he lies in the subconscious part of the psyche so is essentially a background voice, so when there is a tracking shot, he is at the rear of the trio in order to represent his subconscious nature. When they are in the car, the Id is placed as the driver, due to the fact that his reckless nature makes him stealing a car and speeding off into the distance more realistic. The Ego is placed in the front seat, as he is the conscious part of the psyche, whereas the subconscious Superego is placed in the back seat. This placement is actually inspired by one of the texts I studied, Ferris Beuller's Day Off. When the Ego kills the other two, he is placed in the middle of the frame in order to reiterate that he is the main character and main aspect of the persona.
Overall, I am rather pleased with the final outcome of the piece, however I believe with more practice I could have produced a far superior text, not only on my behalf but on the behalf of the actors. Better preparation would have also caused a better text overall, and would have significantly increased audio quality.

Promotional Video Planning

For this project, I have decided to produce a promotional video for a local business, Parker's Fishery in Bulkington. This company does not only offer fishing, but also offers a stable service, has a local food service, and also offers a wide range of construction services, as the owner of the business has a dam of skilled manual workers. In the promotional video, I aim to cover all of these areas in a short sequence. I intend on holding interviews with the team behind the operations, and also with regular fishers in order to grasp an outlook of what the service offers and the standards of the company, and see the opinions of both repeat customers and new customers. I also plan on filming the construction team while they are out on a job in order to show this side of the business, so that my promotional video is not heavily one sided towards the fishing element of the company. In order to get across all of what I intend to, I will have to make the cuts between shots quite tight and quickly cut between the shots in order to get the point of the video across quickly. I want the transitions between the fishing and construction elements to feel smooth, so I will intercut between the two but make it clear what the focus of interviews and certain shots are through the use of mise-en-scene, for example if interviewing a fisherman I will make sure the fishing pool is visible in the background and cut to shots of fishing rods and nets, or even a shot of someone catching a fish. The video will contain montages of varying degrees, mainly intellectual montages, as there will be definitive meanings between interposing shots. I intend for the video to contain high-key, yet natural lighting, so that everything shown within the video is clearly visible, however I intend to shoot some night fishing scenes to show that this is a device that is available at the pool. The target audience for my video are people  who are interested in the services that Parkers fishery has to offer, so generally aged mid twenties and above, although there are many younger people who are passionate about fishing, therefore the video will cater towards a family audience.
Below are screenshots of email conversations I had with my client.

After this, I met with my client and took notes as to what they were looking for from the video.

Freudian psychology Short Film