Song Of The Sea Essay

Film Devices

• Setting

• Symbolism

• Characters

• Lighting

• Mise-en-scene

• Mythology

• Mirroring

• CAMELS

• Quotes

Themes

1. The Healing Power of Grief:

   • importance of confronting and processing to heal and move forward → conor, ben, saoirse because of bronagh

   • bottling up emotions leads to more pain → macha, grandmother

   • important for human experience

2. The Importance of Family and Love

   • central to the plot

   • emphasises importance of familial love, understanding, support for overcoming difficulties → Ben and Saoirse’s relationship

3. Storytelling and Mythology as a Connection to Identity

   • stories and myths help individuals understand themselves and their place in the world

4. The Interconnectedness of Nature and Humanity

   • film portrays nature as something mystical and powerful, deserving of respect

   • e.g. sea → source of life, memory and transformation

5. Acceptance and Letting Go

   • accept change and let go of past → happy future

     • conor- accepting loss of wife

     • macha- let go of desire to control emotions, accept pain is a necessary part of life

6. The Balance of Emotions

   • all emotions are essential for human experience, should not be suppressed

   • macha- learns emotions must be experienced for balance in wellbeing

Socio-Historical Context

1. Irish Folklore and Mythology

   • many references to irish myths (part of celtic mythology “all irish myths are celtic, but not all celtic myths are irish”)

   • mainly legend of selkies

   • reflects ireland’s deep connection to the sea and its creatures

   • importance of storytelling in preserving cultural heritage

   • inclusion of mythical figures (e.g. macha, mac lir) ties story to ireland’s ancient traditions of storytelling and the supernatural

2. Cultural Identity

   • mostly irish heritage

   • emphasises importance of remembering and honouring ones cultural roots in a modern world through the inclusion of irish folklore

3. Historical Connection to the Land and Sea

   • Film’s setting reflects Ireleand’s connection to it’s history with the land and sea

   • sea → source of life and place of mystery

4. Themes of Loss and Emigration

   • theme of loss reflects ireland’s history of emigration*

   • many irish families experienced the pain of separation due to economic migration

   • *emigration → when you move out of your old country, not to be confused with immigration → when you move into a new country

5. Preservation of Oral Tradition

   • highlights the need to keep oral tradition in preserving history and cultural values in a modern society where it is being threatened to be erased

-In summary- the film is heavily influenced by Irish socio-historical context, particularly in relation to its folklore, exploration of cultural identity, and reflection of Ireland’s relationship to the natural world and its own past

Setting

1. Connection to Irish folklore

   • coastal setting ties narrative to legend of selkies

   • sea serves as a symbolic link between the human world and mystic realm, represents source of life and place of transformation (crucial to selkie mythology)

2. Emotional Landscape

   • landscape mirrors the emotional journeys of characters

   • e.g. rugged cliffs and stormy seas → conor and family’s grief and turmoil

   • e.g.2. “serene, beautiful scenes” of sea and countryside → moments of connection, healing, rediscovery of identity

3. Isolation and Connection

   • lighthouse home on small island → emotional distance from world and e/o

   • reconnect with heritage and e/o while journeying from secluded home to wider world, encountering mythical creatures and landscapes

   • setting reinforces themes of belonging and importance of family ties

4. Cultural and Historical Context

   • setting → bridge between past and present

     • highlights how ancient traditions shape modern identities

-In summary- setting is deeply intertwined with themes of mythology, identity, emotional healing → makes it vital component of film’s storytelling

Film Language

*MUST USE TWICE IN EVERY BP*

How to analyse directorial intent

• involves interpreting choices made by director in crafting the film and understanding how these choices convey specific themes, messages or emotions to the audience

• research director: Tomm Moore,

• identify central themes: greif/loss, family, emotions, mythology

• examine film techniques (at least 2 film techniques/language in each bp)

  • cinematography- how the camera is used, shot composition, camera angles, lighting, colour schemes. how these elements contribute to mood of emphasise certain aspects of story. use analytical verbs to connect example to directorial intent

    • e.g. dark, stormy lighting → character’s inner turmoil

  • sound and music- analyse soundtrack, sound effects, silence. music often reflects emotional tone conveyed by director, sound effects enhance atmosphere or highlight moments

    • diegetic - characters can hear

    • non-diegetic - characters cannot hear

  • editing- pacing of scenes, transitions, sequence of events. how editing style contributes to narrative flow or creates tension, suspense or relief

  • symbolism- symbolic elements within film (objects, colours, settings), interpret significance. directors often use symbolism to convey deeper meanings without explicitly stating them

• interpret scenes and moments

  • scene analysis- key scenes that are pivotal to film’s message, break down techniques (camera work, music, dialogue, etc.) to convey director’s intent.

  • character development- consider how director portrays characters

• connect to broader themes

  • relate techniques to themes- don’t use word “themes”, discuss how techniques relate to themes, e.g. lighting reflects hope/despair

  • cultural or historical context- place director’s choices within broader cultural or historical context, how do director’s decisions reflect/respond to societal issues, historical events, cultural values

• articulate director’s message

  • state intended message- based on analysis, articulate authorial (directorial) intent, e.g. specific emotional response, critique of society, philosophical idea

  • support with evidence- back up interpretation with specific examples from film

• example in film analysis essay

  • theme: the necessity of confronting grief.

  • directorial intent: moore uses visual symbolism, like the rough seas and dark lighting, to reflect conor’s emotional state. the transition to calm seas and warm lighting at the end illustrates his acceptance of grief, signifying moore’s message that healing comes through facing one’s pain.

  • evidence: analyse the scenes with conor looking out to sea, noting the use of weather and lighting. discuss how these choices enhance the emotional narrative.

Film Analysis (from rewatching.. yay 😀)

• lines from poem at start

• song at start- connection to irish mythology

• “look at the selkie! look! she’s singing her song so that she can send all the fairies home across the sea!” ben → foreshadowing

• fog around the border in opening → memories?

• circles, triskelion appears everywhere in bacground

• fragments, spiky stuff surrounding bronagh → trouble

  • tears in her eyes → she doesnt want to leave

• “Cu! dont go too close to the water! its dangerous!”- ben → scared of water

• seals in water→ bronagh watching over them

• ben drowning in shallow water → exaggerating his fear of water

• grandma’s numberplate → OW45 , owls

• “you old witch” - boat guy to grandma

• saoirse’s bed infront of sea painting → she belongs in the ocean, she is a selkie

• ben’s room seperated by curtain → he doesnt like her

• conor standing next to mac lir painting → mirroring between two

• macha trapping mac lir’s emotions <—> grandmother trapping conor’s emotions

• conor’s sitting figure mirrors that of mac lir

• saoirse’s shadow as she follows the glowy things to get is coat is in the shape of a selkie

• triskelion everywhere in water

• saoirse’s glowy things wake all mythical figures, then wake grandma whose bird’s shadow imitates macha’s

• grandma’s medicine <-> macha’s emotion jars

• “i cant loose her too bronagh” - conor, before throwing saoirse’s coat into the sea → he knows what he is doing, he is doing it because of his grief

• rain when they are leaving the island → pathetic fallocy, rain = sad

• “stay away from the water, youll drown!” - ben, still holding onto grief

• seals surrounding boat, “there havent been seals around here for years” - bot man → seals want saoirse to stayyyyy

• sailor/boat man → mirrors great seanachai

• saorise drawing seals on window

• “Ben there will be no tears in this car or in my house” - grandma mirroring macha

• city → bleak, grey, shows how they are sad dont want to be there

• fog → miserable

• a lot of the furniture in the grandma’s house mirrors the furniture in macha’s house

• saoirse carrying shell everywhere, playing song all the time → now that she found her new selkie identity, she does not want to leave it

• ben going into the tunnel that says ‘no humans’ to chase after his sister → his character is starting to develop

• na daoine sidh talking to stone fairies→ there is still hope for them now that the selkie has been found

• “you’re actually real, not just stories” → ben knows about the mythological world through bronagh’s stories

• music getting louder and tenser when owls appear

• saoirse playing the selkie song on her shell and freeing the na daoine sidh’s head → without her voice, she can still help them a little

• ben and saoirse sitting in back of bus full of kids with halloween costumes, wide shot, show how they dont fit there

• “the stories that mum told me are true, are you really a selkie?'“ → ben knows about the mythological world through bronagh’s stories pt.2

• sun peeking through clouds over irish landscape → hope is coming, change too

• ben putting leash back on saoirse → he wants her to be safe

• “oh yes, follow the magical lights. thats much safer than being on a bus” - ben, sarcastically → even though he knows about the magic, he still doesnt trust it

• “dont let it be macha, please dont let it be macha” → now that he knows the stories are real, he is more worried

• the wire stand thingies for the internet/phone wires are shaped like owls

  

• “whats happening to you?” ben to saoirse after her hair starts turning white → he cares about her, he is suddenly more caring

• “keep your legs up saoirse” - ben while walking through the nettles → he cares for his sister enough to endure the pain for her

• saoirse giving ben the shell before she jumps into the water → she knows it’s dangerous

• triskelions EVERYWHERE

• dramatic, scary music before panning to saoirse being taken by owls → something bad is going to happen

• close up, dutch tilt when ben and great seanachai are screaming → CHAOS

• “forgive me, i have no memories excpet for what is in this hair” - great seanachai → all his memories are in only his hair he cannot remember much about the human world as his hair only holds memories about the magical one. thats why he forgets who ben is before he leaves

• “you could snap a hair, you loose a story on me forever” - grean seanachai, “each hair holds a story?” - ben

• mac lir sounds like conor (they have the same voice actor) he also looks like conor

• circle light thingies - sulcha(?) “sulcha and the selkies, they are all connected” - great seanachai

• “you see, without her coat, the selkie has no voice, and without her song she wont survive the night. and we’ll all share the same fate” - great seanachai

• great seanachai’s hair creates a path

• the white streaks in bronagh’s hair are just like saoirse’s, when she walks down the stairs in her coat she looks like a bigger version of saoirse

• glowing light things surround saoirse when conor saves her from the ocean

• over the shoulder shot from behind baby saoirse shows how ben did not like her once he realised his mother was not coming back, while she wanted to connect to her brother and have a good sibling relationship with him

• stone-ified fairies turned into stepping stones, saoirse’s song from the shell reawakened them just enough to talk to ben as he crosses

• MACHA AND GRANDMA HAVE EXACT SAME SPEAKER THINGY

• “just nasty things you know. no body needs them” - macha abt the jars

• “she cant help, not really help. not the way i do” - macha abt saoirse being able to help according to ben → saoirse gives back emotions macha takes them, she thinks her way of handling pain is better

• “it doesnt hurt, it will never hurt again” - macha while taking ben’s emotions

• “it doesnt help at all, it just makes things worse!” - ben after this

• macha is half turning to stone

• saoirse is half turning to stone too

• so many circles

• ben cant play the shell only saoirse but she is too weak so ben helps her “its gonna be okay, its okay saoirse… i shouldnt have been so mean to you, its not your fault it never was, i should have been a better brother, im sorry” he helps her with his comforting and encouraging words → character development

• triskelions in all the emotions

• macha’s primary emotion becomes the one she swallows until she swallows them all and becomes normal again then the owls go away

• very symmetrical

• “i couldnt bear to see my son suffering so much” - macha → she thought she was helping, doing a good thing even though she wasnt

• cu running alongside maclir’s dogs →

• rocks all look like stone-ified fairies

• “dad! she needs her coat dad!” - ben, “stop it ben" - conor → ben now understands but conor is still in denial

• “its gone alright! i threw it in the ocean i shouldve done it years ago!” - conor knows what he did he was trying to keep saoirse away from her selkie identity on purpose because he was scared he would loose her lilke bronagh

• “i cant get it. I can get her coat back” - ben, while taking off his life jacket for the first time in the film → he has overcome his fear

• the seals helping ben → bronagh helping from afar, the seals want the best for saoirse

• Saoirse talking with her coat on → the magic is helping her, she can speak now yayyy

• mac lir’s dogs make an infinity symbol over the boat and tip it over so saoirse becomes a selkie and she is getting better again, but when she gets on land it becomes worse, she has to sing

• “try and copy me saoirse *starts singing*” because she didnt know the song she needed a bit of ben’s help and now her selkie identity helps her know the whole song and she sings it by herself sending a golden aura light thing to fix the whole magical world and send everyone back

• makes everything/everyone golden

• “i am a selkie…the truths (something something) the promise of old—-” - saoirse’s song

• bronagh appears as a selkie surrounded by golden light, she is also singing the song

• Thse quotes all show the importance of family:

  • “Please dont! please dont take her from us” - ben

  • “shes all we have” - conor

  • “mum, i want to stay” - saoirse

  • “i loved you so much, i still do” - conor to bronagh

• “all of my kind must leave tonight, but saoirse, you are part human. if i take her coat our worlds will be untangled, and she can stay with you” - bronagh → magicccc

• “my son, remember me in your stories and in your songs” bronagh to ben → the tradition of their oral storytelling

• “its as though ive been asleep for all these years, im so sorry” - conor → mirroring mac lir who had been turned to stone and asleep

• panning up to the lighthouse with a bright blue sky and more vibrant colours → everything is better now theyre all happier

• saorise can speak now that she knows who she is

• ben and conor paint together just like how he painted with bronagh

• macha and grandmother have the same voice actor