Chinatown
Movie : 1974, color, 130 minutes
- Director: Roman Polanski
- Actors: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston,
Chinatown is an American drama/crime movie in the Film Noir tradition set in the Los Angeles of the 1930s. Its main protagonist and the viewers point of view is Jake Gittes, a private detective in the the tradition of Hammetts Sam Spade and Chandler’s Phil Marlowe. What starts out as a simple case of adultery leads Gittes into a labyrinth of deception, betrayal, greed, conspiracy, and corruption. In the classical noir tradition villains in Chinatown are pillars of the community, business moguls, politicians, bureaucrats, high-level flunkies and respectable thugs.
How does Polanski deconstruct the American archetype?
The private detective is an American archetype in the tradition of James Fenimore Cooper’s “Deerslayer”. The singular man who is able to bring order to the world. This archetype has found many forms in Westerns as well as in the urban tales of Dashiell Hamett and Raymond Chandler. But Jake Gittes is a figure quite unlike his predessors. Even though set as period piece in the 30s, the perspective is defined by the post-vietnam post-watergate stae of the American Psyche. Jake Gittes is essentially wrong at every major turn of the unfolding story, because he is not able grasp the complex layers of the realityhe's dealing with. In the end is not able to return order to the world. In “Chinatown” the hero is not able to return order or justice to the world.
What part does lighting and technology play in the film?
Chinatown was shot in 35mm. negative color stock using anamorphic lenses and Panavision cameras, the aperture was 2.35:1 aspect ratio and the film stock was processed and printed by Technicolor. Cinematographer John Alonzo camera is often on the move perched over the shoulder of Gittes, as we follow him through the maze of his investigation. DP John Alonzo used a 40mm lens for many of the shots explaining that images from this lens closely resembled what the human eye sees in real life. This combination of technology and compositions add an uneasiness to the work. John A. Alonzo replaces the black and white chiaroscuro of the classic noir era with tones of browns and washed-out yellows. Light saturates every face, but for the characters it is blinding and it makes it impossible to see the truth.
The Sound of Music
Movie: 1965, color, 174 minutes
- Director: Robert Wise
- Actors: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, and Eleanor Parker
The Sound of Music is an American musical film based on the Von Trapp Family singers and located in Austria. The film follows Maria, a mischievous nun, as she becomes a governess for the Von Trapp family (seven children and a widowed father) Maria becomes the first governess to connect and get through to the kids, and ends up marrying their father.
What factor does Color scheme play in the film?
In the film, Color choice play a huge part in setting the feeling and mood, whether it be in the setting or clothing. The film opens on Maria singing in the beautiful green alps, the mountains stretching on for miles. We clearly see that Maria is in her nirvana, and that the bright colors of the nature signify a happy and peaceful space for her. When Maria arrives at Abbey, the colors turn completely neutral. We begin to only see greys, blacks, whites, and light browns. Maria clearly doesn’t look as blissful, and we deduce that the grim colors mean a more boring and unhappy space for Maria. Another setting in the film that shows this is the captain’s house. When she arrives, everything is extremely colorless and grey. We can see that the colors signify that this is an unhappy space in general, especially because all of the children are unhappy as well. Throughout the duration of the film, we see that Maria (and the children) are happy when she takes them away from their house and into the colorful nature, and when she sews them new bright clothing out of green fabric instead of the proper and grim uniforms they had to suffer in.
How do the songs (lyrics and melodies) provide irony and comedic relief in the film?
The songs in the film include lyrics that the characters would most likely not speak, so they are sung (which is also a perfect opportunity for comedic relief). For example, in the beginning of the film, all of the nuns gather together to shun Maria in a way, through song. “What do we do with a problem like Maria” are the words the nuns sing, and we deduce that they are words the nuns would not normally say when having a conversation. This provides comic relief, because seeing nuns “bad-talk” somebody through song is quite ironic. Another example of comedic relief through song is when Maria is on her way to the Van Trapp home (for the first time) and she sings the song “ I Have Confidence.” When Maria sings this song, it shows us that the only way for her to get over her nerves is to sing self-affirmations. As she sings “I have confidence in me”, she dances clumsily and trips over herself several times, reaffirming the ironic lyrics in the songs.
Pulp Fiction
Movie: 1994, Color, 154 min
-Director: Quentin Tarantino
-Actors: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, and Samuel L. Jackson
Pulp Fiction is an American crime film written by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary. Pulp Fiction intertwines four tales of violence, gang deals, crime, and redemption. The main characters include two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster’s wife, and a pair of diner bandits.
What does Tarantino’s excessive use of extreme-close-ups do for the film?
Quentin’s excessive use of close-up shots is the key factor to the tense and thrilling element in the film. In almost all of Quentin’s scenes, he provides an extreme close up of a person or object to create tension and un-comfort . A great example of this is the OD/adrenaline shot scene. When John takes a passed out Uma to his druggie-friends house for help, they decide they need to give her an adrenaline shot straight in the heart. The brief moments leading up to when John stabs Uma with the shot are the most tense, thrilling, and uncomfortable seconds in the whole film. The lead-in shots are as follows: close up zoom on Uma’s bloodied face, extreme close up on the needle with dripping “adrenaline liquid”, close up on druggie’s face counting to three, close up of John sweating nervously, extreme close up of magic marker circle on Uma’s chest, and lastly a close up of the druggie’s wife’s anxious/excited face.
These essential shots create the tension and un-comfort we feel during this scene. Seeing the needle up close, and the characters reactions, put us in the character’s place- making us squirm and dread the moment coming next.
What general role do women play in the film?
Each main woman in this film play the role of a beta/sidekick, an object the higher character (the man) controls. This shows us a lot about Tarantino’s perspective on what a woman’s role should be, and it creates the general feeling that this is a guy-run film. The three characters that exemplify this are Yolanda (“Honey Bunny”), Fabienne, and Mia. Yolanda is the diner bandit wife of her diner bandit husband, and basically goes along with any plan he comes up with. During the gun face off at the diner, Yolanda is out of it and under complete control of her husband. Her husband is under gunpoint, and Yolanda who also has a gun, asks her husband for direction. Fabienne, Butch’s girlfriend, tags along wherever he goes, and doesn’t really have a mind of her own. She follows Butch, becoming a partner in crime, and eventually leaving town with him without much knowledge as to why. Mia is perhaps the least sidekick-esque, but the qualities of her beta character do reveal themselves at certain points. Although Mia is her own person, she is under the control of her hulking gangster husband Marcello, and is slightly scared of him. When Vincent drops off Mia after the OD incident, she makes it clear that she would get in huge trouble if Marcello found out. This shows that she is under Marcello’s complete control.
Psycho
Movie: 1960, black and white, 109 minutes
- Director: Alfred Hitchcock
- Actors: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, and Vera Miles
Psycho is an American psychological thriller/horror film, considered one of the most famous horror flicks of all time. The plot follows a young woman who steals $40,000 from her employer’s client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor under the domination of his lunatic mother.
How does Hitchcock use symbolism in this film?
Throughout Psycho, Hitchcock adds in many elements of symbolism to establish characters and situations. One of the first symbols Hitchcock uses is through color. In the first scene, Marion is wearing a white slip and bra, white being the color that symbolizes her good (heroine) character. A couple scenes later, Hitchcock uses symbolism through color again. We see Marion packing her bags, now wearing a black bra and slip, which show us the cunning bad-guy element of her character. We realize she is going to run away with the money her boss told her to deposit, so we deduce that the black color she is wearing has to do with her dishonest side, and guiltiness. Symbols of stuffed birds and mirrors are extremely prevalent as well.
How does Hitchcock combine several genres of cinema into one film?
In Psycho, Hitchcock combines several genres of cinema to create one unforgettable and history-making film. The genres prevalent are: Horror, Comedy, Psychological Thriller, and Erotic/sexual thriller. What made Psycho an unforgettable film was it’s ability to push the boundaries past what any other film did in the 60’s, while still following the rules. The horror aspect of this film is the most visible, the famous “shower scene” being a perfect example of this element. What is also interesting about Psycho is that the horror aspect heavily relies on Psychological horror, which in some ways is even scarier. Psychological horror seems even more real, which is much more affective when it comes to scaring and scarring the audience. Another genre explored in Psycho is the sexual/erotic theme, which had not been explored yet in mainstream films. This element of sex and eroticism shocked many, but also was an effective tool at intriguing and sparking even more interest.
E.T. the Extra Terrestrial
Movie: 1982, color, 115 minutes
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Actors: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is an American science fiction film about a lonely boy named Elliot who befriends a friendly extraterrestrial, dubbed “E.T.”, who is stranded on earth. Elliot and his siblings help E.T. return home while they attempt to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.
How does Spielberg’s use of silhouette shots and lighting contribute to the film? In E.T., many of the out there/noticeable shots are silhouettes shots. The reason for this is to create a mysterious vibe, as well as an aesthetically nice shot to look at. Silhouette shots create mystery because they don’t give every detail about the situation away- we basically just see a shadow of what is going on. Silhouette shots are used in many pivotal points in the film, including when Elliot meets E.T., and the bike scene. When Elliot is waiting outside for the creature he know is there, Spielberg uses a silhouette shot of him in the darkness in the moonlight to create suspense, and to increase the tension and thrill factor in the audience. Another pivotal scene where a silhouette is used is when the children on the bikes rise into the air (due to E.T.’s magical powers). In this shot, we see a silhouette of all the children biking/flying through the air in front of the sunset, which in this case was to create an aesthetically nice shot.
How does Spielberg use panning shots to his advantage?
Throughout the film, Spielberg uses panning shots several times. The reason for most of his panning shots are to lead our eyes to something important. This shows us a lot of detail we as an audience need to know about the scene. By doing this, Spielberg shows us the surroundings, and the subject. A great example of this method is when some police are searching Elliot’s house. The camera lingers over Elliots’s room, pans up an electrical cord, right up to Elliot’s door with a sign on it that says “Do not enter”, and policeman’s shadow behind it. This shows us the nature of what is happening without giving too much away. Another prevalent example of this method is when E.T. is in the hospital, and Elliot’s brother is at home sleeping. The camera (in Elliot’s room) pans past all of his toys, Elliot’s brother sleeping, and leads our eyes straight to E.T.’s pot of flowers, that dies and crumbles right in front of our eyes. This is a major symbol of E.T.’s death, and Spielberg makes sure that we notice it by using the panning method.
The Shawshank Redemption
Movie: 1994, Color, 142 minutes
- Director: Frank Darabont
- Actors: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, and Bob Gunton
The Shawshank Redemption is an American Crime/Drama film, following two jailed men who find friendship in each other over their years of imprisonment, and find solace and redemption through acts of common decency.
How does The Shawshank Redemption combine elements of both formalism and realism?
The Shawshank redemption is so successful at getting to the audience’s emotions because of it’s perfect combination of both realism and formalism. The realism gives the film an element of reality that makes the situation more real to the audience, while the formalism gives the film the dramatic push it needs to really affect the audience. The use of realism can be seen in the long takes, which give the audience the feeling of being there with the characters. The use of formalism can be seen through the films close ups, slow zooms, and use of silhouette shots. The close-ups and slow zooms are affective because they bring us intimate and close with the characters, and the silhouette shots have a formalist feel because they almost make the characters seem in-human. One of the most striking formalist shots in the beginning of the film is when we see the “sisters” attacking Andy for the first time. The sisters are shot in silhouette, which gives the film an extremely in-human formalistic appeal. Another use of formalism can be seen in the shots of the jail guards. The jail guards, usually in packs of three, are generally shot from a low angle to accentuate their power. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the prisoners are generally shot from high angles and birds eye views to display their complete lack of power.
How is lighting and color scheme an important aspect of this film?
In the film, low-key is the most prevalent and heavily used type of lighting, which is to be expected in a prison-film. The low-key lighting is effective in creating a gloomy and tense vibe, and also creates a dramatic and mysterious feeling. The low-key lighting also helps us analyze what the characters are feeling, and we can infer the self-conflict going on inside of them. Lighting and colors on the outside section of the prison is also extremely important. Even though the prisoners are out in the sun, the color is still drab and grey, and the sun never manages to hit their faces. When all we see is shadows and grey colors, we realize how trapped the prisoners feel. In the shot where Andy plays the aria for the other prisoners and they are all drinking cold beer, the sun finally hits the prisoner’s faces, and Red comments that for a moment, they felt like free men. This shows us extreme symbolism when it comes to lighting, as lack of light symbolizes being trapped, and light symbolizes freedom.
North By Northwest
Movie: 1959, black and white, 131 minutes
- Director: Alfred Hitchcock
- Actors: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason.
North By Northwest is an American Thriller about mistaken identity, following Cary Grant as he is mistaken for a different person, and is pursued across the United States by agents of a mysterious organization.
How does Hitchcock’s use of montage contribute to the film?
Throughout the film, the methods of associational editing and thematic montage are also used to create contrasting images and raise the suspense levels that spectators feel. The suspense builder applied is Hitchock’s use of montage. Specifically in the drunk driving scene, the contrasting images of rocks to Thornhill’s facial expression to his car wheels spinning around to his pursuers following, are used to stir, shock, and keep the audience members at the edge of their seats. Another scene that does just that is the famed crop-duster scene, where Thornhill is seen trying to escape a plane that is flying deathly close to the ground on which he’s roaming. Hitchcock switches from shots of the plane in the sky (Thornhill’s point of view) to Thornhill’s expression of terror and confusion, as he runs for his life to escape the jet chasing after him.
How does Hitchcock’s use of classical cutting and continuity editing contribute to the film?
Alfred Hitchcock and editor George Tomasini use the principles of classical cutting and continuity editing to completely capture and freeze you into the mind of Roger O. Thornhill. These methods throw you into Roger’s point of view, so during the entirety of the film, every detail and secret he discovers is exposed to the audience as well. The methods of classical cutting and continuity editing happen throughout many scenes of the film, and have created a big impact on the way films are cut today. For example, when Thornhill and the police travel from the art gallery to the airport, in reality it would’ve taken much longer than the half second it took in the film. Each cut like this is used for the purpose of time and continuity, two extremely important factors in film. Since no scene was written to occur from the way to the gallery to the airport, it is important to make a quick but smooth cut for times sake.
Titanic
Movie: 1997, Color, 194 minutes
- Director: James Cameron
- Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, and Billy Zane
Titanic is an American epic romance/disaster film, a fictionalized story of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The film follows Rose and Jack, two young members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the Titanic on its ill-fated voyage.
How does Titanic use camera angles to signify a person’s character?
In the Titanic, just about every lavish and technological film technique was used, but that’s not to say that basic film techniques weren’t used. Camera angles (a technique used by the amateurs and the pro’s) were widely used throughout the film. The main use of camera-angles in the film is to signify a person’s class. When we see Rose for the first time, she is shot from a low angle, signifying her superiority and wealth. This gives the audience insight to her roots and background, and to her morals and values. The next example of angles used to signify character is when we are first introduced to Jack. When we are introduced to Jack, he is shot from a high angle, signifying that he is from the lower class, and he is not so wealthy. This gives the audience insight to his background, and to his view on life in general.
Why does Titanic use so many extreme long shots?
In the film, Extreme long shots of the ship are shown very frequently, almost to put things in perspective. After an intimate or personal scene with the main characters aboard the ship, Cameron will show an extreme long shot or panning shot of the Titanic to show how immense it really is, and to show how in perspective, Rose’s story was just one among many. This technique adds a bit of realist appeal, used to increase the audience’s belief in the story. A good example of this technique put to use in the film is when Jack and Rose are in the car, and start to kiss and make love. After a shot of them locked in intimate passion, an extreme long shot/birds eye view of the boat flashes on, showing us how in the wide scheme of things, they are just a miniscule factor of the sinking of the Titanic.
The Wild Bunch
Movie: 1969, color, 145 min.
- Director: Sam Peckinpah.
- Actors: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan
“The Wild Bunch” tells the bleak tale of a group of aging outlaws bound by a private code of honor at odds with the “New” West of 1913. It is the dawn of World War 2, and cars are starting to replace horses. Even machine guns have made their way West. Pike Bishop and his gang are set up in a failed bank robbery by bounty hunters. In a bloody massacre they shoot their way out of the trap that was set for them. Pursued by the bounty hunters they flee to Mexico where they make their final stand, trying to free a comrade from a Mexican warlord.
Analyze the Cinematography in Violence scenes of the film.
The film is book-ended by two massacres sequences. The two scenes include some of the bloodiest and most violent shoot-ups ever put on Film. Sam Peckinpah filmed the scenes with six cameras, all operating at different film rates including 24 frames per second, 30 frames per second, 60 frames per second, 90 frames per second and 120 frames per second. The rapid montage of different angles, different grades of slow motion and real time create an almost lyrical effect, the choreographed bloodbaths are visually prolonged, and create a lyrical ballet of death.
What did the slow motion sequences contribute to the film?
In “The Wild Bunch” Peckinpah extended the work of directors Arthur Penn and Akira Kurosawa who had pioneered this style of montage and of slow motion camera. It is interesting that in Peckinpah’s film the “artistic” means gives a “realistic” feel for the brutality. The montage gives a chance to grasp the real impact of bullets ripping through bodies. Peckinpah’s technique became widely used and today is standard repertoire for any director be it in action movies or MTV music Videos. It never regained the philosophical impact of “ The Wild Bunch”.
Blade Runner
Movie: 1982, color, 117 minutes
- Director : Ridley Scott
- Actors: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer and Sean Young
Blade Runner is an American Science fiction film, set in Los Angeles, 2019: Rick Deckard Harrison Ford is a retired policeman who chases and terminates androids (artificially created humans). He wants to get out of the force, but is drawn back in when four replicants hijack a ship back to Earth. The city that Deckard must search for his prey is a huge, sprawling, bleak vision of the future. Deckard kills the replicants but in the final showdown with Roy (Rutger Hauer), who is about to expire gets saved by his opponent. The film goes so far as to put in doubt the nature of Deckard and forces the audience to reevaluate what it means to be human.
How does the noir element influence the film?
Blade Runner, owes a large debt to film noir. It explores conventions as the femme fatale, the questionable moral outlook of the hero and even questions the humanity of the hero. The original version of the film even included a Raymond Chandleresque first-person narration, as well as the usual dark and shadowy cinematography. The noir element and theme are affective in keeping the audience on edge, and creating an air of mystery and menace. The noir element also gives us insight to the theme of moral ambiguity in the film.
How does Scott use lighting to influence his film?
To create the dark and oppressive look of his sci-fi noir film, Ridley Scott uses strong shafts of light, immense amount of smoke as well as strong backlighting, which give evokes classic noir images similar to “Citizen Kane”. Scott uses large amount of colored neon signs to light the darkness of his futuristic sci-fi L.A. An example of lighting used as a symbol is the juxtaposition of high key and low-key lighting to represent the conflict between man and man-made (humanity and artificial life).
