Chinatown Presentation Reflection

Positives:

Our presentation was very strong in accenting how each example we used was artistically shot in order to add to the essential moody and raw atmosphere in each scene. I think that this was important for our topic of textured images for in film the images and the action/dialogue are inseparably connected to each other. Our examples were normally parts of integral scenes in the film that were exemplary of the mood of the film and where there was good use of textured images, but not always. We used a lot of filmic terms applied them in detail to our choice of screenshots. They were not always the most obvious ones like perspective (which Alejandro nicely expanded on with power relationships), but also one source lighting and color values. Also, I think that it was organized reasonably well.

Improvements:

Our focus question could have been worded more eloquently, as well as more specifically. It covered what we meant to say, but it could have been smoother. We connected back to film noir by saying what filmic techniques were signature of film noir and a bit on how Chinatown may have went against some noir techniques because of the time period it was made in, but we could have improved this by connecting the images and the dialogue back to film noir a bit more. I think we understood the topic well, but we might have gone off on some tangents. Also, it may have been an improvement if we had connected our slides in a more unified fashion; you could easily tell that each person did a different slide. The presentation itself could have been improved if we had practiced it more together, but it was still congruous.

Film Noir and Chinatown Overall:

Chinatown is not technically a noir film of the 1940 and such, but it still has the same type of moody and raw atmosphere that many movies would not dare to portray in the 1940s nor the 1970s, when Chinatown was made. This film genre is very interesting to many people because it is not afraid to show the harsh realities of the world, and it does not "sugar coat" the truth and condition the film into a happy ending. Film noir has many characteristics that are signature to it because of its entirely different atmosphere from most other films. It likes to use images that are rough, dark and confusing; these images connect to the dominant themes of entrapment, isolation, fragility and betrayal. Stylized dialogue is used to show the character's strengths and weaknesses, as well as to create an air of cynicism and mystery. The characters of film noir are like real humans who get hurt, make mistakes and cannot always obtain a "happy ending". This style of film can connect to us today similar to the way it used to connect to people in World War II and the Cold War, for our world is in a state of turmoil over events in the Middle East, the economy and much more.