The Hurt Locker Analysis

The movie The Hurt Locker is about a group of soldiers with a reckless bomb diffuser who risks his life and others for the adrenaline rush of war. The story centers around the combat that a trio of soldiers, Sanbourne, James and Eldridge, and their various combat encounters and their reactions to such situations and the loss and stress involved. Out of the three, the bomb diffuser James is the most reckless and puts others in danger to do what he believes is right, above his superiors and anyone else in general. His adrenaline rush is really a main theme in this movie, for the soldiers both love and hate war, making them have extremely conflicting emotions. War breaks down all the characters at some point, but James is the one who has perhaps experienced the most of the worst of war out of the three in the respect of him causing the downfall of others, but he is also the one who gets the most satisfaction, the most rush from war, and therefore stays in it, even losing the option of seeing his son grow up. War is "like a drug" and James is the one who is most addicted out of the three soldiers, explaining the quote at the beginning of the movie. I really liked this idea, for it is a bit of a different take on war from what I have seen before in other war movies, but this is the first movie I have seen about such a recent and controversial war, so that probably affects my reaction to this as "something different." It was a hard and depressing movie to watch, but it does have a lasting message of how some people do "enjoy" one of the worst types of situations to be in: war.

I. Context

This film takes place near the current time, as in 2010 or 2009 probably, for the movie was made recently and takes place during the Iraq war, which started in the early 2000's. There has long been much opposition to this war because it has been thought to be unnecessary and American and Iraqi civilians often resent the war and what it represents. The war was originally meant to get rid of weapons of mass destruction, but there were no weapons of mass destruction, causing the war to be questioned and many American soldiers and Iraqis in general being killed. This probably results in much of the violence and hate against the American soldiers, a violence that the soldiers must fight to protect themselves and the civilians who generally hate them.

This being a war movie often reminds me of other war movies like Black Hawk Down, but I rarely watch war movies, but I have seen part of that movie and how both movies show much of carnage of war to shock the audience and show them the horrors of war through the movies. I have only watched really parts of older war movies like The Dirty Dozen and Patton, and in those movies I can see more of how they glorify war and being a soldier, but this film does the opposite: it does humanize all of the soldiers, but some, like James, are shown not to be glorious in their "bravery" but instead rash and full of hubris, trying to be the hero when they cannot be. This lack of glorification is probably due to the lack of support for this war, but it does in no means say that soldiers are bad people; some of them just have bad characteristics.

3. Setting, Acting and Costumes

The visual style is quite jarring in the way that handheld is often used and the editing is very fast. The color correction generally makes for a harsh visual tone, with harsh yellows and some blues used throughout. The actors are quite good, I think, for they can be harsh like a bitter soldier, but they can portray a believable breakdown when their characters have "had too much."

The production design is really harsh in the way that area around the soldiers is set, with a set of the run down buildings and and dust all around, also making sure to emphasize the small details in the surroundings of the soldiers to show the horror and danger of their surroundings. The iconography of the whole piece is connected much to the technology of war, including guns, tanks, robots and even the bomb-diffuser suit. This is characteristic of a war film, for the technology is very important to the plot of the story, for the technology moves the story forward by causing the conflicts/ being the catalyst for many of the conflicts in the story. The soldiers are always struggling with the effects of these weapons both psychologically and physically, creating conflicts like when James and Sanbourne are in the desert; they come to terms with their relationship while they fight for their lives against the enemy, bringing them closer while defeating the enemy. A lot of focus is put on the mechanics of the gun in this scene, emphasizing its importance in this scene and throughout the film.


4. Cinematography and Lighting

The editing style goes towards a more formalistic ideal, for the director is unafraid to manipulate a moment in time in many different ways, representing a certain idea, like the damage caused by the first bomb in the movie when the first bomb diffuser dies, replaying the same moment over and over again, emphasizing a few different objects that get damaged by the blast.

The camera is often shaky, bringing it a bit closer to realism, but this is done in a way that is formalistic, for the shakiness demonstrates the tentative and dangerous nature of the situations the soldiers are in. The framing and angles are not always stable, as previously mentioned, but can also contribute to the idea that people have of documenting war as something that cannot be controlled by Hollywood conventions of smooth camera work: the war is meant to be gritty and raw, not conditioned to the expectations of Hollywood. A long lens is used during one battle scene where the solders are having trouble shooting down some terrorists from a long way away.

The dominant imagery is of guns and bombs, for those are the main issues presented in the film and how they cause death and general loss. The main color throughout is a dull, sand yellow, for that is the color of the dust around the area and it really represents the dulled down feelings of the soldiers towards loss because of the amount of loss they have faced.

5. Editing

The editing is semi-formative, for it manipulates time but still maintains a plot structure of some sort. The shots can be very short, like at the beginning when the soldiers were trying to save the other soldier from an imminent bomb, and very long, like when the soldiers were waiting to get a good shot on the terrorists from a far away distance. The movie is made to make extra tension, and the tension is created by these conflicting cutting styles depending on the situation, whether it is cut quickly or slowly. Sometimes the cuts between one point of time and another is rather sudden, like when the soldiers are talking about all of the death and the harshness of war and then it cuts to James shopping at a grocery store when his tour of duty was over.

The parallel action in the piece is very tense, for there is a lot of parallel action only in the most desperate situations to create a sort of sense of terror, like when the guys are in the alley way searching for the guys who sent the bombs into the residential area. There are no real montages, at least by my standards; its not that "semi-formalistic", or not that interpretation of semi-formalistic.

6. Score

I didn't notice the soundtrack throughout the movie too much, but that might be the point of the movie. It focuses more on sounds that are in the background and emphasizing the small details of the situation, like a bomb sound going from a low sound to a crushing loud sound, to create surprise. As far as the actual soundtrack music went, the style went for a hardcore sound. There seemed to be a sort of mesh of musical styles all together, including a little Arabic music combined with metal.

7. Script

It is interesting to note how the narrative starts off with one of the characters that seems to be like one of the main characters dying. After that, the other two soldiers who are introduced at the beginning are not really the main characters as much as James. The beginning seems to put Sanborne in a position of power at the beginning, but then the focuses mainly on James and his power over the others and his story.

I think that this movie is more character driven than plot driven, for there is more focus on the struggles of the soldiers and how they deal with war and their personal lives, and their actions are relatively repetitive; there is always tension because they always are diffusing bombs and shooting down enemies, but that is the same action and it is more about how the soldiers react to such situations.The dialogue is very terse, with a lot of cussing and dark humor used, like the wedding ring being "something that almost killed" James. the archetypes of the hero are blurred, for James is not a traditional hero; he does save people, but it is not for as good as a reason as heroes are normally considered to have; he also does it for the rush, as he explains to his son that he has to leave him because war is the only thing he really loves.


8. Genre

This genre is an action/war film because it places much focus on combat and its stress with characters hardened by war, making sure to keep the action interesting, but then showing the converse, the characters with emotions that are so affected by the action. The characters are not the glorious heroes, but instead some guys trying to fight a non-glorious war.

The action is what makes sure that this film meets the requirements, including the technology of war. It is really gritty and creates strong bonds between the men, the soldiers. This brother-like bond is very important to the action film, for that sense of camaraderie in such dire times is signature, like in Lethal Weapon and The Fast and the Furious. The genre was subverted a bit with the more formalistic editing, like by focusing on bystanders and cutting the same moment in time several different ways and using slow motion. Also, there is a lack of glorification, like I mentioned before, which is more a part of general action movies rather than war movies. Older war movies seem to glorify war more rather than ones about more recent conflicts, like this movie and Apocalypse Now.

Conclusion

I thought that the jarring nature of this film was very interesting, especially since it was about a more current conflict that we are still in, bringing this film "closer to home" than movies about older conflict. I was interested in the tone of the film and the way that the soldiers were presented as many different types of people, from soft to harsh to somewhere in the middle, even within the main trio throughout the movie, Sanbourne, James and Eldridge.

Short Documentary Blog Post

For this blog, I decided to watch the True Life Documentary called "Resist the Power: Saudi Arabia".

Narrative

I found that this documentary had a very interesting narrative that would really appeal to a Western audience, for it shows four people or groups of people who are very similar to the normal middle class American teenager that cannot do the same very basic, almost rudimentary things that American teenagers know are commonplace and generally accepted for themselves. This documentary tailors itself to its younger audience by showing the oppression in Saudi Arabia by showing the actions young Americans take for granted being banned in Saudi Arabia, each of the four stories in the documentary showing struggles varying in importance to the general society and with varying levels of success in resistance, but all held together by the common thread of youth empowerment in any situation, indicative of the overarching issues in Saudi Arabia despite the levity of the issue at hand. The issue of a young man, Aziz, searching for a girlfriend to meet up with from Facebook seems really light, not important to the grand scheme of things, but the documentary shows how even his small resistance is important, for the narrative focuses much on the world around Aziz and the other subjects that are affecting his actions, surprising to the Western audience, like how young men can't go into the mall without their family being their with them, preventing Aziz from meeting up with a girl.

Some issues are shown to be more important in the "grand scale," like the work of Ahmed trying to get women to be able to be a part of city meetings and giving back to the poor people in Jeddah.

Of course, it is not like we get more emphasis on this aspect in the narrative because the narrative emphasizes all of the different stories, not just focusing on one, trying to create a more balanced issue, focusing on the important as well as the not so important according to general ideas.

The narrative usually involves switching between all four stories, basically switching 2 or 3 times for the beginning, middle and end of each story, to keep them matching to make a flowing story between the 4 stories. There is a lot of narration with characters doing some simple actions that does not distract much, combined with dialogue. The narrative ends very hopefully.

The narrative is lead by each of the characters for their own story, only with an overarching narrator to introduce the situation at the begining; its kind of weird not to have the narrator finish the story off, but it works for the set-up of the narrative itself, ending on the voice of each of the youth on their own, a vestige of their power, an important part of the theme of empowerment throughout.

Camera Work

The camera work can be shaky at times, when they are in a situation like a dialogue or something, like when Aziz is talking to the guard or when the band, Breeze of the Dying, is getting kicked out of the concert in Bahrain.

Much of the rest of the time, the shots are relatively fluid, with shots of what the characters do in their lives, like a slightly less planned movie, only slightly shaky, but only at times. A lot of the hopeful ideas, especially at the end, are developed by showing the characters walking towards a symbolic statue, like bicycle that Fatima walks by while talking about her plans for the future.You only really see talking heads at the beginning, in order to establish the characters and their voices and their conflicts.

Editing/Sound Design

Like I said before, the stories are intercut between each other at about three or so points, edited in order to keep the stories and the entire piece flowing. The editing intercuts dialogue, talking heads and narrative while seeing the actions of the characters that correspond to the narration/story, keeping the story interesting and the viewer involved because of the changing situations of speaking and action. I liked the sequence where we see Fatima narrating and then talking the store owner; the type of action is varied between us watching what she is doing while narrating and an actual dialogue that affects her efforts in her part of the documentary.

The sound design focuses much on the stereotypical Arabian music, but it works for the piece because it keeps it throughout, and kind of even works in its contrast to the metal band's music, showing just how much they are going against the norms of their region. Also, the music is a bit more adapted to the youthful vibe of the documentary, with some western influence, and is constant throughout, all of the music matching the rest throughout the rest of the piece. Sometimes its varies a bit with some dissonant music.

Youth Commission Documentary

Purpose: To inform people of what the Youth Commission is and what they do for the community.

Contacts: Lynsie and Seren-Youth Commission Coordinators, Youth Commissioners, veteran/co-chair Jessica, a new person (?), board and commissions member, policy track member

Questions:

“What was last year’s project/ your project last yr? (or other past projects)”

-“What made you guys chose this/these?”

What is this year’s project?

-What made you guys choose this?

Questions to YC members: Why did you decide to do Youth Commission and why did you continue with it?

What is the funnest thing you guys have ever done together and what’s the story behind that?

What is the best inside joke you guys have?

Overall Flow:

1. Show the setting in which the Youth Commission is based + Explain Commission

2. Explain past/current projects

3. Have people explain why in commission/serving it

4. Any Jokes/Fun Times

5. Conclusion

Script with Intro and Closing:

[Note: all interview shots are established before B-roll when they are answering question for the first time, then is unnecessary; MCU with speaker on right for all shots, sitting down preferably]

[Ask interviewees to answer in complete sentences]

B-roll of building, using the tricky elevator (maybe joke shot of trying to get into elevator quickly; sound edited for convenience and jest, explanation in words on screen), Coupa, lingering on it on way to the office, the office itself, the quirks, the noisy windows, also the public meetings, the dome building in Redwood City to signify government, mostly ELS, some CU on quirks, LS and CU on elevator.

VO: “A bank building in the middle of San Mateo seems like a strange place to put a non-profit, possibly even ironic, but yet here resides the Youth Commission. Here, up a creepy elevator that closes even as you are still walking through it, is a program run by the Youth Development Initiative to empower youth through its programs and nurture their growth. The Youth Commission has existed since 1993 and is an officially sanctioned San Mateo County Commission that meets in the Redwood City Supervisors’ meeting room for public meetings and in this office in San Mateo next to some inexplicable business. What is Coupa anyways? Regardless, in this building is where much of the actions happen for the Youth Commission.”

Have Advisors answer questions about “What is the structure of the Youth Commission?”

VO: Over the past 17 years of the Youth Commission’s existence, the Commission has evolved into an organization that has students either individually or in a group produce an annual project that benefits the community on a certain project.

Have people answer Question about “What was last year’s project/ your project last yr? (or other past projects)”

-“What made you guys chose this/these?”

­B-roll of magazine, depressed people in pictures, Gunn H.S., etc

What is this year’s project?

-What made you guys/you choose this?

B-roll-Alco-pops in liquor stores, party cups, % alcohol in alco-pops and other liquor, $ of water or some other drink vs. alcohol, panning over alco=pops, CU or ECU for all.

VO: Perhaps students originally came to the Youth Commission to garner community service hours to pump up their college apps, but for many that’s not the only reason they have stayed.

Crescendo of Music (inspirational type) B-roll of meetings, magazines, working together, up and out ice-breakers

Questions to YC members: Why did you decide to do Youth Commission and why did you continue with it? Advisors: Why did you chose to work with the Youth Commission?

VO: Of Course, this group has fun too; it is a bunch of teenagers all together.

B-roll: The group doing an activity, a teenager leading an activity (i.e. in icebreaker, team building activity, like at public meeting probably), LS, MCU on teenagers, activities

What is the funnest thing you guys have ever done together and what’s the story behind that?

What is the best inside joke you guys have? (Nick and the apple juice, acting as a pterodactyl)

VO: As is apparent, the Youth Commission is making a difference in our community, regardless of whether or not you see it as large or small.

B-roll: Everyone together, camera leaving the building, showing the grand area of the public meeting.

Baraka (Not Obama)

(The Inspiration For Both Avatars)

Introduction and General Analysis

Baraka is a "silent" movie made in 1992 about the different parts of the world, their physical features and their cultures in general. It contains no dialogue, forcing the viewer to focus on the screen and the sometimes eerie sound design. My general view on this film is that it is like an "acid trip" of sorts that is meant to highlight the beauty in the diversity of our world and how in this diversity we can still be quite connected. It also has a message about how our modern society sometimes fails to see the beauty of the past and our surroundings and keeps on moving in a flurry around it to go on with our "progress", like when the monk walks through the street of that Asian city and everyone just walks around him, paying little head or just being annoyed by his presence.

Also, the environment is affected by progress in the way that the movie shows many amazing sights of the environment in the movie at the beginning but then moves on to more cityscapes and even trees being cut down and hills being blown up. I like the message conveyed and I feel that the movie is quite trippy, but it is interesting to note the "naturalist" ideology behind the film and how some of the movie's messages seem almost outdated, if not just out of current vogue. It is about the negative effects of modernization and deforestation (as well as general environment abuse), which are topics that are still important today, but now such issues seem more "commercialized", as if they are such a part of life, like "going green" that they are almost unnoticeable, but this movie brings up such issues again, instead of about things like the evils of the exploitation of natural resources by world powers like in Avatar, a movie with a similar earthy tone that is more recent. Later on in the movie it involves more of the negative effects on humans with the depiction of genocide in a genuinely scary way, focusing not on the actions of the genocide but instead what has been left behind, emphasizing the humanity of each person killed by showing their photographs. I am not sure what the end of the movie is, so it is hard to judge what exactly I believe the film makers want us to take away from the movie as a whole, but I think they want to inspire an appreciation for life and perhaps give some insight and hope for how we can change the world for the better through increased unity as people as a whole, not just as separate cultures.

(some of #3 is mentioned in this part)

Questions Answered

1. I think that the movie is named Baraka because the film seems to be meant to give a "breath" of fresh air into the human culture, as is to tell people to take a deep breath and look at the world around you in such a time of globalization and modernization. This is sort of like how the monkey at the beginning looks very contemplative; the shot lingers on the monkey for a very long, almost uncomfortable time, forcing us to take the "strange" situation in, to "breathe in" the atmosphere. This long moment is trying to make us breathe and contemplate our lives in comparison to everyone else in the movie, to take time to respect the world for what it is and enjoy the differences around you and step back from "progress" for a little while seems to be the message in this movie. Also, progress is not always progress, for in our modern time we have been able to cause much destruction with our "progress" in technology, like genocide and the destruction of the environment. The title really shows an ancient mysticism, the awe of life that has always existed on earth because of its amazingly good and horrible attributes.

2. It is representing a critique of the modern world for it is kind of saying that we live our lives at too fast of a pace, too out of reach of nature. A lot more time is spent on shots of people in more traditional environments, a lot of time spent on each of their individual faces for the most native people. As the movie starts to get further away from traditional environments, like in the slum parts of the city where people do stop and think for a while, are more "slow going" like the more traditional people, less time is spent on their individual faces; we spend more time on their faces in groups, but that time spent is still less time that the time spent on the faces of the people in more traditional groups. In the big cities, mostly New York we see much less of the individual, with the shots time lapsed really fast to place no focus on one individual person but instead the flurry of the collective. There is no time spent on the individual or even small groups; this demonstrates how disconnected the "modern " world is from person to person.

3. I think I have basically explained this before.

4. This absence of dialogue is really important because it means that there are no subtitles, that everyone in the world can see the same film presented in the same way, weeding out the subjective translations and meanings of words. It also brings everyone together in way that it speaks in a way most people no matter where they are from or their education level is: through pictures.

5. Culture and city often involve a lot of people, a lot of rich contrasting colors while the nature involves cool colors with little contrasting colors; it is of course very natural. In both, there is sometimes a lot of movement, like with the clouds and the people in New York, and but often there is not, like in the water reflecting the sky and the people staring at the screen. The main contrast in movement is the sometimes people will move a lot and in very coordinated ways, like with those Asian men and their coordinated movement that probably helped inspire the similar movement in the movie Avatar.

6. This juxtaposition of the monk after all of the cigarette packing seems to show how modern industry, modern society, has taken a departure from the past, from the culture of the past, and now leaves it behind and ignores it, even if it is still an inexorable part of society. Spirituality is still present despite the flurry of modern day and it has the ability to coexist and should be accepted, but sometimes people are "too busy" to do so.

7. This representation of the poor shows us that much of the world is poor, no matter where they come from. It is something that is shared across countries, but it is not a good thing like much of what the world shares in its diversity of culture and race.

8. Much of the music seems to echo, as if the tracks are played "into" each other, a nice use of stereo it would seem (I am not sure if that is correct, it just seems to be so). The music where the people were all singing in their own languages stood out to me, for it was eerie since I did not understand it and it was very booming and echoing in the way that I mentioned before. The transitions were really nice when it went from a lot of movement to no movement, like all of the men swaying all together like in Avatar then suddenly changing to a still mountain/volcano top with only a bit of movement pulling into the mountain from the side. As a side note throughout the movie I really liked the way the camera kind of moved in on the side of the still pictures, like with that one white or tan building towards the beginning of the movie; it is more interesting that moving straight into the shot (it is revealed more artistically).

9. We probably watched this film because it was somewhat trippy and it forces you to focus on its editing style and "background" sound design. I am not sure what you mean by vision, but I guess if a more traditional movie wanted to imitate the effect of this movie. it could do it to some extent, but more of the traditional barriers like language and the subtlety of meaning of words in each culture, but a similar effect could be made with a protagonist touring the countries, but that also leaves less of the scenarios up to the viewer to interpret. A sense of awe could still be made, for the cinematography is still amazing in any movie, so it would still affect that attraction to nature all humans have. I think that I still do want to travel, but I would probably still chose more commercial places, which is not exactly what this movie is trying to emphasize.

Conclusion

Baraka is a movie that has power in its epic undertaking, but simple basic idea: show the world as it has been and how it is. In this idea it succeeds. I wonder how the "sequel" Samsara will be, with the changes in this world since 1992.

Box of Love-The Critique

Introduction

This is my film critique for my group with Crystal x2 about our movie Box of Love. This movie is about a homeless man who finds a love interest in an unexpected way after his dreams are crushed by the “perfect” woman. The story was a change from our normal suspense movies and it was really interesting using all of the different techniques based on the romantic comedy Amelie and the genre as a whole.

Script/ Narrative Story

There is a clear 3-act story in this movie, for it sets up a character that watches everyone else and is all alone, but then he sees a girl he is attracted to, thus setting up the maze of trying to please her, then being rejected into ignominy, only to be brought up by a new, better love interest in the end, creating a feeling of fulfillment. This movie really shows the theme of how one needs to look beyond outside appearances to get at the core personality of a person. Appearances are misleading; Frascuello finds love in the form of a grimy homeless person like himself, not a pretty rich girl. This is not to say that love is only found within ones own “kind” or rich people are horrible, but instead that sometimes one finds love where they least expect it. The characters are always in character; Frascuello may seem overly cynical at the beginning, but that just explains his readiness for a change in his life, to feel a true connection to someone else. The other characters are less dynamic, but they show that they are not always as they seem based on appearances. The dialogue is really not an issue, for we use no dialogue; we tried a voice over, but that did not really fit within the narrative arc of the story that shows more than it tells. Dialogue would just weigh down the flow of the story that depends much on the acting of the characters. The climax is reasonably original, for it is perhaps not expected from the beginning that another female character would come in, though it may be expected that the pretty girl would reject Frascuello.

Casting

All of the actors in this film are effective for their roles, especially for the main characters. Martin is always a versatile actor who can handle the fickle mood changes of Frascuello, from cynical to ecstatic. Jennifer’s portrayal of the rich girl works well with her clear confidence and intense facial expressions, as well as her whole look. Savannah is a good Ajuna, the homeless woman, for she is humble enough acting and shy, like the character of Ajuna should be. All the minor characters were fine, but Stephanie’s fat girl was a bit unconvincing, but it was kind of hard to stuff her face like that, so it is somewhat excusable. All of the characters look different enough with different features, like the sharpness of Jen and the softness of Savannah, each matching their respective characters.

Acting

As previously mentioned, most of the actors fit their roles really well, being convincing in both look and action. Frascuello is very endearing, as is Ajuna as far as we experience her presence, so we really care about what happens to them; the coldness of the other characters emphasizes the warmness within these characters, making the viewer like them more. The main characters stay in character the same way throughout the movie. The wardrobe and make up is really convincing and holds up throughout the movie; this movie depends a lot on the wardrobe of the characters. Frascuello and Ajuna are both homeless people and if they were all completely clean, their roles would be unconvincing; the dirt on their faces and their tattered clothing help bring their characters to life. Conversely, the prim and proper clothing of the rich girl and her boyfriend are important to showing their contrast to the other two.

Sound

All of the sounds are appropriately placed for proximity, but this issue rarely comes up. The background music probably calls attention to itself in the way that it is very varied from rap to instrumental music. Also, there is the issue that I may have some randomly placed music, like the water splash, but that is meant to place emphasis on the humiliation of Frascuello when he is pushed down by the boyfriend. The music may not always be the most appropriate for the situation, but that is used to make the situation comical, to various effects at times. The ending music is definitely my favorite part through, for it layers over quite well.

Staging and Props

The set designs really do capture the quirky feeling of the movie, especially in the coffee shop, for it shows the life of young city dwellers, and the field, for it shows a contrast to that city life, the concrete jungle. The park at the end is still a nice area, for it was in a nice position with the sun shining to emphasize the epiphany that Frascuello reached with Ajuna, but it was hard to film in at times because of its small size. Its sparseness does, however, place the emphasis on the relationship between the two. Sometimes there was an issue filming the falling motion in parking lot area around the bank, for there was a pole in the way of the action for the most part. There is enough visual separation between characters in the background for the most part, even in the crowded coffee shop, for the characters are wearing distinct clothes with some different colors. Any issues with time period are essentially null in this case, for the film takes place in the present day.

Lighting

The lighting is generally good; there are no major lapses other than the issues that we had with shadows. The major issue with the shadows was in the field because we had to make sure to maintain the 180 degree line and everything to make the match action transition from the scene by the parking lot. There were shadows of the camera and boom mike due to the position of the sun at the time, so therefore any of the shots that go over to Jen have a lot of mike shadow. It was hard trying to edit around this, so this was the major issue out of any of the lighting. Most of the lighting was outside and it worked relatively well, maybe even quite well. It was reasonably consistent and it produced a nice outline on the characters when the sun shined behind them in the park bench scene and a bit of the running through the meadows scene, emphasizing the feel-good nature of the film in that part of the story, casting the characters in a benign light. The sunset came at a very convenient time in those cases.

Titles and Credits

I think that the titles are reasonably appropriate for the movie; it is a nice and light template with modern sounding opening music. The opening represents the way how nature is a welcome escape to the urban jungle that Frascuello faces everyday of his life, the harsh realities of life. The lake and pasture background of the opener really shows how Frascuello choosing the natural beauty and appeal of Ajuna and the forest will make his life much better. It is support to be a bit cheesy, so it is. I think that it is reasonably legible, but it does go by in small script, so some of the actors’ names may be hard to read. The closing is more legible.

Camera Operation

We do indeed pay attention to the 180 line and how to set up shots, having a few nice foreground, midground and background shots that make the shot more interesting. The one pan that we really have in the movie is well motivated, for it shows a sudden realization in Frascuello that the chocolate box could be of some use to him. The camera movements are rarely noticeable, though the camera is a bit shaky sometimes because we rarely use the tripod.

Sound

There may be some issues in volume between shots, like when I accidentally put the volume down a little bit lower than the other similar tracks, but it is not that noticeable. There are only two lapses in the loops that I was having a lot of trouble trying to get rid of, one less noticeable than the other. The one at the beginning with the drinker was not too bad, but the one at the end where the music is ready to fade into the other track at the right moment, the way I connected the two tracks repeated the same few notes, which provides a discontinuity in the music that otherwise fits the scene well. The audio may be a little too varied, but that is supposed to fit the quirky nature of the film.

Editing

I think that the cuts are quite motivated in most cases, trying the move the story at a watchable pace, like how I used quick cuts in the dream sequence with gradual fades to try and hide the shadow mistakes, but also to make the sequence more dream-like, then using no fade to create a stark sense of being thrown back into the harsh urban reality again. Some of my cuts in general are a bit too long, especially at the beginning, but it is not overly noticeable. We could have had a few more reaction shots to show what the characters were thinking at the time, especially at the time when Frascuello snaps out of his dream, for we don’t see a close up that might have explained the feelings of the rich girl and Frascuello, providing a good contrast in their close-ups. Based on the footage that we shot, I believe that the way I edited the story it tells enough without being too long for the most part; it is only about 4:30 long this time. I also avoided issues like jump cuts and tried to avoid as many continuity errors as possible (that were not intended), which seems to have almost completely worked, but I may have missed a few things. The editing style is reasonably smooth, so it is only noticeable when I planned it to be (like in the part where the perspective of the couple at the end goes from their backs to their fronts to show how they are moving forward), so I think that it is fine for the most part.

Conclusion

Overall, I thought it was interesting to make a movie with a happy ending and overall positive tone. It has its own “quirks” so to speak, but it was interesting to do the sound design for it, but I would like to make a track that is a bit more congruous across the work with better sound layering and possibly some better ambiance.

Romantic Comedy/ Magical Realism Film Treatment

So for my treatment, I wanted to use the editing/filming technique that Gino made popular with his jump cuts video and combine it with a story that is somewhat supernatural, complementing each other. Here it is:

Logline: A girl meets a weird male "ghost" who appeared and won't disappear until she finds a trigger.

A girl walks down an unassuming hallway reading a paper in her hand only to accidentally kick something. She looks down and finds out that it is a watch. She picks it up and stares closely at it, saying how the spoiled the kinds at the school are. A masculine voice says "That looks kind of familiar". She looks up unassumingly and says, "That's weird" He pops way back through a jump cut." "Now that's really weird."

Cut to walking down the street, the guy behind her in an awkward way. "Well, you are pretty much the only person who can see me, aaaaannnnddd you did pick up my watch, so imma follow you until you can find a way to help me out" "...[sigh] Well I guess it has to do with this watch. I don't really have the heart to throw it away...maybe its some kind of trigger a ghost needs" He shrugs his shoulders in semi-agreement. She walks up to her house, sighs again, and begrudgingly lets him in.

Cut to her walking through the door into her bedroom. She sits down and starts to fiddle with the watch. Clearly this watch isn't working, and we can see this on her face and with the watch. "Weird, I can't remember ever getting this watch to work." "Why is that?" she says, only slightly interested. "Probably too lazy to. Or maybe I was just too distracted, or apathetic. Kinda like you." "Apathy?" "Yeah, you barely care for anything." "Well, I cared enough not to throw your watch away." Awkward silence. "Yeah, you did. I do things like that too often." Meanwhile he flashes back to his past, people turning away from him and brushing his off. "Maybe that's why I'm dead and stuck." Flashback to him preparing to jump off a cliff "...well I guess that's why I'm here." She finally gets the clock moving again. He starts to disappear and says "Well, I'll be seeing you...someday" The girl smiles slightly, "Yeah, right. If only."

A few weeks later as the girl is a her desk looking at the watch, the door behind her opens up. She turns around and the boy is there. "Well, I thought I should get my watch back. Your mom let me in pretty easily. Its nice to be seen again."

She smiles and he comes closer to her, flashing out light to black credits.

Amelie Textual Analysis

From the quirky film Amelie we can see numerous stylistic devices that the director uses to draw the viewers into the story of Amelie and those she effects with her "good-doing". Here are four stylistic devices that are used:

1. Detailed Narration

Throughout the movie, but especially at the beginning, the narrator goes into deep details about each the characters, showing their small, seemingly meaningless quirks, like liking to touch grain in a bag and cracking creme brulee. The detail in this narration gives insight to the idiosyncrasies of the characters, giving highlight to the small details that most other movies miss out on or do not highlight in any particular way.

2. Ornate Set Design




Many scenes involve set designs that have numerous nick-nacs and details. Paris by nature is an artsy city that has a lot of detail in the streets, buildings and businesses, and even the hometown of Amelie is portrayed in such a way. I think that this device is used to make everyday life, even the mundane tasks of going to the market and the subway station, more interesting, emphasizing the value of everyday life, of everyday wonder. Even small details in life are worth taking a look at to appreciate, and since this is a movie, the viewer can be directed to these details that they normally wouldn't notice in life. Appreciating the "small things" is an important theme in the movie, and is essentially Amelie's mission throughout the movie to bring to quite a number of random people.

3. Detail in Minor Characters

In the film, I see how the director has a lot of minor characters that only show up for a total of a few minutes in the film, but it is interesting to note how these minor characters serve as catalysts for change in the more major characters and symbols of certain ideas. A lot of possibilities arise in the way that these characters can effect the major characters in a sometimes minute, but noticable way. For example, the character seen above had his pictures collected by Quicompoix when they fell under the photo booth, leaving Amelie to think that he perhaps left his potraits around with the same stoic face each time so that he could be remembered by someone picking up his portraits scattered around Paris even after he died. This idea of wanting permanence is an interesting idea that the characters may desire in the movie, since Amelie and Quicompoix both interpreted it that way, but the only reason his pictures were all around Paris like that was because he was the repairman for the photo booths. A sense of wonder in the small things is created.

4. Warm Tint




A warm tint is used throughout the film to cast the characters in a benign, joyous light in order to make the viewers warm up to the characters. I really like how the director decided to use these warm tints to make darker scenes and lighter scenes all flow together in one movie, making the movie very cohesive between its different themes. A sense of wonder is created in how the movie looks different from real life with richer colors richer colors that attract interest.

Treatment

EXTERIOR: A school campus, halls outside

A young man runs down a hallway, turns the corner and runs into a disgruntled girl who brushes him off with a disdainful look. He continues on running and goes up some stairs, him going off screen up the stairs, transitioning into a flashback.

The flashback has the young man, say his name is LIAM, talking with one of his friends. The audience cannot hear their conversation, but they can see a change from a harmonious relationship to a bit of tension. LIAM turns away from his friends, transitioning into him running again.

LIAM continues on running, passing one of the friends in the previous flashback who told the other friend the the "conflict", who says "Isn't it a bit too late?...stupid", transitioning into a flashback where he is in an argument with his friend, and that friend walks away, saying in an echo voice, "I didn't think you would do that"

He turns the corner into the PARKING LOT, only to see his friend's car go away

LIAM says, "It was all a misunderstanding, but she never stopped to listen"

The End

Yeah, its not really any good; I tried to develop the concept, but I could not materialize it very well. Having a more profound-ish plot than this would probably be almost impossible in the amount of time we have for the video, and this plot is sort of shallow at the moment. I'll check out what others have to get some ideas maybe.

Dramatic Moment

So the main character, a guy, let's call him Liam for now, is a guy on a mission for a redemption of sorts. He is normal looking teenage guy and he has been troublesome to those around him in the past. He has caused a lot of unnecessary trouble with others, combined with misunderstandings, leading to a major rift with his friends. He now knows, though an encounter with an unknowing mentor, that he has a narrow window of opportunity to make things right, but if he misses this "window", he will not have another chance, and he will have to move on, possibly advice from the friends he messed up relations with. His window of opportunity is catching his friend before she moves to another country (cheesy, I know, but I can't think of something better right now). If Liam fixes this friendship, the rift will be lessened, and they will not go their separate ways having bad memories of each other, but if Liam does not, then that is an irrevocable rift and the friend will never understand the misunderstanding.

2. The dramatic moment is Liam chasing after his friend and just missing the car with his friend in it, missing his chance to explain the misunderstanding, which may or may not need to be explained, but it may involve another friend, but not in "love-triangle" format. Liam is running, showing that he is very committed to finding his friend at this very last moment to reconcile, but he denies how futile the attempt may be and does not think of what happens if he cannot explain himself well. He isn't really concealing anything, but more information about his situation is shown gradually throughout this "scenario". The ideas that the characters are thinking throughout the film would be shown by Liam's urgency and Liam's reactions to the accusations that the minor characters are making in the past, as well as flashbacks to scenes that he was involved in. I am not sure how to reveal the subtext, but I was thinking that the film could start off with Liam running and then a person yelling after him in a rude voice "Trying to fix something? A bit late isn't it?" and he continues and turns a corner fading into a flashback to an argument with his friend that shows that they are close and not enemies but with a vague issue between them. Then maybe he runs into a person and they say "Hey!" and that leads into another flashback explaining the concept more.

3. I don't know about casting yet, but the setting would be school, so I think that would be the most logical place to have the leaving scene, for there would be people around who would know the situation going on because it is a high school campus and everyone is into other people's business and it is a reasonably logical place for a friend to leave such a place for the last time before moving, next to their house or the airport. I don't know much about the production design yet, but I thought that there would be a lot of good opportunities to have continuing action throughout the scenes switching to make good transitions. Also, the school has a lot of good twist and turns for a "chase" of sorts (its just him trying to get to the one point as fast as possible).

"Plots That Kill" ? Assignment

The plot of Slumdog Millionaire from 2008 is an example of the coming of age plot in the drama genre. The genre conventions used in the plot include the classic story of how when the main character, Jamal, was a little boy he fell in love with a little girl (Latika). Variations of this set-up are also used in other movies of this genre, for they create much "drama", but the older-brother-younger brother relationship is also used much between the characters to create underlying tensions about the "love story" plot, with the conflicting ideals of the brothers and their power relationship. Also, an important part of coming-of-age dramas is an event that changes the way that the main character (as well as other characters) view the world and makes them have to "fend for themselves" in some way; in Slumdog Millionaire, the boys actually had to live on their own when they were very young. The narrative can vary a lot, but it is often told by a speaker that is older looking back on their childhood or is told in flashbacks from some point in the future (like Slumdog Millionaire). Sometimes there is a nostalgic tone, but not in this movie; it is more about the goal of Jamal's youth, his complete coming-of-age, was not reached until the end of the movie in the "present-time" when he was 18-years old.

2. My idea is somewhat similar to that of Slumdog Millionaire due to the fact that I want to interweave the story with flashbacks while the main character is in the present doing something towards reaching the goal set in the flashbacks. The idea is that the main character is running throughout an area searching for someone, hoping to get there in time to tell that person something. Throughout the time that the main character is searching, he/she has flashbacks to why this he/she is trying to reach the person in time after he/she runs into a few people who help explain the flashbacks before the flashbacks start. It is a very similar plot on a smaller scale, but I would want to have the character be trying to reach a goal less "cliched' than love in this situation. I was thinking of having the character say "I've done my duty." after the person he/she is searching for leaves right in front of him/her. Maybe the character was trying to clear up the relationship he had with the other person due to a misunderstanding that everyone believes. I would like the theme to be able to learn how to move past what was hindering them before, to learn to change only what they can, and to know that some things cannot really be changed the way we want them to; we can only try our best or adapt. I think that that is an important part of the coming of age plot line, realizing both what one can do and what one cannot do, and living based off of that. Not being able to change the past is also important in a coming-of-age drama with so many flashbacks, and maybe, learning from the past as well. I want the character to have put off action for a long time until it was pretty much too late possibly, or try to help as soon as he/she gets the reason to "search". This plot is a little bit too similar to other coming-of-age stories and might be a bit complicated to orchestrate, but it is possible and a lot of great cinematic techniques for scene transitions between the present and the past with lead-ins from minor characters, as well as perspective while running and such.

There seems to be a lot to explore in the coming-of-age plot based on how many movies there are on it, so it is a bit hard to make it original and plausible for a 5 or so minute film, but since it has been done so much, there are very good example of what to do and what not to do. If I were to do a film based on this plot, there would be a good amount of material to learn from, and maybe learning what works would create a more original plot.

Italian Neo-Realism

Our class watched the movie The Bicycle Thief as a quintessential Italian Neo-Realism film. Here is a summary of its basics.

Ideology/ Thematic Goals

The main ideology of this genre of film is the idea of "solidarity", as the importance of the whole community, rather than the importance of one person alone. The article shows this idea when it says that "[...]a focus on collectivity rather than the individual. Solidarity is important, along with an implicit criticism of the status quo." This type of cinema was against the ideas that had prevailed for so long under the rule of Mussolini, "the status quo". Also, it wanted to show a new view on the lives of real Italians, the everyday worker and his or her everyday, normal life, or " [..] an emphasis on real lives." These films were anti-fascist as much of Italy was after the fall of Mussolini, after World War II, or, as the article says, "Unquestionably, their greatest single influence was the anti-Fascism that marked World War II's immediate postwar period."

Historical Context

Again, Italian Neo-Realism emerged after World War II, making "[...] their greatest single influence [...] the anti-Fascism that marked World War II's immediate postwar period." Italy was in very poor condition after World War II; much of the country was in poverty, the government was in shambles and people were trying to rebuild their lives amongst all of this destruction. It makes sense that this movement broke from the idealistic, fanciful portrayal of life in Hollywood movies, for so much of the country was in despair, trying to rebuild. These people were probably disillusioned, and filmmakers wanted to capture this instead of normal escapist cinema.

Cinematic Techniques

-documentary-like style
-set up not elaborate
-not too complicated shots
-not many shot changes per scene (in comparison to now)
-used non-professional actors
-do not use sets; filmed on-location
-simple story


Key Contributors

DeSica: He was the director of The Bicycle Thief and made sure that the movie was shown as a piece of fiction, not as a documentary, but he did make sure to use non-professional actors. He focuses on the masses, not the individual.

Visconte:He made Obsession, and said that he could make a movie"in front of a wall" as long as he had something to say about humans in front of that wall. He liked to keep the movie "real", as in shot in real time and with unprofessional actors. Long takes, complex shots used.

Rossellini: Combined melodrama and actual footage into short bursts of intensity. It was not comforting. Also focused on the senselessness of war.

Important Films

The Bicycle Thief: This movie was important because it used non-professional actors in order to portray the real lives of people in Italy at that time. DeSica made sure to focus on the mass of people in this situation instead of the individual, showing the weakness of one and the power of a group of people behind one.

Obsession: This film used long complex takes to prove its point. affecting other films like this. It dwelled on the shots with bleak, natural light backgrounds.

Open City: This movie had a low budget, so Rossellini had to make a movie that combined the footage they shot as well as melodrama. This made the story episodic, with a jarring narrative.

Going Beyond the Still Image

It is interesting to see what just frames from a movie can tell us about the characters and the conflict of the film. Film is a combination of information from audio and video (moving pictures) used to create a feeling and to tell a story of some sort. In the short film "Wrong Place Wrong Time", a man is wrongly captured and then thrown into the ocean to keep the mistake a secret.

At the beginning, we see a guy in a tuxedo trapped in a box, and then we see a flash back to how he got into the box; two brutes ambushed him when he was coming from a high class event and put him in a box to bring to their master.

We can tell by the look on his face in normal conditions that he is a shrewd man of sorts, a person who is probably practical and calm. We can gather this from his dry humor in his lines also, making his acting match the character's personality.




When we reach the climax of the movie, it is easy to tell what the conflict is based on our prior knowledge of such situations with only the video, for the men are by a cliff and the two big guys are impending and would probably kill the man in the tuxedo if they did not get what they desired from the man on the computer. The following still demonstrates this idea:



Clearly, there is an issue, for the two taller men are the more powerful ones in the power relationship, and there is a dangerous and mysterious expanse behind them; the audience nor the protagonist know exactly where the characters are. Again, the tuxedo man is proven to be shrewd because he is trying to persuade his way out of danger, but he is loosing this battle.

Finally, in the resolution, the man is thrown into the water in the box and he looks at a photo of his while the water is gushing in. This part did not even need words to explain the depressing, hopelessness of the situation, with the man taking one last look at those he has left behind and will probably never be able to see again and at happier times in a photo probably of him and his friends, as shown:





This scene is blue with the water all around the man, depicting the hopeless mood well, and the picture is blue in this situation too, for the man is sad that he will never be able to have happy times like that and that he will probably die. The frame shows that the man has now resigned himself to his fate and wants to die remembering a happy memory. All of this can be shown through the pictures alone.

Overall, images can have just as much, or even more, of a message than words can in film, depending on the film. Images affect the power of a film significantly, for they are a main component; this can be the difference between and great, okay and horrible films.

Reverie

This film created very interesting effects with lighting, lighting up certain parts of the shot more than others and using interesting blur transitions.

An example of interesting blurring of the lights is at the beginning

From Jasmine's Film Blog

The shot starts off with both of the characters in an embrace in lighting focuses solely on them, making them stick out from the back ground of bridge lights. Then the focus fades out slowly, taking away that effect. The lighting was really nice and professional looking, and it really emphasized the couple and their intimacy from the beginning of the movie. It also set up their urban environment, making their relationship appear chic and appealing. The focus fade sort of shows how the man is now out of that dream world, back to the normal world.

From Jasmine's Film Blog

The lighting that is placed on the flowers is really rich and "sunny" in comparison to the background of pitch black. This is a very nice effect, because the stark contrast makes the viewer focus on the light part and understand how the man is yearning to come from the darkness into the "shiny" part of the night time with the woman in the "shiny" dress.

From Jasmine's Film Blog

The effects of the lighting on the cityscape are also amazing, especially in this picture, for the man has a very nice lighting on him that makes him stick out from the city at dusk, but the city is not totally in the dark either, for, though it is not in focus, it is still partially lighted and has a nice contrast to the man. Again, the focus on the man against the city adds a nice cosmopolitan, chic image to the film.

Edit Demos Critique

Shot Duration


Axis Match

1.Concept/Script

I think that both stories fit, for they emphasized the concepts pretty well. The cowboy scene, originating from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly film from 1966, is a classic example of long shot durations and short shot durations all in one. The axis match piece placed the two characters on opposite ends, with the tension building with each shot getting closer, and this of course showed axis match used to tell a story more intensely. I think that we did a good job portraying both concepts, but the Axis Match one is not as obvious as the shot duration one, for the shots that are on the same axis on the same shots are not usually directly after each other to show the idea as strong as possible because of the story involved, but there is still axis match in the way that shot is one the same axis for each actor despite the shots switching between the actors.

2. Camera Work

We shot the characters well most of the time, but the camera was probably not as steady as it should have been, sometimes changing the shot. Some of the challenges were trying to keep the axis correct because the camera kept moving each time we moved the tripod, so it left an unsteady shot. Also, it was hard to keep the same angle on the cowgirls in the shot duration piece, because they were at different heights and it was hard to visualize the same angle on their faces for both, so that neither looked bigger or smaller than the other. It ended up that Dazzy still looked a bit smaller than Nellie, making their power relationship unequal, but it worked out because Dazzy lost in the end of the fight anyways. The best shot was probably the pan in the shot duration piece, becasue it really showed how intense the scene between the two cowgirls was, but it could have been a bit shorter. It is very tense, a bit like a cowboy movie.

3. Edit

Some of the challenges I had in the edit were trying the keep the shots matching, because either way there was a lot of cutting between two characters in a conflict. I had to cut a lot of shots at the right time so that there would not be any jump cuts. In the axis match, I had to make sure that the characters and the camera were in the closest position to being the same as the last shot. Overall, the edit was not too hard, just a lot of cutting and putting the right shots in the right places, to create the correct power relationship between characters and to make sure the topic was being demonstrated clearly. In the shot duration, I just had to find matching shots, and switch between them at the right intervals to show either long or shot duration. In the axis match, I just had to cut with increasing closeness to each character as tension increased, then backing up at the resolution, but I had to cut some shots with bad lighting, but it still worked.