the first movie that i enjoyed watching was dead man dont wear plaid starring steve martin. although it wasnt a classic movie, the cinematography of it was pretty awesome. i was very impressed on how they incorporated a variety of movies in the film. To take the time to edit and cut out scenes to fit the film must have been exhausting and tiresome for the the editor. Overall the film was funny!
The second film that i found noteworthy was" Brazil". although this wasn't the type of movie that i usually watched i am glad i did. it was this weird but meaningful at the same time. It really open my horizons on the films that are out there that i have access to, but never take the initiative or intrest to watch them.
The third one that i really liked was "Volver" starring Penelope Cruz. i really like this adaptaition of a spanish soap opera that was shown throughout the movie. i like the way Pedro Almodovar was able to capture the realness of the characters by sticking to real emotions and thoughts of a true latin woman. i also love his use of colors throughout the movie; bright, vibrant colors such as red to fill in the shot.
i think every film student should watch "American Beauty". i think this is important film to watch because of the story behind it. the story might be simple and right the the point but the way the director captured this eerry mood throughout the movie, that leaves you shocked at the end, is one compelling thing to do for the audience. the movie leaves you at an unease feeling of confusion yet sadness for the characters.
For my second pick it would have to be 'The Postman Always Rings Twice". this film directed by Tay Garnett, was a nice Noir film that delt with a couple who's love was forbidden and thought of as immoral at that time of history. in the film her character was portrayed as a wife who was committing adultery with a an employee from her husbands restaurant. This film Noir was common back in that era. The style was very popular back then that every movie had to in a way compete with one another to produce a different feel to it for the audiences
Finally the last film that i think every film student should watch is "Vertigo" directed by Alfred Hitchcock. this film was a little slow but worth it at the end. i really liked the end of the movie where the story line gives the audience a little twist to the characters. this film is important to watch because of the way cinematography was shot back then. Today we use green screen to show movement if an actor is in a car, what they did with this film was mount the camera on the car to show the character driving as well as the background scene. The editing was done by George tomasini.
The person that i analyzed on the talk show " The Interview" was Russel Brand.The interview was conducted on April 13, 2011. Russel started off as a comedian but soon found his way through acting in movies,writing, and music. Some of the latest movies that he has starred in would be his famous comedy called "Get Him to the Greek" starring Russel and Jonah Hill. Other movies hes starred in was "Forgetting Sarah Marshal", "Arthur", and "Hop"(voice over).
As i listened to Russel Brands views on life and society i got a better understanding of the type of person he really is. i always had this mentality that he was just this another comedian who got lucky in stardom and is only going to be around for a limited time.some of the views that Russel had throughout the interview shocked me. I was astonished at his responses to some of things that were important to him. He sounds like he is a humanitarian with a strong sense of view on multimedia influence on society.
1st Quote:
The first quote that i came accross was "all desire is the inappropriate substitute for the desire to be at one with god". i really like this one because it is based on ones inner desire. The way Russel explained though was that everyone has a inner desire that is unknown, people always have desires but those desire are masked by what were pressured to have materialistically. Desires to have the latest new car or the biggest flat screen are set in our mind to have, sadley they overshadow the inner desire that someone might have but is to oblivious to know.
2nd Quote: For my second quote i chose " celebrity culture is so corrosive and damaging". i think this quote is worth thinking about. If you look at the celebrity culture now, we are so in-fluctuated by seeing/living celebrity lives that we forget about or own. the celebrity world today, is so embarrassing and over exposed. It was said that if a celebrity would make a sex tape back then, that their career would be over, now celebrities are leaking their personal sex videos in order to get famous. it just goes to show you how much Hollywood has changed. The Media feels its more important to capture a celebrity falling down drunk out of a restaurant, than to show the charities that they are involved in.
3rd Quote: and finally this last quote wasn't said by Russel but by the interviewer,"You don't have a soul, you are a soul, you have a body" Russel response was that "we we see our soul as some abstract thing that we occasionally glimpse and have access to". i think what he was trying to say is that we don't really use our soul, we know its there but it has no value to it in the reality. it doesn't pay bills or get us that one job. its there inside of us to keep us going though life's struggles.
my views towards Russel brand was that he is so knowledgeable about things that people seem not to care about. his views on a lot of things are important to the industry because he has a very strong opnions on things, which gives him that edge that he can say anything he wants and cares about. hearing his points of views on humanity and society, can really influence anyone to make a change. i really liked listening to his interview because aside from his view points, he was also promoting his autobiography that he wrote. He talked a little about his personal life and how he over came it. By hearing about his life i got a better understanding of who he is.
for this blog i decided to write about the movie "brazil" in this shot it deals with sam lawry character being almost tortured by his friend jack in order to get information out of sam.
1st shot
location:in this dome like structure with a chair in the middle followed by a walk way
shot type:CU-2S
camera angle: EL-LA
camera movement: steady camera- handheld
shot description: the shot starts with a close up on sam character followed up by a dolly zoom. the zoom focuses out ward to the entire room to show its secludness and to show the audience how the room can be uncomfortable.
2nd shot
lcation: characters
shot type:2S
C.A- L.A -P.O.V
CM- hand held
shot description: the shot is at a low angle from the characters, then quickly changes to sam character (POV) in which the audience steps into the shoes of sam and sees the guards strapping his hands to the chair.
3rd shot
shottype:ELS
camera angle: HA-OTS
camera movement:rack focus
sht description: the shot starts off with a wide angle shot towards jack character at the end of the path. than the shot turns into the over the shoulder shot of jacks character. the scence goes back and forth between characters using the tracking method.
4th shot
shot type:EST-CU
camera angle-HS-OTS
camera movement:crane
sht description: this shot starts off with jack getting shot in the head in whci he turns the camera and looks up. the camera is at a high angle to capture the expression of jack and sam. then the camera uses a low angle to film the guys suspending from the top of the dome structure.
5th shot
shot type EST
camera angle -L.A-E.L
camera movement stedicam
shot description: this particular shot was very low angle shots , almost down to the ground. then the lighting was very low in infuse "big"shadows.
6th shot
shot type-EST
camera angle- E.L-L.A
camera movement:TRUCKING -CRANE
shot description:this shot has alot of actin and they used techniqes in which the action was parralle to the viewer. when the armed men are stteping down with guns pointed at sam and jack the angle of the camera is position where you can see all the men firing thier weapons at once
7th shot
location (5:09 on the video)
shot type M.S
camera angle- E.L
camera movement: steady camera
shot description- the shot opens up pretty wide with jack and sam on one side of the frame and the rest of the open space was left for the background of the set. then as jack is cover up by paper on the street, the camera goes to a low angle to sam in which you see sam on the grond with pedestrians surronding him.
8th shot
shot type- wide shot
camera angle-L.A
camera movement- steady camera
shot description- the shot deals with alot of low angle shots. the camera seems like its chasing sams character but really its keeping steady. the following shot is at a zoom out
9th shot
shot type- wide shot
camera angle-H.A
camera movement- steady camera
shot description- the shot opens up with a wide angle shot. its a zoom out of the set and sams character. followed by a shot that is against the wall of the sets. which long gates to scene
10th shot
shot type -medium close up
camera angle - OTS-BE
camera movement- steady camera
shot description- the shot opens up with a "bird's eye" shot, sam climbing through all the garabage to get away from the creatures that are after him. then the camera moves to wide shot of sam and the creatures afters him.
(SURPRISE)L.A confidential- where russel crow's character finds the dead body underneath the house of one of the victims who was killed in the cafe.
-the postman always rings twice- the character of lana turner finds out that she was sold out to the cops by her lover played by john garfield in the interrogation room
(SUSPENSE)- L.A confidential- there was a scene in this movie in which it was towards the end of the movie where the character Ed Exley and the character Bud white were on a stand off with the local police officers in this abandon hotel in which it was meant to be an execution of both characters. in one scene the character bud white seems to have been killed in all the co motion and instead turns up alive at the end of the movie.
-Post man always...- -"The post man always rings twice"-when both characters played by lana turner and john garfield set up a plan to kill "lana" husband played by cecil kellaway in the bath tub. the plan gets interrupted by this cat who is climbing up these steps into the power cords. than an officer pulls up to fill up at the gas station. which makes both characters nervous. they end up getting away that night with trying to kill the character that cecil was portraying.
(DIEGETIC) L.A CONFIDENTIAL- scene starts in the abandon looking hotel where they are trying to get information out of danny devitos character. and one of the comments that he says strikes russel crows character hard. because danny devitos character mentions that he has pictures of a cop having sexual reations with a prostitue. russel crow character rushes out of the room into the trunk of danny devitos car to find that the pictures that were takin where not of im but his co worker ed exley.
-when both characters played by garfield and turner set up a plan to get a guilty letter that garfied character sign stating that turners character was one to blame for her husbands murder.
(NON-DIEGETIC)-LA Confidential danny devitos narration throughout the movie.
-Postman always rings...- music plays frightnly as franks opens the kitchen door and sees cora with a knife.
I think what really makes a movie a great movie is a great story line. i think its important for a writer to do research for a movie to insure its accuracy. Also the actors need to know what they are doing. if the actors are bad then the movies doesn't fall behind.
-one movie that i really enjoyed watching was "The Shining" with jack nicholson. its an old movie from the 80's in which a man is hired to take care of this hotel that is secluded for about six months with his family.well after being there for about 2 months with just his family to keep him company, he starts losing his mind. this horror film is more of a phycological film that is based on the the limits of a human being.
-another film that i enjoyed seeing was "Due Date" with Robert Downy Jr. this comedy had all its elements as to what a comedy should be in my opinion. the movie is a about of a determined man who is trying to reach his wife who is about to go into labor with his son. throughout the movie he faces all these setbacks and problems in which delays him even more. This particular movie keeps you laughing till the end credits. recommend this movie to anyone
