L.A Confidential, dr. Curtis Hanson (1997)
L.A Confidential is the first film I have liked of the noir
film types. This narrative storyline
that is indicative of film noir movies, has captivated my interest in this genre
of film. The dark moody uncovering of
the bad parts of society is exactly what you get in this movie. There is not a lot of lighting in these types
of films with harsh lighting shadows and they are usually set on location. L.A Confidential is in the film noir genre
in a class of its own in my perspective.
The subtle influences of the mise-en-scene definitely
create a mood of sleaziness, gritty urban mise-en-scene, and a profound
searching of wanting goodness for the characters in this movie. The darkness and dim lighting in this movie are
quite dramatic. The two main protagonists in this film are White and Exley. White is more intense of characters when it comes to deal with violence, while Exley is more smarter being a police officer when he character more calm for dealing and solving problems. However, White is the one
who is the more of the enforcer with more muscle that creates the mise-en-scene
influencing your thoughts about this film in a good way.
The camera work in this film
conceals many aspects of what is happening through the concealment of
characters in many of the scenes by hiding aspects with the lack of lighting so
one is limited by what can be seen. For instance, the shoot out between the chief of
police Smith, White, and Exley.
In this scene, it is hard to see people and settings creating anxiety
the way film noir genre is known for with the low key lighting of chiaroscuro. This camera work is key to the dramatization
of this particular shootout scene. The twist in the plot of this film and the
climax, being the chief of Captain Smith being behind all of the murders and shooting
in the back of the chief of police, as he walks away by Exley. I thought this character had extreme moral
character and could not have done this, truly adds drama to this camera work by
using point of view angle, low angle shots are key to the emphasis
of the surreal nature of this first rate movie.
Camera works under low lighting in L.A Confidential
dr.Curtis Hanson (1997)
The
film editing uses an assortment of match on action cutting, eye line match cut,
and fades in, fades outs to create a more dramatic type of anxiety for the
audience. This montage of a film can surmised as creative type of film. One of the scenes with Smith
asking Exley what position he wants in the department is a typical over the
shoulder editing of that scene creating anticipation of what might be the
decision for the future of Exley.
The editing of the first meeting between the love interest and White
is edited with the camera high angle eye level editing into the car to
create a sense of superiority of the police office White over the people in
the car. In addition, the fight scenes
of the police and the Mexicans in the jails is utilizing freeze frames to mimic
pictures being taking in the illegal beating of prisoner in custody of the
police. This fight scene leads to the
firing of White’s partner Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel) which leads to a promotion of Exley. In addition, my favorite in this editing was a split screen reflection technique to show the conversation between Exley and Mickey Cohen (Paul Guifoyle)
The fight scene between the polices and the Mexicans in
L.A Confidential, dr. Curtis Hanson (1997) |
| Split screen reflection in editing process |
The non-diegetic
voice over coming from outside the film world adds a helping hand to better
understand what is going on in this puzzle of a movie. The diegetic sounds of the gunshots and
fighting taking place is also key to the dramatization. The typewriting that one hears as Sid Hudgens (Danny
DeVito) narrates is another diegetic type of sound that brings life to this
crime drama of a film. There is a lot of
Foley sound that accompanies many of the fight scenes with White, which add
realism to this film. The music that accompanies this movie’s soundtrack is of
a sensual or jazz based type of musical score.
In conclusion, this crime
drama has a technique that makes me like the old film noir movies of that era
due to the fact that the outcome is hard to predict with a twist around every
corner. This adds realism to the plot and story line that I like from my
perspective. I feel like movies that
are hard to predict are the only movies worth my five dollars of movie money,
in other words, top-notch movie time.
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly dr. Julian Schnabel (2007)
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly has had a big impact on me, due to the fact of how the camera was being used. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly made me realize that I would be able to utilize many camera techniques that I was not aware of, and I thought not possible. The camera techniques of looking out of the eye of a person were quite dramatic for me. Up to now, I felt you had to always be in focus and now I realize that being out of focus, using dutch angles, shallow depth of field, shaky camera movements, breaking the lower thirds rule, and bad composition can bring a tremendous amount of fear to the audience watching movies from my perspective.
Camera work aspects of out focus, dutch angle in
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, dr. Julian Schnabel (2007)
I feel the groundbreaking aspects of Schnabel’s mise-en-scene, creates a world of true realistic and truly terrifying possible worst-case scenarios that can happen to a person. The point of view editing created an over realism that I have not experienced before. This movie made me not to want to ever experience this type of fate due to the staging of all the characters in such away as too make it truly terrifying for me.
The camera work of this film using the point of view shots with a constant shallow depth of field, and out of focus techniques is quite remarkable for drawing your audience into a world of realism. The shaky handheld camera work lends itself to realism of what this character is going through at that particular time. I found my self-wanting to move the camera to a better angle to see more of what was going on in the room of the hospital. By not allow the camera to see more, this was creating more anxiety for myself.
 |
| Shallow depth field look |
 |
| Shallow depth field look with dutch angle |
The overall sounds from the first person narration of this primary character creates anxiety like the scene of the fly on the end of your nose but you cannot do anything about it. The sound of the water and waves and air blowing in the wind makes the audience long for a speedy recovery for the character. Nondiegetic sound aspects created a wanting of what was once a pretty good life, to be given back to the Mr. Bauby. The flashback scenes of his kids and narrative of wanting to hold them is a heart breaking moment with the sounds of flashbacks to his kids love for him. I was convinced of the verisimilitude of the world being depicted in this movie.
In conclusion, this films climax and resolution of the main character dying and the understanding that Mr. Bauby still was in love with his mistress was very sad in my opinion. By giving the main character the ability to do the right thing and he still choose the mistress, over the women of his kids, who would not visit him made me not like the overall moral nature of this movie. Mr. Bauby really became the anti-hero of this movie for me with the phone scene and the true lack of feeling for people who were caring for him. I would not recommend this movie to someone who was easily susceptible to depression.
Pan's Labyrinth dr. Guillermo del Toro (2006)
 |
I
selected this film because it is a film I like due to the fantastic disconnect
from reality. This narrative story line that is indicative of a fantasy world
meets and is combined with the real world, has also intrigued my interest in
this genre of film. This fantasy world revolves around the juxtaposing of a
harsh oppressive real world with a little girl’s fantasy magical world, which creates
an unsettling atmosphere for the audience and sometimes even freighting. This disturbing real world and fairy tail set
in the time of the post war Spain era is a real twist from the magical world of
Ofelia, which is the protagonist of this movie and is also known as the Princess
Moanna, which is played by the actor Ivana Baquero an eleven year old girl who is
trying to get back to her father and the magical kingdom which she came from
but has no memory of.
Pan's Labyrinth dr. Guillermo del Toro (2006)
This movies mise-en-scene
of the not so subtly influences in our mood as we watch with the hope of this
little girl being able to obtain all of her tasks set forth by the faun creature
in order for her to return to her magical kingdom. The visual components and composition lead to
a very interesting movie. The
relationship between actors and objects collected by the little girl brings
this world to life by creating three challenges for the little girl. In addition, the costume and the make up technique are some of the points that make me have very interested in Pan's Labyrinth. From watching how the crew prepare for Pan's creature scene, I am so impress of costume and make up technique can be done for the movie. It sometimes took from 3 to 4 hours to be ready for the Pan's creature scene. This is an amazing Pan's creatures that make mise-en-scene look beautiful or scariness from the pale man.
Pan's creatures behind the scene
The camera work captured low light and high contrast,
which seems to be indicative of fantasy type movies. The cinematographer Guillermo Navarro should
be complemented for his use of extreme close-ups creating a quite frightening
set of shots with lighting for the camera that is hash for the real world and changes
to more of a lighting technique that produced a warmer feeling for the fantasy
world. In the real world, the camera
shots are of normal and stable that hold longer takes. In contrast, the fantasy world contains
camera work that is of a more on the movement type of camera work. These camera moves have more steadicam type
of moves with panning, tilting, and tracking type moves.
 |
| Extreme close-up shot (EXCs) |
The film editing in this movie contains continuity
editing with cuts to maintain the illusion of continuous time and space for the
real world. In a sharpen contrast the
editing of more dissolves, fade in, and fade outs, are the way the editor signifies
the transition to the fantasy world. The editor also make use of cutting to high
angles or jib shots to signify the existence of fairies entering the real world
when the fairy meets Ofelia for the first time as she is driven away to meet
her new step father. The editing of the pocket watch into the various scenes to
establish the characters remembrance of the anti-hero’s father and the denial
of allowing him to give a message at the end of the movie to his son is a
fitting resolve and finality for this movie when he is shot in the face.
The dissolve transition between the real world and the fantasy world
The soundtrack accompanied is a surreal type of
atmosphere that contains great Foley artistry.
The sounds of the little fairies and assorted other creatures in the
fantasy world have been created nicely.
The sounds in the real world are also created seamlessly in the diegetic
sense with Foley artistry. The gothic
nature of the orchestrated score for this movie invites the possibility of
coming to a conclusion that this movie was never intended for young children,
due to the frightening type of an emotional tonality that is produced by this
films musical soundtrack and video sequences in conjunction with the extreme
violence on the screen.
In deed, a movie with a somewhat of a happy ending is what you get if you
can put up with the sometimes over the top violence from the anti-hero is what you
will get if you choose to watch this movie.
This movie ends with the protagonist being able to overcome the evil in
order for her to return to be by the side of her parents in this magical world.
Jaws, dr. Steven
Spielberg (1975)
Jaws, dr. Steven Spielberg (1975)
I
selected this film because of the ability to make a fake robotic shark look
real all through the editing process of showing the fake shark as little as
possible creating the illusion that there was a real shark used. As the director was quoted as saying that the
real robot shark looked like “a big turd in the water” to indicate without the
editing techniques used, it might have been a failure because the robotic shark
was breaking down all the time and it looked fake. This is the classic ability of creating fear
and suspense. I feel students will learn the art of creating fear with
editing techniques in this movie. In
addition to this, one can see how powerful a soundtrack can be when adding a
first rate menacing theme track to a movie.
The development of the two major components of the mise-en-scene
in this movie includes the composition elements and design elements. On the
composition side is the great acting of Roy Scheider as the Police Chief Martin
Brody, Robert Shaw as the boat captain Quint, and Richard Defuses as shark expert
Matt Hooper add to a truly believable experience. On the design side is the
boat scene with the shark all come together to create a movie that still can
scare me even make me not to go into the ocean to swim. Some of the various element of the
mise-en-scene are so powerful in this movie. It is holding the test of time of
still being relevant for students of this day in age of computer graphics that dominate
the film screen today.
The camera work
used when the Police Chief Brody realizes that the shark has just killed another person, Alex Kitner a litle kid swimming on a raft. Brody's react shot, which shows a technique of a combination of a dolly
shot and a zoom shot to create a real sense of fear and dread. The use of
a point of view shot of the shark view as it approaches the girl swimming from
underneath the water in the open scene is a testament to the power of creating
fear without actually showing the shark. The underwater camera work adds more
fear to the audience in the night sequence when Hooper (Richard Defuses) searching the boat as he find the dead person and a shark tooth. The use of a shallow depth of field is
a key component to concealing the possible whereabouts of this menacing
shark.
Alex Kitner got killed and Brody's react shot in
Jaws, dr. Steven Spielberg (1975)
Montage is the main type of editing technique that it being cut in this Jaws. Some of the cut that student will easy to recognize and defined are a match cut on the action and point of view editing. For example, the cutting from the
top of the water as the girl swims in the opening scene to below the water with
the point of view editing of the shark is the technique that sets this movie apart
from other movies of the time. When the
editor cuts the scene in such a way as to not show the shark, this creates a greater
fear in the audience.
 |
| Point of view editing of the shark under water |
This movie is a
classic when it comes to using a soundtrack with an orchestral score to use as
a menacing trigger to indicate that danger is coming into the scene. Some forty years later since the movie was
made many people can tell you what that theme song is from jaws movie and still
evokes a sense of fear in peoples minds. This is a good example of how to use the sound become a powerful for a movie. This will give students have a sense of without music the movie will not quite excited as it does. Every time the sound start notice the shark show up somewhere in the scene that make the audience feel intense of situation and increase of dread.
A theme song to create intense of fear in Jaws, dr. Steven Spielberg (1975)
In conclusion, this
film brings a true fear of sharks to an audience through the complete use of camera
rack focusing techniques, under water filming, camera work, editing and the
mise-en-scene. The most powerful in Jaws is a musical soundtrack to take it to
the highest possible fear factor that any movie of that time has contributed to
the movie making world. Therefore, I think Jaws is a good example for students to learn all the technique aspects and realize that Jaws become a big role of fear movie in 1975.
Rocky, dr. John G. Avildsen (1976)
Rocky is one of the film that I
selected because of the feel good motivational editing techniques
used to create the story line of hopefulness that the main character will win the
fight. The students can learn a lot from movie that can get the audience to
root for the protagonist who is Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) the underdog. I feel like everyone
wants to root for a movie that has an underdog status like Rocky Balboa.
Rocky, dr. John G. Avildsen (1976)
The mise-en-scene
reinforces the characters in this film by creating set designs that accurately
portrays the lifestyle of Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), a down and out loan shark enforcer for
the neighborhood mob. The relationship
of the actors in various scenes with his love interest creates the overall mood
and feeling of poorness in this neighborhood.
The scenes of running up the stairs as Rocky trains for the biggest
fights of his life is a slow progression of setting the stage up for the
protagonist to overcome overwhelming odds of winning this world championship
fight for the heavy weight championship of the world. This entire movie has a
few undertones that imply a person has the ability to transform from a bottom
of the class in society to the top of society even without the proper
education. The symbolic ability of being able to rise to a heavy weight
champion of the world with hard physical training with the help of a seasoned
old time trainer is the hopes and dreams of all poor people trying to leave the
Ghetto.
 |
| Still image: Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) running in Rocky, dr. John G. Avildsen (1976) |
 |
| Still image: Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) running at neigborhood in Rocky, dr. John G. Avildsen (1976) |
The use of
steadicam long takes as Balboa walks through his neighborhood give the audience
a sense of the low class society that exists in his neighborhood. Additionally,
camera work used with the long take shots following Balboa played by Sylvester
Stallone through his training while he runs is a suspenseful artistic tracking
shot that lend credibility to the audience feeling like a win is possibility
with the current World Champion Apollo Creed played by Carl Weathers. In addition, to his training of hitting meat
hanging in a freezer with long take that creates a depth of field as he passes
the meat is a great close up of punching the beef that is hanging in the meat
locker.
 |
| Long take with steadicam in Rocky, dr. John G. Avildsen (1976) |
The movie uses
continuity editing and match cuts. I
like the use of the use of the mirrors that are cut into the various scenes to
see into Rocky face and a split screen of his picture as a kid or Arians face
as she goes onto a date for the first time with Balboa create a window into the
sole of the actor. During the first
round of the major championship fight Balboa knocks down Apollo and the camera uses
the extreme high angel to denote the fight is not going to go as an easy as the
champion thought is going to go. From point of the knock down of Apollo, the
use of close up shot and two medium shots adds intensity to this fight. There
is also a lot of low angel shots from the ring side that give the possibility
that anything is possible.
High angle long shot
Montage cutting in Rocky, dr. John G. Avildsen (1976)
The musical score
incorporated in to Rocky’s training for the big fight is a part of the movie
that gives a sense of a long hill to climb. The foley soundtrack is a master of sounds that enhance this film in such away as to transport the view to ring side. The winning musical score added at the end of this movie leaves room for another try at winning the world boxing championship.
My favorite part of
the movie is when the Rocky starts to win the end during the climax is how the
Foley artist incorporates the soundtrack so seamlessly that you really believe
that you are actually in the front row seats and hear the actual punches of the
fight. As Rocky yells for Adrian after he wins championship of the world shows
his love for his love interest, this creates a greater love for the
accomplishment of a person lifting himself up from the poor street of his
existence. This Soundtrack sequence is
the essential part of this character Rocky.
I feel like this
movie uses editing techniques that have help move the film editing techniques
to create a known way to draw in the audience to feel for the underdog known as
Rock Balboa in this movie. From my
perspective, I feel like this a movie that can motivate people and my self for
self-improvement in ones on life. This
is my favorite kind of film that I like to watch. Even though Apollo Creed wins
the fight by a split decision the audiences feels like Rocky won by being able
to go the distance of fifteen round with the boxing champion of the world.
Citizen Kane, dr. Orson
Welles (1941)
Citizen Kane, dr. Orson Welles (1941)
The
film centers around trying to understand the last dying words of Charles Foster
Kane which were “Rosebud,” in order to understand the richest man of the time
and write a newspaper article on his death.
I selected this film because it is a film I believe has great camera
angels, great lighting techniques but most of all the editing is first rate in
how it deals with character relationships.
 |
| Rosebud, snow sled in Citizen Kane, dr. Orson Welles (1941) |
From the open scenes of the
doom and gloom ominous musical score illuminating the castle with a tilting up
shot and the first words heard of “Rosebud” from a dying man starts the
mise-en-scene of what the so called xanadu the most costly mansion ever built
by the main character Charles foster Kane played by Orson Welles. I feel like
the lighting is of the film noir type of lighting techniques used in this film.
The grandeur of the sets built were over the top for films behind at that
time. the fireplaces were lagers that
most men are tall, creating a sense of opulence of wealth.
I
think the camerawork in this film far exceeds all films of the time and even
now if compared to camerawork without the help computer graphic augmentation. The
movie being shot in black and white film stock left the film concentrating on
the camera movements and lighting techniques. As Charles Foster Kane run for
office a camera angel that is shot so low as to make Mr. Kane look almost 7
feet tall is a great use of a camera creating a larger tan life character.
 |
| Camera low angle, medium close-up shot |
The film editing is
still a shinning example of what should be done in regards to cutting on the
action. One of the scenes with the cutting technique of Mr. Kane eating dinner
at the dinning room table shows how as the newly married couple start to sit
farther and farther apart to indicate the relationship is growing apart. The transition of time is accomplished in editing with the fast motion panning of a scene to indicate the passage of time in their marriage. This is a key focal point of this editing in this film sequence that is noteworthy in Citizen Kane.
The musical scores
accompanies film and is orchestral soundtrack that creates various moods from
happy to sadness sequences editing in combination with this first rate
film. The musical is score enhances many of the flashback editing sequences throughout this film that parallels many ordinary people lives. The authenticity of the music chosen is of the diegetic type for many of the scenes in the running for president scenes.
In conclusion, this
movies meaning boils down to the fact that rosebud refers to Mr. Kane’s snow
sled that he had as a kid leading the audience to assume the happiest time of
his life is when he was a kid riding his prized artifact in the world the snow
sled. This represents a time of life that was time that he came to
realize. This is a movie with a lot of
complexity and not really a feel good type of film but a little sad that with
all that money he could not find real happiness.
