Big Fish Film Techniques

Pretending to be someone who you are not starts to take a toll on the real you. The movie Catfish,

A documentary is an expository text that informs its audience about an issue person or event using visual and auditory conventions to convey a message. Documentaries are often used to reveal an unusual, interesting or unknown angle. Topics are limited only by one's imagination. The documentary Blackfish is the story of Tilikum, a captive killer whale that has taken the lives of several people, it underscores problems within the sea-park industry, man's relationship to nature, and how little has been learned about these highly intelligent mammals. This documentary was directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. The ideas that orcas are wild and unpredictable, Seaworld’s treatment of orcas are inhumane and Seaworld’s was negligent in their training of their trainers. These ideas are shown throughout the documentary as visual techniques of Celebrity figure, expert opinion, audio codes, the documentary technique of interviews, archival footage and written codes. I think these ideas in the documentary are quite true and are well proven throughout the documentary.

(106) insert shot: In Into the Wild(2007) an insert shot of the pages in the book about botany is used when Christopher McCandless is trying to see what plants are edible or not. The audience is able to see his anxiety trying to find

o Page 49 “…the hooked fish, the female, made a wild, panic-stricken, despairing fight that soon exhausted her..”

Produced and directed by Tim Burton, the film Big Fish is primarily a fictional recounting of the life of Edward Bloom. A majority of the plot takes place in flashbacks, starting with Edward’s story about how he caught the biggest fish in his town on the day of his son's birth using only his wedding ring. It is soon revealed in an argument scene that Edward’s son Will Bloom is sick and tired of stories like this as they are a complete lie. Soon following Will receives news that his father is deathly ill with cancer, so he immediately visits his parents with his wife Josephine. Soon after their arrival Edward immediately goes on to telling his life story to Will and Josephine although they have heard it countless times before. His story starting with a flashback in which he and a friend stumble upon a witch that reveals to him how they

“Blackfish” the documentary film was created to reveal how confinement of killer whales can lead to dangerous behavior toward human trainers. The main claim this film displayed is how the captivity of Killer Whales triggers aggression and is unsafe for humans and other marine mammals. Blackfish uses the story of Tilikum (most aggressive killer whale who killed the most amount of Sea World trainers), interviews of previous trainers, and court hearings regarding OSHA and Sea World to support their claim.

Tim Burton is an extraordinary film director of playful yet frightening movies that revolve around a character that is different from the rest. In a Burton movie, the audience will find most characters wearing bright colors with an almost perfect life. However, the character that experiences a significant and prominent adventure is often the protagonist who is different than the other characters, based on their dark and eerie past. Burton is able to smoothly transition from a joyous mood, to a suspicious and creepy mood. For example, Edward Scissorhands is a story about a man named Edward, who has scissors for hands and is brought into the “real world” for the first time in his life. Big Fish focuses on the unbelievable and incredible stories

While winning an arm wrestling match with his father, Manning feels the same thrill as hooking a giant fish. But he decides he would be happier if he “let him go, cut the line, keep the legend alive.” Reference of the father as a big fish stresses his physical and spiritual prominence. By referring to him as a “legend,” Manning clearly shows his awe and admiration for his father and his authorities as a guardian of the family. Though his father is growing weak, his former presence as a protective father will always remain as his legend. The reference to the big fish can also relate to Daniel Wallace’s Big Fish. The novel is similar with Manning’s story in that it is about a father-and-son relationship where Edward, the father, becomes a legendary big fish through his stories, just as Manning’s father is portrayed as a “Big Joe” for his significance in the family. Manning’s decision to free the fish reflects his desire not to destroy his father’s glory but preserve

“He did not truly feel good because the pain from the cord across his back had almost passed pain and into dullness that he mistrusted.”(74) Once both the fish and Santiago had reached the breaking point of conflict the story seemed to slow down in time to exemplify the adverse conditions that both characters were suffering from. The old man proves himself worthy of personal suffering with the cuts and scars on his hands and back along with all of the pulling and slipping the cords had upon his fragile body. Hemmingway shows in a big way how an out of proportioned conflict with an old fisherman and an 18 foot long marlin helps to magnify the significance of Santiago searching for his rebirth to manhood. With constant abstraction describing the fish and the sea in relation to brotherhood create interesting questions for Santiago to ponder. His rationalization for his fishing is that he was born to do it. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” (103) Hemmingway proves that this fish represents all of Santiago’s built up tension to total the size of a gigantic marlin that is perceived as devastating but not unconquerable. The old man’s hopes and aspirations can overcome the adversity of the marlin’s size, along with the conditions of the old, hungry, and exhausted fisherman. Through outright suffering Santiago achieves a goal above his previous manhood by combating pain and

Sharkwater (2006) is a documentary that was filmed by Robert Stewart, a man who spent his whole life in the ocean fascinated by sharks. Stewart's passion for sharks lead him to eventually become a marine biologist so he could spend his days scuba diving out in the ocean. His main goal shooting this movie is to inform viewers about how sharks are being killed so brutally and to persuade watchers to help do something to keep the shark population in tact. Stewart and his anti poaching crew try to evacuate the illegal fishermen out of the waters, help save the sharks, and raise awareness about the mass killings of the sharks and their rapid declining population. People in the countries that he traveled to then rallied together to protest, urging the government to create stricter laws. Stewarts’ message has impacted the countries he's visited; with his excellent use of logos, pathos, and mainly ethos he is able to impact even more people around the world.

Antwone "Fish" Fisher is a complex individual who has been through a great deal of psychological and sociological conflicts in his short life. His mother was arrested and then abandons him, he was abused physically and emotional, and then lived on the streets. In short, nearly everything bad that can possible happen to a person has happened to young Antwone Fisher before he has reached adulthood. In his autobiographical book Finding Fish (2001), Fisher explains how the torment that he experienced in his youth shaped the man that he would become in adulthood. Although this story tells about one young man's difficulties in life and how he had to overcome obstacles in order to be a functional and positive member of society, it is really a story about the larger human condition and how every person becomes affected by their experiences.

For the past few weeks, I have analyzed the storytelling style of the book and film Big Fish. The biggest difference I noticed was that I thought that the book focused more on the telling of Edwards inane stories, while the film was mostly centered around character development and relationships. I also think that while the book was very euphoric and felt like a children’s bedtime story, the film took a much more mystical and mysterious route, where a childish feel was dormant. Lastly, I thought that in the book the author just threw all the stories together and told them

For many years, in novels and storytelling there has always been context that is not seen nor heard, only implied; which plays an important role in the story being told. In the case of “Big Fish”, archetypal patterns can easily be applied and seen during the story being told. I am not normally a believer of archetypes, or symbolism, but in the case of this movie I can clearly see that messages were shown. To clarify, these points are based mainly off of the character Edward Bloom claims to be through his stories, for we do not know which of these stories are true or false.

myths are the fuel for individuality, originality, and imagination. They allow us to revitalize our past and construct out future. Life is influenced and interconnected with myths in a variety of different ways. Daniel Wallace's Big Fish introduces these ideas of myths being more imortant than merely stating facts and knowledge. Throughout the novel, william, son of Edward Bloom, tries to understand the truth in his father's life as it nears his death. Through all of the tall tale stories and jokes that Edward passes onto his son, William has a hard time taking him seriouslt and becoming emotionally close with him. Near the endm William was finalyll able to come to a realization about his father. NOt only did he learn all of the jokes

The fish was bending the rod so it must be big and fat. It is also probably the biggest fish he ever caught. The story states the fish is the biggest he had ever seen. The fish is probably hooked well and won’t come off. He dragged it through a bunch of rocks and weeds so it would probably be easy to catch. The fish fights hard so it would be fun to catch. The fish is putting up a good fight with the pole and it would be fun for the narrator to catch. Another reason he might choose the fish is there are other girls. A few girls live around him other that Sheila. There are other girls around him that he could go out with other than Sheila. Sheila doesn’t like one of his biggest passions. Sheila doesn’t like fishing and he loves fishing so there might be another incident like this. There will be more available girls in the future. In the future there might be more girls that for sure like him back. In summary, the narrator can choose either the fish or Sheila