Film Analysis : American Honey By Andrea Arnold

use the cinematography to add to the movies message. Throughout the film, the directors keep a main

In chapter two of The Cultures of American Film, the main focus is the establishment of studios. As demand for films rose in the early 1900’s, production companies needed to expand; this lead to the creation of large scale studios.

The film “Akeelah and the Bee” delves into the life of an 11-year-old African American girl who appears to have a natural knack for spelling. Akeelah’s sociocultural environment proves to be an impediment to the development of her skill, due to it forcing her to attend a school that does not have sufficient funding’s. Furthermore, being intellectually inclined makes her out to be an outcast. However, through various mentors and new-found determination, Akeelah can harness her formidable spelling abilities, while experiencing joy and victory during the process. This analysis will explore the youth in Akeelah and the Bee, from a developmental perspective while applying the theories of Vygotsky and Ainsworth to further defend my observations. These observations will include the seemingly vital role of an adult during child maturation, the child’s connection to said adult, their response to restrictions and the benefits of play-based learning.

I chose to do my paper on the movie Sweet Nothing in My Ear. The movie was about a child who was born hearing and ended up going deaf, so his parents had to deliberate on whether or not they wanted to get him a cochlear implant. The wife Laura (played by Marlee Matlin) is deaf and her husband Dan is hearing. The movie is centered around Laura and Dan’s struggle to decide if a cochlear implant is what’s best for their son Adam. It doesn’t help Laura make the decision when her parents are both deaf, and her father is basically prejudiced against the hearing culture.

Another technique Lee uses throughout the film is treating cinema as a visual experience through the eye and also through the gaze. He sets up the film in such a way the objects seen in the movie were really present, while these objects are also used for symbolic construction, building a relationship between the spectator and the screen (Elsaesser 100). Lee also uses the strategies of alienation and identification throughout the entire film which further helps engage the audience’s emotions and makes them think throughout the film about what is the right

The Bee Movie is a film that shows the never ending struggle between good and evil. After Barry Benson leaves the hive and begins to talk to humans, he sees that the humans have been harvesting and eating honey without the bees’ knowledge. He finds out that bee farms exist and their only purpose is to make bees work and to take the honey from them; from Barry’s eyes humans are grossly mistreating the bees. When he first gets to the farm, Barry overhears two beekeepers talking: “They make the honey and we make the money” (Hickner, Bee Movie). The bees work extremely hard to make honey, so Barry is appalled that humans are greedily taking their entire life’s work. Because of this, Barry decides to file a lawsuit against all humans. The case is set up in a way that presents the humans as bullies and the bees as defenseless, harmless creatures. As Barry explains in his opening statement, the honey companies are “exploiting tiny helpless bees,” and back in the hive bee news anchors tell the public that humans are “packing [honey] and profiting from it illegally” (Hickner, Bee Movie). It becomes very clear that humans are evil and bees are inherently good. Also, during the trial, Ray Liotta suggests that “someone just step on [Barry] and [the people involved in the lawsuit] could all go home,” proving that humans do not care about bees (Hickner, Bee Movie). The theme of good versus evil is supported through the fact that the bees use honey, one of the movies motifs, for everything. They use it as antenna gel, soap, toothpaste, food, and they even fill pools with it; honey is an integral part of their daily life. It is everything they know and humans are taking it without their consent. As soon as bees are eligible, they start to make honey and they work until they die. Honey is literally their life’s work and the bees want a say in who gets to use it.

like at any part of the movie you could turn the camera off, but the events that were going on would still occur and everything would still be the same in the diegetic world. This tells us Arnold created the diegetic world to be its own separate world where everything occurs according to the characters, it extends far beyond the limit of the image (Elsasser 18), it is not a world that is meant to be built just for the purpose of the movie. This is most evident in the final scene of the film where Star is in the lake and she jumps the screen goes still and the credits roll in. While I was watching the movie and this scene started I was expecting more to happen, but then Star’s image froze and then the credits came and I was shocked for a little bit, but realizing how Arnold set up this film and the techniques that she used it was not really a surprise. The sequence that occurred reminded to that of the ending scene in Mediterranea, it was the scene where Arnold tells the audience their role in the film is over and cuts off their access from the

It presents everything objectively and lets the powerful, fast paced cinematography and narration tell the story. Another technique used is the rapid juxtaposition shots from the past and present, thus giving the film a sense of timelessness. The last technique used is toward the end when the narrator asks the harrowing question whether or not

Secondly, the variety of camera angles makes it feel like he’s being. They also change very suddenly which creates tension because you don’t know where he is being watched from because the camera

Anderson uses camera movements to speed up the pace as well as to show a constant forward motion. Having an upbeat pace makes the audience feel more elated because it is going so fast they do not have the time to process the sad parts of this story. He also quickens the pace by having short takes so the audience does not have a lot of time to process what has just happened. The constant forward motion of the camera, which is created by either moving the camera on a dolly as they walk, e.g. when the Scout Master is walking past all the tents with the khaki scouts in tow, or by pan the camera extreme fast between each frame, e.g. the beginning and end scene in the house with Suzy’s family.

The directors chosen camera technique, a simple two composition that progresses the scene a steady pace, forces the audience to feel a part of the awkward exchange; obviously, a quality of film that could not be as profoundly achieved through the narrative in the novel.

Film noirs describe pessimistic films associated with black and white visual styles, crime fiction, and dark themes. Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 film noir directed by Billy Wilder. Sunset Boulevard presents many themes that are common with the genre film noir, but also introduces some differences from the typical movie in that genre.

2. One very important technique seen in this film is the use of flashbacks, segments of film that breaks normal chronological order by shifting directly to time past. Though Capra tells the audience the story in chronological order, the present situation does not begin until four fifths of the way in, just after George breaks down in front of his family and kicks his model bridge - a physical reminder of his unfulfilled dreams. After George flees to the bar, his wife Mary calls around asking for prayers, and this loops back to the start of the movie. In addition this entire sequence is narrated through a voiceover, another technique prevalent throughout the film.

Another aspect of this film is that it is in black and white. This gives it a serious tone. The lighting they used also gave a dramatic effect. There is a scene where two gentlemen are talking but you can see Kane dancing in the reflection of the window. This reminds the audience that he is still important to the scene even though he isn't directly involved. This

When Making a film a director wants to draw the audiences emotions to the film to make them interested in what is going to happen. The director wants to make sure the audience is putting their emotions into a particular character or event. They can use this to give items importance and help us see who is an important character or if an event is serious or not. They basically tell us how to feel in a situation. They do this with the perspective/focus, lighting, and with the audio.