Film Studies Unit 3 Essay

The vision Christopher Nolan had for The Prestige (2006) was to add to the outbreak of street magician film, whilst playing a large dramatic subplot equal in grandeur to the magical performances within the film. In the final sequence of the film, I will analyse how the cinematography and sound resolves the plot so that it summarises the themes present in the film, whilst also invoking a response from the audience. Nolan predominantly uses close up shots, non-diegetic sound (music) and dialogue collaboratively to convey the dramatic, personal subplot of the characters and their relationships, whilst appealing to the audience bringing forth an emotional response from the audience. The heavy, slow, dramatic atmosphere of the ending sequence uses various techniques to summarise and uncover the underlying mysteries of the events throughout the film and consolidate themes introduced during the exposition.

What were Edwin S. Porter's significant contributions to the development of early narrative film? In what sense did Porter build upon the innovations of contemporaneous filmmakers, and for what purposes?

Trainspotting presents an ostensible image of fractured society. The 1996 film opens, famously, with a series of postulated choices—variables, essentially, in the delineation of identity and opposition. Significant here is the tone in which these options are delivered—it might be considered the rhetorical voice of society, a playful exposition of the pressure placed on individuals to make the "correct" choices, to conform to expectation.

“Insidious” is a 2010 horror movie centralizing around the lives of protagonists Renai (Rose Byrne) and her husband Josh (Patrick Wilson). The movie mainly focuses on the supernatural activity going on within the house, and it is later revealed that the cause of the hauntings is due to demons attempting to take over the body of their unconscious son, Dalton (Ty Simpkins).

The film Pleasantville directed by Gary Ross is about two modern teenagers, David and his sister Jennifer, somehow being transported into the television, ending up in Pleasantville, a 1950s black and white sitcom. The two are trapped as Bud and Mary Sue in a radically different dimension and make some huge changes to the bland lives of the citizens of Pleasantville, with the use of the director’s cinematic techniques. Ross cleverly uses cinematic techniques such as colour, mise-en-scene, camera shots, costumes, music and dialogue to effectively tell the story.

Article Three – Author: David Bordwell / Title of Article: The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film

1. Why do you think so many people are diagnosed with mental illness in the criminal justice system? Why do you think so many offenders in the criminal justice system suffer from mental illness?

How do the respective narrative forms of Double Indemnity and Magnolia construct their characters and provide different critical perspectives on social values? Discuss in your essay some of the various narration types and the formal narrative construction of the films' characters. However, do not simply provide a list or catalogue of the narrative differences between the two films. A critical and necessary part of the assignment is for you to argue how the narrative construction in each film provides critical perspectives on social values.

The movie, The Shawshank Redemption (1994), is based on a character Andy Dufresne. Andy is a young and successful banker who is sent to Shawshank Prison for murdering his wife and her secret lover. His life is changed drastically upon being convicted and being sent to prison. He is sent to prison to serve a life term. Over the 20-years in prison, Andy retains optimism and eventually earns the respect of his fellow inmates. He becomes friends with Red, and they both comfort and empathize with each other while in prison. The story has a strong message of hope, spirit, determination, courage, and desire.

The scene which we were first introduced to, the directors used setting as the technique which created an emotional response from within the audience. The setting was an old looking western town in the amidst of a dry dessert. This scene showed that the town was deserted making the audience think it was abandoned, with no source of any living creature. This setting brought forth the memory of watching a John Wayne film because of the dry surroundings and tumble weeds. The buildings appeared to be locked securely minimising the chance of anything trying to enter. This made the audience feel like something was waiting to jump out and scare the life out of them. The precise use of setting and camera shots operated together to show that the town was indeed deserted. It made the audience realise that the directors wanted to make this scene seem mysterious and left many curious. The setting was used to make the audience understand the idea of appearance vs reality.

Othering is the process of forming a person, an object or a group into the role of the ‘other’ and creating individual’s identity through opposition. But as someone is “other” to me, I carry the same label for someone else who identifies with a different group. How do we bring meaning into a term that refers to absolutely everyone? In the films that we have watched, the term is usually defined in terms of the distinction from dominant group. In various films, we see several different kinds of others – ethnic, racial or sexual. While some films deal with others and the process of othering in full exposure, other films and diegetic nationalities treat this sensitive subjects under the covers, therefore society is silent about things that alter from the normative.

During the 1930’s and 1940’s, women of the world held virtually one role and one role only…homemaker. This was no different for the women of Mexico, except for one woman in particular, Frida Kahlo. Frida refused to accept the current ideals of society and the accepted social norms by engaging in things that few women in history ever had. Frida was involved in politics, she was promiscuous with men and women, she painted pictures of herself in ways that had never been done before, and she wore the clothes of her indigenous people as opposed to the current fashions of the world. The movie Frida showcases all of these qualities. The director, Julie Taymor, uses the symbolism of these things to show how Frida

​Released in 1988 by director Giuseppe Tomatore, “Cinema Paradiso” follows the life of a young boy in Italy who dreams of being a filmmaker. The road the boy, who eventually becomes a famous Italian film director named Salvatore Di Vita, takes to reach his goal is difficult and includes many sacrifices and trade-offs. Today, the film is widely regarded as one of the most popular foreign films ever to be released in the United States. Given that foreign films are fairly common in America, it is fair to consider why “Cinema Paradiso” received such critical acclaim, as well as relative mainstream popularity. “Cinema Paradiso” received critical and popular praise because the film includes several timeless themes

Taking an introductory class to Cinema and Cultural Studies has truly been a remarkable experience for me. Considering the fact that I am in the Health Science major, it would be highly unlikely for me to take a class with any relation to cinema or cultural studies. I only enrolled in this class to fulfill one of my Stony Brook Curriculum requirements, however I absolutely do not regret my decision at all. Every Monday night I am given an opportunity to watch a film, from either the twentieth or twenty-first century, focusing on issues such as racism, genocide, adultery, homosexuality, and many more. Whether I had cried my eyes out or laughed nonstop throughout the movie, I would leave the lecture hall with an even greater appreciation of

Direct Cinema The term 'direct cinema' was coined by American director Albert Maysles, to describe the style of documentary that he and his contemporaries were making in the 1960s as a result of a lightweight, portable 16mm camera and high quality lightweight audio recorders becoming available. The introduction of these, together with film-stock which was sensitive enough to give a good quality close-up monochrome picture under most lighting conditions (Including hand-held lights) led to a revolution in Documentary filmmaking, allowing film crews to be much more flexible. Gone were the days of bulky, virtually immobile 35mm cameras; now manufacturers improved their 16mm stock and accepted it