Still Alice is a film about Alice Howland who is a professor at Columbia University majoring in linguistics. The plot begins to climax when Alice firstly forgets a word during a lecture and during a jog she does everyday, she became lost. Alice visits her doctor and is diagnosed with early onset Familial Alzheimer’s Disease. The director ………. has used Sounds, Costumes and Cinematography in the film to develop the character of Alice Howland and encourage audiences to connect with her. Non-diegetic sound is important in films as a technique for audiences to understand the specific emotions of a scene. Sound also is used as a technique to evoke an emotional response from the audience. Non-diegetic sound is only used in the film to highlight …show more content…
An example of this type of sound in Still Alice is when Alice is running on campus. During this scene a quiet violin played as non-diegetic sound. When Alice became lost the sound changed from soft violins to an intense sound of violins playing and also had the diegetic sound of Alice’s breathing. This made the audience aware of the panic the character was experiencing and allowed them to feel more involved in the scene. Another example of sound in the film is the scene involving Alice at her beach house with her husband. In this scene she needed to go to the toilet before they went for a run together. The sound in this scene really helped to established what was going to happen. The scene began with a slow playing violin with long notes as Alice searched the beach house to find the toilet. As she became more panicked the violin …show more content…
As Alice’s Alzheimers progresses, her costumes change to reflect the progression of the disease. At the beginning of the film Alice’s character presents as a well-dressed middle-aged woman wearing clothes that suited her body type and her everyday life. An example of this is at the beginning of the film when Alice had to do presentation she was neat and well dressed in business attire for her age. Gradually throughout the film her clothing became more underdressed and her appearance became more dishevelled. When Alice and her husband John are at their family beach house Alice is portrayed wearing basic clothing such as a plain black tee and jeans. This is in stark contrast to the professional clothing that Alice is dressed in as a university lecturer at the beginning of the film. This highlights how important costume is as a technique to reflect the storyline and character development. By the end of the film Alice is physically unable to dress herself. Alice’s husband, John dresses Alice to visit their daughter in hospital who just had twin babies. Costume is particularly demonstrated and pronounced in this scene particularly when comparing to the beginning of the film where Alice is a highly independent and well dressed professional. Costumes play a major role in the development of Alice Howland throughout her journey of having early onset Alzheimer’s disease. At the start of the film
Along with background music, sound effects play more of a role on the way we feel than many moviegoers think, and "although the function of sound effects is primarily atmospheric, they can also be precise sources of meaning in film" (Giannetti, 225). When the
This screenplay follows the protagonist Alice Howland, who is a professor of linguistics at Columbia University. Alice Howland is later diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, which turns her world completely upside down; especially given her career and ambitious nature. She becomes unable to perform normal everyday activities, and struggles with the loss of her independence. Alice’s husband, John, who is a physician, attempts to act as a guide for her through this time, but it ultimately puts a strain on their relationship. John’s job offer to move to Boston does not help matters either, and it quickly becomes the last straw for the two of them. He soon moves to New York to take the job after Alice’s memory starts to decay at a faster rate. John and Alice have 3 children, Lydia, Anna, and Tom as well as a son-in-law, Charlie. They are introduced at the beginning of the screenplay, as they all gather to celebrate Alice’s 50th birthday at a restaurant. This is also the time in which the audience notices her decline in normal conversation as she is unable to follow smoothly. Alice could be considered the catalytic hero of this screenplay, and the disease being the antagonist. Alice wants to hold on to as much of her memory that she can, and slow the regression by writing down everything. By Act 3, Alice loses her ability to do activities that she had been doing for many years; such as going out for her morning run without getting lost, remembering words, phrases, and
In Alice Walker's “Everyday Use” she uses a tactic to set a mood for the reader by bringing in the character Maggie. Walker's use of language when describing Maggie creates a picture of a physically scarred and unintelligent girl. Maggie's physical scarring is pointed out
The techniques used by Tim to take viewers on Alice’s journey from a child to an adult are vast. Alice is constantly questioned about her identity, Tim Burton does this to signify to the audience that the film is not just about adventures, but at its core is a self-finding journey. A technique which reflected the journey that Alice underwent is her costume, Alice’s costume constantly changed to reflect where on her journey she was at. In the early scenes of the film, Alice is seen to be wearing a baby blue dress made using a viscose material and
Another example of sound is Hitchcock's use of voice over. For instance, as Marion drives away with the money she ha stolen, she imagines conversations between the people she has left behind and their reactions to her faults. Hitchcock also uses sound, which doesn’t complement the image that we see. Whilst the on screen
Another aspect of sound in this film was how it affected the story. By using sound dramatically in certain parts and not using it at all in other parts, sound gave this story an entity of its own. For example, during long stretches of film with mostly dialogue, there was no music played in the background, only a phone ringing in the distance, or the men's voices during their deliberation. These long silences also took place during editing shots of the town and images that surrounded this German city. This dramatic difference in sound was a revelation of how mood can be made by images and sound put together to make an incredible component.
Non-diegetic sound is also used fittingly in The Tall Man. In interviews, often there is subtle instrumentals playing. When the film is detailing more of the distressing components of this case, suspenseful and tense music is playing. One key scene where non-diegetic sound is utilised, is when a picture of Doomadgee is focused slowly zoomed to and in the background the song, “(San Francisco) Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair,” is playing. Not only was it one of Doomadgee’s favourite songs but the jovial melody forces viewers associate him with it. Effectively, emphasising that a good man wrongfully died.
Wonderland is depicted as being a land of magic, mystery and nonsensical occurrences. The director Tim Burton has been able to do this by the use of numerous filmic techniques. One of the techniques was the soundscape, in the film the sound scape created the desired aura, and ambiance to signify the wackiness of ‘Wonderland’. The sound which accompanied anything related to ‘wonderland’ can be described as airy, harmonious and awestruck, however occasionally it may be interrupted by a natural noise, like a pig running (as seen in the 1st scene of wonderland). It has slow, yet easy transitions between the various notes, making it somewhat fluid. A great example of this type of soundscape is around 11.42; here the music is elevated and accompanied with a vocal choir as the rabbit is from Wonderland. This orchestral arrangement, especially the choir adds an element of mystery and suspense. It also creates a euphoric atmosphere. Another evidence to show the close correlation between the soundscape and ‘Wonderland’ is that, every time wonderland is the subject of discussion, the
“Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a slowly progressive disease of the brain that is characterized by impairment of memory and eventually by disturbances in reasoning, planning, language, and perception.” (Howard Crystal) In Health 1000 we were asked to read the book Still Alice. I have never dealt with or have done any study on Alzheimer’s disease before reading this book. After finishing this book it has really opened my eyes to how bad of a disease and how it cripples the mind. I never imagined the effect of this disease on a patient and the patient family. This book is about a upper middle aged lady named Alice who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and how she and her family learn how to deal with disease. One of the things this book
A major influence on Alice's identity was when she was a young child and her grandmother would tell her stories about events that occurred in Cambodia. In Alice's teenage years, her beloved grandmother has a stroke, developed disabilities and eventually had passed away. It is around this time where serious psychological problems occur for Alice. This almost forces her into a mental state in which she knows she does not fit in with the Australian culture. She believed she had to do everything she could to change that otherwise Alice knew she would break down mentally. Alice was forced to attempt to fit the social standards of Australia.
As the film unfolded, Alice became open with her family regarding her recent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, fears and struggles. John who was physician, Anna who was a lawyer, Tom who was a medical student and Lydia an aspiring
The main antagonist in the book is Alice’s youngest daughter Lydia Howland. She defies the family’s educational tradition and chooses to take acting classes in Los Angeles in hopes of becoming an actor. Lydia’s decision causes a lot of conflict between her parents. She’s the only one that refuses to participate in the Alzheimer’s genetic testing. However, as Alice’s condition deteriorates, Lydia becomes the most valuable player of the family; she becomes Alice’s number one advocate. She doesn’t try to “test” Alice’s memory but is there for her when she needs her (p. 162). The relationship between Alice and Lydia improves. Lydia eventually listens to her mother’s advice and enrolls at Brandies University to study theater (p. 258).
Based on the children’s literary work written by Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland is a fictional film that was directed by Tim Burton. The film is set in Wonderland inside of Alice’s dream, so viewers are able to recognize the lack of order and the fantasies of children. One of the major themes seen in the movie is childhood, specifically the development into adulthood, which is depicted in other characters besides Alice. Alice, however, is used as the primary symbol for what children in the Victorian Age should not ideally act like, since they were expected to dress properly and attain a certain level of education. Furthermore, Sigmund Freud’s dream theory and tripartite give further insight into the characters and what they represented during the Victorian Age. The id, ego, and the superego are applied to the unconscious and conscious mind states, and how the unconscious state is still somewhat available during a conscious state. In Alice in Wonderland, psychoanalysis is used to portray the Red Queen as the id, the Absolem
In the novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the main character, Alice, undergoes quite a change. During the time the novel was published, parts of the world were in the victorian era. The Queen at the time was Queen Victoria, in which the era was named after. During this era, knowledge, class and reason were greatly valued, and stressed. This time period ended in the year of Queen Victoria’s death. Throughout the novel, there are many ways that show how Alice begins to understand the world in adult terms, matures, and grows.
She becomes very reactive and unapologetic. Her final step in harming her marriage is stonewalling. Alice starts to pull away from Michael and his love. He wants to help her, but she is not ready to accept that yet. She makes is difficult for the entire family to heal by doing this. She becomes withdrawn and pushes away those who love her. These things are very are very apparent in this couple’s relationship.