Scene Analysis Of Goodfellas

During the first half of the play, I did not really notice the lights except during the scene transitions. The main reason I did not notice them is because their job during the early parts of the play were to establish the location. We were in a standard basement that had one window above the stairs, so most of the light in the room had to be coming from an artificial source, most likely a lightbulb.

Fruitvale Station depicts the real-life case of Oscar Grant III, a young unarmed black man shot in the back by a white police officer on January 1, 2009 in Oakland. The movie begins with cell phone footage of Oscar Grant’s death recorded by bystanders. Grant’s life was tragically cut short due to a white man’s racism and stereotypical perception of a young black man. The BART police officer Johannes Mehserle abused his authority and shot Grant for no other reason but hatred and racism. At the time of the shooting, Grant was unarmed and pinned on the ground in handcuffs. The movie then walks you through the last twenty-four hours of Grant’s life. As you watch the movie and research the aftermath of Grant’s death you a forced to ask yourself a few questions; why does the media have the right to take away Oscar Grant’s humanity? Where do we draw the line between racism and holding others responsible and will the public’s perception of black men and women ever change? Lastly, we must focus on how this case and others impacts African American society and culture. We also must focus on the necessary changes African Americans must make in order to survive in a world that does not value black lives.

The movie I chose to do my scene analysis on is Do the Right Thing. The scene I chose in the movie is the scene of the 20 “D” Batteries. The scene of the 20 “D” Batteries reflects the movie and the scene because it betrays the ethnic and racial tensions between each race and the cross-cultural communication between them. Throughout the movie the filmmaker Spike Lee uses wide variety of angles but in this scene he uses high angle and low angle. The character Radio Raheem is walking down the sidewalk listening to “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy on his Boom box, the director Spike Lee uses a low angle to make Radio Raheem seem as if he is powerful. In contrast when Radio Raheem walks into the store we see the little Asian boy

The film that I will be analysing is “The Shawshank Redemption”. The Shawshank redemption is a film that was directed by Frank Darabont in 1994 and it was set in 1947. This film is about a young hotshot banker named Andy Dufresne who was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. For this crime he was given a double life sentence and he was sent to Shawshank prison to serve this sentence. While in prision Andy makes a couple of friends and his best friend in prison is named Red. Red runs the black market in shawshank prison and he knows how to get things. Over the span of 20 years Andy earns the respect of his fellow prisoners and he also earns the respect of some of the guards by doing their taxes for them in return for just a couple of favours. The extract that I have chosen to analyze is the rooftop scene.

The film The Green Mile was originally written by Stephen King and later directed by Frank Darabont. It is based on the guards and inmates of a penitentiary’s Death Row during the great depression. There is a certain monotony that comes with working on Death Row and Paul Edgecomb, played by Tom Hanks, has become numb to the fact that he is paid to take lives; that is until John Coffey gets sentenced to death and is sent to Paul’s “green mile”. John Coffey is a very large black man that was accused of rape and murder of two little girls, and in the 1930’s having charges like that brought upon you was grounds for the death penalty, especially for a black man in the south.

The Gangster film ‘Scarface’ (DePalma) is about the rise and eventual fall of Cuban immigrant, Tony Montana. Throughout the film the viewer witnesses how Tony Montana goes from a criminal in Cuba to a drug overlord in America. The average viewer cannot connect to the arc of Tony Montana. But, the average viewer can connect to what Tony Montana is working for, the American dream. Brain DePalma chooses purposefully to have a hyper-masculine, narcissistic, megalomaniac immigrant as the main character of a story of American dream. In ‘Scarface’, DePalma show the universality of the American dream. By utilizing various filming techniques, DePalma shows how the American dream is available for everyone.

The critically acclaimed film, Goodfellas, is a gangster crime drama that features an incredible amount of talent. Household names such as: Robert De Niro (Jimmy Conway), Joe Pesci (Tommy DeVito), Paul Sorvino (Paul Cicero), and promising stars like Ray Liotta (Henry Hill) and Lorraine Bracco (Karen Hill), attracted numerous Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. That type of cast power, linked with the signature talent of Martin Scorsese as a director, made for cinematic gold. Unquestionably, the actors and actresses did an excellent job augmenting the verisimilitude of this film and compelling audiences to empathize with their characters. But the cinematography in this film plays just as large a role in having audiences feel what the characters are feeling at a specific moment. Through the use of freeze frames, we learn of significant moments that shape Henry into the man that he is. By means of first-person narration we are able to know exactly what is going through a particular character’s mind. Finally, wonderful editing made great use of point of view and multiple jump cuts, which added to the sensation that we are undergoing the same experiences as the characters on screen. I will go into further detail and specify scenes that convey these elements as the essay progresses. Altogether, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas effectively depicts paramount scenes and allows the audience to empathize with the characters by virtue of stylistic editing and cinematography.

Lighting and filming through the movie is applied creatively causing people to be interested in not only the plot but the aesthetic . Lighting gave the movie a mysterious ambiance. They also use the lighting to create a contrast of characters, they manipulate the lighting in a scene with Harvey Dent to show the dark side Of himself. Doing these

Fruitvale station, is a story about the real life Oscar Grant, a black man who was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer in Oakland. This film follows Grant and his last days before the shooting on New Year’s Day. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale station was his first feature film. Coogler expressed that he was interested in making this film because he wanted people to get to know Grant, get attached, so that when a situation like this occurs again, people will care more about that human life (Wikipedia). In addition, the cast includes Michael B. Jordan (Grant), Octavia Spencer (Wanda Johnson), and Melonie Diaz (Sophina Mesa), amongst a few others. However, there is an underlying concept in this film. This film relates back to Double Consciousness and the internal conflict and struggles within African American men.

Most of the actors are wearing darker clothing as well which makes their faces stand out even more. This lighting style also adds to the tension and the mystery of the scene. It makes the audience on edge. The contrast filled lighting of film noir is also effective at bringing out the extremes of emotions and thought. The darkness of the genre makes anything that goes wrong seem less taboo, because the lighting of the genre sets up the norms for the world that the film lives in—and in that world, bad things happen. The lighting of the film helps the audience understand the world that the characters are in.

Martin Charles Scorsese was born November 17, 1942. Suffering from asthma, he spent most of his time watching movies and by the time he was eight, he was already drawing his own storyboards that were directed/produced by himself. Although he considered going into priesthood, making movies was Scorsese’s true calling and he went on to make some of Hollywood’s most memorable films. Incorporating themes from his Italian American roots into his visceral, cinematic storytelling that has influenced generations of filmmakers. He is an American director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and film historian, whose career spans more than 53 years. Scorsese 's body of work addresses such themes as Sicilian-American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption, machismo, modern crime, and gang conflict. Many of his films are also notable for their depiction of violence and liberal use of profanity. Part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and influential filmmakers in cinema history. For three decades Scorsese has been at the forefront of American cinema. Its most avid champion and often its most electrifying practioner. The most cinematic of directors, he has also been among the most formally restless and exploratory, evolving an obsessive-compulsive mise-en-scene based on dynamic, agile camerawork and radical editing rhythms.

Soon after Marieme was welcomed into the group, they rented a hotel suite for the night. In that hotel suite they rented, the four girls spent their time doing various things that loosened their mood even more from its natural state. As minutes pass, their happy laughter fills the scene while their state of mind becomes non impulsive. Forgetting other significant matters they would have to face eventually, they got lost in their desire to let go and release their worries for a little while. Marieme and her new friends were floating and loving their little world they created in the dimly lit room, even though on the other side of their door was reality. The cinematographer did a very smooth job with the lighting because I found it really appealing. Calming vibes from the hit pop song, ‘Diamonds’ by Rihanna, placed a very subtle mode for their little jam session. The blue lighting set a chill mood for the scene and excellently captured the purpose of their time together. Their hangout was a time for them to bond and form a close relationship like

The lighting of a film intricately ties into how the film intends on showing certain scenes through use of the camera angle. Such examples of this in Casablanca are how during these close-up scenes we see the lighting of certain characters light up significantly. This is seen, again, in the famous “Of all the gin joints scene” because of how the audience sees multiple close-up scenes of Isla’s face, most notably how we see the tears flow from Isla’s cheeks. Another way lighting plays into the classic feel of a Hollywood film, according to Bordwell, is how “a dark street will realistically motivate single-source lightning; the closeup of a woman will be more heavily diffused than that of a man” (Bordwell 27). One famous example of this is how the tension builds up when Isla returns to Rick’s nightclub after her husband goes to meet with a meeting with the local resistance against the Nazi regime. In this scene, we see how the lighting is much more darker than scenes where we are focusing on Rick and another character. Watching the film, the audience gets the sense that the film attempts to create a certain mood through the lighting whenever Isla and Rick are alone. When the two are alone, like in this very scene, the tension builds up due to how much darkness there is in both the room and between the two former lovers. Conversely, when there are conflicts between Rick and Captain Louis Renault, the French commander in the city, represented towards the end of the film before Isla and Victor leave the city, the lighting of the room is significantly more bright. This is not to say that there exists no conflict between Rick and the French captain, but rather how the film conforms to Bordwell’s description of how lighting contributes to a classic Hollywood

The untouchables is a movie based on the true events that occurred when the eighteenth amendment was passed. The eighteenth amendment established the prohibition of production, transport, and sale of alcohol. The Federal Agent Eliot Ness wants to stop Al Capone, who is the top of organized crime. It was a hard job for Eliot Ness because Al Capone with his money bought many policemen, politicians, and other important people, therefore Eliot Ness could trust anyone. Eliot Ness had to choose no more than twelve men to form his squad. The Untouchables were formed by Eliot Ness, and another nine men he picked, they were called the Untouchables because they never accepted any bribes. Al Capone One of Al Capone’s men offered Eliot Ness $2,000 to stop interfering with the organization and an additional $2,000 if he continued to cooperate. Eliot Ness’s plan was to make an impact in the income of the gangsters, so they couldn’t pay for protection. (Biography.com)

The film, American Gangster, directed and produced by Ridley Scott is a drama based on the biography of Frank Lucas. In the movie, Frank Lucas constructs his own business of illegal work after his boss, Bumpy Johnson, passes away. Frank builds a heroin business, following in the footsteps of Bumpy, and becomes the most powerful crime boss in Manhattan. Furthermore, because of Frank’s immoral ways, he gets caught by the police and is sentenced to 15 years in prison. As the movie progresses I form a couple assumptions of what could happen in the short term and long term. First off, when Frank Lucas attains his heroin I believe that in the short term he will succeed. Frank has established a vast amount of insights into the drug business from Bumpy, and from what he has learned he will take in and apply it to his situation. However, all immoral acts will have to be put to an end, so in the long term, Frank’s heroin business will be caught. If Frank’s business is the biggest thing in Manhattan then the police are bound to question where are all the illegal drugs coming from, how, why, and who. The police were already hunting him down so it was inevitable for him to get out of his illegal mess.