Chris Marker’s 1962 film, La Jetée is a classic apocalyptic time travel story about a man who is transported by the strength of a vivid memory to the past where he can prevent world destruction. La Jetée primarily uses still frames to convey its meaning of destiny and its ties with time. Marker’s use of imagery, editing, and sounds effectively brings insight to this bleak universe he created and a man’s plight into depths of time. La Jetée opens with a man who's struck with a strong memory of a mysterious woman of his childhood the day he saw a man get killed. Years later, the unnamed man is a prisoner of war in a nuclear fallout devastated Paris. Experimentalists who held the man captive aimed “to send emissaries into Time, to summon the Past and Future to the aid of the Present” (line 16). As the man had vivid memories of a particular woman from the past, the scientists chose him to partake in a series of painful tests to successfully conduct time travel. The majority of the film focuses on the man’s journey into the past and the time he spends getting to know the woman from his memory while simultaneously getting pulled back into the present. On the fiftieth day, they meet in a museum of “timeless animals,” the man spends the day perusing the museum with the woman, unaware that this would be his final time in the past. The scientists soon ship the man into the future where he finds himself in an unfamiliar Paris, meeting the people of the future. They initially reject
Interestingly, visual techniques are also effective in portraying the theme of free will versus determinism to question the responder who and what controls our lives. The tripartite storytelling structure incorporating three wholly, self-contained alternate versions of events is an unconventional filming technique reinforcing the postmodernist perception of having minimal control over life. As Lola rushes past minor characters in the film, flash forwards offer alternate glimpses of the possible outcome of their future, suggesting that fee-will alone is not a sole determination of the outcome of life. In each run, Lola’s encounter with these minor characters varies, showing that even the slightest change can become a significant impact to life. An extreme close-up
A majority of the film takes place in the mind of Joel as he tries to find a way to hold on to his memories of Clementine while the employees from Lacuna work to erase the memories. The audience is magically placed into the mind of Joel as he is having his memory erased of Clementine. The flashbacks begin, transporting the audience on a journey in their relationship but in reverse. Director
Imagine, it is a sunny day and the light reflects off of the surrounding sea and onto an ideal beach home. Nothing but beautiful people, sunshine, and good times. But alas good times do not always last as next comes a blast from the past so powerful it is still felt 8 years into the future! If all those images have been conjured up in the viewer’s mind, then you have the basic plot to this foreign film ‘Instructions Not Included’. But wait there is more I promise.
Hugo and Sophie turn 40 and they're really unhappy about it. Then they go to a trip to their hometown and they come back all energized. Then the next day Marc-Andre's dad wakes him up and Marc-Andre's commenting on how different his dad looks compared to yesterday for example: he has a head full of hair and his facial hair is black. Then he see his mom serving him breakfast then he comments on his mom's wrinkles and how she doesn't have any. Then Josee comments how Marc-Andre's Parents look younger. Then Hugo starts complaining because he thinks this change is too abnormal and monstrous. Then Sophie says: Oh my gosh, the youth/time machine! Then they decide that they want to go to Percé and undo this change.
John Sayles visually integrates the past with the future by “employing panning shots in place of dissolves” or cuts (27). This cinematically exemplifies why Lone Star and the lovers cannot “forget the Alamo.” Though the borders may be fuzzy between races,
Cinema after 1906, according to Gunning, pushed towards the structure of linear narrative, and away from the immediacy of the "spectacular image" (Strauven, 1999: 387).
Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller ‘Rear Window’ (Hitchcock, 1954) begins with the immediate use of mise-en-scène in order to establish a sense of atmosphere, equilibrium and the mundane, soon to be disrupted as the events of the film unfold and are observed through the eyes of the voyeuristic protagonist, Jeff. Setting, cinematography and various other expressive mise-en-scène techniques work together to influence the overall appearance of the film. Though, by taking a closer look, these techniques reveal the significance of the narrative and characters. In the opening sequence, Hitchcock’s original visual style provides signposts for the audience to recognize what will be significant in the future: instead of establishing what is only happening in the moment in time; mise-en-scène is used to suggest what is to come. This arrangement of the “Classical Hollywood” narrative - starting with the setting and characters in a state equilibrium - acts as a seemingly all-purpose, archetypal opening by establishing location and introducing character. Simultaneously we can see that this sequence is vastly different from the rest of the film: it is leading the viewer into a false sense of security – the calm before the storm – as Jeff soon happens to piece together information leading to the possibility that one of his neighbors murdered their wife. This sequence is one of the only moments in the film we see things the protagonist does not, thus this carefully constructed opening is preparing
Casablanca, first released on January 23rd, 1943 is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of Classical Hollywood film. Written and released in the midst of World War Two it explores themes such as love, desire and especially sacrifice. Although the love story of the protagonists is the cause and catalyst for most of the narrative, one would not necessarily associate it with the conventional Classical Hollywood love story. Rather as a fabula based on the principle of the importance of sacrifice in order to overcome a common enemy, in this case the Nazis. Casablanca does indeed contain many of the common characteristics identified with the Classical Hollywood film. An example being the the way director, Michael Curtiz used a mainly chronologically ordered narrative structure and the utilisation of a Cause and Effect chain. In this essay I will looking at the various ways I believe this film does fall into the criteria of a Classical Hollywood narrative and also how some could perceive that it does not.
Different from traditional movie, Cleo from 5 to 7 is structured based on real life. As Valerie Orpen noted in her “Structures, Styles, and Themes”, there were movies also based on real life prior to Cleo from 5 to 7 (23). However, they have different types of narrative. In movies such as High Noon, the narratives were compressed in order to maximize the thrill and suspension. Yet Cleo from 5 to 7 reveals the objective social limitation with subjective observations. In the meantime, I believe this movie tries to criticize those limitations imposed by our society, or, in Orpen’s words, “ (the desire) of protection against the reality of outside world” (77).
It's 1962, America has lost WWII; the east is the Greater Nazi Reich and the west, the Japanese Pacific States. Amidst this oppression there is new hope - films that seem to show a different world. When her sister gives her a film and is then murdered, a woman comes to believe the films hold the key to freedom and becomes obsessed with finding their mysterious guardian, The Man in the High
Let yourself be transported to the future where drought, famine and disasters run rampant on Earth. The only way to ensure that the people of Earth survive is a journey into the depths of space. A story of survival, hardships, and triumph this is Interstellar. This film was directed by Christopher Nolan in 2014. To fully understand how this film uses the fundamentals of moviemaking to make a complete and complex film I will be discussing the elements of narrative, mise en scene, cinematography, acting, editing and sound.
The good thing about films is that we not only have the opportunity to choose from a wide selection of different genres, but also compare them and understand their purpose in the world. The Horror genre has used the basic principles throughout time, and as a result, films of this type have not proven to be as timeless as another genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy. At first, these two genres might at times seem similar as they have at several occasions been blended together, but their basic, common theme serves different meanings about humans. I shall compare and contrast these two genres and focus on both classic films and modern films. From the Horror genre perspective I shall discuss Psycho (1960) and The Mist (2007), while in the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre I will examine 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and Serenity (2005). Although the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre and the Horror Genre share some similarities, the differences lie in their focus on human progress.
In this paper, I will write about “Thelma and Louise” (1991) movie. I choose a last scene of the movie which the police came to arrest them in the Grand Canyon (from 122 to 125 minutes).
The apocalypse is a common subject addressed in films and such Doomsday scenarios have become increasingly popular since the beginning of the Cold War. These films provide a different cause for the downfall of human kind and approach the subject with various degrees of despair and hope. Despite the obvious differences in approach that different directors take, these films all serve to highlight not only the negative qualities of human kind that led to and are represented by the agent of destruction but also to highlight the strength of the survivors who keep the will to fight for their lives despite the bleak circumstances. For the most part, The Mist, adapted from a Stephen King novella, sticks closely to the archetype. The Mist, a
In an era when harsh actuality of everyday life propels one to the realm of insanity, to a pharmaceutically induced sleep, or to a dreadful state of existence, it is a pleasure for a fairytale world to engulf an individual. Although for only a brief time of ninety minutes, that ninety minutes is as refreshing as a relaxing soak in a warm tub of water. “A Walk in the Clouds” provides the means of escape by way of a delightful romantic fantasy. At a time when movies seem compelled to be asocial, when it is more effortless to smirk than to sigh, this film refreshingly takes us to a dream world, if only for a time.Director Alfonso Arau brings sentiment to a story set in post-World War II California. Paul Sutton (Keanu Reeves) has returned