Time To Kill

The creation and consumption of films are a common favorite pastime for many people and have been for hundreds of years, but while some films can seem deceptively simple, many elements go into creating a scene, much less an entire movie. Directors use these elements which include, but are not limited to style, mood, composition and special effects to create a product that we often don’t acknowledge without looking deeper into the film. These components together are called Mise en Scène (Ebert). Of course, film can be enjoyed leisurely but there are so many more aspects of film to be explored and analyzed such as the composition of camera movement, lighting, color, sounds and music. In this case, I chose to analyze the “Redrum” scene from the renowned film, The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick. In this scene, Danny Torrence, a five year old boy wanders around his mother’s room with a knife in hand, muttering the word “Redrum” over and over again before scrawling it across the door. I feel that a lot of this scene’s mood and style relies heavily on the camera work of the scene, the lighting and colors, and the music incorporated into the segment.

Lee makes excellent use of these shots as a way of bringing the viewer into the action of the movie. His use of high and low angle, point of view shots both heighten tension and give the feeling that the characters

Throughout the term I have begun experiencing movies in a different way. The class has taken ideas of cinematography, theory, and film history and practically applied it to physically watching movies. By breaking down scenes and movies as a whole, the way I look at films in general has developed. A reflection on two of the films from this term, Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) and North by Northwest (Hitchcock, 1959) will carry the bulk of the essay. Though, I will also be discussing how this class changed the way I saw a movie just a few weeks ago. Casablanca’s script and acting are of particular caliber, and North by Northwest unfortunately does not deliver with the dialogue and casting of lead actor Cary Grant. Though, overall, they both

The camera follows the elders of the block, Da’ Mayor and Mother Sister, as they talk in her bedroom. For a rare moment in the film Da’ Mayor’s and Mother Sister’s eyes are at exactly the same level, showing that as different as the two may have seemed, they are very much the same. Then the camera slowly pulls out as the two stand and sluggishly walk down a hallway toward a window. Now, where a director would typically have to cut and setup a new shot, Lee pulls the camera straight out of the window as Mother Sister and Da’ Mayor survey the block. The audience would expect to see next exactly what Da’ Mayor and Mother Sister are looking at, but instead Lee quickly pans over in the opposite direction to reveal Mookie standing in the street bellow. By doing this Lee makes a connection that both the elders and Mookie are, in the words of Mother Sister, “still standing.” The shot is not particularly tight but still has a cramped feel due to the clutter of things in the background, the heavy shadowing, and the red tint on the lighting. The red lighting gives sense of volatility to the shot, which is contrasted by the slow camera and character movements. These slow movements are analogous to the block as, regardless of how slowly, it too will go on and life will continue. This shot is in the tradition of mise en scene advocates like Bazin in that,

Harold and Maude, a movie directed by Hal Ashby and released in the 1970’s, did not receive much attention and popularity when first released. Since the movie depicted obsession with suicide through a 20-year-old character Harold, the movie received backlash because during the 1970’s there were high rates of suicides among teenagers and college students. However, over time college students found the movie very entertaining, therefore bringing the movie into the lights and making it a cult hit. In Blue Velvet, a neo-noir mystery film directed by David Lynch and released in 1986, received a variety of critical responses from a wide range of audience, but this movie’s unique style earned Lynch his second nomination for Best Director. The idea of innocent getting caught in a web of evil is portrayed through the character Jeffrey Beaumont, who first encounter’s a severed ear in a grassy abandoned field. In this paper I will compare and contrast these two movies that include key actors Bud Cort, played as Harold, and Kyle MacLachlan, played as Jeffrey and include a few key points that have made these movies enjoyable to watch.

This essay is about the movie Inglourious Basterds (2009) written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The significant elements of mise-en-scene in the film will be discussed, along with the film’s elements of cinematography in the opening scene. Film often uses editing techniques in its storytelling that infer meaning, subtle though they may be. These techniques will be identified and discussed, and the meanings explained. Set in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, the film follows a group of Jewish US soldiers as they plan to assassinate the leaders of the Third Reich in a movie theater. Led by Allied officer Lieutenant Aldo Raine, played by Brad Pitt, the “Basterds’” plan coincides with the theater owner’s vengeful plans for the same thing.

I never gave much thought into what it takes to shoot, direct, edit, and complete a motion picture. Sure, it may sound fun, but after this assignment, it felt like a lot of work. There are quite a few specialized groups that put together the films that we enjoy in our movie theatres. No wonder why it takes months and even years to edit a film, these folks are making sure things are done and synced correctly! The following essay will identify information pertaining to film and importance for their audience so the person or persons watching can have an understanding of what it is they are viewing. A story that has no meaning or becomes very confusing in the details that are presented does not make a good film.

Hitchcock is known for the “meticulousness of his preproduction, shooting, and editing strategies” (Sterritt 9). An example of this is the filming technique Hitchcock used to illustrate Scottie’s Vertigo; to represent the sensation, the camera would physically move away from the subject while simultaneously zooming in on the subjects. Thus this specific shot was used whenever Scottie went through that experience, creating a specific motif for his reaction. Another strategy of Hitchcock is “his celebrated use of point-of-view shots”, which he employed to unite “physical and psychological identification between spectator and character” (Sterritt 11). This is exemplified in Rear Window, which is seen from almost entirely Jeff’s perspective, thus uniting audiences more with Jeff, and therefore the subjective narrative. This increases solidarity with Jeff, and makes it easier for the audience to adopt Jeff’s discoveries as the truth. Additionally point-of-view shots allow viewers to understand characters more, as seen through Judy’s point of view on her walk in the park with Scottie. Another camera angle favoured is the extreme high-angle shot, which in some cases marks a significant point in the plot; this shot is used to show Madeleine’s fall to her death in Vertigo, the point in the movie that serves as a climax that triggers the narrative

Although this paper uses a mainstream movie, at all times you should use scholarly writing and language throughout the paper.

This essay is based on films of the same story, told in different ways, with emphasis, themes, meaning and interpretation shaped or shaded by the situation of the storyteller; the cinematic mise-en-scene. Based on the same story, the films reveal and reflect the film-maker’s social norms and views, emerging from their different national contexts. While exploring the two films, this essay will examine elements of film language or semiotics: color saturation (or black and white), sound, setting, type of camera angles used; repetition of visual motifs (Metz, 1985). The two films explored were made in the 1960s. Neither film is American, yet both reveal influences and reflections on American cinema and American power; the Western film, adherence or detracting from Hollywood Classical cinema tropes, i.e. close-ups, shot-reverse-shot, POV, depth of field (Bazin, 1985: 128-9). The two films are Kurasawa’s Yojimbo (1961) and Leone’s Fistful of Dollars (1964), from Japan and Italy, respectively. How are they different; how similar? Why do they use the same plot,

By doing so, the audience can feel sympathy, drama, and suspense throughout the film. A good example of a low angle shot is when District Ten is listening to the organizer of the games. When he is picking tribunes, the angle of the camera is down which displays that the tribunes are inferior to the organizer. The different types of shots also bring attention to something the director wants the audience to focus on. Along with informing the viewers of something from the character’s view point. A majority of the film is shot in subjective view, giving the audience an extension of Katniss and seeing what she is seeing. Although this is the case, there are objective shots to show the viewers the computer generated special effects in the film. It is also noticeable that the editing used helped capture the concept of social class in this film.

During the process of envisioning and designing a film, the director, production designer, and art director (in collaboration with the cinematographer) are concerned with several major spatial and temporal elements. These design elements punctuate and underscore the movement of figures within the frame, including the following: setting, lighting, costuming, makeup, and hairstyles. Choose a scene from movieclips.com. In a three to five page paper, (excluding the cover and reference pages) analyze the mise-en-scène

On a hot day in the early 1980s in northern Mississippi, two white good-for-nothings are repeatedly raping the young black girl they have kidnapped. Beaten and bloody, the girl hallucinates that her daddy is coming to save her. When finished with her, the men throw her in a shallow ravine. After she is discovered and hospitalized, the black sheriff quickly takes the two worthless white men into custody as the girl, Tonya Hailey, lies in surgery.

These lawyers conflict revealed once again how the society had a racist attitude. Rufus Buckley used a selection of detail to make the crime seem unimportant in comparison to Carl’s killing of the rapists. Our observation of Rufus was also presented with many high angles to make him seem inferior compared to Jake Brigance when he said his final debate. Jake begins to describe the crime in great detail to persuade the audience and says a series of important quotes which outline the society's racist attitudes towards African Americans. One of Jake’s quotes outlines how society is racist towards Carl; “And until we can see each other as equals, justice is never going to be even-handed. It will remain nothing more than a reflection of our own prejudices. “Another very effective quote is when he describes the girl then quotes; "now imagine she's white." This in itself highlights the way in which the spectators change their perspectives according to race.

Understanding movies comes from describing and analyzing the cinematic, theatrical, and literary elements that combine to create meaning. These steps create a basic understanding of the artistic and technical elements found in moviemaking. In addition, the major characteristics of different film genres and classic movies will be analyzed. The purpose of this paper is analyzing the Academy Award winning film Chicago. This paper will describe the six steps that a person should think about when watching a movie. These steps include, (1) analysis of the narrative: story, plot and meaning; (2) theatrical elements, (3) cinematography, (4) editing, (5) sound and the (6) complete package.