Extra Credit

Double Indemnity, 1944 directed by Billy Wilder I feel that this was a great movie because of its compelling storyline. It was also my first original film noir movies I have ever seen and I loved. For that reason I feel that it serves as a great example of noir to people who are not familiar with the genre.

North by Northwest, 1959 directed by Alfred Hitchcock  This one is a classic masterpiece of the master himself Alfred Hitchcock. I think this film is noteworthy not only because it’s good but because I feel that everyone enjoys Hitchcock’s films.

Le voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon), 1902 directed by Georges Méliès This movie is simply powerful and ahead of its time. I feel that this movie is excellent because it was made in 1902 and still managed to transport me. It’s hard for a modern day movie to transport me to the films world but this one did.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story 2007 directed by Jake Kasdan  I feel that film students should see this film because of its strong storyline. This films storyline is very well constructed and shown on film. Also John C. Reilly is a great actor that film students could enjoy.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 1998 directed by Terry Gilliam This film has very excellent examples of visuals. The camera angles and techniques are vast in the film. It also has an oddly plotted storyline that can be interesting to experience.

Drive 2011 directed by Nicolas Winding Refn  Drive is a great example of good cinematography and style. This movie fairly new but the directed was able to capture a retro look to it. Not to mention the story plot is great and has essences of noir.

Music and Film

     North by Northwest Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

                     “Prelude- Bernard Herrmann”

 RED- The musical piece kicks off after the famous MGM lion roars for the third time. From hear beating drums come in backed up by wind instruments. The Music in itself is upbeat almost as the credits go by presenting the actors. The actors named in the opening credits are Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James. Then the North by Northwest title credit comes in then fades in to a shot of a mirrored building. Form the mirrors you can see the reflection of the hustle and bustle of a city street. Then finally that shot fades out to a shot of the bottom of a building where many people are walking. Those types of shots of people walking happens about two more times until the clip ends. The music being played fits well with the shots of busy city people because the music is upbeat and so are their lives. The shots and the music reminded me of those busy days that I have had and some people have every day. The musical piece used for this opening segment was spot on with the vibe and feel of the film.

   

Punch Drunk Love Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

                             “Tabla- Jon Brion”

YELLOW- The shot starts with Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) and Lance (Luis Guzman) in a grocery store. Then shot cuts to another of Barry explaining things to lance about the products at the store. In this shot there is a lot of thinking and talking about newly found information. The music in the background is that of pounding drums and flutes coming in and out. The music worked well with the scene because the pounding drums serve as the stream of thoughts march out of Barry’s mouth.

              

      The Godfather Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

“The Baptism- Nino Rota”

Blue- The scene starts out with the shot of a baby being baptized. In between the shot of the baptism other shot cut in showing the murders of people. Then Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is shown with a face of regret and deep guilt and worry. So on many other murders are shown until Michel Corleone looks down and the clip ends. The music is a creepy organ piece that sounds similar to something out of a horror movie. It reminds me of a church where organs like these are usually played. It also reminds of the creepiness of the Phantom of the Opera. The music is very effect because it goes well with what Michael Corleone is feeling. It also goes well with the brutal murders in the shots.

   

      Pee Wee’s Big Adventure Directed by Tim Burton              “Simone's Theme- Danny Elfman”

Part 2- In this scene Pee Wee (Paul Reubens) and Simone (Diane Salinger) are in a t-rex statue. Here Pee Wee and Simone talk about their dreams and hopes about the future. Here Simone confesses to Pee Wee that she dreams about going to France. Pee Wee then persuades Simone to follow her dreams and to not let anything stop her. The music playing in the backroud is soothing piece that glides through the air. It makes me feel like if I were walking in a dream while being wide awake. The song fits perfect with the scene because the characters are talking about dreams.

John C. Reilly Interviewed on The Treatment

      Hello readers in this post I will be writing about one of my personal favorite actor, comedian, and screenwriters John C. Reilly. Reilly has starred in such movie as Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and recently the blockbuster hit Wreck It Ralph. Reilly has also had some experience working on television; Reilly was a guest on “The Simpsons”. KCRW had the pleasure to have Reilly as a guest on July 07, 2010 for the show “The Treatment”. The interview was hosted by Elvis Mitchell and was produced by Gemma Dempsey.

       John C. Reilly was KCRW studios to talk about his new film at the time “Cyrus”.  From what I learned is about an older man who meets a woman and they fall in love. The catch is that the woman has a son that is not too fond of Reilly’s character. This causes complications and other funny ordeals for the characters in the film. About Reilly personally I learned from this interview that he is a down to earth person. You get this vibe from Reilly when he states that he never thought he was big enough to be recognized or be in a creative position.  I got a friendly impression from Reilly it feels like he is easy to get along with. I also learned that he is an honest man with a catholic upbringing.

                                        

          One thing that I noticed from the interview is that Reilly is a person adapts to change. That is what I got from one of his quotes. “Honestly I’m not a self reflective person …. I see myself more as vessel for other personalities for better or for worse that’s who I am”. I think it’s noteworthy because it says a lot about Reilly. It shows how good of an actor he is because he has the ability to transform himself into the character he is playing. Reilly states that he tries his hardest to believe one hundred percent in what his character beliefs. This quote also shows that Reilly can have any personality as needed thus allowing him to take on anything.

           The second quote I feel supports the first quote I have from Reilly. “I see myself as this constantly changing thing” I find this important because it ties in with Reilly as a whole. This quote shows that Reilly is not stuck in stage he evolves and learns as his career goes on. This making Reilly a better actor and a better person. Like previously said he changes to survive as change happens around him. This quote also shows that Reilly is he here to stay as the years go on.

“If I have super objective to my work is to illuminate the human condition”. This is the third noteworthy quote from Reilly during the interview. I think it is important to know what you are doing in your art and this shows Reilly knows. At the end of the day Reilly has a goal or a point to his acting or whatever he is doing. Reilly illuminating the human condition shows his honesty. Many actors now in days make their characters look perfect in every way. That is not the case with everyday human beings and that is what Reilly sees. Reilly tries to make his characters as real as possible in every way from bad to good.

       

Overall I feel that John C. Reilly words in the interview were extremely valuable. Valuable because they were words of experience and they were words of honesty. Reilly contributes to the film world by giving the people someone they can relate too. Someone people can look and dream about making their dreams come true because Reilly exist. A regular man that made his dreams come true and kept his honesty and good heart on the way up.

Cinematography: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

OVERALL LOOK- The Diving Bell and The Butterfly Defiantly has a unique look that is its own. To the director and cameramen this opportunity was a blank canvas where their imagination was put to the test. Due to the main character being immobilized many camera techniques had to be used.  Many of the angles used in this film were low angle shots because Jean was usually in a bed or chair. Along with the angles, camera movement and framing worked hand in. These three components helped the viewer feel as they were watching the film through Jeans eyes or first person view. The lighting and lenses in this film also helped the overall look and vibe for the better. Bright lighting and depth and fill from the lenses were used in order to give a dreamy like feel and look. This fit perfect for this film because of all the dreaming and inner thought that Jean had.

IMAGES- The images in this film that convey information that is not reflected in the Jeans action are in the start of the film. For example when the doctor reveals to Jean that he has a disease called locked in syndrome. During this scene Jean has no dialogue or movement so it sets out the theme style and narrative. At this point the viewer gets an idea of how the film is going to work. From here on the viewer gets in the seat of Jean mind and body. When the doctor explains the disease it’s like he is explaining to you. The narrative kicks in here when the viewer hears Jean speaking in his head.

SHOT LENGTHS: The length of the shots in the film is relatively long because of locked in syndrome. I feel that the shots are long for the purpose of feeling. To Jean every second, minute and moment must have been an eternity being in a bed all day long must have made time stretch out for Jean. So that’s why the shots are long so that the viewer can get the feeling that Jean had of “forever”.

SHOT TYPES: Extreme close up shots and extreme long shots are used through the film to divide reality and thoughts. That is one of the reasons for those shots in order to separate Jeans real life moments from his inner thought fantasies. They also work to portray a big dramatic scene for example extreme close up shots. They are in your face and help the viewer connect and embrace the feeling of the scene on a deeper level.

CAMERA ANGLES: This film has a lot of low angle shots to show the point of view of Jean. Jean is always seated or in a bed so naturally it fits right that low angle shots were used.  These shots convey that the character feels low or sad due to the circumstances he is facing. One thing that I notice was the way the angle would shift from eye point view to low angle shot. It seems like they did this in order to remind the viewer of Jean and how they were memories in his head.

COMPOSITION: The rule of thirds is not really used in this film. An example of a time they use thirds is when Jean is talking on the phone with his father. On the left side is Jean in the middle the phone and on the right Claude. All the other shots are in different styles where the main character on the right and emptiness and the other side. I feel that reason for these style shots is to show the openness or world outside Jean body.

CAMERA MOVEMENT: The movement of the camera in this film is highly important. Many times the camera movement is slow and panning as if to emulate the movement of the eyes without the ability to move your head. Other times the movement is fast and unpredictable because of the scene. For example when Jean is in the pool while being held by another person. The camera moves quick and to many sides kind of like when a person lays belly up in water. The floating causes you to see things unstable just like the shots while Jean swims.

CINEMATOGRAPHY STYLE:  The cinematographic style is without doubt intentional especially in a film like this one. It is necessary to make the style so noticeable in order to get the full affect of Jean. If the Diving Bell and The butterfly were shot in standard or regular angles the films would lose its touch. The viewer would not be able to connect to the fullest is it were not for the low angle shots. It would also be a little less exciting to just see angles of Jean sitting and not from his eyes. 

Film Noir is Reality

    The American public had lost its innocence and it wanted more adult stories about the way people actually behaved and noir films are the movies that address that- Eddie Muller this quote right here says it all why film noir exist and why double indemnity is a film noir staple. Anyone who has ever been confused about anything that has to do with film noir should boil their questions in this quote. This quote applies to the movie because of the dark nature that is carried in this film. Keep in mind this movie was made in 1944 which were more innocent times.  To see a wife plot and scheme against her husband was truly dark. Hence the name of the genre Film Noir in French noir means black. "it is the noir idea we don't know what's going but we do know something bad is out there controlling events"-Errol Morris director.

 “Life is a dangerous game especially with a new breed of women whose working all the angles building her own set of rules”-Errol Morris. This quote defiantly describes Phyllis character thus making her a femme fatale.  Phyllis is a typical femme fatale because she uses her power to get what she wants. In this case convincing the insurance agent Walter Neff. That is a characteristic of a femme fatale dragging down people into bad situations for her own personal gain. The key parts are there the convinced accomplice Neff and the personal gain insurance money.

  

   Lighting and location are very important in order to set the vibe in noir films. For example when Phyllis drives Mr. Dietrichson to the train station. In the scene where the car is driving down the street and then turns into an empty street. The lighting is somewhat darker than the rest of film. There is very little leaving the viewer to assume that the events are happening at night. The dark lighting helps to show how dark the actions that about to be committed are. Secondly the location in which the car drives into set the vibe as well. From being in a very busy street Phyllis takes a turn into a darker empty street. This helps the feel of evil and darkness that is the murder of Mr. Dietrichson. The documentary states that film noir deals with the darkest of human nature that being murder.

    One of film noirs main characteristics without doubt was its black and white color. The way the movies feel gets scary with use of heavy blacks.  Now in this time we have neo noir films and they are in color. They without doubt lose a bit of the magic film noir brings to the table. This forcing neo noir films to be a bit more over the top. By this I mean more graphic or darker. One aspect of Memento that is based on film noir is the main characters situation. Just like in film noir the main character is in a bad situation that gets deeper and darker. The way Leonard Shelby is trying to piece together and solve the events before his amnesia is noir. Second example is the open sequence of Memento is a true homage to film noir. The way it comes slowly and of course in black and white.  The last and final example is the ending of the film. It doesn’t end on a bright happy note. It ends dark and even more blood soaked than it started. Leonard Shelby Murders Teddy in his car similar to the plot that the documentary mentioned.

                                   

BLOG POST #1: Film Criteria

      What makes a movie compelling to that question there is many answers. To me personally a movie is compelling if the they have three components. The three main components that are vital in a movie in my eyes are imagery, memorable characters, and story line. Imagery by this I mean images that draw you into the screen, images that have the power to make imagination soar and wander. Most of my favorite films that have this component touch on a psychedelic level. For example the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has powerful imagery. In one of the scenes the main character that is under the influence of drugs starts to see lizards and moving objects. The movie does a great job when showing this on screen. I feel that you could watch this movie with the mute on and still be entertained.

       The second component that I need to consider a movie compelling is memorable characters. The best kinds of characters are the ones that the viewer can relate to on any level. Another key of to a memorable character is charisma. These characters are the ones the viewer instantly loves and roots for regardless if they are doing right or wrong. These characters are the ones the viewer would love to be friends with if they were real. The movie Pineapple Express nails it with the two lead roles. Seth Rogen and James Franco give life to two lovable stoners that get into to mischief but are trying to make things right. To me these characters are relatable on some level and easy to like.

This last component is a pretty basic one and that is story line. A good old fashioned story line always gets the job down. To me a good story line is the backbone and fifty percent of a good movie. A movie can fail in some areas but if there is a great story line behind it the fails can easily be forgotten. A Trip to the Moon is a grade a movie in my book and an instant favorite. It has my three components that make a movie compelling. It has a great story line that builds and ends just beautifully. The way that the astronomers have the idea to go to moon and once there get into trouble thus expanded the story line. The astronomers and the aliens’ natives of the moon are memorable characters that can easily be remembered and liked. Last but not least the imagery in this film is amazing. I absolutely loved it the way the capsule lands on the moon and it has a face. The way the stars have faces and the inside of the moon is vegetated. Simply magical it blasted my imagination of just like the rocket in the film.

The Great Train Robbery was a great movie as well that has the components. It has a well built story line that develops beautifully. The imagery is also magnificent because it feels and looks very real. That brings this into perspective if I felt that the imagery was this good back in the day it must have been like 3d. This makes it a great film because it stands the test of time.

One of my favorite films that met my criteria of excellence is Dude Where’s My Car. For starters it has the memorable character factor that I look for in a movie. Jesse and Chester the two main characters in the movie are memorable and since the release of the movie have become part of pop culture. In the movie there is a cult of nerds that are also memorable. Many folks can easily say they remember their call “Zoltan”. The movie also has a good story line although it is not to complex it serves the purpose of entertainment. Another of my favorite movies is Pineapple Express and what can I say it follows the same grading. This movie also has loveable memorable characters as well visually appealing scenes. The storyline in this movie is truly great for a comedy movie it’s above and beyond. The story line manages to mix comedy and action all in one movie.

My interest in film

   Film has been and will always be an important part of my life. Film has allowed me to dream and view life through different eyes. As a kid growing up films fired my imagination allowing me to think and imagine beyond what is normal. Those are the main reasons why I have an interest in films and what they can do. I have a modest medium sized collection that is made up of DVD and VHS format films. My favorite genres are comedy and action/adventure I feel that you cannot go wrong with those two. Some favorite sub-genres of comedy are buddy comedies, slapstick comedies, goofy comedies, and underdog comedies. My favorite action/adventure sub genres are anything from sci-fi fantasy, action comedy and “Die Hard Scenario” films. I only have one least favorite genre and that is drama. It usually takes a lot for me to pay attention to those films. The following is a list of my top ten favorite films of all time 10. Drive 9. Die Hard Series 8. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby 7. Back to the Future Series 6. Teen Wolf 5.Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 4. Dazed and Confused 3. Pee Wee Herman’s Big Adventure 2.Pineapple Express 1. Dude Where’s My Car.