Oh my gosh, I have not been on this blog in a long time. I need to keep this blog updated. What happened in the last 7 months?
-I traveled a lot over the recent summer of 2014
-I changed my major to Film Studies
-I am currently a third year
I will write up my reviews on some of the films I have seen during my Documentary Film class. I will write a post about my predictions for the Golden Globes Awards and the Academy Awards.
Now since school's over weeks ago, I have been watching so many movies and it's hard to pick one to write about hahahaha I know that I will post many more over this interesting summer. Toodles! :D
Interesting Facts:-Uncredited
second-unit cameraman Irmin Roberts invented the famous "zoom out and
track in" shot (now sometimes called "contra-zoom" or
"trombone shot") to convey the sense of vertigo to the audience. The
view down the mission stairwell cost $19,000 for just a couple of seconds of
screen time.
-There
is a 25 year age difference between James Stewart and Kim Novak, who were 49
and 24 respectively when the film was shot in 1957.
-The
Empire Hotel where James Stewart eventually finds Kim Novak is (as of 2009) the
Hotel Vertigo (formerly the York) located at 940 Sutter St. in the heart of San
Francisco. Novak's character lived in Room 501, which still retains many of its
aspects captured in the film.
-Alfred
Hitchcock reportedly spent a week filming a brief scene where Madeleine stares
at a portrait in the Palace of the Legion of Honor just to get the lighting
right.
-Kim
Novak does not speak until more than a third into the movie.
-Audrey Hepburn expressed an interest in
playing the dual roles of Judy and Madeleine.
-The word "vertigo" is only
spoken once in the movie, towards the beginning by Scottie to Midge. After that
it is never uttered again.
My Review: For class, we picked our own choice of a Hitchcock
film so I picked Vertigo. I thought the film Vertigo was interesting. It had
the unique story plot in a way. It definitely had some climaxes and twists. Vertigo
was a great example for some of these chapters from the book. For an example,
acting, directing style, and cinematography.
The
acting for the cast was unique. I felt that Vertigo was the first classic film
that was “real” or realistic out of all of these classic films back then. It
was the Hitchcock style that made it realistic. Vertigo really reduced the
typical classic film traits like the overdramatic acting. It was simple and
real but it had its dramatic moments. I liked the cast in Vertigo withKim Novak and James Stewart. There was about 25
years age difference but it worked out for the movie. James’ drawl voice worked
for his character Scottie.
The
directing style was a big part of this film because obviously of Alfred Hitchcock.
He made this film Vertigo unique and separate from other films. Vertigo was a psychological
thriller film because of Scottie’s fear of heights. I thought that was
interesting because it was sorta the same as Birds in a way. Hitchcock’s ways
in films are the twists in the plot also known for making psychological
thrillers and suspense films.
The
cinematography was the main part of Vertigo because of the filming techniques.
Here’s an interesting fact that I learned filming Vertigo, the camera zoom
called "contra-zoom" or "trombone shot" part when Scottie
was walking up the stairs to the top of the tower cost $19,000 for only a few
seconds of screen time. I thought that was interesting because that’s how madness
the filming in the movie industry. It can take so much for one part or scene. I
thought the color palate in the whole film was different too.
For
my opinion for Vertigo is I liked it but I didn’t love it 100%. I loved the
story plot twist of the character of Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton. I am a fan
of psychological thriller films and I would put Vertigo on my list of favorite psychological
thriller films. The cast was well picked. I am a fan of the cinematography of
Vertigo and the techniques were used to film vertigo.
Interesting facts:
-There is not a single 'zoom shot' in the entire movie because Zoom technology
did not exist in the movie's time period.
-Jean Dujardin became
the first ever French actor to win a Best Actor Academy Award when he won an
Oscar for this film.
-All the dancing
sequences were performed by the actors themselves through heavy rehearsals.
-This movie is
considered to be the most ever awarded French Film in film history.
-The first Academy
Award Best Picture winner to be presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio since Marty
(1955) won this Oscar fifty-six years earlier.- Jean Dujardin said in an
interview that the movie was shot in just 35 days.-The first spoken word of the
film is 'Cut' whilst the final spoken word is 'Action'.
-Peppy Miller (Bérénice
Bejo) does not have an audible spoken line - despite being the talking movie
star.
Review:
This film The Artist was an “Americanized silent movie” I would call it. It was
an interesting concept to do a modern version. If I saw this film before this
class, this is what I would say. I have seen silent movies before. I noticed a
few traits from the silent movies have in The Artist. Also in The Artist have a
few traits of modern filmmaking. The cast and the story were interesting.
The
way it was filmed was used by a modern film camera. At the editing process, it
was edited heavily because of the black and white also the slightly out of
focus filter like the silent movies have. The Artist added the same lighting
technique the silent films used. It was the harsh hard lighting. But some parts
had soft lighting too.
The
cast was interesting because it had some American actors and some foreign
actors. John Goodman was one of the American actors. Jean Dujardin is a French
actor. It had the mixture which made it interesting. The story plot was a
mixture of a typical silent movie and a touch of modern Hollywood story.
Summary:
A nameless first person narrator Edward Norton attends support groups in
attempt to subdue his emotional state and relieve his insomniac state. When he
meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), another fake attendee of support groups,
his life seems to become a little more bearable. However when he associates
himself with Tyler (Brad Pitt) he is dragged into an underground fight club and
soap making scheme. Together the two men spiral out of control and engage in
competitive rivalry for love and power. When the narrator is exposed to the
hidden agenda of Tyler's fight club, he must accept the awful truth that Tyler
may not be who he says he is.
Interesting Facts:
When the Narrator hits Tyler Durden in the ear, Edward Norton actually did hit
Brad Pitt in the ear. He was originally going to fake hit him, but before the
scene, David Fincherpulled Norton aside and told him to hit him in the ear.
After Norton hit him in the scene, you can see him smiling and laughing while
Pitt is in pain.
-In the short scene
when Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are drunk and hitting golf balls, they really
are drunk, and the golf balls are sailing directly into the side of the
catering truck.
-When a Fight Club
member sprays the priest with a hose, the camera briefly shakes. This happens
because the cameraman couldn't keep himself from laughing.
-In the scene where the
narrator is popping a mint into his mouth, a promotional video of the
Bridgeworth Suites is playing on the television. You can see that one of the
hotel employees in the commercial is Brad Pitt. He is the one to the left of
the TV screen.
-David Fincher claimed
in an interview in UK film magazine Empire, that there is a Starbucks coffee
cup visible in every shot in the movie
-Brad Pitt and Edward
Norton both really learned how to make soap.
-Filming lasted 138
days, with over 300 scenes shot on 200 locations and 72 sets constructed by production
designer Alex McDowell
-Helena Bonham Carter
wore platform shoes to help close up the disparity in height between her and
Edward Norton and Brad Pitt.
MyReview: This movie was amazing
because of the psychological part of the film. The film showed point of view of
the main character, the narrator/Tyler Durden. Most of the movie was confusing
and mindf**ked at the same time but it had an interesting story. The
narrator/Tyler Durden has something going on in his head that he doesn't know
but the viewers do (Foreshadowing part). The cast is so well picked! The
amazing cast was Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, and the rest
of the cast. I was not excepting to see Jared Leto to be in this film. It was a
cameo part but he did the part well. The cinematography was well done to be
honest. No spoilers over here but towards to the end, it all makes sense. So
watch carefully and you won’t get confused. :D
-The main colors in the film (green, yellow and red) are inspired by the paintings of the Brazilian artist Juarez Machado.
-Audrey Tautou doesn't know how to skip stones; the stone-skipping scenes were made with special effects.
-With the exception of a brief phone call where Amelie gives instructions to Nino (who in turn simply listens and never gets round to replying verbally) the two leads do not exchange a single line of dialogue during the course of the entire film.
Review: From my Intro in Film class
Review
for Amelie
The
movie was very lovely and colorful. This was not my first time watching a
foreign movie but this one was interesting because of the story plot and the
back story. The meaning or metaphor of each character was unique. The color
scheme was very different but similar concept to The Royal Tenenbaums. The
opening credits were different than the ones I see in other films. The
symbolism in the film has to do with many things. The back story and the idea
of what’s Amelie’s doing in the movie.
I
love Amelie’s character because she is very unique and has innovative
cleverness, weird life, and misunderstood past. The opening credits explain all
of that in the film. The opening credits were different than I usually see in
the films in the past. It shows a woman giving birth, Amelie’s parents
explained, her misunderstood childhood, and then it showed her currently life
with what she usually does. The childhood part showed she was smart and curious
so she did many things to understand. Glue on the finger, cutting little stick
figures, played dominos, and rubbing her finger against the crystal rim to make
sounds.
The
symbolism in the movie have a lot with what’s Amelie’s doing. An example, the
Glass man painting the group of people and each person has a story except one
in the painting. The Glass man always trying to figure out what’s the person’s
story but at the end, Amelie found her love and the Glass man figured it out. I
thought that was interesting because Amelie’s life is a little different and
the painting is changed into a different style of painting. Before it was
similar to Claude Monet painting style and it changed into more
drawing/painting shapes and animated look-a-like version.
The
story plot was well done but a little confusing at the same time. I really
liked that Amelie helped with those people with their past unanswered
questions. An example, she helped with Madeleine Wallace. She lost her husband
in the war I believe. Amelie found many letters from her husband she never
gotten them until Amelie gave them to her. Another example with Nino
Quincampoix, he lost his photo album and Amelie gave the album back and Nino
wanted to know who the person was found it. When those two came together, they
fell in love. This film, Amelie, reminded me of another film called Pay It
Forward because of what she is doing and helping out.
The
filming and editing was well done. I love the scene where Nino followed the
blue arrows and at the end the camera zoomed with the telescope to Amelie. After
Amelie ran away after she put the photo album into his bag, he ran to catch
her. The editing was fast pace which is fits perfectly to the scene. The film
used a lot of both high and low key lighting. Included a few scenes of
directional lighting to emphasize the scene. There was many close-ups, panning,
and zooming in and out too.
Interesting Facts: -In Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft's first encounter in the hotel room, Bancroft did not know that Hoffman was going to grab her breast. Hoffman decided offscreen to do it, because it reminded him of schoolboys trying to nonchalantly grab girls' breasts in the hall by pretending to put their jackets on. When Hoffman did it onscreen, director Mike Nichols began laughing loudly offscreen. Hoffman began to laugh as well, so rather than stop the scene, he turned away from the camera and walked to the wall. Hoffman banged his head on the wall, trying to stop laughing, and Nichols thought it was so funny, he left it in.
-Ronald Reagan was considered for the role of Mr. Braddock.
-Jack Nicholson was considered for the part of Benjamin Braddock.
-The movie's line "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?" was voted as the #63 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100), as the #5 of Premiere's "100 Greatest Movie Lines" (2007).
-The leg in the poster for "The Graduate" belongs to Linda Gray.
This movie was one of the movies selected from my Intro in Film teacher and the assignment was to write my own review so here it is.
The Graduate
The movie I watched was The Graduate from 1967. The
main theme of this film is be careful what you fall for. The film was filmed in
1967 filmed by Mike Nichols. The lead actors were Dustin Hoffman (Ben), Anne
Bancroft (Mrs. Robinson), and Katharine Ross (Elaine). Most of locations in the
film were filmed in Los Angeles. The society at the time was in the late 60’s
and the early 70’s. At the time, people would do their own thing. It can be a
mid-life crisis, cheating, sexual frustration, drinking, drugs, and anything.
When I watched this film, I was impressed with the
cinematography and the story plot. There were a lot of twists and a few of big
climaxes. There were a few things unexpected happened. I loved the story of the
romantic part and the drama part at the same time. The main thing about this
film was to focus on the character, Ben Braddock, and his struggles after
graduating college which was social problems and moral implications. The twists
and the climaxes are my favorite parts. I was surprised that Ben had an affair
with Mrs. Robinson. All of the sudden,
Elaine came into the picture, Ben fell in love with her. But she found out the
woman in the affair was her mother and she broke the short-lived relationship
off. She married someone else but ran away with Ben at the wedding.
But the cinematography was the part I was impressed
at. There were a lot of close-ups of the characters’ emotions. The natural frame
was included. Natural frame is when the camera focuses on the main subject but
there was something surrounding the main subject close to the camera. It comes
out blurry but the main subject is clear. Another name for natural frame is
Rack Focus. The film used many types of filming to make the film happen with
the story the film has. It used close-ups, panning, and zooming into the character
and zooming out was used. The lighting was dramatic and bright at the same
time. The film had high-key and low-key lighting at the same time to emphasizes
the scene. There were some inside/out editing to show close to the main
character’s true emotion and turns into the climax part of the movie. There was
some repetition from Mrs. Robinson to Ben by manipulating Ben into an affair.
She kept going and going and Ben fell for it. Also there was external conflict
with Ben and Elaine when he lost contact to her and she found someone else.
My opinion and summary of this film is to be
prepared the unexpected. If I would tell someone else about this film, I would
say, just watch it and you will enjoy it. The cast was well picked. The story
plot was unpredictable and predictable at the same time. The film was well
filmed with filing techniques and editing. Also the story plot was perfectly
written. I was not bored but yet surprising at the conflicts and the externally
observable truths in the story of the film.
