Final Essay

With many of the film aspects we can say that there are many techniques used to make films illuminate in their own ways. American Beauty uses many of the films techniques to help make it so that the audience can respond to the film in various ways. The image on the right shows us a frame of Kevin Spacey who seems to be quite depressed and in that moment of silence as everything around him seems to not matter.  The low key lighting in the front and the high key lighting in the back, shows that our character is depressed and lonesome because of the dull and saddening colors that he is wearing, while in the back there is joy and happiness which Kevin's character is currently not in. At this point in the film this was probably a good image to declare as an establishing shot because from the very start of the film we see Kevin's character as a guy who really didn't have much to look forward to in his everyday life.

In American Beauty there are many techniques that are used to display what the film is trying to tell the audience. This image here displaying Angela shows a re-establishing and even a deep focus shot because throughout the film we are shown the color red many times. Ever since Lester's wife was trimming down the roses that's when the color of red had started to occur more frequently. Angela is covered in red roses because Lester see's her as the definition of beauty, but really under there she is just a innocent girl whose had no sexual experience, but gives off that vibe. The aspect ratio of this shot is also really well displayed because we are shown an innocent body floating in pedals of roses. This image really displays art because of how the rose pedals represent the american flower and the girl represents innocence and beauty.

Another shot in the film that really helps bring out most of the film is when Lester's daughter is with her boyfriend as she is being filmed. This scene represents a tight/close up shot of Lester's daughter who is trapped in a space of darkness. This shot goes in depth of how Jane feels in her life because she really isn't care for or listened to at all by her family. When Jane is going about how she has a dad for a loser and how she wishes that her dad would talk to her like when he does to Angela shows that motion and dialogue shot of the film.
Almost Famous uses many techniques of sound to portray meaning to the viewers. From the sequence shot we see that William and the band are all gathered on the plane together to go to their next tour. Stillwater and William particularly aren't supposed to be friends, but even so the band trusts William. This long shot shows that some of the band are tuned out doing their own thing while William and Russell go on and talk about how music should be and what not. With the sound effects going on in the background it's easy to tell that most of the band doesn't care what William has to say about the interview and about what Russell has to say as well.
From this medium shot of Penny and William we can see that the lighting is very low and both of our characters colors don't really stand out because of the way they both are right now. Throughout the film Penny's colors change from dull and boring colors to a brighter and more vivid color. William's colors stay the same because he is known as the "Enemy" and is only to interview and write whatever he sees. William's buddy Lester even tells William that he isn't cool, that they're both uncool because they are journalists and that bands don't like them because they always end up going down hill. The steady background music shows that Penny and Williams friendship will slowly build up as they gradually start talking and get to know each other more as he will travel with Penny and Stillwater and meet other new faces as well.
At this moment Russell and William are having a real talk about his personal opinions. William is told not to record this because Russell says that he trusts and will be honest with William. William holds off from recording and just decides to listen to Russell. The subtitles and subtext here really show the power from Russell's mouth because he isn't in it for the money. Russell instead intends on playing music because he enjoys it just like it's an art that cannot be messed with. It's like a way to inspire a generation of people and get nothing out of it rather then happiness and William hopefully understands that.

Donnie Darko displays it's many techniques of editing and photography usage with all of its high and low angle shots to show dominance. There are many promexic patterns that are used in the film to help establish the relationship between things whether it be with his"friend" frank or girlfriend Gretchen. From this low angle shot we can see that Donnie and Gretchen do not realize anything is around them, but the two of them. Frank is in a dominate position here as Donnie has to listen to him or else his family will end up being lost. Frank is a lot taller while Donnie and the two are a lot smaller showing that Frank has more power then both of them. This shot also shows mise en scene because of how the actors expressions are and the appealing colors and costume of the characters.
This shot here represents when Donnie is finally able to see how time travel works. With all of his emotions stored up and being a big ball it soon can be released to move where ever it wants to go. With the sound effects that the liquid from Donnie's body produces there is definitely drama or even an appeal of music that the audience can be told. When Donnie is at his party and he sees that not only he has it shows the really good jump cuts from one of the moving wavy liquid things to another persons. Not only that, but when the camera dolly's around and uses pans to also show the location of the fluid. Donnie Darko is shown what it feels like to have his emotions let out and not be alone.
 With this final image we can see that the high key lighting on Donnie's face gives him a bit of dominance. At this point he is going to put an ax in a statue. With all of the tragedies that Donnie makes happen there is always a point in the film where he decides to put a smirk on his face. Why Donnie does this is because he is having emotional release which helps him do his every day thing. Throughout the film the viewers should feel that Donnie is a bad guy because of all of the things he does, like; flooding the school, burning a house down, and shooting someone. In reality though it's really all for a good cause. Donnie does is so that he can protect his family from being killed and he will be the only one that has to go. Photography, Mise en scene, Movement, Editing and Sound all play huge roles in film making. With these 5 techniques acquired in a film the audience will definitely respond with various questions of how some things were done to look like that or how it was made to be like that. With each and everyone of these film techniques they all have the ability to grab someones attention and keep pulling them into the film.

                 

Almost Famous

     Almost Famous is a film that uses sound to display much of it's climatic moments in the film. William Miller who is inspired by many bands of the time faces one of his biggest assignments yet, which is to interview the band Stillwater. We meet many of the band members of Stillwater as William is off to experience how it is to be on tour and live with the band. We see that William looks happy as he is talking to his mom on the phone, but with the background noise going on and everybody talking over William, we can tell that he is completely out of power and that he has no control of anything as he is trying to tell his mom about the trip. 

     The sound effects really put a lot of meaning into a film because it gives the audience that emotional appeal.When Stillwater signed with a new manager and take a plane for the first time they experience a crucial landing. The sounds that are used tells the audience that we should be afraid or scared of what is going on for our characters in the movie. Each character tells us a little more about themselves as there then becomes some calming music that you can tell has drama in it. 

     As, William is living the dream on a tour with Stillwater he still has a job to do, which is to interview the band about what music is really all about. With all troubles William experiences he has someone to talk to, which is, Lester Bangs. Stillwater wants William to write cool and good things about the group, but when really a reporter should write everything that they see and do. Lester gives William some advice and says that if he does want to be a good friend to the band he should "Be honest, and unmerciful." With all that being said, William writes all of the things he experienced with the band and soon the band finds out about the whole story. Our actor's style of acting then changes from being a mellow, fun, and cool to a aggravated, angry, and annoyed actor. Sound is a very important role in film making because without it there wouldn't be any outputting emotions to give the audience any signs of how our characters feel throughout the film.

Movement Essay

With the many films that we the audience are engaged in we are shown many things that we can question. We ask ourselves sometimes during a certain scene of a film how that shot is done. We are shown all of this by movement and editing. Movement and editing are a big role in film because if there was no time put into a film it would just end up being a crappy raw footage film. In the movies Snatch, Amelie, Across the Universe, Memento, Vanilla sky, and Donnie Darko, we are shown the power of editing and movement. In Snatch we are shown a great example of movement when Mickey has the boxing match against Horace. As soon as Mickey gets sent flying into the air its quite unique because we are shown many cuts of the film to a slowed down movement of film. Mickey lands into a pool of water being able to see his own body still getting pummeled which shows intensity of the action, but Mickey gets up and beats Horace only to have let Turkish and Tommy become screwed. This film shows great shots of how movement and editing can catch one persons attention to pull you into the film.

 Amelie there's a point where she finds herself lurking around her home and finding a little box held with memories.We see a shot where the phone booth is ringing and cutting from Amelie to Dominique. The pace of the movement changes as soon as he opens the box only to be filled with happiness because he has seen all of his memories that he put into there.


Across thee Universe is a film with much movement because of how much the pace changes throughout the travels of Jude. Jude meets many new people in New York and finds a good friend named Max. He introduces him to many new things in the world. They decide to move out into a place with other people accompanying him later is Max's sister Lucy. Jude and Lucy connect with each other and soon begin to find out that they're in love with each other. This shot here is quite interesting because the film moves quite fast and then suddenly changes to this slow motion shot of everything looking super nice and peaceful.

Memento shows us how powerful editing can really be. When we first look at the film we are shown an opening shot of this man and another man with a gun pointed right at his face. We then later are shown that this man is killed. We can say that this film is confusing because once it shows that Teddy is killed everything goes right back into reverse. The bullet from Lenny's gun goes back into it and Teddy gets back up again giving Lenny a speech about who he really is. The editing from this film is quite powerful because we are shown variety of different cuts and a flash forward as well.

Vanilla Sky probably shows really well editing to capture the viewers attention. In this film David is trying to fight for his love Sophia as the image of his old girlfriend keeps coming up in his head every time he is engaged with Sophia. From this shot we see that David is jumping off a building. Whats unique about this shot is that before this happens we see that David's friend comes out of nowhere as well as Sophia. There are also cuts from each person's face giving David that okay to go face his fear and start over with a fresh new life. The editing tools used in this film are great to keep the viewers entertained and not bored because it pulls your attention to the film even more.

 The final film Donnie Darko has really cool editing involved with it. Donnie looks kind of possessed in this shot right here right after he has taken his medication. We see that Donnie is using a knife to jab at the window and you can see that cool effect of the mirror which is kind of like a barrier to another dimension that can't be broken. Really Donnie is trying to get at his imaginary friend Frank, who is telling him to do many horrible things for his family's sake.We can say that as the viewer from this shot we might feel uncomfortable because of how Donnie's eyes look which is a great aspect of the film. Throughout all of these films they all display their own unique talents of movement and editing. Without these components there wouldn't be any entertainment at all for the audience. We can say that editing and movement are really key components of film making to grab viewers attention.