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.