Released September 29, 1950, Sunset Boulevard is a film noir of a forgotten silent film star, Norma Desmond, that dreams of a comeback and an unsuccessful screenwriter, Joe Gillis, working together. Ultimately an uncomfortable relationship evolves between Norma and Joe that Joe does not want a part of. Sunset Boulevard starts off with an establishing shot from a high angle shot with a narrative leading to a crime scene shot in long shot (a dead body is found floating in a pool). The narrative throughout the film established a formalist film. Cinematography John F. Seitz used lighting and camera angles in such a way to create a loneliness and hopefulness atmosphere.
In Robert Zemeckis’s 2000’s film “What Lies Beneath”, he shows the significance of camera angles, scores, and special effects. These all help establish boundaries and moods that are set throughout the movie without Zemeckis verbally stating them. Also, they make the scene more realistic and allow the audience to see the movie and a different view which makes for a different prospective. As well as decreasing the sense of knowing what will happen next. In Zemekis’s film “What Lies Beneath”, he is able to frighten his audience with the mysteries of a ghost which eventually revealed that her husband murdered Madison in order to keep their affair hidden.
The film reflects on the fact that the audience assumes the role of voyeurs to the screen exhibition because it plays on emotion through the character of Hugo and his
Mise-en-scéne is crucial to classical Hollywood as it defined an era ‘that in its primary sense and effect, shows us something; it is a means of display. ' (Martin 2014, p.XV). Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950) will be analysed and explored with its techniques and styles of mise-en-scéne and how this aspect of filmmaking establishes together as a cohesive whole with the narrative themes as classical Hollywood storytelling. Features of the film 's sense of space and time, setting, motifs, characters, and character goals will be explored and how they affect the characterisation, structure, and three-act organisation.
Rear Window Argues that people should mind their own business. Do you agree? Rear Window, a 1954 romance/murder-mystery by the renowned golden age director Alfred Hitchcock, is a film that explores a multitude of themes and genres through the voyeuristic gaze of protagonist L.B. Jefferies. Jefferies, or ‘Jeff’ as he commonly known throughout the film, is a middle-aged bachelor recently hospitalised due to his high-risk career as a photojournalist. This hindered condition serves as an important foundation on which the movie is built upon as Jeff’s forced lifestyle being in a wheelchair causes an abrupt stop in his usual high intensity way of life and causes him to quench his boredom in other ways, predominantly watching the other residents in his apartment complex through the ‘rear window’ of his apartment.
In this essay, I will discuss how the film is about film itself. The notions of gaze will also be analysed, through a discussion of voyeurism and Jeff and Lisa’s relationship. This brilliant film about watching the neighbours simultaneously represents a self-reflexive film about the cinema and filmmaking. “[…] Jeff embodies the activity and passivity of both the film maker and the spectator; the director creates and waits, while the viewer
Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo (1958) was voted the “best film ever made” by the 2012 British Film Institute, and for good reason. The plot is elaborate and intriguing and the cinematography is legendary. On top of this, the characters, like good characters should, all have their own needs and wants that are evident in the film. The needs of these characters affect each other and they affect the story and they all follow one common theme: control. Our protagonist, John “Scottie” Ferguson’s wants and needs differ greatly throughout the film, but his only constant is his yearning to get over his acrophobia, or fear of heights.
Following the scene on the beach with the boy and girl, the audience sees a wide angle shot at sea, with the girl in the centre of the frame. The vastness of the water in relation to the girl illustrates her isolation, and who in a cutaway wide shot, is shown to be still on the beach. Their separation emphasises the girls’ vulnerable position in the water, far from the safety of the beach. The wide shot also highlights the space around the girl in the water, and the audiences’ expectance for something sinister to fill this space is what creates suspense in the scene. The critic
She argues that the act of moviegoing satisfies these voyeuristic desires in people. She writes, “The mass of mainstream film portray a hermetically sealed world which unwinds magically, indifferent to the presence of the audience, producing for them a sense of separation and playing on their voyeuristic fantasy,” (pg. 186). In this essay, I will further discuss her viewpoints on cinema and voyeurism, and how it connects to the film Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock. Rear Window is a film that follows the
The story of The Haunting of Hill House is a horror classic. The book and movie depict this terrifying story in vastly different ways. The movie uses cinematic techniques that a book can not portray: music, acting, and props. The book uses imagery, internal monologue, and suspense to peak fear in the readers. Movies are a different way of portraying a story, but movies aren’t always able to depict everything in the book.
Shaun of the Dead, a unique film among its horror siblings Zombies, a genre that has taken the over the world, it’s difficult to turn around the corner and not hear someone or something reference it. While the vast amount of gore present may turn a lot of people off, there are alternatives available. Among them is the 2004 British romantic zombie comedy movie Shaun of the Dead, directed by Edgar Wright. It tells the story of Shaun, a man attempting to obtain a handle on his life, get back with the love of his life Liz, deal with his unemployed, incompetent friend Ed and his parents; all of this in the middle of a zombie uprising. The flick on itself makes for a good time for long-time zombie fans with its homages to George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead while attracting newbies onto the genre with its comedic elements
The film uses cinematic techniques to further push this implicit meaning by ways of cinematography, mise-en-scene, and editing. Cinematography:
This essay will discuss how the film uses these two techniques, in reference to the film, and to what ideological and political ends are the techniques used in the films with specific references from the film to support the argument. A Man with a Movie Camera is based around one man who travels around the city to capture various moments and everyday
Thesis: The Film Shutter Island is one of the best suspenseful thrillers, it accomplishes this by employing the literary, dramatic, and cinematic aspects of filming such as symbolism, superb acting, and cinematography, making the film a must see. II. BODY Body Introduction: In Shutter Island, many tools of
There is no denying that the film, Aftershock, directed by Feng Xiaogang is the most bankable domestic blockbusters in mainland China and wins the box office of more than six hundred million in 2010 (Coonan, 2010). It reproduces the grave earthquake took place in Tangshan, Hebei Province on July 28, 1976. Such a 7.8 magnitude earthquake turned Tangshan into ruins in only twenty-three seconds and caused 250 thousands death. The successful release of the film has caused the high attention and intense discussion among the community until nowadays. As an excellent work of contemporary Chinese realism film, it moves audiences through its setting, expression, characters and also the touching plot.
