Dances with Wolves

The film, "Dances with Wolves," was most definitely a western. The genre was simple to determine while watching the film due to the broad landscapes, wide shots, and the conflict between settlers Native Americans.

Music was used in nearly every scene throughout the film. At first I thought that the background music would be overbearing, but it was actually put together rather nicely. When the Indians finally found Dances with Wolves at the river with the soldiers, triumphant music played as the soldiers were slayed and Dances with Wolves was able to get away and go back to camp with the rest of the tribe. Prior to the soldiers transporting Dances with Wolves, Two Socks visited the fort. The audience was forced to watch in anguish, knowing as soon as the sad music start playing, that something bad was about to happen. And that it did. Within moments, soldiers shot and killed Two Socks.

Music is the keystone to sound design. An initial temp track is used in order to determine what music would best fit certain scenes. Then an initial track is composed and placed with what scene(s) in the film that the music would work best with. As the film editing continues, so does the fine tuning of the soundtrack. When the film is finally to its' final cut, the permanent sound track is added, making sure that exactly the proper music is placed with each scene now that no more editing of the film will take place.

The acting in Dances with Wolves could have been better, especially considering how I am not much of a Kevin Costner fan. His emotions felt bland and forced, making it difficult to truly relate to the character and what Dances with Wolves was going through.

While the directing of the film was fine, I felt as though they had a two hour story that needed to fill a four hour time slot. So essentially half of the film seemed to just be filler.

Music was a little different, however. Dances with Wolves seemed to have an eight hour soundtrack where none of the music was bad enough to get cut out, so they decided to play music in every scene. While the use of music was not particularly overbearing, it was definitely noticeable.

Overall, the movie was just too long. The plot was fine, the music was fine, and most of the movie was fine, it just wasn't worth sitting through for four hours. Had the movie of been shorter with the plot moving along faster, I would have enjoyed the film significantly more.

In all honesty, I have no idea why Dances with Wolves won the Oscar in 1991. The film was difficult for me to enjoy, however I do give props to the music. The soundtrack was very carefully crafted, and this was the first film I have ever seen that was almost constantly playing music. So if nothing else, I believe Dances with Wolves was worth winning the Oscar for the soundtrack.

Chariots of Fire

For the most part, the actors in Chariots of Fire owned up to the five points of acting we discussed in class. Because I do not know many films from the early 1980s, I don't know why the particular actors were chosen for this film. I'm assuming that they were either athletes or fairly popular actors of the time. However, the actors did a great job of looking the part of their character. The characters were white, and pale, stereotypical to the idea of Olympians representing Great Britain. Liddell and Abrahams were able to convey their characters very well, informing the audience of their differences as well as what their goals for the film were. Through both their personalities, the help of storytelling, and their body language, both characters were able to convey their beliefs and what they were running for. In this film, as well as many other movies, you do not notice that the characters are acting. The individual is their character, not someone who shows up on set every day to film a few scenes.

Editing is vital to the making of a great movie. In Chariots of Fire, the editing in combination with camera movement was very smooth and was able to manipulate time without it being jerky.The camera movement felt incredibly natural. Through most of the film, the speed was normal, however at certain points--such as right before the final race--where time slowed down and almost came to a stop all together. I nearly went insane just waiting for the stupid race to start.

Both Liddell and Abrahams ran for the purpose of glorifying God. They both believed that they were made to use their talent in running in order to show their devotion unto Him.

Because I was born after this film came out, I found the music to be very distracting. Throughout my life span, I have only heard the music when making fun of things, I did not know where the music came from, and have never heard it in a serious notion until watching this film. I was not able to take the film seriously when the music was playing.

While I hated the movie for this, I believe that Chariots of Fire won the Oscar for best picture because of the music in the film. Had the film and music not of been popular, I would not of recognized the music while watching the film. While I only hear the music while poking fun at things, the music must have been popular in 1981 in order to travel clear to 2015 just to torment me today with the annoying melody.

Rocky 

Diegetic Sound: The crowd cheers as Rocky punches Apollo and knocks him out.

Non-Diegetic Sound: The montage music of Bill Conti's "Gonna Fly Now" as Rocky trains for his fight.

Off Screen Sound: You are unable to see the commenters during Rocky's fight against Apollo, but you do    know that they are there in person (Diegetic sound), rather than a Non-Diegetic narrator.

The theme of Rocky is pretty simple; he doesn't want to be a loser anymore. Rocky's entire goal was to make something of himself. He didn't need to win the fight, that wasn't really he goal. He wanted to have the crowd cheering for him for once, and to find the love of him life. Rocky met his goal when he kissed Adrian after his fight and was told that she loved him.  

In 1975-1976, the idea of the underdog was becoming a big deal. People enjoy rooting for the underdog and to watch them come out on top.

Save the Cat: When Rocky was a loan shark, he refused to break the mans thumb or hurt him in any way. At another point in the movie, Rocky saw a man passed out in the cold, so Rocky carried him into the bar to keep him from freezing. From the very beginning, the audience fell in love with Rocky when he took care of his turtles and fish, calling them by their names, and moving the fish tank near the turtles so that  they could "interact" with each other.

Rocky is not an anti-hero. Even as a loan shark, he doesn't really seem like a bad guy. He's just doing what's necessary to get by. Rocky is nice, caring, and will never beat someone up if not in a boxing ring. Rocky refused to hit the guy paying back his loan, and wouldn't even hit his friend after he talked about Rocky having sex with his sister. Instead, Rocky got his point across by hitting the meat. I honestly don't believe that Rocky would truly hurt a fly outside of a boxing match.

Waking Ned Devine 

In this film, the editing style was generally smooth. It was very clear and easy to follow with almost no shaky scenes or jump cuts whatsoever. To be more precise, the editing wasn't noticeable. Which can be a very good thing when the film editor intends for a smooth editing style.

Catalyst: Jackie brings chicken dinner over to Ned's house only to find Ned dead from shock, with the winning lottery ticket still in his hand.

Mid Point: Micheal and Jackie fool the lottery guy into believing Micheal is really Ned, and they are given the check.

Climax: "Ding, dong, the witch is dead!" Lizzie makes her way to a phone booth on the outskirts of town to all about the lottery fraud, except as she is in the booth, the lottery guy sneezes, swerves, and hits her phone booth, pushing it off a cliff and killing Lizzie.

The music used throughout the film helped to clarify to the audience what emotion they were supposed to be feeling at various parts in the story. However, the most memorable use of music was the intense violin solo that took place parallel to Lizzie being hit and falling off the cliff. The music was loud and intense at the party and as the lottery observer was driving down the road up until the point when he sneezes and hits Lizzie. At that point a cord on the violin breaks and Lizzie falls down the cliff in slow motion as the last violin note drags out all the way until she finally hits the ground.

Playing the violin at the village party was an excellent scene to parallel with Lizzie's death. The music could drift over into both scenes, making the visualization of Lizzie's death spot on. It was a very intense scene that was only improved by the broken violin cord and the impossibly long final note that took place at Lizzie fell down the cliff.

Overall, it was a great film. The entire film played a role in building up everything for a very intense climax, and then to quickly resolve in a pleasant manner.

The Godfather 

One of the most iconic parts of The Godfather was the use of color. Or rather, the lack thereof. Mainly only dark colors such as blacks and grays were used in association with reds on certain characters like Vito to show their power and dominance.

Through the use of lighting, Godfather was framed with characters in the center or upper left of the frame(when in the position of power), often with the only lighting being on the character shown, with no extra lighting to allow for visualization of surroundings.

Surprisingly, the movie used shadow not only to block out scenery, but also to shade the characters eyes. By allowing shadows to cover the eyes, it created a darker, more sinister feel to the film and what was going on at that point in the movie.

Throughout The Godfather, the movement of the camera is not something most audiences would notice. Unlike in action movies like Batman Begins or Fast and Furious, the camera did not jump around much, and was never shaky. The camera was always stable, and did not move except when necessary to follow moving characters. Personally, I prefer this type of camera movement because it is not something you have to think about. If you can forget about the camera movement altogether, then the verisimilitude of the film is working and you feel as though you are a part of the film.

An extreme close up of Vito was used at the very beginning of the film to describe his character and position within the Mafia. This was incorporated to showing what seems to be the dark and bad side of being a gangster before almost immediately jumping in to "save the cat" moments in order to make the audience root for Vito and his family.

The Godfather was one of the first movies that sympathized with criminals, and did not involve large roles with law enforcement, nor were the mafia characters gunned down at the end of the film. Unlike Butch Cassidy  and the Sundance Kid, the "bad guys" got away. They were actually able to achieve their goal. Up until this point in time, criminals were never seen in a positive light and able to get away. The Godfather was able to make history for that and for their use of film noir. Because of the controversial topics and ideals in the film, The Godfather was able to become so successful as to be ranked as one of the best movies of all time.

Internal goals and the theme of a film go hand in hand. Overall, the idea of The Godfather was to keep the family together and that family was above the law. Michael was originally seen as the squeaky clean war hero of the family that had nothing to do with the Mafia. However, when the family needed him, he switch his plans and joined the Mafia directly, eventually becoming the Don of the family.

The external goal of The Godfather is essentially just the plot of the film. It begins with the wedding of Vito's daughter and Vito conducting business with friends and helping Johnny get a movie part. Jack Woltz did not want to give him the part, so the Godfather made an arrangement for Woltz's prized stallion to be killed and for the head to be in Woltz's bed. In New York, Vito disagrees with others who want to get into the drug trafficking business. Because of this, a drive by shooting occurs and Vito gets placed in the hospital. Michael was never interested in the family business prior to this moment, but now steps in to become part of the business full time because his family needs him. After arranging a meeting, Michael goes to the Italian restaurant and kills both Sollozzo and McCluskey. After the murders, Michael flees to Sicily for some time and finds a woman and gets married, only to have the marriage cut short when a car bomb intended for Michael ends up taking the life of his wife instead. Back home, Vito comes home from the hospital and Sonny finds out that Carlo was abusing his sister. He immediately drives over to there home, but is shot and killed at a toll booth. Vito then conducts a meeting with the five families in order to ensure the safety of Michael as he returns home. Upon arriving home, Michael visits Kay and tells her he is working for the family business now and the two are married. Because Michael is the next in line after Sonny's death, he becomes the head of the family and intends to get the family in the casino business. Vito soon passes away and at his funeral, a meeting between the heads is arranged, but Michael knew it was only a set up. So while Michael becomes Godfather to his nephew, the family's henchmen go around and kill all of the other Dons. The movie ends when Kay asks if Michael organized the killings and he says "No", only to almost immediately be greeted as Don Corleone.

Originally Michael's goal was for the family business to become legitimate. However, for someone who has only seen the film this one time, it appears that Michael has gotten caught up with being the Don of the family and the way the family does business. I don't know if he would ever be able to let the power go in order for the business to ever become legitimate.

Amadeus 

The wardrobe used in Amadeus could most easily be compared to that of George Washington and other important figures during that time period. White wigs were common, as were suits with white neck ties similar to a handkerchief one would tuck into their shirt while eating dinner.

Despite having all colors used throughout the film, red was the most prominent. The color red was used to show individuals in a stance of power and influence. Emperor Joseph II was always seen wearing red throughout the movie, proving his influence over the country and its inhabitants. Salieri was seen only a few times wearing red, each time proving that he was the main character and was planning on doing something to change the lives of others.

Back in the days of Mozart, everyone wore makeup. It was plain to see that wealthy characters powdered their faces, regardless of gender. The offstage makeup crew was also impressive both with making the funny opera characters makeup look crazy, and by the realistic abilities of the makeup artist when Mozart passed out at his opera and later passed away.

Amadeus was filmed in what was made to be immortalized as Vienna. As the audience, we were able to become lost in verisimilitude whilst viewing the streets of Vienna, the loony bin and the characters it held, Mozart's beautiful home, the amazing opera houses, and the royal palace of Joseph II. The film makers went out of their way to make sure that every location visited throughout Amadeus looked the part. Production design was amazing at putting the audience into the film and making the audience feel as though the elderly Salieri was retelling his experiences directly to the audience, as opposed to just a two hour flashback.

In 1984, red was also an important color, if not for the same reasons. Communism and McCarthyism was a big deal in the 1980s and red was the color associated with communism due to the title of the "Red Scare." People were terrified of the spread of communism and would go on near literal witch hunts to accuse others of being witches in the hopes of proving their own loyalty to the nation.

The goal of Amadeus was to "defeat the creature." Salieri was angry at God for making him the "patron saint of mediocrity" by not being a great composer, only to see that the amazing Mozart was nothing but a blubbering fool. Salieri thought it was not fair and devoted his life to destroying Mozart, therefore destroying the sound of God that flowed through him. Near the end, he goal changed becaue Salieri wanted to prove himself over God by making Mozart write a requiem mass that would be amazing, and the Salieri intended to play the music and take all the fame for the work while playing it at Mozart's funeral.

Explicitly, Mozart grew up wanting to be a great composer.  He is shown in the loony bin speaking to a preacher after trying to kill himself and retelling his story. He became good, but not great and was able to work with Emperor Joseph II. Mozart came to play for him and Salieri became upset because the work of Mozart was astounding, but Mozart himself was a stupid teenager. He becomes angry at God and decides to destroy Mozart. Mozart's father dies and his wife leaves him, causing him to be constantly drunk and fall into a deep depression. Because Mozart spends all of his money, he goes broke and Salieri offers Mozart money to write a requiem mass. Mozart becomes sick, so Salieri comes over to help Mozart write the requiem, only to have Mozart pass away before the mass is finished. Salieri is upset and tells the preacher that he is the "patron saint of mediocrity."

Rear Window 

Camera movement played an interesting part throughout the movie, because the audience is looking through the binoculars or Jeff's camera most of the time. Because of this, the camera was constantly moving in the same way someone wearing binoculars would move around to look at all of the different apartments.

Shot, Reverse, Shot was common when Jeff, Stella, Dt. Doyle, and Lisa were speaking with each other. However, Hitchcock modified the way it was done by not having the camera directly shoot over the characters shoulders. The moving camera and characters moving throughout the apartment helped to show dialogue without having to seem like an interrogation scene.

While the main characters are good at what they do and know how to act well, I was most impressed by the neighbors. The neighbors had little to no heard dialogue or close ups, so they had to be able to act well enough to get their point across in such a way that is easy to notice, but without feeling forced.

Visual effects were rather poor compared to what we see in movies today. However, in 1954 they were state of the art. The flash photography was used to momentarily blind Thorwald as he walked closer to Jeff, and Jeff falling out of the window were two main uses of visual effects.

Tension was created through bot visual and sound effects. While the ladies are digging in the garden, Thorwald starts walking home. You can hear the sound of footsteps and the camera appears darker while watching the women. To strike fear into the heart of the audience, the movie is filmed through Jeff's own camera. Because of this, when the women become concerned, they look up at Jeff, effectively staring directly into the eyes of the audience and becoming a gateway to what Stella and Lisa were feeling as they were about to get caught by Thorwald.

Explicitly, the film was about a man who was stuck in a cast and would watch his neighbors out of his window because he was bored. The man--Jeff, noticed one of his neighbors acting strangely and led Jeff to believe that his neighbor had killed his wife. He brings in a detective who doesn't believe the story, so Jeff, along with his girlfriend Lisa and nurse Stella, decide to catch Mr. Thorwald and prove that he killed his wife. After calling Thorwald, he comes to Jeff's apartment and drops Jeff out of the apartment in such a way that causes immense spectacle and Thorwald is caught by the police and confesses to the murder.

Stella describes the implicit meaning of the film best when she says, "We've become a race of Peeping Toms. What people ought to do is get outside their own house and look in for a change." The implicit meaning of the film brings out what was going on during 1954 due to McCarthyism. People were so afraid of communism and of people being communists that they would spy on their neighbors and turn each other in, hoping that by turning someone else in for being communist, they would be able to support that they themselves were not affiliated with the communists.

Is turning in random people for potentially being communist ethical? I believe that was a main idea that the 1954 Rear Window was subtly discussing through Jeff spying on his neighbors. Was Jeff invading his neighbors privacy? Yes. Did the act of spying help him to catch the "bad guy?" Again, yes. I am not sure whether Rear Window really had a side on the discussing of Privacy vs. McCarthyism, but the movie does bring to light what exactly is happening and leaving the audience to decide whether what the characters did was ethical, or just an immense invasion of privacy.