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.