2014 is the 75th anniversary of the classic film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. One of the most important themes and dialog of this film is “there’s no place like home. ” The main character, Dorothy Gale, is magically transported to a different land after a traumatic experience involving a cruel woman and her … Read more
The Colorado State University (CSU) Theater brings to light a whole new dimension of the original propaganda film Reefer Madness. They basically turn the film into a musical comedy that pokes fun at the hysteria caused by the original work. However, I don’t think it is the artist’s main purpose to just make fun of … Read more
Casablanca was a romantic film produced in 1942. Internet Movie Database summarizes Casablanca as “Rick Blaine, who owns a night club in Casablanca, discovers his old flame Ilsa is in town with her husband, Victor Laszlo. Laszlo is a famed rebel, and with Germans on his tail, Ilsa knows Rick can help them get out … Read more
Prepare your senses for tingling Statement of intent: The purpose of this piece of writing was to show the reader that Guillermo del Toro’s film, Pan’s labyrinth is a fantastic film well worth watching. Guillermo del Toro’s film, Pan’s labyrinth it stays strong to the horror/ magical realism genre. As a first time magical realism … Read more
From watching 12 Angry Men, it raises the question of what are the factors that influence the choices we make and the actions we take? 12 Angry Men was about a trial of an 18 year old boy who was accused murdering his father. He was accused of stabbing his father in the chest with … Read more
One car rear ending another begins a storyline set over thirty-six hours that reveals how utterly connected a group of people’s lives are, even though they all seem to be extremely diverse. The movie Crash emphasizes the interconnectedness of these people that originally appear very different from one another. Preconceived notions of stereotypes prevent the … Read more
Analyse how the beginning and end show a character’s change in the visual or oral text(s). Gattaca is a dystopian film directed by Andrew Niccol. It is set in the ‘not-too-distant future’ where discrimination is based on your genetic makeup and has become the defining factor of your societal class. One character that changed throughout … Read more
A single camera is a technique used to make TV dramas and Films using just one camera, taking shots from various angles. An example of a single camera drama is The Sopranos, and I’d like to go in to detail about that. Series – The Sopranos My example for a series is The Sopranos. A … Read more
In the 1920’s the very idea of evolution was heavily criticized due to a majority of the american population believing in creationism. It had become a tradition for parents to teach their kids about how people came from Adam and Eve. This tradition became under scrutiny when the theory of evolution was proposed by Charles … Read more
What one can say about Casablanca other than a wonderful classic film? An inspirational, great love story, which can appeal to both men and women, was directed by Michael Curtiz. It is a multi-genre film based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison’s unproduced play, “Everybody comes to Rick’s”. It is filmed in the French Colony … Read more
In the movie Signs, directed by Manoj Night Shyamalan, Shyamalan’s message from the film is that it covers faith, kinship, and extraterrestrials. In addition, there’s a reason for everything, whether it’s good or bad, God has a plan for everything In the movie we’re presented to a family of four called the Hess family. The … Read more
Tim Burton has enthralled the people of today with his movies such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, and Big Fish. By just looking at one scene in any of Burton’s films, one can see that Burton makes films more than just a film. Burton not only makes the movies thought provoking and … Read more
Often this is done by presenting subjects in a 3/4 view, over-the-shoulder shots, depth-of-field or off-centering the subject to create visual interest. While Wes Anderson doesn’t ignore these traditional techniques, he rarely employs them, opting instead for the planimetric approach. His technique is further emphasized through meticulous technical mastery. Aside from the linear, frontally-focused framework … Read more
Girls Like Us is an intimate portrayal concerning four girls who grew up all with different ethnic backgrounds and various forms of parental guidence. Anna Chau is Vietnames with strict parents and good beliefs, Lisa Bronca is a Caucasion Catholic, De’Yonna Moore is African-American with strong goals who lives with her Grandma and Raelene Cox … Read more
Even before Grace Kelly married a prince, she had the aura of a princess. Frank Sinatra once commented, “Grace was a princess from the moment she was born. ” She had remarkable elegance and sophistication that made her different from other Hollywood actresses. Some say she had an undertone of fire beneath her charm. Alfred … Read more
In 1961, West Side Story, a filmed version of the hit Broadway musical that was inspired by William Shakespeares “Romeo and Juliet,” was released to viewers, who just could not resist the energy and excitement of the movie. Thirty-eight years later, viewers, like myself, still cannot resist it. I had never seen the film, which … Read more
Steven Spielberg’s epic drama of World War II Holocaust survivors and the man who unexpectedly came to be their savior. Unrepentant womanizer and war profiteer Oskar Schindler uses Polish Jews as cheap labor to produce cookware for the Third Reich. But after witnessing the violent liquidation of the walled ghetto where the Krakow Jews have … Read more
The Matrix (1999) is an extension of the existentialist motifs of the mid 20th Century set in the 23rd, for its obvious influences from the American Noir Style. This is apparent when looking at the five points of this existentialism. First, Thomas A. Anderson (Keanu Reeves), a. k. a. Neo, is portrayed from the beginning … Read more
The theme of this paper is to dissect the first fight scene; in the movie Bull Durham, between Crash Davis; who is played by Kevin Costner; and “Nuke” LaLoosh; who is played by Tim Robbins. The fight takes place in a bar scene between these two men who have never met before. The reason for … Read more
Before World War I, films were being made mostly European countries and in Japan. When the war interrupted European filmmaking, however, the American film industry began to dominate the world market. In the years between 1917 and 1927 the silent film reached the peak of its development. United States had the largest film industry and … Read more
Frank Darabont (writer-director-producer) in 1999, returned to the director’s chair for the first time in five years. Darabont, who not only directed Shawshank Redemption, but adapted it from a Stephen King story, followed the exact same path with The Green Mile. The film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, and Produced by Castle Rock Entertainment, … Read more
In the movie, What Dreams May Come, Doctor Chris Nielson meets his true soulmate Annie, marries her and has two children. Each would risk their own lives to be with the other, they would go to any costs to be with the other. Either dead or alive, the two of them saw the same thing … Read more
A Clockwork Orange is a film about a wild and troubled young lad Alex. Alex and his friends (droogs) get a high from inflicting harm upon others. They commit random acts of robbery and rape around London. Alex, as the ringleader, eventually gets caught and is sent to prison. It is in prison that scientists … Read more
Some twelve thousand years ago, in what is now the Jordan Valley of Israel, a middle-aged man of the Natufian civilization died. When modern archaeologists excavated his tomb, they found that he had been buried with one hand lying on a puppy that had been buried with him. According to the archaeologists, that tomb shows … Read more
Alfred Hitchcock is among the few directors to combine a strong reputation for high-art film-making with great audience popularity. Throughout his career he gave his audiences more pleasure than could be asked for. The consistency of quality plot-lines and technical ingenuity earned him the recognition of being one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. … Read more
Scully and Mulder are two FBI agents that were sent to investigate murders that took place in a New Mexico town, just out side of an Indian reservation. The murders were first discovered when a lady, Annie Hatch, found two tourists bodies while she was ridding her horse. The bodies were laying next to a … Read more
One of the most influential film movements in the 1940’s was a genre that is known today as film noir. Film noir was a recognizable style of filmmaking, which was created in response to the rising cost of typical Hollywood movies (Buss 67). Film noir movies were often low budget films; they used on location … Read more
Consider this possibility: a romantic comedy with no nudity, no sex, and no kissing. In fact, there aren’t even any declarations of love. The closest the female character comes to admitting her feelings is saying that she could have danced all night with the man; the closest he gets is remarking that he’s grown accustomed … Read more
Without the advent of the medium of film to wage a war of propaganda both the Axis and the Allies of World War II would have found it difficult to gather as much support for their causes as they did. Guns, tanks, and bombs were the principal weapons of World War II, but there were … Read more
“Spring Silkworms” reflected the life in a village where for hundreds of years the pattern of everyday life seemed to have remained largely unbroken. It also inspires a lot of social qualities. The feelings that the story mourned over are very universal and common in people during that time. All the family in the village … Read more
Roman Polanski incorporated religious themes into his films, “A Knife In The Water” (Poland 1962) and “Rosemary’s Baby” (U. S. 1968). “ A Knife In The Water” contains some Christian imagery that is not incorporated into the plot or theme of the film. In contrast, the central theme of “Rosemary’s Baby” is religion. I believe … Read more
Gattaca, a film, takes place in the near future, in a time when genetic engineering technology is used is used to create a perfect society. Gatttaca’s main character, Vincent, is genetically inferior; he was conceived by natural birth, rather than genetically engineered, which means that throughout his life is guaranteed discrimination. Vincent has dreams of … Read more
New York City that is depicted in Taxi Driver seems to be too real to be true. It is a place where violence runs rampant, drugs are cheap, and sex is easy. This world may be all too familiar to many that live in major metropolitan areas. But, in the film there is something interesting, … Read more
The film G. I. Jane takes place in the 1990s and shows discrimination of a women in the United States Navy. Lieutenant Jordan O Neal played by Demi Moore, is a naval intelligence officer who has ambitions of moving beyond her military desk job, to become a member of the Navy Seal. Thanks to the … Read more
Mr. Spielburg, While your movies Jurassic Park and The Lost World are entertaining, they are not accurate portrayals of the ecosystem in the Jurassic period. Through close examination of the animal and plant life in your movies, my high school environmental geology class has come to the decision that your movies are typical misleading Hollywood … Read more
Jurassic Park takes place on an Island off the Coast of Costa Rica which is owned by a multimillionaire, John Hammond. On this island he has set up a genetical engineering facility which permits him and his scientist to create dinosaur from blood extracted from prehistoric mosquitos, that have been preserved in amber. Before he … Read more
Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now lacks the impact of its inspiration, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. While the basic elements of imperialism and human nature remain intact, the characters of the film bare little resemblance to their literary counterparts. The film serves as a re-interpretation of Conrad’s novella, updated from 19th-century British imperialism in the … Read more
The Lost World as a novel is very different from its film version. The most contrasts are found in the beginning of the story. For instance, the novel starts off with Ian Malcolm giving a detailed lecture on extinction theories at the Santa Fe Research Center. Where as, the film starts with a wealthy British … Read more
A life of organized crime, fancy cars, machine guns, beautiful women, money, power and family; these are the images that have perpetuated the associations of Italian-Americans with the Mafia in film and television for decades. It is in this traditional Godfather fashion that the HBO hit series The Sopranos continues to perpetuate this stereotypical image … Read more
The representation of teenagers can be very contrasting at times teenagers can be represented as a problem within society however they can be represented as the hope for society in terms of education. The representation of teenagers has changed throughout the 20th century, since the films of Elvis Presley and the Beatles in the 50’s … Read more
Through the analysis of where an education originates, The History Boys and An Education have two vastly contradictory viewpoints. The History Boys demonstrates both academic education and an education on life gained within school grounds. An Education, however, Illustrates a young Jenny Mellon (Carrey Mulligan) as she gains her education far from her school environment … Read more
SCOTT D. PAULIN The Idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk in the History and Theory of Film Music ( From early prescriptive writings on film-music practice to recent theoretical considerations of the status of music in cinema, the name of Richard Wagner has recurred with a regularity approaching inevitability. His sheer persistence as a figure in the … Read more
Following the cold blooded murder of his father, Dennis Vineyard – a fireman who is shot while putting out a fire at a crack house – Derek Vineyard comes filled with racial hatred and eventually becomes the second in command of the Venice Beach neo-Nazi gang, The Disciples of Christ. Under the guidance of Cameron … Read more
Plays and dances had elements common to films- scripts, sets, lighting, costumes, production, direction, actors, audiences, storyboards, and scores. They preceded film by thousands of years. Much terminology later used in film theory and criticism applied, such as mise en scene. Moving visual images and sounds were not recorded for replaying as in film. The … Read more
Following the cold blooded murder of his father, Dennis Vineyard – a fireman who is shot while putting out a fire at a crack house – Derek Vineyard comes filled with racial hatred and eventually becomes the second in command of the Venice Beach neo-Nazi gang, The Disciples of Christ. Under the guidance of Cameron … Read more
Special visual effects have added to the allure of motion pictures since the early days of cinema. French director Georges Mlis is considered the most influential pioneer of special effects. His film A Trip to the Moon combined live action with animation, demonstrating to audiences that cinema could create worlds, objects, and events that did … Read more
The story opens with Tom Joad hitchhiking on his way home to his family’s farm after serving a short prison term. He gets a ride from a trucker who sneaks him on even though it is against the rules. The trucker realizes that Tom has just been released from prison and begins to question him. … Read more