Review of UP

The title of the film I have chosen to analyze is “UP”. There were several writing credits for this movie which included: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson and Thomas McCarthy. The directing was also done by two of the writers: Pete Docter, and Bob Peterson. The talent and imagination of these two, and all contributing parties, is truly noteworthy. It is interesting to note that no major actors that often find themselves on the covers of tabloids within the checkout lanes at the supermarkets were a part of this film. Most of the actors that contributed their voices to the cast were general rate actors. This film was fairly recent, having been released in 2009.

This story is based upon a promise made between childhood sweethearts who had married and lived a very long life together. The couple had always been interested in exploring and eventually wished to travel together at some point in their lifetime. This wish turned into a promise of traveling together and seeing their childhood dreams come true. Unfortunately, they ended up getting bogged down in life, like we all do, and they were unable to embark on their adventures like they had dreamed of doing when they were children. Eventually, the wife dies and leaves the husband alone who still recalls the promise he and his wife had made to each other. The circumstances of life again weigh heavily on the husband who finally decides to take the trip he and his wife had wanted to do. He decides to do this despite the heaviness of life circumstances pushing on him. He ends up using balloons and floating his house into an adventure he could have only dreamed of. It was this trip that allowed him to fulfill his promise long ago to his now deceased wife. This fulfillment allows him to close the last chapter of his life.

The film was presented chronologically in progression from the couples young childhood and friendship, through to their marriage and death of the wife. It was presented in an almost flashback type of way with scenes of the present mixed in. In this aspect, it might also be considered non-linearly.

The aesthetic value of the film is noteworthy. The animation is presented in manner that makes it very believable and real even though the subject matter is obviously fiction. Floating a house with balloons to different parts of the world is something that was acceptable within the visual presentation of the film.

Character development and foreshadowing were both handled well within the development of the story and the storytelling methods. The allusion of the fulfilled promise at the end of the film was really the central point and focus within the development of the plot. By telling the story in a linear fashion, it was fairly easy to see how the story would progress and ultimately end. The ending was definitely something most people would hope it to be.  

I’m not sure the film could have been presented differently without losing some value within the plot development, foreshadowing, and character development. I suppose the story could have been told in a complete flashback type of way, but this might have hurt the flow of the story.   If Quentin Tarantino had told the story, it probably could have made sense in a Quentin Tarantino kind of way.

 

Pixar Inc.. UP Promotion Picture, 2009. UP, United States,. Retrieved from: http://danienglish.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/up.jpg

 

Full Cast & Crew. (n.d.). IMDb. Retrieved July 8, 2014, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1049413/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_wr#writers

 

Man on Fire (Acting Types)

(Man on Fire, 2004)

Man on Fire is a film directed by Tony Scott. The film cast is fairly impressive and allows us to see different acting types such as the impersonator, interpreter, personality, wild card, or character acting types. Though many actors have capability of maneuvering within several categories of acting types, many fit well within a single category through a span of their films.

Denzel Washington – plays the bodyguard character in the film named Creasy (IMDB, 2014), who is willing to sacrifice himself for innocence. In my opinion, Denzel falls within the personality acting type as well as within the character acting type. His ability to become the character is outstanding. He is believable in whatever role he plays to include the bodyguard character in this film. At the end of the film, after he has run a grueling gauntlet, he gives his life in order to save the innocent child played by Dakota Fanning. In Film: From Watching to Seeing, character actors are those actors that are able to fit invisibly into a wide variety of disparate characters, adapting to the needs of each script and director they work with” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). This is an almost perfect summation of Denzel’s acting style with one exception, his strong personality. It is this personality that shines through in each of his characters which also allows him to be classified as a personality acting type as well.

Dakota Fanning – plays the role of the innocent child in this movie whom the character Creasy is protecting (IMDB, 2014). Classifying Fanning’s acting type is a little harder as she was so often typecast as an innocent girl. Knowing this, I would say Fanning falls within the character acting type. She has been cast in other ways now that she has grown older, so overall she does well to become the character the directors are looking for. As she plays more roles, it will be interesting to see if she will be so easily classified though. I would wager that if she picks up more roles, she will become more of a wild card type of actor than anything.

Christopher Walken – with out a doubt and hands down is a personality actor. He doesn’t really have to change any of his mannerisms or way of talking and is almost as himself in all of his characters. This might be attributed to his unique style of talk. Many might understand this just by watching a Saturday Night Live skit with him complaining to a band for the need of “more cow-bell.”

Focus on Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken has been in many movies that I’ve seen some of which include: Click, The Stepford Wives, Man on Fire, and The Prophecy. As a personality type of actor I believe it would be hard for Christopher to be classified as any other acting type. It’s his strong characteristics in real life that transcend through in his roles. Could you imagine Christopher Walken speaking in any other manner than he actually does? Take for instance this clip from Click:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp4gJCeN0k8

Now compare his speaking and mannerisms from that movie to this clip from Man on Fire:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_hLvWmytTo

and this clip from The Stepford Wives:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkfaRh__E6U

It’s almost as if the characters that he portrays become him, which allows him to comfortably be classified within the personality acting type.

For actors who fall within the personality acting type, it doesn’t seem to limit their capabilities of performance any. It seems as if their personalities might be considered universal and fit within any of the roles they play. In this way, they bring themselves to the role, and the character becomes them.

References

Full Cast & Crew. (n.d.). IMDb. Retrieved July 31, 2014, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328107/fullcredits/

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From watching to seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Sound Elements in Film (Finding Nemo)

(WordPress, 2014)

The most identifiable sound within a majority of films is simply the dialogue.  Unless someone is watching a silent film with no sort of subtitles, dialogue is an instrumental element within a film.  Likewise, there are also sound effects that are embedded within the movie which give vibrant sounds to scenes filled with actions that are hardly comparable with real-world action yet, they are sounds we often attribute to particular actions and movements within a scene.  Lastly, music is often used within a film to help in setting the mood of the film and many music scores have been created for sole use within a film.  Famous scores such as the intro to Star Wars or Indiana Jones are easily recognizable and instantly create a mental connection to the film.

These three elements of sound can be extracted within the following clips taken from the movie Finding Nemo (Stanton, 2003).  Within the following movie clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Zk1nd_dY8), each element of sound is perceivable as supporting each other in presentation starting with a musical entry to the clip, followed by dialogue, and sound-effects meant to mimic the sound of water within an aquatic environment.

Dialogue

The dialogue within the scene falls in-line with the context of the story.  The lead characters in the film have run into a scary fellow named Bruce who is a great white shark in rehabilitation from an addiction to eating fish.  Closely paired to what many might relate with real-world Alcoholics Anonymous, the dialogue within the scene would most often be considered comedic in value.  The dialogue is meant to relieve the audience who are rooting for the protagonist in the film: Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks (IMDB, 2014).

Sound Effects

The main sound effects that can be heard within this clip is water as might be heard from an aquarium inside a bedroom at night or in a pet-shop.  Unless one has never been exposed to such a sound, it has a bubbly sound mixed with a slightly perceivable echo which gives the impression of something submerged within a body of water.  This is the sound throughout the second part of this clip in conjunction with the fish traveling in the depths of the ocean.  Though it can be vaguely heard, the scenes wouldn’t have had the same feel if done without this sound effect.

Another sound effect used within the clip is a bell which was sounded at the beginning of the meeting within the storyline.  This simple sound effect is something many attribute to a starting or ending of an event such as boxing.  In the scene, this sound-effect is used as an audio-queue to the beginning of the meeting.

Music

The different music scores being played within this clip would definitely be considered non-diegetic as they aren’t supposed to be perceivable sounds to the characters in the scene.  This type of music is meant to set mood and oftentimes appeal to the emotion of the audience.  The start of the clip has the soothing sound of a harp playing a series of three or four notes which was utilized to create a dreamy effect for the viewers.  It is almost as if the creators of the film wanted the audience to wonder about this world underneath the ocean.  The intro score could easily be tied to the single word: Wonder.  Behind the sounds of the harp are wind-instruments playing an almost middle-eastern type of music which one might attribute to distance or far away.  For me, this music does indeed make me wonder about the distant and deep ocean.  It was probably to these ends that the creators of the scores designed their music.

Another music score used within the film happens when the fish are traveling to a sunken ship surrounded by explosive mines.  The sounds within this particular set of scenes has long bow draws from violins playing slightly sharp notes to create a mood of suspense.  This goes hand and hand with mise en scene, that being the potentially explosive mines that are so numerous, there would be little doubt of the demise for each character, if they were accidentally set off.  This particular score might be easily compared with films in the Horror genre which also wish to appeal to the suspense of their particular audiences.

Conclusion

Paying particular attention to sound can give viewers of a film a deeper understanding of what a particular scene is trying to convey.  Such recognition of sound is often accomplished within the subconscious minds of the audience anyway.  Being aware of the sounds, how they are used, and why they are used can give much more enjoyment to the audience.

 

 

 

References

Finding Nemo. (n.d.). IMDb. Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266543/

Finding Nemo. (n.d.). soezooscope. Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://soezooscope.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/nemo-1.jpg

Stanton, A. (Director). (2003). Finding Nemo [Motion picture]. United States of America: Disney.

 

A Nightmare on Elm Street

LOW-KEY LIGHTING

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” is a film written and directed by Wes Craven which makes many uses of low-key lighting which allows for many colors to appear faded, dark, and gloomy which all play into the perception of the film as horrific in an entertaining way. This is no doubt an outstanding choice of lighting when a cinematographer might want to ensure the scenes being portrayed come across as horrifying and nightmarish. 

As described in the text Film: From Watching to Seeing,, low-key lighting is that lighting which is “high-contrast…and dominated by deep shadows with a few bright highlights” (Goodykoonts, 2011, p. 108). An outstanding example of this can be seen in the following snapshot within the film that demonstrates precisely what low-key lighting accomplishes: https://ttcritic.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/nightmare-on-elm.jpg (Fory, 2014).

As demonstrated in the snapshot from the scene, the high-contrast lighting can be seen with the extreme brights in the background of the picture next to the stacked chairs and within the streaks along the wall. The extreme darks can be seen facing the camera directly and around the silhouette of the evil character with one exceptional highlight of bright white light hitting the evil character on the right side of his face. 

Another outstanding example of this type of lighting can be seen in this still image from the movie which also makes use of low-key lighting:  http://www.dvdactive.com/images/reviews/screenshot/2011/7/elmstreetbdcap4_original.jpg (Gould, 2014).

The high-contrast seen in this still can be seen with visual clarity in the knives of the glove cutting on a metal bar. The evil character is blurred in the background and the arm and right side of the character is darkened out to include a blur set over the face of the character. There is no doubt that the cinematographer was trying to create a focus upon the weapon of mayhem within the film; that being the glove with knives.

The benefits of utilizing this type of lighting is that it almost always allows for a more horrifying portrayal of a scene capturing the essence of its’ genre; “Horror”. This might also feed into many people’s fear of the dark which assists in the final product of each scene. Utilizing other lightings such as High-Key lighting wouldn’t allow for as many shadows and the same is true for the traditional three-point lighting. With the massive amount of shadows, dark hues, and high-contrast brights, the audience is allowed to see just what the creators of the film want them to see as demonstrated in both the pictures. The silhouette of Freddy Krueger in the first example and the blood-stained glove with knives for fingers in the other. Both of these scenes could not have been produced in as an effective manner if other lighting choices were used. Perhaps the mystique and wonder around the silhouette wouldn’t have conveyed as well, or even the blood-soaked knife fingerings of the glove. It was the low-key lighting as demonstrated in these two stills from the film that allows for a nail-biting and anxiety filled viewing that keep the horror genre as an exciting option in film choice.

 

References

Craven, W. (Director). (1984). A nightmare on elm street [Motion picture]. United States: New Line Home Video.

Fory, B. (n.d.). Stereotypical horror lighting. Ben fory as media blog. Retrieved July 17, 2014, from https://ttcritic.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/nightmare-on-elm.jpg

Goodykoonts, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Popular film genres. Film: from watching to seing (p. 108). San Diego: Bridgepoint Education, Inc..

Gould, C. (n.d.). Review: Nightmare on Elm Street, A (US – BD) – DVDActive.Review: Nightmare on Elm Street, A (US – BD) – DVDActive. Retrieved July 17, 2014, from http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/nightmare-on-elm-street-a.html