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Author Archives: meechazp
Time Enough at Last
With social media, it is easy to get lost in the deep rabbit whole of the web. Even with jobs, school, life, we tend to get distracted. For me I never was that much occupied with watching videos on social media until I graduated high school and went away for college and lived in Florida. I began to watch a lot of Netflix and YouTube. And with the situation of the world today, I have done the most streaming that I have done probably ever. Even though I love watching films I tend to just put on what I like and scroll through my phone till I am tired. Now I have noticed that I actually watch different films and even series. A major thing for me is that I finally have been consistent with watching a series. I used to start on a series and then not really pay attention to it and then I would jump to another without finishing the other. I even started watching things I didn’t think I would like but am quite enjoying.
I don’t feel like the internet has changed that much since so much has been already available for streaming digitally including games, live TV, shopping and so on. I think the only thing that has changed is just it’s engagement since everyone has the time to do it a lot more than before. More companies have made it easier for a lot of people out there to have access to streaming services and have early releases on new movies. I also saw that shows like Jimmy Fallon, SNL and reality shows are doing at home filming and continuing with what they could on entertaining segments which is actually cool to think that we have the technology to do that today.
Brightness vs Darkness
For my post I wanted to talk about the importance of the mise en scene for In Th Fade. When we saw Nuri and Katja together at the beginning it was like a home made film. It was bright and even though we saw them get married in a prison, it was still set in a very happy tone. The walls were bright, it wasn’t gloomy and the music help set this happily ever after of a family they created after their dark past. But when her husband and son die from the bomb, the colors scheme changes instantly. It’s almost constantly raining, her appearance becomes very lethargic looking and we see how emotionally drained and vulnerable she becomes from everyone telling her what everyone thought her husband still was. The mise en scene is very important with help setting the tone of the environment and characters and letting us know when something is important. This film did a great job transitioning and meshing together that emotion and environment to the characters.
Up Close and Personal
In the film Joy there are lots of close ups on our main characters. This can really reflect the boundaries that are being crossed and taken advantage of with Joy and the prostitute’s. Even with the sounds of this film it is really dependent on silence. There isn’t that much dialog and there is no score which helps provoke uneasy, uncomfortable and realism especially with the scene of Precious getting raped, all we hear is her cry for help. I think having mainly medium close ups and close ups help with the theme and tone of the film since we are getting really close and personal with the characters and seeing how easy it is for them to let themselves become vulnerable to strangers. And maybe even a since of being trapped inside this narrative of this is the only life for them.We really see the emotion or maybe even lack there of since Joy ironically doesn’t show much joy at all in the film but once we get to the end we see Joy walking away from the camera embodying her own freedom away from the camera and Madame no longer following that narrative anymore. 
The Fear Of The Unknown
I choose these two clips because I love how it really ties into the theme of science fiction and with science fiction films, it is to explore the unknown. And that is exactly what Werner Herzog did with his documentary. The first clip shows the creatures that the scientist find deep in the sea and the music with it is some what eerie, as if all the creatures from a science fiction came to life. Then the next clip shows the scientists watching an actual science fiction film. And as someone who really loves film, especially Quentin Tarantino, then you would know that any film he puts inside his films have meaning to it and makes that specific scene important. I really like how a documentary like this makes us question about things in life and ourselves when typically they are to inform and tell us what is right and wrong. But not with Herzog, he brings us into the unknown and heightens our fears and fantasies of what the possibilities could be or mean to the audience. He really brings fiction and non-fiction together and it is up to us whether to believe what we see. Just like these two scenes. Is the first clip we saw from a science fiction film…maybe the one the scientists were watching? Or, is what we really see true?
Trapped
The Slighest Inconvenience…
For my GIF I wanted to do a screen shot of Hitler’s tantrum. I feel like Tarantino made out Hitler’s character to be whiny and silly. I feel like he wasn’t really taken as serious as he is protrayed in other films or readings. Other films show him as this fearless leader who gives off this intimidating figure that everyone looked at as someone to be afraid of. However In Inglorious Bastards that’s not the case. In this scene where he finds out about “The Bear Jew”, him and his soldiers actually appear to be terrified about a guy with a baseball bat and his appearance as a golem but don’t know to whether believe it or not because they say it’s just “soldier’s gossip”. I think this is an interesting scene because as we have talked about in class to what is Hitler and how his actions are far more terrifying then his appearance and the thought of anyone being more terrifying then him is an immediate threat. It’s kind of like he want’s to be the most feared so by doing that he say’s that he will hang their naked bodies from the Eiffel Tower to prove a point so that no one is more scary then him.
Dark vs Light
For my analysis I will be talking about the lighting aspect of the film. Lighting can play a big part through out a film. It shows us exactly what to look at and helps provoke emotion within that characters, especially within noir films. With noir films, typically the dark represents evil and the light represents good. But it’s not always that black and white and doesn’t always represent bad versus good. In Casablanca the shadows and lights seem to represent the internal struggle of Rick. When they show his past with Ilsa it’s bright with light as if they are both glowing with happiness. But, as the story progresses they both become torn between their love for each other and their responsibility and uncertainty of what to do about the situation. When Ilsa leaves Rick for her husband that she thought was dead, that is when we begin to see Rick enter the shadows that represents his self conflict and sadness. And when she comes back to Ricks night club you can see that she is in the light still while he has a shadow covering him. This just shows how she left him and the relationship in the dark. Even when she and her husband enters the club he’s is brightly lit while Rick not so much. So with the lighting we see sadness versus happiness and feelings of being trapped especially during the war.
Do you hear what I hear?
For my analysis I want to talk about the score or the lack of one. Through out the film we rely heavily on the dialogue which makes since because the film reminds us to not always believe what you see and that what is right in front of you may not appear to be what you think it is. Dialogue is a way we can understand the characters chemistry, feelings and motives however, music can provoke even more emotion along with the action. This film does not have much of a score but when there is music playing I believe it is to make sure we are paying attention to what that person is saying. The scene that I have chosen is where Greenberg played by Felix Bressart does his dramatic monologue from The Merchant of the Venice by Shakespeare. He says this three times in the film, the first in the theatre where they both talk about roles they would love to do. The second when Warsaw was destroyed but only this time when he says it there is sad music playing. So when he says this it has a whole different meaning to it. It’s not only just a monologed from a play, it is the truth of these people being attacked and that there is more emotion to what he is saying. And the third time he says it is when he is confronted face to face with Hitler. While he is saying this once again there is a haunting chant in the background. So even though this film doesn’t rely on a score, music definitely helps play a part to provoke emotion when there is something the director wants the audience to feel and pay attention to. I also thought it was interesting that there were some words taken out of the monologue, the whole thing goes like this. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? ….Definitely changes the tone of what he is really trying to say.
