I had such a great
experience starting, developing and keeping up with this blog. It was not only
a way to get to teach others about cinema but for me to learn a thing or two as
well. I had so much fun exploring films from all different ages and genres and
I sincerely hope you did as well. Like I’ve mentioned countless times all over
this blog, I’m really passionate about films. And within the recent years I
have gained a deeper interest and appreciation towards film. In the past I mostly watched films that sparked my interest through their trailers. The majority of these films were blockbusters. But as my posts go to
show blockbusters, or mainstream films, are not the only good films out there.
Independent films can be just as good if not better. So I encourage you all to
continue exploring films from all different genres, eras and even countries. I
know I did not divulge into the features of international cinema and for that
I’m sorry but believe me when I say that there are so many great films out
there from all over the world. Spend some time to explore some of these international films on your own if you guys want any recommendations I'll be more than glad to help!
It is obvious that films are
culturally significant and has impact on people’s lives. This is one of the many
reasons that I find them so important. They are a means of escape just like
books. And just for the record, I’m just as enthusiastic about books as I am
with films. I love stories. So I guess it shows no surprise that a dream of
mine is to become a screenwriter.
Now I know the title of this
post says, “that’s a wrap” but I feel as though this is not the conclusion of this blog it's just been too much fun. And maybe then I can unravel more types of films such as international films. It’s
a great way to keep me busy not to mention give me even more of an incentive to
watch more films. Not that I need any more encouragement to do so. So I guess
what I’m so vaguely trying to get at is, yes I will be posting sporadic posts
here and there. Thank you readers for your interest and time in reading all of
this and leaving lovely comments. I appreciate it! Also please, feel free to
shoot me any questions, recommendations, comments, suggestions etc. It helps me
know what my readers are interested in or would look forward to.
One last thanks and shout
out to Ms. Wong for this enjoyable assignment and support!
Winter break is so close I
can taste it! That being said I wish you all happy holidays!
I hope you took notice of
the playlist I have displayed on the right of this blog. The songs on this playlist is music
from many of my beloved films. I am sure you figured out where some of them are
from. Especially, if you have been keeping up with my blog and watching or have
watched some of the films I recommended. This music is the background music in
films and is known as the score of a film. A score is specifically made to
accompany a film. Usually scores are orchestral style music. However, recently
the styles of scores have been incorporating electronic fundamentals as well. The
score’s purpose is to enhance the emotional impact of the scenes in a film.
Composers write scores and are
in the guidance of the director and or producers of a film in order to get the
right feeling of music for the film. In order for a composer to make music for
a film they must see a rough cut of the film. This is why most scores are
written towards the editing process of a film. Placing the rough cut with the
score the composer takes note of the timing making sure the right part of the
music is in sync with what is happening in the scene of the film. Once the
composer has written and orchestrated the song he must conduct it be it with an
orchestra, chorus, etc. And finally once the music has been composed and
orchestrated, the orchestra or ensemble performs the music with the composer
conducting. The film is playing on a large screen while the orchestra is
performing.
Scores ordinarily do not
incorporate lyrics. However, there are some rare instances where a composer
will write up a song to be sung by a singer. One example of this would be “My
Heart Will Go On” which was the main theme song for the film Titanic (1997).
The music was written by composer James Horner, lyrics by Will Jennings and
Celine Dion sang it.
Scores are one of my
favorite parts of a film. They are always so beautiful and do enhance the
feelings you feel while watching a scene in the film with a score in the
background. Horror films are a great example of this. Think about the last time
you saw a horror film, now imagine one scary scene, was there music playing in
the background? More often then not there is. Now imagine that same scene but
without the score. It will probably not be as scary as you felt to be with the
music. In Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Hitchcock originally did not want the
shower scene to have music. However, when composer Bernard Herrmann, played the
score while playing the shower scene Alfred Hitchcock changed his mind. The score from
the shower scene in Psycho has been declared be many to being one of the
scariest theme for any film. (Above left: Psycho shower scene with & without music) How about you what do you think about the music in the shower scene? Did you feel your emotions were more disturbed with or without the sound? Me personally, I thought the music did it more justice. Though some may argue that the scene gives more raw and fearful feelings with the sounds effects from the slashes of the knife rather then the music.
Weather you have seen the
films or not most people recognize the theme from Star Wars. The composer of
the score from Star Wars is John Williams and he uses a technique in which he
has themes for important characters and events. The themes will often have a
recurring musical phrase associating with the character or event. This is known
as a leitmotif. Star Wars has many themes for is central characters like Dark
Vader and Princess Leia. Princess Leia’s theme is one of my most favorite
scores. It’s tune is so enchanting and romantic. John Williams is serious the
man. He has won five academy awards. He has composed the themes for Jaws, Superman, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Raiders of the Lost Ark and many more.
Aside from John William my
favorite composers would have to be Hans Zimmer (The Lion King, Inception, The
Dark Knight Rises, Pirates Of the Caribbean), Howard Shore (The Lord Of The Rings trilogy), Alexandre Desplat (The
King’s Speech, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I & II, Twilight
Saga: New Moon) and Danny Elfman (Edward Scissorhands, Silver Linings Playbook).
Do you have a favorite score
or composer? If so, what is it? I’m both curious and intrigued to know :)
So, this post is going to differ from my previous posts. Instead of looking at other types of films and
laying a concise summary about them I want to, in a sense, review a film I just
saw. The title spares no surprise. Yesterday I went to see the long awaited
film that is The Hobbit: An Unexpected
Journey. And of course, I loved it! If you’ve been apart of The Lord of The
Rings fandom I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed. It was phenomenal to
travel back to Middle Earth once more this time in the company of Bilbo Baggins
as he begins his remarkable adventure. Peter Jackson brought back many members of
are well known cast from Lord Of the
Rings back to Middle Earth including Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis,
Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Ian Holm.
For those of you who might
not be as familiar with The Lord Of the
Rings or The Hobbit, I’ll lay a
bit of foundation to what this remarkable franchise entitles. Both The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Lord of The Rings trilogy were
adapted from books written by English author J.R.R. Tolkien. Peter Jackson is
the director of both The Lord Of The
Rings trilogy and The Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey. And although he filmed The Lord Of The Rings first it is actually The Hobbit that was the first book in this epic installment. The
story of these enchanting books follows many fictitious creatures. Of these
creatures there are both good and evil and they all inhabit a world called
Middle Earth.
In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey we begin with just that, an
unexpected journey, that has befallen on Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo
Baggins, played by Martin Freeman, is a hobbit who loves his peaceful life in
the Shire where he tends to his garden and feasts on warm delicious meals each day. His
routine life gets disrupted however with a knock on the door one evening. He
opens the door and whom should he find but a dwarf who takes no measures to
make it known exactly what he’s doing in Bilbo’s home. Confused Bilbo hears
another knock on the door and comes face with yet another dwarf. This cycle
continues until Bilbo finds his house occupied by 12 dwarfs and none of them
still have seemed to answer as to why they are there. Bilbo doesn’t get answers
until finally wizard, Gandalf The Grey (Ian McKellen) and dwarf, Thorin
(Richard Armitage) arrive to Bilbo’s home. Thorin is the Prince of Oakenshield or as it is now known as The
Lonely Mountain. It is then that Bilbo finds out that they want him to
accompany them on a journey to take back Oakensheild, which was taken from the dwarfs by a
dragon. Bilbo refuses at first not wanting to leave his home and tranquil life
in the Shire. However, Bilbo soon comes to
realize that this would be a once and a lifetime opportunity so he takes it.
And so we follow Bilbo, Gandalf and Thorin’s company of dwarfs in their journey
to regain The Lonely Mountain.
Peter Jackson once again
brings the beauty of this tale to screen. Set in New Zealand, we see Middle
Earth come to life with the most enchanting scenery. The characters of these
films are so vibrant. And Martin Freeman does not disappoint as the hobbit!
This movie will have you laughing, awing, and keeping you spellbound the whole
journey. Hobbits and dwarfs both creatures that are on the small side are sure
to be huge successes in the box office by the end of this weekend.
Side note: If you’ve seen or
once you’ve seen The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey please share with me your thoughts I’d love to hear them! Moreover, are you a person who approves of Peter Jackson making The Hobbit a three-film installment? I must admit at first I was
skeptical but with this first film it doesn’t seem so bad anymore!
Animation is brought to
life through a sequence of images created to produce an illusion of movement.
There are many techniques filmmakers can use to make animated films. I’ll start
by introducing the first technique that is traditional animation. And just so
you can get an idea traditional animation involves many classic Disney films
such as The Lion King (1994) and Pinocchio(1940). Traditional animation also goes by cel animation. These films were made
through individual frames that are photographs of drawings (first drawn on
paper). To create the movement each drawing was made slightly different from the previous
image. The drawings are copied onto transparent acetate sheets called cels.
This traditional cel process became outmoded by the early 21st century. Today, animators’ drawings and the backgrounds are either
scanned into or drawn directly into a computer system.
Other methods of animation
do not involve the use of drawings at all but rather objects like clay, puppets
and even people themselves. Tim Burton’s Nightmare
Before Christmas (1993) illustrates
the use of puppet animation. The characters of the film are all puppets. I
actually got to see some of these puppets in person at the Tim Burton’s Exhibition
in Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I’m a big fan of Tim Burton. He has made
many films some without the use of puppets but real people. His more known
films include The Nightmare Before Christmas, The
Corpse Bride (2005), andEdward Scissorhands (non animated). The puppets are extraordinary. As you seen in the
pictures above (Jack Skeleton's heads from The
Nightmare Before Christmas), there had to be many puppet figures made in
order to make this film possible like these heads to illustrate the many
different expressions the characters display in the film.
Pixar
is a big name in film. Their films are beautiful. Pixar did not originally
start as a sister company of Disney. Not until 1991 did Disney and Pixar agree
to make an animated movie together. That film, Toy Story, was brought to
theaters on November 22, 1995. It was the world’s first computer animated
feature film. It made $362 million worldwide. Pixar is a very successful
animated film company who has made many films that have won academy awards. Pixar
films use photo realistic animation, which is animation that attempts to
resemble real life.
One
other technique that I’d like to touch on is motion capture which is used when
actual live actors wear special suits that allow computers to copy their
movements into CG characters. You might be familiar with films that use this
technique they include Polar Express
(2004) and The Adventures of Tintin
(2011). Polar Express was an experience to watch; Tom Hanks played one of the
central characters to the story and to see a cartoon look so much like the actual person was incredible.
Animated
films have a variety of techniques that filmmakers can use. Each of the
techniques takes extreme time and effort. Some animated films even list the
name of the newborn babies that were born during the duration of the film
production. So next time you watch an animated film you should take note of
them. (Side note: Actually each time you watch a film you should always stay for the
credits and acknowledge those who made the film possible for you to watch in
the first place!)
Independent films, also
known as indie films, are basically the complete opposite of blockbuster films.
These films are not made through big major film studios and most of them do not
have a huge film budget. They are produced and distributed by independent
entertainment companies. Most independent films have a limited release meaning
that they play in very few theaters whereas other films will premiere
worldwide. However, before these films are released they are often screened at local,
national or international film festivals.
The content and production
in indie films often differ to mainstream films as well. The stories in these
types of film, for example, tend to be less dramatic. Indie films tend to stray
away from being driven by famous actors or extravagant special effects. Most of
these films strive for daring subject matter. Directors tend to experiment more
with camera movements making it more of an art rather then the typical structures
of filming or editing. Indie films sometimes have distinctive styles of camera
editing and narrative structures.
Many indie films are
actually produced and distributed through subsidiaries of major film studios.
Subsidiaries are a daughter company to a huge successful company. Fox Searchlight
Pictures, Miramax, New Line Cinema to name a few. Fox Searchlight is, surprise
surprise, the daughter company of 20th Century Fox. Miramax is the
daughter company of the Walt Disney Company. And New Line Cinema is the
daughter of Warner Brothers.
Pulp Fiction
(1994) is one of the most successful and known indie films of all time. Many
people usually think that this film was a blockbuster because it is so
culturally popular. This film also has other factors that I shall soon mention
that make it seem as a non-indie film. Directed by Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction, is a crime film. Now
despite that I mentioned that some indie film characteristics involve the use
of non-famous actors, Pulp Fiction
used several well-known names. John Travolta, Uma Thurman,
Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis and Harvey Keitel all had roles in this
film. Many distributors did not want to distribute this film because the film displayed strong usage of heroin and they saw this as bad and risky for a film. Another issue was that the
budget might be too low to produce a type of film like this. In the end however
the newly daughter company of Disney, Miramax finally decided to distribute the
film. The film had an $8 million budget. With production done the film was
finally released on October 14, 1994. It had earned a domestic total gross of
$107,928,762. Despite that indie films usually are only released in a limited
amount of theaters Pulp Fiction opened worldwide. Indeed this was a very
successful film that many indie filmmakers use as inspiration. It is often
criticized, however, if Pulp Fiction is an independent film or not. But because
this film had such distinct film editing and production Pulp Fiction is acknowledged as an independent film.
I’ve grown into a big
Quentin Tarantino fan so Pulp Fiction is definitely one of my most admired
films. Want to know something awesome? If you want to see Pulp Fiction in the
big screen you might have a chance. On December 6th certain theaters will be
playing it once again. Go to http://www.miramax.com/tarantinoxx
and see if it’s playing in a theater near you!
Aside from the fact that he
inflicted audiences with fears of the ocean and its inhabitants, Steven
Spielberg’s Jaws made it so more
filmmakers adapted films that gain big commercial success. These big
successful films are known as blockbusters. Blockbusters are known for the mass
production and both financial and commercial success. Although, there have been
blockbusters in previously eras, such as Gone
With The Wind (1939), Cleopatra
(1963), and Ben Hur (1959), the 1970s
marked the blockbuster game-changing movement during the New Hollywood
era.
Jaws
premiered on June 20, 1975 making it a summer blockbuster. This film was
regarded as the first film of New Hollywood’s blockbuster era. Summer
blockbusters became increasingly more popular amongst filmmakers. Major film
studios and distributors planned their entire annual marketing strategy around
a big release in the summer. Jaws was
distributed by Universal and its domestic total gross was $260,000,000. With a
production budget of $7 million Jaws
was a huge phenomenal success for Universal. So of course, more and more major
film studios were quick to jump on this strategy. It should be noted though
that along was this great success was also some hardships. Jaws almost did not see the
day of this success. There were so many issues with Jaws himself. The mechanical shark was
a huge chunk of change and yet it had so many technical errors. Steven
Spielberg (shown in left picture) was only 27 years old when he started Jaws. This was the film that
would either make him or break him. The only thing breaking in this case
however was the shark because this film ended victorious.
Jaws was
not alone in its success.
George Lucas’ Star
Wars became the most successful film of the decade. And since Star Wars was released in May 25, 1977
that means it outdid the great Jaws
itself. Star Wars is a sci-fi film
written and directed by George Lucus and was distributed by 20th
Century Fox. This film had spectacular special effects, editing, and storytelling.
This film was produced with a budget of $11 million and earned $460 million and
that’s just in the United States. Overseas the film brought revenue of $314
million. Along with it’s huge financial success the film gained much praise
critically as well. This film took home six academy awards out of the ten
nominations it had been nominated for. Star
Wars IV: A New Hope, as it was later changed, did not finish here. George
Lucas made five other films following this one, which also brought much
success.
Blockbusters marked the
start of a lot of film-based merchandising. Where studios would sell
merchandise based on the films such as lunchboxes, clothing, stationary etc. Blockbusters
are the films most people recognize as far as cinema goes. For example, more
people are likely to have seen Star Wars
then they are to have seen a film like Bonnie
& Clyde. Blockbusters have reigned over industries in film.
Please enjoy these
blockbuster recommendations and may the force be with you!
Soon after the classic Hollywood era, in the 1960s, directors moved always from the traditional style of
making films and decided to explore more creative means. These new ideas sprang
from different countries that newly degreed directors and filmmakers, here in
America, adopted. Europe was one of the main countries were these techniques
came from, especially France because of their new wave era.
So before we divulge into specific
examples of the American New Wave let us first look upon the La Nouvelle
Vague or also known as the French New Wave. The French New Wave occurred during
the 1950s and 1960s. And basically during this time directors looked at
themselves as artists instead of technicians. By this I mean they experimented with
new styles of filmmaking. Some new techniques that these directors and
filmmakers adopted were shooting on location versus just in the studio, having
a more realistic and raw appeal, new technology (such as lighter cameras that
made shooting on location easier), confronted taboo subjects and storylines,
gave women more dominant roles that stood from their norms (i.g. independent,
self-reliant, manipulative).
So, now that we got a simple yet broader
sense of the Hollywood New Wave foundation let’s analyze a specific New
Hollywood film. Bonnie and Clyde was
a 1967 film directed by Arthur Penn. It is a crime film, not hard to guess,
about the infamous robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. This film was one of
the first films that basically marked the transition from Classical Hollywood
to New Hollywood. Bonnie and Clyde
broke many of the traditional American taboos by suggesting sexual content and actually
showing very graphic violence. I have seen this film and compared to a film
like Casablanca you can definitely
see the new context and techniques these filmmakers adapted when making this
film. The last scene of Bonnie and Clyde
is particularly remembered for its graphic and violence. Regardless of this, it
appealed to many types of audience especially the young adults category. Young
adults were the primary audience most affected by these films. They viewed
Bonnie and Clyde, two outlaws, as heroes. Which some critics found unseemly but
regardless this film got praise and is now one of America’s most noteworthy films.
Faye Dunaway & Warren Beatty as Bonnie and Clyde
Another film that brought attention during
this era was The Graduate. This film
is about a young man fresh out of college who is confused as to what he is
going to do with his life. In his bewilderment state he falls into an affair
with his father’s business partner’s wife, Mrs. Robinson. In the film you can
see how a female had a more dominant role of being manipulative in seducing a
younger man. It is a scandalous film that has been called “culturally,
historically, or aesthetically significant” by the U.S. National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress.
This era in Hollywood marked the new wave in
American cinema. The films made in this noteworthy moment are all a big part of
pop culture. Some films that I recommend you should
watch if you’re interested in seeing films from the New Hollywood era:
