All About Eve Film Analysis: All About Eve

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All About Eve is an American drama from the 1950’s about a woman named Eve Harrington who manipulates her way into the life of Margo Channing, a Broadway star. The implicit meaning of the movie is the plot of Eve working her way into the light of fame. The explicit meaning of the movie, however, is exposing people’s obsession of fame, ambition, and stopping at nothing to get there. My viewer expectation is that I would not be interested in the movie because older movies are tiresome to me, especially if they are in black and white. However, I was surprised that I really enjoyed watching this movie and I was very impressed with it. Part of analyzing the film is being able to understand and figure out the intentions of the movie. This movie could be misinterpreted because people may believe it is trying to expose the truth of life in theater. However, the film All About Eve is really about is the obsession and want for fame – at any and all costs. This theme gives significant insight into the human condition, and is cultivated through the genre, brilliant screenplay, casting, costumes, director’s style and mise-en-scene, cinematography, camera angles, and sound effects.
Technologies and Production Systems
All About Eve is a 138 minute long film and has a 1.33.1 aspect ratio.
Story Types and Genre
This is a narrative film and the genre is drama. Genre gives us a standard in order to analyze the film. In comparison to other American drama films from the 1950’s All About Eve did very well and was nominated for many Academy Awards. Drama films are about realistic characters who are dealing with emotional problems. Real life issues and problems are iconographic of the drama genre because it is something that the audience can relate to ...

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...t not his. When he finally says her name, the camera goes in to a long shot to show everyone applauding and the reporters and photographers scrambling. There is another close up on Eve before she goes to get her award, and then the film freeze-frames. The freeze-frame is right before she grabs the award which lets the story start from the beginning leading up to that point. The director also decided to include a “single take” technique which was when Karen was sitting on her couch by the fireplace, planning her scheme for Margo. Karen has her back to the camera and the voiceover is revealing her personal thoughts.
Sound Effects
The sound effects used in All About Eve are used to exemplify the climax and drama of the film to create the mood for the audience. Sound is often exaggerated in drama films so the audience can hear it, understand it, and know how it feels.

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