In Caetlin Benson-Allots Chapter Paranormal Spectatorship in her book Killer Tapes and Shattered Screens, Allot looks into the recent subgenre style horror film, “the found footage” trend. Documentaries and mockumentaries have been around for a while and although those have had their fair share of fame the found footage trend is one that has taken over our movie screens since The Blair Witch Project in 1999. Many films have been modeled after The Blair Witch Project where a shaky handheld camera, mostly shot in point of view, follows around a person or group of people who ultimately are picked off one by one by some unknown person or force. And at this point I’m sure most of us have seen a film on this subject matter by now.
Allot touches
Rolf de Herr’s 2002 film The Tracker represented some human beings in the past who have been extremely naïve, barbarous, and bigoted when it came to dealing with Indigenous Australians. This film portrayed white racism in the characters of the Fanatic, the Veteran, and at first the Recruit until he becomes stronger and eventually changes his demeanor towards the Aboriginal people. Even though the Tracker experiences immense hardship throughout the movie he was always two steps ahead of his bosses since he was very familiar with the land and was also able to outsmart his superior officers. The Tracker is a gloomy film which presents the dark past of Australia that must never be forgotten.
The main point of this documentary is a strong one. Strong Island is a documentary describing the effects of a crime going without justice to a family that had no other option but to move on. The documentary goes into the lives of the family of William Ford’s family and friends before and after his murder.
The phrase, “How’d this get so fucked up so quick,” that is spouted out halfway through Interesting Ball is something that viewers of the short film will be saying almost immediately as the film starts, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This short film, brought to us by recently acclaimed directing duo otherwise known as DANIELS (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), is worth the watch and the thought afterwards. Both comedic and emotional, Interesting Ball is a short film not afraid to take its audience on a roller coaster of feelings.
The movie I was assigned was, In the Heat of the Night starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. This film took place during the late 1960’s in Mississippi, where Virgil Tibbs, a black Philadelphia homicide detective, is traveling. Upon his travel, he unintentionally gets involved in a murder investigation of a business man. He was first accused of committing this murder when a police officer became suspicious of him. After they determined his innocence’s, he was then asked to help solve the case because of his vast knowledge and experience dealing with homicide crimes. He eventually agreed to help because he knew it was the right thing to do. The process for finding the killer was determined to be difficult, but even more so when Tibbs’s efforts
In the film, Tangerine, directed by Sean Baker we not only witness the tragic and complex lives of transgender street workers, but even more importantly the deep connections created by their bonds of friendship. Ironically, as we hear songstress Alexandra singing the Toyland, one can’t help but see the contradiction in their current situations. As Sin-dee looks on and listens to Alex, you can see a childlike wonder or melancholy come over her face. Perhaps she’s reminiscing about a time of innocence or a time of hope. One that we all wish for “our” children, but sadly is not always realized for those who don’t fit the “norm”. I am reminded of the words Jesus spoke, So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be
As far as the movie goes, I have a feeling that the film is going to end with a tragedy. Alice Wu, the director of Saving Face, presents various conflicts in the film that involves of family, love and mostly about saving reputation. Characters have a lot of challenges where Wu uses motifs like silence and soap opera to give out sadness and bring audiences into a sad zone. When Wil, the protagonist of the film tells her mother known as Ma that she is a gay and Ma says, "I am a healthy mother and my daughter cannot be a gay. " Then Wil says to Ma, "Then I shouldn't be your daughter." and follows with silence. It is the saddest and heartbreaking thing to say to a mother and gives a sense of tragic. The silence after the conversation is like a
For several years now, Disney seems to be determined not to offend anyone in order to keep its audience; indeed we are confronted with animation films full of compromises; they are not as degrading for women as Snow-White and the Seven Dwarves (1937), but they are nonetheless still filled with clichés. Films such as The Princess and The Frog (2009), Tangled (2010), Wreck-it Ralph (2012), have in common the sense of being progressive and however we can notice the resurgence of harmful gendered stereotypes on the subjects of the social scale, women’s role in society, or the status quo. Frozen comes in and turns out to be no exception. Though it includes several encouraging and gratifying elements, it contributes insidiously to spread numerous
In the documentary “Fed Up,” sugar is responsible for Americas rising obesity rate, which is happening even with the great stress that is set on exercise and portion control for those who are overweight. Fed Up is a film directed by Stephanie Soechtig, with Executive Producers Katie Couric and Laurie David. The filmmaker’s intent is mainly to inform people of the dangers of too much sugar, but it also talks about the fat’s in our diets and the food corporation shadiness. The filmmaker wants to educate the country on the effects of a poor diet and to open eyes to the obesity catastrophe in the United States. The main debate used is that sugar is the direct matter of obesity. Overall, I don’t believe the filmmaker’s debate was successful.
People flock to horror movies each year. Usually to be scared. Another is to solve the question of Who done it? Unfortunately, a lot of these horror movies fail to scare people or make the killer so obvious the audience gets bored. Occasionally, there are a few horror movies that stick out. Scream, directed by Wes Craven, is one of them. Wes Craven is always toying with the viewer's fears. Always finding ways to scare the audience at every turn. He also plays with the viewer's head, and has them second guessing themselves. How does he do it? Well, as one of the characters in the movie exclaims, "There's a formula to it. A very simple formula. Everybody's a suspect!" This paper will discuss how Craven uses sound, camera shots, and mise en scene
In his documentary Classified X, Martin Van Peebles describes three areas where African-Americans could be receive some sanctuary from the racism that pervaded almost all Hollywood films. These three places were: the Hollywood version of an all-Black film, the church, and entertainment. Black culture and music is prominent in mainstream society, but the people behind this culture don’t always receive recognition and respect for their creations. Mainstream White pop culture excitedly consumes and appropriates Black culture, but disrespects the source.
that lead a viewer through the life of a crime as an omnipresent eyewitness, or during movies that
I chose to analyze Despicable Me, an animated film geared towards a younger audience, because I was interested in examining underlying theories and messages that this film would be relaying to its viewers. Often times, when watching animated films, children are not aware of these messages, as they are absorbed by the characters, special effects, and humor. But as we have learned throughout this semester, our brains are subconsciously primed by the various surroundings we are exposed to. Since we also studied the impacts of entertainment, such as television and video games, on children, I wanted to see how a popular children’s film might also affect them.
Christopher Nolan’s 2010 action thriller Inception provides a discerning outlook into the specificities of human thought processes and dream meaning through exceptional cinematography, labeling it an exemplar of filmmaking. The film follows the ambitious corporate thief Dom Cobb as he attempts to infiltrate a man’s mind and place an idea through the act of inception. Employing “dream sharing”, Cobb controls both the appearance and feel of the subconscious world, but at the alarming cost of being trapped should he fail his mission. Nolan brilliantly combines mise-en-scéne elements of setting and sound design, with inimitable cinematography and editing styles to project the dream world on a film medium, narrating a story that reveals the blurred line between fantasy and reality. By doing so, the film builds upon traditional conventions of moviemaking while developing its own style and motifs that are remarkably distinctive.
Kammerer, Dietmar. Video Surveillance in Hollywood Movies. Surveillance & Society CCTV Special (eds. Norris, McCahill and Wood) 2(2/3): 464-473. 2004. Online Article.
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence is a Steven Spielberg science fiction drama film, which conveys the story of a younger generation robot, David, who yearns for his human mother’s love. David’s character stimulates the mind-body question. What is the connection between our “minds” and our bodies?