Expertise takes on many roles, a person can broaden their skills to take on other roles when necessary to reach a goal. In film history, a person who is known for his proficiency at film-making is the enigmatic Charles Chaplin. He took on many roles to create movies that were memorable for their story-telling. He would create, act and direct the movies. In this picture, Chaplin and his colleagues are filming the 1925 film, The Gold Rush. The photograph has a story behind it as there were many things going on in the actor-director's personal and professional life during the time this picture was taken. Chaplin's expertise in film-making is portrayed here as it is an example of his numerous roles he took to create a film. Chaplin's talent at …show more content…
There are also chairs, a megaphone and a camera. Farther back, there is a man sitting down who may be a backround actor or a stagehand taking a break. It is important to note that The Gold Rush was originally going to be filmed entirely in Truckee, California. However, due to many constraints this could not happen. According to Charlie Chaplin and "The Gold Rush" by the Sierra College, "However, the Sierra winter weather turned nasty and bitterly cold. Many crew members camedown with colds and Chaplin contracted influenza." As a result, the film and this photograph takes place at Chaplin's studios in the …show more content…
He started United Artists with film stars, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks and the director D.W. Griffith in 1919. His first film, Woman of Paris did not do so well as it was critcally acclaimed but did not do well in the box office. According to the website, charliechaplin.org, "Never had a Chaplin film done such bad business." His next movie had to be a hit. Chaplin's next film would cost a lot to create. According to the Sierra website, "It [The Gold Rush] cost $923,886-the most expensive comedy of the entire silent-film era." Fortunately, the movie would be considered a hit and gross $6 million. In addition, Chaplin's personal life had taken a strange twist. He had started a relationship with a young woman named Lita Grey. Six months into shooting the film, she had discovered she was pregnant and soon the couple married. According to the Chaplin website, "As a result of these events, the production was shut down for three months." The marriage would end in divorce in 1927. Work on The Gold Rush was stopped for three months and Grey was dropped from the film. The actress was replaced by another named Georgia
When given the task of comparing the sound design used in Raising Arizona and Drive, the task is fairly simple. Drive, which came out in 2011 and is a crime drama, is in no way like the sound design used it Raising Arizona, a black comedy film that was released in 1987. Given the nature of, Drive, the soundtrack for this film is understandably, intense while the soundtrack for Raising Arizona is noticeably, campy. I believe that these particular soundtracks, while different, are perfect for their respective films. In Raising Arizona, the music of the film has a folksy and goofy vibe that fits with all of the particular scenes in the film such as the mugshot scene and the diaper robbery. However, the soundtrack for Drive is prominently dark, powerful and intangible, something that fits most of the scenes of the film such as the numerous fight and driving scenes.
Simplicity is one of the big keys to the success of The Cameraman. The simple plot is of the age-old yet noble type (“hero-sees-girl, is-knocked-off-feet, goes-to-great-lengths-to-be-noticed, getting-in-much-trouble-en-route”). It has Buster trying to get a break as a cameraman into the newsreel department of a famous studio (MGM, and win the affections of the office receptionist, Sally, played by a beautiful Marceline Day. His endeavors land him in all sorts of uproarious situations, including several hilarious altercations with the romantic rival, a snooty “made” newsman played by Harry Goodwin. The thematic elements stay simple as well. Pungent with cynicism, irony rears its humorous head on more than one occasion. These bits of the film are delivered with perfect timing, laced with a little seriousness. One such instance is near the latter end of movie when Buster, in a daring stunt, saves Sally from drowning. He leaves her unconscious on the shore momentarily while he rushes into a pharmacy mere yards away to get something to help her. During those few moments, she awakens, and Buster’s rival, who had abandoned her to drown in order to save his own skin, happens upon her just as she opens her eyes. She thinks he has saved her from certain peril and Buster emerges from the drug store with bandages and the like just in time to see them stroll off into the sunset, arm in arm. Another such moment comes when Buster has gone through hell and high water to obtain footage of a gang war going on in the city streets, only to find that he had never loaded film into his camera. Uncomplicated twists such as these lend to the easy, fun watching that The Cameraman is. There is no profoundly deep symbolism to be found, and the lack of any attempt at thought-provoking societal depictions really lend to a successful package. This is supposed to be comedy, and a marvelous one it is. Though simple, the plot of The Cameraman is perfectly constructed.
As most folks do, when I think of the term “Gold Rush”, it conjures up images of the West! Images of cowboys and crusty old miners ruthlessly and savagely staking their claims. Immigrants coming by boat, folks on foot, horseback, and covered wagon form all over the US to rape and pillage the land that was newly acquired from Mexico through the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo… California. But let me tell you about a gold rush of another kind, in another place, even more significant. It was the actual first documented discovery of gold in the United States! Fifty years earlier…in North Carolina!
Orson Welles’ production of Citizen Kane revolutionized film making by mastering the art of using cutting edge techniques to make it one of the most single revolutionary and groundbreaking films in the history of movies. Citizen Kane, released in 1941, is thought to be the single most revolutionary and groundbreaking film in the history of movies (Rotten Tomatoes). Welles used many techniques in the production of the film that were never even thought of before that point. In this way, the film Citizen Kane is an extremely innovative film and definitely pushes the limits of its genre at the time. Welles completely changed the course of the production of film by introducing a completely new way of writing, directing, and through his use of techniques.
'Shawshank Redemption' directed by Frank Darabont is a compelling film about the life of one of its prisoners, Andy. many film techniques were used through out the film as a clever way of conveying main themes. This essay is going to examine how Darabont used camera angles and colour effectively in this film to portray the idea of power.
Smith, Scott. The Film 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential People in the History of
When talking about Billy Wilder as a director a popular, controversial topic is whether or not he is considered an auteur. There have been many critics who have attempted to prove that Wilder is not an auteur but many have fallen short on providing a strong and convincing argument. Billy Wilder is an auteur for many reasons; the most obvious reason though is by comparing his four most famous movies. Wilder was very involved in the process of making the film and was often the writer, producer and director of the film. By being so involved he was able to make scenes his own, especially since Wilder wanted every detail of the scene written out in the script. He also has similar themes of cynicism towards different elements of human nature but would lighten the mood of the film by adding a comedic element to the scene. Wilder also enjoyed pushing the boundaries of screenwriting and to be able to get an approval from the Production Code Administration, he had to add comedy to the script. Another reason that proves Wilder as an auteur is through his work with famous actors and actress. Wilder had a knack for dealing with difficult actors and was often able to make them who he wanted. Finally Billy Wilder stuck to very traditional uses of camera angles and movements that set him aside from other directors. Billy Wilder was not only an influential director but also an auteur through his involvement in writing, directing, and producing the film, the cynicism mixed with comedy shown through the characters, and his traditional use of camera movement and angles compared to other directors during the 1950’s.
What do you think about when watching a film? Do you focus on the characters' good looks or the dialogue? Or do you go behind the scenes and think about what made the film? Maybe, it's even a combination of all three. No matter what comes to mind first, an important part of any good movie will be what you see. A camera and good director or cinematographer is needed to make that possible. Different directors and cinematographers will use different camera techniques to make you focus on what you see. Camera techniques show emphasis in films, because they make you focus more on situations and people. They are especially important in Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream.
The Gold Rush was one of the most influential times in California History. During the four years from 1848-1852, 400,000 new people flooded into the state. People from many countries and social classes moved to California, and many of them settled in San Francisco. All this diversity in one place created a very interesting dynamic. California during the Gold Rush, was a place of colliding ideals. The 49ers came from a very structured kind of life to a place where one was free to make up her own rules.
Orson Welles’ career took place in the mid-thirties to late eighties in the twentieth century. He began his career at age fifteen, starting in Ireland, making his acting debut in the Gate Theater in Dublin. By eighteen, Welles started to appear in off-Broadway productions. It was then that he also launched his radio career. By age twenty, he had presented alternate interpretations of certain well-known plays and movies. At age twenty-two he was the most notable Broadway star from Mercury Theater and, because of this, BBC radio gave him an hour each week to broadcast whatever he pleased. That’s when, at age twenty-five, he broadcast War of the Worlds, which caused panic due to the “Martian invasions”. By the time he came into Hollywood, Welles could write, direct, cast, star, and edit movies without disturbance from the studios. It was during this time he created Citizen Kane- the only movie he completely finished. He retired from Hollywood at age thirty-three in 1948, but still continued to create his own films.
The Wild West has long been depicted as lawless, violent, and chaotic. The West was populated with strangers from various backgrounds, countries, and nationalities who wanted to get their hands on gold. Farmers and business people deserted their lives to look for gold and a prosperous life. The gold rush in California attracted 80,000 men in 1849. It transformed California from a calm society into a violent one. San Francisco held more than five hundred bars and one thou...
Entertainment has traveled from burlesque and vaudeville to high tech filmmaking, and this is the physical existence of our century. The Era of Silent Film in the early 1900s had such geniuses as Charlie Chaplin who paved the road to the time of the "talkies" and to development of sound. If not for him and some other "greats" along the way, where would our film culture be today? Much of the history of our nation seems to be held as digital recordings through visuals. In this respect it is interwoven with the current era of computer information because we want to preserve and record the history of the present as well as at the turn of the millennium.
The absolutely stunning film, Citizen Kane (1941), is one of the world’s most famous and highly renowned films. The film contains many remarkable scenes and cinematic techniques as well as innovations. Within this well-known film, Orson Welles (director) portrays many stylistic features and fundamentals of cinematography. The scene of Charles Foster Kane and his wife, Susan, at Xanadu shows the dominance that Kane bears over people in general as well as Susan specifically. Throughout the film, Orson Welles continues to convey the message of Susan’s inferiority to Mr. Kane. Also, Welles furthers the image of how demanding Kane is of Susan and many others. Mr. Welles conveys the message that Kane has suffered a hard life, and will continue to until death. Welles conveys many stylistic features as well as fundamentals of cinematography through use of light and darkness, staging and proxemics, personal theme development and materialism within the film, Citizen Kane.
Edwin S. Porter contributed the following editing styles and techniques to film. He used a dissolve between every shot just and he frequently had the same action repeated across the dissolves. According to Filmrefrence.com “Edison Company’s new Vitascope projector in Indiana and California, and Porter worked with them as a projectionist in Los Angeles and Indianapolis. Later that year he went to work for Raff & Gammon in New York but left after the Edison Company broke with Raff & Gammon. He then toured with entertainers through the Caribbean as an exhibitor of motion pictures, and in early 1897 he helped build the projector at the Eden Musée”(Filmrefrence.com.2014).
(YO REMEMBER TO PUT IN A HEADER THING)Films are the most widely enjoyed artform in the modern era; they give beautiful scenery, gripping stories, enthralling characters and, above all, they teach to feeling. Though mMuch of what is felt may not be around were it not for a specific pioneer in this artistic industry. His name was Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, but his more recognizable stage name was Charlie Chaplin. At a glance he may seem to be just a funny performer, but his material would change the world forever. Charlie chaplin is the most significant filmmaker in history. (Add why by stating what you talk about in your body paragraphs)