The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 film directed by Victor Fleming, which follows Dorothy Gale on her journey through the magical land of Oz. Dorothy is swept away from a farm in Kansas to the land of Oz in a tornado and embarks on a quest to see the Wizard who can help her return to her home in Kansas. The director, uses a number cinematic techniques such as camera angles, lighting, colour and dialogue to portray a central theme of There’s no place like home.
Dorothy Gale, the protagonist of the story is a young, optimistic girl who lives on a farm in Kansas, which is a place in Midwest America that lacks colour and mainly consists of flat country land and has minimal trees. The films overall theme is illustrated by Dorothy’s famous line that ultimately
…show more content…
When the film begins on the farm in Kansas, the scene is shot in black and white, creating a sepia tone of colour to represent the country dust in the air adding to the effect of the ordinary unsaturated colour of the Kansas landscape. In contrast to the Kansas setting, lighting is profoundly used by the director to enhance the overall emotions of the film. Fleming uses a combination of the set, lighting techniques, and colour to create a magical place with very bright colours and deep focus lens to bring the land of Oz to life. In the scene where Dorothy enters Oz, the lighting is positioned between Dorothy and the foreground plants. The director uses the three point lighting technique so both Dorothy and the colour plants are highlighted but no shadows visible. This shot was done with a background of the black and white house behind Dorothy. The Land of Oz is filled with beautiful colours to create the illusion of a happy world that enhances the feel of fantasy. The allusion of contrasts between the real world and the land of Oz support the central theme there’s no place like home. In this way, the director enhances the picture of the film by the use of colour to reflect a mood experienced by the character in the different places. This colour transition used by the director, incorporates two completely different Mise en scene …show more content…
At the beginning of the film, Dorothy sings “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, where she quotes “If happy little bluebirds fly, beyond the rainbow why, oh, why can’t I? Portraying to the audience that Dorothy wants more than the life she has. However, as the film progresses, she does indeed understand that this fantasyland is not her home and she has obligations to her aunt and uncle. She is not swayed by the Land of Oz to the extent that she wants to reside there and realises that her roots and identity lie back in Kansas. The director uses the quote ‘There’s no place like home’ as it represents the major theme and reinforces an understanding of the importance of being true to where you come from. Finally, at the end of the film, Dorothy acknowledges the lure of faraway places while affirming that her emotional compass always points homeward in the quote "If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard," Dorothy says to further illustrate her awakened state of mind she has acquired through her adventures in the Land of Oz.
In conclusion, the protagonist of The Wizard of Oz Dorothy Gale, is initially unsatisfied with her life on her Aunt and Uncle’s farm and dreams of a foreign land over the rainbow, where there are no worries or disasters. Although as the story progresses, Victor Fleming incorporates a wide range of
...are similar in both her ordinary and special worlds, and she must work throughout the rest of the film to resolve them. The Wizard of Oz can be analyzed in many different ways, but the depth of the plot is what gives this movie its timeless qualities making it a favorite still today, and one can’t also help to note how cinematically advanced this movie was for its time making it truly a masterpiece.
After Dorothy was swept off of her feet into a tornado she then lands in an odd place she had never seen before. It was an old playground that had been deserted after the munchkins (children) had been stuck to the walls. When Dorothy landed she killed the evil witch by accident not realizing that was the one who stuck the munchkins to the wall. All of the munchkins were grateful and made sure that Dorothy knew what great deed she had just done. Later in the scene the munchkins sang and danced to a song called “He’s the Wizard”, which described who The Wiz was and how he could help her get home. There danced in sync as they performed around the playground with all of their voices harmonizing as well. They pointed her in the right direction and she began to go forward but when she looked back to ask another question they were gone. She then began to sing a song that described how all she wanted to do was go home and go back where she belonged.
*Note: "All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be" Dorothy's life will only really be all she touches and all she sees in her Kansas home because Oz exists only in her pretty little head.
“Were off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of oz” One of the infamous phrases from one of the most well know classics of all time. The original movie titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was made in 1939 by Frank Baum. This film featured stars such as Judy Garland, Jack Hayley and many others. This was not only a movie, it was a fantasy, and a musical storytelling adventure with unusual characters that shook the audience. This was one of the first films to make it to the big screen with color. Because of its success, this film has been remade many times with multiple different spins making it rhetorical. Over the years this film has become one of the best films of all time and is still watched today among all ages
Shot 3: Long shot. View across Munchkin City. Starting Center frame, Dorothy gazes around all of Munchkin City, walks around about ten steps. Camera pans slowly right, rising higher and higher seeing all of Oz. No zooming in just panning. Turning left to find the center of the city and Dorothy as she re-enters the frame. Music in now more aw inspiring, heavenly, angelic like, nature sounds still present.
Lions and tigers and politics oh my? The Wonderful Wizard of OZ written by L. Frank Baum has become an American classic since 1900 with its simple good hearted storyline, but enough parallels have been found within the written text linking it to politics that suggests otherwise. Baum claims to have written the story solely for the pleasure of children and that he could never have imagined the impact it would have on the public. When the text was adapted to film nearly 40 years later, it became an instant block buster and captured the hearts of the movie going public. It remains an American favorite today thanks to its charismatic actors, dazzling colors, and unforgettable music. But The Wizard of Oz is not the simple tale it alludes to, under its façade of charm lies hidden themes and motifs filled with political symbolism referring to the Populist Party.
In her travels Dorothy meets the green people of Emerald city, the yellow winkies, and the blue munchkins. Each of the three different types of people reacted to Dorothy and her people differently, the munchkins were warm and welcoming, the people of Emerald city were cautious and courteous and the yellow winkies were curious and helpful. The distinction in color was made because each color represented a defining characteristic, the people of Emerald city represented greed as they were not only green, the color of money, but they were also heavily isolated from the rest of the people of Oz; the people of Emerald city lived in the richest city as seen with the jewels that surrounded the houses as such they did not openly welcome strangers nor did they treat them kindly a sign of disdain for outsiders, they represented the higher class in society, or the richest class. The yellow winkies represented hard workers, and the working to lower class as they were not only very skilled at every craft but their enslavement to the much more powerful which represented the constant oppression of the less powerful, or poorer class in society. The blue munchkins represented the middle class, not necessarily know for wealth or for being poor, they are kind and strive to be successful as seen with Boq one of the richest munchkins. Each of the different people of Oz and
The film begins with aerial camera shots taken from a helicopter that reveal the long secluded path to the Overlook Hotel. Kubrick did this to give a peaceful and calming feeling that misleads the audience about what is soon to be the winter home for the Torrance family. As the scenery changes, the different landscapes foreshadow the end of the film. The aerial shots make the forest look like the hedge maze next to the hotel, which is a huge part of the plot and where Jack ends up at the end. The idea of a maze is crucial to the plot, as well as the confusion and feeling of being lost that “The Shini...
The Wizard of Oz is a fiction story written by L. Frank Baum. The story has two main settings. The first setting is, Dorothy’s home, the Kansas prairies. The prairies are described as dry and gray. The second setting is the land of Oz. Oz is opposed from Kansas, it is colorful, bright, and full of joy. The Wizard of Oz has a grate theme or message behind the story. The message is that we all have good qualities in us, but it is up to us to use them.
“There’s no place like home” could be considered the main message of the move. Dorothy has just spent all this time in Oz trying to reach the Wizard only to have the Wizard get taken away in the hot air balloon that was meant to take her home. Glinda the Good Witch of the North comes to the rescue and tells Dorothy to click her heels together three times and she will be home but before that, Glinda asks what she learned during her journey in Oz and Dorothy says that home is the most important thing, it 's where all the love is and where she can always turn to in times of trouble. In Robert Ebert’s review of the movie he specifically states why this message is so important; “For kids of a certain age, home is everything, the center of the world” (Ebert 6). Another message highlighted in the movie is the idea and importance of friendship. As stated, during her journey in Oz, Dorothy meets three friends: The Scarecrow, The Tin Man and The Cowardly Lion (whom coincidentally resemble her three friends back in Kansas: Hunk, Hickory and Zeke) these three men overall save Dorothy from the Wicked Witch, help her get to the Emerald City and in the end, home. Ebert also agrees with this point and does it by tying in the main message of “home.” “...touching on the key lesson of childhood, which is that someday the child will not be a child, that home will no longer exist, that adults will be no help because now the child is
This is where the “leftover bond money” from her daddy’s jail bond gets delivered to her. Granik portrays a resolution and a sense of happiness that would never be attained in real life. A technique which is used to highlight the epitome of this happiness is the lighting. In this particular scene, you’ll notice it is significantly brighter than the rest of the film. This is because it’s the only scene which the sun is shining. This allows the audience to undergo a change of heart. It’s an offered resolution, which allows us (the audience) to distract away from all the misery and heartbreak. To reconsider the harshness of society. And makes us entitled to feel happy for the character. However, like earlier in the film where the dialogue was distracting away from the almost too perfect house, fit for the societal circumstances of the Ozarks. It outlines again that this film is a Hollywood representation of the unprivileged society. A resolution that is offered after the character having to go through traumatic events would be an unforeseen occurrence in real life. The particular resolution distracts away from the real life circumstances of poverty and welfare in America. This allows again for the viewers to reconsider the film and relate to real life thinking that people do get resolutions. Furthermore that people are “free to” but not understanding that they’re not “free
Sometimes, the hardest parts of life can make one a better person in the long run, it just takes time. In the novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy learns the importance of being independent and brave. By going on the journey to Oz, she runs into many challenges throughout the novel that help her grow into a hero at the end of the novel. In the story, Dorothy lives a normal life, but then there was a twister that hit her house and flew her away into a different land. This land was called, munchkin land. Here, Dorothy was welcomed, then she tells the princess she wants to go home and the princess tells her the only way to get home was to follow the yellow brick road to Oz. So she follows the road and runs into many obstacles, but in the end, Dorothy ends up talking to Oz and getting home safely. Dorothy grows into a hero because she had to face her fear of defeating the witch and makes it back home, while also helping out the scarecrow, tiger, and the tin man and she has to learn how it is important to be independent.
The story consists of a poor, but yet joyful girl named Dorothy; who lives in Kansas. One day a cyclone picks her home up and drops it in a distant land filled with beautiful landscapes and magic. Dorothy is intrigued but wants to return home. On her journey to meet the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy makes friends; the brainless Scarecrow, heartless Tin Woodman, and a courage lacking Lion. They go throw a number of turbulences to obtain their wishes. Dorothy finally learns through the good witch that all along she had her ticket home on her feet. She taps her feet and is in Kansas with her Aunt Em and Uncle (Baum, 2013).
The prologue begins with a scene set towards the end of the book as the Wicked Witch of the West looks down from above Oz on Dorothy and her traveling companions. She sees them traveling toward the Emerald City along the Yellow Brick Road, which has become broken.
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).