'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.
The use of camera angles was a clear way of defining a characters personality. The warden, Norton, is often seen from a low angles which highlights his high status in the prison and his authority.”Your arse belongs to me”. This effective way of showing Norton's position of power allows the audience to understand the significance of him. The prisoners, however are frequently shown from a high angle which emphasizes their lack of power and authority. The ...
This film captures this class distinction without subduing the atmosphere through the use of a variety of cinematic devices. “A good film is not a bag of cinematic devices but the embodiment, through devices, of a vision, an underlying theme” (Barnett, 274). The audience can see this theme of the realities of the oppression, poverty and despair of this time period through the use of the things mentioned, but also through the character development that is driven by the character’s hopelessness. Each of the characters associated with the lower class is motivated by the conditions, which are viewed through the cinematic devices mentioned above: color, spherical lenses, long shots, and high angle shots. Sources Cited:.
Spike Lee does many fascinating things from a directorial standpoint, which makes his film (dare I say, joint), Do the Right Thing so interesting to watch. Writer, director Lee makes much use of the high and low angle shots. He does this to draw clear contrasts between the two elders of the block, Da Mayor and Mother Sister and to make conflict more apparent.
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.
stunning visual style to consider the forces that threaten human agency. In the case of the charac- ter Raymond Shaw, he becomes brainwashed and easily controlled by his enemies and his own mother, who forces him into an being an unwitting murderer. Set during the Cold War, the film includes realistic representations of government paranoia, embedded into a fictional communist plot of memory implantation and brainwashing soldiers. Made clear to the audience in one of the most disturbing and entertaining scenes of the film, the American soldiers are unknowingly psy- chologically reprogramed into subservient robots with no control over their actions. If human agency
It is in conclusion of viewing Radiance that gave the impression that it composed such significant issues to the public. The delicate subjects that needed to be expressed were efficiently presented by Deborah Mailman, Rachelle Maze and Trisha Morton-Thomas. Such a modern approach concerning the issues was constructed for the viewer and this film and will be remembered by many as a masterpiece in Australian cinematography directed by Perkins. The movie itself, and is agreed personally, that it is perfectly clear that there is a strong cultural and political message demonstrated to the public.
This week’s readings of the reviews of Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’ and Marilyn Fabe’s “Political Cinema: Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’, raised a number of questions regarding not only the moral issues the film addresses but also the intention of the artist. This dialectical opposition, which Pamela Reynolds suggests “challenges the audience to choose” (Reynolds, p.138) between the narrativized hostility shown between that of the hero and villain. More specifically Lee’s portrayal of violence vs passive opposition. This can be perceived through Lee’s technical employment of contradictory quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcom X at the conclusion of the film, which not only highlights this concern but also deluges further into themes of political opposition. Marylin Fabe discusses this where she states that Spike Lee’s film carries a “disturbing political message” (Fabe, p.191). Arguably, ‘Do the Right Thing’ acmes themes of racism (Black vs White); with underlining motifs of imperialism (colonisers’ vs colonised), psychoanalytic (power vs powerlessness) and even Marxist theory (ownership vs public space/consumption), with Clarence Page stating that Lee provides a “public service… (not trying) to provide all the answers, but raising the questions.” (Reid, P.144). In saying this we explore this concept of the role of the artist, with Georgopulos stating that the role of the artist is to create a consciousness within the audience by revealing a fraught set of truths about the human condition. Thusly, the reactions and responses to the films reveal Lee to be successful in conveying his intentions, which back in its zenith, explored this issue of racism in a way that had rarely been seen, and presented the ways in which t...
The first social issue portrayed through the film is racial inequality. The audience witnesses the inequality in the film when justice is not properly served to the police officer who executed Oscar Grant. As shown through the film, the ind...
The movie Shawshank Redemption depicts the story of Andy Dufresne, who is an innocent man that is sentenced to life in prison. At Shawshank, both Andy and the viewers, witness typical prison subculture.
In cinema, lighting, blocking and panning drastically influence what an audience will notice and take away from a scene. Orson Welles’s 1941 Citizen Kane has numerous examples of effectively using these aspects within mise-en-scène, cinematography and editing to portray the importance of specific events and items in the film. The scene where Kane writes and then publishes his “Declaration of Principles” (37:42-39:42) in the New York Daily Inquirer after buying them focuses on important elements of the film, aiding the audience by combining lighting, blocking and panning to define significant roles and objects that further the movie as a whole.
Psycho is a brilliant example of Hitchcock’s pure command of cinema, in which many different film techniques are used to great effect to instill terror and unease in the viewer. The mise-en-scene, in particular, is Hitchcock’s way of visually selling the terror in a way that dialogue and script never could on its own. The shower scene, in particular, is notable for demonstrating some of Hitchcock’s best use of mise-en-scene – the shower itself is bare, nondescript, with the translucent curtains that allow ominous silhouettes to be seen through it. In terms of costumes, Norman Bates’ equally nondescript clothing helps to sell the mild-mannered man he is ostensibly supposed to be, while the harrowing wig and dress he is eventually revealed
With every film, there are purposely intended details which are used that may seem unnecessary or irrelevant, but are vital components of the diegesis. For most, it can be helpful to re-watch a movie to get a better understanding for what is going on. To appreciate and completely comprehend a film to its full extent, one must look to identify the five principles of form. When analyzing the plot of Get Out, these principles must be addressed because of the significant details that captivate this entire story. When considering how the aspects of function, similarity and repetition, development, difference and variation, and unity/disunity shape the film, viewers can get a grip for why the director uses certain tactics to compose each scene for
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.
‘Our interest in the parallels between the adaptation inter-texts is further enhanced by consideration of their marked differences in textual form,’
...and framing, Hitchcock expresses the horror of wrongful imprisonment through visual devices. Hitchcock allows Hannay to escape the snare of the police into the open world, as Hannay finds himself outside in a parade. Hannay, now free from the confines of the sheriff’s office and walking amidst the people, is now vindicated, living momentarily in the comfort of anonymity. But Hitchcock re-plays his fears, so of course Hannay will soon be back in the binding spotlight in the next sequence. Yet it is more than the fear of police and confinement that is a mark of the Hitchcock film - it is the visual expression of these psychological states that are examples of the artistry of Hitchcock as an auteur. And as seen through the first shot of the chosen sequence in which the sheriff’s laugh is merged with the crofter’s wife’s screams, Hitchcock went beyond the German Expressionists that he admired, manipulating sound to express ideas in their purest, most subtle forms.
Machuco, Antonio. "Violence and Truth in Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino." Anthropoetics. 16.2 (2011): n. page. Web. 23 Feb. 2012.