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 …show more content…
a particular purpose. The first principle of film form to analyze is its function. In film, function pertains to the purpose for each element the director uses in the movie. In the beginning of Get Out, the first scene shows a man getting followed by a man in a white car, who drags him off the street and kidnaps him. The purpose behind this scene is to foreshadow that this information would soon lead to some answers about what is going on in the movie. Although the viewer does not have any knowledge about who the man is in the opening frame, this is a piece of the puzzle that will later explain its significance to the plot. The main characters Chris Washington, and Rose Armitage are an interracial couple who are on the way for Chris to meet her parents for the first time. For Chris, he feels uncomfortable because he is a black man dating a white woman. Rose then assures Chris that her parents aren’t racists, and how they would do no harm to him. The function behind Rose’s response to Chris’ anxiety is purely to deceive him. The audience does not yet know, but Rose is simply a decoy to trick Chris into giving up his brain, and becoming a passenger to his own body. By pretending to be his girlfriend, Rose’s purpose is simply to make sure that Chris stays at her parents’ house long enough until they are ready to apprehend him. In the scene where Chris is talking to her parents about smoking, he rejects Missy’s offer to let her hypnotize him to make him quit. Missy’s purpose in this whole plan is to put him under hypnosis so that he goes into the “sunken place”. When the Armitage family has the party, this serves as a function to be an auction for Chris’ body. It appears to be just a regular gathering, but when Chris walks off with Rose, the scene changes to show Chris’ picture up on a poster, and Dean Armitage auctioning him off to the members of the party. These elements of the film include specific character actions that have a necessary function to the plot. In film, similarity and repetition is frequently used to emphasize how certain details highlight different occurrences in the movie.
In Get Out, the director, Jordan Peele uses many different motifs that give insight to each scene. One example that can be seen multiple times is the deer. The first time the audience is introduced to the deer is when Chris and Rose are driving on the way to her parents’ house, and they hit a deer with their car. The deer is brought up again, this time Dean is pleased to find out that Rose killed a deer, as he explains how much he hates them. When Chris is tied up to the chair, there is a dear head mounted right above the TV screen. A parallel could be drawn between Chris and the deer, when considering how dean has treated both people of Chris’ race and deer. Both are innocent beings, people who have been abducted by the Armitage family, and the deer. The repetition of the deer could symbolize how close Chris was to becoming just like one of them. Another way repetition is used in this film is through sound. Every time there is something happening that involves Chris’ fate, there is a specific tone that is played. For example, during the auction when they reveal Chris’ picture, the tone is being played. Also, when Missy has taken Chris to the sunken place and he is watching himself fall, the same tone is being played. The director uses this to grab the attention of the viewer and to draw connections between repeated sequences of
sounds. The principle of development in film is putting together the progression of the movie from start to finish, while looking at the patterning of similarities and differences. In Get Out, the development of Chris’ suspicion steadily increases. At first, he was concerned that Rose’s family wouldn’t accept him because he was black. Then as he begins to find out that her family has black servants, he becomes even more suspicious. Eventually, his suspicion turns into an investigation, as he has now figured out that something odd is going on. As he investigates, Chris uses his phone to take a picture of Logan, which sets him off and causes him to run at him. Chris is beginning to see a pattern of similarities between every black person he meets at the Armitage house. He notices how they all behave in weird almost robotic ways, and it’s now evident to him that there is no coincidence that all of the black people there are acting strange. These particular events are important to recognize as a development of Chris’ intuition, which continuously changes throughout the course of the story. Difference and variation in a film give change to what is being represented in the movie. At a certain point in the movie, a turning point will create a juxtaposition created by a conflict in the plot. In Get Out, the turning point in the story occurs when Chris breaks free from the house right before he was about have his brain surgically transplanted with Jim Hudson. As Chris had been in love with Rose for the majority of the movie, the plot twists when she doesn’t give him the car keys, and he learns she was setting him up the entire time. At the point of Chris’ escape, Rose is now out to kill him. At this point, the relationship between Chris and Rose has shifted from a romantic lover, to a complete enemy. After Rose fails to kill him and gets shot by her “grandfather”, Chris even attempts to choke her out, but stops as soon as the cop car arrives. There is also a variation of the plot once Rose addresses the groundskeeper Walter, as her grandfather, and the maid Georgina, as her grandmother. For most the story, the audience is aware that these two are caretakers for the Armitage family, and that they were there to take care of Rose’s grandparents before they died. Although, in this scene the audience learns that Georgina and Walter are actually Rose’s grandparents, because Dean used the brains of his parents and swapped them with those of Walter and Georgina. These events show how variation can change the perspectives of characters in the film. When looking at how unity and disunity reflect the importance of a film, it is important to have a clear understanding of how every element in the film cohesively connects to relationships in the story. In Get Out, there is unity after the end of the film. Although every relationship that Chris made was ended after he killed the entire Armitage family, his friend from the beginning of the story, Rod Williams is still alive. Once the storyline is complete and Chris makes it out alive, it’s clear to see how each relationship ends up. There are no loose ends at the end of the film, making it clear for the viewer to see unity in the story, because there are no questions left to be asked about the ties made between Chris and any of the other characters in the film. In conclusion, Using the five principles of film form is essential when evaluating film, because it is the best way to have a clear understanding for why the director uses certain cuts, sound, color, character action, lighting, and other aspects of the filmmaking process. When breaking down the five principles in Get Out, it is the most effective way to recognize the purpose for elements in the film which may seem unimportant, but have significant detail which cohesively connect to the plot.
In the biographical film Mabo the Audience is positioned by the filmmakers to see Eddie Koiki Mabo as a hardworking, tenacious and strong man.
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.
I was raised on the movie The Sandlot. My my dad played baseball through college and my brother has played since he could hold a bat. My mom, sister, and I also played softball when we were little. One could say that we are a “baseball family.” My dad first introduced this movie to me, and I was attracted to it not only because it is a fun film about baseball, but also because it has an entertaining soundtrack. The music fits well with the storyline and makes you feel like you are playing baseball and hanging out with the boys in the sixties. I also was raised listening to this genre of music and more songs from some of these bands. Throughout this paper, I will critique the main songs in The Sandlot that make it popular, as well as give a short biography of each band.
Movie makers have agendas. They get their ideas across by using cinematic techniques and styles which make us view a certain subject in the light that they put it in. I will discuss the differing techniques used by the makers of "Stepping Razor" and describe what the overall impression of the movie has on the viewer, and what the agenda of the director is.
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
When Roald Dahl used repetition to add to the scare factor in his short story, “Lamb to Slaughter”. Throughout the story he used repetition to emphasize things. Like when he repeats “They always treated her kindly.” and “The two detectives were exceptionally nice to her.” It was to emphasize that they treated her as the victim rather than a suspect. The repetition used made me curious when reading the story. Whenever I saw something repeated, I asked myself ‘Why would they do that?’ I became intrigued and wanted to read more and find out. By repeating, Roald created suspense and anticipation for the reader to get to the climax, prompting the reader to keep reading. In conclusion, repetition definitely made the story scarier.
In the film ‘Into the Wild’ directed by Sean Penn, there are some scenes in the movie and enable us to understand how it was developed. I found one important scene in the movie, this is the scene in which Chris’ feels that his journey was almost end, the director uses some camera shots, dialogues and some soundtracks for us to see and understand the scene in this movie.
"Fed Up (Soechtig, 2014)." narrated by Katie Couric, focuses on the growing link between sugar consumption and the obesity epidemic. The film aggressively attacks the food industry, advertising, and the government who, it claims, all contribute to the U.S. sugar-dependent, obesity problem. The film sets out to prove the government, and food industry is knowingly causing an increase in the amount of obese children. It reserves its most critical comments for government advisory panels who make and enforce food and health policy, and its failure to properly regulate the food industry. They claim lobbyists for the sugar board have been instrumental in the removal of negative statistics from research papers worldwide. Instead
...successful collaboration of sound, colour, camera positioning and lighting are instrumental in portraying these themes. The techniques used heighten the suspense, drama and mood of each scene and enhance the film in order to convey to the spectator the intended messages.
In his first thought, Greg M. Smith establishes nothing is random within fictional lives. First off, he points out how easy it is to treat films like everything happens by chance, but proceeds to prove this is not the case. We are encouraged to get caught up in the movie’s world. Even a pedestrian of a scene has specific directions to follow. Outfits are chosen at length. Environments are carefully picked for being utilized by filmmakers. Everything in a movie has a purpose and has been edited and reviewed several times before reaching the big screen.
The theme of isolation occurs often in film. Although it is usually used in horror movies or suspenseful movies, it is also used often in drama or comedy genres. In horror films, isolation can be used to drive a man insane or it can come into play when a helpless victim is trying to escape a killer but no one is around to aid them. In drama, a character may lose a loved one and the
People can feel better about themselves after watching these types of movies. Using these elements together, it makes the movie better, but not only that, but each element helps each other out in the scene to make it a very good movie
...verything around us is made by our actions. Positive or negative they cause an effect that will ultimately lead to a different story base on how we interpret life. Narrative elements are used as a bridge by the directors in their film to create any master plot that is currently known. Any modification at any narrative element used by the director at important moments inside the story can help you portray a different master plot. This used of narrative elements can be best described as an ever changing process that takes place inside an individual’s head. Depending on the individual that may be exposed to those narrative elements can create different meanings. This new interpretation can be different for everyone. We have to be aware that one change in the surface scenery can lead to many ideal outcomes in our minds and that is the main power the audience has.
In regards to the Bible, the most common question one will ask is “what does this mean?” (Powell). With the Biblical undertones of mother! combined with its complicated allegories, this film left most viewers asking the same question. Due to its marketing campaign being shrouded in secrecy, a majority of viewers went into the theater not knowing much about the plot or meaning behind the film. This led to a multitude of angry reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with people stating that they had to Google the meaning behind the film to make sense of it. One reviewer wrote that the film was “horrible”, saying that “if you need to Google search the meaning of the movie when you get home, it was a failure” (Parker). The intensely negative reactions to mother! left people wondering what went wrong, given that the film had an all-star cast and a director previously responsible for other successful films like Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream. What distinguishes Get Out from mother! is the ability of the audience to comprehend and digest the meanings behind the film. According to director Darren Aronofsky and lead actress Jennifer Lawrence, the film is an allegory for the role of humanity in the destruction of the environment by characterizing mother nature and God played by Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, respectively (Ryzik). Despite critical acclaim, mother! has not been able to shake negative reception from general audiences who did not understand the message of the film. But the fault in this does not lie in the audience, the methods used in the marketing of this film are the likely culprits for its poor ratings and box office performance. By keeping the plot and message behind the movie mostly a secret, audiences were unable to fully comprehend the story and when people cannot understand something, they get angry. mother! relied too
A great film stems from a great script and in order to generate a great script one simple, yet hard to achieve, rule must be adhered to. The rule is to grab the attention of the audience and to grab it quickly because if the audience is not interested from the beginning they will not dedicate their time to complete reading the script or watching the film. To effectively grab the attention of the...