La La Land, a romantic yet dram-filled musical, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling is a phenomenal film for many reasons. Not only is this movie spectacular for the main plot; the journey through a young couple, Mia and Sebastian falling in love despite their differences and aspirations in life, but the use of elements and symbols are what makes this film stand out above a standard movie. The visual effects give off the obvious themes and meanings throughout the movie, but the music, colors, and imagery shown throughout the visual effects are what portrays the deeper themes. In order to discover these hidden themes, there must be a deeper level of concentration when watching the movie. These elements and symbols that result in giving the …show more content…
viewers a deeper meaning of the movie results in La La Lands above and beyond ratings. Because La La Land is a musical, music is obviously an important factor and element use in the movie. However, music is a shared Interest between Mia and Sebastian, resulting in music being one of the most significant elements used in this film. La La Land “celebrates the power of music and shows the audience what an impact it can have on the story” (ODYSSEY, The Importance of Music in ‘La La Land’.) What makes the much more significant is the fact that all the songs performed in the movie are original songs composed by composer Justin Hurwitz. Having orginal songs makes this musical that much more creative, along with giving the audience a more heartfelt connection to the characters and film as a whole. It would be hackneyed to use already existing songs, which isn’t like La La Land due to how original the film really is. Beyond that, Damien Chazelle, the writer and director of La La Land, did an excellent job of choosing music for this film. The music is what serves as the emotional and structural backbone of the movie, due to the fact that it immensely represents the character's interest along with the setting of the movie. The setting of the movie can be described as modern day Los Angeles, with a classic Hollywood vibe from the 50’s and 60’s. Color, plays a significant role in the setting throughout La La Land. If one was to only pay attention to the setting throughout the movie, one would notice that there is notable amount of bright, vibrant colors such as pink, red, blue, and yellow used extensively throughout the movie. These colors are shown on the surrounding buildings, nature, cars and characters clothing in order to give off that classic hollywood feel. For example, just in the very first scene, the first character that comes into play is shown wearing a bright yellow dress with white polka dots on it, giving off a first impression that although this is present day, there is a 50’s vibe already taking place. Another example of various amounts of colors being used in one setting is Mia’s apartment. Instantly, when she walks into her home, a viewer will notice the vibrant colors all throughout her home. Not only that, but all of her roommates are shown wearing a red, green, and yellow dress while convincing Mia to wear a royal blue dress. To further exemplify, when Mia and Sebastian start catching feelings for one another, the bold color use continues to shine through their relationship. However, as their relationship continues out of what some would call the “honeymoon phase” one would notice how the colors vanish significantly- showing that color is used to show the state of happiness and contentedness in Mia and Sebastian. This is important symbolism throughout La La Land. When Mia and Sebastian are shown blissfully in love versus when the couple goes through states of sorrowfulness, the coloration difference is evident. At the end of film, five years later, we find out that both Mia and Sebastian have both accomplished their dreams; Mia is a famous actress and Sebastian owns his own jazz club. When Mia finds herself at Sebastian's jazz club and Sebastian sees that Mia is there, the use of imagery is used as a “what if” or “picture perfect” result if Mia and Sebastian ended up together, starting from when they first ran into eachother at the restaurant up until that exact moment at Seb’s. Instead of Sebastian rudely running into Mia’s shoulder while Mia tries to compliment him on his piano playing, he walks right up to her and kisses her. This takes the viewer on a journey of Mia and Sebastian's life that includes everything that went wrong in real life, going as dreamt while traveling the world and having a family, all while staying together despite their differences in careers. The use of music, color and imagery in La La Land brings the viewer to discover the themes in this movie: romance, circularity, and identity. Romance is a theme that any viewers would be able to identify. Because this musical is about two people who fall in love, there is romance involved throughout their whole relationship, which is almost all of the movie. However, not only is there romance taking place throughout the couples relationship, but there is a more significant romance shown between Mia and her dream as well as Sebastian and his dream. This is where the conflict came into play, making Mia and Sebastian realize that in order to achieve their dreams, their romance that they created together would have to be separated. Another theme portrayed in La La Land is Circularity.
There are a few examples that support this theme, mostly dealing with Mia. At the very beginning of the film, Mia finds herself stuck in a traffic jam just like at the end of the movie. However, at the end of the movie is when Mia is famous. Unlike her being the driver like she was in the first traffic jam, Mia is in the passenger seat while her husband is driving. While stuck in traffic with her husband, they happen to be right next to an exit, giving Mia the idea to take the exit just so they do not have to sit through the time consuming traffic when they could be doing something more enjoyable. This almost seems that because Mia is a now big time actress, she has an easy getaway to solve simple problems like this in her life, whereas before she did not. There is also circularity shown at the coffee shop that Mia worked at in the beginning of the film. When Mia worked at the coffee shop, celebrities were stopping by all the time. While working, a celebrity in a red dress comes in and when Mia’s boss tells the celebrity “it’s on us”, the celebrity replies with “Oh no thank you, I insist” (La La Land). Mia is astounded by the women as if she was someone that Mia looked to as inspiration. Furthermore, five years later when Mia is in fact a celebrity, it shown how she walks into the same coffee shop that she used to work at, with employees flabbergasted to see her as well as offering her free coffee. Mias reply is simply “Oh no! Thank you” (La La Land), implying that Mia was in fact inspired by the celebrity five years before. Lastly, the last circularity theme example we see take place is how the setting of the movie took place in winter and ended up being winter at the very
end. The last and most important theme that takes place in La La Land is Identity. Both Mia and Sebastian have identities that they radiate and want to continue to radiate when they reach their goal in life. However, due to them continually failing when trying to reach success, both Mia and Sebastian go through a phase that shows them giving up only until the other person pushes them not to. If it was not for the influence each other had on one another, neither of their dreams would have became reality. They are both very thankful for the influence they had on one another in order to fully realize their own identities, even if that meant of letting go of each other.
All through this film moods were continuously changed through lighting and music creating a symbolic meaning behind every scene. An example
Dazed and Confused is a film that follows a plethora of characters on the last day of school before summer vacation. Although lacking in tangible plot, it makes a bold attempt to encompass and present the zeitgeist of the 1970s. In my opinion it is as if Dazed and Confused was produced in hopes of making those viewers who lived through the 1970s feel a sense of nostalgia. The film’s trajectory, harnessing of zeitgeist, and soundtrack are all very similar to George Lucas’s American Graffiti—a film that also successfully rooted in nostalgia. Dazed and Confused was released in 1993 and, like American Graffiti, was able to look over its shoulder to determine what music stood the test of time. The film attempts to epitomize what it meant for someone to grow up in the 1970s. Its success depends on its ability to recreate the spirit present in that era. In this paper I will talk about how the use of the popular soundtrack functions with the overall narrative, show ways in which characters actually interact with the music, how the soundtrack functions in a specific scene, explain my personal relationship to the soundtrack, and touch briefly on how the meaning of the film has changed over the course of time.
The film Wendy and Lucy, directed by Kelly Reichardt, presents a sparse narrative. The film has been criticised for its lack of background story, and as a short film, much of the story is left to the viewer to infer from what is presented in the plot. However, Wendy and Lucy is able to depict the intimate relationship between Wendy and her dog as well as reflecting more broadly on the everyday, and commenting on the current economic state of the film’s setting in America. This essay will examine how film form contributes to the viewer’s awareness of the story in Wendy and Lucy and allows a deeper understanding of the themes presented. The aspects of mise-en-scene, shot and editing and sound in the film will be explored.
The Illegal, and Some Great Thing by Lawrence Hill both contain several important themes. To explain, The Illegal features the main character’s loss of innocence, and the racism towards people because of their country of origin, and ethnic background. Next, Some Great Thing includes the themes of racism and prejudice towards not only the protagonist, but also to French Canadians because of the colour of their skin, or the language they speak, and the courage of characters to stand up for what they believe is right.
Are classic novels still being referred in modern society? Yes. Yes they do. – David Ngo claims
For this essay I will be looking at the work of Hans Zimmer to discuss how music in film engages the viewer and evokes emotion and pulls the viewer toward the film. Hans Zimmer is a German born music composer. Hans Zimmer’s love of music stems from his childhood when he learned how to play various instruments. Before Zimmer began composing music for films he was in a well-known band. The band was called The Buggles whom were famous for their song Video Killed the Radio Star. After the Buggles Zimmer played in other bands but never had another hit. As Zimmer has progressed as a film composer so has his list of nominations and awards. Zimmer has won 4 Grammy Awards and 2 Golden Globes and many more for his outstanding film scores. The reason I chose to write this essay on Zimmer was that his genres and music score are extremely versatile ranging from animations to comedy to dark thrillers. This is important to highlight as it shows Zimmer can create almost any atmosphere with his music whether it be sad or creating tension that all cause us to engage with the film. Zimmer's use of themes and introduction of different instruments allowed him to create these wonderful engaging film score. In this essay I will look at three films by Hans Zimmer these are The Holiday Rush and Rain Man.
...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.
As an audience we are manipulated from the moment a film begins. In this essay I wish to explore how The Conversation’s use of sound design has directly controlled our perceptions and emotional responses as well as how it can change the meaning of the image. I would also like to discover how the soundtrack guides the audience’s attention with the use of diegetic and nondiegetic sounds.
Music can decipher a narrative event by indicating a perspective. To unify a set of diverse images and provide rhythmic and formal continuity and momentum, a film’s structure is more often than not, directly articulated by a musical structure. Music can assist the dialogue and visuals of film and often is inaudible (e.g. music is meant to be heard unconsciously, not consciously). Music has been used by directors to reinforce or strengthen certain weak scenes in film and then on the other hand when music is not needed to reinforce a scene
According to Munsterberg’s film theory, the motion picture is an original medium in that it aesthetically stimulates the spectator’s senses. Although both still picture and theatrical play can possibly leave images on the spectator’s retina or brain, each element of motion picture, including camera angle and work, lighting, editing, music, and the story itself, appeals to somewhere more than just the retina or brain— the element of motion picture truly operates upon the spectator’s mind. Speaking of Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, the film unfolds a story of a physically and mentally repressed ballerina’s life. Due to the film’s effective filming and editing techniques, the film successfully increases excitement as well as suspense in the story. Since Black Swan captures not only the real world the ballerina lives in but also the other side of the world the ballerina has within her mind, its spectator would experience a fantastic world where one ballerina lives in two different worlds at the same time.
The trailer released for the film followed suit, flashing images of violence, guns, and heart-throb Leonardo DeCaprio, in order to grab the attention of the audience. In most cases, people do not realize that behind these scenes lies subliminally transmitted emotion. Through the instrumentation that guides the trailer, the audience’s perceptions of the juxtaposed images are altered. By changing this music, one can change the tone of the entire trailer.
Sound is what brings movies to life, but, not many viewers really notice. A film can be shot with mediocre quality, but, can be intriguing if it has the most effective foley, sound effects, underscore, etc. Sound in movies band together and unfold the meaning of the scenes. When actors are speaking, the dialogue can bring emotion to the audience, or, it can be used as the ambient sound. Music is one of the main things to have when filmmaking. The use of Claudia Gorbman’s Seven Principles of Composition, Mixing and Editing in Classical Film gives audiences a perspective of sound, and, how it can have an impact on them.
...n, the use of sound in films is highly significant in the development of the plot and in turn the development of the theme. Although, the sound components play a very significant role individually, it is through the combination and manipulation of such components that the sound design of the sound track has a greater impact emotionally upon the audience. Moreover, the effectiveness of this emotional impact can be significantly increased through the implementation of an effective combination sound to the image. Such combination can be seen within Gravity which exhibits a soundscape that successfully assist in bringing the world of the film to life. Sound is important to films and is an essential feature, many a time an audience will not even self-consciously acknowledge the music or sound effects but if they weren’t there the viewing pleasure would not be as pleasing
The importance of music in movies is highly regarded for manipulating the viewer’s emotions and helping them immerse into the story. Music is one of the prime elements in cinema. Without it a movie would feel dull and unexciting. There are three elements in a movie: one is acting, the second is picture, and the third one is music. It is a holy trinity; if incomplete, there would be a lack of sensation and excitement. Both acting and picture can stand independently from one another, but music is the one that makes the movie memorable.
The theme of the movie Lagaan is the realistic portrayal of life. The use of the country's most liked game, cricket, is a great example of Bhuvan’s characteristics. He taught different skills like leadership, team spirit, motivation and stress management.