Film Essay
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es indeed, animation is fun for children, but it also expresses important ideas for people of all ages. In some ways, ‘Shrek’ is your classic fairy tale for example, it has a hero, a beautiful Princess, and a dastardly villain. But unlike the traditional fairy tales, the hero is an ugly, ill-tempered ogre, the Princess is not all she appears to be, and the villain has some obvious shortcomings. The award-winning animated film, ‘Shrek’, is directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, the viewers learn that being a good person is more important than just being good-looking. It also shows that true friends help each other in difficult situations and that women can be equally as strong characters as men. These ideas are portrayed through characters such as Shrek, Princess Fiona and Donkey. The directors use camera angles and dialogue to express their ideas.
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A few of the camera angles used are long shot, medium shot, high angle and bird’s eye view. A long shot to show the link between characters/subjects and their environment and draws the audience’s attention to a particular aspect of the surroundings. It can also indicate the atmosphere of the film. A medium shot shows a characters facial expression and body language, and for us to get to know the characters and how they relate to each other more closely. A high angle shot makes the person or object look weaker, inferior, under pressure or vulnerable. Lastly, a bird’s eye view gives the audience an overview of where the character or subject is positioned and enables the audience to see what is going on away from the characters immediate
Each camera angle has an explanation to how it wanted to make the viewer feel in each shot. The camera angles create a dramatic illusion that makes the audience feel they are in the movie. The beach scene is the most intense scene where different potent camera angles are shown. In
Media is a powerful agent in entertaining children. It also influences and teaches the youth of society the suitable and appropriate gender roles that they inevitably try to make sense of. The power of media is very influential especially in the minds of the youth. Disney movies target the youth and plant certain ideas and concepts about social culture into the vulnerable minds of children. Media uses gender to its advantage, just like Disney productions. Humorous caricatures reveal some harsh realities about the portrayal of Disney Princesses in many movies made by the Walt Disney Company. Disney mixes innocence with the ultimate form of fantasy to capture an audience. Predominantly, Disney helps highlight the gender roles by showing the audience simply what they want to see. In the attempt to stick to the norm and portray stereotypical female characters, Disney created Princesses. Presented as damsels in distress and inferior beings to men, Disney Princesses give children an inaccurate portrayal of gender roles at a young age. Through Disney’s social success and intriguing films, such as The Little Mermaid, Snow White, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast, Disney Princess movies portray stereotypical representation of gender roles through the denigration of the female image, targeting and ruining the perception of youth today.
The results help to shape the meaning of this film. Multiple eye-level shots between characters’ conversations, signifies equality between both individuals. The scene when the Richmond High principal and Coach Carter are arguing is a classic example of this. High angle camera shots are also used throughout the film to show characters in a state of vulnerability. When Damien is speaking to Coach Carter about playing for Richmond and not St Francis, a high camera angle portrays Damien in a position of authority, looking down upon vulnerable Coach Carter.
The first animated movie produced by Pixar, a famous space ranger named Buzz Light-year said, “To infinity and beyond!” and that is exactly where Pixar has taken the animation industry. The success of Pixar is duly noted worldwide and they remain a leader in the animation industry. The company reeled in more than 100 awards and nominations for their work on animated films, commercials, and technical contributions to the animation industry. The trials and triumphs of this company have earned it its spot as one of the leading animation companies in the entertainment industry today. With all this success it is hard to think it was almost over before it ever began. Pixar’s history of trials and triumphs starts with a group of men and their ideas that would revolutionize the entertainment industry.
Produced in 2009, The Frog Princess is a Disney animation inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ fairytale, The Frog Prince. Both The Frog Princess and The Frog Prince deal with a multiplicity of issues, all of which contribute to supporting positive messages and morals (Ceaser, 2009). However, though The Frog Princess is based on a classic fairytale, it is far from being the same. The writers at Disney have taken a classic fairytale and created a “Monster” (Prince, 2001). This essay will examine the evolution of the original Grimm Brothers’ fairytale, the messages both main characters represent, and how the adaptation to fit a modern child readership diminishes a classic fairytale. Through discussing these arguments, this paper will prove that Disney’s adaptation into The Princess and The Frog is counter-productive in representing the original story’s messages, morals, and values.
Camera angles are used as a film technique to keep the scene interesting and also shows off the directors’ skill and abilities. There is a wide variety in which different camera angles were used during this scene, for an example of a camera angle is a low angle shot, this exact technique was used quite a lot at different points in this scene. The effect of this camera angle shows dominance; dominance to the personal where the camera is facing up on them from the ground. The opposite of this would be a high angle shot and this normally shows a victim’s weakness as it makes then look small and helpless. An example of when a low shot was used in this scene would be when V comes out of the flames at Larkhill in Finch’s flashback. This shows V’s power and how he survived through the fire and symbolises his dominance. An example of using a high angle shot would be of Chancellor Sutler talking to Creedy. Chancellor Sutler is on a big screen facing down on Creedy yelling orders at him, this shows who the boss in this scene is as Creedy is getting verbally abused by Chancellor Sutler and this makes him look weak. Another camera angle that is used would be a tilt this is used when V first flicks the dominos then the camera tilts up to show the dominos as they spread the effect this has is showing how easy they spread in relation to the chaos. It all starts with one would be the
One popular camera technique used in films is panning. Camera panning can emphasize emotion in films. According to a writer on camera techniques, "Following the subject's gaze down to the floor may symbolize rejection or desperation and loss. The moves work because they are related to your story" (Stevenson). In the movie Requiemfor a Dream, panning came into play in a particularly important scene. Marion, a main character, was walking down a hallway. She just had sex with someone she didn't like to get some money for drugs. The camera was right in front of her face, and portrayed the emptiness in her eyes. She was glancing towards the floor and looked like she was going to throw up. The camera also followed her face so closely, that you could tell how fast she was walking. The panning portrayed her feelings and actions so well, that it made the scene more interesting. It was a lot better than just seeing a view of someone head-on.
When the word “fairytale” is mentioned, nearly everyone thinks of light-hearted stories with friendly characters and happy endings. However, these are not the ideas that classic fairytales originally sparked. In fact, numerous modern Disney movies were based off stories that were not so sugar coated. In the 19th century, the Brothers Grimm were responsible for multiple of these popular children’s tales. The Disney remakes of classic fairytales such as Cinderella, Tangled, and Snow White exclude the dark, twisted themes that are significant in the Brothers Grimm fairytales, because society tendencies continue to evolve toward sheltering and overprotecting young children.
Presentational Devices of Shrek and Reversal of Traditional Roles In this essay, I am going to analyse the characters in 'Shrek'. I will mainly focus on Shrek and Lord Farquuad. I will also write about how the film makers use different presentational devices to create an unusual film. Stereotypically the prince is good and the ogre is evil. In traditional fairy tales ogres are pictured as man-eating beasts, while the Princes are tall, handsome and save the Princess.
In this essay I am going to analyse the characters of shrek and Lord Farquaad, and write about how filmmakers use different camera angles, lighting, music and setting to create an unusual fairy tale. The giant in jack and the beanstalk is what we expect of giants/ogres. In traditional fairy tales ogres are normally man-eating beast, at the beginning of shrek, shrek is what you expect him to be like. When the farmers go to his swamp and the meet shrek. When shrek is shouting at them the low angle camera shot makes shrek look intimidating to the crowd and audience.
In society today, we are conditioned to believe certain sets of ideals. We use these ideals to interact and get along with the other people we surround ourselves with. These ideals are often the societal norms that form common ground amongst individuals. However, living life based off these basic and unchanging beliefs is not beneficial to humanity, nor does it make life any easier to live. In fact, holding on to the most accepted beliefs holds back society as a whole. Judith Halberstam, in her essay “Animating Revolt and Revolting Animation” challenges these societal norms through the analysis of animated movies and, in doing so, carves a path for a new way of thinking.
In the making of the film “Gattaca”, the director Andrew Niccole has used the film technique: camera angles to represent the theme of the film. The definition of camera angles is the position of the camera to allow the viewer to understand the relationships between the characters. I found this definition by searching on the internet and comparing the definition in the dictionary.
How the Makers of Shrek Subvert the Usual Conventions of a Fairytale Using Presentational Devices
Over the years, fairytales have been distorted in order to make them more family friendly. Once these changes occur, the moral and purpose of the stories begin to disappear. The tales featured in the many Disney movies - beloved by so many - have much more malignant and meaningful origins that often served to scare children into obeying their parents or learning valuable life lessons.
...le. Movies like this resist gender stereotypes that say women have to be beautiful and ladylike to live like a princess. There should be more films like Shrek because it breaks norms and teaches people that the only thing that matters is what’s on the inside.