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Aspect of cinematography
Cinematic techniques example
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goes from the kitchen to the poker table to the door where James walks in. During this shot you see how organized the mob was, everyone played his or her part.
Long tracking shots are one of the more unique and difficult shots in filmmaking. Film enthusiast Alan Bacchus commented on the difficulty of long tracking shots, “The difficulty arises when the camera is forced to move which complicates the logistics. The things that could be effected are focus Changes, lighting changes, and hiding production equipment.”(P.1, 3) There are some iconic long tracking shots in film history. The opening scene of Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil, Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol.1 and more recently in the HBO Drama True Detective. We cannot mention the famous long tracking shots of all time without mentioning this film. The long tracking shot comes when Henry brings Karen to the Copacabana through the back door while there are countless people waiting to get in. The camera follows Henry and Karen as they make their way downstairs, through the kitchen, and out to their table. This whole shot is taken without any interruption and is truly remarkable. In this scene, Karen is introduced to how well known and respected Henry is throughout the city, almost everyone sitting in the restaurant and even the kitchen staff acknowledges his presence. Robert Warshow, the late author and film critic, writes in his book, The Gangster as Tragic Hero, that the gangster character has to be a man of the city,
“The gangster is the man of the city, with the city’s language and knowledge, with its queer and dishonest skills and its terrible daring, carrying his life in his hands like a placard, like a club. For everyone else, there is at least the theoretical possibili...
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...ade its mark on hollywodd with its long tracking shot and is now named one of the top long tracking shots of all time in the opinion of some. So while in the 90’s I do think film was the best medium for Goodfellas, I do believe if it were to be made today it could be a TV show. AMC has even picked up a Goodfellas TV show that will be a prequel to the film.
Goodfellas is one of Martin Scorsese’s most popular and elaborate films. From the freeze-frames to the famous long take at the Copacabana. Everything done behind the camera seems to bring this film together as a whole. Even though the film can be dated back to the 90’s with the tacky costumes and décor, the story of the film is timeless. This is a movie that has already stood the test of time and will continue to do so for generations to come. Goodfellas is truly one of the most remarkable films of all time.
There is a thin line that exists between the depiction of a villain and a gangster that Hollywood has mastered walking on. While villains and gangsters may do many of the same things in movies, like stealing and killing, they each do them for different reasons. Villains enjoy crime because that is what gets them off; some may feel they are doing society a favor, like Uncle Charlie in Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt, and others are more simply portrayed as naturally evil or mentally ill. But Gangsters are doing what they do for something American society can relate to—to make a living and, ultimately, get to the top.
The film follows Henry's mafia life, from when he was 15 and just making drinks for the gangsters until he is a true gangster himself with a wife and family, having kids make drinks for him. The film's tag line is 'Three Decades of life in the Mafia', without even watching the film you can tell by this that the genre of the film will be gangster. The enigma behind this slogan also gives you an insight to the narrative as you, the audience, think, who has spent three decades in the mafia? The final film I decided to study was 'The Krays'; Peter Madak directed this film. This film is autobiographical and is focused around the lives of the infamous Kray twins.
Goodfellas is based on the life of Henry Hill, a member of an organized crime family of Italian descent that continues to have strong ties to Italy throughout the movie. As the movie begins, an old car drives down a highway as the bumper and New York license plates are shown. It seems as though the flickering streetlights are representative of the lights of a large city fading in the distance. Two men watch as a short man makes the observation that they need to finish killing a mutilated and bloody guy in the the trunk. Tommy, the short guy, stabs the man with a butcher knife mercilessly in a way that would make most viewers cringe. It becomes clear that this is a movie about street level gangsters in the ‘70s. The protagonist, Henry Hill begins by narrating his life as a teenager, stating that he “always wanted to be a gangster.”
In what ways does Rich Cohen's Tough Jews add to our understanding of the development of organized crime? This book is regarding the obscure stories of Jewish gangsters, who in the '20s and '30s were in association with the Sicilians and in a lot of ways just as influential. But it's much more than merely a story of organized crime; the writer links the legends and thoughts of Jewish kids growing up amongst those gangsters to the value system of his father plus his friends, and how their attitude regarding "Tough Jews" gave them an option to the stereotypical roles permitted them by America at large. In its own strange, violent way it's a luminous, striking explanation of the eastern European Jewish immigrant experience in America. (Kaminsky, Stuart M. "The Individual Film: Little Caesar and the Gangster Film." American Film Genres. Pflaum Publishing, 1974: 13-32.) When organized crime reared its ugly head in the late 1920s in Brooklyn, at the base were men like Meyer Lansky and Ben Siegel, both Jews. Rich Cohen's romantic story of Jewish gangsters, Tough Jews, brings to life the ta...
“Say hello to my little friend” is one of the most notorious lines in film history. Before writing this paper, I was unaware that Brian DePalmer’s Scarface was a remake of Hawks’s original Scarface movie. Being a fan of the gangster film, I was interested to see what similarities and differences the two versions shared or differed, such as the main character, influenced eras, and outlook on gangsters.
The gangster genre within films in America has accomplished numerous positive criticisms and constant willing audiences due to containing outstanding spectacles and mind-blowing action. The Godfather, being second on the IMDb Top 250 Movies, has set a new popular concept to life within the Mafia from their point of view. Doing so, creating a positive association. Yet within Italy, the same topic contains a complete different view. Movies such as I Cento Passi demonstrate unenthusiastic view by those whom are outside yet negatively affected by those members. Unlike American films, the gangsters are not as often viewed at the protagonist and are the main causes for the problematic events. But how different is Italian Mafia and American Mafia in cinema?
Frank Darabont (writer-director-producer) in 1999, returned to the director’s chair for the first time in five years. Darabont, who not only directed Shawshank Redemption, but adapted it from a Stephen King story, followed the exact same path with The Green Mile. The film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, and Produced by Castle Rock Entertainment, Darkwoods Productions, and Warner Bros. David Valdes is the producer, David Tattersall, B.S.C. is the director of photography, Terence Marsh is the production designer, and Richard Francis-Bruce is the film editor.
The Godfather is most notably one of the most prolific films of its time. This "gangster" film displayed many transformations of permeating color to give the viewer observable cues in its mise en scene that drew one right into the movie. The dramatic acting set the tone of the film with a score that lifted the viewer right out of their seat in many scenes. The directing and cinematography made The Godfather ahead of its time. The nostalgic feel of family importance and the danger of revenge lets us into the life of the Mafia. Even though no other techniques would have given the viewer a feeling of inside the mob like the mise en scene of the power the godfather held, the characters are reinforced literally and figuratively because the story views the Mafia from the inside out, and the cinematography of the film gives it a dangerous and nostalgic feel.
"I don't give a fuck what you know or don't know, but I'm gonna torture you anyway, regardless. Not to get information. It's so amusing for me to torture a cop. All you can do is pray for a quick death, which you aint gonna get."
...s we are given. Some displayed right on the screen, others shown through actors’ gestures. At the same time this film keeps us entertained with action and violence current the interested of the present generation. This shows “American Gangster” was made with the audience in mind and this is why it did so well in the box office. This film really does such a quality job of capturing the time period, but it still had all these other elements in it to try to make it perfect. “A perfect cast”, that become their character and still brings their own personification into the film. Setting that can not confuse you, as well as narrative economy that still again remind you were you are. Editing that flows nice and evenly. But is this all the makes for a perfect film or just a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Are all these qualities too much and really their downfall?
Good Will Hunting is a film which conveys many interlocking themes and messages to its viewers. One of these nicely woven themes is placing trust in the people we care about as well as people we have only recently become acquainted with. Another message, arguably more significant than the last is finding and pursuing the potential one has and bringing meaning into our lives in any form we choose. I believe the potential and success this film demonstrates is that success, growth, and meaning in a person’s life does not always have to come in the form of advancing in a career or social status but rather in the form of overcoming hardships and developing close reciprocating relationships.
An Analysis of How Narrative and Genre Features Create Meaning and Generate Response in the Opening of Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas
Juror #1 originally thought that the boy was guilty. He was convinced that the evidence was concrete enough to convict the boy. He continued to think this until the jury voted the first time and saw that one of the jurors thought that the boy was innocent. Then throughout the movie, all of the jurors were slowly convinced that the boy was no guilty.
For example the release of The Godfather, while considered by many to be one of the best movies of all time, also created a host of prejudice and negative stereotypes. Italian Americans gained a reputation for organized crime and were often associated by the public as mobsters. This paradox was greatly supported by the movie, The Godfather (Fordham). The success of this movie innately resulted in other films and shows that encouraged the negative stereotypes of Italian Americans in regards to the mafia and organized crime. Italian American fought these stereotypes back with media releases that romanticize Italian culture. For example, movies that involve large family dynamics that create, “deep-seated nostalgia for the ‘old neighborhood’” and enhance the appreciation for Italian culture and combat negative stereotypes