Final Critique-Sleeping With the Enemy

            Sleeping With the Enemy, staring Julia Roberts as Laura and Patrick Bergin as Martin, is an atypical love story as Laura tries to make a new life for herself, which happens to include a new man named Ben.  Laura and Martin were married for four years during which Martin constantly beat her for not being the perfect wife in his eyes. She decides she must do whatever it takes to escape and begin a new life in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The story line in itself is worth watching the movie for, but it is enhanced with the use of different film techniques such as sound, cinematography, and color.

            Sound plays an enormous role in creating moods for the audience in this film. Through mainly orchestral pieces, the audience is more or less forced to feel certain ways.  The first example of this is when Laura and Martin are on the sailboat and the storm comes as Laura secretly jumps overboard for her escape to a new life. During that scene, there is fast pace, high pitch non-diegetic music for the audience that instills feelings of anxiety and suspense. In addition, when Martin first figured out that his wife escaped by receiving a phone call from a woman Laura new from the YWCA and finding her wedding ring in the toilet, that music that the audience experienced was high pitch and anxiety producing. The filmmakers used sound differently in a couple of scenes as well. They used a low pitch, somber sounding track to emphasize Laura’s words as she said, “…that was the night that I died, and someone else was saved…” Also, the song Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz acted as symbol throughout the film for the danger that Laura faced with her husband. The first time we heard this song was in the beginning right after we see Martin beat Laura for the first time. The last two times it was played was near the end when Laura suspects Martin of being in her new house in Iowa. The song is played for the last time when the boom box is placed in front of the door and we see Martin come up behind Laura and embrace her.

            The cinematography used if fairly minimal to keep the film looking realistic, but it creates very meaningful nuances. The most drastic and noticeable technique was the use of low angles while filming Martin. Throughout the film, Martin always seems very tall and domineering because of the low angles on him. Especially in the scene where Martin first finds Laura’s mother in her new nursing home, Martin appears to be towering over her mother as she sits unaware crocheting in her wheelchair. From the angle alone, we interpret that Martin has total control and power in their relationship. The two primary shots used to infer that scenes were meaningful were extreme long shots and close up shots. Extreme long shots were used while she was in the ocean swimming to shore, on the bus passing through numerous states, and as she arrived in Cedar Falls. These moments were all major steps in the transition to her new life, and it is clear that they are highlighted by these extreme long shots. Close up shots were used a lot to show intense emotions on the characters faces. In the beginning there were close up shots exposing Laura’s pain and sadness when Martin touched her, then as she told her story on the bus close up shots were used to clearly show the agony on both of the women’s faces.

            Lastly, color was used on a purely symbolic level during the film. Most noticeably, the color red kept resurfacing and seemed to symbolize danger. The first time the color red came up was after their first big fight that we saw; Martin came home with a bouquet of red roses and a red teddy. After, the color red highlighted danger as Laura was cast under red light when she was swimming to freedom by a buoy, and Martin was under a red light when he was stalking her at the carnival. The contrast of dull and bright colors also added to the film by only using dull colors such as black and white when Laura was with Martin and using bright colors when she was living her new life with Ben in Cedar Falls.

            This film has always been one of my favorites, and by digging deeper into it through analysis I have had the opportunity to appreciate it more for its techniques not only its storyline. I highly recommend this movie, but proceed with caution…it is a bit creepy!

Movement In "Three Kings" and "Hero"

Our film class looked into two films, Three Kings and Hero, to uncover the secrets behind the use of movement in film. After all, movement is the basis for all films, which becomes apparent upon considering what they are also called…motion pictures. These two films are on opposite sides of the spectrum when considering the type of motion used, and therefore were interesting to watch in comparison to each other.

Judging from a purely entertainment level, I liked Three Kings much better because it was more fast-passed and easier to follow. But, that also may be because I just do not like subtitled films because I find it very difficult to keep up with as I try to watch the characters movements and interactions while I am reading the story on the bottom of the screen. In addition, I found the story line of Three kings to be more relatable and attention-grabbing.

Studying Three Kings from a movement point of view gives you a look at the concrete and literal aspect. This is where the camera is literally moving in various ways to produce different effects. The most predominant camera techniques used to express movement were pan, swish-pan, and handheld. The examples of each of these techniques show the meaning and importance of the varying shots. In the beginning of the movie, after the U.S. soldiers first discover the map from the man’s “backside” George Clooney’s character enters a tent where they are trying to decipher the map, and the whole conversation he has with the solders in the tent is shot in a single shot using panning to change from one character to another. Maintaining the continuity of the shot creates suspense and anticipation of what is going to happen next as well as preserves the cause and effect relationship between the characters parts in the conversation. For similar reasons, a swish-pan is used in several scenes throughout the movie. My favorite scene that it is used in is during a gunfire fight between the small group of U.S. soldiers and the villagers. The camera rapidly panned back and forth following bullets between the two groups emphasizing the magnitude of this event (braking the ceasefire agreement between the two armies). As with the regular pan, it created in enormous amount of anticipation to see whom the bullet would hit if anyone. Lastly, and in my opinion the most intense, the use of handheld filming made many aspects of the movie seem very realistic, and allowed you as the audience to feel like you were part of the excitement and adrenaline-pumping action. It is apparent that simply moving the camera in different directions at different speeds and add to the message of the film and how it is delivered, but it is not the only way to use movement.

Hero uses highly lyrical movement that is produced by the characters’ choreographed movement, instead of the camera’s, conveying symbolic messages. In Hero, choreographed fight scenes were the primary way of expressing the emotions of the characters. They were either intense and fast-paced or very flowy and ballet-like which usually matched an either angry or sad character respectively.

These two movies, although extremely different, allowed me to fully understand the multitude of ways movement can be used in films. For that reason alone, I highly recommend these films, especially Three Kings! Not to mention that they are both genuinely entertaining movies!

My Oscar Winner: Inception

After all of the constant hype about this movie, I decided I had to see it. Granted, I did not see it in its full movie theater glory, it holds to be one of the most impressive movies I have yet to see. Through the dissection of dreams within dreams, it is revealed that Dom Cobb, a skilled thief, has been sent on a mission to do the impossible. Instead of stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious, he is asked to plant one. In the ultimate acts of corporate espionage Cobb fights to finish this last task to gain is lost life back. His life with his beloved wife and children taken away by his life as a fugitive, and his only goal, no matter how dangerous the journey would be, is to be with his family once again. The in depth, story-within-a-story plot line is captivating from the opening scene through the last lines of the closing credits; it was a true nail-biter.

I believe this movie should have won the Oscar award for best picture because it is not only artfully filmed with extraordinary special effect and well thought of cinematography techniques, but it almost forced the viewer to have an emotional connection to the characters and the film itself. To me, the most important aspect a movie must have for it to stand out in my mind is that it is thought provoking and including of the audience. This film not only keeps you physically excited and on the edge of your chair with intense special effects and wonderful soundtrack, but it also keeps you mentally stimulated constantly trying to figure out what is coming next!

From my above rant about the incredible aspects of this film, it is apparent that I agree with the hype; this film is a MUST SEE. It most definitely should have won the Best Picture award at the Oscars, and it doesn’t hurt that Leonardo DiCaprio is the main character… 

APOCALYPTO

Our class chose to watch this film because it exemplifies many film techniques that we are studying currently including lighting, a variety of angles, and different distance camera shots. In addition, Apocalypto is a perfect example of classicism in regards to film. Mimicking reality and using subtle camera techniques allows the audience to focus on the development of the plot and characters, which is the main objective of films under the classicism category. As a result of that, it was hard to pick up on many of the techniques used by the camera. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie because I like action type movies and Apocalypto was an atypical action movie for modern times with adrenaline-pumping hunting and battle scenes combined with bits of drama throughout the storyline.

Following a tribe in South America from abundant and happy times to times of hardship and enslavement as they are captured by the Mayans and brought to their city on a long and brutal journey, the film touches on the theme of fear throughout. After their village is destroyed, many are beaten and killed, and the children are left behind, a few people decide they must overcome their fear and step up to fight for themselves and their families.

While I did enjoy this movie a lot, there were various points that I did not like about the movie. As I realize it is hard to avoid repetitive scenery while filming majority of the movie in a jungle, it was bothersome to me that most of the hunting and battle scenes looked the same. Looking back on the film, it is hard for me to distinguish a difference between many of the action scenes in the movie. An aspect that I really applaud of this film is the character development. Majority of the characters, minor or major roles, were thought out in great depth and had costumes designed with extreme attention to detail and focus of authenticity. The use of tattoos, body piercings, colors, and clothing to distinguish between tribes and classes of the Mayans was incredible, and one of my favorite aspects of the movie; it made the movie feel extremely realistic. Many of the characters from the original tribe were highlighted on their journey, especially Jaguar Paw who faced the biggest transformation while overcoming the fear he faced. The characters were developed in a unique and relatable way, avoiding many stereotypes.

 Cinematography techniques are used very subtly in the movie for the main purpose of highlighting emotions and creating focus on important parts or ideas throughout the film. One scene in particular that left a lasting impression on me was near the beginning when the whole village is sitting together listening to a village elder. This scene stood out to me because of the lighting and shots that were chosen. It was a low-light scene with warm colors such as reds, browns, and oranges, as the only light was the fire they were sitting around. This choice of warm colors and little light made the scene feel cozy and mysterious because we, as the audience, didn’t know what was coming next in his story or in the film. It built up a lot of anticipation, and it created a sense that his speech would be foreshadowing for later parts of the movie. In addition to lighting, the fire scene had a lot of close up shots of the villagers around the fire, the choice of close up shots versus long or deep-focus shots creates an emotional connection between the audience and each character as we experience their facial expressions highlighted by the fire. Another aspect of the film that worked really well was the use of deep-focus and panning shots. These techniques were used a lot throughout the movie to set the scene such as when the villagers were entering the Mayan city. The deep-focus shots allows the audience to get a feel for what the characters of the movie are seeing so we can get a better understanding of their emotions. The use of panning was important during chase and battle scenes in the jungle, such as when Jaguar Paw escapes through the cornfields. This use of the camera allows for the audience to have a more complete view of the characters surroundings and in a scene such as a chase, it creates a high amount of anticipation to see what looms just behind the character that they don’t know about. The techniques used in this film were extremely effective and helped to keep me on the edge of my seat to see what was going to happen next.

I HIGHLY recommend this movie!