Final-Part 2

The movie Pan's Labyrinth use's myth to tell the story of a young girl who goes to live with her mother and new step father. The step father is portrayed as an evil man who really has no interest in the mother or the girl Ophelia. The only interest that the Captain has is that he has a healthy son that can carry on his name. The mythical aspect of the movie is that Ophelia's destiny is to be the princess of another "kingdom". In order to do this she must complete task's to prove that she is worthy of being the princess of the kingdom. This has many mythical aspects that are shown through visual styles and music. When Ophelia is completing her task's the music is whimsical, and generally playful, showing the playful side of the myth and showing that it is not in fact reality. Another aspect of film that that has a relationship to myth is the visual style. When Ophelia is in the "fairy tale" portion of the movie, the colors become brighter and everything seems to come to life. Along with this the transition's from the two scene help to distinguish it from reality and fairy tale. The transitions usually happen by a tree, the camera will move past a tree and the scene will transition from reality, to fairy tale showing bright colors, and things happening that are not reality, such as Ophelia crawling into a tree and there being a toad that is larger than her.



The story of Cinderella follows this mythical theme also. In the story of Cinderella, she is a young girl who's father dies and she must complete tasks in order to show her full potential and in a sense defeat her evil step mother by proving to her that she is much more than just a servant. The mythical side of this movie is shown through Cinderella talking to mice and them helping her, as well as having a fairy god mother. The visual styles that show this are the magic that is used by the fairy god mother to turn the pumpkin into the carriage for Cinderella to go to the ball, as well as her turning Cinderella clothes into a beautiful ball gown. The music in Cinderella also supports this because because the music during the "fairy tale" times of the movie is very upbeat and magical sounding. Where as when you are in Cinderella reality with her evil step-mother and step-sisters the music is more ominous. Much like Pan's Labyrinth, the scenes between reality and fairy tale are also similar. In both movies colors are more vibrant during the fairy tale portion.

Final- Part 3

I think that the director's chose to tell the story of Ophelia and Cinderella using a mythical context because it was showing the intersection of a young girl becoming a women and going through the trials and tribulations of puberty and growing up. Myth's have been around for a long time and the same myth may be used to tell a story in a different way. I think that by using myths the directors are making something that all people can relate to in one way or another.

Final Presentation Proposal: Pan's Labyrinth and Cinderalla

Pan's Labyrinth and Cinderella have many similarities that I would like to explore further. Pan's Labyrinth is a story about a young girl who moves with her mother to her new husbands house where he treats her like an inconvenience  and her mother dies leaving her at the mercy of her step-father that does not want to be bothered by her.

In Cinderella a young girl is left with her step-mother who does not care for her and treats her poorly after her fathers death. In both movies the young girls are supposed to complete tasks in order to overcome their lives with their evil step-parents.

Interesting Use of Music

A movie that has an interesting use of music is in the opening scene of Zodiac when the couple is flirting in the car. I think this is an interesting use of music becuase it is a haunting rock song that sets the tone for the scene when the couple realizes that they were being followed. It helps to transition the scene from being fun and light hearted to a more sinister tone.

Water

The movie Water gives the audience an insight into the injustice that widowed women face in India. I would have never thought that just because a women's husband died that a women would have to go live in an Ashram and shave her head as well as not have ties with her family anymore. The movie also gave insight into how water is very important and sacred to the people of India. It is used for so many different things in India including cleansing, becoming pure, a place where bodies are placed when people die, and also used as a holy substance when the old women was dying.

Special Effects

An interesting special effect that i have seen in a movie is in the movie Avatar. In this movie they use special effects to make the people seem like they are the blue Avatar's. This is interesting to me because they did not actually put the actors in a bunch of make up or put them in big blue body suites to make them look that way. Instead they made the Avatar characters look so real by placing them in body suites that tracked they're movement and used computer imagery to bring it to life.

Sound and Music in Totsi

The music in the movie Totsi, usually foreshadows what is going to happen next.  The music will change from something up beat, to something more serious such as rap when something is going to happen that is not good. An example of this was when Totsi was asked what he was going to do that night and the music changed from upbeat to rap music that depicted that something bad was going to happen. The music did not always follow this theme though. I felt as though the music was inappropriate for a scene when they were in the bar and Totsi started beating the one guy up. The music never changed from up beat to something more mysterious the music stayed the same during the whole scene.

Cutaway

A transition that I think is interesting is the cutaway. A cutaway is when filmmaker is cutting away from the action to something else, and then coming back to the action. I think this is interesting because in this transition it is them talking about what is going to happen and in normal scene transition they will explain where they are going to be next but don't cut to it and then cut back to whats really going on.

The Whale Rider Historical Framework

From a historical frame work the movie the Whale Rider has an important dichotomy between individual and community. The traditional aspect of the tribe is that the community is led by a leader, and the leader is a chosen one who is usually the first born male. Pai is the true chosen one at this time but her grandfather does all that he can do to prove that she is not the one. Pai tries to reason with the tribe suggesting that they don’t need a leader, but they can all be leaders. This does not prove to be true. The community worked together to try and un-beach the whales but were unsuccessful. When Pai tried to un-beach the whale the wale broke free and was back in the water. Much like her being an individual leader the whales also had a leader. It was said that if they get the big one to move, then all of the other whales will follow. This was true. This shows that an individual is more important in the community as opposed to the community itself, proving that there needs to be a leader and that an individual is given privilege over community.

Movement

This scene from Braveheart shows the camera movement panning. I think that this camera movement is interesting because the camera is always moving and shows you so much of the scenery including the character and their expressions. During this scene William Wallace is climbing  mountain and the camera shows his journey to the top which ultimately is significant of his quest for solace. It is a powerful scene in the movie that shows the strong emotion of William Wallace and his commitment to trying to get freedom for his country.

The Road Home

The Road Home is a movie that focuses on a lot of symbolism. This movie was very interesting to me based on the symbolism, the symbolism that stood out to me the most was the food in the movie. Food has a lot of different characteristics that show what it stands for such as, its warm, comforting, takes time to make, brings people together, you have to pay attention to it while cooking, and it takes time and effort to make. Food symbolizes the relationship between Di and Luo. The relationship between them initially revolved around food when he first came to the town. The food was a deep focus in the movie when she would cook for the men working on the school making all of her best dishes in hopes that the school teacher would pick her dish to eat. Much like the food their relationship took time and effort to perfect and ultimately their love brought a lot of people together at the school teachers funeral. This movie had a lot of the symbolism in it but this was the symbolism that stuck out the most to me.

Question About The 400 Blows

Do you think that if Antoine and Rene weren't friends that Antoine would still be getting in trouble with stealing, skipping school, and running away?

Yes, I do. I think Antoine doesn't like authority figures telling him what to do. For this reason, Antoine has a side to his personality that just likes to rebel. Having said, this I don't think Antoine is a horrible child. While he is rebellious I don't think he would have started drinking or stealing from people if Rene did not encourage Antoine to steal and drink.-Raquel

Camera Shot

A camera shot that I find interesting is a point of view shot. This type of shot shows the viewer what a character is looking at. An example of a point of view shot is in the movie Titanic when Rose and Jack are dancing in the lower level of the ship. I find this type of film shot interesting because it puts the viewer in the shoes of the character and enables them to see the scene the way the character is, really giving focus to what is going on in the scene with the character. 

Visual Style of The 400 Blows

A visual style that the movie The 400 Blows uses is deep focus. Deep focus is when the camera doesn't focus on just one thing but it includes the whole picture. Deep focus shows the viewer the foreground, middle ground, and background in the shot. This kind of visual style is different and enables the viewer to focus on the whole picture instead of the focus telling the viewer where to look. I find this film style to be very interesting and keeps me engaged in what I am watching. 

About Me

Hi everyone, my name is Sarah and I am a junior at Alverno College majoring in Nursing and currently taking Film Around the World.