Damien Chazelle’s American musical film, La La Land (2016), with Director of Photography Linus Sandgren, won about six awards at the Oscars. One of the awards they received is in the Cinematography category. I personally agree with this voting because this beautifully-made film shows, not tells, the story.
In the beginning of the film, the viewers see the story from Mia’s point of view, but the story later goes back and switches to Sebastian’s point of view. This is a remarkable technique that visually gives the viewers insight into both of the main characters’ lives. Most films only show the story from the point of view of one character, however, this movie is unique in that it shows two different perspectives- from Mia and from Sebastian. In addition, this switch in perspective provides more information about the characters and how seemingly parallel are Mia and Sebastian’s lives since both are struggling to make ends meet as they strive for their dreams. For example, Mia works as a barista in a coffee shop while Sebastian works in a classy restaurant as a pianist. Both of their bosses hinder their passion:
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This film specifically emphasizes Mia and Sebastian’s loneliness. They are the only ones who are alone in the film while the background always contains couples, pairs of two, or groups of people. For example, when Mia goes to a pool party in the spring, she is seen roaming through the party alone and the background full of people and couples dancing. Even when Mia walks by the city sidewalk, the viewers should notice a painting on the wall in the background, containing groups of people together. This conveys another similarity between the two- that they are single and lonely, and unknowing of the fact that they need someone to push them to achieve the dreams they have longed for- as well as, more information about the characters and how the film shows this even through the blurry yet significant
Even where they appear as entirely nonpolitical, movies tend to inevitably have political messages. However, the notably evident aspect in numerous films is their tendencies to integrate liberal ideas. Using the film, Independence Day directed by Roland Emmerich, the current essay examines the themes related to conditions under which liberal ideals can influence elite policy-makers in achieving rational foreign policy decision-making. Several relevant themes are likely to emerge in films pointing towards the liberal tendencies or otherwise among elite policy-makers that contribute in promoting greater international experience. Even though in an indirect manner, it is common for American films to exhibit liberal ideals that are likely to provide
Madison Avenue advertising executive Roger Thornhill’s (Cary Grant) life changes drastically after he is kidnapped and mistaken for a spy named George Kaplan. After a successful escape from attempted murder by Phillip Vandamm (James Mason), Roger Thornhill begins a journey to search for George Kaplan. On his itinerary, he meets the beautiful Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint). A romantic relationship is started between the two, leaving Thornhill to believe that Even Kendall would cooperate and help him to meet Kaplan.
The film I am analyzing, A League of Their Own, would be categorized as a narrative film about the growth of women’s baseball teams during World War II. It follows the dramatized story of Dottie Hinson’s time in her baseball league and their struggles to make women’s baseball be taken seriously; however, the film focuses more on Dottie’s personal goals and relationships. With the added personal challenge of Dottie’s increasing rivalry with her sibling, Kit, as well as the uncaring attitude of their manager, Jimmy Dugan, Dottie’s tale is filled with tension and emotion that is shaped to draw the audience in. To showcase the drama of the film and to help the audience become attached to the stories of the characters, the movie uses flashbacks, comedy, and interpersonal drama to manufacture the story of our main character, Dottie, more interesting and engaging to the audience. As is easily evident simply by the summary of the movie, A League of Their Own is a nonfiction, narrative film made for entertainment and drama, and uses the time period as the circumstances of the story relevant to the audience.
On The Beach (1959)- On The Beach, staring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins, is one of director Stanley Kramer 's better (7/10 stars) works of of film. This motion picture is an alarming view of what a post-apocalyptic world would look like. The whole film is from the perspective of those people who avoided the destruction of functioning civilization. In the film Australia, more specifically Melbourne, has apparently "evaded destruction ", as it was spared complete obliteration.
The story of The Haunting of Hill House is a horror classic. The book and movie depict this terrifying story in vastly different ways. The movie uses cinematic techniques that a book can not portray: music, acting, and props. The book uses imagery, internal monologue, and suspense to peak fear in the readers. Movies are a different way of portraying a story, but movies aren’t always able to depict everything in the book.
Released September 29, 1950, Sunset Boulevard is a film noir of a forgotten silent film star, Norma Desmond, that dreams of a comeback and an unsuccessful screenwriter, Joe Gillis, working together. Ultimately an uncomfortable relationship evolves between Norma and Joe that Joe does not want a part of. Sunset Boulevard starts off with an establishing shot from a high angle shot with a narrative leading to a crime scene shot in long shot (a dead body is found floating in a pool). The narrative throughout the film established a formalist film. Cinematography John F. Seitz used lighting and camera angles in such a way to create a loneliness and hopefulness atmosphere.
La La Land is a different type of musical than many we have seen in the past years, the director Damien Chazelle and Music writer Justin Hurwitz have created a modern Los Angeles reminiscent of 1950’s musicals. More than anything, La La Land talks about the evolution of Jazz in modern history, the story of Sebastian (Ryan Gosling). Struggling to make his mark on a city that is ever changing. Rooted in the early foundations of jazz, Gosling ends up teaming up with Keith (John Legend), where he discovers this new age of Jazz, a mash up of jazz, electronic, RnB, and funk. Gosling deals with this internal struggle as he decides if fame or his musical values are more worth sticking to.
Mise-en-scéne is crucial to classical Hollywood as it defined an era ‘that in its primary sense and effect, shows us something; it is a means of display. ' (Martin 2014, p.XV). Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950) will be analysed and explored with its techniques and styles of mise-en-scéne and how this aspect of filmmaking establishes together as a cohesive whole with the narrative themes as classical Hollywood storytelling. Features of the film 's sense of space and time, setting, motifs, characters, and character goals will be explored and how they affect the characterisation, structure, and three-act organisation.
Bad Day at Black Rock Kathryn Abbott October 29 2015 DRAMA 3030 The unexpected arrival of a stranger to a small, Midwestern town creates a feeling of scepticism and suspicion, and through this the explicit meaning is revealed: Fear of the unknown and the moral and physical deterioration of a town left to its own devices. The film exemplifies these concepts through the use of mise-en-scène, and vivid cinematographic elements. The blood red coloured train stands out against a muted background.
In the wildly popular Mexican film, Los olvidados (1950), Spanish director Luis Buñuel exposes the harsh realities of life in Mexico during the 1950’s. Luis Buñuel’s work on Los olvidados portrays a societal loss for all hope due to crime and violence as an infinitely vicious cycle, coupled with addressing the lack of reform for dilapidated living conditions throughout Mexico. In Los olvidados, Buñuel follows Pedro (Alfonso Mejía) a neglected bastard, and El Jaibo (Roberto Cobo) the leader of a gang of homeless children loitering in vacant lots. For Pedro, and the rest of the cast, a series of unfortunate outcomes have been strung together though common ignorance and a lack of self-control. Luis Buñuel’s use of focal length, editing, and dialogue
The film uses cinematic techniques to further push this implicit meaning by ways of cinematography, mise-en-scene, and editing. Cinematography:
In conclusion, the modern-day motion picture La La Land has achieved success in a variety of ways like winning a variety of awards for its efforts, either from the cinematography and directing, to the acting and vintages ways of shooting the film. One can see how a modern-day musical can achieve such success with going back to basics and learning from the golden age of Hollywood to make such a wonderful
This essay talks about the use of cinematography in the scene where the protagonist – Riggan Thomson enters a room and had a conversation with his daughter in the film Birdman. Birdman is set in New York City in a time where theatre shows were losing their significance in the entertainment industry. The film is about Riggan trying to salvage his career through a Broadway show while his ego portrayed as Birdman threatens to bring it all down. On top of the brilliant acting from the actors, Birdman was well known for its trademark illusion that it was filmed in a continuous, long tracking shot with no cuts. This scene begins with Riggan returning to the theatre
This creates a connection between the viewer and the characters in the film. In Lost in Translation, this technique is used to show the growth of these characters emotionally as they interact throughout the film. This is seen when the two characters just looked at each other as they sat in the hallway without talking to each other. In such a way, it shows the emptiness and loneliness in their
La La Land, directed by Damien Chazelle, has won many awards and is about the love story between Sebastian and Mia, who come together because of their common goal of making it big time in Hollywood. The scene that follows is when they are having dinner after some time apart. It portrays the theme of how change can affect relationships. Initially in the scene, the camera is placed over the shoulder of Sebastian, with the view of Mia as they are having a conversation over dinner. This is a two shot scene accompanied by very minimal editing, indicating they are sharing the frame as a couple.