http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPEHygqoKZU

                JAWS

Jaws. The birth of Blockbuster. This film is definitely a classic to say the least and changed the way movies were made. Stephen Spielberg literally created a monster. The typical man vs. nature theme is represented when Chief Brody is forced to deal with the incidents of a very large shark that continues to attack victims off the coast of the island of Amity. The hunt for the shark begins after multiple attacks were completely disregarded because the Mayor refused to shut down the beaches. The very first scene is known for its incredible suspense that is used throughout the entire film.

                Ultimately, Jaws was a huge success despite the conflicts during the production stage. The special effects team had a difficult time creating the overall effect of the huge killer shark. The usage of camera work when the shark was under water allowed me to feel the sense of helplessness, as if there was nothing I could do to stop that shark from coming and eating me whole. This created a scary emotional tone for the entire audience in my opinion. In class we discussed a lot about how the director can utilize numerous tactics of The Spectator’s Gaze and Spielberg definitely showed the film industry what it means to create a specific emotional tone for the audience to feel. 

                Steven Spielberg used camera angles such as the view from the water as well as the all famous theme song to show the killer shark was coming to make Jaws such a hit. This film wasn’t just a 1975 blockbuster summer fling. Some of the dialogue was in many ways “cheesy”, but that still hasn’t stopped it from upholding it’s title as the classic horror movie everyone still enjoys.     

SESSION 9

Not to indicate faults in a disapproving way, but Session 9 was the movie that I enjoyed the least in Art of the Cinema this semester. Directed by Brad Anderson, this film is about a construction crew who are getting paid to fix up an abandoned mental hospital that closed in 1984. Despite the fact that the hospital is already creepy enough because of the random    

location, the asylum begins to affect the main character, Gordon, and make him crazy. To be absolutely honest, the reason why this movie was my least favorite was because I had no idea what was going on in the plot and still had no idea by the end of the movie. I don’t think the story line was very effective at all.

                In class we’ve talked about labeling movies good/bad and Session 9 just didn’t have any motivation or effectiveness. At the insane asylum Mike finds old tapes of recordings from a past patient that had multiple personalities. As he begins to uncover the truth, by the time he reaches Session 9 of the tapes, Gordon is completely consumed by his hatred toward his newborn.  

                The theme of Session 9 is dealing with the darkness within us all. Searching for this theme was really difficult just because of the storyline. As for the production of the film, there are many scenes that are well manipulated and edited to fit the overall sinister mood. The style and intensity is established through the close-up head shots of the characters to show just how eerie a mental hospital is suppose to be. I was drawn into the movie by the slow character development, secretly hoping my questions about why Gordon was so dreary would be answered. The dark lighting throughout the film gives it a more definite horror feeling. I’m not much of a horror film fanatic, but the soundscapes do tend to capture an overall cold lonely feeling and I think that’s what Anderson was going for.     

 Night of the Living Dead

Is there such a thing as “bad film”? Night of the Living Dead is cheap at worst and unsavory at best. It was directed by George A. Romero who failed to copyright it. The film is based on the idea that the dead have come back to life and turned into blood thirsty zombies. The start of the film shows a brother and sister in a cemetery who suddenly get attacked by a dead man who has come back as a zombie. The beginning was a little slow in the story development and hard to understand why exactly they were in a cemetery. I feel as if the writers were trying to go for an overly dramatic effect in the scenes with the walking dead. I highly doubt Night of the Living Dead satisfies really active horror fans today, however, the last scene was definitely a shock to me (spoiler alert) when the last survivor gets mistaken for a zombie and is shot.  

                   From an original perspective I really think the shot depths were great throughout the entire movie. I didn’t like the fact that they used a few shots multiple times. For example: the one shot of Barbara up close when she was still in shock was used probably like 3 or 4 times. The budget came out to an estimated value of $114,000. With this small budget, the quality is bound to be much lower. I also thought it was pretty ironic when the cop says “somebody had a cookout here” referencing the truck that caught on fire with the male and female inside. They ended up getting eaten by the zombies which was by far the grossest part of the movie. The scene of the zombies tearing apart their limbs was absolutely horrific and I had to close my eyes. 

                Besides the cheesy script and old fashioned scenes, the director used a lot a unique camera angles. To emphasize the simple but strange idea that the recently deceased could come back to life the camera shot are very straight forward.     

  

MOULIN ROUGE

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return"

Moulin Rouge. If anyone has yet to see this classic musical, then shame on you. This beautiful romance is a wonderfully tragic love story, much like something so classic as Romeo and Juliet. Their story also ends with a terrible death but is surrounded by a love that will last forever. I could probably rant and rave about Moulin Rouge all day and night but I’ll just stick with giving a systematic analysis. The film begins with a sort of montage because it starts with a writer telling his story of something that happened one year ago. The film takes place in the late 1800’s, early 1900’s in London (the summer of love). The central theme is about love overcoming all obstacles. The Moulin Rouge is a night club where, Satine, a cortisone is suppose to meet a rich duke but instead meets a penniless writer by mistake and falls in love with him. Christian moves to London to write about love and ends up writing a play called ‘Spectacular Spectacular’. Their love is forbidden because Satine is suppose to be with a duke that invests his money into the Moulin Rouge for the play and becomes insanely jealous. Christian and Satine are deeply in love with each other and express it in multiple classic songs throughout the film. “The hills are alive with the sound of music”. 

                The graphics and special effects in Moulin Rouge create a somewhat trippy tone. I say this referencing many innuendos the writer makes about sex, drugs, as well as alcohol. The bright colors in almost every scene emphasize the great amount of feelings and emotions that present the central theme of beauty, truth and love. The editor used fast straight cuts especially during the dancing scenes in the movie to show chaos and how fun it’s supposed to be at this risky night club. I can’t even express how obsessed I was the first time I viewed this movie. It has a wonderful storyline and doesn’t have a ‘happily ever after’ ending like most love stories these days. The majority of the shots throughout the movie are either wide or middle probably because of the number of extras there are for talent. 

                Luhrmann used so many fantastic shots to show comedy and romance at the same time. This film was definitely effective in my opinion. The soundtrack is one the main reasons why this movie became so successful and popular. I’m not going to lie; I have the entire soundtrack on my iPhone. Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor do a wonderful job playing the two lovers in this classic musical.        

THE END.