The Road to Sundance

At last, our film making challenge has been issued! Just last Thursday our class was divided into teams, assigned different film genres, and given inspiration to create a film worthy of Hitchcock himself. Although I am a tinge nervous, I feel my team, as well as the entire class, is buzzing with excitement to see their ideas come to fruition.

My film producing squad has been dealt the film category of romance. Beyond the inclusion of romantic qualities we must also incorporate the presence of a mime/clown, cheese grader, guitar, and the phrase “Why is this happening to me today of all days?” as well as “It would be better for us not to talk about that.” Based upon the requirements of our project, one can see that my group’s final venture will be a masterpiece.

Seeing that my affinity for romance based movies is limited, I foresee our film project borrowing themes from other types of movies. We strongly feel that the incorporation of humor or shock value is an essential quality. One reason is that the film project has been limited to between three and five minutes (which greatly limits the depth of the film). Thus humorous or shocking scenes allow for entertaining qualities while keeping the plot brief enough for a quick tale.

My personal vision is for the film to utilize dramatic irony (where the audience is privileged to information that has been withheld from the story’s characters). The utilization of such irony can give the audience an empathetic sense of obligation where they are uneasy because they foresee negative events in the future of the character. Whether tragic embarrassment or a painful accident, they know something is fixing to happen. It would be like a piano falling from the sky, on course for an individual’s head, and although an onlooker may see these events unfolding, he’s six floors up on a building and has no means of warning the endangered pedestrian. As far as my group’s video is concerned, we could use dramatic irony to simply set up a sense of apprehension in the audience that an event is fixing to unfold. Then despite the audience being aware of building tension, I want them to be surprised by the event for it would be unpredictable based on the cues previously given. Imagine being surprised be someone who was hiding underneath your bed when you, based on clues observed, thought that someone was actually in your closet. Such a stunning climax preceded by mounting anxiety could certainly make for an interesting short film!

Moses Supposes His Toeses Are Roses

Last week Singin’ in the Rain earned my respect as movie of classic proportions. Its witty, vibrant plot was filled with clever dialogue that kept my smile sharp and attention focused. The movie’s outlandish performances and playful instigation of humorous drama made me feel as if I was watching a comical play. Although I failed to record extensive critique notes (due to the film locking in my focus) I did happen to notice how the style of sound frequently punched the action of the actors. Cosmo Brown’s slapstick scene of exaggerated gyrations and dancing is a primo instance where sound drove the physical action beyond reality. This technique reminds me of cartoons where sets of stairs might as well be keyboards, each advancing step is followed by an attention grabbing chime. I wanted to bring the utilization of such Mickey Mouse scoring to topic because it seemed to be an accurate overall representation of the movie: witty use of drama (over the top sounds) that tells a story with comedic relief.

The movie’s historical representation of 1920’s Hollywood provided interesting ties to actuality. The gap between celebrity and Hollywood reality was shown numerous times through the eyes of Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont. Don’s ‘dignified’ rise to celebrity status demonstrated how society worshiped movie stars as perfect specimens of humanity. The two young females that declared how refined Lamont must be also solidified the false impression of celebrity perfection. Controlled public exposure of these iconic Hollywood figures demonstrated how the producers could manipulate the eye of the public through the intentional propagation of celebrity drama. The public thought Lockwood and Lamont was a superstar couple when in reality their relationship was nothing beyond professional associations. I find it an interesting concept that producers (at this time in Hollywood) would deceive the community through restricted media. Today the phenomenon of false stories concerning celebrities is commonplace but often the product of tabloids not producers.

One of the class’s side conversations discussed how film restoration has helped to preserve pieces of film history. Despite such efforts many films are lost forever due to termination or the degrading effects of time. Donna happened to mention that occasionally films are found that were thought to have been lost to the dark side of the moon. This funneled by imagination to think how cool it would be to find a lost film. Just imagine opening an old trunk and rescuing a piece of film history!? One can only dream…

Film Ambitions

Within the first three film lectures I have come to terms with the prickly nature of film production. For there is only one way you can handle a porcupine and taking the wrong approach could prove to be tragic. And although many interesting structures, methods, and effects have been introduced to the class, I am interested to see which of those are within our means. Despite such apprehensions there are a few features that I would like to utilize into my group’s project.

The regressing film structure of Sunset Boulevard provides appeal that would adequately suit a short film. The said movie leads off with a scene that portrays a tragic yet mysterious murder. Although the film shortly reverts back in time to the building story line, the unconventional beginning gives the movie an early bout of tension. Not only does such tension amplify the drama of the story, it hangs the spectator on the story’s plot- just like a good cliffhanging end to a novel’s chapter. My hopes for incorporating such a technique would be to engross the observer into the movie. When watching film clips on a website, like Youtube, it becomes second nature to complacently surf from video to video, never watching the shorts all the way to the finish. My wish is to eliminate the possibility of onlookers passing my group’s work after the first minute. Exploiting this method is even more appealing when you recognize how reproducible it is with the technology and talent we have been allotted. With a minor storyboard inversion we would be on the fast track to producing an attention hogging film expedition.

Beyond the possible introduction of storyboard inversions into our group movie, effective lighting techniques are a must. After watching Sunset Boulevard in combination with Dietz’s film workshop, my shallow world of film lighting was exposed. The three point lighting system provides depth to shots and a much needed focal point to direct the audience’s eye. Darkness can provide a melancholy atmosphere where bright light can illuminate gay occasions. In Sunset Boulevard, the lighting on Norma Desmond serves as a pristine example of lighting that directs the mood of the audience. Hard lighting on her face lets the audience know that the camera denies her of star status. Most stars at the time had only soft light cast upon her face to preserve their perfect appearance and persona. Although our lighting set up will undoubtedly be a fine example of second hand rigging, I’m excited to explore our possibilities.

There's nothing tragic about being fifty… unless you're trying to be twenty-five.

Sunset Boulevard- the tale of a comeback diva... Or as Norma Desmond might say, the tale of her return. Normally my interest in classic movies does next extend much beyond Blazing Saddles or The Graduate, but in the interest of film exploration I thoroughly enjoyed Sunset Boulevard.

As the movie progressed, I keenly focused my attention on the many aspects of the critical viewing guide. Religiously recording my observations, I felt that I had nearly logged the entire movie. That is, until we began openly discussing our annotations with the class. Nearly every observation that one of our classmates brought to attention was a side of the movie that I had ignorantly glassed over. From differences in lighting to the multiple symbolic representations of the two worlds that divided Norma’s skewed persona, I couldn’t have been more impressed with everyone’s astute observations. Not in fifteen views would I have noticed that the hard lighting of Norma’s face denounced her star status. Many of my observations were actually quite shallow in comparison. And with this apparent, I honestly learned more about the movie from our twenty minutes of open discussion than the two hours that I spent in tedious concentration. Now I just wonder what key concepts I crudely overlook in many other films! For each time I re-watch one of my favorite movies, I always come away with surprising amounts of new, previously missed insight. With this in mind, I left last class under the impression that I had watched Sunset Boulevard thirty times, each through the eyes of a different individual.

Besides the movie’s fascinating plot and addicting characters, the film repeatedly captured my attention through mini pop culture history lessons. Its characters exposed the generation differences between the society of the film and present times. Cigarettes appeared in nearly every scene and not only showed the prevalence of smoking during the time period but how smoking was much more socially acceptable. With all of the hottest stars smoking six packs a scene, I might have even succumbed to the social pressures of the era. Also, the lack of intimate scenes and bodily exposure, as Sam bluntly pointed out, bared the modest side of 1950’s cinema. Modern films are a bit more trigger happy in the excessive skin department so I can only imagine how the kissing scene between Joe and Norma once warmed the audience in a wave of intimacy.