Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Female Characters in Hawks

They use a lot of the same lines.
Their body language is the same.
Their emotion as the say their lines and stand in front of the man.
It is always to a man they are talking in that "sexy" way.
Their clothing is similar. A dress that is to them sexy and turns on the man

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Stagecoach Reflection

Stagecoach follows the conventions of the Western by:
it was in the desert or like the middle of nowhere
it had the cowboys and indians
it was rugged
the move of homesteaders
near the border
there are lawbreakers
small town saloons
stand offs
showdown between hero and villian

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The Western

True Grit, Rango, Brokeback Mountain,

- devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West.
- often portray how primitive and obsolete ways of life confronted modern technological or social changes.
- often have a more pessimistic view, glorifying a rebellious anti-hero and highlighting the cynicism, brutality and inequality of the American West.
- set in the American West that embod[y] the spirit, the struggle and the demise of the new frontier.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Cross-Pollination Between Hollywood and the World

World Cinema is to be thanked by Hollywood for many styles of film such as neo-realism, german expressionalism. Italy had movies concerning neo realism, focusing on poverty and depressions, while Japan's movies focused on samurai and killers. The French New Wave movement also introduced the idea of reminding the audience that the movie is in fact a movie. They utilized techniques such as jump cuts, low budgets.

Hollywood is responsable for the majority of shots used in films today. One example is the superimposition used in Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin, and the time passing by in a few shots in Citizen Kane provided influence for techniques for other movies. The actual making of movies, film techniques, and different angles.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Hong Kong Action Cinema

1. Hong Kong films have been the biggest influence on Hollywood filmmaking in recent memory.

2. The massive Shaw Brothers studio was the main hub of activity during Hong Kong cinema's Golden Age during the 1960s.

3. The Shaw Brothers, along with independent directors like King Hu, essentially wrote the rule book for modern martial arts films with their endless cycles of betrayal and revenge.

4. A rash of independent film productions were unleashed in Hong Kong and landed in the grindhouse theaters and drive-ins of America.

5. During the 70s and 80s, the prosperous Shaw Brothers studios were the best qualified to met the worldwide demand for martial arts films.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Rashomon vs. Citizen Kane

Rashomon is an International film from Japan and Citizen Kane is an all American made. In Citizen Kane they told the story from different characters in which they described what it was like how to be or share a time they spent with Kane. In the end though it had the same climax of him dieing. In Rashomon it's told from 4 different perspective, but each character manipulated their story to their advantage, in the end you don't know who is lying or not. So you don't know what really happened.

Monday, February 28, 2011

The Rashomon Effect




Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Time Travelers Wife
Vantage Point

Common: use time to tell the story. the first two use different points in time to explain what is going on with the main character and the character's life. it will tell what will happen to the characters or in the future.

Differences: ghost of girlfriend's past uses flash backs to tell the story of the main character and who he is. time traveler's wife uses flash backs and looking into the future to tell what will happen to the main character in the future or what his life is leading up to.
vantage point uses the perspectives of different people. the movie is shot from multiple perspectives to tell what the final outcome will be.