1. Post your answers by noon on. Friday (November 2, 2007). This includes taking care of any problems with blogger.com before then.
2. Document your answers (cite page numbers from textbook [Prince 14], date of class lectures, webpages consulted, etc.). Use your own words, and do not plagiarize.
3. Be concise and accurate. If you are wrong, then the whole class could get the answers wrong.
4. Sign your name at the beginning of the assignment. I don't know the nicknames you used to join the blog.
5. This exercise is worth 10 participation points. You will be evaluated in accuracy, timeliness, and your ability to follow directions. I will consider awarding 1-3 extra participation points for those who go above and beyond your assignment and/or complete the assignments of absent classmates.
6. It is wise to be a cooperative member of the classroom community for this review. However, if your classmates fail you, you are still responsible for reviewing all of these assignments.
7. Your exam will consist of providing definitions, multiple-choice, and short-answer (lists are preferable to sentences, which take longer to construct).
8. Hyper-linking to other classmates’ answers that relate to yours will enhance this study guide. To hyperlink, you right-click on the time of your classmates’ post and select “copy link.” In your own blog post, highlight the term you are hyperlinking, (e.g., Westerns, wikipedia, etc.), click on the hyperlink icon (it will have a tiny chain—not available in safari), and when the field comes up, enter the html address you have copied.
9. You may need to revisit certain scenes in the films to answer these questions.
10. You will do better on the exam if you cross-check your classmates’ answers with your own notes from your film notebook.
Films covered: The Conversation, The Searchers, O Brother, Dr. Strangelove, and The Exorcist.
Will Angel
Define frontier mythology and point to 2-3 scenes in The Searchers that depict it.
Eric Anthony
Define “convention” and describe the conventions of the Western. Explain how they function in specific scenes of The Searchers.
Stephen Battise
Define the three fundamentals of film sound and the three types of film sound. Give examples from each film.
Hillary Bauer
Define the captivity narrative. Be sure to include its racial and gendered characteristics.
Elisa Bizzotto
Define the three functions of film sound and explain how they function in each film.
Maxwell Brooke
Explain how production design creates meaning in 3 separate films.
Courtney Burbick
Define the dimensions of film sound. Give examples from each film.
Andrew Chandler
Describe the basics of sound engineering. Briefly explain how The Conversation depicts sound engineering.
Meredith Clough
Give examples of ambient sound, leitmotif, direct sound, sound bridge, realistic sound, and synthetic sound from each film covered in this exam.
Michael Combs
Describe the functions of movie music. Give examples from each film covered in this exam.
Scott Councilman
Define the basic elements of narrative structure. As you define them, give examples from each of the films covered in this exam.
Alan Crews
Define the conventions of the classical Hollywood narrative. Point to examples in each film covered in this exam.
Chelsea deMonch
Describe the basic conventions of the musical and explain what “typically American” values it celebrates. Briefly explain if O Brother conforms to these conventions and celebrates these values—and if so, how?
Lallie Jones
Explain how O Brother is concerned with authenticity in terms of music. How does the film play with the concept? Use specifics
Ellen Kalbaugh
Explain how O Brother plays with authenticity in terms of adaptation. Be specific.
William Linton
Explain how O Brother plays with authenticity in terms of theme. Be specific.
Tina Mackenzie
Describe the relationship between faith and reason in The Exorcist
Brandon Mathis
According to the article we read, why are horror movies in the seventies so concerned with the demonic child? Give examples from The Exorcist.
John McHone
Describe the tone that the opening sounds and setting sets for The Exorcist. In other words, explain the significance of the foreign location at the film’s beginning and the contrast it sets with the setting of the rest of the film.
Daniel McLamb
Explain how The Exorcist develops the theme of liminality in the film.
Jeremy Menzel
Describe the conventions of the horror film as defined by the book and point to at least three specific scenes/characters in both The Conversation and The Exorcist that exhibit these conventions.
Erinn Navarro
Describe the mise-en-scene of three separate scenes in three separate films and explain what meaning it adds to each film.
Katie Neubeiser
Define and identify 3 specific film angles that Dr. Strangelove uses to emphasize or satirize something about the character within the shot.
Derek O’Bryan
Describe Peter Sellers’ three characters in Dr. Strangelove and explain what each brings to the film.
Crystal Packard
Describe the production design of The Exorcist and explain the meaning it brings to the film.
Chris Pitts
Briefly analyze one scene/image from The Conversation and describe the greater theme from the movie that it dramatizes.
Mary Kirk Pollard
Explain the implicit or explicit references to the Vietnam war that The Exorcist and Dr. Strangelove make.
Daniel Reutzel
Is The Conversation an example of Classical Hollywood narrative? Point to all of the conventions in your response.
Will Russ
Explain what social issues The Exorcist examines and how.
Carter Thompson
Explain what social issues Dr. Strangelove examines and how.
Xue Vang
Explain what the beginning and end of Dr. Strangelove achieve.
Sara Veale
Explain what how Dr. Strangelove satirizes contemporary attitudes about sexuality.
Nate Watson
Briefly analyze one scene/image from The Searchers and describe the greater theme from the movie that it dramatizes.
Jessica Wynn
Briefly analyze one scene/image from The Conversation and describe the greater theme from the movie that it dramatizes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
38 comments:
Explain how O Brother plays with authenticity in terms of adaptation. Be specific.
In O Brother it plays with many different types of authenticity.
-The movie is made to look like it was made in the 1930’s even though it was made in 2000 and the color was changed by using computers, and other kinds of technology.
-In the end of the movie the mother wants an authentic father figure for her children, telling her girls that Everett for hit by a train and that he is not bonified.
-The different characters that were pulled from the epic are played with in the film
-The Cyclops—in the movie he had an eye patch and was large and angry
-Lotus eaters--Baptists
-Sirens
- Homer is thought to be the author of the epic and also to be blind—in
in the movie he could be the blind man that will pay people to sing into his
can for money ( I can’t remember his name) or Homer could be the leader
of the KKK in the movie (we talked about both of these in class)
-The music in the movie is thought to be authentic but in real life George Clooney is lip-syncing, so it is unauthentic.
-In the epic they go to the underworld and in the movie it is portrayed in the movie theater scene because in both they think they can talk to the dead
we took these notes in class on October 19th I believe
Xue : the beginning of Dr.Stranglove is the scene where one plane fuels another in midair.
the way that it is shown is similar to a couple having intercourse. In a way you could say
that the plane doing the fueling is the male and the other is the female. the view that we see when
the two planes connect is a very intimate, as we see the fueling through one of the back windows of
the plane. This scene is sybolizing the relationship between men and women in the movie.
The ending scene of Dr. Stranglove is when the atomic bombs goes off. The many scenes of the
explosions refer back to the beginning scene where the planes are in the sexual act, symoblizes the
climax of the male.
the song that is playing in the background doesn't fit the violent scene of the atomic blast.
the song is a happy song and i think that it pokes fun of the fact that an atomic attack would be easy going
and not violent. this is done in a time when we were in the middle of the cold war and an atomic attack
would not be funny.
Define “convention” and describe the conventions of the Western. Explain how they function in specific scenes of The Searchers.
Basically convention is the most important characteristics of genres and what is repeated again and again in certain type of films such as Westerns. A convention is established by its repeated use in a series of films so that it becomes a typical attribute of such films. Filmmakers and movie-goers alike become familiar with these conventions and they become part of the recognizable language of film. Convention is a familiar, customary way of representing characters, story situations, or images. Conventions result from agreements between filmmakers and viewers to accept representations as valid (Prince 476).
One of the conventions of the Western is the time period. The time period is the interval of time between the Civil War and World War I (Prince 260). The setting is usually west of the Mississippi River on plains, in the desert or in the mountains. Conventions of the Western also include waves of migration in overland trails, the Indian wars, the building of railroads and gold rushes.
The theme of Western’s also playing a role. There is usually a central character, a man of violence, ride into a town or settlement from wilderness (Price 260). Westerns use long shots on the central character to stress the surrounding wilderness and by showing how larger and expansive it is.
In The Searchers, Ethan and Martin head into the wilderness for an extended amount of time where they face many obstacles. One scene it proceeds to show the change of climate as they walk through snow and rain on there way to find Debbie. Other typical elements in Westerns include hostile elements (often Native Americans), guns and gun fights (sometimes on horseback), violence and human massacres. Early in there adventure, Ethan and Martin are approached by Indians on horses. This leads to a sudden gun fight where they have to escape by crossing a small river while riding horses.
(Lecture Notes from October 8, 10, & 12)
The conventions of hatred between different cultures and backgrounds are prevalent when Ethan no longer wants to rescue Debbie once he finds out here relationship with Scar who is an Indian. Ethan says being a Comanche’s “squaw” is worse than death. Ethan wants to find Debbie not to rescue her but to kill her for having been contaminated by what Ethan imagines to be her society, such as it is, with Indians. “She’s been living with a buck,” Ethan says, referring to Debbie’s probable marriage to Scar, the Indian warrior-chief who engineered her theft. (http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/jeanrenoir/genre.htm)
Eric Anthony
-Hilary Bauer-
Define the captivity narrative. Be sure to include its racial and gendered characteristics.
-The captivity narrative tends to be driven by fear of the "others". It usually consits of a white female being obducted by the "others." She is able to put up with their ways until she is rescued by a white man or men. A modern example we discussed in class was the Jessica Lynch story. In many cases the female's story is manipulated.
Source: notes from class for the week of October 8-12
Stephen Battise
Define the three fundamentals of film sound and the three types of film sound. Give examples from each film.
Fundamentals:
1: Cordness- In music and music theory a chord is three or more different notes that sound simultaneously
2: Pitch- is the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound.
(frequency- the measurement of the number of occurrences of a repeated event per unit of time.)
3: Timbre- harmonic, gives texture... is the quality of a musical note or sound that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices or musical instruments.
(these 3 definitions are straight from Wikipedia... I suggest you look up more if you can find more, but I can find nothing on cordness (or chordness)
Dialogue, Sound Effects, and Music.
Dialogue- 1: speech- deleivered by characters on screen usually in conversation with one another.
2: Voice over narration- accompanies images and scenes but is not delivered by a particular character from within the scene. used many times a s a flashback scene.
A. Such as when Jed in Citizen Kane gives reasoning for Kane's failed marriage and his early life in the company.
(pages 191-196 in book)
Sound Effects: are the physical (non-speech) sounds heard as part of the action and the physical environments seen on screen.
One example is in The Conversation when the couple are walking through the park being recorded. The other stuff that is going on in the background is the sound effects or the ambient sound (naturally occuring, generally low level sound produced by the environment).
(page 196-198 in book)
Music: film music may include the score that accompanies the dramatic action of scenes as well as music originating on screen from within a scene. Music can be used to set the scene and also add emotional meaning to the scene. leimotifs are also part of the music in films. (pgs.199-205)
ex. Music is used in the breakfast montage in Citizen Kane when Kane is eating with his wife, and everyday they are getting further and further apart. Also in Dr. Strangelove at the end with the nuclear bomb montage scene with the music in the background being more happy and not worrying about the end of the world.
I had to describe Peter Selles' 3 characters in Dr. Strangelove and describe what the brought to the film:
Peter Sellers is astounding in a triple role as mild-mannered U.S. President Merkin Muffley, trying to save the world; beleaguered Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, a doughty RAF officer trying to find the secret code that will recall the bombers; and Dr. Strangelove, a wheelchair-bound German scientist who's equal parts Werner Von Braun and Henry Kissinger on mushrooms.
Peter Sellers is said to have improvised much of his dialogue during filming. Kubrick, the director, is said to have incorporated Sellers' ad-libbed lines into the written screenplay as shooting progressed, so that the improvised lines became part of the canonical screenplay.
Group Captain Lionel Mandrake
According to film critic Alexander Walker, the role of Lionel Mandrake was the easiest of the three for Sellers to play, as he was aided by his experience of mimicking his superiors while engaged in national service with the RAF during World War II. There is also a heavy element of Sellers' friend and occasional co-star Terry-Thomas. This character brings a since of weakness to the film as he is lower in command and has to follow Plan R even though he is against it.
President Merkin Muffley
For his performance as President Merkin Muffley, a decent character, understandably flustered somewhat by the situation, Sellers flattened his natural English accent to sound like an American Midwesterner. Sellers drew inspiration for the role from Adlai Stevenson,[5] a former Governor of Illinois, who had been the unsuccessful Democratic nominee in the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections. This character brings some more weakness as well as some annoyance as he is constantly begging for the Russians forgiveness instead of accepting the matter and moving forward in order to try and stop Plan R.
In early takes, Sellers faked cold symptoms in order to exaggerate the character's apparent weakness. This caused frequent laughter among the film crew, ruining take after take. This comic portrayal was ultimately deemed to be inappropriate by Kubrick, who felt that Muffley should be shown as a serious character.[5] In subsequent takes, Sellers played the role straight, though the president's cold is still evident in a couple of scenes.
Dr Strangelove
The title character, Dr Strangelove, serves as President Muffley's scientific advisor in the War Room, presumably making use of prior expertise as a Nazi physicist: upon becoming an American citizen, he translated his German surname "Merkwürdigliebe" to the English equivalent. Twice in the film, he accidentally addresses the President as "Mein Führer." He brings some what of comically relief to the intense situation at hand in the War Room.
The character is an amalgamation of RAND Corporation strategist Herman Kahn, Nazi SS officer-turned-NASA rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and Edward Teller, the "father of the hydrogen bomb". The character was also compared to the later US Secretary of State and controversial Nobel Peace Prize laureate Henry Kissinger. However, it is unlikely that he served as a basis for Dr. Strangelove as, at the time the film was made, Kissinger was only a Harvard professor who wrote some books on nuclear war strategy, being relatively unknown to the public. At one point, Strangelove refers to a study which he had commissioned from the "BLAND Corporation." In his interpretation of Dr. Strangelove, Sellers' accent was influenced by that of Austrian-American photographer Weegee (the pseudonym of Arthur Fellig), who was hired by Kubrick as a special effects consultant.
Strangelove's appearance echoes the movie villains of the Fritz Lang era in 1920s Germany, in which sinister characters were often portrayed as having some disability. Sellers improvised Dr. Strangelove's lapse into the Nazi salute, borrowing one of Kubrick's black gloves for the uncontrollable hand that makes the gesture.
At the end of the film, Dr Strangelove is animated by the thought of a post-war, centrally controlled, male-dominated society whose members have been specially selected from the population, to the point where he is apparently cured of his need for his wheelchair. This idea is evocative of Nazi visions, suggesting that the destructive bickering between the USA and USSR has allowed the ideology of both powers' most hated enemy to win through in the end. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove_or:_How_I_Learned_to_Stop_Worrying_and_Love_the_Bomb#Peter_Sellers.27_roles ,2.1 Peter Selles Roles]
Alan Crews - define classical hollywood narrative and show examples from movies we've viewed.
Classical Hollywood Narrative: Contains main plot that is over one characters goal, has cohesion with events. Goal is established early on and the conclusion resolves all issues, giving sense of closure. Also contains one or more subplots, which are tied to the main plot. (Prince 249)
Conversation
Main plot & Goal - Discovering the meaning of the surveillance tape Harry (main character) records.
Subplot – Harry’s rivalry within the surveillance community, and his need to maintain supremacy in that market as well as need for privacy.
Closure - Tape was opposite of what it initially appeared, the young wife was out to get her husband instead of the other way around. (This is somewhat different from most C.H.N. as it is open to interpretation) However this discovery leads to the invasion of Harry’s privacy, the thing he values most.
Searchers
Main plot & Goal - Find & rescue Debbie from the Indians. Ethan is the main character.
Subplot - Martin & Laurie’s relationship, which is put on hold until Martin can return from bringing back Debbie. Conflict within the relationship is developed by the accidental marriage of Martin and a new boyfriend for Laurie.
Closure - Ethan & Martin rescue Debbie, Martin returns to Laurie. Ethan leaves by himself, the same way he arrived.
O Brother Where Art Thou
Main plot & Goal - Everett's quest to return home to his wife.
Subplot - Run ins with the KKK, political rivals, modern sirens, Everett getting the ring to win his wife back...various other events that occur between the onset of the film and Everett’s completion of his goal.
Closure - Everett reaches his wife, but has to retrieve another ring when she deems he got the wrong one. Implies that they will get back together, but the ending is not as typical of a classical Hollywood narrative as “Searchers’
Dr. Strangelove
Main Plot & Goal - Defusing the actions of Ripper, which could lead to global annihilation.
Subplot - Preparing for the survival of the elite, and arranging the right number of women for each of the officers. A result of the actions of Ripper.
Closure - Nuclear warfare, Kubrick taking an offbeat approach by not using the usual 'happy ending' to the film, but provided commentary on political relations/ideology.
Exorcist
Main plot - Save Regan from the demon that possessed her.
Subplot - Father Karass's struggle with faith and his return to the doctrine of the Catholic Church over science. In order for Regan to be saved, he must deal with his issues of faith.
Closure - Regan returns to normal following the sacrifice of Karass to rid her of the demon.
Katie Neubeiser
Define and identify 3 specific film angles that Dr. Strangelove uses to emphasize or satirize something about the character within the shot.
-A low angle – the camera is angled up, usually below the eye level of the performer on the screen (pg. 480). There is a close up on General Ripper, when he is in his office talking to Mandrake. Ripper is giving Mandrake a spiel about communism, and how he must stop them from “stealing our precious bodily fluids.” The angle emphasizes Ripper’s power because he is the only one with the code and does not want to give it up. The camera angle is so extreme that it appears as if he is standing up when he is sitting at his desk. The angle also emphasizes the drama and the seriousness of the situation.
-High angle- looking down, usually above the eye level of the performers in a scene (pg. 478) In the same scene there is a high angle, deep focus (establishes great depth of field, everything is in focus (pg. 476) ) shot of Ripper’s office. The camera is behind Ripper’s shoulder, allowing the viewer to see virtually everything Ripper sees. Mandrake is portrayed as short and powerless. The closer to the door Mandrake gets the smaller he appears. When he walks to the door he asks Ripper for the key to the door and the code. This is to show that he really doesn’t have any power in the matter of getting the code; appearing little just emphasizes this lack of power.
At the end of the movie there is a high camera angle on Major ‘King’ Kong riding the bomb down to the target, as if he is riding a bull or a horse. This scene shows his dedication to his country and that he will stop at nothing to fulfill his orders. The angle shows Major Kong on the bomb with the target (the ground) below him closing in fast. The camera also seems to kind of follow him to the ground, making it feel like you are falling with him. Also, earlier in the movie he says, “Goldie, how many times have I told you guys that I don't want no horsing around on the airplane?” I thought this was ironic for him to tell his soldiers not to “horse around” when in the end he is riding the bomb down as if he were riding a horse.
-Establishing shot- A type of long shot used to establish the setting or location of a scene (pg. 477). A long shot of the pentagon and then it is cut to an establishing shot of the war room, inside the pentagon is shown. These shots are to show where the war room is located (in the Pentagon) and also just how big the war room is. At times when the men were talking in the room you could hear their echo’s, again emphasizing the size of the room. There is a wide angle used when showing the war room, to portray just how big the room was. The table they sat at was a very large round table with a circular light hanging above it, giving it a halo effect. It reminded me of the Knights of the Round Table. It is as if the size of the room is a way to depict how important war is to these men. A big room=very important.
I got the definitions from the book and also from class notes from 10/ 24 and 10/26
Crystal Packard
Describe the production design of The Exorcist and explain the meaning it brings to the film.
The production design of The Exorcist includes the sets, locations, costumes, and any visual images the viewer sees. Liminal places are important throughout the movie, as we saw in class the other day when we examined shots from several different scenes.
The beginning of the movie, which takes place in Iraq, looks primitive. This shows that although not much else can live there, evil still exists.
Later we see another liminal setting as Chris stands on the staircase pointing a crucifix at the butler. The background is white, the butler’s outfit looks like what a priest would wear. She is clearly above him, and she is pointing the crucifix in an accusatory way. Chris’ lack of faith is symbolized here.
The location of the film. Georgetown, should also be taken into consideration. At the time, US troops were still present in Vietnam and the American public was uneasy about that.
Hollywood's obsession of the demonic child can mostly be attributed to the larger than life effect The Exorcist had on an audience. Never before had a movie effected it's viewers in such a way (people screaming, fainting, becoming ill and calling paramedics to the aid of many shell-shocked theater-goers). Most likely other director wanted to play off the success of Friedkin and took off to do their own spin of horror movie each involving a demonic child (Village of the Damned, Rosemary's Baby, and The Omen leading up the tail end). Each of these movie are there to have that same lasting effect that The Exorcist had on its viewers. People had seen evil before but they had never seen evil enter in and violate the purity of a child, the concept was new and horrifying but that never stopped people from seeing the movie over and over again.
In The Exorcist, Regan is transformed from a nice good little girl form a broken family into a vomit spewing masochist who is seen spitting profanities and violating herself with a catholic crucifix. Her mother is then found between the struggle to accept a sort of faith in the church and place her daughters life not in the hands of her own money and doctors but purely in that of the church. However the movie takes a twist and the exorcist is semis successful as both of the priests issuing it are killed in the process.
Liminality is the place in between. this can refer to time, places, states of consciousness, etc. In 'The Exorcist' liminality can be seen throughout the whole film, in between the ultimate battle of good and evil. One example of where liminality is seen is during when Regan's bed begins to shake. the doctors all say she is just having seizures but to the audience and the actual witnesses of the shaking bed, we know that this event can not be explained in normalites. It has to be something not of this world to make this happen, something from the place unknown. Liminality can also be seen when the priest takes the demon into himself. a struggle inside the priest takes place and one can see the demon and the priest both fighting to conquer each other, fighting in a place in between. this place in between was also referred to when the priest asked the demon where Regan was. the demon replied, "she is in here with us." letting the audience know she is stuck between the lines of reality and the spirit world.
-daniel mclamb
i got this answer from notes on movie night october 29
Scott Councilman
Narritive structure- is generally described as the structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narritvie is presented to a reader,listener, or viewer.
Basic Element of Narrative Structure- its like the introduction, in which the story's founding characters and circumstance are described. Sometimes the conclusion ties up the whole story of the movie so that you will not be confused about what's going on.
Excorcists- The introduction basically ties up and sets up the story and what it is going to be about. By seeing the girl and the demon that is inside shows us what the movie is going to be about also and the title of the movie gives us an overall hint.
The Conversation- This movie is the exact opposite of the Excorcists. The audience is left confused at the beginning about what is going on, but then we are later informed that this is their job. Also we are left wondering who was killed or did it even happen, we discover at the conclusion of the story that The Conversation is about killing someone.
Dr. Strange Love- This movie leaves us wondering about what is going on about Plan R and why would Ripper call for a Plan R. We eventually find out about Plan R so our story switches to the question Why? In the middle of the movie we discover that Ripper is crazy and is worried about his bodliy fluids.
If you have anything else to add, that will be great. I know this isn't all that good, but I did try to find out everything that I could. Sorry I couldn't have better information for yall.
cite: Wiki media
Adding on to questions:
Regarding the authenticity of "O Brother"
-inauthentic in that there is No Helen of Troy depicted in the movie (In the Iliad, Menelaus' wife)
-Inauthentic in that the KKK leader Homer sings a song with obvious black roots and Tommy's skills as a musician and the fact he plays behind the other 3 soggy bottom boys- questions authenticity of "white" folk music (which actually do have black roots)
-Political inauthenticity - Homer claims to be working for the 'little man' which is open for interpretation...would it include african americans..it probably would not. So this would also be politically INAUTHENTIC.
Class notes taken the 19th and 22nd..
____
If anyone is wondering..its spelled Bona Fide
______
Chelsea DeMonch
Chelsea DeMonch
I'm probably going to have to come back and add/fix a few things once I acquire more notes that I missed. I apologize.
Describe the basic conventions of the musical and explain what “typically American” values it celebrates. Briefly explain if O Brother conforms to these conventions and celebrates these values—and if so, how?
According to our textbook on pages 267, the sound filmaking made "cinema a receptive medium for the talents of the singers and dancers who would proliferate in musicals-musicals getting big around the 1930s and 1960s" Around this time musicals essentially had a courtship narrative (where couples would sing to express their love for one another) Dialogue scenes were shot realistically and musical sequences were not so realistic. Musicals were meant to express cultural optimism, celebrating life, love, and desire. (this is all out of the book)Musicals tend to be anti-realist and an anti-narrative form.
"O Brother"
'articulates -- and pushes to a cockeyed limit -- the conventions of the Warner Brothers Depression era picture'
-[the coen brothers] they've filmed his bleak epic as a series of antic adventures and escapes with a cast of cartoonish characters. They've given it a full three happy endings, complete with a big musical number, a pardon from the governor, a wedding, and even a miracle.But the film's reversals of fortune are so abrupt, its escapes from disaster so flimsily contrived, and its happy endings so improbable that they can't quite make us forget its disquieting moments of real cruelty. Its ostensibly comic tone is also belied by the bleached colors of its desiccated fields and dirt roads, and by a knowing selection of mournful "ol'-timey" songs about joblessness, hunger, prison, and death.
http://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/revicontent_147.shtml
So although most musicals actually made in the 30s-60s are upbeat, "O brother" has appears upbeat because of comical situations and characters, but actually the songs have a darker, somber tone to reflect the pain going on during the Great Depression.
Some American conventions (especially in the great Depression) include:
-American optimism
---happy endings, ends tied up, hopes and prayers will be answered, people overcome obstacles, salvation
-Race purification/ White supremacy
---paraphrase from movie KKK leader (Homer) "preserve holy race, pull evil by the root to preserve the flower of culture"
---Racial tensions still occuring
-Judgments on South
---Accent, Intelligence questioned
-not sure where I'm going with this
Any-hoo
"O Brother" doesn't go with the typical musical conventions. The songs are not really sung by the characters. The songs aren't about love or celebration of life or desire, but instead are about death,hunger, pain, constant sorrow :p etc..., the musical sequences flow with the narrative and are realistic (characters don't jump into a music sequence with no reason), There is no real resolution in the end, we don't see what happens to Pete, Tommy, or Delmar, and we don't know what happens between Everett and his wife.
True american musicals made in the 30s hide the Depression while "O Brother" emphasizes and exposes the hopelessness, turns to God and salvation, robbery, betrayal, racial tension etc...
Again I'm probably going to have to add some info later on.
Briefly analyze one scene/image from The Searchers and describe the greater theme from the movie that it dramatizes.
During the scene where Ethan confronts Debbie, who was assimilated into the Comache culture, Martin tells Ethan to not kill her, because he had attempted to do this earlier. Instead, Ethan embraces her: symbolizing that he is willing to except Debbie by taking the Comache part of her onto himself in order for her to be symbolically restored as an American (Class Notes 10/8 and 10/10). One of the greater underlining themes of the movie is the fear of Communisiom (us vs. them) and the settlers represent American values whereas the Comache represent the other or Communist (Class Notes 10/8). The biggest fear that Americans had at the time was that Communism would spread into the American society and slowing replace our culture, which is demonstrated in The Searchers because after Debbie was kidnapped, she was converted into a Comache (Class Notes 10/8). Ethan hates the Comache so much that he is willing to kill Debbie because she became one. That’s why he had to symbolically take on the Comache part of Debbie into himself, or else he wouldn’t be able to except her as a Comache (Class Notes 10/8 and 10/10).
Briefly analyze one scene/image from The Searchers and describe the greater theme from the movie that it dramatizes.
During the scene where Ethan confronts Debbie, who was assimilated into the Comache culture, Martin tells Ethan to not kill her, because he had attempted to do this earlier. Instead, Ethan embraces her: symbolizing that he is willing to except Debbie by taking the Comache part of her onto himself in order for her to be symbolically restored as an American (Class Notes 10/8 and 10/10). One of the greater underlining themes of the movie is the fear of Communisiom (us vs. them) and the settlers represent American values whereas the Comache represent the other or Communist (Class Notes 10/8). The biggest fear that Americans had at the time was that Communism would spread into the American society and slowing replace our culture, which is demonstrated in The Searchers because after Debbie was kidnapped, she was converted into a Comache (Class Notes 10/8). Ethan hates the Comache so much that he is willing to kill Debbie because she became one. That’s why he had to symbolically take on the Comache part of Debbie into himself, or else he wouldn’t be able to except her as a Comache (Class Notes 10/8 and 10/10).
Chris Pitts - Briefly analyze one scene/image from "The Conversation" and describe the greater theme from the movie that it dramatizes.
A scene from "The Conversation" that exemplifies an overall theme of the movie is when Harry Caul is analyzing his surveillance tapes to further understand what is taking place, and to decipher the line, “He’d kill us if he got the chance,” which is then unknown by him and the viewer.
One of the themes of "The Conversation" is the unreliability of perception. We hear the conversation as Harry hears it, complete with interference and missing segments. Harry is not only trying to determine what was said as part of his job, but now he is trying to assess the situation (at this point he is starting to become personally involved, despite his previous convictions to never do so). However his perception of the situation is incomplete; he does not yet have all of the conversation identified, as well as not knowing the peripheral events surrounding the conversation. He is forced to draw his own conclusions, as are we, being that we only have as much information as he does.
As he is deciphering the tapes, we see the scene in the park played out again, but we cannot rely on this information because now the images are originating from Harry’s mind as he is listening to the tapes. We are occasionally shown photographs that were taken, giving us some basis of reality through the ‘objective’ eye of a camera. This is from class discussion. I, personally, don’t believe the visual aspect of the park scene is as subjective as we discussed, as Harry can sometimes be spotted in the background. The sound aspect, however, is only information that Harry has received, and cannot be trusted. This is made clearer as he listens in on the adjacent hotel room and again draws his own conclusions, only by then his unreliability is becoming more obvious.
This scene also illustrates the sometimes chilling nature of technology (specifically surveillance technology), another of the movie’s themes. The equipment Harry uses is top of the line, and nothing seems beyond its limits. When Harry is trying to decipher the inaudible portions, the camera pays close attention to the technicalities of what he is doing - running different tracks, isolating sound, etc. There are many shots of just the equipment running, emphasizing the advancing technology that allows for this type of task. Harry himself is precise and methodical while he working, exhibiting machine like qualities. In an article on sensesofcinema.com, Megan Ratner says, “In many ways, Harry has tried to make himself a part of his machines; he's very proud of building all his equipment himself, of keeping his nose out of his clients' business.” It is Harry’s more ‘human’ qualities, (his Catholic faith, his personal involvement in the case, etc.), that lead to his downfall: the breakdown of his perception of reality discussed earlier.
Class discussions on "The Conversation" took place on 10/3/07 and 10/5/07.
Other sources discussing "The Conversation":
Austin-Smith, Brenda. “The Conversation.” http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/01/13/conversation.html
Ratner, Megan. “Notes on The Conversation.” http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/13/conversation.html
Meredith Clough
Give examples of ambient sound, leitmotif, direct sound, sound bridge, realistic sound, and synthetic sound from each film covered in this exam.
Providing the definition was not part of my assignment but I am doing it anyway because I think it will help better your understanding of each example.
Definitions:
Ambient Sound: the background sound characteristic of an environment or location. (pg. 474 glossary)
Examples:
“The Conversation”- http://youtube.com/watch?v=hc2sNtH39bU this link will take you to an example of ambient sound in the movie. It occurs when Harry and Stan are talking and the footsteps can be heard in the back ground along with the wind rustling the shrubbery.
“The Searchers”- http://youtube.com/watch?v=WI2AZb04HAc as the video opens you will hear the beat of horses hooves and distant gun shots being fired, these are examples of ambient sound.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=woahas_W35A when John Wayne is dismounting his horse you hear his spurs and reins of the horse clattering which is also an example of ambient sound.
“O’ Brother Where Art Thou?” -http://youtube.com/watch?v=JvJ_5a6GHnE this trailer with George Clooney shows ambient sound as the train clanks along the tressel and the escaped convicts chains jingle while they run to catch the train. this video also shows ambient sound as the creek is running the background while the men are being seduced.
“Dr. StrangeLove”- http://youtube.com/watch?v=_XPnBec2gcE the humming of the airplane engine in the clip demonstrates ambient sound in Dr. StrangeLove. While the pilot is flipping the switches you can hear the muffled plane’s propellers running.
“The Exorcist”- I could not pin point a video clip for this one but as the preist is leaving Blair’s house the creepy music picks up and you can hear the wind rustling through the trees and his feet making pitter patter noises on the stepping stones.
Leimotif: a recurring musical passage used to characterize a scene, character or situation in a film narrative. (page 480 glossary)
Examples:
“The Conversation”- http://youtube.com/watch?v=jRB4PuY31Bs the sound of the old timey tape recorder beginning its recording process is a leimotif for this entire movie and its involvement with spying and eaves dropping.
“The Searchers”- the same video as above for ambient sound also shows a leimotif for John Wayne and his character, Ethan Edwards. The music played is the western hero stereotypical music with a climatic sound as the character approaches. Just like in majority of his other western movies, this leimotif tells the viewers that John Wayne is going to be a heroic main character.
“O Brother Where Art Thou?”- “A Man of Constant Sorrows” is the first leimotif that pops to mind when thinking of this movie. It became well known due to this movie and is characterizes the entire movie.
“Dr. StrangeLove”- http://youtube.com/watch?v=DeQ1tXfguh0 in this clip the mushroom clouds and atomic bombs are being shown to an opera style music. This music is a leimotif because is occurs more than once and each time it is used to show war and its components, such as mushroom clouds and explosions.
“The Exorcist”- As the movie begins the tune we are all familiar with is a perfect example of leimotif for this movie. It eludes to something bad that is about to occur and lets the viewers know the movie is going to be scary. This tune occurs more than once. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5731418110420155966&q=exorcist+music&total=285&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0 this video of someone playing it gives you an idea of the tune I’m referring to if you are unsure.
Direct Sound: sound that is captured and recorded directly on location. Direct sound also designates an absence of reflected components in the final recording. (pg. 477 glossary)
Examples:
“The Conversation”- about 45 seconds into this clip the buttons on the tape recorder are being pressed and it is thought to be direct sounds because it is not a sound effect or added in. Harry is actually pushing the buttons and the noise created is an example of direct sounds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRB4PuY31Bs
“The Searchers”- 5 seconds into this clip when the door closes, the noise resulting is an example of direct sound http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4P7fhcJIzA
“O Brother Where Art Thou?”- about a minute into this clip the guy turns around an hits his leg on the movie theatre chair and the noise created is an example of direct sound. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPjhEsZr8Nw
“Dr. StrangeLove”- 17 seconds into this clip the guy on the right (forgot his name) snaps his fingers to get the attention of his fellow conversation holder. This snap is a direct sound. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWP_rEWG2xk
“The Exorcist”- this clip shows direct sound as the priest coughs after being vomited on by Blair. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-emQAsGMeQ
Sound Bridge: sound used to connect, or bridge, two or more shots. Sound bridges establish a continuity of place, action or time. (pg. 484 glossary)
Examples:
“The Conversation”- The narrorator’s voice serves as a sound bridge for the opening of this movie. It connects many shots and ties together each one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrhRsZ56b4g
“The Searchers”- the dog barking in this shows the connection from the scene where Wayne punches the kid in the face to the scene where Wayne runs to the dog. The dog begins barking right before Wayne punches the kid. This action is about 45 seconds into the clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV2JPv1EFww
“O Brother Where Art Thou?”- from 55 seconds in to about 1 minute and 15 seconds, the Baptist characters are singing a gospel tune and as the shot changes from the walking congregation to the 3 men, the gospel tune serves as a sound bridge. Although the shot does not show the men as a part of the Baptist congregation walking to the river, the viewers known they are at the same place because of this connection due to the song being sung. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nV4d7s8E48
“Dr. StrangeLove”- like a previous clip I have posted, the bomb scene where the opera music serves as a transition between the shots or a “connector” also displays a sound bridge. The shots of the mushroom clouds are pieced together, but flow smoothly due to the sound bridge of the opera music. Just imagine the scene without any music, it would be very choppy.
“The Exorcist”- once again I could not find a clip I feel is good enough to show this term however a sound bridge is used in the Exorcist when the 2 priests are in Blair’s room chanting “The power of Christ compels you”. The shots are constantly changing but one knows it is the same action because of their repitition of the phrase.
Realistic Sound: sound that seems to fit the properties of a real source. In practice this is an elastic concept because many sounds that seem to be realistic are artificial and derive from sources other than the one designated on the screen. (pg. 483 glossary)
Examples:
“The Conversation”- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc2sNtH39bU in the very beginning the rewinding of the tape on the player seems to be real, it is in sync with the sound effect provided but a real tape player would not make a noise loud enough to pick up in real life.
“The Searchers”- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV2JPv1EFww when John Wayne hits the boy the sound of a thud is very realistic but because he did not actually hit him this sound did not occur directly which makes it a realistic sound.
“O Brother Where Art Thou?”- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nV4d7s8E48 a minute and 57 seconds into this he splashes through the water and it makes a realistic sound. That is what water sounds like when you wade into it rapidly but it would not be that clear or distinct without sound effects added in later, making it a realistic sound.
“Dr. StrangeLove”- 29 seconds into this video Major Kong is being launched on a bomb and as this occurs the whistling air created by the speed of the plane and the launch exit create yet another realistic form of sound. This wind could and does occur with jets on a daily basis but in this movie it had to be cropped in with sound effects. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueuauKKjPZI
“The Exorcist”- the sound of Blair vomiting is very realistic but it is obviously produced by an outside source because it is not real vomit nor is she actually vomiting.
Synthetic Sound: artificially designed sound that does not match any existing force. (pg. 485 glossary)
I’ve had trouble with this particular term and trying to create good examples. Hopefully these will be beneficial however I would suggest looking up another one or two on your own if you have a better understanding on this than I do.
Examples:
“The Conversation”- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrhRsZ56b4g in the opening of this movie trailer, the background noise/sound effects are synthetic because there is no source for them and it sounds as if it is some sort of created instrument.
“The Searchers”- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk231DJ4nfU as soon as the clip begins a climatic rise in the music takes place. There is no apparent source for this music and it isn’t created by anything on the screen making it a synthetic sound.
“O Brother Where Art Thou?”- There is no source for the sound of the crickets on the screen in this video segment. While it is night time and crickets do chirp then, there is no proof on screen of this source which allows this to be a synthetic sound. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoIebIKNS4s
“Dr. StrangeLove”- the drums in the background right before launch are an example of synthetic sound. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueuauKKjPZI there are no drums shown on screen so it has to be synthetic.
“The Exorcist”- there are multiple synthetic sounds in this movie. When the exorcism is taking place and Blair is levitating there is a shrill background noise that seems to be specially added as an effect to create chills in the viewers. There is nothing on the film causing the noise which designated it a synthetic sound as well.
ok so my links to the videos didnt work but you can copy and paste them if its not too much trouble! sorry guys
meredith
Explain how Dr. Strangelove satirizes contemporary views on sexuality.
One of the themes in Dr. Strangelove is the relationship between war and sex. From the names of the characters to the attitudes of these characters to the words used in conversation, the movie is laced with sexual connotations.
The opening scene starts the images of sex as the two planes are seen “mating.” This is carried out as Jack D. Ripper came to the realization that Communists are trying to infiltrate “our precious bodily fluids” while he was having sex intercourse. Major T.J. King Kong rides the bomb into the camp (which bombs in general have a phallic shape)
The names of characters hint at sexual connotations:
Mandrake- medicinal plant which encourages fertility
Buck- male deer
Turgid (from Turgidson)- extended, swollen or filled up, erect
Merkin- hair in the female genitalia
Muff (from Muffley)- slang for female genitalia
Jack the Ripper- murdered prostitutes
Dr. Strangelove- hints at the odd sexual relationship between war and nuclear warheads
Guano- bat excretments
Kisov- means Kissoff
de Sadesky- hints at a writer whose work was often pornographic
(from class lecture on October 26th)
Dr. Strangelove proposes a polygamist society to combat the mutually assured destruction and all the men in the War Room eagerly follow. The women will be picked on looks and how much they turn men on as well as skills. As an ex-Nazi, his hand often “snaps into a phallic Nazi salute” (Wikipedia).
Merkin Muffley, the president, is portrayed as feminine with the way he talks and especially in his conversation/fight with Dmitri. As president, he holds much power but he is seen as weak, especially the meanings stemmed from his name.
Buck Turgidson’s secretary Miss Scott is the only female in the movie. Although a secretary, she is only shown in Turigdson’s bedroom wearing a bathing suit. Buck says on the phone he will make her Mrs Buck Turgidson however at the end of the movie, he seems most interested in the 10 to 1 ratio of women to men, showing the lack of faithfulness apparent in society.
With the whole movie from the reason to send the bomb to the names to sex-laden words like penetrate being rooted in sex, it almost appears as though war is preposterous and comical.
Sara Veale
Movies try to wrap around all of your senses to involve you in the film as much as possible; the music score is laced throughout the film for exactly that reason.
In the Exorcist the music is used to set the audience on edge and make them as uncomfortable as possible to set them up for the visual thrill. The creepy piano music when a character walks about safely, about to go play with the devil, and the shrill orchestral ambiance when something terrible happens.
In O' Brother Where Art Thou since it is a musical, the musical score is very important. Unlike the other films, many of the songs are actually in the movie with people singing. But, as everything else in the film, it makes you feel more involved and engrossed in the period the film takes place in and the style of film it is. Country, folky, blue grass, gospel.
In The Conversation the musical score is used to depict the protagonist's loneliness. It is mostly slow piano.
In the Searchers, the musical score is obviously the typical western style score that promotes gung-ho excitement.
The music in all of these films tells us what we should be feeling/doing. In The Searchers--the music may want us to look around the landscape and enjoy. Or, wants us to be thrilled and ready for gunslinging. Exorcist tells us if its time to be scared, or if it is a break and time to reflect on what was happening.
Explain how production design creates meaning in 3 separate films.
-Production design is the planning and creation of sets, costumes, mattes, and miniatures according to an overall concept articulated by the production designer in collaboration with the director.
(book pg. 483)
-For the Exorcist, it seems that the movie takes place in the current time its being filmed, which gives the connection to it's audience because of the morals and values that were really upheld during that time. Every setting in the movie is taken place either at night or during the day when it rains. This gives off a real dark, eery, feeling.Most of the characters in the film are usually dressed in black or white, Regan is dressed in bright colors which portrays her innocence and purity in the film. The colors also represent the "good and evil" type of battle throughout the movie.
(notes were taken in class on oct.31)
-In the opening scene of O Brother Where art Thou? the film color fades into color after starting in black and white.. This is to show the audience what time of place this is set as the audience connects this to black and white TV in America. Also the film connects with it's audience because it's taken place in what seems to be the south of America in the early half of the 1900s. This shows what kind of features the culture and characters will have. The costumes of the characters also relate to "The Odyssey" which is what the film is based on. Everett is dressed as a prisoner just like Odysseus was a prisoner of war and his return home. Same with stuff like th eye patch on Big Dan who represents the cyclops in the Odyssey. An appearance from the KKK also tells you what time frame this takes place in America.
(notes taken on oct. 17 and 19)
-Dr. Strangelove is really a risky film because it's taken place in a time where America just got out of a controversy with Russia (Cold War). Everything they show in the film has something to do with war as the film setting is always taken place at a base, the "war room", or and a plane with nuclear bombs, which gives off the emotion of chaos. Most of the costumes in the film are war type uniforms except for people in the war room. When the Russian ambassador shows up he is waring all black which represents the "evil" portrayed by Americans during this time.Even though the film is filled with chaos you never feel likeit's serious because in some of the settings like the War Room. There is just a big map of the world but nothing else which makes it seem a little unreasonable.
(notes were taken oct. 24 and 26.)
Maxwell Brooke.
I believe that the idea of Frontier Mythology centers around the main character/s in an area of vast wilderness, surrounded by the exciting and unknown. This effect (showing how large, intimadating, and expansive the wilderness is {also known as "The Final Frontier} -vs- the small figure of Ethan, just a man) stresses the fragility and vulnerability of the main character/s in such a landscape. It's putting man -vs- nature and the elements.
We see this in the scene where Ethan and his nephew ride off into the snow and rain on a mission to find Debbie. They are mere pawns in the Frontier's game of chess.
Another time we see this in the last scene in which Ethan is left standing in the doorway with the huge open wilderness behind him. It's almost as if he realizes that he has accomplished his goal and all that's left is the final unknown, "The Final Frontier"
(This info is from Lectures).
~Will A. Angel
Jeremy Menzel
Describe the conventions of the horror film as defined by the book and point to at least three specific scenes/characters in both The Conversation and The Exorcist that exhibit these conventions.
The conventions of horror films is where "normality" is threatened by the monster. Normality usually is defined as heterosexual couple or the family and the monster attacks our views of how this is normal. Another convention of horror films is how the monster represtents a violation of social categories such as human and animal, normal and abnormal, living and dead. The monster in the films are neither one or the other, sitting on the line between living and dead, animal and human.(Prince 270)
Reagan from the Exorcist once possesed clearly shows the characteristics of horror film conventions. It shows the monster, being the demon in her, attacking not only her body, but the relationship between the child and her mother. One scene from The Conversation that shows conventions of the horror film is when Harry goes to the hotel room to see if he can stop the murder. When he steps out on the balcony he hears a women screaming and sees the bloody hand on the blurry window. Through this it is suggested that the woman had just been murdered, but later in the movie you find that it was not the woman but her father that had been murdered through her plans.
Explain how O Brother is concerned with authenticity in terms of music. How does the film play with the concept? Use specifics
O Brother Where Art Thou is concerned with authenticity in terms of music by incorporating typical Southern Folk /Bluegrass music that would be traditionally herd in the region in the 1930s.
The film plays with the concept of authenticity in the scene where The Soggy Bottom boys are playing at Homer Stokes rally. The song that they sing is labeled as their hit. However, the way Everett (George Clooney) is mouthing the words asks the audience to question the music’s true source. The film examines roots of folk music and hints at how it originated in African American culture but how white people were accredited for it. Tommy Johnson is the actual musician in the movie and the source of the music comes from his guitar. With out Tommy there would be no Soggy Bottom Boys but yet he remains overlooked in the background when they are performing.
This scene also plays with the concept by incorporating the old timey sounding music that would be herd at the time but using an unauthentic way to achieve it. It is written and sung by a contemporary singer.
Class Notes on 10/22/07
Lallie Jones
John McHone
The opening scene of the Exorcist being in a foreign location perpetuates the fear of evil coming from outside into our own world. Some of the settings and the sounds are very chaotic like the café scene, the marketplace, the men forging steel, and the carriage that almost runs him over. These scenes are sort of jarring and forebode the things to come in Georgetown. Other things to note from the opening shots is that the old man is singled out because he is the only white person in the opening scenes and also the shot right before the dissolve to Georgetown is of the man standing face to face with the statue of the devil, which we learn later in the movie he has already faced and will face one last time.
JESSICA WYNN
Briefly analyze one scene/image from The Conversation and describe the greater theme from the movie that it dramatizes.
Harry Caul’s paranoia with being watched and inability to escape being watched is one theme in The Conversation. There are several examples of Caul’s inability to escape surveillance in the film, but the pinnacle of the scenes is the last scene in the movie (also demonstrating that this is an important theme), when Caul destroys his apartment. This takes place after he receives a phone call (on the phone that is kept inside his desk, to which he keeps the phone number a secret) from Harrison Ford’s character. Ford demands that Caul does not tell anyone what he knows, and tells him “we can see you”. Caul hangs up the phone and begins to take everything in his apartment apart piece by piece, until it is completely bare, with no wallpaper or furniture. After a little hesitation, he even rips open his statue of the Virgin Mary. He never finds the camera, further strengthening the theme of his (and everyone’s) helplessness against the ever-growing surveillance technology. He has stopped at nothing to find this camera, and still has not succeeded.
Explain the implicit or explicit references to the Vietnam war that The Exorcist and Dr. Strangelove make.
The references in The Exorcist are mostly implicit. At the time the movie was made, the US was in the midst of the Vietnam war. The US also experienced the Watergate scandal, and a president who lied to the nation. One positive of this was the successful walk on the moon. When Regan comes downstairs at the party, she tells an astronaut that he will "die up there". This takes away hope from the one positive light in the Vietnam era. Vietnam was chaos and seemingly unsuccessful, and the children running in the streets in New York City mirror chaos going on in the US as a result. The soldiers went into battle and came back emotionally and physically scarred, as did the Fathers and the loved ones of Regan after her exorcism.
In Dr. Strangelove, the references are also implicit because the movie was set in the 50s. However, as it was made during the Vietnam era, the references go hand in hand. The notion that our American leaders are completely nuts and leading us into chaos was a suggestion to real life leaders.
MK Pollard
This comes from the notes taken on Monday October 1, 2007.
Fundamentals of Sound
-Developments in sound technology
*cinema sound introduced in 1926
*Dolby Noise Reduction
*4 and 6 track theater sound
*surround sound
*digital sound mixing
-Functions of cinema sound
*clarify screen images
*contradicts them
*makes them more ambiguious
-Fundamentals of film sound
*loudness
*pitch
*timbre
-Types of film sound
*speech
*music
*noise
-Sound engineering
*sound studies
*camera blimps
*directional/shielded microphones
*foley
*stock sounds
*"dry recording"
*"futzing"
-Dimensions of film sound
*rhythm
*space
--diegetic/non-diegetic
--perceptive
*time
--simultaneous
--nonsimultaneous
***flashback (former scene)
***sound bridge (former shot)
Courtney Burbick
The Exorcist examines one major issue of our time. It examines the womens role in society. In the last hundred years the role has changed significantly. Not long ago it was unacceptable for women to hold jobs of power and be the bread winners of their household. The mother in the exorcist has taken a very dominent and in charge role. She tries to use her money and power to get the best help possible for her daughter, and when it fails she has to turn towards the church for answers. The priest at first doesnt want to perform the ritual but after much deliberation he is pursuaded by the mother.
Daniel Reutzel
Is The Conversation an example of Classical Hollywood narrative? Point to all of the conventions in your response.(Classical Hollywood Narrative pages 248-251)
In my opinion I think that the movie The Conversation does use Classical Hollywood narrative. Because the definition of CHN is a main plot in the movie that is known from the beginning of the movie, with one or more little subplots tied into it. We know from the very beginning in The Conversation, that Harry is spying on this couple, and is getting paid to try and find out what they are talking about. We do not know until the end of the movie what they are talking about, but that does not matter. The whole movie centers around Harry trying to figure out what this couple on the street is talking about. And just like in CHN there are infact other subplots that tie into the movie. For instance Harry's paranoia over the fact that someone is spying on him, or the fact that he is so secrective that he loses the only women that it seemed he ever cared for. In CHN the main character or characters either fail or acheive their set goal from the beginning of the movie. In Harry's case he achieves his goal of learning what is said by the couple on the street, but that does not matter someone still ends up dying in the end.
(A little late but here it is...)
Describe the basics of sound [design]. Briefly explain how The Conversation depicts sound engineering.
Sound in film can be broken down into three, fundamental parts:
(1) dialogue
(2) sound effects
(3) soundtrack/music
Dialogue
-Cinema sound was introduced in 1926
-Since introduction of sound, there has been two different kinds of dialogue: "speech delivered by characters on screen usually in conversation with one another. Voice-over narration accompanies images and scenes but it not delivered by a particular character from within a scene" (Prince).
"Most of the dialogue heard in the average feature originates from the production track (the soundtrack recorded at the point of filming), but 30 percent or more of a film's dialogue is the result of ADR (automated dialogue replacement)" (Prince).
Sound Effects
"Sound effects are the physical sounds heard as part of the action and the physical environments seen on screen. They include ambient sound, which is the naturally occurring, generally low-level sound produced by an environment (wind in trees, traffic in city)" (Prince).
Foley technique
The creation of sound effects by live performance in a sound recording studio. Foley artists perform sound effects in sync with a scene's action.
Soundtrack/Music
Music in film serves several functions:
(1) Setting the scene
(2) Adding Emotional Meaning
(3) Serving as Background Filler
(4) Creating Continuity
(5) Emphasizing Climaxes
The Conversation
Sound plays a very integral role in The Conversation, especially when dealing with the inflection of the recorded voice from which the entire movie revolves. Sound is used as a tension-creating device. The Conversation pulls the audience from the cinematic "safe zone" which usually involves the marriage of image and sound and requires them to deal with the ambiguity of an incomplete conversation.
"THE CONVERSATION deals with the manipulation of sound to make out a sentence that lies just underneath the sounds of the city. But while that elusive sentence comes through -- "he's kill us if he had the chance" -- what Harry fails to catch is the intonation itself, which would have radically altered his deduction and completely shifted his attention. Like the definition of the word "caul", Harry is unable to see (or hear) the reality, or that he's been a victim of his own occupation by the end of the film" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071360/usercomments).
"The marvelous sound work on the film was deserving of an Oscar for Best Sound for its effective sound-mixing of interdependent elements: taped conversations, muffled voices, background and other mechanically-generated noises, musical/piano accompaniment (Harry Caul's signature theme) and other ambient sounds" (http://www.filmsite.org/conv.html).
Alright Here are the remaining answers to some of the questions..
___
Describe the relationship b/t faith and reason in the Exorcist
-In the Exorcist we see a shift from reason to religion/faith. The mother Chris, after discovering the complete personality twist in her daughter Reagan, hires doctors and therapists to perform tests on Reagan in order to find some logical scientific reason for her symptoms. When the tests come up negative for any mental disease or temporal lesions, and after the psychologists discover that Reagan thinks something is occupying her body with her, Chris is forced to turn to religion for help.(The doctors were the first to suggest an exorcism so even those in the scientific field have religious beliefs) She meets Father Damien Karras on a bridge (which symbolizes the bridge she stands on between faith and reason since she herself doesn't claim any denomination-- also the uneasiness and disbelief she herself has) and asks the Father for an Exorcism. At first even Father Karras is doubtful that anything has possessed Reagan (I mean religious figures are supposed to jump at opportunities like this right?) and believes that Chris should see more doctors for help. But after possessed demonic little Reagan mentions his dead mother, Karras slowly turns back into believing and assists in the Exorcism. Although faith and reason seem to be polar opposites they actually feed into one another. "I believe therefore I understand." For the exorcism (the actual reason for Reagan's ilnness was b/c she was possessed by an ancient evil/the devil from "Iraq.") One had to believe in the devil's/ evil demon's existence and that it took over REagan's body and that the power of God could relieve her of the evil.
____
Explain what social issues Dr. Strangelove examines and how
1. communism/ communist infiltration
-Ripper's constant worry of communists taking over the world/ bodily fluids/ water etc...
-military power who had power and how much of it did they have
Ripper having ultimate power over arms
-nuclear arms-destructive-ness
-as we see in the end with the melee' of mushroom clouds
____
Hey everyone. I hope your studying is going well. After class on Friday I wanted to add some to my answer.
My question was:
Explain the implicit or explicit references to the Vietnam war that The Exorcist and Dr. Strangelove make.
An explicit reference to the Vietnam war in The Exorcist is the filming of Chris's movie in the beginning. There are protesting students outside the university, which was very connected to the protests of young people against the war.
Also, I got my answers from notes taken in class on 10/24, 11/02, and from my head! :)
Good luck!
Post a Comment