Thursday, October 30, 2014

The Piano


            The Piano shares a love triangle story that evolves in an unexpected way. The protagonist, Ada, moves to New Zealand to meet her husband through an arranged marriage by her father. She is immediately upset with her new husband, Stewart, for leaving her piano at the beach. Stewart's friend Baines sympathizes with Ada and helps take her to the beach so she can play her piano. As Baines watches her play, Flora is dancing on the beach, and we see that Baines understands just how important the piano is to Ada.

Shortly thereafter, Baines asks Stewart if he can have the piano in trade of something else. Stewart agrees that Baines can have the piano despite Ada's feelings. So, Baines retrieves the piano and then decides he wants to take music lessons from Ada. From this moment on, Baines and Ada's relationship grows from one out of manipulation and power to one of passion.

Unwilling, Ada helps Baines in what she believes to be piano lessons. Quickly she discovers Baines wants Ada to buy back the piano key by key if she submits to whatever Baines wants in return. She surrenders to the scheme, and little by little, they seduce one another. Simple acts of sexual submission build into more erotic and intense acts. Finally, Baines decides they can't continue on. He has fallen in love with her and continuing on with her submitting to him makes her a "whore" and he "wretched."

Ada leaves Baines home, but realizes she has feelings for Baines. When go back to Baines, it is on her terms. No schemes, only pure passion.

The definition of rape according to Merriam-Webster dictionary means to force (someone) to have sex with you by using violence or the threat of violence. The archaic meaning is to seize and take away by force. I do not think Baines raped Ada in the way we think of criminal rape. However, I believe he was using the piano as a weapon to control her and get what he wanted. In the end, it turned into a more loving scenario.

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Spoorloos (The Vanishing) directed by George Sluizer


The Vanishing [1988], directed by George Sluizer (originally entitled Spoorloos), was a Dutch-French film adaption based on the novel The Golden Egg by Tim Krabbé. After its release, it was well received and achieved critical acclaim. In 1990, the film reached American shores only as an art house release (tcm.com). Becoming more popular in America, The Washington Post said in a review that it was "refreshingly free of manipulative scenes involving running bath water, jagged-edge cutlery and bunnies in the saucepan" (Howe). Thrilled by its success, Hollywood decided to remake the film in an English version. The Vanishing was remade and released in 1993, directed again by George Sluizer and starring Jeff Bridges, Kiefer Sutherland, Sandra Bullock, and Nancy Travis hit theatres nationwide. Unfortunately it did not receive the same accolades as the original.

After watching both films, The Vanishing (1988) version completely captivated me and was more enjoyable to watch due to the actors and the story being more authentic and refreshing then the 1993 version. I felt the actor and actress playing Rex and Saskia interpreted their emotions and terror more genuinely. The original film allowed the audience to draw conclusions through imagery and symbolism as opposed to the cliché American horror films that rely on music and words to guide the viewers. Watching the 1993 version, it felt as if the actors and actresses emotions were robotic and nonetheless I felt it was poor casting overall.

The two scenes I analyzed were chosen because I felt they were the most influential scenes capturing my sentiments about the 1988 version and comparing and contrasting the 1993 version. The first scene is where the audience is being introduced to Rex and Saskia or Jeff and Diane. The second scene is at the end where Rex dies and Jeff is saved.

In the introduction of Rex and Saskia, you could feel the love and passion between them.. The opening scene, where Rex and Saskia are driving down the road and talking to one another, being playful, helped the audience understand their relationship. When Saskia shares her dream with Rex about the golden egg, the audience comprehends how vulnerable she is and how intimate that moment is for them. It is something that brings them closer together.

After the conversation, a truck heads towards them and the headlights get brighter. After panicking because the truck just missed them, Rex insists Saskia gets out fo the car to be safer. Saskia is crying and is trying to convince Rex to wait while she looks for a flashlight. Rex abandons Saskia to get gas. The audiences witnesses how scared Saskia is by her screaming don't leave me. The audience is upset because we don't understand why after their playful and intimate moment, why Rex is walking away. The viewers feel a little disgust when Rex leaves her. Finally, Rex comes back with gas and discovers Saskia is not in the car. He is nervous and curious what has happened to her. He feels guilty that he left her and now she is gone. He drives the car out of the dark tunnel and Saskia appears in the bright light. A foreshadowing of what is about to come, a light at the end of the tunnel—symbolic of death. This scene was darker and relied very little on music, and more so on feelings, to set the mood.



Now comparing it to the 1993 version. In this version, the audience gets less time getting to know Jeff and Diane. We see Jeff and Diane interacting very briefly before they reach the tunnel. During this time, their dialogue is filled with Diane being anxious and Jeff feeling frustrated.

Now they enter the tunnel, and the car immediately starts making noises and stalls. Now Diane starts really getting upset and starts yells at Jeff. In return, Jeff is upset that Diane is yelling at him. Jeff tells Diane not to calm down and not get so upset.  Next the truck appears and Diane is really scared. Thankfully the truck whips around their car and misses them. Diane starts to panic again and looks for a flashlight. Jeff tells her they need to get out. She tells him to leave while she continues to look for the flashlight. After he walks away (because she tells him too) and he is at the end of the tunnel, she then yells for him not to leave her. It is difficult for the audience to feel much of anything when they start their introduction with bickering, and then it carries through the tunnel scene. The audience wasn't given enough time to develop feelings for the situation. Up until now, the only dynamic you see between the two of them is one of frustration. I found it difficult to connect with them compared to Rex and Saskia.

Finally, Jeff comes back with gas. Diane is not in the car and Jeff screams out her name. Jeff drives out of the tunnel looking for her. The sky is brighter and there is music in the background that lets the audience know he is concerned. Jeff drives for a short bit and then sees Diane sitting on the side of the road on a rock. He pulls over and open the door for her to get in. She gets into the car sulking and nothing is said.

The difference with this version is the lack of symbolism. There were no discussion of dreams or fears that occur between Jeff and Diane. Also, I have never viewed either Kiefer Sutherland or Sandra Bullock as romantic characters. It is part of why I thought the casting was poorly chosen. At this point, it was hard for me to move on and feel pain for Jeff when Diane comes up missing. It never felt that deep to begin with. It also made it hard for me to understand why Jeff became so obsessed with Diane when what little emotion they had with one another and how little time they had together.



The second scene I compared and analyzed was the ending of The Vanishing. In the 1988 version, Rex was buried alive. He is able to finally join Saskia just like her dream predicted.

The scene begins in terrifying fashion because we see Rex in a dark box, a flicker from the flame of his lighter, his hands and face, and we hear him screaming. As time passes, we see Rex fade into the tunnel where there is light at the end of it and Saskia waiting. We hear Rex call out Saskia name and then Saskia appears differently with a light illuminated around her smiling by the tree. The film ends with Raymond sitting at a table at his country home watching his family do yard work. You see a newspaper in the back of Raymonds car with the headlines of Saskia and Rex both missing and their picture. The ending is more terrifying to me because it continues to show what a sociopath Raymond is and it is hard to fathom how anybody could be that cold and heartless and yet appear so normal.

The ending of The Vanishing (1993) version was far more cliché American horror, typical ending of back and forth fighting to save a life, and good overrides evil, predictable and disappointing.

The ending is far longer in the 1993 version. We see Jeff in the dark box struggling to get out. We see a little bit of light flickering from his lighter. The audience hears Jeff breathing louder and it is more panicked sounding.

This part of the scene is long and it is where it mimics the typical American cliché ending in horror film. Rita and Barney go back and forth chasing one another through the woods, its dark, raining, and nobody knows where the other person is. The suspense of where somebody might pop up is evident. Eventually, Rita sees the shovel and dirt that Barney used to burry Jeff. In order to understand what happened to Jeff, Rita decides to turn the table on Barney and use his daughter to her advantage. Rita understands Barneys weakness and tells him he will have to go through everything she did to find out where his daughter is. So, Barney drinks the coffee that has chloroform in it and falls asleep.
After Barney falls asleep, Rita grabs the shovel and runs outside to find where Jeff has been buried. She digs Jeff up and opens up the box to find him laying there not knowing if he is dead or alive. Barney comes up behind her and they struggle in a fight again. Jeff starts waking up and then punches Barney to protect Rita. Jeff takes the shovel and kills Barney. Rita and Jeff hug as they realize their nightmare is over.The next scene Jeff and Rita are at dinner at a restaurant with a publisher (who is trying to get them to write a book). Coffee is placed down on the table and Jeff and Rita both say to the waiter that they don't drink coffee anymore, and the look at each other and giggle. Happy ending.

That is why the second version received such poor reviews. The audience fell in love with the original version because it didn't follow all of the typical clichés. It used feelings, emotions, and symbolism to tell the story. It was far more terrifying then using clichés and music like the 1993 version did.



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Thursday, October 23, 2014

The Vanishing Short Scene Analysis


1. What is the cinematographic significance of the ending? (the burial)

At the end of the film, the audience views a scene where Rex is buried alive. The scene is pitch black and we don't see much other than the flicker of light from a lighter and a bit of Rex's hands and face. This particular scene would be challenging for filmmakers to create. In order to create a scene that dark, it would require removing lights and technical personnel, in order to capture the essence of horror in the audience discovering Rex was buried alive.


3. In the scene where Raymond is practicing, what angles and camera movements are used?

The camera used a tilt and high angle shot to capture part of the car and main character. Using this tilt and high angle shot, the viewers can see Raymond walking around the car and practicing his abduction techniques. It captures Raymond moving around the car from one side to another without having to pan the camera left or right.




Friday, October 17, 2014

Short Scene Analysis


3. What is the purpose of the subtitle/audio disconnect on video #3?
The purpose of using subtitle/audio disconnect is to illustrate to the audience what a real conversation looks like between two people who are attracted to one another. Allen uses subtitles to effectively demonstrate what Alvy and Annie are thinking in their mind at the same time while they are talking and saying something different, more politically correct, to one another.

4. What is Woody making fun of in video #4? With what purpose?

Woody Allen is making fun about how ignorance seems to be what brings couples true happiness versus being well educated, neurotic, and over analyzing every detail. 


 

Annie Hall


In the film Annie Hall, Woody Allen uses various experimental film styles to connect with his audience and make a story feel more real or personal as opposed to other traditional comedic films.

Allen's comedic film methods are accessible to the audience and therefore tend to make situations funnier. For example, Allen talks directly to his viewers while narrating his neurotic point of view on love and relationships. This adds a unique comedic twist. Another approach that adds another layer of panache, includes using subtitles to convey what the characters are actually thinking while conversing with one another. Other styles that added laughter entailed using animation and split screen shots to make, what could be considered an intense moment, whimsical and light-hearted. 



An example of Allen's comedy film style can be shown in the scene where Alvy and Annie visit her family in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin for Easter dinner. It is an excellent example of how Allen uses the split screen shot to demonstrate the dichotomy between these two character's families. In using the split screen, the audiences compares the Hall family, which is relaxed, eating dinner in a beautiful home, everyone has a designated space at the table, and we notice Alvy sitting next to Annie's grandmother feeling uncomfortable because she dislikes Jewish people. We then see Alvy transform into an Orthodox Jew, and then back to himself sitting at the Hall dinner table. Next the scene goes into split screen shot and we see Alvy's family eating dinner. It exposes Alvy's family home, which is located under a roller coaster, the lighting is dimmer, crowded table, everyone is talking over each other, and in general more chaotic. This scene absolutely captures a clear and comedic film style that vividly shows two extremes between these two families. The split screen shot makes it real to audiences and therefore we can relate and laugh about this situation. As we have all had a moment where we are comparing our family to somebody else's family, and in particular when we are dating someone.





Thursday, October 2, 2014

Daisies


Out of all the films we have watched in our class so far, I thoroughly enjoyed Daisies most of all! Not only for obvious reasons—since I am a female—but the way Chytilova used satire and visuals to express her controversial views during the late 60's regarding "male behavior". 

The first scene where the girls have dinner with the older man and they are getting ready to get rid of him, the film uses different cuts showing the girls in different positions while changing colors from orange, purple, red, green, and so on. The scene cuts to the train station and these scenes are filmed in black and white, mimicking the cinematic cliches' about women being heartbroken when they  departed from one another. I am not sure why Chytilova used different colors in the scene before the train station, however it made it fun to watch and exposed the artsy and creative side of film. 

The phallic use of food throughout the movie adds humor to the cliche' sexual symbolism. The girls use a pickle, banana, and sausage and cut and destroying them with sharp and large utensils. Another shot shows a hard boiled egg and one of the girl's destroying it. I suppose the egg represents the female reproductive process regarding releasing an egg each moth for possible fertilization. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the film for all of the different cuts, color, locations, and overall quality.