By incorporating the three principles: the past, present and future. We will post our discoveries about each phase of the cinema. From what we learned to what we know. So settle down with your popcorn and favorite beverage and stay tuned for the coming attractions.
Moviegoers will always know who Robert De Niro,Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep or Nicklas Cage is. But a handful of younger actors are taking over the spotlight and becoming the new A-List Actors. Some include James Franco, Anne Hathaway, Michael Cera, Emma Stone, Abgial Breslin..and many more. These are the actors/actresses of the future and they are already winning the hearts of moviegoers. They force us to pay 11 dollar for ticket to see their movies, because they are talented. James Franco has done some great movies in the last 10 years, Pineapple Express, 127 hours, Flyboys, Spiderman 1-3. Emma Stone has done movies such as Superbad,Easy A, Zombieland( along side Breslin) and the new Spiderman coming out next year.( which will be feature in a coming blog post) So support these younger thesbians.
With genres like action, comedy, drama, musicals in mainstream movies, could we include spoofs as a genre? Spoofs are movies that either poke fun or exaggerate a certain aspect of another. For example last year, Vampires Suck spoofed the Twilight Saga. Along with Vampires Suck, there has been 38 spoofs created. Plots range from poking fun at the many superhero movies to appear to even one about the various horror movies. Usually spoofs are basically comedies but include another aspect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parody_film#2000s -list of movies
I freely admit it, I'm a Trekkie. A Spock-loving, phaser-toting, Borg-hating, die-hard Trekkie. The one who is sitting in a traffic jam on I-95 and wishes she had a transporter. The one who believes Tribbles are real; they're just waiting somewhere in Tibet to be discovered. From the original series to The Next Generation, to all ten Star Trek movies, I have been a follower since childhood. So when the news came out that there would be a movie that would depict the original crew, but from the beginnings of the story of the Enterprise, I flatly refused to believe it would be a success. How could they come up with a better story that would be successful and not just a re-hashing?
Well, they did. With the release of Star Trek in 2009, they came up with a script that not only is novel and extremely entertaining, but opened up the possibility of many more sequels to come. With an unexpected twist to the tale, coupled with an excellent cast and unbelievable special effects, JJ Abrams was able to make a movie irresistible to even the nit-pickiest Trekkie. Check out the trailers and feel free to tell me what you think...whether you're a fellow Trekkie or not.
The significance of the trilogy, the Lord of The Rings, never gets old for me. Because I was such a huge fan of the books, which I have read and re-read, I was not sure I wanted to see the movies, as I believe in the saying "the movie is never as good as the book". Still, I went to see the first film, "The Fellowship of The Ring" and found the scenery magnificent, the acting excellent, and the special effects astounding. But what was most impressive was that the movie was still able to depict the timeless messages of a book written over sixty years ago: the constant struggle of man over the seduction of power, the heavy responsibility of doing the right thing, and, finally, the importance of faith.The second and third movies, "The Two Towers" and "The Return of The King", respectively, lived up to the expectations even better than the first movie.
The Ring is a symbol of great power, but a power of absolute evil. Frodo, who is one of the representatives of all that is "good", is fated to be the Ring-bearer, and only he can destroy it. The story follows his quest to bring the Ring to Mordor with the purpose of casting it into the symbolic fires ; with him are eight companions, the Fellowship, who are sworn to protect and help him with this quest.
The chronicle is known for its great battle scenes between the armies of men and the beasts of Mordor, but the heart of the tale, I think, are the personal inner battles of many of the characters. The first example, of course, would be Frodo, who has actual possession of the ring, and must physically and mentally fight the effect that it has on him throughout the whole journey. Aragon, who until the quest begins, is a man who is destined to be a king, but constantly fighting the self-doubt that he is deserving of that title. Boromir, a mighty warrior, the son of a proud father, but is desperate to be worthy of his father's high expectations and his desire to keep his people from falling from grace, and is willing to do anything to achieve that goal. There are many more characters whose fates that are entwined in this struggle; the fascination is witnessing the triumphs and failures to overcome the lure of the Ring, and the age-old struggle of good vs. evil.
Dark Knight is one of my all time favorite batman movie. One reason mostly is becuase of all effects they did in the movie. One effect that was awesome was how they transform Aaron Eckhart's face. Framestore created 120 computer-generated shots of two-face's scarred and gruesome face. The director Christopher Nolan thought make-up would look unrealistic. For each shot they used three 720-pixel HD cameras shooting from different perspectives and angles to capture the shot. Echart wore markers on his face and a prospsetic skull cap to really pull off the look of Two-Face. Also the Director Christopher Nolan uses alot sets rather than relying on a lot green screen, which shows on the realsitic feeling in the film.This movie is favorite of everyone thanks to the Special effects and the stronger cast including Christian Bale and Heath Ledger. The Dark Knight rises will be a great movie, which will be talked about in the future section coming up soon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqZhkxZbWcI
Released in 2006, Pans Labyrinth relates a dark and artistic tone to its audience. The story follows a young girl as she moves in with her step-father and her pregnant mother. By the house is a maze and werid creatures come and talk to the young girl. Her step father is high ranking official and his very stubborn and aggressive. Its a very dark and mysterious movie. The movie won best art direction and make up in 2006 Oscar. So its worth picking it up and seeing, only thing is, its subtitles thorough the whole movie.
Those unrelaible 35mm traditional films are the way out the door. Make way Digtial Film Age. Since 2005, some of the movies hollywood produces are projected on digital project. Your problably wondering what exactly are they. Well they use files instead of film. Film companies instead transfer their movies into a format for the projectors and send them on external hard drives to your local cinema to be shown. They can be normal or 3D. Theaters across the country are slowly throwing the 35mm projectors and now installing the new Digital ones. These allow theaters to employ less man power because it takes less to start, as long as the file is in the project, they just gotta hit start.
In the picture below, you can see the difference in size, the one on the left is the 35mm, you can see the giant platters where the film goes. Compare to the right, which is the Digital one.
A ballet dancer struggles with her mental and physical being. From her alter-ego to her mother, The Black tells a story of a talented ballet dance in NYC who earns the lead roll in her companies rendition of Swan Lake. Starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis are dancers in the movie and Portman as the lead ballet dance. Throughout the film, Portman struggles to grasp reality.
The movies showcases, the art form and how each and everyday, ballet dancers struggle. They must go throught the long hours of practice and fight the ongoing battle with their weight.
The director Darren Aronofsky, who used many cinematic and art elements that relayed a message of a artistic movie, that overall conveys a dark and moody drama. Black Swan won an award for Best Actress by Natalie Portman. Overall a great movie, just a little gruesome, but check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHTfDcP0APw
Hollywood relies on sequels to earn them money and hope they are blockbuster winners. There are many different kinds of sequels.
For examples one they are preplanned or being adapt from a book. They have the title of the book followed by the current installment.e.g. The Chronicles of Naria:The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. As long as this is movie is sucessful, their will be another one, because its a series of books.
Another Example is sequels with numbers, they not necessary give any hint to what will the plot be. Toy Story 2, the title doesnt give away anything, just the audience will be going on another adventure with Woody and Buzz.
Sequels could very well share the same name as its predessors, just plouralize, for example Aliens, sequel to Alien.
Getting back to sequels, in 2010, the top grossing movie domestically was Toy Story 3( Sequel) At of the top ten of highest grossing, 5 of them were sequels. http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2010&p=.htm This link shows the list, go see how many of them are sequels.
Monster Inc. is about monsters who go through doors and scare little children as there job. Two particuar monsters didn't have it so easy. When the one monster goes through one particular door the child escapes and they do all they can to get her back through the door without someone getting hurt and getting caught.
For the monsters to scare the little kids they have to go through doors. Theres certain monsters that work the machines to bring the "scaring monsters" a door so they can walk through it and scare the little children to collect screams for their company. To get a certain door they have a file for a certain child and then they swipe a card and the conveyor belt of doors continue through till the door comes to their station and a big claw rises up and grabs the door.
The Shrek and Toy Story films have entertained and delighted audiences for several years. These animated characters have captured the hearts of children and adults through out the world. But these movies would not have been as memorable if it were not for the efforts of the animators and the actors who supplied the voices for these endearing characters.
In traditional animation, the preliminary soundtrack of an actor performing the character's voice is completed first. It was easier for the animators to match the character's simulated movements to the voice. In computer animation, the same process is sometimes utilized. However, since this type of animation is easier to adjust, it is now more common to change the voice over to match the action on the screen. The actors are then required to re-do some scenes or provide the voice for newly created animated action.
The actor supplying the cartoon character's voice is required to have a unique sound, imagination and versatility. The voice needs to be believable. The actor must have the stamina to maintain the character tone for extended periods of time. Some mistakenly believe that if you can do a funny voice, you can make it in this industry. This is not true. Acting ability is required. When the actor is speaking their lines, they are sitting in a recording booth alone. They are not playing off another actor. They need to understand the character on all levels and be able to convey it to the audience.
Watch the clip below and notice how both the voices and the body movements match the animated character's personality.
Have you ever been so totally engrossed in watching an intensely frightening movie scene that the menacing music scared you more than what was actually taking place on the screen? The use of music in movies can intensify the outcome of a scene or bring it into sharper focus.
There are various ways music is utilized to promote the cinematic experience. It can be used to express the character's emotion - if the scene is tense, dramatic, happy or emotional the background music will match the mood. Music is an effective way to heighten drama and advance the story. It can be used to misdirect the audience in a scene. Picture a woman alone in the house, a crescendo of loud ominous music emanating from the screen - this sets the mood for what is about to befall the victim - whether it's a killer hiding in the closet or a cat jumping off the dresser. The anticipation builds and emotions take over resulting in a heart pounding thrill to the viewer.
The following link is a trailer for the enchanting and popular film, Mary Poppins, but through the use of sinister and eerie music the movie is transformed into a suspenseful and terrifying adventure.
M. Night Shyamalan was born in India but was raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Most of his films have been shot in Philly and the surrounding communities. His films deal with supernatural story lines that climax with unexpected surprising endings. His most famous is "The Sixth Sense" which he both wrote and directed. This film tells the story of a young boy who speaks with the dead and the child psychologist who consuls him. "I see dead people" is just one infamous line from the film.
"Signs" was another film written and directed by Shyamalan that was shot in Bucks County. Mel Gibson starred in the flick that told the tale of mysterious crop circles appearing around the world and the subsequent invasion of extraterrestrials. Delaware Valley College leased 40 acres to the production company where they built the house and shot the cornfield scenes. The bookstore and pizza shop scenes were filmed in Newtown, and the pharmacy scene was shot in Morrisville.
One of his most recent film's "Lady in the Water," was shot entirely in Levittown at the site of the old 3-M property. Here they built a 5 story apartment complex complete with a swimming pool and filmed the entire movie at this location. The film was about a building maintenance man who saves a young woman from the pool. She turns out to be a story book sea nymph that he tries to help back to her home before others succeed in keeping her in the present world. The film did not do well at the box office due to the rambling storyline.
M. Night Shyamalan is a gifted writer and a talented director. We can look forward to more spine-tingling films from this gifted writer/director.
The following link is the trailer for The Sixth Sense.
Jackie Coogan was a successful child actor of the 1920's. By the time he reached 21 years old, his career was over. At that time, he discovered that his parents had spent the millions of dollars he had earned. Coogan Law was instituted in 1939 to protect the earnings of child actors. California updated this law in 2000 stating that all money earned by the child is solely theirs. 15% of the earnings must be held in a trust fund called a Coogan account.
All working child actors must have a working permit (issued for six months of work) and a social security number. Babies may only be filmed 20 minutes a day - resulting in the employment of twins and triplets to play one character. Children over the age of seven can be on set for up to 8 hours - 3 of which must be dedicated to their education.
Many of today's child stars find the fame and fortune difficult to navigate. Sadly, these children grow up to be disfunctional adults with addicition issues, legal problems or file for bankruptcy. Corey Haim, Michael Jackson and River Phoenix have tradgedically met early deaths due in part to their celebrity.
Visual effects are an important aspect to many action/adventure flicks. These effects are usually done post-production and must be meticulously planned and choreographed before and during filming. Through the use of graphic design, animation and other software programs, the special effects are planned and edited to enhance their authenticity. Usually explosions, car chases and stunts are done on the set and filmed from different angles to get the best possible outcome.
Visual effects are divided into four categories: Models - designing the set in miniature. Stills - the use of background plates from paintings or photographs. Live action effects - actors filmed in front of a blue-screen or green-screen. And digital animation - computer generated 3-D characters.
The movie, 2012, depicts the catastrophic end of the earth due to a chain of natural disasters. The link below is a trailer about how they filmed the powerful tidal waves that drowned the earth.
Momento is about a man who has anterograde amnesia. Anterigrade Amnesia is a loss to create new memories, which can lead to partial or complete inability to recall the past memories. As they explain in the movie his amnesia is a result from a hit to the head from two men who attack him in his house. It starts out in black and white and it turns to color towards the end of the movie. What makes this movie different then any other movie is that the ending starts out the movie.
Released in 2000, Cast Away is drama centered around Fedex employee stranded on a island with nothing but the packages. Along the journey, Tom Hanks' character finds friend in a volleyball named Wilson. Wilson is the name of the company who produces the sports equipment. With a budget of 90 million dollars, it became a blockbuster hit when released it earned 400 million dollars.
Wilson the volleyball can be purchased, so anyone could have their own buddy to talk to. http://www.wilson.com/wilson/volleyball/all_volleyballs.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674001899&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302759592
From an art standpoint, it took a great mind to come up with a creative way to make the movie interesting. Without wilson, Tom Hanks could have been talking to no one, but the writers of the movie created someone for Tom to connect to and have a conversation with.
Nothing brings to mind the concept of ultimate cool more than the legend of James Bond, the debonair international spy who lived a jet-setting, dangerous life, amidst exotic settings. What was most exciting about these movies were the GADGETS, the secret agent toys that were mostly pieces of fictional technology. What could be better than the watch on the right, for example, that could capture pictures of villains everywhere; or the jet pack below that jettisoned James to adventures galore. Finally...the Aston Martin that pretty much could do everything from shooting bullets from the trunk, or laser beams from its side mirrors, to converting to a submarine, just in case James needed to get where he needed to go via the ocean.
The technology in these movies may have been mere props, but they managed to inspire the imaginations of techies everywhere, and have kept the appeal for 007 alive for many, many years.
Back to the Future is a 1985 American Sci-fi comedy film. It was the most successful film of the year earning $380 million dollars world-wide and recieved many different awards. The car used in the movie was a DeLorean. They turned the car into a time machine in the movie. Once everyone saw the movie people wanted to get their hands on that car. I personnally like the effects of this movie and how they traveled in time.
Old Yeller was a 1975 cult classic and was an important cultural film for baby boomers. Old yellers death will always be particualy remembered as the most tearful scence in movie history. It's not only the most important cultural but it was also the most rememberable movie of all times.
Cinematography is the art of capturing photographic images from a film with the best use of lighting and camera. In the movie, "My Fair Lady", the scenery, costumes, along with cinematographic elements, expertly helped portray a rags-to-riches story. For example, the photo on the left shows the "commoness" of Audrey Hepburn's Eliza Doolittle, from the stark black and white, to the unkempt hair and bedraggled clothes. But you can also see the beauty peeking out from under the grime in the expression on Eliza's face.
In the picture on the right of the scene at Ascot, you feel the overwhelming task of Eliza in trying to fit into this upper class society. First and foremost with the enormity of her hat, and then the tightly uncomfortable fit of her dress. Although it cannot be totally seen in this photo, most of the members are all dressed in expensive and outlandish gowns, hats and suits in shades of white, black and grey, showing a sense of conformity that one must adhere to at all costs. But then you see Professor Higgins marching to his own drum in his brown suit, which is exactly the type of character he is portraying.
Just those two photos were able to depict so much of the tone of the movie, and shows exactly the importance and significance of good cinematography in a classic film
I can remember watching "The Ten Commandments" as a child, and believing that I was actually witnessing the miraculous works that Moses (Charlton Heston) was performing on the screen. From the Nile turning into blood with just a touch of his staff, to the hail raining down on Ramses and his guards, and finally the monumental parting of the Red Sea, I believed with my childlike mind and heart that I was watching God at work, and on the television screen, no less!
But now, as an adult, I know that the spectacle of "The Ten Commandments" was largely due to the imagination and artistry of special effects, a part of filmmaking that is fascinating to me because of what is being achieved, and that is the talent of making an audience believe in what is being portrayed on the screen. Even back in 1956, Cecil B. DeMille was able to create a film that was destined to be a classic because of the grandeur and splendor of the special effects in this what I feel is still one of the most awesome movies of all time.
