Using what you've learned from reading the chapter on film, examine a scene or shot from a film from a descriptive critical point of view. Please choose different scenes. You can use the same movie as another student, but not the same scene.
As a basis for a movie, use a film or scene that is classroom appropriate--no porn.
Enjoy
34 comments:
I liked the scene from the movie Titanic. Where Rose’s mother and her friends first meet Jack and also the fancy dinner where Jack is dining with the rich folks.
When the mother first meets Jack she looks at him like he is a street rat and shouldn’t even be on the ship. But her friends look amazed and seem curious about Jack. But when they did meet him he was trying to teach Rose how to spit off of the ship so that probably made an impact on how they looked at Jack.
There was a lady on the ship named Molly Brown and she always spoke her mind and she took a liking to Jack she looked him like he was a good guy is what I mean. When Rose had invited Jack to dinner he had nothing else to where except the clothes on his back so Molly fixed him up with a suit. She also explained what he was about to do, so he had to act like he owned a lot of money but Rose’s mother , Cal, and her mom’s friends knew better.
At the dinner Jack was telling everybody how he lives, like everyday was his last. Rose’s mother kept trying to make a snotty comment but Jack acted like he didn’t hear her but came up with a comment to shoot back anyway.
Rose sat there smiling the whole time she was taking a real liking to Jack! She didn’t care what class he was and what everyone was thinking of her or him.
Everyone else at the table was treating him like a normal human being instead of the street rat the mother sees him as! The way he talked about life being so important to him and love not knowing whats going to happen!
I am writing about the scene in The Fast and the Furious about when Dominic and the detective try to beat the train at the end of the movie.
Dominic just saw his best friend shot and killed and he takes his dad’s muscle car that has been sitting in the garage for years and leaves. The detectives (Paul Walker) goes after him and after they kill the 2 on the motor cycle they stop at a stop light and Dominic says he used to race from the stop light to the train tracks when he was young. They portray his face very confident at this point and make his car sound more powerful than the other car. The light turns green and they both take off. Dominic’s face is calm and collected and the detective isn’t. As they near the tracks they hear the train coming and then they show the track bars go down. They both look at each other and hit the gas. There faces are looking really worried at this point. As they cross the tracks there faces are priceless. Dominic moves his body like he was getting hit by the train or trying to miss it is the air. The detective’s face just looks horrified. They both make it across safe and they look at each other and smile as Dominic gets hit by a semi coming into his lane. Nothing left of his car. The detective gets out and goes running worried that his new friend was dead. Great scene.
natalie b,
Awesome job describing that scene from titanic. You can honestly tell what is going on by your description.
The scene that I choose was also a scene from the movie Titanic. To be honest I really don’t like the movie all too much. I have watched it a couple of times, the first time being on the big screen at the movie theater. I think that the reason I don’t like the move was because of one scene. The scene that I am talking about is toward the end of the movie when the ship is going down. It’s when they show the elderly couple lying in their bed hugging each other, and also the parents that are putting their two children to bed knowing that they are going to be killed that night. This scene just breaks my heart every time that I watch the move. These people are going to bed and laying in their beds knowing that they are never going t see each other again, because there is no way that they can get off the ship and survive. The fact behind that they are really the good people on the boat, they are not the wealthy people who got off the ship and actually had a chance to live, they just took it knowing what was ahead of them. Every time that I think about the film Titanic this is the first scene that pops into my head, and I fell is the most emotional scene in the whole film.
aschwartz
Great description in you post about the Fast and the Furious. I myself have not seen the movie, but it has been one of those ones on my list of "movies to see." Now I want to see it even more. :)
Krolfes
Wow!!! I have not seen the Titanic, but when I read your post it made me want to see it. Your description of the scene was awesome - I could definitely impicture what you were describing. There are tons of movies like that where they have those types of scenes. Great post!
The scene that I am going to describe was in the movie "The Secret Garden." At one part in the movie, the girl (I can't remember her name) is thinking about her mom. She remembers her mom taking her out into a very expansive pasture-type of place with high grass and a couple of trees. (It may have been the actual garden come to think of it.) Anyway,the girl was only about two or three years old at the time. In this scene, you see the mom basically leave the girl in these tall weeds and run away. Then you see the girl crying all alone. This scene always disturbed me and made me feel sad for her. For whatever reason, it's one of those scenes that really makes me feel bad whenever I see it.
The movie i choose to pick a scene from was Save the Last Dance. This is one of my favorite movies. In the beginning of the movie it shows how sara is so happy with her mom, her mom gives her a 4 leaf clover the day before i believe she is to perform for juliard and states that this is for love not luck as you dont need luck. Her mom promies that she will be at her recital as sara's name is called she looks for her mom but she is not there and is upset with her mom for not making it. As she finishes her performance a sheriff is there to tell her the news that her mom was killed in a car accident. Sara breaks down and you just want to cry with her. as you can tell she regrets that she made her mom promise and her mom was in a hurry to get to the performance but did not make it. This is an awesome movie and it is one that i can watch over and over and never get tired of it.
natalie b
You did a great job in describing the scene. I have seen the movie and you described it to a T. thanks for sharing
The scene that I have chose is in the movie Pretty woman in which Julia Roberts is a call-girl and ends up being picked up and brought to a rather swanky hotel by Richard Geer. The scene that I feel impacts that movie the most is when Julia has already had a huge shopping spree and is at a meet in which Richard Geer’s friend tries to “pick her up” because he has been told that she is a “hooker”, and the sheer pain and hurt that you can see in her characters eyes when she feels betrayed by the man that she has fallen for is just simply hurtful to watch. I feel that this is the truest point in the movie, because people are very hurtful often times!
In response to natalie b:
Great description of this scene.. just how I remebered it!
The scene that I am going to write about is in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”. This is my all time favorite movie. The scene that I think is the best is: George misplaces the $8,000 to save the Building and Loan, he can’t find it anywhere (because Potter took it). He is desperate and is convinced that his whole life is a massive failure.
During a snow storm, George crashes his car into a tree, he runs to a nearby bridge, intending to commit suicide. Before George can jump, Clarence the angle jumps in the water. A shocked George saves him. After a shocked George saves him, Clarence reveals himself to be George's guardian angel and that he saved George from committing suicide. Clarence pleads with a reluctant George to let him help, so he can finally earn his wings. George bitterly wishes he had never been born. Clarence then shows him what the town would have been like if George had never existed. He takes George through town, he sees people he knows but none of them know him, because he was never born. His mother his wife, Mary, Mr Gower, and Harry is dead because George wasn’t there to save him.
After all of this George goes back to the bridge and calls upon Clarence and god to let him live again. His prayer is answered! With a new appreciation for all he has accomplished, George runs home to find family and friends there raising money to save him and the Building and Loan. George realizes that despite his problems he really does have a wonderful life!
This movie is a classic, I could watch it over and over. In fact I do watch it every Christmas Eve with my family.
in reaponse to brittany-
I also love the movie "Pretty Woman". My favorite part is when he takes her to the ballet and she doesn't know how the glasses work. I like her expressions during the performance and when it's over she says "It was so good I almost peed my pants". The older woman says what did she say? Gear answers, "She liked it almost as much as Pirates of Panzance".
On Friday i went to go the new move Stop-Loss with my sister who's husband served in the army a few years ago and was sent to Iraq for over a year. My sister realy wanted to see it becuase of her husband and because one of her friens husband just recently got stop-lossed. anyway, my initial reasons to go was because I thought the actors were extremely good looking!
The move started with scenes of the men stationed in Iraq goofing around singing while videoing themselves on a digital camera, these kind of scenes i have seen on youtube b4. The only realy footage of our soldiers in Iraq have been youtube videos of them having fun and joking around...well anyway after the scene of them having fun, it goes into them searching cars to let past them. One car comes too fast and starts shooting at them, so the troops head man is givin orders to follow any vehicle like that and shoot them down. They are led into an alley (there is about 7 men? not sure exactly though) they get out and cautiously move into different apartment complexes. The Iraq men start shooting from the rooftops and its then that the troops realize they have been led into an ambush..by this time its too late and one of their trucks have already been blown up.. the next 10 minuts is all gunshots and explosions, you see a couple of the men get shot down, and blown up and the men desperately trying to save their friends lives and their own. The main guy goes in to help his best friend who has been calling that he was hit, while entering a room he sees movent and thrown a small bomb into the room b4 entering. when he does he discovered he has killed woman and their children, but he has to forget and move on trying to save the rest of his men. It isnt until later in the movie that you find out that while helping his hurt friend out of the building an Iraq man holding a small boy threatens with bomb, the main guy (i forget his name) has no choice but to shoot the man and the boy. This movie started out with that scene and from that point i knew this was going to hit me hard, it really made me realize how terrible it is over there. The rest of the movie is just as heartbreaking as the first scene. I realize how even after troops get back from Iraq its never going to be over, they will be tormented for the rest of their lives and its so sad to see. I definetly look at the men serving differently..
I am choosing the movie boondock Saints. It is my all time favorite movie. the scene I would like to talk about is where the two brothers are Loose their friend after a crazy killing spree. They bond together in the loss of him and think twice about what they are doing. their morrals of killing "bad" people such as rapists, mafia, and anyone who go against the bible should die. I think that this scene shows family bonds no matter what they go through.
I like the discriptions about Titanic they are right on with the movie and make a great scene to choose.
I love the ending of 'Little Miss Sunshine.' The entire movie anticipates this ending moment, where Olive,the young girl,gets to perform her routine for the first time at the Little Miss Sunshine pageant while dancing to the song Super Freak. The comedic movie primarily dwells upon the adventurous road trip that Olive's disfunctinal family takes in order to arrive at the pageant, so it's no wonder that the ending routine stuns her family and the audience in the same comeic fashion. It becomes apparent what kind of moves her grandfather was teaching her, when Olive provacitively dances like someone seen on a rap video. At first, it seems completely inappropriate for the young girl to be dancing like that, and the entire audience is stunned in the same kind of ackwardness as well. Not wanting to make Olive disappointed, and after surviving the crazy road trip together, her family gets out of their seats and joins in the sherade. It is SO funny!!
In response to Sandra
When I read what movie you were writing about, my heart instantly went "AHHHH." It is one of my favorites as well. I love watching it around early November, to get me in the Christmas sprit, and then on Christmas Eve again. Great Pick!!
Awesome post, Sandra. I love that movie. It is so touching and inspirational. Your description of the particular bridge scene was right on the money. That part in particular is really cool, especially considering the circumstances that George was in. It just makes you like him even more!
in response to lorraine
i love that movie too, that part breaks my heart when her mom doesn't make it great job!
A movie I recently watched was Inside Man. It is a about a group of bank robbers that rob a bank in a very unusual way. One scene that stood out to me was when the bank robbers make all the hostages line up. They made all the bank employees stand on one side and the customers on the other. The entire scene involved yelling. The robbers were demanding and aggressive. They made all the employees through their cell phones, pagers, and keys into a bag. One bank employee didn’t put his phone into the bag and the bank robbers caught him. They drug him into another room and beat him severely. After they collected all the phones and keys they yelled I want all the women on one side and men on the other. Next they made the hostages strip down to only underwear and put on a one piece suit and a hanker chief over their face. Now all the hostages look a like. The hostages can’t tell what the other hostages look like under the suit. The bank robbers were intimidating and dressed in a one piece suit as well, but there were a different color. This scene kept me on my toes because I didn’t know what was going to happen. I could also feel how scared the hostages were. I didn’t understand why they made them do this, but the end explains it all. If you haven’t seen this movie you should watch it is a good movie. I don’t want ruin it for anyone who hasn’t seen it.
I never seen the Titanic, but you did a good job of explaining the scene. I really need to watch that movie. I just never have the time.
I want to comment on Lorraine's post, first. I haven't seen Save the Last Dance, but that sounds like a great scene. One that pulls you into the movie until you can feel what the charaters are feeling.
I also found Callie's post on Inside Man very descriptive. I'm intrigued enough that I'll have to watch it!
Dan
Week 11
Radio has been one of my favorite movies since the first time I saw it. Unlike what they said in this week’s chapter, that people rarely watch a movie more than once, I have several that I have watched many times and Radio is near the top of this list. I would have to say that one criterion to determine if a movie is good is if you would watch it over again. My favorite scene is when Radio has just lost his mom. Coach Jones is at his (Radio’s) home with his daughter, Mary Helen, and Coach Jones is trying to console Radio. It’s very emotional and I think the director did a great job with the camera shots. Radio and Coach Jones are in the bedroom, which Radio has turned upside down out of grief, The shot’s are close ups going back and forth from Radio’s face to Coach’s face with a few side shots as well. What adds a lot to the scene is how they cut to Mary Helen who is in the front room listening to her dad and Radio and she is in tears. It’s a powerful scene. I’ve watched Radio several times and I still can use up half a box of tissues every time! It’s also a true story, which is the type of movie I like best.
Dan
I watched Facing the Giants. I loved the seen in the grove of trees. The main character is a coach of a football team. His team is struggling. His personal life has issues. He is trying to hold onto his faith. The scene begins when his wife wakes up early in the morning and notices he is not in bed. You then see a grove of beautiful trees, I would bet they are oak trees, with a green meadow in the middle. It is sunrise so the light is beaming into the middle and the colors are beautiful. You see hands holding the Bible, the you hear a Psalm being read, then you hear the Coach praying from his heart and finally you see his face and his figure standing in the middle of the field, bathed in light, looking up to the heavens, praying to the father. It's amazing! If you haven't seen the movie I highly reccommend it.
In rsponse to Krolfes: The titanic is really a beautiful movie in its own way. It was a true story so if that makes its so unreal that it could happen at all. The scene you talk about it so said it does give you a bad feeling and yes the rich and poor. How they all were even at the end (at least somewhat)and how sad it felt as the scenes of their deaths unveiled to such a bitter end. Very interesting way to talk about it.
When speaking about films that are unique and show the film's important kinds of shots I think about "The Parent Trap" and see an old time film use some of the cross-cutting two or more actions. The girls go to camp and realize that they are twins (they do look different) and decide after getting into a relationship that they need to get their parents back together. When they scheme up a idea to switch spots and they do several scenes each on the phone from different areas of the country and the filming is great. I enjoy the Walt Disney movies so well and the film job they do is very well done. They have come such a long way in what the film industry has to offer in the last 20 years.
The chapter in the book talked a lot about so many films to give examples of their technique that has given the industry the most interesting future. I enjoyed the examples they had and it made a clearer understanding of what they have done with director's and editors to make the film create a relationship to give us a film. There is passion, commitment, and how we become to enjoy this entertainment we all have watched year after year.
The movie that I am choosing to write about is from the flim "Juno". This flim features Ellen Page as a teen who becomes pregnant, and her journey with life and adoption. The flim hits many issues that are in huge in today's society. One of those issues is the scene that I am going to talk about. Juno (Ellen Page) first decides to get an aboration when she finds out that she is pregnant. She arrives at the clinic to find one girl from her school portesting in front of the clinic. Juno, first embarassed starts to talk to her, and learns about conception and what aboration does to a fetus, but she still proceeds to walk into the clinic. At this point the music of the flim changes, hinting to you that something is going happen. she walks to the front and talks to a girl working there. She shares the process,but the way that she does it is in a noncaring mood. When Juno sits down, she starts to think if this is the best idea. The camera goes from Juno's face to what she is looking at,at a very fast pace. Te scene ends as Juno's runs about of clinic and the girl says- God thanks you. I strongly am for prolife and found that this scene shows both side of this issue.
In response to Zach Delhof... Oh my goodness. I thought that i was the only one who knew about this movie. I remember the scene that you are talking about, it was a dream that the girl was having about her mother, shortly after arriving at her uncle's place. This movie is so good, yet dramatic. I believe that it has a great story and lesson to be learned about family. Thank you for reminding of it. I think that I am going to watch it.
Reading the chapter on film shed a different light on the way I view the movies I own. What struck me the most was reading that identifying with a character can alter how a movie can be perceived. I guess that the point makes sense however camera angles, distances, and other techniques aide in making the “noble” character of the movie known. The movie, Erin Brockovich comes to mind. I don’t think I can pick one particular scene but I will try to explain my point using a general observation I made throughout the film. Specifically with the cameras; whenever Julia Roberts or any of the affected characters are in a scene, the camera usually gets closer. The angles will change which allows the viewer to focus on only them. However, when the “big bad corporation people” are in the scene, the cameras are always a specific distance away, there is very little change in angles, and really, the room they are in looks just stale.
The film I think of when I think of a good scene is the Bone Collector. It stars Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. It’s the first step in the climax where Jolie gets a call to check out something some kid found on the tracks. He partner was eating so she started to the scene alone she met up with the child who had phoned the police and he pointed to the right area. Jolie see a mutilated hand sticking up from the ground she frantically claws into the earth looking for the face. She reveals the face and backs off then she notices the clues left of the train tracks, just as a train was coming down the track. She frenetically waves her arms and flashlight at the oncoming train to alert him so he could stop the train so it couldn’t compromise the evidence. After she gets the train engineer to shut down the train she gets back to the kid and asks him to run get her a disposable camera. Within minutes the boy comes back, she then starts to photograph the scene. Starting with the body she takes a picture of the body that was still three fourths covered by the earth. Then she starts with a close up of the face, the mutilated hand with the wedding band on it. The she starts to process the evidence left of the train tracks. She saw a pile of what looked like sand but was really finely crushed oyster shells, a rusted bolt, a newspaper clipping and a page number torn from the book; all crucial evidence in determining where the wife or her dead body was or would be. Then she walks up and finds a footprint and her forensic instincts kicked in and she placed a one dollar bill next to the footprint so the photograph would have an approximate size comparison. After that the rest of the police team arrives and takes over the scene from there.
In response to Natalie B: I loved ur discription of the scene, I can still remember the movie so well from the first time I ever saw it in theaters when it came out. And you described it so well. Great post
Mandi, yes, the movie is really good. Acutally, I don't think I've seen it for quite a while either. I guess we'll both be watching it in the near future. :) It definitely has a good story to it, however.
The scene of the movie that I will be describing is from the movie “Honey”. For those of you who have not seen this movie it is a movie about one lady who has a great passion for dance. She is hired by a music video producer to dance in his videos. When she will not do personal things with him he fires her. Honey has performed for many big singers while working for him so they know her. Her mother is the head of a down town building where people go to hang out and participate in activities. Honey had taught a dance lesson there for people interested in dance. The building was getting shut down because there were so many repairs needed. Now that you have a little background from the movie I can explain the scene that I am writing about. The scene is the very end where Honey is putting on a fund raiser to open a new location so that the people will still have a place to go. She has put together a performance for all of those attending the fund raiser. Everyone watching is having a great time seeing all of the children dancing and doing what they love. There are people from a bank there watching and they love it and agree to sponsor the building after watching what they have learned and how much it means to everyone.
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