Hundreds of movies are released every year. Filmmakers try to create the next jaw-dropping movie that audiences will stand in line for hours and pay top dollar to see. The key to success is finding ideas that appeal to a mass audience. Viewers are the lifeline of any production company so making something for everyone is a savvy business move for the film industry. To cover all bases, there are over fourteen different genres of movies. Film making is not a solo effort. It is a collaboration between the actors, directors, producers and other key contributors. This combined effort or mise-en-scene includes all the elements of the film to include actors, backdrops, costumes, props and lighting used to meet the director’s vision (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011, Sec 3.2). This paper will discuss the elements of a movie clip entitled “You Can’t Handle the Truth” from the movie A Few Good Men.
The movie, A Few Good Men, was released in 1992. It was a box office success grossing over $237 million globally. The story was about two marines on trial for killing a squad member. Tom Cruise and Demi Moore both starred in the movie as Marine Defense Attorneys and Jack Nicholson as the Marine Commander. The clip, “You Can’t Handle the Truth,” is one of the most memorable scenes of the film. It is the heated scene when Lt Dan Kaffee asks Colonel Nathan Jessup if he ordered the Code Red. Colonel Jessup went into the infamous ”You Can’t Handle the Truth” monologue.
As powerful as the scene was to the viewers, the vision started with the film’s director Rob Reiner. As the director, Mr. Reiner was ultimately responsible for the entire project. He worked with the script writer, Alan Sorkin, to develop the right words for the onscreen ...
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...ing is a team effort. It is a true art form but one that has many elements that must come together to tell the story from the director’s perspective. This paper explored the mise-en-scene of a clip from A Few Good Men. This included all the components of a scene to include the sets, lighting, costumes, actors, and hairstyles.
Works Cited
Gilmore, M (Producer) & Reiner, R. (Director). (1992). A Few Good Men. [Video Clip]. Retrieved from http://movieclips.com/uENU-a-few-good-men-movie-you-cant-handle-the-truth/.
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. https://content.ashford.edu
Weinraub, B. (1992. Rob Reiner's March To 'A Few Good Men'. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/06/movies/film-rob-reiner-s-march-to-a-few-good-men.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm.
In cinema, lighting, blocking and panning drastically influence what an audience will notice and take away from a scene. Orson Welles’s 1941 Citizen Kane has numerous examples of effectively using these aspects within mise-en-scène, cinematography and editing to portray the importance of specific events and items in the film. The scene where Kane writes and then publishes his “Declaration of Principles” (37:42-39:42) in the New York Daily Inquirer after buying them focuses on important elements of the film, aiding the audience by combining lighting, blocking and panning to define significant roles and objects that further the movie as a whole.
Rebel Without a Cause. Dir. Nicholas Ray. Perf. James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and Jim
Some would say watching horror movies and being scared out of your wits is a fun way to spend their hard earned money. They go see these movies on average once a week, each time choosing a newer version of a trilogy like “Chucky” or “The evil Dead”. Film making has come a long way over the last few decades, the graphic...
Friedman, L., Desser, D., Kozloff, S., Nichimson, M., & Prince, S. (2014). An introduction to film genres. New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company.
Then the question is posed to Mr. Lockwood, "How did it all begin?" The answering of this question is what my paper will explain. I will attempt to break down the opening scene and show how it all started. By using tools of film such as sound, editing, mise en scene, and cinematography, this paper will show how the scene was made as well. Mise en scene played an important role in this movie as with any other movie.
Philadelphia. Dir. Jonathan Demme. By Ron Nyswanger. Perf. Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Antonio Banderas, and Joanne Woodward. TriStar Pictures, 1993. Youtube Crackle.
Reiner, R., Cruise, T., Nicholson, J., Moore, D., Pollak, K., Bacon, K., Marshall, J., ... Columbia TriStar Home Video (Firm). (1993). A few good men. Burbank, CA: Columbia TriStar Home Video.
LA Confidential. Dir. Curtis Hanson. Perf. Kevin Spacey, Russel Crowe, Guy Pierce, Kim Bassinger, Danny DeVito. Regency, 1997.
...successful collaboration of sound, colour, camera positioning and lighting are instrumental in portraying these themes. The techniques used heighten the suspense, drama and mood of each scene and enhance the film in order to convey to the spectator the intended messages.
“Do the Right Thing.” IMBD.com. Internet Movie Database, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2011. < http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097216/>
In Hollywood today, most films can be categorized according to the genre system. There are action films, horror flicks, Westerns, comedies and the likes. On a broader scope, films are often separated into two categories: Hollywood films, and independent or foreign ‘art house’ films. Yet, this outlook, albeit superficial, was how many viewed films. Celebrity-packed blockbusters filled with action and drama, with the use of seamless top-of-the-line digital editing and special effects were considered ‘Hollywood films’. Films where unconventional themes like existentialism or paranoia, often with excessive violence or sex or a combination of both, with obvious attempts to displace its audiences from the film were often attributed with the generic label of ‘foreign’ or ‘art house’ cinema.
Barsam, R. M., Monahan, D., & Gocsik, K. M. (2012). Looking at movies: an introduction to film (4th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co..
As an audience we are manipulated from the moment a film begins. In this essay I wish to explore how The Conversation’s use of sound design has directly controlled our perceptions and emotional responses as well as how it can change the meaning of the image. I would also like to discover how the soundtrack guides the audience’s attention with the use of diegetic and nondiegetic sounds.
“Entertainment has to come hand in hand with a little bit of medicine, some people go to the movies to be reminded that everything’s okay. I don’t make those kinds of movies. That, to me, is a lie. Everything’s not okay.” - David Fincher. David Fincher is the director that I am choosing to homage for a number of reasons. I personally find his movies to be some of the deepest, most well made, and beautiful films in recent memory. However it is Fincher’s take on story telling and filmmaking in general that causes me to admire his films so much. This quote exemplifies that, and is something that I whole-heartedly agree with. I am and have always been extremely opinionated and open about my views on the world and I believe that artists have a responsibility to do what they can with their art to help improve the culture that they are helping to create. In this paper I will try to outline exactly how Fincher creates the masterpieces that he does and what I can take from that and apply to my films.
Offering the unique ability to visually and audibly convey a story, films remain a cornerstone in modern society. Combined with a viewer’s desire to escape the everyday parameters of life, and the excitement of enthralling themselves deep into another world, many people enjoy what films stand to offer. With the rising popularity of films across the world, the amount of film makers increases every day. Many technological innovations mark the advancement of film making, but the essential process remains the same. Pre-production accounts for everything taken place before any shooting occurs, followed by the actual production of the film, post-production will then consist of piecing the film together, and finally the film must reach an audience. Each step of this process contributes to the final product, and does so in a unique right. The process of film making will now start chronologically, stemming from the idea of the story, producing that story into a film, editing that footage together, and finally delivering that story to its viewers.