Searching for Sugar Man, a 2012 documentary directed by Malik Bendjelloul, contains many documentary-type aesthetics. The film tells the tale of an American musician named Sixto Rodriguez whose music encouraged the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. The characters within the film are all real people based off of a real-life situation. This particular film contains many on-camera interviews in order to get that documentary type feel. The film shows interviews from a construction worker, to all of Rodriquez’s daughters. Along with these interviews are also on-screen texts used to show the history of Rodriguez. Some on-screen texts display the interviewees names or some display the date and place where Rodriguez was. In one interview, the viewer is able to see the on-screen text of “Dennis Coffey- Co-Producer of Rodriguez’s First Album ‘Cold Fact’ (1970).” This type of on-screen information gives the audience a little background information on who is being interviewed.
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Aside from the opening credits, the very first piece of textual evidence displayed is “Detroit Michigan, USA.” Soon after this, the audience is able to see a city being drawn in the background with the date 1968 displayed. This piece of information and artistic aesthetic give the viewer a time and place to anticipate. Also, while there is diegetic music being played, the title and date of the song is displayed on screen. For example, during one of Rodriguez’s song being played diegetically, the title “Crucify Your Mind (1970)” is displayed on the screen.
All of these factual on-screen texts compel the viewer to be more interested in the history of Rodriguez and to possibly even research further into the topic.
While there are definitely uses of nondiegetic ...
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...these aesthetics in order to make a true story come to life on screen.
The innocence of the main character Bernie Teide in Bernie and the mysteriousness of main man Rodriguez in Searching for Sugar Man are all portrayed by the use of aesthetics. Without realist aesthetics, these films would not appeal to viewers emotionally or visually. Such aesthetics help viewers perceive objects or characters and help them additional make judgments upon the information received. Directors like Richard Linklater (Bernie) and Malik Bendjelloul (Searching for Sugar Man) use aesthetics in hopes to affect the mood, emotion, feeling, and perception among their audiences. Without aesthetics, the directors would not reach their intended audience or may not even reach an audience at all. All of these elements must be taken into account when a producer hopes to create a successful film.
Throughout the film, the filmmaker follows the three victims around in their everyday lives by using somber music and backgrounds of depressing colors. The documentary starts off with colorful images of the scenery
The auteur theory is a view on filmmaking that consists of three equally important premises: technical competence, interior meaning, and personal signature of the director. Auteur is a French word for author. The auteur theory was developed by Andrew Sarris, a well-known American film critic. Technical competence of the Auteur deals with how the director films the movie in their own style. Personal signature includes recurring themes that are present within the director’s line of work with characteristics of style, which serve as a signature. The third and ultimate premise of the Auteur theory is the interior meaning which is basically the main theme behind the film.
Banning, L. (Producer), Milos, F. (Director) (1996). Research Methods for the Social Sciences. [Film]. (Available from Horizon Film and Video, Austin, TX)
History usually forces itself into the present in Juan Jose Campanella’s film “El Secreto De Sus Ojos” (The Secret in Their Eyes). Although it was filmed in 2009, the story is an attempted memorization of the violent reality in 1970-1980s Argentina, an era in which the country was rapidly sinking into military rule-ship. Campanella offers flashbacks into Argentina’s dark days, a period where violence homicide, rape and injustices ruled. Through memory, the film narrate a era in which it was impossible to be an innocent person as the innocents were falsely accused, tortured and even murdered for crimes they never committed, all these for the whims of those in power. Even though, the film is set in the 1970s, it does not call immediate attention to the animosity, the hopeless feeling and the constant struggle between the desire to forget vs. the attempts to remember the chaos and confusion of these years. However, through the use of memory Campanella allow the views to portray an almost perfect picture of what happened in Argentina.
"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" Laura Mulvey asserts the fact that in mainstream films, women are simultaneously looked at and displayed. That is to say, the woman is both an object of desire and a spectacle for the male voyeuristic gaze. The male's function is active; he advances the story and controls the gaze onto the women. Interestingly, the spectator identifies with the male through camera technique and style. In an effort to reproduce the so-called natural conditions of human perception, male point-of-view shots are often used along with deep focus. In addition, camera movements are usually determined by the actions of the male protagonist. Consequently, the gaze is dominated by the active male while the passive female exists to support desire within the film. In an attempt to change this structure, Mulvey stresses the importance of challenging the "look." One way this is accomplished, is in the film Reassemblage, where the look of the camera is free from male perspective and dominated more by passionate detachment. In doing this, the filmmaker, Trinh Minh-Ha attempts to destroy the satisfaction and pleasure derived from images of women in film, by highlighting the ways Hollywood depends on voyeuristic and fetishi...
The screenwriter chose an effective way of illustrating the point of attack, establishing the setting and handling of exposition. The first scene of the film was a black screen which had audio of a man and a woman having a conversation. After, the film switches to a grainy video of men being detained by police. The video clip manages to bring the dramatic tension to all time high because an unidentified character is shot by the police. Therefore, this left a sense of uneasiness and tension throughout the whole film. The beginning of the film also did a wonderful job of establishing the setting. The scene of the grainy video clip had a caption box stating it was “Fruitvale BART Station 2:15AM New Year’s Day 2009”. The film then introduces the
Auteur theory holds that, ‘a director’s films reflect that director’s personal creative vision, as if he/she were the primary author. From the earliest silent films to contemporary times motion pictures have crossed over and both entertained and educated the viewing audience.
The film begins with a title card sequence upon a static backdrop of shrubbery, mountains and distant clouds; a lingering sight that doesn’t truthfully establish forthcoming events in Vienna’s saloon. Her saloon may be quiet, but it is always occupied, and whilst the opening sequence, in which we are introduced to Johnny Guitar, is filled with a bravado of horns and orchestral accompaniment, the saloon itself is inversely populated by the sound of wind, tumbleweed, and stark silences - something perhaps more associated with the western expanse in which the story takes place. Yet for this dichotomy in sound, the initial visuals after the credit sequence foreshadow the destruction of locale, and the audience takes the place ...
This essay shows the subtle differences that can occur between directors, even when they are basing the movie off of almost the exact same script. Almost no two movies are exactly alike, no matter how hard the directors and actors might try. Minor personality differences and scene changes greatly affect the atmosphere and meaning of the same movie. One example of this is the movie Romeo and Juliet. This movie tells the gripping story of two young lovers who are forbade to see each other because of a viscous feud between the two families. I'll be looking at the older 50's version of Romeo and Juliet and comparing it to the newer version of Romeo and Juliet.
Gallagher, T. 2002. Senses of Cinema – Max Ophuls: A New Art – But Who Notices?. [online] Available at: http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/feature-articles/ophuls/ [Accessed: 8 Apr 2014].
The opening scene is one that attempts to show the reality inside the Latino community in Huntington Park. Latino music playing in the background and
...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.
Think about your favorite movie. When watching that movie, was there anything about the style of the movie that makes it your favorite? Have you ever thought about why that movie is just so darn good? The answer is because of the the Auteur. An Auteur is the artists behind the movie. They have and individual style and control over all elements of production, which make their movies exclusively unique. If you could put a finger on who the director of a movie is without even seeing the whole film, then the person that made the movie is most likely an auteur director. They have a unique stamp on each of their movies. This essay will be covering Martin Scorsese, you will soon find out that he is one of the best auteur directors in the film industry. This paper will include, but is not limited to two of his movies, Good Fellas, and The Wolf of Wall Street. We will also cover the details on what makes Martin Scorsese's movies unique, such as the common themes, recurring motifs, and filming practices found in their work. Then on
A director is successful when they take the audience away from comfort and security. In the film American Beauty, director Sam Mendes effectively achieves this. Creating a sense of discomfort and insecurity throughout the film allows the viewer to have a more in depth knowledge of the underlying themes within the film. Mendes strips viewers away from a sense of comfort and security through the portrayal of a dysfunctional family and the use of aggressive verbal slurs.
The analysis of the visual style is to first consider in the composition of the movie. Some directors pay attention to formal and dramatic composition, the others emphasize on non-formal compositions and exposure or highlighting effects. Furthermore, other directors use camera movements to describe and demonstrate the theme and the film itself more efficiently to the audiences. That is, many cinematic compositions have each intention to be used in the film by directors’ purpose. American Beauty (199) by Sam Mendes is a verisimilar movie story line with realism sense. The film is a story about aspects of contemporary American society, delivering typical American culture to the audience, such as individualism, distinct relationship