Richard Linklaters film Waking Life gives a new meaning and view to Hollywood films. As one of the first of its kind the film forces the viewer to distinguish between appearance and reality. Linklater brought to his film an extreme amount of uniqueness not only with the complexity of the film but with the interesting influence of animation in the work. In the film there is a constant reference to “dreams” that leaves in question: can dreams in a sense be considered reality. The term reality in the media world is very flexible as far as what can and cannot be considered reality. For example, take the hit reality series Survivor. The show like any other television show or movie is filmed with the same equipment and produced on a screen, so what sets the show apart from other shows and gives it the right to be considered reality? Medium that is considered reality lacks a script created by the director. Reality as many believe it to be is “something that exists independently of all other things and from which all other things derive.” With that said, Linklater is trying to show that reality cannot exist within media due to the several alterations it takes to produce the film. With the use of a man who is stuck in his dreams and the use of animation Linklater successfully demonstrates reality in the media world is really just an animated dream. In addition to providing explanations to the many misconstrued interpretations of reality in media, Linklater also uses Waking Life to show how media leaves a lot of room for interpretations in comparison to narrative.
When watching the film Waking Life it is important for the viewer to notice the different elements and tactics which Linklater uses to get his point across. For example, tak...
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All in all, Linklater manages to display through the film Waking Life all the controversy surrounding idexicality and reality. With the title alone he demonstrates the presences of false presentation and lack of reality. Focusing on just the title alone the viewer may become confused and intrigued. How is it possible to wake life? Is life not already awakened? These are some of the questions that the title makes the viewer ponder over. “At its birth, the cinema’s most striking characteristic was, in fact, its indexicality, commented upon in countless newspaper and magazine articles that heralded the new technology’s ability to capture time and movement—what invariably went by the term life itself.” (Doane 129) The media world has become so quickly fascinated with being able to capture time and movement that they quickly portray media as “reality”.
Ellison demonstrates the concept of a dream-like world in his story when the protagonist is up on the stage, with the control in his hand. The character is intoxicated, which creates a hallucination-filled, surreal world. Also, Ellison portrays this character as having the wheel over-power him, and take control of him. He creates his own world, a dream world, one where he has the power, and is no longer oppressed; a world where he is like God. This gives him a new perspective on life. He can forget about all his worries that his life has brought him. He is now the one calling the shots, which is a different view of life for this character.
...ey are still dreaming. Once people begin to notice irregularities and they realized they a dreaming, “At that point many people temp to panic about it, others that already know about lucid dreaming may continue the dream”. (McNamara 1-2). In the short story “An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” the idea of Dream and Reality is exemplify in a different way. Peyton Farquhar has a dream in the last minutes of his life. At that moment he sees himself escaping from death, but he could not avoid reality. (Bierce 203)
The purpose with this paper is to study and compare two different directors, and to compare and contrast the two different works. How are they working with their movies and how do they use mise-en-scene? By studying two different directors that uses different techniques when making movies, we are going to find out how important mise en scene really is, and how it affects the movie.
Lehman, Peter and Luhr, William. Thinking About Movies: Watching, Questioning, Enjoying. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.
Perhaps an even stronger testament to the deepness of cinema is Darren Aronofsky’s stark, somber Requiem for a Dream. Centering on the drug-induced debasement of four individuals searching for the abstract concept known as happiness, Requiem for a Dream brims with verisimilitude and intensity. The picture’s harrowing depiction of the characters’ precipitous fall into the abyss has, in turn, fascinated and appalled, yet its frank, uncompromising approach leaves an indelible imprint in the minds of young and old alike.
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].
...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.
Christopher Nolan, the british-american director of the critically acclaimed “Momento” and the most recent “Batman” movies has a fearless mentality for the complicated plots and epic themes which his films bestow. And one of his most epic new thrillers and astonishing new story is his 2010, “Inception.” Over ten years, Nolan had contemplated the idea of a movie around the dream world where action scenes could be manipulated and redoubled continuously. And that time of sitting on the idea led Nolan to dig much deeper into the idea that though before, diving into the realm of dreams within dreams and tiered action within each dream level as they go deeper into the subconscious. In Christopher Nolan’s “Inception,” the main character Cobb remarks, “The mind creates and perceives our world. It does it so well, we don’t realize that we’re doing it.” To tell a story about a man washed up on the shore of his own subconscious, Nolan captivates audiences by propelling them along his non-traditional narratives full of complex themes and intricate story lines. He blurs the lines of reality and dream through parallel editing, set design and architecture. As a result the audience believes whole heartedly the repeated notion that “downward is the only way forward.”
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.
Oprah Winfrey once said, “The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.” But, what actually is a dream and what do dreams really have to do with one’s everyday life? In essence, a dream is a series of mental images and emotions occurring during slumber. Dreams can also deal with one’s personal aspirations, goals, ambitions, and even one’s emotions, such as love and hardship. However, dreams can also give rise to uneasy and terrible emotions; these dreams are essentially known as nightmares. In today’s society, the concept of dreaming and dreams, in general, has been featured in a variety of different mediums, such as literature, film and even music. While the mediums of film and music are both prime examples of this concept, the medium of literature, on the other hand, contains a much more diverse set of examples pertaining to dreams and dreaming. One key example is William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While the portrayal of dreams, in general, plays a prominent role in Shakespeare’s play, the exploration of many aspects of nature, allows readers to believe that dreams are merely connected to somewhat unconventional occurrences.
Since the creation of films, their main goal was to appeal to mass audiences. However, once, the viewer looks past the appearance of films, the viewer realizes that the all-important purpose of films is to serve as a bridge connecting countries, cultures, and languages. This is because if you compare any two films that are from a foreign country or spoken in another language, there is the possibility of a connection between the two because of the fact that they have a universally understanding or interpretation. This is true for the French New Wave films; Contempt and Breathless directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and contemporary Indian films; Earth and Water directed by Deepa Mehta. All four films portray an individual’s role in society using sound and editing.
Esslin's book is successful since the authenticity of his arguments is proven because he reflects on his practical experience as a director all along his theoretical delineation of drama. In addition, Esslin rarely proposes an argument without exemplifying on it which flavors the process of reading the book with reality and credibility.
In comparison to other works such as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn wherein the title succinctly tells what the story shall contain, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening represents a work whose title can only be fully understood after the incorporation of the themes and content into the reader’s mind, which can only be incorporated by reading the novel itself. The title, The Awakening, paints a vague mental picture for the reader at first and does not fully portray what content the novel will possess. After thorough reading of the novel, one can understand that the title represents the main character, Edna Pontellier’s, sexual awakening and metaphorical resurrection that takes place in the plot as opposed to not having a clue on what the plot will be about.
The setting of Inception is idiosyncratic for it divides each section of its dream world into distinct sceneries to help the audience differentiate location and tone. Cinematographer Wally Pfister designed the film’s location with diverse color hues and modern decor. Each dream level portrays an exclusive appearance from cool blue mountain peaks to warmly lit hotel floors. This separates the worlds allowing the audience to appreciate each setting in its entirety. Likewise, these settings provide insight into the tone of the narrative structure. The film exhibits expansive, sleek dream environments to contrast with angular, warmly lit locations paralleling a contemporary psychological thriller with science-fiction. The pressure for Cobb to complete his mission progresses from the tonality of each setting in v...
“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.