In the 1967 film, The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols, a recently graduated college student, Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman, is struggling to figure out what to do with his life now that he has graduated. In the 1977 film, Annie Hall, directed by Woody Allen, Alvy Singer, played by Allen, is followed through his relationship with Annie Hall, played by Diane Keaton. Both films represent the direction of modern films in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The films of these decades were geared towards youth and young adult culture. The cinematic thematic elements of the relationship between Alvy and Annie is an example of the 1960’s and 1970’s film era and the character of Benjamin Braddock reflects the same film era characteristics. The …show more content…
In the film The Graduate, the film’s most interesting cinematic element is the music and composition throughout the film. The soundtrack from Simon and Garfunkel include the songs, “The Sound of Silence”, “Mrs. Robinson”, “Scarborough Fair”, and “April Come She Will”. Benjamin is experiencing the “Sound of Silence” because he’s living in a mental trap, drifting off in the pool and sleeping with Mrs. Robinson, but not really connecting with anybody. Even though he seems bright on the outside who should be thriving but on the inside, he is unsure, conflicted and inert. The final images of the film capture Benjamin and Elaine on the bus that is slowly driving away from their preordained, conservative lives. Simultaneous to their facial expressions turning from happiness to anxiousness, “The Sound of Silence” starts to play, a song which speaks Benjamin’s feelings of dissatisfaction, disillusionment and isolation indicated earlier in the film. Only through sound and its powers of suggestion, that the film closes on an anxious, confused note. The soundtrack of this film was specifically written to show the emotions that Benjamin Braddock was going through throughout the film and each song represented a different change or emotion in his life. Another cinematic element that was used in the film was the transitions between scenes. They were smooth and often times overlapped one another. For example, when Benjamin is jumping onto the pool float the scene quickly and smoothly transitions to him jumping on Mrs. Robinson instead. This transition technique shows that Benjamin is going day by day doing the same things, laying by the pool, relaxing and sleeping with Mrs. Robinson. The transition sequences will continue as they show the thoughtless routine that he goes through every
The beat and resonance of the music is very slow and soothing. It immediately sets up a sad mood. The music also manages to create a lonely and sympathetic atmosphere, which carries on throughout the play. The music only plays at significant times in the monologue as the tone of music needs to fit the mood and subject of which Doris is talking about at that moment, i.e. when Doris reminisces on the good times the music becomes lighter; but when she talks about the death of John the pace of the music slows and becomes duller. The use of music alone can form an overwhelming sympathy if appropriately used.
The Graduate has greatly expressed theses themes throughout several scenes in the movie through the mise en scene such as lighting, camera angles, and sounds. Scenes such as Ben’s birthday party, and of Ben drifting in the pool contain symbolisms of water being the “isolation” and eventually “comfort” that Ben eventually submerges into when feeling frustrated or alienated. The different camera angles in the film allow us to see through Ben’s POV and also the low angles that were shot of Mrs. Robinson created a sense of dominance from her. The diegetic and non-diegetic sounds of the film including the famous song ,Sounds of Silence, enhances the feelings of Ben’s anxiety as though they are his own
believe the film is saying, and what effect music has had on projecting the films overall message.
People are constantly being judged and pressured to change to fit society’s standards. In Tim Burton films, there is always one character that does not fit the mold. These outcast characters in the movies Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands are strange and isolated from the world. Despite the outcast’s difficulties, misfit characters like Edward and Wonka go on to be the hero of the story. Therefore, Burton uses many different cinematic techniques to illustrate that one does not need to conform to society in order to have a happy and successful life.
...bility to depict rites of passage and coming-of-age scenarios. Frith writes, “…youth music is socially important not because it reflects youth experience (authentically or not), but because it defines for us what ‘youthfulness’ is” (Frith, 143). The soundtrack is still effective because it not only captures the spirit of the times, but also because it captures the concept of youthfulness. The film uses songs that it knows to be classic hits, songs with which the public is still very familiar, even thirty-four years later. It is able to do this with the music that transcends generations and with the plotline to which many people can relate.
"Mrs. Robinson, you are trying to seduce me," says Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman). The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols in 1967 is an influential satire/comedy film about a recent East Coast college graduated who finds himself alienated and aimless in the changing, social and sexual general public of the 1960s, and questioning the values of society. The theme of the film is of an innocent and confused youth who is exploited, mis-directed, seduced (literally and figuratively) and betrayed by a corrupt, self-indulgent, and discredited older generation (that finds stability in “plastics”) that I found to be quite clear and understanding, while also capturing the real spirit of the times and allows America's youth to perceive onscreen an image of themselves which they can both identify with and emulate. The Graduate is a significant film even today due to its use of abstract camera angles, telephoto lenses, excellent cinematography, and great acting. Few visual effects were used, however, matting and numerous point of view shots were used. These characteristics and the fabulous use of mis-en-scene, great writing and the era of the film all made The Graduate what it is today, magnificent.
'Shawshank Redemption' directed by Frank Darabont is a compelling film about the life of one of its prisoners, Andy. many film techniques were used through out the film as a clever way of conveying main themes. This essay is going to examine how Darabont used camera angles and colour effectively in this film to portray the idea of power.
The film begins with a close-up of Benjamin Braddock's face - the white background focuses and draws attention to his steely and motionless gaze. The way this shot is composed accentuates his look of disillusionment to the audience. It seems as if he is isolated, but as the camera steadily zooms out, revealing him to be on an airplane packed with many passengers. By filming his silent bodily movement on the automatic walkway in one slow and extended take, the sense of Benjamin's isolation is heightened even more! Together along with the very popular non-diegetic soundtrack Sound of Silence, Benjamin's mood is perfectly created within the opening
For this project, two films were viewed. The first one is Annie, a film made in the early 80s about a girl in an orphanage. She is then brought to live in a mansion for a week with one of the richest men in this world. He doesn’t like her at first, but he learns to love the little girl, and adopt her. The second film, Cinderella man, is about a boxer who loses his job after he breaks his hand during a match. He is then left to fend for his family. He begins to slowly rise up as a boxer and fight again, much to his wife’s distaste. For this project, I will discuss the similarities and differences between the films, and the time period, setting, and characters. Annie is the first film.
The film starts out with orchestral music, and shows James Dean's character, Jim, drunk on the ground of a sidewalk. The sound of a police siren is heard and used as a transition into the next scene that takes place, understandably, in a police station. While in the police station, Jim is yelling along with the sound of the siren, and humming loudly to give the impression that he is drunk. At one point in the scene he is brought into another room with an officer, and begins to punch a desk. The sound effects are loud, and the he pauses, and music begins again when he begins to hurt. Again, a siren is played at the transition to the next scene. However, for the most part, score music is played during all transitions.
The Truman Show Directed By Peter Weir uses various camera, light and other extensive cinematic techniques to show how easy it is to manipulate our lives. Through the course of this essay, we will explore the various cinematic trickery used to show life being manipulated. The cinematic techniques Weir uses to trick Truman can also be used to trick you, we will explore how.
The theories of the window and frame had its origins in the schools of formalism and realism. Both schools main objective was to amplify the prestige of film. During that era of film was an upstart sideshow attraction, high class form of entertainment was the theater and the visual art forms of paintings and statues. Both schools saw cinema as a way of looking a through an aperture but keeping the audience at a distance from the subject on the screen. Whether looking through at frame or looking through a window the audience would be viewing the subject matter but they would only be able to absorb it. That’s where the similarities end the formalist lead by theorist Sergei Eisenstein saw film as frame and would create shock in an attempt to provoke or raise consciousness. Sergei Eisenstein would create what he wanted to the audience to see in his films. For example in the Battleship Potemkin Eisenstein wanted to address the situation with Russia and he created the situation in his film to incite a revolution by creating chaos. The realism school lead by André Bazin saw cinema as window. To Bazin a spectator would be apart of the film as more of a witness more than just a spectator. In the movie Rear Window Jefferies was witness to his neighbor wife murder while looking through window because while looking through a window what one sees is real.
The Matrix is a sci-fi action film about a computer hacker named Neo that has been brought into another world deemed “the matrix.” The Matrix is a prime example of cinematography. The film uses many different types of cinematography such as mise-en-scene, special effects, and camera shots to make it interesting and entertaining to the audience guiding their attention to the important aspects of the film.
The two films I have chosen to compare are the Lord of the Rings, the
‘Billy Elliot’ has a range of powerful scenes with different contrasting emotions. This enhances the audiences understanding of the story. An early scene in the film which produced this impact was when Billy was unable to concentrate while doing ballet due to his father in the strike. The blue in the gym matched the strike through the clothes of some men and the helmets of the police officers with blue embedded on them. Sound had a dramatic impact on the audience since the delivery of both scenes was conflicting. When Billy was doing ballet in his dance class; the music was calm and peaceful. The environment was also poised and relaxing. However, when the strike was taking place, the atmosphere was loud and blaring with ear-splitting shouts from all the men. There was a lot of anger and frustration in the tone of their voices as they shouted “STOP!” The classical ballet music was edited in with the loud shouts from the strike to convey the feeling of intensity and power versus tranquillity and serenity. Mrs Wilkinson shouts at Billy while he is practicing because it was obvious that he was “…not concentrating.” This suggested to the audience that Billy is distracted, with his father being in the strike. Another technique which was distinguishable was the tone of Mrs Wilkinson’s voice which developed into a rough and...