The Film about Filmmaking
Truffaut's irresistibly charming "film about filmmaking" is an enormously affectionate homage to cinema, as well as a portrayal of the joy and anguish of filmmaking. The framing film Day for Night tells the story of a director; Ferrand (Truffaut) and his crew shooting a romantic family melodrama entitled Meet Pamela at the Studio Victorine in Nice. As the shooting proceeds, the personal crises of the crewmembers engulf the professional sphere of their lives, and threaten the smooth progress of the filming: one of the leading actresses, Séverine (Valentina Cortese), is anguished by her son's terminal illness and unable to remember her lines because of her alcoholism; Stacey (Alexandra Stewart) is three-months pregnant and refuses to shoot a swimming scene in a bathing suit; Alphonse (Jean-Pierre Léaud) seeks feminine/maternal affection and lingers over the same question: "Are women magic?" Ferrand realizes that films are more harmonious than life: there are "no traffic jams or no dead waits," and people like them are happy only in their work of making films. Despite a series of difficulties and the accidental death of Alexandre (played by Jean-Pierre Aumont) in a car crash, the crew manages to complete the filming and then disperse to future destinations.
From the outset Day for Night is full of Truffaut's nostalgia for cinema of the past. A title sequence accompanied by orchestral music gradually turns into a melancholic accordion tune; a still of Dorothy and Lillian Gish with subtitle announces that the film is dedicated to these legendary stars of the silent screen. The spectator is then led to a square seemingly in Paris, a rather chic landscape dotted with a metro station, a fashionable café, stoned buildings, the sound of busy traffic and pedestrians. A young man (Jean-Pierre Léaud) with a solemn expression on his face appears from the metro station and walks towards an elderly man. After a while the young male slaps the latter on his face. As soon as an immense tension occurs we hear the voice "Cut" and the camera tracks back to reveal that it was a shooting of a film. The camera pulls back further and we see the film crew, a television presenter and her crew. The television crew interviews the actors and they provide us with a synopsis of the film they are shooting: Meet Pamela is the story of a tragic affair of an adulterous couple.
Robert Michael, (1984) "A Second Look: Night and Fog" in Cineaste 13, 4 (1984), 36-37, reprinted in Raskin, 159-160. This book contains a number of contemporary reviews of Night and Fog, as well as interviews with Resnais, and more recent analyses of the film. The material is printed without commentary by the editor
The character of Gatsby and Fitzgerald’s commentary on the logical fallacies of the American Dream are closely intertwined, which is why Fitzgerald goes to such great lengths to separate the two. By distinguishing Gatsby from the flaws he possesses allows the reader to care for Gatsby, and the impact of his death all the more powerful when it finally occurs. By making Gatsby a victim of the American Dream rather than just the embodiment of it, Fitzgerald is able to convince his audience of the iniquity of the American Dream by making them mourn the life of the poor son-of-a-bitch
As the top-selling buyer at Posh Style Studios, I know for a film to be exceedingly preferential, the audience’s interest is the key. Without the interest of your audience, you cannot achieve the primary goal: sales. In the best interests of Posh Style Studios, we are gratified to bring before you, your next immense sensation: “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. The beguiling title refers to the time period upon which the central character, Louise Mallard, perceives that her husband is dead and then learns that he is after all, alive. In "The Story of an Hour", there are a number of literary elements that influence the story, having the audience on their toes for what will transpire next. The story's structure is also constructed on tongue-in-cheek elements. Kate Chopin uses irony to make the story a tease to the audience. The audience is forced to assume about what little is known, what they want to know, and what really is happening. This film will appeal to countless audiences as they absorb the pros and cons of communication, time...
Auteurism is a term first coined by Francois Truffaut to describe the mark of a film director on his films. A director can be considered an auteur if about five of his film depict a certain style that is definitely his own. In other words, much like one can look at a painting and tell if it is a Monet, a Renoir, or a Degas, if a film director is an auteur, one can look at his film and tell by style and recurring themes that it was made by a certain director. In auteur films, the director is many times what brings an audience to the theater, instead of the actors or storyline. I am going to take a look at three of the most noted auteurs: Frederico Fellini, Satyajit Ray, and Alfred Hitchcock.
The noir style is showcased in Sunset Boulevard with its use of visually dark and uncomfortable settings and camera work, as well as its use of the traditional film noir characters. In addition, the overall tone and themes expressed in it tightly correspond to what many film noirs addressed. What made this film unique was its harsh criticism of the film industry itself, which some of Wilder’s peers saw as biting the hand that fed him. There is frequent commentary on the superficial state of Hollywood and its indifference to suffering, which is still a topic avoided by many in the film business today. However, Sunset Blvd. set a precedent for future film noirs, and is an inspiration for those who do not quite believe what they are being shown by Hollywood.
F. Scott Fitzgerald in his novel The Great Gatsby and Richard Wright in Native Son both portrayed protagonists that had come from poverty, but reached for their dreams. Gatsby was raised on a farm in a disadvantaged area of North Dakota, and would stop at nothing to gain enough wealth to never be connected to poverty again. He even went as far as changing his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby. Bigger Thomas lived in a tiny, single room apartment on the Chicago South Side with his mother, sister and brother. Both men were embarrassed about and despised the poverty they were born into. Jay and Bigger sought to improve their situations. They placed their futures in the hands of society and the external forces around them such as money and power. Although Jay Gatsby and Bigger Thomas came from impoverished neighborhoods and rose to different places in society, both men saw money as a way to better their circumstances, they both turned to crime in pursuit of finding their identity and used self-invention to claim it and eventually, both fell victim to the unraveling of their dreams.
Through the use of symbolism and critique, F. Scott Fitzgerald is able to elucidate the lifestyles and dreams of variously natured people of the 1920s in his novel, The Great Gatsby. He uses specific characters to signify diverse groups of people, each with their own version of the “American Dream.” Mostly all of the poor dream of transforming from “rags to riches”, while some members of the upper class use other people as their motivators. In any case, no matter how obsessed someone may be about their “American Dream”, Fitzgerald reasons that they are all implausible to attain.
Gatsby can be characterized as being ignorant. He assumes that wealth and possession equates to happiness and harmony. Gatsby’s American dream can be seen as being corrupted by his surroundings of wealth. Although as wealthy as his surroundings, his money does not necessarily mean he matches well with the East Eggers he is associated with. He spends enormous amounts of money, yet no one really likes him. He entertains large groups of people in hope of attaining something greater.
This film is a multi-genre film— science fiction and film noir— which creates a very unique stylistic world. The film is characterized in the science fiction genre with flying vehicles— police cars and advertising blimps—, the futuristic city with congested streets, and advanced technology—picturesque billboards, Voight-Kampf machine, picture phones, and voice activated photo analyzers. It also depicts the movie genre of film noir with its low-key lighting consistent throughout Bryant’s office and Deckard’s apartment, the claustrophobic framing with various characters—the overcrowded nightclub—, heavy shadows caused by venetian blinds in Deckard’s apartment, and the rain soaked landscapes during the night.
“The Story of an Hour” expresses the difficulties of being a women in the late 1800’s in South America due to the issues of gender inequalities. This story, written by Kate Chopin, who was a married woman in late 1800’s, provides the perspective of a young married women who has limited freedom and is largely controlled by her husband. Throughout this story gender norms are clearly displayed in different ways. One clear example is when Mrs. Mallard, the protagonist, is expected to act a specific way when she hears the news of her dead husband, yet she feels the extreme opposite. The narrator then does a great job of expressing the reality of how Mrs. Mallard is truly feeling and uses that as a way to express the control as a conflict. The outcome
With this short but very interesting and informative class I have just scratched the surface of the what it takes to make a full fleged film. It takes much more than I had presumed to make a movie in Hollywood. The number of people that it takes to make a minute of a movie let alone the entire movie was astonishing to me. There are many things that it takes to start making a movie but without an idea of some sort there is no movie to be made.
Jay Gatsby, aka James Gatz is the subject of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby. Through the course of the novel, this enigmatic and powerful character, defined by his preceding reputation is gradually deconstructed and revealed to be a lovesick man, a hopeless romantic. Understanding this statement affirms the actions taken by Gatsby in the course of the story. Unfortunately his actions also lead to the demise of dream and one himself. In the larger spectrum Gatsby is seen as the archetypical self-made man under the microscope, scrutinized by a prod to unveil what’s beneath the layers of gold and green.
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 Story of an Hour” is the story of Mrs. Louise Mallard who suffers of a weak heart. This being the first we know of Mr. Mallard, she is carefully being told that her husband had just passed away in a train accident. As every good wife should, Mrs. Mallard breaks out in grief. At first, the story goes, as it should. Then Mrs. Mallard goes into her room where she begins thinking, and her first thought is that she is free. Mrs. Mallard after years of being in an unhappy marriage is finally free to do what she wants, with no one to hold her back. Yet everything is against her, when she finally accepts that her life will begin now, her husband enters his home, unscathed and well, not having known that everyone thought him dead, a...
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.