Lisa Cholodenko is best known for her award-winning short film Dinner Party (1997) and her film High Art (1997) in which she won the National Society of Film Critics. However Cholodenko’s biggest accomplishment was her 2010 movie called The Kids Are All Right, nominated for four Academy Awards (this included Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay), Lisa Cholodenko won two Golden Globes including Best Picture, in comedy, and Best Actress. Coming along way from winning a film critic award to be winning awards from two of the biggest and most popular award shows show how Cholodenko’s career gradually became more successful. Lisa Cholodenko grew up in Los Angeles and she began her film careers working as an assistant editor; however, she then moved to New York and earned an MFA in screenwriting and direction at the Columbia University School of arts. At Columbia University School of Arts, Cholodenko filmed her first short movie Dinner Party. Besides being a director, Lisa Cholodenko also was a film professor at Columbia University, an advisor and is currently on the Board of Governs of Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science. It was surprising to be able to find out how active Cholodenko is in the film industry and in the university she attended. This portrays how committed Cholodenko is to creating successful movies and to be a part of others film victory. While watching Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right and High Art, I realized how these films had similar themes. Of course the movie The Kids Are All Right is a comedy about a family and how they come together to overcome mistakes and difficulties; on the other hand, High Art is about photographers and editors of magazines living in New York and finding of love inter... ... middle of paper ... ...ow well they played the part and told the story. Of course, like other directors Lisa Cholodenko wanted recognizable actors in order to achieve a more grand recognition for her work. Also in the interview, Cholodenko talks about her personal experience with coming out and how she dealt with that part of her life. She explains how in 11th grade ( 17 years old) she came out; the culture and environment was different back when she was young, so she was alone because she did not know anyone else who was say so she felt different and confused. Cholodenko came from a liberal Jewish family in a liberal place, her mother was supportive and recommended that her daughter seek help and guidance through her difficult time. In conclusion, Lisa Cholodenko is a very experienced film writer and activist to share her personal experiences and life into her work for entertainment.
When asked to write about an important activist who has demonstrated protest, I immediately drifted towards a Hispanic and/or feminist activist. Various names came across my mind initially such as Cesar Chavez and Joan Baez but as a later discussion in class concluded, there are numerous others who are rarely highlighted for their activism and struggles, which lead to me researching more. In my research I came across Dolores Huerta, an American labor leader and civil rights activist, who I felt was an underdog and brushed over activist in the Hispanic community.
The poem “Woodchucks” by Maxine Kumin, is about the narrator’s attempt to eradicate woodchucks from a garden. The figurative message of the poem is how a person can change from good to evil effortlessly. The metaphor of the Holocaust is intertwined in the poem and helps enhance the figurative message. The uniform format and the implication of Kumin’s word choices creates a framework that allows the reader to draw out deeper meanings that the literary devices create. Maxine Kumin’s use of an undeviating format, word choice, and allusion to the Holocaust reinforces the purpose of her poem.
Film making has gone through quite the substantial change since it’s initial coining just before the turn of the 19th century, and one would tend argue that the largest amount of this change has come quite recently or more so in the latter part of film’s history as a whole. One of the more prominent changes having taken place being the role of women in film. Once upon a time having a very set role in the industry, such as editing for example. To mention briefly the likes of Dede Allen, Verna Fields, Thelma Schoonmaker and so forth. Our female counterparts now occupy virtually every aspect of the film making industry that males do; and in many instances excel past us. Quite clearly this change has taken place behind the lens, but has it taken
Jane was an intelligent woman who began her adulthood as a secretary at the University of Oxford. She then became more fascinated with films. She was hired to be a music director in a filmmaking business. This led her to meet some incredible ...
Todd, Janet. Women and Film. Vol. 4. New York, NY: Holmes and Meier Publishers, 1988.
Bordwell David and Thompson, Kristen. Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
The Classical Hollywood style, according to David Bordwell remains “bound by rules that set stringent limits on individual innovation; that telling a story is the basic formal concern.” Every element of the film works in the service of the narrative, which should be ideally comprehensible and unambiguous to the audience. The typical Hollywood film revolves around a protagonist, whose struggle to achieve a specific goal or resolve a conflict becomes the foundation for the story. André Bazin, in his “On the politique des auteurs,” argues that this particular system of filmmaking, despite all its limitations and constrictions, represented a productive force creating commercial art. From the Hollywood film derived transnational and transcultural works of art that evoked spectatorial identification with its characters and emotional investment into its narrative. The Philadelphia Story, directed by George Cukor in 1940, is one of the many works of mass-produced art evolving out of the studio system. The film revolves around Tracy Lord who, on the eve of her second wedding, must confront the return of her ex-husband, two newspaper reporters entering into her home, and her own hubris. The opening sequence of The Philadelphia Story represents a microcosm of the dynamic between the two protagonists Tracy Lord and C.K. Dexter Haven, played by Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Through the use of costume and music, the opening sequence operates as a means to aesthetically reveal narrative themes and character traits, while simultaneously setting up the disturbance that must be resolved.
Working in a writers’ room of a sitcom is my main goal after graduating college. Comedy writers like Tina Fey inspire me to explore my creativity through writing. Watching Tina Fey write and portray
Film Society of Lincoln Center , ND/NF Q&A: "Stories We Tell", Sarah Polley, online video, May 10 2013, viewed May 5 2014,
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
Of all the 1980’s films, that can be described as “Eighties Teen Movies” (Thorburn, 1998) or “High School Movies” (Messner, 1998), those written and (with the exception of “Pretty In Pink” (1986) and “Some Kind of Wonderful”(1987)) directed by John Hughes were often seen to define the genre, even leading to the tag “John Hughes rites de passage movies” as a genre definition used in 1990s popular culture (such as in “Wayne’s World 2” (1994 dir. Stephen Surjik)). This term refers to the half dozen films made between 1984 and 1987; chronologically, “Sixteen Candles” (1984), “The Breakfast Club” (1985), “Weird Science” (1985), “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” (1986), “Pretty In Pink” (1986) and “Some Kind Of Wonderful” (1987) (the latter two being directed by Howard Deutch). For the purpose of this study, “Weird Science” and “Some Kind of Wonderful” shall be excluded; “Weird Science” since, unlike the other films, it is grounded in science fiction rather than reality and “Some Kind of Wonderful” as its characters are fractionally older and have lost the “innocence” key to the previous movies: as Bernstein states “the youthful naivete was missing and the diamond earring motif [a significant gift within the film] was no substitute” (Bernstein, 1997, p.89). Bernstein suggests that the decadent 1980s were like the 1950s, “an AIDS-free adventure playground with the promise of prosperity around every corner … our last age of innocence” (Bernstein, 1997, p.1). The films were very much a product of the time in terms of their production (“suddenly adolescent spending power dictated that Hollywood direct all its energies to fleshing out the fantasies of our friend, Mr. Dumb Horny 14 Year Old” Bernstein, 1997, p.4), their repetition (with the growth of video cassette recorders, cable and satellite with time to fill, and also the likes of MTV promoting the film’s soundtracks) and their ideologies.
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.
Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Her parents are Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey who were 18 and 20 at the time of Oprah’s birth. Her Grandmother who took care of her early in life was Hattie Mae Lee. Oprah's mother moved north to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to find work. She planned to move Oprah there once she had secured a job. Oprah stayed with her grandmother on her farm in Mississippi. (www.about.com, 2000).
Cinema Journal 48.1 (2008): 27-50. Project MUSE. Web. The Web.
“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.