Hales, Becnel- "Time Enough at Last (An E-book Version)"

This short is a modern take on my favorite episode of the Twilight Zone, "Time Enough at Last." In the original, the main character (Burgess Meredith) wants to read constantly but is inhibited by everyone else in his daily life. He takes his lunch (reading) break in the safe at the bank he works at when he sees in the daily newspaper that there is a possibility of an H-bomb. He gets back to his reading and then hears the bomb. When he emerges from the safe, he finds that he is the last living man on earth. He is ecstatic about this discovery because now he can read all day and no one can bother him. Only, as he walks down the steps of the library with his arms full of books, his glasses fall and break. He is left with no human interaction and no way to read. 

We did our version with a Kindle. Tragedy ensues when the electricity goes out around the world... leaving no way to charge the "book."

Hales- Blade Runner

The “other” in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is the Nexus 6. These ‘replicants’ were built by the head of the Tyrell Corporation for several different reasons, but primarily to work on ‘off world’ planets and essentially be slaves. Each model has a different specialty: Roy has optimum self-sufficiency and incredible strength, Pris was noted as a basic pleasure model and had great acrobatic skills, and Zhora was termed the Beauty and the Beast. Because it was believed that after a certain amount of time that the replicants might acquire human emotions (and therefore pose a threat to their usefulness and willingness to comply to their said actions) the Nexus 6 were given a bult in 4 year life span.They came back to Earth to get the brains behind the Tyrell Corporation to lengthen their life spans. When Roy has Sebastian take him to meet Tyrell he is treated with a minimum amount of respect, almost child-like. I find it interesting that Roy simply took what Tyrell said for the end al be all so quickly, it seems like a normal person might continue trying to find a way to stay alive. Tyrell does seem to treat him like a child though and that could be seen as Tyrell looking down on him and disrespecting his emotions as invalid, or it could be seen as a father figure reaction because Tyrell was his maker.

            I cannot help but wonder what point the police force saw in having Deckard hunt and kill the replicants if they knew that their expiration dates were so close on the horizon. Roy died of “natural” causes while he and Deckard were fighting it out. I believe it is important to note that at the end of the film the viewer discovers that Deckard is a replicant as well. Because of this, I find it incredibly cruel that he was asked to kill other replicants, Or, was he built specifically for that very reason? Deckard’s internal journey throughout the course of the film makes the viewer quiestion what being human really is. In the final scene when we find that he is a replicant all the lines between human and non-human are blurred. The love that he and Rachael felt towards each other shows us how strong the replicant’s feelings can be. We had been following his emotions the whole time thinking that he was a human. In Senior’s article, Blade Runner and Cyberpunk Visions of Humanity, he notes, “… all the boundaries are blurred between master and slave, hunter and the hunted, hero and villain, the animate and the inanimate, the human and the nonhuman…” This ambiguity becomes a major problem for the maker, who would have wanted a very clear line between replicant and human. But in the end, if you allow something the ability to have emotions, it becomes human as well. 

Hales, Casablanca

 

In this scene from Casablanca, Signor Ferrari is trying to buy Sam from Rick for his own club, The Blue Parrot. Rick informs Signor Ferrari that he isn’t in the business of selling human beings. Ferrari believes they should ask Sam himself if he might be up for a change. On their way over to Sam at his piano, Ferrari tells Rick “…In this world today, isolationism is no longer a practical policy,” which Rick ignores. Sam refuses the offer to go over to the Blue Parrot and play piano for Ferrari although his pay would be doubled. He wants to stay right where he is.

            The Political Expediency Theory as applied to film is a balance that is held as to not alienate opposing audiences. Casablanca achieves political expediency rather nicely. Although throughout most of the film Rick could be seen as America and their unwillingness to join in the efforts of WWII, in this scene Sam could be seen as America. He is happy just where he is, and even if better things are offered to him on the other side of things, he doesn’t wish to make the risk.

Dominant: Sam, because he is in the middle and at a lower level  from the other two men.

Angle: The camera is neutral, allowing the viewer to make decisions for themselves.

Compostition: The design is Sam surronded by two very different men. Blaine in front, casual and open. Ferrari behind looking stiff and sneaky.

Form: Closed- The elements of the scene are carefully placed in a proscenium arch.

Framing: Tight, Sam can’t move around at all, being surrounded by the two men and the piano; however, he doesn’t wish to move around anyhow.

Character Placement: Center. Personal. The other characters are very close to Sam, but not in his face.

Hales, The Social Network

The best aspect of The Social Network was definitely Aaron Sorkin’s screen adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s book. I’ll admit that in the first scene I sighed from exhaustion and thought, ‘This film is going to wear me out.' But thankfully, what was annoying in the first scene (with Mark Zuckerburg and Erica Albright constantly bickering, bantering, and generally talking over each other,) proved to be charming and compelling throughout the remainder of the film. In the conference room during his two trials, Zuckerburg practically humiliates most everyone else in the room. However, the shining star of Sorkin’s biting dialogue is given to the president of Harvard when he is approached by the Winklevoss twins. He basically tears them a new one and sends them packing, yet in the most sophisticated and eloquent way imaginable. The only problem with such brilliant wit being doled out to most characters in the film is believability. Everyone knows that Harvard is an amazing school, but viewers cannot be expected to believe that everyone who ever came into contact with the university is blessed with such a caustic and almost Mensa-level manner of speaking.

In fact, there were many instances in which I couldn't help but wonder mid-scene, "Did that really happen?" Some of their behavior was just so bizarre, such as Sean Parker's complete disregard for humanity in general (speaking of, Justin Timberlake did a wonderful job portraying him, he went from charming to despicable in the span of two scenes.) But of course, this is a movie, and not meant to be an accurate historical representation of factual events. Yet I do hate when a film is set up in a way that I find myself straying from the film and thinking of real life instead. 

Eduardo Saverin was the most likeable character for me. He seemed to go about everything in an honorable way, and gave Zuckerburg the benefit of the doubt until absolutely proved other wise. When it was obvious that he had been screwed over, he went about protecting himself in the most mature and gentlemanly way. It was refreshing to see him lose his composure every now and then too. My favorite quote from the film is when Saverin gets fed up with Zuckerburg at a hearing and says, "Sorry, my Prada is at the cleaners, along with my hoodie and my 'fuck you' flip-flops, you pretentious douche bag!"

 Another interesting aspect of the film is the use of editing in the law suit scenes. It kept it exciting to have the instant change from one conference room to another. At first, when the viewer isn’t yet aware of what’s going on, one only wonders why Zuckerburg is wearing a different outfit when the scene cuts from the Winklevoss to the Saverin scenes. This is especially effective in keeping the momentum going in a two hour film. There were certainly a few things that could have been cut down, such as party scenes. But everything moved so quickly, I didn’t mind sitting around for 30 minutes over standard feature lendgth time. 

Hales - George of the Jungle

There are many examples of movement in the Bay Bridge scene in George of the Jungle. Once George sees the bridge he immediately runs up one of the sides of it. At first he is shown moving slightly ape-like, with jerky movements and swinging arms. This, along with the simple sight of seeing a man running up the side of a city bridge, can be seen as a symbol of his jungle roots. He doesn’t know that  he isn’t supposed to run up the side of a bridge, and that is shown in his child-like and animalistic movements. The next shot has the camera panning around George while he is standing at the apex of the Bay Bridge. His stance is extremely loose, casual even. He is leaning against a post with one of his legs kicked out and his hand above him hanging onto a tension cable (but in a nonchalant manner, not grasping in order to steady himself.) This helps establish how comfortable he is. Although in a foreign environment, George appears to be totally at ease, even atop and extremely large and dangerous bridge. This is furthered by the wind blowing his hair and billowy white shirt. After George hears the parachuter's cries for help, he moves very methodically to get a look at a good way to help rescue him. The next shot is a camera shot from George’s point of view, looking up and down, quick and shaky from the sky to the water. This demonstrates the urgency of the situation and helps to build suspense. Once George grabs the cable and starts swinging, his movement is very graceful. He almost moves like a dancer or trapeze artist, even stretching his arm above his head at one point. This is of course completely unnecessary and performed to display his confidence and further the viewers perception of him as an unwavering hero figure.

Hales- Beowulf

Every layer of Beowulf exhibits extremely poor use of digital enhancement as well as makes some atrocious faux pas in the realm of filmmaking in general. I believe this scene is an appropriate showcase of everything that is wrong with this film. I understand that motion-capture technology was used in the making of Beowulf and I am sure the filmmakers initially had good reason for this: maybe to save money on actors’ time, attempt to create visual representations on screen out of what was taken from the text, or to make the film seem larger than life. Also, someone in class noted that Beowulf might have been riding the wave of the film 300 and its box office success. But whatever the reasoning was behind it, the digital enhancement fell flat. The actors appear to be made out of clay and the costumes look like they are from Shrek. In the scene above, Ray Winstone’s character is mannequin-esque even, his eyes have no depth and his body appears completely sculpted (in the literal sense.) And of course, let’s not forget what Ray Winstone actually looks like… a far cry from this strapping young depiction of Beowulf. Also, it would be just plain wrong not to mention Winstone’s “bulge” rivaling that of David Bowie in Labyrinth, and certainly surpassing his own in Sexy Beast. Angelina Jolie’s character doesn’t look genuine in any way either. Her heels (or hooves?) in the foreground of the shot are seamless with her legs. The metallic skin color makes her appear to be a robot or futuristic space lady rather than an ancient heathen monster. Also, for some reason, her hand is natural skin tone, not gold. But the worst part of this scene is the lighting. I understand that the mead cup/horn/dragon is supposed to be a beacon of sorts in the story and needs to glow or illuminate. But the lighting on the horn along with the unnatural balance of it shining on his sword is simply hideous. Nor do the shadows in the scene match that of where the light would naturally have them hit. As if this film wasn’t enough of an eyesore in the first place, they had to offend their audience with fake lighting. This is the type of scene that makes a viewer feel ripped off (even if they did stream it for free!)

Hales- Avatars

I would choose Gilda Radner as my avatar because I have always thought if I could be anyone else, it would be her. Radner was one of the most brilliant and hilarious women to ever write and perform on Saturday Night Live.

One of the things that I like most about Gilda is her ability to do anything to make people happy. She went to great lengths for a laugh, ranging from shoving alphabet soup up her nose to dressing herself up in some of the most unattractive getups imaginable. I especially respect her ability to alter her appearance to such epic proportions for entertainment, and on live television at that. Most women would obsess over having every perfect hair in place and she was mussing herself up for fun.

One of Gilda’s characters, Candy Slice, is based on another one of my favorite female entertainers, Patti Smith. In the Candy Slice skits Gilda would color in armpit hair and pass out on stage, which does the job to get a laugh.

Gilda was married to another amazing comedian, Gene Wilder. I can only imagine that theirs was one of the most exciting marriages ever. After her death from ovarian cancer, Wilder did everything he could to raise awareness for the disease.

Although she has stated that she dealt with image issues when she was younger she clearly overcame them. Throughout her career she blossomed into an incredibly confident woman who was unconcerned with image and focused on creating characters who made people laugh at the expense of conventional beauty. I think that this made her one of the most beautiful women to ever live. 

Hales, The Wolf Man

Naturally there are many differences between the 1941 version and the 2010 version of The Wolf Man. First one notices that the original is in black and white and the remake is in full color. In the original they do not seem to use lighting techniques or scenery to instigate a feeling of suspense. Instead they use smoke and the soundtrack. The 2010 version makes use of all of these techniques. Another major difference between the two is the change and extension of plot. They only mention the warning poem once in the remake, but many times in the original:

Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night

may become a wolf when the wolf bane

and the autumn moon is bright.

I saw this as a repetitive trick used in the same way as the soundtrack. In the remake they extended the running time substantially, so much so that I lost interest. Also, the changes made to the original plot did not seem to be improvements. The love interest of the wolf man being his brother’s ex-fiancee made me have less sympathy for the characters, whereas the love interest being a local girl in the original was easier to accept. I suppose the twist of the father being the original werewolf in the remake was an improvement, but I definitely saw it coming. I enjoyed the more primitive use of special effects in the original film. It was interesting watching the camera and editing work involved in the wolf man’s transformation. In the remake the transformation was certainly more seamless, but not necessarily superior. Overall, I found the 1941 version of The Wolf Man to be charming, and the 2010 version just cheesy.

Hales, There are no more eggs, I ate them.

This scene from the Woody Allen film "Anything Else" focuses on Jason Biggs' character, Jerry Falk. Jerry is of course the dominant character as he is the only one in the scene. The lighting is focused on Jerry Falk and seems to be a street lamp shining down on him and creating a glare on the wet street near him. There are no character proxemics in this scene, because he is the only character. This is because he is waiting on his girlfriend, Amanda. In a voice-over introducing the scene Falk says, “I’m on my way to meet Amanda for our anniversary dinner. I’ll be on time, she’ll be late. She’s always late.” Falk is forced to wait for her in the pouring rain. He has his hands on his hips signifying the waiting. The camera proxemics seem to be personal. The camera is not close enough in on him to be intimate, and I suppose it isn’t social because there is no one else around. If the camera were to pull in closer we could see his facial expression better, but it would take away from the scene. What Woody Allen wants us to see is this slightly pathetic character waiting in the rain for his girlfriend who steps all over him and gives him nothing in return for his kindness, not even sex. The hands on his hips can also illustrate this point, that Falk is not only frustrated in the moment from waiting, but also sexually frustrated. The lighting coming down on him in this scene further illustrates how pitiful the character seems at the moment. The camera is straight on with him facing sideways, but the downward lighting casts a pitiable shadow on Falk.