Penland, Mathey: Speeding

Penland: Minority Report

In the 2002 film, Minority Report, an experimental police force in Washington, D.C. arrests future murderers based on the visions of three precogs; Agatha, Dashiell, and Arthur. The police force is lead by Captain Joe Anderton (Tom Cruise), who studies the precogs’ visions, gathering clues and information to find the potential murderer. Once he figures out where the murderer is, he and the police force race to arrest him, before the crime is committed, essentially eliminating crime for six years in the D.C. area.

The criminals in this movie are treated as outcasts. Their basic rights are stripped from them; the crime they were arrested for never even happened. Although the precogs are supposed to always be right about a murder, the murderers were only arrested because of something that was going to happen. Terri Murray’s essay, “Our Post-Mortal Future?” addresses this issue, saying “a ‘crime’ is meaningless unless it is done, and is a crime precisely because it is done” (137). This essay shows that the future criminals of this movie were treated unfairly because they never actually committed the crime.

One glitch with this system lies with the precogs. The precogs are human, and could have missed a murder, which does happen in the movie. The murder of Agatha’s birth mother is predicted by the precogs, and prevented from happening. However, the true murderer knows the glitch of the precogs, and commits the murder the same exact way as before. The precogs see this murder, however, the files are erased because it appears to be an echo, which is what happens when a particularly horrific murder is committed, and the precogs see the murder twice. This glitch in the system questions the reliability of the precogs, making the audience wonder if the other murders would have actually happened.

After the criminals were arrested, a police officer placed a futuristic headband on them, forcing them into a sleep-like state, where they could only see their murder over and over again for the rest of their lives. The criminals were then placed in a tube and put underground with the rest of the future criminals, basically tortured with the same image for the rest of their lives. This part of the movie was horrifying to me, because the criminals were completely de-humanized. They became merely bodies without souls after they were placed in these tubes. They were treated worse than the criminals we have today; they literally had no freedom, no movement, and no sunlight.

This clip shows how people in this movie have very little privacy because their eyes are scanned everywhere.

Penland: Casablanca

The political message of Casablanca is revealed through the quintessential love story of Rick and Isla. The political scenes standing alone would have made a boring film. The movie needed the love story to make the political statements of the filmmakers.

Many of the political scenes revolve around Rick working out agreements with the military, or Victor secretly meeting with some of his allies. Victor’s freedom depends on the outcome of the conflict between Isla and Rick. Because Rick still loves Isla, and does not want to let her go, Victor could have potentially been caught by the military and sent back to a concentration camp. However, Rick finally learns the truth about his romance with Isla in Paris; that she found out her husband had not really died and she had to return to him, leaving Rick. This causes Rick to be the heroic one, finally giving up Isla and moving on with his life. Most people who think of the film Casablanca, believe it to be a love story, when in fact it really is a political statement about World War II. Overall, this movie did an excellent job of both entertaining the audience and focusing on the ideology of the war.

Mise En Scene: In this scene, Rick and Isla are in Paris, a flashback to their romance, looking down at the street where German troops are invading.

Dominant: The dominant in this scene is Isla. Rick has his hand placed on her shoulder, leading the audience's eye to her. Her clothes are also brighter than Rick's, and his face has several shadows cast upon it, while hers appears completely white and flawless.

Frame: The framing of this scene is tight, focusing in Rick and Isla. This draws the audience's attention to both of them, focusing on where they are looking.

Character Proxemics: The two characters are very close to each other. Neither of them are looking at each other, however, they are obviously close emotionally, as Rick as his hand on Isla. Both looked concerned about what is going to happen, so they have drawn closer to each other.

Camera Proxemics: The camera proxemics in this scene is focused on half of their bodies. The audience can see their facial expressions as well as their body movements.

Lighting: The lighting in this scene is focused on Isla and Rick. The two of them stand out over the background, which is slightly darker.

This scene in Casablanca shows how much Rick and Isla loved each other, and also how Rick was heroic, working out the best possible solution for everyone.

Penland: Easy A

Although Easy A borrows from other teen movies, it still manages to come off as an original. The film begins with highschooler Olive talking directly to the audience via webcam, explaining “her side of the story, the right one”. The film’s editor, Susan Littenberg uses this as the basis to tell the story. The clever use of the webcam throughout this movie appeals to the generation of teens who are obsessed with posting pictures and videos of themselves on the Internet via Facebook and YouTube.

Olive pretends to lose her virginity to help out a gay student, Brandon, who is being bullied and soon her life spirals out of control, imitating Hester Prynne’s in The Scarlet Letter, which she is studying in school. The scene is set at a wild party, where Olive takes her friend into the bedroom. As the other partygoers are listening on the other side of the door, Olive and Brandon jump up and down on the bed, laughing and trying to make it sound like they are having sex. The editing in this scene is great – going back and forth between the two kids in the bedroom to the “audience” of the kids in the hallway and kitchen listening in.

Word gets out among the geeks that Olive will pretend to have sex with them, thus boosting their unpopular status at school. The editing in the scenes where Olive negotiates with a series of boys is funny, as the camera flashes to various boys approaching her, each one offering something different.

Finally, Olive has such a reputation at the school that she gives up trying to fight the rumors and brands her clothing with a Scarlet “A.” There are some well-edited scenes of her walking into the school with the ensuing shocked reaction she gets from students and teachers.

The film imitates and actually pays homage to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: Olive takes a shower and forms her shampooed hair in a Mohawk as Ferris does and Littenberg edits in a scene from the St. Patrick’s Day parade where Ferris is singing “Twist and Shout”.

Easy A is also reminiscent of Mean Girls, and a bit like Clueless, where the heroine, a nice, conventional girl caught up in the horrors of high school, changes to something outrageous. And although it is used in many movies, there is even a scene where her boyfriend, Todd, holds up a radio like John Cusack in Say Anything.

This scene does a great job in editing-showing how Olive doesn't do anything over the weekend except get this song stuck in her head.

Penland: Avatar

My avatar is Lady Gaga. I have chosen her as a projection of myself as well as someone I aspire to be. Although she may seem crazy and strange, she has many good qualities. She is very driven in terms of her career, and went after her dream, which I am trying to do as well. Lady Gaga worked her way up to become the megastar she is, which I hope to do with my future career. She is a great inspiration to so many people, which I hope to do too, and have always tried to do my entire life. She is very sweet and caring to her fans, and connects with them through websites such as Twitter and YouTube, even when she is busy on tour. I also try to connect with many people and keep up with them:

Lady Gaga is not afraid to be herself and does not care what other people think. She wears whatever she wants, and tries new things everyday. She mainly wants to help people through her music, which I want to do in my career, whatever it may be. Gaga is also a very emotional person, and she shows this through her music and at her concerts. She is a very strong person who can get bogged down by life, but overall she sticks through everything and continues to pursue what she wants in life. I work towards this every day in my life, and hope to one day achieve my dream, just as Gaga did.

Penland: Beowulf CGI

In the CGI version of Beowulf, I found the special effects to be corny, and at times distracting from the storyline. It took me awhile to get used to the digital animation, but there were some points in the movie where it did not work well at all. Every time Angelina Jolie’s character, Grendel’s mother, came onto the screen, I immediately began to notice the bad animation. Her character’s CGI was very distracting; The movements of her body did not work well.

One scene with Grendel’s mother that particularly bothered me was the very end scene, where she flew down to kiss Beowulf’s dead body. Her golden tail stood out very obviously compared to the rest of the scene, and when she hovered above Beowulf, the movements of her body looked stiff and unrealistic. I also found this to be a distracting problem throughout the movie with all of the characters; especially when Beowulf fought Grendel. His body looked about as flexible as a Ken doll, which was very distracting, which emphasized the fact that the CGI was not very convincing.

The facial movements of Grendel’s mother were much more advanced than other characters, however. Two of the characters that appeared to be very stiff in their facial movements were Beowulf and the Queen. When they spoke to each other at various parts of the movie, I felt as though I was watching the animation of a cheap, 1990s video game.

Grendel’s mother was the most distracting thing about this movie. To improve her character, editors should have fixed her tail, because it detracted from the point of the movie. If the characters’ facial movements had been improved as well, the quality of the movie would be so much better.

Penland: Wolfman Comparison

Technology has much improved since 1941, and this is very apparent when viewing both the 2010 and 1941 version of The Wolfman.

First of all, the clarity has much improved. In the 1941 version, all of the details are muddled, especially when there are night scenes in the graveyard. Also, because this version was shot in black and white, contrast is hard to see, and color is left up to the imagination. The lighting in this film is very low-key, mostly to set the mood. However, this also makes it difficult to see specific things, such as in nighttime scenes. Special effects have also much improved since 1941. In this version of the film, when he transforms into the wolf, the video is shown in screenshots, as his feet morph into paws. This is almost comical compared to the special effects of the 2010 movie.

In the 2010 version, the clarity of the movie has much improved. Because of high definition, almost every detail of an actor’s face, or a painting in the background can be seen. The graphics are so good, that you almost feel as though you are right there, following these characters around. The special effects have improved to an astounding degree, appearing as though this could actually happen in reality. The 1941 version was not scary at all; however, because of the special effects, the 2010 version was absolutely frightening. When he had nightmares while he was healing after the wolf bite, they were startling every time a new image would pop up.

The influence of digital media has improved the quality of film significantly. The sound effects, visual effects, and special effects of 2010 make the film much scarier and more realistic. Although both films were good, the 2010 film was able to improve a classic, due to the advances in film technology.

Penland Mise on Scene: Moulin Rouge

In the movie, Moulin Rouge, a young writer, Christian, falls in love with a courtesan, Satine, who aspires to be an actress. The owner of the Moulin Rouge, and Satine’s “manager,” Zidler, wants the place turned into a theater, and wants Satine to be the star. All of the characters in this scene are trying to impress the Duke by entertaining him with the show they want to put on. The Duke will provide them with the money they need to create the theater.

The dominant in this scene is Zidler (Jim Broadbent). All of the characters are centered around him, and he has his arms spread open, presenting himself as the center of attention. His white undershirt also stands out above all of the other characters, who mostly have dark clothing on. However, Satine (Nicole Kidman) and Christian’s (Ewan McGregor) hands on Zidler’s jacket make the eye lead back to them. Their faces are also brighter than the other characters in the scene. Zidler’s hand also leads back to Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), who also stands out more due to his off-white undershirt.

The lighting in this scene is low key mostly. Toward the bottom of the scene, the lighting is darker, and the darker clothing of the characters emphasizes this. The top of scene has more light; the red and golden background shows this.

The character proxemics in this scene is personal, because only half of the characters’ bodies are shown, and a few of them do not fit entirely in the frame.

The camera proxemics in this scene is personal as well, because the main focus is on the characters, and they are half in the frame with their bodies. Other aspects, such as the harp in the background, show more of the social proxemics, because it is not in full view.

This particular scene, the frame is open, because Zidler’s hands are open, and there is nothing framing the two sides. The scene has the feel of warmth, with the red and gold colors, but also of darkness, because of the black clothing the characters are wearing. This represents the feel of the entire movie, as even though it is about happiness and love, there are also many dark moments each character goes through.

Here is a trailer for Moulin Rouge: