My class was set another task; identify visual parallels and contrasts from the scene of “The Godfather” where Michael Corleone is at his son’s baptizing and his family kills the Dons’ of the other families.
If you are not familiar with this movie, there are five families who are at rivalry with each other. The heads of each family is called a Don. Michael Corleone is head of the Corleone family, after the death of his father.
This scene shows two stories at the same time, but spotlights the same “people” (The Corleone family). This scene uses montage, throughout the scene, the audience is presented with the baptizing of Michael Corleone’s son and his mobsters. There is a basic contrast between these stories, the Holy setting of the church and the murderous killing that the mobsters perform.
During this specific scene, there was a lot of focus especially on the hands and also handkerchiefs. For example, when the father of the church whips his hand and places water onto Michael’s baby and then cuts to several mobsters who whips their head with a handkerchief as if they are sweating.
The scene is very fascinating because of it’s editing. The father of the church recites his words while Michael replies, at the same time, the mobsters of the Corleone family are preparing and killing the Dons’ of the other families. One of the best editing of montage in this scene is where Michael is asked, “Do you renounce Satan?” and Michael replies, “Yes”. Then, the audience sees the Dons’ of the other families getting shot and killed. This shows great contrast and a parallel because of his innocence in the way he replies while the audience knowingly sees his family kill the other Dons’. This effect shows how much power Michael Corleone has that even if he lies in the house of God, he is a Holy man and is protected because he has organized the killings of the other Dons’.
Quantum of Solace was an excellent movie, however, what I've noticed from the two James Bond movies that actor Daniel Craig has stared in is the lack of gadgets. Frankly, the essence of James Bond has died off, and reincarnated into a more forceful version of James Bond, where he kicks down the door and begins firing shots. The more recent James Bond is also less of a "Ladies Man", which is also known as "Playa" in the 21st century. One of the main problems with Quantum of Solace is detail. This is also involved in other action movies, character names, locations and in the case Quantum of Solace, organizations. When watching Quantum of Solace, I had a hard time with understanding what was going on, and when characters were mentioned, I always had to refer to my friends and ask them who they are talking about. Memory is also a key factor of when it comes to comprehending what on earth is going on. You especially had to remember what happened in the previous movie Casino Royale and even character names.
1. Rewatch the up to 0:45. What atmosphere do the contrasting shots create? How does Eisenstein create a sense of foreboding alongside the overriding atmosphere? Sergei Eisenstein uses a series of shots to convey happiness and excitement using various shots of people waving and smiling with joy. The obvious text that suddenly pops up saying “Suddenly...” (0:44) communicates to the audience that “Suddenly...” something bad happens. Also the “...” express a long pause or an interruption.
Another part of the montage scene that Sergei Eisenstein uses to cause a sense of foreboding would include the clip of a flag that seems to belong to a boat or a battalion (0:29). This helps build up to the sudden text because through the use of montage, the audience thinks that the people associated with the flag are in the city to rescue them, when “Suddenly…” something contradictory happens. 2. Watch the rest of the clip again. How does Eisenstein create a contrast between the soldiers and the people? How and why does our view of the people's feelings towards the soldiers change? One noticeable contrast between the soldiers and the people is the colour of clothing, the soldiers are dressed in white, and the people are dress in black (or assorted clothing such as white shirt, black trousers). This is a clever contrast because the film is in black and white, therefore, there needs to be a stand out between the two different groups.
The people in the film also showed emotions such as fear, sadness and worry. The soldiers however are emotionless like robots; they follow commands and continue to fire at the people. The audience’s views on the feelings the people have in the direction to the soldiers are significantly changed from the point of 0:46. Sergei Eisenstein uses a series of techniques to help illustrate how these feelings change. He changes the tempo of the music from a slow pace to a faster pace to make the audience think that the people are unorganized and it has changed into an action sequence. The music orchestra was also changed from strings (high and peaceful) to drums and wind instruments (low and fearing).
Our task is to create a documentary the certain genre of action. My partner and I had chosen action because of the many favourite films that we enjoy fit into the action genre. The reason why my favourite genre of film is action is because of the excessive amounts of violence and strong cursive language that the actors use. What really defines the action genre are the stunts, fight scenes and the gun sequences, and strong language is probably an essential part towards the movies. An action movie without strong language should even be premiered in the movie theatre, without the excessive amounts of strong language, the audience wouldn't be able to understand what the character's emotions are. For example, if a character said the word, "Shoot!" instead of "Shit!", it wouldn't grab the attention of the audience and it would look like a sill movie.
We will be focusing on the following topics: • The genre in terms of film history • Generic conventions (what is expected in the action genre) • Notable films • The genre in more than one culture • Subgenres
Many action films can engage with other genres too, genres included with the action film can involve comedy, drama, horror, war, crime and science fiction. Action is the backbone of the entire film industry, after all, who can name one movie that does not have a single stunt in the entire film? According to IMBD (Internet Movie Database), the top action movies include Star Wars, Saving Private Ryan and the Terminator series. As you can see, action films are very closely linked with any other genre, and are considered to help create the horror and the adventure genre. The first full feature film with a story line to have ever been created was released in 1906, it was called "The Story of the Kelly Gang", its about an Australian Outlaw called Ned Kelly who wears metal armor to rob banks and was considered an action film by critics, this shows how major the action genre is. Our IB Film list for action films contain: • The Seven Samurai • Dr No • Bullitt • First Blood • Die Hard • The Killer • The Rock
The stereotypical action movie involves excessive amounts of blood, violence, weapons, explosions and usually involves a really strong many with large muscles who is bit of a hard ass... For example, the "Rambo" series. However, this is true, people enjoy watching violence, but the director uses techniques to explain the story really well that it gets us hooked on to every second of the movie, much like "Gladiator". From an early era, we already know that people used violence as entertainment, watching fights being held in the Colosseum. Action goes back quite a long way.
I am looking forward to the watch the "Die Hard" series because I enjoy Bruce Willis's preformance as the extreme action "hard-ass" in the movie. His role is a law enforcer who cannot get out of the difficult situations that envolve heavily armed gangs because he just happened to be there. However, the "Die Hard" series are not my favourite action movies, and it is a difficult situation to select which movie would have to be my most favourite action movie, because I'm such a big fan of action films. Perhaps "Saving Private Ryan" would have to be my favourite action film, or film, period! With an amazing cast including Tom Hanks and outstanding directing by Steven Speilberg, you cannot disagree that "Saving Private Ryan" is one of the best films ever, even if you hate Tom Hanks (Mr. Parker...).
"Saving Private Ryan" is a story of a platoon commanded by Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) who receive orders to find Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon) when three of his other brothers have been killed in action. The risk of 8 soldiers saving 1 behind enemy lines is absolutely ridiculous as they risk their lives for one many, they don't even know. The D-Day scene in the beginning of the movie is perhaps my favourite scene of the entire movie. It has so much detail that I actually believed I was in the action, not only were the actors performance so good, but the accuracy of the film towards history was incredible. The fact that the scene was of a very memorable historic moment could have effected how incredible this scene is.
Here is the D-Day scene in three clips.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Action movies I have seen since September: -The Incredible Hulk -The Dark Knight -First Blood -Rambo II -Rambo III -Rambo IV -Gladiator -Saving Private Ryan -The Patriot -300 -The Last Action Hero -Tango and Cash -Demolition Man -Blade -Blade II -Terminator II -Scorpion King -Four Brothers -The Big Hit -Mission Impossible II -Mission Impossible III
