Assignment 10: Citizen Kane & The Hay's Code

The Production Code

I don't think that movies can really affect someone's morals unless if they don't have anything to teach them that the morals presented in a piece of entertainment are morally unjustifiable and dangerous. There is always going to be outliers that can't separate fiction and reality.

Citizen Kane

His radio influences are shown by his casting of all his radio actors that he always worked with. They all have really good voices as well. You can also tell in the dialogue that it has a different cadence and rhythm to it than in movies of that era. That is because Welles didn't like the phony sounding dialogue in films where lines of dialogue never overlapped with each other when people try to talk over each other or at the same time.

The scene where Leland comes in drunk after Kane loses the election is filmed in the low-angle style.

A very clever way in which Welles used transitions was the famous dinner scene in which the disintegration of his marriage is shown, every cut jumps ahead a couple years. Also there is a scene in which Kane as a child says, "Merry Christmas," then it jumps decades and Mr. Bernstein says, "and a Happy New Year."

Assignment 9: Early Sound and The Artist

In The Artist the camera work is very reminiscent of silent films because that's exactly what the cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman wanted to capture in the look of it. The way the camera is rarely moving and the coverage of the film isn't like the haphazard tons of angles we get in modern films. You can tell that the Artist was made in 2011, because the picture looks really clean and pristine. He shot it in color then converted to black-and-white in post-production because the shades of the blacks and grays seem much richer. There are also a couple of dutch angles used in the dream sequences which was not used in silent films.

The sound and music in The Artist can be compared to silent films because there is a almost constant musical accompaniment. You can tell The Artist was made in 2011 because there is a dream sequence in which the main character starts to hear noises which is very meta. Also, the score in the film is much more comtemporary because it really reflects whats happening on-screen instead of most silent films in which the music would have the same theme over every scene.

Intertitles are used in The Artist to portray the dialogue which is what silent films used. The only thing that shows that the movie was made in 2011 is at the end when you can actually hear the characters speak.

The editing in the film is reminiscent of silent films because they also shows the reactions to what is being said which is not what always happens in modern films. The editing in other aspects is very modern in which is it is much faster than silent films of that era. It is not MTV-style but it is not as deliberate as silent films.

I don't really remember seeing any special effects in the film. But I do remember seeing a lot of special effects in Melies' films but The Artist is not a film that wouldn't need special effects.

The acting is reminiscent of silent films in some respects because of the very expressive faces. But there isn't the overly dramatic theatrical acting of silent films. Which is why I think Jean Dujardin won the Oscar for Best Actor (also his charming smile).

Assignment 8: Horror and Suspense

a) I honestly don't think that M would really qualify as a horror film. If one is liberal with the psychological horror genre criteria then it could probably be put into that category based on Peter Lorre's character being very emotional unstable. It's shown when he's stalking a little girl but then she goes to her mom and he feels dejected. He goes to a cafe and get a drink and you see that he's really struggling with his mental health. He tries to drink and smoke to put his urges to rest but that doesn't work so then he starts whistling again and tries to find his next victim.

b) I chose Stanley Kubrick's 1980 masterpiece, The Shining. I would categorize this film as psychological because it deals with Jack Torrance's cabin fever and his gradual decline into insanity. Also, Kubrick is a master of using music perfectly in concert with the images on screen and would also fit the criteria because of that.

c) The use of music is very minimalistic in M. A lot of the suspense is built with the deliberate camera movements, editing, and Peter Lorre's whistling of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" when he's stalking his victims. Toward the ending when Beckart is hiding from the gang that is pursuing him all you hear is the sound effects which is very unsettling. In contemporary movies you'd hear the musical score blaring some generic suspense movie music to build tension but Fritz Lang took the opposite approach and it's very effective in my opinion.

d) In The Shining, there is the iconic sequence when the Steadicam is following Danny on his Big Wheel and there is a noticeable lack of music but all you hear is the sound effect of the plastic wheels going from the carpet to the wood floors which effectively builds the atmosphere of a huge empty hotel. That is until you get to the hallway in which you start hearing the music and Danny's horrified face. We get a shot of his eye line and he sees the twins and the music builds until he starts seeing the horrific images of there bodies slain.

e) The good characters are Danny and Wendy. The evil of the film is Jack's mental instability and what it leads him to do or attempt. The supernatural characters are really up to interpretation on whether they actually exist or are part of Jack's psyche. One argument for their existence is that there is no possible way that Jack could have gotten himself out of the food storage locker that Wendy locks him in after she knocks him unconscious. Also, you have that interesting last shot of the film which is Jack's character in a picture from the 1920's which would be impossible.