...Tom Padanilam 3/11/13 676107038 It’s Only a State of Mind The 1980’s saw an emergence of more politically, socially, and economically conscious films. This is very apparent in Terry Gilliam’s film, Brazil, which portrays a dystopian, futuristic society that is dominated by a totalitarian government. I believe that Gilliam’s use of intertexuality, mise-en-scene, storytelling, and subversive depiction of society is what makes Brazil a cult film. The plot revolves around Sam Lowry, a low-level government employee who often dreams about being a hero, escaping reality, and saving a beautiful woman. One day he finds a woman who looks identical to the one in his dreams, but she is an alleged rebel and wanted by the government. Sam tries to flee with her, but through a series of obscure twists and turns he ends up losing her and his own sanity. There are numerous similarities and references to George Orwell’s 1984 in Brazil. Both are set in a futuristic setting as imagined by people living in earlier periods, both feature a totalitarian government that reigns over its people, and as a result of the government a nightmarish dystopian society is created. It is also important to note that the two also offer no possibility of society changing or improving in any way. However, Orwell shows the physical and emotional effects of a totalitarian government, while Gilliam focuses his critique on the mindless consumerist society it produces. There are also various cinematic references that...
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...The Lord of the Rings The Lord of the Rings is a fantastic film! I can’t help myself watching it again and again. The film is around a magical ring called the One Ring. It was lost by its maker, Dark Lord Sauron, and was given to a Hobbit boy named Frodo. If Dark Lord found the Ring, he would have the power of enslaving the world. Fighters from all nations (hobbits, elves and dwarves) formed the Fellowship of the Ring. Their aim was to throw the Ring into the magma of Mount of Doom because it was the only way to destroy it. On the way to Mordo, Dark Lord’s Orcs armies attacked them, but the fellowship of the Ring was stronger. Finally, they succeeded in destroying the ring. People were free from the Dark Lord at last. The film has great visual effect. I was greatly shocked by its bravura scenes such as the icebound mountain, the visionary Lothlorien and the ghastly Kirkwood. The scenes of wars are stirring. I did feel nervous when crowds of ugly Orcs attacked the fellowship of the Ring. The special effect is fantastic, too. This film not only tells a great adventure, but also images many roles with different characteristics and destinies. Here are some characters which impressed me a lot. The hobbit boy Frodo Baggins was one of the leading roles in the film. He joined the fellowship of the Ring in order to protect his home town from Sauron. As a normal hobbit boy, he wasn’t as strong at all. He was injured several times because he couldn’t protect himself. He could not...
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...Introduction This essay seeks to analyse the use of mise-en-scene in one of the early scenes in the film American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes. Mise-en-scene, a French term translated as "putting into the scene", refers to properties of a cinematic image that exists independently of camera position, camera movement, and editing. The story centres on Lester, played by Kevin Spacey, a father who is experiencing a mid-life crisis. Despite employing a traditional Hollywood plot structure that focuses on a problem and a protagonist’s quest in resolving the issue, the film is special. The problem in the film is special as it is Lester’s entire state of life – his unhappiness and dissatisfaction of the way things are in his life. The film’s theme centres on the definition of happiness, more specifically in the context of the American Dream. The characters of the American Beauty seem to have confused material well-being with happiness. The plot is pushed by the main protagonist, Lester, in trying to find meaning and happiness in his life that was before dictated by the American expectation. We will be looking at the second scene of the film, which begins when Lester enters Brad’s office to discuss his performance at work. Brad is the company efficiency expert who was recently hired. The scene will be discussed separately based on two different locations. The essay will examine the use of settings, costume and make up, staging, lighting and lastly the use of space and time for each...
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...Margin Call J.C. Chandler’s 2011 film Margin Call examines the actions of an investment firm’s key decision makers during the earliest stages of the most recent financial crisis. Chandler does a good job with the characters of this movie he isn’t necessarily looking for a villain in a mess like this nor any lengthy explanations; he’s going deeper than that. He goes more for societal costs of high finance, the power of self-rationalization, and the easy embrace of personal corruption. The movie is filled with business lessons that go beyond the investment world. One theme of the film centers on business ethics and whether personal interest should trump customer/employee investment. Clearly, the decision made by John Tuld and senior management demonstrates that everybody is out for themselves. Personal investors are at the mercy of the individuals and the firms they invest with. The ease with which Tuld makes his decisions is scary to any business ethical viewer. With unqualified statements such as, “its just money” the audience begins to understand that the financial system can be an unfair game. In contrast Peter’s boss, Sam Rogers’ ethical implications of how the company plans to resolve its problems are almost more than he can handle. Sam stumbles upon the issue triggering the crisis, it’s one thing to be shocked at the ramifications of what’s about to unfold. But it doesn’t mean one’s outrage can’t be set aside when personal survival is on the line, an attitude...
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...it’s like to save and have a better life.” –Sam Walton (“What We Do”) Walmart was founded on the belief stated above by its founder Sam Walton in 1962. “Saving people money, so they can live better,” was the main objective when Sam Walton opened the doors to the first Walmart (“History”). Today, Walmart is the world’s largest retailer and corporation in the United States and have been awarded and recognized by various organizations for being the best employer throughout United States and other countries. By the Fortune magazine, it is listed as one of the most admired companies in America and many others praise Walmart for its accomplishments (“Is It Ethical to Shop at Walmart?”). Although, Walmart has earned popularity for the low price it provides, they are frequently faced with a lot of criticism and law suit for its employment practices made nationally and internationally. Some of the unethical practices the public criticize Walmart for are discrimination against women, low wages, and bad working conditions. Today, Sam Walton’s promise of a “better life for all” is questioned by employees, unions, environmentalists, recording artists and human rights organizations [Source]. This leaves many consumers to ponder if it is ethical or unethical to shop at Walmart? As mentioned in the above paragraph, Walmart is one the largest retailer and most successful corporation in the United States. However, this was not always the case when Sam Walton first opened a discount store. Before...
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...between the rich and the poor in modern day America, (George, and James, 1) “Thunderheart” movie tactfully captures real activities that took place in the reservations that led to the shaping of modern day American Culture. This paper seeks to scrutinize a number of planning issues that have helped shape the modern day America. These planning issues include: cultural discrimination, assimilation, corruption and lawlessness. This paper puts into perspective the lives of Indigenous Americans as presented in thunderheart and in harmony with literal documents. This is done to give explanation to the shaping of a modern America. The paper also explores cultural changes between the 20th and 21st Century as presented by Michael Apted The film features themes such as corruption, cultural discrimination, politics and power as well as...
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...Charlie Chaplin composed his own music for City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936) and Limelight (1952). That was the exception, and few film-makers would imitate him. He wasn't clear at all whose job was to score the soundtracks. German cabaret pianist Friedrich Hollaender scored Josef von Sternberg's Der Blaue Engel/ The Blue Angel (1930), which included Marlene Dietrich's signature tune Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe Eingestellt/ Falling In Love Again. Von Sternberg kept changing musicians: Karl Hajos scored Morocco (1930) and Franke Harling Shangai Express (1932) and The Scarlet Empress (1934). In the 1930s, after a few years of experimentation, scoring film soundtracks became an art in earnest thanks to a small group of foreign-born musicians, first and foremost two Austrian-born and classically-trained composers. Erich-Wolfgang Korngold's coined a lush, overwhelming, operatic style with Michael Curtiz's Captain Blood (1935) and especially The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and The Sea Hawk (1940), as well as Charles Gerhardt's Anthony Adverse (1936) and Sam Wood's Kings Row (1942). Max Steiner explored many different moods, sensational in Ernest Schoedsack's King Kong (1933), one of the first soundtracks to rely heavily on sound effects, pathetic in Victor Fleming's Gone With The Wind (1939), including Tara and countless references to traditional songs, exotic in Michael Curtiz's Casablanca (1942), melodramatic in Irving Rapper's Now Voyager (1942), gloomy...
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...Charlie Chaplin composed his own music for City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936) and Limelight (1952). That was the exception, and few film-makers would imitate him. He wasn't clear at all whose job was to score the soundtracks. German cabaret pianist Friedrich Hollaender scored Josef von Sternberg's Der Blaue Engel/ The Blue Angel (1930), which included Marlene Dietrich's signature tune Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe Eingestellt/ Falling In Love Again. Von Sternberg kept changing musicians: Karl Hajos scored Morocco (1930) and Franke Harling Shangai Express (1932) and The Scarlet Empress (1934). In the 1930s, after a few years of experimentation, scoring film soundtracks became an art in earnest thanks to a small group of foreign-born musicians, first and foremost two Austrian-born and classically-trained composers. Erich-Wolfgang Korngold's coined a lush, overwhelming, operatic style with Michael Curtiz's Captain Blood (1935) and especially The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and The Sea Hawk (1940), as well as Charles Gerhardt's Anthony Adverse (1936) and Sam Wood's Kings Row (1942). Max Steiner explored many different moods, sensational in Ernest Schoedsack's King Kong (1933), one of the first soundtracks to rely heavily on sound effects, pathetic in Victor Fleming's Gone With The Wind (1939), including Tara and countless references to traditional songs, exotic in Michael Curtiz's Casablanca (1942), melodramatic in Irving Rapper's Now Voyager (1942), gloomy...
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...The American Film Industry - A Model of Oligopoly Kim R. Williamsbernard Virginia College, Online The American Film Industry - A Model of Oligopoly Introduction The American Film Industry or Hollywood refers to the successful oligopoly economy of the major Hollywood studios in the 1920s to the 1940s. The term implies that it studios, so the production of films constituted the decisive factor in the economic system. But the concept of system refers here to large companies, production, film distribution / sales and film screening at this time controlled. Vertical Integration The actual switching was indeed for most firms in New York City, but the company has production facilities in Hollywood grew up to be enormous. Mergers and acquisitions, was formed in 1920 out gradually a powerful oligopoly. The competition in the film industry in Europe has been weakened by the First World War and so many American studios took advantage of the opportunity, the demand for new films to cover most of themselves. The weakness of Edison's monopoly (MPPC) was the insufficient integration of the functional areas of the value chain. This is precisely what the new rendered large companies. Their economic power stemmed from the fact that they took over the production of films, the distribution and the distribution of films and the Exhibition or the operating theater itself, so the functional areas vertically integrated (Balio, 1985). The Oligopoly The oligopoly...
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...Peterson Bonenfant The main point of the film taking is Mr. Bryan Mills only daughter Kim is the joy of his life. Bryan is a retired old agent who left his job to be closer to Kim in California. Kim the only daughter of Bryan lives with her mother Lenore and her wealthy stepfather Stuart. She convinces her reluctant father to allow her to travel to Paris with her friend Amanda. When they arrive in Paris they share a cab with a stranger named Peter, and Amanda lets it slip that they are alone in Paris. The cab driver who is one of the Albanian gang of human traffickers kidnaped the girls for sexual slavery. Kim did not have time to call her father and give him information of where they are and who’s taking them away. Her father gets to speak for a short time to one of the kidnappers and he promises to kill the kidnappers if they do not let his daughter go free. The kidnapper wishes him "good luck," on finding her, so Bryan Mills travels to Paris to search for his daughter and her friend. When he got to the house where they were, he search the rooms for evidence on where they took them and how. Bryan finds her daughter’s phone in one of the room with a picture of one of the kidnaper. Bryan Mills scanned the picture and went back to the airport. When he got there, he was looking for young men who’s interesting in picking up young girls to their destinations. He then saw the young men, he started following him; they both run they trying to escape from him and the kidnaper jumped...
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...Film Analysis: The Corporation University/Institution Name: Student’s Name: Professor’s Name: Course Name: Date Submitted: Film Analysis: The Corporation Introduction The Corporation, an infotainment by moviemakers Jennifer Abbott and Mark Achbar and authored by Joel Bakan, explores the legal standard, basically inquiring: if corporations were people, what manner of people would they be? Making use of psychiatrical main beliefs and FBI forensic technics, and through several case studies, the motion picture ascertains that this “being”, the corporation, which has an ever-increasing power over the daily existence of almost all living creatures on earth, would be a sociopath. The case studies consist of a story concerning how two reporters were sacked from Fox News for declining to downplay a story about the risks of a product of Monsanto given to dairy cattle, and another regarding Bolivian employees who confederated to guard their rights on their own water provision. The commonness of corporate control over our lives is looked into by analyzing efforts to manipulate behavior, together with that of children. The key argument of the infotainment is that, as the corporate legal “body” under current law is regarded to be a person, founded on its characteristics and personality, is a sociopath. Bakan establishes this standpoint on several things but letting the Psychologist tackle the question while the expert deals with psychosis. The major problems of a corporation discussed...
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...Mara Barron Introduction The first time I watched HBO’s Game of Thrones I was enthralled, but scared. My parents were wholly unaware of me because I would sit halfway down the stairwell to look at my grandmother’s faded painting. The painting was so lightly colored, that I could watch the TV through its reflection. So, I would sit there and watched as dead zombie-like bodies tried to rip the living to shreds, a platinum-blonde-haired woman burn her enemies alive, and seemingly everyone else get butchered. I loved watching Game of Thrones even though I found its violence, nudity, and coarse language terrifying. I kept watching the show until I was caught watching the episode, “The Red Wedding.” That night, my mother was going to my room to tuck me in for the night, but instead found me clutching the stairwell railing. I was immersed in the violence massacre scene when I felt her presences and quickly fled the scene. She came into my room and told me sternly, “that show is too “adult” for you,” and kissed me good night. But as I lay there, I couldn’t help but want to know more. Now, I am an adult and I want to revisit the episode. Game of Thrones came out in 2011, has five seasons, been nominated for multiple Emmy awards and won, and its sixth season will be released sometime in 2016 due the massive amount of fan requests. Its franchise is so large, that a quick google search or search on the AU databases reveals that millions of people are offering their scholarly...
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...Out of Africa is a good example of great cinematography. The story is somewhat of a love story. Personally, I found the story line to be okay at best. But, I always get captivated at the filming. The entire movie was shot on location in Kenya; and while more difficult to do it paid off in this movie. You get so caught up in looking at the scenery, that the slow advancement of the plot can be tolerated. There is a great scene where Robert Redford and Meryl Streep are out and there is a lion looking their way. He tells her not to worry because he will protect her. The next second, a lion heads their way, and she has one chance to shoot. Of course, she doesn’t miss. But the way this scene is filmed, you feel like you are there; you can see how you feel safe, and all at once, it changes. The movie also makes good use of three-dimensional arrangement of people. There are many scenes where there are several people in one scene. But, the way they are arranged makes it easy to look at and get a good sense of what Africa feels like. I would also mention that the costumes help to have a realistic feel of Africa. Meryl is in chinos and light-weighted cotton tops most of the time. This movie could be turned into a Banana Republic advertisement; and, that is exactly the feel costumes should have for a movie. 007 Casino Royale was a good continuation of the Bond series. This is the start of Bond’s career as a 007 agent. It had elements for the old Bond fans, as well as for the newcomers...
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...eventually transitioned to the television when it went mainstream. (Cross and Szostak 263) For the government, the radio in the 1940's was an outlet for propaganda. Countless advertisements where broadcasted about the war. Since the radio had a good deal of the population listening, it allowed for government to make mass speeches to people and for those people to receive it in almost real time. Radio in prime had successfully grabbed the attention of the American Mass Culture and allowed for our culture to grow at a rapid pace.(Cross and Szostak 266) Just like the radio played a major influence on the American mass culture, the creation of film and movies played just as an important part. While originally Thomas Edison saw no use for his invention of a motion picture photographer. The creation of it was vital to the American culture. Movies and film allowed people to enjoy visual...
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...Film d’Art – France * French stage plays * To preserve the great triumphs of French stage. * First movies – only scenes * From 1906 such films are made and by 1912, an hour length * 1910: bigger screens for multi-reel movies for a greater audience Italian film business * Emerges in 1912 * More like a grand opera * Multi-reel, gigantic elaborate sets * Stories and legends about ancient Rome * Movies can last for up to 2 hours * The feature films do not qualify for nickelodeons because they are too long and they are worth more than a nickel, which is the maximum price of movies on nickelodeons. * George Kleine adopts the movies and charged an admission price of around $0.50-$1.00, calling them special films. Gaumont-Palace, Paris, France Adolph Zukor * Early 20th century – Nickelodeon * Knows that people would be willing to pay more than a nickel to watch. Brought from outside the states the Passion of Christ from Germany which has multiple reels. With special advertising in Church magazines, charge $0.50-$1.00 for the tickets. * 1912 – American Film Rights for Queen Elizabeth with Sarah Bernhardt (45min-1hr) * Company in 1912: Famous Players to open the movie Queen Elizabeth. * Promised starting 1913 every week will be new movies * Notices that the best selling movies are the stage play movies starring 19-year-old newbie Mary Pickford. He sweeps all the old stars and stars Mary Pickford in...
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