Screening Notes

The Rear Window (1954 , Alfred Hitchcock)
  • Every window in the opening scene has something going on, most are open because it’s hot outside
  • Rounds the alley a couple of times
  • Likes to take action shots/many cameras/ has broken leg so in a wheel chair
  • Many plots going on at once in the background / barely hear conversations going on with them
  • Nurse seems to tell what’s going to happen
  • Scenes fade in and out , also show time lapse
  • No music when he’s talking to girl or anyone in the room
  • Can still see what’s going on in the windows in the background
  • Music disappears and sirens take its place and then there’s no sound to hear the couple arguing, and then there’s piano music that takes its place
  • Can see a man leave with his suitcase in the background, through the buildings
  • Shows time lapse with a fade to black and then the watch being the looked at on the screen when it comes back
  • Used the window shades and the lighting behind them to create ambiguity
  • Editing allowed the audience to see the wife leave with the man, but showed that he was sleeping and missed it.
  • Can hear voices on the phone asking for the detective, but once the phone is passed on and the importance of the call is coming up, the voice is no longer heard
  • After the dog is killed, there were close ups of the people outside the apartment, first time leaving the set point of view from the apartment.
  • Window black, with a hint of light to show that there’s someone within the apartment
  • Use of natural lighting to hide themselves in the shadows of the apartment
  • To create suspense and fear, the man across the alley looked directly at the camera, to show that you’ve been seen.
  • No sound = suspense
  • Low key lighting used to only outline the figures when he comes to the apartment
  • Camera motions are sped up to show panic
Good movie, really liked it. 


Atonement (2007, Joe Wright)
Notes on Sound:
  • Entering movie with typing out the title
  • Typing sounds continue and become the music that’s non diegetic
  • The music shows panic as she’s walking faster through the hallways
  • Same piano music continues playing, even without the typing sound when Cecilia is running
  • Recorder started and stopped whenever he was writing the letter...reflecting his movements. The voices within the music on the recorder also corresponded to hi and Cecilia, i.e., woman voice when she’s on the screen, male voice when he’s on it.
  • Typing morphs into the cigarette lighter opening and closing.
  • Piano music turns into Briony playing the piano.
  • Banging of mom on the car becomes typing sounds which turns into music
  • In the army, no longer piano music, but all music is played with harmonica
  • Beach scene: music flows with the camera movements and moves between diegetic and non diegetic.
  • Lights flickering mimic the typing sound
Thoughts on sound:
This is the second time I’ve watched this movie, and since I knew the end, the typing sounds made more sense. The typing sounds were her writing the story, which could be seen by the start of the movie where the title was typed out. The scenes that also seemed a little out of place, or “out of memory” also had more typing sounds in them than the other scenes. The more frantic the typing sounds the more I visually picture “Old Briony” typing out the scene in detail. It was just a thought.

Notes on Staging:
  • Begins the movie in a big and expensive looking house out in the country.
  • Inside design is very detailed to the time period and wealth of the family.
  • A lot of scenes are outside, in fields, by water, on the walkways.
  • When in Robby’s house theres a clear difference in wealth: smaller house, cheaper decorations.
  • Very green everywhere.
  • Setting becomes a crap hole, because he’s out of the prison and was separated from the military
  • The busy town where Robby and Cecilia meet for lunch is very time specific with cars and people walking down the streets.
  • Where the army walks through is very desolate and demolished areas of war.
  • Her sea is very beautiful and calming, where as his sea is covered in soldiers and destroyed.
  • Only color in infirmary is red cur
Breathless (1960, Jean-Luc Godard)          

Notes:
- Very jumpy camera movements in the car, almost nauseating.           
- Narrates to the camera and then the camera motion returns with a human mimicking motion. IT’s as if he’s talking to you personally. However, the camera then moves to the back seat, so it no longer has the effect, and one sees that he was in fact talking to himself.        
- Shoots gun, next scene man falls in woods, next scene he’s running across a field, next scene, back in a car.      
- Iris in/iris out to signal time change       
- In conversation between lady and newspaperman, the camera cuts a lot within conversation, and even repeats sentences and motions.                 
- Uses a lot of close ups and narration from the movie they were watching to tell what the main characters are thinking          

Reaction to the Movie:
I disliked the movie, not so much because of the editing, but because of the mundane and somewhat annoying conversations between Michel and Patricia. It was especially annoying in the scene where they were up in the bedroom, and she kept talking about how she is not pretty and he kept talking about how he wanted to get laid.  The whole plot just seemed to have been dragged on because of a scene like this.  The editing didn’t help much in making the movie any more appealing to me, because it was very distracting. It was especially bad in the conversation between Patricia and the gentleman from the newspaper. The shots would cut in the middle of his sentences and even make it so one of them was repeated. I understand that the French wanted to make their movies different and make it so that one would notice these types of editing skills. However, I definitely believe it takes away from the movie as a whole, because it keeps the audience from becoming fully immersed into the story.

Key moment:
I believe the key moment occurred during the scene where Michel was telling the story of a man who lied to a woman he was in love with about him being a rich man, where in fact he was a thief. In the story, the woman said that she didn’t care and that she loved him anyway, and they were caught stealing together. I believe this is the key moment of the story, because it mimics that of Michel and Patricia. And one could see where the story was headed He steals cars but tells her that they are in fact his own. However, she rats him out to the detective, and Michel ends up getting killed.


The Hurt Locker (2008, Kathryn Bigelow)
Notes:
- Opening = camera point of view = robot, jumpy, scratchy, not clear, snaps between point of view of robot and soldiers, very scatter brained, jumpy, fast paced, looking constantly in different directions, swich pan movement, lots of sound and chaos
  • Bomb detinates = slow motion = rocks and sand liftin, ground shaking, body falling
  • Black screen
  • blankwalls and white room where dead soldiers things are collected = pure looking
  • camera mimics soldier movements constantly, sometimes give point of view of civilians
  • shows writing on the screen of days left until the end of their duty
  • streets look desolated
  • music = minimal sound = sometimes sounds like mosk prayer music
  • lots of closeups to capture facial expressions of soldiers
  • days posted on screen show time lapse
  • desert = only brown sand on screen with one moving tank and tracks
  • close up with fly during sniper scene: slow motion of bullet hitting the ground with only the sound of a bullet hitting the ground. the scene shows time laspe with the lighting of the setting sun, the dry sand on their faces and chapped lips as well as their health. there’s also a shot of many empty water bottles. The dragging, sad music mimics the mood of the soldiers.
  • Black sheep contrast with the desert
  • Uses lighting of the sun to signify time of day. Also seems to be the only source of light (natural light) throughout most of the movie
  • During night scenes = source of light is fire, flashlights, or crappy transluscent lighting on/in buildings and ally ways
  • flashlight forces audience to look at certain details
  • shower scene = cleansing/private moment that shows how tore up James really is and how the war is affecting him
  • Suicide bomber scene = almost mimics opening scene...but not as slow motion. After James gets hit, he opens his eyes and sees a yellow kyte flying in a clear blue sky = innocents
  • Market = smoother camera motions, nicer music, too many choices, seems too much for him to handle, looks depressed and very un happy, tries to talk to wife about going back to military
  • Son scene = says that there are fewer things to love when getting older, and that he only loves one thing
  • Final scene shows him starting another 365 rotation in the military
Capturing the Friedmans (2003, Andrew Jarecki)
  • Used old footage from home videos for intro
  • Used middle shots during interviews (waist up)
  • Used a lot of still photos
  • Used question and answer type interview when questions come from behind the camera
  • When investigator was talking about what they were searching for, they used still photos and camera clicking sounds
  • Used news casts from the television - made it a more of a reality
  • When talking about Jessie being only a good guy, used pics of him smiling
  • Used shot of lapsed time on a clock to show that a lot of time passed (time lapse motion and slow motion)
  • Would include pictures of awards when talking about accomplishments and trying to build a positive character
  • Shows separate point of views between shots - did do it, did not do it
  • Camera movements were out of control and crazy at the courthouse when they were attacked.
  • Showed prison in a dark and gloomy setting, with barbed wire
  • After verdict - showed neighborhood still moving forward, sprinklers, very green grass, and nice looking
  • Showed family videos through time where everyone was smiling and dancing with happy piano music





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Because of the way the documentary was showed one doesn’t really know at the end wether he was truly guilty or not. The scenes contradict themselves, and constantly jump back and forth. The director definitely did a good job omitting certain things, and making use of editing. For example, the documentary might have been a little different had is started straight with the trial without giving an impression of being a documentary about a happy family. It would have also been different had he used the shot of Arnold’s brother’s lover earlier in the documentary than he had been shown.  





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A Single Man (2009, Tom Ford)

 Notes:
- Black ink stain on white shirt and lip
-letters layed out in a pattern on the floor
- lots of black and white references
- flashbacks in bright colors
- uses a lot of lines: patio, walls, whole architecture of the house
- close up only him in the frame
- light becomes dimmer and grayer when he hears about eh car accident
- when he’s looking through the bathroom window, he sees chaos, children playing in dirt, blue color on kids face, big white flowers, and slow motion
- gun the only thing on the brown table, brings attention
- camera moves behind trees
- girl in pink dress is in slow motion jumping and dancing
- camera follows behind him and goes against the motion of the public
- colors always become much brighter when  he finds something beautiful
- close ups of men’s bodies as they play tennis
- uses blackboards and white walls as contrasts during his lecture to the class
- in the bank: the little girl is in very bright blue colors which contrasts heavily to the rest of the scene. Camera movements go from her shoes, slowly up her body to her face.
- guns in the gun shop are aligned in straight lines
- smog adds huge amounts of bright color to the scene
- had a hard time positioning himelf on the bed to shoot himself.
- when with charlie, loosens up, clothese loosen up, colors are brighter, camera movements are jumpy
- when in the ocean, fades back into the scene in the beginning.

Gosford Park (2001, Robert Altman)
Notes to organize later:
  • When getting out of the car, there was a man on a horse jumping over the fence in the background.
  • When everyone is all together in a room, see all the different conversations going on, people constantly entering and leaving the room/space.
  • Props separate the classes: large paintings for the rich covering all walls, the servants have cut out paper photos hanging randomly on bare wall.
  • Camera movements left and right make rooms expand into long hallways. 
  • More color in rich people scenes.
  • CAMERA CoNSTANTLY MOVING!
  • Props: silverware and table setting overdone for the rich, poor servants have plane plates, one cup, one fork and knife.
  • When in the kitchen, can usually see people in hallways through the windows.
  • Has 2 close ups of the poison, directing notice and attention to it.
  • Outside scene follows bike rider down the road until there is a close up of the men getting ready to hunt.
  • Tilted camera in the sitting room with the women who are waiting on their men to come back from hunting.
  • Example of people in the background doing something differently: When the man starts playing the piano, the woman infatuated with him smiles real Big to the people playing cards that dont notice her.
  • Staff is always in the shadows.
  • Don’t ever see what the killer looks like from the waist up. Much use of shadows.
  • American on the phone is indirectly narrating what is currently going on in the story.
  • Scene where they put the coffin in the car: distinct use of color and space. Black car up against a bright light brown road and bright green grass...see road span away from the house....black car stands out.
  • Used mirrors to deepen the space.
  • Fades out the background in order to get clear facial expressions, i.e., Man feeding the dog after hearing the women talk about the man already being dead before being stabbed because of poison.
  • When girl sewing starts talking to jennings, a man in the background points through a hallway window to a woman inside and tells her to come out while the story is still going on in the foreground.
  • Can see detective in the background reenacting the murder scene while other detective is talking in the foreground.
Camera movements mimik a servant, always watching and sneaking around.
Two cameras moving at once.
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Shark in the Head (Czech Republic, Maria Prochazkova, 2004)
Notes:
  • Black window shade, then opaque window, then he took the pill because he was panicking, then the window was clear
  • Used pipes for construction, they became the instruments of the background music, which then turned into the music of the movie, non - diagetic
  • Clear use of shadows - scene where the floor had a shadow outline of the window and himself in it.
  • When waiting in line to fill buckets with water, the people slowly became machine like and shuffled like a cartoon whose legs don’t have a walking motion. They just get pushed forward, until it stops because the same guy was in line twice.
  • Red bead moved across all the pictures, making them come alive and animated.
  • Red used many times throughout the movie, strong contrast.
  • His building is painted gray, when the one right next door is painted yellow.
  • Dark, empty picture of the window, then out of the blackness comes many Santas dressed in bright red (again)
  • Red laser moves across the room, to his hand where it turns into a red bead
  • While looking out the window, the window becomes blurry, and follows a pattern of water coming ashore. Along with it is sounds of the ocean. The window then becomes a scene of the ocean.
  • Little girl in red colors with chalk on the sidewalk. She’s in regular time, while everyone around her moves in fast motion.
  • All white room with all white clothes- paints roosters with yellow and red water colors. Hangs them up everywhere, starts hearing rooster sounds.
  • Children's hands on opaque window
  • When looking out into the rain he could see ghostly faces in all the windows and then in the water on the street. Seem to be yelling at him.
  • Got a letter, looked at it, and disappeared into the blackness of the window.
  • His pills were the red beads.
Could be a move about the influence of technology, mainly the computer and television. Because the gentleman is always looking at people through a “square” window, watching them, and never making real connections. He’s able to manipulate his surroundings, change the speed of what is happening for example. He also never gets fully dressed, always in boxers and a wife beater like most people who sit infront of their computers. Might be a huge jab at Facebook.
Also, he has a childlike persona about him. The pills are almost deterring him from being imaginative, forcing him to be “normal” Childlike when he dresses up and pretend to be on the phone and in control of missiles. Also, recycles many things, pictures, ducks, board, and makes new things out of them.



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Memento (Christopher Nolan,2000)
  1. Lack of Clarity: Conflicting lines of action
  • Constant going back and forth between black and white sequence. Makes it really hard to understand what’s going on.
  1. Lack of Unity: broken chain, cause/effect
  • Because of the constant going between the black and white, there’s definitely a broken chain. The black and white going in chronological order, where as the colored story goes in short clips backwards. So there is an effect, and then one learns the cause of it.
  1. Unconventional characterization: unreliable narrator
  • For one, in the black and white sequence, he, himself, uses first person narration while explaining what’s going on on the phone. So he’s telling the audience at the same time as telling the person on the other end of the conversation. The colored sequence however, doesn’t have a narrator, we’re just watching what’s going on.
  1. Intrusions: Calls attention to the format
  • The format is definitely intrusive because of the fact that the movie keeps jumping back and forth between the two orders, just to meet somewhere in the middle. The audience is forced to try and think about what’s going on
Notes
  • No music, only when he remembers or looks at his tattos and notes
  • Constant moving b/w B&W and colored
  • B&W in first person chronological order
  • Music when he’s at Natalie’s=> talking about his wife and rummaging through the dark
  • Had a color flashback while in color sequence about while burning some of wife’s belongings
  • Has colored flashes of flashbacks about the incident

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Psycho (USA, Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
  • Starts with two obviously making love, talking about plans for wedding, but Sam won’t commit because he still has to give money to wife. She says she doesn’t care, and will help him pay. Money too big a issue.
  • Close ups with sad music. Then rarely any sounds. 
  • Talk about buying happiness with old man who has 40K
  • Horror music when money is on the bed as she’s packing.
  • Thinks hesitantly about money, then grabs it
  • In the car, hears Sam’s voice 
  • Panic psycho music when she’s in the car and she comes across her boss
  • Drives to the middle of nowhere
  • Screen goes black
  • Comes back with cop scene: Cop has very dark glasses. Has a huge close up
  • She’s driving, has car following her, creepy, panicky music while she panics about car following her.
  • Cop follows her to car dealer
  • Car salesman gets curious and suspicious about her, because she doesn’t want to test drive = in a hurry
  • She goes into dark bathroom to get money => milder music
  • After she’s in her new car, there’s a narration of the cop and salesman, as well as her family, and the people at the bank about her actions.
  • Cassidy said he’ll hunt her down and bring back her flesh
  • No one understands why she did it.
  • Driving at night, can barely see, rain, flashes of light
  • Stops at a motel
  • Sees a shadow figure in the house window
  • Hotelman comes down and says the hotel is poor because no one ever stops by anymore since the highway moved.
  • Hotel clerk ends up inviting her to dinner 
  • She hides the money in newspaper out in the open.
  • Hears a woman yelling at the hotel man (mother and son) about inviting her to dinner
  • Doesn’t go into room for dinner, instead goes to parlor covered in stuffed birds.
  • Close up of Black raven
  • Man’s best friend is his mother
  • View point changes from frontal view to side view when talking about what he would do to his mother - angry
  • Talks about how his dad dies, but doesn’t go into detail.
  • Demeanor changes when talking about mad house, being in mad house => intense look on face
  • Compares mom to birds
  • Says mom goes a little mad sometimes, everyone goes mad => She’s gone mad
  • Hotelman notices names don’t match
  • Stands in the dark and watches her through the peep hole as she gets ready for bed. Very close up view of eye and peep hole = creepy music
  • Goes back up to the house all determined, but then hesitates about going up stairs, then stays downstairs all together.
  • As she’s in the shower, black figure comes in and slashes - loud music - slow motion of hand - drain hole becomes eye ball of woman close up - close up of money, hasn’t moved
  • Hear hotelman yell at mom, then runs to bathroom, lays out shower curtain, cleans up blood, packs up everything and puts it in the trunk of the car, even body, and the money, and pushes the car into the water to sink, after car hesitating to sink, it does and he smiles.
  • Sister shows up at Sam’s
  • Man at front door = close up = PI
  • Fade outs of PI = time lapse
  • PI asks hotel man lots of questions, and he keeps fumbling to answer.
  • PI sees shadow in window
  • Man smiles as PI drives away
  • PI goes up to dark house and up the stairs
  • Door creeps open
  • Sudden sight of knife and MUSIC
  • Kills PI
  • Sheriff says mom’s been dead for ten years
  • View goes back to house, and then arial view of inside the house of son carrying “mom” down the stairs into the cellar = her body covered and bound
  • Sam takes sister to hotel = first day view of the house
  • Sam asks questions, son goes into house, scares sister into cellar where she finds the dead mom and him coming dressed as his mom as he tries to attack her.
  • Ends with him hearing his mother’s voice and a subliminal view of her dead face over his live creepy smile.

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Full Metal Jacket (USA, 1987), Dir. Stanley Kubrick
Syuzhet (arrangement of events on screen)
  • Starts with roll call, 8wks basic training, formations, exercises
  • Joker makes squad leader
  • Pyle gets beaten
  • Pyle goes crazy = shooting
  • Graduation
  • Joker goes to vietnam, writes papers
  • Camp gets attacked, Joker’s first real hands on experience
  • Joker goes to the front line with his writing/camera partner
  • Joins group with old friend, enters abandoned city, gets shot at, friend gets killed
  • Joker kills sniper girl

















Presentation of Fictional Film World
























1. Non-diagetic:

  • Marching drums during exercises
  • Narration
  • Back ground songs, i.e. graduation song, “These boots....,” “The bird is the word” etc. Beating, moaning, metallic music.
2. Diagetic:
  • Men singing in formation
  • Newspaper editor narrating during scene of destruction
  • Gun shots and helicopter sounds
  • Mickey Mouse Club
Structure (frame)
  • Very structured beginning: basic training, formations, chorus singing, becoming a unit
  • Switches to a more chaotic second part after Pyle kills himself: in vietnam, no structure, bombs and gun shooting everywhere, people more individualized
Visual and Auditory Effects
  • Talking in unity, following same motions when laying in bed with their guns.
  • Eating donut while others do push ups: stands out.
  • Dark and ominous music when beating occurs at night.
  • After beating, more close ups on Pyle...more psychotic look.
  • Same dark music before Pyle shoots sergeant and himself
  • Changes to songs with words and more laid back when in vietnam 
  • Army on one side of the creek, natives on other, going opposite directions
  • Man standing up to joker covered in bullets and very large gun....maybe symbolize manliness?
  • Camera, shaky movements when following soldiers in field
  • Metallic dark music again when looking for sniper
  • Sniper crazy look like Pyle
Extra Notes
  • Pyle = fat boy, can’t finish obstacles, constantly harrassed.
  • Joker becomes leader and teaches Pyle everything, motivates Pyle
  • Less Yelling for a while in the movie
  • Group starts to take crap b/c of Pyle, Pyle made to look like baby (sucking thumb)
  • All the men beat Pyle. Joker hesitates, but then beats more than others. Pyle cries very loudly, Joker covers ears.
  • Pyle becomes quiet, talks to himself, has crazy look, more closeups....worries Joker
  • On Jokers night watch: Pyle sitting in dark bathroom on toilet, loading live rounds into this rifle (Full Metal Jacket). Goes insane, says routine “This is my gun” after loading rifle, wakes everyone up. Whole time has evil look and slight crazy smile/smirk that he was forced to get rid of in the beginning of the movie. Shoots platoon leader after leader tries to calmy take the gun, but gets frustrated and starts yelling and belittling Pyle. Joker freak’s out b/c gun is now pointed at him. Calms Pyle down, Pyle sits down on toilet exhausted, then points the gun at himself and shoots himself through the head. Scene goes black.
  • Now in vietnam: follows guy on helicopter who is laughing and cursing and killing innocent native civilians. Joker’s partner gets sick.
  • Mass grave-covered in lime- surrounded by onlookers. Strange music. Joker with “Born to kill” helmet and peace sign.
  • Documentary style interviews between frontline soldiers
  • Sniper Girl kills three of the soldiers, dark music, group goes after her. Joker can’t shoot her b/c gun out of bullets, gets shot at while trying to get handgun, other solder shoots girl (ALL SLOW MO). Everyone surrounds the girl as she’s on the floor dying and praying. Joker says they can’t leave her while the others want her to suffer. Girl starts saying “shoot me”, Joker (trembling and hesitating) shoots girl.
  • All soldiers sing Mickey Mouse (symbolize youth in army?)







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