Film Noir Slang. (partner Efrain Rivera)

-Man i be on the nut 24/7! im tired of it

-This leaves us behind the eight-ball because we have no berries.

-i have a idea! lets rob that smoke down the street!

-Im not going to the big house! I gotta go have a stick of tea first.

-Im so snowed i cant have any of that right now

-Why don't we go downtown and dip people for there dough.

-Alright but if the elephant ears show up im going to fade.

Film Noir

1. Film noir is a style or genre cinematographic film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace.

2. The definition of the film critics is not really a definition. Most of them just said that there was no real definition to describe it. Others said that it was the opposite of the all American success story. Most containing crimes, with the old school detectives involving innocent people.

3. I have seen a quintessential film in class called Double Indemnity. I recognize one director, named Fritz Lang. But I think thats about it. Ohh wait, and also Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles.

Film Studies Binder Check

1) I have one binder with dividers. One of them is specifically for film studies. I also have a separate folder on my desktop with some of the assignments we have done.

2) We did some comparisons (ven-diagrams) of two movies, or two actors and their style of acting. We did some review papers. And also questions that refer to only one movie going into depth about the lighting and all the other film techniques. We did podcasts, video works such as the montage, and also reviews on a movie of our choice.

3) In the class, we are at 1941 talking about Citizen Kane and Orson Welles.

4) My view of film has changed since the start of the class. It makes me appreciate more of the earlier films and I actually do watch them on my own time. I like the older ones a little bit better than the newer ones because its more real and not all special effects like movies nowaday. It shows me where cinema first started and how the comedy films were a lot better back then. Now that was real comedy.

5) We did the montage project and the podcast. It helped me to look more in depth on the film other than the story line.

Horror Movies

My favorite horror movie is Paranormal Activity. What's scary to me is when something would pop up out of nowhere. When things are based on true stories and people's mentality goes insane. Even when you try to picture it fake in your head and it still manages to scare you at night. Horror movies use a lot of low key lighting and some close ups to show the expression on a persons face. Depending on the plot, there may be some still camera movement or some may have a very unstable camera, like during a chase scene. Even though horror films scare me, I like the adrenaline rush of being scared.

file:///Users/student/Desktop/paranormal-activity-poster.jpg

Hays Code (Selenne&Efrain)

1)Knocked Up: depiction of illegal drugs

2)South Central: methods of crime

3)Don't Be a Menace: nakedness

4)Friday After Next: language, prostitution

5)Baby Momma: cruelty to children

6)Little Man: methods of crime

7)Grandmas Boy: illegal drug use

8)Crank: drug use, methods of crime

9)Do the Right Thing: murder scenes

10)Paranormal Activity: language, ridicule of religion

11)Goodfellas: methods of crime

12)How High: illegal drug use

13)Juice: language

14)Pineapple Express: illegal drug use

15)Super Troopers: illegal drug use

16)Vantage Point: methods of crime

17)Jumpers: murder scenes

18)The Incredible Hulk: miscegenation

19)Deep Cover: illegal drug use

20)Alice in Wonderland: illegal drug use

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2) Censorship covers up what society thinks shouldn't be shown. It hides what people think is "immoral". Positive effects would be that it doesn't give people the full control of what they can show anybody. It is good for when children are watching the movie/show so that they don't follow up on all the bad things. Negative effects would be that it doesn't allow the director to show his full message. It cuts off the importance of what the movie is suppose to be about.

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3) A movie about a little kid and his father going to the carnival and the son would get accidently lost. He is reunited with his father after several days and living a good life from there would be a movie that follows the rules. He would grow up to be a strong man, going to college, having a family, and teaching his son how to be a man. The movie would contain no bad words, no drug use, and no violence.

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4) A story about a black man who's married to a white woman. They are living in Compton and sell crack cocaine to everyone in the neighborhood. They have sex in the living room one day and get home invaded and end up killing the robber with a AK-47. They run away from the neighborhood on the police chase in there white Ford Bronco (like OJ Simpson). in his murder case but instead of killing his wife he runs with his wife. They rob a bank like dick and jane were they move out to oakland to sell club purps marijuana. The cops eventually find them dead with needles in there arms. they went out together like hitler and his wife.

Gangster Movies

Americans like gangster movies so much because its like a fantasy to some. People like to see things get blown up and they like to see people being rebellious, making quick money, and most of the time getting the girl in the end. This shows that our society admires gangsters because deep down they know they want to be like them. Its amazing how gangsters come off as such horrible people, yet society loves to watch them. My favorite gangster movies is Casino, Friday After Next, American Gangster, Hoodlum, Pulp Fiction, Angels With Dirty Faces, and Efrain's life. In most stories, the main mafia guy runs some sort of illegal business. Someone isn't happy with the way things are going so they try to kill the main man, or try to get him locked up. The new guy tries to come up and overthrow the main man. Most of the time, someone dies in the end.

Research on Metropolis and Modern Times

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Times_(film)

"The film is a comment on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Great Depression, conditions created,"

"Chaplin began preparing the film in 1934 as his first "talkie", and went as far as writing a dialogue script and experimenting with some sound scenes."

"the universal appeal of the Tramp would be lost if the character ever spoke on screen."

"The reference to drugs seen in the prison sequence is somewhat daring for the time"

"music score was composed by Chaplin himself"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(film)

" the social crisis betweenworkers and owners in capitalism"

"The most expensive film of its time, it cost approximately 7 million Reichsmark to make."

Practice Test: Film Studies

Buster Keaton <3

1. He keeps a serious face because during his younger years working with his parents, he noticed that he got a bigger laugh from the crowd when he wouldn't make a face.
2. He's like Chaplin in a way that they both do things on accident and is always the little man in the film.
3. Buster performs all his stunts without the help of special effects and film techniques.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

1. The significance of the set design is to show what state of mind the characters are in and to give us a feeling of eeriness and despair.
2. The difference of German Expressionism acting than from Hollywood was that German Expressionism was more realistic and got into emotions.
3. Lighting in the film gave us a feeling of fear and uneasiness using chiaroscuro. The scenes had a lot of shadows and used a lot of contrast between the light and dark.

Modern Times <3

1. Chaplin based his movie on the Great Depression to show how things really were and how tough it was during that time. He wanted us to see how much the machines and continuous working affected the workers.

Eisenstein

1. He also directed the movie October.
2. He uses the film to develop his theories of film structure by using intellectual montage. This was when he would edit two shots together to make some sort of comparison between them.

The Last Laugh

1. Murnau decided to use German Expressionism because at the time this style of filming was very popular due to the war that was going on.
2. The movie was made silent so that what the director was implying about that era would be told through mainly actions. This was a stronger way to get points across and show how the characters were feeling.
3. The type of lighting they used was mainly chiaroscuro. Scenes were flooded with darkness which showed how the former doorman felt about loosing his job.

Metropolis

1. False
2. Freder
3. True
4. Rotwang originally created his robot to destroy the town. He knows that everyone listens to the real Maria preach so he figured that if he made one to look like her, she could convince the town to destroy itself.
5. He changed it to look like Maria.
6. He sent the Thin Man to spy on his son.

Buster Keaton <3

1) Buster Keaton got his career started as a vaudeville at the age of five working as a trio alongside his mother and father. He was forced by his father to keep a serious expression on his face during all acts as he noticed that it got more laughs from the crowd. Buster used this technique as he was filming all his classical films.

2) What made his comedy so unique is the ways he chose to express his humor. He never once made a face during a scene, which makes it all the more funnier. He always wears the same dorky-looking outfit, but it works for him. His comedies are more realistic, which makes it harder for some people to find him funny.

3) Keaton and Chaplin are both very humorous people in very different ways. Chaplin goes for more of the easy laughs and uses his facial expressions in many of his films. As Keaton always keeps the same serious blank look which is still funny. The writer says that Keaton is the more realistic one when doing stunts and actually shows that he gets hurt when he's suppose to. Chaplin does stunts where he should show that he is in some sort of pain but doesn't.

4) Keaton's career ended in a very tragic way. He became an alcoholic just like his father and was fired from MGM in 1933. His wife divorced him and took the children, he lost his mansion, and his whole career was in ruin. Later in the 60's, he did some commercials and became a extra in some short films, nothing big.

Star Wars and D.W Griffith

D.W Griffith uses such great film techniques that are still used today. George Lucas uses many of his techniques such as cross-cutting, close-ups, and eye-line match in his film Star Wars: A New Hope. Close-up was used when they discovered that Princess Lea was on the ship. There was a close-up of her face to show that she was frightened and in shock. Cross-cutting was used when the storm troopers gained control of the ship and were chasing after the rebels across corners. This built up the suspense in the movie. D.W Griffith influenced many other directors to use these film techniques as well.

Comedy

My favorite comedy movie is "Grandmas Boy". I like the type of comedy where its physical and talking both put together. What's funny to me is when the actor would do a funny stunt with another actor. I like more of the teen comedies where it relates more to the younger era. I understand the jokes more because it's more to my generation. Some stupid jokes could be funny but other times they don't make sense and it kills the whole joke.

Favorite Movie in the Last Month

My favorite movie that I've seen in the last month is A Clockwork Orange. The lighting was more of the darker tones, using not that many bright lights. When the scene was mischievous, the lighting was dark using shadows and grey tones. When a scene livened up, the lighting was extremely bright and kind of creepy looking. It compares to German Expressionism in a way that they both use lighting that goes with the mood of the scene. The only difference is that German Expressionism uses colors that go with the scene. For instance, if the mood was angry the color used in the scene would be red. They use chiaroscuro to show the protagonists state of mind. The sets were simple and not always on location. On some scenes, it was filmed outside and some were filmed in sets that looked like rooms. I thought the acting was great. All actors played the parts very well and made it look very realistic.

Science Fiction 09/07/09

Some Science Fictions films I have seen is Anaconda, Darkness Falls, The Core, and Star Wars. Characteristics of the drama include out of the world scenes such as space and other dimensions. Also some make believe/ magical things that would not really exist.

09/08/09 Hw Q's Beowulf Part1

When reading the passage from Beowulf I understood the main thing that was going on. What confused me a bit was the religious aspect in all of this. Why is it that Beowulf was asked to go back and kill Grendel's mother? Does this mean that the Anglo-Saxons believed in revenge against all who do evil? What makes me question this is the part in the story when Beowulf goes down to the monster's lair to kill off the mother, then decides to seek revenge on Grendel by killing off all the other monsters in the way. If Beowulf was referred to as a "good guy", then how could he have it in his heart to do bad to others? Especially in the final part when he cuts off Grendel's head. I don't know, but that was the part that I did not understand completely.