Film: Get Out

 

         Get Out by Jordan Peele is a great film that I recently just watched. It was a film that I have always wanted to see since I first watched the trailer but I just never got around to it. I really enjoy movies that are quite difficult to predict what will happen next, and ones that force you to think a little, and this movie did exactly that. This movie revolves around the simple idea of a boyfriend going over to their girlfriend's house to meet their family, it seems hard to imagine how that could become a great movie, but it did. The plot thickens when Chris begins to realize that there is very few black people in the whole area, and the ones that he has seen, have been acting extremely strangely as if they are robots. Chris finds it strange but doesn't say anything, he then gets hypnotized by Rose's mom, which he first thought was dream later realizes that it actually occurred. Later he finds out that all of Rose's past partners have specifically been black people and he concludes that they have all been hypnotized, that's when he decides to try and escape. However he gets hypnotized and tied down, he was then able to escape having to kill nearly everyone in Rose's family, and then his friend Rod comes to save him and drive him away.

        I enjoyed how uncomfortable that movie made me felt, when Chris would walk around everyone would stare at him, and it felt as if I were getting stared at as well. Every conversation that Chris had was sort of subtle racism adding to the uncomfortableness of the film. The people would say things like that's a nice "black" dress, and you just felt the emphasis on the word black. Some people would try to relate to Chris by saying "I really like Tiger Woods", and it was just really weird and uncomfortable thing to hear.

      In terms of cinematography, this movie was very dark as in many of the scenes there was very little lighting. This darkness added to the eerie and spooky feeling of the film. This film also incorporated many dramatic sound effects that were usually paired up with some sort of jump scare. For example when Chris was looking at the maid through the window she suddenly just turns and catches him watching. The sound effects paired with the sudden movie added to the horror aspect of the film. This effect made me jump a few times and it constantly kept me on my toes. Sound was a massive part of this film, the music chosen fit perfectly to the film, and many sound effects made the viewing experience much more enjoyable. The sound effect of the tea cup was an extremely important aspect of the film as Chris had to covers his ears at one point to not get hypnotized. Overall this was a really good film that I enjoyed watching.

Sofia Coppola's Auteurist style

 

         After reading the article Sofia Coppola as Feminine Auteur, I quickly learned that she has been heavily criticized her whole career, being the daughter of a very successful director, Sofia had to find her own unique style. Her father is known for making many films dominated by male characters and a ton of violence, but Sofia's films are quite the opposite of that. Sofia prefers showing powerful images on the screen rather than having the dialogue be the main form of expression. 

         In the article 5 trademarks of Sofia Coppola's, the first trademark is human connection. In lost in translation Bob and Charlotte are seen hugging each other, they whisper too each other but is unable to be heard. This is done purposely as Sofia wants you to watch the moment and don't get distracted by the dialogue. Next trademark is wide shots, many filmakers just use a close up to directly show the characters facial expressions to see how they are feeling, but instead Sofia shows them from far away and tiny making them seem lonely, helpless, hopeless, etc. The next trademark is that her films are female dominated, all her characters are mostly female which represents her and it is quite the opposite of most films as they tend to be male dominated. Next trademark, fashion is massive in her films, which relates to Sofia as she went to Paris to learn more about fashion. In Marie Antoinette the dresses and the hair is a huge part of many shots, in Bling Ring the characters are stealing clothes from celebrities, and in Virgin Suicides the dresses also represent an idea of their own. The last trademark is that her films include a ton of 80's music, and this also relates to Sofia as this was the music she grew up on in her teenage years. Considering all of these trademarks its beginning to be quite easy to understand how Sofia's films include cinematography and a mise-en-scene that is like no other. She always had to go above and beyond since the pressure of her father's success have impacted her, and being a female director her films include many characters and shots that express who Sofia is and her own experiences growing up.

       In the article Sofia Coppola on Pictures, a conversation with Philip Gefter, her films does have a coherent vision and cultural awareness. In this conversation Sofia explained how she liked design, photography, and film but never thought about doing film. When she struggled learning to paint she turned to photography where learned from a great photographer, and this led to her going to Japan to learn more about photography since girly snapshots were popular. She attended a lot of art fairs with her mother growing up, she was heavily influenced by 80's fashion magazines, and have been inspired by many novels that she read was has inspired her to make some films about. Based on all of this we can see that all her films have clear intentions, her films are not just coincidently made, she incorporates many experiences and ideas that she obtained as she grew older.

Cites:

Gefter, Philip, and Sofia Coppola. “Sofia Coppola on Pictures: A Conversation with Philip Gefter.” Aperture, no. 231, 2018, pp. 20–31. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26530829. Accessed 26 Feb. 2023.

Kennedy, Todd. “Off with Hollywood’s Head: Sofia Coppola as Feminine Auteur.” Film Criticism, vol. 35, no. 1, 2010, pp. 37–59. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44019394. Accessed 26 Feb. 2023. 

Rear Window best shots/angles

 

         To begin, Rear Window is a very interesting movie, and one that I have not seen one quite like it. This not a movie with multiple big sets and different scenes, the scenes were either in Jeffries room or the view from outside of all of Jeffries' neighbors rooms. I really enjoyed how we felt apart of the movie, it felt like we were spying across to watch everything the neighbors were doing and not trying to get caught as well. I enjoyed the mysteriousness of only knowing the neighbors by nicknames and only being able to see what they were doing when in front of the windows. It makes you wonder what was going on when the blinds were closed or they were behind a wall we couldn't see around.

         The camera shots/angles that I enjoyed throughout the movie was the camera moving above Jeffries making us feel more powerful than him, I enjoyed the shots of him looking out with the camera because you can see in the reflection the buildings, the camera pans from one room to another was very cool and represented the movement of our eyes if we were actually there, I liked the close up shot of the part of the set where the cars would drive, it was cool to see all the movement from pedestrians and cars and how are vision was so limited in this shot. It is also hard not to mention the camera shot of Jeffries as he was being thrown out the window, and I really liked the all black scene when Thorwald walks into Jeffries apartment, although Jeffries was in a wheelchair he looked very scary sitting all alone in a dark room with his face not visible.

       However, my favorite shot of the whole movie was when Lisa was in Thorwald's room and Thorwald just walks in and catches her going through his stuff. It was really cool to see Lisa in the bedroom then the camera pans to her as she is walking to the living room and just as she is about to leave we can see in the corner of the shot Thorwald walking up and about to enter his apartment. This scene was very intense and made us feel extremely helpless, we feared what would happen to Lisa, we couldn't save her from Thorwald, we couldn't tell her Thorwald was coming all we can do is watch. Thorwald then turns the lights off making it harder to see visibly from our perspective, and when all hopes seems lost and Thorwald was gonna strangle Lisa the camera then picks up as the officers was up the stairs and into the apartment to save the day. It was really cool to see how Hitchcock was able to use such a small set but through great camerawork able to add so many elements and changes to our perspective as we watched the movie. One small apartment of a bathroom, living room, and kitchen seemed huge.

Ch.2: How to watch a movie

          

         To begin, the main idea of this chapter, like the title states, is to teach us on how to watch a movie, what aspects to focus on, and what to consider in the future while watching a movie with your new-found knowledge. For all my life I would just watch a movie and enjoy it as it is, I would see cool sets, camera movements, and special effects, and I would enjoy them but it is not something I looked for or gave a whole lot of acknowledgement towards. This chapter was heavily filled with vocabulary, most of which I have never heard before, so it was really interesting and informative to learn these new words/phrases. For example non-diegetic music is music the audience hears but the characters don't, that is something I knew was a thing but never knew the word that represents it. The chapter taught us how low angle shots makes us look up to the character, which makes the character seem more dominant and respectable. Also how high angle shots  makes us feel like gods compared to the characters. Lastly, this chapter gives us insights and other aspects of film, such as bad acting in movies is usually a result of the performance not being connected to the thematic intent of the story.

         Next, the clip that I'd like to talk about is Stanley Kubrick one-point perspective, it was really interesting to see how many very popular films Kubrick was able to incorporate this technique into. These camera shots are cool in the way that a scene can be filled with with characters and objects all around the sides of the frame, but by having a character, object, doorway, etc. directly in the middle of the shot our eyes immediately get attracted to the center  of the screen and in a way ignores everything that goes on around it. The one point perspective gives me a feeling that I am in that room as well, that I am actually walking down the hallway, it doesn't feel like I am just in the corner of the room. It feels like I am being watched, surrounded, etc. it is quite hard to explain. The camera shot forces us to look directly at one point whether we want to or not. I constantly see horror movies use this technique because it forces the audience to look in a specific spot of the screen which then leads to a jump scare or a serial killer for example sneaking up behind the protagonist. This is a really simple, yet effective technique that I've never realized have been used in so many films.