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.

Dr.Caligari Film

 

        To begin, in terms of the plot I was quite confused several times as to what was going on. The film begins with Dr. Caligari applying for a permit to show his spectacle at the fair, he was given the permit and the act ends when he is showing off Cesare the Somnambulist. The next act begins with a text telling us that mysterious crimes began to occur. In Dr.Caligari's spectacle he explains that Cesare is 23 years old and he has been sleeping for 23 years straight, and Dr. Caligari says he will finally awaken him. Once awaken, Dr. Caligari says Cesare knows all secrets, he knows the past, present, and future, and he tells Mr. Alan that they only have until dawn to live which freaks him out. The act then ends with Mr. Alan and Mr. Franzis saying they loved the same girl, and Mr. Alan dying as he got stabbed with the same object that killed the town clerk. Mr. Alan then goes to  confront Dr. Caligari about the murder only to receive a flyer saying that the murder mystery was solved as they found the killer in the act. The killer that was found turned out to be fake, and we later discover that Cesare tries to kill the woman but fails, but what doesn't make sense is that Alan was watching Cesare the whole time. Was this just occurring in the woman's head? The Cesare that Mr. Alan was looking at was just a puppet, this leads to Mr. Alan chasing Dr. Caligari to a lunatic asylum where he finds out he is the director of. Lastly, the film ends with Mr. Alan being admitted into the asylum for thinking the director is Dr. Caligari, although he is correct on this belief.

         Next, in terms of the film's cinematography it was ahead of its time. Throughout the whole film although there wasn't any spoken dialogue or sound effects, the eerie music incorporated into the film added a "spooky sensation" to the scenes. The film also used multiple techniques such as fade in and fade out which helped us transition in and out of scenes. Close ups were also used in this film as sort of a jump scare and also allowed us to directly see the expressions of the characters faces. Towards the end of the film we see Dr. Caligari interacting with text on screen which was a really cool effect I was not expecting to see. It showed Dr. Caligari being trapped and surrounded by his worries. Lastly, in terms of the scenes and sets I really enjoyed all the abstract shapes that were used, there wasn't many 90 degree angles for example the doors looked like triangles and the roads were all curvy. Also all although the sets were small, all the space was used, bystanders were constantly walking in the background interacting with other people and objects, I like the illusion of the characters as the walked away and made them seem farther than the were. It was cool to see the improvisation as well such as painting part of the floor white to demonstrate the "light" coming in from the window.

Ch.1: Brief History of Cinema

 

        To begin, after reading chapter 1: Brief History of Cinema, it was extremely difficult to choose a clip that stood out to me because they all were very interesting, and all had extreme impacts on how movies are produced and consumed. The 2 clips that I will make this blog post about is "The Jazz Singer" by Warner Bros. and "A Trip To The Moon" by George Melies.

       First, I really enjoyed The Jazz Singer due to the story behind the film and for the fact that it was the first film to use synchronized dialogue. The film surprised me, I assumed that since it was the first film with spoken dialogue I assumed that the quality of the sound would not be that great, but after hearing the first few seconds it sounded near perfect. When it comes to the actual film itself it is one that is quite simple, mainly just 2 characters having a conversation, but by being able to hear them speak it allows you to hear the emotion in their voices, gives you the ability to hear their accent, and it assists the actors in become more recognizable and loved. About the context of the film, watching the film without sound is something that I do not really enjoy, so hearing that everyone would reject Sam Warner's idea of a movie with sound really surprised me. I would have expected people to be jumping up and down with excitement to the thought of movie with sound. Lastly, about the context , it was quite sad to see that Sam Warner died right before seeing his impact on the film industry. He completely revolutionized how movies were done. It was also sad to see that many production companies had to close down due to the simple fact that they weren't able to just get all the new technology to make these sound movies.

           Next, A trip to the moon really caught my attention, it was interesting to see how this movie was way ahead of its time. This movie implemented huge sets, multiple scenes, a large cast, special effects, and a great storyline. Although there was no sound in the film, I was quickly able to imagine what the sound would be like such as the people cheering, the cannon shooting, etc. The props and the costumes made the film much more entertaining as well. The movie being 12 minutes long made me wonder how they can tell a whole story about landing on the moon in such short time, but after watching the film it was really cool to see how something is always occurring, no scenes are being wasted,  and it was just a quick linear progression from picking who is going to the moon, building the rocket ship, landing on the moon, etc. Lastly, like I mentioned before, the special effects were great for a film of this time. It was incredible to see the smoke coming from the factories, the snow falling down, the moon transitioning into a man's face then the rocket landing on their eye, etc.

         In conclusion I did not know what to expect before reading this chapter, almost every clip had been new to me, but to my surprise I greatly enjoyed seeing all of these old movie clips and reading about how historical they were.

Snowy: A short film

 

        To begin, the first film we watch is a short film published by TIME Studios and documented by Kaitlyn Schwalje and Alex Wolf Luis, and what a film it was. With the short film being only 12 minutes long and just about a pet turtle I was not expecting much out of it. However I quickly changed my assumptions on the film.

           First, in terms of storytelling I really enjoyed how the beginning it goes from quite a sad story where the family talks about Snowy just living in the corner of the basement, no one gives him attention, there was times they thought he was dead, and no on really cared to take care of him besides the dad. However by the end of the film the mood completely changes, Snowy is given a new tank, he is given walks outside in the grass with fresh air to breathe, and taken to the doctor to get check up on. My favorite scene in the film is Snowy walking in grass for the first time, this scene was beautiful scene and is the climax of the story. You really feel that Snowy has reached the peak of his happiness in what has been a very gloomy life so far. The close up makes him seem like a giant that has conquered his world. I believe that the hero of the story were the filmmakers, the filmmakers were the ones who brought attention to Snowy, who questioned how the family treated Snowy, and ultimately is who gave the family the call to action to improve the turtle's life. If it wasn't for the filmmakers the family would be treating the turtles the same.

        Secondly, in terms of the cinematography it was very well done. I enjoyed the different types of shots such as closeups, slow-motion, the movement of the camera, and the final drone shot. My 2 favorite shots in the film was the thanksgiving shot where the camera is outside of the window and it slowly pans from the family enjoying Thanksgiving and then towards the dark basement where Snowy is all alone which is quite sad. My other favorite scene I already mentioned before and it was the turtle in the grass scene, I love the close up, I feel like it just captures the happy emotion and curiosity that is coming from the turtle as he begins to  explore his new world. The closeup adds a more personal feeling to the film as if we were with Snowy in that moment. Finally, the drone shot was cool but ultimately I do not believe it added anything to the story. If you were to take the drone shot out the film the story would remain the same.

Finally, in terms of cultural relevance I believe that we should care about this film, this film is more than just about the life of a turtle, it shows us the pursuit of happiness. What we should take from this film is that we should enjoy life and do whatever big or small steps necessary to make us happy rather than remain with that feeling of just "being there". Lastly Snowy was able to make me care about this family and its pet through the transition of showing how miserable the turtle's life was, and it keeps you enjoying the film as you are watching it in support of Snowy hoping that he lives a higher quality life.

About me

        Hello everyone, my name is Julian Valdez, I am a junior who is majoring in accounting and minoring in Spanish. I am from Glendale Heights, which is about a 30 minute commute to campus. I have 2 brothers, one who is younger who is currently a senior in high school, and the other who is a twin brother and he currently attends Illinois State University. In my free time I love to hang out with my friends, whether it's just to chat, go out to eat, or just play soccer. I love sports as well, my main sport is soccer which although I don’t play for the school team I still play with my friends or join any  leagues throughout the year, I try to play at least 2-3 a week. Basketball, football, and baseball are sports that I used to play that I still enjoy but have lost some interest in, I still enjoy watching the games on tv however. In terms of films and tv shows, it is something that I just don’t tend to do. There are several films and shows that I have enjoyed, but it is not something that I consistently do, and I am not sure why. My friends love movies and they constantly talk about the craziest movies that have come out but I just end up not watching them, However, I have been improving on this, during summer break every night I had plenty of time just laying in bed, bored, not knowing what to do so I went on Netflix found a movie that seemed interesting. I watched it and I enjoyed it. From them on, I went through a ton of movies and shows throughout the summer, but since school started I have slowed down on this small habit.

           From all the movies that I watched this past summer the one that stood out the most to me was Inception, it is a movie by Christopher Nolan filled with a ton of the best actors, which is one of the reasons why I decided to watch it. While watching it I started recognizing some of the scenes and I realized that I watched some of it when I was younger, however this is a quite complex movie that I didn’t quite understand what was going on when I was younger. What I enjoyed about this movie is how it makes your brain work to understand what is reality and what is fantasy. There were a couple times where I was shocked at a scene only to realize it didn’t actually happen because it was a dream. Lastly, I’d like to mention the concept of the movie is just extremely unique and interesting, a thief who does not steal material items but instead steals very important information that is locked inside the minds of other people. The actors and cinematography were all very good, and I highly recommend it if you haven’t watched it.