Citizen Kane: An innovation in film

 When asked how he got the confidence to create such an innovatively different film from contemporary cinema, Welles said “ignorance...sheer ignorance. There is no confidence to equal it. It's only when you know something about a profession that you are timid or careful.” Prior to Citizen Kane, Orson Welles had no filmmaking experience whatsoever. Citizen Kane was, in fact his first film. Little did he know that he would make a film that many people believe to be “the best film ever made.” One of the film’s aspects that entitle it to such respect was its innovation and ground breaking new techniques. (Orson Welle's Quote )


            One thing that made the film unique and new at the time was its filming techniques. Welles used many methods which were at the time, new and ground breaking. One of the technical aspects was the excessive use of deep focus shots. A lot of the shots in the film had everything from the foreground to the background in sharp focus. This made the whole film look very clear to the audience. Another aspect was the use of low angle shots. These shots were used to show perspective. This gave the audience a new perspective as the audience could see the ceiling above the characters. Filmmakers back then used sound studious to capture the sound of the characters, and so they virtually had no ceiling. The new perspective given to the audience gave the film a fresh new feeling.

            Citizen Kane also utilized a story telling technique uncommon back when it was released. Instead of a linear, story unfolding as the film progresses, it is told through a series of flash backs. The story follow a reporter named Thompson as he interviews Kane’s close friends and loved ones. This technique actually makes the story more interesting than it would be, on its own. Each character would tell their own, unique stories which were parts of Kane’s life. Many of the characters add their own personal opinions about Kane, how he affected them, and regards for his death. The storytelling technique effectively conveys Kane as a mysterious, complicated man, whose true personality will be unknown to the viewer.   

            The film also utilized symbolism very deeply. At the end, the audience could see where Kane’s last dying word “rosebud” originated from, and its meaning. While all of Kane’s possessions were being taken into account, all the useless junk with little to no value was getting burned. In the incinerator, was Kane’s sled as a child, with the word “rosebud” painted on it. Rosebud, being Kane’s last dying word, symbolizes when he was truly happy. The sled represented his childhood, the only time in his life when he was truly happy.

            Citizen Kane is probably revered by many as the greatest film ever made due to its many innovations in film. Definitely everyone who watched it was captivated and intrigued by its techniques which have influenced filmmaking and many of the new films we see today.            

The Godfather: an Interesting Shift In Power

It’s interesting how movies use certain techniques to emphasize the power of certain characters. Some films use clever symbolism, while others use direct characterization to state the obvious. Film such as The Lion King showed Mufasa’s dominance over scar with his masculine body and authoritative voice; while Scarface conveyed Sosa as a powerful man with intimidating dialogue and a big fancy mansion. All of these things point the audience to the fact that these characters are powerful, and should not be messed with. The Godfather uses several of these techniques to emphasize Don Vito’s power, and how it suddenly shifts to Michael when he becomes the Don.

                Through first scene of the film the audience can already interpret that Don Vito is the boss who runs the family. The man asking for a favor is acting as submissive as possible, trying to please Don Vito into helping him. Vito is simply slumped in his chair, deciding whether to act or not. The Don’s decision is finally made; he will help unless the man shows him respect and befriends him.  This use of indirect characterization shows the audience the Don’s principles, how he will only help people who respect him for who he is, a mafia boss. He won’t help people who ask a favor as if he was just some hit squad.  Just by the way he looks you can already tell Don Vito is powerful. He is regularly seen in a black suite, representing professionalism and importance. Don Vito is also usually backed up by several men as body guards, and travels in expensive cars showing his wealth. These visual signs help establish the fact that Don Vito is the head of the family.

                Michael on the other hand, is a civilian. Early in the film, it’s stated that he is a well known war veteran and is not involved in the family business. He is usually scene getting bossed by his older brothers, such as in the scene when he devices a plan to kill Sollozzo and McCluskey; where Sonny chuckles at his involvement with the family business. He is also never seen wearing a suite when he was still a civilian, further establishing he is not part of the family business.

                The sudden shift in power is first seen in the hospital scene. Michael, a lowly civilian, is looking down on his inured father. The scene almost gives a foreshadowing of the events to come, how Michael will soon become the Don of the family.

                As the story progresses, we see the Don losing his power, until he ultimately resigns and put Michael in charge. In this part of the story, it’s a complete opposite of we were seeing previously.  Don Vito is now the one not in a suite, while Michael is. Michael is also the one overseeing operations, and handling what the other men do. When Don Vito finally dies, it’s up to Michael to continue leading the family. Michael’s dynamic character also changes, prior to getting involved he was calm and easy tempered. When he became Don, his attitude quickly switched to an intimidating personality, and short tempered.

                The way The Godfather conveyed to the audience the power of Don Vito is established effectively. Just from the opening scene, the audience has a clear interpretation that he is in charge. The film also interestingly shows us how the power shifts from Don Vito to Michael, and also gives us clever visual hints to emphasize it. 

The Dark Half: a Wasted Potential

Stephen King’s The Dark Half revolves around the idea of supernatural events, where the protagonist Thad Beaumont has to stop his evil alter ego, George Stark. The film adaptation captures this idea perfectly, while it transitions from a happy to depressing mood to make the story more compelling than a consistent depressing mood. This transition though is wasted, as the ending fails to convey the spirit at the end of the novel, and leaves us with a meaningless and ambiguous ending.

            Using appropriate mise en scene elements, the adaptation effectively constructes the conventions of a horror film. The novel used vivid and strong descriptive writing to convey the antagonist as a powerful and murderous character. In one part of the book, King described a scene of a man who was murdered by his penis getting chopped off and stuffed down his throat, and how blood was all over the place. Since the antagonist is not physically scary, as being a sinister twin of the protagonist, the film used elements such as jump scares and dark lighting to stir fear into the audience, and was executed effectively. Prior to a murder scene, Romero used dark lighting to build tension with the audience, and to give the hint that the character was in danger. Stark’s hand suddenly jumps out of a door and rams the victim’s head into a wall, and the shot was taken in a way to surprise the audience. The cinematography of the film also conveyed the parts of the story well, such as close up shots used when characters were in tense situations, like sudden realization and fear. When Thad anxiously was talking to the police on the phone, his face filled the shot to show his stress and fear. The Dark Half is also considered one of Stephen King’s most gruesome books by many fans and critics, as it has numerous murders described in the most disturbing and vivid ways possible. George Romero’s use of special effects captured the gore perfectly, such as when Stark’s flesh was being ripped from his face. He does however use poor transitory scenes to go from one scene to these murders, and at times they feel abrupt and out of place. The adaption conveys the horror genre with its mise en scene elements, although these abrupt murders sometimes make the story unclear.

Despite conveying the horror theme of the novel accurately, the film veers off from the pacing of the Novel to make the story more pleasing and interesting to film viewers. In the story Thad Beaumont makes a pen name known as George Stark, to write more thrilling books in hopes of being a best seller. His plan succeeds, but George soon turns into an alter ego which manifests itself into the real world to live there. The novel paces consistently in a depressing tone, as the reader never feels that Thad is ever happy. He repeatedly experiences despairing events such as possession and distrust. The film however, gives the audience a new perspective, as it uses transition of how Thad was living a happy life, to how George’s reincarnation ruined it. The transition actually makes the story more interesting, as consistently pacing in a depressing tone for a film would be monotonous and boring. The film however wastes the potential of this good use of transition with its ending. Close to the ending of the book, a supporting character, remarks on how terrible it must be to be Thad; how a horrible creature crawled out from Thad to murderer into this world, and if he could even live with the memories and thoughts of the event. The film however, wastes the opportunity to use its transition to its full potential and neglects any ending to begin with. The film’s ending is simply a shot of all the sparrows flying away from Thad’s house, and the credits start to role. This ending is simply too ambiguous and meaningless to conclude the film, and wastes the film’s good use of transition from a happy to depressing mood.

The film wasted its effective use of transition with its ambiguous and meaningless ending, conveying no mood or feeling to sink into the audience. I liked its good use of filming techniques and mise en scene elements, which effectively conveyed a sense of horror and despair. Despite this, the film’s potential was wasted on a pathetic ending which didn’t capture the concluding spirit of the text, and failed to conclude the events of the film. 

Can't walk? Look out the window.

                Marriage, of course, has its ups and downs. On one hand, finding your true love and marrying him or her seems ideal and appealing.  Although one can never be truly sure if the person they love will really accept them for whom they are, or what they do, or if the person will change all together. Alfred Hitchcock’s film Rear Window explores this idea by using over emphasized stereotypes on characters and situations in is film.

                The protagonist, Jeff, has a girlfriend named Lisa. Jeff is a average guy, who lives in an average apartment, and has a trill seeking job as an photographer with odd assignments. His girlfriend on the other hand, is extravagant, well dressed, and is a high-classed, rich person. Her contrast with Jeff and his lifestyle gives Jeff an incentive not to marry her, for he fears their contrasting life styles will ruin their relationship.

                One of the things Jeff observers out his rear window is a newlywed couple. At first, they seem very happy with each other, usually spending time with each other in bed. The man later on looks tired and exhausted, making the audience and Jeff assume he is fed up with spending time with his wife. By the end of the film, the couple is bickering and nagging each other, symbolizing exactly what Jeff feared. Another one of Jeff’s fears in marriage is the couple with the nagging wife. The husband seems unhappy when he arrives at the bedroom with his wife, and Jeff sees that their arguments usually end with the husband leaving the room. This scares Jeff as he fears this might happen to his marriage. Miss Lonelyhearts, is another character that Hitchcock uses to convey his idea about marriage and relationships.  Her situation is dire, as she attempts to find love through imagining it, and inviting a younger man. The young man attempts to force himself upon her, and she refuses. The appalled man leaves, and Miss Lonelyhearts is devastated, perhaps thinking she may never find her true lover. Jeff fears that if he doesn’t marry Lisa, she will leave him and end up like poor Miss Lonenlyhearts.

                The major plot twist in the film then makes Jeff change his perspective towards Lisa. His adventurous lifestyle as a photographer prompts him to believe that having a marriage with high-class, rich woman would lead the relationship downhill from their differences.  Jeff’s ensuing discover then changes his perspective entirely, and probably in a situation he never thought could help him. A murder. Jeff discovers the couple parallel to his apartment is missing something- the wife. Jeff infers that from the nagging, the husband, Mr. Thorworld, has killed his wife out of frustration and anger. Keen on investigating, Jeff sends his maid and Lisa to gather evidence. Jeff later finds out Lisa, is just as adventurous as he is. She is brave enough to risk her life for Jeff’s investigations, and even faces a man twice her size. Jeff later realizes that they aren’t very different after all, and the couples are then seen living with each other.

                Alfred Hitchcock not only uses colorful interesting characters to convey his message, but also various film and editing techniques too. The film uses a lot of Point of view shots to show the audience what Jeff is observing. The longevity of these point of view shots also shows Jeff’s interests. While looking around his apartment, Jeff spots a helicopter, and glances at it slightly. Although when he sees Ms. Torso, he eyes on her for a long time, and even smiles with content. Through the use of editing, one can infer Jeff is a bit of a pervert or has much interest in women.  The use of camera angles and lighting also show the personalities of characters. When Lisa enters the room, she is happy and enthusiastic to see Jeff. Her attitude is emphasized with a high lighting key, while Jeff didn’t seem too happy and was in a low lighting key; secluded in the shadowy part of the room.  In another scene, Jeff tries to persuade Doyle into further investigating Mr. Thorwald’s suspicious case. While explaining his perspective of the story, Doyle is perceived from a low angle looking up, and in a high lighting key. This shows his over confidence and know-it-all attitude towards Jeff’s seemingly absurd story. Jeff’s underlying position in the conversation is emphasized by the camera looking down on him, and being in a low lighting key.  To emphasize on Jeff’s enthusiastic realization of Lisa’s adventurous spirit, the camera zooms into Jeff’s joyous face, seemingly lit up and contrasting his dark apartment.

                Through the use of interesting stereotyped characters and various mise en scene and editing techniques, Hitchcock effectively conveys his idea about marriage through his film Rear Window. Even though the whole film was taken from Jeff’s apartment, the film is thrilling and interesting to watch; and also sheds some light on how people perceive marriage.

               

                

What really goes on in a war zone.

               A close-up of beach obstacles fill the screen. An amphibious vehicle filled with soldiers approaches the war zone. An anonymous captain nervously and slowly drinks some water before the battle ahead. Fear and stress fog up his eyes. The boat commander blares out, “30 seconds, God be with you!”. Before the soldiers react, the ramp swings down and half the soldiers on the vehicle are dead. The remaining soldiers struggle to exit through the side of the boat, to evade the on looking machine gun. Many men struggle to swim with their heavy equipment, several of them die. A captain crawls out from the blood drenched water. The shot zooms into his face. A face of terror. He watches the ongoing horror of soldiers struggling to stay alive, some failing to do so. He throws on his helmet, now filled with blood. A private under his rank looks him dead in the face. He screams the words “What now sir?!”.

            The first time I watched Saving Private Ryan, I was in my Car with my Dad when he decided to show me this movie. I was interested by the title since at the time; it had a positive feel to it, since I was used to films like Black Hawk Down. The scene I just described above stunned me when I first saw it. I was traumatized when I saw the movie’s gritty portrayal of war, the death of so many men in minutes. I wasn’t used to it. Never before was I subjected to a movie where so much of the scene was men dying in such horrific manners. After that car ride, my view on war films changed. I would always reply the scene again and again in my head, recalling the helpless moments the movie portrayed, such as when a medic’s dying patient was shot in the head, or a dying soldier screaming while grasping his intestines. My entire view of a good war film changed.  

            The aspect that really got my attention was the way the whole scene was portrayed. When captain Miller was swam out of the blood drenched waters, the camera zoomed in to his face in a way that made you know exactly what emotion he was feeling, fear. The whole scene of the invasion of Omaha beach was done in a way that made me feel how war really was, that in the end everyone is just going to try to survive and follow orders, no one is going to be a hero. The portrayal of how everyone struggled to stay alive in the scene gave me a realistic view on war.

            Overall, this film surprised me the first time I watched it. I thought it would be just another regular war film, but many elements of the movie and its design caused me to raise my standard for a great war film. A lot of the form, quality, and content amazed me, and it is truly one of the best films I’ve ever watched.

           

Thad Beaumont's Dark Half

               When you think of horror and suspense novels, Stephen King comes to mind. His numerous horror and suspense novels have grounded him firmly in the minds of  fans of the genres, and his book, The Dark Half will not disappoint fans. The book touches on the idea of the battle of good and evil, and uses interesting characters and vivid imagery to lead the reader further through the griping story. 

King’s The Dark Half is not completely fiction, when analyzing the plot. Prior to writing The Dark Half, King wrote several other books under a pen name, Richard Bachman. When he was exposed, King said in a press release that Bachman was dead. He later used these experiences to write a compelling story that similar to his, but more eerie and engaging than just petty pen names.

                 The book’s protagonist is Thad Beaumont, a writer who published a mildly successful book, The Sudden Dancers. Although critically acclaimed, Thad doesn’t like the fact that it sold badly. He then creates a Pen name, which soon turns into his alter ego. Thad names him George. George Stark. With his Pen name, he creates Best Selling Violent Crime Thrillers. The violence in his books soon passed onto George, who Thad’s wife, Liz, describe as a totally different person from Thad- violent, hot tempered, and rotten. The kind of person you wouldn’t want to have around. For a while now, Thad wanted to jettison Stark, to rid himself of the alter ego, then a blessing in disguise came. A man named Fredrick Clawson, dubbed a creepazoid, by Liz. He asked for Ransom in exchange for not spilling the beans. Relieved, Thad and Liz went public about Stark. They murdered him. Well, metaphorically.  They got in touch with magazines such as People Magazine. The story went big, and Thad knew all his troubles were over- Stark was dead.

                Or was he dead? The prologue of the book tells the story of the young Thad Beaumont, how he would experience headaches, but would be eased of his misery when he would write. The headaches soon turned into unbearable agony, and Thad soon faints from a seizure one morning to his mother’s horror. An operation is conducted to cure Thad but then, the unthinkable is revealed. Buried in his head, was Thad’s twin brother. A type of medical condition, the twin was absorbed into Thad before he was born. Like most people, if people in this condition could even have a desire, George Stark – the twin didn’t like being dead. George Stark is then revealed to be the spirit of Thad’s dead twin, and enters the real world to force Thad to resurrect him for good. The compelling story of Thad’s life is one of the strong points of the book, and other factors make this book one of Stephen King’s finest novels.

                Stephen King used very believable characters and settings to make the book horrifying in the sense that the events seem almost real. The simple yet eerie story is held together by events following several supporting characters. Officer Pangborn, the new Sheriff in town, investigates the death of Homer Gamache, a likeable old man who lived in Castle Rock. King uses these gives they supporting characters long and interesting backgrounds to lead the story on, in order to give the reader some pity for the supernatural events that would occur to them later on. Even the creepazoid’s landlord is given some background, who is subjected to the aftermath of Clawson’s brutal death. King uses this background information to allow the reader how they would perceive the character, to let their imagination run wild on how the character looks like, then imagine how they would react to events.

                The use of descriptive writing allows the readers to paint a picture of the events in the story. This is what makes this book an excellent horror novel. The way king describes his victim’s deaths are slow yet engaging. He describes what the surrounding looks like, then jumps into the scene. Take Clawson’s death for example. His dick was cut from his groin area, and shoved down his throat. Space was needed to be made, so the killer cut his tongue off too. Or Homer Gamache’s death, who was beaten beyond recognition by his own prosthetic arm .Scenes like these and their vivid descriptions are what really makes Stephen King’s, The Dark Half a real page turner. The reader is compelled to read later events not only driven by the story, but by curiosity on how the later events will unfold.

                The use of the characters Thad and George was such that they represented good and evil. Thad’s noble efforts to save his family from the evil Stark and rid the world of him, showed how Thad thought for the safety of people around him. George desired to exploit his existence to live in the real world and use Thad to execute his plan, discontent with being killed off and living only as an alter ego. The desires of greed, self gain, and murderous revenge are represented by Stark, a personification of evil. Books about battles between good and evil are desirable and inspiring to read, and drives the reader to read more into the novel. The evil nature of Stark is emphasized through his dialogue and actions throughout the novel, making the reader cheer for Thad as his moral actions defeat Stark.

                The events of a pen name turning into an alter ego, and then materializing into the real world as an evil entity makes The Dark Half truly a masterpiece of storytelling; in the sense that it twists a real world phenomenon (as other authors have used pen names) and turns it into a horrific story of a journey into a man’s inner evils. King’s technique of creating down to earth, unique characters and detailed descriptions of events makes The Dark Half and excellent novel, and will give readers an thrilling time as they witness the story unfold. 

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