Film Treatment

Film Treatment

A boy pours himself a glass of Orange Juice. Puts the bottle back in the fridge. The boy sits down and looks up. A woman walks into the room. The woman sits down next to the boy. The boy starts yelling at the woman as she gets up and runs out of the room. The boy with a smile on his face now starts drinking the juice.

The boy is walking to school as he sees some kids playing basketball. He walks over to the kids playing basketball and grabs the ball from them. There is a shock of disbelief in the basketball boys’ faces. The boy now with the ball throws the ball over the fence and walks away to the basketball kids running in the opposite direction.

The boy is now in class as he is in detention slouched shoulders and a look of anger in face. The teacher tries to talk to him but he is not responding. The teacher finally giving up walks back to her/his desk when the boy yells out at the teacher calling him stupid. The teacher with the power to get him in trouble confronts him. The two argue until the teacher backs off powerless. The boy continues to slouch until he sees a pretty girl walk into the classroom. He politely greets her and smiles. The girl who did not see the argument sits down next to him. The two talk for a while and exchange names until the girl gets up and leaves because her detention times is up. The boy now grinning gets up and talks to the teacher asking who that was. The teacher to his disbelief says what girl. The boy tries to explain himself but just shakes his head and walks out of the classroom.

The boy now in pe sees the girl he was talking to earlier with a group of people who seem to be enjoying themselves. He stops and stares for a while as he does not have joy in his life. He walks over, without the pe teachers consent, and taps the familiar girl on the shoulder. The girl turns around and greets the boy. The two talk for a little while but the boy has to leave because pe is now over but the girl gives him a slip of paper. The boy walks away and notices a number on the slip of paper. Overjoyed, he gives a fist pump in excitement. He starts to walk away with his chest out like he is the best.

The boy is now running on a street. He opens the door to his house and runs into his room with phone in hand. He dials the number and it rings until the sound of a woman’s voice is heard. The boy nervously says hello and the two rekindle the chemistry they showed together. They decide to meet up at Starbucks and the boy shows a huge smile.

Now at Starbucks, The two enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. They are talking a lot and laughing loudly while other people are staring at him eerily. They leave and they share a hug while the boy smiles.

Its morning again and the boy is pouring himself a glass of orange juice again. The same woman, as we now know was his Mom, walks in fear in face. He says good morning to his Mom and asks her if she wanted anything to drink. The Mom sensing something is wrong, slowly creeps up to the nearest chair and sits down. The boy tells his mom he loves her and the two start talking again. The boy throughout the conversation is listening intently and looks to be interested. The scene fades out as they talk

The boy is now walking to school when he comes across the basketball boys. Their basketball comes across the boy’s feet, he picks it up and throws it back to them and walks away.

He is now in the hallways as he is saying hi to everyone. He walks into a classroom and he sees nobody there except that girl he likes. He sits down in the seat next to her and they start talking. The girl gets up and in urgency and tells the boy to come with her. He follows her to a staircase. She said she needs to talk with him. She abruptly says that she is not a real person. To the boy’s shock he still thinks she is just talking about her personality. The girl said that she is a ghost who was set out to straighten out the boy’s attitude towards the world. She goes up the stairs and vanishes. The boy still shocked just stands there, than starts running. He runs into the hallway than crashes into a girl. He apologizes and the girl starts flirting. The two start talking and they happily walk off the screen and the screen goes black.

Oral #1

Full Metal Jacket

1. What tradition or genre is it in?1. Full Metal Jacket would fall in the sub genres of anti-war and Vietnam war. It takes place in Vietnam therefore considering it as a Vietnam war  film and it also shows the horrendous happenings in war and the directors ideology towards war is being against it. Going throughout the life of a soldier from the belittling drill sergeant at the training camps all the way to the Viet Cong where you are fighting for your life shows its dramatic features while also being a stereotypical war film, as most are actually anti-war films.

2. In a stereotypical war movie, there is a private or a sergeant who goes into the war seeing ally casualties everywhere which carves him into the solid character that he becomes. He has a task to carry out that needs to be done get into enemy territory. His squadron loses a few men, than they start an offense on the enemy. The private or sergeant ends up completing this task that was assigned but this most likely ends his life and his legacy lives on. In Full Metal Jacket the protagonist, has to go and clear out Viet Cong held territories and he loses many ally troops in his squadron. Therefore Full Metal Jacket is a war film and since it is in Vietnam and they are in war, this has to fall into the Vietnam war sub genre. The movie take place in the late 60’s and the scenes in the movie compare to what Vietnam looked like during the Vietnam war in the late 60’s with napalm and Agent Orange having its effects on the land and buildings. During the Vietnam war, many Americans opposed the war and there where many protests against so not many people that weren’t involved in the government supported the war. Since this is true, most Vietnam war films were also anti-war films because if you show what really happens in war to the public, the people will be afraid of themselves in the war and potentially dieing. This will create the directors ideology about war to be spread to the people and will gain support. A pro-war film would glorify the allies and make them look like they are supermen with very little loss of men. The enemy would be annihilated and the protagonists would come out as heroes. There are not many pro-war films that I have heard of so therefore that can basically leave anti-war to its purpose. The film shows lots of lives being lost and that war is very stressful as you never know if you are gonna die or live or even when the next enemy ambush might happen.

3. It can be connected to the war films like Apocalypse Now, the war aspect of Forrest Gump, and Saving Private Ryan. If you look at the aspects of the movies where the characters are in action, they show that war is frightening and that there is death all around the allies. The protagonists all have an assigned tasks to do and they end up succeeding there task but without the loss of many ally soldiers. The films are all anti-war and glorify the thought of death in the mind of the soldier.

4. The director is Stanley Kubrick who is famous for the film 2001: Space Odyssey and The Shining. Kubrick had a huge impact on the film industry as many famous directors now a days look up to his works as a guide line on how they want there film to be portrayed as. He uses special effects to add emphasis on the point he is trying to get across as the technology they had when he was alive making movies weren’t the best on creating realistic scenes but Kubrick used these effects to make his films surprisingly realistic.

5. Kubrick was already notably famous for his previous works as everything he touches or has an influence on turns to gold. He can most notably use his actors in emphasized roles as it easy to spot its main protagonist as he is glorified, or just everything around him is centered on him.

6. Full Metal Jacket has the special effects used during the scenes as the Agent Orange, napalm, and gun fire around as the land is burned with agent orange and the buildings are destroyed by the napalm.

7. The theme of the film which i took it as is that war is not the key to everything as the thought of death inside a person’s head will drive them crazy as they can never know what is going to happen next. Kubrick thought of war as bad since he glorified what happens to soldiers and how they are not only physically wounded but mentally too.
8. Its target audience are Americans in there 20’s and 30’s since the majority of Americans that will make a stand are within these age groups. It probably was also meant to be for the non-hippies to get them on the side of anti-war as the hippies were already anti-war since they wanted peace.

Ideology

1. What is ideology and how can it be implicit vs. explicit?

It describes the set of beliefs or principles that someone believes in. In film, the director or writers ideology is the message that the audience is supposed to see as there style. Explicit is when the character declares to be the subject of the film. Implicit is when the director wants the film to be debatable and have different perspectives from the audience. There is no real answer to what the film is about, but it is what you see the film as.

2. Ideology and Expectations;Give an example of an a actor that presents a predictable ideological package that studios are quick to use. List as many of their film roles as possible – noting the particular actions/dialogues associated with the character that they play. Make a list of the five adjectives that you think best capture their typical role. Produce a detailed description of what you think their next role will be like.

Adam Sandler
Billy Madison- A spoiled, rich, and apparently stupid man who has to go back into school grades 1-12 to get his father’s hotel chain.
Happy Gilmore- An angry hockey player who finds out his hidden talent of being able to play golf and how he turns pro.
The Longest Yard- A crazy pro football player who gets sent to jail and starts up a football team of prisoners in a big football game against the guards.
Anger Management- A mellow 30 year old guy who gets sent to anger management and has to pass all of the tests thrown at him.
The Waterboy- A stupid redneck boy who goes to college and ends up having a great talent for playing football.
Grown Ups- A rich film agent goes to his old coaches funeral and reunites with his old teamates and best friends
5 adjectives- (Athletic) (Witty) (Bipolar) (Hidden Anger) (friendly)
His next major role will probably be an Athletic quiet man. The man would probably have something bad happen to him and he will have to somehow use his talents to help with it. Adam Sandler always appears in a comedy film and I think he will remain in this business for the rest of his career.

3. Personal Ideologies and the Enjoyment of Film: Think of a film that you enjoy and know well. Consider which characters you like. Analyze your favorite character using these useful questions to bear in mind when considering ideology are:

A film I tend to enjoy is Spaceballs due to its hilarious spoofs and random occurring events. My favorite character is Dark Helmet as he appears to be a strong and fearless villain but he is really a weak egomaniac that wants everything his way. They portray him to be the klutz of the film as anything bad that happens ends up being him. The only thing that the film does wrong to portray in the film is to give him a personal side where people can actually feel sorry for him. They should have given him a sad story where the audience can relate and make a comedic sense out of it. As an example he could never play sports so he was picked on as a kid. He was just so terrible that it could be comedic.

4. Changing Ideologies: Why would the ideologies of a given era or time period change the way a narrative is presented to its audience? Can you give an example of a film narrative that has changed over generations?

Areas of different regions enjoys different kinds of film or how it is presented. The US tends to enjoy thriller or action films that have lots of guns and killing. These actors in the film have to learn how loss is and act like they need revenge. Where in Japan, they tend to enjoy animated films and numerous films that are animated are coming from Japan. Every region has it’s own style of film as California has that kind of laid back appeal while New York has that kind of tough guy appeal.

5. Ideology and the "Effects" Debate: Do you feel that films can affect you and your behavior without being conscience of it?

Yes it most definitely can effect what the population sees as right or wrong. If the guy in the movie can do it that we can do. Films are mostly based after what the audience wants to see and what is in style. But if the director breaks this balance than it can start a new trend.

6. Ideology and Realism:Define Suspension of disbelief and give an example from a recent film you have watched.

Suspension of Disbelief is allowing the changes and accepting what cannot be seen to be real. The Paranormal Activity series of movies goes off the realism of ghosts buy nobody really knows if ghosts are real or not. The fear of ghosts make this film so effective in creating suspension. It leaves people having nightmares for weeks due to the unknowing of what happened in the film can happen to you. Can people really believe in what the film show as real?

7. Ideology & ownership: Does the financial support of a film or the ownership of a production company influence the ideology represented in a film? Explain with an example.

Yes it can most certainly can. If a large production company wants to make a film look like the way they want it than all they have to do is threaten to take all the funds going into the film out. They basically own the rights of the film and can do as they please. They are going to advertise the film as they want it to be and make it look like a popular style.

Film Genre

Comic Book Action

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

X-Men First Class

Spiderman

Narrative Conventions
Typical Character: The protagonist starts off as a normal guy until a strange occurrence happens and he discovers that he has super powers. He cannot harvest these powers and he struggles to keep normality. There is always an antagonist that either has super powers too or can create super powers. There also is the lover of the protagonist whom become the mistress in distress.
Typical Setting: It sets in an urban area with many buildings and may civilians. The civilians come into play in a big part as the antagonist uses them as hostages to trick the protagonist into giving up. There is a building where a major fight scene come into play as it is an indoor fight and it causes much destruction.
Typical Dress: the protagonist always has a costume and in every fight scene where he needs to be the hero he is wearing this costume. It can range from tights to regular clothes. These costumes serves as a motif in the plot. The antagonist has a costume too and can be very easily picked out who he is.
Typical Plot: The character wakes up normal and goes on his daily routine. He than will go to a building or local place. He will discover his powers and gets intrigued by them. He meets the antagonist and meets his lover. A fight will ensue and the Protagonist will win but the villain escapes. He can finally control his powers and has a final battle with the main Villain and wins defeating him forever either killing him or sending him to jail.
Typical Situations: The Hero’s lover will be in peril and the Hero has to go save her. This is a trick set up by the villain and the Hero gets in trouble. He fights the villain defeating him and gets some loving from the lover. The two shares an romantic moment and the story ends.

Spoofs

Epic Movie

Super Hero Movie

Disaster Movie

Typical characters: There is a female or male character that is going through a series of random events that are related to different movies. The main character has to find a superpower or a safe zone from the random events happening. There is an evil character that is either related to the main character or is a a famous villain in big movies.
Typical body language: The main character always seems to be out of every situation and isn’t fully mentally capable of doing the simplest tasks. Everybody in the film always seems to be either friendly, hostile or just plain random towards the character.
Typical dress: Everyone is dressed as a normal person except the spoofed movie characters who are dressed as the famous person. The spoofed characters are all dressed differently  to add the emphasis on comedy.
Typical setting: It almost always starts out in a urban city in a house on  a normal day. Later on it goes into the city and when the spoofs start coming in, certain settings represent the spoofed movie.
Typical objects or equipment: There are weapons most likely guns and spoofed weapons like the kung fu panda sword and Indian Jones Whip. They are always related to the spoofed character or the main protagonist.

Creature Feature

Dawn of the Dead

Walking Dead

Resident Evil

Typical situations: The main protagonists are trapped in a room or building or alleyway and there are creatures outside trying to get in and kill them. They are almost out of ammo and time as the creatures coming
Typical characters: There is the main group of protagonists or one main protagonist who are well fitted for survival. They have a keen instinct for the use of a gun and is a natural leader. There are a group of survivors who are either being led by the protagonist or is in a democracy of how they are going to survive.
Typical body language: The main characters tend to have a few arguments on how to survive and they split up onto two groups of leadership. The both groups want to survive and are willing to do anything to survive.
Typical dress: They have normal street clothes on that get torn, dirty and raggedy as the story goes on. When the characters get injured, there clothes get bloody and starts to almost tear apart.
Typical setting: The story starts out in a normal city than creatures start to come into play of life. The building are shiny and clean until the story goes on than everything becomes destroyed by the creatures.
Typical look or style: The director uses quick cuts when it comes to intense action or dramatic scenes. The lighting is usually dull to enhance the drama and horror of the film. There is a flashing light bulb motif that represents that a main action scene is coming into play.

Writing about film

1. What are the 5 kinds of film writing described in the article and what are the key details of each.
2. What does “Annotating a Film Sequence” involve and what are it’s benefits?
3. What does the author imply when she says to “Think Beyond the Frame?”

1. Formal Analysis The formal analysis is when you break down each segment of the film and analyze it to figure out what the whole films mean. It is basically a simple form of analysis that requires the analyzer to figure out which each piece of the film means.
 Film History Every film has a bit of history in it. Whether it is recreating history or creating its own. Films have a large impact on what people think of things and can set certain trends of what is "cool." Most people don't see the films history though. What it takes to make the film and why it was made. Everything has a purpose and all the struggles that ensue the struggling parts makes the film what it us.
 Idealogical papers Every film has a hidden meaning that tells us what to do without us even knowing. These subliminal messages are in films that are only set out to entertain too. 
Cultural Studies All countries have there own set of beliefs and different genres are in demand. A film in Canada might be different than in the U.S. It all depends on how you portray your film to look like and the flow of it.

Discussion of the Auteu The Auteu is what the people who made the film think of it. This gives a critical analysis on the film and shows all the aspects in the film that were wrong even though it came out perfect to us. The maker of the film knows what is wrong and is reliable since he is the one who made it. 

2. While taking notes on a film, you should look at the scenes and critically analyze the techniques used by the editor and director to understand the film. Annotating a film is actually more than notes and by using your film vocabulary to describe each shot so that even if a person with no film history can know what you are talking about.  If you can successfully analyze a film, you open up a new world of thought on how to create and understand film. 

3. When you think beyond the frame, you are looking at and analyzing who made the film and who directed it, wrote it, made the movie "happen." You can't just analyze the film to understand it's themes and "hidden" meanings to the film but you have to figure out all the pieces that led into the film. This gives you a chance to discover what the directors and writers wanted you to see. All directors have different styles and by looking at his directed films you can find out the techniques that were used in making the film. Most people just want to be entertained by the film but by directors use subtle techniques to give a meaning to the film so that other film makers can learn from them.

Commentary

http://youtu.be/msCc1a3JKmY

Gran Torino- Trailer Review

Gran Torino directed by Clint Eastwood

The trailer of Gran Torino used interesting scenes from the movie to help build up suspense towards the plot without giving up so much information so that the viewer can speculate on how the movie is going to end. The scenes showed Walt, the main protagonist, as a tough guy who installs peace through violence. This also introduces the Chinese gang members, the main antagonists, and the trailer shows that this gang will come up again near the end of the film to prove a final showdown match between them and Walt. Using cuts in main action points in the film leaves the viewer wanting for more.

At the beginning of the trailer you see walt as a racist old war veteren who doesn't really care for what people see him as. Using dialoge used from action scenes and important characterization scenes give a personality too Walt while also showing how he acts around other people. The protagonist in the trailer is Walt and they mostly use scenes with Walt either being the most significant character or it revolves around the presence of Walt. There is no narrator in the trailer since it is based on just Walt fighting the antagonist of the story while also forming bonds with his neighbors. The trailer does not need a narrator to fill in the blank spots in the film since it is so thoroughly filled with evidence on characterizing the characters and obviously stating the protagonist and antagonist.

The trailer mostly comes from the waist-shot to show the character's facial expressions while also showing any hand movement as this is important in the film because Walt many times goes into his coat and pulls out a fake gun made of his hands to scare off his enemies. The movie uses a lot of hand movements to either start or end an action scene.

The editing helps the plot move more thoroughly and smoothly without causing confusion of the viewer. They are able to skip scenes and place shots from the end and infuse them with the beginning and stil maintain a sense of order throughout the film. While showing Walt as a tough character, the editors are able to show the change of heart of Walt. The editors also use scenes where the antagonist is causing havoc to build  hate towards the gang.

The sound quality of the trailer uses the dialoge of Walt to build up suspense. My favorite quote from the film is when Walt says "Get off my lawn!" The sound is not to high or too low as it is able to get the point across to the viewer. There is no musical score during the film but it uses dialoge instead to make the scenes stand out.