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Film analysis#2 The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense was number 89 on AFI’s Top 100 list of movies from the last 100 years.  When this film was first released in theaters it was number one at the box office for a solid 5 weeks and raked in 40 million dollars (Atlantic).  The reason behind The Sixth Sense’s immense success is mostly due to how well they pulled off the twist at the end. This project would analyze how the story is told in The Sixth Sense following the genre of horror from the perspectives of narrative structure, mise-en-scene, shots, sound&music, and editing.

The biggest feature of this film is the complexity of its narrative structure. The director divides into two storylines, one is the romantic story between Malcolm and his wife and another is Cole and his mother. The narration is developed between the two storylines. Early clues make audience understanding of the film into confusion. Audiences will completely understand the whole story after the disclose at the end of this film. In this film, the director used temperature several times. There are times when the temperature drops and the characters breathe white. Among them, when Malcolm approaches his wife, she wraps her shawl tightly around her in her sleep, a clue that Malcolm is dead. But we won’t know the truth until we get to the end. Most viewers will be puzzled by this clue. On the whole, the film is chronological. With the experience of Cole and Malcolm and the passage of significant time, the narrative moves from being confined to omniscience.

In the film, you see many different scenes where the director uses the style of low-key lighting in order to emphasize the dark or creepy moments that are either currently happening, or in the transition stage of close to happening. By the director doing this I feel like he does a great job in isolating the thrill in the movie and leaving his audience on the edge of their seat in desperation to know the upcoming events. Horror movies take a lot of time in working with the lighting in order to always give a darker/overcast type of look to give a night impression throughout the entire movie. For example, whenever Cole runs into his ghosts the lighting gets really dark and the violins in the background get louder.  “The unusual lighting causes tension in the audience” (Fu). Also, M. Night Shyamalan has particularly made the costume of Kyra’s mother so impressive and symbolic. In the funeral scene, Kyra’s mother wears the red costume that makes her stands out of the crowd in many scenes of the film and especially in the funeral scene. Visually, it forms a sharp contrast between Kyra’s mother and others who all wear black costume, giving a deeper message to the audience about Kyra’s death and adding some weird and horrifying atmosphere to the story.

While using shots, M. Night Shyamalan makes their shots to convey varied messages and emotions to the audience. For example, in the magic scene when Malcolm talks to Cole, there uses a tracking shot that moves the camera to Malcolm. While moving, the audience only could see Malcolm on the middle of the screen talking to someone in the chair. When the shot shifts to Cole, Shyamalan makes the audience a little confused about this “magic” moment and therefore pave a deeper clue for the existence of Malcolm. Then, Shyamalan uses a lot of continuity editing in many scenes to create a sense of smooth and flow for the story. For instance, in the scene of Cole is trapped by the other two boys, the shots of Cole’s mother’s going upstairs create a high level of continuity that makes the body actions of the character natural. Besides, I also noticed the zoom shot in the funeral scene when Kyra’s father sits in front of the tape. Shyamalan seems to use a dolly shot that makes the facial expression of the man visually moves closer to the audience, which allows the audience to observe the emotional dynamics of Kyra’s father while looking and hearing the sound of the poison being poured to Kyra’s soup.

 

In the opening of the film, you can hear an eerie sounding violin playing and the theme of classical music carries on throughout the film.  The high pitched whining of the violins really seems to put people on edge and adds to the suspense of the situation.  The director uses a various amount of sounds, especially in pop up scenes or scenes that at one point lead up to being a thriller or horror scene.

This film is said to be one of the great 100 scenes and I can easily see why. The director does a very well job while making the movie when it comes to stay on track and is very persistent with the storyline. by the director doing this, I feel like he reduces the confusion that can be easily assumed in a movie that jumps around a whole lot. By analyzing films like these we gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to create a great film.  By using specific vocabulary it helps us understand what the words truly mean deeper than just a definition. We are also all on the same page when it comes to an understanding of terminology and gets to practice what we are taught in class.

Sources:

https://oneroomwithaview.com/2017/01/17/a-love-letter-to-the-sixth-sense/

https://vialogues.com/vialogues/play/27037 (Links to an external site.)

http://baratieri.tripod.com/id26.html (Links to an external site.)

https://www.varesesarabande.com/products/sixth-sense-the-vinyl

http://www.mediaknite.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Sixth-Sense-Scene-Analysis-1.pdf

Sims, David. “How ‘The Sixth Sense’ Conquered Hollywood in 1999.”

The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 6 Aug. 2019, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/08/how-sixth-sense-conquered-hollywood-1999/595558/.

Nichols, Mackenzie. “’The Sixth Sense’ Turns 20: M. Night Shyamalan and Haley Joel Osment Tell All.” Variety, 2 Aug. 2019, variety.com/2019/film/news/the-sixth-sense-turns-20-m-night-shyamalan-haley-joel-osment-1203259434/.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2014/oct/22/the-sixth-sense-film-frightened-me-most-sian-cain

 

 

 

 

The Sixth Sense is a well-loved classic thriller movie from 1999.  It was directed by M. Night Shyamalan and had Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Os as the leading roles.  The story centers around an 8-year-old boy, Cole Searthat (Haley Joel Os) has a supernatural ability to see dead people wherever he goes.  A successful child psychologist (Bruce Willis) that gets a little too wrapped up in his work, finds Cole and makes it his sole mission to help him through his problems.  The reason behind The Sixth Sense’s immense success is mostly due to how well they pulled off the twist at the end. The movie started off with a graphic scene of an old patient breaking into the psychologist’s home and shooting him in the stomach.  Before finding out what happens to the psychologist the plotline introduces the boy and you kind of assume that he just healed from his injury.

In The Sixth Sense, the lighting and sound during the suspenseful parts are created to trigger a deeper reaction in the audience. From sound and music, in the opening of the film you can hear an eerie sounding violin playing and the theme of classical music carries on throughout the film.  The high pitched whining of the violins really seems to put people on edge and adds to the suspense of the situation. Another aspect that adds suspense is how light or dark a certain scene is. For example, whenever Cole runs into his ghosts the lighting gets really dark and the violins in the background get louder.  “The unusual lighting causes tension in the audience” (Fu). The director uses a various amount of sounds, especially in pop up scenes or scenes that at one point lead up to being a thriller or horror scene. Seeing from lighting,  in the film you see many different scenes where the director uses the style of low-key lighting in order to emphasize the dark or creepy moments that are either currently happening, or in the transition stage of close to happening. By the director doing this I feel like he does a great job in isolating the thrill in the movie and leaving his audience on the edge of their seat in desperation to know the upcoming events. Horror movies take a lot of time in working with the lighting in order to always give a darker/overcast type of look to give a night impression throughout the entire movie.

The biggest feature of this film also is the complexity of its narrative structure. The director divides into two storylines, one is the romantic story between Malcolm and his wife and another is Cole and his mother. The narration is developed between the two storylines. Early clues make the audience understanding of the film into confusion. Audiences will completely understand the whole story after the disclose at the end of this film. In this film, the director used temperature several times. There are times when the temperature drops and the characters breathe white. Among them, when Malcolm approaches his wife, she wraps her shawl tightly around her in her sleep, a clue that Malcolm is dead. But we won’t know the truth until we get to the end. Most viewers will be puzzled by this clue. On the whole, the film is chronological. With the experience of Cole and Malcolm and the passage of significant time, the narrative moves from being confined to omniscience.

While using shots, M. Night Shyamalan makes their shots to convey varied messages and emotions to the audience. For example, in the magic scene when Malcolm talks to Cole, there uses a tracking shot that moves the camera to Malcolm. While moving, the audience only see Malcolm on the middle of the screen talking to someone in the chair. When the shot shifts to Cole, Shyamalan makes the audience a little confused about this “magic” moment and therefore pave a deeper clue for the existence of Malcolm. Then, Shyamalan uses a lot of continuity editing in many scenes to create a sense of smooth and flow for the story. For instance, in the scene of Cole is trapped by the other two boys, the shots of Cole’s mother’s going upstairs create a high level of continuity that makes the body actions of the character natural.

The film is highly logical. There will not be too much contradiction between plot arrangement and plot composition and the end. While watching the movie, the audience will not question the logic of the plot. As the basic elements of suspense horror movies, the strong visual impact and the scary music effect are fully used.  this film is said to be one of the great 100 scenes and I can easily see why. The director does a very well job while making the movie when it comes to stay on track and is very persistent with the storyline. by the director doing this, I feel like he reduces the confusion that can be easily assumed in a movie that jumps around a whole lot. By analyzing films like these we gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to create a great film.  By using specific vocabulary it helps us understand what the words truly mean deeper than just a definition. We are also all on the same page when it comes to an understanding of terminology and gets to practice what we are taught in class.

Sources:

Sims, David. “How ‘The Sixth Sense’ Conquered Hollywood in 1999.”

https://oneroomwithaview.com/2017/01/17/a-love-letter-to-the-sixth-sense/

The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 6 Aug. 2019, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/08/how-sixth-sense-conquered-hollywood-1999/595558/.

“Sixth Sense Movie Cole Important Effects.” – SameDayPapers.me, 6 Sept. 2017, samedaypapers.me/sixth-sense-movie-cole-important-effects/.

The Sixth Sense by M. Night Shyamalan is an American supernatural horror drama film in 1999. The story tells the story of a nine-year-old boy Cole Sear claims to see dead people. Malcolm Crowe is a psychiatrist who survives from a shot by his former patients failed treatment. With the help of the doctor, the little boy finally lost his fear of ghosts, know how to get along with those ghosts, went out of his world and tell his true feelings to his mother. However, when audiences think it is a happy ending, the director let the boy’s mouth tell audiences that the psychiatrist already dead in the shot a year ago.

The film is highly logical. There will not be too much contradiction between plot arrangement and plot composition and the end. While watching the movie, the audience will not question the logic of the plot. As the basic elements of suspense horror movies, the strong visual impact and the scary music effect are fully used.

The biggest feature of this film is the complexity of its narrative structure. The director divides into two storylines, one is the romantic story between Malcolm and his wife and another is Cole and his mother. The narration is developed between the two storylines. Early clues make audience understanding of the film into confusion. Audiences will completely understand the whole story after the disclose at the end of this film. In this film, the director used temperature several times. There are times when the temperature drops and the characters breathe white. Among them, when Malcolm approaches his wife, she wraps her shawl tightly around her in her sleep, a clue that Malcolm is dead. But we won’t know the truth until we get to the end. Most viewers will be puzzled by this clue. On the whole, the film is chronological. With the experience of Cole and Malcolm and the passage of significant time, the narrative moves from being confined to omniscience. The audience is getting more clues.

Sources

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/film-studies/narrative-in-the-sixth-sense-film-studies-essay.php

https://offscreen.com/view/sixth_sense (Links to an external site.)

https://oneroomwithaview.com/2017/01/17/a-love-letter-to-the-sixth-sense/ (Links to an external site.)

http://sarahthefilm.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-filmchosen-for-analysis-is-sixth.html

Film analysis#2 The Sixth Sense

This film is one of the great supernatural horror films I have seen ever before and I believe most of us have viewed this great film. What makes it a great film are because: 1) it really deals with the horror scenes subtly and skillfully based on the deliberate pacing and sobriety; 2) the use of shots and editing techniques really bring the audience to the story psychologically. The two topics I’d like to discuss here is the mise-en-scene and the editing and shots employed in The Sixth Sense.

From the perspective of mise-en-scene, M. Night Shyamalan has makes the staging and style of the film so elaborated that help highlight the horror genre of the film. The general setting of the story aims to tell the audience the story is happening in urban Philadelphia during the early 21st century. M. Night Shyamalan has particularly made the costume of Kyra’s mother so impressive and symbolic. In the funeral scene, Kyra’s mother wears the red costume that makes her look stands out the crowd in many scenes of the film and especially in the funeral scene. Visually, it forms a sharp contrast between Kyra’s mother and others who all wear black costume, giving a deeper message to the audience about Kyra’s death and adding some weird and horrifying atmosphere to the story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqW9iC0DAHM

The use of lighting has been a big part of this movie. For example, in the scene of Malcolm and his wife’ wedding anniversary and when he returns home when her wife asleep, there uses low-key lighting that heavily focuses on the lamp. This use of lighting makes the cold and sad emotions of the characters augmented and the clues for Malcolm’s death so invisible and powerful.

While using shots, M. Night Shyamalan makes their shots to convey varied messages and emotions to the audience. For example, in the magic scene when Malcolm talks to Cole, there uses a tracking shot that moves the camera to Malcolm. While moving, the audience only sees Malcolm on the middle of the screen talking to someone in the chair. When the shot shifts to Cole, Shyamalan makes the audience a little confused about this “magic” moment and therefore pave a deeper clue for the existence of Malcolm. Then, Shyamalan uses a lot of continuity editing in many scenes to create a sense of smooth and flow for the story. For instance, in the scene of Cole is trapped by the other two boys, the shots of Cole’s mother’s going upstairs create a high level of continuity that makes the body actions of the character natural. Another clue for the continuity editing is when the shots of the glass painting inside of the church resemble the ending of the last scene where the toy soldiers are shot. That elaborates the visible continuity editing that seems to assume a sense of time passage based on the subtle dynamic shots.

I also noticed the zoom shot in the funeral scene when Kyra’s father sits in front of the tape. Shyamalan seems to use a dolly shot that makes the facial expression of the man visually moves closer to the audience, which allows the audience to observe the emotional dynamics of Kyra’s father while looking and hearing the sound of the poison being poured to Kyra’s soup. Also, the 180-degree rule is employed in a lot of dialogue scenes such as the dialogue between Cole and Malcolm in the church as well as Malcolm and Cole’s mother talking in the living room about Cole. That maintains the left-right position of the characters and therefore make the audience clearly see how the characters look at each other.

Sources:

https://montagesmagazine.com/2013/12/the-sixth-sense-part-i-stature-and-style/ (Links to an external site.)

http://www.mediaknite.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Sixth-Sense-Scene-Analysis-1.pdf (Links to an external site.)

https://offscreen.com/view/shyamalan_2

Cutaway  shot

– interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else.

-Unspoken words- Cutaways are used here to emphasize the true stakes of tightness in individual scenes. Once this is identified the the crowd will be able to conclude and see the true meaning of the film

-Time control- Cutaways are us to show true detail of the scene while cutting away from the actual time spent on that particular scene.

-“guide the audience from subject to subject, and on occasion, to place the audience in the position of the actors” (Gessner 89).

-Fast way of showing outside information to the crowd whilst shortening distractions to the overall shooting of the film

visual examples

Cutaway Shot (Links to an external site.)

Cut-in and Cutaway Shot Definition and Example – Videography Course in Singapore (Links to an external site.)

-If this way of shooting didnt exist many famous films wouldn’t exist, due to the relevance of cutting in almost every film.  Many movies use this method but dont truly emphasize it, the destruction of this method would be detrimental to all films

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=12&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi0gbjNhevjAhWFMXwKHRreCNYQFjALegQIBhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.videomaker.com%2Farticle%2F13850-the-art-of-the-cutaway&usg=AOvVaw0mqygxU_AlRtDuZwRDt0AS

https://www.videomaker.com/article/13850-the-art-of-the-cutaway

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, usually known as a child’s tale, might well have been inspired by the story of William Jennings Bryan. A scholarly article by Hugh Rockoff, reviewed and cited in detail by Nobel Prize Milton Friedman, studies in details the political landscape of the period when the book was written by Frank Baum. Baum was very close to populist circles and read a lot about current political issues. So we are pretty sure that he knew in details about the Crime of 1873 and the career of William Jennings Bryan. Many similarities are difficult to overlook (I’m not exactly the kind of guy who measures pyramids to find out if they represent the moon-sun distance). I’ll give here some of the main arguments, but you’ll like to read the article itself, fully accessible to the layman even if it was published in very highbrow economic journal. Dorothy the main character around whom the story revolves is supposed to represent an individualized ideal of the American people. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are supposed to represent the farmers who were severely suffering due to droughts and severe winters. A interesting scene or element(s) in the film is how certain characters and scenes match those of real life. The Cyclone that lifts Dorothy’s house was compared to the Populist cyclone that swept across Kansas in the early 1890s.The wicked witch of East was compared to the eastern financial-industrial interests and their gold-standard political allies. The scarecrow in the movie was used to represent the midwestern farmers, The next character Tin Man represented the nation’s workers. These were the main characters which were used to refer the Popular American movement and the people of that time. A critical conversion that people had to say about the film would be how The characters wanted democracy and a peaceful life, Relating to the populist movements that were taking place at that time. There was no unity among the east, west, south and the north regions. They were not united in their thoughts, instead was a combination of the nation’s wealthiest and the poorest. The characters were used to explain the pathetic condition of people of US. They wanted it because the populist movement wanted liberalist activities in place. They wanted the sufferings to come to an end. They wanted the political and the populist movements to reach all the people across the country. They wanted this as they wished a good future for their country. The directors of the movie wanted it to be presented in such a way that it had the greatest impact on the people of US. They further wanted to bring to light about Baum’s political background, trickster personality, and subsequent work. To sum it up The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a deliberate work which was picturized to replicate the political symbolism of US. According the library of congress the wizard of oz is the most watched film. The Greatness of this film portrays human nature, and how people are depicted as generally good. This is the reason why the greatness of this film is different from other great films.

Sources:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24044541.pdf?ab_segments=0%252Fdefault-2%252Fcontrol&refreqid=excelsior%3A317a9a633ab885ef4a41e816b469e4b0
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/09/dissecting-the-real-wizard-of-oz.html

One of the most effective techniques used in the movie is the usage of very long dissolves. Many scenes are dissolved on each other until they become a montage of their own in one shot itself and say something completely distinct from their individual meaning. This was used in the beginning of the movie, in the middle when the journey enters the final realm and in the end again giving the seemingly untying themes a thematic unity It is the height of the war in Vietnam, and U.S. Army Captain Willard is sent by Colonel Lucas and a General to carry out a mission that, officially, ‘does not exist – nor will it ever exist’. The mission: To seek out a mysterious Green Beret Colonel, Walter Kurtz, whose army has crossed the border into Cambodia and is conducting hit-and-run missions against the Viet Cong and NVA. The army believes Kurtz has gone completely insane and Willard’s job is to eliminate him! Willard, sent up the Nung River on a U.S. Navy patrol boat, discovers that his target is one of the most decorated officers in the U.S. Army. His crew meets up with surfer-type Lt-Colonel Kilgore, head of a U.S Army helicopter cavalry group which eliminates a Viet Cong outpost to provide an entry point into the Nung River. After some hair-raising encounters, in which some of his crew are killed, Willard, Lance and Chef reach Colonel Kurtz’s outpost, beyond the Do Lung Bridge. Some elements I noticed that stood out were the lightening, color, and camera movement. Lighting is the key element in the film. Along with fogs and shadows. The general look of the film is dark and shadowy in keeping with the theme of war and the dark journey that the soldiers undertake therein. As the journey begins, the lights are still high, Willard begins his boat ride in dusk (Journey Begins) but as the journey gets deeper and deeper, the film gets darker, the shadows get pronounced and light is dimmed (Journey Deepens). The lighting of the film is highly representative of the perils of the war in the jungle as well as metaphorical journey that the soldiers undertake in the spiritual realm. The boat, aptly named “Erebus” is not lit at all, yet is the only sanctuary in the deep jungle around (Ship Of Death). The lights are garish and painful to the eyes (Hells Fire) where as the blacks are so demanding that they are equally tiresome (Journey To Hell). Some of the day light scenes are very high in contrast where the light is coming from the background and we need to squint our eyes to see the details in the foreground. It creates a realistic effect as if we are present during the scene. Colors in Apocalypse Now mirror the emotions and the journey itself. The movie begins with deeply saturated colors, putting us in a different realm of our imagination. The hues are very deep, almost reminding us that we are still on earth, still connected, and although in a war zone, we are possibly still alive as we can see these bright colors (This Is The End, Saturated Colors). As soon as we begin our journey, one of the first colors we encounter is the color of fog, it stays with us throughout the journey and by the end it is so thick that neither Willard nor we can see anything clearly any more (Multi Colored Fog, Fog And Haze). As we go further and deeper in the journey, the colors start getting muted. Some of the scenes are in sepia tone and give a representation of an altered reality (Sepia Tones And Unearthly Colors). This is the other world; the colors of this world are different. Even the fog is devoid of those rich colors that we are used to in the beginning (Fog Gets Deeper). When they finally reach Kurtz’s post, the colors are completely altered and the palette is in various shades of orange imitating the fires of hell. (Underworld Fire And Orange). The journey in the film is marked by slow camera movement. Most of the times the camera is stationed right on the boat, and we see what the soldiers, mostly Willard sees. Film has slow tracks, slow pans and generally slow movements. There is not much that is exciting about a slow journey through the jungle. An interesting tracking shot happens in the beginning of the movie when Willard gets the assignment of killing Kurtz. As the General is giving Willard his orders, camera slowly tracks over the food, and through this movement we explicitly see that no one is able to eat the food except for the man from CIA. He is not confused, nor tormented as the other men who are part of the same unclear war and are divided by the same conflicts of morality. He then utters his one and only sentence to Willard “Terminate with extreme prejudice…!” Most of the times, camera is positioned at a close up to Willard and we watch him breathing, sweating, looking at his dossier. Since camera position does not change often, we start living and breathing in the same environment as the other characters. They have no respite out of the situation they are in and we don’t either. There are few pronounced camera movements such as the one on Kilgore as he starts talking about Napalm. We always see him in full company of his soldiers but the camera marks a strong change when Kilgore starts talking about Napalm and the war, we start with seeing his whole team and the camera keeps tracking towards Kilgore, leaving out everyone else and ends on his one and only medium close up. This is pretty much how close we can get to this man (Kilgore Selection In Frame, One Close Up Kilgore). Another highly effective tracking shot is when Willard is in Kurtz compound and is hearing how divided Kurtz soul has become. Till this point, we have seen Willard on the left side of the screen in his every interaction with Kurtz (including his dossier). In this scene, we see one shot of Willard on the left, then as he contemplates his actions we see him in the center and in the next shot, as Willard makes up his mind about killing Kurtz, we see him at the right of the frame. Not only that, this is the first place when the camera tracks back and out of Willard’s close up and we see him looking at his hand preparing to kill Kurtz with his bare hand. It is a very powerful camera movement since for the first time, as Willard decides to kill without judgment a.k.a. Kurtz fashion, we are taken out from his frame of mind, from his memories, from his heart and given a chance to have a perspective of our own, apart from him. This film would be considered a great film due to its choice of cinema and storytelling. The cinematography is beautiful , and every character is given scenes where they in action. Not every great film has these characteristics , the reason why this movie is a different ‘great movie’

Sources

https://www.jstor.org/stable/20386862?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A854c8677099f205102db00130c847d43&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents (Links to an external site.)

https://variety.com/1979/film/reviews/apocalypse-now-2-1200424565/

My experience of WallE was extremely positive. I was very impressed with the graphics and artwork in the film as well as the ability to maintain a storyline and engaging plot with minimal dialogue between the characters. Most of the time all they say is “WallE” or “Eve” since those are the only two words either character knows besides “plant”. The plant also plays a key role in the film. WallE discovers the plant early on in the film and it gives it to Eve who he falls in love with and it’s sort of like the ultimate gift. This is also symbolic because by Eve getting the plant, when she retrieves it back to the ship it’s supposed to allow everyone on board to return to Earth because it’s a sign of life on Earth, when the Earth was previously covered in trash. 

The segmentation of the film was very clear to me and made the plot easy to follow. There were three main segments: WallE making trash piles by himself, WallE meets Eve, WallE and Eve go on the ship, WallE and Eve return to Earth with everyone from the ship. 

The element of WallE that stood out to me most was the overall message of the film that it is important to take care of the environment and what the possible consequences may be if we do not. Not only does WallE depict the Earth as being covered in trash, but it also shows all the humans riding around on floating chairs and they are extremely oberse and stare at their screens all day. “Respondents argued over its depiction of futuristic humans and whether their (animated) shapes made them baby-like or obese,” (Howley). The article “Wall-E” by Ann Howey discusses briefly how it was debated whether or not it was appropriate for Wall-E to be a kids movie because of its “apocalyptic setting” but I think that it is important for young adults and children to see the impact their actions have because they will be the ones making important decisions that impact our lives in the future and films like WallE could have a lasting impact on them. 

Another element that I thought was impressive in WallE was the use of sound throughout the film. The opening scenes play cheerful jazz music as WallE goes from place to place picking up trash and stacking it. This gives the audience that WallE is very innocent and somewhat content with life. Ann Howey also discusses how the use of this jazz music highlights the differences between the past and present, “The opening sequence of the film introduces this tension between future and past. As the ‘camera’ moves through (animated) outer space, moving eventually through our solar system to a futuristic, garbage-covered Earth, the images are accompanied by the song ‘Put on Your Sunday Clothes’ from the 1960s film musical Hello Dolly! (Kelly US 1969)–the song begins, fittingly, ‘Out there …’. As Andrew Stanton remarks in his Director’s Commentary for the DVD, ‘juxtaposing sci-fi and the future with retro old stuff’ was a deliberate strategy,”(Howey).  I was also impressed that the movie was able to carry a storyline so well even without having that much dialogue between the main characters besides them saying “WallE” or “Eve”. 

The critical conversations I read about WallE briefly discuss its appropriateness for children given that it’s a Disney movie due to it’s “paramount environmental message”. But overall critics reviewed WallE in a positive light and admired its use of visual settings and symbolism as well as sound throughout the film, “when Wall-E escapes the self-destructing life-pod and meets Eve on her way to rescue him, the resulting dance-in-space has more to do with visual spectacle than scientific possibility,” (Howey). Critics also admired the relationship between humans and technology in the film, “the film humanises ‘good’ technology–robots such as Wall-E and Eve who work in the best interests of humanity,” (Howey). 

I would agree with critics that WallE does an excellent job utilizing sound and visual effects to optimize the viewing experience but I would disagree that the environmental message is too “paramount” or “apocalyptic” for young children to view. There’s nothing graphic in the film to suggest that it would be inappropriate for children, the director is simply just trying to highlight an important environmental message to viewers.

          In the movie rocky, the under dog comes out on top. He started from the bottom and worked his way to the top with blood sweat and tears. My experience with the film was that I was originally taken back, at first I never thought that he would go so far and make his own life become such an impact and an influence to other people’s lives. But everyone can prove you wrong that’s why you can never judge a book by its cover. I would consider this film a great film, because people still to this day look up to Rocky as an idol as a character and also Sylvester Stallone as a human being in general for playing that role that so many refer to when thinking of toughness and heart. This movie is also a classic because it is the epitome of the underdog story that everybody wants to tell or be a part of in history. Rocky is now an American sign for never giving up and fighting through adversity. The name Rocky alone resonates with almost every middle to lower class home in America. Everybody at the bottom wants to make it to the top some day. Rocky did that. So the American people look to figures such as him to pull themselves through tough times and hard times by adopting their mentalities and key attributes to be more so like them.

          One key moment in the movie Rocky is when Rocky loses the fight at the end to creed by a split decision. This moment is so crucial and so vital to the story in the meaning behind the story because Rocky doesn’t win the final bow yet it’s still a happy ending because of the fight that it took to make it to the top in the grind that he went through to get to where he played it. Rocky doesn’t win the fight but he wins the heart of every consumer of this movie. Not many movies can have their main character lose or die without the fans of that character being disappointed. The creators of Rocky took the chance on building suspense and letting down those watching the movie. But it paid off because centuries later and people still see him as a hero even through the loss he took to Creed in the very first movie. 

          Another key moment in the film has to be when the fight is initially set up. The fight is set up for a “nobody” to become a “somebody”. The world heavyweight champions’ opponent gets injured and can’t fight anymore so his manager sets up a fight with a struggling boxer who is on the come up. The fight is supposed to be easily won by Apollo Creed in a landslide fight with no fighting chance for Rocky in the ring (pun intended). Rocky never got the memo that this fight was supposed to be a cake walk for the champ. He took this as his only opportunity to make it big time in the boxing game. He may have lost the fight but he went from a “nobody” in the boxing world to a “somebody” just by going the distance with the reigning champion. Rocky showed that his heart was much bigger than his skill set and that’s what carried him through the fight all the way through the final round. That and his unfailing will to win and make a name for himself. 

          A third key moment is when Rocky is training for the fight with the champion Apollo Creed. The moment in particular is when Rocky runs up the famous steps in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that now stands as a US monument and keeps the legend of rocky alive even in today’s day and age. Kids growing up today even know about this scene from a movie that was shot before some of their parents were even born. They may not know anything whatsoever about Rocky, but they know the run up the steps and the hands in the air declaring victory and one of our national signs of pure confidence and bliss. The kind of confidence and bliss that you get from putting in the work to get to where you want to be in your life or to get something that you love and cherish so much in life. That one scene alone has left its own legacy apart from the movie itself over the past 50 years and still lives on today.

resources:

https://www.thewrap.com/all-7-rocky-movies-ranked-from-the-original-to-creed-photos/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rocky-film-by-Avildsen

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/rocky

          The Sound of Music is one of the most delightful movies out there from an artistic standpoint. Julie Andrews is exceptional as Maria, the tomboyish girl, while Christopher Plummer is phenomenal as Captain von Trapp, the widowed father with 7 kids. The soundtrack is also sensational with classics and cornerstones in the music industry such as Do-Re-Mi, The Sound of Music, and Edelweiss, just to call out a hand full. In conclusion, The Sound of Music is one of the movies that should be on your to-watch list if you appreciate art. So I give it a definite five stars in that category. But from a normal movie goer standpoint, the flavor of this genre and style of movie can be very dry in today’s day and age. Honestly, The Sound of Music wouldn’t appeal to most people of this generation unless the consumer understands and appreciates the music that is paired up with the cinematic value that this film has to offer.

        The Sound of Music is a classic film that had all of its external or outside shots filmed in European countries such as Austria and all of its internal or inside shots filmed in California. This masterpiece of a film follows the story of a widowed father of 7 children, who runs his house just like the ship he used to run. That is, until their whole life as they know it gets flipped upside down when Maria comes into town. She comes to become the new governess of the 7 children and eventually turns them from little sailor children into singing balls of joy who make the audience want to sing along and find joy in the simplest of things that life has to offer just like they do. Maria marries the father and realizes she no longer wants to be a nun, as she originally had made plans for. This fairytale ending is almost ruined when Austria’s new German rulers decide that they want Von Trapp, the father, back in the military. I feel as if these are the most significant moments in the film that should be focused on. 

        When speaking to other individuals and reading the reviews on this specific film I realized that the majority of people who have seen this film say that the movie is very slow. Some say that the plot of the movie isn’t interesting enough to them. Some say that they expect more twist and turns, more unexpected events to occur, and more exciting moments within the film. I personally could agree with some of these opinions because I’m not the type that likes a movie that starts off slow at all. I like a lot of action in movies and this film shows a lot of emotions and you can connect to the kids in the film really easily. This is a singing type of movie that really persuades the view to sing along and keep up with the musical storyline along with the dialogue of the characters. On the other side, a lot of individuals say that the movie was pretty good and that they really like how you can relate to what the kids are feeling very easily. I personally can agree with some of these kids and it’s crazy how the director puts the effort in to appeal to our emotions. It takes a lot of thinking and research to find a relatable piece of emotion that is shared between many different individuals out there. 

        Some may say that the sound of music can be considered a great film and others will say that this film is completely overrated. I personally can agree that this film has a very slow beginning would be a lot great if it was a lot more spontaneous. Compared to some of these other great filmed I’ve watched I can easily say that I feel as if this film is overrated and could be a lot better. Not saying that the storyline wasn’t good or anything in that nature but personally I don’t feel like the director put his all into this film like he could’ve. I feel like if the director would have taken a bit more time to look over his dialogue and just make a couple changes that would catch the audience off guard he would have made a much better movie. I don’t feel like the movie was completely horrible I just don’t feel like it fulfills the name and reputation that it’s said to hold.