"The Dark Knight" directed by Christopher Nolan; "A Dark Knight" composed by Hans Zimmer

   
This is a musical score used in the film "The Dark Knight" towards the end of the film, when Batman decided to sacrifice his alter ego's reputation to save the city's faith in Harvey Dent.
      This musical piece overall gave me a sympathetic feeling. When this score was used, Batman told Commissioner Gordon to bring in the police and blame all of Harvey Dent's crimes on him, so the city wouldn't lose hope. Listening to this music made me think of all the lives Batman saved, all the hopes he salvaged, yet no one knows who he is. Now he deliberately makes the city hate him and hunt him down to keep Dent's reputation, and the undermine the Joker's plan in creating chaos in Gotham. At the same time I also admire his decision. He knows that people in Gotham will turn against the vigilante ego he created, but alleviate the people's fear, and keeping their faith in the city's leader is paramount. He is willing to throw away the reputation he's worked for to rectify Dent's crimes.
      This music score did a very good job in setting the mood. All of Batman's actions and decisions, through this music I can feel all of the emotions as if I'm Batman, I can sympathize with his situation.

Christopher Nolan interviewed on The Treatment

      On KRCW's program The Treatment, there was an interview with Christopher Nolan by host Elvis Mitchell. Christopher Nolan is a British-American director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for directing The Dark Knight Trilogy, "Inception", and "Momento". The interview was recorded on July 25, 2012, with Nolan talking about his latest work, "The Dark Knight Rises".
      Overall Nolan talks about the making of this film. Surprisingly, he mentioned little about the process and obstacles he came across while shooting the film; he mostly talked about his thought process and the elements he brought upon through this film. I enjoyed that he talked about the psychological factors he tried to portray from the characters, because originated from the comics, Batman and his foes go beyond physical battle; the most important aspect that makes Batman so unique are the mental manipulation involved between him and his foes. Nolan talked about the concept of time, about the characters' concept of time, or rather, a lack of time acknowledgement at points. He also mentioned briefly the costume designs involved to magnify a character's personality and intention.
      Nolan described Batman's character as a unique one. He said "I think it's so much more interesting if the threat is not just to the safety and prosperity of the people of Gotham, but also a threat to his own philosophy, his own way of life". This quote accurately describes the type of relationship between Batman and his enemies. In "The Dark Knight Rises", his main enemy is Bane. For the first time during the trilogy, Batman met someone who presented him with a physical challenge. Nolan mentioned this to remind his audience that despite suffering from old age and weakness, Batman is presented with yet another challenge that requires him to sacrifice even more of himself in order to defend what he believes in.
      Besides how Batman deals with his villains, Nolan also talks about in "The Dark Knight Rises", how Bruce Wayne deals with his friends and himself. "He [Bruce Wayne] has people around him, who will be a conscience for him, who will question what he's doing, and particularly Alfred....also Commissioner Gordon, and Lucius Fox". Nolan reminded his audience that despite all his special abilities, Batman is only human. The human mind can be influenced, and sometimes he will go out of his way to accomplish something because his opponent made him desperate. Sometimes he makes a wrong decision, but there are always friends to remind him what is right. Multiple brains work better than one, and every hero needs allies. Nolan feels that Batman's allies are the sane part of his consciousness.
      Lastly Nolan was asked why he chose the villain he did in "The Dark Knight Rises", or rather, why did he choose any of the villains in his trilogy. He replied "One of the most interesting things you can do to a protagonist is to set a mirror in front of them....I really enjoy telling a story where the protagonist is being undermined, and the villain is getting under their skin because they share knowledge, they share a point of view in some bizarre way". Both Bane and Batman wanted to save Gotham, but in different ways. Batman wanted to protect the city and its citizens, while Bane wanted to destroy it. Nolan picked Bane as a mirror for Batman, someone who is similar but different from him, so it will either confirm Batman's intentions or make him doubt himself.
      I believe Nolan is a great director. Judging from what he said about his mentality in creating "The Dark Knight Rises", he does not settle for any less than extreme hard work and dedication. His creations often involve unique, out of the ordinary elements, and his contributions to the film world is phenomenal.

Matt Damon

Matthew Paige Damon was born on October 8, 1970, in Boston Massachusetts to Kent Damon, a stockbroker, Realtor and tax preparer, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. Matt has an older brother named Kyle who is now a sculptor. The family lived in Newton until his parents divorced, when Damon and his brother moved with his mother to Cambridge. It was here that Damon met his close friend and collaborator Ben Affleck, who lived in the neighborhood. 

Damon attended Cambridge Ridge and Latin School and he performed in a number of theater productions during his time there. He attended Harvard University as an English major, but dropped out to pursue acting. He made small roles in Mystic Pizza (1988), School Ties (1992), and Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), before landing his breakthrough role as a drug-addicted soldier in Courage Under Fire (1996). The role required him to lose 40 pounds in a short period of time, which resulted in health problems. Fortunately, critics took note of his performance and he felt it was a worthwhile risk to show his level of dedication to his craft. 


The following year, he garnered accolades for Good Will Hunting (1997), based on a screenplay he had originally written while at Harvard. Directed by Gus Van Sant, the film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, and he and Affleck won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.




In the following years, Damon went on to star in many high profile films, including Saving Private Ryan (1998),

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), as well as the successful crime drama Ocean's Eleven (2001) and its two sequels. 


Perhaps Damon's most recognizable work to date is his role as an amnesiac assassin in The Bourne Trilogy. \


Other highly acclaimed movies include The Departed (2006), The Good Shepherd (2006), and Invictus (2009), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Source: www.imdb.com and images.google.com

Blog #3: Cinematography- The Man Who Wasn't There

1. Overall Look:
       Even though "The Man Who Wasn't There" was released in 2001, it mimicked the style of a 1940s film noir. Its black and white styled filming is one of the biggest attributes to the film noir feel. The film had a lot of medium shots, which makes some scenes less dramatic, but more effective in conveying the mood. The film had a sense of dark humor, a unique add-on to most film noirs. This was achieved by using slow-motion and narrating. The use of lenses and framing were normal, nothing extraordinary use of the camera, but the right effects were achieved nonetheless. It seems in order to convey a film noir, normal cinematography skills, such as medium shots and at eye-level, are the best for the job.

2. Images:
      One thing that's important for film development are scenes that convey information that aren't reflected in the characters' action or dialogue. This can either be in form of symbolism or hidden meaning. Sometimes a lot of emotion and information can be shown even if the characters are silent and motionless. One such incident was during a flashback right after Ed and Birdy's car accident. There was a scene where a salesman comes up to Ed's lawn, but was rudely chased away by Doris, who angrily goes in the house and starts drinking alcohol on the couch. When Ed sits on the opposite end of the couch and starts talking, she interrupts him, telling him she's fine, when it's clear she's very unhappy. Earlier Ed's narration told us that Doris started drinking after going to her cousin's wedding party, she becomes embarrassed by her family, feeling they're a burden to her life. In that scene Ed and Doris sat on opposite sides of the couch, Doris drinking her problems away and Ed sits there, staring into space. This can also be a hint that Doris might not be very happy about her marriage either.

\

3. Shot Lengths

      This film used many long length shots. I've noticed shots are usually longer when Ed starts narrating, usually about his inner thoughts or backstory. These long-length shots are used so the viewers can concentrate on what Ed's saying and not get distracted by the constantly changing shots. For example, during the scene when Ed is attending Birdy's piano performance at school, there was a long-shot length focused on Birdy playing piano from her back side, while Ed talked about his perfect fantasy of sharing a bright future with her. The camera stayed for so long at Birdy's back so the audience won't be distracted by anything else. Instead they can focus on imagining along with Ed how things could have turned out for them. How Ed could be Birdy's manager, allowing Birdy to have a successful career, and allowing Ed to break out of his bland life.

4. Shot Types:

      I don't recall any memorable long-shots, but there was a close-up shot that I think is meaningful. At the very end of the film, right before Ed was electrocuted in the chair, he saw the executor about to pull the switch; there was a close up of him looking toward the ceiling. Ed was thinking to himself how he's not afraid of what's going to happen to him after death, how he wishes to meet Doris after he dies, and tell her all the things he wanted to in life but couldn't find the words for. The way the camera being close to his face was to capture Ed looking up the ceiling, to capture his last moment being alive as a hopeful moment. Ed hopes, that after death he'll find a peaceful place to reunite with Doris, telling her everything he's been holding inside. Deep down, Ed wants to be with Doris. After Doris died, Ed said he felt like a ghost, like he doesn't exist, so Doris was the person who can confirm Ed's existence. 

5. Camera Angles:

      There was a low-angle shot, not POV, from the film, where Ed looks down at passed out Doris after putting her down on bed. The camera pointed upwards at Ed, looking up at his face, as he looks down at Doris. Using the low-angle technique, this scene was meant to portray Ed's caring side, his admirable qualities. He reminisces about how he and Doris met, got married shortly after, and how they knew as much about each other back then as they do now. They may not know each other very well, but this scene shows Ed cares about herat least in some ways, and he doesn't mind that his marriage turned out this way. 

6. Composition:

      Throughout most of the film composition remains balanced. Much like most other camera techniques, this film didn't use too much unusual ways to portray a certain scene or character. Right when Ed was reminiscing about how he and Doris met, the phone rang, and the composition for the scene remained the standard thirds. On either side of the shot, there was nothing but walls; Ed was right at the center of the focus. In fact, the only things in focus was Ed and the phone, both at the center; everything to the side was blocked and blackened by the walls. This shows that whoever's calling the phone is very important as it was the only visible object other than the main character. Sure enough, turned out the phone call led Ed to a series of actions that ultimately ended tragically. 

7. Camera Movement:
      This film didn't have extreme angles or any computer graphics to emphasize the mood, but it did use some good camera movements. By simply moving the camera a certain way, it can amplify how the character feels or how the character wants the audience to feel. After Doris's death, Ed and his newly hired barber left the shop. The camera followed Ed from his right side as he walked home, smoking his cigarette. His voice-over tells that he felt people on the street avoided him like a disease after what happened with Doris, that he felt like a ghost among people. The way the camera followed him as he walked through the crowd showed how lonely, empty, and invisible he felt. Also the entire shot showed everybody else walking one way, and Ed's the only person walking the other way. No one is walking along with him, no one's keeping him company.

8. Cinematography Style:
      There are a few places in the film where the cinematography really calls attention to itself. One of them I remember was after Ed crashed the car with Birdy in it, the film took a dark, humorous turn and showed the car spinning around in the air in slow-motion while Ed rethinks his life. I think the reason this scene is humorous is because it's very cliche, the car slowly rotating in midair while the main character's life flashes before him. It is assumed that while the car was rolling around before it completely crashed, Ed was thinking about back before all his troubles started, when Doris was just unhappy with her life, drinking away her problems. It's a bit odd that out of Ed's entire life, this is the moment he thought of before he thought he was going to die. It's possible the reason is that Ed wanted to make Doris happy again, want to have a satisfying marriage with her.

Blog Post #2-Film Noir

    In the beginning of the documentary, director Errol Morris said "For me the great noir films, are films about fall guys. A person who finds himself caught in a net; the more he struggles, the deeper and deeper he becomes entwined in nightmare." and that often when bad things happen to the protagonist, it's "for no reason at all". In "The Postman Always Rings Twice", by coincidence, Frank happens to stop at Nick and Cora's restaurant, ends up working there and falling in love with Cora. Frank was caught between having an affair with Cora and lying to Nick. Frank tries to escape his situation by eloping with Cora, but was inevitably pulled back into the diner. The more Cora wanted to own the diner, the more Frank was tied to the place, which led to plotting the murder of Nick so both Frank and Cora can be free. Instead, Frank and Cora was caught in a feud to fight each other for freedom under the manipulation of their lawyers. The film ended with Cora dying in a car accident and Frank was executed to death.
   The description of a femme fatale that best fits Cora from "Postman Always Rings Twice" is that she's ambitious, indepedent, and sexual. She uses her sexuality not to get the man, but to use the man to get something for herself. Cora's ambition was clearly shown in the film, she mentioned more than once how she wanted to take over the diner herself and be somebody through hard work. She definitely was very diligent, eager to prove to herself and others that she's capable of achieving her goals. She married Nick to settle down, but she's willing to operate the diner with or without him. As it becomes apparent that Nick is standing in the way of her dream, she desperately wanted to get rid of him. Whether she really loved Frank or not, it is definite that she used her sexuality to get Frank as her accomplice in the murder. Multiple times she tried to convince Frank by saying "Don't you love me?" or "If you loved me you'll do it", almost as a form of threat.

    As a film noir, "The Postman Always Rings Twice" uses light/dark contrast, and camera angles to depict the elements that constitute a film noir: deep, obscure story lines that don't necessarily have a good or bad, but rather reflects a dark side of people. For example, the scene when Cora and Frank first met. Frank picks up Cora's lipstick but instead of handing it to her, he kept it in his hand and lures her to him. At this point there was a close up scene on Cora's face, where her face was shone under bright light but the rest of her head/body was in the shadows. The contrast in this scene suggests Cora seem to be a beautiful young woman, but there are parts of her that are actually sinister than one might think. Unfortunately since all the light is focused on her face, one may be distracted by her beauty and ignores the danger of being with her.

    As for camera angles, it's common for film noirs to use deep focus and wide angle lenses to broaden the scene, giving the audience a sense of a big environment. Also having one character close and facing the camera, while having another character further away from the camera and talking to the back of the first person gives an effect of depth. In the scene where Cora told Frank to paint the chairs, Frank was in the foreground preparing the paint while talking to Cora, who was behind him. This allows two characters to have an effective conversation while seeing both of their facial expressions. Also having the characters not look directly at each other gives the scene a more dramatic feel.

    Compared to film noirs, neo-noirs is an upgraded version, at least graphics-wise. As technology advances, colored films are able to be made so the story seem more realistic and less mysterious. In "Blade Runner" one of the most obvious film noir style it has is the darkness feel overall. It was rainy and smoky throughout most of the film, and none of the characters had a jolly personality. Story-wise, "Blade Runner" was about hunting down human-killing robots, which is quite sinister in itself. The brutal Replicants, especially Roy, who shows absolutely no mercy to human beings, adds to the uneasiness of the film. As for its mise en scene, Deckard's apartment is a good example. Most of the time, the only source of light in his apartment is sunlight, more specifically sunset, when the sunlight is the darkest. Otherwise his apartment is nearly completely dark. Even the sound effects adds to the dark feel. At the end part when Roy is chasing Deckard, not only does it take place at night in an unlit building, Roy howls like a wolf, putting more emphasis on the darkness of the scene.

Film Criteria

  Some of my criteria for a noteworthy film are the mood. Whether this mood is set my compelling background music, or the actors' facial expression and body language; the mood is necessary in enhancing the story. Otherwise even a film with the greatest storyplot would be bland. Another important aspect is of course the storyplot itself. I tend to like science fiction films because there really isn't a limit in imagination for these films. The story can be as bizarre as the writer can make it, the CGI that comes out with the film is usually impressive to watch. The plot needs to be capitvating as well as intriguing. It needs to be interesting enough so the audience would want to watch this film over and over again, because each time they learn something different from it. The last criteria would be the acting. Choosing appropriate actors is important because not everyone can portray every role. Picking the right person for the right job will ensure a character maximizes their personality on screen. 

  "A Trip To The Moon" by George Melies rises up to my expectations of a good film. Even for an early film, when technology for special effects aren't readily available. The story, add-on music and narration are captivating. The story of the 5 astronomers having an adventure on the moon with the creatures who reside there are humorous and light-hearted. The background music, although not present in the original film, did a good job creating the mood. The music was a bit more relaxed and happy when the scientists were preparing to enter the shell, and more action-packed when they were fighting the Cellunites. 

  In "The Great Train Robbery", the music is more or less the same throughout. So although it is a good add-on for background music, it doesn't serve as much purpose as it did in "A Trip To The Moon". The story is simple but clear. The actors did a wonderful job of portraying a role without speaking a single word. Throughout most of the film you can't even see the actors' faces so they must rely on mere body language. I enjoyed that this was supposed to be more of an action-packed film about a group of train robbers, but since it's an older film, the over-exaggerated acting made this film quite humorous. 

  One of my personal favorite films would be The Dark Knight. As much as I love the action and exploration of psychology of the villains in this film, I also love the acting. The Joker, portrayed by Heath Ledger, was widely agreed as the best characterization in a film. Ledger spent much of his time and energy trying to act out the psychopahtic aspect of the Joker. As seen in this short clip, the Joker's maniac behavior clearly makes him one of the best villains out there. 

  It was said that Ledger added details that weren't in the script, but without them, the Joker wouldn't be nearly as good. For example, the way he takes the glass of champagne, throws all of it away, and then drinks it is a very clever way of showing his craziness.
  Another film I enjoy would be The Matrix. What stands out to me the most about that movie is the story. As I mentioned earlier I really enjoy the science fiction type of films because they really widen my imagination. The Matrix is about a post-apocalyptic world controlled by machines, which grow humans, harvesting their bioelectricity and heat as energy source. The machines created a simulated world for the humans, called the matrix, in which the humans live in a false reality. The main character, a seemingly normal man named Thomas Anderson, who goes by a more secretive name Neo, was able to bend the physics in this digital reality and ultimately destroy the machines, freeing the humans. Of course, like any other hero, Neo must go through trials to train and prove that he is the savior of mankind. To me this story is so interesting because I've never thought what would happen if I knew the reality I live in all my life isn't what it seems to be. The movie inspired me to think about things I've never thought of before, exploring corners of my mind that I otherwise would have ignored. It is this feeling of aspiration and suddenly realization that makes me really enjoy a film.