Jared Hall CTA 373

Chaplin 3

jhall044 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:21:41 +0000

Chaplin 2

jhall044 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:21:22 +0000

After Charlie was sent to live with his mother once again, another problem arose quite quickly. The problem was that Charlie’s mother had literally lost her mind and Charlie was unable to take care of her. Since he was so young and unable to care for his mother by himself he decided to have her committed to an institution where she could receive care and treatment. Though this was the only thing that Chaplin could do at the time he still felt very bad about it. After some time of working in odd jobs, Charlie’s brother Sydney was able to get him an audition of sorts. Charlie needed the job so badly that he literally did whatever it took to get hired as an actor in the theater. After being hired Charlie became known for playing an old drunkard who would disrupt the act, and the crowd loved the act. Though Charlie was fairly well known in the theater scene he still did not receive much respect at all because stage actors at that time were viewed very poorly. Charlie traveled to America with the stage act and performed all over the country. In Montana Chaplin saw his first film and was immediately drawn to the medium.

Chaplin

jhall044 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:20:33 +0000

The film Chaplin (1992) stars Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin in a fictionalized recreation of his autobiography. The film starts off in England where Chaplin is from and shows him as a small boy. He lived with his mother and older brother Sydney in a small townhouse. The film shows that Chaplin’s mother was a stage performer, but when she was heckled off the stage and Charlie, who was very young, stepped out and performed her song instead; she never performed again. The only problem with her not performing was that she was no longer making any money and could not afford to pay her rent for the home that her and her two boys shared. After some time of not paying, the police came and took Charlie and Sydney away from their mother because she could no longer take car of them. The boys were taken to two different places, Charlie to a work camp/orphanage and Sydney was made to work on a ship. After a few years Charlie was taken back to his mother who had began making gloves to support herself and Charlie. The only real problem now was that she was no longer in a stable mind set and she was quite crazy to say the least.

“The Birth of a Nation”

jhall044 — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 03:32:48 +0000

In many ways D.W. Griffith’s film The Birth of a Nation (1915) brought about the birth of numerous aspects of film that we are accustomed to today. Griffith used an Iris to transition between scenes, which means that there would be a circle that closed in to end one shot and then reopened to show the next shot. He also used a great deal of care when it came to lighting because he wanted to present a higher quality product than people were used to at that time. Another aspect that Griffith favored that was uncommon was the close-up which he often used to end films and scenes. Perhaps the aspect of Griffith’s film making that I noticed more than the others was his use of parallel editing and parallel story lines within the film to progress it further and further in a shorter period of time.

Though I have only seen clips of The Birth of a Nation (1915) it is clear to me that Griffith utilized all of his tricks in the film and he used them quite well. Though there was no dialog in the film, there was sound which aided in the flow of the film because there are battle scenes and scenes of people praying quietly in hiding. Griffith showcased all of his skills in this film and it is obvious that his work is well worth studying.

D.W. Griffith

jhall044 — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:25:58 +0000

The films of D.W. Griffith were quite innovative for the period of time that they were made. Griffith utilized almost every bit of technology available to him at the time. He also experimented with film as much as he was able with this limited technology. Griffith used close-ups quite a bit even though they were not very common in that time.

Griffith’s work, The Battle At Elderbrush Gulch is very interesting because he uses parallel editing, which allows for multiple stories to be shown to the audience at once. By using parallel editing Griffith is able to weave plot lines into one another and progress the film further and still have everything make sense. Another technique that was utilized by Griffith was to place the subtitles in the scenes rather than prefacing each scene with a summary of what was going to happen in that scene. This allowed for the film to move quite smoothly and it also allowed for the film to have more suspense because it kept the audience wondering what exactly was going to happen next.

The experimentation that Griffith did was very cutting edge and I feel that he really lead the medium of film in the direction that it is still going towards today.

Edwin S. Porter

jhall044 — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:00:32 +0000

Edwin S. Porter was definitely an originator in the medium of film. Even though his works were done in the earlier days of film and there was not new technology available on an almost daily basis, he still managed to push the limits of film. Some of the techniques that Porter used were camera movement, telling a story in several scenes, and special effects. Porter even used animation in some of his films. He also used outdoor scenes with these special effects which made his films even more innovative.

One of the films that Porter is best known for is The Great Train Robbery (1903) which utilized several of the techniques that he used that were not common during the time period. In this film, Porter utilized multiple scene story-telling, outdoor shots, color, and special effects. The one technique that Porter used that very few people used was the close-up. Close-ups were rarely used, even by Porter and they were generally a single frame that may even appear out of place. The best example of a close-up is the last shot of The Great Train Robbery which shows a cowboy with a gun. Porter may actually be credited with starting the entire “western” genre in film because of his 1903 work.

The Birth of Film

jhall044 — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:39:13 +0000

The birth of film cannot be traced to any one particular event or discovery in history. The text does say however, that “the first seeds were planted as early as 1646. A German Jesuit named Athanasius Kircher was hard at work devising an instrument he called Magia Catoptrica“. (1) The translation for Magia Catoptrica is “the Magic Lantern” which makes pretty good sense to me. It is thought that the idea had previously been “invented”, but it had never made it from paper to a working model.

Some may say that this invention is the birth of film, but I would have to disagree. The birth of film may have started with this invention, but there are other aspects that were included in the birth of film. Once film was available as a medium it was opened artists up to an entirely different way of creating that was extremely revolutionary.

The first films were generally series photography, which simply means that they were several still frames that were run together quickly. Even though these films were pictures run together, they were quite creative. The first series photography films really opened the whole medium up to the world which led to even more innovation.

Character Change

jhall044 — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:17:54 +0000

In class, we discussed the idea of character change, which simply means that a character is different at the end of the film than they were at the beginning. Character change is most often associated with some positive change that a character makes, which causes everything to turn out right and leaves us with a happy ending. Character change can also refer to a negative change that character goes through, such as a generally good person becoming a villain in a superhero film such as Spiderman.

One film that really sticks out in my head is the film American History X (1998) which follows the lives of two brothers and their family. The oldest brother, Derek, is a skinhead who goes to prison for murder. While in prison, he realizes how wrong he has been and changes his view of the world. During this time his younger brother Danny becomes a skinhead in order to follow in Derek’s footsteps. After several incidents, Derek and Danny are both no longer skinheads or believers in such hatred. Most people would think that this dramatic character change would lead to a happy ending, but that is not what you get. Instead, Danny is shot and killed by a black student that he had previously attacked. As Derek runs in to find Danny dead, the film comes to a close. It is not a happy ending, but it definitely shows character change.

Corrigan Ch. 3 Blog 2

jhall044 — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:03:38 +0000

After discussing a few aspects of film last week, I have decided to write about point of view and how important it is to the direction of a film. Point of view is a term that film shares with literary and visual arts, much like other terms such as narrative. According to the text, “In the broadest sense, it refers to the position from which something is seen and, by implication, the way that point of view determines what you see.” (46) If a house on the corner is what you need to see, then that is what you will see and you will see it from a certain person’s eyes depending on the story line that is being shown. There are however some instances in which there seems to be no individual point of view, but rather a broad, almost more accurate point of view that is necessary to communicate a certain point. One of these instances that the text discusses is the point of view of battle scenes in the film Gone with the Wind (1939) in which there seems to be a very broad point of view that shows the battle in a more accurate and unbiased light. The use of point of view is vital to film and depending on the plot and story line is one of the most effective tools that there is in film.

Corrigan Ch. 3

jhall044 — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:07:09 +0000

While reading chapter three of Corrigan’s A Short Guide To Writing About Film, I found several of the points that were made to be interesting. For instance, the text states that “although the movies are one of the youngest of the arts, they have absorbed the structures and forms of many older arts” (39), which shows that film draws inspiration and technique from more traditional art forms. Film draws the ideas of plot, characters, narrative, and point of view from literary and visual arts and I feel that this shows why film is every-changing because of the freedoms that are available in the medium of film.

Corrigan discusses the impact that the frame can have on the audience by speaking of how the actions and objects that are present in the frame can change the feeling or tone of the film for the audience. One example that I have recently viewed is Rob Zombie’s version of Halloween, which is shot in a very real manner. This effect is achieved by strange camera angles and positions and also there seems to be just enough editing to maintain the quality of the film.

Movies will continue to change the world of art by pushing all of the traditional concepts to their limits and then going beyond. At the same time, film will continue to draw upon the more traditional art forms in order maintain the level of artistry that is necessary for success.