Alfred Stieglitz

Welles used sound to establish and further enhance the viewer’s attention to the meanings of what is portrayed on screen. Another impressive use of sound in Citizen Kane is the sequence after the end of the newsreel announcing the death of Kane. We are exposed to a room, dimly lit and shallow (unlike the deep and wide banquet room), full of men. The camera focuses on Mr. Rawlston, who, while he speaks, performs a myriad of motions towards and against the camera – all of which are enhanced…

Now that Barthes has tried to definitively exclaim that the author is dead, we examine other cinematic forms of authorship this week, notably through the practice of producers, studio executives, and commercial properties. Through the work of Matthew Bernstein, Thomas Schatz, and Timothy Corrigan we find arguments for sub-facets of authorial figures in cinema, but ultimately note that the auteur theory can only be applied to cinema directors. Matthew Bernstein states that rarely is there such a…

The Girl On The Train is written similar to a Hitchcock movie. Lacking the typical thrill of Psycho, the book still manages to use the key element of suspension. In true Alfred Hitchcock fashion, Paula Hawkins uses her imagination to conjure up a tightly woven plot that constantly shifts with every perspective change. Due to Rachel's constant blackouts, every time she remembers any, and I mean any, memory, they can't be…

The world of film is a place where two senses collide—hearing and sight. Being able to watch characters maneuver through life as the story unfolds is just part of the experience. When sound is added to the mix, an entirely different dimension to the adventure is created. This feature is capable of propelling the viewer even deeper within the plot; it can stop a person in their tracks, preparing them for what is to come. Sound guides the viewer from one scene to the next and creates anticipation.…

I am very fond of many of the theories, but I have chosen to compare Person Centered Theory and Adlerian Theory. These two theories I identify with on various levels and I attribute this to the fact that people are normally attracted to the familiar or the commonalities we identify with in each other and as a group. Person Centered Theory and Adlerian theory have different concepts as to how they should be used with clients, but ultimately they exert quite a few similarities as well as…

The setting plays an extremely central role in that it sets up the tone for the story. The great detail Eggers provides really puts the audience in his eyes where we can see what he is seeing. The descriptive details made me feel like I was watching a movie with extravagant scenery rather than reading words on a white piece of paper. Eggers describes the company's building as, "30 feet high [that] shot through with California light . . . the front hall was as . . . tall as a cathedral." Every…

The Big Sleep is an film noir, which was pioneering in crime drama tropes and style. The film utilizes editing techniques and camera work to convey a intricate narrative. One of the most interesting scenes to me was in the opening of the film when Marlowe is talking to General Sternwood which really introduces the main character through his interactions with the old man. The scene also makes good use of the 180-degree rule, shot/reverse shot, and eyeline matching which makes the dialogue between…

The cinematography is one of the things that stands out most in the movie Vertigo. Not only is the vertigo effect (dolly zoom) fun and intriguing, but even from the beginning of the film, the shots really stand out and are very different from anything we’ve seen in Hitchcock’s earlier films. I liked watching the way the film transitioned from sepia to red and the various zooms to different parts of Madeleine’s face, then to the rotating symbols. All of this seemed very symbolic to me. The sepia…

The cinematic style of a director is his or her fingerprint. It is wholly unique to that specific director, and even the best attempts to mimic another director’s style are not entirely successful. The esteemed director Tim Burton uses his own unique style to enrich his films with meaning and complexity. However, his use of styles is not equal and balanced, for he draws heavily upon grayscale and dark imagery. He uses these colors as a polarizing agent to enhance the movement of the plot without…

Wells claimed that is only preparation for directing Citizen Kane was to watch John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939) forty times. Ford’s influence on the film is pronounced, but according to David Cook’s History of Narrative Film, it is equally clear that Welles was steeped in the major European traditions, especially those of German Expressionism and the Kammerspielfilm and French poetic realism. Kane’s narrative economy owes much to “the example of Ford, its visual texture is heavily indebted to the…