Film director

In the Change to the Big Screen “Film is a very, very powerful medium. It can either confirm the idea that things are wonderful the way they are, or it can reinforce the conception that things can be changed.” These words were taken from the award-winning filmmaker and author Wim Wenders, someone who appreciates how movies have a profound impact on all different types of people. Perhaps this is why the most powerful books are so often transferred to the screen, as is so with In the Heat of the…

much attention at the box office. Dealing with sexual concepts that many frown upon, the movie has drawn its share of controversy, becoming a hotly debated topic even within households. With such success, an important inquiry remains; why has this film received so much commercial success? While it is difficult to pinpoint the reasons exactly, one man’s ideas have strong correlation to the possible explanations. In his novel, Civilization and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud developed theories on…

A new form of cinema or third world cinema main goal as its main goal is to show how things really are. In the case of Cuba, it depicts how a socialist democratic society is. Third world cinema also, challenges the power structure and in due course increase social consciousness. This kind of social consciousness focuses, specifically, on creating a rational thinking within society by incorporating politics, nationalism, and a wide range of ideologies. This intricate cinema wants to reveal the…

Films that take place at different times in history, and are produced at different times are bound to have dissimilar effects of their audiences. Despite being made forty years apart, Pigs and Battleships (Imamura, 1961) and Y Tu Mamá También (Cuarón, 2001) both deal with similar subject matter. The political turmoil in their respective countries at the time of production are depicted in very different ways, and even in surprisingly different genres. Pigs and Battleships uses the lower class…

Film has radically changed during the course of history. These changes can be linked to the effects of America’s historical, social, and technological advancements. Throughout film’s evolution in story, design, and production, there remains some constants. Form and content has changed dramatically in movies. The content of film has increased in variation, as over time freedom for the screen grew as regulations became more relaxed. The film’s form has constantly been improved over time to present…

Doppelgänger is used intensively in German film of the early 20th century to represent cinematic themes throughout particular movies, usually in the form of reflection, shadows and impersonation of different characters. In the cases of The Student of Prague and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, this cinematic technique is used throughout these films to link two or more images of the main character to illustrate a larger idea of film making history in Germany. In The Student of Prague, doppelgänger…

Released in 1935, The 39 Steps is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous masterpieces. Quickly becoming an international success, it established Hitchcock’s unshaken status as the cinematic ‘master of suspense’. This classic film is particularly notable today for combining suspense and humor, and many of Hitchcock’s other trademarks as it inspired many remakes and adaptations. The thriller starring Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll and Peggy Ashcroft is loosely based on the 1915 novel of the same…

in order to be with the man she loves, gets lost and decides to stay at a motel for the night, shortly regretting what she’s done. This film, featuring Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates and Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, breaks cinematic history. With Hitchcock’s great eye for detail, he engrosses audiences in this ground breaking psychological thriller/horror film to the very end. Hitchcock makes use of motifs and mise-en-scene to explore the key themes and ideas such as duality, voyeurism and…

While religion and film are concepts that most believe to be separate I would instead argue that cinematography itself is a form of religion, fulfilling the role of worldmaking and establishing a code of conduct. Brent Plate’s book Religion and Film demonstrates the similarity between film and religion when explaining that “Religion and film are akin. They both function by recreating the known world and then presenting that alternative version of the world to their viewers/worshippers” (2).…

When creating a scene in film, it is important to communicate the tone of the scene in order to make your audience feel a certain way about the scene. You communicate that tone by scene color, music and lighting. When editing the color of a scene, it is important to know what you want the audience to feel. By knowing what you want them to feel, you edit the color of the scene to match the tone you want. As human beings, we connect certain colors with certain things. If a gate is gold with white…