Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is arguably the best film ever produced and many people state this for the many cinematic components thrown into the mix. Orson Welles is a radio major and in that specific field you use many components such as sound effects, audio balancing, and sudden cuts in the dialogue. While Welles was a new filmmaker he made a big name for himself by adding more elements to his movies then any other director. Making an upbringing to these multiple elements makes filmmakers of today look deep into each element and puts a deep analysis of why it is important.

One of the elements I noticed that stood out then any other one Welles used was lighting. Lighting did symbolize the meaning and atmosphere of each scene. Sometime this component is overlooked and not recognized by many people, but Welles used this component and inspired other filmmakers with the absence of lighting and has become well know for the genre film noir. An example in the movie where lighting plays a role is whenever Thompson (the news reporter) is in a scene he always has the absence of light presenting on himself. This can be analyzed by stating that the use of having a silhouette of himself, he isn't important or has little meaning to the story so the main focus is on other characters in the story.

Another time this element is used effectively was in the first couple of scenes when Kane met Susan. Where Kane pursues Susan into her apartment and when he speaks to her and has a dark shadow presented on his face, it has a deeper meaning that I find to be notable. It seems as if the dark shadow on Kane foreshadows how he treats her later when they are married. I find that this element wasn't always presented as we would like it to be but since Welles used multiple elements, we can't blame him for not focusing 100% on one component.

There is a scene where Susan is presented with Thompson when she is weak and drunk and has a frontal and backlight presented on her presence. This image tends to mix the symbolic meaning of her being powerless and yet has a distinct harsh light to persuade the audience to also tell you she is important and strong. Lighting definitely can bring different moods and tones to the film whether it be dark and powerful or bright and happy. I find there seems to be a film where they use the same meanings behind their lighting placement with the dark and powerful element.

This film is "Barton Fink" and with the isolation of the shadow on his presence tends to give off a ominous, looming madness type feel. It can be connected to Kane and how he is always the powerful and dark character in the story in total contradiction to the others.

1935 Movie: Tom's Loan

Studio: Columbia Pictures. They are known for the director Frank Capra and his romantic feel good movies that brought people to escape with the Great depression still on effect to the people. Columbia wasn't widely liked at the time so their production budgets were smaller then other film production companies.

Cast/Crew:
Director: Frank Capra
 He was a well deserved director who won 3 oscars as best director.

Because of Capras' engineering education he was more easily adapted to sound technology then most other directors. 

Cinematographer: Joseph Walker 

He collaborated with Capra in 20 films and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography four times. 

Actors: James Stewart, Jean Arthur 

Stewart was a recurring actor in Capras films and he became a perfect fit for Capras

Frank Capra

american fables and was known for the innocent man who learns what life is truly about. 

And Jean was a role in numerous comedy dramas who costarred with Stewart and was also a recurring actress in Capras films. 

Genre: In this time, it will be very much appreciated by the poor families in the 30's because it will be a Drama. It includes depression, vulnerability, hope, and love.

Synopsis:
This film starts with a flashback of 6 years ago when husband and wife Tom and Jennifer(James and Jean) lose their savings from the Depression and are terribly upset in this situation. They lose their cars, house, and all hope for America. Jennifer also has a miscarriage with their first son. 6 years later of constant sadness Tom seeks hope and faith for the future and goes to church. He then realizes by the gods that he shouldn't be worrying about his future, instead he should be worrying about the present so the future will succeed on its own. Tom then has an epiphany about pooling all of his and Jennifer's remaining luxury and donating it to their neighbors with a sign in front of all their belongings. Saying "Take on item and tell us your story." With this event happening Jennifer is on the fence about this whole situation and is putting her faith into Tom.  They soon are questioned by their neighbors why they are doing this and why it all must go.

Tom then replies with a statement about how he wishes others to experience happiness with luxury in their items, while they he and Jennifer receive happiness by their emotions and heart felt moments. More and more people are stopping by and taking Tom and Jennifer's goods and sharing their stories of how the depression changed their lives. Soon after, all of Tom and Jennifer's luxury items are gone and they are only left with hundreds of stories about how the depression changed their lives. Tom then makes a single flyer for each story and posts them all around their neighborhood. People are reading these flyers and are noticing all of the awareness produced by Tom and Jennifer. Then soon after, Tom and Jennifer are woken by in the middle of the night by a couple that lives down the street from them and wishes to come in and talk. They are talking about how grateful they are for their goods Tom and Jen gave to this couple. This couple talks about how the baby crib they took gave their baby daughter a proper sleeping place and puts less stress on their shoulders. In thanks they give Tom and Jen $50. Tom and Jen are then shocked and surprised by how much money they had. And the couple goes on to explain that the whole neighborhood pooled money together and give back from the happiness they received from the gifts Tom and Jen gave. The couple then ask them to come outside and as they open the door, the whole neighborhood are standing there smiling and holding their gifts to show how it changed their lives. 

HAYS Code:
This film does not produce any violent, sex, drug, anti-political filled events within the whole screening. It does however talk about Jen having a miscarriage and how the HAYS Code prohibits the talk/showing of child birth/death. So in this specific scene in the beginning, It will have to be inferred that the child died. It will be set up in a hospital room and Jen and Tom are there holding hands and the doctor is talking to Jen but we cannot hear what he says but then Jen starts to cry deeply and Tom hugs her. Other then that, there aren't any other topics that go against the HAYS Code. It is a family friendly film so all eyes can view as well.

Technology:
Since Columbia Pictures has a smaller budget value the whole film is in black and white except for the church and final scene where all the hope shows and happiness is filled so the audience knows color is associated with a great moment/fantasy. 

Other Comments:
This film would work well for the year 1935 because it addresses rough situations that many people were facing at the time during the effects of the depression. So audience members can relate to this film which will give them hope by watching it all the way through and realizing what life is truly about.

MYST #1: The Visit

I'm no fan of horror films, especially if the director and writer of this movie are known from horror filmmaking. The director, M. Night Shyamalan, directed and produced movies such as "Sixth Sense," and "Paranormal Activity," which are films that are intended to be scary, but this movie seemed to have a twist to it. When I watched the trailer, I didn't know if it was a gag horror film or an actual scary movie. I was asked to see this film with friends but I told them it looked terrible, but I ended up going just to see it fail and laugh about it. In my Intro Survey I mention that I don't like it when the movie has genre switching and that's what makes a bad film.  As I am watching the film it has parts where it is obviously supposed to be funny, and the theater laughs hysterically. My friends and I look at each other and agree that this is definitely a movie like "Haunted House" or "Scary Movie." Everybody is throwing out comments towards the film just to make it even more hilarious. This is where the twist happens. Towards the end, there was a scene where the kids are on a Skype call with their mom back at home. (Spoiler Alert) And the children tell her that they are urgent about being picked up because "something" is going on with their grandparents. The mother then asks where they are and what they are doing. The siblings then pick up the laptop and move it towards the window so the mother can see and realize they are standing in the backyard. Then the mother says "Kids, who are those people? Those people aren't your grandparents. Have you been staying with them the entire week?!" At this point everyone in the theater and myself included are saying "What in the hell!?" We all know something is about to go down and are actually freaking out. The movie continues to have it's funny moments but then it starts to become a killer/slaughter film.

I have never seen any director pull off a successful horror film that is funny as well. Comedy and Horror. Who would have thought? Horror films are always funny when it is viewed with friends because you feel safe and comfortable. But Shyamalan made it even better by genre switching/mixing. This movie is based around the kids not coming out of their rooms after 9:30 p.m. because that's when things start becoming "weird" to the grandparents. The children are of course curious and go out to see for themselves what is going on. The film has that stereotypical horror aspects such as going beyond your limits and going past a door you shouldn't. Everyone knew when a jump scare or a build up to a freaky moment would occur. I don't know whether it was because most of the people enjoyed vulgar humor, or today horror films are just too typical for the director to use this aspect. The children would actually make fun of the grandparents about the acts they have done. Shyamalan wanted the viewers to go from laughing to screaming in a matter of seconds and it was confusing but well developed.

In the beginning of the movie, it started with the mother talking into a camera as it was setup in a interview angle and she was setting up the situation as it would cut back and forth from the kids packing to go visit their grandparents that they never met. You are then introduced to the camera operator, Becca, and she tells the audience that she will be documenting the entire trip with their elders. What's a good horror movie without a shaking camera so you can throw up afterwards. It does capture a documentary style movie though and it does a well job with creating this happy kids meeting their grandchildren but now this camera is the one thing they hold on to to see what happens to their grandparents late at night. There were some patterns when it came to the kids using the cameras. Since Becca has two she gave one to her younger brother, Tyler. And the viewing from each of the kids point of view was very interesting. It makes it seem as though we are all getting different perspectives from how these kids are dealing with the situation they got themselves into. With the documentary style it adds times of when their father wasn't around and all the good times they had at the very end of the film to end off on a good note. Any other film would just have a montage of all the good times and then have the narrator speak about it afterwards. We actually got a deal of homemade films like the ones we love deeply.

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

This film touches on so many genres. Horror/Thriller/Comedy/Documentary. The director definitely wanted to mash all of them together and see what would it create since all of the other movies nowadays are have a very simple genre and it can't be broadened out to other genres. But now it has been shown that it can become a great film if it is thought out well so we don't have people judging it and thinking it is dumb (Yes I did call myself out). But really this film did phenomenal with making me believe that any movie can be well done if it is thought out no matter if people describe it as inconsistent. Inconsistency has brought people to label horror movies to be dumb and predictable. This director decided to change the movie industry up and change how we view horror movies as Tyler and Becca do.

All in all I rate this movie 7/10

Official Trailer