Formal Film Study: (Martin Scorsese)

We all love and admire Marty with his big time movie hits where we see references from in all TV shows, magazines, and articles. But, how did Mr. Scorsese become who he is today? How did he progress through out his films starting from the late 60's all the way up to 2013. I grabbed his first film, Who's that knocking at my door?(1967). His middle film, Cape Fear(1991). And finally his most recent acclaimed film, Wolf of Wall Street(2013). Scorsese develops as a director from each of these films and I am about to share the components with you.

Cinematography: We know the camera work is always amazing. And we also know that Martin tends to have a pattern in his films of long slow motion tracking shots from right-left or straight-backwards. The speed of each scene tends to build up and work it's way back up to normal motion. In Wolf of Wall Street, there is a tracking shot of Jordan Belfort(DiCaprio) walking straight at the camera explaining what he is doing with the company. It is portrayed as a long tracking shot of this one target while there is only one direction in this motion. Some of these tracking shots may be perceived as a lazy editing act but Scorsese wanted the viewer to really pay attention to this one target in the motion because of deeper symbolic reasoning. Such as in the beginning scene of Cape Fear, where Max is walking out of prison and the tracking shot is in front of him walking away while the camera rises above and shows a view of the prison to explain that max came out of a place that grew on him just as though a king walking out of his castle. While Who's knocking at my door? was an older film, Martin knew what he was doing when he had the photographer film long panning shots of grey cityscape's and interiors with objects of religion to emphasize that this story revolves around a Christian protagonist.

Culture: Martin has a heritage of being Italian-American and we all know that he tends to go against the important values in each of these films towards the end. Italian values consist of having family always be there and helping them in a time of need. Watching Who's Knocking at My Door?, I noticed that the protagonist seemed to have lost his way without having the support of his friends when he gets rejected by his wife and then results going to church but hasn't found solace there either. Even though his friends aren't technically family, any close person to an Italian is considered family. They build that bond overtime no matter the events. Especially in the ending scene of Cape Fear when the family survive the terrorism of Max Caddy. While they did survive together they still all feel alone because Max terrorized each of them at some points of the film and we can see the damage on each of the characters. The damage is done on the family and they are separated mentally. Being mentally broken, you can definitely relate that to Wolf of Wall Street where Jordan ends up becoming sober and leading sales events because he has been labeled as a drug addict who has corrupted his life with money and sex. His friends, who seemed to be family, basically deserts him because Jordan goes overboard.

Visual Effects: What's a good movie without a little disorientation to our eye. We all love those effects that make us go gaga, especially if Scorsese is behind it all. Watching the profoundly Wolf of Wall Street, I noticed quite a lot of special effects from green screens to color fading . I am simply astounded by this component in this film. I especially enjoy the effect in the beginning where Jordan is describing his life before he tells the whole upbringing. And a scene of a Ferrari drives up in a tracking shot and it appears to have a color or red but then Jordan says in his dialogue "No No No, my Ferrari was white" as he is saying these lines the car changes color to a Snow White. This seemed to be as a hook to the audience to make them believe that the shots are very intriguing and will make you wait for more effects like this. Such as the CGI and green screens as it is mentioned on http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/01/14/wolf_of_wall_street_visual_effects_reel_you_won_t_believe_which_scenes_were.html. In this article it explains that there are multiple shots of these types of effects and along with that, they provide a visual effects reel. Another effect I see in these films is the eery inverted effect on characters eyes in Cape Fear while we see a sudden or darkening feel to whoever the effect is presented upon. This can be taken into a symbolic meaning of feeling a darkening even when we feel safe, especially at the end.

Scorsese's films all have something in common, I just happened to come across these components since it very known. If I went back and re-watched these films once more, I am sure I would have come across more key ideas of common elements. I do enjoy the editing of Marty's films such as Wolf of Wall Street(2013) and Goodfellas(1990). Mainly because the protagonist breaks the fourth wall by talking to the camera. Although Henry Hall narrates the movie, Goodfellas, it still does give off the effect of him talking to the audience. We all see patterns in certain directors but I do enjoy finding them in movies that are very popular by one of my favorite directors. It is also intriguing and interesting watching more of Scorsese's films since I see him as a good role model for my career. I never get old of Scorsese's films, hopefully Sinatra will be a hit in 2016.