Short Term 12

With Short Term 12 being a serious and touchy movie I noticed an aspect that seems to have brought a lot of attention to. With this aspect many viewers ask the question why this component was added or what bigger purpose does it serve? And that is camera. Camera is what makes the movie, the story all depends how the movie was shot. If camera shots are very quick paced, then you know in the story that pressure is happening. It all pays a toll to how the viewer sees it and understands truly what kind of movie it is. Short Term 12 is a residential treatment facility where teens are brought in because of depression, anxiety, or any other psychological disorder. We receive this genuinely moving story of Grace(Brie Larson) who works at this facility with her boyfriend and co-worker Mason(John Gallagher Jr.) providing need to these kids. Eventually a teen girl arrives by the name of Jayden(Kaitlyn Dever) who has a history of self harm and distancing herself from others. Grace feels a bond with her because she has gone through the same troubles Jayden once did in the past. The camera work in a specific scene creates a sentimental and real feeling for the viewers to view instead of using other components.

(Spoiler Alert) Towards the middle ending of the film, Grace reveals to Mason that she cannot marry him and is having an abortion with the baby. In this shot, the two actors are outside at night time. It's dark and gloomy, a professional production company would shed some light on them somehow, but not here. This production company just has the handheld camera facing these two actors using natural light to emphasize that these types of situations are real and can happen at any moment. Also after this scene (Spoiler Alert) Grace goes to Jayden's home to injure her father and she stops her and decides to bash his car with a baseball bat instead. With this event happening, Grace is on top of the car, bashing the car's front windshield over and over again. With each swing the camera moves slightly back and forth from Grace hitting it. The camera follows the bat, with each and every swing to break the shield, with glass everywhere.

At the end of it all, the viewer really understands the feelings of each swing and what damage Jayden and Grace's father have done to them. It symbolizes that each bash to the car, was each bash to their life. Although this movie had it's moments with amazing camera work, there was still a few shots that could have been better, but was still passable. I'm sure the director wished to have this authentic look to the film. And I have to say that there is a fine line between being emotional to making it feel insincere. I believe that Cretton didn't trust the actors as much as he should have. Focus more on the actors and less on the camera work. Don't just say, "Let the shot speak for itself," because in the end, if you wish for a film to feel real and heartwarming, all you need to hear are the words from the actors. The main focus seems to be on Grace the entire film and it's as if it is all about her. If the camera is on her always then it will seem as though we should only care for her when in the end she goes back to her friends and boyfriend.

 If the viewers were to feel more sympathy for everyone then I believe the camera should have focused more on the side characters in this film. Give it more of a real feeling of everyone's view of the situation. I believe that this component really pays a toll to how the audience gathers information as to what the story is about. It makes us believe in certain people, it makes us understand things that we weren't able to. With this component as I have stated before was that specific shots capture not only what is happening, but how the viewer sees it and feels. That's the beauty with film work, you can have components that give off different purposes then the original purpose.

I find that I see this component in the film High Fidelity quite a bit since it is shot by breaking the fourth dimension. The film focuses on all around Rob Gordon(John Cusack) about his past girlfriends and it seems as though it can be a real event that happens in people lives but the film also does not focus too much on other characters.
All in all I give it a 9/10.

MYST #3: Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

Scout's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is about three scouts who are the towns best hope to fight off the horde of zombies. Now this premise is simple enough, and so are the characters. You have the average teen who reasons with everyone, and you have the innocent fat awkward one, then finally you have the trash talker who somehow became friends with the other guys. Now when you come across a zom-com you expect a lot of action and zombie fighting, oh no, not just yet. 

This movie tends to have a lot of dragging on until you finally get to see a montage of zombie fighting towards the very end. Now let me be straight here, there are times when the montage sequences are important for the theme message of the film, it isn't just all about gore and tit jokes. There is a time in the movie where towards the beginning the three sophomores are spending time together by building a camp site in order for Augie (Joey Morgan) to receive his condor patch. In these short shots of the three friends making the campsite perfect and enjoying each others time together makes you believe that being a scout can bring friends closer. But this montage becomes ruined because afterwards Carter (Logan Miller) wakes up Ben (Tye Sheridan) to go to the "Secret Senior Party" and leave Augie. This montage becomes the one thing that defines their friendship and makes the audience know that. Then later in the film, they come together as one after Bens speech about becoming the heroes with their scout abilities and go to a department store and gather supplies to help the students at the party by killing the zombies.

This montage sequence becomes a time for all of them to use their scout's abilities to save the day and be best friends once again. After this montage the scout's head to the party and there is a montage of them killing the zombies. I felt as though this montage didn't serve a bigger purpose then what the previous montages did but it was there for the audience to enjoy as a "Hell Yeah" scene. It doesn't serve as effectively as it did about being close with one another but it does serve another purpose of actually showing them helping others out. This cinematic component helped build the movie to what it is by seeing all the good times the friends have and what makes them special in short montages to make the audience feel good and for them too. It gives off that important message that you should stick by your friends and come out victorious in the end instead of giving up because you are doubted by people around you. For these montages to go into full effect, I'm sure the director wanted multiple montages of the teens working together to save the day from the horrific zombie apocalypse.

I have to say that after seeing this movie, it makes me think that this movie is the result of combining Zombieland and Superbad together. It has that vulgar humor from Superbad from the POV of teens, and it has the guide tips from Zombieland. It's just a story of teens that should stick together, getting the girl in the end, and being happy together. Zimple and Zweet. 

All in all I give this movie a rating of 6/10