Snatch and Amelie

In the movie "Snatch" this movie explores the dark side of life, where as "Amelie" explores the light side of light. Right off the bat "Snatch" starts dark and violent. The movie is based on things being taken away from people. The people in this film have no regard for human life in this film. As the film progress the story intertwines all the characters. Throughout the movie all the characters are against each other. In the scene where the last fight is happening and Mickey is floating in the water, it's really his subconscious. There are a lot of fast paced shots in the last fight, the fast paced shots are how Mickey is feeling and seeing things during the fight. In the beginning though, Turkish didn't think a gypsy, like Mickey, would ever beat anyone. In the end Mickey comes out on top. Even though everyone thought that he would lose.









Where as Amelie shows the light side of life, rather than the dark. Amelie who is the main character finds a box and decides to find the owners. Throughout each sequence of events she finds comfort in helping people. Before she became a guardian angel, she was just another face in the crowd. She never felt like she was doing anything productive with her life. As soon as she became in control of other people, her mind set changed dramatically. Women were not really considered the most important character of the films. So to have a female protagonist in this film was interesting to see. Amelie was trying to fill the void in her life with helping other people find their missing parts they had lost or had not noticed, where as she didn't until the very end, when her neighbor told her not to be a coward and go for it. In Amelie, the old guy who painted was the narrator, which was dramatic and sereal in some ways since he didn't leave his apartment throughout the film.

Use of mise en scene techniques in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"

One of the key themes explored in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is the tension between who we are and who we would like to be. The filmmaker Ben Stiller uses a number of interesting mise en scene techniques to show the dullness and loneliness surrounding Walter in the early part of the story as well as the contrast with the type of life he would like to have.

Towards the beginning of the film, we are introduced to Walter, who lives a dull and lonely life. In several shots the director Ben Stiller combines the techniques of an overhead camera angle and the closed form showing a confined space to convey powerlessness and a sense of being trapped. The use of muted colors adds to the sense of how dull his life is.

In another early scene we see Walter walking down the hallway of his apartment building with his back to the camera.  In this scene the filmmaker uses the technique of dominant contrast to draw the viewer's eyes to the lonely small figure of Walter walking down the hall. The majority of the shot is occupied by the broad blank wall, symbolizing how walled in his life is. The color that we are seeing is all shades of gray, which further adds to the impression his life is drab and cold.

 

The filmmaker uses techniques of superimposition of images and iconocgraphical shot, to show the difference between who Walter is and who he is dreaming about being. In one early scene, Walter is in his office hallway where he has a socially awkward "missed encounter" with Cheryl, an attractive co worker. As soon as things with Cheryl go south, Walter enters his fantasy zone and imagines himself as rugged mountain climber introducing himself to Cheryl. In his fantasy they are flirting. Ben Stiller uses the technique of superimposition of images to show the real Walter watching the fantasy Walter being successful with women. In another shot we see Walter running past a series of Life magazine covers showing many famous people. At the end of the scene Walter runs past a cover image of himself as an astronaut. This iconocgraphical choice shows both the real Walter and the fantasy of the man he would like to be in the same scene.



In conclusion, the  mise en scene techniques that the filmmaker Ben Stiller used in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" helped us understand how Walter felt trapped in a boring and lonely life, as well as how he envisioned his life and how it might become. Through the course of the movie Walter discovers how to become as brave as he was in his fantasies, and finds the purpose of life.

Use of vanishing perspective in key scenes from Mystic River

In the movie Mystic River, Clint Eastwood used a technique of  vanishing perspective in key scenes to convey the emotional vulnerability of  key characters that are in the center of the frame each scene. 

The opening scene has it's best use for vanishing perspective. In the part of the movie where Dave is looking back out the window and you can see Jimmy and Shawn staring back him as he gets smaller and smaller. The camera follows the car from the rear showing the road going on endlessly. Dave in this scene is seen vulnerable because of his pleading eyes and the fact that the car is going so slow, which indicates he is slowly losing his childhood innocence. Dave as an adult for shadows his death. Before Kathy is killed we see Dave at the var watching Katy dance with her friends. later that night he comes home teary eyed and covered in someone else's blood. As the movie progresses he seems to relive what happened to him all over again affecting his judgement. At the end when Jimmy stabs Dave, after Dave falsely admitted that he had killed Kathy. As Dave is lying there bleeding all his sins and worries are bleeding out with him. 


In this scene of the movie Jimmy s seen wandering down the same street that Dave was taken from. The way the camera is angled tells the viewers that he too is on a never ending road. As Jimmy grows up, he becomes this tough guy who will show people what he is made of. when Jimmy was a little kid though he acted all in control and ready for anything. As soon as Dave was kidnapped he protected himself like he should have protected Dave all those years ago. At the end of the movie you can see Jimmy standing in the street where both Dave and him were robbed of their childhood. Shawn finds out in the end that Jimmy killed Dave. They are both sitting on the curb where they used to play hockey and out talking about Dave. When Shawn ask's if Jimmy has seen Dave, he replies that he hasn't seen Dave in years. What he really means though is that he hasn't seen the real Dave.

In conclusion, Jimmy and Dave shared one common thing throughout this entire movie. They both had a secret that eventually came out in the end. As Dave is dying he is releasing all the memories that had haunted him all these years. Jimmy is releasing all of his guilt and killing of Dave.   

The Royal Tenenbaums

  

In the movie "The Royal Tenenbaums" it describes family relationships and how certain people work out their problems. In this movie there are many examples of how the director shows the meaning behind the scene that the actors are doing. For example when Chaz and Royal are fighting the closet, they are fighting in the dark until Royal turns on the light, piratically exposing all the feelings both of them have felt over the years. After Chaz storms off, Royal finds all the games that the kids used to play. In the back round while the camera is on Royal you can see the game risk, which in case means that he is risking everything to visit his family, even if it means lying to his family. It is very powerful how all the characters act against each other sometimes. In the scene where they are all at the dinner table and the kids and talking it over about if Royal should stay with them and Richie tells them that he is already staying there and Chaz freaks out. In the end of the movie though Chaz is the one that was with his father as he died. Which is interesting  since Chaz is the one that pushed him away the most.




For some reason in this movie, it appeared that every scene in the movie was filled with problems more than comedy. In all truth it was refreshing to see a dark film with just the right amount of comedy that doesn't make you think that this film is a joke or this film is too dark. During the film when all the secrets were being released from all the kids and the family, each character had a back round story that came to light. At the end of the movie when everyone was gathered around Royals grave, it read on the gravestone that he saved his family from a sinking battle ship. In truth he did. If he hadn't made up the lie that he had cancer none of them would have gotten together and expressed how they truly felt about each other. The funeral scene was magical and sad at the same time which is hard to achieve if you don't have the set of mind of the character.