PSY104 Week Three (Brochure) Discussion Two

Week 3 Assignment Brochure

Terminator 2: Judgement Day, acting and acting styles blog

The three actors I’ve chosen to classify through ‘type’ are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Patrick and Joe Morton, all of whom played their key roles to perfection in ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day.’

Arnold Schwarzenegger/’The Terminator’ – Arnold (literally recognized worldwide by first name) is without a doubt a ‘movie star’ and his box office clout would not argue. The strength that has fueled his career is certainly because he is a ‘personality actor.’ As found in our text, “To define a star, think about a personality actor, only more so. A star is a distinctive screen persona, who is well–known and popular with the movie going public, often to the point that some avid movie fans become deeply curious about the actor’s private life Hollywood has a long love affair with stars, since the days of Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford.” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011, p. 3.4)

Arnold’s ability to portray the title character ‘The Terminator’ was established heavily upon his physical attributes, and further, as well documented in the past, in regards to the first film ‘The Terminator,’ Arnold’s particular heavy laden accent and presentation of words while speaking allowed for the writer/director to limit Arnold’s dialogue. This allowed for the focus to be on his commanding and intimidating physical presence. This further assisted the writer/director of ‘Terminator 2’ to achieve a constant and built in Mise en Scene within the film as Arnold (assisted by costume and make-up of course) commanded the robotic/machine-hulk-like presence of the title character in each scene he appeared in.

Arnold’s success in the first ‘Terminator’ film allowed for him to be cast in a myriad of follow on films that copied this formula and relied on his personality (physique included). Such examples are ‘Raw Deal,’ ‘Commando’ and ‘The Predator.’ Although Arnold found success later in his career stepping into different roles such as ‘Kindergarten Cop’ or ‘The Last Action Hero’ the formula for the Arnold’s ‘character’ was driven in the same manner, which was heavily reliant upon his physique and physical qualities.

Robert Patrick – ‘T-1000’ – Robert Patrick, whose career truly began after being cast in ‘Terminator 2’ as the liquid metal morphing and advanced ‘T-1000,’ easily fits into the character actor category. Although his role in this film was quite large, important and oh-so-memorable, he was on paper literally a fourth tier lead behind Arnold, ‘John Conner’ and ‘Sarah Connor.’

As stated in our text, “Other actors are able to fit invisibly into a wide variety of disparate characters, adapting to the needs of each script and director they work with, known as character actors. Because they are so effective at this, they often are not immediately recognized by the public and may take years to achieve “star” status, even though they are constantly in demand.” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011, p. 3.4)

Patrick’s ability to adapt to the needs of scripts and directors has illustrated his flexibility and has allowed for him to achieve nearly a thirty-year career of being constantly employed and in heavily supporting third and fourth tier lead roles. Although easily identified in some common ‘type-casting’ such as military and/or law enforcement type roles, Patrick’s flexibility has found success in other roles in the western “All the Pretty Horses” and the biopic “Walk the Line” both of which showcased Patrick’s ability to contribute to dramatic films. Patrick can easily fit into that category of not-quite-a-movie-star-but-easily-recognizable and constantly good.

Joe Morton – who portrayed “Miles Dyson” in ‘Terminator 2’, is the quintessential character actor. I believe this photograph from the set of ‘T2: Judgement Day” is the best illustration of the character actor, who can fill a scene, perform their function, and yet cause no distraction to the overall story and/or overshadow the movie star(s) of a particular film.

Morton fills that Mise en Scene spot so easily defined by audiences as “you know, that guy from that movie…what’s his name?” I bring up this saying in reference to Mise en Scene as character actors such as Joe Morton nearly become ‘actors as props’ in several scenes of film and television, where they may not even have dialogue in some scenes, but carry importance to push the story forward by their presence within scenes. Joe has mastered his craft as a character actor in demand for decades and although working constantly, is rarely if ever, truly followed or really remembered. Joe has found success in major films such as “Of Mice and Men” and “Speed” as well as finding major success on the small screen, constantly working in countless seasons of network shows such as “Eureka,” “Smallville” and “Law and Order.”

References

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From Watching To Seeing. Retrieved from content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG225.11.2/sections/sec3.4

imdb. (n.d.). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/?ref_=ttmd_md_nm

Week Three Blog / Sound in film

The three (basic) categories of sound in films have their individual place(s), however, each work most effectively together. Dialogue, literally the words spoken in films, whether between actors in a scene, or by an actor him or herself (monologue), helps propel the story and themes of the movie forward. The audience learns a great deal about the characters and the plot lines of movies by what is, or is not in dialogue.

Another component of sound in film is sound effects. Often thought of more so when discussing ‘special effects’…such as the audible ‘boom’ in an explosion, sound effects are much more. Sound effects include every sound added to the film in post-production that was not captured as on set (or sound stage) sound. Such as the ‘clink’ of glasses during a toast at dinner, often times this sound will be added later for purity, clarity, etc.

The third component of sound discussed this week is music, often referred to as the ‘score.’ The music in a film often includes one of two (in some cases both) types of musical uses…one being a sound stage recording of a symphony, who compose either original instrumentals and/or cover classics. The second form of music is the use of existing songs previously recorded by artists and/or bands. A good example would be a rock and roll song from Soundgarden, who approve the use of one of their original songs for a movie’s soundtrack.

The movie I chose for this blog is ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’ I selected a scene from the film in which several prisoners have been selected to do an extra working duty on the roof of the prison, laying down a new layer of tar for protection from the up and coming rainy season. While the prisoners toil in the hot sun, the lead character, Andy Dufrane (played by Tim Robbins) overhears a conversation in which the lead prison guard discusses with his peers how one of his relatives has recently passed away and left a large sum of money to him. The prison guard is annoyed at the concept of how much money he will lose due to taxes upon the money.

Andy Dufrane, a former banker with intimate knowledge of tax codes, advises the prison guard of how he can avoid paying such taxes, nearly at his own peril (by interjecting his knowledge without having been asked). Dufrane eventually strikes a deal with the guard in which he will provide his assistance with filing the tax codes in exchange for “three beers” to be provided to each of the prisoners working the roofing detail. This scene culminates with a striking, very quiet scene in which the hardened guards over watch the hardened prisoners who sit relaxed in the warm sun, enjoying some iced cold beers. The scene offers a striking counter to the usual harsh reality of prison, by watching a touching scene of peace and somewhat quiet and adult men once again feeling somehow a little bit free by enjoying some cold beer on a hot day.

All three elements of sound are observed in this scene, toward the end especially as the prisoners sit quietly, enjoying their cold beers. A beautiful symphonic crafted song is presented in the background, one that inspires hope, and is light hearted in nature, adding to the peace and serenity of the men. A voice over is presented as well, as one of the actors (Red), who is Andy’s good friend, discusses “how it came to be” that the prisoners on this day found themselves drinking cold “Bohemian style beer” amongst even the “hardest guard to ever walk a turn” at the prison. Subtle sounds of ‘sound effects’ are used as men pull glass bottles from a plastic bucket that houses beer on ice, which plays well with the harsh sunlight that bounces down upon each man from overhead. The sweaty, dirty brows show evidence of a hard days work having been achieved. I found this scene to capture all three elements of sound in a film quite nicely, which is illustrated in our text as “Clearly the careful use of sound is essential in modern films. Whether it is something as challenging as creating the sound of space (and the silences that go along with that) or something as seemingly simple as footsteps on pavement, sound is one of the movie industry’s most expressive tools. Among the elements that make up the magic of movies, sound and its many varied uses is among the foremost.” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011, p. 6.3)

I believe this particular scene screamed out for such subtle use(s) of sound, as it captures the mood and theme of the prison drama, which includes a storyline of a prisoner having been wrongfully incarcerated for a crime he never committed. This scene, and its subtle use of sound offered a bit of a peaceful break from an otherwise very dramatic prison drama film, offering an almost intermission for the characters and the audience to take a breather.

References

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From Watching To Seeing. Retrieved from content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG225.11.2/sections/sec6.3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 2 Blog / Mise en scène

The film I’ve chosen for the subject of Mise en scène and lighting is ‘End of Watch.’ This particular film follows two LAPD Police Officers throughout their shift, while they work the street. What I found unique about lighting in this film was the fact that the characters, as they work their shift(s), transition from the daytime to nighttime.

The film’s lighting is very much high-key and somewhat washed out with tons of natural light during the ‘dayshift’ portions of the film. As the day turns to night the lighting changes to extremely dark, deep shadows. I enjoyed this contrast of high key and low-key lighting. (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011, p. 4.4) The contrasting styles also contributed to the overall feel of working a swing shift and transitioning from day to night…as the types of people and crimes that are dealt with during daylight hours can vary rapidly to what occurs and what you encounter at night time.

I will add this link:

http://www.radiantimages.com/blog/695-radiant-images-breaks-new-ground-with-end-of-watch

Which, if interested, is a fun read regarding how the technical directors achieved the look of the film. The technical directors focused a great deal on achieving a ‘reality’ based look with tons of natural light used and defused to achieve a natural look instead of a cinematic look for that ‘reality’ feel.

 

 

References

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. Retrieved from content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG225.11.2/sections/4.4

Week 1 / Blog 1 “Narrative and Storytelling”

Week 1 / Blog 1 “Narrative and Storytelling”

Well, this is certainly my first ‘blog’ and I’m a little intimidated. None-the-less, here we go. This blog will have me discussing my ‘all-time favorite’ movie, which is “The Natural” (released in 1984). The screenplay was written by Roger Towne and Phil Dusenberry and should be noted that these screenwriters adapted the screenplay from a novel (also titled, The Natural) by Bernard Malamud.

The film was directed by Barry Levinson and starred several ‘legends of screen’ (emphasis mine) Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glen Close and Kim Basinger. There were several character actors that filled out other roles, such as Michael Madsen and another character actor/screen legend, Wilford Brimley…who has that effortless ability to seem to reach through the television/film screen and fill the void of my ‘Grandpa’ in anything he appears in.

The story of the film is set up to span essentially the adult lifespan of the lead character, Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) that focuses on Roy’s exploits as a ‘naturally gifted’ baseball player. The story early on sets the audience up to Roy’s life of a small town farm boy who is gifted with seemingly endless natural baseball talent that assures the viewer Roy will certainly be a professional, if not all-star baseball player. The plot syncs the story line perfectly by throwing a ‘curve ball’ into the mix by Roy Hobbs experiencing an unplanned event in which he is critically wounded in his younger years, just as his professional baseball career is about to flourish. Hobbs, while leaving his small town of middle America meets a beautiful ‘temptress’ on a train, and decides to indulge his impulses and begin an affair. This love affair is implied that it is Roy’s first experience with a woman other than his childhood sweetheart that he grew up next to back home.

It just so happens that the love affair takes a wicked turn, and in a ‘black widow’ fashion, the mysterious beauty that Roy met on the train decides to shoot him, thinking she has killed her ‘next mark.’ That turning point early on in the film sets up the plot line of the film in which Roy mysteriously disappears for what is implied a long time (perhaps a decade) and later decides to give baseball a try. Roy, much older and wiser, and oddly quiet, not just about himself, but every facet of his life, attempts to recapture his youth and his stolen professional career. He does so in amazing fashion and finds himself scouted and recruited to a small time/struggling baseball team with a crook as an owner – who seemingly makes money by betting against his own team – and is rounded out by a cast of misfit, small time baseball players who are used to losing. Roy shakes up the team with is ability to do everything just right… hit, throw, catch, run, you name it, he seems as if he is the second coming of baseball Jesus to this downtrodden team. The second turning point of the film comes when Roy and his exploits have become so successful that the owner of the team attempts to force Roy to fail, ensuring his team will fail in the process. Roy, driven by his morals and values and the hauntings of his past, defies the crook of an owner and does everything he can to take the team on his shoulders and win it all.

This film is presented in a chronological order. Although there are some important ‘flashbacks’ for the character development of Roy and his childhood sweetheart, the film is presented in with a clear, chronological – beginning, middle and end. I believe this choice of presentation for the movie was extremely important. This particular film eventually spends a great deal (the first and second acts) following a baseball team and its players though an entire season. The audience gets to see the struggles of each of the characters from the early phase of a ‘rag tag bunch’ without direction, to a championship contending frontrunner. The eventual success of the team and its players can only be illustrated by having the film proceed in a chronological order.

There are some fantastic set ups of ‘foreshadowing’ in the film, which directly impact both the main character (Roy Hobbs) as well as the story and plot lines of the film. For example, early on in the film, Roy and his life to that point is about as apple pie-Americana as you can get. Roy is a young man, dutifully working a farm with his father and lives near his childhood sweetheart. Roy practices pitching baseballs to his father early on and it is seen and heard that Roy has a ‘gift.’ Roy’s father eventually unexpectedly dies of a heart attack while working on the family farm. An early ‘strike’ of lightening splits a massive oak tree in the center of the families property. This lightening strike and the passing of Roy’s father foreshadows a literal lightening strike for the story of the lead character (Roy) and how the rest of his life will never be the same. Roy chooses to make a custom baseball bat out of the destroyed timber from the lightening strike, a literal piece of his father to keep with him.

Later in the film, as Roy sets out on his new adult adventure of leaving home and chasing his baseball dreams in Chicago suddenly is met by a mysterious woman, dressed in all black, who as she arrives in the train car Roy is seated in, the lights begin to quiver and flicker on and off. Again, the choice of shot selection by the director, as well as the costume choice for the actress (Barbara Hershey) as well as the sudden and unexpected flicker of lights in the train car makes (at least me) the audience want to shout at the screen, “Run…just run…this is trouble.” Roy does not run, he instead begins a love affair with the temptress and thus, experiences his second major turning point for his character within the film, his almost death and eventual (long term) baseball (and life) recovery.

I believe this film, although shot (now) thirty years ago, was perfectly depicted by the choice of camera shots (long, tripod, overall shots) versus a ton of handheld and staccato (what we see moreso these days) due to the nature of the characters, the content and the story. Although the film has several ‘action’ elements to it (tons of action baseball game content) the overall story and plot lines are about the characters of the film. Roy’s character, the heart and sole of the movie, is a man who is haunted by the mistakes of his past and is using a second chance at baseball as his second chance at life. He still is infused with all of the down home roots of his middle-America upbringing and his quiet, down-home, ‘awe shucks’ nature. This character study portrayed perfectly by Robert Redford is of utmost importance to the rest of the movies characters who seemingly stem from the ‘city’ and concern themselves with whatever riches they can grasp, or success they can build. Roy is in stark contrast. He does not desire fame, fortune nor accolades, even though they come due to his amazing on field abilities…he struggles to accept the success and shy’s away from it all, attempting to find himself back in the confines of his childhood family farm (at least mentally).

I believe all of these choices, camera angles, choices of shot selection and linear story line telling make the film resonate with the audience. For me, the ironic part of this movie is that I am not exactly the biggest baseball fan. I was huge baseball fan as a kid…little league, big league chew, laffy-taffy all in the dugout(s) in the small town I grew up in. I was big for my age, threw well and hit well and wanted nothing more than to be a pro-ball-player when I grew up. I remember very vividly that as a 9 year old my father took me to the theater to watch this film on the big screen. Dad was not in my life that much as the parents divorced years prior. I will never forget watching that movie…thirty years later I remember it like yesterday. It had a profound impact on me. Of course some of the more serious character content, such as the relationships Roy Hobbs had, and the foreshadowing didn’t quite resonate with me as a result of my age, I still recall seeing what I considered a ‘perfect film.’

The movie had such an impact on me, and I believe for my father as well, that my Dad had a (wooden) bat made for me not long after. Just as Roy Hobbs bat was engraved “WonderBoy” in the movie, my Dad had my bat engraved as well…”BamBam” my childhood nickname. I hit my first (over the fence) home run with that bat, I still remember that moment too. As I’ve grown over the years, I tend to throw that old DVD in about once a year and re-visit the movie. I’ve gathered something new each time I’ve watched it and I still swear the film has some of the most perfect elements in it…overcoming unexpected loss, making huge mistakes in life and finding redemption, never forgetting who you are and where you come from, and all of these ‘meat and potatoes’ of the movie is swimming in a broth of baseball, middle-America, the girl next door and seemingly is about as ‘apple pie’ and down home as you can get. Not that I’m chest beating that a great film must be a great American story…it just so happens that I was a small town kid with very similar experiences that are depicted in the film and I suppose that is why is hits so close to home for me.

If ya’ll have not seen this movie…to say the least I recommend it. Irregardless of whether you like baseball or not, you will find so much to enjoy within this movie, again, it is about the characters and you have some rich characters within this one.

I hope you enjoyed my ‘blog post’ this was my first one.

I tried to ’embed’ in a trailer for the film for you all, however it seems on this site you must upgrade via payment to do such things. Thus, I’ve placed a link here: http://youtu.be/AsoXi15ruG0 If you copy and paste into your browser you will be sent to the trailer of the movie (enjoy).

References

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. Retrieved from content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG225.11.2/sections/sec2.3