My Life as a Dog
1.
Subject: Ingemar's life and dealing with his mother having tuberculosis.
2.
Theme: Life could always be worse.
3.
Acting: Ingemar and his girl friend talk. It always sounds lie little kids talking. Ingemar acts like its so "as a matter of fact" about why is dad is not tehre, and instead loading the bananas. It's obvious how curiosu and attracted the uncle is to Berit. He keeps questioning Ingemar about her after she was painted naked. And how he has to go next time. Ingemar is obvious that he is not interested in seeing Sagachest nearly as much as seeing Berit's chest. He has ample opportunity though he never tried anything. Meanwhile, he goes on the roof of a hosue and falls through the window to see Berit'schest. Ingemar sees the two grils fighting over him and starts to bark like a dog with a smile on his face.
4.
Dialogue: "I should have told hher everything. While she was still strong enough." er[eated twice.
5.
Settings: Most thigns when he goes to the uncle's house are green. The little house that the uncle and Ingemar are in stands out. Teh roof is colorful and the house is brown admist all of the green nature.
6.
Lighting: When in the car, the brigher background light from the brighter window is on Ingemar's side versus his brother's side.
7.
Sound: Mother crying while Ingemar talks. He's used ot it. The kids are palying the recorder, while the one kid gets up to sharpen his pencil which causes a stir admist all of the music playing. The yomboy notices and starts playing an awful sound that stands out against the other music, showing that she is jealous.
8.
Music: Same music sounds everytime Ingemar talks about worse things that could happen. Rather than coincide with the horrible things that he is saying, the music goes along with the innocence of Ingemar and is lighthearted. Music whenever Ingemar is happy and in a new environemnt - when he first goes to the relatives and when he first goes to the place where his uncle works. The same translated "i've got a lovely bunch of coconuts..." plays everytime that ingemar is at the ltitle house with his uncle. It shows how lighthearted things have become, and how happy Ingemar's summer has been.
9.
Cinematography: Children walking away while walking along the railroad. Camera does not move, zoom in, nothing. Zoomed out when fire got big. Saw his little shadow/outline againstthe big, bright yellow fire. While the camera pans around teh lunch table when Ingermar first eats with his family for the summer, everyone has the background of hald a window (light) abnd half a wall (dark). It is made sure that when the Berit is being drawn naked, no pricate parts are shown while Ingemar is trying to see. It is not until he falls that her body can actually be clearly seen. After the mother got sent to the hospital, Ingemar played with the books, showing how dusty they were; though the mother loved to read, she wasn't able to read that whole summer. The scene where ingemar is on the beach with his mother and he falls and she laughs constatnyl plays after the stars are seen.
10.
Special Effects: Tight rope unicycle guy falling off the rope. Berit'sbody was a bit whited out, but not so much as to take away from teh scene when she was supposed to be drawn naked. It is also made sure that she doesn't show any private parts while Ingemar was trying to see.
11.
Editing: Sudden cuts during scenes. For example, afte rthe people onthe radio scores, cuts to man and his roof. Soft cuts whenever Ingemar talks about how he should have told his mother everything while she was still strong. It cuts with a quickfade, instead of just a quick cut.
12.
Overall direction: Mr. Arviddson's blanket is red; it stands out against all of the other more earth-toned colors around. All of teh kisd watching the boxing match were blondes. Everyone in the room besides Ingemar's friend with the green hair, Ingemar, and Eddie were blonde. Eddie covered her breats versus where all of the guys were covering during the penalty shot, to all the more show that she wants to be like a guy. As opposed to any other guy's reaction to a girl talking abou her breats, ingemar is playing with floss on his face. Ingemar wears his read shirt, red flad on the "spaceship" they were riding on, red house that his parents have, red blanket of Mr. A, red belt on pretty blonde lady. Ingemar had to keep reading to Mr. A constantly, the book about women's clothing and how right it is on women. in contrast, Ingemar was told to read for his mother. The two scenes are very comparible. One shows funny reading, good times; the other shows sadness, and reading taking over. His mother reads all the time, while Mr. A has to hide the magazine everytime someone else comes in. Just as similarly, when Ingemar's mother dies, Mr. a dies as well. The house that Ingemar stayed in while hismother was in the hospital had dark, blue and depressing colors. The house that Ingemar enjoyed being in was yellow and had a warmer feeling.
Film Clip Notes
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Acting: Joan's eyes were always opened very wide. I am unsure whether or not this made her seem crazy to me, or scared for her situation. People moved quickly during the beginning, any to show commotion. During most of the actual trials, people moved slow. Also, the face expressions were very strong; there was no misconceptions to what people were thinking.
Cinematography:
Everything moves slow except for the lips when people are talking
Guy zooms into camera before she answers about Lord's prayer, versus camera zooming into guy
Always zoomed into Joan's face
Camera moves fast when Joan gives an unexpected or untrusted response
zooms and and out of man that is yelling at Joan's answer
Camera shows Joan unresponsive about the St. Michael questions
Camera coincides with peoples movement, fast versus slow
zooms into peoples faces
Man yelling at Joan saying she blasphemes God, angle makes him seem superior
Man who thinks Joan is a saint, clean white background
Joan has a clean white background whole time
people crouch down as the angle of the high priest dude makes him seem important and large
shows power high priest has over judges, one man does not raise his hand, high priest gives look, he crouches down and raises hand
Sound: N/A
Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936)
Acting: Chaplin played a constantly funny man. Everyone else seemed to be annoyed or scared of him. It was very comical. For a movie with no words, Chaplin did a fantastic job of letting the viewer know what was going on. His motions were even a bit exaggerated, but not so much as to take away from the scene and let it seem like bad acting. His body language said it all.
Cinematography: The camera always followed Chaplin.
Sound: Entertaining, funny music. Recorded voices would play when needed. The new feeding instrument was being explained by a prerecorded voice. Also, when Chaplin was in the bathroom, his boss that saw him slacking off "spoke" in a deep, demanding voice to get back to work.
Shadow of a Doubt - Hitchcock (1942)
Acting: Very prim-and-proper speaking. Clearly spoken words as "older" movies usually had. Shouting on the phone to make the older generation seem like they don't know about technology.
Cinematography: Main character starts out in light. Once the blinds are cold, he throws a glass. Light vs dark and good vs evil. Scene where the two men try to chase him is from a bird's eye view, so the viewer can see where and what everyone is doing. When the main character gets away, he is looking down at them, both literally and figuratively.
Sound: Suspenseful music when he goes out to see the two men that were waiting for him. Lots of people talking at a time when they found out about the telegram, to make the family seem more realistic. train sound. Odd, questioning music on train, make it seem like there is something wrong with the uncle. Sad music when the people in the train find out that he is sick. Happy music when the family is picking up the uncle at the train station.
Seven Samurai (1947)
Acting: People are either very scared, very sad, or very stern. the grandfather is able to talk, while seeming very stern and very knowing.
Cinematography: Lots of farmers are seen together in poor, ratty clothing. Everyone looks up at the man who wants to fight the bandits at the same time, and then everyone looks down at the same time. In the scene with the granddad, the granddad is closest to the camera and the light is focused on him, while everyone else blends in.
Sound: you hear the bird singing while the farmers are walking seriously about whether or not to fight the bandits. Scary music when the farmers are going to see the granddad. Rain sound when its raining.
The 400 Blows (1959)
Acting: the teacher seems stern and someone with no compassion. Boys make "love" gestures when hte teacher reads a part of the poem about a women, once the teacher turns around, everyone stops.
Cinematography: Shows back of teacher's head while he is writing the poem on the board. Shows him as he turns around to see what the children are doing. shows the whole board. Switches to child that is ripping the papers from his notebook and runs out of paper. From the angle that the teacher sees him in. Shows whole classroom from an angle so you can see all of the boys reactions.
Sound: Papers scrambling. Classroom sounds. Pencils writing. Whistling that finally gets the teacher's attention.
Pather Panchali: Song of the Little Road (1955)
Acting: Simple tasks performed by the little boy. Smile to know that something is up when she pulls out he kittens. No words needed to show what little boy is going, just actions. When one of the lady offers to help the other lady with her chores because of her "condition", it is obvious that the lady currently doing the task does not want her condition to take over, and that she has a lot of pride. All of the commotion when the kids lock their mother in her room, shows how the mother has lost control.
Cinematography: Roof top scene is angled as to show that other people in other buildings are doing the same thing and putting their blankets up on the ropes. It is the norm there to do all of the labor by themselves. though it is black and white, the lighting shows that it is sunny and hot. Angled down at old lady to show that she is weak and frail. Makes her hunch seem even more apparent. The little boy does not want to hear his mother be hurt, and he closes his ears and eyes and pretends that he cant hear it. It also shows that the family did not think that it was such an unordinary thing, because the camera showed clips of his little girlfriend constantly while they were fighting.
Sound: Older sound. voices very loud. Music plays to show culture. Stops when little boy is called away from the old lady by her mother.
My Life as a Dog (1985)
Acting: Little boy is obviously forcing the little girl to marry him after she changed her mind. Though she did not mind it all too much. It is apparent that the older brother constantly picks on his little brother, the main character, though he is very fearful of getting in trouble for his actions.
Cinematography: The beginning zooms into the starry night sky, while the boy is explaining about the dog that was went in outer space on Sputnik. He mentioned what a poor life the dog had. She had wires tied to her heart and lungs so that people could know her reactions. She later died of starvation. It them cuts to the little boy looking up, presumably at the sky. This is a constant motif throughout the story. Every time the main character is going through trouble or an unhappy time, he thinks of other people that have done through even unhappier times. As he talks about it, the camera zooms to the starry night sky.
Sound: A light-hearted, simple piano song plays every time the little boy talks about an event. The song starts to play when it goes to the starry night sky scene. The little boy always tells a story that says that it could always be worse.
The Thin Blue Line (1988)
Acting: No acting. Real people.
Cinematography: Shows buildings up close in the beginning, and then eventually the whole city. Second man talks about pistol, picture of a pistol revolves on the screen. As the cop gets shot, the scene will quickly cut to show briefly where he was shot, and back and forth. After he was shot, the screen went to the immediate aftermath. It showed newspaper articles, pictures, etc. As the man talked about him needing to sign the statement, it showed his hands giving the paper back. Same with the pistol. shows the tray of cigarettes anytime it needs to be conveyed that a lot of time has passed. The many cigarettes tells the viewer that lots of cigarettes have been smoked, meaning time has had to been passing. When the police officers are eating, the reflection of the Burger King sign is shown. Faces are never shown during the remaking scenes. Paused at milkshake when cop was shot for dramatic effect. Everyone speaks directly to camera.
Sound: The music is suspenseful while the men are talking. The music continues while the cop gets shot. The music continues while the man being accused was telling his version of being accused. The music stops when the cops talk about their side of the story.
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Acting: When the man in the colorful shirt is holding the knife, the worker stares with wide eyes. Politeness towards the gusts shows that he works there, but the fact that he can talk sternly to the workers shows that he works there but is in charge. He asks ladies that look alike if they are Huti or Tutsu. He points out that they look exactly the same, but they are different. One can easily be murdered for other people deciding that they should be labeled differently.
Cinematography: Shows clips of town. Viewer gets idea of setting. Setting is seen as taxi drives through town. Town is scene, and so are the houses on the mountains. Such colorful shirts show belief. Colorful crayons that the children color with, versus color shirts of the rebels. Though he talks about "leaving these things to my good judgment" when his wife asks him to help the neighbor who was taken, it zooms into his face. Showing that he really does want to help, but he knows that he can't.
Sound: Factory sounds heard when talking to the man in the colorful shirt. Weird music when talking and the man in the colorful shirt holds the knife. Happy music when he gets safely int eh fence and visits his family. Family seems to innocent. Dreading music when soldiers are on teh street, taking men. Though main character talks about not beliefing Thomas that he should leave, dreading music plays that prooves that Thomas is right. Radio sound is ood, proving something si up. He then sees a house burning.
