European Cinema Class Minutes for 4/29/02

Today we worked on finishing up oral presentations. There weren't any important announcements.

I. John

Unforgiven - with Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman.

Classic western movie set in Big Whiskey, Wyoming

Wrote about the lighting in the movie.

All the lighting in the movie was natural light. Mirrors were used on the actors.

Night shots used torches and candles. Night shots were dark.

II. Gerald Caldwell

Saving Private Ryan

Gerald is a military veteran and gave a great historical background for the movie as well as real combat situations.

Brought in an actual 20mm shell.

Saving Private Ryan was made to show the realism of actual war.

Emphasized the sounds in the film.

No music was heard in the film except for one specific scene.

Live rounds were shot for the movie. Sound equipment captured guns being fired and hitting something.

Main Point: This realistic film is graphic for a reason. It shows how we don't ever want to forget what happened in WW2 or                 any other war but we also don't want to experience that ever again.

III. Katie Etzel

7th Samurai and The Magnificent 7

Plots are similar.

Camera and editing are very different.

American Version had emphasis on bad guys and was oriented towards individuals.

IV. Catherine Emory

On The Waterfront - Marlon Brando

About Human corruption.

Wrote about the camera movements.

The most famous scene - "I coulda been a contender"  has very little cinematic action and very little distractions.  

V. Tim Horne

Wrote about the clothing in color in films.

Clothing can symbolize different things - Characterization, Relationships, Suspense, Deception

Vertigo - Subtle Colors. Red and Blue on Jimmy Stewart represent transition in character

Winter Sleepers - Different colors represent character's personalities. Very noticeable colors.

Jaws - Clothing colors provide false information to audience

Amelie - Red in film. usually associated with Amelie.

Main Point : Colors have a huge impact on the film. They can be very noticeable or very subtle.

VI. Cheryl

Dirty Dancing

Story is told through dance.

The lessons in the movie come from different dances.

"Dirty" dancing in the movie introduces conflict, a power struggle.

As the "dance trust" gets better so does the relationship with the main characters.

VII. Vera Reece

Schindler's List

Documentary style

very sad

Only color is in the opening scene

Showed the scene with the girl in red. Schindler watches her as she walks through the streets killing going on

Very obvious that war is going on

Life is Beautiful

Slapstick

Film mutes the horrible nature of the holocaust and of the war

VIII. Melissa

Wizard of Oz - compares the movie with the book

Book and Movie are very different

Book - Oz is a reality. Dorothy has Silver shoes instead of red. Dorothy is independent

Movie - Dorothy needs a lot of help in the movie

Showed a video clip of how the witch got killed and then read from the book of how she got killed.