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Trung Nguyen
Minutes: April 25, 2005
Presentation 1:
The Secret Garden based on the novel by Francis
Hodgson Burkett
- Agnieszka Holland
- Studied film in Czechoslovakia
- Began Film in Poland
- Film with Krzysztof Zanussi
- Alan Grint
- The Story
- Mary Lennox was born and raised in India
- Moves to Archibald Craven
- Cousin Colin raised to believe he has an
illness
- Mary lives in the mansion and finds the
secret garden
- Colin, Mary, and Dickon plant new flowers
in the secret garden
- The garden belong to his wife and he
locked it up because (Mr. Craven) he believes there has been an
accident
- Major Difference
- How the characters develop socially and
mentally through the film
- Agnieszka Holland Film: More physical than
Emotional
- Mary: pale, thin on arrival. Starts to
gain color and weight
- Colin: More emphasis on his illness. The
head butler doesn’t encourage him to go outside.
- Alan Grint Film: More Emotional than Physical
- Mary: demanding. Lack of love from her
parents. Lonely. Whines about the differences between England
and India. Not as dependent on others. Dresses herself and
takes herself to the garden.
- Colin: Less emphasis on his illness.
More characters encourage him to get better and go outside.
Lonely, no friends. Emotionally weak. Stops caring about the
garden or seeing Mary or Dickon. Begins to fall for Mary.
- More Differences
- The opening scene and Mary’s Parents
- The Final Scene
- Finding the secret garden
- Holland: Mary finds her aunt’s old
bedroom and finds the key there. And she finds the door.
- Grint: The wind blows the key into the
picture and then the wind blows again and you see the door. Not
a lot of seeking involved there.
- Watched the trailers
- Noticed the difference in the girl’s
accents.
Presentation 2:
Three Man and a Baby vs Tres Hommes et un Coffin
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Similarities of both films
o
3 bachelors live together
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a package arrives and it’s a baby
o
The father is left with the baby and there are different
reasons why the mother left the child
o
The mobsters went into both homes and destroyed the homes
of both movies
o
The mothers come back to take the baby
o
The men falls in love with having the baby around
·
Main differences in both films
o
Different ways they took care of the baby
o
Tres Hommes et un Coffin: by Coline Serreau
o
Three Men and a Baby: by Leonard Nimoy
o
The French version wants the men to take care of the child
for the most part
o
The American version, the mother wants the men to stay
with some relation to the baby
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Other Differences
o
American remake, the music plays a very large part in the
movie
o
French original, uses little music
o
The American remake used a high lighting key.
o
French uses a low lighting key.
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Thesis
o
There is a difference in the way both women are portrayed
as single, hardworking mothers
o
In French, seen as weak and irresponsible
o
In American, seen as a weak but she honestly trying to
make it as a single mother in New York City.
·
Watch clips of both movies.
o
The scenes are towards the end of the movies and how each
mother is portrayed differently.
Dr. Reimer: Notice the subtext of these films and
how it is influenced by the period and the feminist movement being
revived at the time. The fact that women need to come back home and
raise the kids is clearly a subtext in the film, as is the idea that men
can work and take care of kids at the same time. It is almost as if the
films are saying women are unnecessary once the child is born. .
Presentation 3
The Road to Imortality: Wings of Desire vs. City
of Angels
- Wings of Desire (1987): Directed by Wim
Wenders
- City of Angels (1998): Directed by Brad
Silberling
- Film Summaries:
- Wings of Desire
- Takes place in Berlin
- Two angels wondering through post-war
Berlin
- They are invisible to humans and they
provide comfort to any soul that they meet
- One of the angels, Damiel, is unhappy
with his immortal state and wishes to become human and
experience everyday life
- He meets a human who used to be an
angel until he took the leap
- He meets a circus acrobat and finds
that she completes his desire to be mortal
- He gets his friend to help him
transition into becoming a human
- He wakes up as a human and begins to
search for the girl
- He finds the girl in a night club and
spends the rest of his life with her
- City of Angels
- Takes place in Los Angeles
- Begins with Seth, an angel, who takes
a dead girl’s soul to heaven
- Later he begins to fall in love for a
surgeon
- His curiosity of human experiences
begin to increase as the movie progresses
- He meets a human who used to be an
angel, the former angel tells him about life’s experiences
and how he can become human
- He falls in love with the surgeon and
wants to become mortal so he can spend life with her
- He jumps from a skyscraper in order to
become mortal
- He finds her and they spend a night in
her cabin
- She goes out for groceries the next
day and dies from a car accident
- The movie ends with him alone in the
world and suffering
- Thesis: To examine the cinematography and
other influences that played a role in each director’s presentation
of the angel and his road to mortality.
- Introduction of Damiel
- Wim Wenders begins with a close-up shot of
an eye and then fades into an aerial shot over Berlin, which is
hinting to the audience that some sort of superior being is
watching over the city
- The musical notes being played by a harp
- Afterwards, as the camera focuses on the
Damiel, the angel who is standing on top of a tall building
overlooking the city
- He uses a black and white color palette in
order to present the angel’s eternal and everlasting life and
reinforces the dull angelic existence
- Introduction of Seth
- The opening scene shows the angel Seth and
how he wants to try to relieve the child’s pain
- The mother is panicking and trying to
think of ways to reduce his daughter’s fever
- Through her acting one can tell that she
is all alone although we can see Seth
- Afterwards, the mother steps outside of
the frame for a momentary second, the director takes a close-up
shot of the child’s hands reaching out for Seth’s hands and his
finger ends up touching her hands
- Religious reference to Michelangelo’s
painting in the Sistine Chapel at Vatican City and how it
represents the Christian’s views on genesis
- Ends it with Seth and the spirit of the
little girl walking towards a bright doorway
- Beginning clips of both movies for shown and
their cinematography technique was discussed
- The Road begins (Damiel)
- His curiosity starts from the beginning.
- “But sometimes I’m fed up with my
spiritual existence”
- The Road Begins (Seth)
- Shows curiosity but never truly wants to
be human yet
- The curiosity builds after he falls for a
surgeon
- Differences in directing
- Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire)
- Damiel’s desire begin early in the
film
- Deeper spiritual questions are
addressed
- Damiel took the leap after meeting a
girl but still wants to experience the everyday activities
of a human
- Leaves the audience with the freedom
of imagination
- Brad Silberling (City of Angels)
- Seth’s desire starts after he falls
for Maggie
- Deeper spiritual questions are set
aside for a Hollywood-drama
- Seth took the leap as a result of a
girl and does nothing more than search for her afterwards
- Leave no aspect of the story
unanswered
- The leap for Damiel
- Takes place in front of a colorless Berlin
wall
- Tell his friend the things he wants to
experience first
- When they stop on a path, a spring themed
music begins to play and there is color on Damiel
- The camera moves away and back until the
angels are back in the frame and Damiel lies on his friends arms
- Wakes up laying down near a colorful
Berlin wall
- The leap for Seth
- Opens with him standing alone on top of a
skyscraper under construction
- A chant mixed with a musical score is
playing in the background and when he jumps the musical score
fades away
- Also, jump shots are used and each shot
shows Seth at various angles to create a stronger visual impact
- As he is falling, there are flashbacks of
the Maggie
- Uses the technique to stretch time
- When Seth awakes from his fall he is
bleeding and has a lot of cuts and bruises
- This shows that he is now a human
- The clips of each angel’s leap was viewed and
the techniques were discussed
- Conclusion:
- Wings of Desire
- Directed by Wim Wenders
- Shows the spiritual and immortal
existence and what it lacks
- City of Angels
- Directed by Brad Silberling
- Forms a classic Hollywood-drama to
entertain
Presentation 4 (2nd one on The secret
Garden)
The Secret Garden: Hallmark Version vs. Holland
Version
- Plot differences
- Hallmark: Parents die in a plague. Mary
is a charming girl. Sent to live with a friend of the family.
Colin and Mary get married in the end
- Holland: Parents die in earthquake. Mary
is difficult
- Hallmark Version: American Accent. Spoiled
child. Very talkative and outspoken. Likable. Overall happier mood.
Added Church Scene. More of a religious undertone. More
simplistic. Character transformation is dramatic.
- Holland Version: Foreign accent. Reserved.
Spoiled. In an emotional state of turmoil. Resentful of parents.
Moody and unlikable. Beautifully made. Wonderful character
selection. Character transformation is dramatic.
- Mary transformation: starts in black and
white outfit. Then in a fancy checkered board outfit. And then he
dresses and is happier.
- Holland transformation: Mary stayed the same
throughout the film.
- The Secret Garden: Both versions teach strong
morals. Good will always will prevail.
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