Week 4 Blog- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Three actors from the film “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” would be Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly, and Orlando Bloom.  Each of the actors can be classified in a specific category.

I would classify Johnny Depp as a star actor.  He is very popular in movies and is known for his many different roles.  “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.” (Goodykoonts & Jacobs, 2014) Throughout the entire film he shows off this type of acting.  He made a big impression on the audience.

Orlando Bloom can also be classified as a star actor as well.  He is a very famous and a very impactful actor.  He shows this off throughout all the scenes in the film.  The fact that this film is very action packed helps show it off as well.

I would classify Keira Knightley as a personality actor.  She shows off her personality a lot in this film as well as other films. “Personality actors are, at some level, playing themselves.” (Goodykoonts & Jacobs, 2014) She shows her personality off in this film the same as she does in all her other films.

Based on other films he’s been in, Johnny Depp would definitely still be classified as a star actor.  This says that he is an all around great actor and stays consistent throughout all of his different films.

References:

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Google Image retrieved from: https://www.google.com/search?q=johnny+depp+in+pirates+of+the+caribbean&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=H_xJVMawOOnxigL214G4AQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=pirates+of+the+caribbean&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=5wiKL4uoDlDp3M%253A%3Br2fxa_IGxI1phM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fia.media-imdb.com%252Fimages%252FM%252FMV5BMjAyNDM4MTc2N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNDk0Mjc3._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.imdb.com%252Ftitle%252Ftt0325980%252F%3B321%3B475

Google Image retrieved from: https://www.google.com/search?q=johnny+depp+in+pirates+of+the+caribbean&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=H_xJVMawOOnxigL214G4AQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=johnny+depp+in+pirates+of+the+caribbean&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=d74sPtNgPDa11M%253A%3BkexgDQY6RByyxM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.heyuguys.com%252Fimages%252F2013%252F01%252FJohnny-Depp-Pirates-of-the-Caribbean.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.heyuguys.com%252Fpirates-of-the-caribbean-5-writer-hired-2015-release-date-set%252Fjohnny-depp-pirates-of-the-caribbean%252F%3B1200%3B600

Google Image retrieved from: https://www.google.com/search?q=johnny+depp+in+pirates+of+the+caribbean&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=H_xJVMawOOnxigL214G4AQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=orlando+bloom+in+pirates+of+the+caribbean&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=4gQoMuDMiMejPM%253A%3BEoxWLV0U3vfGQM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.blogcdn.com%252Fblog.moviefone.com%252Fmedia%252F2006%252F10%252F2006_potc_dead_man_chest_029-(4).jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.moviefone.com%252F2006%252F10%252F08%252Fdisney-insider-orlando-bloom-wont-survive-pirates-4%252F%3B433%3B300

Google Image retrieved from: https://www.google.com/search?q=johnny+depp+in+pirates+of+the+caribbean&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=H_xJVMawOOnxigL214G4AQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=keira+knighly+in+pirates+of+the+caribbean&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=BKr8sLRfw9uOnM%253A%3Bsa5SC1tydlfPgM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.fansshare.com%252Fphotos%252Fkeiraknightley%252Fkeira-in-pirates-of-the-caribbean-keira-knightley-pirates-of-the-caribbean-65505847.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.fansshare.com%252Fgallery%252Fphotos%252F10632028%252Fkeira-in-pirates-of-the-caribbean-keira-knightley-pirates-of-the-caribbean%252F%3B1024%3B427

 

Week 3 Blog Finding Nemo

Dialogue is what the characters are saying to one another. Audiences may take advantage of dialogue in movies. Dialogue in movies has a big impact on our lives. We commonly use phrases on a day to day basis from movies we regularly watch.

Sound effects are the different noises that certain actions make. Most common sound effects used today are explosions. Other types of sound are: door creaking, mechanical noises, etc.

Music plays a big part in the movie making experience. Music is what helps make a movie successful. Most movies today have a soundtrack, which is all the songs that are played in a movie on a CD.

Impact of sound is very important. It lets us as an audience know when something major happens in a scene. In the film I chose, “Finding Nemo”, the sound of the ocean and other sea creatures lets us know that the movie is set in the ocean. It also lets us know what is going on in each separate scene as well. The sound in this movie makes the mood seem intense and full of action and life. The movie itself is about a couple of fish (Dory and Marlin) that go on a search through the ocean to find Marlin’s son Nemo. The fact that we could hear the dialogue of the fish let us know how serious they were about finding him and getting him home.

The sounds that the fish make when talking to one another let me know that this is a children’s fantasy film. Their voices sound very childlike. Also, the fact that the fish could talk let me know as well.

The sounds in this film effected the film greatly. The sounds of the fish swimming or the other sea creatures helped set the mood that the setting was in the ocean. In scenes where it got intense, they made suspenseful noises. For example, when Dory and Marlin were trying to swim away from Bruce, who was trying to attack and eat them. They also added sound when the birds were chasing the seagull when Dory and Marlin hopped inside so that he could take them to Marlin’s son and keep them safe from the birds. The birds were shouting “mine!” when the seagull picked them up because they were planning on eating them. Without the sound in this movie, It wouldn’t be as effective to us as an audience. It wouldn’t be able to hold our attention or make us stay interested.

 

References:

Google Image retrieved from: http://cdnvideo.dolimg.com/cdn_assets/dfd54a6e6c3e428ef1773b070e211dee34ebcb36.jpg

Youtube video retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWXOurnVTYg

Google Image retrieved from: http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2012/12/finding-nemo-the-blu-review/

Google image retrieved from: http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100818104556/pixar/images/c/c2/Finding_Nemo_4.jpg

 

Week 2 Blog: Back to the Future

The movie I chose was Back to the future part 1.  This movie is about a teenage boy that goes back in time in a time machine that an old scientist invented.  He ends up getting stuck there and almost ruins the future for himself and his siblings.  This film features many different types of lighting.

I would say that this film uses “low key lighting”.  I think that because there are a lot of darker scenes where there isn’t much light and the scenes themselves are more serious or dramatic. One of benefits of using this type of lighting is how it sets the mood and makes the scene seem more dramatic because it helps put more emphasis on the characters as well as the scene to show us what is happening.  It contributes to the theme because it helps emphasize when Marty when into the past and almost messed everything up for his family so it was a more dramatic time and the lighting was perfect to help us realize that.

This lighting technique was suited to this type of film because this film is classified as sci-fi fantasy.  Typically movies in this genre are scary or go back in time and tend to use more of a dark lighting for the scene.  This scene would be a lot different if they used a different type of lighting, such as high-key lighting for example.  It would confuse the audience because the lighting says everything about the mood of the movie and it would make us feel completely different about the movie because we interpereted it differently than it was intended.

Resources:

Back to the Future 1 Trailer. [1985]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtvYaK6cm0g

Google Image: Back to the Future. Retrieved from http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/91mRbaBaGML._SL1500_.jpg

Back to the Future (3/10) Movie CLIP- Back in Time (1985) HD. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPeHFDxKUP4

Week 1 Blog: Toy Story

Title: Toy Story

Writer: John Lasseter, Pete Docter

Director: John Lasseter

Year: 1995

Actors: Tom Hanks (voice of Woody), Tim Allen (voice of Buzz Lightyear)

Story:  Toy Story is about a boy named Andy that gets a new toy for his birthday (Buzz Lightyear) who becomes his new favorite.  This causes his old favorite toy (Woody) to get jealous and try to get rid of him.

Plot: This movie starts out at Andy’s birthday party.  Currently, Woody is his favorite toy until his mom gets him a new toy, Buzz Lightyear.  Woody then gets jealous because Andy is spending more time with Buzz and not him.  One day, Woody knocks Buzz out the window, making it seem like he was lost.  Since Buzz was missing, this forced Andy to have to choose to take Woody with him instead when they went to Pizza Planet.

Buzz managed to jump onto the back of the van before they drove off.  When Andy’s mom stopped at a gas station on the way, Buzz showed up in the backseat and then him and woody got into a fight and got out of the van.  Andy’s mom ends up driving away, (not knowing the toys had jumped out) without them and that leaves them stranded there all alone.

They find a Pizza Planet delivery truck and successfully hi-jack it and find their way there.  When they get there, they end up getting stuck in a claw machine with other toys.  Andy’s neighbor Sid sees them in there and decides that he wants to win them and take them home.  He ends up being able to take them home.

When he gets home, he attaches a rocket to Buzz because he plans on blowing him up.  Woody convinces Sid’s other toys to gang up on him and scare him into not wanting to be mean to toys ever again.  They all confront him in the backyard and scare him into running away scared.

Woody and Buzz see the moving truck that leaves from Andy’s house with all his stuff on it.  They try to run after it and Woody successfully makes his way onto it.  Buzz gets left behind and Woody tries to use the remote control car to get him.  The car gets out of range and its batteries end up dying.  Woody then has to light the match attached to Buzz and lights the rocket with it.  They go flying through the air, and end up missing the truck.  They fly right over it and land right into the sunroof of Andy’s van in the box that was in the back seat.  Andy then sees them in there and gets excited because he finally found his toys.

This film was told chronologically.  It was told in the order that it all happened and there weren’t any flashbacks or anything in the movie.

This aesthetic choice contributed to the effect on the audience by showing how the main characters (Buzz and Woody) go from being enemies to being best friends in the end.  It shows the journey they go through as they have to stick together to find their way back home.

Depending on how the story was told, will change how the characters develop.  Since it was told chronologically, we got to see both toys (Woody and Buzz) develop as they face a tough problem together.  It shows how they put their hate for each other behind them so that they can, in the end, find their way home.  If the movie was presented a different way, it wouldn’t have the same effect or as big of an impact and the story line would be much different. The way they did it was the best way and it was very impactful in that way.

References:

MoviesHistory. (2009, May 29). Toy Story Official Trailer #1 [1995] [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYz2wyBy3kc

IMDb. (1995). Toy Story. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114709/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt