Tommy’s Film Blog

 The hotel room scene from Apocalypse Now continues the same warm colour scheme shown in the previous scene and will continue over the course of the film. At first when we hear Willard's narration we see the camera is steady and focused, however as he starts to break down it begins to lose control and we see bombings again, just like in the previous scene. This as well as the previous scene are an interesting look into Willard's psyche which becomes much more relevant at the ending, where we see mirroring shots. It makes use of noir-esque lighting, for example the light coming through the blinds shining on Willard's face, which is common imagery shown in the noir films of the 1940s. This is apt for many reasons, from the moral ambiguity and alcoholism of Willard's character to the narration which is also a common feature of noir films.  Similarly to the previous scene, the editing in the hotel room is frantic and unconventional. It uses fades and montage while Willard i

 Cinematography The opening scene in Apocalypse now starts using wide shots as napalm drops onto the jungle. However, it also fades to close-ups of Willard's face. This shows the destruction of the war on both Vietnam and the psychology of the soldiers, as we get close and personal to Willard without him saying a line of dialogue. The movement of the camera is very slow and generally only moves from left to right in this scene to show the scale of both the jungle and the damage caused by the napalm. The scene uses very warm colours to show not only the heat of Vietnam, but the fact the bombs dropping also continued to make it hotter. It could also be making a reference to Vietnam during the war being comparable to hell. This scene begins bright, but the smoke from the bombs, darkens and overshadows the scene, which shows how America contributed towards this dark period in Vietnam. Editing The shots of the napalm dropping onto the jungle and Willard in his room fades in and out of e

About a Girl uses the character of girl to show us innocence and to flip that in the ending, making it a lot more sinister and disturbing. The film opens on a wide shot of Girl singing and dancing to the song "Stronger" by Britney Spears. She appears happy and content while singing such an empowering song despite being on her own and in such a grey, bleak atmosphere, as achieved by a naturalistic look. This gives us the impression that she is carefree despite her surroundings. Throughout the first half of the film, this is reinforced, as she describes her poor and neglectful relationship with her parents while still laughing. This is taken into a different context however, when we see the ending this can be taken into a different context, as rather than showing her innocence in a poor situation we know she was laughing while knowing her intention of dumping the baby in the river, which makes the entire film much more disturbing. This is also made more disturbing by the fact s

 New Hollywood  The New Hollywood movement began in roughly 1967, with the starting point being seen by a lot of people as Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, followed by Midnight Cowboy, which won best picture at the Oscars just two years later, despite receiving an X Rating from the MPAA (American age rating board). These films, despite their provocative subject matter and content, including graphic violence and sex, reached levels of popularity that the studio system of classic Hollywood could no longer reach due to a new youthful audience. This new wave of film from Hollywood happened because the studio system could no longer recognise trends that would appeal to such a young, rebellious audience, so the studios put all of their money and faith into equally young, equally rebellious filmmakers, who became known as auteurs. Some key directors from this period are Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino and Brian De Palma. The downfall of this era began due to the rise of the blockbuster, due