Tommy’s Film Blog

The first few shots of Captain Fantastic show the environment that the family live in as serene and calm. The first shot of any members of the family is of the eldest son, who is stalking a deer, and wearing hunting paint which appears intimidating, especially when watching over the deer. There is then a graphic sequence in which the son pounces, and kills the deer in a violent fashion. Due to this, our first impressions on the family are negative, as up to this point, we have only seen them be a destructive force on the environment which has already been established as peaceful. The lighting in this scene seems to be entirely natural, which shows the audience the natural beauty of this environment, while remaining relatively dark as they are in shade to match the tone of this scene. The naturalistic lighting in this scene is complemented by the abundance of the colour green which is heavily related to the concept of nature. Once the son has killed the deer, we see the family come out

I partially agree with this statement. While there are many examples of auteur-driven work where the director is the most important creative force on the production and content of a film, there are just as mamy where the studio is more responsible for this than the director. Sometimes, this depends on the era, as during the Hollywood studio system, most films were by directors-for-hire, while in the New Hollywood era, many auteur-driven works rose to prominence in Hollywood. One may also argue that other creative forces such as writers or cinematographers are just as important as the director in many cases too. The first film that I studied was Casablanca, which released in 1942 under the Hollywood studio system, specifically by Warner Bros, This typically means that the studio, and especially the producer is mostly, if not entirely responsible for all creative elements of the film. Films in this era are generally considered to be "factory produced" and part of a "produc

  Todorov’s Narrative Theory applies to The Long Trousers. It starts with an equilibrium, with  Wallace and Gromit living together peacefully. It is Gromit’s birthday, and Wallace buys Gromit the techno trousers. This equilibrium is then disrupted when Feathers the penguin comes to rent a room at Wallace and Gromit’s house so that Wallace can pay off debts. Wallace and Gromit fall out, causing Gromit to leave the house as Wallace replaces him with Feathers.This introduces one of Levi Strauss’ Binary Opposites, as Gromit is a dog, which are typically domesticated and kept as pets, while Feathers is a penguin, which is a wild animal which typically isn’t and shouldn’t be kept as a pet. Later in the film we see this as we discover that while Gromit is loyal to Wallace, and even when they fall out will fight for him, Feathers is anything but loyal to Wallace and can’t be contained.  Feathers eventually betrays Wallace by putting him in the techno trousers and controlling him, making him ru

 The use of low key lighting and shadows in Coppola's "The Godfather" is very prominent and is a big part of it's visual motif. It shows it's characters involved in the criminal underworld shrouded in darkness Some of these characters are shown in darkness from the beginning, most notably Don Vito Corleone, but the film is about the character arc of his son, Michael Corleone as he slowly descends into that world of darkness and circumstances make him take the role of Don Corleone. The use of lighting and shadows is used in a similar way in Apocalypse Now. In the first scene where we meet the character of Willard, where he has a breakdown in his hotel room, the lighting in the room is low key. This is when we see the real version of him, which he seems to cover up on the boat over the course of the rest of the film, though we slowly see it become darker and darker as he starts to break, until eventually we reach Kurtz' temple, which is almost pitch black, where

 In the hotel room scene, where Willard has a mental breakdown, this was very much real and natural for Martin Sheen. Sheen has described filming this scene as "wrestling his demons". This gives the scene a unique authenticity, and an even darker tone. Sheen cuts his hand by punching the mirror in this scene, which while not intentional, is now iconic and part of the film's identity. Coppola, as well as others on set considered stopping the scene for Sheen's safety, but it was captured in it's entirety for both authenticity and because Sheen, who at the time was an alcoholic and a drug addict, felt it was something he "had to do."