Independent Research Script Reflection- "Saving Private Ryan" & "City of God"

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eYM29SGiDj6rdbkjdELzgDIXtVEBgsuUesHDqrm2Hz8/edit

Although I made attempts at referring to film history, these attempts were not developed as well as they could have. I introduced the evolution of war photography. I stated that everything involving war began with the people believing it to be real. Even though it was staged, the audience had no idea. However, as time progressed, they learned to get used to the constant bombardment of violence and therefore the standards of  photographing war were raised. This could have been a good time to dwell into some aesthetics of the genre and talk about some theories involving it, yet these ideas were not talked about.

If this was turned into a documentary, there would probably seem a disconnect with the audience. Not enough was done to get and keep the audience's attention. Reading it, it seems more like an essay rather than an engaging piece for anyone to enjoy. Although some of the arguments have depth in them, they fall flat in scope. For example, there is clear information on the story behind the film and the struggle of the actors, yet there is nothing that connects it to the bigger picture.

This is one of the things that was done well. There are constant references to multiple different and reliable sources in the forms of articles, essays, and videos. Not only do these come from the people involved in the film (such as the actors and directors), but also from outside sources who have looked closely at the film and analyzed it bit by bit. The only issue here is that although they are relevant, they just need to click together a little better. Yes, they are linked to what I am talking about, but they could be linked together in a better way.

Compared to the audio, the video elements seem a little tenuous. The audio is written well, but again it seems too much like an essay and not an engaging and interesting piece ready for a real documentary analysis of both of the movies.

Both of the films (Saving Private Ryan and City of God) clearly relate to the topics of war photography and preserving realism in film. Now that I look back at it, the term "realism" could have been defined as well. In the definition, I could have talked about early 20th century film movements that led to the creation of this term and the basic conventions that it follows in terms of editing and cinematography. Nevertheless, I'd say that there were insightful comparisons made between the two films but the precision of these comparisons can debatable. I would say that the comparisons could have improved. There wasn't that much too improve on, but they could still have flowed better with better transitions used between them.

End of Year Reflection

My strength would be my knowledge of not just movies, but TV shows as well. I constantly referred to TV shows and their interesting story lines as film as their usage of filmic techniques. Honestly, there are people in the class who has seen way more films that I have, but I am still able to talk about the research. When researching, I would like to say that "ebscohost" helped, but I did honestly did not help me find the research I was looking for. The only interesting article it ever provided for me was when I was researching the film Psycho. I always looked, but I never found good articles. Sometimes, I never found any relevant articles. That is the area I would say I need help in. I'd say that I only needed help finding scholarly writing during my research throughout the year. I don't think there is a set way to teach students how to research, but maybe exposing students to more reliable sites could prove helpful.


My strength approaching the oral presentation was the amount of time I put into the research for the film. This time, "ebsochost" proved to be helpful due to the vast history and impact of Psycho on the film industry. The blog posts we did forced us to research early if we didn't want to start so early. Next year for my presentation, I think I just need to work on presenting it in a way that I sound like I know what I'm saying. Also, I need to stay focused on the real life events of the film rather than the real life events of the people it was influenced by. Next year, it would help if we were also forced to do this research because it would force us to no procrastinate. Also, I know this is hard to do, but I feel like we should get a little more time to work on it. I felt like presentations came too quickly.


This year, I got a chance to work with gear that I had not thought would use. For example, I used sliders, steadicams, audio gear (H4n) , lenses, cameras (7D), and lights. The most I learned from was using the lights I used in El Camino, the first short film we made this year. Not only did I learn about the Noir genre, but also the many of ways to light a scene to make the image more appealing. I was able to use this techniques I learned during that and improve the lighting in the documentary I made (Youth and Government). The are I need to work on in my filmmaking is the story-telling aspect, which is a HUGE area. I know the filmmaking techniques, but I cannot tell a good, visual story. I honestly don't know how to improve my storytelling because if I knew, I mostly likely already would have tried it.

Brazilian Cinema and City Of God

Todorov’s theory of an equilibrium.

According to this theory, disequilibrium arrives after equilibrium which then paves the way for new equilibrium. This can be easily seen reflected in City of God. When the movie begins, there is peace. Although it is not the way normal society is used to seeing peace, it is peace nonetheless. However, is is soon disrupted after the massacre in the brothel by Lil Dice. This results in the eventual downfall of the members of the "Tender Trio." When Lil Dice becomes Lil Ze and takes control of the city, there is equilibrium again. Although he used years of violence to get to where he his, he has achieve peace in the City of God. However, his further involvement in the violence leads to an all out war in the middle of the city between Lil Ze and Knockout Ned's gangs. Finally at the end of the movie, everything is restored. However, the director shows little children walking away from the camera talking about killing someone they dislike because they are the ones in power now. The shot is static and everything is visible in the frame due to the deep focus. This allows for the audience to soak in all the action they just witnessed only to see the cycle repeat itself all over again.


Narrative Enigma 

Narrative enigmas, or unanswered questions that mislead the audience, is one of the many techniques seen in the film. This is done through the audience's knowledge coming into account and predicting what is likely to happen. This hypothesis is made from the prior knowledge gained from the film. The best example of this is Tiago and Bene's race. From what we know about Lil Ze and his associates is that they kill for what they want. When Tiago arrives, he almost seems like a burden and the way Bene chases after him is not a good sign. Additionally, the use of quick shots and reverse angles with the framing getting closer and closer to the characters adds to this sense of anxiety. However, nothing happens at the end. The set-up leads to no true expected resolution, which makes this film unique in its own way. Although it is expected that the race is going to end with Tiago suffering, the exact opposite happens; Tiago and Bene befriend one another. This misleading scene shows that the characters in the story are not as black and white as they may appear to be. They all have layers that reveal them to be more than just a caricature.


Diegetic narrative devices



These devices include newspapers, photographs, music, and T.V. interviews. The film's inclusion of newspapers and photographs show the blend of the violent world in the rest of society. Rather, it shows the desire to be separate from this world of violence. Rocket, in a way, is dependent of the society's crave for this knowledge of the less known violent society. He gets a job and gets to lose his virginity due to the opportunity given to him. Additionally, the film has a blend of modern (for the 70s) music with almost no music at all. The music playing at Bene's farewell party bring all the different groups in the city together. This further signifies the importance of culture in modern society. What I find the most interesting is actually the lack of music in specific sections. What that does is that it creates a realistic tone in which the audience does not know what to expected because there is no music for guidance. This creates for incredibly powerful and emotional scenes such as the one where Lil Ze makes a kid kill one of the Runts.

The character of Rocket is what most interest me for my personal research. It is his role as not just the narrator, but his role as a character as well. More specifically, the idea that he uses a camera as a way to protect himself from the violence is what I find the most interesting especially because traces of its importance can be seen in hand-held voyeuristic cinematography. I am interested in looking at other films who use a similar technique or form of cinematography to tell something about the story and the characters. I don't want to looking at "found footage" films because although they have something similar to what is being done in City of God, it is not done for the same reason. Cinematography of a movie like Saving Private Ryan would seem more appropriate because the shaky camerawork adds to the brutality of war.




Source:



http://brianair.wordpress.com/film-analysis/city-of-god/