When I think of big sets and enormous budgets I think of films that take place in different environments like otter space, different planets mythical worlds and  exotic places.  I choose Pirates of the Caribbean for many reasons, one, cause I love those films and the stories in them! Two, because the sets are so great. They filmed everywhere around the world for this films from London, to Puerto Rico, to Dominica and other Caribbean islands, and of course Disney Studios. Every film give you a feeling of authentic islands and vast oceans, and even the crew looks real, when they show indigenous people they actually look like them! And Third, because Johnny Depp has a pirate? Come on it’s amazing and you know it! All four installments combined have had a budget of about 1 billion dollars and have grossed 3.7 billion world wide. I have posted a video of a classic scene which depicts typical Pirates of The Caribbean aspects, real sets, sword battles, fast paced movements and Captain Jack Sparrow getting into shenanigans.
Homework #4 Avengers: Age of Ultron
Avengers: Age of Ultron had a budget of about $280 million, and made over $1.4 billion worldwide. I believe that this movie captivated a lot of viewers because of all the CGI. Plus a lot of people are into Marvel comics. I can see why it was a big budget movie because of all the big movie star actors are in it and the visual effects put into the movie. They really put a lot of detail from making Tony Stark’s high tech lab to the design of Ultron. I think the budget was worth it because they made a profit. To make a movie with all that visual effects and so much detail poured into it and end up with a huge profit is good.
Homework #4: Spectacular Cinema
Hollywood in the 1930s was filled with spectacles, from the musical fantasies of Busby Berkleey to surreal costumes and sets in The Wizard of Oz and the attention to historical accuracy in Gone with the Wind. These large budget films (the Oz budget was 2.77M and Gone with the Wind was approx. 3.9M) demonstrate the desire to create an immersive cinema that transported audiences from the somber realities of the Great Depression. Listen to the short NPR news story on the making of Gone with the Wind and note the grand scale of the production, from the long casting process to the interest in historical accuracy as well as the subsequent controversies. In addition, read a New York Post article that draws attention to the controversial aspects of the film.
Share with your classmates examples of films that function like spectacles. What big-budget movies have produced similar spectacular settings to captivate audiences? What do you think of the extravagant budgets of these films?Â
Listen to the NPR Gone with the Wind Story here.
NYPost article: “Gone with the Wind” should go the way of the Confederate flag”
To complete this homework assignment, note whether you Post or Comment. For Homework #4, Diamonds and Spades will submit a Post and Clubs and Hearts will Comment (choose any of your classmatesâ posts to comment on).
Homework #4 is DUE by Thursday October 15th.⚠Diamonds and Spades Post, Clubs and Hearts Comment, note your blog group! Email me if you forget.
HW#3
Whatâs the meaning of a controversial film? A controversial film is film that is explicit. The content of these kinds of films are meant to shock the audiences. These sought of movies tend to be about sex politics, war and unbelievable violence. The filmmakers are very free with what they have to say as well as show it with no care. An example of a controversial film would be âKidsâ directed by Larry Clark in the 1995. I choose this movie because it was a movie that was about teenagers in New York City and talks about HIV/AIDS. This stood out to me for two reasons; 1) I live in NYC and 2) I have a degree in Community Health with a concentration in Health Services Administration and plan on pursuing a higher degree in Public Health. I plan on focusing on the education on the teenagers to young adults. This movie did indeed shock me, the first few minutes on the screen were two teenagers making out and that lend to sex. I can honestly say watching this movie for the few minutes made me uncomfortable. There was no waring of what to expect. The language was âtoo muchâ for the first few minutes. I would have to say I can understand why people would feel uncomfortable to watch controversial films due to the fact that one will not know what to expect and there is no warning of what to expect from the beginning. This movie consists of sex, bad language, alcohol and drugs. This movie opened up my eyes a lot, I was able to learn a few things from this movie and it was a breath of fresh air other than reading from textbooks.
HW #3 Cannibal Holocaust Controversy
Cannibal Holocaust is a found footage horror film released in 1980. The film is directed by Ruggero Deodato and tells a story of a documentary film crew who traverse the Amazons to film the lives of cannibal tribes. After contact with the crew is lost a rescue crew is sent, what they recover is the documentary team’s film.
The film is interesting because it is one of the earliest films to use the found footage technique, way before the Blair Witch Project popularized it. But of course this movie is not without its controversies.
The film gained notoriety from its portrayal of graphic violence, sexual assaults and animal cruelty. The film made its premier in Italy where it was immediately seized and banned. The director Ruggero was then arrested on obscenity charges. To make matters worse rumors began to spread that the film was actually a “snuff film” due to the fact that killings look real and the actors were actually dead. When the actors was confirmed to be alive Ruggero was released with no charges. The film was banned in multiple European countries due to its graphic violence. The film did kill real animals in the film; a total of 7 animals were killed in production. The animals include a pig, monkey, snake and a turtle.
It took 20 years for the movie to be released for home viewing but even then it was heavily censored. We can see that back then that the masses were not comfortable with graphic violence. Unlike today where we glorify movies like Saw and any other killer movie. Because the movie scene was still young at the time, showing anything excessive which purpose is to make the audience feel uncomfortable and showing things they never seen before, movies like this often tend to be quite controversial. This film is still considered the top 20 controversial films of all time
Homework #3
The controversial film I chose was the 1994 film, Natural Born Killers. This movie sparked controversy because the film depicted the media’s over glamorization of crime and violence. The film’s stars Woody Harrison and Juliette Lewis, play Mickey and Mallory Knox, a modern day Bonnie and Clyde. The movie follows the couple as they commit mass murders, starting with the murder of Mallory’s parents. The movie follows the cross country murder spree of the young lovers and the media’s overexposure of it all. The media turned them into superstars. Even in prison they were “celebrities”, able to escape, with the help of the media. This movie exposed a broken system and numerous charges came that film had inspired real crimes based on the onscreen exploits of the Knoxâs.
Homework #3: Birth of a Nation and Controversial Films
At home and in class, we screen excerpts of D.W. Griffithâs Birth of a Nation in class, a movie that was first screened 100 years ago. The racist content of the film invoked protest across the nation, led primarily by the newly formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The combination of Griffithâs remarkable artistry, distorted historical accounts, and overt racism produced sickening propaganda for the Ku Klux Klan. Listen to a short NPR report on the legacy of the Birth of a Nation. For an example of the impact of Griffithâs film on a recent movie, see Henry Louis Gatesâ interview of Quentin Tarantino on Django Unchained (2012)
NPR report on Birth of  a Nation
Gates’ interview with Quentin Tarantino
Share with your classmates other examples of controversial films that have evoked protests in the past. Do you know of movies that have caused similar demonstrations or complaints about content?
To complete this homework assignment, note whether you Post or Comment. For Homework #3, Clubs and Hearts will submit a Post and Diamonds and Spades will Comment (choose any of your classmatesâ posts to comment on).
Homework #3 is DUE by Thursday September 24th.⚠Clubs and Hearts Post, Diamonds and Spades Comment, note your blog group! Email me if you forget.
The opening scene for “The dark knight”
Opening scene I picked was from the “The Dark Knight”. It is the bank robbery and everybody is gossiping about who might have hired them and they end up killing each other without knowing that the master mind was among them. I am big fan of every movie based on comics because the background stories. The joker is a very interesting character and this was his introduction in the movie.
Superman (1978)
This review is super biased. Because I’ve been a Superman fan from way back in the day. i’m talking “in the womb”
The opening used  in Richard Donner’s Superman is fantastic nearly 40 years later.  It starts out with a child narrating the circumstances of Superman’s stomping ground of Metropolis before he showed up. It really serves as a metaphor for our world before Superman leaped into through the pages of Action Comics #1 in April of 1938. According to the kid Metropolis was ravaged by the “Worldwide Depression” much like our world at the time.  And that the Daily Planet, place of employment for mild mannered  news reporter Clark Kent, served as a beacon of hope for the failed city.  And then we leap into the iconic John Williams score. Everyone knows it. It’s the Opening Song.  The only opening scores that can touch it in terms of recognizability might be Star Wars, The James Bond Theme from Dr. No, or maybe Danny Elfman’s Batman. It’s just really, really great.
Then we pan over the landscape of the icy, barren land that is  Kal-El’s homeworld of Krypton. And we enter the Kryptonian council in the middle of the trial of General Zod, his man-hating accomplice, Ursula and their mindless mound of muscle, Non.  The council is nearly unanimous in their decision to banish the nefarious trio to the Phantom Zone, Krypton’s prison dimension, but the deciding vote belongs to Jor-El, Superman’s pops. Played here by Marlon Brando, acting icon extrodinaire and a notriously difficult to work with kind of guy. Word has it he didn’t even the script throughout filming he had his own card guy. Jor-El decides to send them to the Phantom Zone causing General Zod to shout the iconic “YOU WILL KNEEL BEFORE ME!” Line. In reality this isn’t touched upon as the Kryptonian criminals are conspicuously absent throughout  the remainder of this film. After this Krypton starts self-destructing as usual and Kal-El is sent to Earth. And thus concludes the nearly 20 minutes opening sequence. And what an opening sequence it was.
The opening scene for “Iron Man”
The âIron manâ, film has one of the best opening scenes. The scene puts into pieces the entire Marvel Studios film franchise success because it was that good. I was never a fan of superhero films because those types of films were always the same, the build up, the obstacle and the action. I remember telling my friends that if Iron Man didn’t intrigue me in the first five minutes, I would walk out, which I never did. In the first five minutes we are introduced to the main character Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) as a drinker, a very elegant man who wears a suit in the desert and his dialogue are set in motion. The ACDC in the background is perfection; it really lets the audience know that they are witnessing a likeable and epic character. I also like the timing of the explosions and ambush; that really sets off in the most ambiguous moment. The opening scene is movie directing at itâs finest putting the audience in a situation weâre you donât know anything, a fast build up with the perfect timing. Trailers are supposed to get you to see movies and the opening scene is what should make you stick around for the film.
