[Christopher Lobato]

Christopher Lobato
2. Then, as you did last week, please answer the following
a. Name three different things you feel you learned.
One thing that I learned was the term elliptical editing. This technique is very prevalent in films, so it was nice to learn more about the many approaches to showing the passage of time like time-lapses and jump cuts and be able to identify them.

However, what I mostly learned from the presentation was the various takes on various film techniques and tropes.

For example, I learned more about was some of the uses and possible symbolism of mirrors in film. Mirrors are intriguing because while it reflects the character, it can also be a cause for figurative reflection. When a character stares into a mirror, it causes them to confront themselves and therefore reevaluate themselves or come to a realization. However, there were also some other interesting uses of mirrors in the presentation. One example is the room full of mirrors. In both Enter the Dragon and The Lady of Shanghai, the mirrors create tension because all we see are reflections. It makes the audience question what is real and which of the images isn’t a mirror. We can also see a similar effect with the mirrors in Black Swan. The mirrors make the character and the audience question what is real.

Another example is that I learned some of the different ways cross cuts were employed to show parallel events. One interesting cross cut was the clip taken from The God Father. This scene creates a kind of juxtaposition between the serenity of the church and the horrific murders. It makes us feel uneasy because the audience sees this very pure scene of the baptism, but also is aware that the murders are occurring on behalf of the main character.
Lastly, something I found interesting is how there was use windshield versus no windshield in filming a car scene. On the surface, the change seems minimal but, having a windshield can make the scene seem more real, and having none is better for visibility and making the events more personal.

b. Mention something you liked about the presentation.
What I like about this presentation specifically was the choice of the topics for the section. Many of the techniques shown in this video I felt were somehow closely related to each other in one form or another. As a result, it allowed me to evaluate some of the similarities and differences in some of these techniques.

For example, in this presentation, we saw how both split-screen and cross cuts both show events happening parallel to each other. By showing them consecutively after each other in the video, we get to compare the two and see how each one fulfills a similar purpose but in different ways. However, in some cases, they can also work in tandem. We see this with the transition between both topics through Grease, which uses both cross cuts and split-screen in the same song “Summer Nights”.
Another example is that many of the topics in the video also showed the different ways films show the passage of time in a short time. Jump cuts and time-lapses are both examples of elliptical editing; however, both can have varying effects. Jump cuts can quickly jump scenes while a time-lapse can give more perspective on how much time has past as we see with the film Hachiko: A Dog’s Tale.

Overall, I think this a fascinating thing to think about, even in literature! There are so many literary devices, and some can be similar yet different. For instance, both similes and metaphors serve as a comparison between two things. However, the slight change in syntax can completely change the effect of its meaning. By removing the “like” or “as” when making comparisons, it can make the comparison seem more affirmative and more like a fact. As a result, we have to think about the reasoning why maybe an author or director might have opted to use one technique over the other since there are so many ways to get a message across.

c. Ask at least one question that now comes to mind about this presentation.
There was an interesting point made in the section about time-lapses that time-lapses are a film trope that has no equivalent in literature. It also made me wonder if any other film tropes are difficult to do in literature? For example, telling parallel stories can be hard to do the same way movies do, but we see parallel stories told in the novel All the Light We Cannot See, where chapters switch between one of the two parallel storylines.

This question is a follow-up question but also a question about preference. With novels and literature, the author has to create imagery through the words they write and, the readers fill in the blanks and create vivid imagery in their mind. Is this limiting or, is a film more limiting because they leave little to the imagination? Time-lapses and lens flare in films can be visually amazing; but does it ruin some of the magic of the novel(in the case of a film adaptation of a novel).

4. Then, please answer the following
d. Name two or three different things you feel you learned.
The idea of cigarettes and cigars being used as a phallic symbol was something that I never realized. It made me think back to all the movies I have seen and think about if cigars were a sexual symbol. However, it also makes a lot of sense because cigarettes often had sexual implications in many advertisements. Sex appeal played a big part in the advertisement for cigarettes and, cigarettes were often a symbol of masculinity. This motif seems to be the most predominantly used, and this might be because of its subtleness.

I think it was also interesting to learn about how in-general many sexual symbols were used because of censorship, but now it has become more of a stylistic choice made by the director. We see this in My Own Private Idaho where the scene is blatantly sexual, but the director still chooses to insert other imagery to symbolize release.

Mention something you liked about the presentation.
I like that some of the clips included in the video did not have any text accompanied with them. It allowed me to view the clip and read into it myself and see if some of these symbols were obvious or not. I think the inclusion of more scenes that are up to interpretation so we could form our own opinions would have been cool. As mentioned at the beginning of the video, our perspective of these symbols can change depending on our experiences.

f. Ask at least one question that now comes to mind about this presentation.
Phallic symbols seem to be prevalent in many films, but symbolism representing female genitalia seem less common. Are female sex symbols considered more taboo than male ones? In many of the examples given in the presentation, women are often doing something symbolically seductive such as licking a popsicle or a banana. The only blatant example was from Women in Love, in which a comparison was made between figs and female sex organs.

[Prof. Masiello]

Wow again!

Christopher, you certainly are paying attention to what I am asking the class to look at.

Your comments and questions are very interesting. It does seem that male sex symbols are more “external” and “out there” so to speak.

As for literature, you are right: reading is more active for a reader while film viewing is more passive insofar as once you see what characters look like in films, it is hard to block them out of one’s memory upon rereading. Literature can crosscut, but I do not think there is an equivalent for split-screen. Both literature and film can convey POV.

I wonder if our students have been forming pictures in their minds about Lolita and if those will be supported or challenged by the film versions.