Thelma and Louise

Thelma and Louise starts off by showing a long road which looks to be some where in the desert, this scene is interesting as the same road is shown towards the end of the film but with Thelma and Louise driving along it, to me this represents a long journey ahead but I think that is what the director is trying to portrait as it starts off in black and white and then fades into colour just as you see in older films that are about to tell a story.

After the opening scene of the long road a different setting is set of a busy local resturant with Louise working as a waitress, music is being played and every one seems to be rushing around and getting on with day to day life, to the audience this shows Louise's way of life and gets the audience thinking how does this film relate to a long road in the desert, when this scene ends it shows Thelma's way of life as a housewife where she gets shown no respect and doesn't really stick up for herself and really has to tip toe around her husband. These two charcaters are linked together by a phone call where Louise asks Thelma about a road trip, the audience is then reminded of the long road which was shown at the begining of the film. Several minutes it shows the two women getting ready for there trip collecting clothes and various other items, one of which is a gun this then gets the audience thinking will they use it, the film reallt takes place when the two women are well into there trip and go to a bar have to many drinks and a man takes advantage of thelma this is when louise shoots and kills him, they are then on the run as they panic and don't go to the police.

During this film there are a lot of clips of long roads with represents a long journey and panning shots of the car as it goes along the road, the weather plays a big part in the film aswell as it changes a lot mainly sunny days but rain is also included this shows the audience the mood of the film at that time and it also shows that one day has started and another has ended.

I enjoyed this film as it had two characters that in the film were the villians but to the audience were the heroes and even in the end when Thelma said to Louise "lets just keep on going" you had a slight feeling that they still could get away and to Mexico but it doesn't end that way but to me that was the right decision to make from the director as it led to a tense and emotional ending.

Graduate

In the opening scenes of The Graduate I thought the film was going to be full of twists and turns as it had that feel about it in the opening scene with all the people gathered in the house but this turned out to be misleading as the film was'nt full of twists and turns it was just about a man who had finished hs education and was having an affair with Mrs.Robinson and then fulls in love with her daughter.

To me there was no scenes which really caught my eye that I could say I found entertaining as there was no scenes which had me sitting on the edge of my seat or had me in suspence.There was one scene which got me thinking will he make it in time which was at the very end of the film where he is racing up the highway in his sports car to reach Mrs.Robinson's daughter before she is married off, there also a good piece of editing in this scene, as the car starts to brake down the music is timed and sounds like a car coming to a halt.

The Graduate to was a film that I didnt enjoy a lot as it did have a very basic story line and no real twists or turns which made it exciting to watch.

FARGO

The opening of Fargo to me was really good as it introduced the film and set the mood for it aswell by a short paragraph coming up on screen explaining that the film is a true story, to me that gets me interested straight away as I personally enjoy watching films based on true stories. After that the film officially opens by showing an almost blue screen with a car emerging from the distance coming towards the screen, this tells the viewer that the weather is fogging and perhaps set in winter time. To me the characters could of been displayed better as the main character Jerry was displayed as a man that just seems to accept things rather then sticking up for himself, maybe one of the reasons he got himself in the situation he was in, but to me he does seem a bit of a wimp but maybe too much of one at times and the two men that were hired to kidnapp his wife seems to me like the most odd pairing as one talks too much and the other doesnt talk at all just like what you would see in a cartoon and this is meant to portrait a true story, and then theres the police women who just doesnt seem fased by anything in the world for example when she is called in the early hours of the morning to go to a crime scene, then her husband is nagging her about making an egg then when she eventually gets to the scene she see's two dead men and it doesnt bother her, all of these things would anoie me.

There are some good moments in the film for example when the kidnappers go to the house to kidnap Jerry's wife the man is looking through the window and doesnt see Jerry's wife sat right in front of him so decides to smash the window and the other kidnapper just walks straight through the front door, this then leads to Jerry's wife having a shower curtain over her head falling down the stairs and knocking her self out.

Although there was good moments in the film I felt it could of been done a lot better and the film doesnt fully explain the ending well, and what happened to all the characters.

North by Northwest

North by Northwest is very good at editing through out the film, perhaps the most obvious editing is when the audience is able to look through Peter Thornhill's point of view on things. The most intense scenes in the film are the ones with the editing in them, one of the most intense scenes is when Peter has just climbed a wall to view what is happening in the house which is owned by the men who are trying to kill him, also in the house is the woman he loves who is also an under cover agent, this is the most intense as Peter is balancing on a sort of tiny cliff edge while looking into the house to see what is going on, the editing comes into play when you can see every ones point of view on the situation first of all you see the situation through Peter's point of view this is the most awkward as you can see what is going on in the house but can't hear, it becomes clear when the film switches camera into the house and the characters are looking at each other which shows the window in the background where Peter is looking through, at this stage you can now hear what is going on, the two men are talking about when Eve the under cover agent shot Peter but with blanks as a coverup, this is what is making the scene intense as peter is still out side looking on and Eve is up stairs and has no idea that they have found out about the fake shooting.

Another very good editing scene is at the end when Peter and Eve are trying to escape the armed men and climb down Mount Rushmore, but Eve slips and Peter is pushed further down the mountain and Eve is hanging off of the edge holding Peter's hand whilst peter is holding on to the cliff by one hand, Peter then calls out to one of the armed men to help them but he stands on Peter's hand instead, all of a sudden the armed man gets shot by the police and he falls over the cliff. This is great editing for the time as we know that they werent actually hanging off the edge of Mount Rushmore and they did'nt actually throw an actor off the edge either, this is only achievable by editing.

The very last clip of the film is also the last piece of editing as Peter pulls Eve up to safety on Mount Rushmore but then the camera switches to on a train where Peter is helping Eve up onto the bunk who is now the new Mrs.Thornhill.

I enjoyed this film as it had twists and turns through out and the editing was done really well, this is perhaps the reason why is was nominated for three Academy Awards for Film Editing.

Sound

Sound has always played a big part in films as it represents what people are doing the mood of particular characters and it also sets the scene. For example nearly every film starts off with music, the classics include Jaws, mission impossible and James Bond, the music that the film starts off with isnt just used at the start of the film or at the end, the same music is used regulary through out the film at key points. The music in Jaws appears just before an attack, when the shark is close or when you looking through the sharks point of view. In James Bond the music is used at action parts in the film, fighting scenes and chases and that is the same in mission impossible's case. These pieces of music are pretty much famous as every body knows them and what film they come from.

Sound also represents actions such as in older martial art films where the characters are fighting each hit is accompanied with a distict noise, which even today when people are play fighting make the same noise, this is the same with ancient battle scenes when the swords are hitting each other.

Diegetic and non-diegetic sound is used in every film, most commonly used when a character is talking but not shown on screen and diegetic sound when a character is talking on screen oviously these scenes can be made more dramtic with added music and how loud or quiet they are speaking.

Direct sound can be used to represent the most dramatic scenes for example in a high speed car chase that leads to a crash, it's more then likely you will only hear the scidding and then the impact of the crash followed by the glass smashing. The same can be said of a scene if an important character has just been shot it will be all quiet, you will then hear perhaps the trigger being pulled, the bang, followed by the person getting hit by the bullet.

Nonsimultaneous sound is used for example a sound has been recored and played back on screen you dont see the character who has said what they are saying. This is similar to offscreen sound the difference is that for offscreen sound the character is there you just can't see them for the period there speaking.

Sound perspective is important in films in particular Jaws when it shows the shark, the music begins slowly then as the shark gets closer and closer to it's prey the music gets faster and louder.

Voice overs are commonly used when a film is showing the life and history of some one and the character normaly narrates this himself.

I believe if we did'nt have sound in films it would be boring and not at all entertaining it would be like watching a programme whilst it was on mute.

City of God

City of God to me was a very good film as it represents the actual events really well and in a lot of detail. The opening of the film shows the way in which the people live in there community, by showing chickens being kill and prepared to eat and people dancing, having fun and enjoying themselves it seems like a regular thing, infact through out the film there is a lot of people dancing and enjoying themselves, which is suprising due to the amount of violence that the film shows aswell, after killing a few chickens one gets away, boys and men chase it through the streets armed with all sorts of guns intill it gets cornered by a boy called Rocket and the gang in the middle of the road, they all aim there guns at what appears to be Rocket at first but then the camera zooms around the boy and shows armed Police behind him, the film then starts to be narrated by the boy Rocket 10 years earlier explaing how he got himself in that position, which is a good bit of editing as the screen donesnt just go black and it appears to be in a different environment the background melts away from the streets and he is playing football in a sort of desert environment.

The violence is displayed well as it uses different shots to show the fighting, it also shows the way in which the gangs fight, they both know the streets really well so ambushes are frequent and attacks on peoples houses often happen.

I really enjoyed this film as it depicted the actual events really well and accuratly, I also really enjoy films which are a true stories, it was also interesting to find out that the cast of the film apart from the man who played carrot were not actors and were from Brazil and the favelas, which added even more of the film being convincing and enjoyable to watch as it would of been very similar to how they act in real life.