Movies in my Spare Time #1

Movies In My Spare Time

A movie I have watched recently viewed is Selma. Starring David Oyelowo and Carmen Ejogo. They do a beautiful performance of interpreting Martin Luther Kind and his wife, Coretta Scott.

Official Trailer

The not so well known director, Ava Duvernay who also worked on Spiderman 2 and i, Robot is known for her dramatic choice of camera angles and serious, "put down your popcorn and watch" movies.

I decided to focus on camera angles and editing choices of this movie because that is what i hope to eventually do... film movies. I noticed straight form the beginning she chooses to put the camera in a place where you can see more than one level. There were staircases in about half of her shots and they were also from extreme high angles and extreme low angles depending on who was in the scene. Another thing I noticed was that she used very few still shots. The majority of them were moving shots. Fading in and out of scenes and across the set. The reason why I believe she chose to do this for the movie was because there was never a break for Martin Luther King or the coloured people of this time. They were constantly moving and working and fighting for their rights, like these shots never staying still.

I chose to focus on the opening scene. She starts with a moving shot in the corner of a church and moves down to the level of the people, she conmtinues to put the camera behind the railing of stairs and show children walking down towards the height of the camera and talking to eachother. The next scene the camera at the top of a staircase and it walks down them and films a coloured women go and apply for her right to vote. All of these shots were continuously moving and they were all on different levels of the room.

I

 personally loves the movie, it was a realistric interpretation fo what happened at the time., It was not cliche or over the top, it was serious and very real. It had the right amount of violence and peace, silence and speech and showed everything that was necessary and nothing was over produced.

Callie Pasick

Review of the reviews

Review of the Reviews

The Awakening

Story about a women from London who is sent to a said “haunted” boarding school to rid of ghosts, but it turns out she is really being haunted by the memory of those she has lost. She is sent through an imagined time warp to her childhood through the building and the spirits of the other children.

Moira Macdonald writes a review for the Seattle Times giving her opinions about the film. 

http://seattletimes.com/html/movies/2019031554_mr31awakening.html

The majority of the review is a plot description with brief opinions scattered throughout and he final paragraph is where she shows the majority of her opinions about the film. 

She generally compliments the movie and has very few critisisizms but those of which she does, she states vey politely. 

It is generally a positive review with some pointers and improvements she would alter if she had the chance. 

She focused mainly on the main character and her acting skills and how she portrays the plot line, I would've liked to hear her talk about the use of the camera and the music throughout the review because the music was very unique to me when I watched it. 

The review was generally quite brief and didn't mention the director or supporting cast at all. I purposely chose this review because I think it could've been improved a lot and more criticisms or emotion could be added throughout the whole thing

The second review I am analyzing is by Claudia Puig who wrote for USA today. A more common newspaper.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/story/2012-08-23/the-awakening/57255260/1?csp=34life&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomMovies-TopStories+%28Life+-+Movies+-+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Google+Reader&fullsite=true

The review begins with a plot description and hen moves onto the film analysis. It begins with abayas is of the plot and then techniques the director uses and hen she moves onto the actors performances. 

She touches on almost all parts of the film. She uses a variety of adjectives to describe her point and uses examples form the movie to portray why she thought the mood and the setting of the film were there and why.

 It is again generally positive but she is analyzing why the director chose to do such things instead of giving her personal opinion on them. 

She compares this movie to the directors other movies and explains similarities and differences between his works. 

“The awakening offers low key pleasure of an old fashioned thriller and a lovely central performance” Seattle Times

I chose this quote because it compliments the main actors performances. I personally believe he cast was chosen very accurately and this compliment does them justice.  It is also rare that thrillers are set in the early 1900s and to mention the time frame was important to me. 

“Undoubtably a well made and unsettling movie was made that explores fakery and charlatans that prey on the people's grief of after World War One.” USA Today  

I chose this quote because it mentions that be movie is set afte World War One. I think this is very important because a lot of the issues and emotions shown in the movie could have been greatly impacted by the depressing era that had just ended. 

I would definitely include a brief plot summary in my review although I would leave it t the beginning and leave all my opinions to the end. I would not combine the two so what I am analyzing is clear and precise. I would make sure to mention the time period of the movie and why certain things are thye way they are because of when it is set.