"Once Upon a Time........"

The movie Once Upon a time in the West was an interesting movie. It started out with a long scene, and I happened to be gone when Harmonica came and killed the three men. Besides what Harmonica did, i thought the movie started out very slow. Which I found interesting, because a typical "western" movie will start out with the reason for revenge. Not part of the revenge act itself. I would have to say that I liked the mystery within the plot. Especially with Harmonica. The scene in the bar when Cheyenne comes into the bar, and there is a creepy guy in the corner playing the Harmonica. I thought it was a very different, but interesting way to introduce a main character. This style of introducing a character is very different than the classic western. The classic western, like in My Darling Clementine, had the hero riding in on Horseback to come save the day. A very noble entrance for a noble hero. But in Once Upon a time in the West the second entrance of the main character is just as questionable as the first. We don't know right away if he is a good or a bad guy. And even when we do find out he is "good", he really has bad motives for his good nature. He is driven by revenge, like most westerns, but in this movie the revenge is so strong that the character devotes a whole life to it. Where as a classic western has the main character urged on to do certain things by revenge, but never consumed by revenge. Overall, I thought Once Upon a Time in the West had a very different style than most westerns I have seen, and I took a liking to the new style of western. A more mysterious and darker story, with a little hope.

Journal #3

The movie the Raiders of the Lost Ark was directed by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Even though the movie had star directors, it also had a star composer, John Williams. John Williams composed music for many of the old famous movies, such as Star Wars, E.T, Jaws and all of the Indiana Jones Movies. Raiders of the Lost Ark happens to be one of the famous Indiana Jones movies. I think John Williams did exceptionally good in composing music for this movie, particularly because the theme is widely recognized, more so than some of his other famous movies.
The movie the Raiders of the Lost Ark had it's score written during the movie. John Williams wanted to base his music off of what was happening in the movie. He didn't want to have the movie be based off of what he had determined as the melody. Also, George Lucas and John Williams had worked together before, so they weren't new with each other. They both worked in the production of the Star Wars trilogy that came out in the 1970's. came out in 1981, so Mr. Lucas and Mr. Williams had quite a bit of experience with each other. This past experience helped in the creation of the music for the movie. Overall the score for Raiders of the Lost Ark wasn't too hard to accomplish, considering the men who organized it were and still are the elite of what they do.
On the other hand, the score for Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the most original scores says Mr. Panton in his review about Raiders of the Lost Ark. He says that it is described as Indiana Jones music, and nothing else. Meaning that Raiders of the Lost Ark has it's own originality and sticks out among other scores. Also, Mr. Zucaro agrees that Indiana Jones music is original and great in his review of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Overall the Raiders March as many call the theme to the movie, is one of the most recognizable themes around the world. John Williams created another score that is known through the world, along with Star Wars and Jaws. But the music in the actual movie seems like it relates to lost of Mr. Williams other stuff. For example, the love dispute between Indy and Marion. The theme sounds almost identical to the love theme for Leia and Han Solo in the movie Star Wars, except that Harrison Ford is not with Princess Leia in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Also, the sounds being made int opening in the jungle sound similar to the sounds in the Jungle during Star Wars: Return of the Jedi with the Ewoks (little bear guys). Although there is great similarity, the similarity has a purpose. The music is all by the same composer. So he is going to naturally take a theme and modify it a little is he cannot think of a certain theme to come up with. Also, it can give the view links between movies he has done. The links are equivalent to an alliteration in a piece of writing. So overall, John Williams has been praised again for another great soundtrack to a movie.
The music in Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of John Williams famous works. He creates a march theme for Indy in the movie that gets stuck in peoples head. This creates for a tune that is remembered by many people, and played throughout the nation. But even though John Williams created a great masterpiece of art, he still had to use some of his themes from other movies such as Star Wars to come up with themes in this movie. But overall John Williams did a fantastic job in creating music for Raiders of the Lost Ark and his music made the movie that much more enjoyable. Especially when Indy was saving the day.

O my Darling, O my Darling, OOOO My Darling Clementine

The movie My Darling Clementine was what I expected to be the classic western. And now i am seeing that most westerns are based off of this classic western. One particular scene that seemed like the epitamy of a western was the scene when Wyatt Earp first came to the town and captured the drunken man who was firing randomly. This is the epitamy of a western because it describes the hero as a man who no man can match, and risks his life for others. This scene showed that no man can match him, because literally no man in the town would go to try and stop the drunk man. But Wyatt Earp did. He also put his life at danger for some strangers he didn't know at all, and his excuse is he wanted a peaceful shave.
Another important factor of the western My Dear Clementine is the love story. The hero always falls in love with some beautiful lady who sweeps him off his feet. As we saw at the end of the movie Wyatt Earp hardly could hold his own ground when saying good buy to Clementine because he was blushing so much. The hero who seems unbeatable to any man always has a weakness to women. In this movie that was the case. Wyatt did have a weakness for women, specifically one woman. Usually the weakness only occurs to the one woman the hero loves. This love battle makes the viewer want to be the hero in the movie. The movie My Darling Clementine, the aspect of a true "western hero" is the main focus of the movie. The movie is a classic western.

Last Words of Citizen Kane

First I would like to comment on the last words of Kane. He could buy everything he wanted, shown by scanning over all of his possessions, but the one thing that he could not buy and didn't own was the fun of a childhood and the love of his parents. His last word wasn't necessarily trying to describe him, but he was simply stating what caused him to become the man he was, and that was the lack of childhood.
Secondly I would like to comment on the cinematography, specifically the camera angles during the film. Throughout the whole film, Kane was depicted as a very powerful man. Much of this was due to the acting by Orson Wells, but also the camera angles. Whenever Kane would talk to someone, especially Susan, the director(Orson Wells) would put Kane at a low angle and the person he is talking to at a high angle. This gave the illusion that Kane was very powerful. Even in his weakest moment (when he lost the election), the whole scene was filmed at a low angle perspective. Also at the opera house, the camera would shoot the audience at either a high or mid angle shot, but the camera showed Kane at low angle. I think was done to try and make Kane look very powerful, but eventually expose his weakness. Also, when showing Kane and Susan in the mansion, the director either had Susan sitting or kneeling most of the time. This could be to show that she was not as powerful as Kane or they would've just done that. But i think it shows that Susan was taken back by Kane's power that she was always portrayed as weak(compared to Kane). But at the end she it filmed at the same height as Kane, and that is when she decided to leave him. This shows that she eventually got the courage to stand up to his power. But the camera still shot Kane at a low angle, even when he was destroying things. Maybe it was done to show that Kane was trying to keep his image, or that they had done it the whole movie. Overall I think Orson Wells and his crew did a very nice job with the cinematography.

Movie Review of "Rear Window"

The movie Rear Window was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It stars James Stewart as J.B. Jeffrey's and Grace Kelly as J.B's girlfriend. This movie is another one of Alfred Hitchcock's classics.
The movie starts with introducing the main character. The scene that opens the movie sets tone for the whole movie. It is almost a tracking shot, but adds crane and pan movements. It surveys the whole apartment complex from the rear window of J.B's apartment. This opening shot creates a good visual of the only thing the viewer will see the whole movie.
Another aspect that made the movie very interesting was the detective story line. Throughout the whole movie the viewer never knows more than J.B Jeffrey's(James Stewart). This keeps the audience in suspense for most of the movie. But it really adds to the suspense in the last scene when J.B Jeffrey's is confronted by the killer. Hitchcock does a wonderful job keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.
The cinematic elements were well done in the movie, but the plot is what really gave the viewer interest. It is about J.B Jeffery's (James Stewart) who is a photographer. He broke his leg and nothing to do except watch the people in the apartments across the way through his rear window. One night he notices the wife of a man across the backyard has gone missing. Then he sees lots of very suspicious activity going on in his apartment. He starts to suspect this man of murdering his wife, but he can't prove it. On top of the gripping storyline; the main character is also in conflict with himself on whether he should marry his girlfriend, who is played by Grace Kelly.
The plot of the movie gives the audience much to think about, but one thing that is hard to notice but is amazing is the fact that Alfred Hitchcock uses only diegetic sounds(sounds that the characters in the movie can hear). All of the background music is played from a man, who is a composer, in his studio apartment kiddy-corner to J.B Jeffery's. That means the characters in the movie hear all of the suspense music, along with the sad music. There is even a motif that the composer plays for J.B Jeffery's and his girlfriend, it is kind of "their song".
Although there are many good aspects of the movie Rear Window, some things take away from the movie experience. One of the things that was disappointing to view was the slowness of the movie. The beginning seemed slow when starting the plot. Once the conflict was established the movie was outstanding, but some of the scenes in between with just J.B and his girlfriend arguing could've been used better. This slowness int he beginning of the movie could leave many viewers with a dissatisfied feeling after watching the movie. But overall Hitchcock did a great job, so it wasn't too much of a big deal.
Lastly, I would like to say that Alfred Hitchcock did a tremendous job in creating a film that only takes place in one area to become exciting and suspenseful. Hitchcock and the actors did a great job in creating a classic movie that will be talked about for many years. Some films in the future may even be based off this classic movie, Rear Window.