1. Van Sant does not attempt to update the original, but simply pays homage by doing almost everything exactly the same way Hitchcock did. The shock of Marion dying in the shower was lost since audiences knew what to expect. As a remake, it is incredibly close to the original text. Van Sant put himself and his crew under the same pressures Hitchcock was under, as far as budgeting and scheduling went.
The first "yawning fallacy" is the fact that Van Sant, as an artist, did nothing to add to Hitchcock's work. If art students copy Rembrandt paintings stroke for stroke, it does not make them Rembrandt. The second is that the more he tried to stay faithful to the source, the more he called attention to himself.
2. The shower scene is not a shock in the remake.
3. Naremore criticizes Vince Vaughn's impersonation of Anthony Perkins and Heche's direction for Marion. The Royal Cook illustrates how it is impossible to recreate something exactly because changes appear in everything over time.
4. Rothman claims that Van Sant's use of the camera is no match for Hitchcock (Hollywood's first auteur filmmaker) and his sense of storytelling with careful cinematography and movement.
Leitch says Van Sant is saying with his own voice the same thing Hitchcock did.
5. Hitchcock is considered Hollywood's first auteur filmmaker. Naremore's viewing showed the lack of originality of Van Sant's remaker, Leitch argues that venue is everything and that a film seen in a classroom is likely to be thought of as academic.
6. Because Van Sant plays on the audience's expectations of the film and allows suspense to build around it. He highlights what is easily accessible or recognizable in Hitchcock.
7. Dysfunctional youth, sexuality, and the romanticized view of escaping to the road. He manages to work it into Psycho with the characters' sexual repression and Marion's escaping by car.
8. Inserts of blue skies and clouds at moments of emotional release. In Psycho, it relates to Marion and Aborgast's stabbings.
9. The heterosexual and macho Vince Vaughn playing Norman Bates contrasts the homosexual Anthony Perkins' portrayal. Marion is played by the openly gay Anne Heche, changing the femininity of the character. Julianne Moore's Lila is a much stronger, more independent woman than Vera Miles.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
January 25th
1. According to Davis, "Van Santized Shakespeare" consists of mixing Elizabethan dress with recent fashion and taking Shakespeare's dialogue and adapting it to fit the world of the Portland hustlers. Dialogue changes were made to suit the tone of the film. For example, Shakespeare's Henry IV reads, "How long is 't ago, Jack, since thou sawest thine own knee?" and Van Sant's adaptation reads, "How long has it been, Bob, since you could see your own dick?"
2. Chimes at Midnight's influence comes in that Van Sant's film tells the story of a "knight lowering himself", most clearly represented by Bob. However, Davis says that both Bob (as the knight) and Mike (as Scott's companion) are Van Sant's depictions of Falstaff.
3. Van Sant claims to have used Shakespeare to outline the "timeless" nature of the story. The main difference is that there isn't much "lowering" for Bob to do, since from the beginning of the film, he is already a hustler. Davis says that Scott's rejection is more cruel than Hal's because of the way modern politics work. Being a politician's son does not guarantee Scott as a future elected official, unlike in Shakespeare's time when power was inherited and a person's past would not effect their chances of ruling. Davis argues that Scott is doomed to fail in politics if he maintains his hustler companions. It can be seen that Van Sant certainly aligns himself with Falstaff through his storytelling. The movie focuses on Mike's character and his journey. It is much more sympathetic to Mike than to Scott, who leaves the film when he separates from the hustlers.
4. Scott is shown to be insincere because he leaves his friend and his mentor in pursuit of a political career. He leaves Mike, the protagonist of the film, which immediately takes much audience sympathy away from him and his actions.
5. Independent film and music is given its name by an audience's perception that the film or artist they consider to be "indie" stand apart from the mainstream. This is because it is nearly impossible to define what independent filmmaking, as a genre, really is. The tension is the filmmakers wanting to create something that goes against the mainstream, made with authenticity and a distinct voice expressing something real instead of a marketing ploy while at the same time creating this undercurrent of "independent film" as a marketable genre.
6. Youthful, hip, offbeat, character-centered, noncomformity, and independence are some examples of the meanings associated with "indie." The VW commercial he describes caters to the youthful audience, even making it seem like having no life was a positive thing ("It fits your life. Or complete lack thereof."). There is an obvious attempt to stray from mainstream American consumerist sensibility by a seemingly apathetic way of selling product. Indie filmmaking has created standards of separation from Hollywood, and those formulas of presenting fresh visual and thematic affronts to the mainstream are to expected. Financial success, in some cases, is even looked down upon.
7. Television. Indie bands expose themselves to wide audiences through advertising on mainstream networks. This is not seen as "selling out", but an overtaking of the mainstream.
8. "Indie is at once oppositional and privileged; it asserts its privilege by opposing itself
to the mainstream. It is antiestablishment like the avant-garde at the same time that it
is bourgeois, serving a prime social function of maintaining status." Independent film and music is marketed to the social elite with supposed higher taste that the average American consumer.
9. Happiness attracted much critical attention in the festival circuit, meaning its indie cred was already established, but the film's difficult subject matter was hard for mainstream studios to directly be involved with. The black comedy aspect was marketed for audience appeal.
10. Newman claims that the indie wave is simply another aspect of what is mainstream. It caters to its own audience and narrowly defines itself as something apart from the ordinary. The irony is that this is said while in their world, there is almost a formula for being authentic. The two cannot exist exclusively, since one needs the mainstream to act against it.
2. Chimes at Midnight's influence comes in that Van Sant's film tells the story of a "knight lowering himself", most clearly represented by Bob. However, Davis says that both Bob (as the knight) and Mike (as Scott's companion) are Van Sant's depictions of Falstaff.
3. Van Sant claims to have used Shakespeare to outline the "timeless" nature of the story. The main difference is that there isn't much "lowering" for Bob to do, since from the beginning of the film, he is already a hustler. Davis says that Scott's rejection is more cruel than Hal's because of the way modern politics work. Being a politician's son does not guarantee Scott as a future elected official, unlike in Shakespeare's time when power was inherited and a person's past would not effect their chances of ruling. Davis argues that Scott is doomed to fail in politics if he maintains his hustler companions. It can be seen that Van Sant certainly aligns himself with Falstaff through his storytelling. The movie focuses on Mike's character and his journey. It is much more sympathetic to Mike than to Scott, who leaves the film when he separates from the hustlers.
4. Scott is shown to be insincere because he leaves his friend and his mentor in pursuit of a political career. He leaves Mike, the protagonist of the film, which immediately takes much audience sympathy away from him and his actions.
5. Independent film and music is given its name by an audience's perception that the film or artist they consider to be "indie" stand apart from the mainstream. This is because it is nearly impossible to define what independent filmmaking, as a genre, really is. The tension is the filmmakers wanting to create something that goes against the mainstream, made with authenticity and a distinct voice expressing something real instead of a marketing ploy while at the same time creating this undercurrent of "independent film" as a marketable genre.
6. Youthful, hip, offbeat, character-centered, noncomformity, and independence are some examples of the meanings associated with "indie." The VW commercial he describes caters to the youthful audience, even making it seem like having no life was a positive thing ("It fits your life. Or complete lack thereof."). There is an obvious attempt to stray from mainstream American consumerist sensibility by a seemingly apathetic way of selling product. Indie filmmaking has created standards of separation from Hollywood, and those formulas of presenting fresh visual and thematic affronts to the mainstream are to expected. Financial success, in some cases, is even looked down upon.
7. Television. Indie bands expose themselves to wide audiences through advertising on mainstream networks. This is not seen as "selling out", but an overtaking of the mainstream.
8. "Indie is at once oppositional and privileged; it asserts its privilege by opposing itself
to the mainstream. It is antiestablishment like the avant-garde at the same time that it
is bourgeois, serving a prime social function of maintaining status." Independent film and music is marketed to the social elite with supposed higher taste that the average American consumer.
9. Happiness attracted much critical attention in the festival circuit, meaning its indie cred was already established, but the film's difficult subject matter was hard for mainstream studios to directly be involved with. The black comedy aspect was marketed for audience appeal.
10. Newman claims that the indie wave is simply another aspect of what is mainstream. It caters to its own audience and narrowly defines itself as something apart from the ordinary. The irony is that this is said while in their world, there is almost a formula for being authentic. The two cannot exist exclusively, since one needs the mainstream to act against it.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
January 20th
1. After the 1947 Paramount Decree, many Hollywood players started their own production companies. Through these companies, they made films meant to be distributed by the major studios. Avant garde filmmakers were also "independent" in that their films were not meant to be widely distributed, nor were they in search of the type of finance a feature length narrative would be. In the 50's and 60's, John Cassevetes made films outside of Hollywood out of his frustration with the studio system and its conventions.
Independent cinema of the 80's and 9o's is typically characterized by different (and sometimes less dramatic) stories, lack of starpower, special effects, or genre elements, distinctive styles of
camerawork, editing, or narrative organization.
2. New Line, New World, Vestron, and Goldwyn all tried to exploit the video rental market. The continuum he describes is about putting together very different kinds of films under the same heading of "independent production."
3. Soderbergh's sex, lies, and videotape (1989) and Pulp Fiction (1994) were the two defining moments after winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes. This blurred the line between mainstream Hollywood productions and the "independent fringe." The Hollywood industry took advantage of Pulp Fiction's critical and commercial success by the acquiring smaller studios under their name and branding films as independent as commercial appeal. Miramax was bought by Disney,
New Line/Fine Line were taken over by Turner Broadcasting, which was taken over by Time Warner.
4. Since its starting out in the 80's, Miramax made increasingly larger profits until Pulp Fiction finally put them over the $100 million mark. Owned by Disney, Miramax has had the financing available to produce high-budget films and savvy marketing strategies to sell them. A film like Pulp Fiction, with stars like John Travolta and Bruce Willis, would not typically have been considered "independent", but due to its bold subject matter and storytelling, Miramax benefited from the unconventional, non-studio appeal of the film.
5. He calls it the incorporation into the mainstream. He reassess this point by illustrating Van Sant's return to his "indie roots" with films like Gerry and Elephant.
6. Post-classicism is characterized by "auteurs and the media conglomeration of the film industry" with high-concept being perhaps the central development within this cinema.
Thompson disagrees and says that what Wyatt is describing is an "intensification" of Hollywood's conventions. A film like Jaws is an example of how Hollywood's strength in telling a good story with fast-paced action and characters with clear psychological motivation was used to make New Hollywood work.
7. Unity: A series of causes and effects which the spectator can easily follow, unified narratives, story motivation, character traits which cause those motivations, characters' desire, a series of question to develop momentum, deadlines.
Clarity: Opening scenes with distant framing to establish time and place, compositions usually favor the main characters in scenes, quick-editing for action sequences, "dialogue hooks".
Films use motifs to reinforce central themes which help unify the story as one clear idea.
8. Set-up: Initial situation is established, protagonist makes goals. Complicating action: Protagonist pursues goal but is presented with a need to change tactics. Development: Protagonist encounters main conflict in pursuit of goal. Climax: Asks whether or not protagonist will achieve goal. Action is straightforward progression to the resolution.
Thompson analysis of Terminator 2 as being structured in 4 parts more clearly outlines the plot-points as being more than just a series of chases. The 4 part structure allows Thompson to look closer at the Terminator's transformation as being the central focus of the turning points.
9. Setup: Sissy's birth-defect, her discovery of hitchhiking, meeting Julian, and the Countess sending her to The Rubber Rose.
Complicating Action: The cowgirls act in order to save the crane.
Development: Sissy and Bonanza Jellybean fall in love, Sissy gets a normal thumb but finds that her hitchhiking abilities are weakened.
Climax: The third vision comes, Bonanza Jellybean is shot, whooping crane leaves.
Epilogue: Sissy decides to be a cowgirl.
Independent cinema of the 80's and 9o's is typically characterized by different (and sometimes less dramatic) stories, lack of starpower, special effects, or genre elements, distinctive styles of
camerawork, editing, or narrative organization.
2. New Line, New World, Vestron, and Goldwyn all tried to exploit the video rental market. The continuum he describes is about putting together very different kinds of films under the same heading of "independent production."
3. Soderbergh's sex, lies, and videotape (1989) and Pulp Fiction (1994) were the two defining moments after winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes. This blurred the line between mainstream Hollywood productions and the "independent fringe." The Hollywood industry took advantage of Pulp Fiction's critical and commercial success by the acquiring smaller studios under their name and branding films as independent as commercial appeal. Miramax was bought by Disney,
New Line/Fine Line were taken over by Turner Broadcasting, which was taken over by Time Warner.
4. Since its starting out in the 80's, Miramax made increasingly larger profits until Pulp Fiction finally put them over the $100 million mark. Owned by Disney, Miramax has had the financing available to produce high-budget films and savvy marketing strategies to sell them. A film like Pulp Fiction, with stars like John Travolta and Bruce Willis, would not typically have been considered "independent", but due to its bold subject matter and storytelling, Miramax benefited from the unconventional, non-studio appeal of the film.
5. He calls it the incorporation into the mainstream. He reassess this point by illustrating Van Sant's return to his "indie roots" with films like Gerry and Elephant.
6. Post-classicism is characterized by "auteurs and the media conglomeration of the film industry" with high-concept being perhaps the central development within this cinema.
Thompson disagrees and says that what Wyatt is describing is an "intensification" of Hollywood's conventions. A film like Jaws is an example of how Hollywood's strength in telling a good story with fast-paced action and characters with clear psychological motivation was used to make New Hollywood work.
7. Unity: A series of causes and effects which the spectator can easily follow, unified narratives, story motivation, character traits which cause those motivations, characters' desire, a series of question to develop momentum, deadlines.
Clarity: Opening scenes with distant framing to establish time and place, compositions usually favor the main characters in scenes, quick-editing for action sequences, "dialogue hooks".
Films use motifs to reinforce central themes which help unify the story as one clear idea.
8. Set-up: Initial situation is established, protagonist makes goals. Complicating action: Protagonist pursues goal but is presented with a need to change tactics. Development: Protagonist encounters main conflict in pursuit of goal. Climax: Asks whether or not protagonist will achieve goal. Action is straightforward progression to the resolution.
Thompson analysis of Terminator 2 as being structured in 4 parts more clearly outlines the plot-points as being more than just a series of chases. The 4 part structure allows Thompson to look closer at the Terminator's transformation as being the central focus of the turning points.
9. Setup: Sissy's birth-defect, her discovery of hitchhiking, meeting Julian, and the Countess sending her to The Rubber Rose.
Complicating Action: The cowgirls act in order to save the crane.
Development: Sissy and Bonanza Jellybean fall in love, Sissy gets a normal thumb but finds that her hitchhiking abilities are weakened.
Climax: The third vision comes, Bonanza Jellybean is shot, whooping crane leaves.
Epilogue: Sissy decides to be a cowgirl.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Staiger Article
1. Both Mala Noche and The Discipline of DE employ the use of black and white cinematography. In Mala Noche, Van Sant uses much higher contrast, creating a large stylistic difference between Discipline's even lighting. The mise-en-scene in Mala Noche is often cluttered with objects, such as all the scenes in the convenience store. Those objects are given attention by way of insert shots and close ups throughout. The Discipline of DE is very ordinary in its use of mise-en-scene, not going out of its way to show random objects in the frame. Mala Noche is much more frenetic and fluid than Discipline in its camerawork and editing. The camera is almost always moving and takes on a life of its own as opposed to the instructional-video feel of Discipline, which is mostly composed of static and observational shots.
2. While Mala Noche is essentially a story of ill-fated love, Van Sant's storytelling methods differ greatly from that of the Classical Hollywood narrative. Beyond it being a story of homosexual attraction, which is atypical of the Classical Hollywood narrative, it is told episodically, with only the love story stringing together each scene.
3. The process of creation is often done through imitation of preceding works. It is the unique combination of what's come before that gives an author his signature. An author may be considered to be a minority when his creation differs from that of the expected. It can be separated from the usual and set into a less dominant category.
4. Creation of alter egos: When the author uses characters to express his personal views.
Silence: When the author makes a statement by making a noticeable effort to not speak of it.
Repetition: Frequently recycling ideas or visuals the author finds interest in.
Recombination: Taking classical ideas and applying them to minority concepts.
Inversion: When the viewer's expectations are intentionally broken by the author.
Accentuation: Commenting on ideas by outlining contradictions in them.
5. Staiger comments on the critical over-analysis on Van Sant's intentions in using Shakespeare. This speculation may be attempting to give Van Sant's film a perspective it wasn't meant to communicate.
6. Van Sant identifies with the gay minority, but does not want to be pegged as a "gay filmmaker" since his intention is to explore more than that single aspect of his characters.
7. Using irony gives Van Sant a voice as the author. He can remove himself from the action and comment on it through his artistic choices as a filmmaker.
8. By taking the role played by the gay Anthony Perkins and giving it to the masculine Vince Vaughn and giving the gay Anne Heche a role played by Janet Leigh. Audiences are caught off-guard by these most likely intentionally unusual casting choices.
2. While Mala Noche is essentially a story of ill-fated love, Van Sant's storytelling methods differ greatly from that of the Classical Hollywood narrative. Beyond it being a story of homosexual attraction, which is atypical of the Classical Hollywood narrative, it is told episodically, with only the love story stringing together each scene.
3. The process of creation is often done through imitation of preceding works. It is the unique combination of what's come before that gives an author his signature. An author may be considered to be a minority when his creation differs from that of the expected. It can be separated from the usual and set into a less dominant category.
4. Creation of alter egos: When the author uses characters to express his personal views.
Silence: When the author makes a statement by making a noticeable effort to not speak of it.
Repetition: Frequently recycling ideas or visuals the author finds interest in.
Recombination: Taking classical ideas and applying them to minority concepts.
Inversion: When the viewer's expectations are intentionally broken by the author.
Accentuation: Commenting on ideas by outlining contradictions in them.
5. Staiger comments on the critical over-analysis on Van Sant's intentions in using Shakespeare. This speculation may be attempting to give Van Sant's film a perspective it wasn't meant to communicate.
6. Van Sant identifies with the gay minority, but does not want to be pegged as a "gay filmmaker" since his intention is to explore more than that single aspect of his characters.
7. Using irony gives Van Sant a voice as the author. He can remove himself from the action and comment on it through his artistic choices as a filmmaker.
8. By taking the role played by the gay Anthony Perkins and giving it to the masculine Vince Vaughn and giving the gay Anne Heche a role played by Janet Leigh. Audiences are caught off-guard by these most likely intentionally unusual casting choices.
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