Week 4 Blog-The Equalizer
The Equalizer: released 2014
Written by Richard Wenk, Michael Sloan (television series), and Richard Linheim (television series)
Starring: Denzel Washington (Robert McCall, Marton Csoskas (Teddy), and Chole Grace Mortez (Teri)
The Equalizer is about a man named McCall that is trying to put his mysterious past behind him and live a quiet life. McCall meets a young lady named Teri. Teri is “under control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters” (IMDb). McCall can not turn his back on Teri. McCall decides to help Teri get her freedom back. McCall armed and with hidden skills that allows him to serve vengeance against anyone who puts others in harms way. Mise en scene is a French term that refers to “placed in scene.” The most memorable part of the Mise en scene for viewers is the actors and their performances. I will express in this Blog three actors that uses three types of acting styles to make The Equalizer an eye catcher.
Denzel Washington is a famous actor that is very popular for his roles in movies. Denzel has “proved that he could disappear into a role and mesmerize audiences” (biography.com). Denzel Washington is a personality actor. A personality actor makes it difficult for audiences to differentiate between the actor and the role that the actor is playing. Denzel Washington is playing a character name McCall. Denzel has to be a quiet innocent man that’s hiding a deep dark past about him. Denzel keeps the same face everyday as he interacts with society and his co-workers. Denzel goes to work on time, attends a diner at the same time, take the same path to and from work, and read a book on a daily basis. Denzel seems so comfortable and relax and the viewers feel like they are getting to know who Denzel really is even though he’s playing someone else. When Denzel gets into the role of being “The Equalizer” he still maintains his same appearance and uses skills that many viewers look for because of Denzel’s previous roles. The viewers know Denzel is about to do what it takes to get his point across. The viewers may not know how Denzel is about to do what he does because Denzel has so many personalities that he can portray.
Chole Grace Moretz is a character actor. Chole has played in several films that display her as one that can easily adapt to to the needs of a script. I think Chole played the role of Teri to show a different side of her acting skills. Chole has a young face that many viewers may not suspect her to have a role as a call girl. Chole adapted to Teri’s role very well. Chole’s young face, soft voice, and lifestyle gave you the sense that she needs to be free. Chole is a young lady who is trying to find her way and got with the wrong group of people. Chole is smarter than what she think she is but she just needs more guidance.
Marton Csokas had a impersonator acting skills in The Equalizer. “The term impersonator is considered somewhat demeaning in the acting world, suggesting that the actor has simply copied the manner, dialect, and behavior of a character, instead of creating the character” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). Marton played a man named Teddy who was called on to find McCall and stop McCall from harming the Russian gangsters. Marton had to become Teddy. Teddy was already a created character because the way he was portrayed, gave viewers the sense that he was the one that was going to figure out who McCall is and try to figure ways to stop McCall.
I think Denzel would be always be placed as a personality actor. Denzel has played many roles that made it seem like he was playing himself in real life. Denzel can become many characters. Denzel is not known for just one role. In the film Philadelphia he plays a young lawyer trying to help a dying gay men get justice. Denzel played a innocent role but when he seek justice for the dying men, he got the men the justice he deserved and got a very nice settlement. Even though the film wasnt violent, Denzel still show how he takes care of business and how he does what needs to be done.
REFERENCES
Biography.com. Denzel Washington. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/denzel-washington-9524687
Goodykoontz, B. & Jacobs, C. (2014). Film: From Watching to Seeing. 2nd edition. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
IMDb. The Equalizer. (2014). Retrieved from http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0455944/fullcredits
The Color Purple (Week 3 Blog)
The Color Purple is Drama that was released in 1985. The Color purple was written by Alice Walker (novel), Menno Myers (screen play) and directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie stars: Whoopi Goldberg (Celie Johnson), Danny Glover (Albert), Margaret Avery (Shug Avery), and Oprah Winfrey (Sofia). The Color Purple is about a fourteen year old girl named Celie who was raped by her stepfather. Celie becomes pregnant by her stepfather and Celie is forced to giver her new born baby away. Celie’s stepfather marries her off to a man named “Mister” Albert. Albert is very abusive to Celie. Albert rapes Celie, keep the letters Celie’s sister writes away from Celie, and he also goes out and be with other women. Celie want to find championship and dreams of one day being reunited with her sister and her (Celie) children.
The Color Purple provided the three categories of sound: dialogue, sound effects, and music. A dialogue is a “conversation between characters in a novel, drama, etc.” Celie meets Sugar for the very first time. Shug is an ex girlfriend that Albert is still in love with. Shug is beautiful and she sings with a band. Celie admires Sugar a lot and would like to be like Sugar. Celie is very excited. Once they see each other face to face. Shug says to Celie “You sho is Ugly” and laughs. Celie still want to interact with Shug so Celie makes a good meal for Sugar. Celie also manages to go to the room where Shug is staying in and starts to help Shug bathe and get herself back together. Celie and Shug begin to speak of their pain, relations with mister, and they form a bond.
The sound effects can be used to make a film seem realistic.
This scene is where the sound effect was used. Sofia has been married to Harpo for years. Sofia has been gone for a long time because she had a bad temper and got sent away for awhile. Sofia returns. Harpo has a new lady friend. Sofia and the new lady friend have an encounter. The new lady want to know who Sofia is and why is Harpo dancing with her. Sofia is fine with sitting down and not dancing with Harpo anymore. Harpo expresses how he can dance with his wife and it shouldn’t be a problem. The new lady gets mad and calls Sofia a “Big O’ Helfer” and laughs. Since Sofia is known for her bad attitude, something is about to happen. Sofia punches the new lady and the lady falls into a well. The sound effect of the water allows the viewers to get an realism moment of how hard Sofia hit the lady.
Music can be best defined as an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, color.
Music is used in the scene where Sofia gets to see Shug perform at the Juke Joint. Sofia is sitting by some mean ladies that are criticizing Sofia. Shug begins to introduce her new song which is entitle “Celie’s Blues”. The music and the words show how Shug has a special bond with Celie. Celie thinks no one is listening to her or can relate to her pain. Shug is letting her know as she sings the song that “they’re two of a kind” and “Im something and I hope you think that you’re something too”. While Shug is singing, you can see how the song really means a lot to Celie. Celie is special. Celie is so happy and excited. Celie licks her tongue out to the women that said those bad things to her as well after Shug finished the song. The ladies were shock that a beautiful lady like Shug would even interact or sing about a lady like Sofia.
The scene to Shug singing Celie’s Blues can be retrieved from https://youtu.be/eK3URAH760w
REFERENCES
Dialogue. Define Dialog at Dictionary.com. Retrieved from https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dialgue
IMDb. The Color Purple. Plot Summary. Retrieved from https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0088939/plotssummary
The Color Purple Images. Retrieved fropmhttp://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVrd5VIBVsXoAFTUPxQt.?p=the+color+purple&fr=yhs-iry-fullyhosted_003&fr2=piv-web&hspart=iry&hsimp=yhs-fullyhosted_003&type=vst_coinis_14_52_ch
Week 2 Blog
Taken is a thriller/action film. Taken is about a retired CIA named Bryan (Liam Neeson) who travels to Paris to find his abducted daughter. Bryan’s daughter, Kim(Maggie Grace) went on a trip to Paris. When the two girls got into their hotel to settle down, two men came inside to kidnapp them. The film displayed high-key and low-key lighting. I will explain in this blog how the two types of lighting was used to establish the genre in the film.
High-key lighting: The high-key lighting was display when the girls were in Paris and when the girls were abducted. The high-key lighting gave me the sense that the girls were very excited to be in Paris. Paris seem so nice, safe, and beautiful. The girls go into the hotel. The girls are in a very nice room and then the next thing you know, two men come inside to get the girls. The thriller begins. The men take the first girl and while Kim is watching, she tries to hide and Kim calls her dad to inform him of the kipnapping of her friend. The high-key lighting was used in a way i think viewers would least suspect because usually when watching a movie when the thrill or terror begins, the scene is usually dark or there’s a sign like a song, a noise or something to give you a sense something bad is to happen.
This is a frozen shot of the abduction scene. As one can see, the high-key shows the fear on Kim’s face as she’s on the phone with her dad, watching the kidnappers and trying to hide from the kidnappers as well.
Low-Key lighting. The low-key lighting was used during the conversation with Bryan and the kidnapper. Bryan stay calm throughout the conversation. The low-key lighting gave you a sense that the action was about to begin. It’s dark, Bryan is keeping a straight face and getting start to the point. Bryan’s facial expression shows that he means business and he’s word is his bond. Bryan tells the kidnapper “I don’t know who you are, I don’t know what you want, If you’re looking for ransom, I can tell you that I don’t have money but what I do have are very particular set of skills, skills that I have acquire over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you” (youtube). The kidnapper tells Bryan good luck and hang up. I got the feeling that Bryan was about to go on a rampage to find his daughter and the men involved and the action was about to really start.
The scene shot shows how the low-key lighting set the tone for action. Bryan’s facial expression shows he’s very serious and ready to do what needs to be done to get his daughter back. The scene gives the viewer the sense that something is really about to happen. Bryan will have to fight, kill, torture, and do whatever it takes. It also give the viewer a feeling that the movie is about to show how special his skills really are.
I think if the scene when the girls were being abducted would have been low-key, then the viewers would know that that may be the part where the girls would be abducted. Then the low-key would have not given a thriller moment because the viewer predicted what would happen. So I think a high-key lighting threw a lot of viewers off. A movie is good to me when its unpredictable.
REFERENCES
Youtube. “Good luck” scene. Retrieved from https://www.youtu.be/wcjY-VN8_I4
Week 1 Blog
Title: Man on Fire
Writer: A.J. Quinnel (novel), Brian Helgeland (screenplay)
Director: Tony Scott
Year: 2004
Actors: Creasy (Denzel Washington), Pita Ramous (Dakota Fanning), Lisa Martin Ramous (Radha Mitchell), Samuel Ramous (Marc Anthony), and Paul Rayburn (Christopher Walken)
Story: Man on Fire is a 2004 thriller film. The film is the second adaptation of A.J. Quinnell’s 1980 novel, Man on Fire. “Man on fire stars Denzel Washington as John Creasy, a despondent, alcoholic former CIA operative/U.S. Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance officer”. Creasy is hired as a body guard for a young child named Pita (Dakota). Creasy goes on a revenge rampage after Pita is abducted in Mexico City.
Plot: Creasy is a burnt-out ex-CIA officer and former U.S. Marine Force Reconnaissance officer. Creasy suffers from alcoholism, depression, and severe guilt as a result of his past work as a counterinsurgency fighter and assassin. Creasy tries to commit suicide when he is intoxicated but never follow through with it. Creasy reunites with an old friend (Paul played by Christopher). Creasy is also looking for work. Paul runs a security firm in Mexico City. Paul sets Creasy up on an interview with Samuel. Samuel is looking for a bodyguard for his nine-year-old daughter Pita. Mexico City has an extremely high rate of kidnappings. Samuel hires Creasy.
Creasy and Pita finally meet. Pita wants to get to know Creasy but Creasy distance himself socially from Pita. Creasy explains to Pita that he is only there to protect her. Pita’s mother Lisa (Radha) speaks with Creasy about opening up to Pita. Creasy and Pita soon began to develop a close friendship. The friendship also allows Creasy to overcome the demons and act as a mentor. Creasy and Pita spend lot of time together. Creasy teaches Pita how to become a faster swimmer and helps Pita to get use to the gun sound that goes off to start the swim race. Pita also takes piano lessons. Pita really doesn’t want to take the lessons, so Creasy tells her to burp a lot while playing so she can get out of the lessons.
One day after piano lessons, Pita is abducted. Creasy kills two of the kidnappers and two corrupt officers. Creasy was shot during the process. Creasy is hospitalized. While Creasy is in the hospital, Samuel receives a call from “La Voz” (The Voice). The voice informs Samuel about the ransom and how Samuel is to deliver a dead drop of ten million dollars. Samuel’s lawyer arranges for the money to be collected from Samuel’s kidnapping insurance policy and arranges the money to be delivered to the kidnappers. The drop is ambushed by members of “La Hermandad” ( a Mexican crime syndicate), which consist of corrupt officers as well. The members steal the money. The voice informs Samuel about the ambush and that Pita will be killed in retribution.
Creasy hasn’t fully recovered but leaves the hospital anyway. Creasy goes to the Ramos home to gather some items and look around in Pita’s room.
Creasy informs Lisa that he will kill everyone involved in or profited from the kidnapping of Pita.
Creasy kidnaps and tortures several of the members of La Hermandad. Creasy forces the members to reveal names. Creasy uses a rocket launch to destroy the armored vehicle escorting Fuentes. Fuentes is the one that ambushed the dead drop. Fuentes has organized so many that he thought it would be easy money. Fuentes begs and screams for his life until the explosion kills him. Creasy traces more of the money to Kulfus. When Creasy arrives to the house to confront Kulfus, Kulfus’s dead body is floating in the pool. Creasy then confronts Samuel in front of Lisa. Samuel admits that he staged the kidnapping because he was in danger of bankruptcy and how Kulfus suggested to stage Pita’s kidnapping so he could collect the insurance money. Creasy leaves the gun he tries to commit suicide with for Samuel. As Creasy walks away, Samuel kills himself.
Creasy still wants revenge. Creasy goes after the voice’s brother. Creasy makes the brother call the voice. The voice informs Creasy that Pita is still alive.
The voice tells Creasy that he will let Pita go if Creasy surrenders himself to him and let his brother live. Creasy agrees to the terms.
Creasy meets the voice and he exchanges the brother for Pita. Creasy takes Pita across the bridge to say their final good bye. Creasy and Pita tell each other that they love one another and he sends her off to reunite with her mom. Creasy ends up dying due to the gunshot wound he got while Pita was abducted.
The film was in chronological order. The film provide in order the abduction, what lead to the abduction, and the consequences that came with the abduction.
The chronological order helped to see why Creasy was the perfect man for the job. Creasy has done some things that he had to get over and demons he faced. Pita help Creasy to become a better person. When Pita was abducted Creasy show his love for Pita and he was determine to use all his skills to get her back or make every single person that was involved pay for her abduction before he died.
Had the film happened in non-linearly, the ending would not have had a twist and the emotional impact would not have been so emotional. The non-linearly might have made the film predictable; it would have changed the character of Creasy. The audience would not have gotten to see the strong bond that Pita and Creasy developed nor the special skills that Creasy had as well.
Resources:
Goodykoontz, B. and Jacobs, C. (2014). Film: From Watching to Seeing. 2nd ed., Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
IMDb (2004). Synopsis for Man on Fire. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328107/synopsis
Man on fire images. Retrieved from
http://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVv2292xViCQAbxEPxQt.?p=man+on+fire&fr=yhs-iry-fullyhosted_003&fr2=piv-web&hspart=iry&hsimp=yhs-fullyhosted_003&type=vst_coinis_14_52_ch
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