valentin's film blog

How does Arnold use the form of social realism to develop the character of Zoe? The film begins en media res, caught in a fight between our newly introduced main character Zoe and her neighbour, from this the audience might've already picked up that she's obviously not the best influence as a parent to her kids, as she decides that fighting someone is the best way to solve whatever problem it is they had, although this does show that she is willing to go to any length to parent her children. The setting and the mood is made very clear by things such as the very grey pale lighting and the place they're situated in which is most likely a council home, he uses the raw realism to maybe give the audience a chance at feeling sympathy for the character even though we just saw her fighting someone. The characters are dressed portly and with lack of care which shows the situation her and her family are in.  The use of very dynamic camera shots and extreme close ups gives the readers...

  Auteur Research - Hayao Miyazaki and Ambivalence  One of the greatest and most memorable scenes from any of Miyazaki’s movies is definitely the train scene from his Oscar nominated title “Spirited away” (2001). There’s an element of missing information in this scene which I really find appealing, what are these weird shadow figures? Why does one of them kind of look like Chihiro our main character? Is this the train to the after life? Nothing is answered and that’s really refreshing somehow, but for all the things to love about this moment one thing stands out to me, this scene is deeply ambivalent. Everything about it gives the audience conflictive and contradictory feelings, not knowing where all these very melancholic figures are headed or what’s their purpose in the story and how we never see them again, while also taking in how beautiful everything is, from the constant moving backgrounds as we watch time progress from day to night, to the music that fits perfectly, sim...

  Kilgore / Helicopter attack  This scene starts with a shot from the inside of the helicopter looking out into the shore, it consists of very quick jump cuts, as we move from inside of the helicopter adapting the point of view of one of the soldiers to the outside of the helicopter, this has a great effect as it becomes very dynamic and it emphasises the adrenaline that one of the soldiers might be feeling at the moment. As the shots change with vey quick editing we get a wide shot from a distance showing the numerous helicopters aligned to attack, the sound also changes from only the sound of the blades helicopter moving to the soundtrack "rides of the Valkyries' which adds to very action like cinematic. We also see multiple shots of soldiers getting their weapons ready and putting in the ammunition, which contrasted to the very upbeat and encouraging song creates a very dramatic effect. Kilgore's expression completely juxtaposes to the face expressions fo his soldiers ...