One of the most well known names in documentary filmmaking is Ken Burns, a filmmaker known for his highly detailed and story oriented historical documentaries. At times he has been called a “patriotic” filmmaker as many of the subjects he chooses fall under the category of historical americana, although he denies the claim in the…
Being nominated for three Oscars, film editor Steven Rosenblum has worked on quite a few very successful films. He is known for collaborating with director Edward Zwick, but has also worked with quite a few others, including Mel Gibson in “Braveheart.” His Oscar nominations include “Braveheart” as well as Zwick’s films “Glory” and “Blood Diamond.” …
While in some films the first thing I see is the attempted moral or themes of the story. However, in “Fargo” it seemed that the primary thing that stuck out to me was the depth of the characters. Being that it seemed rather difficult to pick out a specific “main” character it became easy to…
Many today may look back upon this film and feel haunted or scared by the nightmarish story it tells. However, when one looks at it in detail and at the time it was made, one can see that it bears many of the elements of a children’s fairytale. Not the watered down, happy, stories that…
In a study of the ideas of Formalism and Realism, “The Limey” appears to be one of the most appropriate as it is a clear example of the formalist tradition. Multiple instances in the film go to work towards taking the viewer out of the normal chronological order and typical appearance of things in order…
In year 1925, the twentieth anniversary of the 1905 Russian Revolution, a piece of cinema history was created. Commissioned by the government to commemorate the twenty year anniversary, Sergei Eisenstein directed the film “Bronenosets Potyomkin” (“Battleship Potemkin”). Within this film is one of the most famous film sequences to have ever been made: “The Odessa…
“Apocalypse Now” is Francis Ford Coppola’s loose interpretation of Conrad’s novel “The Heart of Darkness.” It is a story of a man who travels deep into the jungle searching for a rogue named Kurtz. But the further into the jungle he goes, the further he explores the fears of his heart and strains to hold…
When a film enthusiast thinks of a quality war film, they may think of those like “Apocalypse Now,” or “Thin Red Line.” Both of these films use an extensive amount of formalism to pull the viewer within the mind of the characters so we can sympathize with their constantly growing mental trauma. Ridley Scott’s…
Postmodernism has proved to be a very difficult term to define. However, within film, one of the key characteristics of postmodernism is the combination of opposing techniques (Film Studies 97). Seeing “Raging Bull” as a blend of both Formalist and Realist traditions, never fully accepting either one, reveals it truly postmodern origin. Both of…
The Shot and The Cut 