Special Effects

So this scene from Divergent was the first thing that came to my mind when I learned of this assignment. The special effects in this entire series so far have been amazing in my opinion. In this scene specifically Tris and Four are in Four's fear simulation, so although they aren't really experiencing this in real life, this is what is going on in their heads and they have to act as if it is real. It's always changing and its amazing to me that the actors did such a great job working with these special effects. You can fast forward to about 1:05 to where the good stuff begins :)

 

Tsotsi Response

My initial response to this movie the first day was negative, there are some very disturbing scenes in the film. I usually never really pay much attention to music in movies, I hear it and everything but I don't really think about how the music correlates with what is going on in the scenes. The students' presentation let me know to focus on this aspect of the movie, and once I did I recognized some significance. There were parts of the movie where the music was appropriate for the scene, and other where the music was not appropriate. One example of where the music was appropriate was in the final scene when Tsotsi is giving the baby back to his parents and he is surrounded by the police, the music is soft and has a sad tone to it. One example of when the music seemed inappropriate was in a scene when Sonny is telling them they went too far when they killed the man on the train, and happy club music is playing. It is interesting to see how this type of film uses music as we learned about South African film.

When thinking about the events that occur in the Whale Rider, I wonder if things would have been different if her twin brother survived. If he survived, he would have become the leader of their group by default... would she still have had the drive and motivation to become the leader she so badly wanted to become?

                                                                    Transition Example
I chose this scene from Twilight: Breaking Dawn because I think it is a really good example of transition, and I love this movie!

                                
                                                    Historical Response to Whale Rider
I really loved how much of the Maori culture was represented in this film, including their history and how they came to New Zealand on the whales. We also see how much the beached whales affected the Maori people, how sad they were, and how hard they worked to try and save them. The movie portrays the culture's long-standing beliefs and legends in a modern day way, showing how people today still practice their traditions. We see how much family is valued, and how strongly they believe in traditions, especially her grandfather who was very strict about who would become the leader of their people based on the culture's traditional beliefs and standards. 

                                                Interesting Use of Camera Movement

This tracking shot is taken from the movie Goodfellas. I think it is really interesting because the camera moves along with the characters as if you were walking behind them following. It is also cool to see the whole environment they are in as they are walking through the restaurant.

                                                          Response to The Road Home
                                              
          The Road Home has a lot of symbolism throughout the entire film. The object that I am choosing to focus on is the blue and white ceramic bowl that Di uses for all of her cooking. She uses this bowl everyday while the school is being built in hopes that Mr. Luo will pick her bowl and fall in love with her cooking. This bowl is such a huge form of symbolism throughout the movie because it follows along with their love story. When Mr. Luo had to go back to the city and Di was chasing after him with the bowl, she dropped it and it broke into many pieces. Just like her heart broke into many pieces when he left. For many months the bowl remained broken, as did she until her mother had the bowl repaired. It was around this time or shortly after that Mr. Luo came back to Di.