Acting Styles with “The Help”

Emma Stone/ Wild Card Style

Emma Stone would be considered an actress who is a wild card when it comes to her acting style. According to Goodykoontz and Jacobs a wild card is “an actor who is difficult to classify as one certain type, often because he or she can play a wide variety of characters equally well without becoming typecast”(Goodykoontz & Jacobs,2014). She play many different roles from a high school student in the “The Amazing Spider-Man”, “Easy A” and a inspiring writer who want to write about the experiences African American maids went through during the Civil Rights Movement in “The Help”. Emma Stone is a phenomenal actress with a broad group of fans. She can capture the audience of preteens up until seniors. Emma Stone play the character of Skeeter Phelan a college graduate who is perusing a career in journalism.

Viola Davis/ Character Style

Viola Davis is a character actress. According to Goodykoontz and Jacobs character actors and actresses “are so effective at this, they often are not immediately recognized by the public and may take years to achieve “star” status, even though they are constantly in demand”(Goodykoontz & Jacobs,2014). She can get into any role she is given and always gives an astonishing performance. She has played in movies like “The Help”, “Doubt”, “Get On Up” and “Won’t Back Down” which are all heavy character film. In “The Help” she plays Aibileen Clark a maid and a nanny to a white family in Jackson, Mississippi. Based on other films this actress has played in she will always be considered a character style actress. I have never seen her play a witty or funny character, and I do not imagine I will. This only says Viola Davis is more interested in movies with a meaning, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Octavia Spencer/ Character Style.

Octavia Spencer also falls into the character style of acting. With majority of her roles being heartfelt and meaningful such as Wanda from “Fruitvale Station” a mother who worries about the safety of her son or “Black or White” as Rowena Jeffers a grandmother who is fighting to get custody of her granddaughter. The fact that both actresses have a character acting style they are in quite a few movies together. Octavia Spencer has won every award worth talking about from Academy Awards, Golden Globe Award and Image Award among many other awards. Many of her awards come from the 2011 film “The Help”. Like Viola Davis, Octavia too had to wait for here breakout role which was Minnie Jackson from “The Help”. She plays a feisty maid who get fired from one employer but is hired by another one who is new to the social scene.

Resources

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Doubt Clip [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Iy23LVFG1w

Easy A #2 Movie CLIP – A Pocketful of Sunshine (2010) HD [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYTS7NBDKKU

IMDb. (2011). The Help. Retrieved from http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTM5OTMyMjIxOV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzU4MjIwNQ@@._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg

Octavia Spencer – Awards – IMDb. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0818055/awards?ref_=nm_awd

The Help (2011) – IMDb. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/?ref_=nm_knf_i1
The Help Movie Clip “Minnie Agrees to be Interviewed” Official (HD) [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSisiUcnsQk

The Help – Aibileen talking about her son [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGx4pF0yfPU

The Help Movie Clip “Minny Comes to Work for Celia” Official (HD) [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OlkrttGTS0

Sound Analyzing “The Godfather”

There are three basic categories of sound dialogue, sound effects, and music. Each sound brings a different energy to a film. Dialogue usually happens when characters are conversing with one another. The dialogue is paramount because it is how the audience relates to the story line. A sound effect is but not limited to an explosion in the film or a character playing an instrument in the film. Sound effects make the movie more exciting especially if it is an action film because it makes everything seem real. Music can set the mood for the scene and it extremely important throughout the film. The music is kind of the guide to what is about to happen. For example, if you are watching a movie with what sounds like happy music you can something good is about to happen but if the music is dark and sad something bad is about to happen. Now I am going to analyze these three basic categories of sound and give some examples using the one of the greatest films of all time “The Godfather”.

“The Godfather” utilizes all three basic categories of sound. On the day of Vito Corleone’s daughters wedding many of the partygoers are asking for favors because according to the Italian culture you cannot say no to any request on your daughters wedding day. During these meetings The Godfather conversates with the partygoers listening to their requests and assuring them their requests will be fulfilled. Music is also being used during this wedding. The wedding scene where Mama Corleone gets up to sing a little bit with the wedding band. Singing a traditional Italian song but Mama Corleone is singing it in Sicilian dialect. Sound effects come into play when the oldest son Sonnie gets shot up while paying the toll. While Sonnie is being filled with holes all you hear is guns going off.

The sound is cruel to this movie because of all the action and dialogue. If Sonnie had gotten shot that many times with no sound the shooting would not have not gotten the audiences attention. The sound in the seen were their grandmother is singing creates a happy sort of party time type of mood. The scene were Sonnie gets shot, and all your hear is tommy guns going off convinces me to believe “The Godfather” is well within the genre of a gangster film. All the sound in this film was realistic and believable. I believe all sounds were expected and well played. If you moved any of the three basic categories of sound in this film, it would not feel real.

Resources

Sonny is Killed – The Godfather (4/9) Movie CLIP (1972) HD[Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJU2cz9ytPQ

The godfather best scene [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i96VS_z8y7g

The godfather wedding scene [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wu-CKj1F2w

Week 2 Blog: American Sniper

Identify the type of lighting used in the film (traditional three-point, high-key, or low-key) and assess the impact of the lighting used to establish the theme.

In “American Sniper” mostly all of the film was shot in low-key lighting. This movie is a military film, so low-key light is perfect because it makes it makes the film look raw and gritty. Low-key lighting deals with more shadowing giving the film a mysterious vibe. The film also looked like they used the natural lighting style as well.

What are the benefits of the style of lighting used?

Some of the benefits of the low-key lighting style is it makes the audience look at the message behind the scene because the there are no bright colors distracting you. Anther great benefit is it creates the right kind of feeling for a military movie. It also helps make a scene look more dramatic when necessary.

How did this technique contribute to the theme?

This technique contributed to the theme by giving it a real life look. It makes the scenes look more realistic because we all know it is very hot and dry in Iraq. For example, there is a scene where he has to decide whether to kill a young boy he thinks has a bomb or allow him to possible blow up his fellow soldiers. The low-key lighting style made this scene feel real and authentic.

How was the lighting technique suited to the genre of the film? For example, documentary films tend to rely on natural light as a way of creating an overall tone of authenticity.

“American Sniper” would be considered a war, drama, adventure and action film. So I believe the style of lighting suits the film perfectly. With a movie like this you want it to feel as real as possible, and the low-key lighting made the story feel absolutely real because it is a true story.

Compare how the scene would play if different choices had been made.

“American Sniper” is a sad and depressing movie so high-key lighting would take away the true meaning of the movie. The three-point lighting system would probably work if more of the film was shot inside and not outdoors.

Resources

American Sniper – Official Trailer [HD][Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99k3u9ay1gs

Movie Lovers Podcast Episode #9 – American Sniper and Coen Brothers Films | Sound On Sight. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.soundonsight.org/movie-lovers-podcast-episode-9-american-sniper/

Week 1 Blog: Hotel Rwanda

Title: Hotel Rwanda

Released: December 22, 2004

Director: Terry George

Writer: Keir Pearson

Terry George

Actors: Paul Rusesabagina played by Don Cheadle

Tatiana Rusesabagina played by Sophie Okonedo

Colonel Oliver played by Nick Nolte

General Bizimungu played as Fana Mokoena

Story: This film captures the real-life events that happened in Rwanda, Africa in 1994. The film tells the story about Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu man, who is the manager of a hotel named Hotel des Mille Collines. Paul is willing to go to great measures to save his wife, children, friends, and staff who are Tutsi. The Tutsi people are considered to be lesser beings by the Hutu. He wanted to save the thousands of Tutsi refugees that he welcomed to take shelter at the hotel.

Plot: Hotel Rwanda is based on a real event that happened during the genocide in Rwanda in the spring of 1994. Hutu people believed they were better than the Tutsi people, going so far as to call them cockroaches. As the tensions between the two tribes increase, the president of Rwanda, who is Hutu, is killed when is plane is shot down at the airport in Kigali. This event causes the tensions to become an all-out war in which the Tutsi cannot win. The Hutu militia out numbers the Tutsi people. The Hutu are killing every Tutsi person they can get their hands on, and there is only one place where the Tutsi are safe. Paul Rusesabagina is the manager of an upper-class hotel in Rwanda. He is married to a Tutsi woman named Tatiana, and they have three small children. He is a hardworking man and a devoted husband and father. Paul is faced with many challenges in this movie but the most important one in the beginning is keeping his wife and his children safe. This presents a unique situation as his kids are half Tutsi and half Hutu.

His family is first put in harms when a group of Hutu men terrorize his neighborhood while his wife’s Tutsi brother, wife, and three children are at their house enjoying family time. At this time it is confirmed that her brother and his family will stay the night because they will not be safe driving home with the Hutu army on a rampage. The Hutu men began harassing and beating on a good neighbor of Paul’s named Victor. Of course, his wife wants him to call in some favors to help the man but Paul is only concerned with his family’s well being.

In this clip, a journalist explains the difference between Hutu and Tutsi.

While at work the next day two of his close friends come to warn him of the war that is to come as well as to ask him if they can take his wife and children because they are Tutsi. Paul refuses to let them go, saying that it is all a big misunderstanding and that there is no war on the rise. He later goes home to find his family among many of his Tutsi neighbors hiding from the Hutu tribe who have become extremely violent and aggressive. Paul feels like he must keep everyone safe and by the next morning he bribes a Hutu general with money to save his family as well as his neighbors and friends.

At this point, he has just solved one of his problems because inside the hotel are some workers who feel as if they are no longer under Paul’s authority. In order to get the employee to follow his instructions, he must get a letter from the owner of the hotel to get them to work. All but one Hutu employee falls back in line with Paul’s orders, but he cannot do anything about it because he is hiding Tutsi people. In order to keep the hotel running, he will need all of his staff to follow his orders on a day to day basis. The Hutu clan are now becoming increasingly more violent but because Paul bribes the Hutu general with money, booze, cigars and anything else the man wants, to be able to keep the hotel running for awhile.

Through all of this the refugees are receiving help from the UN Peacekeeper Task force, who is under the orders of Colonel Oliver, played by Nick Nolte. His job is to help Paul keep everyone on the hotel premises safe without the aggressive approach he would normally take. He is not there to interfere with the genocide, but it does start to get to him a little throughout the movie. The UN attempts to flee the scene and take as many refugees as possible, including Paul’s family, but they are ambushed not too far down the road by some Hutu soldiers and must get back to the hotel.

Paul tries one last time to use bribery to keep his family and the Tutsi refuges safe, but it does not work. He finally must blackmail General Bizimungu, telling the man that he would let the world know that he guilty of war crimes help him. Of course General Bizimungu wanted no part of that speech, so he helped get Paul and his family plus 1,268 Tutsi refugees to safety behind the rebel lines. General Bizimungu was still convicted of war crimes and served time for his brutal actions.

Chronology: This movie portrayed all the events in a chronological order. This helped people to understand the movie more and why certain actions were taken. The order of the movie made people feel empathy about what these people were going through in Rwanda. At the end of the movie, the audience would be sad that the events happened but relieved knowing Paul did all he could do to save his family and Tutsi neighbors.

The storytelling method gave the audience a chance to endure every painful event that happened. They got to see the characters evolve whether good or bad.

If the story was told in a non-linear form, I do believe the audience would still be able to put the pieces together because it was based on a factual story, but they might not empathize as much with the suffering of the people. The general effect on the audience would not change because a story about a million people dying is always a heart wrenching story.

Resources

Hotel Rwanda (Hutu Tutsi Problem Explained) [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcC8NCk82WA

HOTEL RWANDA (2004) – Official Movie Trailer [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZzfxL90100

George, T. (Producer), George, T. (Directors). (2004). Hotel Rwanda. [Motion picture]. South Africa: Lions Gate Entertainment United Artist

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