Blog Prompt #8

Stand By Me, the movie based on Stephen King's novella "The Body", is the classic coming-of-age story of four best friends. In Act I, which Professor Ramierez-Berg told us was also referred to as the introduction and lasts about thirty minutes, does exactly that. In Stand By Me, the four best friends decide to go search for a dead body by Back Harlow Road after Vern (Jerry O'Connell) hears his older brother talking about it. Vern then tells his friends Chris (River Phoenix), Gordie (Wil Wheaton), and Teddy (Corey Feldman) and they all decide to find the missing kid's dead body and become 'heroes'. The four friends set out on the two day journey, on foot nonetheless, to find this body. In Act I, they also show the lives of all the friends and their personalities so the viewer gets a feeling of all the characters in this introduction piece. Plot point one or mini-climax one occurs at 27' when the friends are passing through the local Junkyard and the Junkyard owner sees them. Vern, Chris, and Teddy have made it over the fence and Gordie, who has just returned from the store is running to get away from the owner and his dog, Chopper. After Gordie successfully scales the fence, the Junkyard owner comes up to the fence and starts yelling at the kids and threatening to call their parents. This is a mini-climax because the argument becomes so heated that they have to drag Teddy away which escalated the stakes of the movie and also served as an 'act-ender' for that act.

(L to R): Gordie, Vern, Teddy, and Chris



In Act II, the longest Act and also known as the Complication piece, the friends continue on their way to Back Harlow Road in search of Ray Brower's (the missing kid) body. In this complication piece, the kids are almost run over by a train going over a bridge, the boys have to sleep in the woods and stand guard one at a time because of the terrifying noises they hear, Chris opens up to Gordie about his behavior while Vern and Teddy are sleeping, the boys have to take a shortcut across a body of water that is unknowingly teeming with leeches and Gordie faints when he pulls a huge, bloody leech out of his underwear. After the leech incident, they all question if they should go back or not and Gordie decides that they have to finish their journey. The four friends finally reach Back Harlow Road and begin a sweep of the surrounding for Ray Brower. At 70', Plot Point Two occurs when the boys find the body of Ray Brower knocked out of his Keds and under some brush. Plot Point Two, in this case, implies complication because the boys have finally found the body and are unsure about what to do with it.

Ray Brower's Body



In Act III, the Resolution Act, Gordie begins to freak out about death. Previously in the movie, we learned that Gordie's older brother Denny (John Cusak) had died in a Jeep accident and his parents still had not been able to pick up the pieces of their lives. Gordie is slowly coming unraveled and Chris sees this, so he sends Vern and Teddy to find branches to make a stretcher. Chris consoles the crying Gordie and tells him that his dad doesn't hate him, he just doesn't know him. It's a very emotional scene which is interrupted by the other gang of Ace and Eyeball showing up. The Cobras gang (Ace, Eyeball & Company) try to tell the boys to get lost and that they're going to be the heroes. Chris refuses to leave and tells Ace some horrible things about his mother and so Ace responds by pulling out his switchblade. He approaches Chris and is about to strike when Gordie fires the gun. This is Plot Point Three which happens at 76'. This is the Climax of the movie, which is then followed by the resolution. The climax is the height of action in the movie. Everything is stopped when Gordie fires the gun. The Cobras decide to leave and the boys resolve to leave an anonymous message with the police as to where Ray Brower's body was. The boys make their way back to their homes in Castle Rock. After this, the viewer is submerged into the 'present', which is the narrator's life. He is writing this story when we come upon him, as Gordie the man with children of his own. He is typing his last lines (instead of narrating it), "I never had any friends later on lik the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" And the movie ends with Gordie taking his son and his son's friend to the pool.

The Cobras

Blog Prompt #7

The TV Sitcom has long been established and cherished by many people worldwide. TV started up in the late 1940s, crushing the movie monopoly due to the ease in watching TV from home. The Classic Sitcoms like I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners are what our modern day Sitcoms have slowly evolved from over the years of television shows. Like the Classic Sitcoms, our modern Sitcoms are thirty minutes (including commercials), tend to be on the funny side and episodic for the most part. Episodic means that all the action in one episode is wrapped up by the end of the thirty minutes and is usually never mentioned again in the lifetime of the sitcom. Colin Tain also mentioned that along with the 'funny' aspect of these sitcoms, they are hyperbolic and absurd whereas in Dramas there is realism. So in a way, these comedic sitcoms on the air are going to stray from taking a real approach to the comedy. They'll have something crazy happen that would make you say to yourself, "That would never happen..." but, that is their goal! Their goal is to make you laugh instead of staying close to something that could actually happen. 

The series I am going to make an example of is an old show that I watched growing up because my mom loved the show. Cheers ran from 1982-1993. Cheers is a great example of an episodic sitcom. When it first started it stuck strictly to the formula of the episodic sitcom. Every episode took place in the bar during the first season. The 'meat' of the episode was usually never mentioned again after the episode wrapped up at the thirty minute mark. However, as Cheers gained popularity and the producers/writers realized the longevity of the series, they started embarking on trips outside the bar. In addition to having the sitcom-episodic characteristic of the cycles/repeated patters and character growth, they also added some dramatic flairs to the episodes, although the main feeling of the episode was always a comical one. For specifics, the episode where Fraiser Crane (Kelsey Grammar) has to be the one to tell Carla (Rhea Pearlman) that her boyfriend is in the hospital, he tells her that he has something important to tell her and he says, "John Allen Hill is in the hospital, I'm so sorry Carla." She laughs it off with, "Ha! I thought you were going to say something happened to my car!" Cheers usually took the lighter road in every issue as to not 'bring down the mood'. They wanted to make people laugh, not be sad. Also, as the seasons went on, the show tended to stray from the episodic range and went for a more serial outlook. Just like Friends, as Colin Tain mentioned on Wednesday, it eventually ends so they started making it more serial so as to be able to come to an end. What I mean when I say it became more serial is that there were longstanding events that happened over several episodes and where continuously mentioned throughout the rest of the season. One example is when Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) and Kelly Gaines (Jackie Swanson) get married; the entire season is basically a lead-up to their actual wedding and the honeymoon. Ultimately, Cheers was a successful episodic sitcom that was loved by millions of viewers.

The Newlyweds - Woody Boyd & Kelly Gaines

(Woody Harrelson & Jackie Swanson)

Blog Prompt #6

The film I decided to take a scene from is the 2005 remake of Vincent Price's House of Wax. This updated remake is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and produced by Warner Bros. One of my favorite scenes takes place when Carly's (Elisha Cuthbert) twin brother Nick (Chad Michael Murray) is searching the town of Ambrose for her and her boyfriend Wade (Jared Padalecki). When this scene begins, the gas attendent Bo (Brian Van Holt) has taken Carly and tied her up in the basement of his gas station. Bo goes to see how his conjoined twin brother Vincent (also played by Brian Van Holt) has taken care of Carly's boyfriend Wade. While Bo is locking up the gas station, he is confronted by Nick. Here is the scene as follows...

House of Wax (2005) Gas Station Scene

The best example of a Close Up in this scene takes place at 00:04 seconds. This is when you see Carly's tear stained face and bloody hands and lips for a mere second, however, that one second is so powerful. It tells a whole story with one look and cry for help. It immediately tells the viewers what her situation is and her state of being. This close up is used to display Carly's feeling and emotions, like Dr. Ramirez-Berg explained that it would. This flicker of a one-second shot is also filmed at eye level which portrays an identification and power neutral shot. This shot is power neutral because at that moment, she has the chance to be saved, but also the chance of being killed. Her brother could hear her cry for help and save her, or her assailant could have the upper hand and kill her brother, leaving her there at his mercy as well.

The purpose of the Long Shots used in this scene are to emphasize the isolation that these characters are experiencing. At 00:21 seconds, when Nick looks back into the gas station, we see a long shot of him standing there before he runs to the other door. For this split second, we see him as alone in a typically busy place. In everyday life, we see gas stations as a place where there is always movement and interaction with others, however in this town of Ambrose, it is quite the opposite. The other Long Shot used in this scene takes place at 00:41 seconds. After Nick has kept Bo from getting into the gas station, he runs back to the front door to see if there happens to be a door he missed earlier or if Bo is still outside. This shot shows the completely quiet, barren town of Ambrose with not a soul out on the streets. This shot not only shares the thought of isolation, but also the loneliness and sadness that come from knowing that there is no help out there for him or his sister. All in all, the long shot gives us the aspect of isolation, sadness and loneliness.

Finally, the entire fight, save for a few close ups on Nick's movements, use the Medium Shot and also the Tracking Shot. We see the fight between Nick and Bo as it happens, the camera moves with them instead of staying stationary, so this is an example of the Tracking Shot. The Tracking Shot works really well in this scene for building suspense and making the viewer feel almost as if they are part of the fight. When Jaume Collet-Serra chose against staying stationary, he knew that he would get more of a reaction from the viewers than if he had stayed in one place. The Medium Shots in this scene helped move it along as smooth as possible for a fight and gave the viewers valuable information on the two characters. It showed their relationship as it went through its various stages, rather quickly too. It also functioned as an information shot on many levels. It told the viewer that Bo was furious and that Nick wasn't going to give up the fight. It told the viewer that Bo was pissed that Nick kept him from getting in the gas station and it shared that Nick realized how alone they were in this town of wax.

Blog Prompt #5

Back when Hollywood was known as Hollywoodland, and into the days where they decided to drop the 'land', the studio system that the abided by was the means to which they produced, distributed, etc. their movies. In addition to the way actors were under contract to perform with one specific company, vertical integration was used as well in this early 1920s studio system. The most important feature that worked to the success of these movie studios (Paramount, Universal, etc.), I believe, is the aspect of vertical integration. With vertical integration, a single studio owned rights to every aspect of production for a movie, had the movies shown in their theatres, and had rights to any merchandise that could be used to make even more money off of the movie.

With vertical integration, since a single studio owned all means to everything involved with the movie, they would know which of their movies were doing the best and build from that. The studio would have access to their number of tickets show, amount of possible merchandise sold, and an all around idea of how expensive that specific genre of movie was to shoot. With all these facts and numbers, the studios could easily figure out (of course with help from newspaper/radio reviews) which of their movies were liked most by audiences and even the things they liked most about a specific movie. They would, of course, use this important information to benefit their company and continue to try and be the best. If one genre was really hitting it big in the theatres, they would make almost the 'same' movie over and over again because they knew audiences would flock to see them.

One example is how MGM learned that the general audience adored Judy Garland and began to almost exploit that fact to bring in the money. With this knowledge, MGM knew that they had a leg up on the competition, so to speak. MGM had exclusive rights to use her talent, so they had exclusive means to make as much money off of her as possible. Judy Garland started out in supporting roles, like in Broadway Melody of 1938 and slowly but surely gained popularity, and soon became the lead in Wizard of Oz. Because of vertical integration in the 1920s, they had 'Mega-Hits' of movies because they were able to control every single aspect of production/distribution and learn from their every move how to better their company.

Blog Prompt #4

Like "All in the Family", "That 70s Show" is a situational comedy that outlines the daily lives of the characters in a comedic way.

"That 70s Show" is a sitcom that premiered in 1998 on Fox that was based on the lives of a group of teens and it is set in the 70s, which means that this show is a period sitcom. "All in the Family" first aired in 1971 and was a sitcom that accentuated the lives of one family. The main difference between these two sitcoms is the issues that the characters go through. While "All in the Family" was literally filmed in the 70s, "That 70s Show" was filmed in the late 90s and made about the 70s, which makes a huge difference. The "All in the Family" cast is actually going through that time period and talking about issues that were truly raised during that time and they do stay away from your not-so-TV-friendly subjects. The "That 70s Show" cast has more freedom actually filming in the 90s because they don't have to abide by that 'silent rule of thumb' when thinking about what to put in the show. They can look back at the 70s and talk about everything that wasn't 'allowed' on TV back then.

The way that these two shows are the same is that they both paint the 'family' in an imperfect picture. Neither show tries to portray the main characters and their families as perfect. They show that their characters are 'real' and have flaws just like your normal audience member. Also, in addition to showing the families in such a way, they promote the comedic aspect of their lives. For example, in "All in the Family", at the end when Archie discovers that his friend is actually gay, the whole setup leading to that revelation is comedic and the show uses that to its advantage. For an example from "That 70s Show", in the pilot episode where Eric (Topher Grace) gets his Dad's car, but takes it to a concert against the rules of the car, the car breaks down on the way there. This irony of finally getting the car and then having it break down is just one example of the comedy that is prevalent in this show.

"All in the Family" might have mentioned marijuana once or twice, but in every episode of "That 70s Show" there is major marijuana usage. This topic may have been touched on in "All in the Family" but nowhere near as much as in "That 70s Show" which features all of its teenage characters using it at least once an episode. Now for vice versa; the thing that "All in the Family" would repeatedly bring up was the fact of race. "That 70s Show", being filmed in the 90s, did not mention race nearly as often. Whereas Archie would degrade people for having different skin color, Eric and his group of friends wouldn't really acknowledge that aspect of a person unless it was crucial to the storyline, and even then, they didn't seem so 'racist' about it.

Here is the cast of "That 70s Show" in their 90s attire.

Now, below, they are transformed into teens from the 70s.