I also chose suicide squad for this one too because in one scene after the Joker jumps in the vat to save Harley Quinn, you have Joker and Quinn in that disgusting green fluid. Beautifully, you have the red paint around the joker, and the blue around Quinn. It almost looks like a red/blue yin-yang.
I chose suicide squad as an example of good composition. In one of these shots, you see Joker lying on the ground, with all these knives and weapons pointed to him. Funny enough, it looks like he is some Jesus savior figure. The camerawork is great, it pants outwards and turns. Also note the laptops and baby clothes in the top-right corner. Perhaps his dreams of having a family with Harley Quinn (his love interest) You can see the roses, around the guns.
Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn, 2014) uses character placement very well, In many photos you can see Chris Pratt’s “Star Lord” in the foreground, this aligns the focus onto him and reveals his status as the leader of the group.
I agree with Spike Lee’s opinion on films staring black people must be directed by a black person to some extent. I think that Spike Lee has the right to be critical of people misrepresenting or misappropriating black culture or black individuals, however, I personally don’t believe that ONLY black people can create an authentic experience of a black character in film. Most directors,no matter their race, want to convey a good story, and i believe that if there has been proper research and planning carried out, especially in a film about black people in the past, that directors should not have to limit themselves in terms of how they cast and portray a character. Just because films like Django Unchained(Tarantino, 2012), or Detroit (Bigelow, 2017) star black people in leading roles, does not mean that their culture or race has been misrepresented. To conclude, I believe that it is understandable that Spike Lee thinks that his race is being misrepresented, and i do believe that there are a lot of films out there which do misappropriate black culture, however, just because a director is white, it should not limit them from the kind of films they should make, and similarly i believe that black directors can use white actors to portray characters in their films.
A beautiful use of colour in movies is seen in the film “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Wes Anderson, 2014).
Here, Anderson uses a large array of pastel colours to help set the mood or to show character significance. For example,in one scene, the workers wear purple to contrast with the red wall in the background, showing their importance to the hotel, however one of the guests wears red and therefore disappears into the background foreshadowing her demise.
additionally, characters like “Dimitri” wear black clothes to signify conformity – darkness taking over. And characters like Agatha had warm pink hues reflecting off their face which symbolises innocence and shows she is a lovable innocent character.
Spike Lee Task
Director Spike Lee believes that a film must be directed by a black person in order to authentically reflect black culture. He criticised both Django Unchained and Detroit for being directed by white directors because he believes that it misrepresents black narratives. Although I think he makes a valid point, I personally disagree with him as I believe it isn’t fair to film directors and writers to be creatively limited. I believe that people of both genders and people of all ethnicities should be able to explore different concepts and cultures in their films. It is unfair of Spike Lee to say that only black people should direct movies about black culture as it completely undermines the skill and knowledge of other directors.
What Makes Jurassic Park a Good Film?
Jurassic Park is a sci-fi, thriller/adventure movie that released in 1993, was directed by Steven Spielberg and was written by David Koepp and Michael Crichton. The film is an adaptation of the sci-fi horror novel of the same name written by Michael Crichton and was considerably toned down to appeal to a younger audience. The plotline revolves around an eccentric businessman by the name of John Hammond who along with a group of scientists, manage to bring back genetically engineered dinosaurs in the hopes of creating a the “most advanced amusement park the world has ever seen”. The park’s systems fail due to sabotage and three scientists, two children and the park’s staff must try and survive whilst dinosaurs run free on the island.
What makes this a good film? Firstly, the editing in the film is superb. Stan Winston, most known for his brilliant animatronic puppets featured in classics like Jaws and Alien helped create multiple animatronic dinosaurs and dinosaur suits for the film, including a life sized Tyrannosaurus rex animatronic.This added a new layer of realism that hadn’t been featured in older dinosaur films and the audience was shown dinosaurs that seemed almost real for the first time in cinema. Additionally, the CGI in this film is phenomenal considering the time it was made and shaped future film’s effects to this day. These combined created some of the most iconic scenes in cinema. Furthermore, the film takes place mainly on “Isla Nublar” which is an island west of Costa Rica and features many Jurassic and Cretaceous plant life and this setting perfectly creates a prehistoric atmosphere. The cinematography is also extremely well done as there are many tense shots throughout the film. This is mainly because Steven Spielberg is an excellent director. The film also features superb sound design which includes the iconic Tyrannosaurus roar as well as the equally iconic soundtrack performed by the king of film music, John Williams.
The film is seen as a sci-fi thriller/adventure whereas the source material is a sci-fi horror. The violence in Jurassic Park was toned down significantly in order to appeal for a younger audience which in turn has been extremely effective as the film happened to be enjoyed by both adults and children therefore making it more successful. The key message in the film is both complicated and simple. The key message is that man shouldn’t play god and mess with nature which is simple enough to understand. However, the film delves deeper by explaining chaos theory and delving into its effects and how nature cannot be controlled because of how complex and unpredictable it is. This message can provoke a lot of thought onto the audience. Additionally, the plot doesn’t bombard the audience and focus too much on these aspects and instead focuses more on the characters. It revolves mainly around a paleontologist called Dr Grant who learns to appreciate kids through the events of the film. The film perfectly balances the key themes with the plot and its characters.
Overall, Jurassic Park is a fantastic classic with an interesting plot and key message with fantastic effects, direction and an iconic soundtrack.