Comparing Spoorloos to the Vanishing (1993)

When comparing the difference between the Vanishing (also known as Spoorloos) and the Vanishing (1993) one of the first comparisons is how the story line of the movie starts out. This is a big divider on why I think that which separates Spoorloos from the Vanishing. The storyline starts off with the couple in Spoorloos where as the Vanishing begins with the Chemist. The reason why Spoorloos’s beginning is more important to the storyline is because you become more attached to the couple, meeting them, going through a situation/experience with them and then make up. There for I think when the girl is kidnapped it’s more emotional for the audience and leads a better storyline. Whereas the Vanishing you see him testing his kidnapping skills. This leads into my next point about that Spoorloos has more mystique than the Vanishing due to the chemist is introduced into the story after meeting the couple and not knowing his true intent. We know that it is not a good intent just from the way his is portrayed, fake cast, unknown bottle, and following Saskia into the building. Then later finally show his actions and intent after you are full introduced to him. In the Vanishing you meet him right away and understand his intent right away. My final point for why Spoorloos is better is the Key chain. Yes it seems small but was very important to the movie. The Key chain in Spoorloos starts off as a conflict point because Saskia does not like the key chain and notices the Chemist and want to buy one because it has Rex initial. This seems legit. The language barrier makes the scene more interesting and what eventually causes the kidnapping. In the Vanishing it’s a random bracelet that his daughter made and Bullock notices and wants to buy one for Sutherland. That just seems random and doesn’t give a reason why Bullock would buy one other than he might like it.

Painful scenes in Killer of Sheep

I am not going to be mean but this movie Killer of Sheep was painful to watch. Yes some of it was the lambs being killed and gutted, which was lovely to see but not the most difficult part of the movie to watch. The most difficult part of watching this movie was the use of camera effects. I understand that this is a visual novel but the use of the camera was not used to its fullest and seemed thrown together. One of the pet peeves that I had was easily shown with the scene of the engine being carried down the stairs. The shot follows the characters Stan and Bracy caring the engine down the stairs. This scene was done at multiple angles and multiple shots. The first shot of them taking the engine out the door exemplifies one of the peeves that the camera shot tracks the two and it seems the camera man switches between the engine and the characters. This is just one of the many examples where the camera is at a mid shot and cuts out characters, their faces, and scenery. I feel like if a wider shot was used more of the scene could have affected the viewers more. The other part of the scene is following of the engine as it moves down the stairs. As the engine gets to the stairs, the shot changes for the worse. The camera gets in close showing the engine and then tilting down to show the step and back up. Again as said above a wider shot or a zoomed out shot would have conveyed the shot better. As they set the engine down (most likely to take a break) the shot improves dramatically with a full shot of the situation the guys are in. The camera comes back in for a close up and back out to the full shot and back in where the guys set the engine back down for the second time. This is where it gets worse, the camera stay zoomed in and the stairs its self get in the way and you only see the characters in maybe 1/4^th of the shot. I feel like the same shot could have been accomplished with what was discussed in our first class. Use the shot of the characters in the full shot and them moving down the stairs, when they pause zoom in then skip a head to further down the second part of stairs but a full shot facing the engine. This could have cut scene time and made a better viewing experience overall. The last painful/cringe worthy moment is when the engine is put in the truck. As someone with a truck and moves a large amount of stuff, I knew that engine would fall. All that work would be for nothing and felt so bad for him.

The Mexican Standoff. The good the bad and the ugly

The scene I am breaking down is the very last shootout between Angel Eyes, Blondie, and Tuko. This scene is considered to be one of the best showdowns and the best Mexican standoff of all time. If you start the scene from when Blondie (Clint Eastwood) puts down the rock to when he picks it back up the standoff lasts for over 5 minutes and the stare down last for more than half of that time. To begin the breakdown the key aspect of the scene is how the set was designed. It starts with the backdrop of a great plain desert like area, most likely Texas, where the characters are set up in a grave yard. These affects are meant to give off the classic western feel and the feeling of death is in the air. This gives off the feeling that one or more of the characters will meet their demise. The music in the scene emphasizes this even more with the classic rattler sounds, picking of guitar strings, and the, for the lack of a better description, dark Mariachi band music. These sound affects intensifies the scene giving the audience a better feel for the life and death in the scene. The last main affect that helps showoff the Mexican standoff even more is the use of the camera shots. The scene starts off with a wide shot showing two of the characters in background along with the backdrop with the hero (Blondie) as a mid level shot. This sets up the scene of what is going to happen and as the hero sets down the name it zooms in for a close up of the rock showing its importance. As the scene progress the director uses first an eye-level full shot then switches a couple of high angle full shot to show the distance and setting between all three characters. Next is a wide shot with one charter in the background and one at mid level to show the close to equal distance between the actors and the set up of the standoff. Next comes the close to 3 minutes of close up shots. Panning between the characters faces and their guns again intensifies the experience. As the close ups progress the scene shows them looking at each other and eventually two of the characters give a clue to what the showdown will come too. As the showdown is about to start the close up moves to Angel Eyes hand moving to his gun thus showing who will make the first move. To complete the standoff the scene is backed out to a high level full shot to show the winners of the match.

Is Awara a Musical?

Being brought up on musicals like The King and I and Singing in the Rain it seems Awara carries on that tune as a musical. One of the main criteria, at least of mine, that a musical must have the flash mob mentality. What I mean by this is that there is a group of people singing without cause too. Also that it seems to have been setup or rehearsed which is easily shown with others randomly joining in without missing a beat. The very first song is a great example, this is when Judge Raghunath and his wife are out on the boat and what seems like everyone break out in song and dance. Though it is reminiscent of what we know Bollywood today to be, it presents a good example of my first criteria. In real life it is very doubtful that many people have just come to sing about the couple without everyone on board like in a flash mob. Also singing giving the audience foresight in to what the couple will go through means you kind of planned it out. This also leads into my second reason I consider Awara a musical is that the songs used in the film are part of the plot and moving the story line on. There are multiple scenes where this is shown throughout the movie that gives detail to the plot like in the same scene the song depicts that “your boat is headed into a storm”. Thus forecasting that the couple will run into trouble and ultimately justice Raghunath casting out his wife and son to live in the slums

Will