As mentioned earlier in section b), Saturday Night Fever uses rather long lengths of time between the transition of shots for the opening scene. And for the most part, throughout the whole of the film.
This is in comparison to more modern movies in the same Genre i.e. Hairspray. One of the reasons that movies have shorter transition times nowadays is because people have less of an attention span - the 'MTV' generation can't focus on a certain shot or idea for too long. They require different angles, distances, parallel action shots in the case of dance scenes - there has to be something else going on at the same time as the dance and/or more than a single character participating. I debated mentioning these two in work of mine, however, High School Musical or Glee would not have been as succesful had there only been a single singer/dancer up on the stage. By having multiple different things to focus on the audience feels more involved and don't lose interest. While I'm not saying that people would lose interest during Saturday Night Fever, I'm simply saying that if it were to be made today its shot lengths would be halved or in the dancing segments cut into quarters (some individual shots are extremely lengthy, pushing 15 seconds) so that the audience could feel more 'excitement' and feel like there was a lot more going on than there really was. This can also be achieved by unnatural camera movement or sweeping shots.
Comparing the opening of a modern film 'Hairspray' (2007) and Saturday Night Fever shows how the shot lengths have changed. Hairspray's average 3.15 seconds/shot while Saturday Night Fever's average of 6.25 seconds/shot. Now, while these may not seem drastically different the fact that Hairsprays are pretty much half those of Saturday Night Fevers give you less time to focus on each action and wear your brain out faster. Had Saturday Night fever been made today there would have been faster cuts, more emphasis on the other people on the street and different angles shown of Tony and he'd have done more dancing than a simple bop.
For the sake of fairness Hairspray does begin with a dance as part of the opening, so to compare to the lead in and dance to a similar sped song from during Saturday Night Fever 'You Should Be Dancing' by the Bee Gees the shot length averages 6.05 seconds/shot. This allows un-interrupted focus on the dance.
Apart from the fade up of the films picture and a single fade transition between the two establishing shots the only transitions used between shots are cuts. Apart from the one later mentioned jump-cut all cuts are logical and do not distract the audience in any major way. Should the cuts have been jumpy and all over the place the effect of Tony's character mentioned throughout other parts of C would be lost as the audience would not be able to follow seemlessly with the walk and it would appear as though we keep jumping to different parts of the walk and it wouldn't flow correctly.
As a side note, i found these sets of rules by Edward Dmytryk entitled 'the seven rules of cutting.' Saturday Night Fever seems to follow them well:
"Rule 1: Never make a cut without a positive reason."
"Rule 2: When undecided about the exact frame to cut on, cut long rather than short."
"Rule 3: Whenever possible cut 'in movement'."
"Rule 4: The 'fresh' is preferable to the 'stale'."
"Rule 5: All scenes should begin and end with continuing action."
"Rule 6: Cut for proper values rather than proper 'matches'."
"Rule 7: Substance first—then form."
Couple of editing goofs that i noticed:
During the opening, there is a very irritating jump cut. This occurs while Tony's feet are shown and the title 'Saturday Night Fever' is neoned over the screen. The moment that title is removed from the screen the camera changes to one further back. I'm not entirely sure why this was in there and I hadn't noticed it until i properly focused on the opening with my face pressed a couple of inches from the scene, however now that I've noticed it it is the most irritating part of the opening.
Another interesting editing decision was that before Tony arrives at the street of his paint store the paths are dry, however after his boss is shown motioning him to use the back door the paths are wet. Due to his dryness, his hair still being perfect and the fact it was a beautiful sunny day moments before this big down-poor it would be fairly impossible for it to have actually happened. Since the opening scene would not have worked as well had it been raining it simply comes down to a poor editing choice on the part of the director and/or post-production persons.
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
C.3) Character / Performance
Of course the component that made Saturday Night Fever was the performance by the one-and-only John Travolta. During the opening scene as I have mentioned again and again Travolta's facial's and walking style convey the feeling the audience should have going into the film.
The effect of the facials is helped by the shot types, you can clearly focus on his expressions by the close up shots. Along with the use of the close-up shots there is an ever so slight use of shallow focus along with the general washed out print of the late 70s film.
The first obvious use of facial expressions to see inside the characters mind is when Tony sees that (once again mentioned) girl walk buy. You see him checking her out thinking 'yeah she's alright.' He turns back however before long stops dead in his tracks and double takes to have another look. You think that he is going to follow her and make a move however he then decides it's not worth it and continues on his way after a look to the side and a roll of the eyes. Due to the fact no dialogue is used you get all of this simply from the way Travolta uses body language and the facial expressions that he chooses.
Even though for the majority of the walking he has a rather vacant expression on his face it still manages to captivate you. You watch his eyes and see where they are looking and know that he is taking in everything around him.
Facial expressions are also used by other characters. The second girl as mentioned before who has a close up on her to show her exact thoughts lets the audience know that she has no time for his games. She rolls her eyes and tries to move around him before deciding that was enough and waves him off and walks away. You see Travolta feel slightly defeated and feel for his loss. You connect with him from times that you have in real life have been rejected and have had similiar thoughts.
Throughout the film facial expressions are used realistically and to show real emotion.
In the scene where they all go to the bridge with Annette (Tony's first dance partner who still has feelings for him) has some very lifelike facial expressions and emotion, because they are. Following on from the importance of Tony's facials during the walk the director decided that the facials here needed to be as realistic as possible. During the scene Tony, Double-J and Joey jump off the side of the bridge and land on a platform. The directors and actors didn't tell Annette that there was a platform there so when her expressions went from horror and shock to outright anger they were real emotions as she thought they really had jumped. She then runs over and sees them there and delivers very angrily the unscripted line 'YOU F**KERS!'
Back to the general performance from Tony instead of just focusing on his facials. Once again during the mid and long shots we get to see how the character is walking - bopping to the music and swinging his arms. This tells the audience that he is care free and as mentioned earlier in the post is trouble free. This would be contrasted to if his movements were stiff and jerky. His movements are free moving and indicate that he at this point is fairly care free. If his movements were jerky then the use of the music and facial expressions would really be lost on the audience as they are not also being felt by the character. When it all boils down to it the audience is going to fell a very similiar mode to the character during the whole film so if he were to be stiff for this opening, happy scene the audience would feel awkward with the disco fun music playing and the directors intention of showing he was care free and at this point did not see his life was going nowhere would be lost.
Even though Tony is portrayed as the smooth talking, hip man that he thinks he is, he comes across to the audience as slightly self-absorbed (his opening scene facial expressions, walking style etc.). Throughout the film he is shown as being the centre of his social group of friends. They look to him for help (at the club when someone stays in the car for too long. And also to lead them in revenge against the gang that beat their friend up), they look to him for life help (his friend Bobby C has got a girl pregnant and is in the dilemma of whether he should now marry her or have the kid aborted). All of the story-lines show Tony as being the man to turn to and the man that they all look up to. While their friends think this in reality the audience sees different sides of Tony and knows that he is not as perfect as is shown in the opening. We know as well as he finds out that his life is at a stand still. This is summed up by Stephanie saying this to him while sitting looking at Brooklyn bridge: "You live with your parents, you hang with your buddies and on Saturday nights you burn it all off at 2001 Odyssey. You're a cliche. You're nowhere, goin' no place."
This also illustrates the fact that the directors have made Tony's character a cliche or a stereotype. A young kid in the big city who thinks that his life is going places. He's got a job, the girls love him, he's the best dancer, his friends think that he is the be all and end all.
Unlike in other movies the use of the stereotypical character is used so that by the end Tony has completed an overhaul of his life. He goes from the stereotypical character the audience sees as self absorbed, to a character that has acknowledged his wrong ways and seeks to make a change (this is bought on by Stephanie) and then after he hits rock bottom (rape, fallouts with his boss and parents, the supposed suicide of his friend Bobby C whom he did not help even though Bobby had looked to Tony in his time of need) he gets his life on track. He goes to Stephanie's new apartment and confesses his desire to change. Stephanie sees that Tony is truthful and embraces him. This is the end of the film and the audience is left feeling that Tony will now life a long and prosperous life.
The effect of the facials is helped by the shot types, you can clearly focus on his expressions by the close up shots. Along with the use of the close-up shots there is an ever so slight use of shallow focus along with the general washed out print of the late 70s film.
The first obvious use of facial expressions to see inside the characters mind is when Tony sees that (once again mentioned) girl walk buy. You see him checking her out thinking 'yeah she's alright.' He turns back however before long stops dead in his tracks and double takes to have another look. You think that he is going to follow her and make a move however he then decides it's not worth it and continues on his way after a look to the side and a roll of the eyes. Due to the fact no dialogue is used you get all of this simply from the way Travolta uses body language and the facial expressions that he chooses.
Even though for the majority of the walking he has a rather vacant expression on his face it still manages to captivate you. You watch his eyes and see where they are looking and know that he is taking in everything around him.
Facial expressions are also used by other characters. The second girl as mentioned before who has a close up on her to show her exact thoughts lets the audience know that she has no time for his games. She rolls her eyes and tries to move around him before deciding that was enough and waves him off and walks away. You see Travolta feel slightly defeated and feel for his loss. You connect with him from times that you have in real life have been rejected and have had similiar thoughts.
Throughout the film facial expressions are used realistically and to show real emotion.
In the scene where they all go to the bridge with Annette (Tony's first dance partner who still has feelings for him) has some very lifelike facial expressions and emotion, because they are. Following on from the importance of Tony's facials during the walk the director decided that the facials here needed to be as realistic as possible. During the scene Tony, Double-J and Joey jump off the side of the bridge and land on a platform. The directors and actors didn't tell Annette that there was a platform there so when her expressions went from horror and shock to outright anger they were real emotions as she thought they really had jumped. She then runs over and sees them there and delivers very angrily the unscripted line 'YOU F**KERS!'
Back to the general performance from Tony instead of just focusing on his facials. Once again during the mid and long shots we get to see how the character is walking - bopping to the music and swinging his arms. This tells the audience that he is care free and as mentioned earlier in the post is trouble free. This would be contrasted to if his movements were stiff and jerky. His movements are free moving and indicate that he at this point is fairly care free. If his movements were jerky then the use of the music and facial expressions would really be lost on the audience as they are not also being felt by the character. When it all boils down to it the audience is going to fell a very similiar mode to the character during the whole film so if he were to be stiff for this opening, happy scene the audience would feel awkward with the disco fun music playing and the directors intention of showing he was care free and at this point did not see his life was going nowhere would be lost.
Even though Tony is portrayed as the smooth talking, hip man that he thinks he is, he comes across to the audience as slightly self-absorbed (his opening scene facial expressions, walking style etc.). Throughout the film he is shown as being the centre of his social group of friends. They look to him for help (at the club when someone stays in the car for too long. And also to lead them in revenge against the gang that beat their friend up), they look to him for life help (his friend Bobby C has got a girl pregnant and is in the dilemma of whether he should now marry her or have the kid aborted). All of the story-lines show Tony as being the man to turn to and the man that they all look up to. While their friends think this in reality the audience sees different sides of Tony and knows that he is not as perfect as is shown in the opening. We know as well as he finds out that his life is at a stand still. This is summed up by Stephanie saying this to him while sitting looking at Brooklyn bridge: "You live with your parents, you hang with your buddies and on Saturday nights you burn it all off at 2001 Odyssey. You're a cliche. You're nowhere, goin' no place."
This also illustrates the fact that the directors have made Tony's character a cliche or a stereotype. A young kid in the big city who thinks that his life is going places. He's got a job, the girls love him, he's the best dancer, his friends think that he is the be all and end all.
Unlike in other movies the use of the stereotypical character is used so that by the end Tony has completed an overhaul of his life. He goes from the stereotypical character the audience sees as self absorbed, to a character that has acknowledged his wrong ways and seeks to make a change (this is bought on by Stephanie) and then after he hits rock bottom (rape, fallouts with his boss and parents, the supposed suicide of his friend Bobby C whom he did not help even though Bobby had looked to Tony in his time of need) he gets his life on track. He goes to Stephanie's new apartment and confesses his desire to change. Stephanie sees that Tony is truthful and embraces him. This is the end of the film and the audience is left feeling that Tony will now life a long and prosperous life.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
C.2) Sound
The opening scene mainly uses non-diegetic sound to convey the intended mood of the film to the audience. This however does not begin until the one minute mark.
For the establishing shot hovering over the city the sounds heard are diegetic sounds of the cars below on the bridge followed by that of a train's horn and the train moving along the tracks. The train's sounds, like the whole shot itself is used to break up the quiet diegetic sound of the establishing shot to the fade in of the song 'Stayin Alive' by the Bee Gees. The music instantly connects with modern audiences because of its timelessness and its connection with the disco era that the film came out. However, at the time of the release of the film the song was used as it was a #1 hit and was one of the most recognizable songs for worldwide release. If the audience was not familiar with the song the effect would be a lot less powerful. Tony bopping along to the beat and his footsteps in time with the drums would not create the same amount of personal connection to the character.
You could say that the lyrics of the song embodies what Tony is about. The song opens with the lines 'Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man: no time to talk.' This foreshadows Tony's character believing that he is a bit of a player and even within the first few minutes the song is playing he tries it on with those girls. The lines 'got the wings of heaven on my shoes. I'm a dancing man, no time to lose' go along with the theme of the movie - being a dancing musical film and more specifically Tony being the main dancer and having magical dancing feet. Finally the lines 'Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me. Somebody help me, yeah.' Can foreshadow the film dealing with Tony's difficult life. During the film, his boss (Dan Fusco) fires Tony when he asks for the afternoon off - Tony gets told no however then takes it off anyway in a rage. When he returns to the store Dan admits he over-reacted and says that he does not want to lose Tony as an employee. He motions around the room and lists the amount of time that the other employees have been hired with him in that same store. This was upwards of 16 years for two and you can see by Tony's facial expression that he realises his job isn't as great as he thought, he doesn't want to still be there when he hits 40.
As a whole the lyrics 'Stayin Alive' can connect with New York and the general population at the time. In 1977 New York had a citywide blackout on July 13 - July 14. The power outage resulted in looting and arson especially in the Puerto Rican community. People were stranded in the subways resulting in 4000 people needing rescue and the airports were closed. The city basically shut down for a whole day. This came as New York were already suffering in a severe financial crisis and worrying over the 'Son of Sam' murders. All of the New York residents were, while struggling, simply trying to stay alive in the city.
Both times that Tony interacts with others (dialogue, pizza store plus layaway on shirt) the music fades down so that the focus shifts from the dancey, bopping feeling in you and Tony to focusing on what he is saying to the respective parties.
Interestingly there is very limited diegetic or non-diegetic sound outside of these interactions besides the sound of Tony's footsteps and the Bee Gees song. This again ties in with the use of camera angles and shots so that you focus on how he is moving with the music and so that the feeling evoked by the intro isn't intererupted by shouting or a loud car horn etc. If the feeling were to be distracted the audience would take too long to reconnect with the feeling before the movie properly begins.
Lyrics:
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bee+gees/stayin+alive_20015578.html
For the establishing shot hovering over the city the sounds heard are diegetic sounds of the cars below on the bridge followed by that of a train's horn and the train moving along the tracks. The train's sounds, like the whole shot itself is used to break up the quiet diegetic sound of the establishing shot to the fade in of the song 'Stayin Alive' by the Bee Gees. The music instantly connects with modern audiences because of its timelessness and its connection with the disco era that the film came out. However, at the time of the release of the film the song was used as it was a #1 hit and was one of the most recognizable songs for worldwide release. If the audience was not familiar with the song the effect would be a lot less powerful. Tony bopping along to the beat and his footsteps in time with the drums would not create the same amount of personal connection to the character.
You could say that the lyrics of the song embodies what Tony is about. The song opens with the lines 'Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man: no time to talk.' This foreshadows Tony's character believing that he is a bit of a player and even within the first few minutes the song is playing he tries it on with those girls. The lines 'got the wings of heaven on my shoes. I'm a dancing man, no time to lose' go along with the theme of the movie - being a dancing musical film and more specifically Tony being the main dancer and having magical dancing feet. Finally the lines 'Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me. Somebody help me, yeah.' Can foreshadow the film dealing with Tony's difficult life. During the film, his boss (Dan Fusco) fires Tony when he asks for the afternoon off - Tony gets told no however then takes it off anyway in a rage. When he returns to the store Dan admits he over-reacted and says that he does not want to lose Tony as an employee. He motions around the room and lists the amount of time that the other employees have been hired with him in that same store. This was upwards of 16 years for two and you can see by Tony's facial expression that he realises his job isn't as great as he thought, he doesn't want to still be there when he hits 40.
As a whole the lyrics 'Stayin Alive' can connect with New York and the general population at the time. In 1977 New York had a citywide blackout on July 13 - July 14. The power outage resulted in looting and arson especially in the Puerto Rican community. People were stranded in the subways resulting in 4000 people needing rescue and the airports were closed. The city basically shut down for a whole day. This came as New York were already suffering in a severe financial crisis and worrying over the 'Son of Sam' murders. All of the New York residents were, while struggling, simply trying to stay alive in the city.
Both times that Tony interacts with others (dialogue, pizza store plus layaway on shirt) the music fades down so that the focus shifts from the dancey, bopping feeling in you and Tony to focusing on what he is saying to the respective parties.
Interestingly there is very limited diegetic or non-diegetic sound outside of these interactions besides the sound of Tony's footsteps and the Bee Gees song. This again ties in with the use of camera angles and shots so that you focus on how he is moving with the music and so that the feeling evoked by the intro isn't intererupted by shouting or a loud car horn etc. If the feeling were to be distracted the audience would take too long to reconnect with the feeling before the movie properly begins.
Lyrics:
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bee+gees/stayin+alive_20015578.html
C.1 ) Shot Size / Angles
The use of the long 30 second establishing shot of New York cutting to Tony comparing his shoes against those in the shop's glass compartment shows that he is but another Teenager in a large city. Tony is simply going about his daily life comparing his shoes fairly oblivious to anything else going on.
Even though there are endless amounts of people living in the town the different types of camera shot show the importance of Tony. The close-ups of his feet and face make you focus on him with minimal distraction from surrounding objects. If you were to focus on other objects the effect created by Tony strutting to the music and his interactions with others would be wasted and you would not get the characters basic thoughts. These being that he is the one everyone wants to know and that he wouldn't want his life any other way. When the camera is in a long shot position the character / characters that Tony is interacting with remain centre screen to remain as the centre of attention.
What i noticed is that multiple times the shots appear to be from the point of view from what Tony is thinking about. These two occasions are the comparing of the shoes (shown above), when Tony approaches the pizza store and when he approaches the second girl. With the shoes especially it shows that at that moment it's the only thing that Tony is thinking about. It emphasizes the fact Tony is young and that he has little cares apart from his appearance and woman. The target demographic of the film would be younger (20s) so a number of them would connect with Tony's thoughts on having to have the best shoes and having to try it with that girl walking down the street.
After Tony approaches the second lady the camera changes to a close-up point-of-view shot of the girl's face as she stands in-front of him. She is shown as aggravated and disrupted by him standing there. Her facial expressions show she has no time for his advances. (this was difficult to screen capture, i did my best). This tells the audience that while he may think anyone would go for him he's not as irresistible as he might like to think. This is revisited again later in the film. While Annette likes Tony it is not the girl that he wants. He wants Stephanie. Tony goes against his own principles of keeping his dance partners as strictly dance partners with nothing on the side. Tony can not understand why Stephanie will not be more than dance partners with him, until Stephanie makes Tony realize his core values are dragging him down and that he could be so much more. She tells him his life is going nowhere and he makes a change. This is touched on further in character/performance.
At one stage during the sequence the camera is in a low angle mid shot position with only Tony in shot with the sky behind him. This is so the audience feel that they are looking up at Tony and his importance is asserted. Even though the shot isn't necessarily required along with the close-ups already sprinkled throughout the scene it gives the audience a sense that he himself also thinks he is important and that he is the only person people should pay attention to.
Apart from during the dance scenes, the rest of the film uses mainly more close-ups and secondly mid shots of Tony and the characters he is with. The minimal use of long shots throughout the film means the film has a very personal feel to it. The movie throughout is giving the story of Tony's troubles and how he is coping with them. The use of so many close-ups means that the audience has a very intimate look into what Tony is going through and you feel his pain. As discussed in character/performance his facial expressions convey every feeling that he has. i.e. During the dance competition against the Hispanic couple you see every emotion that Tony is feeling. You know when he changes his mind from knowing he was the best to being upset and angry about being out done. And then his embarrassment when he was awarded first regardless of the fact he didn't deserve it.
Comparing the shots in Saturday Night Fever to another beloved musical / drama film of the disco era - Grease (also starring John Travolta and also Olivia Newton-John - shows how the decisions used during the opening and bulk of the film give different feelings to the audience. The opening scene of Grease is animated and full of life. As opposed to Saturday Night Fever where you create a connection to the lead character and know his traits by the end of the credits you must wait longer until being introduced. Looking more broadly the film uses less close-ups or mid-shots to create less of an intimate feel between character and audience. Grease focuses more on the whole cast performing as opposed to the two main characters and hence more long shots are used. Even though you feel happy for Danny and Sandy (John and Olivia) getting together you never have the same emotional connection to the characters. The dance scenes don't have the passion of Saturday Night Fever's as they are simply for fun and do not house the same passion or feeling that are found in Tony's dancing in Saturday Night Fever. He dances a living and pours in heart and soul.
Even though there are endless amounts of people living in the town the different types of camera shot show the importance of Tony. The close-ups of his feet and face make you focus on him with minimal distraction from surrounding objects. If you were to focus on other objects the effect created by Tony strutting to the music and his interactions with others would be wasted and you would not get the characters basic thoughts. These being that he is the one everyone wants to know and that he wouldn't want his life any other way. When the camera is in a long shot position the character / characters that Tony is interacting with remain centre screen to remain as the centre of attention.
What i noticed is that multiple times the shots appear to be from the point of view from what Tony is thinking about. These two occasions are the comparing of the shoes (shown above), when Tony approaches the pizza store and when he approaches the second girl. With the shoes especially it shows that at that moment it's the only thing that Tony is thinking about. It emphasizes the fact Tony is young and that he has little cares apart from his appearance and woman. The target demographic of the film would be younger (20s) so a number of them would connect with Tony's thoughts on having to have the best shoes and having to try it with that girl walking down the street.
After Tony approaches the second lady the camera changes to a close-up point-of-view shot of the girl's face as she stands in-front of him. She is shown as aggravated and disrupted by him standing there. Her facial expressions show she has no time for his advances. (this was difficult to screen capture, i did my best). This tells the audience that while he may think anyone would go for him he's not as irresistible as he might like to think. This is revisited again later in the film. While Annette likes Tony it is not the girl that he wants. He wants Stephanie. Tony goes against his own principles of keeping his dance partners as strictly dance partners with nothing on the side. Tony can not understand why Stephanie will not be more than dance partners with him, until Stephanie makes Tony realize his core values are dragging him down and that he could be so much more. She tells him his life is going nowhere and he makes a change. This is touched on further in character/performance.
At one stage during the sequence the camera is in a low angle mid shot position with only Tony in shot with the sky behind him. This is so the audience feel that they are looking up at Tony and his importance is asserted. Even though the shot isn't necessarily required along with the close-ups already sprinkled throughout the scene it gives the audience a sense that he himself also thinks he is important and that he is the only person people should pay attention to.
Apart from during the dance scenes, the rest of the film uses mainly more close-ups and secondly mid shots of Tony and the characters he is with. The minimal use of long shots throughout the film means the film has a very personal feel to it. The movie throughout is giving the story of Tony's troubles and how he is coping with them. The use of so many close-ups means that the audience has a very intimate look into what Tony is going through and you feel his pain. As discussed in character/performance his facial expressions convey every feeling that he has. i.e. During the dance competition against the Hispanic couple you see every emotion that Tony is feeling. You know when he changes his mind from knowing he was the best to being upset and angry about being out done. And then his embarrassment when he was awarded first regardless of the fact he didn't deserve it.
Comparing the shots in Saturday Night Fever to another beloved musical / drama film of the disco era - Grease (also starring John Travolta and also Olivia Newton-John - shows how the decisions used during the opening and bulk of the film give different feelings to the audience. The opening scene of Grease is animated and full of life. As opposed to Saturday Night Fever where you create a connection to the lead character and know his traits by the end of the credits you must wait longer until being introduced. Looking more broadly the film uses less close-ups or mid-shots to create less of an intimate feel between character and audience. Grease focuses more on the whole cast performing as opposed to the two main characters and hence more long shots are used. Even though you feel happy for Danny and Sandy (John and Olivia) getting together you never have the same emotional connection to the characters. The dance scenes don't have the passion of Saturday Night Fever's as they are simply for fun and do not house the same passion or feeling that are found in Tony's dancing in Saturday Night Fever. He dances a living and pours in heart and soul.
B) Genre / Atmosphere
The choices for the superimposed title credits set the tone of the film as that of a fun, upbeat movie. The credits achieve this through multiple director decisions such a using the warm, vivid red colour for the titles. The Saturday Night Fever title itself uses a font that is commonly associated with that of neon lights. The words appear one by one and then the word Fever flashes in time with the music, this is also a technique used on neon signs to grab people's attention.
The music used accentuates the upbeat tone by being a song that the audience will be more than familiar with. The song (even to those who dislike the song) is one that is catchy and even now 30 years on from the death of disco is one that encapsulates what the era was all about. A song with a positive vibe, that isn’t too complicated that anyone can sing along to.
The lighting is provided by the sun as the sequence is in an outside environment. The sun is very bright and warmth / sunny days are attributed to happiness and good well-being.
The perspective we have of Tony from the opening scene is portrayed through his walking style, facial expressions and actions during the opening scene.
After the camera changes from the establishing shot it cuts to an intermediate shot of a train going by on the tracks before cutting again to a close-up of Tony comparing his shoes to a pair in a store front glass compartment. As he is doing this he is bobbing up and down in time with the music. He decides that his shoes are better and then continues on down the road. The purpose of this is to show that he likes having the best accessories he can. He later decides he can do better when he stops outside the clothing store and notices a shirt inside, he then proceeds to put a lawaway onto the item.
The camera changes angles to the front and tracks its way along the road showing his feet walking in time with the music. The camera pans up to show him strutting along arms swinging to the music and all to give a sense of being in his zone. This attitude goes with him having to have the best shoes he can, if he's not the one that people pay attention to then he's have to do something about it. This sense of him having to be the best is regularly revisited through his dancing and the lengths he goes to through partner choice, practice etc.
Several times during the opening long-shots are used to show him approaching girls and making passes at them, however as shown more clearly the second time through the use of a close-up on the girls’ face they turn him down and the strutting continues – he just takes all this in his stride. The addition of these shows he has a high self-opinion and that he is a people person. This is backed up by his interaction when ordering pizza and with his customers, both mentioned further on.
By the directors decision to show more than only him walking along the street we know that he is easily distracted. On the way back from the other paint shop he stops to talk to check his shoes against some others, grab two bits of pizza, put a layaway down for a shirt and try it on with a couple of girls. This shows he is an average teenager in no real rush at all.
When he returns to work and the sequence comes to a close you already get the sense he is a hard worker and liked by the customers he serves and enjoys what he does immensely. He is a people person. This is shown through the Diegetic sound of Tony conversing with the customers.
The pace of the opening sequence also shows no sense of urgency with the beginning establishing shot running for 35 seconds. The shots with of Tony last for reasonable amounts of time - 10, 15 seconds. This can also be attributed to the general use of longer amounts of time between shots in older styled movies. If this movie was created today for the ‘MTV’ era then as a musical there is a good chance the shots would be half the length and could potentially change the mood of the sequence to that of one more fast moving.
Even though the tone does change throughout the film, by different locations and the people he is around it always comes back to this happy, dancey feel that the opening had by the use of disco music and disco era lighting eg. Disco balls etc.
The music used accentuates the upbeat tone by being a song that the audience will be more than familiar with. The song (even to those who dislike the song) is one that is catchy and even now 30 years on from the death of disco is one that encapsulates what the era was all about. A song with a positive vibe, that isn’t too complicated that anyone can sing along to.
The lighting is provided by the sun as the sequence is in an outside environment. The sun is very bright and warmth / sunny days are attributed to happiness and good well-being.
The perspective we have of Tony from the opening scene is portrayed through his walking style, facial expressions and actions during the opening scene.
After the camera changes from the establishing shot it cuts to an intermediate shot of a train going by on the tracks before cutting again to a close-up of Tony comparing his shoes to a pair in a store front glass compartment. As he is doing this he is bobbing up and down in time with the music. He decides that his shoes are better and then continues on down the road. The purpose of this is to show that he likes having the best accessories he can. He later decides he can do better when he stops outside the clothing store and notices a shirt inside, he then proceeds to put a lawaway onto the item.
The camera changes angles to the front and tracks its way along the road showing his feet walking in time with the music. The camera pans up to show him strutting along arms swinging to the music and all to give a sense of being in his zone. This attitude goes with him having to have the best shoes he can, if he's not the one that people pay attention to then he's have to do something about it. This sense of him having to be the best is regularly revisited through his dancing and the lengths he goes to through partner choice, practice etc.
Several times during the opening long-shots are used to show him approaching girls and making passes at them, however as shown more clearly the second time through the use of a close-up on the girls’ face they turn him down and the strutting continues – he just takes all this in his stride. The addition of these shows he has a high self-opinion and that he is a people person. This is backed up by his interaction when ordering pizza and with his customers, both mentioned further on.
By the directors decision to show more than only him walking along the street we know that he is easily distracted. On the way back from the other paint shop he stops to talk to check his shoes against some others, grab two bits of pizza, put a layaway down for a shirt and try it on with a couple of girls. This shows he is an average teenager in no real rush at all.
When he returns to work and the sequence comes to a close you already get the sense he is a hard worker and liked by the customers he serves and enjoys what he does immensely. He is a people person. This is shown through the Diegetic sound of Tony conversing with the customers.
The pace of the opening sequence also shows no sense of urgency with the beginning establishing shot running for 35 seconds. The shots with of Tony last for reasonable amounts of time - 10, 15 seconds. This can also be attributed to the general use of longer amounts of time between shots in older styled movies. If this movie was created today for the ‘MTV’ era then as a musical there is a good chance the shots would be half the length and could potentially change the mood of the sequence to that of one more fast moving.
Even though the tone does change throughout the film, by different locations and the people he is around it always comes back to this happy, dancey feel that the opening had by the use of disco music and disco era lighting eg. Disco balls etc.
Monday, 21 March 2011
A) Reason for Selection
The opening begins with an establishing shot of New York city, included in the shot is a view of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge which is visited by the characters numerous times throughout the film.
After showing the establishing shot which is taken from a a helicopter moving along the bridge it flicks to Tony checking his shoes against some in a window. This shows his modern style and the fact he has hip clothing and fits into the hip scene. The scene continues to move between long shots of him walking down the street and mid-shots to show his walking style and shoes. Several times when in long shot he is shown to try to flirt with girls however gets rejected.
The end of the opening scene shows him arriving back at the paint store where he works and the owner signalling him to use the back entrance to re-enter the store. This is because they had run out of paint for a customer and then Tony had run to a competing store to buy the paint so that they did not lose a sale.
The song 'Stayin' Alive' by the Bee Gees is played during the scene.
The opening scene introduces the main character as a modern teenager who is thinks that he is untouchable. He knows lots of people and is generally out to have a good time.
It shows his place of work which is revisited multiple times and also him placing a five dollar down-payment on a shirt that later on in the film is referenced and worn.
I choose this film sequence as the song by the Bee Gee's is great (how could you disagree) however, more to the point the way the character is portrayed through both his actions, facial expressions and also the shot angles is interesting to decipher. The film was set and filmed during the height of the disco era and the films original target audience were those my age and up into early 30s. After the success of the film it was then re-cut for younger audiences and stamped PG with most of the offensive, drug related and sexual material removed. As i mentioned in my first post i really enjoy the musical genre in movies. However, this style as opposed to ones in the same vain as Glee where the characters make the music and dance along and that kind of carry on. There needs to be a nice balance between musical fun and good dramatic storyline, and even though this movie could be seen as absolutely terrible to me it's a great little movie that i could watch over and over.
After showing the establishing shot which is taken from a a helicopter moving along the bridge it flicks to Tony checking his shoes against some in a window. This shows his modern style and the fact he has hip clothing and fits into the hip scene. The scene continues to move between long shots of him walking down the street and mid-shots to show his walking style and shoes. Several times when in long shot he is shown to try to flirt with girls however gets rejected.
The end of the opening scene shows him arriving back at the paint store where he works and the owner signalling him to use the back entrance to re-enter the store. This is because they had run out of paint for a customer and then Tony had run to a competing store to buy the paint so that they did not lose a sale.
The song 'Stayin' Alive' by the Bee Gees is played during the scene.
The opening scene introduces the main character as a modern teenager who is thinks that he is untouchable. He knows lots of people and is generally out to have a good time.
It shows his place of work which is revisited multiple times and also him placing a five dollar down-payment on a shirt that later on in the film is referenced and worn.
I choose this film sequence as the song by the Bee Gee's is great (how could you disagree) however, more to the point the way the character is portrayed through both his actions, facial expressions and also the shot angles is interesting to decipher. The film was set and filmed during the height of the disco era and the films original target audience were those my age and up into early 30s. After the success of the film it was then re-cut for younger audiences and stamped PG with most of the offensive, drug related and sexual material removed. As i mentioned in my first post i really enjoy the musical genre in movies. However, this style as opposed to ones in the same vain as Glee where the characters make the music and dance along and that kind of carry on. There needs to be a nice balance between musical fun and good dramatic storyline, and even though this movie could be seen as absolutely terrible to me it's a great little movie that i could watch over and over.
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