Psycho

Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960 was a surprisingly good movie. I was kind of not looking forward to yet another black and white film because they are so plain, but after watching this movie and doing the scene review today I realized one very important part of black and white film. Making films without color is actually a really good thing because it forces the viewer to pay more attention to the little things like the hints that the director adds into the film and the characters expressions. The colors of movies now a days can really detract from the main theme of the movie which is something I hadn’t noticed before watching so many black and white films, because you aren’t able to see the shadows and lighting as effectively.
This film was actually very surprising for me because I had no idea what the movie was about and I didn’t expect anything that happened to actually happen, which made it more surprising and effective when something actually did happen. One example of this is when the private detective is walking up the stairs of the house to find the mother, I obviously knew something was about to happen due to the change in music and the lead up but the way the scene was framed as if the killer came around the corner and the camera angle was above him gave it a more dramatic effect that actually made me jump. The shower scene on the other hand was not as effective for me, mostly because we were joking around so much about Marion’s expressions that when the mother was shown with the knife it wasn’t so much of a shock.
After doing some of the scene review today I found that I also really enjoy the way they tied in such subtle hints into the dialogue which gave you an idea of what was going to happen if you really paid attention yet if you hadn’t watched the movie previously you would have no idea that such an obvious hint had been made.

King Kong 2005

I really enjoyed the newest remake of King Kong. This version, directed by Peter Jackson, had amazing special effects as well as an elaborated storyline of that of the original version of King Kong. The special effects make for a more realistic look for the film and at points even gives it a three dimensional feel for the viewer. Kong as well as the rest of the animated characters were made extremely realistic due to the advancement in technology which allowed the monsters to come alive in many ways. Besides the physical reality of the characters, Kong was given an emotional connection to the viewers and the other characters in the film. One example of this is his connection with Ann, the scenes on top of the rock as she entertains him, ice skating and the emotional goodbye on the Empire State Building are just some of the connecting pieces in the movie. I believe this addition to the movie is beneficial because it gives Kong personality, which he did not have in the 1933 film because his face was not given the appropriate technology during the original film. Therefore I was able to sympathize with him rather than classifying him as a monster or a villain.
I thought it was interesting to see how the directors interpreted and recreated the scenes of the imaginary Skull Island. The behind the scenes “mockumentary” gave an amazing representation of what the island would have been like had it been real and what the creatures would have looked like and how they would have lived. Not only did this give a depiction of the animals but also of the natives and their culture and architecture, which was used in the movie to create their village.
I also think the directors did a wonderful job of recreating the time period and keeping the actors lines and costumes accurate for the time period and added positively to the overall feeling of the movie. The thing I didn’t like about the movie was the violent parts with the natives of the sacrifices and the costumes that they wore. It gave the feel of an uncivilized village but the villagers that they first come in contact with are super scary.

King Kong

After watching the original King Kong made in 1933, I have gained a new appreciation for the art of film and the work that was put into some of the oldest movies. Cooper and Schoedsack had an enormous amount of creativity and positive direction to create this movie and make the special effects as effective as they were with the challenges that they were faced with. Although the movie was an amazing accomplishment for the time period, it is obviously dated at this time, which makes the special effects less effective for viewers now a days. Regardless of this fact, we are still fascinated with the effects that were made possible for other movies by King Kong. I have much more appreciation for this movie after watching the behind the scenes features, these clips allow the viewer to see what went on during the making of the movie and the issues that the directors and actors ran into while filming. I was amazed by the complexity of the models and how difficult it was to make the figurines realistic and mobile.
Because I do not have background on film study I did not understand what was needed to make a film like this in the 30’s, but watching the behind the scenes clips revealed to us that they used stop action filming to create King Kong’s movements as well as those of the other animated characters in the movie. I was amazed when I realized that they had to film him in one position then move him into the next position slightly and film again, and the time consumingness of this way of filming. The intricate scenes that Cooper and Schoedsack designed in order to create the jungle scenes of the island were also an advancement of the time. They were able to use multiple backgrounds as well as projection and real foregrounds to create a realistic scene.
The improvements to filmmaking and the advancements made to create such intricate special effects were the main cause of making King Kong such a successful film, one that has lasted for decades and become a major part of American culture.