Chris Krombach - Final Project

Many of the movies that we as a group watched in class were revolutionary to the film industry at their respective time of release. Whether it is the crude violence, the sexiness of the female form, the use of drugs to expand thoughts, the “formerly inappropriate” language, or perhaps a combination of all or some. Never had an era been so unlike it’s predecessors as was this one that changed Hollywood forever. Often using many similar techniques, while also inventing new and better ways to create realism, these Maverick Renegades ceased opportunities to be different, but at the same time, even better. As John Calley states, “If this was the guy who is looking through the camera, and evaluating the lines, he better be in charge…Directors had to run the fucker.” (Biskind, 84). The combination of new film techniques, new cameras, better special effects, and the will of the directors to have so much control over their product lead to some of the most innovative and meaningful motion pictures of all-time.

For my project, I decided to shift my focus to the darker and wilder movies shown in class. However, it’s not the blood and gore of the films that caught my attention but the way the directors didn’t have to show these things to still grasp the audience and tell a story. I picked five still shots from various movies that I feel were so unique and meaningful; the Director captured everything he wanted to say in and about that particular moment in that single shot.
The first still image that really caught my attention was in A Clockwork Orange. In the very beginning of the movie the camera is drifting through the retro-futuristic milk bar and stops directly in front of Alex, staring him in the eyes. There is intense music and Alex himself narrorating the beginnings of his story. A viewer really doesn’t have to listen to him talking, but just stare right back at him to understand and feel what kind of person he really is. His head is slightly slanted, his eyes glaring up into the camera. By his attire of a collared shirt, suspenders, and top-hat one would think of him as a wealthy business man. But you really must look into his glare, his fake eyelashes surrounding his right eye, and the fact he is sitting in a bar sipping milk. He is shaggy haired with no real emotion aside from a faint, devilish smile. The fact the camera stays in front of him makes you know he is of importance, and the strange glare he is giving makes him look like a sinister juvenile waiting for the right moment to snap. Director Stanley Kubrick is allowing this shot of Alex to sink into the audience while he starts unfolding his story. Between the narraration and the long standing shot of the film’s main character, the audience assumes and receives what kind of character they will be following.

The opening scene in The Godfather really was special to me. A man, at this point a faceless man, somewhere in the darkness is telling a story about his beautiful daughter being raped. Slowly, you can make out the figure of the man. He is pleading for help. He wants the men that hurt his daughter to be killed. You can barely make out what the man looks like, but he his at a desk pleading for help and kissing the hand of the man in charge. I loved this scene because of the way it was shot related so well to the man’s story. The story itself is dark, a sadistic tale of a young woman losing her innocence to some low-down dirty men. As the story ventures deeper and deeper, the light slowly becomes brighter and brighter. Metaphorically speaking, light is being shed on the conversation. The man talking has so much pain inside and so much hatred and need for vengeance on these men who hurt his little girl.

Although I found the bloodshed in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to be necessary, the scene that made my skin crawl most was the close-up of the young woman’s eyes. Towards the end of the movie the last surviving character is held captive by Leatherface and his family. The whole family had assembled in the dining room to chow on human flesh and invited our sole survivor as a special guest. The director focuses the camera on the eyes of the young woman. She is sweating; her eyes are bulging out of her head. The strongest emotions of fear and disgust are portrayed. You almost get the feeling that you are sitting next to her, looking in her panicking eyes. You feel how terrified she is at that very moment. This is the sense of realism that many of this era’s directors wanted viewers to feel. To me, watching this woman scared to death is much more frightening as a viewer than some blood and guts.

The scene I used from Chinatown wasn’t as much about the violence as it was about what the scene and movie as a whole represented. Nicholson is investigating the watershed when he is shot at. He falls in the rushing water, grabs hold of the fence and pulls himself out and over. Once he is out he is approached by a couple of men who emerge out of the dark. The big guy grabs hold of him while his shorter comrade whips out a knife and flaunts it in front of Nicholson. That scene appeared to be strongly influenced by the noir style of filmmaking. The shot is dark, with enough light focusing on the three characters. The two men threatening seem almost like sinister gangsters. By the way they are talking and flaunting the knife, the viewer gets a suspenseful feeling of anticipation that something big is about to happen. I especially like this shot for two main reasons. First, Roman Polanski plays the short, fast talking knife wielder and incorporates himself into the style he wanted. Secondly, Polanski re-invents his version of the noir style. He brought an older foreign style of film to the mainstream of American cinema.
The last, and definitely my favorite shot, would have to be in the very opening credits of Raging Bull when Jake LaMotta is alone in the hazy ring sparring by himself. I really thought this captured our character the finest extent, although I thought so much more after watching the entire movie. Jake was a violent, ill-minded and often crazy fighter.

As Scorsese explains, “…the tenacity of a man who is so paranoid and so self-destructive that even though he knows nothing, he will conduct an investigation of the person closest to him as if he knows exactly what happened, and he will not accept no for an answer, which means he sets up everything to destroy himself.” (Biskind, 390). He really didn’t have a secure place in society aside from his boxing career. That is why the scene of him in the ring is so symbolic. When he is in the ring all things around him fade. The ring is his sanctuary, his escape from reality. The one thing he knows to be true is his passion for the sport of boxing, and nothing can take that away from him. That is the one place his violent outbursts are accepted and appreciated. The scene and shot are as much about beauty as they are about violence, which is what makes it so unique. It is extremely rare that such emotions on opposite sides of the spectrum can be put side by side as Scorsese aligned here.

Many of the movies that we were able to watch not only changed the Hollywood perspectives of movies, but allowed us, the viewers, to open our thoughts about the various topics covered. The real special thing about many of these films was the director often pointed the film in the direction he felt most attractive but allowed us to think on our own. Allowing us to capture the magic of cinema, which for the most part, has long since been lost by Hollywood today. It is easy nowadays to use special effects, roll film, and get a movie. The hard part, which was often done so eloquently 30-40 years ago, was to not only capture your work on film, but to create and captivate audiences.