Movie Analysis

Movie

Watching movies has become part of human life. A lot of people watch movies for entertainment, to release tension, reduce stress, and also learn a lot of lessons from it to help them adjust to life with success. It has become a great challenge for movie actors and actress to put in maximum efforts to supply the right movies to meet the demands of the audiences. Consumers lose interest in old time movies as new technologies are being introduced, hence modern movies must meet the demands of the public. Some of the actors and actresses do very well in their areas, whilst some of them also do their best, but do not satisfy the needs of the audience. As someone who has knowledge in film production, my aim is to criticize a movie so as to send a message to the movie makers to adjust more to the demands of the audiences.

Storytelling

The movie I watched was "I Spit on Your Grave". It is all about a beautiful woman from the city, Jennifer Hills (Sarah Butler), rents an isolated cabin in the country to write her latest novel. Soon, a group of local lowlifes subject Jennifer to a nightmare of degradation, rape and violence. Left for dead, she returns for vengeance. Trapping her male attackers one-by-one, she inflicts acts of physical torment upon them with a ferocity that surpasses her own ordeal. When the carnage clears, victim has become victor. This movie was first made in 1978, later remade in 2010. The story of the movie did not change, but there were slight changes in the scenes. My critique is based on the latest one. Talking about the story telling, the writer of this story wants to send a certain message down to the youth, who are violent in the society, especially the young males who are sexually active and indulge themselves in activities that are against the society. The scene of this movie was a village where youths play with boats on a river for fun if they are not doing anything. Their main job was to sell fuel to people who pass by with cars. I think the story was well told about the behaviors of the male youths in a village. Peer influence was the major factor among the youths of that village. The story or the film was presented in chronological order. It started the whole events from the beginning to the end. The story teller made it very simple for the audience to understand every bit of the movie, because the presentation was in chronological order.' Most movies follow a standard chronological order, which means that events in the movie's plot follow the same order (although not necessarily the same duration) they would occur in the story, the order of real time.' Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011)

Acting

Acting is, to be sure, an inexact science. It is as much technique as feeling, Kingsley's protestations notwithstanding. Different actors use different methods, demand different things from directors, and get to the emotional core of their characters in different ways. Performances are as unique as the people who give them. Yet the best actors invite us into films, allow us to accompany them on their journey, while, like any good magician, never letting us see how they perform their tricks. The script supervisor is supposed to make sure that the actors perform, dress, and act as closely as possible with each retake of a scene. That way, when the director chooses which scene takes to use, the film or television show gives the illusion that every part of the scene was captured at the same time (even if part of the scene was captured in the morning, another part captured in the afternoon, and the beginning part of the scene captured last). Besides shooting scenes in a different order than they appear in the script, directors typically shoot several versions of a given scene, constructed the final film from the best of these elements. Sometimes evaluation of acting realism is tied as closely to the plot, the staging of the actors, and how the actors deliver the dialogue itself. Films with a great deal of improvisation often are considered realistic. Robert Altman is a director whose films play out almost like slices of life the audience drops in on.

Cinematography

The cinematographer's job is to translate the director's vision for the film, to capture what the director wants to see and to say, and to physically make that happen. The cinematographer did a very good job by capturing the characters in a very special way which made the movie an eye catching one. The audience was convinced that the story was a true one. Long shots, faded in and faded out techniques were all used. Direct cut, frame by frame shots were all involved. For example, at the scene where the woman bought the fuel for her car, the guys were playing around and one of them was trying to find out where the woman was going and her mission in the village. The lady was suspicious and it could be detected by the lighting in the scene. The light was faint as the woman was guessing what the guy was about. Her hair was a little bit scattered as she was guessing. The camera was put on the two of them. Faded in and faded out was used at this very scene. All the boys were captured with the camera at the beginning of the film while the lady drove towards them. They pretended to be playing around idly. Extreme long shot was used in this scene. Later, the camera was zoomed to capture only the woman and one of the boys. The gas was sold to the woman and the boy was paid. It was after this that the guy got the chance to ask more questions. At another scene, the boys were riding boats on the river for pleasure when they met the woman also having fun on the river. The weather was very clear showing that it was in the afternoon. Innocently, the woman was being surrounded by the boys on the river. It was then that the woman got to know that something bad was in their head against her. Her boat was white and painted red at the inner side. This signifies that she was innocent and would also be in danger. The cinematographer was far away from the river, but the camera was zoomed and the two boats were well viewed from afar. The boys tied a rope on the woman's boat and dragged her to an isolated place and subjected her to violence, rape, and degradation. At the scene of the rapes, the medium shot and long shots were used. All the boys and the victim were shown clearly on the screen and the act seemed real, because both the victim and the rapper were naked, but I can't tell if they really have sex. The cinematographer did not show exactly what happened at the scene of rape. The audience was convinced that the woman was raped at both scenes. At the third scene of the rape, the boys influenced one of them who acted like someone who has mental issue. The movie was well