Short reflection on the movie Wag The Dog

What do you feel is the message the director is trying to express in this movie?

The message that is trying to be expressed in the movie is that manipulating the focus of people is incredibly powerful, and it draws attention to potential ethical and moral problems that can arise. I think the movie is also attempting to make a point about the abuse of power in politics.

Explain if you think the director’s ethnic/cultural/professional background played a role in directing this film?

I don’t think the director’s background played much of a role in his decision making when directing the film. Not to take anything away from comedies, but a lot of them are shot in a similar manner (in my opinion).

What the movie added to your visual literacy?

The film really drove home the potential for visual literacy skills to be misused, and the amount of responsibility of the people with those skills have. I enjoyed watching the scene where some film was being shot and seeing the purposeful editing. I know this was just a movie, but it makes me wonder how much of what people are presented with every day is accurate/unbiased.

Reflection on the movie Nightcrawler

1.   What do you feel is the message the director is trying to express in this movie?  Support your answer with examples.

1.   When watching this movie, the message I got was about ethics and integrity in journalism. While the movie was an extreme example (it needs to keep people entertained), I think it showed audiences potential problems in the field of news and journalism. Without giving too much away to anyone who reads this blog and hasn’t seen the movie, the issues revolve mostly around the desire to be the first with the information. If you know a crime will be committed, are you obligated to report it?

2.   If applicable, discuss if you think this movie has accurate depictions of minorities or if they are situational. Why or why not? Could certain groups of people be offended or misinterpret this movie? Why?

1.   Certain parts of the movie could be seen as offensive, but more in the way that violence is offensive than any racial or ethnic problems. I didn’t notice any overly stereotypical characters, and most people throughout the film could be substituted for someone from a different racial or ethnic group without any story changes. I feel that the whole thing is driven mostly by story and very little by character development.

3.   Explain if you think the director’s ethnic/cultural/professional background played a role in directing this film?

1.   Director Dan Gilroy said he came up with the idea for the film after reading a book that contained a collection of photos of people in New York City at night. He later noticed the huge amount of violence on the news, and put some thought into “the idea that it must be a powerful force for a TV station, when they realize their ratings go through the roof when they show something with the potential for violence, like a police chase". These factors led him to the creation and direction of the film.

4.   What the movie added to your visual literacy?

1.   This film was actually brought up when I was giving a presentation early in the semester that dealt with ethics and media. This movie is a good visual example of a lot of potential ethical and moral issues that can face a journalist, photographer, etc. It allowed me to think in more concrete ways about where the line between right and wrong is, and how the fact that people need money influences where that line is for people.

5.   What kind of artistic and/or visual means did the director use in the movie to focus our attention?

1.   A majority of the movie was dark and had an eerie and almost uncomfortable feel. Something about the main character feels off, and the viewer isn’t quite able to put their finger on it. The facial expressions he makes, the way he conducts himself, etc. all look very natural and still have that “slightly sociopathic” quality and I’m sure that was a deliberate choice to convey his state of mind without directly saying it. The film doesn’t overuse any gory or violent imagery, though there are some intense visuals that influence the emotion of the viewer.

Reflection on the documentary Helvetica

Helvetica

1. What do you feel is the message the director is trying to express in this movie?  Support your answer with examples.
1. The director is trying to impress the importance of the font ’Helvetica’ and is using a documentary format. I had never given much thought to any font before watching this, it had just never seemed important to me until I began this class. After watching, I catch myself checking different places and noticing the use of the font. It really is EVERYWHERE.
2. Explain if you think the director’s ethnic/cultural/professional background played a role in directing this film?
1. I read that Gary Hustwit was an independent publisher at one point in his life, and I feel like that influenced his work in this documentary. As a publisher he dealt with a lot of text, and his job required attention to detail. I think those aspects of his professional life may have played a role in choosing the topic for this documentary.
3. What the movie added to your visual literacy?
1. Before watching this documentary I hadn’t really ever thought about what fonts I was using. I had always been asked to use ‘Times New Roman’, so I set that as the default on my computer and never thought about it again. The movie went in depth on a very specific topic, and I honestly didn’t think I would enjoy it when I started watching it. The amount the people in the film cared about something made me want to learn more about it.

Reflection on the movie Crash

1. What do you feel is the message the director is trying to express in this movie?  Support your answer with examples.
1. I believe the director was trying to portray relations between various racial groups in the city. The movie follows the stories of a small group of people, nearly all belonging to different racial or ethnic groups. Wikipedia’s entry on the director (Paul Haggis) states that “Haggis said that he wrote Crash to ‘bust liberals’, arguing that his fellow liberals were not honest with themselves about the nature of race and racism because they believed that most racial problems had already been resolved in American society.”
2. If applicable, discuss if you think this movie has accurate depictions of minorities or if they are situational. Why or why not? Could certain groups of people be offended or misinterpret this movie? Why?
1. I feel like the movie portrayed the different groups in a somewhat stereotypical way, but in a weirdly fair way as each group was stereotyped roughly equally. That being said, just because it was done fairly doesn’t mean I think it was done well. I feel that people (of all races) that are easily offended may find problems here, but I don’t think there is anything overtly offensive in the movie. The film examines race relations, and naturally there will be some uncomfortable moments that come from that, but uncomfortable is different than offended.
3. Explain if you think the director’s ethnic/cultural/professional background played a role in directing this film?
1. Paul Haggis lives in California, and said that the movie was partially inspired by an experience he had having his car stolen. I don’t believe that his background played much of a role in his direction of the film. After reading a little bit about him it sounds like it was just a story he came up with and really fell in love with.
4. What kind of artistic and/or visual means did the director use in the movie to focus our attention?
1. Close up shots on important moments (ex: purchasing a gun), manipulation of music, and the locations of characters on the screen in some parts are different things I noticed throughout the film.