By Eric J. Specht
Film production is the mainstream to hands free entertainment that
can either correlate with daily norms or disconnect from them entirely
by offering a completely different realms to enter. There is a variety
of film genres for all types: western, mysteries, horror, comedy,
fantasy, musical, and more that lure its viewers, but how do these
illusions gain and sustain the audience’s attention? In order to produce
a film there must be a story, a visual interpreter, actors, and various
designers that must collaborate to place all the essential elements
that go in making a movie fit well together. In general, people often
sift through movies like those that pan for gold by merely observing the
most pronounce elements such as genre, actors, and picture quality, but
overlook the small bits that contribute to the whole value. In order to
conclude upon an analysis about a film production it may be ideal to
analyze its content, its technique, its form, or all three.
Cast Away
To be a better film critique, I will provide an example analysis of the movie Cast Away
written by Williams Broyles Jr. and directed by Robert Zemeckis. The
story is about Chuck, a devoted businessperson and dedicated spouse who
depicts how a survivor attempts to endure isolation after his plane
crashed on an uninhabited island, played by actor/producer Tom Hanks
("Full Cast and Crew," 2000). My evaluation of this film production will
cover the genre of Cast Away
, its storytelling, acting, cinematography,sound, directing and style,
and editing. Following the contents that make a film production, I will
discuss the societal impact the film has contributed to society and then
discuss film criticism and analysis.
Genre
A film’s genre
is a type of movie categorized by characteristics shared by other film
types: fantasy film, horror film, musicals, and more, which may lead to
expectations of what a film story is about and what plots may occur
before watching the motion picture (Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P,
2011, chapter 8). Cast Away is a drama film based on a
potentially real life event that involves strong emotions, tension,
excitement, sorrow, with a bit of comedy. The movie is also a genre
film, meaning that the film may trigger a personal reflection to
reevaluate life ("Full Cast and Crew," 2000). A films genre is important
because in general, it may determine the size of the film’s audience.
For example, if an individual prefers horror films, he or she is most
likely not going to be as interested in the storytelling of Cast Away before Nightmare on Elm Street.
Silent Story
Storytelling is simply a form of communication expressed through dialogue, song, and writing,
so the film must start with an author and then the screenwriter(s) put
the story in his or her own version into words in the most compelling
way (Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P, 2011, chapter 2, pg. 3).
William Broyles Jr. is the Cast Away screenwriter who develops a
compelling narrative story by creating the storyline, plots,
characters, events, settings, and so on. He determines that his
character Chuck is a dedicated FedEx employee whose profession was to
travel by plane to resolve any productivity problems ("Full Cast and
Crew," 2000), thus establishing the crash plot and the beginning
of survival story that behold universal truths, human survival. William
Broyles Jr. chose an uninhabited island as the setting to accentuate
loneliness and the slim probability of rescue. The screenwriter also had
the challenge of creating internal and external conflict of events that
his character would have to endure and overcome, such as hunger,
thirst, shelter, fire, tooth aches, and insanity to maintain a
compelling drama, if the writer had not, the story may not have been
made into a film production.
The Actor
Perhaps the director Robert Zemeckis feared that the story’s contents
were not compelling enough; after all, the film’s base was on one
character with the supporting character of the Wilson volleyball. Robert
Zemeckis decided to choose Tom Hanks as the lead actor because he is a
wild card actor or a versatile actor and publicly viewed as an icon
(Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P, 2011, chapter 3, pg. 12). Tom
Hanks’ reputation makes him the primary candidate to enhance the
compelling events that his character, Chuck endures. Tom Hanks is an
actor that brings the character to life whether the film is a comedy,
such as Big that he acted in 1988 or an actor in an action film in 1995, Appolo 13 . In the movie Cast Away
released in the year 2000 ("Full Cast and Crew," 2000), he devoted
himself to portraying the characters role by gaining a significant
amount of weight just so he could lose the weight during his time
stranded on the island. Tom Hanks also relied on the method acting,
which is where he utilizes his own personal feelings from experience to
draw out emotions (2011 pg. 22). This kind of devotion from an actor
helps accentuate the contents of a realistic story.
Missing Scene
The
mise en scène is French for the spatial and temporal elements in film’s
settings: props, costumes, make up, hairstyle, colors, lighting, and
even the actors placements and movements (Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs,
C.P, 2011, chapter 3, pg. 4) that assist the films
storyline and plots.Don Burgess, the cinematographer of the motion
picture profession concerns camera placement, lens, and the lighting
elements (2011, chapter 4). In the scene Escape to sea provided
by movieclips.com, Chuck attempts to escape the island in hope for
rescue. The cinematographer places his camera below Chuck’s eye level to
achieve the appearance of bigger waves as they crash down on him and
the floating device he constructed. In the same scene, the suspense
heightens also because of the cinematographer’s efforts, as he allows
the camera to move with the motion of the sea. Although the movie was
shot mainly using an objective camera, to establish an outside
observer’s viewpoint (Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P, 2011, chapter
4, pg. 23), the movie lures its’ audience in as if they were part of
the film, seeing and feeling all of what the character is experiencing.
The cinematographer needs to be brilliant in connecting his elements
with one another as well as the rest of the elements in the mise en
scène to sustain and/or enhance Cast Away ’s content and realism.
Distant Sound
Sound
is also an essential part of the films content, which can simply be
dialogue, sound effects, and or music (Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs,
C.P, 2011, chapter 6, pg. 13). Sound is important because it is
informative to maintaining a films mood or tone. In Cast Away,
the prominent sound is dialogue and because the story is primarily based
upon one character andWilson the volleyball, the mood and tones are
crucial in supporting the plots. For example, when Tom Hanks, Chuck,
finally is able to make fire he excitingly expresses himself, which
indicates that he is pleased with himself and his tone of voice not only
sets the mood of joy in the scene, but also sustains the audience’s
attentiveness by boosting their morale. However, we can also tell and
feel through dialogue whenChuck is feeling not so positive. In his
attempt to escape the isolated island on his makeshift raft, he loses
his best friendWilson the volleyball and judging by the tone of voice
accentuated by background waves softly breaking, he is worried and upset
with himself for letting this happen (Movieclips, 2000). In this movie,
dialogue is very important to the story’s content because it helps
establish the characters’ various moods throughout the film, the movie’s
characters, important information, assisting the audience to develop
ideas about possible plots, and more importantly contributing to how the
audience should feel.
Editing
Editing
is probably the most crucial part in contributing a compelling film. An
editor(s) has to piece together all the movie frames and sounds to
enhance the films script (Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P, 2011,
chapter 5, pg. 2). Not only is the editor piecing together a
motion picture jigsaw puzzle, he or she is creating the picture as the
pieces are being matched. Arthur Schmidt, the editor in collaboration
with the director chooses what frames to use, discard, connect, and the
transitions used to create the motion picture Cast Away . For
instance, Arthur Schmidt had to sift through several frames shot from
different camera angles and choose which ones fit together the best
without a negative jarring effect. For example, before the plane makes
impact with the sea there are a few direct eyeline match cuts, meaning
that the film transitions from the character to the image he or she is
viewing (2011, pg. 17-18), from Chuck to the view Chuck sees out the
planes window back to Chuck again (Movieclips, 2000). Although this
transition is abrupt, it correlates with the plot quite well by using
multiple cameras and camera angles, yet maintaining the illusion that
everything is happening in a continuous time and space without
disorientating the audience during the transition or also known as
continuity editing (2011, pg. 16). Editors have a variety of techniques
to create a well-structured film in order to bring it to life.
Final Cuts
Visually interpreting a potentially realistic story such as Cast Away takes
efforts of collaboration from the screenwriter, cinematographer,
designers, actors, and more, but most importantly the director because
he makes the final cut (Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P, 2011,
chapter 7, pg. 2-3). Generally, the public may portray the director as
the man or woman who screams action and cut, but his or her style and directing techniques may pave the road to a successful film. The director of Cast Away, Robert Zemeckis ("Full Cast and Crew," 2000) tells
the story in chronological order, beginning, middle, and end.
Additionally, the plots also correlate with one another as one event of
the story leads to another event, similar to a cause and effect. For
example, Tom Hank’s character appears to be developing a toothache and
tries to endure the pain through a good portion of the movie; however,
as the agony becomes intolerable, he decides later in the film to
extract the tooth using a prehistoric method. The director is ultimately
responsible for deciding or agreeing with the overall film: the mise en
scène, sound, special effects, the linear or non-linear order, and film
production techniques and if one of these elements do not sustain or
accentuate the story’s contents, it will ultimately be his or her
reputation in jeopardy.
Surreal or Reality
I believe Cast Away
had and presumably still maintains an important societal impact. The
story is about a potential threatening event that could happen to
anyone. However, it does not have to happen according to the movies
storyline because there is potential for anyone to be maroon on familiar
territory, injured and unable to reach society for help, or any other
circumstances could make someone fall victim in a similar relation to
the film production Cast Away . The film portrays realism and
establishes that the fight for survival is human instinct. I believe the
film assist everyone who watched it that life is worth fighting for,
whether it is a simple struggle through mere daily activities, physical
or psychological illness, financial instability, martial issues,
fighting a life threatening disease, or old age, most people battle to
their limits to survive. Those who endure less than the character Chuck did in Cast Away
are probably grateful that they did not experience such drama and for
those that can relate a life experience to that of Chucks’ are most
likely proud of achieving such a feat. The story’s content overall made
me feel that I escaped my life, but it also enlighten me about all the
daily aspects I take for granted in my realm.
Judgements
As
far as film criticism and analysis, one should consider a few aspects
before leaping to judgments. One being explicit content, did the movie
directly communicate to you, did you understand the message the director
was trying to convey
with dialogue and obvious visuals (Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P,
2011, chapter 10, pg. 8 ). For example, Wilson the volleyball
symbolizes Chuck’s loneliness, losing his sanity, and ironically
establishing companionship with the inanimate object to gain a sense of
security, similar to a child with his or her teddy bear (Bobbi Stonskas,
2011). Look for implicit content as well, which means that themes,
ideas, and attitudes are implied however not explicitly stated, but the
audience can still establish this understanding through the characters
acts, reactions, and growth throughout the story and plots (2011, pg.
8). Thinking outside of the box is also serves as good evaluation.
Symptomatic content refers to observing the film as an indication of
something other than the film itself, the plots, characters, techniques,
forms, and so on (2011pg. 9). An example of a symptomatic content in Cast Away
would be the scene where Chuck is attempting to start a fire. He is
determined to succeed even after he repetitively fails and injures his
hand, but the morale boost gave him the will to endure when he achieved
success. A good film critique must not only watch the entire film for
entertainment, but also picked apart scene for scene to evaluate all of
its contents.
Cast it Again
The film Cast Away
appeared brilliantly executed by the director, cinematographer, editor,
other players, their associates, and their collaborative efforts. The
director’s style and techniques kept my attentiveness, the
cinematographer captured astounding photography, and the editor, the
most important coworker, in my opinion, pieced together a flawless piece
of art that inspired, intrigued, and enlightened its audience. All of
the films contents worked well together to bring the screenwriter’s
story to life. Although I have not gone through any dramatic experiences
as those revealed in the movie, I can say I felt Chuck’s emotions. Most
importantly, the film relayed a message that life is priceless and every aspect of it is worth living no matter how demoralizing one may feel. More Info
