4th Wall

Ive always been iffy about my feelings towards breaking the 4th wall. Breaking the 4th wall is when a character in a film talks directly to, or acknowledges the audience watching the film. I'm indecisive about this technique, because it throws you out of the film for a moment, which means if the movie is not engaging enough to begun with, it may be hard to fall back into the world of the film. however when it is done correctly it can make for an amazing viewing experience.  

One of my favorite examples of breaking the 4ht wall is in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. Annie Hall is about a comedian in New York City named Alvy Singer and his relationships and love interests throughout his life. Through out this movie Allen’s character, Alvy, breaks the 4th wall and talks directly to the audience. Allen later said he chose to use this Technique “because I felt many of the people in the audience had the same feelings and the same problems. I wanted to talk to them directly and confront them.” 

Another excellent example of breaking the 4th wall is in the Netflix series House of Cars staring Kevin Spacey. This show is based on a BBC mini series which was based off a Michael Dobbs novel. The show centers around a power hungry, Congressman, and his equally heartless wife and their rise through the government. The creators of the show says that they use “Shakespeare’s direct address from Richard III, where the Main Character speaks directly to the audience.” the goes on to say “i think it is a really rich and effective way to bring an audience even close to the material.”

Fight Club also famously breaks the 4th wall, arguably the most seamlessly. Fight Club revolves around an insomniac and a strange soap salesman he meets on a plain. The two become unlikely fiends and start a fight club, that become more and more popular and spreads to many cities. The first time you see this film you might not even realize the 4th wall was being broke, however Ed Norton and Brad Pits characters, or character, do it relatively frequently. 

Disney's New Short "Get A Horse!"

Having seen Disney's Frozen three times in the week and a half that it has been out in theaters, I am very clearly obsessed. But instead of raving over how many boundaries it broke in the Disney sphere, I'm focusing this post on the short that proceeds: Get a Horse! As I mentioned in my last post, although Frozen is the first Disney film directed by a women, Jennifer Lee is one of two directors. The second director is a man. However, Lauren MacMullan of Get a Horse! is the first woman to single handedly direct a Disney production. Now let's be honest, Disney short films have a strong reputation of being wonderful. And in my opinion, MacMullan held her own.

My favorite part of Get a Horse! is that it reminded me a lot of one of my favorite movies, The Purple Rose of Cairo. In the Woody Allen romantic comedy set in the 30s, Jeff Daniels plays a movie character that walks out of the screen and into the real world. Similar to this concept, Micky Mouse breaks through the movie screen in Get a Horse! and plays between the two worlds.

Both pieces of work use color to differentiate between the worlds. I remember loving the idea of a character from a black and white film emerging into the colorful real world when I first saw the movie. Get a Horse! also did a great job contrasting the black and white screen with the colorful real world as a means to tell the story. MacMullan took it even further though when Mickey breaks through the screen and into the real world. He actually breaks the screen, ripping a hole in it. And through that hole, we can see the world inside the screen in color. I thought the idea was a very clever add on to the use of color in The Purple Rose of Cairo.

"Manhattan"

I've always respected Woody Allen for his uncanny knack for story telling. His wit and neurotic charm make almost every single one of his films, save for a few (I'm lookin' at you, "Whatever Works"), unbelievably enjoyable. From all the Woody Allen films that I've seen, the story has always come first, and all the other aspects of the films seemed secondary. However, after watching "Manhattan", my previous notions of what a Woody Allen film is like were completely turned upside down.

Simply stated, the cinematography completely blew me out of the water. Shot in completely black and white, "Manhattan" is a love letter to New York City under the guise of a quirky romantic comedy. The iconic bridge scene, plastered on movie posters and DVD boxes, should be enough to make anyone think New York a magical place.

The contrast between light and dark is near perfect, making the image beautifully pop off the screen. For the first time ever while watching a film on Netflix, I had to stop and screen-capture certain shots because they were so well composed.

Many films have great lighting, but what I think sets this film apart from others is the interesting way that the shots are composed. In particular, I thought the scene in the planetarium was spectacular. Each shot blew me away, transitioning from very long shots to close-ups easily, whilst still accentuating the planetarium itself. I posted the video of the scene here tentatively, as I don't think the quality of the video does the scene justice.

Overall, I think that "Manhattan" is brilliant, and perhaps one of Allen's greatest films, vying with "Annie Hall" and "Midnight in Paris". It's definitely worth a watch for anyone interested in cinematography or for anyone who simply enjoys a good movie.

Midnight in Paris

A couple days ago I watched the film Midnight in Paris, written and directed by Woody Allen, starring Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams. First off I want to say that this was my first Woody Allen movie and despite it being one of his later pieces, it did not disappoint.  The film was simply beautiful.  Being shot on location in, it's important for the film to capture the mystique that is Paris. In my opinion, Mr. Allen was able to do this wonderfully.  One of my favorite aspects of the movie was its story because it veered away from the typical love story. Trying not to give to much away, I will say that the resolution to the story is gratifying in that the story comes full circle. Something that doesn't always happen in film today.  After watching Midnight in Paris, I am more than excited to get started watching all of Woody Allen's classic projects!