3040_Essay

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The compare and contrast the different techniques used in Kill bill 1 and Lost in translation
Kill bill 1 and Lost in translation have used many different techniques such as narrative voice, scene setting, special effect, sound effect, editing techniques, and camera angle techniques. I found these two movies are interesting because the films have state Japan in totally different way. These two movie have set in Japan but in my point of view I think the setting of the scene makes these two movies present Japan in a different way. I think Kill bill have used various techniques in the film which make it very successful. Lost in translation characters have show the feeling of the movie, I think Characters is the main part which make this film successful.



Kill bill 1 is first person narrative voice but Lost in translation narrative voice is eye of god. The narrative voice in Kill bill start with the bride voice telling her story in the pass and continue telling more about her story in between the film and some part of kill bill use eye of god technique as well. Lost in translation narrative voice show us everything from the beginning of the film until the end of the film.




The scene set techniques is quite difference in these two movies whether these two movie have scene setting in Japan. Kill bill scene setting is not base on reality because you can tell from how passenger could bring sword on a plane is normal while Lost in translation setting is base on reality as the setting show Japanese people everyday life. Kill bill setting is easy to tell that it’s in 70s because of music in the Japanese restaurant is old songs and how people dress in kimono when Lost in translation setting is in a present because the setting shows a modern lifestyle and how Japanese people dress in these day such as there is a scene setting in a game section showing Japanese teenager wearing cross play dress. Kill bill scene setting is more preventative of Japan couture and traditional you can tell from the scene in Japan while Oren-Ishi had a meeting with Yakusa could be shown as a dark side of Japan couture. Lost in translation preventative of a modern Japan daily life in each scene show Japanese modern lift like in Karaoke, Game center, people wearing suit to work .Color techniques in kill bill scene have chosen bright various color you can tell with the costume and scene asset, Uma Thurman wearing bright yellow top and pants during the fight scene and the pussy wagon as a bright color scene asset where normally one film will have one theme color but Quentin Tarantino chose different bright color in his film to make each scene look more interesting. Kill bill 1, in my opinion I think the setting doesn’t need to be set in Japan because there is not much scene that couldn’t set in a studio.


Special effect in these two films is totally difference because it is completely difference genre Lost in translation is romantic and Kill bill is Violence. Lost in translation didn’t have any special effect at all because romantic film not normally use special effect while kill bill have used many special effect. Kill bill bloody scene, there are lots of fake blood splash everywhere after the bride cut parts of her enemies off with her samurai sword and This scene clearly show that the blood is fake because the blood color is brighter that real blood and if a real person have bleeding that much he/she properly dead very quick. In the first scene Uma Thurman covered in blood and her eyes turn purple and she got lots of cuts on her face these are make-up techniuqes. There is a scene that is too much blood so that Quentin Tarantino use black and white scene to fade out the violence however it makes the film more interesting. Kill bill 1 also use a 2d animation in while telling about O-ren Ishi story in the past which is very difference from other film. The 2d animation part makes the scene more and more interesting with the camera angle which impossible to have in normal scene. After Kill bill 1 have released there is some movie have used 2d animation in there film such as Sim City.

Sound effect in Lost in translation and kill bill is very difference. Kill bill have used various random sound effect in each scene to express the motion of the character in each scene whole Lost in translation use a simple sound effect to continue the story. Background music in kill bill used random music from difference ages from the beginning until the end of the story while Lost in translation use music background in some scene the express the motion of characters in that scene.



Editing Techniques used in Lost in translation is quite simple the story runs forward until the end and we could understand the whole story while Kill bill have lots of editing. Kill bill editing techniques used Flash back, separate the film with chapters, and use slings. In kill bill there is a few part which showing flash back to what happen the bride in the past, In each scene can clearly tells that it is flash back because of narrative voice. In Kill bill 1 the whole story had separated in Chapters and each chapter have a title. The scene where Uma Thurman fighting in a Japanese restaurant with the crazy 88, Sling help her jump very high and jump from place to place in that scene.
Camera view Techniques in Kill bill have used many difference camera view in each scene, There is a scene where the bride was knock down on the floor and the camera view from the bottom to the top the show Bill and his killers staring at the bride to show how powerful they are. Lost in translation have used close-up, medium shot, long shot which is normal camera view.



In conclusion, Kill bill 1 and Lost in translation are mostly different even they have scene setting in Japan but in these two movie have show different period of time and good side and bad side of Japan. Kill bill have used more Techniques in scenes more than Lost in translation because Lost in translation story is base on everyday real life which make us believe that it could happen for real but Kill bill 1 genre is Violence and sub genre could be revenge which used various techniques. Kill bill is not base on reality so it could used any kind of techniques to make movie more interesting. Quentin Tarantino have chosen very exciting music background and sound effect in kill bill 1, lots of random music that I haven’t heard of and random sound effect which not normally use in these day film. However I think Lost in translation a meaningful movie which expresses emotion of the character with camera techniques used event Lost in translation didn’t used much techniques but the scene setting and camera view allow me to think along following the story.

2831- Qiaolin - Kill Bill 1 Essay

Why Kill Bill 1 is a successful movie? One of the reasons is the great technical and effects.
These technical and effects such as close up, tracking shot, zoom in, Depth of Field Effect, slow motion, opacity, sound will grab more eyes and attentions. These technical and effects look as normal as other movie, but Quentin use special way to demonstrate these technical and effects in Kill Bill 1 and so make this film so successful. Now I will introduce these special technical and effects.


1. Close upAs we known this is a movie talk about a lady’s revenge, so why she want revenge and why Kill Bill 1 is different from other revenge movie？ One answer of these questions is camera shot, in fact the director use a lot of special shots in this movie, but one of the reasons why the movie is so successful is use close up to focus on main character - bride’s face at the beginning of the movie, we can see despair, fright, supplication and sadness from her face clearly, so we can quickly get the answer why she revenge, so the director is good at use camera shot to demonstrate character’s feeling.


We have to admit, Quentin is good at catch facial emotion to demonstrate character’s feeling, we can choose a typical example from Reservoir Dogs.

As the picture above showing, the cop seeing a man goes toward to him and wants kill him, so we can see despair, fright, supplication and sadness from her face clearly as well, it is similar to Kill Bill, the cop and Bride are the same, they both see a man wants to kill them, and we can catch the same facial emotion from their face, so we get the feeling in their mind easily, so it is the reason why Quentin’s film are successful.


2. Tracking shotDirector is good at use camera movement to make mysteries, such as use tracking shot to shoot the movement of someone’s feet without any introduction, it is a clever way to grab audiences’ attention.

The picture above shows someone goes towards Bride with tracking shot, so the director left a question at the beginning of the movie, who wants kill bride? And audiences will think about this question while they watching this movie, and in this movie director use a lot of tracking shot to shoot someone’s feet moving in order to make movie has a lot of sense of mystery, it makes audiences wants continuing to watch this movie. We can compare with Rush hour 3, the genre of this movie is crime, Lee is catching the killer, the killer is turning around and Lee can see his face, with this photography people all know what happen next, so makes less mystery to grab audiences’ eyes.

And we can compare with another Quentin’s film as well, this film called “Reservoir Dogs”; I just show a picture of this movie.

As we know this man holding a knife in his hand and he wants to kill the cop, I think is similar to Bill holds a gun and wants kill Bride, in Reservoir Dogs, the scene is use panning to shoot this man dancing while he goes towards to the cop, it is a funny scene as well, but at the beginning of this scene, Quentin just choose shoot the whole body of the man, we can see who is him immediately, great shot but less mystery let audiences thinking.
These two scenes is similar, because one is the man wants kill the cop, and another one is Bill wants to kill Bride, and both use tracking shot, but in Kill Bill Quentin use tracking shot to shoot the feet movement instead of body movement, it makes more suspense, so I think Kill Bill is different from other movie, even the movie direct by him such as Reservoir Dogs.

About this Movie, there is one scene give me deep impression which is O-Ren Ishii brings Gogo and her crazy 88 member go to dancing hall. There is a video clip to help us to understand this scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJlu_xo79k8


This scene uses a lot of camera technique and a piece of powerful background music.
At the eleventh second, the camera movement is tracking shot, with the dolly technique to shoot they move forward toward to the room from the back, this shot tell us where they going at the beginning of the scene, and then use tracking shot to shoot their feet moving from left to right, the reason why Quentin not choose shoot their face first is he wants leave a question to audiences, who is moving? And audiences can get the answer easily from characters’ clothes, in order to grab people’s attention.
Next camera shoots from front to demonstrate the facial details of characters with Zoom in technique.


3. About the zoom in, as the photos showing below

The camera zoom in from long shot to medium shot, these shots becoming bigger and bigger with zoom in is in order to tell audiences who they are, because with the camera zoom in, people will catch the characters’ face and emotion clearer and clearer, from the third image we can see the confident and arrogant from their face, so Quentin is successful use zoom in to the express the emotion of characters.

And this scene with a good logicality, after zoom in, Quentin use cross cutting to introduce “crazy 88”, “Gogo and Sofia”, O-Ren Ishii, this technique divide the group into individual, it can detail showing how strong O-Ren Ishii is and it can makes people feel scared, in order to demonstrate how difficult Bride win the fight. But if O-Ren Ishii just pass the camera as normal, audience will not easy to catch the facial details, so director use slow motion as well, it cans show the emotion of every single person clearly with cross cutting and slow motion.

Quentin is good at use zoom in to demonstrate character’s emotion, I got more photos to prove this point.

The lady shows above called Sofia and this plot is about Bride waiting in front of traffic light while she riding on the motorcycle and she see Sofia making telephone call in the car, and Bride recall her memory cause Sofia was making telephone call as well when Bill and the killers killing people in the church, but at this time Bride is wearing the helmet, how can demonstrate Bride’s anger and surprise at this time? So Quentin choose zoom in to express Bride’s emotion, and first is medium shot, shoot outside from the window, but it is just the normal angle that what Bride can see from her eyes, next the camera zoom in into close up to Sofia’s face, from this zoom in, we can get a information which is Bride seems can remember who the lady is, the last the camera zoom in into extreme close up and focus on her mouth, and next scene jump to Bride’s flash back, so the extreme close up tells us the emotion of Bride which is Bride pretty sure Sofia is one of the killers, because Sofia is doing the same thing as she did four years ago – making telephone call, even though we can not see Bride’s face, but from the zoon in we still can catch the emotion if Bride.

4. From the photos below we can also see many people in one shot, but how to express O-Ren Ishii is the leader of the group? So Quentin use one effect called “Depth of Field Effect”.

The picture showing the camera focus on O-Ren Ishii as the foreground and other people behind is blur, from this effect, although many people in one shot, but we still can stand out the main character of the whole group.

5. Slow motion
This movie use slow motion quite well at the right time, this is an action movie that with a lot of fighting scenes, especially the character fighting with the weapon, the weapon must be moving fast, how to make audience will not miss any fantastic action details? Slow motion can solve this problem effectively, such as one scene is Gogo uses meteor hummer fight with Bride and this weapon moving fast, if movie use normal motion the audience may not catch the action, it lead to nobody knows the power of this weapon, and will not know how difficult Bride kill Gogo as well, so this technical detail makes audience feel the way of Bride’s revenge is very difficult. It can make the movie more attractive. We can compare with Rush Hour 3, it is a action movie as well, but it does not use any slow motion during the fighting, you can say it is more real, but it is some boring when people viewing the fighting scenes of this movie.

6. Window (Opacity), in my opinion, this is the most characteristic technique and effect in Kill Bill movie, let me use a pictures to introduce what window is.

This effect is use Opacity technique to include two characters into one shot, why director wants use this technique? Because we all know Bride is woke up from a long coma and she must recall her memory that who hurt her, director definitely should use flash back to demonstrate this plot. Like other movie, director normally use transition to make the photography like old style movie, it is a good way to demonstrate but quite common. So how Quentin use special way to demonstrate flash back? The answer is opacity, the foreground is Bride’s eyes and background is enemy, it means from Bride’s eyes she can recall her memory that who tried to kill her many years ago, it can give audience direct impression, so it is an important effect that makes this movie different.

7. A good film impossible only has good photography, also need include good background music, these scene include a powerful music, at the beginning of this scene the music makes us nervous and scared because the music telling us O-Ren Ishii is coming, but we still can not see their face, after that the camera turn to the front and audiences caught their face, while zooming in, the climax of background music rang, it means we see the crazy 88 and O-Ren clearly, the climax of background music sounds like “bang bang bang”, with this sound, the shot is cross cutting, once “bang bang bang” rang, the one of character face showing, the sound can help the scene to keep their confident and arrogant facial emotion in audiences’ mind. After that the background music going fast as well, because the photography shows people scared of O-Ren Ishii, the background music can match this photography nicely and helps the photography to demonstrate how dreadful O-Ren Ishii is. Then this scene finish.

Above all, this movie with those special technical and effects give us a different experience of film shooting from other movies, the difference comes from special and the special makes a film successful.

List of Reference

http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/animation/cameras/traditional_film_camera_techniqu.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1japIhKU9I&feature=fvw

I have some questions about "CAST AWAY"

About 2 weeks ago I watched the movie "Cast away" on TV. Actually I viewed that film 3~4 times. But I didn't finish to watch it. I always missed the last part of the film. When the last part was shown, I had to go somewhere or someone visited to my home, or the place was not enough to watch whole film so had to stop watching it.

Anyway, this time I could watch whole film but I was little bit curious Tom Hanks’s last decision. It was not so clear for me but it gave me little intimation. I caught the new Wilson ball in his car. He stood at the crossroad and looked at a map. He seemed to go back to the Island. So here are some questions. I ask anyone who knows clearly what this scene is about and what the meaning of last parcel is. I simply thought he gave up his hope as putting the parcel in front of the house. Because when he escaped the island, only his hope was his wife and going back to his normal life with his wife. But he lost his hope when he met his wife and found out she was re-married. Anyway I will wait for the answer if my guesses are right or other meaning is there which I missed. Thanks!


PS. When he let Wilson go, I had empathy with him. His voice still linger in my ears.”WILSON I am sorry!!” It was sad.

3077_marie_favdirector

James Cameron is no doubt as one of the world’s best renowned and reputable directors of all time. He is said to be a self-made giant in Hollywood. He started as a set builder to art director to writer then to director.

He’s been active in the film making from 1980’s up to the present and he is keen to making a science-fiction and action type of film.

He was behind the success of the movie Titanic which is said to be the highest-grossing motion picture of all time. The movie also received a 14 Oscar nomination and won as the Best Picture and Best Director awards in 1997. James Cameron after receiving the award, exulted the lines delivered by Leonardo di Caprio in the movie, “I’m the king of the world!”

He also directed Arnold Schwarzenegger in his career making role in the Terminator, Sigourney Weaver in the Aliens, Ed Harris in The Abyss.

Then he made the mega-budgeted sci-fi opus Avatar which was known before as “Project 880.” The film was considered to be a technological state-of-the-art spectacle and became a box-office record around the world. Again, James Cameron was nominated for best director by the Director’s Guild and the Academy and won in the Golden Globes ceremony.

His contribution to underwater filming and remote vehicle technology was also recognized by the University of Southampton by awarding an honorary degree of Doctor of the University

3067_Natalie Xie_Review of Director

Helen Catherine Hardwicke, is an American production designer and film director. She was born in October 21, 1955.She's working mostly on independent projects and cult films, Tapeheads, Tank Girl,1995), she did some bigger films in the late '90s( Three King, Vanilla Sky).And I like her,cause she is a talent female director. And has a young heart.





Catherine Hardwicke was born in Cameron, Texas, the daughter of James Elbert and John Benjamin Hardwicke.She grew up in McAllen, Texas and graduated from McAllen High School,Texas, and was raised in the Presbyterian denomination. While at UCLA film school during the 1980s, Hardwicke made an award-winning short, Puppy does the Gumbo. She has a sister named Irene Hardwicke Olivieri, who is an artist, and she has a brother named Bruce.

Hardwicke began her careefr as an architect. She spent most of the 1990s a production designer, working on such film as Tombstone (1993), Tank Girl(1995), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), The Newton Boy (1999). Hardwicke works include the independent film, Thirteen, which she co-wrote with Nikki Reed, the film's co-star, the biblically- themed The Nativity Story, and the vampire film Twilight. The opening weekend of Twilight was the biggest opening ever for a female director.




She most used phrase on set is "Let's focus, everybody." Catherine says it's because she works with many young people.

3268_Sergio_Hayao Miyazaki

When I was child, I watched so many animations on TV. Most of them are Japanese and American animations and I really liked animation during my childhood. Now I don’t like animation as much as I was child but I still like Hayao Miyazaki’s animation films especially his drawing style. He is Japanese animator and filmmaker. He was born in Tokyo in 1941. Now he is nearly 70-year-old man. But his imagination and sensibility are immortal and continuously going on. He produced lots of animations namely Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind(1984), "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" (1986), "My Neighbor Totoro" (Tonari no Totoro, 1988), "Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989), "Porco Rosso" (1992), etc. He is one of famous animators who lead Japanese animation industry.


I viewed lots of his animations. When I viewed them, those films took me to the mysterious and unrealistic world. After viewing the films, I felt that I had travelled the special world. So his animations always make me look forward to new unrealistic world. I like his imagination and sensibility. Most of his animations include lyricism and messages. Normally, he delivers realistic messages through unrealistic worlds. But in my perception, the messages are not in his animations. If you feel better than before you viewed his animations, it is enough at least you can get little emotion.

2831-Qiaolin-Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino is an American director, he is born in 1963 and he is famous for his unique film style.

About the early years of him, his mother married with a musician when he was a child, I think it also an important reason why the music in his film is excellent. Quentin Tarantino dropped out of high school when he was 16, and then he was working at a video shop, he practiced movie shooting skills and direct skills with his friend.

He is good at making the blood and violent sense, in my opinion the most representative work of him is Kill Bill, as we known this movie a violent and blood, it tells us the story of revenge, some times the senses make us uncomfortable but powerful, it is the beauty with violence.

Another reason I like his movie is the film scores, he is good at playing with melody, because once the music played, the audience almost feel what the feeling of movie actor at that moment.