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June 07, 2009
MM 3/4 - Cory Hershberger
During my perusal of chapters 3 and 4 of Movies and Meaning, a few things struck me as particularly interesting or confusing:
- I really liked the profiling of the production design or set building of specific films, such as The Terminal. What I found myself wondering, though, after the description of The Terminal's fully functional airport terminal set, was a little more detail about the actual cost of the set, and what it was like to film on said set. As we were reading, we saw repeated statistics about just how much steel and work went in, but I thought the anecdote could have been taken further (the same for a few other film spotlights throughout the chapters).
- I also liked seeing how many films are constantly paying homage to the films that came before, or taking steps to avoid being categorized like previous films in the same genre, i.e., 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner in comparison to The Fifth Element.
- Finally, I enjoyed the chapter on acting tremendously. The explanation of what it is really like backstage on a film set was enlightening, as was the description of how film acting differed from theater acting. I found myself curious after I finished the chapter about how many directors plan their visual design around one specific actor, similar to Ross's question above. What happens if the actor in mind has a previous commitment? Does the director then rethink his or her entire film?
Posted by cah68 at June 7, 2009 05:05 PM
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