Blog 9: Three Acts

The film Across the Universe has a three-act structure that is represented through the genre of a musical romance. The movie begins with the introduction of each protagonist singing a song be The Beatles that describes their current state in life. As the movie progresses along its Freytag Pyramid, the main characters meet and the story diverts to the love story of the two main characters: Jude and Lucy.

The first plot point in this film is the introduction of characters through their individual song. As the movie progresses past its 30 minute state, most of the characters that were individually introduced at the beginning of the film, have now had their plots intertwined with each other to form a bond towards knowing each other and interacting as escalating stakes occur. For example, one of the main characters, Jude, is introduced to another character, Max, who helps Jude. They then go to pick up Max’s sister who turns out to be the other lead character Lucy. The stakes within these characters escalate through the events of the Vietnam War when Max is drafted and leaves to serve his country.

The second plot point in this movie can be seen when the diverse group of characters begin their journey to the hippie scene in New York. After all the different drug experiences and all the “happy” times, the reality sets in as the climax of the story when Max comes back from the war with a damaged state of mind. The characters now have to face the reality of the hard times. This can be defined as the main complication towards the plot.

As the plot continues, Jude is deployed back to Liverpool and it seems as if all the characters that were united as one, are now split into different forks in the road of the plot dealing with their own problems. The main reason I think that this movie has a three-act structure, is because the resolution is a happy ending. Jude eventually comes back, and all the characters are reunited as he sings the song “All You Need Is Love.” The film ends with the reuniting of Jude and Lucy looking at each other from afar and the audience sees that in the end, they find each other once more.  Below is the trailer for the film.

video provided by: YouTube

Post 8: How I met my sitcom

The television sitcom sprung from a live show. Some sitcoms are filmed in front of a live audience like a theater production, only there is a camera reproducing the image for the other million audiences watching the same show in their homes. According to Colin Tain, the TV sitcom is recognized by the characteristic of humor and the aspect of episodic narrative.

The humor within the sitcom genre, gives the audience an emotional connection through laughter and character appeal. A sitcom would not be a sitcom without humor; in fact humor is one of the characteristics that separates the sitcom from the drama. According to Colin Tain, the episodic sitcom has a modified three-act structure, and has mini-resolutions. The characters within a sitcom tend to only have a problem for that episode. Sitcoms do not tend to carry out the problems over a span of time. I believe that sitcoms are the type of show that one can easily tune into for the first time, and pick up the general plot as they watch. This can be because in many sitcoms there are cycles and repeated patterns that audience members can recognize from other sitcoms they have seen before.

One sitcom that I have recently started watching is How I Met Your Mother. From barely watching a few minutes of it, I naturally laughed without really knowing what the show was about. I think this is a great example of a sitcom not only because I appreciated the humor, but because I could catch on to the plot with the show having common repeated patterns. For example, the group of friends within the show are always at a bar talking. The show uses flashbacks to help the audience understand the conversations of the main characters. This makes it easy for the audience to keep up with what the show is about for that one episode. The show also is a good example for an episodic narrative, because each episode is a new story that the main character is remembering and retelling to his kids on how exactly he met their mother.

A good sitcom needs to make the audience laugh through the characteristic of humor, but it also needs to give the audience an opportunity to stay hooked in an easy way. The episodic narrative of How I Met Your Mother gives their old audience a new laugh, and gives their new audience a reason to not change the channel.

Photo provided by: http://emilcar.tumblr.com/post/194980183/how-i-met-your-mother-season-5-itunes-cover

Post7: Slumdog shots

Director Danny Boyle and Co-Director Loveleen Tandan, created this scene from one of my favorite movies, Slumdog Millionaire. This clip includes various shots described by Prof. Ramirez-Berg in lecture. They used a close up shot to show the relationships and emotions of the main characters: Salim and Jamal. Following with a medium shot to show what was going on and then later on, a long shot for location and setting. Boyle and Tandan use an abundance of these shots throughout this scene and interchange them as Salim and Jamal collect money to help them survive on their own and make a living.


This clip opens up with a low angle shot where Jamal is looking up towards his older brother Salim and waiting to hear instructions on what to do next. All throughout the film, Jamal looks up to his older brother and in this close up shot we see the power Salim has because of the low angle shot. Jamal then follows his brother's lead as the shot becomes a medium shot which helps to give us a clue on what is going to happen next by the character's movements.


The scene continues with a range of medium and long shots to help the audience distinguish that they are traveling on a train and are selling things for money. As the clip continues, the long shots show that the train is moving across a landscape, while the medium shots show the transactions. The close up shots show the merchandise being sold along with the emotions of the main characters when they have money in their hands.


Another great example in this scene are the directors' use of close up shots. Each close up shot not only shows the character's emotion of hunger or of them being tired, but it also gives the audience the opportunity to see how hard their life is. Doyle and Tandan do a great job of combining the character's emotion with the hardship of life as a slumdog.


This scene has a variety of long, medium, and close up shots within it. The reason I think that this is a good example is because it almost seems like each frame is an interchangeable pattern of each different type of shot. Not only does this scene interchange these shots, it also incorporates the camera angles in a way where the audience can tell where the characters are going or doing by giving the right information away through the long, medium, and close up shot.



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video provided by: YouTube

Post 6: Hollywood Studios

I think the most important aspect of how the studio system worked back then was the method of contracting their stars to promote not only the studio’s iconic genre, but gross as much money as possible for their films. In lecture, we learned that the major studios of classic Hollywood were known for the genres that they commonly produced. For example, MGM was known for their musicals, as Warner Brothers was known for their movies centered on the idea of crime. The stars that were contracted by these studios also played the iconic roles that helped to distinguish a face for the studios.

MGM’s Judy Garland for example, promoted other MGM stars within her own movies. This could be seen as MGM using product placement to market their stars. This affected the films in a good way because in the middle of one MGM movie, audiences were reminded to see a movie by the actor portrayed as an icon to Judy Garland’s character in the film. This method of marketing brought revenue to the studio, and without the advertisement of the stars, I don’t think that studios would have had the same success.

The stars contracted by Warner Brothers helped the genre of crime gain its fame. According to Colin Tait, the genre of crime began with the gangster film. Stars like Humphrey Bogart, helped set an icon for the crime genre. In many of his films, Humphrey Bogart wore a trench coat that was carried throughout his movies, which was later on distinguished as an iconic piece of clothing in the detective film, which was an evolution in the crime genre. Even in Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart wore a trench coat. This piece of clothing helped to give the character that Bogart played a crime “scene” identity and helped the promotion of the crime film for Warner Brothers.

Stars helped to promote the genre of studios in classic Hollywood, and they gave a face to an audience of moviegoer’s. I think that celebrities today still play their iconic roles, but definitely not in the way they did in the 1930s. Classic Hollywood would not have been what it was if it wasn’t for the studios contracting their actors, and thanks to the performances of those actors, we have genres that were iconic then and have been evolved even more today.

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Post 5: Everybody Loves a Family Sitcom

I think that a lot of the comedy on television is broadcasted to help viewers relate to problems that they are facing, and entertain them by helping them laugh about it. All in the Family and Everybody Loves Raymond are both family-based TV situational comedies, but they differ in the situation of their comedy.  They relate by helping others cope with their problems through laughter, but are different in the problem of their time period.

All in the Family’s comedic scenes were written with the intention to show their audience problems that were being faced in the time period such as sex and sexual orientation. While the producers were looking to show their conservative audience that they resembled the fatherly character of “Archie” in a light where they should open their eyes to change and become more open minded, the conservative audience took a like to the show because they felt like they could relate to the conservative character who didn’t like the change happening around him.  In the show Everybody Loves Raymond, the comedy is geared towards the relationship of husband and wife. A lot of couples today watch this show and can relate to the marital problems of their modern time period. The difference between the two shows is that in All in the Family, the issues that were humored expressed serious issues that everyone could relate to at the time. Each audience member could see themselves as one of the characters and relate to the situation in the angle that their character went. The issues humored in Everybody Love Raymond are issues that only married couples can relate to. There is a family, and even the in-laws are included, but most of the time when the audience in the background laughs on screen, I can only hear my mom and dad laugh in my living room. Both of these shows target an audience and make fun of situations that people are afraid to talk about like sexuality in All in the Family, and marital problems in Everybody Loves Raymond.

All and all, I think that the issues dealt with in All in the Family are issues that are still mentioned in shows like Everybody Loves Raymond but because of the modernization of values, it is not seen from an “Archie” point of view as much as it was then. I think that television will always be a way to help people cope with their problems through laughter, but I know that over time those problems will evolve and change as society changes over time.

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