Three act structure-Mean Girls!

   There are many examples of three act structures and i chose to write about an old movie that really hits home with a lot of teenage girls. The first act of a movie usually introduces the characters and it is no different with the movie Mean Girls. In the first act they introduce Cady, a sixteen year old who grew up in Africa who moves to the suburbs and starts a normal high school life in the states. There she meets the plastics, the cool clique in school, and they ask her to sit with them. This incident leads to cady confesssing her crush on a "plastics" ex boyfriend and the number one plot point in the act is when that plastic steals the guy away from Cady which leads to conflict. This act last around 30-35 minutes.
   The next act structure usually includes an action that will ultimately lead to the climax in the third act. In the case of Mean Girls, Cady has a revelation when she overthrows the "plastic" as queen bee. She throws a party forgetting all of her old friends and they call her out on being one of the "mean girls" nobody likes.
This act is usually the longest and the most detailed lasting for 45--50 minutes.
   The third and final act structure includes the climax of the movies or the lesson that has to be learned. In Mean Girls, Cady is given the cold shoulder at school and she decides she does not care about popularity and joins a local math club. She goes to competition and she has an epiphany about the way teenagers let their ranking at school rule their lives and she win the competion. She goes back to school and there everyone forgives her as she gives a speech about all that she has learned and accomplished. This act lasts for 25-30 and is the final act of the movie. Below is a clip of the movie!
Mean Girls 

Tv sitcom! Friends!

   Many of the characteristics that Colin Tait included in the lecture had to do with sitcoms. One of the main characteristics is the fact that they had to create humor out of everyday situations, hence the title "situation comedy." This is also usually accomplished within the 30 minute time slot that differentiated them from dramas. Sitcoms are also very convenient because they are episodic meaning they have conflicts that they resolve in the same episode so no one will ever be lost watching any episode they may see. Another characteristic Tait talked about was the character growth we see in some sitcoms like King of Queens where we see them mature as time goes on and this helps us relate to the characters becasue we are growing with them.

     One of my favorite tv sitcoms is Friends and it is a perfect example of a episodic sitcom. Friends contains all the characteristics Tait talked about during his lecture. It is a 30 minute long show that focuses on humor as its main attribute. They also have six protagonists: Ross, Rachel, Joey, Phoebe, Monica, and Chandler. For example in one episode two of the main characters, Monica and Chandler, are about to get married and Chandler seems to get cold feet which is a common problem people face so the audience can relate. It is a conflict that at the end of the episode is resolved when he realizes he wants to spend his life with her. Below you will see the example...
Monica and Chandler cold feet

Shot progression and No Country for Old Men

     It is no surprise that directors use a variety of camera shots to tell their story. The way theses shots are arranged is the key element and the difference between a good movie and a great movie. The movie i chose to interpret is "No Country for Old Men." The film revolves around a man who has encountered a suitcase full of money and is effectively pursued by the owner of the suitcase, a psychopath killer with a weird view of justice.
     In the very beginning of the movie there is a wide variety of shots that include the scenery we will see all throughout the film. This is the Long Shot view where we see the overview of the place and the setting that will introduce the characters. To be more specific, the scene in the movie where the protagonist, Josh Brolin, finds the money is a perfect example of shot progression. Below is the long shot where we dont really know who the actor is but we see a connotative meaning of a dark and mysterious man who is about to encounter something dangerous. It also shows the setting as a very isolated even scary place.

   The next shot we see is the Middle Shot where we now know who the actor is and what he has in his hands. We see it is Josh Brolin and this shot gives us very important information about the suitcase full of money which is significant throughout the entire film. It also gives us a taste of the character Josh Brolin plays. He looks rugged and he looks as if he is not scared about the consequences that will come due to the suitcase.

         The very final shot we see is the close up of Brolin after he has effectively taken the money with him. The closeup shows emotional meaning in the movie and it conveys facial expressions clearly. Here we see Brolin and he has a look of seriousness to him. He does not look like he is scared but he does look like he has committed a heinous crime. It is as if he has guilt in his eyes even. The denotative meaning just tells his appearence its the audiences first impression of the character. The connotative meaning is the way we perceive him and the way we set his character up for the rest of the movie.

Classical hollywood and the star system

       One specific aspect of the studio system i deemed the most important was the star system and the effect it had in the production of movies. At the beginnning of the film industry surprisingly film was seen as  astep over the circus and it was merely for the "working class." Most actors were embarassed to be mentioned or seen on film so they would mask their identity in order to "keep their dignity." However, after a while audiences began to demand the names of their beloved actors and they wanted to know who was behind the film they watched. They began to nickname the actors since they all remained nameless. Then the Star System emerged and it changed everything. Studios began to give names to faces and it quickly affected the film industry.
      The Star system was comprised of up and coming actors who studios created personas for and gave them an identity that would be with them for the rest of their acting careers. This affected the way people saw movies because not only were they watching a scene in a film but they were relating and creating a bond with a character like Lucille Ball or Cary Grant. This also made film stars gain extreme power from their audiences demanding to see them in the next movie. This is the power studios were trying to avoid in the beginning. Stars such as Marilyn Monroe walked out on their contracts until studios met with their demands and as their popularity escalated so did the profits for the movies they were included in.

      One example of the star system was dated back to 1915, a woman names Theda Bara was the very first "vamp woman." She was repeatedly cast as vmapire and as other "femme fatale" roles and in everyones minds she was known as the "vamp woman." The repetition of similar roles creates a persona for the character that continues on through their career. Another perfect example is Marilyn getting cast for "ditsy blonde" or continuous "sexual" roles creating that character for her.
Marilyn monroe-Lets make love

All in the Family vs. Everybody loves raymond

       Before thursday, i had never seen an episode of All in the Family. However, even though it was an older show i could see why it caused so much buzz at the time it was airing. It was a show that introduced social realism and stirred up controversy. At the time one of the very first episodes of All in the Family contained a sexual theme way too advanced and it displayed things that were never displayed before on television. Now comedy sitcoms such as Everybody loves Raymond contain an excess amount of Sexual content and focuses on social issues including race, religion, and more as well but in a very less subtle manner. It has become part of what we watch today and what was controversy before is simply entertainment now.
      In the All in the Family episode we watched in the screening we saw a the protagonist, Archie, poke fun at his son in laws friend making comments that he was a "fairy" and a "queen" because of the way he acted. It is obvious that Archie is disturbed by this and it hit home to a lot of people at that time because a lot of people felt the same way but this tv show was actually portraying what some people at home were thinking. In an episode of Everybody Loves Raymondwe see a clip where they deal with race. The father who in similarities to Archie pokes fun at his sons new relationship with African Americans and makes it clear that he is also not comfortable with the situation.
      However, in the episode of Everybody Loves Raymond we get the feeling that it is not as big of a deal as it would be around the time of All in the Family. The father comes to realize that it is something he can deal with but the show is a lot more entertaining than offensive to anyone. That is where All in the Family differs. The show introduced big social issues like race and sexuality so many found it offensive at the time. Everybody loves Raymond has grown on people and the social issues are not as controversial now then they were back then.