Week 5 Assignment

Week 5 Final Project 

Name

University

  

Course

Instructor

Date

Identify your selected film, including writer, director, year of release, and genre.

My chosen film was the horror film “Us” 2019 written and directed by jordan peele.

Briefly summarizes the film in which you apply your knowledge of the difference between the film’s story and its plot.

The story of us In the film is the protagonist Adelaide Wilson played by Lupita Nyong’o and her family (husband played by Winston Duke, son played by Evan Alex, and daughter played by Shahadi Wright Joseph) go on a vacation returning to the beachfront house where she grew up as a child. Adelaide becomes worried that something bad will happen because of the traumatic experiences that she faced as a child. Her worries come true when a family resembling her own approaches their house. The plot comes from the antagonist who was born on the surface and forcefully brought to the underground tunnels while being locked there wanting revenge. The antagonist becomes the leader of the duplicates called “The tethered” and starts an uprising/revolution recreating “Hands across america” movement from the 80s aswell as killing the united states people on the surface to send a message that the world will see so the tethered won't be oppressed and can live in privilege like the U.s Citizens that lived on the surface 

Describe one of the broad theories you have learned about in class.

In filmmaking there are many broad theories with meaning and philosophy that make filmmaking more than a Hollywood job. The main three theories in filmmaking that we have viewed in class have been “Auteur theory”, “Genre theory”, “Formalist theory”. Each of these theories have their respected ideas that the industry of filmmaking agree with and also disagree with. Genre theory is used to help categorize movies into their respective genres and is dependent on many factors such as storyline in the film, who the director is, and the audience expectations throughout the film. Formalist theory is basically an idea and approach on how the elements such as sound, lighting, dialogue etc. all come together and fit in the film.

One of the broad theories I found intriguing was “Artuer Theory”.  What is an "Auteur?" What is "auteur Theory"? And why is it important? Auteur theory is an important part of filmmaking. An Auteur is a title given to amazing filmmakers that have personal influence or great artistic control over a film that they're considered the author of that film. Being a film Auteur is similar to being credited as the author of a screenplay or novel. Auteur Theory is the film theory in which the director is looked at as the creative force in the film. This theory first arose in the early 1940s from the french cinematic movement known as the nouvelle vague, or New Wave. Auteur comes from the french word “Author”.  Many have questioned the theory, because there are usually multiple people involved in the development of a film. Ultimately, a film will have a writer, alongside the director, which makes it difficult to put all of the weight on the director, alone.  Regardless of the storyline, there is something distinct within their production that will stand out and be recognizable. With that being said, it is understandable how the auteur theory could exist. The end result is the director’s style of filming. And the more passion that a director pours into a film, the more they develop a voice. Auteur theory is important because it recognizes the recurring themes and visual queues that the director conveys in their art. This work could be attributed to Jordan Peele as an “Auteur” with his stylistic directory for his past couple of films. 

Evaluate the use of three specific techniques and design elements employed in the film as they contribute to the overarching narrative and theme of the film. This can include elements of mise-en-scène. Mise-en-scene is the arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play. Mise-en-scene is translated from french and it means “setting the stage” but, in film analysis, the term mise-en-scene refers to everything in front of the camera, including the set design, lighting, and the actors. It Mise-en-scene in film is the overall effect of how it all comes together for the audience. Three specific elements that help film are lighting, sound, composition of frame. Each of these 3 elements are important for the film's success. Lighting in filmmaking is used differently depending on the genre that is associated with the film. Lighting techniques differ from genre to genre by how the director uses lighting to enhance the film, for example, “Us” by Jordan Peele is a horror film and uses a lot of lowkey lighting, dark shots and lighting to cast shadows to cause eerie and suspenseful scenes to match the horror tone. Low Key lighting is a lighting technique for film that focuses on accentuating shadows by using hard source lighting in a scene. Lowkey lighting aims to increase contrast through the use of shadows and dark tones.  Lighting is a key component in filmmaking. Sound is a key element in a film. Sound enhances the movie and the emotions that the director wants to convey. Lack of sound is used to bring focus to scenes that the director would want the audience to pay attention too. Composition of frame is important to the film as well. Film Composition refers to the way elements of a scene are arranged and shot  in a camera frame. In My chosen film “Us” directed by Jordan Peele a great scene that demonstrates all 3 is the initial invasion scene with the duplicates. In this scene the music is halted to emphasize the use of sounds enhancing the horror elements in the film. Through the scene the dark low key lighting sends shivers through the audience and with the duplicates inside the house a sense of mystery and suspense builds with the audience wanting to know what's next. Another film that uses these three elements well is “Psycho”1960 by Alfred Hitchcock. The shower muder scene in the film is intense, well known ,and has been added in multiple films later throughout the years by other directors. During the shower muder scene the transitions were done phenomenally and were attributed to his skill of filmmaking. The transitions before the murder used in the movie clip were very slow and it felt like it was used to build up suspense. While the murder was happening the shots speed escalates into a stabbing montage, creating an atmosphere of chaos and confusion that the victim feels during her last moments. This type of scene is iconic and the atmosphere of helplessness towards the audience. This scene uses the shot composition very well to show how fast and relentless the stabbing montage is. The sound in this scene was unsettling to the audience using a screech sound effect to show distress towards the victim. 

Describe the connection between this film and society. There's many ways My chosen film “Us” 2019 directed by Jordan Peele is connected to society. The movie “Us” basically has duplicates/ clones that  live underground and eventually start an uprising to overthrow the people living on the surface. One of the themes presented  to the audience is the idea of  classism with the clone being a metaphor for a lesser social class meant to stay at the bottom while the higher more privileged class stays at the top. The movie opens up with a news broadcast discussing the "Hands Across America '' that took place on May 25, 1986.  "Hands across American was an event to raise money for the hungry and homeless. Grabbing hands across the country became the end goal for the duplicates in the film to show that they should be heard. Classism could be seen as its cultural resonance for our country with how the duplicates are made to be at the bottom with little resources and no attention brought to them. Throughout the film the antagonist talks about her people's struggles comparing them with the privileged lives of the people who live on the surface. The duplicates that lived underground with little resources unlike the people who live on the surface. This is just one example of the film's connection to society. The film has a plethora of “Easter eggs”, hints and clues to enforce the idea of classism in America, even with the Title being the initials for the United States(U.s). The film shows cultural presence to classism within the United States even with the end goal for the protagonists being to flee the country and head to a different country like mexico. With all of this, I would say Us is a great movie on a basic level and an even better piece of filmwork on a deeper level examining the layers and meaning within the film.   

      

Peele, J. (Director). (2019). Us [Video file]. United States: Universal Pictures. Retrieved Fall,  

 2020, from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Us_(2019_film)

James, D. (2019, March 13). How 'Us' Pulled Off Subtle Differences in Costumes, Design, 

Music for Parallel Characters. Retrieved October 09, 2020, from 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/variety.com/2019/artisans/production/jordan-peele-us-cos

tumes-design-music-1203160986/amp/

Hitchcock, A. (Director). (2011, May 27). Psycho(1960) [Video file]. Retrieved May 27, 2011, from The Shower - Psycho (5/12) Movie CLIP (1960) HD

Wartenberg, T. (2015, July 30). Philosophy of Film. Retrieved October 20, 2020, from 

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/film/