Samantha Schilf - Intro to Film Blog

Overall, I really enjoyed watching Rear Window. I really liked the plot turns and action scenes that were in this film. One character that I really liked was Lisa Fremont. To contrary belief, Lisa seemed to be a feminist in my perspective. For example, she is independent, fearless, and successful on her own. Many would argue that she was, like many other women the film portrays, attention-seeking and rather clingy towards Jefferies. However, I would disagree. I believe that Lisa was in fact not attention-seeking nor clingy. I believe that she was just a woman who was in love with her significant other. When we are in love, we desire to show affection and care to them, and to spend as much time with that person as possible. We are also willing to make sacrifices and take risks. For example, when Lisa willingly broke into Lars apartment in order to discover more evidence and help Jefferies, she showed how fearless she was and how willing she was to change her lifestyle if it meant she ge...

     Overall, I really enjoyed watching Marie Antoinette.  I thought it was interesting how Coppola blended comedy into a rather historic film. A scene in particular that I really liked was the extreme close up shot Marie crying when she found out King Louis's sister had a baby before her. During the majority of the film, Marie Antoinette was constantly having people in her ear about having a baby and fulfilling the Austrian-Franco alliance. Everyone like her mom, her brother, the French King, and all of France were applying immense pressure on her. Marie Antoinette always felt this heavy weight on her shoulders and embarrassed of her rather "crumbling" marriage. When she found out that King Louis's sister had a baby before her, Marie felt incredibly embarrassed and upset and ran to her room to cry alone.       In this scene, the camera filmed Marie crying in a close up shot. This really captured Marie's pain and sorrow and conveyed those emo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rtzsZSaCIM  Overall, I really enjoyed Get Out . I really liked the big plot twist and all of the suspense-filled scenes. My favorite scene in particular was the one when Rod was calling Rose about Chris. This scene was the first time the audience sees how much of a master manipulator Rose is firsthand. The scene starts off filming Rod. However, we can still hear Rose's concerned-sounding voice. Then, the scene cuts to filming Rose in a dark room with one light illuminating half of her face, adding to the suspense. Rose, instead of looking concerned to match the sound of her voice, looks completely stone face, serious and emoting zero emotion. I think that the actress playing Rose did an incredible job acting in this scene because I believe it would be really hard to sound concerned without showing any emotion. I think that the camera work also helped the audience feel the actors emotions. For example, when the camera was filming Rod, it was moving w...

In Chapter 5, I learned a lot about all of the moving parts that goes on behind the scenes of a film. For example, I didn't realize that the different types of lighting, the intensity and exposure could play a significant role in a particular scene. Also, black and white versus color could make a scene convey different emotions. Lastly, the composition arrangement and how the lens or camera captures it plays a key role in filming a scene. Making the composition of a particular scene look symmetrical and proportionate could overall help the scene look more pleasing to the eye. 

Some things I learned about shot analysis were that the type of shot the director uses can add a certain meaning or depth to the scene. I didn't realize how many different type of camera shots directors could use and that they all can add different meanings to the scene and film. However, the shot analysis exercise did re-inform me that set design also plays a huge role in a film's meaning and story. 

One of my favorite film shots is from Tangled (2010) which is directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard. My favorite shot is when Flynn Rider is healed and brought back to life. When Flynn dies, the scene has a lot of shadows and gray tones. The colors appear very muted and quiet, instrumental music is playing in the background to create a sorrowful feeling. However, when Flynn is healed, the screen is immediately saturated with bright colors and the room is filled with sunlight. I believe that if I were to film this shot, I wouldn't change much about it because I think it connects with the audience and conveys the appropriate emotion well. 

Hello! I am Samantha Schilf. I'm a Sophomore at North Central and I am majoring in Exercise Science on the Physical Therapy track. My favorite films to watch are Devil Wears Prada, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, and Beauty and the Beast . I am not a huge movie person but when I do watch movies, I usually go for Romcoms and sometimes horror films. I am taking Intro to Film because I am interested in how a filmmaker's thought process works in order to create a successful film. I'm also interested in how to better understand the deeper aspects and little details about films. I don't have any future career plans in working in film or media as I am hoping to pursue Physical Therapy as my future career. However, I do think it is beneficial to know and understand the different aspects of media and/or film for most careers.