Question

All major feature films of today engage their audience through the art of visual narrative; they tell stories with moving imagery.

Name your favorite movie and describe why this movie appeals to you. Briefly discuss some elements of the film that are essential to its success. Consider the story, characters, setting, special effects, cinematography, music score, etc., in your answer.

Answer 1

• Its hard to pick one favourite film but I would say Inception.Cobb steals information from his targets by entering their dreams. He is wanted for his alleged role in his wife's murder and his only chance at redemption is to perform the impossible, an Inception.
  
• The film Inception (2010) captured the imagination of many spectators as one of the best science fiction and fantasy movies to be produced that year.
• This work was inspired by the concept of dream incubation and lucid dreaming which bore this mystery envisioning a world where technology has been developed to allow entrance into the human mind by means of dream invasion. Inception is based on the basic inspiration that a single idea in an individual’s mind can be either the most valuable asset or the most dangerous weapon.
• The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, who in the movie steals information from the minds of his victims during dreams. The last job which Cobs is given, and which is the center of the movie involves performance of an inception so that Cobbs could regain his previous life and be able to visit his children.
• The writer applied the best skill to vividly depict the procedural detail of sub-consciousness, quite a surrealist’s thriller which gave all the viewers a big challenge to explore the intricate and deep working of the mind, has praised the writer’s skill.
• The genre of this movie is widely interpreted. Some view it as mystery and suspense, while other individuals categorize it as Drama, action, or adventure. Just like any other movie, the issue of genre has been subject to diverse interpretation and thus becoming an element of widespread controversy.
• The movie Inception correctly falls in the history of science fiction. The first element supporting this fact is that it whole idea of the movie deals with imagined technological or scientific innovations.
• This also do not happen in the world’s contemporary setting, but a futuristic setting where given the current technological development, such innovations might be possible but the world is not there indeed.
• More evidence of science fiction is illustrated at the hotel room in dream world where loss of gravity is experienced. The elevator cannot even move and Arthur needs to use an explosion to push it. This is not scientifically possible but it happens in this movies. Among other incidences, the film fits clearly in the historical context of science fiction.
• If some viewers of this movie paid attention to this movie’s visual effects and the music used in the movie, then it would be easy for such an individual to label it suspense and mystery.
• The visual effects are well set and integrated with the music well to bring out a thrilling effect of a suspense movie. A careful observer or a person really interested in the movie would note the scientific details about the human mind, dreams and the fiction part on how the ideas are being stolen through the dream.
• What I found very interesting about this film was Nolan’s stance against using digital filming, instead he preferred shooting on film and depending on practical effects to achieve the fight sequence.
• It was mind blowing to discover that Nolan had to build 100 foot rotating structure from scratch, with the help of a crew that consist of 500 people in order to achieve the very popular dream fight sequence, which doesn’t even star the main character of the film.
• The entire rotating structure had to rotate in sync and with precision or it may cause the structure to vibrate, or even worst result in a structural collapse.
• To complete this project, Nolan turned to his frequent production crew and director of photography. Wally Pfister was Nolan’s choice as a cinematographer for this film, and honestly I think he did an amazing job covering this amazing fight scene.
• The fight scene was shot on wide angle lens with no shaky cam was used for this fight scene. In the hallway, they made the decision to attach the camera to the floor, following the rotations of the whole structure.
• Another camera had to be placed on a crane which, which was attached to a telescoping arm in order to follow the actors and track the movement of the scene.
• The lighting in the hall was another amazing factor that contributed to this scene as well. This is because they couldn’t use the typical approach to light the scene due to the rotation of the structure, the lights had to be build in to the hallway itself. Every light that was placed in the hallway was meant for essential illumination of the actors and the hallway.
• Towards the second room, the fighting scene was not shot as easily. Due to the difference in height and length of the room, the rotation of the entire room had to be changed in momentum, slowed down when the actors are on the long side and increased in speed when the actors were on the shorter side of the hotel room.
• Reason is because if the actors failed to get across the room in time, it may cause serious injuries due to the height of the fall. Besides that, the actors had to be invested in the scene as well.
• Lee Smith, the editor of the film was so stunned by the footages that he received that he made a decision to let the whole footage of the hall room fight be played out as a one take. He said that the footage looked so amazing and clever that there is no way possible that anyone can pull it off.
• But After the hallway fight was over and the editing in the room fight was a little different, the cutting were a lot faster, there were a lot more close up shots in the final product. This was because the scene was so dangerous to pull of, that sometimes they had to call in a stuntman to do the scene, and the editing was their way to hide the stuntman.
• This whole scene only lasted several short minutes, but it proved to be one of the most memorable fighting scene of the decade. This scene proved that practical effects when done correctly can create an amazing outcome.
• Besides that, it emphasizes the importance of planning in a film production. What I feel was most important was that everyone was invested and wanted to make something out of the ordinary, and Inception was definitely one of those films where you can feel that a lot of thought and hard work was put in to creating this film.