Film_Making

The making of a film Joady Wagaman ENG 225 Introductions to Film Instructor: Melanie Rodriguez December 20, 2010 The information I have learned throughout this course has opened my eyes to so many angels within the filming industry. I have taken for granite for years the detail and amount of hours put into the making of every film. The amount of time and effort that is put into the making of a film is amazing. Throughout this course I have learned about all of the details that are put into the making of each film. From the smallest detailing film making to the largest detail in the making of a film. The detail in film making began as early as the 1900’s. This course has brought great interest to me to find out more about the start of filmmaking and the interest of the people making the films. I have done further research on the beginning of film making and its history. In this final paper a description of the film making and the information learned through our text and our discussion’s. I will be using the movie “Live Free Die Hard “as my example on the variety of film shots and angles used throughout the film. I will also cover the detail of clothing, make-up, music, and the actor’s talents. The movie “Live Free Die Hard” is an action packed film, it is the fourth “Die Hard” film directed by Len Wiseman. Bruce Willis is the main character in this film as he was in the previous three “Die Hard” films. Bruce Willis was 52 years old when he performed in “Live Free Die Hard” film. I was somewhat skeptical in how well he would perform in this film as to his previous roles as John McClane. I was astonished by his performance in this film it lead you to believe not a day had gone by since he made is last “Die Hard” filming. “Live Free Die Hard” film included his character to perform the role of an action actor, which he played in his previous films of “Die Hard” His age had not affected his role in the least, he portrayed fabulous action acting skills. The plot line to the story is based on a group of hackers that manage to hack into the New York City computer system that runs the city. When the hackers get the specific codes they begin shutting down utilities; such as electric, water, gas, and transportation systems. This is what the hackers call a “fire sale”. It is up to John McClane to stop these hackers from causing total chaos within the cities. Main characters in the film include: Bruce Willis - John McClane a Los Angeles police detective. Justin Long – Matthew Farrell a computer hacker that follows McClane to try and help stop the fire sale. Timothy Olyphant – Thomas Gabriel The head hacker in trying to shut down the cities. Maggie Q – Mia Lihn is Thomas Gabriel girlfriend and hacker. Kevin Smith – Warlock is a high tech hacker who adds comedy to the film and helps McClane and Farrell. Mary Elizabeth Winstead – Lucy McClane is John McClane’s daughter whose gets caught up in the mess by being held hostage by Thomas Gabriel and his team in hopes of getting McClane to surrender and let the hackers complete their mission to shut down the cities and take all the money from the social security network system. This movie was released in April of 2007 and runs 130 minutes; I am a huge fan of the “Die Hard” movies. Ever since I saw the first “Die Hard” film in 1987 I was amazed by the talent in Bruce Willis and his ability to play such a strong role as an action actor. Throughout this film McClane and Farrell get into many altercations with Thomas Gabriels team that cause a few intense car chases and gun battles. I would have to say the best part of the film in my personal option is when McClane hits and crashed a helicopter with a police car. That by far takes some great filming and directing skills. I am not one for world end type movie that scare you into thinking while you’re watching the movie “oh my god could the world really end like that” Live Free Die Hard” is somewhat one of those movie’s it keeps you guessing throughout the movie but still keeps you interested in what we could do to stop that from happening. Justin Long who plays Matthew Farrell in this movie plays an amazing role as a wimpy computer geek that is scared of everything, he barley leaves his house and now is drawn into a couple of days of complete action and chaos. “Die Hard” was the first movie I had viewed with such action and violence, yet thrilling all at once. When the second “Die Hard” movie came out I was once again amazed by Bruce Willis. The second “Die Hard” was filmed in a Washington Dulles airport. The reaction shots throughout the film were amazing, they showed many more close up shots of McClanes facial reactions throughout the movie then I had remembered in the first movie. I am realizing now, it is because it was filmed in a smaller area which required many more close-up shots. In “Die Hard” two they are also filming John McClanes wife who is in an airplane circling the airport waiting to land. The plot to the “Die Hard” two movies, Main characters include: Bruce Willis – John McClane Bonnie Bedelia – Holly McClane John McClane’s wife William Artherton – Richard Thorburg an annoying reporter Reginald Veljohnson – Sgt. Al Powell he is a sgt. They brought in to be on the good side, but turned out to be on the bad side. Franco Nero – Gen. Ramon Esperanzo is the ring leader in the string of bad officer that take over the airport. Dennis Franz – Capt. Carmine Lorenzo he is the head of airport security. released in 1990, is John McClane waiting at the airport for his wife’s plane to land when he realizes there is something strange going on. He notices a group of mercenaries acting strange, and one of the men was carrying a gun. So he follows them into an airport employees only area and hears them talking about taking over the airport. McClane began a gun battle with the men; he was able to killed one of the men, as he ran a fingerprint on the dead man without telling local airport police. The local airport police were not willing to advice from McClane on his suspicion of the men. When the bad guys take over the air traffic control system they begin to trust McClane. The movie was another action packed film with plenty of shooting and action thriller. This “Die Hard” was filmed with a winter affect. In all of the outdoor scenes it was snowing and the cast was wearing appropiate costume for the background scenes. In the end of the movie John McClane gets the bad guy as you would expect but throughout at the movie you begin to wonder, he is beaten and shoot at repeatedly. His wife throughout three of the 4 “Die Hard” movies is Holly McClane Ginero played by Bonnie Bedelia. She appeared in two of the four movies, but was speaking of in all four of the movies. The next is “Die Hard with a Vengeance”, released in 1995, once again a great movie, it was filmed in New York City. It once again is an action packed thriller, and has a little more suspense in it than the previous two “Die Hard” movies. In “Die Hard with a Vengeance” Bruce Willis has a great co-host Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis is once again playing the role of John McClane. However in this film he is a suspended cop and alcoholic, he called off suspension due to a bomb threat to the city by a bad guy named Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons). Simon is the brother from the first “Die Hard” movie where he throws Huans Gruber off the Nakatome Building in the end causing his death. So Simon is prepared a few riddels throughout the movie to get McClane on a wild goose chase to find all the bombs in the order given by a game of” Simon says.” The first place he needs to go is to downtown Bronx and wears a sign that says “I hate Blacks” and that does not go over well with the local boys in the streets. They start taunting him and Zeus, (Samuel L. Jackson), a local electronic repair store owner, and steps up and try to get him away from the boys before they seriously hurt him. Through the attempt to save McClane Zeus get cut with a knife and McClane get hit in the head with a glass bottle. They grab a taxi and head back to the police station where they get their call from Simon about where the next bomb is placed. Zeus and McClane play this “Simon says” game throughout the entire movie; this is a distraction to keep the police away from Simon’s plan to steal everything from the Federal Reserve’s Building. Once again in the end McClane and his so called partner Zeus catch the bad guy and save the city. “Die Hard with a Vengeance and Live Free Die Hard” are the only ones that McClane has a so called partner to help him out. There are many film angles used throughout this film such as high-angle, low-angle, reaction, and wide angel. Action Film tend to take longer to film because of the use of stunt men and explosions that must be filmed over and over again if not filmed properly on the first try. I have learned to appreciate to art of film from this course, I know longer just lay on the couch and watch the movie I feel like I read further into the movie In they think more about what they have done to make this film into what it is. I now analyze the film into wither it has a good plot to it or maybe what they could have added to the movie to make it better. I look stronger at the movie with the fact in my mind of, wow that is bad filming the really looked fake or in amazement with the director thinking wow the looked totally real. Even though through this class I have taken the time to look up the trailers to many film and watch how some action shots are really taken using stop-motion animation, which is where can us small scale models of buildings and cars in place of the real thing, which on screen you can never tell the difference. That to me is great filming, you can never tell where cut and add in scenes that were not shot in order. The film industry has totally amazed me and brought me great joy in movie watching. I would also like to add that I have grown a strong desire to purchase a high quality camera to use for action shots of my son playing basketball and my husband racing. I have learned great detail in film making from this course as well as becoming strongly interested photography. References: Internet Movie Data Base Website. Retrieved December 15, 2010, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112864/ Boggs, J. & Petrie, D. (2008). The art of watching films (7 th Ed.)