'Get Out': a Spike Lee joint by Israh and Arielle

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For this project we decided to do scene-redo of Get Out with Spike Lee as the director. We chose the scene where Chris is getting a nervous about staying with her family and started to notice a lot of sketchy things going on in the house. The maid seemed programmed and the guests were asking a lot of invasive questions, so Chris asked Rose for the keys to leave the house. This is where the film takes a turn--for the worst.

As one of the most powerful and memorable scenes in the movie, it shows Peele’s masterful storytelling at work: suspense, twists, magical realism; etc. With such a serious and thrilling scene, we thought it would be an interesting choice to reimagine it through Spike Lee’s lens; arguably one of the most iconic faces of the ‘movement’. Lee never hesitates to use his art to shed light on issues under the umbrella of social justice, and Get Out also points the finger at such topics. Spike Lee and Jordan Peele tell very similar stories, just in two very different ways. We thought blending the two styles, both cinematically and theatrically would create a unique body of work that paid homage to both iconic styles of film.

We decided to create a scene redo, but rather than capturing the scene picture by picture, we took short 3-second clips in Spike Lee’s artistic style: bright colors, dramatic camera movements, and the breaking of the fourth wall. We thought it would give a more upbeat vibe to the scene that is usually known for being serious and quite dark. The music is also reminiscent of Spike Lee’s auteur style, because he is known for pairing ‘free jazz’ with many of his most well-known scenes. The element of black culture that he makes a point to have magnified in his films is something that we figured would be a great addition to this scene, where Chris’ ‘blackness’ is being tested to an extent.

Get Out has a dark eerie feel to it, such a stark difference from Spike Lee’s usual style of film. Lee always takes advantage of color, primary colors specifically. His characters are usually dressed in the most vibrant prints that makes you feel more excited watching the film. Compared to Get Out where the characters are dressed in cool tones all the time. The way the film is edited with not a lot of saturation. This is why we incorporated both movies elements in the scene re-do. Get Out is also has a very serious undertone, this is fitting for the horror flick. We thought it funny to include a bit of humor throughout the video. Doing this allowed us to mix horror and comedy together, catering to both of the original movies.  

Throughout this project we were specific in choosing the elements we wanted to include. It was an eye-opening experience to take two different types of film, that have similar undertones, racism, and put them together. We feel as though if a director were to do the same thing we did, it would be a movie worth seeing!