The Batman- Daniel Lin & Jacob Farrell
Video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zUzXmkf6Ng1-oVxX0psTSlat2K-oRSZM/view
Transcript/Sources:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pp44svykfdBrbbVEBCHrxRx0h-mSfu6RrvDeXxuu3zQ/edit?usp=sharing
Video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zUzXmkf6Ng1-oVxX0psTSlat2K-oRSZM/view
Transcript/Sources:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pp44svykfdBrbbVEBCHrxRx0h-mSfu6RrvDeXxuu3zQ/edit?usp=sharing
link to the video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1om2WkOAqKVNdaPVSd5Q65-e4TXf1_Wf8/view?usp=sharing
link to the transcript + sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xomvRPbP3mEjpEv_6GWs9rkWKWSJElMlDYaZb_Gfudc/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ywY-mfIREki-9X5—llP7rCaS-Ra2MmF/view?usp=sharing
https://youtu.be/asH5MkOjT94
For our anatomy of a scene, we decided to do it based on the memorable scene in the movie. In this scene, as we know Rashad & New New ends up becoming a couple, but after the night before at cascade, Rashad ends up seeing and finding out something that really makes him upset, so he decides to end the relationship with New New. She then used the quote “The only thing different about me is my address!” but Rashad finds that hard to believe. He’s angry at the moment so he ends up kicking all his friends out and realizes his best friend Benjamin knew about the secret the entire time so ends things with him too, so Rashad felt betrayed.
Script: Treyvon: Today, we will be representing our movie ATL for the anatomy of a scene benchmark, so would you like to tell them what the movie is about.
Bishop: For People who don’t know what ATL is, it was a movie directed by Chris Robinson. Released on March 31st, 2006. Rashad, a teenager living in ATL with his Uncle George and his little brother Ant. Rashad and Ant were both raised by their Uncle George after their parents died in a car accident, they must work with him as part of his custodial company. When not working or finishing his last semester of high school, Rashad spends most of his time with his friend’s roller skating at the Cascade, a popular skating rink.
Bishop: For our anatomy of a scene, we decided to do it based on the memorable scene in the movie. In this scene, as we know Rashad & New New ends up becoming a couple, but after the night before at cascade, Rashad ends up seeing and finding out something that really makes him upset, so he decides to end the relationship with New New.
Treyvon: Getting into the scene, you can first see where Rashad and his friends are sitting on the step, Rashad talks about the situation that happened the night before, and the first Film Terminology the director Chris Robinson uses is Close Up. When he uses close up, you can see the expression of how frustrated Rashad is, how he feels, he feels like he’s been lied to the whole time.
Bishop: She then used the quote “The only thing different about me is my address!” but Rashad finds that hard to believe. In the scene, Rashad snatches the necklace off of Erin’s also known as New New’s neck and tells her he doesn’t forgive her, and he doesn’t care.
Treyvon: A few minutes goes by, and they’re waiting for Erin aka “New New” to pull up, after she pulls up, the guys see a flashy car, at first glance not knowing who it was, and then they see her getting out the car. After that, Rashad walks up to her and the film terminology “dolly tracking” is being used, it is being used as an angle behind Rashad so you can see his back, and the camera follows his movement as he’s walking up to Erin, as if he’s surprised. Erin then speaks, and Rashad is like “oh I don’t know this person, it’s Erin right, he asks her about the car, and they get into a huge argument. Rashad gets heated, snatches the necklace off of Erin’s neck, and she says “the only thing different about me is my address, but he finds that hard to believe.
Bishop: He’s angry at the moment so he ends up kicking all his friends out, and realizes his best friend Benjamin knew about the secret the entire time so ends things with him too, so Rashad felt betrayed.
Treyvon: In the last part of the scene, Rashad then storms in the house after snatching the necklace off of Erins neck, Benjamin ends up following him in, asking him if he’s ok. He confronts Benjamin about the situation. He knew that Benjamin knew the whole time, that’s his best friend, and he didn’t tell him about his girlfriend’s past, or other life. Erin wants to live the gossip girl life, and not her spoiled girl life. Without her daddy’s money, she wants to do her own thing, but Rashad doesn’t know about it. Chris Robinson ends up using about 3 film terminologies, he uses eye level, low angle and close up and you can really see the anger on Rashad’s face. He then says, “you still here” to Benjamin, he’s telling Benjamin “get out my house I don’t want to see you no more” and then he kicks the rest of his friends off the step.
Treyvon: Going off a 5 star Rated Review, they recently watched the movie and it was and they claimed it was AMAZING. Finding old movies that involve sports and drama with a good plot, is a hobby for them and they claim that ATL reminds them of Coach Carter which is one of my favorite films. He believed that ATL’s main character Rashad is written so well for this movie, but he didn’t enjoy Rashad’s uncle. Another favorite character of his was Benjamin, he loved his fuel to get into a good school and his interactions with other characters in the movie. It was a 9/10 movie for him, and he highly suggests it.
Treyvon: Another rating, a more so short one, but it’s the most recent. This person Loved everything about the movie, the plot, the characters etc.! They say they Watched it over and over again! . She even loved the Cascade, which is a real skating rink in ATL. So I haven’t got anything under 5 star reviews about the movie, it’s a must see.
For My Capstone, I recreated some of Debbie Allen and Alvin Ailey’s iconic photos as well as some of their self-portraits. I did a photoshoot with my classmate to show appreciation for these black dance pioneers. I tried to capture the same lighting in some of the photos and facial expressions that they did. Black creators have been the trendsetter for many things but never really get the credit they deserve. In the dance world, there has been a lot of discrimination toward Black people. Companies like Alvin Ailey’s American Dance theater and Debbie Allen Dance academy are black dance companies that celebrate black dancers. I want to show appreciation to these companies and to black dance styles. I was inspired to do this project because I’ve always loved dance and have always had so much respect for the people in the dance community.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pvPeUqpYEyyeh8kibupmCMYiCNAxEYo0R3-4Xy3PS0M/edit?usp=sharing
For my capstone I paired up with Personal Trainer/Entrepreneur Mr.Tariq CEO of Bodie2Body Fitness, ISSA Elite Trainer (a trainer who is considered “the cream of the crop.” They have advanced fitness knowledge and skills. They know how to help a client reach their fitness goal with more than just exercise), and I am proud to say Mentor to create a website for my peers and anyone interested in the fitness and health department. My website consists of a multitude of tiny pockets for those who are either looking to get into fitness and learn how it’s connected to health or are just curious and want to gain knowledge about the topics. On my website you should be pleased to see I have provided motivational quotes, home and gym workouts, facts about how health and fitness play a huge part in your mental health, meal planning, and healthy drink alternatives such as smoothies/juices/and teas. With all of these great topics to look into on my website there are also a few blog entries on my journey of being pescatarian for 4 months and feedback on the benefits and downfalls I had during those 4 months. Along with those blog entries will be an interview with Mr.Tariq answering a questionnaire I put together for him.I started off by figuring out what I liked to do in my freetime or as a hobby after brainstorming all of the many things I like to do. I then looked at the topics I was interested in and fitness and health stood out to me the most. I continued to find a mentor then it clicked why not ask my moms personal trainer. I politely texted him over instagram and he was more than welcoming to help me out along the way. After sending him my questionnaire and talking over my ideas with him I got started on making my website and creating an instagram account. From there I went off of the websites listed in my bibliography and the knowledge given to me by my mentor and started to put it together on my websites. So I am proud to present my capstone to you guys because I have had a great connection to it and the knowledge I gained throughout my whole process was pretty cool to me. From creating a website and putting information I actually enjoyed talking and learning about was fun and peaceful for me. Wishfully you guys gain something from it and remember you body is your temple and your mind is the foundation.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rgVA-_Bf0KIBbZGxrHmhGHokPlBEyIF0/view?usp=sharing
Tashon and Fudayl 5-20-22 Reel Reading Ms. Pahomov
Dope Scene Analysis
Hello, my name is Tashon and I’m Fudayl and today we’re going to review a scene from the movie Dope by Rick Famuyiwa.
Tashon: Dope is a film about a high school senior named Malcolm and his friends Diggy and Jib as they grow up in Inglewood, California. They aren’t your typical inner city teens however as they bond over things like school and good grades, old-school hip-hop culture, and their punk rock band. Things get real one day though when an encounter with the local drug dealer goes wrong and leads them on a wild adventure as they try to save themselves.
Fudayl: The scene we will be discussing today is the scene where Malcolm meets Nakia, another important character to the story.
Tashon: In this scene a lot of different camera angles are used to show the relationship forming between Malcolm and Nakia as they meet for the first time.
Fudayl: The scene first starts with a full shot of Malcom rolling with his bike into the apartment complex that Nakia lives in. Malcolm is shown to be pretty far away from where the camera is at but as he gets closer to the camera it immediately cuts to his perspective of him seeing Nakia which then cuts to a two shot of Malcolm and Nakia. (Cinematic)
Tashon: Malcolm’s outfit and hairstyle is a lot different compared to the other people in his neighborhood. While most of the men in his neighborhood wear dark t-shirts and have low hairstyles while Malcolm has an afro and plaid collared shirts which shows that he is out of touch with the society around him. (Theatrical/Literary)
Tashon: The scene then cuts to another first person view shot of Malcolm looking at Nakia with the camera tilting upward, which tells us about Malcolm’s lack of self confidence when it comes to talking to women. (Who wouldn’t be nervous though while talking to Zoe Kravitz?!?)
Fudayl: As Malcolm and Nakia have their first conversation, the movie uses over the shoulder shots to show how Nakia isn’t even batting an eye at Malcolm the entire time until he mentions Dom (the local drug dealer of the neighborhood Malcolm lives in)and his party. This shows us that Nikia really isn’t interested in Malcolm, at least for right now and maybe there is some sort of weird relationship between her and Dom.
Tashon: Once that conversation ends the scene then cuts to Malcolm talking to Dom again; this scene uses a combination of over the shoulder shots and shot reverse shots to show the conversation that Dom and Malcolm have. Malcolm while talking to Dom is shown to have a fear of Dom as he frequently looks away from the camera and stutters over his words while talking to him.
Fudayl: The scene then makes another cut back to Nakia’s apartment to where this time we see a close up of her hand holding a pencil writing in a notebook which shows how Malcolm is paying attention to what she is writing which he then tells her about on the next cut. There is then a series of shot-reverse-shots showing that she is listening to his advice which we can also see in the next close up shot as she writes in her notebook then shows it to Malcolm for confirmation. This showed us that she has some type of interest in him.
Fudayl: An over the shoulder shot was then used showing how Malcolm has now gained the attention of Nakia as she is looking at him instead of looking at her notebook. As Malcolm and Nakia continue to have their conversation about Dom inviting her to his party The film uses a series of shot-reverse-shots until the conversation finally ends on a two shot of Nakia accepting to go to the party but on the condition that Malcolm must be there showing that she has taken an interest in him.
Tashon: So this scene did a great job at using different camera angles and acting choices to convey several different emotions. It was a good segway into the plot of the film.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pjsDrP4DpyINev0kUo3M3Og4IaYsvgMM/view?usp=sharing
Vincent Ochwo & Cameron Booker: Film & Literature
Transcript
Vincent: Hello, my name is Vincent and today we’ll be reviewing a unique clip from the movie Inception. This clip starts off with the characters Cobb and Ariadne in a dream that Ariadne is having. The two characters are being dolly tracked with an unstable camera movement while they’re walking down a city street. This two shot stays at an eye level view with a medium close- up. A lot of background movement is involved in this scene with background characters and vehicles. A quick transition is used that now shows them walking on the sidewalk, when they were initially in the street. Cobb and Ariadne come to a stop along with the camera, as it seems something intriguing in this dream has caught their full attention.
Cam: The sky begins to flip and Cobb and Ariadne are watching as it flips. You can see a lot of dolly/tracking going on in this scene, not much dialogue but throughout this particular clip as Cobb and Ariadne walk around look at the visual there is a camera in front of them tracking them at eye level.
Vincent: The two characters walk up a flipped street, while the camera remains stationary. As they now walk down the street, a birds-eye-view shot is used with an upward tilt to a long shot of Cobb and Ariadne. A quick transition to the next shot was filmed from the point of view of the two characters in the dream. They walk down the street led by a shaky camera movement panning back and forth to strangers in the dream staring at them. A combination of Medium shots and close-ups are used to display the strangers. Ariadne walks ahead during her conversation with cobb, leaving a single medium close up shot with just cobb being shown. A staircase appears in this dream, and a long shot is used to show the two walking up. Shaky camera movement is used again as they walk past more strangers on a bridge. And Finally, this unique clip ends off with a long shot reflection of Cobb and Ariadne. This series of reflections was used to represent Ariadne discovering a way to create changes in the dream that Cobb’s mind could accept.
Two Verified Reviews: https://www.vox.com/2020/7/18/21328590/inception-review-rec-still-slaps-ten-years-later “Inception is the most imperfect of perfect movies. 10 years later, I still love it.” https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/movies/16inception.html “This Time the Dream’s on Me”
Recycling My Own Paper
The School District of Philadelphia does not recycle and this has never sat right with me. I have imagined all of the paper and notebooks that I would throw out at the end of the school year. Thousands of sheets of paper are printed on, used, and thrown out everyday at schools and it’s upsetting to imagine all that going into a landfill.
For a long time I have been wanting to become more environmentally friendly.
I have a core memory of making my own recycled paper in The Franklin Institute when I was in elementary school. I thought it was the coolest thing and I’d always wanted to try it out again. I would even keep my paper from school hoping that I’d recycle it myself one day. I didn’t want to go through the process just once and forget about it so I thought my capstone, a long term project, would be the perfect opportunity to try it out.
For my project, I collected paper from SLA and my Mom’s office, Roffman Miller Associates Inc, with the purpose of recycling it and eventually returning it back to where it came from. I experimented with trying to make different styles of paper and different size frames. I even made my own homemade frame. I wanted to share the knowledge I had learned so I made a “How-To” video on recycling your own paper.
Link to Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rsJPIbg4MNR2brh98xikqVNgVpaYGQqS/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O6Dj9mFWZ2a2zWAfDYl0-eN6PA2OiSub/view?usp=sharing
Script:
Julian: Part of me thinks, since Adrian is always in control(particular, one step ahead, orchestrated) he knows Cecilia is wearing a wire. Once she starts crying, he gaslights her, saying she’s insane which is another form of manipulation. When Adrian says, surprise which is like his trademark thing at this point, to me that further insinuates that he’s in control. To me it looks like he knows that Cecilia is wearing a wire.
Bintou: In this scene, Cecilia had put on the invisible suit that we’ve seen throughout the film. Cecilia takes the knife(like what happened to her sister) and cuts Adrian’s throat which kills him. In this scene, everything is being recorded from a home security camera and we can see that it says there is no audio. If we fast forward, we can see that Cecilia runs out crying that Adrian is on the floor. Here we have Cecilia manipulating Adrian in the form of giving him a taste of his own medicine. Her moving out of the view of the camera to reveal her fake crying as well as saying, “surprise,” is showing Adrian that two can play this game. Both of our scenes show Cecilia using Adrian’s form of manipulation and gaslighting as gains him.
Alana and Kaya
Reel Reading
B band
5/25/2022
How money related to life
The review of the Wired says that the main theme of this movie is that rich people are bad and only capitalize. Their goal is to get the max amount of whatever currency and be able to live long comfortably while the poor die because they cant afford to live,
The scene starts off with Will achieving a way to save the lower class from the corrupt sovereignty of Phillip Weis, the richest man alive. Here your wealth is equated to time left to live, so when they took the first large amount of Phillips’s wealth in its entirety, he went through the first 3 stages of grief in one look.
We see Phillip trying to ration with Will and his daughter to not give all his time to poverty because to him it was an idiotic idea and would mess up the system he had put in place
During this whole scene they are looking at each other, something they only do with people in their class because of the social divide, it humanizes all parties in this dilemma of wanting more time to live.
As Will had Phillip confined and walked towards the door Slyvia’s expression portrays a determined look but also realizing that with the decision she was making, her life would never be the same.
When he says “ it could cripple the system” what he means is it would kill me faster and he visibly didn’t like the thought of that
it’s like the rich fear death for themselves but ( wait for clip) And only the poor understand that but they also understand they need time to live as it says in the rotten tomatoes review to increase the value of life everyone should be able to live and everyone should be able to die
Work cited:
Wired-Mag-Photo. “Review: In Time Is Tepid Sci-Fi with an ‘Occupy’ Message.” Wired, Conde Nast, 28 Oct. 2011, https://www.wired.com/2011/10/in-time-review/.
Critics. “In Time.” Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/in_time.
link to video: https://www.wevideo.com/view/2708333082
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I6vGyc2-uGKi1zALXZkO5Z7o3OWvBsiO/view?usp=sharing
Transcript:
Stella: Greta Gerwig’s film, Lady Bird, captures the feelings and emotions of a young girl in her last year of high school as she transitions into college. In other words, a coming-of-age story. Many aspects of the film are placed purposefully in the scenes by Gerwig in order to convey a larger meaning to the audience.
Sophia: The scene we will be covering is the opening scene of Lady Bird. One of the more memorable scenes in the film.
Stella: The scene starts off with a two-shot of Lady Bird and her mother sleeping in what seems to be a motel bed. In the movie, it isn’t stated why they are there. As Richard Brody says in his review, “The movie is nearly devoid of vistas, lacking moments between scenes when nothing special but vision and motion are happening, lacking even the walking and talking in places that the characters frequent. “ The two-shot of the mother and daughter sleeping adds a sense of closeness. We believe Gerwig starts the very first scene with this two-shot in order to tell the viewers a bit about the mother and daughter’s relationship. She seems to have wanted to start the film off with a positive note considering what the two will be put through throughout the rest of the film.
Sophia: The lighting also plays a key role in the larger meaning of this scene. Gerwig adds warmer tones and lighting to this scene. For example, the natural light coming from the orange-ish window blinds. Orange lighting or warm lighting indicates warmth, balance, and vibrance. As someone who hasn’t watched this film before, this clip would make you think that they have a good relationship with each other.
Stella: Again, Gerwig uses a two-shot in order to allow the viewers to try and figure out the relationship between Marion (the mother) and Lady Bird. However, this time the lighter seems darker. The only source of light that is seen in this shot is from the window. Their bodies are silhouetted. The lighting change could foreshadow a change in their relationship.
Sophia: The next scene is Lady Bird and her mother in the car traveling back home while finishing The Grapes of Wrath. In this scene establishing shot we see the environment, they are driving through. It is a dolly shot that is off-center towards the right. Then we get an eye-level two-shot of Lady Bird and her mother as well as a close-up shot of Lady Bird’s mom and then Lady Bird herself as they finish listening to The Grapes of Wrath.
Stella: As they finish the Grapes of Wrath we get an over-the-shoulder close-up shot of the case that has the cassette tapes of what they are listening to. This shot allows the audience to not only see what they are listening to but we also get to see that they aren’t using a CD or just listening to the radio but rather were listening to cassette tapes. This is an important detail because it helps the viewer get a sense of when this takes place before it is explicitly said, which is the early 2000s.
Sophia: The rest of the scene then rotates through only three different shots. The first being an eye-level two-shot. This shot allows the viewer to take in the entire atmosphere and it helps the viewer feel the tension that is filling up the car as they’re starting to argue. Then we get a close-up shot of Lady Bird, then another close-up shot of Lady Bird’s mother.
Stella: These close-up shots are not in the perspective of the other character but a bit to the side of them. These shots that have the characters isolated in the frame help the viewer focus on what the character is saying and helps the viewer pay more attention to the character’s emotions or reactions.
Sophia: These shots continue to rotate as they are fighting in the car until the last shot of Lady Bird is her opening her door and jumping out of the car, which is then immediately followed by a cut to her mother’s reaction as her mom screams. Her mother’s reaction only goes for a few seconds when it’s then cut to the next scene. As A.O. Scott said, in his review of Lady Bird, “Their shared moment of literary catharsis quickly devolves into an argument, which is punctuated by a startling and hilarious jolt of physical comedy.” which is exactly why these cuts and development in the scene are so abrupt.
Link to our video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mXtruJK3CdI21_e2VCVpF1JaTSdZT88g/view?usp=sharing
Link to our script and sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j3KgvJyElk_PY_19bnAKKT5_dCyBjTJedm67VuMpx-M/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16FC6tNEWIfms_6x0Tjqqtd8XaVeOuajm/view
Ella Travis, Arie Melvin Larissa Pahomov Reel Reading May 20, 2022
The Crow Transcript
Ella: In this shot, dolly tracking is being used as Eric crawls to his dead fiance’s tombstone, Low key lighting is used to darken his surroundings. The camera is at eye level with Eric to make the viewers sympathize emotionally with him as he shivers in this cold and vulnerable state. Having defeayed all his enemies and completed all his unfinished business his tortured soul can finally rest, which he is doing in this dark, gothic cemetery. His costume is ripped, makeup smeared, and for the first time in the film he looks absolutely exhausted. As said in the Attack from Planet B review “the movie specializes in gothic style, architecture, fashion and the unbelievable score by Graeme Revell. Proyas(the director) is let off from swaying from the source material because he keeps one key element evident, its pain.” followed by “Cinematically, The Crow is beautiful”.
Arie: As the scene continues, we get a long shot of Shelly as she walks closer to the camera with a backlight behind her. This gives off the feeling that she is angelic and that she is here to take Eric back to the afterlife with him. We then get a close-up shot of Shelly then puts her hand on Eric, who is relieved to see his lover standing next to him. The scene gives off a feeling of “warmth” and reassurance, Eric has finally brought revenge on the people who wronged him and his fiancée. Now he’s finally able to embrace her, and just be with her. As they come in for the kiss, you can see less and less of Eric’s breath, signifying to us, that he is finally moving on to the afterlife with her, as the backlight is now behind him as well to prove it to us this fact as well. Finally, we get a medium shot of Eric and Shelly’s gravestones with Eric’s crow perching on his gravestone with the ring on his mouth. This can be depicted as a parting gift, a final thing to give to Sarah as a way to say goodbye to her, given that he couldn’t get the chance to do it before. At the end of that scene, we get one final shot of the city with Sarah bringing one final message to the viewer. It beautifully ties the movie to a close, establishing that true love last forever even after death, and what Eric did proved that, as he tried to get vengeance for the one he loves in order to gain peace and be with them. In fact, Eric isn’t the only one who lost someone. The writer, James O’Barr who worked on both the film and the original series, lost his fiancée to a drunk driver and he began working on The Crow comic book series to help with the grief of losing her. With this in mind, the scene also gives off a sense of being very personal and reflects on the writer with everything he went through in the past. In one interview, we see that the director of the movie, Alex Proyas, also has a personal connection to the movie as well. His mother died when he was at a young age, and he felt very touched by the idea of a character trying their best to reunite with their loved one by crossing the bridge into the afterlife and Eric did that with a vengeance. As said in the Dead End Follies review, “… The Crow is not entirely about murder and revenge. It’s a lot about murder and revenge, but it’s also about reestablishing a moral order by combatting greed.”
Colin and Jade
Ms. Pahomov
Reel Reading
25 May 2022
Welcome to a cinematic and theatrical review of La La Land by Jade and Colin
Early on in the scene, we can see that Mia, played by Emma Stone, is illuminated while her surroundings are shrouded in darkness. This shows that she may be in the dark about some of her ns decisions.
As the dinner scene continues, Mia is slowly losing touch with not only the conversation but her general surroundings, she is longing for something more, the director shows us this by cutting to Seb.
Sebastian is also waiting for something more, these characters long for each other in their heads. Now the moviemakers are making their dream a reality.
Said best by Brian Tallerico “Characters in musicals not only understood love differently than those in traditional films but they turned that understanding into art—dancing, singing and transcending mere dialogue to become something greater, something purer, something closer to true romance.”
Mia commits to her feelings and abandons her fake life, she hears the music of a happier time and and immediately is drawn to it.
The set transitions into very unrealistic theatrical shots, especially the LA scenery.
On the website Variety, reviewer Owen Gleiberman had an astounding summary of the film, “These two meet, scuffle, and fall in love, and they do it through a series of song-and-dance numbers, composed by Justin Hurwitz (the lyrics are by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul), that are tenderly shocking in their catchy anachronistic beauty.”
The shot ends as the former lovers meet eyes for the last time in a place that has defined their lives and careers.
Intro Avery: Hi! My name is Avery, and I’m here with my partner Lily. We are here today to analyze a scene from 12 years a slave. This scene can become very gruesome, and heart-wrenching to watch, so we understand if you cannot continue with this analysis.
Intro Lily: Before we start off, we would like to share a quote we found from The Atlantic: “It’s scenes like these in the film, surely, that lead critic Susan Wloszczyna to state that watching 12 Years a Slave makes you feel you have “actually witnessed American slavery in all its appalling horror for the first time.” Now, Thank you so much in advance for watching, and we hope you enjoy the analysis we came up with for the kidnapping scene of 12 years a slave.
Avery: At the beginning of this scene, we can see that Solomon wakes up in the middle of sunlight signifying what he knows. There is darkness surrounding supporting the idea of the Unknown. When he begins to wake up we cannot notice the chains on his wrists. As begins to move into the light, his chains become apparent to us and the actor.
Lily: As we jump to a flashback of Solomon throwing up we see again the emphasis on light and shadow. With the two mysterious men in the shade while the obvious signs of Solomon throwing up in the light. When he first met them he had a clear sign of who and what men’s intentions were but as he woke up his memories and impressions of the men became unclear. You see his unknown knowledge of what the men look like and who they really are from the light and shadow.
Avery: We come back to the present moment with Solomon trying to understand where the chains coming from the darkness lead. We then see as he moves into the light, his legs and chains become apparent making him feel helpless in any form.
Lily: In this flashback, you can see all faces obscured from view showing that Solomon had no idea what was happening. The dialogue helps us understand the mysterious intentions of the two men. As we can see Solomon obviously looks drunk but Hamilton’s need to tell a passerby that Solomon had one too many drinks emphasizes an ulterior motive than making sure he gets home safe.
Avery: As we reach back to the present, we can see the immense amounts of struggle caused by the chains. We only see his back as he tries hard to stand up. The lack of light signifies the unknown of what has happened to him, and how he cannot begin to accept the idea of being a slave once again. He begins to pull on the chains from the darkness, unknowledgeable of where they lead. As he pulls, chains and chains keep coming, making our main character even more angered than he started off as.
Conclusion Lily: In conclusion, we learn throughout this scene that the light and dark shadows of the room play against Solomon’s knowledge of the situation at hand. Because of this, we can see that the trauma at hand will attest to Solomon’s future.
Conclusion Avery: As we end this analysis, we would like to show off a review from Roger Ebert: “as the audience wipes their tears and gather the strength to leave their seats, their minds will be filled with one thought: That they have actually witnessed American slavery in all its appalling horror for the very first time.” Thank you so much for watching, and we hope we made the scene clearer for you.
Sources: 12 Years a Slave movie review (2013) | Roger Ebert How ‘12 Years a Slave’ Gets History Right: By Getting It Wrong - The Atlantic