Film Conversion - The Craft as a Spike Lee Joint
Justification: My reason for choosing The Craft to turn into a Spike Lee joint has a lot to do with the power dynamics in the film. When watching Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee would display power shifts using low and high angle shots. For example, Radio Raheem was often viewed from a low angle shot, looming over all others around him. I wanted to display a similar feel with characters like Nancy, who is always trying to establish her dominance among the others in her circle. She is a looming presence over Sarah at all times, making Sarah grow paranoid and fearful of her life after attempting to bind Nancy’s powers. I focused a lot on low and high angle shot opportunities in this scene because this was the focal point of the dynamic change among the four ‘friends’. I still made sure to address possibilities of color changes. ‘Hot’ and ‘cold’ scenes are also common in Spike Lee films as he utilizes color palettes to signal what kind of feeling or event may take place. The feeling in the scene I chose from The Craft is very intense, intimidating and therefore ‘hot’. So, I wanted to apply that to the scene which comes across as very ‘cool’ with its given color palette.
The original Craft film is composed of a lot of establishing, medium and two shot shots. Any shots with a subject are at eye level with the exception of a few scenes that have low and high angles. Also, most of these shots are pans with the exception of one or two tilts. Majority of scenes have low key lighting, especially as the film progresses and Nancy’s dark behavior takes over her coven, translating into the overall lighting of the film. Cuts are the most common transitions from shot-to-shot in this film. The film features a sound track but most of it is composed of diegetic noise. As noted in my labels, to make this film seem more like a Spike Lee film I would make most of those medium and two shots to be close ups and would use high and low angles more through the film. The lighting would be more highkey instead of lowkey, and more shot-reverse-shot cuts would be used instead of primarily standard cuts. There are some moments in the original film that could resemble Spike Lee’s techniques as is. For example, the scene where Sarah dreams about her three friends attacking her. Rochelle, Bonnie and Nancy are levitating above her being seen from a low angle whereas Sarah is below them being seen at a high angle. I would make more scenes follow this structure, for the power dynamic represented in that scene is very apparent throughout the whole film. I first chose the film because I thought it was starkly different from any of Spike Lee’s works, but once looking into it they’re actually not that far off. The Craft caters more to the high school drama genre whereas Spike Lee is more socially aware, but the power dynamics and character personalities resemble each other between The Craft and his films.
