In J.J. Abrams Movie Super 8 Set in 1979 begins with a set of adventurous kids attempting to make their own sifi thriller. Unfortunately these kids land in the middle of a government conspiracy. The kids witness a a horrible train accident in which an alien was released. As the alien secretly destroys theory surrounding community the kids fight to try to save themselves their movie and their town. The alien itself is not the kids worst enemy. the military actually becomes more of a threat. it is interesting how the movie was shot, you never see the monster until it actually acts out violently not just when it is stealing parts to build his space ship. but on the other hand the military who is the real evil entity you see in full force. generally armed and being very hostile. It is no until the kids go underground to save their friend do you see the monster fully. Once you do see the monster you actually start to sympathize with him even while he is destroying the town and killing all of the solders.
In the Foreground of this screen shot the boy is showing his friends father the photo slide real of the monster, this small piece of evidence being one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. In the way the father is leaning in taking up the majority of the shot gives him control of the situation as he feels he might finally be back in control of the situation.
In the Background their are panicked people walking around blurred as they are not of much importance. Their is one man in the mid-ground staring directly at the film. this man signifies that the military is searching and getting ever closer.
I really liked what you had to say about the military vs the alien for the enemy of the movie. The audience is led to believe that "we" should fear the alien, but in reality the military is the real threat to our main characters. We are never really shown the alien in full detail, which usually implies something horrible. But on the other hand, we are shown many different faces of the military, which makes the audience feel more intimate with this "good" villain. After all, we are supposed to trust our military, but in this movie we can't. This intimacy makes them even scarier in a way. I also agree about the father's placement in this scene. He has lost control over everything throughout this movie, but in this scene he is finally taking that control back.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem I found with your post was that there were quite a few typos. You might want to go and recheck your spelling. Other than that, I think you did a really nice job.
Hello Runzel,
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to know the film was set in 1979. Do you know why that year was selected? This was a brilliant narrative film about government controlling common people’s lives. The two plots were intriguing because both portrayed the fear of the unknown. The government feared the alien and the town people feared the government. Did you know that this was a tight frame shot to show that Preston on the left hand corner was being cornered by the father to get answers about his missing son?
Also, I found the dominant which is the film reel in the center to be very interesting as it directs our eye right to middle of the frame. The subsidiary contrast is the father crowding over Preston. Notice how the people in the background are paying attention, but appear blurry. This is to eliminate any irrelevant information. The character proxemics is close, but hardly intimate.