Toy Story (1995)

For some reason I thought Toy Story was made in 2000, it was actually made in 1995. To me that kind of computer animation was not possible in the mid 90's. I associate that kind of technology to the millennium. No matter what year it was made it was still the first of it's kind. Toy Story was the first computer animated feature film made.1 It was the film that started it all. Like Snow White (1937) before it, Toy Story completely changed the medium of animated films. No one had every seen anything like it before.

Toy Story also changed the idea of what the animated film was. It took animation to another level in terms of the story. Toy Story was not a musical like all the other Disney films before it. The story did not stop in order for the characters to sing a song, rather the music worked to express the emotion of the scenes and characters.2

Toy Story was also the first contemporary film in the sense that it was not a fairytale and the characters were adult. They had adult personalities and had an intelligence that adults could relate to. Being Andy's toys was like a job to them. They had staff meetings and seminars to protect themselves from injuries at work  and to help them better do their jobs (i.e. ''Tuesday nights plastic corrosion awareness meeting''). They were a team who's one job was to take care of Andy and make him happy.

It was an adult movie as much as it was a kids movie. The adults related to the characters and their adult personalities while the children were entertained by the toys and by their adventure in the adult world. The adults were also brought back to the time when they were children and could remember how they themselves played with their toys. Remember the Mr. Mike and the Mr. Spell toys in the film? I had those toys. Children and adults could all relate to the premise of the story. I know I am not the only person who thought their toys would come to life when I wasn't there.

I have seen Toy Story often enough that I know a lot of the dialogue before it even happens in the film. Even though I have seen it so many times I am never bored and I am always amazed by it. I am amazed by how the story is never overshadowed by the technology.3 Pixar really aimed do something different. The characters are likable, funny, and complicated. The characters were defined by their rolls as Andy's toys, by the world they lived in, and even the materials they were made by.4 Mr. Potato head, for example, was grumpy because his parts are constantly following off and is often left to be played with Andy's baby sister who would bang and drool on him.

Even though Pixar was under the supervision of the big Disney and at that time it was such a small company they managed to make the movie that they wanted to make and have been doing so ever since. It is no surprise to me that Pixar keeps pumping out hit after hit almost every year. This because Pixar has never wanted to compromise story over the technology. Since the release of Toy Story Pixar has managed to prefect and build upon what they created with their first feature film. It has done such a great job that it has created an entire new sub-genre in animated films and has inspired competing production companies to make computer animated films to much success. With the coming of the 3D computer animated film there is not telling what Pixar and even the genre itself is capable of.

References

1-4. Toy Story (10th Anniversary Edition)-(Making Toy Story). [DVD]. Walt Disney Home Entertainment. 

 Toy Story. Dir. John Lasseter. Pixar Animated Studios, 2000.




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Next up we have Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Ben Hur (1959)

I don't remember alot about the first time I saw Ben Hur, probably because I was 8 and had the attention span of a Jack Russel. What I do remember was the famous chariot race scene. Who doesn't remember that scene? It was intense, massive, epic! I remember my eyes weren't big enough to take it all in. Even on a regular T.V. it is hard  not to miss the sheer size and excitment of that scene.

As I watched the film for the second time I was impressed with the scope of the film. Ben Hur was made in 1959, the film technologies of today weren't even possible, yet the film accomplished the same sense of greatness that you see in a modern epic. This film came out at a a key time in Hollywood as it was desperately fighting against the rise of television. One of Hollywood's answers to the television was to make the epic of all epics.1 It did something no other epic, such as The Ten Commandments, had not yet fully accomplished. Ben Hur brought the audience into the epic.2 It showed us a world of biblical and historical proportions while drawing us into its mise-en-sense by focusing on the life and journey of Juda Ben Hur. The director, William Wylar, and Cinematographer, Robert Sutrees, did a fabulous job of using the space that 70mm film gave them. They managed to capture the grandeur of the Roman empire while still being able to focus on the central characters and the story. The spacing of characters, objects, and lighting within the frame lends a lot to achieving this intimacy in such a vast landscape.

There are two scenes in particular that I am thinking about when I talk about the use of spacing. There is the scene where Masla comes to visit Juda at his house. They are talking one on each side of the screen, framed in sort of medium shot. The figures do not over power the image yet their bodies take up most of the frame. The positions in contrast to the negative space that is inherent to 70mm bring us right into the action as they are interacting with each other within that space.

The second scene take place when people are gather on the hill to hear Jesus speak.  Juda and Esther are walking back home from the Valley of the Lepers. They pass the hill and here Juda runs into an acquaintance of his, Balthasar. There's a lot going on in the background with people assembling on the hill but we are able to focus on the conversation that Juda and Balthasar are having in the foreground. The intimacy of the scene and focus is not completely based on the fact that the characters talking are in the foreground, it is because of their angle and position within the foreground in comparison to the constant moving background. The background figures are moving back and up into the frame yet we are not distracted. This movement enhances the the action taking place in the foreground.

This intimacy is also achieved by the great performances. The setting give way to the audience wanting to focus and engage in the conversation happening in front of them. The above scene is set like so many others in this film where by we see fantastic settings that allow for the characters to move and interact within the space so effortlessly that their performances come through organically.

Ben Hur was also a film that helped bring American cinema into a new era. The use of 70mm film brought audience a grandeur they had never seen before and opened the imaginations of the next generation of filmmakers. Robert Sutress adopted a form of  modern lighting that used more shadows and dark lighting to set scenes that were either more emotional or in essence darker.3 This brought forward the use of lighting as a means to keep the audience engaged to the feel and emotion of the scene. I particularly recall the scene where Juda's mother and sister come back to the house after they have become lepers. Esther finds them and tries to force them to stay but they insist on not letting themselves be seen. Their need to hide, fear, and shame is enhanced by the fact that they are mostly cast in shadow while Ester is completely well lit.

I was watching Gladiator (2000) the other day and it is not hard to see that Ben Hur was on Ridley Scott's mind while he was making his film. It isn't hard to miss how influential Ben Hur has been historically. It was the epic that started it all. The chariot race chase scene has influenced either consciously or subconsciously every chase scene since it was made. The modern chase scene would not have been what it is today without the Ben Hur chariot race scene.4

Ben Hur's grandeur, setting, cinematography, ingenuity, and acting has made it an American classic that is without a doubt part of American cinemas history. It can also be said that it helped shape the genera of the epic film and made it what it is today.

References
1 Thompson, Kristin and Bordwell, David. Film History: An Introduction. New York. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1994 (376-380)

2-4 Ben Hur-The Epic That Changed the Cinema. Dr. Gary Leva. Turner Enterainment Co., a Warner Bros. Entertainment Compnay, 2005.

Ben Hur. Dir. William Wyler. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1959


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Stay tuned because film 99 on the AFI list is Toy Story (1995)

It's Movie Time!

I fear that I have been neglecting the whole movie aspect of this blog, I am ashamed to say. The truth is I don't trust my film writing. Five years of school and 5 more years of working in the industry and I just don't trust myself. Well no more!

I have decided to do something about this because this is really getting ridiculous.I am grabbing the bull by the horns and giving myself a little project. You know the AFI 100 Years...100 Movies list? The first list came out in 1998 and they had a t.v. special where actors and directors talked about the films on the list. It has been updated since then, some films have been removed, other added, some simply just moved around. I figured I would start with what I know best, American cinema. I have interest and know about lots of different international cinemas but I would say most of my knowledge is rooted in American cinema. So the project goes like this: I countdown on the AFI list (2007 not 1998)and take one film each week. I will watch it on the weekend and take a week to write my review, thoughts, and perceptions of the film. I may choose to write a straight forward critique in some cases but in other cases I may take a specific theme, plot point, concept, theory, or social criticism of the film and focus on that.

I have looked at the list and I have actually seen over half of the films on the list. If I have seen it I will re-watch the film and write about it. Some I rather not re-watch but for the sake of the project I will.

The first film that I will be writing about is the last film on the 2007 list is....Drum roll please.... Ben-Hur (1959). Oh great, a 212 minute film. Way to start of the project, Gwen. Ok, I can't turn back. I have to hold myself accountable. I hope I don't $%*& this one up.