Christopher Nolan On Character & Perceptual Distortion In 'Memento'

This breaks down Christoper Nolan's perspective on the characters and the distortion we view in the film. He starts off expressing that this is not only a story based on a freaky instance, but on a mental state that actual happens to a lot of people. He also touches upon how the actors felt playing the characters they did. He says it couldn't have been told chronologically, it would be a completely different story of a man being abused mentally by the people around him. It was better to deny the audience all of the information in order. By putting it in reverse we make him a hero. I agree with this, we see him trying to take control of his condition  by making ways to remember. Overall, I thought this was an interesting video to why Christopher Nolan did everything the way he did.

Memento - best scene [HD] (Natalie Scene)

Memento - Remembering Her

memento opening

Ending scene response: had trouble commenting on actual post

Ending Scene:
 I want to believe that Lenard isn't the killer, but after watching this a third time and now reading it. I am having second thoughts. I do believe that Lenny could be the killer because after seeing the way Teddy tries to tell Lenny the truth and he puts "Don't believe his lies" on Teddy's photograph. No sooner after he does that, he begins writing down Teddy's license plate number for a tattoo idea. Why? For what reason did he need to do that when he didn't even have enough information at that time to think it could be him. To top it off, Lenny burns the photos while he is in the car. Knowing that he wont remember he did that when he wakes up again. Not only does he tamper with his own evidence, he does it with his clues as well. As far as Sammie Jenkins is concerned, I do believe that there is a slight chance that Lenny could have had him as a client before his accident. But what are the odds of Lenny being diagnosed with the same condition as Sammie? I mean come on. I think that Lenny conjured up all of these other stories in order to hide what he has done. He tries to give himself purpose, but by tampering with his evidence and clues he only furthers himself from any real purpose in life,

18-Minute Analysis By Christopher Nolan On Story & Construction Of Memento

Listen to the director comment on how he structured Memento.  What new insights does it bring you about the art of film making?  What insights does it give you about the relationship between the story and the film?

Memento (2000): ending scene

So, how do you interpret the ending of Memento?  Who killed Leonard's wife?  Is she dead?  Why does he kill Teddy?  Does he really have amnesia?  Use evidence from throughout the movie to support your response.

Memento || Not much below the surface? || Film Analysis

Listen to this man's analysis.  Do you agree?  If so, explain why.  If not, give your own analysis of "what's beneath the surface" of Memento.

Rear Window: The Use of Angle and Selective Shoots Guides Audiences

     In Rear Window, the psychological activities of Jefferies in It Had to Be Murder is presented by various facial expressions and body gestures, his conversations with Stella and Lisa, and especially the selective long shot of his neighbors. The scenes of the ballet dancer, the Miss. Lonelyheart and the newly married couples, are all apparently biased and created sense of chaos and cynicism in this middle-class community. Then the focus of the camera has shifted to the Thorwalds which is the main line of the movie. In the novel, the stereotyped thoughts and imprudent judges of readers are guided by the thoughts and judgement of Jefferies; however, in the movie, the judges of audiences are directed by the swing of camera, the selective shoots and editing.

     Alfred Hitchcock has adapted It Had to be Murder to film Rear Window. In the movie, except the setting and the plot were kept, Alfred changed the name of characters, added new roles and story lines and established a new love story. In the original script, the story is straight and clear, it happens continuously in an inductive path; while in Alfred’s version, the story has more extents that filled by the lives of other neighbors and Jefferies’ s observation has expanded to the whole neighborhood. In both version, if at the end Jefferies has found his prediction is stereotyped and conspiratorial and Mr. Thorwald is innocent, the story will be an absurd.

Hitchcock explains about CUTTING and his philosophy behind the camera

Since we are talking about one of the best directors of all time. I felt that this video Hitchcock touches about his side of the cinematic approach to one of his hit makers "Psycho". Even though this is not Rear Window , I still feel like Hiotchcock uses cutting and other techniques as a way to convince viewers that it just like reading a famous novel

Literary words to Visual scenes

The movie, directed by Hitchcock, adapted Woolrich’s novella “It Had To Be Murder” from literary words to vivid cinematic scenes. Similar to the novella, most shots was from Jeff’s eyes, and the camera and binocular he used to view his neighbor’s daily life. In movie, slightly different from the novel, the window’s of Jeff’s neighbors’ acts as mirrors revealing neighbor’s personalities. For example, the ballerina sits in the middle of her large square window and brushes her hair showing she is confident and likes attention. Ms. Lonely Hearts sits off to one side of her window, a less confident and confused woman missing her other half. The pianist’s windows unlike the other normal windows are framed differently and resemble piano keys. I In the movie, besides Jeff’s careful observation, the little cute dog is an another clue to foreshadow Mr. Thorwald’s crime. The dog acts as an important character. The camera gives the dog lots of close-up to imply its emphasis. At the beginning, it is lovely and active, playing around in the garden. But one day, suddenly, it is found to be dead with its neck broken. Such great change arises Jeff’s curiosity that there may be something buried in the garden. Without the dog, the finding of Thorwald’s crime can not be so quick and natural. In the end, owing to Mr. Thorwald pushes Jeff to the balcony, and Jeff was forced to fall down from the balcony to the first floor. The camera zooms in Jeff’s two legs cast on plaster. It is a contrast compared with his former situation in which just one leg of him with plaster. Even though Jeff had to sit on the wheelchair for longer time. But his mood is even better than before because he is filled with accomplishment to find a murder via his own careful observation.

Rear Window Analysis

             Hitchcock shows us a different perspective on how to view people. He uses Jeff as the protagonist to view others in perspective someone normally wouldn't. Imagine someone watching every move you make without you even knowing, seems kind of creepy right? Hitchcock makes both the read and film suspenseful, either through the words read or the actions shown. Now that we have read the story and watched the film we can compare and contrast on what's different and what is similar between the two. I think it was interesting how in the story we found out at the end that our protagonist is in a wheelchair, but obviously in the movie we see it right away. He leaves us wondering with the subject, was it really murder?

In comparison to the text, Alfred Hitchock did a wonderful jon of creating the film in a way that would capture the attention of its audience the way the text did. They were a few changes that Hitchcock did to make this possible. One of the first things I noticed he changed was the names of the characters. In the text, the main character's name was Hal. Jeffries and was changed to L. B. Jefferies. Inspector Boyle was changed to Lieutenant Doyle. Camera angles and shots also played a major role in the product of translating the text to film. There was a consistent "watching" them of the main character analyzing the other characters to create the story. To help create Jefferies, would have several POV shots in the film for the audience to feel like they're seeing from his apartment. Shots used in this were Pan shots, which we really important to also follow what Jeffries appeared to be looking at.

Literature to Film [Translation]

Both the book and the film found a way to be suspenseful and how the attention of a viewer in different ways. The book makes us think that Jefferies is just sitting in window being noisy by watching the lives of his neighbors, until the end when the let us know he's been in a cask. In the film Alfred Hitchcock added more characters to make it more interesting and added a beautiful young actor at the time Grace Kelly to catch the eye of the viewers. The structure of the translation from the book to the film was very good I think, did didnt alter as much

Viewing Response: Rear Window - "It Had to Murder" Film Adaptation

After viewing Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock I was once again made aware of a new craft in film- adaptations. The retelling of a short story, or novel through a visual platform. It seems fairly simple on the surface, but when studied further, noticing the actual craft of bringing words written for reading to life on screen requires a more elaborate ability to work details, camera shots and most importantly point of view.

Although Rear Window was based off of the lengthly short story "It Had to be Murder" written by Cornell Woolwich it became a new story all on its own with new themes, cinematic tropes & alternate plot points. These new changes were accomplished by adding new characters.

For example, in "It Had to be Murder", Sam was Mr. Jeff's friends who was depicted as the 'flunky' who would put his life in danger for his dear friends Jeff. On film that type of character dynamic would have to be backed up with tons of background information in order for the viewer to believe it. Why would a man be that adamant about his friend, what is their history in depth? In order to avoid those viewing questions and also ignite an emotional connection between the film and its viewer, Hitchcock took Sam's devotion and introduced Lisa to the story. Lisa's character works to bring the love story plot forward. Something that was absent in the original text.

Through film adaptation, viewers are afforded the ability to get to know the characters more in depth. You get a larger back story on who they are, & what are their little quirks. This shows strong character development.

The cinematic technique of POV was greatly accomplished in this film. Camera shots focused in on specific details in the viewing perspective of the main character. Long shots from Mr. Jefferies window where smoothly zoomed in for close up shots on intricate details that moved the film forward. An example of this is shown when Mr. Jefferies was writing the letter to Mr. Thorwald. The camera shot swiftly transitions from the viewers POV of the room then above Jefferies head using a high angle shot using an aerial dolly to show the action of writing and then a close up shot of the letter and Jefferies hand. These camera shot transitions add to the dramatic element of the film.

-Ci

Film vs Literature

Both the film and the literature of Rear Window were very good. Alfred Hitchcock did a good job translating the story but with a couple of changes to make the story more interesting. The film needed more more characters to attract more viewers and of course every movie needs a love interest and action and even suspense and mystery. It keeps the audience entertained throughout the whole movie and it is what makes people watch it over and over again. But with the literature, it gives off a different feeling and this is only in my perspective. As I read the story, it felt darker to me than the movie did. The story didn't say why the Jefferies was looking at his neighbors through his window until the very end. There were less characters too and it was a good idea since it does take awhile to remember people by name and description compared to seeing their face. You also didn't have to focus on so many people at once. But overall the translation of the story was accurate in a sense. The theme and plot didn't change as much and that is what everyone looks for when a book or story turns into a movie.

REAR WINDOW Opening (Cinematography) - for student response before class & class discussion

Here's the opening of Rear Window.  How is Hitchcock using the camera here?  What types of shots, angles, and movement do you see here?  How would you describe the editing -- continuity, montage, a little bit of each?



These are the elements of the language of cinema.  Now also consider the language of literature (word, paragraph, description, dialogue, character, mood)  How does Hitchcock use his camera to "translate" Woolwrich's story to the screen?

ALFRED HITCHCOCK ON 3 THEORIES OF FILM EDITING - for student response before class

Here is a 7 minute interview with Alfred Hitchcock in which he talks about three types of editing.  He applies the first two to his very famous film, Psycho.  What type of editing techniques do you feel he uses in Rear Window, and why?

Reading Response: 'It Had to Be Murder'

After reading "It Had to Be Murder" the question of "Is this considered literature?" was proposed in class, & a few of us were puzzled when attempting to answer. We all assume, "well if its being read in an atmosphere of learning- well then why wouldn't it be literature",  right?
But literature doesn't consist of just words on a paper. Literature in the context of this college level English course is defined as written works, especially those of superior or lasting merit, that include the prominent literally elements and devices.

In my opinion, "In Had to Be Murder" is indeed literature due to the fact that the story posses a few key literary devices. Through these literary devices and tools the story is easy for the reader to follow, and even more tempting for the reader to dive into.

A few literary devices used by;
Satire: The story has a slight satirical element to it. Its overall surface read portrays a man who is basically a peeping tom, but could the nuclear objective of the piece be to really bring awareness to how much we assume when watching others? Could it be a poke at the idea of peeping? What was Whoolwrich trying to tell us is the real question! Either way the story invites you to even consider the possibilities- that's literature.
Situational Irony: The casual tone of the narrative leads the reader to believe that this is a mundane story about a man watching people and then suddenly you can see that Jeff was consistently poking fun at the way in which Mr. T was assumably  killing his wife all while he himself was in an unfortunate space in his life as well(not able to be mobile)
 Description: so eloquently provided examples of writing for literature through short story. One example is the way in which woolwrich is able to deliver descriptive suspenseful sentences. Each line of description invites the reader deeper and deeper in to the story. The scene when Jeff describes pulling the dresses and packing his wife's clothes so much descriptions is provided. Even the "heaping" of Mr. T He gives notice to placement as well, while telling the story he also reminds the reader of his own presence and location in the situation.- that's good descriptive literature, I was there.

All and all the ending was a tad bit corny, but when reading this piece through a lens of literary knowledge it is clear to see that its make up is an example of literature. A writer can learn from the way in which Whoolwrich structures his story and that I feel is the craft of literature. Is it possible this piece is a nontraditional one, yes- but literature non the less.

Rear Window

In my opinion the movie Rear Window works great as an translation of the original work that its based off of. Most of the core aspects of the work are kept in the movie, but Hitchcock also as adds his own spin to the story and gives it a better feeling of suspense as well as an actual visual of what Hal or L.B. is seeing, and what hes doing about it. The movie is able to create the darkness of the story outside of readers heads and the use of angles and shots also helps to compliment the story. Overall the movie does a great job translating the story from the page to the screen.

Necessary Changes

Cornell's short story saw a lot of changes when adapted to Alfred Hitchcock's film version. As it is common for film to create a love story to appeal to more viewers, the film version lost the character Sam. However, this changed much of what makes Jeffrey the character he is. In the story, the relationship between Jeffrey and Sam is strange and unclear. This is just one aspect that makes Jeffrey seem more creepy in the story. In the story he was read to be slightly creepy as he seemed to be obsessed with his neighbors rather than just be curious. In the movie, his career as a photographer makes it a lot more understandable as he is used to making stories out of what he sees. In order to create a believable love story, Jeffrey had to be an interesting person with a good motive for his spying. Therefore, the scrapping of the character Sam and making him a photographer was necessary.