Author: lwilliams816

Battleship: Actors/Actresses

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Brooklyn Decker, Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch, & Rihanna

Identify three actors from your film and classify each according to the types of actors listed in your text.

Explain your reasons for classifying the actors as you do. Use specific references to the film and pay special attention to how these decisions impacted characterization. Also, consider the impact of any realistic or stylized portrayals within the film.

There are many different types of actors and sometimes depending on the amount of films they’ve taken part in could place them in one or more of these categories. The film Battleship has some characters that fall into this group, but there are three that I will be discussing; they are Taylor Kitsch who plays Lieutenant Alex Hopper, Brooklyn Decker who plays Sam Shane, and Liam Neeson who plays Admiral Shane.

Taylor Kitsch

Brooklyn Decker

Brooklyn Decker to me would be placed in the category as a personality actress. I would place her in this category because of the films that I have seen her play in. In one movie she played in with Adam Sandler, Just Go With It, it seems as if she could have really been playing as herself. A personality actor is an actor whose own personality tends to define all the characters he or she portrays, so that the actor’s name alone lets the audience know what the screen character will be like (Goodykoontz, 2014). In this film like the others she plays a single female who is being wooed by the gentlemen characters in the movies. It’s like she brings the romance or appeal to the movies she’s involved in.

Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson would be placed in the category of a personality actor. I think that Liam Neeson takes each character he plays and owns it. In the movie Battleship he takes the character of an Admiral and made it his own, but you could see him being an Admiral in the Navy. He is such an aggressive actor when it comes to the character he plays in the movie Taken, Taken 2 and Taken 3. In the movie Clash of the Titans and Wrath of the Titans when he plays Zeus, he really gets into character to portray how a Greek God was seen and how they appeared to the people throughout history. The majority of the films that I have seen him in was action packed and he was very passionate when it came to playing those different types of characters.

Focus on one of the actors you’ve discussed. Based on other films the actor has been in, would this actor always be placed in the same category? If so, what does this say about the category or actor? If not, what can you infer about the flexibility of these categories? Provide evidence (references from other films, including film clips and stills) to support your argument.

I think that many of Liam Neeson’s characters personality and agenda is the same even though they are very different characters. Each one of his characters end up protecting someone. In Taken it is his family, in Clash of the Titans it is protecting his son Perseus, and even in Battleship he was protecting his daughter and the Earth. So I would say that Liam Neeson is an actor who plays the same type of character. His characters are serious throughout the majority of the film that he plays in.

Liam Neeson in Taken 2 protecting his daughter.

Liam Neeson in Clash of the Titans watching over his son Perseus.

References

Goodykoontz, B. & Jacobs, C. (2014). Film: From Watching to Seeing. Retrieved on March 18, 2015 from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG225.14.1/sections/sec8.2

Battleship Movie Poster. Retrieved from http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/battleship/

Taylor Kitsch Photo. Retrieved from http://pixshark.com/taylor-kitsch-battleship.htm

Brooklyn Decker Photo. Retrieved from http://www.aceshowbiz.com/still/00005877/battleship-still05.html

Liam Neeson Photo. Retrieved from http://wadebearden.com/15-reasons-liam-neeson-best-ever-seriously-hes-greatest/

Liam Neeson: Taken 2 Photo. Retrieved from http://moviecultists.com/2012/10/10/taken-3-wants-your-money-will-liam-neeson-be-in-on-it/

Liam Neeson: Clash of the Titans Photo. Retrieved from http://onemovieourviews.com/2010/04/02/movie-review-clash-of-the-titans/

Battleship: Actors/Actresses

The Many Sounds of BATTLESHIP!

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Describe each of the three basic categories of sound (dialogue, sound effects, and music). Explain how the different categories of sound are being used in your chosen film.

DIALOGUE

Dialogue, according to Goodykoontz, is spoken words by two or more characters (2014). Dialogue can be used in a movie to help move the movie along or even forecast what is going to happen. In this clip from the movie Battleship, titles “Half A Man,” is a great example of dialogue. Sam is a physical therapist working with retired U.S. Army vet Mike Canales who is a double amputee. In this scene they are exchanging conversation about he feels that he lost the fight when he lost his legs. This dialogue fairly sheds light on what is to come later on in the film. Mike will have to fight again and this time it is an alien and his legs will help him in this battle.

SOUND EFFECTS

Many action, adventure, war movies may use sound effects along the same lines. These sound effects may include explosions that are used to enhance the action. The sound of these explosions simply does not allow the audience to passively watch the film; it serves instead as a rush of adrenaline (Goodykoontz, 2014). These types of explosions can be used to mean different things. The explosion sound effects in this particular scene means that something has blown up and lots of people have been killed. The sound effects used in the beginning of this clip seem to say, stay tuned something is about to happen. The sounds that are made when the shredder is being created is like an enormous chainsaw being started up.

MUSIC

There are two types of musical accompaniment that supports a film’s moods and action and they are non-diegetic and diegetic. Non-diegetic is music that can be heard by the audience and viewers but not by the characters in the film. The purpose of this type of music is to develop an influence on the audience response to that particular scene. Diegetic music is music that can be heard by the characters in the film (Goodykoontz, 2014). In this particular scene the filmmaker chose to use non-diegetic music.

http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/battleship/finding-an-alien-world

The audience can hear the music being played but the characters in the film can’t. The music is merely there to help heighten and place emphasis on what the character is saying. This type of music is called the score. It is in the background of the film. This score being played in this scene enhances what is going to happen.

THEME

Assess the impact of sound in establishing the theme.

The theme of a film can be impacted by the sounds used during the making of the film. In this particular film, “Battleship” there are lots of sounds used. In the clip titled “Finding an Alien World,” non-diegetic sound is used to help set the theme. The characters can’t hear the sounds but it starts out as a normal beat and as the character continues to explain how contacting the other planet will effect our own planet, the sounds become louder and has an fearful, terrifying effect. This adds to the theme of the film because the music starts out mellow and then heightens, and then abruptly stops. It can be seen as revealing how the movie will play out.

MOOD

How does the use of sound inform the mood of the scene, or the film overall?

The mood in all three of the clips presented above is different. I think that has a large part to do with the sounds used in each clip. In the first clip Half A Man, the sounds that I heard when Sam and Mike were talking made the mood seem toned-down. The music went along with the conversation, letting the audience know that this was a very important and serious scene. The second clip, Shredders Attack the Marine Base, the sound effects makes the mood of this scene seem frightening and horrifying. The sounds that the shredders are making while tearing up the Marine base makes the characters upset and furious. In the third clip Finding An Alien World, the sounds used informs the mood of this scene as anxious, like something exciting is about to happen.

GENRE & SOUND

Can you identify specific sounds in your film that allow you to infer a particular genre?

This sounds used throughout this film definitely allows you to infer that this film falls into the action, adventure, war genres. The suspenseful sounds lead you to think that you are traveling through time, the sounds that come from ships and aliens being blown away, definitely helps place this movie in the action and war genres.

CHARACTERIZATION OF EFFECTS

Since each category of sound may produce a range of effects, how might you characterize the effects in your film? For example, realistic and expected sound effects may have a different effect on a viewer than exaggerated or unexpected ones.

The sound effects in this particular film is both realistic and some of them are exaggerated. The realistic sound effects are particularly the ones that are given off by the battleship, once the fight has begun. The weapons used give off a realistic sound. The sound effects used for the alien ship and the weapons that they used are exaggerated.

Assess how the scene or sequence would play differently if you changed or removed a key category of sound.

If a category of sound was changed in either one of the clips above, it would change everything. If the sound in the clip Half A Man was different from what it is now, I think it would be overwhelming and not make sense. A louder more dramatic sound would have drowned out the seriousness of that scene. If shallow, low impact sounds were used in the scene Shredders Attack the Marine Base it would have made the scene not as action packed as it is meant to be.

References:

Goodykoontz, B. & Jacobs, C. (2014). Film: From Watching to Seeing. Retrieved on March 18, 2015 from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG225.14.1/sections/sec8.2

Half A Man http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/battleship/half-a-man

Shredders Attack The Marine Base http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4217021209/imdb/single?feature=sing&action=user&vc=undefined&const=tt1440129&rid=069N7ZTRHZ9QTMAZA6V0

Finding An Alien World http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/battleship/finding-an-alien-world?play=1

The Many Sounds of BATTLESHIP!

Battleship (Lighting)

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Battleship Movie Poster

High-Key, Low-Key & Three Point Lighting

Identify the type of lighting used in the film (traditional three-point, high-key, or low-key) and assess the impact of the lighting used to establish the theme.

LOW-KEY LIGHTING

The type of lighting used in Battleship was very important in making the effects come to life. In this particular clip there is the use of low-key lighting when PO Raikes, Lt. Hopper and the alien is below the ships deck and then once they are on deck the lighting changes to high-key.  A low-key lighting design looks dark overall by comparison. It is marked by extreme use of deep shadows, with very high contrast between the brightest parts of the scene and the darkest parts, which are obscured in shadows (GoodyKoontz, 2014). The low-key lighting made the alien seem more eerie and frightening. The low-key lighting made the area also look mysterious and because the lighting didn’t show the alien’s entire face it left our minds to speculate on how it would really look.

HIGH-KEY LIGHTING

As for high-key lighting, when Hopper ran up to the ships top deck the lighting became bright like it was his way of escaping from the alien.

THREE-POINT LIGHTING

I believe in the beginning of this scene there is a use of three-point lighting. As you watch the clip in the beginning it switches from one character to Capt. Nagata to Lt. Hopper, and there is some light on their faces but the light that is behind them is much brighter. This type of lighting makes the actors “pop out” from the background, making it much easier for the audience to find those particular characters in the scene and to draw attention more to the characters than to the background (Goodykoontz, 2014). In this particular scene the lighting was used to show the expressions on the characters faces and to make it seem as if they all had the same idea about using the U.S.S. Missouri as their new fighting ship.

Benefits of Lighting Styles

What are the benefits of the style of lighting used?The benefits of using low-key lighting was suited to this films genre of action, adventure and sci-fi because it prepared us for an intense dramatic scene. It created masses of shadows and gave the scene that eerie, sci-fi look. The use of high-key lighting gave the scene an upbeat feeling and there was very little shadows. This mood changed from when Lt. Hopper was below deck where it was scary and now it felt like a sigh of relief that he was going to defeat the alien.

Theme

How did this technique contribute to the theme?

The theme is an idea, subject, or topic of some kind that pervades the plot. It is not so much what happens, but rather what the movie is about, part of the meaning you are expected too take away from the work (Goodykoontz, 2014). I think the theme throughout the movie “Battleship” is that we will defend our world from any invaders no matter what the circumstances are. We may be down but we will rise above and conquer. The contrast between the low-key and high-key lighting shows just that. In the darkness (below the ships deck) it seems as if Lt. Hopper is fighting a losing battle, but once he goes into the light (above the ships deck) they defeat the alien. (As seen in the clip above). With three-point lighting it showed the different mindsets of each character and how they would not give in even though they had already lost three ships.

Lighting & Genres

How was the lighting technique suited to the genre of the film? For example, documentary films tend to rely on natural light as a way of creating an overall tone of authenticity.

The benefits of using low-key lighting was suited to this films genre of action, adventure and sci-fi because it prepared us for an intense dramatic scene. It created masses of shadows and gave the scene that eerie, sci-fi look. The use of high-key lighting gave the scene an upbeat feeling and there was very little shadows. This mood changed from when Lt. Hopper was below deck where it was scary and now it felt like a sigh of relief that he was going to defeat the alien.

Use of Different Lighting

Compare how the scene would play if different choices had been made.

If the scenes were filmed in the opposite lights of what they were filmed in, then I think it would have changed the entire effects of the movie. The scenes that were filmed in low-key lighting would not have the same eerie, sci-fi feeling and the audience would have nothing to help build up their imaginations because they could see everything. If the scene that was filmed in high-key lighting was filmed differently then it would have seem like there was no accomplishment of defeating the alien because it was still dark and gloomy. Normally victory is portrayed with bright lights and defeat is portrayed with dark lighting.  The use of certain types of lighting helps give the scene power to evoke thoughts and emotions.

References:

Battleship (Lighting)

Week 1 Blog

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Battleship

Title: Battleship

Writer: Jon & Erich Hoeber

Director: Bret Ratner

Major Actors: Taylor Kitsch as Lieutenant Alex Hopper, Alexander Skarsgard as Commander Stone Hopper, Rihanna as Petty Officer Cora “Weps” Raikes, Brooklyn Decker as Sam Shane, Liam Neeson as Admiral Shane, Tadanobu Asano as Captain Yugi Nagata, John Tui as Chief Petty Officer Walter ‘The Beast’ Lynch

Year Released: 2012

Petty Officer Cora “Weps” Raikes, Lieutenant Alex Hopper & Captain Yugi Nagata

Plot: The story begins with Alex Hopper causing trouble to impress Sam Shane. He gets in trouble and is reprimanded by thepolice. When his brother Stone Hopper takes Alex home he insists that Alex joins the Navy. Once Alex has joined the Navy he is now dating Sam Shane and wants to marry her but he has to ask her father Admiral Shane and Alex Hopper’s superior for his blessing. The two ships that the Hopper brothers are assigned to are both part of the exercise RIMPAC that is held in Hawaii with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). During the exercise the ships sail out to sea and shortly after the alien ship lands in the water. The U.S. Naval Ships tries to communicate with the alien ships, but when they don’t get a response, Lieutenant Alex Hopper and his crew takes a lifeboat to find out what or who was in charge of the alien ship. They fire upon the alien ship and the alien ship retaliates by firing upon the USS Sampson and Myoko (the Japanese ship), killing the senior and executive officers including Alex Hopper’s brother, Stone Hopper. Alex now have to take charge and lead his fellow sailors into battle against the aliens. During the fight an alien is captured upon the U.S. ship. The alien attacks Hopper and projects into Hopper’s mind how they plan to take over Earth. Captain Nagata teaches Lt. Hopper how to track the aliens movement by using buoys so that the gunman can destroy them. Lt. Hopper thinks that he has outsmarted the aliens by shooting down their escort vessels, but he didn’t expect the aliens to use long range missile. The missile destroys the U.S.S. John Paul Jones and the men are forced to sail in a lifeboat.   Once back on Pearl Harbor, the crew decides to use the decommissioned battleship, U.S.S. Missouri to finish the fight with the aliens. The small crew from the sunken ships and the retired veterans from the U.S.S. Missouri head back out to sea to finish their battle with the aliens. The weapons aboard the U.S.S. Missouri defeats the alien mothership and breaks the force field allowing communication. Once Alex realizes that he only have one shell left he have to make a decision whether to destroy the remaining alien ships or the satellite on the island. He chooses to destroy the satellite so that the aliens wouldn’t have any communications as well as them. Once the satellite has been destroyed and Admiral Shane realizes that the force field was no longer up, he scrambles F/A-18 fighter jest from the RIMPAC fleet and they finish destroying the alien ships. A ceremony is held to honor the remaining crew members and Alex is promoted to Lieutenant Commander and awarded the Silver Star and is given the Posthumous Navy Cross for his brother Commander Stone Hopper. After the ceremony Alex gets another chance to ask for Sam’s hand in marriage.

Story: This movie was inspired by the old school board game Battleship. During the 2012 Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) in Hawaii, the Navy ships are trapped in a force field with alien ships. The US Navy goes to war with the aliens to protect the satellites from transmitting a signal to Planet G. Throughout the fight, the US Navy have to find a way to “sink” the alien battleships so that they can destroy the satellites.

Discuss whether your film is presented chronologically or non-linearly. In your discussion, address the following:

How did this aesthetic choice contribute to the general effect on the audience?

  • I would say this film was presented chronologically. The aesthetic choice contributed to the general effect on the audience because it left the audience wondering what was going to happen. Because the film went in chronological order it didn’t give the audience any insight on what the characters where going to endure.

How are elements like character development or foreshadowing impacted by the choice of storytelling methods?

  • Character development in this film was used very well. For instance Alex Hopper at the beginning of the film was immature and acted like a child, but what he had to go through forced him to become a leader and develop into a mature adult.

If the film had followed a different presentation style, how would the general effect on the audience have been different?

  • I think if this film followed a different presentation style the general audience would not have wanted to view it, because by adding foreshadowing it would have given away the most exciting and high point scenes.

References:

http://www.indielondon.co.uk/gallery/battleship-photo-gallery-2?imagenum=3

Week 1 Blog