Spike Lee as One of the Most Celebrated and Well-Known Directors - Essay Example

Spike Lee Spike Lee is one of the most celebrated and well-known director of so many hit movies of our time. He was born on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta Georgia. He came from an artistic background where his father was a jazz musician while his mother was a school teacher. He first got training in film making at Clark Atlanta University and further honed his skills when he attended the Tisch School of Arts graduate film program. The first film he directed would be “The Answer” in 1980, a ten-minute film which was a rework of D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation”. On the other hand, his first film that bagged a student Academy Award would be “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads”, a 45-minute film. And this was just the beginning of the making of a very brilliant director (Spike Lee – Biography., n.d.). What launched Spike Lee’s career would be his film “She’s Gotta Have It”, a comedy about sexual relationships that cost $175,000 and earned $7million at the box office which he used to establish his own production company. His famous landmark film, “Do The Right Thing” produced in 1989, a movie set in his own neighborhood in Brooklyn New York that portrayed the racial tensions in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood which garnered Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay, Danny Aiello being the supporting actor. Today, he is happily married to Tonya Lewis Lee which bore him two sons, Satchel and Jackson (Spike Lee – Biography., n.d.). Three of his movies I was lucky to catch and were undeniably remarkable would be “He Got Game (1998)”, “4 Little Girls (1997)”, and “If God is Willing In Da Creek Don’t Rise (2010)”. “He Got Game” is a story about a highly sought after high school basketball player named Jesus Shuttlesworth who is continuously being recruited by top basketball programs. His father at that time was behind the bars because of being convicted of accidentally killing Jesus’ mother by shoving her during a fight. The governor of New York gives Jesus a good deal of lessening his father’s sentence if he promises to play for his Alma matter. Jesus agrees which allows him and his dad to finally reunite and make up for the lost time. Here, they are forced to play in the basketball court as equals (Zuguide., n.d.). The movie’s energy was felt all throughout the movie not only through the lighting which is not only used as a secondary element in the movie to reflect a mood but at the same time the motion of its camera which records its subjects, their emotions and their journey. Also, the movie was able to highlight the urgency that the characters are facing not only during a game but in the whole story’s plot through the use of time. The diegetic time, or the time that is the result of the story only lasted a few days or weeks. Indeed, because of all the mix of all these strong use of film elements, viewers would feel the longing an estranged father has for his son and vice versa and how time – in the basketball game would mean losing that relationship or keeping it. Another great movie of Spike Lee would be “4 Little Girls”. It is a feature-length documentary about the bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham, AL, in 1963 which took the life of four young girls. This event brought media’s attention to a great height that led to a constant battle to fight for civil rights. This film highlights what happened in the crime, the perpetrators of which, and the long haul to serving the victims and their families the justice they deserve. The film would also tread on the life of the four girls through the memories their friends and families have of them, what they have to say about them and their life. It also features civil rights activists, politicians, and journalists’ point of view towards civil rights (4 Little Girls Synopsis - Plot Summary., n.d.). The film is set on a serious tone full of dark and forlorn mood that viewers can instantly grasp at the start of the film. This is achieved through how Spike Lee played on focusing the lens of the camera on its subject and at the same time accompanying it with light. This shows the irony of how they badly want to get out of the situation, especially the people left behind by their loved ones during the bombing. The sequencing of the film greatly helped in setting it apart as a documentary as the sequence is created simply based on the order of shots and how they are edited to come up with one story. One would see this on the interviews done to civil rights activists, politicians and etc. What is great about Spike Lee is that he was able to smoothly sew every piece of this documentary to tell a story that creates more depth as you watch further. The sequence of each material they have filmed, just like the interviews, became the visual language of the film. Although some characters were not given ample spotlight to be built up in the story, the way the shots were also made and arranged made so much sense to the audience. The third movie of Spike Lee that is most memorable to me would be “If God is Willing In Da Creek Don’t Rise”. It is a film that recorded the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans. It is also a documentary that allows people to see the realities of that fateful day, when at one time everything was going fine and then a moment after everything was gone. This film also revisits New Orleans after five years to see how it is doing. It is indeed a story of destruction and at the same time the rebirth of America’s most unique city (If God Is Willing and da Creek Dont Rise., n.d.). The documentary was indeed well directed because unlike other documentaries that creates a bit of disconnect when introducing a new subject, the materials about the backstory of each characters were well sequenced and sewn. Aside from that, one would not be able to deny that though there was no production design used, the narrative structure of how the story was told was consistent. It creates a strong mood of loss and at the same time hope. One would also sense a personal touch from each subject’s story through the focus the recording device dedicates while they share their own perspective about Hurricane Katrina. Though all three movies clearly have different plots, there are a lot of similarities among them. One of which would be the use of superb narrative composition which creates intrigue and the need to know more as each character is then revealed. Aside from that, the mood is greatly felt through the use of focus and lighting that are strong elements used to make the audience feel pain, loss, excitement, and etc. When it comes to timing, we would notice that Spike Lee’s documentaries are mostly set in a longer time frame, while films are set in a shorter one. With all these observations, I would relate it to Spike as a director and person. He is someone who has high regard for family despite his achievements and one would see how all his films would really allow the audience to feel like they are part of the story through the mood he wants to portray.   Bibliography: "Spike Lee - Biography." IMDb - Movies, TV and Celebrities. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. . "Zuguide." Zuguide. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. . "4 Little Girls Synopsis - Plot Summary - Fandango.com." Movie Tickets & Movie Times - Fandango.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. . "If God Is Willing and da Creek Dont Rise" (2010) - Plot Summary." IMDb - Movies, TV and Celebrities. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. . Read More