Film Music - Requiem for a Dream - Essay Example

Film Music - Requiem for a Dream Requiem for a Dream is a film which was produced by Eric Watson and Palmer West and directed by Darren Aronofsky as a depiction of Hubert Selby’s novel Requiem for a Dream. The 101-minute movie released in 2000 features prominent actors including Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Ellen Burstyn and Marlon Wayans. It brings a story revolving around Sara Goldfarb, Harry Goldfarb, Marion Silver and Tyrone Love. Each of these characters has a certain demand that distinguishes them from one another. However, despite their determinations to accomplish them, they end up facing more problems. Meaning, their desires to achieve their dreams end up being so disastrous to them. The major theme of the film is destruction. As a matter of fact, each the characters have some needs to meet. This compels them to setting certain goals which they want to accomplish regardless of what it takes. However, unknown to them, it destroys their destiny. For Sara to premier in her favorite TV game show, she opts to venture into a weight-loss spree. For this reason, she starts consuming a crash diet then proceeds to amphetamine and sedative pills. Unfortunately, this adversely affects her because, as the story comes to an end, she experiences a lot of traumatizing hallucinations and mental torture. The same ordeal is faced by Harry, Love and Sylvia who, in their dreams to be rich, become junkies with catastrophic experiences. This film was a product of an organized cinematographic work. Everything was properly directed as it ought to have been. To make more captivating, an appropriate music was used. The sound track was composed by Clint Mansell. Each scene in the film was shot along side a specific sound track. These were properly tailored to depict the changing mood of the characters from jovial to somber. This was indeed a good choice because it made the film to be much interesting and up to the context. This feature enabled me to glue my eyes to the film right from the beginning up to the end. The sound tracks were as relevant as they reflected whatever mood in the film. It also made the film interesting to me throughout the session. This is because it put all the scenes in their right context to clearly bring out the mood and any thematic concern at any given time. In conclusion, Requiem for a Dream is one of the most enjoyable films I have ever watched. It contained a lot of characters with different behaviors. All these were portrayed in their thoughts, actions and attitudes. Of much interest was Sara who demonstrated that people’s selfish demands might at times be disastrous to them. All the scenes in the film are played along side the music and sound tracks carefully selected to ensure that they help in creating a clear audio picture of whatever activity is going on in the film at any given time. It is a well directed film which explores the use of cinematography technologies to help in creating the desired mood in the film. Pay it Forward Pay it Forward is a film that was co-produced by Stephen Reuther and Peter Abrams and directed by Mimi Leder and premiered on October, 20, 2000. It features Angie Dickinson, Jay Mohr, Haley Joel Osment, Kevin Spacey Jon Bon Jovi, Helen Hunt and Jim Caviezel who present a story of the flamboyant Trevor McKinney who, after being challenged by his teacher, launches a pay it forward movement to help in positively transforming the society. In his view, Trevor believes in helping an individual whom he does not expect to pay him back, but to extend the same help to other people. This is done when his chain of beneficiaries start from the homeless Jerry, to his mother Arlene, to the hopeless suicidal woman, to Eugene, to mention but a few. The major theme of this film is goodwill. Upon getting convinced by his teacher Mr. Eugene Simonet to challenge the societal status quo, Trevor comes up with the idea of pay it forward. This is brilliant idea that enables him to participate in making the world a better place to live in. with the conviction of reciprocating the good deeds, Trevor hopes that everyone would eventually enjoy a good life. At first, he helps the homeless Jerry by accommodating him in his mother’s house. To pay back, Jerry offers a free service to Arlene by repairing her car and also helps the suicidal woman. Later, other people benefit from this scheme as the help continues. This shows how the goodwill movement launched by Trevor greatly contributes to the improvement of people’s lives. A part from benefiting, they do not necessarily need to pay back, but emulate the good action. This is a very educative and challenging theme. The film’s cinematography was under the management of Oliver Stapleton. Among the most important technologies is music which was composed by Thomas Newman. As a renowned film sores composer, Newman must be credited for having the right choice of the sound tracks. It was so appropriate and relevant to this film. Although it has changing topics, the music was designed to capture for each changing mood or theme throughout the film. It reflects the transitional nature of the film which changes from time to time. When it is a happier time, the sound track used appears to be so lively. However, there are situations when the characters are not in a happier mood. During such times, the music used is a different one. I would like to point out that Pay it Forward iss an educative, challenging and entertaining film. The kind of qualities displayed by Trevor is worth emulating because they are good for a healthy society. To feature all these, the director of the film used a well choice of actors. These are reputable artists with a proper knowledge on how to present the real behaviors of the characters that they represent. I thus hail the film for adopting perfect cinematographic skills. More importantly, its sound tracks were up to the context because they helped the film to cope up with the changing moods throughout. It was so interesting and worth watching. Crash Crash is a film that was produced by Cathy Schulman, Robert Moresco, Bob Yari and Don Cheadle and directed by Paul Haggis in 2004. It features prominent actors such as Terrence Howard, Sandra Bullock, Michael Peña, Jennifer Esposito, Don Cheadle, Brendan Fraser, Matt Dillon and Ryan Phillippe. It provides a story of a multiracial society in Los Angeles, California in which the whites, Hispanics, Asians and blacks lived with one another, but under high tensions arising from their diversities. The film centers on the theme of racism. The relationship amongst the characters is not so good. It is not based on their personalities, but on their races. Meaning, each of them receives a different treatment based on their complexion. This is typical of the highly segregated Los Angeles society. Many people in the film appear to be so racial in their actions and utterances. However, as the story unfolds, such kind of attitude brings a division and tension amongst the perpetrators and victims of these acts. As natives, white Americans appear to be so superior to any other group. So, they either abuse, torture of subject these ‘aliens’ to all manners of mistreatments. This is seen in characters like Farhard, Black Detective, Antony and Peter who, despite being subjected to racist acts, still are regarded as the perpetrators of racism. For instance, Farhard was abused by the shop store owner as ‘Osama’ mainly because he is of a Persian origin. These kinds of names are defamatory because they are closely associated to racism. Of course, the film has one of the best sound tracks so far. As an elaborate film, it uses a large number of songs. Each of these was composed and written by an award winning Mark Isham. As a distinguished composer, Isham made a careful choice of the music which was used throughout this film. They kept on changing as the film changes fro one act to another. Whenever there is a tension, a sound had to be used in its resemblance. For example, during car hijackings along the street, a song called Crash: Music from Inspired by the Film was used. This was a special song which rightfully represented the horrific situation at the scene. The same scenario was evidenced when there was a series of antagonism amongst the characters which at times culminated into a fight, fierce exchange or death of some characters. In conclusion, Crash is a well performed film. It clearly brings out the story depicting the real situation in the racial Los Angeles community in which non-whites are not treated with the due respect that they deserve. Its cinematography was properly done. The choice of appropriate sound tracks made it to be lively, appealing, interesting and entertaining. Had it not been for these appropriate sound tracks, the movie would have been out of context or lost its taste. Read More