Filmic Techniques - Butchmeets Wallace - Essay Example

? Filmic techniques Filmic techniques To what extent are film techniques such as camera angles used to assert the overall importance of religious themes in Pulp Fiction? Film techniques the different methods used to create a sense in a film. They are of different types, most basic include the following; Camera shot this is the total space seen in one shot (Godawa, 2009). It is used to display the setting of a place, the characters in a given play and the theme. Camera shots are of different types there are long shots, full shots, mid shots, close up and extreme close-ups. The camera shots are essential in every film analysis. Camera angle is another important technique used in analyzing a movie and in film making industry. They help to create the meaning of the film to those watching. The difference between camera angles and camera shots is that as the camera angle helps the viewer to differentiate the characters in a film the camera shots shows the amount of space and the setting. Camera angle has its examples, and they are the eye level angle, birds eye angle, Dutch angle and low angle. Other techniques include the Evangeline shots which is creating blurred images as a result of extreme close ups and zooming abruptly. Cinematography is another technique which combines all the above technique that is lighting, camera angle, and camera shots. Having discussed the above the difference between camera shots and camera angles should always be made (skwirk, 2013, 1) the film “Pulp Fiction” can be analyzed in more than two different perspectives. The first is use of the camera angles to state the importance of religious themes. The guide to this is due to the fact that it is a Christian based movie. In the search for the religious aspects, we bear in mind that as Christians, we are guided by the Ten Commandments that help us shape our behaviors in our relationship with God and other human beings. We find that despite, the movie pulp fiction being filled with violence and scenes unpleasing to the eye; it has hidden Christian themes both good and bad. For instance, Its director Quentin Tarantino makes the themes of immorality among humans, the paths that humans take differently in life, the risk of living recklessly and the inception of death visible to the viewer. With the leading man as John Travolta with co-actors Samuel L Jackson and Uma Thurman, camera angle technique helps the viewer’s grasp the relationship between the characters and bring us closer to their realization. The best example is in the scene where Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) comes to a near death encounter, and it is in this case that he starts posing questions about life, the power of God, and why his encounter with death never terminated his life. The film gives us the events where he ponders everything in his life and even quitting his job for the reason that it was to God’s sign for him to quit the bad things. There is also the situation in which we find Jules misquoting the Bible in a cold murder. This was in the encounter of Brett with Vincent and Jules the two hit men working for the feared kingpin Marsellus Wallace. They had gone to retrieve something valuable in a suitcase that was held by individuals that would be crooks led by Brett. The two men retrieve the belonging of Wallace and later kill Brett and Jules recite the Bible from Ezekiel 25, and it quotes “The path of the honorable man is overwhelmed on all sides by the iniquities of the self-centered and the autocracy of evil men. Holy is he who, in the name of contributions and good will, shepherds the scrawny through the gorge of darkness, for he is truthfully his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. I will hit down upon thee with great retaliation and fuming anger those who would effort to poison and obliterate my brothers. You will recognize my name is the Lord when I lay my reprisal upon thee.”(Biola, 2013). The ungodly themes that are condemned by the commandments and the actors tend to bend the command is in the situation of robbery in the film. The situation of Honey Bunny and Pumpkin a couple living in Los Angeles in the start of the movie plan robbery in liquor stores restaurants and go further to discuss the merits and demerits robbing banks and how it would even give them more money with grabbing wallets from the customers. Camera angles in this situation display the two characters in a restaurant and in an eye angle position we see them stand and declare that they were robbing the diner. These are some of the situations that the Christian values are found to be distorted other than being embraced (Mytum21, 2013, 1). The viewer is left in a situation well defined with the main aspects of religion left to their eyes. We see the characters living in a world which is not ours. It is a world that we cannot fit because of its ungodly acts and behaviors condemned by the Christian doctrines. They range from cold blood murders like in the killings conducted by Jules. The use of hard drugs is another prevalent act in the film. The main addicts are Vincent and Mia the wife of Marsellus Wallace. Before Vincent takes Mia out for dinner since Marsellus Wallace was to be out of town that evening, Vincent visits the drug seller Lance and buys the best quality of heroine. Immoralities like rape in the incidence of Maynard, Zed, Butch and Marsellus. After Mersellus fight with Butch, they end up in a pawn shop and Maynard overpowers them and after calling Zed his cousin they rape Mersellus with Butch having a narrow escape. The characters also engage in talks full of the F-words and other abusive phrases. A piece of criticism is the act of judging the benefits and drawbacks of something or someone in an intelligent manner in order to interpret it in an adverse way. Criticism in a film can be summarized by posing questions about the film what it is about or its importance. The criticism in this essay goes into the qualities of the film, how the film is performed, the tone, the judgment on the value of the film and the ability of the film to control the observable characteristics (Lutes, 2008, 1) in the film, pulp fiction, criticism has taken its place from the analysis done by different scholars (Simons, 2006). The criticism in the film array from an individual level to the media concern, it is a film based on comical, satirical and ironic moments. The characters are less of heroes and heroines according to the movie they betray themselves on how they handle and decide on how to do their things. Vincent an actor, who with Jules is the main characters, has a lot of satirical things that are of critic. When the wife of Marsellus Wallace Mia a chain smoker of cocaine is overdosed, instead of being rushed to the hospital for instant medication, Vincent takes her to Lance the drug dealer who after much thought injects her with adrenaline in a condition where it was a gamble of life and death. This is looking for the wrong place for an emergency situation. Another instance of criticism is in the situation of the purchase of the five dollar milk shake by Vincent after asking for money from Mia. In this occurrence, even though Vincent, a hit man working for Wallace, we see that he is in dire demand of money, of which he should find a better way to get the cash other than, be a mercenary. The other character of interest full of hypocrisy and mediocre is Jules. He behaves like a vicar and deliverer of punishment like the tragedies in the Shakespeareans. It was during the cold blood murder of Brett the gang that held Wallace briefcase. Jules recite a verse in the book of Ezekiel chapter 25 ignorant of its significance and meaning. This shows the recklessness of the characters in the movie even though his actual purpose of the evangelization was not actually discovered other criticism part of the film is on the two robbers, Pumpkin and Honey Bunny. They robbed a diner full of innocent people after coming up with the idea which they celebrated. This can be considered inhumane, and in Shakespearean view, the context included the two commoners in the world full of lords and nobles in the vast corrupt land, the gangsters are not isolated. The other major piece of criticism is on the media. The media criticism is turned on its center. The media do not always allow the continuation of programs but broadcasts short episodes, and this is not the case with the pulp fiction although it skips from one story to another but at the end the whole film becomes unified with an eloquent flow. The critic on lack manhood is also found in the movie. The characters do not display any aspect of manhood. It is clearly found in the start and later in the end of the movie. On the occasion when Wallace tells Butch that pride was nothing in comparison to money, a belief that he so much held but did not work out as he thought. When Butchmeets Wallace while coming from the apartment to fetch the gold watch left to him by his grandfather and that his French girlfriend had left, comes one on one with Wallace who was seeking vengeance on him after his betrayal during the boxing. Butch engages in a series of trying to run over Mersellus, but he only wounds him and they later end up in a pawn shop where the owner Maynard conquers the two after overpowering. He later calls his cousin Zed who is a security guard and the two are successive killers of those trespassing their store. On the wake of Butch and Mersellus, they find themselves gagged and tied up. Mersellus is first to be taken away where he is raped by the two men. Butch successfully unties him and rather than parting the forfeit shop, he grabs a samurai sword and goes to rescue Mersellus. He kills Maynard while Zed escapes with gun injuries. The successful operation makes Mersellus let Butch go with the betrayal money as long as he kept the rape incidence a secret. In the end, we find that the belief that Wallace had done not heed into it in order to safeguard his pride and ego (Shadoian, 2003, ) Conclusion Camera angles are an important tool in analyzing a film or any theatre blocked. It gives the viewer a chance to get the relationship between the camera and the object being taken the photograph. It is also through camera angles that the emotion information is delivered to the audience. The camera angle makes it simpler to analyze the movie and different themes and symbols are displayed for the viewer’s interpretation (Shadoian, 2003,). The movie according to the analysis can be said to be a well loaded film with the religious themes that assert the importance of the film for viewing. Criticism is another aspect discussed. There are five main critics based on the characters and the media. They help the viewer understand what Tarantino was up to as the director. This reduces confusion making the movie more interesting with its charming event that glues an audience for 2hours 15 minutes watching the movie. References Godawa, B. (2009). Hollywood worldviews: watching films with wisdom & discernment. Simons, J. (2007). Playing the waves: Lars Von Trier's game cinema. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press. Goldstein, J. H. (1998). Why we watch the attractions of violent entertainment. New York, Oxford University Press. Shadoian, J. (2003). Dreams & dead ends: the American gangster film. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Walden, S. (2010). Photography and philosophy: essays on the pencil of nature. Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell. Lutes, J. (2008). Berlin: a work of fiction. Montre?al, Drawn and Quarterly. Read More

 

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