Use of Music in FIlms

What would a film be without music. Nothing. Well okay, it would still be a series of images that make up a story, but it really wouldn't be that good. A film can be absent of dialogue, or color, and it can still be a great film. However, without music, a film cannot be great.

 Music is the thing in films that evoke emotion. Music is what is going make you cry or laugh or get that really warm feeling when things turn out the way that you want them to. Music can really enhance the cinematic experience.

The score is what can take a film from good to iconic. There are some scores that have transcended our respect for music in films, here are some of the best film scores in my opinion.

E.T.

To Kill A Mockingbird

Jurassic Park

Back to the Future

Harry Potter

Top 3 Movies

In one of my other classes, we were discussing what makes good films, and what makes our favorite films our favorites. So I have decided to post what my 3 favorite films are and what makes them my favorite.

1) To Kill a Mockingbird

This is in my opinion, is one of the greatest films ever made. I absolutely love how the story was adapted for this film. It is an incredibly well written screenplay, and still is able to capture the best and most important parts of the roughly 300 page novel in only 120 page screenplay. Also the camera seems to be able to capture the perfect moments of the actors performances. Not to mention the score of this film works so well in bringing out the emotion of the film.

2) Back To The Future Part II

I absolutely love all of the Back to the Future films, but part II has always risen just a little bit above the other two. I think the art direction and production design in this film are awesome. All of the so called "futuristic" things like clothing and cars, and technology are just crazy and funny. This may not have won any awards or anything, but its still great.

3) Monsters University

I was a kid when I first saw Monsters Inc. which was great because it was a kids movie, and now getting Monsters University when I am in college, is only part of the reason that I love this film. The color and beautiful animation alone are enough to make anyone love this film. However, even though it is targeted at children, the film actually is relatable to any college student. It blends fantasy and reality in a well written, and beautifully shot film.

History (and Scenes) Repeat in the Back to the Future Trilogy

In the Back to the Future trilogy history repeats itself. Whether it is the chase around Courthouse Square or Marty waking up hoping it was all a dream, similar scenes are shown throughout the films. However one scene had to be reshot for a variety of reasons. Since this was so similar to our first class project and was a real life example when the techniques we learned from the exercise would help us, I decided it would be great to share with the class.

At the end of the original Back to the Future, Marty returns home, finds that his future has changed for the better, and that he can spend the rest of the day hanging out with his girlfriend Jennifer. However, this moment of bliss is short lived as Doc Brown enters out of nowhere in the DeLorean time machine. He tells Marty and Jennifer that they need to come with him to the future to help fix the future of their kids! The DeLorean begins to take flight and heads off into the future as the credits roll.

Originally this ending was not intended to set up a sequel but instead just one last joke. However after the box office success of the film two sequels developed. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale (the director and writer) have often said that they would not have had Jennifer in the car because it adds another character that needs to tag along and another person that knows about the time machine (this is why she was almost immediately knocked unconscious in part two). Also they never wanted to go into the future because they worried that once the time comes (which is actually in three more years) their future would be out of date and wrong.

However the audience saw this one last joke as a sign of the next adventure so the production team had to include it in the next film. However there were many reasons why they had to reshoot it. For one part one came out in 1985 and part two came out in 1989 and within these four years the main actors (Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd) had visibly aged. They also had to reshoot it because Jennifer had to be re-casted. Claudia Wells, the original Jennifer, had a baby and took a break from acting within the four years so Elizabeth Shue took the part. It would look jarring to the audience if Wells was in one scene and then was replaced by Shue in the next. They also could not skip including the scene entirely because a big plot point of part two was that Biff had to see the DeLorean take off from 1985.

Overall they did a great job recreating it. They went to the same location, got the same props, and obtained the same costumes. They even reused footage that the actors were not in (like the shot of the DeLorean entering and hitting the trash cans). However there are some noticeable small differences. For one the lighting. It was a much sunnier day in part two when they shot and that is clear when Marty first sees Jennifer. There are also small details in the background that many might not notice so it was probably not in the forefront of the mind of the production team. These include the cars in the street behind them and the bushes and flowers around Marty’s house. Overall the biggest difference I could see was with line readings. There are instances where I think the actors thought they paused longer or shook their head a certain line so they overdid it the second time around. Shue also overacts especially with her eyes when Doc tells them about going to the future. However overall I think the production team did a great job of recreating these scenes and unless people watch them side-by-side I bet nobody could easily tell the difference.

Click here to view this scene side-by-side. Here is also a cool gif that goes back and forth between a picture from part one and a picture from part two.

The Greatest Movie of all TIME

For my first post I decided to write about my favorite movie of all time: Back to the Future. Originally Back to the Future came out in 1985 and starred Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly who with the use of Doc Brown’s DeLorean time machine is accidentally traveled back to his hometown in 1955. This is where he alters history and his own existence by bumping into his high school parents and ruining the first time they fell in love.

I have probably seen this movie (and the two sequels) hundreds of times and every time I find something new. I think this is why I love these movie so much. The production team including Director Robert Zemeckis and Executive Producer Steven Spielberg cared so much about the story and focused on so many details that many do not even know existed in the first few viewings. For example in its sequel they used actual sport statistics from 1955 so Biff Tannen, the antagonist of the films, could bet on these events and create an alternate future with this information he stole from 2015. They also use music from the time period and dress the sets with movie posters of movies that came out during the 1950s. Huey Lewis, a popular musician in the 1980s even makes a cameo in the first film as a teacher who tells Marty’s band that they are “too loud” to play at the school dance. It’s funny that he says that because Marty’s band is playing his own song!

One of the coolest details involves the sign for Twin (and later Lone) Pine Mall. The mall in town is explained by Doc to be named after old man Peabody, who used to own the land and had a “crazy idea” about breeding pine trees. Well when Marty travels back in time he crashes into Peabody’s barn and accidentally runs over one of his pine trees. Later in the movie when we return to the present day mall the sign has been changed to affect Marty’s time travel adventure. In my last viewing I also noticed that Marty’s house prominently has a set of electricity poles behind it perhaps foreshadowing the movie’s climax where a single lighting bolt hitting the clock tower will be what is necessary for Marty to make it back home to 1985.

The script is also great and was written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis. There is tons of set-up especially in the first film to events later in the movie. For example in the beginning of the film at the dinner table his sister brings up Marty’s parents first meeting. Later in the film you will actually see Marty accidentally take his father’s place thus altering history. I guess somebody should have paid attention at dinner! Also in the first few minutes of the film a lady downtown gives Marty a flyer to “Save the Clocktower!” and Marty just throws it into his pocket thinking nothing of it. However later it will help give Doc Brown the information about the lighting storm that helps Marty get home.

Finally throughout the trilogy Gale and Zemeckis convey the theme that history repeats itself. In every movie Marty experiences ironically similar events, whether it is waking up in a bed next to his mom thinking his adventures were all a dream, being chased by a Tannen family member around the courthouse, or seeing a Tannen get covered in a pile of manure. The writers use these similar yet different scenes to show that it is true history does in fact repeat itself. If only Marty and Doc realized this they would have a lot easier time traveling through time.

See the Back to the Future Poster

See the Mall Screenshot

See the Manure screenshots