Week 4, Blog 1, ENG 225

(MOVIECLIPS)

 

WIZARD OF OZ – ACTING AND ACTING STYLES

The three actors I will use to classify to the types of actors they are will be the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), The Tin Man (Jack Haley).

For Judy Garland I believe she is a star actor. I say this because she is very well known and popular in her day in films and with the public. According to Goodykoontz and Jacobs (2011), “A star is a distinctive screen persona, who is well-known and popular with the movie going public”. She was the lead role in The Wizard of Oz and one of her most renowned films. I also think she is a little bit of a personality actor like Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant were as she played typical innocent women roles who everyone loved. The fact that she is still remembered today after so many decades, alone says she is a legend.

She lived up to the name Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz film and created a lovable girl to the viewer and viewers wanted to ‘be’ Dorothy. She acted so innocent and to the role. An example role that just made me love her so much was when she was still in Kansas, singing over the rainbow. She just stared into the sky, dreaming glares and playing with Toto with love. This whole scene set the tone of her innocence and kindness. Judy Garland is a legendary actress of her time and even today, when you mention her name; most people know her name and films well, even though she has been dead since 1969 from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills (Garland, 2014).

Judy Garland will and was always a star actress with a little personality actor in her as well. I almost was going to call her a wildcard but she fits in these two others so well. She remained in the public eye and was a loved actress by all. She continued film but moved to more romantic adult films, but continued to be loved and portrayed as innocent and men moved her. She won numerous awards and honors during her 40-year career. She was a legend! I think she would always fall into these two categories, as that is what she did best.

The other two, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr did a lot of supporting acting and I’d say they fit into as character actors. I say this because they both played key support roles in films, The Wizard of Oz being the one film they were both known for most. Both these actors fit into their roles they were given and they adapted very well. As Goodykoontz and Jacobs (2011) stated, “Other actors are able to fit invisibly into a wide variety of disparate characters, adapting to the needs of each script and director”. I mean, look how much they adapted to being a lion and Tin Man in the film and actually made the viewer believe they were real.

Bert Lahr played the role of the lion in such a realistic way that made us believe and care for the lion. The poor guy had to wear that lion costume through most of the film, and, I must say he adapted well to the directors and script requests. According to John Vincent (2012), “Laboring under a weighty costume made of real lion skins and hampered by facial attachments that made it impossible to eat solid food, Lahr still managed a broad and rich comic performance”. He was able to pull off the movements and traits of the ‘cowardly’ lion and never really made us think he was actually a real man under there. Like in the film, upon Toto, Dorothy’s, Tin Man and Scarecrows meeting for the first time, he acted the lion piece with playing with his tail, roaring, sounds like a comical lion and talking in a very spineless tone and words.

Jack Haley played the Tin Man was a replacement actor due to the original choice was allergic to the metallic make-up required for the part (Stephenson, 2010). Just like Bert Lahr, he was able to adapt to this cartoon type character and make us all believe. One of the best scenes is when the Tin Man does his dance about wishing he had a heart. He did impressive expressions and movements (like he really was tin). I believe his role and Bert Lahr’s had to be adapted roles as these were roles neither of them would ever play. They had to do what the director and role asked.

All three of these actors will be known for years to come for their work in The Wizard of Oz.
———————
References
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Garland, Judy. (2014). Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, 1p. 1.
John Vincent, B. (2012). Lahr, Bert. Britannica Biographies, 1.
Movieclips (2011, mAY 26). Somewhere Over the Rainbow – The Wizard of Oz (1/8) Movie CLIP (1939) HD [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZxmZmBfnU
Stephenson, W. (2010). Jack Haley. American National Biography (From Oxford University Press)

Week 3, Blog 1, ENG 225

(NFLGUITARMOVIES, 2012)

Categories and Functions of Sound, Wizard of Oz (1939)

 

• Three basic categories of sound
  • Dialogue is the narration and interaction of the characters. It is conversation of characters, how they act and the exchanges they have. Can even be just one character but the dialogue is all about what they are doing, sounding, expressing themselves.
  • Sound effects are noise. If it doesn’t fit in music or dialogue it normally is a sound effect. They usually have more a specific design or sound. Sound effects can also be used to intensify a certain moment, like in a scary movie (using a loud bang!!).   Or like in a lot of scary movies when someone is walking in a dark house and a cat comes flying out. Sound effects and props used to scare the crap out of us.   Sometimes sound effects can be similar to music but not quite, music. Example, a siren type of sound effect is kind of musical, but not music.
  • Music sets the path of feeling. Meaning it can supplement meaning of action or just intensify the scene in particular by what kind of music is playing in the background. Sometime a viewer won’t even realize music is there in the scene, because it sets a mood and the viewer is only pulled in with the music and what is happening on the screen.

 

• My chosen film is The Wizard of Oz (1939). Dialogue, music and sounds effects are all three utilized in this film.
  • Dialogue was throughout this movie with the character interactions. Even when Dorothy is alone, she uses dialogue to make the scene come alive. A great example of this is when Dorothy is being swept away by the tornado and dialogue is continued on her actions, reactions, talking and expressions (NFLGUITARMOVIES, 2012).
  • As far as music in this film, I can say there is a lot. From the background music to the musical singing of the characters. Example of music in the background used to create a scary scene is during the scene when they went to the witches’ castle (Birdwisbrod, 2014). And also very present during the “we’re off to see the wizard” scene (Jona,2012). Also in this scene, there is a lot singing. Everything in this clip creates a happier scene with the music they selected, the characters interaction with the music and their own singing.
  • There were a lot of sound effects used in this film as well but much dated since the movie was made in the 1930s. Basic sound effects are in existence but not like they utilize sound effects today. An example of a great sound effect used is the tornado that swept her away (Wizard of Oz Sounds, n.d.) and you can hear this sound effect at http://soundbible.com/tags-wizard-of-oz.html. There a tons of other sound effects in this movie (animal sounds, banging, weather sounds, sirens, drums, and several sounds that almost seemed like music but almost not).

 

• The impact of sound in establishing the theme for this movie is well worked. Even though the technology was not that great when this film was made, they did a great job creating the right affect for each scene with sound. When things needed to be scary, the sound matched. And when things were meant to be happy, the music and sounds were matched. As far as a specific sounds in this film that allowed me to infer a particular genre, no. I actually would almost peg this film as a musical almost, and not fantasy as it is. I guess it is a little of both genres. Fantasy does not jump out as the number one genre if I used sound alone. I also think that the sounds used in this film were realistic and expected (especially since the technology of today was not present back when this film was made). I found myself expected much of the sound that was present in this film. There weren’t really any unexpected scary sounds that made me clinch or jump.

 

• The scene or sequence would play differently if I changed or removed the music in this film. The background music and the singing plays a huge role of setting the mood of each scene. Without it, I don’t think the film would have had much impact and remained more a play.

 

References

Birdwisbrod. (2014, December 14). Wizard of OZ Witch’s Castle [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtie6r27JeU

Fleming, V., & Vidor, K. (Directors). (1939). The Wizard of Oz [Motion picture]. United States: MGM Studios.

Jona, H. (2012, March 28). Wizard of oz we’re off to see the wizard [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm3ypbAbLJ8 

NFLGUITARMOVIES. (2012, October 8). The Wizard of Oz Tornado. Retrieved August 7, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlDroGf7ap8 

Wizard of Oz Sounds | Free Sound Effects | Wizard of Oz Sound Clips | Sound Bites. (n.d.). Retrieved August 7, 2014, from http://soundbible.com/tags-wizard-of-oz.html

Week 2, Blog 1_ENG 225

Lighting – Wizard of Oz film, 1939

(Jona, 2012)

(birdwisbrod, 2008)

 

Check out the video file to see all the bright colors and high lighting in the first clip and then the more low lighting, to create drama/intense feel with darker colors and shadows, in the second clip

The type of lighting used in this film is mostly high-key lighting to make bright colors throughout the Land of Oz portions. There was some low-lighting used in some scenes of drama or fights (some witch scenes, monkey fights, Emerald City shots). When the low-lighting was used, they did use some other lighting to highlight smoke, fires and other scenery for the darker scenes. But, most of the film was in high-key lighting to brighten the costumes, backdrops, scenes. In the black and white portions of the film in the beginning and end, hard to see for sure but I believe it is more low-key lighting for the black and white film takes.

The impact of using a lot of bright lights enhanced the fantasy side of this film. There were a lot of bright costumes and backdrop used in this film and stage. The way they used light to create depth in the trees/forest was great.  The lighting helped see the scene as being alive, versus really filmed on a stage.  They also used some great shadows on the high-key lighting but also on the low-lighting scenes.  The impact of the lower lighting in some scenes created scary, intense, and/or dreary scenes.  The lighting in the low lights scenes also was greatly used by using lights in windows of the castle, used on faces of the actors and used for lighting doorways and entrances into the castle.   On the darker scenes, light was used to highlight what the audience needed to see but still enabled a mystery or scary backdrop.  Also, during the invasion of the castle they used some creative lighting in the backdrop of the sky,…making the appearance of clouds and nighttime.

The benefits of the style of lighting used was the creation of a Fantasy world, color unlike in real world. The high-key lighting during the Land of Oz scenes brightened faces, backdrop and the things the director was trying to highlight. Some of the lighting worked great on darker scenes to highlight scary portions of the film (witch, monkeys, etc.). But, from doing some research I found some disadvantages for the cast and set during making of this film. I found that the temperatures were sometimes unbearable on the set, at times 100 degrees or over, because of the amount of lights they needed to make this film work in Technicolor (Fraley, 2011).

This technique in lighting contributed to the theme by creating a Fantasy environment when needed, and using the low lighting in portions increased the intense of scary or sad scenes. The real bright scenes were happy, and the not so happy scenes lower in lighting.

The lighting technique suited to the genre of the film, fantasy, to be a perfect match for this film and typically used in a lot of fantasy films.

If different choices were made in lighting for this film, for instance, make the whole film in color and all bright lighting, it would decrease the effect of Kansas life and Land of Oz life. Meaning, it would be harder to differentiate between to the two lands.   In addition, the scary more intense scenes, if high key lighting with bright colors was used throughout the film, would lessen the effect of change in attitude or scene. Darker scenes make the mood change to the viewer. All the shooting was done on a stage, changing backdrops and props for each scene, so they had to change the lighting of the stage often.

References

Birdwisbrod. (2014, December 14). Wizard of OZ Witch’s Castle [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtie6r27JeU

Fraley, J. (2011, December 27). The Wizard of Oz (1939) | The Film Spectrum. Retrieved July 30, 2014, from http://thefilmspectrum.com/?p=3634

Jona, H. (2012, March 28). Wizard of oz we’re off to see the wizard [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm3ypbAbLJ8

 

 

Week 1, Blog 1_ENG 225

(Sinclair& Hommel, 1939)                               (Movie film cover, 1939)

 

1. The film I selected to discuss is ‘The Wizard of Oz’. “Surely one of the most famous and best-loved films ever made, The Wizard of Oz tells the story of a restless teenage girl’s desire to escape her dreary world and the apparent fulfillment of that wish when a storm transports her to a mystical and colorful fantasy land”(Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011, p. 243). According to the AFIs 10 Top 10 list (n.d.), this film was written by Noel Langley and Florence Ryerson (Scr). The Directors are Victor Fleming and King Vidor. Major actors include: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger Bert Lahr and Jack Haley. It was released 25 Feb 1939. The actual book was first published 17 May 1900 by author L. Frank Baum.
2. • Plot – When a bad storm hits Kansas, Dorothy (young orphaned girl) and her dog Toto, are whisked off to the Land of Oz. They are greeted by the Good Witch of the North who gives her the magical shoes that can return her if she goes to the Emerald City. They follow the yellow brick road toward the Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz to help them. On their way they meet a Scarecrow that needs a brain, a Tin Man missing a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who is lacking courage, but wants it. The Wizard of Oz who everyone says can help Dorothy return home and possibly grant her new friends their goals of a brain, heart and courage.
   • Story – A young women, Dorothy, and her dog, Toto, are swept away to a magical land by a big storm. They are greeted by witches and Dorothy receives some magical shoes. Dorothy and Toto must travel on a brick road to find the Wizard of Oz to help them get back home. Along the way they meet several memorable friends.
   • I would say this movie follows in a chronological order as it goes by her journey across the Land of Oz. She leaves Kansas, travels across Oz and then returns home.
   • The elements of storytelling in this film is heightened with drama and conflict while reminding us, the viewers, that Dorothy needs to reach back home and moreover, help her new friends and herself, and Oz. The storytelling made me, as I watch this film, be in the film and care about the characters like Dorothy, Toto and their new friends. And the character development of each character over the period of the film changes and molds into strong characters (they started off weaker than they ended). A great Fantasy Film.
3. If the film following a different presentation style, the general effect on the audience could have been different perhaps. I think the film could not improve in my eyes though as they did a great storyline and black and white, to color, to black and white (making an affect). Presenting a silent film, in my eyes, would not have the positive effect that the film currently has. No voice or character sound and feeling would make the movie not as much suspenseful and magical. If they had decided to present it only in black and white, or just in all color, the effect would have not been as impacting and noticed from Kansas and the Land of Oz. Presenting the film in order of events also was the best way to lead the audience in the outcome (of finally returning home).

References

AFI: 10 Top 10. (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://www.afi.com/10top10/moviedetail.aspx?id=7892&thumb=1

Bolle, C. (2014, July 23). christinabolle [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://christinabolle.wordpress.com/ 

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Sinclair, C., & Hommel, G. (1939, February 25). The Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), The Tin Man (Jack Haley), and The Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.grayflannelsuit.net/blog/wizard-of-oz-vintage-cast-photos-1939

The Wizard of Oz [Movie Cover]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-wizard-of-oz-1939