Behind the scenes

The film that I chose for this post was Star Wars. Although looking at this film now it seems to have poor special effects they were cutting edge when the film was shot. This film set a new precedence for the film industry and directors for years after it came out in 1977. The animation and special effects that were used in this film far surpassed any used in the history of film. This film was created with an eleven million dollar budget which is actually quite a small amount of money compared to the films that have been come out recently. After this film came out other directors decided to stop trying to make the great American movie and aimed to top the box office charts. This film was very well received because it is a film that has a little bit of everything. It has action, romance, mystery, comedy and suspense. The famous film critic Roger Ebert put this film in his 10 most influential films of the century. He said “here had been blockbusters before, from "Birth of a Nation" to "Gone With the Wind" to "Lawrence of Arabia." But George Lucas' 1977 space opera changed all the rules. It defined the summer as the prime releasing season, placed a new emphasis on young audiences, used special effects, animation, computers and exhilarating action to speed up the pacing, and grossed so much money that many of the best young directors gave up their quest for the Great American Film and aimed for the box office crown instead. Now most of the top-grossers every year follow in "Star Wars" footsteps, from "Armageddon" to "The Matrix" to "Titanic."” After reading more into what was happening in the US at the time this film was released it is amazing how well this film done. But I also think that what was occurring in the world during this time made people enjoy this film even more because it gave them a sort of fictional hope for the future. Even now this film is viewed as a classic and classics are timeless. I think that this is partially due to the fact that it was a huge stepping stone in film making. I also think that the fact that it took so long for the entire series to come out kept people interested in the film. I think that overall this film was received very well and still is and will be for a long time.

film review #1

The film I am choosing to review is a foreign film called Pan's Labyrinth (directed by Guillermo del Toro). This movie is about a girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) who is trying to get back to the underworld where she is a princess. This film is filled with fantasy, special effects, horror and violence. This film was produced by Picture House productions and the screen play was written by Guillermo del Toro. The special effects of this film were amazing. They were created by Reyes Abades. My opinion of this film was that the story line was made for children but at the same time some of the diolague and action sequences aren't appropriate for children. I also thought that the story line ended up taking the viewer no where in the hour and fifty-nine minutes which it takes to view the film. This film takes place in spain in the year 1944 which is right after the Spanish civil war. the main conflict of this film is the war between the socialists and the Gorilla soldiers. Overall I was expecting something quite a bit different than what this film turned out to be. I would suggest watching this film but i dont think you would need to see it more than once.