Rules for this class. You lose 1% for every hour you miss of class. If you miss nine hours, you fail. This class is easy to get 90%. Just come.
Please do not sleep in here. This is NOT your bedroom. This is a classroom. I want to do a different genre of film each time: Drama, classic, comedy, western (cowboy), no animation, science fiction, horror, etc. Let us start with drama.
My dad told me a story about a janitor (cleaning person) who worked at the University of Toronto during World War II. He had a grade 10 education. He would clean the radar lab at night. Just by looking at the research, he could understand it. He invented advanced radar. They tested him and he had a 197 IQ.
I think Good Will Hunting is based on this story. The screenplay was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. They won an Oscar. Robin Williams did as well for Best Supporting Actor. He committed suicide nine years ago.
Questions for you guys: Why does Will (the protagonist) feel angst?
What does the title of the movie mean? It is a pun (two meanings). What does the psychologist (played by Robin Williams) mean when he tells Will “It’s not your fault.” ???
Do you hear the Boston accent?
When the camera work in a movie is really good or stylish, we talk about the cinematography. This director is a gay man: Gus van Sant
When you slow down the film speed: slow motion
Overhead
direct down shot is a “bird’s eye view.”
“Pay homage
to” means to copy a scene from a famous movie to show respect to the director.
Van Sant is paying homage to Stanley Kubrick and A Clockwork Orange.
Match cut. When the last image from the first scene is the same or similar to the first image of the second scene. It gets you from A to B in the movie.
Will is embarrassed about being an orphan. Why? Oliver Twist is a novel by Charles Dickens from the 1840s about an orphan.
Tell me some background on the actor Robin Williams.
Listen for
the Boston accent. It is quite flat. They do not curl the r, for example.
The
unabomber used to send letters to rich people who had companies that hurt the
environment. The letters would blow up when they were opened. The police could
not catch him. His brother turned him in.
“Paying
homage to” is when a director copies a famous scene from a previous movie to
show respect to that director. Students of film will quickly recognize what is
going on. Here van Sant is paying homage to Danny Boyd and “Train Spotting.”
1.
Close-up
shot
2.
Bird’s
eye view (shot)
3.
Fade
4.
Tracking
shot: when the camera follows
5.
Slow
motion makes the scene more dramatic (they used for baseball and the batting
cage plus the fight scene)
Why does
Will feel angst?
Why is Will
self-protective?
Why does
Will push people away?
Why is Will
afraid of relationships?
What does
Sean mean when he affirms: “It’s not your fault?”
This is a
theme of Good Will Hunting.
The irony
of the film is in
Will’s destiny. He was unlucky to be an orphan who was abused by his foster
parents. But, he was also born with a lot of talent and smartness.
Smart: you
are born with this; high IQ
Intelligent:
work hard to learn a lot of things
Wise: is
like old people who know of things through experience.
Good Will
means to be nice to other people. Hunting is his search for what do to in life.
Destiny = hunting.
We cannot
change fate. That is an Asian idea. It is also a European idea before. We can
change our destiny through hard work. Wheel of fortune that we could not get
off during the medieval period. Fate must be accepted.
Closing credits:
the list of actors shown at the end of a movie
Opening
credits: the list of actors, director, producer, etc. at the start of the movie;
the opening credits are a form of film art as well; they also set the tone for
the movie; they create the opening mood
I will do
attendance next week. Every class you miss is minus -2%. If you miss nine
hours, you automatically fail.
