Cold, Hard, Shiny Plastic

Mean Girls follows the three act structure. The first act is an introduction to the movie, it introduces the protagonist Cady Heron and antagonist Regina George. They develop of "friendly" relationship once they allow Cady into 'The Plastics'. The plot point that closes out Act 1 occurs at 29:30. It is when Cady finds out that Regina took Aaron Samuels, the guy she liked, back. She goes over to Janice Ian's, her non-plastic friend, and together they decide to get revenge on Regina. This decision provides complications throughout Act 2. 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_F2UvWvkxzYA/TGQyXGyd63I
/AAAAAAAAAxI/_0jR9_ybXco/s1600/mean-girls.jpg

The majority of Act 2 focuses on Cady sabotaging Regina, but at the same time she is becoming more and more of a mean girl herself. The end of Act 2 occurs at 1:00:35, when Janice and Damien call out Cady at her party for becoming genuinely plastic. They tell her she is truly a mean girl and lost who she used to be. At the same time Regina is mad that she wasn't invited to the party and decides to frame Cady for the Burn Book. The second plot point occurs when Regina spreads the Burn Book all around the school halls. 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-BlbmCrOOoQ/SIuaidYMlMI/
AAAAAAAAALg/FC8-PnIPV_s/s400/BurnBook.jpg

Act 3 opens up with the entire junior class freaking out over the Burn Book, and all the girls are called into an assembly. The climax occurs around 1:15:30 when Janice tells Regina that Cady has spent the whole year ruining her life. Regina storms out and while fighting with Cady gets hit by a bus. The rest of the film serves as a resolution. Cady admits to the Burn Book even though it wasn't entirely her doing, she wins Spring Fling Queen, and the Plastics split up and find their own individual friend groups, and it ends with the new Freshman Plastics walking up to campus. It's a classic 3 Act Structure film with plot point at the end of each act that move the story along. This movie is full of complications, because as  the Mean Girls see it, life's better with a little drama in it.

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/mean-girls/images
/2363516/title/mean-girls-screencap-screencap

An Episode A Day, Keeps The Doctor Away.

Sitcoms, or situational comedies, are typically thirty minute comedic television programs. Sitcoms are characterized by their "mini-resolutions" and there episodic nature. Because sitcoms are only thirty minutes long they usually don't delve into too heavy subject matter. They try and focus on simple problems that can be resolved in the short time span of an episode. Sitcoms usually don't have huge cliff hangers or huge climaxes. Many times they focus on relatable day to day issues, but in a hyperbolic manner. Sitcoms mock everyday life, and many times are even considered satirical. Being episodic, anyone can watch an episode of a sitcom and know what is going on, although you might gain more from the episode if you are a regular viewer. Each episode has it's only mini plot that can stand on its own. The whole season ties everything together, but it is not necessary to watch weekly to get what is going on. 

My favorite sitcom is Cougar Town. I actually only started watching this show randomly when I would catch it on, but because it is episodic I was always able to enjoy it. Now that I am a more dedicated fan I watch it regularly and find the jokes slightly funnier because I have background information. Each episode has some sort of mini-conflict. A few weeks ago, the whole episode revolved around the definition of being in a relationship and how each character felt about that. Within 30 minutes they were able to cover 2 days, 4 couples, and resolve two fights-all of which was done in a comedic way. Sitcoms are always enjoyable for me because they are easy to watch, and I can usually get a few laughs out of them. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpSQYD1d3iw

Up Close and Personal

When it came time to pick a movie to use for this weeks blog, my mind immediately went to Juno. Not only is Juno one of my favorite movies but the cinematography used is quite appealing. Until this lecture I didn't know much about shot progression, but now I cannot help but notice it. Not only do shots have descriptive meanings but the also provide connotative meanings.

The movie opens with a long shot, showing Juno in the corner looking upon a house. She is shown in the distance and is alone. When a character is shown by herself, it emphasis the isolation she will soon feel because of her pregnancy. From the beginning of the movie, you know that Juno will go through a lot on her own just from the shot selection.

The scene then moves to the middle shot, which provides more information to the viewer. By looking at this shot, you see Juno staring at a chair holding a gallon on Sunny D. It is easy to guess that the chair has a significance to the plot. The relationship between Juno and the chair does not seem to be a happy one, yet not bad either. She looks more or less confused.

This is confirmed by the final shot in the scene, the close up. The viewer now is provided with important details about Juno's feelings and thoughts. Her face is overcome with doubt, worry, and concern, and this can all be inferred by looking at her close up.

Shot progression is extremely important because all of this information was gathered in under a minute, and the scene contained no dialogue. So much information in movies is not just told to you but shown. That is why it is so important to pick the right type of shot when filming a movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0SKf0K3bxg

There's No Place Like Home.

http://thejudygarlandexperience.blogspot.com
/2010/08/new-book-on-mgms-back-lot-coming-soon.html

Studio System’s created movies in the form of vertical integration, meaning they had control over production, distribution and exhibition. Additionally, they had stars who worked under contract for one particular studio, and quickly became associated with their respective employer. The studios began to rely on their biggest stars to promote their films.

Because studios “owned” certain actors they would create films in particular genres. Stars became the best representation of what a studio did. Each studio had a ‘house style’ that combined their preferred genre with their contracted stars, and audiences began to expect movies to be a certain way depending on the studio it was created in.

Each studio had it’s own distinctive style and reputation. MGM Studios’ were known for their “Technicolor musicals”. They created movies like The Wizard of Oz and used their biggest celebrities, like Judy Garland, to sell their movies. The audience began to not only like musicals and MGM but they also grew fond of Judy Garland. The studios would then continue to cast her in similar roles with consistent character traits which encouraged people to continue to see MGM’s movies. This was the cycle followed by all the big studios in Classic Hollywood. Even though it did sell movies, it created an oligopoly within in the industry and regulation started to occur

http://www.jgdb.com/104869.jpg