The The past two movies that we have watched in class have been nearly identical. They both have many things in common and many things not in common. But the overall theme of the two movies has been the same. Find out why these strange things are happening to these towns.
The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock is about a young woman names Melanie and a young man named Mitch. They both meet in a bird shop because Mitch is looking for lovebirds for his little sisters birthday. The two meet and began talking and Melanie finds out the reason Mitch is at the store. So, she buys the lovebirds and figures out where Mitch lives. Once she arrives at Mitch's house she discovers he goes to Bodega Bay on the weekends, so she drives there and continues her search for Mitch. Once she finds out where his house is she leaves the birds without him noticing right away but when he does he beats car back to the dock where she rented the boat. They start talking and Mitch invites her over for dinner and Melanie actually ends up staying the entire weekend. And within the weekend the birds wreak havoc on this quiet small town. One of the ladies in town actually blames the bird attacks on Melanie. She stated that they only started happening when she arrived in town. The final attack is the worst one because the birds nearly kill Melanie, and keep in mind the house is boarded up. But she needs to get to a hospital so Mitch takes the risk of going outside to get the car. They all get in and drive away but the birds are watching them and they never attack.
The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock is about a young woman names Melanie and a young man named Mitch. They both meet in a bird shop because Mitch is looking for lovebirds for his little sisters birthday. The two meet and began talking and Melanie finds out the reason Mitch is at the store. So, she buys the lovebirds and figures out where Mitch lives. Once she arrives at Mitch's house she discovers he goes to Bodega Bay on the weekends, so she drives there and continues her search for Mitch. Once she finds out where his house is she leaves the birds without him noticing right away but when he does he beats car back to the dock where she rented the boat. They start talking and Mitch invites her over for dinner and Melanie actually ends up staying the entire weekend. And within the weekend the birds wreak havoc on this quiet small town. One of the ladies in town actually blames the bird attacks on Melanie. She stated that they only started happening when she arrived in town. The final attack is the worst one because the birds nearly kill Melanie, and keep in mind the house is boarded up. But she needs to get to a hospital so Mitch takes the risk of going outside to get the car. They all get in and drive away but the birds are watching them and they never attack.
In comparison, The Mist is very similar in terms of strange situations happening. David and his son go to pick up some supplies to fix their house from the storm that just happened. But what they didn't know is there lives would either change forever or be over altogether. Once in the store they began shopping for things they need and a man comes running to the store with blood all over his face. He warns everyone that there is a fog coming that will kill everyone unless they get inside and close all the doors. So they get the store sealed and wait but nothing happened until someone goes outside, that's when the creature attacks. After being stuck in the store for a few days David decides that he cant just stay there and wait, he has to leave and find help. So him and a few others get ready to leave and a crazy lady tries to stop them and show that she is in power now. But she gets shot in the process because she tries to sacrifice Davids son. They get to the car and start driving, David discovers his wife is dead. They keep driving until they cannot drive anymore and then David shoots everyone else in the car including his son. And not one minute later the fog clears.
These two movies were made nearly 50 years apart so its kind of hard to compare the camera work, but lets take a look at it anyway. "Darabont used in-your-face camera operators who improvised around and among the cast as they shot and reshot their long, chaotic and exhausting scenes in real time. Darabont says it was sometimes more like filming a hectic and energetic stage play" (Patterson). The Mist was a movie with so much going on that it was almost hard to keep track of sometimes. And the camera probably contributed to that, not that its a bad thing. The camera work was so fast and all over the place it really made it seem like you were apart of the movie. It had more of a "to the point" type of cinematography, rather than a nicely executed film sequence.
In comparison, when you take a closer look at the camera work of The Birds its clear to see that it is more slow paced. Hitchcock seemed to use more direct camera angles in this film because, I believe that gives a more one on one feel with the viewer. "The camera continues to follow Melanie as the central focus as she arrives at the clerk’s counter" (Saporito). I thought this was a very great point because it really highlights what the true difference is between the two movies. In The Mist it seems as if though the camera is a person in the movie/situation. The Birds seems to be set up more traditionally in terms of camera work. The camera seems to be following people around and is not a person in the film themselves.
"I also noticed that there’s no score at all, there are only bird sounds. That’s a bit unsettling from the start" (Bovberg). I never actually noticed that The Birds did not have a musical score throughout the entire movie until I read that quote. And now that I have watched The Mist for a second time I noticed most of that movie does not have a musical score in it. "The lack of a score in this film totally makes you realize how alone you can feel among all these birds" (Bovberg). This goes for both films because almost every character in these two movies is alone in some way and need help to escape what has entrapped them. I think this was done in both films to show the emptiness that these people must feel when in a situation like this. You are helpless and in need of a greater power to escape the situation that you have found yourself in. In addition, I think it makes the film more believable because there is no musical score in real life.
Overall, I think these two films are very similar but they have their minor differences. And when I say minor I mean extremely small differences. The camera angles was one of the main reasons these two films were different, but these two films were also 50 years apart. that means that there might not have been a way to have a camera roaming around the set, it might of had to be stationary because of physical restriction. And as for the musical score of either film, I think the directors made a great choice by not adding much music if not any. It gives such a great sense of realism and just adds to the overall experience of these two films.
Overall, I think these two films are very similar but they have their minor differences. And when I say minor I mean extremely small differences. The camera angles was one of the main reasons these two films were different, but these two films were also 50 years apart. that means that there might not have been a way to have a camera roaming around the set, it might of had to be stationary because of physical restriction. And as for the musical score of either film, I think the directors made a great choice by not adding much music if not any. It gives such a great sense of realism and just adds to the overall experience of these two films.