Oral Presentation

Oral Presentation Part 4 & 5

1:33:45-1:38:45

IV. Narrative

1. How is this film constructed according to narrative/story being told?

Sunset Boulevard is constructed in a way that you already know the ending to the story, for the ending is the starting point to the entire narrative. You see Joe floating within the pool and him sarcastically narrating as the scene plays out and it begs a surplus of questions:What happened to him? Why was he shot? Where is he? Why is he there? etc. It is then that the narration takes us back to the source of the problem, Joe’s inability to create a script that will propel his writing career, or even make enough money for a profit so that he can keep up on his payments and keep his car. This then propels the story with Joe’s search for money and success, the entire time us knowing how the story will ultimately end, with his death.

2. Is the narrative organized by plot or time sequence, or some other way?

This particular narrative is driven more duly toward plot in that we see the ending prior to the actual start of the story to develop how these actions came to be, Joe’s dead in particular. In essence, this film is an entire flashback from the very starting point of the film, with Joe narrating and explaining how it is that he got into this predicament where he ended up shot 3 times and floating in a pool, being fished out be the investigation team; therefore I’d have to conclude that this movie is driven by its plotline.

3. Does the film use other principles than narrative sequence as a structure (for instance, an argument?

The structure of this film, as previously stated in the above question, is by Joe’s death and him telling of the tale of how this came to be. Thus we are taken through his experiences as a writer, his struggle for money and attempts to escape those trying to take away the only things he has (such as his car). We are then shown how Norma entraps him within her mansion with lures of materialistic gain and financial stability. In turn, she gets him, and his assistance in writing her god-awful script. As time goes by, her attach to him heightens to peak where she attempts suicide when he tries to leave her, and the time when he actually does go to leave everything behind and bring Norma to light of her delusions of fame, she kills him. We are then back at the “present-time” of the story and we watch as Norma’s delusion unfolds around her she unknowingly hands herself over to the authorities.

4. What is the nature of our engagement with the story or characters?

The main character, Joe, is the narrator of the film, and therefor we receive all his thoughts on his surroundings and the people he associates with. We personally get to know his character through his thought process and his personality is shown more so than it would have been if the narration was omitted from the film. We also have a special interest in him due to us knowing that he will end up dead at the conclusion of the film, and although you try not to, you feel a personal connection to him and his experience and dread his impending demise.

V. Film Language and Representation

1. How are characters and issues represented?

The characters are represented through their personas of hope for the future, thing clinging to an idea of their dream that propels them forward. In Norma, it is her dream of bringing silent films back to the people, bringing back her former fame and stardom by actually being on screen once again. This is what drives her character, and leads her into insanity. Then there are Joe and Betty, who want nothing more than to make it in the film industry by producing a phenomenal script and having it produced, bringing their own success. In essence, it is the drive toward success that propels each of the characters.

2. What is the style and effect of acting and performance?

Norma’s acting is the one that stands out the most in that all her actions and movements are exaggerated to play off the fact that she was once a silent film star. Due to no dialogue being used within the silent films, all they had to express emotions and situations was their body language and expressions. Gestures that would normally be subtle would be played off much larger to get the point across to the audience, and Norma has adopted this into her everyday behavior. It just brings in the era that Norma comes from and how different it is from the present time of the film.

3. How is meaning created by camera angles, shots, and camera movement?

Shots within this particular sequence of shots with the film are very elongated and realistic, there aren’t many cuts in between, the camera follows the characters and their actions. Such that there is a long period in which Betty and Joe are seen walking toward the door as he leads her out. This scene could have been cut a lot shorter, but it doesn’t have the same real-time effect and awkward sadness as Joe banishes Betty from his life. If it was directly cut, it wouldn’t have had the same drawn out, foreboding emotion.

4. How is meaning created through proxemics, territorial design, or open and closed forms?

A lot of Norma’s emotions are relayed through proxemics due to her background as a silent film star, where as Joe is a lot more passive in his actions, therefore you have to listen more to his words to understand his inner thoughts (very much thanks to his voice over). By this time in the film, we are very much familiar with the entire set, so the cinematography is filmed in a very open-framed style, for we already are aware of of the basic surroundings.

5. How is meaning created by editing and sequencing?

This entire sequence is put together very much according to chronological order, so there are no surprises, even when Joe is shot due to that being revealed at the start of the film. Though it is rather interesting to see that the start of this 5 minute clip begins with the pool (Joe showing it to Betty and offering it for her use) and then at the conclusion (with Joe being shot by Norma and falling into it upon death). This entire cut off toward the pool in the beginning can be seen as a foreshadow to the coming events (overlooking the spoiler at the start of film).

6. How is meaning created by lighting, shade and color?

The fact that the director s=chose to shot this film in black and white when the choice of color was available speaks to the meaning he was trying to portray. The black and white speaks more to the film noir aspect that Sunset Boulevard carries and helps fortray the dark, cynical and sarcastic themes as the story progresses.

7. How is meaning created by sound and music?

The soundtrack of this movie very efficient;y portrays the mood of the audience and the characters, helping to convey longing, awkward,  and highly emotional scenes.Such as when Joe is traveling up the staircase after he sends Betty off, there are notes that gain higher frequencies that match each of his steps, giving an awkward anticipation as he approaches Norma. As Norma enters the room where Joe is packing, there are low sounds of horns, indicating Norma’s dread as she realizes what Jow intends to do, leave her.AS Joe makes his way down the stairs, there are violins using very swayed, repeated sounds very few beats to give a very anxious feeling with the how sound of the horns. As the scenes progress, the music picks up in tempo and crescendos until the second gun shot, and cuts off to silence until he finally falls until the pool, assuring his death.

8. How is meaning created by location, set design and mise en scene.?

We are all very familiar with the scenery at this point, having spent most of the film within the confines of Norma’s mansion, and gives way to Joe’s attempt to escape said confine. Him sending Betty away shows him trying to rid of everything he has lived through within this entire place known as Hollywood, and tries to leave Norma and this now disturbingly familiar set behind as  the scene progresses, which only ends to his demise as he is never allows to leave (aka, Norma kills him…).

9. Does the film make use of symbols, metaphors, or allegories? Share are they and how do they work within the context of the film?

One symbol I found was very apparent within this excerpt was after Betty had left the mansion and Joe turned back to go inside. The camera then pans up, revealing Norma above, between the bars of the gate, and as Joe closes the door behind him, bars enclose him inside as well. This can be seen as revealing how this mansion is a prison for both Joe and Norma, and how Joe will soon try to escape. It also foreshadows Norma’s eventual going to prison herself as the police take her away at the conclusion of the film. It simply embodies both of their entrapment, physically for Joe, and mentally for Norma’s delusion of fame.

10. How is meaning created by technical elements such as production design, mise en scene, composition, special effects (matte paintings, models or animation, computer generated images….etc.)

There are no real special effects see within the film,  but as each scene progresses, we get a new view on Joe and his ability to push past everything that is happening around him for all of their well-being. With the first seen, Joe casts Betty away because he feels that he isn’t a good enough man for her. With the next scene, Joe prepares to leave the mansion and attempts to bring Norma to the light of what she is now, and how she needs to move on as well. Seeing this is hopeless, he leaves. With the final scene, we see Norma’s desperation to the extreme as she shoots Joe in her last ditch attempt to prevent him from leaving with more of an “If I can’t have him, no one can,” attitude.

11. What emotional information is conveyed through the filmmaking process?

Throughout the entire process seen in the above questions, we see how the director conveys the personalities of each of the characters and symbolisms as to why they are the way they are. We are given the senses of their entrapment and desperation. WE learn of their hopes and dreams, and how they deal with reality. We grown connections to the characters and the story and pick apart the symbols and hints they have provided us to bring in the meaning they have intended us to conjure.

Oral Presentation Part 2: Historical/Institutional/Socio-Cultural- Context/Factors

By the time Sunset Boulevard was produced, Sound had obviously already had it’s rise to stardom (as that is one of the main conflicts within the plot of the movie)and the Studio System of producing movies had already been eliminated. Television was also on the rise at the time, lowering the ticket sales of motion pictures, but sunset Boulevard none the less was quite successful in the box office ($1.75 million in production and $5 million in the box office alone).

 

During this time, WWII had recently come to a close and had left the United States in a depression when the film was produced. The creative personnel within the making of this film then took this social trial into the making of the plotline to make it more appealing to the masses, for they would be able to relate to the economic struggle of the common man during this time. this relates to how film noir theme taken within this film, for the depression of the economy and people themselves allowed for films to explore darker sides of reality with more cynical and sarcastic views.

 

Film noir is said to have come to a close  within the time that Sunset Boulevard came to be, a closing of a time period of the dark and cynical and the opening to more sympathetically characterized plots.

 

Relating this movie to film history, it portrays that negative side effects that fame, fortune and the Hollywood-dream has on the individual, mainly through Norma Desmond and her delusions on reality and ability to accept that her career has come to an end, as well as Joe Gillis and his willingness to stoop to mooching and basically becoming another one of Norma’s puppets in order to live comfortably (well, more extravagantly than comfortably).

 

The themes of this film are portraying ideals such that fame and wealth are not answers to life. It shows the instability of Norma as a result of obtaining such things, and how they can turn you into someone that is not ideal in the ways they perform and function in general. It is a complete satire of Hollywood and the effects it has on all that are involved within its confines.

 

This film is obviously set in the La/Hollywood area and the ever changing culture and expectations that derive from such a demanding city, such as wealth, fame, and beauty, the constant strive for perfection and success, and depicts how these stipulations effect those within this culture. Sunset Boulevard also gives a perspective of what happens to those stars who fall out of the spotlight in times of transition, such as from silent films to talkies.

The film shows us the underbelly of Hollywood and the way it conducts itself, satirizing the entire structure  in a cynical and sarcastic manner. This way it is able to amuse the viewers while also giving them an outlook on the effects Hollywood has on people involved within its infrastructure.

The genre of Sunset Boulevard would have to be a classical film noir, for it is a cynical satirization of hollywood’s entire society.

This film was made after WWII and the public was much more keep toward darker, realistic films than lighthearted plots and romanticized happy endings, they were not searching for fairytales any longer.

As a culture and having just witnessed the horrors of WWII, the darker films were welcomed, for they were seen as realistic to the times, but there are many hints of comedy throughout as a staple of entertainment to the American culture.

This film depicts the demanding and crushing society Hollywood holds itself to, as people try to graple their way toward fame and wealth and very few make it. The rest of them have their dreams crushed before their eyes. Those who are lucky enough to make it, are crushed by it as well as they attempt to cling to their beauty and strive for perfection, and how it is impossible to keept up with the times and defeat time yourself.

This film is targeted toward a more mature audience that understand reality and how not everything is prettily put together and wrapped in a bow. This audience would understand that fame and wealth isn’t all there is, and that the world is a cruel place, and it can very much tear you apart from the inside out if you let it.

I believe that this film was created to shed light on that it is difficult to make a name for yourself out there in a place where everyone dreams of making it, and realize that Hollywood really is a brutal and unforgiving place in the manner in which the film satirizes it.

Oral Presenation Part 1: Genre and Audience

1) Sunset Boulevard can be seen primarily under the genre of drama and film noir, but there are many comedic scenes throughout, therefore I would place comedy under a sub-genre.

2) The dramatic displays shown throughout the film with Norma’s delusions of her former fame along with her entrapment of Joe within her desolate mansion begin to display a sort of drama-esque feel for Sunset Boulevard. Not only can Joe’s so called “love triangle” between Norma, Becky and him be strictly classified under the genre of drama, but the revelations such as Max being Norma’s former husband and the man who brought her to fame, long with the eminent murder of Joe in the end, all pay tribute to this genre. Speaking to the comedic side of the film, Joe’s blunt sarcasms and the overall creep-factor shown through the once beloved silent film star pull together into quite a few humorous moments.

3) Another work that would be closely related to Sunset Boulevard would be one of Billy Wilder’s other films falling under the noir category, such as Ace in a Hole, which was released only a year afterward.

4) Billy Wilder made Sunset Boulevard due to his interest in American culture, especially that of Hollywood at the time, for he now took his residence within Los Angeles. He knew of the film stars of the roaring 20’s and how they had mostly fallen off the radar sense their style of film had been dropped by the public. With their vast fortunes lain out before them while no longer apart of the Hollywood bustle, Wilder wondered how it was that these once great stars now spent their time, and developed Sunset Boulevard around this curiosity.

5) The creators found humor in the satirization of Hollywood and what it does to those involved within its confines. They found twisted humor in the characterization of Norma and have a love for the sarcastic found within Joe.

6) Wilder is commonly known for satirizing society and taking a humorous approach to twisted, dark and cynical situations. Sunset Boulevard is a clear fit within these characteristics.

a. This particular film greatly utilizes Wilder’s dark, cynical humor, most prominently is his portrayal of Norma and her delusions of fame and beauty, when in reality her butler/ex-husband (that combination in itself is cynically humorous) is the one writing all of her fan letters and Hollywood felt so ad for her that they dint have the heart to tell her that the picture she had written was a train wreck and would never make it. She is constantly kept in her delusion, and when Joe finally attempts to break this delusion, she ends up murdering him.

b. Within the visuals used within the film, the lighting used, or lack of, simulated deep blacks and silhouetting within the frame, such as when Max reveals that he discovered Norma and was her first husband. The lighting within this particular scene characterize Max’s guilt and shame in feeding Norma’s sickness and state of mind, and reveals to Joe everything he has done. The extravagance of Norma’s mansion as well is shown in extravagance yet deserted loneliness due to the blank space that the camera utilizes.

7) This film is trying to show that fame and fortune don’t fix everything, money isn’t the answer, in fact it distances you from reality.

8) This film seems to be directed more toward the mature teenager and adult, for the dark and cynical nature of the film along with the sarcasm and subtle changes within the larger plot twists, it would be difficult for a younger audience to decipher.