Chungking Express (1994)

Chungking Express is an extraordinary film that plays with genre, narrative and chronology. The Film reminds me of Pulp Fiction meets Chinese romantic comedy, but with an aesthetic twist.Together, elements tell the stories of four people, breaking the conventional traits of Classical Cinema.

The film plays around with genre. The beginning starts with an action sequence, as a policeman chases a felon. However, the tone and smooth cinematic effect contradicts the action genre, making the sequence disoriented. In addition, the voice-over talks about love in the chasing opening sequence, which essentially expresses a paradoxical feel of genre. The film continues with a storyline about drug trafficking, then switches to a similar story about a different policeman, then switches to another storyline of a woman trying to achieve her dreams. The change of tone in the film leads to an ambiguous genre. This is an unconventional trait for a film, contradicting elements of Classic Hollywood.

Another element that contradicts Classic Hollywood, is its narrative structure. Chungking Express revolves around the points of view of four different characters. The film provides voiceovers from all four characters, dividing the plot in four as each part focuses on a particular character. This enables the viewer to see every side of a character's perspective as the storylines intertwine. Thus, rather than identifying with one or two characters in the film, the film allows the viewer to become familiar with four different characters.

The chain of events within the film are not told chronologically. The plot is disorderly presented based on the focused character. The events taken place are told chronologically by each character, but as a whole, the order is non linear because of the separations of stories. For example, in the beginning of the film, we see Faye walking out of a store with the stuffed animal as the woman in the blonde wig waits outside the store. The action taken place in Feye's point of view is later presented later in the film.

Sound in Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

When watching Paranormal Activity 2 , I could not help but notice how significant sound and the lack of sound was in the film.

The film is shot informally with a hand-held (and surveillance) camera to evoke authenticity. Due to such aesthetic, visual elements are not enhanced by CGI (Computer-Generated Image). Instead, sound is used to produce anxiety, fear, and anticipation.

Throughout the film, day scenes are cut to night scenes. These scene are very quiet. The viewer is aware of a presence. The silence is used as a sound effect that evokes a frightening anticipation.

In the midst of the silence, a slight, indescribable sound creates tension that alarms the viewer that something is about to occur. Such tension would turn the peaceful image of a baby sleeping into a intense and fearful event in the film.

The film plays with the viewers feelings with such sound, making the viewer unaware of what will happen next. When something does occur, the sound drastically changes, creating the "jump" effect from the audience.

I think about the film and wonder if I would have the same emotional effect if the audio was off, or if I simply covered my ears.

Blackmail (1929)

Blackmail (Alfred Hitchcock) was one of the first sound films ever made.

When watching the film, I was very impressed with the quality of sound for such a early sound film.

Despite such innovative film technique, the film still used off-screen sound and cutting within dialogue.

An interesting thing I found about the movie is that the actress playing the main character was the woman we hear in the film. With out this knowledge, I would have never guessed it was not her voice being use in the film. This comes to show how images can become manipulated by sounds.

Without a doubt, sound is an important element in the film. The film utilizes sound to underscore its themes of eavesdropping.

The film begins as a silent film. Very little dialogue is exchanged after the introduction of the characters. However, the audience is given signs that Alice is having a secret affair with a man. Like most Hitchcock films, the viewer is indulged with watching. The lack of sound gives the viewer hunger for explanation. But when sound is introduced, the viewer learns to depend on sound for meaning.

Consequently, when more dialogue is introduce, the viewer becomes more involved in the sounds of voices and music in the film.

Like the character who becomes involved in the murder for eavesdropping, the viewer is intertwined by the storyline knowing what is and is not being said.

Sound helps intensify some of the scenes in the film. For example, one of the most memorable scenes when Alice is haunted by the repetition of the mentioning of the word "knife". The viewer becomes engaged in the same emotion as Alice because the viewer is presented with the same sounds that the character hears. In another scene, the non-diegetic sound of laughter serves the same purpose as the sound of "knife", conveying the emotions of Alice's guilt.

Without sound, this film would not have had the same effect from the viewer. The film shows that sound is very important in cinema. Although film is a visual medium, sound is the important element that completes one's film experience.