Acting in "Full Metal Jacket"

Acting is a very important and formal element in any film. By the acting method, characters would create a performance in which they seem to be real people in daily lives. In Kubrick’s movie “Full Metal Jacket” the acting method was a very unique one. The group of soldiers created a heavy impact on me, as I felt I was one of them during the training and on combat. In other words, their performance has the big power to make me go beyond the screen and feel the same they felt by being part of the Marines.

My favorite performance of the movie was the character “Private Pyle”. Kubrick chose a very good actor to represent this character in every single way. He was the perfect style of “the dumb and fat” guy which everybody makes fun of. His physic characteristics were very appropriate to play this role because he was chubby and he has a baby face, so we could believe he couldn’t be efficient doing exercises and heavy work. During the scene when they were training and Private Joke was trying to help him pass “the gate” we could see in Pyle’s body language and gesture that he was very tired. We could analyze his facial expression and see it represents fear and loneliness, as he was stock at the top of “the gate”. As we have learned, the body position and face expression of a character could talk more than words.

At the scene where Joke was teaching Pyle how to dress his bed, he seems extremely innocent. I thought for a moment he has mental illness as he was very rare. He didn’t talk too much and it was like he lives in his own world, a fact that in my opinion, strongly contributed to created this role of, as I mentioned before, the “fat and dumb guy” suffering in silence.

It was a very big surprise for me the transformation that the character of Private Pyle suffered during the movie. The “dumb” guy was transformed in the monster or “bad guy” of soldiers. My favorite scene of the entire movie was the one when he killed the leader and then killed himself. The elements of film all working together make this scene a very impacting and mysterious scene. When he was in front of the leader his face language was one of power and anger, and his eyes transmitted hate. The music was one of mystery, which contributed to make my hairs freeze as I didn’t know what was happening. On the other hand, the lights were very low, they were often off and the camera make a very strong close up to his face.

I think Kubrick’s intention creating this character or role was to make us see and feel all the suffering and pain a person like him carries inside, which all at a moment, exploded as a bomb of facts, making the viewers get in shock.

The use of Sound in "A Clockwork Orange"

I am very impressed how the use of sounds in film could transform a scene in every single way. Kubrick's work in sound for this film was a very unique and amazing "artistic touch". In my analysis, I chose different scenes in which, in my opinion, we could appreciate how the sound contributes to make them spectacular scenes.

One of the scenes I consider very strong was when they raped the first woman, in sight of her husband. They told the woman they had an accident and because of that reason they had to use the telephone. At this moment, the music was off and the background was silent, although they were having a vocal sound: Dialogue. Right after Alex and his friends enter the house, the music started playing. The amplitude or loudness of the sound during the scene was a very loud one. The magnitude of loudness was increasing as they get closer to rape the woman. The sound was complex, as we could see; it includes their laughs, the Beethoven music, and their shouting. It was music of happiness created in order to allow the viewers to think they were having fun of what they were doing. I think Kubrick’s wonderful sound purpose for this scene was to create a contrast of a wonderful dichotomy. On one hand, the “bad guys” minds demonstrate they see the situation as a funny one. On the other hand, there were the minds of the woman and her husband which see the situation as a serious and horrible one. The music contributes to transmit their emotions at the moment Alex was violating her. Kubrick transformed the music from being a funny and cool one , to one of mystery and horror. I think Characterization is also present, as Beethoven musical score where associated with Alex and his “bad guys group” every time they were committing a crime.

Another scene I consider a great one was when he was cured and people were making tests on him in order to see if he was really cured. When the blond woman topless was getting close to him, the music was one of suspense, tension and mystery. I think the purpose of that specific music was to make the viewers be nervous because we didn’t know if he was cured or not. Once again, image (the woman topless), and sound worked together to create a strong impact in the viewers, so they were co expressive.

Editing in 2001: A Space Oddyssey

As we already know, editing is an essential key in every movie. In "2001: A Space Oddyssey", editing is easily appreciated.
First of all, in the opening scene in which we see the monkeys jumping and screaming around, we can see a fade out, fade in editing. The shot grows dark for a moment and then, out of a black screen, grows bright.
Also, there is a lot of constructive editing. In the scene in which the hybernated men were dying, this type of editing is evident. In this scene we see many different shots that were set together to complete a sequence. We see the computers, the men, the red light and at the end the computers again, letting us know the men no longer have vital signs. All of these different shots contributed to form the entire scene. Another use of editing that caught my eye was the use of shot-reverse shot. It was used very clear at the end of the movie. We see the man eating, he then stands up and we can see him facing the camera but when the shot changes we can see the right side of his body. This technique was used to maintain continuity in the scene so that the viewer could be aware of everything that sorrounded the character at that precise moment.
Editing is a fundamental technique in the making of a movie, every shot taken is indispensable so that each scene fully accomplishes its meaning.